Azalea

Hold My Flower

LAVELLE
At Diomira's words, she smiled with relief that Bellona was on her way to recovery. "I had feared the worst when I heard the terrible news and I could not stopped worrying, so I prayed over and over for her health to improve. Oh, Lord Oz has surely blessed us all if Her Majesty is already doing so well...!" she whispered back, keeping her voice low to avoid disturbing the slumbering queen. Then she gave a discreet glance to Flaery before her eyes flickered back to Diomira.

"My shift to guard her begins in a few minutes, but you've been here for some time, yes? I'm sure you can take a lunch break at the moment, especially since two protectors will still be present. However," Lavelle answered diplomatically, a slight frown tugging at her lips, "Unless it is the will of Lord Oz himself, Noem cannot escape his punishment for failing our queen." she stated firmly, but then she leaned in closer to Diomira, "But there is no shame in wanting to say goodbye. And we're of higher rank, so I'm sure the guards will let you through if you request it."

Lavelle knew that if it was her brother in Noem's situation, she would go insane trying to find a way to see him one last time. And it was a huge fear that haunted her constantly. Lavana acted so lazy and uncaring over his position that Lavelle felt constant dread that he would end up failing to protect the princess in an act of carelessness and be executed as punishment. "I don't feel the need to see him," she admitted, Noem bonded closer with Diomira than either Flaery or herself, "But you could, if you visit soon enough."

**approximately twenty minutes later**

NOEM
The prisoner stared at the knights with trepidation. He only felt slight relief that both were in on the plan to help him escape; anything could go wrong. He truly felt grateful that they were risking their lives for him but he could not shake off his wariness and anxiety.

He still felt shock that Abiel and Madriel were apparently rebel spies. Noem never suspected them; how many other traitors had infested the castle? A dark thought crossed his mind: If I turned them in, would my life be spared? He banished it quickly. Of course he would not be spared. Noem's sentence would not change; people had been killed for lesser reasons. Belzeneff would never pardon him for letting an assassin poison Bellona. And before they escorted him from the cell, Abiel had handed him a cup of liquid he claimed was an "antidote for loyalty potions". Noem had to admit his head felt a lot clearer and his undying loyalty certainly felt dead. Now he just felt so angry at Bellona and himself. The queen for being the reason for his death sentence and himself for making such a huge mistake in the first place. He was no longer forced to be loyal to her; he had no reason to betray the knights for nothing.

As if the weight of his sins pressed down on his shoulders, each step made his body feel heavy. His throat felt choked, like a noose tightened itself around his neck, anticipating the moment of his death. Noem hated this.

Honestly, nothing was stopping him from leaving right now. Noem used the hidden key from Symphony to loosen his shackles long before Abiel and Madriel arrived to take him away. Abiel had a plan...but Noem's earlier thoughts replayed over and over and over: anything could go wrong, anything could go wrong, anything could go wrong! If Abiel's plan did not work, Noem was dead. Noem felt he could place his faith and trust in Symphony...but could he do so with Abiel? Madriel?

A few more steps. A few more breaths. A few more thoughts. A decision.

No, Noem could not.

He should depend on himself to get out alive.

Please forgive me for this.

ABIEL
He startled when Noem suddenly moved, swiftly unsheathing he sword at Madriel's side and using the side of the blade to whack his unsuspecting comrade on the head. "What are you doing?!"he hissed, trying to keep his voice low to avoid attracting attention. "You weren't supposed to do this yet, Noem!"

Noem did not answer him right away. He ignored Abiel in favor of grabbing the dazed Madriel by the hair and tossing him against the wall, knocking him unconscious with that second blow to the head. "...He'll survive." Noem muttered with a wince, and finally gave his attention to the dumbfounded Abiel.

"I'm following the plan, just early." Noem spoke, unable to hide from Abiel how anxious he sounded, Madriel's blade raised, "And, ah, sorry for this."

Abiel gritted his teeth, aggravated that his plan was not going the way he hoped it would, but tersely nodded at the former protector. "...As long as you get out of here, safely, that's what important. Alright? Peppa's Cupcakes will help you out when you escape outside." Noem looked surprised by Abiel's concern at first, then a look of warmth crossed his face at the mention of Peppa and the girls.

NOEM
Perhaps he should have had faith in him; now that he thought about it, both Symphony and Peppa would not work with Abiel if he was unreliable. They trusted Abiel and Madriel to rescue him...Noem hoped he did not completely ruin the plan because he panicked and initiated it early. What if he got himself killed by his own stupidity?! Oh, Oz, he should have just been patient.

"I owe you both for your help." he briefly glanced back to Madriel, (he would be fine. maybe. probably.), ignoring his internal screaming, "Thank you."

This was a truly amazing thank you for Abiel to experience for all this trouble, Noem thought blandly, abruptly shoving him against the wall opposite to the other knight. Abiel faltered and reflexively attempted to catch his fall; that moment of distraction allowed Noem to get him off guard once again. Madriel's sword grasped in his hand, Noem glanced at the weak point of Abiel's armor, and stabbed the knight in the shoulder. The blade went through Abiel's body and slammed into the wall that Noem previously tossed him toward, effectively pinning Abiel to it. The knight attempted to move forward and immediately cried out in pain as the sword sliced even more of his flesh, forcing him to stay in place.

Pitying him, Noem reached for Abiel's own sword and knocked him unconscious the same way he did Madriel. He watched Abiel go limp, his body held up only by the sword pinning him to the wall. With the same weapon Noem stabbed the knight through the left hand; he needed them to look hurt enough, he did not want them to be accused of letting Noem escape without a fight. He eyed the blood oozing out of Abiel's wounds and grimaced.

"He'll live."he told himself. Someone would definitely find him and prevent him from bleeding to death, right?

Sighing, hoping he wasn't abandoning both Madriel and Abiel to die, he snuck off to find the secret escape route.

**approximately ten minutes later**

Of course this would happen, lamented Noem, he could literally see where the hidden exit should be and it would only take a few moments to access. Sneaking around was surprisingly easy since nobody was aware he was an escaped prisoner, so he just pretended to be on a patrol of the castle and acted like nothing was wrong. He thought his biggest obstacle had been the annoying servant who kept trying to speak with him and called him rude after being ignored by Noem. No, Oz was obviously punishing him for his actions against the knights by giving him an ordeal of some sorts to overcome. Noem could practically feel his sins crawling on his back.

Right in front of him was a shocked Diomira, staring wide eyed at him.

"Diomira...Hello." he greeted nervously.

The Beginning of the End {Midorimacchi & Azalea}

NOESFERATU SIRAN

27/06/1190
15 years old

Noesferatu is the young daughter of Noem Siran and Anhura. Being half demon and half wizard made her different from other children, making her feel as if she belonged in neither world. Living with her father and brother made her wish she could be a pureblood wizard, because she hated feeling so different from them, and felt ashamed that she struggled to control her urge to fight. Her father, her role model, was very obedient to his superiors and she wanted to act just like him, so she took to heart Noel's lessons on being polite and having manners. But with the arrival of Noebella, emulating good behavior became difficult. She detested the baby the moment she came home and as Noebella got older, trying to pick fights with her, Noesferatu often loss control of her anger. She fought with her sister often and felt guilty when Noel got hurt trying to stop them.

To avoid Noebella, she began visiting her mother often. But Anhura lived with her sister Nidria, a scientist who terrified Noesferatu. Her aunt did not approve of her or Noebella at all, criticizing her mother's "foolish infatuation with Lord Hades' tool", and never hesitated to taunt Noesferatu about the fact she was one of the demons who tortured Noem while he was imprisoned by Hades. To make things worse, one day Noesferatu walked in on her aunt experimenting on her four year old cousin Ginevra. Nidria showed no remorse as she cut into the crying girl with the scalpel and Noesferatu felt terrified for her, but also scared for herself and swiftly ran away before her aunt noticed her. She gathered up her courage and approached the scary wizard who fathered her cousin to tell him about it. Gino got into a literal fight with Nidria and Noesferatu does not know what happened, but her aunt stopped using Ginevra in her experiments.

Instead, Nidria turned her attention to Noesferatu. Her aunt claimed that she should take little Ginevra's place since she was the one who ruined everything, otherwise she might look to Noebella as a replacement. Noesferatu threatened to tell her parents; Nidria just laughed. She said there was no way Noem would go against her. She reminded Noesferatu of the trauma her father went through and that he could easily experience the pain once more if Noesferatu gave her a reason to. And Anhura was too easy to manipulate and control if she tried to get in Nidria's way. Noesferatu ended up learning the sickening truth that her aunt is the one who subtly pressured her mother into visiting Candiland to see her father, manipulating Anhura with a potion to become infatuated with Noem, just for Nidria's amusement. Nidria laughed that her sister ended up pregnant with "the tool's child"then called Anhura an idiot for continuing to see him even after removing the influence of the potion. Noesferatu felt terrible, like she was an abomination forced onto her parents due to the whims of a cruel woman and also insanely jealous that Noebella was born out of genuine feelings between her parents. But disliking her sister did not mean she wanted Noebella to suffer like Ginevra did, so Noesferatu reluctantly let Nidria conduct experiments on her; to learn what would and would not work on a halfbreed.

She wanted to confide in Noel, but if Noesferatu could not even get help from her parents, she did not think her brother would be able to do anything either. She ended up turning to her cousin's scary wizard father, remembering how he was able to stop her aunt from hurting Ginevra. The cold hearted wizard did not really care for her but he decided to help solely because he owed her for telling him about his daughter. But Noesferatu is hesitant to believe that he truly succeeded in fending off her aunt, because she has several blank spots in her memory and experiences frequent nightmares of her screaming while strapped to a table.

☆☆ Not This Again

JECHT
He was not deaf to rumors about Trixxtal’s infidelity, not everything could be filtered from his ears, but Jecht ignored the painful words. Gossip often blossomed into ridiculous exaggerated stories so without proof right in front of him, Jecht avoided confronting Trixxtal about it. He had faith in his beloved, but the sight of his love kissing a beautiful man right in front of him made Jecht wonder if his friends were right to question his relationship with Trixxtal.

However, a ray of hope suddenly dawned on Jecht as Trixxtal’s words began to reach him. He still felt hurt and could not help his tears, but his boyfriend claimed it was all a misunderstanding. Jecht desperately hope it was the truth. “R-really, it was an accident?” he whimpered, sniffling as he looked to Trixxtal. “So you still love me?” he sobbed, wiping his tears on his sleeve. “You’re not leaving me for him?” he accused, glancing at the other boy.

As if completely oblivious to the lover’s quarrel between him and Trixxtal, the boy unhelpfully didn’t even respond to confirm or deny Trixxtal’s earlier statement and instead uttered the completely random question:

“Is that a homemade bento?”

BELLEROPHON
Content to simply stay to the side and hope both boys forgot he was there; Bellerophon avoided the awkward situation by losing himself to his thoughts and wished he was in his room watching anime instead. He didn’t understand why their accidental kiss seemed to upset the random boy so much. In fact, Bellerophon felt he should be the one crying over the kiss, Trixxtal being the last person he would ever want to give his first kiss to. Or any person, really, because there was no point since the only interest he would ever have are anime characters that were not real.

But then, Bellerophon eyed the object the newcomer carried and his one track mind once again struck.

“Is that a homemade bento?” he asked the dark haired boy, amazed that he had met somebody who actually made one. Bellerophon’s first conclusion was maybe he was interested in anime too! The container looked clearly different that the school brand, from this distance Bellerophon could see the hand drawn hearts decorated on it.

“Er...Y-yes?” the boy answered him confused and Bellerophon looked at him in awe.

“Amazing!” he beamed, smiling at him. But then Bellerophon remembered that the bento boy was crying, and wondered if he had been rejected by his senpai. Maybe that was why he couldn’t stop crying. “Did you make it for someone?” he spoke gently, because if it was true, in Bellerophon’s opinion a crush rejecting a bento made with the protagonist’s heart and soul was one of the most heartbreaking things ever in high school anime.

JECHT
Maybe Jecht would have believed Trixxtal if he and the boy explained things. But instead, the explanation was dodged. He had no idea why the boy avoided the question, but the only thing that made sense to Jecht was he was maybe trying to hide the truth by distracting him. He felt anxious at the thought of Trixxtal lying to him about kissing, or maybe he had done even more. “Yes, for my boyfriend…” he wept, his finger shakily pointed at Trixxtal as he resisted the temptation to toss away the food he made for him. The thought of him not being able to give the bento to Trixxtal earlier, because his boyfriend was too busy kissing the blond guy made the tears return with full force.

“Huh? I thought you had been rejected…You’re his boyfriend?” asked the befuddled blond, who looked back and forth between Jecht and Trixxtal.

“A-apparently not!” he cried, misunderstanding Bellerophon’s tactless words. Jecht did not want to deal with this anymore; he could not handle situations like this. He wished Fenrir was here to support him. And like an angel answering his prayer, Jecht heard the voice of his best friend and felt relieved that Fenrir had suddenly arrived.

“Fenrir, I saw…I saw those two k-kissing!” he sobbed, quickly latching onto Fenrir as he arrived, “Trixxtal said it was an accident, but I…I don’t know what to believe anymore!”

ETHAN
At the arrival of a fourth person Ethan too resigned to his fate alongside Rodrigo. Unless they could jump off the roof, they would be forced to continue watching these over dramatic teenagers for the rest of the lunch period. “Hopefully a fight doesn’t start…” he sighed, the memory of the prefect barging into the classroom with the giant rule book suddenly returning to him, “Er, or would it be another dance off?” Ethan wondered not for the first time today if this was how high school worked in their home world and if so, underestimated how weird school could be.

“So was it really an accident or is the douchebag just lying to that poor guy? I couldn’t tell.” he asked Rodrigo, figuring they might as well talk about the ridiculous situation they were watching. Ethan himself couldn’t tell what really happened with that kiss but he did think it was incredible coincidentally timed for it to happen right as the douchebag’s boyfriend appeared. “And I don’t even know what that other blond guy is talking about.”

TOUDA & CEPHEUS & LUCIFEL

Cepheus contemplated his failure to successfully distract Jecht. He didn’t expect those two to last long anyways, but Cepheus prided himself in winning games, and this was a gamble he lost. He sighed; he really disliked losing any challenge. “Maybe there’s some way to salvage things? I can go after him and if he’s caught just tell Jecht that Trixxtal wanted to do something romantic for him, and he was just practicing on…whoever is there on the roof with him.” He suggested half-heartedly, giving up on the idea quickly. “Or not, haha, that will never work! Yup, looks like he is screwed.”

“What’s wrong with Trixxtal and Jecht?” Touda curiously asked, and it was Lucifel who responded.

“Vampire Trixxtal is enchanted by the beauty of one of hell’s denizens, and if he is found drinking his blood, his relationship will be in turmoil as the heart of his beloved breaks!” he boomed, petting Tapioco on the head as he spoke.

Touda simply nodded at the explanation, getting from the words that Jecht might not like someone Trixxtal was hanging out with. “Oh, ok! I’ll set aside an extra pizza slice for Trixxtal then. Jecht too.” He concluded, pizza being his solution to most problems.

The three joined the moment of silence, and Touda joined in with Mizuki’s prayer.

Welcome to the Dark Hour

♥♥Subaru & Akito♥♥

So the mystery persona user is the renowned Kyoya Legacy, eh? Akito didn't expect him to randomly show up, but perhaps he could be put to good use. Gabriel and Subaru both needed to die. "Tch. Looks like you two have stumbled into some trouble; I'll take care of Subaru while you hold off Gabriel. We do not need another opponent at the moment, so avoid giving Mr. Legacy any reason to attack you."he advised Kieran and Mizuki telepathically, calmly approaching Subaru from behind. His acquaintance was lying on the ground despite being conscious; no wonder Kyoya and Gabriel arrived at the station first!

A wicked smiled formed on the blond's lips as he sat down next to Subaru on the pavement. "Too bad, Subaru. You didn't make it to the station..."he whispered, taking him into his arms. Akito gazed into Subaru's eyes and could tell that he was about to fall asleep.

He wasn't holding him tight, or even strangling him...Akito was holding him almost lovingly. Well, Akito actually had on his wolverine-rip off claws equipped to his hands so the scene wasn't all that lovely. Using a gun was out of the question, because Gabriel or Kyoya might hear it and ruin everything. So, he opted to use his own weapon and finish off Subaru quietly. He held the dazed Subaru with one arm and with the other hand, pressed the sharp blade against his neck. Akito was no longer smiling as Subaru shut his eyes and drifted in and out of slumber. "Looks like I'll have to kill you myself, my friend."

Blood began to tickle down Subaru's neck as Akito slowly slashed across it.

“These cuts are deep…even if you survive the hospitals won’t be open. And since you don’t transmogrify, if you live until tomorrow, you’ll die once your life support machines shut off during the next Dark Hour. Farewell, Subaru.”

♥♥Kyoya♥♥

Kyoya felt paralyzed at the sound of an abrupt gunshot. “A gun…?!”he gasped, startled that the bullet nearly hit the woman in front of him. The pop star did have an evoker with him, but in the ten years he’d possessed his persona, at most he only had to fight shadows. He didn’t feel any remorse for those creatures of evil whenever they met their end…but he had never run into an enemy persona user. The humans usually chose to stick together. His team had been the only people who could use them until they discovered his cousin and his classmates unlocked their potential.

Since it had been years since he engaged in combat, Kyoya had forgotten what it felt like to have his life threatened. If he got shot with that gun, the hospitals wouldn’t be open…

Oh, what if he died! He could never make up his mistakes to Satoshi after he was such a devoted manager and friend. Shinji would be left with SEES, in his injured state, without any help against this new threat. Ah, and his darling Hibird! Who would take care of her if he died? Kyoya felt distraught as he realized that he’d be leaving behind those he cared about. And worst of all…his two precious friends, Lovi and Tohru, would never know what happened to him. Ah, how Kyoya -

“You better think twice about getting any closer to them.”

Kyoya snapped back to reality when he saw Kieran in front of both him and the woman. Kieran had what looked like an evoker pressed against his head. Not even bothering to wonder where he got that evoker, Kyoya watched as his acquaintance pulled the trigger.

To his surprise, Kyoya saw two cute bunnies standing in front of Kieran. But apparently they were gymnasts or something, because the white bunny with green ears did a back flip and landed on top of Mizuki’s head. “I will protect both of you~♥”spoke the persona.

Now Kyoya realized was caught in the middle of a battle he didn't belong in. That man had ordered Kieran's companion to let Kyoya go and now Kieran was saying he would protect both of them. Damn, he had no idea what to do, but he couldn't just watch them kill each other!

♥♥Kieran♥♥

Kieran still had another persona in front of him and he glared at Gabriel. He had the strong urge to beat the crap out of him with his bare fists, which wouldn’t be pretty for Gabriel, considering Kieran was the boxing coach at school. But Kieran knew better, and getting close to a man with a gun would definitely not be smart. “Bufudyne!”he commanded, and huge chunks of ice were hurled towards his enemy.

U mad?

REIKO
Reiko shrugged. “I doubt Ducky knows anything about math, but sure.” She held the duck a little tighter, when she felt the animal begin to attempt to squirm out of her grasp. Reiko would rather watch over this cute duck, than think about school. And surely, the adorable thing would absolutely love Giima and his strange friend Natsuki . He would be perfectly behaved.

AKIZA
She rolled her eyes as Shou brushed his hair in desperation. “Is hair REALLY that important?” she mumbled, a strange sense of déjà vu coming over her as he rambled about hair. Akiza had a feeling she was forgetting something; she remembered vaguely meeting that kid Giima before everything went black and she woke up to Daisuke’s drama with turning into a dog. Oh well. Obviously, this family was crazy and her sanity would be better off if she ignored anything weird. She decided to clean the mess the duck made instead, and headed out of the room to search for the broom.

GIIMA
“Gross, is that a duck?” he said in disgust at the thing in Reiko’s arms, entering the room everyone had gathered in. Leaving Natsuki upstairs to solve the math problems, Giima had come to see what was taking Reiko so long and immediately regretted his decision. Because as soon as he insulted the duck, Giima swore, that he was looking into the eyes of the devil himself. It was is if could just feel the anger from the animal.

“What, Giima it’s not gross! This duck is adorable!” Reiko looked offended, and seemed to hug the creature tighter as if to protect him. “And Daisuke wants us to watch it, in your room.”

Giima looked at the duck with doubt and made no effort to hide his disgust. “Hell no! I don’t want some stray animal messing up my things. Leave it in the dumb cat’s room, instead.” Besides, it was making him feel uncomfortable, as if the duck was somehow plotting his death.

TAPIOCO
The duck was plotting the death of the insolent boy. The girl holding him, while annoyingly dared to hug him like a stuffed toy, at least seemed to recognize his greatness and seemed to worship him. That boy, while Tapioco could not understand the words, he could recognize body language and the fool thought Tapioco worth less than dirt. The human better watch himself, Tapioco was going to make his life hell during his stay with his human servant. The long haired fool and the girl with the blade, as well, would regret offending him.

Zodiac {Azalea & Midorimacchi}

NATSUKI KIRIJO
17 years old

Giima's weird friend and classmate unaware of the curse, who pretends to be a super hero named splendidSTAR complete with shoddily dyed hair and lame costume

The Beginning of the End {Midorimacchi & Azalea}

ARIUS MASTEMA

10/03/1095
died age 76 in 1171

The death of his father hurt him, despite the hatred Arius had harbored towards him from the moment they met. He would never dare admit it but deep down he secretly wanted Belzeneff to care about him, and Belzeneff had died before they could ever resolve their issues. Even worse, Bellona had changed from the kind mother he came to see her as. She was distraught over her husband’s death and determined to continue the war in Belzeneff’s name. She had completely lost reason and only cared about destroying the rebels in revenge for her family, not even concerned over what happened to anyone else anymore. There were few people she still trusted, Arius being one of them, and he was ordered to take his remaining siblings into hiding, and to protect them with his life. That was the last time he ever saw his mother.

Months later, he received devastating news that Bellona had finally fallen and that the rebels claimed victory. To make matters worse, nobody knew who had actually killed her, her corpse was just found in the royal graveyard in front of the tombstone of Bellissiah Black. He brought his siblings back to the castle and Belladonna was made into the queen. He considered leaving the castle and disappearing, but then he remembered his promise to Bellona to protect his siblings, so he stuck around and made sure they were protected from the rebels.

He did not trust Seraphion, but he made no moves against him out of fear that his siblings would be used against him if he tried to continue Bellona’s fight. In Seraphion’s opinion the biggest threats to the new government out of the remaining royalty were Arius and Bellerophon. He believed the younger ones were not as strong as their older brothers to be a real threat, and he felt Belladonna was not foolish enough to try anything to make her job as queen more difficult after being on the losing side of a devastating civil war. Arius behaved himself due to the threat of his siblings’ safety otherwise they would all be imprisoned just like Bellerophon, who had constantly tried to fight Abiel and Seraphion ever since he woke up from his coma. Arius was on bad terms with Bellerophon the last time he saw his brother, because Arius said he couldn’t help him and that it would be better for the family to follow Belladonna’s lead for now, and Bellerophon disappeared a few weeks later. Feeling guilty over his brother’s disappearance, because he thought Bellerophon might have stayed if Arius had tried to help, Arius decided to spy on the new wizard’s council. Even if Seraphion was pulling the strings, Arius wanted to at least know what he was up to and make sure he would do nothing to harm his older sister. After just a few meetings it wasn’t hard for Arius to feel that the new government was a vast improvement from his father (he had hated Belzeneff for a reason, after all) but he didn’t want to come out and say he supported Seraphion’s ideals, because he blamed him for Bellona’s death. Instead, Arius credited Belladonna whenever he had something good to say, as he reluctantly got close to the wizard council for the next decade with a false smile always on his face.

Arius was caught off guard when Belladonna, Beluga, and Seraphion all died within a few months. He took temporary control of the wizard council after Seraphion and Beluga, but he didn’t expect Belladonna to die and he certainly didn’t expect to feel the overwhelming headache that came with it. Arius woke up in a strange place, face to face with Oz, and found out he was the next prophet. Arius instantly did not like Oz; blaming him for the deaths of his parents and yelling at him for all the bad things that happened on Wiz. He called him a false god, saying a true god should have been able to prevent his sister’s death, his brothers’, his father’s, and Bellona’s. Oz did not defend himself and only gave Arius a sad smile, telling Arius that “even with his warnings of the future, time desires to remain on its original course, and changing fate is difficult”. Arius thought he was giving him a poor excuse and told Oz he should have just tried harder to change fate then.

After that first disastrous meeting, Arius did not acknowledge Oz’ presence in his mind, but it had still somehow gotten out to the public that he was the new prophet. With Belladonna dead, Belisario ascended the throne and Arius relinquished his position on he wizard council after becoming the prophet.
Bellerophon was no longer on Wiz, so those who did not accept Belisario claimed that Arius should become king instead, despite him being illegitimate because he was the oldest after Belladonna and was “chosen by Oz”. However, Arius believed Wiz needed stability and Belisario was the only royal that was married in order to become king anyways. He wanted nothing to do with a power struggle and he definitely did not want to rush into a marriage; so, he told everyone that Oz spoke to him and claimed Belisario was the next rightful king. It was a lie of course; Oz did not say a thing to Arius about Belladonna’s successor. Unknown to Arius, Oz had seen a vision of Arius having a very sudden death in the near future (the next week) if Oz warned him of Belisario’s horrible reign, where Arius dared tried to take the crown for himself in order to prevent Wiz’s downfall, and had judged Arius better off to just not have any reason to gain an interest in the throne. Oblivious to the future Oz saw, Arius trusted Belisario to be a good ruler so he did not do anything else to interfere, and spent most of his time unwillingly at the church with Symphora Zylan. He replaced her as the Head Priest of Oz, because he was the prophet and she was getting old. Arius still hated Oz and anything to do with the religion, and could not believe he had actually been made the leader of it.

Unlike the prophets before him and despite his animosity, at first Arius made an effort to speak to Oz because he wanted to try to understand him better, but their conversations were far from civil and he began to use him as an outlet for his anger instead. Arius always took time out of his day to let him know how much of a horrible “god” Oz was and demanded to know why he never did anything worthwhile to really help wizards. All Arius heard were excuses and he did not accept Oz’ decision to remain neutral in most conflicts. But Oz never seemed to hate him, and Arius could not comprehend why he didn't retaliate against him. He could not understand why Oz cared for every single wizard when there were so many horrible ones who Arius did not believe deserve such unconditional love. And he definitely did not understand why Oz looked happy to speak with him, even when Arius just said hurtful things to him daily. He mildly complained to his protector, Gracidea, about him all the time but like always he made just made her uneasy, especially since she could not bring herself to see Oz in a bad light and was afraid of offending her god. So he stopped speaking to not only her, but everyone, about his beliefs on Oz. He returned to his persona with the false smiles, keeping his true feelings inside and having nobody to truly confide in and open up to.

He did not begin to doubt Belisario until years later, when Arius finally managed to get Oz to admit why he remained neutral. Oz gave the same reason he spoke about during the first meeting, except Arius had finally given Oz a chance to give a full explanation. Oz explained that events that are fated to occur will almost always happen, even if the things leading up to it or the people experiencing it are different. Most interference in time only results in minor changes that still lead to the original fated path and it takes a lot of effort to truly change something and drastically alter time. The visions Oz sends are usually futile attempts to prevent disasters and usually the changes he influences just ends up making the future worse off or he would create a self-fulfilling prophecy, and that there are only a few instances when he managed to make a real positive change. There was a time when Oz did make a huge effort to influence the timeline, but several prophets in the past had claimed they were better off not knowing what happened, so Oz decided to stop showing frequent visions and to only interfere in important matters. He would take no sides in conflicts between wizards and let things play out as they were meant to be, no matter how painful.

Arius disagreed and said he should try his best to help, not just watch idly as wizards die in wars and suffer tragedies. Arius once again said he hated him and blamed him for everyone’s trouble, but unlike every other time, Oz finally became angry and lashed out against him. He showed Arius multiple visions of the future and taunted, “Try and solve all of these problems then…you cannot, can you?” Arius saw the terrible fate Wiz would suffer, his siblings dying one by one from Belisario’s cruelty, and the land dark and desolate. Arius was shocked and yelled at Oz again, exclaiming, “You don’t consider stopping Belisario from killing my siblings and all those people to become this ridiculous Dark Overlord important?!”

Oz looked at him coldly, explaining that the dark overlord he originally foresaw been someone else and that Belisario ended up a rebel working against him, but because he interfered with a vision Belisario somehow ended up taking that role instead and was an even crueler ruler than the original. But Arius was determined to stop his brother and scolded Oz for giving up so easily. Arius then claimed it would be up to himself to make a difference, since their god was cruel and abandoned them.

While Arius bottled up his negative feelings and used Oz as an outlet, on the surface Arius acted as if he had not changed at all. He maintained a permanent creepy smile that he directed towards everybody and continued with his spontaneous behavior. Nobody saw past his calm exterior, the anxiety and worry that plagued him after witnessing the horrible visions. He had no idea how to save his siblings – Belisario included – and the deaths that would occur would begin with the catatonic Bellarino. In the end Arius was unable to succeed in saving Bellarino and he felt like it was the worst thing he had ever done in his life, and he could swear he heard Bellona's voice in his head whispering that he did not keep the promise he made to protect his siblings. Shaken by the realization he failed his wonderful mother, Arius impulsively confronted Belisario without a real plan. Still having faith that his brother was ultimately a good person, Arius explained that he knew that he was behind Bellarino's death and that he had been shown a vision of his future plans for the family. In desperation, he asked the king to cease his ridiculous plot to kill their siblings, and that it was not too late to change the future. But all Arius received in response was the most evil expression he had ever seen on Belisario, who claimed that it was too bad that Arius had foolishly confronted him like this since he could have lived a little longer if he had just stayed out of his way instead. Arius was attacked and forced to fight for his life, and it was a fight that he eventually lost: Belisario dealt a serious injury to his heart.

As he lay dying, Oz visited him in his mind one last time and mercifully cut Arius off from his senses so that Arius would not feel himself die, only like he was falling asleep. Oz let Arius rest his head on his lap and comforted him by quietly stroking his hair, a sad nostalgic look on his face. Arius felt truly despaired that he had been unable to save anybody and cried, feeling truly vulnerable, apologizing to Oz about how cruel he had been to him and that he was just taking out his anger on him. He regretted that all their conversations had gone bad, but he wished he really could have understood Oz like he desired in the beginning and pleaded for Oz to forgive him. Then Arius, finally beginning to lose consciousness, begged Oz to help his sibling. To for once not remain neutral and to save Wiz instead, and not let those he was leaving behind to suffer under Belisario’s rule. He also feared Oz would assist Belisario, thinking he would be the next prophet after him, but Oz soothed him with words that he loved and forgave him, and not to worry about Belisario becoming the next prophet.

Arius closed his eyes and never opened them again, while Oz solemnly watched his life disappear. Touched by the heartfelt final words, Oz took Arius’ wish to heart, and promised to actively try to help Wiz to the best of his abilities alongside the next prophet.

The Beginning of the End {Midorimacchi & Azalea}

FURAI JUSTUS

13 years old

Furai is the son of Furei Justus and he's never known who his mother was, had never gotten the chance to meet his grandparents Furea and Furaha, nor did Furei reveal the truth of their biological family. Currently, he is homeless and living a miserable life on the streets, not knowing what to do with himself now that his father is gone.

His father is the only family Furai ever had in his life, and after a certain disastrous and horrible incident, the two of them were separated. Furai was injured at the time, with no home to turn to because it had apparently been burned down during his absence, and no matter how much he searched he couldn't find his father anywhere. It was nearly two years later when he met a rebel, Furai finally found information on his father's whereabouts and he was happy that to meet someone who knew who his father was. But the hope Furai had gained from the news quickly turned into horror, because his father was apparently dead. In denial, Furai cried his way until the rebel finally escorted him to their base to see the truth for himself. After demanding an explanation about what happened to his father from every single person he came across, a rebel finally relented and explained to him that Furei had thought Furai died and felt he had nothing left to live for. Therefore, needing a sense of purpose to distract himself from his despair, he devoted himself fully to the rebellion. He eventually lost his life doing a Very Important Spell helping a wizard named Amery and unknowingly abandoned Furai to live in Belisario's hopeless world all alone. What was worse was that the spell was done recently and if Furai had just found him earlier, they would have been reunited again. Blaming the rebels for his father's death, Furai ran off crying, a part of him hating his father for giving up on him and leaving him for good. He had managed to survive on the streets on his own for so long because he had hope of finding of his father again but now the struggle is worse because Furai has no more hope or goals, with nothing but grief and anger pushing him forward.

Vampirates {Azalea & Midorimacchi}

Vissarion

41 years old
17/12/1678

Vissarion, or Rion, is a pureblood vampire who is a member of the Numantia. He is timid and feels anxious having to speak to any of the other crew members, but he actually does like companionship and will gladly speak with crew members who initiates a conversation first. Rion admires Diego, but at the same time, is terrified of El Pollo Loco when he sees him fight, especially when he laughs doing so. While he is shy around the other vampires, he feels at ease with his own kind, but Rion tries to avoid interacting with any humans on board the ship. He feels guilty looking at humans due to past actions of his brother, and Rion doesn't like the sight or smell of blood.

Rion grew up with his parents alongside his older brother, Vitus, who carelessly indulged in blood and had no qualms with mutilating human bodies. His brother liked blood straight from the heart and would kill almost every human he fed on by ripping out their organs, and Rion would often see the unpleasant sight of his brother licking the blood off of the human's internal organs. Their parents disapproved of his brother's eating habits, especially his father since he was born human, but Vitus refused to change his ways so their parents eventually gave up on trying to fix his behavior. Therefore, Rion often had to witness his brother's grotesque meals which made him start to view blood as disgusting. Rion personally views drinking blood from humans as unpleasant and tries to feed as cleanly and quickly as possible, in order to get it over with.

One night, Rion met one of Vitus' victims and that short meeting made a huge impact on him. The human had been taken to their home and was going to be eaten by Vitus later that night. Rion encountered the human by chance while they were trying to escape, and was swayed by the desperation in their voice for help. He told the human he did not care what happened to him, but said he would not return him to his brother and pointed to where the door was. Relieved, the human gave Rion a blinding smile that Rion felt he didn't deserve, and he watched as the human tried to leave. That smile stuck in his head, however, the thankfulness and genuine happiness the human showed him wouldn't leave his mind. And he later regretted his interaction with the human a few hours later, when Rion saw his angry brother dragging the same human back into the house. The human was screaming, begging to be let free, and when Rion accidentally made eye-contact the human started pleading with him to save him. Rion froze and his brother laughed at the human for thinking Rion would be of any help. Rion just stared at the terrified human but made no move to help him, just like Vitus predicted.

Not even an hour later, his brother came back with the mangled corpse of the human, offering it to him. The dull eyes of the bleeding corpse made Rion feel conflicted, he didn't understand why he felt shaken at the sight, and he refused his brother's leftovers while trying not to vomit. When he went to sleep that morning, Rion had a nightmare over the smiling, happy human thanking him, only for Rion to tear apart his flesh and being looked at with a terrified expression. Waking up was unpleasant and he felt guilty for letting the human be brutally killed after they had pleaded for his help. Afraid of the situation happening again and too cowardly to stand up to Vitus, Rion shakily announced to his parents that he wanted to move out. They were confused by Rion's spontaneous decision, but since he was old enough to be out on his own, hesitantly supported his decision with parting words that he was welcome back home anytime. He left with few words to Vitus, feeling the guilt return just by looking at him.

His first few weeks on his own were difficult. After his last night at home with his brother's dinner, Rion was so afraid of hurting humans that he could barely feed and had flashbacks to the dead human who had smiled at him. And when he did find someone to drink from, he took the bare minimum because he was so repulsed by the blood. On top of that, he didn't know how to properly blend in with humans and the money his parents gave him was quickly running out. Rion dreaded the idea of returning back home so soon but his luck had suddenly struck. One night, while he explored a port, he encountered a vampire named Diego. Diego loved humans and Rion was relieved to meet someone who would never treat humans cruelly like his brother. And after finding out Diego was a pirate captain who helped human ships on the sea, Rion asked to join his crew. He still felt horrible over his brother's human victims and doing nothing to help them, or stop his brother, so Rion felt aiding humans as a part of Numantia would ease his guilt.

Mafia {Azalea & Midorimacchi}

Nemesis Bellatrix

former pirate of the flyingdeath. she's not an offical member of any mafia family but is fond of the Giordanos due to "Little Tori"