I promised some people I would try and write a Hyakki Yagyo X Elysion crossover, and here it is. It's really just a very short collection of short stories(not in chronological order), with no particular overarching plot beyond 'the Elysion members seek sanctuary at Arisa's shrine', and there's more a focus on character interactions than that plot really. I may add more stories in the future if I get the inspiration, but for now I offer this up for your enjoyment.
So, yeah, hope you all like them, whether you are a member of those two groups or not.
(As a side note, I do not know how something that was essentially inspired by humorous interactions ended up as about 80% angst but that's the way these things roll sometimes, I guess. )
Ah, good morning, little Nora. It is nice to see you as always. Oh? Patroclus is still asleep and I thought I would let him be. In truth, I don't like to leave him anymore, but it is a little strange to be watching people sleep, isn't it? Even if it is a case of watching over them. But regardless, I'm honoured that you want my company this morning so let us walk. Where shall we go? You can lead the way if you'd like.
I hear that you're familiar with who and what we are, in some aspects, is that right? Truth be told, that isn't as much of a surprise as it feels it should be. We've all always known after all, that we had just been stories for millennia before all this. Our lives have been and gone, but you can sort of feel it, you know? The tugging that comes from being remembered, from having your name passed from one set of lips to another and captured in paper and then on screens. A sort of immortality, I guess? You…your kind, they are immortal too, yes?
Ah, yes, I recall one of you others saying it. That once you, specifically, were human. I suppose, of all of them, you look it. Remind me, what is it that you are again, specifically? I…ki…ryo….I have to confess that the word doesn't mean anything to me particularly. Unlike ours, stories of your kind or any of the others' kinds are not the ones that reached us. But I cannot quite imagine any king or god ordering me to slay-
Hey, hey, don't get like that. I'm not saying I'm actually going to do anything, can I? Geez. But in the life I had before, if I had encountered one of you, I would have assumed you were here to do harm. I would have assumed you all monsters and fought against you. Though I admit I did just tell a lie there, for no king or god would have sent me on a mission against monsters. No, you know my story, don't you? You know that my fight was a war, a most human thing.
Hmmm? What was that? Speak up, little Nora.
Oh. I suppose I hadn't thought of it that way.
Let's…let's sit here for a moment, little Nora, shall we? If I look over, I can still get a glimpse of Patroclus. Yeah, just here is fine. I just need a moment. Now, how shall I put this…? It will not be a surprise to you, really. But…
It was because of me that Patroclus died, back when we were human together. There were other things I did that were just as horrible, just as devastating. But Patroclus…I loved him more than life, he was more than life and yet…
Do you know, little Nora, sometimes I wonder if I even deserve this? This new body and life, but above all that I wonder if I even deserve to have Patroclus back? Don't get me wrong, I am glad that I get one more chance to walk this earth again, as utterly transformed as it is. But before I came here, I felt as if I was being tugged into the story that I had been a part of before. We both were, you know. All of us were, in a way, even those of us who don't have the other vital players in their stories with them. Like Orpheus. It is strange to see an Orpheus without his Eurydice, but at the same time it isn't. After all, his story has always been about his loss, hasn't it? Even with his time on Jason's mission aboard the Argo he would never have been a story if he had not been so devastated by his grief. No wonder, I think, that the gods did not see fit to bring Eurydice back. That would have been boring for them. And those gods, they hate being bored.
Wow. Yeah, that sounded pretty cold too, didn't it? Let's walk back, shall we?
Huh. That's unexpected. Oh yes, that's true. It really must be strange for you seeing us as living, breathing stories. Tell me, little Nora, what would you have done if we had appeared to you in your time, back when you were human? Oh, well, even if you don't know, I am sure you would have been surprised, no? Scared, possibly? Defensive?
Doesn't it, little Nora?
I think it does. The past mattered, because it got all of us here, one way or another. You, Arisa, the rest of you. Whatever you all are and whatever you did, it got you here. And Patroclus and I didn't have much of a choice in being bought to life in this way. Some could say that in our pasts we didn't have much choice in how we ended up, that it was just a matter of Fate. I know better, really.
The point is, little Nora, it is that the past got us here. The past that we had before, when we were the people in the stories that so fascinate you, it ended up pulling us here. Or rather, it was the attempt to pull ourselves away that got us here. I am grateful, really, that we were able to find this place. That your Arisa has offered us sanctuary here. It was rude of me, really, to just dismiss you all as monsters-
No, no, don't try to soften it, little Nora. Even if there is truth in those words, it was unkind. A violation of guest-friendship- and what good guest-friendship you have shown us, even though you perhaps did not have that concept in your history. Actually, did you? Hmm? No, that's alright, you can think on it a little bit. Truthfully, I am rambling a little now. The point I suppose I am trying to make is that you're more than that, really, aren't you? Perhaps in one story your otherness makes you the monsters, the villains. In another story though, you could be something else, even the hero. Certainly, trying to bring back humanity could be considered heroic, couldn't it? And I…well, you remember me as a hero, don't you? That's what all the stories about me have said, I know this much. But truthfully, I was a monster too. My rage undid me, I participated in a war. What a very human way to be a monster, as you put it.
I want to be something else though, this time around. Something better. I want to be that something better with Patroclus.
Sorry, what was that? Ah. I still disagree, because the past does still matter, but what you're saying that it isn't everything, is it? That, I agree with. After all, that is why we all fled to here. Not just because of the music, but because we didn't want our lives now to follow the same paths as the lives that we had then. How well it will work out, I don't know. But at least we're here.
Oh, Patroclus, you're awake. Good morning. Ah, I was just walking with Nora for a little bit, just chatting. Yes, it was mostly about myself but I think we worked some things out too. Haven't we, little Nora?
Yes, that's a good idea, Patroclus. Little Nora, stay with us when we have breakfast, won't you? Tell us the stories of yourself. Tell us about the person you were and who you're trying to be now. Yes, really. We really would like to hear it all, wouldn't we, Patroclus?
Oh good, I'm glad. I am glad for the both of you.
So, come on then. Let's go.
This story is basically a monologue, but as one side of the conversation. It's a style in which I experimented with in one of my Kawaakari CB fanfictions from last year. It was quite a fun way of writing, and I'm happy I found an opportunity to do so again.
Anyway, on to the next stories!