Special Episode 1: The Birthday Party That Never Was

Zaflior

"Why do we have to get presents for her? She's your friend."

"Because you want to keep this friendship."

Akane blinks, caught off guard by the sudden sass from Mana of all people, but quickly recovers. "Yeah? Says who?" she challenges.

"Emile." Mana answers simply. "He said you like me so that means you want to keep this friendship, right?" she says obliviously. "And besides, she's twenty one years old trapped in the body of a child. Everyone at the party is going to look like her but we're the ones she can actually relate to." When Akane doesn't respond, Mana looks up from the bottom shelf she's browsing and frowns when she sees the mixture of emotions on Akane's face. "Akane?"

Akane looks like she's about to combust. Her face flushed, she looks torn between feeling embarrassed, angry, and...ennui? Is that the word?

(She's been spending more time with Madelaine and consequently receives a lot of vocabulary lessons as a result [Madelaine uses a lot of words even Nadine has a hard time understanding.].)

But what could've brought any of those feelings on?

Mana stands up and looks at Akane worriedly. "Akane?" she repeats.

Without a word, Akane unties the jacket around her waist, pulls it over her arms, and pulls the hoodie up. She's quiet for another moment before: "I have to commit a murder." and a second later, Akane is out of the store.

From the store window, Mana can see the Zaflior citizens clear a path for Akane out of fear of the homicidal intent radiating off of her.

…

...

Mana shrugs and goes back to browsing. "Nothing new, nothing new...ooh, I wonder if Mary will like this?"

Wisteria

"Fuck you."

"No thanks. Ocean said he wasn't interested in seeing a romance." Akito yawns. "Have you seen Kyza? Is he ready to go yet?"

Koz looks in Akito's general direction, a confused look on his face. "...Who the fuck is Ocean!?" he cries.

"Your father." Akito states.

Koz pulls off his glasses and starts rubbing at his eyes. "My dad's name is Jedsu you stupid fuck." he says. "I don't know any 'Ocean'."

Akito sighs, bored with Koz already. "Not that father. Your other father. The One Who Is The One hasn't seen him in a while." he says. Before Koz can yell at him any further, Akito adds, "It's okay. Not everyone is as self-aware as I am. For example, I bet you don't know that this is only happening because The One Who Is The One was inspired by Mary's birthday passing in that earlier chapter and her brother's birthday coming up next week." he says.

"...HUH!?"

Akito sighs again and looks up at the sky. "The One Who Is The One, why am I cursed to be the last one standing?"

Koz looks like he's seconds away from either going insane or turning Akito to stone. "Dude, who and what the absolute fuck are you talking about!?" he demands.

"Don't worry about it any longer, Koz. You'll forget about it after this scene anyway. The One Who Is The One wills it to be so." Akito says. He closes his eyes and stretches out his arms to the sky. "The One Who Is The One is everything, all that once was and all that will be. The One Who Is The One controls time and space, love and death. The One Who Is The One can see into your mind." Akito opens his eyes, an uncharacteristic smile on his face. "The One Who Is The One can see into your soul."

"...HUUUUUUUUUH!?"

Arkcester

"Are you all packed, buddy?"

Neil stares at the man like he just pulled up in a white van and offered him candy.

But...what's a van?

…

…

…

Never mind.

"Do I know you, old man?" Neil asks, reaching into his pocket and discreetly pulling out one of his many rocks. "Don't underestimate me just 'cause I'm young. If you try anything weird, I'll - I'll beat you up!" he insists.

The man's smile drops. He looks wounded, almost. "What are you talking about, Neil?" the man asks. "I know - I know I said Alistair was my favorite child, but-"

"I don't know any Alistair, grandpa!" Neil shouts and starts pelting the man with rocks. "Stay away from me!"

"Wh-What!? Neil, it's me! Grandpa!"

"YOU'RE NOT MY GRANDPA!"

Neil moves to reach into his pocket for more rocks but the man is suddenly swallowed up by the familiar sight of Glinda's portal. The woman in question comes up from behind Neil and pats him on the head. "I'm sorry about that, Neil." Glinda apologizes. "I've been having a lot of odd mishaps with my portals lately. That man, James, Jason, Jackson, Jax, Julius, Jahn, Jun, Jin, Junpei, Justin, Joshua, Joseph, Jacob, Josiah, Jonathan, Jose, Juan, Jesus, Judah, Jeremy, Javier, Jorge, Jake, Joaquin, Jace, Jasper, Jonah, Joel, Josue, Jensen, Jaylen, Jared, Johnny, Johan, Jagger, Jedidiah, Judson, Jeffery something or other came from one that opened on its own." she explains. "He seemed to know an awful lot about us...I wonder if he was a Dark Mage?" Glinda starts murmuring to herself as she walks away.

Neil pales, a faraway look on his face.

"...Am I the only sane one here?"

Zaflior

A few hours of train hopping and portalling later, Mary is surrounded by her father, the ghost of her mother, and a handful of the youngest members from Valiance's three most prominent guilds.

"Papa dear," Mary starts, her orange hair tied up into two pigtails and a party hat on her head. "You do remember the part where we said that I'm still twenty-one years old up here?" she says, tapping her head.

Cooley smiles and gently squeezes Mary's shoulder, a blissful look on his amazingly sober face. "Yes, Mary dear, but you are still physically a child. It'd look strange to have you surrounded by a bunch of adults, hm?" he says, the joy never leaving his face.

Mary grumbles unhappily. Beside her, the ghost of her mother starts making wild gestures at her widowed husband.

Kyza frowns and looks down at the present in his hands. "She's...twenty-one?" he says to himself. "She's not gonna like this." Kyza pouts.

Akito stares down at the present in his own hands, a similar thought going through his mind. "I didn't realize she was going to be in the body of a child. I can't give her this." he mumbles to himself and tosses it behind him.

Acro looks down at the painting in his hands. He sighs and copies Akito, tossing the painting behind him. "It wasn't very good anyways…" Acro sighs sadly.

Neil pulls a rubber band off of his wrist. "I got you a gun."

"...That's a rubber band." Mary deadpans.

Neil blinks, looking back at his hand. "Oh. Sorry." he says and snaps his fingers. In a dim flash of light, the rubber band transforms into a gun. "Here. I got you a gun."

Mary beams and eagerly takes the gun from Neil's outstretched hand.

While Cooley desperately tries to stop his daughter from waving the gun around and giving passerbys the wrong idea, a boy stands off to the side, unsure of what to do. "Do I give her this…?" the boy with Aberrant Hydra's mark asks no one in particular. "I haven't been introduced yet so I don't know if I'm allowed to…"

Meanwhile, a trio of hooded figures stands even further away, the tallest one seemingly holding the two shorter ones back by invisible threads. "No. Don't even think about it. You're both known criminals - what the hell were you even thinking coming here!?"

The first figure grumbles and crosses his arms. "You're no fun, Hibiki."

The second figure struggles against the invisible threads. "Oh come on! Why are you even following me!? You're not in my guild!" he cries.

Hibiki groans and yanks them both back, making the two boys fall on their backs. "You two haven't even been introduced yet!" she chides. "If you want to be here so bad, you can sit your asses down and watch!"

Meanwhile, Mana and Veiss are keeping their distance from Akane and a chained up Emile. She's walking in a circle, dragging him behind her like a wagon. For reasons Mana can't understand, Akane has been a whole clusterfuck of emotions since they were shopping for Mary's present. Emile, for his part, looks as though he's accepted his fate.

Veiss seemed like he was going to explain it to Mana but just as he was about to get started, Akane appeared from behind Mana, dragging Emile around just like she is now.

("Y-Yeah...I'm not really in the mood to deal with Akane's mood so we can talk about it later...or never.")

Little do either four of them know, they're being watched by a girl from the rooftop of one of Zaflior's buildings.

"Emile...my dear Emile…" the girl breathes out, blushing as she fantasizes about the blue haired teen. "Someday...together…" she trails off, getting lost in her fantasies.

And so, that's how Mary's second eleventh birthday kicked off. In another universe, she never had a second eleventh birthday party and in another universe, she did, and it went much better than it's going right now.

Hopefully that Mary is thriving.

The Mary that hasn't had a second eleventh birthday party is daydreaming about all of the birthday parties that never were.

PF x AH x SS

A/N don't ask

as you might have been able to tell, it was going to be a 'real' special chapter but then my allergies started kicking my ass and i lost motivation and so the end product was this crackhead update

you're welcome

happy birth mr 15th anime boy