Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“It’s all real…everything is real…”

Cid Kagenou still felt surreal, after finding out yesterday that everything he made up…no, everything he thought he made up…was real.

Real…real…real…

Cid had trained for countless scenarios. He had trained to drown dramatically like a mob. To be killed tragically like a well-intentioned mob. To run in terror from the villain like a mob. But he never trained for a scenario like this…

“Doesn’t this mean…I’ve become an actual Power in the Shadows?! No…” Cid forced himself to slow down with deep, calming breaths and replay every memory he had. The memories he had ever since he had saved Alpha.

“So, all along, I was already a Power in the Shadows…?”

That revelation hit him with the force of a thousand ‘I Am Atomic’ attacks.

“WHAAAAAAAAT?! How did I not notice?! How dumb can I be?!” Cid howled to himself, thrashing and rolling all over his bed in the empty school dorms in classic anime-style. Because, for all his lack of awareness, he was aware that he might actually possibly be an anime character.

[Insert SpongeBob Narrator: Ten Minutes Later…]

Cid flopped down onto his bed, sighing and panting from his tantrum.

“Amazing…I’ve always been confident of what I wanted to do and how to get there…but learning that I just wasted so many years of my life working for something I already was…for the first time, I’m at an utter loss. What should I do from here…?”

Then, his eyes widened. Why? Because like every Main Character, they get a ‘Eureka!’ brainwave just when they say “What should I do from here…?”

“So, the Cult of Diablos is real, huh?” Cid’s eyes narrowed sharply, and even though he wasn’t aware of it, his eyes had turned blood-red from his near-limitless pool of magic power flaring up from barely suppressed rage.

It was the Cult who had kidnapped Claire, his sister. It was the Cult who had experimented on his girls: Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, Epsilon, Zeta, Eta, Nu…and they had tried to do the same to Alexia. They had tried to harm Sherry and Rose. They were the ones who left Aurora with nothing but loneliness and a scornful reputation throughout the ages.

Cid’s face twisted into a grin that he reserved only in his Shadow persona for the likes of the bastards he was most enraged with; like the knights who tortured him. Lutheran Barnett. And Perv Asshat. All this time, Cid had been living out his fantasies, being blissfully unaware of everything that was going on. Blissfully thinking that everything was fake. Except, now that it was all real…

“Looks like I won’t be holding back any longer.” Cid’s uniform was soon covered by a swirling mass of jet-black slime that materialized into his trademark black robes.

The first thing that Cid did was to visit the library. He seriously needed to brush up on his ancient language reading and writing skills. Fortunately, Cid was smart enough when he was passionate and committed enough, and if learning ancient language was going to help him solidify his role as the Power in the Shadows, why not?!

The next thing he did involved entering Shadow Garden’s HQ…wait…WHERE WAS THE HQ?!

Ahem…never mind. Cid managed to bump into Nu and ask her about HQ’s whereabouts. Under the guise of a question.

“Let me ask you a question, Nu.”

“Y-y-yes, Shadow-sama!”

“…”

“…”

“…do you know where Shadow Garden’s HQ is located?”

“…Huh?”

In any case, Nu managed to give the full address to Shadow. Now, on with his plan…

Alpha was doing what she did on a usual sunny Tuesday afternoon…managing Shadow Garden’s operations by doing paperwork in her office. The rest of the Seven Shadows were under strict orders not to disturb her when the ‘Do Not Disturb’ Sign was hung on her door, under pain of death. And her Master was never around. So when she sensed the presence of an intruder, she did what any sensible Shadow Garden member would do.

Turn around in a split second and decapitate them.

Only, her sword was caught between two fingers.

“Superb reflexes. You’ve really outdone my expectations.”

“S-s-shadow-sama!” Alpha blushed and made to bow, but was quickly caught by Cid.

“No need for formalities. Anyway, Alpha, I’m here because I need you to do something.”

Alpha straightened and fixed her usual calm, stoic face towards Shadow.

“I need you…to take a break.”

“…Huh?”

Hehe, I love catching them off guard with statements like that. They’re really cute! Cid thought to himself.

"I mean it. Take a break. You’ve been working too much. If you keep up like this, you will burn out.”

“I…I appreciate it, Shadow-sama, but…”

“Leave your reports to me. I will go through them. I can’t have one of my closest followers doing all the work for me now, can I?”

Cid gave what he thought was a winsome smile to her. Damn it, I can’t smile properly!

But nevertheless, it seemed to have worked. Alpha’s eyes practically shone as she stared at Shadow, transfixed, until she gave a watery smile.

“Okay. As you command.”

As she prepared to take her leave, Cid, who had taken his place down at her desk, left her with one more message: “By the way, Alpha…when no one else is around, you can call me Cid.”

Another small gasp escaped Alpha’s lips, before she smiled again. “Alright…Cid.”

Five Minutes Later…

“He touched me…He actually touched me…” Alpha’s mind was in a frenzy, replaying the memories of how he had laid hands on her when he was stopping her from kneeling.

“I felt his hands on me…” Alpha’s face was flushed crimson. At the back of her mind, she was anxious that she might overheat from the thought.

“A-alpha-sama, are you alright?” Beta asked, concerned.

“This isn’t like you.” Gamma chimed in.

“I-i-it’s n-n-nothing…” Alpha said, taking deep breaths to calm herself down. Audible deep breaths. Beta and Gamma looked at one another quizzically, before looking back at Alpha. They reached the same conclusion.

“Alpha-sama looks like she’s in love. Doesn’t that mean…”

Beta and Gamma gasped loudly in unison.

“ALPHA-SAMA! WHAT HAPPENED BETWEEN YOU & SHADOW-SAMA?!”

“NO FAIR!”

Meanwhile, Cid somehow managed to resolve every single last piece of paperwork on Alpha’s desk. Letting out a deep sigh, he leaned back against the chair.

“So tired…Have no idea how Alpha manages to keep doing this everyday…Hope she’s resting well.”

The next thing Cid did was to approach Alexia. She had no idea that he was Shadow, nor did she have any intention of joining Shadow Garden. But his mob senses were telling him that she would be important to the story, and his Eminence in Shadow senses were telling him that she would be a valuable ally.

“This is surprising. You’ve never approached me like this ever since you rejected my advances. What’s up? You broke and want some money?”

“Nah. Just wanted to check on you. But if you don’t want to I can leave anytime.” Cid made a motion to turn around and walk away.

“Wait!” Alexia cursed herself. Damn it, what was it about him that made her so weak-willed before him?

“What…did you want to catch up on?”

Cid sighed inwardly. After realizing that the Cult of Diablos was real, and that Shadow Garden was a real NGO superpower, he paid far more attention to what was going on around him. It had been a massive headache to him to learn that most of the females he had some sort of relationship with were head-over-heels in love with him. Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta and Epsilon to Alexia, Rose Oriana and Sherry Barnett. And now, he was receiving visual confirmation that Alexia definitely was in love with him.

It wasn’t that he was against the idea of pursuing romantic relationships with them. In the past, he’d focused solely on his goal on being the Eminence in Shadow, swearing off romance as a hindrance. But now that he already was, he’d be lying if he said that he wasn’t considering starting a harem. Hmm, that could be his next goal. The Harem King. But that goal seemed too far off to be pursued realistically, and Cid honestly wanted to keep his freedom to play the role of the Eminence in Shadow for longer before he got monopolized by girls.

And in any case, the Cult of Diablos was still out there. As long as they were around, his girls were in danger. And Cid absolutely would not let that stand.

“How your swordmanship coming along?”

“It’s…better. I’m improving, I guess.”

“We can train sometime if you want.”

“Fine by me.”

A long silence followed. Followed by…

“What do you think of Shadow Garden?”

“Huh?”

“They’re the organization that everyone in the city has been talking about. How they’re outlaws in the country. What do you think about them, honestly?”

Alexia narrowed her eyes at him.

“And what do you think?”

“Hmm…” Cid looked bored and indifferent as he gazed up into the sky.

“Personally, I think that if they were truly bad guys, then the kingdom would have fallen a long time ago.”

“What do you mean?”

“You were there at the Goddess Trials, weren’t you? Shadow managed to defeat Aurora, the Witch of Calamity who destroyed the world, and yet with all that power, both the Midgar and Oriana kingdoms have been relatively unharmed. And so what if they’re outlaws? They’ve been far more effective at fighting the Cult than the Crimson Order of Knights haven’t they?”

Alexia opened her mouth to refute Cid’s subtle insult at the Crimson Order of Knights, but soon closed it. He was right.

“You think they can be trusted?”

“…they’re an independent organization, so they will definitely be against working with the kingdom. They don’t want to be tied down by the kingdom’s laws and regulations. But if you are thinking of working with them independently…”

Alexia gasped, staring at Cid. He was still staring nonchalantly at the cloudless sky, but it didn’t lessen Alexia’s shock. How did he know that she was thinking about approaching Shadow Garden for help on her own?

Smiling, Cid waved and bid farewell, leaving Alexia to her own swirling and roiling emotions. 

Meanwhile...

"Phew! I was worried that Shadow-sama was going to court Alexia Midgar again, but it turns out I was worried for nothing!" Beta said, heaving a huge sigh of relief. 

"Actually, Princess Alexia isn't that bad once you get to know her. She actually truly loves Shadow-sama, I can respect her for that. Still nothing compared to a silver-haired, blue-eyed elf with a mole under her left lip!" 

Beta haruumphed smugly until she froze.

"Hang on...was Shadow-sama...inviting her to Shadow Garden?!?!" 

"Oh no...why did it have to be her? Why is Shadow-sama doing this? Is it because he loves her and trusts her more than us? What do I do???" 

"You were listening?" 

Beta gasped, to see Cid standing behind her. 

"Shadow-sama...I-I-I'm terribly sorry for listening! It's just..." Beta trailed off as she felt a warm hand on her head. 

"Don't worry." Cid caressed her silver tresses. They were surprisingly soft and comfortable. 

"I put that option to Alexia because she might be a valuable ally. However, you're a valuable member of Shadow Garden, Beta. If she ever joins, I'm counting on you to show her the ropes." 

Beta gasped, her eyes filling up with tears of joy. As Cid removed her hand, she lifted her head to look at him, and was surprised to see that he was smiling. 

He had never smiled at her before, so gently. 

Beta felt like her nose might explode. Thankfully, instead, she bowed deeply. 

"Understood, Shadow-sama! I'll do my utmost!"

My, my. If I'd known that Beta was going to be this adorable, I'd have done this to her a long time ago. 

Chapter Text

Ever since Cid Kageno discovered that everything he'd thought he made up about the Cult of Diablos was real, and that he was the Power in the Shadows that he'd craved to be for so long, Cid was struck with a renewed sense of purpose. He decided to pay more attention to his surroundings, and discovered many things about the world he lived in.

1. The Cult of Diablos was manipulating the peoples into thinking that Shadow Garden were the enemies and that the Cult didn't exist. 

2. The Cult controlled the church, poisoning the minds of the people into thinking that Possessed girls were cursed by the Gods. 

3. There seemed to be another Power in the Shadows, the mastermind behind the Cult. Cid marvelled at how similar the Cult's experiments on the possessed were to genetic experimentation in his world, and how the members of the Cult were named after Arthurian folklore. Cid narrowed his eyes. Was it all just a coincidence, or...was the mastermind an otherworlder like him? 

Cid grinned maniacally, a grin that could've curdled the dark blood of Cthulhu himself. Another Power in the Shadows? How exciting! Our battle shall be legendary! 

But before that, he'd need to tie up some loose ends...

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Akane Nishino had never thought she would end up in another world, a world where Magic itself was a normal, daily occurrence. She didn't know whether to feel relieved or betrayed when Natsume, the girl she had been so worried over, had turned out to be an extremely powerful elf girl who was part of a secret organization called Shadow Garden. 

Still, Beta had been rather friendly to her. She had made sure she was well-fed and well-clothed, and hadn't batted an eye when Akane spilled all her hidden guilt and shame over killing so many people. Instead, she had nodded sympathetically and given her a watery smile. 

"It's been very difficult on you, having to bear the shame of something you couldn't control." 

Beta had introduced Akane to the other top-ranking members of Shadow Garden: Alpha, Gamma, Delta, Epsilon and Zeta. (They had wisely chosen to leave Eta out.) They had all been very gracious to her, but Akane was still a bit unnerved that they were all so fascinated with her and kept on hounding her with questions on the other world. 

She was in the middle of sweatdropping profusely when she noticed Gamma push a platter of strangely familiar brown-coloured sweets to her. 

"Eat this. It's really good." Gamma said, smiling at her. 

Akane stared at it. She picked one up and sniffed it, and her eyes widened in shock. 

"Isn't this...chocolate?" 

The Shades all froze. 

"Uh...did I say something wrong?" 

"Nishino-san...how did you know this was called chocolate?" Alpha asked her coolly. 

Akane squirmed under Alpha's piercing gaze. She didn't need to see her in action to know that Alpha was far, far stronger than her, and could crush her like a bug. 

"Um...it's a very common candy in my world?" Akane asked with an uneasy smile, before remembering, 'Wait a sec, this is an isekai! Chocolate may be a recent invention here to otherworlders! Oh no, I forgot!'

The look of the Shades' faces could only be described as thunderstruck. 

"That's impossible no-desu!" Delta, ever the hot-headed musclehead, stood up and pointed a finger at Akane. "These chocolates were invented by Boss nano-desu! You're a liar nano-desu!" 

"W-w-what?! No, I'm not-" 

"Delta, that's enough." Alpha said in her most no-nonsense voice. 

"Yikes! I'm so sorry nano-desu!" Delta jumped and apologized at once. Akane gaped at how quickly Delta changed from aggressive to submissive, and her awe at Alpha soared. 

"However, what she says is true. The method of making chocolates was told to me by our Master, Shadow-sama." Gamma said, frowning at Akane. 

"Shadow-sama? Wait, by any chance, are you referring to Kageno-kun?" 

That was the third bombshell she had dropped, and the biggest one yet.

Beta stood up. "H-how do you know Shadow-sama's name?" 

Akane blinked. "He never told you? He was from my world." 

The entire room was so silent that you could hear a pin drop.

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH??????!!!!!!" 

Miles away, one Cid Kageno sneezed. "Why do I feel like I'm being exposed?" 

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Ignoring the feeling, Cid continued walking leisurely until he reached his destination. The academy where Sherry Barnett was now studying at. Cid felt his heart pound just that little bit faster. He didn't like doing this, but perhaps it was time for Sherry to face the truth. 

"N-n-no..." 

Sherry could only look on in shock that Cid, her last beacon of light in this world, revealed himself to be her father's murderer. 

A cape blacker than night and more ominous than shadows. Eyes that gleamed red like blood-red rubies. Sherry wanted to reject it with all her heart, but Cid WAS Shadow. 

"Well? Aren't you going to rage at me? Demand that I reveal why I killed your father?" Cid asked calmly, gently. 

Sherry's eyes hid under her bangs, before she whispered in barely suppressed rage and horror. "Why?" 

Cid didn't answer immediately. He knew that an outburst was imminent.

"WHY DID YOU LIE TO ME? WHY DID YOU HELP ME? WHY DID YOU KILL MY FATHER?! MY ONLY FAMILY!" 

Sherry launched herself into Cid, punching him with every ounce of strength she had. 

"WHY?! WHY?! YOU MONSTER! WHY?!" 

Her small fists stung from hitting Cid's rock-hard abs, but she didn't care. 

The punching and kicking went on until Sherry collapsed onto her knees, sobbing into Cid's torso. 

"Why?! Why...?! Have you come to kill me also?" 

"If I wanted to kill you, then I would've let all those Diablos Cult members kill you in the Academy." 

"Huh?" She looked up at him despite herself, confused. 

"Did you honestly think that you wouldn't go unnoticed in those flip-flops you were wearing? Did you honestly think all those noises you heard were your imagination?" 

"What? But..." Sherry's eyes widened in realization. "It was you. You got rid of them!" 

"Finally realized it, huh? Man, you have even less stealth than Gamma..." He muttered that last bit. 

"Anyways...I killed your father because he was part of the Cult of Diablos. And he was the one who murdered your mother." 

"WHAT?! No...no, that's impossible, you're lying!" 

"Am I? Think, Sherry. You never saw your mother's murderer, but how was it that coincidentally, Lutheran Barnett decided to approach you and adopt you as his own? And how was it that when the Academy was being taken over, your father was nowhere to be found? He's the Vice Principal; any terrorist organization would want to bargain with him. How is it that when the armored figure on stage fled and vanished, you found your father?" 

"No! No, it can't be true, it just can't be..." Sherry clutched her head and tore at her hair, shaking her head wildly. 

Cid sighed. 

"I know it's painful for you to hear. Which is why I didn't tell you the kind of person your father was after he died. But you can't keep living under this lie." 

I also don't want to face you as an enemy, either. 

"Lie...it was all a lie...my entire life has been a lie..." Cid knelt down and held Sherry close as she sobbed into his shoulder, clutching him tightly. 

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"Oi, you. I want to talk to you privately." 

Alexia Midgar, princess of the Midgar Kingdom, said curtly to the silver-haired elf across the room. 

"My, my, if it isn't Alexia-sama. What brings you here?" 

Natsume's smile didn't waver when Alexia drew her sword and pointed it at her. 

"Don't fool around with me. You're a member of Shadow Garden, aren't you?" 

The two stayed that way for a while, with Alexia continuing to glare at Natsume whilst leveling her sword at her neck, while Natsume seemed blissfully unaware that she was in mortal danger. 

"May I ask how you came to this conclusion?" 

Natsume's eyes were now open, fixing Alexia with a piercing, challenging, smug gaze. 

"I've suspected it ever since the Goddess Trials. You weren't scared or surprised when Shadow Garden arrived. You were supportive of Shadow when he fought against Aurora, the Witch of Calamity. You never expressed shock or surprise at all the startling discoveries in the Sanctuary and afterwards. And you're clearly not the dignified rookie author you claim to be, don't try to deny it." 

Beta chuckled. 

"Ah, so you finally noticed it, huh. I was wondering how long it would take for you to finally put those pieces together in your thick skull. Truly..."

She gingerly moved Alexia's sword away from her neck as black slime surrounded her usual white dress. Alexia didn't show it, but she was shocked from how much strength that simple gesture of moving her sword away with a finger had. 

"I'm Beta, one of the Seven Shades." Beta revealed herself in all her Shadow Garden glory, taking off her spectacles. 

"So you're indeed one of the members of Shadow Garden..." Alexia gritted her teeth. "Beta...which means you're just directly under Alpha, right?"

"That's right. Surely you didn't come all the way here to expose me, did you? Unless you actually thought you could defeat me?" 

Alexia ground her teeth. She hated to admit it, but she knew she was no match for her at her current level. Especially considering she was just second to Alpha and Shadow himself. 

"No, I didn't. Since you're indeed a Shadow Garden member...this makes things much simpler." 

"I...I want to..."

"You want to...?" Beta continued smiling serenely as though it were a another Saturday morning. 

"I want to join Shadow Garden!" 

"Oh?" 

"I want to get stronger! I want to know what's going on! I want to help! I don't want to lose what's precious to me to the Cult! So...Please! Let me join Shadow Garden! Train me to be stronger!" Alexia bowed her head, throwing aside all her pride to beg Beta, the person she greatly disliked. 

There was a long silence. Alexia gulped, her anxiety spiking. What if they rejected her?

"Y'know, Princess Alexia, I never liked you. If you had asked me this months before, I would've rejected you and silenced you straight away." 

"But..."

"Our Master seems to consider you a valuable ally. And for all your faults, you do sincerely and deeply love him. Perhaps, no less than I do." 

Him? Who is she talking about? 

"Very well."

"Huh?"

Alexia looked up at her in surprise.

"Welcome to Shadow Garden, Princess Alexia Midgar, otherwise No. 668." 

.

.

.

"Our training will be extremely tough, though. It will make your Spellsword training at the Academy look like child's play." 

"Understood." Alexia said, dressed in her new Shadow Garden slime suit. She couldn't help the grin sliding onto her face. She was finally a Shadow Garden member! And if that wasn't cool enough, the jet-black slime suit with golden accents made her look beautiful and feel beautiful. 

Suddenly, she remembered something. 

"Uh...Natsu-I mean, Beta-sama..." Alexia inwardly winced at having to address her rival as her superior, "who was the 'him' you were referring to?" 

"Oh my, you haven't realized it yet?" Beta turned to look at her smugly. 

"Shadow-sama is the boy you used your position as princess and classmate to get close to."

It took a while for this to register with Alexia. 

"Wait...she's saying...that Cid is Shadow..."

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH?!?!?!?!?!?!"

Today was a glorious day for Shadow-exposing bombshells. 

"Achoo!" Cid sneezed. 

Why do I feel like I'm being exposed without my knowledge today?

He forced himself to ignore the feeling and turned to the pink-haired girl behind him. 

"Let's go. I'll ask Alpha to assign you a number."

"S-sure!" 

Sherry Barnett, clad in her new Shadow Garden slime suit, followed him into the sunset.