Fanfic: One Dance

[kappa77]

I was planning to post this a couple days ago, but awesome betas will be awesome and will critique your story to bits in order for it to be 10 times better, so huge thank you to yamina for that!

This was inspired by theropod's prompt and also this song.

SMS where Zisteau is an actual zombie pigman who acts a bit like Ariel.

Alternatively titled: Kappa Has Projects To Work On And Yet She's Writing This

 

Zisteau had always been fascinated with Over Worlders, with the tools they carried that were made of gray and silver and blue, of the armor that protected them from ghast blasts and golden swords, of the structures they built into the netherrack, but most of all he was fascinated with the people themselves. How did they communicate with others when both of them weren't right next to each other? How did they create the things they create? Where did they get their resources?

So the day when the pigmen found out that they could see the Over World through the portals the Over Worlders made, Zisteau took full advantage of it.

He became enraptured with the portal, taking a look at the Over World at least once a day, even if it was just a glance. Looking through the portal was easier than following them around in the Nether where he risked the chance of being seen and scaring them. He became familiar with most of the Over Worlders after some time.

"Good" was the one to bring all the Over Worlders together and found the land where they built their homes. According to some of the other members of the Over World, he got nervous often.

"B Dubs" was the one that created the Town Hall and who tended to lose his temper quickly. He often did projects with "Jenerick Bee" where they pretended to be bad guys but really ended up giggling the entire time.

Slowly, the pigman picked up small bits of information about them. Sometimes it was someone's favorite block was or what they had for dinner. However, there was one Over Worlder that fascinated him more than the others.

They called him "Kurt" and when he was mentioned by the others, the words "shy" or "worried" were often thrown around.

But Zisteau couldn’t for the life of him see how they would think that.

Because Kurt rarely seemed like “a shrinking flower” or “a wall- daisy” or however that Over Worlder saying went. He seemed funny, with an infectious laugh that made Zisteau smile whenever he heard it. He seemed snarky, with his comments on how he hated enchanting and horses (which Zisteau didn't understand at all because enchanting seemed like the COOLEST THING EVER and horses seemed like they would be so awesome to ride around). He seemed hesitant to build yet talked about large projects that would take weeks to complete. He seemed smart, talking on and on about the sky when the "sun" went away and the sky darkened to the color of obsidian.

Zisteau ended up catching himself thinking about walking through the portal and meeting Kurt. And maybe they'd talk about Kurt's life in the Over World or Zisteau's in the Nether. Maybe they'd walk around and Kurt would show him the buildings Zisteau wasn't able to see through the portal. Maybe they would walk when the sun disappeared and Kurt would talk about the sky as they went around a lake filled with "water".

I'm not asking for anything big. I just want to meet them- meet him.

As time passed and Zisteau continued to watch (and Kurt continued to avoid traveling in the Nether), Zisteau dream... changed.

It still had him and Kurt in it, both on the Over World. And they still took a walk together, but it was always at night, with thousands of the twinkling lights above their heads and when they reached the lake, they wouldn’t continue. They would stop and turn to each other. Kurt looked down at the ground before looking back up, grinning. Zisteau held out his hand and then they... danced. Zisteau didn’t even know how to dance or even if Over Worlders knew how to dance and yet in his fantasy, he and Kurt would dance the entire way around the lake, circling each other until they got dizzy and stopped on the other side, laughing.

When Zisteau first wakes up from his dream, he tries to go back to sleep, making it as a one-off occurrence.

But it keeps returning.

He didn’t have enough time to examine what the change meant because a week after he started to imagine the dance, one of the pigmen from his tribe entered the portal and came back.

It only took a few more of his brethren's trips to the Over World for him to make up his mind.

He walked back to the portal where he had seen the Over World for the first time, the one near the Town Hall. He stopped in front of it, placing a hoof on the side. He closed his eyes, took in a deep breath, and walked through.

The portal warped around him, surrounding him in the purple mist. When it felt like everything had stopped moving, he walked forward.

When his hoof first touched the ground, he opened his eyes and inhaled sharply, before coughing loudly. The Over World was nothing like the portal made it seem. The ground beneath him wasn't grainy and rocky like back home, it was soft and squishy and... something else that Zisteau didn't know the word for. The air wasn't hot and stale, it was cool and there was a hint of movement--- wind, he remembered.

The pigman looked up and through the many branches and leaves of the tree he was beneath. He saw the sky and immediately knew he had to get a better look. He moved out from under the tree to the gravel path and finally, finally got a good look at it.

They sky isn't just the color of obsidian; it was also the color of fortresses and magma cubes. The moon was as white as a ghast but not nearly as big. And the points of light weren't nearly as bright as glowstone, but Zisteau couldn't help but be awed by them.

Keeping his eyes on the sky, he moved forward to see if the lights stayed in place. Almost immediately, he bumped into someone.

Normally, Zisteau would’ve apologized straightaway, but he still wasn’t fully confident in his Over Worlder accent (especially when they varied so much), but he didn’t even have a chance of speaking when he looked and saw that he bumped into Kurt.

"Oh, sorry,” Kurt said, “I’m such a klutz, I really should’ve been looking where I’m going. Guess I’m just excited to get to bed, huh?”

Zisteau immediately knew that he truly had no chance of talking now that he had heard Kurt’s voice without the portal’s screams getting in the way because wow, what a voice.

But Kurt didn’t notice that fact and continued to ramble, “You know, I haven't seen you here before, are you new?"

Zisteau could only manage to nod his head.

"Well I mean, of course you’re new, what am I saying. They only just allowed for pigmen to be able to walk through Nether Portals.” Then a look crossed over Kurt’s face, a mix of shock and horror, which he quickly hid by ducking his head. “You, um, you’re not agro-ed, are you?”

Not knowing what that meant, Zisteau shook his head.

“Okay, that- that’s good. Cause there have been incidents in the past an- anyway, um, is this your first time out of the Nether?”

Zisteau smiled a little, nodding again.

“So you, um, I guess you’re-uh, gonna check out Spawn Town.”

Another nod.

“Do you want any help with that? I mean, I know zombie pigmen rarely ever wander from their portals or even leave the Nether and that you guys and… we haven’t really gotten along in the past- not us in particular, but pigmen and humans and I know that this whole portal thing is a step in the right direction for peace and tha-”

Zisteau grabbed Kurt’s wrist in the middle of his ramble, cutting him off. He lost the point of the speech halfway through, but damn if it wasn’t kinda cute how Kurt could just go on and on.

The pigman cleared his throat and said in a rough voice, “I. Would. Like… that.”

“Oh, so you do know how to speak?” Kurt said, smiling.

Zisteau shrugged, “Only. A little.”

“Cool. What’s your name?”

“Zisteau.”

 

Comments

[anonymousrose]

I really like this AU :) Very cute! Love it <3

[kappa77]

Thank you!

[roseblonde123]

I shouldn't have my phone out in school but Awe! This is adorable :)

[kappa77]

Thank you! :)

[theropod]

Awww :D This is adorable!

I was writing something along the same vein but borrowing more from the mermaid mythos. Can you say human Z and Witch Nebris? ;D Might finish it and get it posted some day.

[kappa77]

Thank you! That sounds cool!

[bookworm2692]

Awww, I loved it. As soon as you finished saying the stuff before the story started I'm like "I remember that song" and was so happy. You did it really well. I found it funny how Zisteau mucked up some thing things, like Guude's name. And being worried about Over Worlder's accents "because they varied so much". I just loved it

[kappa77]

Thank you ^-^

[yamina_chan]

but awesome betas will be awesome and will critique your story to bits in order for it to be 10 times better
Well, that's the job of a betareader =D They are your first feedback. (Unless they focus on spelling and/or grammar.)
And really managed to make this story shine after revisiting it, you did a good job on that ^^

[kappa77]

:D