Crizix:
Hi, everyone! It's been a while since I wrote anything, right? Sorry about that; I was really uninspired. Anyway, this idea was actually in my head for a while, but I didn't act on it until my school's Writers' Guild announced genderbending as one of their two prompts. (The other one was apocalypse.)

Crizix:
Okay, so does anyone here know Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon? If you played enough of it, then you'll know that there's a staff that can bring back a dead character once, but it can only be used by clerics with royal blood in their veins. So I was wondering if a royal curate that temporarily changed his gender somehow would be able to use the staff. And poof, this idea has stuck since. All right then. I'll just let you read now.


It was a long and grueling battle. The small group of four had won against astounding odds, but their victory came at a price. Piko, their thief, had been felled by an axe while pushing Len, the curate, out of harm's way. Miku, the myrmidon, was currently crying on Piko's bloodied chest. Len stood off to the side, casting his eyes away from the sight. Miku and Piko were siblings. Their parents disappeared when they were young, so they had spent nearly their whole lives supporting each other. Obviously, they had a very personal relationship, far closer than those of most blood siblings, and now…it was gone. And it was all his fault. He hadn't been watching his surroundings close enough, so that bandit got the drop on him, and Piko had to go in and push him out of harm's way, lest he get killed. How could he have been so careless? Perhaps if he had been more observant…

A hand rested itself gently on Len's shoulder. He broke from his brooding and turned to address the owner of the hand. It was Luka, their sage. Luka was considerably older than any of the other three in the group, so she was their guardian, in a sense. Her wisdom and skill with magic earned her great respect. She had also been with Len for his entire life, so they shared a special platonic bond. "Len." She whispered, her voice soft. She was about to say more, but Len opened his mouth to speak.

"I…I can't believe it. I caused my friend to die."

"Len, you were ambushed."

"Yes, but that's my fault. If I wasn't being careless, then that bandit wouldn't have had the chance to strike me."

There was a brief, but tense pause. Len took a deep breath and continued.

"Now look at what I've done. I tore apart a family! Don't you understand, Luka? I can't possibly ask Miku to forgive me because I know full well that I would not pardon anyone who plays a role in one of my family members' death!" His volume and trembling increased until he was practically screaming. Tears were flowing freely from his eyes. He would have fallen to his knees if Luka didn't move closer and embrace him tightly. Despite all of his unusual shouting, Miku, who was still crying for her lost younger brother, didn't even turn her head to see what all of the commotion was.

Luka patted his head and whispered sweet nothings into his ear as he sobbed into her shoulder. When he finally regained his composure, he slumped against a nearby tree trunk. "Even so…I wish that there was something I could do…" He muttered to himself.

"There is." Luka heard herself mumble. She was listening to Len's muttering, and his last statement made her want to throw that fact out there.

Len's eyes widened. "…Huh? You mean…"

"Yes, I mean it. The Aum Staff." They had recently obtained the legendary Aum Staff from the temple at Syntiax. This staff was fabled to hold the ability to resurrect a single person from the dead. It could only be wielded by the most skilled healers.

"Wait a minute. You'd need to be a woman of royal blood to use that."

"You are royalty, Len."

"True, but…I'm male."

"That…can be fixed." Luka smirked as she pulled out a glass vial of some violet liquid.

Len raised an eyebrow. "What's that?" He asked curiously, pointing at it. He had never seen anything like it before.

"It's a potion. It temporarily turns the consumer into a member of the opposite sex." She replied. There was a strange hint of excitement in her voice, and Len did not fail to notice it.

"Um…" Len stammered; he was starting to feel uneasy. "Are you sure this is a good idea? It could fail, or something worse might happen…"

"No, no, it's been tested thoroughly, trust me." She held out the vial to him with suspicious eagerness.

Len simply raised his hands in response. He didn't feel ready to take such a strange concoction.

Luka tilted her head. "Oh? No? But don't you want to ease that poor girl's suffering?" She cocked her head in Miku's direction. Len took a good look at the swordswoman. Her tears have dried. She was now brooding the way Len had been earlier. It pained him too much to see the normally bright and cheerful Miku in such a depressed and gloomy state. His gaze returned to the vial in Luka's hand and he steeled himself. Trying and failing is better than doing nothing at all, right?

He grabbed the vial and opened it. He sniffed its contents and stared at them. Finally, with a deep sigh, he chugged it all down as quickly as he could. Then he stood perfectly still, waiting for the potion to take effect.

At first, there was nothing. Then, out of virtually nowhere, sharp pain shot through Len's entire body. It felt like it was burning, that his bones were melting, and it only got worse with each passing second. He couldn't endure such pain for long. His world rapidly shifted into total darkness.

xXx

"…Len. Wake up." A voice called out.

Len awoke to see both Luka and Miku staring down at him. "…What?" He yawned sleepily…and froze. His voice had gotten almost half an octave higher and a bit more nasally. He sat up and took a close look at his body. His hips had gotten wider and his chest wasn't exactly flat anymore. His figure got slimmer in general. For a few moments, he panicked. When his memory returned to him, he realized that the potion that Luka gave him had worked, and now he was a girl.

He was now a girl.

He, or rather, she, shrieked in shock and embarrassment. Miku and Luka both covered their ears. The sheer shrillness stunned Len into stopping. Blushing furiously, she stood up and stomped over to Luka.

"The Aum Staff. Give it to me. Now." She demanded through gritted teeth. Even through all of her emotions, she was able to remember why she was going through with her ordeal.

"Here you go, Princess." Luka snickered as she handed the Aum Staff to Len, who snatched it violently and trudged over to where Piko's corpse was. It had not been moved an inch.

Miku kept staring at Len. While Len was unconscious, Luka had explained the entire situation to her. She was touched that Len would throw himself into such an ordeal for her sake. She tugged on Luka's sleeve, her gaze not leaving the direction Len had gone in, even after his figure was too distant to be visible. "Shall we follow him?"

Luka turned her head towards Miku. "Yes, let's."

xXx

When Miku and Luka caught up with Len, she was already on her knees by Piko, softly chanting with a firm grip on the Aum Staff. The jade orb that rested on top of the staff was shining brightly. The two of them decided to stand back and watch from a distance.

Soon, the orb's glow grew even brighter, until it was blindingly so. A pale green aura emanated from Piko's body. Luka and Miku observed Piko in awe as his injuries slowly patched themselves up until they were completely gone. The color was returning to his skin. They could feel the intense warmth that was being generated, even from their distance.

Finally, the light faded, the warmth dissipated, and Len set the now worthless Aum Staff down. She was panting; using the staff had drained her of all of her energy. She couldn't even stand. Luka rushed over to Len's side, helping her up and supporting her. Miku followed, but she was more focused on Piko. All three of them gazed at Piko's face, dying to see if Len's efforts were successful.

Sure enough, Piko's eyes slowly opened, and then they widened. He bolted up, his eyes darting absolutely everywhere. He was too stunned to do much else. After all, he should have died, but here he was, in pristine condition.

Miku couldn't contain her tears of joy. "Piko!" She cried, dashing over to him and tackling him with quite some force.

"Well, what do you know? A happy ending." Luka commented with a smile as she and Len watched Miku and Piko from the side. "Aren't you glad?"

Len nodded without any hesitation. He wasn't pleased with being turned into a girl, but his friends' happiness was more than worth the trouble. "By the way…" He started. "..Just how long is this potion supposed to last?"

"About a week."

"…WHAT?"


Crizix:
A happy ending? Oh joy! I myself am not too fond of sappy endings like that, but I really wanted to end this on a humorous note, and I can't exactly do that if it's a tragedy. (If I tried, then the mood would be completely destroyed. That would be no good.) As for Len's female appearance, I was thinking of Rin, not Lenko. (Why do the Kagamines need genderbends anyway? Aren't they basically genderbends of each other?) If you don't like that idea, then blame all of the Kagaminecest fans who argue that Len and Rin are mirror images and not twins. (If they are mirror images, then they are the same person, after all.) So yeah. That ends yet another long and detailed Author's Notes (Why can't I ever cut it short?). Thanks for reading, everyone. I would love to hear some feedback. (It makes my day~.)