Reina: Here's one of the paths.

Previously on The Vampire's Servant....

Echo looked at you seriously. "Listen.... Look, where I'm from.... I broke several laws and endangered lives. I even killed people if they tried to kill me. Does that make me evil?"  

~Branch of Fate has been selected~

"Um...... What exactly do you mean by that? Were you in a war? Or a battle?" You ask Echo.

Echo sighed and nodded. "Yeah..." Looking you in the eye, she calmly states with a hint of bitterness, "I've killed people and stolen important documents prior to the war, and proceed to do so during the war, betraying my friends as I did so. That makes me villainous scum, right?"

You open your mouth to say something, only to close it. Something was off about what Echo said. She spoke calmly - really not normal for what she declared...

Unless.........

"You're hiding something, aren't you?" You accuse.

Echo blinks rapidly. "H-Huh?"

"You spoke calmly. Normally that means you've made peace with youur story, but you have a hint of bitterness..." You explain. "Either you're mad, or you're not telling me something."

"Can't it be both?" She asks before realizing what she said. Coughing, she looks at you once more. "I'm not telling you."

You sigh in frustration. "I can't really judge you if I don't have all the facts."

Echo doesn't respond. She glowers, but you're not sure if it's at you or herself.

After a few minutes, you ask, "Name."

Echo is snapped out of her funk and looks at you in utter confusion. "What the hell is going on with you, reader-chan?"

"I want to know your name," you elaborate. "I was asking what your name was."

"Echo."

"Not that name. Your birth name."

"I don't know my birth name."

You gape at her. "How do you not know?"

"Simple. I'm adopted and my name was changed."

"Ohhhhhh.... So what's your legal name?"

"Catarina Teresa Hermosa Ursula Linda Honora Ursa."

"That cannot be real," you moan.

Echo stares at you for a second, then giggles. "Of course not, reader-chan. It's an assumed name I have. My real name is Viktoryia Lobo."

"Oh....."

After a few seconds, you realized that Echo - or rather, Viktoryia - called you Reader-chan. "Reader-chan?"

Echo rolls her eyes. "Well, yeah. That's what you are."

"Come again?"

"Come on, (Y/N). This is a story. It isn't real."

"A story?"

"Yes.... Everything is more or less decided so that people can read about us. Isn't that right, reader-chans?" Echo walked past you and looked up at an odd angle, yelling. "We're just a story and have no free will - or rather, your character doesn't have one. I don't know about me. You can debate that in the comments and laugh at how I broke the fourth wall."

"Who are you talking to?" You ask.

Echo blinks and looks at you. "Um.... The readers? You? Multiple different yous?"

"You're not making any sense...."

Echo nods. "Right.... Got a bit carried away and started emulating Deadpool."

"Deadpool?"

"You're impossible. I don't think being friends is a good idea," she says in a light-hearted tone.

You laugh. "Whatever you say, fourth wall breaker."

"Right.... But to be fair, I am an unreliable narrator. I could have been lying to you earlier about my past. I could be lying to you now."

Where the hell did this come from? Did Echo lose her mind? You ask yourself.

"I'll.... Keep that in mind, Echo-sama," you mumble.

Echo nods. "I'm surprised that you didn't call me Viktoryia."

"It... Doesn't suit you."

Echo waves her hand. "Yeah, I get that all the time. Not much I can do about that."

Silence stretched between you as you attempt to change the subject. Thankfully, Echo did it for you, although she didn't pick a topic you liked.

"Still mad at Leo?"

You glare at her. "Of course I am. He practically ignored me for Leora."

"Just checking," Echo replied. "Sometimes in romance games, the girl instantly forgives the guy, and I kind of don't want you to make a mistake."

"What?"

"Nothing. But anyway.... Are you going to remain here?" She asks seriously.

You blink, realizing that it had never crossed your mind. "I... Never thought about that."

"You could always go home," she says. "Return to your family and live a simple life. You could also move to another town - people are always looking for alchemists. You could stay here and see how life goes." After a few seconds, she adds jokingly, "Or even yet, you can travel dimensions with me, although I'll drive you crazy."

"What?"

Echo holds her hands up. "I'm just messing with you. I'm not actually making you choose. And if I was, I'd also offer you the time travel option where I go with you back in time using my ocarina and get hell from Alice for screwing up the timeline."

You attempt to process what Echo said. "Sometimes I can't even tell if you're joking, Echo."

Echo smiled. "That shall be my secret. Again, I'm not offering you a branch of fate. I'm curious to see what you do."

Footsteps echo through the hallway. Echo offers you another smile before she turns away. "It seems that the story must move forward, and thus I go off panel, leaving you to trek ahead. I'll see you around, (Y/N)."

As Echo walked away, you heard someone cough behind you. You turn around to see Lamia standing there.

"Can we talk?" She asked.

Reina: This is one of the paths that you can take talking to Echo. This was actually a test - would you guys like it if I did more of these (not necessarily with Echo)?

Also, I was initially avoiding Echo's name because she's in one of my other stories. However, there is a gap between Echo's story and this one, allowing for ambiguities to happen. For all you know, she could be lying to Reader-chan.

Also, Echo picked a very, very specific name. It seems off, and interestingly enough it's the name she used as a nun. The first letters of each name.....

The question bracket for The Vampire's Servant, as well as The Dragon Prince is now open. You can now ask any of those characters questions (and dares) and they'll respond to them in this story. I'll also through in some random facts about The Vampire's Servant and The Dragon Prince.

I shall also accept requests for different ways to kill Leora. They shall be written in a different chapter.