Acknowledgements
Hello, everyone! Seeing as this is the first multi-chapter fanfiction I've ever completed, it's time to introduce a new thing unique to me...at least I think it's unique to me. This page covers the behind-the-scenes of my multi-chaptered story, from the inspiration to alternate details that were considered as I was writing. I will also name certain people who have motivated me along and shown lots of support because it's hard writing a story that is different and yet entertaining. Also, consider this a replacement for my lack of author's notes in my chapter, as I want to keep my story only with text as compared with having an additional note at the end of every chapter. The format of this is in question form, as if they were asked by people reading my tale. If anyone has additional questions, feel free to private message me or send it in a review, and I will do my best to add it here. And so without further ado, the end credits for Bravely Second: Lower Ends.
Chapter 1:
Q: Where did the inspiration for this story come from?
A: Long story short, it was the end song of Bravely Second, Last Song. When I first looked at the lyrics, I thought to myself why the people who wrote it would choose these lyrics. After watching the demo, it became even clearer that the song's lyrics were intentional, and that it definitely alluded to the demo's ending. So, I decided to make a story in which the people involved with the demo had regained the memories of that incident and, as a result, would have to defend them with their life. Throw in some post-game humor and a wedding, and you have one hell of a story.
Q: How does this story fit into the game in terms of gameplay and such?
A: Well...if I'm going to put this somewhere in the game, I would see it as a DLC story at the end of the game, similar to Fire Emblem: Fates with its third route, Revelations. As for gameplay, obviously the scripted fights that are to come will not be repeated in the game. That's up to the player to decide, but the gist will be there.
Q: Will the title change like the game?
A: Well...yes. I imagine it's a bit too informal to put such a thing, especially when the creators spent so much time (at least I think they do) thinking of these puns. However, I did put my time into thinking of a clever title, so I do hope that the readers will actively try to solve what the missing letters mean and what meaning they have behind it.
Q: Alternate scenes for this chapter?
A: Hmm...I was originally going to have Edea and Magnolia run out of money, and in turn, couldn't pay for the cake on the spot. This would lead to a boss battle between them, Amy, and Panettone. It was cut mostly due to the fact that even if Edea did eat away both of their wallets, Amy and Panettone were not going to be unreasonable about it. Another thing I considered was making the kissing scene a bit more...graphic. Not like full-blown doing the deed, but I considered making it more passionate. Magnolia would whine (unknowingly) about her repressing her feelings for Yu from everyone else and, with the help of the drugged cake, she would show him exactly what she wants. Of course, I cut it due to lack of expertise when it comes to writing such a scene, but I also want people to wonder just how far she had gone that night...
Chapter 2:
Q: Doesn't a flower signify a marriage on the moon? (From Anon)
A: Yes, of course I know that. I also do know that they made that a huge misunderstanding between Yu and Magnolia, so a situation like that doesn't affect Magnolia too much anymore...unless Yu is seriously asking her for her hand in marriage.
Q: Would Edea really challenge Magnolia to win the Sacred Flower Festival?
A: In my mind, yes. To others, it might have seemed petty for Edea to involve herself in that way, but Edea's mind has very humorous ways of expressing what it wants. Plus, poking fun at Yu is one of her favorite pastimes (at least, that's what I see in the game).
Q: Doesn't Magnolia know what the language of flowers is?
A: I had a bit of trouble figuring out whether or not she does. Sure, the preview movie in Bravely Default had her citing it, but it was changed in the actual game to reference the moon. So, because I'm going by the actual game, I decided to make Magnolia clueless about the topic.
Q: Alternate scenes for this chapter?
A: The most obvious one had to be putting Agnes in the festival as well. There were a lot of scenarios that stood out to me when I considered this. For instance, I was going to have Agnes's reason to join something along the lines of "redeeming what little femininity she has." I could have also shifted the reason to it being a dare from Edea and having Magnolia join for the sake of joining. After toying with it though, I couldn't see Agnes participating in the festival again, and so she was delegated to being a side character.
Chapter 3:
Q: How would you interpret Jean's and Magnolia's relationship at this point?
A: I would think of them as reluctant friends. After the game, it's unclear about what he feels about her, unlike Denny, who actually confronted Yu about leaving things unsaid with her. What I put was a formal partnership between the two...until Jean's collapse.
Q: Why did you put Einheria and Artemia into this chapter?
A: That's a good question. Last I checked, Artemia is out there scouring the land, and Einheria was busy...training. They were probably brought together coincidentally when rumors of mysterious forces came into being...(Or maybe it's just me thinking that it would be a good place to put them).
Q: How long did it take you to translate the demo?
A: Let me answer one question first. Yes, I did translate the demo instead of waiting for the English version. I'm crazy, yes, so let's move on. It took me, for this chapter, two hours to translate that portion of the demo. What really held me back was the wording. Of course Google Translate wasn't going to give the perfect sentence automatically, so I had to "write" out the characters onto Google Translate, copy the phrase over to a dictionary, and decipher from there. It's a lot more complicated than you think, and sometimes, I translated some scenes that would have been good ideas to use, but ultimately I scrapped them due to translation troubles or lack of material.
Q: How did Denny come back?! It's impossible!
A: Yeah...this is one of my headcanons. As much as I would like to keep to the script of the game, meaning Denny is trapped in the future with Diamante, having him come back is one of those things that really stuck out to me. I mean...an explanation with the Dimension Wardens could be sufficient, but the game didn't reveal enough about them in order to draw a natural conclusion.
Q: Alternate scenes?
A: None, actually. While this may have been a short chapter, I was happy with it when I finished it.
Chapter 4:
Q: What is your opinion of Yu's tent?
A: I absolutely adore his tent (even though some of my friends snickered at the underlying meaning). The moments in them were wonderful and cute and...just everything I ever wanted. I had to do one in this story, so this chapter is more fourth-wall breaking and filler content.
Q: What do you think of the new special moves in terms of music?
A: I probably share the same sentiment with the other fans about this. Ryo is trying his best. I think some of the tracks he made (like Magnolia's theme, bless that song) were absolutely beautiful and stunning. Others...not so much. For instant, Yu's theme...could be better. By a lot. I always had a problem with his. I like the other special themes better, especially Magnolia's because come on, it's Magnolia. She can do no wrong to me (I'm female just letting you know). Edea's theme suits her well as a transition from a fledging to a more mature person. For Tiz...I had a field day with his. That theme was in my head for three weeks when it first came out. Now, I can still listen to it, just not on repeat anymore. All in all, I wished they brought back "You Are My Hope" and "Windward", but what I got was sufficient. Just...Yu, get a better theme.
Q: Why retell the events of Bravely Default here?
A: Now that I had the chance of playing Bravely Second, I see they reference the first game...a lot. However, the newcomers (mainly Magnolia) do not know the full details of their journey and what aspects of that journey contributed to their choices now. For example, Edea betrayed the duchy, but what were the side effects of that decision? Yu and Magnolia do not know that, and I felt like a tent event is the perfect place to dwell and explore on that.
Q: Alternate scenes?
A: Granted this is the supposed portion of the story where the "player" goes and grinds their characters while having filler content, there are many (and I mean many) scenarios that could have happened. I'm going to leave it there.
Chapter 5:
Q: Alternate scenes?
A: Well, I was going to have DeRosa and Geist ignore each other for the majority of the chapter, but I found it funny to have them insult each other over their coats. As for Reverent, he wasn't involved with this incident at all, so I practically ignored him. Let's just say he's keeping the house they have in check. Minette was also supposed to be cut, but seeing as how Kamiizumi took her everywhere, it would be reasonable to keep her there, even though she does practically nothing to the plot. Otherwise, this chapter went pretty much how I wanted it to go.
Chapter 6:
Q: Is this the part of the story that's marked the "turning point"?
A: Yes, I believe so. In the games, chapter five is when things are thrown out of loop, like the whole "using Bravely Second to reset the timeline" sort of thing. But I had to change the turning point of this story to chapter six because chapter five was placed in a weird, uncomfortable spot, and I couldn't find another good place to put it.
Q: What is it about memory loss that ticks Jean off so much?
A: From what I can tell, Jean only had his memory of his parents being killed to keep him going as he fought for the empire. He has no other reason to fight against the world, so being scarred by memories is significant to his character. As such, if a traumatizing experience is enough to drive him to desperate actions, regaining an important memory will also have the same effect. And I believe that the demo's story was important to him because in the first party chat you ever get in the game (if you played and received the demo gifts), it states how the three of them were stuck in Guatelatio after that incident in Istantal, meaning that what happened in the land of learning was a break from their usual routine. Normally, people would remember abnormalities in their everyday life, and so that why I deemed it important. As for more evidence of the source of his frustration, the end battle with Providence reveals that the god was manipulating Vega's memories, turning them into Ba'als. Within the fourth-wall destroying moment, everyone cheers you on and tells you to guide the group to victory, meaning that Jean knows the power of toying with another's memories.
Q: Why would Edea specially send Yu, Jean, and Nikolah to deliver the wedding invites?
A: Simple. The wedding is very important to Edea and Luxendarc that she wants to boast it to everyone. As for why she can't do it herself, she is in charge of running a nation now. Since she's busy, she probably wanted to give such a job to someone she really trusted. And as for why she contacted Jean first...it's implied that Agnes had something to do with it.
Q: Why would Yu and Magnolia hide their relationship until now?
A: Their relationship in the game was borderline reciprocation until the ending. Even after defeating a god and contacting a celestial being, you, the transition from comrades to lovers is a huge one. Magnolia doesn't have a problem revealing her affections for Yu to others, but Yu is another story. He probably will be teased mercilessly until he melts to the ground. It also doesn't help that he's "hopeless with sexy women" as Rifa puts it.
Q: Alternate scenes?
A: I actually went through a lot of rewrites for the last part of the chapter simply because I didn't know how to proceed. While in the middle of writing it, I went through a writer's block in terms of wording, thus the two oneshots I wrote while in this phase. The one part that was certain was that Jean needed to destroy the magnolia, symbolizing the transition to a new era. Also, have you guys been paying attention to the moon?
Chapter 7:
Q: How would you explain the reappearance of the ogre in the Wind Temple?
A: Well...there could be multiple ogres living around the area. It's not really explained in the demo how the beast came to the temple, so I am entitled to do the same. Really though, the best explanation I could think of is that a much stronger ogre suddenly showed up to attack the temple.
Q: How do you come up with these chapter titles?
A: They're not too hard. I was especially fond of this chapter's title and the epilogue title. However, if you're wondering if there's a set procedure to these names, then I'm afraid that all I can say is to leave it to your imagination and creativity.
Q: Translation time?
A: For this scene (I absolutely love it. It converted me to ship Yu and Magnolia so hard), it took me a good two hours to translate and word correctly. I'm happy to say that once again, my translation is almost on point. It's nice to know that my work isn't going to waste.
Q: Alternate scenes?
A: No, not really. This was the chapter, along with the epilogue, that I wrote when I first started this story because I couldn't help it. It's the most anticipated portion, so naturally, I had everything planned out from the start.
Chapter 8:
Q: Alternate scenes?
A: I thought a lot about how to progress. I originally was going to have the group meet the president himself and fight him, but then I have to make an official OC, and apparently, from what I learned way back when I first started, I make really bad OCs. Fine. I'm fine with that. I also considered which Ba'al the group was going to fight. The reason why I used Apparatus was because it was the closest thing to resembling a creature of "mended parts" like how someone would use rags to patch holes in clothing. The mega-ultra waifu chicken was a close second, but after seeing how it's a boss fight in the actual game...I decided against.
Chapter 9 and Epilogue:
Q: What were the missing two letters for the title?
A: F and M. The title would change from Lower Ends to Flower Mends. The reason why I chose this name was to foreshadow Magnolia's recovery of her memories. To some, those lost memories are holes that they must fill. While the SP was the thing that officially brought them back, it was the magnolia that brought back the bonds between Yu, Magnolia, and Jean. When Jean destroyed her magnolia, it represented his loss in faith in her. She refused to throw the flower away, refused to throw away the bonds she had forged while she had it, and so when Yu brings her another magnolia with the intention of proposing, it strengthens those bonds, not just with Yu, but with all the people she knows in Luxendarc. There are also many references of flowers in times of recovery throughout this story. As for what F and M stand for...it stands for Forgotten Magnolia, the nickname Yu decides to give to Magnolia.
Q: Alternate scenes?
A: For chapter 9, no. As for the epilogue, the original copy did not look like the published one. At first, it was only the Yu and Magnolia section with the end portion as content. I found that it only contains less than 1,000 words, and I found it unacceptable to release as is. The other stuff was there to fill the word count. Magnolia was originally going to have her flower given back to Yu as he gives her a new one, but when writing chapter six, I had to have Jean slice the magnolia. I originally was going to have Jean meet a random girl and get smitten, but that meant an OC and an out of character moment for Jean, which I didn't want.
And with that, this is the end of Bravely Second: Lower Ends. I would like to thank all of my followers for putting your faith into my writing and waiting patiently for more content. And to my favorites, who decided that this story fulfilled their curiosity and craving for more Bravely Second. And of course, to the people who spent the time to review this, I want to thank you for all of your support. All of you are truly wonderful, and I hope to see you in my other fanfictions.
But all good things must come to an end. So to all of you still following me, thank you from the bottom of my heart. Feel free to send in more questions for me to answer about any of my stories.
As for now, however, this is tale end.
A sneak peek of my next project…
A groan escapes the girls' parched lips as she registers the sound of a stranger's call. Her mouth is the first to open, and a small portion of her tongue slides out to moisten the dry surface. Her eyes, luminous blue eyes, find the familiar gray clouds obscured by a figure dressed in dark.
"Hey, are you okay?"
Another moan crawls through her throat, this time from the strain of moving her muscles. How long has she been collapsed here? The stranger, seeing her struggle, offers his hand. She accepts the gesture and slowly rises to her feet.
"W-where am I?"
"Heartland." The stranger takes another look at her frail body, covered with multiple bruises and cuts. She is covered with only the thinnest sheet of linen, but her posture suggests she haven't noticed the night's cold, merciless hand.
"I do not think I have seen you around these parts. What is your name?" It was hard to note any details of her that stood out other than her eyes. The alley did its job a bit too well.
The girl refuses to speak. Seeing her reluctance, the stranger drops the question and asks another. "Do you remember anything? Of why you're here, or how you got here?"
She shakes her head. Finally adjusting to the darkness, her eyes wander to the arm she has grasped onto: long, lean, and well-toned. His arms can strangle her within a moment's notice, she realizes, and terror implants her to the ground. A cloak hides the rest of his body, but his eyes, those steel-cold eyes, locks her heart in place.
Her hands cannot stop shaking.
"It's okay. I won't hurt you."
That dark, rich, and deep voice of his...how it captures her soul and calms her spirit! Her terror lessens, but he can still see her eyes, the eyes of helpless prey, shiver with her body. He lets go of the girl to unclasp his cloak. The girl feels the fabric touch her shoulder and is immediately surprised at the warmth it generously exudes. She turns to express her gratitude but stops when she peers into his eyes again. Even unveiled, they show not an ounce of emotion, worked and pounded and amended over and over until all she can see was nothing.
"There he is!"
"Is that the 'Masked Man'?"
"Look! He has assaulted someone! Get him!"
The stranger curses at the predicament he finds himself in. Taking quick glances between the girl and the incoming officers, he decides to grab the girl's hand and sprint down the alleyway, ignoring the girl's cries of shock. He looks back once and notices the strange bracelet on her wrist.
"Is that...is she one of them?"
Yes, he definitely needs to take this girl with him.
"W-wait! W-where are you taking me?!"
"Somewhere safe," he replies back.