corruption au meme

[kbcctv]

CORRUPTION AU MEME

The Sword Army pursues the Retrograding Army through history, encountering familiar settings and reliving old memories. Though strong, with every change in time and setting, the swords dread the old memories. As they fight to preserve history as it is meant to be, the Sword Army must steel their hearts and resist temptation lest they come to fight themselves…

A popular fan theory is that the enemy swords you fight are actually your swords from an alternate universe who wished to change history. For this meme, feel free to make up your own starters or use one of the prompts below. Remember to state if your character is corrupted, not, or if you have no preference.

PROMPT IDEAS 1. How could you let this happen? They wanted to be left alone, their mood was poor, and maybe you should have noticed the signs but now that you have, it’s too late. They can’t stop these thoughts in their head and something in their soul has turned dark and ugly. Is it too late? Maybe you can get through to them… if not, are you ready to draw your sword? 2. Possession. Even the smallest trace of doubt can attract them— evil spirits. Once the dark spirit has latched on to your soul, it takes over and consumes you. Maybe the possession is gradual or maybe it happens suddenly. All you know is that everyone has regrets and anyone can doubt… this could happen to anyone. 3. Cry Wolf. We fought the same battles and shared the same meals together so it was only natural that we would be considered allies and friends. The fateful moment approaches and suddenly it is revealed: One of you is not a true friend. There is a traitor among you. 4. Becoming your own enemy. Your mission is to go back in time and let things happen as they were meant to be but their fall into despair was never supposed to happen, right? And so you went back in time to prevent their misfortunes but you keep failing again and again until, this time, you think you’ve got it. This time, you’ll be able to save your friend - but will you be able to save yourself too? 5. Reborn again. When destroyed in battle, the sword disappears only to return again anew. You can’t choose the fate you’re born with though and this time, someone has returned… from the wrong side.

INSPIRATIONS There are some corruption fanart floating around Pixiv, as well as a FST made by Aki (fletrir). Other canons with similar themes to this meme are first and foremost Puella Magi Madoka Magica, as well as Shin Megami Tensei and other demonic-theme heavy series.

Original premise and coding was done by eskimo, image taken from here.

Comments

[newtimes]

( Is this progress? Mutsu looks up and he begins to smile. He has no idea who this "they" is exactly. Did he get into an argument with some of the other swords? Did someone say something to make Kashuu think they'd leave him alone? )

Yeah, a game. We're always playing tag or something... it's hard to keep up with them. ( How many games of blind tag has Mutsu lost to these tantous the answer is too many he's lost count. ) Maybe ya'll be better...!

( Oh, and then he... deflates again somewhat. )

The master went to bed early for the evening... but ya can always catch 'em in the morning.

[adornmental]

[A quick swing back into some vague form of unhappiness, and then an upward turn into something close to firm decision. Kashuu glances back up from the water's surface.]

It's fine, it's fine. [He folds his hands behind his back, fingers laced, posture at ease. It's not fine, is it? Suddenly, the thought of playing tag with Mutsu and the tantous is enough to repel him. He doesn't want to be by his saniwa's side, either; the heaviness of desperation weighs on him and makes him feel sick.

It's not fine at all.]

But, you know... I really wanted to see the master tonight. [He takes a couple of steps closer, because he feels so isolated that he's entirely certain his own heartbeat is louder than what Mutsu is saying.]

Do you ever wonder- [He says rather abruptly, stepping up at the last second so he's balancing on one of the stones by the water's edge.] -what'll happen to us when we're not wanted anymore? When the war is done and no one needs a saniwa or sword?

[newtimes]

Well... maybe if ya go know ya can catch 'em before they go to sleep...

( He sounds uncertain though. The saniwa probably is asleep by now... ah, but they surely wouldn't mind waking up if it was Kashuu, though! They might even be relieved if Kashuu came to speak with them. Heck, Mutsu would even wake them up if he had to. He'd break the ice for Kashuu.

As he steps wistfully closer to the water's edge, Mutsu frowns at the question. He's thought of such things before. The question for Mutsu hadn't been so much, what would happen after they no longer had a use but what would need to happen for them to lose their purpose. For now, they had the saniwa's mission to protect and preserve history and there didn't appear to be an immediate end in sight. When would that time come? )

... Hmm... Well, it's kind of like last time, right? ( Back in the final years of the Tokugawa, when they were running around the streets of Kyoto with their old masters. ) We can still help master right now but the age of the sword still ended a long time ago but it's because of the master we've got this extra time right now.

( So they can't be carried around in the streets. They won't get to fight again. Heck, he isn't even sure if some of them can even go to museums considering some of them were never in one to begin with. Can he even go back? His own spirit is attached not to the Mutsunokami Yoshiyuki in the Sakamoto Museum right now but the one forged by the saniwa. Would he have to leave this vessel? )

Why're ya thinking about something like that anyway? We still have a lot of time.

[adornmental]

["Kind of like last time" doesn't bring along any pleasant memories. In his mind's eye he can see broken shards of metal catching soft light through a window, bright and useless. He teeters on the rock, sick with stale fear. No matter how hard he tries to push it away, it stays like an imprint of the sun, intrusive and consuming, overwhelming him. Likewise, the crippling insecurity and paranoid questions seem to take on a life of their own. Will it be like that again? Is that all there is for them - for him - after everything? He doesn't have a museum to go to. By all rights, he shouldn't have anywhere to go. His metaphoric footprints in history had vanished, only to pick back up again hundreds of years later because the world had a use for him again. But where will he go when that use dries up?

It's too scary.

And being alone - that's scary too, isn't it? Mutsu isn't enough. The tantous aren't enough. Not even the master is enough. The whole citadel. It has to be everyone. His hands are shaking a little when he unlaces his fingers, moving them so he can stare at his palms. Somehow, they seem impossibly far away.]

How much extra time are you thinking? Another year? A few? Maybe months... Hah! That's super funny. It's funny, right? [He's laughing, but fury is quickly bleeding into his expression. It's not funny. Rather, it's-] Unacceptable... Unacceptable! Unacceptable! Unacceptable—! [honestly.

But he spins suddenly to face Mutsu head on, and there's an almost feverish brightness in his eyes. He seems excited - pleased, even, despite the negative static in the air.]

Mutsu! I know what to do. It doesn't have to end.

[newtimes]

As long as the master needs us. ( Which, again, probably isn't the best answer but the important part is that they're needed right now. ) I don't get what's so--

( He doesn't understand at all. He doesn't understand why Kashuu has become so withdrawn these days or why everything is just so weird right now. When did it get to this point? When did it really start? It was hard to imagine the Kashuu not being... well, himself! He'd been around the citadel for so long along with him, to change like this, it through off everything for Mutsu.

When Kashuu begins to laugh, Musu feels something in his gut. The way it twists like it did when they returned to a familiar time on a sortie. That sense of dread when they knew important decisions were going to have to be made on their parts and, though right, they weren't going to be particularly pleased. )

Hey--

( He turns so suddenly, Mutsu leans away at first, completely taken aback by the intensity he sees. )

The hell are ya talking about? ( Of course it has to end eventually. it has to end because that's what they have to do so what else could he possibly be talking about? ) Look, let's get ya inside, I'll wake up the master for ya and we can talk...

( About anything except whatever Kashuu wants to right now. Whatever it is, Mutsu has a bad feeling. )

[adornmental]

[His levels of energy remain even, and the unpleasant atmosphere stays steady as well. Still, he nods in approval. That's-- a good idea. That will get him closer to where he wants to be.

A part of him realizes he isn't sure where that is, exactly, but any unsettled doubts now are soothed by some nameless reassurance as quickly as they have been for the past... how many days has it been? He's sure it doesn't matter much.]

Good, good! I didn't want to wait until morning. [And for a second, he looks as he always had (albeit with much more intensity than he'd normally wear): assertive, confident, determined. Of course, Mutsu's been around him long enough to know that even at his best, some of those traits fall a little shy of being entirely true. They don't seem like a front to hide insecurities now so much as a glass-like sheet of falsities; a layer of ice when the water in the pond below has been drained out.

But that doesn't last too long, because Kashuu is moving forward without warning. His hand extends, like he's going to reach for one of Mutsu's.]

Let's go. Let's go right now.