Winds of Change

I never would have thought that my love of helping crafting interesting stories would get me into trouble. Then again, I didn't really think that ROB's were a thing. Now I'm stuck in a world that could best be described as on life support with powers I have no idea how to use. Oh well, at least I'm not alone.

So yeah, I've been watching Black Clover lately and I have to say I'm rather enjoying it. I really love how the magic works in it, so I figured I'd have some fun with it. This, along with a few other ideas I'm working on, are the result. Enjoy!

Chapter 1

"Urrrrg, so bored," I moaned, leaning back in my chair.

It was one of those mind numbing days when nothing seems to keep you interested, not helped in the least that my days off from work had fallen in such a way I ended up with a full week off. The house was empty, I'd already read all of the recently updated stories on my list, there was nothing new that looked interesting and my muse had decided to take a vacation somewhere nice. Normally, I'd fire up my Playstation, but since it was currently updating, that was right out.

PING!

I sighed and sat up, bringing up my Gmail tab and found that it was a PM on Space Battles. Considering I was a recent addition and generally didn't comment that much, I hadn't received much in the way of PMs. I idly clicked on it and found it was from someone called 'Robert Oswald Bordeaux'. Interesting name.

Hey Dis, big fan of your work!

Why thank you! A bit of ego stroking is never unwelcome.

Listen, I've been working on an idea of my own, but I'm having trouble coming up with exactly how to do it. Mind helping?

I raised an eyebrow, but sent back a quick message that I'd be willing, assuming I knew the story they were working with.

Thanks man. OK, so the basic gist of the idea is for someone to get dropped into Worm (yes its one of those) with the power of a character from fiction. Any ideas for what powers and who I should use?

I snorted. This sort of story was right up my alley considering how much I enjoyed doing them myself. I thought for a moment and then started typing.

My first instinct for the first part is to say to give the MC something either OP as hell or utterly humiliating while still being useful. Whatever is given should be either easily mastered or come with at least the basics since wasting time training is something that breaks the flow, although instant mastery isn't needed. A good bases would be to pick a character and basically give the MC their powers and skillset at some point along their journey, either when they are first introduced or after they come into their own, but before things really get good for them.

As for who I'd use? Well, normally I'd suggest someone from DXD, but I've been watching Black Clover and kinda want to see some interesting stuff from that. Besides, I haven't seen that much done with Worm and Black Clover, so it could be interesting. Nozel or Yuno would both work well, mainly because they both have fun powers to play with. That help?

I hit send and, after a moments thought, pulled up a word processor of my own. The idea wasn't a bad one and I could think of a few ways I could use it without stepping on Roberts toes. I didn't have long to plan though before I received a message back.

It does actually. Thanks for the help mate and I'm sorry in advance.

I frowned. Sorry for what? Before I could send a message back asking what the hell he was on about, my computer screen went black. I had just enough time to register a flash of red and white, before an arm reached out of the screen, grabbed me by the collar and yanked me through it.

"WHAT THE FLYING FUCK!?" I screamed as I fell through a seemingly endless tunnel of swirling rainbows.

As I fell, I felt something begin to change. A brutal cold began to steal over my body and I could actually feel my bones and muscles begin to change shape. Then, my head split open as a frankly insane amount of knowledge was rammed into it all at once. I screamed once and blacked out.

Consciousness returned to me slowly, with the first things I became aware of was the feeling of the wind against my face. I opened my eyes and blinked a few times, before my brain caught up with the fact that I was suddenly plummeting towards a patchwork of fields and roads far below me.

"HOLY FUCKING SHIT!" I yelped as I started flailing in an attempt to get my fall under control.

Instead, I somehow shot a huge blade of wind out of my hands that hit the ground with enough force to create a small explosion and send me spinning until I managed to get my head on straight enough to stop thrashing and spread myself out in the air to slow myself down and regain some control.

Then I slammed face first into an invisible wall of air that acted not unlike a trampoline.

"WHOOOAAAA, stop the world, I wanna get off!" I yelled as I was bounced up and down a few times until I finally came to a stop, "Urph, I think I'm gonna hurl…"

I swallowed a couple of times, just to make sure that my stomach would remain where it was supposed to be, then sat up and looked around. The platform I was sat on appeared as a pale white disk in mid air that was glowing a very faint shade of green.

"Did I do this?" I muttered.

"No, I did!"

I jolted back as a small, green ball of light zipped up in front of me. I blinked a couple of times as the light faded, revealing a tiny young girl with blonde hair, pointed ears, gray eyes and a pair of insect-like wings. She was wearing a pale green dress and nothing else.

"Honestly, what kind of a Wind Mage falls to his death?" said the fairy, "When I agreed to come along, I didn't expect to have to start by saving your sorry ass!"

I just stared at her, which seemed to annoy the tiny girl, who fixed me with a glare.

"Hey, are you listening to me?" she shouted, "Don't ignore me, I...HEY!"

She yelped as I grabbed her and started squirming against my grip.

"Huh, your real," I said.

"OF COURSE I'M REAL!" yelled the fairy, "NOW LET GO!"

She swung her hand and I was struck across the face by a gust of wind. It didn't really hurt, but it was enough to snap me out of my shock and let her go.

"Um, sorry," I said as she straightened her dress.

"You'd better be," grumbled the fairy, "I didn't wake up after all this time up just to be manhandled by an idiot."

"In my defence, its not everyday you find yourself face to face with a fairy," I said, "Or randomly find yourself falling from the sky…"

I frowned as something the fairy had said finally reached my brain.

"Wait, Wind Mage?"

As if in response to my question, a brilliant golden light appeared in front of me and spat out a large, golden book with a four leaf clover on the front into my hands. I stared at it for a moment, then looked up at the fairy, who looked slightly bored.

"Your Sylph, aren't you?" I asked.

Sylph grinned and struck a pose.

"Yep, thats me!" she chirped, "The Spirit of Wind, Sylph, at your service Master!"

I took a deep breath, my hands tightening on the book in my hands as I put everything together.

"And let me guess," I growled, "This is Earth Bet, isn't it?"

"Hmm, yep, thats what the local Humans call it," said Sylph.

I twitched violently, then took a calming breath and set the Grimoire down on my crossed legs.

"Right, lets not lose it Leo," I muttered, "Just...stay calm and don't destroy everything in range…"

It took a few more deep breaths to suppress the urge to scream, rage and destroy the countryside with a massive, Spirit powered typhoon and clear my thoughts enough that I could actually think straight.

"Alright, so I've apparently been played by a ROB, lets put that aside for now since there's nothing I can do about it," I said.

"Probably smart," said Sylph, "The Outer Ones aren't exactly beings that can be fought unless they want to be, which makes the entire practice kinda pointless."

I sighed, then looked at the tiny fairy.

"Alright, so whats your story?" I asked, "Were you brought here too?"

"Nope, I'm a native," said Sylph, "Magic exists here, just like it does in every version of reality with life, but until about an hour ago, it only existed in tiny amounts, only enough to allow natural life to exist."

"What happened an hour ago?" I asked.

"The dimensional walls were ruptured," said Sylph, "Most likely by the Outer One in preparation for dumping his latest toy into this world. As a result, Magic is now flowing far more freely than it ever has done, which means that Spirits like me can come into existence."

I stared at her.

"If you're only an hour old, how do you know so much?" I asked.

Sylph shrugged.

"I'm the living embodiment of the element of Wind," she said, "I'm not even close to being a living being. I have all the knowledge of every version of me that exists on every Earth out there."

"Fair enough," I muttered, then a thought hit me, "Wait, what about the other elements?"

"Oh yeah, the others will appear as well," she said, "Although they will probably stay asleep until someone with a high enough affinity for their element appears."

"How long will that take?" I asked.

Sylph shrugged again.

"Could be a couple of weeks, could be decades," she said, "All living beings have the capacity for Magic, its just a matter of how effective their Soul is at absorbing and metabolizing it. I suspect that, with the tap now open, people will start accidentally tapping into Magic in times of great stress, especially the ones with Mana crystals in their head."

It took me a couple of seconds to realize what she was talking about.

"Wait, are you saying that PARAHUMANS are going to start developing Magic?!" I spluttered.

"Maybe?" said Sylph, "Look, I don't know for sure. Like I said, I know everything my counterparts know. I know what I am and what I can do and about the other Spirits and how Magic works, but worlds suddenly getting an influx of Magic like this is rare and none of my alternates have ever seen anything like those weird slug things."

I sighed.

"Fair enough, I guess that can't be helped," I said.

I sighed again and got to my feet.

"Well, I guess we should get going. I can't stay floating here forever. Lets see now…"

I opened my Grimoire and quickly found a suitable spell.

"Perfect," I said, "Wind Creation Magic: Swift White Hawk."

The solid platform under me rippled and reshaped itself into a large bird made of solidified wind.

"Huh, that felt...strange," I muttered, "Cool though."

I smiled as I poked at the connection with my construct until I was confident I could direct it without falling off.

"Right, lets go find a town so we can figure out where we are," I said as Sylph landed on my shoulder.

"K, I think theres one over that way," said Sylph, pointing off to one side.

I nodded and directed my construct to fly in that direction.

It didn't take long to find the town and I landed my construct far enough away that I wouldn't be immediately outed and walked into town with Sylph hiding in my hood.

"I don't get why I have to hide," muttered the little spirit.

"Because having a fairy flying around is something that will definitely cause problems," I said, "I don't really want to be outed this soon. Or at all really. Now stay put and keep it down."

"Finnnne," said Sylph, "But I want compensation!"

"Oh, like what?" I asked.

"MARSHMALLOWS!"

I paused and looked down at the little fairy.

"I'm sorry, but what?" I asked.

"I want marshmallows!" said Sylph.

I stared at her for a moment.

"O...K, why marshmallows?" I asked.

"Cus their so soft and sweet!" chirped Sylph.

"I...you know what, never mind," I said, "Fine, I'll get you some marshmallows."

"Yay!"

I rolled my eyes and pulled out my wallet. Most of the stuff like cards and old receipts I still had for...reasons had disappeared and instead had been replaced with a fairly thick sheaf of bills. Not enough to live for long, but probably enough to keep me fed and sheltered for a bit.

With that in mind, I headed in the direction of the towns only diner for some grub, then headed to the towns small supermarket where I grabbed a map and checked the date. It was November 23th, 2010.

"Man, that ROB has an even worse sense of humour than I thought," I muttered, "Dropping me in on my birthday...ass."

I dropped the newspaper back onto the rack and headed out in the direction of the towns motel, intending to get a room for the night before trying to figure out what I was going to do. Instead, I nearly tripped over a small blonde girl as she stumbled out from between two buildings.

"Whoa there kid, sorry about that," I said, "Are you…"

I trailed off as I got a good look at her. She...didn't look well to put it mildly. It looked like she'd been pulled through a hedge backwards, literally thanks to the sticks and leaves tangled in her hair and her blue dress was covered in mud and some stains that looked suspiciously like bloodstains. Her eyes were strangely cloudy and she was swaying on her feet in a way that suggested she'd been walking for a while.

"Are you OK kid?" I asked, "Where are your parents?"

She looked up at me blankly for a moment as my question slowly penetrated whatever daze she was in, then her eyes began to tear up.

"T-their gone," she whispered, "They killed them…"

She let out a whine of despair as she sank to the ground.

"I've been a baaad girl!" she wailed, "I...they...he made me, but I…"

I frowned as I tried to parse through the girls babbling, but before I could make much progress, a sense I didn't know I had pinged me and without thinking, I spun around and threw up a shield of swirling wind, just in time for every window in the surrounding area to explode. The girl behind me screamed as the glass shards around us spun and rocketed at us in ways that were in no way natural. Fortunately, my shield was more than up to the task of blocking the attack, although that didn't really give me much confidence considering the likely source of the attack.

"Finally found you brat!"

I looked up and, sure enough, floating above the town was a very pissed off Middle Easten woman clad in a dress made entirely of coloured glass shards and surrounded by very large and very sharp looking spikes of glass. She was also looking rather dusty and had a few cuts and bruises that I wouldn't have expected from one of the Nine.

I frowned and glanced back at the girl behind me, who was now curled up in a ball and rocking backwards and forwards in clear terror. An understandable reaction when one was clearly being chased by a member of the Slaughterhouse Nine, but considering I was now pretty sure the girl was Bonesaw, not entirely expected. Something was afoot and I don't mean Legend.

"No, I won't do it," muttered the girl, "I won't I won't I won't! I'm finally free, I won't fix Mr Jack!"

My eyebrows shot up. Well, wasn't that interesting. I'd have to get the rest of the story later, but it seemed that something had happened to Jack and it hadn't been good for the Nine.

Shatterbird completely ignored me as she floated down and reached for Bonesaw, who shired away from the glass wielding psychopath even further. I probably could have retreated at that point and Shatterbird, distracted as she was, probably would have ignored me, but knowing that Bonesaw was someone who could, if given half a chance, be turned into a fairly decent person and wasn't, at heart, a psychopath like the rest of the Nine, was enough to make me do something very stupid.

I grabbed Shatterbirds arm.

"Sorry, but I'm not going to let you do that," I said calmly, masking the part of me that was busy panicking.

Shatterbird stared down at my hand gripping her arm for a moment, then looking up at me with a look of disbelief on her face.

"You'd try and stop me?" she asked, "Are you insane?"

"Quite possibly," I said, "But I've never been very good at standing back and letting people get hurt."

Not entirely true, but it sounded good.

Shatterbirds expression twisted into an ugly scowl under her helmet.

"I'm in a rush, so I was going to leave you alone for now," she hissed, "But now I'm going to skin you alive!"

She opened her mouth as I brought my hand around and there was an enormous blast of pressure as a wave of glass collided with an outpouring of high pressure air, pulverising Shatterbirds glass and sending the woman flying. She managed to catch herself with her powers and glared down at me as I dispersed the dust cloud with another gust of wind that was somehow visible as a pale white steam as it was saturated with my power.

"So, you are a Cape," said Shatterbird, "Fine, that'll make this more interesting.

"Not really," I said as I let my Grimoire float up in front of me and fall open, "Assuming I'm right and your on your own, this is easy money for me."

Shatterbird flushed an ugly red and the glass surrounding her began to swirl more violently.

"Shut up!" she snarled, "I don't need those traitors to kill one jumped up Parahuman!"

I smirked.

"Thought so," I said, "Now lets get this party started, Wind Creation Magic: Wind Blades Shower!"

The air around me rippled as more visible wind appeared and formed into a phalanx of blades floating in front of me.

"Nice trick, now heres mine!" screamed Shatterbird and her glittering armoury surged forwards.

I countered by firing my constructs and the air between us turned into a mass of razor sharp shards and wind that went to work obliterating each other. I'll give Shatterbird credit, she knew exactly how to control her weapons to try and turn me into mincemeat. However, it was also clear that she wasn't exactly accustomed to fighting someone head on like this without backup and her anger was giving her tunnel vision, which meant that she didn't notice the build up of Mana rich air around her until it was far to late. I didn't bother with any trash talk, instead I just clenched my fist and the glowing wind that surrounded Shatterbird slammed into her with enough force to break bones, then twisted into a rapidly spinning tornado full of glass shards and wind blades.

She barely had time to scream before being cut to ribbons.

"Well, that was easier than I thought," I said as I let the mangled corpse fall to the ground with a thump, "Now what should I do with you?"

Bonesaw flinched as I turned to look at her.

"So, mind telling me what happened to get her in such a state?" I asked, jabbing a thumb at the remains of Shatterbird.

Bonesaw swallowed and seemed to shrink in on herself.

"I...don't really know," she said, "We were hiding out in a barn while I finished what Mr Jack wanted for his...games in this town and the building suddenly collapsed on him. Killed him instantly with a rake through the head."

She shrank in even further and was now visibly shaking.

"When he died, it was like a...a filter was removed," she whispered, "The others...they all started arguing, ready to fight and I...I k-knew I should fix him, but all the games...they aren't funny anymore! They're evil! They hurt people! Mommy told me to be a good girl, but I...I'm a monster!"

She let out a tortured scream and clutched at her hair. Without thinking, I knelt down and hugged her, making her freeze.

"You aren't a monster Riley," I said as I pulled back and put my hands on her shoulders, "Jack is. His powers went a lot further than just projecting knives. He made you into Bonesaw, but you can still be Riley. You can do a lot of good, if you take the chance."

Bon...Riley stared at me with wide, disbelieving eyes.

"Y-you'd trust me like that?" she asked.

I smiled.

"Like I said, the vast majority of the blame for your actions can be laid at Jacks feet," I said, "More to the point, I'm of the opinion that everyone should be given a chance to change, if they genuinely want to."

Riley stared into my eyes for a moment, then burst into tears and flung her arms around my neck. I hugged her back while the back of my mind tried to figure out just what in the hell I should do now.

And that'll do. I was going to do a bit more, but this seems like a decent enough place to end it. Before I end it, I should probably clarify some things.

First of all, the Nine are gone. Only Jack and Shatterbird are dead, but without Jacks power, there isn't a chance in hell that the rest of them would stay together without killing each other. The ONLY reason they didn't rip each other apart there and then was a minor lingering effect of Jacks power that led to them separating on bad terms.

In this world, Jacks Master power is a little stronger than in canon. In addition to letting him know all of the tender spots to poke to get people to break, it also let him keep them like that. In most of the Nines cases, they were already psychopaths, so it just needed to keep them listening to Jack, but in Bonesaws case, it was a little more active. The moment he died however, those effects quickly faded, letting Riley come back out.

Moving on, the issues of Magic. Yes, Sylphs explanation does mean that other characters will begin to develop Magic. Basically, what will happen is that, as more and more Magic begins to leak into the world from the rupture in the dimensional wall, people will begin to absorb more and more of it until it reaches the point that it can actually be used. Since the first active use of Magic in this dimension was Black Clover style Grimoure Magic, thats the type other people will also get.

Oh, and if you're worried about this making Parahumans OP, don't. Magic and Shards are mutually exclusive because Shards are allergic to Mana. If you want more details about how this works before I address it in story, feel free to ask. I was going to put it here, but it would take way too much space and be unnecessary since I plan to reveal it in the future.

I have no idea where Sylphs obsession with marshmallows came from, the thought just made me laugh.

And with that, I'm done. Don't forget to leave a review on the way out!