A/N: For August 2022, I decided to go about bringing a character that I've been wanting to write about since I first started doing fanfic writing. (And I'm talking like back in the S1 days of Superb Song of the Fate-Defying Valkyrie).

But I'll let the story speak for the character in question as we once again ponder the question: "What if...?"


Goddess Zababa. What if Shirabe's revival after her fight with Kirika went differently.


Frontier... An ancient relic that the people of F.I.S. had hoped to use in an effort to save humanity from destruction at the hands of the falling Moon. But after an insurrection at the hands of Dr. Ver, the group was split on who was in the right: Was the Doctor truly the savior humanity needed, or was he insane?

While this was on the forefront of everyone's minds, something of far greater importance was on the mind of Kirika Akatsuki: Her belief that Finé's soul was inside of her, and it was about to take over, meaning that she had very little time left on Earth, and she was going to use that time to make sure Shirabe Tsukuyomi, Maria Cadenzavna Eve, and Dr. Nastassja could live.

However, after conflicting interests arose within the group, Shirabe and Kirika, once inseparable, found themselves at the wrong end of each other's weapons... And their fight was about to reach its bitter conclusion...

"Kiri-chan, don't fight anymore..." Shirabe pleaded as she watched Kirika fly down towards her on her enlarged version of Igalima's scythe. "Don't take the Kiri-chan I love from me!"

But Kirika didn't listen to Shirabe's plea, forcing Finé to take matters into her own hands and reveal herself to the duo, that is to say, reveal the real host of her soul, by protecting Shirabe with her Asgard barrier, leaving both of the wielders in shock.

"No way... It's you, Shirabe?" Kirika asked in disbelief. "This whole time... I thought I was the one with Finé's soul... But I..."

"Kiri-chan?"

"I didn't want you to be sad... But in the end, all I did was make you cry!"

Ashamed of what she had done under the false belief that she was going to die, Kirika decided there was only one way to atone for her actions: By using Igalima's soul-cutting blade to end her own life.

"I really am an awful girl, aren't I? I just want to disappear!"

"KIRI-CHAN!"

Kirika closed her eyes and accepted her fate, but things were not going to go as she had hoped...

While her eyes were closed, Kirika could feel herself being knocked to the ground at the same time she heard her scythe's slash. She felt the pain, but it didn't hurt as much as she expected.

She assumed that maybe she was lucky and her death was painless, something she felt unworthy of receiving for what she had caused. But once she opened her eyes, the real pain was only about to begin...

"I'm... Alive?" Kirika asked aloud, to no response. "But... Why did it..."

Kirika looked down to where she had felt the pain of Igalima hitting her, only to see it had only poked her in the chest. But that little poke from the soul-cutting scythe meant nothing compared to what she saw: Her scythe's blade piercing through Shirabe's chest.

"Shirabe?" Kirika tried to shake Shirabe to wake her up, but the Shul Shagana Wielder remained motionless, which made Kirika's heart sink in her chest.

"SHIRABE!"

From here, Shirabe would be revived through the sacrifice of Finé's soul taking the hit for the Shul Shagana Wielder. But here, Finé wouldn't be the only one who needs to sacrifice her life to save Shirabe...

"Shirabe... Please wake up! Shirabe!" Kirika pleaded, constantly repeating Shirabe's name as she nudged her, but still, nothing happened. "Please... Come back..."

"You wish to revive your friend, do you not?" A mysterious voice called out to Kirika, who quickly jumped to her feet and grabbed her pendant.

"Who's there?!" Kirika asked in a panicked tone. "Show yourself!"

Slowly, a figure stepped out of the nearby treeline with their hands raised. "Believe me, I have no intention of harming you." The figure said. "In fact, I may have the solution you need to save your friend's life."

Once the figure was completely out in the open, Kirika could see that they were very masculine, wearing clothing that were... Unlike anything she had seen before, almost futuristic in a sense. Regardless, she was hesitant to trust the man at his word.

"Who are you?" Kirika asked.

"My name is not important, child." The man replied. "Do you wish to see your friend alive, or not?"

Kirika chuckled hysterically. "What kind of a question is that? Of course I want Shirabe to be alive! I can't live without her!" Kirika exclaimed as tears ran down her face. "But It's not possible for that to happen anymore... She's gone... And it's all my fault!"

"That may be true..." The man agreed, solemnly nodding before looking back at Kirika. "...But there is a chance to fix this before it's too late."

Kirika was shocked by what the man was saying, slowly raising her tear-stained face to see him. "...How?"

"I can bring her back, but in order to do so, I require your help." The man said. "So I shall ask this once and once only: Do you wish to revive your friend, even if it means that your lives will forever be changed?"

Kirika was hesitant to answer... What could this stranger be implying with that question? Could he actually save Shirabe from the damage she caused? Kirika still had her doubts in this man's word, but would she allow her doubts to cost Shirabe a second chance at life? She looked at the unmoving form of Shirabe, her last words echoing in her mind and slowly becoming louder and louder until it was all she could hear. And in that moment of near insanity, Kirika made a decision...

"I'll do it!" Kirika answered. "I don't care what the price is, as long as I can be with Shirabe again, I don't care what I have to give up!"

"Good choice." The man said. "Now then, let us make haste to ensure your friend is brought back to the world of the living."

Resolved, Kirika nodded. "Okay. What do you need me to do-"

Suddenly, the man stuck out his hand, freezing Kirika from the neck down, taking the Igalima Wielder by surprise. She tried with all of her might to move, but she couldn't do anything except sit there and watch as this stranger held her in place, that is, until she saw the man doing a similar thing to Shirabe's corpse.

"Hey!" Kirika shouted, getting the man's partial attention. "What are you doing?! Why are you doing this?!"

"As I said, we need to make haste to ensure your friend can be revived." The man cryptically answered. "All I needed from you was your approval."

"When you said that, I was expecting you would do some sort of magic to bring her back, but not like this!" Kirika shouted. "Now that I know what's going on, I take back my approval!"

"Little late for that I'm afraid." The man said. "Once the spell has been started, disrupting it at any time would be fatal to all parties involved. I'm sorry Kirika Akatsuki, but if you wish to be with Shirabe Tsukuyomi again, this is the only way."

Kirika's eyes went wide. "Wait... I never told you my name. How did you-"

But before she could ask her question, Kirika, along with the stranger and Shirabe, were engulfed in a flash of light, but Kirika soon felt her strength leave her body, and her eyelids started to feel heavy as she could feel herself being dragged into a deep sleep. However, just before she would lose consciousness, she saw a figure emerge from the bright light, a figure that looked very similar to herself, but with longer hair.

"Sh-Shirabe?"

She tried to reach out to the figure, but as she did, she felt herself falling, the last thing she would ever feel before everything went black.


After what felt like hours, the light around the Wielders and the stranger dissipated, and a new woman appeared out of thin air. The new woman had a mix of blonde and brown hair that went down to her waist, mostly black clothes with neon green and pink accents on them, matching the colors of her heterochromatic eyes. Once the flash of light was gone, the woman looked around curiously at her surroundings.

"Where... Am I?" She asked aloud.

"Ah, you're finally awake." The stranger from before said, walking over to the woman.

"Excuse me, sir. Where are we?" The woman asked. "And... Who are you?"

"Those questions aren't important right now." The man said. "Right now, I need you to tell me what you know."

"What I know?" The woman asked.

"Do you remember anything before waking up just now?" The man asked.

The woman thought to herself for a moment, before memories started flowing back into her: Shirabe's meeting with Finé, Kirika's pleas to save Shirabe's life, and finally, the light moments before now. The woman was shocked by what she saw in her memories, but even more surprised when she looked behind her and saw two bodies, one with short blonde hair and another with long brown hair, lying next to each other on the ground.

"Th-They are... Me... Aren't they?"

"Well... Yes and no." The man said, answering the woman's question. "This might be hard to understand, but you are the combination of their souls, but you yourself are also separate from them."

"So, they're kinda like my mothers, but they're also me?" The woman asked.

"Precisely." The man answered. "In order to save the life of Shirabe Tsukuyomi, and with Kirika Akatsuki's approval, I performed a rite to combine their souls into a new body, allowing them both to live, and resulting in the birth of my successor."

"Your successor?! Me?!" The woman gasped. "But I barely know you... THEY probably also barely know who you are! What even are you?"

The man chuckled. "I believe the mortals would refer to me as a God, but I'm sure you and those two would know me for another reason..."

"Another reason?"

The woman thought about what the man was referring to, but it didn't take long for her to come to a conclusion...

"Igalima and Shul Shagana..." The woman looked over to the man as she said this, who nodded at what she had said. "No way... You're...!"

"Exactly." The man said. "But that name is more fitting for you now than it is for myself."

"But, why me? Why us?" The woman asked.

"To be honest, I've been getting rather bored watching over the mortals for an old friend of mine. Doesn't help that, over the years, my appearance hasn't exactly been... Remembered." The man said. "So, when I caught wind of two girls who were wielding my old weapons, I got curious. In fairness, my original plan was just to grant them my powers and pass on, but then this all happened and I had to improvise." As he said this, the man started to become transparent.

"What's happening to you?!"

"Looks like my time has come. With the transfer of my powers unto you, I became nothing more than a mere mortal with minutes left to live... But I do not fear death as I once thought I would... In fact, I feel happy to go..." The man said, noticing the woman was crying. "Why do you cry for someone you barely knew?"

"I don't know..." The woman said. "I guess... I just wish I had the chance to get to know you better... A chance to thank you for... me."

"If you wish to thank me, then live." The man said. "Live and be there for those you three cherish above all else. Don't make my mistake of wasting your life in isolation from others as I have."

The woman wiped her tears away and nodded. "I... We... Will!"

With the promise made, the man vanished from sight with a smile on his face. Once he was gone, the woman heard a pair of groans from behind her, turning to see Kirika and Shirabe waking up.

"Ugh... My head..." Shirabe groaned. "Kiri-chan?"

"Shirabe?" Kirika asked, turning over to see her best friend staring back at her. "Shirabe! You're okay!"

"That's a relief..." The woman said, immediately catching the girls' attention. "Sorry... I was just so worried when I saw you both unconscious. But still, I'm happy you're okay."

"Who are you?" Shirabe asked.

"And what happened to the other guy, dess?" Kirika added.

"This is going to be very... difficult to explain..." The woman said.

The woman proceeded to explain everything the man told her, much to the duo's dismay.

"So... We were combined into you, in order to save me?" Shirabe asked.

"That's what the man told me." The woman said.

"And this is all thanks to me..." Kirika added.

"Kiri-chan, this isn't your fault." Shirabe reassured her friend.

"Shirabe's right." The woman added. "You were just trying to do the right thing, I'm sure anyone would've done the same thing for the person they cared for the most if they were in your shoes."

"Are you sure?" Kirika asked.

"Positive." The woman answered.

Suddenly, a pillar of light appeared from within the Frontier pavilion, which caught the trio's attention.

"That's..."

"She's saving Maria!"

The woman wasn't sure what was happening, but she could tell that the duo knew what was going on, so she knew what needed to be done.

"We can finish talking about what happened later. Right now, we should head over to whatever is causing that light." The woman said.

"Right!" Shirabe and Kirika agreed.

"But, wait!" Kirika suddenly said, stopping the trio's advance towards the pavilion. "You never told us your name dess!"

The woman was surprised to have forgotten something so simple, but in fairness, she was born just moments ago, so names weren't exactly on her list of priorities. Despite this, she had an idea for a name thanks to the stranger.

"... But that name is more fitting for you now than it is for myself."

"Kiri-chan has a point in that." Shirabe added. "So, what is your name?"

The woman smirked as she turned to face her now lifelong companions...

"You can call me... Zababa."


A/N: And with that, we end the one-shot!

So... About Zababa. For me, this is a character I've been wanting to bring to life in writing for a long time (Granted, they were originally planned for when I eventually make an XDU-esque sequel for SSotFDV, but still.)

The thing that was stopping me from writing about them was a multitude of things actually:


1. Her concept was made when I was still fairly new to fic writing, so it's probably better that I waited until I had a bit more experience rather than just being like, "Oh yeah, Finé did some magic and now Kirika and Shirabe are fused together forever." and calling it a day.

2. When it came to how they worked, I was torn on what approach to go with a fused Kirika and Shirabe character. Originally, the plan was to go the DBZ Potara route (and yes, I mean the Potara pre-retcon) But overtime, I wanted to try something different, ultimately deciding on a concept inspired by Platinum the Trinity from Blazblue, Byleth/Shez from the Three Houses/Hopes universe, and a touch of Jojo Stand logic. (The latter would be easier to explain if I ever get the chance to expand on their world's lore.)


As for the character themselves, Zababa (As in the main person of the trio) is a kindhearted soul who would do whatever it takes to make sure her friends and found family are happy, but she's more than capable of putting her foot down when someone tries to take advantage of her kindhearted nature. Ironically, while she is the younger of the trio technically, Zababa acts like a mother-figure to Kirika and Shirabe, making sure that they do well in school, while also using her inherited wisdom to help them grow as people in their own rights. (While she could easily use that wisdom to make the three of them ace school with ease, she wants the duo to have the chance to actually learn something instead of being the pure brains of their situation).

As for this world's Kirika and Shirabe, while they're mainly just spirits for Zababa to interact with and fight alongside, they can also take control of the main body when Zababa allows them to, such as in moments when she needs to sleep or when she's hurt. Other than that, the duo are practically the same as they are in canon personality-wise.

And finally, for combat, the trio's fighting style consists of Zababa taking the lead with the fused Igalima and Shul Shagana Symphogear pendant (her moveset would mostly consist of the duo's combined attacks, along with a few of her own special takes on their separate attacks). As for the duo, they would fight alongside Zababa in special spiritual forms of their respective gears. But while they themselves cannot take fatal damage, their spiritual forms can be broken, forcing them to sit out while their forms reconstruct. (Little side note: Thanks to Shirabe and Kirika's spiritual forms, they're able to fly, and thanks to that, they're able to carry Zababa around while flying, acting like a set of wings for her. This works in combat and in their daily life.)


And that pretty much sums up who Zababa is and what she's currently capable of. If I'm ever motivated enough, I might continue this into its own fic on the side like I plan to do with "Another History" (Name still pending). But anyways, thank you so much for reading this one-shot, I shall see you all in the next one!