Fanfic / Request and Receive Saga

The Request and Receive Saga is a series of short stories for Fire Emblem: Awakening written by Kayi Rowling starting in October 2015, with no end yet in sight.

The saga's main characteristic is that it is based on pairing requests alone, and that it takes any ship people (both anonymous and not) can put together as long as it remains within the world of Ylisse (recruitable characters, enemies, NPC, Einherjars, objects, etc.)

Everything else is fair game.

The stories themselves are Stand Alone Episodes that vary greatly in genre, tone, plot, and ending. And though the basis are ships, some of the stories focus on the friendship between the characters previous to their romance or on their resulting family further down the line.

About the "rules" of the saga:

• Each time the request is placed, the ship "earns" 500 words.
  • The requests stack using that unit, with the maximum count being 5000 words (at the moment)
• There is no limit as to how many times can the same person make the same request.
• There is no limit as to how many ships can the same person request at a time.

The author keeps a list of the requests as they arrive via public (reviews and comments) and private (PMs, Tumblr, others) communications. Occasionally, the list gets "closed" in order to prepare for the next step...

The "receive" part of the saga's name is planned after the list is checked, and the short story gets published in FanFiction.Net and Archive of Our Own almost simultaneously. May be the victim of Schedule Slip from time to time.

Somewhat infamous for suggesting the Crack Ship of Validar/Excellus, which was used to exemplify the lack of limits for the ships and to encourage the readers to submit their requests freely, as the author would not judge.

Notes: Links below are all for Fanfiction Dot Net. The Archive of Our Own collection can be found at the top. And here!

Stats: 47 seven stories published in total, until the Schedule Slip.

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This collection of short stories includes examples of:

• Abdicate the Throne: The ending for So desperate! has Chrom pass the crown to a younger sibling in order to support Sumia's dream of raising pegasi, which she thinks would be impossible if she became queen.

• Anger Born of Worry:
  • The Einherjar for Innes does this to Cherche in How to block a flying arrow?, when she gets separated from the main group and ambushed, needing him to rescue her.
  • Gangrel to Emmeryn in Hair of gold, when she gets bitten by a huge spider in the dark, and he can't tell if it was poisonous or not.
• Animals Hate Him: In Bunny knight, Noire's comments about horses upset all of them, making her unable to ride any.
• Babies Ever After:
  • Almost achieved by Sumia and Robin in Just the ring returned home, but Robin became Grima and Sumia went off to bring him back, leaving toddler Cynthia and newborn Morgan orphaned.
  • Parodied in Married to a ghost?, with Kellam and Pheros having ten children in the "epilogue paragraph".

• Be Careful What You Wish For:
  • Noire wanted to become as good as her parents in More like her father, but she ends up turning Invisible to Normals.
  • Robin ceases being a Lethal Chef by the time of How to mess up again?, but now he can't feed his Taguel family!

• Bittersweet Ending: Though She waited, asleep ended in a depressing cliffhanger, its sequel She wakes, alone does this, with Robin almost dying due to the Curse Escape Clause Naga told him would wake Tiki, and Naga reminding an awakened Tiki that Robin is mortal and will leave her eventually.
• Blessed with Suck: Kellam is literally Invisible to Normals in all the stories that feature him.
• Bridal Carry: Priam to Emmeryn in Early recruitment, when he rescues her from her execution in Plegia Castle's courtyard.
• Brother–Sister Incest: Since male Robin (Robin) and female Robin (Robyn) are twins in Never hold my peace!, this is what ends up happening.
• Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Robin in So desperate! acts like a Cloud Cuckoo Lander most of the time, but not only did she help Ylisse win the war against Plegia, she's also a pretty competent wedding planner and farm manager.
• Can't Act Perverted Toward a Love Interest: Gangrel to Emmeryn in Hair of gold, twice:
  • When he has to carry her to safety, piggyback with her pressed against him and his hands holding her bare thighs.
  • When he shows her how a "Shut Up" Kiss is done, on her bed with him on top.
• Celibate Hero: In Ethics of using Einherjar, Robin has no time whatsoever for romance, too busy being the Shepherds' tactician.

• The Chase: Kellam is pursued by all his kids in One, two, Found!, and his invisibility doesn't help against them at all.

• Dark and Troubled Past: Central theme of Not many know, where Libra's own pain spreads around the orphanage he founded. Tharja tries and fails to stop it, leaving her husband to try his luck at a counter curse alone.
• Death by Childbirth: In All the small things, Henry is afraid this can happen to Sumia, thanks to Alternate Timelines not guaranteeing her safety only because Cynthia says she will be well.
• Demonic Possession: Grima to two humans in Dragon dilemma; one becomes a Creepy Child, the other is a deliberate attempt at Evil Is Sexy against Naga.

• Downer Ending:
  • Just the ring returned home, Robin became Grima, and the Bad Future ensued. Sumia herself is seen in her last moments, before the story cuts off.
  • She waited, asleep, Tiki remains sealed away, and Robin gets his memories of her stolen by Naga. Thankfully it got a sequel requested.
  • When hope died, Grima wins in the game's timeline, and everyone but the children die.
  • By a few seconds, Emmeryn dies in the Bad Future. Robin was in love with her, and it's implied his fall was caused by her death.
• Dude Looks Like a Lady: Libra uses this to his advantage in So desperate!, passing himself off as a maid to sneak into the tea party.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: Chrom didn't deserve it with Sumia in So desperate!, until he stepped down as king to follow her in achieving her dreams of raising pegasi.

• Enter Stage Window: Chrom joins the tea party this way in So desperate!
• Eye Scream: She waited, asleep (when it gets gouged out) and She wakes, alone (the aftermath)
• Fake Memories:
  • The Einherjar have memories lifted from their original human selves.
    • They reset after each summoning, as seen in Ethics of using Einherjar.
    • They can be set up to a memory before a summoning, as happened in I'm not sure how the scales were tipped.
  • Robin gets some at the end of She waited, asleep, starting to believe he was in a romantic relationship with Aversa all along, and completely forgetting about his wife Tiki and his daughter Morgan.
• Family of Choice: In And there was mead, Basilio thinks of Lon'qu and Olivia as his children.
• Flashback: In Out of all horrible fates, Gaius keeps thinking back to the deaths of Emmeryn and her pegasus knights while talking with Chrom.
• Flash Fiction: The majority of the stories are between 500 and 1000 words long.
• Forced Sleep: Tiki is sealed away by Naga in She waited, asleep and She wakes, alone.

• Foreshadowing: In Just the ring returned home:
  Narration: ...theirs wasn't a happy ending as much as it was a happy beginning...

• Genre Roulette: Made easier by the format, one story is most probably not like most of the others, shown by how little trope overlap there is between stories.

• Happily Married: If the ship is already married, they show up like this. If they are in the process, they have the promise of getting here anyways.
• Happy Ending: The majority of the stories end like this. It's just that kind of series!

• I Need to Go Iron My Dog: Lissa does this in So desperate! to escape the tea party.

• I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Pheros in Of breeding loyalty, where she helps getting Walhart and Tiki married.
• Just Friends: The Einherjar of Lyndis breaks apart over this in Ethics of using Einherjar, where Robin feigns to be her friend Mark until he falls in love with her and he dares kissing her.
• Laser-Guided Amnesia: She waited, asleep, Naga was successful in making everyone forget about Tiki, except for Robin, her husband. Everyone did forget about Morgan, though... It ends with Robin forgetting about Tiki as well.
• Last Kiss: Between Priam and Tiki in When hope died, right before a victorious Grima arrives to their location to raze everything.

• Love Confession:
  • Played with in Milord, please, they already have something going on, when Frederick says the actual words... but Chrom is already asleep.

• In Beauty and handsome beast, Libra thinks back to how used he is to getting them from men but only as long as they think he's a lady, after which they bolt. This makes Virion's confession believable.

• Love Dodecahedron: The cliffhanger ending of Slice of pie: Sumia loves Chrom but married Frederick, Chrom loves both Sumia and his wife Robin, and Robin and Frederick find Sumia and Chrom making out, with Robin suggesting a foursome to solve it all and Frederick's feelings remaining unknown.
• Made of Incendium: The bench beside Frederick in Never hold my peace! suddenly bursts into flames. Does Lissa remember the wedding correctly at all?

• Mayfly–December Romance: Tiki and Robin suffer of this in She wakes, alone, as she will continue living for millennia after he dies, which Naga reminds her.
• Meaningful Echo: In Ethics of using Einherjar, the following phrase is used to establish the Einherjar's lack of humanity. Then she stops using it altogether, having created a memory.
  Lyndis: You are... Mark, it's you! I feared I would never see you again!

• Mistaken Identity: Lyndis's Einherjar insists that Robin is Mark until he decides to play along in Ethics of using Einherjar.

• Mundane Utility: Henry makes use of hexes to clean the house, among other little details for his wife, in All the small things.

• Non P.O.V. Protagonist: Robin, Robyn and Chrom in Never hold my peace!, which has Lissa as the narrator.
• No Periods, Period: Averted in All the small things.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Libra knows something's up with Virion when he gets closer than usual in Beauty and handsome beast.

• Painting the Medium:
  • Italics for emphasis but inverted for people hidden from humans.
  • Underline for shouting and loud voices (unusual, as it tends to be all caps or bold)
  • Single quotes for telepathy.
  • There is no written thinking, as it is integrated into the narration.

• Parental Marriage Veto: In She waited, asleep, it's part of the backstory: Naga doesn't approve of Tiki marrying Robin. In She wakes, alone, it's revealed to be a Secret Test of Character to ensure he's worthy for her daughter.
• Please Spare Him, My Liege!: Brief but effective in Sparing strategically, with Robin begging Chrom not to kill their enemy Pheros after they defeat her, ending in her becoming an ally.
• Precocious Crush: In Dragon dilemma, Naga is several thousands of years old and Grima is a child in comparison to her, but he still tries!
• Pseudo-Canonical Fic: Most entries to the series fall into this, being based heavily in support conversations between the characters.
• Red Herring:
  • In Hair of gold, a lot of time is spent at the beginning going on about Risen and the fortress. Nothing happens!
  • In So desperate!, the maid is not a woman, but it's not Chrom either; it's actually Libra.
• Reformed, but Rejected: Gangrel in Hair of gold. He promises Emmeryn he will get everyone's forgiveness before a Relationship Upgrade with her.

• Secret Identity: Lucina has two to conceal in Making hard decisions, her status as a member of House Ylisse and the fact that she's a Taguel.
• Secret Test of Character: Naga reveals this is the case in She wakes, alone. Everyone exceeded expectations, as Robin was so willing he actually almost died:

  Naga: She will not wake, however, unless you are willing to die for her. That cannot be changed.

• Sequel Episode: Only one published so far (She waited, asleep continues in She wakes, alone), and another pending in the request list for Slice of pie.
• Short Story: A few ships end being requested enough to be over 1000 words, but none yet over 5000 (current limit, but may go up)

• Silence is Golden: Just the ring returned home has no dialogue. Until Grima screams Sumia's name.

• Speak Now or Forever Hold Your Peace: In Never hold my peace! (which has an oddly appropriate title), Robin (male twin) interrupts the wedding between his twin sister Robyn and his best friend Chrom.

• Standalone Episode: All the stories are this, unless otherwise specified in their summaries (see Sequel Episode). You can read as many as you want and in any order you wish.

• Switching P.O.V.:
  • Tharja and Noire in Bow and arrow, revealing that most of the narration was actually a flashback from the Bad Future.
  • In She wakes, alone, Robin is the main point of view until he stabs himself to wake Tiki, making the switch to her perspective.

• Taking the Bullet:
  • Frederick gets stabbed by an assassin targeting Chrom in Milord, please.
  • Robin dies protecting Emmeryn during an attempt on her life in An alliance.
• That Came Out Wrong:
  • From And there was mead:
    Basilio: Imagine, my son and my daughter, together at...! Wait, that is coming out wrong.
    Lon'qu: Very wrong.
  • From Bunny knight:
    Yarne: I remember my mother told me she once let your father ride her bunny form, what do you think about trying that out?
    Noire: My father did what to your mother?
    Yarne: On her back!

• Through His Stomach:
  • Sumia brings Chrom a pie in Slice of pie. The pie goes uneaten.
  • In How to mess up again?, Robin courted Panne this way but has since lost his Lethal Chef touch in the kitchen. She still appreciates his efforts and eats with gusto. Their children, on the other hand...

• Unholy Matrimony: Feared in Marriage Veto, but they're actually normal for being the Token Evil Teammate couple.
• Unreliable Narrator: There are hints that Lissa may not be the best Point of View character for Never hold my peace! (specifically how dramatic everything suddenly becomes after she gets bored)

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