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The original was posted on /r/hfy by /u/PepperAntique on 2024-12-03 20:15:58+00:00.

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Writer’s Note: The King has spoken, so it shall be.

Enjoy.

Joey grimaced as the nurse stuck the needle in his arm and filled a vial with his blood. As she did a radiology tech used a handheld scanner to check his hip out.

"So Mister Choi." The Petravian half of the interrogators began. "You fully admit to supplying the Estish government with the secret to constructing Gates?"

Joey sighed as they asked roughly the thirtieth variant of that question.

"No." He said, also for the thirtieth time. "I supplied Ekron with the secret as a way to pay him for helping me, and also as a way to help him stay out of prison since helping me escape was likely to be considered an act of treason or something."

"And you were aware of the importance of the Gates both to the Petravian government and interdimensional security?" The Earther half of the pair asked.

"You mean the Gates that Petravius HASN'T used to conquer the world despite everyone else thinking they would?" Joey retorted. "Or the interdimensional security that requires a paired Gate in the other universe to work?" He asked sarcastically. "THAT... interdimensional security?"

"Are you angry Mister Choi?" The Earther asked.

"No." He admitted easily. "Annoyed sure." He nodded at the nurse. "That's about the twentieth vial she's filled." He shrugged. "I am glad you're finally calling me Mister Choi though. Beats 'Self Proclaimed Mister Choi.' That was awkward. And I'm saying that as someone on the spectrum. So you know it's true."

The two interrogators shuffled awkwardly in their seats. They had insisted on calling him that for the first hour or so of the interrogation but had slowly relaxed. Which either meant they were slacking, or all the tests and the room next door were confirming who he was to them.

"Don't try to distract us." The Petravian said. "You proclaim to be Joseph Choi. A heroic young man who died seven years ago in a battle against a minion of the Gods. You look like him. You sound and act kind of like him. And you somehow knew how the Gates worked well enough to give those secrets to our Nation's greatest rival. Yet we have Joseph Choi's remains here on Castle grounds. With DNA and dental matches with Earth's medical database. So you can't possible be Joseph Choi."

"And yet here I am." Joey said smugly as he gestured down at himself. He pointed at the bruise on his arm where the nurse had done numerous blood draws. He turned his hand over to show the ink still on his finger prints. Then he pointed at the mirrored wall. "And I'm betting the people in that room are confirming all the things these machines and the enchantments in this room are telling them. That I'm Joseph Choi." He waved at the mirror. "Hi Miss Veliry." He said. He could, despite the enchantments shielding the room, sense her in there watching with the others.

This only made the two interrogators less comfortable.

"And yet that's not possible." The Petravian insisted. "Joseph Choi is dead."

"Yeah!" Joey agreed. "I was! Now I'm not!. Don't know how to tell you this. But your worlds got a shitload of weird stuff in it dude."

For a change the Earther actually stifled a chuckle, causing his partner to glare at him.

"Look. I've said it before. I'm saying it now. And if you two don't fuckin' get with it, then oh well." Joey said sarcastically. "I don't know. Why I'm back. But I am. And I'm staying. Fucking Deal with it. Or I'll destroy anything and anyone that tries to fuck with me. End of story." He bobbed his head as he held his arms wide. "I did it in Ostielle. I did it when I killed the Commander of the Cobalt Legion. I'll do it here to. I just don't want to because I kinda like this place and most of the people in it."

**"Are you threatening the Capital?"** The two of them asked in unison.

"That's for you to decide." He replied with annoyance. "I don't care. I'm over it. I just wanna go home and get to know my son and nieces."

Before either of them could respond the door opened.

"Out." The person standing outside said in a rich baritone.

The two interrogators and the two medical personnel stood up and made to leave. The radiologist stopped next to Joey first and spoke in his ear.

"You have some really bad damage to almost every bone in your right leg." He said as he held his pad up for Joey to see. Sure enough there was signs of improperly healed breaks in his femur, tibia, fibia, and his pelvis. "I'd highly recommend getting them repaired when you can." He said before standing up and leaving as commanded.

The Earth interrogator paused before they fully left the door.

"My supervisors won't like this." He said as he stood before King Farrick.

"They'll live." He said simply as he stood, unmoving.

The interrogator looked back at Joey for a moment, then shrugged and stepped around the King.

King Farrick stepped into the room and slowly moved to sit in front of Joey.

Joeys eyes widened a bit as he looked at the King for the first time in seven years. Then he saddened a bit.

The King had aged a lot in the past seven years.

Like his brother he had, in his previous life here, thought of the King as a jolly, if somewhat stern, uncle.

But now as he looked at the smaller, thinner, much greyer monarch, he was reminded of the King's age. And all the stress of trying to lead a nation that had spent the past few years recovering from the Day of Dying Sky, after all the other calamities that had already occurred before that, and he'd clearly suffered the stress.

He set his cane against the table as he settled himself in the intentionally uncomfortable chair on the other side of the table and studied him.

"Well by the gods." He said as he looked at Joey. "I never thought I'd see one of you again."

Joey nodded. "It's been a long time sir." He said.

"Yes. Yes it has." He said.

The two of them sat in silence for a while as the King continued studying him.

"I was there." The King said, finally breaking the silence. "I was there when your brother brought you through the Gate to the druid forest."

Joey looked at him in surprise. Despite having been home for nearly a week before the Royal Army had come to get him, none of them had talked about it. They'd danced around the difficult subject, though he knew it was on all of their minds.

"I was there, standing beside your mother when James," He shook his head as he looked down at the table between them. "when James carried your body- your corpse- through the Gate and begged her for help." He said somberly. "I was one of many who caught her as she fell." He gestured at his chest. "Heart attack. Your doctors called it a heart attack."

Joey's jaw clenched. He'd noticed how much slower she was now. How she napped more often. He knew that, healing magic or not, a heart attack and old age still took their toll. And he couldn't imagine how much turmoil his return must have caused.

And yet, again, they hadn't talked about it at all.

"As someone who has lost siblings... and his wife. And as a father who has watched his children flirt with death repeatedly. I can't imagine how that day must have affected her. Much less the day you BOTH disappeared." The King said before seeming to think. After a few moments he looked up at Joey. "Are you... Joseph Choi?" He asked. "All other circumstances and confusion aside, are you actually Joseph Choi?"

Joey considered the question.

He had doubts as to whether he was ALL... Joseph Choi. He thought there was some fuzziness around some of the edges. Like a copy from an old and worn out copy machine back on Earth.

But he was still certain.

"I believe so." He said.

There was a single tap on the mirrored wall. The King turned and looked at it for a second before looking up at him.

Then he stood up and walked around to Joey, using the table to support himself.

When he got to Joey's side he held out his hand.

Joey stood up and accepted it, giving it a firm shake.

The King pulled him into a hug that wasn't as tight as he remembered the King's embraces being.

"Welcome back my boy." He said. "By the gods welcome back."

Joey returned the embrace, surprised at how emotional the King's approval felt for some reason.

After a few seconds King Farrick patted him on the back and broke off of the hug.

He made his way back around the table and retrieved his cane, then began walking out of the room. As he got outside he swiped the runes outside the door and the enchantments on the room deactivated.

"Let him go." The King demanded of people Joey couldn't see outside. "This young man's been through trials we can't even imagine. And even before that he's the reason our nation has the Gates. AND the reason we didn't get devoured by the Gods and their abomination." He coughed into his hand a bit and an aide appeared to steady him. "Let him be. The damned room says he speaks true. The Earth machines say he is who he is so everyone just let the man be with his family."

Joey moved to follow him out, and the guards didn't harass him. The door next to the one he and the King emerged from opened and Miss Veliry rushed out to hug him. He hugged her back. And he didn't miss the way Amina left the room after her and began stalking away, looking less pleased than she probably should have. He couldn't exactly bl...
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