Chapter Text
An envelope attached with a red thread was placed on the desk of his office. He didn’t know if it was a warning or that it was a sign that someone was already dead, but he opened it, despite being terrified of the contents of the note.
“The drawing room.” It simply wrote. He bolted out of his office and to the drawing room of the mansion, he was in so much of a hurry that he didn’t even make sure he took his sword with him.
Arriving at the drawing room, he breathed heavily as he braced for the worst. He opened the door, the metallic smell of blood filled the room and his own lungs, he stopped himself from breathing. Or rather, he instinctively started holding his breath in fear of what else would fill his nose in this room.
Terror. Fear. Dread. Every single negative emotion crept up on him like a snake’s venom slowly taking effect when he saw his dear friend laying on the floor. Cold. Dead. In a pool of his own blood. His throat slit. A bloody sword next to him.
A red thread.
It was tied to the palm of his friend as it led to another message that was written on the floor with the blood of his friend, “It’s their fate.” with a creepy hand drawn smile. That was the killer’s MO. The Fate Threat.
But there was no point. So many people have been killed by this person and the imperial family just don’t care enough to ask the nobles to look into the killer. Especially since not a single high ranked noble has been a target of this killer.
He had fallen into the deep depths of despair. He couldn’t handle it anymore. He’s gotten sick of dealing with the killer in every single life that he’s lived now. There was only one thing he hadn’t tried yet, and there was a good reason why. He made a promise a long time ago to an old friend.
Suicide.
He picked up the bloody sword as he pointed the tip to his chin, piercing it through.
Blake gasps for air as he opened his eyes, he looked around frantically. He was about to have a panic attack when he realized it was all for nothing. He had reincarnated again. For the fourteenth time.
He just stood there, in the middle of a sidewalk. Silently crying. He had already given up, he couldn’t do anything anymore. Even if he were to die again, he would still be reincarnated again and again and again. It was torture. What did he do to deserve this kind of hell?
“Excuse me, are you alright?” A kind and soft voice asked from behind. Blake turned around with tears in his eyes, nothing could prepare him for who he saw. Especially during the breakdown he was having.
“Ellis..?” He said without even thinking. This caught the girl completely off guard, so much so that she defensively asked with a slight frown on her face, “How do you know my name?”
Blake realized his mistake, he quickly wiped his tears away, clearing his throat and apologizing. “Sorry, you’re quite popular on the internet so I just recognized you. I’m really sorry.” Blake laughed awkwardly as he made up some kind of excuse.
“Oh, really? I didn’t think I was that popular..” Ellis muttered. Blake felt awkward, he didn’t know how to face Ellis after the last time. He doesn’t hate her, but it still doesn’t change the fact that they were stupid and reckless teens who never knew when to shut up.
To avoid any more conversation, Blake made another excuse so he could leave, “I have to go, I’m a little busy today but it was nice meeting you.” He smiled, quickly walking away before Ellis could say anything else.
Ellis stared at his back with a saddened look on her face. If Blake had just turned his back and seen her expression, Ellis wondered if he would realize?
Reincarnation. This thing that some people wish they desperately had but others like Blake, who has genuine experience of reincarnation, find it to be torture. Logically speaking, what kind of psycho would want anyone to go through that kind of hell? But to be fair, reincarnation itself isn’t something that can be explained in a logical way.
The way reincarnation works for Blake is a little unique. It isn’t as if he’s reborn in the same world but in the future years, but instead, he’s always reborn in a different world. His parents, his friends, his surroundings were all different every time. His thirteenth life was in a world where there were frequent wars, and the clothes and etiquette were different from modern worlds.
But that wasn’t his first time being reborn in a world like that. In fact, it was his second time.
This current world though, his current life, was much similar to his memory of his first and seventh life. Ellis was a friend he had in both of those lives. There were two other people that he knew too, but he lost contact with the one he met in highschool of his current life and he hasn’t met the other.
Now, his memories. He doesn’t retain the memories of his past lives immediately, they often come back between the ages of 12 to 25 but of course, the memories of his previous life don’t overwrite the memories of the life he lived before his memories returned. There were also times when he didn’t regain his memory at all before dying, but the only time that happened was in his seventh life. Another thing is that he has never lived past the age of 30. The oldest he has been was 29, dying just a day before his birthday in one of his other lives.
He doesn’t know what happens to his soul when he’s dead and nor does he want to know. He had enough to stress about. Especially since it seemed like the killer known as The Fate Threat also exists in every single one of the lives he’s lived in, killing every person he’s ever cared about.
The sky was dark. It looked like it was about to rain but Blake had nowhere to go. He felt lost. His parents in this life were divorced, he wasn’t on the best terms with them either. He didn’t feel like going home. It never felt like home to him. It just felt like a place he slept in when he needed to, he never even ate or studied at his apartment, he would always eat out and study at the library at the college he goes to.
He walked by the stores mindlessly. At least until he heard the news on the huge TV he had just walked by.
“The Fate Threat strikes again. This was their third victim this month and 144th in total. When will they finally be caught?” Blake could feel his heart drop as a lump formed in his throat. He started walking again, looking down at his own feet as drops of rain slowly painted the pavement he walked on.
Blake was slowly getting drenched by the rain as it started raining heavily as the seconds passed, everyone else started running and seeking shelter. He then saw a pair of someone’s shoes and the shadow of an umbrella covering him as he was no longer getting drenched by the rain. Blake looks up and his despair almost immediately disappears, like when he was Ellis earlier.
“Hey Blake,” the man grinned at him. It didn’t seem like he was mocking him, but more like he was trying to joke between friends. Blake breathed in the cold air as he felt like bawling.
“Lucien, I don’t know how you—” Blake was cut off by Lucien shouting out, “Whoa!” which basically ruined the moment and stopped his tears.
“I didn’t expect you to recognize me.” Lucien laughed. Blake was utterly confused, had he not been so upset, he would’ve asked more clearly.
“I don’t understand, Lucien. We’ve never met.” Blake shook his head, he couldn’t understand at all. He and Lucien had never met in this life, they never even crossed paths before. At least in his first and seventh life, he and Lucien were highschool classmates.
“Only in this life, right Samoyed?” That confirmed it. Lucien knew him. He knew Blake. Not from this life, but from one of their past lives. Samoyed was a nickname Lucien gave him for his white hair and heterochromia in both his first life and seventh life. He would sometimes call him ‘Snow Puppy’ too.
Blake was speechless. Lucien continued since it didn’t seem like Blake would reply anytime soon with how shocked he was, “Hey, let’s get out of the rain. Follow me.” Lucien held Blake’s hand as he held the umbrella with the other, taking him to a nice little cafe nearby.
Lucien sat Blake down as he went to order some warm drinks for themselves, so Blake had time to really calm down and think clearly. He just still couldn’t believe that one of his best friends actually had memories of his past life too, but then again, it’s always been a possibility. It’s just that it would be a huge risk if they revealed that they had memories of their past lives because they could be outcasted or branded as a psychopath depending on the type of world they live in.
Lucien came back with their drinks, sitting down in front of Blake, “I doubt your tastes have changed so I just got you a mocha latte.”
Blake pulled his drink towards him and warmed his hands by holding the cup, he looked at Lucien’s drink, asking, “And I’m guessing you got a latte for yourself since we’ve always had similar tastes.”
“Yup, the only thing we don’t have in common is that you like sweet things and I don’t necessarily enjoy them.” Lucien mentioned as he took a sip of his latte, burning his tongue which made Blake laugh a little. Lucien has always been a patient person but never when it came to his drinks.
“We’re not that similar. You’re loud and stupid, you’re more similar to Ellis in that way.” Lucien jokingly gasped, he gave Blake a weird look that was hard to describe, “I can take the insult but you can’t just call our dear sweet Ellis stupid! Bad Snow Puppy!”
Blake breathed as he leaned back in his seat, he nodded in response, “You’re right. Calling Ellis stupid is too much of an insult to her. She isn’t as stupid as you are, she wouldn’t have straight up called me by that disgustingly annoying nickname.”
Lucien smiled, “It’s really good to see you again, Blake.” Blake was a little hesitant, but he smiled too, “It’s good to see you too, Lucien.”
Blake sat back up properly, taking a sip of his now warm drink then asking, “What made you decide to suddenly use that nickname when you saw me? What would you have done if I hadn’t remembered you?”
“I would have made up an excuse, of course.” Blake shook his head, sighing from Lucien’s stupidity, Lucien continued, “But the real reason why is kind of complicated. A simple reason though, is because I met someone else who remembered their past life too!”
Blake’s eyes widened as much as they physically could, if he was swallowing his drink, he would’ve choked which luckily didn’t happen.
“Are you serious?” Blake asked. He just couldn’t believe it because what kind of mentally sane person would do that?
“I am! She was so bold too! I was just at work and she walked in so I decided to call out to her for fun to see if she would freak out and maybe punch me in the face but then she said ‘Oh, Lucien? You remembered your past lives too?’. When I tell you, the look on my face made her laugh for a whole 20 minutes! I was so shocked!” Lucien exclaimed, even Blake found it unbelievable. He couldn’t imagine who that girl was for her to be so bold, much bolder than both Lucien and Ellis combined.
“First, you definitely deserve a punch to the face after that no matter if she remembered you or not. Second, who was she? How is it possible someone like that even exists?” Lucien shrugged, finally finishing his drink, he wiped his mouth with a tissue, replying, “With her boldness? It was definitely shocking. You know her, but I’m not telling you until tomorrow. To be completely honest with you, Blake, we need your help.”
“My help? With what?” Blake questioned, confused. It was a little rare for Lucien to ask Blake for his help, since he usually relied on other people to help him rather than his close friends, unless it was a more personal issue.
“Have you heard of The Fate Threat?” Chills went down Blake’s spine. He didn’t know where this was going and neither did he want to know, but it was Lucien. The least he could do for an old friend was listen.
“Of course. They’re all over the news.” Lucien seemed nervous which made Blake nervous too. Both of them were calm people most of the time, but whenever they saw each other feel scared or nervous, they would feel the same way too.
“We realized that The Fate Threat might have a connection to why we’re able to retain the memories of our past lives, we just don’t know how exactly yet. We need the help from anyone and everyone that has reincarnated and remembers their past lives like us.”
That was it. Blake didn’t want a reason. He didn’t want there to be a clear reason as to why he has suffered all this time. If the reason was stupid, he’d rather have not known at all and keep wondering why he was forced to live with the emotional pain that came with reincarnation. Blake stood up, ready to walk away. Lucien quickly stood up too, grabbing Blake’s wrist. Blake was a stubborn person, so Lucien had no choice but to physically stop him from walking away.
“Blake, please. Just wait and listen to me for a little longer. I’m sorry, I won’t force you to help us but just please, hear me out.” Lucien was frowning. That hurt Blake mentally, knowing that Lucien hasn’t frowned like that in a long, long time. He didn’t want to sit back down so he asked Lucien to explain quickly and simply.
Lucien let go of his wrist but instead of explaining, he decided to persuade him. “Aren’t you tired of this, Blake? Because I know I am. If I’m already tired of reincarnating, I’m sure you’re sick of it. Here’s my suggestion. Tomorrow, we’ll meet the girl I mentioned at her workplace. We’ll talk about The Fate Threat and the reincarnating, then you can decide if you really want to help us or not. Is that okay?”
Blake took a short moment to think about it, sighing, “Fine. After that, I really won’t help you, Lucien.”
Lucien sighed in relief, laughing nervously as a way to avoid more mental strain on both of them, “Thank you, Blake. I really appreciate it.”