A Thing Appointed to Desolation
Summary: The ship has a sprite that few sailors will ever see, for seeing that sprite spells doom for the ship. Faris has the bad fortune of meeting him on the way to the Ship's Graveyard.
Words: 3033
Warning: British swearing and the dense nautical knowledge being thrown about that comes of the Age of Sail being my special interest when I was 8.
Dragondance: An Altered Course 3: In that awful water-land: On AO3 // ff.net.
Summary: The incarnations of the primordial spirits that created the world chose as their Light Warriors the following: an aimless vagabond, an amnesiac old man, a pretty princess with more courage than sense, and a foundling pirate. The world is doomed.
Chapter summary: The ship drifts into the Ships’ Graveyard. Faris’ secret is discovered before she was ready to tell anyone.
WARNING: This fic has Faris/Lenna in a romantic relationship.
Also warning: As I played this game before there was an official translation, and as I find that the GBA version injects jokes where there weren’t any, I use my own translations. This fic reflects that. This fic also reflects information garnered from Japaneses FFV guidebooks and cards.
BONUS! Art by the fantastic @eemamminy-art, warning for spoilers for this fic.
Dragondance: An Altered Course 1: The memory of long-vanished years: On AO3 // ff.net.
Summary: The incarnations of the primordial spirits that created the world chose as their Light Warriors the following: an aimless vagabond, an amnesiac old man, a pretty princess with more courage than sense, and a foundling pirate. The world is doomed.
Chapter summary: First the wind dies in a place where it has never been still. Then a princess and her escort try to make off with Faris’ ship. Faris’ life has just been upended and that’s just the start of this mess.
WARNING: This fic has Faris/Lenna in a romantic relationship.
Also warning: As I played this game before there was an official translation, and as I find that the GBA version injects jokes where there weren’t any, I use my own translations. This fic reflects that. This fic also reflects information garnered from Japaneses FFV guidebooks and cards.
Dragondance: An Altered Course 2: Thy most familiar home: On AO3 // ff.net.
Summary: The incarnations of the primordial spirits that created the world chose as their Light Warriors the following: an aimless vagabond, an amnesiac old man, a pretty princess with more courage than sense, and a foundling pirate. The world is doomed.
Chapter summary: Somehow, none of the tales about previous Light Warriors ever mentioned sacrifice. Faris finds that she has a lot more to lose than she thought.
(Alternatively: Faris and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Week)
WARNING: This fic has Faris/Lenna in a romantic relationship.
Also warning: As I played this game before there was an official translation, and as I find that the GBA version injects jokes where there weren’t any, I use my own translations. This fic reflects that. This fic also reflects information garnered from Japaneses FFV guidebooks and cards.
BONUS! Music by the fantastic @run-on-lightning: Dragondance Mvt. 1 - Starcrossed Waltz | Music Box Version
Hello followers <3! I’m sure you’re sick of this now, but Faris is my favorite character ever and I never get tired of writing her. So, here’s a series focusing on her life pre-game that’s... honestly mostly ventfic. Can probably be read by people who aren’t familiar with the canon, if you’re still following from SU fandom. Just a warning: because the Age of Sail/Golden Age of Piracy was my thing in my childhood, there’s a bit of jargon. Hopefully it all makes sense in context.
How Quaint the Ways of Paradox 1: Arson: On AO3 // ff.net.
Summary: It turns out that a pirate captain was chosen as the Light Warrior of Fire. Faris thinks there might have been a mistake.
Chapter summary: At seventeen, Faris has a well-defined sense of justice. She simply prefers to take matters into her own hands.
This is part of the first of 3 fics I want to finish before my birthday, so it’s really rough. Final Fantasy V, Lenna/Faris, set really early in the game and before the balcony scene. Also I can’t write action, so watch out for that.
A note, also: I play this game in Japanese and use my own translations. I’ll adopt some official NA romanizations, but not others. Butz is always gonna be Butz for me, sorry.
They were working their way through the rotting ships of the graveyard for a second day when she stammered an excuse to Butz and Galuf and tugged Faris aside. Something about needing a quick talk. Faris was still in a dour mood from having her shirt ripped open and her bindings exposed, but the scowl faded in the face of Lenna's request.
"Were you serious when you were flirting with me?" she whispered once she closed the door between them and the men.
The captain was disconcerted by her words, so much so that she took a step back. "Princess, this is hardly the time--"
Lenna knew that, of course, but she couldn't get that slim, strong hand at her hip out of her mind. The bewilderment in Faris' tone felt like a pin-prick to her spirit, and she could feel herself deflating. "I--I know. It's just--"
Faris sighed and stepped closer, and her sea-roughened hands settled onto Lenna's bare shoulders. Her voice was low and gentle. "If you asked me when we met, I'd've said no. I did it to discourage my men. I've gotten to know you since and I can't get you out of my head." A hint of a smile tugged at the corners of her lips. "I'm game if you are."
Heat rose to Lenna's cheeks, ushered by a combination of Faris' touch, the kindness of her tone, her proximity, the implications of I can't get you out of my head. She wondered faintly whether those thoughts were anything like her own, and it deepened what she was sure was a very obvious blush.
Faris lost whatever control she had over her face and unbidden came a quick, charming grin. It was so inviting, so disarming, that Lenna was tempted to try something she never had before. "We'll talk in Car--"
Before Faris could even finish the word, Lenna rocked forth onto her toes, grasped the lapels of the captain's great black coat, and pressed her lips against Faris'. It lasted for all of a moment before she settled back onto her heels.
Utter surprise wiped away that grin. Faris blinked at her instead, her expression unreadable. At the sight of Lenna's hopeful smile, she chuckled and pulled her hands away. "You've never done this before, have you?"
Lenna shook her head. She supposed she could have taken advantage of her rank and experimented with a chambermaid, but it seemed terribly unfair. "If you, um, want to do this, you'd be my first."
Faris' eyebrows shot up as Lenna surprised her again. "Your father won't approve of some pirate dandy pillaging Tycoon of its prize."
That certainly got Lenna's imagination going. She tucked a lock of hair behind her ear and smiled, her eyes surely twinkling at the half-formed thoughts parading through her mind. "Maybe I want to be pillaged."
"Ha!" It was an abrupt, almost sharp sound against the ever-present creaking of rotting timbers. Faris' eyes seemed to dance with suppressed mirth. "You've more brass than I, Princess. Best do this properly, then."
Faris placed a hand on the small of her back, drawing her so close that her body was flush against hers. The pad of her thumb on her other hand glided gently over Lenna's lips as if encouraging her to part them. Lenna very nearly shivered from the contact, from the realization that she was really doing this, and Faris' lips met with hers.
Lenna was aware, faintly, that she was tasting the sweet rice wine Faris drank earlier, and something else that seemed to be uniquely her. The brush of Faris' tongue against hers, velvet and warm and wet in a way she'd never imagined, shot a bolt of desire through her. She gasped into the other woman's mouth, which only seemed to serve as encouragement. Faris caressed her cheek before deepening the kiss; Lenna had to grasp at the captain's shoulders to keep from drowning in the sudden wash of new sensations.
There was a knock that seemed to come from some distance; she didn't care so long as Faris kept kissing her like this. It was hard to care about anything at all. But Faris broke the kiss, only to whisper in her ear in a way that only served to stoke the flame of her desire. "Decide to go through with this when we're in Carwen and I'll happily divest you of your virginity. Decide otherwise and we'll never speak of this again. Until then, give no one any idea of what we've done."
Lenna nodded as she tried to suppress the heated yearning that Faris' kiss had ignited under her skin. She was usually so good at being able to school her features for court, but nothing in her life could hold a candle to that kiss. Her first kiss, offered up for a pirate to steal.
The knock came again, sounding harsher and closer than she liked. Faris leaned in and gave her forehead a quick peck. "Still looking a bit moony there, love." Then, before Lenna could respond, the door was thrown open for the men.
"We're talking about changing her ransom to my reward for getting her through this mess safely." Faris' voice switched so quickly to sharp and impatient that Lenna was momentarily thrown. "What do you blighters want?"
Butz, looking as if he suspected nothing untoward happening between them, responded first. "It can wait, surely? We don't want to spend another night here."
"Killjoy." Faris turned and held out her hand to Lenna. "Come along, Princess. I've no more desire to remain in this ghoul-infested graveyard than you."
Lenna slipped her hand into Faris' and she allowed herself to be led out of the room in which they kissed. She was distracted by the memory and eager for more, but the ships' graveyard made focusing on such pleasantries harder the further along they went.
It was grueling work, hopping from wooden carcass to carcass in search of dry land. Faris had the easiest time of it, being the only sailor among them, and she took charge of delivering Lenna across each gap between ships or hole in rotten hulls. If Lenna looked a bit smitten by the captain leaping across shifting wood or swinging on dangling rigging with a princess in her arms, well, no one was close enough to notice. Butz followed, either making clever quips or complaints all the while. Galuf, though, seemed to suspect something going on between the women in the party. Not that he said anything, but she could feel his eyes boring into her back sometimes.
Finally, as the dim light of a deeply overcast day faded into evening, they reached land. A brittle, warmth-sapping gloom hung over the spit of land like a funerary shroud, but they had no choice but to plow through it. Butz, ever the intrepid explorer, went first into the gloom and seemed to fade. Then Lenna noticed a small, hovering blue flame.
The blue flame grew, shifted to assume the form of her father. It beckoned her to come to him, and her legs seemed to move on their own accord. It had been a week now since she last saw her father, and now they could go home and she could forget this entire business of her being a Light Warrior. Someone else could be the Warrior of Water. Someone more suited.
Faintly she was aware of someone calling out to her. Was that surprise? Who was it? The footsteps paused at her side, and Faris looked at her with the most peculiar expression on her face. Then she, too, was drawn in by the image of King Alexander Highwind of Tycoon. Lenna thought nothing of it--everything would be okay now.
Her cheek stung and a veil lifted from her eyes. A scant few seconds later, a sharp crack of flesh on flesh resounded through the silence of their would-be tomb; Faris swore up a storm at Galuf shortly afterwards.
Butz was the first to notice and draw attention to her: a blonde woman so beautiful and ethereal that Lenna wanted to get back up and fall into her embrace. The twin shhkkks of metal on metal as Butz and Faris drew their swords broke her from another trance, and they stepped forward to protect her and Galuf.
The fight was chaos, for the woman was monstrous in her strength and resistance to steel and magic. Every slice and skewer the fighters managed to land soon healed. Every spell Lenna fired off fizzled out on the woman's skin. Galuf kept them from bleeding out with well-placed healing spells every time the woman clawed open their flesh.
Then someone got in a strike that shattered the illusion. Creamy skin turned a horrific, mottled black-blue before them. Whole chunks of flesh fell away to expose sinew and bone, gristle and slimy, rotted-green organs. An eye popped out, rolled in front of them, and shriveled upon itself. What skin that remained around the woman's fingernails pulled back, giving her already-formidable hands the appearance of talons. The reek was so overpowering that Lenna could barely breathe, and it took everything she had to keep from vomiting.
"Undead," Faris said, and ignored Galuf's retort that he knew that already. And they had plenty of practice with fighting off the undead while traversing the ships' graveyard, hadn't they? Her eyes sparkled with amusement as she resheathed her sword, and she gave Lenna a sweeping bow. "My lady? This is a mage's job."
Confused, not the least because her spells hadn't worked so well before the illusion broke, Lenna murmured the Fire spell. It caught on the monster's dried rags that were once a beautiful dress and flared up to devour her. The monster shrieked and curled up upon herself as the fire skittered along to fry the rancid fat under her skin and crack her bones. The smell of burning corpse was almost worse, somehow, and the smoke that billowed from its body was a thick, choking black that seemed to fill the sky.
Faris's arm circled her waist and she was lifted until her weight settled over Faris' center of gravity. Unsure what else to do, Lenna's arms looped around Faris' shoulders for support. Faris ran quickly, her long legs covering more ground than they'd managed if they had to wait up for Lenna, and she leapt through the smoke and crossed the stone circle that protected the mainland from the undead. Butz and Galuf followed; their coughs as the smoke filled their lungs were deep hacking sounds that concerned Lenna greatly.
"Carwen's a couple of hours from here." Faris' voice wasn't as harsh as it had been while they were in the ships' graveyard. Maybe it was just because she considered the worst over. "Follow the shore eastwards and we'll be there soon enough."
Lenna was set back onto her feet, and the party moved on.
The trek was exhausting so soon after a grueling battle with an undead monster, and for most of it they walked in silence. Butz led the way, with Galuf close behind. Lenna lagged only because Faris did, and the men knew better than to tell Faris to hurry up.
"Faris? Have you been there before?" Lenna asked when the stars came out and all remnants of the daylight was gone. The black moon blotted out some of the stars, but the rest gave them just enough light to see where they were going. At Faris' quizzical hum, Lenna continued. "The ships' graveyard. We would have gotten lost and died there without you."
Faris walked in silence for a few moments. Then, finally, she responded with soft, deliberate words that sounded almost vulnerable. "Went there once when I was... eight, perhaps. Pirate crew found me as a child, y'see, and the lodesman wanted to see if there was a recent wreck at the graveyard that might've given a clue where I came from. Didn't find a thing."
Lenna paused, her heart aching for the captain. "You're an orphan?"
"Hope so." Faris grunted and paused in wait for Lenna to catch up to her. Lenna reached out to slip her hand into Faris' and squeezed lightly, reassuringly. "I'd rather be that than live with the thought that any parents I did have just didn't bother to look for me. Or worse, succeeded in getting rid of me."
Lenna couldn't respond. It didn't seem appropriate. She simply drew closer, hoping Faris could draw what comfort she wanted from the gesture.
Not that social graces seemed to matter to Butz, who overheard her but didn't seem to have heard Faris' response. He stopped, waited for them to catch up, and blurted out; "You're an orphan, Faris?"
"Bugger, my secret's out," Faris responded dryly, as if she wasn't still smarting from having her shirt ripped open last night. "Far as I know, aye."
"Hey, me too." To his credit, he didn't try to do anything friendly. He drifted to her other side and well out of range of Faris' elbow. "Three years for me. How long for you?"
"Since before I can remember." Faris' voice was tight, and her hand tense in Lenna's. She didn't think it was just the subject that was bothering her; it might also have been the unwanted attention. Lenna, wanting to be supportive and unsure of how without stepping in herself, shifted their hand-hold a little and laced her fingers between Faris'. It seemed to help, a little--the tension drained bit by bit.
Lenna got the sense that the men didn't know when to leave well enough alone. Galuf was close enough now to get the gist of the conversation, and Lenna was uncomfortably aware of his gaze falling on their linked hands. How much had he already guessed about them? "Your surname doesn't give you a clue?"
Faris is a Jacolean name, Lenna wanted to say. Jacoleans were famous adventurers, and it would make a degree of sense that Faris might have their spirit, too. The Scherwiz part puzzled her, however. If it was a real name at all, it wasn't on any of the lists of noble houses. Not that it mattered, for Faris’ mood grew more sour with every effort to pry something out of her.
"No more than yours, Gramps." The words were unnecessarily sharp and well-placed; the only thing Galuf could remember was his given name. Faris might have twisted the knife, Lenna knew she was capable of it, but she clearly wanted nothing more to do with the topic. "Stow it."
Galuf got the hint and held his hands up in surrender, which was Butz's hint to leave Faris alone, too. They resumed their trek along the coast in quiet, bone-deep exhaustion. By the time Carwen came into view, the only thing Lenna wanted just then was a bath and sleep.
So, ah, this is from a Beta AU side story that I’m nowhere near completing and is frankly going to be posted separately because it’s a whole other thing, but this was gnawing at my head so I might as well get it all out onto digital paper. So, major spoilers for the future of Beta AU.
Warning for the usual depersonalization awfulness that is implied with pearls in canon. And, well, whatever Eyeball was leering about.
Peridot wasn't sure what she felt as she slipped the first disembodied gem into the padded bracket that would keep her from forming again. She had never destroyed anyone's form before and the thought of continuing her plans made her balk. But she was too far along to go back. The three massive toys she would take to Earth with her needed power sources, and Mist's former owners were as good an option as any. And really, it wasn't like she would never release them afterwards. As much as she disliked them, as much as they might deserve what she planned for them, she was not a cruel gem.
This, of course, led to another problem. Even if she was fully successful in gathering all three gems, she was left with the pearls. Perhaps she had expected the pearl to take off for parts unknown the moment she was free. Or perhaps the pearl might have protested or fled or done anything other than cower and whimper. She hadn't been prepared to deal with the pearl's panic attack and it took every bit of patience she had to talk the pearl out of the corner. It was a minor miracle that neither of them had been stopped at any point along the labyrinthine route Peridot took back to her quarters. Now what would she do with the pearl?
From what little Peridot could tell, the pearl was fairly new at a mere fifty-something years old. She didn't have Mist's maturity or extensive experience with abuse, and likely wouldn't have thought of leaving the trapiche emerald at all until Peridot came along. Even now, the pearl had to be gently nudged to the rest chamber to give Peridot the space to work.
Peridot's fingers worried away at connection wires as she considered her options with the pearl. One, she could offer to take the pearl to the first colony, convince Moonstone to file the release papers for her, and leave her to figure out her own way. Two, she could take the pearl with her to Earth and pray to the Great Maker that Rose Quartz would be willing to take the pearl in. If Rose Quartz had even survived the final strike. Three, she could keep the pearl with her long enough for the pearl to build up a skillset and enough self-confidence to leave on her own. She would present the options to the pearl. Hopefully the pearl would have the wherewithall to choose one.
With a final sigh, she set aside the power conversion unit and tools. Better to take care of this now than later. She slipped off the stool, shook off the metal particles from her fingers and wiped them on a cloth to get rid of some of the machine smell, and composed and revised her words on the way to the rest chamber she rarely used anymore. It would probably need a dusting.
Then, as she stepped into the chamber, all the words she strung together in her head got tangled up and stopped at the sight of the pale green pearl sitting on the rest pad with her hands balled together tightly in her lap, her eyes fixed on the floor, and her clothes dissipated. The haircut was all wrong and the shade of green was too bright, but just for a moment the pearl could have passed as Mist.
And this was thoroughly inappropriate.
"Please regenerate your clothes." The words felt a little too tight, perhaps a little sharp. She hadn't been with anyone since Mist and didn't need the reminder.
The pearl tensed, her eyes darting and yet not quite daring to meet Peridot's. Her voice was soft and anxious, but at least there wasn't a trace of the earlier terror. "Does this pearl displease you, Mistress?"
"No." Peridot blinked and tried to ignore the mix of indignation and frustration and shame and the return of the old ache. "I am not your mistress. I don't own you."
"My Peridot defeated this pearl's mistress." The too-bright green eyes darted up to the copper mural, back to the floor, and her hands tightened so much that her knuckles went whine. "Th-this pearl thought my Peridot wa... wanted what everyone wants pearls for."
Indignation rose above the muddle of other emotions. At least she could do something with that. She tamed it with iron, for patience was what she needed now. "I'm borrowing the trapiche emerald's gem for a mission. I didn't think to plan for taking in a pearl. I just had to get you out of there before someone came along to investigate and might have done something worse to you. You're free to go where and when you wish."
"My Peridot does not want this pearl?" The voice went softer, and something about the pearl deflated. "This pearl is well-trained and will do anything for her new mistress."
Peridot tamped down the urge to sigh and moved to kneel in front of the pearl, careful not to let her eyes wander anywhere they shouldn't. She nudged the pearl's chin up to meet her eyes. The pearl flinched and tried to avoid direct eye contact. Peridot let it be. "You are your own gem. Whatever I want or don't want doesn't enter into it. Do you understand?"
The pearl squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head. She slumped a little, as if she wanted to draw into a ball and was fighting to resist the urge. "Thi-this pearl is confused."
The sigh that followed was audible despite Peridot's best efforts. She couldn't just drop her off anywhere, let alone the first colony, while the pearl barely had a sense of self. She had taken the pearl out of the trapiche emerald's quarters and now she was responsible for her. Time to try again.
"Pearl, could you look at me? If you can't, I understand. Just tell me what makes you more comfortable."
The pearl shivered, closing in on herself even further, and faintly Peridot wondered if throwing Trapiche Emerald's gem against the wall would make a measurable change to her power output. As the moments passed, Peridot settled more comfortably on her knees and clasped her hands loosely in her lap. This would require every bit of patience she had.
Finally, after several long moments passed without a reaction from Peridot, the pearl cracked an eye open to look down at her. Still Peridot waited, for nothing could be rushed. Ever so slowly, the pearl unwound enough to look back at her.
Another few moments passed before Peridot spoke again. Her words were as unthreatening as she could manage. "I would like it if you just referred to me as 'Peridot'. None of that 'my Peridot' business, I'm just an old off-color who got lucky. I would also like it if you used 'I' instead of 'this pearl', especially when you think of yourself. Finally, I would like it if you expressed your feelings honestly. Does that agree with you?"
The pearl looked helpless as she tried to process Peridot's requests. She tried to say something, but the words tripped over each other and clashed into fragments against her teeth. Finally the pearl simply gave an uncertain nod. It was enough.
Peridot stood, disregarded the dust on her knees, and tried to look as kind as she could. After thousands of years of misery and bitterness, she wasn't sure if she could still pull it off. "Now then, please regenerate your clothes. I would like to teach you some basic mechanical skills and it would be better for both of us if you were dressed appropriately."
It took less than a second for the green and black leotard and its sheer skirt to return. It would take much longer for the pearl to become comfortable with making decisions and voicing her thoughts, but Peridot was patient. She could afford to wait it out. The pearl deserved at least that much.
Beta AU. Tales from Beta Kindergarten Side Stories
Side Story: As We Mean to Go On: On FF.net // AO3.
Summary: In all her seventy-two thousand years of life, Peridot Facet-1F2 Cut-2AA was used to being just slightly off-color and unremarkable. Any thoughts towards rejecting the status quo of Homeworld were driven out of her long ago. She's a perfect example of a gem wise enough to know her place. For all her planning, she never could have been prepared to have a pearl thrown in her lap.
Note: Unpleasant topics include an approximation of drug use, death and the planning of such, and signs of long-term physical abuse.
