A/N: Hey! I had some ideas for fics for The Eminence in Shadow and Mobuseka that I haven't written. This is just something done for fun, I'm still going to finish at least the Earth Arc before I maybe move on from Life's a Pay to Win Game.

1st Idea: Life's a Co-op Game.

Summary: A route in the crossover which after their shared adventure to obtain Luxion, Cid decided Leon was cool enough to recruit into The Shadow Garden. With their shared knowledge of everything, events would happen a lot differently.

-Leon-

I would say that the moment I had realized that living in this new world wouldn't be as easy as following the story wasn't when Zola had tried to sell me off. No, I figured that was just part of how the world had to work given how it was built to cater to women, and I just saw the worst of this shitty Otome game world.

No, the moment I knew things were going to be different was when I saw him.

Wait- wait- hear me out! Not like that!

I know how many of you do think like that but I don't.

Anyway, yeah, the first time I met Lord Shadow was when I knew things were so much more real than I expected. Seeing him for the first time… it was like seeing my death. Like I knew that I would die if I tried anything stupid.

Then there was how I dragged The Protagonist with me on accident and had to take her and some local kids on my adventure.

Now, some part of me supposed that perhaps because I was trying to go to the Cash Shop without The Protagonist the world was just making me take her anyway. The local kids were probably other NPCs being used to pad out the party. I mean we were a pretty balanced party all things considered.

However, it's when we were about to be killed by Luxion, and I saw The Shadow Garden in action that I realized how different things were going to be.

My original plan was to try and use Luxion's abilities to monitor the academy and see if The Shadow Garden was going to get in the way of the Otome game's storyline, if they did, I'd deal with them then.

At least that was the idea until Cid came up to me after my award ceremony.

"Leon." He greeted me out of nowhere.

I jumped due to the fact that neither I nor Luxion had detected him at all.

"Cid!" I shouted as I held my beating heart. "Jesus dude, don't do that!"

Cid chuckled. "Funny you say that."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Well I mean The Son of God isn't a thing here, so it's weird that you mention him like that. You ought to hide it a bit better." Said Cid.

I remember looking up to him, only to see he vanished.

"Luxion? Cid's here right?" I asked.

[He was…]

Cid then appeared behind me. "I mean, if you want to use whatever knowledge from your past to live better in this world, that's fine."

I turned just to see him not there anymore. I started to walk into a more open area, not feeling comfortable with being in a dead end where he could hide. Unfortunately, the only space near me was a maze.

"Luxion, plan a route." I commanded.

[I recommend jumping on top of the hedges.]

I used a spell to help me get up top. However, as soon as I was there I immediately saw Cid waiting for me a few meters across.

"But we both know you can't do that right?" taunted Cid. I could briefly feel the same thing I felt with Lord Shadow but dismissed it.

"Cid you're freaking me out here. Mind just getting to the point?" I asked.

Cid smiled and beckoned for me to follow.

Ah I recall this part.

Right, that's when you, Alpha, had appeared behind me. I felt like my life was in danger, so I chased after where I saw Cid going. I know now he was just moving every quickly, but at the time it just looked like he was warping over and over.

I jumped from hedge to hedge, not wanting to risk falling. It was stupid of me but I got tunnel vision at some point and didn't realize where I was going, just that I had to keep going. By the time I realized where I was, I was at the top of the castle.

I did my best to try and catch my breath. Cid was in front of me, his back turned to me.

[Master, I am beginning to think that this isn't Cid Kagenou.]

"Maybe…" I said as I straightened myself out. I heard a noise behind me and then swung my hand while it was coated in a Zio.

Alpha immediately caught my hand and made the spell die out. With her other arm she slapped me across my face so hard that I flew in the air, even twirling a bit before I landed.

As I rolled and stood up I found Alpha already in front of me again. She forced her sword at my neck and forced me to look up. When I did I saw Cid standing on top of the roof's flag, with nothing but the moon behind him. He slowly turned to me, and as he did, he donned his slime suit.

Cid, now Lord Shadow, jumped down from his place on the roof.

"Fellow scholar of shadows." Said Lord Shadow as he tossed a sword (which I later found out was a random one he stole from one of the random suits of armors in the halls) in front of me. "Prove your place in this world to me."

"Do I have to?" I quipped as I picked up the sword.

But Lord Shadow just took a step forward, and vanished.

But like I said earlier, that wasn't him teleporting, just moving very quickly. And the thing is, even if he was teleporting, people tend to aim for the one spot when doing something like that. So I guarded behind me and felt myself go flying. Or at least I would've if I didn't dig my heels into the roof.

As I skidded, I heard so many tiles break off and fall. I saw Alpha quickly disappear; I remember being worried that she was going to hit me next but looking back I think she was just catching the tiles I sent flying.

I was. Or to be more accurate I hit them with some spells to leave no traces behind.

Right.

Anyway, I took the stance my dad taught me for situations like this—er, fighting on uneven terrain I mean—as I looked at Lord Shadow.

Lord Shadow readied himself. "Do you know how to aim that at someone stronger than you?"

"Sure, stick you with sharp end, right?" I quipped.

Lord Shadow chuckled. "This will be fun."

-Co-op Game-

"And from there bossman kicked your butt, right?" Delta asked with a happy grin on her face.

Leon, who was sitting in front of the seven shadows in Alexandria, folded his arms and looked to the side. "I-I mean I put up a little bit of a fight…"

"He crushed you." Corrected Zeta.

[Completely and utterly. I regret Leon becoming my owner.]

"Oh, come on! At least I didn't think-"

Leon attempted to speak in his defense only for Cid to immediately cover his mouth.

"Ix-nay." Said Cid with his best intimidating smile aimed at Leon who put up his hands in surrender.

Alpha chuckled "This all just goes to say that we have recruited Leon into our ranks now. This makes him the second human to join us aside from Nu."

"And the first boy aside from Lord Shadow." Pointed out Gamma.

"Eh… I'm not sure how I feel about that… I mean Epsilon already looks at my boobs all the time…" Beta said as she covered herself up.

"Wha-" cried Epsilon with a red face, "No I don't!"

Ignoring Epsilon, Leon continues. "Oh, no don't worry about it. I mean you're all cute and all but the entire way here Cid was just going on and on about how pretty you all were and how much he liked you-"

Cid covered Leon's mouth once again to all of the Shades' disappointments.

"Oi!" shouted Cid as he covered Leon's mouth with slime tendrils and shook him by his shoulders, "What do you think you're saying! They're going to get the wrong idea!"

Leon moved the tendrils, "I just wanted to say that NTR is a shit fetish, I'm not going to make a move on someone in a happy relationship."

At this Cid let Leon go, although he eyed him warily, not trusting for his secrets to not be let loose.

"What's… NTR…?" asked Eta, wanting to know knowledge from the other scholar of shadows. "What's… a fetish…?"

Leon eyed Cid and Alpha who just leveled flat stares at him.

"Oh… well… Hm. Okay, so you know what sex is…?"

-Nu-

Over the past few weeks I've gotten to know Sir Leon, or rather Sir Daylight, pretty well. As the only two human members of Shadow Garden and fellow children of nobility I've found him to be rather easy to get along with.

"I'm serious!" said Daylight as we spoke. His earlier statement having sent me into hysterics. "Cid thinks this is all just a game! He doesn't know the Cult is real!"

I did my best to compose myself, but Leon's best joke never failed despite all the time's he's told it. I just can't help it, he always delivers it as though he's divulging some kind of great secret. But everyone in The Shadow Garden knows he's lying through his teeth.

Leon began to pout at me, so I tried to compose myself again.

"S—heh—sorry…" I said as I wiped some tears from my eyes, "But you really need to stop joking around during training."

Leon threw his hands up. "Ugh! Fine. Whatever. Where were we before we took a break?"

"You said something about training that Lord Shadow didn't know." I reminded him.

Leon nodded, "Right. So, Cid's abilities were all basically just stat raise stuff. He's still essentially at lvl. 1 or so. Maybe 10 considering all the bandits, but since the story proper hasn't started it may be possible that no one has leveled up yet."

If it were a few weeks ago, I would've suggested we admit Leon to a mental hospital or perhaps put him out of his misery. But as revealed to me when I was told to become his 'Senpai' everything he says like this is simply something beyond my comprehension.

Unlike Lord Shadow and the Shades who have clearly lived for ages upon ages and figured out how to reveal their knowledge upon us mortals, Leon's still struggling with the knowledge he obtained.

"Which means…?" I said in attempt to lead him to properly explain himself.

Leon nodded, "Which means that we can train our stats without screwing ourselves over later if we do the same thing you did in the game."

I motioned for Leon to continue.

"Right, so in the game…"

Leon would then go on to babble about some exercises and games that one could play to increase what he called 'stats.' Saying that in the game one had been limited by a calendar system or something, but that we probably wouldn't have to worry about that ourselves.

As I watched him, I couldn't help but admire him.

I respected Lord Shadow and The Shades.

But even with everything I've learned during my time in The Shadow Garden, if I were to compare myself to a bird free from it's cage flying high in the sky… they would be the moon, always on top of things and witnessing everything that occurred in the dark.

Leon however, who fought for the freedom of himself and his brother. Who now fights for the safety of the world, albeit bumbling all the way there… I'd liken him to a bat, constantly flapping its wings for fear of falling and incapable of gliding.

It's cute in a way, and more approachable.

"Shit, it's getting close to when I promised Claire I'd train with her. Let's revisit this, yeah Nu?"

Tsk.

-Co-op Game-

"So…" said Cid as he witnessed Leon banging his head against the tea table. "Remind me, why do we need Livia to hook up with the five?"

Leon sighed, but didn't raise his hand. "Livia's supposed to awaken her powers of the Saintess due to the power of love and then board the royal airship alongside her chosen love interest. From what I recall it was necessary to have some kind of ancient bloodline on the boy's part or something."

Cid sipped his tea through a silly straw, spitting in the face of at least half of what Leon was taught by his tea master.

"Should… should we maybe check out the royal airship? Like to make sure it's even possible of half the stuff you said it does?" asked Cid.

Leon immediately rose, "Oh my god what if it doesn't work."

"We could kill everyone in Fanoss." Suggested Cid.

[I agree with the murderous elf lover.]

"We're not doing that."

"Plan B then."

[Noted.]

"No!"

"Plan F?"

[Reorganizing…]

"Ugh. You maniacs." Leon held his head in his hands before taking a deep breath. "Okay. But I bet that it's heavily guarded, on top of being something hidden. How're we even going to go about finding it let alone seeing if it works?"

"We'll need a distraction of some sort." Said Cid as plans went through his mind. He then snapped. "Plan F!"

[Seconded.]

"NO!" shouted Leon.

[Tsk.]

"Fine…" Cid folded his arms and pouted before muttering, "I guess Alpha probably wouldn't agree either…"

"It's such a good thing you're whipped." Said Leon as he leaned back in his chair.

Cid took offense to this. "I'm whipped? What about you!"

"Whaddya mean?" shot back Leon as he sipped some tea.

"Nu, Claire, Livia." Cid listed off the three girls then waved his three extended fingers in Leon's face.

Leon batted away Cid's hand. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

Cid rolled his eyes.

"Don't roll your eyes at me! How goes the seven wives and 50 plus consorts Lord Shadow…!" taunted Leon.

Cid blushed at this. He opened his mouth before thinking better of it.

"Truce?" offered Cid.

Leon sighed. "Truce."

[If I may, what of The Viscountess Marie Fou Lafan and the heirs? Should we supersede their place in the story, how shall we repay them for ridding them of their purpose. I have a few suggestions.]

"No murder." Said Leon, not even bothering to look at Luxion.

[I have no suggestions.]

"Well," said Cid, "It's a good point at least. I mean, Marie definitely reincarnated too… do you think we should talk to her about everything?"

Leon scratched his chin. "Huh… I didn't suggest you to come up with something so reasonable. Yeah, why haven't we tried that yet?"

"Well it just seemed kind of boring, nothing really Eminence in Shadow about it." Said Cid.

Leon just sighed.

-Beta-

I glanced at Sir Leon, hubby's friend.

"…So I'm writing this story for you?" I asked for clarification.

Sir Leon shook his head, "No, you're publishing the journals I have written. You're just going to edit it a bit so that it has different names. But make sure that the female lead's name is Hanabi."

"Er… why that name specifically?" I couldn't help but ask.

"We, Cid and I that is, tried to talk to someone that's fucking everything up. However, she didn't want to cooperate. Luckily we got away and had an alibi in Alpha and Livia, so everyone thought she just got confused when she tried to claim we tried to hurt her." Explained Leon, catching my interest as someone appears to have tried and disrespected hubby. "The way she acted reminded me of someone from my past life, so I want to see if I can directly call her out this way. If it's published in you're name people are bound to read it. Since everyone knows that Cid and I work at Mitsugoshi, the little shrew will probably try to contact me to get to you."

I nodded.

I then began to read through some journals Leon had provided for me, detailing what he called: The first half of Alto Liebe.

-Leon-

As I did my best to serve Nu (who was going by Nicole), Livia, and Claire tea, I found my room being stormed by a blonde woman, but not the one I had been expecting.

"Barfort!" cried the villainess. "Excellent, you're here. My sources tell me that you are employed at Mitsugoshi, correct?"

I nodded. "Y-yeah? Uh, I mean, Yes? Is there something I can help you with?"

Angelica tried to say several different things all at once but couldn't.

"Miss Redgrave, maybe have some tea." Said Nu.

Angelica nodded. "Yes, thank you. Apologies for the intrusion but this… haaaaah… this is really important to me."

The girls walked up to Angelica and helped her take a seat. Although Claire was more worried about whether or not Angelica was accompanied by her followers given how the female students usually interact with Claire.

Angelica drank some tea, steadied her breathing, then reached into her school bag. She then placed a copy of Alto Liebe (volume 1) onto the table.

"Barfort," said Angelica as she looked into my eyes with full of… something, "I need you to get into contact with the person who wrote this and tell them I want to see them."

Livia leveled her heterochromatic eyes at Angelica. "Miss Redgrave, I don't think I care for the way you're talking to my Leon."

Sorry, whose Leon?

Angelica glanced at Livia before nodding. "Right. My apologies. I should explain why a little. This story appears to be… prophetic. Or at least it claims to be. The truth of the matter is that it appears to very heavily detail what has been going on in school for the past few months barring Princess Alexia's kidnapping. I need to speak to the person who wrote this."

I looked at the girls beside me. Then to Luxion in the corner of my eye. Everyone seemed to signal that it was up to me.

I sat down. "Well, you're talking to him."

"What?" said Angelica confused. "But the author is Natsume Kafka."

I shook my head, "She was the editor this time around. I was the one who actually wrote it. She's… a coworker of mine, so I tried my hand at writing-"

"So you disobeyed the Crown Prince's order and talked about what happened in school outside of it! Do you have any idea how intrusive this is!? My own family wrote to me saying they're reconsidering my marriage with Julius thanks to this!" shouted Angelica.

To this, I looked to Nu, who I had given the job of holding onto the original copies of the journals. She smiled and took them out, then slid them in Angelica's direction.

Angelica looked carefully, only ending up more and more confused.

"I wrote the original version of these stories when I was a child," I said, doing my best to lie like I was Cid, "I heard about the stories of the five founding heirs and based on how my older sister's delusions of having their descendants all fall in love with her, I wrote a story. I just did my best to make them as stupid as possible, I think Natsume edited in a way that would appeal to the larger female audience."

"…What do you mean as stupid as possible?" questioned Angelica.

I shrugged, "I mean, the crown prince being so obsessed with commoner life that he'd fall in love with someone over meat skewers and getting slapped while also hypocritically enjoying everything that comes with being born as a prince… well what else would you call it."

Angelica slammed her hands on the table looking like she wanted to scream.

Livia plopped a cookie in her mouth.

Angelica slowly chewed it.

"So…" said Angelica as she sat back down, "What happens next?"

"Next?" I asked.

"How… how does The Crown Prince's relationship with his fiancé end?" asked Angelica.

I frowned.

Angelica started to tear up.

As Livia rushed over to help comfort her, I couldn't help but feel like something about the sight looked familiar…

-Co-op Game-

Leon sat in the room of Duke Redgrave nervously.

"…" Duke Redgrave said nothing as he stared at the shaking boy.

Leon didn't dare to say anything either.

After what felt like hours, Duke Redgrave finally spoke up. "You wish to take my daughter on an adventure? My unmarried daughter?"

"Yes. I should point out that I'm not the only one going with her, my friends, several of them female and engaged, are coming to." Said Leon.

Duke Redgrave folded his hands on his desk.

"And?" he asked. "Their presence wouldn't change your own motives, would it?"

"I don't have any motives-"

SLAM!*

"ARE YOU SAYING MY DAUGHTER ISN'T GOOD ENOUGH FOR YOU!?"

SLAM!*

"FATHER PLEASE! Leon already has several lovers, he isn't after me-"

"THAT JUST MAKES HIM MORE SUSPICIOUS! ALRIGHT BOY LET'S SETTLE THIS LIKE THE MAN YOU AREN'T! I'LL GIVE YOU A FAIR SHOT AND MAKE IT AN ARMOR DUEL!"

"FATHER!? HE'S JUST A FRIEND!"

Cordelia, Angelica's maid that is practically an older sister to her, adjusted her glasses and then chimed in. "A friend that you talked a lot more about than your fiancé in all the letters you sent me."

"Cordelia!?" Angelica blushed, causing Leon to do so slightly as well, "T-t-that's just because Julius never spends any time with me! Plus Leon's been training me-"

"FINDING EXCUSES TO PUT YOUR HANDS ON MY DAUGHTER ARE YOU BOY!?"

"No! Claire was the one to teach me grappling! Leon usually helps with sword training and armor piloting!" shouted Angelica before blushing deeper as she recalled what it was like to be in Arroganz' cockpit alone with Leon given how her suit left little to his imagination, at least given what she saw whenever she looked back and saw the crotch of his pants.

"I KNEW IT! SCREW IT! LET'S SETTLE THIS HERE AND NOW-"

"Dormina." Chanted Leon, causing Lord Redgrave to immediately fall over.

Angelica and Cordelia slowly turned to him.

"I won, let's go." Said Leon.

Angelica and Cordelia looked at each other, shrugged, then nodded.

Lord Redgrave would wake up, slightly chuckling at realizing how his rage got the best of him and the letter that Angelica left behind detailing her excitement to spend time with her friends on an adventure like she always wanted.

He then nursed a headache at the realization that Angelica would slightly disgrace the family by skipping the end of term ball to spend time with a boy she clearly was beginning to harbor feelings for. He could only hope that whatever she found with him would make up for it.

-Cid-

I looked at Alpha. She smiled back at me.

I looked at the little bundle in her arms.

"Hello my little prince of darkness." I tried to say, but what came out was "H-h-hi…" through all of my tears.

Of all the things I expected to happen because of Leon being recruited into our Shadow Broker Games, Alpha confessing to me and then getting impregnated roughly nine months ago was not one of them.

I reach out a finger, scared I might hurt him if I do anything else.

He grabs it.

Firm grip. As expected of my son.

"Why's everything all blurry?" I asked.

Alpha sniffed, "Because you're crying more than the baby."

"So are you" I shot back.

In this moment, as I was surrounded by a family, I never dreamed I'd have forged I realized something.

If Leon was telling the truth about Fanoss, it's jack the royal airship or Plan F.

-Co-op Game-

As Marie, previously known as Hanabi in her past life, did her best to evacuate the school being burned down by the terrorists she finds herself needing to lead Julius, Kyle, and this guy she healed on the way named Marco through what seemed like the only empty part of the school.

However, given that it was empty, she should have known well enough to question why it may have been.

A hooded figure begins to walk in front of her and the boys, all of them standing still as the figure's presence seems to demand their attention.

"Simply amazing Hanabi." Cheered the figure.

Having heard that line quoted a thousand times, having seen the Alto Liebe books, and having feared that she wasn't the only one to reincarnate for a while, Hanabi replies. "Bubby…"

Leon stops and reveals his old face, Hiro's face. Thankfully Leon had an alibi for being gone, so with Nu's help to reconstruct his old face with slime, Hiro was brought to the land of the living again.

"You really do remember me…" said Hiro with a happy smile before it took an angry look. "I'm SO FLATTERED!"

The room becomes engulfed in flames, Hanabi is barely able to shield everyone from the damage.

"But it's too late for you to apologize." Sneered Hiro.

Realizing the danger, Marco and Julius both stand in front of Marie and Kyle.

"Two!?" Questioned Hiro at the sight of two dark blue haired men defending her.

Julius glances back at Marie, "You addressed this man earlier… do you know him?"

"I… I think… Um I…" Marie flounders for a bit.

"Aw, does coming up with a lie off the top of your head hurt it?" laughed Hiro, "C'mere, I'll make it all stop!"

"Try not to kill him!" pleaded Hanabi.

-Cid-

I look a Leon and Nu who seemed to have gotten in a bit of a fight.

Shit, should I have not sent her to get Leon and Livia?

Or maybe I should've let all those terrorists attack the school for real instead of burning it down as a distraction so we could steal the ship?

But if I did that there was always the chance that Livia or Angelica could get hurt, and according to Leon they're central to the plot.

Then again if it wasn't for Nu showing up at the last second with Gamma, Leon might have killed Julius and Marie. Julius is possibly necessary for the plot while Marie is Leon's sister from his past life.

Like I don't think I'd mind killing my past life's parents but Leon would probably freak out if he actually went through with something similar.

Hm, guess there's no right answers.

"Um… Mr. Lord Shadow sir…?"

I look over to Livia, "Just Lord Shadow will do. But when we leave Alexandria you and Angelica can go back to calling me Cid."

Livia nodded happily.

Angelica, meanwhile, was looking around the throne room in amazement, having been enamored with everything it had to offer. Alpha was happy to show her around, wanting to introduce our little prince of darkness Minato to everything as well.

"And if you twist the torch right here, it'll open up." Alpha revealed to Angelica.

Angelica's eyes lit up as she did just that.

"Amazing…" marveled Angelica. She then whipped around to the rest of us. "Leon, Cid, did you two know it did that!?"

No. I thought.

"Of course." I said.

Leon didn't reply, still all huffy from whatever he and Nu went through. It was terribly awkward for the rest of us. Thankfully Nu took the initiative and started holding his hand. Leon didn't fight it.

I wonder if he'll get over whatever it was before Luxion and Eta finish analyzing the Royal Airship, kinda need him to tell me what to do later…

I wonder if there were any sequels to Alto Liebe, and if I should worry about Minato being a capture target in one of them.

.

.

Next time:

2nd Idea: What if Cid was Right?

The Eminence in Shadow only.

Summary: On one of the most recent chapters for The Eminence in Shadow, I saw someone say they headcanoned that Alpha actually figured out Cid was just playing games the entire time and was playing along because she loved her weirdo boyfriend. I don't think that's true, but the idea that the shades knew was interesting. It's also been done before. Instead, my idea is that Cid was telling the truth that it's all just roleplay shadow broker games that his childhood friends are setting up for him.

3rd Idea: Luxion-less Run.

Mobuseka Only

Summary: Leon claims time and time again that everything he does is only possible thanks to Luxion. This is partly true. My idea is what if Leon finds some of Lea's old journals in his family's stuff and uses it to pay off Zola and find some land. However, he'll be much more interested in making the plot happen due to the fact he can't really rely on some cop out. How does he still end up saving the world? Well not in any way he plans to at least.