So I’ve had this AU concept in my head for a while, and I’ve decided to just put it out there.
Basically, in “Searching for a Dream” (my fav episode in Doki Doki), just like in the OG episode, Ira will start having small flashbacks after having hit his head. However, these flashbacks are not just of his life as a Selfish, but…other memories. Memories buried so deep that it seems almost impossible to find them.
When Gula yells at him, all the memories come flooding in. But not just the Selfish ones..................we won’t know what else he remembers until the end of the episode though. He appears to fall into despair (kinda like in Smile Precure) for a moment, but quickly refocuses when Gula shoots the laser thing at him.
Like in the episode, he knocks is away. But then he turns to the Cures (specifically Diamond) and, with a neutral expression (though more like resting bitch face), says “I remember everything now.” Diamond says that she’s glad, since that means he’s made a full recovery. Then Gula jumps and Ira knocks them out of the way, he leaves, yadda, yadda, yadda, that whole part of the episode continues as normal.
But instead of the scene with Ira on the roof thing, we skip to the scene with Rikka and her parents having dinner together. It’s very nice, very wholesome. BUT THEN we have a new scene.
Rikka goes into her room for the night only to find Ira sitting on her bed, looking a bit like the Shinji chair meme, while also having an existential crisis. Rikka is very much shooketh, and confusingly asks “I-Ira?? Why are you...” but he interrupts. “You know, you’re a better doctor than I thought. Turns out I’ve always had amnesia, even before you found me on the beach.”
He looks up at her, tears streaming down his face, and says “But I remember now. I wasn’t always a Selfish.”
“I used to be a human.”
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So yeah, that’s the intro premise to the AU!
Basically, the Selfish weren’t always beings of darkness. They used to be regular people living in Splendorious (I refuse to call it the Trump Kingdom).
This is how someone turns into a Selfish:
First off, they need to have been exposed to the power of the Mirror Pads in one way or another. Kinda like being exposed to radioactive energy, but it’s actually just good vibes.
They also need to be a relatively selfless person, selfless enough to qualify becoming a Cure (though they don’t need to actually be a Cure, just selfless enough to be qualified).
Then, they must protect someone from a blast of dark energy, sacrificing their own life in the process. But right before that, they must first choose the selfish option, before they change their mind and decide to do the selfless thing.
Right after they die, their body will be taken and consumed by the Darkness.
Their heart will be filled with Darkness, their blood will become infused with Darkness, and their mind will be taken over by the Darkness.
All memories of their past life will be erased, and they will wake up as a Selfish.
They’ll look completely different while also looking the same. They will have light blue hair (just pretend all of them have light blue hair), olive-yellow eyes, unnaturally pale skin (whether or not they were originally pale), and the little black wings behind their ears. They will also be wearing a different outfit.
Their personality will also change. Each of them have a heavenly virtue they represent the most, so the Darkness will take that part of their personality and turn it into its deadly sin.
For example, Human!Ira used to be very calm and patient. As a Selfish, he is instead very anger. Human!Marmo was very generous and giving, now she is very greedy. And Human!Bel...he was a lot of different things, but one of those things was hard-working. Now, he is lazy.
Basically, as a Selfish, you get a bit of a personality swap and become very selfish and mean. However, there are small moments in which their original personalities shine through. It’s incredibly difficult for them to be selfless, but it is less hard for them to be good, at least if they try. And, given the right circumstances, like when Ira had amnesia, they will return to their former personalities (though missing the memories).
If they somehow manage to regain all their memories, they will be in a delicate balance between being good and evil. But if they do a major act of selflessness, then they will overcome the Darkness. Sure, they will always have some selfishness in their heart, everyone does, but it will be balanced.
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Now, I have also made some small plans on the past lives of Ira, Marmo, and Bel, and each will have some sort of connection with one of our Splendorious characters.
Ira was once a humble assistant to the knight of Splendorious, kinda like a page boy or a squire, but without actually getting any lessons and instead just helping people out. This gives him a minor connection to Joe, because though they didn’t know each other that well, they were acquaintances. Ira’s past personality was basically the one he had when he had amnesia. I will not get into his whole story/arc because that would be to complicated and take up most of the post.
Though Ira and Bel have their own very interesting stories, Marmo’s backstory is kinda my favorite. Get this: Marmo............................................was a Cure. I know, right? I’m a genius and should win all the awards.
Marmo gives us some interesting insight into what Makoto’s relationship with other Cures was like before the fall of Splendorious. The two weren’t exactly close, but they did fight together a few times, and Marmo (who I will call Cure Deuce) was actually the last Cure who Makoto saw before she had to go to Earth. Their relationship was like that of a student and a teacher, but the student wasn’t in any of that teacher’s classes, so they didn’t really know each other. But the student still trusts the teacher as an adult.
They actually get to know each other a lot better during the fall of Splendorious when they teamed up to fight together, and got along pretty well. Still deciding whether or not Makoto was there when Deuce died. I’m pretty sure that’s not gonna be the case, but it would cause extra ~trauma~. Then again, it would be also pretty tragic if Deuce told Makoto that “I’ll be fine fighting on my own for now. You go find the princess” and Makoto left, feeling confident that Deuce would be fine. After getting to Earth, she sadly assumed the Deuce had been turned into a Jikochuu like everyone else, but she had hope that she could see all of them again, and only had a certain amount of guilt. But to find out that Deuce died after she left her behind? And that she was then turned into a Selfish? And that the woman she had been fighting this whole time was actually Deuce all along? That would leave some crazy guilt.
On top of this, Makoto and Marmo would have a very interesting rivalry before the big reveal. So it will be a lot of fun. For me. Not for Makoto. Or Marmo.
Bel is interesting in terms of his relationships to other characters and the role he plays in the grand scheme. He was actually the King’s valet/personal secretary who sometimes acted like a bit of an advisor. This connects him to the Princess reincarnations. Yeah, things get crazy with Bel, and I’m not gonna get into all that insanity right now. In the past, Bel was very hard-working, to the point that he sometimes overworked himself. He was the exact opposite of lazy, and he was a pretty rad dude. He was also loyal to the king and a good support to him who helped him in a lot of ways. He was just generally the perfect man in terms of personality. He gave off DILF energy. I’m not sorry.
So that’s what I have on those guys rn, or at least that’s what I’m willing to type out.
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While the Selfish are basically opposites of their past selves, they did keep some of the traits they had in their past lives.
A primary example of this is fighting style. Ira’s fighting style is the most sloppy and frantic. It’s that of someone who doesn’t really know how to fight, but might have seen others fight, which makes sense given Ira’s background. Marmo’s is eerily similar to that of a Cure, but a very experienced one. Bel’s fighting is probably the most intimidating, because though he was mainly the King’s valet, he also served as a bodyguard. Bel is perfectly capable of dealing fatal blows, which is why the Cures are really lucky that he is too lazy to fight most of the time.
A second, smaller trait the Selfish will carry is certain types of knowledge. They can’t recognize people from their past lives and won’t remember anything about said people, and they definitely won’t remember anything about their past selves, but they do have some certain types of knowledge related to their past expertise.
For example, Ira still knows how to do some of his assistant duties, Marmo still remembers some things about how Cures worked and the system behind that (if she hears Ace say something about the “rules of the Glitter Force” or whatever they call it in the Japanese version, she will probably say something along the lines of “I’ve never heard that rule before. Usually the handbook talks about protocol and stuff”), and Bel is still really good at his job and has knowledge on how the kingdom worked.
And a final trait they will keep is their mannerisms. Bel sits on the couch the same way he’s always sat, only raises one eyebrow in a look that can only be described as parental disappointment whenever he disapproves of something (a trait he’s had for years), and walks very slowly and deliberately, something that will never change.
Marmo puts her hand(s) under her chin a lot, pucks her lips when she’s upset, and makes a very specific facial expression whenever she rolls her eyes, same as she’s always done.
And Ira still slouches when he leans against a wall (his favorite standing position), still says “yo!” as a way to greet people, still has the same cackle-laugh.
These little things will be used as bits of foreshadowing as they use elements of their knowledge and we see little parts of their past selves shine through.
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That’s all I really have for now. If I ever make more stuff for this AU, I’ll probably put it under the tag “Former Human Selfish AU”. Actually, that will be the name of the au. You can add your own stuff if you want since it’s an au after all. Credit me if you use my au, but also you can use my au. Use my au. That’s a demand.
