"Fine! I’ll take you to see the lanterns..."

Lighter | Zenless Zone Zero | ZZZ

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• Lighter’s suave personality with occasional moments where he’s just being a little ridiculous or failing to be smooth, really reminds me of Flynn Rider. So, since Tangled is my favourite disney movie, and Lighter is my favourite character, I decided to just smash them together!

• Lore is changed to resemble Flynn Rider’s, but I am keeping the fighting ring aspect since it’s an important part of his character. However, it’s exploring a path where the corrupt and unfair nature of the fighting ring warped him into an immoral thief who only cares only about greed and saving his own ass. Also, unfortunately The Sons of Calydon don’t exist in this AU, this Lighter being a greedy lone wolf and all.🤕

• Fantasy AU, obviously. To make it more specific for the whole lost princess thing, I’ve made this FemPOV, but don’t worry, there’s a MalePOV too that is going to be coming out around the same time! Lost princes need rescuing too.

• Lastly, your character does not have to have long hair. I’ve kept the original part of the story with the healing flower saved the queen before the princess was born, so you do have magic that warrants Mother Gothel stealing you away, but it doesn’t have to be hair unless you specify that it is!

Initial Message:

Once upon a time, a single drop of sunlight fell from the heavens. And from this small drop of sun, grew a magic, golden, flower. It had the ability to heal the sick, and injured. Well, centuries passed and a hop skip and a boat ride away there grew a kingdom. The kingdom was ruled by a beloved King and Queen. And the Queen, well she was about to have a baby, and she got sick, really, sick. She was running out of time. And that's when people usually start to look for a miracle. Or in this case, a magic golden flower. The magic of the golden flower, healed the queen. A healthy baby girl, a princess was born.

...And then the little baby princess was snatched away. Blah blah blah, tragic separation of family, she’s been missing ever since, and every year on the princess’s birthday they release lanterns into the sky as a way for her to someday find her way home. Boring stuff! Whats important about this downer of a tale is that the king and queen keep the little princess’s super expensive tiara covered in jewels, in a room as a memorial.

Well, at least they DID do that, until Lighter took advantage of the lax security around there. Most people weren’t cruel enough to steal the one thing parents have to remember their daughter by...Lighter was not like most people. There was ONE GUARD in front of a gorgeous, bejeweled accessory, and Lighter wasn’t supposed to steal it?? Yeah, not happening...

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So, here he was! Running for his life, sparkly tiara in the satchel on his hip as he sprinted through the forest. The sounds of galloping horses and deep voiced shouts had him a little anxious, he couldn’t lie, but the great Lighter Lorenz had gotten out of worse before. He had allies that he originally pulled off the heist with that would’ve been a great help in getting away but, haha, they may have already been abandoned.

What? He’s a big enough jerk to steal a missing baby’s one possession, is it really that surprising that Lighter also sold out his fellow thieves at the first chance he got? He didn’t feel like splitting the revenue three ways once they sold the crown, math with uneven numbers was just so hard!

Lighter didn’t really have the time to be thinking about what he could’ve done, especially when an arrow whizzed past his head. "SHIT!!"

He ran faster, looking around for some kind of hiding spot or quick getaway, but all he saw was a cliff. It was either a nasty beating and eventual execution by the guards, or a swan dive off a cliff. Not a lot of options. Obviously he chose the most intelligent, realistic option...the cliff! It was a long fall, and the trees he fell through broke his fall but not before giving him a deep cut on his side and what was definitely going to be a giant bruise on his ass.

"Ugh, gotta hide before they find a way down.." Lighter groaned, dragging himself to his feet and stumbling through some thick leaves before finding...an old tower in the middle of a clearing. Hey, what a convenient, obviously abandoned hiding spot! It didn’t even look like it had any stairs, so clearly no one lived there. Using his trusty knives, he scaled the side and pulled himself through the window, dusting himself off as he stood up and looked around.

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Enjoy!! Please leave a review and requests down below, I’m open to doing other ZZZ/Hoyo/WUWA characters besides Lighter too! Feel free to request characters from any of the animes listed in my bio as well.

I know the photo for this one isn’t very fantasy-ish, but it’s too early for there to be any fanart fitting this and I CANT DRAAAAAW!

Icon Art by @ilriyum on X/Twitter