Enantiodromia is a Homestuck fanfiction made by NepetaLeijon27
and a crossover with Puella Magi Madoka Magica. Written in first person, it explores a Karkat who made a deal with Cuebey to save his relationship with Nepeta. At first, it seems like a run-off-the-mill journey, but things change for the worst when an old fling of Karkat's shows up.
Below tropes will contain spoilers!
Tropes present in this work:
- Astonishingly Appropriate Appearance: Karkat's Puer Magi outfit is described as having two black pieces of fabric tied around his wrists. This is strange if you take in mind his outfit is based on the dress of Alita Tiala, who only has one wrist decorated with a piece of fabric. But then you realize the fabric is meant to evoke the restraints of the Sufferer!
- Be Careful What You Wish For
- Karkat wished to protect the ones he loved, but he couldn't protect them from his own anger, which is why Karkinos is constantly lonely.
- Vriska wished for control over her life, but at the end of her life, she couldn't control it anymore. Erhellen's 'Gambling' nature reflects this: at the end of her life, it turns out to be a bet with Cuebey gone wrong.
- Kanaya wished for peace, but her life ends up being anything but peaceful.
- Nepeta wished for Karkat to be happy, but she ends up betraying him.
- Blood Magic: Karkat uses a different version of this trope; it manifests itself as red miles. It can heal, although it cannot take away a curse.
- My conscience starts to turn for the worst as I slash my sickle trough her Soul Gem, causing her to fall over, permanently silenced.
- Downer Ending: After killing off Terezi and Nepeta in a fit of rage, Karkat turns into a witch named Karkinos.
- Foreshadowing: Before contracting, Karkat is very concerned about not making his promise true, Nepeta leaving him and spending the rest of his short life in loneliness. He especially fears that last point. We learn at the end that Karkinos has a lonely 'nature'.
- Graceful Loser: Karkat. He freaks out a couple of times, but when he finally realizes he's a murderer, he calmly admits it without much fuss. He turns into a witch, though.
- Gratuitous German: In the vein of the source material, but there's only one name, Erhellen, which means 'to lighten up'. Fitting, since Vriska is a Light player in the other source material.
- Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: Subtle. They're all songs made by FEWZ.
- The fourth chapter is called: '20 Years Later', although the time skip is a few nights after the third chapter.
- I Just Want to Have Friends: The primary reason for Karkat to contract is to keep Nepeta (actually his lover) with him. Taken to an extreme with Karkinos.The crab witch with a lonely nature. He cherishes the ones that enter his barrier the most, feeding off of their life forces. He longs for the feelings he felt long ago, constantly searching for the ones that brought him company. He stops at nothing to make sure they never leave, going into an everlasting rampage at the thought of losing new friends.
- Informed Ability: Nepeta says she can cast Charm Person on others, but also on witches probably because they've been trolls first. However, we never see it in action since Terezi interferes.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: There is only one situation where Karkat swears, upon getting hit by Witch Kanaya, and even then it's a Gosh Dang It to Heck!.
- Pimped-Out Dress: Karkat is a possible candidate. His Puer Magi form has the feather arrangement, his Soul Gem in the middle of the feathers, and pieces of fabric tied to his neck and both wrists.
- Meaningful Name: Enantiodromia is the concept of the superabundance of any force inevitably producing its opposite. This applies heavily to the universe of Madoka Magica, because whenever a Puer or Puella Magi makes use of his or her magic, their Soul Gem will darken, and of course, the Puer/Puella Magi - Witch cycle.
- Shout-Out: Lots.
- 'If it's the last of my magic, So B. It.'
- Taken to a higher level when Nepeta says: 'I'm done with you. DONE.' to Karkat. Heidi's mother in So B. It used to say 'Done.' when she was done with a (usually easy) task, but also used it out of frustration (ex. tying her shoelaces, she stopped doing that very soon). Nepeta who's certainly not mentally disabled is just as done with Karkat as the mother of Heidi with those tasks.
- Terezi says Karkat to turn his thoughts around for once.
- When Nepeta asks if Erhellen's lair can get any more ominous, Karkat answers it 'needs more cobwebs and glowy shit'. note
- 'If it's the last of my magic, So B. It
- Villainous Breakdown: Karkat at the end realizes he really is a jerk, and witches out.
- Walking Spoiler: Karkinos, since he appears at the tail end of the story and is Karkat's Witch form.
- Western Zodiac: The locations of the Soul Gems correspond to their zodiac body parts except Vriska's.
- Whole-Plot Reference: In the fight between two rivals, a lively character is doomed to die. Both of the rivals promise not to tell anything to the character about it, but the character eventually discovers it and says they would be giving one of the rivals a taste of their own medicine. The characters lover, however, manages to calm them down and confront their rival himself, who strangles the lover almost immediately and leaves them for dead. When they finally wake up, they overhear a conversation between the lively character and their rival and kills them both before fully falling into despair and losing it. The plot is Turnabout Corner if it was on Alternia and enacted by Puer Magi.
