'Rob' smiled and said, "Please, just call me Rob. You're used to it by now, right? Like how you now call yourself 'Alex.'"
I sat down in the seat I had pulled out and crossed my arms. "You say that like it's simple. But you didn't answer my question, Rob. Is this why you pulled me here?"
It was a ridiculous event.
I thought it was some random.
I thought it was a nobody.
I thought it was a passing god.
But this whole time... Rob had been Roland. My Roland. The one from 3D-ED who I wrote a happy ending for, who slayed the Demon God Umbra and was hailed as Roland the Brave... who, when receiving his newest title as Duke for his efforts, became Roland Braveheart.
This motherfucker was Rob the entire time?!
I felt my eye twitch and forced a smile on my face. "You could have said 'hi' properly."
"I wanted to. But it's rather difficult. You've experienced it yourself now, right? The causality backlash."
"...Ah. So that IS a thing."
Rob nodded. "Yes. It's nothing too outlandish. It isn't like I'll be erased if I break it. But the world can't handle it."
"...So it's not so much that you can't do anything, but..."
"I have too much 'weight' on this world, yes."
"...I'm beginning to feel like whoever wrote these rules of existence is either a terrible author or wanted to hardcode rules just to say 'no.'"
Rob chuckled. "Tell me about it."
"Well, alright then." I looked at Rob and said, "Since you pulled me here and even revealed yourself, I'm guessing we need to chat?"
"Mm. That's right. First, the important thing. Your gambit worked. Time spun back and everyone's fine. Princess Evelyn is safe, the Roland you know is fine, and the Marisa you know is safe as well. Unfortunately for you, they all remember the stunt you pulled, so you'll have to handle that."
"...Of course they remember." I sighed. "I had the feeling they might. They're pretty involved with me."
"Yes. Karma is a very real force. Since your lives have been so entwined, it's rather difficult to do something like this without dragging them with you."
"...Noted."
Rob let out an easygoing smile, still staring at me.
I stared back and frowned. "...Why are you so relaxed anyway? Doesn't this affect you at all?"
"No."
"...What?"
Did I hear that right?
Rob shook his head. "No matter what you do here, 'my' world is safe. I'm sure you're aware as well, right? My 'story' is already concluded. No more 'revisions' can be made, for better or worse."
"...Then what the heck did you drag me here for?"
It didn't make sense. If Rob didn't pull me into this world to change his... then what was the point?
"Didn't I say it?" Rob smiled. "I'm your biggest fan. Although you might not have felt it on your end, I felt it on my end, you know? I had always felt that there was some higher power guiding me and Marisa upon our journey. That, despite the hardships we faced, the struggles and disasters, it would turn out well in the end. And it did. I've always wanted to thank you for that."
"...You could have sent me a DM. Hell, you already did, you bastard."
Rob chuckled. "Yes, well. I wanted to do a bit more than that. You see, after you left our world behind, I was curious. Who was the invisible hand ensuring our happy ending? Who was it that brought myself and Marisa together while saving the world against near impossible odds?"
"...You must have seemed insane to most people."
Rob laughed. "I suppose so. But after I defeated Umbra, most people believed I was chosen by some god. So they didn't question it too much. Mm..." He glanced off to the side. "...Time is short. I suppose I'll cut to the chase." He looked at me and said, "I cleared Tartarus. At least, my world's Tartarus. And with it, I gained the ability three things. One was the ability to turn back time. Another was the ability to create a 'system' to guide a soul beyond its limits. And a third was the ability to traverse the starry expanse."
I slowly blinked. Then I said, "Wait. Back up." I held up my hand. "Let me see if I understand this right. 3D-ED wasn't really a world I wrote into existence, but one that existed that I was actively interfering in via my story."
"Correct."
"Because of my interference, you managed to reach a happy ending with Marisa and saved the world from Demon God Umbra."
"That's right."
"And then since you were so grateful, you cleared the unclearable Gate I didn't even finish describing at a time I wasn't aware of, all to... what, find me and thank me?"
"Something like that, yes."
I gave him a blank stare. "...You could have just come to a meet and greet."
Rob laughed. "I could have, yes. And I did, actually. You wouldn't remember it though since you were quite busy."
"...Huh?"
I wracked my brain trying to think if I'd met this guy before...
Rob laughed again. "Don't hurt your head trying to remember. I was very nondescript and didn't ask anything memorable."
"...Right."
Considering this guy was the same guy I wrote, he was definitely tactful enough to show up and go undetected.
Still...
"...The implications of this are rather insane, you know?"
"Mm." Rob nodded. "I'm aware. And truthfully, I didn't intend for things to go this way. My initial plan was for all of this to come to you as a 'dream' when you woke up back on Earth so that you could pen it as a 'what-if' companion story to 3D-ED. But... well." He chuckled. "...I didn't realize how viscerally you despised tragedies. I knew you didn't enjoy them. I knew you worked hard to try and circumvent them. But..." He waved his hand to reveal a shimmering river of events. My entire timeline since I arrived as 'Alex.'
Then he showed how the river of events forcible flowed backwards after Issac showed up at the Winter Solstice Ball.
"...Burning all your influence and the causality I gave you just to deny one 'disaster' instead of working to slot it into place afterwards..." Rob smiled. "It's interesting. You've forgotten about being an 'author' now completely. Instead, you're struggling to fight fate as a 'character' instead. A member of this world."
I was quiet.
Rob... No.
Roland, was right.
Was it because I chose Eve?
At some point, I had changed from working with the flow of events to trying to cut them out entirely. To completely eliminate all possibilities of an event unfolding instead of going with it and coming up with a fix later.
It would have been possible to bring Eve back to life. I could have run with Roland and Marisa to regroup. There was a way that I could have taken where I could have revived everyone instead of deleting time itself and spinning it back. But...
"...I won't allow it. Not a single trace of it."
...That was why.
A 'memory' would fade with time.
But if it had continued, then the truth that 'I let Eve die' would remain.
And that wasn't something I would ever allow.
Roland stared at me. Then he let out a soft smile and said, "Ah. How tragic. You fell in love with the one person you shouldn't have."
I glared at him. "...You're saying I shouldn't have chosen Eve?"
"Mm... not quite. Only..." Roland looked at me and said, "You realize you have to 'choose' again later, right? Whether to stay or whether to go home?"
I was quiet.
Then I slowly said, "...Ah. I'm actually 'here' aren't I? This isn't just a dream. My very 'being' is in Alex's body. In this life."
"...Yes." Roland nodded. "It would have been fine if you hadn't awakened your real Talent. But the moment you did, you wove your record of existence into this world. Going home requires you unweaving it."
"...And if I choose to stay?"
"Then your body back on Earth dies. They'll probably do something like 'acclaimed author dies of overwork' and forget all about you."
"...I see."
I was quiet and stared at Roland. Not the Roland I knew now, but the one who I had immersed myself in as I was writing 3D-ED. Who I practically knew as well as myself.
So I could tell what he was going to say next.
"...You want me to go back. That's why you brought me here."