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“Solomon.”
Silence.
“Solomon.”
Still no answer.
“Solomon, don't ignore me,” said Queen of Sheba. “I know you can hear me. Turning to the other side will not make me cease to exist.”
This time she received a response - a mumbling which she could not quite understand. Sheba would have laughed - this kind of behavior was quite charming - if it weren't for the fact that she really wanted to talk to him, and he, pretending to be asleep, was not helping her achieve this goal.
“Solomon,” she spoke up, extending her hand in front of her. She grabbed his long hair and pulled slightly.
“Oi!” she finally got an answer. He put his hand on the nape of his neck, as if to protect his hair in this way. “That hurt!”
“It was supposed to hurt," she said, ticking him gently with her finger, this time pointing it toward his back. “Would you deign to look at me or not, O great king of Israel?”
“I would appreciate it if you wouldn't call me that way at a time when you are clearly angry with me,” Romani turned toward her. “What are you even doing here? I was convinced that I asked you not to come to my house at night.”
“You did ask,” she admitted. She raised herself on her elbow and looked at him with amusement. “But did I ever listen to you?”
“No,” she had to admit, he didn't even try to get rid of her or throw her off the bed, as had happened during the first few nights she came to him.
Each time they were innocent visits. They were both adults, they had been married in their lifetime, hence if they had wanted to, they would have been able to resume their old relationship - but they gave each other time. Sheba was fine with this arrangement, however, after a while she realized that she craved his presence as much as possible. Coming to see him in the evenings and watching him sleep became her favorite pastime.
Since Servants were not living beings, they didn't need sleep - not really. However, that didn't mean they couldn't. In this way, they allowed their minds to rest.
Sheba had her own room, of course, however she preferred Romani's room more. It differed strongly from the chamber Solomon had. It was smaller, less ornate, and indicated a change in his lifestyle (as if to say, he was not a king now, but only a doctor), but it had heart in it. It was clear that Romani treasured this room. It was clear that it was his place - there were pictures on the walls, the books he had were read by him several times. Sheba liked to look around the room and look for signs of life - such as this figurine that was given to him by Leonardo for Christmas.
…Let's leave aside the fact that neither Sheba nor Romani were Christians.
“What's the matter, Sheba?” asked Romani, looking straight into her eyes.
She recognized that look. Solomon always looked at her that way when he knew what topic she wanted to talk to him about.
“I want to talk to you about Goetia,” she whispered. “And the price you would have to pay in order to defeat him.”
Romani was silent for a moment. When he spoke, Solomon was the one who spoke. Chaldea’s Doctor, open and kind to everyone, who tended to exaggerate and spent too much time talking to an online idol, had disappeared.
“Goetia is a disgrace born of my dead body," he said. “It is my duty to take responsibility for his actions. Makeda, the future you saw will come void of our will.”
Chills ran through her body when he used her real name.
For a moment she regretted telling him about her vision - but how could she not, the moment she saw the man to whom she had given her heart practically commit suicide? Solomon's plan - to use his Noble Phantasms against Goetia made sense. In this way, he will destroy Goetia's power and make sure that Goetia will disappear, and with him and the 72 demons. The last Singularity will be defeated.
But David said it well - it was a suicide plan. It required Solomon to completely discard his place on the Throne, his Heroic Spirit. If he disappears, neither Sheba nor David will see him again.
Perhaps he will be reborn, like an ordinary person. But it will no longer be Solomon, it will no longer be Romani Archaman. It will be a being that neither of them knows, even if the soul remains the same.
“The future we see does not always have to come true," said Queen of Sheba. “There must be another way to defeat Goetia.”
For so long they didn't know who they were really dealing with. Romani suspected that it might be Goetia - but he couldn't be sure. His plan - his ultimate ace up his sleeve - required that their enemy not be aware of his existence. Had it not been for Sheba's vision, he probably would have waited until the last minute, until he was sure they were dealing with Goetia.
The vision Sheba received changed everything. It confirmed to them all who was really his enemy. When Romani refused to change his plan, Sheba went to David, hoping that he would talk some sense into his son. After much insistence, David finally agreed to talk to Romani, but all he did was turn Romani's anger against him.
“There is no other way," Solomon said, repeating the same words he had repeated before. “This is the only way I can make sure that Goetia will never get out of control again. This was supposed to be a spell to protect this world and humanity, not to want to destroy it.”
“You're saying something like that because you're a coward,” Sheba felt anger begin to rise in her. “You want to get rid of Goetia, you want to reject your place on the Throne, because you don't want to face the consequences of your actions, with the knowledge that it is because of you that we face the vision of the destruction of this world.”
“I will repeat what I said to my father: all this happened because of my fault, and therefore I am the one who has to end i. If the price for this is to be my death-”
“It is easier to die a hero than to live with the knowledge of what one has done," Sheba said in a bitter tone. “Solomon, why do you care so much about death?”
“It won't be death,” his gaze softened. “I will simply leave for a while. But it won't be a parting in the end. Such is life. Nothing is permanent.”
“But the place you're going to will be different from the one I'm going to.”
“This does not mean that we will not meet again.”
“You know very well that this is not true,” Sheba blinked her eyes, just to keep from starting to cry. She couldn't do something like that, and she knew it perfectly well. After all, she was not a child to cry for such a reason! “If you do this... if you use this Noble Phantasm...”
“Everything will be fine,” Solomon made a gesture, as if he wanted to hug or kiss her, but Sheba did not let herself be silenced so easily. She lifted herself to a sitting position.
“Nothing will be all right," she said. She looked away from him for a moment, because she didn't want him to look at her. Treacherous tears were beginning to appear in her eyes.
Why did everything have to end this way? Why couldn't they have their happy ending?
“Makeda...” her husband spoke up.
She heard a quiet rustling behind her. He, too, rose to a sitting position. For a moment she waited for him to speak up, for him to say something to her, or just hug her - that didn't happen.
“What are you really afraid of?” She asked after a moment that seemed like an eternity. “Tell me, why don't you want to look for another way?”
“Because there is no other way.”
“I don't believe you!” she turned to him, feeling despair turn into rage. “You are Solomon! The King of the Magecraft! The man they called the wisdom of Israel! The one who subjugated 72 Demon Kings! The one who practically created the theory of Magic Circuits! They call you the progenitor of magecraft! Who, if not you, will be able to find a way out of a no-win situation?”
He laughed quietly.
“You overestimate me, Makeda," said Romani. “I am no longer Solomon. Currently, I am only a Romani Archaman. I have no magic in me. I am not omniscient. I can't predict the future. I gave up that power the moment I became human. There is not much I am able to do.”
“And that's why you think the ideal way to solve this situation is to kill yourself?”
“Once again you overestimate me, Makeda,” he laughed somewhat bitterly. “Believe me, I have no desire to die. You called me a coward before, and you are right. I am a coward. Until the very end, I tried to delay this decision, hoping to find another solution to this situation. However, this did not happen. Your vision is proof of that.”
“You are lying,” her tone became harsh. “You just don't want to accept that there could be any other option. Are you so desperate to become a hero? You think that your last act of self-sacrifice will make others forget how much trouble you got us all into?”
“I have no such illusions,” Romani said. “You know me well enough to know that I am no hero. I'm just a pathetic coward who can't do much. But this is all due to me, so I have to end it.”
He lowered his gaze to his hands, covered with gloves.
“This is not the fate I want, but I can't do anything about it. It's sad, it's terrible, but we have no other choice.”
Resignation echoed in his voice, as if he had long ago resigned himself to his fate.
“I have no other choice,” he repeated. “I'm terrified by this vision of the future, Makeda, but this is the human fate. This is what life is all about. Every moment must come to an end.”
“No,” her eyes widened sharply as she realized something she had tried to ignore earlier. “That's not the issue here. You are not afraid of death. You are afraid of something else.”
He had mentioned this earlier, during his argument with King David. She hadn't paid attention to it before, but if...
“You told King David that you weren't going to accept a fate worse than death,” she whispered. “You didn't mean what could happen if Goetia won, did you?”
He didn't answer, but there was a strange mixture of emotion in his eyes, as well as an uncertainty that made Makeda already know he was right.
“You mentioned this to me earlier,” she said slowly. “You said about how it was only as a Romani Archaman that you learned what life was all about. You learned to have feelings and emotions. You learned to love.”
He didn't answer.
“You fear that if Solomon remains on the Throne of Heroes, sooner or later someone will summon you again. Perhaps Fujimaru-kun will do it, or perhaps someone else who will appear after him. And you fear that if that happened, you would once again lose your feelings and emotions. You fear that the person you have become will disappear. If, on the other hand, you were to discard your place on the Throne... if your soul returned to the cycle of reincarnation or went elsewhere, you would still be you, in your own way.”
Solomon was still not looking at her.
“By completely rejecting Solomon as a Heroic Spirit, you are trying to protect the heart of Romani Archaman,” whispered Queen of Sheba. She placed her hand on his chest. “As a Solomon, you always wanted freedom, but it was never given to you. However, you didn't lament your fate because you didn't know you were missing something. When you gained feelings and emotions as a Romani Archaman, you realized how much you had gained... and you began to fear what you might lose. You realized that life without a heart is a fate worse than death.”
“Because that's what it is,” he finally looked at her, and in his eyes she saw the anguish she heard in his voice.
His heart was beating loud and clear in his chest. Romani Archaman was human - but it was only a moment. Soon they would have to say goodbye to him, whether they liked it or not.
“But didn't you think of that, Solomon?” Makeda spoke up quietly. “Didn't you think about why you were able to become human?”
“Because I made such a wish.”
“Because you desired to become human,” she corrected him. “Because you desired to be able to feel the same way as others. But tell me, please, did you ever have such desires while ruling Israel? Did you ever realize before that you were missing something?”
“No,” something in his eyes had changed. He was no fool. He knew where she was going.
“The voice of the Lord guided you and showed you the way. In the times in which you were born, a powerful ruler was needed - a man who would be able to kill his own feelings and who would be merciless enough to gain the respect of the Demon Kings. You were chosen to obey the Lord; you never questioned His orders. But that role ended with your death.”
“This is not possible, Makeda,” Solomon tried to protest. “Whatever you are going to say, don't say it. It is not possible.”
“Shh,” she put her index finger on his lips. “Now I am talking, husband. Solomon. Roman. From the moment you were summoned as the Heroic Spirit, your emotions and feelings were already yours. You already had them then, but the Lord was gracious. He knew that it wouldn't be easy for you to just start like that. That's why He allowed you to sense them - slowly, but gradually, inexorably. When you realized it - and you must have realized it, don't try to lie to me - you wanted to be human. You wanted to be able to fully feel. To be human. And that's why you made a wish to the Grail, and it was granted.”
She pressed her forehead to his forehead, pretending not to notice the tear that rolled down his cheek.
“From the very beginning you were able to feel, my love,” Makeda said. “It never depended on whether you were Solomon or Romani. I told you before that you haven't changed that much. You were always yourself.”
Solomon was always a hard worker, just like Romani. He was able to sacrifice a lot for his citizens and cared for them in his own way, just as Romani cared for Chaldea. If he faced a problem, he hid it under a smile, just as Romani did.
Of course, they were different - but Makeda was able to see glimpses of his true personality in Solomon's behavior. Solomon just wasn't aware of it - he wasn't given enough freedom - but that was the kind of person he was. There was a warmth about him that made her fall in love with him.
“So don't leave," she asked. “Don't destroy what we have created, what we have together, just because you are afraid of what is not coming.”
“Even if you are right... even if you are right, does that change anything?” he asked. “Do you really think you are capable of making a difference? I know the power of my Noble Phantasm. Ordinary Servants are no match for them.”
He did not say this to boast - no, it was a simple statement of fact.
“Well, that's just it," Makeda smiled. “’Your’ Noble Phantasm, not Goetia's.”
“Goetia is a part of me. A spell that I created. Which was a mistake, because it clearly got out of control.”
“So what of it?”
“Huh?” Solomon looked at her in surprise.
“Why doesn't it make you angry? Why aren't you angry?”
He blinked his eyes, as if anger had never crossed his mind. Ah, so that was also the problem. Solomon can't get angry if someone has harmed him - apparently this habit has stayed with him too.
“Goetia is a spell that you created. The person who made the contract with the 72 demons is you, Solomon, not Goetia. The person to whom the 10 rings belong is you. You are the one who received them and you are the one who should manage them. You want to return them; so be it. But there is no way Goetia should just take control of a power that does not belong to him!
She hit the pillow in frustration.
“Fight, Solomon!” she growled. “Take back what was taken from you! Do we have a problem with the Demon Kings? Remind them that you are their master! You don't carry the title of King of Magecraft for no reason! Prove to everyone that you were called that for a reason! Together we'll definitely come up with something!”
Solomon looked at her with fascination, as if he was seeing her for the first time in his life.
“You are the King of Magecraft!” she pointed an accusing finger in his direction. “So you will find a way to defeat Goetia without destroying yourself! Even if you die, as long as your soul is on the Throne, we will be able to summon you! Fujimaru-kun will do it! Just trust him! Stop being such a big coward, just get to work! There must be a spell that is able to make the impossible possible!”
She didn't know if the person Fujimaru summoned would be the same Solomon she was looking at. She didn't know if that person would have memories of Chaldea, or if there really would be a future for them.
But Makeda didn't get her husband back to lose him now.
Solomon was silent for a moment - and then started laughing.
“Fine,” he said as he got himself under control. “In that case, come with me.”
“Come?” She didn't understand. “Where? For what?”
Solomon - Romani was already on his feet, changing his outfit and throwing on his white coat. He made a gesture as if he was going to tie his hair into a ponytail, but gave up at the last moment. Instead, he extended his hand toward her.
“To create the impossible.”