#zelo fics

[daebakinc]

Cyborg

Pairing: Zelo x Reader (G) Prompt: Cyborg/Android Word Count: 1.5K

~Admin V

             It had been over a week since you first woke up in the cyborg unit. Once you were stable, you learned that a truck ran a light while you were at the crosswalk. After running you over, your leg got stuck in an axel and you were dragged a bit before the truck stopped. The leg was obliterated. When they brought you to Dr. Choi, he was able to cleanly remove it and replace it with the robotic prosthetic.

             You sat in a wheelchair, looking out the window in the physical therapy room. Your therapist, Jongup, had moved two ballet bars for you to use as railings while you walked along them. You didn’t want to. You didn’t want to do it today, and you hadn’t wanted to do it the last three days. Despite Jongup’s encouragement and cheers, you ignored him and continued looking out the window.

             A sigh of relief escaped when he finally left you alone in the room. It was crazy to you that the doctors wouldn’t give you time to process and grieve your loss. They expected you to try and use your new “leg” right away.

             The reprieve was short lived as Dr. Choi came into the room. He walked toward your chair and knelt down in front of you. “Jongup tells me you won’t do the exercises again.”

             With a non-committal grunt, you continued to look out the window. He called your name but you refused to look at him. “You have to use your leg. You need to walk on it, and bend down with it. All the other things you would normally do before your accident.”

             “That’s just it, isn’t it?” Your glare was icy as you turned to him. “It’s not my leg. I could do all the things you want me to do before the accident. I don’t want to do them now. Why can’t you just leave me alone?”

             The fact that he smiled widely made you angrier. “I’m not gonna just let you wallow in self-pity. You’re absolutely right; what happened to you is unfair and you didn’t deserve to have it happen. But it did happen. I know that’s hard to accept, but it happened and you can’t change that.”

             Turning away from him, looking back out the window was easier than to admit he was right.

           “I know you want to be left alone in your pity party, but unfortunately, your new leg doesn’t have that kind of time.”

             “What makes you think I even want this stupid thing?”

             “So you would like to remain in a wheelchair the rest of your life instead of walking and being mobile on your own?”

             “I want to be fully human!” You gestured at your leg. “This makes me a freak! You don’t think people will just ignore a big robot leg, do you?”

             “It won’t always look like that. Once you complete therapy and it moves in sync with you, we’ll confirm there are no problems and cover it with a very realistic silicon. It will look just like your other leg. Soon you’ll forget it’s even metal.”

             “Like you’d know,” muttered from your lips.

             He stood up then and unbuttoned the collar of his shirt. Looking up at him, he revealed a scar on his neck. Then he removed his lab coat and lifted the back of his shirt. There was a long scar from what you could see going alongside his spinal column. Dr. Choi turned back to you. “You’re not the only one who’s not fully human.”

             Your mouth dropped. There were no words. All you could do was stare.

             His smile this time was sheepish. “Before my accident, I used to be a B-boy.”

             Still in shock, you spoke without thinking. “But you’re so tall.”

             That made him chuckle. “Yeah, it was part of the problem. I tried to do a backflip I wasn’t prepared for and landed wrong. Technically, my neck was broken and my spine was damaged. I would be paralyzed without the robotic parts that I have now.”

             You were still at a loss for words. He bent down to your level again. “You can do this. I know, because I did. Your new leg is attached to your nerve endings. When you move it, it’s going to move just like your other one did. It will build muscle memory and act just like a normal human leg. But right now, by not moving it, it’s building the memory of a statue, and that’s how it will act.”

             His words were understood. The stubborn part of you still didn’t want to give in, but it did seem like this was your shot at having your life as normal as it had always been.

             Seeing your deliberation, Dr. Choi beamed once more. “I’ll make you a deal; you try walking, and I will show you some of my B-boy moves.”

             Your mouth dropped. “You still do them?”

             He wiggled his eyebrows. “I rap, too.”

             “Is Dr. Choi your stage name?”

             Chuckling, he shook his head. “That would be Zelo.”

             “Zelo. Dr. Zelo. I think if I’m doing this, I should get the full show of rapping and B-boying.”

             He rubbed his chin, pretending to consider the bargain. “I don’t know. You haven’t been a very good patient so far. Jongup is the cheeriest person in this place, and you made him frown.”

             “How cheerful were you after your accident? Do you want me to use the leg or not?”

             His smile was back. “Okay then. You walk down the bars; I’ll rap and dance for you. Deal?” His hand stretched out to you.

             You accepted it and shook. “Deal.”

             He was ready to help you to stand, but you motioned for him to stop. “Will it hurt?”

             Zelo knelt down again. “It won’t hurt, but it won’t feel comfortable. The leg is trying to learn how it’s supposed to function, so it’s going to be a little stiff and hard to move at first. Once it receives signals from the nerve endings, and you move it, it will get easier and feel more comfortable.”

             You nodded and mumbled an “okay.”

             His hand rested on top of yours as he looked into your eyes. “You can do this. I’m gonna be here all the way.”

             Nodding again, you allowed Zelo to help you up from the wheelchair and hobble over to the ballet bars. Once you were situated, he moved to the opposite end. “Whenever you’re ready. Take your time.”

             He wasn’t joking when he said it would be uncomfortable. The leg wasn’t any heavier than your human leg was, but because it was new, it felt like dead weight. Your nerve endings tingled as you attempted to move it. You could only move it an inch, and you were sweating from just that much.

             “You’re doing good! Don’t worry about how far it moves. Take as small of a step as you need. You can build up to longer strides.”

             Squeezing the bars for support, you moved your good leg then tried your robotic leg again. A gasp sounded when the nerve endings tingled again. It felt like electricity. It continued like this until you were out of breath and at the end of the bars. Zelo had grabbed your wheel chair and had it ready for you. You were thankful as he helped you into it.

            “That was good! You did really well.”

            Still breathless, you lifted your shirt to wipe sweat of your forehead.

            “So which do you want first, rapping or dancing?”

            Your eyebrow lifted. “You can’t do both at once?”

            A smug smirk appeared. “Oh, I can. But you’re only getting one now. I’ll do the other when you make it back down the bars.”

            “What?” Your mouth dropped.

            “Like I said, time is of the essence, and you didn’t want to use it the first few days. We can’t stop now.” Zelo chuckled as you groaned. “It will be easier this time. Your leg has some input from the nerve endings sending messages to move. It has a better idea of how to function.”

            You did nothing but glare at him. It only made him beam brighter.

            “I’m still here to help you. Us cyborgs gotta stick together.”

            If looks could kill . . . “I’m gonna use my cyborg leg to kick your cyborg ass.”

            His smile never faltered. “That’s the spirit! Gotta walk the row again if that’s ever gonna happen.” When you ignored him, he started shaking his shoulders and shimmying. “What’s it gonna be?”

            It was hard not to smile at this ridiculously tall doctor dancing like a fool before you. Pride still in tow, you gave him a solemn look. “I will walk it again, but I want both the rapping and dancing together when I make it to the end.”

            “Alright!” He raised his hand for a high-five. When you refused to meet him, he lifted your hand and slapped it against his, making you grin again. “Let’s get this robo-show on the road!”

[frayed-symphony]

Since it's launch day for #TalesofSymphonia I can finally share my @talesfanzine art! It's an illustration for @darkhymns-fic 'With Tea, Stew, and Character Creation'. Zine leftover sales will be starting March 15! Read the story here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/45115171

[findafight]

Eddie's never met a Jedi. Of course he hasn't. But he's seen a Jedi, way back during the clone wars, when a battalion had helped after seppies had targeted civilian supply lines.

Eddie's pretty sure they were Kel Dor, what with the breathing apparatus. They'd worn tan and woody robes, long and elegant and flowing as they'd weaved between people, helping them stand or tending to wounds.

What had stood out to Eddie, watching this being that was supposedly a fierce warrior of light, was that they...were normal. They laughed and shrugged and cooed at babies, just like anyone else.

That was until the Jedi had raised their hands and lifted a two-tonne shipping crate into the air without so much as touching it. It frightened Eddie, then. Barely twenty and in the middle of a war his planet didn't want a part of. Beings that could lift and toss objects too heavy to move without machinery like they were playthings are not to be unwary of.

Of course. Eddie had spent a lot of the redistribution of rations effort around clones. They'd seemed...fine? While he is no stranger to speaking his mind he had thought well enough ahead that he probably shouldnt ask if they'd wanted to be there. Figured that might get him kicked off the project and he needed the money.

He listened instead. How they called each other things like Spoon and Duck and Trinity and Loopback as though they were names. Maybe they were. Eddie didn't know and didn't want to ask at the time.

But the Clones had been friendly, if formal. They spoke of their general with fondness and respect and a tinge of awe that felt appropriate to seeing what a Jedi was capable of frequently.

Eddie had liked them.

And then Empire Day came, and the Jedi were declared traitors and the galaxy as he knew it fell apart.

It never made much sense, from what Eddie had seen, for the Clones to kill the Jedi. But nobody asked Eddie, so Eddie didn't say. He did get sucked into the Rebellion though, and heard rumours about mind control and sith and a dozen other things.

So no. Eddie had never met a Jedi. But he'd seen one.

Chrissy had spoken about the rumoured Jedi (or-- not-jedi? She said they often refused the title) that stayed in the small Rebel enclave they've been helping. There were two, apparently. She'd met them, even, during a debrief where she'd been discussing how to better use their resources to help her contacts on the Freedom Trail. They'd barrelled in and spoken in such a way that Chrissy would have swore they were of the same mind, had they not been on opposite ends of the room.

"they were polite." Chrissy said, headtail twitching. "For people who interrupted an important meeting." Eddie'd laughed. "One, the Balosar man, he was very insistent that we delay our plans. The other, I think she was human? It's hard to tell, said the force was calling to them and very insistent about it during meditation."

"seriously? And the generals did it?"

"oh no. They argued for another twenty minutes before the not-Jedi threw up their arms and said, in unison Eddie!, 'The shipment will be lost if you go ahead with it. Better late than never, pricks.' and walked out."

So. On an abstract level, Eddie knew that whenever he entered the hangar bay to run maintenance or completely rebuild a ship, there was a chance for him to meet a former? Jedi.

He'd gotten well acquainted with a group of teenagers there, ones who were friends with the younger brother of the heir apparent to the region they were in and liked the make-believe games he ran in his off hours. But he never really thought about the Jedi that supposedly haunted the base until a woman shouted for Dustin, a rodian who was part of his little sheepies and had literal stars in his eyes when Eddie spoke, to come over. Dustin, the betrayer, jumped up and dashed off without even a word of goodbye.

"okay, so the head mechanic needs this-" she gestures to a small smuggling freighter that had seen far better days "hunk of junk out of the way so they can start work on a couple of x-wings. Steve and I figured we could help her out and get you to work on control of larger objects."

Eddie meandered casually over. Just to watch. Just to...see.

Dustin bounced on his feet. "Really? Woah! Where are we putting it?"

She pointed up, to the open vertical entry doors that created the roof of the hanger. "Steve's up there, he'll make sure if your control slips we don't crush the ship or anyone on the floor once you get it high, and he'll get it out and place it where it's supposed to go. I'll be here with you so you don't hurt yourself."

"I'm not gonna hurt myself."

She patted his head "yeah. Cuz I'm right here making sure."

"uhg. Almost wish I never learned you guys used to be Jedi."

"and who would train you then? No one. You and El would be sad little tooka kits all on your lonesome." She raised her voice to yell at the roof, "you ready Stevie?" and it should not have been loud enough to carry, the tone of an after thought, as though she already knew the answer and the question was just for the spectators, but the figure silhouetted waved.

Then, Dustin took a steadying breath, raised his arms, and closed his eyes. Slowly, the ship in front of him groaned and rose up. A crowd had formed, watching a magic thought extinct.

The woman's eyes darted between Dustin and the freighter, one hand loosely outstretched. It occurred to Eddie that neither wore the tunics and robes of Jedi. Dustin ran around in the mismatched pants and shirts of the Rebels' donations, while the woman wore deep greens. There were no dramatic sleeves that swished when they moved, just slightly loose fabric fastened by a belt and holster. He wonders if she ever wore them.

Dustin struggled for a moment, the ship quivering ten feet up, and the woman tensed slightly before he loosened. Eyes open, she deftly moved her arms up with the ship following, an ease in her movements that Dustin lacked. When she dropped her arms as well, the freighter stayed moving upwards, the other not-Jedi, Steve, likely taking over.

"good work for your first go." She said, draping an arm casually over Dustin's shoulders.

"I barely got it off the ground! Don't patronize me, Robin."

Eddie stepped in "considering I wouldn't even be able to move it sideways an inch, I'd say you did pretty well, Dustin."

The kid spun, just as the light comes shining back through as Steve maneuvered the ship out of the hangar. "Eddie! You saw?"

He scoffed "uh. Yes? Why didn't you tell me this is what you did when Im not around"

The woman-Robin, Eddie supposed, tensed. "It's not particularly safe to boast about it. Especially when it's not clear if you're alone."

Ah. Yeah. That did make sense. "Then why practice in a hangar with two dozen people around?"

She shrugged, and looked up. Eddie followed her sightlines and "wait is he gonna-" just as the figure that must be Steve launched himself off the edge of the open roof and towards them. He landed, he's leather jacket flapping behind him, and stood straight, grinning.

Robin laughed. "You'll give someone a heart attack one of these days, Steve."

"eh. No one's died so far."

Dustin smiled too "I'm getting pretty good at my controlled falls too! Oh, Steve, this is Eddie!"

And then Steve turned his gaze on Eddie, and his brain may have melted.

Steve looked like a spacer, windswept from the fall and leather jacket snug around his shoulders, two different holsters visible, his pants deliciously tight. He ran a hand through his hair, his antennapalps bobbing, and stuck it out for a shake.

"so, you're the great Eddie Munson Dustin hasn't shut up about? Good to meet you."

"mmhmm!" He forced his hand out to jerkily shake Steve's. Jeez. It was as though he'd never seen anyone beautiful before. His best friend was a Twilek dancer (and spy) for star's sake. He needed to get it together. Jedi didn't date, Eddie was pretty sure. Something about the force or power or devotion or something. He wasn't sure. He wasn't a Jedi. He wasn't a not-Jedi either.

Steve only smiled and turned back to Dustin. "So. Next time you need to let the Force flow. You're still trying to shove it, which never works. You direct it, like changing the course of a river."

"but not," Robin added seamlessly, and oh, wow, that was weird than you Chrissy "like a dam. Trying to block it won't give you strength. You're more..."

"using a log to ensure the water finds a different path."

"to go where you want it to go, do what you want it to do, without preventing it's natural flow."

"you guys are so annoying." Dustin huffed. "You know that? You can claim it's your Concordance of Fealty all you want but I know your freaky thing is not normal for it." He groaned. "But sometimes I feel when you guys, like, shape it. Change it. What the kark is that about? If I'm not supposed to dam it, how do I change it and use it like you do?"

Both grinned "We're older. Master the basics, we must, before attempting the advanced, young one." The voice Steve used was croaky, an impression.

Dustin pulled a face. "Don't quote Grandmaster Yoda at me!"

Robin and Steve laughed, leaning on each other. Suddenly, Eddie felt as though he was intruding. Though they hadn't told him to leave, they were sharing about...about a relative, Eddie guessed. Someone near to them and their almost-dead culture.

"I can quote him all I want, I drank enough of his atrocious tea to deserve it!"

"he's dead. You're going to sit here and insult your dead great-grandmaster, the last Grandmaster of the Order?"

Steve got Dustin in a headlock "while we mourn their loss, and acknowledge the pain of their untimely and unjust passing, we celebrate their memory. Yoda, the old frog, is one with the Force, and while I can wish for his guidance, I can also make fun of his vile cookies I had to eat at lineage dinners all I want."

"pretty sure they were barely considered edible for near-humans" Robin adds. She caught Eddie's eye, and winked. "Who's up for actually edible tea? Dustin can practice his fine control and pour for us.

Both Dustin and Steve groaned. "The kid is gonna spill all over us for fun, Bobbin."

Concept post Dustin discovers they're jedi

[kitkatt0430]

Rewatching SG-1 has reminded me of a Tales of Symphonia xOver idea I had that I'd still like to write.

It'd ignore the Tales of Symphonia sequel, so no Dawn of the New World stuff going on here. Instead, a few years post Tales of Symphonia and the reunification of the two world of Sylvarant and Tethe'alla into the single world of Aselia, an archeological dig in Tethe'alla discovers an outpost in the mountains that predates the Kharlan War and the civilizations involved by thousands of years.

It's not ancient Elven technology from their migration to the world from space either and likely predates even that long ago event - and the Elves are related to the Nox, though whether that comes up or not... at least it's world building, right? I considered the Ancients... but I like the Nox better for this. Anywho, the current Elves are an offshoot of the Nox who've lost their history and had somewhat divergent evolution from being on a completely different planet from the other Nox for so long.

It's Ancient technology, but with the Elves having forgotten their history they can't identify it anymore than the human and half-elven historians or archaeologists can. They've even consulted the Summon Spirits, but if they know then they aren't telling. And they do seem to know something.

Seles is fascinated. She's gotten interested in archaeology - Zelos blames Raine, who of course wouldn't see why being interested in old stuff would be so boring to him. But Zelos is trying to be supportive so he's shown up at the dig site.

There's a giant stone circle inside and that Zelos does find interesting. Its made up of a foreign material similar to exspheres, but it's clearly refined the same way exspheres were. While it's still somehow being powered - though they've yet to successfully activate it - it's clear the power source is external and stored in capacitors, not imbued with the power of a human life sacrificed to it's production.

That's when an offworld activation occurs and a Goa'uld and his army shows up. Zelos manages to hide Seles, but then he and two others are 'selected' similar to how Sha're and Skara are in the episode Children of the Gods.

On another world now, Zelos manages to befriend one of the Jaffa guards. Not enough to be snuck out, but enough that Zelos is pretty sure he's not going to get killed by this guy when things inevitably get worse. A selection is going on and, as Mekel explains, the Goa'uld - gods, but not really and isn't that a familiar situation for Zelos to be in? - are selecting new hosts. They're parasites. And that's when Zelos realizes he's in more trouble than he realized.

And so is Mekel and anyone else if Zelos gets 'Chosen'. The Chappa'ai (Stargate) is made of the similar-to-exspheres element. And so is the tech the Jaffa use - and thus the Goa'uld use. And, according to Mekel, the Goa'uld and Jaffa have that element - naquadah - in their blood stream. It's similar enough to exspheres that just being surrounded by so much of it makes Zelos able to feel his now-dormant powers again (dormant ever since he stopped using his angelus crystal) but not enough to actually use those powers.

He's pretty sure if he gets possessed? Those powers will be back and in the control of a wannabe god. Not good.

Mekel is not thrilled to learn this either. He may believe the Goa'uld are false gods, but they're still ridiculously powerful. Giving even one of them more power??? Could only be a bad thing. He's not sure he believes this isn't a ploy on Zelos' part to try and get away safely, but he does like Zelos now so... he decides to help Zelos escape. In doing so they discover a Tok'ra prisoner and after a short explanation about the Tok'ra vs Goa'uld divide, they decide to take him along.

The three of them jump a few planets and Zelos laments that he doesn't know his own world's address to go home. They'd be safe there. Though he's also hoping that they've somehow disabled the gate to prevent further incursions, though he knows Lloyd will be beyond pissed if the King chooses to abandon Zelos and the others to their fate that way.

They realize they didn't get away clean when an Ashrak injures the Tok'ra - Jeren and... I admit I don't have a name for his host in mind yet. They're too badly injured. Jeren could survive in a new host, but it's too late for his current one. Mekel refuses to become a Tok'ra host. If there were a way for him to be free of his symbiote without dying, he'd take it in a heartbeat... except for this. Which Jeren assures Mekel that he understands.

Zelos volunteers. He's come to trust Jeren and he knows the information Jeren seeks to take to the Tok'ra is important. It's just temporary, after all. Until a new host can be found, anyway.

As Zelos suspected, being bonded with Jeren revives his old exsphere/angelus crystal granted powers. He can't bring out his wings, but he's able to call on Judgement and some of his other high-level spells. And when the Ashrak strikes again, the three of them are able to kill the Goa'uld assassin this time.

But even with Zelos' healing powers restored, he never had Raine's gift for Resurrection and so Jeren's previous host is too far gone even for Zelos to heal even now. At least with the Ashrak dead, the man is avenged and they're able to safely seek out the current Tok'ra safe house by contacting another Tok'ra spy who knows where to send them.

The Tok'ra are fascinated by Zelos' powers but also relieved its not something they can replicate. Because if they can't, the Goa'uld can't either. And unfortunately the Tok'ra don't have a way to send Zelos home yet because they don't have the address to his world either.

When a new guy volunteers to become Jeren's host, Zelos decides he likes the partnership and stays Jeren's host after all. Mekel offers his services to the Tok'ra specifically to protect Zelos and Jeren. If the Goa'uld became aware of Zelos' powers, they'd seek to capture him and remove Jeren in order to take his body for themselves.

A few years later, Egeria is discovered and Zelos is brought in to try and use his unusual powers to heal her. He's met SG-1 once or twice before and Mekel and Teal'c have a mutual respect for each other going on. Zelos does manage to heal Egeria enough to stabilize her for travel, but she needs the care of her people going forward - she needs a host. But doing so meant revealing his abilities to SG-1.

Egeria fixes the flaws in Tretonin and Mekel jumps at the chance to try it. And after talking things over with SG-1, Zelos and Jeren tell Mekel they want to request they be assigned as a sort of permanent liaison to the SGC. Mekel likes this idea so they go through with it. Jacob and Selmak think it'll be a great fit.

Admittedly my ideas for this verse skip around a bit. Zelos, Jeren, and Mekel verses an Ori Prior would be very interesting to see happen. At some point they'd make contact with Aselia and Zelos is able to see his sister and friends again. Also... Lloyd and Colette kicking Ori ass with their angel powers, as some of the few still utilizing angelus crystals, would be a great deal of fun.

[lowtarei]

FIC REC: In a Pit of Depression... I Mean Pot... a Pot of Depression...

so I had a dream in which Zelos was brooding tragically inside a giant pot in his attic, as depicted here... I dropped the descrip into one of the Tales chats I'm in & @tales-of-sweets very kindly wrote me this fic based on it!! so then of course I had to contribute an illustration, to complete the circle of madness 8)

.....i have never even played symphonia; i have no idea where this came from?? but i'm glad my subconscious served it up xD

[jubilousday]

On My Way - Fic rough draft

This is a scene of a fic that has lived in my head rent free for the past 2 weeks now and needed to write it out.  PLEASE NOTE: This is a very rough draft, I have not written in YEARS. I was totally NOT drinking whiskey as I needed to write this scene out into existence. I refuse to provide context. Deal with it.  Fandom: Tales Of Symphonia

Characters: Zelos Wilder, Yuan Ka Fai

Summary: Yuan unintentionally meets Zelos right after Mylene’s death and obtains a son that he never asked for.

The sounds of clashing swords rang so loud in Zelos’ ears that it took his mind off how fast his heart was beating. His focus was solely on the blue haired man in front of him. It didn’t even occur to him that his shoulders were starting to give out on him, or how his limbs felt heavier than the sword in his hand. Adrenaline fueled his every move. The people around him were nonexistent, Zelos was out for blood and needed to hit, hit, hit.

The fact that his opponent wasn’t even fighting back and out right refusing to was pissing him off even more.

“You liar!” Zelos yelled as he swung hard. Emotions were never his forte’, but Zelos allowed the cloud to control his movements like a moth to a flame. He didn’t care that his movements weren’t as fluid or well constructed as he normally would.

“I hate you! I hate you! IhateyouIhateyouIhateyou!” He growled as his sword slammed faster, and faster. His moves were getting sloppier, the filter between his brain and mouth becoming more deteriorated with every movement. 

“Dammit, you bastard! Fight me!” Zelos beckoned. His voice didn’t feel like his own, but at the same time he didn’t feel like himself at all. He didn’t feel like a person at all. His entire life was a lie. At this point he was getting so frustrated at the lack of response, he did everything he could to get some kind of reaction.

“Oh what, you’re not gonna say anything?” He paused, almost a chuckle.  “Or is there nothing left to say now that the truth is out?” His brain didn’t know what to do. While his innermost vulnerability was being triggered, his mask was challenged. Zelos had pride, he made it appoint to never be a fool to another’s game at the expense of his own. Yet here he was, a mere pawn since the dawn of time when he was the most vulnerable. How did he not see this coming?

“At least tell me why!” Demon Fang! “Why did you lie to me?” Demon Fang! “Why didn’t you tell me the truth?” Demon Fang!  “You didn’t have to go so far to pretend to want to be my…” He didn’t want to say the word, because now he felt stupid. He didn’t want to admit how he misinterpreted what their relationship was. “My…” 

“Father?” Yuan croaked, his deep voice suddenly vibrating through all sound and movement. To him, the word felt like it had more gravity and meaning than mana itself. Although he was uncomfortable with being this vulnerable, his words were fluid and clear. Zelos merely stopped on instinct. For someone who was baiting on a reaction, he was at an impasse in this moment.

“You have and will always be my son.” Withdrawing his weapon, his gaze remained on Zelos the entire time. He hasn’t felt this level of vulnerability since Martel was alive. Nonetheless, his words rang true no matter how much his brain was telling him to remain guarded.

Yuan’s a soldier at heart and always will be. When he feels emotions arise, he just disregards it and turns it off like a light switch. But because he’s so fact-natured, he couldn’t bring himself to say anything that he thought and felt were untrue. Zelos was his son, whether he wanted to believe it or not.

Zelos suddenly felt very small, like he was a small child all over again. The age when he forgot what his birth name was. The age when people cared more about their beloved Chosen, no matter how their status came to be. He was Chosen before he was a child. A child that never asked to have the fate of the world on their shoulders. A child that had everything taken from them for the very same reason why they were brought there in the first place.

Zelos asked questions that he never got the answers for, yet somehow he knew the answers all along. He tried to speak but all that came out was a coughed sob. When did his face get wet? When did he drop his sword and surrender? The only thing Zelos could feel was an arm on his shoulder in order to be pulled in a tight embrace. The combination was like yin and yang. Where Zelos’ body felt heavy, Yuan stood his ground and was there to support him.

“I’m here, and I’m not leaving.”

[kohakhearts]

request: zelos/lloyd + #9: things you said when i was crying.

wc: 1 195

If there is one thing Zelos prides himself on, it is this:

He has not cried since he was a child, not really.

Oh, here and there, some tears, but never anything anyone, least of all himself, could consider crying. He’s just not like that. He takes in sad stories with sympathetic frowns and titters, depending on who’s telling them—the prettiest of girls warrant soft, pitying touches on the shoulder, or maybe even kisses on the cheek—and he looks back on his own past with impassive regret. Even in his worst moment, he’s never had anything to cry over. Not since his mother died. Certainly not since Seles was put under house arrest.

But that’s the issue now. Seles. His horrible, darling sister. Admittedly, seeing her during his travels with Lloyd and Colette and everyone else was harder than he had expected it to be, but that’s in the past, now, and he doesn’t want to think about it, or the circumstances that brought them to the abbey in the first place. After all, it won’t be long until that place is far behind them; Zelos has made sure of that.

He doesn’t really know if Seles will be appreciative of everything, for all she says she is now. The reality is that house arrest in the middle of scenic nowhere is probably far preferable to living with him, in Meltokio. But what other choice is there? She can’t live alone, and, according to her, she doesn’t want to, either.

It gnaws at him. What exactly “it” is, he can’t say so definitively, which is what makes it so awful.

She’ll be here tomorrow, but, today, it is just Zelos—and Lloyd, who insisted on being around for him, for some ridiculous reason or another. Zelos doesn’t know just yet whether or not he’s grateful for the company; right now, at this very moment, he’s leaning towards not.

“Would you stop wringing your hands already?” Lloyd tells him, exasperated. “I thought you told me nothing was wrong.”

“Nothing is wrong.” With some effort, he pulls his hands apart and tightly crosses his arms over his chest. He glances back at Lloyd with a raised eyebrow, though Lloyd does not seem impressed by his solution to the incessant—apparently annoying—hand-wringing. “Are you sure you don’t want a drink?”

“Are you sure you don’t want to sit down?”

Scowling, Zelos turns away from him again.

“I thought you would be excited.”

“What, I don’t seem excited to you?” Zelos snorts. “It’s not really that simple, Lloyd.”

“Yeah, but why not?”

“You wouldn’t get it. Just trust me when I say it’s not.”

“Yeah, well.” Lloyd pauses. And then: “I think you’re just guilty, but what’s there to be guilty over?”

It feels like a blade through his chest. His hands fall to his sides and he lets out a trembling breath, trying—and failing—to get a hold of himself. He should not be surprised by this point that Lloyd can read him so well, but, for some stupid reason, he is.

“Zelos?”

“It’s not that simple,” he says again, hoarsely. “You don’t get it. You can’t.”

For a moment, there is no sound, and then he hears Lloyd stand and cross the room. Just as soon, there is a strong, warm hand on his shoulder, but he steadfastly does not turn around even as the touch pokes and prods at the chest wound already inflicted by his words.

“But I can try,” Lloyd says. “You just have to talk to me.”

Zelos blinks furiously, but it does little to steel his resolve. To his horror, the vague stinging in his eyes—which has been there all day, maybe even longer—becomes all at once unbearable, and then he is crying, and unsure how to make it stop, if he even wants to.

Apparently, Lloyd was not expecting this, either. His grip tightens. “What’s wrong?”

Zelos opens his mouth to respond, but snaps it shut again when all that threatens to escape is a childish sob. He does not know what’s wrong, not in so many words, but he thinks it is Lloyd’s fault, and not just for being here now.

“Can I do something?”

Zelos shakes his head. He takes a few seconds to catch his breath, and then lifts a hand to wipe at his eyes (a mostly pointless endeavour) before turning and facing Lloyd.

Lloyd seems to hesitate for a moment, and then he asks, “…Are you sure?”

Zelos turns his gaze to the ceiling, so he won’t have to see Lloyd’s reaction as he chokes out, “You could—leave.”

“What?!”

A couple gulping breaths, before he manages, “I never felt guilty like this before I met you.”

“What do you—?”

“Never felt much of…anything ‘til I met you,” Zelos mutters, squeezing his eyes shut. His chest heaves, but his tears seem to have mostly subsided. For now, at least. “That was kinda the whole point.”

“But…” Lloyd pauses, as if struggling for the words. A testament to the truth of his words, Zelos still cannot bear to look at him, for fear of what he might see if he does.

Finally, Lloyd’s hand drops from his shoulder, and instead seizes his wrist. He draws Zelos’s hand up and holds it between both of his own.

“Not feeling things doesn’t make them go away,” he says firmly. “It just makes them harder to deal with once you finally do have to feel them.”

Zelos takes in a deep, shuddering breath, and, at last, opens his eyes. Drops his head.

Lloyd isn’t angry, or even anything like it. Not at Zelos, anyway. The look in his eyes now reminds Zelos a bit of how he had been after they had discovered Colette’s toxicosis—a determination born of love. Commitment. He is here now not to make Zelos confront his guilt, but to be there when he inevitably has to.

“And the only way to make them better,” Lloyd goes on, “is to feel them. And talk about them. I think Seles will understand that. Don’t you?”

Zelos’s fingers twitch in his hold. Suddenly, he almost wants to laugh. He brings his free hand up and wipes at his face again, to more success this time.

“You’re a fuckin’ idiot,” he mutters.

“Am I?”

“Yeah.” He chuckles, lightly; it is not an entirely mirthful sound, which hurts his chest a bit. “That’s what makes it so annoying when you’re right about something.”

A beat passes, where Lloyd just stares at him, and then he laughs too. He says, “Yeah, okay. Come sit down, then.”

This time, Zelos lets him lead him back to the table. He is not wringing his hands when he sits, not even after Lloyd lets go of him. Though Lloyd doesn’t push him to talk—just sits there, constant and steady and himself—he knows that this is far from the end of this conversation. Just the beginning of it, really.

But the ache in his chest is different, now. He finds, despite everything, he is not dreading the rest of it quite so much as he was.

[safewarmbubbly]

Writer’s Game: First Sentences

Was not tagged BUT @i-mybrunettelady threw this into gw2 tumblr from another writer so I’m doing it anyway :)

Rules: post the first sentence of your last ten fics. If you haven't written ten fics, share as many first-sentences as you have.

HERE’S THE THING LADS, I have not published a lot of my fics. I just have a million stories that I’ve made just in my notes app and other places. SO I’ll give a working/basic title for each of these and you’ll just have to be content.

LET’S GO WOOOOOO

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

1 | The Aftermath of the Dragon |

The battle with Soo-Won is won, but at what cost?

2 | Run boy run |

As a child Theseus spent most of his time in his studies

3 | The Trammander Wedding | (exactly as it sounds)

Cynthia toyed with the ribbon around her waist, she was in front of a vanity in her special quarters

4 | A simple song |

Trahearne sat silently on the cliff’s edge, Malchor had taken his leap from this very ledge.

5 | Really? You like looking at me? | (in which Warren is temporarily blinded)

Theseus poured over the papers on his desk

6 | Pact Gala |

“So what you’re saying is, all I have to do is accompany you to your little Pact Gala, and you’ll hand over 50G at the end of the night?”

7 | An Eye for an Eye |

It was the late hours of the night, and Trahearne sat quietly at the table in Caer Aval, the shuffle of papers filled the empty courtyard

8 | You came, you called |

Theseus sat alone in his home, in a single dining chair with only the voices as his company

9 | Orrian Flowers |

Cynthia and Trahearne have been friends ever since Claw Island, they've worked hard together and formed the Pact to defeat Zhaitan, now they have been on Orr for about a month, and Cynthia was starting to miss the smells of life and plants.

10 |  Five times the Commander mourned her Marshal, and the one time she didn’t | 

Airships fell from the sky over the Maguuma Jungle, screams of comrades being dragged by the thorny vines that had shot out from the depths, Captain Thackery, Zojja, and Marshal Trahearne were among the prisoners taken by Mordremoth.

[ryuuseini]

Love it when I tell non fanfic ppl my fanfics and they go like "uh. That wouldnt happen because canon states XYZ" and its VERY obvious that the idea diverges from canon well before canon states XYZ??? Like???

"This character isn't spiteful, he would never say that" I mean, actually if you look at his relationship with his (biological) dad compared to his (adopted) dad... Dude's spiteful just rarely. And is it truly unreasonable to have a character at the lowest point of their life make ONE spiteful quip and then immediately apologize for it??? I'm sorry like ???

[frayed-symphony]

A preview of my Tales of Symphonia piece for @talesfanzine !! I'm illustrating a story by @darkhymns-fic, check out her page for the writing preview!

Pre-orders open until August 5th! https://infinitehorizonszine.bigcartel.com

[seek--rest]

what are your personal recs for gen mcu spider-man trope fics?

I'M SO GLAD YOU ASKED

Some of these might include background romantic relationships as is the nature of reading Spider-Man fics™️ but overall, my favorite gen mcu spider-man fics in no particular order:

taller in another dimension by achilleskneel

in or out by @friendlyneighborhoodsecretary

shelter from the storm; the cost of living; by @blondsak

tony stark googled the thing by myfriendharry

got guns in my head and they won't go; show me where my armor ends (where my skin begins); all the time in the world to get it right; by bysine

blips on the record; a beautiful day in the neighborhood; smiling to the mirror; wait, my peter parker? by @ambivalentmarvel

for good by madelinedear

HBD loser; what we leave behind; can't part the sea, can't reach the shore; by @forensicleaf

sonder series by zelos

the humbling river by @mysterycyclone

arachnid decathlon; research and disaster; by blueh

there's a fine, fine line; you will be found; walls; by @starkravinghazelnoots

big secrets, and other things to talk to your therapist about by aimeal

do not stand at my grave and weep by jenks

the boy in the window; time & spaces; by @promiseofthepremise

Some way of being human by @hollow-dweller

use our eyes throw our hands overboard by imoticon

i hear, said the blind man; what is and will be (is you and me); by @momentofmemory

all you give is more than it'll take by @shizuoi

honey, come over; milk & eggs; by @missamyshay

peter parker vs. billionaires, boundaries, and bad recruitment strategies by @tonystarkstan

some version of you by @abcd-em

soon you'll like the sound; in the doldrums; by @befehlvonganzunten

gifts and curses by artist_artists

recognition by @spideyfic

i have time; peaches; by @peterparkrr

fitting in tiny spaces by @captainkirkk

focus by happybeans

Orphaned fics:

hard to love

never go home alone

Collabs:

to stand on your feet and dance by @blondsak and @promiseofthepremise

[oxymorayuri]

𝐶𝘩𝑎𝑝𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝟷𝟷

𝐹𝑖𝑔𝘩𝑡! »

𝑇𝑟𝑎𝑓𝑎𝑙𝑔𝑎𝑟 𝐷. 𝑊𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟

𝐿𝑎𝑤 ✘ ♀ 𝑅𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑒𝑟

𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐈𝐒𝐓: Katsumi Ishizuka

Story: The princess of Tanata

(Long Fic)

➽ Click on this link to see all chapters.

Spoiler: none

Warnings: none

slowburn with plot

Wordcount: 2413

Text in italics emphasizes the reader’s thoughts

Bold and italic text emphasizes Law's thoughts *~*

Tagging: @slytherinambitious - @sassyyassi - @norasincubi - @cottoncandyloverrrr - @one-piece-frvr7

A/N: Hello my sweeties ♡ Thalia is an important character in this story… Even if she's not the main character, I have big plans for her... And to be honest, I've already fallen in love with her character! Stay tuned. I already talked about her appearance in the last chapter, but I wanted to give you a picture of her, or something that matches her aesthetic. I present you; our Thalia!

𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐈𝐒𝐓: left | right

Before you know it, a week has passed.

It's been quite an exciting week and you're amazed at how well everyone has settled in. Some friendships have formed, not only between you and them but also between the pirates and some of the citizens of Tanata.

With a smile, you think back to these days. You are glad that everyone gets along so well.

Law and Chopper told you a lot about modern medicine and you were amazed at how professional they were in their element. Every evening you met for a cup of tea in the royal family library and talked about medicine. Even though it was always a lot of informative stuff, you still go relaxed to bed and sometimes with butterflies in your stomach.. because every time Law leaned over to you, to show you something in a book, you felt the heat building up inside...

With your eyes closed, you enjoyed the memories. You sit on a bench by a large training ground and calmly swing your legs.

You finished your duties a little early and you are apparently the first to arrive at the meeting point.

Ambrosios found a really good friend among the pirates, so it seems. He met Zoro in a pub yesterday and the two of them hit it off right away, or so you think…

Because this morning Ambrosios showed up at Hera's palace full of determination and challenged Zoro to fight. If you know Ambrosios then you know that's a good sign, because he only wants to fight those he respects or puts on the same level as himself.

You are really looking forward to the fight, which is about to begin, and a few others want to watch it too.

You can hear Thalia and Nami shouting in the distance.

You get up from the bench and wave cheerfully to the women.

"And y/n, who do you think is going to win today?" With an arm around you, she pulls you close to her. She's a little shorter and you have to bend a little, but you return the hug by wrapping an arm around her too.

You think about it for a moment.

"Uhmmm, so I've known Ambrosios my whole life… He's almost as strong as Zelos and I know that through experience." Even though you were a princess, Ambrosios never treated you gently when you fought together. You were a worthy opponent to him, more like a rival.

"But when I run into Zoro, it's either that he's training or drinking. They're quite similar in that aspect, so I'm really curious… It's 50-50." You can't quite make up your mind and remain neutral.

"I'm sure Zoro will be the winner!" Nami says proudly, with her hand on her chest. Together you burst out into a laughter.

Together you take a seat on a picnic blanket that Thalia had brought with her and Nami surprised you with a basket full of tasty treats from Sanji.

Your eyes lit up at the sight of the sweets. Sanji even included a little note: "Bon appetit, ladies." he wrote in a fancy handwriting. That gentleman.

Your eyes go over to Thalia, who is delighted with the dessert. Sanji had actually prepared her favorite dessert…

The two of them have started a 'little romance' over the days...

"Tell me, Thalia.. you and Sanji? How close are you guys?" You lean over to her. Your mischievous grin crosses your face. The blonde is startled, blushing in a deep red and is about to tumble backwards, but Nami reacts quickly and catches her.

"Well, it's the same as before…" She runs her fingers through her fine blonde hair a little insecurely.

The backstory to this: This 'little romance' the two of them are having, is truly a love drama...

They write poetic letters to each other, sometimes several times a day! And when the two of them met by chance in the city or when she is with you, they would talk as if they were in their own world. From the outside, they seem like soulmates.

Totally cheesy, but it suits your best friend.

Over time, more of the pirates and friends came to the fighting ground. Bepo came running up and happily called your name. Behind him you can see Law, Shachi, Penguin and Ikkaku following.

You girls give the new arrivals a friendly wave. They joined you on the meadow. Ikkaku took a seat on the blanket and took something out of her bag.

"I've brought us something really delicious!" she happily presents the bottle of wine. Yaaaaay!

You women cheer and pour yourselves some of the wine. You talk cheerfully like teenagers while you wait for the fighters.

Ambrosios was the first to enter the square. He proudly presented himself to you ladies in his golden armor.

"Greetings, beautiful ones. Greetings, my princess." he greeted you separately and kissed your hand. You roll your eyes at him. That Casanova.

"Where is the swordsman?" He asks energetically, spreading his arms. His muscles flex at the slightest movement.

"He's probably lost again." Nami makes a remark as she calmly drinks from her glass.

Your gaze wanders across the sky. The sun flashes through the trees, creating a beautiful play of light and shadow.

"Ahh, there he is!" Ambrosio's battle ready voice brings you out of your thoughts.

Zoro and Robin come walking up. Zoro and Ambrosios greet each other with a firm handshake, their looks are serious but eager to fight. They grin at each other.

"Hey Robin! There you are! Good thing you brought Zoro, we've been waiting for ageeeees." complains a slightly drunk Thalia. She has barely finished a glass and is already tipsy but she's a lightweight when it comes to alcohol anyway. Robin laughs a little at her as she settles down and closes the gap between you and Thalia.

"Yeah, I met him on my way here. He seemed a little disoriented." - "HAH! I told you so!" sneered Nami.

While the men warmed up briefly, people chatted amongst themselves. Some placed bets on their favorite and talked about why they were betting on the person in question.

You listen intently as Penguin and Shachi argue about the possible winner and Law sits between them... The back and forth between the two and the way the captain tries to get out of their argument, brings a giggle from you.

From the side, you hear the clink of swords being unsheathed. All eyes are now on the men, as they stand opposite each other in a fighting stance. All conversations came to an end and everyone waited eagerly for the one making the first move.

You never really noticed until now, but Zoro seems to be fighting with three swords. One in each hand and the third between his teeth. Ambrosios draws his sword and holds it firmly in both hands. The huge blade reflecting in the light.

He has taken the family heirloom out of the cabinet for this fight. Remarkable. It is a sword that has been passed down in their family for generations.

Ambrosios was the first to make a move. He dashed straight at the green haired man with insane speed, his blade pointed directly at him.

Zoro continued to stand in place, his posture firm. Just before Ambrosios could swing his sword, Zoro leapt into the air and spun around to make his first move.

"Oni Giri!" Zoro tried to charge a strike from the air but Ambrosios was able to deflect it with ease. The broad blade of his sword makes it easy to dodge attacks.

With quick movements, their swords clashed constantly. It was hard to keep up, even for you. It almost seemed as if their energy was limitless and you can see the passion burning in their eyes.

They both give their all.

You can see that they both find it downright thrilling to fight with each other. Those madmen. You think.

The fight has been going on for a while now and it looks like that both are on the same level.

"Oiii ZORO! COME ON! GO, GIVE HIM ALL YOU GOT!" Luffy shouts as he jumps excitedly into the air.

The crowd cheered for their favorite every time he landed a good hit or blocked a heavy blow. The fight is even and in your eyes you're just waiting for someone to make a mistake.

You know that Ambrosios is a man of perfection, but you realize that Zoro is also an attentive opponent.

Even when the two seemed visibly out of breath, it didn't change their fighting spirit. Their pride is too great for them to back down.

After countless blows, however, the unpredictable happened.

Ambrosios fended off a strong attack and began to falter. He lost his balance and fell to the ground. Completely out of breath, Zoro stood over him. His grin almost wider than his face. With one of his swords pointed at Ambrosios, it's clear who the winner is.

"I'd say the match is over." Satisfied, he puts his swords away and gives him his arm so that Ambrosios can pull himself up. As they both stood in front of each other, the Tanata warrior placed a hand on Zoro's shoulder.

"You are an excellent swordsman, my friend." Zoro holds him firmly by the arm, returning his words.

"I can only repeat that." The two come walking arm in arm towards the cheering group. This was never about who was the strongest. It was about the passion to fight.

The two have forged a noticeable bond through the fight and both toast to their fighting with a mug of beer.

"Now that I've warmed up, I want to fight your strongest man!" Zoro announces, as if the hour of fighting just now, was a piece of cake.

Ambrosio's laughter was very hearty at first, but towards the end his laughter had a sinister edge to it...

"Zoro you are insatiable." Ambrosios lies down on the grass, his gaze directed upwards.

"If you want to fight the strongest, I'll have to disappoint you. Zelos is currently on a mission and therefore not in the city."

Zelos is still in the process of building a line of defense, in the forests of Tanata. The strange ship still seems to be circling the island and from what the king says, it is now certain that they are not trying to get out of the storm…

Zoro groans unhappily. He looks like he still has so much energy he wants to get rid of.

"But there's one more person." Your eyes go over to Ambrosio's without moving your body.

Don't you dare, Ambrosios.

He looks at you without anyone noticing. His grin widens as you shake your head slightly.

"Is it the king?" Nami asks. Ambrosios bursts out laughing loud and heartily. The young woman looks over at you, confused. You shrug your shoulders a little warily and smile gently at her. You hope that Zoro will lose interest, but unfortunately you don't know him well.

"Come on Ambrosios, spit it out, who is it?" He shakes his battle partner and looks at him expectantly. Ambrosios sits up.

"No, it's not the king. The king is strong but he's the fourth strongest in my opinion." He answers Nami's question.

The people around you are very curious and no one makes a sound.

"Zelos is the strongest man, but there is one woman who is stronger than all the others." Zelos eyes are on you and quickly you realize that everyone is looking at you.

Zoro's broad grin disappears.

"And who is this woman?" Zoro didn't seem to get the message.

Luffy joins the confusion and applies some pressure.

"That's right! Tell us, who is it!" Excited, Luffy gets very close to Ambrosios. Without any problems, he pushes the boy away from him with his hand in his face.

Annoyed, Nami groans and pulls Zoro towards her by the ears.

"THAT'S OBVIOUS, YOU IDIOT!" She scolds him. You can literally see the gears moving in Zoro's head… but there is no sign of realization. Frustrated, she lets go of him, she just can't take any more.

"It's y/n!!!" She yells at him.

In a flash, Luffy and Zoro's eyes are now on you too. Luffy looks at you with a sparkle in his eyes while Zoro's combative grin returns.

"Uhhhh hehe, well now it's out." you admit in defeat "Surprise!" you add a little uncertainly.

You feel quite uncomfortable that all the attention is on you. Of course you're excellent with a sword, but you're pretty overpowered thanks to your devil fruit.

You know how hard the others train and even think it's unfair that they call you the strongest… Of course you have trained a lot and even if your fighting technique is excellent, you think that someone else could certainly be stronger with the devil fruit.

Zoro ignores the uncertainty in your voice and stands up, only to kneel in front of you.

"Princess, please do me the honor of fighting you!" he lowers his head.

"I can't Zoro. I don't fight for pleasure." you reply softly as you cross your arms in front of you. Hastily, he looks into your eyes with a serious look.

"This is not about pleasure. It's about honor and respect. I respect you my princess, so please do me the honor and let me fight you!" His hand tightens on the hilt of his sword. His eyes flash at you with a steely determination and to your disadvantage, the people cheer in unison 'Go princess!, go princess!'.

You admit your defeat and sigh. Your eyes meet his again. You can't shake the feeling that if you don't fight him, he will annoy you until you part ways.

…Until you part ways…

"You know what, Zoro?" Who knows, maybe one day you'll regret it.

Maybe one day you'll regret not showing the pirates Tanata's strength. The ambition, courage and technique.

"LET'S FIGHT!"

You jump up and some of the people cheer and follow suit.

See you next time, kiss kiss ♡

➽ Next chapter

[featherquillpen]

Animorphs Early Series Fic Recs

Some folks on the podfic Discord server are reading the series for the first time, and they want to dip their toes into fic without spoilers. So I'm helping them out by putting together these fics, which have no spoilers beyond the first ten books.

The Yeerk and the Gedd: A Natural History by Nate the Ape

Some speculative xenobiology about how Yeerks evolved. Very interesting to think about.

Home for Dinner and Weekends by HotPinkCoffee

Pre-canon fic about Marco's mom and how she became infested. It's devastating, and a wonderful POV from one of my favorite minor characters.

The Class by FreakApple

In which Chapman teaches the Animorphs sex ed. Yes, the Animorphs learn about STIs and condoms from a Yeerk, and they don't handle it well. It's very funny.

Break Time by Desdemon

A modern AU, in which Ax learns how to use an iPhone. Light 'n' fluffy.

One Hour by Derin

Devastating fic focused on an original character: a voluntary Controller who's started to have some regrets about his choices.

All the Light We Cannot See by Zelos

Cassie and Jake go on a date, and Jake helps Cassie with some of her insecurities. Cute 'n' fluffy.

Millennimorphs by dragonmorph

An AU in which the events of Animorphs take place later, when the kids are 30. Covers the first two books in the series. Really interesting updates to include surveillance capitalism, etc.

Five of Your Seconds by dragonmorph

A fun awkward Ax/Marco fic set in book 6 while Jake is suffering The Agonies in the shed.

And if I may rec a few of my own fics that fit the theme:

Home(work)

In which Tobias tries to reclaim a sense of normality in his weird hawk life by helping Jake with his homework.

Five Things That Never Happened to Marco (and one that did)

A short AU that asks, "What if Marco's dad got so depressed after his wife's 'death' that he committed suicide?" Big CWs. Bring tissues.

Five Things That Never Happened to Melissa (and one that did)

A short AU that asks, "What if Melissa Chapman had been at the construction site?"

Sancho Panza

An AU that asks, "What if Marco were already a Controller at the time he went to the construction site?"

[crush3dmary]

So. I'm curious and now I need to know something. For those of you who follow my fics, when you think of my stuff, what is the first scene/line/thing that comes to mind? Mostly just curious if I've written enough now that it's something other than the time I cut off Zelos Wilder's finger in Absurdities for most people...

[kohakhearts]

request: colette/lloyd + #12: things you said when you thought i was asleep.

wc: 840

Colette doesn’t sleep anymore.

It’s almost impossible to tell, but Lloyd has known her for a very, very long time, and well; she does not wear from battle, or travel, not any more so than the rest of them, but she is tired in a different way. Her smile is dull, her morning greetings bleak. She watches them all during meals—meals she does not eat enough of, if she even eats them at all—with a sort of resigned despair, which Lloyd has not seen on her face since they were children.

He does try to talk to her about it, more than once. But she brushes it off, at times more harshly than he thinks either of them is expecting, and he can’t bear the thought of deepening the anxious crease between her brows, the one she thinks he can’t see, so he lets it go. When he asks Genis about it, his response is, “Well, she’s probably just stressed out. Isn’t being there for her the best thing we can do?”

Lloyd thought that too, but the longer it goes on, the less certain he becomes.

He sits next to her at every meal. During the day, he walks right at her side, only stepping ahead when there is a threat. When night falls and they have not made it to an inn, he ensures their bedrolls are side-by-side.

Every night, she is still awake when Lloyd falls asleep. Every morning, she is there with a bright smile and a perfunctory “Good morning,” and it never feels right.

Tonight, he decides enough is enough. When the fire is out and the others have begun dozing off, Lloyd wishes Colette a good night’s sleep.

She smiles at him, a little sadly. “Thanks, Lloyd. You sleep well too, okay?”

Normally, he might feel guilty for the lie, but where Colette’s well-being is concerned, well…he’s never felt too terribly about lying for her sake, even when she’s the one he’s lying to.

For a long time, he just lies there, doing his best to keep his limbs relaxed and his breaths deep and even. Around them, the wind whistles between blades of grass and his companions’ sleeping forms; every so often, he hears one of them shift in their sleep, but never from right beside him. It is difficult to keep his eyes closed, when all he wants to do is talk to Colette—to hear what is wrong, to help her fix it—but he tells himself he wouldn’t be able to stand the expression on her face if he did open his eyes, and knows from the leaden weight in his gut that it is not just something he's telling himself at all.

How much time passes, he doesn’t know. But at some point, there comes a soft sigh, the rustling of fabric against a bedroll, and then Colette murmurs, “Kratos told me I should try counting the stars, but I always lose track of them. I look in the same places every night, so I’ve probably counted a lot of them twice, but I think I just keep thinking that they’re going to change more than they do.” She pauses. “It feels like the only thing I want to change, lately.”

There is a warm pass of air above his face, and he tenses. Immediately, he hears her moving again—shifting back, away from him.

“Lloyd,” she whispers, “I’m sorry for being so selfish. I guess I thought…maybe I can’t memorize every constellation in the sky by the end of this, but I never wanted to forget your smile. I hope you’ll be able to forgive me one day.”

The compulsion to open his eyes, to shoot up and demand what he could possibly have to forgive her for, is almost too great. While he is fighting it back, he nearly misses her say, “But I hope if you look to the stars at night, even if it’s just to count them—then I hope you’ll think of me, too.”

And then there is silence, for a time. She looses another sigh, shifting, and he dares to crack an eye open to look at where she sits on her bedroll, knees pulled up to her chest and head tilted back. Her gaze is lost in the stars. He barely refrains from asking if she sees him somewhere within them.

With a shuddering exhale, he rolls on his side, away from her. He doesn’t hear her move. Maybe she glances at him, but not for longer than a second or two. All this time, she has thought he was asleep.

And isn’t that what he wanted?

But as he closes his eyes again, tighter now, and really thinks about it, he does not know how he is supposed to admit that he lied to her, and continued to lie with every word she spoke while he lay there and said nothing, just to prove some kind of point.

Selfish, she called herself.

She is not the only one.

[otherworldlygate]

The Fascinating & Frustrating Experience of Writing AUs for Tales of Symphonia

You might have been wondering when I would type out some juicy meta for this blog instead of just reblogging art, so congratulations! Here.

Enjoy this "meta" about AU fics and concepts.

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The truly fascinating/frustrating thing about designing any remotely serious AU within the ToS fandom at large is dealing with the fact that the characters in the game are heavily—and I mean HEAVILY—ingrained into the world. I’m not necessarily talking about Sylvarant and Tethe’alla, but rather their universe at large. Aselia as a whole has so much going on, and the cast is firmly rooted in it. We can’t even separate the history of the world from our cast, because despite being 4,000+ years in the making, we have 4,000-year-old characters thrust upon us.

The world of Aselia is a deeply interesting place, and there’s a lot to explore there. This is probably why in-universe fanfiction is so incredibly popular.

I’ve been in many fandoms over the years, and something I’ve noticed is that most of them have a pretty balanced ratio of canon to completely AU fics. That is decidedly not the case for ToS. While there are AUs, quite a few of those continue to explore within the canon world using the rules the canon has given: for example, a semi-popular idea is Tethe’alla as the declining world where Zelos is the current journeying Chosen. We also have a handful of canon divergent stories (what if X didn’t happen within the story/what if Y happened instead of X?). Lastly, there are a wide variety of fics that explore the world or timeline at large: there are stories about the original Hero Group, stories that poke around in the rich concept of the Balacruf Dynasty, fics that utilize the Otherworldly Gate in interesting ways, and even stories that detail the lives of other Chosen, like Spiritua.

I shouldn’t discount the difficulty that comes with writing these kinds of stories, especially large sweeping concepts that require a lot of thought. The best example of this is Declining!Tethe’alla. At a glance it sounds so incredibly simple: all right, so…Zelos is the journeying Chosen, then!

I mean, yes. But you have to consider everything that comes along with Tethe’alla as the declining world, not just the fact that Zelos is the one making the journey, now. For example, I think it’s especially important to imagine the kind of world Sylvarant might have become, if the Balacruf Dynasty had never lost its seat of power (or if it had, but to another military force). Copy-pasting Tethe’alla’s particular brand of “flourishing” into Sylvarant doesn’t work; you have to put more thought into it than that! Colette, as part of the mana lineage in Sylvarant, would always remain there. But the Ranches would be in Tethe’alla now, so Anna wold have been there, and Lloyd should be, too.

Would Sylvarant send a team to Tethe’alla (via Yuan) to assassinate Zelos? Would Raine and Genis have gone through the Gate if they lived in the declining world, and if they didn’t, what kind of place would Sybak be in an impoverished world? Would they even be forced to go there? Would Presea have been experimented on? Would Alicia have followed after by circumstance? Would Alicia and Regal have even met when competition to work for a rich family would be so intense in the first place? (Would the Lezareno Company even still exist at this point? Would Regal’s father still be alive and heading the company? Would Regal have gone to prison?) Would you even place these characters in the declining world, or move them to the flourishing one?

Like, the easy road is just checking similar boxes to the canon to keep things familiar, but that isn’t always the right—or best—choice for a story. Like, if we’re here to read about Declining!Tethe’alla, I think most people are interested in how the world has been affected by that difference, as well as the characters within it, especially our main cast.

Even then, those considerations branch out: would Kate exist in this version of Tethe’alla? Would Corrine? Would Sheena’s fate be different or the same when it comes to Volt (would Mizuho be more cautious or desperate?). How are half-elves treated? What is the caste system like? What kind of village is Heimdall now, after 800 years of the world declining and everyone scraping by for mana? Is the king’s power tentative or is there even a king anymore? (Is he constantly in danger of being overthrown? How has this affected the way he rules and the laws he enacts? Does he have many children and wives to ensure the bloodline doesn’t end?)

Tethe’alla knows about Sylvarant in the canon, so with Sylvarant as the flourishing world, do they know about Tethe’alla? How widespread is this knowledge? Is the Otherworldly Gate even working in Tethe’alla when it’s declining? Is there perhaps a Gate to match it in Sylvarant that is working? Would Raine still be obsessed with history or language if she was not abandoned at a historical-looking site as a child? (What might their education look like in this world, if they even get one?)

Did Zelos’s father still die in the same manner, or did he die on his own Chosen journey? Would Zelos’s father have taken the role of Chosen more seriously if he’d grown up in the declining world, or would he have carried on with a lover anyway? What about Mylene? Knowing Zelos would die either way (trying to save the world or actually saving it) how would this affect Zelos’s relationship to his mother? Might she be able to love him? Would Seles even exist? Would Zelos want to save the world so that Seles would not have to?

Not every “Chosen” bothered going on the journey; many simply continued the lineage instead; what about a Declining!Tethe’alla story where that is Zelos’s responsibility and he does not have to journey, but will have to give up one of his own children to that fate?

This is just one semi-AU concept, and it even takes place within the canon world, so…we have the same magic system, expsheres, exbelua, familiar towns and cities, races, ranches, Desians vs. Renegades, summon spirits, seals, Chosen Journey, and so on.

It wouldn’t be difficult to flip the script if the characters weren’t so ingrained into the world, which, to be perfectly clear, here, IS A GOOD THING! It means the worldbuilding was well done.

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Let’s talk about Presea for a second. She’s a great character, but a lot of what makes her interesting hinges on her backstory, which is firmly rooted in Aselia. If you popped her into a modern day AU, there’s no really effective way to build a story around her that works to the degree the canon one does: her backstory of being poor, experimented on, losing 16 years of time, finding out her sister died horribly and partially because of her, finding out her she’d been hanging around with her father’s corpse for a long time without realizing it, dealing with the fact that her emotions have been severely suppressed…and a multitude of other things, is…baked so far into the ToS canon that it’s hard to find anything that works in a similar way and doesn’t feel icky or insensitive.

Like, for all intents and purposes, canon!Presea is 12 years old. Her body should be 28 years old, but it’s not. Her mind should be 28 years old, but it’s not. She remained “frozen” at the age of 12 for 16 years and she logically knows it, but wasn’t mentally present for it. That’s a huge character bit. It’s integral to her story. It’s hard to just…throw that away and carry on in a modern AU where she’s sipping Starbucks and texting Colette dog memes.

When it comes to characters like Regal or Sheena, who canonically carry a lot of guilt on their shoulders, this issue is still quite difficult. I like to imagine with characters like this, their primary character traits are not the guilt they feel, but rather, the capacity for feeling emotion that deeply in the first place. Sheena is canonically a very emotional person, so this fits her easily, and Regal comes off a lot like an empath to me, so it works for him, too. Sheena’s story is about failure (and overcoming that failure); the failure doesn’t have to be “making a pact with Volt” in an AU. In fact, I’d argue that the game never really settled the score with Sheena’s issues regarding Volt in a satisfactory way in the first place, so in an AU there’s no real need to explore the guilt if you can’t find a place to put it where it actually works. (I also take some issue with the “solution” of the guilt surrounding Volt to be…more guilt. Yikes.) Far more integral to Sheena’s character is the depth of her emotions anyway, and her desire to make friends and form meaningful connections to people (even though she struggles with it). Obviously her situation with Volt did affect her, and deeply so, but since the game tied it up so poorly it doesn’t feel like it’s cheating to largely ignore it in some AU circumstances.

In the case of Regal, I think many fans believe his primary character trait is “man who feels too much unreasonable guilt” but that belief is wrong. It’s not that his story has nothing to do with guilt, but I think at its core it’s about compassion and empathy. I wish the game had gone a bit more into Regal and his family’s history, particularly his relationship to his parents, because the only information we get about them is from the drama CD (where his father functions as his foil: an unempathetic scumbag who does not care about the health or well-being of his employees). When Regal inherits the position of a CEO and eventually the title of President, he struggles with the policies his father put into place that actively harm his employees and the rules he was raised under that don’t allow him to have any time for himself (no friends, no fun, everything must always revolve around working). It’s very clear he’s miserable living like this. The drama CD has its issues, of course, but I do like how it goes into the boring way Regal meets Alicia, and how long it takes him to even realize he doesn’t know her name, which, in the drama CD, is an extremely important part of Regal’s initial character arc. Neither the game nor the CD make Regal and Alicia’s relationship about love changing someone: rather, Alicia says something that weighs on Regal’s heart (“I don’t expect you to know my name; you employee hundreds of people.”) and he realizes he doesn’t have to be like his father and so chooses to be different. He was always a compassionate and empathetic person, but he gives himself permission to take control of his own life and do things his own way. He starts pushing for employee safety and making an effort to appreciate and protect the people who work for him. He doesn’t do this just for Alicia—he does this for himself.

Obviously he falls in love with Alicia in time and then struggles with the guilt he feels over being forced to take her life, but part of what makes this interesting is the timing of it. He’s only recently taken control of his own life, and was then forced into doing something that felt out of his control. He’s supposed to be protecting his employees, not hurting them. He’s supposed to protect the people he loves, too, not hurt them. This is the core of the guilt he feels.

Anyway, while guilt does play a role in Regal’s life, it doesn’t define him; what does is his capacity to feel compassion and empathy for others. He’s a good businessman, and he’s smart, but he makes a very real effort to think for himself and do things his own way for his own reasons. This is explored a bit in the game when he does things like passlock the Toize Valley Mine, admit that his family’s wealth was had on the backs of Sylvaranti humans, and per his ending, funnel resources into rebuilding Palmacosta despite it getting him side-eyed by people within his own company. I think it cannot be overstated, either, how important it is that he is neither racist nor classist, despite his upbringing. This is the way he chooses to be.

Presea, on the other hand, is harder to work with. She doesn’t have a lengthy and rich history before her time was frozen for her, so her character feels very reliant on “being 12, but knowing she should be older and all the trauma that goes with that.” That said, I think one could explore Presea in an AU in the context of feeling like she was out of the loop for some years with her sister. It’s not the same as losing 16 years of life, and it’s not the same as realizing Alicia’s been dead for the last 8 years or seeing her father’s still-reeking corpse in his bed. But there is a similar “vibe” to, for example, her being separated from her sister for years and losing a connection she once felt to someone dear to her.

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That said, this mostly just proves my point: most of the characters in this game are extremely hard to separate from the world they were written into. It means great things about Tales of Symphonia, but bad things for me, a person trying to write an AU.

Like sure, you an come up with ways to kind of “copy/paste” the traumas of the canon into a modern story; for example, instead of Regal and Kratos killing someone, maybe they’re driving the car when they’re involved in an accident that ends up taking the life of their loved one. In Kratos’s case, maybe it was an accident where a drunk driver hit them, to help spread the blame; Kratos’s guilt could come from being out on a night when drunk driving rates are notoriously high—for example, New Year’s Eve. But in Regal’s case, there’s just no real way to seriously mimic the canon while still remaining true to his character. The point of his guilt in the canon is that it’s not completely misplaced: it’s just taken to an extreme. If he goes to prison in a modern story for being behind the wheel of a car when one of his passengers dies, he has to actually be found at fault: under the influence of drugs or alcohol, neglectful in caring for the car to a serious degree, driving without a license/insurance, or failing to wear glasses/contacts when he needs them. However, doing this goes against his character because the point of the canon is that even though he feels guilty, he isn’t actually to blame.

Colette can be born with expectations of her (becoming the first doctor in the family, for example) but it’s impossible to carry forward the Chosen traumas without making an AU feel convoluted. Like yeah, med school and residency require a lot of sacrifice, but it’s not the same as ACTUALLY GIVING UP YOUR LIFE TO SAVE THE WORLD. The burden feels different and will affect the characters in different ways.

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Anyway, all of this is not to say that I have anything against AUs, or that I think it’s bad that Tales of Symphonia works so hard to root the characters within the world of Aselia. It’s the opposite, actually. I think it’s fascinating how much work has to go into an AU of any kind in this fandom for it to feel natural for the characters. I love that the cast feels so “at home” in their own world that it’s reflected in the kinds of fics we see published on AO3.

It’s just hilariously frustrating that, if you want to include the entire cast in an AU, and not just the blorbo or two that you really love, you have to bend over backward to worldbuild a ton before you begin to write, lest you end up writing yourself into a corner… Or worse, you might shoehorn a character into a role because you need the role filled, even though it doesn’t work very well for the character in question.

Like, Zelos feels as if he’d be easy to transplant into a modern AU of any kind, and I would say he definitely is…but only if he remains on the fringes of the story and doesn’t play a major role. If he needs to matter to the story to any serious degree, you can’t ignore the fact that canon Zelos has so much going on in his life and world and head that taking only the easy parts of him into an AU doesn’t feel right.

It’s easy to fall into the trap of copy/pasting one big trait of a character into an AU to try to make it work, but what ends up happening is the whole thing feels flat and boring. A guilt-soaked Regal in a modern AU isn’t very interesting, for example; the guilt isn’t the trait that makes him feel whole: it’s his capacity for compassion and empathy despite his privileged position in society that does that.

I’ve toyed with a few AU ideas for Tales of Symphonia, and honestly just looking at the sheer amount of worldbuilding I would have to do is instantly overwhelming. The current one I’m turning over is a modern Aselia AU, so I can’t even come up with “similar” vibes from the canon or it instantly reads as if the characters are just on some kind of tragic hamster wheel, doomed to repeat the same mistakes of the past.

It was during my quest for world and character backstory-building for this AU that I realized the heart of what matters to me in any AU is not that the characters feel like a copy/paste of their canon selves, but like a believable version of their original self: one built not on the circumstances of their birth or life experiences from the canon, but rather, character traits they hold that feel ‘core’ to me. Lloyd and Colette’s optimism and trust, Regal’s empathy and compassion, Sheena’s emotional depth and search for connection, and Presea’s desire to be treated normally are all examples.

Still, it can be hard to apply these in a meaningful way when crafting a character’s backstory, especially in AUs that differ drastically from the canon, either due to a completely different setting (mermaid!AU), metaphor for something (werewolf!AU), or tableflip (Declining!Tethe’alla). If the setting is modern and we’re more concerned with core character traits and not putting them in Situations Similar to the Canon, does Alicia still need to die? Does Virginia have to abandon her children? Can Kate’s father just be a regular scumbag? Does Presea need to be deeply traumatized? Do so many parents have to be dead? Marble? Does Colette have to suffer so much? Can we allow the characters to live happier lives and still manage to write them in such a way that they feel naturally like themselves? Can we give them worse fates and still come out of it having written the characters well?

Things to think about!