113 | reversal; five fates

The first to react was the least expected.

It was a well-known fact that Reed Chauvet felt little affection for the stray dog he leashed, ordering the sinner to bloody his hands in the most devious ways.

After Reed's crimes were released and he was temporarily removed from the throne, that fact was only made more evident.

The heartless crown prince, a killer of his blood, with interest in nothing but himself. He and Nicola Akasha painted the perfect illustration of an adoring couple, and it was her influence that he benefited from.

However, many speculated that Reed only remained with the noble woman for her influence, and for the sake of reclaiming his power and position.

But Kaden Chauvet, all knew, was nothing more than a pathetic mutt to be discarded. Had Noah Bellamy not exiled that sinner, it was likely that he would've been executed or sacrificed.

But Reed's hand loosened over Nicola's shoulders, and fear rushed in his trembling gaze. His entire gait crumbled, misery contorting his expression.

Nicola had never seen her lover, almost husband, in such a state.

He spoke in a strained voice, a forced calm. "You're lying."

The blue-eyed man shook his head, shrugging his hands into his pocket. From behind him, another man with a gloomy disposition and jewel-coloured eyes emerged.

Noah stared blankly and any viciousness bled away from his gaze.

"It's been confirmed. I can't give you their identity, but the source was not lying." The blue-eyed man sighed, shoulders slumped in defeat. "He will die, and there is nothing anybody can do to prevent that fate."

"What from?" The dragon spoke suddenly, his tone measured and cold.

"Didn't you exile him for all these years because you hoped for his demise, Noah Bellamy?"

"....." The dragon closed his eyes, deep concentration furrowing his eyebrows. He revealed little expression or thought, quietly stating, "That was never my intention."

Reed swung around, all his nobility and arrogance draining onto the rubbles of the broken cell. "Nonsense. What else did you exile him for, instead of killing me?"

"I have no obligation to answer you."

"Kaden is going to die because of your vague actions."

Confusion flickered over Nicola, her hands sweaty and the warm touch of her lover's hold lingering around her shoulders. She saw the streaks of red on his clothes from protecting her.

Her eyes squeezed close in a faint tremble, and she lifted her chin with steady determination.

"Reed," she said softly to this man that she'd loved and trusted for years, even when society had gone against them. "How many lies have you told me, all these years?"

The surprise and guilt woven into those loving eyes, a chilling blue that Nicola had found warmth in. The slight twist of his thin lips, the hesitation that stiffened his body. She recognized it, knowing him all too well.

For years, she worked alongside him during her time in the Academy. It was almost delusional to believe in; a man who didn't discriminate for her background and highlighted her intellectual ability without diminishing her ideals.

He praised her for her achievements and listened to her quiet complaints, eternally devoted, forever gentle and kind.

There was no other person she could've loved.

That was the truth. Perhaps, that would always be the truth.

For the first time, she turned her gaze away from Reed. His expression crumpled, but he did not move to defend himself.

"There's something we can do, isn't there?" Her body straightened, drawing a firm line along the slope of her neck, down her body. "Or you would not have sought me out like this."

The blue-eyed man smiled. "As intelligent as always, Pres. My good friend here—" The dragon behind him snarled. "—anyway, he's proposed a solution. An unlikely one."

He spread his arms out. "How willing are you to possibly die for that man's sake?"

There was nothing to be said. The extent to which she owed that boy, she would've dedicated her life to him. The guilt of having him so near and being blind to his suffering suffocated her.

"I'm willing."

A grin stretched over the man's face. Standing among the rubble of the wall, he gestured towards Noah. Time had changed from late afternoon to night, moonlight lapping against his figure.

The dragon's gaze was cold, suffused with wariness. "I have little interest in sacrificing my life for a fool."

"Really? Ah, I didn't think that you'd reject me. You're pretty crucial for the plan—although he also simply wanted to save you."

Noah jerked his head to the smaller dragon who turned away in turn, gloomily staring at a corner along the wall. He took a particular interest in the dust sprinkling over the ground.

"Why did you exile Kaden Chauvet, Noah?"

Noah's face remained impassive. "My reasons aren't yours to know."

"Well, hear me out first, won't you? Noah Bellamy, blessed by the Watcher of Time. You are irreplaceable."

"Don't speak such filthy words."

"What can I do, I was born with a flirtatious character?" smiled the man languidly. In contrast, his jaw was set and tension ran along his neck. "Reed Chauvet. Your research, unbelievably, can actually do some good in this plan."

"And Nicola Akasha, you are an essential ally to our rewritten future. Without all of your agreements, there is no hope for that man."

Nicola's voice quivered. "Nothing?"

"Nothing. Gone. As hopeless as the—"

"Enough," growled Noah irritably. "You said you need my blessing—do you intend to turn back time?"

"Would you look at that, hero? You're as smart as I hoped you'd be, and usually, my expectations are disappointed, so isn't that great?"

The crown prince, hovering behind the group, regained his senses slowly. The only things that he heard were two things: Kaden Chauvet was dying, and the sleazy man before them had a solution.

"Tell me your plan, Niklas Astors," demanded the prince, his voice cooled and icy.

The blue-eyed man tilted his hat up, flashing a sly grin. "Oh, I was caught?"

"The son of the Grand Duke that almost nobody has seen. After the death of Rosa Alexander Chauvet, the Duke's lover and ex-princess of the Kingdom, he disappeared."

"That's enough now, I don't need my dark history undone—"

"It begs to question, for a son devoted to his deceased stepmother," Reed tilted his head coldly, scrutinizing. "Why would you wish to save him, of all people?"

It was then that Nicola saw his expression warp, the flutter of darkness and unspoken sorrows. A deep, unyielding resentment—the only question was; who was its intended recipient?

The crown prince who stood there in his arrogance, chin proud and belittling?

Or the pitiful fool dying alone in exile?

The blood of the cold Duke certainly ran through the light-hearted man, his smile straightening into a thin and cold line. Shadows crowded into his cerulean eyes, darkening the shade. "My intentions don't matter, so long as he lives."

Reed's eye twitched; Nicola recognized it, the subtle flinch of expression when the situation didn't go as he planned. "You said it was impossible to save him."

"In this lifetime," said the man slowly, carefully enunciating his words with a mocking drawl. "He will die."

Gloomily, the jewel-eyed dragon took a step closer, his entire body hovering as he lethargically spoke. Despite the tiredness in his voice, scathing bitterness dripped in every syllable.

"It's been confirmed, you arrogant, demeaning, miserable royal. We spoke to the faeries of life and death—his life hangs on a breaking thread."

"Now, now," said his companion, the quirk of a smile tugging his lips. "Let's be polite."

"There's no need for politeness when speaking to those inferior. You are the ruin of that sinner—the public would assume it to be intentional, yet you stand there as if your world has collapsed. Believe us or not. If the latter, he will perish in all times."

Nicola caught the lie smoothly; she'd seen many in her years, although she'd been oblivious to the lies of her lover.

That they were as desperate as she. The gloomy dragon appeared to have no attachment to Kaden Chauvet, but the blue-eyed man, Niklas Astors, was unsettled and cautious.

Herself that was weighted by the guilt of the revelation of Kaden Chauvet's identity.

This blue-eyed man with unknown intentions and little relation to Kaden.

Reed, with his restlessness and unguarded fear, who tortured Kaden for so many years yet grieved his dying life.

Noah Bellamy, secrets and mystery cloaking his actions, the very one that exiled Kaden with reasons known only to him.

Kaden Chauvet, she thought with distant fondness, even in all his tragedy, he drew the attention of dangerous, obsessive characters.

Turning back time? The spiral of events and this absurd plan almost made her snort with laughter, inelegant as it may be. And to them who were considering such an idea; were any of them sane?

The gloomy dragon took another step, body weightless as he dragged himself unwillingly towards Noah.

A similar high slope of the nose, slanted eyes that were narrow and suspicious. Standing near one another, the similarities were uncanny.

"Agree to his proposal, Noah."

Noah's throat rolled in a hard swallow. His eyes were searching, scanning the other entirely. "Where have you been?"

"That's not important. Agree. You have to."

"Not important? I've been searching—" Noah exhaled, the air around him growing thick and suffocating. "Very well. Why must I save Kaden Chauvet? I assume Reed's involvement is his experiments—experiment on me and amplify my abilities to make the impossible possible. I have no interest in being a toy to your obsessions."

His feet planted firmly on the ground, a deep gaze slowly flickering to each person. "Have you chosen to consider whether Kaden Chauvet wishes to live? Or are you enforcing your ideals onto him? Is death salvation, is a second life damnation?"

It was penetrating, the dragon's abyssal black gaze that took them apart in the cold reflection, dissecting their intentions and beings in a single stare. He stood among the broken slabs of stone and wall, feet bare and bruised, clothes tattered and bloodied.

But his gaze burned furiously, and nobody could hide from his scrutiny.

"Noah," interrupted the younger dragon, his voice weaker, demure tamed, and upset. "Why did you save him?"

A falter. Hesitation. Then he shook his head. "I made a mistake."

"You made a choice."

"And choices can become mistakes."

"In another life, did you wonder? About what could've been between you and him, in the unlikeliness of his companionship? Even if his interest in you was an ordered facade."

Nicola was certain then, that the temperature had dropped to a seething cold and she shivered, arms bare against the tattered white of her wedding gown.

She lowered her head instinctively, not daring to meet the dragon's gaze. There had been a class that she'd taken, discussing the different species.

It was all generalization; there was variety in other species that some refused to acknowledge.

For Noah Bellamy, and all of his kind, there was a natural sense of foreboding when nearing, something ominous and frightening.

An intrinsic nature that instilled fear and horror.

"Control yourself, Noah." The younger dragon bristled, the folded wings behind his back twitching. "We've been always taught to be calm. Is the reason for saving him so grave, you would forget it?"

Noah's voice was eerily soft. "Even if it's you, I won't forgive your prying into my mind."

"Are you happy, brother?" The question hung in the air, despair intertwined. "Have you ever been? Can you ever be, with a guard so shielded but love so passionate that our life cannot satisfy you?"

"And if you refuse, then so be it. Then I'll raze this world that you love, and when you have nothing, will you be happy then?"

The words were maniacal, desperately spoken. To this young dragon, his older brother had been his world in the lifestyle that isolated them by birth.

This one dragon, unfeeling and cold at surface, had never submitted to their teachings. He wore his curiosities on his body, and even if his restraint made his desires whittle into nothing, the young dragon knew his brother always wanted more from life.

Nothing special or dramatic.

Just more than the cold that coursed in their body.

Noah faltered, the chilliness receding into his body. Nicola gasped, and even Reed straightened uncomfortably.

Niklas regarded him solemnly and smiled, but it was a fleeting one this time. "Your choice, Noah Bellamy?"

"...I'll agree."

If the existence of one man, a pathetic, noisy fool that taunted him for years and trapped him, really could change his world...

...such a thought was unbearable to imagine.

With their agreement, the gloomy dragon scattered hundreds of dozens of papers across the ground, dropping a case of various vials of dark liquid before Reed.

The Crown Prince looked at them solemnly and bent down, mixing drops with other drops, hands working quickly as if he'd done it for years. It was a strange sight, seeing the noble prince scramble for papers, scowling.

Nicola turned her head away. All these years, and she knew nothing.

All her intelligence and she lived a fool.

Reed's research in the blood of Creatures of Distortion and other races was endless; various effects could be determined through blood. Dangerous effects.

His experiments bore little fruit, but the few discoveries he made could shake the Kingdom at the core.

He lifted his hand to the dragon. "Give me your arm." In his other hand, he held a needle filled with a dreary liquid sloshing in a clear cavity. "I don't care if you're suspicious. This will amplify your abilities by a tenfold—if you can bear the pain."

The gloomy dragon scowled, seething. "What kind of pain? Are you giving him something strange—"

"Quiet, dragon. Those who know nothing should not speak. There is no experiment that I've done that is kind to my subject." He paused and then smiled coldly. "It will be a pain worse than I've shown you before."

Who didn't know that Noah Bellamy had been kept in solitary and tortured for months, in this very basement they stood?

The extent and reasons were privy to the two.

Yet the dragon didn't hesitate, his indifference melted away by his younger sibling's demands, revealing a sliver of vulnerability. He revealed his arm, already littered with bruises and pinpricks.

"Is my blood part of that concoction?"

Reed pressed the needle into the running veins along the arm indifferently. "It is. A dragon's blood is rare but useful. Yours in particular."

The younger dragon seethed, his skin prickling with a rolling fury, but Noah shook his head to calm him.

Once the liquid was fully injected, Reed filled it once again with another mixture and Noah's veins bulged against his skin, the blood underneath squirming.

"I'm triggering a Reversal. That is the result of my experiments—in the moments before losing your mind, your ability will reach its peak. Use that moment well."

Noah flexed his fingers, feeling a numbness spread up his body. "And if I don't?"

Reed skimmed through the papers, collecting them together and organizing his vials. He didn't look up. "Then you'll die. Considering the nature of your ability, we'll likely die as well."

Nicola watched with pursed lips, holding her ripped dress as Reed knelt, dressed in a luxurious suit that would've welcomed her down the aisle.

"Reed, have I ever known you?" she whispered.

His hands froze, stiffly hovering in the air. He lowered his gaze. "If anybody did, it would've been you."

The space began distorting around them, movements slowly and quickening at different, abnormal speeds. Niklas quickly grabbed Nicola's fisted hand, the dragon holding him tentatively on the other side.

He raised his deep blue eyes to Reed, a clear and unwavering colour that was not chilled by sin. Reed thought, at that moment, it would've been better if the one who found Kaden was this man.

"Come on prince, I know I'm handsome, but this isn't the time! The Reversal is underway—if you hold me, your memories might be intact."

The prince gazed at the three coldly, then at the dragon who'd collapsed to his knees, his skin bubbling and rolling. Noah's weight pressed heavily into the ground cracks appearing as his teeth ground together.

Slowly, Reed stood. "Should you succeed, your blessing will be sacrificed. Your memories right now will be the only future you can see."

Niklas laughed, shrugging. "If it means living as a normal person, then so be it."

"You will not know the privilege of being blessed until you lose it."

"I won't," admitted the Duke's son sheepishly, sighing. "But this is my choice, and it's too late to turn back. I may lose my blessing, any of us may not successfully remember this lifetime, there may be no consequences at all, or our blessings may become unstable."

"There may be other consequences."

"I've considered it all, Crown Prince. And still, I stand here."

Black shadows erupted from Noah's curved back, his spine jutting out through his shirt as he gasped soundlessly, ink filling the whites of his eyes.

The rubble around them scattered on the ground and then reversed, rushing back to the wall they'd fallen from.

Reed remained rooted, even as Nicola's hand tentatively opened towards him. "To eradicate the disease, you must rid of it at its roots. When he meets the same crossroads again, at that time, he should judge me as I was. As I am."

"You can overwrite what you've done. You don't have to make the same mistakes, prince. Don't be stubborn."

"The time you return to is unpredictable. It isn't always that easy to change things that are already impossible to undo. Do not be idealistic."

The air whipped around them, time and space distorting in looming pieces, separating and colliding against each other. Wings tore from Noah's back, his humanoid form teetering on its edge.

Everything was screaming in chaos, the wind, the ground, the living.

All senses were smothered, and the last that Nicola saw was the faint smile of Reed Chauvet.

———xxx———

Lukiyo says,

I TOTALLY FORGOT. I was writing in my journal and was like "ohoho finally some journaling time" and went to look at the date and time and dropped my pen.

No matter, here we are. Here we wait, and for them, here time reverses and they are blessed with a second chance. The five contributors to Kaden's rebirth, however, in the grand scheme of everybody involved, it was more than just the five.

To save one man, it took many lives.

Was it worth it?

See you on Thursday~