->''If I have to animate another decapitation sequence, I'm going to '''scream'''.''

Remember ''Manga/TokyoBabylon'' and ''Manga/{{X1999}}''? "Oh Creator/{{CLAMP}}," you said, "between the [[HoYay gratuitous homoeroticism]] and the [[EyeScream gratuitous heterochromaticism]], you're [[TearJerker tugging on my heart strings]]! This pain, it is beautiful and terrible."

This fic is the same, only even worse.

The premise of CLAMP's manga and anime ''X/1999'' puts the [[StoryboardingTheApocalypse Apocalypse]] in the hands of a fifteen year-old boy, Shirou Kamui. His choice between saving humanity and [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt saving the planet]] is complicated by [[RefusalOfTheCall his own indecision]], his own lack of information. Epic is an AlternateUniverseFic by [[http://mithrigil.livejournal.com Mithrigil]] that updates the situation--[[ButterflyOfDoom what if]] Kamui had been given ten additional years, to make an informed decision?

Given that premise, it's no wonder '''Epic''' takes the DarkerAndEdgier route. Gone are TheWoobie and the concept of [[BreakTheCutie breaking the cutie]]: with the youngest member of the central cast a twenty-four year old animator, this is definitely not a story about people pretending to be [[OrdinaryHighSchoolStudent ordinary high school students]] while saving the world. It also directly challenges the concept of "too soon", discussing terrorism in [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotPolitical a directed political fashion]].

'''Epic''' is complete and can be read [[http://community.livejournal.com/epic_is_epic/ here]].

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!!Provides examples of:

%%* AffablyEvil: Representative Kigai
* AlasPoorYorick: Subverted, they never find [[spoiler:Daisuke's]] head.
%%* AngstySurvivingTwin: Subaru.
* AnyoneCanDie: Played straight. A reversal of ''X'', actually: [[spoiler:Fuuma spares the little girl's life]], whereas ten years later in '''Epic''', [[spoiler:Kamui leaves her to die with the rest.]]
* AuthorityEqualsAsskicking: Despite his obvious mental instability and the fact that he's sleeping with the enemy, Subaru has managed to rule the Sumeragi Clan unchallenged for seven years on sheer value of kicking ass.
%%* BecauseDestinySaysSo: Subverted repeatedly.
%%* BigBadFriend: [[spoiler:Kamui, to Fuuma.]]
* ChekhovsGun: [[spoiler:Seishirou's car]], which would make [[spoiler:Yoshio]] ChekhovsGunman and [[spoiler:Subaru]] ChekhovsBoomerang. [[spoiler:Kamui drives a Subaru, after all, and Sorata, ever the hanger of lampshades, makes the pun on Subaru-the-car after the collapse of Nakano in book 2.]]
%%* TheChosenOne: Kamui.
* ClusterFBomb: Even the monk calls "Horseshit."
* DeathByIrony: [[spoiler:Representative Kigai is electrocuted and drowns.]]
** Also later, [[spoiler:Kakyou, who has been going blind, gets [[EyeScream stabbed through the eyes]].]]
%%* DeconstructorFleet: CARD-CARRYING MEMBER!
%%* DisabilitySuperpower: Subverted.
%%* DontYouDarePityMe: Subaru most of the time, and [[spoiler:Fuuma in Book 2.]]
%%* DownerEnding
%%* DroppedABridgeOnHim: Averted, though the bridge literally drops.
%%* ElementalRockPaperScissors
%%* EmotionlessGirl: Still Arashi.
* EveryCarIsAPinto: '''Quintuple'''-subversion! Cars are established as a big deal in book one, including Seishirou's Tommy Kaira [[IncrediblyLamePun tb]]. Then, in the beginning of book two, the Dragons of Earth inform us that Every Car Can Die. First subverted when [[spoiler:Kamui sacrifices his Subaru after Nakano]], double-subverted when [[spoiler:Subaru thinks he can blow it up with a cigarette]], discussed and triple-subverted when [[spoiler:Seishirou explains that it takes effort to blow up a car and that it'll take [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything more than a little cigarette]] to do it]], quadruple-subverted when [[spoiler:Kakyou fails to blow it up in a firefight]], and shot to hell when [[spoiler:Subaru blows it up with a little cigarette ''anyway'']]. Phew!
* EyeScream: Kakyou's whole arc deals with eyes.
** [[spoiler:Kakyou himself is going blind from all of this eavesdropping on people more powerful than he is.]]
** [[spoiler:Then he sees that, when They come for him, They have one of each others' eyes.]]
** [[spoiler:And then They stab him through his.]]
%%* FaceHeelTurn: [[spoiler:Assuming you thought Kamui was seriously going to choose the Dragons of Heaven.]]
%%* FamilyUnfriendlyDeath: Pretty much all of them.
%%* GeodesicCast: Discussed and ultimately subverted.
* DyingDeclarationOfLove: [[spoiler:Sorata.]]
%%* AHeroToHisHometown: Fuuma, the Marvel.
%%* HeroicSacrifice: [[spoiler:also Sorata.]]
* HoistByHisOwnPetard: [[spoiler:Aoki with the same electrical wires he used to kill Kigai.]]
* HoYay: Discussed, occasionally realized.[[invoked]]
** Seishirou and Subaru [[spoiler:are in a functional, if parasitic and disturbing, relationship.]] As in ''Tokyo Babylon'' and ''X'', this is far enough out of subtext and into text to qualify. Pretty much every scene they are in together ends or begins with sexual activity.
** Kakyou [[spoiler:is carrying a torch for Hokuto, but has multiple dreams that twist and conflate her with Subaru and Seishirou.]]
** [[spoiler:Fuuma and '''Sorata''' also have a LastKiss.]]
%%* HugeGuyTinyGirl: Kusanagi and Yuzuriha.
%%* IJustWantToBeNormal: Subverted with Kamui, who's pretty much gotten over it.
%%* IJustWantToBeSpecial: Daisuke.
* ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice: Twice, [[spoiler:Inuki]] and then [[spoiler:Aoki]]. InTheBack.
* IncrediblyObviousBomb: Subverted. Kusanagi has to ask which cars they were hidden in. [[spoiler:TheAmbulances.]]
%%* InstantAIJustAddWater: Subverted, since Nataku cannot function without Anonymous.
* InvisibleToNormals: As in ''X''. [[spoiler: Inuki's invisibility to normals is more tragic and disturbing here, however, as Yuzuriha is married to Daisuke who cannot see him.]]
* JourneyToTheCenterOfTheMind: Multiple times, thanks to Kakyou.
* KickTheDog: [[spoiler:Kamui]] is very fond of doing this.
** Just. [[spoiler:The Ambulances.]] Which might actually cross the MoralEventHorizon.
* LoveMakesYouEvil: Double-subversion: [[spoiler:Subaru, Subaru, Subaru.]]
%%* MeaningfulFuneral: Two of them.
%%* ModestyBedsheet: Averted where the manga could not.
%%* MySignificanceSenseIsTingling: As in ''X''.
* NoMrBondIExpectYouToDine: Subaru has Sorata and Arashi over for tea ceremony, during which he tells them very politely where they and their apocalypse can stick it.
* OfficerAndAGentleman: Kusanagi.
* TheOnlyOneAllowedToDefeatYou: Seishirou [[spoiler:explicitly tells]] Subaru that [[spoiler:he will not permit anyone but Subaru to kill him--and that he'll have to.]]
* OnlyOneName: Hinoto, Kanoe, Nataku, Anonymous.
%%* OnlySaneMan: Kusanagi.
%%** Subverted with [[spoiler:Kamui]].
* ParentalObliviousness: [[spoiler:Aoki has no idea who Yuka's boss is.]]
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Imonoyama. See also ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney.
* RedemptionEqualsDeath: [[spoiler:Kakyou calls Subaru out on his inaction and gets a fist through the eyes for it.]]
%%* RedEyesTakeWarning: [[spoiler:Subverted with]] Fuuma.
%%* SacrificialLamb: Tokiko, later Kotori.
%%* {{Seers}}: One on each side.
* SelfFulfillingProphecy: Most of the ones that pass through Kakyou.
* ShootTheShaggyDog: [[spoiler:Subaru's sacrifice negates all the supernatural components of the apocalypse and severs the connection of magic to the world, effectively making everything Kamui and Fuuma did pointless.]]
* SiblingYinYang: Burly, athletic and gigantic Fuuma and frail, sickly and artistic Kotori.
%%* TheDutifulSon: Fuuma and Kamui both qualify.
* TheEveryman: Segawa Keiichi, sports reporter.
%%* TooGoodForThisSinfulEarth: Subverted with Kotori.
%%* TwinThreesomeFantasy: Subverted, Kakyou finds it disgusting.
%%* WaifProphet: Hinoto and Kakyou both qualify.
%%* WellIntentionedExtremist: Kamui.
* WrongGenreSavvy:
*** Kamui thinks he is [[spoiler:a VillainProtagonist]] when he is in fact ''neither''.
*** Fuuma thinks he is an EverymanHero in either an UrbanFantasy or a Spy flick, and is wrong on both counts. Etc.
** Yuzuriha educates Kusanagi on [[LampshadeHanging the brief history of heroes and villains in anime]], at the beginning of book 2, and she still doesn't get it.
%%* YouKilledMyFather: Fuuma thinks Kamui did it. Fuuma is wrong.
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