Bladework
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Summary
A sword does not get to choose to stop being a sword, but if it's lucky, it can choose its wielder.
(Or: A precanon AU where Asch asks Ion for help *one time* and gets more of a person in return than he bargained for. And then they do politics together.)
Series
- Part 1 of Bladework
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Summary
Once is an accident, twice is a coincidence, three times is enemy action.
(Or perhaps not quite an enemy, at that.)
Or: Between the assault on the Tartarus and Kaitzur, Jade has a number of rude revelations about his travelling companions and their intentions.
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- Part 2 of Bladework
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It's hard to know exactly what to make of the boy once called Luke. Maybe talking to him will produce answers, or at least better questions.
(Or: Asch and Guy try to be adults at each other, and mostly succeed.)
Series
- Part 3 of Bladework
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"Second, and far more important: tuck your chin. You’re going to get hurt, so expect it and be ready. You may as well see it coming." - Achmed the Snake, Rhapsody, Child of Blood
Anyone watching Ion would notice the changes his friendship with Asch works on him.
Only two people actually bother.
Series
- Part 4 of Bladework
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Luke comes home.
He didn't realize how badly he fit there until he left.
(Or: No matter how much you want to believe the best of your family, Reality Ensues.)
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- Part 5 of Bladework
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As in games, so in war - do not leave the king exposed.
And a pawn that isn't watched sufficiently can change the entire board.
(Or: In which Sync knows very much what he is, but does not know his fellow Ion replica very well at all.)
Series
- Part 6 of Bladework
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A ruler's job is not to go to the front lines. A ruler's job is to pick others to fight his battles, and hope he's chosen well.
Emperor Peony knows he's made the best choice he's can, but it doesn't make it any easier to it and wait as the reports come in.
(Or: No matter how careful you are, if you handle a double-edged sword by the blade, you're going to get cut.)
Series
- Part 7 of Bladework
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A windfall gives Van what he believes to be the answer to his problem of controlling Asch - but Ion is no longer a simple puppet. To persevere as long as possible is the Fon Master's resolve, and no amount of revelations will challenge that.
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- Part 8 of Bladework
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The last to arrive, the first to deny. Princess Natalia has a great deal of catching up to do, to understand where her lost cousin has been for so many years.
In the end, no one can open her eyes but herself.
Series
- Part 9 of Bladework
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Three conversations Luke had about life, death, fomicry, and siblings.
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- Part 10 of Bladework
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Part of growing up is coming face to face with the reality that you can't understand everyone. Not their ideas of home, or family, or forgiveness.
Gailardia Galan Gardios, faced with the idea of any of these things, runs away and hides the part of himself that thinks about those things. But Guy Cecil is running out of places to run to and places to hide.
Series
- Part 11 of Bladework
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The only person who has to believe in the thrust of a sword on the stage is the audience. All of the actors know it's faked.
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- Part 12 of Bladework
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Sometimes, in trying to protect the people we love, we bring them nothing but harm.
Anise's parents have left her with a poor example to follow, in that regard. If she wants to avoid following their footsteps any further, she'll have to come face to face with that - and learn to choose her own path, without the pressures and expectations that others place on her shoulders.
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- Part 13 of Bladework
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Growing up is learning to choose between what you believe is right, and what you were told to believe is right.
Tear Grants stands at that crossroads - with her faith on one side, and the responsibility she feels to the world on the other. When the people she thought were righteous are the ones bringing ruin to the world, and the ones who stand against everything she was taught to believe are the ones fighting to save it, she has to decide where it is she stands.
Because the time where anyone can stand on the sidelines is rapidly coming to an end.
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- Part 14 of Bladework
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There are many ways to make something hard. Some of them leave marks, like ripples on the sea. Some of them leave marks with the force of a tidal wave.
Series
- Part 15 of Bladework
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The process of purification begins with heat, so that everything unnecessary rises to the top. Only after you skim off the masks and the lies can you find what remains of value underneath.
The heat is rising now, and something new must be forged before the world burns.
Series
- Part 16 of Bladework