reposting at last! orz

[stencilled]

Title: Wish Upon a Wishing Stone
Pairing: Akame
Word count: 33.7K
Rating: PG-13
Genre/Warnings: Fluff/Humour/Angst
Notes: This fic was originally written for debrogliewave (♥) during the 2011 round of the kizuna_exchange, which I enjoyed thoroughly, and was beta-ed by krysyuy. ♥ (first posted here)

Summary: A single wish and memories of a broken bond insert themselves into the present, more tangible and annoying than ever.

Part One | Part Two | Part Three


Re-posting this at last! The reason why it took so long was because I intended to fix a few typos that I made when I was inputing my beta's edits. yes, I fail that much but that's not going to happen any time within the next few years so....... >.>

This was my first exchange fic and I remember fretting over whether I should join or not with Gaby (we were so intimidated :S) and I ended up participating in the end not only because of Gaby's magical persuasive powers, but because, despite me not being an adamant Akame shipper (I like Akame, but in the end it's just another one of the Kame pairings I ship), this plot bunny had been chewing at my mind for ages. I don't mean to sound pretentious, but I think when I was rapidly foraging and devouring any akame fics that came my way, I was looking for something similar to this story - something that would contrasts the past and the present and meld them together I just wanted chibi!akame to kick present!akame's ass, really, because chibi!akame rocks. For me, Akame's charm is all about the shared history but the past is the past and that was emphasized when things began to fast-forward in fandom last year. Above all, I think I was looking for a sense closure and that's what brought this fic into existence. I call this my closure fic. Kizuna_exchange was the perfect occasion for me to release the plot bunny once and for all.

Being new to this exchange business, I was so incredibly frazzled. I basically brought the stress down on myself when I waited until the last two weeks before the deadline to start writing. In all honesty, I thought the fic would be 5-10K long. After sitting down to write the intro bit which ended up being 5K itself, I realised I was screwed that was not going to happen. T__T Fast-forward to me procrastinating left and right and managing to write up 13K, not even the halfpoint of my fic yet, two days before the deadline. Cue: MASSIVE PANIC ATTACK. And then I realised that I had to get a beta. soon. because I had no idea what I was writing. Enter, Krys, the poor soul who got stuck with me shining beacon of hope and The Best Beta Ever ;__; *clings* *drowns in ♥* Seriously, she was just so wonderful and amazing, putting her real life plans on hold at sight of my teary emoji face on incredibly short notice I lie; there was no notice :S and literally spending the entire day editing my ramblings as I sent her the bits and pieces I wrote up. Please to be noting that Krys is allergic to akame and yet still offered to read through my cheesey fic even though it probably made her head throb. That is true dedication, I tell you. ILU, KRYS. ;o; ♥

I have never written so much and so fast in my life as I did on that day before the k_x deadline. I think I wrote around 10K in one sitting; all the words blurred together and my legs felt rubbery when I finally called it a night since I hadn't moved all day. :/ The next day, however, I discovered it was all for naught and wanted to shoot myself. Chatting with fandom friends and learning that half of them hadn't finished their fic yet... WHY DID NO ONE TELL ME IT WAS POSSIBLE TO ASK FOR AN EXTENSION?! T__T Being an exchange newbie, I didn't clue in to the fact that the posted deadline is really just there for show and the extension deadline is the real deadline. #brandnewinfo #really #cries #ImsorryKrys ;~;

And thus my mixed feelings about this fic. A breakdown:
Things I'm Proud Of:
> the intro and first 15K or so
> the idea behind the wishing stones (it came so suddenly and for that I am grateful *pets brain* #tictoc)
> how I blended the fantastical with reality (I didn't realise I could do that since I always focus on what's real when writing everything must follow logic!1!!)
> the angst (okay, this is mostly because I didn't even realise my fic had any major angst in the first place. I remember asking Krys if it was okay to label the fic as fluff/humour and Krys was like "....add in angst ^^;;" and in my head I was going but why? I figured it out when I read the comments. #whoops XD;;;;)
> the canon tidbits strewn all over the place (makes me feel like an evil mastermind :B)
> the character interactions (having two Kames and two Jins all talking to each other could have gotten extremely messy and is one of the main reasons why I hesitated writing this; I think it came out okay in the end - and by that I mean, no one was too confused >.>)

Things That Could Have Been Avoided If I Wasn't Such A Noob:
> the pacing. (everything became fast-paced near the end whereas the intro started off slow. the resolution could have been less abrupt)
> my writing in the last 15K or so (I like details and descriptions but I didn't have much time to linger on those. I feel like my writing sort of unravelled near the end)
> needs more Yamapi. (idk, I feel that Yamapi could have had a bigger role but there was no time Dx)
> too few scenes (I wanted to add so many things, especially near the ned; I think this fic could have reached 50K if I hadn't left it till the last minute. oh well /sighs)

I think there was more but I can't remember... :( Overall, I can say I really am proud of this fic. It could have been better, but the most important thing to me was that it made the readers feel I'm still sorry about the tears though :(. I received amazing feedback that made me gooey on the inside and whimpery on the outside and, like always, made me feel that entering the exchange was worth it. All the panic and stress and gnawing at Krys' delicate nerves. Totally worth it. ;__; ♥ /forever grateful and touched. (as a bonus, I received a beautiful piece in return, too, which was pretty awesome :'))

Also, after writing this fic, I did land at a closure of sorts. My akame fic addiction has since then simmered down and I don't feel lured by them anymore; I still visit akame when I'm in the mood, but mostly, I think I've gotten over them. My muse is free to wander elsewhere now that the akame bunny has stopped nipping at its heels. (I say this, but I still owe Matchy an akame fic for being the only person to guess my fic *rolls* and oh! that is another thing I have to be proud of - my ~ninja skillz~ B) Although, I must admit, as fun as it was to go completely anon for this xchange, it kind of sucked not to be able to comment on the other participants' fics -which were amazing and totally deserve lavish amounts of praise- in fear of being caught yes, I am hardcore about this ninja bzns. I briefly contemplated commenting on my own fic to throw everyone off but that was way too much embarrassment and awkwardness for even me to handle fhdsjdjks. Thus, I chose the silent route of the lurker and now I don't have the heart to go back and comment. ;__; #isuck #lazybutt #no1currs #forgiveme)

Comments

[krysyuy.livejournal.com]

I know I bitch and moan about AK (and am annoyingly passive aggressive about it - how do you put up with me again?), but truthfully, I absolutely adored your fic and wish I had your natural talent for writing. Just, the idea behind the wishing stones and having past!Akame interact with present!Akame was brilliant. Plus Josh got what was coming to him, which I will always fully support. HA. I must say chibi!Akame was perhaps my favorite part of the fic. I didn't read the other entries in the exchange, but I have no doubt that your piece was among the best there, and I know AK fandom has a quite a bit of talent (~forever jealous~).

because I didn't even realise my fic had any major angst in the first place.
You're cute.

Also, it was my pleasure to help out and I'd gladly do it again if the need arises. It was actually quite a treat to get each piece, even though I know you were stressed out to the extreme. Btw, I still remember thinking that Ryoko needing thread at the end of the prologue-ish beginning was brilliant because of the red string of fate thing. And then you said that wasn't intentional? lol I forget if you just had thread or if you added red thread afterward. Either way... ~Fate~ ahaha

♥ you lots. ヽ( ゜ 3゜)ノ -hugs!-

[scorch66.livejournal.com]

I am making a face at the last bit of your first sentence. an ugly wth face. :| #tsking And I don't mind your complaining at all, bb ♥ At the moment, the only akame I can handle is the chibi version so it's all good I moan about them in my mind when it gets too much lol. hdskjk I remember your glee at the Josh abuse XD I can't believe that was the seed that started this entire fic. Josh was my muse. #dies fhjdsk sputters YOU'RE NOT ALLOWED TO TURN THE FLATTERY AROUND ON ME. THIS IS A KRYS APPRECIATION POST. FOLLOW THE RULES, EEYORE. LOVE YOURSELF :| ♥♥♥ #ilu

It was kinda hilarious how, when I reread the fic afterwards, I was wincing and going aaaaah! I can't believe I went there. it huuuuurts I don't know the power of my own angst and to think this was the happier plot I conjured for k_x XD

Really now~? are you suuuuure? :B #50kAkamecomingyourway :B dhsjk I was probably stressing you out to the extreme too, what with my random tense changes and gazillion typos. ilu ♥ AH! I remember this! I originally had green thread and you were like, 'i see what you did thurr. don't want to be too obvious with the red, huh? B)' and I went '.......O.O! red thread of fate it is! *cuddles your brilliant mind*' #goodtimes

Right back at ya~ ♥ ^__~\m/

[singlehappiness.livejournal.com]

sjdlkfl I honestly don't think I can tell you any more than I already have how much I ADORE this fic, but yes, just. Yeah. In my eyes you have every single damn right to be proud of it (and I'm really sorry this is like the first post I'm commenting on in ages... sjkldjas GOD HOW AWFUL DOES THAT LOOK I'm sorry; it was the first thing I saw on my fpage when I clicked a few seconds ago ;_;) - basically, just everything I already told you in my massively obnoxious tl;dr comment. I'm almost selfishly sorry that it gave you closure for Akame (in a sort of admiring way, because... god knows how much strife Akame has given me over the years, and the ridiculousness somehow just never leaves) only because I'm pretty much stuck on them for good, but I still will just love that I can come back to this any time I want and feel everything.

Kudos to both you and your beta. This was fantastic, and probably will remain one of my favorite pieces in fandom, and I've read... quite a lot. And that's all I have left to say. ♥

[scorch66.livejournal.com]

I agree; you really can't unless you want me to combust or smth hfdskjk too much spoiling from you, missy ♥♥ It's the kind of pride where I was horrified to write this in the beginning because I didn't want to ruin my ideal akame fic plot (I was waiting to dump this as a prompt on a skilled writer hdjk)but afterwards, I looked at it and thought: it's still not exactly what I was envisioning, but it's close enough. :') (hfdskjfhsdjk SO NOT YOUR FAULT, JENFACE D: D: it's my fault for disabling comments on personal posts ^^;;; you had no other choice other than hunting me down at k_k again xD ♥) Your massively obnoxious tl'dr comment is my favourite, so. ♥ For me, I was drawn into Akame through fics written by a kpop fan (the irony lol) and at that point, I had no clue who Kame and Jin were. I knew them as characters before I knew them as people. And when I got to know them as people, it was magical in the beginning, but then things happened and the bubble popped. This fic was there to mop up the mess for me. I love the idea of it being there for you too, helping to soften fandom woes. ♥

Thank you so much for everything, lovely ;~; ♥

[janajanc.livejournal.com]

I'm so happy you posted this entry 'cause I can tell you I still love it so much and it's one of the best Akame fic I've ever read. Even though I learned about Josh and Jin's friends from your story and that was kind of Akame end for me, too. Except their happy times and chibi versions! :) Actually, there is more. A week ago I caught myself re-telling this story to my friend who doesn't know much about Akame or Jin or Kame. I didn't know where to start regarding their complicated history so I went with your fic adding a bit of reality and it worked really great. After that, there was even more. I had to re-read it on 8th November when Jin's US debut single was released thinking about if he remembered the day he had entered Johnny's 13 years ago and if it briought back any memories of his dreams and expectations he had back then comparing to his latest achievements. So, maybe your story is more real than it seems to be :)

[scorch66.livejournal.com]

How can a comment be so sweet and touching. srsly. hdkjsk ;~; ♥ ♥ ♥ Ack, now I feel slightly guilty about exposing you to Josh in a bad light (ngl though, nothing I've read or seen from him is favourable imo) and inadvertently popping your Akame bubble. :S Sorry :( I'm glad you can still enjoy them though! The happy chibi times are all I can digest atm, too. ...Wow, I can't tell you how amazing that is to hear. ;o; I love how this fic, which helped me with my akame closure, is managing to help other fans in different ways. I admit that my impression of Real Jin is more cynical compared to how I write Fic Jin (I write him the way I want to see him, not how I actually see him) but I really did try to make it as real as I could, all the pent up emotions at least, by putting myself in Jin's bright neon shoes. And I'm really happy to see that came through. Thank you so much! ♥