Fanfiction Friday (03/09/2017)

Fandom(s) featured this week:

“Hakuouki,” “Yona of the Dawn,” & “Yuri on Ice”

An Unearned Gift

Eliz1369

“Hakuouki” — Updating as of March 9, 2017; 11 chapters

“[Modern AU] A new apartment, a new city, and a new job. What could possibly happen? Chizuru has just moved in with her best friend Sen and what starts as a short term job may end up becoming something far more than she bargained for. Some things are never meant to be earned or deserved. That is what truly makes them gifts.”
I’m not going to lie to you; the summary was less than indicative of the piece’s narrative quality, and it kept me away from the fic originally. I wanted something of substance, and as I’ve seen too many “transplant the Hakuouki cast into SSL-type settings” pieces to really get myself excited for another, I am most pleased to say that I was all wrong about this modern AU and have been excitedly picking up the updates for a few chapters now. All of our characters are adults, and the situation they find themselves in is unique and quite inspired. The way the author pays homage to the character’s original personalities and circumstances in her fic is now becoming quite evident. I’m excited to see how the title eventually plays into the piece, if it indeed is drawn from the work. We are only now beginning to get into the physical action of the tale and I love that. To expand upon the plot summary provided by Eliz1369: “Transposed into the modern era, consultant Chizuru has entered into cooperation with a new police precinct, and circumstances that she hadn’t anticipated lead her to admit startling revelations about her past. What will her new coworkers uncover with her aid? What emotions will be discovered? Why does the vaguely dangerous one with the green eyes and scornful smile seem so…? ” I highly recommend this modern AU.

Not all Chains are Forged of Iron (let me go–don’t let me go)

Fox in the Stars

“Yona of the Dawn” — Completed before March 9, 2017; 4 chapters

“A search for an ancient relic leads Yona and her friends to Green Dragon Village. Jae-ha refuses to go with them — it’s enough for him to have broken his chains and moved on — but ghosts from the past have other ideas, and they will force Yona to confront the chains binding her own heart. (Yuletide 2016, for mllelaurel)”

Reminiscent of the manga plot line in which our beloved Shin-ah’s own limits are tested, this fic features Jae-ha struggling to fight off his own beasts and literally master himself when control and hope seem all but lost to his eyes. Of a fashion and through no fault of his own, Jae-ha is spirited away, and so our story begins. Throw in a dash of heartache, a psudo-lover’s reunion, a greatly needed blast from the past for our darling, long-suffering and left-behind Zero, and a heroine who must master her own demons before she can find the strength to help others…and you’ve got one heck of a fanfiction that I can’t help but recommend. The characterization is spot on (and you know I’m a sucker for good characterization). This tale was really something, and I encourage you to read!

who lives, who dies, who tells your story

Nikolai Argyris

“Yuri on Ice” — Updating as of March 9, 2017; 6 chapters

“‘Yuuri!”‘ And he wills himself to move, to answer, to look at his husband. But faith is never kind. Black spots cover his vision, his ears ringing and he hears muted screams- as though they were from a distance. His eyes slowly close and the last thing he think of is, “‘I’m sorry, Vitya.’ It felt like drowning. Time Travel.”

Let me be clear when I say that Nikolai has written some dark stuff, man. I mean, I read another one of his fics (which I’m debating featuring next week) and I was blown away by how utterly crushed and honestly shocked that I was, even if the plot did leave our characters (one of whom was exaggerated purposefully in any case), out of sorts. Anyway, I’m still feeling a tinge of that residual emotion as I review this fic for your perusal, so you’ll have to forgive me if this comes out less enthusiastically than I intended. In today’s feature by Nikolai, he writes of a heretofore unexplained phenomenon in which Yuri—now older, more experienced, and wiser—finds himself potentially thrown into the past. (I say potentially because our true progression and the nature of Yuri’s reality is—at least to me—at this moment a bit unclear.) I love the emotion of this piece, the uncertainty, Yuri’s heartbreak, the knowledge that everything might not be as it appears, the love Victor holds, the chance and the sorrow and the reiteration of how much the ice means in Victor and Yuri’s relationship. ❤ Go check it out, guys. Nikolai’s prose has within its very stylistics and structure the emotion that I for one always crave. ❤

What’s with all the Victurri time travel fics, lately? Do you follow the trend on this one? Are there any works of fanfiction that you would like to recommend? Let me know in the comments below!