Volume 2 / Epilogue / Wish of a Shooting Star
"Damn it, don't push me! W-Wait…!"
Ren's eyes widened up, once his consciousness returned to him. Screaming out the continuation of where his memories ended, he sprung upwards in the attempts of grasping whatever he could grab. The hands were merely met with some air, supplied with heavy breaths. He touched his face, feeling the warmth of his cheek to ensure that he wasn't actually dead.
Thankfully, he was still breathing.
It was more of a shame that he didn't find himself on the kitchen floor of their apartment. If the whole thing could have been a dream sequence, he wouldn't have been so bothered. Contrasting the sight he would have liked to see, he found himself on the ground, being cushioned with some blankets underneath him.
He turned his head to see everyone, glancing at him with worried and relieved expressions. They were sitting around a campfire, trying to warm up as Naofumi was cooking something up.
"He's still alive! Thank goodness!"
Motoyasu flung himself to embrace the young friend, which immediately made him uncomfortable. He was lucky that he didn't have enough energy back in his body to fight back and push him away, but perhaps exerting himself would have been a good choice over being smothered.
As the scent of Naofumi's familiar homecooking came through the air, Ren felt his body relax a little bit.
"I told you Ren was alright," Itsuki said, throwing a cough out. "He's a stubborn guy, so something like that isn't going to put him down."
"It was just a bit worrying that Mister Ren wasn't waking up," Raphtalia responded. "I thought we might have lost him for a little while. Seeing a death before my eyes again would just be…"
That was right. Aldrecht was killed right in front of them and the mastermind behind the whole operation, not that he was hiding much, came out with such confidence and arrogance. He wasn't particularly keen on avenging Aldrecht, since was probably part of the reason why they were screwed over in the first place, but he didn't want Zellus to get away with all of this.
Eclair must have noticed the hero tighten his fist as Motoyasu released his grip.
"Nothing good will come if we consciously persist through that issue right now. First and foremost, we'll have to get a grip on our own troubles here. The ones that are immediate to our situation."
Ren didn't unclench himself, so Eclair bothered him with a sigh.
"I wasn't expecting to be pulled into such a course of events when I was freed from my cell, but considering that Zellus was responsible, I wouldn't doubt that this is reality. Nevertheless, I'm intending to stay with the Cardinal Heroes during this journey, wherever it may lead to."
"Thanks, Eclair," Naofumi nodded as he stirred the makeshift pot. "With what's going on, we probably need all the allies we can gather. Not that it'll be easy to do so, if what Zellus is saying will come true."
"It is my honour to do so. If we can find the Queen ourselves, we could perhaps get her to fix everything up for us. I'm certain that she has the capability to restore order to this land."
"Do you know where she is, Miss Eclair?"
"Aldrecht said… she was at some type of conference, right?" Motoyasu responded. "I have my doubts that she could fix something as crazy as this, but if you think she can do it, it's not like we have any other objective to chase down."
"She headed to Faubley for the conference."
"And… where exactly is that?" Itsuki asked.
"Far, especially if we're walking."
"Oh, great," Itsuki groaned. "Just our luck. By the time we meet the Queen, the entirety of Melromarc would already be chanting for our deaths."
"If we persist enough, we may be able to—"
"Screw that."
Everyone glanced at Ren who had been grimacing the entire conversation. It wasn't as if it was a terrible plan and it wasn't as if he had another plan as straightforward as that one, but following through with what was laid out seemed wrong. It left a bad taste in Ren's mouth, causing him to scowl at it.
"I can't care enough for us to come back to Melromarc's side."
"But it's not their fault!" Eclair stood up, trying to defend the country once served. "The people are innocent! We already established that Sir Zellus is the root of all these problems!"
"That doesn't change the fact that the church and the king helped propel all of these problems onto our laps. Why should we be helping them, coming back once everything is magically solved for us? They could tuck their tails behind their legs and beg for us to return and I wouldn't accept that offering."
"And allow the people to suffer the waves?"
"If they end up believing in that nonsense, they're just as guilty."
"Ren! That's a little bit too far!" Naofumi exclaimed. "We can at least be reasonable. If Eclair says that it could be fixed for us, why shouldn't we take her up on that offer?"
"You can't be so naive that it works out like that!"
"Then tell me, Ren! What do we suggest we do instead?"
Ren pondered for a moment. The campfire's crackling flames were the only noises that were being made. He gazed over to its flicker and closed his eyes, saying what he probably wanted to say this entire time. His voice slightly cracked, turning his head away from the others.
"I… I want to go home. I don't want to be here anymore. Is it so wrong for me to miss our daily lives back at our apartment, free from any of this level of stress? It was a place where we didn't have to worry for our lives and for each other! I like worlds that were similar to virtual reality and being able to do what I can do like in Brave Star Online, so you know something's messed up when I want to leave here!"
He ended up shouting his heart out, grabbing onto the blanket underneath out of that displeasure. Everyone merely looked at him, seeing how Ren was cracking with all these weights and burden being put on top of them. After all, they didn't start out as heroes. They were only normal people, being thrusted and assigned the role to save the world.
Even Ren felt wrong to be saying all those things, but as he tried to retract them, Motoyasu clapped his hands to bring the atmosphere away from that.
"How about we forget all of this for now?" He glanced up into the skies, showing it was the middle of the night. "We'll rest up for now and get refreshed. When we're ready in the morning, we'll talk about what we'll do from now on."
"Yeah," Itsuki nodded. "Motoyasu's right. There's a lot on our minds right now, so we probably need time for everything to settle down in there."
To that notion, Ren could agree. His stomach was starving as well, so eating up whatever Naofumi was cooking may have been the best thing he could do for himself. A taste from home, even if it was from ingredients of this world, was much desired.
Releasing the tension in his body, he fell back onto the covered ground.
"Hey, you know what I realized?" Motoyasu said. "Even if we aren't really supposed to be travelling together like they told us, we ended up together regardless. Even with everything that's going on right now, this is our silver lining. We finally get to leave on our fantasy adventure together!"
Ren groaned.
"That… is probably the shittest silver lining I've ever heard. We get tricked, the country is probably against us, and we're likely branded as fugitives to be either caught dead or alive. Sure, the good news is that we're together again."
"Uh, when you put it in like that…"
"I guess I don't mind it," Ren chuckled. "It's a terrible silver line, but it's a silver line at the end of the day. There are probably worse ones out there I've haven't come across yet."
Even with the tension brewing around their little world, everyone found themselves to a quiet laughter. Even if it was for a moment, it was important to keep things peaceful once in a while.
-/IV/-
They decided to keep one person awake, just in case there was any trouble. The campfire was put out after they were done with it, leaving them to sleep in the basking darkness of the night. Ren didn't know whose turn it was right now, but when he couldn't sleep, he rose up to find Itsuki sitting down from the aside and gazing up into the skies.
Being injured as he was, he wondered if Itsuki was supposed to be awake. Ren brought himself over to him, sitting right next to him. His friend nudged himself over to provide the space for him.
"Can't sleep either? Or was it your turn to watch over us?"
"It was a bit of both. I couldn't sleep, so I offered to take the shift off from Motoyasu."
His gaze glanced over to Itsuki's burnt hands. Upon a closer and calmer look, it looked like he still had control over them rather than losing the hands to pain. However, it's ominous colour made it feel rather unnatural. The longer he looked at it, the more he felt guilty about causing Itsuki to have that.
"Don't worry about it. My physical injuries hurt more than whatever is happening there."
"What even is that supposed to be?"
"It's a curse, apparently. That's what popped up on my status magic when I received it."
"Any idea as to how it could be removed?"
"Well, I don't know how accurate this is, but in Dimension Wave, curses could be countered using holy water vials. I'm not exactly sure where we'll find one though, so I guess I'll have to persist through it. It's… nothing too terrible." Itsuki rolled his wrist, looking at the wounds for himself. "I'll live through it. It's strong, but… it's not strong enough to keep me down."
"I'm… I'm sorry."
"I told you already, idiot. You don't need to apologize." Itsuki smiled at his friend. "I fought hard against you for my own selfish wish. You didn't do anything wrong since I knew what I was getting myself into."
"But I was supposed to be the Sword Hero, someone known for their strength. If all that strength is good for only hurting my friends, I'd rather not be a hero at all."
"You are strong. You're stronger than any other person I know." His head leaned backward, glancing up into the night sky once more. It reminded Ren of the view back in their world—the one back home. "You keep wanting to push onwards with what you want to do. If that's not strength, I don't know what would fit the description."
"... Something with high stats, maybe?"
"Okay, smartass." Itsuki scoffed at Ren's jest. "Whatever you say."
As Ren looked up, sharing the same sights as his friend, they sat inn silent until something streaked around the skies. For some reason, he didn't expect it to show up in this world, but just there was a sky and some stars, it probably made sense that they existed in this world as well. Itsuki must have seen the same thing as he did because when Ren glanced over, he was closing his eyes.
Making a wish is what one should do after seeing a shooting star.
"Hey, Ren?"
"What is it?"
"Could we still become heroes of justice?"
Ren closed his eyes instead of openly responding. In a way, that in itself was a response that Itsuki understood. With the winds quietly breathing, cooling down the air, Ren breathed out a heavy breath. Without being prompted, Itsuki continued.
"If that justice doesn't mean that we'll catch all of the evil in this world… If that justice doesn't mean that we'll be able to stand up against the people who lurk in the shadows…" Itsuki opened his eyes and looked over to his friend with a soft smile. "I think for now, the justice I want to chase… It's the justice that protects my friends."
Ren chuckled.
"That's… a good way to look at it. If that's your definition of justice, then there's no doubt that we'll be heroes of justice in no time. We can take as many steps as we can here, but even if we get kicked down..."
"We'll always get back right up."
Upon finishing his sentence, the two friends knocked their fist together with content loaded in them. It felt so long ago that Ren could experience such peacefulness nesting in his heart, but he knew this wasn't going to last much longer. Whatever difficulties were in their way, it was only getting started from here on out. It was obvious that not all of it will end up the way that they want it to, but if they kept persisting, he knew that they'll find that future they wanted for themselves.
He was going to make sure of it.
Even if he had to fight the entire world, he would rush in without complaints, as long as he still had a reason to fight. Those reasons were before him, lying within his friends.
"I'll take over, Itsuki. You have to rest up. Your energy must be drained from today."
"I was wondering when you'll push me off this duty."
Itsuki groaned, feeling the soreness in his body as he waddled over to his resting place. He had an extra blanket, but that was all the group to afford to provide to him in compensation of his current state. Ren merely watched as Itsuki crouched onto the ground to lay himself asleep, but he still had one more question before his friend nodded off.
"Hey, Itsuki? What did you wish for?"
"The same thing that you wished for."
With such a vague response, Ren didn't know what he was talking about. Itsuki was the one that believed in the superstition of wishing on a shooting star. To be honest, Ren probably did believe in it once during his childhood, but he slowly stopped believing in it. He came to realize that blind wishes like that would never work and if it wasn't something that was worked for, it was either dumb luck or rigged.
However, it was exactly that reminder that made Ren realize what Itsuki meant by that.
With one more chuckle, Ren watched as Itsuki fell to sleep. He had never seen his friend lay down so peacefully before and wished his friend sweet dreams. Only the creator of this world would know what trials and tribulations they had before them, but if Ren had his friends by his side, he didn't mind it as much.
"Good night, Itsuki."
"Night, Ren. See you in the morning."
He probably needed to really take back what he said earlier.
This wasn't a bad silver lining. Not at all.
VOLUME TWO
THE RISING OF THE FOUR HEROES
DESCENT / CONCLUDING
[END]
-/IV/-
[Author's Notes]
I'm tired. This fanfic was painful to work on, but we're finally here. Technically, there's still a side story to the second volume and all the omake chapters that I have to cover, but that could be left for its own time. For now, the first arc of the story has been completed. It only took like two years, a few rewrites, over 250k words, and a case of crippling depression. Wait, no. I had that crippling depression before I started writing this story.
It was certainly interesting route to take.
It is extraordinarily difficult to write an original narrative that branches off like this and I severely underestimated how the four perspectives would change the dynamic of this story. Needless to say, I was severely underprepared to write this idea, but I would be lying if I said I wasn't proud at what was produced... somehow.
For those who read [The Raven Invader], which I've deleted because it has long been outdated to this, my intentions were clear. The name of this fanfic is "The Rising of the Four Heroes". That means that these four heroes had to fall from some type of grace at the start. From there, they'll be able to rise up however way that they want to, but now that the boys are together as a single team, I have to start wondering how this is going to play out. There would probably be better ways to execute the idea, but being the novice writer that I am, I obviously decided to go about it in the most convoluted method as possible.
Ugh, just thinking about it wants me to commit sudoku. At least in my outlines for the second arc, it won't be as bad or as messy. I say that, but I can only hope. Perhaps I'll take a break from writing in order to get myself in shape for the next challenge here, of course taking it after the side chapter and omakes.
I'm not sure what else to say, except continue ranting about the troubles I had with this damn story, so I guess I'll stop there. I was never a big fan of keeping author's notes in this story because after rewriting so many times, my need of those author's note disappeared. Anything I wanted to say was laid in-between the words of the story and frankly, I wanted the story to speak for itself rather than for me to talk about what I was trying to do. If you didn't catch my intentions for a certain part, I probably did a bad job there, but as I said before, I'm tired. I probably can't care anymore.
I've leave the lines in-between up for personal interpretation if it boils down to it.
Anyways, I think this is the moment where I should take everyone who favorited, followed, and reviewed my little story. I mean, I can't give out cookies as a thanks, but you have my appreciation for reading up to this point, whether you liked it or hated it. I did my best to tell a story that I wanted to tell and I think this will be the best I could do for now.
As a wise one once said, "That will do, donkey. That will do."
Hopefully, I'll be back by the time Season 2 of Rising of the Shield Hero comes around. If not, I've probably killed myself by injecting my bloodstreams with too much salt. For legal reasons and prevent any amassing DMs of concern, that was a joke. If I don't come back by Season 2—
—it probably meant that I was being Pretty Lazy.
Thanks, everyone. I'll see myself out.
-/IV/-
Extra / Bonus / Characters Music Themes
[ROT4H Main Theme]
Tales of Xillia 2 - SONG 4 U
[Naofumi Iwatani Theme]
Granblue Fantasy Versus - Such A Blue Sky
[Motoyasu Kitamura Theme]
Guilty Gear Xrd SIGN - Marionette
[Itsuki Kawasumi Theme]
BlazBlue Chrono Phantasma - Condemnation Wings II
[Ren Amaki Theme]
Under Night In-Birth Exe:Late - Mutual Situation