Roleplay Title: The Breadsticks AU Nobody Wanted Roleplay Origin: Breadsticks AU Setting: Restaurant AU Earth Characters: Adrien Szetella Bellakane Black Jecht Rutella Iris Sohma Lucifel Hyperion Bellerophon Black Valdeimos Mancini Valente Mancini Marcellina Machiavelli
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Adrien chomped on another breadstick.
He had a feeling he had been stood up for his date.
When the waitress returned to the table with yet another refilled basket of breadsticks, he felt too embarrassed to look her in the eyes. He probably looked pitiful, sitting alone while eating away breadstick after breadstick.
"A-are you ready to order now, sir?" she asked shyly, probably mortified to ask him after he had been so obviously stood up for a date. Adrien felt awkward as he nodded. He should probably give up on waiting.
"Yeah...yeah I'll order now. Uh, sorry. For taking so long, I mean." he apologized, opening the menu and going straight for the desserts.
He inwardly cursed Marcellina and Valente for insisting he go on the blind date they set up for him. Thanks to those blond demons, he was stuck in such an awkward situation. He wanted to go home but he did not want to just leave without ordering anything after sitting there for an hour, making the poor girl waste her time giving him breadsticks over and over again.
“Um…” his eyes darted over the menu, “Bread…Fruit Pudding. Please.”
Adrien would never admit he had been about to say breadsticks and corrected his embarrassing slip up by naming the first thing he saw starting with bread in its name.
He quickly ate his bread fruit pudding, paid for his order, and made sure to leave a big tip before he fled the restaurant. -x-x-x-x-
Apparently his best friends decided to make it up to him by setting him up with yet again another blind date. Adrien didn’t even want to go on the first one! Sadly, despite his protests the next night Adrien found himself back at the same restaurant. He even had the same waitress for his table. The embarrassment from the night before returned.
“Um, reservations made by Valente Mancini…” he mumbled, repeating the same words as yesterday, and followed the girl to his table. His date actually arrived earlier than him, to his surprise, and was already waiting.
"Uh, hey. I'm Adrien." He gave him a shy smile.
"Hello. Jecht Rutella, a pleasure to meet you." he greeted politely, which eased Adrien's nerves. He seemed nice, at least.
Unfortunately Jecht's polite and mannerly persona all but disappeared after Adrien made the mistake of asking the wrong question.
The conversation had been going normally enough, at first. "Yeah, Valente and I are roommates with our friend Marcellina. How do you know him?" Adrien had asked, not knowing it was the beginning of the end.
"Oh, we are coworkers. Miss Machiavelli works with us as well." Jecht admitted and Adrien leaned forward, immediately interested. Valente never mentioned what his job was and always spoke about work as vague as possible. Adrien sometimes wondered if his mysterious job was something ludicrous and joked about Valente being a member of the mafia or a secret government spy. Valente had gone pale at the joke and vehemently denied working for the mafia, much to Adrien's amusement, but decided not to bring it up again because Valente looked so anxious. He could only hope Jecht would tell him more about it so his curiosity would be soothed. Adrien didn't even know Marcellina worked in the same place as Valente! He listened eagerly to Jecht's words. "But I rarely see Marcellina or Valente. I mostly work with...Trixxtal." he spat out the name with venom, and Adrien could only stare at him in shock at his abrupt anger. Subconsciously, Adrien scooted his seat back and cradled the basket of breadsticks closer to him. "Just today, the Boss assigned us a job and in the middle of the job he brings up an argument we had earlier..."
Nibbling on a breadstick, he listened to Jecht's sudden rant. He also wondered who the hell Trixxtal was.
"...And then, he dared to threaten my poodle! It's not my darling Cece's fault if she wanted to chew on his favorite shoes, Trixxtal should have put them away instead of leaving them on the floor! He always makes such a mess and it drives me crazy when he moves around my stuff. Ugh, one time he tried to replace one of my paintings on the wall with this low quality trash he found in some plebeian store..."
"U-um...excuse me...my name is Bellakane and I-I'll be your server today, are you ready to order?" the timid waitress, bless her heart, tried her best to end Jecht's tirade. Jecht apparently did not hear her and continued talking about how angry he was at this Trixxtal person. Adrien locked eyes with her. For a moment, Adrien felt a connection with her, bonding over their awkward position of dealing with Jecht.
Adrien froze when a sudden thought struck him. If Bellakane took his order, he would have to wait for his food to be cooked and brought to him. He would have to eat his food. He would have to wait for the bill. This translated to him listening to Jecht the entire time, something Adrien was unsure he wanted to continue to do.
"I-I just got an urgent text!" he blurted out, standing in his chair abruptly. "Sorry but I have to go home, right now, immediately!"
Before Jecht could say anything, Adrien fled the restaurant once again. It was only when he got back to his car that he realized he had still been carrying the basket of breadsticks. His cheeks flushed red from embarrassment; he could not believe he accidently stole their breadsticks. Even though they were free, Adrien felt guilty, so he resolved himself to return the basket later once he knew Jecht was long gone. After he finished the breadsticks, of course.
-x-x-x-x-
To his despair, Valente and Marcellina set him up on another blind date to try to redeem themselves for the fiasco with Jecht. Adrien, unable to bring himself to stand up to his friend's whims, found himself seated at the restaurant once again. Once he asked the waitress, who was Bellakane again, for time to look at the menu Adrien looked at the woman who arrived earlier.
His date sat across from him and while she seemed completely normal, after yesterday's disastrous date Adrien knew better now than to judge by the first impression. "Nice to meet you, I'm Adrien." he tried to smile politely. The woman gave him a bright, cheerful smile that filled him with hope that she was nothing like Jecht.
"I'm Iris! I'm happy to be here." she chimed, her eyes lit up with excitement. "When Marcellina asked me if I wanted to go on a blind date, I never thought she would set me up with a pretty guy like you!"
Adrien blushed, flustered by her forwardness at calling him 'pretty'. He was unused to compliments because it was Valente who usually got deemed 'beautiful', so he got most of the attention whenever they hung out. "O-Oh? Uh, thanks - "
"I love beautiful men, you know, that's how I met Valente!"she interrupted, and Adrien was only a little surprised that she had met Valente too. That immediately set off warning bells in his head; anybody who knew Valente was strange in some way and his blond friend always called Adrien 'his only normal friend'. "I should have known you would be beautiful too, since you're friends with Marcellina and Valente! I'm actually searching for a beautiful man in my memories, so when I saw Valente's beautiful face I thought it could be him, but he wasn't." she said with a pout.
Adrien was at a loss. What in the world was she talking about?! How did the conversation turn this way? With resignation, he asked, "And...why are you looking for a beautiful man?"
She immediately piped up, apparently happy to talk about herself. "I have amnesia." she admitted unexpectedly, "My only memory of the past is a beautiful man, smiling at me and saying 'I love you, Iris'...How can I not want to search for him? I don't even care about my missing memories...I want to find that man! "
Adrien was surprised at her answer, but he smiled softly. "That's...pretty touching. You're searching for the man who loves you."
Iris grinned. "Yup! His face is blurry so I'm trying to meet as many people as possible since I don't know his face clearly. I might meet someone who knows him!" she explained, before suddenly reaching into her large purse and taking out...a basketball? "And this will help me!" she revealed, showing the basketball proudly to him.
"Huh, a basketball? Did he play the sport or something?" he asked bewildered, wondering why she was showing it to him all of a sudden. Adrien did not even want to understand how it fit into her purse. Adrien watched as she shook her head.
"Nope, this basketball has a spirit named Ju-On attached to it." she said with a straight face. Adrien stared at her as she spun a wild tale of her first meeting with Valente. Marcellina met her on a trip to the mall and the two hit it off, becoming fast friends and Marcellina became determined to help Iris on her quest for love. Since Valente had connections with powerful people he was asked to help find the missing man, but when they came face to face Iris immediately thought he was the most beautiful human being on the planet. Perfection like him just HAD to be the sweet man from her memories! Iris proudly described her efforts in stalking Valente, seeing absolutely nothing wrong with 'wanting to be by her beloved's side forever', and Adrien vaguely remembered his friend complaining about a crazy stalker about a month ago. Adrien never saw her because Valente wanted nothing to do with her, but if Iris was the same girl...why the hell was he on a date with her, then?!
"But one day Valente tearfully admitted that there was a man more beautiful than him, he saw him long ago and had only just remembered," she continued, completely serious about what she was saying, and Adrien was still in disbelief that this story was real. "He told me that man must have been the one I had been searching for, and he was so sorry for wasting my time on him when my real love was still out there somewhere. Valente gave me this basketball as an apology, and now I carry it everywhere because he said it was special."
"Valente told you that basketball is...special?" he asked, wondering if this girl was just playing a joke on him. Sadly, Adrien could absolutely see his friend pulling a stunt like this to get rid of a creepy girl. In fact, now that Adrien thought about it, that basketball was probably his! Valente went through his things one day and, out of the blue, asked for one of his old basketballs. Adrien had never gotten it back.
At that moment, Bellakane returned to the table to take their order, but Iris did not notice her and continued her story. "Yes! Valente said this basketball contains Ju-On inside." she said happily, reminding Adrien of her words earlier, "Ju-On loves beautiful men, so as long as I carry the basketball with me, I will be guided to them. Eventually, I'll find my love, Ju-On will lead me to him!"
Out of the corner of his eye, Adrien saw Bellakane looking confused and eyeing the dirty basketball that Iris set on top of the table. He said nothing to either of them and was pretty much acting on autopilot now; the ridiculousness of the situation had drained him of his energy. "I helped Valente seal Ju-On into that basketball, so you will definintely find him one day." he said with a straight face, reaching for his phone. He stuffed it into his messenger bag, and without thinking, shoved a breadstick into his bag. "I'm not him, and I don't want to keep you from your search, so..." he shoved another breadstick inside, "Sorry but I have to go home, right now, immediately."
He practically flew from his chair.
As he left, he had the feeling Bellakane was trying to keep herself from laughing at him.
When he opened his bag at home, he was mortified and embarrassed to find a couple of breadsticks inside.
-x-x-x-x-
Marcellina vehemently apologized for her mistake in choosing the previous nights date. Adrien forgave her for not realizing Iris was actually a madwoman on a manhunt, but he was unsure if he wanted to forgive her for setting him up on another date as an 'apology'.
At least he had the breadsticks to look forward too.
And Bellakane apparently knew this, because not even five seconds at his table and she already had a basket of breadsticks waiting for him.
"S-so Valente set you up on another blind date?" she asked, but suddenly began to blush and she began apologizing profusely. "I'm sorry I shouldn't have asked, that's none of my business!"
Adrien just chucked, his embarrassment could not possible rise any higher could it? "Ah, haha, yeah...unfortunately...You don't have to apologize though. If anything, should apologize for taking so many breadsticks...I lost the basket from the first night too." he grimaced, his face turning red as she suddenly giggled at him.
"It's okay...Valente returned it for you, don't worry. Um...I'm Bellakane, by the way." she introduced herself, and Adrien smiled in relief that he was not in trouble.
"Oh, that's suspiciously responsible of him then...And nice to meet you properly, Bellakane. I'm Adrien." he greeted, and felt oddly comfortable speaking to her. He had a feeling it was because she had already seen him look pitiful on his blind dates. "I'm sorry for wasting your time with my uh...dates."
"Ah, I think Valdeimos doesn't mind...he's the owner of the restaurant. Valente is his little brother, so he's used to trouble and strange situations caused by him." she explained, and suddenly Adrien finally understood why he kept getting sent to this restaurant and why he had not been banned from the building. He couldn't help but laugh.
"Finally, things are making a lot more sense! I don't know much about Valente's family, so I had no idea his brother owned this place..."
The friendly chatter with Bellakane continued and she spent her short break talking with him. Her shyness slowly disappeared the more their conversation and it was pleasant speaking with her. Unfortunately, the pleasant atmosphere disappeared once Adrien suddenly felt a sense of foreboding when an obnoxious voice carried throughout the room.
"AHAHA IT IS I, THE DEMON LORD LUCIFEL WITH MY FAMILIAR TAPIOCO, HERE AT THE REQUEST OF WIZARD VALENTE, TO GIVE THE HONOR OF BASKING IN MY PRESENCE, TO ALL THOSE IN THE ROOM..."
Adrien slowly turned around, and his face grew pale at the man speaking near the entrance. He wore a golden crown on his head, alongside a pair of obviously plastic devil horns. While the dress shirt he wore actually looked nice, and surprisingly normal, on top of his shoulders rested a long flowing cape. The shoulder pads were large and shaped as skulls. In his hands, was a white duck. At first he thought it was a realistic plushie but he saw it move and that was the last straw.
"Oh hell no, I'm going to kill Valente...!" he hissed, and Adrien turned to Bellakane with pleading eyes. "Get me out of here without getting seen, please, Bellakane."
Bellakane was stifling her laughter and nodded, pointing at the kitchen and motioning for him to follow. Adrien quickly replied and followed her, but as soon as they stepped through the doors, the waitress burst out laughing.
"I'm so so so sorry for laughing...but...I cannot believe....! Lucifel, of all people...Pft..." the girl drew looks from the rest of the staff, but only one man approached them.
"Bellakane...what are you doing? And why have you brought this customer into the kitchen?" he asked, frowning at the two of them, but there was no anger in his eyes. Bellakane took a moment to compose herself.
"Valdeimos, he needs to sneak out the back door. He's Valente's friend and got set up on a blind date with Lucifel..." she began to explain, thought she was cut off when the owner of the restaurant spoke.
"I understand. Show him the exit, Bellakane, I'll get rid of the idiot. He probably brought that duck with him too..." Valdeimos sighed tiredly, but with undersanding in his eyes, and Adrien had a feeling there was a story here he was missing.
"Thank you." Adrien said earnestly to Bellakane once they reached the back door. "Really, thank you. I don't know who that weirdo is, but I'm so glad I don't have to find out. And I don't even want to know why he carried around that duck. It's probably a story just as weird as that basketball one."
Bellakane giggled again. "Lucifel is Valente's childhood...friend? Both of their dads work for my dad, so we all grew up knowing each other and Lucifel has always been weird. He calls himself the demon lord and Valente a wizard for some reason. Valente and Valdeimos are actually my cousins, so he calls us wizards too."
Adrien blinked, surprised that his new friend was related to Valente. No wonder she found the situation amusing. "Oh wow. That's pretty interesting...Haha, well I don't want to keep anymore of your time so I'll go now. At least I didn't accidently steal any more breadsticks this time!" he laughed, ready to leave, but was stopped when Bellakane whipped out a to-go box.
"I figured you would leave without your date...so...I made this for you...Um, bye Adrien!" she blushed as she handed him the box and ran away before Adrien could say anything.
"Huh?" he muttered, opening the box to inspect what was inside.
He laughed hard when he saw breadsticks inside.
-x-x-x-x-
After chewing out his friends for setting him up with crazy people, Marcellina and Valente apparently took his words as a challenge to find him a better date. Adrien was once again at the restaurant on a blind date, but at least time, he had been assured by Marcellina that this person would be a normal person. He didn't believe her at all.
The fist sign that the night would not go well was Bellakane's gaze of pity when he stepped through the doors. "Welcome, Adrien. Your date is already here. I'm so sorry." she informed, but she looked tired, the same expression Valdeimos had the night before when he found out he had to deal with his brother's messes.
"Do you...know him?" he asked hesitantly, already feeling dread settle in his body the closer his steps brought him to his table.
"My big brother, Bellerophon." she admitted and sent Adrien another mournful look. "I'll get your box of breadsticks ready, Adrien."
Adrien choked back a laugh. "He's that bad or what?" he asked, but didn't get an answer because they had arrived. The man waiting at the table was unexpected. Dressed in a white suit, a golden rose tucked into his pocket, golden hair as pretty as Valente's, and a pleasant smile...Adrien got the impression he was looking at an angel. While he did not trust any person chosen by Marcellina or Valente, Adrien definitely preferred Bellakane's angelic brother to that demon wannabe from last night.
"Hello, you must be Adrien. I'm Bellerophon." greeted his date, who extended his hand and offered him a single yellow rose.
"O-oh, thank you." he took the rose with a blush, surprised he had received a gift at all. None of the others had gifts for him, and Adrien's expectations of the date were too low for him to bother bringing anything either. He took a seat and Bellakane suspiciously had left, and Adrien wondered if she was taking her sweet time so Adrien would have enough time to flee before ordering. Adrien twirled the rose in his hands and smiled. Even if this date ended in disaster, he would appreciate the flower, he hardly ever received gifts from anyone.
"I really like roses." Bellerophon began suddenly, causing Adrien to look up, "I have a garden back home and grow them all myself as a hobby. I hope my servants can tended to them properly." he said with a sigh, before smiling at Adrien again. "Do you have any hobbies, Adrien? Valente, when he asked me to meet you here, said you have an interest in television dramas. I mostly watch online, to keep up with shows I watched in my home country, so I have not seen any of this countries' television yet."
Adrien's face brightened, thankful that Bellerophon had not unleashed a weird life story on him like Jecht or Iris for their first conversation. "Yes, I love TV dramas! I spend a lot of my free time watching them, actually, it's probably embarrassing how obsessed I can become over some of my shows. So you like shows from other countries? Are you new to this country, then?" he asked, happy to talk about the topic.
"Yes, both my sister Bellakane and I are just visiting here while our parents deal with some issues back home. We're staying with our cousin, Valdeimos, for now. He owns this restaurant and Bellakane wanted to help out to show her gratitude. I admit I've acted a bit...lazier." he confessed with a light chuckle. "I spend all my time on the computer, watching my shows. I get obsessed too. I spend all of my extra money collecting items from my favorite shows. Especially anime, I love that the most! My room back home is filled with figures and posters of my favorite characters."
"Finally, somebody who understands! I'm the same way...I keep buying every merchandise I find. One time, there was a rare poster being given out so..."
Their conversation continued, and Bellakane was surprised when she arrived and Adrien had not run off yet. He actually got to order food and ordered spaghetti, just because he knew they would go well with breadsticks. It was easy speaking to Bellerophon because they had common interests and Bellerophon was (so far) sane compared to the previous dates.
When the conversation turned onto a strange topic and Bellerophon started to say weird things, by this point Adrien just rolled with it, nodding his head as he listened and ate his spaghetti. Even when he said things like:
"My father is the ruler of my country, and as the king he makes many enemies. This is why I support the death penalty. Murderers who try to harm my family and the citizens are the worst of humanity. Annoying people like them should just be executed." and "I technically have a fiancee, but she has been comatose the past few years and I just can't bring myself to abandon her despite the low chance of her waking up. I feel guilty for her condition. I'm a prince so she was targeted by assassins and she got hurt during the attack. She survived, but never woke up, and I actually carry this golden rose to remember her." and "Alright, so I had a crush on my best friend, right? But it turned out he had only befriended me because his family was trying to overthrow the government in a coup de'tat. It broke my heart when he betrayed me, but I still convinced my father not to execute him because I can't help but continue to care about him. I'm such a hypocrite, haha, just earlier I was supporting the death penalty! Anyways, that's why Bellakane and I are in this country. We're staying with our cousin until my mother feels it safe at home for my family."
Adrien listened with rapt attention, chewing on his breadsticks. "Uh, wow. My life is nothing like that. I'm an orphan and never really had family or anyone at all, really, until I met Valente and Marcellina." he commented, refraining from mentioning to Bellerophon how his life sounded like a ridiculous soap opera. In fact, it sounded like the plot of a television drama he would want to watch. Bellerophon was even a prince; Adrien never imagined ever meeting real royalty and apparently he had met two of them! He felt guilty, though, thinking of Bellerophon's life like that. He described real events that happened to him, not episodes in a show. "But I think - "
However, he was interrupted, when Bellerophon got a glimpse at his phone. The prince's face was pale and he looked extremely worried. "Oh no! It's already this late?! The new episode of Magical Girls Love!Live! Rangers is going to be released in twenty minutes. I've been waiting all week for it..." Bellerophon trailed off, and took out his wallet, setting more hundred dollar bills than he actually needed onto the table.
In the biggest plot twist of Adrien's life, it was Bellerophon who stood up and exclaimed, "Sorry but I have to go home, right now, immediately." in his extreme passion over his anime. Adrien just stared as he watched Bellerophon shove breadsticks into his backpack (it was cute, Adrien thought, with its anime characters) and watched the elegantly dressed man in a suit, wearing an anime backpack, rush out of the restaurant worrying over missing out on the new episode of his show.
Adrien stayed silent for a moment, looking at the empty breadstick basket in sorrow, before exclaiming:
"Normal, my ass. There was nothing normal about him at all!"
He felt better though, when an amused Bellakane handed him more breadsticks.
-x-x-x-x-
Adrien was in hell, obviously. Why else would he be on another blind date?!
"I'll definitely get back at Valente and Marcellina for this...!" he mumbled, biting into a breadstick.
OLIVIER "Oh...they aren't?" he pouted, immensely disappointed. "What a shame..." he mumbled. New recruits would have been a great help since many of his coworkers were unconscious and the vampire grandpas would be visiting soon. Oh well, that would be just more cleaning for him! The thought made him feel cheerful again.
He bowed formally to the three of them and gave the demons a bright smile. "Well, I hope you enjoy your tour, sir and madam!" he bid farewell, returning back to his duties.
ALU The demon was looking at the wizard, who was apparently named Olivier, in a new light. Alu had realized that Olivier was a complete idiot. Now that she had tempered her anger, she could clearly see that the man was clueless and did not match the target's description at all; both in appearance and personality. But her suspicions had only slightly eased, perhaps this wizard was being used as a decoy? Maybe he was putting up an act? She gave one last nasty glare to the retreating Olivier before nodding back to the vampire. "Yes, let's move on." she agreed. The farther away from that duck roaster, the better.
JECHT "Cece, go sniff out the stupid wizard for me." he demanded the small poodle, who barked happily as he set her onto the ground. However the dog stood in place, wagging her tail, staring at Jecht expectantly. Jecht sighed; he should have known better than to hope she would listen to him when he did not have any dog treats on hand. He would have to look for Valente the hard way. For whatever reason, even with his enhanced senses it was difficult to track down the stupid wizard, which drove Jecht absolutely crazy. Sensing his heartbeat, finding his scent, hearing his movements...if the annoying blond used magic sometimes Jecht could not even rely on his sight to find him! He hated every time he was bested by Valente.
But the wizard was extra annoying about spending time with them earlier, so Jecht had the feeling he was still hiding around the island somewhere. And sure enough, after scouring the beach, he found Valente sitting in a beach chair wearing sunglasses in the middle of the night like the loser he was. "There you are, blond bastard." he scowled, crouching down and grabbing a conveniently placed boulder.
"Stupid wizard!" he yelled, lifting the boulder and throwing it at Valente. But to his chagrin, Valente dodged the hit and was now laughing at him in the air. "Turn my hair back to normal, now!" he shouted, crossing his arms as he glared at Valente.
IZEL Standing outside the salt circle he had placed Lord Anastasio in, Izel sliced his hand with a special knife that had symbols etched into the blade. After the droplets of his blood fell onto the salt Izel set aside the knife and used his uncut hand to grab his nearby tome. "Lord Anastasio, please be patient while I recite the protection spell! No spirit will be able to harm you once I complete it!" he vowed with determination.
Izel carefully recited the spell and out of the corner of his eye saw his blood rapidly spread through the circle. Once every grain was dosed with his blood, the circle glowed and Izel felt relieved. It was working! A moment later, the amulet he gave to the vampire also began to shine the same crimson color as the circle.
Roleplay Origin: Fire Emblem AU Setting: Ylisse Characters: Kieran Venric (class: Lord) Mizuki Sato (class: Tactician) Flarence Suga (class: Great Knight)
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Kieran frowned as Flarence wrapped a cloth around his neck. "Flarence, must you try to do this every morning?" he asked, irritated as he sat in his chair trying to ignore the amused faces of his fellow soldiers. He could see from the corner of his eyes that most of them were trying to hold back laughter. This was humiliating.
"Milord, you cannot risk dirtying your clothes! As royalty, you must present yourself in an appropriate manner." answered the red haired man with exasperation, as if he got asked a foolish question. Kieran's eye twitched slightly.
"I am a soldier. I cannot help if my clothes get dirty in battle, Flarence." he tried to explain slowly, but Flarence just scoffed.
"But that is battle, sire. Outside of the battlefield, you must not present yourself as a low born peasant! What would the people think if their prince looked like a slob?" countered the man, who had finished the makeshift bib around Kieran's neck, and had moved to grab a cloth to set onto his lap.
"Flarence, do you think I care about that?" he asked, frustrated, but like always Flarence just dismissed his anger.
"Exactly my point, I know you do not care! That is why I must do this for you and ensure that you are taken care of." he answered with pride. He kept his gaze on Kieran to ensure the cloth shielded him from any crumbs and liquids that could fall from his breakfast plate. The prince sulked, but grabbed his food with dejected obedience and ate without taking off the cloths. Flarence beamed. This morning set a new record. Kieran only argued with him for ten minutes this time and only threw away the cloths about five times before giving up.
"I still don't know why I need a bib, like a baby, I am a grown man....", grumbled Kieran. As if fate decided to conspire against him, some of his porridge slipped from his spoon and landed onto the fabric fastened around his neck. He sighed as Flarence looked at him smug. "That doesn't count!" Kieran exclaimed, his face red from embarrassment, but Flarence just chuckled and sat beside him eating his own meal. Kieran scowled. "Fine, wearing this thing is easier than having you fuss over a stained shirt, I guess." he acquiesced, before finishing his food, feeling annoyed the entire time. A few minutes of silence passed between them before he spoke again.
"Flarence, can you do me a favor? I'm planning on training, but I left one of my swords in my tent. Fetch it for me, please?" he asked once he noticed Flarence finished his meal, and joy lit up in the man's eyes at Kieran's words. With a loyal "of course, milord!" Kieran watched Flarence hurry out of the tent, and after a few seconds passed, the prince smirked. "I still can't believe that works every time. Anyways, I'm out of here! I’ll meet back with you all in a few hours." he declared as he ripped the bibs off him, feeling victorious and not in the least bit guilty over manipulating his dutiful retainer again.
Making his escape he glared at the few Shepherds around to keep their mouth shut to Flarence, before running off from the camp.
The road to town would have him discovered by his men with ease. So, a careful trip through the forest was Kieran’s highest chance of success at evading them. He strayed from the dirt path and entered through the trees, using the trunks as a cover. Sunlight filtered through the tree leaves. Birds chirped their morning songs and small animals scurried around collecting food. Kieran felt himself relax at the peaceful atmosphere. His mornings tended to consist of either nagging or exhaustion, so to walk alone in near silence felt like Naga blessed him. To worry about responsibility was the last thing Kieran wanted when he began his day. His spontaneous walk was a great idea.
A few minutes into his entry in the forest, Kieran found himself staring at a large field. The sudden change in scenery confused him. He stayed in his spot hidden amongst the tress and gazed at his surroundings as he placed his hand over the hilt of his sword. No obvious enemies in sight. In fact, not too far from the bright green grass was the dirt road he avoided earlier. Kieran wondered if he found a shortcut to town by chance. Before he stepped out, he glanced around the field once again to make sure he could not fall victim to an ambush. It was then he noticed something peculiar.
Almost unnoticeable due to the tall grass, he could make out a figure in the distance. Dark purple and light pink were the colors that stood out to his eyes the most. But, Kieran could not name anything that size with those colors off the top of his head. He saw no movement. His instincts sensed no danger and his curiosity burned. Kieran stepped away from the safety of his hidden spot and approached the item, his hand never leaving his weapon. A part of him felt excited and his heart slammed against his chest in frantic rhythm. The thrill of exposing himself to possible danger felt tantalizing. An end to his boredom! A way to have actual control of his actions for once! If Flarence accompanied him then Kieran would not be allowed to investigate on his own. It was a stupid desire, to look for danger, but Kieran could not help but crave an end to feeling smothered.
As he inched closer, Kieran squint his eyes as sunlight caused something to reflect and shine right into his vision. He pursued his lips in annoyance. What could be laying there to cause that? He received his answer when he finally reached the mysterious item. Only, it was not an item.
It was a person.
Stunned, Kieran just stared. In front of him laid an unconscious young woman with light pink hair with a pale, almost sick complexion. The object that hurt his eyes turned out to be a bronze sword attached to her side. It was not the only weapon the woman had. Kieran noticed a bright yellow thunder tome in the dirt a foot away from her. That made him suspect that she did not fall asleep here on purpose since tomes required proper treatment to ensure they did not break early.
The cloak she wore is why Kieran did not rush to her aid. Stitched onto the dark purple cloak were golden symbols, along with eyelike patterns he recognized.
His father, the previous exalt who waged a terrible war against Plegia, bothered to teach him only a few lessons. One of them was about the cult of Grimleal; the sworn enemy of Naga’s worshipers. His father showed him the blasphemous symbols of Grima and ordered him to cut off the head of any person who wore them. And the mysterious girl was covered in those symbols.
For a brief moment, his traitorous mind entertained the idea to obey his dead father’s will by ending the girl’s life while she slept. To kill first and remove a potential threat to Ylisse. Horrified at himself, he banished the horrible thought away. Grimleal or not she was innocent until proven otherwise.
But he still did not know what he should do now. She did not seem to have external injuries and there was no sight of blood; she looked like a normal person would while they slept. Unfortunately leaving her and forgetting she existed was not an option; it was dangerous to leave an armed Plegian Grimleal alone in a field. Even if she meant no harm, a Ylissean who recognized her cloak could potentially become hostile towards her, despite how unlikely that was. Ylisseans wanted nothing to do with Grimleal and not taught in depth about the cult like he was so most would, at worst, probably think she was a regular dark mage.
When he heard her sudden pain filled groan, Kieran’s cautious thoughts abandoned him. Panic filled him instead. Was she waking up? But he had not decided what to do with her yet! He was accustomed to Flarence solving his problems for him. He was not ready for this. His father would have definitely killed her. But everyone, him included, hated his father so maybe he should do the opposite of what he would have done and help her?
"What should I do...?" he asked out loud, feeling anxious. He looked at the woman again and to his relief, she did not wake up yet. She began to stir and whimpered as if a nightmare plagued her. Kieran disregarded his suspicions the moment he realized she was in pain. He kneeled down and, with a tad of awkwardness, gave her a few light shoves. “H-hey…wake up!” he called out. When she showed no signs of awakening, Kieran hoped she did not have an injury to the head or was dealt a curse that kept her asleep. He should have thought more about why she was laying there in the first place instead of agonizing over whether to wake her up or not!
"What should I do...?" he asked out loud again, concerned and stood back up. Medicine and Kieran were an absolute disaster. He just slashed and cut through things with his sword, not heal people! "I have to do something..."he murmured, and widened his eyes when she saw her finally begin to wake up.
“Hey there!” He blurted out without thought. To avoid his awkward feelings, he extended his right hand to help her stand. Unfortunately, with every word that flowed from his mouth, Kieran just made everything more awkward. "There are better places to take a nap than on the ground, you know!" He joked and forced himself not to cringe at how uncool he sounded just now. But to his relief, the dazed woman did not hesitate to accept his help and reached for his hand. His eyes landed on a peculiar tattoo on the back of her right hand. The design resembled the symbol of the Grimleal but it was a mark he did specifically not recognize. It also looked branded on her skin, like the mark of Naga branded onto his left hand. It interested him, but her voice redirected his attention on her and he dropped the hand.
"What a lame joke, but thanks, Kieran." she greeted, the sentence rolling off her tongue automatically. Her face scrunched in confusion as if wondering why she just said that.
Kieran felt confused over being addressed with familiarity by her, but smiled at her. It was always refreshing to speak with a person who did not bother with unnecessary formalities. "O-Oh...You know me?" he asked with a touch of curiosity in his tone. It wasn't too odd to know his name, considering he was a prince-
"No...the name just came to me." she confessed and both shared bewildered looks with each other. "Where in the world am I anyways...? I...I can't remember...? I don’t remember anything!"
Immediately, he felt both concerned and suspicious. But he cast away his paranoid thoughts and watched as she looked around the field with an anxious expression. He had to help her, he reminded himself.
"You’re in the country of Ylisse. You…don’t remember?" he commented, but she just rolled his eyes at him like he was an idiot.
“That’s what I just said, Kieran!” she snapped at him. She proceeded to ignore him and mumble to herself over her worry about her memory loss. Kieran just stared at her with a stunned expression, still caught off guard by her attitude. But he supposed anybody in her situation would feel disoriented and act this way.
"Hey, it will be alright, try to calm down...Is there anything you remember at all, besides my name?" he asked, not wanting to feel useless.
“You’re telling me to calm down? My memory is gone and I wake up in a strange field knowing only the name of the stranger who found me, how am I supposed to remain calm?! I know your name, that means I know you. Maybe you’re the person who did this to me…!” she almost shrieked at him. Kieran jerked back, not even considering he could be a suspect.
“What?! Oh Naga help me. You're crazy, I just found you sleeping here in the field!” he retorted back, realizing for the first time how this bizarre situation must seem to her. Kieran wondered if these ridiculous accusations were karma for his own suspicions of her earlier. “Look, I did nothing to your memory. I’ll even promise to help you get them back to prove it!” he promised at the sight of her intimidating glare. A split second later he wondered if he would later regret this lapse in judgment to make such a promise without thought. Who knew how long or how much work it would take to remedy her amnesia? He was such an idiot! Well, he could not take it back now. He smiled nervously and placed both his hands on her shoulders. “Just, just take a few deep breaths alright? Maybe something will come back to you if you have a clear head.”
To his surprise, she did not push him away or slap his hands off of her. Instead she took his advice and took a few deep breaths. Kieran felt her shoulders lessen their tension. He dropped his hands back to his sides, an expectant look on his face as she looked deep in thought.
"Mizuki..? I think my name is Mizuki." She finally answered, and Kieran smiled again except this time with joy instead of nervousness.
"Mizuki." the name rolled off his tongue with ease, "It’s a nice name, I’m glad you remembered it. Well, my name is Kieran, like you mentioned earlier. Anything else come back?”
Mizuki looked frustrated. “No, just my name. I don’t know why I know yours, either. Do you know?” she asked, and her frown deepened when Kieran shook his head negative.
“No, I don’t remember meeting you either…” he trailed off. But Kieran met so many people as both a prince and soldier that it would be no surprise if he just forgot about her. “Maybe somebody in town will know you. I promised to help you out, so I can escort you there if you wish.”
Mizuki looked thoughtful for a moment before nodding. “Alright, but I’m still suspicious of you. You better keep your promise, Kieran.” She answered, and Kieran shrugged. He was still suspicious of her too. Perhaps keeping an eye on her for now was for the best, anyways.
“I always keep my promises, don’t worry Mizuki.” he spoke, not seeing her small smile as he bent down and reached the thunder tome on the ground. “I think this tome is yours. It was on the ground next to you. You have a sword too, so you might have some combat experience.” He explained as he handed her the book. She seemed pensive, wondering if she knew how to use magic or could fight like he suggested.
“Hm…” she hummed, opening the tome and reading through a few pages, “It does feel familiar. Like I already know how to do this…”
Kieran grinned and felt glad that he was correct. “That’s great! Another thing you know about yourself. We can head to town now and it’s not far from here. The road is just over there and…” his words died on his lips as he glanced in the direction of the village. Smoke rose into the sky and Kieran could see flames even from this distance. “Oh no…a fire? Maybe it was set by bandits? I have to help! Stay here, Mizuki.” he sounded worried, but he was full of resolve to help his people. Without a glance at Mizuki, Kieran ran off in the direction of the burning town.
Mizuki looked confused at his abrupt pause but when she saw the horror on his face, she turned around and saw what had terrified him. The village was on fire and he suspected bandits were also making trouble. She scowled when Kieran started to leave on his own. “Don’t just leave me and rush into danger, idiot, do you even have a plan?!” she shouted, running after him. He would need back up if bandits appeared and she was not letting him die until she got her memories back!
Kieran reached the town and the sight of barbarian bandits attacking innocent villagers made him see red. His body shook with rage and he reached for his sword, about to charge into a fight, when he felt someone press down on his hand to stop him. “Moron, you’ll get yourself killed.” Huffed Mizuki, and Kieran startled at her presence. She must have followed him.
“But I have to help!” he hissed, but all that did was earn him a smack on the head.
“You won’t be helping if you charge in without a thought.” She rolled her eyes at him before scanning the battlefield from the hidden location. “Let me come up with the plan. Somehow tactics…seems familiar. I may not remember my past, but I know I can do it.”
Kieran raised his brows but nodded. “Alright…” he agreed hesitantly. Whatever plan she came up with would most likely be more efficient than his 'stab every enemy he sees' approach.
Thirty minutes later, Kieran looked at Mizuki like she was the most amazing woman in the world. Her abilities as a tactician were incredible. Even with her amnesia, she managed to defeat the bandits who terrorized the village. She concocted the plan on the spot and worked with only had two fighters with abilities she did not know the effectiveness of. Even though the barbarians outnumbered them, they did not stand a chance against the pair. Kieran and Mizuki fought alongside each other like war veterans who spent years in combat together.
“You’re incredible, Mizuki! You should become a tactician! The Shepherds would be thrilled to recruit you.” he complimented, still staring at her with awe. She had potential to become a tactician for his Shepherds and her addition to the ranks would be a great asset. He didn't even care about her being Plegian or Grimleal anymore.
Mizuki accepted the compliment and grinned. “I know. My plan was perfection.” She said with pride, enjoying the praise. At first she felt nervous, but as the battle raged on her confidence grew and Kieran’s fighting prowess surprised her. “And what does a tactician have to do with a shepherd? Find the perfect strategy to herd sheep?”
Kieran let out a light hearted laugh. “Oh no. We’re a volunteer force dedicated to protecting Ylisse from bandits. And we defend villages around the halidom’s borders from hostiles.”
“What? Why is it named Shepherds though? That name makes no sense.” asked Mizuki, confused.
“Well, I thought it was a great name when I came up with it! You know, the citizens are sheep we protect.” He answered defensively, blushing from embarrassment over her remarks.
“YOU named the group? And they agreed to such a lame name with a lame reason?” she asked in disbelief, bewildered about why they would let Kieran choose the name. Did he win a bet or something?
“Well I am the leader…” he mumbled, slightly offended. He was proud of his Shepherds and sensitive when people disliked anything about them.
“You, mister charge in with no plan, are the leader? No wonder you want me to join, you need all the help you can get.” She laughed goodheartedly.
Kieran pouted childishly. “Oh come on, I'm not that bad! Besides, I fight different when I have my comrades with me...they help me think clearer. But my offer is serious and I would like you to join…Mizuki, you truly impressed me today. And we fought together so well, too.”
Here Kieran paused and thought for a moment. He spoke before Mizuki could interrupt his chain of thought. “The villagers already came out to greet and thank us for our help in defeating the bandits. Nobody here recognized you…so I don’t think you live here.” He concluded, spotting Mizuki frown at his words. “You can come with me to Ylisstol, even if you don’t want to become the Shepherd’s tactician. They have some of the best healers living in the capital. Plus I can help you find a place to live while you try to recover your memories. Working as our tactician would be a great paying job, though…” he explained, though he refused to give up on recruiting her.
Mizuki looked pensive, but his words did bring up some valid points and he seemed sincere in his offer.“That’s… pretty nice of you, even though I know you just want me to work for you. Or you’re just a moron.” She began to say, “But since I don’t have a home here, staying with you for now is my best option. If those healers can’t help me then I’ll think about joining your little club.”
Kieran grinned. "Well, the job offer still stands even if you get healed, you know? Anyways, lets go meet up with the Shepherds!" he suggested cheerfully, but then he grimaced as he remembered exactly what he had done this morning. "Although...Flarence will probably be furious at me for sneaking off...actually let's stay in town a little longer."
"Who?" she asked, but Kieran did not get the chance to answer.
"Mi'lord!" suddenly cried out the familiar voice of Flarence and Kieran sighed in defeat. He was going to have a lot of explaining to do to the over protective knight and was not looking forward to that at all. But he didn't regret today.
After all, he met Mizuki and Kieran could tell that with her around his life would be a lot more interesting.
Kieran: Likes to fight and enjoys the powerful rush of control he feels when he emerges victorious in battle. Is reliant on both Flarence and Marc for guidance so he is indecisive when forced to make choices. Claims his intuition and instinct never fails him. Tries to act like a proper prince but either becomes too flustered or too impatient to remember etiquette. Prefers casual conversation without titles and social status influencing it. Not too fond of overbearing people and uses every ounce of cunning he possesses to try and ditch his numerous bodyguards. Trusts in his brother completely. Prince of Ylisse and Leader of The Shepherds. Older brother to Exalt Marc. Wields Falchion. Mark of Naga on back of left hand. Class: Lord Alternate Base Classes: Cavalier, Dread Fighter Class Promotions: Great Lord, Paladin, Great Knight Skills: Outdoor Fighter, Resistance +10, Aggressor, Dual Strike+, Charm Endgame: Great Lord; Aggressor, Aegis, Dual Guard+, Aether, Rightful King
Marc: A pacifist and believes strongly in promoting peace. Good at adapting to any situation and remains calm in the face of adversity. Has an independent streak and often disregards the words of his advisers, but will pretend to take their ideas into consideration. Is more mature and patient than Kieran and often has to deal with the consequences of his brother's recklessness. Trusts his brother more than anyone. Chosen to replace his tyrant father following his death, despite his age and being second in line for the throne. Exalt of Ylisse. Younger brother of Kieran. Mark of Naga on his chest, over the heart. Class: Sage Base Classes: Mage, Lord, Dread Fighter Alternate Class Promotions: Dark Knight, Great Lord Skills: Aether, Lifetaker, Resistance +10, Rally Magic, Tomefaire
Arik: Future son of Kieran and Mizuki. Forced to lead Ylisse after Kieran's death and Mizuki's disappearance when he was 10, alongside advisers until they too died. Years later, with only his generation of Shepherds remaining and Risen terrorizing the land, uses Naga's blessing to send him and his companions back in time. Goes by the alias Marth until his identity is revealed. Remembers his parents acting cooler in the future and can barely believe how idiotic their present selves can be. Prince of Ylisse. Taught magic and tactics by Mizuki and swordsmanship by Kieran. Wields Falchion. Mark of Naga on right shoulder. Class: Dread Fighter Alternate Base Classes: All classes excluding female classes, villager, manakete, and taguel Class Promotions: All class promotions excluding female classes Skills: Lethality, Resistance +10, Aggressor, Ignis, Rightful King
Once the rebellion started, his mother went to fight while his father decided to teach all three of them to fight so they could protect themselves. In his siblings case Valalee was already becoming skilled with a sword and Valhero was already learning to become a knight at The Academy, which left Valexander as the only one completely clueless on how to defend himself. He also knew the bare minimum of magic required to pass school, since he preferred to either sleep through lessons or cut class to hang out with Belshazzar. During Valentiano's attempt to teach him Valexander was lazy and constantly complained about having to learn the sword or how to punch or how to cast certain spells, which led to Valhero beating him up daily until he learned to fight back. He hated his lessons and barely put forth effort to learn. While his father was patient with his pace, his mother was furious with his laziness and Valhero was aggravated over him wasting his potential. When his mother died Valexander was devastated and wanted to quit learning altogether, because if someone as powerful as her was killed then what hope would he have? It was his father who gently comforted him and said he did not have to fight if he did not want to, but it would make him feel better if Valexander learned as much as possible because he did not want to lose anyone else. But Valexander still did not see a point, and locked himself in his room as he mourned for his mother.
It wasn't until he and his father went out into the city one day, that Valexander changed his mind. They were accidently caught in the crossfire of a battle between Belzeneff's forces and the rebellion. Either some rebels loathed nobles enough to kill any they came across or the two of them were mistakenly assumed to be members of Belzeneff's army, they were attacked as well. Valentiano could have fought off any opponents until he escaped to safety, but Valexander barely knew what he was doing and froze out of fear. His father took a spell meant for Valexander, which prompted him to finally move. Valexander cried out for his father, but Valentiano assured him he was fine, and fought off enemies as they ran away. When they were at a suitable situation, Valentiano did a teleportation spell to bring them both home. Valexander ended up with only minor injuries but his father had sustained so much more trying to protect him, and even with his grandmother Valyn's help, Valentiano succumbed to his injuries a few hours later. Valexander was devastated and, finally understanding why his father had been teaching him, resolved to become strong enough to survive so his father did not die for nothing. For the first time in his life, Valexander was motivated to learn, and Valhero took over their father's role of training them. He wanted to become strong like his parents and be able to protect the rest of his family, and determinedly trained until the end of the rebellion.
He disliked Belladonna's rule only because he held a grudge towards the rebels and their victory. Even if they did not say it out loud, most people knew that it was really the rebel leader Seraphion pulling strings, and Valexander hated and blamed him for the deaths of both his parents. Years later when Belisario suddenly arrived and took over Wiz with his demon husband, Valexander was glad Seraphion and other rebels were dead. He felt happy over having a real ruler on the throne, but unknown to him his opinion would change in a few years and he would come to truly fear Belisario. Valexander did not train as hard now that the war was over, but in his spare time he liked to spar with one of his siblings for fun and he enjoyed showing off what he learned to Belshazzar. He invested a great deal of energy trying to drag the prince out of his boring lab and get him far away from the wizard council and castle, which he was convinced was crawling with Seraphion's people. He dragged Belshazzar to his house so often that the prince started making a second laboratory in one of their guest rooms, and Valexander found it hilarious when one of his siblings got angry over something blowing up. Valexander and Belshazzar helped each other cope with the deaths of their parents and they were both steadily healing, until disaster struck.
A decade into King Belisario's reign, Valexander lost both his brother and his best friend days apart. Like how his father died trying to save him, Valhero sacrificed himself for Belmarie's sake because they were best friends, but when Belshazzar came to him for help Valexander was too much of a coward to do the same for his best friend. He was shocked when Belshazzar had willingly left his lab and showed up at his doorstep, but his cousin was terrified and claimed his life was in danger. He did not know the full story but he gladly helped Belshazzar hide from whoever was after him because he did not want to lose anyone else so soon after his brother's death. Unfortunately, it was common knowledge he was the prince's closest friend, so the next day Valexander was secretly apprehended and questioned over the missing prince's whereabouts. Initially Valexander did not fully understand why Belshazzar had run away, but it finally became clear to him that the prince's life was in danger from the king himself when the interrogator threatened Valalee if it was discovered Valexander helped conceal Belshazzar from Belisario. They revealed to Valexander about how Valhero was killed for defending Belmarie and aiding her escape, which would happen to him if he did the same for Belshazzar. He had already lost his brother and knew he was most likely on bad terms with the king due to Valhero's treachery, so Valexander could not bring himself to go against the king. He did not want to be executed like his brother was, and he feared he would lose Valalee. He felt torn over his options: his little sister or his best friend.
His choice ultimately came down to which one would most likely let him live, so he chose to protect Valalee and betray Belshazzar. Valexander felt miserable for telling them all he knew, and his despair only grew when he was forced to lure Belshazzar into a trap. The next day he returned to Belshazzar and lied to him, saying that he would help lead him to a safer location. Still gullible as ever, Belshazzar happily and faithfully followed his trusted friend to his death. Valexander could not bare to look at him the entire time and kept his face turned away so Belshazzar wouldn't see his tears. They entered an abandoned building together and, to his horror, Valexander watched Belshazzar die before his eyes from the assassins who had waited for them. As he watched the pained and confused look on the prince's face, Valexander hoped that Belshazzar's naivety was enough to prevent his genius mind from figuring out that he had been betrayed. Belshazzar tried to say something to him but only managed "You" before he died, and Valexander could only hope that he had not wanted to say something along the lines of "You traitor", "You betrayed me", or "You knew this would occur". He would be forever haunted by Belshazzar's dying expression and his pained, unfinished last words.
After being forced to keep everything a secret and giving some cover story about "how they went on another adventure together, where he was brutally murdered by rebel assassins", Valexander felt too guilty to even return home. Everything reminded him of how Belshazzar had been hiding there and all of the times they spent together, and he considered moving in with his uncle Krizzly. But then he felt he had no right to show up at his house begging for help, when Belshazzar did the same, and reluctantly went back home. He cried when he saw Valalee, relieved that she was still alive, but even the presence of his sister could not comfort him. The sorrow over Valhero's death and guilt over Belshazzar's was too much for him, and he withdrew from everyone. He mourned over them, his long dead parents, and when more of his family started dying out he mourned for them too. The only light in his life were the rare happy moments, like anytime he spent time with Valalee, but for the most part Valexander isolated himself and let his dark thoughts consume him. He desperately craved fun, like he used to, and to reconnect with his family and even make new friends, but Valexander never got over his betrayal of Belshazzar. He felt he deserved be alone until he died as atonement; a traitor like him did not deserve love or friendship, and was afraid he would end up betraying somebody he cared for again.
He rarely saw any of the other Mancinis over the years, even Valalee eventually saw little of him after he moved out of the house to live alone. His horrible secret taunted him everyday, even the good days Valexander could bring himself to smile like he used to, and dragged him back into the dark corners of his mind. He eventually felt so horrible that he came to believe he deserved to die and he wanted out of his misery, but was always too cowardly to do anything final. Anytime he hurt himself, his instinct and small-but-still-present will to live would get him out of trouble, and Valexander would eventually fix his wounds.
When he reached his lowest point, he willingly entered the deadly colosseum hoping he would get killed off by his opponent. He was nearly beaten in every single match at first, but by the end of each fight he would become too afraid to die, and pull off desperate attacks to survive. He miraculously won and survived his first tournament, but Valexander just felt terrible for adding even more blood on his hands. After his first victory, Valexander started to sign up for colosseum battles when he was at his worst. Adding more to his shame, a part of Valexander started to enjoy the thrill of the fight because combat is his only successful distraction from the constant guilt and despair he feels. Winning also reminds him of his father and wonder if he is proud that he finally learned what he had been trying to teach, but then Valexander will feel guilty over causing his death and for him desiring death, which just adds on to his negative state of mind. He ended up in a deadly cycle where he entered hoping to finally die, but he would win his battles out of fear and eventually emerge as the lone victor, then would feel worse and worse as he remembered each and every person he killed in the colosseum.
Krizzly begged him to stop entering the colosseum matches, as he would rather not have to narrate his bloody death one day, but Valexander still shows up to fight. Nobody has been able to reason with him over his suicidal decision to participate in the colosseum and Valexander has already participated and won numerous times, with no intention of stopping.
Originally born on Jubilea, Faizera was the first being turned into a wizard by the alpha, Oz. She was Oz' lover and the only person he ever had children with, making her descendants (who now have the Bel-Black name) the wizards with the greatest magical potential. When she began to outlive all of her mortal children and friends, she fell into despair and not even Oz or her friends could pull her out of it. She began to curse her eternal life and eventually resented Oz for making her immortal, so she did everything she could to persuade Oz to remove her immortality. After a lot of threatening and blackmail on her part, Oz reluctantly agreed to take away her immorality and she went into self exile by fleeing from Atlantis to Earth. She could not have children any longer because, out of spite, Oz cursed her to infertility because he didn't want her to start a family with another man besides him and was still angry at her. But she did not go back to Atlantis because she had the wizards on earth, or 'witches', erase her memory so she could have a fresh start. Faizera lasted ten years on earth living a new happy life before she died a natural death, her body catching up to the fact she had been alive for longer than she should have been.
But Oz had watched out for Faizera the entire time and when he saw that she was dead, he took her body back to Atlantis and made her a beautiful grave in a garden full of flowers. The wizards called it the Rainbow Garden because of all the different colored flowers and her tombstone was covered with white flowers that glowed like stars at night. When Oz was sealed away, the wizards left behind tried their best to keep the garden beautiful for when he returned but as generations passed and he never came back, they eventually forgot the garden's original purpose. Wizards thought it was just a sacred garden grown by Oz, who they began to believe was their god, and that praying at the 'stone alter' would give them guidance and blessings from him. Unfortunately, when Atlantis fell to the demons the garden and grave was destroyed along with the city and her name, as well as Valeria, Pemdas, and Anghelios were all forgotten by future generations.
The first wizard of the Ang-Apollos family and a former Jubilean. She would have died with the rest of her race if Oz did not disregard Jubileus and transform her into a wizard so she could escape to earth. Anghelios was blessed with powerful magic and immortality, but is currently sealed away in one of Wiz' moons. She has been in a stasis almost the entire time after Oz used his limited power and their faint connection to send tendrils of magic that forced the betas into hibernation, so they would not physically waste away and suffer in solitude like him.
In the past, Anghelios was a name that brought fear to others because she would strike down wizards that misused their magic - on Oz' orders- or she would fight against enemies that threatened Atlantis. She cared about the other former Jubileans, but was not too fond of anyone else, especially those who were not wizards. She had a cold personality and showed little affection to others, even her own family, but was extremely protective of them and acted as a sort of silent, secret guardian for those she cared for.
Hades is the prince consort of the Dark Overlord Belisario. He loves his husband dearly and takes initiative to ensure Belisario's reign is as successful as possible. Hades values loyalty and order; he despises dissenters who do not approve of Belisario's reign and is determined to make everyone loyally devoted to Belisario, whether it is genuine or manufactured.
Originally, he held neutral feelings towards his husband due to their marriage being arranged to settle a peace treaty between Wiz and Hell after a wizard cursed the disappearance of the crown prince of Hell. The wizard had been described to him as friendly and easily bullied so Hades felt obligated to spend as much time with Belisario as possible, wanting to make sure he adjusted alright in Hell and to protect him from aggressive demons. However, once he realized Belisario's true personality, Hades became genuinely interested in him. unfinished
Bellerophon participated in the fight against the rebellion because he wanted to protect his family. His decision made his mother extremely unhappy but he refused to hide in safety if he had the opportunity to help his father achieve victory. He nearly died several times and Bellerophon was forced to make difficult decisions to stay alive. He routinely executed rebel prisoners after torturing them out of information, to the point where he felt numb towards death and torture by the end of the war. He removed the life support on Marigold after long deliberation, ultimately deciding that she would never wake up so keeping her alive just made her an easy target for his enemies and the healers tending to her would be helpful for his comrades instead. Bellerophon was scarred by war and he never truly healed from the loss of his two best friends: Kyuberos and Abiel.
Near the end of the civil war Bellerophon discovered that his best friend, Abiel, was actually a traitor working for the rebels. Confused over the betrayal, he begged Abiel to switch sides and that Bellerophon would protect him if he did so, but Abiel refused. Abiel apologized and solemnly confessed that his name was truly Angiel Apollos, and that like Bellerophon, he could never go against his father. Horrified, Bellerophon realized that Angiel was the son of the rebel leader Seraphion and that their entire friendship was a lie; Angiel had been a spy the whole time and Bellerophon never suspected. He could not understand why Angiel and Seraphion, if that was even if true name, would rebel against his father if they were truly descended from Angelveion the Knight. Even worse, Bellerophon had come to love and trust Angiel so finding out the truth felt like his heart was ripped out from his chest. With Angiel's truth revealed, both knew they could not allow the other to escape, and they battled - fighting each other out of loyalty to their fathers, disregarding their personal feelings for one another.
Unfortunately for Bellerophon, Angiel was older with more combat experience and was the one who taught everything Bellerophon knew about fighting, and he struck the prince near the heart. As Bellerophon fell to the ground in defeat, the years of friendship he wasted on Angiel flashed before him and his hatred for Angiel intensified as he fell unconscious. Unknown to Bellerophon, Angiel could not bring himself to finish him off so he brought Bellerophon to the rebel's healers as a captured hostage. The prince managed to survive and would eventually make a full recovery except for a scar where Angiel stabbed him, but Seraphion ordered Bellerophon into a forced coma he would not be allowed to awaken from until they were victorious. He was hidden away in The Under guarded by Seraphion's subordinates for months, until he finally awakened when Belladonna had become queen after Seraphion's victory.
Bellerophon was awoken by Angiel, the last person he wanted to see again, and got informed of the situation. He had a bad feeling when he was told months had passed since his coma and his instinct was proven true when Angiel told him that Kyuberos and both his parents were dead, and Wiz was under a new rule. Bellerophon tried to pick another fight with Angiel after finding out his mother and father died, and blamed Angiel for their deaths. Not only was he a traitor, Bellerophon felt that he could have done something to protect his parents if Angiel had not betrayed him and made him comatose. Sadly, he was still in no condition to fight, and Angiel knocked him unconscious again. The next time he woke up, Bellerophon recognized he was back in his room in the castle, and immediately tried to escape. Because everyone else he still trusted had already died, he sought his siblings to check if they were okay and to gather information. He felt betrayed again when he realized that they had already adapted to their parents death and pretty much accepted Belladonna being a figurehead ruler for Seraphion. Bellerophon refused to let the man responsible for the death of his parents and so many of his father's loyal followers have any sort of power, but everyone else who felt the same way had already been dealt with. Since he would gladly execute Seraphion and any of his followers on sight, Bellerophon was kept isolated, with his imprisonment becoming worse after each escape attempt. In his solitude, Bellerophon's hatred festered and grew worse each day.
His hatred was solely directed at Angiel and Seraphion at first, but then he started to despise all the rebels for killing so many of his comrades. As he thought more, his siblings were the next targets of his anger, for not doing enough to help their parents in the rebellion and adapting so quickly to the rule of that horrid Seraphion. The ordinary civilians were next on his shit list, for their roles in the war for either helping the rebels or doing nothing to help his father's forces. He even came to loathe those who followed his father loyally for not being good enough to emerge victorious, and more importantly, protect his parents. He fell into a depression and felt alone, too helpless and useless to do anything. He was not strong enough to avenge his parents and to his chagrin people were beginning to prefer how "fair" and "nice" Wiz was beginning to be with Belzeneff's "horrible laws" repealed. In his eyes everybody was a traitor and he no longer wanted anything to do with Wiz. Determined to escape his horrible home, Bellerophon started plotting on his options and decided that either earth or hell was his best option.
Wiz was no longer worth anything to him and while he would have liked to visit hell to see Belisario again, earth would be easier for him to get to. He broke out of his prison once again and searched for his beloved Belufasa, who he had not seen since before his coma. Fortunately the lion was easy for him to find and simply found sleeping in Bellakane's room next to Belbark. Bellerophon convinced the guard that he was only looking for his pet, and the guard was eager to allow Bellerophon to take off the frightening lion off their hands. Bellerophon snuck back into his room and began to prepare to leave, but Bellerophon was unsure of what to expect on earth.
He contacted Valerik, the cousin he had been closest to, and admitted his plans as well as his need for advice. Valerik was not happy about Bellerophon's intent to leave and the two got into an argument, but Valerik eventually relented with a promise to keep his departure a secret and he would try his best to find useful information for him. The next morning Valerik knocked on his door at the crack of dawn. Valerik handed him a book of spells he wrote just for Bellerophon that he might find useful on earth, including a language translator he stole from a book in Valentine's office. Even though they were not as close as they were when they were kids, Bellerophon still felt touched that Valerik went to all that trouble and asked if he wanted to leave behind Wiz and all its bad memories with him. Valerik looked like he almost wanted to accept his offer, but finally said that his mother was in bad shape and he worried that should he suddenly disappear, her condition would only worsen. Bellerophon understood his reasons; Valyn was his aunt after all. Before they parted ways, Bellerophon offered Belufasa to Valerik. He had been planning to take the lion with him, but he did not want him placed in unnecessary danger and Belufasa still liked Wiz. Valerik just grumbled about “troublesome pets” but agreed to take care of the lion if Bellerophon needed to leave it behind. After saying goodbye to Valerik and Belufasa, he headed to the door Bellerophon sometimes saw Kyuberos used to travel to earth. Bellerophon was thrilled to find out it was left alone and unguarded; apparently, nobody else understood its significance. With a bag slung over his shoulder he stepped through the door, heading into a new world and a new life.
His first days on earth were full of confusion. After arriving in what seemed like a shop and evading the bewildered men in the building when he suddenly appeared, Bellerophon had been wondering why people on earth resembled wizards. He probably would not have lasted even a week without Valerik's useful book helping him understand "english". Eventually he figured out they had slips of paper resembling the belzecash on Wiz as currency, so he handed people some of his gold for dollars. His very first (legal and successful) purchase was at a place he had been drawn to ever since he first arrived, a small building with golden arches that served food. Bellerophon was amazed by the taste of the chicken nuggets he ordered and returned every day to order more. He got his first earth job as a part time worker at McDonalds and gained a reputation around town as "the strange boy who decorated his uniform with gold".
It was not long after he arrived on earth that demons apprehended him at that very same McDonalds, stupidly thinking he was his outlawed cousin Valente, after hearing rumors of a blond worker at the restaurant who would kindly show children "amazing magic tricks" during his breaks. His co-workers and customers were terrified, but Bellerophon was thrilled to get arrested by demons. He did not resist because this was an easy way for him to go to Hell and visit the one of the few people left in the universe he cared for, Belisario. He was probably the happiest prisoner in all of hell and it did not take long for Belisario to hear about it, pointing out he was in fact not Valente. After giving him a cheerful greeting at their reunion, Bellerophon became somber as he informed his brother about the death of their parents, the aftermath of the war, and his disdain of Wiz.
He did not stay in Hell for long and returned back to earth, after promising he would visit again. His employer was happy to see him again because they thought Bellerophon had been kidnapped and was declared missing, and glad that he was okay. Bellerophon laughed and said that he was rescued by his brother and there was no need to worry about him getting kidnapped again. He returned to work as if nothing had happened. Eventually, one of his coworkers asked how he did his "magic tricks" and Bellerophon just said it was real magic. Thinking he was joking, his coworker thought this meant he just had a sense of humor and decided to befriend him. Bellerophon was happy to make a human friend, and had many things explained to him and he finally had answers to the human customs that confused him. His friend introduced him to anime and Bellerophon was immediately addicted. He spent all of his free time watching it and took advantage of Valerik's language spell to teach himself Japanese. His friend was impressed by how fast he learned Japanese and how dedicated he must have been, so Bellerophon was taken to an anime convention. Bellerophon thought it was the most amazing place on earth. He bought every little thing that interested him, plus souvenirs for when he visited Belisario again, and his obsession with anime grew until the point his entire apartment was decorated with anime merchandise. His favorite shows were anything with magical girls, or fantasy and magic in general, and he tried to learn the spells he used in shows. Bellerophon thought the humans had vivid imaginations, but the more he wondered about he magic in anime, the more he became curious about magic users on earth. As far as he knew, there were no wizards on earth.
He researched at the nearest human library for anything about the history of magic and wizards, and disheartened that wizards were only beings in fantasy. But the supernatural was kept hidden from ordinary humans so Bellerophon thought there was a possibility that wizards were hidden, too. Plus, the fact that magic users were also called "wizards" led him to believe that there must have been some living on earth at some point. Bellerophon looked up other types of magic users and the closest things to wizards seemed to be witches. He was horrified to learn that witches had been burned at he stake in the past, and figured that must have been the reason they went into hiding. Bellerophon resolved to track down these witches and learn more about them. It took him awhile, but Bellerophon managed to track down a witch. To his disappointment, they knew as much magic as a child back on Wiz would know. Bellerophon decided he would teach "proper magic" to any witch he came across and formed a coven with himself as the leader. Most were human with diluted wizard blood, so they were unable to wield as much magic as a pureblood wizard and he refused to acknowledge them as wizards so he called them witches. He treated leading the witches as babysitting, not truly respecting them because he saw them as more human and hardly expected any of them to ever match a pureblooded wizard prince like him. His attitude changed when he came across a boy named Zahndros Sohma, who had unique magic due to his ridiculous lineage of being descended from a fairy, angel, and hunter.
Zahndros was amazed to meet a true wizard and to discover the existence of a planet full of them, since his father Jin constantly preached about how amazing magic was. Bellerophon saw him as an interesting friend that he respected for his talent at magic, but Zahndros had become entranced by Bellerophon's beauty and magic. They became friends and after years of one sided feelings, Zahndros asked what Bellerophon thought of love. After his time with Marigold stolen from him and his one sided love for Abiel shattered his trust, Bellerophon never expected to fall in love again and admitted that he refused to ever try again. Disheartened by the response, Zahndros asked how Bellerophon would feel if Zahndros loved him, but Bellerophon just told him that he had learned that romantic love only hurt people and he much preferred friendship and family. But not wanting to give up on Bellerophon, Zahndros decided he would have to resort to drastic measures to get what he wanted from him. Using a spell done by trickster fairies, he cast powerful magic that would make Bellerophon fall in love with him. Bellerophon, arrogant that his wizard magic was superior to Zahndros' fairy magic, never suspected his emotions were being messed with by him. Some time afterwards Zahndros finally confessed to him after Bellerophon was under the spell, and Bellerophon happily accepted, telling Zahndros he would be the exception to what he said about love earlier. Because Bellerophon was unaware of the truth, they had a happy relationship that lasted several months.
Bellerophon was finally freed from Zahndros' control when his lover introduced him to his family. Zahndros' great-grandmother Shea, who was apparently a super powerful fairy and the one who taught Zahndros magic, noticed the spell and lifted it from him. He was shocked over the truth and angry for being controlled, but a part of Bellerophon felt desperate to be loved. He was all alone in a strange world, those he loved most were dead and his siblings were out of reach. But Bellerophon craved the happiness he had felt under the love spell and how he no longer felt lonely with Zahndros. He felt scared of losing one of the few good things he had found on earth; Zahndros had become his best friend before the spell was ever cast and although he felt betrayed, Bellerophon didn't want to lose their relationship. He deluded himself into believing that he should feel happy Zahndros loved him so much that he resorted to the spell for Bellerophon to return the feelings. Zahndros cried and apologized for manipulating Bellerophon like he did, but didn't regret the past months because even if it was not truly real it was his dream come true. Zahndros said he never wanted to let Bellerophon go and said that if he could, he would marry him right now. Bellerophon didn't think and just blurted out, "Alright let's get married then." Zahndros was surprised, wondering if he heard right, but Bellerophon didn't take back the proposal so he did not hesitate to accept. Zahdros took on Bellerophon's family name, since it was a common custom on earth, but Bellerophon added "Zahavi" to his own name in honor of Wiz's traditions.
It was after their impromptu marriage that Bellerophon figured out a way to visit Belisario like he promised years ago. Shea, Zahndros' awesome grandma, created a portal to Hell for him. She tagged along, claiming she had an old friend to visit, but they temporarily split when Bellerophon when to the castle to find his brother. To his surprise, Belisario was no longer there and King Lucifel nearly killed him for trespassing, only stopping after Belial of all people convinced him not to. It was then Bellerophon learned that Belisario had somehow become king of Wiz and Belial was now living in Hell instead of their brother. Their reunion was short since Lucifel barely tolerated Bellerophon's presence, so Bellerophon quickly went to look for Shea. He found her meeting with the creepiest demon he had met so far and after being forced into an uncomfortable and strange conversation with her, finally got a chance to speak with Shea alone about what happened. She effortlessly made him a portal to Wiz with a snap of her fingers which made Bellerophon seriously question how she could be so powerful, but did not want to anger her after she had been graciously helping him.
