#Dark Knight Shenanigans

[herohikara-wol]

FFXIV Write 2k23

Pick Your Own Prompt (Bottled)

“I don’t see the purpose of this.” Even with the light in his eyes faded and his golden hair unkempt and messy, the stiffness to his posture gave away the truth of the man’s former occupation. At least it would to any former military man in Eorzea. Zephirin could slack off on his training and dress down to cut his ties as the former leader of the Heavens Ward, but he couldn’t hide the years of training by pretending the whole thing had never happened.

“The purpose is to get you outta this bloody slump you’ve pouted yourself into!” Grinnaux’s fist met his open palm with a forceful slap, “you disbanded the ward, fine, but we’re still your brothers in arms and we’re bloody worried about you.” Charibert had called this an intervention, a come to Halone meeting. Despite trying to free them of their obligations and send them back to their families and friends, the other eleven knights had found the loss of structure to their lives uncomfortable. Despite their personal differences, they all shared one common thing and it had made a bond between them that was ironclad.

What Thordan had done to them left scars deeper than words could describe, the memory of their tempered servitude was a curse Zephirin couldn’t be rid of. The guilt ate at him night and day, even when their unlikely savior tried to sit with him and talk him through the pain. Looking into his deep blue eyes and seeing only kindness instead of hate felt worse than simply being loathed. Hero had every right to hate him, he’d murdered his fiance, and instead Hero allowed him into his home.

Into his bed, once or twice.

While they’d never done anything intimate, the act of holding the small Viera against his chest and listening to him mumble in his sleep all the names of the people he’d lost was heart wrenching. So he retreated to his family’s manor and simply tried to pretend he was fine. He convinced several people too, only making one fatal mistake.

Charibert came to check on him, the former inquisitor had taken to making his old hobby profitable. Instead of burning heretics or hunting down what remained of Thordan’s cult in the church, he’d turned to alchemy and herbology. He’d been working on a tea meant to be taken at bed to ease night terrors and induce sleep, and Zephirin had told the man he was fine.

A bold faced lie told to a living lie detector. He knew it’d come back to bite him the moment Charibert’s painted lips thinned into a line with only the faintest hint of a frown at the corners. “Are you sure, commander?”

“I am no longer your commander.” Instead of insisting he’d tried deflecting and Charibert just nodded and left.

That was a week ago.

Hero had lured him to the bakery by promising sweets. Janlenoux had taken a job there and his cooking was a temptation that was hard to refuse. Adelphel greeted him at the door in a butler uniform and led him downstairs to the quiet of the unused venue space. Where he was confronted by the faces of his other former brothers in arms, all the furniture removed from the room, and Hero himself.

Zeph couldn’t just turn and leave either. The staircase was blocked by Gurrique and Ignase. “I will adjust, in time, I just need space. I swear to you, I haven’t got any plans to do something stupid like pitch myself off witchdrop or the steps of faith. I just need space to think.”

“What does your Esteem tell you?” Hero finally spoke up, and for the first time those crystal blue eyes seemed to look through him. As if trying to see his heart laid bare. “I’ve studied a Dark Knight’s path, don’t try to pretend you haven’t got one. When’s the last time you listened to him?”

Esteem? Ah- Hero must have named his inner darkness. That made sense, he could use that strange orange soul gem to conjure figures, memories, and ghosts from the aether. Of course he could manifest his own inner darkness. Of course he’d give it a name. “I’ve never spoken to it face to face like you clearly have, so I couldn’t tell you. I-” Zephirin’s face twisted a bit as he looked down in shame. “I started ignoring it when I became the Very Reverend Archimandrite of the Heavensward.”

“Would you like to speak to him?” Hero held up that strange orange soul gem again, and his eyes went soft and kind once more. “I cannot guarantee what it’ll be like, he’s part of you after all, but I can make it so you can talk to him. Would you like to? I don’t think all of us telling you to forgive yourself will help, maybe what you need is to talk to the part of you that you’ve been trying to hide to really understand where you’ve gone wrong.”

“The part of me I don’t want to see is ugly and awful. I was blinded by ambition and I caused others to suffer for it. Even the man I looked up to- dead- because I didn’t see the warning signs.”

“Oh shut up!” Charibert snapped at him and scoffed, “you didn’t kill him. I did. I remember it clear as day too, the suggestion in my head. The whispers in the corners of my mind. I set him ablaze with a fire so strong his bones turned to ash because I was empowered and guided to do so. All you did was step into his place. If you want to blame anyone for his death, blame me, but we both know who was pulling my strings. We were all puppets and it’s time you stop blaming yourself and start recalling there was a puppet master. You think I don’t feel guilt for the innocent lives I stole? Of course I do, but I know the difference between penance and self-flagellation.”

The words cut like a blade, but arguing with Charibert was a trying task at the best of times. Swallowing nails was easier than arguing with him when he was right. Zephirin swallowed the snappy retort on his tongue and sighed instead, looking at Hero again. “Alright, but if he’s violent? Put him back.”

“If he’s violent, I expect you to fight him.” Hero smirked a bit, “I fought mine and now I’ve learned how to set healthy boundaries and stop blaming myself for the deaths of everyone I wasn’t able to save. Mostly, we’re still working on a few of those incidents.” Zephirin watched as Hero put his hand- and the orange crystal- to his heart and closed his eyes for a moment before smiling softly, “he taught me to love myself the way I love others. I can’t tell you what your inner darkness wants, but if you’ve been ignoring him since you were placed in the Ward? He probably has a lot to say that you need to hear.”

It wasn’t compulsion that made him produce his dark knight’s soul crystal, he knew what it felt like to have no control over his actions. However the movement was fluid, practiced, as if there was part of him that wanted to do this so badly he had no time to hesitate before the gem was in his open palm and offered out to the warrior of light before him. Hero held his orange crystal out and began to glow, his short hair fanned out as if being lifted by a current of wind- or maybe by the current of his own aether.

Then before him stood his own shadow, “Are you him, my Esteem?” Zephirin knew what parts of his heart had been summoned without thinking about it. All of it boiled to the surface the moment the odd ritual had begun, leaving him feeling raw, his voice naught but a growl.

“I am. Prepare yourself.” One of his brothers tossed him a greatsword- his greatsword- Shattered Heart, and Zephirin took stance to duel the physical incarnation of all rage and betrayal he’d been bottling in his heart since Thordan’s manipulations stole his will from him. His inner darkness, the part of himself he’d been trying to hide from since the tempering was broken, his Esteem.

[veinsfullofstars]

“Quit laughin’, ya bastard, I’m dyin’ over here! Get me some starsdamn milk, for cryin’ out loud!”

(ID: Kirby series fanart comic of Dark Meta Knight and Daroach, in which lunch is interrupted by a disagreement on spicy food and some improper use of the Sharing mechanic. Transcript below the cut. END ID.)

Based on a personal headcanon that DMK enjoys spicy food and Daroach vehemently does not.

UPDATE: I foRGOT HIS EYE SCAR?? HeLLO??? (fixed it now but starsdamn it this is why I shouldn't post stuff the second I finish heck dang it all veins get some sleep would you)

Started 04/06/24, finished 04/09/24.

---

Transcript:

Panel 1

*DMK and DR sitting side-by-side enjoying some lunch together - a sandwich for the thief, a plate of spicy curry for the knight. DMK (his mask pushed up to the side of his head, bits of curry stuck to his face) idly eats his meal with a fork as DR picks up and scrutinizes a small bottle of hot sauce the knight had set aside, a brow raised in disappointment.*

DR: “Ultra spicy,” huh? Blech. How can you stand this stuff, Dark? Like, can you even taste anythin’ anymore? (Besides pain?)

Panel 2

DMK: Aw, c’mon, it’s not that bad. Here, want a bite~?

*setting his fork upright in the curry, DMK pushes his plate aside and turns towards DR with the most mischievous expression, reaching up to grab the collar of his cape. DR turns his head sharply, dropping the bottle and the sandwich, as the knight starts tugging him towards him.*

DR: What’re you-? Hey! No! No! Don’t you friggin’ dare, Dark, I swear to Nova-

Panel 3

*DMK stands up and yanks DR down towards his face, a hand clasped on the back of the thief’s head to hold him there. DR flinches (VFX: two large exclamation points), knocked off his feet and holding his paws out in surprise. A wisp of steam rises from between them, curling into a little pink heart at the top. Text reading “*Face-to-Face SFX*” hovers behind DMK.*

Panel 4

*DR jerks away from DMK, red-faced and doubled over in pain, his eyes squeezed shut and his tongue hanging out with a fresh red burn on the end, steam emitting from his face in puffs. He frantically fans at his mouth with one paw while shoving DMK away with the other.*

DR: (breaking the dialogue bubble in places) AAGH!! Ow! Star-burnin’ son-of-the-void what is wrong with you piece a’- aaaughh dammit stars dammit ow ow ow ow!!

*DMK cackles, leaning away with one arm held up against the rat’s pushing paw, one eye shut and mouth stretched open in a wide smile, a single incisor prominent within and a touch of blush at the corner. Text reading “HA HA HA HA HA HA HA” hovers behind him surrounded by laugh lines.*

[post-it-notes7]

surreptitiously knocks on your door to try and get all the excess halloween candy that wasn't already doled out

The candy'll be thrown in too

[ru-draws]

I Wanna Hold Your Hand

——

Oh, yeah, I’ll tell you something

And when I touch you I feel happy inside -

[ask-dametagala]

Dametagala wedding where Galacta Knight keeps trying to cut the cake with his lance and Dark just suffers from his husband's silliness (/pos).

Galacta Knight: Now if i cut it REAL fast-

Dark Meta Knight: this is one of your worst misuages of your lance yet.

Galacta Knight: Now now see- i focus a bit of energy on the tip to make it extra sharp! It'll be like the cake was cut by an actual knife!

Dark Meta Knight: then why not use an actual knife?

Galacta Knight, pouting: then it wouldn't be as cool!

Dark Meta Knight, resisting the urge to laugh: .....I can't believe I'm married to this baffoon-

Galacta Knight, gleefully grinning: Ah! You smiled! Hah!

[cheebuss]

IMPULSE COLLAB WITH MY BOY @nishihii AFTER WATCHING THE DARK KNIGHT 💪 The power of my ADHD and Baz's Autism combining to make ADHD vs Autism!!

I did Batman + Baz did da Joker!!

[eskat]

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4 Part 1

Chapter 4 Part 2

Chapter 5

Chapter 6 Part 1

Chapter 6 Part 2

Chapter 7 Part 1

Chapter 7 Part 2

Chapter 7 Part 3

Chapter 8 Part 1

Chapter 8 Part 2

Chapter 9 Part 1

Chapter 9 Part 2

Chapter 9 Part 3

---

Transcript of the magic casts per request! I apologize to anyone who actually knows how to use the source languages beyond my paltry Google Translating.

Page 17 Panel 3: Αυτό πουεπιθυμώ είναι η ασπίδα πουπροστατεύει τη ζωή!

Translation: What I desire is the shield that preserves life!

[cosmicharm]

☽ Moon Maiden ☾

[ragdoll127-ffxiv]

"In your darkest hour, in the blackest night... think of me... and I will be with you. Always."

"But know that when you tire of this charade, I shall be here...waiting to take the reins... you need only ask..."

[phonification]

i wish shadow magic was a concept that got used among dersites in homestuck, that would've been so cool man

[echthr0s]

"oh I can't possibly explain Homestuck" "oh I can't possibly explain Kingdom Hearts" "oh I can't possibly explain The Dark Tower"

[summertimemusician]

No one:

Me, running on a full coffee thermos and zero sleep after a long day, after playing Hollow Knight to get a break from collecting figurines so both me and Link/Four won't go insane before rolling up to ruin Vaati's entire day and existence:

The Hollow Knight from Hollow Knight🤝 Breath of The Wild Link/Lu Wild 🤝 Original Attempted Calamity Hero

Thought to be a kingdoms final hope but due to circumstances outside of their control ended up idnavertedly heralding it's doom by either failing to defeat the evil/only sealing the evil for a time until it would inevitably break free to rampage again and either aiding in dealing with it or being unable to do anything about it/sealing it with their fall from grace.

The Hollow Knight from Hollow Knight🤝 Breath of The Wild Link/Lu Wild 🤝 Age of Calamity Link/ Lu Calamity : No Mind to Think No Will to Break No Voice to Cry Suffering, though to be fully emotionless/stoic but oh, they feel a lot actually but they're forced to hide and suppress it due to the expectation set upon them by their respective kingdoms in being their only hope against a great evil and so they're expected to just be a machine that gets the darned job done, probably needs a big hug a blanket and warm soup.

The Radiance 🤝 The Pale King 🤝 Hylia 🤝 Demise : Higher Beings with Thematic Parallels, something something "Maybe in another life I could have had your life and you mine" idk.

(Edited)

Hylia 🤝 The Pale King 🤝 King Rhoam Bosphoramus Hyrule : Idnavertedly condemning the people they love or care for to arguably a fate worse than death in an attempt to do the right thing in an extremely dubious manner to protect their subjects, No Cost Too Great. In true Deity fashion showcasing how being loved by one is dangerous on the case of the first two idk maybe it's just the mythology obsession rearing it's head.

Anyway, have a lot of thoughts about them. Discuss I guess? *Leaves without elaborating to get more coffee*

[post-it-notes7]

look what he's gotten himself into now

[exiledtroll]

i recently started playing Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requim because it sounds good and I've been meaning to go through several games throughout gaming history so that if i ever get to achieve my dream of making games for a living I'll be better off. And oh boy is Eternal Darkness good, holy shit. Nintendo really fucked up not giving this game more of a marketing budget.

[ask-dametagala]

what if they. kissed

make them kiss pls

(on anon bc im shy hgh)

Your wish is my command.

(Tried a new style for the wings! I got inspired after reading a bunch of doujins on pixiv lol)

[sk-willow]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Sheev Palpatine & Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi & Anakin Skywalker Characters: Sheev Palpatine | Darth Sidious, Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Jedi Padawan Character(s) Additional Tags: AllSWMultiWeek2022, Canon Compliant, Sith Shenanigans (Star Wars), Sith Rule of Two (Star Wars), Jedi Temple Crèche (Star Wars), Padawan Anakin Skywalker, Jedi Knight Obi-Wan Kenobi, Jedi Temple (Star Wars) Series: Part 3 of ASW_MW-2022 Summary:

Darth Sidious camina por el templo Jedi, admirando a sus futuros aprendices en la guardería de los Jedi.