A/N: Sorry for the delay.
Covid knocked me flat for awhile and devastated my update schedule, to say nothing of the side effects from long covid.
I'm still dealing with that more than a month later, though apparently its not life threatening so I have to just "ride it out" according to the docs.
Great.
With my sixteen year anniversary on this site rapidly approaching, I find myself reflecting on the little things in life. What was once a lazy pastime meant for me and a few friends really grew and evolved over time. There are days when I look back on the last fifteen years here and I wonder if anyone will remember me; if I made an impact, despite never making a single cent on any of these stories. Some days were happier than others, and some stories I enjoyed writing WAY too much; to the point where I'd stay up all night working on them.
And of course, there are times when I look to the future and wonder what will become of things when I'm gone.
Of course, I try not to dwell on the latter overmuch; I'm still alive and still writing. In an ideal world, I'd like to keep doing so for as long as I can. But old age is catching up to me and these days, the world is filled with so much madness and death. Feels like everyone's lost their minds sometimes. Even before that, so many friends and fellow writers I once knew are gone, now. Will I still be here in twenty years? Ten? Five? Its a chilling thought. But for now, I'm still here, still writing.
So here we go. The fate of this story depends on you, the reader. Your feedback determines the fate of this tale, and many others.
As ever, I own no references, quotes, themes or memes. They're tributes to legends far greater than I.
I'm just a humble author trying to make his way in this wild, wacky world, one word at a time.
Time and feedback will determine what remains a story and what doesn't. Simple as that.
In other words...the fate of this is up to YOU, the reader. Doooo let me know~!
References to A Most Unlikely Pretender, which, yes, I'm still working on.
Running around updating a lot of categories today.
So in lieu of a long explanation...away we go~!
"You are MINE."
~?
A Most Unlikely Remark
Morgan was a Berserker.
She knew that of course; it was her class, the form by which she had been summoned.
At the time, she'd resigned herself to it; the dearth of reason was the punishment by which she lived.
It grated her at times, knowing she had been bested back in the Lostbelt-that all her efforts had been for naught. She'd tried so hard got so far, but in the end, it didn't even matter...
.
..
...weren't those the lyrics to a song?
She'd heard Master hum it despondently once during a mission.
Regardless, it didn't change the fact that she had been defeated, then re-summoned to this ghastly place. How it galled her so.
Worse, she was sure she hadn't been summoned correctly. Because you see, there were...other memories in her head. Memories she hadn't experience, memories she knew weren't hers, because she'd never experienced a single one of them before, never seen, never known, yet lived all the same.
Memories of another Morgan.
Those memories had contaminated her, flooding her with all sorts of awful emotions; feelings she'd thought long since suppressed. They were everywhere, everything, everyone, all at once and try as she might, she could not be rid of them! She remembered warm arms wrapping around her hips as someone held her close. A hand stroking the small of her back as she wept. The sensuous sinful sensation of someone's body pressed against hers, and the bliss that followed, the sweet hum of a lullaby as she fell asleep.
Sometimes, in the waking moments just before dawn, she could almost see his face. Blue eyes. Blond hair. Whiskered cheeks.
There had been a child, too.
Hadn't there?
She remembered her oh so clearly, that pale little girl, the mewling life held in her arms, everything but her name.
Her name, her name, her NAME! Why couldn't she remember her name?
These memories angered Morgan. Infuriated her. Destroyed her. Why had this Morgan experienced the happiness she so craved? Why did it feel like she was her, even when she wasn't?!
And so she tamped them down. She strangled them. She sought to snuff them out.
And then, one day, she saw him wandering the halls.
She took him in at a glance. Bright eyes. Blond hair. Whiskered cheeks; the slightly tired slouch of his shoulders and the gnarled black staff he leaned upon. But he wasn't alone. Even as she hesitated she noticed someone near him; a small child held his free hand, babbling happily at him; a child with her hair and his eyes. She wore royal regal robes of amber etched with black and blue and her face oh gods her face, she looked just like her baby, her daughter, but she wasn't, she never could be...
.
..
...could she?
Something cracked in Morgan's cold, black, betrayed heart.
Unbidden, she felt her right hand rise of its own accord.
"Husband?" The world tumbled past her lips.
It was like flicking a switch.
The tired blond jolted.
Not so the child.
She whipped around, face alight with girlish delight. "Mama~! You're here too?!"
Those word shattered Morgan. Destroyed her. Remade her.
Well. There was only one thing for it.
She jumped them.
A/N: Aaand scene~!
Apparently it was revealed that ice-queen Morgan is just that, a facade. She's rather like Artoria at times.
I do hope it entertained someone, somewhere, somehow.
Once more, we're sticking with the "Embers" rule for this story, and others. Meaning folks don't like this, it won't be continued. If the story itself ain't popular/well-received...well, I won't be able to continue it. I'm working two jobs, holidays are here too, meaning I barely have time to write; as such, I cannot afford to write something folks don't enjoy.
So by all means, speak up! Your voice matters! Make yourself heard! As ever, reviews are the fuel that sustain me. Without them I cannot write a single word. Simple as that. Working nearly all hours of the day keep me absurdly busy, and I can't bring myself to write something folks don't like.
So...in the immortal words of Atlas...
...Revieeeeew, Would You Kindly?
No previews here. Too sickly.
Sorry...T_T