Weiss Kreuz

 

Gravitation XO: Ran/Youji (Yuki/Shuuichi): Smoke Gets In Your Eyes by KnM

Yuki Eiri thinks he's following his lover Shuuichi into a dark alley - but actually, he's following Omi, and ends up seeing more than he should.

I'm not totally happy with this story. It's not really badly written, but somehow ... uneven. I kept getting thrown out of the story, sometimes because the writing suddenly sounded strange ('crimson crown' in reference to Aya's hair?), and sometimes because the characters couldn't quite convince me.

I was also slightly unsatisfied by the sexscene at the end, but then, this story was for a seme!Aya contest, so maybe that's why it doesn't quite ring true to me.

Still, it's one of the better WK stories I've read recently, and it's a nice story to spend some time with.

(you don't really need to know Gravitation to be able to follow this. I suppose you could also read it if you only know Gravi and not WK, but the emphasis of the story is on WK)


Yohji/Aya, Schuldig: Zerbrochen by Tritorella

A Weiß AU ignoring Glühen. Kritiker is in ruins, Weiß are fighting a lonely war against Estet. Unlikely alliances are formed, and friendships tested.

It's hard to find good WK fic, and this is definitely above average.

I like the characterizations: I can definitely see the characters react to what has happened in the story in the way they do, and the relationships between them and the way they react to each other rings true to the series (and possibly untrue to fanon...)

I've found the occasional misspelling, but compared to what you'd usually find on a WK list or ff.net, this is well-written.

I'm also fond of the ending - I don't want to give it away, but most WK fangirls would have gone for a different, less in-character, ending.


Farfarello/Schuldig: Nerve by Viridian5

short reaction: *guuuuuh* *thud*

slightly longer and coherent comments:

Farf/Schu is one of the pairings I really like, but there are very very few actually decent stories for them. This is - probably the best.

Background Info for those that are unfamiliar with WK (because, yeah, I think this would appeal to people who like their stories dark and violent):

Schuldig (German for 'guilty') is a telepath who's canonically described someone's pain tasting like honey. Farfarello is one-eyed, insane, has a hating-god fixation, and cannot feel pain. Brad Crawford is their team leader, and the cold, anal type. Nagi, who is barely in the story, is a teenager (and has powers of telekinesis). Together, they are Schwarz ('black'), basically a group of assassins. Among other things.


Crawford/Yohji: Letting Your Hair Down by Yuri

Yes, it's an unlikely pairing, and one I usually don't read. But this story... hmmm.

It's set shortly before Schwarz start working for Takatori Reiji, so it's before the original TV series. No need to be afraid of anything even remotely resembling mush, or of making Crawford *nice*.

No, Crawford is very very much in character, and he's going to a club to satisfy certain physical urges. Guess who he meets there...

The last lines are a horrible teaser, but as far as I know, there was never a follow-up. Pity that...


Aya: Think Like a Gun by Viridian5

This is mostly a mission story: Kritiker doesn't always treat its weapons kindly.


Aya/Youji, also Aya-chan: Reason by Viridian5

Set after the OAVs, Weiß is helping/forcing Aya to move on with his life.

Lots of fun, lots of great Aya/Aya moments (eh - as brother and sister, not as a pairing), and some great insights into Aya (the male one).

I had a longer review of this, because I love this story (so great to find *good* WK fic), and then my computer crashed, and I'm about to fall asleep with my face on the keyboard, and am too braindead to rewrite it, so can you please pretend that this is still a long and enthusiastic review and go and read the story? Because, it's really good.

Look, I'll give you a snippet instead:

Youji pulled his mouth away from Aya's neck but kept stroking his back. "What?"

He had color in his cheeks for the first time ever, and his lips didn't look thin anymore. "Not in public."

"Public? A single Omi isn't 'public.'"

"Having sex on top of Omi wasn't part of any plan I've ever made."

"So? He's hard, and he has to learn this stuff somewhere. Better here than on the Internet. I don't think it's a problem."

"Youji!" Omi yelled while he turned a deeper red.

"Besides, it's not fair," Aya said. "Ken's alone out there."

This was why Youji tried to avoid sex with crazy people. Not that his success record was very good on that.


Youji/Aya, with Ken/Omi and others: The Unexpected Talents Timeline, by Generic Miko

So, it *starts* with a mission where one of the WK boys has to go undercover in drag. Then you add the fact that everyone is fucked up, and that encounters with evil!Schuldig are going to fuck everything up even more. And then you try to untangle that.

(the shota-kon warnings aren't quite correct: Omi is 17, not under 13.)


Schuldig: Halber Mensch by viridian5

Three vignettes about Schuldig, and telepathy.

I especially adored #2, because there's Sandman characters in there... and that made me squeal and be very happy. (you don't need to know Sandman to enjoy this, you just get an extra *ooohh*).

btw, Viridian 5 is also writing a WK WiP in her LJ at the moment, Youji/Aya, set after the TV series and the OAV, which is worth checking out.


WK/TB XO: Seishirou/Youji, others: Heir Apparent (1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6) by Yuri

Every squick has an exception, and this is one example. I really dislike rape stories. But this one... *makes incoherent sound* this one works.

Of course, part of it is the pairing, because it's Seishirou, and - well. It's Seishirou. Also, yes, part one has rape, and the later parts have bits of dubious consent, but - it's not senseless rape just for the sake of rape, or for the sake of hurting one character (no, Youji does not turn into a weeping heap to be comforted), or rape used to get two characters fall in love.

The plot? Some years after Tokyo Babylon, Seishirou decides it's time to find an heir. He also decides that Youji would be a good candidate...

The story should be ok to read even if you don't know either of the fandoms involved: all you really need to know is that Youji (along with Aya, Ken and Omi) is a vigilante assassin working for the side of good by night, and - as a cover - works in a flower shop by day. Seishirou is a dark onmyouji (magic-user) who kills potential enemies of the Japanese government, and feeds their souls to an ancient magical sakura tree.

One of my alltime favorite fanfics...


various pairings: Aoe and Shoori's page (also including stories by Yanagi-sen)

While the short stories on this page are fun, it's the epics that draw me back again and again, checking to see if they're updated.

First of all, there's the Harmonics Arc - and the first story of this alone makes it worth to watch the WK anime series (WK, for me, isn't a series you watch for the brilliant plot, or the animation - WK is only really worth it because it's got a ton of very nice fanfic). Something Me In You brings Schuldig and Youji closer together than they ever imagined. There's really good Schu and Youji characterization, and the expansion of the character backgrounds works well. Crawford is rather a bastard, but then, that's basically canon. The last story of this arc is still unfinished, a fact that regularly makes me want to chew through furniture. I blame this series for making me into a SchuldigxYouji fan...

Then there's the New World Order timeline, an AU series that takes off from a different outcome to the summoning ceremony at the end of the WK series - what if Weiß hadn't been in time to stop it from completion. Set 10 years into this future, New World Order is the story to start with. Features somewhat darker characters in a bleaker future, but also features them trying to do something about this. Eight Years in the Making (focussing on Ran/Ken) and Koukyuu (Schwarz-centric) were written later to explore the events leading up to NWO.

And then there's Seeing the Light and Embracing the Shadows. The first is a YoujixKen story, and while that's not one of my favored WK pairings, it's still highly entertaining, and needed as a setup for the sequel, which features a surprise pairing that I'm not going to reveal, because it's much more fun if you find out for yourself at the end of Seeing the Light. Embracing the Shadows works surprisingly well, given the pairing it features, and is, along with Something Me in You, my favorite Aoe story. (The EtS page gives away the pairing, so read StL before you go there).


Various Pairings (a multi-story rec for LJ user hampden)

Utopian Trunks has mostly AyaxYouji stories, some funny (Why Kids Shouldn't Talk to Grown-Ups About Sex), some rather dark (Flatline), and everything in between.

Deena has Farfarello/Nagi that's kinda cute...

Miko no da's Sinners and Saints arc has rather extensive BDSM themes - it's somewhat hurriedly written, but this is one of the stories that I re-write in my head to "fix" it for me. It's also possible to just start reading with Domination (which was the first story written chronologically). Most of her stories feature Omi.

Natalie Baan's Youji's Omelette is a YoujixKen PWP featuring food-play.

And here's a whole archive full of AyaxYouji: I especially recommend To Bury the Hurt of Memory by Alyssa Tay Tanako, the first WK story I ever read, and Der Anfang und das Ende, also by Alyssa Tay Tanako.

And here's another Weiß Kreuz yaoi archive, here I want to point especially to Against My Better Judgment, which is a CrawfordxRan story that's also a crossover with Tomb Raider (don't run away - it actually works very well), and also Dragon Tears, which might have been the first YoujixSchuldig story.


Schuldig/Aya-chan: Scarlet Ribbons by Jessie Albano

wow, WK het. Yes, it exists...

It's an unlikely pairing, and yet, it works amazingly well. It is, however, very hard to describe without giving away all of the plot)...

We also get very interesting insights into the Weiss boys via Aya-chan's observations, and there are gentle stirrings of a yaoi romance to come (in the sequel, which apparently *will* be written one day).


Crawford/Schuldig/Youji/Ran: 'Dysfunctional' by JeanD [currently not available online]

this *is* a recommendation...

During the last several days, I've been slowly rereading 'Dysfunctional' by JeanD, which is, in the author's words, an 'alternative Weiss Kreuz fanfiction novel' that is now available again.

I remember when a friend of mine, also into WK, asked me if I had read Dysfunctional, and when I said no, she sent me off to read it. So I put the first 9 parts (there are 40 in all) on my ebook and that night, I started to read.

And at first, I stared. Well, ok, partially that was because of the spelling and grammar mistakes, tho the last, edited version I've seen is much better (still has errors, but *much* better). I wanted to ask my friend why she thought this story would appeal to me, because it was so... strange. But I didn't really want to get up again and get another story, so I kept reading - and was sucked in.

Because, once you get through the first 5 or 6 parts, the characters and their dynamics really start to grow on you, and the plot keeps moving and is inventive.

Which would be the cue to tell you what the whole thing is about, so let's get to the basic starting plot:

Crawford had a vision of the world that Eszet wants to create by raising the demon (at the end of the WK series), and decided that he wants to prevent this, by changing events now to make sure that future doesn't happen. His solution: first giving in to Schuldig, who's been wanting to get together with Crawford for quite a long time, and then adding Youji (with whom Schuldig has been having sex already) and Ran (who Youji is in love with) to the relationship. Yes, you've read that right, it's a Crawford/Schuldig/Youji/Ran foursome.

And, actually, it's not really Ran, or even Aya - because he's the one character who is most out-of-character. Let's just say that Crawford calls him 'Princess', and that the name fits...

This, at first, was my main obstacle: getting my mind around Ran as someone acting like a spoilt girl. But JeanD has now also written a sidestory that fits between parts 2 and 3, which does explain the transformation (tho it's really more like a case of 2 personalities).

I realize all of this sounds like something most people would run away from, but as I said, somehow, it *works*. The dynamics between the foursome are interesting to watch (and I have to admit that I found the dynamic between Crawford and Youji to be the most interesting), despite the fact that they're not *quite* the characters we see in the show.

Then again, Schwarz are pretty much cardboard cutouts in the anime...

I was also entertained by the fact that Crawford ends up as the ueber-seme, Ran as the ueber-uke (while Schuldig and Youji are in the middle and switch as needed). It's relatively clear that the story is written by a male author, because it definitely contains things you'd normally see in the Nifty Erotic Stories Archives, not on a slash/yaoi list. But I found that rather refreshing, most of the time.

As for the other characters, there's also quite a bit of Nagi and Omi in the story (the... quirk that Omi develops is the one that probably amused me most), but the other characters are hardly there at all. Aya-chan is only mentioned in part 3, Ken and Sakura only show up for 1 or 2 parts, and that only very shortly, and Farfarello - well, he has a somewhat larger part, but it probably says a lot about the story that Farf ends up being the most *sane* person in the story.

Actually, I wish there had been more about him and Hanako, but, oh well... (and a bit less of the phonetically spelled Irish accent would have made his lines somewhat more readable to me, too).

So, bottom line: the story has it's flaws, but I'd encourage everyone to give it a try, and to not just quickread through a chapter or two, but to actually give it a try for at least 6 or 7 chapters. If you do get sucked in, you have a certainly novel story with an interesting plot and interesting character dynamics, over 1MB in length, that will entertain you for quite a while.

I certainly hope JeanD will write more in this universe, because I grew fond enough of the characters that after over 1MB of storyline, I *still* want more.


Farfarello/Ran: My Kitten and Me by Jacque Koh

It's Farfarello/Aya, which probably tells you that the story isn't going to be all nice and sweet. And yes, it's not horribly in character, either - but it's not so OOC that I can't see this version of the characters (with a little squinting, maybe).

I didn't think anyone could pull of this pairing and make me believe it, but this story did. It probably helps that there's bloodplay, and that's one of my kinks... I also liked the Farfarello pov. Certainly not a story for everyone, but if your kinks go towards the bloody...