Nian woke from her sleep, her head muddled and full of wandering heavy thoughts. She looked over herself, bare to the skin with only a fur blanket to cover her naked self. She was lying on a stretcher, the black canopy above providing shade against the orange sunset on the horizon. She tried to sit upright, but as she did her head pulsed a dull pain, her head seemingly pounded by tens of fists.

She tried to remember what happened before, with the last memory she had of was the frostfire wave in the dungeon. She remembered the heat, the cold, the pain. She then remembered Mat.

"Oh fuck." Nian looked around, a hand above her eyes as her blurry vision adjusted. She was on a vehicle- specifically a floating boat, cruising along the grasslands with the breeze whipping through the air like cold autumn. She could hear the oh-so-familiar hum of the engine below, like a familiar song she heard some time ago.

Through her blurry eyes she could make out two figures at the center of the deck, duking it out with a spear and a sword.

"You're up." Ruan said, handing Nian a cup of Srean and a plate full of bread. The coco mixed with milk was always a favorite of hers, and coupled with a handful of cheese bread, it was like a fantastic morning breakfast.

"Is that Kun?" Nian munched on bread as she looked over the two fighting. She could make out her boyfriend- the one with the spear. Given that his bulky silver armor was pretty iconic even from the distance, it was not hard to figure out. The other one though, she still had a hard time figuring out who he was. Maybe it was the person's small frame, but he looked kind of like… Mat.

It was Mat.

"Hold the fuck up-"

"Wait, they're still fighting." Ruan stopped Nian in her tracks, a hand brought to her front as if to bar entry.

"What are you doing?" Nian tried to move Ruan's hand away, but she was still too weak to do anything. "Mat's going to get dumpstered."

"It's a duel, Nian. Both Mateo and Kun agreed to it."

"But you know what Mat is like. He's stupid and reckless- he's gonna get his ass beat."

"Reminds me of someone." Ruan mused. "Anyways just sit down, You know Kun's not going to do anything to Mateo."

Nian hesitated but eventually followed, sitting back down to her stretcher. Her head was not as heavy as before but still- her thoughts were all over the place. Watching the fight unfold in front of her, with every spear thrust against sword slash, an unnerving feeling molded inside her chest. Her boyfriend, fighting against Mat. That was one thing she didn't expect when she woke up.

She also didn't expect to be perfectly fine after that frostfire wave from the dungeon. The searing heat and biting cold from the blue fire were strong, but despite the headaches and constant pounding on her head, her body right now was more or less okay. Given the damage she took, she half-expected to be six feet under by now.

"Wait, did you use that potion?" Nian turned to Ruan.

"Youmu did."

Nian groaned. "We were supposed to sell that off at Garafeit."

Ruan shrugged her shoulders. She then pointed to Youmu on the other side of the deck. "Just go thank Youmu later."

"Gotcha." Nian looked around.

"By the way, do you have any extra clothes I could borrow?"

. . .

Mat raised his hands in surrender, dropping his sword on the wooden deck with a clank.

After a brief pause, Kun put away his spear on the ground, but not before Mat's ghost bird slammed to Kun's face at full speed from above.

"Ah fuck." Mat whistled for Wingman to back out, raising his hand for the ghost bird to prop himself up. "Oops, sorry about that."

"No problem." Kun let out a laugh before removing his helmet. He could make out a couple of scratches on the silver hull.

"That one's a feisty little guy."

"Yeah, he is." Mat ran a finger through Wingman's feathery head before absorbing him back to his green hand. As he did, he could feel his hand lighten, now having back full control.

"You put up a good fight." Youmu said as she closed the distance between them. "Against a silver ranker, that was pretty good."

"Thanks, but Kun was taking it pretty easy." Mat added. Even without magic at Kun's disposal, he was lightning fast with his movements and reflexes. Mat could even tell that Kun wasn't going all out with his physical prowess either. Mat couldn't begin to think what monster he would become if he used magic.

"Loosen up a bit." Nian popped out from behind Youmu, giving Mat a smile. "You didn't even use your two other summons. You could have totally taken out Kun."

"Give me some credit, will you?" Kun said, beaming a wide smile to Nian.

"Against an iron ranker?" Nian gave Kun the look. "You're better off bullying kids in elementary."

The two then embraced each other in a tight hug before pecking a kiss on each other's cheeks.

"Hold on." Mat paused, turning to Youmu. "Kun's your brother."

"Older brother." Youmu added.

"He's Ruan's ex."

"We don't talk about it much."

"And he's currently dating Nian?"

"I don't know where you're going with this."

Goddamn. This man was living his own story.

A protagonist and a main character, this dude had the looks, the personality, the strength- even the hair. Seeing him right now, Mat felt kind of uncomfortable. Not uncomfortable as in about-to-puke uncomfortable, but he was pretty uneasy about it nonetheless. It was like he was standing against the ideal version of himself, and the reality of the situation just dawned on him.

If I wanted to- and if I tried to- would I ever be like him?