#i just really like isekai or time travel fics

[dyingturn]

Time travel au where at chapter 2, shin gets voted at the main game and wakes up in his highschool body. And he does everything he can to avoid sou to not get involved with the death game.

Alright, to be honest all I know is that shin met sou at his highschool, thought he was student, realized he wasn't. But they somehow became friends, (or he saw midori as a brother figure?).

I just think it would be funny how shin would react just from going back to class, seeing these people he forgot the names of, and studying... again. Of course he wasn't paying attention to that at all, he's confused, he was literally just fighting for his life to make the Joe ai work before he dies and now he's here?? What if this wasn't even real.

Anyways, he walks down to the hallway, and he sees it. A familiar green rat tailed hair, who's just smiling at him. No- he's dead. But...

Sou approaches him with that eerie smile of his and tries to have a small talk. Instead of answering he just ignores him, and when he pesters him long enough he just glares at him, before running off.

I'm thinking this would probably intrigue sou because shin isn't really acting like his past self and is wondering what event led to this drastic personality change and behaviour. And observes him even more. (Imagine if one day, sou actually transfers to the school just to do that, I know he can't but just imagine--)

(Because if he does, he would be able to pry more information from shin and shin would sometimes slip up when agitated/over confident like what happened at the main game, and sou was able to put together that shin either a) knows about asunaro therefore him b) pretty far fetched but time travel or something similar like false memories c) knows about the death game )

I have no clue how to end this, I'm not thinking of this au as a ship but more of a trying to avoid death flag kind of thing. Maybe he achieves avoiding sou and now lives a pretty normal life, hears about the news of Alice going to prison, not his problem but it Is concerning. And then wakes up at the death game, and was like "not again", but surprisingly, his percentage is different now.

Or maybe y'know, he meets or sees the other participants. The whiplash he gets when he sees keiji without his piss hair, sees q-taro in the television, passing by a delinquent looking mishima or something, I have no clue.

That's basically it. I'm sleeping early today, yeyy.

[thatdeadaquarius]

Aquarius’s Genshin Impact... MASTERLIST?!

☕️ Tip me an iced coffee?! :O

* = IMPOSTER AU = NOT dark/yandere!

* = Art made by me for the post!

☆

Turn on the background music?

Chronological-ish, so CHECK NEAR THE BOTTOM SECTIONS FOR NEWER POSTS.

(sorry about reformatting again guys...)

☆

Your Birthday! (ft. cute platonic Bennett)

...Whatcha listenin’ to Player?

You’re a walking speaker (sounds from ur memories)

Latino! Reader, You're feeling a little homesick... (mostly Zhongli scenario!)

You introduce Teyvat to the lovely music of KPOP (check the reblogs!!)

You made your babes gifts! ALL Characters/PART 1 - Travelers/Dainsleif, Pyro, Electro, Anemo

^ PART 2, of the gifts!! ^

Childe reacts to his voice actor's song covers

O Aquarius, dead stars you are, what is my horoscope today?

Razor, best boy.

Bennett, ft. Razor (part 2-ish!)

Qiqi, best girl.

Headcanons of an Avatar AU (the fantasy movies)

TCG Genius Invokation... wait, they're your Favorite Card???

* Imposter! AU while parenting Razor (non-yandere/not-dark version)

* Possession AU! - you can still control your characters, but by possessing them! PART 1

* Possession AU! - PART 2

Neurodivergent!Reader, Ganyu my beloved!

* Strawberry Scarameow.

You're an Army Veteran and you brought the gun

Minecraft AU!! :D ⛏️

Costa Rican Reader spreads their culture <3

* Possession AU Fanfic, only AO3 (Ongoing)

☆

Language Shenanigans!

OG Blunt Language in Teyvat AU! Post :) (check the reblogs for that post for awesome add-ons from followers!)

Blunt Lang. AU! Colorful Cussing

Blunt Lang. AU! Vine Boom every time you speak (+sprinkle of bilingual)

Blunt Lang. AU! Actually you’re just having to learn Teyvatian lang. that’s why ur blunt

Blunt Lang. AU! with a dash of Neurodivergent! Reader, your trying to be flowery... it’s not working...

Blunt Lang. AU! You're a writer! ...well now it's an ancient artifact and a bestseller.

Some more Blunt Lang. AU! fun AND more blunt lang. AU! fun :0

Paimon being rude in Sumeru

◇

Audio Processing Disorder (Reader with APD) Shenanigans, (mostly Diluc scenario!)

Neurodivergent! Reader stims! ...and Teyvatians thought that was your language...

Neurodivergent! Reader is a child/different ages randomly ft. Non-native English speaker

Teyvat’s countries have the Simlish versions of Japanese, German, etc.

Your Native Language is holy... except you mostly cuss with it

Slang words don’t translate well... or texting lingo

Tumblr / 2023 Slang doesn’t translate well...

...Teyvat is trying to make your slang words translate...

You’ve yet to realize that Teyvat has multiple languages (looks at hieroglyphics) ...is this Loss. the oldest record of language... “sus”

You know sign language and help out a lost kid, Teyvat melts AQUARIUS got isekaied?! with my followers??!! (check the reblogs too!) Nobody wants to tell You (god) that you’ve mixed up some words... You’re really out here just speaking gibberish, ya trickster god

You sound like an Animal Crossing character to Teyvatians

Godly game of charades scenario

You give up translating and just start running around (encoded/cipher! post)

You're an Eldritch God of Teyvat... so ofc no one understand you (check the reblogs too!)

You know French. You use this power appropiately.

Reader only writes to talk!

You're multilingual! ...Alhaitham is outside your door.

You're Brazilian, Teyvat is calm about this.

Ancient tablets nice... oh god its a hurt/no comfort fic.

*Eldritch God Reader Fanfic (thanks for 1000+ followers!!)

^^ part 2 of the above, also an ao3 link!

Teyvat doesn't write novels, but you do lol

☆

☆Taglists ☆

SAGAU ALL POSTS

@karmawonders / @0rah-s / @randomnatics / @glxssynarvi / @nexylaza / @genshin-impacts-me / @wholesomey-artist / @thedevioussmirk / @the-dumber-scaramouche

Possession AU! ONLY

@justlostintheinternet / @assassinsnake101 / @sun-wokung

♡

Wanna join a taglist for something? Just message me:

" pspspspssss tag me (insert taglist here) !! "

Hmmm... I wonder what you'll get if you send an ask saying "aquarius, oh dead stars, what is my horoscope today?"...°.•☆•.°?

♡

Safe Travels,

💀♒️

[thebomb-thebird-andtheburntbitch]

Wishing on Golden Stars [TEASER]

a/n: this is a short little 1k snippet of my large wip for ayato, Wishing on Golden Stars! its an isekai fic with a long list of progression and development that has both canon and canon-divergent scenarios that i hope i don't absolutely bomb (◎_◎;) (seriously im putting a lot into this- my notes are insane) this fic will have a fem!reader!!

the plan is to prewrite the fic in its entirity and then section it off into chapters so it's less overwhelming and i dont fall behind on not continuing it bc i have a rly bad habit of that ㆆᴗㆆ" [the chances of things being altered/incorrect is highly likely here bc i didn't edit this snippet hardly at all]

When you finally leave the last inching grounds of the Tenryou Commission, you find Thoma obediently waiting for you. Feeling free of the burden of delivery, you meet up with him and put your hands on your hips while he hops back to his feet. 

“Alright,” you breathe, “where to now?” 

“Ritou!” He cheers and his suddenly bubbly attitude- although normal- was a hop, skip and jump away from his push over attitude when you strongarmed him into coming to the city with you. Your eyebrow raises and you shift your weight onto your side. 

“Ritou? What, something else needs ‘Fixing’? Or are your ears just burning?” Thoma waves his hand dismissively and laughs as you both start walking off. 

“Oh, no. Nothing like that. Captain Beidou is coming back into port I hear,” he hums with a skip in his step that seemed way too excited. “She’s got some interesting ‘cargo’ this time around- or so rumor says.” 

“When you talk like that- you sound nefarious, Thoma.” 

“What? Do I really?” Leaving the city, you wonder just what cargo she’s brought with her. If it was a rumor, surely you should’ve heard it too- since you ran in the same circles more or less. In the back of your mind, you felt like you should know, but it never came to you. 

You join Thoma at the docks, sitting himself comfortably atop some crates as he offered you a snack- which you accept. You look around the docks and feel a little bit nostalgic. This had been where you had floated in from your world. Seeing it always made you feel a bit melancholic when you came by for one reason or another. 

Soon, the ship Thoma had been anticipating appeared off in the distance on the water's horizon. You still couldn’t get the nagging out of the back of your head that you should know what’s coming. It wasn’t until seeing the head of blond hair shining like stars and the floating white fairy that is their companion at the front bow of the Crux, it hit you like a truck. 

The Traveler has arrived in Inazuma..! 

While you were giddy at seeing them and figuring out which twin it would be, on top of getting a pretty good idea on the timeline of events now, you also felt a pit forming in your stomach. Things were about to get pretty shaky in Inazuma and there was no way in hell you’d be able to steer anyone out of the way of the path. 

From the moment Thoma jumped up from the boxes he was sitting on while flipping a coin in his hand aimlessly, to jumping up and hoping down to greet Beidou you felt like you had no place in the moment. It was the first time since getting used to Inazuma that you could recall parts of the game so vividly; seeing it play out in front of you like this made you feel isolated in a way that completely overshadowed your original giddiness. 

You had been excited to possibly get to greet Beidou before she set sail back off since having Kazuha, a wanted figure in Inazuma, currently on the Crux didn’t make for a full-scale dock. The shackles of invisible misplacement bound to your ankles keep you in place as you soon see her turn her back on the three others and retreat back to her ship. Thoma speaks momentarily to the new ‘honored guests’ afterward.

“Now then, first things first, we need to get you registered at the border checkpoint.” 

“Um, Paimon thought we were supposed to be keeping this on the downlow… Are we just going to walk into the government's hands?” 

“Haha, don’t underestimate the reaches of the Sakoku Decree. You wouldn’t be able to avoid inspection even if you tried. So we have to play by the rules… even if we’re kind of bending them.” 

Thoma wraps up his spiel before gesturing towards you, nearly completely hidden behind the crates that smell like sea salt-stained wood he had previously been relaxed on. The other two hadn’t even realized you were there. Cupping one of his hands around his mouth, he shouts your name. 

“Come over here and say hello to our new guests!” His hand that had been cupped to help his voice travel, moves over his head in an eager come here motion. You swallow and it feels like there's a handful of sand in your throat. Clearing it helps none. 

You try and find your footing- both literally and figuratively- as you make a very conscious attempt not to slip down the few wooden steps to the trio. You place your hands behind your back so you could fiddle with your fingers anxiously on the downlow. Thoma gently gestures to you once you stand at his side with one arm, the other towards the Traveler and Paimon. 

“This lovely lady is y/n. She’s a dear friend and coworker of mine, so she’ll be sticking around for the remainder of this errand.”  

“Hi!” Greeted the so-called ‘voice’ of the Traveler. “It’s nice to meet you. Paimon’s, Paimon and he’s, Aether!” She points one of her small hands towards the male twin who offers you a friendly smile and head nod. You release one of your hands and offer a small, friendly wave to the both of them. 

“I’m glad you managed to sail in safely,” you speak. Your voice is quieter than normal and judging by Thoma’s raised brow in your direction, he noticed. “Of course, you were in good hands, I hear.” 

“Oh yeah!” Paimon agrees, proudly crossing her arms. “That storm was no match for Beidou!” 

You didn’t realize you were staring at Aether until his eyes met yours and you suck in a breath so abruptly, you begin coughing. Thoma, panicking at your sudden fit, rubs your back as you hunch over. Hands on your knees and face down towards the dock. You could see the water waving between the wooden planks and you squeeze your eyes shut. ‘Get it together!’ you scream at yourself. 

Briefly apologizing and catching your breath, you reassure Thoma that you’re fine and that the whole process of bending the rules to get Aether into Inazuma and past the Decree wouldn’t wait forever. No better time than the present to get work done after all.

Following beside Thoma, who was leading the way for Aether and Paimon, he gently nudges your arm, leaning down to whisper to you. Once more, he asks if you were really doing okay. And once again, you reassure him that you were perfectly fine… like a liar.

a/n: once again, this is only a snippet that is sure to go through another round or two of editing! I kinda picked a random scene early in the script lol. At the time of posting this, the wip is now over 12k words long with the end no where in sight lmao rip

also lets ignore the absolute lack of ayato in the ayato fanfic pls... T-T I cant help it if he's away on business okay

[yunarim]

╰┈➤ summary : you and your reliable partner grim are the most famous interdimensional travelers under the Official Isekai Association. you're used to traveling into psychological thrillers and horrors. however, this time something goes wrong, and you suddenly turn into the protagonist of… an otome game?!

— characters : jade leech, leona kingscholar | kalim al-asim, azul ashengrotto | lilia vanrouge, idia shroud

⌞tags⌝ : gn reader, fluff at times, angst (i'm offering EXTRA angst and drama for lilia & idia for you today), mentions of death, idia's part being quite dark actually, BUT there's a happy ending (or i think so but feel free to allegorize as you please! :))

— w.c. : 14.8k+

⌞notes⌝ : thank you for reading everyone!! it was really fun to write, and now i'm off to the uni activities (let's hope i'll have more spare time than i think i will so i can be more active on tumblr). i even thought to make this fic a bit longer (up to 200+ pages or so?) but due to lack of time i just had to make it shorter :(( but i hope you had fun reading!! thank you for all the support you've shown ^^

“Oi henchman,” Grim poked at your cheek, a strong smell of tuna coming from him. “How much percent does that bat-guy have?”

“Bat-guy?..” You asked, a dim and dull voice coming from the pillow you buried your face into. “Do you mean Lilia Vanrouge?”

“Yeah, him,” Grim’s tail tickled your ear. “I’ve met him so many times during your previous walkthroughs it’s insane.”

“Huh? You’ve met him more than me?.. I believe I’ve encountered him thrice or so.”

“It’s like he was always there.”

The dismal mood which glued to you firmly happened to tremble slightly at Grim’s statement. If he has met Lilia continuously, then how in the world did you miss him? He was there occasionally, twice you’ve met him in Leona’s route, but other than that? Lilia Vanrouge resembled a mystery under a dark lacy veil. 

“Tell me about him,” you requested. “His profile is pretty confusing.”

“How come?”

“First, the difficulty of his walkthrough is 100%.”

“Fugnya?!”

“Second, his traits are fairly… uncommon. Not to mention his age is unknown.” 

“Shit,” Grim cursed. “Can’t believe how tough that Idia guy will be.”

“Don’t mention him. I’m not sure if I can survive Lilia’s route.”

“Survive,” Grim repeated, crawling under the blanket. “You haven’t used this word since we first landed in our first thriller. What, do you think that Lilia dude will kill you just because he’s a bat or something?”

You chuckled, making a strange noise, and thought to yourself that no, he won’t kill you for sure—you couldn’t die twice—but he will deprive you of your mental stability for certain. And with heart beating in blind anguish you tapped on Grim’s paw to feel less stressed out, turning to him.

“Okay so,” Grim sighed and started. “Be careful, henchman. I don’t think I’m ready to see your face after you complete his route. Dude’s dangerous.”

“Ha!”

As if you didn’t know that yourself.

You never knew where Lilia would appear. In Leona’s route you’ve met him just on a fortunate occasion, and not to mention your savings ran out to the point you had only basic transmigrator features left: to save the game and to load it, to see the indicator above people’s heads, to get auto-save once you finish another route, to be able to see person’s profile and such. 

So you came up with another idea. Since Grim was the one who witnessed Lilia during every route you’ve passed, you requested help from him directly. That’s why he went to the school yard, and you decided to go to auditoriums. 

Classes ended, and you started searching from the classroom where 3-E class lessons were, stumbling upon Trey Clover, who apparently was Lilia’s classmate. He was gathering his things, and now that you thought about it, ‘side’ characters also experienced strange emotions towards you. For instance, Floyd had to appear curious about you, once mentioning to Grim—which your partner told you not directly, but in his sleep—that he would love to make an acquaintance with you, because you somehow ‘fit Jade’s vibe’ or so.

You wondered how Clover would react and approached him. 

“Good afternoon,” you said, stretching out your hand for a handshake. “I’m Yuu.”

“Hello.”

Trey smiled at you politely, but the look in his eyes appeared to possess an uncertain curiosity. 

“I’m Trey Clover,” he said, accepting your handshake. “You are the directing student, right? You’re quite popular around here, but it’s always impossible to meet you, ha-ha.”

“Y-yes?.. Why is that?”

“Why are you popular, you mean?” You nodded. “We’ll… Lilia always talks about you. Which is interesting, he always wonders where you could be. It’s quite unusual for him.”

“Ha-ha, how peculiar… I also wonder where he is right now. Possibly you have an idea?”

“Oh? With how often he mentions you I thought you two are good friends. Or something more~”

You jolted, forcing a smile. Clover, of course, had no ill intentions, but his words were poisonous to you.

“How could we…”

“Somehow you two have the same energy…” Trey shook his head. “No, forgive me, I’m just talking to myself. Anyway, I don’t know where Lilia would be, but the club meetings should start soon. Maybe you should go and look—”

“Light Music Club class, right?”

“You sure you don’t know where he is?” Trey chuckled. “Sorry. Well then, I’ll get going. See you!”

“Yes… see you. Thank you.” 

Strange. No matter how you looked at it, it was strange to the bone. Clover just confirmed what Grim saw — Lilia obviously entailed an unconcealed interest in you, provided he not just was there in other routes, but also talked about you. But what was the reason for him to do it? He didn’t know you, unless there was an error occurring in the system and ruining the whole story, but it certainly wasn’t anything. So why would he…

You opened the Light Music Club room’s door and glanced over it quickly, noticing Lilia wasn’t there. Alright, you had some time to sort out your thoughts alone before encountering Vanrouge in person, so you came in, closing the door, and observed the room. Music sheets were scattered everywhere quite chaotically, and dust particles were flowing under sunbeams breaking through the opened window. 

“Hm, that one song…” You grabbed a music sheet, recognizing the song’s lyrics. “I think I saw it before.”

It certainly was a remix, something reminiscent of an old folk song you’ve heard once, transmigrating into a horror fantasy novel. It sounded quite romantic and nice, very light and joyful, something unostentatious that helped you during hard times. Horrors were always energy and emotion draining, but this song could bring you some sort of a rewind.

You smiled, seeing that not much changed in this version, but without any notes you couldn’t figure out for sure how it sounded, so the original tune just slipped out of your tongue. 

Enjoying the sound and the light feeling in your chest, you finally managed to feel genuinely free and happy, just like Kalim wished for you to be, and you positioned yourself on the windowsill, seeing people down there on the school yard passing by. 

“I remember like it’s yesterday,” you’ve sung, opening the system’s tools and checking Lilia’s profile. “When I was having hard time being lonely.”

Indeed, there was no age mentioned. How very strange, you thought, but also tried to remember how old you yourself were when you started wandering around the worlds, like a ghost haunting the mansion, finding no peace and always trying to reach for something significant. 

“The unfamiliar atmosphere,” you’ve continued singing. “The fearful thrills, now I know…”

In fact, you didn’t know anything. An unpleasant pricking sensation in your heart caused you to stare at Lilia’s image for an uncertain amount of time.

“Including my immature heart…”

You knew the next line in the song, but thought it would be best to refrain from singing it, when you realized it didn’t suit you at the moment. No matter how hard you wanted to escape this place and let everyone be happy, you still couldn’t and—

“You made me to think of those as good memories~”

You blinked, hearing obviously not your own voice, and now that you noticed, didn’t Lilia’s profile image turned not so transparent as usual?..

“Hm? Why would you stop singing?”

A popped up system window abruptly closed at once, and you saw Lilia hanging upside down and floating midair just before you. 

“What the.. Isn’t it the second floor?!”

“Now now,” Lilia sneaked into the room, plunging on the sofa, and looked at you with a sly smile, yet a kind and feignedly naive look in his eyes. “Sorry for scaring you! Although I’m not sure if I did, you don’t look like passing out.”

“And why would I?”

“Well, magicless humans don’t usually see people hanging upside down. I was ready to catch you if you fell out of the window.”

“Huh, thanks for your kindness I guess?.. And I believe I’m just not the person to be easily impressed.”

“Hmmm~” Lilia grinned at you. “Still, how wonderful that you know the original sound of the song. When I asked Cater and Kalim, they mentioned they never knew it was a remix in the first place.”

“Kalim…” You mumbled to yourself, not knowing that Lilia heard you, then shook your head. “Uhm, it’s a… popular song in my original world.”

You didn’t even remember the world you were born in. Was there any magic and you were the one to not be blessed—or cursed?—with this ability, or was it a completely magicless world in the first place? 

Now matter how hard you’ve tried, you never managed to remember at least a glimpse. 

“Oh really?” Lilia smirked. “How old are you, Yuu? It’s quite an old song.”

“I’m…”

Your physical age was the one at which you died, and after that you could refer as you pleased. At first there was a strict system which highly depended on an employee’s age, and there were tasks and stories requiring certainty, but as your bosses explained, there were not so many people ready for the horror stories, so they allowed people who were physically and externally old enough to buy appearance changing abilities. 

As for you, a similar case happened once when you needed to appear a bit older than you looked. But other than that, how old were you actually, if you were to consider the years spent while traveling to other dimensions?

“I’m 18,” you replied. “And you?”

“I might appear younger than I actually am, so let the surprise remain till the end, what do you think?”

“O-okay?..” 

Lilia giggled at how unsure yet accepting your answer was.

“What a beautiful song, really.”

“I believe so too,” you nodded. “But uhm, Lilia, could I ask you about something?”

“Go ahead!”

“Clover said that you… talk about me quite often. Is that true? Why would you do that?”

For a mere second the gleam in Lilia’s eyes disappeared, but you couldn’t say for sure what kind of emotion shadowed his face.

“Ha-ha, there’s something majestic about you. Makes me wonder if you’re really that cold and serious as you appear.”

“Excuse me?..”

“Ah, don’t get me wrong~” Vanrouge jumped off the sofa, then appeared before you in a flash, examining your face and making you flustered all of sudden. “Yes, that’s what I’m talking about. You seem so mournful and wintry at times, but we just exchanged fairly mixed emotions, didn’t we?”

“What do you mean by ‘mixed’?” You asked, averting your gaze.

“You show just a bit of emotion around certain people, so I wondered what it takes to make you smile.”

You knitted your brows together, glancing askance at him, and met Lilia’s widened in surprise eyes. You shrugged away the confusion grown in you and approached him, non-verbally asking if he was okay due to the sudden disturbance, but he quickly regained his composure. 

“Sorry~” He smiled. “It’s just that you… No, nevermind.”

“You’re strange, Lilia Vanrouge.”

And again he looked as if the world was about to cease within a second, and with similar impetuosity disappeared. 

“So are you,” he grinned. “In any case, I’m glad I finally found you. Make sure to be more careful when you go somewhere alone, okay? And don’t sit on windowsills.”

“What are you, my dad?” You chuckled, but the depth and a hint of despair stored in his eyes made you swallow your joke. “Okay, I will. Sorry for making you… worry?”

Just how strange Lilia was, really. Not only did he talk vaguely and in riddles, but also appeared to be worried about you, however what was the reason behind? 

“Just stay ali… safe. That is enough for my ha—”

“Lilia, we came!! How about we— Huh?”

And the day couldn’t be worse than it already started. Kalim and another person, who you remembered to be Cater Diamond, also a member of Light Music Club, entered the room with Kalim abruptly stopping talking when he saw you.

“Oh, Yuu?” He approached you, taking your hands in his and causing you to bite your lip to not say anything. “Hello! I’m Kalim Al-Asim, but you can call me—”

“Kalim, yes?” You answered before him, making Kalim part his lips slightly before continuing.

“Yep!! But uhm, Yuu, why do you look so dreadful? You should smile, I know you look so bright when you do!”

Cater and Lilia blinked at him, when you couldn’t help yourself but actually reciprocate Kalim’s generously huge smile.

“See! You’re so cute, Yuu! Just as I’ve told you!”

“Yuu-chan is surely cute,” Cater said. “But uhm. How did you know that? I don’t think you two met before?”

“Right,” Lilia nodded. “I do wonder, too.”

“Oh,” Kalim gasped. “Actually, I don’t know… It just happened.”

You clenched your shirt in your hand, but didn’t stop smiling, not noticing Lilia staring at you.

And also his heart filling up just slightly.

You’ve started questioning if Lilia’s route was really that hard as the system calculated. He was openly showing his unconcealed interest for you, and also he was the one approaching and finding you everywhere before you could even think about searching for him yourself.

He was ready to help you with anything, and he also was quite willing to listen to what you could tell, when you came up with ideas of what you two might talk about. Creating the ways of starting conversations was the hardest part, as you really didn’t know what was safe to say and what wasn’t. 

But what confused you the most was Lilia’s heart icon. 

Normally it would fill up thrice, or just twice in Kalim’s case, but Lilia’s one was inconsistent, wavering and uncertain, as if he himself couldn’t decide what he should think of you. After that one talk you had in the Light Music Club’s room you saw that there was a liquid in his heart, and the day after it just… 

Disappeared. 

You never knew it could happen and at first you were scared you'd fail, then you felt a relief that maybe there was a mistake in the system and you’ll be sent to the office shortly, but you never were. The system indicators were absolutely fine and showed no errors occurred, so the problem was in Lilia himself.

You could just say something, and the liquid in his heart would fill up to its third, then say something not so very different or surprising, and it would dissolve again. You asked Grim whether he knew something, but he also didn’t, so now your main task was to figure out what the hell was happening.

Maybe that was that 100% of the difficulty level of his route, but it still seemed simple with how devoted Vanrouge was, always meeting you and spending time with you.

Not to mention Lilia was strange to the point you couldn’t comprehend how you should feel about him. In the previous walkthroughs you learnt lessons, you tried to change and came to the realization you’ll never be the same, you’ve become vulnerable to no good if you were about to enter another horror or thriller. 

“Yuu?”

You raised your head when you heard Lilia’s voice above you. The heart was filled to its third, and Lilia bent over to look at the book you were reading. 

“Oh,” he said, taking a seat beside you under the tree in the school yard. “Right, there’s a magic history exam coming up that you first years will take, correct?”

“Yeah,” you nodded. “I’ve been reading about Briar Valley’s war period.”

Lilia’s gaze turned more serious, which you’ve noticed, knowing he came from this country according to his profile, and didn’t want to pursue, so as to not recall unpleasant memories, but Lilia suddenly smiled and took the book you were holding in his hands.

“Okay let’s have a revision then!!”

“Huh?” You blinked. “But I haven’t read much and…”

“I’ll help, I’m good at history.”

“Alright…” 

“So!” Lilia exclaimed. “Let’s see… What can you tell me about the pre-war period? The state of the people during the time.”

Despite how cheerful and friendly he tried to look, his eyes full of despair made you frown, but you tried to stay focused, and answered.

“Before the intervention happened,” you started. “The leadership of the Briar Valley took a number of political steps that attribute to the causes of the war, which are the nationalization of the means of production, banks and large-scale industry and the solution of the agrarian question in accordance with the program of the Briar Valley’s leadership, contrary to the interests of the landowners, which provoked the resistance of the previously ruling classes, who lost their property and…”

“Yuu,” Lilia interrupted you. “I see you’re quite knowledgeable and will definitely pass. But hm… Would you be so kind as to tell me what would you do if you were in common people’s shoes?”

“Me?” Your eyes widened. “Why?”

“Among people who lost everything and had nothing to do to escape this state were not so many people as calm as you are. So I’m quite…. Interested in your point of view.”

“I don’t think I can answer that?..”

“Alright, then… Let me rephrase that. If you were in the situation where you could save someone dear to you or save yourself, who would you choose?”

Lilia closed the book he was holding, and lowered his gaze, his pupils almost fading in a scary sorrow that slided down his eyes. 

His route wasn’t just a simple one where he could just fall in love with you, or where you needed to fall in love with him — you still couldn’t. The feelings you’ve carried towards others weren’t love in its romantical way, as you thought, but your emotions that arose when communicating with Lilia resembled a huge ball of tangled multi-colored threads of different textures. Some were rough and even scabrous, like sandpaper, while others resembled flowing silk enveloping the mind and warming the heart.

And maybe that is precisely why his walkthrough happened to be so tough.

“Of course,” you looked straight up at him. “The dearest one. I’m not scared of dying.”

You looked at him in surprise when the liquid in his heart rose with a spring to the max, causing you to gasp and almost scream, but then something absolutely inadmissible happened. 

His heart broke with a rattling sound, the liquid dissolved and disappeared, leaving just a glassy empty cracked vessel floating above his head.

“Lilia!!” You cried out, receiving a bitter smile from him.

What just happened?!

“Just as I thought, Yuu.”

“What do you mean?.. Are you alright?”

“Hm? Why would you ask that?”

“That was so sudden… Are you not satisfied with my answer?”

“This is not something I can enjoy for sure, don’t you think?” He chuckled. “But don’t worry, I just… I think I hoped you would choose yourself.”

“But… why?” You asked, your trembling hands being covered with Lilia’s steady ones. “I don’t understand. I won’t change my answer, but isn’t it only natural?”

“I think for kind people, such as you, it is. I would do that myself, there’s no denying. I already did once and… In any case,” he fixed a strand of your hair. “It just made me realize you probably don’t value your own life yourself.”

You looked at him confusedly. 

“Why would you think so?”

“Who knows,” he shrugged. “But it’s quite… upsetting. You resemble them so much…”

Them? You wondered who he meant by referring like that, but it was a valuable clue in how to finish his route, which by now resembled not just a walkthrough of a silly otome game character, but an extremely confusing, yet holistic individual. 

Them, huh. Then maybe… Was your purpose not to make Lilia fall in love with you, but something else? And what would that even be?

“I need to go,” Vanrouge suddenly dropped, standing up and looking at you, who grabbed his sleeve subconsciously without thinking. “Good luck on your exams, Yuu.”

“Lilia, wait!”

He paused for a moment, trying to find something particular in your eyes, and patted your head, demonstrating a deplorable smile.

“I hope you’ll manage to find something that will make you cherish yourself.”

You stared at his distant silhouette and did not notice how a single tear rolled down your left cheek, leaving behind a crooked wet path.

Lilia’s route was surely an uncommon one. You wanted to howl with how hard the difficulty level hit you, starting from Lilia following you and helping with anything to him ignoring and avoiding you. And you knew he did that because he also suspected something about you, not just because of the words you’ve said. 

And it was confusing. 

You couldn’t find him anywhere, no matter what. You even tried overcoming yourself and willingly approached Kalim to ask if he knew where Lilia was, but he surprisingly didn’t, leaving you with nothing but a cracking feeling in your chest after that little interaction. 

In previous routes, even if there were pauses, like Leona was just busy dealing with something, they never avoided you for about three weeks in a row. You were going insane with how you actually wanted to understand what was wrong, to figure out feelings Lilia carried within his heart, why would the heart icon break, and who were they he mentioned. 

Which is why you decided to bring him a bouquet of flowers you were going to pick yourself. It was nothing much, you would probably not be able to find him at all, but at least you wanted to give him something. If your idea fails, then alright, you’ll just pass him the bouquet through his classmates or clubmates. 

You remembered the forest you went to in your first walkthrough, wanting to find a mushroom for Jade. The same landscape, the same dull and cold weather, you having no equipment—it felt almost nostalgic. You didn’t plan to go deep further, just to pick some flowers without reaching the cliff you fell off in Jade’s route.

Ah of course, it was storming and thundering right when you reached the forest. 

You were shivering out of the cold wind and freezing raindrops, but there was no other choice. Not to mention there were also flowers that blossomed only in cold weather and should be picked only when it’s raining. Which is why you stubbornly went further, ignoring weather conditions, and found a small meadow surrounded by majestic firs. 

There was no moon in the sky, given it was covered with dark clouds, and you lowered your head, discovering plenty of beautiful flowers and starting picking them. Both your clothes and hands were covered in dirt while you picked flowers, but you didn’t seem to care, opening the system tabs and checking the meaning of certain plants. You wanted to express your feelings in a correct way without misinterpreting anything and—

“Ouch,” you clicked your tongue. “You’re quite spiky, huh…”

You pulled out a tiny flower with thin petals, noticing an unexpectedly thick trunk with sharp thorns, and felt your finger slightly paralyzed.

“Shit…” You’ve whispered, checking out the system tab. “It’s…”

“Yuu!!”

You thought you’ve misheard, because the heavy rain was getting stronger, the wind mercilessly burned the skin with its sharp breaths and howls. But when you turned, trying to recognize the silhouette which you think appeared somewhere in front of you, you were thrown to the ground, being squeezed in a strong hug.

“H-huh…”

You were surprised, you really were, and yet you felt so weak and unsteady. 

“You fool,” you recognized Lilia’s worried voice. “You idiot!!”

“You’re the one to talk,” you chuckled. “Avoiding me and then cursing me. What’s gotten into you?!”

“Just don’t go,” he demanded, tightening his grip on you, lying on top of you, who was still holding the flower. “Don’t go in the same way they did. Don’t die, Yuu. I’m begging…”

“Lilia… I’m not dying, see?”

“This flower…” You felt his lips somewhere in the crook of your neck. “Is poisonous.” 

Which you already discovered when pricking and checking out the file the system provided you with. It really was, but you had saved the walkthrough before entering the forest and—

“I’m not letting you die here.”

“But that’s alright, given you’ve come. I was worried and—” 

“Can you please worry about yourself for once?!”

 You paused for a moment. Right, he didn’t know you couldn’t die in the first place. 

But did it really matter? He reprimanded you, demanded you to cherish your life, yourself…

“Lilia, tell me… Did something happen to them, so now you correlate that case with mine?”

Vanrouge took your hand in his, frowning and placing a soft kiss on the place where you were pricked, and now it was you who started panicking.

“Idiot, if it’s poisonous, then you will!..”

“I won’t.” Lilia answered. “Faes are stronger than you, humans. This little flower won’t kill me.”

“There’s no need to worry about me, too.”

“You stupid!” He cried, cupping your face in his face. “Stupid Yuu. Your pupils are almost gone, you can’t even move your hands properly already. How come you’re so calm when you’re literally dying!?”

“Why would you care!!” 

You clenched your hands into fists, curling your fingers into your palms as if shivering in pain, and exhaled painfully slowly, closing your eyes. 

In fact, you knew. You’ve realized just as they’re not only characters of a game you’ve crushed into, they were more humanic then you yourself were. They’ve taught you different feelings.

But from the obsessive thoughts that you really melted the crust of thick ice that covered your true essence, capable of loving; you wanted to escape from these thoughts, the stubborn belief that putting on a mask of alienation and indifference was the most correct decision was about to disappear, had you only look in Lilia’s worried eyes.

While you wanted them to be not just game characters and experience different feelings, you also desired for yourself to be a doll without any bright emotions. 

“Why would I, you ask? Really?” He whispered, laughing nervously. “Fine. You do resemble my first lover who died long long ago. Just like you’re about to do, they also pricked their finger and died from poison.”

You frowned, avoiding meeting his stare.

“And they also didn’t care about themselves. They wished for me to be happy, for me to be alive. And I was there, a fae who couldn’t die that easily, witnessing their death.”

“I’m sorry for your loss…”

“Shut it,” he leaned closer to you, but there was no warmth in his actions, and squeezed your hand, which you couldn’t feel anymore. “You’re not them. You’re… You don’t care about yourself to the very last second of your life. I wanted to prevent you from getting into trouble, because I was simply scared.”

“But who am I to you? Just another mere human, what did I do for you to worry so hard?”

“Something absolutely irrational,” he chuckled. 

“What? Did I just remind you of your previous lover?”

“Quite the opposite. Remember when we talked about sacrifices?”

“Yes, what about that?”

He settled into a sitting position, taking off his jacket and pulling it over you, knowing that it was useless in this situation.

“You’ve said you’re not scared of dying. My first love also wasn’t. But they chose themselves.”

“And I chose the dearest one to me…”

“They pricked their finger when collecting flowers, because there was a legend that the flower could heal. They were already on the verge of death due to illness, but… They weren’t afraid to die, yet desperately searched for a way to live.”

“Lilia, I… I’m sorry.”

He sighed, pressing his forehead to yours.

“Don’t be. I couldn’t find the reason for you to treasure your life.”

You wanted to smile at him to avoid further discussion, but at the same time… You thought that you did.

It seemed to you that there was no point in denying it, and you closed your eyes sharply, hoping to blink away this strange feeling that you really wanted to live. To live and remember everything that happened, all the emotions and tingles in the chest.

“Every time… it feels like I'm learning a lesson…” You said vaguely. “To treasure small moments, to believe in myself and others, to smile genuinely, to let myself feel loved… And now, to treasure my life.”

“Ha,” Vanrouge chuckled. “Yuu, what kind of life did you live before that no one told you the things that make you human?”

Your smile was just as nebulous as your answer.

“I’m not sure if I was human before.”

“Huh?”

“Nevermind… Lilia, I… Even if I may sound stupid, please let me thank you for letting me know that I should treasure myself.”

One his smile, one his tight hold of your hand, and the bright light filling up his heart bursted out of it, enveloping you in it. 

“So that was the purpose of your route, huh,” you laughed.

“Route?” He asked, drawing you closer to his chest.

“You know, I wasn’t scared of death because I can’t die twice. I would just… reload the game and start again. And now, since I’ve finished your route, I’ll get into another one. But you won’t remember that.”

“Ha!” Lilia smirked. “I’ll never forget you, Yuu. And a fae can’t lie.”

You just smiled to him, enjoying his determination and managing to reciprocate his gentle touch, not feeling anything in your hand.

┆₊ ⊹ the song in lilia's part — nct u - from home

“Something’s not right, Yuu.”

“What?..”

Everything seemed quite alright to you. Your usual post-walkthrough experience, Grim nagging about something, another route to finish, another emotion to develop, you levitating in a strange void… Wait. 

Void?

“Where are we?”

Usually you could witness such a sight when transferring into another world. Familiar empty arrays, slightly interrupted by multi-colored digital fibers, waves of supersonic flew around.

“Wait, Grim!! Look!”

You pointed at the loading bar, indicating another world loading progression, and grabbed Grim’s paw, drawing him closer, being flown away somewhere further. 

“The fuck?”

“Oi, language,” you said. “But… What is going on? I haven’t finished Idia’s route! I haven’t even started it!”

“This is strange.”

But the profiles popped up, switching from one to another, and you noticed Idia’s one literally smashing into your face, causing you to gasp.

“Ugh!”

Before observing what the system tab introduced to you, you managed to look at Lilia’s ‘COMPLETED’ line which became common at this point, and, sighing, switched to Idia, gasping the second after.

No portrait, no information, everything being blurred or written in ??????

Nothing.

“I don’t understand what is going on,” you said. “At all!”

“I thought we’re transmigrating to another story.”

“The boss couldn’t just let us transfer to another dimension without introducing the details.”

“That little punk.”

“Hey, he’s our boss after all.”

“Little shit who let you suffer without any warning.”

“Grim…” You smiled at him. “Alright, is there any information available?”

“Nah. Nothing at all. But I guess we’re about to figure it out.”

A bright flash ripping out the space let you know that you were about to enter another (?) world, and held Grim closer to you, ready to witness what was about to happen.

And more importantly, what happened to Idia’s route?

Digital waves floated around Idia, breaking space and distorting it. Idia squinted in discomfort and because of the crackle of sparks in the processor of his computer, when a deafening explosion was heard, and space waves came out with distorted algorithms, system errors popped up every now and then, and Idia just growled in indignation.

“Uh, the hell?”

He rubbed his eyes with the dry fingers, discovering to his delight that the soda in the can hadn't spilled from the sudden rupture of the universe, and exhaled heavily with a creak, opening the profile that flashed in the system window.

Yuu.

No surname, no age, just an occupation — interdimensional traveler (genres: thriller & horror).

“Aaah…shit.”

Idia yawned, taking a cheese chip and biting it. While looking to improve his equipment and extract materials that could be used in Ortho's various gears, one day Idia stumbled upon a very strange glitch in the system.

At first he thought it was another error he could fix, but when system windows started popping up everywhere not just on his computer’s monitor, but in freaking reality, Idia realized he maybe perhaps possibly potentially very likely needed more sleep juuuuust a bit. 

Idia chuckled, unimpressed, and quickly glanced over system tabs, seeing profiles of people of this college. Wha, how wonderful, he REALLY did want to see them, uh-huh— The hell? 

“Not even dorm leaders,” Idia noticed, leafing through the files. “Riddle-shi would be so pissed off he wasn’t mentioned lmao.”

What a strange order. First Jade Leech, the second year of Octavinelle, then suddenly Leona Kingscholar, Kalim Al-Asim being next… 

“Yoooo, Azul-shi?” Idia chuckled, stumbling upon his clubmate profile. “What kind of game is that lol.”

The more he checked, the more he was getting confused. Alright, it wasn’t the info that couldn’t be obtained at all, after all everyone knows that Al-Asim is an extremely wealthy family, and Kingscholar is even royalty, but what was the ‘DIFFICULTY LEVEL’ parameter? 

“Damn Lilia-shi is impressive for sure,” Idia nodded to himself, pulling another chip out of the package. “100% difficulty, must be hard…. Not for me tho ofc~”

If there was a difficulty level in each profile, that was probably some sort of a game, right? So Idia thought before stumbling upon his own profile being blurred completely.

“Ayo the fuck?” He chuckled in disbelief. “That’s my name!!”

Unknown difficulty level? Well that’s obvious, given he’s the boss, the main character!!..

The main character? Wait a moment.

“Yuu,” Idia mumbled and repeated. “Yuu, huh. What the hell interdimensional traveler even means?” 

Some time passed with Idia investigating who the hell you were in the first place, and couldn’t find anything.

He leaned to his PC, checking out the monitors, and noticed you on one of the cameras in the school. Uh-huh, so that's where you were… 

Sipping the coffee Jade Leech brewed, you enjoyed the conversation you’ve had. Idia cringed at witnessing such an awkward situation, averting his gaze and not noticing the dismal look in your eyes.

“If Yuu-shi’s main genres are thriller and horror, does it mean we here live in one, too?” Idia muttered to himself. “No wait, isn’t it like, incredible discovery, scientific breakthrough? Shouldn’t I let the world know there are more universes we imagined, and here’s living proof?”

The ‘living proof’, you that would be, was currently heading out to Ramshackle, where Idia had no cameras, thus he just decided to create your profile himself, filling out the details according to the data he was obtaining. 

“Ugh,” he cringed. “Feels awkward.”

It did. You were interesting enough to know you better, but huh—he wasn’t a fool to interact with you firsthand, right?! He promised to himself he wouldn’t obtain anything that would violate your privacy, and come to think of it, your every interaction with anyone wasn’t concealed from strangers’ eyes. You were on the school grounds, it was only natural he could overhear… Shit.

“I’m garbage,” he concluded, dropping his face in his hands and sighing with a heaviness in his chest. “But Yuu’s too strange.”

Idia couldn’t let himself get some sleep. Not when your activity suddenly went up almost at night and you headed to the freaking forest! What were you thinking, really?! 

But wait.

“What is that thing…”

Idia leaned closer to the screen and gasped, noticing familiar flying system tabs around you. The camera he installed was too far away to see exactly what the tabs were portraying, but there was no denying that you brought those strange flying windows when landed here in Twisted Wonderland.

And again, there were no cameras in the forest, but Idia was waiting for you to come out. It’s not prohibited to enter the forest on your own, but given it was the school for magicians, they surely could protect themselves from anything happening, however you? You possessed no magic, and Idia already checked that—you were magicless to the bone—but didn’t you think it was at least reckless to go to the forest when it was dark and cold? 

He thought you were stupid, really. You didn’t come out for some time, and when he was ready to drop his face on the keyboard and faint due to fatigue, sound sensors suddenly arose, and your scream was heard. 

“What’s happening there?!”

He tried checking other cameras and found the one close to the further part of the forest, which demonstrated a view near the cliff, and noticed your figure, which appeared a bit distorted on the camera, always glitching and emitting flashy sparks.

“Yuu-shi is surely something,” Idia mumbled. “And… uh? Isn’t it Jade-shi?”

No way just WHAT WAS THAT thing above his head??

A heart-shaped icon filled to its half with a pink strange liquid. 

“Isn’t it like,” Idia bit his lip, eyes widening in disbelief. “An otome game thing?”

No way. Literally no way.

If you were an interdimensional traveler, that meant Twisted Wonderland was just another world you’ve entered, a book-like story with the effect of full immersion from the first person perspective, your perspective, to be precise—yeah, he got that already. But weren’t your genres thriller and horror? So what’s with that cringey heart icon and the way Jade-shi looked at you?!

There must be an error in the system you’ve brought. And wait…

If Jade was listed the first in profiles, Idia being the last… didn’t it mean that he was about to be wooed by you?! 

“Ha, you wish,” he laughed nervously, his heartbeat accelerating rapidly. 

The nature of that icon was yet to be investigated. Did it appear instantly after your arrival? Idia stood up, stretching and hearing an unpleasant sound of his vertebrae cracking after sitting for so long, then made his way to the mirror and frowned. There was no icon or whatsoever.

Okay, then it did mean that the icon appeared only when you enter your love interests routes, right?

He himself was safe for a time being. Interested in what the hell was going on, yes indeed, but also scared.

Didn’t it mean he needed to fall in love with you to complete the mission? And hey, why was Jade-shi so calm about it? It was obvious something wasn’t right with you, so how could he believe you so easily? Moreover, why compete with others when there literally were figures like Leona-shi or Lilia-shi?

After you were rescued and headed over to Ramshackle, he closed his eyes and plunged on the bed, ready to howl in indignation. 

Days passed, and a festival with the firework show you’ve prepared came. Idia didn’t care much, being able to watch right in his room, not to mention he possessed no interest at all, watching you getting on the rooftop instead.

Jade came not so long after, and when Idia thought it was still stupid to overhear you, but he needed that to figure out how to behave and what to do, the heart-shaped icon above Jade-shi’s head suddenly started glowing slightly, filling up with pink liquid to the max. 

The icon started radiating bright light, and that was when he noticed how shocked you were, how your face became overshadowed with fear and agony, and frowned himself. You looked like an anime character at the denouement of the story, but that was right when he realized himself.

If the route was coming to an end, what was about to happen with him? Will he forget everything? Shit, that would complicate his research, no no no!!

The last thing he saw before the light filled his own room was your sad yet bright smile on the screen, and then the world went out.

“Ugh…”

When Idia woke up, he noticed a strange pricking feeling in his chest, then rushed to the PC. 

“You gotta be kidding…”

Your image and a progress indicator under the photo suddenly popped up in front of him.

20% of completion. 

He checked Jade Leech’s profile which already turned gray and unavailable to interact with anymore, but then Leona’s profile popped up, showing 0% of completion. 

“So I… remember everything?”

A strange joy blossomed in his chest for a brief moment before a realization hit, notifying that he needed to continue investigating. And that he also still was one of the targets.

“Mkay,” he muttered, getting out of bed and crawling on the chair, feeling sleep deprived and hungry. Who cared about food anyway? “Let’s continue, Yuu-shi.”

What was his role in this game though? Well, he obviously meant to be the main character with extra imbalance abilities! But after waking up and remembering everything that happened, especially your unnaturally distorted gaze, he started questioning his own purpose in this charade.

“Haiz,” he chuckled, noticing how you already found Leona-shi. Was he sniffing you?! “Damn he’s surely feline…”

“The smell, not of magic, but similar. Also like that fish guy?”

Idia knitted brows together, wondering what could Leona know. It appeared Kingscholar didn’t remember anything about you at all, but still carried a feeling that you and Jade-shi already interacted. 

“So he doesn’t know that’s a game,” Idia concluded, nodding to himself and adding the obtained info to his databases, his fingers flying above the keyboard. “Which makes Yuu-shi and me the only ones who know.”

Despite how proud he was for feeling himself being so special and extraordinary, he rolled up his sleeves and scratched his head in confusion, trying to form a logically adequate chain of events and arguments in order to come to an unambiguous decision as a result, but, alas, his attempts were unsuccessful.

What scared him the most was the possibility of being the last love interest. He remembered protagonists of otome games, mainly they were kind individuals with bright personalities, or with no personalities at all. He preferred the last ones, they were close to his own blank gloomy self, to feel himself being the main hero of the story, to insert his own thoughts into the walkthrough, but you?

You weren’t so overkindly and bubbly as he first you would. Your decisions were rational at first, and you perhaps were provided with no knowledge about how romance worked, judging by your slow progression, the majority of which happened because of the natural charm and characters being enchantingly attracted to you… or so he thought. 

Idia howled when a stupid thought ran across his mind at the speed of light, piercing him through and screaming ‘Yuu-shi is really charming tho…’, and quickly brushed it off, shaking his head. Argh, that was all useless!! You were aiming for his heart, not the icon, but real heart, his real feelings and the ability to love. And to hell with you, he didn’t want to love you!!

He didn’t want to imagine what happens with him when you leave. 

Locks of his hair scattered all over the table when Leona-shi suddenly kissed you in front of others. Oi, wasn’t it too much?!

Idia wondered if the smile with which you replied to Leona was really genuine, or was it a perfect act for you to escape his route freely?

Days passing from route to route felt like ages. After Leona the time consumed for completing was extending, and when Kalim’s walkthrough dropped, Idia wanted to ignore you at all cost.

He could understand your previous self with an extremely concealed demeanor, rational and logical thinking, a goal to finish everything and get back home—where was it, by the way?—but as for now, you’ve started experiencing transformations of your soul. 

Your emotions became more open and vivid, your normally efficient and sensible ways of thinking were affected by a variety of feelings, which Idia himself was unable to distinguish. Was it the softness of your heart or an honest desire to open up? Ugh, normies things…

“Oi, isn’t his heart already full?!”

Idia checked the icon above Kalim’s head and gasped. Damn, the system that you’ve carried around here was surely impressive, demonstrating how feelings could work. Kalim-shi was most definitely full of love towards you, why hasn't his route finished already?

Apparently a strange thing called ‘feelings’ was the problem. Being in love with you but not allowing himself to express it because he refrained himself and wished for other people’s happiness in the first place? What a strange guy. If that would be Idia…

Wait, what would he do? 

“Let your own heart decide.”

Idia tensed up. 

You weren’t saying it for him, but the sharp cutting sensation that pierced his chest made Idia wince at the vagueness of his emotions, and he clenched the jacket in his fist.

Will there be any feelings left for him when you get on his route? 

“Shit, what an absurd way of thinking,” he laughed at himself. What a fool.

He should have avoided you at all cost!! 

But actually seeing you coming to his clubmate, the one he could consider a friend, and asking for boldly falling in love with him?! Yuu-shi, you’re extremely insane, huh?

Okay, that was your purpose all along—to make Azul fall in love with you—but argh!! Hugging in a narrow staff room?! 

Idia averted his gaze, questioning your emotions. Were you just collecting people like toys, limited cards in your collection, to just leave casually when it’s over? He didn’t want to become one of them, to develop at least a tiny something towards you to be left all alone. Again.

At one point Idia thought it would be interesting to watch you interacting with Vil-shi, given how perfectly you played the role of being the protagonist, the one who attracted everyone. 

Yes, it was for the best. It was the simplest way to think of you like that, a villain destroying everyone’s hearts. 

So that he wouldn’t feel so lonely himself.

When Lilia’s route started, Idia has woken up with an insanely strong migraine making him slightly worried. The more walkthroughs you passed, the more he was feeling strange. 

“I wonder if Azul-shi will remember what Yuu-shi told him…”

Maybe he actually should have gone and checked on him, but Idia quickly shrugged the thought off.

“Oh?”

Your image suddenly appeared to be too close to the camera he installed, and Idia wondered where you were, given you were sitting on a windowsill. Okay, Light Music Club’s room. And you were…

You were singing softly. Your voice was pleasant to hear, nothing out of the ordinary, but still fairly nice to enjoy. Not to mention your dreamy face yet shadowed with a glimpse of sadness… Why were you so gloomy at times anyway? Just play your role, ugh.

And Lilia-shi was also strange. According to him, you appeared to be resembling someone… What kind of Surrealistic Messenger experience was that, huh? What were you, a Nika? 

You really had no logic left, going to the forest from your first walkthrough again, huh? And it rained heavily, too, but Idia couldn’t see what was happening there. But when the bright light started beaming through the trees, Idia exhaled freely.

It was also the moment he realized. 

He was the next and the last route. 

You stared at the black space, hearing almost nothing, and the familiarity got you thinking that all of the things happening you had already witnessed once. Just right when you landed here in Twisted Wonderland.

You tried outstretching your hand, meeting with a thud, and you chuckled to yourself, prying off the coffin lid and removing it from the hinges, taking one step out.

“Grim?”

“Henchman…”

Grim found you, who was wearing the ceremonial robe, and you two ended up bursting with hysterical laughter, when Crowley came and noticed you… 

No way. No way it was just as on your first day of transmigrating here!! 

Same people, same places, same events, same dialogues… 

Same mirror proclaiming you’re magicless.

Everything was just the same!!

“Grim,” you whispered to him while Crowley was searching for the books to try figuring out where you came from. You always mentioned other worlds’ places in those kinds of situations, because your boss demanded you not say anything personal. “Check out if the status of the game has changed.”

“Got it.”

You saw Grim summoning the system interface, but a sudden abrupt flash made you close your eyes for a moment, and when you opened them, you saw tabs glitching and lagging around you, distorting the space.

“What the…”

“Hm?” Crowley turned to you, apparently scanning your face, but you couldn’t say for sure because of his mask. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, Crowley-sensei,” you smiled at him. 

“Yuu!” Grim in your hands looked at you with widened eyes and whispered. “What’s happening with the system?!”

“I don’t know,” you answered with your lips only. “How’s the status?”

“Check it yourself…”

But before you could check, Crowley turned to you, proclaiming he can’t find the place you’ve come from. The very same scenario, you going to the Ramshackle, meeting with ghosts… 

With only one small exception in the form of constantly sparkling elements of the system, alternately popping up here and there.

“Yuu, we haven’t got enough time for that. Check the genre!!!”

You instantly sank to your knees, unable to believe your eyes. Your heart thumped wildly in your chest, forcing you to turn to Grim, stunned.

“F-fantasy?..” You double-checked yourself, but then saw a window with all the profiles, their statuses still the same, Lilia being the last completed one. “But Idia’s route?..”

“And you asked me to watch my tongue,” Grim frowned. “That little shit you call our boss didn’t even leave us the way to contact him during walkthroughs!!! And what if something like that happens?!”

“It’s not about him, Grim,” you tried to recover, standing up and noticing little glitches flashing everywhere in the room. “Let’s try figuring out what we should do now.”

“Find that Idia guy and finish his route, what else, fugnya.”

You lowered your gaze.

Wasn’t it an opportunity given to you as a gift? If the genre switched from otome to fantasy, then there was no obligation to complete Idia’s route. No need to let him—and you—suffer, wasn’t it the only right thing to do? 

You took a deep breath. You knew it wasn’t. Idia’s route was still marked as ‘IN PROGRESS’, meaning you still had to fulfill your duties, but also… 

Wasn’t it a loophole? 

“I know what you’re thinking,” Grim touched your hand with his paw. “I know you’re freaking tired of this shit, me too, but Yuu—”

“No, Grim,” you laughed at yourself, tears appearing in the corners of your eyes. “I can’t. I will not. Finish his route. Just… Let’s just enjoy the fantasy story which is supposed to be completed even without us interfering.”

Grim wasn’t sure. You yourself thought it was stupid, irresponsible, your boss will probably just drag you out of here so to reprimand—you didn’t care at all. 

You wanted to avoid Idia Shroud at all costs.

Giving you credit, you actually succeeded in your desire to avoid Idia. But trouble does not come alone, and instead of Idia, who, surprisingly, couldn’t be found anywhere at all, you managed to repeatedly stumble upon people from previous routes.

But what you feared the most was the system distortion, glitches and lags. 

The endless flickering of digital fibers, appearing in a chaotic pattern, pierced people. The color correction of the world broke down, jumping from exaggerated, poisonously bright colors to black-and-white scraps of space. The voices sometimes went into ultrasonics, causing you and Grim to wince in dislike. System windows danced around in a digital frenzy.

It all resembled the digital apocalypse. But even with those little ‘errors’ you could still interact with others.

But not with those who were the dearest to you.

“Y̸̘̒ũ̸ͅȗ̴͜-̷̹̎s̴͍͂ä̵̖́n̸̻̄.̵̨̚”

You turned to meet Jade’s usual polite smile, a hand on his chest. 

“Jade?..” You were hesitant to speak with him at first, but a sudden mechanical corrupted voice managed to scare you. “Hello?..”

He tried saying something, but he did not move at all, not the slightest sigh, not a quivering gleam in his beautiful eyes—absolutely nothing. He was frozen.

You wanted to hurry and get someone’s help, but just when you ran away and turned for a moment to make sure he was still standing still—he wasn’t… He moved, returning to his usual routine, and turned to the suddenly approaching Riddle.

Something wasn’t right.

You were convinced of this when you stepped on Leona's tail in the botanical garden, completely forgetting about this event. His reaction was exactly the same—he was like a stone frozen in time, and, unlike Jade, not telling you anything, but the system windows were frantically jumping around his silhouette.

Kalim froze with a smile you grew to love on his face, and Azul, when he met you, apparently was going to kiss your wrist, but they all froze like broken dolls at the behest of the puppeteer.

And Lilia was nowhere to be seen at all.

“I don’t understand…”

You lamented, looking at the huge glitch, reminding you of black hole which was absorbing system tabs into itself, and you were sitting near it, outstretching your hand and feeling nothing at all.

You were immune to the system’s influence, how very ironical and—

“U-ugh…”

You turned to the voice’s source and gasped when a sudden flash of bright blue flickered before your eyes for a moment, then disappeared.

“Huh, I think I saw someone just now…”

You stood up from the grass field you were sitting on, and came closer to the tree in the school yard, hearing a ‘Eek!!!’ full of fear, and blinked twice.

“E-excuse me!!”

“Oh?..”

You saw a very tall figure hiding from you behind the tree and trying to cover his face with the hood of his hoodie. 

“Oh, I’m sorry,” you mumbled. “I’m Yuu. Sorry for scaring you.”

“I-if you’re sorry, then just go!!..”

Blue flames billowed from under his hood in waves, and you were surprised at how sweet the man's voice was.

“W-what are you looking at?!”

“Your hair,” you said, spellbound. “It’s very beautiful.”

“U-ugh…”

The person took his hood off, and you parted your lips in surprise. 

You stared amazed at the gold of his eyes, not understanding what you were so hooked on in him, but the non-standard of his beauty completely left you speechless, and a slight glimmer of blush was born on your cheeks.

“Ah!” You exclaimed, turning away. “I’m being so rude… It’s just you’re really good-looking.. Ugh, sorry.”

“S-stop it, I’m begging. I’m not, o-okay? Now go.”

“Okay, but… What is your name?”

“You don’t need to know it…”

You looked at him, pouting and lowering your gaze, when a pink hue on the tips of his hair went unnoticed by you. 

“Alright… I’ll get going then. See you later?”

“Maybe never.”

The rudeness he demonstrated somehow didn’t sound so bitter, and you smiled at him, then walked away.

“Please never interact with me…” He muttered to himself, approaching the huge glitch. “I don’t want to be the next.”

After two weeks of such randomly non-random meetings, Idia realized that, apparently, according to the law of the protagonists of otome games, there was nowhere to escape from you.

Of course, he could not really understand why the hell everything around was suddenly covered with digital holes and errors, but obviously it was related to you.

He wanted to study them himself, but the cameras he set up around the college sometimes didn't capture the biggest system bugs, not to mention they constantly popped up wherever you were for a while. Apparently others couldn’t see the world glitching, and you yourself possessed no knowledge about those errors, so he just had to go out of his room.

Even though he managed not to reveal his name for a long time—he was extremely apprehensive that you would recognize him as your last remaining love interest and start going through his route—yet you were in no particular hurry to look for him.

Didn’t you… need to finish his route and come back home? Why were you blankly staring at all those errors and glitches and doing nothing?

Not to mention that you sincerely tried to get to know him personally, never once again asking his name.

You confronted him every time he needed to investigate another huge system error that had arisen, and you simply nodded silently, smiling. The first week really passed peacefully and calmly, until something unimaginable for his consciousness happened at the beginning of the second.

“Meow-meow~” 

M-meow?..

Idia was walking to the place where another hole with errors appeared, and heard your voice—it was unmistakable yours. W-what in the world were you doing?..

What he saw shocked him.

You were stroking the ear of a kitten that laid in front of you and purred, playing with it and smiling radiantly.

“Y-Yuu-shi…”

“Oh? Ah, fiery-senpai.”

“T-that stupid name again… What are you d-doing?”

You smiled at him, taking the kitten in your hands and drawing him closer to his face, placing one little smooth on his nose.

“Isn’t it cute?”

Headshot!! Huge damage taken!! Apply a HP restoring potion!!

“C-cute…” He mumbled, his hair glowing bright red. “Y-yuu-shi is… UGHM.”

“Come here.”

You took his hand in yours and made him sit beside you. Just what the audacity you had!..

The cat started purring with more intensity when Idia touched it, and you giggled at how cute the scene looming before you was. 

You didn’t want to escape this reality, even with an insane amount of bugs and errors corrupting the dimension. 

For a month Idia was meeting you, approaching you more and more against (in fact, not really resisting) his will. You seemed like an absolutely normal person, and it was frightening. Shouldn't the universe travelers be... different? Non-standard, possess some kind of superpowers, or easily repair these interdimensional holes? You seemed to be the most ordinary person with completely natural human emotions. Your actions were dictated by curiosity, kindness and care. You brought Idia food more than once, showed photos of kittens, respected his personal boundaries and always left without asking what he was going to do alone.

It was unbearably hard. Feelings flourished in his chest, and every day, returning to his room, Idia flopped on the bed, clutching his jacket in his fist, and repeated how crazy he was.

Feelings ate him from the inside. How the hell was that shameless and stupid!! Wasn't love in otome built on the fact that the characters went through a string of dramatic events, experienced incredible adventures, scandals, breakups and emotional declines, and then tragically confessed their love to each other?

How the hell could he screw up his one and only task — not to fall in love with you at all costs, and eventually fail miserably, and even under such idiotic circumstances?!

How could he let you take his feelings and... understand them?

“I’m pathetic,” he laughed to himself, studying the data he obtained. “But Yuu won’t know…”

He will not allow that. Maybe.

You held Grim closer to you, exhaling fresh air while sitting on the bench—which was unusual for you, who could be easily spotted on the grass or windowsill—and took a sip of a cup of hot chocolate. It was already February declaring its rights, and deepened in your thoughts.

The world was half destroyed. Multi-colored digital errors were no longer just popping up alternately anywhere, but were actively integrated into the structure, into the very subcortex of the world. The forest near the school was replaced by a digitized version, black holes in space that no one saw except you replaced entire rooms and even buildings.

To be honest, it just looked disgusting.

Previous emotional draining routes were completed, and now, when you yourself wanted to avoid Idia Shroud’s one at all cost, because you were simply scared, Idia decided to become quieter than water and lower than grass. 

The information you’ve acquired was rather dull and sullen — Idia was known for being a complete shut-in, an introverted person who usually never comes out of his room. Impudently pouncing into his personal space, Ignihyde dormitory, seemed somewhat violent to you, especially taking into account that you needed to receive his love.

You wanted to respect his privacy, but also wanted to know what kind of person he is. 

And just when you wanted to think about avoiding asking anyone from your previous walkthroughs, Lilia appeared before you, floating midair and smiling rather cheekily, causing you to almost spit your drink.

But more importantly, he seemed extremely alive, unlike others.

“Ugh, uh…” You coughed. “Li… Vanrouge.”

“Hm? What’s with the sudden coldness?”

“Sudden?..” You echoed, furrowing your brows. “Oh, I’m sorry, it’s just we haven’t talked much before…”

Lilia took your hand, the one that was holding Grim, who expressed an annoyed sound and stared at Vanrouge, and placed a smooch on the finger you’ve pricked in his route.

“Is that how you greet me after having all that life and death type of conversation?”

You jolted, abruptly standing up and almost dropping Grim from your lap, to which Lilia only laughed.

“You remember?!” You screamed, noticing you drew too much attention, and lowered your voice. “But how?”

“Remember I told you I’ll never forget? This is why.”

“N-no, wait… I mean, others have only tiny glimpses of memories about me, but they don’t have entire routes stored in their minds!! Not to mention they’re… Ugh.” 

“Calm down, Yuu. To be honest, I’m not sure how it works, either. Tell me more about your case, we’ll figure something out. Maybe you haven’t finished my, hmmm, route, you said?”

You summoned the system tab that got almost sunk into the black hole, which Lilia couldn’t see, and checked twice and even thrice — ‘COMPLETED’ were written in caps.

“I have,” you said. 

“That Idia guy’s profile also opened,” Grim mentioned.

“Idia?” Lilia repeated. “He’s your next target?”

“Target… Yes, you can say so… Do you know anything about him?”

“Quite a lot of information I normally wouldn’t share, but in your case…” Lilia frowned. “But Yuu, will you go home after finishing?”

“I… Don’t have home,” you explained. “I’ll return back to the office where I’ll be appointed to another story. But before that I’ll ask why in the world did I land here, Twisted Wonderland is not our main genre.”

“Where were you before?”

“Better not ask,” Grim advised, to which you nodded. “Nothing good.”

“Makes me want to ask more!” Lilia giggled. “But alright. Even though I don’t really want to let you go, considering I’m extremely worried about your safety… I believe you should go and ask what caused the error. As for Idia Shroud…”

You and Grim saw system tabs randomly popping up and glitching, to which Lilia tilted his head, but you shook yours, gesturing to him to continue speaking. 

“He’s a nice kid, actually. A twisted one, as we all here are, but I sense no ill feelings radiating from him. He has a rather complicated personality, so I suggest you be patient.”

“Twisted, hm,” you nodded, trying to ignore glitch intensification. 

“His family works under an organization dealing with phantoms and blot research. So make sure to—”

“Good morning, Lilia Vanrouge-san, Yuu-san, Grim-san!”

A robotic cheerful voice greeted you, and you stared at the appeared humanoid with… was that fire on his head?.. Wait a second.

“Oho~” Lilia smirked. “Morning, little Shroud.”

Little Shroud?.. Did Idia have a brother?

“Good morning,” you greeted him. “And you’re?”

“Ortho Shroud!” A child humanoid introduced himself. “Nice to meet you, Yuu-san!”

“How can we be of help?” Lilia asked.

“I’m sorry for interrupting, but I need to talk to Yuu-san and Grim-san directly.”

“Oh, then you should know that I’m not leaving Yuu’s side. So if you want to talk, please don’t mind me, but I won’t leave~”

“I’m afraid I can allow that,” Ortho replied cheerfully.

You tried standing up, but staggered and changed glances with Grim, who also felt dizzy and out of place for a moment, before Ortho pulled up a tablet, which suddenly started floating on itself.

“U-uhm…” A voice was heard, coming from the tablet. “E-excuse me, Lilia-shi… B-but I need to t-talk to them… alone.”

And with that you and Grim suddenly fainted, surrounded by light sparkles and glitches flooding the space, not noticing Ortho catching you and Lilia’s furious stare.

You tried opening your eyes, and managed to do that after a minute of trying, glitches still sparkling everywhere, but not as bright as it was before.

You found yourself on a bed in an unknown place dominated by bright blue hues, you could hear the tapping of fingers on the keyboard, the faint noise of processors, and you were no longer sure if the space distortion was due to the system, or it was local computers.

“Uh…” You mumbled, trying to sit on your bed, and observed the place, noticing a figure of someone tapping on the keyboard.

You looked closely, recognizing familiar fire-like bright blue hair and gray clothes the person was wearing.

“Excuse me,” you said, drawing the person's attention and making the figure startle in shock, turning to you at once. “Huh?”

“Y-Y-Yuu-shi!!”

“F-fiery-senpai.”

He pulled up the collar of the turtleneck that was sticking out from under the gray robes and covered his mouth, looking away from you.

“Um… I’m Idia Shroud.”

You smiled weakly to yourself, actually suspecting it before, but knowing that the person you grew to love like happened to be Idia was excruciatingly painful.

It was continuous, endless torment.

Grim told you every day that you, dear little Yuu, are just a fool with a glitch in your head, since you fell in love with that ‘fiery-senpai’ so irrevocably for being just a person. The world was falling apart, and you refused to end the game, running away from solving the problem like a small child, and you understood this very well, continuing to run in circles.

“Ah!!” You exclaimed, standing up and approaching him, making Idia squeak and almost run away from you. “Oh, I’m sorry for startling you. It’s just… Actually, wait, where am I? Where’s Grim?”

“Grim-shi is sleeping in the room next door, m-my little brother Ortho assisting him. D-don’t worry…”

“That’s good…” You smiled to yourself, feeling a little relieved your partner was okay. “But still, where are we?”

“Did they just need to leave that to me RIGHT WHEN I’m in the middle of my research, ugh…” He muttered to himself, then cleared his throat. “You’re at STYX. You p-probably don’t know what it is, since you’re… Nevermind. D-dont worry, we need to run a few tests and will return you back to the NRC.”

“Sounds not like something I shouldn’t be worried about, to be honest,” you chuckled. “What kind of tests? And why me? Lilia said you study, ergh… blot here. I don’t know what that is.”

“Tch, why me…” He mumbled to himself again. “Y-yeah, Lilia-shi surely mentioned something he shouldn’t have, b-but you have no relation to blot. At least physically..”

“Look,”

You came closer to him, quickly glancing over his features and suddenly getting flustered. Despite his gloomy look and huge eye bags, he appeared to be quite cute and good-looking. You never thought your last ‘love interest’ would look like that, not to mention him having such a shy personality.

And now, knowing that the fiery-senpai you grew to like was Idia all that time, didn’t make it easier.

Everything will end once you win his heart.

And it was breaking yours.

You dramatically imitated fainting, causing Idia to jolt, and exclaimed.

“You suddenly faint,” you said, then came over to the bed you were laying on, and sat on it. “Then you wake up in an unfamiliar place…”

You came closer to him, not daring to touch him, and ended up just staring right in his golden eyes.

“... And found yourself alone in a room with a complete stranger.” You said, averting your gaze. “Quite handsome, though.”

Idia in front of you bit his lip, trying his best to ignore your compliment.

“What would my reaction be?”

“C-confusion?..”

“Right, that,” you confirmed. “So please be so kind as to explain what is happening and how I can be of help.”

“Alright…” He sighed heavily. “Follow me.”

You nodded, following his tall figure and enjoying how the fire of which his hair consisted was shimmering, however noticing one little but important detail.

There was no heart icon.

To be completely honest, you really were charming. 

Idia was amazed at how easy it was to have a conversation with you and how charmingly your lips curved into a soft smile. He hated every second of the new day, realizing that the research is being delayed, and he has to run an infinite number of tests.

He could not clearly distinguish between your natural coquetry and acting (of the justice of which he was no longer so sure). You yourself were a very gentle and understanding person, calmly accepting the peculiarities of his personality, but still, despite all the promises that you made to others in their routes (at least those that he managed to hear), you seemed to still hold back myself.

Wouldn't you like to return to where you came from as soon as possible? Why did your face tremble in unbearable sadness every time he happily announced that there were not many tests left and that you would be released soon? Of course, you had to charm him, grab him right by the heart and make him yours, but why did your voice become so desperately dreary every time he closed the door to your room, and you wished him peaceful dreams and asked him not to work late?

The tests, in fact, at first were simple questionnaires, from which it was impossible to extract anything intelligible. Therefore, subsequently, Idia had to move on to more difficult tests for you, which turned out to be simulations of reality.

The distorted images of all those whose routes you have already completed, have told you terrible things, betrayed you and hoped to break you. Usually it was possible to check the accumulation of blot and magical energy this way, but since you did not possess it, it was checked how negative emotions affected you.

And you... seemed to remain unshakable and believed them to the end, forcing the images of people dear to you to be erased automatically.

Idia wasn't really interested in your involvement in the blot in the first place—it was just a cover. He was personally interested in knowing your essence in more detail, who, or maybe what you really were.

And why did you cling so desperately to those whose routes were already completed. 

“Yuu!!”

“Don’t come any closer!”

You heard Grim burst into your room, ignoring his attempts to stop you, but the erratic system bugs were doing their own dance, preventing Grim from getting close to you.

“The fuck you’re doing?!”

You chuckled, tapping on the keyboard, and turned to him for a mere second.

“Trying to let our dear beloved system know that I won’t finish Idia’s route.”

“Yuu, get yourself together!! Ain’t no way you can just casually crack the system we’ve been workin’ with for who knows how many years so far!!”

“AND DO I LOOK LIKE I CARE?!”

“Yuu!”

You tried to make changes to the system code of this world, sweat streamed down your neck, electricity flashed bright flashes here and there, almost setting Grim's tail on fire, and as soon as you got to the very core, swallowing tears and ignoring Grim's screams, in the system something exploded, pushing you away from the interface and spawning digital corruption.

“Yuu!..”

You. Failed. 

Today Idia planned to show you the Underworld to see what would happen. Apparently you had a save option, so he was about to make a hint for you, so you would save the game progress and reload in case something happens.

“I-It’s me, Idia…”

He knocked on the door, but no answer was heard. Normally you would reply with a cheerful ‘Come in!', but today you remained silent, making him slightly worried.

He opened the door nevertheless and found you, wrapped in blankets and sniffing. 

“Yuu-shi?” He asked, coming closer to you but not too close, and saw you slowly turning to him. “O-oi, are you okay?”

“Ugh… who…”

You looked at him from under your brows, your eyelids were as if poured with lead, and your cheeks burned like a red-hot swing. Idia carefully bent over you, not daring to stretch out his hand for a long time, but your hoarse breathing forced him to press his hand to your forehead and gasp.

“You’re burning, Yuu-shi!”

“Idia?..”

“Y-yes, are you okay— Huh?!”

You weakly tugged at his sleeve, but from the unstable position and the effect of surprise, he fell on you.

This is the most classic otome scene ever, damn it!!

But, unlike the typical plot of an otome game, the scene wasn't particularly romantic. The promised butterflies didn’t hover in his stomach, and you looked really sick. You covered your mouth with a blanket and opened your eyes, trying to peer into the gold of the eyes in front of you with a cloudy gaze, forcing Idia to fluster.

“Your hair…” You muttered. “Warm.”

“O-of course it’s warm… Yuu-shi?!”

You smoothed a strand of his fiery hair and smiled weakly, clinging to the desired warmth and not noticing how the tips of his hair turned pink.

Shit, it was, like, REALLY bad. Did you just have to be so cute and vulnerable right when he wanted to ignore the feelings blossoming in his chest?! Argh, you really!!

“I’m sorry,” you mumbled, taking his hand he offered to hold onto, not even realizing it himself, and tried standing up. “We’ve got important work to do today… Let’s go.”

“But you don’t look well, Yuu-shi…”

“It’s nothing,” you smiled, standing up and releasing his hand, already missing the warmth. “I know it's partly your idea, but you're still following someone's orders, right?”

“Uh,” he averted his gaze. “W-well, yes…”

“He-he,” you smiled, embracing yourself and feeling a little cold. “I know the feeling when no one asks you what you want to do. So let’s finish early, and I won’t disturb you anymore.”

You left the room, turning around for a second and meeting his stunned gaze.

You really DID care about him.

He chuckled at the last thing you’ve said, knowing that you needed him to escape this place, both STYX and Twisted Wonderland, but found it funny how you tried to cover it. Even if you didn’t look like you were lying in the first place.

The path to the underworld was unbearably long, and your body apparently refused to listen to you, the limbs seemed to take on a life of their own, and Idia saw a sharp flicker of the system windows around you, intensifying as you descended lower and lower.

“What do I need to do when we get there?” You asked, grabbing his hand, because you couldn’t even walk properly.

“Yuu-shi… E-excuse me.”

He put your hand on his shoulder, helping you move around, although you didn't walk long enough because you weren't very comfortable.

“I appreciate your concern,” you giggled and just took his hand in yours, interweaving fingers. “But that would be enough. Thank you, Idia.”

He felt stupid, feeling the unbearable heat of your body, and at the same time knowing that he contributed to your sudden illness, and he could not do anything about it.

He was an egoist to whom you showed nothing but kindness and understanding.

“Yuu-shi, uhm… Excuse me for a moment.”

System windows flickered and flew around you in a chaotic order, among which Idia somehow managed to grab the right one, and stood behind you, trying to hit the flickering button in time. He leaned closer to you, curls of his hair falling on your chest, and you blushed, turning your face to him.

“Idia?..”

“Argh, I’m s-sorry!! Please bear with me a little more…”

“Why bearing?” You leaned closer to him, feeling his heart stopping for a moment. “I enjoy spending time with you, really.”

“D-don’t say nonsense, Yuu-shi. Why would you love spending time with the one w-who, uhm, kidnapped you?”

“I might have questioned that, but… Maybe because your research can help me too. I think. And also…”

You looked at him, his hand frozen midair and his lips slightly parted. 

Were you about to kiss him?

His heart skipped a beat when he realized that… No, it was SO irrational!! He was avoiding you (not really, actually) like a plague, he tried his best to not catch feelings for you! It would be a total game over if you would kiss him now, the system will admit he has fallen in love, and you will just leave, but!..

But you shook your head, smiling at him bitterly, and continued walking.

And what was the sudden sadness and void in his heart?

He managed to save the game for you and wondered if it was okay, given he was the one who did it, not you.

You finally reached the destination, and Idia felt a headache piercing his head, other people’s profiles popping up here and there randomly, and you frowned.

“Idia, wait,” you said, reaching out for one of the tabs and typing something there. “Shit, I have no currency left…”

“I can help.”

He still held your hand to prevent you from falling, seeing how hard you were shivering, and couldn’t dare to meet your shocked gaze.

“How in the world…”

“I don’t know either,” he mumbled. “It just… I know n-not only you’re not from this world, I know your purpose…”

“Did you avoid me on purpose because you knew?..”

“Y-yes,” he admitted and turned away. “But it’s not like you’ll love me for real.”

“You… Listen to me, Idia.”

You turned to him, ignoring the persistently jumping system windows and the gradually dissolving universe. The howl of phantoms from under your feet was terrifying and disturbing, but you clung to Idia, looking at him with tears in your eyes.

“This is undoubtedly the most freakingly insane route I’m trying to finish,” you confirmed. “But… Do I look like I want this to end? Like I want you to suffer when I’m gone?”

“Y-Yuu-shi…”

“I don’t want to go,” you admitted. “I don’t want to leave you! Not when I’m… developing feelings for you.”

“You…”

“The route is over once not only the person, but I also recognize and accept something for myself. And just so you know, you have no heart above you…”

“Yuu-shi, sorry for saying stupid things, but…” He inhaled sharply. “My heart is not above my head, but in my chest. Yours too.”

You giggled.

“Ha-ha… It is quite endearing, I must s… say.”

“Yuu-shi?”

“I’m okay,” you said. “It’s just… What are those howls?”

“... It’s phantoms. The ones my family and I study,” he answered. “They’re… not people anymore.”

“Not… anymore. Idia!!”

“W-what?!”

You sank to your knees, touching the cold surface of the gates to the underworld, and gasped, paralyzed.

It was just the same when you yourself first died.

“Yuu-shi, don’t come any closer!!”

“Idia,” you turned to him. “Do you… work here often? Do you interact with those phantoms often?”

“I do,” he answered. “Why?..”

“Ha-ha… I think… I just realized the real reason why you can see the system too.”

“WHAT?!”

“You know… I once was a normal person, just like you are. A part of a story, though I don’t even remember the genre it had. More likely a slice of life? I died young, rescuing a kitten. You can already assume that it was Grim… And you’re right. And somehow we both ended up being recruited for the Isekai Association program.” 

“So not… everyone could enter?”

“As he explained, only those who possess certain qualities and personality traits can be hired. And as for you, I think because you’re close to death, you manage to see everything happening..”

“He?..”

You frowned.

“Is there a way to open the gates?”

“Don’t even think about it. I’m being serious, Yuu-shi.”

“So there is, and apparently you know it,” you smiled at him with a craziness he despised.

How could you even think about something so dangerous as… 

“Well then, open it. Right. Now. I’m being serious just as you are.”

“I won’t.”

“I will put it to an end. You also don’t want your world to suffer because of me, right?! You see those glitches, the system almost absorbed everything!! How could you—”

“How could you just think only of yourself!”

You bit your lip, looking straight at him, his hair iridescent from blue to enraged orange, almost crimson.

“Listen, I’m being only logical!! Here, I hear death itself. Are you worried about me? I really appreciate it, but oh please, I won’t die that easily. In fact, all that I need to do is to jump right there as many times as I can, maybe that he will finally bring me to the office and at least interrogate…”

“He again.. No, Yuu, I WON’T let you.”

“Ha,” you laughed bitterly, drawing him to yourself and pressing your forehead to his, closing your eyes and summoning the system tabs.

Your forehead burned with heat, your breath hitched so hard that Idia himself heard it trembling, and watched in a daze as his memory was converted into system windows. He wanted to break out of your strong grip, but you already found the right scoreboard and smiled sadly, biting your lip.

“Sorry,” you mumbled, closing your eyes. “I didn’t want to manipulate you like that… Now, say it, Idia Shroud.”

His body moved against his will, his lips trembled, and as if not in his voice, a desperate ‘Gate to The Underworld’ broke from them.

The heavy massive gates opened, and Idia, having regained control over his movements, numbly turned away from you, but did not calculate that one inaccurate movement, and he felt the cold of the grave with his back.

“IDIA!!”

Dark hands, greedily clinging to his limbs, mercilessly pulled him into the abyss. Without hesitation, you rushed after him, your heart was pounding wildly in your chest, trying to escape, and the tears instantly dried up on your cheeks from the cold, leaving icy paths on them.

“Yuu!!”

Grim voice was heard, and the second after you felt him grabbing on your sleeve. 

“Grim, no, get out of here, I’ll end this alone!!”

“You stupid little shit,” Grim cursed. “We’re partners!!”

“But Grim! Let me go! I must rescue him!!!”

“Ain’t no way you’re excluding me, you idiot! What are you going to do anyway?! He’s dying!”

You refused to let go of Idia’s hand you managed to grab, and saw him opening his eye for a mere moment before closing it, losing consciousness. 

“Do you believe me, Grim?”

“Of course I do, you foolish henchman!”

“Then let me go, okay? Believe me, I’m not letting die nor you or Idia.”

Grim hesitated for a moment before nodding to you.

“‘Kay… And Yuu.”

“Yes?”

“Be careful just in case, ok? I mean, you’ll always be my most loyal henchman in every dimension existing, but now you look more ergh, soft or something? I mean, humans before you usually couldn’t stand a second in horrors and… Shit.”

“You don’t want to lose me,” you concluded, drawing Grim closer to you and enveloping him in a hug.

“That’s what I’m talking about,” he sighed. “Might get used to that soft side of yours.” 

“Is it bad?”

“Nah,” he hugged your arm in response. “But it could have been better if you gave me more tuna cans daily.”

“Shut up.”

He let go of you, and you summoned the system tab, not really seeing anything in this mess, but bit your lip and typed the code, clicking ‘ENTER’ and shouting out.

“Judge Flamm!!”

Suddenly, the whole space seemed to flow into an absolutely intangible shell, the digital pieces of the universe peeled off, and you found yourself in a familiar office, which was a small room with a cozy fireplace against the wall.

“Yuu.”

An insanely beautiful person with dim green eyes looked at you with a strictness you never knew he could possess before, and offered you a cup of tea, which you declined.

“I thought I made it clear you’re not allowed to use that code.”

“It was an emergency, Judge Flamm.”

“I don’t see anything urgent.”

“Ha!” You stood up, spilling the tea and ignoring Flamm’s intense gaze fixed on you. “First transferring me and Grim to an otome game, then letting my last love interest die! Nothing urgent, really?”

You grabbed him by the collar, pulling him towards you, meeting the inexplicable emotion in his eyes, and grinned.

“You… Judge Flamm, before I actually blew the hell out of here, bring him back to life!!”

“Yuu, you’re saying nonsensical things.”

“Hell with you then…” 

“You know there’s always a price to pay for all of your desires.”

“Want to see a hellfire so much?” You smirked. “I’ll show you that. You… Did I ever ask for life like that?! Wandering around like a ghost!”

“But you didn’t die. You did it only once, and now…”

“WHY? WHY DID YOU DO THAT?!”

“BECAUSE I—” He closed his eyes. “Forget it. I can’t let you work in this state. This world is broken anyway.”

“Ha, so you first bring me there against my will, not introducing me to the details, then I start developing emotions and feelings I never knew I needed, and now? Now you’re telling me I can’t keep working like that? Don’t try to fool me, Judge Flamm! Just name your price.”

“That merman surely taught you— Ha-ha. Great then. Hear the price.”

He grabbed your chin, drawing your face closer to his, and smirked.

“Your own life. And not just one, but all the lives you have. All the countless lives for all of the stories you needed to fix, and you;ll be stuck in that Twisted Wonderland world forever!!”

You narrowed your eyes and burst into laughter.

“Great! Take it all. I don’t care.”

“Yuu…”

“Take it,” you repeated. “Take it, Judge… No. Take it, Rollo.”

He hissed, escaping from your grasp and approaching the fireplace, pulling out a blue flower burning in the fire.

“You’ll regret your decision.”

“Oh believe me I won’t,” you said. “I will enjoy my one and only life I will have from now on. Finally.”

Rollo, casting a heavy and ambiguous look at you, breathed life into a flower burning with a blue flame, and put it in your hand, looking away and biting his lip. A spectacle that you never expected to see even in your wildest dreams unfolded in front of you, and Flamm, forcing out a weak awkward smile, pushed you into the digital abyss, whispering something in parting, but you could not make out what exactly.

“See you later, Yuu.”

He said, clutching a burning scarlet flower in his hand and falling after you.

“Yuu!!”

“Y-Yuu-shi!!”

You slowly opened your eyes, coughing up gunpowder from your throat, and looked at the two silhouettes looming over you with a hazy look. But you didn’t have time to orient yourself and come to your senses, when suddenly they swooped down on you with hugs and squeezed them tightly.

“You insane punk!!” Grim cried. “I’ll never ask for extra tuna cans if you’re going to throw yourself into the abyss once more! You stupid little—”

“G-grim-shi, let Yuu-shi rest a little and—”

“Idia… You’re alive…”

“T-thanks to you and—”

Tears welled up in your eyes, but you leaned towards Idia and clung to him in a soft kiss, ignoring Grim's dissatisfied sighs from the side and the uncertain sounds that Idia made. Laughing through kiss, you clung to Idia even stronger, and he, not sharing your fun, grew bolder, picking up your lips.

“Y-Yuu-shi,” he whispered when parted. “What did you do?..”

“Uhm,” you giggled nervously. “Exchanged my countless lives on your but only one?”

“YOU WHAT?!”

“Ah, Grim!!” You lamented. “I forgot to ask for your opinion… But I kinda think… Judge Flamm let us live only this one remaining life…”

“Do I look like I care?!” He punched you slightly. “I’m more impressed that you’ve managed to convince HIM out of all bosses! He’s an insane one!”

“Why do I think there's so much to be told?” Idia mumbled.

“Don’t worry,” you smiled. “Let’s get back to NRC and I’ll explain everything to you and then to others. They certainly deserve an explanation…”

“But explain everything to me first in all details,” he said, standing up and helping you out. “I’m your t-true route, after all.”

You smiled at him, taking his hand in yours and letting Grim rest on your shoulders.

“You are!”

A sudden piercing feeling pricked your chest, as if crimson fire spreading within, but it soon disappeared, erasing all your worries. 

Maybe you were an otome expert all this time, after all?

— tag-list : @coffee-or-hot-cocoa @red-viewe @68thsposts @cerisescherries

© yunarim 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐞𝐝. 𝐝𝐨 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐭, 𝐜𝐨𝐩𝐲, 𝐦𝐨𝐝𝐢𝐟𝐲, 𝐨𝐫 𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐢𝐦 𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐦𝐲 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐬 𝐚𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐨𝐰𝐧.

[critter-genfic-events]

This week, we have nine (nein) fics that feature Time/Dimension Travel: Other universes, Isekai, time travel (in either direction)! Check them out beneath the cut and if you like them, remember to comment and kudos!

Remember Me in the Intervals by inkedinserendipity (70530,Teen) Warnings: the author doesn't warn for them but canon character backstory elements, major character death (implied) Pairings: The Mighty Nein & Caleb Widogast, Beau/Yasha, Yasha/Zuala, Caleb/Mollymauk

Caleb goes back to fix everyone's backstories instead of his own, basically.

Reccer says: It illustrates very clearly how much Caleb loves the Nein. Listen, this is SUCH a heart-wrenching story, I always cry when I read it BE WARNED! I usually read it twice: first in chapter order and then in chronological order.

In this World or any Other by Amrynth (1907,Teen) Warnings: Major Character Death (Canon) Pairings:

After Mollymauk's death in the Marrow Valley, he wakes up in the library with a burning need: to get back to his friends.

Reccer says: I liked it

The Worlds Between Us by Nellaplanet (159303,Mature) Warnings: graphic depictions of violence Pairings: Essek Thelyss/Caleb Widogast, Beauregard Lionett/Yasha Nydoorin, Beauregard Lionett/Jester Lavorre

Or; Caleb and Beau have to rapidly reexamine their worldview upon discovering that magic is not only real, but exists in a world all of its own (and that the people wielding it are unfairly attractive and very, very dangerous).

Reccer says: One of the great isekais in the fandom! I love all of the different elements they were able to weave in

every moment changes lifetimes (even moments we regret) by grayintogreen (789,Teen) Warnings: Major Character Death (time loops) Pairings:

Caleb is in a time loop, staring at the temporal dock

Reccer says: Heartbreaking and an interesting form

Fortune's Favor (Fortune's Fools) by flashhwing (30289,Teen) Warnings: Choose not to warn Pairings: Eventual Shadowgast

In another timeline, the Mighty Nein fall to Lucien. Essek, with Artagan-the-weasel's help, travels back in time to save them.

Reccer says: It's fun to see a late campaign Essek try to wrangle an Early Campaign Mighty Nein

What endures beyond the silent edge by Beleriandings (241985,Teen) Warnings: Choose not to warn Pairings: Canon relationships present

The Ring of Brass fall into the future during the Apogee Solstice. There, they meet the Nein.

Reccer says: It's fun seeing the various parallels and crossovers!

Fall Back by Killbothtwins (4050,Teen) Warnings: No archive warnings apply Pairings: Beauregard Lionett & Caleb Widogast

After the fight at the Malleus Key, mid-C3 Beau and Caleb are shunted not only through space but also through time, arriving back in early Campaign Two to friends who are very surprised by their sudden changes.

Reccer says: A really fun idea and a great way to highlight just how much change all of the Nein have gone through since the beginning of the series. Killbothtwins has a fun writing style and an excellent grasp of the characters' voices, the bantering reads just like what we hear around the table.

The Heart External by BeatriceEagle (3554,Teen) Warnings: CNTW Pairings: Caleb & Beau, Beau & Bren, Caleb & Bren, Caleb & OC, Beau/Yasha, Caleb/Essek

Post-C2. As Beau struggles with the challenges of being a new adoptive parent of a teenager, she receives an SOS from Caleb. She arrives to find him standing over his bound, unconscious younger self—and though Bren should be just an echo, it seems he isn't going anywhere.

Reccer says: A fantastic Caleb & Beau QPR—with all the warmth *and* friction of the original—as well as a nuanced, thoughtfully observed take on what Caleb being brought face-to-face (literally) with his younger self would really mean.

in the times inbetween by jakia (8098,Teen) Warnings: miscarriage, fantasy racism, homophobia (all mild but present) Pairings: Essek Thelyss/Caleb Widogast Una Ermendrud & Caleb Widogast Leofric Ermendrud & Caleb Widogast

Una Ermendrud meets Caleb Widogast for the first time when she is nineteen and pregnant, and he’s passed out in her azaleas.'

Reccer says: It's everything I ever wanted in a 'Caleb actually completes his goal' fic: Una immediately clocks Caleb as the 'weird but sweet and harmless' type of wizard! Caleb makes a tiny paradox happen! Leofric punches Essek in the face (and it was awesome!)

This is one of our weekly communally-generated gen rec lists. Every week we announce a new theme and allow anyone to submit a fic recommendation. Please note that the summary and content notes are provided by the reccer, and may be different than what the author has provided. Please assume good intentions all around. <3

And hey, anyone includes you!

Next week, it'll be Storytelling! Whether it be sharing backstories or spinning a brand new yarn, all are welcomed.

Then the weeks after that, it'll be Grog focused stories, Cross-Campaign works, and then Skill/Class Swap fics!

Any fics coming to mind? Well, then use this form to submit!

Oh! Also! Critter Gen Week is happening! Prompts have been announced, you should check them out.

And hey, if you're looking for some more good gen content, check out some fics written in the critter genfic bingo tag, or the older rec lists! Or you can request your own card and join in on the fun!

[moonfungers]

this is sort of random as hell but i can't help but think of like. a funger termina isekai fic. 💀 no but like. FEAR AND HUNGER IS THE WORST universe to be inside, really. it's all misery!!! pain!! suffering!! and i'm just picturing this like, regular person gets transported into the universe and just absolutely loses her shit bc she KNOWS, she KNOWS DAMN WELL exactly how she's screwed, far better than anyone else!! she's played the games dozens and dozens of times, died so many times, and now she's IN that setting, she's in that world, and death is now PERMANENT with REAL stakes. she knows the entire game like the back of her hand, but what does it matter, bc it's fear and hunger. there's only so much knowledge that can help you . .

in my head, in a lot of isekai fic and stuff, ocs tend to like, hide the fact that they know things? but i feel like a modern-day oc who gets transported into fear and hunger would be forced into a position where she has to be honest bc its the best chance of survival. this isn't a game where she can just follow the right steps, recruit the people, get them to do the things, this is now real and dangerous and terrifying, and she knows that she can't do it alone.

and i'm just picturing like. d1, she wakes up before everyone else, loses her shit, and then promptly refuses to let ANYONE leave the train. no no but like, also can you picture what im seeing, this woman just pacing back and forth frantically, very clearly losing it, and she's like "you fuckers are not going ANYWHERE, we are all traveling TOGETHER, bc you all do not understand how much danger we're in" and then the others are like, you know, the train just stopped, weird dream, they haven't even been to prehevil yet so they don't know how fucked up everything is over there, and now this random stranger is just losing her shit, they don't take her seriously bc honestly who would, and so she just. she just starts fucking putting them on blast

"o'saa i know you went into the dungeons and nasrah's with you" "pav you will SIT your motherfucking ass down, you do not stand a chance against the fucking kaiser and it isn't even the REAL one you fucking idiot"

"levi i know youre going thru like. withdrawal right now and its totally ok and we have a doctor here and i will get you some heroin if i need to but like please dont run off where i cant find you"

and just basically knows stuff she absolutely shouldn't know, and she's like "YOU GUYS GOTTA BELIEVE ME BC OTHERWISE WE WILL LITERALLY ALL DIE, DO YOU NOT UNDERSTAND. there is only ONE way to guarantee us to live and im telling you this bc i know how screwed we are and i cant do it alone ive never even held a fucking weapon in my entire LIFE i just play video games at home-" and also how fucked up is it, that this isekai oc would know damn well that no matter what, someone has to die? like. you either kill everyone else and like get sulfurized/escape, you get moonscorched bc you run out of time, or someone has to become one with logic. aka to get the best "everyone lives" run, someone still needs to die

idk my brain just had this pop into my brain and won't let it go. it'd like, a cliche trope ofc, but i feel like in the context of fear and hunger, it'd be just so horrifying and awful and so WONDERFUL to read

bc its like, fear and hunger is a game series that we know damn well is a horrible like, UNIVERSE to be in, its depressing and awful for the characters who live in it, but can you imagine the ripe ANGST of having an isekai oc from our world go into it? they have our world as a reference point, in the way none of the other characters do, bc this is their world, they don't know anything else, how could they? but this isekai oc would just be so fucking-- innocent in the way the others aren't, bc she hasn't lived through the horrible F&H world and like, the dynamic there is so so interesting too bc all of the characters in termina, all of them on that train are AWARE or have been involved/done bad things, and this here is a character who hasn't, who hasn't seen blood or misery for her entire fucking LIFE. she'd be an "everyman" character by our standards, you know, but by their standards? she'd be such a fucking anomaly with the shit she says, the things she believes in. and also, you know, the fact she knows things about all of them and the situation they're in she has absolutely no right to know and its so SO interesting to think about, actually?? like genuinely losing my mind thinking about this rn

[faroreskiss]

"Do you think I'm a cheater?"

Summary: Isekai!Reader has a dilemma. You remember your S/O in our world and talk to Link about it. You know, the Link you slept with. Based on this fic. Can be read stand alone. Read on Ao3

"Hey Link," you called out to him, as you idly drew random shapes on the dirt floor. The night was quiet, except for the cicadas; or whatever bug making the chirping noises, and the small fire crackling nearby. And of course the snoring.

After the postman incident, thoughts of your own world occupied you again. You had been distant and they noticed. You couldn't sleep as much either, but thanks to the lack of your fighting skills, there was always a Link with you, taking the turn for the watch duty.

"Yeah?" Wild replied softly, with a low volume.

"Do you think I'm a cheater?" You deadpanned, still playing with the stick, not looking at his face.

"What?" He looked perplexed. Did you mean the flirting and glances between you and the rancher? But again, it's not like what was between you and Wild was all that clear in the first place, even though you did share each other's bodies... Once, right before Chain. Then cuddled during trying times, showed affection to each other.

Oh.

Right. You never talked about your life on the other side. Sure, about how some things were in your world, education, maybe some economy. But almost never your personal life, and none of them ever pushed you.

Hell, you actively tried not to think about it, you let go in a way at some point, thinking you'd never see them again anyway, so YOLO?

But then seeing how you are now traveling between eras, didn't that mean you could go back to your own world at some point?

How cruel. How cruel that only after years you learn that there is a possibility.

You sighed.

"I... I actually have, or had, or have.." you stumbled upon your words, not knowing which tense to use.

"There is someone in my world... that is, or was my partner."

Your lips formed a line again, you were still not looking at him. Wild didn't speak for a moment, only understanding what you meant by cheating, just now. You heard some shuffling, he dropped down from the tree silently like a cat.

"(Y/N)..." he started speaking, you interrupted him.

"I know... We have been together for quite a while too, we lived together. But then I was suddenly somewhere else, some world else," you were trying to keep your low voice from trembling, holding back the bitter tears.

He just listened, cautiously moving near you, but not quite making contact.

"I- I ignored their existence since I thought I'd never see them again, then a couple of years passed and I ended up sleeping with someone else, uh, no offense," you were still not looking at him.

"Actually two at once," he snickered. Wild didn't know what to say, so he at least tried to lighten the mood.

"Not funny, not right now!" You hit his shoulder playfully. It was a little bit funny, at least you got distracted from your gloomy mood.

"(Y/N), you thought they were lost to you, forever. How can that be cheating?" He inquired, with a serious tone this time.

You knew he had a point. But that wasn't as straightforward as he thought.

"You are biased," you scoffed. "And look at the Old Man, he sure got to see his wife again. I bet he wouldn't... indulge, like I did." You gulped, guilt was clawing at you again, making it hard to breathe.

"Yeah what a fair comparison. He was thrown into a precarious situation constantly fighting and jumping worlds and guesses he'd probably see his Hyrule again, and you, who had a peaceful life in a village for years with no way to return to your home. Really, a great way to make yourself a big baddie," he said with a sarcastic tone, a tinge of scolding mixed in.

You paused. You have never heard Wild speak this much before. You just mumbled something about not having tried hard enough, still staring at the twig you had in your hand.

He moved closer and gently lifted your chin towards him, making your eyes meet. You melted a little inside, which only fed your guilt even more.

"Look..." he said. "Fine, it is complicated." He sighed, not breaking eye contact in the dimly lit night.

"But you didn't do anything wrong, okay?" He tried to assure you. You averted your gaze again.

"Now that we know... What does it mean, Link? If I can get back to my world one day, does that mean... we, I..."

You trailed off. Wild just listened.

This was really complicated, way too complicated. You didn't want to push him away, you were selfish.

Yet thinking of your partner, wrecked with the pain of losing you perhaps, while you were in the arms of another, receiving comfort? Your stomach was twisting.

After all, maybe they did find someone else already? Or were you merely trying to justify your actions?

Oh Gods, you bet Sky wouldn't think so highly of you. Old Man wouldn't either. None of them would.

As you mentally shuddered, you gave in and leaned on Wild, even if a bit awkwardly.

"Don't tell the others, will you?"

"It's your life to tell," he assured you as he put his arm around your shoulder as you both leaned on the tree. The turmoil of emotions wouldn't let you go further, but at least you enjoyed the companionship and understanding he offered for now.

"I will never judge you, no one can, not for this," he said softly.

You were glad, but guilt still ate at you. Between these legendary heroes, it made you feel small. Shouldn't you have had some type of undying love story?

"...and what if we end up in my world?" your voice but a whisper. He didn't reply immediately.

"We'll cross that bridge when it comes to it, I guess," he ghost shrugged. His eyes had a distant look.

"But I'll be there, okay?" He added somewhat awkwardly.

You gave him a weak smile as you nodded, not knowing what to say, what to do. You wanted him to kiss you, you wanted to be close. He probably wanted the same but didn't want to force a choice on you.

What comes next would be your own choice. How you wanted to proceed now, was your problem.

But he would be there, whatever you chose.

You leaned on the tree trunk as he wrapped an arm around your shoulders, then you slowly drifted off to sleep. A warmth with a tinge of guilt embraced you, giving you dreams of bridges and portals as you fell asleep.

And the face of your beloved.

[writing-frenzy]

The Kinda/sorta SI!Aizen Sosuke Isekai AU

because my brain has been blessed with works from cywscross/cheshiresense, like the Ichigo and Aizen Time Travel AU, and the amazing I (Not) Aizen Sosuke by Williamcipher, I'm gonna half-hazardly note this idea out because I can not write bleach fic to save my life.

--------------------------------------

So, first things first; why is this only sorta SI!Aizen Sosuke?

Because, this is technically Aizen Sosuke, just a parallel from a modern universe and because the thought of a Milennial!Aizen makes me want to fucking cackle like a banshee. Like, Sosuke is still a tricky, nasty little genius, but he's actually had therapy and the internet to get any teenage angst and black history out. (Which he denies ever having, like a lair) And yes, He has suffered Retail, so he can and will be the fakest bitch you ever did see, the customer service smile never forgotten despite how he wishes he could. He's had to grow from a life of poverty, clawing and reaching for everything he's had, but he's also had the public library and some really damn good teachers to have his back, an actual safe place for him to fall back too.

(Amazing, what a difference it makes.)

So, as a kid, Sosuke practically read everything he could get his grubby hands on, partly to better himself, partly an escape, when he came upon his library's selection of comics and manga; he found a certain series; Fullmetal Alchemist.... Just, imagine this young, little genius reading such a book at such a young age; think of how he would react to such twists and chills this story brings, and how it unknowingly shaped him. (how it inspired him).

This started a very big, very large rabbit hole for the kid; he could not get enough after that; which, in the end, leads him to a manga called Bleach. He ends up enjoying it, not as much as Fullmetal, but the story does peak his interest, from Ichigo's charisma, to even side characters like Gin's treachery and Urahara's puppetry. it is a fasinating story in it's own right, even as the villain, Aizen both intrigues him and frustrates him.

Like, his motives and ambitions, along with his skills should not make such a fucking flat as depth character! Where is character depth, why does he fucking monologue so damn much? Why not explore the sense of loneness that Ichigo saw, especially once we reach the Qincy War and he still sided with SS? Sosuke would like a little more justice for a character with so much potential and shit, a villain through and through, and yet one of the greatest helps at the end.

(We do not mention the Bleach Epilogue, and it's not because Sosuke ships Ishida and Inou, nope, it just doesn't exist, out of spite out of mind. why does he ship it? because why not :D)

So, for this relatively self-adjusted Aizen Sosuke, he suddenly dies one day, only to find due to certain circumstances, (I'm gonna say a certain wishing rock, his soul being distantly connected, wrong place wrong time, shitty luck, and his death not actually be an accident >_> how energy can not be destroyed or created technically, so it attached to his soul) Sosuke finds himself kinda sorta before what might be the Soul King(?) and he's gonna have to be born as Bleach!Aizen Sosuke cause funky things happened across dimensions, and it's either this or have his soul shredded in unbearable agony.

Sosuke:... So what, I become a Shikigami and get guaranteed a one way ticket to hell the minute I die? Soul King: Not if you play your cards right; but yeah, the Visored still need to be a thing, so have fun figuring that out :D Sosuke: Fuck. You. *so starts his Tries to figure out a way to fucking change the whole Soul King system so the Captains and such don't have to became hellspawn the minute they die and how to create Visored consensually*

So yeah, Aizen Sosuke is a pretty different animal in this world; He still has the damn Customer Service smile, because it has become a very important tool in survival among those damn annoying nobles, is a bit snarky tho but very, very rarely because corpal punshiment with whips and such is actually still a thing here and people do get so very nasty because they can with Outer Rukongai Trash as he is called.

But it's so pathetically easy to find souls and such that willingly let them be experimented on if it means their families get fed or they don't die in the cold. the only illusions Sosuke uses is to disguise himself with or erase memoires of conversations if the soul choses not to be experimented on. Otherwise, Sosuke is brutally honest in what he's doing, what can happen to the soul, and what it can cost.

(It's kinda understandable, that other Aizen Sosuke's ambitions, with just how fucking many take him up on that offer so fucking willingly, some even happy with it.)

So things happen, Sosuke really doesn't want to create a certain death marble, but the way things are going it's looking like it, seeing as he is nowhere near close to his goals. (He thinks of such a thing, this Hogyoku, thinks of just how many suffered for it, how it twisted a version of himself, the temptation of twisted promises, and this man can't help but hesitate, uncertain of temporing with such things beyond him. He might be a version of Aizen Sosuke, he might be made up with twisted ambitions and his own greed, Rukongai chewing him up and spitting him out into something that will survive, letting him see just how deep his inner demons are... but as he is parallel, there are lines he will not cross.)

So, Sosuke on a whim and coffee withdraw, (with nightmares haunting his feet and dreams, screams and blood seemingly drenching them) sees if he can maybe at least get along with Urahara Kisuke. After all, he's pretty sure he won't get the worst case scenario, with the man plotting his downfall one step at a time at least.

(It is the start of the best and worst relationship anyone in Soul Society has ever seen; Like, 95% of SS thinks these two are just really intense, hateful rivals who get under each other's skin like no one else can, concerns about how the two spar really rough with each other, people guessing if anything they must have had hate sex at least once because of battle high. the startled concerns with how their debates are rough and harsh, their Rukongai language actually coming out as they argue and growl at the other even as they smartly trash the other sides pro's and cons, only to get served a minute later.

The remaining 5% is split between groups who think the relationship is like the worst married couple ever, you think they're on their way to a divorce any minute now, with maybe a concern of toxicity. But the other part, with maybe one or three people who have actually looked at this relationship, really look and realize; oh... so that's how love can look like too... huh.

Because for these two broken, bloody men showing the world they have something they care about, something they treasure and love is never a smart thing; it only gets it stolen from them or tossed aside. So all their gentle touches, soft words, the domestic bliss of Sosuke able to cook and serve a little tea on the side as Kisuke rambles with bright eyes about his favored project at the moment, of just holding the other close as they sleep after rough missions and nightmares; this is only to be had behind closed and reinforced doors so they don't risk this person who they world destroy worlds and more for) But that is later; much later; for now, the two are snarky besties who take pot shots at each other but will mentally screw with others who would say shit about the other.

And then... the thing that Sosuke has been trying to do, the Hollowifcation that he has been struggling to reach all this time, has been failing at... is done; not by him, not by any scientist or some such, but i'm gonna say it was a means to save him and a few others from a fate worst then death or something, Kisuke desperate to do so.

Yes, this does in fact mean We get a Visored!Aizen, cuz why not :3 not to mention, with maybe a few different Visored with maybe a couple still the same. (Kaien and Gin would be interesting in my opinion, with maybe Shinji not actually a Visored in this world, maybe Lisa either if we want to trade seconds of the squads :3)

So yeah, exile happens still, no one hunting them down because the only search parties that would be allowed for them would be assassinations and such, and no one wants them dead besides assholes.

Things happen, things go differently, and in the end Aizen Sosuke, as a soul outside the cycle of reincarnation, one touched by so many different energies, has been both corrupted and become more, with a power and sword that can warp reality, he can touch the throne and not become unmade, can use it for his goal, in return for his own sacrifice

Of course, this is Sosuke; his back up plans have back up plans; so, he goes Isekai protagonist, finding himself in post canon bleach without knowing it, pretty powerless if you didn't count his mind and that he still has his sword, just forced to forget their name and his power cut in half (he's built himself up from nothing twice already, what's once more with some perks and it's not like he won't be able to remember their name; on another note, all his respect for all the sheer bullshit Ichigo had to go through after the winter war).

Of course, Sosuke isn't going to go through this alone; nah, urahara and his fellow visored are like "you're not getting rid of us that easy So-kun :) " and of course others will join in, because they are rebel or die together.

So, all these alternate versions in post canon, what havoc will they cause? A lot; some interactions I want:

Sosuke is injured and past out when canon first finds them, because of the newest villain of the week got lucky and so we have a blood thirsty Kisuke ready to destroy everything, cold blooded and still unlike he usually shows the world. Hijinks happens when all three groups clash, bonds happen, pretty sure the Ichigo effect comes up once or twice as the two groups work together against the enemy flavor of the week, so it's pretty late when peeps realize; wtf, why is an aizen here?

On Sosuke's part; wakes up, bleary-eyed, blinks, takes in a scene before him that is probably a bit ridiculous, before he turns his back to it and goes right back to sleep: I reject a reality where there are two Urahara's :T

Sosuke: ... why am I surrounded by children? *generally confused by ducklings he has unintentionally gathered by being honest and snarky and a really damn good teacher* Kisuke: *laughing not realizing at first that those are now his ducklings too*

Like, a movie night I want to happen, Sosuke and Kisuke starting it because nightmares and trauma, only for Ichigo and other to join in somehow, it becoming a bonding event.

People finding out about how Sosuke ended up being forced to be reborn in a manga and have no choice but to make Visoreds or have his soul stuck in a cycle of constantly being shredded and tortured, but actually trying to make it as safe and willing as possible. Kisuke: WHY THE FUCK DIDNT YOU TELL ME, I COULD HAVE HELPED!!! Sosuke: WHAT DO YOU MEAM WHY DIDNT I ASK, OF COURSE I WON'T, WHO'D BELIEVE FLAMING BULLSHIT LIKE THAT!? I BARELY BELIEVE IT AND I'VE FUCKING BEEN THROUGH IT!

Sosuke: *Been through the worst day possible, almost died, his people he actually has positive emotions for almost died, made it through with a little more trauma." ... Fuck it. *Kisses his boyfriend, uncaring who sees.* Post Canon Characters and others: *Jaw dropped, choked sounds, sputters, and money and bets exchanging hands*

Sosuke to Canon!Aizen:... You can not tell me you have not wanted to pin Urahara to the wall and stab him a little as you kiss him; I know myself well enough.

And welp, here it is, ask me questions if you want or if anyone gets inspired, let me know!

[syoish-aot]

HOLY SHIT IT'S DONE!!

I was having some intense posting paralysis all morning (I think I reread the last scene like 15x just to make sure it was worded exactly right).

*he terrifying fear when you write something you really love and you're scared no one else will like it as much as you do*

ANYWAY -

Thank you so much to everyone that's been regularly reading slash commenting on I Found You! It was my first time posting fic to tumblr and I had a lot of fun doing it!

I always have SO MANY ideas for fics, but I get overwhelmed by the idea of seriously perusing them. A lot of this comes from the fear that no one will read them and I'll have spent all of my time writing for absolutely nothing. BUT I've been trying to humble myself lately and recognize the joy in the writing process itself and the satisfaction of getting my ideas fully fleshed out on paper aka google docs regardless of the attention they get.

Despite that, anyone who writes fic understands how shitty it feels when you work for DAYS on something and get crickets in the comments. It sucks. And that's sort of how I've been feeling with my fics on Ao3 lately- which kicks my motivation right in the ass.

In writing I Found You, I think I got some of that motivation back. Not JUST because I was getting regular commenters (again, thank you so much) but also because I was able to slip fully into my self indulgence and finally write out one of the verses that's been existing in my mind palace for MONTHS!

So, all of this rambling is to say this -

I really liked sharing this story with you guys on tumblr, and I'm for sure going to be doing more of this style in the future.

I'll be posting I Found You to Ao3 as well, but I want to edit it a bit (and possibly add a few more scenes) before doing that.

Basically the version I posted here is more of a rough draft, and then the final version will be the one on Ao3.

If you like my writing, consider checking out my Reader/Eren long fic "Ten Seconds" (100k, complete on Ao3) or the post-canon Jean/OC fic I'm working on "The Letters She Wrote"

If you read all of this, then here's your reward - a sneak peak at the VERY LONG isekai/time travel fic that I'm going to be working on next...

Chapter 1 - "You, 2000 years in the future"

Shiganshina High - 2024

You’d taken Ancient History as an elective to fill your schedule because no other class fit in the period. 

Also to piss off your dad about not taking AP calculus.

(But mostly it was the schedule thing.)

It wasn’t that you disliked Ancient History, you just found it painfully boring and mind numbing. It was the class right after lunch and every assignment was another boring paper that sounded the exact same over and over and over again.

(Although it did leave you wondering how many times you could start a paper with “the oxford dictionary defines discovery as…” before Mr. Arlert, the ancient old man who taught the class, caught on.)

Thankfully, you didn’t have to put too much effort into the class to get a good grade and because of that the class was an easy A that you could use to maintain your honor roll. Mr. Arlert was retiring at the end of the year, so he was pretty much entirely checked out. You had a feeling he didn’t actually read any of your papers and gave your grades out based on how well he assumed you did the assignment. Which, again, meant you got an A on every one. So Mr. Arlert had a habit of putting on documentaries instead of actually teaching anything. 

And you weren’t about to complain about that.

Armin was sitting next to you furiously taking notes on the documentary that Mr. Arlert, his grandpa and teacher, had put on. You understood his struggle to impress his grandpa in the class he taught on a personal level. You used to be like that when it came to math, but now you normally felt yourself doing the opposite. “The opposite”, meaning:

Not taking AP calculus.

Writing the wrong answer on a quiz, even after doing the work to prove the correct one.

Asking pointless questions in class just to see him get that constipated I-can’t-treat-you-like-my-daughter-right-now-because-you’re-my-student-but-god-do-I-wish-I-could-ground-you look.

You smiled at the memory, feeling quite pleased with yourself, until the monotone voice of the documentary playing at the front of the class pulled  you back into the present:

“The ancient people of Paradis elected large walls, presumably to protect themselves from invaders during this time.” You looked back at the projector. There was a poorly done animation of what historians suspect the three large walls may have looked like, back when they still stood almost 2000 years ago. 

The documentary, just like every documentary Mr. Arlert put on, seemed pretty pointless to show to a class of eleventh graders who were already very aware of the mysterious history of Paradis. 

You’d all grown up here and had been taught about this stuff since grade school. Paradis was a major hub for ancient history. There were dozens of museums throughout the island, all holding different ancient artifacts and pieces of your country’s history. Pieces that’s functions had been lost to time, leaving archeologists only able to guess the true history of your people and what these items were for.

“...purpose of them is still unknown, some archaeologists theorize they were used for early agriculture, although others argue they may have been used for religious reasons…”

On the screen was one of the most mysterious relics of ancient Paradis. Two metal cylinders, attached to some sort of strap. Normally, they were found with a large box of metal that was meant to hold something, along with canisters of unknown contents. The were rare, but a few dozen of them had been uncovered in the last hundred years and have only continued to add to the mystery of ancient Paradis. 

Of course, you were curious what their origins may be too, but not curious enough to look into it further than this class and the occasional trip you make to the Paradis Museum. 

“...these large man-eating monsters were an important part of Paradis folklore, some argue they were likely worshiped as go-”

The bell rang, finally saving you from your mind numbing documentary focused torture.

“Ah!” Mr. Arlert jerked awake at his desk. “Yes, well- I hope you all learned something important today!” He quickly said as he stood. “Don’t forget, your final papers are due on Monday morning. Despite it, I hope you’re able to enjoy your weekend!”

You hoped so too.

God, did you hope so...

[purpleamethystsblog]

🪬I WILL TAKE BACK WHAT'S MINE (Part 1)🪬

CW : None.

Pronounce : She / Her

Gender : Female (Cause it easy for me to write and I don't really write English fanfics often like other.

===

⚠️HCs first!!!

Reader is a God so called Creator from being. But never know about this, because some god move her to another world for avoid something that might hurt her.

When the right time has come. Reader will return to Genshin Impact world. And she will gain her original power to conquer Teyvat again.

Teyvat always be your, every life is always be your too. You can create everything you want, cause you are “Creator God”

Like some characters from anime that you knew or characters from games that you play including clone Genshin characters to work or do stuff for you.

But your power is not awaken “yet”

You should find some trigger to wake your power. But what's your trigger?

🪬⚠️🪬⚠️🪬⚠️🪬

Part 2 >>

🪬⚠️🪬⚠️🪬⚠️🪬

Just isekai to Genshin Impact world. You never expect that.

You worried that you will be fall into a SAGAU world, especially Imposter AU that most of people and Archon are idiot. Bow their head to the fake one, and do everything that it said especially that order to hunt you down.

You alway wonder, did they're too idiot to realise that's a fake god?

Just overthinking is not helping you after all. You start to walking around,. Luckily the first start is in Mondstadt, not a cruel place like Inazuma or Snezhnaya.

You can't imagine if you started at those cruel place first. You might die within 5 second.

You check around, and tried to recall your memories about Mondstadt while resting under some random tree. It's not take too long till you recognise where you are. Now you just heading to Springvale first. Maybe you will get some information in small villages.

And you're right. First step when you enter Springvale. An unknown statue is placing in the middle of village. It's look like a statue for god or something. But it didn't reveal face, as if this statue was sculpted so as not to reveal the face of the deity similar to the statue of Zhongli or Morax.

One of the villagers noticed you walking in. She greet you with a smile and waving hand. You send a smile back to the her and small wave as well.

‘ Maybe, they won't realise about me yet. ’

You thought in your mind, before entering the village The peoples there were busy with their own business. You try to look for people who are easy-going. and did not have any business to ask for information

“ Hello, ummm I am just a traveller. May I ask you something? ”

You ask a man sitting on the grass under the warm sun.

“ Oh! Traveller! Did you want to ask me something? ”

“ Yes. Did you know about the statue in the middle of this village? ”

The man smiles at you. He nodded.

“ In the middle of the village is the statue of the Creator. A god that all above the 7 Archons. No one knows their true appearance, so when making the statue. That's why the sculptor deliberately carved the cloak to cover their face. ”

“ I see… ”

“ But a few years ago, she came down to this world. She's so deity whose appearance is beautiful beyond description. Aaaa!! Damn I shouldn't mention her like that… Sorry traveler, but I dare not explain any more about her. So if you want to meet her or worship her. You can travel to Mondstadt. Our beloved creator is staying in that town. ”

You nodded, maybe everything still okay. No hunting nor wanted like another fics.

You entered to Mondstadt A city of freedom, wind and music.The people here had smiles and happiness on their faces. Whoever passes by and see them. Will have a happiness too, including you too.

As if the wind sense your presence. The gentleness of the wind circulates around you that even you yourself don't notice.

‘ What will happen? What if I try to see that fake god? Will she know my presence? Or will she not know? ’

You keep your doubt in your mind. Now you want to take a little walk to get some relax and fresh air. You sure that this universe is not like any other universe. At least there is still have a time to prepare yourself. And get ready enough to deal with certain situations in the future that may occur.

🪬

Gentle breeze is blowing.

The warmth, that soft and smooth.

“ Maybe, your grace is in a good mood today~ ”

The Anemo Archon said to himself, before continue to playing his lyre.

Without knowing the truth, that "the real Creator" is comeback to take back everything that belongs to her, to the REAL GOD.

🪬

Chill run down her spine.

She doesn't know what will have come.

She shook her head to drive away the terrifying feeling. Before continue to sitting on the golden throne, in truth, it wasn't her throne and never will be.

And she doesn't care.

Legend ever said, the owner of this throne has disappeared long time ago, like more than a thousand years. And they, including the Archons themselves, believed that she was a real Creator that get reincarnated.

Fool.

As long as she possess a slightly different magic power that doesn't look like vision. They thought it was the power of the god. But it's good! It make her live with luxuriously and comfortably for years. until today now.

🪬

Maybe, you just want to live in peace.

Don't care about the throne, don't care about your real position.

You know yourself, yes you sure that you are the real Creator in this AU.

But if you don't act anything. Just stay silent. You might lose a chance to get close to an Archons. But it's okay if that choice make you life safe.

A̐̀r̴ͫ̐ḛ̠͓ͣ̐̄̑͘ ̵̜̉͗͑̐́͞ẙ̛͎͙͖͝o͎ͪͥú̩͑ͨͧ͐̀҉̧ ̧̡͉͖̟ͤ̊̀ͧ͝s̺̔͂͘ų̰͘͡r̓ͣ̾̂͢͝e̵̼͑̒ ̷̬͇̾t̸̡̝͍̯ḫ̡̢̛͛͐͆̑̋̕a̧̙̘ͣt͋ͣ ̤̀͠͝y͚̓̿o̘͕̊u̶̹̅ͣ͜ ̷̡̬̦͠w͓̃͊ͯ҉i͖̻҉̀͜͞l͋̂̀̚͘l̴̴̛͔̖̦͐͊̿͘ ̪͈͔͗ľ̢͙͆ͬ͟͟͟i̬͙̐ͣ̃ͤͪv̲͓͓ͨ͏̡̧̛e̺̝͛̿̀ͅ ̨i͎̮̿ͭ̿̉ͩ҉n̨̓͂̂̅ ̖ͧ̄ͯͧ͞p̪̥͗̆͐̀̀͞e̩̽͢ą̡̟͕̦ͬͮ̌͋͛͞͡cͩͪ̑̚e̹͓̽͘?̶͑ͯ

“ Huh? ”

D̩̖̖̄o̲̖̕ ̵̤̯̻ỳ̞̖o̵̪̯̯͑ṷ̗̖ͤͩ ̙̱ͭth̺̯͚ͬ̉͞i̭͉̹ṇk̟̠ ̭̻̃̕t̵̩̗͕h͂ȧ̜t̗̰ ̢͈́͂b̵̳͉͕ͮ̍e͖i͎̋̚n̩͑ͫg̙̥̠ͯ ͓͙h͇͇̯e̵͓̰r̺̱̹͋ͦ͡e̠̜͝…̞̖͘ ͧ͗i͊s̔͌ ̪̖fͯo͕ř̬̼̅͟ ̎ÿ͊őͪu̹̱ ̯̻t̛ͥͥo̶̩͓͇ͦ ̡̼̲̜aͥ͠c̡̘̜̲t̝̼ ̼̮̎̿͘ì̪̹͙ͭn͙͎̘ͭ̉͘d͓i͓̊͡f̙̳͍̓̈́̕f͛ͬe̱͈͝ͅŗ̭ě̩̙ͅn̸̄ͨt̘̘l̈̆y̸̼͔ͮ̍?̚

“ W- who a- are you!? ”

Y̔o̪ṵ̘̀r̶ ̨̱̘d̻̄͛͞ͅè̱̺͕s͍̘͗͜t̺͎̺̆҉i̦̞̫̓ñ͠ͅy͈ ̷̩̳͙͌i͚͠s̢̲͕̻̅ ͋p͈͏r̤̟͏e͈ͣͩ͞d̠̕e̫ͬṱ̮̏e̩̙ͩr͌̓m̡̠̜͎i̻ͤ͞n̷̽͌é̙̳d̥̝̃̕.̷̹

“ Miss? ”

“ ah!!? ”

“ Are you okay miss? ”

“ O- oh! Umm sorry! Haha, uhh I just get headache a little. ”

A tall, handsome men, with red hair tied low. His eyes are the same color as his hair. You know immediately who he is, the Pyro user who's the owner of Dawn Winery.

Diluc Ragnvindr.

“ You sure? ”

“ Yes, yes I'm sure. Thanks for your asking. ”

The atmosphere around us was uncomfortably. Even though you already know the male's name. But if you say his name without introduction. Surely, he will suspicious immediately. You decide to pretend to ask his name first. To make this atmosphere disappear.

“ My name is Y/N may I ask your? ”

“ Diluc Ragnvindr you can call me Diluc miss Y/N ”

“ Just Y/N is enough, you don't have to be that formal. I'm just a normal traveller. ”

You spoke to him in an awkward manner. or embarrassed, not sure. But ask, are you happy? yes! You're so glad! He's one of those favourite male characters that you like too.

Maybe if you and him developed a friendship relationship, there wouldn't be any problem … maybe?

“ If you're fine. Then I'm leaving now. There are other matters that I need to deal with. Have fun visiting Mondstadt traveller. ”

“ Thank you! ”

🪬

You think about what might happen in the future. And you feel like there's an 80-90% chance that the Impostor will dispose you right away if she find out.

Will it be wrong? If you were able to take an action first by secretly preparing to build a stack of your army by using your power to do it? Because you are "The Great Creator" after all.

But. Hey! You didn't know how to use it!

“ Damn… What should I do then? ”

You reach your hand out. Try to imagine a blossoming flower in your hand. A slight golden aura appeared on your palm. Before a weird-looking flower appeared. Instead of the beautiful flower that you imagine instead.

“ tf did I just create!? ”

You muttered in frustration, throwing the weird flower in your hand away. Before deciding to head out from Mondstadt. If you come to visit that imposter, maybe the chance to get caught by them will increase.

🪬

“ They're return. ”

To the coldness land that far away. The Cryo Archon speak in calmness tone. She sat on her throne that located in meeting room. All of the eleventh Harbingers is still in this room.

There's only one meaning……

🪬

You never knew these slimes could be so soft and cute. Dendro slime, Cryo slime and Anemo slime are safe to play. But you didn't trust Electro and Pyro slime.

“ Don't make that sad face! I'm still not sure. If I touch you guys, will I get hurt? ”

The Electro and Pyro tried to communicate with you, like they won't do any harm to you.

Why should they? Cause you a the lovely creator! They won't do that!

You take your time so long to trust them, that they won't harm you. For sure, you are very excited to play with these slime! But deep in the bottom of your heart, you feel guilty you remember that you killed the slime to much till you can't count it anymore.

But they attack you first! Then … there is nothing wrong to kill it!!

“ Evening? Wow … I'm a homeless God now? ”

You mocking yourself. Because you can't find some nice place to rest. Now it's only one way that you will stay outside like a homeless people for now.

‘ Please, sent some nice people to me. I need help. I don't want to get blood sucked out by those damn mosquitoes.... ’

Time passed very quickly. From evening to night. You can only walking aimlessly along the path. Because, you came out too far. Difficult to find a camp. And you don't have any camping gear either.

‘ If I remember correctly, this place where I walking now is near the Stormterror's Lair right? ’

You remembered, there's so much Hillichurl's camp. Maybe, If you try to face them, and negotiate they might help you. Like giving you a place to sleep, no mosquitoes and dangerous animals disturbing.

Cheater!

God of creator? Hah! The peoples and Archons might not smart enough to realise! But all of the natural in Teyvat are smart enough to realise you!

Luv U my natural >3

“ It's very dangerous out there miss. You shouldn't be here. ”

🪬⚠️🪬⚠️🪬⚠️🪬

Part 2 >>

🪬⚠️🪬⚠️🪬⚠️🪬

First fanfic about Genshin Impact, I hope you guys like it💕

I just want to try writing some fanfics in English language, instead of my first language (non-English).

See you later 💕💕

[havendance]

Oh no! I was hit by a car and now I’m robin in my fic where my self insert gets isekai’d and becomes robin’s dad!

alkfjalfkdjs; Okay that's way funnier than what I had in mind but now I can't stop thinking about it. It's like:

Be me, living my boring life, trying to find a job

Get hit by a car and wake up to find that I'm now a teenage boy stuck at boarding school. I'm also training to be Robin, apparently.

I'm going to have to go through both high school and puberty again.

This sucks.

Throw myself into robin training because at least it's more interesting than going through high school again.

Parents get into an accident while traveling leaving my mom dead and dad in a coma.

It's weird because I never really knew them and everyone expects me to be really torn up about it

Move in with Batman, start doing robin stuff.

I'm actually starting to get really into the vigilante stuff.

Dad wakes up from his coma.

He gets released from the hospital and I move in with him.

It's awkward because I don't really know him but he's having memory problems so he doesn't really remember me which someone makes things both easier and way more awkward.

Keep sneaking out to Robin shit and my dad is just super oblivious.

Dad starts to tell stories about family members that line up suspiciously well with my family members

My Dad: Yeah, when my brother had to be in a wheelchair he would totally use it to ram into people all the time.

Me (has a brother who when he had to be in a wheelchair would totally use it to ram into people all the time): huh, interesting.

It's probably just the universality of brothers using wheelchairs as weapons.

Knightfall happens. I'm so busy stressing about Batman getting his back broken and being put in charge of Jean-Paul Valley that I forget my dad gets kidnapped.

Realize that I'm technically older than Jean-Paul Valley.

Decide not to think about it.

My dad getting kidnapped is so much more stressful now that I've started to get to know him.

Somehow make it through Knightfall and reunite with my dad.

Start trying to make room to spend more time with my dad and realize that we have a lot of interests and hobbies in common.

Dad references a family inside joke while playing board games one weekend.

I go along with it.

Wait a second.

Spiderman meme.

Realize that we're different aspects of the same guy that got isekai-ed into Batman together.

Share a moment where we both freak out about how in the world this works and what the implications of it are.

Get over that and realize this makes things way easier for both of us.

We're bros now.

[cincreblog]

My random thoughts on Isekai!Reader in Trigun

Would the food on No Man’s Land taste the same as our food on Earth?

I know the Plants can create practically anything from nothing, but I can’t help but wonder if the food they can create is same as food on Earth or if it tastes more…artificial?

It might just be something the reader notices since they didn’t grow up eating the food the people on No Man’s Land (& perhaps the people pre-Fall) did.

The flavor would be kinda (but also not really) subtle. The food is still good, but there’s just this…odd aftertaste that you can’t seem to describe (and if you tried to explain it to any of the characters, they wouldn’t know what you were talking about XP)

Reader would likely die unless they get taken in by a town or something.

I know this issue can be resolved through plot relevance (since you know, fanfic), but realistically a person from our world wouldn’t survive a day in the desert that is No Man’s Land.

Like we can barely handle it when the temperature goes above 100 degrees on Earth, I can only imagine how hot it gets on NML, especially with two suns.

Idk if evolution/natural selection works that fast, but how the hell did humanity not burn to a crisp over the past 150+ years??

On top of that, would reader even be able to live off of the air there? There’s not a single sliver of vegetation on NML, so how are people breathing? Is there a Plant that’s creating oxygen for the whole planet or is that just a detail Nightow disregarded when he created Trigun?

I feel like people would understand our slang, but it’s so old that they would wonder if we were nuts or something.

(Note I’m basing this off of the Plant twins’ birth year, which is 2455 in the wiki)

For all I know the history of Earth was completely different in Trigun, but for the sake of this question imma say that our time predates the entirety of the story.

I know in my previous Isekai!Reader post I said that the characters wouldn’t understand our memes/slang, but the more I thought about it I think they actually would (kinda).

But since we’re like 4-5 centuries from the past, they would wonder why we’re using language so ancient (assuming memes are even a thing on NML)

What if we switched up how the reader gets isekaied into Trigun?

In all the fics I’ve seen so far, we always die and wake up in the middle of the desert XP

Why not pull an Owl House and have the reader find some kind of portal thingy that brings them to the Trigun universe (mainly thinking Tristamp, but any iteration is fine too)

Also give the reader a different place to appear, like Ship 3! The people there seem like they’d be the safest to approach compared to the rest of NML.

(Also coming from someone with health conditions, I feel like Ship 3 would be the safest location for an Isekai!Reader since they’ll likely have advanced medical equipment that can help treat the reader for anything they may have. I don’t know what the doctors are like on NML, but I feel like they wouldn’t have the technology or medicine that would work

And since reader is (kinda) from the past, people will wonder why they use medicines that either don’t exist or are very, very old.)

You think the reader would end up getting a bounty of their own just by how they talk?

I’ve only just realized how people in our generation  talk about violence and barely bat an eye since people don’t mean what they say (or not most of the time at least).

And considering how trigger happy people in Trigun are, I think the reader would end up getting in a lot of trouble by trying to scare someone off by threatening violence that they aren’t capable of committing.

Like people are struggling to survive in No Man’s Land. If they hear a threat they’re going to take it seriously.

Reader carries a notebook/sketchbook where they write down any kind of unconfirmed lore they learn about while traveling w/ the characters.

When I find something I’m interested in, I intend on becoming nearly an expert on it.

Like I have to know every little detail about the subject, even the stuff that would serve absolutely no purpose other than being interesting.

And I have so many questions about the lore in Trigun. There’s so much we don’t know about the Plants that I really really want to.

But as much as I’d like to list them all here on a whim, that isn’t what this section is about X(

I imagine myself in reader’s shoes; whenever they hear about/find something about the universe that was never confirmed/revealed before, they would jot it down on a page (or maybe on their phone if it works) so that they don’t forget it.

On the off chance they reveal who they really are to the characters, they would write down as much about them & the universe as they can.

(The main cast might become a little concerned with how curious reader is about their lives & the things they experienced)

I feel like reader would have a blast listening to Vash tell stories about his adventures around No Man’s Land (at least the less traumatizing ones 😅)

(Bonus to this one, when reader gets back home, they post about their discoveries online, but since people would think they’re just joking/delusional, they disguise them as merely extremely detailed headcanons.

(This one applies to Tristamp specifically) They’d have to be careful tho, bc when the next season comes out & a majority of (if not all) their “headcanons” end up being canon, people will become suspicious (or just think of reader as some kind of fandom wizard idk))

That’s about all I have for now. If I come up with more, I’ll make another post :P

[envy-of-the-apple]

hi I've noticed that you restarting to respond about SEM asks, didn't you said you don't want those asks ? Or it's just ask but not about their routines or scenario.

I've also seen Isekai AU have been canceled bc you have no idea, idk but I firstly thought the story will be like shifting. Ms Traveler/Goodperson travels/isekai/shift in "B world" but after she leaves this world to return in her CR (curent reality). Her DR (desired reality) is just a fun reality where she is just making fun without really take it seriously (ex: console "A character" about their trauma or help them but without real kindness) but there is a rule which she can't expose her real name but one day she'll do a mistake and it's going to backfire on her after all her bad action who is now Ms Selfish, a manipulator deguised as an angel. For SEM 3, will you put Gojo's parents' thought ? I think it's also important to add you prob know why.

As an writer I know it' hard to write, like for 4 hours I only write 900 worlds... sometimes I use some tips to represent something. Exemple SEM is represented as a solar system you can try to do their relationship as it, but you did... I considered this previous sentence embarrassing so I'll change it for an off-topic question. Have you regretted writting MHA fics (Bakugo, Shoto...) ?

i mean technically sem asks were always open? i just had to say i closed them cuz ppl were getting very pushy and demanding. now that I've reopened sem asks ppl have been rlly nice again, so I'm more than happy to answer!

eh, tbh i lied last time, im just not interested in writing an isekai fic rn. especially with the Tokyo Revengers fic

maybe regret is a strong word but i no longer felt comfortable having smut works for those characters, so i purged most of them. i think the one izuku fic i have up there is a platonic yandere so i kept it.

[caparrucia]

12, 13, and 17 for the fic writer asks, please?

12. Are there any tropes you used to dislike but have grown on you?

I still don't read it widely, because most of it hits my "but what's the point then?" pickiness for AUs, but a friend recently explained her time travel fix-it AU as a version of an isekai and that sort of made the appeal of it click in my head in a way it'd never had before. I still think the trope itself is not something I'd go as my first choice, because my vibe is more either miscommunication or mystery, and having a POV character that knows everything - and very often has no reason to not share/use that knowledge - makes it very conflict-free for me. The thing that clicked for me is the same way that my favorite isekai stories are ones that either the OP protagonist doesn't know they're OP or their OPness is gated behind world knowledge that they have to acquire first before making use of said OPness. So I think I like time travel fic in theory now, I just haven't read one that hits the spot because it's not a trope I seek out often. But I kinda get it now! I think!

13. Are there any tropes you used to like but don’t anymore?

Modern renditions of enemies-to-lovers are so fucking exhausting in how hard people are trying to sand down any bit of objectionable, problematic aspect of that kind of relationship. I love me a good, brutal actual!enemies to actual!lovers story that wrestles with the history and baggage of that kind of thing. But post!Reylo fandom is more worried about "not romanticizing abuse" than telling a good, compelling story. E2L are supposed to be messy, problematic, dark romance stories full of questionable tropes. That's what makes it fun! But the way any whiff of conflict is constantly smothered away because "We Do Not Condone That Here" messaging is more important than a coherent, IC story is just. Blah. One day, my favorite toxic love trope will come home from the war. One day.

17. What highly specific AU do you want to read or write even though you might be the only person to appreciate it?

Witcher 3 fusion AUs are my personal catnip. I specify Witcher 3 because I understand the Netflix trainwreck was the entry point for a lot of the fandom and that's great, but the writing of the Netflix show is infinitely subpar to the actual books and even the Witcher 3 version of the characters. The Witcher 3 softens a lot of the harsher edges of characters in the books (hi Emhyr, my forever problematique baby girl, how are you today, your imperial colonialist dipshit incestuous majesty?) but it still maintains the tone in a way that makes it so the harsher, more shocking aspects of it don't read like "for shock value" and have actual consequences. It's a rough world with rough edges and it's a setting rife for stories of all sorts, to scratch that nice medieval pseudo-realistic fantasy setting itch, while still allowing space for some hilarious comedy and nuanced politics.

However, somehow, people who played the game somehow come out with the urge to write unironic, mindless colonialism apologia - we all know why - or quirky funny romance because Netflix!Jaskier is so memeable.

Look, I have almost 3K hours in the Witcher 3, I understand I am not the target audience for Witcher fandom which is why I don't really wade into it often, but I want people to write more Witcher 3 fusion stories because it's a fantastic setting to grab your favorite characters and plop them into and see what they do. It's great.

[halfagone]

DID YOU SAY THAT YOU READ WEBTOONS? What uh.... What are your favorites? 👉👈 I'm still trying to wean off reading manga, and the only webtoons I've read are Queen Cecia Wears Knickerbockers and Wayne Family Adventures 😂

Yes, I have read quite a few Webtoons in my day (Why do I sound so old right now?) I have not heard about the Queen Cecia Webtoon, but Wayne Family Adventures is a very good choice, in my totally unbiased opinion. 🤣

If you want more DC Webtoons, then there is Red Hood: Outlaws and there is Zatanna & The Ripper. I haven't caught up with either of them, but if you do love those characters or want to see more from them, I definitely commend checking those out. There was also the Vixen: NYC Webtoon, but unfortunately that one seems to be cancelled now. 🥺

If you're interested in completed Webtoons, then I have a few offerings. I love Siren's Lament, it's a wonderfully complicated Webtoon even if it does hurt my heart sometimes. Gourmet Hound is more of a slice of life with some drama for added effect, but I really did adore that Webtoon that the art was just so cute!! Flow has some incredible worldbuilding mechanics and it's just so tasty. If you want more hero Webtoons, then there's I Don't Want This Kind of Hero, although that one does contain some distressing themes at times so like... beware. And then there is one of my ultimate favorites, which is called Gepetto, which is inspired and based on the Pinocchio tale but more futuristic and dystopian, if that's your fancy.

As for ongoing Webtoons, there's Marry My Husband, which is one of those time travel Webtoons where the MC dies and comes back to life sometime in the past and tries to fix their future. The main story is done, but they do have side stories which have been super cute to read.

There's the ever famous The Remarried Empress, and you'll probably see a lot of references to characters from this Webtoon if you read other Webtoons with a similar premise of- arranged marriage, terrible consort, attractive male lead that is decidedly not the husband, but don't worry he will be.

There is a newer Webtoon called I am the Villain, which is part of the Isekai genre, I would say. It's a beautiful Webtoon, the art is just stunning, and I have no idea what's going on but I'm having a great time.

For more action-based Webtoons, there is Eleceed and if anything happened to my boy Jiwoo I will kill everyone in this room and then myself. And apparently I've done a poor job of that promise because this boy has gone through it, but he still a sweetheart and I love him for that.

There's also the Omniscient Reader, which was actually originally a webnovel called Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint, but has since been turned into a manhwa and it's so long but it's so good. I love my sunfish man and ugly squid king (bonus points to anyone who knows that reference).

Here is a Webtoon I have complicated feelings about: Tower of God. This was actually the first ever piece of media I published fanfiction for. It's this really incredible, complex, mind-bending fantasy Webtoon. It is very long, it currently stands at 581 chapters and counting. Unfortunately, the fandom ruined the experience for me, and I pretty much quit all of my fics and that's how I found myself here in the DPxDC fandom! There is an anime for it, currently just Season 1 is out but fingers crossed on Season 2! 🤞But definitely read it first before you watch because the pacing is a little fast for the anime and you don't get that same sweet, sweet tension. I am lucky enough that I do still have one beloved friend that I can talk about Tower of God with, or else I think I probably wouldn't have put it on this list at all.

Eleceed, Omniscient Reader, and Tower of God are all manhwas, which are Korean manga for a shorthand explanation. So if you want to wean yourself off those forms of fiction then... maybe stay away from these because they can suck you in.

Speaking of beloved friend, @midnightenigma recommended to me the Like Wind on a Dry Branch Webtoon, and I am still so upset about it because I will never be the same. 😭 The worldbuilding for this Webtoon is amazing and I adore the slow building romance and plot, and the exploration of grief and just- I am not okay.

I have more things I could recommend but that's... probably as much as I should offer now. lol I hope you find a treat to read from the bunch, though!

[blackjackkent]

☔ Is there a fic concept you have that you'd like to just explain and share because you're not sure you'll ever write it? If so, what is it?

(ask game for teasing wips/upcoming projects)

Man, there is a part of me that would LOVE to write this AU of Hector in Elden Ring (and a whole bunch of other stuff). :P

I had come up with a whole scenario in chatting with @zenjestrr, talking about a plot revolving around an elaborate set of isekais. It's incredibly silly and way too complicated to ever actually write, but I'm wholly entertained by it for some reason.

Hector and Karlach get yoinked into the world of Wrath of the Righteous (which I haven't yet played) via a portal from Avernus, bc Zen tells me that the game opens with a portal to hell being opened.

They experience the events of that game and through some unknown plot developments end up getting isekai'd again at the end of THAT plot.

Because she's no longer in Avernus, Karlach's engine has been hotting up again, and she ends up dying just as the second isekai happens. Separated from Hector, she ends up in the world of Dark Souls 3, where her soul (because she died by fire) ends up in a new body as one of the Unkindled Ash and she proceeds through the plot of DS3. She - being very familiar with the idea of letting go of something that's dying - takes the End of Fire ending and lets the First Flame go out, creating a new world.

Hector, meanwhile, gets yote into the Lands Between. He's all grief-stricken and sad bc he thinks Karlach is dead and he's entirely alone forever. He ends up allying with Ranni (because moon magic/Selune) and ushering in the Age of the Stars - not as Ranni's actual consort but more of a business partnership.

Between Hector traveling off to the stars with Ranni and Karlach ushering in a new world in DS3, more world-jumping shenanigans ensue and they have an incredibly romantic and feelsy reunion and go off to a happy ever after, either back in Faerun or in some other world. :D

Obviously writing this would be a) an enormous undertaking and b) hilariously off-the-wall, but I must admit I really enjoy the idea in the abstract. XD If only I had infinite time and no other obligations or ideas. :P