The Eorzea Club

CHAPTER 1: BEGINNINGS

ONE SUN IN THE SUNSET

Daisy wipes the sweat out of her eyes, and pulls her damp hair behind her ears. "It is so bright," she thinks, trying to gain composure. She spits saliva and blood into the sand. "What is this? Another challenge?" She wipes her brow, now a bit defiant, her body wracked in pain. This was... a very long teleport, it really hurts.Daisy looks up, a bit too quickly, the sun burns. "Only one? What?" She pulls herself out of the sand, and staggers, managing to stand. She looks around... all desert, and very hot. "Oh." Daisy shakes. "This is... bad." She sees what may be a town, or city, off in the distance. Slowly, she makes her way.

Over time, she discovers that she loves Ul'dah, it is so much like her home. She still has no idea why she is here. A bit unsure, everyone seems so confident.... she learns of a casino, far from here, and she seeks refuge there. In the Saucer, she makes many friends, very many. They have amazing times, as the months pass. She leaves them for a while, she has a new mission. She is fierce, and gets a house. She has resigned herself that she will for some reason never return home.

DANCING WITHOUT DRAGONS

Anya stares at her guide, and tips him. Finally, Ul'dah. They have performed all over Gridania and Limsa, but this is her first time in the desert city. She does not really like it. But she has received a huge commission.The first day of this month... one performance, on her own. She sees a brown haired girl staring at her. Anya is ready to run, this is... but, she is cute."Another easy fuck?" Anne instinctively reaches down, feeling her pouch. It is full. "Well, she is lovely, and I could always use more coin." Anya approaches her, ready to flee. Daisy is tanned and strong, still, Anya knows she can take her.Anya is shocked at what transpires. There is no sex, no flirting. They just... talk. Daisy penetrates her story instantly. Anne ends up confessing, and she cries, leaning her head on her shoulder.

Anya enjoys her first year in Ul'dah. So many pretty people. Then... she meets her - her love. Anne grows up quickly, a silly ingenue under the wing of someone way too smart.Anya tries to balance, but... her love is way too much. Anne dumps her. They cry and get back together. Then, Anya is dumped. Anne wanted to marry her, but that is against the rules... according to her. And it is over. Forever. The rebound is real.Then, one magical night... Anne is dancing, and this glorious cat jumps on stage and approaches her. She is not shy... she is, her friend helped her a lot. Within the week, they are engaged. Two weeks later, married. But Anne is too damaged, she has forgotten how to be normal. Her bride divorces her.

She distracts herself, the starlets, especially Daisy and Val, need her. Housing, again. She tries to help, uncomprehending, robotic. After days, weeks, months, there is one new home owner. Anne is. She stares at the keys as Daisy places them softly in her hand. She still does not comprehend. Then she does, and... retreats from the world.

THE SIXTH SLAYER

A crisis. The Twelvewood cries, a protector fell to Ramuh. That was never to happen, but it did, in just a quick moment.A forlorn elf is seen retreating.Time is short, Hydaelyn must bring in the next Slayer. This one... the creation was too much in haste. It does not go well, and the new one remembers too much of what should have been forgotten. Her bones still knitting, no eyesight yet, she still blindly slays the Sylph god.Months pass.Daisy taps the young street walker's shoulder, being told who she is and what she is. "Let me be with you," Daisy declares, and Buffy folds, easily. She is a professional.Unsure but unquestioning, Buffy has adjusted to a life in Eorzea. Lovers she finds, yes, whatever.

"Buffy, this is Anya." Buffy gazes on Anya and is mesmerized. "You are... glorious," she thinks, almost saying it out loud. Anne smiles at her, her emotions unknowable. "Hello, dear, Daisy said there would be another one." Buffy is confused, but Daisy leans in quickly. "Buffy, my home, this is yours for now."And thus a war begins. Anne and Buffy match against each other. They love and fight and love and fight. Anne is the pretty one, until she gets bored of that. The lovers... so many. Some really great ones for each of them, including each other.

PENETRATING BALMUNG

Gabbie was one of the first to extend the public reach of the Starlets into Balmung. Sure, Ncuti had been there years earlier, but he worked quietly, in collaboration with Daisy, behind the scenes. Gabbie was another story - as a raging, and passionate, beautiful girl, she had no trouble in the QS. She left a large mark there.

SISTERLY LOVE

Twins were born into the pampered upper echelon of a Miqo tribe in the northern regions of Thanalan. Their parents noticed with alarm that the daughters, at the youngest of ages, were inseparable. Their baths together grew longer, their times play-wrestling turned into hugging and then kissing. As puberty started, they experimented a lot, they spent their days and nights together. Carrots, rulers, door stoppers mysteriously disappeared from the estate.One afternoon, at the tender age of 12, they were caught, disowned, and banished - exiled from everything and everyone. But as they were loaded onto a cart bound for Ul'dah, one kind and concerned uncle was already making preparations. He reached out to a benefactor, an astrologian who needed the sisters in a certain place at a certain time, years from now. This Elezen funded them and watched over them and reported back to their uncle with news of their lives. Inside, he trembled. He knew this plan may end up badly. And in the end, he was right.Seven years pass, the twins remain together and grow even closer. They learn to invite others to join them when they play - lovers instantly forgotten.One terrible night, their benefactor has to reach out across worlds to one of his contacts - not at all his first choice. But he cannot dwell on the sisters; a Slayer went down and a new one is being built - one that will be created from a marriage of aether and crystal a bit too quickly, as it will turn out. So it is left to Daisy to confront the sisters in one of their usual spots in Balmung. Sitting in the Q, Daisy hires them - she has been doing that a lot lately - but she uses her night with them to just talk. The twins are confused and out of their element. Daisy can see these two are sheltered and quite maladjusted. She later talks with their benefactor and says since she is often in Bal for her duties, she would keep an eye out for them.

THE MOOGLE SPAWN

Moglin gazes from his throne. Irritated.The statue has been built... 22 times now. And the outlanders still come. His giant head is throbbing, his wooden crown so constricting these days."Mogloo? Kupo, have you noticed... kupo!"Mogloo snaps to attention, his dream of a bath in kupo nuts shattered."Kupo?"Their poms communicate. Mogloo understands."Yes, kupo, I has noticed. They come and come, we try to tell them, but..."The king's concerns are confirmed."Kupo, summon the council... we have enjoyed a pax with the outlander kupos, but now, we need to protect ourselves more. We have a duty here, we cannot risk that."A month later, a Moogle in Hyur form is born. And makes her way into the worlds of Eorzea.

BORN IN THE TWELVEWOOD

Years ago, the lovely couple fought, deep in the Shroud.All over a name.Neighbors were whispering, the infant was 14 days old and still no name.It came down to an omen. As autumn approached, one small leaf drifted into their tiny tent-like abode, a cozy home with just small candles, a bed, a stove, and each other.The leaf swirled in the currents, both watching with fascination. It finally gently landed, as if happily, on the babe's foreheead.They knew."Your uncle will not like this, love."He nods. "It has been done before... and they are cousins, distant as they are."She sighs, he is technically right, but the Padjali tribe will not be happy."Kan-e, it is a lovely name, I do agree."

Daisy Anya Buffy

CHAPTER 2: DEATH AND REDEMPTION

BUFFY AND VAL

Buffy wanders Hustings Strip deep in the desert capital city, her fingers gingerly rubbing along the brass railings, Daisy following behind, mindful to give her ward her own space. Buffy leans over and watches the citizens on the lower level. No friends (oh no Tara), no family (oh no Mom).Daisy watches her friend, a bit alarmed. "Would she jump?" she thinks. Buffy turns and closes the gap back to Daisy, trying to ignore Daisy's terribly plain sense of style. Not that Buffy is much better (that comes much later), but at least the Slayer makes an effort."Daze, how do you endure us? Me and Anne, we just play and try to keep score, I don't even know why, she is so much prettier, I just feel I need to be more interesting than her." Buffy thinks of all the clubs, and all of the dancers she has hired. They are never enough. She know she has beaten them. Her one recent love, she beat her too. Buffy leans on the railing, and stares into Daisy's hazel eyes, trying to not count her freckles again.

Months pass; she meets Val. Val is strong, confident, and even a bit funny. Valeria tries to heal Buffy and almost does - they are perfect. Val confidently knows how to handle her silly school girl. They fall madly in love. Talking is almost better than sex. Almost.They get engaged. Then... two days before the wedding, Val brings her love to the most beautiful spot in Moghome, to a glorious floating isle of solitude. They talk, as they do. Then, Buffy starts reflecting on her life - a damaged life where she has harmed so many. She desperately tries to think - she has conquered so much, and protected so many, but something went very wrong.She has been a terrible person. She realizes that she is not worthy of V's love, or of anyone's. She stares over the expanse of Moghome. Even her ninja girlfriend has no chance - on what Buffy knows she needs to do.Val is the fiercest of ninjas, their time against the foulest of creatures glorious. Val can break time and space, she is everywhere, any time she needs.Except now.A moment of distraction. A fierce effort at a rescue.All for naught. Buffy breathes in, smells the electrified air one last time, and cries deeply. "Forgive me, my love," she thinks, as she takes a step forward.And plummets to her end.

Hydaelyn brings her back, she always brings her back. This new version is kinder, sweeter, she gazes on the world with an innocence. But Hydaelyn is not done with the first (not first, not at all) Buffy, in fact, Hydaelyn is quite upset with her. She forces that Slayer to make amends - the first Slayer to be that cowardly.The dead Buffy does her penance... watching loosely over her friends whom she wronged and visiting them and making amends. She visits Daisy, it is a painful afternoon. So much crying. Then, she visits her love, in Val's bedroom. So much more crying.The worst follows. Her best friend, her mortal enemy, is consumed with guilt, ravaged with the knowledge that made her friend's last days in Eorzea miserable. Anya imagines what Buffy must have felt, staring at the sky, high above the hard earth, her love nearby but so far away.Anya understands. She is done... The shores are beautiful, a perfect ending for her. She swims out, very far, and lets go. She starts to struggle under the water, but then serenity settles. She is at peace.Then, a passionate kiss - a familiar kiss, her lips, she knows them so well. Buffy holds her face, as she used to, and Anya succumbs, again. Buffy breathes into her, giving her life. Then, Buffy is gone, this is the last time she will be on the mortal realm. She tears up at that thought.After a long period, Hydaelyn allows her to truly ascend and find peace. Her story ends.

Valeria takes this newer, nicer Buffy under her wing. And they fall in love, Buffy for the first time in her life, Val for the second time with her. They get engaged. But their romance was a bit whirlwind - Anya confronts Buffy and tells her not to repeat her own mistakes. Buffy and Val fight and make up, over and over, as if in a time loop.At the end, they could not make it work.

CHAPTER 3: SUMMER IS COMING

THE MEETING

In the meantime, Summer has a plan. In her determination, she may be sacrificing the lives of all her friends. She does not realize what she is dealing with, she just knows she needs to fix herself. She pulls in all her contacts - Turtle, Klaus, both pure evil, she knows that. But she is smarter than them, or so she thinks, and she gets what she needs, or so she thinks.She and Daisy meet. Daisy is abhorrent, she loves Summer but hates what she does - and she knows Summer lies. Daisy agrees to her request, for a meeting of all of the Starlets. Daisy and Gabbie work hard and summon almost all. They get together at the FC house. First, hours on the beach, then, retiring into the library.Summer gives a talk, in her stilted way, nervous, not able to look at anyone directly.Then, she pulls a totem from her bag and smashes it on the ground. The universe splits. The Supers arrive. More come. The Gift is created, Kara is resurrected. Summer looks up, shocked. She did not expect any of this.But then, simply, happily, Summer splits in two. Finally, something she planned. But... another tiny dragon was too close, and gets sucked into one of the purple vortexes now forming, burning in the middle of the room. And, just like that, Luthien was torn from her love, her Beren.Giles, tall Giles, in the corner, recoils. "How did we not guess this...?" He starts to succumb as well, even as he sees the largest portal yet open up - right in the middle of the large room. Giles' vision is fading, he sees Edison, the large man-servant, with a wide-eyed and empty stare. Giles recognizes that, and spins a quick spell, even as he then collapses.But the world is cracked... a little too much. In the aftermath, Summer randomly indicates one of the Evas, and Edison easily tosses an unconscious Miqo over his shoulder.Then, through the portal, and away. To a mortal place, high up. Summer cries so hard... she did not want this, but this is the only way. Standing on the rocky peak, lightning and wind around them, she indicates to Edison to hand over the girl.And Summer pulls a totemic knife, to slit Eva's palm, the blood of an innocent, although Eva does not need to die. Summer yells and screams. Flashes, sparks. Edison's mind is clearing, a healing aura spinning around him. He recalls his father's words, on Anne's wedding day. "No road is closed to those true of heart." His father traveled through all of Eorzea, and he would regale his young boy with the sayings of the cultures that resonated the most - and the oaths of the Padjali race stuck with him deeply.Not understanding, his head splitting, he tries to focus his eyes. With alarm, he see a horrifying sight. He punches Summer out, even as he collapses. Death would be so welcome.

AFTERMATHS

AFTERMATH: She does not know, but Summer's own Gift did arrive. No sacrifice was truly needed. She arrived, just, not where predicted.Summer's Gift opens her eyes on a side street in Ul'dah, a dark alley, her lips caked in mud, a field of stars visible above. She tries to stand, but collapses back into the gully. The dragon starts to cry, alone and not knowing where she is, or who she is. And with no way of knowing, but she is very, very far from Zalera. The stars are all wrong.

AFTERMATH: Scarlett shakes her head, and then glances down. Tights and knives. Like... she forgot. "I need to quit my late nights..." She steadies herself on this patch of a salty low rock wall of Limsa and tries to focus. She has no idea this is her first three minutes in Eorzea.

AFTERMATH: She wonders the saucer, with flowers. She has no idea where she came from or how she got here. She had drowned a minute ago.

AFTERMATH: Her last dragon and a new youngling in tow, she proudly roams the realm. She knows this is where you go when you are slain, and she is fine with that.

PAYMENT

Giles' fears were realized, those cracks. His choice was to spend his last magicks on closing them, or to try to save Eva. Well, no choice at all. But now, payment. Daisy's house is ice cold, and strange purple electric cracks in the air, in space... widen.Only two can stop this, they work together, not even knowing. Ncuti cannot summon his ship, but he is infused with particles that can protect him. In the meantime, Raiden stands and submits, knowing she will die. Her arms and legs spread, she summons and breathes in a mad vortex of energy, lightning that could power some other world. She stands still and screams.Ncuti's ship arrives, and they rip her back home. Also, one year in the future. That happens.The gap, spent of energy, starts sealing. And it... A form stumbles through, a foot almost getting amputated as the hole in the universe seals up. The creature crawls along the floor, breathing, a new experience. It opens its eyes, seeing future, past, present. In a glance it sees a murderous female dragon vanish through a portal, two forms with her.This creature likes that and can read her. "Summer." It knows. It... she... will take the opposite name.She struggles to her feet and surveys a broken room, so many unconscious people. Does she have time to kill them all? She is too weak, she needs to go.She glances down, the veins in her arms pulsating with evil blood.Two weeks later, she has a house and is opening a portal to her home, to the end of all life in the Twelvewood, and then beyond.Cthulhu has entered Eorzea.

CHAPTER 4: WINTER

BREAKOUT

All of the starlets were distracted. They equally thought the drama was over and were looking ahead, planning, the worst behind and now all of them more or less a large group of friends. They were all so dumb. Anne and Buffy were fighting again - and yes, Buffy had indeed been regressing once more, even with Kara's help. Gabbie was married, Eva found her sister, sort of... and Summer, none mentions her. Luthien was building a new life, in a world far away. Even Kan-e had found love. The Supers were starting to happily relax, settling into Eorzea. And the squabbling was quieting down, Daisy doing quite well to corral in all the strong personalities - but it was not enough. Not even close.In the end, it was Buffy. She had been a bit mad, falling in love over and over. She is still not over Val. Her troubles were too distracting. They were all correct, though, in a way. The drama was indeed... over.Now, just pure horror.Cthulhu was tired of her own charades, her pretending. Her power was now full. She ponders slaughtering all she knows... but she blinks and remembers some kind company; in a rare moment, she hesitates. Then, she knows who to deal with, she focuses on them first.It is savage.

BATTLE

Florence tries to steady herself, her small fingers grasping her walking stick. "This... this is not going well." She glances over her shoulder, and sees them, all like her, ready to give, ready to die.The green dragon stares back, hovering in midair high above the houses of Mist. "You are not... complete, enough... you are the strongest so far, you deserve that."Cthulhu laughs as she, it, disintegrates Florence into dust.

CHAPTER 5: SUMMER'S END

Anya cannot see, her damp hair cluttering her eyes. She tightens her fingers."Die, bitch." Her eyes are full of fury, even as that dragon tail is choking the life from her.

CHAPTER 6: SPRING

It is not over. There is still that small matter. The girls stand, unsteady. They glare at each other, the love, anger, and betrayal pouring over them."I... trusted you."

The top explodes, startling Summer and almost blinding Daisy. In a final blast of injustice, it creates from nothingness a cursed affliction, two immortal avatars committed to imposing their will on Eorzea for all time. Summer has to look away, how many failures can her magicks cause?

Daisy thinks of each of the fallen. Florence... Anne... the Supers... even Buffy, twice. The skies rip apart.Her fingers tighten around her weapon.

CAST INDEX