Location: Place of rocks and trees, and trees and rocks...and water.
Age: 33
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tiresias
I was actually expecting an even more depressing ending
LOL, would I do that? *innocent look*
Quote:
RB's right, this does reminds me of Roberta's last arc
Out of curiosity, I went to look it up--and I must say, I am interested . Must remember to read/watch it soon!
Quote:
Originally Posted by DezoPenguin
Spoiler for Things I'll be asking my therapist.:
That clinical depression line in the A/N was funny 'cause reading fics like this one make me wonder if it's not some plot to eliminate my status as the only person I know who hasn't had depression issues. Now I'm going to have to hunt through your reviews to see who it was who mentioned that...
Seriously, deathcurse, that was awful (not in the "bad writing" sense, but in the "ripping my heart out by the roots" sense). The way Fate used the "...with my family" line to take a slap at everybody (I like how you have Vivio react the third time, just so if the reader missed the impact of it on their own there's a cue), the way Precia is working on her, the way you subtly killed off Arf in the background. I can say that had you ended here this would definitely be the most miserable, depressing, and tragic of your generally-trending-towards-misery-and-angst fics. You know, I think comparing you to RB is missing the point. She's the Queen of Angst, but you're more like the Queen of Tragedy: whereas she puts her characters through emotional hell on their way towards (usually) Earning their Happy Ending, you just break them down and...leave them broken. *looks around for the invading Norweigans*
Regardless of the depressing-tragedy-or-not question, I am rather glad that you're writing another chapter because some answers to what Precia is doing there would be nice. Leaving the resolution open-ended or bringing it to a definitively tragic conclusion is one thing, but I tend to react badly to stories which leave me asking "WTF just happened here?" about the events themselves. Is Precia a ghost? A hallucination of Fate's troubled mind? The product of deliberate enemy action? Hopefully, we'll find out what's going on...
Spoiler for reply to Dezo:
LOL, sorry Dezo, for possibly depressing you .
Haha, like with the GrimGrimoire fic King in the Mountain, I genuinely didn't expect the story to turn out this depressing . Fate's line was originally only supposed to be said at the end to Yuuno, but then I got the idea of having her say it throughout the story for the emphasis and extra tragedy . Most depressing and miserable end, eh? *rubs chin contemplatively*
Yes, I'm wondering how, well, obvious I should be about Precia in the next chapter . I've got my outline ready, but I'd hate to ruin the ambiguity (I only like keeping the ambiguity because the story is from Fate's perspective, so she could very plausibly have no clue as to just what exactly Precia is. From an outsider's POV, it should be fairly obvious whether Precia is real, a ghost, or a hallucination ). But hopefully it'll all be addressed, if not answered, in the next part ^^.
Well, no one's flamed me yet, but one person's commented on how Nanoha and Fate aren't together yet Fate feels the need to confess to Nanoha... wondering if it was either with someone who wasn't free, or if she felt like she was cheating on Nanoha. Asked why she'd dread Nanoha's reaction--well honestly, why wouldn't she dread it?
Another person asked for clarification on if Nanoha and Fate aren't together yet.
But other than that, no flames. I'm almost disappointed, but I'm sure they'll come in with the next chapter.
I dunno, I'd say that's a valid inquiry, especially since you didn't specify whether it's cheating cheating or have a cup of coffee and talk cheating. Most people just think of the first kind when affairs are brought up.
Mixed feelings about this one but I'll put her up anyway.
Spoiler for Whee, more MD:
‘Just what was that about back there?’ Yuuno stood there in the hallway for a bit, pondering just what had distracted Yami before he left.
“A scattered dream leading to a far-off memory… I wonder if she’ll be able to line the pieces up between herself and the one she’s searching for.”
“Rai?” A quick glance showed him that the Fate replica had just made a visit to the fridge, judging by the amount of food that she was carrying. “Do you know something about what was bugging Yami?”
Material-L giggled slightly. “Whatever happens… whenever that happens, it’ll probably be an epic event to remember, complete with the FMV sequence and a background song too!”
He wasn’t sure what she meant but since he was here with Rai, he may as well take the opportunity to get around to some earlier business. “Do you have a moment? I guess now would be a good time as any to have that chat I promised you earlier.”
“Ah, okay. I guess the event took a bit longer to trigger but I’m sure that I figured out the best responses to keep flags open!”
“… I’ll take that as a yes?” muttered Yuuno to himself as he followed the blue haired woman into her quarters where Sette was lying down, appearing to be asleep. “Um, maybe we should go somewhere else so we won’t disturb her?”
“Nah, it’s okay! She said some stuff about doing some drills in her noggin with her book thingy before lying down. She never got bothered when I started singing or playing hacky sack with a little lightning ball.” Material-L placed down the items and started looking around the treats to decide which one to devour first.
“If you’re sure about that…” He took a seat on one of the chairs before trying to figure out how to best approach the subject. Then again, it wasn’t like the subtle approach would work with someone like the Fate replica so he would have to be direct. “So can you tell me what happened back at the prison where you got Sette?”
“Eh… let’s see. I snuck in, spooked some enemies, got a case of the munchies just as Vulnificus complained about not getting any…” A beat and then a demented giggle. “Yuu-nii just thought of something perverted, eh?”
Yuuno merely sighed. “Just keep going.”
She took out a cold piece of meat from one of the boxed containers and bit into it before continuing. “Let’s see… I hadn’t done any level grinding in a while at the time and Vulnificus would have complained if I let it go on any further so I killed the enemies for the measly experience points. As usual, they don’t drop any good items since they were regular battle encounters and it’s not like we were going to visit a pawn shop in the near future to trade stuff.”
“That was your reason?” He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “Rai, this isn’t a game!”
“But that’s the way it is! Life’s the ultimate game… and I don’t even get extra credits, lives or continues if my HP goes down to zero! Not even have a bloody save point! I can’t even get Vulnificus to enter in some cheat codes! I mean, I’ve been lucky on some occasions back when I was a scrub but it ain’t gonna last forever!”
“But if you cheat, doesn’t it take away some of the experience?” asked the device resting just above her cleavage.
“When you got no save points and no extra lives whatsoever, then of course I gotta resort to trying to cheat!” The Fate replica merely huffed. “Seriously, what psycho game designer wouldn’t even leave a save point? That’s just wrong!”
“You shouldn’t have anything to fear. Your rookie days are behind you and you passed the tutorial sections I designed at the start with flying colours. Now you can easily smash through any obstacles as you continue gaining power for the both of us. And speaking of power, you still have thirty more levels to go until you unlock the Tony Jay voice to use on any of my forms.”
Her red eyes lit up with delight briefly before she stopped. “Yeah but I’ve only been gaining two experience points per kill recently. You know how many kills I would have to get to level you up thirty more times if I keep running into the same low level fighters?”
“Sixty-five million, three hundred and forty thousand, two hundred and eighty five. This should take us seven weeks, five days, thirteen hours and twenty minutes, giving ourselves three hours a night to sleep.”
She glumly finished off the cold meat while the Librarian beside her looked on in disbelief. “Ehhh… that won’t be any fun though. Don’t wanna bother with anyone who’s weaker than me unless I hafta.”
“But you still need to kill to maximize my power to aid you in your quest.”
“Whoa, wait a second!” Yuuno needed to try and establish a sense of control here (and reign in that rising frustrating feeling that was bubbling up in his chest). “What exactly are you trying to accomplish? Why do you need to get power?”
“Isn’t it obvious, Yuu-nii? Oh, wait… you don’t have access to my mission profile so I’ll tell you.” She paused for a moment as her red eyes hardened. “I’m going to find mommy and then I’m going to beat her. Her power level’s probably over 9,000 so I gotta keep grinding before I can trigger the boss encounter. Once I win the fight, I’m going to get the truth outta her and then hurt her as bad as she hurt me. But it ain’t gonna be through regular torture and stuff since Sette-chan said I gotta keep in mind her pain tolerance or something.”
‘W-what’s she talking about? Why is she thinking like this?’ Her words greatly bothered him, allowing that frustration of his to build some more.
“Then Vulnificus said… we go after my sister. Alicia, was it? The one that mommy cared about so much? Ah well… now that I think about it, that suggestion he made back there’s sounding real good,” said the Fate replica with a small malicious smile. “We go get her body and then I can get Vulnificus to transform into tweezers so I can play Operation right in front of mommy! Although it’s kinda strange… when you think about it, how the hell are ya gonna find a slice of bread undigested in the stomach? Weird how something like that is worth 1,000 points when ripping out the heart is only 100 points.”
That did it for the Librarian. “STOP IT!”
“Hm?”
“Stop talking like that, Rai! Why do you have to cling on to such painful thoughts?” Honestly, he didn’t understand all that rambling from earlier although when he heard her say Alicia, it was obvious that she inherited some aspect of Fate’s memories.
For a brief moment, he saw the veil of madness dissipate just for a moment. Instead of insanity reflecting in her eyes, there was a hint of melancholy and bitterness. “… … because it’s all I got. Mommy broke me in the beginning and even with Vulnificus helping; I can’t keep it together for long. So before I shatter like Humpty Dumpty, I’ll end the hatred that mommy put in everyone’s hearts.”
“W-what?”
“And then, I guess I’ll go burn out brightly in the sky… like a large chicken pie! Hehehehehe!”
While she giggled in that demented fashion of hers, Yuuno felt a sensation of fear. He couldn’t tell whether to be scared for where she’s going in life or whether to be scared of the girl herself but he couldn’t let that fear bother him. Not when there was someone leaning on the edge of madness sitting right in front of him. “Rai, why would want to burn out when you still have so much ahead in life to experience?”
She stopped her giggling before smiling sadly. “What else is there for someone like me after my mission? Drifting along, searching for endless battle and blood? I guess that’s what I have to look forward to since I probably didn’t trigger enough flags for a good happy ending. At least I won’t lose even if I can’t win.”
“Don’t say things like that,” said Yuuno gently before motioning the Fate replica over. “Come on, let’s sit down and talk.”
Without a word, Material-L scooted over and eventually settled herself on his lap. Upon noticing his surprised look, she blinked. “What is it?”
“Er, nothing…” He pushed up his glasses. “You know, when you say stuff like you want to burn out, that makes me sad. It’ll make Seikou and Yami sad too. You don’t want to make your family sad, do you?”
“No…”
“Seikou and Yami are probably looking forward to living normal lives and if I know them well, they want you to be a part of it. They’ll want to be a part of your life as well.”
“You’ll be there too, Yuu-nii?” asked the blue haired woman in a quiet tone.
He laughed softly. “If that’s what you want, Rai. You can still get that happy ending and live a normal life without having to see blood and battle. All you have to do is stop with the… level grinding and killing. If you go on with that, you’ll just create hatred in other people’s hearts as well.”
“That’s… kinda true when you think about it. Regardless of how lame or boring they are, every character has at least one fan. Probably even that Alicia too.” She paused for a minute. “But if I don’t level up, then what’s going to happen when I finally trigger that boss fight? And how do I rub my awesomeness in mommy’s face when I win?”
“If it’s someone who did indeed hurt you terribly in the past, then we’ll find her and bring her to justice,” said Yuuno in a firm tone while mentally pondering how Material-L would take the truth in that Precia Testarossa was no longer among the living.
Her red eyes lit up briefly. “Ooh, wait! Will this be like a total party thrashing with lots of combination attacks or will I take her one on one while you guys hold off the millions of grunt robots?”
“Uh, I guess we’ll find out when we do get to that point. But either way, you won’t be alone in this.”
“Hehe… if anything, Sette-chan will definitely tag along if she’s a proper sidekick so you’re probably right there.” No response came from the Combat Cyborg even though she wasn’t too far away from them. “You still didn’t answer my question about my proof of awesomeness.”
“Maybe pick an area that she takes pride in and surpass her there?” Yuuno figured that Material-L wouldn’t be able to conduct Project F activities since she definitely didn’t have the smarts to work on such a complicated project.
The Fate replica pondered over this for a second before snapping her fingers. “I GOT IT! I’ll be Alicia’s new mommy! Once she gets better and stuff, she’ll need someone to love her, teach her how to smash people in the face with a big ass sword and only show her the good porn! Someone like me! Then I can go ‘neener neener neener’ in front of mommy’s face!”
Material-L as a parent? Now that’s a disturbing thought. “Er, maybe I should help out with that. Since you’ll be busy trying to adjust to a regular life once we land on my world and everything.”
“Does that mean you’re Yuu-nii-papa or Uncle Yuu-nii? Wait, I got it! You’ll be known as Pancle Yuu-nii! Hehehe… that word needs to be added to the next galactic dictionary or something! Let’s go make a detour and find those dictionary people!”
“Let’s not.” He already had enough of that, thank you very much.
__________________
Thanks to 00-Raiser for hooking me up with the sig!
Mixed feelings about this one but I'll put her up anyway.
Spoiler for Whee, more MD:
‘Just what was that about back there?’ Yuuno stood there in the hallway for a bit, pondering just what had distracted Yami before he left.
“A scattered dream leading to a far-off memory… I wonder if she’ll be able to line the pieces up between herself and the one she’s searching for.”
“Rai?” A quick glance showed him that the Fate replica had just made a visit to the fridge, judging by the amount of food that she was carrying. “Do you know something about what was bugging Yami?”
Material-L giggled slightly. “Whatever happens… whenever that happens, it’ll probably be an epic event to remember, complete with the FMV sequence and a background song too!”
He wasn’t sure what she meant but since he was here with Rai, he may as well take the opportunity to get around to some earlier business. “Do you have a moment? I guess now would be a good time as any to have that chat I promised you earlier.”
“Ah, okay. I guess the event took a bit longer to trigger but I’m sure that I figured out the best responses to keep flags open!”
“… I’ll take that as a yes?” muttered Yuuno to himself as he followed the blue haired woman into her quarters where Sette was lying down, appearing to be asleep. “Um, maybe we should go somewhere else so we won’t disturb her?”
“Nah, it’s okay! She said some stuff about doing some drills in her noggin with her book thingy before lying down. She never got bothered when I started singing or playing hacky sack with a little lightning ball.” Material-L placed down the items and started looking around the treats to decide which one to devour first.
“If you’re sure about that…” He took a seat on one of the chairs before trying to figure out how to best approach the subject. Then again, it wasn’t like the subtle approach would work with someone like the Fate replica so he would have to be direct. “So can you tell me what happened back at the prison where you got Sette?”
“Eh… let’s see. I snuck in, spooked some enemies, got a case of the munchies just as Vulnificus complained about not getting any…” A beat and then a demented giggle. “Yuu-nii just thought of something perverted, eh?”
Yuuno merely sighed. “Just keep going.”
She took out a cold piece of meat from one of the boxed containers and bit into it before continuing. “Let’s see… I hadn’t done any level grinding in a while at the time and Vulnificus would have complained if I let it go on any further so I killed the enemies for the measly experience points. As usual, they don’t drop any good items since they were regular battle encounters and it’s not like we were going to visit a pawn shop in the near future to trade stuff.”
“That was your reason?” He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “Rai, this isn’t a game!”
“But that’s the way it is! Life’s the ultimate game… and I don’t even get extra credits, lives or continues if my HP goes down to zero! Not even have a bloody save point! I can’t even get Vulnificus to enter in some cheat codes! I mean, I’ve been lucky on some occasions back when I was a scrub but it ain’t gonna last forever!”
“But if you cheat, doesn’t it take away some of the experience?” asked the device resting just above her cleavage.
“When you got no save points and no extra lives whatsoever, then of course I gotta resort to trying to cheat!” The Fate replica merely huffed. “Seriously, what psycho game designer wouldn’t even leave a save point? That’s just wrong!”
“You shouldn’t have anything to fear. Your rookie days are behind you and you passed the tutorial sections I designed at the start with flying colours. Now you can easily smash through any obstacles as you continue gaining power for the both of us. And speaking of power, you still have thirty more levels to go until you unlock the Tony Jay voice to use on any of my forms.”
Her red eyes lit up with delight briefly before she stopped. “Yeah but I’ve only been gaining two experience points per kill recently. You know how many kills I would have to get to level you up thirty more times if I keep running into the same low level fighters?”
“Sixty-five million, three hundred and forty thousand, two hundred and eighty five. This should take us seven weeks, five days, thirteen hours and twenty minutes, giving ourselves three hours a night to sleep.”
She glumly finished off the cold meat while the Librarian beside her looked on in disbelief. “Ehhh… that won’t be any fun though. Don’t wanna bother with anyone who’s weaker than me unless I hafta.”
“But you still need to kill to maximize my power to aid you in your quest.”
“Whoa, wait a second!” Yuuno needed to try and establish a sense of control here (and reign in that rising frustrating feeling that was bubbling up in his chest). “What exactly are you trying to accomplish? Why do you need to get power?”
“Isn’t it obvious, Yuu-nii? Oh, wait… you don’t have access to my mission profile so I’ll tell you.” She paused for a moment as her red eyes hardened. “I’m going to find mommy and then I’m going to beat her. Her power level’s probably over 9,000 so I gotta keep grinding before I can trigger the boss encounter. Once I win the fight, I’m going to get the truth outta her and then hurt her as bad as she hurt me. But it ain’t gonna be through regular torture and stuff since Sette-chan said I gotta keep in mind her pain tolerance or something.”
‘W-what’s she talking about? Why is she thinking like this?’ Her words greatly bothered him, allowing that frustration of his to build some more.
“Then Vulnificus said… we go after my sister. Alicia, was it? The one that mommy cared about so much? Ah well… now that I think about it, that suggestion he made back there’s sounding real good,” said the Fate replica with a small malicious smile. “We go get her body and then I can get Vulnificus to transform into tweezers so I can play Operation right in front of mommy! Although it’s kinda strange… when you think about it, how the hell are ya gonna find a slice of bread undigested in the stomach? Weird how something like that is worth 1,000 points when ripping out the heart is only 100 points.”
That did it for the Librarian. “STOP IT!”
“Hm?”
“Stop talking like that, Rai! Why do you have to cling on to such painful thoughts?” Honestly, he didn’t understand all that rambling from earlier although when he heard her say Alicia, it was obvious that she inherited some aspect of Fate’s memories.
For a brief moment, he saw the veil of madness dissipate just for a moment. Instead of insanity reflecting in her eyes, there was a hint of melancholy and bitterness. “… … because it’s all I got. Mommy broke me in the beginning and even with Vulnificus helping; I can’t keep it together for long. So before I shatter like Humpty Dumpty, I’ll end the hatred that mommy put in everyone’s hearts.”
“W-what?”
“And then, I guess I’ll go burn out brightly in the sky… like a large chicken pie! Hehehehehe!”
While she giggled in that demented fashion of hers, Yuuno felt a sensation of fear. He couldn’t tell whether to be scared for where she’s going in life or whether to be scared of the girl herself but he couldn’t let that fear bother him. Not when there was someone leaning on the edge of madness sitting right in front of him. “Rai, why would want to burn out when you still have so much ahead in life to experience?”
She stopped her giggling before smiling sadly. “What else is there for someone like me after my mission? Drifting along, searching for endless battle and blood? I guess that’s what I have to look forward to since I probably didn’t trigger enough flags for a good happy ending. At least I won’t lose even if I can’t win.”
“Don’t say things like that,” said Yuuno gently before motioning the Fate replica over. “Come on, let’s sit down and talk.”
Without a word, Material-L scooted over and eventually settled herself on his lap. Upon noticing his surprised look, she blinked. “What is it?”
“Er, nothing…” He pushed up his glasses. “You know, when you say stuff like you want to burn out, that makes me sad. It’ll make Seikou and Yami sad too. You don’t want to make your family sad, do you?”
“No…”
“Seikou and Yami are probably looking forward to living normal lives and if I know them well, they want you to be a part of it. They’ll want to be a part of your life as well.”
“You’ll be there too, Yuu-nii?” asked the blue haired woman in a quiet tone.
He laughed softly. “If that’s what you want, Rai. You can still get that happy ending and live a normal life without having to see blood and battle. All you have to do is stop with the… level grinding and killing. If you go on with that, you’ll just create hatred in other people’s hearts as well.”
“That’s… kinda true when you think about it. Regardless of how lame or boring they are, every character has at least one fan. Probably even that Alicia too.” She paused for a minute. “But if I don’t level up, then what’s going to happen when I finally trigger that boss fight? And how do I rub my awesomeness in mommy’s face when I win?”
“If it’s someone who did indeed hurt you terribly in the past, then we’ll find her and bring her to justice,” said Yuuno in a firm tone while mentally pondering how Material-L would take the truth in that Precia Testarossa was no longer among the living.
Her red eyes lit up briefly. “Ooh, wait! Will this be like a total party thrashing with lots of combination attacks or will I take her one on one while you guys hold off the millions of grunt robots?”
“Uh, I guess we’ll find out when we do get to that point. But either way, you won’t be alone in this.”
“Hehe… if anything, Sette-chan will definitely tag along if she’s a proper sidekick so you’re probably right there.” No response came from the Combat Cyborg even though she wasn’t too far away from them. “You still didn’t answer my question about my proof of awesomeness.”
“Maybe pick an area that she takes pride in and surpass her there?” Yuuno figured that Material-L wouldn’t be able to conduct Project F activities since she definitely didn’t have the smarts to work on such a complicated project.
The Fate replica pondered over this for a second before snapping her fingers. “I GOT IT! I’ll be Alicia’s new mommy! Once she gets better and stuff, she’ll need someone to love her, teach her how to smash people in the face with a big ass sword and only show her the good porn! Someone like me! Then I can go ‘neener neener neener’ in front of mommy’s face!”
Material-L as a parent? Now that’s a disturbing thought. “Er, maybe I should help out with that. Since you’ll be busy trying to adjust to a regular life once we land on my world and everything.”
“Does that mean you’re Yuu-nii-papa or Uncle Yuu-nii? Wait, I got it! You’ll be known as Pancle Yuu-nii! Hehehe… that word needs to be added to the next galactic dictionary or something! Let’s go make a detour and find those dictionary people!”
“Let’s not.” He already had enough of that, thank you very much.
Mmm... Rai's randomness and 4th-wall breaking is getting a bit too much.
__________________
I hate sad and bittersweet endings. Why? Because I think the real world is sad enough as it is. Must our stories be sad too?
Mixed feelings about this one but I'll put her up anyway.
Spoiler for Whee, more MD:
‘Just what was that about back there?’ Yuuno stood there in the hallway for a bit, pondering just what had distracted Yami before he left.
“A scattered dream leading to a far-off memory… I wonder if she’ll be able to line the pieces up between herself and the one she’s searching for.”
“Rai?” A quick glance showed him that the Fate replica had just made a visit to the fridge, judging by the amount of food that she was carrying. “Do you know something about what was bugging Yami?”
Material-L giggled slightly. “Whatever happens… whenever that happens, it’ll probably be an epic event to remember, complete with the FMV sequence and a background song too!”
He wasn’t sure what she meant but since he was here with Rai, he may as well take the opportunity to get around to some earlier business. “Do you have a moment? I guess now would be a good time as any to have that chat I promised you earlier.”
“Ah, okay. I guess the event took a bit longer to trigger but I’m sure that I figured out the best responses to keep flags open!”
“… I’ll take that as a yes?” muttered Yuuno to himself as he followed the blue haired woman into her quarters where Sette was lying down, appearing to be asleep. “Um, maybe we should go somewhere else so we won’t disturb her?”
“Nah, it’s okay! She said some stuff about doing some drills in her noggin with her book thingy before lying down. She never got bothered when I started singing or playing hacky sack with a little lightning ball.” Material-L placed down the items and started looking around the treats to decide which one to devour first.
“If you’re sure about that…” He took a seat on one of the chairs before trying to figure out how to best approach the subject. Then again, it wasn’t like the subtle approach would work with someone like the Fate replica so he would have to be direct. “So can you tell me what happened back at the prison where you got Sette?”
“Eh… let’s see. I snuck in, spooked some enemies, got a case of the munchies just as Vulnificus complained about not getting any…” A beat and then a demented giggle. “Yuu-nii just thought of something perverted, eh?”
Yuuno merely sighed. “Just keep going.”
She took out a cold piece of meat from one of the boxed containers and bit into it before continuing. “Let’s see… I hadn’t done any level grinding in a while at the time and Vulnificus would have complained if I let it go on any further so I killed the enemies for the measly experience points. As usual, they don’t drop any good items since they were regular battle encounters and it’s not like we were going to visit a pawn shop in the near future to trade stuff.”
“That was your reason?” He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “Rai, this isn’t a game!”
“But that’s the way it is! Life’s the ultimate game… and I don’t even get extra credits, lives or continues if my HP goes down to zero! Not even have a bloody save point! I can’t even get Vulnificus to enter in some cheat codes! I mean, I’ve been lucky on some occasions back when I was a scrub but it ain’t gonna last forever!”
“But if you cheat, doesn’t it take away some of the experience?” asked the device resting just above her cleavage.
“When you got no save points and no extra lives whatsoever, then of course I gotta resort to trying to cheat!” The Fate replica merely huffed. “Seriously, what psycho game designer wouldn’t even leave a save point? That’s just wrong!”
“You shouldn’t have anything to fear. Your rookie days are behind you and you passed the tutorial sections I designed at the start with flying colours. Now you can easily smash through any obstacles as you continue gaining power for the both of us. And speaking of power, you still have thirty more levels to go until you unlock the Tony Jay voice to use on any of my forms.”
Her red eyes lit up with delight briefly before she stopped. “Yeah but I’ve only been gaining two experience points per kill recently. You know how many kills I would have to get to level you up thirty more times if I keep running into the same low level fighters?”
“Sixty-five million, three hundred and forty thousand, two hundred and eighty five. This should take us seven weeks, five days, thirteen hours and twenty minutes, giving ourselves three hours a night to sleep.”
She glumly finished off the cold meat while the Librarian beside her looked on in disbelief. “Ehhh… that won’t be any fun though. Don’t wanna bother with anyone who’s weaker than me unless I hafta.”
“But you still need to kill to maximize my power to aid you in your quest.”
“Whoa, wait a second!” Yuuno needed to try and establish a sense of control here (and reign in that rising frustrating feeling that was bubbling up in his chest). “What exactly are you trying to accomplish? Why do you need to get power?”
“Isn’t it obvious, Yuu-nii? Oh, wait… you don’t have access to my mission profile so I’ll tell you.” She paused for a moment as her red eyes hardened. “I’m going to find mommy and then I’m going to beat her. Her power level’s probably over 9,000 so I gotta keep grinding before I can trigger the boss encounter. Once I win the fight, I’m going to get the truth outta her and then hurt her as bad as she hurt me. But it ain’t gonna be through regular torture and stuff since Sette-chan said I gotta keep in mind her pain tolerance or something.”
‘W-what’s she talking about? Why is she thinking like this?’ Her words greatly bothered him, allowing that frustration of his to build some more.
“Then Vulnificus said… we go after my sister. Alicia, was it? The one that mommy cared about so much? Ah well… now that I think about it, that suggestion he made back there’s sounding real good,” said the Fate replica with a small malicious smile. “We go get her body and then I can get Vulnificus to transform into tweezers so I can play Operation right in front of mommy! Although it’s kinda strange… when you think about it, how the hell are ya gonna find a slice of bread undigested in the stomach? Weird how something like that is worth 1,000 points when ripping out the heart is only 100 points.”
That did it for the Librarian. “STOP IT!”
“Hm?”
“Stop talking like that, Rai! Why do you have to cling on to such painful thoughts?” Honestly, he didn’t understand all that rambling from earlier although when he heard her say Alicia, it was obvious that she inherited some aspect of Fate’s memories.
For a brief moment, he saw the veil of madness dissipate just for a moment. Instead of insanity reflecting in her eyes, there was a hint of melancholy and bitterness. “… … because it’s all I got. Mommy broke me in the beginning and even with Vulnificus helping; I can’t keep it together for long. So before I shatter like Humpty Dumpty, I’ll end the hatred that mommy put in everyone’s hearts.”
“W-what?”
“And then, I guess I’ll go burn out brightly in the sky… like a large chicken pie! Hehehehehe!”
While she giggled in that demented fashion of hers, Yuuno felt a sensation of fear. He couldn’t tell whether to be scared for where she’s going in life or whether to be scared of the girl herself but he couldn’t let that fear bother him. Not when there was someone leaning on the edge of madness sitting right in front of him. “Rai, why would want to burn out when you still have so much ahead in life to experience?”
She stopped her giggling before smiling sadly. “What else is there for someone like me after my mission? Drifting along, searching for endless battle and blood? I guess that’s what I have to look forward to since I probably didn’t trigger enough flags for a good happy ending. At least I won’t lose even if I can’t win.”
“Don’t say things like that,” said Yuuno gently before motioning the Fate replica over. “Come on, let’s sit down and talk.”
Without a word, Material-L scooted over and eventually settled herself on his lap. Upon noticing his surprised look, she blinked. “What is it?”
“Er, nothing…” He pushed up his glasses. “You know, when you say stuff like you want to burn out, that makes me sad. It’ll make Seikou and Yami sad too. You don’t want to make your family sad, do you?”
“No…”
“Seikou and Yami are probably looking forward to living normal lives and if I know them well, they want you to be a part of it. They’ll want to be a part of your life as well.”
“You’ll be there too, Yuu-nii?” asked the blue haired woman in a quiet tone.
He laughed softly. “If that’s what you want, Rai. You can still get that happy ending and live a normal life without having to see blood and battle. All you have to do is stop with the… level grinding and killing. If you go on with that, you’ll just create hatred in other people’s hearts as well.”
“That’s… kinda true when you think about it. Regardless of how lame or boring they are, every character has at least one fan. Probably even that Alicia too.” She paused for a minute. “But if I don’t level up, then what’s going to happen when I finally trigger that boss fight? And how do I rub my awesomeness in mommy’s face when I win?”
“If it’s someone who did indeed hurt you terribly in the past, then we’ll find her and bring her to justice,” said Yuuno in a firm tone while mentally pondering how Material-L would take the truth in that Precia Testarossa was no longer among the living.
Her red eyes lit up briefly. “Ooh, wait! Will this be like a total party thrashing with lots of combination attacks or will I take her one on one while you guys hold off the millions of grunt robots?”
“Uh, I guess we’ll find out when we do get to that point. But either way, you won’t be alone in this.”
“Hehe… if anything, Sette-chan will definitely tag along if she’s a proper sidekick so you’re probably right there.” No response came from the Combat Cyborg even though she wasn’t too far away from them. “You still didn’t answer my question about my proof of awesomeness.”
“Maybe pick an area that she takes pride in and surpass her there?” Yuuno figured that Material-L wouldn’t be able to conduct Project F activities since she definitely didn’t have the smarts to work on such a complicated project.
The Fate replica pondered over this for a second before snapping her fingers. “I GOT IT! I’ll be Alicia’s new mommy! Once she gets better and stuff, she’ll need someone to love her, teach her how to smash people in the face with a big ass sword and only show her the good porn! Someone like me! Then I can go ‘neener neener neener’ in front of mommy’s face!”
Material-L as a parent? Now that’s a disturbing thought. “Er, maybe I should help out with that. Since you’ll be busy trying to adjust to a regular life once we land on my world and everything.”
“Does that mean you’re Yuu-nii-papa or Uncle Yuu-nii? Wait, I got it! You’ll be known as Pancle Yuu-nii! Hehehe… that word needs to be added to the next galactic dictionary or something! Let’s go make a detour and find those dictionary people!”
“Let’s not.” He already had enough of that, thank you very much.
There actually wasn't much 4th wall breaking going on, as Material-L was just viewing things in video game terms. It's actually very effective here as it shows just how out of touch with reality she is. It makes Yuuno's concern all the more valid. Good job.
There actually wasn't much 4th wall breaking going on, as Material-L was just viewing things in video game terms. It's actually very effective here as it shows just how out of touch with reality she is. It makes Yuuno's concern all the more valid. Good job.
That bit wasn't towards this snippet in particular, but I feel like Rai is getting... too wacky in general, if that's possible. I mean, sure, she's nuts, but... since a couple of snippets ago, this doesn't feel as funny as it was at first. And I don't say that because of the serious situations.
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I hate sad and bittersweet endings. Why? Because I think the real world is sad enough as it is. Must our stories be sad too?
Eh, even if unintentional it's effective in its own way. At first it may have seemed funny, but over time we've realized that it's actually a serious problem. Looks like Yuuno is going to be more active in helping her change now, so it should improve.
"I'm surprised how easy it is to do this." The slightly crazy male of the trio grinned under his cloak as he looked at the female of the group. "Gduza, are you sure that your spell is working?"
"Oh, I'm certain, Dugld," she chuckled at him, "he's not completely human, seems like he was mixed with a Brow Demon and a Rock Golem. Makes it pretty easy to manipulate his body." Gduza laughed. "It won't be long before he's a willing puppet to our schemes." Gduza smirked as her hair pushed into his body, her spell working its magic on him. Looking at the more calm male, Gduza smirked at him. "So, what has our boss told you?"
"Just stay out of sight for now, you know that we can't be found out, if we are..."
"Yeah, yeah, I know." Gduza snapped at him. "I hate this sneaking around."
Dugld grimaced and looked around. "Keep yourself under control!"
Gduza sighed and forced herself to calm down. "Anyway..." She pulled her hair from Zelgadis' body and grinned at her work. "He's our puppet now. We should be able to use him as we need to." Stepping back, she snapped her fingers. "Now, rise, my puppet, I command you!"
Zelgadis' eyes opened and he sat up slowly. "...What is your wish?" He looked at the three, his eyes having no emotion in them.
Gio chuckled softly. "Good, I would hate to have to kill him if it didn't work. I'll get back to the boss." Making sure his cloak was in place, he slipped out the door, leaving the three of them alone.
"So, now what?" Dugld looked at Gduza, then at Zelgadis, before frowning. "For some odd reason, I don't like him at all." He glared when Gduza just chuckled at him.
"Well, whatever, we have him now, when it's time, he'll be our trump card." Gduza just chuckled in amusement. After all, it would be better if a human did what they wanted instead of them.
There would be less fall out that way.
(---)
Back on Earth...
Arf looked at Arisa, who was trying to relax after finding out that she had the day off. "Well, it could be worse, right?" The familiar held up her hands when Arisa gave her a glare. "Come on, mom's letting you stay over here for the day, so don't feel bad."
Arisa nodded and slumped back against her chair. "Yeah, I don't, I would have liked to have slept more, but this is okay, I guess." Closing her eyes, she almost wished that she had never taken Luna up on that offer to find out what was so special about her. "Feels like my body wants to sleep and not wake up again." She gave a lidded glare to Arf, who giggled. "What's so funny?"
"Fate and I felt the same way when Linith was training us. And mom, dad and Miyuki are all the same way when it comes to learning stuff." Arf took on a stern look and stood up and puffed her chest out. "The best way to learn is to be forced to fight for your life, otherwise it means nothing." She said in the best impersonation of Lina's voice she could muster.
Arisa couldn't help it, seeing Arf in her child form trying to be serious had her kicking her legs up and down on the chair as she laughed. "Oh gods, stop! Hahahahahaha!" The fact that she couldn't get her voice to the right pitch was just icing on the funny cake.
Arf broke down giggling as well. "Trust me, if mom was here, she would have made me wash the walls to the house, by hand, with no magic." Arisa shuddered at that thought. "Or she would make me sleep outside on a leash, either way, not fun."
Suzuka walked into the room and sat down on the couch where Arf was sitting a moment ago. Blinking, she looked at Arisa and Arf. "...Did I miss something funny?" The two looked at her, before bursting out into laughter and causing the long-haired girl to pout in annoyance. "Fine." She looked away, huffing in annoyance before Arf patted her on the shoulder, giggling heavily.
"Sorry, sorry, I was just making fun of something mom said and we couldn't help but laugh when you said that." Arf said between giggles, causing Suzuka to look at her with a slightly annoyed expression.
"Well, why didn't you say so, silly!" Suzuka's annoyance disappeared as she started giggling. "At least that way I wouldn't think you were making fun of me."
"So, what should we do today?"
"Hmm... Oh!" Arf's eyes sparkled slightly. "There was a new store at the mall, wanna go?"
"Sure!" The two brightened up and got off their chairs. A day at the mall sounded fun after all.
It wasn't like something bad was going to happen at the mall anyway.
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My fics Due to certain things, I am not here, find me over on TFF.
Alright. Sadly, stuff has happened that makes writing very difficult and nigh impossible to get anything done. I'd be lucky to even get online to visit ASuki
As such, I'm retiring from writing, and I'll be far less active on the boards. It's been fun, folks.
Alright. Sadly, stuff has happened that makes writing very difficult and nigh impossible to get anything done. I'd be lucky to even get online to visit ASuki
As such, I'm retiring from writing, and I'll be far less active on the boards. It's been fun, folks.
2011-03-31, 13:44
Author
