Azalea

Not This Again!! {Midorimacchi & Azalea}

CLAMP

Clamp is a mysterious magical girl who travels dimensions alongside her cute animal companion, Patches, a small puppy with strange abilities who helps her navigate through other worlds. Whenever Clamp casts magic, sakura blossoms begin to swirl around her and Patches eats the petals so she does not leave trailing mess. She is full of smiles and laughter, although they are not always necessarily friendly. She enjoys making people confused, loves messing with others’ minds, and constantly dodges questions about herself by telling silly jokes. Clamp has a habit of giving out vague answers to questions and cryptic clues about her motives, but since she started her world-hopping journey Clamp has yet to confess the truth to anyone. She gives out completely different responses for questions she had been previously asked and they never make much sense because she tends to make up an answer on the spot. Currently, her “reason” for travelling is “to search for the heart of the cards”.

Sometimes she accompanies a dimension crossing wizard named Valerio, who is searching for his brother Valente, but Clamp likes to lead him astray with meaningless clues that do not help her friend’s situation at all. She is mostly an unhelpful distraction and she likes taking him to worlds just so they could explore and have fun together. She had no interest in actually helping him complete his mission. Clamp also tends to disappear whenever she feels like it. Sometimes when she grows bored of messing with Valerio, she goes to harass two boys named Rodrigo and Ethan, and for her own reasons, enjoys teasing them and making their jobs harder.

Truth Beneath the Rose (private)

The prince had not expected information so soon, but he nodded and motioned for the sage to speak. The poor old man looked like he was about to faint at any moment and his body shook with fear; Rhanon wondered how an unknown demon could possibly invoke so much fear. As the sage spoke, Rhanon tried not to show his surprise at the information.

“She killed my grandfather?” he asked, but he never got his answer from the sage. Before his very eyes, one of the hellhounds he saw earlier appeared out of nowhere and beheaded the man. Rhanon stood in shock as blood splattered everywhere and people began screaming. “W-what in the world?” he muttered, falling to his knees and touching the corpse he had been left with. The sage could not be saved and the hellhound ran away before anyone could pursue it, not that anybody wanted to. “He’s dead because of me…”he whispered, gritting his teeth and looking up to the closest group of servants. “Clean up the blood and deal with this body.” He ordered calmly, despite feeling anything but not. One of the reasons the other kingdoms looked down on his family was because Rhanon disliked meaningless deaths, which for a demon prince made him a target for ridicule, and they made fun of his parents for having such a soft-hearted heir. He stood up and began walking to his room, trying not to look at the blood on his hands.

That hellhound definitely belonged to her…that woman killed him. So she was lying when she said she meant no harm, after all. She’s just as horrible as them he thought bitterly, walking through the door of his chambers and immediately punching the first thing saw. His chair was now broken in half and Rhanon seethed with rage. Once again, she got the best of me. She infiltrated the castle effortlessly, killing one of my subjects. Sasha Dimond…I hate her. he thought frustrated, taking a deep breath to calm down. Rhanon’s newfound hatred of the master assassin did not erase his desire for information about her. If she apparently destroyed two royal families, his grandfather, and somehow manage to strike down the sage right in front of him then she would be his best chance at survival and revenge. Without his family’s protection the other kingdoms would eat him alive and standing up to them on his own was stupid and suicidal, but with her as an ally he had a chance. He hated her, but Rhanon was good at acting civil with people he hated, and he solidified his decision.

“I’ll have to find her and get the information myself. I’ll start looking tomorrow…”

Not This Again!! {Midorimacchi & Azalea}

Belbel Ceratop

16 years old

Belbel is a lazy student who rarely feels motivated to do anything and he can't be bothered to care about fashion, so he is notorious for walking around campus wearing mix-matched outfits. Tiaro is constantly scolding him for breaking dress code because half of the time Belbel forgets that the school has a uniform or he is too lazy to change so he wore his pajamas to class. Belbel sleeps all of the time during class so his grades are always low until he miraculously does enough make-up work at the end of the semester to obtain a passing grade. His joined a dance group with his friends for fun and even though he likes dancing, Belbel tends to skip practice in favor of sleeping, only showing up when he feels like it. Like the rest of his friends in the group, he cannot sing at all, but Belbel doesn't care about music unless it music to dance to.

One of the only ways to motivate him to do anything is to bribe him with food. Belbel is a vegetarian and absolutely enthusiastic about salad so he will go above and beyond with whatever he is asked to do if salad and other good food is on the line. When he was in middle school, he accidently befriended a group of drugdealers because he thought weed was a type of salad and he sought them out. Belbel was incredibly disappointed when he found out the truth, but the drugdealers thought he was hilarious and ended up buying him a real salad. This made them friends in Belbel's books so he started hanging around them often, leading him to the more shadier areas of the streets, but he also discovered street dancing. They taught Belbel some moves and even though he hated hard work, his friends managed to instill a love of dancing in him. His parents eventually figured out he was hanging out in the streets with dangerous people and forced him to apply to a boarding school. Not at all motivated to attend the one they chose, he applied for AOA instead so that he could at least continue dancing. Luckily he was accepted and his parents let him go, all they wanted was for him to be away from bad influences, and Belbel joined AOA the following semester.

Another Time, Another Story

Roleplay Title:
Hold My Flower
Setting:
10/04/1145
Characters Involved:
The royal family

How could the mighty Oz have allowed this to happen?! He should have sent some sort of prophecy so that they could have avoided this disaster. At the very least, a warning! A warning that they were given assigned seats and that he would be forced to sit next to his irritating little brother, Bellarino. The idiot who created the seating chart had condemned them all to hearing Bellarino and Belvedere’s endless complaints and whining over not being able to sit beside each other. Even worse was that his precious brother Belisario, the sibling Bellerophon absolutely wished to protect from the stupid twins, got the misfortune of sitting next Belvedere. The final nail in the coffin was that Belial and Belshazzar were forced next to each other, adding even more chaos and complications to the mess they were all in. He also felt bad for little Bellakane, who looked liked she was about to cry. Belmarie and Arius also must have been blessed by Oz, because the two of them looked perfectly content with their seats, and Arius was sitting quietly listening to their sister talk about how much she was looking forward to this party. The truly lucky ones though were Belladon and Belladonna. Belladonna got the fortune with sitting beside their beloved mother while Belladon received the honor of sitting next to their father.

“This is so stupid!!! Why do I have to sit next to these idiots?!”

“We’re royalty, screw this seating chart, we can do whatever we want.”

“Yes please, somebody switch with me!”

“I…I am sorry! If I was more worthy…you would not feel offended to sit by me…”

“I want to sit next to mother, not this nonsensical fool.”

“Butterfly in the sky, I can go twice as high, take a look, it’s in a book, a reading rainbow.”

“This is pointless.”

"What? You all should be excited for a party!"

“All of you shut up! Don’t you dare ruin mother’s birthday!”

Bellerophon grimaced.

“I’m going to execute the fool who came up with this seating chart.” he hissed to himself as his siblings continued making a scene. He hoped that they quieted down before their parents arrived but at this rate, Bellerophon did not think that would happen any time soon. Just the thought of his father being disappointed in them, well mostly him, for ruining mother’s birthday made him want to join Marigold in eternal slumber.

Some butlers entered the room and provided them with appetizers, explaining that their parents would be arriving a few minutes late so they could start eating appetizers now if they wished.

“Ugh, do we have to eat this garbage?! Mother must have picked out this stupid food.” Bellarino complained as he examined a few of the dishes that had been served to them. Bellerophon tried to ignore him and placed random food on his plate, but Bellarino was like a buzzing little fly next to his ear that would not stop making irritating noise. His bad mood growing worse by the second, Bellerophon looked around the table hoping to find something to make this experience more bearable and the blond got an idea at the sight of meat on his plate.

“Bellarino, be quiet and eat your meal.” He said coldly to the young prince, stabbing his fork into the meat sitting on his plate. “It is a lovely meal, after all. I was unaware that rabbit meat was this delicious.” Bellerophon said, before eating the piece of meat.

“How dare you!” naturally, Bellarino became enraged at the mention of eating bunnies and shouted at Bellerophon, “You take that back! This is not rabbit meat!”

“This rabbit tastes so good, try it, little brother.” he taunted, offering the fork to Bellarino but the younger prince just whacked it out of his hand. Bellerophon just laughed at him and grabbed a spare fork on the table, retrieving the random meat once again. “Don’t be like that, Bellarino, try it! I fed you and Belvedere sometimes when you two were still bratty little babies, not that you’re that much different from a bratty baby now, but you loved it when I did this.” He smirked, shoving the fork into Bellarino’s mouth and laughing as he immediately spit it out. “You used to do that too!” Bellerophon kept laughing, causing Bellerino to blush with embarrassment and he looked around for anything to get revenge with. His eyes widened at the sight of a bowl of marinara sauce and breadsticks and he smiled wickedly. “Hey! Hey Belvedere, come here!” he called out, and his twin was incredibly eager to return from his side, definitely preferring to be away from their disgusting half-brother.

Bellerophon narrowed his eyes as Bellarino and Belvedere began their obvious planning. He had a feeling this would not end well and he was absolutely correct.

Ten minutes later, the king and queen made their way towards the dining room together. She could hear muffled shouting from behind the doors but Bellona made no mention of it, instead giving her full attention to Belzeneff before they opened the doors. Bellona could tell her husband was not too thrilled to have to do this, but the fact that he was willing to show up anyways made her love him even more. She gave him a light kiss on the cheek and looked at him lovingly.

“Oh, I’m so excited. Thank you for arranging this for me, Belzeneff! It’s been so long since we have all been together like a family…I know you don’t like this kind of thing, but I appreciate you doing this for me.” she thanked as the door was open and he escorted her into the room, but both of them paused midstep at the sight.

Miraculously, all her children actually showed up, but it was apparently too much to ask for them to act civil. Already she could see appetizers fallen on the floor and flying through the air. Most of the children were out of their seats and a few chairs were knocked down. Bellakane was crying because Bellarino apparently poured marinara sauce into her hair while Belvedere had stole her breadsticks. Belladon was out of his seat and yelling at the twins and attempting to fix his little sister’s hair. Belladonna was just ignoring them all with a scowl on her face, looking like she was ready to leave at the first chance. Bellerophon looked like he was trying to shield Belisario from Belvedere and Bellarino throwing silverware at him, which was causing more of a mess because he had apparently got fed up and began throwing food back at them. Belmarie was cheering on the food fight, excitedly, while Arius sat quietly but he stared right at her once she walked into the room and gave her his usual disturbing smile. Belial was off in his own world like always but something he had said had made Belshazzar angry because he was shouting at his little brother and looked like he wanted to stab him with a fork. But Belial was just ignoring him and Bellona knew Belshazzar well enough that he hated that.

Bellona frowned at her children. All she wanted was a nice family dinner with all of them for her birthday but here they were, shouting at each other and throwing food at one another. This fighting was completely ridiculous and she felt resolved to stop this chaos. This was her birthday and nothing was going to ruin her special day for her, nothing!

“Belzeneff dear, hold my earrings.” She calmly said and removed them from her ears, they were the only jewelry she had on at the moment and were gifts from Belzeneff, “I need to discipline our children.”

“I got your earrings, baby, kick their asses!” The king just laughed and took his wife’s earrings, watching with glee as she stormed over to their children with a fiery look in her eyes.

Outside the dining room a guard who had been standing next to the closed doors the entire time, felt fear for his life as he heard the queen’s rage. Her shouting had effectively silenced all of the other yelling he had heard from the princes earlier. He was curious as to what happened and, gathering his leftover courage, opened the door slightly in order to peak in on what was now happening inside. To his bewilderment, the mess was gone and the royal family was waiting quietly at the table waiting for dinner to be served. He had no idea what the queen had done, but she was obviously a miracle worker!

Back in their private dining room, Bellona smiled as she went to take a seat next to Belzeneff, who handed her back her earrings. “Thank you, dear.” She took a breath and glanced at the children, who were all sitting in odd places at their round table.To Belzeneff’s right was Belladon and neither looked too happy about it. Belladonna was sitting next to her and while Bellona did not mind being beside her daughter, the look on her face told Bellona that Belladonna obviously did not share those feelings. Even more strange was that Bellarino and Belvedere weren’t sitting next to each other. In fact, they were next to the ones they fought with most: Bellarino next to Bellerophon and Bellakane; Belvedere next to Belisario. For some reason, Belshazzar and Belial were also sitting next to each other even though they could barely stand in the same room together. The only normalcy in the room was Belmarie sitting next to Arius, but her step-son was sitting directly across from Bellona, still creepily staring.

“Why are you all seated like this?” she asked confused, looking at Bellakane for an answer, since she was one of the few without the silencing spell activated on her.

“Oh um…we have assigned seating, mother.” she answered quietly, embarrassed about being singled out. Bellona raised her brow and looked to her husband questioningly. The annoyed look on his face told her that he definitely did not have anything to do with the seating fiasco. “I'm going to lift my spells from you all and you all will behave properly, understand? And your father and I had nothing to do with the arranged seating. You all can sit in any chair you like. This is a private family dinner, not a formal event.” she told them, and of course the moment she waved her wand to lift her magic spell, the room instantly became louder.

“What?!” the children all shouted, before scrambling all over the place trying to sit in new seats.

Bellona sighed but let out a small chuckle as they started arguing over who got to sit where, and looked towards Belzeneff. "Well, this birthday dinner is already so different from what I expected, but I'm still happy. Thank you for this. I love you." she smiled as she placed her hand in his, genuinely joyful over any amount of time she got to spend with her family. She glanced back towards the children, who were finally seated, but she could still hear some fights and teasing among their chattering. Even when the main course was served she had to interfere a few times to prevent a food fight from occurring and Bellona was forced to whip out her wand to keep some of them in line, especially the younger ones. Despite this, Bellona was glad that they were all here for her, even if a few of them probably had to be dragged to the dinner kicking and screaming in protest. She cherished moments when they could all be together like this. When the cake was brought onto the table, the lights turned off with only candles on the cake illuminating the room. As her family sang to her Bellona smiled at the thought of this moment being the first time all dinner that they were doing something together. Well mostly together, as the ones truly participating in the song were barely in sync with one another, the quieter ones mumbling through the song or only pretending they were singing, and Belial singing a completely different song altogether.

"I love you all." she whispered happily, blowing out the birthday candles.

Truth Beneath the Rose (private)

She seemingly vanished from his sight, the prince was confused as to how since she had hellhounds following her, but the note on his shoulder kept him from continuing his pursuit.

“Sasha Dimond? Master assassin and thief…”he read quietly out loud, before stuffing the paper into his pocket and retreating back to the castle. On his walk back he pondered about the mysterious woman he had met. Unlike what he had been taught to believe, she was strong; strong enough to defeat him without much effort. He never got caught off guard, yet she managed to steal from his pocket and could tell exactly what he wanted to hear. The temptation for revenge still lingered. He thought he was willing to be patient but…something about her had brought out the ugliest side of him and he did not like that at all. He never acted on pure rage, yet she knew how to trigger his temper and used his anger against him. Rhanon tried to shake his thoughts away, but he couldn’t get the offer out of his mind. And despite his denial, a part of him acknowledged her strength, and Rhanon did enjoy meeting and learning from stronger people than himself…

“My prince, there you are!” cried out his guards as he finally stepped onto the castle grounds. “Are you injured?!” one fussed over him and Rhanon shook his head, not wanting to give them any chance to realize he lost so badly. Thankfully, he had suffered only minor cuts and bruises that healed on his way back to the castle.

“I am alright.” He told just to give his people less to worry about. “It is embarrassing, I admit, but I fell into some mud. All I need now is to retire to my chambers to change out of this mess.” He laughed with a faint blush on his cheeks, leaving out the fight with Sasha. Sadly, the guards did not forget about her.

“But what about the thief, my prince?” asked one of the guards and Rhanon gave him a thoughtful expression.

“It is not an urgent matter any longer, I have my coin back. She is just a girl who got lucky, leave her be because I have more important matters to attend to.” He instructed, and some of the guards looked at him like they could not believe he was apparently still under estimating the woman, but there were some who agreed with the prince. He entered the castle and was about to enter his room when he paused, looking at some of the bodyguards who were escorting him.

“I request information about an assassin and thief who claims she is a master. Her name is Sasha Dimond. Bring me whatever you find, preferably sooner than later. Ask the rest of the staff if they know anything as well.” He ordered before retreated into his room, completely missing some of the fearful expressions that crossed some of the older guards’ faces and some passing by maids.

Truth Beneath the Rose (private)

Rhanon snorted. “Right, and as soon as you lose interest in helping me what would you do? N-not that I’m agreeing to your offer!” He answered back, a little calmer this time, her own calmness finally seeming to affect him. Besides, why would I want a woman to help me?! He thought to himself, in self- denial that she utterly defeated him just moments ago, the drying mud covering his clothes the proof of the strength he refused to acknowledge.

At her next remark, the prince realized he did know nothing about her, not even her name. But her sudden happiness caught him off guard once again so he forgot to ask her. Then at her next statement, he couldn’t help but panic at the thought of her leaving. He really needed help, even if he did not want to admit it just yet. And if his guards were useless against her like he was, then nobody he could as would be as strong as her. “Wait!” he called out without thinking, and he cringed almost immediately afterwards. What was he thinking, even considering accepting her offer?! Plus, she was a female who should not be fighting in the first place! He felt conflicted.

This entire situation was confusing and he probably should head back to the castle before the staff panicked over his disappearance. But he headed towards the gates first, calling after the woman once more in order to ask her a question. “Wait! I…” he wanted to ask her name, but at the sight of four random dogs that seemingly appeared out of nowhere he did a double take and they stole his attention. “What the…you have hellhounds too?” he spluttered, wondering how strong this girl had to be if she had a dragon and hellhounds obeying her will.

“Who are you?”he finally asked, and with his anger partially subsided, remembered his manners, “No, that was rude, please forgive me. May I ask your name?”

Truth Beneath the Rose (private)

“Wha-?!” he gasped in surprised as he lost his grip on the dragon, sliding back. He growled with anger as he fell for her taunt, attempting to strike at her again. His attempt ultimately failed, and within a few movements, she had him at her mercy with a blade against his neck. Rhanon was in utter shock that he was so easily defeated by her and to his surprise, instead of killing him, she dropped him into some mud. He wasn’t too hurt from the fall, but combined with the other injuries he received from her, he winced with pain before he heard her approach and talk to him.

“L-Liar!” he spat, wiped the mud off his face as he glared at her. Her gentle smile was throwing him off guard, making him almost believe that the girl really was no harm like he initially thought, but he had just been defeated by her, a mere female demon. “Not here to harm anyone? You nearly killed my guards after I released you!” he accused, swiping the coin away from her hand the moment she offered it to him. Rhanon held it protectively as he continued glaring at her with distrust.

As she sat on the hay he picked himself off of the ground, silent as he pondered her words. “I don’t trust you.” He frowned, remembering her deceitful little performance back at the throne room, but her sudden friendliness and tempting offer made him continue the conversation against his better judgment. “And nobody makes an offer like that without asking something in return or something in it for them. What is it you want?”he demanded, still incredibly suspicious of her.

Truth Beneath the Rose (private)

The prince looked baffled as the crying girl seemed to transform from a whimpering victim to fierce warrior. “Seize her!” he yelled once he recovered from his shock, but to his horror one of his men was thrown aside like he was nothing and given a fatal wound. He immediately stood up from his throne and approached the injured guard who had his throat slashed. Guilt stung Rhanon as he placed his hand over the cut, a faint glow in his hand as he attempted basic magic until the wound was no longer fatal. “This is my fault…”he grimaced, looking around him to see the rest of the guards now fallen while the woman sprinted towards the window. He took a few seconds to glance at his men; unlike the man he healed, none of them seemed to have suffered life threatening injuries. The thought of his soldiers dying because of his careless misjudgment made him want to obliterate somebody and he had the perfect target for his rage. Quickly running after her, he charged out the window and extended his hand, narrowly reaching the dragon’s tail just in time.

As he climbed up the tail to the dragon’s back without a sweat, he glared at the woman full of vengeance, hanging onto the scales so he would not fall. Rhanon had showed her mercy and this was how he was repaid?! She even had the audacity to steal something right out of his pocket. He did not know how she managed to get so close to him without him having time to react, and it was probably foolish of him to go after an enemy like that, but he was too angry to think clearly.

The prince reached for the sword he kept by his side and unsheathed it, growling at the thief who nearly killed his guards. He did not bother wasting his breath on words and immediately charged at her with his blade but because he subconsciously could not see a female as a true opponent or threat, Rhanon aimed for her non vital organs.

Hold My Flower

BELLARINO

“Ah, I knew I could count on you Kyubunny! See, I knew you would say yes because you are cooler than that dumb guard dog.” He grinned, glad that his faith was not misplaced. Bellarino could always count on a bunny to never disappoint him, whether it was his precious Belblood or the dog’s superior rabbit replacement.

“Ok, the most important thing is to get Bellerophon’s flower, but it’s just as important to prank the fuck out of Belladon and his protector!” he explained, passion in his voice as he thought about his brother falling for one of his traps. “After all the trouble I went to get the flower,” of course it took a lot of effort to pick off the abandoned rose from the floor, “That prick dared take it from me, saying it was wrong for Belvedere and me to try and destroy Bellerophon’s most precious possession or some bullshit.” He sneered.

“You pick the spells since you know way more magic than me, but I want that douchebag to be as embarrassed as possible. Cast spells that will make him fall on his face and stick to the floor, send flying pies or an army of spiders at him, dye his hair neon pink, anything you want to use as long as it will makes those morons look dumber than usual.” The prince said with a wicked smile, eager to share his ideas with Kyuubee. “Once the losers are distracted by the traps, one of us will grab the flower!”

EVELINA

As the royal brat continued scheming with Kyuubee, Evelina rolled her eyes at their antics. She personally thought that Bellarino’s childish idea couldn’t possibly work, but then again he and his brother had managed to ensnare most of the wizard council in their lame traps, so she could be wrong. Just yesterday a guard had fallen for a prank that made him grow hair rapidly fast. He somehow ended up trapped by his own hair and was tied to one of the pillars at the twins’ mercy because he could not retaliate against them.

CORDELIA

“Yes, my prince.” She responded as her charge walked away. Cordelia felt slightly offended that he felt she was unneeded to protect him, but she made no comment and turned her attention to the younger princes. They did not look happy at all and she could feel the tension in the hall. But they seemed to be talking to each other about something, and she did not know them well but if they were anything like Belladon, it would probably be best to just wait until they decided to leave on their own. “Per Prince Belladon’s instructions, I will escort you two to Prince Bellerophon once you two are ready to go.” She said formally, bowing to the two of them.

TIARO

He caught the rose on instinct, carefully examining it in case it was some sort of weapon in disguise, which allowed the two nuisances to escape. He turned his eyes back on Nova just in time to see him and the Mancini girl vanish into thin air. “Good riddance.” He growled, when all of the sudden the rose in his hand burst with magic and multiplied. To his bewilderment, a bouquet of roses suddenly appeared in his hands. He briefly wondered if he could sell them, since flowers were rare and rather unknown in The Under, and treated like treasures by people who missed the surface. But Tiaro figured nothing created by Nova would be good news for him and he immediately channeled his fire magic into the palms of his hands, burning the flowers to a crisp.

“Now that this nonsense is over with-“

All of a sudden, the ashes of the flowers glowed and started piecing themselves back together, and within seconds the bouquet of roses was once again in his hands. His eyes widened at the unexpected magic.

“♪ Oh, just what is happening here? ♪” he sang, and he dropped the flowers to the ground in shock, immediately touching his neck. “♪ Songs instead of speech?! Or is there just a problem with my ear? ♪” he continued singing, his voice laced with irritation. To his horror, the more he tried to speak, the more he was forced to sing. Even worse was the flowers began to emit sound as he sang, so he even had accompanying music to go with his forced song. “♪ What curse did this rose bring? I can only sing! ♪” He bent down to grab the musical roses and immediately handed them to Ororo. “♪ Come with me, we must break this curse. Ugh, how can this day become any worse? ♪” It seemed that he was even forced to rhyme, too. Oh he was so going to make Criminal Nova pay for this. But before they could leave to his office, one of his other workers passed by them and to Tiaro’s surprise, he started to sing too. “♪ Heya boss, I-… wait hold on, whats with all this song, am I hearing things wrong?! ♪” He sang, just as bewildered as Tiaro had first been. It seemed everyone close to him would be forced to sing along too.

“♪ NOOOOOOOVAAAAAA! ♪” Tiaro yelled out enraged, but of course it sounded like the impressive high note a musician would sing during the climax of the song. “♪This is no lie, he will definitely DIE! ♪”

VALEXANDER

“Ooomf!” he cried out as he nearly fell backward when somebody had run into him.

“Brother!” the voice of his little sister was a surprise, but definitely a pleasant one. It looked like all of his time having to track down Belshazzar after the moron would get himself lost on their adventures had actually paid off! Valexander felt like it did not take long at all for him to find the right trail to Valalee. He grinned and extended his arms when he saw that she wanted to hug him, embracing her warmly.

“Hey sis, where were you? Dad said you weren’t at your lesson, so I went to look for you! I even tried to get the horse out of the yard so I could look faster, but the lazy girl just wanted to eat and wouldn’t move.” he explained with a slight laugh. At the mention of his father, Valexander remembered that he forgot his phone at the house. His wand as well! Wasn’t he grounded, too? Oh his mother was so going to kill him for sneaking out and his father would probably lecture him on acting more responsible. “Oh right, I think I’m grounded again so I’ll probably get in trouble when we go back home. You see I want exploring earlier and-”, he was about to go off topic, when he noticed that Valalee’s face was red. He quieted down and looked at his sister a little more closely. She looked like she had been crying because her eyes looked red too, but there was also something else on her face.

“Uh…wait, what is that on your cheek?” he asked with a frown. He couldn’t tell exactly what was on her cheek but it looked like some type of burn or weird rash. Then he finally noticed her band-aids. “What happened to your knees?”

SERAPHION

He replied to Peppa Jack’s text before forwarding a message to Angiel, letting him know that things were going according to plan on his end.

“Remember, just watch out for the girls from afar. Only interfere if something goes wrong.” He instructed his hired thugs, satisfied with their compliance and eagerness at a chance to pick a fight with the guards. Even if they probably would not have to help since they were back up, they would still get paid for helping whether or not the cupcakes succeeded or not. Being the paranoid wizard he was, Seraphion even had more back up plans for his back up plans.

Hearing his phone once more, he checked and saw a response from Angiel. Reading the message over, he quickly replied before sending another message to Peppa Jack.

The mission has begun. One hour and thirty minutes until the cupcakes begin their part in the mission.

SYMPHONY

He strolled through the dungeon hall and stopped before a certain prison cell, bowing politely to the guards. “I am Priest Symphony.” He introduced with a pleasant tone, and he knew by their expressions that the guards seemed to recognize his name; as head priestess his mother was second only to Prophet Belzeneff when it came to followers of Oz, after all. That would definitely make his mission easier. “I am here to give the prisoner his last rites.” He explained neutrally, but his heart was pounding against his chest.

He refrained from letting out a relieved breath when the guards gave him permission to see the prison. He was not done with his requests just yet. “May we be permitted to have some privacy?” he asked, causing the guards looked at one another. “I believe last prayers should be as private as possible, to better expose our hearts to our great god. Oz loves us all but he is aware of all our faults, so I think it would be better for the prisoner this way, since he almost caused the death of the prophet’s wife and mother of all the future prophets. I know he will be loved, but I want him to be forgiven, too.” He explained.

The guards thought that the prisoner deserved no mercy for failing the queen and almost letting her die. Symphony was too forgiving and kind, but they figured that was the reason he was the priest and they were not. One guard gave the priest a thoughtful expression and nodded, granting him permission. Symphony smiled once more and entered the prison cell. In front of him was Noem Siran, bound against the wall by magic suppressing restraints.

NOEM

His mind was full of conflicting emotions. Part of him felt that he deserved this punishment for failing his queen, but more importantly, his friend. He almost let Bellona die! He was a fool; a terrible fool who should gladly welcome death. It was like there was something inside of him urging him to accept his death as punishment, that he could only serve the royal family by dying.

But on the other hand, Noem didn’t want to die. He felt pure rage towards his situation. Everything he worked for would be for nothing now! He survived on the streets, sold his body at Candiland, nearly sold his heart for Ethelline, then finally sold his life to the Wizard Council. He had made it all the way to the highest paying job in Wiz, a royal protector, and so young as well! His life was finally going great and now everything was ruined.

He was going to die.

A part of him wanted to cry and lament his fate, but they were already going to take his life, so Noem did not want to give them his tears too.

When he saw a man approach the guards, his heart started beating quickly with anxiety. Is he my executioner?! he thought, panic rising, but the man introduced himself as a priest. That let Noem calm himself down slightly, but the fact that a priest was here to give him his last rites still solidified the fact that he would be executed soon. He knew that the Judicael insisted a priest or priestess be sent to most prisoners before they died, something Noem heard he did as soon as he took over as Head Executioner, and the ex-protector guessed it was something Judicael carried over from his past as a healer. He was quickly beginning to understand how this could be of a relief to other prisoners like him. Maybe this was his chance to pray to Oz for some miracle to occur, a miracle that would ensure his survival.

“I am Priest Symphony.” The man introduced before he began to speak once more. “I am here to give you your last rites.”

Noem grimaced but nodded. “It…begins with a confession, right?” he asked hesitantly, still scared about his imminent death.

Symphony just smiled at him. “Yes…but I have a confession to make to you, first.”

Noem instantly felt bewildered but a prolonged last rite meant a prolonged execution, and he would gladly stall time for a few extra seconds of life. “Go ahead.” He insisted, almost too quickly.

“I confess that although I am here as the priest meant to give you your last rites, my true intent is to spare your soul, and offer you instructions on how to escape.”

Noem felt shocked and stared at the man like he had grown a second head. “What?!” he gasped, looking at Symphony in a new light. He couldn’t believe this! A part of him wondered if this was a trick, but even if it was, it was not like he had any other choice but to have faith in him. This priest was his only chance at life. Oz had sent a priest to help him. His prayer for a miracle had been answered!

“We can still do the last rites, just in case, if you desire…” the priest began to speak, but Noem cut him off by shaking his head.

“Don’t bother. I don’t want to die and I don’t plan on dying if I can help it, Priest Symphony. Tell me the plan, please.”

The priest had taken that as a cue to continue and he reached into his pocket, pulling out a loaf of bread. Noem guessed it was usually used as part of the last rites, but Symphony obviously had other plans, because when he ripped the bread in half Noem saw a pair of keys inside. “This key will unlock the collar on your neck, the second will unlock the binds around your chest and heart, while the last will release your hands and feet. The knight who is to escort you to your execution, Abiel, is the instigator of this plan.” He began to explain, moving to unlock the binds on his wrists. “Keep your restraints on so that it looks like you are still bound by the magic suppressors until Abiel says to begin phase two of the plan. We are in phase one right now. After Abiel gives you the signal …”

Noem listened intently as Symphony spoke of his salvation, memorizing every detail of the plan. Hope replaced his despair the more Symphony spoke and instead of feeling each second was closer to death, now he felt that each second meant he was closer to freedom.

He wasn’t going to die.

Truth Beneath the Rose (private)

At the news a thief had defeated several soldiers, his curiosity had been peaked. The demon must have been decent in combat if he managed to hold his own for awhile against several opponents. He waited on his throne and watched as the guards entered the room.

“She was stealing from the guards.” reported one of the guards who had dragged the captive inside. To the prince’s bewilderment, instead of a strong demon, he was being shown a scared girl. Did they expect him to believe that she was the thief who fought off several men? The woman brought before him looked pathetically weak, meaning that this was all a waste of his time. The only thing of interest was the dragon hatchling on her shoulder that the guards had apparently failed to confiscate from her, but he would address their misconduct later.

The prince eyes quickly dimmed to disinterest and waved off his guards. “You sought an audience with me to show me a crying girl? Do not bother me with mundane matters.”

“But my prince, she was stealing-“

“I don’t need you to repeat your report.” he interrupted the guard, glancing at the injured captive. She looked frail with so many wounds covering her and completely helpless as she begged and cried. “Are you trying to tell me that she truly fought and won against our guards? If that’s true, maybe they were simply too weak and I need to fire them.”

Refusing to listen to his idiotic guard, he turned his attention to the poor girl. He was silent as he took a moment to observe her actions and shook his head with exasperation. “She is obviously not the thief you were looking for. Release her.” he ordered.