#ff rambles

- Sho’s 3rd-gen pyrokinetic abilities activate - six fiery wings that sprout from his back and draw in all the heat in the area, leaving the space around him cold as ice

- Shinra is brainwashed by Haumea to the extent that he’s effectively a slate wiped clean - and retains no memory of his life before joining the white-clad

- Whereas in canon Shinra is the pillar of rage and Sho the pillar of apathy, in this au Shinra is the pillar of apathy, and Sho is the pillar of grief (not a canon pillar title, but one I feel would lead to ‘despair’ all the same), and instead of rage at the destruction of his home and his family, he feels overwhelming sadness and grief, sparing him any of the ‘devil’ treatment that Shinra canonically got

- Sho will end up following Shinra’s canon path to Haijima and then the Fire Force, sans being called a demon of course - more often than not he’s called an angel, or as being watched over by one

- After his parents leave, Arthur winds up at a convent that the white-clad use to scout powerful pyrokinetics, and as soon as they catch wind that Arthur is a plasma-user they scoop him right up

- Despite being a part of an evil organization (and knowing that), Arthur retains his sense of self, translating everything through his imagination like he does in canon

- After several years of training and (attempted) indoctrination, Arthur is assigned as Shinra’s guardian - they’re both 12 at this point

- Sho is still closely watched by the white-clad, and when he joins the Fire Force Academy, they send Arrow in as an older recruit (her story being that she’s had a change of career) to watch over him, and despite her also being a recruit, she ends up as a kind of mentor-figure for Sho

- Company 8 starts the same time it does in canon, but remains just a 4-member group for some time, struggling to get on its feet. There are several members that wind up coming and going between the core 4 (Ōbi, Hinawa, Maki, Iris) before Sho joins, those temporary members either winding up as unfit for what Company 8 stands for and being recommended to a different Company by Captain Ōbi, or being a few rookies from other Companies doing the whole ‘rookie training’ system that the 8th does with the 1st in canon

- Sho joins Company 8 when he’s 17, with Arrow following soon after - the both of them good friends by this point

- Things begin to progress as they do in canon, only there’s a lot more of Shinra & Arthur’s presence in the white-clad incidents, and though Joker does still clue Sho in on his brother still being alive during the rookie games, Sho winds up seeing Shinra several times before the second meeting with Joker, where Joker tells Sho that his brother is a commander for the white-clad

- Shinra winds up being called the ‘devil’ of the white-clad by the members of the special fire forces, as once information begins to be exchanged between the companies, it comes out that they’ve all seen him before - and the devil is always accompanied by someone wielding a blade of plasma. Of course this is before Sho is actually able to put together that the devil is his brother

- Shinra’s trademark smile begins when he first sees Sho during his missions, because though he might not consciously remember his life before the white-clad, some deep unconscious part of him does, and it causes the muscles in his face to tense up into that smile the more he’s faced with situations and people that remind him of that past

- Sho actually does save Shinra down in the Nether, unlocking Shinra’s memories via Adolla Link, and Arthur steps in to prevent Haumea from brainwashing Shinra again, allowing the brothers to escape

- Haumea runs off before Arthur can defeat her, and Arthur then joins back up with Shinra and Company 8 as they’re leaving the Nether

- Shinra & Arthur are brought into protective custody by the 8th, and they begin to divulge the Evangelist’s plans

- There is of course a private confrontation between Shinra & Arthur and Arrow, as they know her mission, but none of the rest of the 8th do, and she pleads with them to keep it a secret - having had a change of heart herself

Part 1: Shinra Visits Amaterasu

Shinra gets approval from Obi to go try and connect with the woman in the Amaterasu on the condition that a team goes with him to mitigate any potential damage, and to bring him back to himself should she take him over again.

Shinra successfully establishes an Adolla Link with the woman and manages to connect with a deeper part of her than just the madness and rage. She shares her memories of becoming the first pillar with him, showing him how she was betrayed by humanity and saved by the Evangelist. Shinra shares his own knowledge of the discovery that the first Raffles wasn’t human, and promises to show her the truth of Raffles I with his ability to view the past.

Amaterasu - and it turns out that’s her name, that the structure was named after her - remains within the energy plant, still wary of Shinra’s claim and siding with the Evangelist.

Timeline Splicing - events with Nataku proceed as they do in canon.

Part 2: The 1st & 4th Pillars Learn the Truth

Company 8 has another run-in with the white-clad, including Yona - who Arthur’s able to point out as being the inhuman one in the group. Shinra reaches out to Amaterasu and she grants him a sliver of grace, linking with him when he uses his light speed kick to see Yona’s memories, and by extension the truth of how Yona tricked humanity into sacrificing Amaterasu. 

This shift in perspective forces Amaterasu to re-evaluate her view of humanity and her trust in the Evangelist.

Part 3: Rescuing Amaterasu & Birth of A Dark Sun

The Amaterasu fails for the first time since it’s inception, plunging the Tokyo Empire into darkness, and the 8th dodge Haijima and the Holy Sol Temple both to go rescue Amaterasu herself. 

The Empire is left in crisis without power, and the 8th scrambles to help where they can. After Amaterasu has recovered somewhat, Shinra makes the decision to take her place as the Adolla Burst in the energy plant - at least until they can figure out another energy source. 

Part 4: Amaterasu Alone & Life Beneath A Dark Sun 

Shinra’s sacrifice hangs like a shadow over all of them, and Vulcan and Licht work tirelessly on a solution for a new energy source.

Amaterasu slowly finds a place within the 8th and begins to form bonds with its members, though she struggles to fully trust anyone that’s not Shinra. She also finds that she has to reacclimatize to using her pyrokinetic abilities after 250 years of the only output option being 100%.

Part 5: Shinra’s Fall From Grace & Homecoming

An alternate energy source is implemented, and the energy plant can finally be decommissioned for good. The 8th finally bring their hero home.

Part 6: Pillar Bonding and Adolla Links

Without the entirety of the Tokyo Empire resting on either of the pillars’ shoulders, Shinra and Amaterasu finally have time to bond, themselves. She teaches him more about his Adolla Burst as well as the Adolla Links - namely how to properly initiate them, and maybe more importantly, how to break unwanted ones.

Part 7: Rescuing Sho

Exactly what it says on the tin. <3

Part 8: Breaking In a New Life

Shinra and the 8th help reintegrate Sho into normal life, though it’s not exactly a smooth transition. The rough patches only lead to strengthening the bond between brothers though. 

Sho and Amaterasu find a special kind of solidarity in each other, both being people displaced from what they knew for so long that they’re outsiders in a world they should belong to.

Part 9: Making Up The Rules

It becomes apparent that there’s absolutely zero precedent set for what pillars that aren’t under the white-clad’s rule are supposed to be like. Even Amaterasu had been alone in her experience with the Evangelist, and for so long had only experienced other people through Adolla Links. Which means that with three of them now under the 8th’s care, they’re kind of making up the rules as they go. 

The use of adolla links slowly becomes more personal between them, as they begin to use the links for comfort and connection rather than domination or control, and with this change they notice the landscape of the adolla link begin to change. It becomes a meadow of safety and familiarity, a place of healing to soothe past traumas - no longer an adolla link, but a meadow link.

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Parts 10+ aren’t 100% set in stone because I don’t know exactly how I want them to go, but the things I do have some rough outlines for are:

- Shinra is captured by the white-clad and forced into a comatose-like state by Haumea, being unreachable even by Adolla Link.

- The 8th devise a plan to get him back, and succeed, but Shinra is already too far gone.

- Amaterasu basically goes searching for his soul while Sho acts as their anchor to guide them home. 

- Even this isn’t enough though, and Amaterasu, knowing the bond between Shinra and Arthur, forces Arthur into an Adolla Link in a fit of desperation, demanding that the knight bring Shinra home. 

- This becomes my excuse to fuck with the malleable dream-like quality of Adolla and basically set up a fantasy au within the larger au, where the world shifts around them to become like Arthur’s fantasy world, rife with fairytale themes and challenges for Arthur and Shinra to overcome together. It also works as the turning point for Arthur to truly step into the formal role of being the 4th pillar’s guardian, and for Shinra and Arthur to meet and understand each other on a soul-deep level. 

- Is this secretly also the longest slow-burn shinarthur au ever? Yes.

- Being forced into the world of Adolla has its side-effects on Arthur too, namely being that he can access the pillars’ meadow link, though without the full potential of thought/emotion/intention sharing that the pillars have. 

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Beyond THIS though??? Even more vague:

- Shinra & Arthur officially get together (you think they got together BEFORE now??? absolutely not!!! this is slow-burn city babey!!!)

- They do rescue Mari at some point

- With all of his family back, Shinra develops a rainbow fire - his own source of grace (instead of relying on the evangelist’s)

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Final notes:

- Given that all of this was written before I caught up with the manga, I no longer know entirely how I want the au to end lol. I mainly just wanted to explore adolla links to their fullest capacity within this au and the depth of connection they could offer, flesh out Amaterasu and her backstory, and make this a kind of fix-it fic for some elements of canon, so the ending is still up in the air!