Archive of Our Own ^beta

Kuneko’s not sure how it happened but one day she found herself wandering this strange new world, completely unfamiliar to her. Her world was one filled with monsters, yes, but they tended to be of the more demonic or angelic variety. The monsters in this world were just weird . More animalistic but distinguishing themselves with the use of a common object. Crabs that wear traffic cones, seals that wear diving helmets, cat-people with TVs for heads. It was strange to say the least but the strangest was an ordinary dark-skinned man wearing a pair of overalls but with only one strap around his shoulder. Kuneko doesn’t know how she feels such reverence for him at a simple glance but she does know why. 

Because for the first time in her life, she’s able to face the man who created her.  

Creator Felix seems awfully cavalier about the whole deal. While he’s surrounded by beasts that want nothing more than to slaughter him, he continues rummaging around that room of his. 

But it’s fine.

Because she’s here and she’s more than capable of fending off any threat to Creator Felix’s life!

Two more people show up. One leaves but the other one decides to escort Creator Felix around the area until they find a warrior with a wooden sword. She decides to help them out but Creator Felix seems more perturbed to see her than anything else. The look he sends her is enough to send her running off. 

For a second, she thinks that maybe Creator Felix doesn’t want her around but that can’t be right.

Right?

Unbeknownst to them, she decides to follow them back to Creator Felix’s abode and her heart breaks when Creator Felix regales his friend with the truth. 

She is unwanted. 

Her creator is the one who gave Kuneko her whole world but to him, she’s just an embarrassing memory forcibly dragged up from his past. One of his first ever creations when he was going through a cringy anime phase. Her existence was a joke and one that Creator Felix could have gone his whole life without ever hearing. In fact, his life would have been so much better if she never popped up again. 

Fine. 

Since she’s so humiliating, she’ll just prove it to him. She can totally pass the four elemental trials all on her own. She’s strong. And once she does, Creator Felix will have no choice but to acknowledge her!

For someone who wants nothing to do with her, Creator Felix seems to check up on her an awful lot. 

She doesn’t need his help!

At first, she’s gentle. Trying to brush off her frustrations as her feeling inadequate to fight alongside her dear Creator. But by the third time he shows up, her patience is wearing thin.

“I don’t want you to hurt yourself! Y’know, you don’t have to do this to impress me” It’s perhaps the most hurtful thing he’s said directly to her face. The sheer level of doubt he has for her. He can’t believe she can actually do anything worthwhile. She’s a warrior wielding the might of heaven and hell but she’ll always be nothing more than an embarrassment to him. He has to have misplaced his cringey weeb attitude as a reflection of her battle prowess and he will pay dearly for that.

“I know what you really think of me, creator. I know you’re embarrassed you made me.” Her creator is taken aback by her words and while he stumbles trying to come up with any response, she keeps going.

“I can tell by the way you look at me! My quest isn’t to impress you. I know there’s nothing I could ever do to make you proud of me!” She teleports away. She’s done yearning for support or acknowledgement. 

All she desires is the power to crush her creator.

He’s there at the final shrine too but she doesn’t give him the dignity of a response. She doesn’t even care if he intervenes because there’s nothing he can do to stop what comes next. After a short battle, she has the final element she needs. She takes them all into herself, supercharging every cringe power her middle school creator gave her.

Do I Still Embarrass You, Creator?

She soars zips around the battlefield at a speed unthinkable for her humiliating self. Her attacks through both her creator and his dumb friend. The cosmic energy pulses through her. She unleashes it all against her enemies. Her creator is helpless against he might. 

Good.

His friend, who has taken the appearance of a spectre of a ram, is a different story. In fact her attacks only seem to energise him. 

Before she can even come up with an idea on how to surpass him as well, both her enemies glow white and fuse into a giant enemy that towers over her lithe form.

She’s still far faster. She rushes him, kunai in hand, and is swatted down like a fly. 

No.

She’s not a fly.

She’s not worthless.

She will win this fight.

She is enough!

The sky rains down hundreds of glowing Kunais upon the giant above her. He stumbles so she continues pressing her advantage. She activates Sharp Edges just to give her moves a little more oomph. Kunais, stars, simple punches and kicks empowered by cosmic energy. He grabs her and slams her into the ground. She activates Ritual and to her surprise so does he.

In fact, he seems to share a lot of her moves. Shooting Star. Galactic Beatdown. They both can create elemental walls to blunt the other. Did he go on some epic quest too?

Green, thorny vines burst from the ground and wrap around her, sapping her nutrients. She rushes them but is taken by a cloud of poisonous spores. She fights through the pain and slices at the giant but he intercepts her with another blast of cosmic energy. One that she returns in kind. 

The resulting combination of their attacks devastates the area around them and Kuneko couldn’t be happier. Her creator may have outgrown this sort of anime-esque antics but it’s still cool to her and she won’t back down from that.

However, the blast also kills both of them. 

With their Rituals burned through, they’re both playing for keeps now. She summons another storm of cosmic kunais but they miss their mark, phasing through them. She throws another kunai to test her belief and yep. He’s Ghostly. 

Well, that’s fine.

Sure, she won’t be able to hit him but that kills the user after a couple minutes anyway and she can definitely last that long. 

The giant ram speeds towards her and she flaps her wings to get away, only to stumble as another round of poison saps at her strength. A singular moment that allows him to close the gap.

“ Last Rites ”

The last thing she sees is a book as big as herself before a dagger stabs into it. She feels a sharp pain in her chest, as if her very heart has ruptured. The power she tried so hard to attain leaves her body. Creator Felix and his friend defuse. She slumps against the ruined altar, giving them a look sharper than her cosmic kunais.

He stands above her, tall and mighty, while she’s struggling to even stand.

Is this it, then?

Is he going to discard her once and for all?

“Kuneko... I’m really sorry” What?

“I viewed you and all my other adolescent creations as embarrassing but we all start somewhere. If I hadn’t imagined you, hadn’t drawn you... I wouldn’t be the artist I am today.” He says with a light smile on his face. The kind of smile she imagined he’d have when they first met.

“I shouldn’t pretend you don’t exist. I should embrace you and what you mean to me as an artist.”

“Y-you really mean that?” She says, trying to blink away the tears in her eyes.

“I do. Besides, you looked pretty cool to me just now” And just like that, the floodgates open.

“CREATOR~~”

“OK. Calm down for just a bit”

“Sorry for trying to kill you just now, creator... I mean Felix”

“No worries. All is forgiven” Despite their recouncilment, they are still perplexed as to how a creation of his from 11 years old is now here in the same space that he is.

“Perhaps, once you create something, it no longer belongs to you. Ideas change and grow of their own accord”

“SO VERY CLOSE!!! I’LL ADMIT YOU’RE A BIT YOUNG FOR MY LIKING BUT AS THE HUMANS SAY: THE MORE THE MERRIER!”

She barely gets time to look at the triangle-headed man before she’s sucked into his head. Inside, she finds herself face to face with all sorts of abstract abominations on some fort of train tracks? She’s not supposed to be here. They're not supposed to be here. She feels like she’s going to suffocate just being in their presence. 

She- 

She wants her creator.

“ HM? LOOKS LIKE YOU REALLY ARE A BIT TOO YOUNG FOR THIS TROUPE! MAYBE TAKE A COUPLE HUNDRED YEARS TO GROW UP AND THEN WE’LL TALK!!!”

Just like that, she’s warped back into the same world as her Creator.

Her Creator attacks the triangle man but he simply warps away, uncaring for the attack.

“Are you ok?” Creator Felix’s friend asks.

“F-f-fine”

“We need to get you to Doctor Pensby!” Creator Felix says worriedly.

“NO!” She yells, startling the two before her.

“Really. It’s fine, my Creator. Alas, this is where we must part ways.” The idea of being in that town fills her with dread. Even if Creator Felix has accepted her, she knows many in that town won’t and the fear of rejection drives her to find her own path. 

“Farewell, Creator Felix and farewell also, Creator Felix’s quieter friend”

“My name is Cass”

“Here - my power, gifted to you. I hope it reminds you of our times battling together! May our memories burn like beacons that illuminate our true paths forward!” With that she teleports away to remain in solitude.

That’s not the last she sees of Creator Felix’s friend. He doesn’t seem to be travelling with her creator much these days. In fact there’s a good assortment of people he seems to be intimate with. She wonders if something happened between them or if Creator Felix’s quiet friend is just far more social than he appears. 

She challenges him to a fight. 

He says his name is Cass.

She loses badly. 

So she goes and trains before coming across him again only to lose yet again.

It doesn’t seem to matter who is accompanying him. He always seems to triumph over her.

“Creator Felix’s friend! I’ve been training - let me show you just how strong I am!”

“My name is Cass and just wait a second, alright?” He says pulling out a tin with some liquid and a container of some food. He handed them to here with an expectant look on his face. 

“Creator Felix’s friend! We are in the middle of a fight. You’re just trying to get me to lower my guard”

“My name is Cass and I’m pretty sure I don’t need dirty tricks to beat you. Just try it all right.” The rumbling in her stomach seemed to agree with him. 

She opens the dish up and a nice, warm aroma destroys her defenses. She picks up a utensil and starts shoveling the food into her mouth. She hasn’t really had much luck with finding food recently so she’s kinda, sorta been harvesting the other monsters around. Sometimes, she’ll resort to eating the jelly left behind from Jellytons but most of the time, she’s kinda just been harvesting Jumpkins. This dish, whatever it is, blows both of those out of the water. And whereas she’s just been boiling river water, this tin of concoction is far more delicious. Within only five minutes, she’s finished both food and drink and released a relieving sigh.

“Thank you, Creator Felix’s friend!” 

“My name is Cass.”

“It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance. Friend Cass has told me much about you!” Creator Felix’s friend’s companion says.

“Told you what exactly?” Kuneko says. 

“They say we are quite similar. Both unbound creations travelling the world to find a purpose of their own” 

“R-really?”

“I speak the truth! In Friend Cass’s world I am but a mere character in his world’s stories as was the archangel we faced in combat. I am Viola. It is a pleasure to be meeting you” Viola extends her hand but Kuneko is unsure. After a moment’s hesitation with Viola not pulling her hand back, Kuneko decides to shake her hand. 

“May I ask what goal you seek to accomplish?”

“Huh?”

“I seek to return to my world. It may be only a story in Cass’s universe but it is real to me and that is what matters. The same is true for you, is it not? Yet you do not help us find our way home. You must have a different objective in mind, no?” Viola says as if she has her all figured out but in truth Kuneko hasn’t really given much thought to what comes next.

Her original world is a mess of patchwork hastily stitched together. She supposes that is to be expected given how young Creator Felix was at the time. The short version is that she is born to an angel and a demon (both tragically died before she came of age), she was adopted by a ninja village (that was wiped out by the war between Heaven and Hell). As for any objectives she may have had, she’s already beaten the four elemental trials. The more she thinks about it, the more she realizes that there’s not really anything tying her to her old world. All that awaits her in her world is a war between Heaven and Hell and she’s not particularly keen on either side. 

She much prefers this one. At least, she managed to connect with her Creator and his friends. Perhaps that’s why she’s been fine living her days in solitude, training for the next match with Creator Felix’s friend. 

“I want to get strong enough to surpass Creator Felix’s friend” Kuneko says unprompted causing Viola to snicker.

“You best get training quick. We are very close to completing Morgante’s song. If all goes to plan, we’ll be out of here soon enough” Huh?

They leave without giving her a fight and normally she would call them out on it but she’s still hung up on Viola’s last words. They’re leaving? 

But why? This world isn’t that bad, right?

Why can’t they just stay here?

Why does she have to be all alone again?

“It is very unfair, isn’t it? To be created by these humans, only to be discarded when it becomes inconvenient” Kuneko’s blood freezes at the sound of a man who hides his malice behind his charisma.

A beam of crystal light pierces her back. She throws a kunai at the triangle-headed man but he blocks it with a sword far larger than either of them. She rushes at him, intending to give him a Galactic Beatdown, but he dodges. She’s greeted with a flurry of those giant swords stabbing her into the ground. She can’t make them budge but she won’t lose here!

She taps into that cosmic power she’s long since made her own and shatters the swords. She unleashes a storm of kunais against mirrorhead. While he’s having to defend against that, she unleashes a blast of cosmic energy. She dodges a blast of rainbow light before rushing up to him and stabbing two kunais into his chest. 

“Yes. You could be a problem. However, DEUS EX CALIBUR!!!”

She’s bisected by a massive sword. 

“So this is it, huh?” She says bitterly but trianglehead seems to have other ideas.

“Hm? AND HERE I THOUGHT YOU WANTED SOMETHING TO STRIVE FOR?! SINCE THOSE HUMANS ARE JUST GOING TO ABANDON YOU ANYWAY!”

She doesn’t have a response for him and he takes that to mean he can keep talking.

“I’M GONNA GIVE YOU THREE OPTIONS! 1) YOU GET A GRIP AND JOIN MY TROUPE AND HELP ME FIGHT BACK AGAINST THOSE INSUFFERABLE HUMANS. 2) YOU STAY HERE, I KILL THOSE HUMANS WITHOUT YOU AND EVERY SO OFTEN I COME BACK TO TEST YOUR TRAINING!”

No. 

She can’t let that happen. 

She’s not sure what she’ll do after they leave but she’s not going to let any harm come to her creator.

“I won’t let you kill my Creator!”

“ WHAT A SHAME! YOU CHOSE OPTION THREE!” 

Before she can get a single attack off, she’s slammed into the earth and pinned to the tracks with a massive sword in each of her limbs. She’s so exhausted. She was already running on fumes when she pulled out that second transformation. The light from a train shines in her face. The blaring horn gets louder and louder as she desperately tries to get out from under the swords.

“YOU DID HAVE POTENTIAL! I’LL GIVE YOU THAT MUCH! BUT IT SEEMS THIS IS WHERE YOUR STORY ENDS!” Trianglehead flies off, leaving her to her fate completely alone. 

But then it’s not much different from how her life was before, is it? She refused to actually try and form connections with others so she was destined to die alone. 

Is this really how her story ends?

No. 

NO!

Her Creator needs her. Viola needs her. Cass needs her and so do the rest of his friends! If they’re truly going up against triangle head, they’re gonna need all the help she can get. Besides that, she refuses to let this be her end. She is a ninja born of heaven and hell, taught to always fight for her life no matter what! She completed the four elemental trials. She forced her Creator to fuse with another. She can do this! As the train rushes closes, she flaps her hybrid wings and unleashes a Shooting Star, pushing her even further into the ground beneath the tracks right as the train was about to hit her. 

The train shatters the swords above her but the train largely passes over her unharmed. She lets out a sigh of relief.

It’s time for a rematch!

Unfortunately, she lost track of triangle head pretty much as soon as she left. And now she’s trapped in a labyrinth of train tracks. She doesn’t know how long she’s actually been in here. No way to tell time. No way for her to draw on the powers of the sun or the moon. She just wanders the tunnels listlessly, getting out of the way of any trains that rush through. 

But eventually she hears the sounds of a battle roar throughout the tunnels. The more she follows it, the more suffocated she feels, which must be a good sign that she’s getting closer. She follows them just in time to see triangle head and her Creator’s team leave on a train through a massive gap in the wall. 

“W-wait!” She yells out but neither gives her the time of day. 

She stumbles and sprints, only barely managing to catch the very end of the carriage while triangle head continues his battle with everyone. His presence is far more suffocating this time around. She needs to do her part. 

She weakly flies up the carriage just in time for him to yell-

NO MORE CASSETTES!!!

She watches in horror as he breaks them out of their transformations. 

YOU ARE NOT BEASTS! MERELY HUMAN! - The sight of a storm of giant swords rushing towards her Creator is enough to fill her with determination.

“COSMIC KUNAI!!!” The attack itself does little more than annoy triangle head but at least it stopped his attack from hitting her friends.

OH, YOU’RE STILL ALIVE, ARE YOU? WELL DEUS EX CALIBUR!

She sees the sword coming from a mile away and grazes it with her kunai, skating down it and kicking him right in the triangle. Summoning another sword, he swats her aside but they’re both floored by a wave of energy.

In the place of her Creator and his allies, now stands (flies) something far more abstract. Triangle head seems to recognize it. 

AH, THE OLD WITCH. YOU ARE FOREVER A THORN IN MY SIDE, AREN’T YOU?

It says nothing, preferring to keep attacking triangle head with waves and pulses of godlike energy. He tries to fight back but nothing he does seems to be capable of putting this thing down for good until-

C O D A M O R G A N A!!! - Kuneko immediately flies out the way as the beam seems to affect everything around her before firing. Their enemy shatters, only able to give an “I see” before disappearing for good. 

“Creator Felix, I am so glad you’re alright!” Kuneko runs and embraces him.

“Kuneko... what are you doing here?” Her Creator says in disbelief. 

“Saving you obviously” She huffs, disbelieving that that is the first thing he says to her “Is it really true you’re about to leave me behind?” He looks solemn for a moment. 

“I’ve got my own world to go back to. Family I need to go back to. Find my own path. Surely you can understand that, right?” But they’re family...

“I’ll be sure to come visit” He tries to reassure her but his attempt falls flat seconds later.

“I’m afraid that’s not possible sugar. This is a one-way trip.” They all react in disbelief sans Kuneko who kinda figured that was the deal to this place. People have been searching a way off this island for generations. If it was so easy to come to and fro, they’d probably have found the exit by now. 

One by one they all go through the portal back to their world. All of them remarking about how they hope they can keep the powers they gained in this world. 

It’s a good question. 

If she goes through it, will she stay as she is or will she return to being one of her Creator’s drawings?

He keeps her awkward company but she can tell he really wants to go through that portal and leave her behind.

It’s not fair. 

She wishes she had just a bit more time but it’s all been wasted. The end is upon her right now and there’s nothing she can do about it.

She can only wallow in self-pity until her Creator’s quiet friend Cass decides to go through. The only ones left at this point are him, her Creator and the strange dog wielding his own cassette. 

“Oh! I think that one wants to go back with you. Ain’t that sweet!” The dog bounces up and down reaffirming the strange woman’s thoughts. 

Wait. They don’t have to go back to their own worlds? They can just go to whoevers? Her initial thought is to join her Creator but though they have made up, she’s not sure how long that would last if she accompanied him. This is the same world that molded her Creator into someone who thought she was something to be humiliated by. Even if he doesn’t change, she has a feeling she’ll be completely out of place in his world. Something to be mocked and ridiculed all over again. But if a sentient dog that can use a cassette is fine, maybe Cass’ world is different? Maybe it can be something where she truly belongs?

Kuneko looks back at her Creator and makes her decision.

“It’s- It’s been fun, my Creator! I wish you all the blessings in the world!”

“Kuneko?”

“Got room for one more, friend Cass? I-I still want to defeat you! I can’t have my eternal rival running away from me just when I was about to reach the cusp of my power!” Cass rolls his eyes but waves her over anyway.

“At least you got my name right for once. You don’t mind if I take this one off your hands?” Her Creator laughs good naturedly.

“I don’t. Kuneko, stay out of trouble ok? And help Cass out whenever they need it!” He pauses, working up the courage to say something else.

“I’m- I’m proud of you, ok!”

“Creator!” She cries. 

She wants more time but they’re out of it. Cass and the strange dog line up by the portal. She yells out to Felix “Even if we never see each other again, I’ll do whatever I can to keep making you proud. You can count on that!”

She sprints after Cass and his new dog and catches them just in time to all leap into the abyss together.