An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
The Karmagisa Shrek AU continues on!
Fic Summary: Fairy tales were made to bring hope into the world with fairies, princesses, and true love’s kiss. But what about the more… monstrous side of the tales? Enter Karma, a demon on earth, whose only real crime is scaring the everloving crap out of the villagers… and maybe maiming a few. He isn’t sure how, but he’s gotten dragged into saving a princess from a tower to give creatures like him back their livelihood.
ALSO, THANK YOU TO @tharandomdude FOR THIS FANART FOR THIS AU! IT HELPED MOTIVATE ME SO MUCH! AND I'M USING IT ESSENTIALLY FOR A COVER FOR THESE POSTS!
ft Princess Nagisa and Demon Karma
Fic Snippet:
Hours passed, and Nagisa had long given up on his struggle. He hung limply on Karma’s shoulder, listening in on the conversation between Kayano and Koro-sensei. Ironically, about relationship advice, Kayano turned to Nagisa, who simply watched them with, no doubt, a glazed look in his eyes.
“Nagisa,” Kayano started, drawing the boy’s attention. “Koro-sensei had a pretty…interesting start with my sister. But you probably know some things. How do you think one should turn down someone? Like, it’s not like you don’t want to date them, but you want to be friends first. How do you say that?”
Nagisa hummed. “I don’t see why you can’t simply say that. All relationships should be built on some form of friendship. Nothing wrong with that. I think it would be nice to be friends, but True Love is—”
Karma cut him, bouncing his shoulder to “readjust”, snickering at Nagisa’s offended shriek. He teased, “True Love is someone you just met, right?”
Nagisa groaned, muttering, “I’m starting to think the sooner to Duloc, the better.”
“You’re going to love it there, Prince Nagisa!” praised Koro-sensei, smiling brightly. “The city seemed so whimsical, and the outside agriculture was impressive.”
“And my groom-to-be? Lord Yuji, right? What’s he like?” asked Nagisa, glaring at Karma for a second.
“Well, let’s put it this way,” started Karma, dumping Nagisa unceremoniously to walk to the nearby pond, cleaning off any remaining soot and rubble. “Let’s hope you’re cool with doing all the talking.”
Koro-sensei coughed a laugh into a tentacle as Karma chuckled. Kayano snickered, “I think you may need to be patient, Prince Nagisa. He enjoys getting a second opinion.”
Karma snorted, nearly choking on some water that went up his nose. Nagisa looked between them but retorted, “I don’t know what you could joke about. I’m sure he’s a strong ruler with strong values of his own.”
Karma snorted. “Yeah, well, you’ll find out for yourself. Maybe you two can talk all about your baggage when you see him in a few days.”
Nagisa froze on the spot, staring in horror at the setting sun. “Days? Will it take that long? Shouldn’t we stop to make camp soon?”
Karma turned confused at the royal, before rolling his eyes. Figures, the poor princess wanted to take a break. He replied, “No, that’ll take longer. We can keep going until at least nightfall; surely your poor widdle feet can handle that much.”
Nagisa’s face turned red, but he pressed, “It’s dangerous to travel at night! Like… like robbers?”
Kayano paused at that, glancing at the sun. “He is right, even though the trip getting to the Keep was safe. We’re traveling with a prince now. Maybe making camp sooner is better.”
Karma rolled his eyes with a scoff. “Please, I’m scarier than anything we’re going to see in this forest.”
Turning to keep going, he jumped at the sight of an angry prince. Nagisa gave him a cold glare as he demanded, “I need somewhere to camp…now.”
Karma gulped, a weird feeling churning in his gut. How did he not hear a guy in a dress that probably weighed more than him? He turned to Koro-sensei for backup, but the damn coward hid behind a tree; his entire face was a scared blue with sweat dripping down.
Averting his gaze away from the glare, he muttered, “Find. Lead the way, Princess.”
It took no time for Nagisa to lead them to potentially the most secluded cliffside around. Karma and Koro-sensei pushed aside a boulder, revealing a cave. Koro-sensei called for Nagisa, but Kayano grimaced at the damp cave.
“Are we sure we can’t do better? I’m not sure how I feel about this being used by a prince,” commented Kayano, glancing up and down at the cave. “There’s still some light out to keep looking, you know, Prince Nagisa.”
Nagisa jumped at his name, glancing between the sun and the cave. He reassured, “It’s perfect. I just need to add a little something.”
“Add something? Like what?” Karma asked with a raised eyebrow. He jolted at the sound of snapping wood and turned to see Nagisa with a huge chunk of bark. “Did you just…?”
“Make a door? Yes,” replied Nagisa, pushing past the trio with the bark and backing into the cave. “Well, I bid you three a good night!”
Koro-sensei hummed at the sight, as he offered, “Would you like a bedtime story, Prince Nagisa? Perhaps, it will make you more comfortable—”
“No, thank you! Good night!”
The trio frowned at the quick denial. Karma glanced at the boulder with a snicker. He playfully leaned against the boulder, subtly pushing over the “door” when two pairs of tentacles grabbed him away. “Oh, come on! I was joking!"
