Chapter Text
The tour had already ended.
The iron door of the demonstration cell shut with a heavy clang, the echo rolling through the stone hallways of the brand new Law Headquarters.
Law HQ still smelled like fresh stone and sawdust. Workers and soldiers returned to their new homes, proud of the structures they had created in only a single day while Flame had been gone.
Outside the HQ building, LettuceK stopped walking beside FlameFrags.
Lettuce clasped his hands behind his back politely.
“Well,” he said calmly, gesturing to the building they had just left, “that would be where the reformation would take place.”
Flame didn’t respond.
Lettuce continued in the same friendly tone he always used when negotiating.
“My deal stands. Clear out your inventory and sit in the cells for two weeks. You will be given proper food and bedding, but I want you to reflect on what you’ve done. This is meant to encourage reflection and possible reformation.”
Still nothing.
So Lettuce gave the final offer.
“I’ll give you three days to decide.” He stepped back slightly. “After that, if you agree to reform, you may return and we will begin the process.”
Flame turned without a word.
“Fighting you is not what I want to do right now. It always ends up leading to something horrible.”
Boots echoed across the stone pathway as he walked toward the exit of the city.
Lettuce watched him go for a moment.
Then he sighed lightly and turned away as well, beginning to walk back to the entrance where Deputy_Ace was waiting.
Negotiations with Flame rarely went smoothly.
But at least it hadn’t turned violent.
That alone counted as success.
He had taken only a few steps when Flame stopped walking.
Not gradually.
Abruptly.
His body went still in the pathway.
For a moment he didn’t move at all.
Then slowly, his head lifted.
Inside his mind, something shifted.
Memories slammed into place.
Wemmbu’s capture and announced execution.
Lomedy’s words inside his prison cell.
Battles.
Armies.
Law defeated but not disbanded.
Parrot crowned king of Unstable.
His two Law teammates dying beside him.
Arachnid’s fifty soldiers rushing him at once.
All Flame could feel in his head was pain. Enough to make him want to split his head open and let the thoughts fly out.
Flame inhaled sharply.
“…Oh.”
The voice was quiet.
Different.
Older.
His hand pressed against his forehead as the memories settled.
So it worked.
He lowered his hand slowly.
Law Headquarters looked the same as he remembered, except that the HQ building was expanded to hold a prison underneath and offices for higher ranks.
It was just new stone, new banners, and new soldiers. Everything still untouched by the future.
Flame exhaled.
“…Good.”
Lettuce was already approaching Deputy_Ace, who stood in the doorway.
“Lettuce.”
The voice echoed calmly in the night.
Lettuce stopped immediately. He turned back, mildly surprised.
Flame was walking toward him again.
Slow.
Measured.
Flame stopped a few steps away.
Then he just stared.
Lettuce waited politely.
One second.
Two.
Five.
Ten.
The silence stretched long enough to make Lettuce uncomfortable. He began to look slightly uncertain.
“…Is something wrong?” Lettuce asked finally.
Flame didn’t answer right away.
He simply studied him.
This version of Lettuce looked the same.
Same posture.
Same polite expression.
But the future had changed how Flame saw him.
This was the version who still believed the Law could help people.
The one who hadn’t started making ruthless decisions yet.
He was just…
Innocent.
Flame spoke.
“How about I make a deal with you.”
Lettuce blinked.
That was not the response he had expected.
“…A deal?”
Flame nodded once.
“If you upgrade my base, I’ll work for you.”
The words hung in the air.
Lettuce blinked again, frowning slightly.
“…Upgrade your base?”
Flame gestured vaguely toward the mesa mountains outside the city walls.
“You’ve seen it.”
A pause.
“The mountain one.”
Recognition crossed Lettuce’s face.
“Yes, I remember.”
The base carved into the side of a mountain.
Functional but nothing impressive.
Flame folded his arms.
“Make it worthy of the title.”
“Err… your Immortal Demon title?” Lettuce raised an eyebrow in confusion.
Flame continued calmly.
“Yes. And build it like a commander’s base.”
Now Lettuce was truly confused.
“A commander? Commander of what?”
Flame nodded.
“I’ll train your soldiers.”
Deputy_Ace, who had been about to call out, fell silent.
Lettuce studied Flame carefully.
“You’re offering to work for the Law?”
“Yes.”
“But not as a soldier.”
Flame’s tone sharpened slightly.
“I’m not disposable, Lettuce.”
Lettuce tilted his head.
“Eh? Disposable?”
Flame looked away for a moment.
“Soldiers die first,” he said matter of factly. “I’m not doing that.”
Lettuce considered that.
“And you want to become a commander instead. Is that right?”
“Yes.”
Flame’s voice returned to its calm, steady tone.
“You get someone who can fight entire armies alone.”
A small pause.
“I train your army. You get stronger soldiers.”
Then he added bluntly,
“And I don’t get thrown at problems like a pawn.”
Lettuce folded his arms thoughtfully.
“That is quite the proposal.”
Flame shrugged slightly.
“You wanted me to reform.”
Lettuce nodded.
“That is the plan.”
Flame gestured lazily toward the building they had just left.
“I’m not doing that, bro.”
“…Why?”
Flame answered without thinking.
“Because being stuck in a prison cell is annoying, bro.”
The sentence left his mouth.
And the moment it did, Lettuce frowned.
“Wait. Annoying?”
Flame realized the mistake.
Because Lettuce slowly tilted his head.
“That’s an interesting way to phrase it.”
A small pause followed.
“Especially considering you have never been placed in one.”
Flame looked away.
“…Just a guess, bro.”
Lettuce watched him carefully now.
Something about Flame felt different.
His posture.
His tone.
Even the way he spoke.
Like someone who had already lived through things that hadn’t happened yet.
Flame cleared his throat quietly.
“…Also.”
Lettuce waited.
Flame suddenly looked slightly awkward.
He rubbed the back of his neck.
“If you’re upgrading the base anyway…”
Lettuce raised an eyebrow.
“Yes?”
Flame spoke a little more quietly.
“Could you get me a visor or something, bro.”
“A visor?”
“Or glasses.”
Lettuce blinked.
“Glasses?”
Flame nodded.
“Like a spyglass.”
Now Lettuce looked genuinely confused.
“Huh.”
Flame gestured vaguely around him.
“I can’t see very well.”
Another pause.
Lettuce stared at him.
“You have trouble seeing?”
Flame shrugged slightly.
“Distance mostly.”
That explained a few things in hindsight, but it was still unexpected.
Flame looked back at him seriously now.
“One more condition.”
Lettuce nodded slowly.
“Go on.”
Flame’s voice became firm.
“If you start becoming a dictator…”
Lettuce stiffened slightly.
“…or start using underhanded methods.”
His eyes beneath the blindfold locked onto Lettuce’s.
“I leave.”
Lettuce studied him for a long moment, then smiled slightly.
“That seems fair.”
Flame relaxed a fraction.
Lettuce extended his hand.
“Commander Flame, then?”
Flame looked at the hand.
After a moment, he shook it.
Ace in the back looked stunned.
Because the most dangerous player on the server had just joined the Law.
Flame had been so adamant just moments ago about not associating with the Law or rehabilitation.
What was different now?