X 2009 Epic

If I have to animate another decapitation sequence, I'm going to scream.

Remember Tokyo Babylon and X 1999? "Oh CLAMP," you said, "between the gratuitous homoeroticism and the gratuitous heterochromaticism, you're tugging on my heart strings! This pain, it is beautiful and terrible."

It Got Worse.

The premise of CLAMP's manga and anime X 1999 puts the Apocalypse in the hands of a fifteen year-old boy, Shirou Kamui. His choice between saving humanity and saving the planet is complicated by his own indecision, his own lack of information. Epic is an Alternate Universe Fic by Mithrigil that updates the situation--what if Kamui had been given ten additional years, to make an informed decision?

Given that premise, it's no wonder Epic takes the Darker and Edgier route. Gone are The Woobie and the concept of breaking the cutie: with the youngest member of the central cast a twenty-four year old animator, this is definitely not a story about people pretending to be ordinary high school students while saving the world. It also directly challenges the concept of Too Soon, discussing terrorism in a directed political fashion.

Epic is complete and can be read here.

This Fanfic provides examples of the following tropes:
 * Affably Evil: Representative Kigai
 * Alas, Poor Yorick: Subverted, they never find head.
 * Angsty Surviving Twin: Subaru.
 * Anyone Can Die: Played straight. A reversal of X, actually:, whereas ten years later in Epic,
 * Apocalypse of the Week: Was supposed to happen in 1999 and was delayed until Kamui could make an informed decision.
 * Authority Equals Asskicking: Despite his obvious mental instability and the fact that he's sleeping with the enemy, Subaru has managed to rule the Sumeragi Clan unchallenged for seven years on sheer value of kicking ass.
 * Badass: Several, most notably Badass Longcoat Subaru Sumeragi, who took at least one level in 2001 when he blew up the SONY building.
 * Because Destiny Says So: Subverted repeatedly.
 * Big Bad Friend:
 * Bishonen: Subverted, since they're all older. There are references to Kamui looking like he was a manga character before he grew up.
 * Bring Out Your Gay Dead: As in X.
 * Chekhov's Gun:, which would make Chekhov's Gunman and  Chekhov's Boomerang.
 * The Chosen One: Kamui.
 * Cluster F-Bomb: Even the monk calls "Horseshit."
 * Crowning Moment of Awesome: "We are the first-and-second."
 * Also,, and Sorata
 * Dead Little Sister: Kotori becomes one.
 * Death by Irony:
 * Also later,
 * Death by Sex: Subverted twice: once,, and a second time . Averted for
 * Deconstructor Fleet: CARD-CARRYING MEMBER!
 * Disability Superpower: Subverted hard.
 * Don't You Dare Pity Me!: Subaru most of the time, and
 * Downer Ending
 * Dropped a Bridge on Him: Averted, though the bridge literally drops.
 * Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors
 * Emotionless Girl: Still Arashi.
 * Every Car Is a Pinto: Quintuple-subversion! Cars are established as a big deal in book one, including Seishirou's Tommy Kaira tb. Then, in the beginning of book two, the Dragons of Earth inform us that Every Car Can Die. First subverted when, double-subverted when , discussed and triple-subverted when , quadruple-subverted when , and shot to hell when . Phew!
 * Eye Scream: Kakyou's whole arc deals with eyes.
 * Face Heel Turn:
 * Family-Unfriendly Death: Pretty much all of them.
 * Five-Man Band
 * The Hero:, subverted
 * The Lancer: Sorata, and proud of it.
 * The Big Guy: Arashi, subverted because, you know. Chick. In hakama.
 * The Smart Guy: Aoki, also Team Dad.
 * The Chick: Yuzuriha
 * Five-Bad Band
 * Big Bad:, subverted Also doubles as Evil Genius.
 * The Dragon: Representative Kigai!
 * The Brute: Anonymous and Nataku
 * Dark Chick: Kakyou
 * Genre Savvy: Sorata, most of the time, and Seishirou, at least pertaining to their own stories.
 * The rest of the cast, at any given time, is actually Wrong Genre Savvy:
 * Kamui thinks he is when he is in fact neither.
 * Fuuma thinks he is an Everyman Hero in either an Urban Fantasy or a Spy flick, and is wrong on both counts. Etc.
 * Yuzuriha educates Kusanagi on the brief history of heroes and villains in anime, at the beginning of book 2, and she still doesn't get it.
 * Geodesic Cast: Discussed and ultimately subverted.
 * Dying Declaration of Love:
 * Heroic Sacrifice:
 * Hoist by His Own Petard:
 * Hometown Hero: Fuuma, the Marvel.
 * Ho Yay: Discussed, occasionally realized.
 * Seishirou and Subaru As in Tokyo Babylon and X, this is far enough out of subtext and into text to qualify. Pretty much every scene they are in together ends or begins with sexual activity.
 * Kakyou
 * Fuuma and Kamui's Foe Yay persists.
 * Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: Kusanagi and Yuzuriha.
 * I Have the High Ground: "Science abhors a hypocrite."
 * Also,
 * And immediately after that,
 * I Just Want to Be Normal: Subverted with Kamui, who's pretty much gotten over it.
 * I Just Want to Be Special: Daisuke.
 * Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Twice, and then . In the Back.
 * Incredibly Obvious Bomb: Subverted. Kusanagi has to ask which cars they were hidden in.
 * Instant AI, Just Add Water: Subverted, since Nataku cannot function without Anonymous.
 * Invisible to Normals: As in X.
 * Journey to the Center of the Mind: Multiple times, thanks to Kakyou.
 * Kick the Dog: is very fond of doing this.
 * Just. Which might actually cross the Moral Event Horizon.
 * Love Makes You Evil: Double-subversion:
 * Magnificent Bastard: A favorite trope of the author.
 * Seishirou.
 * Representative Kigai.
 * Meaningful Funeral: Two of them.
 * Mind Game Ship: Seishirou/Subaru, as in X.
 * Modesty Bedsheet: Averted where the manga could not.
 * Moral Dissonance: Discussed. One of the predominant themes of the story is that the terrorists always win by virtue of acting at all. The only time a Dragon of Heaven seeks out defeats a Dragon of Earth, Then again,  things would be very different.
 * My Significance Sense Is Tingling: As in X.
 * No, Mr. Bond, I Expect You to Dine: Subaru has Sorata and Arashi over for tea ceremony, during which he tells them very politely where they and their apocalypse can stick it.
 * Officer and a Gentleman: Kusanagi.
 * The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: Seishirou Subaru that
 * Only One Name: Hinoto, Kanoe, Nataku, Anonymous.
 * Only Sane Man: Kusanagi.
 * Subverted with.
 * Parental Obliviousness:
 * Reasonable Authority Figure: Imonoyama. See also Screw the Rules, I Have Money.
 * Redemption Equals Death:
 * Red Eyes, Take Warning: Fuuma.
 * Sacrificial Lamb: Tokiko, later Kotori.
 * Seers: One on each side.
 * Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: Most of the ones that pass through Kakyou.
 * Shoot the Shaggy Dog:
 * Sibling Yin-Yang: Burly, athletic and gigantic Fuuma and frail, sickly and artistic Kotori.
 * The Dutiful Son: Fuuma and Kamui both qualify.
 * The Everyman: Segawa Keiichi, sports reporter.
 * Too Good for This Sinful Earth: Subverted with Kotori.
 * Too Soon: Subverted. The point.
 * Twin Threesome Fantasy: Subverted, Kakyou finds it disgusting.
 * Waif Prophet: Hinoto and Kakyou both qualify.
 * Well-Intentioned Extremist: Kamui.
 * You Killed My Father: Fuuma thinks Kamui did it. Fuuma is wrong.
 * The Everyman: Segawa Keiichi, sports reporter.
 * Too Good for This Sinful Earth: Subverted with Kotori.
 * Too Soon: Subverted. The point.
 * Twin Threesome Fantasy: Subverted, Kakyou finds it disgusting.
 * Waif Prophet: Hinoto and Kakyou both qualify.
 * Well-Intentioned Extremist: Kamui.
 * You Killed My Father: Fuuma thinks Kamui did it. Fuuma is wrong.