Work Text:
The sounds of banging kept echoing in his head, a dazed look directed at the door as the cogs in his brain tried to turn, but it was for naught. His mind was going blank with the thoughts of these people trying to enter this train car. He knew who they were, but how did he know them?
Going back through his memories, he attempted to squeeze out every bit of information he could still get his hands on. Asking himself questions so it'll be easier to find answers, and so he thought, when did he ever meet the people he was tasked to watch endlessly? He could feel the familiarity between him and this group of people beyond the area of this train car. He could accurately list off their names, Jung Heewon, Shin Yoosung, Lee Jihye, Lee Hyunsung, Jang Hayoung and certain constellations. He felt like he knew them, but at the same time he didn't, the only one he could vividly remember was the man Yoo Jonghyuk.
He was reading a couple moments ago about them all with a few others added into the mix, there was a Han Sooyoung, Lee Gilyoung and a Yoo Sangah that he could vaguely remember as… comrades in arms? The previous ones he had mentioned in his head were characters from a book he read, but even the name of that book was starting to become blurry. Ways of survival, wasn’t that it’s nickname, who wrote it again, tls123 right? Memories falling into the background, the fables crumbling off his fingers, he curled them, trying to hold onto the fragments of his very being. These were his stories, he knew that much at least, but he suddenly felt hesitant, he shouldn’t be holding onto them, but why is that? There was this innate urge to let them go. Though, he really didn’t know why he felt that way, sadly the phrase ignorance is bliss in this situation didn’t soothe him at all. Terror, anxiety and being nervous, it’s like he was anticipating a rather big event to happen. He watched his limbs slowly become smaller and smaller in front of his eyes. He was scared and a sudden string of words were choked out of his throat.
⸢”I’m Yoo Jonghyuk.”⸥
Trembling as he heard himself say this, it brought him an inexplicable sense of loss and sadness. This despondency that he didn’t know the origins of brought him to tears, pitiful sobs were let loose as the figure cried and scooted over into one of the corners. He wanted to feel safe, brave and courageous. And so he opened his mouth again to say his version of a battle cry against his fears.
⸢”I’m Yoo Jonghyuk.”⸥
⸢”I’m Yoo Jonghyuk.”⸥
⸢”I’m Yoo Jonghyuk.”⸥
He kept repeating this sentence over and over again, he didn’t know why he had said the very same words that kept him on edge and on the brink of collapsing in his own sorrows, but he couldn’t stop. It was as if it was something that had been ingrained in him for a long time. A bad habit that he wasn’t able to get rid of, or rather shouldn’t. A pull, a tug, a sort’ve longing towards that name, it was warm, but far out of his grasp and that was what terrified him. Losing someone dear to him, but not completely knowing why he was dear to him, a character that kept him going throughout his days. Yoo Jonghyuk is just a character, a fictional character in a book he didn’t know the full name of, but loved nonetheless. Something was tearing at him and more of his stories flew off, as he watched them leave with solemn eye’s.
[“Get out of the way Yoo Jonghyuk!”]
This fable played a scene, a scene he should be the most familiar with. A figure that looked like himself ran forward with all his might as he allowed himself to be hit by the ether storm. His body, a complete mess and at the brink of death.
[“…Kim Dokja?"]
The pure shock laced within that man's usually cold voice made him flinch. Yes, he remembered this, it was a rare moment of weakness for Yoo Jonghyuk.
[“Kim Dokja!”]
So much tension had filled the air during that time, it even confused him for a second, wondering why this man was even acting this way.
[“Hey, kill me. You usually want to kill me.”
“What do you mean?”
“There is one minute left so I’ll let you kill me. Kill me.”
“Wait Kim Dokja! It isn’t too late.”
“It is too late.”
“It isn’t!”
“If you kill me now then you can gain coins. I’m already dying. Just kill me.”]
There it was, after the shock came the denial. Even now it was a little unbelievable to see this almost empty husk of a regressor show any sort of emotion. Especially one that disturbed him so much.
[“I can’t do it.”]
That voice sounding so utterly bitter caught him off guard, maybe it was because he was on his deathbed that he wasn't able to realize this. He had cried his eyes out just a second ago and now he could feel himself start to feel stuffy, wanting to cry again.
[“I’m going to kill you, Shin Yoosung.”]
Then after that he could see this 3rd round regressor set his sights on the 41st Shin Yoosung's life. Kim Dokja had been a spectator for this entire ordeal, watching as the Disaster of floods face contorted in confusion. Wondering who exactly he was for the man in front of her to be so agitated over.
[“…That guy.”
“He is my companion.”]
A fragment of a story about life and death companions, it featured him and Yoo Jonghyuk. Tears fell once again and this time rather than a frown it was a smile that adorned his pale face. He didn’t get it, but he instinctively knew that he really wasn’t just a character, he was his saviour and the very man he grew close to. They had lived through a world of hardships together, along with everyone else.
Everyone else?
There was a sudden pounding in his head, a pain he couldn’t quite describe, loud metallic bangs on the door made it worse. Memories trying to float to the surface by force made it hard for Kim Dokja to even think at that moment. Chaos ensued past that door, he could tell, someone was out there, no not just a singular person, but many people were out there, trying to forcefully enter. He couldn’t quite ponder over this fact because the agony he felt had just increased. The screams of a woman could be heard on the other side. These yells and noises had been going on for a couple minutes, he could practically feel the desperation in those voices.
Even the sudden surges of unimaginable power were screaming out, looking for something in a panic. They wanted something, no, they needed it, he didn’t know what exactly this something was, but it’s obviously important. Important and special enough that they’d sacrifice so much for it and that made his chest ache. This discomfort overcame him and he came to mutter out soothing words to himself.
"...It’s okay, It's okay, it's okay."
"...I’ll be fine, I'll be fine, I'll be fine!"
This situation really did remind him of the past, a dog eat dog world never changed and it still hurt him all the same. No matter how much he grew used to it. No matter how strong he became, even to the point where he's a god himself, the world that’s essentially his was still hurting him. He is still the same fragile kid he was back in school.
“Kim Dokja! Say something!”
“Kim Dokja!”
“...Han Sooyoung?”
Right, he knew her, he really did and he knew the others probably fighting alongside her right now, but even if he came over to them, to be with the rest of them, he was no longer the whole 51% of himself. Rather he was just a sliver left, no one would be able to tell if he even had 5% intact.
“Dok-Ja-ssi! Answer us! You can hear us, right??”
“Ahjussi!”
“Hyung!”
“I can’t say something that cringy, anyway! So, just come out already!!”
These are the voices of the people he held most dear, it was coming back to him as he watched more of his fables leave his body, looking at the pieces of their stories. They were trying to remind him of all the times he’s spent with them, all the sacrifices he has made for their happy ending after the original story was finished.
“Kim Dokja! I know you’re in there! We talked about this, didn’t we?! Even if we can’t reach each other, even if we can’t meet, we gotta keep pounding on the wall until the end, right?? Even if the wall would never open up, we agreed to keep writing something on it, didn’t we?!”
“When we do that, then maybe, someone might end up seeing our words someday….!”
“Please! Say something! Anything! Please-!”
Jang Hayoung… a character he had a hand in creating, no, a person he helped out, so that she can live her life was shouting for him. Ever since the first time they met in the demon realm to now, she had always been helping him, just like everyone else. He could see the uncertainty in her eyes, knowing that she had been with him far less than the rest, but Kim Dokja accepted her all the same. It might have taken a bit, but he did welcome her at some point with open arms.
Many others kept calling out his name, but the sounds of explosions, their surprised screams and the unrelenting stamps of their feet obstructed their pleas towards him.
But, it wasn’t just that that caught his attention, oh no, it was something much bigger and more profound. The feeling of his other half nearby on the other side of this wall. They were trying to change the ■■, his ■■ by using the Kim Dokja who remembered everything that had to do with the members of their nebula.
Arm trembling as it reached out in that direction, the strength leaving him as the sentences that formed his fables, were strewn across the floor of the 3807 train car. Feeling his body float off the ground and fly to the center, his consciousness started to betray him. Moving his eyes to the entrance, he could see his companions start to flood in and the other him was stepping closer and closer to him.
“Ah….?”
“Ah… Ah, I’m…..”
⸢No.⸥
⸢Please go back, don’t come any closer, or I won’t be able to grant them their wish.⸥
Pleading almost, as he prayed these thoughts would reach his other half, but it was all in vain. He kept going closer and soon his other self started to break down, the bits and pieces flying off that body soared towards him, absorbing his 49%.
“Grab him!”
His other half turned to look at Han Sooyoung yelling out to him. Her body propelling forward, her arm outstretched just so she could catch him.
⸢I’m sorry⸥
A shiver went through him, that part of him knew what he was doing, what he was planning and what would inevitably happen. Han Sooyoung wasn't fast enough, the fragments from his Avatar had long scattered and all that was in her palms is the dust it left behind.
Forcing more of his stories to be expelled out of his body and into all the corners of the Universe with rigour. The author of this world responded in kind, yelling out to him in a frenzy, jumping up just to get to his floating body.
Then the fourth wall appeared, keeping her from him, and in that moment, his body took the chance to have even more of his fables overflow. His sight slowly getting more and more blurred by the sentences of his own stories. There was nothing left for him to do, but keep waiting for himself to completely disintegrate and become one with the universe.
Even if he screamed, there was no way he'd be able to hear himself in this hurricane of words, amalgamations of sentences telling his life swirled around him and out into the vastness.
“You son of a bitch! You promised to read my novel, didn’t you?!”
A grim, but cocky smirk came onto his lips, he wanted to retort that he had already read her novel, afterall she is tls123. But he couldn’t, because in a way he didn’t fulfill the promise, he didn’t read a novel from the present day Han Sooyoung.
The pop up screen appeared in front of him, he was able to read it in time before the flood of fables drowned it out.
[Constellation, ‘Architect of the False Last Act’, is unleashing all of her Fables!]
“Yoo Jonghyuk!”
He was coming, the same feeling Kim Dokja had got right after the completion of the first scenario when he saw Yoo Jonghyuk starting to destroy the door came back at full force. A familiar black jacket came into the view, the person wearing it was pushing through the storm. This strange sense of excitement rushed through him, as that hand covered in scars grabbed him by the collar, their eyes making contact.
“It’s time to go back, Kim Dokja.”
The world was engulfed in darkness after that, so many messages appeared in front of The Most Ancient Dream.
[Your ■■ is changing!]
[Your ■■ is ‘Epilogue’]
They had changed his ■■ , but that didn’t necessarily mean that they had gotten the ending they wanted. Kim Dokja knew his final moments before he let himself go would be in front of Yoo Jonghyuk. This man would be the very last thing he sees, eyelids falling to a close, it was just like that time when he became the Demon King of Salvation.
「Incarnation Kim Dokja will be killed by the person he loves most.」
Yes, in a sense he really was killed back then by the person he loved most, he hadn’t fully realized it until now. Now of all times, he wasn’t sure what the future held for him, all he knew is that he wouldn’t be there by their sides for an indefinite amount of time. Another piece of the story appeared:
“Let’s meet again, Yoo Jonghyuk.”
He smiled, there was no guarantee this time that they’d ever be able to meet again, but there was a bit of hope in his heart. If they truly did meet again, maybe it might be in the form of another him in a different world.
It was then that he had fully fallen into a deep sleep, the universe did not mourn for his loss, the only ones who would are his allies and his precious life and death companion.
They all had finally reached the end of their Epilogue.