"Are you alright, Lewis?"
"Yeah. You're looking kind of pale."
"You mentioned my son's name. Is everything alright?"
Aria, Drake, and Larry all asked me with their eyes connoting evidence of worry.
"Yeah, yeah. I'm fine. Your son's name just reminded me of someone where I'm from who shares the same name." I responded, calming myself as I settled.
"Ah, I see. Well, it's not exactly a unique name." Larry smiled. "What kind of person was he?"
Hearing that question caused me to remember how Jared felt about that man.
There was only one answer I could give at this point.
"He's like me."
"Like you? He must be a great fellow, then." Larry had no idea what I meant by 'like me', but I appreciated his sentiment.
Legris and I both shared the same past, and the same obsession with Magic.
But… we were clearly different.
'No one in the Nether Realm exists in the Aether Realm and vice versa. Sure, in the various branches within a realm, variations of a person may exist, but the two realms never have an existence in common.'
There was no Jared Leonard in the Nether Realm, just as there was no Larry Damien in the Aether Realm.
Sure, due to certain circumstances, there were bound to be some similar histories and titles in certain branches that parallel the other branch.
Concepts like Fairy King, or Great Sage, existed in both Realms. However, as long as the Roots were different, no character could ever be the same.
'Could it be that Legris… is the Lewis of this world?'
If that was the same, then I wasn't dealing with just someone who was similar to me.
No. I was dealing with the 'ME' of an inverted realm.
The ME that was always bound to fail.
'It's just as Libra said. This world's natural order ensures evil triumphs good. Despair is the norm here. That's the kind of person the Nether is, so his realm will be designed like this.'
Both realms had good and evil, but in the Aether world, it seemed good found ways to constantly triumph.
This was due to the Aether's nature.
However, if I applied the same to the Nether, it meant the echoes of despair and chaos were the preferred setting.
In such a world, Legris Damien was bound to be corrupted.
'That's what makes us different.'
"I have to go now. I'm really sorry I couldn't help you any more, you three. Even if you looked forward to this so much." I rose to my feet and swiftly left for the door.
There was a lot more to do than I realized.
"LEWIS!" Larry called my name, causing me to sharply turn back.
I was very anxious at this point, and impatience was clearly displayed on my face.
Yet, the mere sight of all three of them melted my heart and drove all those overwhelming feelings away in an instant.
"Thank you for everything, Lewis." Larry bowed his head as he offered a genuine, natural smile.
"I know you killed my sisters to protect us. I hold nothing against you, Lewis. You are a good man, Lewis." Aria smiled too, her head bowed.
"You've done more than we could ever have thought possible for this world, Lewis. Thank you." Drake nodded, his head lowered in a bow.
All three of them offered me their sincere gratitude and respect.
"You guys…" I could feel tears forming in my eyes as I stared at them. My vision grew blury due to the accumulating liquid, and I didn't realize it when I formed a smile.
"Thank you so much."
These people. This world. This Realm. All of it had shown me much more than I ever thought possible.
********
The three friends sat in a circle after Lewis left them, their faces more cheerful than one would expect.
They had just been told that they would never see their loved ones again. Yet, the genuine smiles on their faces didn't vanish.
Instead, the more they stared at each other, the more their grins widened.
"We're all still best friends, right?" Aria was the first to break the silence with her words.
"Of course." Drake responded, and so a smile began to slowly form at the corner of his lips. "Though… I can only expect things to change very soon."
"What do you mean by that, Drake?" Larry gasped, most definitely apalled by what his friend was insinuating.
Was he trying to say they wouldn't remain best friends.
"Yeah, what nonsense are you spouting, Drake?" Aria added.
"Oh, nothing. It's just… I look at my two friends now and can't help but think that the two of them might soon become… ahem… ahem…" He made a mock cough.
His smile grew wider as his eyes narrowed.
Surely, no one would be dense enough not to understand what that meant at this point.
"W-w-w-w-what the hell, Drake?!" Aria was the first to burst out with stuttering words as her face took on a pinkish hue.
There was no way she could overlook what Drake had just insinuated.
Her and Larry… becoming what exactly?
It was true that now Larry wasn't bound by his mission to bring back his family, and he intended to live his life to the fullest.
That meant Larry was currently single, and possibly searching.
And Aria… well Aria was…
"Kyaaaaa! Stop iiiiit!" She screamed, holding both her cheeks as she ran out of the room, most likely too embarassed to look at the blushing Larry's face.
One would never expect a hardened warrior to display such a feminine side to herself.
"What did you say that for, Drake?" Larry sighed as he held his forehead. He didn't know how to respond to his still grinning friend.
"Welp, I just stated the truth. You've known for a while that Aria likes you, right? And now that you're single, might as well just kickstart things."
"Y-you! And who says I like her back? Or that I'm ready to get back in the game?" This time, it was Larry's turn to get flustered.
Not many things could faze the Great Sage of this world, but even he had his limits.
"Pfft! Who are you decieving? I see how you stare at her sometimes, you lecherous man. I wonder how painful it was to hold it in your pants all these years…"
"S-shut up! It's not my fault. I'm a man, and I… I have needs, you know?"
"Hahaha! At least you're honest with yourself now." Drake burst out laughing even more.
"But Aria deserves better. She should be with—"
"You. She likes you, so I think she wants to be with you. If you're not man enough to handle it, don't blame it on her."
Drake had always had his way with his tongue when he decided to ger serious. Larry could see that now.
"F-fine… I'll try." Larry finally gave in.
Drake was right, after all.
Now that they had saved the world and stopped the threat o the triumvirate, all the tension that kept him serious had vanished.
They were now replaced by the pent-up stress he had ignored all this time, and it was finally beginning to get to him.
"... I'll try."
Now, both Drake and Larry couldn't have known this, but Aria was listening in to their conversation from outside the room, so she had heard everything.
At some point, her cheeks flushed with deeper red, and other times, she tried her best to stop herself from laughing.
It wasn't too difficult to maintain her cover since she was a Magic Swordsman, and the two conversing were pretty much weak.
Still, she felt like she had almost lost control and given herself away on multiple occasions.
Thankfully, that didn't happen.
'So he likes me too…' Aria smiled, clenching her hands to form a fist. She jerked it in the air, cheering for herself in victory.
In the end, she had won his heart.
It wasn't all in vain!
… And unknown to the two men conversing, as well as Aria, someone else was watching this entire thing and listening in to all that happened.
The Ursula.
"I see. So this is how it works." The Automaton murmured silently as she stealthily hovered above the bunch.
Aria's excited face. Drake's mischievous smile. Larry's nervous face.
She internalized all of it and assimilated all the information. With her current base knowledge of empathy forming a codex within her, the Ursula began to analyze eveything she was recieving.
She did this until a particular inquiry popped into her mind.
"Will I… find love too?"
*
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[A/N]
Haha! Well, isn't this chapter full of twists and turns.
Hope you enjoyed it.
Thanks for reading!
