I'd Give Up The World For You

Rukelion's desire to kill Juliet burned nearly as brightly as his desire to kill the king of Mirea had when he woke up in the wrong place. He knew it was wrong immediately because he didn't sense Daisy and he had been able to before. 

He didn't recognize most of the objects in the room though it was clearly some sort of living space. He could see a bed, a sofa, and some counters next to what looked like a strange version of an oven. 

There were pictures of Juliet everywhere so it wasn't hard to tell this was her dwelling. As much as he wanted to kill her before she woke up, he could acknowledge that she was likely his only chance to be able to navigate this world and find Daisy properly. All that mattered was finding his wife. Even if he did temporarily have to cooperate with the absolute idiot who got her killed. 

Rukelion's head was clearer now that he knew she still existed here even if he didn't know exactly who or where she was. He would find her and everything would be alright. 

In the meantime he had to learn how to adapt to this world if he didn't want to cause her trouble. That meant learning all of its rules and regulations even if he had to break some along the way. 

Juliet—that useless fool—wasn't able to help him find Daisy. He was going to have to do that himself but first he needed money. And to get money he needed an identity that wasn't his own because he was supposedly a character in a book. 

That had been difficult to wrap his head around at first but the more he thought about it the more sense it made considering what he knew about Juliet's certainty that he would destroy the world. That was what she wrote him doing so that was what she would expect him to do even if she didn't know him personally. 

That didn't excuse her behavior in the slightest. She still deserved to die. 

No wonder Daisy had cursed her out when she first saw Juliet in the castle! She must have known that the other woman had written a book about him and thought it was too fantastical to explain. 

Why hadn't she just told him? It may have been hard to believe but coming from her he would have been able to accept it.

There were a lot of things she hadn't told him. Rukelion couldn't even be upset about it because of all of the things he had hidden from her over the years. He knew he didn't have the right. 

Another problem with Juliet having written him into existence meant she was his true enemy. The one behind EVERYTHING. She had written about the fall of Katalya and all that the king of Mirea did without so much as a second thought. That was harder to deal with than finding out he was a fictional character in this world. 

Rukelion's desire to kill her warred with his desire to see Daisy again. Since he didn't exist here he needed that horrible woman's help.

What was more important—his pride or his wife? At this point he was going to have to say his wife. He had left everything he had worked for behind him in a heartbeat in order to see her again and he was going to have to accept whatever went along with that decision. 

His pride was gone. His kingdom was gone. His unborn child was gone. The one thing he had left to keep him going was finding the woman he loved. He would make it happen no matter what it took. 

He was going to find her, tell her he was sorry, and live in her world on her terms even if it meant he had to forget about the demands of his past. He should have done it long ago but hadn't been able to let go of his hatred. 

Even now he didn't know how he was supposed to stop loathing Juliet for what she had done. He frequently burst into flames when he had a moment to think about it and it brought him a slight sense of vindictive pleasure to see the fear flash across her face every time it happened. 

His one consolation in this terrible situation was how obvious it was that she was aware she could die any time. It wasn't much—in fact, it was hardly anything at all—but it was better than nothing. 

Her knowing that she was at his mercy meant she wasn't going to do anything else stupid. At the very least that should keep her in line and cooperative. 

Rukelion didn't need much from her. All he needed was to be pointed in the right direction so he could figure things out himself. He less he talked to the revolting cretin the better. He loathed that he had to rely on her at all. 

He was doing fine discovering how things worked in this world without her measly help. He was certain he would be able to take the GED test in a matter of weeks once his identity papers were taken care of. 

The problem was getting that done. He had to actually talk to Juliet about their plan since he didn't know about this world's security protocols.

Pulling it off wasn't as difficult as she had feared. All he had to do was fry the security cameras on their way in wearing masks and hoods to hide their features in case anyone saw them, blast the doors in, then get things done as quickly as possible before setting fire to the equipment so what they had done couldn't be traced. 

She tried to protest their doing what she called 'arson on top of breaking and entering' but one glare and threatening her silently with a fireball in his hand was enough to shut her up. She cooperated reluctantly but she did cooperate. 

"You can't call yourself Rukelion Blaze here. It will be too conspicuous," she said when she finally spoke again. "Rukelion isn't a real name. I made it up."

Rukelion gnashed his teeth in frustration. There was no one to hide from here so he really hadn't wanted to use an alias again. He had spent nearly half of his life pretending to be someone else and didn't want to do that now. But when in another world he needed to do as the people there did. 

"Is Leo a real name here?" he asked flatly. 

At least he was used to responding to that even if he preferred his true name. If that didn't work he was all out of ideas.

Juliet nodded mutely and he barked, "Then make my documentation say Leo Blaze. That isn't too conspicuous for you, is it? Does that sound like something someone would reasonably be called here?"

She nodded again and a moment later she used the printer at the social security office to print off the card proving his existence in this world. He looked at the little blue rectangle afterward with the name Leo Blaze and a nine-digit number on it with a sense of accomplishment. 

But they weren't done yet. There were two other places to hit tonight and the sound of a siren made Juliet jump. 

"The firetruck is coming. We have to go."

Rukelion didn't know what a firetruck was but he assumed based on the name and context that it was something involved in putting out fires. He slipped the social security card into his pocket and followed her out of the building without another word after torching the systems of the computer and printer they had used. 

Their next stop was the county clerk's office. It took Juliet longer to figure out how to work the computer at this one but eventually there was another, larger piece of paper full of lies about where he was born and what his parents' names were. 

His stomach twisted at the sight. According to this, he had been born to Raquelle Johnson and Barry Blaze. He supposed those names were the closest she could get to his parents' that fit this world's parameters. 

He hadn't realized Barry was a name here but shouldn't have been too surprised since Lukas was. There was a certain degree of overlap between the two worlds' naming patterns.

He noticed that she had gotten his birthday right even if the year was different. He had seen a calendar on her wall so he knew what year it was here. She had gotten his age right too. 

Of course she had. She created him. 

The very thought made him shudder. He didn't want to be anyone's creation but especially not hers. Was that why Daisy hadn't told him? Had she known how violated and angry he would feel?

She was astute like that. It wouldn't surprise him. She was always looking out for the feelings of others without thinking much about her own. 

Juliet urged him forward as the sirens sounded again and they hit the DMV last. This took longest of all, especially since she had to figure out how to work multiple systems, including what she called a camera.. She had him stand against a wall then pointed something at him that had a bright flash of light.