Flesh and Blood

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Flesh and Blood is a Teknoman AU written by Cyblade Silver that involves both Slade and Saber being rescued from becoming servants of Darkon. With 21 chapters so far, each chapter corresponding to slightly more than a full episode of the series, it's a fairly long read, so consider setting aside a weekend if you want to read the whole thing.

Not to be confused with the 1985 film Flesh+Blood.

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Tropes used in Flesh and Blood include:

• Alone in a Crowd: The twins, before they became a true part of the Space Knights.
• A Shared Suffering: Slade and Saber at the beginning of the story.
• Apologetic Attacker: Spear, to both Slade and Saber during their first and second meetings.
• Back-to-Back Badasses: When they need to deal with a particularly large group of Spider-crabs, Slade and Saber often use this method.
• Bash Brothers: The twins themselves.
• Beneath the Mask: Saber, when things are particularly serious.
• Berserk Button: For both twins: the other being attacked, captured, or hurt.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Saber; whenever he smiles after something bad happens to either him or Slade, watch out.
• Big Brother Instinct: Slade and Saber both have this towards each other. To say nothing of Spear, of course.
• Blue Eyes: Saber's eyes have been described as sky-blue.
• Boisterous Bruisers
• Cain and Abel: Inverted; Saber's birth name remains Cain, but he and Ness have a closer relationship than in canon.
• Chef of Iron: Spear is implied to be this.
• Children Forced to Kill: Teknoman Rapier, aka Sam Carter, is only 14 years old.
• Classical Antiheroes
• Combat Pragmatist: Most of the Teknomen, with the exception of Spear.
• Converse with the Unconscious: Slade does this with Saber in chapter 4.
• Cover Blowing Super Powers:
  • Healing Factor
  • Super Reflexes
  • Telepathy
• The Cynic: Saber, Slade, and Ringo all qualify, to almost the same degree.
• Dark Is Not Evil: Saber.
• Deadpan Snarker: Both twins have elements of this, but for Saber it's a way of life.
• Determinators
• Deuteragonist: Saber becomes this.
• Disappointed in You: Spear often says this; he's ignored just as often.
• Don't Look Back: Slade and Saber both try not to think about their Dark and Troubled Past.
• Dramatic Shattering: Happens to Slade's teknocrystal in chapter 6.
• Dying as Yourself: Fritz / Gunnar.
• Earn Your Bittersweet Ending
• Eating Lunch Alone: When Saber is injured, Slade does this; he isn't particularly happy about it.
• Even Evil Teknomen Love Their Younger Brothers
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones
• Family Values Villain: Spear.
• Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: They do this for fun.
• Divergence Fic: Saber was freed from the teknopod, the Carter family has a fifth child, and Conrad becomes The Dragon instead of the Big Bad.
• Four-Temperament Ensemble:
  • Sanguine (Saber)
  • Choleric (Ringo)
  • Melancholic (Slade)
  • Phlegmatic (Star)
• Friendly Rivalry: The twins, again.
• Good Is Not Dumb: The Space Knights in general, with Ringo, Saber, and Slade all demonstrating that Good Is Not Nice at various times.
• Human Pack Mule: Saber, during his trip to the mall with Tina and Star.
• Hurting Heroes
• I Am What I Am: Slade declares this at the end of chapter 19, almost verbatim.
• "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight: Spear of all people tries this with Slade and Saber when he first meets up with them. It... doesn't work out.
• It's All My Fault: Part of Slade's Guilt Complex.
• Kill the Ones You Love
• Knight in Sour Armor: Both twins to some degree, though Saber more than Slade.
• Knight Templar Big Brother: Spear, in spades.
• Lap Pillow: Slade uses Saber as this whenever he has a bad day.
• Living Emotional Crutch: Saber, to Slade.
• Living Ship: Darkon's ship; implied to be true about all of the Radam's ships.
• Lonely Together: The twins at the beginning of the story.
• Love Is a Weakness: Slade and Saber both believe this at the beginning of the story. They get better.
• Massive-Numbered Siblings: The Carter family
  • Conrad / Spear
  • Ness / Slade
  • Cain / Saber
  • Shara
  • Sam / Rapier
• Meat Puppet: Spear, and by extension all of the evil Teknomen, thanks to the Radam mind parasite.
• Menacing Stroll: As in canon, a staple of Radam Teknomen.
• My God, What Have I Done?: Slade, after he nearly strangles Saber to death.
• My Master, Right or Wrong: Spear all over, for obvious reasons.
• Mythology Gag: Saber goes to the mall with Tina and Star, and ends up in an outfit almost completely identical to the one he wore in the anime.
• Necessarily Evil: How Spear sees himself.
• No Badass to His Valet: Ringo, though he is very much a friend to the twins, doesn't think of either of them remotely the way that the AEM does.
• No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Balzac gives Saber one of these after Marlowe dies.
• No Sense of Personal Space: Saber accuses Balzac of this, while standing right behind Slade.
• Now or Never Kiss: Maggie, with Saber, at the end of chapter 16. Doubles as The Big Damn Kiss.
• Only Friend: Saber to Slade, at the beginning of the story.
• Patchwork Fic: uses the US dub's names for the characters, but refers to the invaders as the "Radam" instead of the "Venomoids".
• Phlebotinum Rebels
• Pop-Cultured Badass: Saber makes references to old movies and TV shows; Slade does as well, but not nearly as much.
• Properly Paranoid: "Just because you're paranoid, doesn't mean they aren't out to get you."
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Slade and Saber, respectively.
• Repeat What You Just Said: Saber asks Balzac to do this, then punches him in the face.
• Running Gag:
  • Slade: "Slacker" Saber: "Spaz"
  • Saber says something sarcastic, or acts overly literal, Slade: "Wiseass."
• Sad Clown: Saber comes off as this, sometimes.
• Sarcasm Failure: When this happens to Saber, it generally means that something has Gone Horribly Wrong.
• Security Cling: Slade, to Saber in chapter 18, coupled with Cry Into Chest.
• Sleep Cute: The twins after a particularly bad day; Ringo even compares them to kittens.
• Sibling Seniority Squabble: Slade is thirty minutes older than Saber, though this doesn't often come up in conversation, Slade is still clearly aware of it.
• Sibling Team: Arguably the point of the 'fic.
• Sibling Yin-Yang
• Soft-Spoken Sadist: Spear, though not so much the "sadist" part.
• Someday This Will Come in Handy: Saber's learning to break out of handcuffs before the Carters and the rest of the Argos crew met up with the Radam subverted, as they don't escape from the Military even in spite of that.
• Team Dad / A Father to His Men: Commander Jamison, though he's more reserved than most.
• Relative Button
• They Call Him Spear
• The Dutiful Son: Spear thinks of himself this way. Really, he's more of a Tragic Villain.
• The Family That Slays Together: What Spear wants; he's... not likely to get it.
• The Fettered: On the good side: Slade and Saber's loyalty to each other, as well an Ringo and Star's; as well as that of the Space Knights in general to Earth. On the Radam side: Spear's loyalty to Darkon and his worry for the rest of his family.
• The Matchmaker: Ringo and Saber for Slade and Star.
• The Only One I Trust: Saber and Slade were this to each other, before they warmed up to the Space Knights.
• The Stations of the Canon: Even with Saber alongside him, Slade's life isn't that much easier.
• They Look Just Like Everyone Else: The evil Teknomen; all except for their eyes.
• The Promise: Slade and Saber's is to protect each other. Though originally, Ness had promised their father that he would protect Cain.
• Tranquil Fury: Spear's usual style of fighting. Also applies to Saber, when he gets particularly angry.
• Trickster Twins: A bit more tame than most, considering the circumstances.
• Title Drop: By Spear, in chapter 12: "Do you think I enjoy having to hunt down my own family? My flesh and blood?"; and again by Star in chapter 19.
• Troubled Fetal Position: Slade, after he pushes Saber away so that Saber can fight the Radam Spider-crabs without him.
• Twin Banter
• Twin Telepathy: Used frequently, both in and out of battle.
• Undying Loyalty: Slade and Saber to each other, and Spear to Darkon.
• We Used To Be Family: Spear's constant refrain, and the reason he doesn't fight the twins as hard as he could.
• You Are Not Alone: Saber says this to Slade when his brother is strangling him after he goes over his thirty minute time limit and succumbs to the Radam influence.
• You Can't Go Home Again: Even if they win, neither Slade nor Saber are the people they used to be.