Fool

The party sits in the back of a horse-drawn wagon, driven by a farmer. It rolls through the still-burnt, ruined Sunvale Village.

"He lives out in those woods?" Melina points.

The wagon comes to a stop just as the path begins to fade before the charred forest.

"Right at the edge of the forest, like you asked, miss." The farmer reaches his hand back, and Melina dumps a few silver coins into it.

Elayne hops out of the wagon, staring down the forest.

"Good luck." Margery pats her back.

"Yeah, let him have it." Mira pumps her fists.

"If you ever need anything, or want to be a part of Sirens of Steel again, leave us a message at any guild around the kingdom, and I'm sure we'll see it." Melina pats her back as well.

Elayne gives them a heartfelt nod before taking off.

>>>

Slightly winded, she makes it to the front door of Osric’s mansion.

"Osric?" She knocks... no answer.

Tugging the door handle — it’s locked.

"Osric!"

She waits even longer — nothing.

She takes a step back and lunges at the door. Kicking it open, it flies off its hinges. She steps through. He's not down here. But she knows where he is.

She races up the stairs and down the hall, stopping at his bedroom. She pauses, takes a deep breath, then opens the door.

Osric lies in his bed. His cheeks are sunken in, and his pitch-black eyes look dead.

"Why are you here?" His voice is raspy — without emotion. He doesn't even lift his head.

"What about your mission? Is this it?" Elayne snarks, walking over.

"Piss off." He rolls away from her.

"If you're going on a mission, I want to be there. I'll be your frontliner, your tank, your assistant — whatever you need." She grasps his shoulder, trying to roll him back over.

"Don't touch me!" He swats at her arm.

She grips harder. "Why can't I help you!?" she screams, yanking him onto his back.

"Why would you want to help me?"

"Why?" Elayne pulls her hand back. "You saved me from slavery. You helped me find Mama, and you're the sage I have to help—the—"

"I'm not the sage!" he barks, flinging himself off the bed. "I told you there are no sages."

"Whatever!"

"You shouldn't want to help me. After what I did to you, it doesn't make sense." He walks over to the wardrobe. The mirror rattles as he slams his hands down, leaning in at his reflection.

"What?" Elayne's head tilts on its own. She doesn't understand.

"I corrupted you, okay? You're tainted. Like me. I don't know what that means, but it's bad. And the village, that's my fault too!"

"I let wrath control me. I burnt the village," Elayne butts in.

"You don't get it!" he snaps, spinning around, scowling at her with those pitch-black eyes. "The reason the elf was here in the first place was because of me. I was the one who played a fool and pretended to be a sage that doesn't exist — that started it all."

"No, you are the sage. That's why Anne planned that mission to save you. She said you must be the sage because you're an amazing tactician. She said you made allies in Aurelith because you knew the kingdom couldn't be trusted," Elayne explains, tiptoeing toward him.

"I'm not a tactician!" His scratchy screaming stops her.

"That wasn't my idea. That was just coincidence... She really thought that? I didn't plan anything. I'm no tactician. You want to know the real reason why I went to Aurelith? I went there to get a cat girl for my own pleasure! Like the weirdo I am!"

He starts pacing — limping up and down the room.

"I'm not a tactician. I'm not a sage. I'm not a mage. I'm nobody. I'm nothing. I'm a failure. I'm a piece of shit!"

"I played this charade with hopes of getting riches. I didn't care about saving the kingdom. All I wanted was money and girls. And it turns out this Grand Sage never even existed. I caused all this for a stupid dream that would never come true. The demons attacking the capital? My fault. Catalina and Randolf's deaths? My fault — Cinder too. And however many others were killed in the attack. The pieces were all there. If I had used my brain, I could have figured out what was happening sooner."

His limping gets more frantic as he breaks into a laugh. "And I got tortured for nothing too, isn't that funny? The Demon King didn't even know how the damn book worked."

Elayne cuts in. “Catalina’s death wasn’t your fault!” Her voice falters.

His chuckling stops. "You know what the last thing she said to me was? She said she was sorry, she apologized! Catalina died covered in blood and full of regret, and it's my fault!" The last bit of his sentence is choked with tears.

He stops his pacing, staring straight at the far wall, his face inches from it.

"Why would anyone want to be around me? I'm a failure who messes everything up, and everybody around me gets hurt!"

He places his hands on the wall — and starts slamming his head into it.

SLAM!
SLAM!
SLAM!

"Stop!" Elayne springs over, gripping him by the shoulders, prying him from the wall.

She lifts a hand from his shoulder and—

SLAP!
Slaps him across the cheek.

"I don't care!" She screams at him as he falls to the floor.

"Staying with me will only end in you getting hurt again. Don't waste your time on a loser like me." He speaks into the floorboards.

"I know. You're weird. You're annoying. You smell bad. You're so clumsy — you can't even walk without falling. And you always have this scary look on your face. Even now with those stupid black eyes... but I don't care."

"Huh!?" He peels his head off the floor.

"Catalina wouldn't want you to lie in this bed and do nothing. And Randolf… he thought you were amazing. He always told me how much he loved your plan to win that bet with the round guy. He always said your plan was something not even the best court mages could come up with."

"And I think you're amazing too... So I don't care about all that stuff — I don't care about getting hurt. I just want to help you."

"I'm not amazing." He labors up. "You wanna know the truth about me?" he asks, limping over to the bed and plopping down. "Let me tell you about my previous life."

Elayne settles beside him.

>>>

Osric tells her everything about his first life — how he floundered around and wasted it, how he got reincarnated by an angel.

He looks at Elayne, who stares distantly at the floor, taking in the story.

“I don’t really get it. Like, what’s video games, or cars? But it must have been really hard... I’m sorry.”

“Hard?” Osric recoils. “No — it was easy. And I gave up. I just sat in my room and did nothing. I wasted my parents’ kindness. I wasted… everything. My whole life.”

“No, it was hard to give up,” Elayne shoots back. “I’ve never seen you give up."

That sentence hit him like a truck. But… she’s right.

“You know what? …It was hard.” His voice cracks. “I was just a kid. I didn’t know anything. I tried. I really did. But it was too much. And I quit.” Snot streams out of his nose, mingling with tears.

Elayne wraps her arms around him, and he buries his nose into her chest, sobbing — wailing.

"Randolf told me a knight only fails when he gives up. You're still here. So don’t give up again.” She rubs the back of his head.

>>>

Osric breaks down in Elayne's arms. He cries for what feels like an eternity. When he finally regains himself, he pulls away from her chest. Man, the first girl who says she cares about me and I get snot all over her chest... smooth moves.

"You're right… I'm here now, so I won't give up. I have to go on a mission to find some books." He stands. "Will you come with me?"

Elayne rises with him.

"Yes!"