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, Alfred, Pop, K.K., Terror and Starlight. Chester, Eir, Yama and the other Witch Hunters are also mine.
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 10: Tricked Again, The Dark Hero Can Only Submit to the Darkest of Desires
Axel: Tricked Again, The Dark Hero Can Only Submit to the Darkest of Desires
When you are told you are a washed up celebrity, there is literally nothing you can do to work your way back up to the top. The Dark Hero Axel ruined his reputation by saving his kid brother on live television. Now he was met with nothing but ridicule from the demons that insisted that Axel was not capable of being one of them. Maybe they were right though…Axel was apparently too nice for his own good and wore his heart on his sleeve unlike other demons. Any demon would be able to go into his Heart Bank and mess him up, but no one does because Axe is apparently not worth his or her time.
While he never blamed his little brother for the misfortune that followed him, the pressure Axial puts on him to make it back on TV was not appreciated. He would never yell at his brother though nor did he need to find out that his idol was a loser now because of him. Axial was going to grow up and become a better demon than he would any day…a demon that would take care of his mother better than what Axel was doing now.
It was nice though that after going through each job, he ended up making friends that actually found his type interesting. The only disappointing thing was that his harem was mainly monsters…and a cross-dressing angel. Axel really wanted a cute female demon to follow him around too because if he ended up with an attractive feminine looking angel in the future, then he pretty much hit rock bottom unless said angel could make his and his families life better.
The money wasn't coming to him though even with making new friends. He needed a job and fast. The blonde demon refused to take the job that would take him away from his family. He needed to find one now, but his director insisted that this was the only job left.
Later on, Axel would find out that the director lied to him. There was one more job that the director failed to bring up and it was crossed out in red ink. Immediately Axel grabbed the newspaper and skimmed through the text. It was a job that was in the area (but in a more darker area in the Netherworld that not a lot of demons visited) and it offered a huge sum of money for anyone who was willing to take the job. At first Axel was going to tell his director about this job but if the director was willing to hide the job from him and force him to leave the area, then it must have been something the director did not want. Perhaps it was similar his previous job where being on TV meant getting eaten in the worse way possible. If it was that though, it was nothing Axel could handle (plus with him fighting back, he drove that company to bankruptcy according to the news). The Dark Hero made the decision to not tell anyone about this job and see what was going on his own.
That was probably one of the biggest mistakes Axel has made in his life. Unlike other examples in these dark tales, this was not a permanent mistake but it would lead to Axel not trusting anyone for a long while.
This job was in one of the most untrustworthy parts of the Netherworld. Yes there were neon lights here but this place was known for its dark ally ways, more robberies and murders than you can count over stupid things and maybe strip clubs and poker tables. This a place where many demons wandered around drunk and immediately Axel hated that he stood out given how he past a few drunk demons that were cursing at him for just being their line of sight. The location seemed to be a local super market though…but why would it be under media?
Finding the location, Axel ended up looking straight at the owner and immediately didn't trust him. It was Minotaur monster for one thing and that demon race was known for their greed.
"Are you Axel?" He asked with a snort.
"…Yes I am."
He should have been more confident but he wasn't. The area just seemed uncanny. And with the chuckles he was getting, Axel was thinking of leaving.
"Good. You will start your job right away. It's downstairs."
Gulping, Axel slowly followed the Minotaur down the stairs. The farther they went in, the more an awful stench started to arise. Axel didn't mean to cover his nose and mouth but he wanted to gag at the smell. What was that horrible fume? It smelled like someone died and the body was being left in the basement for someone to have sex with even when the body was rotting.
Axel actually stopped once he made it to the bottom. His fears were coming true and he decided to turn tail and run.
"O-Oh look! I actually forgot something! I'll be back in a couple of minutes. Bye!"
"You're not getting away."
Axel shrieked when he bumped into a large fat green demon that looked like a goblin. Wait…weren't goblins the same size as fairies? He shrieked as he was pushed backwards into the Minotaur demon.
"H-Hey! Get your hands off me!" Axel cried out as he punched the demon back. There were more demons where that came from though. This area looked more like a prison in a cave than anything else. If Axel ever worked as a warden, he would keep far away from any demon.
"Too late. You signed the contract once you came down those stairs, now you start working." The Minotaur said with a snort. "Be lucky we won't sell you to the Goblin King."
Oh Axel heard about the Goblin King. They say he was in charge of the slave ring that even The One detested, yet the slave ring was apparently out of sight for The One and his followers to see so the slave ring ran naturally as long as they don't attract attentions to themselves. There are few goblins actually roaming the Netherworld therefore they may not have any ties at all to the slave rings but nine times out of ten it will be.
"Of course if you keep struggling we will sell you to the Goblin King. I don't know how much he would pay for you though. You may be a loser but that doesn't mean you won't be in this underworld."
The way he said those words made Axel's body shiver. There was no way out…he really was going to be stuck here for a while until his friend's bailed him out…if they really were his friends. That other fear only scared the Dark Hero even more. The demons chuckled as they surrounded the blonde demon.
"Well, we must start training you right away." The Minotaur chuckled. "Since you like to blabber your mouth all the time, that's where we should start."
He really hoped that Pink and the others would wonder where he would go and get him out of here. Axel would do anything for money but not something like this. If it meant throwing whatever pride he had left, he would have taken that other job. Defeated he closed his eyes and opened his mouth…
Prism immediately slammed the book in his hands. Closing his eyes, he chucked the book out the window shattering the glass in the process. Chester could only raise an eyebrow as he saw his Master turn very red.
"Oh, you didn't like your favorite getting hurt?"
"That is not funny…" Prism growled. "This is like…Xenolith's chapter…where the book seems to imply that this is a backstory rather than a bad ending. This is just…horrible and disgusting."
Yet you didn't bat an eye when Barbara was in the same situation. Chester thought to himself. This had nothing to do with gender and more to do with Prism playing favorites. He didn't flinch with what nearly happened to Xenolith nor did he seem to care that Barbara was forced into the same sexual situation Axel was in. And he sure as hell didn't care that he sent Rozalin and Adell through the same hell if not worse if they were to anger him, and was more concerned with Raven's temper. The problem was…Prism didn't finish the chapter. If he read ahead, Prism would have found out that Axel would have been saved. Chester just purred though at the idea that The One was capable of acting so childish over a book.
"Great…now I got to go out and get it…" Prism grumbled. "Unless you get it Chester."
"Meow...no. I think I'm going to rest here and sleep."
"Oh come on!" Prism growled as he got up from his throne. It would have been easier to just use magic to grab the book in midair and bring it back. The blonde was still frustrated though that he didn't have common sense in the Golden Land. Prism ended up leaving his other Furniture next to Chester while he went outside of the palace to go grab the book. The Cheshire cat continued to hum as he summoned the other Furniture from their slumber.
"Wake up Alice. Rise and shine Heart. We have a very angry Master on our hands."
Prism only had one male cat and two lovely ladies as his trusty weapon sidekicks. Both of them were youthful looking like Prism himself was. One of them was a raven haired girl with red eyes and really long hair. As her name suggested, Alice wore a red dress similar to the Red Queen of Hearts but instead of Hearts it was red diamonds. She had a red diamond planted on her hand and below her eyes looking very similar to clown make-up. Alice didn't seem that friendly looking especially since Chester woke her up. The other girl though was Chester's favorite and whom he wished was his master instead. Heart was a brunette with purple eyes and wore a magenta colored dress. She was the reference to the Queen of Hearts but didn't have the matching color and as her name suggested, she had a heart on both of her hands and a heart hairpin that tied her hair back.
"Why did you wake me up?" Alice growled at the cat boy. "Unless it has to do with food or treasure, I do not want to be bothered."
"But don't you like seeing Prism getting up and doing some work?" The white haired cat boy asked.
"I don't care now…" She grumbled. "Now I'm hungry…"
"Oh Alice, you just woke up. I should fix you some alien eggs right now, correct?"
Heart's voice was so enchanting…too bad she talked about the aliens like they were nothing but food. Alice nodded her head while adding. "I want some alien bacon too."
"Alright. I won't be long. Chester, would you like some alien cat food?"
"No. I got my tea."
"Oh…then I will get more alien tea."
Heart probably got her obsession with eating aliens from Prism. Then again when you were a witch/sorcerer, you had to adapt to the main cuisine in the Golden Land, and that was either the aliens that were massacred during their spare time or the incredibly difficult monsters in the area that would kill anybody that had no idea how to deal with them. Fortunately witches/sorcerers could…but they were too lazy to do so.
As Heart left to go to the kitchen, Prism came back with golden butterflies hovering around him. He was not a happy child especially since each butterfly was a soul of a pure being specifically young children that have died too soon. Now that they were near immortal as beautiful butterflies that flew endlessly in the Golden Land unless summoned by a Summoner of a witch/sorcerer in Prism's area, they were happy.
"Uh…if Raven finds out what I did to the book, she's going to kill me…" The boy whined as he made it back to the seat.
"Aww, maybe that will teach you to treat books better. You know they are very hard to come by."
"Uh huh…hey…what are you doing here Alice?"
"Stupid cat woke me up. Now I'm hungry and waiting for Heart to bring me food."
"What? Her too. Man…if anymore people show up when I'm reading, Raven will surely notice and come back…you guys are going to be the death of me…for real."
"Meow, she'll just kill you, rewind time and kill you again." Chester said with a smile.
"Gee thanks." Prism sighed as he opened the book again. "The butterflies won't shut up. They spoiled the ending of Axel's bad ending."
"And?"
"…Well I guess I was watching over him." Prism said with a smirk.
Chester and Alice looked at each other feeling a sweatdrop threatening to drop. What did Prism do? They would never know…
As Heart came back with a quick meal, Prism was scanning through the next characters. He groaned seeing that the next cast would be from the Netherworld Academy. For Prism, he felt like each group of characters had this huge tragedy that could have occurred if he didn't step in. Technically speaking, he was very aware of the dean of the school and what he was capable of. The blonde ended up glaring at the book reading that his chapter was next. He really didn't hoped he wasn't going to read through that entire bad ending scenario where Mao destroyed the entire universe because Fear the Great took over his heart and twisted it into this incredible power. Because for Prism, if that ending were to ever occur, he would have to close the Golden Land off preventing everyone from leaving. Then he would have to gain enough power to destroy the source of the destruction of the universe. Like Zenon, Mao would be erased from existence and then Prism would have to create the universe ALL OVER AGAIN. Prism didn't like to work hard but creating the universe was hard work, and this all could have been prevented if Mao wasn't such a jerk to his friends. Being abandoned was what was coming to that ice demon. He needed to hold those he held dear to prevent things like that. Prism knew first hand what its like to be alone…but he would never throw away his sister, his Furniture or any of his friends he had now. Even if a rebellion was lead against him one day, Prism had faith in the people he called friends and family to quell the rebellion.
"Prism, you okay?" Heart questioned. "You seem lost in thought."
"N-No…I was just reading the title of the next chapter." He smirked. "I might be in luck though and I don't have to read through myself repairing the universe."
Alice didn't seem to care about Prism reading the bad ending book. However he caught Heart's attention. She and Chester leaned in as he started to read the next chapter of despair.
Me: TBC with 3365 words.
Li: Prism isn't the only one who has a favorite.
Me: I think it's obvious that I wouldn't allow something like that to happen to Axel. However, its more a sic out like in Vanquished Queens. Not all the Vanquished Queens chapter will detail the destruction of the cast. Some of them start off as grim as possible with much taunting before ending right when the sexual act starts. Notes.
1. Prism obviously condones rape. He hasn't say anything about Xenolith or Barbara's chapter but as you know they are not his favorites so he doesn't care what happens to him. That's one twisted thing about his view of sexual assault. Also, if you think this is twisted, wait until a later chapter where it's very much hypocritical. And it comes of as twisted when you realize he subjugates an amnesic Adell and Rozalin in Rozalin's chapter to the fate of his tentacle monster until he calms down (which would take a long time).
2. Speaking of the first notes, take note on the goblins. If they're listed here, chances are this is not the last time they will appear and when they do appear I'll go into more detail.
3. Prism's entire theme is based on Alice and Wonderland. Prism is the creator (Lewis Carroll) of said series, Chester is the Cheshire cat, Alice is Alice and Heart is the Queen of Hearts. Prism keeps talking about Michael the archangel because he wants Michael to be his Mad Hatter. Prism really does want an entire team of Alice and Wonderland Furniture but he keeps these three like his family.
4. My headcanon is that the bad ending in Disgaea 3 is because Mao was possessed by Fear the Great. If Fear the Great is so strong to destroy the world with Nemo, what's to stop it from possessing Mao because both endings result in the destruction of the human world…what God wants. For Prism he has a huge list of things he would rather not do. Doing actual work annoys him, reviving people angers him, mass genocide makes him happy and the destruction of the universe will have him rage quit. If you haven't noticed, Prism is incredibly lazy and he's more likely going to be doing things that children do rather than do his damn job as The One.
That's mainly it. Reviews are appreciated. After Axel we move straight to the Disgaea 3 cast and let me tell you, they're harder to write given the lack of bad ending scenarios for each character. Ja ne!