Yuo Failure Tango

The Yuo Failure Tango is an alt universe if Yuo rejected Izzie's feelings and how far she might fall. Izzie loves with all her heart, which is both a blessing and a curse. There's several branching paths in how things can go. The main two are 'The Cold Neutral' where Izzie holds it together but ultimately never stops holding a torch for Yuo, and 'The Downward Spiral' where Izzie can't hold it together and eventually dies as her connection to The First Lord gnaws at her very soul.

This is a sad story about a plucky girl becoming The Woobie, and doing her best to avoid becoming what she fears more than heartbreak.

TAGS: Angst, Hurt No Comfort, Woobification

PROLOGUE: Faram was wrong.

Izzie bites her lip a bit, thinking of exactly what she put in her diary of what she said she would do.. but committing to it is so hard. She starts to pout while staring into his eyes and takes a shuddering breath "W-well, there's something I think everyone else has noticed but you.."

She then uses a tentacle to pull his face down lower.. and gives Yuo the smallest peck on the lips. "I-I have a crush on you! A-and I keep seeing you and it gets worse and worse.. Y-you don't have to r-return it. I-I just thought you should know..."

Yuo blushes a bit "S-sorry. I don't really uh, feel that way about you. You're.. more like a little sister to me, y'know?"

He rejected her outright. Didn't want her feelings. Didn't want her. She gave a pained smile. "That's okay. I kind of figured. It won't change how I feel, but that's okay too. I-I should probably go. Before this gets more awkward." In an instant she teleports away, a floor below, hitting the cargo hold with a thump as she finds an empty keg to cry in.

The last thing Yuo mutters under his breath is "Izzie.." He's worried, but she'll be fine. She's strong. Mie always got over things after a bit of alone time. It'd be the same here, right?

She didn't want anyone to see it. She'd abandoned her dress to avoid ripping or dirtying it. In this darkness illuminated by her many glowing yellow eyes she could see what a monster she really is. How far she is from redemption. Perhaps she wouldn't be worthy of it. She'd messed up so badly. She failed so many people. She didn't deserve a happy ending. She didn't deserve Yuo, anyway.

She didn't deserve much of anything given her origins and how badly she'd doomed everything and everyone. It'd have been better if she had stayed locked in the tower or gone with the Architects. Maybe she'd ask to turn herself in. Maybe she'd do it herself in the dead of night. Just give up.

She can hear that cursed echo from her dreams. His voice. "You might do yourself some good by turning yourself into us. Save yourself some heartbreak."

No.. no.. Her father wouldn't want this. He didn't let her out just to never have her come home.

She had to make it home someday.

She'd just stay here a little while longer until her broken heart stopped hurting so badly.

She didn't deserve Yuo, anyway.

There's a whisper in her head telling her she doesn't deserve anyone at all.

THE COLD NEUTRAL

Izzie was getting very good at holding in her feelings. She was learning how to paint a smile onto her very soul. She couldn't just throw away everything over a boy. She had to be strong. She had to earn her redemption. She'd get over it like she got over everything else that had happened to her. Roe had taught her so much about hiding her feelings and controlling herself. She'd control herself now and everything would be fine. It'd be fine. It'd be fine.

She would set up Mie and Yuo together and they'd be so cute. Yuo deserved to be happy, and Keanu wasn't the kind of gentleman that Mie needed anyway. It'd create some much-needed distance between her and Yuo and everything would be fine. She couldn't cry in her room forever.

She doesn't remember using her slime to stain over her doodles about Yuo in her diary, but she did. She's also not sure when she stopped desiring her own fairytale, but that happened too. She doesn't really deserve a happy ending anyway. The best she could hope for is just saving the world from her own mistakes. A neutral end. A good enough end.

The whisper in her head doesn't need to remind her of anything and is eventually replaced by her own voice.

"Hey, I uh, I need to part ways for a while, guys. There's some loose ends I should probably tie up."

He's leaving. Izzie both does and doesn't want to see him go. She's losing a friend, but she's also losing the person it hurts to look at.

"Stay safe out there, Yuo. You made a promise we'd go to the Xanthous."

His eyes widened a bit. "You still want to do that?"

Izzie looks down. She's not sure she does. "I think so. It'd be proper."

It hurts. It hurts it hurts it hurts. Her chest is going to squeeze her to death. The others share their platitudes.

"Well, I'll be off then. Try not to get into too much trouble without me."

She lets out a shaky breath when he's gone. Why does this still hurt? Why can't she get over it? Why is she starting to cry? It's been weeks and yet the wound is as fresh as ever. She heads back to her room to curl up in her cot.

It will never stop hurting.

She looks at everyone at the end of their journey and manages to smile. There's one final battle left, and she knows she's not likely to make it out. She never managed to accomplish much. If she lives through this, she can finally go home and stop the ache in her chest when she looks at Yuo.

She doesn't know who to give her ring to. Who will go back to the Philosopher and face his sorrow.

In the end, knowing there is only one man who bears a scar only for her...

"Yuo." She plays with the ring in her fingers idly.

"What's up?" Things have been awkward between them more of the adventure than not. She still protects him. Still has that crush. He never changed his feelings, or if he did, he never said anything about it.

"I'm not likely to make it out of the battle tomorrow, so I was hoping if I don't, you'd return this ring to the Philosopher. If we win, you can give it back to me, and we can plan our trip to the Xanthous." She looks sad. Resigned. As if she is convinced she dies here. Even Leto's death didn't make her look so sad. Even the heartbreak didn't hurt her so much. Having to face Yuo at the end like this hurts so deeply. She feels like she's dying right now.

"Yeah, sure. I can do that." He takes the ring. "I'm sure we'll make it though, Izzie. We always do."

Izzie doesn't make eye contact. "Yeah, we do." She knows she's not ready. She leaves it like that.

Her attacks slide off The First Lord so easily. There is nothing she can do to fix this. The pain in her heart has ruined her ability to connect to her friends. Her potential has been destroyed. She can't wish harder, can't fight harder. Together, with Mie and Yuo, they siphon off some of his power for themselves. It's just barely enough to turn the tide around. She can buy them time.

"Where's the reinforcements?! We had the whole Planescape on him last time!"

Mie grits her teeth "I don't know! We're not going to last on the front lines!"

Yuo goes toe to toe with The First Lord. Fists against his blades. He can't hold out even with Izzie's haste protecting him.

Izzie gulps and makes a choice at that moment. Who dies today. Her body glows ever more radiantly as she screams "IF I'M GOING TO DIE TODAY IT WILL BE A NOBLE SACRIFICE!" She takes the blow that would have killed Yuo and smiles as haste wears off, leaving him vulnerable. "FOR THE WISH OF MY FRIENDS! THE HOPE OF THE PLANES! LET ME BE THEIR MARTYR! TO SAVE THEM ALL IN MY DYING BREATH!" She takes another hit, and her slimy body loses consistency. She is a viscous, oozing mess.

"Izzie! No!"

The light in her eyes is going dim. "I wish for the survival of this world! I wish for the safety of the Planescape! I was never good for anything but protecting one person, and I can't do that if the whole world vanishes!" Her tentacles wrap around him and she oozes onto him. Is devoured by him. She pumps him with everything good in this world, and her everlasting love for Yuo. It hurts him more than any weapon.

Izzie dies subsumed by The First Lord, pushing his possessed host from his body.

The First Lord is left sputtering on the ground trying to recover from the clashing psychic energy and the loss of his host as Yuo stands above him.

"Izzie would forgive you for this. She'd tell you that you can live in this world as you are and experience the good things now. That you don't have to cling to the pain and sorrow. But you've killed her. She can't tell you those things now." Yuo's grip on his blade has his knuckles turn white. "So, I offer you the redemption she would, but only once."

The First Lord growls low and angry "As if you have any right to offer that, after hurting her so deeply."

Yuo's eyes widen but are glassy with tears. Mie steps in and starts siphoning The First further, and Yuo follows suit. They leave nothing behind as they ascend. Some of Izzie's essence remains in them. The fragmented love of a girl that no longer exists.

Their victory is hollow and painful.

THE DOWNWARD SPIRAL

Izzie spent her free moments away from cooking or cleaning locked in her room. She still had *feelings* for Yuo each time she saw him. She didn't want to stare at him anymore or be a bother. She'd get over it eventually. She got over her crush on her father when she was younger (So embarrassing! But it wasn't like she knew many men to want for) and it would be the same here. Sure, she might be crying in her room the second she's away from everyone, but she'd get over it.

She just had to breathe and remind herself that fairytales are just that. That happy endings are only in stories. That she didn't deserve one or him, anyway.

He'd be so much happier with a girl like Mie.

The whisper tells her that they'd all be happier if she were gone. The others notice the streaks down her face and the bags under her eyes. Mie has noticed Izzie won't share a bunk anymore and faces away from her at night. They don't talk much anymore. She shares her concerns with everyone else, but nobody can make Izzie open up if she doesn't want to.

She hadn't really noticed it, but she'd started avoiding Mie too. She looked so much like him, and she'd only really noticed it now that she was trying to make herself stop liking Yuo. She might've even fallen for Mie, but she wasn't about to take her as a second best. Besides, she'd look much happier with Yuo. They already had such chemistry. It'd be best to set them up.

It'd hurt less if they'd just kiss already.

The whisper tells her it'll never stop hurting.

She knew they'd call her out eventually on how she was acting. She's acting too much like Leto before *it* happened. She's sad and her heart is broken. She's allowed to mope. She's allowed to take time to heal. She's allowed to wish she never left home. She won't abandon her friends or the quest her father gave her, but it's so hard. She's not strong enough, and she's breaking apart.

The whisper is a constant trying to convince her to give up, and she's losing ground.

In the end, she doesn't make any progress towards feeling better. Their words are empty against the gnawing darkness, and now Yuo is a pariah in the group for the single sin of not loving her back, when she doesn't see herself as having ever deserved it.

Ending A

Blood comes from Yuo's mouth as he takes a near-fatal blow. One more strike and he'll be gone. She still loves him, it's why it still hurts to look at him. It will never stop hurting. His stance is unsteady as his consciousness wavers. Izzie realizes this is her out. She doesn't want to hurt forever. She doesn't want to become a primal. She doesn't want to rejoin the First Lord. She's not strong enough. She's never going home. The Philosopher was wrong about her.

All she was ever good for was saving one person.

"Izzie! Stay back!"

The enemy doesn't go down despite the blows Yuo makes with Redemption. One of them is going to fall here. She dives in front of a hit meant for Yuo.

"Izzie!"

The world goes dark as she hits the ground.

"Ke%nu! Hu@&y!" "Iz$%#!" "%$st%&d!"

The lights in her bright yellow eyes go out. Yuo reaches out. Some part of him is singing for her. This feels right. Her power drains into him, and then the realization two have become one.

"Wh-where-" Izzie knows this mind. "Yuo?"

"Sorry. I couldn't let you die. I don't know what's happened, but we're in this together."

Waves of love are washing over him despite everything. Izzie takes control from him as she accidentally batters Yuo with all the reasons she loves him. Perhaps had she done this from the start, he would have never rejected her.

If he accepts her love or not no longer matters, the body is now Izzie's. Yuo is her eternal partner, the voice of reason in a confusing fusion.

Ending B

She's gotten desperate to escape what she knows is coming. The whispers are gnawing at her sanity. She needs to die. She doesn't trust the Architects to keep her under control. The Philosopher was wrong about her. She wasn't ready at all. There's only one god-like entity she trusts. It's time to go home.

She doesn't tell anyone she's leaving. She leaves a note that says "I wasn't strong enough. I don't want to become like Leto. I'm sorry." before she grabs her things and goes.

Her dad looks at her with understanding. They hug, and he hopes deep down this is enough to save her from herself. Or he'll have to be the one who kills her.

Post Ending B

Yuo has come to the tower to know the end of one mystery and only one mystery. Faram has refused to come, knowing if the ending is happy, they'll tell him. Beside him are Roe, Mie, and Keanu. The people she left behind.

The gates open. This is a question only The Philosopher can answer, and he will. The Tenser's disk lowers and brings them up to the top.

Post Ending B, Bad

They enter and she's not here to greet them. The Philosopher brings them to the room many of them remember from the first time with it's blue velvet theme and sits them down. There is no tea brought. The Philosopher looks pained.

"I know why you've come and what you want to ask. Izzie is dead. She couldn't overcome the nature of The First Lord, and I put her down at her own request."

Yuo looks the most hurt. The Philosopher answers what he's thinking.

"It wasn't you, if that's what you're thinking, Yuo. There were many things weighing on Izzie, that eventually formed a wound that couldn't be healed by any of us."

Roe looks devastated "Sire, you must be the most hurt of any of us. We vowed to protect her and failed. If there's any way we can help repay this terrible debt-"

"Sir Roe, your offer is kind, but I will be fine. I treasure the moments I did have with her, and that is enough."

The silence could be cut with a knife.

Mie cuts through it, her voice thick with sadness “Where did you bury her?”

“There was nothing to bury.” He says, as if it were obvious “Nor a soul to go onto the afterlife. All that remains of her are memories.” he gives a pained look, his veneer of calm cracking “I hope you come to cherish yours.”

Post Ending B, Good

Izzie is there when they open the door. Tall and dark purple, her yellow features stained into orange. She stands behind The Philosopher looking incredibly anxious. Almost terrified.

"Lady Izzie, you're alright!" "What happened?" "Don't you ever leave us again!"

Izzie avoids their touch "Please, calm down. I am not what I'd call fine but, I am doing better."

Her gaze is locked on Yuo. She still loves him. Still hurts to see him.

"I fought my personal battle with The First Lord and won, though not nearly as glamorous as becoming Legends as you all are..."

Her eyes flicker with red "...I'll be okay, as long as I'm away from others."

"Lady Izzie, that's no better than what the Architects wanted to do to you."

"I know, Roe, but I am a dangerous thing. I may.. Do away with myself, soon, to prevent the First Lord from rising again."

"Izzie, no, you wouldn't.."

"I feel I must. To prevent the cycle from happening again. Otherwise, I will spend my eternity in these walls, serving father his tea."

There is an uncomfortable silence that falls over the group.

"Can you really not be outside?"

"The truth is that I am teetering on the edge of becoming as The First was. He dug his claws into my mind deep, and my soul was once a fragment of his. I would become worse than any primal. You would have to kill me. I don't want to put anyone in danger. I would prefer to die as I am now."

There's murmurs of agreement and understanding, but nobody likes it.

The silence following could be cut with a knife.

The Philosopher ends it with a request for tea and story-telling, and by the end of the visit that becomes the last they ever see of Izzie.