Michaelangelo found himself in a familiar darkness he dreaded being a part of, but he did feel the memory was different in a way.
He looked around to see what was different this time, and he realised he could see. Though he couldn't necessarily see anything in or beyond the darkness, he still felt no blindfold restricting his view.
The second difference was something Michael realised as he was walking through the darkness. He was quite tall, but not extremely taller than he usually was. He was only a few inches taller, so he assumed his mind was reflecting a fear he had inside himself.
A fear something would happen in only a few months. Something catastrophic that would alter his life forever, but Michael didn't know what he was so scared of.
He continued walking through the darkness until he spotted a light in the distance.
He ran towards the light hoping to find a reason for the dream and the closer he got, the clearer the metallic beds became.
Was his brain replaying his nightmare from a third person perspective? How strange, Michael whispered as he got closer and closer to the beds.
A part of him wanted to see what happened, but another part of him was scared of meeting his mother.
What if she grabbed his hair like that again? What if she hurt him again?
Michael found himself running towards the beds as the scene of his dream was nothing he could've expected.
What was Rebecca doing there?
He ran over to untie her as she tried to scream with the tape over her mouth. Though it was muffled, she kept on screaming, so Michaelangelo turned to see what was scaring her.
"Monster! Monster!" she kept on yelling, but Michael couldn't see anyone.
He turned back around to finish untying her, but when he did turn, his eyes spotted 9 more beds in front of him. Each with a body on top.
Awan.
Chayse.
Celestia.
William.
Halley.
Louis.
Brandon.
Kylian.
Britney.
Michelangelo trembled as he turned back around to untie Rebecca, but he soon realised she was nothing more than a corpse on a metal bed as well.
Traumatized, Michaelangelo backed up into one of the beds behind him and touched Halley's cold hand before making the mistake of looking at the horror painted on Celestia's face.
He ran back into the darkness as fast as he could, not stopping to even think to look back. He just ran until he felt his body's sense of time became as obscured as he.
He hadn't known if days or months or even years had passed as he ran, but he didn't stop running until he saw two closet doors a few meters away.
Without thinking twice, Michael ran through the doors and ended up tripping on a shoe as he slowly realised he was a kid again.
Was it another memory? He wondered where he was as he tried to get his little foot out of the gigantic boot that had tripped him-
"What were you thinking?" he suddenly heard his dad yell as he stormed into the room.
Michaelangelo settled down and remained as still as possible as he listened to the argument.
"That boy has the potential to become Poseidon's magician. What am I supposed to do? Wait until I'm 80?" mother replied, "You're supposed to support me, dear husband." "I can't support you! Not after what you've just done!"
Michaelangelo wondered what else his mother had done as he tried to remain quiet in that closet.
"You're overreacting." "Doria Mustollon Sullivan! Either you tell everyone or I tell them for you."
Michaelangelo heard a prolonged silence between the two before the sounds of someone being choked filled the room.
Was dad hurting-
"The next time you say that name," mother said as dad coughed while gasping for air, "I won't stop until you're dead."
Michael waited for the door slam before opening the closet and running over to his father, who was still recovering on the floor.
"I'm alright bud." he said, but he obviously wasn't okay.
What were they arguing about to make mother do that to him? Why didn't he fight back?
"So many questions when you're still far too young to understand the answers."
Too young? He was already 16 years old!
Dad laughed at the comment as he said, "That's the first time I've heard that from a 3 year old."
Three? That meant Michael had another year before his parents died.
Thinking about this brought about an old sadness Michael was sure he had gotten rid of, and when his dad held him in his arms, he couldn't help but cry.
"Listen bud," dad said while crying himself, "You have to promise me one thing and this is the only thing I will ever ask of you."
What was it?
Raphael pulled his son away from his chest and pressed their foreheads together as he warned, "Promise me you will never grow up to be like your mother."
What?
"A lot of confusing stuff is going to happen, but I need you to come find me when you need me the most. Don't go anywhere near your mother and her family. Got it?"
Michael nodded as his father planted a kiss on his forehead before getting off the floor and walking out of the room.
Confused, Michael went to follow him out the room as he wondered why his father would ever give him such a warning.
Was this really all just a dream? How much of this was a memory and how much of it was his own imagination? Did his father really tell him something like that?
He wondered as he turned the door knob and opened the door to see 17 year old Kiara. He recognized the memory right away.
It was the day they first met, when she saved Michael from going berserk in front of Aaron Moore. The reason he could identify which Kiara he was staring at was simple.
She looked so beautiful with her smile as she turned to face him. "I'm Kiara. Nice to meet you."
He felt himself blush as she smiled, and turned his head away from her. He thought he was safe until her face popped back up in his view.
"Are you alright?" she asked innocently, but Michael couldn't take his eyes off her. She just looked so beautiful with her braided hair and soft brown eyes.
He couldn't help himself. He wanted to-
*****
Michael stared at the endless buildings made of clouds from the balcony of the cloud palace as three moons illuminated the sky above.
Awe-struck by such beauty, Michael recalled all that had happened to him in the last year and a half of his life as he looked down at the endless drop below the clouds.
Sky had told them, "There is no ground in Airizul since everyone here can fly anywhere and everywhere."
It was still hard to comprehend. A part of Michael knew the fall would mean certain death, but at the same time, his mind started to wonder what exactly was at the bottom of the bottomless pit.
Maybe there was a portal to Wisteria down there!
"Or maybe there's a graveyard of morons like you." Brandon said after sneaking up on and scaring Michaelangelo out of his own skin.
Glad to see at least one of them was getting a kick out of it, Michael said as Brandon cackled.
"You really are back, huh?" Brandon commented as he wiped a tear from his eye. "Well, aside from being an easy target, what are you doing here in the middle of the night? You'll worry Brit if you pass out tomorrow."
He had a nightmare and just wanted to clear his mind for a bit, that's all. What was Brandon doing there? Aside from picking on Michael, there had to be a reason for him to visit such a remote place in the middle of the night.
"Ha ha," the twin replied unenthusiastically as he stared at the view beside Michaelangelo. "I guess I'm just a bit worried about everyone back home."
Why? Julian probably figured out Louis and Kylian were dragon tamers.
"Yeah, but I still can't shake this feeling of something about to go wrong. Like something huge is going to happen to us, you know?"
Michael remained quiet about his dream as he began to understand Brandon's worry more and more.
The more he thought about it, however, the more he feared his own mind, so he turned the conversation to a more light-hearted topic: Daisy.
"W-w-w-what does he have to do with anything?" Brandon stuttered, confirming all suspicions Michael had about their relationship. "It's not that simple. Right now we're- we- I don't know myself, and I-"
Don't want to be hurt again?
Michael reminded him about what Kylian said about Daisy being different from Brandon's past trash.
"I know that~" he whined back, "Believe me. I wish it was that simple." "What was?" Awan asked, scaring the colour out of Michaelangelo and Brandon as they scrammed to cover up their conversation. "Don't worry," he said to the blabbering two, "I don't have anyone to tell anyway."
Michael suddenly realised how hard everything must've been for the young prince and found himself apologizing for everything that had happened thus far.
He thought if they just didn't go after Aaron Moore none of this would have happened, but Awan replied, "I doubt it. I'm not surprised by the revolution. In fact, I was expecting it, just not this soon."
The two of them settled down as Awan rested his arms on the railing beside them as they all stared at the view.
"Hey Awan," Brandon asked, "Has your brother done anything to start something like this?"
Ah~ Brandon~ As blunt as usual.
"I'm not quite sure, but it may have to do with Obrussa periods."
Obrussa? What did he mean?
"They've been an issue since the Great Magicians' War, but as time goes on, magicians are becoming more and more powerful and thus have greater and more destructive Obrussa periods. King Winston placed an age cap on who can make contracts, but the real problem is those who break that law."
It really never made much sense to Michael anyway. Why there was an age cap on something that couldn't be controlled, but he didn't think those who broke the law were to be thrown into asylums.
"A few are lucky enough to be released and put on watch, but that's usually only when the government plans on using them later on." the prince explained as he clenched his fist in frustration.
"My brother and Empress Si-eun see nothing wrong with this, though, and encourage it." he angrily said, "I don't understand why they treat young magicians like we're beasts unless we can be of use to them." "And let me guess," Brandon added, "Your mom isn't much help either?"
Winona?
"Not at all. She believes this is the only way."
Michael recalled how quickly Winona dismissed him once they found nothing on PROJECT ANARCHY.
They began to wonder what it was exactly as Brandon blurted out, "Ah! There's no need to worry about it. I bet Julian, William, and Kylian all got everything sorted out already!"
What about Louis?
"Eh. He's aight."
The three of them laughed as Awan mentioned, "I can't really see Prince William and the Light Creator's magician doing anything but look for Kiara, though." "You're right! Kylian's probably on his own."
The three of them laughed, but Michael couldn't wrap his head around this sudden feeling of contempt.
Why was he so angry? Why did his blood boil at the thought of someone else being in love with Kiara?
The more he wondered, the more confused he became as the stars started to make more sense than his own mind.
There was no possible way. He loved Britney. He knew he did, which is why such a thing was simply impossible.
*****
In the span of a few days, Michaelangelo had faced actual dragons several times, almost killed a princess by sending her into a hurricane-tornado like storm the size of a moon, and now he was sitting on a cloud as they all traveled back to Earzul to face the dragon which had tried to kill him several times.
At this point, he was starting to believe everything he had seen in storybooks and fairy tales were all very real.
"ClOuDs aRe MaDe oF WatEr VaPor, sO yOu cAn'T siT oN tHEm." Halley said, mocking her older brother's claims as he tried to defend himself, saying, "Well, in Wisteria, you can't sit on clouds." "We're not in Wisteria, genius." Rebecca chimed in. "How am I supposed to know physics doesn't work the same here?" the older twin complained. "No one said it did in the first place." Halley continued mocking.
Leave it to them to make the flight entertaining, Michael thought as Britney suddenly asked him quietly, "What should I call you?"
Confused, he looked down at his girlfriend sitting in his lap, but he still didn't understand the question.
"Axel or Michael. Which should I call you?"
Oh.
Michael thought about it for a moment before deciding Axel died a long time ago, and Richard just resurrected him for a short while.
"Is that so?" Britney asked, and Michael was sure of it as he planted a kiss on Britney's head, but strangely, it felt the same as usual.
"Stop showing off, you two." Brandon said, causing Michael to blush in embarrassment as Britney maintained her stone cold cool expression.
"Don't tell me you're cranky 'cause you miss Daisy." his little sister said with a smug expression, making Brandon blush as he tried to deny it.
Key word: tried.
As everyone else laughed at the twins' stand-up routine featuring Rabecca and Sky, Michael couldn't take his eyes off of Kiara as she giggled along.
Her expression had grown happier after Celestia tamed Cloudy. She seemed genuinely happier than when they had arrived. Maybe Celestia was the key to Kiara's happiness, Michael thought as he quickly turned his attention back to Britney.
He didn't know why, but he felt a bit guilty as he turned back to face her, but the guilt soon became something else as he noticed something.
Britney, did she-
"So what's the plan?" Celestia suddenly asked, making Michael lose his train of thought. "Well," Awan started, "We based it off how we were able to calm Sky down, but you taming Cloudy just made the plan even more full-proof."
"If we can calm the Earth Dragon down to the point where we're able to communicate with it, then we may be able to get it to cooperate with us." the young prince said, confusing Halley. "And how do you expect us to do that?" "Since William is in love with Kiara," Brandon explained, "Then the Earth Dragon is most likely going to listen to her more than anyone else."
What exactly was he trying to do?
"No!" Celestia exclaimed, "William doesn't love Kiara. He doesn't even like her, so the plan isn't going to work."
She settled back down in her sister's arms, embarrassed, after realising she had just had an outburst in front of everyone.
"Huh?" Chayse said, confused, "I thought Miss Kiara here was going to use her goddess powers to subdue the Earzulian Spirit."
Kiara started to laugh out loud at his description of her as Britney explained Brandon's distasteful joke to Halley and Celestia.
Brandon started to laugh at his sister for taking him seriously, but luckily for him, Cloudy started to chirp rather loudly. Since she and Celestia were the only ones who could understand the bird, everyone turned to Sky as she announced. "We're here. We're back in the Earth Dragon's land!"
*****
"How could we not find a dragon that big?" Brandon complained as they sat around a campfire under the cover of the night.
Michael was also under the impression that the Earth Dragon would be easy to find, but they still hadn't found it after a full day of searching for it.
"I told you we can change forms whenever we like," Sky said as she roasted a marshmallow over the fire, "You're the idiot who didn't listen."
Brandon started to argue with the little girl as everyone else simply laughed at the altercation until Michael noticed Chayse staring at-
"Kids these days!" Brandon said as he plopped himself down between Michael and Awan. "And here I thought you were still a kid." Awan replied while laughing along with Michael and Brandon, but Michael couldn't help but notice Chayse glaring daggers at … Brandon?
Confused, Michael studied the situation a bit longer before reaching his own verdict based on the evidence he had gathered. There was a huge possibility of him being wrong, but he genuinely felt he was the right one in the situation. However, there was only one way to test it, he decided as he got up and asked Chayse if he wanted to go on patrol with him.
"Um, I don't really-"
Seeing his unwillingness to go, Michael lied and said he was scared of the dark.
"Eh?" the shy deer boy asked, "I'm scared of the dark too."
Perfect.
Michael tried to explain how they could fight the darkness together, but, "I don't know about that. You probably can, but I'd probably just hold you back."
Yes, he would, Michael reasoned, which was why he wanted to secretly teach Chayse self-defense! So … he could help them during the next fight?
"Really?"
Really.
"Okay!"
Finally!
Michael turned to the group and told them he and Chayse were going on patrol, and as Brandon, Halley, and Rebecca were arguing about Rebecca's role as the group mom, Michael noticed an uneasy look on Awan's face and confirmed his hypothesis as he and Chayse walked deeper and deeper into the woods.
Michael, wanting to live up to his empty promise, started with something easy for Chayse, or something that was supposed to be easy.
The objective was to dodge the little pebbles Michael threw at the boy, but this turned out to be a lot harder for Chayse than Michael had originally thought.
Of the 13 pebbles he tossed at Chayse, 13 of them hit him somewhere.
Maybe he'd be better off with an example to go by, Michael thought as he switched places with him. All Chayse had to do was throw a rock at Michael as hard as he could.
Michael was expecting a weak throw with a normal amount of accuracy, not for Chayse to miss completely and put a hole through three trees in the process.
How strong was this little guy? Were deer that strong? Maybe he was a moose with little antlers?
"How was that?" he asked excitedly, and it was amazing!
"Really?"
Yeah! They just had to work on his accuracy a bit, Michael said as he eyed the tree a few meters from where he was standing.
The magician walked up to the tree in front of him and placed his hand on the trunk, carving a circle surrounded by a lightning bolt. He instructed Chayse to practice throwing the rocks at the mark using no energy at all as he tried to figure out how to bring up the topic.
What would the others do, he wondered. Brandon, Britney, Rebecca, Kiara, and Louis would all be direct, but indirectly shameless about it. Should he have taken the sensible route?
"I did it!" Michael looked at the tree and noticed the marking had a small dent in it, and smiled as he tried to fathom the boy's power.
He was still able to dent the tree without using any energy? Or did he not have control over his energy? Either way, he would be able to snap Michael in two if he brought up the topic the wrong way. However, the more he studied his student, the more Michael realised he had to be direct about it.
Chayse.
"Hm?"
Did he like Awan?
"W-W-W-What are you talking about? I could never like him! How dare you insult him like that? Saying something like me likes him! I don't even deserve to breathe the same air as him! How could I ever like him?"
Called it.
"B-B-B-But I don't." Chayse continued to obviously lie, but he soon drooped his head as Michael told him it was alright.
"How did you figure it out?" He asked while sitting down next to Michael on a fallen tree.
It was quite easy for Michael to figure out considering how he would glare something fierce at Brandon every time he and Awan were laughing together.
Michael personally found it quite amusing, but he wanted to help Chayse out, since he probably didn't have anyone around to teach him about this stuff.
"I'm sorry." he suddenly said, but there was nothing to apologize for.
Michael wanted to help Chayse because he wanted to, and besides, Michael was the last person to be lecturing others on who they could and couldn't love considering he-
Michael quickly turned to face the rustling he heard behind him as Chayse whispered, "What's wrong?"
He didn't know exactly, but he did know the noise wasn't made by the wind. Someone else was awake!
"What?" Chayse exclaimed before Michael shushed him and instructed him to go back and alert the others.
"What about you?"
He would be fine on his own, Michael declared as he chased after the source of the rustling deeper and deeper into the woods until he found himself in a clearing.
The grass patch was surrounded by trees, meaning Michael had now become the pursued as he waited patiently for the enemy to attack.
Were they going to attack from the front? Or the back? He wondered as he stayed on his toes, waiting for the attack until a stream of fire quickly glided across the ground and circled around him, trapping Michael in the center of the grass patch. He started to plot ways of escaping the fire before he realised something strange.
The fire wasn't emitting any smoke. It was as if it was meant to be a diversion for an attack-
"Or a diversion for escape."
Zeus!
"What their intention is, I do not know, Axel, but they do not seem bloodthirsty to me."
Michael either. Were they so scared of him that they had to lead him into a trap in order for them to escape? Was it the Earth Dragon?
"I doubt it. It would've killed you by now if it was the dragon."
Michael took his chances once more and called out into the trees around him.
Were they alright?
He yelled out, and waited for a response before receiving none. It was worth a shot, he thought as he diverted to Plan B, and started "choking".
He coughed and coughed, hoping and praying the scared creature would return, and to his greatest luck, it returned and drew the circle of fire away before asking, "Are you alright?"
Michael grabbed the creature's hand on his shoulder, startling the creature as he looked up and saw a ... phoenix?
A real life phoenix! Michaelangelo had only seen them in books, and now he was actually touching one!
"Let go of me!" the phoenix yelled as it flapped its wings, but Michael assured it he meant no harm.
"Then let go of me."
He couldn't do that.
"Why not?"
Cuz it'd fly away.
"Unhand me."
Only after he confirmed the phoenix wasn't an enemy.
"How would I be the enemy when you froze everything?"
Huh?
"Only the wind sings now."
And how exactly was that Michael's fault.
"It's obvious since you are the only thing I have encountered that moves on its own accord."
Michael was from a different world, which was why the time curse had no effect. What was the phoenix's excuse?
"I have no excuse. I am simply a victim of your tyranny."
What-
"Michael!" Britney called out before he started arguing with the phoenix.
"What are you- What is that?"
Michael didn't know either.
"How rude. The correct word is 'who'. Not 'what'"
Okay then. Who was the phoenix?
"Phyna." Kiara said as she stared at the phoenix.
How did Kiara know that? Better yet, why did the phoenix look as confused as the rest of them?
"Who is Phyna?" Rebecca finally asked.
Kiara pointed to the phoenix with stars in her eyes, but the phoenix simply replied, "I am but a servant without a name nor a master."
Who could possibly keep a phoenix for a servant?
"Julian did." "Girl, my master's name was not Julian, and I am not who you think I am." "You are." Kiara protested. "My master's name is Lise, not Julian."
Kiara knelt onto the ground before placing her hands on the floor.
Her eyes had a familiar glow of darkness in them as the soil on the ground rearranged itself to create a portrait out of the grass.
"M-Master! How do you know my master?" the phoenix cried. "Julian told me about a friend he lost during the Great Division. An irreplaceably loyal companion whom he gave no name. His daughter named you Phyna, hoping one day you two would reunite."
"Phyna?" the phoenix questioned as tears of fire rolled down its face, scorching the ground below. "Can I really meet my master again?" "Sure, you can!" Rebecca said. "But he goes by a different name nowadays." Halley added. "It's fine," Awan replied, "If he can recognise him, it means the Light Creator's magician hasn't aged at all." "Damn, he should drop that skin care routine ASAP." Brandon joked as Kiara held the phoenix in her arms.
"C'mon," Britney said while nudging Michael's arm, "We left Celestia alone at camp with the dragons."
He wasn't paying attention. All Michael could think about was how he wished Kiara would hold him in the same way she was embracing Phyna. He wished she could have as much love in her eyes as she did for Phyna every time she saw him. He wished he could-
"Michaelangelo!"
Michael turned and grabbed Britney by the waist as he kissed her.
He stared at her eyes as he held her in his arms, but she simply buried her face in his chest as Brandon and Rebecca whistled and poked fun.
"Get a room, you two." Brandon laughed as Michael noticed as Awan and Chayse were both separately blushing.
That wasn't the only thing Michael noticed that night as they all walked back to camp, and he managed to confirm his new idea as they watched Kiara effortlessly subdue the Earth Dragon.
The petite, dark princess simply stared at the enormous beast in front of her as it pulled its fist up to punch her. However, as the fist got closer and closer to the princess, Michael felt chills rush up and down his spine until he saw her stop the fist the size of a building with a single hand. Once the attack was evaded, Kiara's eyes glowed with darkness as she mumbled at the beast.
Immediately after she said whatever she said, the dragon started to fall apart, and Michael noticed Cloudy and Sky shielding them from every boulder and tectonic plate which fell from the dragon's exoskeleton until it was safe for the rest of them to get closer.
Michael couldn't believe his eyes as he watched Kiara smile at a small lizard standing in the palms of her hands.
"Is that the Earth Dragon?" Celestia asked excitedly. "Yep!" the older princess said, "I decided to temporarily name it Willy, but I'm sure that name will change soon." "We did it!" Chayse exclaimed, leading to everyone cheering for the Dark Creator's magician while Michael finally gave in.
The reason why he always wanted to see Kiara smile, why he didn't want anyone else to have her, why he could never fear her. It was a simple reason, really.
He was in love with her, and he wasn't the only one.