Disclaimer

Please do read the disclaimer in full.

Do not complain if the content ends up not meeting your taste later if you don't heed the warnings.

This story is a fan-made work of fiction, made for entertainment purposes only.

I do not own Muv-Luv nor any of the other media referenced in this work. All copyrights belong to their respective owners.

Names, characters, organizations and events depicted in this story are either a product of the author's imagination or portrayed in a fictional manner to serve the narrative. Any relation to actual persons, living or dead, organizations, existing in the present or from the past, or actual real life events is purely coincidental.

The views and opinions shown in this story do not represent the author's nor the original source material author's.

This story is made as a direct sequel to Muv-Luv Alternative and it is recommended to have read the original VN trilogy already, due to the large details of the world that the narrative will assume the reader already knows. I assume those who have read only the manga or watched the anime can easily catch on, but the story might not make much sense for anyone trying this out fandom blind.

However, this is not the story to read if you're looking for canon-compliant content. This fic will work as a sort of AU, alternate universe that is, and will not follow canon to a T. If keeping in line with the source material and avoiding OOC-ness is what you prefer then, you may not find this story fitting to your tastes. Also, there will be unmarked spoilers present throughout the plot pertaining to other media from the Muv-Luv franchise and other works from AGE.

WARNING:

This story will contain themes that may upset certain sensibilities and aren't appropriate for some audiences. While not all chapters will contain said content, the story as a whole will employ dark twists, at times without notice and out of the blue.

I shall leave chapter-specific warnings at the start in an author's note when I deem the content warrants it. Do not take the warnings lightly, they are there for a reason. However, a lack of a warning does not mean the content cannot take a dark turn.

Proceed at your own discretion, and do not expect this story to be anything other than what it's showing itself to be.

This is one of the few stories that resulted from the plot separation from another fic, so the first few chapters will be similar to the Prologue Arc of Muv-Luv Reversal, albeit this fic will diverge at times from the plot of said fic since I've decided to steer clear off canon due to the motives expressed in the final upload of Reversal.

This story is being cross-posted to AO3, for those who prefer reading there, and in case the similarities between the first story and this fic gets it deleted off FFN.

With all that said and without further delays, be welcome to this ride.

Sit tight, bring some tissues, some cookies, a flamethrower, and abandon all naive thoughts and romantic expectations.

Here's hoping your stay is a pleasant one.

Prelude:

Shooting Star, Fallen Star

[Recommended OST: Scars of Time, Chrono Cross, TPR Remix.]

Within the endless void of eternity, many riverd expand and entwine with one another as they run their preset course. Some closer than others, some constricting and crushing the smaller, weaker ones. Flowing outwards, upwards into a sprawling mass which cannot meet an end, its peak out of sight, their surface crawling and twisting onto itself, each and every little line blasting many more towards the unreachable height.

From the lowest point of concentration towards the most compressed one, the starlit torrents continue their spiral even at this very moment, under the vigilant gaze of celestial spheres which coil around them.

It is all an eternal ascent, a continuous collapse, a rise and fall of tidal waves which embrace and swallow one another under unceasing thunderstorm, all swirling outwards like an exploding supernova. All so chaotic, incomprehensible yet at the same time so very much flawed, predictable. Even a tiny fish can tell when the current grows harsh, the direction which the torrent pulls it towards despite how its tiny eyes could never ever dare envision the extreme expansion that is the sea where it is being guided to.

And while water is calm in its spring, the growing current cannot be fought. One can only try and steer the course, avoid the rocks, mend the damage before the chaos floods you into the abyss, below the waves. So it has been believed, that except on specific junctures the flow of events cannot be altered. Some refer to is as a window in which only a few topics at a time can be discussed, others attribute it to our never-ending disagreements as a species, or maybe the cause is much more simple, primal.

And yet, mistakes happen. Serendipity is usually the term to call such events, the lakes in the stream.

Despite the adversity of the torrent, humans still rise back up even if it is to enforce the chain of pain, to use it as fuel for the progress of the stream, the advance of the ever-growing will of their knowledge.

…But even when pitted against impossible odds, people still find reasons to stand amidst the chaos, in front of incoming waves, holding the impact at bay and daring, daring to step forward. Be it self-delusion, prideful stubbornness, or even some frail, naive hope what tethers their hearts in place. For how idiotic the notion would seem, to defy the current, to swim against it and risk be shredded against the rocks or the jaws of the other inhabitants of the stream, there are certain objects which happen to do just that on a few occasions. To defy the pull of the stream, the enticing prospect of the spiral. Nothing but small tears, tears that surge from the spheres that watch over the tower of rivers that swirl ever forward. Small celestial tears that flash for a moment, before sinking into the sea and leaving just a small ripple of glimmer on the waves.

Shooting stars are said to be able to grant wishes. They are revered by many cultures, and are often treated as a good omen. Rebelling against the void of eternity, they flash through the darkness in opposition to the stream's pull. A momentary sign of light breaking the grip of monotony in the night, as brief as it is the time where life as we know it can be sustained in the universe when compared to its tail end, when the final black hole dissolves into real nothingness.

However, I believe it is quite fair to affirm that shooting stars are actually very, very sad entities. They traverse long, almost impossible to describe lengths, freezing lengths of open space in solitude. All the while, they're fading. Burning away.

And, for what? To either eternally loop around a set path, forever fated to never break away from said solitary road. The alternative is to crash down, to be torn apart, to burn alive and crash onto a planet. Perhaps someone would wish upon their corpses, perhaps happiness could coincide with the occurrence of their final beam of light descending into the ground.

Yet, shooting stars usually die alone. Praised for a moment, burdened with impossible dreams, only to be forgotten as quickly as they flash through the skies. And then…

And then, there is only silence. And then, there is only cold. And a wound, a wound that remains open.

A futile existence which, in the end, cannot accomplish anything on its own power. A tragic tale despite how many wishes it could grant, you'd understand.

However, shooting stars do inspire valor in those who watch them constantly. A reason to look up, a reason to dream, to not give up hope. A small reminder that the absoluteness isn't so, that even the smallest, frailest light can overtake the eternal night.

Is it all worth it, however? All that travel, all that suffering, for only… a few mere seconds in the skyline? Across all connections and links on the stream, has any of such entities managed to truly change anything with its meager illumination before sinking down? Did any of the shores within the ever-rising torrentd caught even a mere glimpse of that defiant glimmer? Was a single wish ever truly granted?

Perhaps, perhaps not. Only Kronos can stand witness to such an answer, if it even exists.

Yet, even when everything comes crashing down, people still do find reasons to hope, to look up and wish. Look up and wait, for a shooting star. For their efforts to not come up short, to not fall centimeters before the finish line, to not lose grip and slip down the waves. Or on the other hand, to extend a pledge for permanence, for everlasting eternity to come. After all, change is not exactly something that is easily accepted, which is why the flow is as such. A steady guide, a predictable pattern that grants respite to those who in it swim from the eternal thunders that roar, and will continue to roar far beyond our time. From their shores, the glimmer up above does not forebode good fortune. It is only the scorching fire of a falling star, an envoy of doom and crisis which tarnishes the clouds, obscures the signs which they use to navigate, to weather the storm.

However, regardless of what others think or say, of how harsh the spiral could become, the star doesn't truly care. Dread it, ignore it, fight it, it will come and crash upon you all the same. All that changes is, how you see it. Will you treat it as a shooting star, entrusting a wish upon it, making its light blossom with trust and companionship? Or, on the contrary, will you see a falling star, coming to blast away everything with its dying fire, and thus will act in consequence against it?

But, no matter the vision, so long as there is an observer, the star is unstoppable. Either to deliver the wish to whoever remains waiting for its light, even if it ends all alone in its eternal loops over space, or embrace the alternative to crash down and burn away, its blazing light piercing the night as a cannon ball would in image of an erratic thunder which granted dominion over fire to the olden ones.

I wonder, would you allow for such a comparison? There is, however, something I cannot help but to ponder.

…What would happen to the fire of a meteor if it were to be left all alone amidst the waves?

Would it vanish in an abyss of loneliness and melancholy, lost in the emptiness of its loops?

Or, on the contrary, would it enlarge and swallow everything around itself, becoming a spiral of blazes in rebellion?

…Or, maybe, are those outcomes not separate at all?

I suppose, waiting for the answer to show itself is the only option left to all those who in these relentless rivers swim. Wait for the shooting star to resume its trail, to burn once again…

…or for it to forever sink below the colossal waves of this towering spiral that knows no end nor pause.

Just waiting…

Ripples to Waves