#xbc2 vampire blade eater au

[lizzxrd]

So I came up with this little silly idea at work to briefly distract myself from The Horrors (mental illness)...

and it wasn't supposed to be anything more than that but I just keep rotating it in my mind now..

Like I just keep thinking abt the canon blade eaters and Silva (my oc, who'd probably be a bit of a special case bc he got a full core crystal that was modified to replace his heart)

I think Torna wouldn't rlly have any moral qualms abt letting Mik occasionally munch on some people and they'd probably even let him sap some energy from their core crystal collection so he wouldn't die. Mik probably wouldn't exactly love it but he's like kind of "whatever" about it. He's working towards destroying the world anyway. Doesn't really matter when these people die.

Zeke would probably despise Amalthus for having him turned into a blade eater and he'd probably despise himself for what he has to do to survive to an extent too. He'd still be happy about him and Pandoria being able to continue to live alongside each other but ough the misery. That one scene where Zeke talks to Amalthus in Indol would hit so different too. Him telling Amalthus he thinks those who kill others are weak and then the realization slowly kicking in. He'd probably be awful at coping with it. Zeke is such a silly goose in canon xbc2 so it feels weird imagining him in any even remotely angsty situations but Idk I kinda vibe with this. Also I'm not a huge fan of PanZeke as a ship usually. They just have such oomftacular bestie vibes to me but I think I like it in this context. PanZeke angsty hurt/comfort. Pandoria comforting messed up vampire-ish Zeke, reassuring him he's not an awful person and also being his source of ether. And also she feels kind of guilty because it's a part of her core that turned Zeke into this so he also comforts her, reassuring her it's not her fault at all and he always makes sure to be extra kind to her bc of how much she does for him and how unbelievably much he cares abt her. [Explodes]

Rex would not be affected. He's not really a Blade Eater in the way the others are. Aegis cores are weird and special. And he's technically kind of dead already so even if they weren't he probably would be unaffected. U cannot convince me that Jin's attack somehow left him barely alive. He's basically a walking corpse and only tethered to the world through that part of Pythra's core and the conduit.

Amalthus would have absolutely 0 issues with being a fucked up vampire/cannibal Blade Eater. Both in terms of morals and getting ether and blood/flesh for sustenance. Tbh he'd probably get a kick out of doing fucked up vampire things even. Indol has a massive amount of core crystals he can sap energy from and nobody will truly notice/care if occasionally a few of the refugees go missing. (And even if people care, they wouldn't really be able to do anything about it. Enough people in positions of power in Indol and in Indol's military force have a cult-like devotion to Amalthus and revere him as some kind of deity. Trying to pose a genuine threat to him would be akin to commiting suicide.)

And last but not least I get to be cringe abt my oc. :3 Normal Blade Eater Amalthus and Silva are, like, two awful guys who hate but tolerate each other because of Circumstances. Silva is such a repressed but very desperate loser type of gay guy that he occasionally has Thoughts but he'd rather die a thousand deaths than actually admit anything to Amalthus or even himself; he just represses it further.

In Blade Eater vampirism AU they are awful guys who hate each other who are soo codependent and toxic. Cannibalism as a metaphor for love, enemies AND lovers, they're tearing each other apart (literally), neither of them has a normal understanding and concept of love, etc. Do u understand.. (I am,, so very Normal about them).

Silva's core was specifically modified to function as his heart since his original one was more than just a little faulty. The technology used to achieve this and research regarding it was lost like almost everything about Judicium upon the devastating attacks on Temperantia during the Aegis war. But anyway despite being a very early Blade Eater experiment - from far before Indol started dabbling in making Blade Eaters - he turned out surprisingly well. The physical link between his organic cells and his core are strong and deteriorate at a much slower rate; the only thing that got really messed up by this was his mind. He's still a fucked up vampire like the other Blade Eaters. He just needs to consume ether and blood/flesh far less frequently. He also has some of the regenerative abilities of blades. He's able to recover faster from wounds than non-blades but not quite as fast as blades and he still grows scar tissue on wounds that are severe enough.

Having a singular guy who's a source of both ether and organic material for sustenance and can regenerate is very convenient for Amalthus and far less suspicious that what he was doing before! Especially because Silva cannot exactly do anything about it. He stumbled his way into becoming Amalthus's blade and acting against him would be awfully unwise (AND being an important asset to Amalthus also grants him easy access to ether and blood when he does need it). Also while Silva is stuck in this situation Amalthus does let him get away with a lot more things than he really should (including but not limited to: verbal and physical threats and letting him bite him as well)

:33 giggling, squealing, kicking my feet, etc. They're so bad for each other but they deserve each other so very much. I love thinking abt them. They're my horrid old men babygirls ❤️

[lizzxrd]

finally got around to putting some rough colors on this sketch

[lizzxrd]

Ah fuck it I'm posting this ramble from Twitter here too (+ some additional stuff bc I don't gotta deal with character limits and threads here)

I think Silva would rlly like any form of physical touch bc he's like so deprived of any real attention and if he wasn't so detached from his emotions he'd probably start crying if someone held his hands and Amalthus takes advantage of that and he's like rlly controlling and forceful and he definitely gets a kick out of it bc Silva is physically way stronger than him. And Silva is always extra careful to never seriously injure Amalthus. And Amalthus acts like he's above liking regular things like holding hands and cuddling and stuff but he DEFINITELY isn't. He actually really enjoys being held gently by Silva. But he'd NEVER admit that. Not even to himself bc that would require him to confront the fact that he DOES care, that he isn't just keeping Silva around bc he enjoys being controlling that there ARE still things that bring him joy that aren't violent/destructive in nature.

Also Silva definitely is not some innocent and gentle angel. He enjoys threatening Amalthus and occasionally hurting him a little too. He just isn't *as* violent abt it. (Mostly bc he knows Amalthus doesn't rlly have that faster/improved recovery from injuries like he has bc he's, like, a different variation of Blade Eater.) And he's more open about liking 'simpler' forms of touch. He is in fact even kind of annoying about it. He often tries to hug Amalthus, give him a little kiss, pick him up, hold his hands, etc. Partially to purposefully annoy him, partially because he's just clingy and wants attention.

[lizzxrd]

More xbc2 vampire/cannibal Blade Eater AU oc thoughts/rambles.. istg this AU is growing on me like a mold ........

I think while Judicium was still a thing Silva was "fed" blood and aether via infusions in the same lab he got turned into a blade eater in. His former co-workers and friends could not bear looking at him or rather what they made of him. Not only did they carry the guilt of bringing him back "wrong" and without memories wherefore he was repurposed as a weapon for the Judician military, but they also failed to cure him. His heart or rather the core crystal replacing it is still a ticking time bomb slowly killing him - though it's different now than before his death and more treatable (however just as unpredictable if not even more). He is doomed to live with another chronic potentially deadly condition yet again.

After Temperantia was devastated during the Aegis War and before Indol found him, he sustained himself entirely by eating Flesh Eater corpses. Not exactly ideal but perhaps the best option he had at the time.

He was found and confiscated by the Indoline military force prior to Amalthus becoming Quaestor. Indol was aware of him for quite a while even before the destruction of Judicium. They didn't really know what he was exactly and about any of the... complications that came with that until Amalthus kicked off Indol's own Blade Eater experiments. They only really knew of him as a Judician Blade experiment that wasn't a Flesh Eater and as an exceptionally strong* fighter.

(*Exceptionally strong in a "compared to other regular soldiers and common as well as many rare Blades" way. Xenoblade 2 power scaling is insane and Silva would absolutely get his ass handed to him if he ever tried to fight any Blades with special abilities.)

Afraid to be punished or worse yet killed by the Indoline army of they found out he needed to consume blood and aether to live, he kept it a secret for years. Constantly scouring for any opportunities to eat unnoticed. Usually killing his victims in the process (if they weren't dead already) with the sheer amount of blood/aether he took from them because he never knew when his next meal was going to be.

Even after Amalthus rose to power nothing changed for him.

I still have so many more thoughts abt this silly AU and abt Silva and Amalthus in particular. But it is late and I should sleep. Will likely post more tmr :3