Lady Ariana, formerly Bella of Forsaken Roses, grows even paler as she looks up at Lero, surrounded by her most loyal townsfolk. "Lero…" she gulps. "I don't - I don't understand what's going on."
"I'll explain on the way-lero." Lero says and holds out a hand. "Come on, your people need you-lero." he says. "But you should probably help that blue haired kid first-lero."
Right on cue, a battle cry of: "ELYSIAN BOMB!" and "STAY AWAY I'M TRYING TO HELP YOU STUPID FUCKS! I CAN'T MAKE THE BRAT GO BOOM IF YOU'RE IN THE AREA OF EFFECT!"
Ariana takes Lero's hand.
Episode 35: Forsaken Roses
Ariana and Lero start running-
"Luminous Minutes!"
They start running faster.
Ariana and Lero arrive to find the blue haired kid - Emile, Ariana recalls - pulling nails out of his arm. The brat that tried to kill her earlier (being thrown through a building like that would've killed any other magicless human but Ariana's built different) is standing in a small crater in the ground, coughing the dust out of his lungs.
"Shit, shit, shit - that hurts damn it!" Emile swears, wincing as he pulls each nail out.
The brat struggles to laugh in between his coughs, "I didn't-" he coughs. "I d-didn't tell you to block with your arm, silly Emile-chan! In - cough - Infinite Nails!"
Emile grits his teeth as a singular, almost imperceptible nail flies towards him at an incredible speed. He's not familiar with this kid's version of Infinite Sphere but if the name is anything to go by…
"Shield of the Gods!"
Emile's going to take the risk of using almost everything he has left in the tank.
His shield finishes forming right as the nail is about to stab his stomach, catching the nail in between him and his shield. Emile lets on an exhausted sigh of relief as his shield starts to heal him. "Phew…"
Emile nearly screams when the nail suddenly multiplies and stabs into his shield multiple times from every angle, making the brat laugh again in between his coughs.
Ariana pulls one of her bracelets off and hands it to Lero. "Take it to D…him." she says. "The kid said the bigger threat is at my house which is where he is, right?" Ariana asks. "Which means that's where he probably is - those other Phoenix Fire Mages too."
The two of them bid each other good luck and Lero flies away in a storm of saliva.
Ariana cringes, "That's still as gross as ever…" she says and returns her attention to Emile and the white haired brat.
The brat finishes coughing the rest of the smoke out of his lungs and his eyes immediately meet Ariana's. He grins. "You survived! How fun." he says and bows mockingly. "We never got the chance to exchange names before, my name is Alice de Alger Obelia."
Emile's eyes widen when he follows Alice's red eyed gaze and finds Ariana standing there. "A-Ariana! Get out of here, it's not-!"
"Ariana." Alice repeats. "Ariana-chan! Emile-chan is right, you know." he says and holds a nail between his fingers. "I don't sense any magic coming from you. You survived my last attack - somehow - but can you survive bleeding out?" Alice wonders. "If I were you, I'd take those bracelets of yours off and walk aw-" he stops, his smile faltering slightly but never leaving his face.
Ariana instinctively puts a hand over her bare wrist.
Emile grimaces and frowns as he pulls the last nail out of his arm. What's going on with them? Ariana's bracelets…
"Heeeeey, I've been looking for some of those!" a cheerful sounding voice interrupts Myling.
A short, pretty looking skinny young man steps forward.
…
He walks up to Ariana and Emile. "Those bracelets of yours, they have Magic Sealing Stones in them, right?" he asks. "Where'd you get them?" the boy asks, pulling out a lollipop.
Ooooh.
Alice blinks. Then, he starts laughing. "Oh…oh wow. Haha…hahahaha! That's one way to stop me!" Alice laughs. "You had someone take the other one to where Nel is, right? Wow, this just got a whole lot more interesting, huh?" he says and looks at Emile. "Now I definitely can't let you get close to me."
The kid is a glass cannon. If Emile can catch him off guard just once, he can beat Alice into unconsciousness and boom: Alice is in an anti-magic cage and Emile wins.
But how is he supposed to get close to him?
…Well if the people of Honeywell are turning against each other, he doesn't have much of a choice in incapacitating everyone now does he?
Everyone except for Ariana that is.
"Come on, Emile-chan!" Alice goads him and thrusts his orb in Emile's direction. "Parallel Worlds!"
Emile grits his teeth as multiple copies of Alice's orb appear all around them. He snaps his fingers at the Shade Myling left behind and points at Ariana. "You! Shield her!" Emile demands and raises both hands above his head, palms to the sky. The sky darkens completely for a moment and then starts to light up in several places.
Ariana's eyes widen when the creepy Shade starts approaching her. "Wait just a sec - oh Goddess this feels really weird." she cries when the Shade wraps itself around her, holding her against the ground in a protective position. "EMILE!" Ariana shrieks one last time before the Shade muffles her voice completely.
Emile and Alice lock eyes.
"Flash Forward!"
"Meteor Shower!"
At the same time Emile gets bombarded by Alice's orbs, his Shield of the Gods from earlier shattering in the process, the entire town of Honeywell lights up in a brilliant light that has an almost heavenly feel. Alice looks up when the spot he's standing in seems to be more concentrated than the other spots.
"Oh come on, not again." Alice whines before burning hot energy starts falling from the sky. He looks around quickly, his eyes landing on the debris from what he assumes (and hopes) is an archway of some kind. "Restore!" he tries.
…The debris reforms into a large stone table.
Alice bursts out laughing. "I forgot he had ranged spells, hahaha!" he laughs. Alice smiles. "Hehe, it looks like you put a lot into this spell." he says as Emile drops to the floor when Flash Forward wears off.
"I…I win, damn brat." Emile says, exhausted and completely drained of energy and magic power. "Get fucked." he swears and weakly flips him off.
"Yeah, I guess I lost." Alice says as the light above him finishes charging up and starts barreling towards him. "I won't be caught here so let's play again one day, Emile-chan!"
Ariana watches in a mixture of wonder and horror as Alice is enveloped in a large radius of light before it strikes down at him like an attack from the gods. He only screams for a moment before the pain and fatigue makes him pass out.
Ariana shivers as the Shade lets go of her and dissipates into nothing. "I hate Mages…" she grumbles as she pushes herself up onto her feet and looks around.
"I literally just saved your entire town." Emile huffs, laying his cheek against the ground. "You're welcome, by the way."
"You knocked everyone unconscious." Ariana says dryly. "Including the Forsaken Roses Mages who came to help." she says, poking one of the said Dark Mages with her foot.
Emile grumbles, "And Alice put several holes in my arm," he says. "Once again, you're welcome."
At the same time Nel casts her spell, Donatello switches his soothing, healing song into what reminds Myling of a wartime song. It fills Myling with a sense of peace, confidence, and determination, and she feels herself enhanced by Donatello's song.
However, because Donatello is no longer protecting himself from the effects of Myling's Aura of Shades, his voice begins to waver again as he bolsters Myling's power. Instead of a blue aura mixing with her Aura of Shades, it's replaced with an orange one.
With the basement crumbling around them, Myling has the sense to pull back her Aura of Shades now that Donatello's song brought a sense of clarity to her mind. With enhanced speed equal to that of a High Speed Magic user, she runs over to Donatello and Kozune, picks them up, and flees through the hole Akane made, leaving Nel behind.
Behind them, Nel smirks. "I'm not done with you just yet, Myling Alva…" she says, regaining a bit of her strength as she crawls over to the basement door and into safety. Nel puts her hands together and concentrates: "Gathering."
Oh yes, Nel thinks. We're not done until I say we're done. I want to see more of that Black Magic of yours, Myling. She thinks, a dark smile passing over her face. You live up to your mother's name...I remember father's story about Karring Alva quite well. It's a shame she didn't want to put her talents to use for him.
…
Myling dumps Donatello and Kozune outside as the basement crumbles behind her and Donatello finishes his song, returning Myling to her usual state. She winces slightly as the pain in her ankle returns.
She opens her mouth to speak but stops when the sound of pained screaming fills her ears, getting louder and louder every second.
Eyes wide, she whips around to see a young girl running towards them at an inhuman speed.
Her eyes widen even further when she sees the source of the screaming slung over the girl's shoulder.
The girl starts to match Myling's expression when they lock eyes and she feels the sheer power coming off of her. She carefully places Mana down and slowly backs away from Myling. "Listen, this wasn't m-"
"Shade: Wall Formation."
The girl's screams start to blend with Mana's when eight of Myling's sixteen Shades surround her to form a cube shaped cage over her. Myling makes it float a few feet in the air just in case the girl tries anything.
Myling rushes over to Mana and pulls her towards a dazed Donatello and an unconscious Kozune. "Mana - Mana what's wrong?" she asks in confusion and worry.
Mana, clutching her chest with one hand and her head with the other as pained tears fall from her eyes, can barely respond to Myling: "M-Mary."
Mary?
Myling racks her brain as quickly as she can before looking back at the crumbled basement in realization.
Nel.
She's still conscious, somehow, and since she exploded her collected souls from earlier - Myling isn't too familiar with Seith Magic, let alone human possession, but she can make an educated guess: Nel is trying to get new ones.
Myling turns back to Donatello. "D-"
"I understand." Donatello says and starts singing again, going back to that first song that eased Myling's pain. Soon enough, Mana's pain is low enough for her screams to die down and Myling waits a moment for Mana to catch her breath.
Mana explains what happened between her and the girl, Shizani Saku as Mana called her, and when she finishes her story, it's punctuated by several explosions coming from the town of Honeywell and several extremely bright lights.
And that is punctuated by a beam of energy blasting through one of the walls of Ariana's house. A smiling Nel steps through the newest hole in the house, "Myling, Myling, Myling," she tuts. "Leaving me so soon? We were just getting started." Nel coos.
Myling crosses her arms, "I wasn't the one who made the basement explode…" she mumbles under her breath.
Nel smirks.
Myling braces herself.
"Soul T-"
"Metal-Make: Swords!"
Nel's eyes shift towards the area behind Myling and the others. "Defense Formation!"
Mana's eyes widen when about two dozen metal swords come flying at Nel from behind her, clashing with the wall-like barrier of energy that appeared in front of Nel and creating a rain of sparks.
When the air clears, Caia is standing beside Myling and Alistair is looking down at Mana with-
"K-Kanny? Veiss?" Mana cries when she looks up to see two of her teammates slung over Alistair's shoulders.
Alistair narrows his eyes at Mana. "I distinctly remember telling you four to not die before I left. Is it really that hard to stay out of trouble?" he scowls as he sets down a dazed Akane and Veiss.
The two of them are mildly burnt with bruises and scratches littering their arms and faces but other than that and them being partly conscious, they seem fine.
Veiss frowns, watching the warriors writhe around and start squirming around in his chain as he and Akane drag them behind them on the chain rhino.
Well, squirming around differently than they were before.
"Akane," Veiss calls.
"Veiss," Akane responds.
"Something's wrong with the soul things." Veiss says.
"What do you mean?"
"I don't-" Veiss stops, his eyes widening when the warriors start to glow. "Akan-!"
BOOOM!
I wonder what happened to them… Mana thinks.
Nel huffs as Alistair and Caia flank Myling. "Well. This just got a lot more interesting." she says sarcastically. "The Phoenix Fire Mage as cold as her metal and the Phoenix Fire Mage who hasn't given up on his brothers after all these years - oh don't give me that look, Dark Mages like to gossip about the enemy too." Nel quips.
Alistair raises his hands to attack but one look from Caia makes him stand down.
Nel looks at the group scrutinizingly before her eyes land on Mana. "Ah. You. I was wondering why the sixth soul wasn't coming." she says, five transparent orbs floating above her head. "Yutsuko told me all about you while my father was making that deal with Master Raoul." Nel says, her eyes sparkling with something dark. "Tell me, did it hurt when I tried to rip Mary out of your body?"
Mana flinches, putting a hand over her chest again.
"Of course," Nel sneers, "That was an accident. Yutsuko promised me an infinite supply of bodies if I returned you to her in the same condition you escaped in." she says, looking Mana over. Nel shakes her head and with a wave of her hands, the five orbs above her disappear. "But it appears we're at a stalemate now." she says, displeased, and points at the pitch black cage floating in the air. "I can sense the Revenant Beasts' brat's magic. She's terribly annoying but I'd like to have her back, please." Nel says.
Myling narrows her eyes. "Stalemate? We have a prisoner. You don't." she snaps.
Nel puts her hands on her hips. "Let me explain it to you clearly, Myling Alva. My Gathering spell is what put your little friends there in so much pain - it gathers any poor and unfortunate souls that happen to be wandering around my general area: Manami's little friend is wandering around in Manami's body." she says and that sadistic look returns to her eyes. "If I really wanted to, I could forcefully rip her soul out of Mana's body since she's currently weakened from Gathering - I could take any of your souls really - but Father told me to play nice with Revenant Beasts." Nel says and smiles again. "Give me Shizani and Alice and I will leave without a fuss."
"You'll leave? Just like that?" Myling asks, unbelieving.
Caia narrows her eyes at Nel. "Yes. She will." she says. "Nel Alath is the favored child of Stygian Gospel's Master for a reason."
"You oughta listen to your friend here," Nel says with a confident smirk. "Our message already reached those who weren't completely brainwashed into leaving the wizard life behind. They've exposed themselves to you too. They have no choice but to turn themselves in or return to Stygian Gospel and Revenant Beasts." she says. "And what major criminal is going to turn themselves in when the President basically gave that woman from the Ten Wizard Saints free reign to do whatever she wants to Valiance's criminal population?"
"And here I was waiting to make my grand entrance-lero. Does this mean the fighting is over-lero?"
Caia scowls at the sound of the voice. "Make your grand entrance? What, were you waiting for things to go south before lending Myling your help?"
A grinning Lero walks out from behind a pile of rubble. "I only take orders from him-lero." Lero says and nods at Donatello. "When I don't have any orders, I do what I want-lero." he says. Caia glares at him but that only makes the Forsaken Roses Mage laugh, "Lerolerolerolerolero! What a harsh look-lero!"
Caia's eye twitches.
The outskirts of Honeywell…
"Well, well, well, look what the undead cat dragged in." Nel sneers when she sees exactly who's bringing Alice to her.
"I'm sure you're wondering how three simple Mages are hoping to accomplish that extraordinary goal, especially when only Shi-chan and I are nowhere near Nel-chan's level…" Alice trails off, making eye contact with a few familiar ex-Stygian Gospel faces in the crowd. "Master Peter-chan and Master Raoul-chan have ordered us to offer you a choice: assist us in…'dealing with' your fellow traitors and you may come back to Stygian Gospel and Revenant Beasts without any consequence. That also applies for those of you that were never members of either guild - join up with one of us and you can keep your head!" he says and searches the crowd with his eyes again. "...And bring us the head of the woman behind this little operation." Alice says darkly.
"Wh-What's to stop us from just taking you three out and going back to our lives!?" a voice calls out.
Alice clicks his tongue and shakes his head. "Garrett-chan, shouldn't you already know how powerful Nel-chan is?" he asks. "Even if you take out me and Shi-chan, what makes you think you have any chance against her? She's only gotten stronger since you left us." Alice says tauntingly.
Garrett looks at Nel wearily. "Alice…Alice said you'll have us back without punishment," he says. "I'm still no-nowhere near your level b-but I haven't st-stopped training. I can be useful again, I promise-!"
"Shut up." Nel yawns and brings back two of her spirit orbs, picking up an unconscious Shizani with one and taking Alice from Garrett's back with the other. "Where are the others?" she asks.
Garrett shakes off his nerves and stands tall. "S-Some of them were captured by those guild Mages and some ran away during the fighting." he reports. "They'll show up at Stygian Gospel or Revenant Beasts sooner or later."
Nel smirks. "Perfect." she says and pats Alice's head. "I'll be sure to tell Father what a good job you did." Nel says and turns on her heel, leaving. "Come on, Garrett. Before those people change their minds and come after us."
"Yes, ma'am!"
"Now, tell me exactly what happened when little Alice showed up."
Honeysuckle Hospital
Hours later…
"But-"
"No."
"But she-"
"Kozune is unconscious, Mana." Myling says. "And you heard what Ariana said: they don't know when she'll wake up. You have to let it go for now, I'm sorry."
Mana slumps back in her bed, disappointed. "...Okay." she relents.
Myling looks up at Ariana. "Take me to the next room." she says.
Ariana nods wordlessly and takes the handles of Myling's wheelchair, pushing her out of Mana's room and into the next.
The two of them go into each of the hospital rooms occupied by the remaining three Phoenix Fire Mages, Theresa, Nelio, Alistair, and Caia scattered through each of them.
Akane won't stop complaining about being bedridden because she's "perfectly fine" (she essentially took two bombs to the back), Veiss refuses to take his shirt off and refuses to let the nurse put an IV in his arm, and Emile is peacefully resting; his fight with Alice having taken all of his energy.
"They're still acting like themselves." Myling says, mostly to herself. "That's a good thing, I guess."
As Ariana wheels Myling back to her own room, Myling looks up at her again. "You're going to talk to him, aren't you?" she asks.
Ariana freezes.
Lero told them the whole story after everyone was transferred to the hospital and Shizani and the Stygian Gospel Mages were dealt with. How Donatello knew where 'Ariana' was hiding the entire time, how he's ordered Forsaken Roses to stay away from the town unless given explicit instruction to go on patrol to keep would-be bandits and wild animals away…Donatello was a regular vigilante (to the town of Honeywell at least).
"Forsaken Roses is nothing more than a group of petty thieves that have been forsaken by society because of their eccentricities and bad personalities." Myling says. "Donatello is the reason you don't have Kozune's blood on your hands and he's the reason there were no casualties when your people started fighting each other." she points out. "I don't know why you're so scared of him - those reasons are your own - but don't you want to know why he's helped you for so long?"
She really does.
At the very least, Ariana wants to thank him for saving Kozune's life - a life that was only put in danger in the first place because of Ariana's paranoia.
After getting Myling settled back in her bed, Ariana makes her way to Donatello's room. She doesn't even have time to prepare herself because a nurse is making her way out of the room when Ariana arrives.
The nurse turns back and smiles, "You have a visitor, Mr. Rose." they say before nodding at Ariana and exiting the room.
Ariana, currently out of view of Donatello, is frozen in place; unable to move or speak. Her heart hammers in her chest. Come on, Ariana.
"H…Hello?" Donatello's hoarse voice calls out.
Ariana has to bite her tongue to keep herself from screaming.
Come on. Deep breath in…and out.
Wordlessly, Ariana walks into the room on shaky legs, keeping her eyes trained to the floor. Donatello stays quiet.
"...Thank you." Ariana says. "For Kozune…for everything you've done without me knowing." she says and pulls something out of the bag around her waist. "I don't…I don't understand why. But I want to." she says and tosses a notepad onto Donatello's lap. "So tell me. From the beginning…f-from before I left, when I was still Bella." Ariana says and finally looks at Donatello. "Please."
Ariana nearly faints when she looks up to see Donatello staring at her dumbfounded, almost like she just agreed to marry him.
"D-Donatello?"
Donatello jumps, startled, and quickly grabs at the notepad, fumbling with the attached pen as he starts to write as quickly as he can.
PF x AH x SS
A/N i am not pleased with this update but i had to end this somehow :CloverPose: should be like 1 or 2 more episodes left before we move onto the next arc
i rewrote this chapter like 5 times so if something doesn't make sense it's the fault of writer's block :CloverPose:
also
extra special chapter coming february 16th
anyone who can tell me why gets a kiss on the forehead