On Strange Wings & At Fate's Hands

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

No, that's not the fanfic's name. This is actually a series of BlazBlue fanfics that are split in two stories, the first is called On Strange Wings, the second called At Fate's Hands. The second one is a direct sequel of the first. Authored by Velvien.

On Strange Wings is basically a What If for BlazBlue: Continuum Shift... what if Tsubaki Yayoi bumped into Ragna the Bloodedge during her orders to assassinate Noel and Jin? What sprawls out from there is an alternative take of BlazBlue whereupon Tsubaki became more entangled to Ragna's life, splitting from the NOL and making peace with Noel rather than being out to kill her. This had a consequence, though... Instead of preying on her, Terumi preyed on Jin instead for his Mind Rape target, forcing him to stay with with NOL and staying a Heel. But overall, with some minor changes (aside of Tsubaki's things), some important storylines were played out like normal (like Litchi's eventual Face Heel Turn, although she's kind enough to send an apology to Linhua via Tager rather than being so abrupt).

At Fate's Hands is a direct continuation whereas everyone is heading for Ikaruga... and one thing for sure, the heroes want to bring the NOL, or whatever is corrupting it, Terumi and Relius, down. However, these two most likely would have backup plans. Throw in some Original Generation characters (Tsubaki's father Gesshoku, Tenjou's son Tenshin) and the stage is set.

Everyone is in character, no Ron the Death Eater or Draco in Leather Pants treatment for those who don't deserve it, the supposedly 'villainous' characters aside of those two Complete Monster receive very sympathetic treatment (Of course Litchi, but also even Gesshoku who came off as a Reasonable Authority Figure instead of a Knight Templar Parent... and even Jin despite his complication of staying a villain after On Strange Wings) and the overall writing style is just fluid without ruining the canon very much. Really, give it a shot. It is on the Fanfic Recommendations page for a reason.

The following tropes are common to many or all entries in the On Strange Wings & At Fate's Hands franchise.
For tropes specific to individual installments, visit their respective work pages.
  • Anti-Villain: Every NOL member not named Terumi and Relius ( or perhaps Belioz).
  • Berserk Button: Don't insult and/or hurt Tsubaki unless you want Ragna to kill you right there. And Jin'll still cut you to ribbons too. That goes for both of him.
  • Derailing Love Interests: Jin gets an odd form of this, absorbing a Mind Rape that flanderizes him down to his brother obsession - and then a whole subplot dedicated to snapping out of it. It's clear that his ties to Tsubaki have been pretty much ripped out of his mind though.
    • Although it should be noted this happens after Ragna and Tsubaki get together
  • For Great Justice: Tsubaki, naturally. Providing her main reason for fighting against the Librarium
  • Oblivious to Love: Ragna either cannot or will not put two and two together about Rachel's behavior.
  • Original Generation: Starting from At Fate's Hands, some Original characters are introduced.
  • Real Men Wear Pink: Ragna's cooking hobby receives quite a bit of attention.
  • The Worf Effect: Rachel tries her hand at directly challenging the major threats in both stories and has yet to win (though she does go out in style).
Tropes used in On Strange Wings & At Fate's Hands include:

Tropes associated with On Strange Wings

Hazama: Why don't you tell her who you really are, and how you failed her?

  • Big Damn Heroes: Jin and Valkenhayn at the end of chapter 5
  • Break the Game Breaker: Ragna is something of a mess without his sword. His attacks backfire magnificently, leading to him losing to Bang.
  • Cerebus Syndrome: For about two and a half chapters, the tone is largely comedic. And then Jin steps into the picture.
  • Despair Event Horizon: Tsubaki nearly crosses this at the end of chapter 5 after failing to drag a half-dead Ragna out of the Librarium after losing to Hazama.
  • Everyone Can See It: This is actually one of the recurring reader complaints - some reviewers note that characters are remarking on relationship developments that don't seem to have actually taken place at that point in the story.
  • Fighting From the Inside: You just don't brainwash Jin and expect him to take it. Too bad he can't fight off Hazama long enough to become a Spanner in the Works.
  • Flat What: Bang manages to get this response about three times in less than a minute
  • For Want of a Nail: Nope, subverted. Terumi predicted this, too. Hence driving Jin Brainwashed and Crazy in Tsubaki's stead.
    • This is carried over to the sequel: Thanks to Tsubaki's actions, it's inferred that the formerly rebellious House Mutsuki becomes more obedient and pulls a Face Heel Turn.
  • Ham-to-Ham Combat: Tsubaki and Hazama during their fight.
  • Heel Face Turn: Tsubaki
  • Heroes Want Redheads: Kinda the premise.
  • Idiot Ball: Ragna decides it's a good idea to slam his sword point-first into the street while talking to someone doing her best to annoy him. Naturally, it leads to Luna stealing Blood-Scythe.
  • Punctuated Pounding / This Is Sparta: “This is for Tsubaki. For Noel. For Nu. For every! God! Damn! Person! You've! Ever! Screwed! With! You! God! DAMN! BASTARD!”
  • Shut Up, Kirk: Hazama really isn't impressed by Tsubaki's justice speech at all.
  • The Scrappy: In Universe, Platinum did not have many fans after she stole Bloodscythe when Ragna was dazed. Funny at the time, yes, but it costs DEAR when the chips are down.
  • Too Fast to Stop: Ragna when Platinum steals Bloodscythe. He crashes head long into a wall when attempting Gauntlet Hades.
  • Unresolved Sexual Tension: Once things get going, this happens an awful lot (however, it's Tsubaki so it's lighter than M-rated stuff.) It's done more or less expressly to tease the ship in a very effective manner.
  • What If: Some unexpected encounters can create so much
  • What Happened to the Mouse?: Every Blazblue character made an appearance...except Carl Clover.
    • Word of God: Carl almost made it into chapters 7 and 8, but the idea was nixed as his presence felt too forced.
    • For that matter, lifelink or no how did Hazama get up from having a Power Nullifier sword stabbed through him into the ground?
  • Worf Had the Flu: Ragna puts up some pretty poor fights, but losing his sword and later his arm played a huge part.
Tropes used in On Strange Wings & At Fate's Hands include:

Tropes associated with At Fate's Hands

Tsubaki: "Sir Hakumen. I appreciate your concern for my well-being, but I must ask...why do you seem to know me?"

  • Battle Couple: Ragna and Tsubaki display much more of this than in the first story, even managing to team up to beat Phantom without recourse to the Azure Grimoire.
  • Big Badass Battle Sequence: The main cast and the people of Ikaruga versus an army of Brainwashed and Crazy NOL soldiers.
  • Body Count Competition: Ragna attempts to hold one of these with Tsubaki. She's not having any of it.
  • Call Back: In chapter 2 of On Strange Wings, Tsubaki says she'll talk to her father about the Kaka clan's plight. Cut to chapter 11 of At Fate's Hands when she and Ragna finally meet with Gesshoku...
  • Five-Man Band: Forming a little differently from canon and intentionally or not heavier on the girl power:
  • Heroic BSOD: Averted. One would expect that Bang wouldn't take Litchi being in NOL very well... instead, he tried asking without breaking down and starts to understand her plight while keeping his spirit of justice. Even if Tenshin somehow doesn't approve (at first).
  • Indy Ploy: Oh, Makoto. Her inability to remember who can do what derails her actual plans, so she's constantly forced to make things up as she goes along. So far she's bluffed Terumi into a stalemate and exposed the NOL's plans on national television while referring to herself as Secret Agent Stripper Squirrel.
  • Mood Whiplash: Chapter 8 begins with Taokaka shenanigans...before switching to Nu absolutely curbstomping Hakumen and Noel
  • My God, What Have I Done?: It takes the destruction of Yabiko to make Litchi finally realize she's being gullible to accept Hazama's offer. Unfortunately for her, at that point, she can't just quit unless she wants to get Brainwashed.
  • Retcon: At Fate's Hand is started before CS Extend is released. However, as of canon, House Mutsuki is actually rebellious towards NOL, while in here, they're loyal and the only known member so far, Belioz, is thus far confirmed as a possible villain. The fic's sticking for the latter.
  • Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Ragna after Tsubaki falls into the underbelly of Naobi due to Carl
    • What the Hell, Hero?: He's called out for losing Tsubaki, going insane against a defenseless Carl who's begging for life, and beginning to turn into the Black Beast due to anger. Given the source, it also qualifies as Irony.
  • Running Gag: A small one, but Taokaka multiplies the number of meat buns Ragna owes her by ten every time she thinks about them.
  • Snark-to-Snark Combat: Rachel vs. Terumi, when the former attacks Nu-13 on her own.
  • Shout-Out: Relius quotes Faust, the original Devil Dealer.
  • The Bus Came Back: Carl has come back from his absence in OSW. He now has a fairly significant role in the plot.
  • The Obi-Wan: Why hello there, valley girl Nu.
  • Tragic Monster: And then Ragna was the Black Beast. Valkenhayn and Nu got him better.
  • The Trickster: Makoto at points
  • Understatement: Rachel's reaction to hearing that Ragna and Tsubaki were ambushed by Phantom? "Somewhat problematic, I'd imagine."
  • Wham! Episode: Chapter 13. Tsubaki falling into the depths of Naobi after a fight with Carl. Cue Ragna's Roaring Rampage of Revenge
  • Who Wants to Live Forever?: Rachel briefly touches on this in an early conversation with Hakumen.
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