Disclaimer: I don't own Berserk that right belongs to Kentaro Miura.
Warning(s): blood/gore, extreme violence, gender-bending, offensive language, explicit sexual content/themes, use of alcohol, and other possibly triggering elements. This IS Berserk, so examples of said triggering elements – abuse (physical, emotional, and verbal), rape, etc.
Basically those faint of heart should probably look for entertainment elsewhere.
Author's Note: This – like the original version – is inspired by my interest in the concept of Guts being female, and how this would cause things to deviate from the canon plotline. Of course, Guts is Guts and there are some things I feel will remain the same regardless of Gut's change in gender. The only thing I have to say is, don't expect a happy ending. Bittersweet is the best I can see this going because the series itself is just too gritty for a happy ending to really fit. I'll try my best.
I hope that you all enjoy the first chapter of "Memento Mori".
This hasn't been edited, so please excuse the spelling and grammar mistakes you'll likely see.
Chapter I
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A fortune teller had once said that she would live a life of suffering.
That she would struggle through life, never finding peace no matter how she tried achieving it. Being raised amongst those, who placed their beliefs in such things, had her fearing the worst as a child.
Her optimism – short-lived as it was – had allowed for the ominous fortune to not weight too heavily on her mind.
Suffering was the way of life.
This she came to understand early, being the adoptive daughter of the leader of a mercenary group. She watched as her father and his men sold their bodies and souls to different causes, all in order to make enough coin to survive. Work wasn't always guaranteed, and thus there were times when they would all have to suffer through starvation until the next score showed itself.
Reality hit her even harder when she ran away and never looked back.
As she grew older, she was forced to realize that the old woman's words held more truth than she would've liked. Misfortune followed her like a constant companion and didn't seem like it would ever let go of her.
However, as life grew harder, she grew stronger. Alone, with only a sword to protect herself, she accepted that the world around her was hell and Fate was a bitch. Where many others would crumble under the weight of a world that didn't want them, she had no intention of bending over and taking the shitty hand dealt with her.
No, she made a vow as she escaped the mercenaries that she had one time regarded as a family to not die on any terms other than her own. Even as she fought off wild beasts that wanted to devour her, ruthless bandits that wanted to use her developing body for their own pleasure before slitting her throat, or human traffickers that desired to sell her body to the highest bidder.
She continued to move on despite, at times, sustaining life-threatening. She continued to push forward even when her body begged to succumb to exhaustion. She would not allow herself to die on terms other than her own.
Now, she found herself here watching as the soldiers and sell swords around her attempting – and failing, she sneered with disdain – to take down the bulky armored juggernaut attacking the stronghold. The man was effective, she would admit, her dark eyes observing the way he dispatched others with wild, unskilled swings of the hunk of metal he called a weapon.
Basuzo – his name, as she gathered from the terrified cries of the men around her – had these men shaking in their boots. He cut down one man, and then two. Leaving the area around him soaked in the blood of any foolish to come within his reach. Those who managed to stay back could only fall into despair at the man, whom they have deemed unconquerable due to his size and body count.
Snorting at the cowardice of the men she called – temporarily or not – comrades, she adjusted the stupid helmet that she had been forced to wear. As she strode forward, smoothly unsheathing the large blade resting on her back, she cursed under her breath at the uncomfortable fit. Her eyes, darker than the night sky, were trained on the giant swinging his weapon with all the grace of a drunken Ox.
Which, more than anything else, caused her flaring temper to rise even more as the idiots around only seemed capable of placing themselves directly in the position to be cut down.
Pushing her way through the idiots, not caring an iota for the shouts of indignation her actions earned her. She came to a stop just some ways from Basuzo, angled her blade by her side before shooting off towards the man with a battle cry that drew the attention of every man on the field. The moment Basuzo's eye peered down at her through the holes of his helmet as he turned to her, she smirked.
She would be the one to kill Basuzo, gain the gold, and show these pathetic men their places.
Which is beneath my boot or at the end of my blade, she thought with a ferocious grin and her eyes ablaze with euphoric pleasure at the battle to come.
Today was a good day.
"I will be your next opponent, Basuzo!" she roared, shooting forward she turned on the heel of her boot while swinging her blade towards his plated midsection.
Her name was Guts, and despite its unfeminine ring she felt it appropriate and kept it to honor the woman who bestowed it upon her. It was only due to her sheer force of will that she has made it despite everything life threw at her, and she was determined to send a giant "Fuck you" to Fate by one day greet death with a smile.
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End of Chapter I
Well, I changed a few things. Not too many, but just enough that it is different from the original version. I am currently working on the second chapter, which will include the short but brutal fight with Basuzo and the entrance of a special someone. I'm sure you can all guess who that is, after all…he did nothing wrong (LOL)!