Don't Cry For Me, I've Already Wilted
is a 2023 Pretty Cure fanfiction. It is a sequel to Anything for Family and a part of The Kedabory Verse.
Joker takes an interest in Saki, and lures her into a life of darkness and villainy. Throughout the story, Saki is slowly corrupted by Bad Energy, making her distant from the Cures.
It has an Immediate Sequel titled After Yamiko, which focuses on the Cures healing from the final battle of Don't Cry For Me.
Please note that as a sequel to Anything for Family, this page will contain spoilers for that story. However, spoilers specific to Don't Cry For Me and After Yamiko will be tagged.
Tropes pertaining to Don't Cry For Me, I've Already Wilted:
- Accidental Misnaming:
- In Chapter 2, Saki refers to Maimiko's doll Snakeflower as "Rosalind". Maimiko briefly takes her voice to correct her.
- In Chapter 5, Akaoni mistakenly refers to Saki as "Maki". Joker snarks that she's not a sushi roll.
- Ascended Extra: Maimiko, who had only one or two notable moments in Anything for Family, plays a much larger role here, where she acts as a sister figure to Saki.
- Bathroom Search Excuse: In Chapter 1, Saki claims she's going to the bathroom when she's really going outside to search for the strange voice whispering to her.
- Cassandra Truth: Nagisa catches Saki creating an Akanbe, but none of the Cures believe her when she tells them so.
- Cheer Them Up with Laughter: Akaoni tries to cheer up a sickly, crabby Joker by trying to be funny. After his first two attempts fall flat, he huffs and says that he spent a lot of time thinking about those. Joker bursts out laughing at the idea of Akaoni thinking.
- Combination Attack
- Cure Rouge and Cure Muse combine their fire and light powers to create a Shining Fire.
- Cure Mint, Cure Aqua, and Cure Princess combine their nature, water, and wind powers to create a Minty Wind Splash.
- Creepy Child: Maimiko, in addition to her signature blank stare, names her dolls such things as Deathberry and Funeralla.
- Crossover: Primarily between Futari wa Pretty Cure Splash★Star and Smile PreCure!, with characters from Futari wa Pretty Cure, Yes! Pretty Cure 5, Fresh Pretty Cure!, HeartCatch Pretty Cure!, Suite Pretty Cure ♪, Doki Doki! PreCure, HappinessCharge Pretty Cure!, Go! Princess Pretty Cure, HuGtto! Pretty Cure, Star★Twinkle Pretty Cure, Healin' Good♡Pretty Cure, Tropical-Rouge! Pretty Cure, Delicious Party♡Pretty Cure, and Hirogaru Sky! Pretty Cure appearing as well.
- Delicate and Sickly: After eating the Masked Shadow's soul in the previous story, Joker becomes very ill and weak as the soul takes its toll on his body.
- Downer Ending: The Cures are defeated, Nagisa is in critical condition, Yamiko is left to ransack the world at large, and Mai uses a wish to erase everyone's memory of Saki.
- Face–Heel Turn: Throughout the story, Joker persuades Saki to turn over to the dark side and fight against the Cures. She agrees to this request and turns into Yamiko, a Dark Magical Girl.
- Fountain of Youth: When Maimiko uses up all her energy in the Bad End Ritual, she turns back into a baby.
- Hot Drink Cure: Inverted; Saki uses a Cold Drink Cure, apple juice, to help Joker with his nausea.
- Meaningful Name: Saki's villain name, Yamiko, means "child of shadow", since she now fights with shadows and is considered Joker's honourary daughter.
- Mythology Gag: Joker is given Bad Energy as medicine, like in Twinkling in the Dark.
- One-Steve Limit: Played with; Cure Bloom gets annoyed when she fights alongside Cure Peach and Cure Peace, and finds that they find it hard to tell their names apart when having them shouted to them during a battle.
- Playing Sick: Toyed with; Joker really is sick, but briefly plays it up to get Akaoni to bring him some water when he's too lazy to do it himself.
- Rump Roast: Hibiki, hitting in a seat under direct sunlight, says she needs to get up because her ass is on metaphorical fire.
- Shock and Awe: In Chapter 1, Cure Peace uses Peace Thunder to defeat an Akanbe.
- Squick: In-Universe, Saki is grossed out by Miki lying that her brother in her boyfriend to ward off unwanted attention.
- Toilet Humour: Two moments in Chapter 8:
- Akaoni calls Wolfrun a shart blaster.
- Akaoni yells for Kabaton to hurry up, to which Kabaton angrily responds that he's on the toilet.
Tropes pertaining to After Yamiko
- Hot Drink Cure: Alice offers Mepple some warm milk to help him relax after it's discovered that he has also been affected by Nagisa's Bad Energy poisoning.
- Immediate Sequel: This story starts at the same time as the epilogue of Don't Cry For Me.
- Rotating Protagonist: While the first story was laser-focused on Saki, this story shows a variety of Cures healing from the anxieties and injuries brought on by their fight against Yamiko. Of them, the one with the most focus is Nagisa, who suffered Bad Energy poisoning and was put on bed rest to recover.
- Soup Is Medicine: Yui and Rosemary make soup for an ailing Nagisa.
