Four years later, and the Eds are still tortured and beaten on a daily basis. This time, however, they will finally try to find solutions to their problems, which grow worse by the day.
-Summary
An Ed, Edd n Eddy Dark Fic by Scary Spikender. Link here.
Grudges, lust, simplemindedness, obsession, hatred—they're all present, and they're certainly not handled in the lighthearted manner favored by a children's cartoon: Jonny really is disturbed; Sarah nurses a genuine ire toward her brother; Eddy is every bit as selfish and lustful as one would expect of a real-life counterpart. The Kankers are genuinely sociopathic; many of their scenes border on Nightmare Fuel. Most importantly, though, all these characters' flaws have very real, plot-relevant consequences.
Apparently the Big Picture Show never happened, because this is a story about the kids' festering hatred of the Eds and their efforts at getting revenge. At the same time, it is a story of the Eds' efforts to gain the acceptance of their hostile peers. Oh, and the Kankers manage to worm their way in and really escalate the drama.
The story is told from the point of view of every character, though a majority focuses on Double-D and Eddy.
In mid-2017, the story and its creator vanished from FF.net without explanation; thankfully, it was re-posted, in its entirety, by TheWallsHaveEarsEddy. Oddly enough, the story inspired a sequel, The JadEd by Saiyamekian Princess dealing with the aftermath of Forfeit, which was approved of before disappearing without a trace.
Forfeit:
- All of the Other Reindeer: Played for Drama to the point of Tragedy.
- Alternate Universe: Confirmed in chapter three, thanks to one of the previous reviewers.
- Anti-Hero: Eddy
- Ascended Fridge Horror: This story shows what would have happened if the The Kids' feud with the Eds went on to their teen years, with The Kids' hatred towards The Eds growing more and more, to the point where they're vicious and sociopathic. The Eds are more distrustful of everyone around them, even themselves. The Kids' problems are growing worse, Jonny really is disturbed; Sarah nurses a genuine ire toward her brother and her anger issues grow worse, finally The Kankers fall into genuine Ax-Crazy territory at times.
- Asshole Victim: A lot of readers by the 17th chapter of Forfeit have no sympathy towards any of The Kankers when they're killed by Ed. All of them had it coming for repeatedly raping Eddy including up to them trying to kill him and his two best friends.
- Ax-Crazy: The Kankers.
- Back for the Finale: Plank is absent from most of the fic after chapter 8, but returns for a cameo in the epilogue.
- The Bad Guy Wins: Even in death, the Kankers are seen as "innocent victims" by most of society that are unfortunate enough to have been killed in a brutal manner by the Eds.
- Big "NO!": Double-D, when Marie tries to grab his genitals.
- Bittersweet Ending: Though it borders into Downer Ending territory: in short, Ed kills the Kankers, they realize that when it comes to friends in the Cul-De-Sac, they only have themselves, they get arrested, Eddy takes all the blame and gets the death penalty, but Double-D ends up getting convicted along with him and has his life ruined because of it; but on the other hand, Rolf and Nazz end up Happily Married, Johnny is much more stable, and Ed, who was acquitted, is seen slowly building a relationship with Sarah.
- Black-and-Grey Morality: When comparing The Kankers to everyone else.
- Book Ends: The first chapter and the epilogue are shown from Sarah's point of view.
- Character Development: Eddy, big time.
- Chekhov's Gun: Subverted with Eddy's knife.
- The Chessmaster: Lee Kanker.
- Crime of Self-Defense: Ed killed all the Kankers in self-defense. Sadly this gets him, Double D, and Eddy arrested. Eddy is sentenced to death. Double D is unable to get a college education because of said trial that he's involved in. Ed is the only one that doesn't face time in prison because the court found him far too mentally incompetent to understand what had happened when the self-defense kills took place.
- Darker and Edgier
- Dark Fic
- Deconstruction Fic: It basically takes a look at what would realistically happen if the events of The Movie never happened, namely (most of) the kids' festering hatred towards The Eds growing more and more to the point where they're more vicious and sociopathic, The Eds are more distrustful of everyone around them, even themselves and The Kankers fall into genuine Ax-Crazy territory at times.
- Double Standard Rape: Female on Male: Averted with Eddy and the Kankers. He is greatly traumatized by the event, feels he betrayed his friends, and hates himself for his inability to escape the Kankers, who more or less turn Eddy into an addict. And unlike the show, none of this is played for comedy.
- Dramatic Irony
- The Dreaded: The Kankers.
- Dysfunction Junction: To say that almost all of the characters aren't the most emotionally stable bunch would be an understatement.
- Even Evil Has Standards: As aggressive and borderline sociopathic as he is, Kevin fears the Kankers as much as the other kids.
- Failure Is the Only Option: All of The Eds' attempts at connecting with the other kids end in failure, death and emotional trauma.
- From Bad to Worse
- Gray-and-Gray Morality: The Eds and everyone else that aren't The Kankers.
- Had to Come to Prison to Be a Crook: Somewhat subverted: while Eddy does take all of the blame, the court still ruled that Double-D was involved in the deaths of the Kanker sisters; the best they get him charged on is fourth degree murder, which lands Double-D in jail for only eighteen months. Coming out of jail, he's not exactly a criminal but a shell of his former self; Double-D will never become successful since no college or career is willing to accept him for being involved in that trial. Even Ed states that Double-D's pretty scarred from the incident. However, there's a chance with good behavior, he'll be out in half...
- Happily Married: Rolf and Nazz in the end.
- Hate Sink: By the time the story ends, the Kankers are the only characters completely devoid of any positive or sympathetic qualities, and the reader will feel absolutely no remorse when they're murdered, beyond the fact that it negatively impacts the Eds.
- Heel Realization
- Heroic BSoD: Eddy, after he realizes how badly he has betrayed his friends by having sex with the Kankers.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Eddy takes the heat for everything at the end, getting sentenced to death via lethal injection.
- I Resemble That Remark!: Sarah to a T, following the discovery of Edd's journal.
- Idiot Ball: Deconstructed
- Ignored Epiphany: Several of the kids come to realize their aggression towards the Eds is greatly motivated by a petty desire for control. Unfortunately, the Kankers don't care and the other kids decide it's just easier to pin all the blame on the Eds than own up.
- Jerkass: Pretty much everyone except Ed and Double-D, although most of these are at least somewhat justified.
- Jerkass Ball: Deconstructed.
- Kick the Dog:
- The Kankers do it at least once per chapter.
- Kevin drugs Eddy with a tampered jawbreaker and offers him up as a racing bet and prize to the Kankers. Eddy is understandably pissed off during their later interactions.
- Lonely Funeral: The Kankers' funeral. The only ones who attend are their mother and all three of their fathers. It's unclear if their fathers were there out of genuine grief, because they felt obligated to be there or if it was to make up for being absent for most of their lives.
- My God, What Have I Done?:
- The kids, barring Nazz and Rolf, upon learning what their deal with the Kanker Sisters had gotten Ed and Edd into.
- Eddy, right after he has sex with the Kankers.
- Implied with Eddy's brother in the epilogue—after Eddy's death, a photo of his brother, looking depressed, is discovered with the word "sorry" written on the back.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Note that everything is far from being the Eds' fault, but they do unwittingly escalate things.
- Oh, Crap!: When the Eds wake up in the Kankers' trailer.
- Outliving One's Offspring: The Kankers' mom outlives all of her daughters due to them being killed in self-defense.
- Rape as Drama
- Roaring Rampage of Revenge: When Eddy discovers what the kids did to Ed and Double-D, he attacks Kevin and Jimmy, almost attacks Sarah, then goes to save the duo from the Kankers.
- Shoo Out the Clowns: Plank disappears in chapter 8, kickstarting Jonny's desire for revenge against the Eds (he blames Eddy for his and Plank's falling out), and even before then we get a snippet of "personality" for Plank that shows him to be kind of an asshole. He returns in the epilogue, but it's stated that Jonny couldn't bring himself to keep him, so he gave him to Ed as a memento.
- Sliding Scale of Idealism vs. Cynicism: If it wasn't for the ending, this would be one of the most nihilistic fan fictions ever written.
- Teens Are Monsters: If you didn't think that the kids acted like jerks at first in the original series, maybe seeing how they're incredibly cruel as teens should do the trick. They all range from petty to borderline-psychopathic.
- Token Good Teammate: Nazz and Rolf are the only ones among the neighborhood kids who aren't actively trying to ruin the Eds.
- Too Dumb to Live: Subverted and inverted - During the trial, Ed was deemed too mentally incompetent to have been aware of the events that happened during chapter seventeen; as a result, it's thanks to Ed's stupidity that he's let go without any punishment, although Eddy taking all the blame helped quite a bit too.
- Would Hit a Girl: Double-D of all people, when Marie tries to grab his genitals.
The JadEd:
- Broken Pedestal: Nazz and Rolf more or less break off their friendship with Kevin after the incident, unable to forgive his involvement in ruining the Eds’ lives.
- Drowning My Sorrows: Double D ends up doing this to the point of alcoholism. Ed’s father does the same.
- Hate Sink: In JadEd, Ed's mom certainly qualifies. While she's implied to have a Freudian Excuse, this doesn't change the fact that she's a neurotic, selfish harpy who ignores, belittles and casually insults her son whilst simultaneously favoring her daughter. She's shown to casually use the word "retarded" to refer to Ed (something that even horrifies Sarah), firmly believes that his sci-fi and horror fixation are a sign that he's a budding psychopath (evidently not noticing the horrifying acts of cruelty her daughter committed back in the day), accuses Ed's therapist of not doing a good enough job of teaching Ed how to act "normal" and generally seems to care more about her image than the family at large.
- Hourglass Plot: In the present day, Ed is the responsible one who has his life together while Double D… well, isn't.
- Mama Didn't Raise No Criminal: The Kankers' mother clearly is in denial that all of daughters she outlived due to all of them being killed in self-defense by Ed would be any way capable of being criminals themselves and only knows that they're sweet girls who wouldn't harm anyone.
- My God, What Have I Done?:
- Double D has this reaction when he hits Ed out of anger and frustration.
- Sarah has a slow, painful (but ultimately beneficial) one after the trial.
- Eddy’s dad has a moment of this for not realizing just how bad the Kankers were when Eddy complained about them. He even gives the appropriately horrified admission that he actually congratulated Eddy a few times for having such aggressive admirers.
- Double D’s mother has one after Ed’s mom unwittingly makes her realize that her busy work schedule has left her so detached from her son’s life that she doesn’t even know his favorite food. This even motivates her to quit her job and stay home with him.
- Parents as People: Ed’s father, who despite his apathetic exterior, is shown to genuinely love his children. He just doesn’t know how to deal with them.
- Relationship Upgrade: Nazz and Rolf get married while Sarah and Jimmy are at least dating.
- Too Dumb to Fool: Ed during the trial. According to Double D, the prosecutor tried to play mind games with him to get him to confess, but all he managed to do was confuse him. Double D speculates that Ed's poor performance in the witness box was all the proof the judge needed that he was too mentally unfit to understand the events of the Kankers' murder.
- Wrong Genre Savvy: Played for drama with Ed. He questions why he and his friends are being punished for the Kankers' deaths, at one point commenting in his internal narration that "the good guys never got in trouble for killing the bad guys in comic books".
