Author's note: This is intended to be a collection of story projects I began over the years but abandoned for one reason or another. Category is miscellaneous anime X-overs because it seemed appropriate, but there will be non-anime non-crossovers in the future.

Perhaps I will continue one of the stories presented here at some point in the future, but don't hold your breath. Whenever I don't have time to write anything for my on-going stories for too long I will try to get one of my old story ideas cleaned up and post it here.


Fire in the Void

A Familiar of Zero/The Dark Eye Crossover

Chapter 1

'I don't want to die.'

His death was slow, but inevitable. He lacked the power to heal himself. He had used all he had. The trickle of returning astral power was too little to do him any good.

'I don't want to die.'

He was slowly bleeding out, the corruption eating into his flesh from where his body had been ripped open.

'I don't want to die.'

His friend, the only true friend he had ever made, was no more. Just like him he had sacrificed himself for their self-appointed mission.

'I don't want to die.'

Nobody was coming. His call had gone unheard. He was dying and nobody was coming. Their mission was a failure in the end.

'I don't want to die.'

An idea appeared. He had to get to a place with abundant astral power that was always in reach. The silent grey. It was brilliant. It was insane. He would have to work with magic he barely understood, use his own life to fuel it until he stood at the very brink of death. Most likely he would kill himself in the attempt.

'I don't want to die.'

The wish to live won out. His chances to pull it off were low, but it was still better than having no chance at all. With an effort of will fueled by desperation he began.

Life became magic. Magic turned into threads. Threads became a weave.

He quickly grew weaker and weaker as his remaining strength was drained away. Then, when just a flicker remained, he released the magic that couldn't really be called a proper spell. He had the smallest amount of time to realize that something had gone terribly wrong before the world ripped apart and the beyond swallowed him.


'I don't want to fail.'

Louise Françoise Le Blanc de La Vallière, third daughter of the Duke de La Vallière, sank to her knees and folded her hands in prayer, closing her eyes at the same time.

'Oh Great Founder Brimir, please grant me this one request. Please, please let me succeed tomorrow.'

Tomorrow the Springtime Familiar Summoning Ritual would take place. All students of the renowned Tristain Academy of Magic had to summon a familiar at the beginning of their second year. Once bound the familiar would serve as a companion, guard and helper. For those students who had not yet determined their favored element the nature of the summoned creature would shed light on the matter. Animals were the most common, but magical beasts like dragons while rare were far from unheard of. The familiar reflected the power and nature of the mage.

There was only one problem: Louise was a failure as a mage. She had not cast a single successful spell in her entire life. Now, she wasn't exactly without magic. All her attempts at casting spells did something. Unfortunately that something was always an explosion.

Only ceaseless, diligent work in the theoretical subjects had allowed her to stay at the academy despite her complete failure in practical spellwork. Tomorrow that way of dealing with the problem would be impossible. Without a familiar she would be expelled from the academy. That meant she would have to return to her family in disgrace.

Louise didn't want to think what her parents would do in that case. Magic was the sign of nobility. For her to lack that most important trait… it didn't bear thinking about. She couldn't fail at this; she just couldn't. And so she prayed.

'…and please help my elder sister Cattleya to recover from her illness.' she finished her prayer with the same plea as always.

Louise opened her eyes, stood up and looked around. The chapel in the southern tower of the academy was deserted at this time of the evening. The deacon had retired a month ago and there was some delay with appointing his replacement. All the other students were currently dining in the Alviss hall in the central tower of the academy. Louise didn't want to face them and their taunts, not today.

Instead she had sought refuge in the serenity of the chapel. The statue of the Founder Brimir stood behind the altar, a benevolent smile on its face vaguely sculpted in the likeness of one of Tristania's previous kings. The windows made of stained glass depicting the Founder's deeds caught the evening sun, immersing the room in colored light.

At the back of the room were the statuettes of the individual gods, almost hidden behind the altar dedicated to the greater god they were aspects of. Nobles were supposed to pray to the Founder in his role as mediator to the divine and bearer of the holy Void or Queen Marianne in her role as the god-appointed monarch of Tristain, not the individual gods.

In spite of that Louise made a circuit around the room, stopping briefly before each statuette and offering a short prayer. It wasn't exactly forbidden by the scripture, just frowned upon by the priesthood. She figured she needed all the help she could get. Then she left as quietly as she had come.

Once in the privacy of her room Louise went over the notes for the summoning spell again. She had studied it at great length and knew everything by heart, but it wouldn't do to overlook some detail.

She dared not hope for something impressive like a griffin or her mother's manticore. An eagle or an owl would be enough. A cat would be nice, too. Heck, even a mouse would suffice. Old Osmond's familiar was a field mouse and the man was the headmaster of the academy as well as a renowned square-class earth mage.

A knock on the door interrupted her musings. One of the castle maids had come to deliver the meal she had missed just as arranged beforehand. Louise barely tasted anything when she forced the soup down. The mounting tension seemed to tie her stomach into knots, but she knew better than to go without food.

As soon as Louise finished eating she went over the summoning spell again. She barely noticed the maid returning to collect the tableware. When the sun finally sank beyond the horizon Louise sighed, put away her notes and got ready for bed. A sip from a mild sleeping draught she had purchased served to calm her nerves. Soon she sank into a deep, dreamless sleep.

Loud knocking woke her up. "Miss Vallière, please wake up."

"I'm awake, I'm awake." Louise replied groggily as soon as she got her bearings. A look out of the window showed her that the sky was still dark.

'Just as planned.' she thought before a yawn threatened to overwhelm her.

Louise managed to get to the castle baths without encountering another student. She was the first in the Alviss dining hall as well. Two thin slices of fresh bread, a cup of diluted wine and an apple were all she managed to eat. The tension inside her was mounting again. By the time the next students arrived she was already leaving the hall. The next two hours she spent in her room, going again over the summoning spell.

The time to leave arrived far too soon. Heaving a heavy sigh, Louise carefully checked that she had her wand on her person before leaving her room. A crowd of second year students had already gathered at the academy gate, waiting for the teacher to arrive. Louise kept her head down. She didn't want to talk with anybody. It wasn't as if she had any friends in the first place.

By the time Mr. Colbert, the teacher assigned to supervising the summoning ritual arrived Louise felt like a nervous wreck. Her stomach seemed to be performing somersaults or clenching painfully. Fortunately the other students were too busy speculating about the wonderful familiars they would summon to pay her any attention.

"Is everyone here?" Mr. Colbert asked. "Wonderful, please follow me."

It took them a few minutes to arrive at their destination, a grassy field bordered by a small lake some distance from the academy. Apparently some unfortunate incidents in the pasts involving especially wild and dangerous familiars made that necessary.

Then the summoning began. Louise's nervousness grew as more and more of her classmates successfully summoned their familiars. Most were normal animals like cats or owls, but a few stood out. Mr. Colbert went around the crowd and gave a few words of advice to the new owners of the familiars while the next student got ready. He seemed almost as enthusiastic as the students about each summoning.

The skirt chaser Guiche de Gramont caused a storm of laughter when his 'most amazing familiar in the history of the school' turned out to be a giant mole the size of a small bear.

That insufferable Germanian harlot Kirche von Zerbst summoned an extraordinarily large fire salamander, something which led to no small amount of gloating on her part as well as applause and envious stares from the other students.

Tabitha, the Gallian girl with no family name who never spoke to anyone aside from von Zerbst summoned a young wind dragon. A real, honest-to-god dragon.

Mr. Colbert clapped his hands, followed by the rest of the class. "Marvelous, Miss Tabitha, simply marvelous. It has been two years since a student summoned a dragon."

The girl simply nodded silently and retreated back to Kirche's side. The wind dragon followed more slowly, looking around curiously. The envious stares of the entire crowd followed the pair.

Finally it was Louise's turn when no one else was left and she couldn't delay the moment of truth any longer. Her stomach knotted painfully and she felt like retching. She could hear the disparaging remarks when she made her way to the empty space in front of the crowd.

"It's Louise the Zero." "What do you think is she going to summon? An earthworm?" "I'm sure she can't. It'll be another explosion and that'll be it."

The crowd fell silent after a glare from Mr. Colbert. "Please begin, Miss Vallière."

'Please, please, oh please, Founder and all of you gods let me succeed here.' Louise thought when she began the incantation. She poured everything she had into the spell, every bit of pride and hope and every scrap of fear she held in her heart. "Pentagon of the five elemental powers, heed my summoning and bring forth my familiar!" she finished.

For a second nothing happened and Louise's insides seemed to freeze. Then the world exploded.


'Wrong. Everything is wrong.'

He didn't know where he was. It was not the silent grey. There was nothing here, only void. That and power. His wounds were healed, his reserves filled. Unfortunately he found himself unable to leave. His spells found no purchase.

There was no telling how long he had been here already. It might have been eons. It might have been mere minutes. He was tired, so very, very tired, but he was unable to go to sleep. In the long run this might turn out to be worse than death.

Suddenly something appeared in the void. Drifting closer, he identified it as an unfamiliar kind of magic. He didn't understand the particulars, but it looked like some sort of summoning spell. That meant he was in a sort of environment similar to the silent grey, a place in-between proper worlds. Since the spell ignored him he apparently didn't fit the summoning criteria.

'Maybe I can use it to get out of here.'

Not knowing what he was doing had gotten him here. Maybe it would get him out again, too. He immediately began pushing his own magic into the spell, distorting its structure. In the next moment it snaked around and made contact before dragging him away violently.


Louise coughed. The damn smoke from the explosion was everywhere. Her eyes stung and threatened to tear up, but that wasn't the smoke's fault alone.

'Not again… Please, don't let me have failed again.'

She could hear the others recovering from the explosion, the first disparaging remarks being uttered. Her fist clenched around her wand so tightly her knuckles turned white. Then she heard the sound. It reminded her of breathing in, but at the same time it sounded somehow wrong. It came from somewhere above her.

A sudden gust of wind drove the smoke away, forcing her to close her eyes. When she opened them again she was looking at a wall of gold. In the next moment a hissing sound came from above and a gust of hot air smelling strongly of smoke hit her from the same direction.

Louise took a step back and looked up. Then she looked a bit higher, craning her neck. Large slitted crimson eyes met her gaze for a moment. Louise got the impression that the owner was disoriented. Then the creature broke eye-contact and began taking in its surroundings, its head swinging around on a neck as thick as a tree. Several familiars had displayed a similar attitude. Only now did she realize what the creature was.

'A dragon. I summoned a dragon.'

For a moment Louise simply stared. The dragon was enormous. She was too close to make out the scale properly. The golden wall was simply the dragon's chest. It was completely covered in scales of bright yellow gold that glittered in the sun and looked almost polished.

Turning her head left and right she could make out what had to be the dragon's forelegs. That impression was proven correct when it stood up. It had apparently appeared directly in front of her, lying on the ground. Once again she was awed by the dragon's size. She could walk under it without hitting her head against its belly.

The crushing tension disappeared. Giggles bubbled up in Louise's throat, but she suppressed the urge to laugh madly or break out in tears of relief. This was the moment of her greatest triumph. Then another thought entered her head.

'What if this is a dream?'

She could imagine it in perfect clarity. Any moment she would wake up to an empty meadow and the laughter and derision of her peers.

Stepping carefully closer, Louise hesitantly put a hand on one of the massive legs. The scales were smooth, hard and very hot, like stones that had been lying in the sun for hours. They were also comfortably real.

'The dragon is really there. I really did it.'

Louise couldn't help herself: She threw her arms around the dragon's leg and pressed herself against it. The scales dug uncomfortably into her face, but she didn't care. Now, for the first time in her life, all was right with the world.


Kirche Augusta Frederica von Anhalt-Zerbst stared open-mouthed. She wasn't the only one. Everyone present did the same. Louise de La Vallière had summoned a dragon. Louise the Zero, the failure who could never get any spell right, had summoned a dragon. Agenuine dragon.

It was a truly magnificent creature, graceful despite its colossal size. More than twice the size of her friend Tabitha's wind dragon, if Kirche wasn't mistaken. It was the second-largest dragon she had ever seen and built more massive. The Germanian emperor's menagerie at Vindobona kept a truly enormous fire dragon that was larger than Louise's dragon, but that was the only one that came to mind.

'I wonder what breed it is. I never heard of a dragon species with golden scales.'

Still, there was a more important matter to consider. Kirche looked at the fire salamander she had summoned. Then she looked back at the dragon. Fire Salamander. Dragon. Fire Salamander. Dragon.

Finally she let out a nearly inaudible sigh. "You win this round, Vallière." she muttered. Then she chuckled. "Perhaps now you can live up to being my rival. It gets so boring here and we have a family tradition to uphold."

Kirche began clapping her hands loudly. That sufficed to shake the others out of their stupor. After a few moments they joined in the clapping, hesitantly at first, than with increasing fervor until it developed into thunderous applause. Louise was disliked for her high and mighty attitude, especially in combination with her inability to back up her arrogance with magical prowess, but this was an indisputable success. It deserved recognition.

Personally Kirche found Louise's explosive temper in reaction to taunts adorable. During the first year they had been in different classes, but this year they would be together. In light of the dragon it promised to be interesting.

Suddenly a gust of flame escaped the dragon's maw and it looked agitated. Fortunately it calmed down almost immediately, continuing its survey of the crowd.

'Huh, it is apparently some breed of fire dragon. Little Louise shares an element with me. How unexpected.'

Tabitha's dragon let out a long-drawn-out "Kyuuu!" and looked as if it wanted to walk over to the bigger dragon, but Tabitha stopped it by holding her staff in front of it.

Finally the applause died down. Louise was still hugging the dragon's leg. Considering that Guiche was still snuggling with his mole and how she must be feeling that wasn't unexpected, but even the dragon seemed to get curious and moved its head downward to examine Louise more closely.

Mr. Colbert loudly cleared his throat after a minute. "Congratulations, Miss Vallière. A splendid display. Please continue with the ceremony and bind your familiar."

"Oh… of course, Mr. Colbert." Louise took a few moments to compose herself after separating herself from the dragon. Then she began chanting. "My name is Louise Françoise Le Blanc de La Vallière. Pentagon of the five elemental powers; bless this being, and make it my familiar." She repeated the words over and over and touched the dragon's head with her wand. Finally she placed a kiss on its snout to seal the contract.

For a moment nothing seemed to happen. Then the dragon roared and spat fire into the air. A strong gust of hot wind hit Kirche and the other students, making their clothes flutter. Then it was over as quickly as it had begun and the dragon settled down, although it began inspecting its left foreleg.

"That was quick." Mr. Colbert said happily. He approached the dragon and examined the same appendage. Being one of the closest to them Kirche could barely make out the words. "Hm, the runes are there, but I can't read them. The sheen of the scales distorts their shape too strongly. Still, the binding was obviously successful. Well done, Miss Vallière." Turning around, he addressed the gathered students. "Let's get back to the academy, everyone."

Kirche trailed a bit behind the crowd. Everyone was busy with their own familiar and she was no exception. Her fire salamander was rubbing against her side, the tail with the flame at its end swinging widely. A flame this vivid and large meant that it came from the Fire Dragon Mountains. Those salamanders were rare and highly sought after by collectors. Not that she would ever even consider selling her familiar.

She had been very happy when she had summoned him, but in light of the golden monstrosity walking in front of her it didn't seem that special anymore. Why couldn't she have summoned such a magnificent dragon?

Kirche stopped dead in her tracks. 'Am I actually jealous of Louise?'

It was a disturbing thought, but she couldn't deny it. She wished to be in Louise's place. That had never happened before, not with Louise or with anyone else.

Suddenly her salamander let out a cry of distress. When Kirche turned towards him he gave her a sad look of betrayal.

'Did he somehow feel what I was thinking? Is the familiar bond already this strong?'

Kirche immediately went to her knees and put her arms around the salamander's neck. "Oh, I don't mean it. You are a wonderful familiar and I'm very happy to have you."

That seemed to do the trick for the moment. The salamander purred happily. Kirche stood up and slowly continued on her way, deep in thought. She was actually jealous of someone.

She almost walked into the student in front of her before she noticed that the crowd had come to a halt. The dragon was so large that it blocked the entire road and she couldn't see what the problem was.

Then she realized the reason. The dragon was too big to fit through the gate. In fact, it was so large it could easily look over the wall. Suddenly the dragon turned and began walking alongside the wall, sending students and familiars scrambling to get out of its way.

"Hey, what are you doing? Come back here!" Louise shouted, but the dragon didn't pay her the slightest amount of attention. Once it was a short distance from the road it laid down, curled up and went to sleep.


Louise stared at her sleeping familiar, one eyebrow twitching in irritation. The dragon had simply walked away and lain down without paying her any attention.

'Stupid familiar, simply going to sleep.'

Mr. Colbert coughed, but it sounded suspiciously like he was hiding a laugh. "Well, I suppose that takes care of that matter for the moment."

Louise nodded, her irritation fading. Her familiar was totally awesome. Unfortunately its immense size created some problems. There was no place in the stables for anything the size of an adult dragon, let alone one of her familiar's size. The academy did have several large yards and gardens, but there wasn't really enough free unused space anywhere either. Case in point, her familiar couldn't even get through the gate.

'I suppose it could fly into the yard. If it can fly, that is. Those wings look a bit too small to carry its weight.' Louise thought critically. That would be a shame, but it wasn't something she would get worked up about. Her beautiful and powerful familiar was simply too awesome for that.

Considerably larger than any dragon she had ever seen, her familiar was an imposing sight even when curled up to sleep. Once again Louise wondered what kind of dragon it was. Aside from the size and scale color there were other differences. Proportions were slightly off. The wings, while still enormously large, were smaller in relation to the body than on the dragon breeds she was familiar with. The head was missing the typical beak and faintly resembled a crocodile, like the one one of the older students had summoned last year. It had more horns at the back of its head than Tabitha's dragon, too. Like the claws they were of a pearly-white color instead of Tabitha's dragon's pitch black. The ridge on its back had more small horns sticking out, but there was more than enough space for an entire group of people to sit.

Louise would have to hit the library to figure out what species it was... and its gender, for that matter. Of course, I was possible she wouldn't find anything. It wouldn't be the first time someone summoned a type of creature that was unknown in Halkeginia. At least the fire breath and body temperature left little doubt regarding the dragon's and her own elemental affinity.

"Is it really alright for my familiar to stay out here, Mr. Colbert?"

"For now, yes. A dragon being summoned happens only every few years. The academy isn't really equipped to deal with them." the nearly bald teacher explained. He paused. "Especially not one of such unprecedented size."

Louise preened while a crowd gathered around them to look at her dragon. The early returners had already spread the news and more and more people were coming out to watch. Tabitha and her dragon were standing beside Louise and Mr. Colbert, but she didn't seem to care that Louise had upstaged her.

Then the blue-haired girl silently pointed at the nearby forest.

Mr. Colbert nodded. "Yes, that is the easiest solution. We used it in past years. Dragons need a lot of space. Since those summoned in the ritual are untamed they will be fine on their own. You may bring them to the academy from time to time, especially to feed them or for a night now or then, but they are really better placed away from other people until you can establish a proper relationship. Remember, dragons are prideful beasts and easily angered. That reminds me…" he turned towards the gate guards. "Make sure nobody approaches the dragon without Miss Vallière present to supervise. We don't want any regrettable accidents."

Louise nodded in acknowledgement, but her eyes were still on her dragon. She just couldn't get enough of it.

"Oh my, what wonderful familiars. Not one but two dragons, and one of them such an impressive specimen." somebody loudly exclaimed. Turning slightly, Louise spotted the origin of the voice. It was Mrs. Chevreuse, the teacher who would teach the basic and some of the advanced earth elemental classes this year. She was a middle-aged woman dressed in a voluminous purple robe and wearing a large hat. She had a plump, round face with a perpetually friendly expression on it. She had returned to teach at the academy after a three-year absence. "Who do they belong to?"

"Miss Tabitha summoned the wind dragon. Miss Vallière summoned the golden one. It seems to be some unknown breed of fire dragon." Mr. Colbert replied.

"Well, it looks that the Springtime Familiar Summoning was a great success. I always enjoy seeing the new familiars. It seems we can expect great things from you, Miss Vallière, Miss Tabitha."

Tabitha showed no reaction aside from a curt nod. Louise blushed at the praise. "Thank you, Mrs. Chevreuse. I will do my best."

Mrs. Chevreuse gave her a kind smile. "I have no doubt about it. Do you have any idea why your familiar is sleeping? Is it a nocturnal species?"

Louise shook her head. "I don't know. I got the impression it was very tired when I tried to see through its eyes on the way back here."

"Oh, you can understand what it is feeling? That's wonderful. The abilities you can access through the familiar bond vary greatly between familiars. Some familiars even gain human speech."

Mr. Colbert nodded. "Yes, an emotional bond is the most common when it comes to dragon familiars. Don't be surprised if you can't see through the dragon's eyes, Miss Vallière. As to the dragon, my best guess is that it came home from a hunt and is in need of rest. Or perhaps its species hibernates and it was still too cold in its home. Five years ago there was a large white bear that needed some time to grow used to Tristain's climate."

"Well, I shall be off. There are classes to prepare." Mrs. Chevreuse said. She had barely taken any steps before she once again spotted another familiar to catch her interest. "Is that a giant mole? What a beauty!"

"Yes, that is my cute little Verdandi." came Guiche's reply.

'I will have to come up with a good name.' Louise realized.

"Miss Vallière, now that we know your elemental affinity can I expect to see you in my advanced course on non-destructive use of fire magic?" Mr. Colbert asked, interrupting her train of thought.

Louise readily agreed. Mr. Colbert was one of the nicer teachers if a bit strange and excitable at times. She could only hope her magic would work now that she had a proper familiar, but she wasn't about to put it to the test right now. She didn't want to destroy the mood with a failure.

The girl remained at the gate until she had to leave for the next class. For once she was the object of praise and admiration, not ridicule. She wanted it to savor as much as she could. Even the headmaster showed up at one point to take a look at her familiar.

The class was only an orientation for the available courses of the second year. Most students had already chosen, but some had discovered their element only now. Louise put her name down for all the advanced fire courses in addition to all the theoretical and non-magical subjects. If her magic remained unstable she would need all the extra credit she could get. There was no sense in taking chances.

Louise grimaced slightly when she took a look at the class roster. For the basic mandatory courses the students of her year were separated into three classes. These classes were newly assembled each year. Unfortunately this year Louise would have to put up not only with the insufferable Kirche von Zerbst but also with Montmorency de Montmorency. The blond girl had a sharp tongue and Louise was one of her preferred targets. At least she was rid of Beatrice de Guldenhorf.

Dinner passed without anything of note happening. None of the students mocked Louise, but they didn't try to really make nice with her either. There were plenty of appraising looks and whispers, though. Kirche's thoughtful expression was perhaps the most unsettling.

'They are biding their time, waiting to see if the summoning was a fluke.'

Louise was in no hurry to find out, at least not anywhere her peers would witness the outcome of the attempt. If her magic had somehow been fixed this would be the turning point of her life. If she failed again… well, at least she would be able to graduate from the academy and an impressive familiar was nothing to sneeze at.

The first thing Louise did after finishing dinner was visiting the academy chapel. 'Founder Brimir, Queen Marianne, God and all your aspects, I thank you from the bottom of my heart. Thank you for helping me succeed.'

When Louise closed the door of her room behind her she sagged in relief. Then she threw herself on her bed and giggled. "I did it. I really did it."

The most important day of her life had passed and she had not failed. In fact, she had succeeded beyond her wildest dreams. Even if she continued to fail in spellwork, this one day when she had been the envy of all her peers could never be taken from her. The feeling of elation remained with Louise until she finally fell asleep, her dreams filled with golden dragons.


Author's note: My thanks to my beta who made this chapter readable (and who really should make an account here so I can name you). Chapter 2 will be uploaded soon, explanations as to the originally projected storyline will be added there.