Black and Gold



""Suffice it to say there are some things you just don't know about L.J.""

- Isaac, Chapter 10

One of the most notable Soul Eater fanfics, written by OriginalAlienSuperspy, can be found here. It's essentially a Spin-Off fic, centering around an ensemble of original characters and expanding on the Lovecraft Lite aspects of the universe.

The story begins with L.J., rebellious daughter of the Guardian Angel, living with her friends in England. The Gathering is coming up; a meeting of all the world's Forces that only happens every 100 years. It takes place in Nevada (since Death can't leave), and there it is announced that L.J. is engaged to the very weird Death the Kid. As expected, L.J. does not take this well, and Kid only goes along with it for the sake of balance, and well-the symmetry. So L.J., her partners Damian and John, along with fellow Jr. Forces Adam, Leah, Mary and Isaac are subsequently sent from England to Death City, Nevada.

While romance is not the primary focus, L.J.'s rickety relationship with Kid eventually helps push along a series of events in which hell is raised, secrets are exposed, and a war is waged.

Oh, and because the Holy Shit Quotient is over 9000, please remember that the spoiler tags are there for a reason.

A Character Page has been added. All Character tropes are to be added there.

"Damian: I wonder what he's laughing about? L.J.:The sun? It must be pretty funny, if we can hear him from all the way down here. Damian: He kinda sounds like that guy from Mario Kart. John: (Face Palm)"
 * Affectionate Parody: The entire story itself can be considered this, as there are numerous Lampshade Hanging moments (especially in early chapters).

"Adam: What do they do when they're lit? Does the wax drip everywhere and then they have to replace it with new giant candles?"
 * Then:

"Isaac: One of these days, someone has got to take that book out of the library!"
 * Three guesses towards this one:

"L.J: So... if some people think Lord Death is God, then Death the Kid would be The Messiah...what's that make me?
 * And best of all:

Adam: The Anitchrist."

"OriginalAlienSuperspy: Yeah, I really don't know what's going on with the manga anymore. Something with the moon, right? Uh, let's just call this an AU fic, okay?"
 * Let's just say that there's a lot of this.
 * Alice Allusion: For both Kira and L.J. Reality, freedom, sanity, maturity and responsibility are common themes for both their story arcs.
 * Alternate Universe Fic/ Spin-Off: Original Alien Superspy stated that this was not originally intended, but was unavoidable given the direction of the world building. The fic also centers around an OCs and eventually moves to a different setting. While it's better aligned with the anime!verse, OAS admits to being completely unable to coherently follow the manga!verse.

"John: Is it a suicide? Damian & Leah: Ooh?! JUMP! JUMP! (Black*Star lands on his feet) Damian: Well that was lame. L.J. (narrating): Damian pouted, obviously hoping for...something else. I had to question my choices in partners sometimes. Hm."
 * Spared by the Adaptation: Word of God says that in the main continuity, The Guardian Angel was probably one of the Great Old Ones (assumably the woman's silhouette shown in the anime's group shot of the Eight Warriors) killed by the Kishin. Ouch.
 * All There in the Manual: This page has information a little ahead of the storyline, as it was edited by someone who "stumbled" upon the author's story notes.
 * Anthropomorphic Personification: The entire Force species are this rather than being mindless Lovecraftian monsters, ranging from the obvious Life, Death and Elements to Karma, Seasons, Time and even Luck. Their children are referred to as Jr. Forces because they were created from fragments of their parents as insurance policies for the balance, in case the original Forces were ever killed.
 * Arranged Marriage: The hook and co-plot of the story.
 * Badass Family: You have Lady Life, L.J., The Sons of Love, and  all sharing the same family tree. Pure badass.
 * Big Screwed-Up Family: Where do we start?
 * L.J. is a self-loathing Consummate Liar and Chaotic Neutral Inadequate Inheritor.
 * Lady Life is a harsh mother who left her child when she was needed most, leaving L.J. to deal with her trauma and lead the Institute by herself.
 * The Three Sons of Love are a trio of Mr. Fanservice Tricksters, and complete Manipulative Bastards.
 * is a Spartan Sibling whose insecurity and power hunger turned her into an Eldritch Abomination.
 * Our Angels Are Different, indeed.
 * Blatant Lies: L.J., fairly often. Kira's learning fast, though.
 * Only half-true.
 * Blessed with Suck: Debatable for the "special" humans who attend the Institute. They are either A: being used as pawns for various Eldritch Abominations, or B: destined to do great things for mankind (either good or evil), have a lot of enemies after them, and the Institute is the only place they can be safe.
 * Many Godlings are also often Blessed with Suck, what with being kicked out of their home world by parents who only view them as backups or tools.
 * Cain and Abel and Seth: Rachel, L.J., and the Sons of Love play these roles respectively.
 * Calling the Old Man Out: L.J. and her mother do not get along.
 * They get on better than most Gods and their children, but her mother still feels L.J. is too wild and irresponsible to handle being the Guardian Angel, whereas L.J. feels confined and inadequate- not to mention pressured since she is the standing authority in the school while her mom is gone.
 * City of Adventure: Life Metropolis rivals Death City in this- Humanoid Abominations and Chosen Ones are aplenty, and they're all Weirdness Magnets.
 * The Clan: The Forces are a semi-relative example, as many of them are connected through mystical co-dependency (i.e. the Elements). They're more of their own race from their own world than a clan, but they do form a community in the physical realm.
 * : MAJOR SPOILERS.
 * Comedic Sociopathy: Leah and Damian:

""Are you still mad about us going to Spain behind your back? Look, I promise, next time we take a vacation we'll call you from the airport first.""
 * And then there's L.J. herself, at times.
 * Completely Missing the Point:

""You can't even legally drink at your own wedding? 'sucks.""
 * And:

"Kira: What's that? Joey: That would be the Uruk-Hai, fresh from Isengard.
 * Creating Life: Literally. As it turns out, L.J. [[spoiler: and Rachel have no father. They were created from fragments of
 * Curb Stomp Battle: When the "orange smoke" affects the males of the school, Kid completely beats down L.J. in hand-to-hand combat. Though to be fair, he was pumped up on testosterone and rage, and L.J. wasn't really fighting back.
 * Daddy Had a Good Reason For Abandoning You: Heavily debatable, even in-universe. While on one hand, the Gods' culture combined with Blue and Orange Morality makes Parental Abandonment acceptable. However, in Life's case,  How bad she feels about leaving in the context of their society is up for debate, and it's implied she was helping from behind the scenes... but it's all really ambiguous.
 * Dark and Troubled Past:
 * Did Not Do the Bloody Research: Averted. Though L.J. refers to a cop in chapter one as 'a plod' and  refers to soccor as football later in the story, the slang used is fairly ambiguous, and the term 'bloody' hardly pops up at all (mostly used by Adam). 'Arse' and 'ass' are interchangable and used equally among characters.
 * Adam's enthusiastic use of British slang is actually a parody of this trope.
 * Dynamic Entry: Kira appears as her true self just in time by morphing her arm into a missile launcher and blasting a huge skeletal mass.
 * Eldritch Location: All over the Gods' world, which exists beyond four-dimensional space.
 * Elemental Powers: Adam, Leah, Isaac and Mary are the respective children of the Elemental Forces Wind, Fire, Earth and Water. L.J.'s powers serve more as a battery for them, as she basically generates energy that sustains their abilities and existence. This, coupled with the balance, is basically why they can't be too far apart.
 * Embarrassing Nickname: L.J. has a habit of giving these to Kid. When she didn't remember Kid's name she referred to him as "Emo Boy" based on his wardrobe and OCD breakdowns, but now she sticks to "Reaper Punk/Boy" and "Stripes". It doesn't always end well.
 * Extranormal Institute: L.J.'s school is literally called this.
 * Fantastic Recruitment Drive: The Institute is made up of either young Godlings left in the physical world, or humans/weapons who have been "blessed" and are called 'Significant Individuals.' As the Guardian Angel is the Barrier Maiden, L.J. is the one who maintains responsibility over them.
 * Freudian Trio: L.J. (id), John (superego) and Damian (id) definitely count, as may Kid (Superego), L.J. (Ego) and Kira (Id). Yup, you read that right. You know things are gonna be wayside when Kid is the most rational one.
 * It's not that Kid isn't unstable, its just that when he's not having a breakdown, he's the one holding L.J. back. And Kira is well...Kira.
 * Gambit Roulette: Original Alien Superspy makes everything connected. Everything. There are no coincidences. At all. Even single, obscure sentences in early chapters will have some sort of connection to the ending.
 * Pfft. Amateurs!  are professionals. They knew the Big Bad's Evil Plan,   secrets, and the truth about   Somewhat justified, considering they are the oldest of all the demigods, but still...   They didn't   themselves because they knew that the others would, and it would work out better that way.
 * The Glorious War of Sisterly Rivalry: Arguably the origin of the main conflict.
 * Gone Horribly Right: L.J.'s mother wanted her to be more responsible and capable, even abandoning her to ensure this happened . L.J. develops, becoming strong enough to stand up to her mom (which is basically like a Greek demigod standing up to their parent, something that takes serious balls).
 * Hands-Off Parenting: Almost ALL the Gods to their fragments. The Fragments don't seem to mind much, but they do grow up rather detached. Most of the Gods seem to leave their fragments/children there to be used as pawns, and to influence the physical realm to their own ends (not unlike the Greek gods might do to their demigods). L.J. was more upset by the timing of her mother's disappearance than her actual absence.
 * This culture shapes the Guardian Angel's decision to leave L.J. to her own devices, trusting her to develop into an independent leader who doesn't need to rely on anyone else. It almost worked too well.
 * It Sucks to Be the Chosen One: ALL of the students of the Extranormal Institute. For good portion of them, the Institute is the only place they can be safe.
 * Lovecraft Lite: The Gods are all definitively from another universe, with only a few of the Eldritch Abomination (s) choosing to reside in the physical world.
 * Master of the Mixed Message: L.J. sometime has a hard time deciding how she feels about something, thus leaving almost everyone around her utterly confused.
 * Her mother is even worse. In a culture where Parental Abandonment is the norm, she keeps L.J. nearby and is overprotective. She also tries to keep  around after L.J. is chosen as successor. Then, right after , The Guardian Angel just up and leaves for her native dimension, sticking L.J. with her leadership responsibilities- while constantly bemoaning how unreliable her daughter is. Wow, Life. Just wow. Of course this likely part of some master plan of hers, but still.
 * Mr. Fanservice: L.J.'s cousins. Though this is justified since they are the sons of Love and thus give out an aura that attracts girls and simultaneously makes guys hate them. The only people their aura doesn't affect are family, girls who are either already in love or lesbian, and straight males who don't care about love enough to get jealous. Oh, and Keira.
 * Noodle Incident: L.J and her friends manage to pull off a hell o' lotta stuff that is only vaguely mentioned.
 * L.J.: Joey, for the last time, you can't have any plastic spoons! You know what happened last time!
 * This troper is very interested in the other lengths L.J.'s cousins went through to keep away potential dates.
 * And there's also the reason Death and Life hate each other so much,
 * Not So Different: Kid and L.J. Rachel and L.J. also have a lot more in common than one might think. This becomes a major plot point and theme of the story.
 * L.J. and her mother are extremely alike, especially in their pride and how they deal with emotion.
 * Ominous Fog: A recurring theme in the artwork and later chapters. According to Word of God, it has symbolic value.
 * Only a Flesh Wound: The Forces, when they get injured.
 * Order Versus Chaos: The main conflict of the story is not good vs evil, but this. The Forces/"Gods" are there to maintain the "Balance." But recently, it's been slipping, and although there are many different factors causing it, the main issue has been narrowed to an imbalance between Life and Death.
 * The strain of conflicting sides as been affecting the balance, but the straw that broke the camel's back turned out to be  caused the Arranged Marriage.
 * Parental Abandonment: Played with in regards to the Gods- a good deal of them aren't too attached to their fragments, even going as far as to send them to the physical realm as nothing more than pawns. Their relationship is once paralleled to that of the Greek Gods and the demigods- manipulative, with the fragments constantly having to manage their parent's whims and pride. It does occasionally work out, but if a Fragment is killed the Gods are more likely to seek vengeance for the insult rather than actual grief. The only reason L.J. had the pluck to stand up to her mom so boldly is because she was evolving past being just a demigod, having taken the responsibility of the Institute.
 * The Elementals barely mention and have very little attachment to their parents. L.J.'s relationship with her mom is actually much more positive, and it is later emphasized to not be mad at her mom for leaving, so much as leaving at the worst possible time.
 * Perfectly Arranged Marriage: While earlier chapters depict the arrangement with L.J. and Kid behaving awkwardly towards one another in thinly veiled tolerance, they do eventually come to a respectful understanding and have a companionable 'friendship' of sorts with the bickering notably reduced. They get Ten Minutes in the Closet and Kid eventually realizes that L.J. isn't quite what she seems, while L.J. acknowledges Kid as more mature and begins to respect him.
 * Physical God: The Forces, and the Jr. Forces (which are fragments of their parents, but eventually develop into this).
 * Power of Friendship:  L.J considers John and Damian her brothers, and says point-blank to him that she will forgive them no matter what they do, no matter how crazy, stupid, petty, or selfish. Which she does.
 * Red Oni, Blue Oni: L.J. and Kid are debatable for this, as they both can be either. However, L.J. is more consistantly rebellious, while Kid (when not having an OCD breakdown) is the more mature foil. L.J.'s sanzu lines are black and on the right side of her stomach (making the effect black-on-white), while Kid's are white and on his black hair; though L.J.'s main color is considered white or gold, and Kid's is black.
 * Religion of Evil:
 * Doubly so with.
 * Running Gag: In early chapters, L.J. couldn't remember Kid's name.
 * Also, it seems that after
 * Secret Test of Character: The Sons of Love do this to Mary, testing her loyalty to L.J..
 * They also did this to L.J., when Mike subtly provokes her to completely reject her mother
 * She Is Not My Girlfriend: Kid and L.J. claim this when referring to one another, but it's rather pointless.
 * Actually its just L.J. When Kira first gets a crush on Kid, he immediately lets her down easy by informing her he's engaged (something L.J. avoided doing until the last minute). L.J. then claims she wouldn't care if Kira did pursue a relationship with Kid, spawning the above quote.
 * Shout-Out: A few, though they tend to be pretty subtle. A more obvious one is when, in about chapter 3, Original Alien Superspy asked readers to guess where a certain quote was from-the first to be correct would get their own OC. The quote was from Final Fantasy Fugitive, and the result was Kira.
 * Also, during a soccer game Damian gives his team a rousing speech that sounds somewhat familiar.
 * This conversation between Joey and Kira:
 * Also, during a soccer game Damian gives his team a rousing speech that sounds somewhat familiar.
 * This conversation between Joey and Kira:

Kira: Who?

Joey: Ah, the enemy. That would be the enemy."


 * Take That: Original Alien also named  after Original Demigod's older sister.
 * Token Evil Teammate: You'll never guess who. And it is awesome.
 * Twitchy Eye: The default expression used to hang a lampshade on the insanity of the current situation.
 * Wham! Episode: Woo boy, chapters 10-12 are a doozy.
 * What If the Baby Is Like Me?: Life was Properly Paranoid in this. inherited her mother's Pride and temper, as well as her insecurity, leader to her psychotic breakdown. L.J. inherits the exact same traits, just with an extra dose of deadpan detachment.
 * What Kind of Lame Power Is Heart, Anyway?: Averted. While L.J.'s powers are more subtle than her elemental friends, she is very important to the balance. She generates energy that charges and sustains the elements (See Elemental Powers). Without her, the balance would slip. Also, even through L.J. is rather laid-back, she is a very capable fighter..
 * Wild Mass Guessing: Original Alien Superspy does a bit of this to make the story work, since Soul Eater is ongoing and not all things have been explained. However, she does manage to keep everything in the range of what is believable and what could possibly be canon. This troper finds herself hoping there will be a Life deity in the mainstream Soul Eater continuity.
 * Will They or Won't They?: You have no idea. L.J. and Kid start out barely tolerating one another and their conflicting personalities, and very slowly develop respect for one another through a series of events. This is very realistic in a sense, Kid being as he is and L.J. being his opposite.
 * The Wonderland/ World of Chaos: The God's dimension is this with an extra touch of Lovecraft-iness.