Tag: growing strong (burning bright)

Word Prompts (I25): Introduction

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Konran Uzumaki – Counterpoise

(Spiral in, storm out.)

She wears wire in her hair, braids of red and metal winding round and round her head. Pins blunt against her scalp, sharp points outward, everything hidden under a bandana rigged to blow.

Uzushio’s legacy, beneath dark cloth.

—

Kiyoshi Utsugi – (In)Difference

(Neutrality brings peace.)

Lightning thrums under her skin, running along her nerves, writhing. Wind at her fingertips, whipping at her cheek, waiting to be unleashed.

Conscious clear, target in sight: shoot.

—

Tetsuki Kaiza – Trailblazers / Externality / Iron Will

(Fate worse than death.)

The first time around she is furious-regretful-afraid-satisfied, at least, she will be swiftly avenged.

The second time she is desperate: she doesn’t want to go, doesn’t want to do this again, doesn’t want this curse.

By the third she is hollowed out and resigned.

—

Aomi (Inuzuka) – B*tch Please

(Humanity is beastly.)

The rage in her has nothing to do with the fangs in her mouth or the growl in her lungs. She dreams of hunting intangible things–justice, strength, the future–plans like shaky ground beneath her paws.

Truth and loyalty require sacrifice.

—

Windy Strife – Into Thin Air

(Steps ahead, left behind.)

The suit sits heavy on her shoulders, fabric stiff and blue still new. The bow, long carried, doesn’t quite match but it fits perfectly in his hand.

Zie is a weapon, forged and honed, then and now.

—

Reyniero Chason – Running Backwards

(Battle fiercely for the king.)

There are no options, train on the track, future written down and read in the past. And yet, here I am, poised to defy the fate put on him.

If anyone is the spare, it’s me.

—

Branton Evans – Growing Strong (Burning Bright)

(Thorns, sparks, and silver linings.)

He knows much about regret, had felt it even as he continued to walk away, needing to follow through. Time doesn’t always heal, sometimes it erodes instead.

Nevertheless, things can still be salvaged.

—

Haru Kuwabara – (En)Closure

(Winning might be everything.)

Go is a battle, is a conversation, is life–according to her grandfather anyway. But she knows death, so she knows that despite all the drama, go is just a game.

But against gods and murderers and the stark face of justice, it’s a nice thought.

—

Ember Ketchum – A Year With The Moon

(Knowledge is double edged.)

Sight beyond does not make her immune, does not make her anything but a liability. Her entire existence is a dilemma and now, it seems, she has made the wrong choice.

Behind a glowing wall in her mind, she watches herself attack her brother.

~

A/N: Surprisingly, the word prompt is relevant to the writing! Except for the last one, each section is basically a motto + three sentence fic (or four sentence fic) summarizing my various OCs. Almost like little trailers for the different series… (The last one isn’t because I realized that Ash having a twin during the first Pokemon movie, ie the one featuring Mewtwo, would have the potential for EPIC FEELS).

Basically, after my weird breakdown/rant/fit of low self-esteem that I had yesterday I kind of wanted to make up for that. Sorry, again, @to-someplace-else, it wasn’t your fault, I go through moods, I hope you (and other readers) enjoy this.

Post Word Count: 422, TOTAL Word Count: 10860

So… last day of November. Unsurprisingly, did not meet the NaNo quota but that’s okay because a lot of my posts this month (like this one) were three sentence fic and for some reason I wrote a lot of poetry…

Shikako Nara (from DoS) is reincarnated as twin sister of Lily Evans. She becomes a muggle-born Slytherin during the Marauder’s era. How would she manipulate the First Wizarding World? Maybe ship her with Regulus?

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Oh anon, oh you darling cuttlefish of an anon… oh gosh, I hope you’re not the same anon that asked for Shikako as Sakumo’s genin teammate because I hate doing this to you twice, but–I have a conflict of interest with this prompt, too.

It’s technically a Katekyo Hitman Reborn x Harry Potter crossover, but I already have a “third Evans sibling” series called Growing Strong (Burning Bright). Although it’s more about Harry’s estranged uncle Branton trying to find/recruit his magical relatives as a defense against the growing wave of Flame users from KHR canon and then along the way getting entangled in the wizard war instead. Uh… it’d probably make more sense if you read it.

It’s only five installments long for now, and I know it’s not Marauders era, but I don’t think I can commit myself to a different “third Evans sibling” series. It does sound interesting, though, and if it’s something that you want to pursue for your own story I would be more than happy to help you brainstorm the idea. 

Thanks for the prompt, anon, but I don’t think I’ll be filling this one.

Growing Strong (Burning Bright), Chapter Five (2016-01-09)

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Something Doctor Shamal told him springs to mind as he sits rigidly in his estraged sister’s photoshoot perfect receiving room. Different types of flames have different aspects–abilities, yes, but also character traits. At the time, Branton had chalked it up to more of that mystical mumbo jumbo, but now he’s not so sure.

Storm types were devoted (obsessive), Mist types were insightful (manipulative), Sun types were optimistic (naive), so on and so forth, little things like that. It had seemed as legitimate as the silly color changing mood rings that had been a fad during his teenage years. His own independent (isolated) tendencies certainly match Shamal’s description of Cloud types–he’d shudder at the thought of this suburban lifestyle, settling down to start a family, if he weren’t trying to make a good impression on his estranged sister.

Or at least a not absolutely terrible impression.

“I won’t make a scene outside where the neighbors can witness,” she says, begrudgingly bringing a tea set and placing it on the table between them. Impeccable manners even if the actual well-meaning intentions aren’t behind it, “I expect you to say your piece and leave. Preferably for another two decades if not longer.”

It’s not exactly the best reception he could have had, but it’s fair enough. Certainly better than what he was expecting.

Then again, he’s not sure what he was expecting, really, hadn’t known what twenty years would do to the fifteen year old girl he’d left behind in Cokeworth. Still has no idea what it did to the thirteen year old he can’t find anything about.

Branton knows bringing up their little sister, the sister who Petunia had always been at least a little jealous over, isn’t exactly going to endear him to her. But given that he literally has exhausted all other means, well…

Frankly, he hadn’t actually wanted to see Petunia again. Not out of any ill-will–actually, quite the opposite. He knows she’s got a nice, normal life set up here, far from their Cokeworth past; far from her brother’s criminal inclinations and her sister’s magical existence. There’s no reason for her and her new family to get tangled up in this at all, not when she has no way to defend herself against it.

He expects to say his piece and leave her life again. This time for good, because Petunia doesn’t deserve this, him, showing up on her front door out of the blue.

He can’t say the same for his other sister, who stepped into an entirely different world than the one Branton did, and only ever sometimes looked back. A world where every person was armed and dangerous and capable of doing impossible things.

Well, maybe her world was a little like his.

Branton nods, gets back on track, steels himself for the final severing of ties between himself and Petunia. “Where’s Lily?” he asks, and notes the way her mouth flattens into a hard, displeased line. The way it always had after their little sister received a letter neither of them had gotten.

But he also sees the way Petunia’s eyes narrow, her eyebrows curve. Not out of distaste or jealousy or even anger. Out of confusion and then shock and then quickly hidden sorrow, “You’re thirteen years too late to ask me that,” she responds through gritted teeth. She looks away, though, lets him deal with the news without her cutting, accusing gaze.

Maybe Lily’s world was more like his than he thought.

~

A/N: Lalalala, I swear I will get to Harry soon… maybe.

Growing Strong (Burning Bright), Chapter Four (2015-12-28)

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When Branton knocks on the door of Number Four Privet Drive, a small whale of a human opens it. He’s seen some pretty strange things over the course of his career, so he has a pretty decent poker face, but he can still feel his cheek twitch.

“What do you want?” the whale says through a mouth full of something brown. Hopefully it’s chocolate.

“Does Petunia Dursley live here?” He asks, civil at least in the face of such rudeness.

“Muuum!” the whale shrieks, not unlike a death throe, before retreating back into the house. It leaves the door wide open, and Branton can’t help the flash of thought–no self preservation, weak, soft, pathetic, I could kill you so easily–but he shoves it down. That’s his sister’s son, why would he?

Tuney appears in the hallway, mouth in a smile that immediately becomes strained upon spotting him. He’s not insulted at all–he’d probably do the same if he bothered with polite smiles–mostly, he’s surprised she recognized him at all.

He hardly recognizes her in turn, though that’s probably unfair. Last time he saw Tuney, she was only fifteen, hardly past childhood. Now she’s a mother, a woman with wrinkles and brittle hair, pale and skeletal and sullen.

Then again, the sullen part hasn’t changed very much.

“Tuney,” he greets simply.

“It’s Petunia,” she corrects through gritted teeth, then, “Briar Rose,” she bites out in acknowledgement.

“Petunia,” he accedes, then, “I go by Branton now,” he doesn’t smile.

She doesn’t even bother maintaining her own smile, her expression transforming completely into a scowl.

He’s wearing one of his sharper suits, the one that emphasizes his broad shoulders and lethality, so he doesn’t know why she’s surprised.

“It’s been a long time since we’ve seen each other,” he tries.

“Through no fault of mine,” she shuts him down.

They stand in silence for a moment: Branton is so keenly aware of the doorway between them, him outside on the front step, her in the immaculate shell of her house.

“May I come in?”

~

A/N: Finally titled the HPxKHR fusion of criminal Evans uncle with Flames. Also finally decided on a first name for said uncle 😀

Growing Strong (Burning Bright), Chapter Three (2015-05-25)

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As far as he knows, he’s only one of three employees who have Flames. And even then, he’s the one that uses it most frequently. Shah in Pharmaceuticals has red Flames, also known as “Storm” type according to what he’s been able to find, but she doesn’t use it for anything more than speeding up certain chemical reactions. Then there’s Gordon whose blue Flames, “Rain” which doesn’t make sense to him but he’s not the one who decided on the names, doesn’t seem to do much but make people sleepy. He doesn’t think it’d be very helpful for a lawyer, but what would he know.

As for him? His purple Flames, his “Cloud” Flames, can multiply objects. His first and most useful ability is to create an endless clip of bullets. It’s pretty much perfect for that–since his Flames weren’t very strong in the beginning, and he could only copy small objects for a short time. But bullets don’t need to be large or last long. He’s improved a lot since then, but in comparison to the Italians, it’s just little tricks. Nothing inhuman, nothing world ending.

All the same, though, as far as the firm is concerned he’s their expert in Flames. He was lucky enough to encounter a neutral Italian when his own Flames activated–some doctor named Shamal with indigo “Mist” type–and in exchange for a few minor favors got a basic explanation.

Of course, now it turns out Shamal works for the damn Vongola so there’s not going to be any future intel from that corner.

The need for a department of Flame users isn’t exactly a top priority, but it’s definitely something that the firm should invest in sooner rather than later. Hence the whole “tracking down his estranged sisters, because maybe Flames are hereditary” thing. Which leads to this, frankly, nerve shuddering experience of him standing in the middle of some polished perfect suburb where his eldest sister apparently lives.

One thing’s for sure, Surrey is a lot cleaner than Cokeworth.

~

A/N: Frazzled and all over the place. Continuation of this drabble.

Really need to come up with a title if I’m going to be continuing this. Should also decide a name for the POV character…

Growing Strong (Burning Bright), Chapter Two (2015-05-24)

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The thing is, he doesn’t know what happened to his family after he left. His farewells with his parents were less than amicable, but at least they happened. His goodbyes to his sisters were nonexistent.

He had turned seventeen and had felt invincible the way teenagers always do. Righteous and all-knowing from false confidence. Cokeworth wasn’t exactly high society, so no one really judged him for breaking a few laws here and there to make ends meet, but his Da always had a grim look on his face whenever he was snuck back into the cramped house late at night, and Mum would watch him with sad eyes like he was more a ghost than a human.

Though he probably shouldn’t say that, considering ghosts are actually real. Maybe it was because he and Lily had a different relationship, or maybe it was just the bigger age gap, but he was never jealous of his youngest sister getting magic. Not like Petunia who fluctuated between longing and disgust over the idea of being a witch.

To him it was just another thing that made all of the Evans siblings unique from each other. Lily had magic, and Petunia had societal ambitions, and he danced around the law occasionally. It was no more or less important than Lily having red hair and Petunia having blonde hair and him having brown.

And in a way, he was glad that it led to a friend for Lily. He’s not ashamed of Cokeworth, but he knows what life is like there. It grows people harder and flintier and meaner, and kids are already cruel to begin with. But Lily… maybe because she was the baby of the family… but she never really got that. Oh, she’d get angry and hold grudges occasionally, but it wasn’t… It wasn’t as clawing and desperately bitter as most folks from Cokeworth.

Little Sev was a good friend for her, and she for him. Snape the elder, whenever they had the misfortune of crossing paths–which was thankfully not very frequently–was as rotten and slimy as they come. But Sev was a good kid, and on the rare occasions when he could hang about his youngest sister and her friend, he’d make for decent company. And at least the kid wouldn’t punch him in the arm for teaching him how to lie without actually doing so, for such a small girl Lily really did pack a wallop.

But that was decades ago… he hasn’t seen either of his sisters since… shite, it’s 1994 already… since 1973. Twenty one years. That’s older than he was when he left. He’s spent more of his life without and interaction with them than actually having been their brother.

No wonder he doesn’t know what happened to them.

Eh, he’s got pretty much all of the firms at his disposal. Can’t be that hard to find out what happened to two girls from Cokeworth.

~

A/N: I KEEP MISSING THE MIDNIGHT DEADLINE. Not… that it matters since the internet is a land without timezones, but still. It’s a matter of personal pride. Or lack thereof.

ANYWAY, this is a continuation of this drabble/idea. Wherein there was an Evans brother who works with British organized crime and has Flames but not magic.

Not sure if I want to name him Rowan or Briar or Bromley or Branton… it’s a toss-up.

I should probably come up with a title for this.

Growing Strong (Burning Bright) Chapter One (2015-03-27)

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“I have never lied to you,” The man asserts, though he keeps his posture and expression loose and submissive. He is standing in front of a desk; and though his suit and shoes are of very high quality, they are rags in comparison to what the man behind the desk is wearing.

The man behind the desk, the first man’s boss, stays silent.

The employee gives in after the moment stretches taught like a noose around the neck, “I just didn’t tell you everything,” He wills himself not to fidget with his tie.

Again the other man remains silent. Expectant.

“It happened almost two decades ago, and I was told not to say anything… and after I left home, it didn’t matter anymore. So I just never brought it up,” It was a different part of his life and a different world which he had only ever existed on the periphery.

“And yet, here we are,” The boss intones, no hint as to what he wants next from the conversation. In truth, he is not angry, he does not feel betrayed. There is nearly nothing this particular employee of his can do that will cause animosity between them; he has been loyal and hardworking and his skills are nothing to scoff at. But secrets within the firm can be a hindrance at best, dangerous at worst, and the firm is more important than one employee.

“Here we are,” The employee parrots numbly. Now his posture has slumped further, the submission no longer a front.

“Do sit down, Evans,” And as if he were a puppeteer, a casual wave of his hand prompts Evans to obey, “The situation isn’t ideal, but that’s because of those Italians, not you. If anything, you can help the firm salvage this,” At this, the other man regains his composure, mind completely in business mode. “You’re one of the few who can stand up to those monsters, but that’s not enough. Not when it seems every damn family has a full set at their beck and call. We need a new department. One specifically designed to battle them. And if they have monsters…”

Evans looks at his boss, determination gleaming in his eyes, “We’ll use magic,”

~

A/N: Prequel for the HPxKHR idea brainstormed here. I still don’t know how British organized crime works, but since this is in the KHR world of mafia/organized crime, I figure I can take liberties. Basically, instead of the mafia’s “family” mindset, the British organized crime uses more of a “company” framework. So it’s not territories and bloodlines, it’s industries and functions. Different firms have different focuses– drugs, racketeering, gambling, assassinations, etc. – I guess Evans works one that’s more interconnected, though. Or one that’s more international relations.

Growing Strong (Burning Bright), HPxKHR crossover/fusion brainstorm (2015-03-24)

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As previously mentioned in my A Year With The Moon brainstorm, here, I’ve been wanting to do a proper outline on another idea. Namely, the HPxKHR crossover/fusion. I had stated that it would be about, or partially due to, Rowan(/Bromley/Branton) Evans, aka brother to Petunia and Lily Evans, aka uncle to Harry Potter. And a mafioso. And it would feature the Ministry Six plus surprise Hogwarts student as the newest batch of Flame users in organized crime.

The idea was that there was a third Evans sibling, because mystical things ought to happen in threes and it makes the lifestyles of the Evans sisters more interesting if–instead of a dichotomy, it were more of a branching (like the Peverell brothers). Lily is still the only magic user, but that doesn’t preclude Evans brother from using Flames. In fact, it would explain Harry’s “power he knows not” is literally the power is from the Evans side of the family.

Anyway, Evans brother–leaning toward Branton or Rowan, the former sounding more like a “normal” name, but the latter having cool connotations–is older than Lily, definitely. Not sure if I want him to be older or younger than Petunia… though going by the whole birth-order psychology, it would make sense for her to be the middle child. I could throw in twins for the hell of it, but… meh. So the eldest Evans child, instead of escaping Cokeworth by status jumping (like Petunia) or joining a magical society (like Lily), escaped via crime. Eventually going into organized crime… somehow. Obviously I’ll need to do some research on organized in the United Kingdom and figure out how to make it more KHR flavored, though obviously the British Firms are far less flamboyant and showy than the Italian Famiglia.

I don’t think Evans brother is the head of a British firm, but he may be something decently high up. Probably due to the fact that he may be one of the few British criminals to have unlocked his Flame. Regardless, he is tasked with finding more Flame users either to supplement the firm’s standing in the international crime community or because there may be a specific need for a full set of Flame users in reaction to the crazy shit going on in KHR canon.

He’s going to look close to home, since it might just be genetic and perhaps all the weird magic stuff Lily did was actually Flames. But Lily disappeared more than a decade ago, married to some uppity magic ponce, so it’s easier to track down his other sister. Except, lo and behold, Lily’s son also lives with Petunia. That makes things easy. Obviously Petunia isn’t going to let her precious Diddy-kins join a firm, for all that Dudley is the one in an actual gang, but she could care less what happens to her nephew. And if it gets her older brother off her back then so be it. She knows that he’s in organized crime, but he’s impeccably dressed and rich and willing to play it off as legitimate employment in front of her husband. He just needs to borrow their mutual vagrant of a nephew for some manual labor, aka Flame training.

I should mention here that this would probably go down in the summer, between Prisoner of Azkaban and Goblet of Fire. Well… actually. Hm… the main reason I want to do this is because Harry is a representative for a “fourth school” which Evans uncle can use to his benefit to recruit more magic/Flame using kids. But it’s only until he gets to Hogwarts that he realizes that magic and Flames are different. And it parallel’s Tsuna’s situation with Reborn, in that Reborn appears when Tsuna is 13/14.

Anyway, because Flames aren’t magic, Evans uncle has to figure out which kids actually do have Flames. Obviously the (future) Ministry Six have Flames, but I need one more. Probably more students have Flames, but I really just want Evans uncle to focus on a core set (enough to match those Italian Famiglias) because he’s not actually here to make a school he’s here to recruit weapons for his firm. Since he’s got his hooks into Harry due to the family thing, he’s going to build his set around him. Which obviously means that Harry is the Sky. From there I have various headcanons for Flames and for who should be the Seventh (or if some of the Ministry Six should even have Flames… hm…)

Definitely: Hermione – Storm (or Mist), Luna – Mist (or Rain)
Probably: Neville – Sun (or Rain), Ron – Lightning, Ginny – Cloud (or Storm or Sun)
Maybe: Draco, Susan, Hannah, Blaise, Cho, Cedric, Fred, George, Lee (actually, I’d prefer Lee over the twins…)
I don’t necessarily want blood status to equal Flames or not. Some purebloods are probably unfairly gifted with Flames, but since it’s not magic they just don’t use it.

Anyway, it basically shakes out to–at first they’re really pretty shrewd and outright in using each other. A sort of “I need a student and you want to get out of the Dursley’s house. This way we both win.” Then with the addition of more students it’s like, “I need to recruit more people and you apparently need help with this tournament.” And it then develops into, “I’m going to help you kill that sob that killed my sister, that way you don’t have any more obligations and you will join the firm.” Finally, eventually turns into, “The blood wards will work on me too. We’ll live together. And if you happen to have a giant pet dog that can double as an magic adult recruit for my firm then fine.” I’m not saying he revolutionizes organized crime, but his firm definitely gets perks of having a direct line to the magic world. And it gives them an unexpected additional edge against the Famiglia.

If I were to write it… it’d probably only be Fourth year, in depth, and maybe some smattering of later years to show the changes to the war. And an epilogue in which the Vongola Tenth Generation meet the… ugh, I don’t know what to call them. The Phoenix Guard? … the Flame users of the British firms.

Some tidbits/character interactions:

Kingsley Shacklebolt hates Evans uncle’s guts. HATES. It’s fantastic. Because he’s very obviously a criminal but Shacklebolt has no jurisdiction 😀 Tonks, on the other hand, probably outwardly hates him too because Aurors stick together, but inwardly thinks he’s really cool. He’s closer to being a secret agent than she’ll ever be.

Severus Snape doesn’t necessarily hate Evans uncle, but he does feel discomfited. Because it reminds him of being a child in Cokeworth. And while Petunia was overtly jealous/spiteful of Lily and Severus’ magic, Evans uncle was pretty nice in the rare occasions when he was around. He was probably Severus’ first positive male role model (which is hilarious all things considered), and while that faded with Severus’ realization (or at least perceived realization) sometimes the past his hard to shake. It probably doesn’t help that the last time they saw each other, Severus and Lily were still friends (so, like, two decades ago) and Severus wants to cling to that notion.

Sirius and Remus are ambivalent toward him for differing reasons: Sirius doesn’t really mind the crime part, enjoys the “training Harry to be kickass” part, but he’s jealous of the whole “I’m a reliable uncle and can actually follow up on my promises. (The secret is to not make sappy ridiculous ones).” Remus, on the other hand, is bothered by the crime part a little. Especially with how easily (at least it seems so to Remus) he is recruiting everyone including students. He’s fascinated by the Flame training (and maybe even has Flames himself? And thus is an eager student) but reluctant to join the firm  in exchange. While he’s not jealous of the whole “reliable uncle” thing, he doesn’t appreciate his shortcomings being aired in public–he’s poor, he doesn’t fit in either the Muggle or magical world, he couldn’t even meet Harry until he was a teacher, but in Evans uncle is rich (from crime), he seems to be slotting into the magical world easily for a Muggle, in less than a year Evans uncle has already done blah blah blah.

What I’m really unsure about is how Dumbledore feels. I don’t actually want Evans uncle to just storm in there and fix everything. It takes him a while. There are obstacles in this journey both emotional and physical and political and whatever. So he has to be VERY careful in the beginning not to piss off Dumbledore. Maybe at first, Evans uncle implies that Flames are magic but that he didn’t have much more than a squib did and probably didn’t register as a muggleborn until after he had a near death experience (Dying Will) which allowed him to access the internal energy.

I have some less coherent brainstorming for a HPxKHR idea on my lj here but nothing specific to this Evans uncle idea.

I’m not against Evans uncle actually being an Evans aunt, but I did brainstorm this with an uncle specifically in mind.

edit: now titled Growing Strong (Burning Bright)

Growing Strong (Burning Bright), Prologue (2015-02-12)

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There are many dimensions in existence; many layers of parallel universes in which certain choices were not made or certain phenomena occurred differently. The multiverse is vast and infinite. But there are… patterns, certain events that happen certain people who live quite frequently in multiple dimensions. The law of large numbers guarantees that in the long-term, or in a large enough population, certain events are not so random but expected.

There exists a boy who has the ability to connect with all of his alternate selves; who has used his collective knowledge to increase his power, to take over his respective worlds. But he does not always succeed. Sometimes it is a fault in himself, or that version of himself–too arrogant, too weak, too afraid–but sometimes it is the dimension that works against him.

With the multiverse being infinite, there are as many branches of this power-mad boy’s successes as there are his failures. And yet, with his abilities, these branches are spread out. The law of averages supposes that most future events are likely to balance any past deviation from a presumed average. Meaning that these branches of failures exist because the multiverse makes them exist. For every success that boy has, it will create a failure one way or another.

One of them involves an unlucky fourteen year old Japanese boy; but we know that story already. In this story, this universe, the hero is an unlucky fourteen year old British boy.

~

A/N: A little set up for a potential KHRxHP crossover… ugh, I’ll maybe rant about it at another time.