#{aless muse}

13. wake up in bed with your muse

Aless blinked, then blinked again. What the hell was Delmud doing in his bed?

That was when he stopped and looked around, realizing this was not in fact the room he’d been assigned to in the castle the army was temporarily residing in. So… was this Delmud’s room? Then what the hell was he doing in Delmud’s room?

Trying to recall any reason, he realized most of last night was a blur. After having heard something from a mercenary group about the infamous mercenaries under Jabarro’s command, hearing his own name come up in the conversation, he had proceeded to drink most of the night away along with the memories. Apparently that led him here, to this situation, and his cousin was sleeping ever so peacefully beside him.

Well, at least one of them looked peaceful. The elder Nodion’s head was a little more than hurting. Had he really drank so much? It had been every bit his intention to get drunk, but perhaps he had gone beyond his limit before he even realized it. He grimaced as he wondered if he should go back to sleep for a while. No sword swinging for training would be done today, and lance training even less so.

Though he had been quiet attempting to move himself out of the bed, the boy beside him still stirred, his eyes opening and locating the older male wordlessly. Aless looked back at him with a slight apologetic look, wondering if perhaps Delmud was too light a sleeper to not notice. After a moment Delmud had rolled more fully onto his side to fully acknowledge Aless.

“Sorry, did I wake you?”Though it was just the two of them, Aless had found it better to keep his voice low for a person who had only just woken.

“It’s fine; I can go right back to sleep. What about you though? You were so out of it last night you came to my room and fell asleep before I even got back in. I tried to get you up to tell you, but you were totally out. I had to move you a little to make room for myself, but I managed to fit us both, so it was no problem.”

No problem, but what if he’d gone into anyone else’s room? He’d be all too lucky it had only been Delmud’s room he’d visited in his drunken state. “Damn... Out that bad, huh... Glad I ended up here instead of one the girls’ rooms.”

“Haha. Aless, you might never have woken back up if you did that.”

Indeed, this could have been far more awkward, even if it was with one of the other guys. He couldn’t even imagine how strange it would be to wake up in Johalva’s room, whether he’d been woken by the Dozel or woke up in the morning in much the same manner as he had this morning. Aless was rather grateful it had been his own cousin. “I guess I’ll have to count this as a favor. Thanks.”

“No worries. I’ll just have to watch out for you next time I know you’re drinking~.”

“...Let that one slip, didn’t I?”

Having succeeded in their war against Thracia, many in the army had wondered if things could get any worse in terms of the warring on the battlefield. It had been chaotic facing so many flying opponents, and though Aless had kept his guard up as they arrived in Miletos, there had been more dark mages than expected at the battle for Peruluke. That meant… there would only be more the deeper they went into Miletos.

As much as Aless had come to know about this group from seeing Bramsel’s crew, the ones on this end must have been more refined in their magic skills. That made sense… They were closing in on Grandbell, and these ones surely had a sensible battle arrangement. Yied had merely been full of dark mages going off on their own, and they weren’t exactly organized; simply dangerous. This was dangerous, and Aless couldn’t have counted the number he had come across and slaughtered. They had this many men in their ranks…?

For a while, even Aless couldn’t be sure he would get out of this even remotely safely. The thought of dying here seemed like nothing but a pity after everything he’d been through, but he knew it was entirely possible. That was why he had planned to go down fighting if it came to that, and take out as many dark mages from the Sect as he was able. His focus was starting to wane though as he faced the last of the group that was stationed here, and the attack to his back was one he had not seen coming as he defeated the man in front of him.

It was a quick shout from the side of him that had allowed him to get his horse out of the way just barely, the ends of the magic still scrapping by his arm. The feeling was more than a pinch, and he was sure if that had hit him, he would have been too close to death to be saved before a healer could reach him. Turning the horse around as he immediately after heard the grunting of his attacking, his eyes met with the man’s body on the ground as Altenna repositioned Gae Bolg.

“You’re not badly hurt… I made it in time.” The sound of relief in her voice confused him ever so slightly, not expecting such a tone from someone he had only met recently. She turned her mount in his direction as she flew over, taking note of the slight injury on his arm. “We should get back to the others. Delmud had noticed you had gone missing and figured you were still out here, so I was asked to search for you. My brother can close that wound, so we’ll head back right away.”

“Ah, right. You’re Leaf’s sister… Yeah. Let’s head back. I’m sure the rest of the army is finishing up too. The battle for Peruluke should be won about now.” She nodded, the two of them pulling on their mounts to continue on their way. It had only taken moments for Aless to realize she had not moved upward into the sky and that she was moving at pace with his own mount. “…You’re not heading back before me?”

With a few blinks and a slight delay of reply, Aless also felt mildly confused before her response. “There’s no need for me to rush ahead. If there were more enemies hiding nearby, you might need help. Besides, I have no reason to leave an ally behind. Unless you don’t want me around...”

The way her tone dropped also made the knight feel bad for the question, even if what she may have thought was not his intention. “Not at all. Having allies that stick around like this is just a bit different than what I’m used to. I may have been in this army for a while now, but it’s nothing in comparison to the years I spent in a mercenary group, where you wouldn’t exactly call us friends. Habit, I guess.”

The answer was relieving to hear to the princess though. She had become so used to being put down in terms of her military related actions that she was entirely thankful her considerations were put first in this army. The way Coruta had spoke to her that day still had yet to leave her mind, but the people here were the mirror opposite of Thracia’s military. It wasn’t only Aless who had familiarity with situations that were foreign to this army.

Now that they thought about it, still side by side, both of them had defected into this army, hadn’t they? They had abandoned the ones who raised them to fight for something else, and it had involved the death of said parental figure. It was odd seeing someone Aless felt he could finally relate to, and she was just around his age, if not his age. He would have to ask her about that later... He’d become used to the ages of the people he knew, but it was a nice feeling to know he could relate to someone his own age and talk on level with that person.

“Hey, when we get back... if you don’t mind, I’d like to hear what finalized your decision to be here. I heard it was Leaf, your family, that persuaded you... and it was my family that persuaded me to stay here. Turns out those two are actually adoptive siblings no less. I first saw you in this army thinking we would have nothing in common, thinking I had lived so differently than everyone here, but seeing you now makes me a bit relieved I’m not the only one. I guess you could say I’m glad to have you around more than not wanting you around.”

It took a moment for her to reply, the words settling in carefully before she smiled lightly. Being wanted both for her military beliefs and strength, as well as her personality and history? That may have even been a first... “I’ll be sure tell you what I can once we’re settled back in over at the castle. That is, as long as I get to hear your stories in return.”

Ah... Well... This was not what he was expecting. At all. Ever.

Aless knew there were supposedly “other worlds” or rather variants of the same world he resided in, but meeting up with another version of himself? It made sense under the idea that alternate versions of this existed, but meeting him at the same place at the same time, totally unplanned? In the first place, why was this one coming into this room at the same time he was leaving? If they had the same mindset, it would make sense that they went to the same place at the same time, but that backwards?

It only got more awkward when he recalled Patty had run around putting up decorations for the time of year. Slowly, carefully, his head lifted just enough to see the result of the blonde thief's work. Slowly still, he returned his gaze to what was in fact not a mirror, but himself in the flesh itself. A mistletoe... He was supposed to kiss himself? As if hearing his thoughts within the other’s own mind, he too looked up just as slowly, eyes settling back on the confused blond. Well, that made two of them.

“Uh...”

It was weird enough to meet himself in person, if that even made a damn bit of sense, but he was supposed to... kiss... himself??? Was confused even the word for this? Really, he was a bit weirded out all the same. Thankfully he wasn’t the only one... though actually, he was technically the only one. Did that count? They were in two different bodies... No, wait, it was the same body. Same brain apparently too...

Well, if that was the case, both of them would be able to catch on to what the other was thinking. “Well... How about we go with ‘we never noticed’?” Wasn’t kissing himself also narcissism? Or did that not count because it wasn’t him? But it actually was.

“Yeah. Never noticed. So I’m going to walk through this door normally because I never noticed.”

As he began situating himself, Aless shrugged slightly and turned to him... ...self? “...Wine?”