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One has to ask if it's all worth it, in the end.
To go traipsing all over the world, encountering danger and dealing with suffering at every turn, only to help who you can and move on to the next stage. To be alone and lonely, meeting and making friends all over but having to leave so soon, sometimes with the chance to say goodbye but often under the cover of nightfall. Alone, lonely; a traveler and nomad for all intents and purposes.
One has to ask if it's worth it, risking death in a million gruesome ways by a million different hands who all seem to be of the same mind.
Sure, there are days of gathering food, a lucky break by the seaside or a safe place to sleep around a fire, but in the end...
Is it worth it?
Then Louis takes the amulet from his pocket, and in his darkest moments he gazes upon the face of the man he knows he's loved through a thousand lifetimes.
Never would Louis have desired this life, but he knows without a shadow of a doubt that he has been created and created again to find Harry and to love Harry and to protect him, above all. Harry, who's destiny has always been to be king, always been to be the greatest and most fair of rulers.
And Louis has heard the tales.
He's heard them everywhere he goes, whispered behind his back and told at campfires. That he's done this so many times before; paved the way for Harry to take his rightful place, fought back the forces to give him the kingdom he deserves.
Louis knows in his heard that it's true.
So, is it worth it? Traveling through fire and blizzard, snowstorm and gale? Fighting off goblins and invaders, demons and men gone insane with greed and lust? Is it worth it, being ridiculed by everyone he comes across because they already believe that there is no hope left for the kingdom, that everyone should lay down their weapons in defeat now, and face the end?
Louis tucks the amulet back into his pocket and goes back to polishing his sword. Of course it's worth it. Because at the end of this journey, the part that the stories always seem to leave out, is the part where he will get to sit at the feet of his prince, his beloved, his betrothed, as Harry takes his rightful spot on the throne. The part where they will lie together between the sheets in the dark of nightfall without fear, the part where they will lie together with fingers entangled in the dewey grass of the palace, the part where they grow old together embraced in each other’s love.
He knows it’s coming. He just needs to get there. So he steadies himself for another night asleep under the cover of an old and broken place of worship, and sends up a prayer to the Goddess.
Let him know I’m coming, because I’ll get there soon, and it’ll all be worth it.