The Dragon's Mantle is a Freedom Planet fanfiction written by author Slightly Dazed Bystander
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Immediately after the fight against Brevon, Team Lilac is trying to recover, but the injuries from the battle and the sense of dread hanging over everybody doesn't make it easy. Their troubles only grow when Lilac disappears, leaving Carol to pick up where she left off. Now the biggest problem is that the world seems to be against Carol, and she doesn't know if she can truly carry this responsibility.
As of now, there are 27 chapters in total and over 100,000 words. However, the author has stated that, due to real life issues, the story may never be completed.
It can be read on FanFiction.
This fanfic contains examples of:
- Aborted Arc: If the story is truly never to be continued, then there are many plot threads that will be left hanging.
- After-Action Healing Drama: The conflict of the first chapter deals with the team having to address Lilac's Wound That Will Not Heal from her battle with Brevon.
- Alternate Timeline: Specifically, a timeline where things go much, much worse after Brevon's defeat.
- All for Nothing:
- In Chapter 10, Carol and Torque reflect that their adventure over the past few chapters to get Red Petals for Milla, which nearly tore their team apart, turned out to be for nothing. They never acquired the petals and Milla ended up getting them from another source.
- In Chapter 12, Carol reflects on this again as she discovers that the Kingdom Stone hadn't actually been destroyed.
- Bloodier and Gorier: Lilac's injury in Chapter 1 is only the beginning.
- Cliffhanger: Almost every single chapter ends on one.
- Darker and Edgier: The story has almost entirely dropped the lighthearted fun and humor of the source material, choosing instead to place darker and grimmer focus on the aftermath of the game's events.
- Flashback: Carol has several throughout the story, both to the events of the game and to times long before that.
- Heterosexual Life-Partners: Lilac and Carol, who have been best friends since childhood, live(d) in the woods together, and consider the other the most precious thing in their world.
- Home of Monsters: Avalice, as it would appear, is home to Treeants, Chimeras, and all kinds of terrifying monstrosities.
- Loading Screen: Many chapters start or end with a take on one of these, featuring character select options, stage loading data, Game Overs, and Player Tips. Interestingly, they don't resemble much of anything in Freedom Planet proper.
- Sadistic Choice: In Chapter 9, Lilac reveals that after the fight against Brevon, she had to choose between saving Carol or the Kingdom Stone. She chose Carol, and the whole of Avalice is going to suffer for it. Supposedly.
- Slippy-Slidey Ice World: The North.
- Snow Means Death: Several characters very nearly freeze to death, and there's lots of imagery of bodies and spacecrafts being half-covered in snow.
- Take My Hand!: Carol and Neera have one of these in Chapter 15, albeit it's a spear instead of a hand.
- Wasn't That Fun?: In Chapter 10, after Torque flips Carol onto her back, she exclaims "That. Was. Awesome! Do it again!"
- When Trees Attack: The creatures that the heroes have to fight in Forsaken Woodland.
