Riona (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
rionaleonhart) wrote2015-02-14 12:14 pm
rionaleonhart) wrote2015-02-14 12:14 pm
Alphabet Ficsnippets, Disproportionately Dudes Edition.
ruuger is currently hosting the annual Multifandom Friendship Fic Fest; it's over here, if you're interested in participating!Speaking of fanfiction: it's that time again, by which I mean 'the time when I post another instalment of alphabet ficsnippets' (a ficlet for each letter of the alphabet, each concerning two characters whose names begin with that letter). I've been writing these things since 2012 and I still haven't completed the alphabet. I am hopeless.
Previous instalments are here, here and here. Fandoms represented in this instalment are Final Fantasy VII (and Crisis Core), Final Fantasy XIII, Dangan Ronpa, Super Dangan Ronpa 2, Homestuck, Supernatural, The Wolf Among Us, The World Ends With You and Death Note.
C: Cloud Strife (Final Fantasy VII)/Cissnei (Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII)
“You know, I get that we have to earn the salary, but I could still do without all the orders to kill old friends.”
She’s a Turk. Cloud readies his sword.
“Or friends of friends, at least,” she says. “Don’t think we’ve ever really been introduced. Cloud, right? I’m Cissnei. You’re looking a lot better than last time I saw you.”
Last time? She doesn’t look familiar. Or –
Or –
“I remember you,” he says.
He talked to her, right? They definitely talked. But he can’t remember what they said, or where they were. Something about his memories of her seems blurry; he can’t focus.
“I was... trying to protect someone,” he says. “He wasn’t well. We needed to get to Midgar. You helped me. Right?”
Someone important to him. It must have been. But then why can’t he remember who?
“That isn’t exactly how I remember it,” Cissnei says, “but I suppose it’s good enough. Yes, I helped you. Or I tried. I don’t know how much good it really did, in the end.” She shrugs. She’s speaking casually enough, but she never takes her eyes off him; probably waiting for him to attack or run. “And now here we are again. I have my orders. So what’s going to happen?”
“You tell me,” Cloud says.
She considers him for a moment.
“The theory is that he died to save you,” she says. “So I’m not exactly desperate to take away what he worked for.”
What is she talking about?
“Think you have me confused with someone else,” Cloud says.
She raises her eyebrows. “Well, you’re close.”
N: Makoto Naegi (Dangan Ronpa)/Nagito Komaeda (Super Dangan Ronpa 2) (note: this contains spoilers for the first Dangan Ronpa game and also a general sense of threat. You may have seen it before in the Project Komaeda Makes Everyone Uncomfortable thread, but I actually originally wrote it for this challenge.)
Naegi wakes with a start.
“Kirigiri-san!” he exclaims, sitting up. “Asahina-san!”
No response. He looks around.
Where are the others?
Where is he?
He tries to focus. They got out of the school. There were people waiting for them at the gates, people who’d seen the broadcast, offering food and shelter. The six of them had stayed close together, unsure of how the world worked now, unsure of who they could trust.
And then...
It’s no use. He can’t remember. Something happened, and he’s woken up in a pile of blankets on an unfamiliar floor, and he’s alone. Did they get separated, somehow? Is everyone safe?
“Ah, you’re awake!”
Naegi looks up sharply. There’s something familiar about the voice, but he doesn’t think he recognises the boy at the door of... wherever he is. Some kind of shed?
The boy has tangled white hair. He’s wearing a tattered green coat and a kind smile.
“I’ve been waiting so long for this,” he says, walking slowly forward.
“Uh,” Naegi says, shifting back against the wall. “Waiting for... waiting for what, exactly?”
“I was fooled by your talent,” he says. “Or your official talent, at any rate. I thought at first that you were someone as undeserving, as unremarkable as I was. But of course nobody could miss the light of your true, glorious nature.”
He’s so close to Naegi now. Naegi tries to shuffle away, but there’s no space left for shuffling; he’s somehow managed to back himself into a corner.
“Super High-school Level Hope,” the boy breathes. “I’m sorry. I know I’m unworthy even to be near you. I just...”
He crouches to Naegi’s level, lifts a hand to his face, and Naegi flinches – but the boy just runs his fingers lightly over Naegi’s cheek, once. Which, okay, is alarming, but Naegi really didn’t know what to expect. At least he still has both his eyes.
“I, um,” Naegi says, putting a hand up to shield his face. “I don’t want to seem ungrateful, if you gave me shelter. But where are my friends?”
“Ah, your friends.” The boy sighs, regretfully. “I would love to have them as my guests as well, of course! But I can only carry so much weight at a time, and I thought Kirigiri-san would quickly notice the disappearances, so I could only risk bringing you here.”
Naegi swallows. Glances at the door.
“Anyway,” the boy says, friendly and pleasant and still so, so close, “I can’t tell you what an honour it is to meet you.”
V: Snow Villiers (Final Fantasy XIII)/Vincent Valentine (Final Fantasy VII)
“We’re wasting time,” Lightning says.
“Look, we found the key to this room in that safe, right? So what’s gonna be in here?”
“Another monster?”
“Treasure,” Snow says. “There is definitely treasure in here.”
“So now you’re into grave robbing?” Lightning asks, eyeing the coffins. “Some hero.”
“C’mon, help me lift this.”
‘This’ is the lid of a coffin. Lightning doesn’t know what he thinks he’s going to find in there, besides the obvious, but she rolls her eyes and goes to move it anyway.
What’s in there is... well, technically it’s what she expected. It’s a body, at least.
“Uh,” Snow says, backing away from the coffin. “He’s breathing. Right? Tell me you’re seeing this too.”
“I see it,” Lightning says.
They’re silent for a moment.
“Should we... wake him up?” Snow asks.
“He’s none of our business. We’re going after Sephiroth, aren’t we?”
The man’s eyes fly open.
Snow jerks back. “Whoa!”
“You know Sephiroth?” the stranger asks.
Lightning looks him over. “Maybe.”
“Tell me how.”
“You first,” Lightning says.
The man avoids her eyes. “I cannot speak.”
Lightning shrugs. “Guess we can’t either. Good to meet you.” She turns to leave.
Snow, she is unimpressed to note, doesn’t.
“What is this, some kind of secret agent convention?” Snow asks.
“We don’t have to tell him anything,” Lightning says.
“Yeah, but I want to know more about the man in the coffin,” Snow says. “You get that you’re in a coffin, right?”
The stranger stares at him for a moment, then looks around, very slowly, at the coffin he’s sitting in. “I realise that, yes.”
“At least tell us your name,” Snow says. “I’m Snow. Snow Villiers.”
The man hesitates.
“Vincent Valentine,” he says. “Formerly of the Turks.”
“The Turks?” Lightning echoes. “Still have any friends there?”
Vincent shakes his head. “Things have most likely changed since my employment. What year do you make it?”
It’s a strange question, but this is a strange encounter. Lightning tells him.
Vincent closes his eyes for a moment. “So I’ve slept for almost thirty years. It still isn’t enough.”
Snow drags Lightning aside.
“This guy is definitely a vampire,” he hisses.
Lightning looks flatly at him. “Really.”
“Thirty years? Unless he’s been in here since he was a kid—”
“He could just be a liar,” Lightning points out.
“We have to take him with us.”
Lightning takes in a deep breath and lets it out again.
“No,” she says. “We don’t.”
“If we don’t keep an eye on him, who knows what he’s gonna do?”
“Sounds like he just wants to keep sleeping here.”
“And think about it,” Snow says. There’s a light in his eyes that never means good news. “A vampire on our side. Do you even understand how cool that is?”
BONUS V: Snow Villiers (Final Fantasy XIII)/Karkat Vantas (Homestuck)
SV: relax, everythings gonna be just fine
CG: ARE YOU SERIOUS
CG: ARE YOU *FUCKING SERIOUS*
CG: WE’RE L’CIE
CG: EVERYTHING IS NOT, IN FACT, ‘JUST FINE’
CG: EVERYTHING IS EXTREMELY FUCKING FAR FROM JUST FINE
CG: AND, BETWEEN YOU AND ME, ALTHOUGH BE ASSURED THAT YOU ARE THE ABSOLUTE LAST BEING I WOULD WANT TO CONFIDE IN IN THIS OR ANY UNIVERSE
CG: IT’S ONLY GOING TO GET FURTHER.
SV: dont worry about it, kid
CG: NEVER CALL ME THAT.
SV: never met a problem i couldnt punch so hard it solved itself
CG: OH MY GOD.
W: Dean Winchester (Supernatural)/Bigby Wolf (The Wolf Among Us)
“Might have something,” Sam says. “Four strange deaths in the last few days. Two decapitations, one they’re thinking suicide, and one man, a Mr Dum—”
Dean snorts.
“—was found in an alleyway with his throat torn out. Something with claws.”
“You’re Sheriff Wolf?”
“I know who I am,” Wolf says. “Question is, who are you?”
“Federal agents,” Dean says, flashing his badge. “Heard you’ve had some strange murders in the last few days. Thought we might be able to help.”
Sheriff Wolf’s face wasn’t exactly welcoming when they walked in, but now it’s dropped to whole new levels of unfriendly. “You can help by leaving. This is my case.”
“We understand that,” Sam says, “but we’re required to conduct our own investigation. Obviously we’ll share any findings with you.”
It’s an easy promise to make, and it’s helped them out before, but Wolf’s not biting. “We take care of our own affairs here. I don’t need feds getting under my feet.”
Dean grins. “So you’d say you’re a lone wolf?”
Sam glares at him. Dean clears his throat and glances around the room, and his eyes fall on the nameplate on one of the desks.
“Wait, you work with Snow White?” he asks. “As in the second victim Snow White? I mean, I’m guessing we’re not talking the actual fairytale chick here.”
Sam hasn’t stopped glaring. It occurs to Dean that, if one of Wolf’s colleagues actually has been killed, he probably won’t be in the mood to laugh about it.
“Sorry,” Dean says. “Must have been rough.”
Wolf looks away from him, at Snow White’s desk. “It was misreported,” he says, after a moment. “Snow’s still alive.”
Dean raises his eyebrows. “Huh. Thought it was a decapitation. I hear they’re hard to recover from.”
“Mistaken identity,” Wolf says, still not looking at him.
“Guess that makes sense. Any chance we could see the head?”
Wolf meets his eyes at last and gives an extremely cold smile. “Unfortunately, I’m pretty sure you have business elsewhere.”
Dean’s ready to stroll past all the danger signs, because this has ‘shapeshifter’ or possibly ‘vampire zombie’ written all over it, but Sam grabs him by the arm.
“Thank you for your time,” Sam says, quickly. He steers Dean toward the door, but then it swings open and—
Huh.
Okay. Dean’s seen a lot of things, but this honestly isn’t something he was expecting.
Wolf claps a hand to his forehead. “Toad,” he growls.
The visitor is, indeed, a toad. A three-foot toad on its hind legs. It is wearing a hat.
“Bad time?” it asks.
Y: Yoshiya 'Joshua' Kiryu (The World Ends With You)/Light Yagami (Death Note)
“Yoshiya Kiryu,” the boy says. Light makes a firm mental note of the name, just in case. “You may call me Joshua. I took the liberty of partnering up with you while you were unconscious; I do hope you don’t mind. You interest me.”
Light sits up, trying to remember what happened.
He’s dead. Hit by a car: hardly a fitting end for the saviour of the world. But he’s been given another chance by a strange man in sunglasses: complete a ‘game’, and he can come back to life.
There were other ‘players’ in the room when the Game was being explained. Every one of them was a convicted murderer he’d taken down with the Death Note. It was... disconcerting, to say the least, to stand among them.
“Are you playing the Game?” Light asks. “You weren’t there when we were hearing how it worked.”
Joshua laughs. “I’m a special case, you could say. I’m already familiar with the rules; there was no need for me to attend.”
Has Joshua played the Game before? He could be valuable, in that case.
“So these are my competition?” Light asks, gesturing at the Players around them. “Everyone knows these faces from the news. Isn’t it obvious who should get a second chance?”
“Ah, yes,” Joshua says. “Because these are criminals and murderers, and you’re simply a noble, law-abiding citizen. Conveniently ignoring, of course, the fact that you’re the reason they’re here.”
Light tries not to twitch, but his mind is racing. “You’re not making a lot of sense.”
“The Game usually consists of a variety of challenges,” Joshua says, “but I happen to know the higher-ups thought it would be amusing to change things up this week, just for you. Player versus player; the last partners standing are the winners.” He smiles. “I know you can kill well enough when the method’s clean and tidy; let’s see how you fare without your books.”
Only five more letters to go! Maybe I'll actually finish this one day.
While I'm here, I'm also going to post a couple more ficlets I wrote for Project Komaeda Makes Everyone Uncomfortable and Possibly Sleeps With Them All. Spoilers for the first two chapters of Dangan Ronpa.
Komaeda/Fujisaki:
Komaeda doesn’t say anything, and Chihiro can’t bring himself to look at him, so he can’t read his expression. The suspense is worse than an outright rejection. He can feel his chest beginning to tighten up.
“I’m... I’m sorry I lied to you. And I’ll understand if you’re angry, or...”
“Hm? Why would I be angry?”
Chihiro looks up.
There’s no disgust in Komaeda’s face, or even pity. He looks at Chihiro in the same way he always does. As if this doesn’t change anything at all.
“You don’t think I’m a coward? Or a, a freak?”
“Well, you’re not normal, if that’s what you mean,” Komaeda says, “but why would you want to be? You’re a supremely talented programmer; you’re better than normal people. The way you dress doesn’t change that. Does this mean I should call you Fujisaki-kun now?”
Chihiro laughs in relief. “I think maybe it’s best to stay with -san until everyone knows, but – thank you! You’re the first one I’ve told – the first one in this school, I mean, my parents already – thank you, thank you! I think... I think maybe I can find the courage to tell everyone else now.”
But Komaeda has started to frown, and Chihiro can feel the uncertainty creeping back up.
“Um, is... is something wrong?”
Komaeda’s expression clears suddenly, and he laughs. “Not at all! I was just wondering why you’d approach someone like me with your secret first, but I understand now: it’s because I’m so insignificant, isn’t it? My response doesn’t matter, so it’s an easy first step.”
“That’s not it!” Chihiro exclaims.
“Huh?” Komaeda tilts his head. “I’m sorry; I was being presumptuous in assuming I could reason on your level, wasn’t I? So what was it?”
“Well, um...” Chihiro fidgets with the hem of his skirt. “I – I was afraid people would look at me differently. And I hoped – I thought maybe it wouldn’t make a difference to you. Because you’ve always admired us for what we can do; it doesn’t matter who we are or what we look like. And I think that gave me the hope – the strength,” he corrects himself, quickly, “to – Komaeda-kun, are you okay?”
“I just,” Komaeda says, between oddly shallow breaths, “I just – to know that my love for you could be useful – maybe that’s too strong a word – but to know that I could help in any way...”
Chihiro would usually find an excuse to leave quietly when Komaeda gets like this, but this time he pulls up all the courage he can find and tells himself he’s going to stay. He clasps his hands behind his back and gives Komaeda a hesitant smile. Komaeda may be a little strange sometimes, but he accepted Chihiro without question. Maybe he needs someone to accept him in return.
Komaeda/Maizono:
Her throat tightens up when the doorbell rings.
It’s Komaeda, of course; who else would it be? “Maizono-san,” he says, smiling. “What did you want to talk about?”
In the next few minutes he’ll be dead.
She doesn’t have a choice, does she?
Her friends could be in danger. The world is forgetting her. She’s made so many sacrifices already to get where she is; she can’t just stand back and watch her life crumble.
“Komaeda-kun,” she says, taking a step back into Naegi’s room. “Please, come in.”
Komaeda obligingly does, closing the door behind him. He looks around, hums a little. “Is Naegi-kun not here?”
She freezes. “Why would Naegi-kun be in my room?”
“Hm? Ah, no reason, I suppose.”
Does he suspect a trap? She has to do it now.
“You’re the only person I want here, Komaeda-kun.” She places one hand on his chest, grasps the knife with the other. “I’ve been thinking about it since we first met.”
He sees the flash of metal and realises what’s happening a second before she strikes, she can see it in his eyes, and she puts more force into it at the last instant to overcome his resistance – but he doesn’t resist and her lunge is so ferocious it knocks him to the floor. The knife only grazes his chest as he falls.
She goes down on top of him, and in an instant she’s caught her balance, rearranged herself to stay in the position of power, straddling him, holding his wrist down with her free hand. She has him pinned down between her knees, has him completely at her mercy—
—and Komaeda’s laughing, eyes bright and cheeks flushed and hair fanning over the floor.
What...?
“Ah, Maizono-san!” he says. “I was afraid I’d have to help things along myself. I should have known Super High-school Levels wouldn’t need my help!” He shifts underneath her, and she tightens her grip on his wrist – but he isn’t trying to escape; it’s more like he’s settling in. “And I’m still fortunate enough to play such a significant role!”
What is he talking about?
It doesn’t matter. She can’t let him keep talking, or she’ll lose her resolve.
“Would you like to talk through your plan with me?” he asks. “I can help you, if you want to make sure you’re not caught. But I suppose you might want to carry it through now, if you’ve already started.” He tilts his head back against the carpet, exposing his throat. “Really, I’m fine with whatever you decide!”
Is this some kind of trick? She touches the edge of the knife to his throat, watching for fear, for some kind of reaction that she can understand, but he only lets out a little fluttering sigh. He won’t stop smiling.
“Don’t try to use reverse psychology or – or whatever this is; it won’t work.” She’s trying so hard not to cry. “I’m sorry. But I have to do this. I don’t have a choice.”
“But you do have a choice, Maizono-san; that’s the beauty of it!” Komaeda exclaims. “You’ve made this decision to take your destiny into your own hands! It’s truly admirable. Please don’t underestimate yourself; you’re doing a wonderful thing, for yourself and for all of your classmates.”
She’s breathing too fast, and every inhale catches like a sob. It seems like he’s forgiving her before she’s even done anything to forgive. Why does it feel like he’s turned the knife on her instead?
“Don’t... don’t look at me,” she whispers. “Close your eyes.”
For a moment, the look of unsettling ecstasy wavers. “Really? I’d like to see your face as I die, if I can, but... if that’s what you want...”
“Just do it!” she snarls, pressing the blade harder against his throat. She can’t... she can’t kill him if he’s staring at her like that. She won’t look into his eyes as he dies.
He sighs. A little blood is starting to seep up around the edge of the knife. “Well, if that’s your vision for this moment, I suppose it’s not my place to question it.”
He closes his eyes.
Maizono swallows. Hesitates.
That's all for now! I hope you find something to enjoy amongst these many little snippets.
no subject
I occasionally wonder what Cissnei did after CC. She never shows up again in the Compilation, and some people think she got eaten up by the trans-dimensional Weapon of Before Crisis. She is my favorite Turk though, and she and Cloud really ought to have a cup of coffee to commiserate over Zack Fair, because he apparently leaves a trail of broken hearts behind him by default (whether a romantic or platonic trail).
Also, I really enjoyed the Vincent & FF13-cast snippet. I know nothing about FF13, but the cast reads like they provide great commentary.
Thanks for sharing!
no subject
I'm glad you enjoyed the Vincent snippet! I love the XIII cast far too much.