Aric stood still in his white space. His outfit had changed to a plain black shirt with grey sweatpants, his favourite combo back on earth. His hands were at the back of his head as he strolled around.
"White place again. If my other self told me I'm not dead, why am I still here?" he muttered under his breath.
"And also. Why is it white? Like it's just white…hmmm. I still wonder if everybody has the same manifestation of their subconscious or if I just really like the colour white."
He sighed, running a hand through his hair. This wasn't the first time he'd found himself here. In fact, it felt almost routine now. A limbo between death and life. But this time, something was different.
Something about the air felt heavier.
CRANK CRANK CRANK
The silence shattered as gears began to turn audibly, grinding together like machinery assembling itself from nothingness. Slowly but surely, the featureless void started transforming. Walls of dark wood materialized out of thin air with shelves upon shelves of books.
A grand desk appeared, polished mahogany gleaming under soft golden light. Bottles of liquor cluttered one corner of the room, crystal decanters catching the glow. Nearby, a tray held remnants of indulgence: half-smoked cigars, empty vials, and scattered playing cards.
And then there he was, the man whose shadow loomed over everything. Vayne sat at the desk, his back turned to Aric. Smoke curled lazily into the air above him, dissipating into the ether before reaching its source.
Though Aric couldn't smell it, the sight alone told him enough. Sadness or perhaps coping was in the air. His hair was messy with a wrinkled red shirt and loose jeans.
"You're late." Vayne said without turning around, his voice was low and it had bitterness in it.
"I see what you've been doing in my body."
Aric crossed his arms, leaning against the wall.
"Yeah, well, it's not like I had a choice."
Vayne let out a humorless chuckle, taking a deep smoke before answering,
"But you did. You had so many chances. To leave the estate. To live alone. Maybe even go to Thorin."
He paused as he puffed out all the smoke,
"I'm still surprised you managed to talk with the prince of dwarves."
Aric rolled his eyes, "Listen, buddy, navigating your mess wasn't exactly a walk in the park. Do you have any idea how hard it is to fix a debt crisis while dodging an angry wife? Or trying to rebuild an entire town when nobody trusts you?"
"And yet, you did it didn't you? You fixed Ashwick. You made people happy. Hell, you even smoothed things over with Callista."
Aric noticed the slight change in his voice when he mentioned people were happy,
There's something strange in Vayne's tone...is he...jealous or something?
"What's your angle here? You're pissed off because I didn't screw everything up?"
"No." Vayne replied sharply, finally tilting his head slightly to glance over his shoulder.
His grey eyes had eyebags. His face was hollow.
"I'm pissed off because you made me look bad. Everything I failed at, you succeeded in. And trust me, I really want to punch you for doing too much."
For a moment, neither spoke. Aric studied Vayne's face and body language. He noted the tension in his shoulders, the way his fingers was fidgeting holding the bud of the cigarette,
There's pain and regret. Aric thought to himself.
Finally, Aric broke the silence.
"Look, I get it, okay? You hate me. Fine. But don't act like I had some magical guidebook for all this crap. I was thrown into your life without warning, without memories, and expected to figure it out. Have you ever tried pretending to be someone else? It's exhausting."
"Especially if it's your life. You-you know how many times I got pushed around just because it was your face? Like I hate you too man."
Vayne chuckled once more and set down his smoke,
"Oh, please. Don't act like you didn't enjoy parts of it. Being a duke has its perks, doesn't it?"
"Sure, if by 'perks' you mean endless paperwork, constantly worry about which people I should greet properly and having to smile politely at people who secretly want me dead. Yeah, real fun. I sooooooo enjoy being in your position."
Vayne turned fully this time, leaning back in his chair to face Aric.
"You think I didn't deal with those same issues? That I didn't spend years clawing my way to power only to watch it slip through my fingers? You may not know my life but I do. And seeing you waltz in and clean up my mess…"
He trailed off, shaking his head. "It's infuriating. Like it pisses me off you're so good at what you do and you make me look like a fucking fool!"
Aric met Vayne's gaze head-on. "Well, maybe if you hadn't left behind such a dumpster fire, I wouldn't have had to! You know like, NOT ASSAULTING CLAIRE. Or, gambling fucking MILLIONS. OR cheating on YOUR wife!"
They stared at each other for a long moment, heavy tension crackling in the air. Then, unexpectedly, Vayne smirked with a bitter grin that didn't reach his eyes.
"You know, for a commoner, you're surprisingly good at this."
Aric arched an eyebrow, "The hell that's supposed to mean?"
"It means," Vayne drawled, gesturing vaguely with his hand, "that you shouldn't be able to navigate nobility like you have. You grew up in a world completely alien to this one. No titles, no expectations, no centuries-old grudges hanging over your head. Yet here you are, fixing problems I couldn't solve in years and managing politics better than me."
Aric crossed his arms, "Don't try to psychoanalyze me. I didn't ask for this. I didn't ask to be stuck in your body, dealing with your mistakes. I didn't ask to be reincarnated! Especially into a body like yours."
Vayne raised an eyebrow and his face changed into annoyance,
"A body like mine? That's fucking rich from the guy who stole everything from me and act like a fraud!"
Aric pointed to himself sarcastically, "Me? I'm the fraud? You lanky whitewashed boy couldn't even handle one city. You burned shops just because, you abuse your power and authority. If anybody here is a fraud, it be you white boy."
"You're not one of them, Aric. You never will be. No matter how many debts you pay off or towns you rebuild, you'll always be an outsider."
"That's bullshit." Aric shot back,
"I've worked my ass off to earn their respect. I've bled for this place, for these people. And yeah, maybe I don't fit into your fancy little aristocratic mold, but guess what? They trust me. They believe in me."
Aric scoffed, "Something you clearly never managed in your 20 years as a duke. Might as well call yourself Vayne 'Fraud' Arkwright since you suck at your own job."
Vayne's face didn't change but his body was more tensed now. Vayne put his arms on his thigh and made a thinking pose,
"Trust. What a fragile thing. One wrong move, and it shatters."
"What are you talking about?"
Vayne leaned forward, "Do you know why Seraphina stayed with me for so long? Despite everything I did? She trusted me. Trusted that I'd protect her, honour our vows."
"And what did I do? I threw it all away."
Aric gave a mocking laugh, "Hahaha. Wow, we got Captain Obvious here. No shit sherlock, you threw your marriage away to be with a dominatrix who would've thrown you out the moment she got bored of you."
"Oh wait, speaking of that, you must have mommy issues since you reallyyyyyy cling to Callista huh?"
Vayne now stood up, "You shut the fuck up, you peasant. You couldn't even save your own fucking marriage. Your wife and your OWN KIDS hate you. You're worse than me."
Aric looked pissed off now, "I'm worse than you? Me? I'm somehow worse than a guy who assaulted women, cheated on his wife, humiliated his family, gambled his life away, become a DOG to a woman who won't even keep you, killed people and bankrupted his wife? I'm somehow worse?"
Vayne now walked towards Aric in a fast pace, "You got a problem now?"
Aric took a boxer stance and waited there patiently, "Mess around and find out."
Vayne stopped dead in his tracks as he knew from the memories of Aric that he is the only man who has genuinely never lost a 1v1.
"Tch." He raised his hands as surrender and walked backwards to his chair,
"I'm not fighting against a man who has fought against monsters and win."
Aric watched him for a moment before putting his guard down,
"So tell me then. What is your story? Why did you cause so many pain to people who are innocent? Claire didn't deserved the treatment you gave, the maids and butler only did their job. Mira was only a kid and yet you burn her parents shop out of spice."
"Alvin's sister has a permanent scar because of your bullshit. What could possibly be your story that you cause so many pain? Spoiler by the way, I ain't gonna feel sorry for you at all. I just want to know and decide if I should beat your ass now or after you finish your story."
Vayne looked at Aric with his dead eyes before forming a faint smile,
"Hmm, why should I tell to you anyways? You don't care about me an-"
"I just want to know what made you an asshole. And since we are in this subconscious space, we are not going out anytime soon until something happens. Plus, I really want to punch your face."
Vayne shook his head in disbelief, "Okay, okay. I see. Well, maybe you will my side of the story then."
The moment Vayne opened his mouth, the surrounding change again with it being morning and his younger self diligently writing on a paper.
"Why are we watching you as a kid?" Aric crossed his arms as he stared at little Vayne.
"It starts here. With my father."
The surrounding glitched for a moment before finally showing a tall, muscular man with black hair. He had a suit on but his face was blurred out. Aric couldn't make out his features at all.
"What is this garbage?" as the man snatched the paper away before little Vayne could protest.
"Your handwriting looks like chicken scratch, and these calculations are barely legible. Is this the best you can do after six hours of study? You worthless SON!"
"I—I tried my best, Father. I'll work harder tomorrow—"
"Harder?" the man interrupted, slamming the paper onto the table.
"Do you think excuses will save you when the world demands perfection? You are a *********. Do you think anyone cares how hard you try when you don't bring in results!?"
"RESULTS ARE THE ONLY THING THAT TRULY MATTERS. YOUR EFFORTS MEANS NOTHI—"
A woman who was also average height but had long beautiful hazel hair appeared out of nowhere,
"Darling, please. He's only twelve. He's doing his best."
Her face was also blurred. This made Aric confused but he can tell what signs are this.
Usually, people who have memories that are blurred either forgot the details or have a traumatic experience with it. Considering this is...well, traumatic for a kid, this may be a reason why his parents face are blurred.
But still, something is wrong here. Why did a word get censored out? Was it a bad word? Did his younger self block that out?
Hmm.
The memory resumed again but something was skipped and little Vayne looked lost as his father walked out of the room.
His mother hugged him while brushing a strand of hair from his forehead.
"Don't listen to him, sweetheart. You're wonderful exactly as you are. Don't ever forget that."
"But what if he's right, Mother? What if I'm not good enough?"
"You are more than enough. Always remember that."
The memory froze now.
Vayne looked at Aric, "So?"
Aric looked at him back, "I mean, I guess I am sorry you had to go through that but that's well, how do I say this. Not a good enough reason to you know, starve people to death."
"And also, why did your memories skip a part there? What was skipped?"
Vayne looked annoyed from the earlier statement but he answered anyways,
"I don't know. Can't remember."
"Well, that's just one part of it anyways. Telling you the entire story would probably take weeks for that."
"Oh wow, really?" Aric looked around dramatically. "Wow would you look at that. Looks like I've got nowhere to be, and I have absolutely no idea when I'll wake up from this 'nightmare'. So, we have PLENTY of time."
Vayne sighed in defeat, "Whatever. Let's continue..."
Aric didn't know it yet, but by choosing to hear Vayne's story, he had already set something in motion. And when the consequences came, they wouldn't just belong to Vayne.
They'd belong to him too.