Disclaimer: I do not own nor claim to own this franchise or any of its characters.
Bold is narration. Underlined is Jack. Italics are memories.
Author Note: No it's not Lucciano it's Aporia but little. Also it's cameo-lous!
Aki Iyazoi Witch of the Roses Red and Thorns Black
Once upon a time in a forest with roses as high as trees and thorns nowhere to be seen there was witch, no not a witch, but rather a fallen queen that could not reclaim what was once hers.
I stand among the roses as tall as tress hiding from all that would condemn me. I have not had a visitor in many years not since the young man with red hair and green eyes asked me if I had any 'special' skills. I had no intention of telling him of my 'witchy' skills and sent him on his way. But now I hear the sound of footsteps in the forest tall and red. And the footsteps come from a tall man with light blonde hair and purple eyes that shimmer.
"Hello, what are you doing here all alone?" Asks the kingly man.
"Living." I reply.
"Can I live too?" He asks.
"Yes."
And upon meeting they were torn apart by a need for their skills. A man with a corrupted heart took Jack the king of the ruined kingdom that Aki left behind and a man with an evil soul took Aki to use her 'special' skills to a 'haven' for those with these skills.
The sound of hoovebeats paralyzes me. Where is that sound coming from? I am grabbed by the waist by a man on a white horse and I scream and Aki uses the roses to attack the man and he cuts them down with one hand and I pass out from the horrid sensation.
From the waist I am taken by a man on a black horse and I don't even make a sound. I try and use the vines of my forest to choke and bind him and he laughs and burns them to ashes. Unlike the young man that was taken I will not scream. I let him grab me and try not to pass out but sadly the wind and beats send me into the arms of a master dreamer.
And that corrupted heart was in need of someone with a kingly appearance to rule over his lie of a kingdom. In order to assure that the boy would rule as was asked the man with a corrupted heart pierced Jack's heatr with a mirror shard that shows only the bad and hate in the world and the king of the ruins grew cold.
The white haired man holds me down and with a blank face jams a reflective shard into my chest.
"Are you freaking nuts?" I ask. "If you want to kill me than do it properly."
"I do not want to kill you Jack, my son." The man replies.
"I am not your son you bloody wacker!"
I crawl away and am stopped by the metal booted foot of the man. I stop. The man frowns and lifts my face up so I can look at him.
"Jack you are the king and nothing will change that so accept your fate and the shard and let it be easy." He says.
The man shoves the shard back in and I watch as it absorbs into my chest leaving only a small splinter of glass in my chest. I stumble out and watch the servants in the great white castle shuffle about.
"Look at that lanky boy!" Laughs a woman with black hair and bluish gray eyes.
I ignore her cause it's just one person right? A tall man with powder blue hair and yellow eyes smiles at me and opens his mouth.
"I wonder if Lord Godwin brought this toy for me." He says.
I back away and hide from them all.
"People are nasty aren't they Jack? Make them pay." Said a spider that was crawling along the inside of mind on a mirror shard.
And I scream.
And that man with an evil soul needed a sword of which to fight all those that 'oppressed' them and so he took up a thorn of the blackest nights, a thorn to make the 'witch' forget all that she was and leave only the painful and aching thoughts and memories and the queen of roses and the ruined kingdom that was abandoned grew black as the deepest red rose and she withered and twisted off the branch.
The man holds a thorn above my head and makes me scream with the painful erasure.
"What is this for?" I choke out.
"I need a sword and you my dear are the sharpest of them all."The man sighs.
He continues his chanting and I begin to forget things. My parents, my kingdom and what was I talking about? I am sure it couldn't have been important if I forgot so readily.
"Hello Akiza Izinski, my name is Divine Sayer and I am leader of the rebellion against Lord Godwin. I found you at the bottom of a road sobbing and realized that you have the abilities that are hated amongst the kingdoms. I would like you to help me, help you and the rest of the rebels." Divine asks.
"I don't recall anything." I murmur.
"And that's alright. I will make new memories with you." Divine reassures me.
He holds out a gloved hand and I take it.
"Yes Akiza, come home with me."
And I do and inside my mind on a black rose there lays a white mask.
And after years of planning and manipulation Lord Godwin molded Jack into the perfect puppet king.
"So when do I finally get the kingdom?" I ask.
"After your marriage Jack." Replies the older man.
"Oh tell me who I'm marrying at least."
"No. If I tell you, you will whine and moan until I call the wedding off like the last six times."
"That's cause I don't want to marry a man."
"Well you have to Jack."
"But men don't have breasts."
"I know Jack but you can have all the women you please as long as you marry the prince of foreign skies."
The tall knight with powder blue hair and yellow eyes walks in and flashes me a smile. I sneer at him and he just laughs. Everyone that I long at has dark sclera and a bad attitude. The only one without these traits is the older man that watches over me. If I must become king to make these fools stop with their insults and belittlements then so be it. I just want it to stop.
"Oh hello Kiryu, tell me what does this man look like?" I ask.
"Oh he has bright orange hair that rises two feet above his head and gray eyes the colour of melting snow and he is really short." He tells me.
Godwin gives him a nasty glare and I frown.
"No, he will not due, bring me someone beautiful." I demand.
Godwin grits his teeth and slaps Kiryu in the back of the head before leaving. I frown and continue listening to the only real company I have, the spider resting on my shoulder.
"What do you think Rudger, will he find me a beautiful man if not a woman?" I ask the little arachnid.
"Yes, I think so Jack. Kiryu needs to be punished you know." Rudger tells me.
"Perhaps later."
After years of planning and manipulation Divine Sayer molded the red rose witch in to something black.
I put on the red dress and the white mask offered by Divine.
"You look heavenly my dear. You will surely capture the king's heart no matter how frozen it may be!" He laughs.
"Indeed." I agree.
I twirl around and let the skirt fly up a bit. The mask fits perfectly. I smile and twirl once more and Divine claps.
"After he marries you stab the man and leave him somewhere where no one will find the body. You as the queen will rule over the land and we will finally be free." Divine monologues.
I nod and he grins.
"And then after that we'll be together." The charming man smiles spinning me and brushing the stray stands of hair out of my face.
As I take the finest horse-drawn carriage that was available I breathe out and the wind carries the frosty breath far away from here to a forest full of thorned black roses. The bitterness of the wheels as they whine makes me feel that perhaps this isn't my fate at all. I wish to fall asleep to the sound of the hoofbeats of the black horses and wake up in a world where peace could be achieved by means other than this. I sigh and my guard, a young man with deep red hair and green eyes like Divine's but more shocking and his hair was in a long braid.
"Akiza please don't muse on such lost causes it only causes despair." The boy's eyes water at the final word.
"How did you know?" I ask to pass the time.
"I know when people are in despair." He sighs and his breath is carried with mine.
And the creak of the wheels drowns out the rest of the boy's tears and my regrets and wishes are drowned with them.
A royal ball was thrown in order to choose a female bride for the fickle prince. Women from all across the world were called and some men that looked like women and some men that acted like women due to the fact that the prince's sexuality was fairly questionable. From the far off kingdom up north came a king of ice with a power that mages could only dream of. From the neighboring kingdom a French twist from the kingdom of knights and vengeance came. From the kingdom between space and time came a spiked prince and a prince in eternal rage. And from the far off ruined kingdom came a young woman named Akiza Izinski but amongst all other kings and queens what was a mere thorn?
I walk through the throngs of adoring women and men and make haste for the exit. Don't they know that I can hear them?
"I do not want to be here, I'd rather be home with my 'toys'." Sighs a silver haired man before getting punched in the shoulder by a woman with long blonde hair.
"Hello Jack, my name is Sherry LeBlanc and this is some man. Pleased to meet you. I want your money." Says the woman smiling.
I sneer at her and shove her aside.
"Yes I am not some man I am Harald von Schroder. Let me go the fuck home before I set this entire building aflame." The silver haired man smirks.
"Don't worry mate you ain't the only one that wants to go home." I tell him.
"I see. You may want to have that shard in your chest removed if you want to hear what I actually said." He turns and walks away.
I sigh, another loony from up north. My God I think something's in the water up there, the last two men I talked to from there were just as nuts. I walk over to a pair of chatty men that keep staring at me.
"I want to stab the shit out of something." The white and gray haired man whines to his comrade.
His comrade raises an eyebrow and laughs at me and him.
"This is foolish! I have no need to expand my kingdom and the representative from the kingdom said that you were gorgeous. She was obviously wrong." The spiked man laughs before the white and gray haired one downs the rest of his drink.
I sneer at them as well and so in a fit of drunken rage the white and gray haired man draws his sword.
"I am Placido Domingo of the kingdom between times and I take great offense at your attitude! Combattiamo sporco principe!" Yells the man apparently called Placido.
"Oh this is going to be good." Sherry laughs.
I grab the sword hanging from Harald's hip and he sighs,
"Just take it."
Placido goes for me before I disable him with the butt of the sword and use the blade to cut a J into the side of his cheek. The flustered and defeated man grabs his comrade by the shoulder and drags him off. The next person I see better be female. And then everyone stops when a woman in a red dress and white mask walks in slowly on heels and smiles with grace and elegance. I can't wait to hear what she says to make a fool of herself.
"Hello Jack, I am Akiza Izinski." She says.
I stop as well at this point. Not a single horrible word in that. Sherry takes offense at my slight gasp and throws her wine at the girl before it is blocked by the northern man.
"Sherry no, do not anger her it will not end well." He informs her.
Sherry stops and blinks for a bit before leaving the ballroom like Placido, with a huff and a stomp. I smile at the lovely woman and ask her…
And that thorn entered the ballroom commanding all attention on to her face and her dress. In a room among men and women dressed as men wearing a dress with garner the finest attention. Even if you do not want it in the first place.
I smile like a crocodile at the pretentious prince. I ignore the blonde as she stomps past and all the other whispers of who am I and what do I want. Why all I want is freedom silly little nobles that believe that they are Gods.
"I agree! We are pretentious aren't we?" Laughs the crazy man with yellow eyes.
I pretend that I can't hear him. And Jack pipes up.
"Would you like to dance?" He asks.
"Of course I would, your highness." I reply.
And that causes the crazy man to laugh and take his leave. The boy that was assigned to me walks in as elegantly as he can muster with a small sword in his hand.
"Quite pathetic." Laughs a tall woman with a model figure holding a Chinese fan.
"I agree." Says a tall man with powdery blue hair and cat's eyes.
I dance with the prince that has never danced before. He steps on my toes and always bumps into someone else and I would rather dance with the spoiled nobles or even the crazy foreign man than dance with this buffoon. I frown and let him spin me as he wishes until I get angry and mentally mover my rose to prick him in the hand.
"Ouch. Did you do that?" He asks.
"No." I reply.
As we have to change partners I dance with the crazy man and Jack with a noble half his height with two foot high hair.
"You know Divine still keeps your memories in that thorn of his." He tells me.
"And even if it was true how would you know it young man?" I ask in return.
"Odin, the eagle told me."
"I see. The eagle told you that a friend of mine is keeping my memories in a thorn."
"Yes. Also Jack's heart is corrupted by a splinter of glass sticking out of his chest and I assure you that if you remove that then getting your fallen memories back will be easy."
"You are insane."
"Am I? I never really thought so."
We trade againa and Jack made sure that I was back to him and his lead feet. We dance and I get tipped low enough to see the young man tasked with guarding me being held by the crazy man. The boy is stuttering and trying to escape from the grasp of the man. Then the boy stops and his ears perk up oh he's listening to the ramble about eagles isn't he?
"So which kingdom do you come from love?" Interrupts the stupid puppet prince.
"Oh you do not need to know." I reply as an alternative to a lie.
"Full of mystery." He spins me. "I like that."
"Glad you do Jack."
I get moved to dance with boy charged with watching me.
"Akiza do you believe that man?" He asks in a deeper voice than I thought he had.
"No, he's insane." I answer.
"But Akiza we should at least try to see if there is indeed a splinter in Jack's chest and perhaps you need not kill him."
Perhaps I think to myself.
And Jack then knew who he wanted as his bride. The rose among thorns and feathers. He walked over to the man with a corrupted heart and told him his deepest desire however the spider that lived in Jack's head and shoulder knew who Akiza really was.
"I have decided Godwin that I choose the new woman named Akiza Izinski." I tell the older man.
"As you wish Jack." He replies.
I walk off to my throne and sit down with my eyes closed to hear what Rudger has to say.
"You know that woman isn't who she says she is." He informs me.
"Then pray tell me Rudger, who is she?" I ask to the spider.
"She is a witch that lives in the ruins of her fallen kingdom by the name of Aki Iyazoi."
I drop to the ground clutching at my chest when I hear that name. I did the same when someone said Yuusei Fudo or the kingdom of fallen junk and false kings. I scream and see visions of roses and thorns and a white horse. I shake my head and the visions dissipate and shimmer and fade to white and black.
"I do not believe you spider."
"You need not but I did warn you." The spider mentions before climbing off and up the throne.
And the witch began having second thoughts about the ramblings of a foreign man. What if, by any small chance, the man was right and she could indeed save the prince why he would have to listen to everything she said because he'd owe her wouldn't he?
I walk over to a fallen throne room and see the prince doubled over. He is talking to no one in particular.
"I do not believe you spider." He says.
And in a shocking turn of events that isn't shocking in the slightest the spider replies with,
"You need not but I did warn you."
I run over to the fallen prince.
"Are you alright?" I ask.
"Yes, I just…" He tries.
Then he groans. I pull off his shirt and look at his chest. There is a small piece of glass barely noticeable sticking out of his chest.
When he noticed that Jack wasn't where he was supposed to be the corrupted heart grew worried that the puppet prince had done something rash. And when he noticed that he could no longer see Aki the evil soul grew panicked, had Aki been found out? He thought. And so the corrupted heart went to the throne room to see if the puppet was unscathed. And so the evil soul went to see if his sword was unbroken.
Akiza feels around my chest before pulling out a small shard of glass, barely noticeable.
"There, how do you feel?" She asks.
My eyes grow wide as I remember the feeling of joy and love and truth without lies. I stand up and put my shirt back on.
"Come Aki." I order.
"Are we close enough that nicknames must be used Jack?" Asks the witch of a queen.
"That is your true name." I tell her.
I grab her small and slender hand and run out with the sound of footsteps coming after us.
Both of the harmful men realized what Aki had done and pursued on their less than noble steeds. Jack ran the girl into the rose forest turned black by the lack of her and wished with all his heart.
Jack runs me out to a thorn-filled forest with black roses the size of oaks. I look behind me to see Divine and that man that was with Jack chasing after us. Does Divine really think that I would run off with a man I barely know? Jack smiles at me and I feel a tinge of warmth tug at my heart.
"Let us reclaim your memories." Jack states and I get more into running with him.
We run into the forests and my dress is torn by the tall thorns and brambles.
The two men ran into a barricade of which they could not bypass. The thorns restricted them but in the need to stop the prince of ruined lands they got off their horses and ran after them.
Aki stops protesting if only to see where we are going and runs with me. I shove past large springy thorns and jump over fallen roses with the grace and speed of a deer. The woman beside me has equal skill and runs with me and I smile at her and she smiles back. The center of the forest of roses is fast approaching. I have no idea what the hell I'm doing.
Divine was finally stopped by fallen into a rabbit hole that was not a rabbit hole but rather a trap hole fifty stories down dug by a young fae named Toby Treadwell. A scream pierced the forest and Lord Godwin thinking this to be his puppet prince's stopped in time to see the hole and stepping past it continued hunting for the prince.
I have cuts all over my arms and legs and I feel that Jack has no idea what the hell he's doing. He brings me to the center of the rose forest and stops to think of what to do know. I will be in so much trouble with Divine when I am finished with this fool.
The corrupted heart finds his way to the center of the rose forest and runs sword in hand to the ruined prince.
I realize that in fairy tales the way to break the spells is always true love's kiss. And so I lean into Aki and kiss her full on the lips and she kisses me back.
And that prince that is a fool kisses me on the lips and I like a princess that's under a spell in a fairy tale make believe and kiss him back.
And with that magic kiss the spell was broken and the black turned to red and the thorns shrank away and were nowhere to be seen.
The man that tried to ruin my life goes for Aki with a sword only to be stopped by my blade. I parry it and swipe at him only to be knocked aside by his other hand. I lay there with the sword at my throat.
"Just finish it mate." I demand.
That man opens his mouth.
And with the force of the vines of these lands I bind the fool and help Jack up.
"We can always stay here in the forest forever." I tell him.
"Or we could go to the ruins of the kingdom I rule." Jack suggests.
"Or you both could come back to the north with me." Suggest the crazy man with a one eyed eagle resting on his shoulder.
And I take my victory kiss.
The man chuckles at that.
"I've always been a sucker for true love." He laughs.
And I assume this is the part where we live happily ever after.
And that was the part where they lived happily ever after.