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BELLARINO

“Ah, I knew I could count on you Kyubunny! See, I knew you would say yes because you are cooler than that dumb guard dog.” He grinned, glad that his faith was not misplaced. Bellarino could always count on a bunny to never disappoint him, whether it was his precious Belblood or the dog’s superior rabbit replacement. 

“Ok, the most important thing is to get Bellerophon’s flower, but it’s just as important to prank the fuck out of Belladon and his protector!” he explained, passion in his voice as he thought about his brother falling for one of his traps. “After all the trouble I went to get the flower,” of course it took a lot of effort to pick off the abandoned rose from the floor, “That prick dared take it from me, saying it was wrong for Belvedere and me to try and destroy Bellerophon’s most precious possession or some bullshit.” He sneered.

“You pick the spells since you know way more magic than me, but I want that douchebag to be as embarrassed as possible. Cast spells that will make him fall on his face and stick to the floor, send flying pies or an army of spiders at him, dye his hair neon pink, anything you want to use as long as it will makes those morons look dumber than usual.” The prince said with a wicked smile, eager to share his ideas with Kyuubee. “Once the losers are distracted by the traps, one of us will grab the flower!”

EVELINA

As the royal brat continued scheming with Kyuubee, Evelina rolled her eyes at their antics. She personally thought that Bellarino’s childish idea couldn’t possibly work, but then again he and his brother had managed to ensnare most of the wizard council in their lame traps, so she could be wrong. Just yesterday a guard had fallen for a prank that made him grow hair rapidly fast. He somehow ended up trapped by his own hair and was tied to one of the pillars at the twins’ mercy because he could not retaliate against them. 

CORDELIA

“Yes, my prince.” She responded as her charge walked away. Cordelia felt slightly offended that he felt she was unneeded to protect him, but she made no comment and turned her attention to the younger princes. They did not look happy at all and she could feel the tension in the hall. But they seemed to be talking to each other about something, and she did not know them well but if they were anything like Belladon, it would probably be best to just wait until they decided to leave on their own. “Per Prince Belladon’s instructions, I will escort you two to Prince Bellerophon once you two are ready to go.” She said formally, bowing to the two of them. 

TIARO

He caught the rose on instinct, carefully examining it in case it was some sort of weapon in disguise, which allowed the two nuisances to escape. He turned his eyes back on Nova just in time to see him and the Mancini girl vanish into thin air. “Good riddance.” He growled, when all of the sudden the rose in his hand burst with magic and multiplied. To his bewilderment, a bouquet of roses suddenly appeared in his hands. He briefly wondered if he could sell them, since flowers were rare and rather unknown in The Under, and treated like treasures by people who missed the surface. But Tiaro figured nothing created by Nova would be good news for him and he immediately channeled his fire magic into the palms of his hands, burning the flowers to a crisp. 

“Now that this nonsense is over with-“

All of a sudden, the ashes of the flowers glowed and started piecing themselves back together, and within seconds the bouquet of roses was once again in his hands. His eyes widened at the unexpected magic. 

“♪ Oh, just what is happening here? ♪” he sang, and he dropped the flowers to the ground in shock, immediately touching his neck. “♪ Songs instead of speech?! Or is there just a problem with my ear? ♪” he continued singing, his voice laced with irritation. To his horror, the more he tried to speak, the more he was forced to sing. Even worse was the flowers began to emit sound as he sang, so he even had accompanying music to go with his forced song. “♪ What curse did this rose bring? I can only sing! ♪” He bent down to grab the musical roses and immediately handed them to Ororo. “♪ Come with me, we must break this curse. Ugh, how can this day become any worse? ♪” It seemed that he was even forced to rhyme, too. Oh he was so going to make Criminal Nova pay for this. But before they could leave to his office, one of his other workers passed by them and to Tiaro’s surprise, he started to sing too. “♪ Heya boss, I-… wait hold on, whats with all this song, am I hearing things wrong?! ♪” He sang, just as bewildered as Tiaro had first been. It seemed everyone close to him would be forced to sing along too.

“♪ NOOOOOOOVAAAAAA! ♪” Tiaro yelled out enraged, but of course it sounded like the impressive high note a musician would sing during the climax of the song. “♪This is no lie, he will definitely DIE! ♪”

VALEXANDER

“Ooomf!” he cried out as he nearly fell backward when somebody had run into him.

“Brother!” the voice of his little sister was a surprise, but definitely a pleasant one. It looked like all of his time having to track down Belshazzar after the moron would get himself lost on their adventures had actually paid off! Valexander felt like it did not take long at all for him to find the right trail to Valalee. He grinned and extended his arms when he saw that she wanted to hug him, embracing her warmly. 

“Hey sis, where were you? Dad said you weren’t at your lesson, so I went to look for you! I even tried to get the horse out of the yard so I could look faster, but the lazy girl just wanted to eat and wouldn’t move.” he explained with a slight laugh. At the mention of his father, Valexander remembered that he forgot his phone at the house. His wand as well! Wasn’t he grounded, too? Oh his mother was so going to kill him for sneaking out and his father would probably lecture him on acting more responsible. “Oh right, I think I’m grounded again so I’ll probably get in trouble when we go back home. You see I want exploring earlier and-”, he was about to go off topic, when he noticed that Valalee’s face was red. He quieted down and looked at his sister a little more closely. She looked like she had been crying because her eyes looked red too, but there was also something else on her face.

 “Uh…wait, what is that on your cheek?” he asked with a frown. He couldn’t tell exactly what was on her cheek but it looked like some type of burn or weird rash. Then he finally noticed her band-aids. “What happened to your knees?”

SERAPHION

He replied to Peppa Jack’s text before forwarding a message to Angiel, letting him know that things were going according to plan on his end.

“Remember, just watch out for the girls from afar. Only interfere if something goes wrong.” He instructed his hired thugs, satisfied with their compliance and eagerness at a chance to pick a fight with the guards. Even if they probably would not have to help since they were back up, they would still get paid for helping whether or not the cupcakes succeeded or not. Being the paranoid wizard he was, Seraphion even had more back up plans for his back up plans. 

Hearing his phone once more, he checked and saw a response from Angiel. Reading the message over, he quickly replied before sending another message to Peppa Jack.

[i]The mission has begun. One hour and thirty minutes until the cupcakes begin their part in the mission. [/i]

SYMPHONY

He strolled through the dungeon hall and stopped before a certain prison cell, bowing politely to the guards. “I am Priest Symphony.” He introduced with a pleasant tone, and he knew by their expressions that the guards seemed to recognize his name; as head priestess his mother was second only to Prophet Belzeneff when it came to followers of Oz, after all. That would definitely make his mission easier. “I am here to give the prisoner his last rites.” He explained neutrally, but his heart was pounding against his chest. 

He refrained from letting out a relieved breath when the guards gave him permission to see the prison. He was not done with his requests just yet. “May we be permitted to have some privacy?” he asked, causing the guards looked at one another. “I believe last prayers should be as private as possible, to better expose our hearts to our great god. Oz loves us all but he is aware of all our faults, so I think it would be better for the prisoner this way, since he almost caused the death of the prophet’s wife and mother of all the future prophets. I know he will be loved, but I want him to be forgiven, too.” He explained.

The guards thought that the prisoner deserved no mercy for failing the queen and almost letting her die. Symphony was too forgiving and kind, but they figured that was the reason he was the priest and they were not. One guard gave the priest a thoughtful expression and nodded, granting him permission. Symphony smiled once more and entered the prison cell. In front of him was Noem Siran, bound against the wall by magic suppressing restraints. 

NOEM

His mind was full of conflicting emotions. Part of him felt that he deserved this punishment for failing his queen, but more importantly, his friend. He almost let Bellona die! He was a fool; a terrible fool who should gladly welcome death. It was like there was something inside of him urging him to accept his death as punishment, that he could only serve the royal family by dying.

But on the other hand, Noem didn’t want to die. He felt pure rage towards his situation. Everything he worked for would be for nothing now! He survived on the streets, sold his body at Candiland, nearly sold his heart for Ethelline, then finally sold his life to the Wizard Council. He had made it all the way to the highest paying job in Wiz, a royal protector, and so young as well! His life was finally going great and now everything was ruined. 

He was going to die.

A part of him wanted to cry and lament his fate, but they were already going to take his life, so Noem did not want to give them his tears too.

When he saw a man approach the guards, his heart started beating quickly with anxiety. [i] Is he my executioner?! [/i] he thought, panic rising, but the man introduced himself as a priest. That let Noem calm himself down slightly, but the fact that a priest was here to give him his last rites still solidified the fact that he would be executed soon. He knew that the Judicael insisted a priest or priestess be sent to most prisoners before they died, something Noem heard he did as soon as he took over as Head Executioner, and the ex-protector guessed it was something Judicael carried over from his past as a healer. He was quickly beginning to understand how this could be of a relief to other prisoners like him. Maybe this was his chance to pray to Oz for some miracle to occur, a miracle that would ensure his survival. 

“I am Priest Symphony.” The man introduced before he began to speak once more. “I am here to give you your last rites.”

Noem grimaced but nodded. “It…begins with a confession, right?” he asked hesitantly, still scared about his imminent death.

Symphony just smiled at him. “Yes…but I have a confession to make to you, first.”

Noem instantly felt bewildered but a prolonged last rite meant a prolonged execution, and he would gladly stall time for a few extra seconds of life. “Go ahead.” He insisted, almost too quickly.

“I confess that although I am here as the priest meant to give you your last rites, my true intent is to spare your soul, and offer you instructions on how to escape.”

Noem felt shocked and stared at the man like he had grown a second head. “What?!” he gasped, looking at Symphony in a new light. He couldn’t believe this! A part of him wondered if this was a trick, but even if it was, it was not like he had any other choice but to have faith in him. This priest was his only chance at life. Oz had sent a priest to help him. His prayer for a miracle had been answered!

“We can still do the last rites, just in case, if you desire…” the priest began to speak, but Noem cut him off by shaking his head.

“Don’t bother. I don’t want to die and I don’t plan on dying if I can help it, Priest Symphony. Tell me the plan, please.”

The priest had taken that as a cue to continue and he reached into his pocket, pulling out a loaf of bread. Noem guessed it was usually used as part of the last rites, but Symphony obviously had other plans, because when he ripped the bread in half Noem saw a pair of keys inside. “This key will unlock the collar on your neck, the second will unlock the binds around your chest and heart, while the last will release your hands and feet. The knight who is to escort you to your execution, Abiel, is the instigator of this plan.” He began to explain, moving to unlock the binds on his wrists. “Keep your restraints on so that it looks like you are still bound by the magic suppressors until Abiel says to begin phase two of the plan. We are in phase one right now. After Abiel gives you the signal …”

Noem listened intently as Symphony spoke of his salvation, memorizing every detail of the plan. Hope replaced his despair the more Symphony spoke and instead of feeling each second was closer to death, now he felt that each second meant he was closer to freedom.

He wasn’t going to die. 

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