Chapter Text
Ralsei has always known.
Well, ‘always’ is an inane concept to him…
Ralsei has never not known.
He was brought into existence for the purpose of meeting this fate.
All he had was this: the Legend, and his own solitude. And the hope he held for when he won’t be so alone in fulfilling this prophecy anymore.
That, of course, was the extent of the hope he allowed himself; as much as the legend prescribed. The heroes are destined to come. He is destined to be just a little less alone and so he allows that hope to give him strength.
That does not mean he doesn’t try though. His core task is to aid and guide the heroes... but maybe he can aim for something more?
When the heroes arrive, Ralsei finally finds his anchor. They stop being shadows from a story and become … people. He holds himself in the restrained manner befitting a prince but really he could have collapsed then and there from the cosmic relief of it. They are real.
Not just hearsay and possible figments of Ralsei’s solitude-beaten mind. They are real!
And they are … here. Shit.
All of Ralsei’s ideas for casting a good impression fly out the window in favour of just grabbing his cloak. Can’t be a bad impression if it’s no impression at all! Hysterics contained within layers of cloak and hat and gentle saccharine manners, he approaches the heroes with the legend of Delta Rune.
--
“Nah,” Susie says, and with one word tears up a lifetime of carefully planned scripts and contingencies.
Before he can process anything further Lancer is there and then Susie is leaving and Kris doesn’t have much to say and oh Angel this certainly throws a wrench in the plans.
But that’s fine!
He can improvise. This is his one purpose – aid the heroes. Guide the heroes. He will start with just the one for now. He is nothing if not malleable after all. What needs to be done … will just have to be done on the fly! He can think on his feet. Make it up as he goes. This is fine.
His prime directive still in the back of his mind, he starts preparing for his other personal mission. He still has to try. If they can just be kind… Well, at least Kris easily goes along with that!
--
Susie will be the death of him.
No, not that way, stop thinking about –
But seriously.
A lifetime of preparing for a future, armed with prophecies and strategies and a fully thought-out well-crafted persona and the girl from the legend washes it all down the drain like so much dirty water.
He tries lecturing. He tries bargaining. He tries not to think that Kris could maybe be more help.
They remain short a hero despite his efforts.
But … it isn’t without progress. Where he seems to have failed, another young prince has struck a chord with Susie. Even if Susie and Lancer want to play at being “bad guys” at least it’s keeping her … happy?
Maybe Kris was right not to push.
Eventually Susie is back on the team, and whatever happens with Lancer even convinces her to try non-violent options. And to be nice to Ralsei, though you’d have to take her word for it.
It is ironically only as a result of Ralsei’s own mistakes that he finally witnesses the two come into their own as heroes – Kris moving fast as lightning to defend Susie; Susie coming to their rescue like it’s the most natural thing. In the aftermath, Ralsei can’t help but think he has been miscalculating this entire time. All he has managed to do is get them in more trouble while chasing (unprescribed, illegitimate) kindness. He wonders if his philosophy is going to end up costing them more dearly for nothing.
But then –
“Eh, it’s complicated. Yeah, sometimes there’s people you just gotta fight. But if you NEVER let your guard down, then… You might just … hurt someone you care about, too.”
The rude, abrasive menace of a hero Ralsei had been trying to get through to this whole time ends up being the one to teach him a lesson about kindness. He realises… he doesn’t just care about them because they’re heroes of legends and they must get along. He cares about them because they’re Susie and Kris.
There, for the first time, Ralsei feels a selfish hope bloom up in his heart. And, for the first time, he allows it to stay.
Oh he was in so much trouble.
--
If Ralsei had his way, he would never (could never?) refuse anyone a demand on his time and space. He was happily filling up Castle Town with every single darkner from Card Kingdom. Greedily, even.
So, naturally, the next lesson Susie taught him was about quality time.
“Woah! Cotton candy!” Speaking of, she was running towards the various stalls in Cyber City, getting distracted from each by the next. While she rushed towards a ball throwing game, Ralsei hung back to get her the cotton candy.
It was nice, this. Just the two of them, having a bit of a break, teaching Susie magic, seeing her brighten up from things they did together. It was always nice with all three of them too but… this felt different. Like he was getting to see Susie in a different light, see a side of her he never had before. A side that he brought out, dare he say? And maybe she was bringing out a different side of him too. He wondered if she liked it. It made him think on questions he never had thought important before. Like what ‘sides’ there even are to him, or to Susie, or Kris. What gives him an identity? He has introduced himself with a name and a title all his life, but what does it mean to be ‘Ralsei’ at all?
He must have dallied around long enough watching Susie from afar that she turned to call him and saw him standing back. She ran straight back like an overexcited child. “Hey dude! What’s the hold up? What, can’t keep up with all the excitement?” She was giving him a close-eyed grin though so he just chuckled back and proffered her the candy.
“I was just getting you this, Susie. You do have to slow down and stay still to actually get the candy, you know,” he winks.
Susie just guffaws. “Damn, Ralsei, you’re getting good at that. I’ll still beat you at healing though!”
“Sure, Susie.”
“Hey, where’s yours?” she asks, taking the cotton candy.
“Oh, um… I just got it for you, Susie, don’t worry!”
“Well, I’m not sharing dumbass! Hey,” she turns to the Addison at the stand, “We’re taking this.”
The Addison sputters indignantly as she gives another candy to Ralsei.
“Ah, thank you Susie, that’s … I appreciate it!” He feels his cheeks heat but discretely hands more money to the Addison so he won’t interrupt them. Susie is already moving onto other stalls, this time pulling him along and chattering all the way through.
This side of Susie… he really couldn’t get enough of it. Her stubbornness, her rebellion, her resolve have gotten them to this juncture where they find time just the two of them, away from more worrisome concerns. That is the road that gets him to this side, and he falls in love with that road a little when he realises that. When he realises that it is all Susie, every side of her. That’s what makes her her. That’s what gives him hope.
He laughs at something funny Susie says, and she just beams through a hint of bashfulness.
--
♡ I feel the same way
Ralsei’s blush deepens. He doesn’t know whether they were Kris’ own words, but that was alright. When Kris had something to say they often found a way to get the sentiment across. And when they didn’t, well… Ralsei could do with any opinion at all sometimes. Just a listening ear while he got his thoughts out.
And so he talks. About all the new revelations he has had with Susie today, about friendship and identity and spending time with someone one-on-one like this.
“And of course, Kris. It’s nice that… you’re you.”
The sentiment was repeated in kind to Ralsei but he tried not to feel too deeply about it one way or the other, taking the time instead to vent out his identity crisis. With Kris it was… complicated. They both understood that implicitly, as long as Kris was a cage for the Angel everything that makes them ‘Kris’ would be cast in a shadow of doubt. And yet, Ralsei knew Kris.
Ralsei felt their playfulness come out when a moment of amusement presented itself. He saw them devour the foods they particularly enjoyed, knew of their favourites there. He thought, in some ways, they were quite similar to Susie, their snark more of the witty variety and their food choices maybe… about the same, actually…? They truly were a pair, those two.
The Angel, Ralsei thought, was rather arbitrary. It was best not to read too much into what it did or said, so Ralsei rolled with it, kept it happy enough too as was his duty, kept it informed where it could use the help. And if, other times, Ralsei wanted to just be with Kris, to talk with the first hero of legend as Kris, well the Angel wouldn’t begrudge him that surely. The boat ride now was hardly a time when it was “just the two of them”, but Ralsei had seen – has been seeing – Kris for who they are, slowly but surely revealing their own Kris-ness. He has heard their soft laughter, seen their smile and enthusiasm, felt their distress even. Seen their courage, felt it inspire him. Cage or not, Kris is a hero in their own right. And, more than that… Kris is his friend, in their own right.
He hopes he could get that across somewhere in the middle of his meandering self-obsessed thoughts at the moment. That he sees Kris as a friend, that he would go to great lengths for their sake too. He thinks, if not just now then later… he will be clearer telling them as much. And knowing Kris, they are used to working in the subtext. They will understand, they always do.
And then Kris makes a rude gesture at the camera with a little too much enthusiasm and, in Ralsei’s humble opinion, ruins the moment.
--
Ralsei hoped something would have changed.
Surely. After everything they’ve done, bending backwards to make the right choices, always being kind, after all that something has to have changed right?
But after seeing Tenna slashed down like nothing his hope is quickly running dry. Maybe somehow, it will always come to pass, everything that was written, that was spoken across space and time.
But… they fixed Tenna. It wasn’t so rigid then, right? It could have changed… he could still…
It didn’t matter.
It was stupid of him to ever have hoped, but even if he did, it was too late now, and he couldn’t take the chance of the end being unchanged. He couldn’t risk them seeing it. Couldn’t risk Susie seeing it.
He must stay ahead of them.