Chapter Text
Deep down, Jeremy knew that this was probably a bad idea.
“Hey, don’t worry,” Matt reassured him for the millionth time, evidently noticing the way Jeremy kept adjusting various parts of his disguise, “Listen man, worst comes to worst, we have to go back to the castle. You’re a king , dude. Nobody’s gonna fuck with you in public.”
“Yeah…” Jeremy muttered, shifting his cloth mask up higher against his nose, “But still, I’ve got a bad feeling about it.”
“Oh come on ! You said that before coming to the kingdom, and nothing bad happened!”
“You were literally put into a coma, Matt.”
“And I got better, didn’t I?”
Jeremy rolled his eyes half-heartedly. It was true, a lot of good things had happened, but there was still the situation with Matt, and not to mention the blood mage that he and the other Lads had encountered. Just thinking of it made his skin crawl.
“Oh hey!” Matt exclaimed, pulling Jeremy from his troubled thoughts with a pointed finger, “There it is!”
“There’s what ?” Jeremy asked, following Matt’s pointing to a seemingly inconspicuous cart with a moderately long line.
“That doughnut cart I saw, back when I was younger! Man , I heard they still have the best ones in the city.”
“You wanna buy one, don’t you?”
“I’ll be like, two minutes.”
“Just go,” Jeremy said, giving Matt a playful push, “I’ll be here, even when you get diabetes.”
Matt flipped him off, but quickly joined the line as Jeremy stood off to the side of the crowd, content to watch the hustle and bustle of the various people from various kingdoms mingle. It reminded him of his own kingdom, a patchwork of culture and belief unified under a single banner. However, unlike the people there, his was a permanent affair. Hopefully.
“Hey bud,” A nasally, familiar voice called out, “You able to spare a coin to some adventurers so they can grab a pint?”
Internally, Jeremy swore, but on the outside he simply nodded, refusing to look at the three adventurers as he plopped a couple golden coins into a pair of gloved hands. He had hoped they would’ve just fucked off, seen he didn’t want to be bothered, or that at least Matt would be back by then, but those hopes were dashed as they stood there.
“ Jeremy ?” The nasally one asked, at least having the decency to drop his voice to a hushed whisper, “That you?”
“Pubert,” Jeremy replied, pitching his voice in a slightly different way than his usual speech, “Thought you hated The Banquet, what’re you doing here?”
“What are you doing here? I thought royalty was meant to stay in the castle, look all pretty as they boss their people around.”
“Oh fuck off, Pubert,” Jeremy snapped, glaring at the dark-haired ex-noble, “You know damn well I’m not like them.”
“Coulda fooled me, with the way you’ve been holed up in your castle,” Pubert waved away the other people with him, a couple of younger faces that Jeremy didn’t recognize. “Rumor has it you’re even starting to get all buddy-buddy with them. Didn’t realize all it took was a fancy new crown to start corruption.”
“It’s called diplomacy , you dipshit. You should learn about it sometime.”
“Oh please , as if you or any of those other fucks know anything about that. I mean, after all, how’d you get your crown again?”
“By fighting for the people , Pubert. You know, I didn’t ask for this--”
“Oh, of course not. You didn’t ask for the castles or the servants or the stolen land--”
“Ryan’s got enough guilt about that, Pubert. People like you don’t need to keep dredging it up, especially since he’s working on being better.”
“Oh stars above ! You’ve really gone native , haven’t you? You really think he’s apologetic ?”
“I know he is. Trust me.”
“Sorry, your majesty ,” Pubert spat the hushed words at Jeremy, venom infused in every one as the adventurer’s face contorted into rage, “But I have a hard time trusting royalty nowadays, especially those who are so buddy-buddy for a man who hasn’t paid nearly enough for his actions.”
“Why are you here , Pubert?” Jeremy asked, unflinching even as the taller man began inch into his personal bubble, “I imagine it wasn’t to get drunk and spit in my face.”
“I’m here for a good reason, Jeremy. You’re not privy to it, I’m afraid, but just know this: We all get what we deserve in the end.”
Jeremy’s nerves suddenly shot to high-alert, a sick feeling moving out from his stomach to the rest of his body, the distant bad feeling blooming into almost full-blown sickness. Before he had the chance to question Pubert further, the sound of rapidly approaching footsteps caught Jeremy’s attention.
“Oh, hey Pubert,” Matt interjected, a fresh doughnut in either hand, “Is there a problem here?”
“So what if there is?”
“Well,” Matt handed off a doughnut to Jeremy, smiling too politely, his tone strained with how calm it was as he spoke, “If there’s a problem, I highly suggest you deal with it in some other way, because that guy right there is not only my boss, but my friend , and lemme tell you… I would do some pretty crazy shit to keep him safe. You know what I mean?”
Pubert glared between Matt and Jeremy, before an unsteady serenity passed over his face.
“Of course . My sincerest apologies, Matt. I’ll be going now, but be sure to watch your friend closely . You never know when someone is about to go missing.”
And with that, Pubert disappeared into the crowd, something he was always rather good at. Matt gave Jeremy a look of mild concern, but Jeremy waved it off. He still couldn’t shake that sick feeling he had, like all his instincts were telling him that something horrible was finally on the precipice of occuring. Matt must’ve picked up on it, because the taller man gave Jeremy a firm pat on the back.
“C’mon, let’s not let one asshole ruin our time here. There’s a tavern here in town that’s only open during the festival, wanna go check it out?”
---
Jeremy still remembered when he first met Pubert, just a week after he and Matt had been full inducted into the guild. Pubert had been friendly enough, a bit of a bum sometimes, but they had never had any issues. It was actually Pubert who had sent Jeremy down the path of revolution, always talking about how awful the nobility and royalty was, people nodding along and tacking on their own stories that were all eerily similar to things Matt and Jeremy had experienced.
Meeting Pubert that day at the festival, though? Jeremy wasn’t sure what to think, but he was positive that he felt sick.
“When the fuck did Pubert become such a dick ?” Matt asked, knocking back another shot of whatever the hell it was they were drinking in the private back room of the tavern, “I mean, he was always a bit of an asshole, but come on ! It’s not your fault they wanted you to be a king, I mean, what did he think would happen?”
“I dunno,” Jeremy said, though his voice was hollow as his mind wandered, “I know a lot of people weren’t happy about the treaty.”
“That’s the thing! Like, okay, I get it. We all hated the nobility and the royalty, I’ve still got problems with some of the stuff they do, but what did they think ? That we’d keep fighting until all the kingdoms were destroyed and try to figure something out then? Fuck that! Most of the people who got angry about us getting our own kingdom were people who didn’t even fight.”
“Like Pubert.”
“Like fucking Pubert. Coward got one glimpse of an opposing army and ran off. He’s lucky we didn’t brand him a traitor!”
“That’s not how we work, Matt.”
“I know it’s not, Jeremy. He’s lucky it’s not how we work.”
They fell into silence after that, simply drinking and thinking, though Matt would occasionally try to start up another conversation that inevitably failed. Eventually, though, Jeremy sighed.
“I did all this to change things, Matt. I agreed to become the king because I decided I would be different , but… What if I end up just like the others?”
“How d’ya mean?” Matt slurred, and Jeremy knew the guy was fucking sloshed , but hopefully that only meant that they wouldn’t have to bring up the conversation again.
“Like… They’re not bad people! They’re not bad rulers, either, they’re just… Misguided. They’ve made mistakes, they all know it, and they acknowledge it, but they’re all stuck in their ways, their traditions. They think they know what’s best, and forget that their people may have a different opinion sometimes, you know?”
“Yeah…” Matt said quietly, “Geoff’s not keen on magic, and when you’re a sorcerer born in his kingdom…”
“Exactly! I’m supposed to be The People’s King, but what if I forget that? What if I start ruling for so long, I forget who I’m meant to be? What if I break my vow one day, and not even realize it until it’s too late and I have to repair it?”
The two men sat in silence for a minute, digesting Jeremy’s fears, and not for the first time. There had been a lot of discussions about it back during the war, even before Jeremy had been declared the king. Jeremy knew he shouldn’t doubt himself so much, but he couldn’t help it, especially when it wasn’t just him doubting his abilities.
“Listen man, I don’t know what the fuck Pubes said to you, but I’ve known you for how long now? I saw you at your lowest point, and you’ve worked hard to get where you are now, and I know you’re gonna keep working hard to do good. So, you’re gonna be fine , Jeremy.”
“Thanks, Matt. I appreciate it.”
“Don’t mention it. You can repay me by buying me more drinks.”
“Sorry man, I’m gonna cut you off before you pass out and I have to carry you back to the castle.”
“Fine,” Matt muttered, pouting as he finished off his last drink, “The least you could do is give me a pass on the masquerade ball tomorrow night.”
“Sorry man. If I gotta go, you gotta go too.” Jeremy joked, though at the thought of the ball, he felt his nausea spike again. Something was wrong .
The ball… What Pubert said… His vendetta against royalty…
“Jeremy?” Matt asked, snapping his fingers and bringing Jeremy back, “You good?”
Jeremy shook his head, keeping his breathing even and slow so he wouldn’t hork up anything he had eaten that day. He felt like he was about to have a breakthrough, but it set every inch of his nerves on edge to the point where he felt like he was about to be overloaded. Matt must’ve noticed, because he suddenly seemed a lot more sober than he had been before.
“I think it’s time we got back home.” Matt said seriously, helping Jeremy stand after he pulled his mask back on, “We’ll talk more later.”
Jeremy knew they would, he only hoped he could figure out what was going on by then.
---
Jeremy woke up with a gasp, his skin crawling and covered with a thin but uncomfortable layer of sweat. He rubbed his face, practically scrubbing it as he glanced around his darkened room, the screaming echoes of his nightmare already fading into the back of his mind. His hands were shaking, and he suddenly found he had way too much energy to sleep any more that night.
No matter what you give, it will never be enough.
The phrase repeated itself like a mantra, over and over and over, and though Jeremy didn’t quite know the context, he knew enough about his own dreams and nightmares to know it wasn’t anything good. His nausea had finally subsided, allowing him to breathe a bit easier, but even as the adrenaline from his nightmare was flushed from his system, his nerves were on fire.
Something was going to happen, and Jeremy didn’t know how to stop it, or if he could.