War Games Pre Cursor:

Six Years Ago: Wrath's PoV

Danna was dead… the one called Peta had carried off the monster we all knew as Phantom… MaR was safe, for the moment… Returning home was the only thing that could be done now… I left the Cross Guard, taking my parents corpses home to the castle to be given a proper burial. I was now the sole heir to my kingdom. And a girl at that. What would the members of the town think, an 8 year old girl taking over the role of Princess and head of a kingdom? They would laugh… or so I thought… but when I returned home I was greeted with kind faces and loving words… words I would never again hear from my family… for they were gone.

Present Day: General PoV

Wrath stared up at the ceiling of her room. She was fully packed and ready to head out of the castle. Today was the start of the Second War Games. She had plenty of time before noon, but decided leaving early might be a good idea anyway. She sat up and shook her head. "So they've finally come back… the Chess no Kouma…" she said quietly to herself. "Time to go then…" she walked out of her room, hoping to avoid any of the servants. She was just about out of the castle when she heard a chuckle.

"Planning on fighting?" Wrath turned to see an elderly woman wearing a cloak with a matching crown. "You're just as reckless as your mother…"

"Obaa-sama…" she said, surprised. "… Yes… I will be fighting…" she bowed. "I have to…" she didn't want her grandmother to say no but… if she did…

"Well then, I suggest you hurry. You only have till noon, correct?" the elderly woman smiled. "Get going." Wrath looked up with a smile.

"Thank you, Obaa-sama…" Wrath hugged her grandmother before bowing again and heading out the door. Today was the day she would be able to meet any remaining Cross Guard. Whoever was still left would be there and she knew it.

Time Skip:

Ginta and Jack spotted Alviss. While they were arguing, Wrath had slipped on her hood and walked past them. 'I made it…' she thought with a silent sigh. The clock struck noon and the Princess of Reginrave stepped out onto the balcony. All the soldiers were crying, knowing their Princess was safe. 'Reginrave-nee…' Wrath thought, looking up at her friend.

"We will now start the War Game." the princess stated, looking a tiny bit distressed. A table rose up from the ground in front of the crowd. "But first, we will have a test to see if you are suitable for participating in this game. Those who are participating, please pick up a Magic Stone from that table." she stated. A blonde boy stepped forward first, picking up one of the oversized Magic Stones. More and more people began stepping up to get one, a few Wrath recognized, a few she did not. Wrath was one of the last to pick up a stone, observing it. A little conversation was held between a dog and the blonde boy. Wrath did not listen, still observing the stone. "Begin the test." the stones all glowed and before long, everyone holding on was gone.

Other Dimension:

Wrath looked around at the shapeless dimension she was in. "Hm… Dimension aRM… impressive way of disguising it." she said to no one in particular. "I guess we were all separated… what could the test be?" she ducked out of the way as an attack flew at her. "Hm… a pawn? Now what fun is that?" she smiled. She kicked the guy who attacked her square in the chest, knocking him back onto the invisible floor before he disappeared. "They really aren't taking us seriously…"

Reginrave Castle:

Wrath and the others were teleported back to the courtyard. As she looked around she realized something strange. "Where did the other Cross Guard go?" she asked under her breath. Not one of them was back, and even Gaira was still gone. She heard a voice she recognized and turned to see Alviss, stating exactly what she had been thinking.

"None of the Cross Guard are back. Even Gaira-san isn't." she looked around. He was right. Gaira was no where to be seen either. Moments later a purple imp appeared before them. He chuckled strangely before speaking up.

"Looks like everyone else couldn't make it back." he began walking forward. "This year's Cross Guard was no good. I wonder if the strong ones disappeared in the previous battle. They were all garbage, no better than pawns." Wrath was irked to hear that, but remained silent. Alviss spoke up instead, sounding annoyed as well.

"Where's Gaira-san? It's impossible for him to lose to a pawn!" he stated. The creepy little imp chuckled again.

"Who said there were only pawns?" someone appeared next to the imp. A skull mask and green pointy hair, wearing a purple robe. "There was one special Magic Stone. There was one unlucky person. He must have been that one." Alviss grit his teeth, refraining from getting angrier when Gaira appeared, wounded and in a lot of pain.

"Alviss." Gaira stated.

"Gaira-san!" Alviss exclaimed.

"This was unexpected… For me to be disqualified before the game…" Gaira continued obviously injured both physically and mentally.

"Snow, heal him!" the blonde boy stated, but before she could move more than a foot, Wrath stopped her. "Eh?"

"I'll take care of it, nee-chan."

"Th-that voice… is it…?" Wrath smiled at Snow's reaction, going over to Gaira and taking out an aRM. "Sacred aRM, Sacred Angel Elda." the aRM changed into a young woman who hovered behind Wrath. "Gaira-jiisan, are you alright?" she asked, taking off her hood. Her long cerulean hair cascaded down her back as it fell out of the hood. Gaira sat there shocked, so Wrath just instructed Elda to heal him quickly. She sat there as the imp spoke again.

"He sure is the third best person, that Gaira. He's alive after a battle with Chimera. I'll commend him for that." he stated, looking back at the ones who had prevailed. "Well… So these are the seven who passed… Short. How short in number." he stated. "Didn't we have about 30 Cross Guard in the last game? And you're a bunch of kids. Phantom won't have fun with this."

"Make him have fun? We'll freak him out!" the blonde boy stated enthusiastically. "Start the game already."

"Don't get so excited. Today was just preliminaries. The War Game will start tomorrow. Have a wonderful night and savor the greatness of being alive." the imp stated as he and the one called Chimera vanished into thin air. The boy who resembled a monkey said he was afraid. They all looked a bit timid after hearing that. Wrath finished healing Gaira before standing up with a sigh. "There, Gaira-jiisan." she smiled. "Try not to strain it cause it might be stiff for a few hours." she bowed.

"Wrath-chan it is you~!" Snow glomped the girl, causing her to almost fall over.

"Ehe… nice to see you again, Snow-neechan~" she smiled cheerfully. She looked at Dorothy. "Ah, Dorothy-neechan is here too?" she smiled. "Nice to see you~"

"Same to you." Dorothy smiled. "How long has it been?"

"If I recall, about 7 years." Wrath replied. "My 7th birthday."

"Ah, so that makes you 14 already? You're growing up fast." Dorothy smirked, patting the girl on the head. "Your mother and father would be proud of you."

"… yeah…" she smiled thoughtfully. She turned to Alviss. "Ah, senpai."

"Wrath." he nodded to her. "Nice to see you." Alviss said. Wrath nodded.

"Yeah, nice to see you too." she stated.

Time Skip: That Night Inside the Castle Wrath's PoV

Everyone was standing in the room they would be sleeping in. "Please spend the night here." the princess stated.

"Hey you're this castle's princess, right?" Nanashi asked. "Why did you give the intro for the War Game?" The princess paused for a moment before looking down.

"It's for the sake of our citizens. If I do not follow their orders, the lives of those outside will be jeopardized." she stated sadly. "In order to protect them, I'm willing to do anything. I am a princess, after all." she said, looking up with her eyes closed.

"Yep, you're right." Snow said. I simply nodded from where I was. The three of us understood what it was like. Ginta, who's name I learned from Alviss, was punching at Babbo and saying he would beat them up. Alviss, who was standing next to me, walked forward towards Ginta.

"Ginta." all the others turned to see what he was going to say. "Will I be able to trust you? Answer the question through battle. I'll be watching." he stated. Belle flew over to Ginta and whispered something to him about Alviss having high hopes for him. I giggled.

'This will be interesting…' I thought. Then I heard Ed saying each of our names and something about an Oracle's prediction coming true. I presumed he meant the Oracle in Lestava. "Hm… We'll see how this turns out then."

END: PRECURSOR