MSPA Fanfiction VII: End of Thread 6 Flash

[ArcFour]

Here we go, folks. It's time. It's been a long, hard road, and the dangers have been many, but we've reached the Prize. Our work is finally over, because we've reached it; The Seventh Thread!

As it turns out, the reward for six threads full of awesome stories is another thread of awesome stories! That logic makes perfect sense to me.

So, we've got a long, hard road of writing ahead of us. A road of sappy romance and horrific circumstances, of epic sagas and dramatic shorts, of action packed fight scenes and slow moments of drama.

And my weird little things, can't forget them.

And with that, we're off!

But first, the small print.

Here are the old threads:

Fanfiction Thread I
Fanfiction Thread II
Fanfiction Thread III
Fanfiction Thread IV
Fanfiction Thread V: We're Going to Need More Wands
Fanfiction Thread VI: Trashy Rainbow Drinker Fanfiction

This is the fanfiction archive

Helping to keep it up to date will reduce your chances of being culled!

Homestuck on Archive of Our Own
AO3, as it is commonly known, is an invite based fan fiction archive. Many good writers have their stuff on here. One day, I will have an account there. AND THEY WILL FEAR ME.

The Writing Critique Thread
This is for people who want some serious tearing apart of their work. You can critique here as well, and you shouldn't feel obligated to post in the Critique thread. It's a little more srs bsns than here generally.

Rules:

All the rules for the rest of the art forum (and forum in general) apply here. Nothing explicitly sexual or gory. Try to keep it PG-13...ish.

Important related quotes from the powers that be below. Listen well, lest the Horrorterrors are sent after you.

For clarification! Ectobiological baby-making between kid and/or trolls is technically safe by forum standards, so long as all that is involved in the process is straight up genetic cloning without the accompaniment of any suggestive actions. The implication of or outright depiction or description of the underage characters becoming pregnant or being sexually active is very much against the rules, no matter how tastefully or humorously it is done. Aging up the characters does not excuse this. I would also avoid broaching the subject of hitting puberty and the details thereof out of courtesy, as that can easily flirt with inappropriateness and can make others uncomfortable.

The next one is important, especially for newbies like me, who are just getting into this;

If you guys are ever concerned that a fic you have written might be too violent or too suggestive or otherwise potentially inappropriate, don't hesitate to PM me! I'll give it a read and let you know what's up :3

As far as I'm aware, fics that are explicitly sexual or extremely violent are banned completely. If the fic is just on the other side of the line as far as rules go, a link is usually acceptable. I would recommend PMing the fic to Lexxy first, though. It's always better to be safe than sorry, after all.

In short, read the rules before posting a fic. If you're not sure if your writing is kosher, run it past Lexxy.

Ladies, Gentleman, First Guardians, start your engines. THE RACE IS ON.

EDIT: For convenience, here are all the pesterlog/trollian color codes, kindly put together by SkaianRedeemer.

John - #0715CD, Rose - #B536DA, Dave - #E00707, Jade - #4AC925
Aradia - #A10000, Tavros - #A15000, Sollux - #A1A100 Karkat - #626262
Nepeta - #416600, Kanaya - #008141, Terezi - #008282, Vriska - #005682
Equius - #000056, Gamzee - #2B0057, Eridan - #6A006A, Feferi - #77003C
Nanna - #00D5F2, Jaspers - #F141EF, Davesprite - #F2A400, Jadesprite - #1F9400
Felt - #2ED73A

[Unibear]

My god... Its... Its.. Beautiful.

[Dermonster]

Huzzah!

[Decker]

Does this mean I get first fic of the thread?
Awesome.

Chapter 3 of The Loaded Key is now posted. Action! Suspense! And fifty percent MORE art by invalidGriffin!

It's 1927, a year of gangsters, daring police chases, and storybook romance. Karkat Vantas is the owner of the hottest Jazz club in town, The Loaded Key, and the leader of the gang of bootleggers that keeps the speakeasy in the basement stocked. It's a lucrative setup, but he'll have to deal with the police, rival mobsters, and his own circle of gang members and friends falling apart around him. And when these three obstacles come together, it's going to take a little dealing, a little luck, and a whole lot of firepower to make it out in one piece.

The Loaded Key
Chapter 3: A Shot in the Dark

show spoiler

hide spoiler

"Chapter 3: A Shot in the Dark" on AO3

Chapter 1: The Roaring 20's
Chapter 2: Dominoes and Roulette

[ArcFour]

Alright, two questions;

One, how do you use color codes in the text? I'm not sure how to use the color codes for that.

Also, I think that the [FANFICTION] part of the thread is supposed to be green, but I messed that up. O_O'

[Decker]

I think a mod will take care of the title greening.
For the color codes in the post, I think if you "reply with quote" on the first post in the last thread while it's open, you can pull the BBC code from there and paste it here.

[ArcFour]

In the meantime, here's the second Extra class; the Scourge of Self!

Classes of Mind Bonus: The Scourge of Self

show spoiler

hide spoiler

You are the Scourge of Self, and while your Title scares the others, it only solidifies something you already understood.

Besides, it’s good for them to be afraid. You can use that.

A few hours ago, you were children. Now you are Tools, and to act otherwise is a crime against the Game and its great Purpose. You will fulfill that purpose, and the others will follow you.

Or else.

By nature of your race, your teammates have difficulty in this. That is alright; they will learn.

You will show them.

In the beginning, they struggle against your teaching. One even dares to attack you.

You show her the error of her ways.

They fall back, but in time they surround you once more. Foolish.

When you are finished with them, they’ve stopped fighting. They will heal, soon enough.

You and your team will create a new Universe, but to do so, you must focus.

Your first challenge is to purge yourself of all unnecessary emotions. Fear. Anger. Jealousy. Love. All of these must go.

It’s simpler than you thought it would be.

Next is to force the others to do the same. It is exactly as difficult as you thought it would be.

Yours is an angry race. Yours is a vicious race. Yours is a vindictive race. All of these must be purged. You will do it for them.

A Universe is at stake, and they have been intended for this Destiny from the beginning.

So you will prepare them for it. And, when necessary, you will be harsh.

But it is for a good cause.

You will be a Punishment to all who err.

You will be a Chastening of those who let their own petty problems interfere in the grand Game.

You will be a Reckoning for those who cannot let go of their own insecurities in the name of the Greater Good.

You are the Scourge, and you will be the whip that keeps them in line, for the sake of their Destiny.

And though they will hate you, and fear you, they will heed you.

Or else.

Yay! That one went a little differently than I thought it would (I originally thought he would be the Scourge of HIMself, not everyone else's Self), but it was fun. The next extra class can be picked after I finish with Heart!

Oh, and thanks, Decker!

[Unibear]

Decker... That was a great ending, it was set up so well. I dont normally get emotional about fanfics but that made me a bit sad

[Decker]

Thanks to you! It's not over yet though.

[ch00_bakka]

ArcFour, that was... Different than a lot of your other ones. Darker than all but a few. I liked it.

[ArcFour]

Heh, thanks ch00! With a name like "The Scourge of Self", I figured it had to be pretty damn dark.

That's alright, though; next is the Mage! Which will be, shall we say, rather lighthearted. :3

[Dermonster]

Still a bit peeved that you lied about mage of chaos, but too exited about your next fic to really care.

[ArcFour]

O_Q I'm sorry, Der. I have failed you!

How about this; I'll write it up special for ya. This evening, if I can get to it! ^_^

Until then, here's the Mage!

4 – Mage

show spoiler

hide spoiler

You are the Mage of Heart, and you think that rocks.

You are, and have always been, soooo smoooooth. You’re like a kid Casanova, here. At least, that’s what your Uncle tells you, and you believe him utterly.

Girls rock (apparently, but sometimes you aren’t quite ready to admit that they might not be cootie-filled monstrosities), and having a girlfriend would be like, the high point of your life.

And somehow, you manage to have fifteen of them.

Sure, you’ve never met, but the sixteen of you have known each other for, like, years. They’re girls, and they’re friends of yours. That means they’re your girlfriends, right? This logic is perfect in every way.

(It’s entirely possible that that you are, in fact, as immature as most thirteen-year-olds are, unlike the typical Sburb player).

Plus there’s those weird girls who keep trolling you about ‘imminent doom’ and stuff being ‘all your fault’, but you like to think they’re just macking on you.

Oh, and the strange white-text girl who is mostly just imperious and arrogant and stuff. You think it’s funny to listen to her, because she seems to think she’s some sort of omnipotent combination of a Barbie Doll, a sewing kit, and some special code or something.

So yeah, you’re basically rolling in girls, even if a lot of them like to say that you’re kind of annoying or whatever. Your Uncle is so proud of your smoothness.

So, then the Game comes, and THAT’s a big shocker, but all of your girlfriends are okay, so you’re happy. And, in addition, you get a cool title!

And, apparently, you get cool powers, and you do feel something strange when you focused really hard, but it didn’t happen again, so you put it out of your mind.

As it turned out, your power was something truly epic in scale. So epic, in fact, that once it was let loose, there was no stopping it. A wave of force echoed out into the Medium and beyond, affecting something deep inside every living person connected to the Medium, human, troll, carapace, or First Guardian.

Well, it affected every female living person, at least.

It starts out slow. Friends that never really talked to you much are suddenly very chatty. The weird troll girls slowly stop giving out their messages of doom and just start talking to you. Carapace girls keep appearing at your tower to say hi. Even the white-text girl is suddenly much less imperious and a little friendlier.

You start to think that this is pretty nice. You figure that the whole ‘being tolerated by people’ thing is a pleasant thing to have.

Unfortunately for you, while it may have started slow, it would quickly gain speed.

You find yourself butting into memos full of arguments between your friends, arguments mostly full of sniping and insults but still centered on you. The carapace girls keep leaving your dreamself gifts while you’re awake, and your dream room is full of junk and only getting fuller. Your Server keeps intimating that she wants to come meet you, and the thought scares you slightly for reasons you don’t quite understand.

It gets worse.

Pretty soon, you’re on the run from amorous girls at all angles. The Black Queen has issued a warrant for your dreamself’s arrest, and the White Queen keeps sending you messages saying that you can hide from the Black Queen’s agents in her castle, and somehow you can hear the eyebrow waggles in that statement. The white-text girl’s talking about how she knows everything, and she means, everything, and would you like her to teach you some things? The troll girls are apparently halfway to figuring out a way to get into your session, and there are fifteen powerful, jealous girls all trying to find you, and it occurs to you that you are only thirteen and you aren’t quite sure what you’d do with a real girlfriend anyway.

You’re hiding on another planet in a very dark cave and all you can think about is that your title SUCKS and was that a giggle you just heard at the entrance?

You are the Mage, and your fate is to have Power, but lack the Control necessary to keep it from harming you.

And if this isn’t the textbook definition of Power without Control YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT IS.

And, far away, your Uncle sheds a single, manly tear of pride.

I apologize for nothing. NOTHING.

NOOOTHIIING!!!

Er, next is the Mage of Chaos and/or the Rogue of Heart. (I actually have the Rogue, Seer, and Knight of Heart written right now; I'm just posting them one at a time. As I do, I'll write up Der's short. ^_^

[mythmonster2]

Oh, wow, Decker, I don't think I've commented on The Loaded Key before, but let me just say that it has me completely hooked. Can't wait for the next chapter!

[ch00_bakka]

ArcFour: YES that is full of awesome I laughed for like ten seconds straight aaaagh!

[ArcFour]

Haha, thanks, Ch00! I had fun writing that one.

I, er, didn't have so much fun writing this one. O_Q

5 – Rogue

show spoiler

hide spoiler

You are the Rogue of Heart, and you know you’ve failed.

Life has been good to you. You have no more hardships than your typical person (and fewer than most of your friends). You have a wonderful moirail. You have your lusus. Life is good.

Unfortunately, it means that you can’t blame anyone but yourself, in the end.

You’ve spent your life learning the subtleties of romance. The cooling waters of Auspistice, the burning passions of Kismesissitude, the earthy stability of Moirallegiance, and perhaps best of all, the breathy heights of Matespritship; you immersed yourself in the lore and the legends, the stories and the sagas, the mysteries and the subtleties, and you lost yourself among them.

Finding and defining the subtle differences in the relationships of your friends became your passion, and you felt as if you had found your calling.

You also found your soulmate.

He didn’t know you very well, and for a long time you were too afraid to even talk to him. But something about him drew you. It was almost as if it was destined, like it had been decided long ago. You were patient, however; in time, you were sure, you’d both be ready.

So you waited.

Your situation didn’t change, much; you got to know your friends better, but that spark between you and your soulmate never came to pass. But you still were hesitant. Something had to come to pass, something had to happen; this was the way the sagas worked. The most epic of matespritships weren’t made by the random meeting, but instead by destiny; they were thrown together in an epic adventure, and through their experiences the relationship would grow.

When Sgrub came, it was almost a dream come true.

Your soulmate was a leader, uniting your team together to progress through the Game, and you felt that maybe, maybe this was the time.

But you saw the fear, the stress in his eyes, and you hesitated.

The Game continued, and was won, and your group was united in victory, and you considered that maybe, maybe this was the moment.

But you saw how he looked at the Seer, and you hesitated.

A Demon came, and everything you had worked so hard to achieve fell apart like broken glass, and you thought that maybe, maybe this was when you would finally do it.

But you hesitated, for no reason at all.

Things begin to happen, and your Moirail goes to stop a madman’s rampage, and you follow, because you can’t leave him in the lurch like that. You find him dead, and when you try to seek revenge, you are defeated.

As you lay dying, near the Moirail who had always been there for you, your last thoughts are of your soulmate, and you, and the Truth that has just occurred to you.

You are the Rogue, and you are supposed to make your own Path, but you hesitated. In the end, you let Fear dictate your Path, and so you were never given the chance to realize your Destiny.

Purrhaps, if you had said something, just once, he might have loved you back.

Purrhaps.

So... *looks at Mage. looks at Rogue.*

Can you say, MOOD WHIPLASH?

So, comments:

Fun Fact: It was when I looked real closely at Nepeta that I realized that a significant portion of the 144 Titles could be completely unrelated to powers, and instead relate to Destiny. Equius and Gamzee were the other two characters who solidified that for me.

Fun Fact 2: I also considered putting her little cat-pun quirks all over the document, but I thought that using it in the last statement would make it sadder.

Fun Fact 3: Very few of the Trolls will have what you might consider a 'happy and successful' ending.

show spoiler

hide spoiler

Terezi, Aradia, and Kanaya kind of do. Tavros, Equius, Nepeta, Eridan, and Feferi do not, I think. Karkat, Sollux, Vriska, and Gamzee have 'technically successful but still sad' endings. This is all likely to change as I go along, though.

So, next is the Seer (who is somewhat based off of SilverKunami's Seer of Heart short, which she has graciously allowed me to rewrite and expand). And I'm still working on the Mage of Chaos.

[Dermonster]

Mood whiplash like nobody's business. WHY MUST YOU TORMENT ME WITH CRYING LAUGHTER?

[ArcFour]

Okay, Der, I did it. NOW YOU CAN LIKE ME AGAIN. Q_Q

Random Bonus: Mage of Chaos

show spoiler

hide spoiler

You are the Mage, and you understand.

Understanding has come hard for you. Not long ago, you were young, and with youth there was a lack of care, a lack of knowledge, a lack of experience, that Sburb quickly took from you.

With the Game came a Purpose. It took from you your Home, and sought to give you a Universe.

Did this make sense? No. Did this whole construct, this immense machine of sense and nonsense, ever really make sense? No.

But that’s the beauty of it.

Within Sburb, the laws don’t apply. Its build is eldritch, its parts nonsensical, its workings unknowable, and its purpose grand.

The Medium is Chaos incarnate. A formless, chaotic void from which the World will be built. It is primordial and primal and full of potential that you feel destined to realize.

Chaos is more than just the opposite of Order. It is both the prerequisite to, and the eventual end of, Order. Order comes out of Chaos, and will end in Chaos once more.

You understand this, and so you do what you can to fulfill your step in the grand plan of the Universe.

But sometimes, effort isn’t enough. Sometimes, success requires more than just the desire to succeed.

Sometimes success is impossible.

With two of your number dead, and another permanently broken, your game looks impossible to win.

So you decide to redefine success.

Should that be so surprising? Should it be a shock that you, an emissary of Chaos, decide that following the typical path to the obvious victory is the wrong path? Should it be so astonishing that you’ve decided that maybe there are multiple ways to win, and maybe the Prize is something different than what your team expects?

You don’t think it should be.

You find the ruins of the great mechanism that would have caused the Scratch, and you get to work. This mechanism had the potential, you learned, to deconstruct your Session down to its most basic parts, and reorder it in such a way that the great Game could be tried once more.

With time, you begin to recreate the Machine, but with a different purpose.

Within Chaos is infinite potential, but no safety. With Chaos, anything was possible, but nothing was probable.

Fortunately, you had an idea.

It was already determined that alternate timelines were a thing that could happen. The Machine, by nature, would start a whole new tree of timelines, branching out forever into the infinite reaches of Time. But to do so, it had to delete the old Session.

You simply decided to remove the part of it that deleted that. The Old and the New would coexist, separate in their pasts, but at the present, at the activation of the Machine, they would be forever tied.

You don’t know what will happen, then. Perhaps both Sessions will be destroyed. Perhaps they will be combined, and your broken Session can ride on the coattails of the New to victory. Perhaps what would result would be completely unrecognizable.

You don’t really care, either way.

You’ve created a Machine of infinite potential, and in the end, no matter the result, you are content with your success here.

You are the Mage, and your blessing is to have Power, with no Control. And was that not the very definition of Chaos? The Infinite without End, the Eternal without Beginning, Power without Control; Chaos, in all of its glory.

You smile, knowing that whatever happens next, whatever end they may come to, you have won.

You press the button.

Okay, this one was fun. I tried to incorporate several meanings of Chaos into it all, and I think I kind of got it.

Spoilered for LOTS OF WORDS.

show spoiler

hide spoiler

By Nature, the Mage is uncontrolled power, and that seemed a dead ringer for Chaos already, so the rest of it kind of came along. Chaos is an interesting concept, if it's brought a little bit further than most stories do; that's why I tried to avoid doing the 'opposite of Order' meaning of Chaos for most of it. The Greeks thought that the world came from a formless, primordial void, called Chaos, which eventually birthed the creatures that created the world. Sburb, and the Medium, is a birthing ground for a new Universe, so that fit. Add in a few other, subtler meanings of Chaos, and I thought it wrapped together pretty nicely.

I kind of did the same thing when I did Scourge; I looked up what it actually was, and was surprised to see that it was a whip! A Scourge is a punishment, not just some sort of sever affliction (which was what I thought it was, hehe). Attila the Hun was called the Scourge of God, not because he seemed like some sort of sickness, but because he was seen as a Punishment against those who had sinned.

*shrugs* Anyway, this is the sort of thing I like to look at when doing odd Titles. ^_^

So, sometime tonight I'll get the Seer up here, and maybe the Knight; when I've got those up, I'll be caught up with all that I've written so far. ^_^

[Dermonster]

I CLAP HEARTILY!

FRIENDSHIP APPROVED!

A WINNAR IS YOU!

[Paosheep]

ArcFour! That Scourge of Self was everything I could have hoped for and more, and the Mage of Heart was everything you promised, and the Rogue of Heart was... well, it was actually a little depressing. I agree that the quirk was best kept until the end, it was really pretty moving.

And let's see, other than ArcFour, is there anything I wanted to say, any other fic I wanted to mention...?

Let's see...

Hmm...

Oh, yes, that's right. How could I have forgotten.




DECKER. DECKER WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO ME. MY EYES ARE TEARY AND MY STOMACH HURTS AND... AND... and... goddammit Decker... that's just... so... horrible, I...

Well... you obviously did your job, even if it's left me feeling all crummy. So, good job, Decker. You wrote something good.

[ArcFour]

@Dermonster: A WINNAR IS ME! *brofistbunp*

So, here are my last two for the evening; the Seer and the Knight! Thanks again to Silver for the ideas!


6 – Seer

show spoiler

hide spoiler

You are the Seer of Heart, and you think that maybe you understand.

You’ve always been in tune with the emotions of others. It comes easy to you; recognizing the lilt of a tone, the quirk of an eye, the dimple of a cheek, and a thousand other little signs for what they were.

Even over text, you’re good at figuring people out. You’re well known for ferreting out when people are mad, or scared, or sad, or just bursting with news they want to say.

You like knowing that; you’re the girl who knows, and it makes you happy.

But then there’s the Boy.

He’s not so easy to read. He acts mad when he’s happy, and happy when he’s depressed, and depressed when he’s angry, and he never seems to decide on any one set of emotional quirks before abandoning them and picking new ones. He either has an extremely good hold of his own emotions and personality, or he’s just very, very random; either way, he’s a goofy, moody, unruly, fiery little ball of mystery.

You’ve been in love with him since the start.

But you haven’t told him that.

You’ve been trying to build up the courage, but the same mystery that draws you to him makes it difficult. It’s a pain, really.

When Sburb comes, and you are given your Title, it makes sense. You’re good at that, after all.

But, as it came to pass, it gave you more than just a Title. It gave you power.

It gave you the ability to SEE.

What you could figure out through analysis and knowledge, now you know intuitively. The emotions of your friends open themselves even further to you, like a book, like a story, and you Understand.

And with Understanding comes heartbreak.

Because you see into the heart of the Boy (the Rogue, now), and see that he has love in his heart.

But not for you.

And to your infinite dismay, you cannot see who his heart burns for.

Heartbroken, you find the Bed. Lovesick, you learn about Godhood. Seeing a chance to expand your power, to see who he truly loves, you take your life on the Bed. A dagger in the heart, like a Shakespeare play; to sleep, perchance to dream.

And you Rise.

And with your Rise you feel the truth; he loves another girl. The Witch.

You find her asleep, and in your sorrow you consider taking drastic measures. With her death, the Rogue would, perhaps, learn to love you. With her gone, your greatest dream may well come true.

You stand above her, dagger in hand.

You put it away.

She awakes to see you there, crying. You see in her heart that she loves him too. Neither one of them knows that the other feels as they do, and if you walked away now, they might forever remain star-crossed, and never find each other.

You tell her he loves her. You tell her to tell him, before she loses the chance forever.

You leave.

You are the Seer, and you think that you understand. Your fate is to know the Hearts of others, and to know your own, but to be forever unable to change yours for the better.

Your Heart is filled with Sorrow.

But that is the way the Story goes.

7 – Knight

show spoiler

hide spoiler

You are the Knight of Heart, and your Title confuses you.

Not the Heart part, that part makes sense. But you? A Knight? It makes no sense.

You’re just a typical girly-girl, after all. You like to knit, and you like baking, and you hate bugs, and you’re pretty sure you couldn’t be less of a Knight if you tried.

You’ve spent your life doing quiet things, calm things, things that won’t threaten to explode or melt or light on fire. You like silence, and the rain, and the smell of flowers, and you’re pretty sure that Sburb is the worst thing to ever happen to you.

A game where you’re forced to fight for your life, forced to use violence to get stronger so you can use MORE violence, and in the end, the whole game is based around killing and death and battle, and it makes you afraid.

But your friends are doing alright. They seem much more prepared than you are, really. They’re Mages and Thieves and Rogues and even a Maid (though you think maybe you should have gotten the Maid title, personally), and they love their Titles, and their powers, and their weapons, and maybe Sburb is made for people like them, kids who are way too old for their own good but still very, very young.

Even your Heir is prepared for this all, and he’s the most gentlemanly person ever.

You will say this for Sburb; being able to meet the love of your life for the first time in person was absolutely amazing. He was exactly as gentlemanly and charming and maybe just a shade on the goofy side, and you love him to bits.

The two of you stick near each other most of the time, and you feel like you can’t get enough of him. You start to work on your planet’s puzzles, and maybe this part of the game isn’t so bad, especially with your Heir protecting you from baddies and creatures while you figure things out.

But you still don’t know why you’re the Knight. It just doesn’t seem to fit.

Not until the two of you are ambushed.

There are dozens of them, suddenly, and you are stricken with fear. Your Heir isn’t.

The Heir fights them off, and he looks amazing, like a true Knight would look like, but it isn’t enough. The Heir hasn’t yet come into his own, not truly, and he is being overwhelmed, slowly, but he still fights.

And you do nothing but watch, paralyzed by fear and your own insecurities.

Until one of the imps brings up a strange bow, and aims it at the Heir’s unprotected back.

Thoughts run through your head, of unwise prototypings and poisoned arrows, and the sight of the Heir, unknowing of the danger behind him, and you move.

The imp lets the arrow fly, but it finds your chest, not the Heir’s.

Pain blossoms through you, and everything begins to ache and burn and heave, unnatural poisons and burning blood and a dark, slick arrow, and all you see is the blur of a familiar face twisted in rage as he annihilates the remaining attackers.

You feel him pick you up (and it hurts so very, very much), and he places you down (and the stone under you feels strangely familiar, a comfort through the burn of the poison) and he kisses you on the head and apologizes through his tears, but through it all there’s a strange sort of accomplishment in your mind.

For a moment, you were a Knight. It makes you happy.

You are the Knight, and as you die you comfort yourself with a Truth; that being a Knight is not all Swords, or Skill, or Armor, or even Battle. Sometimes, all it takes to be a Knight is to be willing to Sacrifice.

You saved him, and you can die happy.

And when you Rise up, it’s like going to Heaven.

So, there we go! The order I have planned for the rest of the Heart stories is Maid, Sylph, Thief, Bard, and lastly (as always) Heir.

Enjoy, folks!



Edit: Oh, one last thing.

DAMMIT DECKER.

O'_'O

THIS IS MY ANGRY FACE. DO YOU SEE IT? HERE, I'LL SHOW YOU AGAIN.

O'__________________'O

Why do people keep doing bad things to Aradia? *single tear*

In all seriousness, though, I love that story. As a huge Vriska fan (I make no apologies!), I love your idea of Russian-Gangster-Psychopath Vriska. Pure awesome. Keep up the good work!

[Decker]

@mythmonster2: Glad you enjoy. A new chapter should be going up about the same time next week, so you won't have to wait for long.
@Paosheep and ArcFour: Your misery feeds me! I'm glad you both like it though. Things will be picking up again soon.

[penguinbound]

I'm currently really enjoying ArcFour's stuff and the Loaded Key. Keep up the good work, guys!

[SilverKunama]

Eeeee you picked my title, ArcFour. ^_^
I will forever be jealous of you for taking my fic and making it so. much. better. Gah.

[Dermonster]

Oh goddammit I just came up with a potentially insanely creepy idea that my writing skills fail me with ;.;
(It involves kernelsprites.)
WHY DOES THIS KEEP HAPPENING?