Heya, I'm Antagonist.
In the original plot for Heart of the Swarm, Kerrigan tricked Abathur into creating his own replacement before killing him. One day, I was thinking of how I would have written Gensokyo's Heart if that had happened, and realized- Abathur could just wake up in Gensokyo after dying. And then, I really wanted to write it. In addition, I wondered how the story would turn out if I chose a less friendly interpretation of Gensokyo- the one I chose for Gensokyo's Heart was relatively lighthearted and friendly. But see, how you interpret Gensokyo is up to the reader. What if I chose a darker interpretation of the Youkai haven, like the interpretations seen in Imperfect Metamorphosis by TakerFoxx or the Haruhi Suzumiya crossover Imperfect Cherry Blossom/Perishable Night by Supperdude9 (wow, dark Touhou fics really like the word imperfect)?
So, this fanfic is based on those two changes. This story is much darker than Gensokyo's Heart, since it uses a darker interpretation of Gensokyo, and it starts off with Abathur dying. This Abathur is also closer to the canon Abathur than the one in Gensokyo's Heart is. So that also makes things darker. There also aren't any Youkai Zerg to lighten things up, since Abathur didn't bring any Zerg with him this time. Collecting essence in this story will be much closer to how it works in canon- Youkai Essence isn't super-essence like it is in Gensokyo's Heart. Instead of using Youkai essence gathered from a single hair to turn a Zerg into a Youkai Zerg, essence is used from the corpse of a dead thing to give a specific strain of Zerg the same abilities as that creature (such as the Hydralisks using Impaler Colony essence to become Impalers, or the Swarm Hosts using ash worm essence to discover how to tunnel, etc.). It also toys slightly with something Abathur said in canon about his psyche.
Without further ado, let's begin.
DISCLAIMER: Touhou Project belongs to Team Shanghai Alice, and StarCraft belongs to Blizzard Entertainment.
…
Abathur was hard at work. He'd managed to reconstitute Ultralisks into the Swarm after the attack on Skygierr Station, and Kerrigan barely managed to survive her encounter with Narud. To his great joy, his Queen did survive. Without the overriding will of the Queen, he wasn't truly a member of the Swarm.
He was soon greeted by the Queen of Blades in question.
"How's that project I had you working on coming along?" she asked, her voice echoing throughout the Evolution Pit.
"Coming along well," Abathur informed her. "Nearly complete. Confused by function, however."
"Well, you seem overworked, lately," Kerrigan smiled at him. "I just thought, why not create another creature like you? It could lessen your workload. You'd be less stressed, and I'd get the evolutions I need even faster. It's a win-win scenario."
Abathur nodded. Her logic was sound.
"Do not need to work less. Second Evolution Master would increase speed, however. Correct."
"Glad we're on the same page," she smirked, walking back out into the Leviathan. The Evolution Pit was only a short hallway away from the Nerve Center of the Leviathan, for conveniency's sake. Most of the titanic Zerg was filled with Kerrigan's army. Somewhere in there was Raynor's dropship, the same one that Kerrigan arrived on.
...
Abathur was soon done. He looked on at his creation. A near-perfect clone of himself.
"Work complete," Abathur said proudly. "Needs a name."
"How about… Ota?" the other Evolution Master asked. "I like the name Ota."
The second one looked almost identical to Abathur, but instead of a deep, echoing voice, it had a scratchy voice, almost like what you could expect from a hyperactive horror movie villain.
"I like it, too," Kerrigan complimented as she walked in. "Much better than Abathur, don't you think?"
"Do not think," Abathur disagreed. "Respect your viewpoint."
"Ota, I want you working right away," Kerrigan commanded. Ota nodded, and scurried off. Kerrigan turned to Abathur.
"I lied," she grinned. "I don't need two Evolution Masters. I only need one."
"Unclear," Abathur said, confused. "Created Ota under your command. Do not understand."
"Oh, I need Ota," Kerrigan's grin grew dark. "I just don't need you."
Before Abathur could fully comprehend what she meant by that, Kerrigan ran her claw through Abathur's midsection. Ota briefly turned around, but wasn't saddened at all by his creator's death. He was created to serve the Queen of Blades. Abathur was a creation of the Overmind. With Abathur gone, the Overmind's influence on the Swarm was no longer at all present. All of the Zerg created under the Overmind's rule were dead, including the former version of Kerrigan.
His creator's death pleased Ota.
Abathur screamed in pain as Kerrigan continued to literally punch holes in him, relishing the moment. Kerrigan had always hated Abathur. That hate was amplified when she discovered that he designed the original template for the Queen of Blades.
Abathur, meanwhile, hated neither. He was the Evolution Master, nothing more. He didn't understand why Kerrigan hated him. He made her powerful.
Abathur ceased glowing green, and fell over, dead. Kerrigan stopped smiling, and turned to Ota.
"Reduce him to biomass," Kerrigan ordered. "My revenge against him is over. I need to go rest."
…
Abathur soon found himself alive. When he opened his eyes, something felt… wrong. He was an insectoid Evolution Master. He had six arms, four tendrils, four eyes, and a glowing green slit for a mouth. However, he felt a humanoid mouth on his face, and only two eyes. He had no tendrils, and four of his arms were missing (not to mention, his hands were very badly designed). He had legs, which he was sure he didn't have before.
He slowly rose. It hadn't taken him long to realize that he was Terran. Beyond that, he wasn't a he anymore. This was definitely the body of a female Terran. And she had no clue where the hell she got glasses, a green tie, and a black, poofy dress. She pulled at her hair, discovering it to be long and green. Feeling around, she found a sword with a brown hilt, stuck in an equally brown sheath.
That explained her, but it didn't explain why she was the way she was, nor did it explain her surroundings.
She was in a forest. The trees were tall, but not unnaturally so. Not far away was a lake of water. That might have sounded obvious, but to be fair, she'd seen lakes of lava and genetic material.
For some reason, she felt… unsafe here. She scowled. She needed to find her way back to the Swarm, wherever they were.
She began to walk, keeping her hand gripped around the hilt of her sword. She looked in every direction, making sure nothing dangerous was around. Her senses weren't working properly. Usually, she could sense power. She couldn't, here.
"Well, don't you look defenseless?" asked a voice behind her. Abathur spun around.
The source of the voice was a girl who looked like a Terran. He couldn't tell if she was or wasn't.
"Do not know you," Abathur spoke, surprised by the softness of her own voice.
"I'm Chen. Chen Yakumo," the girl answered with a smile. "I'm here to make sure that you don't die. Gensokyo's dangerous, and the Youkai that my Master works for wants you alive."
"Gensokyo?" asked Abathur.
"That's where you are, miss!" Chen responded with another smile. "The land of Illusions! It's a safe-haven for those who have been rejected from the world, mostly Youkai. Since you're not really from our world, we changed you. You're a Youkai, now."
"Unclear," Abathur responded. "Do not know what a Youkai is."
"A Youkai is a kind of supernatural being," Chen explained. "We're not human, but we're not… what do you call them, again? Oh, yes. We're not Protoss or Zerg, either. It's much easier to show than it is to tell."
At that, space seemed to rip into two beneath Abathur and Chen. Abathur was surprised and shocked, but the other girl was unfazed. She seemed to be used to this.
Abathur found herself in a sort of home. It seemed Terran in design, but something was… off about this place.
In front of him were Chen and two older women, closer in size to Abathur was. One of them had nine tails, similar to the two that Chen sported. The other lacked any tails, but seemed moderately dangerous in any case. The tailless woman smiled.
"Hello, Abathur," she said warmly, though it still creeped Abathur out. "Welcome to Gensokyo."
"Explain," Abathur demanded.
"Oh, that's simple," the woman smirked. "I'm Yukari Yakumo. I created Gensokyo many years ago. I'm responsible for your being here- see, I need you for my plans. When you died in that other world, I retrieved your corpse before your replacement turned you into biomass. With my ability- the ability to manipulate borders- I revived you, and turned you into what you are now. See, you're nothing without an overriding will, right?"
"Correct," Abathur answered uneasily. "Will of Queen of Blades, still guides me."
Yukari smirked.
"You're in a whole other universe. You'll never see your Queen again. So, doesn't that mean that her will is gone?"
Abathur considered her words. She was right. The Queen killed her, and was going to use her body as biomass, and even though that could be forgiven, the Queen was gone forever, just like the Overmind.
She-
She had no overriding will.
Just as she was about to succumb to madness, Yukari spoke up.
"That's why you should follow my overriding will. Ran here is already my shikigami, and Chen is her shikigami. That means that they do what I want. Doesn't that sound awfully similar to the Swarm?"
"Not as simple as that," Abathur managed to get out between pants.
"You'll find that it is," Yukari chuckled darkly. "If you become my shikigami, you and I will become psionically connected, just like in the Swarm. Also, I'll be willing to give you your old senses back, and the means to manipulate essence. Doesn't that sound nice?"
Abathur nodded shakily.
"Alright. Let's start the process before it's too late, Abathur Yakumo."
…
Now, that was certainly interesting, wasn't it? It goes in a completely different direction from Gensokyo's Heart. I'll keep going with both stories- I like variety. Gensokyo's Heart is lighthearted, humorous, fluffy, and is going to eventually be epic. GH:For Want of a Nail is dark, occasionally has humor (usually black humor), and is eventually going to be epic in a completely different way. The contrast is good for my writing skills.
Anyways, remember to review.