#frog guang returns

[mykingdomforapen]

Remember how I said I'm not done yet with the world of 'courage of stars'?

I couldn't help but write about a little one's origin story from the fic...a little Cassini, shall we say.

Spoilers for stars below teehee.

-

Cheng Xiaoshi was hiding something, and Lu Guang took a little too long to realise that maybe he was trying to be obvious about it. 

He lay bundled up in his hospital bed, still attached to various tubes (albeit significantly fewer tubes and wires compared to a month ago), but he fidgeted clumsily with restless energy. In his hand was an oxygen clip on one finger and a birthday card in another, which he was eagerly shoving into Lu Guang’s hand. 

“Happy birthday, Lu Guang!” he sang. 

Lu Guang’s birthday had begun with Qiao Ling orchestrating an entire day out for him–breakfast with her parents, a morning at the art museum, a birthday lunch with Xu Shanshan and Dong Yi, and a nap back at the Qiao household before visiting Cheng Xiaoshi in the hospital. Qiao Ling was determined to spoil Lu Guang as if he was a ragdoll housecat, which meant that she let him use her precious fleece throw blanket during his nap, a privilege even Cheng Xiaoshi never earned. 

Lu Guang was never one to want fanfare for his birthday. In part, due to the fact that for several timelines it was neither his first nor his last time turning nineteen, twenty, or twenty-one. After getting stabbed on his birthday at one point, he found it even less enjoyable. But when September crisped and cooled into October, Lu Guang felt as if he had finally seen the other side of an ocean for the first time, after an Odyssey lost at sea. It was an October identical to any other–dipping temperatures, bank holidays, persimmons–but all of a sudden Lu Guang thought it was the most miraculous of months and seasons. It was October, and Cheng Xiaoshi was alive.

He began to look forward to his birthday. 

Although Cheng Xiaoshi was still bedridden in the hospital, he and Qiao Ling had apparently planned the day together. Qiao Ling had arranged the art museum tickets, and Cheng Xiaoshi had convinced her to let Lu Guang take a nap halfway through instead of going to a cafe (it was the most glorious nap that Lu Guang had taken that week), and now Lu Guang and Qiao Ling were stopping by the hospital to spend time with Cheng Xiaoshi, who quickly demanded to hear in full detail everything that had happened thus far. 

“What kind of art did you see?” Cheng Xiaoshi asked. “What food did you eat? How much money did Qiao Shushu and Auntie Qiao give you in red envelopes?”

QIao Ling flicked Cheng Xiaoshi on the nose (she had quickly learned to restrain herself from her typical, more violent acts of reprimand in this time). “You nosy brat! That’s none of your business.” 

Cheng Xiaoshi snickered. His voice was still breathy and he could only be out of bed for several minutes at a time as his body slowly got used to surviving. He looked a little worse for wear, admittedly–paler than he normally was, chronically drowsy, and was routinely struck with a painful tightness around the chest and shortness of breath that the doctors had yet to fully treat, but he was breathing and smiling and bantering with Qiao Ling. He was alive, and there were no more caveats. 

So Lu Guang regaled Cheng Xiaoshi with his day, as he often did whenever he visited. Cheng Xiaoshi had struggled in the first several weeks of recovery after awakening from his coma, stricken with pain when he wasn’t under the heavy fog of medication and haunted by the memory of being killed twice. Yet he smiled every time Lu Guang visited, tired but genuine, and when he did not have enough breath to ramble he eagerly listened to Lu Guang fill the void, something that Lu Guang was not entirely accustomed to but grew to appreciate as he talked about the shop and recent soap dramas and his petty feud with a neighbor. He ran the pad of his thumb over the hollow of Cheng Xiaosh’s pulse on his wrist absentmindedly, and Cheng Xiaoshi listened with a faint smile on his lips, and neither of them remembered their pain. 

“So, you’re heading home after this, right?” Cheng Xiaoshi said. “No other plans?”

He asked it in such an artificially casual way, like a helium balloon bouncing against the ceiling. As fairly decent he was at pretending to be other people in his dives, he was helplessly transparent when he was himself. 

“I think so,” Lu Guang said, looking to Qiao Ling for confirmation. “We don’t have anything too special planned after this. Probably dinner.” 

“Dinner sounds like a good idea,” Cheng Xiaoshi said lightly.

Lu Guang raised an eyebrow. Cheng Xiaoshi’s eyes darted to the side nervously to Qiao Ling. 

“I would think so,” Lu Guang said. “We generally do it every day.” 

“Yeah, yeah,” Cheng Xiaoshi said, waving a hand. “A birthday dinner…that will be special. You know, I think you should wear sandals for it.” 

Lu Guang stared at him.

“What?” he asked, aghast.

Cheng Xiaoshi shrugged innocently. 

“I’m just saying things,” Cheng Xiaoshi said. “Just…might be a good idea!” 

“it’s the end of October.” 

Cheng Xiaoshi hummed. Qiao Ling, in lieu of slapping him in the back of the head, pinched her nose bridge instead. 

“Why should I wear sandals to dinner?” Lu Guang asked. 

“Aiyah, don’t pepper me with questions,” Cheng Xiaoshi said. He turned his head away from Lu Guang to sink lower into the pillow. “I’m vulnerable with painkillers! I’m talking nonsense!” 

“You’re such an idiot,” Qiao Ling muttered. 

Cheng Xiaoshi turned to her to grin. Lu Guang resisted the temptation to roll his eyes. 

“I told you,” Lu Guang said. “You didn’t have to get me anything for my birthday–” 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Cheng Xiaoshi said breezily. 

“Idiot,” Lu Guang said with relish. 

But he smiled, because Cheng Xiaoshi looked sheepish, mischievous, delighted, and above all else, he did not look in pain. He knew that underneath the hospital gown was a bandaged scar running down his sternum, twice opened–once to end his life and once to save it. But Lu Guang felt no compulsion to fix his eyes on it, like it were a beast or a rival he could not turn his back to. Cheng Xiaoshi’s laugh was enough. 

“Surely you’ll have noodles, won’t you?” Cheng Xiaoshi said. “And not those instant noodles, although I would commit crimes for some cup ramen right now. The food here is so flavorless. I feel myself turning into an old man!” 

“Maybe that’s a good thing,” Qiao Ling said. “This is probably the most vegetables you’ve eaten than what you usually have in an entire year.” 

“Why are you nagging me when Lu Guang eats the exact same meals as I do every day?” 

Qiao Ling flashed a grin at Lu Guang.

“Because Lu Guang would just nod and say I’m right, and that’s not as fun,” she said saucily.

“What?” Lu Guang said, aghast. “I’m not a pushover!” 

“You are a little,” Cheng Xiaoshi said cheekily. 

Lu Guang huffed, but he didn’t know how to argue back when not that long ago, Cheng Xiaoshi had convinced Lu Guang to sneak a sesame ball into the hospital for him.

They spent the rest of the hour teasing and talking, with Qiao Ling perched on one side of the hospital bed and Lu Guang sitting cross legged on the foot of it. When visitation was over and Cheng Xiaoshi needed to rest, Cheng Xiaoshi beckoned Qiao Ling to come to his bedside and then, whispering loudly enough for Lu Guang to hear, said, “Don’t forget ot make sure he brings a soup spoon in his back pocket.”

“You’re an idiot,” Lu Guang said loudly, to which Cheng Xiaoshi sniggered. He squeezed Cheng Xiaoshi’s ankle. “Thanks for the card.” 

Here, Cheng Xiaoshi’s mirth softened to wistfulness. 

“I wish I could celebrate with you,” he said. 

“You did,” Lu Guang said assuringly. “Now get some rest.” 

“See you tomorrow?” Cheng Xiaoshi said hopefully. “Wait, no, no, you don’t have to. You might need some extra time at home.” 

“Extra time for what?” Lu Guang asked. 

This time, Cheng Xiaoshi’s sheepishness looked genuine. 

“Never mind what I said!” he said hastily. “Happy birthday, Lu Guang.” 

Lu Guang shook his head exasperatedly, bursting with gratitude. He and Qiao Ling bid Cheng Xiaoshi goodbye before heading back to the studio. 

Lu Guang didn’t actually know what sort of dinner plans they would have; Qiao Ling insisted that she would plan every minute of the day, which was very generous if not extremely intimidating, but she had not made any indication of what dinner might be. He did notice, however, that she had been almost entirely glued to her phone during the entire visitation with Cheng Xiaoshi, frantically texting someone until her wrist hurt. She spent the bus ride flexing her hand, wincing. 

“So,” Lu Guang said. “Do I really have to wear sandals and bring a soup spoon?” 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Qiao Ling said innocently. 

Lu Guang narrowed his eyes. 

“What is he planning?” he demanded. 

“Don’t listen to him,” she said. “He’s on heavy medication.” 

Her lips twitched into a muffled smile. Lu Guang let it slide with blossoming affection in his chest. 

When they made it back to the Photo Studio, the sun had already begun its autumnal routine. Daylight dimmed into dusk as streetlights twinkled on in preparation. The photo studio stood out on the street with its lights shining through the wide glass windows, which struck Lu Guang oddly because he didn’t remember turning the lights on when they left that morning. 

Beside him, Qiao Ling was starting a video call. 

“Qiao Ling,” Lu Guang said. “What’s going on?” 

“Hold on,” said Qiao Ling. “Gosh, what’s taking him so long–there we go!” 

Cheng Xiaoshi’s face brightened her phone screen, his excitement fighting past his drowsiness. 

“Are you there yet?” Cheng Xiaoshi said excitedly. “Are you home?” 

“Almost,” sang Qiao Ling as she pulled out her landlady key. Lu Guang could see through the glass window that QIao Shushu was in the sunroom, crouched over the coffee table to put some finishing last touches on something. It must have been a birthday cake, and Cheng Xiaoshi called in to sing–Lu Guang fought down the instinct to scold Cheng Xiaoshi for not resting as he as overwhelmed with a wave of love.

“Lu Guang, do you have your sandals?” teased Cheng Xiaoshi.

“You’re such a child,” Lu Guang said, wishing for nothing less. 

Cheng Xiaoshi beamed. Qiao Ling unlocked the front door and held it open for Lu Guang. Lu Guang walked inside as Qiao Shushu spun around quickly, shielding whatever was behind him from view with his proud grin. 

“Back already, you two?” he said. 

“Qiao Shushu, are you joining us for dinner?” asked Lu Guang. 

“We’ll bring dinner here,” said Qiao Ling. “I think you might be inclined to stay home for the rest of the day, after all.”

She was grinning with all her teeth, and Cheng Xiaoshi in her hand was practically bouncing despite being propped up in a hospital bed. 

“Happy birthday, Lu Guang!” Cheng Xiaoshi said again, as if he could never have enough of it. “This is my present to you–with the help of Qiao Shushu for setting it up and Qiao Ling for keeping you out of the house. Hurry, hurry, I want you to see!” 

“You really didn’t have to–” 

Qiao Ling hurried several paces ahead of Lu Guang so that she could turn the camera to face Lu Guang, just as Qiao Shushu stepped out of the way. 

Lu Guang stopped dead in his tracks in the sunroom as he stared down at a cozy, bedecked glass tank on top of the coffee table. A wetland biome fit itself neatly in the glass box, complete with water, mud, rocks, and greenery, with a sun lamp shining down into it. 

And in the middle of it all, content to mind its own business, and no bigger than a teacup, was a pale blue Amazon milk frog. 

“Surprise!” Cheng Xiaoshi squealed. 

Lu Guang didn’t realise his jaw was hanging until he noticed his tongue going dry. He knelt down so that he was eye level with the tank, his head buzzing into numbness with disbelief. The frog’s webbed feet were folded neatly underneath it, basking in the heating lamp’s ray with satisfaction. 

“Do you like him?” Cheng Xiaoshi asked, his light voice lifting slightly with nervousness. 

“You got him for me?” Lu Guang said quietly. 

“I spent weeks trying to find one,” Cheng Xiaoshi said. “And Qiao Ling was helping me make phone calls to different shops all around China. Your yeye told me that you liked the milk frogs the best when you were little–”

“My yeye was in on this?” Lu Guang blurted out.

“Yep!” Cheng Xiaoshi said proudly. “He even got your dad to send me the name of the place you got the frog the first time–”

“My dad was in on this?” 

Incredulity heaped itself on Lu Guang with every turn, but he could hardly summit any of them as he stared at the frog in the tank. It looked just like Milk Toast had, all those years ago, when his childhood frog would patiently wait for him to come home from school. This frog was a little bit smaller, slightly fewer warts, but it looked healthy and happy and Lu Guang couldn’t believe that this was meant to be his. 

Emotion bundled itself in the middle of his throat. He blinked rapidly, moisture catching on his lashes. 

“Thank you,” Lu Guang whispered. “I really like him.” 

Cheng Xiaoshi pumped his fist on the screen. Qiao Ling was glowing with delight as she crouched next to Lu Guang to show Cheng Xiaoshi a closer view of the frog. Lu Guang leaned in so closely that the tip of his nose nearly touched the glass. 

“What are you going to name him?” Qiao Ling asked. 

Lu Guang had not regained his composure enough to make a decision such as that. He was fighting back the dampness on his cheeks and a laugh at himself that he, at twenty-two (twenty-two–it will take some time to get used to), would be weeping over a new pet frog like he did when he was a child. That seven-year-old boy, it turned out, was not as far behind him as he thought. 

“I don’t know,” he said in a watery voice. “What do you think, Cheng Xiaoshi?”

“Me?” Cheng Xiaoshi said, flabbergasted. 

Lu Guang nodded when his throat closed up with an overload of sentiment. Cheng Xiaoshi blinked before his lips stretched into a tentative, hopeful smile. 

“What about Cassini?” he asked. 

It came so naturally to the tip of his tongue that Lu Guang could only imagine how long it had already been sitting there before he had asked Cheng Xiaoshi for his opinion. It was a bold name, surprising in its grandeur, and somehow it seemed to fit neatly in this little frog. Lu Guang nodded, brushing his cheeks with a swipe of his thumb. 

“I like that,” he said. “Cassini.” 

-

It wasn’t until two months after Cheng Xiaoshi returned from the hospital did Lu Guang ask the question. By then, winter was already making room for spring, and a second Amazon milk frog had joined the glass tank. Cheng Xiaoshi had discovered that Amazon milk frogs were social creatures who needed friends. Lu Guang knew this about the frogs but kept that to himself, until Cheng Xiaoshi called him suddenly from the hospital sobbing. 

“I didn’t buy him a friend!” he wept inconsolably, which tipped Lu Guang off that he probably received a generous dose of painkillers. “I ruined his life!” 

“Cheng Xiaoshi, it’s fine,” Lu Guang said, but Cheng Xiaoshi cried over it until his heart monitor went up and the nurse had to check on him. After Cheng Xiaoshi went straight to sleep, Lu Guang thought that was the end of it. Naturally, when it came to Cheng Xiaoshi, it wasn’t, and after secretly selling some of his collectibles he purchased a second Amazon milk frog to the ecosystem. At this point, Lu Guang knew that it was less for him and more for Cassini’s sake, of whom Cheng Xiaoshi had requested daily photos of every day until he had been discharged. 

So Cassini and his new friend, Huygens (per Cheng Xiaoshi’s request), both became Time Photo Studios’ resident frogs. While they were not the sort of animal to play with each other in obvious, mammalian fashion, Lu Guang couldn’t help but get the sense that Cassini was happier with a tankmate. He wasn’t surprised, considering what he knew about frogs.

What he was surprised about was the choice in names. 

“Why’d you pick their names, by the way?” Lu Guang asked.

It was a lazy weekend evening, after dinner had been put away and Cheng Xiaoshi had taken all of his necessary medication. He was sprawled on their new sofa, playing a game on his phone while Lu Guang was snapping endless photos of the frogs on his phone as they politely sat on top of the log together. 

Cheng Xiaoshi turned his head towards Lu Guang, his hair flopped over his forehead carelessly.

“Because you asked me to,” he said.

“No, I mean, why did you pick those names?” 

Cheng Xiaoshi perked up. He set down his phone.

“You don’t know about the Cassini-Huygens probe?” he asked. 

Lu Guang furrowed his brow. 

“I don’t think so,” he said. “The names sounded familiar. I just thought they might have been one of your video game characters.” 

“No!” Cheng XIaoshi sat up sharply. “It was a space probe that took tons of photos of Saturn! All of its rings and its moons and it sent them back to Earth and scientists learned so much about Saturn and–” 

He stopped, suddenly pale, as the sudden rise of movement and energy was too much for his heart to take at once. He swayed on the sofa, and Lu Guang immediately beelined to the sofa to gently guide Cheng Xiaoshi back down to rest. 

“Idiot,” Lu Guang said. Cheng Xiaoshi’s sudden drop caused an equally sudden spike in Lu Guang’s blood pressure, one that he had not fully learnt to let go of just yet. He cradled Cheng Xiaoshi’s neck as he lay him back against the pillow while Cheng Xiaoshi’s grimace grew sloppy with dizziness. “You get so overexcited.” 

He sat by Cheng Xiaoshi’s side as Cheng Xiaoshi pressed a hand against his forehead, waiting for the dizziness to subside. Lu Guang unconsciously kept a hand on Cheng Xiaoshi’s other wrist, guarding his rapid pulse until it eased. Cheng Xiaoshi hid his eyes from Lu Guang, still not entirely used to this new state of being and thus self-conscious about it. Lu Guang said nothing else, instead running his hand gently over Cheng Xiaoshi’s forearm. It was, in some ways, more for himself than for his friend. 

“They taught humans so much about Saturn,” Cheng Xiaoshi mumbled again, after a stretch of silence. “And then–and then, after twenty years, they couldn’t bring the probe back to Earth, so it self-destructed in Saturn’s atmosphere so that it wouldn’t accidentally hurt any of the moons.” At this, Cheng Xiaoshi’s voice tightened. “I just really liked it. “

Lu Guang softened. He let his hand fall away from Cheng Xiaoshi. 

“I didn’t know that before,” he said. “That’s really interesting.”

Cheng Xiaoshi nodded. He went strangely quiet. Lu Guang teetered on the precipice of curiosity. 

“How’d you first hear of it?” Lu Guang asked. 

Cheng Xiaoshi hesitated.

“My mom,” he said. “She liked to read up on it, before…” Cheng Xiaoshi swallowed hard. “I don’t think she really knew what happened to it, though.” 

Lu Guang hummed. He had come to learn Cheng Xiaoshi and what he needed most when the topic of his parents came up, before their deaths. Cheng Xiaoshi preferred to bring them up on his own, because the moment anyone else did he couldn’t help but assume they meant so accusingly and would automatically get defensive. And perhaps that was fair of him–neighbors assumed the worst, Qiao Ling’s parents avoided talking about them, and Qiao Ling followed suit. Lu Guang learned to take their example.

But what about now, when the grief was finally defined? The day Cheng Xiaoshi finally saw Cheng Yinhe’s ashes for the first time, he wept without restraint, releasing all the tears he had denied himself for fifteen years. Nothing technically changed, and yet his grief was fresh and unfamiliar, now that death made their absence final. Lu Guang knew even less what to do to help, if anything would. But if there was something he knew about Cheng Xiaoshi, it was that his best friend always wanted to share the things he loved with others. 

“Did she tell you a lot about astronomy?” Lu Guang asked.

Cheng Xiaoshi sniffed heartily before nodding. 

“She always talked about the moon,” he said. He dragged his wrist over his eyes and blinked blearily at Lu Guang. “She told me all sorts of things about it.” 

“Like what?” asked Lu Guang.

“Like…did you know that the moon shakes?” 

Lu Guang blinked.

“It does?” he asked.

Cheng Xiaoshi cracked a smile. 

“Yeah,” he said. “It vibrates. Because it goes super hot and then super cold all of a sudden all the time, or something like that.” 

“Huh.” Lu Guang tilted his head so that he could look out the sunroom glass. The moon was rising early, its crescent arc peeking through the treeline. “I never knew that.” 

“Cool, right?” Cheng Xiaoshi said.

“Yeah,” Lu Guang said earnestly. “So the Cassini-Huygens, it studied Saturn’s moons?” 

“Yeah,” Cheng Xiaoshi said. “Saturn has tons of moons. Not as many as Jupiter, I think, but…I don’t remember how many.” 

“Let’s check,” Lu Guang said as he pulled out his phone. “I’d like to know more.”

Cheng Xiaoshi smiled wider. 

[hellomisterriddle]

lmao

yall wanna see the honestly ridiculous amount of notes i made for the yuri on ice and final fantasy xv au/crossover thing that i’m definitely never gonna write but will share regardless

and by all means, if you’d like to write it yourself, go for it lol

(its a yoi in ffxv kinda thingy fyi--tho if someone writes a ffxv in yoi au HOLLA ATYA BOI I WANT I N)

Characters and Roles

Yuuri - The Prince

Viktor - The Oracle

Yuri (Aged up) - Ravus-Like Character/Sibling of Oracle

Phichit - Companion 1 (The best friend)

Sara- Companion 2 (The Strategist)

Michele- Companion 3 (The Brawn)

Minami or Emil (more leaning to Emil; can say he’s Michele’s BFF [or BF lmao whichever tbh])- Iris-Like Character

JJ (De-Aged) - Talcott

Jared/Jared-Like character???

Mila - The Commodore

Georgi - Biggs/Widge-Like Character

Yuuko & Takeshi - Cindy/Cid-Like Characters (They run the Garage in Hammerhead)

All other Characters will remain the same as in game.

Locations are the same

Lucis, Altissia, Niflhiem, ect

Yuuri Lucis Caelum is the crown prince and heir to the throne of Lucis. He and his companions are sent on a journey to Altissia to attend Yuuri’s wedding with Lord Viktor Nikiforov, the Oracle.

Themes

Final Fantasy XV’s themes revolve around Noctis growth from Prince to King. Learning how to become selfless and trusting of his companions and friends.

For Prince Yuuri’s themes, Yuuri would grow in confidence and personal strength. Yuuri is already selfless, but is not ready to rule an entire kingdom. He would learn to trust in his friends and himself, becoming a king in his own rite during his adventures.

Plot/Synopsis

Niflheim’s fake treaty and attack on Yuuri’s home has him scrambling to regroup with Minami(?) in Lestallum. He worries for the safety of his fiance, Viktor, until Vicchan arrives with word that Viktor is safe and in Altissia.

They continuously run into a stranger named Chris/Ardyn who helps them, but also appears to have ulterior motives.

Yuuri and his friends take on multiple quests across Eos, as well as venturing into the dungeons where the Royal Tombs lay. These are where Yuuri is confronted by his ancestors and gains their help in the fight to combat the darkness.

From Lestallum, the group must make way to Cape Caem, where they will use a boat that had belonged to Yuuri’s father, the King, to travel to Altissia.

At this point, Yuuri has already gained the alliance of Ramuh and Titan. In Altissia, the plan is to gain the trust of the Leviathan during the Rite, initiated by the Oracle. Yuuri struggles greatly in his battle with Leviathan. Occupied with battling the Leviathan, he is helpless as Viktor is stabbed by the nefarious Chris/Ardyn. Once he finally gains the goddess’ blessing, he is able to quickly administer a phoenix down to Viktor, saving his life, before he falls unconscious himself.

While Viktor was saved from death, he remains in a stasis coma. With the Oracle powers locked away until he awakens, the world becomes consumed in darkness, with daylight disappearing rapidly.

When he awakes days later, he is relieved to hear that Viktor lived, but horrified and wrecked with guilt upon hear that Sara has lost her leg in the battles around Altissia. He can’t look either of the twins in the eye and refuses to listen to anyone about his guilt, choosing to remain at Viktor’s bedside until they are forced to continue their journey. It puts a strain on the group as they continue on to the Imperial capital. Sara remains with the group, silently working through her pain, both physical and emotional. Michele is angered by Yuuri’s insistent silence and self imposed isolation.

Everything comes to a head after a particularly nasty daemon fight at a Royal tomb. Sara, fed up with the group tension, forces Yuuri to realize he had no right to sulk over Sara’s injury when Sara herself had no time to do so herself. The group's constant movement and journey prevented it. ..She is grateful for how much Yuuri cares, but is insistent that he get over it. She says she is strong and that she can handle whatever the empire may throw at her. When Yuuri tries to apologize, she stops him again, saying that a king will face countless situations just like hers and that his apologies will mean nothing if they do not follow by actions.

As protective as Michele is of Sara, he is relieved to see her spirit burn bright in these dark times. He too tells Yuuri that his actions will speak infinitely louder than his words, and that if he is truly sorry for Sara’s injury, then he must prove by taking down the empire and Chris/Ardyn.

Roused by the twins talks, Yuuri feels ready to head to the imperial capital. However, on the way there, Yuuri expresses and uncharacteristic bout of anger when he sees Chris/Ardyn on the train. He confronts him and is blinded by his rage. When he attacks Chris/Ardyn, it is revealed that it was actually Phichit, and that Yuuri had been fooled. When Chris/Ardyn and the daemons are dealt with for the time being, Yuuri is yet again subjected to incredible guilt for attacking and leaving Phichit behind. Before Yuuri can suffer an anxiety attack, he's forced into action as they enter the imperial city.

Upon their abrupt arrival, Yuuri is separated from the twins and forced to continue on his own. He finally realizes it’s time to confront his fears and wear the Ring of Lucis if he wants a fighting chance to find his friends and rescue Phichit.

He journey’s through the compound bravely, taking down all enemies in his way, desperate to find his friends and take back his home. When they are all finally reunited, Phichit reveals the secret that he himself was a test subject in the Niflheim labs. The friends reassure him that his origins do not matter to them and that their friendship can handle much more than that.

From then, the friends face many great enemies until Chris/Ardyn give Yuuri an ultimatum of either leaving the Crystal or his friends. Yuuri decides he has to trust his friends and do what’s best for his future kingdom.

Yuuri is taken by the Crystal where he slumber for ten long years, of which he spends in self reflection. When he finally reemerges he finds the world has become overtaken by darkness. Viktor had never awoken from his coma. When Yuuri asks about Viktor’s whereabouts, he finds out that both Viktor and his brother Yuri were forced into hiding and that they reside in Lestallum with just about everyone else in Lucis.

(Yuuri wonders if the visions of Viktor that he would see during his slumber were truly figments of his imagination.)

He is finally reunited with his friends in Hammerhead, where they tell him what has happened the past ten years. Sara has gained a prosthetic for her leg and hunts daemons frequently with Michele. Phichit also does his own hunting, and even made friends with some of the other hunters (Leo, Guang Hong, Seung-gil).

The friends have one last camp together before heading for Insomnia, where Yuuri must finally confront Chris/Ardyn who he learned is the immortal embodiment of darkness. With the help of the Gods and the Kings of Lucis, including his father, Yuuri is able to put an end to Chris/Ardyn and return the world to light. But Yuuri is unable to leave the fight unharmed. With the darkness finally destroyed, Yuuri returns the powers he burrowed and is forced into yet another slumber.

However, this time it does not last nearly as long. As he sleeps, he dreams and sees the Oracle and himself, together at last, with the blessings of the Gods. Viktor tells him that they will be together soon, once he arrives to Insomnia.

Yuri brings his brother to Insomnia at the insistences of the Crownguard, both for their further safety, and to finally bring the King and Oracle together. When brought together at last, they both awaken to see the other. While it may have been more than ten years since they had last physically seen the other, they have always been with the other in their times of deep slumber. The love the shared as children had only grown and evolved as they also did.

The wedding may have previously been for the treaty, but now it was for love.

King Yuuri and Lord Viktor wed, and with their marriage comes countless years of peace.

Other Stories

Sidestories of certain quests such as the chocobo quests, photo ops, frog catching, and daemon hunting. Dungeons as well!

Prequels of the four friends.

Prequel of Viktor and Yuuri as children

A possible AU where Lord Viktor was able to fight alongside Yuuri.

[mykingdomforapen]

chapter 10 of "courage of stars" will be coming next week and guys, I'm so nervous. I am so excited and I'm so nervous. This chapter is many things. It's where I got to do some things I've been really wanting to do. It's where I cross a point of no return in the story. I got to try a different style. It's where the line blurs between fanfic and a genre that I respect and fear.

It's also a huge factor in why this fic is rated M. Hoo boy.

So! In lieu of updating today, so that you won't have to face a three week wait afterwards, here's a fun little drabble/filler episode:

-

When Lu Guang was four years old, he lovingly killed three tadpoles. He had scooped them from the pond in a plastic cup and brought them home happily, convinced he would raise them into froghood. By Thursday, all three of them floated lifelessly in the surface of the bright blue tub in which he housed them. His mother poked them curiously with a chopstick while he sobbed into his grandmother's lap.

"Don't be so sad, Guangguang," Maamaa crooned as she patted Lu Guang's head. "You tried very, very hard. We all know that you did your best." 

"I killed them!" Lu Guang wailed into her skirt. "I just want them to be frogs and now they died!"

"Oh, A Guang," his mother said as she furtively plucked the dead tadpoles into a bundled newspaper for a more discreet funeral. "This is a good learning experience, right? Now you know what not to do with a frog. See, it's good to learn with the wild tadpoles, before you spend money on a pet. You know better for next time not to use tap water."

Lu Guang sobbed louder ("I meant it to be comforting!") until Yeye came home. Maamaa intercepted Yeye before he walked through the door and sent him on a mission to bring home steamed bai tang gao as a consolation, and Yeye beelined to the nearest vendor to bring home a steaming, buoyant cake of tangy sweet rice. Lu Guang chewed on it sullenly on the living room sofa after bidding the dead tadpoles goodbye into the storm drain.

Yeye sighed as he sat next to Lu Guang, stroking his grandson's little head.

"You know," he said, "when I was little, my father raised bees."

Lu Guang blinked up at Yeye with teary eyes.

"Honeybees?" he asked.

Yeye nodded. "My father was a very adventurous man, you know. A scholar, but always enjoyed the outdoors. He got it in his head that he would like to try raising a colony of honeybees. I was so excited to help him. I thought we would have hives and hives of bees, but what do you know! Only a month or so of having the bees, one day they all flew away. The queen said, no more! I was so disappointed."

Lu Guang sniffled. Yeye scratched the back of Lu Guang's head.

"After that, we stuck with chickens," Yeye said lightly. "What do you think of chickens, A Guang?"

Lu Guang shook his head.

"I like frogs," he whispered.

"You want to try raising frogs again?"

Lu Guang nodded. Yeye smiled crookedly.

"Ah, well," he said. "Chickens are smelly, anyway."

-

For Lu Guang's seventh birthday, his parents took him to the pet store.

His mother had promised him a pet frog for when he turned seven, partly because she had assumed he would grow out of frogs in three years' time. She was a woman of her word, though, when she noticed him checking out library books about frog care and frog types when he hit age six. When asked if he wanted to invite friends over to play, he shook his head and asked to go to the pet shop.

So on Sunday when Ba and Ma were off work, they took Lu Guang to the best-rated pet shop in the city, four subway stops away from Peidi University. Lu Guang was shaking with anticipation as he counted down the stops, donning his frog bucket hat in celebration and looking away solemnly when teenage girls cooed at him. All he could think about was his dream coming true.

“Now, A Guang,” his mother said breezily as she took Lu Guang’s hand to wade through foot traffic. “When you pick a frog, you have to make sure it isn’t poisonous, okay? Mommy is afraid of poisonous animals.”

“I don’t want a poison dart frog,” said Lu Guang, albeit with reservation. “They won’t have them in a pet store.” 

He did not know what sort of frogs were available in the pet store that Ma and Ba were taking him. Ba, in all his practicality, had assumed that they would go to one of the street markets and pick up a frog that was meant for the dinnerplate. He expressed mild surprise when they turned left to the subway station, so Lu Guang knew Ba wasn’t going to be any help in asking for clues. 

“All right, Guangguang,” said Ma as she ushered Lu Guang into the pet store. It was a corner shop with clean glass windows, full of tanks and cages and colorful habitat accessories. Colorful parakeets squawked and glittering snakes coiled under sunlamps, and Lu Guang’s little heart began to race with anticipation. “Only one frog, do you understand?” 

Lu Guang nodded, his eyes as wide as coins as he stared up at the tall towers of tanks. There were saltwater coral fish dancing among anemones, drowsy tarantulas (Ma squeaked at the sight of them), sunbathing turtles, bearded lizards, and–

Lu Guang felt his jaw drop. 

An Amazon milk frog. 

It was just at eye level with Lu Guang, so that when he pressed his nose to the glass he was eye to eye with the docile pale blue frog. It perched on a rock under the sunlamp, milky blue and content to stare back at Lu Guang. It was perfectly patterned, gummy blue webbed feet, and a lipless mouth that promised simplicity. 

It was, in short, the most wonderful creature that Lu Guang had ever seen. 

He stood up on his tiptoes to get a closer look at the frog. Its tiny breaths puffed in its throat in a fascinating rhythm. It was like seeing a real-life Doraemon in Lu Guang’s eyes, or Sun Wukong–a fairy-tale celebrity come to life, except instead of comic books it was Lu Guang’s frog encyclopedia. Lu Guang knew its habitat, its life cycle, its favorite foods, and now he could behold one with his own eyes. 

Seven minutes passed, and his mother touched him on the head.

“A Guang, there are other frogs you should look at too,” she said.

Lu Guang shook his head. He pressed his hands against the glass. 

“Aiyah, A Guang, not too close.” 

Lu Guang moved his nose a millimeter away from the glass, leaving a smudge. His mother looked down at him with a crooked smile. 

“Is this the one you want, then?” she said. 

He looked up to his mother and nodded. Ma turned to Ba and tapped the price tag. Ba nodded solemnly and undertook the task of haggling (unsuccessfully) with the store owner. 

“Let’s pick out a tank for him,” said Ma. 

She took Lu Guang’s hand and tugged him towards the habitat shelves, but Lu Guang refused to budge. He glued himself to the spot, maintaining unbreakable eye contact with the milk frog. 

“A Guang, come on, now,” she said. “We have to give him a home, don’t we?” 

Lu Guang huddled closer to the tanks. He was convinced that if he were to let the frog out of his sight, some other seven-year-old boy would swoop down and claim the frog as his own. 

“Ba is buying the frog right now, see?” Ma said, pointing to Ba who was conceding to the original price of the pet store while he pulled out his wallet. “There. Let’s choose a tank.” 

After another minute of convincing, Lu Guang finally followed his mother to pick out a proper tank for his frog. He picked out the soil, cleaned rocks, plants, and water source that would all go into his terrarium, but it wasn’t until Ba handed to Lu Guang a plastic covered cup with his milk frog sitting politely inside did Lu Guang feel the surge of joie de vivre. He hugged the cup to his chest, whispered his thanks to his father, and then burst into tears, precisely in that order.

-

Thanks for indulging me with this little drabble, gang. Who knows, since I'm kind of keeping up this 2 week streak for the rest of the update schedule, you might see the return of Frog Guang's adventures again...after all, if you've been on my tumblr for some time, you may recall that I have a headcanon that Lu Guang has beef with one of his cousins.

Until next week!

[mykingdomforapen]

i learned this fact from another fandom with a character who likes frogs, but the word for frog in japanese (蛙) is also a homophone with the phrase "to go back/to return" (帰る). was that something you knew about when you gave child lg his love for them, or a fun coincidence?

Ohhhh that is so fun to learn! So this I can say is a fun coincidence. But man, what a fitting coincidence. I love that. No, my reasoning for Lu Guang's childhood love for frogs is more of a personal Easter egg, as well as the because it ties neatly into a recurring motif, which I will go into more detail about in my eventual end of fic writers' commentary.

I had written very briefly and on a whim in 'spinning silk' about Lu Guang running after his grandfather as a child with a frog in his hand, and that imagery followed me into stars. Frogs came up a lot in my family's childhood anecdotes which stuck with me for a while (and which I ultimately adapted into LG's grandparents' backstory), so when I was thinking of what Lu Guang would do with his Yeye, catching frogs by the pond was the first thing to come to mind. But it was giving LG a love for frogs that made me grow to have a personal appreciation for the animal for what they are!