Ring Of Ouroboros (ウロボロスの円環) is a Fate/Zero Fan Fic posted on Pixiv by えーり.
A series of journals belonging to Byakuya Matou, chronicling his family's life in the Matou household, going from Zouken throwing away his mother in the worm pit after giving birth to Kariya; to Sakura being adopted by the Matous.
It can be read on Pixiv here
, although the story is available in Japanese only.
Ring of Ouroboros contains examples of:
- All for Nothing: A frequent theme of the story.
- Kariya is forced by Zouken to have his body infested by parasitic worms for most of his childhood and teenage years, all for the sake of training him in the Matou magecraft. It's revealed much later he never had intention of teaching him and is just acclimating his body in order to use him as a host in the future.
- In order to produce a heir with good magic circuits, Zouken forces Byakuya to be infested by worms in the pit for weeks. Not only this doesn't work, it results in the birth of Shinji.
- Also, as in canon, Kariya is unable to save Sakura and Byakuya fails to hide the truths of the family from Shinji.
- And There Was Much Rejoicing: It says almost too much about Sakura's relationship with Byakuya that her initial reaction to his death is "Oh thank God."
- Accomplice by Inaction: Kariya accuses Byakuya of this because he knows of the horrible things that he goes through in the worm pit, but says nothing.
- Bittersweet Ending: As per canon, Kariya and Byakuya die. Also, since this happens in the Heaven's Feel continuity, not only Shinji dies, but Sakura goes through more torture and mindbreak. The only upshot is that eventually Sakura will live a happy life with Shirou at her side.
- Body Horror: Kariya's body has been infested with parasitic worms since he was very young.
- Call-Back:
- Zouken isn't actually training Kariya and is planning to use his body as a host in the future, similarly to what happens with Sakura in Fate/Zero.
- After Kariya runs away from home, Zouken drops Byakuya in the worm pit. He mocks him for crying so much on the first day, while Kariya stubbornly endured the worms for years. A similar thing happened to Rin in a Heaven's Feel bad end.
- Also, Zouken feeds him a crest worm that's implied to be the one that gave the killing blow to his mother years ago. This mirrors a scene in Fate/Zero when Zouken feeds Kariya the worm that stole Sakura's virginity.
- Can't Kill You, Still Need You: The reason Zouken won't kill Byakuya despite his lack of magic circuits is so he could produce an offspring with stronger magic circuits. Also the reason why he won't kill Shinji either.
- Children Are Innocent: Even though Kariya has been raped by the worms since he was a toddler, he's very naive and doesn't understand what's wrong with it. However as he grows up, he starts being more conscious of his body and considers himself "dirty" and unworthy of Aoi.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: The second chapter gives us a lovely description of Byakuya and Kariya's mother's slow and painful death to the crest worms.
- Dark Fic: It's a fic about the Matou family after all.
- Defiled Forever: Kariya thinks of himself as unworthy of Aoi due to have been repeatedly raped and violated by the worms through his life. This is part of why he decides to allow her to be happy with Tokiomi instead.
- Despair Event Horizon: Byakuya suffers some pretty major Sanity Slippage throughout the whole story, but he comes closest to this after Zouken throws his wife in the worm pit. After this, he becomes a depressed alcoholic.
- Dirty Coward: Byakuya, as in canon. While he feels sorry for the torture Kariya endures every day as the Matou heir, he chooses not to say anything, afraid that Zouken will do anything to him if he opposes.
- Doomed by Canon: Byakuya wants Shinji to live a normal life away from magic and the Matou household. Needless to say, this doesn't happen. To make things worse, this story happens in the Heaven's Feel continuity, meaning Shinji will die in the 5th Holy Grail War years later.
- Grand Theft Me: Zouken's excuse that he's "training Kariya" with the worms it's a blatant lie, he's just acclimating his body in order to take him as a host in the future.
- Jerkass Has a Point: As in canon, Byakuya believes Kariya returned to the household for selfish reasons. However, he does have a point in that Kariya is motivated not just to save Sakura, but his resentment towards Tokiomi.
- I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Kariya decides it's better for Aoi to be with Tokiomi, worried that she'll be victim of Zouken's crest worms if she marries him instead.
- The Ingenue: Yuri, Byakuya's arranged wife. He describes her as naive, kind and pure-hearted like a child. This gets Played for Drama when she gives birth to Shinji and it's implied she no idea of the implications or why it happened.
- Innocently Insensitive: Shinji laughing at Sakura coughing blood at dinner, not knowing that it was poisoned."Stupid girl!"
- It's All About Me: Even though he loves Kariya and Shinji, Byakuya will always put his needs above everyone else. Such as freaking out at the thought of Kariya marrying Aoi and leaving the house, cause this will mean he will be left at the mercy of Zouken and the worms.
- Last-Name Basis: Byakuya insists on calling Aoi by her surname Zenjou. During her wedding she asks him to call her by her name for once, as they know each other for years. He doesn't comply.
- Living Emotional Crutch: Kariya was resigned to his fate as the Matou heir, but meeting Aoi made him feel alive again. He even cries for her when he's raped by the worms every night.
- Shinji becomes this to Byakuya in his later years.
- Locked Out of the Loop: Thanks to Byakuya's intervention, Shinji is kept away from the truths of the Matou magecraft, such as sending him abroad when the 4th Holy Grail War starts. Unfortunately, this makes him an entitled brat as well.
- Never My Fault: In Byakuya's later entries, he starts blaming Kariya for his misery, blaming him for Yuri's fate and Sakura becoming the new Matou heir.
- Papa Wolf: Kariya towards Sakura, despite not being related to her.
- Also Byakuya clearly cares about Shinji. Zouken exploits this by using the boy as a bargaining chip to keep Byakuya on line.
- Rape as Drama: Kariya has been thrown into Zouken's pit of worms since he was three and it is implied that he is sexually violated by them.
- The Resenter: As more bad things happen to Byakuya, he starts resenting Kariya for having everything he always wanted and seemingly not valuing it in the slightest."At least Kariya was talented. He was born with magic circuits that Byakuya couldn't have. But even though he had them, he ran away. From this house. From Zouken. From this cursed family....And from Byakuya. If only Kariya hadn't ran away."
- Sadistic Choice: Byakuya is horrified when he finds out Zouken wants to make Sakura the heir and tries to oppose it. Zouken forces to choose: leave Sakura at his mercy or else Shinji will be feed to the crest worms. Byakuya chooses his son over Sakura.
- Sheltered Aristocrat: Yuri. Not only she has an illness that confines her to a wheelchair, she's so sheltered she doesn't know about how the world works.
- Shipper on Deck: Zouken wants Kariya and Aoi to be together, believing they can have a decent heir for the Matou bloodline.
- Sibling Yin-Yang: Byakuya and Kariya, as in canon. While Byakuya is selfish and cowardly, Kariya was brave enough to abandon his family and potential happiness with Aoi for her own sake.
- Strong Family Resemblance: It's noted that Sakura looks like Aoi, down to her looks to her shy personality.
- Stopped Caring: In his final moments, Byakuya is tired and uncaring about everything, simply wanting to die. It's implied this happened after Shinji found out the truths of the family.
- The Greatest Story Never Told: After his death, Byakuya's diary is left to be forgotten in a random bookshelf. Fortunately a grown up Sakura finds it years later and takes it as a Tragic Keepsake.
- Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Byakuya is completely terrified of the crest worms, due to being forced to see his mother eaten alive when he was a child.
- Would Hurt a Child: Zouken. Besides his horrible treatment of Sakura as per canon, he also trains a very young Kariya with the crest worms and forced a 3-year old Byakuya to watch his mother eaten alive by worms. He also won't hesitate to use Shinji as a bargaining chip so that Byakuya won't oppose to Sakura's adoption and "training".
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Zouken sent Byakuya and Kariya's mother to the worm pit after the latter was born. He does this again to Byakuya's wife after Shinji is born without magic circuits. Byakuya even states outright that Zouken always has people killed when he doesn't need them anymore, and this is why he's too afraid to stand up to him.
