Chapter Text
"This is the biggest rip-off ever!" Lance snapped, throwing a book on the dashboard of the car, and crossing his arms over the chest.
At that moment he looked like a twelve-year-old boy, but could he be wrong? He had been following the Shadow Hunter saga for years, buying books every time they came out, signing up for forums to discuss theories, even going to meet the author. He had had to force Hunk to follow him, but it had been a glorious day.
"Wasn't that your favorite?" Rebecca asked him, without taking her eyes off the road.
There was hellish traffic, unbearable heat and the air conditioning didn't work. It seemed an omen of what his new school year at Garrison would be like.
"No, no, you don't understand. It's good, but it's bad! It's so fucking bad!"
Rebecca started chuckling but Lance kept going, "The story is great! World's best build of, like, ever. And the other books of the saga were great! But this ... this is fucked up!"
"Mhm mmmh."
"Seriously, all the story arcs, the development of the protagonist ... all thrown away! After seven books, the ending simply sucks. The protagonist's rival, the Drifter, the one who tried to ... do his best, you know? ... he wasn't quite the best of hunters, but he was trying to help people, because he believed in the mission ... it turns out he's a traitor, and he caused a massacre for no damn good reason! I mean, him? He hated killing and out of the blue ... don't let me talk about the protagonist. Fuck, what the check ... "
"Language," Rebecca scolded him.
“Don’t fucking patronize me,” he hissed back.
Lance was rightly angry. He had been waiting for the finale for years, he had stayed up late for any spoilers on the internet, to read the theories of the fans.
Now, he wasn't unhappy because it wasn't the ending he wanted.
He was not the author. But he was angry that the work of years had gone to hell to fall into the banal fanservice that the readers did not want.
The Shadow Hunter was a work of art with every letter. The way the main character and the plot evolved was perfect; the writing was superb: the emotions, the power lines, the philosophy behind it.
Of course, Lance loved it.
Too bad it all went to hell in the last book.
The protagonist was Keith, an orphan boy who grew up in the woods with his older brother Shiro: he was rude and not very sociable, but an exceptional warrior, with crazy potential.
His life was turned upside down the day the demons attacked his house and kidnapped his brother. Keith could only watch helplessly as Shiro was taken away. He swore revenge and began his journey to save him. He found an old hunter who saw his talent and began to train him, he faced without fear all the trials, the pains, the privations, all for his brother.
Lance didn't particularly like the character, too good at everything at the point to seem a god, but he admired the dedication.
But after seven books, various vicissitudes, numerous death risks, Keith had to kill Shiro because he is the new Demon King.
It was both genius and an absolute Wtf?
Had Keith suffered unnecessarily? Was it all in vain?
If at least there was a real dialogue, with Shiro explaining his reasons for making everything more understandable. But no, he didn't.
Shiro had become a flat character, with no IQ and just power-hungry.
His death was necessary to save the world, and if after there was a moment of reflection and several chapters of Keith dealing with grief, Lance might as well have accepted it.
It wasn't like that, there were other useless fights, threesomes he didn't want to read, and Keith was named the new Demon King, with two wives by his side as queens.
Keith, who had never paid attention to any female characters, ended up going hormonal in the last few chapters.
Once again, what the fuck?
What was the point of making him, Demon King? To keep the balance? And the hunters? All the deaths? Nobody was talking about Shiro?
Too many questions and no answers, because that was the ending and they had to be satisfied.
Hell, no.
Lance deserved better.
At that moment, his cell phone vibrated. He took it and widened his eyes as he read the message.
"Are you fucking kidding me?!"
"Lance ..." Rebecca warned him.
"There will be another book!" Lance exclaimed, completely swallowing her.
"Isn't that a good thing?" Rebecca asked.
"No! I don't need the author to spoil it anymore! "
"What if he explains the plot holes of the previous one?"
"Mhm, no. Look…"
And he proceeded to put the phone in front of her face. Rebecca quickly moved it to him, "Lance, not while I'm driving."
“We are on the highway. What could happen? "
"It does not matter. The driver is not distracted - she retorted - Read it."
"Umfp ... according to rumors, the eighth book of the Shadow Hunter saga will be set twenty years after the events of the last book and will feature Keith's children vying for the throne and favor of their father. Love, sex, and intrigue in Matthew Holt's new novel… no, really, bad father Keith? Ok, he never had a father, but he had Shiro, Prongs, that guy in the forest… come on, he had examples of good parenting. It does not make sense. It's the classic oh he always wanted a family, and then in the sequel, the protagonist is a bad father, what did you expect? Then ... then I'm not interested in intrigues for the throne ... ok, maybe a little bit, there is a lot of politics that has been ignored for useless scenes ... but the whole plot is likely to be ignored for the romantic subplot. "
"I thought you liked love stories."
"I love the romance in a story. I hate it when authors force romance into a couple that has no chemistry. Keith and Allura were good companions on the quest, but nothing more. And Acxa had tried to kill him, like, half a dozen times. How the hell did they end up together? "
“Fanservice, little brother. The rotten part of the fandom. "
"It sucks."
"Do not talk to me about it. There was this show on Netflix from Dreamwork, with super technological space lions and an alien princess ..."
Lance did not hear her finish the sentence: as the traffic finally passed, a truck overturned on the road in front of them and crushed them.
The last thing Lance heard was his sister shouting his name.
LOADING THE SYSTEM ... PLEASE WAIT ... LOADING ...
DOWNLOAD SHADOW HUNTER SET
15%... 30% ... 50% ... 70% ... 83% ... 100%
Welcome to your new life. Enjoy the experience.
Lance woke up with the worst headache of his life. The light coming in from the window hurt his eyes, and he rolled over in bed grumbling ''another five minutes. "
There was a heavy knock on the door, but he ignored it. They kept knocking, and he put his head under the pillow.
Finally, they were done. Lance relaxed and thought he could go back to sleep.
The door suddenly flew open and a man said, "Damn, Drifter. Are you still in bed?"
At that point, Lance raised his head. Had he just said, Drifter? He did not have time to realize what was happening that the man grabbed him from the bed and loaded him on his shoulders.
"Hey!"
"There is no time to make yourself beautiful. The Council will meet in fifteen minutes and all hunters must be present. "
Council. Hunters.
Why was Lance having a bad sense of déjà-vu? Then, he remembered: the accident, the truck crashing into the car, Rebecca's screams. And the stupid update on his cell phone.
He felt a strong sense of nausea.
Was he dead? Will he never become a pilot? Will he never see the stars?
"Oh my God ... Rebecca was with me ..."
Was his sister dead too? Where was she? Rebecca was over too… wherever that place was? He was not understanding anything, his head was a skein to unravel and he needed calm and time to calm down and come to terms with… with everything.
"Let me get off."
"No."
"Let me down or I'll throw up on you."
"You won't.”
"Well, I'm not feeling very well right now ..."
The threat served, and with a snort, the man let him down. Lance gave him a long look: he was massive, taller than him, broad shoulders, dark skin, and a yellow bandana around his forehead. He wore a green cloak and brown clothes, practical for work. He looked familiar.
"Hunk?" Lance said.
It wasn't his best friend, he was much older, serious, and with a scar over his eyebrow. But for a painful moment, he looked like him.
“Since when do you use my real name? You always call me Padfoot. "
Lance stiffened. If Drifter had confused him before, and Council and Hunters had sounded an alarm bell, that gave him a terrible suspicion.
"Um ... by any chance, are we Shadow Hunters?"
“Yeah, of course. What kind of questions are you asking? "
"And I'm the Drifter."
"Yeah ... how much did you drink last night?"
He ignored the comment, “This is the Big House? Where Shadow Hunters lives?"
"Where else should we be?"
At that point, Lance threw up all the contents of his stomach at the other man's feet.
"Drifter!"
*
Five minutes later, Lance had more or less recovered. Padfoot had sent him back to his room to get ready and to find something to clean up.
He admitted it hadn't been his best time. But anyone in his place would have felt bad at the realization that they ended up in the world of the saga that he had just finished reading.
There was an entire genre dedicated to that, but it was pure fantasy. Such things did not happen in reality. Well, Lance was there, half an hour after his death, and now he is reincarnated in the body of one of the most abused characters ever, the Drifter.
The hunters never used their real names: names had power, and no being was to have power over them. For this, they had nicknames to use in public and with whom they did not trust.
In other words, always.
Only Keith didn't, but he had such a powerful plot armor that no one had power over him using his name alone.
Lance stared at his hands, full of calluses, not his own, but someone else's.
It was alienating to know that he was in another person's body. What happened to the real Drifter? Was he dead? Had he occupied another body? Had his soul found a safe place in the afterlife?
But above all, if Lance was there, was Rebecca too?
He didn't know which answer he would have preferred to that question.
Padfoot had finished cleaning up, "You could have told me earlier."
"I told you."
"I didn't listen to you."
"Yeah ..."
"Let's go."
"Hey…"
Padfoot groaned, "What else is there?"
"Does the wolf of the north have an apprentice?" Lance asked,
“The wolf of the north? That misanthrope? No, don't be absurd. Nobody is interesting enough for him."
Nobody, except the protagonist.
Lance sighed internally in relief. So Keith hadn't arrived yet. It meant the story hadn't started yet.
What he had to do was avoid antagonizing him. The Drifter was the protagonist's rival, always destined to be humiliated.
He didn't want that fate, nor did he want to become a mass murderer, and… damn, the Drifter was killed by Acxa to show Keith that he was on his side.
Who was unfortunate enough to reincarnate as a character destined to die like an idiot ?! Ah yes, it was him!
No, Lance didn't what that.
He didn't even want to become the Drifter, but now he was there and he had to stay there.
But Lance won't follow the original story.
He will not kill anyone, nor will become a traitor. And above all, he will not become the protagonist's rival.
If he never meets Keith, he won't be a part of the story! He had to avoid it at all costs.
"It shouldn't be difficult, I know all about the saga," he thought, smiling cheerfully.
With the knowledge of the plot of his part, nothing will surprise Lance. Come on, fate, Lance McLean doesn't fear you!
By then, Lance must have realized that things never went the way he wanted.