Higanbana in the Red Moon

Disclaimer: I do not own any Disgaea game. They belong to Nippon Ichi. I only own the concept of who The One is in Disgaea, which his name is Prism. I also own any witch/sorcerer that works under Prism such as Raven, Terror and Starlight.

Summary: While the good ending is achieved as long as everyone sticks with their morals, it doesn't stop The One from glancing at parallel universes in which the situation of the characters take a dark turn for the worse leading to what calls "bad endings"…some that even The One himself caused by his own flaws.

Pairing: Implication of canon or heavily implied pairings (Laharl/Flonne, Adell/Rozalin, Mao/Rasberyl, Almaz/Sapphire, Valvatorez/Fenrich and Valvatorez/Artina)

Rated: M (for mature)

Genre: Tragedy, Angst, Hurt/Comfort and Drama

Warning: Character death, extreme violence, dark themes, implications of rape, and OOC if the characters Grimified for the sake of going insane

These aren't happy endings for those who are interested to know. This is heavily inspired by Queen's Blade's: Vanquished Queens short novels where each Queen's Blade character is shown to have one or two bad endings that might be canon or could have happened in canon if they lost at any point in the Queen's Blade tournament. The Disgaea versions are either expanding on bad endings or what if scenarios that could screw the character over and might be OOC as a result. They're in order based on series but Disgaea and D2 are put in the same category. Enjoy…

Chapter 1: An Overlord With No One to Stand by His Side


The universe always finds itself slammed into a never-ending struggle between good and evil, order and chaos. In the center of the universe you have the creator of the universe who is always referred to as The One who watches over the universe making sure the balance between good and evil as well as order and chaos are kept in check. The center of the universe is also known as the Golden Land where only one race can survive. They call themselves the witches/sorcerers with powers to shape the universe on how they see fit. This is what the creator wanted…for the witches and sorcerers to be the master race but over time, the definition of witches and sorcerers would change to make them seem…less than threatening and are often given to humans with powerful magical ailments but that does not mean they are an official descendent of a witch or sorcerer.

The One must never interfere with the inferior races because it only takes his influence to tip the scale. This is why there are those who oppose him who call themselves witch hunters or sorcerer slayers. They are only supposed to strike if a witch or sorcerer abuses their power and screws the system to the point where The One can no longer correct it without abusing his power as well. As a result, The One grows bored with just watching the inferior species specifically the ones residing in the Netherworld constantly bickering with each other, destroying other planets in the universe in the name of their power and constantly threatening the world with their greed. They always got a happy ending because demons are not like humans. Demons are unpredictable and are capable of creating scenarios should they follow the cliché path. If they did, it would be boring for The One to watch and he would abuse his power just to see what would make them tick.

Alas, all The One can do is sit on his throne in an empty room filled with other seats with stuff dolls on them to show that his friends were out doing something to their liking to connect with their previous lives. His God room was empty with nothing but huge chess pieces to decorate the room. The One could not play chess on his own…it must be played with two intelligent people…yet while he had many people to play with him, they were often busy…and it got boring playing with the same people over and over again because then their moves become predictable and easy to beat. He didn't want to insult his right hand woman of course but her cold, calculating movements would soon be outclassed by his unpredictable nature.

So to pass the time, The One ended up grabbing a book from said right hand woman's library to find a book concerning alternate timelines. Because his right hand woman is known for being the Witch of Despair given she is capable of time traveling more easily than him without destroying the current timeline at hand. This book allows The One to see into the past and observe possible alternate scenarios that have already occurred. He just needed to write in the name for a human, demon or angel and he would be able to watch the scene occur before him like a movie. Perhaps he should ask his butler to come back and give him some popcorn to watch these soap operas.

"Let's start with where it all began…"


Laharl: An Overlord With No One to Stand by His Side

An Overlord who could not save his vassals was considered a failure. That was all that was going through Laharl's mind as the black hole behind his father's old vassals became bigger the longer he fought with Barbara. Why was it so difficult for her to realize that the situation has taken a turn for the worse? Why couldn't he just push her out of the way like everyone else that crossed his path? Why was she fighting so hard at a time like this? Did she have a death wish?

It didn't matter though at this rate though because by the time they defeated Barbara. It was too late. Grosso, Rainier and Garungun were pulled into the black hole never to come out again.

"Aaand…they're gone…" Etna mumbled as she backed up.

It was too late to do anything now. The black hole has gotten too big that no power could possibly stop it. It wouldn't take long before Barbara was sucked in eventually because she was too stupid to make a decision for herself when her life was on the line. Laharl and co tried to grab on to anything to not get sucked into the black hole, but the darkness had no mercy. Etna had the weakest grip on the tiles that were being sucked in and couldn't hold on anymore.

"Prince…looks like this is the end for me…"

The Overlord would not have his best vassal give up so quickly. She was losing her grip and he simply couldn't extend his hand out to her.

"Dammit…I won't allow it!"

"Good-bye prince…"

"Etnnaa!"

It wasn't long before she too was absorbed by the black hole never to be seen again. Almost immediately though, Flonne and Sicily were both losing their grip and being sucked in. He was not going to lose anyone else…

"Laharl help!"

"B-Big brother!"

"Flonne! Sicily!"

Why was he so weak?! Why couldn't he muster up the strength to save them?! He could only close his eyes when they both lost their grip and fell to the darkness screaming for Laharl as they were absorbed. The Overlord shook his head trying to fight back the tears. How could he let this happen as an Overlord?! He didn't deserve to be called an Overlord if he lost everyone he cared for here.

Fortunately or rather unfortunately, help arrived too late. Someone rushed toward the scene covered with the same darkness of the black hole and slashed it with his sword. What power Laharl did not have this newcomer did to stop the black hole from spreading across the Netherworld. However the minute he sliced the dark hole with his strength, the Yuie Flowers covered the area. Laharl's eyes widened seeing who his savior was.

"X-Xenolith?"

The redhead wasn't too pleased though with the situation. In fact, the usual stoic expression he wore was replaced with one of pain especially since the only one he saved was the Overlord.

"…Where is my sister?" He ended up asking his voice hinting at weakness. "Was I…too late?"

Laharl couldn't even answer him. He was still surprised that he made it out alive…but why him? Why was he the only one that survived while everyone else…

"You bastard…where were you…?"

"Where was I?" Xenolith asked himself more than repeating the question.

"You're strong…you must have sensed something was wrong with the Netherworld…but you decide to show up when everyone is dead?!"

The usually stoic demon was taken back by that criticism. He did not argue against it even though he wanted to. Instead he clutched the artifact that he wore. His expression darkened as the longer he clutched it, the more it started to crack before the artifact shattered into pieces.

"Yes...I was late…people you cared for died…including my sister…all because I couldn't…dammit!"

He never lost his cool but what could he do when his sister was killed by his indirect actions? Maybe this was the Netherworld's punishment for stealing Netherworld energy away and taking away his sister. For Laharl though, this was more than a punishment. This was torture…what was he supposed to tell everyone after this? That he failed as an Overlord and lost all his important vassals? That he couldn't even save his detractors who needed the guidance more than anything? That in the end, it was someone completely different that stopped the collapse of the Netherworld?

"Dammit…I couldn't protect my vassals…I couldn't protect the Netherworld on my own…I can't even call myself an Overlord now…"

The young Overlord was on his knees now. Angry tears threatened to escape but what pride he had left prevented him from even shedding them at the death of his fellow comrades. If only he was stronger then none of this would have happened! He failed his old man who is probably looking down on him from where he ascended.

"Dammit…I'm sorry old man…I…"

Even though the Netherworld was slowly turning back to normal now that the Artifact that Xenolith had was destroyed, it didn't mean anything. Laharl let out an anguished screamed that resided in the area. Xenolith refused to leave the young Overlord though. He failed his sister therefore he had no right to be called older brother. His purpose in life was gone as well as the morose child in front of him. There was one thing he could do now…but now would not be the time to suggest it. What needed to be done now…was for the Overlord to shed his tears at his losses before forcing himself to move on. That was all he could do…that was all both could do…because at the end of the day, their weaknesses lead to the death of the ones they cherished the most.


Me: TBC with 2531 words.

Li: Sadist.

Me: What can I say? Laharl already has too many bad ending scenarios since the game likes to punish him the most for being a brat. He has more endings of being killed then any other protagonist and that's kind of depressing really. So my spin on one of the bad endings in D2 "Collapse of the Netherworld" caused by stalling five turns instead of beating that dumb bitch Barbara. The twist is instead of Laharl being engulfed into the black hole and the black hole swallowing the Netherworld, I take what happens in canon where Xenolith pretty much stops the black hole himself under the knowledge that he acts at the same time as Laharl's attack. This causes for an alternate scenario in which Xenolith is too late to save his sister (and Flonne and Sicily by proxy given Etna dies first) therefore leaving Laharl as the survivor. This would be a fate worse than death for both of them as Laharl has to live with the fact he was too weak to save anyone and Xenolith has to live with how his actions got his sister killed and the Netherworld no longer needs to drag him to hell because with his sister dead, the Netherworld is satisfied. Also Xenolith's crimes will never come to light because he dealt with the issue before it was found out.

But the title of this chapter while comes off as depressing can also be seen as a ray of hope as well. Laharl lost everyone and should not call himself Overlord but there is a chance that Xenolith will not leave Laharl now to atone for not saving his sister (and everyone else). Laharl and Xenolith can still start over in this ending and recovery might seem impossible. Of course, this ending would screw the timeline of Disgaea 2 and 4.

I don't think I need to talk about the powers that The One Prism and his right hand woman Raven have at the moment simply because they do not play a role in any of these alternate endings until way later and by way later I mean when I get to Valvatorez and Fenrich. All I can say though is two things about the short prologue.

1. Witches/sorcerers is the term used to describe The One and the beings living in the Golden Land (Umineko reference). I explain that the term is vague now given how humans can dress up as witches or you have sub categories like how Metallica is a swamp witch (and that's not the same thing from what Prism and Raven are). The witches/sorcerers are more like reality warpers. Prism's title is Sorcerer of Misfortune so his powers deal with karma therefore as The One might be the one pulling the strings on good and bad endings. Raven's title is Witch of Despair because of her backstory and her backstory hides her powers. She's the right hand woman because she's a time traveler. And if you recall starting with Disgaea 3, you start seeing a demon that asks to go back in time. Who knows if that could be Raven taking a different appearance in the Netherworld.

2. Prism is reading a book and using magic to play it out like a movie. He gets a kick out of bad endings obviously. Everything that happens in these short one-shots are all alternate scenarios written in the book but are written as if they are capable of happening. Either that or they EXPAND on a bad ending or dive into the mind of characters that are experiencing it.

With that said reviews are appreciated. In the character section of , I will change it with every one-shot focusing on a character.