Chapter Text
There's a saying that to awaken quite alone in a strange town is one of the pleasantest sensations in the world. That being in an unfamiliar place would offer a fresh new start and invite adventure, to leave your everyday life behind and to face the unknown. What an inspiring quote, surely nothing could possibly go wrong!
Lamentably, Saparata disagrees with his whole heart and soul and body and flesh and mind. Why, you ask this poor university student?
Because he wasn't in a strange town—nah, he would've been fine if it was—he was in a strange world. And judging by the marble ceiling above him, as well as the room being adorned in gold and other expensive materiaps that he was 100% sure he did NOT have in his bedroom and the fact that the curtains were made of fabric that cost more than 3 times his apartment lease..
He was so screwed, even more so than those nails that managed to pin the floorboard in his grandma's house ever since it was screwed in there. Thinking about it now, Saparata saluted the nail for holding on for decades, hopefully he would follow its legacy.
Saparata laid on the plush bed, and stared at the ceiling for a while before closing his eyes shut to open them again only for him to be greeted by the sight of the same ceiling. He repeated the gesture once, twice, thrice, even! .. yet the scene never changed.
"... Okay." He said despite the fact he's very much not okay.
What caught his attention was his voice, it was still his voice but he could tell it sounded deeper and smoother, clearly belonging to someone who apparently never experienced the horrors of screaming their lungs out when playing a horror game.
Then, Saparata slowly sat up. The sheets were soft, waaaaay too soft. It reminded him of the sheets in the furniture store that he was messing around in that were incredibly cozy and fluffy but had the price tag of an ancient artifact out of his budget. His hands that gripped the silk sheets were longer and calloused, a texture that his hands never had. The palms on his hand were rougher, too.
His gaze scanned the room he was in, seeing that there was more gold trim, marble pillars, and a fireplace that was embellished with an unfamiliar crest. Everything was beautiful and expensive and—
.. all too familiar.
Saparata felt a pit in his stomach as he was hit by an epiphany. How could he have forgotten that he knew this room? Shit! No wonder he kept having deja vu the moment he woke up in this gilded place.
The now familiar crest engraved on top of the fireplace, the amount of gold that made this room shine. It was only now that his memories came back in full clarity.
It was the dead of night, people were snoozing comfortably after retiring from a long day of work and school. Mostly everyone, but that 'everyone' didn't include Saparata—a university student who spent nights reserved for resting for playing games until the morning.
And said Saparata was playing a game that skyrocketed in popularity and started trending a few days ago, titled Hearts of the Empire. It was a fantasy otome visual novel with RPG elements set in an academy setting that charmed thousands of players by the hour to play it with its aesthetics—and the main course, the romance!
You play as the the heroine, Cass Ansell, a commoner that passes with flying colors and scores Top 1 on the Royal Academy of Ish's entrance exam. Plus, she is gifted with wind magic that perfectly suits her attitude for freedom. With that, Cass is introduced into noble society and a love life full of adventures.
But, if Saparata had to describe the game.. it was more like a political thriller that occassionally remembered that it was supposed to be a fantasy dating sim all the way through.
The game had kingdoms, noble houses, magic, royal conspiracies, political marriages, military conflicts, ancient artifacts, assassinations, and surprisingly enough romantic subplots that made Saparata question whether or not the developers had even heard of taking a day off to rest.
But there was also another aspect that made it famous: the branching routes.
Which meant that every decision the player makes will inevitably play a role on which route you will take and which ending it would lead you to. Hell, it'd even reveal new things and mysteries about the world but it was never addressed properly in favor of prioritizing the romance.. and Unluckily for Saparata, he had played it many times over the days to know exactly how certain characters ended up in different routes.
Especially one particular character, a character who happened to be the main love interest and had been dubbed a notorious title in the fandom: The Walking Red Flag.
The Crown Prince, Fluixon von Luminara. The male lead, the game's most popular character to the point he's even relevant in other fandoms' forums, heck, this dude was well-loved and hated that people bought a star just to name it after him!?
And hooh boy, did Saparata hate him. Actually, hate is underwhelming. Saparata loathes the fictional guy. It wasn't because of Fluixon being evil, because if he was just that, Saparata would have no problem trashing this dude.
First of all, Fluixon was complicated like matted hair that was full of clusters of knots that wete hard to undo. He puzzled Saparata to no end when he could be charming, compassionate, even! Intelligent and genuinely caring towards people who were close to him and earned a place in his heart.
However, depending on what route the player takes, the same Fluixon could turn around and commit an atrocity with the same qualities he has.
Saparata had spent too many nights yelling at his computer screen because of that man, especially since he was an asshole and jerk to anyone else aside from Cass and people he cared about.
But that isn't the problem right now, looking back at his hands, he knows for sure that these aren't his. It was longer, rougher, and .. unexpectedly paler? He didn't notice it earlier but now that he did, it's concerning.
He hurried out of bed and nearly tripped over the hem of his nightclothes, before he could fall—he managed to catch himself against a table with a yelp, "Whoa—"
Saparata sighed and instinctively looked up to meet the reflection of a mirror that stood across the room. What greeted his sight was the appearance of himself. No, it wasn't really him, was it? Yet it did!
He stared at the reflection and the reflection stared back. For a moment, none of them moved. The reflection on the mirrior showed short, soft and ethereal ivory hair, and eyes that shone bright gold, the same gold that the entire bedroom was adorned in.
Saparata's own eyes had always been black, though. He knew that after looking in the mirror countless of times while brushing his teeth in the morning for years. His hair was a similar white to the one that the reflection had, but it was usually ruffled after he woke up tossing and turning off his alarm.
He had an entirely ordinary face belonging to an entirely ordinary university student. Right, right. Yet.. The person staring back at him looked familiar, even if Saparata knew it wasn't exactly him.
So, he took a step closer to the mirror, and the stranger in it did the same. Saparata lifted his hand up to his cheek, the reflection followed. Then, he used the same hand to hold a couple of strands of hair. The reflection grabbed it, too.
"No way," Saparata mumbled to himself. His voice came out quieter than he expected but he could take a guess to which character the voice belonged to and he transmigrated into. What the hell. There was actually no way he was—
"Oh shit.. fuck my stupid chungus life."
He berated himself in his mind, he should've realized it sooner! There was a reason why this person looked so familiar to him. He had seen this character over a dozen, no, a hundred times after playing the game for hours and replaying certain routes and endings.
The ivory hair, the golden eyes, this aristocratic face! A character that eerily shared the first name as him—Saparata Theria, the aide of the Crown Prince and male lead.
His reflection wasn't merely similar to him. In fact, it was as if someone had taken Saparata's own face, changed his eye color, refined his face, and turned him into a fictional nobleman... damn, the resemblance between himself and Saparata Theria was really, really unsettling.
If it wasn't for the eyes, thank god it wasn't black like his or else he would've gone crazy, Saparata would've thought he was looking back at himself. "He really looks like me." He said. The realization settled over him like cold raindrops that poured continuously from the stormy clouds on rainy days. He brought up a hand to his face once more, but this time in an effort to comfort himself.
It reminded him that he wasn't simply in Hearts of the Empire, he was now Saparata Theria. The Saparata Theria who as the aide of the Crown Prince Fluixon von Luminara. The heir of House Theria, one of the oldest and most influential houses in the Luminara Empire.
He belonged to a family whose bloodline possessed an exceptionally rare form of magic capable of stabilizing and harmonizing other magical forces, served the royal house for generations, and a family whose heirs were practically raised from birth to stand beside or to assist the Crown Prince.
And he was a character whose existence, according to the game and Fluixon, was deemed an obstacle that stood between the Crown Prince and the Heroine.
An eventually dead obstacle.
Urgh, just thinking about what the poor character character had to go through in many routes and endings because of that damned Fluixon made Saparata's face go both pale from dread and red from anger on behalf of the aide who shared the same name as himself.
All the things that Fluixon subjected his aide, Saparata Theria, to was inhumane for something as small as talking to the heroine or anything related to her. Depending on the ending, the aide was tortured, executed, exiled, imprisoned, framed, killed either because of political conflicts and wars.
In some routes, Saparata Theria was killed by the very prince he sworn to serve, the same prince who was the main love interest, the same prince who could be so kind to others but not his own aide. It made Saparata's jaw tighten as he lowered the hand he brought up earlier to his face.
"I got transmigrated into the guy who looks like me and who I watched die off-screen in many endings."
After he let that thought out of his mouth, the room was enveloped in a deafening silence. Leaving him with him and his thoughts.
One more time, Saparata looked at the mirror. The reflection that met his eyes offered no sympathy nor reassursnce that everything would be okay. He didn't want to die early! He's young and in his prime and hip as fuck! He still had to finish his degree and achieve his dreams, not to die at the hands of a jerk, red-flag, and asshole crown prince—
Suddenly, three sharp knocks came from the door, disrupting the silence and his train of thoughts before he could spiral any further. A polite but trembling voice sounded from the other side, "Your Grace? His Highness request your presence in the west courtyard."
Damn! Would he ever catch a break? It's only been like, what? Around 10 minutes since he woke up and realized that 'hey, I transmigrated into a character that has the same name as me and dies or suffers because of the dude he's serving in the fantasy otome game I've been playing for the past couple of days'!!
Now, he has to fear for his precious life because the Crown Prince responsible for his death is calling him to meet up.
"Man, I haven't even been here for more than an hour and this jerk is already making me suffer," he whispered to himself, making his voice low enough so the maid outside doesn't hear him slandering the crown prince, he'd lose his head if anyone reported him saying this.
Also, he had to make sure to reply in a way that Saparata Theria would because it'd be suspicious if the aide suddenly spoke informally, "Thank you. You may take your leave, I'll be there before His Highness has the oppurtunity to complain."
The moment he finished speaking, the maid bowed and quickly left, he assumed after listening to her footsteps indicate that she walked away quickly.
".. I'm going to die." Saparata huffed out as he made his way to the aide's closet to grab some presentable clothes and change as fast as the maid left so that Fluixon wouldn't slime him out and have his head on a silver platter during the first day of his transmigration. Not that the prince knew that, anyway.
He thought back to the most recent ending of Hearts of the Empire he saw before he got transmigrated in his sleep..
"You betrayed me, Theria." Fluixon hissed, his eyes narrowed toward his aide, who was reciprocating the glare. At least, that was what Cass can tell from behind the aide, who was standing infront of her.
His aide's expression remained the same as it did ever since.. their childhood. No, Fluixon could never call that man his aide, not when he was nothing but a hollow husk of an obedient servant tailored for him.
"I was loyal to you, Your Highness." The aide stated, not a word more or less. The heir kf Theria put a hand infront of Cass, as if to act as a meat shield for her.
Cass knew he could sense her worry, after all, the wind around them was swirling around the both of them in an attempt to protect themselves from Fluixon.
This whole situation was a mess, from the moment Fluixon had become a tyrant and Cass formed a rebellion against him, what became of that is now the present—where he had declared war on all nations that opposed his rule.
The present where in Saparata Theria had defected to Cass' side after seeing his Emperor use his authority to suppress opposition from his people and other nations.
Then, Fluixon slashed the wind barrier Cass had made with terrifying ease with his sword, and said to his aide, "Then die proving your loyalty."
Within the blink of an eye, the tip of Fluixon's met Saparata's chest. At the same time, the wind magic of Cass stabilized out of the blue and carried her away from them—as she watched Fluixon's sword impale the ivory-haired man.
She snapped her eyes shut as the scene began to grow smaller and smaller as the distance between her and the two seemed to grow every second as the wind continued to push her, as if it was taking her safe even if it she wasn't using her power. No, it was as if Theria was still using the last of his remaining life to protect her from him.
With a halt, the wind unceremoniously dropped her to the ground, sending her tumbling over while it dispersed into thin air. Tears fell from Cass' cheeks as she stood up and ran towards the direction of where her allies were waiting for her.
As her hand wiped away her tears, Cass vowed to avenge Theria for his sacrifice. She won't let his sacrifice go in vain.
Saparata remembered when he watched the cutscene and bawed his eyes out like a baby. Cass didn't deserve this red flag!!! And certainly Saparata (okay, it feels weird to call a character by his own name because they are the same name) Theria didn't either!!! Seriously, he wished the devs would just remove Fluixon from the game and they would see all the bad endings that would disappear.
He had also remembered crashing out and cursed Fluixon and the developers that day. Even going as far as arguing in forums on whether or not Fluixon is a green flag or red flag. Of course, he was on the red flag side.
Anyways. These two deserved so much better than whatever the hell just happened in this route.
...
Wait, didn't Cass still end up getting together with Fluixon here?? Holy shit, that makes it so much worse, he just realized. Maybe the developers had lost their brain or something because what do you mean Cass got with the dude that became a tyrant. He didn't know if Hearts of the Empire was a dark romance or just straight-up horror hiding under the guise of a otome game.
Saparata muttered an endless stream of curses for Fluixon as he finished dressing up to meet the accursed prince. He straightened his cravat without a care in the world in his irritation and headed out of his room to meet the Crown Prince.
It was a little difficult to navigate the halls, since he was used to just seeing the scene change with the click of the 'Next' button. You know what? He regrets not asking the maid to wait for him earlier so that it would've been so much easier for her to lead him to Fluixon.
After a few minutes of walking around and taking different turns by doing a rock paper scissors game with himself to decide which way he goes, Saparata finally made it to the west courtyard.
Woah.., the game did the place no justice with how it was portrayed. The west courtyard looked like it was an illustration that was brought to life. He saw the sunlight glisten on the marble stone, and the flowers sway with the gentle breeze as though it were dancing to the wind's melody.
Saparata's mouth parted in awe of the mesmerizing scenery, before he closed his mouth the moment he spotted Fluixon von Luminara standing just a short distance away from him, also admiring the view.
Great! His mood soured. It turned bitter when he remembered that Fluixon technically owned the view once he becomes the Emperor...
Even from a distance, Fluixon looked unreal. Saparata could understand, just a little bit, why people fawned over the royal a lot. The way his ebony hair caught the light of the sun, and his violet eyes seemed like it held all the stars in the night sky with how it shines. His mouth was curved upward, forming a smile. At his side rested his gloved left hand neatly, the one made of metal. It was because he lost his arm in one of the events in the game, but Saparata wouldn't spend so much time explaining why right now.
(Once he thought properly about it, Hearts of the Empire never delved deeper into the mystery of Fluixon's arm.)
.. he notices this bastard looks smug. Smug for what? Saparata might as well wipe that expression of his face on the behalf the original Saparata Theria who had suffered because of him.
Saparata felt his anger flare again at the sight of his soon-to-be killer. There stood the man who tormented his aide and others in the name of "love". The man responsible for his aide's tragic and meaningless death and the man he mocked online.
And now, the man is looking at him while he made his way to him.
"Ah," Fluxion said, voice composed as always. "You came."
Saparata forced a grin that could kill the conversation before it even started, "I wouldn't dare think to keep His Highness waiting."
The Prince tilted his head in curiosity, studying the aide with what Saparata recognized as the same precision he has when fighting. His eyes held a gaze that novelists called "piercing" and what psychiatists called "concerning".
"You're acting strange today, Theria," he murmured. Under his breath, he muttered low enough to not be heard, "As if you have finally remembered who you are."
Saparata still heard it and got caught off-guard, but chose to not dwell on whatever concerning things Fluixon says for the time being. He still had to deal with his executioner right now as he responded, "Just, uh.. feeling well-rested, Your Highness."
The Crown Prince smiled faintly, "Good. I’ll need my aide sharp today. There’s much to discuss before the Academy’s term begins.”
Right, the Royal Academy of Ish, the setting of the game and where the main story really starts. Cass would enroll soon. The ither capture targets would gather. And somewhere down the line, his death flag would wave in the wind like a particularly stylish guillotine.
Saparata bowed, biting his tongue before an insult could have slipped out. “Of course, Your Highness.”
But as Fluixon turned to leave, something flickered in his expression. A softness so uncharacteristic of him to have to his aide.
“Theria,” he said. “You’ve been avoiding me lately.”
“Have I?” Saparata was genuinely surprised by this. Well, it's not like Fluixon in the game really cared for the aide with how many routes and endings he hurt the aide one way or another. Didn't Saparata Theria stay by Fluixon's side till the very end? So why..
"Yes. I almost miss your company.”
Saparata blinked. That was .. unexpected.
“Perhaps,” Fluixon continued, stepping closer, “you’ve grown bored of me.”
Saparata froze as Fluixon’s gloved hand brushed past his sleeve—barely a touch, yet enough to send his pulse into a beating mess. From the fear or from something else, Saparata did not know.
He wanted to say anything his bottled up anger wanted, Saparata wanted to say "I hate you" and storm off immediately.
Instead, what came out was, “Perish the thought, Your Highness.”
Fluixon smiled again, slow and deliberate. It freaked Saparata out. “Good. I’d hate to think you were planning to leave me.”
Later that night, back in his room, Saparata collapsed face-first onto his plush bed and screamed into his pillow.
“WHAT IS HIS PROBLEM?!”
This wasn’t in the game. Fluixon never acted like that toward the aide. He barely noticed him, except when ordering his death or sentencing him to exile.
Saparata pushed himself up and rolled over to lay on his back, and he thought to himself.
It's gonna be alright. I can do this. You can do this, Saps. I just have to make sure to stay alive and find a way back home.