"Father, was that a wise action?"
The Lord of the Universe turned to Gabriel, one of his most loyal Angels and what was possibly one of his favorites out of all his creations. The Creator then smiled. "Of course, I've been planning this for a long while."
"But he's a reincarnation of them." God only laughed heartily at the wariness in his child's voice.
"Ah yes, the Fallen. The ones redacted from history. Yes, this was exactly how I planned it. From his original Falling, to the creation of their old Avatar of the Sage, to even this point in time." God did seem to go silent for a few minutes though, causing Gabriel to get a little worried. The Omnipotent Creator then spoke up again. "I think I'll let the boy choose his own fate now. Unlink him from The Books." He commanded the Angel, who immediately left, as God turned back to watch his servant's journey. "Good luck, boy. You'll need it."
RE: FALLEN
Chapter Two - RE:ALIZE (Realize)
If you told Zakariya that he would be isekai'd into the world of Re:Zero anytime before now, he'd simply laugh at you and call you insane. But even now, while standing in Lugnica, he still felt like this entire situation was fake and that he was just having a really trippy dream.
But then again, when he took his horrid luck into consideration, it didn't seem as insane as it could be. This definitely didn't seem like a dream either, considering the fact that lucid dreams were A) something he didn't know how to induce, and B) the world around him didn't seem to be changing every time he looked at something else.
Right now, the misfortune Isekai Protagonist was now staring at the beautiful Half-Elf Emilia, both thankful that she was here to step in (that meant he might have a chance at keeping the timeline stable) and also worried as he realized how outmatched he was in this world. He was fucked beyond belief unless he found some way to dramatically boost his strength or maybe get Beatrice on his side soon.
But for now… he had to act like Subaru 2.0, just to ensure he could find the same timeline that led to Subaru's survival and the start of the Tumultuous Week Arc; where he could use his wisdom and otherworldly knowledge to his advantage. He just hoped he didn't get too attached to any of these people, though. This was still a punishment, and he didn't want to get anyone hurt if something went wrong or came for him. That, and he didn't want to be hurt when he eventually had to leave this world.
After being saved from the thugs by Emilia, or 'Satella', as she called herself right now; Zak found himself following her to the slums where Felt and Rom would be… if they were alive, that is. An uncomfortable feeling crept up his body as he knew he was leading them both to their deaths at the hands of Elsa Granhiert. But he knew this timeline was definitely not the best one at the moment, and the only way to get a better one was to… well, die. Didn't help him much though, as the thought of leading someone to their untimely demise still felt uncomfortable for the teen. 'It's times like these that I wish I was someone like Ryuuto or any of my other OCs, at least they could effectively numb their emotions in a situation like this.' He sighed inwardly.
It didn't matter in the end. All he had to do was follow Subaru's footsteps until he could learn magic or something. 'Would that be a sinful thing to do though? What would God think of me learning magic in this new world when back on Earth he saw magic as something distasteful…? Questions for later.' Zakariya eventually decided. Another thing he needed was to learn Lugnica's language and how to read/write in their native tongue. It'd make things infinitely easier. Well, aside from the dying thing, that is. That'd never truly be easy.
As they arrived at the Old Loothouse, Zak returned to awareness, eyes narrowing. It was time to get this over with. In the next timeline or dimension or whatever RBD did, he would just call for Reinhardt the moment the thugs tried anything. He motioned for Emilia to stop as he sighed. "Stay here, I'll scout out the place."
"What do you mean?" Emilia questioned him, as he frowned slightly. Time to half-lie.
"I've got this sort of… pseudo-clairvoyance ability. Something's off on the inside of this place." He explained to the Half-Elf, who stared at him in a mixture of confusion and awe (likely due to his clairvoyance lie). "I'm going to make sure this place is safe before letting you enter, Miss Emilia. You did save me after all, and I must repay the debt." He then walked into the loothouse, as thankfully Emilia listened and took his half-lie as truth.
Once he walked in and noticed the bloodied corpses of Felt and old man Rom, he felt sick to his very core and could barely keep himself from unloading the contents of his stomach onto the floor. This was so much worse for him to witness in reality than it was to see it in the anime. After managing to get a grip and found he could control his body again, he looked around the loothouse, though he avoided looking at the dead bodies of the young thief and the man who raised her. "I know you're here." He said calmly. "Come on out."
"Oh my… I've been found out." A sickly sweet voice called out from the darkness, one Zakariya was all too familiar with. The voice of the Bowel Hunter. The moment he saw the devilish woman walk out of the darkness, he pulled out his absurdly sharp kitchen knife and threw it at Elsa Granhiert. As he expected, she merely knocked aside the orange blade with her own professionally-made knives, ones made specifically for killing. Her once calm and graceful expression shifted to one of annoyance as he then felt a searing pain and warmth leak from his abdomen.
"Shit… this is even worse than before." He weakly laughed, but he could feel the dark embrace of a cold miasma take hold over his soul. Sure, he damned this dimension when Emilia died, buuuut he knew there was no way he'd survive this situation without Reinhardt. He finally closed his eyes, thinking of the red-haired swordsman in his final breaths. Yes, he needed to find Reinhardt van Astrea, the greatest Sword Saint. He heard a thump hit the floor next to him along with the sounds of flesh being cut open and only had one extra thought enter his mind before he died. 'Sorry, Emilia… I'll fix things quickly in the next round…'
This wasn't right, was Zakariya's first thought, as the miasma of Satella was all but gone. He couldn't even feel death's grasp anymore, and neither was he back to the last Checkpoint like he expected. Panic set into the teen's soul. Was he wrong? Did he not have RBD? Did he already mess up? Was he going to be sent to Hell? Was he-
"Oh, for Father's sake, calm down kid." A calm, masculine voice called out from the darkness, as Zakariya turned around to see a tall man sitting down on a chair in front of him. He had neat light brown hair and sky blue eyes, with perfect and unblemished white skin. He wore a business suit and had six sets of pure white feathery wings unleashed from his back. As if already knowing what he was about to ask, the man spoke up. "My name is Michael, you'd know me as the Friend of Humanity and Giver of Rain."
"Mika'il?" He questioned, as his Muslim family-raised mind reared its head, causing Michael to laugh good-naturedly.
"That is one of my many names, yes. The Arabic and Islamic version of my name." Zakariya was about to open his mouth to speak but went quiet at Michael/Mika'il's harsh glare. "And before you ask, I am not confirming which of the Abrahamic religions are 'right' or 'wrong'. It wouldn't change anything, your original life where that would have mattered has passed. It'd frankly be a waste of the limited time I have with you."
"Oh…" Well, there went that original thought. Michael then waved a hand, manifesting a chair for Zakariya to sit in, which he took graciously. "What did you want to talk to me about, Friend of Humanity?"
Michael's smile widened. "God has decided that due to your… issues, mainly being even weaker than Subaru Natsuki in the original timeline, that he would give you a blessing. It will only manifest in situations where you are either are in critical danger or need extra strength."
"That's… so generous of him." Zakariya smiled. "Well, he is the Most Merciful and Gracious."
"That he is." Michael responded.
"Oh, question!" Zak instantly realized that there was something bugging him in the back of his mind. "I just noticed... In the last timeline, I didn't react to my death the way I expected. Is there a reason for that?"
'i'll be honest, he just didn't want to watch you be a pussy." Wow, Angels could swear? That was new. "Now, go, my brother. Now, accept the power of Realize and continue your journey." A golden glow surrounded Zakariya's body for a moment before his eyes widened.
"Wait why'd you call me bro-" Zakariya was taken away by the dark hands of Satella, causing Michael to just stare at the vacant seat blankly.
"...Y'know, I wonder how he'd react if I told him that God just gave him that so he didn't get bored watching a rehash of Subaru's life?" Michael wondered, before standing up and leaving to return to the 7th Heaven.
The moment Zakariya returned to consciousness, he found himself… not where he first expected. In fact, he was back in the alleyway instead of in front of Kadomon's stand. Well, that made things easier for him in one way, he could just call for help the moment that the muggers appeared. Thankfully, due to him consuming every piece of "RE: ZERO" media that he could find, including some unfinished Abridged Series; he had the perfect plan to both get away from the muggers and get help from Reinhardt.
Once the muggers appeared and began to threaten him, he took a deep breath… and began to scream at the top of his lungs in the most feminine voice he could manage. "RAPE! RAPE! HELP ME!" The moment he said that he felt like the entire world had just frozen to glance at him in confused silence. Zak looked around briefly, before realizing it might take a while for Reinhardt to arrive, so he discreetly moved his hand for his knife.
The thugs drew their weapons after a few moments, threatening him again, but thankfully his gambit worked out. "That's enough." A voice called out from behind Zakariya, as he shifted his brown eyes to look at the admittedly handsome form of Reinhardt van Astrea.
Zakariya laughed to himself in his mind, watching the thugs panic as the Master Swordsman started to threaten the thugs, hand moving to the legendary sword held at his hip. Immediately, the thugs fell into utter disarray and ran off from the scene as fast as they could, with Zak soon turning to Reinhardt. "Reinhardt, right?" He then bowed his head to the redheaded Knight in gratitude. "Thank you for your assistance, I doubt I could have handled that myself!"
Reinhardt turned to him and gave the teen a charming smile. "Hey, come on now. There's no need for such formality. Once it was two of us against three, they lost their advantage on the situation. Things might have gone differently had I been alone." That caused Zakariya to inwardly deadpan. Yeah, it'd be best if he didn't let the Master Swordsman how utterly weak he was compared to basically anyone in this world.
"But you are a master swordsman, right?" Zak asked, just to be sure that Reinhardt's character was the same as it was in the original story.
"Well… my family is a bit unique," Reinhardt admitted. "Most of the time I feel like I live up to their expectations." The swordsman then turned to the teen with a curious expression. "By the way, just who are you?"
"My name is Zakariya Moalin, sir!" He introduced himself as he stood straight, saluting Reinhardt in a way that was akin to how soldiers acted in the military. Or at least what he thought they did, he never did research on that kind of stuff.
"Zak… ariya… huh?" Reinhardt seemed to be testing out the name as he repeated it a few times, before nodding. "Well, Zakariya-"
"Please, sir." He interrupted, smiling brightly. "Just call me Zak." Reinhardt blinked before nodding with a smile of his own.
"Well, Zak, from your name, your clothes, and your haircut… I'd say you're not from around here. Where exactly do you hail from?"
"From beyond the Great Waterfall." He replied automatically. "It's a little complicated, but to access the lands I hailed from, you'd need to wait for a specific astronomical event as otherwise, the extremely potent magic would keep it hidden."
Reinhardt seemed skeptical, which made sense, even Zakariya knew the Great Waterfall was the end of the world that "RE: ZERO" took place in. But it wasn't like anyone could test whatever 'astronomical event' excuse he made up since he could make up something impossible to test as the event. "Well, Zak, I'll take your word for it, since you don't seem to be lying."
'Oh, thank God, he bought it.' He inwardly cheered, as God apparently let this action be a successful one. He quickly sobered up though, as he then had a message to give to Reinhardt. "Hey, Reinhardt… could you deliver a message for me?"
That caught the attention of the knight. "Well, I'm technically off-duty for the day… but sure. What do you want to be said, and to whom?"
"A silver-haired half-Elf with white robes. I don't exactly know her name," Lie, but he needed to roll with it and follow Subaru's actions until he could find the original timeline. "But could you please tell her to not go near the Loothouse if you see her?" The knight went silent for a few moments but nodded in the end.
"Well then, if I see her, I'll be sure to relay your message, Zak," Reinhardt replied, causing Zak to nod in return.
"Thanks, Reinhardt! I'll find a way to pay you back someday!" He cheerfully said before running off.
Somewhere along the way, Zak realized he might have fucked up harder than Subaru did in the original timeline. Made sense, he was much weaker than Subaru after all, and he had no idea how to awaken that power Michael told him about… if that was even real, that is. Maybe it was a post-death hallucination or something, he didn't know anymore! He didn't know anything anymore, life was too fucking crazy for him to handle now!
After offering up his iPhone 7 to exchange for the Royal Insignia, things went as he expected. They thought of it as a super-advanced metia, which was far from the truth but whatever. But hey, at least Elsa could never compete with it, Rom expected it to go for over 60 Holy Coins. Knowing Emilia would enter the loothouse before Elsa, he didn't make the mistake of rushing that Subaru did. What, he didn't want to follow Subaru's footsteps every part of the way, especially when he took the fact that God was watching his journey into consideration.
Once Emilia entered the loothouse, right as he was trying to get Felt to hand over the Insignia, he inwardly smiled. Everything was going to plan, nothing could possibly go wrong, he thought.
...He should have known better than to Jinx it like that. Because A) Elsa was a bit stronger in this world than in canon and B) he was still weaker than Subaru and had no idea how to awaken the "Realize" thing Michael mentioned.
As he watched the two-way stalemate between Emilia and the duo of Rom and Felt, his eyes focused on the spot behind Emilia, before immediately calling out. "Puck! Shields now!" Instantly, a floating ice wall formed to block the blade of Elsa that surely could have killed Emilia. Puck, the adorable spirit that could literally end the world emerged from Emilia's hair, smiling over at the teen.
"Thanks for that! You saved our necks!" Puck praised Zakariya, causing him to laugh nervously for a moment before glaring back at Elsa Granhiert with his brown eyes filled with hate.
"Elsa Granhiert, the Bowel Hunter. My Clairvoyance told me you'd come here." Yeah, he was going with that lie still. Considering the fact that Satella was supposedly fine with it (due to the lack of a shadowy hand "caressing" his heart), it meant he could rely on it for a good while.
"Clairvoyance, hm? That could be an issue." Elsa hummed, her violet eyes filled with bloodlust and insanity that honestly had Zakariya on edge. What ensued was a chaotic storm of attacks from Emilia and Puck directed at Elsa, due to her now showing her true colors as a threat. He also did his best to stay out of the fight along with Felt. Though he did tense up in slight fear and anticipation when Puck timed out on his contract. Despite knowing what would happen next could have drastic changes to the timeline, he didn't care, his emotions got over his logic. He jumped in front of Elsa's next attack, shocking everyone, including the Vampire herself as he desperately put his hand out as if to grab the Kukuri-knife that Elsa held. Then, in a desperate final action, he called for the Final Trump Card that had a good chance of not working. But he prayed for his own sanity that it would.
"REALIZE!" He roared, before a wave of golden energy arced off of his body and blasted Elsa Granhiert away. Zakariya's eyes widened as he stared at the figure in front of him, which was floating and coated in a golden aura. The first thing he noticed was its skin color, being a pure gold color like a first-place Olympic medal. Secondly, he noticed its humanoid yet still abnormal form, standing at a solid 6 foot 6 inches and having a toned body, and the most abnormal thing being the pale gold… halo(?) attached to its back. The figure turned its head, letting Zakariya see its heterochromatic eyes, one blood red and one sky blue. Then, it spoke… in his voice.
"Master… what is it you require of me?" The strange being's voice echoed as if affected by a strong reverb of sorts. It only took a split second for Zak to realize the strange being was speaking to him, and his eyes narrowed. God wanted entertainment, huh? Wanted to see something interesting? He almost questioned his Lord's omniscience because of that, but he didn't care at the moment. All he cared about was leaving his mark on the world, with the power Michael gave him. After all, the Archangel said Realize would only manifest in times where he needed it most, and he had no idea when the next time that would be. He was taking advantage of this, right now. Zakariya pointed at Elsa.
He almost wanted to kill her outright, but he didn't want to steal the show from, as he put it, 'his boi Reinhardt'. "Stall her, beat her, something. You know what I mean, get to it!" He commanded in a harsh tone, as the strange being turned to Elsa, fury in its eyes as if it was channeling his own hate for the vampire.
"Who're you talking to?" Emilia questioned, almost breaking Zak's concentration, but he instead aimed his… well, he had no idea what it was. Maybe he could call it a Stand, for convenience? It certainly acted like one of JJBA's Stands. Yeah, his Stand, he directed it to attack Elsa and watched with no emotions in his eyes as Realize handled Elsa on her own and sent the woman into a frantic craze as she tried to attack an (at least from her perspective) invisible enemy. Soon, the roof blew open, just in time… especially since Zakariya was feeling pretty tired from the usage of this Stand-like ability. Immediately he drew back Realize, feeling his stamina slowly recharge from the unearthly being's presence.
Zak then turned to look at Reinhard with a smile. "Well, I didn't expect you to arrive this quickly, Reinhardt."
"Well, I remembered your message you told me to relay and had the urge to come here and check out the loothouse myself," Reinhardt replied with his own charming smile. Wow, this guy was even more likable in real life. Then the Master Swordsman turned to Elsa with a frown. "I must admit, Zak, I didn't expect you to last this long against the Bowel Hunter. You have potential as a future knight, perhaps." Instantly, the two went into battle as he and Realize simply watched.
Some time went by, and Reinhardt had ended up destroying most of the loothouse with one of his sword skills. But Zakariya knew, and by extension Realize knew, that Elsa was alive. That's why he kept it active and next to him. Zak turned to Reinhardt regardless, acting as if he didn't know Elsa was alive after that attack. "Well then, Reinhardt. It's obvious that you're the strongest man I've ever encountered." Did Michael count as a man? Probably not, he was an Angel and was basically above any human.
"Ah, I thank you for the compliment." Reinhardt nodded with his smile still on his face, which caused Zak to smile back as the young man's humbleness despite his absurd strength was admirable, and his smile was contagious. Instantly, though, he lost the smile along with Realize; as Elsa Granhiert shot out of the rubble with bloodlust and rage in her eyes.
"Now! Realize!" The supposed-Stand didn't even wait for his commands, as it could sense its host/master's emotions and shot off to block the Vampiress' attack and then kicked her into one of the walls of the Loothouse that still stood upright. Reinhardt, Felt, Rom, and Emilia all stared at the now broken wall where Elsa was lodged into, and then at Zakariya. He felt his stamina and willpower wavering, so his eyes narrowed as he gave his Stand one last command. "Kill the beast!" He roared, as Realize screeched audibly, bringing the ones who couldn't perceive it to know of its existence. Realize then ran off after Elsa, who he knew would definitely be running away now that she realized there was an invisible being attacking her along with the Sword Saint's presence. After a certain amount of time, Zakariya lost the faint gold aura that once surrounded him as he felt his connection to Realize fade. It was there, but it was faint as if the being was recharging after that battle. Zak then exhaled in relief, before falling over, being caught by Emilia, thankfully.
"Oh my gosh, are you alright?" Emilia seemed to fret over him, which caused Zak to smile. Huh, so this is what it felt like to be cared about by someone who wasn't directly related to him? It felt nice, actually.
"Yeah… just a little tired." His vision began to blur the moment he said that, causing him to immediately change his response. "Okay, that was a lie. I feel like I challenged a Dragon and managed to survive." He soon found he wasn't able to pay attention to his surroundings or what was being said anymore. 'Well, at least I survived Arc 1… and faster than Subaru did originally… Now comes the harder parts of this journey...' With that thought in mind, he eventually blacked out from overexertion.