IK is both friend-shaped and pocket-sized!
Journey to the Attic
is a Obey Me! – One Master to Rule Them All! Fan Fiction by astairekin.
A kid from the human world gets summoned to the Devildom, a whole other Hell-like realm that apparently exists, where she discovers she is expected to attend school for the next year. Diavolo, Prince of Hell, introduces her to a family of demon brothers who she'll be housemates with in the meantime and without much grace, our tiny protagonist is tossed head-long into a very big world. Fortunately for her, she's a formidable force for good with a talent for finding family.
This fic is built on the trope Family of Choice, featuring a mix of fluff and angst, as well as comedy and drama. It is currently ongoing.
There is also plenty of supplementary content on the fic's Tumblr, where discussion of additional fluff, alternate universes and the fic's OCs can be found.
Tropes contained in Journey to the Attic:
- A Birthday, Not a Break: IK spends her birthday in Chapter 25-26 tracking down a witch and then witnessing and helping solve a murder. Aptly, the other characters don’t find out it’s her birthday until this is over.
- Allegiance Affirmation: Mephisto in Chapter 33.Sonno: Don't tell me you're siding with my son?
Mephisto: I'm not siding with anyone but myself. - Blatant Lies: Played for Laughs when IK tries to stop Lucifer from going into Beel's room in Chapter 13. In her bid to stall for time, she claims that he can't go in because 1. the President of America is in there, 2. he's busy, 3. he's dead, and 4. she killed him.
- Apologises a Lot - Generally Played for Laughs. IK has an ongoing habit of apologising for things that she doesn't need to. Set up in the second chapter, during Lucifer and IK's text conversation.IK: sorry about that
Lucifer: You don't need to apologise for that. It couldn't have been helped.
IK: right sorry
Lucifer: I just told you that you didn’t need to apologise.
IK: sorry - Cerebus Syndrome: The fic starts out as a light-hearted mostly-comedy with less connective tissue between events, then delves into darker and more plot-heavy story as it goes on. By the time Belphegor’s arc comes into its own, it’s become full drama.
- Chekhov's Skill: In Chapter 27, Lucifer teaches Satan how to handle Cerberus. In Chapter 32, Satan is revealed to have used this skill to steal a grimoire that Cerberus was set to guard.
- Character Development: A main factor throughout the fic. Most notable in Lucifer, who goes from being barely able to acknowledge when he is wrong to swallowing his pride to protect and make amends to IK.
- Cliffhanger: Happens at the end of many chapters, particularly those in the Belphegor arc; for example, Chapter 28 ends with his first appearance outside the attic.
- Cool Teacher: Professors Kaz and Elderflower qualify. To a lesser extent, Professor Magdalene.
- Deal with the Devil: Literally, given that IK makes multiple pacts with the demon brothers throughout. Her agreeing to help Belphegor also counts.
- Defeat Means Friendship: Downplayed, but while IK's defeat of Levi during the TSL quiz isn't the reason, it does directly lead to them befriending each other.
- Despair Event Horizon: IK crosses this - not when she dies, but when she realises in the aftermath that the others have taken the easy way out and forgotten about it.
- Dramatic Irony: Given that the fic is based on an existing game that readers will have already played, there are a lot of things that we know from the beginning that we have to watch IK figure out or experience for herself - like the man in the attic being Belphegor.
- Dream Land: Sonno's Dreamscape is an example of this.
- Easter Egg - Barbatos teleports IK and calls it a 'short-cut'. Confirmed by
Word of God in a comment thread to be a reference to Sans. - Huge Guy, Tiny Girl - Demons and angels as a race are significantly larger than humans. As such, IK is tiny beside most of the main cast.
- Kill the Cutie: Self-explanatory. IK is generally just a sweet kid who ends up being murdered in Chapter 29. While it isn’t described very gorily, there’s just enough detail for it to be brutal nonetheless.
- Missing Mom: IK’s mother is revealed to have left as soon as IK was born, passing her onto her father to raise. Granted, there is justification, and her father did agree to this.
- Mistaken for Related: A man selling books in Chapter 25 mistakes Satan ( in Lucifer's body) and IK for father and daughter.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Chapter 34 is essentially one big example of this.
- Poor Communication Kills: Literally, in this case. A lot of the fic's events wouldn't have happened if the demon brothers - among others - were just better at talking to each other.
- Talking in Your Dreams - The entirety of Chapter 34, as well as the first section of Chapter 35, features characters interacting in the Dreamscape.
- Temporal Paradox - Barbatos uses one of these to bring IK back after her death.
- The Ditherer - IK qualifies as both Empathetic Fence-Sitter and Too Many Trees; at various points, she debates whether or not to tell the other brothers about Belphegor's current status and never seems sure of what to do. Indecision by inaction, and vice versa.
- The Dreaded - Sonno, King of the Devildom and Diavolo's father, an original character. The rest of the cast is noticeably fearful of him, particularly Diavolo and Mephisto.
- The Needs of the Many - The reason Diavolo and Barbatos go through with their morally dubious plan.
- Wham Episode - Chapter 29. Though its effects are delayed for all but IK, who straight up died during it.
- When You Coming Home, Dad? - While not maliciously, IK's father still basically neglected her, and her mental baggage as a result of this is a focal point of her development during the Belphegor arc.
