You Already Won

Chapter 155 - 151: Small Talk

Jamal came up beside him and leaned against the bridge railing like they weren't both technically supposed to still be in bed.

For a second, neither of them said anything.

Just stood there.

Looking out.

And somehow that silence between them didn't feel awkward at all.

Just earned.

North glanced at him once, eyes still closed.

"You look like shit."

Jamal nodded.

"You too, Blood."

North snorted.

"Fair."

Jamal looked over at him again, grin still there but quieter now.

"You had buhl lookin' crazy."

North shook his head.

"Yeah, that shit got ugly."

"Shit! Gotta do what you gotta do."

A beat.

"Tho I did think you was gonna check a few times."

North looked back out over the bridge.

"Me too."

That made Jamal laugh again.

"If you did, I woulda had to come through."

North gave a small nod.

Then Jamal looked over at him again and smirked.

"So…"

He tilted his head.

"You a Ranker now, huh?"

North sighed through his nose.

"Apparently."

Jamal barked out a laugh.

"Man, I know they had you filling out forms and shit. Off the wake up is crazy."

North turned and pointed at him immediately.

"Don't even start."

Jamal was already laughing harder.

"Damn?! They really did? I told them suckas move along."

North looked confused.

"You declined?"

"Course blood, I don't do systems and shawty coming through with her fam. So fuck them Narcotic motherfuckers."

"Hahaha."

"What blood?"

North shook his head and looked back out.

"Narloic not Narcotic."

"Tomato tomato I don't do systems either way. Plus I ain't even sign up for da event. I don't need shit from them, they wasn't in the field with me."

"I'm surprised you survived this long."

Jamal chuckled at that.

"Shit, Blood…"

He leaned more of his weight against the balcony railing and looked out over the open facility, over the layers of floating walkways and distant structures and whatever passed for a sky in Fiqht.

"When I get put under pressure…"

A small shrug.

"I get back in that mode."

His voice lost some of its humor there.

Not fully.

Just enough.

He kept looking outward as he spoke.

"Realms. Curtenail. The block."

A beat.

"Death is death."

His jaw shifted once.

"I accepted that we ain't on Earth anymore."

North glanced over at him.

There wasn't much to say to that.

So instead Jamal asked—

"Why ya eyes closed, Blood?"

North huffed lightly.

"They hurt like hell."

He tilted his head slightly.

"Cawren dug one out."

Jamal winced.

"Damn."

"And I used my abilities while empty," North added. "So the other one fizzled out."

Jamal nodded slowly.

"Yeah."

A pause.

"That's how Crisper died."

North's expression tightened.

Jamal looked down at the railing.

"That backlash shit is crazy."

Silence sat there for a second.

Then Jamal turned toward him fully.

"But on some real shit, Blood…"

He extended his hand.

North looked down at it.

Then up at him.

"It was good running shit wit ya."

His tone stayed casual.

Then he added—

"Jack still out there."

A small grin.

"So if you catch him first…"

His eyes sharpened.

"Make him feel it."

North took his hand.

"Nah, man."

He looked at him straight.

"Thanks for saving us time and time again."

Then, after a beat—

"And for letting me have that fight with Cawren."

Jamal smirked.

"I'm buhl."

A shrug.

"You know how that go."

North smiled faintly.

"…yeah."

A pause.

"I guess I do."

Jamal pushed off the railing and started walking past him.

"Well…"

He adjusted the robe slightly.

"I'll see you around, Blood."

North frowned slightly.

"You leaving?"

"Soon."

Jamal kept walking a few steps before glancing back.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

"Everyone waited for you to wake up. But today the last day we can stay here. They run a tight schedule and shit."

North blinked behind his eyelids.

"What?"

Jamal laughed.

"You missed the dinner and everything."

North just stared.

Jamal pointed vaguely ahead.

"Plus my ride should be here soon."

Then he smiled.

And with a jerk of his thumb, he added—

"And D's in the lounge on the second level. Everyone should be dere."

North turned slightly.

"I'll meet you down there," Jamal said. "Just grabbing some bagels before I go."

Then he kept walking.

And North stood there for a second.

A little stunned.

Because right.

Everyone had been waiting for him.

He stretched slowly, his body still stiff and sore, then exhaled through his nose.

"…damn."

Then he turned—

And started walking toward the second floor.

———

Destiny lay stretched across the couch.

On the other, Sšurtinaui rested alongside the two Tinsurnaes, the room quieter than it had any right to be after everything that had happened.

North was awake.

She could feel it.

His aura—faint, but unmistakable—was getting closer.

There was so much she needed to say. Too much. About what came next. About what any of this meant now that they had survived.

Her golden eyes followed a small, bird-like creature as it fluttered lazily through the air. Her platinum hair fanned beneath her like spilled light.

Her right middle finger was still gone.

The cuts across her body hadn't healed.

But she was happy.

Jamal had told her Crisper's real name.

Xavion.

A soft smile touched her lips.

What Crisper told him before she died… it settled something inside her.

Gave her peace.

And now—

North was awake.

It was time to find another kind of peace.

Sšurtinaui felt North too.

Her ears twitched slightly before a small smile touched her face.

The slice across her left cheek had healed better than expected, but the scar was still there—thin, sharp, and impossible to miss. Her right arm, however, was still gone. Though that wouldn't be the case for long. A mechanical replacement was already being worked on for her.

Magical wounds were harder to mend than conceptual ones.

She was lucky.

If the Outlander she fought had realized she was using magic, things could've gone far worse.

A quiet sigh left her.

She had finally become a Ranker.

And somehow, the title felt heavier than she imagined it would.

Because of the cost.

Everyone she entered the tournament with—

Was gone.

Beside her, the two Tinsurnaes sat in silence.

The male had black hair that fell to his shoulders and sharp green eyes that never seemed to soften. The girl beside him was shorter, with white hair and calm purple eyes that carried their own strange weight.

Neither of them spoke.

But both had questions churning inside them.

North walked slowly down the hall.

His bare feet—veined red and still faintly raw—pressed against the cool floor with each step. He wasn't nervous.

Not exactly.

But something about this felt… strange.

Hard to explain.

A tightness in his chest. A weight. A hesitation that didn't belong to fear so much as everything that came after surviving.

Still—

He kept walking.

This was what he fought for.

When he stepped into the lounge, the energy in the room was warm.

Comforting.

And surprisingly empty.

There weren't many other patients around. Just quiet lights, soft air, and the people waiting for him.

For half a second, everyone froze.

Then they moved.

Destiny was the first to launch at him.

The female Tinsurnae wasn't far behind.

Sšurtinaui rose fast despite herself, and before North could even react properly, all three of them crashed into him at once.

North's eyes widened.

"AH—shit—!"

He nearly folded on the spot as they wrapped around him.

Pain shot through his ribs.

His back.

His everything.

"I'm glad you're okay!" Destiny said first, holding onto him like if she let go he'd disappear again.

"I told them you'd wake up," Sšurtinaui said, her voice quieter, but no less relieved. "I knew you would."

Tinsurnae lowered her head against him for only a moment before speaking.

"…I'm sorry," she said softly. "For being gone."

North blinked through the pile of limbs and hair and warmth.

Then winced.

Then groaned.

"Can y'all calm the hell down and get off me?" he hissed. "I'm still in pain, damn."

Destiny pulled back just enough to stare at him.

"It's about time you woke up."

North gave her a flat look.

"That's the first thing you say to me?"

"Yes, but it's technically the second," she said without shame.

Tinsurnae stepped back next, ears lowering slightly, while Sšurtinaui moved away more carefully, though the smile on her face remained.

Only then did North fully straighten—

And glance toward the one person who hadn't moved.

The male Tinsurnae stayed where he was.

Watching.

"So where were you, huh?" North asked, finally looking at him properly.

The male Tinsurnae exhaled through his nose.

"I was occupied," he said. "Besides… I helped with the Guardian and Jack. I did enough."

North stared at him for a second.

Then gave a slow nod.

"Uh-huh."

The Tinsurnae's expression flattened.

North's mouth twitched.

"Well," he said, "welcome back. And thanks for taking credit at the last second."

The male Tinsurnae immediately tensed.

The room almost tightened with him—

Until North snorted.

"I'm joking."

A beat passed.

Then the tension cracked.

Not all at once.

But enough.

And after that—

The reunion became something easier.

They talked.

The things that happened while they were apart.

The things that happened while they were together.

Near-deaths. Bad decisions. Stupid fights. Worse plans. Miracles disguised as luck and luck disguised as disaster.

Jamal came back halfway through it all, bagels and juice in hand, and immediately made the room louder.

Which somehow made it better.

Stories got interrupted. Then exaggerated. Then corrected. Then exaggerated again.

It all felt normal.

Or at least close enough to fake it.

At some point, North glanced around the room.

"Wait," he said, "where's Ozzy and Tabia?"

Destiny didn't even look up.

"Arcade floor."

North blinked.

"…The what?"

"There's a Jenga competition happening," she said casually.

North stared at her.

"There's an arcade floor?"

Jamal looked at him like he was the stupid one.

"Man," he said, "there's an everything floor."

Eventually, the conversation slowed.

Not because they ran out of things to say.

But because reality had started creeping back in.

The female Tinsurnae shifted where she sat before finally speaking.

"We'll be leaving soon," she said.

That got North's attention.

She glanced toward Sšurtinaui.

"Our ship should be here any minute."

Sšurtinaui gave a small nod. "I'm heading back home for a while. Back to my realm."

North tilted his head.

"Oh."

Then his gaze moved between them.

"Wait… so you're leaving with her?"

The girl nodded once.

North looked past her toward the male Tinsurnae.

"…So you're not going back with Tinsurnae?"

A beat passed.

Then North frowned.

"Y'all seriously need a new name for one of you, by the way."

That earned the smallest twitch of amusement from Jamal.

But the girl didn't smile.

Instead, she looked around the room.

At all of them.

Then said quietly—

"Call me Caroline."

Everything in North's face changed.

The warmth disappeared.

For a second, nobody said anything.

North stared at her.

"…What?"

Her expression didn't shift.

"Call me Caroline."

His jaw tightened.

"No."

The answer came too fast.

The girl's purple eyes narrowed slightly.

North shook his head once.

"No. Absolutely not."

Sšurtinaui sat up straighter.

"North—"

"No," he repeated, looking directly at the girl. "You can't just—" He exhaled hard through his nose. "You can't just take her name."

The room had gone still again.

The girl—Caroline—held his stare.

"Why not?"

North looked at her like the answer should've been obvious.

"Because that was her."

"And she mattered to me too," she said, her voice still calm, which somehow made it worse.

North's expression hardened further.

"That doesn't mean you get to—"

"She and I became close," Caroline cut in, her tone firmer now. "Closer than you know."

North looked at her.

"They connected," Sšurtinaui continued. "A lot. During the time on the Occulted Moon ship. And during the zombie V-Dungeon."

North said nothing.

Sšurtinaui's ears lowered slightly.

"And I think… she'd accept it."

The new Caroline crossed her arms.

"And it's not up to you anyway."

That pulled North's gaze back to her.

"You don't get to hog her legacy."

That one hit.

It landed exactly where it was meant to.

North's face didn't change.

But everyone in the room felt it.

For a moment, it looked like he might actually snap.

But then—

He sighed.

Older than he should've sounded.

"…I'm still not okay with it," he admitted.

The room stayed quiet.

He rubbed the back of his neck.

"But…"

He glanced away.

"It's gonna take a minute…"

And before anything else could be said, a soft voice drifted in from the doorway.

"Excuse me," a fairy nurse said gently. "Lady Sšurtinaui ship has arrived."

Sšurtinaui let out a breath through her nose and pushed herself up.

"Well," she said, "guess that's that."

Destiny stood first.

Before Sšurtinaui could say anything else, Destiny stepped forward and pulled her into a hug.

The elf blinked in surprise before slowly hugging her back.

North watched them.

Then tilted his head slightly.

"Wait," he said, looking at Destiny. "Since when were y'all cool?"

Destiny pulled back first.

Sšurtinaui smiled faintly.

"During the break," they both said at the same time.

Jamal barked out a laugh and dapped her up.

"Be safe, Blood."

North looked between them, then shook his head with a small smile.

"Of course."

Then he straightened.

"I'll walk y'all out."

Sšurtinaui nodded.

As North started toward the door with her, the male Tinsurnae quietly reached out and caught Caroline by the wrist.

Gently.

Pulling her back for a moment.

Away from the others.

————

The ship bay was closer than North expected.

Sšurtinaui laughed softly as she walked beside him, the sound lighter than most things had been lately.

For a while, neither of them said anything.

Then finally—

"You're really ok with her using that name."

"Can we not discuss that right now."

"I think it's pretty important to bring up now. And —"

"North, you and I both understand the value of names. If she's willing to bear that weight… I think she should be allowed too. Caroline would have done the same in her own way."

North sighed.

"Besides, let's focus on the important things."

She smiled.

"We did it."

North glanced at her. Pushing back his want to argue. But she was right, it wasn't worth ruining their last moments together.

"Yeah," he said. "Told you we'd win."

A small grin tugged at his mouth.

"Victorious, I believe I said. Verbatim."

She huffed out a laugh.

"You did."

A beat passed.

Then her smile softened.

"And… thank you."

North looked at her.

"For killing Cawren. For killing the Herald."

His expression shifted, but only slightly.

"You don't need to thank me."

North gave her a small smile.

"Besides," he said, "if anyone deserved to be a Ranker, it's you."

That made her smile again.

And for a moment, they just kept walking.

There wasn't much else that needed to be said.

Sšurtinaui remembered the boy she met in line.

Confused. Clueless. Half-lost and somehow still arrogant enough to keep moving.

And now—

He walked beside her as a Ranker.

A survivor.

Someone she loved as a true companion.

The weight of everything felt slightly lighter around him.

So when they reached the ship bay, she didn't hesitate.

She stepped forward and hugged him.

North hugged her back without question.

"I'll see you again," she said.

North nodded once.

"I know."

She pulled back enough to look at him.

"Once you figure out a way to contact others, ask for the Varics. They'll direct you to me."

North blinked.

"The Varics?"

"My family…. How did you forget?"

North gave a slow nod.

"Eh, I'm bad with names. You're just Sšurtinaui."

Then his face deadpanned.

"I definitely need a phone or whatever the hell y'all use in this world. Shit! How do I even set up a mobile plan?"

That made her laugh again.

Then Sšurtinaui stepped closer.

Before North could ask what she was doing, she gently placed her hand over his eyes.

A soft warmth spread through him.

North blinked.

Then blinked again.

And when he opened his eyes fully, the world came back sharper.

Clearer.

He looked at her.

"Huh," he said. "Thanks."

A small smile pulled at his mouth.

"One last time, I guess."

Sšurtinaui's ears twitched.

"Oh?" she said, amused. "What will you do without me, Blood Prince?"

North snorted.

"Guess I'm about to find out."

Caroline came up behind them just before the ramp fully opened.

North turned at the sound of her steps.

Their eyes met.

And after everything—

They smiled at each other.

"Be safe," North said. "But seriously…"

His expression sharpened just slightly.

"Put a bit more thought into your name. I get you guys close but this feels wrong."

Caroline grinned.

Then she tilted her head.

"I'm not going to argue with you about it. Just make sure you survive long enough to see what I do with it."

North gave a short laugh through his nose.

"Okay. But if I still disagree, I'll force you to change it."

"Uh-huh."

She gave him a look.

North lowered his arms.

Then looked at her a little more carefully.

"Well…" he said, "congrats on being your own person."

That made her pause.

Just for a second.

Then smile.

"And," he added, glancing over her, "nice new design."

That smile deepened.

Then he jerked his head toward the ship.

"Now get going. I'm sure your captain's got places to be."

That earned a laugh from both of them.

And then—

They left.

North stood there as the ship lifted from the bay.

The light from its thrusters washed over him for only a moment before it rose higher…

And higher…

Until it disappeared into the dark.

North smiled faintly.

This chapter of his life was really over.

And what he felt wasn't sadness.

Not exactly.

It was something quieter.

Bittersweet.