Ship Sinking / Fan Works

• Readers of At Soul's Edge, one of the numerous adaptations of the original plot of Baldur's Gate, were apparently suggesting the heroine would make a good match with Edwin, who hadn't even appeared in the story so far. The author disagreed. So Edwin made his appearance - the characters happened upon his hanging, which was executed without interruption.
• Evangelion 303: Mari seemed initially interested in Shinji, but as soon as she found out that Shinji and Asuka were together she stopped seeing him as a "possible boyfriend" and started to see him more like a "way to get Asuka deliciously angry".
• HERZ: Shinji/Kurumi sank long before the story started when Kurumi got Shinji drunk and took advantage of him… and Shinji thought she was Asuka through the whole thing. After that night he started to avoid Kurumi, and she knew she had lost.
• Higher Learning: Whatever relationship that Misato and Kaoru had crashed down when Shinji left NERV temporarily and Misato blamed Kaoru for it. Their relationship died definitely when Kaji reunited with Misato after nearly getting assassinated.
• The One I Love Is...: The last scene of the second-to-last chapter sinks Shinji/Rei. At the end Shinji chooses Asuka and says a relationship between Rei and him would be bad because he would take everything, giving nothing back, and Rei would never complain or protest. He would be using her to run from reality again, and it would be unfair to her.
• The Kyle Saga: The author's own preface before the start of the comic makes it clear Kyle/Lonnie/Rogelio will be sunk. The very first chapter has Kyle leave the relationship and the three just barely are on civil terms. It was crushed even further when Kyle snaps at Scorpia thinking the three just need to talk things over to reconcile, making it clear it's over and not happening again.
• Nobody Dies sinks Shinji/Rei in VERY short order when it's made clear that this Rei is...not all there, and was raised by Yui and Gendo, technically making her Shinji's half-sister (a fact never stated in the story).
• Subverted in Kyon: Big Damn Hero. Kyon has accepted he has some feelings beyond friendship for all girls in the SOS Brigade but has refused to take the initiative on any of them (his Arranged Marriage and the kisses received from all of the girls from the brigade adding extra pressure doesn't help). Yuki comments "It is not ... mutual" when Kyon stayed to comfort her (Yuki had to save Kyon of something that makes her afraid). After Kyon's answer, who believed she was talking about their relationship and even had to give himself a Better as Friends inner monologue, Yuki explains that she really wanted to say is her own actions aren't on par of what she expected Kyon to do.
• Deliberately done in Ultimate Spider-Woman: Change With The Light when Mary Jane Watson and Peter Parker realize their shared origins. They feel a special Like Brother and Sister bond, and wonder if they could have gotten together... and then they burst out laughing at the sheer idiocy of the idea.
• In White Devil of the Moon, Nanoha/Yuuno is ruled out as an option when it is mentioned that Nanoha and Yuuno have drifted apart over the years because of how busy they were at their respective jobs. Later, Nanoha/Mamoru gets sunk when Nanoha's date with him goes poorly, and after visiting the moon and rejecting her past life as Princess Serenity, Nanoha and Fate kiss. The Where Are They Now ending also hints at Yuuno/Ami.
• Meanwhile in Blood That Flows, the premise pretty much involves Lina not being paired with any one of the Slayers cast in order to make Lina marry Shiro and become the biological mother of Nanoha. Gourry does get paired with Sylphiel as consolidation. Later, fan favorite pairing Filia/Xellos got tossed aside.
• The Elder Scrolls: Equestria. Depending on your point of view, it might have one of the most heartwarming ship sinks out there. Shae confesses that she loves Caro. The feeling is mutual, and they share an embrace... but the narration makes it clear they do so as friends and nothing more. And given that's their most intimate interaction in the whole story, we can consider that ship dead and buried.
• What About Witch Queen? has some Ship Tease between Prince Ferdinand and Anna. It sinks this ship in scene when a Relationship Upgrade is most probable - the former is naked in the bathtub, the latter sits next to him, dressed only in bed quilt. Then Anna states that she still misses Kristoff and Ferdinand admits that he's gay.
• Child of the Storm has had the author periodically shoot down hopeful ships, usually in the Author Notes, and doing so early in the second book with Harry and Hermione - Harry was repeatedly noted to be about as attracted to Hermione as he is to mould (mostly because he rarely even notices that she's female), and Hermione herself laughs at the idea. Instead, both of them ship each other with Carol and Krum/Ron respectively (Harry was an advocate for Ron and Hermione getting together, but mostly just wants her to be happy).
  • Harry, meanwhile, acts as the author's Shipping Torpedo for Clark/Lana, pointing out that by Clark's own admittance, Lana has never shown any real romantic interest in him and is happy with her boyfriend, who is good to her (being a Jerk with a Heart of Gold). He also calls out Clark's Dogged Nice Guy behaviour based on Wrong Genre Savvy (Clark thinks he's the romantic hero of the Love Triangle. He isn't), and an ashamed Clark admits that he's right.
• KLCtheBookWorm's Biker Mice from Mars fics often feature reference to a past attempt by Charley and Vinnie to date that went badly enough they abandoned any thoughts of a romantic relationship, leaving Charley available for the author's preferred Throttle/Charley pairing.
• In Children of an Elder God, Rei's chances to hook up with Shinji or having a three-ways relationship with him and Asuka went away when an Eldritch Abomination possessed her and forced her to rape Asuka.
• In One Year, not only are all pairings between Yu and Yukiko (and later, Kanji and Naoto) and people besides each other ruled out by their becoming couples, but a few pairings are sunk apart from that.
  • Yu reveals that when Nanako made him accept her Childhood Marriage Promise in the ending, he'd been put on the spot, and hoped she'd grow out of it.
  • When Chie learns that Kou likes her, she admits that she's flattered, but notes that there's no way the relationship will work out if Kou can't even talk to her.
  • Rise's career as an Idol Singer, which preludes anything that even suggests that the idol is in a relationship, essentially precludes any possibility of them having a relationship.
• Discussed in the Winx Loops when Bloom and Diaspro say that they are not going to get together.
• Embers (Vathara): Zuko/Mai is no more in this fic, and Aang/Katara is Left Hanging in a precarious position.
• In To Hell and Back (Arrowverse) the author preemptively sunk all Kara ships, all Tommy ships, Oliver/Felicity, and Oliver/Sara, and also confirmed that there would be no combination of Oliver, Barry or Kara getting involved as they all see each other as siblings.
• Bring Me to Life ends Buffy/Spike for good when Buffy admits that, every time she and Spike had sex, she was actually thinking of Angel; she clarifies that she does care about Spike, but she'll only ever truly love Angel.
• The author of Hellsister Trilogy sinks traditional Legion of Super-Heroes couple Kara/Querl in the first chapter in order to make way for Kara/Dev.
• In Shinji And Warhammer 40 K, Shinji/Minase was killed by Minase rejecting him and deep-sixed by Shinji going to Tokyo-3. Nowadays Shinji is being chased by Asuka, Rei, Maya, Mana... and Minase is nothing but a temporary childhood crush.
• The Stalking Zuko Series, while always intended to be a Zutara fic, also follows The Stations of the Canon, at least until the time comes to sink Kataang and Maiko.
  • In Kataang's case, Katara often only seems to put up with Aang because he's the Avatar, rather than out of love or friendship, and she gets very cross with him for seemingly abandoning the Gaang just before the Final Battle, as well as causing problems for Zuko by not killing Ozai. However, late in the fic, Katara is told that her best choice is to marry a respectable person, with the best choices being Hahn (the son of the Chief of the Northern Water Tribe) or Aang (the Avatar). This leads to Katara kissing Aang, but Aang, realizing he isn't ready for the sexual aspect of a relationship, gives up on Katara.
  • Around the same time, Zuko, who'd gotten back together with Mai for the sake of honor, learns that Mai had spied on him for Azula. Not long after this comes to light, the two break up.
• The Many Dates of Danny Fenton (Danny Phantom Western Animation, TV Series, and Comic Books.): Not all of Danny's dates are winners, and a few he has no desire to even be friends with.
  • Cree Lincoln seemed nice, but her beating up children caused Danny to reject her immediately.
  • Vicky from The Fairly OddParents!, being a greedy psychopath who hurts kids for fun, causes Danny to give her the lowest score possible.
  • Katie Kaboom is madly in love with him, but her monstrous transformations when angry and incredibly clingy interest in him causes Danny to be genuinely afraid of her.
• The Red Dragon's Saber: In this crossover, Artoria Pendragon gets summoned as Issei Hyoudou's Servant. After several readers repeatedly asked the author about their eventual relationship, the author clarified that Artoria is still in love with Shirou Emiya and is patiently waiting to be reunited with him, so she will not join Issei's harem and will only serve and protect him.
• Blackbird (Arrow): Oliver/Sara dies a brutal, painful death after Oliver finds out that Sara let her mother trade Laurel to the League of Assassins in exchange for her freedom. The two can barely stand to be in each other's presence now, and when they aren't fighting, they're ignoring each other as much as possible, due to Oliver's anger and Sara's guilt at her role in that series of events.
• The Stargate SG-1 fic "None So Blind" opens with Jack O'Neill retiring after the final defeat of the Ori and asking Sam out on a date. Although they spend a pleasant few days together, when the time comes for them to actually try sleeping together they realise that they don't actually feel that way about each other any more. As a result, Jack ends up reuniting with his ex-wife Sara while Sam learns that Daniel has been hiding his own feelings for her for years.
• In the Star Trek: Enterprise fic "Abomi", Terra Prime create a human/Vulcan hybrid using Archer's DNA rather than Trip's. As a result of T'Pol instinctively forming a telepathic bond with her child's father, the mating bond she had been tentatively forming with Trip is broken in favour of the bond with Archer, and even after the child dies, Archer and T'Pol find themselves contemplating the possibilities of a new relationship between them.
• Over the course of the Twilight Storm series, Bella experiences various encounters that prompt her to take a look at who she was when she was with Edward and realise that she actually doesn't like what she became, so utterly consumed by her desire to be with Edward that she would have abandoned basically everything else in her life. As a result, when she finally returns to Forks, even after Edward explains his reasons for breaking up with her, Bella refuses to get back together, although she does confirm that she wants to still be friends with the Cullen family.
• The Phantom and the Witch sees Danny Fenton forming a relationship with his new neighbour Sabrina Spellman; the author notes that Sabrina comes into Danny's life around the time in the original series when Danny's friend Sam Manson was starting to realise her own deeper feelings for Danny, but by the time that 'Danny Phantom' and the ''Hooded Enchantress' (Sabrina's provisional superhero identity) join forces to go after Pariah Dark, Sam is shown accepting their relationship as she knows that Sabrina is interested in Danny for the right reasons.
• Legend of the Monkey God: Yamcha (accidentally) spying on Bulma naked then attempting to use his apology to track her down and steal the dragonballs from her and Goku permanently kills any budding interest she had in the bandit.
• Dance with the Demons decisively torpedoes Bruce/Talia. Not only does Batman marry Catwoman but also declares his relationship with Talia is over.
• Team Four Star's Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 OC Puddin was confirmed to be omnisexual by the guys...but when the audience started shipping her with their friend MasakoX's Xenoverse OC Paata, Lanipator quickly and decisively said it wasn't gonna happen.
• Code Prime sinks some of these ships in R1:
  • Chapters 18 and 21 sink Lelouch/Shirley, as it's noted that the former has no romantic interest in the latter, though he does still care about her.
  • Chapter 21 also sinks Rai/Kallen, as the two are annoyed rather than embarrassed when their Knightmares are magnetized together to look like they're holding hands.
  • Lelouch/C.C. is also sunk in Chapter 27, as the latter is not interested in looking for romance.
• The Pirate's Soldier sinks Heero/Relena early on. Sally Po and Lady Une comment that the two simply drifted apart from one another due to their responsibilities keeping them away to carry a proper relationship.
• Advice and Trust: Shinji and Asuka have both said that while they do love Rei, they're too committed to each other to include her in a threesome relationship. However, Rei has since kissed each of them at least once, they've both developed an attraction to her and they' collectively refer to her as "Our Rei". Ultimately, Rei ends up with Kaworu instead.
• While their status in the canon series might remain in question, the Kazuto/Suguha pairing in Sword Art Online Abridged was torpedoed to bits the instant the latter was introduced: Suguha physically and verbally abuses Kazuto regularly and shows no shame over it, and Kazuto hates himself for saving her from the blueberry muffin she choked on. And then there's her freakout when she (as Leafa) realizes who's playing the dashing Spriggan she became infatuated by.
• BlazBlue Alternative: Remnant:
  • Jaune and Pyrrha wind up having a friendly, uninterrupted chat in Chapter 4, with the latter unlocking the former's Aura before initiation begins and Jaune even questioning the odds of him ending up on a team with her. All of this seems like set up for their partnership and eventual romance from canon, but then Noel ends up saving Jaune mid-fall, preventing them from being partners. Later chapters firmly nuke the possibility of Arkos for the story, with Pyrrha revealing in Chapter 35 that her feelings for Jaune faded away due to lack of interaction between them, and she later develops a crush on Yang.
  • Noel ends up as Jaune's partner in place of Pyrrha, with the two of them being very mutually supportive of each other. At first, it would seem as if this is the build-up to a potential relationship, and per Word of God in the story's AO3 comments, that was the original idea. However, in the same comments, it was confirmed that the plan changed and that they worked better as friends, thus sinking the ship.
  • The Author's Notes of Chapter 57 make it a point to do this regarding Ruby and Ragna. Aside from Ruby's developing romance with Penny, it's also made clear in the notes that she and Ragna are Like Brother and Sister to each other and that any possibility of them becoming an item was never an option in the first place. This is taken a step further when the same Author's Notes make it clear that Ragna will remain single for the entire story, killing off any other potential ships with him.
• In Lantern's Day, In Canary's Night: Oliver/Felicity effectively dies after Oliver's magic-tutoring session with Esrin Fortuna reveals that Laurel is the light in his life who brings him hope. When Oliver and Felicity both realize this, it kills whatever little chance they had of renewing their relationship, with Felicity (understandably bitter) flatly telling Oliver that he shouldn't bother to date anyone else besides Laurel, since they'll always come second to her.
• Any hopes of the Sonic/Amy ship being realized in Sonic the Hedgehog: Heroes of Mobius are dashed as soon as Sonic and Sally decide to start dating (with Amy even deciding to make sure it's the best first date) as an epic No, You to what the author expected the fanbase's reaction to be.
• best served cold (Nyame): Laurel openly rejects Tommy as a prospective suitor in the first chapter despite Tommy's growing feelings for her. While she acknowledges that dating Tommy wouldn't be all that bad, she can't bring herself to use and manipulate him for her plan of revenge.
• The AFR Universe:
  • Yu Narukami and Naoto Shirogane are a romantic item, sinking the popular ship of Naoto and Kanji Tatsumi. As Kanji explains to Haru Okumura in "Buchi-Con", he did have a crush on Naoto but could never muster up thr courage to confess to her before Yu beat him to it. He's moved on from the missed opportunity and is sincerely happy that his two friends are happy together.
  • "Buchi-Con" showed that Haru took an immediate liking to Kanji and even implies the two slept together at the end. But a conversation in "Rainy Day Visit" reveals whatever spark was there didn't last. Neither Haru nor Kanji were willing to move to be closer because that would mean giving up their dreams and they had tried and failed at a long distance relationship.