Chapter Text
Once, Twice, Tens of thousands of times. The Tarnished warrior had restarted his journey countless times, and after finally completing a final time he sat on the throne he had already claimed before.
"My Lord, the Capital still has much work to be done within, and we will need your help in clearing all of the ash. The Erdtrees' revival has already cleared most of it, but certain areas remained buried."
The Tarnished looked tiredly at the person who was briefing him. Nepheli Loux, a warrior crowned as Lord over all of Limgrave, one of his most trusted comrades, and in a few timelines, lover.
"The witch, Sellen, informed us you'd be able to help fix that?" Nepheli crossed her arms, and raised her brow waiting for a response. The Tarnished just nodded, and got up from his throne to go clear the ash, and his head.
Nepheli watched after him, sighing and heading off to see if there were any areas of the Capital the Lord of Limgrave could possibly assist in.
The Tarnished walked through the newly rebuilt streets of his city, citizens that once were trying to kill him now greeting him and smiling. He smiled back of course, but deep down memories of daggers being embedded in his back were comically flashing through his mind.
He hadn't give it much thought, but he was sort of destined to be Elden Lord. No, not sort of. He was entirely. Through guidance of grace he had died time, and time again. So much so, that after finally completing his destiny, he had stolen it entirely allowing him to send himself back in the state of a Lord when at that period of time he was just a lowly Tarnished.
He almost laughed at the thought, as the ground beneath his feet began to become softer and buildings simply scattered bricks. He continued to ponder all that he had been through even now as the voices of shouting workers shoveling away at all the ash desperately searched for sewer vents.
A place where he noticed that all the unwanted things were cast. He himself already knew where they were all placed, and he knew very well that there was no draining all the ash of the Erdtree with just those alone, so he'd have to make a bigger one.
He pulled out a hammer, a very broken hammer splintered with runes at first glance, but if you got anywhere near it as a mortal you'd feel the pit rapidly expand in your stomach as you felt the power that could come from it being wielded.
How many times had he fought Radagon now? Maybe a hundred thousand times by now? The bastard always proved to be much stronger every time he started a new journey, and he hated it. The attack patterns he had memorized being disrupted by something completely new every single fight.
He fondly remembered their encounter a few weeks ago, in which dodging a spear of holy resulted in being face palmed and slammed off the platform they fought on. Straight into the deep empty abyss of the Erdtree Roots.
Seeing Godwyns' deformed figure was not an easy sight before death. That grab from Radagon had to be the past memories of the bastard following along with him to make it harder to kill the Lord this time.
All of that, just to become a sword for a monster The Tarnished barely even began to understand in ways. The Elden Beast, as Sellen began to call it. His mentor was eccentric, but she was masterful at naming his foes he had no idea how to identify.
He shook those thoughts away, and focused more on the entire part of his Kingdom he was about to rid himself of. Now, he had absentmindedly wandered his way straight to where he wanted to be. The center of the ash and where his last "Site of Grace", named by Sellen, was located.
He figured sinking this area was a good way to clear most of the ash, so he pulled out his trusty bell he hadn't let once leave his sight and rung it.
Instantly the sounds of a spirit being summoned appeared behind him. He turned to face his most loyal companion throughout all the lands between and the only person that had ever retained their memories from his "resets".
"Tiche! I missed you!" He smiled happily as he removed the helm of the wolflike armor he had plundered from Vargram, the Raging Wolf someone who he was forced to send Tiche to kill, before he used his favorite armor every new journey.
Speaking of Tiche, she was one of the few people he spoke to frequently, usually silent for most of the time as he chose to stop getting attached to people that would forget him as he tried to make the outcomes of their battles better.
There's only so many times you can take being snapped to death, as you attempt to hug your wife you've been together with for millennia after seeing her for the first time in ages.
The only problem with communicating with Tiche, was the fact she could not actually reply back. So the Tarnished came up with just the solution! A notebook! Tiche patted around her translucent cloak, and found what she was feeling for, reaching in and grabbing something.
Slowly, pulling out... her notebook! The Tarnished handed her the pen he carried for her, and smiled while waiting.
After a bit of scribbling she flipped around, and The Tarnished began to read.
Why are we still here. Shouldn't we be in Limgrave...
The Tarnished shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. "Nah I think I'm fine ending things here. Not everyone made it, but I think the original stagnant ending is much more peaceful."
Tiche shook her head, and began to write again furiously, before flipping it around and shoving it in his face.
The Finger Maiden is dead. The Deathbed Companion has died. The Spirit Caller has burned along with your blacksmith. Marika has sent an execution order out on the Lunar Princess and without the wolf she will meet her end soon. The rest of your companions such as the bald liar, the Warrior Jar, the Blackguard, the Albinauric, the Half Snake, and the Valkyrie have all fallen. Is this truly peaceful? Surely you're not satisfied.
The Tarnished, speechless from how effortlessly his claim was dismantled, cleared his throat and gripped the hammer he had yet to use yet.
"That may be the case, but what can I do? No matter what I do, nothing changes. I've tried every outcome. Repeated things in different orders, lived on and tried to be content, but I can't achieve the perfect ending. It's impossible."
He grit his teeth, and memories of pasts he tried to forget resurfaced like unsettled food in his stomach ready to burst out of his mind.
Tiche laid a hand on his shoulder, the message already prewritten as the taller woman laid the notebook in his hands. He looked at her, and then read the notebook.
One Last Try.
He rolled his eyes, and looked at the notebook for a lingering moment. Then he passed it back to her, and rang the bell sending her back from wherever she came. He put his helmet back on, and gripped the hammer as he jumped into the air, gaining a view of the area he wanted to sink.
Focusing on the ash instead of Tiches' request he simply pushed it to the side for later. Falling to the ground like a certain God, and caving in a large portion of the city covered in ash. Any bit of ash that was on the edges of the large crater began to pour their way down, like waterfalls.
The Tarnished already aware of the disappearance of his ability to return from death now, used the Bolt of Gransax to shoot himself into the air, and back to the Elden Throne before being encased in ash to suffocate.
Scaring the living daylights out of a person already sitting there reading a book.
In a storm of red lightning, The Tarnished shot down from the sky and onto the center of the platform his throne existed on.
A force being wrapped around him the moment he landed, almost suffocating him if not for the strength he had now possessed, inheriting the Elden Ring thousands of times had made him strong enough to resist even a few outer gods on his own strength alone.
He stood up, resisting the force, just as it was released as suddenly as it came.
"You'd best not appear unannounced to a Goddess, My Lord. Next time I may not be so gentle in handling you." A mature yet attractive voice touched The Tarnished's ears as he looked towards his throne. Setting eyes on his consort eternal, Queen Marika the one who had started his journey in the first place.
He figured it was best to simply ignore the woman, who boasted her own strength not even aware that now that he was not off guard there was no way for him to be eliminated by her alone unless he allowed it.
However, Tiches' request still plagued him, so he chose to explore this "peace" he spoke of.
He took off his helmet and let it drop to the floor of the throne platform, along with his gauntlets, chest armor, and greaves. He was now dressed in nothing, but a noble outfit he was instructed to wear outside of armor to keep up appearances.
He walked up to his throne that Marika had been reading in.
"Scooch." He crossed his arms and spoke nice and low as to not overexert his vocal chords unnecessarily, his past encounters with her had not been the nicest.
The woman chuckled, and continued to read unbothered.
"You'd instruct your Queen, your Goddess to move? To even instruct me to do anything at all, and expect it to be done is the height of foolishness."
The Tarnished rolled his eyes pointing to the platform not too far away from the throne connected by a staircase.
"You have bedchambers for a reason."
Marika scoffed. "I want the chair."
The Tarnished sighed. Peace? As if. He reached to pick the uncooperative woman up, and felt a strong force push against him to send him off his feet, but he pushed through it like a small wind and picked her up anyways.
The woman clearly in shock, and now pouting at him just waited to be dropped off in her chamber ignored like always. However, more to her surprise her Tarnished Lord simply spun in a circle and sat down himself.
Placing her in his lap as he rested in the seat. He leaned back in his seat, and closed his eyes sighing.
This was certainly new to Marika, and she made herself comfortable laying her head under his chin as she continued to read.
"It's been two weeks since you became Elden Lord, and you have avoided me, ignored me, and escorted me to my bed chambers multiple times. And now you sit here with me, silent as ever. Please tell me, why you insist on toying with me."
To be perfectly honest, The Tarnished had always been resentful towards the Goddess. She started his entire journey, was the source of all the pain he caused, and he had never grown a connection with her.
The first time he completed his journey was with Ranni, and after spending a thousand years among the stars with her he used his ability to start over. The regret seeping through the seams of his heart, sacrificing Melina a woman who loved him so dearly to go be with another.
Then he went on a long drawn out process of saving Melina, and being with Ranni.
However, that led to his interaction with Millicent, and their connection caused him to falter in his mission for Ranni and Melina. So he failed, and met more and more people to achieve his goals gaining more in the end.
Eventually completing them all, but things didn't last his kingdom wasn't built on solid foundation things always found a way to go wrong.
He was always so focused on everyone else, but he never even gave her the time of day or more than a glance if he had to.
He had spent years living life with those he cared about cherishing the moment before more outer god interference ruined everything all over again.
He couldn't recount a single one he had spent with her.
He looked down at the woman who had turned to face him in his lap due to his extended silence.
He locked eyes with her, gold to gold, pale white skin touching brown skin, his white hair tied up in the messiest of ponytails, and her blonde as elegantly styled as the very first time he saw her.
"Do you resent me?" He asked the question as softly as possible.
She shook her head. "At first maybe, but as I watched you do more for this kingdom, without a single horrible ambition in mind, It was hard not to..."
She went silent, looking down at his chest. He wrapped his arms around her, and lowered his head to meet her eyes.
Had he really ignored her this long unintentionally? I mean she was horrible, from what the stories all lined up to say and from the journey he experienced, but he saw how she was crucified before Swordagon took over. She was definitely being punished, for god knows how many years. He even saw how broken she was before he mended the Elden Ring.
He literally placed this woman's head back on her shoulders, and after doing so he left all her on her own. He thought that was what she needed, but could he have been wrong?
He chased this possibility.
"Hard not to what?" He waited for a response, but the tears came first. Unnoticeable drops of water staining his shirt before the waterfalls began.
"Hard not to fall in love with you!" She tried to push against him to leave him sitting there on the throne alone, but he held on tighter and held her close. The instinct to protect her already in his heart from the experiences of a thousand different lives, he could feel her pain and he didn't want her to feel this way.
"Let me go you bastard! You sorry excuse for a lord! Is this a game for you? Do I not matter? I know I've done wrong, but I've lost everything! You could've chosen anybody else but me, I saw it! That's why I placed a bounty on the witch! Yet, after you chose me and just as I think I have someone on my side for so long you show me how meaningless I am to you!"
She struggled using all the strength of a Goddess she could, pushing off of his lap falling to the floor. The Tarnished, too stunned by this new moment. This new Marika, or maybe she had always been this way and he had been to blind to notice.
Marika quickly picked herself off of the ground, and went down the steps hurriedly to her bedchambers. The Tarnished stayed there for a moment, before the throwing of things finally began. The sounds of stone slabs being broken and torch poles clattering.
He got up, and approached the wall of fog that sat in front of the entrance she just went through. He swallowed his spit, and stepped through.
A slab shot towards his head, and he reacted backhanding it out of the air.
Marika laid in her bed, an angry expression strung across her face, as she continued to throw more and more items that could harm while shouting at him to leave.
He simply flicked them out of the way or dodged them, before moving to her in a flash pinning her arms down to the bed.
"I would really appreciate it if you calmed down for just a moment." Marika looked up at the man, and screamed at him with all her might.
The force of Placidusax's scream times one million was the pressure he felt, and it took everything he had not to fly directly into the sky.
Once all her energy was gone, and his ears stopped ringing he spoke.
"You are my wife, I've neglected you, I've done more than mistreat you, and I haven't thought about you like a husband should."
She stared deep into his eyes, the anger already melting back into love and care, he watched it happen and it made him feel even more guilty that she loved him this much.
He leaned down and planted kisses on her neck, softly whispering into her ear. Her voice breaking out in the silence, signs of him pleasuring her.
"Let me spend the night with you."
Marika simply wrapped her arms around his neck, as she pulled him down closer to her once more. Both of them lost in a storm of emotions that they couldn't control.
.....
The Tarnished awoke in the middle of the night. A cold sweat already broken out, as he looked around unfamiliar with where he was.
Until soft snoring to his right reminded him of the night's start, he turned and faced the beautiful woman he had bedded. It was no shock to him that Lords that came before him had given her children so easily, maybe he too would do the same after a while.
He smiled softly, and laid back down staring into the night sky through one of the holes Marika created in her anger.
He closed his eyes ready for sleep to take him again, the peace he could have here finally found.
"Mine Consort Eternal, I will be with you forever."
He shot up at hearing Ranni speak to him, looking around frantically. He knew then, that he could not be truly at peace, until he got it right. He hesitated for a moment, looking down at Marika before planting a kiss on her cheek. "I really am a horrible husband." He stood up switching into the armor of the Night's Calvary and setting off towards the abandoned Roundtable.
He used the Bolt of Gransax shooting off into the night as a red streak.
He needed to act fast, the pain in his heart was too strong to resist. He needed to do everything in the right order, everyone had to make it whether they liked it or damn not. He was gonna fix everything, He'd even save the damn demigods if he had to!
He slammed through the ceiling of the Roundtable, landing directly in front of the table itself, he put out a hand and the room began to glow the grace in the middle of the table glowing brighter than it should.
"Tarnished, What are you doing?" His head swiveled to the voice of Marika who stood directly next to him a hand on his arm.
His eyes widened but it was too late. The room was enveloped in light, and in that future that was already beginning to unravel the two disappeared forever.
.....
Marika's head throbbed as she rose from the ground, she was inside of a church. One that she did not recognize. Her Tarnished was stirring as well, right by her side. She had so many questions, but only one left her lips as her Tarnished hugged her close to him while drawing a large sword from somewhere.
"My dear husband, where have you stranded us?"