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"How do I stop the Reinforced Fate Phenomenon?" Javier asks, the bright jewel in front of him.
A little bit of guilt pools in his chest as he does, a part of him insisting that he just needs to trust Suho, trust he has it figured out.
But it's too late to go back now.
He needed to be able to help Suho, even if the man himself refused to let him.
The area around him goes dark, and if it wasn't for the accompanying voice, Javier may have tried and fixed it in some way, flaring out his mana.
[This is a special space, where only you can hear the Answer to the Question you have asked.]
It's not actually exactly a voice, more— it's communicated straight into his brain in some way.
It's… off-putting.
[You ask about the Reinforced Fate Phenomenon. To know it's solution, you must first know it's origin.]
[This world has a Protagonist]
[A person made to be it's hero, the center.]
[That person is you, Javier Asrahan.]
Javier stills.
Memories flash through his mind, unbidden.
You and your stupid Protagonist abilities.
Very… protagonist of you, Javier.
You're… such a Protagonist Javier. My protagonist.
And, although he does not know why—
You are the Protagonist of this world, Kim Suho.
"What?" Javier mutters, unsure if the being? jewel? whatever it was, could hear him.
[You were made to be a Hero, Javier Asrahan.]
The not-voice continues.
"But I am not—" Javier begins, not knowing what he fully intends to say, just that something in him screams to object.
[No, you are not. But you should be.]
[Someone else has taken your place.]
"Kim Suho." Javier whispers.
[Yes. Kim Suho.]
[Except here, he is Lloyd Frontera. And Lloyd is supposed to be dead.]
Javier's eyes widen, as he looks around in the empty space, trying to find something, someone, to explain—
"What? Why would Master Lloyd be dead? Are you speaking of his soul? It has passed on—" Javier asks, growing slightly frantic.
Master Lloyd— Suho, dead. What a horrible thought.
How could Javier have failed so greatly?
[I speak of a timeline beyond this one. One where the anomaly of Kim Suho never entered this world.]
Javier's heart stutters in his chest.
"What?" He can only repeat.
[The correct timeline, as fate has deemed it— has Lloyd Frontera dying before he turns twenty seven, several months after his parents end their own lives.]
"Why—? They would not—"
[In this timeline Kim Suho never appeared and fixed the Barony's debt. It all becomes to much to bear for the couple.]
"No." Javier mutters, dread clawing at him.
The Jewel was lying, he reasons.
But it would not— he knows. It is not alive, it exists to give answers.
It was giving him those answers.
[So, Lloyd Frontera dies, once he has drunk himself to death, just as you always thought he would.]
[You, Javier Asrahan, have to leave the Barony.]
"No."
Javier would never— the Barony— County was his home. He served the people there, what use could he be elsewhere?
[You only hear of some of the other deaths, although you mourn them the same. Julian is too far to even attend the funeral.]
[And this is not the end, not for you, Javier Asrahan.]
[Fate had much more in store for you, much more for you to lose.]
"I thought you said I was a hero." Javier mumbles, hands in his hair, threatening to pull it out with how strong his grip is.
He regrets asking almost immediately.
He wants the infernal jewel to shut up— to stop saying things like this.
[You are. You save so many— but what kind of story would it be without a little bit of loss first?]
Javier lets out a hollow laugh.
[You become the greatest knight ever known, like you have here.]
"What good did it do?" Javier questions, casting his gaze around again.
[That is not something I can answer, for there is none. Morals of man are not my concern.]
Javier stands there for a moment, running what the Jewel had told him in his mind.
The fate that the world was trying so hard to redirect—
Everyone Javier loved was dead.
Because he was the Protagonist.
Because of him.
"You—" Javier starts, wincing at the crack in his voice as he does. "You have not answered my initial question."
[I suppose I have not.]
[You are supposed to be the Protagonist, Javier Asrahan. These events were supposed to happen, but they have not.]
[Because of Kim Suho.]
Javier lets out a shaky breath.
That was right. Suho had saved them, Javier had already known that.
[If Kim Suho had not interfered, fate would have gotten it's Protagonist.]
"And they would be dead." Javier mutters.
[As it stands, there is two protagonists, with conflicting stories.]
[Fate has deemed it necessary to fix this error.]
[It has chosen your storyline, Javier Asrahan.]
[Which, as you have learned, means the death of those you love.]
Javier wonders if this is what Suho heard, when he asked this question.
He certainly looked devastated enough for that to be true.
But— if that were true, how had he looked Javier in the eye? how had he— seemed to only blame himself?
He's never looked at Javier with contempt, or like he blamed him.
Surely he would have—
[So, to fix this, to stop this— the error needs to be corrected.]
[One of the protagonists needs to die.]
Javier stops breathing entirely.
[You, or Kim Suho.]
[If one of you dies— fate will deem the error corrected. The reinforced fate phenomenon will halt in its tracts.]
[The world will adjust to it's new path, and reset.]
"Is that the only way?" Javier asks, barely a whisper.
He's surprised he could get the words out at all.
[Yes. There is no other option. One of you must die.]
[Before you ask— the second life afforded to Kim Suho does not count. That is within the bounds of life.]
Javier does not know what to say.
"Is this what Suho was told?" He hears himself say, without really meaning to, or processing the words. "He knows this?"
[Kim Suho asked the same question, and received the same answer.]
[This is the truth.]
[What you do with the truth is up to you, Javier Asrahan.]
And with that—
Javier is looking at the jewel again.
Then he isn't a second later, as the water surges around him.
Part of him notes that he should be concerned about that— at the crumbling Jewel of Truth. Their hard work— Suho's hard work.
But Javier can't muster up any concern at all.
His head is buzzing with the words of the Jewel, repeated over and over again.
This was all his fault.
He stands there, unperturbed by the mess around him. Really, it's more like he can't be, with how distracted he is. How lost.
This entire time, this entire journey, Javier had not known what exactly they were trying to stop.
He'd known that it was called the Reinforced Fate phenomenon, and that it was trying to return things to "how they were supposed to be".
Things were supposed to be horrible.
Because of him.
Because the role he was supposed to play.
Javier's head continues to buzz, as he brings his hands up to it again.
He vaguely recognizes Suho landing in front of him, water falling around them, summons behind him.
"Javier!" Suho chirps, his cheerful tone undermined by the worry in his face. "Hey buddy— let's not— what did you—?"
There must be something on his face, has to be honestly, that makes Suho stop in his tracks.
Something steels in Suho's own expression.
He creeps, almost, over to Javier, smile tight but intentional.
"Javier." He repeats. "Take some deep breaths for me."
Javier doesn't listen, as he stares at Suho.
He knows. Is all that sounds in his head.
He knows, knows what Javier is meant to do, what his presence, his very existence has done, will do to the people around them.
He's known for a while yet—
What had he been waiting for?
"Hey— breathe— look I know this isn't great, but we'll work things out! I'm working things out!" Suho continues, arms outstretched, still making his way towards Javier. "I don't know what the hell the jewel is on about— but we have this handled, don't we?"
He's in front of Javier now, hands at his waist.
"I—" Javier gets out, broken and stuttered. "You knew—"
"Look. Javier look at me—" Suho replies. "There's gotta be some other solution— I'm sure if we do damage control for long enough, it will sort itself out. I can fix this okay?"
"What?"Javier asks. "We got our answer—"
"No. We did not." Suho hisses, cutting him off. "That is not an answer."
Javier stares as him, reeling.
"It's my fault." He mutters.
"What? No, Javier what are you talking about— you still need to breathe, okay?" Suho replies, hands going from behind his back— why were they behind his back?— to hold Javier's arms, pulling them away from his hair. "None of this is your fault, what are you talking about? What the hell did that lying jewel tell you?"
"I'm a… protagonist." Javier mumbles, staring at Suho.
He knows, why is he acting confused? He knows it's Javier's fault, that they're all doing this— why hadn't he—? He must know what the right thing to do is.
"This is my fault. My story." Javier points out, regaining some of his senses, anger making its way into his tone.
"No!" Suho retorts, voice raised. "It's not, which is why we can't listen to the stupid jewel okay? That story— it's not right, so we just have to keep going—"
Javier snaps his hand away from Suho's grip.
"We got our—"
He goes for his belt— for his scabbard.
It's not there.
Javier looks down at his waist.
Suho steps closer.
"Javier—"He starts, unease clear in his tone.
"What—" Javier mutters, glancing around, eyes landing on Ppodong behind Suho, Javier's sword in his mouth. "You—"
The hand at his waist, then behind Suho's back.
Suho already knew the answer.
He'd also known how Javier would react.
"Let's not do anything rash." Suho says slowly— hands up in front of him, stepping closer again. "Come on Javier let's get back to the manor, okay?"
Javier looks between a slowly retreating Ppodong and Suho.
"You—"
"Look— Javier I'll explain the plan, everything back at the manor. Let's just— please let's go home, okay?" Suho tries, grabbing Javier's arms again, grip tighter now.
"I—"
Javier doesn't know what to say— what to do.
He'd only wanted to help Suho, find out what had been bothering him so much, fix it if he could.
And he could.
But Suho wasn't letting him.
Javier looks at Suho again, at his face.
He's still smiling, an uneasy, clearly pasted on, smile. His eyes are desperate, shaking and searching Javier's own face. Begging him to agree.
Suho was not often desperate.
The fight dies in him, as he looks at Suho's expression. His shoulders sag and he lets his arms fall.
"Good— okay, um. God you're soaked, we both are— come on." Suho mutters, pulling Javier along.
The water has started to fill up again, it would probably be annoying to clean up, Javier notes.
They get back to the shore, and Javier lets Suho drag him wherever he wants.
He doesn't know what else to do.
Suho mutters to himself, debating whether flying on Ggoming is a good idea or not, given Javier's state.
Javier himself refrains from commenting, is in no state to do even that, really.
Suho eventually settles for taking Ggoming, all but heaving Javier up with him, hands hovering over him once they are up there.
He reaches up and places Javier's hands on his shoulders, turning around.
"Hold on, please." He instructs. "You guys go ahead." Suho adds, to the summons.
Javier really isn't sure what the flight there actually entails, as it's mostly a blur to him.
Suho continues to lead him, when they get to the manor, somehow he gets a towel— placed on his head and wrapped around by Suho he knows that much— and placed into the chair that has become his bed.
The fire is lit, somewhere along the way.
Javier still has no clue where his sword is. Ppodong has returned and he doesn't have it anymore.
He thinks if he asks Suho will get upset.
Suho himself, after placing Javier in his chair, hurries around the room muttering to himself again.
Eventually he makes his way to the door and closes it, leaning against said door for a moment, eyes closed and taking deep breaths.
When he looks back at Javier, it's with a slightly regained composure.
Javier looks at him with the same despondent expression he'd been wearing this whole time, he thinks.
"Okay." Suho mutters, clapping his hands together and holding them there. "Let's— um." He pauses. "What do you want to know?"
Javier considers this, for a moment.
"You know I am supposed to be a protagonist?" He settles on.
"Yes." Suho replies, hesitating before continuing. "But I knew that before I asked the jewel about the reinforced fate phenomenon." He admits.
Javier's eyes widen.
"What?" He croaks out.
Suho sighs, running a hand over his face.
"This… is going to take a while." Suho says, crouching down to be at eye level with Javier in his seated position. "And you have to promise me you won't make any… rash decisions until we've talked this all through."
Javier nods slowly.
"Good, good." Suho mutters, moving his hands up to the towel still on Javier's head, making a half-hearted attempt to dry his hair with it. "Do you remember our trip to Korea?" He continues, holding his hands there.
Javier nods again.
"I'm from there— obviously. You'd gathered that by now I'm sure." Suho tells him, expression darkening for a moment. "But… that's also where I learned lots of things about this world."
Javier is beginning to get lost again.
"Because in Korea there's a book— called… The Knight of Blood and Iron."
The name seems to carry weight, and it rings familiar in Javier's ears, for some reason.
"And this book… it's about… well it's about you Javier." Suho continues, slowly.
"What?" Javier croaks out again.
"It's about you. You're it's protagonist. The things— well the things I assume the jewel told you, I don't really know— those are from that book, that story." Suho explains, his hands now settled at the crook of Javier's neck, grip tight.
"Everyone—" Javier starts, swallowing. "Everyone dying that—"
"All part of the book, yeah." Suho replies, with an apologetic look.
"And you've— you've read this book?" Javier asks, mostly to clarify.
Suho nods.
"A couple of times, actually." He admits. "I— I liked it, I guess. Before I knew any of it was real."
Javier blinks at him.
"What?"
"Okay— that sounds bad—" Suho retorts, holding one of his hands up in defense before putting it back on Javier's shoulder. "It was— it was a good book, okay? Obviously I prefer this series of events, when it's real and just in general, but it was still a good book." He defends, pouting. "You were a compelling protagonist, bastard."
"And fate wants me to return to that." Javier infers, reminding himself and Suho of the actual topic.
"Yes." Suho replies. "Because I came in here and messed things up. Because something brought me here regardless, I guess."
Javier moves to hold one of Suho's arms.
"Thank you." He mumbles.
"Huh?" Suho questions. "What the hell are you on about— none of this would be an issue without me—"
"No one would be here, like this, if it weren't for you." Javier corrects. "You… are a blessing to this place."
Suho scrunches up his face.
"You must really be out of it." He replies. "You're talking nonsense."
Javier scoffs, looking to the side.
He takes the lull in conversation to think over what he's just been told.
He knew Suho had to have had some sort of knowledge of this world, before he came into it. He'd adapted too quickly for anything else, but…
"You knew the fate in store for everyone, for you when you came here?" Javier asks.
"Yeah." Suho replies. "I did."
"Yet you stayed." Javier observes, not really expecting an answer. It wasn't really a question.
"Of course I did. This is my best chance at a cushy life, don't you know?" Suho tells him, glancing away.
Javier looks down at his hand, still holding one of Suho's arms. He tightens his grip.
"Thank you." He repeats, softly.
Suho refuses to meet his eyes.
"You're out of it, I say." He retorts. "Was I supposed to pass up the chance to have the worlds greatest swordsman work for me?"
"The what?" Javier asks, a small smile making its way onto his face.
"Oh shut up— don't act humble now you smug bastard. You heard me." Suho replies, shooting him a glare.
They sit there for a moment, silent. Javier begins to think again.
He… still didn't know what to do with this information, much less the information that Suho had given him afterward.
They had an easy solution to their problems.
Javier would lay down his life for the people of the County— for Suho— in a heartbeat.
Which Suho knew. Otherwise he wouldn't have confiscated his sword, the moment he realized what Javier had been told.
"We'll work something out." Suho says, as if he can hear Javier's inner musings. "I— I know what you think we should do but we won't. Can't." He tells Javier, expression resolute. "There has to be a better way. We'll find it, I swear."
Javier stares at him, in the dim light of the fire, reflecting in his eyes, making them shine almost.
He still believes his solution is best but—
Master Suho knows better, in most cases. He trusts him.
"Okay." Javier relents. "If you say so."
Suho's shoulders relax, and he lets out a breath.
"Good. Good." He mutters, thumbs rubbing circles in Javier's neck. Relaxing and disarming. "Good." He adds quietly, eyes half-lidded as he looks at Javier. Relief fills his gaze.
Javier finds little relief in this, even as he leans into Suho's touch.
Suho says he'll fix things, then he will.
~
Fix things.
Fix things?
Suho is a hypocrite.
It's one of the first coherent thoughts he has, after the battle is done.
All the others are just approximations of sobs and pleads.
For Suho.
Oh god.
He's gone.
He said they would find another solution— he'd—
If this was the solution they were going with Javier should have—
It should have been Javier, not him. Not Suho.
Suho wasn't supposed to leave him.
He wasn't supposed to fail so miserably.
He wasn't supposed to be—
There were two protagonists, Javier wasn't meant to be the one left behind, not when Suho was the other option.
No no no no.
This wasn't—
This wasn't right.
Suho was a hypocrite and Javier was a failure.
So he would not fail again.
Not when— not when there was even still the barest hint of a chance to get him back.
He's not sure what it says about him, when neither the Count or Countess seem surprised as he asks for indefinite leave.
He cannot leave a stone unturned.
They at least seem to realize this.
He's grateful, regardless.
For some reason, he finds himself locating the Dragon King first.
A gut feeling maybe.
He doesn't wake up immediately, but Javier has remedies for that.
He doesn't know that Suho will be back in Korea, but it's as good a place to start as any.
And Javier's never felt so lucky in his life, as he tracks the faintest traces of the person he knows as Suho through the bustling city.
Mana is strange here, and he's more following a feeling than anything, but he finds him.
He finds him.
Both will take the tears shed there to their graves. But they were shed.
Javier hugs Suho close— reveling momentarily in the fact that this is Suho and he's… he's Suho.
He's a hypocrite. Sacrificing himself when he had torn Javier away from doing so. But he's also alive— Javier had gotten him back.
If he had to have a purpose in life— a story he needed to fulfill— if that was necessary.
Then he would gladly have it be this.
Not Javier Asrahan, The Knight of Blood and Iron.
Not Javier Asrahan, Worlds Greatest Swordsman, or anything of the like.
No, he wanted to be, Javier Asrahan, Savior of Kim Suho. Lloyd Frontera's knight.
Nothing else.
Javier is lucky— if he had not gone to the Dragon King first, if he had not gotten here so quickly— he would have wondered, looking for years for as long as it took.
He squeezes Suho a bit tighter, hoping that will make up for all the words he cannot say, and all the things he cannot do.
He mutters—
"Thank you."
Anyways.
It's not enough, but it'll do, as Suho pulls back, confused look on his face—
"For what?"
On his lips.
"Everything."
Is the answer.