Songfic, of the song+fic sort.

Lullaby of Lucretia

As I walked down by the riverside
One evening in the spring,

I sit by the river, flooded by the Spring thaw, and listen to it’s soft mutters that remind me of her voice, whispering at night. The memories bring a tear to my eye as I remember the comfort of her in the night.

Heard a long gone song
From days gone by
Blown in on the great North wind,

I hear the song she used to sing me afterwards…the song I loved only from her. An ancient ballad of love and loss, carried both in the water and the bitter cold of the wind that blows from the mountain, the wind that blows from the falls.

Though there is no lonesome corncrake’s cry
Of sorrow and delight,

It serves me as a reminder of simpler times, when creatures existed that weren’t monsters. Gone now, hunted to extinction by their more “evolved” brethren, if the monsters created by Mako can be said to be “evolved”.

You can hear the cars
And the shouts from bars,

The people of the wider world, they found your lake, not long after I and my companions did. It’s a tourist attraction now, full of pollution. No longer can I swim in it’s waters. No longer can I walk a full circuit.

And the laughter and the fights,

But still they come, and still they enjoy it, though it has lost it’s crystaline beauty. Sometimes I think I should join them, enjoy the bar life, with it’s joys and it’s troubles, but I seem unable to summon the passion in me for it, as I fail to do for so much else.

May the ghosts that howled
Round the house at night
Never keep you from your sleep,

That’s what she’d sing to me. Sometimes I think I see her near the lake, on the clearer nights, see her staring at me, and each time I do, I feel the tug of a wish to join her, to be with her.

May they all sleep tight
Down in hell tonight
Or wherever they may be.

And as I look down at my metal arm, I wonder whether I belong with them, in the pit. This doom was given to me by Hojo and by my own actions. I am already part demon, why not complete the journey…


As I walked on with a heavy heart,

I want to move on from this place, to leave, to become one with the Planet, but I can’t, because he is here. Why won’t I leave? Each time I try, I feel his presence and I can’t do it.

Then a stone danced on the tide,

I look up at the splash, and see him there, throwing them with his human arm, staring at me, staring through me. Sometimes I think he sees me, and when I do, I sing to him.

And the song went on
Though the lights were gone
And the North wind gently sighed,

I can’t help but do it each time. I know he can’t hear me, just as I know there are buildings there now, but for me, they are the ghosts, with no light of their own, and the frigid wind blows through them. But not him.

And an evening breeze coming from the East
That kissed the riverside,

I sing into the gentler wind, and watch as it mingles with the water, and wonder if the water catches my voice as well.

So I pray now child that you sleep tonight
When you hear this lullaby,

That’s what I sang to you, Vincent, that’s what I still sing to you, and pray that you hear it through the water, hear it in the water, though I sometimes cannot help but think it a futile gesture. I pray that it isn’t, but the thought remains and will remain until I can find out for certain, one way or another.

May the wind that blows from haunted graves
Never bring you misery,

Though you live near my resting place, may it bring you only comfort, let you sense my presence and feel safe, feel protected by me.

May the angels bright
Watch you tonight
And keep you while you sleep.

I am that angel, and I watch you this night and every night until you join me, and I can finally go to my rest entwined in your spirit, always, Vincent…


A/N: Actual song is Lullaby of London by the Pogues.

Songfics? Never heard of them. But this was NICE! Not to mention, I haven’t read any fanfic on Lucretia. It was good to read. Thanks, DB! :cool:

PS. Can you tell us more about Songfics?

Songfics are fanfics that are based around specific songs, which are posted in increments throughout it to exemplify the relationship between Song and story. Hard to come up with concepts for them at times, but the ones I’ve read are well done.

I like the story itself, but I think that there should be at least three times as much text in the story of a songfic as there is song. Right now it’s almost just as much.

New edited version up. Over three times amount of text as of song. 171 words in song, 576 in story. Thanks for the advice Weiila, and the compliments from you Wil and, assuming she read my fic, Val.

Great job here! Not many people are doing (well thought out) song-fics these days, so it’s certainly a nice change of pace! I agree with Wil, that it’s wonderful to see something about Lucretia. She’s certainly one of the more under-developed characters in fanfiction.

It was nice getting the point of view from both her and Vincent. The two of them are so intertwined in the game, and you represented that perfectly in your story.

This is more of a personal opinion about song-fic structure, so feel free to ignore it. I’ve always felt that in a song-fic, the song should complement the story, but that the story shouldn’t be exactly like it. This was a problem in the first few sections, but after that they did become a bit more separate.

Though there is no lonesome corncrake’s cry
Of sorrow and delight,

It serves me as a reminder of simpler times, when creatures existed that weren’t monsters. Gone now, hunted to extinction by their more “evolved” brethren, if the monsters created by Mako can be said to be “evolved”.

This was my favourite verse, and also the first one that I really felt had the two elements complementing each other instead of copying one another.

For example, the song tells us it’s a North wind. And in the story you tell us it’s a North wind. Since the direction is given to us in the song, the story should tell us something else about it. It can be ‘cold’, ‘bitter’, ‘harsh’, or any number of qualities, so don’t limit yourself! Have fun with it!

Tying in with my belief that the story and song should only complement each other, I’d suggest going back at adding in those 'and’s, and changing back whatever you changed. The song gives us the feeling and idea, while the story gives us the specifics.

But you really did do a superb job here! You could feel Vincent’s loneliness, and Lucretia’s longing. It was a very nice piece!

Yeah, could you put this in?

Kewl!