The Challenge Game!

[Jakkun]

Master and Servant

F/SN

Rin got her wish, she was able to summon Saber. Thus leaving one class left for Shirou, Archer. Now Shirou and Archer have to cooperate to survive the war. Anyone who suggests the direct mana transfer method gets something pointy shoved in them.

Titles:
The Quiet Screaming
Lolita's Medicine

 

[Revanant Dragoon]

Forged in Ice

[Black Lagoon]

Rock was never much of a fighter. Never needed to be, either. At first, simply because he never deliberately put himself in danger. Then, after having his world turned upside down by the crew of the Black Lagoon, fighting was Revy's job, not his.

But all that's changing. All thanks to one little request.

Balalaika had need of his expertise for a job. Surprising, as she could have asked for some merc specialist, better trained than him. But it wasn't a matter of skill alone, apparently.

"Dutch trusts you. That means more to me than a bunch of fancy credentials."

But things went south. Fast. Hard. And now Rock finds himself driving down the back streets of Moscow, cradling the injured Russian woman that somehow managed to earn a place in his heart. And grieving for that last speck of innocence he had clung to so dearly.

He never was much of a fighter.

But he has to be now. He can no longer simply be the voice of reason for the rest of the crew. He can no longer solve things with words. He has taken a life, and he will have to do so again. A bitter smile twists his lips, as the snow falls around the car.

He always felt a little like an outsider in the Lagoon, mainly because they all fought, even Benny (though indirectly), and he didn't. And now, while he truly fights for the first time, he knows he'll still feel like he's on the outside, looking in.

Because they fight in the fires of war, with the screams of Death and Horror in their ears.

But Death is mute for him. Death comes through a silent knife, rather than a roaring gun. Horror stalks him in a game of cat-and-mouse, rather than hammering him with explosions and screams.

They were forged in fire.

He is forged in ice.


TITLES:
One Dreary Night
Out, Out, Brief Candle! (Life's But A Walking Shadow) - Macbeth quote, if that helps
Old-Fashioned Love Song
Mind over Matter
That's What She Said

 

[SMWhat]

Black Lagoon alt-pairing? That's lovely!

 

[Zephyrus]

Mind over Matter

A Love Hina fic.

The more things change, the more things stay the same. You can only change who you are if you're prepared to do anything to achieve your goals, even sacrificing something that you hold dear to you.

Keitaro discovers this in a small run-down dojo in the back alleys of the city. There, becoming strong and changing who you are is only mind over matter. The trouble is, not everybody sees change as a good thing.

Challenges:

Sunrain

Melancholy Bubbles

Dark Tide Rising

 

[Revanant Dragoon]

Dark Tide Rising

[Claymore fic]

Introspective piece, probably one-shot, from Raki's perspective as he learns that his body is being warped and amplified by the presence of the two youma, Isley and Priscilla. Culminates in Raki, standing over the still-smiling body of Priscilla, bloody sword in hand, realizing that he is just as much a monster as they are, and not because of his ungodly strength.

Titles:
Time after Time
Are You Living for Love?
Broken Path, Unyielding Spirit

 

[Lord of Bones]

Are You Living for Love?

In the wake of the Grail War, Emiya Shirou questions all his decisions, especially those pertaining to the women in his life.

Challenges
I Warned You to Stick with the Story!
Why did it have to be snakes?
Full Circle
How to bed myths in 3 easy steps.

 

[Zephyrus]

Full Circle

[Lord of the Rings]

In which an ordinary man thinks. He is no part of Fellowship. He is not a long lost king. He is no soldier in a war. He is no bearer of a Ring. He is merely a Man of little standing in the kingdom of Rohan.

Yet ordinary men can still affect the outcome of a journey. Even if it is just a small thing as offering a kind word to a melancholy Halfling. He is part of something larger than himself, even if he doesn't know it.

Ordinary men who do ordinary things never look beyond themselves. But things come to Full Circle nonetheless.

Challenges:

Hypotheses

Lemonade

Insincere Sincerity

 

[Lord of Bones]

Insincere Sincerity

As the One Ring is forged in the Sammath Naur, the Dark Lord Sauron muses on the pride and fall of the elves.

Challenges
Orange
Lord of Nothing
A Servant's Price

 

[Revanant Dragoon]

The Quiet Screaming

[Zombie Powder]

One-shot; Emilio was never sleeping. Not truly. For eight years, he was trapped within his own mind, eyes shut yet seeing, mouth closed yet screaming. He watched his sister, driven by grief, nearly work herself to death trying to repent for sins she didn't commit.

Then, as the Ring of Death buried in his mind went on a rampage, for the first time in eight years, his screams were heard. But not with his voice. The Ring had claimed that. But that didn't matter to him.

Emilio was always a man of action, anyway.

Lemonade

[D.Gray-man]

As he watches Road Kamelot's body crumble from Lavi's assault, Allen finds himself elsewhere, in some twisted not-world. And Road sitting across from him, with a glass of lemonade in her hand. Remembering her rage, Allen fears the worst.

But his fears are waved away as Road explains that she just wanted a good-bye untainted by battle, hatred, and grief. Somehow, Allen can't find it within himself to turn her down. So he sits down at the table, and takes the offered glass of lemonade.

Lord of Nothing

[Fate/stay night]

Fate-scenario; introspective oneshot from Gil's perspective as Saber delivers the final blow, on failing to win the Grail Wars for the second time.

Titles:
Eternal
Monkey's Uncle
That Arrogant Bastard... (No DS on the last one; waaaay too easy )

 

[Cornuthaum]

Eternal
Pirates of the Carribean
Davy Jones. Calypso. They loved each other. They still love each other. The former captain of the Flying Dutchman finds no peace in death, and the wrathful goddess of the sea finds no peace in life.

Unfortunately for them, their love is what binds them to eternity.

At least they can annoy that upstart Turner, from time to time, though.

Monkey's Uncle
Maho Shojo Lyrical Nanoha
Chrono is going mad, he knows it. He should have fled the day Fate announced her pregnancy. Now there is a hyperactive three-year old around with enough magic to levitate and... aaaargh .... latch onto his hair. Just why can't a poor, poor genius admiral have his peace and quiet during these family reunions?

That Arrogant Bastard...
Bleach
The everyday life in Las Noches and how the Arrancar manage not to strangle Ichimaru Gin in his sleep. Well, if he sleeps. It's kinda hard to tell with his eyes, and the man's scarier than Aizen-sama on a bad day without even trying.


Lovely Monster
Brutal Cunning
Heart of Iron

 

[trevelyan1983]

Lovely Monster

She was once a woman. She was once a demon. She has always been one with the blade. Yet now, wandering the wastes of Filgaia as a lost soul, she is neither.

Once, she said that only the warriors she had killed were permitted to find respite in her bosom. Thinking of the one man she had embraced in both lives, the Sword Princess begins to piece her shattered mind back together.

A Wild Arms fic, telling of what happened to Elmina's soul after her defeat at Arctica castle and before her resurrection at the hands of Dan Dairam.

Edit: Argh! Titles, man, titles!

Godsfire

Blood of the Phantom

Suicide Drive

 

[Zephyrus]

Heart of Iron

[Teen Titans]

Victor Stone has a body that is 78% adamantium. His brain has been recontructed into a powerful and yet delicate supercomputer that rivals NASA's entire buildings of microprocessors. He is more machine than man, a miracle of science to some and an abomination of life to others.

Is he human? Does he feel or do the sensors in his mind tell him how to feel?

Cyborg has no heart. It is entirely synthetic. And on some days, he feels that it doesn't even exist.


Challenges:

Sound of One Hand Clapping

Every Bird Must Someday Die

Red Aviary

 

[Lord of Bones]

Every Bird Must Someday Die

[Bleach]

Sosuke Aizen knows he will die. Not even he can evade the Reaper's grasp, but nobody said he couldn't have some fun along the way.

Challenges
Bittersweet
You Are Nobody's Replacement
Need
Threefold

 

[Cornuthaum]

Godsfire
Wheel of Time
As he stands in the Last Battle against the Dark One, Rand Al'Thor calls upon the Dragon Within and unleashes the wrath of ten thousand ages upon his eternal foe.
Whether it is in vain or not, only time will tell.

Blood of the Phantom
Harry Potter
Severus Snape is many things, but deep down in his wretched, cold heart he is a man in love with the art of potion-making. When he is offered to work with a material so exotic, so rare, so dangerous that the scant few tomes that list it warn anyone not to work with it, he finds himself unable to turn the offer down.
After all, better to die in a cataclysmic blaze of a high-powered potion gone wrong than at the hands of his Master.

Suicide Drive
Maho Shojo Lyrical Nanoha
Subaru Nakajima never stops. No matter how grave the danger, no matter how overwhelming the opposition is, she never stops, she never hesitates to drive herself and Mach Caliber into the maws of danger.
Too rarely do Teana and Subaru see each other these days, and Tea wonders just why Subaru is trying to get herself killed.

Chronicles of a Crusade
Drums of War
A Trip to Hell for Big Dumb Idiots

 

[Zephyrus]

Chronicles of a Crusade

[The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi]

Haruhi has decided that Japan is not enough. The SOS Brigrade has a sworn duty to investigate all paranormal activity and Japan just isn't big enough. During a mysterious all expenses paid trip summer vacation, LA will be the first to fall. Today, America. Tomorrow...the world!

Drums of War

[Sword of Truth]

In the heart of D'Hara, the drums roar. Something secret, something ancient, and something evil stirs in the North. Will the Lord Rahl rise to meet the new threat or will he fall like so many others before him?

A Trip to Hell for Big Dumb Idiots

[Dante's Inferno]

The layman's guide to the Seven Circles of Hell. Now featuring a foreword by Antonio E. Christos.

Challenges:

Moonfly

Sweet Dreams, Summer Sun

Daisies All In A Row

 

[parker]

Sweet Dreams, Summer Sun

BtVS

A one-shot about Xander Harris watching a the sun is blacked out forever by a demonic ritual.

challenges:

I AM LEGEND, and so can you.

DIIIIIIEEEE! Die, die, die, die. Die and stay dead!

LEAVE NARUTO ALONE!!

 

[Zephyrus]

Bittersweet

[Kingdom Hearts]

Winning isn't everything, it's the only thing. But for the Keybearer who loses his heart in the winning of a war, it's a bittersweet victory.

You Are Nobody's Replacement

[Harry Potter]

The thing was, I actually believed her. I got past our disastrous last date. I got past the fact that she'd dated many, many other boys before I. I got past the fact that she used to be engaged to a Weasley.

With the French, nothing is ever simple.

A Harry and Fleur romance.

Need

[Naruto]

"The problem with life, Naruto, is that there is a distinct difference between want and need. You want both of them. But which one of the two do you really need?"

An InoxHanabixNaruto love triangle.

Threefold

[Full Metal Panic!: TSR]

Everything comes in threes for Sergeant Souske Sagara. Duty. Love. Death.


Challenges:

Grasp

The Divine Comedy

Soul's Refrain

 

[Cornuthaum]

Grasp
Berserk
He dragged his bloody, beaten carcass out of hell itself one-handed. Who will be foolish enough to try and stop him now that he has gotten his hand back?
A silent tribute to Guts as he uses his replacement arm for the first time.

The Divine Comedy
Oh My Goddess
The end of the world is here, the last battle between gods and demons. And the one mortal who could stop it doesn't want to, because he would have to give Her up for it.
A little selfish, yes, but K1 doesn't care any more.

Soul's Refrain
Final Fantasy 7
Cloud. The Lifestream. As every pore of his body is invaded, every cell oversaturated by mako, Cloud hears them. Those who have gone before him. He hears them sing, and, somehow, it is the most frightening thing he has ever come to know.

DHD - Duty, Honor, Death
Iron Will, Iron Rule
Symbol of Torment

 

[Zephyrus]

Duty, Honor, Death

[Star Wars]

Nik Helios is most likely the only man in the known Galaxy that has volunteered to enroll in the Imperial Academy on Coruscant with the express intent of becoming a Stormtrooper. But of course, why would the Empire accept a volunteer when they have a steady supply of clones ready to become ion cannon fodder at a moment's notice?

Nik believes in the principles that the Empire supposedly stands for. The unity of the galaxy, a benevolent and just judicial system, and strong relationships between worlds and peoples that will never succumb to war or poverty. However, the people running the Empire seem to have forgotten these principles. Change can only come from within and Nik is determined to rise as high as the morning star so he can bring change.

The Stormtrooper's motto: Duty, Honor, Death

Iron Will, Iron Rule

[Naruto]

In which Naruto learns that benevolence and respect are less than adequate means to obtain the title of Hokage. If he cannot earn that respect from the people, then he will damn well take it. By force if need be.

Symbol of Torment

[Evangelion]

Such a small thing, a cross. A paltry little thing to be placed on a necklace. It was a symbol of everything that was wrong with the world and everything that was right.

Ikari Shinji muses on the nature of symbols as he lies in bed with his commanding officer.


Challenges:

Whitewash

Candle in the Wind

Beautiful Things

 

[Cornuthaum]

Candle in the Wind
Maho Shojo Lyrical Nanoha
As Nanoha flies, she is alive. As she flies and fights and blazes with power, she is alive. When Nanoha, blazing with magic, falls, she dies, like the flame of a candle in the wind.

Beautiful Things
Naruto
Maito Gai is a great many things, but a loyal servant of the village first and foremost. On his deathbed he counts whether the unsavory things he did for his place of birth outnumber the beautiful things he has experienced there.

Whitewash
Bleach
The quest of the Shinigami Women Association trying to find out whether Hitsugaya Toushiro bleached his hair to achieve this particularly outstanding shade of white.

Sing A Song
The Necessity of Funerals
Good and Proper

 

[Zephyrus]

Sing a Song

[Harry Potter]

Snape has long hidden a passion for Broadway musicals. He has somehow been drafted into Hogwart's summer Light Arts program to direct a stage show at the end of the program. He doesn't know whether to be delighted or to strangle Potter when he absolutely mutilates a rendition of "Tomorrow".

The Necessity of Funerals

[Naruto]

Not surprisingly, undertakers and gravediggers have the most stable jobs in Konoha and are always assured an income. Aburame Shino has a quiet conversation with a gravedigger at the funeral of his sensei and her child.

Good and Proper

[Fullmetal Alchemist]

"Now Winry," her mother said, "good and proper little girls don't play with tools and get covered in grease."

The one day of the year where Winry allows herself to wallow in the past. It's both painful and liberating at the same time.



Challenges:

By the Sword

Afternoon Tea Leaves

Homeward

 

[Lord of Bones]

Homeward

[Fate/Stay Night]

After the battle with Beserker, Emiya Shirou muses on what will come as he returns to the Emiya residence.

Challenges
An Eye for an Eye
Here Be Monsters
To Gaze Upon The Abyss

 

[Mereo Flere]

Challenges
An Eye for an Eye
Here Be Monsters
To Gaze Upon The Abyss

"An Eye for an Eye"
[Fate/Stay Night]
Emiya Shirou did not know the concept of revenge. Matou Shinji knew, better than anyone, that this was the punishment he had brought upon himself.

"Here Be Monsters"
[Mx0]
A day in the life of Kuzumi Taiga. Documentary by Mizuki Naomi.

"To Gaze Upon The Abyss"
[Tsukihime]
Shiki faces death every single day of his life, manifested in a dreaded series of dots and lines. It is what he cannot see - what he cannot perceive that he fears, like so many other men.

---

Challenges:

I love Lucy

Wiring Fault

Cross Under

 

[Revanant Dragoon]

The Odysseus Complex

[Fate/stay night]
[Post-Fate]

Three years have passed since the Grail War ended. Two and a half years have passed since a stranger broke into the Emiya Compound with disturbing ease, and held Shirou's adopted sister by knife-point, demanding that the young Magus give himself over to the stranger's comrades in exchange for sparing Ilya's life.

Two and a half yeas have passed since Emiya Shirou condemned himself to the hell known solely as the Pit- a brutal underground fight club, where all matches are lethal - in order to save his sister's life.

Three weeks have passed since he was contacted by the one-armed magus Bazette Remitz, who claimed to be working for his sister; his sister, who, apparently, was still being held captive.

Two weeks have passed since Emiya Shirou escaped from his personal Hell and began scouring the world, seeking family... and vengeance.

Jokulmorder

(....Not sure if this counts, but I've got two for this one.)

1~

[Sekirei]
[Lemon][Oneshot]

In which Minato and Homura discover that when ...*ahem* completing the winging process, Homura starts pyrotechnics. Big ones. Reeeeaaaally big ones.

...Now how were they going to explain how the Izumo inn nearly burned down to Miya-san - without getting eviscerated?

2~

[Ah! My Goddess!/Mx0]

Looking back on it all, Urd supposed she should have seen trouble coming the instant she met Kuzumi Taiga. It didn't exactly take a genius to see that the system had fouled up by granting him a wish. (Sure, the kid had a good heart - but he wasn't quite _there_ yet.)

Though, to be fair, there was no way that she could even _guess_ that granting his wish of 'being able to to magic' would uncover that this kid was actually some kind of pyrokinetic that Kami-sama thought would be able to turn the tables at Ragnarok. But when that was taken into consideration, being sent to his school undercover as a student was a logical next step.

But... while she would never even dream of saying it out loud, Urd was convinced that Kami-sama himself couldn't have predicted what came next.

Wiring Fault

[Fate/stay night]
[Pre-Fifth Grail War]

Emiya Shirou has been training himself for years in magecraft, in the hopes of becoming a Hero of Justice like his father. Only something goes wrong one day, when one of his newly forged Magic Circuits does something ... unexpected. Something believed impossible.

Something that will kill him, given enough time.

Now, Shirou, guided by the only information that his father ever left him about the world of mages, finds himself standing before a sister he never knew he had, trying to think of a way to convince her to help him, and - more immediately pressing - not skewer him with a levinbolt.

There are some days when it really just sucks to be Emiya Shirou.


Titles:
Burn My Dread
Black Rose Wilting
A New Day Dawns

 

[GenocideHeart]

2~

[Ah! My Goddess!/Mx0]

Looking back on it all, Urd supposed she should have seen trouble coming the instant she met Kuzumi Taiga. It didn't exactly take a genius to see that the system had fouled up by granting him a wish. (Sure, the kid had a good heart - but he wasn't quite _there_ yet.)

Though, to be fair, there was no way that she could even _guess_ that granting his wish of 'being able to to magic' would uncover that this kid was actually some kind of pyrokinetic that Kami-sama thought would be able to turn the tables at Ragnarok. But when that was taken into consideration, being sent to his school undercover as a student was a logical next step.

But... while she would never even dream of saying it out loud, Urd was convinced that Kami-sama himself couldn't have predicted what came next.

Needs to be written. Yesterday, if possible. :mmm: :yay: