Felix examined his face in the mirror, trying to decide on which cleanser to use.
It was a close debate between a calendula and charcoal.
Charcoal was the harsh, yet sensible ruler, while his opponent was a gentle emperor with the strongest battalion. Who would win?
Felix thought to himself long and hard about the victor of this battle before realising he couldn't choose.
Well, he sure as abyssus couldn't use both, so he had to make a decision whether he wanted to or not. Having no choice simply wasn't a choice at all.
And so after 50 excruciatingly long minutes of internal debates, Felix finally decided to use Calendula in the morning and engage Charcoal to clean the day's dirt off his face.
A phenomenal choice, Felix thought as he lathered and scrubbed his face clean.
Next came the scariest part of the entire morning, washing the cleanser off. Felix shut his eyes and tried to focus his mind on the sound of the water running, but that simply brought about the memory of that faucet running as he was blindfolded and thrown in a tub.
He remembered the strain in his little arms as he struggled to hold the baby in his arms above the water level, while being unable to untie his legs.
The sounds of him just sitting there, laughing at what was unfolding before him. With a beer in one hand and a cigar in the other, he just sat there without a care in the world as he watched his bastard child drown-
Felix gasped for air as the water dripped off his face and into the sink below him. He was okay.
He was absolutely fine. After all, it was just a memory. That man, he was already dead. He couldn't hurt them anymore. Either of them.
He ran his hand through his blond hair as he raised his head, still dripping with water and looked at the most perfect person in the world through that reflection.
The most perfect hair, cheekbones, eyes, eyelashes, lips, forehead, chin, jawline, dimples, even his personality was perfect. However, the one thing Felix hailed about himself was his modesty.
It was usually difficult for people as pretty as Felix to be so modest, but he pulled it off quite well, the magician thought as he slicked his hair back. He grabbed the sides of the sink once he was done and stared into his own eyes until he heard his bedroom door open.
He walked out of the bathroom to see Thomas returning from the gym, and jokingly teased him a bit, but since Thomas can't take a joke, he replied, "Does the term asexual mean nothing to you?"
Of course it did! Thomas was just fun to tease.
After a prolonged silence accompanied by a look of disgust, Thomas declared, "I'm gonna go shower."
AKA Felix's cue to leave, but even though he was three hallways away, the young adult still heard the faint scream of his very annoyed roommate.
"Left the bathroom a mess again, pretty boy?"
Ah, it was the old hag of the group-
Amelia's headlock made Felix unable to retaliate as she messed up his precious hair right before they arrived at the dining room. Or at least they thought it was a dining room until they opened the door to a depressingly silent atmosphere.
No, there was sound: William's delusional humming, but that apparently wasn't enough for the old hag- Amelia.
"Who died?" she asked the high ranked officials sitting in the room in front of her.
"Well, Amy," Harrison answered without opening his eyes in his tilting chair, "Unlike you, not everyone is comfortable with the sound of constant rowdy noise."
"It's not rowdy, it's … fun-inducing."
"Didn't I already test you for a drug problem?"
"You did, and I came out negative."
"I'll run another test later today." "And I'll ram that test right up your-"
"Can you not talk about that while we're eating?" Jason asked as Amelia and Felix took their seats.
"What he said," Harrison continued, "For the record, I never bottom."
"And I never asked."
Harry was missing out though, Felix announced, rendering the room silent as the squeaks of chairs shifting away from him filled the air.
"Wow." Prince Crispus said as he walked into the dead silent room, "Who died?"
"That's what I'm still trying to figure out." Amelia answered as he and Emperor Chung-Ae took their seats at the rather large dining table.
"If you are all having trouble remembering," the emperor said, "The two spies we were holding were taken back by whoever they were working with, and all we know is that they were probably the ones harboring my niece and her fiance for the last 6 months."
"I think it's alright." Prince Crispus replied, "After all, they suffered more casualties than us, and it's only a matter of time before our men find them. They can't get far with two disabled prisoners anyway."
He was right, but something about the entire situation didn't sit well with Felix. Based on all the reports he heard, they escaped after ambushing the emperor, but the security cameras revealed the ground swallowing them up.
Teleportation magic was easy to track, which is why Felix was confused as to why their men were "still looking" for the masked assailants.
This all seemed too easy to him. It was as if there was someone powerful helping them. Someone powerful enough to challenge Richard himself-
"Why are you here?" William suddenly asked his brother as soon as he stopped whistling.
"Father and Mahogani sent us over here for an evaluation."
While Harrison, Starlight, and Kylian seemed indifferent to the matter, William seemed disappointed in Prince Crispus' answer, and Jason, Chung-Ae, and Amelia all let out an exasperated sigh in unison.
Felix, however, was excited about the opportunity to possibly pay Thomas back for beating him up, but his excitement turned to amusement as he saw the slightly panicked look on Crispus' face as Thomas walked in.
"What's going on?" he asked as everyone stared at him for a bit, but Felix soon lost interest as Jason explained their conversation to him.
His attention turned to Prince Crispus attempting to hold a conversation with William, but he simply started humming after replying, "Good." to "How'd you sleep?"
Feeling a bit sorry for the lad, Felix turned to William and asked him what song he was humming, and the prince immediately stopped humming.
His face turned red with blush as he mumbled, "It's a secret." and caught the attention of Emperor Chung-Ae, Amelia, and Prince Crispus, or as Felix liked to refer to them, William's second set of parents.
With that interrogation commencing, Felix finally picked up a spoon to eat his, now cold, oatmeal, or at least he tried to until he remembered his own medication as Harrison got up and dragged William along.
With a new goal in mind, Felix began to inhale his breakfast, rather than eat it normally, and as a result the young magician started to choke.
As he struggled to breathe, his eyes forced themselves shut and he entered a new abyssus as his mind reminded him of another time he choked, only that time wasn't his fault in the least. At least he never remembered it being as the memory of that hand around his neck made breathing even harder and scarier.
He didn't want to die. If he could, Felix would've apologised a million times to get the pain to subside, but he never cared anyway. Then again, no one ever did-
"Felix!"
The darkness turned to glimpses of light as he slowly opened his eyes in a corridor where Jason was holding him in his arms. Felix instinctively pushed him away as he stood up, and instantly understood what had happened by simply glancing at the scratches on his face.
He apologized while staring at the only thing he could, the floor.
"It's fine. It didn't even hurt."
Stop lying. Felix knew how much it hurt, and he didn't appreciate the way he was happily lying to him about the pain.
"I'm sorry."
Why was he apologizing?
"I upset you."
Ugh! Felix didn't know what to do with himself as he yanked the bigger man to his feet.
"Are you alright?" he asked in that mellow, honey-like voice of his, making Felix push him back onto the ground and run away.
*****
Felix, panicked and flustered, burst into the infirmary, but Harrison didn't really seem to care as he drew William's blood from his arm.
The distracted prince didn't even flinch at the loud bang the door made as Felix slammed it shut, but those days, he only seemed to react to the mention of one name.
"Why are you slamming my door?" Harrison asked without breaking his own concentration.
Felix tried to weasel his way out of the oncoming interrogation, and for the first time ever, Harrison actually bought it.
"If you don't want to talk about it, then don't be so dramatic."
He almost bought it.
"How are those nightmares of yours anyways?"
Maybe it was because he had Thomas as a roommate, but Felix's nightmares had hit an all time high, with him having a panic attack every time he closed his eyes for too long.
Now, Harrison didn't usually laugh at Felix's jokes, but he would always ignore them or pretend he had heard the dumbest thing ever (which he often did), but he never fell into a suspenseful silence.
The joke wasn't that hard to decipher, at least, Felix didn't think it was as he watched the doctor uncharacteristically lose himself in thought before asking William, "Why did you join us?"
Without snapping back to reality, the second prince replied, "Kiara. Richard said I can see Kiara again if I help him."
Wasn't the pain he felt when he watched his brother die the major factor in William's decision?
Felix wondered about this, but before he could ask his question, Harrison turned to him and asked, "Why did you join us?"
Felix? It was simple. Richard, Harrison, and Amelia saved him. Both he and his little brother owed Richard their lives.
Then it started again. The void like silence that filled the air like a pie fresh out of the oven, Felix thought as his stomach grumbled.
Eager to cover up the embarrassing bellow of his stomach, the young magician asked Harrison why he joined forces with Richard, but he soon wished he hadn't had brought up the topic with such a light-hearted tone.
"The love of my life was taken from me 14 years ago. Now I can finally have my revenge."
The love of his life? Felix wondered who could've made the flirtatious Harrison so sentimental.
He was trying to figure out who he was talking about when a certain melon-chested old hag knocked him over as she stampeded into the room.
"What's taking so long?" Amelia immediately complained, "The others are already on their way to the arena, and I have to come fetch you three- Where's that pretty boy?"
Underneath her!
Amelia looked down as she realized she was standing on Felix, and she even took her sweet time getting off him too.
"I thought the ground was too bony."
Well, not everyone was a cow on two legs, Felix declared as he hid behind Amelia's accompaniment, Prince Crispus.
"Don't fight, guys." he said in his usual dreamy, relaxed tone. Honestly, how could someone have been so perfect anyway?
"Why, thank you." the prince sheepishly replied, and he was the most welcome!
"Stop hitting on married men." Harrison declared as he lightly patted the top of Felix's head, and for the record, he was doing nothing of the sort anyway.
"Yeah, yeah." the hypocritical doctor said as he messed up Felix's hair.
Ugh!
"Don't have a meltdown over hair."
It was easy for her to say with that bird nest on her head.
"Okay, time out, you two." Crispus said as he grabbed Amelia and held her back.
"Fix your hair quickly and meet us in the arena when you're done." Harrison said as they all left the room, and with the door completely closed, Felix removed the paper Harrison placed while patting his head and read the message.
Loyalty becomes fickle when promises are broken with the addition of unknown variables.
Which drunk bastard said that? Felix could only wonder as he checked his watch and dashed for the bathroom.
*****
Time really wasn't something that could be wasted during evaluations, Felix noted as he watched the two lowest ranking officials of the bunch duke it out.
Thomas, the more experienced of the fighters, had the advantage from the get-go, but Jason seemed more out of it than usual. It was like his mind was preoccupied with something else, and Felix couldn't figure out what that was until he went to get him off the ground.
Felix ended up punching the top of his head as the unnatural sparkles in Jason's eyes startled the young magician. He couldn't understand why he looked so happy when he had just placed tenth place, and this strange behaviour distracted Felix until Queen Mahogani announced Amelia as the winner, leaving Thomas in ninth place.
Ugh, Felix commented, couldn't he have stayed in the evaluation longer?
"I can beat you up anytime you like, little boy." Thomas replied with a creepy smile.
"Pay attention, love birds." Chung-Ae said to Jason and Felix, but as Jason was bumbling and stumbling on his own words, Felix carefully watched as William immediately caught Amelia in his vines, restricting her movements as he asked her, "Do you yield?" except it wasn't a question.
Felix could see the fun William was having as he held her in the air like a ragdoll, and it didn't seem he was going to ease up if she said no.
Luckily for Amelia, she sensed this as well, and immediately forfeited, landing her in eighth place as Prince Crispus stepped up to fight his own little brother. With his glowing baby pink eyes, the prince immediately grabbed hold of William's mind as he said, "I would do anything you ask of me."
"Forfeit this battle." "I forfeit this battle." The smirk on the prince's face as he realised he had control of his opponent had always been one that sent shivers down Felix's spine.
Though he still wasn't sure why he made him feel this way, Felix's short attention span turned to Kylian as he defeated the prince in a swift, cunning motion.
And with William in seventh, and Prince Crispus in sixth, Felix thought the pattern would continue as Chung-Ae stepped forward to fight the noble, but as if he was reading Felix's mind, Kylian defeated the emperor with his ocean blue eyes, which meant he was going to fight Felix.
Felix stepped up, ignoring the amusement on the emperor's face, but it would've been completely embarrassing for this child to defeat him.
Even though there was only a two year difference in their ages, Felix was worlds more experienced than the cocky noble.
Why didn't he just give up already? He was no longer in control of his own body, so why didn't he just give in?
"I … will ... defeat ... you."
How arrogant of him to say such a thing. If he believed Felix's power only lay in his ability to take one's body, he was sorely mistaken.
"I … don't care."
He was struggling to breathe! Why couldn't he just accept defeat and learn from it?
"No!"
Alright then, Felix thought as he lifted his hand in the air as if he was holding something in his hand. Kylian's body copied the hand's motions and he was soon dangling off the ground, choking.
Concede.
"That's enough." Harrison finally said, "He is in no condition to continue."
And with Kylian gasping for air in fourth place, Harrison took his place as Crispus and William carried Kylian out of the ring.
Felix, however, had no intention of fighting Harrison, and as a result, immediately conceded the fight and landed in third place.
"Wimp." Amelia commented, but Felix had fought Harrison before, and it really wasn't a pleasant memory.
"I guess Harrison has the same experience with Starlight." Chung-Ae commented as the mysterious doctor also refused to fight Felix's little brother, but in his defense, Star had the most terrifying power of all of them.
"You're really not going to fight him?" King Ackley asked Harrison. "Only if you offer me a night with your son."
"That's not happening."
"And neither is this fight, Your Majesty."
Felix couldn't understand how both the king and Harrison had the same fake smile to mask such varying emotions, but he didn't need to think about it any longer as Queen Mahogani announced, "As King Ackley and I go report the results of the evaluation to King Richard and Master Julian, Felix Mawry, Amelia Stevens, and Jason Stuntum must go retrieve the following list of prisoners for our audience. The rest of you may clean yourselves up and arrive at the throne room punctually."
Ah~ Her Majesty was as kind as usual~
Especially her lovely glare~
*****
Ugh!
Felix never liked going to the cells filled with the people he and his friends apprehended. There was always the occasional douche-bag hurling insults at them, but almost everyone else just seemed dead inside as they spent their days wondering why they chose to be on the wrong side of history. Those hopeless eyes always reminded him of a time he wanted to forget.
Felix hated going to the cells.
"Jebediah and Maya Markson, Mateo, Sarah, and Brianna Spirko, and Bao and Yang Yang Park?" Amelia asked, and she was answered with, "What do you want with us?" and a glare.
Talk about rude.
"You have been summoned by their royal majesties, Queen Mahogani and King Ackley."
"Pshh. That Mahogani isn't the queen. Kiara is." one of the men, most likely Jebediah, answered, "You're all insane if you think she's your queen."
"Show some respect!" Jason barked at them, but the man shielding the little girl ignored him as he said, "Yang, you remember that assassination you told me about?"
Huh?
"Doesn't he look like that guy?"
The Eastern man he was talking to looked up at Jason and examined him for a bit before smirking.
"You're his son? I guess the apple never fell far from the tree for you to be a two-bit lowlife too."
It was provocation in it's finest, Felix thought as he froze everyone in the cell and Amelia dragged Yang Yang out of the cell before removing his cuffs.
"Fight me, or you die." she angrily declared as the man took his own fighting stance.
According to the report, Yang Yang Park was a retired assassin, but Amelia was a retired military operative. The fight should've been close, but Yang Yang's lack of proper nutrition in the last 6 months took its toll as she easily toppled him in seconds.
With him having a history of domestic abuse, Felix understood exactly why Amelia was senselessly pounding his face in.
He never said it often, but Felix was simply amazed by Amelia's self-control, considering what Mateo Spirko, the man shielding his little girl, had put his eldest child through.
She really didn't want to traumatise the girl, huh? Either way, she still gave into that urge to kill them both, Felix noted as the blood on Amelia's knuckles increased with every motion.
That's why she and Jason were sent with her, Felix thought as he heard the little girl start to cry while the old lady and the two men begged Jason to stop Amelia before she ended up killing the man.
"Amelia." he finally called out to her, but she was gone.
"Can you handle the prisoners?"
Of course, Felix could.
Jason walked toward Amelia and pulled her off Yang Yang. With his arms blocking hers from moving, he talked to her until she came back.
An ability only he and Harrison had.
*****
The grave was empty? How was that possible?
"I'm not sure." Harrison said as Felix paced the infirmary.
Why would they lie to William? To trigger his second Obrussa? But Master Julian claimed Louis had poisoned his mind with the Water of Purity and made him kill Prince Baptiste.
"And Louis claimed to have done nothing of the sort." Thomas reminded him.
Was the Master lying to them? Why? He was powerful enough to destroy them without having to infiltrate.
"Look." Jason said, "I don't know about you guys, but I joined forces with Richard, not Julian. He promised to help us build a better world for us, and I don't doubt him. It's the Master I don't trust."
He had a point. Felix hadn't been able to decipher what Master Julian was thinking ever since his coronation was announced. He always seemed so distant, and it seemed the monarchs were hell bent on settling his agenda.
"Whatever that may be." Amelia replied. "All we have to go on is untraceable magic, an empty grave, and their unhealthy obsession with Halley and Brandon Markson, and the Dark Creator's magician." Starlight added.
"Exactly," Harrison took over, "But nothing said today leaves this room."
Obviously! Something like this would've had to have stayed between the six of them.