A month or so ago I decided on writing an alternate ending to The Chief Consul's Diary in which Roland managed to leave without saying goodbye. Considering that leaving knocked out Doloran for a few days...well...everyone would be worried.

Unfortunately I then got second thoughts on whether or not writing an alternate chapter 49 is even necessary considering most of this is just copy and pasting bits of the original chapter. So I just...left this be for a while as I pondered deleting or just posting as is. Guess which side won.

I also want to note that this is non-canon to CCD.

Stick to the Script and Other Stories

By Bilbo-sama

Diary-verse - Departing Unseen (Alternate 48+49)

And then one morning, Evan woke up with the most intense feeling of dread he had ever felt. It was on par with when his father was at last dying. He needed to get up now.

"What's the rush, mun?" commented Lofty as he watched Evan frantically get ready for the day.

"J-just a feeling I'm having," said Evan as he brushed his hair.

"Yeah?" Lofty prompted.

"Like..." began Evan as he tried to find a way to best explain it, "like I need to look my best for what's about to happen today."

"What do you think is about to happen?" asked the Kingmaker.

"Something...bad," whispered Evan.

Properly dressed and refreshed, Evan rushed out of his chambers and neglected to close the door in his haste. He ignored Lofty's yelp of 'slow down!' and he faintly registered Batu calling his name. But he can't stop now.

Unfortunately, the universe had other ideas and an incomplete foot step caused Evan to trip and fall onto the ground. He laid there dazed for a few seconds until he managed to regather his wits and chew on a spare soreaway leaf.

Feeling better, he continued on the path but a bit slower to avoid a repeat. He at last reached the doors to the throne room and came to a sudden halt.

"The Chief Consul and his brother just arrived before you," said one of the two startled guards.

"They seemed upset," added the other guard, "you sure you want to go in there now?"

"Yes," gasped Evan.

"Alright," shrugged the first guard, "but if they're having a family spat, then maybe you should leave them be." He and his colleague opened the doors anyway.

Evan stepped through the threshold and stopped in shock.

"Doloran!" he cried out before rushing inside.

The guards, alerted by the king's shout, followed him and despite all three of them running inside, the guards and the King were unable to prevent Doloran collapsing onto the floor with a loud thud.

"What has happened to him?" said a shaken Evan. The man was fortunate that he didn't hurt himself terribly from hitting the floor. He merely...broke his nose.

"Where's the Chief Consul?" asked one of the guards as he looked around, "Was it his doing?"

Evan looked up at the man as he and the other guard struggled to lift him up, "He wouldn't!" He felt offended on Roland's behalf.

"Ahem," called Leander to bring everyone's attention as he walked into the throne room, "May I ask what's going on?"

"The Chief Consul's brother has collapsed!" explained the second guard.

"He doesn't seem to be waking up," added Evan nervously.

"Then he must be taken to the infirmary immediately," Leander pointed out.

"What's going on?" said Bracken before she and the others gasped at Doloran's nosebleed that was given as a result of colliding with the ground.

Doloran, despite all efforts from healers, some mages and Lofty, remained unconscious. No one was sure what caused it. The best Lofty can do is tell that Doloran is alive. Galen had departed from the kingdom a couple of days ago searching for an apprentice so tracking him down would be difficult.

Most of the castle has been searched but Roland couldn't be found. Some of the guards and more discrete sky pirates were told to look around in the city but they would return a couple of hours later with no results.

The King and his remaining ministers stood around the sleeping Doloran's bed wondering what happened and where Roland could be now.

Their collective confusion was then broken when Lord Summerlands barged in.

"What is the meaning of this?!" he yowled as he waved a sheet of parchment in the air. Lady Penelope entered the room, mortified by the Earl's behavior.

"What do you mean?" asked Leander who eyed the parchment with interest.

"Why has the Chief Consul slipped a farewell letter under my door?! Is he playing spy again?"

They all stared at him.

"He did flippin' what?" yelped Lofty, breaking the stunned silence.

"He left me a letter," said the Earl, unimpressed, "stating he will be gone by the time I read it. He also wanted me to pass along the message that there is more of these in his quarters."

"He left all of us a note?" whispered Tani in disbelief.

"That's what I just said," huffed the grimalkin.

"Why would leaving the kingdom affect Doloran?" mused Leander. Lord Summerlands and Lady Penelope then noticed the pale man in the bed.

"They are connected, aren't they?" asked the Lady, "Maybe the connection is...damaged."

"To prevent anyone from finding him?" added the Earl. "Surely Doloran would never betray his brother and reveal his plans."

"Then we just have to search Roland's quarters for answers," Bracken decided reluctantly.

Roland's apartment was surprisingly tidy. It was though Roland spent a day cleaning. The only thing he had missed was an open chest that Evan recognized as the same chest that Roland stored the suit he came into the world wearing. It was empty and on a hunch, Evan ran to the wardrobe and found that all was in there was two spares of Roland's guardsman coat. He numbly noted that the fancier coat Roland wore to several events was gone and so was the warrior robes Roland received in Goldpaw. Why would he do this? What did he do that made him want to flee to avoid consequence?

"Evan," called Tani, "Come here quick."

Evan ran over to the main room where Tani and others gathered around the table. On the table was the diary, the consul's log, some envelopes titled to several people Roland had known around the kingdom, a letter declaring his resignation from the post of Chief Consul, a pile of memoliths with their names written on, and a bundle of papers titled 'Last Will and Testament of Roland Crane.' The will was last updated a week after the Horned One's defeat.

Evan hesitated as he reached for the diary. He promised Roland but there had to be some sort of clue...!

He flipped the pages and spotted a date that was the day after the Horned One's defeat.

I am surprised I am still alive and sane after what I've been through. I suppose it was fortunate no one else had to bear the weight of the Horned One's mind bearing down on them.

As he read more of the entry, Evan's ears drooped and he increasingly became horrified at how close they could have lost Roland that day. Roland was lucky the Horned One had managed to partially possess him. Any further...

Evan shuddered. He continued reading the entry and stopped when he saw a couple of drawings. One was of Roland's wife from the neck up and the other was a woman with shaggy white hair and three horns on her head. They would look exactly the same if the horned woman didn't have reptilian features.

I then found myself in a white void. Before me was a woman who resembled Melissa.

"Hello, Roland," she said.

"Melissa?" I gasped.

"Not quite. I am Alisandra."

"Fascinating," spoke Leander suddenly and Evan mewed in fright. He turned around and saw Leander standing behind him. Evan continued to read.

"I wish to thank you," said Alisandra, "for breaking through the madness and reaching out to Doloran. He had been under the Horned One's influence since the very beginning. The Horned One refused to allow me to influence him. I couldn't go beyond the seal I fashioned to lock the Horned One away."

"That voice I've been hearing in Allegoria and in my dreams lately," I realized, "that was you?"

"Yes," she confirmed, "Doloran may have been out of my reach but you weren't. You didn't dismiss me as a trick of the Horned One. You knew I needed help even if you had no idea what to do. You resisted the Horned One with all your strength and in the end, I was freed."

"What is the Horned One?" I asked.

"The Horned One is my punishment for forsaking my duty as Kingmaker. I detached myself from the power given to me by the Winnower and by doing so, I left a power roam mindlessly and unchecked. So I sealed it away before its wrath could extend beyond Allegoria."

Reeling from the revelation that Roland and Doloran more or less fell in love with the same woman, Evan skipped a few entries and found that the one he was reading was about Roland trying to reconcile his feelings about Doloran being his soul mate. How does one get along civilly with a man who tried to brainwash you? Very awkwardly as Evan recalled the days afterwards.

The entry after that began with I had that hallway dream again. Why can't those voices leave me be?

It would turn out the dreams ceased after Galen first arrived.

And then Evan found it. The entry was written as though Roland was shaking.

I've been so foolish. I had come to think of this world as my home now and it hadn't occurred to me that the magic the Horned One used to bring me here could wear off and send me back.

The dreams from earlier this month was actually the gods trying to speak with me but after two weeks of hearing a voice in my head, I had refused to listen. So they waited for when it was too late to do anything to get my attention.

I am to be sent back to my original world by the end of the week. There's a great chance that I may die when I return.

I have family waiting for me but I fear that they are most definitely dead. There is no surviving a nuclear blast at point blank range. I like to think they would want me to move on and I did with great guilt for leaving them behind.

I don't want to leave my new family.

Evan closed the book, unwilling to read more.

Roland's time in this world merely ran out. It happened without notice from the world at large. And he told no one what was going to happen. Evan couldn't help but feel betrayed.

"It states that Roland's accumulated salary is to go to Doloran, who he named as his next of kin," said Bracken as she went through the will, "makes sense I guess. I suppose he wanted Doloran to have something to fall back on until he gets a hang on being a king again."

"But it was dated while they were incredibly awkward with each other," Tani pointed out.

"Indeed," said Leander, "But its telling of Roland's character that he is unwilling to leave someone destitute."

Batu picked up the will when Bracken set it down and read through it. "He didn't name a successor."

"It was agreed between the two of us," revealed Leander, "that if Roland is unable to do his duties permanently, I am next in line as Chief Consul."

"But aren't you going to marry Queen Nerea and become King Consort someday?" asked Evan, "You would have to give up the post..."

"Roland had spoken of training an apprentice but we never attempted it once Roland was made aware of the concept of delegating. But before I become King of Hydropolis, you will be appointing a new Chief Consul."

"I understand," said Evan.

"Now, all we have left are these letters and memoliths," Leander waved a hand in the items' general direction, "Each memolith is addressed to each of us. I suppose he wanted to leave a final message to everyone."

Evan picked up the first memolith from the pile and found that it was labeled with his name. His ears drooped as he stared at the memolith. If he watched it, it would make the fact that Roland had left the world forever more real.

He then felt even more betrayed. Why didn't Roland say anything? Why didn't he try harder to stay? Why didn't he realize that the gods were trying to help him? Why...

Evan sighed. His mind swirled with questions that started with the word 'Why.' They'll never be answered now. At least, in the way he wanted them to be.

Perhaps there was some sort of answer waiting for him in the device Evan was holding. He wouldn't know until he looked into it.

He'll have to watch it later tonight. Despite his rising grief, life still went on and there was work to be done.

And then they all watched their memoliths that night. I imagine it didn't help much as it should. D:

In other news, the writing drive has been slowing down. I'll still post stuff but it'll be less frequent. I see this as a chance to take more time to work on a story instead of writing at 88 mph.

I am also aware of the Ni No Kuni movie that was just announced last weekend. There's supposed to be more news about it next month so who knows what will happen this year. Personally I feel there's a very small chance of it being released outside of Japan but who knows, maybe the universe will prove me wrong. *shrugs*