Work Text:
Alfonse did not think it was a good idea, but Sharena always said he was prone to being a worrywart. Still, the thought of sending his lab partner and fellow prince of a nation through a suddenly erected tempest into a world they knew nothing about felt too dangerous and risky. But Bruno had dedicated years to studying the gates and tempests and had personally volunteered to study the other world. The courts had always been impressed with his work and granted him permission to leave his post; even the Embla royalty gave their blessing reluctantly.
“I’ll be back in a couple of moons, at most,” he said, beaming from the thrill of exploring new territory. “I won’t leave you with all my work on top of yours; I’ll create an aide for you.”
“That’s not really what I’m worried about,” Alfonse said, but Bruno did not seem to hear him. They were friends, since childhood, but it was normal for friends to worry about friends in circumstances like this. He did not think Bruno wanted to hear about how Alfonse cared about him, more than a mere friend sometimes. Bruno had other things on his mind and a little, persistent infatuation on Alfonse’s part was irrelevant at the moment.
The eve before he was to set out into the tempest, Bruno summoned a doppelganger of himself. “This is...well, me. For lack of a better explanation. He should have all my memories and knowledge, so he shouldn’t just be a husk of a body to do work for you. I’ve put my projects on hold, but he should be enough to handle my day to day tasks so you won’t have to worry about them. For simplicity’s sake - I’ve named him Zacharias, so people don’t mix up what he’ll do and what I’ve done.”
Alfonse looked at the doppelganger. He looked every bit the splitting image of Bruno, save for a dark mark across the top of his face, almost like a mask. Bruno followed his eyes and chuckled. “It’s hard to really get a perfect mirror image...I think that’s part of the failsafe of dark magic. It’s not really supposed to be used for evil, as people think. Anyway, Zacharias, this is Prince Alfonse of the Askr Kingdom. He’s the one you’re dedicating your whole lifespan to.”
“Don’t say it like that,” Alfonse said quickly.
“My hands, my eyes, my heart are yours,” Zacharias said.
“Where’s that poeticism when I’m asking for funding from the royal bank, huh?” Bruno laughed, clapping his doppelganger on the back. Alfonse stared at the ground and pretended that he did not notice Zacharias’s eyes linger on him a moment longer before following Bruno to help him pack.
“It is good to hear your voice again, my prince; we would certainly have had a diplomatic crisis on our hands if we did not hear from you soon, as I’m sure Embla wasn’t too keen to send their crown prince into the tempest.”
“Likewise, Commander Anna - things are so different in this realm, so it’s good to have something familiar again. I’ve really spent my time so far getting my bearings and locating something that would allow me to speak across worlds. I hope you’ll forgive the silence from me.”
“You’re on a scouting mission, so that’s all with the territory. Please deliver your report so far, if you will.”
The royal labs were split between historical and technological research and magical experimentation. Alfonse had always had his nose buried in a book since he was a child, so he was used to sitting in his office poring over ancient tomes and translating runes. But Bruno, whom he shared the office with, studied all forms of magic and would flit in and out of the office to the grounds or to the underground chambers where the mages perfected spells without fear of grievous harm. So Alfonse had gotten quite used to having periods alone, deep in scholarly thought.
“Isn’t,” Alfonse said, “there any project that you should be attending to? Surely you...don’t have to be sitting there watching me work?”
Zacharias shifted in the chair he was in, perched at Alfonse’s side like Sharena when she wanted him to ask her about something. “My orders are to aid you in your research when my body’s tasks are finished. You haven’t told me to do anything, so I am waiting for your instructions.”
It was hard to believe something wearing Bruno’s face was saying such accommodating things, as the real thing would immediately remember some pressing errand when Alfonse needed him for data entry. Never mind Alfonse sometimes came back from a meal he sorely needed after hours of working to find his notes organized and desk straightened with Bruno nowhere in sight - Zacharias suddenly pressed a handful of budding irises at him.
“What are these?”
Zacharias withdrew the flowers at Alfonse’s surprise, looking down at the deep blue petals. “Don’t I give you flowers when you’re feeling stressed? They’re pleasant to look at and a simple reminder of things beyond your books.”
Alfonse squeezed his quill and it leaked droplets of ink onto his paper. “Bruno said those flowers were to brighten the room since it smelled like old paper and - erm - a certain fixating prince. Those...were supposed to be gifts?”
“You should ask my body when he returns; I only act on instinct.” Zacharias waved his fingers and the flowers disappeared into a deep blue smoke. The scent of irises lingered.
“I must admit, I haven’t found anything particularly promising to bring with me back through the tempest. The technology here is curious and nothing like we’ve seen in our world, but they aren’t made from any material that could withstand the space-time movement. I would like to bring back some of their writings and battle strategies; they have seen their share of war and it would be good to see if we can find any inspiration from their previous tactics.”
“How have you been managing? Surely the tempest side on that world is drawing some attention.”
“About that...unlike in Zenith, the tempest isn’t outside in a spot where it needs to be defended. I emerged from...well, a closet within a citizen’s personal bedchambers. It seems that this person, for lack of a better term...summoned a tempest within their room and is quite taken with the fact that I’ve come through it.”
“Bruno better come back soon!” Sharena groaned, tapping her forehead against the table at the lab cafeteria. “I’m sick of not seeing my brother.”
“Huh?” Fjorm dabbed her mouth with a napkin. The weapons historian frequently worked with Alfonse to determine names of ancient swords with their names etched on their blades, but she had recently been swept up in research with her sister on a recently unearthed wind tome to date it and identify its exact ceremonial use. “I thought Bruno left behind an assistant to help with his duties.”
“He did, and that’s the problem. He’s so helpful that Alfonse is just staying in his office all the time! I’ve been bringing him meals, and once Zacharias noticed I was doing that, he started bringing the meals and now Alfonse probably won’t even see the sun for the next few days.”
“Well, wouldn’t that mean Alfonse is less busy, then? Why would that mean he won’t be leaving his office?”
“You know him. He’s on a never ending quest for knowledge. Now that there’s someone who will be at his side at all times, he can just dedicate himself to reading and throw himself headfirst into his research. Who is going to remind him to come out and talk to us now? Bruno at least sometimes dragged him out to watch some experiment, but Zacharias doesn’t know any better.”
Anna put down her fork. As one of the lab managers who oversaw progress and helped communicate new information to the world at large, she had quite the presence. She was best known for being adept at managing assistant schedules so all researchers had just the right amount of people they needed - and her pocketbook was not suffering for it either. When she drew attention to herself, it was only to make an important declaration. “Perhaps it isn’t that Bruno is bringing Alfonse out of that office like that,” she said, “but that Alfonse is looking for Bruno when he isn’t around?”
“Huh?” Sharena scratched her head. “I don’t really see how that’s different?”
Anna began clearing her place. “In any case, shall we go check on the greenhouses, Princess Sharena? Maybe you’ll find some new tea leaves that will coax your brother into leaving his office.” As Sharena clamored to take their dishes to the counter, Anna winked at Fjorm. “Don’t worry about Prince Alfonse; he’s got a good head on his shoulders and can tell one thing from another.”
Fjorm watched Anna walk away, humming contently. “Cryptic as always when it doesn’t have to do with money,” she mused.
“Is magic at that level common in that world?”
“From what I’ve seen, the people of this world do not innately possess the ability to perform magic as defined by mages and clerics; they do carry around these devices that allow them to communicate with each other from large distances. They have many kinds of these devices, so they’re a very connected world. If possible, I’d like to see if we could create something similar for Askr and Embla.”
“They’d rake in a pretty penny. I approve of this project.”
“...ever the businesswoman, of course. The person who summoned the tempest...they’ve told me that they intend to maintain the tempest in their closet for as long as they will live in this home, so I believe I will be able to return soon and we may come and go as long as we give advance notice. Of course, as this isn’t an official gate to this world, I don’t think it will last as long as the Summoner seems to think, but we should be able to return to gather more information in the near future.”
It wasn’t that Bruno was neglectful as a lab partner and childhood friend, but while Zacharias did all of Alfonse’s assignments dutifully, he also brought snacks when Alfonse realized he was hungry and brought a blanket to the office when he had dozed off after a particularly revelatory discovery from realizing a rune had multiple alternative translations. This out of character behavior reminded Alfonse that for all of Zacharias’s familiar mannerisms and appearance, this was a distinct entity from Bruno - and it perplexed him.
“Why do you do all of this?” Alfonse asked when Zacharias appeared next to him again bearing fresh parchment without being asked. “Did Bruno program you to do it? Why are you so attentive to me?”
“Because I love you,” Zacharias said. Alfonse fumbled the book in his hand and let it fall to the floor with an undignified thump. Zacharias bent over and picked it up smoothly as Alfonse gaped at him.
“You love me?” Alfonse sputtered.
The reaction made Zacharias fall silent. Placing the book back on Alfonse’s desk, he took to a pondering expression Alfonse had recognized recently as what the doppelganger took to when he did something beyond Bruno’s expectations - when Sharena stared at him for being helpful with lab training when Bruno would normally have teased her, when one of the head mages bristled at his brusque critique of an experiment when Bruno would have considered his words - Zacharias had retreated to limit any mistakes. Alfonse wondered what hard wiring was swirling in Zacharias’s being that allowed him to identify and troubleshoot any deviant behavior from what was expected from Bruno. “Well,” Zacharias said, after a moment, “I know for certain that I love you. I want to be close to you and be helpful to you because I want to see you happy. If this makes you uncomfortable...as Bruno is a friend to you...tell me, and I will make sure I don’t upset you in the future.”
“I’m not uncomfortable,” Alfonse insisted. “I mean...I guess I am a little. I wasn’t expecting anything to come of…” He trailed off. “Er, is what you see and hear going back to Bruno? Are you telepathically connected or something like that?”
“No; I am my own self. I’m merely a doppelganger, separate from the main body.”
Alfonse stared down at his desk. So Bruno would disperse the magic holding Zacharias together when he returned. He had spent so long holding it in that confessing to a clone felt less reckless and more that he had nothing to lose. “I-I love you too...Bruno, that is, I guess. After all, you’re a doppelganger, so you’re him but not him, and I’ve only known you for a few weeks, so-”
“I understand what you mean,” Zacharias interrupted, gently before Alfonse could spiral into a tangent on his own. “I take no offense. I have free will, as a doppelganger, but I suppose you could say my feelings are influenced by my main body.”
Alfonse no longer felt focused on his translations. A scary part of him wondered how long he had left with a version of Bruno who loved him; a selfish part made him squash any decorum and ask, “Will you kiss me? If I asked?”
“I will gather all the books I believe I can carry through the tempest and all the documentation for this first trip and come back within the next moon cycle. I don’t anticipate anything preventing me from returning as planned.”
“Great; I’ll let the court know we’ll be expecting you.”
“Thank you. I...know this isn’t very proper of me to be using such channels for personal purposes but I feel like I should ask...how is my lab and - Prince Alfonse?”
“We should stop.”
Zacharias leaned back. Alfonse had said that, but his hand was still against his neck. “Okay,” Zacharias said. Then, because the prince was still looking pensive, “May I ask why you’ve decided this?”
Alfonse withdrew his hands. “Because,” he started, slowly, “you’ll disappear when Bruno comes back. It doesn’t feel right - I mean, I’ve really...I like doing all this, but when Bruno’s back, he doesn’t...he won’t do this with me. So instead of pining over this - I won’t miss what I don’t have.”
“I see.” Alfonse sat on the table, hanging his head and looking at his hands in his lap. “In any case, thank you for making these memories with me.”
Alfonse glanced up. “Will you remember it when Bruno summons you again?” Zacharias could see him gently pushing back expectations - that Bruno would bring him back, that Bruno would leave again so Alfonse could have his feelings returned. It made the space behind his ribs warm; surely, despite being a magical creation, this was love.
“If my body summons me from the same place, then most likely.” Zacharias reached out and caressed his cheek; Alfonse leaned into his hand, sweetly. “Magic has a way of never forgetting.”
“I mean, it is your lab! I would be surprised if you didn’t want to know what’s been happening in your absence. Research continues, as usual; Princess Sharena has stepped in to help with some of the younger members. But with Zacharias, it seems that Alfonse’s work has continued smoothly. Frankly, I’m surprised that you haven’t just done this before; with the workload that you two take on, an extra body would definitely help. I certainly would find use for those muscles…”
“That is tempting, but creating a doppelganger strains the main body; I’m not really at one-hundred percent, but I’ve left enough for it to be fully functional while keeping enough of my energy to perform retcon. Doppelganger magic is fairly new too; I’m afraid I’ve only tested out some of its limits.”
“If you’re taking out a part of yourself to create that doppelganger, how do you know what you can leave behind? When I speak to Zacharias, it is as if I’m speaking to you; I couldn’t tell it wasn’t you, except for a few long pauses on matters that you would know best.”
“If I may be honest...and I would ask you not to share this with the King, my father, or Sharena...but I find it most effective if I can compartmentalize a part of me into my doppelganger. There are aspects of one’s personality that stays constant with a twin, but for Zacharias...I’ve left behind my affection for Alfonse. I felt it would help it serve the Prince better and has allowed me to stay focused in this realm.”
“Ah...I see, what a romantic! Well, you should hurry back, Prince Bruno. I can’t guarantee that Alfonse won’t fall in love with Zacharias instead!”
Something had happened; Bruno could tell when he came back to the royal labs and Alfonse had hung back when Sharena rushed at him and demanded to know if he had brought her a souvenir. Alfonse was not naturally super expressive, but Bruno had at least expected a welcome back, if not eyes brimming with admiration for having gone on such an unprecedented journey. He gave his preliminary report to the council, making careful notes so he could get everything down in a written report for the record. When he left the chambers, Alfonse was waiting for him.
“Welcome back,” Alfonse said. In spite of himself, Bruno laughed and ruffled his hair; so Alfonse had only been too shy to say anything in front of everyone else.
“And here I thought you were dreading me coming back. What, have you really started claiming ownership of my desk space? I promise I won’t leave my used dishware in the office until it begins to rot anymore!”
Alfonse puffed up. “You’d better. I don’t want to clean up after you.”
“Okay, okay...look, will you stop being mad at me if I give you a gift?” Bruno pulled a book from his bag. “Thank the gods that books from any realm will travel well. Here’s a classic work of literature from the world beyond the tempest. The script looks familiar; perhaps from a language from along the border?”
Alfonse took the book, although he frowned. “I didn’t say I was mad at you…” He turned the book over in his hands. “Sense, huh? I wonder if this will shed some light on the culture of the realm.”
“You’re the language expert. Say, how was Zacharias? He’s a capable doppelganger, right?” Bruno threw out his chest. “Of course he is - he’s modeled after me. You didn’t have any hang ups, did you?”
“No…”
At the sound of the office door opening, Zacharias rose from his seat. “You’re back,” he said, nodding his head at Bruno. Alfonse was trailing him, keeping his eyes down at a book in his hands.
“You didn’t give Alfonse any trouble, did you?” Bruno grinned. “Anyway, I must say I’m exhausted from all my wanderings, so I have to undo the spell; I’d like all my energy back that I can spare. Do you have anything you want to say to Alfonse before you go?”
Zacharias looked at Alfonse, who was still looking at the book. “It was nice working with you,” he said. Saying anything else in front of his body would surely be embarrassing - and he had a feeling Bruno would not want him to say it. Bruno waved a hand and Zacharias dissolved into a blue haze, crackling with energy at the edges.
“I suppose I should tell you all the work Zacharias has been doing for you since you were gone,” Alfonse said. It sounded like a sigh.
“No need,” Bruno said, bringing the haze toward him. “Once I absorb my energy back, I’ll have all the memories of the past weeks.”