Prologue- Something Interesting
AN- Well, here's another fanfiction that I probably should have waited until I had finished something else to post, but oh well. This is flat out a Self Insert fic, but one with a twist, namely the amount of them that are involved. Prepare for canon to be derailed... but first, here's an obligatory prologue to set the scene.
Disclaimer: By the Word of God, I do not own this. Zelretch, Fate, Tsukihime and the whole of the Nasuverse belongs to Nasu. I am just writing this until he gets off his ass and makes Tsukihime II or the remake...
On an empty hill in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by nought but nature and the clear sky above, a large CRACK resounded. The sound of something shattering, then the hill was no longer empty as two figures strode through reality and appeared on the grassy land. They were in deep conversation, with the younger woman making exaggerated motions to accompany whatever speech she was presenting, while the other 'human' accepted the words with a slight smile etched onto his wrinkled face; he twirled his thick grey beard ominously.
"Why the hell are we here anyway!?" Raged the Japanese woman vocally as she kicked aside a tall plant that had the displeasure of being in her way. "After the last world we visited, you know, the one with the Root damned cloth devouring tentacle monster, I think I deserve a break!"
"Why would you say that?" Asked the male jokingly. "I thought that Tim was quite endearing."
"You named the-" She shook her head, causing her long black hair to blow lightly in the breeze. "No, of course you named the tentacle monster, you damned Troll."
"Now, now. As a technical Vampire, I should probably take offence to that. At least call me Dead Apostle."
"What I wouldn't give for a break." Another plant fell by her disgruntled feet.
"No rest for the wicked." The Magician joked. "This is how the Second works though; you can't learn unless we explore a lot of the multiverse and figure out everything works. Now, this reality is an interesting one. Found it while I was trying to rediscover that one world where everyone was a girl and where clothes had never been invented..."
"I'm glad you didn't find it, old man."
"Heh." He brushed aside the younger one's comment. "Anyhow, this isn't that spectacular of a world, but its good enough for us to have one of your lessons."
"Which is?" The student asked.
"I've already taught you all the basics: multi-dimensional refraction to create openings, how to draw things through these tears, travelling and world manipulation, hopping across time through the Kaleidoscope and even how to affect that which passes through it, as well as how to read the differences between worlds."
"Get on with it Zelretch." Urged the Magus briskly. "We already covered this. Multiple times."
"Yes, well as an old man I have the right to forget things." Zelretch offered as a half hearted excuse. "Anyway, today we'll look at differences in parallel universes. Try to read this worlds history."
"What about it?"
"Its similar to your world, Rin. Look for the differences, particularly the key players."
Rin stopped walking and focused intently to activate her Magic, and after muttering a few words in German she did as her instructor asked her to do: look for fundamental differences. She found several.
"What am I supposed to do with this?" She complained. "I've seen plenty more radical changes and odder worlds, so how are these few changes that significant?"
"That's the crux of the matter though; little things are important. Remember how we covered the Butterfly Effect? We can read a worlds history but ultimately things change. Stepping on a bug could drastically alter what happens in millions of years time."
"I know, I know! Which is why we never use our knowledge gained through the Second True Magic to try and affect history, because in the end it won't work like we want it to, and with every choice- no, with every quantum decision of every particle- multiple worlds are made anyway, so we aren't doing any lasting changes since all we do is steer the world down one specific path; the other paths come into being anyway."
"Indeed." Zelretch inclined his head, acknowledging what she said with a rare smile. "The Kaleidoscope is always at work. With every moment we humans breathe we shoot towards a future of various probabilities and choices, and as True Magicians all we can do is observe these changes. So tell me what is unusual about this world in relation to yourself."
"People are dead." Rin said bluntly. "Its not that special, but quite a few of the Masters in the Fifth Heavens Feel seem to have died prematurely before the war started: Shirou died in the fire, Ilya as a child during the altering process to her body, while this worlds me had a Magecraft accident in her youth that fried her mind. Not much; just means some different Masters will fight in the war."
"But look underneath the obvious." Said the old vampire. "Think of just how much change could occur purely through these few coincidental deaths that all seem to have stuck this timeline, and think of just how many potentials spring from this."
Rin looked and saw them, the potential worlds that could spawn from this one. "A lot. Even small things change a lot of things."
"Exactly!" The Wizard Marsall seemed pleased. "Small changes can escalate into large divergences, like a snowball rolling down a hill, picking up momentum as it goes. Maybe Shinji Matou could grow a spine in this world? Perhaps Issei would find Caster out in the rain? Why, Sakura could even become a Magical Girl! This one changed thing is something very interesting to study, which is why I love dropping people not originally in a reality to see how they alter things."
"Yeah, you seem to have a weird love of dropping normal people into different worlds. Didn't you once abandon me in a Ranma Half world early on in my training, then left me there until I had survived all the main arcs?"
"Yes." Admitted the Old Man of the Jewels without any shame. "You were an interesting Self Insert, particularly with your Tsundere personality and knowledge of the manga."
"Because you forced me to read it beforehand!" She practically shouted. "Its like you planned for me to use my knowledge of the series to try and manipulate things!"
"That's because I did." He agreed, equally as shamelessly. "I love Self Inserts, and I was bored that day."
"Don't know why..." Muttered Rin, huffing slightly and rubbing her arms, as if remembering bruises that had long since faded.
"Well, I'll show you why." Concluded Zelretch. "Should be fun to watch anyway; a nice change to tormenting you."
"Thanks." Snorted the girl whom had once used the name Tohsaka sarcastically.
"Meh." He shrugged. "Try and look for another world. Any will do, but it has to be one where the events of this world are fictional."
"Eeekk!" Eeeked Rin as she glanced through the Kaleidoscope, noticing the multitude of different worlds where this was the case. "I'm in an eroge!"
"Yep. So now you learn your second lesson. 'Always expect that somewhere out there porn of you exists!'."
"And the sad thing is I can't even tell if that was a lesson you were actually trying to teach me or not." Rin grumbled.
"Meh." The Troll shrugged. "Concerning that eroge though,"
"Hang on, have YOU read PORN about me?" Rin finally caught on, and wasn't very happy at the implication.
"Not important- you aren't even the true heroine either. Pretty crappy route in my opinion; Heavens Feel was cooler, since my sword shows up, while Saber in Fate is too damned cute, while you're but a cut and paste Tsundere."
"So what now!" Rin barked irritably, ignoring the insults, having selected one of the worlds where 'Fate/Stay Night' existed.
"Just pull someone from there into this world. Who? Doesn't matter really, but try to choose someone whom has read the visual novel or watched the anime. Then set things up so that they're able to affect events. Ahah!" He had a moment of revelation. "Drop them into your house around your versions death or something."
"You're not making this easy." She complained, already searching the world in question for someone to fit the bill.
"You are my apprentice." The True Magician said smugly.
"True. Picked someone."
"Now pull him/her to this world. Drop the target anywhere, so long as it has to do with the Grail War."
"Fine." Rin grit her teeth and tugged hard, attempting to drag the girl in question into the world she was in.
"Hey Rin, Tim's back~"
"GWAH!" Rin spun, clutching her clothes to her at the thought of It being here, her Magic forgotten.
"I lied."
"Screw you..." Rin mumbled, turning back to her work, already knowing that it was a failure. "Now I messed this one up..."
"Oh well, should have been paying more attention." Rin succeeded in not pointing out he had deliberately distracted her. "Still, you only failed somewhat. You pulled her into your home, but messed up the timing and failed to grab her full form, only managing to pull her consciousness in-"
"It was an accident!" Rin insisted. "You distracted me! Its not my fault!"
"-But there was some displacement." Finished Zelretch.
"Now what?" Rin felt guilty for whatever had been displaced by her accident, but she was a trainee to a Magician. She couldn't afford to feel guilt during her lessons.
"Try again Rin." He urged. "That was an amateur mistake, and as my apprentice I can't accept that."
"Fine..." Again Rin began the process of picking someone and pulling them in, only this time the old man tripped her up from behind.
"BWAAAHH!" She fell flat on her face, again the spell messed up. "YOU DID THAT ON PURPOSE!" She roared indignantly, a blush on her face as she pulled herself up.
"You messed up again." The Magic user noted idly, not finding his pupil's complaints relevant. "This time you FAILED even more spectacularly! Worse timing, no body, only spirit."
"Not my-"
"Terrible mistake." Zelretch waved his hand dramatically. "There. I have some mercy. Kid'll have a body due to me fiddling around a bit. Will be funny to see him babying around, that's for sure..."
"Don't tell me I need to do it AGAIN!" Zelretch opened his mouth to give a witty answer, but Rin knew this so cursed in German and began a third time, instead focussing on the body above all else this time...
"Put him in the Fuyuki Fire! Having a survivor of that is always fun!"
"Fine!" She cast her Magic upon finding the next target for her spell. Then, the elder moved- "Ahah!" Rin shouted in triumph, avoiding the shove her teacher was going to give her, so successfully managed to complete her Magic.
"Better." Conceded Zelretch. "This one turned out mostly right, you even managed to de-age him."
"I know your tastes too well..." She explained sheepishly. "Not that I bothered learning your preferences or anything..."
"And now we wait..." He concluded ominously. "Give it a few years, and we can just watch the canon divergences pile up. With three of them, all of whom knowing the plot, one of them will probably do something interesting."
"Hang on a moment." Halted the apprentice. "If they're all these Self Inserts, won't their various actions all interfere with each other?"
"Aha!" Zeltretch snapped his fingers triumphantly. "Girl, you gave me an idea... I normally only bring one person in... but due to your mess up-"
"Hey!"
"-we have three people in, all of whom have a chance of becoming a Master. Now, how about we get a full suit and make practically every Master in this war a Self Insert, because come on, it sounds good on paper."
"Its stupid." Rin concluded. "From what I hear, you like Self Inserts because they're knowledge of the plot makes things interesting, but if everyone is like this, their knowledge is going to be obsolete pretty damn early on!"
Zelretch let out a quick chortle. "Exactly! Imagine how confused everyone's going to be when everything's different? Besides which, it can't hurt. This would have happened in one verse eventually."
This time when Zelretch used his Magic, he had to actually put some effort into using it. He wasn't quite as young as he used to be, and this was tricky stuff. "There we are." He brushed his hands together with large amounts of satisfaction. "Now that is how you pull someone into another universe. Root, I did all sorts of stuff to the Inserts that'll make things interesting..."
"When you say the words 'interesting', it makes me want to run away and hide."
"Nonsense, Rin. Besides which, I pulled some cooler people in than you did, did some proper manipulation, a bit of genderbending here and there; its all cool. Now, let's sit back and watch the show as it unfolds. Perhaps you'll pick up some interesting stuff along the way..." Then the two were gone, leaving the hill barren once more, with the only sign of them having actually been there being a few patches where grass had been trampled on.
AN- And thus this chapter is over. Ultimately, this fic is going to be my testament to the Self Insert genre (Hopefully), since I have improved much since I first began writing, and I feel that I know how best to write such a fic now. I had enough ideas seven fold for such a Self Insert story, so I decided to save time and stick them in one story, which was how this came about. I will be using a mixture of tropes and clichés, playing some straight and deconstructing others, while sticking firmly to my source material in some areas and expanding it in others to weave a story which will have great focus on character and plot.
Next chapter the first Arc will begin- Origins- and it will introduce the individual seven Self Inserts. To be honest, not one is better than the others in my opinion. They are all main characters, and they all stand an equal chance of winning the Grail War in the end and will have fairly even screen time until they start dropping like flies. So feel free to drop a review or leave a PM telling me what you think so far, or you can even ask about what is to come or if you have any particular queries. Undying Soul out.