She was a failure of a Mage, unable to cast even the simplest of spells. He was an Undead, a monster used as a pawn in battle he could never understand. They had nothing in common, and yet fate saw it fit to bind the two souls together.
Twisted Reflections
is a crossover fanfiction between Dark Souls and The Familiar of Zero by vendetta543.
The story starts with Louise summoning the Chosen Undead as her familiar, who first appears as a charred corpse after years of burning alive in the Kiln to prolong the First Flame.
He must adapt quickly to the strange new world he's found himself in as events soon spiral out of control forcing the two very different individuals to band together in order to survive the horrors that await them.
This series contains examples of:
- The Alcoholic: Henrietta ends up as this the longer the story goes on.
- Amnesiacs are Innocent: After Saxe-Gotha, Raziel loses his memories and shows that, without the trauma and memories, all that's left is a sweet and naive person who doesn't want to hurt anyone.
- Amnesiac Hero: Raziel doesn't even remember what his name was when he was first summoned by Louise, which is shown to be caused the trauma from burning alive in the Kiln for countless years.
- Taken even further when it's revealed that he's a fragment of Manus who's forgotten his past life and again when Derflinger seals away his memories after he starts rampaging as an Abyss Beast.
- And I Must Scream: Raziel spends an entire century burning alive in the Kiln of the First Flame before being summoned by Louise.
- Ax-Crazy: Raziel when under the effects of Manus is a raging berserker who tears opponents apart, oftentimes with his bare hands. Even without it he's prone to violence and sees no issue with killing people in gory ways.
- Best Friends-in-Law: Louise seems keen on the idea of being this with Raziel once she finds out about his and Cattleya's relationship.
- Body Horror: Raziel is a frequent victim of this due to his ability to endure and heal from severe damage that would kill most people thanks to his Undead state. The most notable instance of this is in the opening chapter where he appears as a charred corpse due to taking Gwyn's place in the Kiln of the First Flame.
- Characterization Marches On: Raziel starts out the story without even a name and what little personality is seen shows him to be much more naive and forgiving, a far cry from the violent, ruthless jerkass he's portrayed as later.
- Julio is portrayed as much more sinister in his first appearances, deliberately goading Raziel to losing control for his own amusement. This goes away later and Raziel never refers to it again despite his dislike of him.
- Dark Is Not Evil: Raziel and Alsanna, despite being shards of Manus. Especially prominent for the latter since she shows none of Raziel's tendencies towards violence.
- Demoted to Extra: Guiche, Siesta and Kirche, who were prominent in the early chapters, fade into the background after the war with Albion.
- Did Not Get The Guy: Despite their numerous amounts of Ship Tease, Raziel and Siesta's romantic relationship fizzles out due to various reasons and he ends up with Cattleya instead
- Double Standard: Abuse, Female on Male: Averted for Montmorency when she puts Guiche under a love potion, Raziel bluntly calls out Montmorency for forcing a love potion on Guiche and how much of a violation it was to brainwash him into loving only her. He even refers to it as rape.
- Dude Looks Like a Lady: Raziel after being brought back after the battle in Saxe-Gotha appears to be an androgynous teenager. Derflinger argues that it's due to him being a Child of the Dark given that the other Manus shards are all female.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: The first 8 chapters have the Characterization Marches On example above along with Raziel, rather bizarrely, referring to game mechanics such as stating that a tray he picks up enhances his dexterity. This was dropped later.
- Easily Forgiven: Despite going along with the impostor Wales, which directly leads to the death of the knights sent to rescue her, Henrietta faces no punishment and is treated as a friend who made a mistake by Louise. Averted by Raziel who despises her for this and calls her out at every possible opportunity.
- Eternal Recurrence: As established in Dark Souls II, the conflict between the Light and the Dark has repeated continuously with growing implications that Tristain is only the latest in a long line of said cycle. The latter half of the story deals with the characters trying to find a way to end, or at least survive, this cycle.
- Et Tu, Brute?: Raziel's reaction when he finds Tabitha working alongside the people who kidnapped Louise.
- Fantastic Racism: Just like in canon, the majority of people in Halkeginia consider nearly everything that isn't a human or familiar to be heresy. The non-humans living in Halkeginia live in constant fear and discrimination as a result.
- Ciaran's hatred of humans hasn't vanished even after years of living within human settlements.
- For the Evulz: King Joseph proves to be one of the most monstrous villains, while the other villains have their own objectives for justifying their actions Joseph is in it purely for his own sadistic amusement and nothing else.
- Friendly Neighborhood Vampire: Daphne and Amethyst are both vampires loyal to the crown who are conditioned to avoid killing humans and only take blood from the willing or criminals.
- God Test: Karin asks her past self what her sister had said to her the last time they had talked before she left for her knighthood in order to verify her identity.
- Jerkass: Too many to list due to the world's increasingly bleak chances of survival hardening most of the cast. Louise is a notable case as she's the only main character to grow out of being a jerkass instead of growing into one.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Despite the above many characters do attempt to do the right thing, or at least have good intentions. Raziel, being the protagonist, is the most prominent example.
- Kick the Dog: Manus brutally killing a Daughter of Chaos then deliberately letting her little brother suffer, which eventually leads to the creation of the Ceaseless Discharge.
- Kid from the Future: Estelle is revealed to be the future daughter of Raziel and a currently unspecified woman.
- Likes Older Women: Raziel is shown to be attracted to both Henrietta and Louise's mothers, both of whom have to be at least in their mid 40's, though this is complicated on whether one counts his years spent in the Kiln or not. Cattleya and his relationship with her may or may not count as well. At the very least she appears to be older than he is.
- Living Emotional Crutch: Raziel and Louise act as such to one another at their lowest points, especially when Raziel is corrupted by Manus. Louise is one of - if not the only - person shown to be capable of snapping him back to sanity.
- Love Potion: Montmorency creates a love potion to force Guiche to stop his unfaithful womanizing ways, it backfires when he becomes obsessed with her to the point of trying to force himself on her. Raziel accidental drinks the same love potion and becomes obsessed with Louise but restrains himself enough to avoid such behaviour.
- Mugging the Monster: Various characters taunt and/or attack Raziel not knowing he's an extremely hardy and vicious Undead.
- Nice Girl: Estelle is one of the most genuinely kind-hearted characters, not possessing any hidden malicious or cynical side like many of the other seemingly kind characters. Tiffania and Daphne count as well, despite the latter being a Vampire.
- Other examples include Cattleya and Siesta, though they both have cynical sides underneath.
- No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: Louise frees the captive Winged Ones trapped alongside other Firstborns that were being held prisoner and experimented on. This despite Raziel's advice as she had promised one of their dying soldiers that had shared information to free his family. It unfortunately backfires and the other Firstborns slaughter nearby villages shortly after being freed.
- No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Raziel seems to be a fan of this when not cutting people apart with Derflinger. Sheffield ends up on one such case and it ends with her skull being shattered.
- Oblivious to Love: Raziel is completely oblivious to Siesta's obvious attraction and attempts to start a relationship with him. Justified considering he came from Lordran where even platonic relationships tend to be rare and strained. He's also an Undead, which only complicates things further.
- Older Than They Look: Raziel, despite his young appearance, is at least over a 100 years old given the time he spent in the Kiln. Becomes even worse after the war with Albion where he's described as appearing 14 or 15 at most.
- Past-Life Memories: The characters who are revealed to be reincarnations eventually remember the memories of their past lives, which includes Raziel's memories as Manus, Henrietta's memories as Gwynevere, and Julio's memories as Gwyn.
- Relationship Upgrade: Raziel and Cattleya.
- Romantic False Lead: Siesta, ultimately.
- Running Gag: Early on Raziel had a bad habit of stalking Sylphid in order to cut off her tail for a weapon. Oddly enough, when he and Tabitha kill a fully grown fire dragon he doesn't do the same.
- Self-Harm: Done multiple times by Raziel to prove he's an Undead.
- Sex for Solace: After Louise's kidnapping by King Joseph, Raziel and Cattleya end up sleeping together in a way of coping with their mutual grief.
- Stepford Smiler: Cattleya's revealed to be hiding a lot of resentment and anger despite her normal behavior. She tells Raziel that she puts up a front in order to avoid worrying her siblings and parents.
- Stronger Than They Look: Raziel, Daphne and Amethyst are capable of feats of strength despite what their slender and wiry builds suggest. Estelle as well with the past Karin wondering outright how she's capable of using a bow despite her emaciated appearance.
- Sweet Polly Oliver: Past!Karin very poorly disguised herself as a male when becoming a Knight but still ends up shocked when Estelle sees through it with ease.
- Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Raziel with Henrietta and Ciaran. While their goals align it's clear that none of them are exactly fond of the other and only work together due to necessity.
- The Stoic: Raziel and Tabitha. Henrietta tries to be this later but breaks down in private due to stress.
- The Hedonist: King Joseph cares for nothing but his own sadistic amusement and doesn't even give much care to his country or daughter. Manus was also revealed to be hedonistic during his time as a human but not to the extent of Joseph.
- The Reveal: Raziel isn't a normal Undead. He's actually a Manus shard like Nashandra and Alsanna who wandered around till eventually possessing the corpse at the cell of the Undead Asylum.
- Took a Level in Jerkass: Raziel and Henrietta. For the first few chapters they start off relatively naive and well-meaning but various events and (in Raziel's case) recovering memories eventually harden them to much harder, ruthless characters.
- Took a Level in Kindness: Louise generally becomes much more pleasant the longer the story goes, in direct contrast to how her friends develop.
- Tough Leader Façade: Henrietta is forced to become a colder and much more ruthless figure in order to see her country through treacherous nobles, a war and the coming end of the cycle.
- Undying Loyalty: Raziel and Louise for each other. It becomes clear the longer the story goes on that they consider the other family and are perfectly willing to die for one another. Louise has this for Henrietta as well, much to Raziel's annoyance.
- Villain Protagonist: Manus in the flashback chapters. Dips into Evil vs. Evil given that the Gods and their allies, most notably Seath, are just as bad, if not worse, than him.
- Voluntary Vampire Victim: Raziel allows Daphne to feed off his blood out of practicality while travelling together to get home.
