History Fanfic / Loveless

* TheHero: Eunjung. Her past life is literally known as "The Hero".

* AsskickingEqualsAuthority: [=BoA=] is SOLDIER General for the reason that nobody comes close to her level of badass.

* EveryoneIsGay: All the T-ara members are paired within their group. Except one straight pairing, with Genesis and [=BoA=] maybe, but not really being a thing.

* HannibalHasAPoint: Leaving a city full of innocent people undefended ''knowing'' it will be attacked soon sounds horrible, but Jiyeon brings up the good point that fortifying the city would let the enemy know their code had been cracked.

* {{Poison}}: Oddly, sweet Boram's zanpakuto Suzumebachi (Hornet) revolves around poisoning people in various ways. She is upset about this revelation until Soyeon has a philosophical moment.

* EvilEye: The Sharingan, without a doubt. It was stated to be descended from the Evil, who received it from Jenova. Evolution to Mangekyou Sharingan requires murder of someone close to you, but its power leads to blindness. The solution to the blindness? Steal eyes from someone in your family. [[spoiler:Genesis tries to do this with Jiyeon. Jiyeon kills him and receives Mangekyou, then starts going blind herself. Finally, she kills Shisui and takes his eyes. Voila.]]

Loveless is a {{T-ara}} fanfic by klee95, found [[http://www.tiaradiadem.com/forums/topic/23215-pg-13-loveless/ here]] on Diadem Forums. Registering an account on the forums is necessary to read it. The summary provided is as follows:

The goddesses Hylia and Jenova, after creating the world of magic, disagreed as to the fate of Man; Hylia wanted freedom, whilst Jenova wanted subjugation. The argument spiraled into a cyclic war - one that will repeat itself over and over through history as neither of the goddesses can ever truly be undone; their respective Chosen will always be reincarnated anew. It is on the dawn of a new cycle that we begin our story, following the lives of the SOLDIER operatives, the T-ara members, in the year 3000 as the New War comes ever closer.

Essentially, Loveless is an amalgamation of several fandoms the author is a fan of, with {{Final Fantasy VII}} and {{Bleach}} being the main contributors, along with elements of {{Naruto}}, Franchise/{{The Legend of Zelda}}, and even {{Star Wars}}.

The plot, in a nutshell, is a repeating feud between two Goddesses who fight indirectly with their respective chosen - Jiyeon and Eunjung. Loveless follows the story of both, from when they first meet to becoming friends to Jiyeon's eventual fall and Eunjung's rise to become a hero. The fic has been complete as of July 4, 2013.

Has no relation to the [[Manga/{{Loveless}} manga of the same name]]; Loveless is named after the poem Genesis Rhapsodos recites.

!! This work provides examples of:
* {{A God Am I}}: [[spoiler:Jiyeon is reborn after her death and after absorbing several millenia of knowledge she believes herself a goddess.]]
** {{A God I Am Not}}: [[spoiler: Eunjung believes otherwise. The cynical being she will become, Kreia, views herself as simultaneously more and less than other people, with a very cynical view of humanity but also with a good dose of self-loathing.]]
* {{Absurdly Sharp Blade}}: Jiyeon's Kamishini no Yari (God-Killing Spear), which is so sharp it cuts through ''everything'', including other zanpakuto...which are ''souls''.
* {{Action Girl}}: The majority of the cast, really, except for Jieun and the screaming bystanders.
* {{Afraid of Needles}}: It is mentioned early on that Jiyeon has an inexplicable fear of hospitals and needles. Turns out she has good reason why, being a laboratory experiment.
* {{Always Second Best}}: Genesis, who never quite beat BoA for best SOLDIER. Later, it turns out he's a science experiment. To add insult to injury, it turns out he's a ''failed'' one, and his pupil Jiyeon was the successful one.
* {{Anachronism Stew}}: At the same time Hyomin is hacking computers, Soyeon is talking into her phone and piloting helicopters, and Shinra is conducting bioengineering, the SOLDIER members use swords.
* {{Anyone Can Die}}: [[spoiler:Jieun was killed by Genesis fairly early on]], and the author has pledged that not everyone will survive. Considering the title of the fic...well.
** {{Dwindling Party}}: It's happened.
* {{Armor Is Useless}}: Subverted. Jiyeon's armor saves her life against Genesis.
* {{Asshole Victim}}: Kim Kwangsoo, whose death many people cheered about. For a brief moment, Genesis was a hero to the readers.
* {{Asskicking Equals Authority}}: BoA is SOLDIER General for the reason that nobody comes close to her level of badass.
* {{Backhanded Apology}}: Surprisingly, Eunjung does this to Jiyeon. When the latter accuses her of being too slow in recapturing a city, Eunjung responds that she is sorry but was unaware of there being a time limit.
* {{Badass Normal}}: In a world where people have magical powers, Soyeon manages to be an assassin without demonstrating any of them. She still manages to scare everybody.
* {{Barehanded Blade Block}}: Jiyeon, much to Eunjung's surprise.
* {{Battle in the Rain}}: Not entirely for atmosphere, when this happens during the battle between Jiyeon and Eunjung, Eunjung gains an advantage as the field is filled with water, her element.
* {{Becoming the Mask}}: Jiyeon with her "Revan" mask, which looks monstrous and was meant to portray strength to the men under her command. Eventually, she really does become a monster.

* {{BioAugmentation}}: All the SOLDIER members are genetically modified in a way, as they're injected with Mako (concentrated Lifestream, the river of souls) and are thus much stronger than normal people.

* {{Big Bad}}: Jenova. Jiyeon is the main antagonist, but Jenova is the one pulling the strings.
* {{Big Shut Up}}: Jiyeon to Genesis, when he just won't shut up even after being hit by lightning. The shut up is accompanied by [[spoiler: a fist through his chest]].
* {{Bitch in Sheeps Clothing}}: The first time Eunjung meets Qri, she notes that Qri has a cute outer appearance. The instant she opens her mouth though...
* {{Blade Lock}}: Happens very often.
** Jiyeon sometimes cheats and uses an energy beam attack during a sword lock, which is effective but impolite.
* {{Blocking Stops All Damage}}: Subverted, most the time. Generally, blocks still leave people launched away or at least shaken up.
* {{Blood Magic}}: Jiyeon's Cataclysm, which involves a dance and then impaling herself on her own blade.
* {{Bloody Murder}}: Genesis, whose zanpakuto Rapier uses blood mist with corrosive properties. It can also be shaped into energy beams and shields - blood is versatile!
* {{Brainwashed and Crazy}}: Several characters are lost to Jenova's corrupting influence, and even Eunjung hears her voice for a while - except she thinks it's repulsive, while others are obviously enamored.
* {{Brilliant but Lazy}}: Hyomin, who casually hacks into the computer networks of global powers, does parkour, and learns to snipe perfectly in less than a month. However, she hasn't really tried to improve anything at all.
* {{Child Prodigy}}: Like in real life, BoA, who unlocks the most powerful form of magic (zanpakuto) at age six and learns to Summon by age ten.

* {{The Clan}}: The Uchiha, who all have sticks up their asses with the exception of Shisui, his mother Ashe, and five/ten-year old (depending on which part of the story) Maden.
* {{Color Motif}}: Jiyeon's red is a symbol of intensity and danger, in contrast to Eunjung's blue, a symbol of serenity.

* {{Combat Medic}}: Hwayoung, who simultaneously heals with magical scalpels...and can slice apart your tendons with them. Also does this without breaking your skin, so you ''look'' uninjured.
* {{Conveniently an Orphan}}: The main character Eunjung, along with Hyomin and Soyeon, who work as assassins. Main character obviously needs to have no burdens, and parents generally disapprove of the assassin occupation.
* {{Crapsack World}}: It doesn't seem like it at first, but it's gradually revealed that the world is, in fact, a {{dystopia}}. Midgar, originally the city of SOLDIER to protect the world, is actually the city choke-holding the world with massive political power, with stagnation and corruption evident in the government. Poverty is abundant in the Slums, and it's a dog-eat-dog world down there. Over in Cantha, originally seen as more peaceful, religion is actually used as a tool for people to stay in power. The Slums are even worse.
* {{Crouching Moron Hidden Badass}}: Hyomin, who acts outright stupid and says the most obvious things, but also manages to completely evade Jiyeon's sword-wielding Phoenix and distract her.
* {{CurbStomp Battle}}: The first Jiyeon vs. Genesis fight, in which Genesis is playing around the whole time and still manages to: 1) engulf her in a wave of fire, 2) engulf her in a wave of gravity, 3) impale her hand, and finally 4) twist the knife while it's 'still in her hand'.
** SOLDIER 1st Class Valdien is beaten in a minute by Jiyeon.
* {{Deadpan Snarker}}: Hyomin and sometimes Hwayoung, and Eunjung occasionally. Soyeon sometimes does this unintentionally.
* {{Deal With the Devil}}: Depending on who is the devil, this happens often.

* {{My Death Is Just The Beginning}}: [[spoiler:Jiyeon falls into the Lifestream to save Eunjung, but she is reborn because of her strong will. Unfortunately, her time there completes her transformation to evil.]]
* {{Death of a Thousand Cuts}}: SOLDIER Director Kim Kwangsoo is subjected to this by Genesis for ordering experimentation on him. This process leaves him considerably lighter from blood loss.
* {{Despair Event Horizon}}: [[spoiler: Jieun's death]] is the first blow to Jiyeon's sanity, followed by the revelation that she's an experiment. She subsequently crosses the {{Moral Event Horizon}}.

* {{Dont You Dare Pity Me}}: Genesis says this to Jiyeon almost word-for-word when she expresses pity at his wretched state. Combined with {{Always Second Best}}, he has a lot of issues.
* {{Doomed Hometown}}: [[spoiler: Nibelheim is razed to the ground when Jiyeon makes her return in Arc 5, with a total of zero survivors. Eunjung's mother is killed right in front of her.]]
* {{Dragon Rider}}: Eunjung's Eidolon is Bahamut.
* {{Dramatic Irony}}: The readers all know she's destined to be the Evil, but Jiyeon at one point believes herself to be the Hero. Life just doesn't work out the way you want it to.
* {{Dreaming of Things to Come}}: Jiyeon, Eunjung, and Jieun.
** {{Dreaming of Times Gone By}}
* {{Dressing as the Enemy}}: To sneak into a Mandalorian camp, Jiyeon "borrows" a set of their armor.
* {{Dueling Messiahs}}: Played incredibly straight to the point that it's rare, because both Jiyeon and Eunjung are actual messiahs from two different goddesses with two very different viewpoints.
** {{Dark Messiah}}: Jiyeon ends up wanting to cleanse the world from the filth that is humanity, and from the looks of the {{Crapsack World}}, she's not entirely wrong.
** {{All Loving Hero}}: Eunjung, whose power comes from forming bonds with people and drawing from them. Somewhat subverted that she manages to hate people, like Hwayoung, who perform acts of extreme evil.
* {{Elaborate Underground Base}}: The Ragnarok base appears to be a large dome, but there is nothing inside. Our heroes have to enter an underground lair to find Hojo.
* {{Eldritch Abomination}}: Jenova, and most of the Hollows that are produced from her cells.
** Jenova isn't so much ''evil'' as she would like to subjugate her creations. The whole turning people into monsters and driving them insane and feasting on death thing might be pushing it though.
* {{Everyone Is Gay}}: All the T-ara members are paired within their group.
** One straight pairing, with Genesis and BoA maybe but not really being a thing.
* {{Evil Eye}}: The Sharingan, without a doubt. It was stated to be descended from the Evil, who received it from Jenova. Evolution to Mangekyou Sharingan requires murder of someone close to you, but its power leads to blindness.
** The solution to the blindness? Steal eyes from someone in your family. [[spoiler: Genesis tries to do this with Jiyeon. Jiyeon kills him and receives Mangekyou, then starts going blind herself. Finally, she kills Shisui and takes his eyes. Voila.]]
* {{Eye Motifs}}: Where Jenova is sealed, a glyph of an eye is spidering over the seal, a symbol of the Dark Goddess still being able to see what goes on in the world.
** [[spoiler: The Eternal Seal closes the eye, showing that Jenova is blinded.]]
* {{Fan Service}}: The Midsummer Ball chapter, which the author admits to being fluff that does nothing to advance the plot. Makes for dramatic {{flashback}}s in the future though.
* {{Feather Motif}}: Jiyeon has a black wing to show corruption, while Eunjung has a half-skirt of white feathers to show divinity.
** {{Perpetual Molt}}: Genesis continually molts, and Jiyeon also has this to a lesser degree. Plot-wise, this is degradation. Symbolically, this is decaying effect Jenova has on the mind and morality.
* {{Flashback}}: A great variety is used, including: {{Happy Flashback}} very frequently, {{Pensieve Flashback}} after the battle with Genesis, and {{Flash Back Echo}} during the final battle. The most poignant is the {{Rashomon Style}}, which shows first Eunjung and later Jiyeon's perspective of past events.
* {{Flash Step}}: Most characters are much faster than humans, with Shisui being noted as leaving static booms in the sound barrier. Eunjung is noted as moving faster than the human eye can follow.
* {{Flower Motifs}}:

* {{For Science}}: Hojo, and later [[spoiler: Hwayoung]].
** {{Above Good and Evil}}: [[spoiler: Hwayoung starts quoting Faust of all people, talking about how the pursuit of knowledge supersedes morals.]]
** {{Necromancer}}: [[spoiler: Turns out she turned to Jiyeon for the power to "resurrect" her deceased sister, Hyoyoung.]]
** [[spoiler: In the end, it turns out it is all a {{Zero Approval Gambit}}, with Hwayoung making the best of a bad situation and doing the rational thing - pretending to give in for the chance to assassinate Jiyeon.]]

** Hwayoung laughed. “I can see Jiyeon laughing evilly and swishing a dark cape around right now. Imagine the terror she would strike into people’s hearts, with that cute face.”
* {{Fun Personified}}: Shisui, who compared to the rest of the cast is optimistic and cheerful to insane levels. The last time he was seen, he was drinking liters of alcohol out of a beer pong and throwing himself into a crowd while shouting his own name.
* {{Handicapped Badass}}: Jiyeon's dominant hand is skewered and she loses use of it; she promptly switches hands like nothing happened, complete with snarky one-liner.
** "Who says what I can do with my right hand...I can't do with my right?"
** [[spoiler:Eunjung's eyes are blinded temporarily, but she activates Trance ({{Super Mode}}) and her eyes heal up.]]
* {{Hannibal Has A Point}}: Leaving a city full of innocent people undefended ''knowing'' it will be attacked soon sounds horrible, but Jiyeon brings up the good point that fortifying the city would let the enemy know their code had been cracked.
* {{Heartwarming Moments}}: Despite its name, the story has a lot of these.
** Jiyeon bringing Eunjung to the roof of Shinra HQ to look at the stars, and the scene during the Midsummer Ball where they ice skate.
** [[spoiler: Phoenix appearing at the end to protect Eunjung, even after Jiyeon's death.]]
* {{The Hero}}: Eunjung. Her past life is literally known as "The Hero."
* {{I Fight For The Strongest Side}}: Said word-for-word by Soyeon.
* {{I Just Want To Be Normal}}: For all his proclamations that he wants to be a hero, Genesis just wants to be a normal person after he finds that he's an experiment.

* {{Improbable Aiming Skills}}: Both the Turks, Soyeon and Hyomin, snipe like nobody's business.
* {{Incurable Cough of Death}}: Genesis's degradation has him coughing up a lung sometimes, along with blindness and hastened aging. More recently, [[spoiler:Jiyeon has acquired this too]].
* {{Ineffectual Death Threats}}: Qri, who goes from a real threat (leaving Eunjung unconscious up in the mountains) to being practically comedy relief with her death threats.
* {{Inferiority Superiority Complex}}: Genesis is mean and puts other people down, but is also desperate to prove himself. Especially when he's revealed to be a failed experiment, it destroys his psyche.
* {{Innocent Flower Girl}}: Played straight with Jieun, the counterpart to Aerith Gainsborough, bright and cheerful and first seen while growing flowers in a church before healing Jiyeon, a complete stranger, by singing.
* {{It Sucks To Be The Chosen One}}: Fairly obvious that Eunjung would prefer a job that doesn't involve killing her best friend/love interest.
* {{Jerkass Gods}}: Neither Jenova nor Hylia are exactly the best bosses to have, but at least Hylia's continual use of Eunjung's reincarnations is to preserve people's free will. However, even she notes that her manipulation isn't right.
** [[spoiler: It becomes worse when you realize Hylia knew why Jiyeon had gone to Jenova, but withheld this information from Eunjung every time her reincarnation came to her.]]
* {{Last of His Kind}}: Jieun is the last Cetra following the race's decay following Jenova's original attack.
** {{There Is Another}}: Subverted, because all other people thought to be Cetra are later shown to be not. Jiyeon is actually a Hollow, [[spoiler: Kreia is actually a spirit]], and Eunjung, who even Jieun thought was a Cetra, is much more likely to be human in her current life. Of course, Jiyeon and Eunjung still possess the powers they had as Cetra.
* {{The Lifestream}}: Named exactly as such from Final Fantasy VII, and acts as the source of life as well as both the dwelling and persona of the Goddess Hylia.
* {{Love Interests}}: Almost every character has/is one. Hyomin likes Eunjung and Hwayoung likes Qri, but both Qri and Eunjung like Jiyeon, who likes Jieun, who may or may not have liked her back but [[spoiler:is unfortunately dead]]. Oh, and Soyeon and Boram are paired together.
* {{Magic Music}}: The Cetra. Cetra Eunjung sings to get a flower to grow, and Jieun sings in order to heal Jiyeon's injuries.
** [[spoiler: Soyeon, whose full-Hollow form has powers involving singing, in a sort of twisted version of Cetra powers.]]
* {{Magical Guide}}: Yeul, a memory who waits in Valhalla for Eunjung.
* {{Mobile Maze}}: Cantha, where the trees start constricting around the group as they travel.
* {{The Mole}}: [[spoiler: Hwayoung, who had known about the experiments on Jiyeon from the start, helping Shinra keep track of her, and later helped her transplant Shisui's eyes under duress.]]
* {{Mentors}}:
** {{Big Brother Mentor}}: Genesis to Jiyeon, up until [[spoiler:he goes insane and she is forced to kill him, thus going insane herself in the process]].
** {{Cynical Mentor}}: Kreia, who helps both Jiyeon and Eunjung despite the two being destined to be on opposite sides. Her teaching is full of snide comments and backhand insults, but what she says is unfortunately true.
** {{Rebuilt Pedestal}}: BoA, who at first seems a wonderful person with no flaws whatsoever [[spoiler:until you find out she helped with human experimentation]]. She truly regrets it though, and she does her best to teach Eunjung ''not'' to be like she was.
* {{Mind Rape}}: Jiyeon does this to Hojo after awakening Sharingan, which she uses to rip through his worst memories.

* {{Multiple Endings}}: The Canon Epilogue, Bad Ending, and Good Ending. The Good Ending is also the Hidden Ending, because it's placed strategically at the end of the last author's note.
* {{No Social Skills}}: The definitive example is Soyeon, who doesn't even understand the concept of holidays and birthdays. Boram tries to remedy this.
* {{Neck Snap}}: Qri does this en masse with her zanpakuto, cleanly snapping necks from a distance.

* {{No FEMA Response}}: When the Mandalorians attack Elona, other nation don't do anything because they're still safe. Then another. And another. Until finally Tyria steps in when their borders are getting iffy, and SOLDIER finally gets involved.
* {{Not Worth Killing}}: Assumed to be the reason Genesis leaves Jiyeon alive after their first fight.
** [[spoiler:Later it is shown that he kept her alive for her ''eyes'' because he was going blind.]]
* {{One Winged Angel}}: Many people have alternate forms.

** [[spoiler: Soyeon has a full-Hollow form, Melody of Anguish.]]
** [[spoiler: Fitting for the {{Big Bad}}, Jiyeon's Hollow form is Great Winged Demon.]]

* {{The Phoenix}}: Jiyeon's Eidolon, which as a side-effect gives her the ability to perform rousing speeches.
* {{Protagonist Journey to Villain}}: Rather than a {{Start of Darkness}}, Loveless follows Jiyeon's fall from the time she was the main protagonist, after which Eunjung, the secondary protagonist, is promoted to take her former friend out.
* {{Red Herring}}: The poster, [[spoiler:which implies Qri will end up joining Jiyeon. It ends up being Hwayoung who joins Jiyeon, and Qri remains on the good team]].
* {{The Reveal}}: Lots of these, but the major ones:

* {{Sacrificial Lamb}}: [[spoiler:Jieun dies despite being a main character and Jiyeon's love interest, which acts as a catalyst for many of the unpleasant events of this fic.]]
* {{Saw It In A Movie Once}}: Hyomin devises her wasabi torture based on a movie she watched.
* {{Sealed Evil in a Can}}: Jenova being trapped in the Northern Crater, a situation which she quite despises based on the rambling thoughts she has. Generally, her thoughts consist of death threats and creepy reminiscing over her child.
* {{Self Sacrifice Scheme}}: [[spoiler: Jiyeon, whose ultimate purpose is to make Eunjung strong enough so she will survive sealing Jenova.]]
** {{Silent Scapegoat}}: [[spoiler: This is only revealed when she's dying in Eunjung's arms, becoming a giant {{Tear Jerker}} because her last words are to comfort Eunjung.]]
* {{Shoutout}}: Many scenes parallel those from the source material, such as Jiyeon's meeting with Jieun being a mirror of Zack Fair's meeting with Aeris Gainsborough.
* {{The Siege}}: Midgar is attacked, twice.
* {{Smug Super}}: Naturally good at most everything, Jiyeon treats the dangerous job of killing Hollows with careless flippancy and gets herself injured because she doesn't go all out. This attitude goes away after the darker events of the story, however.
* {{Snake People}}: A lame {{pun}} on BoA's name by giving her snake powers. This includes summoning them for both offensive and defensive purposes, like shooting out from sleeves to bite people, blocking attacks, coming in swarms, and [[spoiler:reattaching her body when bisected]].

* {{Stock Superpowers}}:
** {{All Your Powers Combined}}: During the final battle, [[spoiler: Jiyeon and Eunjung use four zanpakuto each, three from their victims/friends respectively and combined with their own]].
** {{An Ice Person}}: Eunjung, who freezes water from various places (including the atmosphere) to shape them into spears, walls, ice mirrors, and more.
** {{Aura Vision}}: Eunjung, who senses people based on their magic. This is used to great effect during the war, as she can feel the magical signatures of spies. Also Jiyeon, who literally ''sees' magic with her Sharingan.
** {{Bad Powers Good People}}: Shisui, with his brainwashing Kotoamatsukami.
** {{Having A Blast}}: Boram's zanpakuto can also generate a giant missile.
** {{Flight}}: Genesis, who manages to fly with ''one wing''. As in the original FFVII, this phenomena is unexplained.
** {{Light Em Up}}: BoA seems to have an affinity for light, using it in spells as well as her [[spoiler: Eidolon's final attack]].
** {{Master of Illusion}}: Qri's zanpakuto Muramasa allows her to create illusions. They're visual based, though, seeing as the Hollowfied Essai could smell out where Qri really was.
** {{Playing With Fire}}: Both Jiyeon and Genesis are borderline pyromaniacs.
** {{Poison}}: Oddly, sweet Boram's zanpakuto Suzumebachi (Hornet) revolves around poisoning people in various ways. She is upset about this revelation until Soyeon has a philosophical moment.
** {{Power Copying}}: Jiyeon and every Uchiha, using their Sharingan. [[spoiler:This is later revealed to be a byproduct of Jenova's power to absorb from ''death'', and Jiyeon is essentially a cannibal.]]
** {{Psychic Powers}}: Heavily implied that Kreia can see the past and future. Jieun is confirmed to be able to do this, as she saw [[spoiler:her own death]].
** {{Shock and Awe}}: Genesis and Jiyeon are both lightning-elementals as well.
* {{Storming the Castle}}: Cantha, where [[spoiler: Soyeon]] is, and Orr, where Jiyeon lives in a giant white castle.
* {{Story Breaker Power}}: Shisui's Kotoamatsukami, which can change a person's thoughts/beliefs and implant commands which are undetectable and irreversible. To make it even more broken, [[spoiler: it is shown to be able to temporarily override the control of Jenova, an actual goddess]]. Still, somewhat subverted because his power, while incredible, cannot solve the world's problems.
* {{Sufficiently Analyzed Magic}}:
** Genesis's degradation is described as the stopping of mitosis and cytokinesis, leading to rapid cell death.
* {{Super Soldier}}: Jiyeon, Eunjung, Qri, and Boram.
* {{Surreal Horror}}: Most of Jenova's influence, as seen in the pre-prologue interludes.

* {{Switching POV}}: At the beginning, the story switches between the two protagonists - Jiyeon and Eunjung. The story is fast switching to Eunjung exclusively, as the former protagonist...is now former.
* {{Team Spirit}}: [[spoiler: Soyeon is powerful enough that it takes Boram, Hyomin, AND Areum in a joint combination attack to take her down.]]
** [[spoiler: Subverted that the combined efforts of BoA, Boram, Hyomin, Areum, and Idalia STILL fail against Jiyeon, who gets slightly injured but kills three of them. After, she still has enough energy to shut down the protagonist's attempt at revenge.]]
* {{Time Skip}}: There are two - one after the child-prologue times (5 years) and another after the war with the Mandalorians starts (another 4 years). Therefore, nine years total.
* {{Took a Level in Badass}}: Boram, who is small and meek the whole story, whips out a giant missile that is her zanpakuto's true form. Hwayoung, the medic, becomes incredibly powerful beyond anybody's expectations.
* {{Tragic Keepsake}}: Soyeon's diadem, which [[spoiler: is all that is left after she is burned]].
* {{Training from Hell}}: Both Jiyeon and Eunjung qualify for this, considering they were taught by ''Kreia'', the world's snidest woman.
* {{Troll Fic}}: The Bad Ending, which starts off very utopian-like and slowly becomes creepier and creepier...until the reader realizes he or she's been trolled and throws things.
* {{Tsundere}}: Without a doubt, Qri. She acts spoiled and unapproachable at first, but she eventually opens up to Hwayoung after the healer sticks around with her.
** It takes Qri being critically injured and stuck in a hospital for this to happen.
* {{Underestimating Badassery}}: A bunch of {{mooks}} think they can capture Jiyeon. Needless to say, they fail hilariously.
* {{Underwater City}}: Valhalla is underwater, protected by a dome of magic. However, there are no inhabitants other than a single spirit.
** {{Atlantis}}: Valhalla was the ancient city of the Cetra until the civilization collapsed. According to Kreia, who is possibly an {{Unreliable Expositor}}, the Cetra had become stagnant over time.
* {{Used to Be a Sweet Kid}}: The first two arcs are dedicated to developing this, as Jiyeon was a very good kid before her fall.
** Somewhat averted though, as she was also born with Sharingan eyes, the mark of Jenova.
* {{Vicious Cycle}}: The battle between good and evil happens again and again without end, because the goddesses can't ever die, and their chosen will keep reincarnating. It is stated that there have already been multiple reincarnations before the events of Loveless.
* {{Villainous Breakdown}}: Jiyeon, [[spoiler: after being injured by Hyomin and BoA]] has a moment of rage and actually slips up from her usual contraction-less speech patterns. [[spoiler: Hwayoung]] also, when the skeleton of her sister is called a doll.
* {{Walk Into Mordor}}: Jiyeon destroys all planes and tanks, so {{Storming the Castle}} in Orr has to be done on foot.
* {{War Is Hell}}: Characters come back changed after the Mandalorian War.
* {{Watching Troy Burn}}: By the time Eunjung and company get back to Midgar from Cantha, Jiyeon's siege is well underway.
* {{We Used To Be Friends}}: The main cast becomes a tight-knit group over the course of two or three story arcs...before some of them become turncoats.
* {{Weaponized Landmark}}: The entire country of Orr can be used as a giant weapon, as the spell Cataclysm crushes everything in its borders. [[spoiler:Jiyeon does this to wipe out the Mandalorian people, along with half of her own forces.]]
* {{Well Intentioned Extremist}}: Hwayoung, who [[spoiler: kills Eunjung's mother with her bare hands and betrays the group for the chance to kill Jiyeon]]. Lampshaded by Jiyeon, who tells Eunjung that forgiving Hwayoung would be foolish, because good intentions don't make things right.
* {{Wizard Duel}}: Jiyeon and BoA have a very cool back and forth, throwing spells at each other and turning them back, all the while sprinting across rooftops and leaving destruction in their wake.
* {{Zero Approval Gambit}}: Massive spoiler, proceed with caution: [[spoiler: Jiyeon]].

* {{Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass}}: Hyomin, who acts outright stupid and says the most obvious things, but also manages to completely evade Jiyeon's sword-wielding Phoenix and distract her.

* {{The Hero}}: Eunjung. Her past life is literally known as "The Hero.

* {{Ouroboros}}: The never-ending cycles, which lead into the next.

* {{Crapsack World}}: It doesn't seem like it at first, but it's gradually revealed that the world is, in fact, a {{dystopia}}. Midgar, originally the city of SOLDIERs to protect the world, is actually the city choke-holding the world with massive political power, with stagnation and corruption evident in the government. Poverty is abundant in the Slums, and it's a dog-eat-dog world down there. Over in Cantha, originally seen as more peaceful, religion is actually used as a tool for people to stay in power. The Slums are even worse.

* {{Eye Motif}}: Where Jenova is sealed, a glyph of an eye is spidering over the seal, a symbol of the Dark Goddess still being able to see what goes on in the world.