Meanwhile...

"Hm, so you met with two of the Knights of the Cards?"

In a room dimly lit in the moonlight, Shadow (or Cid) glanced over Alpha, who was standing before him.

She nodded her head, and Shadow hummed for a bit.

"I see. Their objectives are the same as us, though we are always under the shadows. That means it's possible that we can be their allies."

'Ah, so they're the Side Characters close to our Main Protagonist, sometimes in the background, sometimes on screen... That's so cool!'

Except, Shadow began to realize that Shadow Garden is taking over some events and character arcs from those Side Characters!

It almost seems like they're characters of a Fanfiction! It's bullshit!

Shaking his head to leave those thoughts out of his head, Shadow stood up.

"On second thought, leave them alone. It might be possible to have conflict, but I advise you stay away from them. Tell the others to assist them if necessary." Shadow spoke, before his slime bodysuit fused his his skin.

And now, Shadow is Cid, a mob character with a plain buttoned shirt and pants, who blends in the background very well.

Or is it?

Seeing Alpha leave, he couldn't help but sigh as he glanced at the direction she left.

"Mob character, huh... I'm starting to doubt my place as a background character as time passes by. Let's see... I have a brocon sister, seven people along with an organization under the shadows roleplaying against a seemingly made up cult, which is beginning to feel like an actual cult..."

He uncurled each of his closed fingers, recounting cliches and some events that had happened to his life, being both Cid and Shadow.

"Huh, that's a coincidence. I'm going to have to try leaving the life of a mob character starting now. Probably."

And of course, that wouldn't be him, right? Well, he can't really help but feel quite unimpressed at himself for sticking into his mob personality, not fully opening up to others.

Why?

To him, it may get in his way on staying as a mob character in the daylight.

But...

He reconsidered breaking the shell. Maybe he could get fully in touch with his Seven Shades.

"Hm, yes. That would work, indeed. Don't want any betrayal cliches to happen, after all."

"But, what about the Main Character? I met him two years ago while I was hunting down fodder, and while Claire was kidnapped. Honestly, I felt like I was late that time."

He recalled an event that happened to his sister, when she was kidnapped...

And...

[ ~ Line • Flashback • Break ~ ]

Claire glared at her capturer, who sat on the floor, feeling quite scared (Correction: Very scared) at her while one of the chains holding her was pulled off violently from the wall.

"I'll make you pay for insulting my brother!" She yelled, after pulling her hand off one of the shackles that bound her.

"Damn you!" Her captor yelled, swinging his sword, yet she narrowly dodged it, and hit him with the chain she once cut her captor's chest before deciding to beat him up for a long time.

Until, several other people entered this room underground and fought her. They outnumbered her, and while they did, Claire was almost helpless as she was beaten down to the ground.

But, before they could take her away, the voice of an older boy was heard around the room and echoed through the halls.

"Wait!"

The five people turned around, and were surprised to see someone that had red, fiery hair and equally red eyes, glancing over them while he stood in front of the pathway.

"Under the shadows, there are those who blindly wanted power more than anything else. However, what will they do with an unbeatable power in their hands? What do they truly want, after everything begins to feel unfulfilling? Even I, who search for power feels like obtaining power alone wouldn't be enough."

This boy was, of course Corneus.

And he was alone.

Or was he?

"Who are you?!" Was a question that wasn't spoken. These people who were of the Cult knew of him as the prince who declared a secret war against the Cult of Diabolos.

In the next few moments, someone else entered the room. A boy donning the cloak of shadows, and a bodysuit of black. This is Cid Kagenou, also known as Shadow.

He is not the Protagonist. Or rather, a Side Character. It will take him a while to realize his true role.

Cid, as Shadow clapped his hands and inwardly he didn't really expect him to be here.

'... Did I just step into the Protagonist's scene? The scene which will be quite predictable, yet is already badass in itself? Oh, uh... I need to improvise!'

Yet Corneus' words almost tugged his heart, though because he was under his own fantasies he was feeling quite ignorant.

"What a nice choice of words. Shall we introduce ourselves to each other after a short battle?" He asked.

"Hmph. Suit yourself." Corneus replied, taking out a simple, ordinary magic sword.

The members of the cult of Diabolos were dealt with easily, before the two of them introduced themselves in a plain yet simple fashion.

"I am Shadow, I lurk under the Darkness to hunt down the shadows."

"Wow, what a cheesy line. Maybe you should change it a bit next time we meet. *Cough* Next time we meet, I am Corneus Midgar, Crowned Prince of Midgar. I will become the greatest king in this world, etching myself in history to be remembered!"

'Wow, you've got a sort of cheesy line too... But then again, hearing the same phrase again and again would feel boring.' Cid commented inwardly, and both in outside and inside, he smirked.

His job is probably done here, but he'll just search for leftover/surviving bandits hiding in the underground.

So, before he left, he said he'll meet Corneus again.

What he didn't know was that he had gained Corneus' interest, not in a sort of way, but something along the lines of "finding out what changed in this timeline".

Now left alone with a barely conscious Claire, Corneus fired a healing projectile towards her, healing most of her injuries before silently leaving through a Dimensional Portal.

[ ~ Flashback • End ~ ]

Cid awoke the next day, acting like a mob, as always. Waking up late, before swiftly eating breakfast (although he didn't really need to), then having his dorm mates, Po Tato and Skel Etal wait for him.

"Cid! Where are you, come out there already, we're gonna be late, you know!"

"Just wait for a moment, I'm fixing my pants!" He yelled from his room, before opening the door and hurriedly walking downstairs.

On the next moments, the group immediately began to make a run for the train, which was two to three minutes away from actually leaving for Midgar Academy, where Dark Knights learn and train.

They had entered the train, though they were uncomfortably cramped due to the amount of students and other passengers inside the train.

While they were fifteen minutes away from the academy, Po decided to begin talking to spend some time.

"Hey, Cid, Skel! Haven't you heard about the Alt Eisen Industry?"

"Alteisen Industry? What's that?"

Now, Cid was curious. He glanced behind him as Po took out an ordinary flip phone. It wasn't much of a surprise, really.

But it gave him interest on finding out what it was, even though it is an exposition talk from the fellow mobs behind him.

Well, most of the things here are pretty much developing in a good manner, anyways.

"The creators of the Tele... Deleco... Tecomm..."

Po was getting in some trouble pronouncing, so Skel decided to cut in.

"Telecommunications Gadgets, you mean? It's getting popular because it is funded directly by the Royal Family, though the people have a hard time getting used to it, it's handy enough."

Their talk went on for a while, until the train arrived to its designation.

The doors of the train opened, and the three of them scrambled to get their bearings back as they moved to the academy's entrance, eventually noticing someone confessing to Princess Alexia.

"Princess Alexia! My soul, my blood and body are yours! Please, marry me!" Mob character X spoke with confidence.

"No thanks." Alexia responded with a sharp heel turn, crossing her arms while she left as the said confessor was left to cry.

Meanwhile, Po and Skel glanced towards Cid with cruel smirks on their faces.

"Hehehe~! Remember our deal, Cid! You will definitely go and confess to her in the after the classes."

"Right, right..."

However, Cid didn't expect that his confession to Alexia would completely backfire as she directly accepted it without a doubt.

He acted like an overreacting mob, maybe a bit too much, and due to that, things backfired.

'Ah, there's no doubt about it. I might have become the Side Character to the Heroine, Alexia's story... NOOOOOOO--!!! My mob persona is breaking apart--!'

[ ~ TO • BE • CONTINUED ~ ]