Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

There’s nothing quite like waking up to the sun on your face.

On a bed of grass.

Outside.

What the hell?

You… have no idea where this is. Last thing you knew you were at home, playing video games, and now you’re in the middle of a field somewhere. And you were asleep for some reason? You don’t remember going to bed. At least you’re dressed.

There doesn’t seem to be anyone around, so you check your phone, only it’s… broken? You have no internet, which isn’t too much of a surprise, but you also have no time or date. Huh. Everything else works fine, though, so you do the only thing you can do.

You start walking.

It’s actually very nice here, and if you weren’t having a bit of a crisis about the current state of literally everything you would appreciate it more. The sun is bright, the trees are green, it’s warm, and there are a few horned rabbits hopping around.

Wait.

Yeah, no, those rabbits definitely have a unicorn horn. Is this a dream? Are you lucid dreaming right now? That’s never happened before, but it’s cool. The rabbits are pretty big, and really fluffy.

You’re going to pet the hell out them.

They notice you well before you get to them, and eye you warily as you walk closer. They’ve bunched up a bit, so now they look like a handful of spiky pompoms with googly eyes attached. Sort of.

They’re kind of intimidating, actually.

Just… staring at you.

Okay, maybe you’re not going to pet them. You leave the bunnies alone and keep going, just to see what’s there, and there’s… cucumbers? With spears?

Okay, now you know it’s a dream.

There are three of them doing a little war dance in a circle, and it’s so beautifully absurd you can’t help but laugh. Their attention turns to you and you wait to see what happens.

What happens is they run right at you, spears raised.

You scream and run, because dream or not, that’s pretty terrifying, and you just know you’re going to wake up feeling like an idiot for this. Still, it feels smart right now, so that’s what you do.

One of them throws its spear at you like a javelin and it grazes your side painfully as it passes. You run faster, because holy crap that hurts and– 

Dreams aren’t supposed to hurt.

Now you’re really running. If this isn’t a dream (and you have no idea how that could be true) then the funny killer cucumbers aren’t so funny after all.

Your existential crisis is distracting enough that you don’t even notice the horse you’re about to run into. Then you run into it and you do notice. The rider doesn’t say anything, he just dismounts quickly and pulls out a sword (a sword!) and takes out the angry vegetables. You can only stand and stare, hiding behind the horse just in case.

He doesn’t make it out unscathed, but he’s also not dead, so that’s a plus. He comes over to you. “Are you okay?”

“Uh… yeah,” you say intelligently. He looks kind of familiar. The silence stretches on, agonisingly. “Where am I?”

He blinks at you, like that’s a weird question, which it probably is. “This is the road to Heliodor. Didn’t you come from there?” Ah.

“Umm… I don’t know?” Man, you’re a terrible liar. If in doubt, deny everything!

“Don’t you remember?” You might as well have told him your dog died, he looks so sad. “I’m on the way to Heliodor now, if you want to come with me. Maybe someone there knows who you are?”

“Sure, I guess.”

“I’m Eleven, by the way,” he says, like that’s a normal name for a normal human. Then again, he’s the most normal thing you’ve seen since you woke up.

“(Y/N).”

Eleven treats your wound with a magic plant that you choose not to question and you follow him back in the direction you came from, to whatever Heliodor is. The bunnies are gone now, replaced by blue… slime… monsters…

You look back at Eleven and you know exactly where you’ve seen him before.

Holy crap I’m in Dragon Quest.

Chapter Text

There’s no feeling quite like being isekai’d, mostly because it doesn’t feel like anything. It’s pretty much the same as always. There’s the obvious not knowing anything aspect, and the fact that there’s no cars or roads to speak of, and also the huge-ass tree just floating in the sky, but it doesn’t feel like you’re in a video game.

Except when it does.

There’s nothing quite like watching a monster patiently waiting it’s turn in a fight.

So why didn’t you recognise Eleven immediately? Simple.

You’ve never played this game.

Your knowledge is limited to Smash Ultimate, which you haven’t played in ages, and the random things your sister told you when she played it, and you’re pretty sure Smash isn’t going to be much help.

You’re more of a Final Fantasy kind of gamer.

Eleven, for his part, is extremely patient with you. You have no weapon, no magic, no items, no armour… oh Goddess, you’re an escort mission.

And did you just get censored?

At least the game is funny. You’ve already been stopped once for a tutorial about campsites (not bonfires, this isn’t Dark Souls), and listening to a random guy point out all the different aspects without a single word in response is definitely one of the moments of all time.

(Secretly, you’re grateful. If things keep up like this, you won’t need to keep up the amnesia story.)

It’s when you get to Helicopter, or whatever, that things change.

“Does anything look familiar?” Obviously not, but you can’t say that. You shake your head and leave him to make assumptions. “Let’s try the inn. Someone might have seen you around.”

They haven’t, obviously, and poor Eleven looks more and more distressed the more people you speak to without success. And he talks to everyone. It’s kind of ridiculous, but then he finds a sidequest rescuing a cat from a roof and it’s extremely ridiculous.

You have no idea how he’s not getting arrested for walking into random people’s houses and breaking all their pots, either. He’s a real public menace.

“We don’t need to do it in a day, you know. What did you come here for? We can do that, instead,” you offer, if only to progress the game a bit further. Heliodor is nice and all, but this is a JRPG – there’s bound to be a whole world full of nice places.

Assuming you stick with Eleven, but like… what else would you do?

He looks at you like he’s only just remembered he has his own business here. “I have to see the king about… something.” Turns out he’s just as bad a liar as you are.

Lucky for him, you were expecting that. The town has a castle, of course that’s where he’s going. “Alrighty then!” you say, marching in that direction before he can try telling you to stay behind. There’s no way you’re going to risk getting stranded if the plot moves on without you.

The guards at the gate don’t appreciate Eleven’s claims of being the Luminary (classic JRPG chosen one), but they do acknowledge the gemstone he shows them (classic JRPG key item) and that gets them in to see the king (classic JRPG quest giver). You’re tempted to call it cliché, but you don’t really care because you get to see the inside of a real-life(?) castle with all its glitz and glamour.

Eleven proceeds to break even more pots and steal a stranger’s clothes before getting on with the story.

The throne room is as impressive as you expected, although… you could do without the guards everywhere. It’s a cool effect on the TV screen, but it’s kind of scary. The two knights at the front can stay; they have unique designs, so they’ll be important later.

Surprisingly, King Carnelian does not ignore you, which catches you off-guard considering you thought this would be a cutscene like with the tutorial. He doesn’t speak to you, but he does ask Eleven if there are any others with you.

And then he arrests you.

Looks like your first dungeon is going to be a literal one.

Chapter Text

You want to say you saw this coming, but you only noticed about two seconds before Hendrik pulled out his sword so it doesn’t count. On the bright side, you now have a decent idea of the plot.

Eleven is the chosen hero – the Luminary – and King Carnelian is/is working for the big bad – the Dark One, if his spiel was accurate. Eleven will escape the prison and something something, blah blah blah, reveal the truth and save the world! Woo!

So, any time he wants to get started on that would be great.

This cell is disgusting.

And he’s breaking pots again! Who’s putting pots in prison cells?

“Will you keep it down in there? Most folks they throw in here have the decency to wait a while before going stir crazy.”

Ooh, who’s this? New party member, perhaps?

“What are you in for, anyhow? You don’t get free bed and board down here without having done something pretty bad.”

Wait, does he even know you’re here? You can’t see him from here, so maybe not.

You let Eleven take the lead explaining what happened, mostly just to verify what you figured out yourself. If you’re right, this is a cutscene anyway so it doesn’t matter if you’re in it or not.

“Wait – did you say ‘the Luminary’? You’re serious?” Oh, he’s totally a party member. “You’re telling me the Luminary has just shown up in the cell next to mine? This is crazy…”

Your cutscene suspicions are confirmed when a single guard oh-so-conveniently comes down to bring the stranger some food. Poor guy, he doesn’t know he’s a plot device.

And sure enough, he’s out for the count.

Actually, he looks pretty dead, being dragged like that.

That was a punch, right?

Regardless, the as-yet-unnamed party member unlocks Eleven’s cell. You have the perfect view of the back of his hood from here. “So, it’s all happening just like the Seer said it would…”

Oh, that’s interesting.

“We’d better get out of here.”

He starts walking back to his cell and you call out, “Hey, are you going to let me out or what?” which is extremely smart and draws the attention of another guard. He takes that one out just as easily as the first, getting their stuff back in the process, and you’re still stuck in the cell.

He hands back Eleven’s things before he finally acknowledges you. Kind of. “They with you?”

Eleven nods. “Yeah, I met them on my way to Heliodor. I’m helping them find where they came from.” His expression says he doesn’t think he’s doing very well, which is fair, all things considered, but not his fault.

The stranger shrugs and unlocks the door, grabbing a torch from the wall and leading you both back to see his escape plan – a hole. “I spend ages digging this hole, and you just happen to show up the day I finish it? Heck of a coincidence… Guess I really was meant to help you out, just like the Seer said.”

You’re not sure why he’s surprised that a seer is right about the future, but maybe that’s standard procedure in this world. Or maybe it’s just him. Or maybe the seer is just really cryptic.

You all climb down the hole (how the torch stays lit you have no idea) and emerge in the sewers. There are always sewers in games, so you don’t know why you’re disappointed. You do notice that the supposedly finished tunnel is still blocked at the end, but it worked so who cares.

Eleven leads because he’s the main character and then you’re immediately chased by guards who get confounded by the straight path and can’t seem to find you anymore despite the fact that they are literally about 10 feet away. Eleven snuffs out the torch and you duck behind a few convenient boxes.

Your gamer senses are tingling.

There’s a stealth section ahead.

The stranger takes the lead this time, and you and Eleven follow his example. There’s a distinct lack of any actual stealth on your part, but that doesn’t seem to matter as none of the guards have any sense of hearing whatsoever and continue their back-and-forth patrols blissfully unaware of their own failings.

Until they don’t.

None of you notice the guards coming up on both sides of you, trapping you on one of the bridges. You don’t think this is your fault – you stuck by Eleven the whole time just to be sure – so this must be a forced fight.

And you can’t fight.

Your companions draw their weapons, but nobody takes a turn like you expect. The guards inch forward as you cluster closer together, and still nobody attacks. Are you wrong?

You barely have time to grab Eleven’s arm before the floor gives out beneath you.

Chapter Text

“Urgh…”

You’re the first one to come to after your little swim, but not by much. There’s a goddess statue here, which tells you that, yes, that was a scripted sequence, and, no, you haven’t somehow derailed the story as you originally thought.

Where the soldiers went you have no idea, but hey, you’re not complaining.

You help the other two to their feet and start walking down the only path available. According to game logic, it has to lead to an exit. You have your suspicions that there’ll be a boss at the end, but first bosses are always fine, so you’re not worried.

It doesn’t take long to find it.

The hooded stranger stops you both with an arm. “Wait, there’s something there.”

You’re pretty excited. The regular mobs in the overworld aren’t much, so you haven’t had the chance to see Eleven fight properly yet, and your newest addition is a complete mystery. Whatever the boss turns out to be, you’re sure you’re in for a show.

There’s a movement at the end of the cave, and you see a long, spiked tail sweep through the air ahead of you. A horned head turns your way and red eyes zone in on the three of you, followed by a low rumble.

Frizz. Yes.

That is a dragon and you are loving it.

Also, you don’t know what you expected from the game that is literally called Dragon Quest.

The dragon roars and it’s so strong it knocks you right off your feet. The tail smashes into the wall, causing huge boulders to crash down all around you, and you suddenly think maybe you don’t want to be here for this boss fight.

You’ve only just finished the thought when it snaps its jaws shut right where Eleven had been standing a moment before, saved only by the stranger tackling him to the floor. “If we stand and fight, we’re dead! Let’s get the heck out of here!” he yells.

Oh frizz, it’s a chase sequence.

Does this game have instadeaths? You really don’t want to find out.

The dragon roars again and you’re back on the floor. Eleven pulls you along with him as you run, and doesn’t let go even when you make a blind leap over a ledge into another cave.

You may or may not have broken your ankles on the landing. Should have rolled.

“Think we gave it the slip,” the dumb, stupid idiot who still has no name says, and you really can’t help yourself.

“How? It’s a straight path, you moron!” You have no time to wonder how the writers came up with such a ridiculous string of words before the dragon leaps down after you and proves you right. It roars and knocks you all down again.

Eleven helps you up again, as your companion urges you on. “If we don’t get moving, we’re dead meat. Run!”

You don’t need to be told twice. This time as you run, there are other monsters running with you, disappearing into cracks in the walls you can’t even see. You wish you could do the same. You aren’t used to all this running, and it feels like the dragon is catching up.

The end of the tunnel comes into view and you’re so thankful you’re not stuck with a backwards facing camera angle like Crash Bandicoot or you might never have noticed the narrow gap in the wall. You follow them through, copying the way they press their backs to the wall, and listen as the dragon fails to fit its head in after you.

All is quiet.

The stranger voices what you’re all thinking. “Has it gone?” There’s no more noise from the behind the wall, so you all start to relax.

“That was way too close for comfort,” you sigh, because scripted or not you still don’t know if you count for that. Eleven nods in agreement.

“Took the words right out of my mouth,” the stranger says. You think you can see a hint of a smile from under the hood. “What’s that thing doing under the castle anyway? Well, whatever. We should get going.”

You agree wholeheartedly, and even more so when a deafening roar echoes through your little passage and informs you all that the dragon had not, in fact, gone. There’s a distinct sensation of heat and you all realise at once what’s happening.

“RUUUUUUUN!”

The hair on the back of your head sizzles where you stand beside the hole in the wall. There are embers everywhere. You don’t think you’re cut out for boss fights.

The others don’t look much better. “I don’t know how much more of this I can take…” the stranger groans, which naturally means it’s time for yet more guards!

“You just had to jinx it, didn’t you,” you laugh, maybe a little bit hysterically, and he has the decency to send you a sheepish half shrug before he starts running again.

This sequence really is overstaying its welcome at this point.

Thankfully, there’s a light at the end of the tunnel. Literally.

“Looks like our luck finally ran out…”

Not so thankfully, it’s the metaphorical train.

Before you stretches a beautiful sight like nothing you’ve ever seen, only a 100 foot drop away. Behind you, the sounds of the soldiers get closer. You do not like where this is going.

“If they catch us, we’re dead meat.” The unknown party member grabs Eleven by the shoulder, glancing between the two of you. “Let’s do this. I believe in you. I believe in the Luminary!”

“We don’t have much choice, my guy,” you murmur, eyeing the guards encroaching on the last safe ground you have left.

“Come on, let’s not do anything stupid now…” the lead guard tries to placate you, but the only options you have are stupid. And if you’re going to do something stupid, you’re going to do it with your stupid friends and pray for stupid plot armour from the stupid game.

The nameless stranger reaches up and pulls off his hood, which is probably even more stupid than what you’re about to do. “The name’s Erik, by the way,” he grins, and Eleven nods like this is a perfectly reasonable time for introductions.

You do nothing but stare because you know that name, you know this character, but you have no time to think about it because then you’re running and you’re jumping and you can only hope the game likes you enough not to smash you to pieces on impact.

Chapter Text

Your entire body aches like you’ve been hit a bus, or maybe a freight train. You can barely move; your limbs are so heavy. Are your eyes open? Are you even alive? It’s so dark. And cold. It hurts.

A pair of strong arms haul you out of the water, and now you know you’re alive but you kind of wish you were dead. At least that would hurt less. Erik leaves you coughing and retching as he goes back in to fish out Eleven, somehow unscathed despite the beating you received.

Eleven is completely unconscious, and that’s probably a lot worse than you no matter how bad you feel, so you force yourself up and give him CPR as best you can. You have no clue if you’re even doing it right, but Erik looks so worried you refuse to stop.

You’re too exhausted to even consider the possibility of plot convenience.

Eleven comes to with a gasping breath, spitting up whatever water was in his lungs, but it doesn’t last long. He’s conscious for maybe half a minute and then he’s gone again, but at least he’s breathing and you flop down in relief.

Erik pulls Eleven onto his back. Absently, you notice his hair still sticks up. “We have to get him somewhere warm,” he explains. “Can you keep watch as we go?”

You blink, struggling to push yourself to your feet. Keeping watch is easy enough, so you nod, but then he hands you Eleven’s sword like he expects you to use it. You look at it dumbly. “Where are we going?”

“There’s a church near here. They’ll take us in if we ask, and we can lay low until he wakes up.”

You really should tell him you can’t fight. “His name is Eleven.” Or not. “I’m (Y/N).”

He gives you a half smile as you start to move. “Got it.”

The journey isn’t too long (your limbs disagree), but it takes until almost nightfall. You’re starting to come back to yourself now, and it occurs to you that the day/night cycle must be shorter here for the player experience.

Either that, or it’s scripted to be night time when you get there.

Speaking of which, you feel a bit silly for your panic earlier. You aren’t supposed to be in this game, and you’ve already established that cutscenes are a Thing, so your actions can’t affect the outcome of things like that. Eleven and Erik would have survived that jump anyway. They’re almost dry by now, too.

Still, you don’t regret it.

The lady who answers your knock is just as worried as you felt earlier. “Oh my, what happened to you dears? Come in, come in.”

“We were attacked by monsters on the road,” Erik lies, looking for all the world like an innocent traveller and not a recently escaped criminal. Oh yeah, he’s a criminal, isn’t he? “We managed to fight them off, but my friend here took some bad hits and we don’t have a healer.”

“Then thank the Goddess you made it here safely. You can stay here as long as you need to,” she says, leading you to a side door. “I’m afraid the room only has one bed, but your friend is welcome to use it.”

“Oh, it’s no problem, ma’am,” Erik smiles. “We don’t mind taking the floor.”

That little slime.

The nun leaves to bring you both some food, and you give a hasty “Thank you for your hospitality,” as Erik lays Eleven on the bed. At least he’s somewhere safe now, even if you do have to take the floor.

Well, it is what it is.

The food is delicious, or rather, you’re so hungry after a day without eating that it seems that way. You spend most of the time thinking about Erik, because you didn’t have the chance to earlier. It turns out you know do know something about this game… sort of.

You know he’s your sister’s favourite character, for whatever that’s worth, which isn’t much because you can’t remember any specifics about why exactly that was, just gushing about how cool and hot he is. And he is, in an anime kind of way. Spiky blue hair, bad boy earrings, his dagger… yeah, you get it.

“Do I have something on my face?”

Oh crap, you were staring. “No, I was just… thinking,” you say, lamely.

“What about?”

My sister has a huge crush on you. “…Eleven.”

Erik hums, not looking away from you. Good Goddess, just stop staring! It’s like he can see right through you, which is probably true because that was weak.

He doesn’t say anything, and neither do you. You keep your eyes fixed on Eleven, even though it doesn’t help. He probably won’t wake up until tomorrow, so that it’s daytime for the next part of the game, but you still wish he would.

“What’s the deal with you two anyway?” Erik asks, and it’s not fair how casual he is when he’s asking such difficult questions. “He said he’s helping you get home?”

You can’t let him suspect you. “Yeah, something like that.”

“Oh?” The way he’s eyeing you tells you he suspects you quite a lot. This is going to be a long video game if you can’t get him on your side. “You don’t seem sure.”

It’s a challenge, and one you’re probably going to lose. Nonetheless, you have to meet it. “It’s just… I don’t know how I got here. And Eleven helped me when I was being chased by monsters, and offered to keep helping me. I’m hoping if I stick with him, I’ll make it home in the end.”

Whoops. You didn’t mean to get quite that honest.

But Erik’s eyes soften, and he looks back to where Eleven lies still. “He really is the Luminary, huh? Always helping… Sorry if I made you uncomfortable, there, by the way.” He really does look sorry.

“It’s okay. I know I’m pretty sus sometimes.” He gives you a weird look and you laugh out loud. “Don’t worry about it.”

“If you say so...”

Chapter Text

The cold, stone floor is a cruel mistress and so are your thoughts. You spent the whole night trying not to think about the hot boy lying not even a foot away from you (curse the tiny room!) and failing miserably. You borrowed Eleven’s bedroll since you don’t have your own, but the thin floor mat and travel pillow combination didn’t make much difference. You’re tired and sore, and no amount of porridge is going to change that.

You eat it anyway.

On the bright side, Eleven starts to stir not long after, so you fetch him a bowl while you go for seconds. You can hear Erik coaxing him awake even through the door.

“Wake up, lazybones! Come on, up you get!” He looks a lot better now he’s not comatose, so you hand him his porridge and let the cutscene play out. He eats it gratefully, and greedily, while Erik explains. “Finally! I was worried we’d lost you for a minute there. You’ve been out cold ever since we jumped.”

He doesn’t mention how close you both came to drowning. “But what a jump it was! I closed my eyes, put my faith in the Luminary, and somehow didn’t get smashed into a thousand pieces. In fact, I didn’t have a scratch on me. Amazing what a little faith can do.”

You nod along. Faith, plot armour… it’s all the same thing really.

“Anyway, I guess we must be at the top of the King of Heliodor’s Most Wanted list by now,” he announces, and you have a brief moment of panic knowing how thin the door is before you remember that this is, in fact, a cutscene. “Which means we can’t hang around here too long. Let’s go say thanks to the nun who looked after us and be on our way.”

“How are you feeling, anyway?” you cut in, because apparently the writers don’t care enough to ask when there’s progression to be had.

“I’m alright,” he smiles. “Thanks for taking care of me while I was out.”

Erik waves him off easily. “It’s nothing. We weren’t just going to leave you there.”

“He means ‘you’re welcome’,” you tease and hand back his sword, ignoring Erik’s indignant “Hey!”.

The nun is waiting for you in the main room of the church. Predictably, she doesn’t appear to have heard your conversation, as she only asks if Eleven has recovered and not “Have you committed any jailbreaks, recently?”.

And then she says, “It seems some dangerous criminals have escaped from the capital,” and you only just manage to hold back a snort as Erik misses the mark on worried just enough to border on sarcasm.

No doubt that’s what his voice actor was going for, assuming the game has voice acting at all, but watching it play out in real time is a trip. ‘Dear me’ of all things? It’s such a far cry from the smooth lie that got you in here you know it has to be scripted that way, but it makes the nun look so gullible you can’t help feeling bad for her.

“We’re going to get a little fresh air. We have a few things to discuss, right?” You snap out of your thoughts and follow him outside. You may or may not have missed the end of that conversation, so you’re quite content to stay quiet and figure it out from whatever plan they come up with.

“Cobblestone, eh? Never heard of the place. I never even knew anyone actually lived in those mountains down south. Is that really where you’re from?” Erik says, but it’s more like he’s thinking out loud. He turns to Eleven. “I’m guessing you want to go see what’s happening down there, but you need to be smart – you won’t get past Hendrik unnoticed.”

Oh, yeah, King Carnelian sent his guy there, didn’t he? It completely slipped your mind with everything else that happened, but now that you think about it, the foreshadowing is unmistakeable. You would want to check on it, too, in Eleven’s shoes.

“If you’re going to make it there without getting caught, you’ll need to avoid the main road. And if you want to do that, you’ll need my help. I know every back road there is to know in these parts,” he not-so-subtly brags. You can’t help but smile, recognising the signs of an official new party member when you see them.

What you don’t expect is the condition that comes with it. “I’ve got things to take care of in Heliodor, first. I left a little something in one of my old haunts downtown, and I need to get it back. So, are you coming along for the ride? I did help you break out of that dungeon, remember.”

“Like you could have made it on your own,” you joke, just loud enough for him to hear you. Everyone knows how it’s going to go anyway.

Eleven laughs and nods as Erik puts on an exaggerated frown and pokes your shoulder in revenge. “I’d like to see you do better.”

“I’m glad you two are getting along, if we’re going to be travelling together,” El comments cheerfully.

You put on an affronted look, hand over your heart. “Us? Getting along? Never.”

“Nope, never,” agrees Erik, slinging an arm around your shoulders. “Oh, but on a serious note, we can’t have you bringing us any unwanted attention. Wait here.”

He lets go and heads back into the church, and you’re left wondering if you almost derailed a cutscene by butting in early. It’s hard to tell when they end sometimes.

“I’m sorry for dragging you into this,” Eleven says to you. “I know this isn’t exactly what you signed up for.”

Oh boy, this kid. This sweet, summer child. It’s not his fault this is the path he has to walk, but you can’t just tell him that. You have to play it cool.

“Yeah, well, it could be worse. We could still be stuck in there,” you shrug. He doesn’t look as comforted as you were going for, so you try something a bit more constructive. “It’s okay, Eleven, really! You didn’t know. Don’t blame yourself for things you can’t control.” There we go, that’s better.

“You can call me El, if you want. Everyone else does.”

Sweet!

Erik comes out, then, carrying a pile of clothes. “Here. Put these on and keep your faces hidden, otherwise you’re going to get nabbed as soon as you set foot in Heliodor.”

He hands Eleven a hooded cloak, while you get a whole outfit. You open your mouth to complain, but he raises an eyebrow and pointedly looks you over. You glance down at your t-shirt and jeans, and close it again. “You may have a point.”

When you finish changing, you come back to see Erik crack his knuckles and… pose. And keep posing. You can practically see the ‘Erik joined the party!’ message that must be playing.

You shake your head.

So cringe.

Chapter Text

You really need to stop being surprised when the video game does video game things, but in your defence, it’s not every day you watch a person jump down a well. At least he got a new pointy hat out of it.

You know, the usual kind of thing you find in a well.

He also got a sidequest for what you can only assume is the equivalent of trance from Final Fantasy 9, so you’re looking forward to seeing that. Right now, though, there isn’t much going on. You’re all just trying to avoid encountering any monsters as Heliodor looms ever closer above you.

(Erik was not impressed to learn that you can’t fight.

He also did not appreciate the guilty jazz hands you sent his way as an apology.)

“So, what exactly are we going for?” you ask, because that feels like important information, and also to pass the time as you walk.

“It’s just a little something my partner and I managed to… acquire from the royal family,” Erik hedges. “They got wise and pulled me in eventually, but not before we’d stashed it somewhere safe so we could pick it up later.”

Eleven’s eyes get wider and wider as he speaks, until they’re the size of dinner plates. “You stole it?”

“El, he was literally in a jail cell when we met him,” you point out in amusement.

“So were we!”

“Touché.”

“Anyway,” Erik butts in, “we just need to sneak in and grab it, and then we’re good to go. I know exactly where it is, so we’ll be in and out like that.” He snaps his fingers for emphasis.

Aaaaand he just jinxed it.

“Oh, do you think we can get (Y/N) a weapon while we’re there?” Eleven suggests, and you both look to Erik.

He hums. “Maybe. It depends who’s around. I know a couple of people who might have something.”

You raise your hand, hesitantly. “Uh, guys? You don’t have to spend money on me, you know.” They kind of do, given you have no money of your own, but you’ll be damned if they waste it on stuff you can’t even use.

“We can afford that much,” El reassures you. “Any preferences?”

“Aesthetically or practically?”

“Both.”

“Well, I don’t know why I asked because it’s a no either way,” you answer, and El balks.

Erik chuckles, shaking his head. “A knife or short sword is probably best to start with. They’re not hard to use and you can get those pretty easily in most places.”

“Right…”

“Hey, don’t worry! We’ll help you!” El, you are an angel.

You send him a grateful smile, as Erik turns to you both. “Heads up, you two. Heliodor’s back door is just up there.”

It’s surprisingly easy to get back into Heliodor, all things considered. There aren’t even any guards – you just walk right in.

“Welcome to downtown Heliodor, home to rogues, ruffians, and all my other favourite kinds of people!” Erik declares, very clearly at home. He even lowers his hood. “Right down there is the biggest, stinkingest garbage pile in all of Heliodor. Me and my partner buried our little treasure slap bang in the middle of it.”

Your face screws up in disgust. “I’m not digging around in any garbage, thank you very much.”

“Exactly! No one would ever think of looking for it there. We’re criminal geniuses, I tell you!” You shoot him a look, since it’s really dumb to just say that out loud in the street, which he ignores completely. “Let’s go liberate that loot!”

He’s like a kid in a candy store. You share a look with El, who shrugs.

The ‘biggest, stinkingest garbage pile in all of Heliodor’ turns out to actually be… not that. It’s a dumping ground for random crap, yes, but not especially big or stinking. You’re still not touching it. If this was any other situation you would make fun of him for this, maybe hit him with the old ‘I told you so’ when it’s not there. As it is…

“Doesn’t look that big to me. You sure it’s going to be there?” you ask, much to his chagrin.

“Sure I’m sure. Keep a lookout, okay? I’m going to grab the loot…” You still don’t think he should be saying this out loud, but it doesn’t matter because it turns out you were right – it isn’t there.

“Uhh… it’s not here.”

And that was the funniest line delivery you’ve heard in your entire life.

“You’ve got to be kidding me! Me and Derk were the only ones who knew where it was!” You keep your ‘I told you so’ to yourself (no matter how tempting it is) while he puts two and two together. “Wait a minute – that rat! He must have done the dirty on me and taken it for himself! Dammit! I should have known! The thieving little– Wait until I get my hands on him!”

Holy Goddess are you glad that anger isn’t directed at you.

You physically flinch when he turns at points at you both. You were right, this is much worse. “I’m going to find him. And you’re going to help me!”

You hold up your hands in surrender, and no small amount of fear. “Yeah, yeah, of course. You got a plan, or…” Please calm down, sir.

“Yeah. The inn we used to crash at is just over there. Come on – it’s the only one with an upstairs. You can’t miss it!”

He storms off, and Eleven runs after him, leaving you wondering just how screwed you would be if he ever gets tired of your jokes. You’re just about to follow them when you notice El talking him down, and you stop dead in your tracks as you're hit by a startling realisation.

El hasn’t said a single thing since you got here.

He’s a silent protagonist.

Chapter Text

You hardly take in anything that happens at the inn, or the search that follows – you’re too busy trying to wrap your head around what it all means going forward.

El is a silent protagonist.

What the frizz? How can that be? He isn’t a loud person, but he’s definitely not silent. He’s the kind of person who explores everything, talks to everyone, and does whatever he can to help wherever he can. He talks to you on the road, he laughs at your jokes, he offered to buy you a weapon and teach you to use it. He’s kind and bright and innocent and–

“Are you okay?”

And he’s always looking out for you.

You’ve known him all of two days, and he’s done nothing but help you. He’s even apologised, which is utterly ridiculous – he’s got a destiny to save the world, not help a random weirdo get home. The fact that he’s making time for you at all is nothing short of a miracle.

“(Y/N)?”

“Huh?”

He’s worried (of course he’s worried) and he’s looking at you with so much concern it hurts. It’s hard to believe he could be silent when you see him like this.

Is it because of his accent? Cowards.

“Are you alright? You’ve been pretty out of it since we left the inn,” El says, and you notice finally that you’re not on the street anymore. You’re actually on some kind of watchtower overlooking it, and you’ve been staring blankly at a plank of wood for Goddess knows how long.

No wonder he’s concerned.

“Yeah, I… I will be.” You can’t bring yourself to lie to this boy, not when he’s looking at you so sincerely. Not when he’s done so much for you already. “I was just thinking. Sorry if I worried you.”

El shakes his head, frowning slightly. “Erik’s not mad at you, you know. He’s upset at his partner for running off. He’ll come back when he’s cooled off.”

He thinks it’s because of Erik?

“He was pretty scary,” you admit with a weak chuckle. It’s not lying if you just never correct him, right?

“You won’t see me getting on his bad side,” he agrees.

You lapse into a comfortable silence and El goes back to watching the street. You don’t know what he’s looking for, so you content yourself with playing ‘Where’s Wally?’ for your blue haired friend(?). You weren’t lying when you said he scared you, but it’s not hard to understand where’s he’s coming from. You don’t blame him.

You just weren’t expecting it, that’s all.

You’re still looking when El grabs your sleeve, pointing at a red-haired lady walking away from your position. The only person you’ve seen with that hair colour, incidentally. “There she is. Come on!”

He drags you to the ladder and you’re left wondering what the heck you missed while you were zoned out. Is that Derk? Who knows? Not you, that’s for sure.

Erik, naturally, comes back at the perfect time to catch you coming down, noticeably calmer than earlier. He barely even looks annoyed. What did El say to him? “Gah, I can’t find Ruby anywhere. How about you? Any luck?”

Not Derk, then. You thought that was weird.

“We saw her heading back towards the inn,” El nods. Interesting. Based on the timing of Erik’s appearance, you thought this would be a cutscene, but he’s not silent now.

“You saw her heading back to the inn? Great! Let’s head over there and find out what she knows!”

You’re not so out of it when you enter the inn this time, so it’s stupidly obvious that El says exactly 0 words the whole time you’re in there. Yes, it makes sense that Erik leads the conversation, given this is someone he knows, but it’s more than that, and it pretty much confirms your suspicions.

He doesn’t talk over him or anything – it’s more like the natural flow of the dialogue simply excludes him. Ruby never addresses him directly, and he doesn’t attempt to say anything himself, so he’s relegated to the role of a viewer (or rather player), much like you. As long as you stay out of it, it’s easy to see the video game formatting at play.

It’s pretty unsettling now that you’ve noticed.

(Also, Ruby is the innkeeper. That makes a lot more sense.)

You do note, however, that you are a part of cutscenes, even when you don’t actively involve yourself. It’s not much, but Ruby included you as one of the escaped fugitives, and King Carnelian acknowledged your presence in the throne room, which is more than enough evidence to say the game is definitely aware of you.

(Of course, El did speak to King Carnelian in that very cutscene, but you’re getting enough mixed signals without including that, too.)

You keep watching as Erik and El discuss how to get past the guard (yes, he’s talking again), eventually settling on using his fear of dogs against him, but you have to step in because… well, you simply can’t keep quiet when they’re about to do the dumbest thing to date.

“Are you seriously suggesting we just walk up to him?” you say flatly. “Are you trying to get us caught?”

“Well, I… uh…” Erik flounders.

This game, man. “Just give me the dog.”

El scratches his cheek in embarrassment. “Yeah, we probably should’ve thought that one through a bit more.”

“Mr. Criminal Genius over there certainly should have,” you agree pointedly, and Erik flushes.

“Are you taking the dog or not?”

“Yeah, yeah. Keep your pants on.”

As you leave to do their job for them, you can hear Erik behind you lamenting ever breaking you out. You really wish Cutscene Erik was as smart as Normal Erik, but what can you do? You really don't fancy having to make another run for it. Maybe this way, you can activate easy mode.

As expected, the guard flees at the first sight of your canine companion who happily chases after him, so he never even sees you sneak out.

“Nice work, (Y/N). Worked like a charm!” Erik praises you. “Now to head up to where all the rich folks live and find out what the heck Derk thinks he’s up to.”

Great! Can’t wait to see how many guards are waiting for you there! “And where’s that?”

“It’s just in front of the castle, isn’t it?” El asks, following just behind you. “We went past it on our way there.”

Erik nods. “Yep. You can’t miss it. If we go over the rooftops no one’ll even notice we’re there.”

“Is there another tightrope? Those were fun!”

“Wait, tightropes?” You don’t remember that. That can’t be safe. “El, what do you mean tightropes. Don’t just speed up! El! What tightropes?”

Chapter Text

“Wow. Nice place you got here…”

Oh, Derk has no idea what’s heading his way.

“Welcome, welcome! Feel free to browse! You’ll find we only stock the very finest wares!”

Derk turns around and gasps audibly (and dramatically). You pull El back gently by the sleeve, just in case.

“That’s good, because I’m looking for something very special indeed.” Erik drops the false nonchalance. “Happen to have any orbs in stock?”

“E-Erik!”

Orbs. It’s always orbs, isn’t it? Or crystals, or gems, or whatever other fantasy object you want to put in there. How many of these are you going to have to collect, you wonder?

El glances at you funny, and you realise you reacted to that out loud.

Oops.

Luckily, he doesn’t get to ask you about it, as Erik winds up for a punch. “Long time no see, old pal!”

Swing and a miss! And a… hug?

Is that supposed to be a hug? From this angle it’s looking a little too intimate for… non-mature audiences, shall we say.

You can’t not laugh at this, especially when Derk is moaning and groaning his way through an explanation, and El’s confused, blank stare only makes it worse.

“You have no shame, huh?” Erik grunts, making things sound even worse. “Get your back-stabbing hands off of me!”

When he finally manages to pry Derk off him and into a more appropriate position, he levels him with a withering glare that’s only slightly softened by your badly concealed giggles in the corner. “You always were full of it, Derk, but this really takes the cake. Admit it – you sold me out and sold the Orb so you can buy this place, didn’t you?”

Oh yeah, he’s a traitor, isn’t he?

“I never! I promise you, I never sold you out!” Derk cries, almost literally. “I was worried sick about you! I only opened this place to try and help you!”

Erik is having none of it. “Oh yeah, and how does that work, exactly? How does you opening this place and lining your pockets while I rot in jail help me?” he demands, sarcasm dripping off every word.

He’s being a bit loud about it, though, so you keep an eye on the door. The place is still open, after all. If anyone happens to stumble upon your little tête-à-tête, you’ll all be getting an early game over.

“Look I was never much of a thief – you know that. But it turns out I know how to sell stuff. I got the gift even if I do say so myself,” Derk begins, somehow not earning another punch for blowing his own trumpet in front of his already irritated ex-partner. “When you got nabbed, I spent months racking my brains for ways of busting you out. I couldn’t stand the thought of you being in there.

“In the end, I realised I’d have to give up the Orb. I took it to the King, told him I found it somewhere and pocketed the reward. Then I used the cash to open up the shop here, and poured all my profits into bribing the guards up at the castle so they’d let you escape.”

Erik assumes a thinking pose, and that means it must be true. “Now that you mention it, I did think it was weird they never tossed my cell the whole time I was digging that hole…” he muses. It’s not what you’re focused on, though.

Derk sold the damn orb. No JRPG worth its salt introduces its valuable, probably important, probably necessary orb/crystal/gem thing just to disregard it five seconds later.

So, you’re going to have to go looking for it.

Erik gives a very put upon apology, much to Derk’s delight, and then says exactly what you were just thinking. “But I need that Orb. And now we don’t even know where it is…”

“Oh yes we do!” Derk laughs, way too smug for someone who barely made it out with his face intact. “Right this way, folks!”

You can only sigh when El turns around to explore the shop instead. While you wait, you skim over what’s in stock and it’s all gibberish. Literally. You sigh again, heavier.

You’ve always wanted to be illiterate.

Yaaaay…

“What’s got you so down?” Erik comes up behind you, and whistles low at whatever the heck he reads there. “No wonder he can afford this place. How does anyone afford these prices?”

“Goddess knows,” you reply. You don’t even know how much it is.

El passes by you on his way upstairs and you grab him by the arm. You can see what he’s going for from here. “Nope, no breaking pots for you,” you state, physically pulling him out the door.

Why is it night now?

“So? Where is it?” asks Erik, bringing you back to the issue at hand.

“After I handed over the Orb, I made sure to keep my ear to the ground about where it ended up – I knew it was important to you, see,” Derk reveals. “Well, a little bird tells me that Hendrik and his men took it to the Kingsbarrow, and it’s been under lock and key there ever since.”

That’s the name of a dungeon if ever you’ve heard one.

“The Kingsbarrow, eh? That’s south-east of town. Same direction as Cobblestone–”

“How convenient,” you mutter under your breath.

“– which means we can kill two birds with one stone. You coming, Derk? A little adventure for old time’s sake?”

Oh wow, he really did forgive him.

Derk looks genuinely upset when he has to refuse. “Sorry, no can do. I got a shop to run and I’m a married man these days.”

“Married!” Erik exclaims, sounding as surprised as you feel, albeit for different reasons. “Wow, you really have changed. Well, you always said you wanted to settle down and maybe go into business someday. I’m happy for you.”

You can honestly say you weren’t expecting such a wholesome ending when you came here, but it’s a nice surprise. On that note, however… why the heck is Erik this surprised when he already knew this is what he wanted to do?

Cutscene Erik is an idiot.

They move on to discussing how to get out of Heliodor and to the Kingsbarrow safely, a whole bunch of directions and geography that you not only don’t know but don’t care about, either, and therefore don’t listen to at all. There’s mention of what sounds like a forest dungeon, the Manglegrove, though, so you should probably get some antidotes on your way out.

“If there’s anything I can do, just say the word!”

“Well, there is one thing…”

Chapter Text

Good news! The monsters that attack your friends now also attack you!

No wait, that’s bad news.

The good news is that you’re now an official member of El’s party, with all the benefits that come with that.

“(Y/N), you can’t just defend all the time!”

“Watch me!”

You haven’t seen any of those benefits yet.

Derk was kind enough to provide you with a shiny new short sword at Erik’s request, along with some supplies for your journey, so now you have a weapon of your own. The plain clothes Erik gave you back at the church are probably Plain Clothes now, too. It makes sense that the game would consider you a real party member now that you have equipment, but could it maybe throw you a bone?

A tutorial, perhaps?

“For the love of the Goddess, just take the pointy end and stick it in the monster,” Erik whines because this is your fifth battle and you still haven’t attacked yet.

Not what you meant!

El notices your dubious look, and decides you just need a little more encouragement. Again. “Go ahead, (Y/N), we’ve got your back.”

“Wood you get on with it, already? You’re boring my bark off over here!”

“Did that tree stump just talk?” you squeak, almost dropping your (heavy) sword in shock.

“Excuse you, I’m a Stump Chump, actually!”

“It talks…” you whisper, staring somewhere into the middle distance and not at your companions sharing a Look^TM behind your back. How the hell are you supposed to kill this thing when it’s clearly an intelligent being? Are you happy game devs? Is this what you wanted!?

“Have you never seen a monster before or something?” The stump chump folds its arms (branches?) and drops its battle stance, which really doesn’t help your cause. “Look, blue hair’s right. You just come up and take a chop at me. It’s easy!”

“Wha-?” you splutter, dumbfounded (and still kind of reeling from how obvious you’re apparently being). “You mean you want me to?”

It shrugs, as if its imminent demise is as mundane as the weather. “Well, I ain't leaving otherwise. Come on, I won’t even attack you afterwards.”

This is messed up.

You take a deep breath, and then a tiny step forward. You can see Erik sit down on the grass out of the corner of your eye, and El stifles a yawn. Rude.

The stump chump waits as patiently as a bored, sentient tree stump can while you slowly, excruciatingly make your way over to it. You take a quick peek back at your friends for support.

“Just whack it,” El instructs cheerfully.

“Just whack it…” you repeat mockingly under your breath, gripping your sword tightly.

Then you do just that.

The monster recoils from your attack with a snarl, which is a normal noise for vegetation to make and most certainly does not have you bolting back to the safety of the others.

“I knew you could do it!” El cheers, ignoring Erik getting tackled behind him. You smile self-consciously, knowing full well how pathetic that performance was.

Erik is the one to finish it off, and then a treasure chest just falls out of the frizzing sky? What? Just… how?

“They always do that,” El tells you, and you realise you just said that out loud. He tilts his head like a puppy. “Have you really never seen a monster before?”

Uh oh. Abort mission! Abort mission! “I… uh… shut up.”

And then you march off before he can ask any more difficult questions.

Battles don’t get any easier once you’re in the Manglegrove, to nobody’s surprise. As expected, the new enemies love to spam status effects all the time, though surprisingly it’s sleep and not poison. Until it starts raining and then it’s both. Gotta love those status effects! Thanks devs!

(It is, admittedly, much easier to put your Undertale-born morals aside and fight back when the enemies do that, however, so that’s a plus.)

El, ever the diligent explorer, leads you down every conceivable path except the one you’re supposed to be following, which would be fine if not for the fact that it’s so dark you can barely see where you’re putting your feet. You’ve lost count of the number of times you’ve been ambushed by those green slime puddles, but it feels like every single time it happens, one of you comes out poisoned.

You hope whatever he’s found is worth the trouble.

“Man, these guys are relentless,” Erik complains, forcing down yet another antidote herb. “We’re really getting our money’s worth out of these things.”

El smiles mischievously as Erik gags exaggeratedly. “Oh, you’re enjoying them? Hear that, (Y/N)? That was a great idea you had!”

“I aim to please,” you bow.

“Try harder,” Erik says, with no heat behind it.

“Be careful what you wish for, boy. I just might.”

“Ugh…” He turns towards El in despair. “Think you could learn Squelch anytime soon?”

Come again? “I’m sorry, what?”

El seems to know exactly what he’s talking about. Lucky for some. “It’s a spell that cures poisoning. It’s essentially an antidote herb without the taste.”

“Oh yeah, that would be useful” you nod. “…‘Squelch’, though?”

“Yeah, ‘Squelch’.”

“…Right.”

The detour you’re currently on ends in another chest, only this time it’s a little bigger than usual. When El opens it, he frowns. “Huh, that’s weird.” You peer over his shoulder to see a distinct lack of, well anything, really. Weird, indeed. “I guess someone already opened it.”

Erik shrugs. “Yeah, it happens sometimes.” No, it doesn’t. “I wouldn’t worry about it.”

“I would,” you mutter, squinting suspiciously at the empty chest, and then the broken bridge beside it. Something’s up here no matter what Erik says, you just don’t know what yet.

“No, he’s right,” El concludes, turning back the way you came. “Come on, I want to check that other bridge out.”

Reluctantly, you obey. You can figure it out some other time. El stifles another yawn as he walks, and it makes you yawn, too. You nudge Erik, but he's already looking at you. Whoops. “You said you know this place. Is there a bonfire coming up soon?”

“You mean a campsite? I’m pretty sure there’s one somewhere,” he offers, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly. “It’s uh… been a while since I’ve passed through here.”

“Oh, so that’s why El’s the one in charge. And here I thought it was because he was the Luminary.”

He scoffs, easily catching onto your joke. “Nah, what difference does that make? I’m just letting him get it out of his system.”

“Hey guys, look what I found!” El calls back to you from around the corner. You’re expecting another chest, only when you get there…

“Moooooo! Let’s see what kind of weather we can look forward to! Moooooo!”

What.

The frizz.

Is this?

“Hey, a mooteorologist! Nice!”

Mooteorologist.

Just throw the whole game away.

Chapter Text

“Look at that – a campsite. Told you there was one coming up. It’s still a fair way to Cobblestone. Let’s rest up for the night.”

Finally! You can’t say you’re exactly excited to be camping in the middle of a jungle, surrounded by monsters, in the rain, but you’re so tired. Turns out fighting monsters is pretty hard work.

This will be the first time you’re actually camping, too. Needless to say, that’s another area you lack experience in, but you’re not alone in it for once.

“Neither of you know how to cook? Like, at all?” Erik asks, clearly despairing over your apparent lack of basic survival skills.

“I can make stew,” El offers.

“I can make a mess!” you boast, unashamed. “But in all seriousness, I have no idea how to cook outside of a kitchen.”

Erik looks like he’s seriously regretting his life choices right about now. “Guess that makes me the cook, then. But you guys are helping – I’m not doing all the work by myself!”

“Aye aye, captain!” you salute, deadly serious.

El is almost vibrating with newfound energy. “Okay! I used to help mum all the time back home!”

You admire his enthusiasm, even if you can’t muster up much yourself. Erik pulls ingredients out of his pockets (too many ingredients – how do they all fit?) and has the two of you set up your tents while he gets to work on your food. El guides you through the process like the hero he is, all the while telling you about Cobblestone and how much he’s looking forward to seeing everyone again.

You’ve never heard him speak so much. There are so many names, and most of them you have no hope of remembering, but a certain few come up again and again. His happiness is infectious, too – you almost don’t mind the fact that there’s a perfectly good cabin right next to you that you aren’t using. Almost.

“You’ll like Gemma. She’s a lot like you, (Y/N),” he tells you between mouthfuls of soup and bread. “You’re both kind of naïve, especially at fighting.”

“I am not naïve! I’m ignorant, there’s a difference.”

Erik snorts. “And that difference would be…?”

You point your piece of bread at him threateningly. “Watch it, buddy. I know how to use this.”

“I’m trembling.”

El yawns again and, given you’ve just finished, you decide to be the responsible one in your party. “Alright, I think some of us need to be getting our beauty sleep, so I’m going to head to bed. Goodnight, guys.”

“Okay, sleep well.”

“Night.”

You point to El. “Make sure he actually sleeps, yeah?”

Erik gives you a thumbs up and you disappear into one of the tents, ignoring El’s protests of “I don’t need a babysitter!”. It’s not long before you hear them head into the other one and then you’re alone with your thoughts. And the rain. It’s still raining.

The sound isn’t enough to drown out the silence, and your tent isn’t enough to keep out the chill. If that wasn’t bad enough, you’re not completely convinced the Goddess statue is enough to protect you.

You’re uncomfortably aware that this is the first time you’ve been alone in this world. Up to now, El has been at your side almost every second, and Erik has been there almost as long, so you’ve never had to worry about the monsters sneaking up on you or anything. They’re only in the other tent, but it feels much further when you can’t hear them.

It gives you a lot of time to mull over the particulars of your situation.

You still haven’t fully figured out the battle system. It's not ATB, that's for sure. There are turns, but no order, and more importantly no damage numbers or health bars. El does an excellent job of keeping you all healed with his magic (and boy are you jealous about that), but you still can’t tell when something’s almost dead or how effective your attacks are. How are you supposed to strategize with no information to go off?

There’s also the matter of what you can even do in battle. Attack, Defend, Magic and Item are a given – you’ve seen all of them already – but other abilities are a mystery. Erik is a thief, so you’d expect him to have a Steal command, but you’ve yet to see him use one. More often than not he gets first strike, so there’s definitely a class system at play, the only question is what.

Of course, you’re only guessing. Abilities could be tied to level-ups, or story progression, or a skill tree, or completing sidequests, or really anything. You’re completely in the dark. You don’t know what the different stats are, what level you are, what you’re HP is, if you even have MP… you’ve literally got the most basic of basics and that’s it.

And above all of that, you have no idea how any of it might apply to you specifically.

Being on the other side of the screen sucks.

What good is an isekai if you can’t even use real world knowledge for an unfair advantage? That’s the best part! You can’t use magic, you can’t use weapons (well), you don’t know the plot – what are you even here for? The game can’t even be bothered to translate the writing for you.

You're kind of useless, actually.

The more you think about it, the less sense it makes, and it’s starting to give you a headache. Whatever. It's hardly your fault. El and Erik have carried you this far, they can carry you a bit further, and with any luck you’ll gain a few levels and stop being dead weight.

Maybe.

At the very least you can be an extra target.

The next morning, you’re faced with a new problem, and it’s not that El overslept. “Are we going to have to cross that? Because I think we might have a problem.”

“What do you–” Erik looks over from where he’s packing up camp while your sleepy Luminary wakes up. “Gah! Somebody smashed up the bridge? How are we meant to get across now?”

“Find another way, I suppose.”

“There is another path over there,” El points out. He’s still rubbing the sleep from his eyes. You know how he feels.

You watch as Erik puts two whole tents in his pocket, followed by his bedroll, followed by his cooking equipment. It’s even weirder than when he took them out. “Guess we know where we’re going, then,” he says. That has to be his inventory, right? El’s done the same thing.

You look at your stuff.

Oh, Goddess, please let this work.

When the two of them aren’t looking, you pick up your own bedroll and… you feel very silly trying this. Just take a deep breath, don’t look, and put it in your pocket. Easy peasy. Just like that. Just put it in. You just watched Erik do it, it’s not that hard. Heck, you’ve done it with your sword before! It’s in there right now! Just. Put. The damn. Thing–

“You coming or what?”

“Nothing!” you squeak, your face heating up when you turn to see them staring at you expectantly, and now amusedly, too. “I mean, yep! Coming!”

(Of course, your literal pocket dimension chose the exact moment you stopped paying attention to activate, so you still don’t know how to do it. Typical.)

You trot over to them, an apology already on your tongue, but it’s forgotten the moment you lay eyes on what’s behind them.

“PUPPY!”

Chapter Text

“Who’s a good boy? You are! Yes, you are!”

“He’s so friendly! Just like Sandy!”

“Guys, please, it’s been ten minutes.”

Okay, maybe you and El have got a little carried away petting your new friend, but it’s not your fault!

He is simply too a good a boy to ignore.

But all good things must come to an end, and you have places to be. You give the pup one last scratch behind the ears, then bid him goodbye to finally begin travelling for today.

You make sure to give Erik your own puppy-dog eyes, just so he knows it’s under duress.

“It’s not going to work, (Y/N),” he smirks in response. You stick your tongue out at him.

There’s a bark from behind you, and El pats you both on the arm excitedly. “Aww, he’s following us!” And sure enough, there he is, tail wagging lazily behind him.

You take back every critique you ever made about this game – if it lets you pet the dog, and then the dog follows after you, it’s an excellent game. 10/10, GOTY, would pet again. No, you’re not biased, why do you ask?

Erik finally gives in, and gives him a little scratch under the chin. “Argh, fine. You can come along, too.”

You lean over towards El and whisper, “I knew he was a softy deep down.”

Your trio (plus dog) is in high spirits as you head deeper into the Manglegrove. It’s so much nicer than last night, not least of all because it’s not raining any more (just as the weathercow said). In the light of day it’s bright and vibrant, and you can actually see all the crazy flowers everywhere. It’s great, and even the dead end you run into not ten minutes later can’t put a damper on you.

The same can’t be said for Erik, however. “A dead end? I guess the bridge was the only way after all…”

“Do you think Heliodor did it?” El asks nervously, but Erik shakes his head.

“Nah, they’d more likely block it off and try to catch us again.” He runs a hand through his hair. “There must be some other way we haven’t found yet.”

You interrupt their discussion to bring their attention to the thing that’s been bugging you since you reached this dead end. “Do you guys know what that plant is?”

“Oh!” El perks up. “There’s one of those around the tree back home. I don’t know what it is but that tree never loses its leaves, so I think it’s special.” He holds his hand out to it, and then his entire body starts glowing and you’re swallowed by a bright flash of light.

When your vision returns, you don’t have a body to go with it, and it’s so disconcerting it’s hard to concentrate on what’s going on in front of you. There’s a man at the cabin complaining about the broken bridge, and then a monster appears to take the credit and boast about it. And then…

“Get a load of my devilishly tricky shape-shift beam!”

How many times can he say tricky? Run DMC is that you?

It’s probably a good thing you don’t have a body because you’re going insane over here. The dog you’ve all been petting and fawning over is not, in fact, a dog at all. He’s a human man cursed to be a dog, and now you have to live with the mortifying fact that you’ve cuddled and baby-talked him all morning.

Yikes.

The monster, Tricky Devil (hard to forget when every other sentence is a pun), then decides to hide in a familiar empty treasure chest and everything slots into place. The four of you return to the present a moment later, and you shake out your limbs to get rid of the sleep paralysis feeling from the vision.

“What the heck just happened?!” exclaims Erik. “You… touched that plant, and then… I saw all this crazy stuff…”

He trails off and the three of you exchange glances with each other before turning in unison to the ‘dog’ beside you. “I think I found our way out of here,” you state, pressing your lips into a line. Someone else is going to have to be the one to open that can of worms.

“You really expect me to believe that this mutt here is actually the woodcutter?” Erik screeches hysterically. Amateur. You have to contend with at least five impossible things every day. He crosses his arms, incredulous. “Heh. There’s never a dull moment with you around, El. I’m gladder every day I broke you out of jail.”

“I’m guessing that was your Luminary power?” You already know the answer, but you’d rather have it confirmed.

Surprisingly, El averts his eyes and rubs the back of his neck. “Uhh… I guess so? The one at home never did that.”

“You only found out about it a few days ago, right? Maybe it hadn’t awakened yet?”

“Yeah, maybe…”

You really hate seeing El so unsure of himself, so you’re grateful when Erik brings you back on track. “Well, all I know for sure is that we’re never going to get out of this forest until we get that bridge fixed. And if what we saw was true, Rover here is the only one who can fix it. Why don’t we find that chest and have a word with our mischievous friend?”

“It’s the empty one by the other broken bridge,” you remind him, mentally patting yourself on the back for predicting its importance. “Called it.”

“How did you know that?” El inquires innocently, and you blank. Erik’s looking at you like you’re a puzzle he needs to solve, and that only makes it harder to come up with something plausible.

“…Lucky guess?”

Great job, (Y/N)! With lies like that they’ll never suspect a thing!

Idiot.

“Uh huh.” You’ve never heard two syllables that felt more like a death sentence in your life, but thankfully Erik decides not to carry it out this second. “Then I guess we know where we’re headed.”

You refuse to meet either of their gazes.

You really need to keep your mouth shut if you want to get through this. It feels like every time you speak you give something else away that outs you as a foreigner to this world. You’re starting to wonder if it’s better to just tell them and get it over with – Erik for sure will put it together eventually, and you already know you’re not going to like whatever conclusion he reaches about it.

You’ve seen him angry once before, and it’s not pretty.

It’s not hard to find the treasure chest in question in the daylight. As expected, it’s closed once again, but even if you hadn’t already opened it once you’d know it was a trap by the obnoxious voice coming from inside when El goes to open it.

That’s a point: are there mimics in this game?

You’re only half paying attention while you debate how dangerous a mimic would be, and the Tricky Devil does not appreciate that very much. “Hey! You’re supposed to be shocked by my devilish trickiness! No? Time for Plan B, then. Take this!”

A purple beam shoots out right at you, and El and Erik are suddenly much taller than you thought.

“(Y/N)!”

What the woof.

Chapter Text

It’s wrong. Everything is wrong. The colours, the sounds, the smells, they’re too much, too different, and you can’t understand a single concerned word from your friends’ mouths.

“(Y/N)! Rae oyu yoka? Anc uyo dnturensda em?”

You look up at El in panic. “What’s going on? Why can’t I understand you?” Your voice doesn’t sound right at all. “What happened to me?! Please tell me I’m not a dog, too!”

“Kya ha ha haa! It serves you right! Now you’ve been well and truly tricked!”

No way.

Fearfully, you look down at yourself, only to be met with two furry paws. A quick glance behind you reveals two more paws and a furry tail. Your panic turns into something much hotter and sharper.

You are going to kill that brat.

And it seems you’re not the only one – El’s sword is already out, and Erik is making it very clear that he won’t be far behind. “Yeh! Ntur rou edrfin kcab hirtg won, ro wl’el hsow ouy a ckirt!”

Or… you think he is?

“You’ll trick me? Don’t you know who I am? I’m the great Tricky Devil! The trickiest of tricksters!”

“You slimy little brat! Change me back!” you demand, but all that comes out is a bark.

The monster laughs scornfully down at you. “You really are a stupid dog, aren’t you?”

You growl low in your throat, baring your teeth. Erik draws his dagger and, presumably, gives a final warning. There’s a whine behind you, and somehow you can tell what it means without words. “That awful monster, smashing up my hard work and cursing innocent folk. I do hope your friends can beat him.”

“It’s not my friends he has to worry about.”

“Lal uve’oy noed si useca bolpresm nad secur noayen owh sneto’d atrec het yaw uyo twan. Hatt’s ton a ctirk, si’t lurce! Rye’ou honntig tub a lubyl.”

Whatever El said must have hit a nerve because the Tricky Devil explodes in outrage. “What did you just say?! Cheeky devil! I’ll teach you! For my next trick, I’m going to beat you to a pulp!”

The woodcutter backs off as the battle begins, and you’re more than happy to take the first turn. You don’t have your sword, but you do have instincts and a whole lot of vengeful fury to dish out. “I’m going to give you a piece of my mind, you little slime!” you bark, loudly.

Whether he understands you or not, the threat is crystal clear, and it puts the fear of Dog into him. Erik takes advantage of his paralysis to land a hard hit that sends him flying back, then El yells dramatically (not unlike you) and gains a blue aura that makes no sense whatsoever but you assume it’s a good thing because he still gets his turn, and now he’s moving faster.

Tricky Devil’s turn comes and goes without an action, and Erik gets a second turn, copying El and gaining his own blue aura. When your turn comes back around, you leap forward and chomp down on the monster, and El swoops in immediately after with a Flame Slash.

You’re distracted from the battle by the smell of hot metal, and get hit by a nasty lightning attack that singes your fur and makes you whimper in pain. El uses his next turn to heal you, and you and Erik continue to focus on damage, slowly whittling your enemy down.

Frustrated, the Tricky Devil throws a fire spell at El that quickly spreads, and you aren’t fast enough to dodge out of the way. Erik is the only one who manages to avoid it, jumping back to regroup. “Woh ew hildgon pu?”

“V’ie nebe tebert.” El takes a moment to catch his breath while it’s still his turn. Your opponent is visibly starting to stagger at this point, so you know you can’t be too far off victory, only he has way more HP than anything you’ve faced before. You could be looking at one turn or five, maybe more, and there’s no way to know which it is. “Ew deen ot ned hist cylquik. I ahve na deia. Loflow ym adel.”

“Talk later, we have to win this thing, you know!” you bark, trying to get them to focus.

“Si’t ralgith. Re’we ingog ot xif sith, ond’t wryor,” El says in your direction. Erik gives you a smirk and a thumbs up, for whatever that’s worth.

They both act at once, something you’ve never seen them do before, concentrating their auras. They leap forward as one, El with an overhead strike that catches the Tricky Devil off guard, while Erik lands behind and follows up with a devastating upward slash that rips straight through him.

He didn’t stand a chance.

Tricky Devil falls back, defeated. “Th-this can’t be happening… Looks like the joke’s on me this time… Urgh…” He fades away like any other monster.

But you’re still a dog.

“Yhe reeth! Oyu owt!”

The woodcutter? “Hey, why are you normal if I’m not?” you whine, only now he can’t understand you either. “Stupid video game! We won fair and square! You can’t just change the rules like that! Change me back! You can’t leave me like this!”

El kneels down and strokes your fur, murmuring soothing somethings to you in an attempt to get you to shut the hell up with your increasingly vocal complaints, but you’re not taking this lying down. Like hell you’re staying a dog forever.

Erik valiantly ignores you and speaks to the woodcutter over your incessant barking. “Woh meoc hert’ey llist a dgo? Ew feetaded ti, it shuldo veah keword.”

“M’i fadria I ont’d wonk. Hewn I tredurne ot morlan, yuo ewer illst ginghift, ubt M’i on frethig lemfys, os I pekt uto fo eth yaw. M’i Flint, het cootrewdut, yb eth ayw.”

“Hu, ahey, neic ot emet oyu.”

“Puselaer’s lal neim! I woe ouy roem hant drows nac bolypsis ays! Yoru nefird herte tog drusec sebacue uyo reew gintyr ot leph em. Woh nac I reev ryaep uoy?”

You really aren’t getting anywhere with this, so you lay your head down on your paws to wait for them to be done. You can’t understand a word of it, but it looks like Erik’s negotiating some kind of reward for your efforts, and if you know video games, that’ll be fixing the bridge for you. You did just beat a boss (miniboss?) after all.

It doesn’t feel much like a victory. You feel so alone.

You wish you could cry.

The woodcutter leads your party back to the campsite, El says something, he says something back, and then he leaves you to it, whatever ‘it’ is. You’re guessing it’s called ‘waiting’, and you don’t have the luxury of a time skip to speed things along. You drag your paws. El and Erik are lucky they have each other to talk to – you’re reduced to contemplating your new state of being, and wondering if it’s forever.

The main thing is you’ve lost pretty much every colour that’s not blue or yellow. Or grey. You always thought dogs saw in black and white, so either you’re a magic video game dog or you’re just wrong. The jungle is mostly green, with exotic, colourful flowers, meaning it’s now boring as hell, but there is something interesting in seeing Erik rocking bright yellow and El with blond hair.

You can also smell them, like really smell them, which is Weird.

You really wish there was literally anything else to think about. Even the 2-in-1 Minecraft crafting table/furnace combination thing Erik gives El doesn’t help, because unfortunately there’s not much to actually see. At least someone’s enjoying it. He’s really into it.

You huff, head on your paws, and Erik comes and sits beside you, giving you a pat. “Ho, meoc no, is’t ton dab. Le’wl veah yuo ckab ot ramlon ni on miet.”

“You’d better not be making fun of me…” you grumble, but there’s no bite to it. Erik’s hand scratching behind your ears is too relaxing to really be mad at him even if he is. Your tail thumps the ground in pleasure. You don’t feel quite so bad about petting the woodcutter if this is how good it feels.

“Flint idas oyu tan’c turnseddan su. I not’d wonk fi sath’t rute, tub I ghotuth uoy thigm kile het monycap.” He’s warm, and his voice is quiet and soothing. The gentle sunlight, the smell of earth and wet grass, the steady clink of El working in the background… it’s so peaceful after everything you’ve been through. You wouldn’t mind staying here a bit longer.

Erik shifts and you curl up closer to him.

“Ew’ll ugreif mestinogh tuo. Ve’ew tog het Imluryan no uro dies, refta lal. Fi enyaon nac akber a escru, st’i mih.”

Yeah, you could get used to this.

Chapter Text

“Erik, come over here.”

“Can’t, sorry. You’ll have to come to me.”

“Huh?” El finally looks over where he’s been working. “Are they asleep?”

Erik nods from where he’s stuck, unable to move because you’ve sprawled across his lap. Secretly, he’s enjoying this. The softness of your fur beneath his hands, your body heat soaking into his legs… it’s been so long since he’s touched another living thing, it’s almost intoxicating. “It’s better than sulking, not that I can blame them. Did you need something?”

“Oh! I made you this.” He holds out a sleek blade. “It’s a Divine Dagger. It took a couple of tries, but I think it came out pretty good.”

“You made this for me?” Erik asks, forcing himself to let go of you and take it. He looks it over critically. It’s well-crafted – sharp, no doubt stronger than his own, possibly elemental. He’s impressed.

El blushes, suddenly shy. “You don’t have to use it if you don’t want. I know you like the one you have.”

“What that old thing? Sentimental value. I’ve been meaning to get another one, anyway.” Not true. He could never bring himself to replace it, but El doesn’t need to know that. He runs a finger down the edge of the knife, feeling it’s sharpness. He's genuinely touched. “It’s good. Thank you.”

“No problem. I was going to make one for (Y/N), too, but I ran out of materials.”

El stretches and sits down beside him. The fun-sized forge is great, yeah, but maybe he shouldn’t spend hours on end bent over it next time. He’ll definitely be feeling that in the morning.

He looks over at you, sleeping soundly without a care in the world, paws twitching and tail wagging ever so slightly. “Do you think they knew this would happen?”

“Why do you say that?”

He looks at him. “They said they knew the chest was important. And this isn’t the first time they’ve done something like that. They didn’t seem surprised when we got arrested, just kind of… amused almost? They had the same look when you mentioned the Orb.”

“Really?” So you do know things you shouldn’t. He thought you might. That could be dangerous, and he knows he should keep his guard up, but then he remembers bad lies and bad jokes, and a lonely voice desperate for home, and he just can’t see it. He runs a hand through his hair. “I don’t know what to think. I agree there’s something going on, but surely if they knew, they’d have avoided it, right?”

“Well, maybe they didn’t know that part.”

Erik gives him a puzzled look, trying to gauge what exactly he’s getting at. He doesn’t know either of you that well yet, so he doesn’t know what El thinks he can offer, here. He’s known you a lot longer, after all. “I doubt they’re stringing you along, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

“No, that’s not what I meant!” El backpedals, waving his hands in front of him. “It’s not that I don’t trust them, I just wish I understood. Sometimes they react to things, and I feel like they’re seeing something completely different to me. Does that make sense?”

Ah, so that’s it. He hums and leans back. “I know what you mean. I mean, I’ve never seen anyone look at monsters the way they do – it’s like they really are seeing them for the first time, but when you bring it up, they get all cagey and run off.”

“Is that even possible, though? I thought monsters were everywhere…”

“So did I. But you saw what they were wearing before. It’s a big world. Wherever they’re from, it must be pretty far from here.”

El nods, thinking hard. He waits, stroking your fur distractedly. The Seer never mentioned you when he told him about the Luminary, despite the fact that you were there during their meeting. You were there first, in fact – surely that was information worth including? So why not? Because you weren’t a threat? You don’t feel like a threat, rumbling contentedly on his lap, at his mercy.

“Do you think they’ve been cursed?” El wonders aloud.

“Gee, El, whatever gave you that idea?”

El does not dignify that with a response, merely a look. “Before that. It’s just– they told me they’ve lost their memory, but what if it’s more than that? They hardly know anything. They were all alone out there, no weapons or items or anything, and no one in Heliodor had ever seen them before. It doesn’t make any sense. What if they’ve been cursed to forget? What if they were cursed to be forgotten?”

“You know, you might be onto something there,” Erik muses, taking in the new information. He’s right – that doesn’t make sense. Another thought occurs to him, and it only muddles things even further. “And then they go and pick up on stuff I can’t even see being put down. Hell, maybe they’re a seer, too. It would explain a few things.”

“We don’t know, do we?”

“No.”

El frowns, and Erik knows exactly how he feels. You’re a puzzle they don’t have the pieces to solve, and you haven’t exactly been forthcoming with those so far. You’re as suspicious as any crook he’s ever worked with, and don’t get him started on your outlandish fashion choices, but as far as he can tell, you’re completely harmless. You joke around and poke fun at him, and right now you’re leaving yourself completely vulnerable.

You trust El, and you trust him, and that has to stand for something.

(You also saved El’s life, when he was too panicked to act.)

No, he doesn’t know what’s going on with you. Maybe El’s right, and you’re under a curse, or maybe that’s just the way you are, but maybe it doesn’t matter. You’re on the run, the same as they are, and as long as you’re here, you’re one of them. He doesn’t have to fully trust you, but he can forgive a few secrets.

Goddess knows he has enough of his own.

“Do you need help getting them off you?”

“Yes, please, my legs have gone numb.”

Chapter Text

You wake up slowly, warm and well-rested. The bed is soft and comfortable, and you’re wrapped in the pleasant weight of a blanket. It feels good to sleep in a bed again. It feels like home.

You don’t want to open your eyes yet, because when you do the illusion breaks and you’ll have to face reality. With your eyes closed it’s easy to pretend. The only sounds are the quiet breathing of your friends, and the chirping of songbirds outside.

You shift contentedly, and your blanket loosens its hold on you to accommodate.

Wait.

Your eyes fly open and you’re greeted by a pair of blue eyes looking back at you. You stare blankly as your brain catches up.

“Morning,” Erik whispers, breaking the spell. He’s only inches away from you, his arm draped over your side and your very human legs entangled with his. You can feel your face heating up as you clumsily attempt to extricate yourself from the position you’re in, and his silent snickers do nothing but make it worse.

But, man, if that one word isn’t the most beautiful thing you’ve ever heard.

You cannot believe you actually considered staying as a dog.

You’re halfway through stuttering out an apology when a slight miscalculation almost sends you tumbling to the floor, and you’re suddenly extremely grateful that he still has his arm around you.

But not enough not to blame him.

“This is your fault,” you mutter, burying your face in the pillow so you don’t have to look at his smug face.

It smells like him.

“Don’t blame me. You’re the one who kept whining whenever I tried to move,” he informs you, with such sadistic joy you’re convinced he’s been waiting for you to wake up solely to tease you about it.

“That is mortifying, don’t tell me that,” you whine, voice muffled and hand flailing somewhere in his general direction until it gently slaps him right in the face.

He catches it before you can land a second hit. “Thanks for that.”

“My pleasure.” Revenge is sweet. Your face is getting really squished like this, so you turn back towards him. “How long have you been awake?”

He shrugs. “I don’t know. A while.”

“You could have got up, you know.”

“Are you kidding? That was hilarious.”

There’s a groan from the other side of the room, and you both look over to see El pulling the covers over his head. “Can you guys shut up? Five more minutes…”

You lock eyes with Erik, and there’s a mutual understanding there. A smirk grows on your face. The two of you slip out of bed, quietly making your way to El’s bedside. He looks so cosy wrapped up like that. Would be a shame if someone were to… ruin that.

You stifle your giggles and lean towards him. “El, sweetie, it’s time to get up,” you sing-song in your sweetest voice. You can see Erik biting back laughter on the other side. El, somehow, burrows further into his nest, grumbling unintelligibly.

“What’s that? You want us to wake you up?” Erik says, gripping the duvet with a heaping helping of enthusiasm that El is tragically too sleepy to notice. “Alright, you asked for it!”

Erik rips off the covers in a single motion, accidentally spilling El unceremoniously to the floor with an undignified yelp that leaves you in stitches. He makes no move to get up. “You guys are the worst…”

“Oh, yes, terrible,” you agree lightly, offering him a hand up which he begrudgingly accepts.

Suddenly, his face snaps to you. “(Y/N)! You’re human!”

“Yep! Turned back in the night,” you nod, refusing to pay any mind to Erik snorting unsubtly behind you.

Just then, the door opens and in walks the woodcutter. “Ah, I thought I heard voices. And you’re back to normal, too! That’s good news. I suppose we never had anything to worry about, after all!”

Press X to doubt.

Wait a minute…

“Did you work through the night?” you question. You had the beds, so unless he slept outside…

He laughs heartily. “I sure did! And I’m happy to announce that the bridge is fixed! In fact, it’s even sturdier than ever!”

“You don’t hang about, huh? Thanks, you’ve really helped us out,” Erik tells him, but you can’t help feeling guilty that you basically forced this guy out of his house.

“You didn’t have to do that…”

“Oh, nonsense! I’ve been itching to get back to work since yesterday! Now, young fellow –” he turns to El, who no longer looks like he’s about to nod off again “– about that vision you saw when you touched that plant… The more I think about it, the more certain I am – what you experienced can only have been the Guidance of Yggdrasil.”

For the first time ever, Erik looks more lost than you do. “Umm… Does that mean anything to either of you?”

You can take a guess, and it might even be a good one. You’ve seen Thor, you’ve played God of War (20-whatever) – that makes you an expert. In Norse mythology, Yggdrasil is the world tree, and there just so happens to be a big ass tree floating way up in the sky here. It wouldn’t be much of a stretch to assume it has some magic powers of its own, like using the plant El touched to show the player how to solve puzzles.

Of course, you can’t say any of that without sounding like a loon, but you get the feeling the woodcutter is about to drop a lore dump on you, anyway. You’re proven correct a moment later, when he not only confirms every one of your theories, but also the fact that you’re a freaking genius.

Ah, it feels good to be right.

Now the only question is how does a floating tree have roots in the ground?

The woodcutter, predictably, doesn’t answer that one, and you leave the cabin so he can get some well-earned rest.

The newly-repaired bridge looks about as safe as any tall structure over a raging river lacking safety railings can, but you make it across unscathed. El beelines to the weathercow (you die a little more inside for every bovine pun you’re forced to endure) and only then is it time to get going for real.

Or it would be, if you hadn’t encountered the most adorable monster ever conceived in any video game ever.

“Oh my Goddess, is that a pig wearing a witch’s hat? That is the cutest thing I’ve ever seen!” you squeal.

“The sham hatwitch? Don’t let its size fool you. It’s still a monster,” Erik warns, slashing the lantern looking enemy beside it.

“A sham hatwitch! And now it’s hiding in the hat!” You’re so smitten with this thing. “We are not fighting that. I’m joining its side. Sorry.”

“Again, you do know it’s a monster, right? It will try to kill us.”

“That thing could kill my firstborn and I would thank it.”

“What!?” exclaims El, completely whiffing his attack. You stifle a giggle when the monster smacks him right in the face in retaliation.

“Look, I’m just saying. It hasn’t even done anything yet!” The sham hatwitch proceeds to breath fire all over you. “…Nobody say a word.”

You scowl, marching up to the culprit. Singed as you are, you still don’t want to attack it. It stares up at you with massive, innocent eyes, as if it didn’t just try to barbecue you, and damn it why is it working!?

“Okay, here’s the deal,” you say, crouching down to its level. “You are very cute, and I would very much like to get through here without having to fight you. So, if you don’t mind, could you let us pass, please? You really are very cute.”

The sham hatwitch shuffles on the spot, averting its sweet, little eyes. “Really? You think I’m cute?”

“You are legitimately the most adorable creature I have ever seen, and my day is infinitely better for having seen you.”

It hides away, shyly, and you hear a muffled “I think you’re cute, too,” before it scurries off, leaving the battle entirely. When you turn around, El and Erik are staring at you like you’ve grown a second head. “What?”

El throws a fireball at the final enemy and runs over to you, eyes sparkling. “That was amazing, (Y/N)! How did you do that?”

You went full Undertale, that’s how. “I asked nicely.”

“But it listened to you!”

You shrug, because what else can you do? Tell the truth?

“Well, however you did it, good job,” praises Erik, patting your shoulder. “Come on, let’s keep moving. We’re almost out now.”

El nods excitedly. “Right! I can’t wait to see everyone again. They’ll never believe all the things that have happened since I left!"

You smile at his enthusiasm, following with a spring in your step. Being back in your own body is such a joy. Every word they say is music to your ears, and just knowing they understand you is enough to bring you to tears with relief. You even managed to impress them today, and it’s only morning! You can't wait to see what comes next.

You feel like you could take on anything.

It fills you with determination.

Chapter Text

There’s a small part of you that knew this would happen – the part that still sees this world as ones and zeroes, that recognised King Carnelian’s threats then, and crows ‘I told you so’ now.

It’s nothing compared to the part that sees the destruction for the tragedy it really is.

That part of you screams and shouts for vengeance, for justice, and drowns out everything else because this is bad. It’s awful, and you’re furious at Heliodor, at King Carnelian, at Jasper, at every soldier who followed those orders, and every soldier that stood by and watched. The whole village is in ruins, it’s still smoking, and there’s nobody left to tell El if they’re okay.

And El…

He hasn’t said a word. He only got past the first few houses, and now he’s standing there, not moving a muscle. You don’t think he’s even taking it in anymore. You can’t blame him, either. Not five minutes ago he was eagerly leading you through the pass, happily warning you about his mum’s unrelenting hospitality, and now…

You can’t even begin to imagine how he feels.

Erik is just as mad as you are. His fists are clenched so tightly his knuckles have gone white, and even though he hasn’t strayed from El’s side for a moment, he’s scanning the whole area like he’s expecting an ambush. You certainly wouldn’t put it past them.

It’s only when the root around the tree stops glowing that you even notice it was happening at all, and you know instantly that whatever El was seeing, it wasn’t this. He blinks as he comes back to himself, and your heart drops.

“Are you okay? We lost you for a minute there. Not surprising, I guess…” Your anger flares up all over again at Cutscene Erik’s callous words. It’s not his fault, you know that, but it doesn’t change the fact that he doesn’t notice the way El’s expression changes when he sees the devastation. “I can’t believe they’d do this… And just because you grew up here? What kind of animals are they?”

El doesn’t say anything, because he can’t. He’s silenced by his role as Hero, even in his lowest moments, and you’ve never hated anyone as much as you hate the devs in this moment for doing this to him.

“Jasper and his goons must have ridden straight here after you got thrown in the dungeons and torched the place…”

“Erik.” Your voice seems to snap him out of his musings, and he finally notices the state El is in. He looks at you guiltily, stepping back. You don’t care what’s supposed to happen here, you can’t sit by and watch as El holds back tears that will never be allowed to fall. You take his hand gently. “Hey, just breathe, okay? It’s going to be alright.”

He takes a shaky breath that’s trying so hard to stay controlled. “How do you know?” he asks, and his voice breaks with the desperation of a child lost in a big city.

“I just do. Trust me,” you murmur, rubbing soothing circles with your thumb. “We’ll find them. And your mum will be there, and Gemma, and Sandy, and everything will turn out okay. You’ll see.”

He nods, and you have to believe it’s true because if it isn’t then the real monsters aren’t the ones out there. You know stories, you know games – there’s nothing satisfying about losing so much with no way to get it back. Somewhere out there is a happy ending, and you're going to make sure he gets it.

“Listen,” Erik starts, much more solemn than the first time, “I know this can’t be easy, but… wherever they are, they’re not here. Hanging around here isn’t going to do anybody any good.”

“We’ll go when you’re ready,” you assure. “We’ll fix this, I promise.”

El squeezes your hand, and tries to smile. “Thank you.”

Erik keeps a steady vigil the whole time you’re in Cobblestone, allowing El as much time as he needs to look around. There are no bodies, thankfully, but as far as you can tell every single building is completely destroyed except for the church, and even that didn’t make it out unscathed.

You don’t let go of his hand the entire time.

The tears still don’t fall.

The only person here is a travelling priest, who heard about what was happening but arrived too late to stop it. He confirms what you already know, and offers you a prayer, for whatever that’s worth. He doesn’t know who you are, but he’s the first person you’ve met to even consider that King Carnelian might be wrong, and that feels like it’s worth quite a lot.

Eventually, El feels ready enough to leave, and you make your way back the way you came. “We need to go to Cobblestone Falls. It’s east of here; I know the way.”

“Oh yeah, I meant to ask,” says Erik. “The mark on your hand was glowing earlier, and so was the root wrapped around that tree. Was it another one of those visions?”

“Yeah. I saw Cobblestone the way it used to be, only nobody knew who I was. When I went home, Mum didn’t recognise me. I tried to explain but she didn’t believe me, and when I left, I saw Gemma the way she was when we were little,” El tries to explain.

You blink. “Hang on, you were there? Like, actually there?”

“I… I think so.”

“You time travelled?”

“Maybe? I remember that day. Gemma lost her headscarf, and I got it back for her, but I don’t remember seeing the older me.”

“You met your younger self, too?”

“I guess so? But… why wouldn’t I remember something like that?”

You pinch the bridge of your nose, shaking your head. Frizzing time travel, man. Well, why not? At least it’s taking his mind off it. But what flavour of time travel, you wonder? He’s still here, so the universe hasn’t imploded at least. In fact, nothing appears to have changed at all. He came right back to the moment he left.

The fact that it wasn’t just another vision tells you it isn’t as simple as showing him something; there must have been something in the past he needed, or he wouldn’t have had to be there physically. You consider what he’s told you. He didn’t bring anything back with him, however he was able to speak with his mother and the other villagers, and even himself.

That has to be it.

“It sounds like a predestination paradox,” you conclude, sounding very smart when the reality is you watch TV. “Something you said or did in the past must have caused something in our present, and I’m guessing whatever it was is going to be important to us somehow. So – what was it?”

“…I met my grandad. He told me to go to Cobblestone Falls and dig by the three-sided rock.”

Erik shakes his head, baffled. “So, you… you went back in time, and spoke with your grandad and… and… yourself? That is seriously weird.”

El smiles, just a little. “You’re telling me.”

“And you understand that?” Erik says to you in disbelief.

You smile, feeling very pleased with yourself. “Well, you know…”

“No, not really.”

“Hey, the important thing is we’ve got a plan,” you remind them with a laugh. They can leave the sci-fi mumbo jumbo to you. “Let’s go find out what your grandpa wanted you to have.”

It’s afternoon already, so El decides that if you want to get there while it’s still light out, you’ll need to ride. He rings the bell, which you vaguely remember from the tutorial way back when, and two horses appear from some undetermined location.

“Two…?”

Uh oh.

“(Y/N), can y-”

“Shut up.” 

Erik heaves a heavy sigh, and you wish the floor would open up and swallow you. It looks like your moment of glory is over. Who decided to put freaking omniscient horses in this game, just to out you like this?

Truly, you can’t win them all.

El giggles at your antics, and mounts his horse. “You can ride with me, if you like,” he offers. You unenthusiastically accept.

You really wish you could say you climbed on with any sort of grace, but five minutes of incompetent scrabbling and a thoroughly unimpressed Erik helping you up later would say otherwise. It’s humiliating, yes, but El is laughing and that’s all that matters, really.

"Ready?"

"As I'll ever be."

You could all use a little happiness after today.

Chapter Text

Three-sided rock, huh? This definitely has at least four but now isn’t really the time for semantics. El’s time travel vision has just proven true, and he’s dug up an old wooden box.

“Letters, huh? The top one there’s seen better days, that’s for sure.”

El reads in silence, and you and Erik keep watch, giving him this moment of privacy while you can. When it becomes evident that he’s too lost in thought to move on, Erik speaks up. “It’s from someone important to you, right? Your mother or something? Don’t worry – you can tell us about it later. What about the other one?”

This one he does read aloud, and it explains a lot. It’s written by his grandad, and tells you everything about why El went to Heliodor in the first place, as well as what you need to do next, and… other things. Probably. You didn’t understand all of it, but you get the gist.

El’s fingers clench the paper just a bit too hard, and Erik places a grounding hand on his shoulder. He looks back at the two of you, steady and present beside him. “He sounds like a wonderful man,” you say honestly, and he gives you a small smile.

“Yeah, he was.”

He picks up the Keystone so you can all see it. It’s a large gemstone that looks exactly like a Minecraft emerald except blue and fits right in with the magical fantasy setting. You couldn’t imagine a more fitting item to go with something called the ‘Door of Departure’.

“So, we use the Keystone to open the Door of Departure and head on into the world, huh?” Erik spells out unnecessarily, folding his arms. “Sounds easy enough. You better believe I’m coming with you!”

“Well, duh! Sorry, El, you’re stuck with us, now,” you grin, feeling immensely pleased with yourself when he shyly smiles back at you. As if you’d ever let them go off without you.

Erik gleefully slings an arm around each of your shoulders, pulling you into an impromptu group almost-hug. “Partners in crime, huh? Sounds good to me.”

“We’re not criminals!” El tries to argue, despite the fact that you very much are.

“Sure, we are! And we’re about to go commit another crime down at the Kingsbarrow. Lucky for us, it’s on the way!”

“Oh yeah, your orb thing!” You totally forgot about that. “Hear that, El? We can all be thieves!”

El gives an exasperated groan that lacks any real heat. “Why do I even bother with you two?”

“You love us really.”

He sticks his tongue out at you.

It’s a decent distance to the Kingsbarrow, but thanks to the fact that you can ride past all the monsters (you can admit the horses were a good idea, however much it irks you), you make it there with plenty of daylight to spare. Even El’s explorer tendencies can’t change that, although you do switch to riding with Erik just so you don’t have to keep getting on and off every time he sees a cool rock or what have you.

There’s a campsite not far away, but you opt not to use it. Erik’s idea is to sneak in and out before anyone notices you’re there, so fingers crossed it’ll be a quick stealth section, and worst case you can fight your way out and flee under cover of night. Either way, you don’t need it now, and it only increases the chances that you’ll get spotted.

The only catch to that plan is that the only entrance is a narrow, easily guarded stairway through two high rock walls. Too bad this isn’t Breath of the Wild, or you could just go over.

Needless to say, you’re not optimistic.

Strangely, however, you don’t run into any guards. In fact, there aren’t any guards to speak of. There’s a tent that’s obviously supposed to have someone on watch, but it’s empty despite the open books on the desk. The whole thing reeks of a trap, and you’re not the only one who’s noticed.

Erik stays a few steps ahead, scanning your surroundings for any signs of an ambush, but there’s nothing to see. There’s nothing to stop him opening the doors, either, and a moment later you all know exactly why that is, and it puts you all on high alert.

There are bodies everywhere. You thought the ruins of Cobblestone were bad, but this is another level. They aren’t moving at all, and there’s blood on the ground and weapons lying where they fell. It was easy to believe nobody in Cobblestone was hurt, but here there’s no denying it.

You’ve seen this exact set up before, right down to the giant stone bird and the gemstone waiting in the back, but seeing it like this it’s like you’re seeing it for the first time. The 2D sprites of the GBA simply cannot convey the cold horror of seeing corpses littering the entrance of the place you’re about to enter, and you’ll bet any money that 3D can’t either.

Still, it’s just a game. They aren’t real.

Right?

“What the heck happened here? Who did this to them?” Erik asks, kneeling down. You tentatively take the wrist of the one nearest to you. It’s warm. There’s no pulse.

There’s nothing you can do, so you’re forced to step over them if you want to continue on inside. The next corridor contains two more dead soldiers, and a not-at-all terrifying message hastily scrawled in the dust.

“To the altar… Hurry… The Orb,” El reads. He looks back at the two of you, distress evident on his face.

You swallow. “At least it’s not blood… right?”

You’re not convincing anyone.

The whole place is infested with monsters, and it’s not clear whether that’s always the case or if it’s new because of… you know. There are gaping holes in the walls to let them in, and massive chasms of upturned stones that funnel you through on a set path, all of which you recognise as good level design but extremely concerning in person.

The enemies, too, are off-putting. Some are familiar, and some look just like Tricky Devil but aren’t. Still others are mechanical, which really weirds you out since so far you’ve seen nothing to indicate that kind of technology exists here. They don’t even have indoor plumbing.

(One such mechanical monster leaves behind a husk that El uses as a mount to reach two extra chests. You’ve never seen anything so cursed.)

You don’t see any other soldiers, alive or dead, the whole time you’re in there. You also don’t see what killed the ones from earlier, which only confirms your suspicions that it lies in the final room with the orb, behind the only closed door in the entire dungeon.

Erik stops, clearly reaching the same conclusion. “That’ll be it. The Red Orb should be just beyond those doors.” Wow, you can practically taste those capital letters.

“El, how much magic do you have left?” It’s a long way back to the campsite, and you’d rather not have to trek all the way back there just to come back.

“About half, a little more, maybe.” Good enough. “Why? Do you need healing?” he asks, already prepping the spell.

“No, but we might in a minute.”

“You think something’s waiting for us in there?”

“That does make sense,” Erik agrees. “We haven’t seen hide nor hair of whatever did that to the guards. If it hasn’t left already, this is the only place it could be.”

“And it probably won’t let us walk away without a fight,” you add.

El nods, determined. “Right. We’ll hit it fast and hard, try and take it by surprise. Are you coming with us, (Y/N)?”

You flick him in the forehead. “What part of partners did you not understand? Of course I'm coming."

You’ve seen a few battles by now, how hard can it be?

Chapter Text

You draw your weapons and burst into the crystal chamber orb room where a pair of gryphon monsters are drooling over the tiniest little trinket you’ve ever seen, monologuing like their lives depend on it. “Like taking candy from a baby! This is going to get us into his good books, I just know it! We’re sure to get a big reward!”

There’s a lot to take in here.

Erik wastes no time engaging them. “Hey, what do you think you’re doing? That orb belongs to us! Get your filthy hands off it!”

Instantly, they both turn towards you, hovering on powerful wings and cackling in a way that makes you feel much, much smaller. “Skree hee hee hee! Whoever you are, you’ve just made a seriously big mistake!”

There’s no warning or fanfare. They leap forwards and the battle starts.

Erik takes the first turn, and you shake off your doubts to follow up his strike with one of your own. It’s too late to turn back now, so you should try and get in as much damage as possible while you have the chance. The angry gryphon swipes at Erik, and then El attacks the other one, which strikes back in retaliation.

This time Erik hits the second gryphon, and El’s turn comes next, throwing a fireball at the first. Something in your mind clicks. They aren’t coordinating properly; they never have, only it didn’t matter when the monsters were so weak.

It definitely matters now.

The gryphons both act before you get your next turn, hitting El once more and landing a spell that leaves you feeling sluggish and heavy. Only time will tell how that affects the fight. You jog over to your friends and pull them away a little, so the enemies can’t hear you. “We need to work together. Focus on one. If we can make this a three-on-one, we’ll have a major advantage. El, keep us healed.”

“I’m on it.”

“I can try and put one to sleep. I can’t promise it’ll work but it’s worth a shot,” Erik suggests, and you quickly agree, assuming it’s too early for status immunities.

“Sounds good. El and I will attack the one on the left, you try and put the other one to sleep. If it works, join us until it wakes back up, otherwise just forget it and keep attacking. Got it?”

They nod, and you return to your positions. The sensation of your turn passing catches you off guard, leaving you open to a double hit that has you gasping in pain. It lingers even after El heals you, and you’d be tempted to use a medicinal herb on yourself if that didn’t waste your turn and resources.

El and Erik follow your instructions to the letter, successfully getting one to sleep on the second attempt and wearing the other down with regular attacks. With only one on the attack, it’s much easier to keep a handle on things, however temporary. The occasional block or dodge helps a lot, too, especially given how often your own attacks get dodged or just miss entirely due to your inexperience.

You’ve got the first one down far enough to start seeing the effect of the damage when things go south. Erik peps up, but fails to proc sleep, and both gryphons get to take their turns. The first casts a second layer of slowness that leaves you feeling like lead, and the second casts a wind magic that hits all three of you.

And then they both get their turns again.

You can do nothing but watch as Erik takes a double hit that leaves him doubled over and vulnerable to the single strike that comes next. He falls to the ground, unconscious, and suddenly it’s just you and El.

Your opponents don’t let up for a second, and they hit hard. Most of El’s turns are dedicated to keeping you both alive; at some point he’s going to run out of MP, and that’s when you lose. You can see he’s getting tired. At some point, you both pepped up, but without Erik, neither of you can use it.

As the gryphons’ turns come back round, one goes for another spell – the worst option. You grit your teeth, prepared to take yet another hit but nothing happens. The thing huffs, and you could cry in happiness that it’s out of MP. The other slows you again, hopefully exhausting its own MP, but more importantly giving you an opportunity to turn the tide.

El lands a flame slash, and finally one falls.

One down, one to go.

It’s easier to deal with just the one, now that you can’t get comboed like Erik. Your damage output increases since El doesn’t have to heal you as often, and with no more magic to worry about, your speed returns to normal after one more turn. Things are looking up.

And then El’s MP finally runs out.

“Sorry, (Y/N), I’m all out,” he pants, using a medicinal herb on you. How much longer is this going to take? Your supplies are limited because you’ve been relying on El’s magic so much that it didn’t seem necessary to stock up. You should have known better. If you don’t put an end to this soon, you may not win at all.

Your roles switch, so El’s on the attack while you take over healing with the few items you have left. The gryphon begins to stagger, but it isn’t done and slams into El much harder than either of you expected and he collapses.

He doesn’t get back up.

The gryphon cackles gleefully. How the hell did it come to this? One minute you’re frolicking through the fields, the next you’re facing down death in a dungeon. You’re no fighter! It’s your turn, but if you take it, you’ll forfeit the only advantage you have. But you have to do something.

You can’t panic now. You can’t give up.

(You’re going to die here.)

Your friends are counting on you.

(Are they even breathing?)

Okay.

Look for your outs. The enemy is almost dead – how close, you don’t know – and that means you only need to survive a few more turns. Your hand goes to your pocket, feeling herbs, materials, your phone, and a whole load of random crap that has no use here.

But there is something you can use, if it comes down to it.

You know the gryphon is vulnerable to sleep, and you know it only has two possible attacks it can use now – a single swipe, or a pair. You also know you can take two hits if one is a single, though it risks a crit.

Unfortunately, you no longer have the luxury of playing around it.

You’ve already lost El to one.

(This is your fault.)

It all comes down to whether or not you can buy yourself a few extra turns.

You grip your sword tightly and strike, praying you connect, chipping away at its HP and wishing you could watch it tick down. You watch unblinking as the gryphon takes a swing at you, not quite managing to dodge but it’s a single hit, so you’re fine. You swing again, and it does the same thing, only this time you get the timing and sidestep the claws without a scratch.

It’s on its last legs, but so are you, and your weapon is too unwieldy. A double hit nails you in the side, and you’re forced to rely on blind intuition. You don’t know if you can deal enough damage in one hit, if you hit it at all, so you take out the Sleeping Hibiscus Erik warned you about in the Manglegrove and brandish it at the gryphon in hopes that video game logic will take hold long enough to save you.

It falls asleep instantly, and you sigh in relief.

The time it buys you is enough to scoff your last two herbs and get back to full health. Your next attack wakes it up, but thankfully it has to wait before it can act again and you get a second in for free. You dodge a single, strike back, dodge another, miss, then get hit by the next double, and the next single that follows too quickly, but your next attack does it and the gryphon screams and fades away.

You don’t dare to assume you’ve won. Erik and El are still lying on the ground, deathly still, the orb taunting you with its glow and the sound of monsters outside keeping you on edge. You stay well away from the orb just in case it causes the plot to advance before they come to, and stand guard over them, eyes on the door, until they wake up.

Even when your vision goes fuzzy around the edges, you refuse to give up your vigil.

You have to protect them no matter what.

It could be hours or minutes before El finally stirs, blinking groggily and cracking his neck like he was merely sleeping, not forcibly knocked unconscious. You don’t relax even when Erik wakes up, the adrenaline crash catching up to you so suddenly it leaves you feeling hollow.

El takes in the empty room and the sword still clutched in your hand, and quickly pieces it together. “(Y/N), you saved us! Thank you,” he grins. His hand on your shoulder feels very far away. “(Y/N)?”

“(Y/N)? You okay?” Erik’s hair is blue. It looks normal on him, but it isn’t. You don’t know why you don’t notice it more. “What happened to them?”

“I don’t know, I got knocked out before the fight ended. I thought they’d be happy.” And why does El have such angry eyebrows? He’s so nice. You like it when he smiles.

“Wait, you were dead, too? They had to fight alone?” Is it too early to sleep? “(Y/N)! (Y/N)!”

Someone’s talking to you?

“We need to get them out of here. They’re not responding at all.”

Yes. That’s right. You’re not really here, are you?

“O-Okay. I’ll cast Evac.”

“Thanks.”

You were never in any danger, after all.

Chapter Text

Light.

A cool breeze.

A hand guiding you forward.

The glow of a fire, and a hand holding yours.

There are voices around you, people you care about, people you’ve known all your life, or only a few days, you’re not sure. They’re too indistinct to tell, but you know they’re important to you. They must be. Why else would they be here? You haven’t been home in a while; they probably wondered where you were.

You should call more often. You’ve been so busy, it must have slipped your mind. Or did it? Where did you leave your phone?

Why did no one call you?

The voices quiet. They must have gone to bed. You always did stay up late. Too bad you haven’t been able to play anything, lately. Why is that? You usually manage to find some free time. But, then, you’ve been travelling, haven’t you? You haven’t been home in a while…

The world returns to you slowly.

It never really left.

Erik is asleep across from you, and El is staring into the fire, his hand clutching yours. It wasn’t a dream. You’re really here.

“Eleven?”

He jumps, and turns to you with wide eyes, relieved, and worried and real. “(Y/N)! You’re back! Thank goodness… How are you feeling?”

He’s real, and he almost…

You should have gone back. You shouldn’t have skipped so many enemies. You’re not supposed to be here – you’ve probably been siphoning their experience without even realising it. If you weren’t here, they would have been fine.

“I’m sorry.”

“(Y/N)…” He takes your other hand, holding them both in his, steady, warm, alive. “What are you apologising for? We did it. You did it.”

“…I almost got you both killed.”

He’s quiet, before he pulls you into a hug. His smell fills your nostrils, but you wouldn’t know how to describe it. “That’s not true. You saved us. We wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for you.”

You shake your head, clinging to him like he might disappear if you relax even a little. If it wasn’t for you, they wouldn’t have even been in that position, but they were. They were, and it’s your fault. “We weren’t ready. I should have made you come back, first.”

It’s all your fault.

“Why? You couldn’t have known what would happen.”

“I should have. I’m supposed to be good at this!” You’re not making sense, but you don’t have the energy to care. El’s arms tighten around you, and you can’t stop the tears that want to fall. “I’m sick of this. I’m sick of monsters, I’m sick of magic, I’m sick of impossible, floating trees, and visions, and dungeons, and–”

A sob catches in your throat. It’s hard to breathe. El is the only thing keeping you grounded, right now. He must be exhausted, but he’s here with you, holding you while you break down without even understanding why. “I want to go home, now.”

“…Me too,” he says quietly, and then you’re both crying, rocking back and forth and taking comfort in the fact that there’s someone who understands. Neither of you can go home, neither of you had a choice. You were thrust into an adventure you didn’t want and left to fend for yourselves.

You’ve lost everything.

You don’t let go for a very long time, until your tears run out and you’re left tired and trembling, but calm. “…I got snot on your shirt.”

“Good.” You can feel him smile, and you hiccup a small laugh. He probably thinks you’re insane. “Do you want something to eat?"

“Yes, please.”

He lets you go, and you immediately miss the closeness, but he scoops out a bowl of stew for you and you notice you really are starving. You have no idea how long it’s been since you last ate. “I helped make it,” he tells you, and there’s a bittersweet note to it. “Mum taught me how.”

“It’s good. She must be a good teacher.”

It’s quiet, while you eat. Erik is still peacefully asleep, his back turned to you. You’re glad you can see him breathing – you never want to see either of them so still ever again. “Did you get the Orb?” you ask. You don’t think you could handle going back in there if they didn’t.

El nods. “Erik’s holding onto it.”

“That’s good.” One down, but who knows how many more are left, or how far you’ll have to go to find them. Just the thought of it fills you with dread.

“(Y/N)?” El snaps you out of it before you can fall too far into those thoughts. “He’s okay. A good night’s rest and we’ll all be good as new.”

You sigh, burying your face in your hands. You can still feel the claws raking across your skin. “Yeah, okay.”

Neither of you move. You don’t want to face the morning. You don’t want to face the reality that you have weeks, or even months, ahead of you before you see your own world again, assuming you ever do. It was fun before, but the truth is you weren’t taking it seriously, and that almost cost you dearly.

You’re not going to make the same mistake again.

You rest your head on El’s shoulder, and he leans into the contact with a quiet sigh. “I thought you were going to die.”

“Technically, we did,” he says with a weak chuckle.

You choke out something halfway between a laugh and a sob. You don't know what to do. You can’t even tell if he’s joking or not.

This has gone too far. You have to tell them.

Your chest feels heavy. “I need to tell you something.”

“Hm?”

“…You’re not allowed to hate me.”

He looks down at you, but you refuse to meet his eyes. “I won’t.” He says it with such sincerity that you can’t help but believe it.

It doesn’t make it easier.

“I’m… I’m from another world.”

You feel him shift against you, but he doesn’t pull away. “What do you mean?”

“Just that. I don’t know how it happened, but one minute I’m at home and the next I’m here, surrounded by monsters, and it’s impossible but I’m here–” You stop yourself before you can start spiralling again, concentrating on El’s fingers drawing meaningless patterns on the back of your hand. Just breathe.

“I’m listening,” he assures you quietly, not interrupting.

“I… I’m way out of my depth, El. Nothing makes sense. Monsters aren’t supposed to be real, just stories. I’m not like you. I’m not a hero – I can’t fight, I don’t have magic… I’m just me and I don’t have anything to offer and I don’t–” Your breath catches. “I don’t know how to get back. I’m sorry, I should have told you.”

“You were scared. You don’t need to apologise for being afraid.”

He’s not judging you. He’s not telling you it’s impossible. Even if he doesn’t believe you, he’s listening. “I don’t want to hold you back anymore,” you whisper.

“You won’t,” he promises, and for a horrible moment you think he’s sending you away. “You never have. We discussed it before, you know – last night, when you were still a dog. You see things differently, and pick up on things we don’t, and there are things you understand that we just can’t. We didn’t know what to make of it then. At first, I thought maybe you’d been cursed, and then I wondered if you were from the future, but… I guess this explains it.”

You can’t stop staring at him.

“I suppose this means you never lost your memories?” he asks with a slight smile.

He believes you.

“I thought… it was easier that way,” you confess.

“That’s a relief,” he says, throwing you for a loop yet again. “Crikey… Another world…” He shakes his head. “I… can’t say I understand it, but I’m happy you told me.”

He really believes you.

“…Can I show you something?” Puzzled, you nod, and he takes out the letter from earlier. “It’s from my… my mother.”

He hands it to you, and you’re halfway through trying to decipher the handwriting when you remember why that won’t work. Your eyes slide uselessly over the foreign squiggles before you resign yourself to your fate. “I can’t read this.”

“You can. I want you to.”

“No, I mean I can’t. Physically,” you clarify. “Read it to me?”

He makes a vague sound of realisation, doing as you asked. It’s personal, and heartfelt, something you shouldn’t be privy to except that he wants you to be, and it’s heart-breaking to think that the world can be so unkind when El is nothing but good. A weighty burden doesn’t begin to describe it.

“Prince of… Wherever, saviour of us all. No pressure, then,” you joke softly, as if that might make things seem less daunting.

“Dundrasil,” he corrects you automatically. “She died to protect me. I never even knew her. How am I supposed to live up to that? I can’t even keep my promise to you.”

“You know that’s not fair.”

“The Luminary is meant to protect everybody. I can’t even protect myself, or you, or Gemma. I got you arrested the day I met you, and now my village is gone and it’s all my fault. Everyone I love has gotten hurt because of me.”

A surge of protectiveness rushes up inside you.

You’re not the only one who lost your whole world today.

You take his face into your hands, forcing him to look at you. “Eleven. No. None of those things were your fault. Just because you’re the Luminary doesn’t mean you can magically fix everything – it sucks but it’s true. You’re doing your best. King Carnelian’s the one to blame.”

“But what if he’s right? What if I am the Darkspawn?”

“I don’t believe that.”

He sighs, pressing his forehead to yours. “What am I supposed to do?”

“…I don’t know.” If you did you wouldn’t be in this situation. “But we’ll figure it out.”

“Promise?”

“Promise.”

Chapter Text

The sun is well in the sky by the time you wake up next morning, and El is drooling on your shoulder where his face is squished into you, still very much asleep.

“Awake already? That was fast!”

What is it with these boys and embarrassing you first thing in the morning?

“Urgh… good morning to you, too,” you grumble, as if Erik isn’t already aware of how flustered you are. It’s bad enough you blubbered all over El last night, you don’t need him bringing up your sleeping positions, too.

You look back at El, on the floor, then to the log you were sat on, and then to Erik who’s watching this unfold far too coolly to be a coincidence. “Um… you moved us, right? Thank you.” He probably saved you a week of back pains.

He shrugs, neither confirming nor denying, which is confirmation in itself. “How are you feeling?”

Mostly regret, if you’re being honest, but physically? “Better, thanks. Sorry for worrying you.”

“Don’t sweat it. We can take it slow for a while if you need more time.”

You frown. It’s a generous offer, and, as far as you can tell, totally sincere, but that’s the problem. You can’t afford to ‘take it slow’. You need to be training, gaining back those levels you’ve been stealing from them and then a few more just to be safe.

There’s no room for a low-level challenge run when there are real stakes. You can’t simply reload and try again if something goes wrong.

But then, what about the story? Yes, it would probably wait for you, but you don’t actually have any proof of that. If you take too long, the game might force your hand and throw the events at you anyway. You could test it, but what if you’re wrong? Are you willing to risk them on nothing more than an assumption? Is it even right to think of it this way?

You startle slightly when Erik moves to sit beside you. “Hey, if you want to talk about, I’ll listen. That’s what partners do. And if you don’t, I get it. I’ll still be here.” He offers you an apple. “Breakfast?”

You nearly burst out laughing despite yourself, and he smirks when you can’t quite hold back a snort. “I appreciate that.” Erik might act cool and aloof, but he’s such a mother hen sometimes. He may as well have tucked you in with a bedtime story last night considering–

Oh. So that’s it.

“You were awake, weren’t you?” you say, though you already know the answer. At least you don’t have to explain twice. “It’s fine, I wanted you to know, too. And I’m sorry for lying. Did you… have anything you wanted to ask?”

He eyes you for a long moment. It’s not good or bad, he’s just… looking. You fidget uncomfortably under his gaze. “Do you want me to ask?”

You blank. Do you want him to ask? Well, not really, no, but it’s kind of important. The version you gave El was extremely simplified, and messy, partly because of how worn out you were, but mostly because if you wanted to get technical about it, you’d lose him in about ten seconds (plus, you don’t want to give him an existential crisis about the fictional(?) nature of his existence).

Now that you’re more awake, it occurs to you that you didn’t really explain at all: you just sort of dumped a bunch of stuff on him and left it at that. There’s a lot you left out, and although you’re dreading what might come up, you do want them to understand, at least a little, otherwise what’s the point of telling them at all?

Your mouth opens and closes like a fish as you attempt to formulate some kind of coherent response from all that, eventually settling on, “If you like.”

“That’s not an answer.”

“Yeah, well, neither is that!” you sulk, pushing him harmlessly away from you. He comes right back a moment later. “If you don’t want to know, then fine! Just don’t be surprised when I do weird stuff.”

He tilts his head, thinking. “I do have… one question.”

“What?” Please be easy.

“Do you not have horses in your world, or…?”

“…I hate you.”

 He grins and ruffles your hair, much to your chagrin (not that it was under control before). “No, you don’t. By the way, got a present for you. Check your pockets.”

You squint suspiciously, but do as you’re told anyway. Does he mean your inventory? Is it even possible to access someone else’s? Your fingers brush over the different items, identifying them automatically, and your eyes widen when you find it. You pull out the blade in shock. “Erik, this… this is yours. Why are you giving it to me?”

“Well, you haven’t really clicked with the short sword – why not try daggers next?” That’s so not the point! “I’ve got the one El made me, so you can borrow my old one for a while. That beauty’s seen me through a whole lot; take care of it for me, yeah?”

Holy slime.

A huge weight lifts off your shoulders. He doesn’t care. He really doesn’t care! You were so afraid it would be a deal-breaker for them, that they’d think you were crazy and tell you to get lost, but here he is trusting you with his own dagger. You can’t let him down.

“I wouldn’t dare do anything else,” you promise.

“Great! Now eat, and then I’ll show you how to use it.”

To say knives are an improvement is an understatement. Maybe it’s because you’ve actually used them before in real life (no, not real life – your world. This is real, too.) but there’s no clumsy bumbling like you had with your short sword. Once he shows you the proper reverse grip for combat and not chopping vegetables, you’re out swinging like a madman. It’s fun.

Erik’s dagger is about the length of your forearm, and so much lighter you can easily use it one handed without breaking a sweat. You’re quicker, you can put more force behind it, and you can throw in weird angles whenever you like with a flick of your wrist. Erik offers little tips here and there, but for the most part leaves you to experiment on your own.

In your mind, it’s like a punch vs an elbow strike: you have to get in closer, but it hits much harder. Half the reason you struggled before was because you missed so much. Your telegraph was so obvious the monsters could see it coming a mile away. Now, that problem is gone.

Now, they’d better watch out.

You look back to Erik, watching proudly from the fireside. “Dare I say I’m looking forward to trying this out for real?”

He grins right back at you. “That’s what we like to hear!”

“What is?” comes El’s voice, and you turn to him excitedly.

“El, look!” You point to the dagger. “Ta da! New weapon!”

He blinks once, twice. “Oh. Oh! That’s great, (Y/N)! You like it?”

“Like it? I freaking love it!” You demonstrate some of the cool new moves you just came up with, before it suddenly slips out of your hand and careens into the grass a few feet away. You clear your throat. “Uh… whoops.”

Erik shakes his head at you. “Only you, (Y/N).”

You smile sheepishly and go to retrieve it, brushing away the dirt and thanking the stars you haven’t already made him regret lending it to you. Maybe he doesn’t think it’s that important, but to you it’s a chance to make up for your mistakes and prove you’re worthy of the faith he’s putting in you. That they’re both putting in you.

Everything is different now. You can’t be complacent and expect everything to turn out fine – you learned that the hard way – and even if you could, you wouldn’t want to. You know you’re weak. You know you have a long way to go before you can stand side by side with them as equals. But you also know that you’re ready to do whatever it takes to get there.

This isn’t your story – it’s El’s. You owe it to him to do whatever it takes to get stronger and help him save his world.

Even if it means you might not get to go home at the end.

Chapter Text

“What was that one called again?”

“A Gloomy Grublin. So there’s really no monsters where you’re from? None?”

“It's not going to change if you keep asking, you know.”

Erik’s been watching the two of you since you woke up. Last night was… illuminating, to say the least. He’s not at all surprised to see you’re still quite out of it – there’s a resolve in your eyes that wasn’t there before, but he keeps catching you zoning out and staring at nothing. He wishes you would rest, but you insisted you were fine, and now you and El are playing 20 questions while you make your way to the Door of Departure.

The more he thinks about it, the more he’s convinced that you’re putting on a brave face about it all.

A world without monsters or magic, where even Yggdrasil doesn’t exist… it doesn’t sound real. Yggdrasil is the source of all life; how can anything exist without it? What would a world like that even look like? How do travellers get money for the inn? How do they light the streetlamps, or keep their fridges cold?

What do they eat? They can’t possibly eat nothing but animals and crops, can they?

He can’t make head nor tail of it, but that’s what you said, and if he’s being honest, it does fit. There’s been a lot of things he can’t explain since meeting El (time travel, anyone?), so it’s not so difficult to accept your explanation. The theories he and El came up with were decent, but there were still holes like how you ended up outside Heliodor in the first place. Even you don’t know the answer to that one, but the rest seems to hold up.

‘You’re not allowed to hate me.’

He can’t get your words out of his head. El doesn’t have a hateful bone in his body, yet it still worried you enough to say that. Yes, you lied (badly), but what difference does that make? El was right: you were afraid. It was a survival instinct. You weren’t trying to deceive them or get them caught.

He still doesn’t understand it all, but it took a lot for you to finally tell them, and it’s clearly still weighing on you. He’s not going to push, no matter how curious he is.

(He’s very glad you weren’t upset about him listening in. People rarely enjoy having their secrets known without their permission.)

And then there’s El. He had no idea he was carrying so much guilt behind that smile. It always seemed like nothing could really phase him, but even the legendary Luminary is only human. Inside, it was building up until it was too much to hold back. He looks alright now, but he’s not going to miss the signs next time.

What a pair you two make. And when you factor in his own history, he can almost believe he was meant to meet you. In a few short days, he’s found the Luminary, broken out of jail, and regained the Red Orb. Perhaps if you stick together, everything really will work out.

Not that he’s willing to tell you that, yet.

Maybe when the dust settles and you’re both back to normal he will, but not yet.

“No, I can’t see the future. That one?”

“A Garuda.”

“…Heh.”

And there you go again with those reactions that never made sense. With this new information they… still don’t, but now he knows why. Whatever background you have colours your perception of the world in ways he’ll never know. Everything is new to you, but nonetheless you’re putting in the effort to learn.

“How do you even reach it all the way up there?”

You always did, he just couldn’t see it for what it was.

You run off, dagger drawn, shouting for the monster to “Come down and fight like a man!” when he picks up another sound from behind them – a sound like hooves. He whips around, eyes on the clifftops where half a dozen cavalry soldiers are gathering for an advance.

Great. No rest for the wicked, huh?

As if that wasn’t bad enough, a moment later they’re joined by the dark presence of Sir Hendrik. You remain blissfully unaware of the threat until El calls out to you, but when you do, “How did they even get up there? Is that a unicorn?”

You and your priorities.

“Did you really think you would escape me, Darkspawn?” Hendrik roars, and that’s all the warning you get before he charges.

“Dammit! They found us!” Erik mutters, casting around for an escape route. There – two horses, not far off. You can make it if you go now, but you’re too busy watching their descent in awed terror. “Well don’t just stand there! Come on!”

That snaps you out of it, but he drags you along by the wrist anyway just to be sure. “Jump!” You do as he says, allowing him to get you on first and swing up behind you just as your pursuers reach the ground. He kicks the horse into a gallop, holding you steady with one arm when you shriek at the speed.

He won’t let you fall.

He follows behind El, heading towards the Door of Departure simply because it’s away from the soldiers. You have a good head start, but a quick look back tells him that won’t last long. If they hit you with those crossbows…

A bolt flies past and buries itself into the flank of El’s horse, downing it and him in an instant. “El!” you cry, twisting in place to see.

“On it!” He pulls your horse round in as tight a circle as he can one-handed, slowing slightly to control it better as you get closer. El struggles to his feet. The horses thunder on regardless.

“Now! Seize him!”

They’ll close the gap in a matter of seconds.

You only have one shot to get this right.

“Hold on tight, (Y/N),” Erik warns. He lets go of you, and reaches out to El. “Here! Take my hand!”

El looks back just in time and grabs on, successfully pulling himself up behind him, and Erik whips the horse back into a gallop, only this time he knows it won’t be enough. They’re still shooting at you, and the weight of all three of you is simply too much to outpace trained mounts.

A blue glow in the corner of his eye distracts him, but you’re already on it. “El! The gem thingy!” He’s almost blinded when he holds it up, shining brightly in reaction to the Door that’s still too far for comfort.

“You shall not escape me, Darkspawn!”

You’re thrown violently from the horse, rolling to a rough stop, battered and bruised but still kicking. “Run! Now!” It’s your only chance.

The Door is fully open now, but he can hear how close those hoofbeats are, and you’re starting to flag. El tries to pull you along, and Erik takes the lead.

He doesn’t notice when you pull out of El’s grasp.

He doesn’t see you turn to face the unstoppable force chasing you down.

He doesn’t see El stop.

It’s only when he reaches the safety of the Door’s travel chamber that he looks back.

“(Y/N), what are you doing?! We’re almost there!” El urges desperately, watching in horror as you stare down your imminent defeat mere metres from safety, but you take no notice. The doors begin to close.

“Keep going,” you call over your shoulder, calmly. El doesn’t respond. You widen your stance, bringing your arms up in smooth, unmistakable motions. “Go!”

You’re about to use magic. But how?

It doesn’t matter. He can’t tell what spell you’re going for, but if it buys them enough time to escape… “El, we’ve got to go.”

El clenches his fists, but obeys, the distance between you feeling more like a death sentence with every step. Hendrik doesn’t slow down, and Erik watches helplessly as you draw one arm back quickly.

“Suck on this, Henry Hoover!”

Hendrik reins in his horse at the last second as you fling your arm forward, and then you’re sprinting after El, snatching his hood out of the air when it flies off and collapsing into the chamber the moment before it closes.

The soldiers never knew what hit them.

Chapter Text

The travel chamber activates as soon as the doors close, taking you far away from the danger that was so close only a second ago. You only barely managed to make it inside. El doesn’t really know what he’d do if you hadn’t.

Erik flops down beside you on the floor. “Phew! That was too close!”

“You’re telling me! I can’t believe that worked!” you laugh breathlessly. How can you be laughing after that?!

“What did you even do?”

“Nothing! But he didn’t know that! Sucker!” Your smile falls. “Those poor horses…”

Now Erik’s laughing, too. “Trust you to try something like that, and actually pull it off.”

“…Don’t do that.” You both look over to see El frowning. His knuckles are white where he’s gripping his bag strap. “You made me leave you behind. I thought Hendrik was going to take you back to the dungeons! I thought I was going to lose you, too.”

You swallow. “…Oh.”

Is that all you have to say? “What were you thinking? You could have been killed!”

“We… we weren’t going to make it,” you explain hesitantly, and he can’t believe what he’s hearing. “I was slowing you down. I thought if I could distract them long enough, you’d make it through.”

“What about you?” he presses.

You shrug. “I wasn’t meant to be here in the first place.”

His world stops. Do you really think you matter so little to them? Who cares where you’re from or how you got here? You’re here, you’re their friend, of course you matter! “But you are here. Isn’t that enough? I’m sorry I can’t get you home, but that doesn’t mean I’m not going to try and help anyway.”

You baulk. “How is that relevant?”

“I’m just saying, you don’t have to put yourself in danger like that! We’ll get through it together.”

“I did it to protect you.”

“By throwing your life away?”

“I’m not throwing anything away! I’m just trying to make sure I’m not making things worse!”

“Of course you aren’t!”

“How do you know? Huh? You can’t tell me it wouldn’t be faster if it was just the two of you on that horse.”

“That doesn’t make it your fault!” He knows he’s shouting, but you’re not listening. He needs you to understand. “You keep saying it is, but why? Because you exist? How does that make any sense at all?”

“If I wasn’t here, you wouldn’t have me dragging you down.”

“Then why don’t you just leave?”

“Maybe I will!”

“Fine!”

“Fine!”

You storm off as far as the tiny room allows and El does the same, swiping away the angry tears. He takes a deep breath, forcing himself under control. “We should get moving. It’ll be dark soon. Where are we anyway?”

The silence stretches on and on. “I don’t know. I don’t recognise this place at all,” Erik answers eventually. El hates how guarded he sounds.

“Join the club,” you mutter under your breath.

You don’t leave, but you don’t exactly stay either. You keep out of the few battles they encounter, walking a few feet behind them and refusing to acknowledge them beyond that.

Or maybe it’s just him you’re ignoring.

It’s awkward. No one speaks beyond what’s necessary, and he can feel both your eyes and Erik’s on his back as he walks. He feels sick. How did it come to this? He never meant to yell at you, or suggest you should go away, and yet that’s exactly what happened, and now look at you. He did that to you.

He doesn’t know how he’s supposed to take it back.

When you eventually do reach the next town, Erik immediately abandons you for the sauna to escape the suffocating hostility, leaving the two of you alone. He looks to you uncertainly, but you don’t look mad anymore, just tired. You sigh, and he flinches when you meet his gaze. “You want to go, too, don’t you? Just go, I’ll be fine on my own.”

Never mind, you are still mad. “What will you do?”

“Get us some rooms? I don’t know.”

“…Okay.” He’s kind of afraid he’ll rile you up again if he keeps talking, so he takes you up on your offer and heads after Erik. Hopefully, the time apart will help ease things between you.

He doesn’t make it there, however, because he’s stopped by a commotion outside the bar.

“I told you, I need to speak to the owner! It’s important! He might know where my little sister is!”

“A child in a bar
Is like a fish in a tree.
You must search elsewhere.”

What in Erdrea?

“Grr… Fine! If you’re going to be a complete pig-head about it, I’ll go and ask the guards by the gate instead!”

Should he help?

The little girl begins to walk off when she notices him standing there. “Hm? Ooh, what do we have here? Well? Are you going to tell me your name or not?”

“Um… It’s Eleven,” he answers, more than a little confused.

“Hm. Could be worse, I suppose…” Wha…? “Listen, you and I need to talk, but my little sister is missing, so I have to go and find her first. I never thought I’d finally meet you in a place like this. It’s funny how things work out…”

And with that she’s gone.

…Well. On to the sauna.

Erik is waiting for him when he gets there. “Finally! I was wondering where you’d got to. Come join me – this turned out to be a pretty good idea.” He looks behind El but doesn’t see you. “(Y/N) still upset?”

El nods, sitting down heavily. “I really messed up, didn’t I?”

“Yeah, kinda,” Erik agrees, “but so did I. For what it’s worth, I think you were right. We made it out, but… they were ready to stay behind.”

“I wish they weren’t.”

“Me, too, but that stuff takes time. You saw them last night – I don’t know what it is, but they were blaming themselves for what happened, and they’re doing it again, now.” He laughs humourlessly, a far-off look in his eyes. “They can’t lie, but they sure can hide.”

“I don’t understand,” El mumbles, burying his face in his hands. “Crikey… I can’t believe I told them to leave. They trusted me, and I broke that trust.”

“You’re giving yourself too much credit there, El. You got angry, that’s all. So did they,” Erik points out.

“You didn’t.”

“Not my first rodeo. If you ask me, it’s a miracle we got out of there at all.”

El groans, feeling worse than before. How could he be so stupid? You saved them – again! – he should be happy! You should be together, celebrating, but instead he made you feel like he didn’t even want you around anymore. He can never apologise enough for hurting you like that.

“How do I make it right?” he asks in a small voice.

Erik huffs a quiet laugh, and ruffles his hair. “Just talk to them. Tell them what you told me, and try not to get so worked up! It’s only (Y/N). They'll understand.”

El hopes he’s right. He would never forgive himself for ruining your friendship when it’s only just beginning. Honestly, what you did was pretty clever, he just couldn’t stand seeing you nearly give yourself up like that.

“So, you’ve been scoping out the town, huh? See anything interesting?”

El reluctantly re-emerges from his hands, grateful for the change of subject. “There was a girl. She was cursing out the staff at the bar because they wouldn’t let her in.”

“Ah, her? Yeah, she was sniffing round here, too. She’s way too young to be hanging round in bars, though – no wonder they kicked her out.” He looks off to the side. “I don’t envy her, having a kid sister to run around after. They have a habit of causing headaches…”

That reminds him of Gemma, and the way he always had to run around after her.

“Wh-Where are you…?” wails a voice suddenly. He can’t tell where it’s coming from.

“Uhh… Did you say something?” Erik asks. El doesn’t sound like that, of course, but he shakes his head anyway.

“Where are you…? Where did you go…?”

Erik jumps to his feet, startling El into doing the same. “Huh?! I-Is that a gh-gh-!!”

“Boo.”

“AAAAAHH!!”

Chapter Text

It’s too frizzing hot here. The sun’s beating down on you, the ground’s burning up through your trainers, and there’s not a single piece of greenery in sight. It’s rocks all the way down.

Is it an improvement? Technically, yes, since there’s no one chasing you, but that doesn’t mean you have to like it. You’re still sulking after your shouting match with El, so you don’t even have anyone to complain to. This sucks. Everything sucks.

Stupid El. Stupid Sir What’s-His-Face. Stupid world and stupid you.

You tried so hard to act like everything was fine and look where that got you – alone again, in a foreign land with nobody to turn to.

And it’s all your fault.

If you hadn’t been so high on adrenaline, you might have been able to talk it out like civilised human beings, but no, your fight or flight response just had to kick back in and ruin everything, just like you were trying to avoid.

It isn’t fair. You were only trying to help, and it worked, damn it! Why did he have to fly off the handle like that? Why did you?

…It’s too quiet without them.

Erik ran off at the first opportunity, smelling his pits like the gentleman he clearly is and claiming he needed to sweat off the dirt from the road. He graciously refrained from commenting on your own freshness, and it would have been funny if it wasn’t painfully obvious what he was doing.

You need to apologise.

Even so, you can’t bring yourself to regret what you did.

You enter the inn purely for the illusion of having company. There aren’t many people, but that’s okay. You can book your rooms and wait for them here, assuming you can figure out how. And don’t have to pay on the spot. And this is actually the inn.

Man, you’re full of good ideas today, huh?

“D-Daddy… Where are y-you…?” sobs a small voice. Looks like you’re not the only one who’s been abandoned. “When are you c-coming back…?”

Is nobody going to help this kid? The innkeeper hasn’t reacted beyond a look, and everyone else is acting like they can’t hear. Either this is a regular occurrence, or everyone in this town is a grade-A asshole.

The girl keeps crying and you decide to take matters into your own hands. “Hello, I’m (Y/N).” You crouch down to her level, keeping your voice soft and light. “What’s your name?”

She looks at you with big, wet eyes. “I’m… Connie.”

“Connie? That’s a pretty name. What are you crying for, Connie? Can I help?”

“It’s my daddy. H-He said he would o-only be g-gone for a little w-while, but… it’s b-been a-ages now!”

“Shh, shh, it’s okay!” Did the dad really leave her all by herself? “Would you like to go and look for him? Is there someone else waiting with you?”

She shakes her head, still upset but no longer actively crying. “It’s just me.”

Of course it is. Deadbeat dads the same in all universes.

“Well, why don’t we look together? Do you know where he was going?”

“Really? Thank you! He said he was going to take a bath.”

The sauna.

The world hates you.

Well, you can’t take it back now, and if you can get a lost little girl back to her family then perhaps you can do some good, after all.

Connie holds your hand, which is good because you have no idea where you’re going. Now that you think about it, you don’t know anything about this place. You don’t even know what it’s called. According to her, the sauna is at the very top of the hill the town is built on, and the path there leads past the bar.

You don’t need to be told to know her dad is a frequent patron of such establishments.

“See him?” you ask, standing in the doorway. Connie peeks out from behind your legs, but shakes her head. “I’ll ask the nice man if he’s been here. Excuse me!”

The barkeeper turns to you, a greeting already on his lips, when he spots Connie.

“Another girl comes!
Seeking her sister, no doubt.
But she is too late.

Your sister went on
Searching for you to the west
I do not know where.”

Why is he talking like that? “Um... Actually, we’re looking for her dad.”

“Ah, a different goal
A father, not a sister
That, I have not seen.”

“We’ll keep looking. Thanks anyway.”

You don’t find him on the way to the sauna, either, and Connie’s getting more and more upset. She runs in ahead of you before you can explain to the owner what you’re there for, but once you do, he’s more than willing to let you in, on the condition that you’re quick.

Unfortunately, El and Erik are the only ones in there, and Connie’s gone back into full blown bawling. Somehow, though, they haven’t spotted her yet, and you have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that’s too good to pass up.

Erik jumps up in alarm, and you creep inside unnoticed. “Huh?! I-Is that a gh-gh-!!”

You lean in right next to his ear. “Boo.”

“AAAAAHH!!”

He spins around, throwing himself bodily away from you with an ever-so-manly scream while you howl with laughter. He points at you accusingly. “What the hell, (Y/N)?! You scared the bejeezus out of me!”

“Sorry, sorry, I couldn’t resist,” you say, wiping away a tear.

He pouts. “It’s not that funny.”

“Yeah, it is. Isn’t it, Connie?” The two of them look over at Connie, who’s giggling tearfully in the corner at your antics.

“Wait – this must be the girl whose big sister’s looking for her!” Erik realises incorrectly.

“You know you’re the second person to say that. Connie’s looking for her dad, who are you guys looking for?”

“We’re not exactly looking,” he explains. “There’s another girl running around asking about her sister. Weird that there’s two of them.”

You look off to one side. “Yeah… weird.”

A tug on your sleeve brings you back to reality. “Um… (Y/N), who are they?”

“Oh, right! Connie, this is Erik and Eleven.” You make eye contact with El, offering him a little smile – a metaphorical olive branch. “They’re my friends. You can trust them.”

You’re insanely relieved when El smiles in return. “Yep. We’ll help you look, if you like.”

“Really?”

Erik kneels down in front of her. “Of course we will. Now, why don’t you dry your eyes and we’ll keep searching, yeah?”

“Thank you!”

“What a softie…” you murmur fondly. Poor guy’s had to put up with so much today, you’ll have to find some way to make it up to him.

If they let you stay after that.

Connie’s dad isn’t anywhere to be found in town, and you spend a long time asking around. El picks up a couple of extra sidequests (should you call them that? Or are they just favours?) and some items, but nobody knows where he might be. Even the sauna owner only remembers him going in, not coming out.

The sun remains suspiciously high in the sky all the while.

You don’t see the other girl until you’re making your way back towards the inn, but when you do you know immediately she’s going to be coming with you. Bright red dress, ridiculous hat, staff twice her height? How could she not?

She looks about eight, though.

Erik shakes his head. “Well, well, what do you know? Looks like she’s picking fights with grown-ups again.”

“Remind me not to get on her bad side,” you say. She reminds you of a chihuahua. “Wow, she is really going at him.”

The girl storms off, and you’re not surprised to see it’s in your direction. “Hmph! I wish they’d told me they only let complete pig-heads live in this stupid town before I bothered coming here!” She doesn’t even notice you until she’s right in front of you. “Oh! It’s you!”

“No luck, I take it?” Erik asks, not unkindly, but the girl doesn’t seem to care about that.

“Does it look like I’ve had any?” she snarks. “How hard is it to answer a simple question? It’s a whole town of idiots!”

“Alright, don’t get your knickers in a twist,” you mutter. It was only meant to be an aside, but she still hears you.

“The state of my knickers is none of your concern!” she splutters, turning as red as her outfit. In hindsight, you probably should have kept that one to yourself. She’s much more civil when she addresses El, and you’re kind of offended. “Listen, I want to talk to the owner of that bar, but I can’t get in there on my own. Can I come with you?”

Naturally, El agrees. “If you think it’ll help.”

“Thanks! I’ll never get in there otherwise. You’re a lifesaver! I’m Veronica, by the way. Right, let’s get going, shall we?” And with that she’s off, leaving the four of you staring after her.

“Kids these days, huh? No respect for their elders!” Erik remarks.

You nudge El in the side. “She seemed to like you, though. How’d you manage that one?”

He tilts his head at you. “You think? Didn’t seem that way to me…”

“Trust me, she did.”

“Either way, she’s going to be mad if we keep her waiting,” Erik reminds you. “Let’s hit the bar!”

Chapter Text

“Warnings unheeded,
The fish returns to the tree
What can deter her?”

The bouncer does not like Veronica. Luckily for her, he doesn’t have to.

“She’s with us,” Erik announces, crossing his arms and daring him to argue. “Do you have a problem with that?”

The man relents, albeit unwillingly.

“Understanding dawns.
The fish has a chaperone.
She is welcome here.”

The forced politeness is painful to listen to, but Veronica relishes in it and sticks her tongue out at him on her way past. You exchange glances with the other two, but they just shrug and follow.

“Hey, El? Is it just me or does everyone talk weird here?” you whisper, just in case that’s offensive or something. It’s not like you would know.

“They’re haikus. It’s tradition, apparently.”

Oh, they’re haikus. This is the Japan area, then. It certainly explains the architecture.

Veronica heaves herself up onto the bar stool. It’s taller than she is. “No one’s sitting here, are they? Service if you please!”

“A fearsome young pup!
Perhaps tea will soften her –
A fine, warming, brew.”

You count the syllables on your fingers. “That’s so impressive! And they do that all the time? That sounds exhausting.”

“I know! I’ve never heard anything like it!”

“That sounds lovely, but I don’t have time for tea, I’m afraid. I’m looking for someone,” Veronica says bluntly. “I’ll get straight to the point. There’s a girl called Serena. Blonde hair, looks a lot like me. Have you seen her?”

“‘Serena’… hmm…
Yes, now I recall!
The young girl sought her sister,
But left without joy…”

Hold up, that was an extra line, wasn’t it?

“That’ll be her! Did she say where she was going?”

“Westward she wandered
Sensing her sister, she said...
Guided by voices…”

Veronica slams her hands on the counter, jumping precariously to her feet and making you jump, too. “Westward! Oh, the idiot must have gone to help me! And I was already back here! Oh…” She sinks back down as suddenly as she stood and turns around to address you.

“I was kidnapped, you see. I was in the bathhouse when some monsters attacked me. They took me off to their lair. I managed to escape, so I came back to find Serena, but it looks like now she’s gone to try and rescue me!”

“At least you know where she is now, right?” you try to console her. You can’t quite tell if it works.

“Right, you lot. You’re no ordinary travellers – anyone with eyes can see that. I don’t have time to explain all the ins and outs of it right now, but I need you to help me go and find my sister. Are you in?”

“Just tell us where to go,” El readily agrees.

She looks much happier after that. “I knew you wouldn’t let me down!” She may be a bit aggressive, but hey, she’s a kid and she’s got a sister to worry about. You know what that’s like. Somewhere under that rough exterior, there’s a good person.

Somewhere deep, deep under.

“Are you leaving? I want to come with you!” Connie pleads, reminding you of the first promise you made. Unfortunately, you’re going to have to disappoint her.

You crouch down, taking her hands apologetically. “I’m sorry, Connie, it’s just too dangerous. Veronica needs our help, but I promise we’ll find your dad right after. We’ll be back real soon, okay?” You wish you could offer her something more than that.

“Her dad?” Veronica repeats thoughtfully. “You know, I think I might have an idea where he is. We’ll find him for you, so you stay here and be a good little girl till we get back!”

You furrow your eyebrows, but it’s Erik who voices the question. “You… do realise you’re a little girl too, right? You sure you’re going to be able to keep up?”

Uh oh.  

“Who do you think you’re talking to? Veronica, sage of Arboria and mighty magician, can keep up with riff-raff like you any day! I’m more worried about you slowing me down, if I’m completely honest…”

“Maybe keep that to yourself next time,” you suggest, leaning on his shoulder. He smells of sweat. “You’re lucky that’s all she said.”

He rolls his eyes at you.

“Right, let’s head west, shall we? The monsters’ lair is a giant underground labyrinth out that way. I’m pretty sure we’ll find Serena in there somewhere. The entrance is on the coast.” She starts to leave, but then stops. “I know exactly who you are, you know. Don’t let me down…”

El’s eyes follow her out, before he looks back to you. “Still think she likes me?”

“More than us,” you shrug.

“Anyone else catch that last bit?” Erik asks, lowering his voice so only you can hear. “We’re wanted men. If she knows who we are, we could be in trouble.”

You didn’t think of that.

“Even if that’s true, we can’t just not help,” El insists.

“I’m not saying that. We need to be careful, is all.”

“You’re both missing something,” you inform them. “She was only looking at you, El. She didn’t say that to either of us.”

His eyes light up in realisation. “She knows I’m the Luminary.”

Erik runs a hand down his face. “Is that any better? That’s the whole reason we’re on the run in the first place. It’s just another thing she can use against us.”

El shakes his head. “You might be right, but I’m still going. You don’t have to come.”

“Like that’s going to happen.”

You go quiet. He isn’t saying you can’t come, or that he doesn’t want you to, and you know full well he isn’t the type to up and abandon you either way, but he was right earlier: if you don’t want to put them in danger, you shouldn’t be here. The story – his destiny – is still on track. You should walk away now, before you get too involved.

But when El leaves the bar, you still follow.

When Veronica shouts at you for taking so long, she shouts at all three of you.

And when you think of their bodies lying motionless on the ground, of what might have happened, you can’t help but look for them, just to check it didn’t.

“El. A word?” you indicate with a tilt of your head. Veronica groans impatiently, fully intent on leaving right away, and El won’t hesitate to go with her when there’s a life on the line. That’s why he’s the hero, but he doesn’t know JRPGs like you do. The line between reality and fiction may have blurred, but it’s still following the same rules.

He joins you off to the side. “What is it?”

“Okay, first of all, I’m really glad we’re speaking again, and I’ll apologise properly later. Secondly –” you cut him off before he can argue the point, because you know he will “– I know you want to get going, but I think we should stock up first. Replenish our items, get some new equipment if we can afford it. And eat. I’m starving.”

He looks back to Veronica, who’s managed to get into yet another argument with Erik in the 30 seconds you’ve been talking. “What about her? Do you think she’ll wait that long? I hear what you’re saying, but… I’m worried. Her sister can’t be much older than Connie, what if something happens before we get to her?”

“I know. I’m worried, too. And obviously, if she runs off on her own, we’ll go after her, but I’m not willing to turn one potential casualty into five just because we aren’t prepared.”

He bites his lip, torn. “Do you really think it’ll come to that?”

“…I really couldn’t say,” you admit. “Call me a worrywart, but we don’t know what we’re up against, and I’ve seen how quickly things can go south. Do what you think is right, but… we barely made it out last time. You can’t save anyone unless you save yourself first.”

“…Alright.” He turns, ready to leave, but thinks better of it. “I’m sorry, too. I was just scared. I never meant to make you feel unwanted.”

Oh, El. “I just said I was going to apologise. You’re not allowed to beat me to it.”

“Too late,” he smiles. “But, I’m serious. I’d take it all back if I could. So, will you stay? Please?”

You really should refuse. If you don’t do it now, you never will.

“…I’m scared, El,” you confess in a whisper. “I’m scared what will happen to me if you leave me behind, and… I’m scared what will happen to you if I stay.”

“I’m not afraid to be with you.”

Your heart stutters traitorously, and you feel your resolve crumble before him. “W-Well… I mean, if you insist, I’d love to. Lead on, hero.” You give him a mock salute, cheeks pink, and don’t drop it until his exasperated look cracks into a grin. Then you throw in finger guns for good measure and he rolls his eyes good-naturedly.

No going back now.

You follow him back to the group waiting beside the exit. He’s all business, now. “Veronica, how far is it to the lair?”

“Not too far. It took me a little over an hour to get back here on foot.”

“And the monsters who took you, what were they?”

“Elemental types. Now can we please go?” she prompts, gesturing to the gate.

El takes a deep breath. “Give us an hour to get ready, then we’ll go.”

She purses her lips, very clearly wanting to argue but unable to find a reason. “…Fine. One hour.”

You let out a breath you didn’t even notice you were holding.

Thank the Goddess, you might not die after all.

Chapter Text

“Woah, that’s a lot of weapons!”

A real-life (ha) weapon and armour shop… never in a million years would you ever have imagined you’d end up here. There are blades everywhere, from the floor to the ceiling, on display ready to be sold to anyone with enough coin, including you. But where do you even start?

Most of the stock is made up of swords, a Hotto specialty (yes, Hotto. Because it’s hot). There are big ones, small ones, simple ones, and ones so intricate you can only gape in wonder that someone made that. It’s incredible, and that’s not all. There are spears, halberds, shields, little trident things and a whole bunch of other things you couldn’t even begin to name, all interspersed with various helms and armours.

Their collection of daggers includes things you would never have guessed counted as daggers in the first place, but Erik tests them out anyway, so they must be. He’s got his eye on a particularly nasty little piece with barbs running along the blade. El, on the other hand, appears to be debating taking up greatswords until he sees the price tag and discreetly puts it back down.

Veronica watches all this in sullen silence as if not dying is a bad thing, glaring daggers at you whenever she looks in your direction. You can’t tell if it’s because you’re the only one not really looking for something, or if she knows it was your idea to wait.

Either way, it’s not ideal, but as long as you can work together, it’ll be fine.

Erik moves on from the daggers, and you’re surprised to see he moves towards boomerangs, of all things. “You can use those? Do they actually come back or is that a myth?”

“Well, yeah. They wouldn’t be much good if they didn’t,” he explains like he’s speaking to a child, and you pull a face at him. “They’re good against groups and flying monsters. What do you think? Good idea?”

“I mean, probably, but I think you’d know better than me.”

“I’m not the one who gave the orders last time,” he winks, and you remember that yes, you did order them around last time. That’s embarrassing.

El comes back carrying a shiny, silver blade of ordinary size, and a hat which he plops on your head. “See anything you want?”

“Just this.” Erik holds up the boomerang. “Poison Moth Knife would’ve been nice, but it’s a little pricey, right now.”

“Same with the Cast-Iron Claymore.”

“Now I know how I sound to you guys,” you tell them, shaking your head. “El, why am I wearing this?”

“Armour!” he beams.

“It’s a hat.”

“It’s armour.”

He ends up buying one for Erik, too, along with the weapons they picked out, leaving you just enough money for dinner before you go flat broke. The four of you (plus Connie) crowd around one of the little tables in the bar, and… you can’t read the menu.

Of course.

You’re not exactly jumping at the chance to let Veronica know that, so you nonetheless pretend you can. Apparently, it’s good enough to trick Erik, who absolutely knows better. “Why are you looking at desserts?”

You side-eye him. “Gee, I wonder…”

“Oh, yeah…” He leans over, flipping your menu over. “They’ve got all the usual fare, or if you want the local stuff, it’s these ones here.”

You point to one randomly. “What’s that?” You’re so lucky the others are talking among themselves.

“'Nest of the Bird King'.”

“You what?”

He hides a chuckle, reading the description to you. “Fresh Zap-fried Garuda crown, seasoned with local herbs and spices, served on golden rice with roasted root vegetables.”

“…You what?”

“I don’t know how I can make it any clearer.”

“Like… the monster?” He nods. You shake your head. “Never mind. I’ll have that.”

Regardless of your arbitrary decision-making, the food gets to you quickly and it’s really good. Garuda tastes like turkey, but denser. It’s also smoky and every bite leaves a zing in your mouth that goes right through you. You’ve never had anything like it.

(Connie gets the Dragon Quest equivalent of turkey dinosaurs shaped like different monsters, and it’s honestly so adorable.)

Once you’ve eaten, you equip your new purchases (how the armour works when it’s still in your pocket/inventory is beyond you, but they swear it does) and distribute your healing items. Erik opts for the boomerang over his Divine Dagger, passing it to you temporarily like you’re some kind of storage box. Thanks, Erik.

Despite her grand claims, Veronica isn’t much help at all, which confuses you to no end. She’s obviously a mage – she told you that much herself – and yet she hasn’t used a single spell in any of your battles. It doesn't make sense, so either she lied and doesn’t know any, or she’s saving her MP for later.

You don’t know which is worse: a mage without spells is basically useless (if you know anything, it’s that staffs aren’t for hitting things) but so is a mage who refuses to pull her weight. Even you’re more helpful than she is.

“Mighty sage, my ass,” Erik complains. “At least you have an excuse.”

“Rude.”

“Like you’re not thinking the same thing.”

Currently, she’s dragging El by the wrist, determinedly ignoring the two of you trailing behind like toilet paper stuck to her shoe, and irritating almost every monster you would otherwise be able to just walk past. It wouldn’t actually bother you that much, considering your levelling issues, except that the sun is moving again and there is a very real time limit to consider.

Also, it’s hot. You need new clothes.

“How much of this have you figured out anyway?”

“I’m sorry?”

He rolls his eyes. “Come on, it’s obvious you know something. I can see the gears turning a mile away.”

You laugh awkwardly and scratch your cheek. “Am I really that obvious?”

“Little bit.”

“Oh…” You sigh, glancing ahead to the others. “It’s nothing, really. Just wondering if we’re ready for what’s going to be in there. We’re not exactly the strongest party around.”

“And what is going to be in there?”

You shake your head. “Hell if I know.”

You wish you did know what you were getting yourselves into, but you doubt Veronica has the patience to answer all of your hyper-specific questions. Exactly what does she mean by ‘elemental types’? Are they made of an element? Specialise in it? What element? How many are there? Do they resist magic? Physical attacks?

The list goes on and on, and all you can do is speculate.

It’s not quite dark when you make it to the dungeon, but it’s a near thing, which doesn’t bode well. You haven’t done much travelling at night, so you don’t know for sure, but it’s not uncommon for the stronger enemies to come out when it gets dark.

You shudder at the flashbacks to Final Fantasy 15’s iron giants.

That was an early Game Over.

Your whole body stiffens once you get inside and see how similar it is to the Kingsbarrow. More flashbacks, this time to the gryphons and much more vivid, leave you nervously fiddling with Erik’s dagger even as Veronica keeps pushing on into another battle. The green bats go down without a hitch, only one even getting a turn.

Erik touches your arm, silently checking on you. You nod, unable to find your voice to reassure him you’re alright, which is a good indicator that you aren’t. He stays close, keeping an eye behind you so you can’t get back-attacked.

Veronica isn’t so confident now, either, walking beside El rather than pulling him along behind her, but she’s still the only one who knows what to expect. When El moves towards a chest in the middle of the corridor, she pulls him back. “I wouldn’t trust that if I were you. This place is full of tricks and traps – to be honest it was a miracle I managed to escape. The main thing I learned was to watch my step…”

That reminds you… “Are there mimics in this world?” you manage around the tightness in your throat.

Erik blinks at you in surprise. “Yeah. I’m amazed you know what those are.”

“That’s because… because… I can’t–” You shake your head in frustration. El and Veronica continue to get further away.

Erik places a hand on your shoulder. “It’s alright, you can tell me later. Let’s catch up, yeah? Don’t want to get left behind.”

You gladly agree. Nothing feels right. You’re too aware of everything – your heart, your breathing, and especially El’s magic – but it feels like you’re watching from outside your body. Fights pass on autopilot, the walls all look the same, but Erik keeps you present.

The dungeon is made up of two floors connected by a ladder. The lower floor is tiny, consisting of only two rooms and a locked door that sets off every alarm bell in your system. Logically, it’s too easy to reach to be the boss fight, but the fact that it doesn’t open yet means the key is somewhere further inside and then it will be.

Either that, or that’s where Serena is and you have to beat the boss to rescue her.

The root takes all of you by surprise, growing beside a patch of moonlight in the tiniest patch of grass known to man or monster. El looks to the two of you before he touches it, obviously unsure with Veronica here, too, but you can’t see any other option.

If it’s here, it’s because you need it.

You give him a nod, and he reaches out, beginning the vision. A shade-looking monster floats through the halls you’re currently wandering.

And it’s an idiot.

You watch, thoroughly unimpressed, as it proceeds to demonstrate, with commentary, which path is safe to take. And then the vision ends. That was literally it.

Veronica seems interested, but not particularly surprised, by all this, lending a bit more weight to your theory that she already knows who El is.

It’s not difficult to find the correct route after that, and one wrong turn later you’re facing down another door with exactly the same potential as the last one, only this one is far more likely to be hiding the boss.

Your group stops in front of the door so El can heal you to full. You swallow thickly. “El, your magic?”

“Don’t worry, I won’t run out,” he assures you, squeezing your hand. You nod hesitantly, trusting that he’s right but stewing over it nonetheless. You have to be ready. You have to believe that this time your preparations will be enough, because going back isn’t a luxury you can afford.

You’ve already taken too long.

Chapter Text

“That’s one heck of a fountain to be hidden away down here…”

The door isn’t hiding the boss, or any monsters for that matter.

“Wait! Over there!”

It’s hiding a girl.

Veronica runs over, falling to her knees beside her motionless form. “Serena! Wake up! It’s me, Veronica!”

Oh.

Oh no.

“That’s your sister?” Erik says in puzzlement beside you.

Your mind grinds to a halt. That’s not right. Veronica said she was looking for her younger sister – this girl is clearly older.

“Serena! We said we’d always be there for each other, didn’t we? Well, I’m here for you now, so pull yourself together!”

...This is a cutscene, isn’t it?

Your suspicions are confirmed when Serena gets up, casually yawning and rubbing her eyes as if she didn’t just give the four of you a collective heart attack. “Oh, I… I’m ever so sorry… It’s just, I… Well, I was so awfully tired after all that searching that I needed a nap, and…”

“Oh, you have got to be kidding me…” you groan, equal parts annoyed and relieved. A nap. How dare this game? You honestly thought you got a person killed!

She looks blankly over the four of you, including Veronica, for a solid three seconds before she reacts. “Veronica! I-Is that really you? What in the world has happened to you!?”

“Wh–!? B–!? How did you know it was me!?”

“We’ve been sisters a long time, you know! It would take a lot more than a new look to fool me! Hee hee!”

Of course.

You run your hand down your face tiredly as the pieces click together. You knew it didn’t make sense. Two tiny kids travelling alone? A mage that can’t use spells? A little sister who’s somehow old enough to get in the bar while the older one gets kicked out for being too young? You really should have picked up on it sooner.

Veronica folds her arms indignantly, which only increases Serena’s giggles. “Oh yes, very funny! What were you doing lying on the ground like that? I– I thought you were… Well, that you were– you know…!”

Erik looks between you and the sisters, radiating confusion from every pore. “Sorry to interrupt the reunion, but didn’t you tell us Serena was your kid sister?”

“Come on, Erik, keep up. She’s obviously been de-aged somehow,” you tell him plainly. He and El just stare at you, awaiting an explanation. “She’s older than she looks. Does that make more sense?"

“Oh, so you’re the brains of this operation,” Veronica says, eyeing you up appraisingly. “Well, if you want to get technical about it, actually we’re twins. But we don’t look the same age anymore because, well… it’s all a bit complicated. I’m shocked you figured it out!”

You furrow your eyebrows. “Should I be insulted, or…?”

But she’s already moving on. “I told you I was taken off by monsters, didn’t I? They’ve been kidnapping people so they can steal their magical powers. Well, I wasn’t going to let them take mine without putting up a fight. But the more I resisted, the younger I got. I don’t quite understand it, but instead of draining my magic, they drained my… age.”

She points accusingly at you and Erik. “What I’m basically saying is that I’m not a child. So, stop treating me like one!”

Erik holds his hands up in mock surrender. “Okay, we get it! We get it! You’re not a kid! But you still look like one. Don’t you want to do something about it?”

“Of course I do! Why do you think I brought you here? I want you to help me clobber those stupid monsters and see if we can fix this!”

You glare at her. Her attitude is really starting to grate on your already frayed nerves. “That’s not how you ask a favour, you know. We came to help you find Serena. If you wanted our help, you should have told us what was going on in the first place.”

She glares right back. “I told you there was no time! What’s the big deal? We’re already here as it is!”

“It’s called manners for one thing!”

“(Y/N).”

Your head snaps over to El, your mouth clicking shut before you can escalate things any further. You lower your head. “…Sorry.”

You refuse to react to her victorious “Hmph!”

Serena steps forward, hands clasped. “I’m terribly sorry about Veronica. She can be a bit of a handful.” Veronica splutters in protest, but she simply continues as if she wasn’t there. “You will help us, won’t you? I promise to do my bit as well – I have some really rather wonderful healing spells, you know!”

“We already said we would. Besides, if we don’t do something, they’ll keep hurting people,” El says reasonably.

Too reasonably, you scowl to yourself.

Serena claps her hands together. “Oh, thank you! This will be much easier with you three to help! It can’t be much further now. Oh, and you may want to drink from the fountain before we go on. It’s blessed, you see. It’ll heal you right up!”

“Thanks. We’ll be there in a minute.” She nods, and goes to join Veronica. He turns back to you. “So… that happened.”

You wince guiltily. “Sorry, I got carried away… I’ll be a lot happier once we’re out of this place.”

“No, I get it. She doesn’t exactly mince words, does she?” El assures you.

“At least you got a compliment,” says Erik. “I still haven’t had one nice word from her.”

“Barely.”

El rolls his eyes. “Guys, come on. It’s only until we beat whatever’s living here, and then we’re done. Can you at least pretend you like her until then?”

“Easy for you to say. She’s been all over you since she first saw you,” Erik smirks.

“That’s what I saw,” you agree.

“Guys.”

You sigh, not at all in the mood to argue. “Yeah, alright. But don’t be surprised when they decide they want to stick around after.”

“Oh, please tell me you’re joking,” Erik despairs, resting his forehead heavily on your shoulder. “Serena maybe, but Veronica?”

You pat his head. “There, there.” His hair is super soft.

El decides it’s time to move on before Erik gets lost in his pity party. “Let’s get this done first, okay? We’ll deal with that when it comes up.”

The twins are waiting for you in the next room, with very different expressions.

“Are you ready to go?”

“Have you old ladies finished nattering? Took you long enough.” You share a frustrated look with Erik, but you’ve both committed to ignoring her so you hold your tongue. El glances back apologetically. “There’s another root over here, so what are you waiting for? Do your thing!”

Serena watches in awe as the light envelops you and the vision begins. Like the first, this root also shows you a dumb-as-bricks shadow that gives you exactly what you need to progress, this time a password. Talk about convenient!

El approaches the door, but he doesn’t even get the chance to knock before it starts yelling at him. “NONE SHALL PASS WITHOUT THE SECRET WORD!”

He casts a bewildered glance back at your group. “Uh… umbracadumbra…?” There’s an audible click as it unlocks and that’s it. Nothing jumps out to fight you, and there’s nothing else said, so El gingerly pushes it open, and you all crowd around to peer inside.

“Are you potty?! You come here and tell Jarvis that you let that lovely, juicy specimen escape and you think an apology’s gonna cut it?” roars a large, blue dinosaur looking thing at a pair of shadows (presumably the morons you saw in the visions). “Ooh, this jars! Do you crackpots think sorcerers like Veronica come along often? Do you have any idea what we’ll have to do to grab a specimen like that again?”

Definitely the boss then, and it confirms that Veronica might even be useful after this.

“You knew I wanted to drain all her magic, so I could urn the Lord of Shadow’s respect when he came back! All my plans, shattered!”

“The Lord of Shadows…?” Erik echoes above you. You nod once. King Carnelian said something similar when he arrested you, if you remember correctly.

“That’s them! They’re the monsters who jumped me in the bathhouse and brought me here!” Veronica tells you, completely ignoring him. “See that jar by the big fat one! That’s what he was sucking all my magic powers into!”

El frowns down at her. “And you’re only mentioning this now?”

“You never asked!”

“Yes I did!”

“You two. Shut. Up,” you hiss, gesturing pointedly at the monsters, but it’s too late. Whether it was you or them, or nothing more than bad luck, they’ve noticed you. The doors are yanked away from you, and your group stumbles into the room under the predatory gaze of Jarvis.

“Ooh, smashing! I do love guests! Especially when they bring me presents!” he croons, looking directly at Veronica. “If it isn’t the one that got away! Talk about hitting the jackpot! Now, just sit tight while we suck every ounce of magic out of you.”

The shadows close in and you pull out your weapons, getting into battle positions. “Another gank squad. Lovely.”

Erik grits his teeth. “Looks like we’ll be fighting our way out of this one whether we like it or not…”

“Boys – this lot have urned the VIP treatment! Get cracking!”

Chapter Text

It’s the five of you against Jarvis and two shadows – not quite the same as the gryphons, but you don’t much like the trend that’s beginning to emerge. The healing fountain puts you in a much better situation this time around, but you’re still woefully underleveled to be facing another boss so soon.

This is going to take everything you have.

Erik’s boomerang sails out, hitting Jarvis and one of the shadows, then Veronica leaps forward and whacks Jarvis herself. The shadows are just minions, meaning they’ll be significantly weaker than Jarvis, but three enemies can easily KO someone if the attacks land that way. There’s no guarantee he won’t bring in more, but you need to take them out ASAP.

You sidestep a swipe from one of the shadows and call the others over to you, quickly outlining your strategy. “Shadows first. El, leave the healing to Serena unless things get really dire. Focus on damage. If we take out the adds early, the big guy’ll go down easily.”

“Hey, we don’t take orders from you!” Veronica argues. You narrow your eyes. Die then.

El nods, paying her no mind. “Just like last time, then.”

“And we’ve got help this time. Piece of cake,” smirks Erik.

The shadows only get off a few attacks before they go down, helped greatly by El and Erik’s group attacks, giving Serena enough downtime to set up some kind of buffs on El and Veronica. You take an ice spell from the second one the turn before you take it out, much to your chagrin, and then Jarvis lets out an ice breath that forces El into a healing role again.

It’s all going as well as you could hope, even if Veronica stubbornly refuses to listen to a word you have to say in favour of taking out her anger on Jarvis. He doesn’t call for backup, and most of the time targets only one person at a time. Slowly but steadily, you’re getting there.

Then he peps up, and your heart nearly stops.

You didn’t even know monsters could do that. You’d assumed it was exclusive to you and your party, giving you an edge in battle when things got dicey, but clearly it’s a double edged sword. According to your understanding, he shouldn’t be able to use a technique on his own, but you’ve been surprised before. Literally five seconds ago, in fact.

He moves too quickly for you to dodge, and his attack hurts. Serena heals you immediately but damn, this is with armour.

Erik’s next strike misses, and he lets out a frustrated moan. “Wish I’d kept the dagger on me.”

“Can’t you just pinch one of mine?” you suggest, not sure if that’s even possible, but he put one in your inventory without you knowing so why not?

“In the middle of a fight?” He thinks it over while the others take their turns. “Possibly. I’ve never tried. Don’t have room, either, right now.”

He doesn’t have room? “Later, then. We’ll test it out,” you decide. First, you need to win.

The battle continues, and you slice your dagger right across Jarvis’ belly, bringing him that much closer to defeat. He takes a deep breath, obviously gearing up to hit you even harder, but never gets the chance. El finishes him off with a Flame Slash and he falls backwards, beaten.

That was… surprisingly easy.

“Urrgh… I’ll never be the Lord of Shadows’ right-hand man if I can’t even… beat the likes of… you lot… Ngh… All my dreams… shattered…”

“Who is this Lord of Shadows you keep mentioning anyway?” demands Erik, but naturally Jarvis decides now is a good time to wise up and stop revealing important information.

“Heh! You’ll find out… soon enough… When everything finally goes… to pot…”

He’s lucky he faded to dust right then because if not you were going to stab him again. You’ve heard more than enough terrible pottery puns for a lifetime.

Still, it’s worrying.

“We’ll find out soon enough, huh?” Erik murmurs pensively, meeting your eyes.

His question goes unanswered as Veronica steps forward, looking back with a wink. “Right! Time to get my magic back!”

She slowly slides the lid off the jar, releasing a swirling purple vortex that startles a scream out of her (and a yelp from you). It doesn’t look like a good thing, but no one else appears overly concerned so you guess it’s fine?

“I hope this works…” She doesn’t sound so certain now, but she’s still smiling when the mass of potentially deadly energy swallows her.

You have to admit you’re curious to see what happens. Assuming, of course, she doesn’t die – which is unlikely – you’ll get to see what she really looks like and what she’s capable of. If you’re lucky, she’ll even chill out a bit and you can all go on your merry way together.

The mist clears, and… oh dear.

Serena falls to her knees in front of her. “But… you look just the same! Were all our efforts… for nothing…?”

Veronica grins, and conjures a flame triumphantly on her fingertip. “No need to worry on that front! I can feel the old magic zinging from the ends of my pigtails right down to the tips of my toes!”

“Th-Then why do you still look like a little girl?”

She looks down at herself like she’s only just noticed despite the fact that it was the very first thing Serena pointed out. “I’m not really sure. I suppose whatever made me younger can’t be fixed just by getting my powers back… But it could be worse. I mean, you know what they say – you’re only young… twice!”

Oh brother…

“Trust you to see the funny side!” Serena giggles. “Well, I suppose I’d better get used to having a twin sister half my size!”

Whatever. It’s better than having her at your throats, but you’ve been here quite long enough. “Sorry to interrupt, but if we’re done here then I, for one, would like to go back and get some sleep.”

“Not quite, or did you forget about Connie?” Veronica replies. You’re not entirely sure if it’s supposed to sound as accusatory as it does. “I wasn’t the only one they were keeping prisoner, you know. Now, if I remember rightly, there should be a door around here somewhere…”

You resist the urge to sigh, instead pointing to the obvious exit on the other side of the room. “You mean that one?”

“Aha! Yep, that’s the one!”

She marches off, evidently expecting you to follow. El touches your elbow on his way past. “Just a little longer, okay?”

Now you do sigh.

This cannot be over soon enough.

The door leads to three cells, with a single occupant that Veronica releases with a key from… somewhere. “Don’t worry, you’re safe now. We took care of that potty old fathead and his cronies!”

“Th-Thanks! I owe you one! I was starting to worry they were gonna get sick of feeding me and decide to eat me instead!” the man chuckles, which only serves to make her mad.

“You were starting to worry?! And what about your poor little daughter all on her own, hm? How do you think she’s been feeling?”

“He’s Connie’s dad?!” you blurt out. “No wonder we couldn’t find him…” But if he’s been locked up here, why is she yelling at him? It’s not his fault.

His automatic apologies stop short, and he looks between you and Veronica. “Wait… you know Connie?”

“I found her crying at the inn because you hadn’t come back yet. She’s with the bar owner back in Hotto,” you explain.

“Yes, because he’s a mature, responsible adult, you see,” Veronica adds sweetly with eyes like hellfire.

Connie’s dad laughs nervously, and turns to you. “Listen, I appreciate your help, really I do. I’m Noah, by the way. If there’s anything I can do to repay you, just say the word.”

“Noah, huh?” Erik muses, eyeing him thoughtfully. “Where have I heard that name before…?”

You don’t miss the way the guy averts his eyes at that, and neither does Erik. “L-Look, I’ve taken up enough of your time. I should, er… get back and see how, er… Connie’s doing. Thanks a million!” He runs off without waiting for a reply.

“Well, he certainly left in rather a hurry,” says Serena helpfully.

You glance at Erik. “An acquaintance of yours?”

“Not personally,” he replies. You nod. Someone else in his ‘profession’ then, no doubt.

Veronica shrugs, neither following nor caring. “Well, never mind. We should head back, too – we deserve a rest.”

She begins walking away, when El stops her. “Hold on, Veronica, I know Evac. It’ll save us the walk.”

Evac?

Serena clasps her hands. “Oh, wonderful! And Veronica can Zoom us back – we’ll be there in no time at all!”

Zoom?  

“You might want to hold on,” Erik whispers in your ear.

Hold on?!  

Your look of steadily mounting horror is swallowed in a haze of purple, and suddenly you’re outside and the world is spinning. “W-What…?”

“Uh oh…”

The world disappears and so does the floor, only to slam back into place an instant later, jittering unsteadily. Oh wait, that’s you.

“What’s wrong with them?”

“(Y/N)! Sorry, I didn’t think. Are you okay?”

Two Hotlands sway before your eyes, pitching forwards until gravity stops and pulls you back up. Ooh, no that’s not good. “…I think… I’m gonna be sick.”

“They’ll be fine… I think. You two go on without us.” Erik.

“Oh… Well, do let us know if we can do anything to help.” Sophie. No… Sarah… sister…?

“Hol’ up. I go’ this,” you slur, patting the wall that’s holding you up until it lets go, except you don’t got this. The girls leave. The nausea passes. The floor sure is comfortable.

“Oi, don’t fall asleep there!” You open your eyes again, a blurry pair of shoes coming into focus when you blink. Your head pounds, but at least it doesn’t feel like Swiss cheese anymore.

“We’re in Hotto,” you state, your cheek firmly planted in the dirt. He nods. With some effort, you roll yourself onto your back. “Okay, I’m with it. What the hell was that?”

El heaves you back to your feet, holding you steady when your knees threaten to give out again. “Two transport spells one after another. They can be pretty jarring, it just never occurred to me or I would have warned you. Sorry.”

You look at him in disgust. “Did you honestly just make a jar pun?”

“…No.”

“Ugh. Whatever, you monster. Erik did try to warn me, so I don’t think it would have made much difference.”

“Not well enough,” Erik grimaces. “Think you can make it to the inn?”

The inn.

“Aw, frizz!” You slap your forehead, hard. “I knew I forgot something!”

Chapter Text

It’s nightfall when Hendrik makes it back to Heliodor. His men return to their quarters to sleep and await further instructions, while he heads to the stables before he makes his report. Obsidian tosses his head, just as vexed as his rider.

Failure. Defeated by the Darkspawn and his criminal friends without so much as a weapon drawn. Your little stunt left a bad taste in his mouth, humiliating him in front of his men while you escaped unhindered. The door shut tight behind you, and no amount of effort had been able to open it again.

You were an unknown variable. Neither of the others would have been capable of stopping him – the Darkspawn’s swordsmanship can be no match for his own, and the thief would be no threat – but you were a different story. You faced him confidently, standing tall, and he would have been amiss to run in blindly.

You knew that.

He fell for your tricks, and allowed you to escape. It will not happen a second time.

King Carnelian waits in the throne room, speaking with Jasper. Their conversation ends when he enters. “Ah, Hendrik. I trust you were successful in recapturing the Darkspawn?”

He takes a knee, head bowed. “Alas, my Lord, we were unable to prevent their passage from the continent. They slew those stationed at the Kingsbarrow before we arrived and escaped through the Door of Departure to the south with the Orb. Truly, he is as despicable as you say.”

“Hmm… a pity. For the Darkspawn to continue to run amok like this, I fear what more he may do.” His Majesty closes his eyes in thought. “I believed the Keystone to be lost long ago. For him to be in possession of it now, we must assume he has been planning this for a long time.”

“Then, we must discover his location now, before he can take action.”

Jasper steps forward, a hand pressed to his chest. “My liege, if I may, the Door of Departure was once a trade route from the Heliodor region to the next continent. Allow me to take a squad of men to Gondolia. I assure you, if the Darkspawn wishes to leave, that is where he will go.”

His Majesty nods. “Very well. Take as many men as you require, and set sail immediately.”

Jasper bows. “I shall not fail, my liege.” He turns and sweeps out of the room without sparing Hendrik a glance.

“Hendrik, you will take up Jasper’s duties while he is away.”

“As you wish, my lord.”

“Very good. You are dismissed.”

He bows, returning to the corridors to look for Jasper. If he wishes to leave first thing in the morning, he’ll have to notify the men tonight. Hendrik doesn’t doubt his abilities, or those of his men – his ruthless efficiency has always been a point of pride, something Hendrik has admired since they were boys, even if he takes it too far sometimes – nevertheless, the Darkspawn is a dangerous foe, with cunning friends. It’s only proper he prepare him as best he can.

He catches him on his way out of the dormitories. “Jasper, you’ve already chosen your troops?”

“I have,” he replies shortly. “Did you need something from me, or are you simply looking for a chat?”

If only they had time for idle conversation. “I came to inform you of the Darkspawn’s tricks. We encountered him at the field leading to the Door, and would have been successful if not for his friend, the one that arrived with him. They led us astray with false magic in order to secure their escape. I do not think they have the power they would have us believe.”

“You were bested by a pretend magician?” chuckles Jasper. “I appreciate the warning, dear Hendrik, but rest assured that will not work on me.”

He nods, satisfied. “Then, I have nothing else to say. Travel safely.”

There will be time for talking when the Darkspawn has been stopped; until then they both must carry out their duties unwaveringly. It will take a few days to reach Gondolia, assuming the winds are favourable, and then it may take time for the Darkspawn to show his face. That is well – Jasper works best when he has time to prepare.

Perhaps, in the meantime, he can learn something from the prisoners from Cobblestone. They raised the Darkspawn; they must know something of his plans. He might be able to convince one of them to reveal them in exchange for a lighter sentence.

His footsteps echo on the stone steps as he descends to the dungeon. How fitting that the cells that once held the Darkspawn now hold those who would ally with him. He does not believe that these people are evil, as Jasper does, but neither are they innocent.

The prisoners stand back from the bars, with few exceptions. “People of Cobblestone! You know why you are here. This is your last chance to divulge the Darkspawn’s intentions and save yourself the punishment.”

“Punishment?”

“Darkspawn?”

“Do not play dumb. We are aware of your role in bringing this misfortune upon us. However, if you do not wish to suffer the consequences, we may be persuaded to reduce the penalty in exchange for your cooperation.” He allows the vague muttering as they deliberate among themselves.

“How dare you accuse us of harbouring something like that!” cries a short woman, glaring fiercely from behind the bars. “Darkspawn, indeed. My boy is no such thing!”

He steps slowly to face the cell, steps calm and measured. “You are his mother? Tell me, then, why he has already killed a number of our men, and made off with a priceless royal treasure.”

“You’re lying! El would never do that!” shouts a girl in the cell behind him. He ignores her, staring down the woman before him, but she doesn’t blink.

“My boy is the Luminary. I don’t know what you think you know, but he’s a good boy. He wouldn’t hurt a fly, and if you think he would then you’re more of a fool than I thought!”

“You may as well give up Mr Knight, sir. We Cobblestonians take care of each other, you can count on that!” a man from the next cell adds, prompting the other villagers to join in.

“Yeah, get lost!”

“You won’t get any help from us!”

“And tell your friends, too!”

Hendrik presses his lips into a thin line. “So, you continue to take his side. Very well. Then when the time comes you will face the full sentence.”

“Just you try it! My Eleven’s done nothing wrong, you’ll see!”

A shame that so many have fallen victim to the Darkspawn’s trickery, but no matter. Once Jasper succeeds in his mission, he will no longer be able to bewitch innocents like this, and Erdrea will be safe once more. The Dark One cannot be allowed to rise.

“Yes. We shall.”

Chapter Text

It’s raining today. It’s quite heavy, too – you can already see the puddles starting to form on the ground. It’s a good thing you’re inside, but it’s not going to be a pleasant walk home.

You’re in between classes right now, just wandering the halls killing time. You can see the other students through the glass floors, but not many people come up here since there are no rooms. The rain patters on the glass walls of the tunnel, and you say hi to your maths teacher at her desk as you pass by.

Megan is waiting for you at the observation deck. Her next class is on the floor below you, so that’s where you’re going. She tells you about her day as you walk along, and climbs down the ladder first. The rain has picked up a lot.

“Think I’m going to have to call mum to pick me up,” she says.

You look down past your feet, seeing the black water rising. “Not sure that’s going to work, Tegan.” It’s already covering the first floor completely, and it’s not showing any signs of stopping.

“Oh, yeah, you’re right. Huh.”

Actually, it’s really speeding up. “I think we’d better go back up,” you suggest, watching Jar Jar run past you. Tom agrees, and you start for the stairs. You glance down. The water is swirling around your feet already.

You start running. Tyler gets there first, before you’re even able to make it halfway. The rope swings wildly as he climbs, and you know he’s not going to make it. You watch the water rise higher and higher until it completely submerges him. Whoever that poor guy is, you’re glad it’s not you.

You can’t get out. The walls of water are getting closer, it’s only a matter of time until they crush you. Where’s your sister? Your parents’ room is empty, but so is hers.

The yellow bricks stare back at you accusingly.

No one’s here but you.

The water touches your hand, and you can’t pull it away. It’s sucking you in, effortlessly, no matter how much you struggle. First your fingers, then your palm, your wrists, your elbow. Your face is right next to it. It’s cold, dark, paralysing.

It wraps around your face and throat, cutting off your air supply. You can’t see, you can’t hear over the rush of blood and water, you can’t scream, why can’t you scream? Help me, help me, heLP mE- 

You jolt awake, sitting bolt upright and throwing the thin covers off you. It’s too dark, too hot; you can’t see, can’t move–

You grip your hair with both hands, pulling hard and forcing yourself to breathe. One deep breath, in, then out. Another, in, then out. Your feet are completely tangled up, sheets sticking to your sweat-soaked skin like oil on water. The feeling of drowning plays back over and over in your head.

What was that? You’re no stranger to nightmares, but you’ve never had one that left you so viscerally afraid before. The details are already fading, but it doesn’t help. That wasn’t your school, or your friend, and why the hell was Jar Jar Binks there? It so clearly wasn’t real, not even close, and yet you can’t keep yourself from shaking.

The thought of going back to sleep is frankly terrifying, so you don’t try. You swing one foot over the side of the bed, then the other, tiptoeing on wobbly legs to sit in the corner and making sure to avoid stepping on Erik, still asleep on the floor.

You’re lucky you didn’t wake either of them up, although El could probably sleep through just about anything.

You wish you could put some music on. Problem is you don’t have your headphones, and even if you did, it’s not like you have internet for YouTube. Damn, you miss music… You pull out your phone anyway, deliberating if it’s worth switching on when nothing works, but in the end, you don’t have anything better to do other than dwell on thoughts better left untouched.

You hiss as the light comes on and blinds you. You honestly forgot how stupidly bright electric light could be, even at minimum. You can feel a headache coming on already and you haven’t even started.

“What the hell?!”

You jump so hard you almost drop your phone. Of course Erik’s awake, he’s always awake. “Erik! Don’t scare me like that!” you whisper-yell at him.

“Don’t scare you?! I thought you were a ghost!” he whispers back.

Ah. Yes. You do look pretty unsettling, hunched in the corner, bathed in artificial light and horror movie shadows. You quickly switch off the screen again, blinking away the afterimages until you can just about make out the vaguely Erik-shaped blob in front of you. “My bad.”

“What…” You can’t see it, but you’re positive he’s staring at your phone. “What are you doing up?” he asks instead.

“…Nightmare.”

“Oh. You want to talk about it?”

You sigh. “Not really. I was just going to stay here until morning.” Every time you close your eyes you can feel the wall of water closing in again.

You hear him shuffling, and a moment later he’s sitting beside you. “You sure? That’s still a long way away.”

“Go back to sleep, then.”

“Well, I would, but someone’s putting on a light show in my room,” he says, nudging you with his elbow.

It’s a joke, it’s a joke, it’s a joke. “…Sorry.”

He rubs the back of his neck. “Okay, that wasn’t funny, I admit. And you can tell me to mind my own business, but… what was that? I seriously thought I was going to die!”

“You’re really afraid of ghosts, huh?”

“They’re dead people! They shouldn’t be up and about!” You can’t help but giggle a bit, making him pout playfully.

“Well, lucky for you there’s no ghosts here. It’s… my phone.” How do you explain this? He waits patiently while you think, but you can’t really come up with anything so you just hand it over. It’s not like he can break it any more than it is. “It’s not working properly. I think the whole world travel thing frizzed it.”

He turns it over in his hands, looking for some clue as to what it even is. “What’s it supposed to do?”

“Uhh… a lot of things. Don’t look directly at it.” You lean over and turn the screen back on. He stares in wonder, while you explain. “Normally it would tell me the date and time here, but it can’t connect to… well, it doesn’t know what they are right now.”

“This is going to go way over my head, isn’t it?” he chuckles.

“Yeah, probably,” you admit, unlocking the screen. “All these icons are meant to do something, but they won’t open. It just boots me back to the home screen again.” You tap YouTube as a demonstration, watching the logo appear before abruptly disappearing again. You frown. “Aw, I’m going to lose my Duolingo streak…”

“Can I?” You nod, and he gingerly presses a finger to the screen the way you did. He jumps when everything starts shaking. “Oh, Goddess, why’s it doing that?”

You smile at the genuine panic in his voice, putting it back to normal. “Just tap it, don’t hold it.” It’s like watching your parents struggle all over again, just without all the yelling.

This time it works, but again it doesn’t open. “This is… How does it know what I’m doing?”

“It’s clever like that? I don’t know the specifics, and even if I did, I don’t think I could explain it.”

He shakes his head. “Fair enough.” He keeps tapping randomly, none of the apps working but enthralled all the same. An idea strikes you, and you swipe over to the camera app, which does open.

You tug the phone back from his hands and point it at him. “Say cheese!”

He raises an eyebrow, completely lost. You do not explain. “…Cheese?”

It’s too dark to be a good photo, but you can see him and that’s good enough (and his baffled expression is pure gold). You turn it around to him. “It’s you!”

He looks between the picture and you, wide-eyed and slack-jawed. “How– What– I– How?”

“Magic?” you wink. He pushes you good-naturedly. “It’s basically a human eye, I guess? It ‘sees’ something, and then translates it to the screen. Don’t ask me how.”

“Okay, but… how?”

“Erik.”

He smiles at you, looking back at the picture. “Another world… You know, I think this is the first time I’ve really understood it. And I don’t understand any of it!”

Oh. “…I was afraid you’d say that.”

“It’s not a bad thing!” he rushes to correct. El shifts in his sleep, and you both wait with baited breath while he settles back down. “I’m just saying, if you’re used to things like that, it’s no wonder you know all the crazy, impossible stuff you do.”

“Says the guy who lives in the world with literal magic.”

He shrugs and hands back your phone. “Can’t argue with that, I suppose.” You lapse into silence, until you feel an arm wrap around your shoulders. “You’re doing great, you know. Better than I would be, for sure.”

“…Thanks, Erik.”

He squeezes lightly and lets you go. “What do you say? Think you can go back to sleep now?” he asks, and you realise he’s been trying to distract you this whole time.

And it worked. You’d almost forgotten why you were sitting here in the first place, but now that you’ve been reminded it all comes flooding back, with all the anxiety that word brings. You don’t want to risk having another dream like that, but your phone is already down to 71% power and there’s only so much messing around you can do with the camera.

Erik takes your silence for the hesitation it is, and correctly guesses what it’s about. “If it helps, I’ll stay with you. I can wake you up if you have another nightmare.”

That does sound nice. Embarrassing, yes, but you’re also exhausted, and the persistent pressure threatening to graduate into a full-blown headache isn’t helping. And it’s not like you haven’t shared a bed with him before, even if you were a dog at the time. “You just want to sleep in a proper bed.”

“Maybe,” he grins. “Is that a yes?”

“…Yes, please.”

He helps you to your feet and climbs into the bed, taking the side closest to the wall. You take a moment to collect yourself before you join him. It’s ridiculous: you know it’s not the bed that caused your nightmare, but it feels that way, and you’re tempted to take his place on the floor instead.

It’s really only the fact that he’ll definitely argue with you over it that stops you.

Well, that and the floor sucks. You don’t know why he volunteered for it in the first place.

You tentatively lie down next to him, heart racing at the closeness. It’s similar to the first time you did this, but also different. He isn’t touching you at all, but you can feel his body heat on your back, and the dip in the mattress right behind you. You’re noticing his scent again, too, just a little. Just enough to distract you.

You close your eyes, subconsciously matching the rhythm of his breathing as you relax. “Goodnight, Erik,” you whisper.

“Goodnight, (Y/N).”

There's nothing to be afraid of if he’s there with you.

Chapter Text

Somehow, you still end up waking up before El does. It’s probably because you feel like you’re melting – Erik’s managed to pawn his share of the covers off on you during the night, and now you’re slowly becoming a puddle while he chills serenely beside you.

You groan, throwing them away in disgust, giving yourself some much-needed relief and not caring one bit when they land on top of him.

“No… too hot…” he mumbles, his face half-buried in the pillow as he weakly fumbles to return them.

“Whose fault is that?” You shove them right back, arguing over it for a bit until you just give up and kick them to the end of the bed instead. You yawn, wishing you were still asleep. “I’m so tired, Erik.”

“Then go back to sleep.”

“Unfortunately, I am awake.”

“Well, un-awake, would you?” He slaps a hand blindly over your eyes, and you whine with displeasure. “Seriously, you’re going to regret it later.”

“Ugh, fine.”

You roll over, obliging him. You doubt you’ll have much success, but you can lie here and doze for a while longer at least. That sounds nice. You close your eyes, drifting in and out of consciousness, only vaguely aware of the muffled sounds of people starting their day outside and Erik’s occasional movements.

Eventually, though, El starts to stir and you can’t put it off any longer.

He stretches noisily and looks over, blinking owlishly at you. “Am I the first one awake, somehow?”

You snort. “Dream on, El.”

“Oh.” He pouts, flicking the stray hairs out of his face. He looks down and spots the empty space on the floor. “Where’s Erik?”

“Right here,” Erik pipes up from behind you, raising his arm so El can see him before letting it flop back down on top of you, where it stays.

You let out a long groan. “I thought you were too hot.”

“I was,” he chuckles, moving a touch closer and adding his leg on top of yours just to be an ass.

“Grr… get off already!”

When you look back, El looks like he’s trying to solve a particularly difficult maths problem, so you reluctantly explain what happened. “…Nightmare.”

That counts as an explanation, right? El accepts it, anyway.

He gets up and lights the lamps with his magic (when did that get so normal to you?), so now you have no excuse for staying in bed. Erik grumbles when you shake him off, but gets up anyway.

“So, what’s the plan, maestro?” you ask.

Amusingly, it takes El a moment to realise you’re talking to him. “M-Me?! Why am I in charge?”

“Well, you are the Luminary,” Erik points out.

“And, more importantly, our leader – democratically elected 2 to 1.”

El blushes. “When did that happen? I’m nothing special, you know.”

“Oh, really?” You raise an eyebrow because seriously? You’re supposed to believe that? “Well, regardless, you do know you’ve been taking that role already, right? Half the reason it takes us so long to get anywhere is because you love exploring so much.”

“What? No, I don’t. Do I?” Erik nods, and he buries his face in his hands. “Oh my gosh, I do. I’m so sorry! You should have said something!”

“El, what? Why are you apologising? We don’t care!” laughs Erik, trying in vain to pry his hands away.

“Yeah, dude. I mean, who else was it going to be?” you add.

“No one! We’re supposed to be a team, you idiots! Teams don’t let one person decide everything!”

You try and fail not to laugh. “Yes, they do? That’s why they have team leaders?”

“Shut up! You know what I mean!” he says, glaring embarrassedly at you from between his fingers. “You guys said we were partners. Why didn’t you stop me?”

“Come on, man, you were having the time of your life leading us around that jungle,” Erik says in amusement. “You’re a natural! Honestly, you think I want to lead? No thanks! And obviously (Y/N) isn’t qualified in the slightest.”

“That’s fair,” you agree easily.

“Anyway, if we really weren’t happy with it, we’d have said something. It’s our choice to keep following you. You’re actually doing us a favour.”

El eyes the two of you sceptically. “I’m not going to tell you what to do.”

You snort. “Damn right, you’re not. The day you turn into a dictator is the day Veronica stops insulting people.”

He almost laughs, but clamps his mouth shut like he shouldn’t. “…What if I do something wrong?”

“Then I’ll be sure to give you an earful while we put it right,” you tell him shortly, “but it won’t come to that because we’ll tell you ahead of time if you’re being an idiot. You idiot.”

“And speaking of idiots,” Erik says, grabbing your shoulder with an iron grip, “next time we’re about to be captured by guards, let’s not throw ourselves at them just so the others can escape, yeah?”

You shrink under his gaze, thoroughly chastised. “Yes, sir. Sorry, sir.”

“Good! We’re partners – we stick together and have each other’s backs, even when things get bad. Agreed?”

“Agreed!” El laughs, looking a lot happier.

You shake your head, smiling. “All for one, and one for all, eh? Call us The Three Musketeers.”

Erik shrugs. “I don’t know what a musketeer is, but sure.”

“They’re… French.”

“Like the toast?” El asks innocently, making you burst out laughing.

“Yeah, like the toast.”

Unfortunately, the bar doesn’t serve breakfast this late into the morning so you don’t get any French toast, but you do get to see Connie again.

“(Y/N)! Mr Erik! Mr Eleven!” She runs over and hugs you around the legs. “You found my daddy! Thank you so much!”

“It was our pleasure,” you assure her, returning the hug awkwardly. Noah is very clearly drunk at the counter, which only serves to remind you that, kidnapped or not, he still left his daughter alone at the inn for however long and therefore is fully deserving of your wrath.

“Oi! ’Ow ’bout – Hic! – one more for the – Hic! – road, eh?”

But you’re not about to say that to Connie.

“Oh… he said he would stop…” She lets go of you, pulling on Noah’s sleeve. “Come on, Daddy! Let’s go! The nice man who keeps bringing you drinks must be getting tired.”

“Jusht a – Hic! – little longer, shweetie! You never know, he might – Hic! – have shome hot gossip that I – Hic! – need to hear!”

Connie looks back to you before she sits down again, clearly distressed, and you’re just about to go over and give her dad a piece of your mind when Erik says quietly, “Oh, so that’s it.”

“What’s it?” you ask, trying not to glare at him despite the rage boiling inside you.

He quickly pulls the two of you over to a table. “Noah. I remembered where I know him from. He sells information to criminals. Doesn’t matter what you want it for – if you can pay, he’ll give it.”

“And that’s Connie’s dad?!” El whispers, peeking over his shoulder unsubtly until Erik forces him to face front again.

“Looks that way. I had no idea he had a daughter, though.”

You clench your fists. “He’s not going to for long, if I have anything to say about it.” Erik keeps you firmly in your seat when you try to get up, and you growl involuntarily at him, startling you enough to break you out of your haze. “…Did I just do that?”

“I… think so,” El replies. No one knows how to react to that.

“Anyway,” Erik says slowly, “this could be good for us. We saved his life, and we know who he is: if there’s anything we want to know, now’s the time to ask.”

You exchange glances. If you had to guess, the fact that he was trapped with Veronica means there’s something important for him to tell you. All you want to do is punch his lights out, but you can wait until you’ve got what you need from him.

El’s eyes land on you. “We could ask about you,” he suggests.

You shake your head. “He won’t know. You’ll only make him think we’re crazy.” He frowns, but even he knows it’s true.

“Our main priority right now is avoiding Heliodor,” Erik reminds you. “We can figure out the rest later, when we’re not actively being hunted.”

“Sounds good to me,” you agree, and El nods, “but only if I’m allowed to threaten him after.”

“(Y/N)!”

“What? Connie deserves better, and by the Goddess I’m going to make sure he knows it!”

Erik chuckles darkly. “I think we can manage that. Come on.” He stands and saunters over, leaving you smiling sadistically while El dithers over the ethics of what you’re about to do.

Noah is calling for another drink when you get there, further proving how much he deserves this as he prods the bartender for whatever info he might have. You order your ‘breakfast’ and then sit on either side of him to wait.

It’s the perfect position to trap him.

“Fishing for rumours, huh? Some things never change…” Erik says, loudly enough to make it clear this is no idle conversation. Noah turns his head just enough to indicate he’s listening. “You’re Noah, right? In the circles I used to move in, you were pretty famous. You were the guy who knew things… for the right price.”

You’ve never seen him like this before. His tone is almost warm while he butters him up, but his eyes are cold, calculating. He knows exactly what he’s doing, and it’s terrifying. “‘No nugget of knowledge too big or too small, Noah the know-it-all knows ’em all.’ That’s what they used to say, huh?”

Noah turns fully around, abandoning the façade of the unassuming drunk for the sharp, sober informant. “And what if they did? I can’t help it if juicy tidbits have a habit of falling into me lap now, can I? I don’t go trying to get mixed up in this stuff, it just… happens! Like when I mistookenly went in the ladies’ baths and them monsters, they kidnapped me…”

El touches your elbow before you can even think of making a retort about that.

He knows you too well.

“I only stuck me head in there to see what all the commotion was, and there they was, attacking some poor girl. Normally, I would’ve walloped the lot of them, of course, but I’d just had me tea. The villains collared the both of us, and… well, I just hope she’s alright.”

You hate him. If you don’t get a chance to clobber him, you’re going to scream.

“She… kind of,” Erik hedges. “Anyway, we were wondering if you might be able to help us out. We heard a rumour that Heliodor’s on the move. You wouldn’t happen to know anything about that, would you?”

Noah examines the three of you. “Heliodor, is it? Got a big score in mind, eh? Well, I haven’t heard much about that, but seeing as how you saved me life, I’ll tell you what I know. Rumour has it, there’s been an escape from the royal dungeons. It’s true! Real nasty lot, and all. They say the great Sir Jasper himself went riding after ’em – razed a whole village to the ground just to get to ’em!”

El’s breath catches in his throat and you squeeze his hand reassuringly. He grips you tightly, his eyes not leaving Noah.

“And, apparently, he came back empty-handed. The whole place is scrambling trying to find ’em again! I tell you, if you’re looking for a score, now’s the time. Unless, of course, you happen to be the criminals they’re looking for…” he finishes, the corner of his mouth twitching up when El flinches.

He knows.

“Oh, I wouldn’t worry about that,” Erik says nonchalantly, leaning in close and draping an arm around his shoulders the same way he does to you sometimes. “After all, we saved your life once; we can handle ourselves, wouldn’t you say?”

“I-I suppose, when you put it like that,” Noah laughs nervously.

Erik claps him on the shoulder, but doesn’t let go. “And in the meantime, take good care of Connie. She’s young, smart, pretty… wouldn’t want her to get left all alone again, would we?”

He’s timed it perfectly so that your food arrives before Noah can answer, and you leave without another word. You wish you could have got your hands on him yourself, but the look of trepidation on his face is almost as good, and as long as he steps up as Connie’s father it doesn’t really matter.

But… you didn’t really learn anything new.

“So that didn’t really tell us much, did it?” you sigh.

“Well, it kind of did,” Erik says, back to his usual self. “They can’t have figured out where we are if they haven’t sent any more troops after us yet. I’d say that’s good news.”

“Good point.”

El is quiet, and you exchange a glance with Erik. It can’t be easy to have that reminder thrown in his face like that. “El? What do you think?” he asks carefully.

El starts slightly, taking in your worried expressions. He swallows. “He knows who we are.”

Erik grimaces. “Yeah… figures he would. But he won’t snitch, so we’re safe on that front.”

“Are you sure?” he asks. “You said he sells information. If someone asks–”

“Keep your voice down,” you warn him gently, before he can draw any attention to you. He apologises quietly.

“Anyone who knows Noah isn’t likely to want to draw attention to themselves by involving themselves with us, even for a reward,” Erik reasons. “I know I wouldn’t. And Noah isn’t going to associate with royal soldiers if he doesn’t have to.”

“Then why tell us he knows?”

“His business is information. He can charge us way more if we have to buy his silence, too.”

You drop your head dramatically onto the edge of the table, eliciting concerned shouts from your friends. “Typical. It’s always about money, isn’t it?”

Ow.

Chapter Text

“Urgh…! Where is he?!” Veronica grumbles, tapping her foot impatiently. It’s been hours. Yesterday was so busy they never got the chance to tell the Luminary who they were, and now they’re stuck waiting for him to get up. It’s almost noon already.

“You don’t suppose they’ve already left do you? We have been waiting an awfully long time.”

“How could they? We’ve been here since breakfast!” she argues, but it’s mostly just the frustration. “I suppose they could have gone while we were eating… but they could have at least waited for us!”

Serena giggles behind a hand. “Well, perhaps if you’d explained earlier, they would have.”

Veronica jabs a finger in her direction. “Oh, don’t give me that! If you hadn’t gone and followed me, I would have!”

“And if you hadn’t gotten yourself captured, I wouldn’t have gone after you.”

She huffs, turning on her heel and leaving without waiting for her to follow. Serena always knows exactly what buttons she shouldn’t push, and she always pushes them! How was she to know the Luminary would up and disappear at the first chance he got? They should have had all the time in the world, but no, he just had to make things difficult.

Did he not feel it, too? That feeling of something settling in her chest, like she’d found an old friend after decades of searching, like her journey had come to an end and she could finally rest… It was so clear from the moment she laid eyes on him, and the Mark of Light only confirmed it – they were destined to find each other.

So, why isn’t he here?!

Serena catches up quickly (curse these short legs!) and falls into step with her. “Shall we ask the barkeeper if they came in for breakfast?”

“Yes, he’ll do. And I shouldn’t have any problems getting in this time, either,” she says with a vicious smile. If that pig-headed bouncer tries anything this time, he’s going to learn the hard way just how hot her temper can be.

“I pity the one who tried to keep you out. I suppose they don’t want little girls poking around the bar.”

“No. They didn’t.”

The bar is almost empty, save for Connie and that no-good peeping Tom that calls himself her father, but he’s too drunk to pay them any attention. If she wasn’t in a hurry, she’d give him a good talking to.

She sits on the barstool furthest away and glares while Serena asks, but no luck. Their next stop is the bathhouse, then the shops, and then back to the inn, but… nothing. They even check the various rooms, but they’re all empty by now.

Serena claps her hands together. “Well… this is unfortunate,” she says brightly, earning herself a scowl.

“Yes, thank you Captain Obvious! What do we do now? We finally find him and then we lose him the same day!”

“Oh, they’re probably just outside somewhere,” she rationalises. “Don’t worry so much!”

They do not find you outside.

And when they go back to the inn for the night, they don’t find you there, either.

By the time they’ve scoured Hotto top to bottom a second time the next morning, Veronica is at the end of her tether. “Honestly! How hard can it be to find one man?”

“I’m sure we’ll find him soon.” Serena places a kind hand on her shoulder. “Why don’t we ask the townsfolk? They were very obliging when I was looking for you, although they seem a bit shy today.”

“Hmph! And I’m sure they’ll be no help whatsoever.”

Serena pauses. “Veronica! Tell me you didn’t!”

“Then I won’t tell you.”

“Veronica! I’ve told you before, you need to at least try to be polite!”

Veronica crosses her arms. “I can be polite.” Serena frowns, giving her that disappointed look she’s so used to seeing. “Grr… fine. I will try.”

The townspeople aren’t too happy with her half-hearted apologies, and make no effort to help them locate their missing Luminary. It’s all, “No, sorry, I haven’t seen him,” and, “I saw him yesterday, if that helps.”

Useless, the lot of them.

So, she Zooms them to Gallopolis, just in case you’ve continued your journey without them, and another day later they still haven’t seen hide nor hair of you.

And now they have to suffer the desert again, to boot.

Serena frowns while she brushes her hair in their shared room at the inn. “I’m sorry, Veronica. I really thought we would have found them by now.”

Veronica lets out a long, muffled groan into the bedsheets.

“We could try Hotto again, I suppose, but I don’t know how much good it will do. They could be anywhere by now.”

Ugh, this is awful. They’re going to have to begin their search all over again and it’s all her fault. If only she’d taken a few minutes to explain, they could have avoided this ridiculous game of hide and seek. As it is, they’re hot and tired and empty-handed.

You weren’t in Hotto; you’re not in Gallopolis. You might still be on the road, but Serena’s right – they don’t know anything about the Luminary. He may well have Zoomed out of there the same night and they would be none the wiser.

…But that’s not true, is it?

Veronica sits up, thinking back. “I don’t think so. Remember when we Zoomed back to Hotto? That friend of his got transport sickness.”

“‘That friend’? Please tell me you remember their name.” She doesn’t answer, and that’s an answer in itself. “Veronica! Honestly, what’s with you at the moment? Their names are (Y/N) and Erik. You’re going to have to put in a bit more effort if we’re going to be travelling together, you know!”

“Oh– be quiet you!” she snaps defensively, face going beet red. “What I’m trying to say is: they’re not likely to be Zooming about if there’s an alternative. And, logically, that alternative is walking. Here. To Gallopolis.”

Serena’s face of understanding falls to one of practiced patience. “Thank you, I get the picture.”

“So, all we need to do is wait at the checkpoint for them! They have to pass through eventually.” She nods, feeling very pleased with herself.

Serena hums. “And if they’ve already gone through?”

“Then we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it! Have a little faith, Serena! We’ll find him in no time, you’ll see!”

And when they do, she’s going to give him a piece of her mind, Luminary or not! Giving her the runaround like that… what did he think was going to happen? They’re scions of Serenica! They have a solemn duty, just like he does, and they’re going to perform it even if they have to chase him to the ends of Erdrea to do it!

He can run from his destiny all he wants – he can’t run from her!

Chapter Text

“Strange how we haven’t seen Veronica or Serena. I thought they’d wait for us.”

“They probably got bored and left already. We’re not exactly early. You coming, (Y/N)?”

“Hm? Oh, yeah.” You jog to catch up, taking one last look around before you head out, but the twins simply aren’t there. “Well, wherever they are, I bet we’ll run into them at some point.”

Erik’s eyes light up. “I’ll take you up on that. Winner gets El’s next creation on the forge?”

You hesitate. “Uhh… is it fair to bring him into this?” You didn’t even mean it.

“No, I’ll do it!”

…Guess that answers that.

“Okay! Bet goes until we leave Hotto.” Erik holds his hand out. “So… bet?”

“Bet!” You clasp his hand firmly and shake once, nodding to seal the deal. He grins cockily. He’s so going to lose. “Anyway, what did you want to look at, El? Or are we just exploring to explore?”

He smiles sheepishly and scratches his cheek. “…Everything?”

“Ah, there he is!” laughs Erik, letting go of you to sling an arm around his shoulders.

“Yeah, yeah, I know,” El says, rolling his eyes good-naturedly. “I just want to look around a bit! We didn’t have any time before with everything going on, so I figured we could do it now. If you want.”

“Sure. I’m easy,” you shrug.

“…Including the Crypt?”

Ah.

You pull a face. “Well, I suppose. There can’t be anything tougher than Jarvis, right? It’ll be fine.”

“That’s good. You really worried me last time, you know.”

He smiles at you, and you resist the urge to apologise again. “I’ll be better this time around,” you promise.

You decide to do that first, since it’s the most out of the way and you can go straight to the campsite after if it takes too long. You still get that uneasy feeling creeping down your spine when you go in, but you can rationalise a lot better knowing there’s a healing fountain if things start getting ugly.

Plus, you got a decent bit of training in, thanks to Veronica.

A few deep breaths and you’ve got it under control.

The first thing you see is, once again, that treasure chest beckoning to you from its spot in the middle of the corridor. You look at each other. Veronica was right – there’s no way it’s not some kind of trap. The real question is, what kind, and will you get something good out of it?

El draws his sword and takes a tentative step forward. “Be ready for a fight,” he advises you.

You draw your own weapons and follow a few steps behind him. Erik glances at you as he scans your surroundings. “You never did tell me how you knew about mimics.”

“Oh, yeah.” You meet his gaze briefly before concentrating on El again. “It’s… stories. You know, since we can’t go on real adventures where I’m from. So we make up our own, if that makes sense? Fake chests are– El!”

The floor crumbles beneath his feet, sending him crashing down with a yell. You rush to the edge, peering through the dust to the floor below. “I’m okay!” he calls up to you. He brushes the dust off his clothes and picks his sword up off the floor, looking around. “I think we know what the trap is, now.”

“Well spotted,” Erik says flatly. “What’s down there?”

“Uhh… not much. An empty chest, a couple of Lump Wizards. There’s only one way out.”

“We’re coming down.”

Erik jumps down before you can suggest an alternative, landing in a crouch and looking back at you expectantly. You scowl, but follow suit, testing the edges of the hole before taking the lame way out and carefully lowering yourself in.

What? You’re not breaking an ankle trying to look cool.

You take out the monsters blocking your exit, and continue down the corridor to find… that door again. The one you thought would lead to the boss, but clearly didn’t. At least you think it’s that door. It’s still locked, and you can’t be sure if this is the same side you found before or if you’ve gone and got yourselves stuck on the other side.

Honestly, that makes more sense for a trap.

But you forgot who made these traps. Apparently, those shadow monsters aren’t smart enough to realise there’s a one-way path back to where you started.

The chest, however, remains on the other side of the pit.

“I guess we’re going round,” El shrugs, leading you into the next room.

Despite this, you still have to stop him running headlong into the exact same kind of trap (you assume) when he catches sight of a different chest. “Do you even listen to yourself? Go around.”

“I, um…” He clears his throat guiltily. “Why don’t you go first?”

And that’s how you become party leader.

With your friends now behind you, you consider what you know. Following the logic of a video game, all of the chests have to be reachable in some way. The easy way has to be a trap (not that it particularly matters if all it does is send you to the floor below) so you move on and discover two more possible routes. It has to be one of those.

You get El to check if the Yggdrasil root has any hints, but all it does is show you the same scene as last time. Then, you investigate the floor of both entrances for any signs of sabotage, to similar results. You could just guess, but based on what happened to El, the floor is too weak to hold your weight if you get it wrong, and you’re not all that eager to take any unnecessary trips downstairs.

So, you’re not going to.

“Hey, hold on to me,” you instruct them, holding out a hand. El takes it with a questioning look. “You have to pull me back up if it falls through.”

Erik takes El’s other hand to give you more distance, and you edge one foot into the space leading to the corridor, keeping the other planted as far onto solid ground as you can. It isn’t enough, though, so you simply place your trust in your friends and lean your full weight onto your foot.

You notice the exact moment it starts to give way and immediately try to jump back, but all it does it cause the bricks to completely fall through. Your grip on El’s hand tightens in panic as your centre of gravity plummets and he quickly yanks you back, the two of them pulling you to safety while the bricks crash to the floor below.

You know it’s not that far, but…

“You alright?” Erik asks.

“…Peachy.”

“Uh huh.” You pay no mind to the critical look he gives you. “So, about those stories…”

You know he’s distracting you again, but you gladly take the out, even if it does mean giving them a TED Talk. “Well, first of all they’re called role-playing games, so jot that down…”

Never in your life did you think you’d end up explaining JRPGs to two guys who fight real monsters on the regular, but truth really is stranger than fiction, it seems. It’s not quite accurate, since you want to keep it simple and steer clear of any mention of actual game mechanics and such, but it does the job, and it’s a thousand times easier than trying to make them understand ‘Video Game’.

Besides, if you start getting into that you’ll have to get into movies, TV, the internet… everything they’ll never be able to understand.

Another time.

The more you talk, the easier it gets, until you’ve got them both completely enraptured by your every word. “…but there’s so many, and they’re all slightly different, so every time you start a new game, you have a whole new world to explore, new rules, new monsters, new everything!”

“Oh, so you’ve basically been living through one this whole time!” El exclaims excitedly. “That’s how you knew all that stuff! Because our world is so similar!”

“Yeah, pretty much! It’s not exactly the same though, obviously, so like, yeah, I can guess things sometimes, but they are still guesses. I don’t actually know until they happen. You can see why I didn’t want to say anything when we met now, can’t you?”

“Oh, yeah, definitely. I would not have known how to react to that.”

Meanwhile, Erik is staring at the wall with a thousand-yard stare. “This makes… so much sense…”

“But… wow. It’s almost like you’ve been on a bunch of adventures already. I think you might be the most experienced one here!”

“Okay, let’s not get carried away.”

You grab the chest without any further difficulties and then head into the big square room where you’re faced with another conundrum: there are way too many exits!

Seven! You counted!

You already know four of them, though, so it’s not quite that bad, and one of them is in direct view of another chest, so you’re not going to take that one. Hopefully this isn't the one time it's safe. Out of the two that remain, one leads to the same room as the one the root told you to take, and the other a long corridor.

You know which one you’re taking.

The corridor ends in another hole, which is refreshingly already there and not waiting for you to trigger it, but also really suspicious because the corridor doesn’t even lead anywhere, so why is it there?

Then you remember the locked door again, and resign yourself to your fate.

There are different monsters down here, but neither the zombies nor the giant Dark Souls bone dog things pose all that much more of a threat. A quick check confirms you are indeed on the other side of the door, and another reveals a message scratched into the wall beside another chest.

Erik reads it for you while El pockets the gold ore from inside. “It says ‘Defeat the sparkling skullrider, and look up to find its trail. Follow it, and it shall lead you to the surface.’”

“Okay? Meaning?”

“I imagine it’s talking about that wall with all the claw markings,” he says, as if that explains it.

It doesn’t.

“Well, the sparkling means you can ride the monster once you’ve defeated it,” El tells you. “That’s how I could use the Eggsoskeleton’s shell in the Kingsbarrow, if you remember.”

Your blank look morphs into disbelief. “Wh– You mean it really was sparkling? I thought that was a trick of the light!”

He shakes his head and you’re forced to confront the fact that your life is complete and utter nonsense. How are supposed to do anything in these conditions?

Erik pats your shoulder comfortingly. “Don’t have that in your games?”

“I swear to the Goddess, if you ask me that every time I don’t know something…”

“Alright, alright, I won’t.”

Out of the four possible directions down here, only one goes anywhere at all (another chest) with the others simply ending a few feet in. You figure out pretty quickly why it’s designed that way once you find the hole in the ceiling you nearly fell through earlier, and based on that you can work out where the rest of the traps are.

You can’t be 100% certain, of course, but 99% is good enough.

(It also occurs to you that it’s not impossible for there to be more traps down here, but there’s no way to know before you fall into one, so you’ll just have to risk it.)

You still haven’t found a key for the door, but El decides he wants a closer look while you’re down here anyway, which is why you nearly have a heart attack when another freaking zombie just up and claws its way out of the ground in front of you.

“Holy–! Goddess almighty, you scared the living slime out of me!” you screech, one hand pressed to your chest in fright. “Don’t do that!”

The zombie blinks at you slowly, drooling. “UUURGGgh… sOOORRry… it’s MMYYY job…” it moans.

“His job…” you say to no one in particular.

“JaAAARRrvis told MaAARGarot to keep dooOOORRr closed… NoOOO OOone to come cLLLOOOose…”

“Yeah, about that,” Erik responds, folding his arms. “We kind of killed him, already? You can go home, now, if you want.”

One eye blinks, then the other. “Go hHHOOOome…? Home is heEERre…”

Working from home. You know the feeling.

“Well, since you’re not at work anymore, can we get through?” El asks politely.

Margarot tilts her head a full 180 degrees in thought (you shiver at the sound of cracking bones), then nods, still upside down. “Come baAACck soOOon…”

“Thanks! Enjoy your time off!” El waves.

You snap (bad word choice!) yourself out of your disgust. “Bye Margarot!” She shambles off with a twitchy wave of her own. You nudge Erik. “Her hair’s the same colour as yours.”

“Mm. But I’m better looking,” he winks.

You nearly choke on air. “Oh, of course.”

Chapter Text

It turns out there isn’t a key for the door after all – it was locked by a chain around the handles and that’s it, so El removes them and you get back to the riddle from before. You defeat the sparkling skullrider as instructed, and watch as the rider dissipates while the steed remains, just as El said it would. He doesn’t even hesitate, climbing on its back like it’s a horse and holding onto the horns in place of reins.

He looks like he’s riding a motorbike.

The six-legged bone dog(?) stands at attention, ready to go, and El gives as experimental kick that sends it scuttling off down the corridor at speed. He’s smiling when he comes back. “Hey, let’s grab that other one! I think they can take us back up the wall.”

You do a double take at the second sparkling skullrider that’s somehow appeared in the room where there definitely was only one a second ago. Should you ask? Can you even be bothered at this point?

You chalk it up to respawning mechanics (you can learn the in-universe version some other time) and do as he suggests. El and Erik mount one each and… now what?

“What are you waiting for, (Y/N)?” El asks.

You look between them, suddenly very aware of where this is going. “No. No way.”

“Aw, they’re not so bad! Just like riding a horse!” Erik taunts, winking at the deliberately fake smile you send his way.

“Thanks. I’m not doing that.” El dismounts, and you take a wary step back as he approaches, not trusting him in the slightest. “Don’t you dare. I swear, El!”

He speeds up and you turn too late to escape his grasp. His fingers lock around your wrist, dragging you closer and closer to your fate. “Eleven! No, let me take the long way round! Eleven!” 

“That’ll take ages!” he laughs, unrelenting. You can see Erik grinning away out of the corner of your eye as you struggle, thoroughly unbothered by the utter betrayal unfolding before him. “Come on, I promise it’s safe. I won’t let you fall off.”

"Erik, you traitor!" you scream, as El pulls you unceremoniously onto the monster and gets on behind you, trapping you in with his arms on the horns. It shakes impatiently underneath you, and you clamp your hands around his legs in a death grip. “You are evil, El! If I die, I’m killing you myself!”

“Sure, if it makes you feel better!”

“You’re not supposed to agree!”

You squeak when it jerks into motion, and then your soul completely abandons your body when it jumps sideways onto the wall. Gravity forces you into El’s chest as it claws its way up, and his laughter rumbles through you, but you’re too busy trying not to scream because you’re going to fall any second, you just know it, this is the worst rollercoaster you’ve ever been on, El will lose his grip and you’re both going down and oh it’s over now.

Never mind, everything’s fine.

El drops his arms and you leap off as fast as humanly possible. Erik follows behind a second later, barely able to breathe he’s laughing so hard. “(Y/N),” he wheezes, putting his hands on your shoulders, “what was that supposed to be?!”

Oh Goddess, what did you do? You peek over at El, and he’s really not any better than Erik. “(Y/N), it really wasn’t that bad! You didn’t have to yell so much!”

…You said all that out loud, didn’t you?

“Oh my frizzing Goddess.” You bury your face in your hands, your ears turning red when it sets them off again.

You’re never going to live this down.

You refuse to come out even after their laughter dies down, and no amount of coaxing is going to change that because if you look at them, you’re going to die on the spot. You feel one of them pull you into a hug. “Aw, I’m sorry. I didn’t think it would bother you so much.”

You lean your forehead miserably against his chest. “Next time I’m sitting behind you,” you grumble. Whether he actually hears you or not is unimportant.

He pets your hair, and you decide it’s time to move on before you give in to the urge to start purring for some reason. You push him gently until he lets go, staring resolutely at the floor. “I’d like to move on now.”

“Good idea.”

You point them towards the path that, theoretically, will bring you to whatever places you have yet to visit, and let El take over again. Erik ruffles your hair on his way past, and your face lights up all over again as the purr escapes before you can stop it, but if he hears he doesn’t mention it.

You leave your mounts behind, thank the Goddess.

The rest of the Crypt is much less exciting, and you manage to navigate it without falling into any more pitfalls. By the time you’ve opened all of the chests and reached the healing fountain, you’ve mostly gotten over yourself, and you fall back into step with them as you head towards the cells.

You still won’t meet their eyes, though.

There is very little to be found until you get there except a disgusting used bandage which El apparently thinks is worth taking with you for some unfathomable reason, and neither you nor Erik can talk him out of it. The dungeon itself is a different matter, for a couple of reasons. First, there’s actually stuff in there; second, you can’t reach any of them.

El frowns at the locked cell doors. “Veronica kept the keys, didn’t she?”

“Probably, yeah,” Erik confirms.

That’s unfortunate, but… “Can you not, like, pick the locks or something? Or are we against that for some reason?”

“I think we’re past that already,” Erik answers, taking out whatever tools he needs. “I’ll give it a go. Not going to lie, I may be a little out of practice, so get comfortable.”

He kneels down, getting to work, and a couple of minutes later you take his advice and sit down to wait. You have no idea how long this is meant to take, or how difficult it is (you doubt Skyrim's lockpicking was accurate, and you were never any good at it anyway) but you trust him to get it done before you lose the will to live.

El joins you a moment later, speaking quietly so as not to disturb him. “Why do you think there are chests in the jail cells to begin with?”

“Why are there jail cells in a crypt?” you fire back. “They have to be Jarvis’s. He had the keys.”

He nods slowly. “Wonder what was so important.”

“We’ll find out soon enough.”

Erik stands up, giving the cell door a perplexed look before moving on to a different one. Not a good sign.

“About yesterday…” you start cautiously. “I really am sorry. I thought if something happened to you, it would be my fault because I’m the anomaly here, so when it looked like Hendrix was going to catch us, I didn’t really think. I just knew I had to do something, and there wasn’t much I could do. So, I… did that.”

El looks like he wants to argue with you, but neither of you want a repeat of last time, so he swallows the feeling and opts for a more neutral approach. “What if it didn’t work? You had to know we would come back for you?”

“I…” You can’t finish that sentence. “Maybe. But as long as you got away, it didn’t matter what happened to me. That’s how it felt, anyway. I’m sorry, I know I hurt you.”

“You do matter,” he says. He looks so hurt. “You know that, right? Maybe things will turn out differently than they would have otherwise, but I don't think that's a bad thing! I don’t care if you’re ‘meant’ to be here or not. You’re my friend, my partner. I want you here.”

Is it selfish for you to want that, too? “Yeah, but… I don’t know what’s going to happen. I want to help, but I don’t want to interfere if it’ll make things worse. And I can’t promise that it won’t! This isn’t a game; there aren’t any do-overs. What if everything goes wrong because of me?”

He leans down, trying to catch your eye. “How can it? No one knows how the future will go, even you. You can’t say it’s wrong if there’s no right.”

But there is a right… isn’t there? When you travel back in time, you aren’t supposed to change anything because the butterfly effect will spell disaster for the future you came from. It's the whole plot of Back to the Future! Sure, you didn’t time travel, but it’s the same thing in the end – the only difference here is that it’s not your world in danger.

Except… when you stop to think about it, you don’t actually know that.

The story of the game may be the ‘intended’ timeline, but you can think of plenty of examples of storyline events you would avoid if possible in other games. El’s village already got burned to the ground – can you truly say that’s a good thing just because it was ‘meant’ to happen?

In fact, you’ve been assuming that the ‘ending’ will justify whatever happens in the middle, but that’s not necessarily the case, either. The only thing you’re confident about is that the world will be saved, but what about El? Can you even guarantee that he’ll make it out of this alive, when the world no longer needs him?

And Erik… if you weren’t there, would they really have both made it through the door, or would he have sacrificed himself to get El through, like you almost did? Was he supposed to be a twist villain, brainwashed to fight against El by King Carnelian when his soldiers fail? Was El meant to meet the twins alone, and that’s why they haven’t joined you yet? You don’t know anymore.

“(Y/N)?”

It was so easy to believe the game would look after them, but a good story is rarely kind to its characters. It’s dangerous to assume they’ll be safe if you let things run their course, and these characters – these people – mean too much to you not to try and make it better for them if you can.

It’s time to stop pretending you aren’t involved.

“Do you really mean that, El? You don’t care that I might make things harder for you?” you ask outright, because there can’t be any doubt about this.

“Of course not. But I really don’t think you will.”

You shake your head. “I’m not kidding, El. I could really put you in danger.”

His smile falls, and he looks at you seriously for a moment. “Then we’ll just have to get stronger. Did you forget what Erik said? We have each other’s backs. I won’t leave you behind just because it might be ‘easier’. I’m not that kind of person.”

“…No, you’re not,” you mumble to yourself. “Thanks, El. I needed to hear that. And don’t worry, I won’t do anything like that again. Cross my heart.”

“Oh, thank goodness,” he sighs, beaming widely. “One time was more than enough!”

“Believe me, I agree!”

His expression softens, and he says sincerely, “I mean it though, (Y/N) – you’re a big help. Like, today: we couldn’t have got through this dungeon anywhere near as fast without you! You were really amazing!”

You laugh, rolling your eyes to hide how flustered you are. “Careful. Keep going like that and you might never get rid of me!”

“Why would I want to do that? It wouldn’t be the same without you!”

“Wouldn’t be nearly as funny for one thing,” Erik says in your ear, making you jump almost 10 feet in the air.

“You– When did you get there?!” you yell, smacking him in the side.

He attempts unconvincingly to ward off your attacks, smug grin never leaving his face. “Like five minutes ago. I didn’t want to interrupt.”

“So you decide to scare me instead?!”

“What can I say? Revenge is sweet. Also, you know his name is Hendrik, right?”

“Who even cares?!”

“Did you manage to get them open?” El asks, ignoring your antics.

“Yeah, no. There’s some kind of magic seal on them. The mechanism keeps changing while I’m picking them so I can’t even get close. Damn near broke my lockpicks trying.”

“Too bad… I wanted to know what they were hiding back there.”

You fold your arms childishly. “Whatever. Are we done here or do I have to continue to suffer Mr I’m-So-Annoying over here?”

“Aww, I didn’t know you cared so much.” Erik reaches over and scratches behind your ear. Oh, that’s actually quite nice… “Ha, I knew it. You still have a little dog in you, after all.”

You snap out of your trance, batting his hand away. “No fair! That’s hardly my fault!”

“I think it’s cute!” El chimes in.

You turn on him with a growl that does absolutely nothing. “That’s not helping!” Honestly, is this what you’ve signed up for? Constant torment whenever you do something remotely out of the ordinary? What is your life? “Are we leaving or not?” you demand sulkily.

El gazes wistfully at the chests, so close and yet so far. “I guess so. I don’t think there’s anything else to find.”

“Hang on, I’ll check,” Erik says. You watch, completely baffled, while he sniffs the air – literally. “Just those three, I think.”

He sees you staring, and tilts his head quizzically. “Forgive me if this sounds ridiculous, but… can you smell treasure?”

“…Not literally? But yeah, why?”

Yeah, that checks out. “And you call me the dog…”

El warns you before he casts Evac this time, but it doesn’t help much. He still has to catch you when the dizziness almost sends you stumbling directly into a Drackmage, and it’s a few minutes before the world stops spinning enough for you to walk in a straight line.

You’re just glad the nausea isn’t nearly as bad as it was before.

You head back to the campsite as the sun dips below the horizon, El pulling out the forge so he can put the materials you found to good use. You take the time to finish investigating your phone, Erik watching on with interest while you talk him through it. There isn’t much else to discover – you can only access the camera, notes and calculator – but that’s for the best, since you can’t charge it.

(Incidentally, you forgot to switch it off properly last night, but it didn’t lose any more power. Your inventory must have stasis properties or something.)

While you’re there, you take a nicer, proper photo of him, smiling in the firelight, and then sneak one of El too, hard at work and none the wiser. You show them to Erik for approval, leaning against each other so you can both see, and scroll back a bit to show him some from before as well. You have to go pretty far to find one of your sister, but it’s worth it, you think.

“You must miss her, huh?” he says quietly.

You nod, smiling wistfully. “More than you know…”

“Don’t worry, we’ll get you back to her.”

“Well, take your time. I’m quite enjoying myself here.”

It’s the closest you’ve come to feeling normal the whole time you’ve been here, which isn’t saying much but it means a lot to you. That subtle feeling that you don’t fit in eases a little with every part of your world you share with them, and it doesn’t feel quite so lonely anymore.

None of you can be bothered with tents, so you sleep under the stars tonight. They aren’t your stars, there are too many for that, but they shine just as brightly. And if, in the morning, Erik’s moved to sleep beside El…

Well…

You aren’t the only one with nightmares.

Chapter Text

“Do either of you know what those are?”

You pause in the conversation you’re having with Erik, looking back to find that El’s fallen behind and is now looking at, “…Rocks?”

He gives you a flat look. “Not the rocks, you awkward so-and-so. Those! The little blue things!”

“Blue things…?” You share a confused look with Erik, and go over to him. “What are you talking about? Where?”

“Right there!” He points at something, but before you can look, he drops his hand. “Hang on, it’ll be back in a sec. There! You see it now?”

You follow his finger to find… still nothing. “Are you feeling alright, El?”

He pauses. “Yeah? Why wouldn’t I?”

Erik hums and places a hand on his forehead. “Well, he doesn’t have a fever,” he says to you.

“You don’t have a history of hallucinations we should know about, do you, El?” you ask.

“I’m not sick!” he protests, batting Erik’s hand away with a pout. “Quit playing around, you guys! This isn’t funny.”

“El, we really can’t see anything.”

“It’s right here!” He strides forward and picks something up off the floor, but when he turns around his hands are empty, with a space between them as if something is meant to be there but isn’t. He thrusts them towards you. “See?!”

You hold up your hands, shaking your head. He does the same to Erik, almost desperately. “I’m guessing you're holding it?” Erik clarifies.

He lowers his arms. “You really can’t see it?”

“I’m not saying there’s nothing there, but all we see is this,” you tell him, holding your hands out to demonstrate.

“But… I don’t understand. I can see it just fine.”

“Luminary powers again?” Erik suggests with a shrug. “Got any ideas, (Y/N)? This seems like your area of expertise.”

“You two love to exaggerate, don’t you?” you mutter, more preoccupied with figuring out what’s going on than setting the record straight. “I wonder…”

You fish your phone out of your pocket, and quickly open up the camera, ignoring El’s questions for the time being. Erik sees what you’re doing and loops an arm around his shoulders, pointing at it. “Look at that and smile,” he instructs.

“O…kay?”

You bite back a smile of your own. You can’t believe how much of a natural Erik is in front of a camera. He’s seen it twice total and already gets the concept.

You point the camera at them, taking a few steps back to get El’s arms in there as well. “You were right, there is something.” Whatever it is, it looks like a blue blob with eyes, hanging limply from El’s hands like a sad sack of flour.

You snap the photo before they can look away, flipping your phone round so they can see it. El can’t decide if he wants to comment on the thing he’s holding or the technology he’s being presented with, opening and closing his mouth like a fish and pointing at the screen. “I don’t… um… yes?”

“That’s it, right? Do you know what it is, Erik?”

He shakes his head. “Never seen anything like it. I still can’t, apparently. How come this can see it and we can’t? El I can understand.”

“I have a theory, but you’re not going to like it,” you inform him with a wry smile. “People like to believe you can use these to film paranormal entities. Ghost hunters set them up to see if a place is haunted. I’m not saying these are ghosts, necessarily, but maybe some kind of spirit?”

Erik makes a face. “You’re right. I didn’t like that.”

“Um, (Y/N)? What is this, exactly?” El asks. “Is this what you were looking at last night?”

“Yeah. It’s my phone, it does a lot of things. Erik can explain.”

“No, I can’t!”

“Sure, you can! It’s easy!”

“To you!”

This is getting you nowhere. “Anyway, we don’t know what that thing is. You said there were more of them?”

El nods, looking back at the thing in his arms. “A couple, yeah. I only started noticing them after I met you, actually. They don’t really do anything, but they disappear and then reappear sometimes, so I thought it was weird.”

“It definitely is,” Erik agrees. “You have anything like that in your stories, (Y/N)?”

“No,” you tell him, because where would you ever hear about random invisible creatures only visible to one person? And then it hits you. “Actually yes, but they don’t look like that. They’re called Koroks, and they’re only visible to the chosen hero in that story, too.”

“Sounds about right.” Erik ruffles El’s hair, and he blushes at the attention.

“So… can it speak? Because if so, we should probably just ask it what it is.”

El blinks. “I didn’t think of that. Um, excuse me, sorry for ignoring you. Can you understand me?”

You wait awkwardly while he speaks to the air, trying not to seem rude to the creature that may or may not be able to take offence. Eventually, he turns back to you. “I’m going to say no.”

“So… what do we do with it?” Erik asks what you’re all thinking.

“(Y/N)?”

“Why do I have to decide?”

“Because you’re the only one who knows anything about it.”

“No, I just told you what it reminded me of,” you correct, but they’re still watching you expectantly, so you sigh and give your two cents, anyway. “Honestly, I don’t know if there’s anything we can do. If it was a Korok, it would have given us some puzzle or task or what have you, but you said it’s just kind of there, right?”

El nods. “It was literally just walking up the path over and over again.”

“Yeah, so until we can find out what it really is, I think we’re stuck. Unless you want to take it with us. Do you think it needs to eat?” you add as an afterthought.

“I don’t know. I don’t even think it has a mouth.” Finally, after a bit of back and forth, “I guess it can’t hurt.”

“Alright. But you have to take of it,” Erik says.

“Yes, mum.” He shifts so he can carry it with one arm and you get on with what you’re actually meant to be doing today: trudging back towards the Crypt yet again so you can check out the stone structure you spotted on the way out.

And so, your trio becomes a quartet.

…Kind of.

“This door…” El murmurs. “It looks exactly like the one we have back in Cobblestone.” He tries to push it open, but it doesn’t budge.

Erik snorts, crossing his arms. “Yeah, good luck getting that open. There’s one in Heliodor, too, and no one’s ever managed to get it open. Even a master thief like me couldn’t crack it.”

You raise an eyebrow. “Are you joking?” Why the hell would he wait until you got all the way out here to tell you something he already knew?

“What? I am a master thief!”

“Not that. You’re not even going to try?”

“Listen, I have tried. Multiple times. There’s no way.” You fold your arms, waiting. “…Fine. But it won’t work.” He kneels down and sets to work, still grumbling. “I don’t know what you’re expecting. These things are locked up so tight– Oh.”

“What is it?” El asks. “Did you do it?”

Erik steps back and clears his throat, rubbing the back of his neck. “I, uh… I owe you an apology.”

You burst into laughter as El ignores all of this and cheerfully jogs to the door, setting his invisible friend down to open the chest. He pulls out an honest-to-Goddess Japanese katana that’s way too long for that tiny chest (it’s almost as big as he is) and runs his fingers reverently along the edge of the blade. He takes it in both hands, taking a few experimental swings.

Not going to lie, that looks awesome.

You cast a sideways glance at Erik. “So… where’s my apology?”

“…Sorry.”

“Aww, that’s it?” you whine, batting your eyes at him sweetly. “Not going to get down on your knees and beg for my forgiveness?”

“Shut up, already,” he smirks, reaching out and sliding his fingers behind your ear again. Goddess, it feels so good…

“Guys, look!” El’s voice snaps you out of it as he bounces over, eyes bright. “Isn’t it so cool? It’s a Banishing Blade!”

You shoot Erik a dirty look as he answers innocently, “Yeah, man! I bet that would fetch a pretty penny!”

“I have to go try this out right now.”

He bounds off, and the two of you follow. “That was low, Erik.”

“But it was so easy,” he replies, not sorry at all.

The hapless lump wizards never knew what hit them, getting one-shot so fast it gives you whiplash. Erik whistles, while you have a rather louder reaction. “Holy hell, dude! That’s a lot of damage!”

“Right? I knew greatswords were a good idea!”

He’s so excited, and you can’t blame him. With his newfound strength there’s not a single enemy in the entire area that stands even the slightest hint of a chance against you. You and Erik barely need to lift a finger. There’s no way you were meant to get that door open so early.

In other words, you’ve just activated easy mode.

And it’s a good thing, too, because otherwise it would have taken you all day to finish looking around the Steppe, and it’s just way too damn hot for that. As it is, you manage to get it all done within an afternoon. You mostly find ore and sparkly spots, but there is one chest that’s just barely out of reach on the wrong side of a steaming hot river, and you’re determined to find a way to get to it that doesn’t involve El stripping down and taking a swim.

(Yes, he actually tried to do that. He got all the way to his undershirt before either you or Erik noticed and then you had to wrestle him back into his clothes before he could get any further. Can’t take your eyes off that boy.)

You also poke your heads in at Mt. Huji, just to see, despite the sign that clearly tells you not to. It can’t stop you, of course, because you can’t read, but your friends definitely can.

“Well, if they really wanted to keep us out, they would have posted a guard,” says El, as if that wasn’t the entire point of the sign.

You expect that from Erik, but El? Your sweet, innocent, summer child?

He’s turning out to be more of a rebel than you thought.

Once you’ve done all you can, you return to Hotto to prepare for the next step of your journey. You hand over the ore to a blacksmith in exchange for a recipe book, and a gold ring to another man for a way cooler boomerang for Erik, and then visit the shops to buy that dagger he wanted. El also gets his new sword properly appraised, and it turns out it’s even better than you thought, dealing extra damage to demons, because those exist.

He gets a few funny looks for the way he’s holding his arm, but you don’t think he even notices. You half expect Veronica to show up and start roasting him about it.

“So that’s the favours and the weapons,” he counts off on his fingers, “and we still have to visit the item shop. Do you guys need anything?”

You raise a hand. “Could I possibly get some paper and a pencil? Or whatever’s available to that end? It’s fine if not.”

“Sure, no problem,” he smiles. “Do you want new shoes, too?”

“What? Why? What’s wrong with my shoes?”

Erik scoffs. “Come on, you’ve been complaining about them since we got here. And, no offence, but they’re not exactly normal.”

You look over to El. “I mean, he is right,” he admits.

“Actually, it’s probably time to get you a whole new outfit. I found that one in the closet at the church. It’s not really made for travelling in.”

You look down at your clothes self-consciously. “…That bad?”

“Not bad!” El denies, which quickly changes to, “Well, it’s better than what you were wearing before, anyway…”

You roll your eyes. “Great… Just tell me next time, okay? I don’t need to be broadcasting my otherworldliness to the whole world.”

For a long moment, you’re met with silence, and you wonder what the heck you’ve done now, but then, “What’s ‘broad casting’…?”

You don’t get paid enough for this.

Chapter Text

“What do you think? I feel like I’m at a ren faire.”

You give a twirl and pose, showing off your brand new, made-to-order, honest-to-Goddess adventurer’s attire. Deep scarlet tunic with the sleeves cut short, subtle highlights in Hotto’s characteristic shade of orange, black trousers, leather boots that lace up to your knees… it’s way cooler than your old outfit in every sense of the word, sturdier too, and you love it.

You only wish you had a mirror to see yourself in.

Erik looks you up and down, giving you a thumbs up. “Well, look at you! You really look the part now, huh?”

“You look great, (Y/N)! And one more thing…” El drops a satchel of your own onto your shoulder. “There you go! I thought you might like the extra space. There’s a little surprise in there, too.”

“There is?” You eagerly open it up, finding the stationery you asked for as well as something made of leather. You lift it out to examine it more closely. “Is this armour?”

“Kind of! It’s a vambrace! Here, I’ll put it on for you.”

“Aww, you didn’t have to do that, El!” You let him strap it to your arm, and then pull him into a quick hug, feeling very emotional all of a sudden. “Thank you so much for all this. Let me know if I can make it up to you, okay?”

He hugs you back, shaking his head. “Don’t worry about it. And between you and me, it was Erik’s idea. He just didn’t want to admit it.”

You let go of him, turning your eyes to Erik with glee. “Come here, you.”

“Oi, what? Why me, too?” You ignore his protests and he heaves a very put-upon sigh, allowing you to wrap your arms around him, too (and if the way he hugs you back is anything to go by, he really doesn't mind it, either). “Alright, alright. I’m glad you’re happy with it.”

You are extremely happy with it, and as you leave the armour shop/tailor’s, a spring in your step and Lady Gaga on your lips, you run your fingers over your cool new accessory. A vambrace… Can’t say you’ve ever heard of that before.

You can hardly believe this is real, not because of the high fantasy environment, but because, somehow, in only a few short days, you’ve found people who really, genuinely care about you. They listen to you, laugh with you, and explain the things you don’t understand with only minimal patronising. Sure, they tease you relentlessly for your more… unusual qualities, but you give as good as you get, and you know they don’t hold it against you.

It’s so much more than you’ll ever be able to repay, and they do it without a second thought.

You just wish you could do more for them in return.

When you get back to the inn, you immediately take up residence at the desk in the corner. You’ve learned a lot in the past week or so you’ve been here, too much to remember, and you can practically guarantee that at some point you’ll be needing a good set of notes to refer back to. That’s why you asked El for the books – if you want to make a difference, this is how to do it.

You’ve been thinking about it since you showed Erik your phone and confirmed the lack of internet, but you’re alone here. Not literally (your friends have made that abundantly clear) but in the sense that you can’t simply consult a guide if you get stuck.

And you will get stuck.

The red door Erik picked earlier is just the start. They all but confirmed there’ll be others, including in Cobblestone and Heliodor, and then there’s that chest in the Hotto Steppe, the three chests in the Crypt, and Goddess knows what else you may have missed when you were still convinced nothing mattered. You need to keep track of it all, or you’ll be missing out on valuable resources down the line.

El bought you three notebooks and a set of pencils, which you lay out in front of you while you decide how you want to organise them. It’s a bit overboard in your opinion, but you really do have a lot to get down, and you need it to be in some semblance of order or you’ll never be able to find the things you want.

Luckily, you’ve been a gamer for a long time, and looked up a hell of a lot of things for a hell of a lot of games, and you know exactly where to start.

So, you get to writing.

The first book you dedicate entirely to being your bestiary because that’s where the bulk of the information needs to be. In your expert opinion, the most important things to know about monsters are the locations and the item drops, so you jot down everything you remember in vaguely region order and leave spaces for the rest.

The others can no doubt help you out there.

There’s still a fair amount of room in each entry, so you also add sections for weaknesses and strategies, as well as little drawings, although you’re not much of an artist.

After that, you swap to the next book and create your to-do list. It’s kind of a mess, but it includes the doors, the chests, and a few ideas that you’d like to test out when you get the chance, like Erik’s stealing. On the following few pages, you add a big header of SIDEQUESTS to be filled in later, and at the back of the book you make a glossary comparing the terms used here to those in Final Fantasy. It’s the only way you’ll remember.

The last one you decide is your map, but with all the cartography skills of a wet sock your ‘maps’ are little more than disorganised scribbles attempting, with varying degrees of success, to convey the relative positions of the places you’ve visited.

…Yeah, not sure about those.

At any rate, you’ve noted down what’s in each place, so fingers crossed they’re functional at least.

There’s plenty that’s missing or needs double-checking throughout all of your notes, especially about Heliodor, but overall you’re pretty proud of it. You’ve never made a guide before, and you certainly aren’t starting now, but at least you have something to refer back to now. Who knows – if you keep adding to it, it could save you all a ton of trouble later on!

By the time you’re done, both El and Erik have already taken a bath and changed into their night clothes, and there’s a biscuit slowly disappearing into thin air in front of you. That’s weird.

You probably should have included that in your notes.

“You’re done?” El asks, looking up from his book.

You stretch, popping your spine uncomfortably. You have no idea how long you were working for, but your neck aches and your hand is cramping to hell and back. You’re really starting to wish you’d bothered to argue for a bed tonight, instead of getting relegated to the floor. “Please tell me you weren’t waiting for me.”

“It’s no big deal,” Erik says, inspecting the dagger he’s been sharpening. It’s his old one. Funny, you thought you had that. “I take it you’ve been wanting to do that for a while?”

“Well, yeah, but I can do it anytime. Don’t let me keep you up.”

El frowns, putting his book down to give you his full attention. “Why do you do that?”

You freeze. “D-Do what?” you stutter uncertainly. Out of the corner of your eye you can see Erik watching closely.

“Act like what you want doesn’t matter.”

Slime.

You’d hoped he wouldn’t notice that.

“I don’t… always do that,” you hedge, not wanting to lie but desperately looking for a way out of this conversation.

“You do,” he insists. “It’s what I was saying yesterday. Ever since we met you’ve been putting me first – and I’m grateful for that! – but when it comes to you, you always play it down. You’ve been humouring me all day; you can take some time for yourself if you want to.”

And now he’s backing you into a corner. “It’s called being polite.”

“But that’s not it, is it?”

Please, El, just stop.

“Are you afraid you’ll affect the future somehow?”

Stop asking questions you can’t answer.

“I promise we can handle it. If you just tell us–”

“I don’t want to talk about this!” you snap, immediately wincing at how harsh it comes out. Erik frowns, and you panic, your hands balling anxiously at your sides as you try to control your breathing. “I-I mean… I’m not… I’m sorry, I’m not trying to be difficult, but I can’t– I don’t have the answers you want. Please don’t ask me again.”

You steel yourself for El’s disappointment, but the sad understanding in his eyes is so much worse. “Okay, I won’t. I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable.”

“I’m sorry! I’ll get better!” you plead, scrambling to fix it. “It’s just you’ve done so much for me already, and I don’t want to be a nuisance or anything. I know I’m annoying and I’m lucky to have you at all, but… I mean, I’m not strong, and I can’t pay you back or anything, so, if I’m not being useful, then I–”

“(Y/N). Breathe,” Erik says slowly.

You do, a short, sharp little thing that does little to calm your nerves. El makes a grabbing motion for you, and you nervously meet him in the middle, letting him take your hand in both of his. “It’s okay, (Y/N). You don’t have to explain.”

Your lip quivers. “I don’t know what else to do.”

“You don't have to do anything,” he says softly, gazing at you so gently you could break down right there. “I just wanted you to know you can focus on yourself a bit more, that’s all. Do things just for you. We have money, we have time… it’s yours if you want it. We’re not expecting anything back. I’m sorry if I made you think we were.”

“I’m sorry…” you repeat. It’s the only thing you can think to say.

He smiles and tugs you towards him, pulling you down for a hug. “Don’t be. You’re important to us, (Y/N). I… don’t really understand what’s wrong, but we’re here if you want to talk. It doesn’t have to be now. We’ll wait for you, as long as you need. Okay?”

You don’t quite trust yourself to speak, so you just nod and he lets you go. You miss the warmth already.

“Get some sleep,” Erik says behind you. “It’s been a rough couple of days. You’ll feel better in the morning.”

Mechanically, you do as he says. Maybe they’re right and you’re stressing over nothing, but it feels like you’ve really messed up this time, and every step you take to try and fix it is just another misstep. You don’t know how to make it right. You never wanted them to see this side of you, the side that isn’t confident and doesn’t know what to do and panics when you get called out, but now it’s out there.

They’ve seen it, and you can’t take it back.

If you were braver, you would tell them. They might understand, or they might not, but they would be there, and they would tell you it was okay, and you might even believe it because it came from people you trust. They wouldn’t assume you were overreacting or doing it for attention.

But you aren’t brave, and a part of you worries that the easy acceptance you’ve enjoyed so far is too good to be true, that sooner or later it’s going to run out and they’ll realise you’re too weak, too needy, and not worth the trouble. You don’t want that. You know what they said, but you just can’t help it. They make you feel so safe in this big, crazy world; you don’t know what you would do if they left you behind now.

You just have to hope you’re enough.

“Goodnight,” you call quietly.

“Goodnight, (Y/N),” El answers. “See you in the morning.”

There’s a pause, and a bit of shuffling, and then a hand lands on your head, gently ruffling your hair. “Night, (Y/N),” says Erik.

You close your eyes, curling in on yourself and trying not to cry. Everything is okay. They won’t leave you. They’ll be there when you wake up, and they’ll be there when you’re ready to talk. They’ll be there.

Please, be there.

Chapter Text

As expected, the floor still sucks. No one should sleep here.

But Erik was right: you do feel better this morning.

You didn’t know what to expect after last night. You thought it would be harder, and that they’d be tiptoeing around you, but that’s not what happens at all. It feels like any other morning, and you could almost believe you’d dreamt the whole thing if not for the extra touches they give you when they see you.

It leaves you feeling all warm and fuzzy inside.

You hadn’t realised just how much they meant to you until now.

It takes an embarrassingly long time to change into your new travelling clothes, purely due to the vambrace. Taking it off was easy – it practically did it itself – but putting it on? How are you supposed to do up all these straps one-handed? It takes several minutes of it loosening and slipping out of place before you finally give in, one strap between your teeth in a vain attempt to get it to stay still, and ask for help.

El is very gracious about the whole thing, and only laughs a little bit. “It’ll get easier once you’ve worn it in. Trust me.”

“Here’s hoping.”

Erik pushes your head down on his way past. “And here’s hoping we leave sometime today. Hurry it up, we’ve got to make tracks.”

“Hey…”

“We’re coming, hold your horses.”

You keep an eye on them throughout breakfast, but it really seems like they’re leaving the ball in your court. They’re not treating you like glass the way you feared they might, or using that overly sweet tone people do when they know there’s something wrong with you. In fact, it’s the opposite: El’s lounging so close he’s basically sharing your seat, and Erik absolutely steals half your food, no matter what he says.

(You don’t mind too much, because he’s also doing it to El. Honestly, anyone would think you weren’t feeding him enough.)

You feel kind of silly, actually. It’s not like this is the first time you’ve had a bit of a slip around them, and it probably won’t be the last, either, not to mention they just bought you all this stuff for the journey. And anyway, they’re your friends. Compared to everything else that might have turned them away, a little insecurity doesn’t even make top five. Top ten, even.

In the light of day it’s obvious it was all in your head, but you’re only human, and last night? With all the doubts and what-ifs floating through your mind? It all just felt so possible.

“Thanks for everything, guys.”

“Aww, you don’t have to thank us,” El says with a smile, taking advantage of his position to cuddle against your side. Erik sneaks another bit of potato while he’s distracted.

You roll your eyes, enjoying the closeness. “Well, maybe I want to.”

He laughs and turns back to his food. “Alright, then. But you should know–” He stops, staring at his plate. “Erik! You are doing it!”

The culprit holds his hands up, still chewing. “Whaaaat? No, I’m not. Honest!”

“I don’t believe you!”

Unfortunately, your peace doesn’t last forever, and as you head for the gates ready to seek out greener pastures, someone stops you.

“Oi, you three! Wait up!” You know that accent.

“Hi, (Y/N)! I love your outfit!” And you definitely know that voice.

Connie runs up to you beaming, and you kneel down so she can give you a proper hug this time. “Heya, Con! It’s great, isn’t it? They’re spoiling me!”

She giggles and pulls you over to see the ginger cat sitting outside the item shop, while her dad stays behind to talk to the others. “The shopkeeper said her name is Suki! Daddy says I can play with her as long as I want!”

“Aww, look at you! Hi, beautiful!” You squish her little kitty cheeks as you scratch under her chin and behind her ears, while Connie strokes down her back. Your eyes are drawn unbidden to the small, contented movements of her tail. “So friendly! She’s gorgeous, isn’t she? You’re gorgeous!”

Behind you, the men begin to talk. You keep one ear on the conversation, but only vaguely. You have a cat to pet, after all.

“It’s Erik, right?” Noah starts. “Listen, I’ve been thinking about what you said before, and… you were right. Connie’s my lucky little girl; she’s all I’ve got. If something were to happen to me, she’d be all on her own. I can’t do that to her again.”

“Okay?”

He falters at the cold response. “I-I know we might have got off on the wrong foot, but you did save me life! Let me make it up to you. You want the buzz on Heliodor, I’ll get it for you, sure as eggs is eggs. And I won’t tell nobody you was here, cross me heart!”

There’s a pause, and when you glance back you can see your partners having a silent conversation with their eyes. Suki butts her head against your knuckles impatiently, purring like a motor when you return to scratching under her chin. Connie starts giggling, and to your utter mortification you notice you’re doing it too.

She looks back at the three men talking. “You told him off, didn’t you? He was looking for you. He said he made a mistake, and had to make it right.”

“We… may have,” you confess, somewhat guiltily. You would have done much more than that if you’d had your way, but it’s starting to look like you were overreacting.

“I like it better this way. We spent the whole day together yesterday,” she whispers, stroking Suki for comfort. “Thank you. I know he has to work, but I miss him when he goes away.”

You pull her into a side hug. “Glad we could help. Let us know if he starts acting up again, yeah? We’ll whip him into shape.”

She grins, nodding enthusiastically, and your eyes drift back to the man in question. You didn’t expect him to seek you out – frankly, you didn’t think he would do anything for you after you called him out like that – but here he is, hands fidgeting nervously by his sides as he makes his offer, with a happy Connie at his side.

You didn’t even have to resort to violence.

“Alright! Two days, then,” Erik says, shaking Noah’s hand and finalising whatever deal they’ve made while you were distracted.

El shakes his hand next. “Thanks for your help. Take care!”

“Anything for me new pals, right?” Noah smiles broadly, more genuine than you’d have ever expected from him. “Ready to go, Con?”

She gives you another hug and hops up, taking his hand. “Ready! See you later, (Y/N)!”

You go your separate ways, and El fills you in on what you missed. “Apparently you need a pass to get to Gallopolis, and Noah thinks he can get more information from Gondolia anyway, so we’re going to go with them and act as bodyguards.”

Well, he says words, at least.

“…Let’s pretend I understood all of that. We’re leaving with them, now?”

“In two days, yes. We can’t get through the checkpoint without a pass, so Noah’s letting us use his.”

“And we’re going… where exactly?”

“Gondolia.”

“Oh, yeah, I know where that is.”

“You do?”

“Of course not, you dummy!”

He pulls a face, and Erik laughs and pats him on the shoulder. “Ah, you’ll learn eventually. Gondolia’s a trading port, so a lot of people pass through, as you can imagine. Ships from all over, with all kinds of goods and gossip. There’s no better place for picking up hearsay than that.”

“Right, gotcha,” you nod. Finally, something that makes sense. “Always assume I know nothing guys, it’s usually true.”

El smacks your arm. “No! We’re not doing that! And you have to play nice with Noah! He’s doing us a favour.”

“Okay, I get it!” you concede. “Have a little faith, would you? I can see he’s trying, and that’s good enough for me. Wish all parents would do that…”

He searches your eyes for a moment, before nodding, satisfied with whatever he finds there. “Okay. I trust you.”

Erik sidles up beside you and it doesn’t take a genius to know he’s about to tease you, as usual. “So, the cat… Didn’t feel like chasing it?”

“Oh, you’re so funny.”

He doesn’t need to know the answer is yes.

“Any idea how we’re going to spend these two days?” El asks the two of you. “Because I’ve got nothing.”

“Sauna? Sunbathing? I don’t know,” Erik suggests helpfully.

You think about it. Both of those sound nice – you didn’t get a chance to enjoy the sauna yourself, and a little free time after the whirlwind of the last few days would go a long way – but you can’t help wondering if it’s really a good idea. Time won’t wait for you to be ready. Heliodor will find you eventually, and if all you’ve been doing is goofing off, it’s not going to be pretty when they do.

The anxiety from last night gnaws at your stomach. This is the other side of your fear: the things that might be lurking around the corner. Take too long and they’ll catch you off guard, but go too quickly and you won’t be strong enough to win, and even if you do make it through, there’ll always be something new waiting on the horizon.

That’s what it means to be partners with the Luminary.

But he’s more than just the Luminary to you, and you aren’t helpless. It may be unconventional, but you have a very particular set of skills – skills that you’ve acquired over a very long career, one might say – that nobody else has in this world, and you’ll use all of them to make sure you’re prepared for whatever comes.

For your friends, you’ll do anything.

You can’t be the reason they get hurt again.

With your mind made up, you take a deep breath and ask, “Can you go over something with me? I have questions.”

“Ask away,” El smiles, and just like that, your worries fade back into the background for another day.

“Alright, sweet.” You pull out your notebook and pencil, going into research mode. “Erik: monsters have items. Yes?”

“Most of them do, yeah.”

You make a note. “Can you steal them?”

He pauses, looking contemplatively at the Bongo Drongo a little way off. “You know, I’ve never tried, but I knew some people who claimed they’d done it. It’s worth a shot at least.”

“Shall we?” El gestures towards the steadily growing conga line following it, but you hold up a finger, stopping him.

“One more thing. Can you dual wield at all?”

Erik groans wistfully. “I wish. Come on, you’ve got me all excited now! Let’s go!” He pulls you along without a single care for the little frowny face you were drawing, which ends up all lopsided as a result, and the battle begins.

Erik peps up and jumps right in before anyone can react. “What’s yours is mine!”

“You got something?” El asks eagerly.

“Umm… no.”

It actually takes four attempts for him to successfully nab something – a medicinal herb off a She-Slime – which, admittedly, doesn’t strike you as being good per se, but is definitely worth exploring in the future.

He rubs the back of his neck awkwardly. “I, uh… I’ll get better as I go.”

“You still did it! That’s pretty impressive to me!” cheers El, ever the optimist, but he isn’t wrong.

“I agree. You could give us all the time in the world and we’d still never get anything.” You tap your pencil thoughtfully against your lip. You’ll have your work cut out for you determining the steals and drops of every monster, especially if there are common/rare variations. Better settle for what you learn naturally, instead.

Erik prods you in the arm. “Hey, you said something else before, didn’t you? Stealing my daggers back or something? What were you thinking then?”

“Oh yeah, I totally forgot about that,” you say, swatting his hand away. “I mean, you were complaining you didn’t have one and I had two; I figured you could nick one.”

“Is that possible?” El wonders, looking to the expert.

“I… don’t know,” he admits. “What are you carrying right now?”

You rummage through the random crap clogging up your inventory. It’s a lot. “You want the list?”

“Nah. My dagger’s in there, I’ll go for that.”

So you get into another fight, this time against a particularly aggressive Garuda that happened to spot you wandering around. You ask it politely if it’ll wait a couple of turns for you to figure this out, which it agrees to on the condition that it can hit you for free when you’re done, and then El defends to bring Erik’s turn around.

You do not know how he manages it, but one second you have it and the next you don’t. You didn’t feel a single thing.

His turn passes and he twirls his dagger around with a smirk. Man, it feels good to be right.

As promised, you give the Garuda a one turn head start that it uses to slam into you, which gets you pepped up because there’s no way you’re going to let that go unreciprocated, and you slice at it viciously with a jumping strike.

“Wait, I have an idea!” Erik calls. “Do that again!”

You don’t stop to think about it, leaping forward and slashing again. Erik runs up behind you to jab at it from below and you spin around the back of him for another hit, feeling his hand find yours and the weight in your hand shift as you do. Your momentum carries you forward into a stab and Erik lands a long horizontal strike, then you jump back together for one final blow, the pep and the Garuda both fading to nothing.

Erik’s dagger sits in your hand, and yours in Erik’s.

“That. Was. So. Cool!” El breathes, starry-eyed.

“Wasn’t it? Gave ’em the old switcheroo!” Erik laughs, tossing your dagger and catching it between his fingers. He offers it to you with a charming smile. “Not bad for a newbie, huh?”

You accept it giddily, grinning ear to ear. “Not bad yourself!” You can hardly wrap your head around how impossible that should have been, but it felt so natural. Five attacks in a single turn that wasn’t even yours isn’t even close to how it’s meant to work, but apparently all that goes out the window when pep is involved.

Maybe it’s a drug.

You continue on like that, trying things out and building on each other’s ideas until the sun is high in the sky, and you all agree to cool off back at Hotto and get lunch. Erik loops his arm over your shoulder as you walk. “Hey, I know! We should celebrate! Rumour has it the lava cake here is to die for.”

El sighs dreamily. “That sounds perfect. With ice cream and caramel and chocolate sauce…”

“They have lava cake here?!” you gasp. Then you narrow your eyes suspiciously. “Hang on, we’re not talking real lava, are we?”

They burst out laughing, and Erik drags you down to give you a noogie. “Can’t say anything around you, can we?”

“That’s what makes them fun,” El teases fondly. “Come on! I want that cake!”

Chapter Text

Two days pass in the blink of an eye and you’re growing closer with every shared meal and every new discovery. In the mornings, while you get ready, you tell them about your world, and during the day, they teach you everything they can think of to help you find your feet in theirs.

It’s made for some very strange conversations, but you’ve really learnt a lot! You have a much better grasp of things now, from what you can do in battles to the minutiae of daily life, and you’ve become very good at letting the rest simply slide on past you, because the alternative is to dwell on all the little things you still don’t know yet and lose sight of what’s important.

You also learnt that boomerangs definitely aren’t for you. They do come back, it’s just they do it so fast you lose your nerve and then they sail right into the back of El’s head.

He sulked for like an hour after that one. Erik laughed his ass off.

But despite how familiar you’ve gotten with each other, there’s still one thing you haven’t told them, and that’s about Dragon Quest. How do you tell someone that in another universe, their life was nothing more than a story made to entertain people? You can’t. Even if they somehow took it well, they’d spend the rest of their lives wondering if their lives were really their own, or if someone else was pulling the strings.

No, that's one secret you’ll take to your grave.

Before you know it, you’re on the road again, with a small procession of She-Slimes you befriended during your training bouncing along after you (and didn’t that make Noah nervous to hear). Connie is all over the place, zipping between you and Noah and your monster friends, chattering about anything and everything with endless enthusiasm, and generally having the time of her life. It’s really quite exhausting to watch.

You want to make it to Gallopolis in good time, so you say goodbye to the She-Slimes at the log bridge and ring the horse bell so you can ride the rest of the way. You sit behind Erik, as usual (something he’s kind enough not to bring up in front of your guests) but not five minutes later you come to a rope bridge that makes you wish you were anywhere else.

It’s over a ravine for the Goddess’ sake!

The wooden boards shift under your horse’s weight as it steps on, and your whole body stiffens. Erik places a reassuring hand over yours. “It’s okay. Close your eyes, we’ll be across before you know it,” he murmurs.

“We’re going to die,” you breathe, following his advice and screwing your eyes shut so you can’t see the rushing water waiting to swallow you up. You try to concentrate on him and not the way the wood creaks and dips beneath you with every agonising step forward. He feels like bones and smells like stuff, with hair and clothes and arms and legs and oh, Goddess, please make it stop.

It feels like an eternity before you feel the swaying even out and he taps the back of your hand to let you know it’s over. “Wasn’t so bad, was it?”

“You could not pay me enough to do that again,” you deadpan.

You can feel him chuckling even though he keeps it to himself, reaching back to pet your hair. “Well, lucky for you we’re not planning on it.”

You press your forehead to his back with an embarrassed groan as the purring starts. He’s always doing this. Ever since he discovered it in the Crypt, he’s made it his life’s mission to draw as many as he can out of you at every opportunity, and there’s nothing you can do to stop him. You tried at first, but he’d just give you this look like he knew you were secretly enjoying it, and you’d blush and turn away because it was true, damn it!

Stupid curse! Even El gets in on it!

He only releases you when you reach the next area, where El canters off immediately to explore, dodging around Lump Wizards that can’t roll out of the way fast enough as he searches for items. You and Erik stay with Noah and Connie just in case. You’ll still help if he does get into an encounter, but between his Banishing Blade and the new abilities he perfected during your training, you aren’t worried.

It gets hotter and hotter the further you go, and as the sun climbs higher and the day passes from mid-morning to afternoon, you’ve never been happier to see a border checkpoint in your life, purely so you have somewhere to take a break. It doesn’t look like much, but Noah insists the passage on the other side has plenty of shade and you’ve decided to trust him.

Well, you trust Erik to know if he’s going to betray you, anyway.

“Wait… don’t tell me.” Erik brings you to a stop, and you try to peer around him to see what he’s on about.

“What? What are we looking at?”

El trots up beside you out of curiosity before doing the same. “You’re kidding.”

“What?!” You literally shove Erik’s big head out of the way, earning you a snort from El and an excellent view of the splashes of red and green that caught their attention. You turn slowly to Erik, not bothering to hide your steadily growing grin. “Guess what?”

“No.”

“I win.”

“Did not.”

“Did too.”

“Pretty sure you didn’t."

“El!”

He looks between the two of you, somewhere between amused and apologetic. “I mean, technically it was until we left Hotto, so…” He scratches his cheek awkwardly.

"Ha! Take that, (Y/N)!" crows Erik in triumph.

You slap a hand to your chest. “El, how could you? Betrayed by my own flesh and blood…”

“We’re not related…?”

“Umm… sorry to butt in and all,” Noah says hesitantly, making you all look at him, “but aren’t those your friends from before?”

“I wouldn’t exactly call us friends,” El hedges, while Erik makes a so-so gesture.

Noah nods, eyes darting away for a moment. “Right, well, they’re coming over so… think we’ll leave you to it.”

You peek towards the checkpoint and, sure enough, there’s a tiny red spitfire marching her way over to you. Can’t say you blame Noah for hiding, especially after their previous encounters.

Veronica is pointing and yelling before she even makes it halfway over. “You! We have looked everywhere for you! How dare you disappear without telling us!”

El dismounts, and you and Erik follow suit. “Hello again,” he says politely.

“Is that all you have to say? ‘Hello again’?” she scolds, in a bad fake accent. “Let me guess: you had more important things to do. Well, you could have said something! We would have helped!”

“That’s not…”

She opens her mouth to continue her rant, but before she can get another word out Serena catches up and slaps a hand over her mouth. “So sorry! I’ve never been the fastest runner,” she explains around Veronica’s muffled protests. “I told Veronica not to take out her frustration on you, but… well, you know how she can be.”

“I’ve had warmer welcomes,” Erik agrees. Veronica smacks her hand away and folds her arms in irritation, but holds her tongue.

“You were looking for us?” El prompts.

“Oh! Yes. Actually, there’s something we’d like to discuss with you.” She looks to Veronica, who sighs but nods. She kneels down, and they press their palms together.

“Bold Luminary,
Yggdrasil’s chosen,
Long have we waited to greet you.

We of Arboria,
Swear to protect you,
While we live none shall defeat you.”

Your eyebrows disappear into your hairline, locking eyes with Erik who looks just as shocked as you. You knew they’d come with you (well… they would have in the game), but this is way more than you could have ever predicted, and El looks distinctly uncomfortable with all the attention.

Veronica puts her hands on her hips smugly. “I knew it was you the moment I saw you.”

“Again, we’re ever so sorry we didn’t tell you sooner. There simply wasn’t a good moment with everything that was going on.” Serena stands and nudges her sister forward, who groans quietly.

“…I’m very sorry I didn’t explain properly,” she recites flatly.

El shuffles in place. “Um… thank you,” he responds awkwardly.

“We have a legend in Arboria,” Serena says, stepping forward. “It says that one day the Dark One will descend to extinguish the light, but that Yggdrasil’s chosen – the Luminary, bearer of the Mark of Light – will rise to meet him…”

El raises his hand to look at the mark resting there, proof of who he is and the destiny ahead of him. You don’t envy him.

“I know it’s hard to believe. I mean, look at you!” Veronica scoffs, seemingly oblivious to your growing annoyance every time she insults one of you. “But it’s true. You’re the reincarnation of the Luminary – the man who defeated the Dark One long ago. I still can’t work out why they’d need to bring you back if the Dark One was defeated, to be honest…”

She trails off in thought, but a second later she’s back to normal like it never happened. “But ours is not to reason why! Once we fulfil our sacred duty and get you to Yggdrasil, I’m sure all will be revealed!”

“Yggdrasil?” you blurt out. “As in big-ass, floating in the sky Yggdrasil? That Yggdrasil?”

“Of course, that Yggdrasil?” Veronica says scathingly. “What other Yggdrasils do you know?”

You could answer that. You won’t, but you could.

Serena steps in before another argument can start. “They say that the Luminary visited the World Tree before his battle with the Dark One. But alas, the legends do not tell us how…”

“What? Not even you special protectors of the magical ancient wonder-truths know? Bummer…” Erik says, his tone not quite as mocking as Veronica’s but pretty close.

Veronica all but sneers back, “I’ll have you know there’s nowhere in all of Erdrea that knows as much about the Luminary as Arboria does. If we don’t know, then no one does.”

“You’re trying to get to Yggdrasil, now?” Noah speaks up from behind you. You’d honestly forgotten they were even there. “You lot sure don’t do things by halves, do you?”

“So what if we are?” she demands, and it scares you how much colder she manages to sound.

Noah cowers behind Erik. “Well, it’s just… I may have happened to stumble across something that might help, you know? When Connie and me was travelling across the desert to get to Hotto, we came down with a bad case of heatstroke. Next thing we know, these soldiers from Gallopolis come along, and I’m waking up in the sultan’s bleeding palace. Talk about lucky!”

Lucky, huh? That’s one word for it.  

“Anyway, when I come to, that’s when I seen it. Beautiful, it was… this… rainbow-coloured branch thing. All… shimmery and beautiful… If that weren’t a branch of the old World Tree, I’m a monkey’s uncle!”

Serena clasps her hands. “Did you hear that, Veronica? A branch from Yggdrasil Herself!”

“Yes… Lighting the path ahead for the Luminary… It sounds like we need to take a trip to Gallopolis!” she decides for you.

You shake your head, a hint of a smile on your lips at the nostalgia you’re getting from these two. Magical twins, one a firecracker of a black mage in red and the other a level-headed white mage in green, from the magical centre of the world complete with a legend about the Chosen Hero?

Yeah, it’s Final Fantasy IV.

“It’s just beyond the border, here. We should head there right away,” Serena agrees, smiling. “I do hope you won’t mind us tagging along?”

It’s nothing more than a formality, but you’re glad at least one of them thinks to actually ask. No surprise that it’s Serena, of course, but beggars can’t be choosers.

You have to admit, you’re relieved. After they disappeared, you were afraid that you’d unknowingly caused them not to join you at all, and you would have to find some way to get by without them when there was every possibility that you would need their magic in some way. Luckily, that’s not the case. The only problem now is that since you still don’t know how your presence is affecting things, there’s no way to know if finding them again was luck, or if the universe is somehow course-correcting for you.

It makes you wonder just how set the future really is. Is El’s destiny strong enough to endure whatever changes you make? Or will it bend and reshape into something altogether different?

Either way, having them along will undoubtedly be a big help.

El looks back to the two of you, and you give him a small nod. He turns back to the twins.

“Thank you for the offer, but… no thank you.”

You choke on air.

“What?!”

Chapter Text

El’s had three days to think about what to do about the twins.

How you knew you would run into them again is beyond him, but it’s hardly the first time you’ve managed to predict something like this, and he trusts your judgement. If you say it’s a possibility, he’s going to take it seriously, simple as that.

“What?!”

But he doesn’t understand you.

Like, at all.

“‘No thank you’? What do you mean ‘no thank you’?! Do you have any idea how long we’ve been searching for you?!” Veronica screeches, but he isn’t listening.

You don’t like Veronica, he knows that. Neither does Erik, for that matter, and he’s inclined to agree. Sure, she was nice to him, but the whole time you were working together, she did nothing but put you down. You subjected yourselves to her attitude for his sake on the condition that it was only until you fulfilled your promise, and now here she is, inviting herself along again.

She never even thanked you.

You must have known he would say no, and yet you’re gaping at him like he’s just announced he’s turning you all in to Heliodor.

“Are you insane?” you hiss.

He must have missed something.

“Would you excuse us?” he asks, not waiting for a reply. He can hear Veronica spluttering protests behind him, but his attention is fixed on you. He feels a bit guilty leaving Noah and Connie to deal with her, but this is important. “(Y/N), what’s wrong?”

“What’s wrong?” you parrot. “In case you missed it, this is the third time someone’s mentioned the Dark One around us! It’s not exactly reassuring, you know!”

That’s… true. “So, you think we should let them come with us?”

“Yes! Obviously!”

He frowns, trying to puzzle out the connection. “Erik, what do you think?”

“I don’t trust them,” he answers without missing a beat. “I don’t like how much they know about you, El. Even if they’re telling the truth, we don’t know who they are or what they want, and they clearly want something.”

You blink, looking between them. “Hang on, I don’t think I’m on the same page. You think they’re lying?”

“Maybe. King Carnelian lured you in the same way.”

El sees the moment it hits you, the dawning horror evident on your face. You take a small step towards him, your hand raised like you want to reach out. “El… I’m so sorry. I didn’t even think of that.”

He reaches out in turn, meeting you in the middle. In truth, he hadn’t really thought about it either, but he’d be lying if he said it didn’t worry him, too. “That’s okay, (Y/N). You’re seeing something we aren’t, right?”

You avert your eyes, huffing in frustration. “Yeah, but… I don’t know if it’s right, anymore.”

“That’s living for you,” Erik says, bumping your shoulder with his. “Come on, out with it.”

You sigh, looking back to the girls in question, and he squeezes your hand in support. You must have been thinking about this for days, he realises, probably since you first met them, and definitely since your conversation in the Crypt, once again putting your own feelings aside to do what’s best for you all. That’s why you were so surprised, that’s why you made that bet – because all this time you’ve been looking forward, protecting them, while he’s been looking back.

He wasn’t wrong, he just didn’t have all the information.

Eventually, you turn back to them. “Veronica asked for your help because she knew who you were. And then they waited for you here for who knows how long. And… they’re mages,” you say slowly.

Erik raises an eyebrow. “Lots of people are mages…?”

“You asked; I’m telling you,” you growl, effectively shutting him up. “This whole Dark One business freaking scares me. We’re not magic users, and they know about your Luminary stuff, so I thought having them along was obvious, but… now I’m not so sure. I think it’s right, but I just don’t know! All I do know is if somewhere down the line we have to fight some Lovecraftian elder god – and all the signs seem to say we will – then we need all the help we can get. Right?”

You’re scared.

And El didn’t notice. Again.

Now he gets it. You’ve discussed it at length since you first explained it to them, but for all that it looks like you can see the future, you really can’t. In your own words, you’re just a nerd who happened to like the right things, and yes, it gives you this incredible insight into his world – his destiny, even – but it isn’t perfect. Little things trip you up, and sometimes you know too much, getting yourself all in a tizzy over what, to anyone else, would be nothing.

It doesn’t bother him at all (it’s quietly comforting to know you’re all just muddling through together), but it does bother you, and clearly more than he realised. With how much you fret over the future, finding people who might actually know what’s going on with him must have felt like a Goddess-send.

It did to him.

He pulls you into a hug, partly for you and partly for himself. “Tell us these things, (Y/N). We won’t know unless you tell us.”

“Yeah, well, I have now,” you say as he lets you go. “So, what are we going to do?”

It’s a good question, and one he isn’t sure how to answer. You see so much further ahead than they do, connect dots he can’t see at all, but now that you’ve pointed it out, he can see it, too.

And if this is the picture you see, you have every right to be scared.

“We need to know more,” he decides at last. “We’re running on guesswork, here. Heliodor thinks I’m going to end the world, they think I’m going to save it, and I don’t know the first thing about any of it. I don’t know what I’m supposed to believe.”

He’s the Luminary, and that means… something. But he can’t do anything, good or bad, if he doesn’t know what that is.

“We do need answers,” Erik concedes, “but we don’t need to decide right away. Gallopolis isn’t far from here – we can grab the branch on our way to Gondolia, get the beat on Heliodor and figure it out from there.”

“And the twins? What do we tell them?”

He smirks. “Whatever you like. Somehow, I feel like Veronica would follow us anyway.”

“Tell them they’re on a trial period,” you suggest.

“Yeah, that works.”

El takes a deep breath. Erik is right: you need to take things one step at a time, and the first step is to get out of this heat. But if Veronica’s going to be tagging along, he’s not going to stand by and let her mistreat you any longer.

He taps you both on the arm and you return to the group. The faces that meet you are a mixture of relief and irritation, and they’re all looking at him.

He hates being the leader.

“Sorry about that. Umm… we’re going to go to Gallopolis, so Serena, Veronica, if you want to come with us, you can,” he tells them.

Serena bows, and he finds himself wishing, not for the first time, that he was anywhere else. “Thank you for reconsidering, Eleven. I assure you, you won’t regret it.” Unfortunately, he already does.

He hears Veronica scoff and mutter something under her breath, and looks her dead in the eye. “I want to be clear on one thing: I’m not going to tolerate any more insults. If you can’t treat me and my friends with respect, then don’t come.”

She flushes, possibly because she’s been called out but possibly because she’s angry. It’s hard to tell. “I-I understand,” she stammers out quietly, and he’s satisfied she gets the message.

“I hope we can get along."

He hopes that wasn’t too harsh, but he can’t bring himself to want to take it back. You deserve better than she’s been giving you, and if she can’t see that then he doesn’t want anything to do with her.

He feels much better once he’s back at your sides, helping you onto the horse again like he always does. “Thanks for standing up for us,” you say, while Erik sends him a sly smile.

“Didn’t know you had it in you,” he winks. “I’ve never seen her so speechless.”

El can feel himself blushing. “Knock it off, you. Someone had to say it.”

“As long as you know it’s appreciated.”

Erik ruffles his hair, and suddenly it feels like everything’s going to be alright. He doesn’t know how he always manages to do that.

The twins are ahead, Noah and Connie are behind them, and the three of you take up the rear. You get through the checkpoint without a hitch, and a little way on there’s a large patch of shade where you settle down to take a well-earned lunch break. Veronica is uncharacteristically quiet, but that’s an improvement.

There’s a clear divide between your two groups, and it’s too hot for comfort, but… it’s nice. The horses munch happily on the grass, his little blobby friend sits languidly in his lap, and he sits between the two of you, exactly where he’s supposed to be.

“I believe you’re a good thing,” you say to him, your face a little flushed from the heat. “You are to me, anyway.”

He smiles warmly. “Thank you, (Y/N), that means a lot.”

Maybe he got it a little wrong this time, but that’s okay. You’ll keep him right, just like you always have, and he’ll do the same for you, the three of you always looking out for one another.

Whatever happens next, it’ll be okay.

Because he has you.

Chapter Text

It’s redundant to say the desert is hot, but by the Goddess the desert is hot.

Your clothes are built for heat, and you’re still uncomfortable. The worst part is that this isn’t even the desert proper – it’s an oasis, you can see the water right there – and yet it’s still so hot the very air shimmers before your eyes. They should have named this place Hotto instead.

(Wait, can’t mirages seem like water? You can’t have heatstroke already, can you?)

Erik has it even worse than you, and that’s probably because you’ve got your arms wrapped around his waist to stay on the damn horse. It’s not your fault any more than it is his, but it does mean both of you are getting unpleasantly sticky, and the more you think about it the worse it feels.

The air is heavy with heat and tension. Veronica has been dead silent since that whole fiasco at the checkpoint, and Noah keeps sending furtive glances towards El because of course he does (when is your life ever easy?), which leaves you in the awkward position of waiting for someone to say something while also trying to work together like nothing’s wrong.

You thank every star in both worlds’ skies that El doesn’t want to explore very far right now.

You don’t think you could handle it.

You get into exactly one battle with a pair of rabbit monsters before you all collectively agree fighting sucks, and isn’t worth the sweat. You don’t even want to add them to your notes out here because you’ll leave disgusting, wet fingerprints all over them.

All in all, you can’t wait to get to the city.

“Hey, Erik?” He hums in acknowledgement. “What happens if Hen…house is already there?”

“You forgot his name again, didn’t you?”

“No.”

He laughs quietly, but it turns into a tired groan. “Turn around, I guess. The longer we can go undetected the better.”

“Do we warn the twins that might happen?”

He hums again, considering your options. He was absolutely right that they might be deceiving you, and while you still stand by everything you said, it was a crucial reminder against assuming too much. “I’d say not. We don’t need them acting suspicious around the guards and drawing attention to us.”

“Maybe we should send them to get the branch instead,” you joke.

“Not a bad idea.”

The tall stone walls of the city are both a welcome reprieve and a cause for concern, made immediately evident by the soldiers you spot wandering around. There’s even one stationed just inside the entrance (the only entrance, as far as you can tell), but thankfully they’re not from Heliodor, and only spare you a passing glance.

So far, so good.

The place is a lot busier than Hotto, and you’re not the only one to find yourself gawking at all the people passing by and the market stalls lining the streets. “Ooh, Daddy, look at the horsie!” Connie squeals, hauling Noah towards the mounted policeman (or equivalent) patrolling nearby.

She never fails to put a smile on your face.

Erik catches Noah subtly by the elbow as he passes and murmurs something in a voice too low to hear before letting go with a nod. You tilt your head at him silently, but he just gives you a wink that seems to say ‘trust me’, and you turn back to the others before they take notice.

“Oh, just look at all these people!” Serena exclaims. “How marvellous! Is there some kind of festival going on, I wonder?”

You’re almost surprised when Veronica speaks. “Hmm… yes, of course… Gallopolis is the kingdom of the desert knights, isn’t it? And of the racetrack where they love to compete. I think we’ve arrived in town just in time for the horse-racing festival!”

El’s eyes light up with excitement, and you know for a fact you’ll be paying the track a visit at some point. Nothing and no one can keep your boy from his horses.

“Well, you go play with ponies if you like,” Erik says, ruining the fun. “I’m off to look for the Yggdrasil branch. That’s why we’re here, in case you’ve forgotten…”

El pouts cartoonishly as he goes to walk off, but you catch his arm before he can make it more than a few steps. “No, you’re not. We’re getting you new clothes and a shower before we go anywhere near the palace.”

“I don’t know what that word means but I’m insulted.”

You lean in close, and whisper, “It means you need a bath.”

“Hey…”

“Oh, let Mr M… Erik go off on his own if he wants,” Veronica says, valiantly repressing her chronic need to offend everyone around her. “There’s nothing to stop us having a little look around while we’re here! Just… please don’t go disappearing again, okay? Please.”

“Yeah, alright,” El says with a slight smile. She sighs in relief and wanders off, Serena in tow. “I don’t know, maybe she’s not so bad. Anyway, I’m going to go, too. What about you? Want to come with me?”

“Yes, we do,” you answer for Erik, tugging him along and ignoring his grumbling since he’s not actually pulling away. “The armour shop is the tailor’s, right? We can look around properly when this one’s not melting.”

“I’m fine, you know.”

“Uh huh. Tell that to my nose.”

The street is bright and full of people, with stalls full of colourful food and fabrics that you can’t wait to window-shop later. There’s also an absolutely massive circus tent around the corner, but it all has to wait. You spot the building you need nestled in the corner beside the inn, but before you can make it there, a woman in yellow stops El in his tracks.

“Oh me, oh my! Just look at you! What a handsome fellow you are! I wish to give you the priceless gift of puff-puff!”

Excuse me, what?  

“Will you permit me?”

“Okay, sure.”

What?!  

You had no idea it was that kind of game!

“Ohh, I am so happy to hear you say this!” the prostitute smiles, beckoning him towards the house behind her. “Come then, follow me! Hee hee!”

You watch in shock and disbelief as the boy you had thought so innocent steps shamelessly inside the den of iniquity, no hesitation whatsoever. He has the audacity to look back before he goes in. “You’re not coming?”

Voyeurism?!?!

Who is this and what did they do with El?! 

“Goodness me, but I cannot see to you all at once! Whatever do you think I am? Hee hee!”

“We’ll meet you next door, okay? Have fun!” Erik winks as the door closes on El. He looks at you with an amused expression. “What’s up with you?”

Kill me now.

You don’t know whether to laugh or cry. Your face is cherry red to the tips of your ears, and no one else seems to think there’s anything amiss. You’re so, so glad Veronica and Serena are off somewhere else right now.

“Something wrong with a man getting a puff-puff?” he teases.

You go even redder if that’s possible. “Yes! Goddess, Erik, don’t just say it!”

He laughs out loud. “Why not? Sometimes a man needs to relax!”

“Erik!” 

“It’s natural!”

“I swear to the Goddess, if you don’t shut up–”

He’s full-on cackling at this point, literal tears coming out of his eyes. “You’ll what? Go on, I’m listening.”

“I’ll… I don’t know! But you’ll regret it!”

“Oh, I’m trembling.”

“Shut up!”

He pulls you into his side casually. “Come on, (Y/N), what’s going on? Honestly, I won’t laugh this time. Probably.”

“Yes, you frizzing will.”

“I won’t. Cross my heart.”

He does.

A lot.

Chapter Text

“(Y/N), I feel stupid.”

“Well, I guess that makes us even, doesn’t it?”

“Are you seriously still mad about that?”

“Just get out here, already.”

There’s a loud groan from behind the screen before Erik finally shuffles out so you can see him. You cover your mouth to keep yourself from laughing. “Don’t say it.”

You have to. “You look like Aladdin.”

“You said it, didn’t you.”

“…Yeah.” It’s the trousers. “Are they cooler, at least?”

“Unfortunately, yes,” he sighs, rubbing the back of his neck self-consciously. “Veronica’s going to have a field day with this.”

You smirk, plucking the turban from his head and touching up his spikes. “Nah, she’s not allowed, remember? Besides, you look good. Genuinely. Don’t look at me like that.”

His raised eyebrow screams doubt, but you mean it – the soft blues really complement his hair, and he looks hella good in gold jewellery, plus that body? He’s always been attractive, but looking at him now, it’s hard to take your eyes off him.

(And those bare hands. Not to sound like a repressed Victorian lady, but… hoo boy.)

The eyebrow stays until El walks in, and then the look of doubt becomes one of mischief and you dare him with your eyes to say something. Of course, he can’t resist. He grabs your arm in a vice-like grip and doesn’t let go. “So, how was it? She looked like she liked you, huh?”

“It was her dad that did it, actually,” El tells you. Erik sniggers next to you, and you hide your face in your free hand. “But it was really good. Very thorough… Why are you laughing?”

“You’ll never believe this.”

“Shut up, Erik.”

“(Y/N) thought–”

“Shut up, Erik.”

 “–a puff-puff was–”

You slap your hand over his mouth. “Nothing! Nothing at all!”

El watches the struggle unfold before him. “…Right.”

You feel something warm and wet against your palm and yank your hand away in disgust. “Eww, Erik, that’s gross! What are you, twelve?”

“Serves you right.” Erik smirks victoriously and you wipe your hand on his new threads out of spite.

“Wait, what happened?”

“He freaking licked me, that’s what happened!”

“That’s because they’re embarrassed they didn’t know what a puff-puff was.” Oh, you’re going to kill him.

He leans in and whispers your shame into El’s ear. His face goes redder and redder and he stares at you with wide eyes. “(Y/N), what?! For real?!”

“It’s not my fault!” you whine lamely, setting Erik off again. “Stop laughing!”

“In public?!”

“I know! Why do you think I was so shook?”

“But– I mean– Me?!”

“Hey, it’s not my business what you like!”

Once you’ve all managed to calm down (mostly) and paid the shopkeeper, you head back outside to look around. El talks to everyone who’ll give him the time of day, and Erik samples all sorts of exotic fruits and spices you’ve never seen before. You’ve still got plenty in stock from Hotto, but you can see how excited he is to try something new.

You’ll be eating good with all this.

You take a quick peek in the weapon shop (and Erik wastes no time teasing you both about the puff-puff again), but your current equipment is pretty damn good already, so there’s nothing that stands out. If any of you specialised in spears it might be a different story, but at least this way you can save some money.

Where are the twins? No idea. You’d have thought they would stick out like a sore thumb, but there’s a surprising amount of people in what you’ve now dubbed Traveller’s Attire instead of Obvious-Main-Character Attire. No doubt they’re here for the festival, which means you won’t be nearly as obvious as you would normally be while it’s on.

Which is good, because someone is being extremely obvious.

“Guys, look! Juggling!” El runs ahead and you wave to Noah and Connie at the bar on your way past, noting with satisfaction that he isn't drinking this time. There’s a whole bunch of performers out here drawing in the crowd, with balloons and bunting set up around the big top and a girl in a bunny costume hyping up everything there is to see inside.

You’ve never had the privilege to go to a real travelling circus before; you’ve seen them in movies and TV, but it can’t capture the festive atmosphere, or the sheer joy of seeing El so excited. He gapes at the tent in wonder, and you give him a playful nudge. “Someone’s happy! Think we have time to see the show?”

He turns to you with stars in his eyes. “Oh, can we? Can we, can we, can we?!” he pleads, giving you the most adorable puppy-dog eyes the world has ever seen.

“No, I brought it up so I could disappoint you,” you say flatly, smooshing his cheeks. “Ya goober. ’Course we can. Right, Erik?”

You look over to him, and El flashes him the puppy-dog eyes. It only takes a moment before he relents. “Ah, what the hell. Just make sure you keep an eye on your pockets. Things tend to get… misplaced at events like these.”

You raise an eyebrow. “Speaking from experience?”

“Of a sort,” he smirks.

El rolls his eyes. “I’ll keep that in mind. Come on!” He spins around and hops over to the ticket booth, only to stop dead and slink back over to you. “…Do we invite the others?”

“Umm…”

In the end it doesn’t matter, because there aren’t any tickets for any of you. “It’s because Sylv’s performing, you see. They all sold in a flash. You’ll have to try again another time…” the vendor explains apologetically.

El’s disappointment is palpable. “Oh… I understand. Thanks, anyway.”

“Sorry, hon.”

“Well, it is about to start,” you point out gently. “We’ll try again tomorrow. Earlier this time.”

“Better be first thing,” Erik advises, indicating a notice on the board. “Apparently The Great Sylvando’s here. No surprise there’s no tickets left.”

“I take it they’re famous, then?” you ask.

El gives you a shrug. “I’ve never heard of them.”

“Really? Wow, you really did come from the middle of nowhere,” Erik remarks. “His shows always get sold out. Never seen him myself, but… you know. I’ve been around when they’re on. He’s meant to be the best in the business.”

So, you may not get in at all. El gazes wistfully at the tent separating him from his dreams. “I’ve always wanted to see the circus. Grandad always made it sound so magical…”

It’s like a shadow descends over him, and you wish more than anything that you could make it go away. You would buy him ice cream if you could, take him to a movie or just laugh at memes together – meaningless fun – but that’s your world, and you don’t know what the equivalent would be here. You just rub his back soothingly instead, and hope he gets the message.

“(Y/N).” You look up. Erik nods towards a side entrance, presumably leading backstage, and raises an eyebrow in question.

Your eyes light up. “Yes.”

“What?” El doesn’t resist when Erik tugs him forwards. “Where are we going? Guys? Are we even allowed in here?”

You shrug. “I don’t know, man. It’s your world.” His eyes bug out as he attempts to stammer out some kind of response. You shouldn’t laugh, but watching him try and fail to talk himself out of it is too much. And if you can cheer him up a bit… “Chillax, bro. We’re not robbing them.”

“Yet,” whispers Erik wickedly.

El smacks both of you. “You two are so bad! I can’t take you anywhere!”

Worked like a charm.

Despite what he says, he doesn’t make you turn around and you’re met with… an ordinary guy. Preening in the mirror. Is this him?

You don’t know what you expected.

More pizzazz for one thing.

You gently push El forward, since this is for him. The Great Sylvando turns around in his chair and gives him a charming smile. “Oh, hey honey. How sweet of you to come back here to see me. Are you a fan?”

He definitely has the confidence you expected, at least.

“Umm… I…”

In hindsight, you maybe should have given him time to prepare.

“Hey, there’s no need to be shy. I don’t bite!”

You hide a chuckle when Erik comes to his rescue. Sort of. “Oh, he’s a fan, alright. Starstruck and tongue-tied, is all.”

The Great Sylvando clasps his hands dramatically, looking your shy friend up and down. “Hee hee! I knew it! Well, it’s an honour to have such a fine young fellow cheering me on! If you’re here for the show, you won’t have to wait long. Ohh, it’s going to be fabulous, darling! My best yet!”

“Tomorrow, with any luck,” you say before El has a chance to return to his low mood. “They were all out of tickets today, but we’ll get there! You’ll see.”

“Ooh, I look forward to it! I’ll keep an eye out for you!” Another man comes in and gives Sylvando a five-minute warning. “That’s my cue, darlings. Wish me luck!”

El finally finds his voice long enough to call a quick, “Good luck!” his way, only to lose it again at the cheeky wink he gets in response.

And now that he’s gone, you can laugh as much as you like. “El, what was that? I know for a fact we didn’t force you in here!”

“It’s your fault! I wasn’t ready!” he protests, blushing hard.

“Yeah. I’m not sorry,” Erik snorts, looping an arm over his shoulder. “Well, at least he didn’t kick us out, right? Want to get something to eat? We’ll have to have an early night if we want to guarantee ourselves some tickets tomorrow.”

El hangs his head in defeat. “Yeah… I hate waking up early.”

“It’ll be worth it, I promise,” you say, patting him on the back as he heads for the chest in the corner. And he says he can't take you anywhere.

“…Thanks, guys.” He lifts the lid and… “Aww, seriously? Again?”

Empty.

Huh.

Guess it really does happen.

Chapter Text

That night, you have a proper discussion to make sure you’re on the same page about the twins, and the next morning, you awaken from a fitful sleep to an overexcited El grinning about an inch above your face.

“AAAAAH!”

“Wait, it’s just m–”

You scramble backwards, and in your haste, end up smacking your head right into the wall. The stone wall. “Ow…”

“Sorry,” El says sheepishly, as you curl up against the dull throbbing in your skull. “But now that you’re up, we can go get the tickets now, right?”

“Don’t wanna. I’m dying. You killed me.”

He rolls his eyes, casting a quick Heal on you. “You’re fine. Come on, you promised!”

You groan, going completely limp while El manhandles you into a sitting position. “You have way too much energy.”

“I’m excited! Aren’t you excited?”

“I’m awake. Take it or leave it.”

“Then get dressed, or I’m dragging you out like that.”

“Slave driver.”

“Lazy bum.”

“Says you.”

He grins. “Yes! Says me! So hurry up, because I will drag you!”

You roll your eyes, and begrudgingly get ready. He practically shoves you out the door the second Erik gets back from the bathroom, and true to his word, you don’t even make it back to the room before he grabs your hand and hauls you along on his mission to get those dang tickets!

This show had better be worth waking up at the ass crack of dawn for, you swear.

“Bad night?” Erik asks, as you yawn for perhaps the thirtieth time.

“Mhm. Colder than I expected.” Technically true, though it’s not the main reason, and if you’d thought about it, you would have known the desert got cold at night. You yawn again, rubbing your eyes. “What about you? Floor any better?”

“Is it ever?”

El bounces eagerly on his toes as you move to be next in line, and you look around boredly while you wait. There aren’t many people around at this hour, for good reason, but you’re still not the first ones here. Guess the Great Sylvando really is as famous as Erik said.

Hang on, was that red door always there? How did you miss that?

…Never mind. You’re too tired to care.

“Here you go! Three tickets to tonight’s show.” Oh, you’re here.

El proudly turns around and shows off his prize. “We’re going to the show, guys! Oh my gosh, I can’t wait!”

“Worth losing sleep for?” Erik asks, ruffling his hair with a lazy smile.

“Oh, definitely.”

“Not even slightly,” you deny fondly. “We’d best get back to the inn, anyway. I think the girls’ll have a fit if they come down and we’re not there again.”

Erik nudges you. “In other words, you want to go back to sleep.”

“That too,” you nod.

“Thanks for coming with me, anyway, (Y/N),” El says, quickly wrapping his arms around you. “We’ll let you sleep in tomorrow, if you like.”

“I’m holding you to that. No take backs.”

The twins aren’t up yet, but it won’t be long so you settle in on one of the benches to wait. El flicks through a random book from the shelf while Erik watches the stall owners setting up outside, and you eye the globe on the counter with some relief that the world is still round.

It’s not something you’d really thought about before.

“Oh, I’m glad you’re here. I was worried we would have to go looking for you, again.”

You blink awake to see Serena coming down the stairs, followed by a sleepy Veronica, and detach yourself from El’s shoulder before either of them can chew you out for using their precious Luminary as a pillow. You only meant to rest your eyes for a moment, but it looks like you dozed off again.

Veronica yawns, and that sets you off again, too. “So, shall we pay a visit to the palace this morning? Serena and I asked around yesterday, and apparently, we can just walk in anytime we like.”

Erik raises an eyebrow. “What, no guards, no appointment? Sounds too easy. Are you sure?”

She levels him with a look. “I’m sure. Everyone says the Sultan takes visitors during the day, and closes the palace at night. If that’s not right, you can blame them.”

“Alright, alright! I believe you.” He holds his hands up in surrender, and Veronica takes a deep breath, turning away.

“That’s better for us, isn’t it?” El says. “He can tell us if it really is a branch from Yggdrasil like Noah thinks.”

“What do we even say, though? He might tell us, but he’s not just going to give it to us,” you point out.

El slumps slightly. Apparently, he didn’t get that far.

Serena places a finger on her chin in thought. “I don’t see why he wouldn’t. If we tell him you’re the Luminary–”

“No,” Erik shuts her down immediately. El tenses, his fingers brushing your arm anxiously.

She blinks in surprise and you take it upon yourself to explain, subtly shifting to hold his hand. “Let’s just say, we don’t have the best track record with that.”

“I… see.” She doesn’t. “There are those who would accuse you of bringing disaster on our world. Please, you must rest assured that they are wrong.” Or maybe she does. “You are a hero. The light in your eyes… the light told of in the legends of Arboria… it proves that beyond a doubt.”

You can feel El’s grip tighten more and more the longer she speaks, the tips of his fingers tapping rapidly in agitation. “I appreciate it, Serena, but I’d rather not tell anyone if we can avoid it. We’ll find another way.”

“Like what?” Veronica says. “I’m not trying to argue, but we need that branch. Unless you plan on stealing it, you may well have to.”

Your eyes involuntarily flick to Erik, but luckily he speaks before either of them can notice the mistake. “True, but in my experience most people can be bought. Find the right price, something he wants, and he’ll part with it, no questions asked.”

“What could we possibly offer him that he doesn’t already have? He’s a sultan,” she reminds you.

He smirks. “Doesn’t have to be an object. Offer our services, and let him decide what it’s worth.”

“That’s… not a bad idea.”

You clap your hands. “Great! But it’s all moot if it’s not the real thing, so why don’t we go scout it out before we get ourselves roped into indentured servitude?”

El giggles beside you, and you can’t help the little swell of pride in your chest. “Sounds good, but can we get breakfast first? I’m starving.”

“Me, too. Good call.”

“By the way, I was meaning to ask,” Serena says, falling into step beside Erik, “where did you get the new outfit?”

If you hadn’t seen how self-conscious he was yesterday, you would never have noticed the way he falters. “What, this? The armoury did it for me.”

“Really? I may have to pay them a visit.”

It’s only when you’re all sitting down at the bar that you realise one teensy tiny problem that had completely escaped you until now: you still can’t read. Obviously that’s not news, but you have company now – you can’t go around having the others order for you all the time like you have been doing without raising some eyebrows. You’re going to have to start pretending you can or they’re going to start asking questions you don’t want to answer.

In fact, you never want to answer those questions ever again.

You scowl at the menu and its inscrutable writings, debating whether you can really be bothered to do that, until Erik notices. “Geez, (Y/N), what did that menu ever do to you?”

“Hardy har.”

He squints at you, looking for some clue to what’s got your back up. It doesn’t take long for him to figure it out. “I don’t think you need to worry about it, you know. They’re not going to notice from just that.”

Your eyes slide over to them, engrossed in their own discussion with El and the bartender at the other side of the bar, not looking anywhere near you, before you toss the thing down. “Good, I didn’t want to, anyway.”

“Well, that’s good because it was upside down.”

“You–! Are you serious?!”

“Nah, I’m kidding. But it would have happened eventually, and that would have been way more obvious, don’t you think?”

“…I’m not answering that.”

He chuckles, and picks up your discarded menu. “So, anything you fancy this fine morning?”

You shrug. “Surprise me.” He gives you a thumbs up, and you watch him for a long moment. “You really don’t mind? Having to do this all the time?”

He glances at you, an easy smile working its way onto his face. “Can’t let my partner embarrass themselves every time we go out to eat now, can I?”

“…I could figure something out,” you mutter, but inside you’re glowing. You rest your head on your arms, closing your eyes. “Thanks. I’m glad I’ve got you two helping me out.”

Like clockwork, his hand finds your hair, and you don’t even try to hide the purr, the soft brush of his fingers too pleasant to resist. “Likewise.”

Chapter Text

Okay, this whole canine curse thing is really starting to get on your nerves.

Your whole body goes stiff the second you enter the palace, every muscle coiled like a spring, ready to leap into action at a moment’s notice. Your eyes catch on flicking tails and twitching ears, feline bodies twisting and turning, innocently teasing the part of you that demands you chase with the knowledge that you absolutely cannot do that.

Something touches your elbow, and your head snaps around to see El looking at you with concern. “I asked if you were alright,” he says.

You nod stiffly, and consciously relax your muscles. “Cats,” you grind out, breathing heavily. “I’ve got it. I hope.”

He nods slowly, lingering for a moment before leaving you to it so he can look around. It’s not fair – you love cats! You want to pet them and love them, but your instincts are going haywire. It’s like there’s something inside you clawing to get out. You don’t dare go anywhere near them in case you lose control.

Stupid Tricky Devil and his stupid curse.

“I thought you were okay with cats,” says Erik beside you.

“One at a time, maybe,” you mutter unhappily, glaring at one that’s wrapping itself around his leg with no regard for your inner struggle.

He offers you a pitying smile. “I’ll keep an eye on you, shall I? Make you sure you don’t do anything unbecoming,” he winks.

“Gee, thanks.” You wish you could say that wasn’t necessary. He reaches up towards your hair again, but you pull back with a sharp, “Don’t even think about it.”

He whistles in surprise. “Alright. No pets, gotcha.”

You scowl but keep your retort to yourself. It’s bad enough that he does it, does he really have to call it that, too?

You distract yourself by concentrating instead on everything else in the palace. Aside from a bajillion cats, there are also two training grounds in here for some reason, and El briefly chats with the soldiers to get an idea of what the Sultan is like. The walls and pillars are covered floor to ceiling with some kind of hieroglyphics, and no shortage of horse murals to go with them, which look incredible but who knows what they’re about.

Honestly, it’s no different than anything else you’ve tried to read in this world. Maybe you should ask the others to teach you…?

But when would you have time?

You make a mental note to think about it later, your resolve only strengthening when Erik directs your attention to a poster on the notice board, only to remember that’s pointless and wave it off with a, “Tell you later.” By far the weirdest thing, though, is the bedrooms. Namely, the fact that you’re allowed to simply waltz on in there without so much as a by-your-leave.

You’re never going to be able to wrap your head around this world’s rules. That’s the sultan’s bedroom, his diary is in there (you know – El found it!), and all the maid does is warn you about… yourselves. Well, you know, the Darkspawn.

Nope, you can’t.

And it puts El off so much that he decides he’s explored enough and goes straight to speak with the Sultan.

You hear the mutters before you see him. “Ahem… Fellow Gallopolitans! This is no ordinary Sand National! This race marks the day that Faris, my son and heir, comes of age, and as such–”

“Faris?!” In your surprise, the word escapes you before you can stop it. You rub the back of your neck awkwardly when you realise he heard you.

“Hm? And who exactly might you be? I have no time to grant an audience today. You must leave. Immediately!”

…Oops.

In your defence, the ‘Sand National’ comment threw you off.

Before any of you can try and plead your case, however, you’re interrupted by a booming voice from behind that very nearly gives you a heart attack. “Father! My training is complete!”

The man (Prince Faris, no doubt) strides forward to stand before his father. The Sultan clears his throat. “Then give me the Pledge!” he commands, holding out a hand like he’s casting a spell.

His son responds in kind, slamming his fist against his chest with an audible thump. “A knight’s word is his bond, his kingdom his master! He serves the weak untiringly, challenges the strong un… unflinchingly! Ha! And never retreats in the face of adversity!”

“Mm. Yes, very good,” the Sultan says, suddenly speaking at a normal volume. “The Knight’s Pledge must always be your guide, my son.”

What a bunch of weirdos.

Can’t wait for him to come along later!

Veronica hums, and you wonder idly what she makes of him. It didn’t take much for you and Erik to lose her favour, but she likes El well enough, and the prince made quite an entrance. Is one tiny slip-up all it takes for her to write him off, or are you special?

“You are a man now, Faris, and tomorrow’s race shall prove it. You must show your people that you are worthy of their adulation.”

“Fear not, beloved Father! I shall disappoint neither you nor they!”

Faris bows and turns on his heel to march away, only to stop when he comes across your group still just kind of standing there watching it play out instead of leaving like you were told.

Did he not see you on the way in, or…?

“Oh…” His eyes lock onto El, and he gives him the most unsubtle once-over you’ve ever seen ever, looking him up and down like he’s undressing him with his eyes. Or maybe you’re still traumatised by the whole puff-puff incident. “What is your name, stranger? And what brings you to Gallopolis?”

Clearly El doesn’t see it the way you do, because he answers without an issue. “I’m Eleven. We heard on our travels that there was a mysterious branch here that shines in all the colours of the rainbow. We came to find out if it’s true.”

“Surely he speaks of the Rainbough… It is the only treasure of our kingdom that would warrant such a description…” he thinks aloud, as if he’s somehow convinced you can’t hear him despite being three feet away. Then, to El, “I believe I can assist you, friend. Visit me in my chambers at the foot of the great staircase. I shall await you there.”

Your mind stalls as he struts off. On the one hand: score! You came for the branch, and he’s willing to help. It’s exactly what you hoped would happen.

On the other hand, did he just proposition El? He was blatantly checking him out, and then invites him to his freaking bedchamber, what else are you supposed to think? You pray to the Goddess you’re wrong, but either way, why is everything so sexual?!

It doesn’t help when El speaks to the Sultana and tells her that yes, he does think Faris is pretty fine (okay, maybe not exactly that), and Erik side-eyes you like he can tell your mind’s in the gutter. Again.

“Are you alright, (Y/N)?” Serena asks worriedly. “You’ve gone all red.”

If Erik says anything you’re going to punch him. “Just a bit warm.” He snorts, and you narrow your eyes at him in warning.

Well, you’ll soon find out what he meant. El makes a quick circuit of the top floor and balcony, stopping only to marvel at the frankly spectacular view of the racecourse, before leading the four of you down to Faris’ bedroom.

Where he’s waiting by the bed.

…Oh boy.

“Ah, you came. Thank you.” Faris immediately starts ogling El again, and you don’t know if it’s good or bad that he doesn’t kick the rest of you out. “Yes, yes… Your height and physique are perfect! And you have the face of… one who knows horses…”

…Maybe if you cringe hard enough, you’ll glitch through the floor and fall out of the world. It can’t be as painful as this.

He clears his throat, and then turns around (to the bed). “You should be aware that the branch you seek is a priceless royal treasure.” Is he blackmailing you? “My father is unlikely to give it away freely to some… wandering stranger.”

He is. That slimy little beast.

You can feel the protective instincts surge when his filthy eyes land on El again. If he lays so much as a finger on your boy, you’re going to tear his face off, prince or no prince. “However… he might be persuaded to part with it if the request came from his beloved son. I have but one small favour to ask in return…”

“We’re not agreeing to anything until you tell us what it is,” you growl dangerously.

His eyes slide over to you with nothing short of disdain. “I do not believe I was speaking to you.”

“Better believe you’re speaking to me now.”

You meet his gaze unblinkingly, refusing to budge an inch. If this frizzer thinks for one second he can take advantage of El, he has another thing coming. You really couldn’t care less what he wants at this point – his attitude alone tells you you can’t trust him as far as you can throw him.

You won’t argue if El chooses to use him for the branch, but it’ll be on your terms, not his.

“…Very well,” Faris relents frostily. The corner of your mouth twitches upwards, and he makes a show of looking around for eavesdroppers. “But the palace walls have so many unwelcome ears… Ah! The noise of the circus will… protect our privacy. Will you join me there?”

Unwelcome ears… yeah, right. Just say you’re a control freak and go.

“We’ll be there,” El answers, and you’re smugly satisfied that he doesn’t try to apologise for you.

“Then it is agreed. I will meet you at the entrance to that ridiculous tent this evening. Do not be late, please,” Faris says with finality.

“You’re paying for our tickets, I take it?” Erik asks casually, but you can see how sharp his eyes are.

His face screws up distastefully, and he waves you away. “Yes, yes. You may go now, if that is all?”

“Oh, I think that’ll do for now.”

Erik ushers you out, leaving Faris on the back foot, but unable to do anything to reassert his control without admitting he’s lost it.

You grin. “Nice one.”

“Followed your lead,” he grins back.

“Well, colour me impressed,” Veronica says with approval. “I thought for sure you’d blown it for us, but it turns out you knew what you were doing all along. And we get to see the show! For free!”

Erik folds his arms with a proud smirk. “Not bad, huh?”

“They have their uses,” El smiles at you. The smile turns into a laugh when a cat brushes past your leg and you make an aborted move to go after it. “Don’t know what we’re going to do with our extra tickets, though.”

You’re going to pretend you didn’t do that. “Give them to Noah and Connie. If we can find them, that is.”

“Oh, that’s a good idea.”

Serena stops walking, giving you a betrayed look. “You bought tickets to the show and didn’t invite us?!”

You look at each other, and shrug. “Um… Sorry?”

Chapter Text

Your party splits again after that, the twins heading off to do whatever it is they want to do, while the three of you (i.e. El) finish raiding every unlocked house in the city.

Why yes, you are the good guys, thanks for asking!

“Sorry if I was short with you in there, Erik,” you apologise bashfully when you have a moment. “It was… I don’t even know. It shouldn’t have been anything but… it was.”

“Yeah, well, live and learn and all that, right?” he shrugs. “As long as you’re okay now.”

“I guess. Just wish I would get over it already.”

“It’s… not an illness, you know,” he says.

“Hey, (Y/N). I think you’ll like this one,” El calls then, beckoning you over to look at the book (why is it always books?) he’s reading.

You look back at Erik, who jerks his head towards him. “You’re wanted.”

You huff a laugh, and head over. “What have we got, El?”

“It’s called ‘Deadly Denizens of the Celestial Sands’,” he explains eagerly, holding the book out for you to see, apparently forgetting your little problem. “It’s got some stuff about some of the monsters out there.”

“Oh, worm?”

“I don’t… think so?” he tries, making you smile. You wave it off and take out your notebook, flipping through to a blank page while he reads through it. “There are three you need to watch out for, according to this. Aggressive and dangerous, even if you know what you’re doing.”

“Nice. Go on.”

The Spitzfire, the Slayer of the Sands, and the Cactolotl… the book doesn’t give you all that much to go off – no pictures, no weakness etc. – but it goes out of its way to make sure you know exactly how Deadly they are, especially the Cactolotl, which based on this is almost guaranteed to be the boss of this area. Unfortunately, the only advice it offers is on how to avoid them rather than beat them, but you dutifully jot it down anyway.

Knowledge is your greatest weapon, after all.

Fictional deserts really are the worst. Not that this is fictional anymore, but your point stands – you can’t trust them. There could be sandworms hiding in there, or Ruby Weapons, or that thing that ate Boba Fett in Star Wars!

Even early-game deserts aren’t safe! You never forget the first time you get insta-wiped by a Dhorme Chimera, that’s for damn sure.

“Spitzfire… that’s what that artist guy wanted us to kill, isn’t it?” Erik says, making you stop in your tracks.

“…Crap. I forgot that already.” You make a quick note beside your new entry and then switch books to get it down properly, the very first entry into your sidequests. You can’t believe you’re falling behind already. This is why you’ve never been the one making guides.

“Don’t worry, I remembered,” says El, shelving the book. “And we know more about them now! Knowing you, you’re already coming up with some strategy, aren’t you?” he adds teasingly.

“You have altogether too much faith in me.”

Erik makes a thinking face, giving you a quick once-over. “Nope, I’d say just enough.”

“Yeah, (Y/N), you’re not allowed to argue when we say nice things about you,” laughs El, chasing after you as you power walk away.

“It doesn’t count if you’re ganging up on me!” you throw over your shoulder.

“Does too!” he sing-songs.

“You may as well get used to it,” Erik winks. “We’re only going to get worse.”

You roll your eyes melodramatically and allow them the victory. “Ridiculous. Where are we even going?”

“We were following you.”

“Terrible idea. 0/10.”

El shields his eyes to look at the sky. “Well, I was going to suggest looking around outside–”

“Seriously? It’s like 4,000 degrees out there,” Erik grimaces.

“I know that,” El retorts, sticking his tongue out at him. “If you’d let me finish, I was going to say we still need to find Noah and Connie. Shall we do another circuit and see if we can spot them? They’ve got to be somewhere.”

You give him a smirk. “That’s true. Only an idiot would want to go outside in the middle of the day.”

“Har har,” he says sarcastically. “You know we’re going to have to do that at some point to get to Gondolia, right?”

“I can dream.”

You find Noah getting the scoop on tomorrow’s race from one of the stable hands while Connie plays with some other kids nearby. “Oh, it’s you lot. Fancy a tip on the National? I guarantee it’s straight from the horse’s mouth.”

“Wow. That was awful,” you deadpan.

“No, thanks,” El smiles, fishing out the tickets you bought that morning. “We wanted to give you these, actually. We kind of had a mix up, so we’ve got too many.”

Noah takes them hesitantly, looking between you for confirmation. “Just like that? I don’t know if you’ve heard, but the Great Sylvando himself is performing here. You could sell these for a pretty penny.”

El tilts his head. “Why would we do that?”

“Is this a bribe?”

“Just take the damn tickets,” Erik tells him, clapping him on the shoulder. “We’ll be here all day, otherwise.”

Noah still doesn’t look like he can wrap his head around it, so you change the subject before he can argue any further. “I’ll take the tip, if the offer’s still there.”

“Hm? Oh, right.” He pockets your gift, and goes into business mode, gesturing you towards him. “Well, from what I hear, there’s only two real contenders to watch: Faiz and Prince Faris. Thing is, no one’s seen His Highness race before, see? And a little birdie told me he hasn’t taken his horse out in a few days. I reckon there’s something in that, and it ain’t good for him, let me tell you.”

“Oof, he’s not going to like that,” you grin.

He looks at you with practiced coolness. “You plan on betting? Think you could slide some of your winnings my way?”

You burst out laughing. “Not a chance.”

“Eh… Worth a shot.”

You never thought you’d say it, but he’s really turned a corner since you first met him. He’s as incorrigible as ever when it comes to his trade, but he’s funny and he’s not drunk, and most importantly he’s trying his best to do right by his daughter. Dare you say you might even like him now?

Only time will tell if things stay that way, but it’s so much better than you could have hoped for.

“Daddy, Daddy, I won! Hi, (Y/N)!” Connie only spares you a passing glance as she runs up to him, jumping up and down in excitement. She’s so different from the teary, lost child you met in Hotto.

“That’s great, sweetie!” Noah smiles, crouching down to wipe some dirt off her face. “How many’s that now, eh? Three?”

“Four!”

“Wow, I’m losing track! Way to go!”

You peek over at Erik, watching on with a warm expression you rarely see on him, and El, who’s doting on the horses beside you. He smiles when he sees you looking.

Yeah, this is how it should be.

“Connie! Come on!”

“Coming, Sarisa!” she calls. She turns her shining eyes on you. “Do you want to play with us, (Y/N)? We’re doing our own Sand National!”

So cute. “I don’t think…”

“Pleeeease? Just for a little bit?”

She hits you with even bigger puppy-dog eyes than El, and you curse your inability to resist the adorableness. “Oh, go on then.”

“Actually,” says Erik, catching your elbow, “I’m going to need my partner here with me. We have to talk to your dad for a while.”

“Oh… His work, right?” She thinks about it for a second. “I guess you need Mr Eleven, too.”

“Yeah. Sorry.”

“You know I wouldn’t stand a chance against a four-time Sand National winner anyway,” you joke.

She giggles, then nods. “Okay! But you have to play with me next time, okay? Promise!”

“I promise,” you relent, shaking your head as she zooms off. Faris and Sarisa… now you know the universe is messing with you.

Noah straightens up and checks around for anyone who might be listening. “So, it is you they’re looking for. I figured as much. Never heard ‘Darkspawn’ before, but the timing was too perfect.”

El freezes. “What?”

“I saw the wanted poster in the palace,” Erik says, folding his arms. “No picture or description, and no mention of us, but there is a reward. You were right not to tell them who you are.”

Your heart skips a beat. “Heliodor’s here?”

“Not yet,” Noah corrects. “Lucky for you, they sent a messenger ahead to get the word out. You got what you came for yet?”

“We got a foot in the door,” Erik replies.

He nods. “Gotcha. I’ll keep me ears open, so just keep a low profile and do what you got to do.”

“Thanks, Noah. We owe you one.”

“You know you don’t owe me nothing.”

There’s some kind of criminal camaraderie going on there, but you’re more focused on El, soothing himself by stroking the horses. It hurts seeing him like this. He knows better than any of you what Heliodor is capable of, and all you and Erik can do is be there for him.

You’re his partners.

You wish you could do more for him.

Why is he climbing into the horse stall?

“You fancy seeing what life as an ’orse’d be like and all, do you? It’s alright, eh?” says the man sitting in the stall next to him. “Yeah, reckon you’ve got a bit more affinity with our equine pals than you realise, mate! Heh heh!”

El gives him a tight smile. “You alright down there?” you ask, your worry only increasing when he nods silently, staring at his hands.

Liar.

You have one foot in the stall before he notices what you’re doing. He gives you a surprised look when you plonk yourself down next to him in the straw. Thank the Goddess it’s clean. “You can tell me to leave if you want.”

There’s a very brief moment when he meets your eyes, and then it’s over and his body eases. He shakes his head minutely, leaning against you ever so slightly. You don’t want to push, so you keep it quiet and laidback, and let him do whatever makes him comfortable.

You’re not good at this. You can’t fix what’s wrong and you don’t know the words to make things better. But you can be there, and he can lean on you when things get too much, too real.

Goddess knows, he’s done it for you enough times.

Connie’s friends leave, so Noah takes her to get ready for the show tonight, and Erik gives the two of you an odd look. “I’m not getting in there.”

“Didn’t ask you to,” you mutter, mimicking his tone. You have a little staring contest while he tries to figure out how he’s supposed to react. “Do us a favour and don’t tell the girls?”

He chuckles lightly, breaking into a fond smile. “I suppose I can manage that.”

Chapter Text

It’s just turning evening when you make your way to the circus tent, and there’s quite a turnout already. You’ll give Faris one thing: no one’s going to notice you in this crowd.

“See them?” you ask, craning to see past people’s heads. You agreed to meet here, but you weren’t exactly specific about the time.

“Not yet,” replies El. “Do you think he’ll remember me? I want him to remember me.”

“Oh, I’m sure he will. You made quite the impression,” Erik smirks, nudging him playfully.

He rolls his eyes. “So, I made a fool of myself. I still hope he does; I want him to know we got to see him after all.”

“You realise we’re here to be discreet, right? Stop getting distracted.”

He pulls a face, reluctantly doing as he’s told. “…I’m still going to enjoy myself.”

“Yeah, Faris can suck it,” you declare bluntly, earning a hand over your mouth for your trouble.

“Word of advice: don’t badmouth the crown prince in public,” Erik says quietly in your ear before he releases you. “You can do it all you like when we’re alone. Now, are you two going to help look or do I have to do everything myself?”

“Sorry, Erik,” you chorus.

Even so, not a minute later El leans in close to continue your conversation behind his back. “Why do you hate him so much anyway?”

You glance at him, feeling that protectiveness rise up all over again. “I’m not letting him touch you,” you swear, deadly serious.

“Is… that likely?” he asks nervously.

“He’s slimy,” you growl. “I hate slimy. I think if he wants something, he’ll find a way to get it, and it won’t matter who he has to step on to do it.”

“…Oh.”

“I could be wrong. I hope I’m wrong,” you mutter, losing your train of thought as something else catches your eye. You tilt your head with a frown. “El?”

“Yeah?”

You gesture vaguely at the floor. “What are those?”

“…Lights?”

You groan loudly. You hate it when this happens. “I know they’re lights, I want to know how they look like that. I know for a fact there’s no electricity here, so… how? It can’t be candles… can it?”

His confusion lifts, and he laughs. “Oh, I get it. No, that’s light magic.”

“…Light magic.”

You should have guessed.

But before you can ask why, if that’s a thing, are candles still the primary source of light everywhere, you’re interrupted by just the people you’re looking for.

“There you are! Serena, I found them!”

You both look up towards the raised walkway at Veronica, then at each other. “Found them!” El says brightly.

You snort. “Sure you did.”

He grasps your hand and you let him pull you along to meet them halfway, picking up Erik as you go. That’s the twins down, now all you have to do is find Faris.

“Good evening, everyone!” Serena calls, and you do a double take, your mouth hanging open at the girl - no, woman - before you.

“Woah! Serena, is that you?” Erik exclaims.

She giggles, twirling around so her skirts flare out and the accessories jingle. “It’s wonderful, isn’t it? It’s so light and freeing. And look” —she skips over to stand beside Erik— “we match!”

“Wow, you really do!” El beams.

“You look good,” you say, impressed. “Really good. I have to say, though, I didn’t think you’d go for something so… revealing.”

“Oh, not you too,” moans Veronica. “Everyone thinks Serena’s the perfect, pure goody two-shoes because she’s nice, and polite, and she speaks like this. She always gets away with everything because ‘oh, Serena wouldn’t do that. She’s too innocent for that.’ Well, she isn’t. Are you, Serena?”

Your eyebrows disappear into your hairline at the devious smile playing on Serena’s lips. “Whatever do you mean, Veronica? There’s nothing wrong with showing a little skin,” she says, playing deliberately with a strand of her hair and showing off her bare stomach.

Hot damn.

“Oh, you’ve got it rough, haven’t you?” you tease Veronica, who’s currently trying to disappear into her hands. “Sisters, am I right?”

“Tell me about it,” she groans. “You have a sister, too?”

“Yep. Drove me up the wall. Don’t see her much anymore, though…” And recently there’s been another reason for that.

Out of the corner of your eye you spot a hooded stranger moving– wait, that’s Faris. Out of the corner of your eye you spot a self-important piece of crap moving towards you. “You came. Excellent. The noise of the circus will allow us to speak without being overheard. Shall we go inside?”

She jumps at the escape. “Yes! Good idea, Your Highness!”

“Shhh! Not so loud,” Faris hisses, looking around in a way that draws in way more attention than Veronica’s outburst. “For tonight, I am simply a common circus-goer. Come! The show has already started. We should enter without further delay.”

“You’re the one who was late,” you mutter as he marches inside, head held high completely unlike the ‘common circus-goers’ he’s trying to blend in with.

“You don’t like him much, do you?” says Veronica thoughtfully. Then she squints and pulls something off your tunic. “Is that straw?”

You shrug. “El likes horses.”

Faris sits himself down at the head of a table on the highest level of the audience (very common of him) and El automatically moves to sit opposite him, but then he wouldn’t get to see much, so you switch places with him. This way, when you want to disrespect the prince, you have an excuse.

(You note with amusement that Erik decides to sit backwards on his chair, like some kind of tough guy. Is that supposed to be intimidating?)

“Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls! It’s time for the act you’ve all been waiting for – the wandering wonder who amazes audiences wherever he goes!” You look knowingly at El, and he makes a face back at you. “Prepare yourselves for an experience like no other! Prepare yourselves for… the Great Sylvando!”

The lights dim and a figure vaults over the stage entrance, landing centre stage and standing slowly. The Great Sylvando throws his arms out, bowing low to rapturous applause and conjuring a single yellow ball to begin his routine.

You watch in wonder as he tosses the ball into the air and spins around, half a dozen more balls appearing from seemingly – perhaps actually – nowhere into his hands. He juggles them high and fast, which is impressive enough on its own, but then, with a snap of his fingers, they transform one by one into knives, falling easily into his palms to keep juggling.

He doesn’t miss a beat, even as they get higher, even as he stands on one leg, even as he leans back, until he sends them soaring towards the audience to a chorus of gasps and they vanish in a plume of fire from his mouth.

Holy slime.  

He’s awesome.

You’re on your feet in a second, clapping and cheering alongside everyone else. You have no clue how much of that was real magic and how much was sleight of hand, and frankly you don’t care.

“Ladies and gentlemen, please! There is no need to be afraid! The Great Sylvando will never endanger his adoring audience!” he bows. “After all, darlings – you are the ones who make this show so special! I love you all! Thank you! Thank you!”

El was so right to bring you here.

“Quickly, we must talk while the people are distracted. And please – not a word of this to anyone…” Faris whispers, reminding you why you’re here. Your disappointment is immeasurable and your day is ruined, but in all fairness, he’s right: not one person is paying you the slightest bit of attention.

Still, you want to watch the show and you don’t care about him, so you turn yourself sideways in your seat so you can do both.

El (poorly) hides his annoyance, and gives him his full attention.

“Now, as you may be aware, the Sand National is the most important event of the year here in Gallopolis,” the prince starts, “and tomorrow I am due to make my debut in the Race to End All Races. However, there is a problem. One teeny, tiny… terrible problem…”

Oh?

“I cannot ride. In fact, I have barely so much as sat in a saddle.”

Erik nudges you lightly, and you retaliate by elbowing him hard enough that he makes an audible noise of pain. You’ll apologise to him later. Maybe.

Faris pauses, looking quizzically at the two of you, before deciding he doesn’t care. “I have so far been able to hide this… unfortunate fact, but if I were to take part in the race, the inconvenient truth would surely be uncovered… And yet I have no choice!” he laments. “For a Prince of Gallopolis not to take part in the Sand National on the year of his coming of age is unthinkable! Unthinkable!”

El jumps when he suddenly switches to pointing aggressively at him. “So you see, your coming here was fated! It is a sign! The forces of destiny mean me to use you as my double! Ta-da!”

Man, he is loud.

“Your double?” Erik says, not even trying to hide how dumb he thinks that sounds. “How’s that going to work? Won’t everyone notice as soon as he walks out onto the track?”

“Ah! The fates have provided there also! For you see, the royal family always races in full armour lest the unthinkable occur! His face will be hidden from view!”

“How very convenient,” you say under your breath. He is way too happy about this.

He shoots you a glare, which you ignore in favour of turning back to the show. He’s walking on his hands now. Is there anything the man can’t do?

“Oh, please! Please, I beg of you! You must help me! You must enter the Sand National in my place!” Faris begs pitifully.

Veronica jumps up on her chair, and you watch with sadistic pleasure as she mercilessly rips into him. “You are the most pathetic excuse for a prince I’ve ever seen! If you think we’re going to help you lie to your people, you’ve got another thing coming!”

You give her a high five.

His entire demeanour changes once again, and he looks down at you haughtily. “Is that so? Then I assume that your need of the Rainbough is not so great after all…”

Grudgingly, she sinks back down. “Wow… Talk about shameless…”

“Snake,” you mutter, eyeing him with disgust.

“Call me what you will, it changes nothing. You will do as the fates wish and take my place in the race, yes?”

You don’t really have any other options (legal ones, anyway) and he knows it, but that doesn’t mean you’re just going to roll over and accept it, so when El glances over for support, you’re more than happy to provide. “So, basically, El takes your place in the Sand National and you give us the branch.”

“That is what I said, yes,” he says, talking down to you like a child.

“Can I get that in writing?”

He turns to you fully for the first time, his composure slipping. You get the impression he doesn’t like you very much, either. “I do not see what difference it makes. Besides, my business is with Eleven, not you.”

“If you have business with me, you have business with all of us,” El says, eyes flashing. “I’ll do what you ask, but only if you do as they asked first.”

Faris falters for a moment. “Ah, well… Yes, I knew you would see sense in the end!” And then he’s back to his old bravado. “Thank you! I will talk to my father about the Rainbough as soon as the race is over! And I will… write it down. You have my word!”

“That’s not good enough.” You meet his gaze, daring him to argue. “The deal is you give us the Rainbough. If you can’t hold up your end of the bargain, we’re not doing it.”

“Ngh… very well. I will get you the Rainbough. You will do this for me, now?”

You hand the reins back to El, since when all is said and done, it’s his decision. “I will.” He doesn’t look too happy about it, though.

“Then we are agreed. Now, I must be on my way. I took the liberty of arranging rooms for you at the inn. Rest well, friends. I will see you in the stables bright and early,” he informs you, rushing off before anyone can say anything else.

The crowd cheers, and you turn back around in disappointment. “Aw, I missed that.”

“Was it really necessary to go after him like that?” Serena asks you, and you level her with an unimpressed look.

“If you tell me you like him, I’ll call you a liar.”

“…Well, I wouldn’t go that far,” she admits quietly.

Your eyes widen gleefully. “Oh, so you do have an edge. And here I thought butter wouldn’t melt in your mouth.”

“I told you so,” grins Veronica victoriously.

She flushes and looks away. “I– I simply prefer to give people the benefit of the doubt!”

You laugh and let her off, deciding that Faris’ seat is infinitely better than yours and quickly swapping over. Sylvando must notice the movement because when you look back, he’s looking right at you. You wave and point to El beside you, and he smiles and blows a kiss your way.

El blushes and shoves you playfully, and you spend the rest of the performance enjoying yourselves the way you should have been from the start. By the time it’s over, his eyes are sparkling.

“It was incredible! Did you see him on the horse? How do you ride like that?! And it was so well-trained! They looked so comfortable with each other!” he gushes as you file back to the inn.

“Trust you to pay more attention to the horse,” snickers Erik.

“He was on his hands! His hands, Erik!”

“I was more interested in his fire breath,” Veronica says. “I wish I could ask him how he did it. I’d love to take a technique like that back to Arboria, if it was real.”

Serena chuckles. “It certainly looked real, didn’t it? I think my favourite part was the acrobatics. So graceful!”

“Really? I thought for sure it would be the juggling.”

“Well, it’s not exactly exotic, is it?”

“Looked pretty impressive to me,” you argue, because a fire-breathing, horse-riding, knife-juggling acrobat has got to be the single greatest job description in the entire multiverse.

Veronica rolls her eyes. “She’s only saying that because she can juggle. I don’t see you keeping ten balls in the air, Serena,” she says pointedly.

“Serena, you can juggle?! That’s amazing!” exclaims El.

“Just a little. I learnt when I was a little girl.”

“Think you’ve got a fan,” you wink, letting her go in first.

The innkeeper points you to the two rooms Faris paid for, and you say goodbye to the girls at the door. Yours is the next one along, but when you open the door you stop dead. You look at each other, then at the double bed, then back at each other, and burst out laughing.

“The man’s an idiot!” you wheeze.

“He does know there’s five of us, right?” Erik asks, shaking his head in amusement.

“Should we ask for a different room?” El suggests through giggles.

A group of kids run past you as the family makes their way to another room. “Not sure you’ll have any luck. The National’s tomorrow; place’ll be booked,” Erik points out.

You look back at the bed. The bed stares back, unphased.

“Oh, who cares,” you decide, pushing past them to throw yourself on the bed. “You guys can do what you want, but I’m going to bed.”

Erik shrugs and follows you inside. “Guess we’re sharing.”

“So… who’s in the middle?” El asks.

“You are,” you and Erik say together. You look at each other, breaking into another fit of giggles.

“Jinx.”

“Touch wood,” he finishes, knocking on El’s head.

“Hey!” he protests. “And how did you both just decide that? Have you been talking about this behind my back?”

Erik takes him by the shoulders. “El. Name one time you’ve woken up before us.”

“This morning! I beat (Y/N)!”

“Both of us?”

“…”

“And that’s why it’s you,” he grins, patting his cheek.

El pouts. “I can wake up early if I want…”

You roll onto your side to give him a look. “Sure, sure, we believe you… Sleeping Beauty.”

He blushes bright red, and you laugh, pushing yourself up to get changed. Too easy.

Once you're all ready, you all climb into bed together, doing your best to give each other space even though there really isn't enough to go around. It takes a lot of awkward shuffling and apologies before you're eventually able to arrange yourselves fairly comfortably, but honestly, you're all in such a good mood after the show that in the end, you don't even care if you occasionally end up brushing against each other, and just get comfy where you are.

After all, what's a stray arm or leg between partners, right?

El sighs happily at the ceiling. “He was so cool…”

“Yeah…” you whisper back.

“…Do you think we could go again sometime?”

“You really like him, huh? Should have got you an autograph.”

“Are you two planning to talk all night?” asks Erik at a normal volume.

El starts guiltily. “Sorry!”

“You were always the sensible one at sleepovers, huh?” you joke.

He just chuckles. “Goodnight, (Y/N).”

You roll your eyes and snuggle into your pillow, hearing the tell-tale shuffle of the others doing the same.

El sighs again.

“…Someone’s got a cruuuush.”

“Go to sleep!”

Chapter Text

Erik has always been a light sleeper. He’s had to be to survive, so when his body picks up something quiet and close, he’s instantly awake and alert.

A choked whimper. A shuddering breath.

He relaxes, releasing his grip on the knife beneath the pillow. Just nightmares.

He pushes himself into a sitting position at the same time as you jolt awake, groggily patting beside you in an attempt to get El’s attention. “El. El! Wake up, it’s okay. It’s only a nightmare,” you slur.

His eyelids flutter, and Erik quickly reaches for the matches on the bedside table, lighting the lamp and illuminating the tear tracks on his cheeks.

He blinks, more tears welling up. “(Y/N)…” he sobs.

El crawls into your arms and buries his face in your neck, holding on tight like a child. “Yeah, I’m here,” you murmur. You rub his back comfortingly, giving Erik a tired smile. “There you go. It’s okay.”

It must have been a bad one. It’s no secret that you both have nightmares, but this is the first time you’ve woken each other up and never like this. There’s no easy solution this time, either. Usually, he goes and sleeps beside you and that’s enough, but he’s already here and it’s not.

El’s chest heaves and you shush him gently. “You’re okay. We’re here. You’re safe,” you croon, repeating the same simple assurances over and over, bringing him slowly out of the nightmare and back to reality. Only when he’s calm do you pull back. “Do you want to talk about it?” you ask quietly.

His fists ball anxiously in the covers between you, and he takes a deep breath. “It was… my home,” he whispers. “I was with Gemma, on the Tor. Everything was the way it was, the way it was supposed to be, but when we got to the top, I saw smoke. She didn’t think anything was wrong, but I knew it was, so we went back down, and… Hendrik was waiting for us.

“I was back in the dungeon, but… I could see him riding to Cobblestone. I could see it, but I couldn’t do anything. I tried to get out, but when I did I couldn’t find him – no one was there. I looked for mum and Gemma, but every time I thought I saw them there was nothing. I tried calling but I had no voice, I couldn’t move, I couldn’t do anything.” His breathing quickens, and you reach out to ease his fingers out of their death grip. He latches onto your hand like a lifeline.

“And then… I don’t know. King Carnelian was there, at my house, and he told me to do it. I couldn’t stop myself. It was me. I did it. It’s all my fault.”

Erik shuts his eyes against the admission. His heart aches for him. He’s barely sixteen, he shouldn’t be carrying this kind of weight on his shoulders. It’s a wonder he can smile at all with everything he’s been through.

“It isn’t.” You tug him towards you, letting him cling to you instead of the sheets. Your arms come up around him, stroking his back in a calming rhythm. “You weren’t there. You couldn’t have known. You did everything right.”

“If I wasn’t the Luminary, none of it would have happened.”

“If King Carnelian was a better person, it wouldn’t have happened, either,” you counter softly. “If Erik wasn’t a thief, we wouldn’t have escaped the dungeon. If I hadn’t been zapped away from home, I wouldn’t have met you. Good things can lead to bad outcomes, just like bad things can lead to good ones. It’ll come right in the end.”

Erik hears you exaggerate your breathing, giving El something to match. He feels pretty redundant right now. There’s nothing he can offer that you aren’t already providing, and you’re better at it than he is.

But he can’t just lie back down and pretend to sleep.

Not when his partner’s still hurting.

“I don’t know how you do it,” El murmurs after a while.

“Hm?”

He curls further into your embrace. “I never know when you’re scared. Sometimes I forget you even get scared at all.”

“That’s kind of the idea,” you say, smiling slightly.

“You always know when I am.”

The smile dims, and you sigh. “I’m always scared, El. You don’t want to be like me.” El goes quiet, burying his face in your neck again. You run a hand slowly through his hair. “Want to go look at the stars? I bet we can find a place that sells hot chocolate or something. With mini marshmallows, whipped cream…”

“That sounds nice,” he mumbles, making no attempt to move. You hum, closing your eyes and placing a kiss on his temple, both of you taking comfort in the closeness. Quietly, almost inaudibly, you start to purr. Eventually, he whispers, “I don’t want to go back to sleep.”

“I know,” you soothe, “but you have a big day tomorrow. It’ll be alright. We’re right here if you need us.”

He reluctantly lets go of you, turning distressed eyes to Erik for the first time tonight. “Yeah, I’m here, too,” he jokes, offering a hand when El hesitates. The relief on his face is worth every second of lost sleep.

El’s hand trembles in his. “It felt so real,” he breathes.

“They always do.” He reaches forward and wipes the tears from El’s cheeks. “Don’t worry, we’ll always be here to wake you up. Promise.”

“…Okay.” He settles back down in bed, already halfway to sleep. He never lets go of Erik’s hand. “Goodnight. I love you.”

Oh.  

“I love you, too,” he replies, and finds, to his surprise, that he means it. “Sleep well.”

“Goodnight, El,” you say. His eyes slide shut.

Erik tries to meet your eyes, but you aren’t looking at him. You’re gazing down at your shared partner, lost in thought while you gently stroke his hair. Something about the sight makes his heart beat faster, like he’s being invited to share in something truly special, like you’re trusting him to see the most vulnerable part of you and keep it safe, and he will. He always will.

The bond you share runs deeper than he’ll ever know. He’s known it since that first day in the cells, that blind trust you had in one another shining so brightly in his world of darkness, and then you extended that trust to him, a lowly thief, as though it was the most natural thing in the world. You never even thought twice.

…And to think, there was a time he only stayed for his own selfish reasons.

He watches until El’s breathing evens out and you’ve laid back down before he blows out the light and allows himself to do the same. He brushes his thumb over El’s palm. The skin is so soft, like he hasn’t known a day of hardship in his life. So young and inexperienced, yet so very strong.

He’ll protect those hands as long as he’s able.

You, too. You try so hard to pretend you have it all together, but the truth is you’re lost and scared and you need them, it’s just difficult to ask for help. There’s more to it, he knows, something deeper that neither of them know yet, but it doesn’t matter because whatever it is, and however long it takes, he already knows he’ll be by your side through it all.

He smiles despite himself, stealing a kiss on El’s knuckles.

Of course, he thinks. You two have always been a package deal.

So he’ll keep reading for you, and answering your questions. He’ll keep touching and teasing and stealing your food, making you laugh, making you purr, sitting with you at night, just reminding you both you’re not alone in any way he can. You’ve got each other, and you’ve got him, and right now he’s got both of you within arm’s reach, sound asleep.

He shifts a little closer, reaching out until his hand rests on your arm, and settles into El’s warmth with a sigh. His body sings at the contact. It feels right. It always feels right.

There’s no one else he'd rather fall asleep with.

Chapter Text

Your first thought when you wake up is El.

He’s quiet. No ragged breathing, no scrabbling fingers, just the calm, rhythmic up and down of his chest as he sleeps. Good.

Your second is what the hell were you thinking?!

Are you stupid? Signs point to yes! Why else would you think… that was a good idea? You wanted to help, and in a moment of weakness you were reminded of when you were little, running to your parents’ room after a bad dream.

What else were you supposed to do when your best friend was crying into your shoulder like that?

‘I love you.’  

Stupid brain. He didn’t mean it like that.

He was probably doing what you were: remembering his mum. He was tired and scared, and you helped him through it, like she would have. Of course he felt that way.

‘I love you.’  

He didn’t mean it, but your brain latched onto it anyway, and for one traitorous moment you almost let yourself believe it. But it couldn’t be true. It’s too soon. He probably won’t even remember it when he wakes up.

Besides, Erik said it back. It wasn’t to you in the first place.

You prop yourself up onto an elbow, shoving down the memory of a promise you can’t keep and smiling at the sight before you: El cuddling into Erik like a baby koala in his sleep, and Erik curled up in his arms doing exactly the same thing.

Erik’s eyes crack open at the movement. “Hi,” you whisper.

“Hi.” He’s completely trapped, and you can’t resist. He narrows his eyes at you when you take out your phone, knowing there’s only one thing you’re going to be using it for. “You wouldn’t dare.”

You don’t answer, merely smiling wider as you raise your finger to the button. You catch him mid eye-roll, and then take a second one for the softer look of surprise as El snuggles closer to him.

“Cute.”

“Shut up, (Y/N).”

You lay back down with an evil laugh. Maybe you should be thanking Faris because you’re quite enjoying this. It’s surreal enough to be sharing a bed with both of them at once (and on purpose, no less), but it’s also a damn good bed with fancy pillows and all, and nightmares aside, you slept really well.

Waking up to this blessed sight? Well, that’s just the icing on the cake.

El rolls over and Erik cackles as suddenly you’re the one encased in his iron grip instead. Now it’s your turn to roll your eyes. “Yeah, yeah, laugh it up.”

“Wh…? Wha’s going on?” El mumbles.

“Oh, nothing. Don’t worry about it,” Erik says mischievously, slipping out from under the covers. You eye him warily, not that you can do anything to stop him, as he pads barefoot to your side of the bed. “Don’t mind me…”

“Oi!” He swipes your phone from out of your inventory, quickly dancing out of your reach before you can snatch it back. “El, let me go! I’ve got a thief to whack!”

“Why, what’s he done?” he asks, very much not doing that.

“Nothing yet,” Erik smirks. “Let’s see here…”

“How did you even get in?!”

“Saw you do it. Now, say cheese! Show me those smiles!” You frown theatrically. He’s way too good with technology for someone who’d never seen anything like it a week ago. He snaps the photo and meets your eyes. “Cute.”

You roll your eyes again. “That’s getting deleted as soon as I get it back.”

“Sure,” he allows, leaning in close to slip your phone back into your pocket, and whispering in your ear, “but I’ll always know how adorable you two are.”

‘I love you.’

No. He doesn’t.

But it’s a nice thought.

Erik chuckles and moves away to start getting dressed. You would do the same, but El is still doing his best impression of a limpet, so instead you close your eyes and let yourself savour the feeling just a little bit longer. Moments like these are all too rare in your hectic lives; getting to slow down and rest with your ridiculous, touchy-feely dorks for a while is a pleasant change.

But El has a job to do, and you can’t put it off forever. “Come on, lazybones, up you get. You’re going to be late,” calls Erik, already mostly dressed.

“For the record, I can’t move,” you point out, tugging uselessly on El’s arm as proof.

“Mm… comfy, though…” he whines.

You send Erik an exasperated look. “See what I mean?” He just shrugs, slipping his shoes on, and you wiggle in place, trying to shimmy out of El’s hold another way. He doesn’t budge an inch. Seriously, how freakishly strong is he? “Come on, El, where’s the early bird who gave me a concussion yesterday?”

“Thought you wanted a lie in,” he sighs, pulling you even closer.

“Well, yeah, but–” You freeze as he nuzzles your neck, making an undignified squeak that has Erik pausing mid-action to give you a positively delighted look that says he’s absolutely going to tease you mercilessly about it later, and you figure what the hell? You’re happy, he’s happy, the very concept of personal space is dead in a ditch somewhere, so why not go all in? You cuddle up to El, who gives a pleased hum. “On second thought, let’s just stay here.”

“Great. Now there’s two of them,” Erik deadpans to the wall.

El laughs against your skin, peeking up at him through his lashes. “You can join us if you want. There’s plenty of room.”

“I’m not kidding, you know. I already let you sleep in longer than I should’ve.”

El lifts his head. “Really? Aww, we’re so lucky, aren’t we, (Y/N)?” He grins, and you really can’t tell if he’s deliberately missing the point or if he’s just that sleepy.

“Oh, absolutely,” you agree wholeheartedly, definitely the former.

Erik huffs and points an accusing finger at both of you. “Right, here’s what’s going to happen. I’m off to steal the bathroom, and when I get back, I expect to see both of you up and dressed. Got it?”

“Yes, mum,” you answer in unison, giggling at the amused eye-roll he gives you.

El waits for him to close the door before turning to you and cheekily asking, “Five more minutes?”

You snort. “Give or take.”

The door cracks open again, and Erik pokes his head back in. “By the way – there’s food.”

That must be the magic word, because just like that, the arms around you loosen and El reluctantly admits, “Well… I suppose we could get up.”

“Yeah, we probably should,” you chuckle. As fun as it would be to test Erik’s patience, and especially Faris’, right before a big, important race probably isn’t the best time for it. You sit up and stretch, taking a leaf out of Erik’s book and tousling El’s near-perfect hair when he struggles to motivate himself to do the same. “Come on, sleepyhead, you can do it!”

“Uuurgh…”

‘I love you.’

You smile fondly and start getting ready, watching El painstakingly drag himself out of bed just in time for Erik to return, looking pleasantly surprised that his bribe actually worked. After that, it’s only a matter of taking your own turns in the bathroom and gathering your things, but you notice El’s sombre mood coming back the closer you get to leaving, and you know it’s not about the sleep.

“Hey,” you call, holding up your vambrace. “Little help?”

He blinks at you, like he didn’t really hear you. “Oh. Sure.”

“Thanks.” He sits beside you, fastening the straps in silence. You tap your knee against his. “Nervous?” you ask.

His mouth twists, and he hums. “Sort of. It’s the whole… lying to the people thing. I don’t really mind taking his place, but it’s so… underhanded. You were right about him.”

“’Course I was. You doubted me?”

“Please, (Y/N), not now.”

Oh, this is serious.

“…Okay. I’m listening,” you say earnestly.

His hands still against your skin. “I just… are we doing the right thing? Why do we even need the branch in the first place?”

You meet eyes with Erik. Why do you need it? “Well, the twins thought it was important…” he says uncertainly.

“That’s because they don’t know how to get you to Yggdrasil.” You sigh unhappily. “They’re probably right, though, even if it’s only indirectly.”

“Indirectly?” El repeats.

“You know… right place, right time kind of thing.”

“Or… fated?”

There’s something about the way he says it that rubs you the wrong way. It’s like all the fight’s gone out of him. You don’t like it at all.

“Depends on your definition of fate,” you answer carefully. “That aside… Faris was looking for someone to do this before we even showed up. He’s going to find a way to cheat either way; at least if you play along, we do get it. Supposedly…”

He sighs heavily and shakes his head. “I don’t like it…”

“It’s up to you, El,” Erik reminds him. “You can still change your mind. We’ll back you up if anyone tries to argue.”

“I agree, but the branch is our only lead and this may well be the only chance we have to get it… somewhat legally. Do we take that risk?” you ask.

El groans, leaning his forehead on your shoulder. Well, this is familiar. “I hate this. Why do I have to have a stupid destiny?”

You pet his hair consolingly. It’s super soft and silky, even more than Erik’s. “What, did you forget about us already? That’s our stupid destiny now, comrade.”

“You’re laughing. That’s a joke, isn’t it?” he says sceptically.

You grin. “I’m never more serious than when I’m joking.”

“That doesn’t even make sense.”

“Sure, it does. Anyway, destiny can be changed. The future is not yet set. Tomorrow is another day.”

Erik ruffles your hair from behind. “And now you’re quoting at us. Do you even believe that?”

“I believe our choices matter. I’m still figuring out the rest,” you shrug.

El sighs again and finishes doing up your vambrace. “Whatever. I said I’d do it, so I will. I just hope this works…”

“Just imagine you’re racing for fun. Enjoy it!” Erik tells him.

“Easy for you to say,” he retorts. “There’s nothing riding on you.”

Erik laughs out loud. “El, you’re the one who’s meant to be doing the riding, not the other way around.”

You facepalm. “Erik, no. Terrible pun. Terrible.”

“What do you mean? It was great!”

“Anyway, El” —you refuse to grace him with any more of a reaction— “the deal was you ride for him and he gives us the branch. He said nothing about winning. Just go out and do your best, that’s all you have to do.”

“I thought it was implied. What if he decides that’s not good enough?” he argues.

“See, this is exactly why you always get it in writing!” you exclaim. “Make sure he puts it down word for word: ‘In exchange for taking my place in the Sand National, I will give Eleven the… the branch, whatever it’s called. Signed Prince Faris of Gallopolis,’ preferably with a royal seal or equivalent. Then if he does try to stiff us, we’ve got something to take to the Sultan.”

Erik whistles lowly. “Remind me to never get on your bad side.”

You wink slyly. “Better watch out.”

El pokes you in the shoulder. "Word for word? The ‘whatever it’s called’?” he repeats, a playful glint in his eye.

“I will end you.”

He laughs, and gives you a quick hug. “Thanks, (Y/N). And thanks for last night. I really needed that.” He skips over to the bed. “Can you take care of this guy for me?”

“Eh? What–?” you begin in confusion, until he turns around with empty hands and you remember. “The blue thing? The thing I can’t see? How exactly do you expect me to do that?”

“It just rides around in my bag usually,” he explains, opening yours and depositing the thing into it. There’s a slight bulge around the sides, but you’d never have noticed. “Keep it open. Its head’s poking out.”

“El, I’m too young to be a mother.”

“El’s the mother,” Erik sniggers. “You’re the babysitter.”

El beams. “You’re babysitting too, Erik!” Well, that certainly shut him up.

“What if I need something? Won’t I hit it?” you ask in worry, because you do not want to be responsible for damaging or losing his baby/pet/whatever this is when he specifically entrusted it to you.

He waves you off easily. “Oh, it just sort of disappears and reappears when you do that. I don’t think you can hit it.”

“Oh… good…”

You meet up with the girls for your promised breakfast and then head out, wishing El luck at the stables and continuing to the stands to watch. Hopefully he remembers what you said, or you might be forced to make a quick getaway if and when Faris inevitably decides to go back on his word.

“Ooh, this is exciting, isn’t it?” Serena says, clasping her hands together. “I’ve never been to a racetrack before.”

Veronica nods enthusiastically. “My money’s on Eleven. No way he’s going to lose to some random show ponies.”

“You mean the professional jockeys?” you ask, raising an eyebrow. “I think you’ll be disappointed.”

“What? You don’t have faith in him?” she challenges.

You shrug. “I’m a realist.”

“Who do you think’s going to win?” Erik asks.

“Oh, definitely Eleven. I’m being deliberately irritating.”

“WHAT?! You’re the worst!” Veronica huffs, folding her arms and muttering to Serena, who hides a laugh behind her hand.

You grin and inch closer to Erik, lowering your voice so they won’t hear. “Hey, I’m not hallucinating, right? There are green swirly things on the track? Are they meant to be there?”

Erik looks puzzled for a moment, but then he realises. “Those are heal pads. I think it’s illegal to organise a race without them. Want to bet? I’ve got some spare gold.”

“Urgh… yes. I don’t know if it’s a good idea, though. Is that for the horses, or the riders?”

Well, now he looks even more confused. He steps closer, so he’s essentially speaking directly in your ear. “They ride the horses around the track a set number of times, and try to avoid the obstacles. They need the heal pads so the horses don’t get hurt.”

“I’m not–!”

You bite back the angry retort with a frustrated growl. You hate this. You hate that you hate it! You hate that it makes you feel stupid and you hate that you understand! Erik knows you know jack slime about horses; of course he’s going to think you need it spelling out! He’s doing you a favour! Be grateful!

At least he’s not asking if you know what a seagull is this time.

You clear your throat and deliver a flat, “Thank you.”

He gives you a knowing, pitying look that only makes you more annoyed. “Sorry.”

You curtly give him his space back, and not long after the Sultan comes out. “Fellow Gallopolitans! This is, err, no ordinary Sand National! Umm…” You snicker at the familiar words. Looks like he never figured out what he wanted to say, but it doesn’t matter because the crowd is already hyped.

You distinctly hear one lady yelling, “Hooray! All hail Prince Faris!” before he even comes out.

The trumpeters begin their fanfare and El-as-Faris rides out confidently. You have to say, you were kind of worried this wouldn’t work, but even you can’t tell if it’s actually him or not under there. It has to be, though, or he’d have ended up on his ass by now.

“Prince Faris! Waheey!”

“Oh! Such a fine figure of a man!”

Oh, you can’t wait to tease him about this.

The four of you join in the cheers with gusto, and you laugh as the helmet turns abruptly away from you. The band strikes up for the other riders to come onto the track and, “What is that supposed to be?”

“What’s wh–  Oh my Goddess.” You raise an incredulous eyebrow at the flamboyant pink tail feathers adorning one of the other horses. “That can’t be legal, surely. They’ll block everyone’s view and win by default.”

Serena giggles delightedly. “I didn’t know the Great Sylvando was in it, too! Oh, this will be fun!”

It’s Sylvando? Veronica might be right about the show ponies, after all.

Erik sighs, defeated. “Now it makes sense, huh?”

“How did he even get in?” you mutter with a frown. It looks like he’s talking to ‘Faris’. You sure hope El knows better than to answer.

“Goddess knows. Think he can ride?”

You shrug. “He can do everything else. I wouldn’t it put it past him.” Erik nods beside you, his arm brushing against yours. You glance at him, then back to the racecourse, your frown deepening as the dots begin to connect. “Something’s going to happen.”

He straightens, giving you his full attention while subtly checking your surroundings. “El?”

“Yeah.” You can see it now: El and Sylvando neck and neck, jostling for position, doing whatever it takes for that illustrious first place. Maybe Sylvando pushes a bit too hard, or maybe he wins and throws his arms out in joy; either way, he’s hitting El and the helmet’s coming off. “He’s going to get found out.”

“Is it Sylvando?”

“I think so. I doubt it’s a coincidence that he’s suddenly in the same race as El.”

“El? Or Faris?”

“He doesn’t know it’s–” You inhale sharply, tearing your eyes away from the racecourse to stare at Erik in horror. “He doesn’t know it’s El.” Your breathing quickens. “But that would mean– You don’t think–?”

“I have no idea,” he says, slipping his hand into yours and giving it a squeeze, “but if he does try something, we’ll be down there in a second to get him out of there. Nothing’s happening to him on our watch.”

You open your mouth to reply, but then the band stops and the crowd quiets as the riders get into position at the starting line, and you have no more time to think about it. Erik gives you a nod, the look in his eyes a promise, trust me, so you do. You can keep him safe, together.

‘I love you.’

You grip Erik’s hand a little tighter. Fated or not, you will keep him safe.

Chapter Text

Ah, the Sand National. It’s the biggest event in the Gallopolitan calendar and Sylvia makes sure to be here every year.

This year, she just so happens to be participating, too!

Imagine her surprise when she heard that one of the racers was injured and unable to take part. Why, think of all the disappointed faces when only three horses walk onto the track! And on the prince’s coming of age! She couldn’t possibly stand by and do nothing, not when the alternative would be so much more exciting for everyone.

The officials were even gracious enough to let her use her own mount. And she was already dressed for the part! Lucky!

“It must be wonderful to be so popular, darling. But of course, you are used to it, being a real, live prince, hm?” she calls out to the boy – the star! – sitting regally atop his steed. The crowd certainly loves him, as they should if what she hears is true. It does make her wonder, though, what he could have been discussing during the show last night…

“The name’s Sylvando, by the way. One of the other riders had a little… whoopsie, so I had to step in at the last minute.” Oh dear, did she just imply she had a hand in it? Never mind. The show must go on! “But don’t think I’ll be going easy on you just because you’re royalty. Where would be the fun in that? Try to keep up, little Princey!”

Hmm… was that too much? Poor Princey’s lost for words, it seems.

Well, best leave him be if he’s nervous. She doesn’t particularly want to show him up on his debut performance, no matter what she says. What a let-down that would be.

But she still needs to pay him back for leaving early.

She waves to the audience, blowing kisses just like at her own show. Obviously, she isn’t the one in the spotlight today, but plenty of people still recognise the Great Sylvando and she can’t very well leave their applause unanswered now, can she?

And look! The purple boy’s friends are here! She wonders if he’ll be watching, too. What a shame it would be for her little fan to miss her performance.

The starter calls for them to line up, and she joins the other two racers at the starting line, Prince Faris following a few seconds later. She’s pleased to hear him take a deep breath beside her, clearly focused. Everyone here is a formidable rider; it wouldn’t do for him to underestimate them. Any one of them could win.

Oh, she does love a good horse race! It’s been such a long time…

She closes her eyes, feeling the shift of Margarita beneath her, the leather of the reins, the hair of her mane.

She tunes out the roar of the crowd, and the noise of the other racers.

It’s just her, and her horse, and the track.

“3! 2! 1!”

It’s going to be so much fun.

“And they’re off!”

The horses bolt off and she gets an early lead, flying along the track as easily as breathing. The wind in her hair is an old friend, kissing her face and reminiscing on the good times like the years apart never happened. She welcomes it with open arms and a smile on her face, just as she welcomes the challenge ahead.

It’s a unique track, featuring a mix of terrains and geography only found here, in Gallopolis, requiring both knowledge and experience to navigate. Back in the day, she could do it with her eyes closed, but it’s been a long time since she last rode on sand, so she takes the turns more carefully to compensate, allowing the prince and one of the other racers to overtake.

But she has almost two decades of experience at her disposal, and it isn’t all about speed.

She allows them their lead, keeping back while they jostle over the heal pads so Margarita can conserve stamina. She’s sure-footed over the stone of the bridges, and well-versed in show jumping, perfect for a comeback in the third act when the other racers have split off from one another.

She bides her time, waiting for an opening. The first to tire is the one in green, unable to keep up the pace after too many missed opportunities to heal. It’s not enough to take them out of the race completely, however, and Sylvia knows they’re just behind her, ready to take advantage of any mistake she might make.

Prince Faris maintains a constant presence in front all the while.

Time is running out, but as they take the jump leading into the final lap, she sees the opportunity she’s been waiting for. The yellow rider stumbles on the landing, slowing just a fraction to correct, and she springs into action, kicking her heels to encourage her steed to give it her all, weaving between the other rider and the wall to take second place.

She pushes Margarita to run faster. The prince has been going full tilt since the beginning of the race; a single missed heal pad or an obstacle hit is all it would take to break his stride. Sylvia has been careful, slipstreaming to save energy just for this moment.

The finish line is one turn away, and she’s gaining on him. He casts a single fleeting glance behind him before he faces forward again, urging his horse faster and veering right to block the inside.

Clever boy, but not clever enough.

He misses the heal pad and Sylvia happily takes it for herself, quickly catching up now that he’s no longer able to maintain top speed. It was impressive he managed it for so long, truthfully. They’re neck and neck going into the final straight, and she’s confident they’ll both avoid the final heal pad in favour of pushing ahead.

She’s wrong.

One minute, the prince is riding next to her, falling ever so slightly behind, and the next he’s in the air, jumping over the pumpkin to land on the heal pad and zoom to victory well before Sylvia has managed to process the sheer brilliance of that manoeuvre.

Her lips curl into a smile.

He certainly is full of surprises.

The crowd erupts, and she watches in pleasant surprise as Prince Faris gently slows to a halt and acknowledges both them and his opponents before walking his horse back inside to be tended to.

By the time he comes back, it’s clear the excitement of the race has taken its toll, but now that the main event is over, he slips into the role of Prince easily, if a bit wobblily. It’s a stark contrast to the Faris she spoke to before the race, but she isn’t one to judge. The ability to perform in all aspects is the sign of a good leader, after all.

Plus, she’s not a hypocrite.

Which is why she’s decided to pay him one last visit as thanks for a most exhilarating race before she leaves Gallopolis for the year.

The guards very helpfully point her to the correct dressing room and she throws open the doors with all the flair she’s learned over the years. “All hail Prince Faris! Pride of the desert! Horseman extraordinaire! Darling, you were fabulous! It was enough to bring a tear even to my jaded eye!”

An exaggeration, perhaps, but no less true for it, and she does so love seeing the delighted smiles of the ones receiving it.

Only, the prince doesn’t seem to know how to react to her.

And the boy next to him, with the vaguely panic-stricken expression… it’s her fan from the other day.

Wearing the exact same outfit as Faris.

“Wait…” Her smile slides from her face. “Don’t tell me you were–!! You didn’t let your understudy take the stage for the command performance?! Oh, this is too, too good!”

The drama! The tragedy! This poor, innocent boy forced into a life of crime by a wayward prince! And who should appear to rescue him but the Wandering Wonder himself? The mysterious, gallant knight swooping in to cut through the binds of servitude so they may ride away into the sunset together, happily ever after…

“Wait! Wait, but you do not understand the pressure I am under!” Faris rushes to explain, oblivious to her thoughts. “A prince of Gallopolis who cannot ride a horse is a disgrace to the kingdom! I did what was necessary for the sake of my people! And now, all can be forgotten… yes?”

Oh, she’s going to have fun with this. She takes back all the good things she thought about him. This kid plays the part alright, but that’s all it is: an act. And it’s one that will only hurt him down the line when that truth comes to light.

Everything she’s heard about the prince up to now has been nothing but positive, adoring even – he’s a knight, a fine rider, and handsome to boot, the pride of the kingdom! – but if he’s willing to lie about this, what else is he lying about? And how long does he hope to keep it up? At this rate, he’s setting everyone up for a very nasty surprise. Worse, to continue this charade into his reign as Sultan would put all of Gallopolis in danger.

What really irks her is how little he seems to comprehend that.

Someone needs to whip him into shape.

“And there was silly old Sylvando thinking that knights never retreated in the face of adversity…” she challenges. This is where her role as jester comes in handy – nobody suspects anything of the lowly fool, so they don’t bother to hide behind pretty words like they would with others.

And right on cue… “Silence! I am the prince of this kingdom, and I won’t have a travelling jester lecture me on chivalry!”

If only he knew… but then this would never work.

There’s a knock on the door, and Faris jumps. “A thousand pardons, Your Highness,” comes a voice. The prince gasps and forcefully pushes the other boy behind the screen out of view before timidly calling, “Enter.”

The guard salutes. “The Sultan wishes to see you, Your Highness. Your magnificent display of horsemanship has pleased him greatly.”

“Very good. I will come right away,” Faris responds immediately, taking the credit without a second thought.

How disappointing.

The guard salutes again and leaves, and Faris disappears behind the screen for a brief word with his stand-in before doing the same. Sylvia examines the boy appraisingly when he creeps into view. Who knew this sweet, shy boy would show such mastery in the saddle? And in front of such a crowd… it’s no wonder the prince wanted him to be the one to ride in his place, but it makes her want to race him again – properly, as himself.

Wouldn’t that be fun?

“So nice to see a royal with the common touch…” she drawls, attracting the boy’s attention. It’s cute how his cheeks pink under her gaze. “You were wonderful out there today, darling! Maybe we’ll get to share the stage again, soon.”

It’s no surprise when he can’t manage a response, so she makes her exit with another cheeky wink, just to make absolutely sure he knows there’s no hard feelings about the deception.

Now…

What to do about the prince?