[IC] Hold My Flower

[Azalea]

++ BELIAL ++

Sitting in a restaurant, the corner of Belial’s lips formed into a bemused smile as he stared at the man across from him. He spoke in a soft whisper, “The stars are a brilliant phenomenon. It is fitting that we gaze into the skies in awe of her grandeur! However…”he paused, his smile widening, “You will not being seeing their magnificence for much longer if you continue to prefer the gaze of the sun. The sun, the horrid light of darkness! Light is meant to illuminate, yet the sun gives us darkness. Darkness; from the stars! Oz himself prefers the stars, so take heed of this warning, and be wary of the sun. Otherwise, you may just lose your sight, and how else shall you see the stars?”

The man, like most of the random people Belial chose to spontaneously speak with, looked at him with confusion but he tried to hide his bewilderment for the sake of politeness and because he did not want to anger the prince. Belial guessed that he did not understand his prophecy, but; to be fair Belial did not even know half of what he was saying anymore. Sometimes, the words just flowed from his lips without his intention but he learned a long time ago not to question magic.

He rose from his chair and tossed a ruby to a nearby waitress. "Thank you, your majesty!"the waitress thank happily, since the ruby Belial handed her was probably worth more than the actual restaurant. "Beware the angel."he replied to the retreating waitress with an equally cheerful smile. He turned his attention back to the man, who gave him an awkward smile. "My prince, thank you for the meal. I am honored to be in your presence, your grace. And your...warnings? I-"

"You will have bad fortune from the next morning's rising sun until the stars emerge."interrupted Belial. The prince abruptly left the man without any other parting words and exited the building, walking out into the street. After numerous greetings of "Good afternoon Prince Belial!", he left the poorer section of the town and ventured into the nearby forest.

++ BELLEROPHON ++

Bellerophon loved the artwork in front of him. The red lines carved all over into the pale skin, all made by his magnificent creation, with crimson liquid steadily flowing from the lines – such wonder; such beauty. And the blood flowing from where he had decapitated the man’s arm a few seconds ago looked like a breathtaking scarlet colored waterfall. It was such a shame his latest masterpiece would be disposed of in a matter of moments.

“Now you know the reason for my fearsome reputation, do you not? The Gold Executioner! Not many know that Prince Bellerophon and the Gold Executioner are the same. I do not know why, since I obviously love gold, and who else but me would have gold weapons? But hey, I suppose it is because you peasants are ignorant fools.” taunted the prince quietly, but arrogantly, “Magic is more…swift, but old fashioned weapons like mine are more…intimate. I enjoy the feeling of physically taking your life; I get to see the light leave your eyes up close and personal…but, I suppose you are not interested in my crazed ramblings. Very well, we shall end our time together soon.”
Bellerophon placed the tip of his golden dagger at the bottom of his prisoner’s chin, pressing the weapon upwards and forcing the man to look straight into the executioner’s eyes.

“Pity,” he muttered softly, a cruel smile tugging at his lips, “That red is such a beautiful shade on you.”

The prince lowered the dagger, ignoring the cries of the sobbing man. “Prisoner X-9435, your interrogation has ended.” he informed monotonously, his demeanor transforming into that of a professional official, “You have previously been convicted guilty for the attempted murder of Queen Bellona Valentia Black and I, your executioner, have determined to have gathered enough information from your interrogation. We shall now commence with your sentence.”

Bellerophon recited the words required through standard procedure, and his eyes almost glowed with happiness as he watched the prisoner’s expression become filled with horror. Once again back into his executioner persona, the prince placed his dagger onto floor, accidently dropping it into the prisoner’s blood that had gathered into a puddle, and grabbed a golden scythe that had been laying beside him.

“Execution, initiate.” he muttered, raising his scythe. Boosting his physical strength with his magic, Bellerophon did not hesitate as he swung the weapon and immediately beheaded the prisoner who dared tried to kill his precious mother.“Execution, conducted. Prisoner X-9435 terminated indefinitely.”

And revenge achieved. He thought with a smirk.

He cast a quick spell to clean his clothes and body of the prisoner’s blood before turning to one of the observing Protectors. “Dispose of the body and then report on what occurred here.” he informed, receiving a “Yes, your majesty” from someone who went to clean up what was left of that mess of a prisoner.

Bellerophon wasted no time by walking all the way to the healer’s rooms. Anxious to check on his mother, the prince utilized a skill he rarely used: teleportation. As he materialized outside his mother’s door, feeling drained after using a branch of magic he did not have much talent in, Bellerophon politely knocked on the door.

“Come in.” replied a gentle voice.

The prince entered the room and hurried over to the queen’s side. He saw one of the healer’s take away an empty bottle from his mother’s hands and his face brightened; they had successfully brewed the antidote in time! She already appeared so much healthier than when he saw her in her poisoned state. Relief flooded through him and Bellerophon silently thanked the great Oz for allowing him to torture that assassin so skillfully that he was able to…persuade…him to tell the antidote. Of course the healers were informed immediately, but Bellerophon had stayed in the dungeons longer while the antidote brewed in case the man had anything else he wanted to share. When it was clear to the prince that he didn’t, he simply turned him into an art product.

“Mother!” he called out pleasantly, “I have excellent news; that traitor of Wiz has been taken by death by yours truly.”

He smiled and clasped his bedridden mother’s hands, slipping a golden bracelet into her palm. “For you, mother. I am overjoyed that you are recovering from the poison. It is a get well gift.”

Bellerophon smiled as he received an affectionate kiss on the cheek from Bellona before he bid farewell and exited the room.

He found Kyuberos after swift searching and the prince cheerfully approached his friend. “Kyuberos! I’m done disposing of the trash. Still holding my flower?” he laughed cheerfully. He remembered how angered he felt when he discovered that his mother was poisoned. When Bellerophon was informed that they caught the wizard responsible, he shouted “HOLD MY FLOWER” to Kyuberos before running off to interrogate the wizard.

[Midorimacchi]

++ KYUBEROS ++

" I want to be popular with women!" The man infront of him pleaded desperately. Kyuberos had heard this a thousand times before from a thousand different men and personally, he found it quite boring. Out of all the things you can sell your soul for, why limit yourself to just women? Why not everyone you come across? Why not constant love and devotion from someone you truly care about? But as long as he received their soul as payment, he didn't really give a damn how they threw their lives away. Kyuberos simply nodded and pulled out a paper contract from under the table and slid it over to the client, silently observing the man's features. His appearance was average, apart from the random spade tattoo under his left eye, and his obscure choice in clothing, but other than that, there was nothing eye catching about him. Changing his facial features would be too drastic and noticeable to those who already knew him, so the change would have to be subtle. His eyes maybe?

" I will grant you your wish," Kyuberos smiled, twirling a pen between his fingers, " for the exchange of your soul in ten years time. You are twenty-two right now, making you thirty-two when I receive my payment. Do you agree to these terms?"

" Yes!" The man said immediately, signing his name at the bottom of the paper. Once he was done, he returned it to Kyuberos' side of the table and he picked it up, looking over the messy signature that now bound them together for the rest of this man's short life. It was a shame really, that this foolish mortal had misunderstood his contract. Only a few humans caught on before signing their life away and actually asked " But what is the payment?". If asked, he would have honestly answered and let them make their decision from there, but over the years, he found out that most are likely to refuse if they knew the truth, so he kept that little part to himself and let it be....a nice little surprise for them when he came in ten years time.

As he was signing his name on the contract, a voice rang in his head, " Kyuberos, my wife is in danger. Go to her!"

In an instant, he was out of his seat and heading towards the door, swiftly rolling up the contract and tucking it into his shirt as he went. Just before he left, he stopped and turned back to the man, who was stunned in awe at Kyuberos fast movements, " We're done here. My attendant will show you out." A door on the other side of the room opened and a black haired individual sauntered out, his expression blank. " This way please," Seraphim gestured towards the door he came through.

" But-! But what about my wi-?" He turned to look back at Angel, but the room was empty apart from he and Seraphim. " Where did he go? What about my wish?" Angel's attendant moved from his spot by the door to help him out of his seat and physically lead him out of the room. He wasn't forceful, but the hand on the man's shoulder and lower back was unmovable. " Don't worry, your wish has been granted. Now please, this way." He lead the man out of the store, despite all of his protests, and abruptly shut the door on his face mid-sentence.

Meanwhile, Kyuberos entered into Wiz via a magical door that linked his shop to Belzeneff's castle. The door was created so that he would not have to waste energy using interdimension travel and that the only being that could use it was him, ensuring that no other wizard entered the human realm without the King knowing. Once he was on the other side, he found the Queen and took her to the healer's quarters. The medic there, the despicable Trowa Lancaster, was easily one of Kyuberos' least favorite people in the castle and he wouldn't trust him even if he was paid to, but was the most skilled at treating situations like these, so he had no choice but to bring the Queen to him.

Shorty after leaving her in the care of the slimy pink haired doctor, Bellerophon came storming past, fire burning in his eyes for the need to capture whoever was responsible for this. Fortunately, the good prince didn't have to wait too long when the guards announced that they had caught the would-be-assassin and that Bellerophon was welcome to interrogate him. Just like all the other times when loosing his temper, Bellerophon tore off his flower and threw it behind him, trusting Kyuberos to catch it, which he did.

As much as he would have liked to follow Bellerophon to ensure his safety, he still had his orders from the King to carry through and faithfully remained in the area, keeping silent as some of the King's other children, council members, and the Queens brother all came and went, making sure that she was okay before leaving her alone to rest.

It wasn't long until Bellerophon returned and Kyuberos presented the flower that he had kept safe in his hands, " Of course, my Prince," He knew how much the flower meant to the Prince and would never let it get in harms way. " Your father is on his way from the Northwest and should be arriving shortly. Do you wish to wait for him?" Belzeneff had been up north to settle a dispute between two council members there and had been unable to help his wife personally, which is why he ordered Kyuberos to do it.

[Azalea]

++ BELLEROPHON ++

"Thank you, you are the best! I appreciate you holding this again!"he thanked happily, carefully grabbing his flower with a smile.

He twirled the golden flower in his hand as he hummed, listening to Kyuberos' suggestion simultaneously. "Father may want to be alone with mother, but I also wanted to ask if we could display the head of the traitor in front of the public. I am unsure if they have been informed of this news, but they deserve to know that there is one less traitor among us! They will sleep more soundly at night, I'm sure."he reasoned, a gentle smile still on his lips. "And because they also deserve to know what will happen to those who dare attack my mother. Fairness is all the rage these days, I hear? It is only fair for people to know what I will do to them if they cross me, right, Kyuberos?"

Bellerophon stopped twirling the plant and raised his chin, staring up at the stealing and admiring the beautiful architecture of his home. "I could ask father that later though, do you think that would be a better course of action, Kyuberos? Surely, he would rather speak to mother right now than me..."he wondered.

++ BELIAL ++

Belial smiled as he walked along the dirt path, speaking to his best friend. Nobody else could see her but all that mattered was that he could see and talk to her; her being a ghost would not stop their friendship.

"Belial!"he heard a familiar voice shout interrupt him, and he stopped in his tracks and glanced over his shoulder.

He saw his protector running towards him and when he finally caught up, Louelle had to catch his breath.

"Thank goodness you are safe! Please stop venturing out on your own like this, prince."he paused, obviously exhausted trying to find him and Belial felt oddly amused by this. He had never seen Louelle appear so tired. "Greetings, my protector. I am never alone, Louelle."he correctly, turning his head to where the ghost was. Louelle looked at where the prince held his gaze and sighed.

"You know what I meant, Belial. And your mother was poisoned...please return with me to the castle. I want to keep you safe."

Belial did not want to leave the forest since he had just gotten there, but he was fond of Louelle, and his protector had requested him to go home. He didn't ask for any more information on his mother but he felt obliged to obey his protector. He rarely asked Belial to actually do anything, so the prince nodded silently and left the forest with him.
-
When they finally arrived back home, Louelle hesitantly left him momentarily to give a report or something that Belial paid little attention about. He felt instantly bored and began to walk around when he noticed Belisario and his boyfriend in the hallway.

"Brother, cousin. Greetings."he stated simply as he walked towards them. He cared little if he was interrupting them of a conversation, what he had to say was much more important. "It is fortunate that you two are not the victims of the blackness. Sweets can bring us pain, did you know?"

At that moment, Louelle had managed to find him again and Belial smiled fondly.

"Hm..so you are here...listen carefully. When the skies and the grounds were one, the legends, with their twelve forces, nurtured the tree of life. An eye of red force created the evil that coveted the heart of tree of life and the heart slowly grew dry. To tend and embrace the heart of tree of life, the legends hereby divide the tree in half and hide each side. Hence, time is over-turned and space turns a skew. The twelve forces divide into two and create two suns that look alike into two worlds that seem alike. The legends travel apart. The legends shall now see the same sky but shall stand on different grounds, shall stand on the same ground but shall see different skies. The day the grounds be kept a single file before one sky in two worlds that seem alike, the legends will greet each other. The day the red force is purified, the twelve forces will reunite into one perfect root, a new world shall open up."

The prince paused, letting anyone who was actually listening to register his word into their mind.

"To be careless...is dangerous. Shoot those who are anonymous and heartless."

++ VALERIK ++

"You pathetic dunderheads, must I beat the knowledge into your brains? Do you even have brains hidden underneath your thick skulls? You should be ashamed of yourselves. The amount of stupidity you have been displaying all semester is no doubt worse than commoners. Unless you wish to remain as unintelligent as those filthy street beggars, pay attention to my lesson. Perhaps one of you will finally be able to prove me wrong and show that you are not worthless with your magic."drawled Valerik as he slowly circled the classroom. "Many wizards utilize some sort of focus to enhance spells, for example, auditory concentration. Those who use audio, or for the ones who lack sufficient vocabulary, that means sound, can increase the power of the wizard's magic. My brother, for instance, uses rap music from some planet called earth in order to power his spells..."

He continued to define different types of focuses for wizards to enhance magic, and thankfully, few students bothered to ask questions. "And by the way, this will be on your test next week. As with all previous exams, I will only test what I have explained. If you were idiotic enough to not pay attention, I will gladly fail you for inadequate understanding. And then I will laugh. And then your peers will laugh, because grades will be posted in the front of the room for everyone to view."he confirmed, not even bothering to hide his glee at the expression of his student's faces. Valerik loved tests so much. He loved making his students stressed out over his exams and he made damn sure that only those who were worthy would pass. Imbeciles and slackers who did not study seriously had no chance of passing and he enjoyed failing pathetic students.

++ LUCIFER ++

The human souls waited in a row seated in chairs placed before the Demon Lord.

Said demon lord let silence fill the courtroom, observing the souls awaiting him to pass judgment and decide their fates. Lucifer, sitting in his throne beside his wife, had listened to their stories earlier. He preferred to hear the stories directly from the soul; he could tell if they were lying to him and, of course, could see what type of human they had been by the way they spoke. The most sinful of souls earned the worst types of punishment. He did not particularly care if the humans murdered each other, it was survive of the fittest after all and that was only fair, but a sinful soul was harder to cleanse. The most efficient way to have it be cleansed and ready for reincarnation back on earth was to go through hell, which made his job incredibly interesting. He got to imagine new ways of cleaning souls all the time and hearing each story helped him decide each soul's fate. Lucifer was in a terrible mood lately due to his son's disappearance which made his job seem ten times as entertaining because he could take out his anger on the human souls.

"Soul 29823ER, you will be sentenced to circle 3 where you will..."

"*******"

The king paused suddenly, frowning as he felt his magic swell around him and hearing his name echoed in his mind. He quickly turned to his wife and, not letting his nervousness show, whispered, "Persephone, please judge these souls in my place. I am being summoned..."

The demon queen gave him a look that Lucifer knew meant that she would demand an explanation later before nodding. He briefly informed the demons and souls that he had urgent matters to deal with before he hurried out of the courtroom. Lucifer briskly walked through the halls of the citadel, heading towards the darkest part of the castle. As he ventured further the black corridor lit up through enchanted lights alongside the wall and it was not long before Lucifer located large double doors that he had not opened in years.

He entered the room and inside was a large circular symbol drawn with blood in the middle of the chamber. He stepped into the center and closed his eyes, his magic flaring around him before he used his power to send an astral projection of himself to the summoner who dared to call the king of hell.

++ SERAPHION ++

Ah, how he loved Sugar Rush's products. Not for the taste, but because the King also loved the products. It was perhaps the only thing they would ever have mutual love for, and even then their reasons for adoring Deeandra's food were different. Belzeneff genuinely liked the food while Seraphion loved that with each purchase the King made, it was more money for the rebellion. The King was essentially funding his own demise. At that thought, Seraphion laughed to himself as he stabbed his fork into slice of cake, a smile on his lips as he tasted the chocolate in his mouth. After a few more bites, the wizard felt magic in the air swirling around him and he pushed his food aside, staring at the spot where the magic was concentrated.

Seraphion's sly smile greeted the King of Hell when he noticed the astral projection finally appearing before him. "Greetings, Demon King."he welcomed, but he could tell by that sneer on Lucifer's face that the demon was not happy to be summoned.

"Why have you, wizard, dared summon me after that wizard scum cursed the prince?"he heard the lord threaten, but Seraphion did not feel even an ounce of worry. It was the benefit of having the good fortune of knowing the demon king's true name.

"Ah, yes, I do believe that Mancini is wizard scum like you say Your Majesty,"he commented respectfully, "But the wizard king has actually done something useful for once and has sent someone after the wizard who wronged your family. Though to my knowledge nobody has been sent to search for the Demon Prince...the search party is just for his benefit, like always."

Seraphion withheld himself from smirking at the sight of the demon king's clear anger after his words and continued his point. "It is a tough subject to speak of, I know I would be furious if I had a son and that happened to him...and I understand the need for justice."

The wizard gave the demon a charming, comforting smile. "So I do not blame you for wishing to declare war on my people."

"Hurry and inform me of the reason of why you have summoned me before I kill you, wizard."interrupted Lucifer, but Seraphion merely laughed to his face, dropping his friendly demeanor.

"You and I both know that you cannot kill the one who has summoned you. Now, Demon King, keep in mind that I can easily make your true name common knowledge; I have quite a following, you know. So, remember this while you listen and consider my request..."

Seraphion spoke to Lucifer for almost half an hour, detailing his plan to the King of Hell as he sat in the hidden meeting room in Candiland. But Seraphion was forced to cut his meeting short when one of the rebels sent him a message about two suspicious figures they captured. The wizard glanced back towards his guest.

"It seems we will have to finish this discussion later, Demon King...I will summon you again later. But for now, farewell."he informed, watching with amusement as the demon scowled before fading away. Seraphion quickly stood from his seat and hurried upstairs.

++ BARAYAS & BELLONA ++

"Hun, I am perfectly certain your darling lil Belshazzar is fine-"

"But I haven't seen my baby at all and he hasn't answered his cell phone! I'm having the same feeling I had when he got those scars on his face. Where is my Belshazzar?"she asked weakly, her condition not inhibiting her from her usual hysterical protectiveness over her obvious favorite child. She was worried that one of her kids could have been targets for poison like she was. Bellerophon had already visited so she was not worried about him and she had been informed that the others had all been confirmed fine, with the exception of Belshazzar because he apparently isolated himself again. "What if he was poisoned as well and is dying on the floor, you know how he locks himself up with his experiments! Something has happened, mother's intuition is not wrong!"

"My Queen, you are strong and fierce. That strength and fierceness has passed down onto Belshazzar, ain't nothing will bring that boy down so don't you worry your majesty! Why, he has gotten himself injured in his experiments in the past, but has survived them all. A petty traitor cannot harm him. He is skilled at avoiding harm from others and the only real injuries he has ever gotten are from his own power! The only one who can beat him is him."the council member reassured, giving the queen a dazzling smile.

"But-"

"No buts! You must worry about your own health. I have to leave in a moment, but I will contact Pemberly for you. You know how little Belshazzar always leaves his phone around! He can make hundreds of them but try and get him to keep track of his is like asking me to stop being so fabulous!"he laughed as he continued to soothe his friend, whipping out his phone and dialing Pemberly's number. "Well, I'll see you later your majesty!"he bid farewell as he exited the room with his phone pressed to his ear.

"Thank you, Barry."said Bellona with a faint smile, as Barayas left the room. He was right, of course, it's not like Belshazzar was somewhere dangerous like The Under.

++ BELSHAZZAR & VALEXANDER ++

No, Belshazzar was not in The Under, but he was currently wondering how in the world he ended up in Candiland with Valexander. Both of them were in disguise with dark skin and brown hair, and Belshazzar felt relieved that nobody would recognize him in this embarrassing situation. Just being in the building made him blush, so thank goodness they were in a more secluded area.

"Valexander, I insist that we leave the premises. I cannot fathom as to why you-"

"It's Levander, you moron, we're supposed to be in disguise remember!"the younger wizard hissed, clasping his hand over his cousin's mouth before he did anything else to reveal their identities. "Leviros, I brought you here because you haven't left your room in days! Always holed up with your science and math and insane experiments, you need to have fun."he whispered.

Belshazzar pushed Valexander's hand away and huffed, crossing his arms as he shook his head. "You manipulated me into deceiving Pemberly and construct these disguises and sneak away with you into this building of debauchery because you think I require fun? Science is fun. My experiments were perfectly entertaining and stimulating for my mind and I felt no boredom! A courtesan is not necessary for-"

Belshazzar's tirade was interrupted as Valexander smacked him lightly over the head. "Oh, shut up. Come on, Leviros, the Cupcakes are great-"

"And how would you come to this conclusion? Surely, you have not been a client in the past-"

Belshazzar's interruption was interrupted by Valexander once again. "Uh, o-of course not! "he whispered quickly, but both boys were silenced when a nearby man spoke about a subject that caught their attention.

"Yeah, the queen was poisoned..."

Belshazzar, though his disguise made his skin appear darker than normal, immediately had paler skin than even his usual fair color. "P-poisoned?!"he exclaimed, shooting up from his seat. "Valexander, I am returning home immediately."

"Wait!"he shouted after him, but Belshazzar shouted "I must see mother!" and left swiftly. Valexander sighed, grumbling about how in the world was it even possible for him to be so fast when he never exercised, and went to go pay for the drinks they had bought and yet to pay for. He had planned on going after Belshazzar because, while he too was concerned for his great aunt, the idiot ran off despite not knowing the safe path home or how to teleport like Bellerophon.

Unfortunately, Valexander felt an abrupt intense pain in the back of his head and instantly passed out.

Thankfully, Belshazzar realized his mistake and returned to Candiland to retrieve Valexander, but when he was back inside he did not see him anywhere. Confused, the wizard frowned at the absence of his cousin. He had only been gone for a few minutes, so where could he-

Belshazzar blacked out suddenly, feeling the same pain in his head that Valexander had experienced.

++ JAYCEE ++

"Charlotte!"he called out, approaching his friend without an ounce of subtlety despite his urgent news. "Something has happened..."

"Is it bad news?"he heard her ask quietly, but Jaycee was not as cautious as Charlotte. "Yeah, the queen was poisoned and..."

"P-poisoned?!"

Jaycee immediately froze, fear crawling into his skin. It had been five seconds and he had already been overheard! Would Seraphion be angry...? He had already been lectured over discretion and secrecy and all that stealthy stuff, but Jaycee could just never get the hang of it. No no no, the public was not informed yet and he only knew because of a message from a spy, what if his slip up got the rebels caught, what if-

"Valexander, I am returning home immediately."

And then, Jaycee's paranoia shot up.

He recognized the name. Valente the traitor was of the Mancini family, so Seraphion advised them to learn the names of the rest of them. Jaycee had wanted to do good for the cause so he had tried to memorize the list that their spy Rosey gave them. He wanted to be useful! Jaycee did not want to let their leader down. Valexander, he recalled, was the son of Valora and Valentiano Mancini but also the closest person to Prince Belshazzar.

His quick thinking, or rather lack of thinking, made him act rashly. Jaycee wanted to contribute something great to the cause and, although the people in question did not look like Prince Belshazzar and Valexander Mancini, the taller one had called the other Valexander before running off to go home after he overheard his news about the queen. He could have sworn the guy had shouted something about a mother as well! But more importantly, who he presumed to be Valexander currently had his back turned. He quickly cast a spell on his arm and hit the boy in the head, knocking him out.

"What are you doing?!"he heard Charlotte whisper furiously.

"We should bring him to Seraphion! He overheard me, and I think he's a Mancini-"

"Do you even think? What if someone had noticed you attack him? What is they are not who you think they are?!"he heard her lecture, but he quickly stopped listening, for Jaycee saw the other boy return. He ignored Charlotte and knocked him out quickly as well.

"You didn't even listen to me! Ugh you-"

"Tell the boss we caught Prince Belshazzar!"he exclaimed with excitement, nearly forgetting to keep his voice down. Charlotte mumbled under her breath at how reckless he was as she went to inform either Peppa Jack or Seraphion, whoever she found first.

Jaycee felt proud of his accomplishment, surely, this was a great plan!

[Midorimacchi]

++ KYUBEROS ++

Bellerophon wasn't wrong about his father, he would no doubt kick everyone out of the room, except for maybe the healer. Actually, no, scratch that. Trowa Lancaster would be the first one thrown out of that room, healer or not. Kyuberos, having shared Belzeneff's thoughts for as long as he had been alive, knew about the King's hatred for the pink haired man. Trowa's skills were literally the only thing that kept him in the castle, and alive for that matter. Kyuberos tapped his chin thoughtfully as he turned over Bellerophon's proposal in his mind, nodding his head. " You are right, showing the public is good way to prevent this from happening again. And as for the King, I'm sure he has no objections to the idea." He thought to mention the tale of Belzeneff beheading his own mother and setting it on a stake for all to see, but decided better of it. Things got messy when Belzeneff's mother was mentioned and Kyuberos was eager to avoid that from happening. Instead, he brought up something he knew Bellerophon would like more. " Speaking of that, I came into possession of a lovely golden stake recently that I was planning to give you as a gift, and I see no other better time then now." He smiled, glad that he had made his two human servants back on Earth collect a rare golden rod from a famous collector. It wasn't for a wish or anything, he just knew that it was something that Bellerophon would like so he made them get it for him.

He wasn't keen on leaving Bellerophon's sight, even during the short time it would take to go back to the human world, and he knew the prince could protect himself, but he would much rather move away from the healing room before Belzeneff came storming through. " If we go now, we'll have time to display the head before rigamortis sets in."

++ BELISARIO && VALIS ++

" Should I go in there?"

" You should go in there!"

" But what is she doesn't want me there?"

" I think she wants you there!"

" Maybe I should leave?

" You shouldn't leave!"

" But what if someone is in there?"

" I don't think anyone is in there!"

The two had been going back and forth like this for atleast thirty minutes, standing a few hallways away from the Queen's medical room, deciding whether or not go visit her or not. Belisario was having a trouble time deciding, a million and one scenarios running through his head--like what if he went in there only to find someone else in there and creating an awkward silence? or if he went in there to see her and then her condition suddenly worsened and he was to blame? or what if, what if, what if!--and Valis had trouble deciding just because Belisario was. He wasn't going to force Belisario to visit his mother, but he didn't want him not to do it and then regret it later on. " There's no harm in going to see her!" Valis encouraged, trying to make his prince head towards the healing room. " It'll be okay! I'm sure she'll be glad to see you! Pro-" He was cut off when Belial randomly appeared and began to talk to them about a tree, his own protector Louelle managed to randomly appear too.

While Valis was barely listened to what he was saying, Belisario was hanging on Belial's every word." Wow!" Belisario's eyes shone with wonder after Belial's short sermon. He always listened to his brother's ramblings with intent and followed through with whatever advice the other had to offer, often taking his stories seriously. How blessed he was to have such an intelligent brother! But now was no time to be distracted, he had more important matters to attend to. " I'm sorry Belial, but I was just on my way to check on Mama...I heard Bellerophon caught the traitor, but I'm still worried about her..." Whose to say that this was an individual attack? What if the traitor's accomplices came in the night to finish the job? Or maybe one of his brothers or sisters would become a new target? His made Belisario distressed just thinking about it.

++ TROWA ++

As soon as Barayas left the room and the Queen was left alone, Trowa came out of the woodwork, like a snake, and slinked up to the bed. " Hello, your Highness," He purred, holding the clip-board out to examine it, his gaze slowly dancing across the page. " It seems your vitals have improved since taking the antidote." As he spoke, he got closer to the Queen until he was right by her side, close enough to put his hand on her shoulder, " It brings me the utmost joy to see you back in good health, my Queen."

++ PEMBERLEY ++

Pemberley wasn't stupid. He had been taught at one of the most prestigious schools in the country and graduated wear the top of his class. He had passed every test given to him in order to join the Protectors division with flying colors. He even knew the difference between there, their and they're, which is really saying alot. So, he desperately tried to remind himself of these facts as he ran through the streets of the Main City, trying to find Belshazzar and his friend. The prince alone wasn't too much of a hassle, since he mostly barricaded himself in his lab and kept to himself. No, it was his distant cousin, Valexander, that Pemberley had a problem with. He had the habit of stirring up trouble, especially when it came to luring the Prince out of his lab and into the city streets, which wouldn't be so bad if Belshazzar could take care of himself. And Pemberley had enough experience to know that, no, he couldn't take care of himself when left to his own devices. The worst part of it all was that if the Prince ever got hurt or killed during one of his little escapades, it would be Pemberley who would be punished and the last thing he wanted was to get on the Queens bad side. Belshazzar was her favorite afterall.

So once he realized that Belshazzar was missing, he tumbled down to to Belshazzar's lab in search of Belbel, the ridiculous pet that the prince insisted to keep. If there was anyone who could help him find the missing prince, it was Belbel. Once entering the code needed to open the lab door, Pemberley called out to the dinosaur, expecting for it to come running towards him. But after a minute of calling and nothing happening, he quickly gave up and started turning things over to find the dinosaur. He eventually found Belbel sleeping in his corner, curled up and completely oblivious to the world around him. " Belbel! Belbel! Belbel wake up you stupid animal!" Pemberly cried, too afraid to shake the sleeping dinosaur in fear of getting bitten. But thankfully, yelling was enough and Belbel stirred awake, turning to look at Pemberley, unimpressed. But Pemberley didn't have time for this! He had a prince to find! In his haste, he managed to drag the dinosaur out of the lab and the castle and onto the streets of the Main City. If the prince and his cousin were anywhere, they were either here....or in The Under. But he would rather turn the entire town upside down then to go down to The Under.

It had taken some persuading--actually a lot of persuading--to get Belbel to do anything, but he finally managed to get the dinosaur in motion and actively looking for his owner, Pemberley following behind him as he ran through the streets. Belbel was able to smell Belshazzar's trail and would be able to find him by scent alone. Suddenly, his pocket vibrated and he took out his phone, not stopping his jogging, " Hello? E-Eh? Barayas? Um, yeah, hey. What? The prince? Yeah, he's here...y'know, doing science stuff....to call the Queen? Well...you know how he gets with his experiments, completely throwing everything into it? Ahahaha, oh look, I have to go, but I'll tell him to call! Bye." His problems were just piling ontop of each other now. Not only did he have a missing prince, but now he was lying to cover up for him! He swore, he was going to take a nice, long vacation after this. He continued to follow Belbel down the streets and soon enough, one turn lead into another and before he knew it, Pemberely actually knew where they where headed. " Oh no," He grimaced when the bright pink building came into sight, the neon sign 'CANDILAND' bright and luminous even during the day. "Ugh, I can't believe they thought about coming here! Are they stupid?? This is like, the worst place for royalty to go!!" Pemberley yelled to no one in particular.

Stopping infront of the infamous Candiland, Pemberley had mere seconds to decide whether or not he wanted to go through the door or another way, but ultimately, a surprise attack was better than not so he transported him and Belbel to the roof of the brothel. " Belbel, make a hole through this roof!" When the dinosaur looked like it was going to refuse, Pemberley pulled out the TreeStar he had in his pocket and waved it around, reminding Belbel what he was doing all of this for. A new fire burned in Belbel's eyes and he looked at the roof, summing up the force needed to bash through the texture, and then did as commanded. Pemberley followed Belbel down and was surprised when he found the unconscious prince and Valexander laying infront of him, unharmed by the falling debris. The boy laying under Belbel, however, wasn't so lucky. The Protector could only assume that his was the man who had kidnapped Belshazzar and pulled out his wand. " Freeze, culprit! In the name of the Protector division, you are under arrest for endangerment of a Prince!" He bellowed, literally blowing whatever cover Belshazzar had left.

++ VALENTINE ++

Valentine had been signing some official documents when it happened. There was a CRASH BANG and the sound of his most favorite lamp crashing to the ground. Unfazed by the sudden disturbance, Valentine calmly looked over to his right to fins his baby brother Valerio sprawled out on the ground, clutching his side. Even from where he sat, he could see the crimson liquid of his blood seep through his fingers. Still keeping his composer, Valentine stood up and made his way over to him, crouching when he got there. He didn't try to help him up, but there was concern on his face. " Who did this to you?" He asked, removing a white handkerchief from his suit pocket and handed it to Valerio, who expected as much from his eldest brother and took the offered item with trembling fingers, placing it over his wound, though it did little help.

" V..Vampires." Was all he managed to say before going pale and rolling over to his side to vomit blood all over Valentine's office floor. While he was concerned for his stainless white carpet, he was more concerned about his brother and called out for Kyron. His Protector was never too far from him so he only had to raise his voice alittle for the other to hear him. When Kyron appeared, Valentine stood up and took out his phone, typing away as he talked, " Take Valerio to my mother. She'll be able to heal him better than that ridiculous Lancaster scum. I'm going to meet my father and alert him about Valerio's state."

[Azalea]

++ BELLEROPHON ++

"A golden stake? What a wonderful gift, Kyuberos! Letus go fetch it now."

His mood elated over the result of his day, he continued to speak as he walked beside Kyuberos. “Oh, I am excited to see the head of the culprit atop of the stake, it will surely look splendid; the way his horror struck eyes are permanently etched in his features.”

The prince smiled, and he enjoyed Kyuberos’ presence, but the longer they walked together the more the gears in his head turned. Slowly, he started to frown, and today’s events replayed in his mind over and over again. I felt so satisfied after killing him. To have these feelings…was I…right? Or wrong?

Suddenly, he spoke.

“Kyuberos, do you think father will be proud of me? For taking initiative to punish the assassin, I mean? It is an actual part of my job and I did the interrogation, but I acted on my anger and executed him immediately afterwards, without consulting father or the wizard council beforehand. I do so wish to make father proud, I would hate to disappoint him…” he admitted, smiling nervously as he began to doubt his actions.

But just as abrupt as before, Bellerophon chuckled softly and twirled his flower.

“Oh, never mind, I am being foolish. Father will definitely be glad I punished the good for nothing traitor. And I learned from him that it is best to demonstrate what I should do to enemies who dare cross us. After all, father is such an excellent king!”

++ VALENCINO ++

"Sleep well my precious Valstell, sweet dreams."he cooed quietly the young baby cradled in his arms, gently lowering her into the crib. His fingers lingered for a moment, as if not wanting to leave, until he pressed his lips against his daughter's forehead. He smiled before slowly stepping back and finally exiting the room, one last glance before going off to find his wife.

"Valancy?"he called out gently, not wanting to wake up the baby. It did not take long to find her and he smiled as he stepped into the room she was in.

"Darling, I just put Valstell to sleep. Something has come up, so I have to retrieve the princess early from school and bring her to the castle..."he explained and then suddenly embraced her in his arms and kissed her on the lips. "Would you like me to bring anything home? Dessert from my brother's restaurant, maybe? I burned breakfast again so I want to make it up to you...well, I must be off now. I love you, my dearest."

++ BELLONA ++

Her worries for her son were pushed aside as Trowa suddenly appeared and the queen tried not to frown, but failed.

"Yes, I am relieved to be recovering so quickly...I thank you for saving my life, Healer Lancaster."she thanked politely, not wanting to be rude towards the person who just saved her life, cautiously placing her hand over his and removing it off her shoulder. She placed both hands on her lap and forced a smile at the doctor uncertainly, still as uncomfortable around him as when he first started working at the castle. "Also, is my dearest husband on his way? Do you know?"she asked.

++ BELIAL ++

Belial froze for a moment, and quickly nodded his head in agreement. "The hand of justice has been dealt to the criminal, by the gold prince? Then, you worry about the wrong foe! Hurry and go to her side for that rose colored demon lurks in his white robes of false purity, there is no telling what that monster will do to her in her weakened state."he advised, remembering that their mother was possible alone with that horrible doctor and more worried about him than an actual assassin. While he was too young to actually be a target for the healer's advances, the prince heard many horror stories from Louelle. "But, I know your worries still continue to plague your mind. Shall I grant you the protection of the Great and Powerful Oz, Brother Belisario? Ah, do not answer! Of course you desire his blessings. I will leave immediately to pray while you two go visit mother. Farewell! Come, Louelle! To the church we journey for our quest."he commanded, leaving behind Belisario and Valis with a frantic Louelle trying to catch him.

"Prince Belial, no not again, please wait! Don't wander off so suddenly!"Louelle begged, his hand reaching out for Belial as he ran after him.

++ JAYCEE ++

"Ow ow ow, this hurts?? The heck are you?! What's the deal???"he cried out in confusion, some sort of creature landing on top of him. Whatever this thing was, even though it wasn't even that big it felt heavy, and his body was aching because the dumb thing was crushing his poor bones and flesh! Even worse, a random man pointed a wand at him and started talking all smart like, with big words that reminded him of how Seraphion spoke, leaving Jaycee utterly confused as to what he wanted.

"Ehhhhh, what are you talkin about? I don't get what you're saying!"he shouted towards the red head, still agitated and distressed by the strange thing on top of him to care what the newcomer was trying to convey. "Get off me, you...you weird beast!"he begged, shifting his attention to the yellow animal.

++ SERAPHION && CHARLOTTE ++

"Endangerment of a prince, you say?"he asked as he entered the room, just in time to here the last part of what Candiland's newest guest had to say.

When he arrived Seraphion did not expect to see a Protector attempting to arrest a confused Jaycee, who was laying under some sort of animal, with two unconscious boys off to the side. He noted the red hair, and figured that maybe Jaycee had been right when he claimed to have caught Prince Belshazzar if Pemberly Abernathy was here.

He glanced to the side and saw two unconscious boys, but they looked nothing like any of the princes. "I see no prince here, sir Protector."he pointed out politely.

"T-That's right!"chimed in a feminine voice, and Seraphion turned to see Charlotte in front of Pemberly. She obviously felt intimidated by the wizard from what he could tell, but he admired her courage for standing up to a noble. "He hasn't done anything wrong! You-you're the one who created a hole in the building and suddenly attacked...!"

"Ah, but he was only doing his job, do not fault him for the hole. Perhaps there is a prince here in disguise?"he added in smoothly, not wanting to anger the protector. "I assume you are speaking of these two unconscious wizards, here? I do not know what happened but they are the only others around right now...I'll wake them up."

He strode over to the two boys and gently placed a hand on each of their shoulders, shaking them slightly.

++ VALEXANDER ++

"Hm? Huhwah..."he mumbled as he slowly regained consciousness, meeting the eyes of a stranger. "What?"he asked dazed, his head pounding.

"You were asleep just now, did you have too much to drink?"he heard the stranger ask with a soft laugh.

"Um...I guess? What is happening?"he asked again, and then slowly observed his surroundings. Belshazzar was waking up too beside him and...was that Belbel? Belbel was sitting on top of some guy and -

"Pemberly?"he called out, panic filling inside of him quickly as he recognized the protector. "W-why are you here?"he asked, and then he mentally slapped himself for blowing their cover.

Oh oz, what if his mother found out where he was and what he did? She'd be furious!

++ BELSHAZZAR ++

Waking up around the same time as Valexander, he felt just as confused as his cousin and couldn't remember why he had been asleep. He snapped back to reality, though, when he heard Valexander mention his protector's name. Finally noticing him and, for some reason Belbel, he sighed and turned to his cousin.

"It appears our identities have been discovered, there is no more purpose in wasting our magic on them any longer so I propose disposing of our disguises."he suggested, though it was more like a command. Valexander seemed to understand and cast the removal spell with a grim face, muttering under his breath a comment about how his mother was going to kill him. At the mention of Valora, anxiety flooded through him as Belshazzar immediately remembered his own mother and the reason why he felt so desperate to return to the castle earlier.

Like a true son of King Belzeneff, he cared nothing about the current situation at hand and selfishly ordered his protector to drop everything and listen to him.

"Pemberly, it is convenient you arrived, take me back to the castle immediately!"

++ KYRON ++

"Yes?"he answered, strolling into the room before noticing a injured wizard bleeding onto Valentine's carpet. "Is that...Valerio?!"he gasped out of shock, immediately rushing to his side full of concern and crouching onto the floor to grab his pale hand.

"Alright Valentine, I'll leave immediately."he responded, tightening his grip on Valerio and using his free hand to prepare a spell to teleport him to the Mancini estate.

++ VALYN ++

"My poor baby, mother will make you all better!"

The wizard frantically entered the room with numerous vials secured in her arms and she rushed to Valerio's side, handing all but one of the potions to Kyron to hold. Currently resting in his old bed was Valerio, who Kyron appeared with out of nowhere bleeding and near death earlier. She quickly placed the remaining vial against her son's lips, urging him to drink it. "Drink all of this, alright Valerio? It will help heal you."she instructed softly, grabbing a towel with her free hand to begin wiping the blood off of his face.

She would not lose another child if she could help it, especially her youngest baby boy that had been absent for so long.

[Midorimacchi]

++ KYUBEROS ++

" Do not worry, I'm sure your father will be very proud of you. " Kyuberos responded in a reassuring tone, though he knew deep down that, at best, the King would just offer a "Good work," and leave it at that. But considering how desperately Bellerophon craved his father's attention, maybe it would be enough? Belzeneff's careless attitude towards Bellerophon always tended to frustrate him, but he knew that bringing it up with the King would be useless, since Belzeneff never did anything he didn't want to.

" Perhaps after he is done visiting your mother, he'd be interested in talking to you about the traitor? You can tell him all about it then," he said, trying to bring Bellerophon's hopes up. Infact, Kyuberos himself would love to talk to him about the traitor and if he had mentioned any accomplices, but his most important task right now was making sure Bellerophon was okay.

They came to a stop once they reached Kyuberos' door. " If you would just wait here, I'll retrieve the gift." He opened the door and stepped through, light enveloping him and transporting him back to Earth. Seraphim was diligently waiting for him on the other side, spear already in hand, and Kyuberos gave him a grateful look.

" The customer was dealt with and payment will be due in the next 5 years." Seraphim said flatly and Kyuberos sighed, taking the golden rod from Seraphim, " Tell Ethan and Rodrigo that I won't be back for awhile. Look out for them and give them the missions off that list I gave you. They should be busy with that until I come back. I will be locking this door until I feel it's safe enough to leave Wiz," Seraphim nodded and presented a key from his pocket, which Kyuberos took. They said farewell and Kyuberos was back in the portal leading from Earth and Wiz. He landed back on Wiz gracefully, just as if he had walked into a different room, and shut the door behind him, using the key to lock it.

" Ah, this is for you, my Prince," He held out the golden stake to Bellerophon. It was beautifully crafted, encrusted with tiny diamonds and crystals. He wasn't sure why anyone would pay 44 million dollars for it, but that was how much it was going for until Ethan and Rodrigo stole it.

++ BELISARIO && VALIS ++

Belisario and Valis watched as Belial left with Louelle in tow, both thinking over his words. Belisario was worrying about the possibilities of Trowa doing something bad to his mother --he himself had been a victim of the doctor's advances so he knew what he was capable of; luckily Trowa only managed to get a hand on his shoulder before Valis came tumbling in and forced him off-- and Valis was just grateful that he hadn't been assigned to his mysterious cousin when he joined the Protector's unit. There was no way that he would be able to keep up with Belial and he praised Louelle for his efforts.

" I've made up my mind Valis!" Belisario said, bringing Valis' attention to him, " I'm going to see her!"

" Perfect! Let's go before the King comes," Valis smiled, and Belisario eagerly nodded. May Belial's prayers give him strength!

++ BELZENEFF & STANNIS & VALTREKS ++

In a flurry of blue and white, Belzeneff appeared in the middle of the hallway, Stannis and Valtreks by his side. Without saying a word to neither his son or nephew, Belzeneff roughly pushed past them towards the healing room door and went in, leaving Valteks and Stannis to pick up his mess. Valis barely managed to catch Belisario before he hit the ground, and steadied him so he could regain his balance.

" Where is this vial creature that dare hurt our beloved Majesty?!? Show me this cretin and I will show him justice with my sword!!" Stannis announced, drawing his sword and prepared to fight, assuming his battle stance.

" He's already been taken care of, Prince Bellerophon saw to that." Valis helpfully replied, as he smoothed down Belisario's clothes from where Belzeneff had pushed him. " I guess I won't be able to see Mama now..." Belisario murmured quietly, small tears forming in his eyes and Valis was going to reassure him that he would get to see her later, when Valtreks loud laughter interrupted him.

" HAHA PUT AWAY YOUR SWORD STANNY!! THERE IS NO DANGER HERE MY FRIEND!" He clasped Stannis on the shoulder, taking the time to wave to his cousin before enveloping his little brother in a hug, lifting him off the ground, " AH BROTHER, IT IS GREAT TO SEE YOU AGAIN! HOW HAVE YOU BEEN?!" He bellowed, his loud voice echoing off the walls. Valis could barely breathe in his brother's embrace and patted his shoulder before trying to pry him off, " G-good. Now can you p-please let go?!"

Stannis, meanwhile, sheathed his sword and returned to his previous calm demeanor. " I apologize for the outburst, your Highness, please forgive me," He bowed towards Belisario, who smiled softly and waved his hands, " It's no problem. Ah...Valis, since it looks like we can't visit Mama, I guess we should leave." His shoulders slumped as he sighed heavily, making Valis turn his attention to him instantly. He managed to escape Valtreks' clutches and quickly returned to Belisario's side, wrapping his arm around his shoulder for comfort, " Hey, we can go get some ice cream instead. We can even send some to your Mom if we-"

"YES, THAT SOUNDS LIKE A WONDERFUL IDEA!!" Valtreks interrupted, not bothering to hide the fact that he was listening in on their private conversation, unlike Stannis who was looking at the wall like it was the most interesting thing in the world. " YOU TWO GO GET YOUR DELICIOUS FROZEN TREATS AND STANNY AND I WILL GUARD THE DOOR WHILE YOU ARE AWAY!" Stannis offered a small " You can count on us, your majesty!" from behind Valtreks' shoulder and Belisario nodded, " Y-yeah, you're right! There's always tomorrow to see her!"

Valtreks and Stannis watched as the couple left and waited until they were sure they were out of earshot to talk about what had happened. " Who would do such a vial act to the Royal Family like this? Were they out of their minds?!" Stannis seethed, his grip on his handle tightening. " If only Prince Bellerophon hadn't ended that traitor's life so quickly, I would have bestowed justice upon that disgusting betrayer!"

" WHAT DONE IS DONE, LET US BE THANKFUL THAT THE QUEEN IS ALRIGHT NOW." Valtreks patted Stannis shoulder again, mostly out of habit, and took out his phone. An attack on the Queen meant an attack on the Royal Family and that meant that everyone should be on their guard. He a message to each Royal Protector-- Lavelle, Pemberley, Valcencino, Louelle, and Cordelia (since he knew Valis was with Belisario and he could bet on his life that Kyuberos was with Bellerophon) --just to make sure that they were with their Protectee and not to leave their side until they were 100% that the threat had been neutralized.

As he waited for any texts back, he relaxed against the wall and Stannis did the same, waiting for Belzeneff to finish up in the medical room.

++ PEMBERLEY ++

It wasn't a surprise when the disguises vanished and the two, previously unconscious men ended up being Belshazzar and Valexander. In all honestly, Pemberley wasn't that angry with Belshazzar for sneaking away and putting himself in danger. He was just easily influenced. It was Valexander that he had a problem with and he shot him an angry glare before turning to Seraphion and the woman who had spoken up to him earlier. " Accidental or not, it's still within my rights to detain those who harmed, or had intentions to harm a member of the royal family. Even moreso if that member is under my personal protecti-" He was cut off abruptly by Belshazzar who ordered him to take him back to the castle. Pemberley could only turn around and give him his best "what the fuck I was in the middle of something, your highness," look, before slumping his shoulders and sighing. No matter how ridiculous the order, Pemberley was obliged to follow through to his very best, as long as it didn't endanger the Prince. " Fine, whatever you wish." He ran his hand down his face in exasperation and straightened up, clearing his throat. " I will return on a later date to full investigate this building and it's...residents." He ran his eyes over Seraphim momentarily before switching his attention over to the little blonde troublemaker.

" As for you," he sneered, " In the name of the Protector division, you, Valexander Mancini, are under arrest for endangerment and kidnapping of a Prince." With a wave of his wand, Valexander's wrists were bound behind his back by an indestructible force that could only be broken by the one who had cast it. It was a very useful spell, known exclusively between Protectors and Knights, that helped them in battles with those with a higher magical power. And though Valexander was in no way stronger than him, he was a slippery little bastard and Pemberley preferred to keep him where he could see him. " Your punishment can range from banishment to the human realm or death for such crimes, but I will bestow upon you the cruelest of all; I taking you to your mother."

Before Belshazzar could complain, Pemberley waved another treestar infront of Belbel so he could get off the guy he was laying on and gathered up Valexander and Belshazzar close enough so that they could teleport with him. He didn't like the thought of leaving Candiland without finding out what the true intentions of those three individuals were, but he had no choice.

They arrived at the front gate of the castle and Pemberley allowed Belshazzar and Belbel to walk off, but caught onto Valexander's collar before he could escape. " You go on ahead," he told Belshazzar, " I'm going to drop him off and then I'll return." He prepared another teleportation spell and quickly arrived infront of Valora's house. " How many times do I have to tell you not to involve Prince Belshazzar in any of your ridiculous plans?! You're making my job unnecessarily harder by putting him in these situations!" Pemberley scolded, " I don't care if my father and your grandfather go way back or whatever, I will officially arrest you the next time I find you two like this!"

++ PEMPERKNACKLE && VALIANT ++

" Glad to hear that Valentia is okay! Everyone here busted a gut when they heard about what happened," Pemperknackle said through a mouthful of food, as brash as ever. Valiant was still shaken up after seeing his older sister lying in a recovery bed, tired and pale, but Pemperknackle knew that Valiant wouldn't like it if he acted different around him. He pushed Valiant's plate of food closer to him and gave the look that meant 'you-better-eat-this-before-I-stuff-it-down-your-mouth'. Valiant reluctantly took a piece off the plate and nibbled it, which was good enough for Pemperknackle.

There was a comfortable silence until Valiant's phone jingled and he jumped to answer it. Pemperknackle quietly watched as his friend's expression turned from worried to horrified and he stood up from his chair to move closer to Valiant, hoping to hear something from the other line, but Valiant hung up the phone without a word. Pemperknackle had to dive out of the way to avoid colliding with Valiant's head when he shot out of his chair and grabbed his coat.

" ThisishorriblePemIcantbelievethisishappeningtomeitslikeonethingafteranotherandireallycanttakethisrightnow--" He rambled on and on, tears forming in his eye. " What is it? What happened?" Pemperknackle asked, helping Valiant put his coat on when he struggled to put his arms through because of the tears. " V-V-Valerio's back, but he's hu-hu-hurt," He managed to sob and Pemperknackle swallowed harshly. " Okay, okay, okay, Valiant look at me. I said look at me! Valerio is going to be alright but you need to hold yourself together okay? Don't go crying everywhere and making everyone worry, we need you to be strong."

"B-b-but what if this is like what happened with Valo-"

" No, no, no, don't think about that. Just go to Valyn and your son and make sure they're alright before you start thinking about that."

Valiant paused his crying to look at his friend and nodded frantically, " You're right...you're right...I need to go right now." In an instant Valiant was gone, leaving Pemperknackle alone in his office, stunned that Valiant could teleport so quickly, even without a teleportation circle or spell. Well, magic and emotions are heavily connected with one another and the stronger the feelings, the more powerful the spell. But still, Pemperknackle hadn't seen someone disappear so fast before.

♦

" How is he doing?" Valiant asked immediately when he appeared in his home, rushing to Valerio's bedside. His son was lying there, delirious and pale and Valiant could feel his heart drop to his feet. " Is he going to be okay?" He asked his wife, his voice shaking.

[Azalea]

++ BELLEROPHON ++

"P-p-proud? Wow Kyuberos, you think he would be proud of me?"he asked, eyes sparkling and gazing at Kyuberos as if he were Belzeneff giving him the compliment himself. "He's n-n-never told me anything like that...but you know him best, correct? Your minds are linked? So that must be how father would feel!" At this point, he paused, realizing he began to ramble to himself. While he did not mind letting Kyuberos see all of his shameful weaknesses like this, and trusted him more than anyone he knew, Bellerophon knew now was not the time to be bombarding him with so many questions. He nodded before clearing his throat. "Yes. Yes I agree. I think he will want to know about what happened to mother."

He silently waited for Kyuberos to return when his protector left for his room, thoughts racing through his mind. I'm so glad I was able to learn the cure from the traitor and help mother...I'm glad I didn't fail this time, if she ended up like her I don't know what I would do... Bellerophon suddenly tucked his gold flower behind his ear, to keep it out of his sight, a habit he developed when looking at it made him think too much about her.

The grim look on his face vanished as soon as Kyuberos returned, the prince genuinely happy to see him and that wonderful gold gift in his hands. "Oh wow wow wow!"he exclaimed, gazing at the stake lovingly. He delicately grabbed the weapon and immediately gave Kyuberos endless praise and compliments.

"It is so stunningly beautiful, amazing detail to this design with these jewels! So golden, so pure! You are my best friend Kyuberos nobody else would ever get me something like this."he happily thanked, actually hugging the stake at this point. "You are the greatest in all of Wiz, Kyuberos! Today was going so horribly and I was so scared for mother but you just made it so much better. You make me happy! I can't wait to use this-"

His beloved new spear suddenly felt onto the floor as a stabbing pain in his head forced him to drop the precious gift. "Wha-..."he mumbled, his hand pressing against his head as he shakily knelt to the floor to retrieve the item. Bellerophon used the stake as a support to help him stand back up, but the pain just felt worse so he instinctively clung to Kyuberos' shoulder. To his horror, blood suddenly dripped onto Kyuberos' outfit from his now glowing eyes. He stumbled backward out of shock and dropped the golden stake again as he leaned against the wall, trying not to cry out in pain. "Kyu-"

He suddenly coughed up blood, his white clothes stained red, and fear crept up inside of him. "A v-vision?"he gasped exasperated, confused about why this was happening, why he was feeling pain when this had never happened before the rare times he or one of his siblings received a prophecy. Images flooded through his head and Bellerophon did not want to look at any of this. "Nononononono..!"he chanted, covering his eyes and shaking his head furiously. The prophecy looked so vivid and he had no idea how long he had been having the vision, but Bellerophon could feel the seering pain when he got struck with some sort of weapon. Was this vision so painful because he was feeling himself die?

I hope not...he thought to himself as the future of despair faded away, falling forward and feeling himself being caught in his protector's arms. His eyes finally stopped glowing, but he had no idea if his eyes were still bleeding or if he had continued coughing up blood or if anything else went wrong with him while he was seeing the vision. He clutched Kyuberos' hand, trying to make him stop freaking out and to listen to him.

"H-horrible...rebel..li..on...f-father, warn...him...six months...declared war...s-so many corpses...and...I felt...myself g-get stabbed, then...thats how, vision ends..."he relayed weakly to Kyuberos, before everything went black.

++ SERAPHION ++

"Yes, sir, I will inform the owner of your intentions."he replied, proud of himself for not giving the protector some snarky comment like he wanted to. Seraphion felt annoyed that Candiland would be under inspection due to the basement and tunnel, but he was confident that the council would not find anything he did not want them to find. And they technically were not residents, so it would be completely reasonable for them not to be here when that protector returned for his inspection if they were passed off as customers who simply never returned.

As soon as Pemberly and the troublesome boys left Candiland, he sighed and held his hand for his own troublesome boy. "You were very reckless, you know? If it wasn't for the prince's selfishness, you probably would have been arrested Jaycee..."he began to scold, noting the frown on the boy's face as he lifted him off the ground. Seraphion spoke before Jaycee could interrupt. "But, even though I recommend not being so hasty with your actions, it did give me the opportunity to place a very...interesting spell on the two of them. Well, I need to inform Peppa Jack of what happened...don't worry Charlotte I'll take care of it, your break is almost over. Jaycee, come with me."

He felt incredibly proud of his spell, honestly, even if it was a bit risky. Only a dark wizard should be to see and lift the curse, so the only potential obstacle was the youngest prince, but nobody would take his words seriously if he mentioned it.

Seraphion knocked on Petrios' door when the two of them arrived, sighing a bit as he remembered the hole in the building.

++ VALEXANDER && VALORA ++

Valexander never got to answer.

“Oh, he did what now?”

Like a python sinking its teeth into it's unsuspecting prey, a hand suddenly grasped the collar of Valexander’s shirt. He felt himself being lifted off the ground like a lion grabbing it’s cub by the neck and the next second he knew, Valexander was being forced to stare into familiar raging eyes. Despite her collected composure, Valexander knew better. His mother was furious.

“Protector Pemberly Abernathy, how good of you to find the child for me, I was just about to look for this fool myself. Wait there just for a moment, please. Valexander Mancini, answer this question for me.” The never melting ice in her tone felt colder than the glare she was giving him. Valora harshly shoved her son onto the ground, hearing him wince a bit from both the rock he landed on and the magical handcuffs still pressed against his wrists.

“Do you think it will bother me if I never have grandchildren, my son?” the voice of terror demanded her answer as she swiftly struck her sword into the ground in between Valexander’s legs. As the boy’s pale face twisted with fear, unable to respond coherently as he instinctively tried to scoot backward, she snarled, mentally blaming the gentle wizard waiting inside of the house for passing on his cowardly genetics. She gave him one last threat, “You already know my answer and should remember that the next time you decide to do something idiotic. And do not think we are finished just yet, so stay there.”

Ignoring her shaking and frightened son who was on the verge of tears, she turned to look back at Pemberly. “Thank you for waiting. You said my son dragged my cousin into some sort of outrageous plot? Please, enlighten me about what occurred.”

++ BELLONA ++

The light of her life entered the room and she felt overwhelmed with joy, sitting up immediately in her bed. When Belzeneff approached close enough, she immediately wrapped her arms around him and locked him into a hug. "My love!"she exclaimed happily, looking into her dear husband's eyes, "I'm so happy you're here...I'm so sorry if I've worried you, but I'm okay now..."

++ VALYN ++

"He is still feeling some pain but, he is better than earlier..."she replied, unable to hide the worry in her tone.

As she slipped the last healing potion for the day to her son, she set the bottle down and squeezed her husband's hand. "Yes, I just gave him the healing potions to stop the bleeding...it will takes weeks of bed rest and treatment, but he'll recover."she said softly, trying to be confident as she spoke to prevent Valiant from worrying even more.

At that moment Kyron rushed in with his hands full of bandages, fervently handing them to Valyn. She immediately grabbed a roll and began to carefully wrap the bandages around Valerio's wounds, in case his injuries reopened.

"You will be alright my son, I'll make sure of it."

++ LOUELLE & BELSHAZZAR ++

As they walked towards the church Louelle's phone rang and he quickly checked the message while trying to keep of with Belial, who was still walking ahead of him.

"Protector Louelle!"he heard someone call out to him, but he knew it wasn't Belial, so he looked up from his phone and saw Prince Belshazzar running up to him. In his arms was his sleeping pet dinosaur, Belbel, and Louelle wondered why in the world he was carrying it around. Belial stopped walking to observe their conversation and Louelle hoped that they wouldn't start another argument with each other.

"H-how is the health of my mother?"asked Belshazzar, who was panting after running all the way from the entrance. He really could not run anymore and need a break as he set down Belbel onto the ground, who happily rolled onto his back.

Louelle glanced back to his charge, noticing Belial staring at Belshazzar with odd concentration without the normal glare of hatred. "She has received the antidote and is recovering well. And I just received a message from Stannis, your majesty. Your father has arrived, so you will have to wait until after the King is finished to visit. Until Pemberly arrives, please wait with us, it is dangerous to be alone right now."he answered, hoping that Belial would not mind, even though he knew deep down the younger prince would. He sent a quick reply to Valtreks saying that he was watching over Belshazzar and Belial.

Louelle did not want to leave Belshazzar alone and Pemberly was nowhere in sight. But as long as the two princes did not speak to each other, there was hope that the two of them would not fight. He sent a quick text to Pemberly, saying that Belshazzar was safe with him, and let him know they were headed to the healer room. Just as Louelle was thinking that things were going by too smoothly, the situation suddenly spiraled out of control and the tension in the air rose.

++ BELIAL & BELSHAZZAR ++

Belial’s eyes narrowed at the peculiar aura near his brother’s neck, dark magic he had no doubt nobody else would be able to detect. “You-" he began to say, grabbing his older brother’s arm to get his attention.

“Unhand me, you lunatic! Visiting mother is my top priority so I do not have sufficient time for idle conversation, especially with you.” snapped Belshazzar, who glared at his younger brother. He gripped Belial’s arm and shoved him away, causing the younger prince to stumble backward into his protector’s arms.

“Tch, fine, you welcome death’s embrace? I shall leave you to your fate.” Belial muttered venomously, straightening his clothes as he regained his composure.

Belshazzar did not want to hear what his insane brother had to say and quickly turned away, about to ask Louelle something when Belial suddenly insulted him.

“Your idiocy astounds me! Blessed prophecies from Oz are not needed to foresee that you will di-” Belial began, but Belshazzar immediately spun right back around with fury in his eyes.

“I am a genius, retract your ludicrous statement at once, Belial!” he yelled, incredibly offended, but Belial just folded his arms and gave him a taunting smirk.

“The dark mark on your shoulder has already made a stain and probably won’t come out, no matter how much you try to wash it. The ocean waves drown shells and suffocate the salt. Skin burns in the light of shining gas and never ceases to simmer the sinners who dare leave the holy land that magic graces. And weary mother has been blessed; her soul mate returned, locking out all who dare break into the white fortress. Cease your hope, now. You will never see her. Your imbecilic brain poisoned by logic and reasoning, does it grasp the meanings of your dark brother or does confusion still plague your feeble mind.”

Belshazzar just looked at him with disgust, not even bothering to decipher what his brother just said. "You're mad. Logic and reason are lost on you!"he rebutted, hearing Louelle try to calm them down but both of the princes were now ignoring him.

"And you who rejects all who are curved paths of thought could never understand the dark beauty of magic that slumbers in nature."growled Belial, who was tempted to kick Belbel out of spite for Belshazzar, but the poor thing had punishment enough having to live with him all day and night so he just continued glaring.

[Midorimacchi]

++ KYUBEROS ++

Kyuberos swelled with pride under Bellerophon's praise, happy simply by the fact that he was. According to Rodrigo and Ethan, collecting the spear was no easy task, but Kyuberos deemed it worth it, just based on the Prince's face. Which is why he found it so surprising when he heard it clatter to the ground. " Bellerophon, are you alright?" he asked worriedly, helping him get back on his feet after retrieving the item off the floor. It was strange, since he had never known the Prince to ever drop one of his precious golden treasures, but when he saw the crimson liquid --his blood-- drip out of his eyes, he knew instantly what was going on.

Immediately after his vision stopped, Kyuberos rushed to Bellerophon''s side, catching him before he hit the ground. " Bellerophon! Just hold on, I'll get you some help, just stay awake," He was already halfway through a teleportation spell when he felt the prince clasp his hand to get his attention.

Even though his mind was racing a mile a minute and the desperate need to get Bellerophon to help overwhelmed him, he diligently listened to his prophecy. He knew better then to ignore any of Oz's prophecies, as they always spoke true, but he as skeptical of this particular one. Rebels? In the city? Declaring war?? Sure, there was Criminal Nova, but he was a single person who could be easily taken care of if he became too much of a threat. Surely he couldn't declare war on all of Wiz? And as far as the last part? Well, he would rather die then let anything happen to Bellerophon, and he was certain that a handful of rebels would never be enough to take him down.

After Bellerophon lost consciousness, Kyuberos carefully hoisted him on his shoulder, using two hands to finish the spell. While he did loathe the man, Trowa Lancaster was the best healer in the castle, so he had no choice but to go to him.

++ TROWA && KYUBEROS ++

After being kicked out of the Queen's healing room by Belzeneff, Trowa was making his way to the royal dining hall for some food when Kyuberos instantly appeared before him, an unconscious and bleeding Bellerophon on his shoulder. “ Oh! Kyuberos, how good it is to see you again!” He smiled, completely ignoring the bleeding Prince he was carrying. This got a snarl out of the Protector as he grabbed the collar of Trowa’s shirt and tugged him forward,

“ Do not play games with me Lancaster! Heal Bellerophon now!”

If it were anyone else, they would have crumbled under Kyuberos’ steely glare, but Trowa had nothing but a sleazy smile on his face as he returned the gesture and grabbed Kyuberos’ own clothes and brought him closer, until their noses were touching. “ Ohhhh,” He moaned obscenely, his cheeks growing pink, “ I get all tingly when you take control like that!!”

Kyuberos growled again and Trowa could tell that his luck was growing thin, so he chuckled and released his hold. “ I’m only joking sweetcheeks!” He wasn’t. “ I’ll take him to my personal office since the Queen and her loverboy are using up the medical bay. Feel free to join us honey,” He gazed at Kyuberos seductively, “ I loooove threesomes!“ He immediately ducked, out of past experiences, and barely missed Kyuberos’ swinging fist. “ Now now honey bun, I can’t help the Prince if I’m missing my head, now am I?” His only response was a rough shove towards his personal office.

Out of convenience, his office wasn’t far from the medical rooms and after a short walk, they found themselves in Trowa’s humble abode. Just entering the room made Kyuberos feel dirty and he held Bellerophon closer, who was now in his arms, hoping that Trowa’s infestation would not touch the Prince.

“ Place him over there on that bed,” Trowa instructed, pointing to the pink bed in the corner before retrieving some supplies from the cabinets. “ Don’t worry, the sheets are clean!”

Kyuberos didn't believe it, but he had no choice and set Bellerophon down on the pink sheets. As Trowa got more supplies, Kyuberos used the sleeve of his shirt to wipe away the bloody tears trailing down the Prince's face. It was rare for a vision to cause this much damage and Kyuberos was worried about it's lasting effects.

" Don't worry," Trowa said in a moment of seriousness, noticing the worried look on the Protector's face, " I don't think this will harm his regular vision in anyway."

Kyuberos only nodded and remained at Bellerophon's side as Trowa began to heal him.

++ PEMBERLEY ++

True to the rumors, Valora Mancini was cold and ruthless when angered, even to her own son. Pemberley even felt a chill go down his spine, and he wasn't the one in trouble! However, it did bring him some enjoyment to watch Valenxander get chewed out by his mom. It served him right after all the trouble he caused.

Upon request, Pemberley explained the situation to Valora, deciding to spare Valexander some expense and left out where exactly he had found them. " I'll be conducting a formal investigation concerning the attempted kidnapping of the Prince, though I suspect it will result in nothing, since they were both in disguise at the time. Afterall, the assailant released them after they revealed themselves, but you can never be too sure." He explained formally, as Valora was a higher rank than he was.

Just then, he received a message from Louelle, saying that Belshazzar was in his care. There was already a previous message from Valtreks asking if he was with Belshazzar, and Pemberley saw that as a sign that it was time to take his leave. " Now, if you excuse me, I'll be leaving." But before he left, he shot Valexander a menacing look, " Remember what I told you! The next time I find you like that again, you're going down for real!"

When he arrived back at the castle, he found Belshazzar and Belial at each other's throats. " Have they been at this long?" He calmly asked Louelle, both already used to this kind of behavior between the brothers. He thought about interfering once or twice in the past, but ultimately he just gave up and waited until they got tired and gave up. Afterall, he rules of a Protector is to always protect the one they're assigned to but it never mentioned what to do when the other person is a member of the royal family too. In no way, shape, or form is he allowed to hurt a royal, so he just stayed out of it. Belial and Belshazzar's arguments rarely got violent anyway, so he didn't worry about it much.

++ VALENTINE && VALIANT ++

Valentine appeared a little after Valiant did. He wasn't as lucky as his father and could just vanish whenever he wanted to-- he had responsibilities -- but luckily the Head of the Council, was in good standing with their family and as soon as Valiant left, Pemperknackle had called up Valentine and gave him permission to leave too.

" He said that it was vampires who did this to him." Valentine said, noticing how his father snapped to attention. He knew about his father's past with vampires and the true story behind his eyepatch, so he was eager not to let them get away with this for a second time. " I have already arranged a meeting with the Vampire Council to discuss this." Relations between the Wizards and Vampires were good and the two usually didn't attack one another, but their peace treaty only applied to Wiz and wherever the Vampires resided, leaving the human world to free game. There wasn't much he could do if this happened on Earth, but he atleast had to try.

++ PEPPA JACK ++

Paydays were always Peppa's favorite days. Bulrupees were stacked around his office, reaching as high as the ceiling, and the pleasant smell they had left the room smelling great. " 50ℬ, 100ℬ, 200ℬ, 300ℬ, ahahahahaha! Peppa Jack's beautiful Cupcakes are angels!! Makin' Peppa Jack all this bank!!" He laughed out loud, fanning his face with stacks of Bells. A Cupcake, on a average night, earns around 3,500ℬ from one client alone. Peppa collected their earnings in the mornings and calculated the costs, and then returns the Belzacash to them, after taking out their living costs, food costs, and whatever else there is. He rarely got any complaints from his Cupcakes that his routine was unfair, which is pretty much the greatest thing a pimp can ever hear.

There was a knock at the door and rather then standing up to answer it, he leaned further back in his chair, putting his feet up on his desk and shouted, " Peppa Jack allows you to enter!" He was expecting it to be one of his Cupcakes, coming to ask for an early payment, but was surprised to see Seraphion come in with Jaycee trailing behind him.

" Ah, so good to see you friends!" Peppa stood from his chair, approaching the two with open arms and greeted them with kisses on the cheek. " What bring's you to Peppa Jack's office on such a pleasant day! There ain't no better day than pay day!" He laughed, rubbing his hands together.

[Azalea]

++ BELLEROPHON ++

He stirred in Trowa's bed, feeling the pain gradually lesson and Bellerophon slowly opened his eyes. Everything looked incredibly blurry but he could tell that he was surrounded by pink. "Who? Wha...Pink?"asked the disoriented prince.

His vision started to clear and Bellerophon vaguely recognized the figure in front of him as Healer Lancaster. Even though he was barely conscious the prince knew that the healer was someone he needed to avoid. The blond had no intentions of looking at Trowa longer than he needed to so turned his eyes away, feeling relieved when he spotted a somewhat blurry figure with white hair nearby. He felt drained of energy so Bellerophon didn't fight his desire to rest, quickly falling back to sleep.

++ SERAPHION && JAYCEE ++

Seraphion grimaced. "Well, I am afraid I have some bad news, my friend. And some good news too, actually, but...I will tell you that after the bad news. You see, there was an...incident."he informed, glancing over at Jaycee. "So, because of what happened there will be a formal investigation of Candiland. I was not there the entire time so I am unsure what happened but Jaycee can tell us."

Jaycee perked up. "Oh, yeah, I almost caught Prince Belshazzar."he announced proudly, "See, I was talkin' about how the queen got poisoned, and then this guy at the next table freaks out! He seriously spazzed! He ran out without paying and everything, so his friend had to pay for him! Said he had to check on his mom, so I was like, Hey! It's gotta be a prince! Well I knocked his friend out but then the prince came back, so I knocked him out too. But THEN OUT OF NOWHERE, a man riding a...weird creature just bust through the wall and made a hole! And pinned me down!"

Seraphion cut in on Jaycee's animated explanation. "I came in at this point, I was close by, and one of your Cupcakes came to me for help..."he explained, and then proceeded to tell Peppa Jack the rest of the story.

"Oh, but Seraphion managed to curse the prince before he left, and all thanks to my great plan." Jaycee looked triumphant about his accomplishment and Seraphion felt unsure whether it was a good idea to bring him along to explain after all.

"Yes...I did."Seraphion clarified, crossing his arms. "You acted very reckless, though, Jaycee..."

++ LOUELLE ++

He sighed in relief that Pemberly arrived, feeling better that he no longer had to deal with this by himself. "No, they just begun. They've barely thrown any insults yet."

He observed carefully as Belial suddenly smirked and Louelle groaned, recognizing when the young prince purposely said things to anger his brother.

"For thy light up the world through your own death; become one with the stars, illuminating the night sky bright. Oh cursed one, you the lighthouse who will guide those lost in the dark."

Louelle had no idea what he said, and neither did Belshazzar by the look on his face.

++ BELLAKANE && KYRIE ++

"Bellakane, you have the most beautiful family I swear! You should hook me up with one of your brothers or cousins."laughed her only friend, Kyrie, but the young princess quickly paled.

"U-uh, um I don't think...thats a good idea..."she mumbled, visibly horrified at the thought of Kyrie dating someone like Belvedere or Bellarino, especially Bellarino. She had been careful to make sure Kyrie never stepped into the castle or got near any of her siblings. Bellakane couldn't do anything about the twins bullying her, and she deserved it anyways for being a waste of royal blood, but the least she could do was protect Kyrie from them.

"What was that?" Bellakane heard her ask, and she tried to muster up the courage to warn her about how mean her brothers were, but she...didn't want to be mean and say anything bad about her family.

"Um...um, I think...most of them are...old. Yeah. Too old for you, I mean. N-not that there is anything wrong with being old! Or people dating with a large age difference...um...I..."she faltered as she tried to come up with an excuse, but Kyrie was used to this and just patted her on the shoulder with a supporting smile. "Ah, come on Bellakane! You can say what you want around me, remember? I like hearing your opinions."said Kyrie, and Bellakane wondered what she had done to deserve such a kind friend.

"Oh..ok...Ah, Kyrie. My brothers...not all of them are...cut out for relationships. Ummm...."she stuttered, tears suddenly welling up in her eyes. "Um..umumumum..."

"Er, Bellakane? Come here." Kyrie looked alarmed, but she had her arms open wide and Bellakane tried to hold back her tears. "Give me a hug!"

Bellakane was suddenly embraced in a tight hug. "Aw, sorry for making you cry, Belly-Kane~! I won't try to hit on any of your brothers, ok? Your cousins, on he other hand..."teased Kyrie, letting go of her, "Those blond beauties! Hey, I wonder how you would look with blonde hair?"

Bellakane was thankful for Kyrie purposely changing the subject and she smiled. "Mommy says I have daddy's straight, black hair!"she shared, proud to at least inherit something from her amazing father, even if it was something as simple as hair. "But she also said that I look a lot like she did when she my age. Maybe I would look like her if I was blonde?"

Kyrie smirked. "I bet you would look like your scary aunt. She has blonde, straight hair right?"

"Auntie Valora? Um, I don't think I look...tough enough to look like her. No amount of hair styling will fix that!"joked Bellakane.

++ VALENCINO ++

"Are you girls gossiping about dating and boys and hair again?"he asked with a grin as he stepped in the room the two girls were in, greeting both with a hug. "Oh, I wonder if my little Valstell will gossip about the same things when she's your age."he sighed, exaggerating his grief as he pretended to cry. "My poor heart...my baby girl...dating someday...no..."

He suddenly looked back at the two girls with a sly smile. "Oh, because my daughter really is the most precious in the world! Just today, I cast a spell to make animal shaped bubbles, and she loved it! Valstell was adorable trying to catch all of the bubbles."he described proudly. The girls giggled among themselves for a moment and he put on another smile on his face. "So, Bellakane, we need to go home early today..."he began. When he first walked in the room, he didn't have the heart to make the princess feel worried over her mom when she looked so happy with her friend. But, he had stalled enough, and now he needed to return her to the castle.

Bellakane blinked before nodding obediently. "O-oh, alright."she agreed, looking slightly confused.

++ BELLARINO ++

"You're lucky to even have me bother to glimpse at your disgusting face. You should be grateful that I lowered myself to touching someone of your...status. You think yourself a noble? That your pedigree is so great that I would be impressed? *Me*, a *prince* who is descended from the great
*Fai the Conqueror* and *Valhalla the Protector*! You are a filthy peasant compared to my grand lineage. Get out of my sight."he snarled shoving away the wizard in front of him. The wizard stumbled back onto his feet and was about to run away from the angry prince when Bellarino suddenly reached out and grabbed the collar of the retreating male's shirt. "You dare turn your back on a prince? After I graced you with my presence, why are you leaving?!"demanded the prince. He narrowed his eyes at the fumbling wizard before shoving him onto the floor.

"But you just said to leave-"

"Why would I ever want such a handsome wizard to leave?"chimed Bellarino sweetly, smiling as he extended his hand to help the wizard back onto his feet. The wizard hesitantly accepted the prince's hand and Bellarino forcefully pulled him into an embrace. "I could never be bored of you, oh no, I am infatuated with you. I adore everything about you: your face, your voice, your everything."he whispered into his ear, hugging him possessively.

"But...I-"

"Who do you think you are to interrupt me? Speaking to me with your annoying voice like an equal! Argh, shut up shut up shut up! You are so irritating!"he shouted, pulling away from the wizard and gripping onto his shoulder's tightly. He glared straight into the wizard's distraught eyes. "You only wanted me for my status and money! Didn't you?! How dare you treat royalty like this?! You disgust me."he growled, suddenly latching onto the wizard's throat as he held him against his bed, seconds away from choking him.

"No! No! It's not like that Prince Bellarino-"

"Oh, you can just call me Bellarino, remember sweetie? No need for labels when we are in my private room. You are so special to me, don't you feel honored to be favored by a prince?" Bellarino smiled again as he loosened his fierce grip on the wizard's neck.

Out of nowhere, a melody erupted in his room, inciting a furious reaction from Bellarino.

"That annoying tune, huh? Oh, do not worry about that. That's just my girlfriend calling. How dare she think I would waste my free time speaking with her?"he hissed, pulling away from the wizard.

"Um, you have a girlfriend-?"

Bellarino smirked as he tuned out the irritating ringtone. "Of course, there is no way someone as attractive as I am would remain single for long. And I have no doubt that you agree with me. After all, I know you had fun with me earlier when I-"he laughed, patting the wizard on the back, but the prince once again heard an annoying ringtone. Bellarino frowned and slowly turned his head towards the corner of his room, where his protector had been observing the entire time, looking bored as always.

++ EVELINA ++

A text from Big Mancini -she forgot his name again, too many damn Mancinis to remember- and Evelina replied she was watching over the royal brat, in more respectful words of course.

"How dare your phone ring while I'm busy! Shut that thing off, now!"she heard the prince shout, but she just stared at him blankly.

"Of course, my prince. "she replied, exaggerating the movements of her hand to show she was about to turn off the phone, "We will simply be last to hear if anything happens to your wonderful twin, your majesty."

As she predicted, Prince Bellarino threw the wizard off of him in an instant. "Get out!"he shouted at the male and she could feel the rage radiating from him as he paced angrily forward. "Belvedere?! Is he in danger? Pathetic peasant, I demand you to tell me at once before I have you executed!" Ignoring his threats, she waited until the other wizard finally escaped from the room and Bellarino's insanity before informing the brat, "Well, the assassin who attacked your mother was executed but we have not confirmed that the castle is one hundred percent safe yet."

Evelina heard him mutter something under his breath, probably another insult. The prince spoke up again, in that demanding tone she loathed, and began ranting, "Not safe?! My brother could be dying right now and you're here wasting my time, letting me screw around with some wizard! Take me to my brother now!"

++ BELLARINO ++

He frantically headed towards his and Belvedere's room, hoping he was still asleep and alive, cursing at Evelina the entire time.

Oh, how Bellarino hated her. She was always polite. Never a bother, never speaking when it was not needed, so quiet that he sometimes forgot she was around. He rarely saw any sort of emotion on her face. But he could tell she hated him. He could tell she was insulting him, somehow, in some form, most likely in her thoughts if the peasant possessed any brains in her uneducated mind. Bellarino knew hatred, he knew insults, probably better than anyone, because he hated everyone and insulted everyone. He could sense the subtle sarcasm in her tone and sometimes wondered if she was more cold-hearted than him.

Well, that cold bitch was probably jealous of him, he reminded himself. After all, why wouldn't she be? It was great to be him.

As he neared the section of the castle where the royal family lived, Bellarino spotted something on the floor. Something shiny. "What is that? The thing next to that blood?"he asked, pointing at the object. Being useful for once, his protector walked ahead and grabbed the item for him, her voice flat as usual, "It is a gold flower."

"Gold flower? Give it to me."he demanded, snatching the flower out of her hands. It was a gold flower, like she said, and he twirled the rose in his hands as he continued his walk towards the room. Bellarino smiled cruelly, knowing that it could only belong to his moronic older brother Bellerophon. He didn't care why it was here, or why there was blood on the floor next to it, he just felt excited at the thought that they finally got the flower. He couldn't wait to torment Bellerophon again. But he still worried for his precious twin, so he tossed the flower to Evelina to hold and continued to look for his brother.

When he finally reached their room, Bellarino slammed open the door and ran inside. "Belvedere?!"he called out as he went to his side, and to his relief the blond was still soundly sleeping and breathing. The relieved prince took Bellerophon's flower back from Evelina before dismissing her with a "Get out of my face you annoying bitch" and kicked her out of the room, knowing she would probably be standing outside anyways.

He gently shook his brother to try to wake him, happily exclaiming, "Belvedere! Wake up, you won't believe what I just found!"

++ EVELINA ++

Glad to be kicked out of the room, she whipped out her phone and sent another message to Valtreks.

I just found a gold flower in the hallway next to blood. Prince Bellarino verified that it belongs to Prince Bellerophon, but I do not see him anywhere near here.

[Midorimacchi]

++ KYUBEROS ++

Kyuberos waited anxiously as Trowa healed Bellerophon, his eyes never leaving the pink haired wizard's hands. Trowa was known notoriously throughout the castle for bad touching his patients, especially his unconscious ones. He didn't know why the healer was still employed here, even after all of the complaints he had received, from this year alone. Perhaps it had something to do with his family's high social status? The Lancaster family were known for their healing abilities, which was about the only thing saving Trowa from getting kicked out from the castle.

But no amount of nobility would be able to save him if his left hand continued any lower down Bellerophon's body and Kyuberos shout out his hand and stopped it, glaring heatedly at the wizard, " Go any further and you won't have a hand anymore."

" Ohh baby, that's it, just like that," Trowa moaned once more, but for once, Kyuberos didn't recoil. He knew enough about the wizard that most of what he said was just to get a reaction out of the other party. Or maybe he really was 100% serious about everything. Regardless, he was prepared to go through the pervert's flirting for the sake of Bellerophon's wellbeing.

Trowa seemed to catch on to Kyuberos' 'no joke, no play' mood and shook his hand off, peeling off his plastic gloves to toss them in the trash, " I've done all I can do. The best you can do right now is to watch over him and let me know when he wakes up. I'd like to examine him once more when he wakes, and if there is nothing unusual, then we have nothing to worry about."

Kyuberos didn't need to be told twice that he could leave and gathered up Bellerophon in his arms, too busy with Trowa's ridiculousness to notice that the Prince had woken up, only to fall back to sleep again. He left Trowa's office in a hurry, leaving behind the pervert healer and his condescending catcalls. He took Bellerophon to his side of the castle and arrived in his room in record time. He gently placed the Prince in his golden bed and tucked him under the covers, making sure that he was comfortable and that he could rest easy. Some of the maids had come by to draw the curtains and place a cool pitcher of water by his bedside table. And as much as Kyuberos wanted to stay and make sure that he was alright, there were more pressing matters to attend to, such as the prophecy that had placed Bellerophon in this condition in the first place.

Your Majesty, My King, I know you are busy right now, but I must speak with you urgently. Prince Bellerophon has seen a prophecy and it is....troubling to say the least.

What?! Came Belzeneff's angry reply. Even from far away, Kyuberos could already see his King seething with frustration. Whether from the danger that was about to come, or the fact that his son had seen such an important prophecy and not him, Kyuberos didn't know. But he didn't know that no matter how foolish or lazy Belzeneff was, he wasn't going to pass something like this up.

Meet me in my quarters in ten minutes. Belzeneff ordered shortly and ended their telepathic conversation. Kyuberos had enough time to make sure Bellerophon was comfortable again before calling Kyuubee over to watch over the sleeping Prince while he went off to talk with the King. It was only when he was approaching Belzeneff's door that he realized something was off. He couldn't place his finger on it, but there had been something different about Bellerophon today. Unfortunately, he didn't have enough time to dwell on it since the grand doors to Belzeneff's personal office opened and he slipped inside, ready to tell the King about Oz's new prophecy.

++ VALTREKS ++

After storming out of the medical room, Belzeneff had ordered Valtreks and Stannis to stand down and 'do whatever the hell they wanted to do' with his blessing, so the two decided to grab a quick bite to eat from the kitchen. Valtreks didn't get breaks often, usually having to stuff portable food containers and disposable snacks in his jacket pockets so he could eat on the go, so it felt nice to sit down and actually eat a meal. He had received text messages from the other Royal Protectors, with the exception of Kyuberos-- or Kyuubee, whichever one was on duty right now --but he wasn't alarmed. Out of all of his cousins, Bellerophon was always the one most heavily guarded, which is why he almost choked on his spoon full of soup when he got a text from Kyuberos saying that Bellerophon had just left Trowa's office. He quickly threw his spoon into the bowl, splashing tomato soup everywhere, and grabbed his jacket that was hanging on the back of his chair. " TIME TO GO STANNY, BELLEROPHON NEEDS OUR ASSISTANCE AT ONCE!!" He bellowed and Stannis faithfully dropped his food and unsheathed his sword for the second time that day, turning to look at Valtreks with trusting eyes, " Lead the way dear friend!!"

Thankfully, before any real damage was done, Valtreks received a follow up text from Kyuberos explaining what happened with the prophecy, and that Bellerophon was to be left alone and needed rest; the last thing he needed was having two dimwitted idiots screaming in his ear about their loyalty to the Royal family. Opting to ignore that last part, Valtreks sent back a smiley face and told Stannis it was a false alarm and the two returned to their seats, calmly falling back into eating their meal.

He wasn't alarmed by Evelina's text when he got it and relaxed into his seat, having finished the soup minutes before. KYUBEROS HAS INFORMED ME OF THE ORDEAL. DO NOT BE ALARMED, FAIR EVELINA, THE MATTER HAS BEEN CLEARED UP. He send the reply off without a second thought, but as he was putting his phone back into his pants pocket, something striked him as odd. Doing a quick double-take, Valtreks had a hard time believing what he had just read. Bellerophon without his flower? That was unheard of. Maybe Bellarino was mistaken? No, that wasn't it...it must have been Bellerophon's flower then. After some thought and deliberation, he decided to shrug it off for now. He did care about his cousins, but he had no time for brotherly conflicts right now, especially with an injured Prince and an-almost-assassinated-Queen. He did send a quick message to Ervin though, asking him to go and clean the puddle of blood up.

++ BELVEDERE ++

The young Prince had been napping in his soft, luxurious bed when he heard the voice of his twin and stirred. He wasn't prepared to stop dreaming just yet and turned over, hoping that Bellarino was just returning to their room for something and would leave soon. There wasn't much in the world that he would put above his beloved twin, but sleep was one of them. Still, when Bellarino shook his shoulder, he opened his eyes and stretched lazily, hoping that whatever he had to say was important. And when he looked at what Bellarino had in his hand, he knew that it was. Oh it was so, so important. He immediately sat up and looked at him with sparkling eyes, " Is that what I think it is??" He asked excitedly, scooting closer, " How did you manage to get it? I thought the guard dogs were on duty today? No, you know what, nevermind. We should be figuring out what to do with it? What should we do?"

Their older brother Bellerophon was always a good source of entertainment, but never had they had such a huge opportunity to fuck up his life like this one. " Do we burn it? Trash it? Pick the petals and spread them all across Wiz?" The possibilities were endless, they just had to choose the right one.

++ PEPPA JACK ++

" Formal investigation?" Peppa snorted, sitting back down, surrounded by his piles of money, " You had Peppa Jack worrin' that this was serious. The Council always tryin' ta catch Peppa Jack ridin' dirty, but you kno how Peppa Jack do, they ain't find nothin." Ever since the King's stunt with Aelita Mory, the Council has been trying to shut Candiland down, deeming it 'dirty' and 'morally unjustifiable' to be in such a holy city, such as the Main City, the city of the King. But all their attempts fell flat, what with Candiland being a legitimate business and all, and Belzeneff's reluctance to declare prostitution illegal.

" All Peppa Jack needs ta do is tidy up an we fine." He smiled, circling around in his chair. Truth was that he had to hide Valereon Mancini when the investigators came, sweep alittle drugs and honesty potions under the rug, and fix the hole in the roof, but all of those were nothing to fret over. Quick fixes. " You two jus' lie low for awhile, scat when the popo get here, and we all be fine."

[Azalea]

++ BELLARINO ++

"Yeah, yeah! It's Bellerophon's flower! Can you believe that I just found it, dropped on the floor?"he explained gleefully. Bellarino handed the gold rose to his twin, so that Belvedere could get a chance to hold and look at it too. "I say we burn the dumb thing or just cut it up and make it into salad, but we need to plan something even better. We need to think of something perfect!"his eyes danced with mischief. A part of Bellarino knew that his stupid older brother probably charmed the damn flower to be burn proof and resistant to other types of damage, and since Bellarino wasn't a loser nerd like Bellerophon who studied, he had no idea how to break his brother's stronger spells. But, he and his twin could get around that, because they were the best and nothing could stop the best for long.

"We need to think of something that would really disturb him, something *personal *that will fuck him up to the core, something that would make him even more crazy than that psycho brother of ours. I like your plan of spreading the petals across the world, but the flower would just be...hmmm lost, and he might not even believe us! I say we destroy it! Besides, I think he'll feel much, much more despair if he finds the rose right in front in him but too late to save it." he smirked, then with a dark laugh added, "Just like that dumb bitch he was supposed to marry. When he found her, it was already too late to help."

++ BELUFASA ++

Once Kyuberos left, the lion emerged from his extravagant personal suite and stepped into Master Bellerophon's connected room. Belufasa looked curiously at the sleeping wizard. He smelled of blood; but, he seemed to be resting. Assessing that his master was in a vulnerable state as he recovered, Belufasa suddenly pounced onto the golden bed and curled next to the prince, intending to guard Bellerophon as he slept. The sleeping wizard turned towards Belufasa when he came close and subconsciously hugged his large paw like a stuffed toy. Not minding the affection, the lion purred and glanced around the room, making sure no intruders approached.

++ SERAPHION && JAYCEE ++

"But still, the investigation involves a prince this time, so I'm concerned. The queen's favorite prince, too."he countered, though Seraphion would not be surprised if Peppa Jack still didn't see an issue. Before he could say anything else, Jaycee interrupted.

"Ahhh, boss sir you're always so serious, thinking all things through, but Peppa Jack said we're fine! Besides, the queen was poisoned, she ain't got time worrying about us."he proudly relayed, then widened his eyes for a second, and looked at Peppa Jack. "Oh, yeah! The queen got poisoned, did I say that already? I was telling Charlotte, after Seraphion told me that Abiel told him, but did he tell you?"

Seraphion sighed. "Jaycee, that reminds me, you shouldn't have mentioned secret information near Peppa Jack's customers."he explained patiently, before he reached into his pocket and pulled out a miniature envelope he shrunk with a spell earlier. "We need to discuss your gossiping habits, Jaycee, but that is for later. Can you run an errand for me? I have to do something once we return to The Under, so after we arrive, give this to Aurelia please."he asked, and Jaycee smiled enthusiastically as he took the letter into his hands.

"Oh, I got it! Give this to Miss Zolne...Zonro...wish...witch...Um, yeah! Her!"Jayce sputtered embarrassed, having no idea how to pronounce his boss' partner's name. "I won't fail you, boss."he assured with determination sparkling in his eyes as he placed the little letter in his pocket. Seraphion nodded and added, "Well, why don't you go get yourself a snack at sugar rush Jaycee? I've got some things to discuss with Peppa Jack that will surely bore you..."

Jaycee grinned and nodded. "Alright, boss! Mista Peppa Jack! I'll see you later!"he happily said his goodbye as he sped out the door, knowing that he had been dismissed.

++ SERAPHION ++

Now that he had gotten Jaycee out of the room, Seraphion focused his attention back to Peppa Jack. "I mentioned I also had good news, so I'll get right to it. I've managed to make a bargain with the demon king..."he paused for a moment, thinking how he could explain his deal swiftly and efficiently, "We'll be safe if he ever becomes angry enough at Belzeneff to wage war on Wiz. We discussed many things, but the part that concerns you is that essentially Candiland won't be touched, and the demons who disobey will have a very...effective, punishment that will correct their behavior and make sure they do not do so again. Of course, this is only in the worst case scenario that an actual war takes place. He still feels angry about what happened with the Mancini traitor and Prince, but I think I have convinced him he should spend his time and resources looking for his son, rather than attack Wiz in revenge."

As he finished his explanation, Seraphion had no time to gauge Peppa Jack's reaction to his news because he suddenly heard his son Angelic's voice. Of course, the sound sweeping the room was merely a ringtone, and Seraphion pulled out the cellphone his other son Angiel had given him after becoming a knight. "I'm sorry, Peppa Jack, this is Angiel's emergency line, please excuse me..."

He answered the phone and pressed it against his ear, sensing his son's worry through the phone. Father, are you alone? he heard him ask, and Seraphion replied, "No, I'm with Peppa Jack." To his surprise, Angiel seemed to be pleased with his answer and sounded slightly more confident. Good, put the phone on speaker. This involves him, too.

Seraphion felt genuinely puzzled why he would need to randomly talk to the pimp but trusted his son. He looked at Peppa Jack. "He says this involves you."he explained, before pressing a button on his phone. "Alright, we are on speaker, Angiel."

I have an update on the situation with the queen. Noem Siran was her only protector on duty during the attack. He is being blamed for her condition and his failure has earned him a death sentence. his son informed in a smooth voice, straight to the point with his report. Peppa Jack, you told us he used to work for you? If you wish it, I can save him for you. We have a stroke of luck because I am one of the ones tasked with bringing him to the executioner. I'll think of something, even though it's risky. I just need to know if you want me to send him to Candiland after he escapes. Would you be willing to protect him, Peppa Jack, and sway him to our cause?

[Midorimacchi]

++ VALALEE ++

" Oh wow, what cute dresses!!" Valalee sighed in appreciation, her nose pressed up against the display case window. Her uncle Vallix was amazing with all of the beautiful clothes that he made. She wished that she could just wear the entire shop, rather than just the ones he made for her, or just the clothes in her size. She wanted the whole shop. But her Mom would never let her have that many clothes, no matter how cheap they got them because of the family discount. " Oh well," She muttered, moving away from the window. She briefly thought about going in to say hello to one of her favorite uncles, but she was already late for her swordsmenship classes (that was halfway across town), and decided against it, continuing down the street.

++ ORORO ++

However, only a few buildings aways from VallixM, a drug deal was going down in an alley way. " That's 1000ℬ, you son of a bitch, now pay up." Ororo threatened, stroking the tip of her switchblade against the man's throat. " You were late with your payment last time, you know he doesn't like that."

"Y-Yes m'am!" The frightened man stuttered, digging into his pocket for the Belzecash. Once she saw the money, Ororo backed off and allowed him to count his money properly. " Here!" He threw the money at her, which she gracefully caught in one hand and slipped it into her bag. Wordlessly, she took out the supply from the hidden pockets in her skirt and handed the small clear bag over to the man, giving him a hard look. He seemed to understand that their interaction was over and stumbled out of the alleyway in a hurry. On his way, he passed by a small girl who was standing at the entrance of the alley, glaring at Ororo with all of her might.

" Excuuuuuse me! Did I just see what I thought I saw?" The little girl said with a stong voice, but Ororo could tell that she wasn't as confident as she was making out to be, " Was that an illegal drug deal that just happened? I'll have you know that my mommy is a Knight, and I won't stand for this!"

Ororo wasn't intimidated by the girl and stared at her with disinterest, wondering where she had seen her before. Her mom was a Knight huh? And with pretty blonde hair like that, she must be a Mancini. They just keep popping up all over the place... The girl was still preaching by the time Ororo dashed towards her, swiftly hitting the back of her neck to knock her out and dragging her back into the safe darkness of the alley where they wouldn't be seen. She had orders from Tiaro that her deals must be kept a secret, at all costs, but they never really went over what should happen if a child witnessed it. Bringing this kid back to the Under seemed to be the best option for now anyway, Tiaro could figure out what to do with her.

She collected Valalee in her arms, removing the two small swords that were attached to her belt and threw them inside a trashcan, and went deeper into the alleyway, heading towards the tunnel to the Under.

From across the street, a pair of yellow eyes watched them with interest, but did nothing to stop the situation from happening. The baby strapped to her chest gurgled and Valancy smiled, turning away from the alley to focus on her daughter instead, " What should we eat for dinner today baby? What would Daddy like to eat, I wonder?"

++ BELVEDERE ++

"Wow!" Belvedere exclaimed, twirling the golden rose between his fingers, never getting the chance to see it so close. Oz only knows how long he and Bellarino had spent tormenting their stupid older brother about his little girlfriend dying or falling into a coma or whatever, and messing up this flower would out-do anything they had done before. He handed the rose back over to his twin and got off the bed, " Do you know where the golden idiot is now? How much time we have? Are the guard dogs going to be knocking down our door anytime soon? We need to destroy this thing fast, before they get their paws on it." He smiled gleefully, just imagining the rose lit with flames and the look that Bellerophon would have on his face.

Sadly, neither he or Bellarino knew enough magic to create fire spells -- why would they when they had other people to do it for them?? -- but they still had the tools. " There's a lighter around here somewhere..."

++ PEPPA JACK ++

" Ahahaha, you worry too much friend! Relax, relax, Peppa's got it all under control." He, himself, relaxed further into his seat and lit up a cigar, nodding to Jaycee when he asked about his knowledge of the Queen being poisoned. News traveled fast within the circle of nobles in the city and one of his Cupcakes had happened to overhear their conversation and she came to tell him. He was actually surprised that they had managed to get as far as the Queen and it made taking down Belzeneff seem obtainable. He came back to the conversation when Jaycee hurried out of the room and he was left with Seraphion, who went on to tell him about his meeting with the demon king.

" Good," Peppa smiled, absolutely serious for once as he ran his fingers across the mahogany desk, a gift he inherited from his father along with Candiland. This place was his home where he grew up with his parents and now that they had both left him, he felt especially protective of it because it was all he had left. When Seraphion's phone went off, he was prepared to give him some privacy to talk to his son but was equally surprised as his friend when he put the phone on speaker, saying that the matter concerned him too. He was immediately concerned at the mention of Noem, going as far as standing up from his seat and setting his cigar down, " Noem's getting executed? Those pathetic royal scum! They'll jump at any excuse to kill others!" Peppa never got this angry, not when Aelita got sent away, not when he got stabbed by one of his own workers, not even when his mother left him and got remarried. But whenever one of his precious Cupcakes or Enclaires were in danger, any kindness he had morphed into steel determination to fight and protect what was his. Peppa was so angry that he knocked over a stack of Belzacash on his way to grab the phone, taking it from Seraphion so he could hear Angiel better, " You won't be in trouble, correct?" he glanced at Seraphion, careful not to talk his son into anything that would indanger his life, " Peppa will have some of his best Cupcakes waiting for you nearby. Get Noem to them and they will disguise him and transport him here. Peppa Jack will never turn away from one of his own."

[Azalea]

++ BELLARINO ++

He took back the rose and smirked, Well, everyone is busy I think? Theres this big fuss over mother because she almost died from poison or something. We have plenty of time. Theyre distracted." Now that he reminded himself of why he felt so distressed earlier, Bellarino wondered, was it safe for his precious brother to walk through the castle yet?! But he pushed his thoughts aside, telling himself that neither him nor Belvederé were idiotic enough to get poisoned.

"I think it's with all our tool shit. Ill go get it. He walked over to one of their drawers on the other side of the room, looking inside and spotting the assortment of knives and other items messily scattered. It wasn't the first time they needed to destroy something and Bellarino threw all of their tools into one place for times likes this. After digging around through the drawer, his hand pulled out a small red lighter.

Heh, here it is. You wanna light it? he offered, and after confirming that the lighter actually worked, he returned to Belvederé. Bellarino placed the lighter into his brothers hand and held the rose in front of him. "Should we burn it now?"he asked excitedly.

++ VALLIX ++

Unaware of his niece's dilemma a few buildings away, Vallix stood in his shop with a crying male. The Mancini smiled as he patted the man on the shoulder and offered him a handkerchief - handmade by him with the best quality, of course - then watched as the wizard wiped the tears from his face. "I-I'm so sorry! For trying...*hic*...to rob you!" The man had been sobbing for the past ten minutes, apologizing to Vallix for his attempt at theft.

"Please, do stop crying now, my friend." soothed Vallix patiently, his soft voice only causing the other wizard to cry even more. "You are not the first to try to steal from my shop, good wizard, and I have not reported a single person. You need not worry. I understand, really. Let us sit down at my table in the back, would you like some tea and snacks? We must really have a wonderful chat and get to know each other. I want to know more about the wizard who thinks my clothes are good enough to steal!" He happily smiled, placing an arm around the wizard, and led him to his living quarters behind the shopfront. It was a weekly ritual for Vallix to catch a thief in his shop, subdue them, reassure the burglar that he has forgiven them, invite them for a meal while he asks their life stories, then add them to his list of people who receive friend discounts. Vallix genuinely wanted to help the poor, desperate wizards who stumbled into his shop on a daily basis so he tried to befriend every customer - even wizards who tried to rob and sell the clothes he worked tirelessly to create. Even when he knew there were wizards who would gladly take advantage of his friendliness, like one frightening customer who ordered a fire proof cloak, Vallix still felt happy with his business.

++ TIARO ++

His fire proof cloak draped on his shoulders, Tiaro strolled through his garden, being led by one of the wizards he hired to take care of his plants. It took quite a while for him to steal enough plants from above and figure out how to make them survive in The Under, but he did it. His garden was kept in a well-guarded room in his base and any wizard foolish enough to try and break in dealt with Tiaro personally. While twenty five percent of the plants were merely for oxygen purposes, to counter the horrible air quality of The Under, seventy five percent of Tiaro's plants were what he used to create his drugs.

"Found two plants fuckin wilted, Tiaro, but it's all good dey were only da air plants." explained the gardener, "But I planted ya three more new ones!"

Tiaro nodded, glancing at the rows and rows of green in the room. "Acceptable work. Come with me." He turned around and immediately walked towards his office, his employee trailing after him like an excited puppy. Tiaro kept his garden close to his office so it did not take long to reach it. Opening the door with his key, the gardener wizard followed Tiaro inside and sat down in the chair across Tiaro's desk, watching as the blond counted a huge pile of money that he pulled from his drawer. "Your pay." Tiaro threw a stack of Belzecash at the wizard and was looked at with grateful eyes. "And you have pleased me with your thoughtful insight, so I have added a bonus. You are dismissed." He informed, knowing that treating his employees well would only secure their loyalty even further.

"Thanks Tiaro! I'll see ya next month, eh boss?"the wizard exclaimed gleefully.

Tiaro nodded quietly and watched his employee walk out of the room, holding onto the money protectively. Satisfied with how his business was going, Tiaro leaned back in his chair and let the thoughts run through his mind. Paper was a luxury in The Under, so Tiaro memorized everything. As a result he knew the names of every employee, customer, bill, debt, and other vital information like he knew the back of his hand. He knew he would be receiving payments that Ororo and his other thugs collected from his customers today and mentally calculated how much profit he would make.

++ SERAPHION ++

Letting Peppa Jack grab his phone, he listened intently to what Angiel was saying. Seraphion could tell that his son hesitated in answering Peppa Jack and he frowned, worry creeping into his chest.

- ...There is always a possibility, but I can't just let an innocent man die, right? - he heard Angiel speak, and Seraphion wondered if he still felt guilty for not being able to save Klava Mioska. Angiel had not been able to save every innocent that had been executed and that protector was one of the more recent ones. - Alright. I'll try to get him out as soon as I can and I'll send him to the rendezvous point, so send your Cupcakes there. I'll call again if the situation changes or is something comes up. -

"Angiel." Seraphion interjected before the knight hung up. "Be careful, alright?"

- I will. - Angiel said before cutting the line, and Seraphion looked at Peppa Jack. He could still feel the anger seething from his friend. "We better start planning right away. Which Cupcakes are you planning to send?"

++ a n g e l i c ++

Meanwhile in Pitsta, Angelic only wanted to check out a local shop in order to buy a scarf, but someone recognized him and his plans for the day went downhill.

"A-ah, hello, everyone..." mumbled the pink haired idol, his blue eyes scanning the crowd of wizards surrounding him. "Um..." His voice trembled as question after question and comment after comment were thrown continuously in his direction. "O-one question at a time...please?" he begged desperately, his soft voice sadly drowned by the excited fans. The situation was quickly spiraling out of his control and, by pure habit, he gripped the sleeve of his protector's shirt like a frightened child. He leaned into his protector's ear and asked in a low panicked whisper, "Satanic, d-do you have my notecards?"

[Midorimacchi]

I WILL EDIT THIS WITH AN ACTUAL RESPONSE WHEN IM READY LOL

++ BELVEDERE && BELLADON ++

Just as the little shit stain is about to light it up, the lighter is smacked out of his hands by their eldest brother Belladon. He snatches the flower away from them and scolds them for being pieces of trash and 'how can you do that to your brother's most precious item!'. He smacks their heads together and generally just talks down to them. Belvedere orders him to give back the flower, but doesn't try to make a move, knowing that Belladon is much stronger than him. Belvedere's protector, Madiana, is training behind him, apologizing since she was supposed to be guarding the doors, and not wanting to expose his true colors just yet, Belvedere says that everything is ok.

++ ORORO && VALALEE ++

Ororo leads Valalee, tied and blindfolded, down to the Under and parks her infront of Tiaro's garden like some sort of horse, tying her ropes to a tree so she couldn't get away. Ororo then goes to Tiaro's office to tell him the news. Valalee tries to be brave, but she's scared and alone and ends up crying anyway. Ororo tells Tiaro that the girl is a Mancini and unlike her other victims, people will actually care about her disappearance.

++ PEPPA JACK ++

Peppa tells Seraphion the plan. He'll send 4 Cupcakes to the rendezvous spot and once Noem is delivered to them, they'll disguise him and take him back to Candiland. They'll use their powers of femininity to distract anyone from noticing Noem between them. Peppa lists off his most favorite Cupcakes to do the job, Charlotte being one of them.

++ SATANIC ++

Anxious because of the large crowd, Satanic focuses on finding the right notecards for Angelic. Right inbetween SMALL CHILDREN and BEAUTIFUL WOMEN, he finds the LARGE CROWD notecards and hands them over, keeping an eye on the crowd incase they get too rowdy.

[Azalea]

++ EVELINA ++

Though her face did not express it, she felt incredibly smug and satisfied when Prince Belladon stormed into the royal brats' room and took away the flower. She did not personally care about Prince Bellerophon's feelings about the gold rose, but she certainly enjoyed the thought of Bellarino getting scolded by his brother, since she could not do so herself. Because the door had been left open, she could hear and see the entire thing, and Evelina felt that Oz himself had blessed her with this wonderful memory. Belladon's protector, Cordelia, was warily watching the scene alongside her quietly but Evelina ignored her in favor of observing the delightful situation.

++ BELLARINO ++

All the happiness and joy he felt was sucked out of him once the flower and lighter were swatted out from their hands. It was replaced with burning, uncontrollable rage.

"Ow!" He rubbed his aching forehead, glaring at Belladon, "Hey, that's mine now! I found that first, give it back to us!" He shouted childishly, seething with anger over his prize being taken away. He lunged forward and attempted to swipe the flower back from Belladon, but his older brother was taller and faster and stronger than him, so his actions were futile and the flower remain safely in Belladon's pocket.

"Argh! How dare you take that from me! Who do you think you are, to tell me what I can or can't do?! You can't have the flower!...I hate you!" he yelled at Belladon, not at all knowing how to handle not getting what he wanted for once. "I hate you, I hate you, you have shitty hair too!" He fumed, throwing a temper tantrum. Oh, how he just wanted Belladon out of this room and out of his face. "I want that flower, I found it, so I deserve it. Me and Belvedere should have that flower, not you!"he repeated, though when he still did not get the flower he changed tactics. "I won't forget this, you stupid prick. If you care about Bellerophon", he spat out the name like he was speaking of a disgusting insect, "so much, I found that stupid flower next to a puddle of blood, so you should go see if he is alive. Get the fuck out of here already!"

Unlike his twin, he did not care to play nice at the moment, and he turned away from Belladon and redirected his anger to Madiana. "You dumb bitch, how can you protect my brother if you can't stop anybody from storming into here. You're useless trash."he snarled. "You, and my shitty protector, the both of you useless! It's your fault! I was about to see that stupid thing burn, and you ruined it."

++ SERAPHION ++

He nodded with approval. Seraphion had faith in Peppa Jack's Cupcakes and felt confident they would be able to handle such an important mission at short notice. "I think the plan has a high success rate. And I can have some of my men provide any extra distractions, should the situation require it." he suggested, remembering some thugs he befriended the other day.

Seraphion still did not know how he personally felt about the situation, but he felt relieved that he would not have to fight against Noem Siran anytime soon now that he was not a royal protector. Harming one of Peppa Jack's old Eclaires was not something he had been looking forward to and a part of him felt glad that this had happened because now he would not have to. His greatest concern, though, was for Angiel and hoped his son would not be placed in jeopardy for Noem escaping.

He heard his phone go off once more, this time a simple text message, and he quickly looked at his phone. "We have two hours." he said, reading the text from Angiel.

++ TIARO ++

When he saw that Ororo had entered his office, he had been expecting money, not bad news. "How troublesome." he answered calmly, though it was obvious Tiaro felt immensely displeased at the development. He leaned back in his chair and thought over his options. If she goes missing or is found dead the council would surely make a fuss and Tiaro did not want to deal with those idiots. It would be inconvenient for business if the council dogs roamed around too freely and caught sight of any drugs deals. But the little Mancini girl most definitely saw Ororo's face, so he could not just let her go free back on the surface without taking any precautions first. "Bring me to her."he instructed, standing from his seat. "I will deal with her personally."

++ A N G E L I C ++

"T-thank you." He felt relieved as he grabbed the cards, nearly dropping them because he felt so panicked. "Um..." He quickly glanced at the LARGE CROWD notecard and read through the pointers.

RELAX, BREATHE.
SMILE, BE KIND, BE HUMBLE.
PRAISE YOUR FANS, MAKE THEM HAPPY.
TALK ABOUT YOUR MUSIC.
SMILE. WAVE AFFECTIONATELY.

Angelic took a deep breath and tried to ignore the sick feeling in his stomach, flashing a nervous smile at his excited fans. Releasing his grip on Satanic's sleeve he waved to the crowd, then took another quick glance at his card, before raising his voice. "H-hello! My fans! I am so happy. Happy, that you...you, um", he looked at his note card again, "Are here! T-thank you. Thank you all!"

The mere presence of Satanic made the crowd wary of getting too close to them and Angelic felt thankful. It was much easier dealing with the crowd when he had some space. Since he started to speak and actually attempted to address the crowd instead of silently crying on the inside, the wizards had started to hush and quiet down, wanting to hear what Angelic had to say, though there will still some cheering and talkative people. The idol prayed silently to himself, hoping that he could somehow channel his father's speaking skills.

"I...I am so grateful!" he smiled again, but his nerves did not ease at all. "Grateful, that my music is something you enjoy. I, I hope that my songs will have...touched your souls. Much like you, my fans, have touched my soul..." Angelic was literally spouting out random words out of his mouth and he just wanted to go faint somewhere. "My fans...my fans, I appreciate you...Singing for you, my fans, brings me such, such joy. I am nothing without you all." The crowd had seemed to finally start listening to his speech and he hoped they didn't notice him shaking. "Thank you for your support!" he took a discreet glance at his card one last, "I look forward to making more music you will enjoy!"

He smiled and waved, before looking at Satanic once again. "L-lets get out of here."he whispered.

[Midorimacchi]

AGAIN, ILL EDIT THIS LATER AYE

++ BELLADON ++

U SAY BROTHER IS HURT??? IM ON MY WAY

Belladon basically runs the fuck out of there after hearing that Bellerophon was hurt. For some reason he blames his Protector Cordelia, probably because he's a douchebag too.

++ BELVEDERE ++

Not wanting to go against his twin's words, but also not wanting to blow his game, Belvedere tells Madiana that she messed up, and to be his Protector she has to be #1 because he deserves nothing but the best. Madiana cries and promises to do her best and lets Belvedere talk her into getting food for them. Once she leaves, Belvedere tells Bellarino that they have to get that flower. THIS IS THEIR ONLY CHANCE??!!!

++ PEPPA JACK ++
Peppa orders the 4 Cupcake's schedules to be cancelled and to meet them in his office where they can discuss the plan.

++ ORORO && VALALEE ++

Honest to god I have no idea what happens with them, but I have a feeling that Valalee mentions her mom being a knight and that her family will come looking for revenge if she's hurt?? HER GRANDUNCLE IS THE KING??!!!! idk what ororo does?? probably slap her?? i think???

++ SATANIC ++

After the speech, Satanic leads Angelic through the crowd, but some guy pulls on Angelic's arm and Satanic goes into power ranger mode. He twists the guy's arm or something like that and the dude goes running off. In tribute to Komaeda, he apologizes for being trash and over reacting.

[Azalea]

++BELLARINO++

Bellarino turned his attention away from his stupid protector once Belvedere had gotten rid his own dumb bitch. “He’s checking on that loser, so the prick will be here for a bit longer, at least, so we have more time to steal the damn flower back. Ok, how about one of us distracts him, while the other sneaks ahead and sets a trap near the gold maniac’s room?” the prince suggested quickly, the anger in his voice replaced by absolute confidence, “Nobody gets past our tricks! We’ll definitely get the flower back.”

The pranks he and his brother pulled to torment the wizard council were perfect, because they were obviously geniuses, and Belladon would pay for being a nosy bastard. The prince quickly turned to his protector, who was still standing by the door quietly like a useless piece of shit, “You will not ruin our brilliant plan, bitch, so don’t even think about texting Belladon’s trash of a protector.”

++EVELINA++

“I would never dream of it, my prince.” she answered monotonously, seemingly unaffected by Bellarino’s anger. “But because of the dangerous risk, you remember, with your mother’s attack… I will not be allowed to leave Prince Belvedere unattended without his protector, so you must both go together if you leave here,” she informed, internally cursing the newbie protector for leaving her to watch the blond brat without a thought. “However, if Prince Belvedere hurries and joins Prince Belladon, he will be under the protection of Protector Cordelia. Then I will be able to escort you to Prince Bellerophon’s room, if that is what you wish.”

Evelina would gladly help them with their idiotic quest for the flower if it meant separating the twins, no matter how little sense the “brilliant plan” made to her. Bellarino was bad enough by himself, but together they were insufferable and there was no way she was going to deal with their bullshit if she had a way to get out of it. She watched as Bellarino eyed her suspiciously and looked like he was actually thinking for once. “Dammit!” he suddenly cursed. The look in his eyes made her think that he was angry over having to lower himself to considering her idea, but she knew that his affection for his brother was stronger than any anger at her. It was very amusing exploiting his weakness for the blond brat.

++SERAPHION++

“I will leave you now to speak to your Cupcakes. I will return once I have finished my own preparations, but you know how to reach me if I am needed before then. Farewell.” he said, bowing his head slightly before exiting the room. The rebel leader passed by the four Cupcakes that Peppa Jack had summoned and gave them a quiet “good luck” as he headed for the exit.

++CHARLOTTE++

Knocking on the door, she and the three other girls entered the room once Peppa Jack gave them permission. “Peppa Jack asked for his Cupcakes?” she asked curiously, wondering what had happened. It was not often that her boss asked them to cancel on such short notice, and Charlotte wondered if this had anything to do with the mess that Jaycee had made with the prince earlier.

++VALENTIANO++

Frowning as his daughter’s sword instructor spoke on the phone, he answered with politeness, “No, she was supposed to be at lessons today as far as I know sir. I will ask my wife if Valalee mentioned any change in her plans. Thank you for letting me know.”

Placing his cellphone in his pocket, he went to the living room to look for Valora. But what he saw was Valexander looking like he was about to cry as he sat on the couch with Valhero standing in front of him, arguing over something with Valora. Valentiano cringed as he heard his family fight with one another and just as he was about to say something, he was interrupted.

“Speak to me after I have properly shown this disobedient child his place.” Valora lashed out, and of course his son did not respond to this well.

“Well if you weren’t such a bitch-”Valhero began to shout, but Valentiano cut in before he could say anything worse.

“Valhero, please don’t speak about your mother that way…”he pleaded lowly, not having the heart to raise his voice against his child. And while Valentiano tried to stop the argument between his son and wife, he momentarily forgot about the phone call he received about his daughter.

++TIARO++
The drug lord raised his hand silently, signaling for Ororo to cease hitting the child. With the same hand, a small ball of fire sparked and the flames flickered in his palm for a moment before he sent it to the girl. It lightly brushed against the injury Ororo had dealt her on the cheek, leaving her a minor burn. “Silence.”

His demand made no room for argument and Tiaro was prepared to burn her tongue out if she did not understand this only warning. “Listen, little Mancini.” he began, dismissing the fire as he stepped closer to the captured girl. “The only result of you telling me your heritage is that you have given me the names of my next targets.” he explained, his voice calm with an edge of danger. “But if you keep quiet about what you saw today, I will spare your life and your family. Do not mention the drugs. Do not mention me or the woman you saw earlier. Do not mention where you got that little burn on your face. Do not mention anything. And believe me. I will know if you do.” he paused, for his words to sink in.

"You have many relatives. Keep quiet and they will be fine. Talk and I will kill as many as I find. Would you really risk your beloved family, all to expose some drug addicted fools? It would be a shame, for you to cause their deaths, because you could not keep a secret. And it would be simple to get to some of you Mancinis. Like Vallix, that kind hearted fool. He welcomes even the worse of scum into his little shop. He invites thieves and criminals to dinner, calling everyone his dear friends.” He chuckled darkly at the mention of the man, silently hoping that this girl kept her mouth shut because it would be an inconvenience to actually have to go through with his threat. “It would be easy for one of those dear friends to be an assassin.”

++ANGELIC++

The remaining wizards who had stayed back after the conclusion of his speech for a chance at seeing Angelic had started to disperse, much to the idol’s relief. The fan who tried to grab his arm had fled after Satanic’s quick act of protection and Angelic felt grateful, but to his confusion the dark haired man apologized. “Um, um, uh…?”he began to stutter as his protector looked more crestfallen than usual. “You…protected me though…d-don’t apologize…”

He nervously tried to console Satanic, though the pink haired wizard knew he was an absolute failure at trying to comfort people with words that were not his songs. His confidence went even lower once his protector called himself trash and Angelic silently wished he had notecards for this.

“T-trash..? What? But I… Um…um…Well it’s ok! It’s ok if you’re trash!” he blurted out, and he started to feel lame once he realized what he said, “Uh, I mean, you…know that saying? I think it went…one wizard’s trash is…another wizard’s treasure. Er…I meant, I’m that…another wizard. Yeah, to me you…are my treasure.”

Angelic was sure his face was red from the embarrassment of how cheesy he sounded, worse than his song lyrics, and prayed that there was nobody close enough to hear him. He hoped he could just blame his blushing on the cold weather. “Ok??? P-please. Don’t think badly of yourself.” he pleaded, hoping he could someday get through to Satanic that he was not worthless, “You, Satanic, will always be my treasure.”

[Midorimacchi]

++ BELVEDERE ++

"Excuse me?" Belvedere interjected, offended by the words of his brother's Protector. " You don't think that I can take care of myself? If it wasn't for these stupid laws, Bellarino and I wouldn't even need protectors. We can take care of ourselves." In all honesty, everything he was saying was absolute bullshit -he and Bellarino had to use a lighter to create a flame afterall- but there was no way that he was ever going to admit that.

Still, he could see Bellarino thinking it over in his head, and the more time they spent talking about it, the closer their shithead brother got to Bellerophon's room, so he suddenly decided to go along with the plan...Albeit reluctantly.

" Alright, alright! Whatever. I'll go distract that prick and gain you some time to set a trap for him." Belvedere shot Evelina one more dirty look before sprinting out the door to follow Belladon down the hall. Who the hell did that bitch think she was anyway? Entering his and Bellarino's private conversation so easily? As if she had the right to do so? She was even getting more annoying than his last Protector had been -what was his name again?? the one with the violin??- Well, whatever. He had hated that guy and Evelina was getting dangerously close to that point.

It only took him a few short minutes to catch up to that long haired bastard, which was surprising considering the speed that he had left their room with. Having little to no time to devise a tactic to distract Belladon, he did the first thing that popped in his mind.

" Hey!! Brother! Hey brother! Hold on!" He yelled, picking up his pace so that it looked like he had been running when he had only been leisurely jogging before. The tall bastard dutifully stopped and turned around, giving Belvedere the chance to catch up with him finally and he stopped at his side, making sure that Belladon saw him taking deep dramatic breaths. His brother looked at him expectingly and Belvedere could only guess that he was waiting for some bullshit to come spewing out of his mouth. And who was Belvedere to let him down?

" Look, about that...It was all Bellarino's idea! It's not like I wanted to do it, but Bellarino is very convincing, I'm sure you know. It's hard to say no to him! You know how it's like to be a twin, you don't wanna let them down." He was lying straight through his teeth but it sounded convincing even to him, but Belladon kept an empty expression as he listened to him ramble on. " I'm the only one that Bellarino feels confident to confide to and I didn't wanna push him away. I knew that burning Bellerophon's flower was bad...But letting down my twin would make me feel even worse." He looked down in shame, but in reality he was just hiding his face incase he busted out laughing from his own exceptional acting skills. If Belladon didn't see his face, maybe he could pass it off as crying?

Belladon stayed silent for a while and Belvedere was about to dare to look up when he suddenly felt his eldest brother's arms embrace him and pull him into a tight hug. The blonde had to bite his tongue to stop himself from laughing, or throwing up. His arms remained limp at their sides, but Belladon didn't seem to mind.

" I'm so glad you told me this Belvedere." Belladon said sincerely, smoothing down his brother's hair as he talked, " I was about to give up on you two. I thought there was no hope for you! All those evil pranks and tricks you play on others, all the mean things you say...I'm so glad you came to me with this!" Belladon honestly sounded surprised and Belvedere smiled to assure him that what he was saying was true. Belladon released him from the hug and grabbed his arm, pulling him in the direction of Bellerophon's room, " The first thing you can do to fix your behavior is to apologize to Bellerophon personally."

As they walked, Belvedere glared at Cordelia from behind Belladon's back. He knew that she wasn't as trusting as Belladon and that she didn't believe him one bit, so he glared at her, daring her to say anything about it. He and his twin knew full well that Belladon's one weakness was his family and they used that to their advantage while the idiot continued to be fooled by them everytime they said something nice to him. They rounded the hallway that would lead them all the way down to Bellerophon's room but Belvedere felt that he needed to give Bellarino more time. He needed to create a bigger distraction.

Just as they were passing another hallway, Belvedere caught a glimpse of his next target. In the distance he saw two heads, one with light blue hair and another with golden blonde and he smiled gleefully. Unfortunately, Belladon shared he and Bellarino's dislike for their "brother" and wouldn't be concerned enough to stop if something bad happened to him. But their cousin on the other hand? No, Belladon's concern didn't stop with his immediate family, but extended to Bellona's side as well. Which meant Valis would have to take one for the team this time. The poor fucker.

His cousin was too distracted with his ice cream to notice the three of them walking by and Belvedere casted a small spell and sent it his way. It was nothing big -he sucked at magic anyway- but it was enough to trip him up. They passed the hall so Belvedere didn't have the pleasure to see the blonde idiot fall down, but he was content enough to hear his little faggot boyfriend cry out his name in concern. Right on cue, Belladon stopped and backtracked to the hallway they passed to find Valis on his stomach, his ice cream ruined on the floor, and a nasty gash on his forehead from where he fell against one of the hallway decorations. Belladon let go of his arm and went to Valis' side, even pushing Belisario out of the way so he could inspect the cut. Belvedere was left standing by Cordelia and laughed lightly, " Wow, these carpets are so dangerous, aren't they? Anyone can trip on them." He shook his head with a grin.

This would give Bellarino a good few minutes to get everything set up.

++ PEPPA JACK++

Peppa bid his farewells to Seraphion before he left, and not long after, his beautiful Cupcakes arrived. He invited them all to sit and offered them some snacks or drinks before he got down to business. Once they were all settled, he told them about the plan that he and Seraphion devised.

" Getting Adonis here safely is the most important thing," he said seriously, choosing to refer to Noem by his alias since two of the Cupcakes in the room had worked with him during his time at Candiland, " He's going to be a very wanted man, and the guards and Knights around the city are going to be on high alert. Its your jobs to distract others from noticing him." Peppa was only ever this serious when either one of his Cupcakes were in danger, or his money. His Cupcakes most have noticed how serious this was because they didn't even hesitate before they accepted.

" Of course we'll do it Peppa Jack!" Sancha spoke up, " Once a Cupcake, always a Cupcake! We'll never turn away from one in need."

A warm smile spread across the pimp's face and he reached into his desk drawers to pull out four stacks of cash. " You know you're all Peppa Jack's best girls. This is your weekly earnings, and Peppa will double it after Adonis is here." He handed each one of them their stack of Belzecash, but stopped before handing Charlotte hers, " You're going to be the leader of this dig, you think you can do that baby girl? Do that for your dear Peppa Jack?"

++ VALALEE ++

Valalee screamed when the drug lord burnt her face, the sting from the flame making her eyes tear up and her knees shake. She almost expected another hit from the mean woman for making so much noise, but thankfully, Tiaro backed away and didn't hurt her again. Her cheek was red and sore but it could have been worse. Much worse.

She listened in absolute shock as Tiaro described his malicious intentions toward her family is she spoke a word of this to anyone, and before she could think, she yelled out, " NO!" She couldn't bare the thought of her family getting hurt. Her grandparents. her brothers, her uncles...her parents. They were all so precious to her and she couldn't let anyone of them get hurt because of her.

" No, p-please! Please don't hurt them! P-please I won't say anything! I promise!" No drug deal bust or some superior sense of justice was important enough to put her family's lives in danger. If she could, he would take this to her grave and never speak of this incident ever again. " I promise! Just don't hurt th-" She was cut off when something suddenly whizzed by her head, barely catching the sight of Ororo placing a barrier around her and the drug lord so they wouldn't get hurt. Whatever the thing had been was reflected and gracefully landed by Valalee's side.

The assailant was tall, wearing a spotless white suit, complete with a strange long hat and a cape, his face obscured by a gas mask and a monocle, with no weapons in his hands other than his balled up fists. Valalee prayed that this guy was her to save her and not end up being an accomplice to the other two.

" Resorting to hurting children Tiaro? I would have thought that to be above you, but you get worse everyday, don't you?" She hear the masked man say, which was strange since she shouldn't have heard anything at all thanks to the mask covering his mouth, and yet every single word he said was crisp and clear.

++ SATANIC ++

Satanic was honestly surprised by the idol's words. Never in his short, miserable life had anyone ever said...such nice things to him. If his ghastly appearance didn't scare people off at first, his total lack of personality and positivity certainly did the trick. Satanic had always thought of himself being lower than a used, soggy old teabag and everyone else he had met in his life never did anything other than prove his thoughts right...until he met Angelic. True to his name, the idol was like an angel who brought light into Satanic's damp and dreary world. He knew that he didn't deserve to be his Protector and probably annoyed him more than anything, but if he could, he would have liked to be Angelic's Protector for the rest of his life, even if his popularity were to fade out and his fans all left him. Satanic would still be there by his side, no matter what.

A small, rare smile graced Satanic's lips and he ducked his head, trying to hide it from anyone who might see. " Thank you..." He mumbled, a bit embarrassed by everything Angelic said, but no less grateful. But he only allowed himself a moment, just a moment of visible happiness, before his smile disappeared and he went back to being stoic as always. But his tone had noticeably brighter when he softly said, " You speak much better without the notecards...you have alot more confidence than you think..."

[Azalea]

BELLARINO
While his twin went off to distract their oldest brother, Bellarino hurried to Bellerophon’s room. He had to go the long way because of that prick, but he had faith that his brother would be able to distract the idiot.

A few minutes later, he was breathing heavy from the fast running he did, and cursing Evelina because she didn’t look exhausted at all. She just looked bored and that pissed him off. “What the hell, are you a freak?? How are you not tired?!” he panted, glaring at his protector with a mix of resentment and confusion.

“Exercise.” she replied blandly, and Bellarino felt like he was being insulted somehow. Was this bitch insisting he was out of shape?! He growled and told her to shut the fuck up, before he continued down the hallway. The prince didn’t see any of his brothers up ahead, only one person standing in front of the door. The ears made him easily recognizable as the Kyuberos copy. An idea instantly popped into his head and he made his way over to the protector with a mischievous smirk.

“Hey!!! Kyubunny! Help me with a prank! It will make both Bellerophon and Belladon mad. Cool, huh?” he said excitedly, speaking to him in a friendly tone, like he usually did when he wanted something from him. Bellarino was hoping that Kyuubee’s resentment for his brothers outweighed his resentment for him. “See I found Bellerophon’s flower, and I was gonna burn it, but then that prick Belladon stole it from me before we could! You should help me get it back. Then Bellerophon would be so sad, you know? Isn’t it so great when he’s sad? What do you say?”

CORDELIA
“Yes, my prince, very unfortunate. It’s almost as if it moved on its own…”she sighed, momentarily leaving Belvedere’s side to help Prince Belisario. She extended her hand to the blue haired prince to help pull him up from the floor after Belladon had shoved him.

At the same time, Cordelia turned her head towards the other pair. “Prince Belladon?” she addressed cautiously. “Would you like me to call a healer?”

CHARLOTTE
“I’m in charge?” she said surprised. She felt nervous at being assigned to lead something so important, but if he believed in her then she would trust his judgment. It was up to her and the girls to save Adonis. She couldn’t mess this up. She wouldn’t.

As the shock subsided, Charlotte nodded confidently. “Yes, Peppa Jack! I can do this. I won’t fail! Peppa’s cupcakes are the best, so one look at us, Adonis will be invisible to those guards.” she replied, filled with determination.

TIARO
He said nothing to Ororo, despite feeling grateful for her barrier, for he was too disgusted by the sight before him to utter a thank you. Just as he had nearly finished taking care of the inconvenience with the Mancini, more trouble appeared in the form of the annoying man dressed in white. His least favorite person had arrived. The top hatted bastard, Criminal Nova.

“You must have thought very highly of me then, Nova. To think I was better than this. I am honored. Flattered, even.” he drawled sarcastically, his full attention on the vigilante. “But I have better things to do than put up with you. Leave. Unless you want to be set on fire.”

Tiaro’s eyes then flickered to the Mancini girl. She seemed like the type of person who valued family greatly, and her desperate pleas from earlier assured Tiaro that she would keep her mouth shut. “Very well, little Mancini. I am not unreasonable. As long you keep your promise, we will not have to meet again.” He gave her one last intimidating glare before returning his attention to Criminal Nova, who unsurprisingly had not left yet.

“Nova, take the girl with you. I have finished my business with her.” He might as well take advantage of the nuisance’s appearance and save Ororo the trouble of returning her to the surface. And Criminal Nova would be out of his property, a great bonus for Tiaro.

ANGELIC
“You’re welcome!” he replied, in awe that he was graced with the sight of a smile on Satanic’s face. He felt relieved that he did not upset his protector and the idol felt overwhelmed by happiness just from this small accomplishment. However, Satanic’s next words surprised him. He went through most of his life never having faith in himself so he never thought that he would meet somebody who believed in him, when Angelic himself did not.

“R-really?” he asked astonished, but unlike Satanic the happiness was clear in Angelic’s expression. “W-wow, thanks, Satanic. I…um, I’ve always wished…I was confident.” He admitted, silently thinking of his parents. His parents were so unlike him, they were so confident in themselves that Angelic couldn’t help but wish he could be like that too. “U-until now, I-I’ve never really, ah, had anyone give me a r-reason to believe um…believe that I can reach that goal someday…”

He had no idea why he was suddenly confessing these feelings, but Angelic didn’t want to make Satanic bored or uncomfortable, so he decided to change the subject. “Um, anyways…it’s pretty cold.” He said, glancing up at the sky as snow began to fall. They were currently in the North and felt really lame stating the obvious. “Uh, what I mean, is that we should go inside somewhere. Um…Maybe that shop over there?”he suggested, pointing to the clothing store that they were headed to in the first place before Angelic forgot about it, due to the fans showing up. He still wanted a scarf to help him deal with the cold, but Angelic wondered, would Satanic accept one if bought him one too?

VALEXANDER
The shouting match between his brother and mother continued, despite his father trying to settle the situation down. He felt guilty for causing the fight, because if it wasn’t for his mom getting mad, then Valhero wouldn’t have stepped in to defend him. He sighed and leapt off the couch. He didn’t want to listen to this argument anymore. He snuck out of the room but just as he was about to head to his bedroom, the noise suddenly quieted down and he could hear his father speaking.

“Valora, Valhero, look there’s no time for this,” he heard his dad begin to say, “I received a call from Mr. Khopesh, he said Valalee never showed up…”

Valexander froze and stopped eavesdropping after those words. Was his baby sister missing?! He had to look for her! Ignoring the fact that his mother had forbid him from leaving the house, Valexander hurried out the door and into the backyard. Approaching their stable, he stepped inside and looked for their horse. His mom took away his wand as punishment, so he needed a way to move quickly while searching the old-fashioned way: with his eyes. Valexander had no idea how to properly ride a horse, since the one they owned was only used to carry heavy items, but how hard could it be, really?

“Come on old buddy, let’s find my sister!” he spoke to the horse with fiery determination as he placed a saddle on the white mare’s back. He had no idea if he placed it on properly, but he didn’t have time to learn if it was correct. Valexander hopped onto the horse’s back and after a few moments of sitting on her without falling off, he slowly led her out of the stable. “Good girl.” he cooed, patting the animal’s hair as she entered the yard. Valexander looked both ways to see if his parents were around, and seeing that the coast was clear, he grinned. “Valnay, full speed ahead!” he yelled, but instead of running like he expected, the horse just…slowly…walked ahead.

“Valnay?! Come on, why are you so slow?!”he asked confused, but Valnay only neighed playfully and continued walking as slow as Belshazzar’s dinosaur when it did not have any food to motivate it. “Um??? HELLO! Valnay, we have to go find my sister!”he shouted, but the horse only stopped, and started eating the grass. Frustrated, Valexander groaned and climbed down the animal, pouting as he stared at her. “Fine, I’ll just walk, you lazy jerk.” he complained to the horse, but she ignored him in favor of eating.

He spun around and ran out of his yard, sprinting in the direction he knew Valalee left in whenever she went to her lessons.

[Midorimacchi]

++ KYUUBEE ++
Standing guard was one of Kyuubee's most hated responsibilities as Bellerophon's Protector. There was nothing to do but stare at the wall and twiddle your thumbs, both of which were boring as hell. He didn't even know why he had to look after the little golden prince anyway. Wasn't Kyuberos in the realm?? Wasn't this HIS responsibility? But nooooooooooooooo, he had something better to do with the King, because he was important.

" Give me a break," Kyuubee sighed to himself, rolling his eyes at the thought. This was supposed to be his time off, not time to be standing guard in front of a door while Bellerophon slept. What was the worst that could happen? If there was an assassin on their way to kill Bellerophon, the LAST thing they would do was go through the front door, so all this was useless wasn't it? This was all just so....

Suddenly, his ears perked up at the sound of Bellarino's voice calling out to him, eager to talk to anyone right now, even the troublesome prince. He even went as far as to ignore the hurtful nickname given to him. He listened to Bellarino explain his plot to screw over his brothers and an excited smile spread across his face. He would jump at any opportunity to mess with the royal brats, and not to mention that it would actually give him something fun to do.

" Sure! Whadda ya gonna do?"

++ BELLADON ++
" Yes, but make it anyone other than Trowa," He ordered Cordelia, taking a handkerchief from his pocket to press against Valis' forehead. His poor cousin was still dazed from banging his head and Belladon tsked loudly, abruptly turning his attention to Belisario, " You were with him weren't you?? How could you let this happen? Why didn't you do something?"

" I-I-I-I-I'm sorry! I didn't mean to..."

" Save it, I don't need to hear your excuses," Belladon cut off sternly as he helped Valis get on his feet. He put the blonde's arm around his shoulder to better support him and called for Cordelia, " Take his other side, we'll walk him to the infirmary."

++ BELVEDERE ++
Just as planned, Belladon was taking his concern too far and Belvedere had trouble hiding his gleeful smile behind his hand. At this rate Bellarino would have hours to set up his trap. It was great!! But he also didn't want Bellarino to be waiting around forever, " But brother," He chimed, placing his arms behind his back innocently, " what about Bellerophon? Didn't we have something important to say to him?" This got his brother to stop and contemplate for a bit.

" You're right, your repentance is important too." Belvedere brightened up at the sight of the flower emerging from Belladon's jacket, but his mood fell just as quickly when he handed it to the blue haired bastard instead. To their illegitimate, disgusting half-brother. What the fuck?? " Go with Belvedere to give this to Bellerophon since it's your fault this happened.

++ BELISARIO ++
" W-What?! No! Please!" Belisario stuttered, his eyes darting back between Belvedere and the flower. " I'll take Valis to the Healers, please!" Anything to avoid being alone with Belvedere.

" Are you kidding me? You allowed him to get this way! Why would I trust you to protect him now?" Belisario felt his heart sink, not only at the harshness of his words, but at the danger of the situation. With Valis unable to protect him, how could he ever survive being with Belvedere alone?? And, of course, wherever there was Belvedere, Bellarino was guaranteed to be close by. He was probably waiting around the corner, waiting for the chance to pop out and begin tormenting him and calling him mean names! "P-Please, I can't go alone!" He pleaded with everything he could, but it just made Belladon's face grow darker, his annoyance showing clear in his features. He turned to Cordelia and tilted his head towards Belisario, " Go with him. His Protector is hurt and I can protect myself. Make sure he gets that to Bellerophon and not fuck it up."

Breathing a small sigh of relief, Belisario watched his eldest brother leave with Valis. It wasn't the most ideal option, considering he still had to be around Belvedere, but maybe they would be less mean to him with Cordelia there....? She did help him off the floor afterall, so there was some hope.....maybe.

With Belladon gone, he felt an arm wrap around his neck and bring him into a tight headlock. " Ahahaha, isn't this great brother?" he spat the word like a curse, " Now we get to go visit Bellerophon together? Fun, right?"

++ NOVA && VALELEE ++
Nova already had Valalee restraints off by the time Tiaro finished his speech. He pulled the girl close to him and covered her with his cape, shielding her from the vicious drug lord. " I would love to stay and chat but I do believe I have somewhere to be!" He laughed easily, his hand shooting out, throwing a single red rose and Tiaro. As expected, Tiaro and his lacky were momentarily distracted as he caught it, and Nova took that opportunity to escape. He and Valalee both disappeared into thin air, leaving Tiaro standing with the flower that had been enchanted to turn into a bouquet of roses in a few seconds.

Back in the Main City, he and Valalee materialized in an alleyway, different to the one Valalee had been taken from but not that far. " AhhhhH!!!" Valalee screamed out of surprise, pushing away from the masked man once they were on stable ground, " H-How did we get here so fast? Weren't we in the Under?!" Even the best wizards, including her Grandpa, weren't capable of passing so freely between the two cities. From what she learnt from the Academy, multiple magic blockers had been set up to stop transportation spells from working, helping to keep those in the Under in the Under and not in the Main City. They had wizards from all over to test the blockers out and not one of them had been able to penetrate it. So how could this masked man do it so easily??

But instead of answering her question, he knelt down to inspect her burnt face, " Nevermind that, are you okay? That bad man didn't hurt you anywhere else did he?"

Valalee shook her head and pushed his hand away, taking more steps back to create some distance between them. The man was standing between her and the exit, so there was no way for her to leave other than to run around him, and she knew that it was useless to try. " No, I'm okay, it's nothing!" She lied, trying to hold her tears back once more. " Just take me home! I want to go home!"

" Easy, easy, it's okay, I'm a good guy remember? I'll take you home!" The top-hatted man laughed, leaning past the wall of the alley to glance at the busy street, " Infact, your ride should be arriving soon!"

Valalee was about to ask what he meant by that when he took a step forward and approached her. Before she could move away, he knelt down again and bought out some bandages from the sleeve of his arm, unwrapping them to put them over her dirty knees, " These should hold you over until you get some medicine. Your grandma will have something to heal these scars at her shop, so make sure to ask her. There should be some remedies for burns too."

" How do you kno-"

" Now listen to me," He cut her off, picking up his head so that he could stare into her eyes. There was nothing but seriousness there and she gulped audibly, " It's very important that you listen to what I'm about to say. The man you met is a very bad man. He can do alot of bad things to you and your family, so you can't tell anyone about what happened today. Say that you ran into some kids from your class and got into a fight with them. Don't give out any names and eventually they'll forget about it." He put his hands on her small shoulders and squeezed, " You can't tell anyone about today. Not your brothers, not your uncles, not your grandparents, and especially not your mother. You got that?"

Not knowing what to say, Valalee simply nodded, staring at him with slight fear. " Great! Well, it seems that your ride is here so I'll get going. Stay out of trouble and be good." And with that, he gave her one last affectionate look before vanishing.

" H-Hey!" She called out, running to the place where he was standing to look around. The masked man was no where in sight and she ran out into the street in hopes of catching him as he ran away. But as she did, she collided with a body and bounced backward, barely managing to keep on her feet. About to apologize, she was surprised to find that it was her brother Valexander of all people. " Brother!" She cried, leaping forward to hug him. It had only been a few hours since she left home to go to class, but with everything that had happened, all the dangers she had faced, it had felt like it had been forever. And there was no one she would rather see than her older brother.

++ PEPPA JACK ++
With Charlotte's confidence in her duty, Peppa, himself, felt confident that this mission would really work and that they would bring Adonis back safe. " That's a good girl," He praised warmly and then addressed the other three with a smile too, " Peppa will come get you when its time. You're dismissed until then." Sancha and the girls nodded and left him to finish his work. Peppa sent a text to Seraphion that the mission was a go before sending another one to Valereon to bring him the box of different wigs and clothes that they had. A disguising spell would take too long and they needed to get out there fast, so there was no other choice but to go the old fashion way.