(no subject)
13.
Title: Watchgod
Fandom: Dragon Force
Rating: T
Word Count: 333
Summary: Legendra's deities try their hardest to be non-interventionist but they keep an eye on things anyway, just in case.
"That's right! Cast Meteor Storm again! Bathe the battlefield in blood and flames!" roared Valhart, thumping his fist against his throne of skulls as he harangued the people on the other side of the Magic Mirror. They continued running around, screaming and setting each other on fire, quite unaware of the War God's prompting, although there was an occasional frantic prayer to him as someone found themselves chased by a dragon.
Astea cleared her throat politely, a sound that reverberated around the great marble chamber that was the Hall of the Gods, punctuated by lightning bolts.
"What the... how did you run out of mana that fast? I thought you were my son! Kick him in the nuts!"
"Um... Valhart?"
"Don't let him retreat, you pussycat! After him!" Valhart waved his fist.
"VALHART!" thunder rumbled and a horde of dragons roared their reply, "I need to use the Mirror for some admin!"
"But I'm watching my son..."
"NOW, Valhart. Make yourself useful, your priests in the Fandaria branch have been trying for an hour to contact you. Something about blessing an enormous siege weapon."
"Bah, all this newfangled technology, what's wrong with an axe to the face?" he grumbled, but got off his chair and stormed out of the room anyway.
"Hmph, can't this place be quiet for five..." Astea reached to change the channel, then stopped, her face growing as stony as her statue in Palemoon Castle, "Is... is that an unauthorised mass resurrection? And... hey, stop attacking the healers! There are rules, people!"
Astea facepalmed. The entire battle was a mess. Valhart was supposed to be supervising these guys, not cheering them on! Plus, the dragons' scales weren't shiny and half of them were blind drunk, meaning that Harsgalt wasn't keeping his people under control either. Evidently, she was the only deity doing her job as usual.
She summoned a portal. Things had already spiraled too far out of control to just make calls to the right people. She would have to intervene directly. Now, where was her head-cracking scepter?
14.
Title: Sculpture
Fandom: The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel/Star Ocean: The Second Story
Rating: T
Word Count: 363
Summary: Ruprecht makes friends at his new school.
(this is how my brain interpreted Clara's threat to turn the next person who interrupted her into one of her art projects...)
"Um... how do you do the shrinking thing?"
Clara turned and glared. She had not given anyone permission to speak to her. Her masterpiece was almost complete and she could not be interrupted, not by a person, not by sleep, not by anything. What if someone spoke to her while her muse was trying to say something?
"Oh, Ruprecht," her voice was flat, trying to portray very clearly her complete lack of interest in talking to another person, even that new exchange student with the weird antennae on his head, "I have no idea what you're going on about."
"You know, the shrinking thing. On the horse. Before you petrified it."
"Before I what?"
"Petrification is really easy here, what with all the symbologically reactive minerals, but I've only ever seen one report of a shrinking spell and that was some guy using lost ancient technology who sounds as powerful as the Boss."
"It's just a sculpture. You know, from a block of stone. Like a normal person," she sighed. Had Beryl been filling his head with strange ideas already? He didn't really need any extra lessons in being odd. Was 'Nede' even a real place or did he make it up?
"Ohhh... I get it... you like improving on the results of petrification! Vesper says that's okay, as long as you don't ever plan on reviving afterwards. But I think the quality is okay without..."
"No petrification was involved. At all. This is all my own work from scratch, from a normal block of stone. Now go away and stop being weird."
"Um... I'm weird? You're the one who only ever does one thing! Even Decus does two things! He sets things on fire *and* shouts at the top of his voice!" replied Ruprecht, leaning on the back of the chair and inspecting the girl, "You need to get out more. Find some new inspiration from nature. Petrify someone you don't like..."
"No petrification! Go away!" she threw a book at him, then regretted it after he left. After all, it was a perfectly good book.
Okay, and because he was slightly more interesting to talk to than most people who came in with stupid questions.
15.
Title: Dealmaker
Fandom: Green Rider series
Rating: T (some strong language, potential spoilers)
Word Count: 394
Summary: At the end of Mirror Sight, Karigan gets involved in things she shouldn't in the gap between worlds.
The future I saw was a nightmare but it was not the thing that I wake up from at night, screaming. No, it was the eyes of a Goddess.
I was in-between one world and the other at the time I first felt Her presence. Just that faint brush against my own essence was enough to tell me that she was a Goddess. I couldn't worship her, though. I couldn't even fear her properly. There was too big a gap between what she was and what I was for such ordinary concepts. All I wanted to do was get away before I was accidentally erased.
"What do you want?" I said, sure that She shouldn't be looking directly at me.
"I can tell you the future."
"I've seen the future," I replied, "I don't accept it."
"No, your real destiny. What will come to pass when the future is completely resolved and becomes the present."
"Why would you tell me that? Surely its forbidden to mortals!"
"Because if I tell it to you, I can make sure I am definitely the one to decide it."
"As opposed to who? Why are you worried about that so much?" cold fear flooded through me, "Why do you need to bargain like a merchant over something like that?"
"I can make sure it turns out well for you."
"I can do that by myself!"
"Human effort alone can't pull you through when time itself is shattered."
"Bollocks! I already did it."
"I can already see the chaos around us ravaging your soul. If you leave it to chance, you enter a deeper chaos, where dogs fight over the scraps of your destiny."
"How do I know you're the right dog for me? I'd prefer none at all," I replied, realising after I said it how stupid it sounded. I was scared, and anyway, nothing I said would impress a true Goddess.
"Insult me once more, and I'll leave you with no destiny at all," she threatened, and I knew it was something she could do.
But I also knew I had already made my own destiny.
At least, I thought so.
The uncertainty alone keeps me up at night sometimes, but at least it's better than accepting that deal.
16.
Title: Not The Same
Fandom: Evolution 2: Far Off Promise
Rating: K+ (spoilers)
Pairing: Linear/Mag
Word Count: 347
Summary: Linear wasn't sure what to make of Yurka.
"We're the same, see?"
Linear looked up from the shriveled plant into the silver-haired boy's blood-red eyes. She frowned in confusion, trying her best not to lose her temper with Yurka. She felt sad for the plant whose life energy she had felt between her fingertips as she helped it grow, that was now fading away under the strange boy's touch, but she also felt sad for Yurka, for the sorrow and loneliness in his eyes. Plants were remarkably resilient, she could heal the plant from anything short of actual death with a snap of her finger, but whatever had happened to him might never be fixed.
"Yes, I know it looks like we're opposites, but that's only because of the purpose we were created for. That's what others decided for us. But the real us - we're unique, and that means we have to stick together."
She shook her head, aware that doing as he said would take her away from Mag. Suddenly, she wished with an intensity that hurt her for Mag to be here.
"You're thinking about someone else, probably that boy. But I'll have to go away if he comes back," said Yurka, his voice soft, not angry at all, "He might be able to accept you, but the others won't, not once they realise you aren't human. You're only safe because you look like an ordinary girl. Once you show your true self, they'll hate you, the same as they hate me. And the boy can't protect you forever."
She gave him a defiant frown. Mag had saved her from evil people before. She had been naive back then, not known how bad a person could be. Now she knew what to look for, she could sort of sense evil in people's hearts. Yurka wasn't evil but she still felt that she could not quite trust him.
"Once you decide upon your answer, come and find me. You know where I'll be," said Yurka. Then he jumped off the balcony and disappeared into the night.
Linear set to work reviving the plant.