The Anguish of Homesickness

Author's Notes: So, as some of you can probably tell, I went and got myself into a new fandom. Lovely. I'm not sure how long it's gonna last, and it's very likely that only bad things are going to happen from this point forward considering my choice of first fic for said fandom (a crossover, really!), but bear with me. I'll try not to make this too horrible. Emphasis on try.

This fic is going to be set in a world I spawned from the hellish depths of my imagination. It's called Azoria, and although the setting is mostly original, I use it more for fanfics than anything else. It would take waaay too long to explain the whole thing (I literally have entire documents written up on this thing), so I'll try to explain it as best I can as the story goes on... if it does, indeed, go on. Anyone who knows me probably also knows that I'm not well-known for consistency with updates.

Disclaimer: I own nothing but my own ideas. And there are many who would doubt my sanity because of those ideas.

It had been a quiet, peaceful day in the 13th Hierarchical City of Kagutsuchi. For once, the streets had not been crammed with people going to and fro, and the Novus Orbis Librarium had not sent its stronger agents on patrol to search for the criminal that was said to be approaching the city. For once, Ragna had believed that maybe his mission would go off without a hitch, in spite of all the warnings he had received prior.

Then, without warning, there had been a blinding flash of light, and for several minutes, he had not been able to see a thing.

And when he woke up, he realized that wherever he was, it was not the 13th Hierarchical City.

Plains blanketed with thick grass stretched out for miles around him, and the sky was colored a brilliant azure, with only the faintest wisps of clouds to obscure the sun. The air smelled refreshing and sweet, and the warmth and touch of humidity indicated that the season was late spring. It was nothing like the cold winter landscape that he'd been traversing before he arrived in Kagutsuchi, and there wasn't a trace of seithr in the air.

Ragna stood up, rubbed his head and looked around again. He blinked a few times, just to make sure it wasn't an illusion.

And then, he screamed.

"WHAT IN THE HEEEEEEEEELLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL LLLLLLLLLLL!?"

Whatever had happened, it was out of the ordinary. Even with the most advanced ars magus, relocation of this sort was impossible - Ragna could not even tell if he was still on Earth or not, and even if he was, this was nowhere near Kagutsuchi, and in a completely different time than his own. The only viable explanation was that someone else had interfered with time and space itself to transport him to a different era and place, but that still did not explain the lack of seithr... how far back had he gone?

It was then that he noticed a human-shaped lump sprawled out on the grass nearby. The first thing that caught Ragna's eye was the fact that this person, whoever they were, had messy, curly silver hair; then, he saw that aside from a wooden sword inscribed with the words "Lake Touya" on the hilt, the person had no armament. Slowly, the nameless person shifted into a sitting position, and Ragna narrowed his eyes as their gaze met his.

"Oi, don't scream like that... ugh, I definitely had too much to-"

The silver-haired stranger fell silent and blinked at Ragna a few times. In his confusion, the Grim Reaper had not noticed the gender of the newcomer, but it became obvious when he spoke - a deep, lazy voice that seemed oddly familiar, almost as if Ragna had heard the voice himself before, but he couldn't place it, at least not right away. And so, Ragna brushed it off as coincidence; there were more important things at the moment than putting a face to a voice that he didn't know well.

"...who the hell are you?" Ragna demanded, his confusion changing to aggravation. "And do you have any freakin' idea where we are right now?"

The stranger shook his head, then pulled himself to his feet - and blocked the light of the sun from his eyes. "Too damn bright... oi, I could ask the same of you. Who are you?"

"I asked first, asshole," Ragna snapped, as he clenched his right hand into a fist. "Tell me your goddamn name before I rip your head off."

"Eh?" The stranger raised his hand from his face and blinked again. "You wake up on the wrong side of the bed or somethin'? Why're you threatening some guy you don't even know?"

Ragna breathed a long, heavy sigh. "...Well, first off, I don't know where the hell we are, and second off, I don't know why I ended up next to some drunk bastard that doesn't even use a real sword. Much as I hate to admit it, you're my only lead, so just tell me your name already."

"Right, right, I get it, I get it." The stranger waved his hand, then rubbed his temple. "Name's Gintoki Sakata. And since I introduced myself, you gonna do the same?"

"Gintoki...?" Ragna repeated the name to himself as his thoughts went into overdrive; the name sounded vaguely familiar, but somehow wrong, as if a famous celebrity had changed their name by one letter. After a few seconds of attempting to process the fact, he gave up and narrowed his eyes again. "...Tch. My name's Ragna... Ragna the Bloodedge."

Gintoki stared at Ragna for a moment, then cocked his head to the side and stuck a finger up his nose. "Bloodedge? What kinda title is that? You just call yourself that to sound edgy? I could come up with a better title-" He paused mid-sentence, and his gaze wandered as his hand fell to his side. "...Wait. Wait, wait, wait. This isn't- hey, Ragnarok! Where the hell are we?"

Ragna answered Gintoki's question with an incredulous glance. "I wanted to know that too! And why are you calling me 'Ragnarok'? It's 'Ragna', you dumbass!"

"But it sounds kinda like 'Ragnarok'!" Gintoki insisted. "And it's a way cooler title than 'Bloodedge'! I mean, you could be Ragnarok, the Endbringer! See? Doesn't that sound better than 'Bloodedge'!?"

"Why the hell do you even care so much!?" As Ragna neared his wit's end, he began to channel power into the Azure Grimoire; despite the lack of seithr in the surrounding area, it seemed to work just as well as always. "I got my own reasons for having that title, okay!?"

At those words, and at the strange aura that surrounded Ragna's right arm, Gintoki deflated; neither of them knew what had happened, and figuring that out was far more important than a silly title. "So, uh... you got a GPS or something? Or a compass? A map? Anything? Maybe that thing on your arm can help us out? I don't know what it is, but it looks like it can do something... what is that thing, anyway?"

Ragna stared at his trembling companion for exactly three seconds; then, he rolled his eyes and pulled up the sleeve on his right arm. "Since you didn't know who I was, I'm gonna guess you're not from the same place I am. In that case, I'll tell you what this 'thing on my arm' is. It's my goddamn arm. It's called the Azure Grimoire, and it lets me use ars magus. Now do I need to explain that to you, too?"

"Uh, I-I think I get it now." Gintoki took a slow step back and began waving his hands in front of him. "S-so, um, please don't kill me, okay?"

Ragna allowed the energy he'd gathered in the Azure Grimoire to dissipate, then planted his palm on his forehead. Of all the things to happen when he came to Kagutsuchi, he just had to get warped off to some weird place he didn't know about, and with this silver-haired idiot who didn't seem to understand the concept of personal space... before he could refocus his mind, said idiot decided to open his mouth again.

"...wait. Weren't you in that one QSP game? Uh, what was it called... MazeBleu or something like that... I don't know, but I think you look a lot like the protagonist there..."

Ragna blinked twice. "What?"

"...never mind." Gintoki looked... disappointed at Ragna's denial; Ragna brushed it off as the fool thinking he'd been in a videogame, only to be turned down by reality. "So... as I was saying before. You have anything we might be able to find our way around with? Does that... Azure Grimoire let you find your way around?"

"I could give it a shot," Ragna replied. "Don't know where the hell we are, though, so I don't know if there's any civilization nearby. If there isn't, we're gonna have to look around for a place where we can camp out."

Gintoki shuddered at the word 'camp'; Ragna raised an eyebrow, but said nothing, and instead focused on his Azure Grimoire. There were a few ars that would allow him to, if nothing else, find a place to rest for the night... whether that place was a town or a sheltered river was up to fate, although Ragna did not particularly like the hand fate had dealt him as of late.

He was in a strange place, nothing like what he was used to, and the only other person around was a guy that made Noel Vermillion look like a genius. The only thing that reassured him was that his lone companion seemed strong enough... though considering the dolt's choice of armament, Ragna doubted that Gintoki could put up an actual fight in spite of his apparent strength. Only time would answer that question, but something told Ragna not to underestimate the silver-haired stranger.

Author's Notes: Well, some of you might be a little confused by some of the things that went on here.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with BlazBlue - ars magus is the most common form of magic in the 'verse, and it's basically magitech in a fashion. Seithr is the stuff used to power ars magus - it's toxic in large quantities. And yes, Ragna thinks that Noel is an idiot, or at least calls her one all the time.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with Gintama - yes, Gintoki's wooden sword really does have "Lake Touya" inscribed on the hilt. And yes, it's a good idea not to underestimate him.

Ragna finds Gintoki's voice familiar - Ragna and Gintoki are both voiced by Tomokazu Sugita in Japanese.

MazeBleu - I completely made this one up, and the name is subject to change. If you hadn't guessed already, it's a parody of "BlazBlue".

And I end the chapter on a cliffhanger. I'm not sure if I'm even going to continue this, but who knows, maybe I will.