and your ____

The second the world snapped into focus, Lucian punched Zane across the face. Zane punched him back, Lucian kneed him, and it devolved into a messy fight of slinging and kicking until they sprawled against the floor.

“Leave me alone,” Lucian said, shoving Zane away. Cracks spread across the floor. “I—I don’t know what you’re doing, but I can’t stop—!”

“Just taking a leaf from your book,” Zane said, putting his hands up. “I’m not here to fight—”

Lucian lunged. “I am!”

“—unless you start it,” Zane finished, grabbing Lucian’s arm and throwing him over his shoulder. He yelped and sprawled against the ground, Zane pinning him in place like a child who ran in front of a carriage. “See? We’ve got time. Not much, but it’s time.”

“…What else is there to say?” Lucian looked away.

Zane scoffed. “C’mon. There’s no way you actually want this.”

“I do. It’s the only way… to rid the world of everything rotten.”

“It’s not that simple,” Zane said. “You really think people only do bad things because they feel bad? Sometimes being bad feels awesome. Even kids learn this, man.”

“Well—it’s a start.” Lucian chewed on his lip, frowning.

“A shitty start.”

A knee to the stomach knocked Zane off, and Lucian sat up, pushing himself away from the other man. “I’ll be… Vitam’s Avatar. His real avatar, with all that entails. I promise I’ll take good care of the world to come.”

“You shouldn’t have that power!”

“I know! I’m rotten, but—”

“No, no one should have that power.” Zane put a hand to his heart, and Lucian’s expression shifted in a way he didn’t expect. “Not me, or you, or anyone. Being a god won’t fix the world. Taking away everyone’s free will won’t make them better. Sometimes people do selfish shit, and it’s up to someone to stand and change that through their own will. Like we’ve been doing this whole time—”

Lucian laughed. “Like what you’ve been doing. Even now, you’re so—perfect at this. But that’s because you were made this way, right? What would… the actual Zane think?”

The actual Zane, huh.

“He’d kill you and move on. Picking the choice everyone wants, even if it means a little sacrifice. Hell, even the me of a month ago might’ve just offed you and put this to bed before doing something stupid like this.”

Zane gripped his cloak. “But that really pisses me off. So I’ve found a way that’ll work nicely for the both of us.”

“What?”

He didn’t deign Lucian with a response. Zane lunged, grabbed him by the arm, and concentrated. A red energy formed, one which spread up both their arms, leaving cracks that opened like slits, skin flayed open and dripping droplets of blood.

“The Untitled God kept Vitam sealed through sheer strength for hundreds of years. I’d say they’re—just about even with each other. So, if I pour all my strength into destroying you, it’ll get rid of the gods for good. No more magic, brand new world for everyone to enjoy.” Zane laughed, despite the agony coursing through his veins. “Sounds good? If this is what it takes—then I’ll decide the ending. I’ll make it fair.”

“Wait—no, no, no, stop! Stop!”

Lucian wrenched back, reset the process, but Zane grabbed on again, digging nails into skin. No matter how the other man thrashed Zane wouldn’t relax his grip for a second.

The cracks snaked up their arms, their necks, their face. Small wounds covered their bodies, gaping further as if breaking apart like smashed glass. “Lucian,” Zane said, “You want this to be how things end? Us dead, the world in shambles!”

“Of course not! So let go!”

“Not until you’re honest with me, asshole!”

A crack shot up Lucian’s right eye, and he shut it as blood crept out his eyelid. “Stop it, stop it, stop it—!”

Zane punched Lucian. “Just admit it already!”

“I…

“Ahhhhh, it hurts!”

“I know! I’m feeling the same thing!”

Zane tensed, nothing more painful than the thought he might die today. That maybe he’d made a wrong move, and everyone would be left to pick up the pieces.

But he wanted to believe.

For just one, single moment.

“Do you really think I want this!?”

Zane let go.

Lucian scrambled away from him. The cracks on their body sealed, though the damage to the pocket in space-time remained, all but beaten into floating pieces. Yet it held on, and Zane waited, and Lucian took a deep breath as blood flowed from the small cuts now dotting his body. “I—this is… what I have to do. What I was born to do. But I… when I was with you all, I really, really wondered—if I could be a normal person. Who wants to make the world better, in some small way. Maybe if I didn’t have this magic, I would’ve just been… Lucian. Someone of no particular use, who decided who he wanted to be.”

“…I get it,” Zane said. “You just wanna be yourself, after living a life of people putting roles in your head and telling you what you are.” Telling you you’re Rage, then calling that a problem, then quite literally rewriting who you are to make you less of a mess. “You know, I’m only here ‘cause of you. I was pissed at the world. I wanted nothing to do with it, and I only helped you after you saved me. If you didn’t make me stop and help a monster back in Udrefaust, then I probably wouldn’t’ve helped Shay, or Effie, or you.”

“It’s this magic,” Lucian said. “It traps us. The titles, the church—they decided the roles we have to play. When Vitam called to me for his freedom, I thought… I was playing my part correctly, for once.”

“…This magic came from the gods,” Zane said. “But it only brought a whole ton of problems. The church, the planet’s core. This whole stupid fight. Man, I don’t wanna fight you.”

“I—” Lucian kneaded his hands together, collapsing on himself. “I don’t wish to fight you either.”

“…So can’t we stop?”

“I—don’t know.”

Vitam might not have been too happy with this. Zane couldn’t imagine what the other god must’ve been screaming in Lucian’s head.

“I’m sorry for saying I hated you,” Lucian said, slipping from one nervous fidget to another. “I can’t—I mean, of course anyone would be envious, but hate… it’s more like, the opposite really—”

Zane put a hand up. “Okay, awesome, good to know, but we don’t have time for that. Are you gonna help us stop Vitam?”

Lucian bit his lip. After a solemn pause, he nodded.

“Great. Thank you.” … “Really. I think this place’s gonna break apart soon, and from there I dunno how much we’ll be able to talk, so I’m gonna need you to listen while we still have time. Okay?”

“Okay!”

Even now, the pocket dissolved. Then Lucian would end up stuck with Vitam again, and they’d have to kill him.

But Zane talked fast—and he made sure the other man knew exactly what he needed to do until the final pieces of the world caved, and the darkness vanished for light.

The bright white room returned, Shay and Effie holding onto a silent Lucian. He clenched his jaw as if holding something back, looking at Zane with tearful eyes.

“Trust me,” Zane said, to all of them, before he pulled two knives out, plunging one into Lucian’s chest and one into his own.