seikilos: (Default)
[personal profile] seikilos
Title: 21 Could-Have-Been Years in the Life of Cecil Harvey
Fandoms: [community profile] luceti, Tales of Legendia, Final Fantasy IV
Genre: Gen
Rating: This part G; PG overall
Words: 744, ?? overall
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the above media.
Summary: One day, the King of Baron finds a newborn and a woman under a tree outside the city walls.
Author's Notes: The first in a series of twenty-one fics (damn you, Hecate!) covering the first twenty years of Cecil's life in an AU where Grune was found alongside him when he was rescued as a newborn by the King of Baron. She then became like a mother to him and spoiled him absolutely rotten.

I am kind of excessively fond of this AU, so expect lots of this in the next while. :|b

(0)


With a yawn and a stretch and a smile, a woman wakes up under a tree.

"That was a lovely nap," she says to herself. But what was it that woke her? She isn't quite sure—not until she registers the sound of a baby crying.

The woman turns her head and right there, right next to her, is the baby she's hearing. It's very tiny and wrapped up in a blanket, and its face is red and twisted with effort. She sits up and quite naturally gathers her baby into her arms. She doesn't ask herself how she knows the best way to hold an infant or when she became so practiced at it, because she quite simply doesn't think to.

"There, there," she murmurs to it, and it seems to stop crying out of sheer surprise. "It's much better to start the morning with a smile."

But surprise can only last so long, and soon the baby resumes its howling. The woman rocks it in her arms and shushes it, but the baby cries on.

She's so focused on making the poor baby feel better, she doesn't realize she has company until she hears someone say in alarm, "Miss, you should not be out here alone. It is dangerous."

She looks up and sees a man with purple hair and a mustache speaking to her. Behind him are several soldiers.

She frowns just a little and glances about before returning her gaze to the man. "Is it?" It looks so peaceful.

He seems surprised. "Of course. Monsters roam this area freely."

"Oh." She rocks her small new friend a little more as she absorbs this.

The man gives her a strange look. "Monsters or no, what possible reason could you have for bringing a child so young out here?"

"Oh, I didn't bring the baby," she explains.

The expression on the man's face shifts into deep confusion. "You did not?"

"Oh, no. I woke up and the baby was right there." She would point, but her arms are full.

The man glances behind him at the soldiers. "It is not yours?"

She thinks about that, her head tilted slightly. "I don't know. Do you think it is?"

He gives the others a longer look this time. "I am beginning to suspect not. . . . Might I see the child for a moment?"

"Yes, of course."

Without hesitation, she transfers the baby to his arms. The baby is no happier there and continues its squalling without pause. It is even less happy when the man pulls back the warm blanket covering it to check its sex.

"A boy." The man folds the blanket back—and then his breath catches and he pales. He looks down at the woman. ". . . Do you know this child's name?"

"Hmm. . . ." The woman thinks for a bit. "I wonder if I do."

"Then, unless we learn otherwise, let us call him Cecil."

The woman watches him as he stares down at the baby. She's content with this turn of events. "Cecil. . . . That's a nice name."

". . . Indeed it is." One last too-long look and the man turns to pass Cecil to the least uncomfortable-looking soldier behind him, then holds out a hand. The woman takes it and stands, but does not let go.

"What is your name?" he asks, then hesitates. "Do you know?"

"My name is Grune," the woman says. ". . . I think. Is that right?"

He gently, tactfully slips his hand from hers. "I believe so, yes. It suits you." He gives her a kind smile. "I am the King of Baron, Grune. Would you like to stay in my castle? At least until we can find your family."

Grune doesn't curtsy or express any form of surprise at the importance of the man in front of her. She only smiles. "Oh, yes, I'd like that very much. Thank you—that's very sweet of you."

One of the soldiers clears his throat, but the king shakes his head. He turns back to Grune. "In that case, I would be honoured if you would accompany me to Baron Castle."

Grune tries to take his arm, which nearly causes some problems until the soldier holding Cecil has the idea of passing the baby back to her. Then, king and guards and lost woman and child all return to where they will stay for a very long time.

Date: 2012-04-01 03:26 am (UTC)
hickumu: (Pretty Please)
From: [personal profile] hickumu
Ah, the wonders of having a muse that canonically travels the multiverse, hm? ;) Must make AUs like this so much easier to write. Or at least I hope so. Because I want to see the other 20, dangit!

Date: 2012-04-01 03:40 am (UTC)
vyctori: (Grune.)
From: [personal profile] vyctori
XD Actually, I'm writing this as if she has no need to fight Schwartz and will never recover her memories, because otherwise getting her to stay in the same place for thirty-seven years is...difficult, to say the least!

It'll be a bit before I post the next one due to backlog, but I can offer the comfort that I'll be writing the fifth one tomorrow? :D?

Date: 2012-04-01 07:01 pm (UTC)
hickumu: (Faeries holding  secrets)
From: [personal profile] hickumu
Interesting. So, is she still a goddess/goddess-type-being, or just an ordinary human? Maybe she was able to appoint some kind of successor?

Yay \o/ ! Hey, being on the fifth one when you have tendonitis and can't actually type anything is good timing, in my book. :) That is good comfort, indeed!

Date: 2012-04-01 07:30 pm (UTC)
lostinmyway: (Mysterious lady.)
From: [personal profile] lostinmyway
Definitely a goddess or goddess-type being. I haven't worked out the details in my head, but it's not really necessary for the AU, because everybody is going to look at the lady who hasn't aged a day in nearly forty years and shrug mightily. There are beings in FFIV who age at a far, far slower rate than normal humans, the Lunarians (Cecil's dad was one, meaning he's also got an atypical rate of aging), so I think in-universe, they're going to assume she's one of them.

Well, uh...fifth one written down in my notebook. Not dictated. :D;; Writing in my notebook is the easy part--it's the dictating that takes forever. (On a good day, I can dictate a MS Word page in fifteen minutes. ...Yup.)

Date: 2012-04-01 08:26 pm (UTC)
lostinmyway: (True!Grune: Rebirth)
From: [personal profile] lostinmyway
...Goddammit, Hicku, this is why people aren't allowed to give me ideas.

So. The reason why Grune is on FFIV!Earth is it's a reward from a greater deity. They saw how tirelessly she worked for the sake of the people of the universe and so granted her the wish she would have never made out of selflessness: to be able to stay in one place with the friends she made for the duration of their life. So she wouldn't fret about her duty, she was left there as her amnesiac self. And, due to her nature, she was left in a situation where she would be needed to help.

(Schwartz was granted a wish as well: to become nothing in the void for a time. It actually is a reward for her.)

At the end of Cecil's life, she'll remember her purpose, Schwartz will be brought back into being, and everything will continue as it always has. She's going to be pissed as hell that it happened without her approval--but lots of gods have trouble with that permission thing. In the end, though, once she had time to come to terms with it, the experience would be something she would treasure for the rest of her life.

Date: 2012-04-01 09:43 pm (UTC)
hickumu: (Chuu~)
From: [personal profile] hickumu
Welcome to my world, Vyc. Welcome to my world. It doesn't help that I once had a similar idea for a fic once, but couldn't figure out how to make all the canons fit together. I...hope I helped, at least XD? It definitely sounds like you got a bit more to build on! All sounds pretty well put together, I mean. I recommend something like "I'll Stop the World and Melt With You" for a title /shot

True!Grune has many of the same lessons to learn as her friends, it seems.

Date: 2012-04-02 05:59 pm (UTC)
vyctori: (Amiti.)
From: [personal profile] vyctori
You did, thank you! ...And you gave me more fic ideas. orz I wonder why, now, you would suggest a title like that....

Well...the thing is, ordinarily if she takes time off, it's at the expense of all the people who did, do, and ever will live on an entire planet. So, well, yeah. :/

Date: 2012-04-02 06:29 pm (UTC)
hickumu: (Chicken Raid)
From: [personal profile] hickumu
Oh, I don't mean the time off thing. I mean the "you work hard for the sake of other people, let the universe give you good things" thing. Characters like that tend to be suspicious of outright good fortune, right? When they kind of shouldn't be.

Date: 2012-04-01 04:04 am (UTC)
cinnamonical: (Misc - fanfic is SRS BSNS)
From: [personal profile] cinnamonical
D'aawwww! I'm definitely looking forward to seeing the rest of this series! Still amazes me that now I can understand all your Lucetific, hahaha.

Date: 2012-04-01 06:04 pm (UTC)
lostinmyway: (Giggle!)
From: [personal profile] lostinmyway
Glad you enjoyed! And haha, isn't it lovely to be enabled? :P

Date: 2012-04-01 07:02 pm (UTC)
hickumu: (United We Stand)
From: [personal profile] hickumu
Man, I know the feeling. Less than six months ago, I wouldn't have known who half of these characters were despite being in the same game with them!

Who says RP is bad for your brain?

Date: 2012-04-01 07:31 pm (UTC)
lostinmyway: (We are the Laugh Brigade!)
From: [personal profile] lostinmyway
XD See, aren't you lucky? I'm broadening your horizons!

Date: 2012-04-01 07:32 pm (UTC)
hickumu: (The Joys of Education)
From: [personal profile] hickumu
I am like Magrat now! My brain is as large as a football field and just as full of new ideas~.

Date: 2012-04-01 07:47 pm (UTC)
lostinmyway: (Hmm I wonder....)
From: [personal profile] lostinmyway
XD You have as many ideas as a field? That isn't very good.

/shot

Date: 2012-04-01 07:48 pm (UTC)
hickumu: (Offering: One Companion)
From: [personal profile] hickumu
Hey, if you count all the insects and plants and rabbits and birds that you'd find in an average field? They have a lot going on. I stand by my statement, dangit!

/smug

Date: 2012-04-02 06:05 pm (UTC)
vyctori: (Hmm....)
From: [personal profile] vyctori
...Damn, you win.

/defeated!

Date: 2012-04-01 05:31 pm (UTC)
northeasternwind: (Naesala and Leanne)
From: [personal profile] northeasternwind
PFFFFFT D'AAAAAAAAW

Grune and baby!Cecil are so precious XD I bet the king will tell stories about how they found him with her and they will be besties forever and ever and it will be adorable and d'aaaaw

D'AAAAAAW

And of course Grune has no sense of WHOOP KING MUST SHOW RESPECT or anything, and then no1curr. XD Come oooon, who could get angry at Grune?

And clever soldier, handing her verytiny!Cecil to keep her arms occupied XD

Shall definitely look forward to any more of this you come up with along with those letters lol thanks muchly Yosie and I swear I will comment to that entry! Because d'aw. This is adorable ♥

Date: 2012-04-01 06:09 pm (UTC)
lostinmyway: (Sparkle sparkle!)
From: [personal profile] lostinmyway
♥!

You would not believe the mountains of adorable that are coming your way. Seriously. The last fic I wrote in the series involved fingerpainting with three-year-old!Cecil. Yes.

Walter Certainly no one present!

Yup, because the alternative is trying to explain to her why you're not allowed to be so friendly with a king. Which is pointless, because even when Cecil becomes king, Grune will be cuddly with him.

\o/ Dhaos is actually going to get two letters, like Ginia: one business and one personal. Depending on how things go between them in the appointments thread, he may even get her version of a love letter. And I'm only just getting started. :D

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