The Epilogue isn't the End [BL]

Prologue (Epilogue?)

Finally, it was the end.

Slowly and meticulously, he had completed the entire plot. Playing his role as tragic lead villain perfectly, not a mission failed. It had taken years, but finally, all the hard work was going to pay off. Soon he will be able to go home.

'One last mission,' Asterius's thinks, staring out across the rolling hills of Midran. He had been living here since he left the heavens 3 months ago. He was fated to die after all, better to disappear in the mortal realm than stir up trouble among the Celestials with his sudden disappearance. Though he wasn't even a god anymore, would they really care if he died up there instead?

'One person would,' a voice in his head says softly, as a memory of unreadable silted red eyes fills his thoughts, 'he would care.' Yes, probably Cadeyrn would care, but not because he wanted Asterius alive, but because he couldn't do the deed himself. Still... no, best not to think about bridges already burned.

[Host!] His cheery System says, the blinking holographic green screen appearing in the air and hovering in front of him.

It had been with him the whole time in this strange world, shadowing his steps, scolding him for acting too out of character and assigning him detailed missions to help advance the plot. Despite all of that, a smile flickers across Asterius's face, it's been his only true friend in this novel. He would miss it, even if it did act like a spoiled kindergartener at times.

[Host!] [Host!] [HOST!] The System repeats, the window getting closer to his face each time.

"I'm here System," he says with an amused, already wistful chuckle, "No need to yell."

[Host wasn't paying attention to System!] It complains, the corners of its window diming in a familiar sign Asterius knows is its version of a pout. [Host will be leaving soon, yet Host is too busy watching the evil sun to talk to System!]

"I was just lost in thought," Asterius clarifies, making a point of turning away from the sunrise to better face the holographic screen, "and since when is the sun "evil" System?"

[Solveig is the sun god, Solveig is mean to Host, being mean to Host is evil, so the sun is evil!]

"You can reason your way into the sun being evil, but you can't be bothered to use your encyclopedia of knowledge to find the right word for a Panda?"

[Host Said He Would Never Mention That Again!] The message reads in a large, bolded font, [Host is being mean to System!]

"I'm sorry," he says with a chuckle, as a brisk cold wind runs through the valley, tossing around Asterius's long silvery hair. With a sigh he wrangles it back under control, carefully braiding it back out of his face, something he wasn't ever allowed to do while in character, but soon he won't need to be Asterius anymore.

Hmm, it would probably be better to stop thinking of himself as Asterius then, wouldn't it? Soon he will be back in his original world, able to live under his real identity, "How much longer System?"

There's a pause, Asterius-William- he corrects in his thoughts, can almost hear the System's non-existence gears turning, as a green window pops up.

[5 minutes and 23 seconds.]

He hums, bending down and taking a seat in the fresh dew-covered grass, it stains the edges of the light blue robe he is wearing, hopefully, the original wouldn't mind too much when he got back. How fitting for a romance novel to end on the first day of Spring.

"What will you do when it's over System?" he asks. They had talked about this before, was something they spoke often of, but it felt important to address it again now, everything that he had worked for was finally going to happen. How strange to be mourning a journey that isn't even over yet.