Sydney/Hardin (Vagrant Story)
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Title: The Heretics' Story
Author: Andrea (
mullenkamp)
Spoilers: Vague when possible, slight character background spoilers
Personal Website: Altistic
In the bizarre murder mystery that is the game Vagrant Story, the outlaw cultists of Müllenkamp are the primary antagonists. They're heretics, believed to have attempted assassination and stirred up rebellion against the monarchy, and have recently taken control of Duke Bardorba's manor for some unknown purpose. After the siege fails due to the intervention of the authorities, Müllenkamp is both the pursued and the pursuer. Running out of options, soldiers, and time, they flee to the haunted ruins of Leá Monde.
The two men responsible for Müllenkamp's activities have seen and done things that no normal person is capable of. Living such a strange life, misunderstood and hunted, riddled with psionics and sorcery, one can't trust just anyone...
In the midst of someone else's story, in bleak surroundings that bleed wonder and horror at a moment's notice, a tale can be found of two men who have absolute faith not only in the powers they serve, but in one another.
Sydney Losstarot

Sydney is the leader of Müllenkamp, powerful and enigmatic. He prophesies, he reads people's hearts, he discerns their pasts. He can walk through walls, change his appearance, summon monsters. He speaks of sacrificing his limbs to the gods, and now commands mechanical ones, including clawed metal hands. He can even take an arrow through the heart, and simply get up again a few moments after being proven dead - he's immortal.
His miracles would be enough to make many follow him - but then, but if those he encounters are still skeptical, there's the matter of his charisma. He's pale, blond, and slender, with delicate features, and typically goes around bare to the waist... or given the questionable fastening of the black leather pants he wears, perhaps one should say below the waist as well. Despite the heavy metal limbs, his movements are graceful. He doesn't walk across a room - he stalks, commanding attention. He speaks in riddles when it suits him, lyrical and elegant.
Callo Merlose, who has been reading up on his file, says at the beginning of the game that "his followers offer both body and soul to him". After a few cut scenes, a lot of Vagrant Story fans no doubt would have liked to follow suit.
John Hardin

Next to Sydney, Hardin appears rather plain and awkward - not that he's not attractive, but in comparison to Sydney, he's very ordinary. He's the tall, broad-shouldered, manly type, with practical short hair, a thin beard, and layers of armor. His own power is more simple and less dramatic than Sydney's - although he can summon, and apparently has been given the task of magically closing off the route behind them, his innate talent is to see from outside his body, watching things that are happening far away. Although we've never seen him fight, we're told that he's a skilled swordsman. He's definitely not so effortlessly charming as Sydney; the first time we meet him, he's ordering the execution of hostages, a stern and cold battle commander.
Not all is quite as it may seem, however. He's gentle and kind to the young boy they've kidnapped, and to Merlose (sometimes, when she's not badgering him with difficult questions), who they've taken hostage. He was driven to an outlaw's life by extreme circumstances within his family, which he cared for so deeply that he committed some petty crimes, which led to something even worse. Now he has a criminal record and a strong hatred and distrust for the government and associated authorities. He's uneasy by nature, in many cases eager to cut their losses and run instead of staying the course and risking it all. Despite being taller than Sydney, and most likely far stronger physically, it's obvious that he recognizes Sydney as his superior. He cringes away from Sydney's anger, quick to apologize for his lack of faith.
So how is it that these two wound up as my first and most fiercely defended OTP, inspiring a hundred-thousand word fanfic, even though I'd never cared for slash before and certainly wasn't looking for it? Well, it's complicated...
Canonically Speaking

Throughout the course of the game, Sydney's character, compelling as it is, doesn't change overly much. He was a creepy, charming, snarky enigma at the beginning, and he's a creepy, charming, snarky enigma until the end. We've simply seen what drives him - which constitutes large spoilers, so I will refrain.
Hardin, however, gets character development, and loads of it. An awful lot of it, in my opinion, shows in his interaction with Sydney and the things he says of Sydney when Sydney isn't present.
Someone once told me that they thought Hardin was just a lackey character - someone to say things like "This is madness!" and "We are lost!" True enough that at first that summed up most of his dialogue, and I wasn't particularly interested by him at all. And then came the following scene, after one such outburst.
Sydney: Temper, Hardin. You must learn control.
Hardin: We are lost, Sydney! Lost! We must leave now, or we'll be warming our toes in hell!!
Sydney: I said control yourself!!
(At this point, Sydney advances on Hardin, looking him straight in the eye. Hardin freezes, nearly cringing away.)
Sydney: I am telling you all is well. Trust me, Hardin. All is well.
(He pauses, and Hardin falls to the floor, like a puppet whose strings have been cut.)
Sydney: We are friends, you and I. Is that not so, Hardin? Give me your trust, friend.
(Hardin nods, not looking at all sure about this.)
Hardin: Yes ... ... friends.
(Sydney gives Hardin instructions, then turns to leave, at which point Hardin calls after him, looking grim.)
Hardin: Sydney... If we are friends, do not "compel" me so... Never again, Sydney!
This would be the point at which I blinked and went "...Okay, this guy has some real nerve." Sydney's powerful and immortal, apparently able to screw with your mind. He's not the kind of guy that you give ultimatums to. Unless, apparently, you're John Hardin. Bravo, John, for standing up for yourself.
The reason this particular scene is so important in understanding the dynamic between them is because it establishes that Hardin is not simply a mindless follower of Sydney's. He's not brainwashed. He doesn't believe that Sydney is a god to be obeyed, or that he can do no wrong. He follows Sydney, and yet is aware of the other man's faults.
This sentiment is echoed, in a way, in the other key scene about the two of them and their relationship. Much later in the game, their hostages, Callo Merlose and Joshua, have been entrusted to Hardin. Callo, being the inquisitor that she is, asks Hardin about Sydney's power.
Hardin: He is the strongest I know. Through the Dark, he sees people’s past; he can even push his will on others... He may have other powers beyond my ken.
Merlose: It is sad...
Hardin: What is?
Merlose: Even if he can see the past and clasp the truth, how are we to know if he speaks it? If he can "push" us to believe anything, how do we tell truth from falsehood?
Hardin: Why single him out? Everyone lies, surely you know that. Whether they are Dark sorcerers or corrupt clergy, they all lie, and we believe. Am I wrong?
Given what we know of Hardin's past, this exchange would simply be a reinforcement of how disillusioned he has become... except that suddenly, Hardin's inner being manifests (to make a long story short), and vehemently declares what he will not say out loud.
Hardin: He would not lie to me!
Having been lied to so brutally in the past, it would make sense for Hardin not to trust anyone at all - and yet he trusts Sydney. Due to the previously mentioned scene, we can say that he's not blind or brainwashed. He himself admits that "everyone lies". But he believes that Sydney would not lie to him. He believes, apparently, that he is special to Sydney.
As for the question of Sydney's feelings for Hardin, we are given some evidence, but it's largely more ambiguous. The simple fact that Sydney trusts Hardin with certain important tasks, such as keeping Joshua safe while he himself deals with Ashley and the Crimson Blades, is telling. Hardin is his second-in-command, worthy of Sydney's absolute trust. The Ultimania guide even has this to say of the relationship between the two:
Both Hardin and Sydney consider each other their truest friend. Sydney confides his secrets in Hardin, and in return Hardin trusts Sydney completely. If doubt or confusion ever arises between the two, it is never long-lived.
So Sydney trusts Hardin... but how deep do his feelings go, considering how callously he treats his friend at times? Enough, apparently, to offer a quiet apology late in the game for all he's done, before coming to stand between Hardin and a powerful enemy, teleporting Hardin and his charges to safety while he remains behind.
Most telling of all, I believe, is a scene in which the two don't directly interact at all. Above, in the cathedral, Hardin has just had something particularly dangerous happen (to put it mildly). Sydney, standing alone in a room of the temple far below, lost in thought, suddenly lifts his head, looking up. "...Hardin," he murmurs.
The connection between them is there, and not hard to see at all.
Fandom, Fanon, and Potential
So why is it, given all the evidence above, that there isn't much fanfic about Sydney and Hardin, who are obviously close and have been for years, when compared to Sydney and Ashley, who spend almost all their time together irritating or provoking each other and don't have a chance to get together in the canon timeline? In fact, most people who ship Ashley and Sydney will give a nod to Sydney and Hardin having had a relationship in the past - they just don't write about that.
The most obvious explanation I could see initially was that Hardin isn't "pretty" like Ashley and Sydney - he has facial hair, and looks undeniably manly. Besides, Ashley is the main character, and Hardin only a minor character. Rivalshipping is always a popular idea, besides, and Ashley/Sydney does fit the bill in that way. It wasn't until talking to one particular Ashley/Sydney shipper that I was given another reason Sydney/Hardin isn't shipped so much: It's so obviously there that it might as well be canon, so why write about it?
Why? I could give plenty of reasons why I write about Sydney/Hardin rather than Ashley/Sydney, though I'll omit the ones that constitute spoilers. One would be that Sydney and Hardin actually have time to get together and be together for some time without ignoring the canon timeline or messing up the ending of the game. I also tend to take character interactions at face value if there's no indication that there's more to it than that; while Ashley spends most of the game annoyed by Sydney, Sydney and Hardin display trust and deep knowledge of each other. My personal preference in shipping is that the two characters are shown to like each other, or at least try to understand each other.
The most direct rebuttal to the above reason not to write about Sydney and Hardin is that, canonically speaking, no matter how obvious the relationship is, we don't know very much at all. The story of how they met is never told in the game or any of the associated merchandise, nor is there any mention of what they've been doing since that time. Certainly there's nothing to indicate how a relationship might have formed between the two of them. There are plenty of potential stories to be told about the years leading up to the beginning of the game - and if the game's ending can be warped or expanded on a bit for another pairing's sake, more potential lies there.
The Kink Factor
Vagrant Story is a game that was made with slash fans in mind, and it seems particularly for those who have a kink or two. Leather and metal abound, and Rosencrantz seems to be wrapped up in barbed wire. Much has been made of Ashley's pants (or the lack thereof), and the way Sydney's don't quite seem to fit, and there has been debate over what exactly is going on with the back of Hardin's.
And, of course, there's the matter of Sydney's claws, which bring about all kinds of entertaining possibilities for a fan interested in a little bloodplay.
So why would a fan of such things want to lean towards pairing Sydney with Hardin, in particular? The biggest reason is because of Hardin's trust in Sydney. These sorts of sexual games can be traumatizing, dangerous, or absolutely disastrous if the partners involved don't have near-absolute trust in each other, which Sydney and Hardin (canonically!) do. There is no one else besides Hardin who truly trusts Sydney - aside, perhaps, from a particular character related to him, and I'm not going to go there.
Moreover, there is the issue of dominance/submission. One thing that sets Vagrant Story's character dynamics apart from those in many slashy fandoms is that Sydney is the smallest, slenderest, prettiest character of the bunch - and yet his personality practically bleeds dominance. Where he'd normally be the default bottom in many fandoms due to appearance, he's definitely not the typical uke type. In fact, if he ever bottoms, it's probably by his demand.
Meanwhile, we have Hardin, the tall manly bearded swordsman. Who takes orders and cringes from Sydney's rebukes. Need more be said?
To put it into more general terms, those tired of the height rule and similar meaningless yaoi conventions might find the natural roles assumed by these two to be a nice change.
Summary Thoughts
The dynamic between Sydney Losstarot and John Hardin is a complex one, for all the background nature of it and its minor role in the story. Though their relationship may be obvious, it's definitely not simple. All at once they're criminal and accomplice, master and servant, savior and cynic - but most importantly, each is the foundation in which the other places his trust. Their personalities may clash, their motivations may differ, but beneath it all that foundation remains undamaged. In their lives, filled with deceit and betrayal, that may be more unusual a thing than all the demons and miracles of Leá Monde.
Recs
Note: Most of these will contain spoilers, if not for the end of the game, for various details about the characters that are revealed during the course of the game.
Communion, by Sleeps With Coyotes - Sydney obtains his mechanical arms, and Hardin helps him... explore what he's been given by the Dark.
This Living Hand, by Whitney - Hardin watches Sydney sleep, while considering his immortality.
Affinities, by
threewalls - A series of vignettes, including a moment of conflicting loyalties between the two cultists at the start of the game.
Seeing, by GlassShard - Hardin's "talent" is to see the things no one else sees, even from behind the doors which keep his physical body locked outside.
Go Wyverns, by Mooncalf - Every fandom has to have a high school AU, and fortunately ours was lucky enough to be written by Mooncalf. Although the most blatant pairing is Ashley/Sydney, overall it made this Sydney/Hardin fangirl quite smug.
Requiem per il Re delle Spade, by W2 - An interesting read which is ostensibly about Joshua years after the game... but included because towards the end, it contains the most incredibly surreal Sydney/Hardin scene ever.
Burning Bridges, by me - Because I started out simply wondering how they met, and suddenly I had sixteen chapters worth of Hardin trying to figure out how to rebuild his life the hard way, while Sydney tried not to.
Screenshots taken from the now defunct GIA's archives years ago (after AV basically shoved them in my face and said "See, pretty. Play it!").
Ultimania translation courtesy of Worldshards, which I have linked to in both essays I've written for this community because the webmistress apparently shares my taste.
Author: Andrea (
![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
Spoilers: Vague when possible, slight character background spoilers
Personal Website: Altistic
In the bizarre murder mystery that is the game Vagrant Story, the outlaw cultists of Müllenkamp are the primary antagonists. They're heretics, believed to have attempted assassination and stirred up rebellion against the monarchy, and have recently taken control of Duke Bardorba's manor for some unknown purpose. After the siege fails due to the intervention of the authorities, Müllenkamp is both the pursued and the pursuer. Running out of options, soldiers, and time, they flee to the haunted ruins of Leá Monde.
The two men responsible for Müllenkamp's activities have seen and done things that no normal person is capable of. Living such a strange life, misunderstood and hunted, riddled with psionics and sorcery, one can't trust just anyone...
In the midst of someone else's story, in bleak surroundings that bleed wonder and horror at a moment's notice, a tale can be found of two men who have absolute faith not only in the powers they serve, but in one another.

Sydney is the leader of Müllenkamp, powerful and enigmatic. He prophesies, he reads people's hearts, he discerns their pasts. He can walk through walls, change his appearance, summon monsters. He speaks of sacrificing his limbs to the gods, and now commands mechanical ones, including clawed metal hands. He can even take an arrow through the heart, and simply get up again a few moments after being proven dead - he's immortal.
His miracles would be enough to make many follow him - but then, but if those he encounters are still skeptical, there's the matter of his charisma. He's pale, blond, and slender, with delicate features, and typically goes around bare to the waist... or given the questionable fastening of the black leather pants he wears, perhaps one should say below the waist as well. Despite the heavy metal limbs, his movements are graceful. He doesn't walk across a room - he stalks, commanding attention. He speaks in riddles when it suits him, lyrical and elegant.
Callo Merlose, who has been reading up on his file, says at the beginning of the game that "his followers offer both body and soul to him". After a few cut scenes, a lot of Vagrant Story fans no doubt would have liked to follow suit.

Next to Sydney, Hardin appears rather plain and awkward - not that he's not attractive, but in comparison to Sydney, he's very ordinary. He's the tall, broad-shouldered, manly type, with practical short hair, a thin beard, and layers of armor. His own power is more simple and less dramatic than Sydney's - although he can summon, and apparently has been given the task of magically closing off the route behind them, his innate talent is to see from outside his body, watching things that are happening far away. Although we've never seen him fight, we're told that he's a skilled swordsman. He's definitely not so effortlessly charming as Sydney; the first time we meet him, he's ordering the execution of hostages, a stern and cold battle commander.
Not all is quite as it may seem, however. He's gentle and kind to the young boy they've kidnapped, and to Merlose (sometimes, when she's not badgering him with difficult questions), who they've taken hostage. He was driven to an outlaw's life by extreme circumstances within his family, which he cared for so deeply that he committed some petty crimes, which led to something even worse. Now he has a criminal record and a strong hatred and distrust for the government and associated authorities. He's uneasy by nature, in many cases eager to cut their losses and run instead of staying the course and risking it all. Despite being taller than Sydney, and most likely far stronger physically, it's obvious that he recognizes Sydney as his superior. He cringes away from Sydney's anger, quick to apologize for his lack of faith.
So how is it that these two wound up as my first and most fiercely defended OTP, inspiring a hundred-thousand word fanfic, even though I'd never cared for slash before and certainly wasn't looking for it? Well, it's complicated...

Throughout the course of the game, Sydney's character, compelling as it is, doesn't change overly much. He was a creepy, charming, snarky enigma at the beginning, and he's a creepy, charming, snarky enigma until the end. We've simply seen what drives him - which constitutes large spoilers, so I will refrain.
Hardin, however, gets character development, and loads of it. An awful lot of it, in my opinion, shows in his interaction with Sydney and the things he says of Sydney when Sydney isn't present.
Someone once told me that they thought Hardin was just a lackey character - someone to say things like "This is madness!" and "We are lost!" True enough that at first that summed up most of his dialogue, and I wasn't particularly interested by him at all. And then came the following scene, after one such outburst.
Sydney: Temper, Hardin. You must learn control.
Hardin: We are lost, Sydney! Lost! We must leave now, or we'll be warming our toes in hell!!
Sydney: I said control yourself!!
(At this point, Sydney advances on Hardin, looking him straight in the eye. Hardin freezes, nearly cringing away.)
Sydney: I am telling you all is well. Trust me, Hardin. All is well.
(He pauses, and Hardin falls to the floor, like a puppet whose strings have been cut.)
Sydney: We are friends, you and I. Is that not so, Hardin? Give me your trust, friend.
(Hardin nods, not looking at all sure about this.)
Hardin: Yes ... ... friends.
(Sydney gives Hardin instructions, then turns to leave, at which point Hardin calls after him, looking grim.)
Hardin: Sydney... If we are friends, do not "compel" me so... Never again, Sydney!
This would be the point at which I blinked and went "...Okay, this guy has some real nerve." Sydney's powerful and immortal, apparently able to screw with your mind. He's not the kind of guy that you give ultimatums to. Unless, apparently, you're John Hardin. Bravo, John, for standing up for yourself.
The reason this particular scene is so important in understanding the dynamic between them is because it establishes that Hardin is not simply a mindless follower of Sydney's. He's not brainwashed. He doesn't believe that Sydney is a god to be obeyed, or that he can do no wrong. He follows Sydney, and yet is aware of the other man's faults.
This sentiment is echoed, in a way, in the other key scene about the two of them and their relationship. Much later in the game, their hostages, Callo Merlose and Joshua, have been entrusted to Hardin. Callo, being the inquisitor that she is, asks Hardin about Sydney's power.
Hardin: He is the strongest I know. Through the Dark, he sees people’s past; he can even push his will on others... He may have other powers beyond my ken.
Merlose: It is sad...
Hardin: What is?
Merlose: Even if he can see the past and clasp the truth, how are we to know if he speaks it? If he can "push" us to believe anything, how do we tell truth from falsehood?
Hardin: Why single him out? Everyone lies, surely you know that. Whether they are Dark sorcerers or corrupt clergy, they all lie, and we believe. Am I wrong?
Given what we know of Hardin's past, this exchange would simply be a reinforcement of how disillusioned he has become... except that suddenly, Hardin's inner being manifests (to make a long story short), and vehemently declares what he will not say out loud.
Hardin: He would not lie to me!
Having been lied to so brutally in the past, it would make sense for Hardin not to trust anyone at all - and yet he trusts Sydney. Due to the previously mentioned scene, we can say that he's not blind or brainwashed. He himself admits that "everyone lies". But he believes that Sydney would not lie to him. He believes, apparently, that he is special to Sydney.
As for the question of Sydney's feelings for Hardin, we are given some evidence, but it's largely more ambiguous. The simple fact that Sydney trusts Hardin with certain important tasks, such as keeping Joshua safe while he himself deals with Ashley and the Crimson Blades, is telling. Hardin is his second-in-command, worthy of Sydney's absolute trust. The Ultimania guide even has this to say of the relationship between the two:
Both Hardin and Sydney consider each other their truest friend. Sydney confides his secrets in Hardin, and in return Hardin trusts Sydney completely. If doubt or confusion ever arises between the two, it is never long-lived.
So Sydney trusts Hardin... but how deep do his feelings go, considering how callously he treats his friend at times? Enough, apparently, to offer a quiet apology late in the game for all he's done, before coming to stand between Hardin and a powerful enemy, teleporting Hardin and his charges to safety while he remains behind.
Most telling of all, I believe, is a scene in which the two don't directly interact at all. Above, in the cathedral, Hardin has just had something particularly dangerous happen (to put it mildly). Sydney, standing alone in a room of the temple far below, lost in thought, suddenly lifts his head, looking up. "...Hardin," he murmurs.
The connection between them is there, and not hard to see at all.
So why is it, given all the evidence above, that there isn't much fanfic about Sydney and Hardin, who are obviously close and have been for years, when compared to Sydney and Ashley, who spend almost all their time together irritating or provoking each other and don't have a chance to get together in the canon timeline? In fact, most people who ship Ashley and Sydney will give a nod to Sydney and Hardin having had a relationship in the past - they just don't write about that.
The most obvious explanation I could see initially was that Hardin isn't "pretty" like Ashley and Sydney - he has facial hair, and looks undeniably manly. Besides, Ashley is the main character, and Hardin only a minor character. Rivalshipping is always a popular idea, besides, and Ashley/Sydney does fit the bill in that way. It wasn't until talking to one particular Ashley/Sydney shipper that I was given another reason Sydney/Hardin isn't shipped so much: It's so obviously there that it might as well be canon, so why write about it?
Why? I could give plenty of reasons why I write about Sydney/Hardin rather than Ashley/Sydney, though I'll omit the ones that constitute spoilers. One would be that Sydney and Hardin actually have time to get together and be together for some time without ignoring the canon timeline or messing up the ending of the game. I also tend to take character interactions at face value if there's no indication that there's more to it than that; while Ashley spends most of the game annoyed by Sydney, Sydney and Hardin display trust and deep knowledge of each other. My personal preference in shipping is that the two characters are shown to like each other, or at least try to understand each other.
The most direct rebuttal to the above reason not to write about Sydney and Hardin is that, canonically speaking, no matter how obvious the relationship is, we don't know very much at all. The story of how they met is never told in the game or any of the associated merchandise, nor is there any mention of what they've been doing since that time. Certainly there's nothing to indicate how a relationship might have formed between the two of them. There are plenty of potential stories to be told about the years leading up to the beginning of the game - and if the game's ending can be warped or expanded on a bit for another pairing's sake, more potential lies there.
Vagrant Story is a game that was made with slash fans in mind, and it seems particularly for those who have a kink or two. Leather and metal abound, and Rosencrantz seems to be wrapped up in barbed wire. Much has been made of Ashley's pants (or the lack thereof), and the way Sydney's don't quite seem to fit, and there has been debate over what exactly is going on with the back of Hardin's.
And, of course, there's the matter of Sydney's claws, which bring about all kinds of entertaining possibilities for a fan interested in a little bloodplay.
So why would a fan of such things want to lean towards pairing Sydney with Hardin, in particular? The biggest reason is because of Hardin's trust in Sydney. These sorts of sexual games can be traumatizing, dangerous, or absolutely disastrous if the partners involved don't have near-absolute trust in each other, which Sydney and Hardin (canonically!) do. There is no one else besides Hardin who truly trusts Sydney - aside, perhaps, from a particular character related to him, and I'm not going to go there.
Moreover, there is the issue of dominance/submission. One thing that sets Vagrant Story's character dynamics apart from those in many slashy fandoms is that Sydney is the smallest, slenderest, prettiest character of the bunch - and yet his personality practically bleeds dominance. Where he'd normally be the default bottom in many fandoms due to appearance, he's definitely not the typical uke type. In fact, if he ever bottoms, it's probably by his demand.
Meanwhile, we have Hardin, the tall manly bearded swordsman. Who takes orders and cringes from Sydney's rebukes. Need more be said?
To put it into more general terms, those tired of the height rule and similar meaningless yaoi conventions might find the natural roles assumed by these two to be a nice change.
The dynamic between Sydney Losstarot and John Hardin is a complex one, for all the background nature of it and its minor role in the story. Though their relationship may be obvious, it's definitely not simple. All at once they're criminal and accomplice, master and servant, savior and cynic - but most importantly, each is the foundation in which the other places his trust. Their personalities may clash, their motivations may differ, but beneath it all that foundation remains undamaged. In their lives, filled with deceit and betrayal, that may be more unusual a thing than all the demons and miracles of Leá Monde.
Note: Most of these will contain spoilers, if not for the end of the game, for various details about the characters that are revealed during the course of the game.
Communion, by Sleeps With Coyotes - Sydney obtains his mechanical arms, and Hardin helps him... explore what he's been given by the Dark.
This Living Hand, by Whitney - Hardin watches Sydney sleep, while considering his immortality.
Affinities, by
![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
Seeing, by GlassShard - Hardin's "talent" is to see the things no one else sees, even from behind the doors which keep his physical body locked outside.
Go Wyverns, by Mooncalf - Every fandom has to have a high school AU, and fortunately ours was lucky enough to be written by Mooncalf. Although the most blatant pairing is Ashley/Sydney, overall it made this Sydney/Hardin fangirl quite smug.
Requiem per il Re delle Spade, by W2 - An interesting read which is ostensibly about Joshua years after the game... but included because towards the end, it contains the most incredibly surreal Sydney/Hardin scene ever.
Burning Bridges, by me - Because I started out simply wondering how they met, and suddenly I had sixteen chapters worth of Hardin trying to figure out how to rebuild his life the hard way, while Sydney tried not to.
Screenshots taken from the now defunct GIA's archives years ago (after AV basically shoved them in my face and said "See, pretty. Play it!").
Ultimania translation courtesy of Worldshards, which I have linked to in both essays I've written for this community because the webmistress apparently shares my taste.
no subject
Date: 2005-03-22 08:09 pm (UTC)I really liked reading this, I thought you brought up a lot of things that I'd not thought of as quite as meaningful before.
no subject
Date: 2005-03-23 12:57 am (UTC)And thanks - I think I spent way too much time going over the game repeatedly to examine things. (And to forge a sword that was +160 against everything...) ;)
no subject
Date: 2005-03-22 08:28 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-03-23 12:58 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-03-22 10:26 pm (UTC)Yes.
no subject
Date: 2005-03-23 01:00 am (UTC)...You know, I had more trouble than I thought I would writing this, just because I've said all of it and explored so many of the possible ramifications in fic already.
no subject
Date: 2005-03-23 01:03 am (UTC)I notice you didn't recommend your clawsex stories, hmm?
no subject
Date: 2005-03-23 04:26 am (UTC)...But since you mentioned it, and in case anyone else was more interested in the clawsex aspect than the character development! A Welcome Invasion, Bonds of Friendship, Cracked Pleasures, Faith Overcame Fear, Dreaming Awake
no subject
Date: 2005-03-23 12:59 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-03-23 04:30 am (UTC)