[center] [img]http://i564.photobucket.com/albums/ss87/beloved_darling/379667.png[/img] [h3][color=fff79a]VALEXANDER MANCINI[/color][/h3] 82 years old 02/10/1123 Once the rebellion started, his mother went to fight while his father decided to teach all three of them to fight so they could protect themselves. In his siblings case Valalee was already becoming skilled with a sword and Valhero was already learning to become a knight at The Academy, which left Valexander as the only one completely clueless on how to defend himself. He also knew the bare minimum of magic required to pass school, since he preferred to either sleep through lessons or cut class to hang out with Belshazzar. During Valentiano's attempt to teach him Valexander was lazy and constantly complained about having to learn the sword or how to punch or how to cast certain spells, which led to Valhero beating him up daily until he learned to fight back. He hated his lessons and barely put forth effort to learn. While his father was patient with his pace, his mother was furious with his laziness and Valhero was aggravated over him wasting his potential. When his mother died Valexander was devastated and wanted to quit learning altogether, because if someone as powerful as her was killed then what hope would he have? It was his father who gently comforted him and said he did not have to fight if he did not want to, but it would make him feel better if Valexander learned as much as possible because he did not want to lose anyone else. But Valexander still did not see a point, and locked himself in his room as he mourned for his mother. It wasn't until he and his father went out into the city one day, that Valexander changed his mind. They were accidently caught in the crossfire of a battle between Belzeneff's forces and the rebellion. Either some rebels loathed nobles enough to kill any they came across or the two of them were mistakenly assumed to be members of Belzeneff's army, they were attacked as well. Valentiano could have fought off any opponents until he escaped to safety, but Valexander barely knew what he was doing and froze out of fear. His father took a spell meant for Valexander, which prompted him to finally move. Valexander cried out for his father, but Valentiano assured him he was fine, and fought off enemies as they ran away. When they were at a suitable situation, Valentiano did a teleportation spell to bring them both home. Valexander ended up with only minor injuries but his father had sustained so much more trying to protect him, and even with his grandmother Valyn's help, Valentiano succumbed to his injuries a few hours later. Valexander was devastated and, finally understanding why his father had been teaching him, resolved to become strong enough to survive so his father did not die for nothing. For the first time in his life, Valexander was motivated to learn, and Valhero took over their father's role of training them. He wanted to become strong like his parents and be able to protect the rest of his family, and determinedly trained until the end of the rebellion. He disliked Belladonna's rule only because he held a grudge towards the rebels and their victory. Even if they did not say it out loud, most people knew that it was really the rebel leader Seraphion pulling strings, and Valexander hated and blamed him for the deaths of both his parents. Years later when Belisario suddenly arrived and took over Wiz with his demon husband, Valexander was glad Seraphion and other rebels were dead. He felt happy over having a real ruler on the throne, but unknown to him his opinion would change in a few years and he would come to truly fear Belisario. Valexander did not train as hard now that the war was over, but in his spare time he liked to spar with one of his siblings for fun and he enjoyed showing off what he learned to Belshazzar. He invested a great deal of energy trying to drag the prince out of his boring lab and get him far away from the wizard council and castle, which he was convinced was crawling with Seraphion's people. He dragged Belshazzar to his house so often that the prince started making a second laboratory in one of their guest rooms, and Valexander found it hilarious when one of his siblings got angry over something blowing up. Valexander and Belshazzar helped each other cope with the deaths of their parents and they were both steadily healing, until disaster struck. A decade into King Belisario's reign, Valexander lost both his brother and his best friend days apart. Like how his father died trying to save him, Valhero sacrificed himself for Belmarie's sake because they were best friends, but when Belshazzar came to him for help Valexander was too much of a coward to do the same for his best friend. He was shocked when Belshazzar had willingly left his lab and showed up at his doorstep, but his cousin was terrified and claimed his life was in danger. He did not know the full story but he gladly helped Belshazzar hide from whoever was after him because he did not want to lose anyone else so soon after his brother's death. Unfortunately, it was common knowledge he was the prince's closest friend, so the next day Valexander was secretly apprehended and questioned over the missing prince's whereabouts. Initially Valexander did not fully understand why Belshazzar had run away, but it finally became clear to him that the prince's life was in danger from the king himself when the interrogator threatened Valalee if it was discovered Valexander helped conceal Belshazzar from Belisario. They revealed to Valexander about how Valhero was killed for defending Belmarie and aiding her escape, which would happen to him if he did the same for Belshazzar. He had already lost his brother and knew he was most likely on bad terms with the king due to Valhero's treachery, so Valexander could not bring himself to go against the king. He did not want to be executed like his brother was, and he feared he would lose Valalee. He felt torn over his options: his little sister or his best friend. His choice ultimately came down to which one would most likely let him live, so he chose to protect Valalee and betray Belshazzar. Valexander felt miserable for telling them all he knew, and his despair only grew when he was forced to lure Belshazzar into a trap. The next day he returned to Belshazzar and lied to him, saying that he would help lead him to a safer location. Still gullible as ever, Belshazzar happily and faithfully followed his trusted friend to his death. Valexander could not bare to look at him the entire time and kept his face turned away so Belshazzar wouldn't see his tears. They entered an abandoned building together and, to his horror, Valexander watched Belshazzar die before his eyes from the assassins who had waited for them. As he watched the pained and confused look on the prince's face, Valexander hoped that Belshazzar's naivety was enough to prevent his genius mind from figuring out that he had been betrayed. Belshazzar tried to say something to him but only managed [i]"You"[/i] before he died, and Valexander could only hope that he had not wanted to say something along the lines of "You traitor", "You betrayed me", or "You knew this would occur". He would be forever haunted by Belshazzar's dying expression and his pained, unfinished last words. After being forced to keep everything a secret and giving some cover story about "how they went on another adventure together, where he was brutally murdered by rebel assassins", Valexander felt too guilty to even return home. Everything reminded him of how Belshazzar had been hiding there and all of the times they spent together, and he considered moving in with his uncle Krizzly. But then he felt he had no right to show up at his house begging for help, when Belshazzar did the same, and reluctantly went back home. He cried when he saw Valalee, relieved that she was still alive, but even the presence of his sister could not comfort him. The sorrow over Valhero's death and guilt over Belshazzar's was too much for him, and he withdrew from everyone. He mourned over them, his long dead parents, and when more of his family started dying out he mourned for them too. The only light in his life were the rare happy moments, like anytime he spent time with Valalee, but for the most part Valexander isolated himself and let his dark thoughts consume him. He desperately craved fun, like he used to, and to reconnect with his family and even make new friends, but Valexander never got over his betrayal of Belshazzar. He felt he deserved be alone until he died as atonement; a traitor like him did not deserve love or friendship, and was afraid he would end up betraying somebody he cared for again. He rarely saw any of the other Mancinis over the years, even Valalee eventually saw little of him after he moved out of the house to live alone. His horrible secret taunted him everyday, even the good days Valexander could bring himself to smile like he used to, and dragged him back into the dark corners of his mind. He eventually felt so horrible that he came to believe he deserved to die and he wanted out of his misery, but was always too cowardly to do anything final. Anytime he hurt himself, his instinct and small-but-still-present will to live would get him out of trouble, and Valexander would eventually fix his wounds. When he reached his lowest point, he willingly entered the deadly colosseum hoping he would get killed off by his opponent. He was nearly beaten in every single match at first, but by the end of each fight he would become too afraid to die, and pull off desperate attacks to survive. He miraculously won and survived his first tournament, but Valexander just felt terrible for adding even more blood on his hands. After his first victory, Valexander started to sign up for colosseum battles when he was at his worst. Adding more to his shame, a part of Valexander started to enjoy the thrill of the fight because combat is his only successful distraction from the constant guilt and despair he feels. Winning also reminds him of his father and wonder if he is proud that he finally learned what he had been trying to teach, but then Valexander will feel guilty over causing his death and for him desiring death, which just adds on to his negative state of mind. He ended up in a deadly cycle where he entered hoping to finally die, but he would win his battles out of fear and eventually emerge as the lone victor, then would feel worse and worse as he remembered each and every person he killed in the colosseum. Krizzly begged him to stop entering the colosseum matches, as he would rather not have to narrate his bloody death one day, but Valexander still shows up to fight. Nobody has been able to reason with him over his suicidal decision to participate in the colosseum and Valexander has already participated and won numerous times, with no intention of stopping. [/center]