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I walked over to the sullen panther in the distance, walking past Bled and Yuki. Crimson looked up at me, confused as I grabbed onto his hand. “You wanna come with me Crimson,” I asked him, gently stroking the side of his face, feeling them heat up, “you seemed down, so I thought maybe we can have some alone time together.” He was reluctant, I couldn’t tell what was going through his head, but his heart was saying yes, but his brain was saying no. Once again, his usual facade broke immediately and it felt oddly refreshing for me to see.

“Go with him Crimson,” Yuki let out as he gently smiled, “don’t worry about me and Bled. We’ll go immediately after you guys.”

“B-But the superstition,” Crimson flusteredly blubbered out, trying to find some excuse, “Ace should go with you Yuki, you two are dating after all.”

“It’s just some dumb thing,” Yuki coldly deflected, “it’s not going to be the end of the world if I don’t see Ace for a few minutes. He practically sleeps with me almost everyday.”

“B-Bled,” Crimson weakly asked as he stared at his other brother, “don’t you want to spend some alone time with Ace?”

“Y-Yeah,” the big cat reluctantly answered before gaining a bit of courage, “but Brutal Red cares about you too and like Yuki said, it’s just one little thing. A few minutes wouldn’t hurt anyone.” The panther surrendered as he heard of both of his brothers’ approval, tilting down his head in defeat.

“And here I was, thinking I could stop a love triangle from becoming a cube,” Crimson quietly whispered, “I hate you Ace.” I gently patted his head in response.

“No you don’t kitten,” I teased, provoking the panther to immediately squeeze my cheeks. Good time too, Jack and Jet were raised after I picked Crimson, they were drenched, but still ok. Once they exited the cage, Yule pushed me and Crimson into the cage, the panther and I realized how dangerous the cage was before we sunk down to the abyss.

It didn’t take long before Crimson and I were engulfed in freezing water along with darkness. I clung onto the panther to ensure he was still by my side, he seemed rather calm as we continued to sink. When our cage stopped, I realized we could breathe as our dark surroundings were slowly illuminated by blue flowers. It felt like we were floating in space, alone together where time stopped forever. Since I figured we could breathe here, I thought of speaking out and began our talk.

“I didn’t expect it to be this pretty,” I exclaimed as we floated in our cage, “isn’t that right Crimson?” He simply nodded his head, looking at the scenery with me in silence. I was mesmerized at how beautiful the flowers were as I tried to reach out to one.

Crimson however, seemed to have had enough of the silence as he patted my shoulder. “Hey Ace,” the crimson panther let out, “why did you pick me?” I retracted my arm back as I turned back to face him.

“Well I’m worried about you. Every time we’ve hung out, something strange has happened.” The panther didn’t try to stop me this time when I looked back at him. “First was meeting that one person that I thought was just a dream, then you had that strange visitor in your room to discuss something serious, and lastly I felt like I was out of my body when I tried to talk about these things to you earlier.” He was listening, his face more serious than I had ever seen with him. “All of those times we’ve hung out, they weren’t just coincidences, aren’t they? I want to protect you and make sure you’re alright. So tell me, you know something is up, right, Crimson?”

He let out a heavy, tired sigh as he leaned against the cage. “I do,” he tiredly revealed, in a more serious tone, “and as much as I wanted to wait on this reveal, it looks like I can’t do that, now that we’re here. In this dark, starry abyss, where no one is here to eavesdrop on our secrets. I admit, you got me cornered finally, I’m at your mercy my prince.”

“So, can you tell me now, share the burdens you have,” I delicately asked as I went up to him, “no matter what problems you’re facing, this prince of darkness will come to your aid, because I love you.” I couldn’t tell if he was crying, mostly because we’re still underwater, but the panther was taken aback as I spoke those words. He took a deep breath again as the air around us turned more serious.

“It’s related to the annual worldly threat,” Crimson stoutly revealed, “I’ve been collecting information as much as possible so I could pass it on to you eventually. I know you have a lot of questions, but we’re limited on time here.”

“So what’s the threat? It definitely sounds like you know what it is at least.” I distanced myself a bit, before leaning against the cage similar to the panther.

“Our threat this year is that we’re stuck in some time loop, forcing everyone to repeat the same year over and over again. Whatever we’ll encounter later this year, it’s just a diversion from it. I can’t say much, but I’m trying so we don't fail and go through this year again.”

“Do we get to remember anything if we fail?” I immediately realized how stupid that question was as Crimson shot a glare at me.

“If,” Crimson tiredly replied, “we already had, 50 times at least. And no, not everyone will remember what happened in those 50 times except a few people that woke up from the loops, I’m one of them. I’ve spent many years searching for an answer before it’s too late for me.” I guess it did explain a lot about his behavior, how he always appeared at a convenient time or how he got along with everyone. “These loops however, will always carry the same feelings we felt,” he concluded as he held onto his heart, “whether it’s our affection, our anger, and even grief.” I was wondering if it was related to the nightmares I kept getting and how realistic they felt.

I thought about my choice with Crimson earlier and a question popped up in my mind. “If we’re looping, doesn’t that mean I chosen-”

“Yeah, you had, but I can’t say anymore,” the panther answered, “if I do, we’ll both be in immediate danger once we get out. Just know that you had other options…and I strongly believe you chose the worst one. You wanted to know, you got it, and now, you’re going to see me more often.”

“Isn’t that a good thing,” I asked as I went close to him, startling him, “I was always spending my time with your brothers, I want to share that time with you too.”

“Don’t tempt me with a good time prince,” the panther calmly responded, briefly smiling before it faded, “I thought I’d finally moved on from you after all those repeating years, but here I am, getting cornered by the man that can’t remember, yet I loved over and over again.”

I stroked the side of his face, watching him acting familiarly shyly before I hugged him. “Well I made my choice, didn’t I? I may not be the same Ace you loved, but I’m still here for you. As your prince, I’ll protect you Crimson, and I’ll do everything for you.” Crimson immediately got flustered as he stumbled on what he wanted to say next.

“F-Fuck,” he finally shouted as he made no effort to push me away, “why do you have to pull out those stupid cheesy lines?” I saw him blush a little as he quieted down his outburst. “Fine, if you want a fucking confession out of me, here it is. I love you prince, ever since I met you this year. I want to always be with you and protect you.”

“I love you too Crimson,” I happily replied back as our faces got closer, “Always and forever, whether we're friends, stepbrothers, or lovers, you’re important to me, my crimson knight.” He was happy when he heard me say that, letting me smile back as we both went for a kiss. It felt nice and for him, I’m sure it was even better.

“I-I told myself that as long as I could see you smiling again, it’d be fine,” he softly cried as I felt his claws dig into me, “but deep down, I knew that I really wanted this for so long. Yet, I still don’t want this to happen. Is it wrong that I still want you to be with them, instead of me? They need you more than me and I’ll be robbing you away from Yuki and Bled again.” He let go, clinging onto his right arm tightly.

“I don’t know,” I truthfully replied as I laid a hand on his left shoulder, “but I understand, you saw me choose your other brothers before and saw how those lives played out. You probably even saw how this played out and you want to make sure your brothers are happy in the end.” He was still hesitant, he’s the only one going through his problems alone. “I know you can’t tell me anything specific, but maybe we can help them out as well. You don’t have to reveal anything, only do so when you know something real bad is going to happen. We’ll see if we can do anything to stop it, so everyone can be happy. And if you can’t remember what’ll happen, we’ll figure things out ourselves, we can still change the future.”

The panther weakly smiled at me as he let out a sigh again. “Yeah, not everything is going to repeat,” Crimson softly reminded, mostly to himself, “I gotta do it, for them, I have to.” He lunged at me, hugging me tightly as I heard his voice. “Thanks Ace, let's go save our future.” That was when we felt our cage slowly rising, signaling the end of our discussion together. Then I realized I forgot about the last part of the ritual, eating the flower that was down there. “You forgot about the flower,” the panther chimed in a monotone voice.

“I forgot about the flower.”

We stood there, hugging each other in silence as I regretted failing the last part of the ritual. Before we knew it, we were raised back to the hall, everyone staring at us as Yule looked at me with stars in his eyes. Crimson and I quickly left the cage together as Yuki and Bled walked in the cage. They seemed rather happy when they saw me and Crimson, but I didn’t understand why.

“How’d it go,” the polar bear asked as soon as he dropped Bled and Yuki down the shaft, “did you get the flower?”

“N-No,” I awkwardly answered, “it slipped my mind while I was talking to Crimson about some things.” Yule was pretty understanding, but I could also tell he was a bit disappointed that I forgot. I thought about asking him to dip me down there again, but I had a feeling that might upset him more. “You guys don’t happen to have one of those flowers up here right? Just in case someone forgot, like I did.”

“I guess, but those are usually reserved for newborn babies and children so they don’t have to take the trial,” Yule hesitantly answered, “those flowers are pretty brittle and fragile when they’re on the surface, but I’ll see if I can get one for you later.”

“Thanks Yule,” I replied with a smile, seeing him smiling back at me before I went to Crimson’s side.

“Hey prince,” Crimson whispered in my ear when I got close, “whatever you do, please don’t share what we talked about down there. We’ll both be in danger if you do that, ok?” I nodded my head, only to feel Crimson tug on my cheeks like before.

“Good,” he happily let out before kissing me on the forehead, “if you do, I’m going to haunt your ass as a ghost, even if you’re a ghost too.” He seemed to be back to his usual self again, but I felt him grip onto my left hand a bit. “When Yuki and Bled get back up, you wanna hang out with them,” he asked with a smile, “I’ll join too, don’t worry. I just felt like we haven’t done something like that in a long while. Last time we did, you and Yuki almost died.”

“Of course, it’s why I invited you guys after all. A festival isn’t fun if I’m doing it alone.” He still kept holding my hand, his grip was still strong, not wanting to let me go as we waited for his brothers to surface. “What do you think they’re doing down there,” I asked as he stared at the chains.

“Talking about you,” he answered as I saw a little light glimmer in his eyes, “probably having a private, brotherly moment, something they needed for a long time together. Though unlike us, they’ll actually remember to eat the flower and finish the ritual.”

“So what exactly happens when you eat one,” I asked as I made sure Yule wasn’t hearing both of us, “I assume you already tried it before, right?”

“I have,” he answered as I watched Yule reeling up the cage, “tastes pretty bland to be honest, but the flower would let someone activate that Frost power if you have the potential. I don’t have that, so it’s just some boring snack to me.” He immediately knew what I was going to ask next and quickly covered my mouth, signaling me to shut up. We watched as both Yuki and Bled rose in the cage, both of them drenched, but Yuki was covered in a coat of clear, blue ice. The wolf and the cat were smiling, they seemed friendlier as they exited the cage and went to us. Yule was immediately happy when he saw the white wolf, patting his back as Trigs and Bit went down.

“Yuki got that Frost thingy,” Bled happily, loudly declaring as he wrapped an arm around him, making Yuki blush a little from the attention, “he looks pretty cool, doesn’t he?” I agreed immediately as I poked around at the ice, almost tempted to see if I could get my tongue stuck on it.

“It’s a shame you didn’t get it, Bled,” Yuki noted as he dispelled his Frost, “I feel like you would have benefited more from it, since you’re always protecting us.”

“It’s fine, I’m just happy that you got it, you wanted it after all,” Bled happily noted as he looked at both me and Crimson, “and that also means you help me protect our friends.” Yuki smiled as he heard that, I was happy that they seemed to be closer than usual, though I was curious what happened down there between them.

“Hey Ace,” Jack shouted at me, “your group doesn’t need to wait, go and enjoy the festival. Jet and I will wait for our friends to come up. Is that alright?”

“Yeah,” I loudly answered, “you heard the tiger, let’s get going. We’ll get a head start on the fun activities.” With a wave from my group, we left the other group behind, heading immediately to the kingdom’s plaza. We hadn’t eaten any food for breakfast, so I decided my group would go to a nearby restaurant that Yule recommended. Yuki and Bled chose to sit down next to each other instantly, which led to Crimson being seated next to me. He laid his hand on my, hiding his affection as much as he could from his brothers. We ordered what looked scrumptious, enjoying the food together as we talked about our trip so far.

“So what do you think about the place Ace,” Crimson asked as he ate some cold, grilled salmon sprinkled with seasoning and garnishes, “did you enjoy getting pampered by the people here?”

“A tiny bit,” I confessed as I recalled the times Yule or his friends giving me treats or offerings before bed, “I can’t really say no to free food after all. Though when I talked to Jack about it, he refused to take any of it so I got a lot of extra things.”

“Which is why we’ve been eating less for dinner,” Yuki added as he bit into some winter lettuce from his salad, “it’s really kind that some of them give small sweets and candy, but a really-expensive-looking, large chunk of imported aged ham was definitely not what I expected Ace to be gifted. Let alone carry it back home, we don’t have space in my room for that.” He ate what he could stomach before passing it onto Bled, who happily took his food and ate it.

“Did you eat it all,” Bled immediately asked, “Br-Crimson and I can come over to help out. It’d be a shame to throw away free food.” He clearly wanted to try it, which I wouldn’t mind. Shame Yuki and I never thought about it while we suffered stuffing ourselves with meat. There was still some leftover, which brightened up Bled even more when I answered him. We, me and Yuki, agreed that we’ll let Bled and Crimson know if any more delicious offerings were given and we’ll eat them together.

We left the restaurant after we paid for our food and decided to split for a bit as Yuki and Bled wanted to check out a shop or something. I went with Crimson as he and I were heading past an alleyway, where we saw Adel there, making me realize he ditched the group again. The tiger was leaning on a lamp post nearby, eating a popsicle with his hood up.

“Hey dad, where were you,” I confronted the tiger, “you missed out on a ritual Yule got us doing.” He immediately placed the entire thing in his mouth before pulling only a stick out of it.

“I was busy,” he casually answered, “I had an important call to take, I didn’t want to make any noise there, so I left. I’m sorry, so how was it? Did you and Jack enjoy it?”

“It was cold and wet, but nice,” I answered, “so what was that call you had to take? Is it related to the Demon World?”

“...Yes,” he replied, “it was Adrian informing me on how the Gates of Heaven are going. He’s been trying to get them to open since they’ve been stuck for centuries apparently.” I really wanted to ask him more about it, but the panther tugged my arm. I stayed quiet as I saw the panther winking at me.

“So is that all that call was, just a checkup,” Crimson asked as I noticed my dad’s left hand twitched, “I don’t know much about what’s happening with Demons, but I do know there are two Demon Kings in this world, one from this world and the other from another world. I don’t know if you’re the same case as me, but you're involved with something important right? Something related to finding the worldly threat?”

“Y-Yeah,” my dad reluctantly answered, “but there hasn’t been any leads to it. And I would rather not tell you two about it because I don’t want my children or his friends to be involved.”

“But you can’t change it,” Crimson calmly declared, “no matter what, Ace will be involved, the guy on the other call said so, am I right?” Immediately, a terrifying aura surrounded Adel as I noticed a tiny shift in his demeanor.

“Weren’t you with Ace at that ritual,” Adel angrily, but calmly asked, “last I checked before I left you guys, you should’ve been there.”

“I was, only briefly,” Crimson calmly lied, slyly nudging me, “I noticed you were gone, so I slipped away like you did and tailed you. I at least let Ace know I was leaving, right?”

“Y-Yeah,” I horrifically, awkwardly, unconfidently lied, “t-though you told me you went out for a walk.” I could feel Crimson judging me while glowing purple Eyes from Adel’s hood glared at me, a wolf who was sweating nervously.

“You wouldn’t lie to your own dad, would you Ace,” the demonic tiger terrifyingly asked with a gentle, but deadly smile. I, intimidated as ever, could only stand my ground as I stared right back, our Eyes towards each other. “Fine,” he let out, returning back to his usual aura while I mentally sighed in relief, “I didn’t think I’d be eavesdropped that easily. I was hoping I took care of it before it affects you again Ace, but guess I can’t help it if your friend knows about it.”

“Good job Ace,” Crimson texted while I mentally recovered, “you definitely need to learn-“ I closed his message immediately to listen to my dad, who was ready to tell me what I need to know.

“You remember how you almost died a month ago,” Adel nonchalantly asked. I nodded, remembering how painful being stabbed was while my insides were boiling alive. “I may not be right about this, but I believe they’re related to the annual threat this year. I’ve been investigating their appearance for a while after that day, but I’ve got no lead. There was only one appearance, and it was when you almost died.”

“Well can’t you just chalk it up to a coincidence,” I asked, “maybe it’s just some weird accident that happened.” I saw Adel get immediately tensed, making me want to apologize immediately.

“I can’t do that. Not when I saw my own face, my own body, and my own weapon stabbing you in front of me.” I saw Adel shift a bit, hiding his arms behind his back. “It doesn’t help that it reminds me of one of my old adventures. One where shadowy copies roam the lands, controlled by a deranged ruler. It ended with me sacrificing my life, I don’t want to repeat that again, especially if it leads you to die.” He pulled down his hood revealing a regretful tiger staring down at the ground.

“That memory of you dying in my arms, it haunts me,” he softly let out, “even more since I know they’re involved in this year’s events. I know it’s been recent since you were brought to this world, but I still love you as your father and both of my sons are my greatest treasures. If you or Jack ever die on me, I don’t think I could bury my own child.”

My heart sank as I heard him utter those last words. Despite how I’ve been spending my time, I always knew how dangerous it was living in the Tower. I just never thought I'd be involved with something so serious and life-threatening now. I don't know what to say for that other than falsely assuring, “it’ll be fine. I’ll make sure I’ll be careful and I have friends looking out for me.” Adel just faked a smile, knowing that wasn’t going to happen, but there was still hope in his eyes.

“If my son says so, all I can do is hope it is true,” he quietly said before hugging me, “just remember that Simon and I will always be there for you if things get rough. We’ll always love you no matter who you are and no matter what you do.”

“I know dad, I love you too.” We stayed that way for a while, appreciating the time we have for each other. “When we get back, I want to talk to you about something,” I forcibly let out, “it’s something I want to talk to you privately, but it can wait.”

“Of course Ace,” Adel replied as we separated. Adel took his leave, smiling at me before disappearing in the shadows.

“And that’s one important thing done,” Crimson let out as he patted my shoulder, “Adel cares a lot about you Ace, he’ll do anything to save this world, just so his sons can live.”

“You knew he was hiding here,” I asked as I faced the panther.

“You already know the answer to that,” the panther replied, crossing his arms, “we came here so we can persuade Adel to help, which requires you to be here. He’s good at finding information, which we’ll need if we want to stop the crisis once and for all.” I stared at him, knowing there’s a bit more to that as I watched him tilting his head down. “I also wanted to help you too,” he revealed with a sad smile, “the one I loved bottled his feelings away until it was too late. I don’t want to see that happen again…so I gave you the little push you need, sorry if I was intruding.”

I smiled, grabbing his hand with mine before thanking him, “you’re fine Crimson, I really appreciate it. Though one day, do you mind telling me about him? I’m curious how he was back in the day.”

“Of course,” he responded, kneeling in front of me, his hand still in mine but his face close to them, “for you, I’ll do anything my prince.” I was expecting him to do something like kiss the back of my hand, but he did nothing but blankly stare at it. He smiled immediately as he saw me getting flusteredly impatient for a bit of his affection. “Got you again,” he happily laughed as he rose back up before kissing my cheek, “you make it so easy prince.” He quickly ran away as I was thinking of words to say, leaving me to chase after him.

We were back at the plaza, both Bled and Yuki being there too with some things they bought. To escape from me, Crimson valiantly went behind the two brothers talking and hugged both of them close as I approached. “What do you two have there,” Crimson cheerfully asked, “did you two find what you were looking for?” They both nodded as Crimson sneakily took their bags and started walking towards the guild house. “Good, then let’s start heading back,” the crimson panther slyly spoke with a jump in his step, “if we’re early, we could go see what food the guild’s chef is cooking up for tonight.” Without letting any of us get a say, he marched on forward as the three of us quickly followed, walking past the crowded streets that were filled with many delicious scents of food.

Once we arrived at the guild again, Yule was already waiting for me, though he looked a bit drained compared to the last time I saw him. “You alright there Yule,” I asked as he walked up to me with his hands behind his back.

“I’m alright,” he tiredly, yet happily replied, “had to do some talking and negotiating to get you the thing you wanted. Remember?” I nodded my head as I awkwardly recalled failing to eat the flower down below. “Good, then hopefully it’ll be worth it for you. If not, I have other things to give you later.” He unveiled his hands slowly, revealing a dried up plant that didn’t resemble the ones I saw earlier with Crimson.

Yule, holding onto the shriveled flower in his hand, delicately passed it onto mine. “Now eat up Ace,” Yule happily insisted, “I don’t want this flower to turn to dust. It’s not appetizing and it’ll probably not be as effective compared to the one below, but you wanted it.” I questioned myself why I wanted to do this again, then remembered I failed the ritual and wanted to finish doing the last part at least. He was staring back at me with anticipation while I brought the flower up to my face and proceeded to put the whole tiny thing in my mouth.

The flower tasted…tasteless? It sort of dissolved once it hit my tongue as I got nothing tasty out of it, but I felt a tiny bit of cold dust scattering across my mouth. Yule gave me a cup of water, letting me swallow the tasteless cold thing down my throat, still feeling the coldness entering my systems. We waited for something to happen, but after a couple minutes, nothing really happened to me. “That’s it?”

“Well usually you eat those when you’re underwater, when they’re healthy and blooming,” Yule reminded as he took back the empty cup, “the one I just gave you is all shriveled up, it doesn’t have the usual amount of power to grant someone Frost. It’s why we give these for children and babies to eat so they can get theirs early in their life.”

“I’m sorry Yule,” I apologized, “you worked hard to get me this and nothing came out of it.” He simply smiled back as he patted my shoulder.

“It’s alright Ace, you didn’t know,” he assured with a calming smile, “I’m sure it’ll work on you once you eat the actual thing, I have a good feeling about it. Just come here next year during the festival and I’ll get you down there again so you can eat the flower.” I smiled back, immediately writing it down on my mental notes as I promised him that I’ll come back for it.

From there, me and the brothers were just lounging around while we waited for dinner to begin. Yuki and Bled were showing off what they bought, with Yuki revealing some new clothes while Bled revealed some comics he found. Jack’s group came back eventually, with their usual banter of Bit and Trigs talking about games before pulling out their devices to play. At one point Bit and Trigger wanted more people as the tigress pulled out two extra consoles, Bled and Crimson decided to take the offer and join them. After some explanation from the lass, the two joined in as I just watched over Crimson’s shoulder watching the small screen depict multiple things that confused me while I cheered the panther on.

After some light dinner for me and Yuki we went back to our room. After some peaceful hours passed, those full of cuddling and messing around, we watched Yule immediately barge in with a large charcuterie board filled with meats, cheese, and some local fruits. I briefly thought about inviting Crimson and Bled over to help.

I didn’t want to invite them…

I wanted to invite everyone from the expedition to come over and eat some of it, so I messaged each one of them. Jack and Jet came over to briefly get some of the food on a plate before leaving. Bit and Trigs decided to stay for a bit, playing on their devices in a corner while taking some of the food as a snack during their sessions. Bled came by, mostly eating the leftover ham from last night with a mix of fruit, but stayed to chat with Yuki more. Crimson, as usual, showed up out of nowhere, already eating as he happily conversed with his brothers and I. Then dad came by, he was a bit awkward when he walked in, but he eventually relaxed himself and stayed around, listening to the happy noises we were making before disappearing into the night.

It was a lovely night, spending time with the people I’m close with. As I watched everyone happily doing their own thing, I wondered if I’ll ever see my friends like this again. What Crimson said back in the cage and the adventure Adel mentioned, would it be possible for me to stop the loop. I was given a lot of things to think about, but too much for me to share. At least I know who I can fully trust with my life, and his name is…

Crimson Red.

The rest of the festival was pretty fun and relaxing for the next two days as Bled, Yuki, and Crimson were having the time of their life with me going along with them. There weren't many interesting things to talk about in those days as I learned some more history relating to the people of Frozolin, but on the final day I decided to hang out with Crimson. Well, more like I was dragged away from him the moment I groggily set out my room when I was going for a morning snack.

“Where are we going Crimson,” I tiredly asked as I obediently followed, “can’t we just go out later? We still have time before we head back to the Tower.”

“We’re getting food,” Crimson happily answered, “I know a good place here that only opens in the morning, so we’re going now so you won’t miss out.” I was going to ask how he knew, then remembered his confession and just went along with it.

It was a cute little restaurant that served homemade pasta. It was advertised as some sort of substitute for the feeling of warm food. I didn’t really understand it, though when our food arrived it looked like it was hot due to some steam coming out of it. I hovered over my hand above it, only to realize that it was just a cold mist. Despite that, the meat with my pasta looked like it was actually cooked thoroughly and there was no sign of ice on it. It was pretty fascinating to see the food presented as it is, but once it entered my mouth, it felt like I was eating something fresh from the pan as the heat flushed my entire mouth. It was an interesting experience, but it made me wonder why it existed while I watched multiple people going in and out of the place.

“Hey Crimson, do you know why a lot of people eat here,” I asked as I playfully coiled my pasta around a fork. “I didn’t really think much about it til now, but why does everyone here eat cold food? So far we’ve been served cold food almost everyday, I even saw Yule cooled down our soup last night before serving it to us.”

“I don’t know,” Crimson answered as he casually pronged the macaronis onto each prong of his fork, “it’s probably related to their Frost if I were to guess, I don’t really know much about how that ability works other than Yuki got incredibly thirsty the day after he got it.” I kept that down in my mental notes, so when we’re back from this trip, I’ll fill his fridge with his favorite drinks for him. We continued eating, casually talking between our bites as the noise of the restaurant filled the air.

“So about your brother,” Crimson let out after he took a drink of his glass of water, “did you know that he’s a fan of that show Bled watches?”

“Oh? What show does your brother watch,” I asked, a bit curious about what he learned about Jack.

“The same one that your brother watched,” he answered with a nostalgic smile, “it’s some kid’s hero show that started airing sometime last year. I’m surprised Bled hasn’t told you about it, he always loves to gush about it when a new episode comes out.”

“That sounds pretty cute, do you think he’ll like it if we have a nice little watch party together?”

“Of course, though he’ll probably be too embarrassed to go if you just invite him. If you want, I just so happen to have bought a collection of the first season as a gift for Bled, I could give that to you so you can give it to him. Not only will he love you for that, he’ll definitely want to watch it with you. It’ll give me the chance to slip in with some snacks as it becomes a nice little watch party.” He paused slightly as I wondered about it for a bit. “All I need is your answer, say yes, and I’ll guarantee it’ll happen, I’ll make sure of that my prince.”

“Coming from you, I know you will. I’d really love that, you and your brothers are really close to me. It’d be really nice to hang out with all three of you like that night.”

“Same here, if only we can have those types of nights every day.” He looked distant as he nostalgically spoke those words, but he quickly regained his composure as I stared at him. “It can’t always happen though, we all have our own things to do after all. Like you for example, wanting to know all my naughty little secrets, not that I mind if it pleases you my prince. Not to mention you’ll also have to grow up and become a king.” He let out a cute smile right before flinging a piece of macaroni at me, who left his mouth agape. “And that’s a goal for me,” he happily cheered as I tasted the pasta that was coated in a sweet creamy sauce.

After we ate and paid for our food, we headed to the plaza and watched some people having fun, with stalls being crowded with its residents as ever. At one point Crimson did his usual trick and was back with a red popsicle in hand in an instant, offering it to me as a snack, but I declined.

As I stared at Crimson casually eating his rocket-shaped popsicle, I wondered about what he had seen or experienced in his repeating years. It must’ve been difficult for him to go through each day knowing what could happen. He definitely had to have changed right? “So what were you like before,” I unconsciously asked, stunning the panther, “before you realized what was happening?”

He quickly ate his frosty snack before tossing the stick towards a trash can. It missed, but his shade quickly appeared to properly discard it before disappearing. “Ace, if you want to ask those questions, remember to ask them when there isn’t a crowd,” Crimson reminded as he quickly scanned our surroundings, “keep asking them like this and we’ll get into some trouble.”

“With who?”

“Just follow me first,” Crimson commanded as he stood up, “I know a safe place for this conversation.” He led me to an abandoned shack that was on the side of the lower quarters of the kingdom. It was definitely hidden as Crimson navigated me through different twists and turns of the alleyway to get there. He leaned against the moldy walls as I cautiously found a rickety chair to sit on. “Alright, well let me answer your first question. It’s best that you know more about me, since we’re now partners in this after all.

“Please do, I’m really curious about your life.” He took a deep breath before telling me about himself, someone that existed a long time ago.

I was a shy, timid guy, someone similar to Bled, but more self deprecating and less intimidating. I’d get flustered and nervous whenever someone wanted to talk to me, leading me to go find a secluded corner for me to relax in. It’s why I have my mask, so I can easily talk to people I haven’t met, but I’m pretty used to talking to strangers nowadays. It’s similar to why Bled wears his, but I’m not that as opposed to taking it off once I got to know them. A totally opposite person from what you usually see from me, but it was enough that you found something cute about me.

Comparing the you that I fell in love with to the one I’m talking to now, you were both very different. Our actual first meeting was at the bar you work at and when I was trying to get used to my life in this world. You were a lot more daring and flirtatious, despite how many people wanted to be with you, your eyes would always gravitate to me. Despite how many times I try to hide from people, you were always the first to find me and made sure I was safe. We would always talk about random things, the people we saw, the battles we’ve fought, and our brothers we loved. Eventually, you asked me out, using as many cheesy pickup lines and stuff before I decided you were the one for me.

It was a lovely year where you took me out on a lot of romantic dates, letting the people of the Tower handle the annual threat. Since you and I did nothing to stop it, we never did find out about the problem. We just lived our life at the Tower, having fun until the year resets.

When it did, one day, out of the blue, I woke up alone, back in my world. The time I had with you felt like a fleeting dream and it felt like that everyday. Thinking it was just some sort of deja vu, I just went about my day without thinking much about it. I went to the same bar, wondering if you’d show up, and you did, I was ecstatic to see you again. Instead of you coming to me sitting alone, you and Yuki went back to the backroom after the show and never came back that night. With my Eyes, I thought I’d peek to see what you two were doing and so I did.

Technically, we were simply strangers to each other, but I strongly wanted to be with you again. So, my heart sank as I saw the two of you intimately having a private moment together. I left without a sound nor a trace left behind and locked my past memories away, only for that vault to quickly fill up as the years kept repeating and my love for you dying out.

“Of course, everytime time when I thought I’d move on, you would choose me again,” Crimson sighed, “and weak as I still am, I’d fall in love with you again, knowing that one day, I'll go back to being alone again.” I wanted to apologize, but I couldn’t, I only know him from what I spent with him this year. “You don’t need to apologize prince,” he continued, knowing what I was trying to do, “that’s all in the past, all I can do now is move forward and carry their hopes with me.” I was about to go hug him, but I noticed his ear twitched and his face soured, forcing me to stay where I was.

“Now for who we’re trying to avoid trouble with,” Crimson quietly continued as he put a finger up his lips, “you better stay quiet now, because they’re nearby. Listen.” Both me and Crimson froze as we slowly heard footsteps approaching nearby, with two voices that sounded familiar.

“I don’t think they’re both here,” a familiar mechanical voice let out, “you sure we’re at the right place?”

“I’m sure of it, I think,” a mature voice replied as I saw a brief light coming from outside. “I can’t really tell with this place, all the alleys look the same to me.” It was Joker, but I don’t know the face of the other voice.

“Well we can find them later Ace,” the voice rang out as I almost instinctively let out a noise, “we read the script today and how it’ll go, we’ll just find them later today.

“I know that Snow,” Joker, who I now have a lot of questions to ask, replied, “but he’s with Crimson this time. I don’t want that panther to reveal anymore than he has to. If that wolf knows too much too early, the script will change and we’ll be forced to kill them again.”

“Well it hasn’t so far, so maybe they’re just eating at some restaurant. Speaking of, I’m kinda getting hungry Ace, we haven’t eaten breakfast today.” Soon enough, I thought I heard a stomach growling, presuming it was that guy that just spoke earlier, it was not.

Joker let out an audible sigh as he replied, “I guess I am a bit hungry too, fine let’s go somewhere nice and get something to eat. Any preference on where you wanna go?”

“How about that one place we went together on our first time here? We haven’t eaten from there in a while.”

“You do realize that Yule was the one that introduced me to it, right?”

“Of course, but you still were the one to introduce it to me. Oh and don’t worry about the menu, it hasn’t changed at all, so you can order the usual.” I soon heard the two footsteps started to go away from Crimson and I, letting us breathe out with relief. When I couldn’t hear them anymore, I recalled the mysterious visitor that was in Crimson’s room at one point and the conversation they had.

“So, that day when you told me about your Eyes, did those two try to get you to join them,” I quietly inquired, in case the two were still nearby, “you don’t have to answer if it means it’ll get us killed, but I want to know.” He simply crossed his arms as I watched his Eyes lightly glow yellow beneath his red contact lenses.

“It should be fine, but yeah, they did offer me to join them since I knew what’s happening,” he revealed minutes after some silence, “and as you already saw on that day, I refused. What you heard from them earlier was partially my reason why I chose to do so. Even though I could easily do it with my Eyes, I don’t want to kill you nor do I intend on letting you die.” His eyes darted towards the ground before closing them as he let out a tired sigh. “...And unlike those two, I’d go insane doing something like that. I’ve already seen a lot of things both good and bad, but I could barely hold my sanity. If I had to kill someone I love over and over again, I’d probably snap after some years” I went over to him and gave him a hug, feeling his arms wrapped around my back as he held me tight as I felt some tears landing on the back of my neck.

“I’m sorry you have to go through all this Crimson,” I let out as I patted his head, “I know I’ll probably be repeating myself, but let’s do everything we can to stop this loop, so we can have our future again. I know it’s going to be hard for you, but we’ll need to rely on what you’ve seen so we can get out of this mess.”

“I-I know,” the panther replied as he wiped away his tears, “but for now, I can’t. It’s to protect you mostly, so I can’t say a lot until you get stronger, in case we’ll ever need to defend ourselves from those two. Though my skills from those years are still with me, I can’t handle them alone.”

“That’s fine, at the end of this year, you won’t be calling me your prince. I’ll become someone you can call a king that you can be proud of.” He smiled at me, before giving me a gentle kiss on the cheek.

“I look forward to that, my prince,” he replied as I hugged him even closer, “so what’s our next thing to do?”

“I want to check out the church here,” I replied as I grabbed his arm, “there’s something I want to check.”

“Sure, but if people there start worshiping you, I’m dragging you out of there.” Crimson walked past me, leading me out of the alley maze and towards the plaza. While we avoided the two dangerous figures from earlier, we asked around where the church was before eventually making our way there.

When we arrived, it was just as I expected, full. Since the festival was still happening, it seemed a lot of people came to give their respects or pray to demons. What I was looking for was to see if there’s any depiction of the Lord of the Butterfly, whether it was a statue or some sort of mural. I found what I was looking for, but it wasn’t what I thought it’d be.

It was a frozen ice sculpture of two people and a quadrupedal wolf, underneath it labeling it as, “An Honor of the Courageous Firefly, the Loyal Butterfly, and the Gentle Death.” The one standing front and center, was a male ferocious moth with a sword and standing next to him was a gentle female long-eared rabbit wielding a scythe. The wolf was nothing noticeable, as if the creator didn’t want to make him notable other than him standing on his four limbs.

“So you’re here for the statue,” a burly man asked as I gawked at the sculpture. I turned to the voice to see it was the rhino that we met when we arrived at the kingdom.

“You’re…Tundro, right? Why are you here?”

“To do some praying, but anyway, do you want to know about the sculpture? I’ve learned a lot about it while I grew up here.”

“Yeah, if you don’t mind me delaying your prayers.” He motioned his head towards the huge line towards the altar. “So who’s who?”

“The moth is the Firefly, the rabbit is the Gentle Death, and that wolf is the highly-respected Butterfly. The sculpture itself was made of the time when all three of them saved this place long ago.”

“So the Butterfly is actually a four-legged wolf?”

“Yeah, though I’ve read that he can shapeshift into whatever form he wants. Though I don’t fully understand why he’s made himself like that.”

“Wait, the guy made it himself?”

“Yes, allegedly, he was known to create ice so powerful that both fire and tools fail to penetrate it. From what people had studied, the sculpture is entirely made of the hardest ice in the world and has stood there for hundreds of years without any maintenance. I’d fully believe he made it himself before he passed away.”

“Do you know how he died,” I asked as I immediately saw Crimson sitting on one of the window sills of the second floor.

“No one does, he suddenly disappeared the day that sculpture appeared out of nowhere.” I jotted that down in my notes, wondering if that might be connected. “I wished there were records about his companions though, I would’ve loved to know about them. I’ve read that he always had high respect towards them, so much that he’d wait around to see if they’ll come back. Yule told me you have the book, so you probably know what happened to them.”

I nodded my head in response, wondering if Crimson is feeling the same way everyday. Waiting for someone that’ll never come back again, that sounds like hell. My eyes darted to him, watching the crowd below with a melancholic expression.

“That’s all I know about the sculpture, so if you and your friend aren’t here to pray, I’d suggest you guys leave before it gets crowded here.”

“Yeah, I think we’ll do that, let me go get my friend and we’ll be on our way.” I immediately texted Crimson that we’re leaving as I thanked Tundro for the information. Just as usual, Crimson showed up next to me in the blink of an eye as we took our leave of the religious place.

“So what’s next for our hero,” the panther asked as we wandered back to the plaza. I thought long and hard about what I’d wanted to do next, and it was being reckless, but also a bit selfish and childish.

“How about we go out of the kingdom,” I suggested, “we can go play in the snow or build a snowman, we don’t get to do that back home.” He looked at me as if I was insane, but then I continued. “And it could probably be the last time I’ll do something like that. If we fail this year, I won’t be able to remember our time together. I want to at least make some happy memories for you, so you can carry my life with you, like you have been doing for so long.” The panther was taken aback, but all he could do was softly smile back as his right hand clenched into a fist. “But let’s get back to focusing on the present, whatever future awaits for both of us, I’ll always be glad to be by your side.” I kissed him on the right side of his cheek before parting away our hug, dragging him with me towards the door that leads us back outside.

“Hey Ace, I want to say this again, but I love you.”

“I love you too Crimson, my adorable, knight of crimson shadows.” We started walking towards the bridge, looking around at the stalls on the way. We both, or me at least, didn’t know that there was someone waiting for us on the other side.

“So you two finally showed up,” a very familiar voice shouted as Crimson and I crossed the bridge towards the snowy land. It was Joker and standing next to him was the white wolf I saw. “What have you told him, Crimson?”

“Nothing much,” the panther replied with a shrug, “not compared to how much you know anyway. I just answer whatever questions he has for me.”

“And what are those questions?”

“That’s a secret. Though even if I don’t tell you, you should already know.” I watched as Joker slowly got agitated as his interrogation with Crimson fell flat. His white wolf companion, bored with the futile questioning, happily waved at me before winking. I awkwardly, cautiously waved back, guessing that this wolf was the weird visitor that was in Crimson’s room. We kinda ignored the questioning as we went to the side to talk a bit.

“Sorry about my companion,” he apologized with a mechanized voice before bowing, “we’re doing important business after all, so he's been a bit on edge very recently. You can call me Snow by the way, I’m his husband.” He seemed really pleasant.

“Oh ok, nice to meet you Snow, I’m-”

“Don’t need to introduce yourself, we both know who you and your friends are. Looking at it now, you’re really close to Crimson huh?” I nodded my head, looking directly at his orange Eyes. “Good, how’s your relationship with his brothers, good terms I assume?” I nodded again, before he revealed a sly smile. “Perfect! So, do you know who we are and what we’re doing?” I nodded again. “This isn’t the first time you’ve seen me, am I right?”

I unconsciously nodded, freezing immediately after as my brain registered what he asked. I couldn’t think of a way to deflect it or make some sort of excuse about it. His eyes narrowed as he patted my shoulder as I immediately felt a sharp cold pain right where he touched. I backed away and so did he.

“A good boy like you shouldn’t eavesdrop y’know, you wouldn’t want to be caught by someone dangerous after all.” He casually walked back to Joker’s side, tapping his shoulder before revealing. “Ace knows something, I don’t know what, but he’s seen me before. You already know what that means.”

“Good job Ace,” Crimson sarcastically praised me, “not that I blame you of course. It was bound to happen.” He checked on my shoulder, revealing a bit of ice that froze over it. “Good thing he was holding back, you could’ve been in danger. Let me just quickly take care of that for you.” He took out some sort of spray from his pocket, applying it over the ice as it melts and soothes the frostbite.

“Take your arms up now,” Joker loudly demanded while summoning a sword in his hand, “I don’t know how much he told you, but we’re going to do a trial here and now. And you better make sure to give it your all.”

“We won’t be holding back either sadly,” Snow replied as he twirled the most familiar weapon into existence, the naginata I made for Yuki. “Well not him at least, I have to hold myself back just in case.”

“I figured this was bound to happen when you chose me,” Crimson sighed as he pulled out his gauntlets, “well let’s get this over with Ace. We can’t afford to mess up here. You probably would’ve guessed this, but they’re going to kill us if we fail their so-called trial.”

“You’ve seen it happen,” I curiously asked, oblivious that it was not the best time for that conversation. Crimson immediately glared at me, forcing me to awkwardly take out my shovel.

“Don’t ask stupid questions Ace right before a fight,” Crimson angrily retorted before facing towards me, “you want to know how many times I saw you die, 39 times. Let’s get this over with so we live another day.”

“Actually it’s way more than that,” Snow casually answered as he casually stretched a bit. “And most of the fault lies with your bad choices Ace. Some I don’t know how or why you lived that far. Like you wanting to eat a bucket of lava straight from the lava pits in the Demon World.” I, stunned by that stupidity, shot a look back at Crimson, hoping he’d denied that. He looked away at me immediately.

“That Ace was a dumbass,” he answered, “the last thing that guy said was wanting to try more spicy food. I joked about eating lava for the intense heat, but I didn’t think he was stupid enough to do that. It wasn't a pleasant sight to see a burnt hole where your stomach used to be. That year, a lot of people pretended to not be associated with you out of sheer embarrassment.” I was suddenly not in the mood to fight anymore, not like I had any, but it did seem to pacify both Snow and Joker as well, mostly Joker. He’s probably feeling the same way I’m feeling right now, whether it be more or less, I can’t tell with his face.

“I didn’t expect you guys to talk about that,” the gray wolf sighed as he covered his entire face with his hand, “I still get second-hand embarrassment thinking about it. Look what you did Ace, you made me remember that awful year.” He put away his sword and turned around before commanding, “c’mon Snow, we’re leaving. We’ll just test them later when they’re stronger. I’m not in a mood to fight now.” Snow turned away as well, winking to me with a smile as Crimson and I watched a mist formed around them before disappearing.

As the mist dissipated, I briefly saw Crimson pocketing something away before turning to me. “And here I was, ready to show off some of my old skills again,” Crimson sighed as he grabbed my hand, “I blame you for that whole situation, but I’m glad you’re alive.”

“Same here,” I replied as I sneakily gave him a peck on the cheek, “well you can show me your skills now. We can just do a simple sparring match between friends.” He looked at me like I was stupid again, though this time, I’m not dumb, I’m cocky.

“You do realize what you're asking right,” he asked, “one year vs 40 years of experience, who would win?”

“Well who knows, it might be my lucky year,” I cockily replied as I embraced him a bit, “why don’t we wager some food? The loser gets to pay whatever amount of food the winner eats when we get back to the Tower.”

“Well if you put it that way,” the panther slyly let out, “it’s a deal then, I don’t mind some free brunch.” He reappeared in front of me, ready to fight with his gauntlets still on. “Let’s throw down in the snow then Ace! Take up your shovel and try to beat me over the head with it!” He playfully rolled his fist in the air, hopping backwards and forwards as I happily armed myself.

“Gladly, I’ll make sure I won’t hurt you too badly,” I responded as I immediately loaded my shovel with some lightning ammo.

“Dude, you’re the one that’s cruisin for a bruisin,” Crimson replied as he summoned a utility belt around his waist, “you only saw my skills when I don’t use my Eyes, since we’re alone, I can go all out.” In a flash, he immediately took out a kunai from his belt before tossing it in my direction, letting me casually dodge out of the way.

I immediately noticed his Eyes glowing past his colored contact lenses so I looked back, seeing Crimson’s shade holding onto the freshly-caught kunai as he tried to stab me. I immediately tried to swat him away with my shovel, missing as the shade popped out of existence. “Good, you have the wits at least,” Crimson happily noted as he casually ties his mask around his eyes, “I wouldn’t want a partner that doesn't know what’s happening in the field.” His shade popped up next to him clapping each other’s hand as they quickly swapped places, the shade wearing less than the original as he arms himself with a knife while the one with gauntlets backed away in the shadows. “As I am a son of the Bloody Samurai, I had decided to learn a bit more of the culture where my father came from,” Crimson revealed, “with how my Eyes work, I decided to have my own spin as a ninja.” He immediately ran at me, ready to swing at me with his knife while he summoned a gust of wind to accelerate him forward.

Our weapons clashed, his blade hitting the collar of the shovel, slowly forcing the blade to aim directly towards the panther’s body. I pulled on my shovel’s chain, letting it fire a beam of electricity towards a panther who immediately disappears into a black smog, leaving behind his knife. I went over to his knife and noticed a faint fishing line tied to the base. Without any warning, I aimed my shovel at it and shot the knife with some electricity, watching the electricity conducting its way to the other end of the line. Only for a sound of a blast as Crimson was propelled towards me, his shoes charged with electricity.

I immediately swung at him, who casually strongly parried my swing upward before he slid underneath me before quickly dropping off a grenade and knocking me off my feet. I painfully landed on the grenade as I quickly switched forms and instantly formed an icy shell around me before the bomb exploded. It wasn’t a grenade, it was just a smoke bomb that surrounded me in dense smoke. “Got you now,” Crimson let out as I felt his arm forcibly grabbing mines and pinning them behind me while his other arm brought the knife close to my neck. “Don’t bother using that fake ice sculpture to slip out of this, my shade will just catch you again.”

“That’s fine, I wasn’t going to do that anyway,” I commented as I leaned towards his chest even more while playfully sticking out my tongue. “I get to be even closer to you like this,” I continued as I bucked my hips towards his. I saw his face blush slightly, only to quickly regain his grip on reality before holding me tighter.

“That’s not going to work on me Ace, you offered me free food for this, so I’m going to get my food.” I was going to flirtingly point out something, but he interrupted. “And no, I’m not interested in your dessert right now, I want a grand buffet of spicy meats and veggies.”

“What a shame,” I replied as I slyly coated my back fur in ice, thinking about the people’s Frost, “because I think you’d like a cold serving of sweets.” Before he knew it, the ice on my fur sharpened itself as it protruded out of my clothes, piercing the panther who instinctively disappeared. As I readied myself for a fight, I conjured up a tornado of ice as it blew the smoke away, revealing one Crimson.

“Ok, you got me there,” he admitted, “I didn’t expect you to ruin your own clothes though.” I started to feel immensely cold behind my back as I realized what I’d done.

“That’s fine,” I confidently lied as I took off my shirt, “we both get what we wanted, I get out of your grip and you now get to enjoy my physique.” He was not amused as I flexed and posed at him.

“I’d enjoy it if we weren’t in the middle of a fight, so put your clothes on,” he let out as he facepalmed himself. He didn’t realize he gave me a great opportunity as I quickly charged at him and immediately tackled him to the ground. With a bit of magic, I made a frozen pair of handcuffs that cuffed his hands together as I pinned them above his head with my left hand. “I hate you,” the panther let out as I sat on top of his waist.

“Love you too,” I replied as I leaned down and kissed him on the forehead. “So are you going to use that shade to get out of this?”

“I should, but I really don’t need to,” he replied before disappearing in a blink of an eye and pinned me to the ground. “Now admit it, with my Eyes, you can’t defeat me right now. I have an idea of where to go for dinner tomorrow.”

“Fiiinnneee,” I admitted as Crimson helped me get back on my feet, “I was hoping I’d prove myself, guess it’s not time yet.” I took out my item cube and fished out another shirt to wear.

“Obviously, but I’m happy you tried at least, next time we spar, I’ll try not to use my Eyes to make it a bit fair. Now let’s head back, I’m sure the group is waiting for us now, Adel mentioned we’re going out around the afternoon to do something.”

“Do you know what that is?”

“Yeah, but I’m not going to spoil everything for you,” he answered, patting my shoulder as he walked back towards the kingdom. I followed him immediately as we met up with the rest of the group, who were waiting at the entrance of the guildhall. Bled and Yuki were together again, but I noticed Yuki got his mane trimmed a bit.

“You look a lot cuter,” I unconsciously let out before realizing what I said. Yuki let out a soft chuckle as he went up and kissed me on the cheek.

“Thanks, Yule gave me a nice trim while we talked about some important things.” He looked over at Crimson before looking at me. “So how's your time with Crimson? You two had fun?”

“Y-Yeah,” I awkwardly replied feeling a bit guilty, “are we still ok? I realized we didn’t talk about this again, but-“

“You’re fine Ace, I’ve talked with Bled about it while we were in the depths. Though it’ll be a bit awkward for me, I don’t mind as much if you want to be a bit intimate with my brothers. All I want from you is to give me the same love you give to them and if you’re out there giving your heart out, I’ll do the same. Only if you allow it.”

“Of course I will, it’ll be very unfair if I get jealous when you open your heart to another guy. Though that means I expect you to hone your skills in bed then.” Yuki lightly bonked me in the head for that one as we both let out a little laugh. “Seriously though, as long as you’re happy, I’m happy as well.”

“Same to you, if you want to experiment, go ahead, just don’t try to get any of us to do anything gross or incestuous, Bled and I have fully agreed that’s too much.” The big red cat nodded in response as he tried to look cool. I looked over at Crimson immediately, wondering about his thoughts as well.

“I’m obviously going to say no,” he replied, “even if I’m not technically related by blood, I still consider them as my brothers.” His glare was pretty strong as the temptation to ask about that other thing was soon answered by text.

“And no, my shade and I are one and the same,” the panther texted. “Get your mind out of the gutter and drop it. I’m not going into that debate again.”

“Anyway,” Adel interjected, “let’s head out of the kingdom so we can go back to the Tower. We’ll be using a different travel method, one that most, if not all, of you are used to using.”

“It’s a Dimension Door,” Jack coldly answered, “you’re going to make it easy for people from the Tower to get here, aren’t you?”

“Y-Yeah, also so you two can come back if needed or wanted.” The demonic king slouched his shoulder as the surprise was ruined. “I will have to move it somewhere far away from the kingdom, just so we don’t give the citizens any sudden surprise visits from foreigners. Now let’s get going before anyone overhears us, I found some ruins outside the kingdom we could use to put the door there.”

It didn’t take long, but when we left the entire kingdom, Yule came by to excitedly wave us off and I waved back, hoping we’ll see each other again soon. The trail we took was an hour away from the city as ruins of an old temple greeted us, with one rundown brick building standing tall as old, dirtied curtains fluttered in the wind.

“And here’s where we’re going to put it,” Adel happily announced as we entered the building, “good place too, we get a nice view of the kingdom from here so you won’t get lost.”

“So how are you going to do this,” Bit cautiously asked, “do you need materials or something? I could probably create some for you with my power.”

“No need for that, I wouldn’t dare ask Save’s children to do that work. I was already synthesizing one before we went on our trip, it finished last night and I already got it calibrated to a door back at the Tower. All I need now is to push it against a wall and the rest should be done by itself.” Without much of a warning, Adel pulled out an entire spruce door from his coat and aggressively pushed it against the closest door, causing a white door frame to magically appear and attach itself to the door. He opens the door, revealing the warm, relaxing lounge area of the Tower as we stood out in the cold. We were about to go in, but one of Jack’s companions had something else in mind.

“Hey,” Trigger lets out, “would it be ok if I stay behind?”

“Why,” Jack asked the white leopard, “I don’t mind if you do since you could come back anytime, but why?”

“B-Because there’s this guy I met at the guild,” Trigs hesitantly answered, “he’s really good with guns, so I thought I would learn from him. I know I’m not the strongest guy compared to my sis or Jet, so I want to get stronger.” He looked towards his sister and Jack, waiting for an answer from both of them. “Though I guess that means I’ll be too busy to hang out with you guys.”

“If you want to stay, it’s fine with me,” Jack replied as he patted the leopard’s head, “but I look forward to seeing you when you get back.”

“Same Trigs, though if you need anything, you can call us,” Bit chimed in before handing Trigs something. “Don’t worry about Jack, I’ll make sure he isn’t causing trouble while you’re gone.” There was something else that she whispered, but I couldn’t hear it, but it definitely made the leopard’s face turn pink.

“O-Ok,” he shouted as he headed out of the ruins, “I’ll see you guys again, I’ll message everyone when I get back safely. L-Later everyone! T-Take care J-Jack!” He ran away as soon as he let out his farewell, tripping shortly on the way before his entire frame disappeared. Though Jack was a bit unfazed, he seemed a little sad seeing him go.

“Let’s go,” the tiger curtly said as he turned back to the door, “we’ll get even colder if we just stand here.” Without any hesitation, he walked through, leaving everyone behind. His remaining two friends hurried after him as Adel followed, leaving me and my friends.

Yuki patted my shoulder as he went through first, winking at me before his frame disappeared. Bled was next, patting my head and hugging me before walking through. I waited for the panther to go first, motioning my head towards the door. Instead, Crimson grabbed onto my hand, holding it as tight as he could as we walked through the door, smiling at me.

So, what do you think of this,” I asked as I revealed myself in some new clothes to my partner, “you think I could fight in something like this?” He looked at me, stunned and charmed by my allure before clearing his throat to give his answer.

“Absolutely not,” he replied with a fake smile and a tinge of blush on his face. “I’m not going to focus if you ever wear that whether we’re fighting or not.”

“Oh? Is it because you’ll think of something naughty?” I happily teased as I tugged on the harness wrapped under my opened vest.

“No, because I’ll get second-hand embarrassment just looking at you strutting around with that outfit in public. Y-You’re practically naked wearing that!” He was clearly staring at my junk, not that I don’t mind, it’s a pretty revealing speedo. I let out a devilish sigh as I casually walked up to him, grabbing his chin as I moved them so our eyes met.

“Fine, but I still want to buy it. Would it be good enough if I just wore this in your room, specifically at night before bed?” I moved our bodies even closer, making sure my fur was physically touching his clothes. I felt his body heat up as his face began to flush a deeper shade of red. “I’ll take that look on that cute face of yours as a yes.” I gave him a peck on the cheek before letting out, “I love you Crimson.”

“I-I l-love you too Ace.”

Slowly waking up from a nostalgic dream, my eyes tiredly opened as I saw a naked Crimson laying down right next to me, seductively staring at me. “Morning my prince, slept well last night,” he asked as my brain slowly tried to process what’s happening. He went over to me, his fur brushing against mine as he held me close, purring in my ear. I looked around, realizing it’s Yuki’s room.

“Wait, where’s Yuki,” I asked, fully aware and awakened to what’s happening.

“He left earlier, said he’s going to do some training with Bled with his new abilities. And why I’m here, I just wanted to see your cute, sleeping face.” I looked at his smug face, thinking about the dream I had before deciding to tease the panther.

“So why are you in bed then Crimson,” I asked as I immediately wrapped him even closer, hearing him emit a squeak as his crimson chest pressed against mine. “Were you trying to get a rise out of me again? I don’t mind, as long as you get to stay with me for a little while.”

“H-How about we go out and do some investigation,” he poorly diverted as he effortlessly squirmed in my arms.

“What’s the rush? Don’t you remember, last night you told me to get some rest today before heading back to your room?”

“W-Well I change my mind, the faster we solve our problem, the more time we have to mess around.”

“So do you have any leads or any memories to help us out?” The panther went silent, his body going red as I watched his Eyes glow and sweat trickling down his face.

“Uh…Well…Maybe…” I interrupted his thoughts by hugging him even closer, my hands tightly grabbing onto his waist as I successfully rolled him below me. I sat lightly on top of him before kissing him on the forehead and quickly moving my arms to trap him. I watched as I got his arms pinned above his head and his face grew even darker.

“That’s fine if you don’t have one right now, you could think of something while we cuddle in bed for a while.”

“W-Wait, this is Yuki’s room. W-We shouldn’t-“

“You chose to be naked in his room though,” I pointed out, freezing him immediately, “but if you want, we can move this talk to your room. I’ll get out of bed and wash up if you disappear back to your room. I'll even let you go, so you can cool off a bit and get yourself ready.” I let him go, watching steam coming out of his head as he furiously nodded his head and instantly faded away. After a few seconds of looking around, I let out a nice chuckle to myself. “So that’s his softer side. Cute.”

After taking some mental notes about the dream I had earlier, I leapt out of bed, doing my morning routine while I thought of actual plans for today. I already promised the panther I’ll visit him, so checking up on Bled and Yuki is not an option today. I thought about the dream again, smiling devilishly before pulling up the map of the Tower, charting my future plans. Reaching to Crimson’s room, I casually knocked on it, waiting to see him again while I heard ruffling noises coming from within and then a click to the door’s lock before swinging open.

Crimson looked a bit messy, his fur a bit scuffed up as his shade behind him, who was also in the same state as him, was cleaning up the room. “Y-You’re here early,” the panther nervously chimed as he immediately tried to block me, “I’m almost done cleaning up, so if you want, we can continue our talk out here.”

“Sure, and sorry for teasing you earlier this morning.”

“Whatever do you mean,” the panther lightly denied with a smile, “what you saw was my shade. He tends to be a bit shy sometimes when someone flirts back.” A crumpled up piece of paper slightly smacks the back of his head. Looking as much as I could, it was the other Crimson that tossed it.

“Don’t blame it on me, me! I’m still you after all.” The Crimson in front me smiled a bit, his face getting darker as he rubbed the back of his head. “Ok Ace, you can come in now, our place is cleaned up.”

“Come on in, my prince,” Crimson 1 greeted as he moved out the way before bowing at me. I entered the room, with that panther closing the door behind me while I sat next to Crimson 2, who was sitting on the couch. Soon both Crimsons were sitting next to me, both being more confident than the cute one I saw this morning.

“So, have anything you could share with me on stopping our problem?”

“Not exactly, it’s more of a rest day today. In your case, it's whatever-you-want-to-do day. So you could go train, explore, or be with people.” Crimson 1 tightly wrapped himself around me as I heard some of his cute purrs. “But since you’re here, I’m going to assume you want to hang out, am I right my prince?”

“Yep, but not here,” I answered as I hugged both of the same panthers, “I have an idea on where to go today.”

“Oh? Then might we stay like this a little longer, I already got myself feeling cozy like this.” Both of him snuggled up to me even more, purring even louder as the three of us just enjoyed our peaceful time together. “So where are we going today?”

“We’re going to a clothing store in the Tower, I want to get some new clothes for when we go out on some expeditions. I want you to come with me to give me some of your thoughts and maybe get some for you too.” As soon as I said that, I felt one of the panthers tensing up, but only for a tiny bit before relaxing. “Is something wrong with that?”

“Not at all,” the one on my left answered as he pushed himself on me a bit, “want one of us to do anything? I can go spy on Yuki and Bled for you if you want.

“No, that won’t be necessary, I don’t want to distract them from whatever they’re doing if they spot you.”

“Of course I won’t, you should know that by now. I spied on people for so long that it’s natural for me.” I remembered the time he admitted to stealthily infiltrating Yuki’s room while I slept, wondering why he would be there anyway. “Don’t worry though, I won’t do it since you don’t want me to. I just thought you wanted to know exactly what they’re doing.”

“I do, but I’ll just ask Yuki when I go back to his room.” As if he was rewarding me for my choice, the panther immediately petted my head, reaching for the best spot to scratch behind my ear.

“Good boy,” he praised as I felt my tail wanting to wag free from the couch, “well when we finished shopping, let’s go make a quick stop at Remixer City and buy a treat for you and your boyfriend. I know a very good bakery there that is really well known for its macarons, a perfect gift for him I’d say.” We stayed like that for a long time, almost to the point I was getting overstimulated with the petting before we finally headed out, leaving behind Crimson’s shade, who began cooking some food.

We descended down the floors, going to the first floor next to the item shop. As we arrived at our destination, we both saw a familiar face there, a big, burly red cat. He was browsing through the fabrics of the store, examining each one thoroughly. “Hey Bled,” I greeted, startling the cat, “what brings you here?”

“H-Hey Ace, hey Crimson,” he anxiously greeted back before calming down, “I came to look for some stuff to use for some clothes I’m going to make.”

“Oh? What are you going to make? Also where’s Yuki, I heard he went to train with you.”

“We did, but I escorted him back to his room after I overdid it again and almost knocked him out. Make sure you take care of him when you head back ok?” I nodded my head, thinking about spoiling him with a lot of desserts he’d probably like. “As for what I’m going to make, it’s for him, he personally wants me to make his wrestling costume. He wanted one after hearing I made yours, even wants me to make sure it matches with you.” I couldn’t help but blush a bit, thinking what Yuki would like wearing a tight speedo and a mask. “Anyway, what are you two doing here?”

“We just came to look at clothes, it was Ace’s suggestion,” Crimson answered as he was suddenly holding onto some clothes already, “though if you want, you could give us an extra opinion when we try out some new clothes.”

“Oh sure,” Bled answered as I heard a little sigh of relief from Crimson, “and if you guys want anything special, I can make it for you guys. You both already know how good I am at tailoring.” I quizzingly glanced over at Crimson, wondering what he got from him.

“Oh I know, the mask you made for me is amazing. Not only does it feel great, it’s pretty good at blocking the glow from my Eyes, right Ace?” Bled was pretty shocked when he blurted my name out of nowhere.

“Y-You already told him about that?,” Bled confusedly asked, “I thought you wanted to keep it a secret.”

“Oh, didn’t I tell you? Ace knew about it for a long while. He even knew that you were the first to find out.” Bled looked directly at me, looking a bit distressed.

“You didn’t tell me!?”

“It slipped my mind,” I replied with a shrug, “and why does it matter, it’s not like he told me your secret or something.” I saw the big cat paused, the gears in his mind grinding together.

“I don’t know,” he answered with an aloof expression, “b-but I’m glad you trust him a lot Crimson. It makes more sense why Ace chose you at the festival.” Crimson’s face went dark as he softly smiled with a sigh.

“Yeah, he was pretty worried about me back there. He really needn’t worry about me though, both you and him know I’m perfectly capable of handling myself.”

“I-I know, but despite how close we are, you still feel distant to me, like there’s something important you haven’t told me.”

“You’re probably imagining things Bled,” the panther replied, his eyes glaring at me, “if I have something important to tell you, I would’ve told you. You’re my soul brother after all.” He didn’t want me to say anything about his predicament, but I still want to. “Anyway, enough talking about that, we have some clothes to try out. That bakery is going to close if we talk here all day.” Without any word from both of us, he bolted away from us as he headed to the dressing room, leaving me and Bled behind.

“Hey Ace,” Bled asked, his face a bit down, “is Crimson hiding anything important?” His eyes are masked away as usual, but he knows something’s up.

“Nah, he doesn’t have an important secret,” I lied with my head tilted down, wanting to tell him the truth, “if he does, I’m sure he’ll tell us eventually.” I recall Joker and his partner again, the two people that can lead me to an early grave. When I looked at Bled again, he seemed a bit skeptical, but all he could do was trust me.

“I-If you say so Ace, but if he’s facing something, promise me that you’ll take good care of him, ok?”

“I will, I promise.” Bled went to the panther as I went to go grab some clothes I wanted. I couldn’t remember what the clothes looked like in my dream, but I went with something that might be suited for my tastes. When I arrived at the section where the dressing rooms were, I spotted Crimson posing a bit with new clothes on.

He was wearing a black leather vest with a hoodie that continues to drape over his waist enough to conceal small knives. Underneath it was a crimson leather breastplate that rests on top of his regular black tank top. He was wearing some gray hiking pants that have black square sections that cover the knees as a black belt wrapped his waist. He was still wearing the mask he has, a black stripe of cloth that has two splotches of white for his eyes. He flashed a toothy grin immediately as he saw me arrive.

“You like,” he asked as he flexed his chest a bit, “had thought of getting these for a long while. Might as well get them now since we’re here.” He stared at me with his mask, trusting me with a smile. I nodded my head, as I noticed a slight yellow glint behind his mask. “Good, what do you think Bled? Anything I could add that’d help protect me?”

“Maybe something to protect those shoulders,” the cat answered, “I know your gauntlets protect your arms, but they don’t cover all your arms.”

“Nah, I’ll just adjust my HUD item so it’ll apply extra shields there. Speaking of, I should probably get an upgrade soon, I want something that applies bulkier shields like yours, Bled.”

“You know those types are pretty expensive, even more so to have them be light and slim like my mask.” So that’s where it was, considering the lack of accessories he wore. I looked over at Crimson, wondering if his mask was also it too.

“Yeah, but couldn’t you enhance mine to be just as strong as yours? Yours even has a magic lock to make sure it doesn’t fall off.” Bled was starting to get visibly uncomfortable with Crimson pressing him with questions.

“I-I can’t, most enchantments I do are usually on myself, remember? I was just lucky that I was able to strongly enhance my mask.” The two stared at each other, Bled’s body quivering a bit before a sigh came out of Crimson.

“I forgot, I’m sorry,” Crimson apologized as I heard Bled let out a sigh of relief. “I made you feel uncomfortable and I really shouldn’t do that. If you want, I can get something sweet for you when Ace and I go-“

“Oh no, that’s fine. I was going to go with you guys too. If you two wouldn’t mind.”

“Then I’ll pay for whatever you want,” the panther strongly declared, “even yours Ace.”

“Y-You don’t need to do that,” I hesitantly replied, “I was going to pay for mine and I’m buying some for Yuki too. That’d be a bit too much for you to pay.” Crimson pouted as I try to think of something to not get guilt-ridden for free food. “H-How about this? Bled, Crimson has been telling me about this show you love.” Both felines were shocked, the cat immediately blushing a deeper red as Crimson was more aghast. “If you want, we should have a watch party. Crimson bought the special collection that has the first season.”

Immediately, I saw a text notification pop up in my HUD and it came from Crimson. “What are you doing!? What about our plan!?” I ignored him as I continued my offer.

“Hell, we can invite Yuki too. He and I can grab drinks and snacks before we head over to Crimson’s room. You don’t need to bring anything, just yourself and your cute, excitable energy.” I could hear the big cat squealing on the inside as his body started to vibrate viciously. “What do you say, Bled? Wanna do that later this week?”

“OF COURSE,” the cat happily boomed, his voice rattling the clothes racks, “I have so many things I want to talk about the show! I’m so happy you’re interested in it!” He started to hyperfixate as he listed all the things he could do, only stopping as Crimson and I shook him back to reality. “O-Oh yeah,” he let as he recovered from his imagination, “clothes, go get changed Ace. I’m curious what you got for yourself.”

“Yeah prince, I’m curious what outfit you picked for yourself,” the panther added, “I’m sure you didn’t choose anything…interesting.” We both exchanged glances, both immediately knowing what the other was thinking as Bled sat clueless. Before he could ask anything, I swiftly made my way to the dressing room and got changed. As soon as I got into the comfy clothes, I took out my shovel and turned on my floating shoulder pad before heading out.

As I walked out, I rested my silver Sir Shootington on my right shoulder as the shoulder pad with red digital wings floated somewhat between the shovel and my shoulder. I happily displayed the gray light jacket with red at the cuffs of the wrist on me as it covered a plain, black t-shirt and a pair of black leather fingerless gloves. Wrapped around my waist is a black utility belt with a large pocket, a perfect spot for where my Item Cube of Holding goes. And draped around my legs down were dark brown cargo pants that cover my usual red sneakers.

“How do I look,” I asked as I carefully stabbed my shovel to the floor.

“Well first you better not damage the floor,” Crimson pointed out as I discreetly looked down below, “but it looks comfy, probably safe enough for you too.”

“I-I think it looks good,” the big red cat complimented.

“You’ll say that regardless of what he wears,” Crimson teased as he lightly pushed Bled.

“N-Not true,” Bled barked back with a slight blush, “he can be-“

“Hot? Sexy? Fu-”

“Shut it.”

“I’m not wrong am I,” the panther continued with a slight chuckle. “Don’t you worry my dear brother, I think he is too.” He patted the embarrassed cat before facing me. “Looks good I’d say, I bet Yuki would love it too, since you’d match with his outfit.”

“Yeah, I was thinking about him when I saw it,” I revealed while twiddling with my hands. “Anyway, so Crimson and I got what we wanted. You wanna look for some Bled.”

“I’m fine, I was just here to get some fabric.” He said as he grabbed his bundle of red soft threads. “You two should go change back, I’ll go ring up my stuff first and wait outside.” He hurried away before Crimson and I spoke back. Crimson and I gave each other a knowing look before he chose to confront me.

“You were looking for these, weren’t you?” The panther brought out a revealing set of garments. Though they weren’t the ones I saw in my dreams, they were really close.

“Y-Yeah, I was thinking of getting something for Yuki.” He wasn’t smiling, his gaze stared right through me. “That’s all, though I was hoping to show that off to see your reaction and Bled’s too.”

“Well you’re not getting one out of me, so go buy it if you want, but I better not see you wear that when you visit me.” He turned around, looking at me before asking one question. “You sure, you don’t remember anything?”

“I don’t.” I couldn’t find myself to tell him that I saw it in a dream. He stood there for a couple of seconds before heading back towards the counter.

“I guess I was just thinking things then, go get change. Don’t worry about me.” In just a blink of an eye, there were two of him and then there was just one, holding the clothes he just wore. “And don’t worry about paying for the clothes, I’ll pay for them, consider it as an apology for hiding those clothes earlier.” He quickly left me behind as soon as he said that, leaving me with the indecent garment.

Did I really want them?

I looked at them, wondering if I really wanted to get them in the first place. I changed back to what I wore before, grabbed the clothes I planned on getting, and went to the counter where Crimson was waiting like he said. He was surprised I didn’t get the garments he showed me earlier, but he paid for all the things he and I got. As we walked out, he asked me the expected question, “you didn’t want those clothes?”

“Yeah, I think it’s a bit too revealing for me.”

“Said the stripper,” he lightly added as I lightly jabbed his left arm, “I thought it was a bit too gaudy for someone like you anyway.” He patted my back before giving me a peck on the cheek.

“You’d think you could wear that?”

“Hell no, not in a million years.”

When we met up with Bled, we headed straight to the door that led to Remixer City. With a simple greeting from Orange, Crimson led Bled and I through the melodious streets until we reached a place called, “Clef’s Dough Re Mi.” It was a colorful, small, light brown building that was resting at the edge of town.

It was a pretty cozy place as the three of us walked in. There was a lot of different flora littered on the ceiling and on the walls. On the nice wooden floor were chairs that were shaped as a music note while the table had the legs painted to look like piano keys. The most noticeable thing about the place was a gentle badger strumming a guitar in the bakery’s little stage. I’m sure if Yuki was here, he’d sing next to her and probably get along with her. While Crimson sat around to listen, Bled and I went to see what baked goods we could get.

Bled was eyeing on the many different cakes that were being displayed, mostly the more colorful, tasty ones. They were also big and probably expensive, but I’m sure Crimson could afford it. I on the other hand was looking at the various cupcakes, muffins, and other small baked goods. Knowing what Yuki would prefer, I was looking for something small that he could eat in one hand while he wrote in his journal in another. The big silver bear that manned the counter was watching me and Bled closely as I made a decision.

Making sure Crimson wasn’t looking, I silently directed the big bear to what I wanted. It was an assortment of 24, handcrafted macarons that were split into two different versions. One was black with red filling while the other was white with blue filling, it reminded me of him for obvious reasons. When he grabbed the assortment, he softly asked, “you want this wrapped?” I nodded my head as I noticed at the edge of my sight that Crimson finally noticed what I was doing. I gave my cash to the bear before he soon began wrapping up my gift while Crimson ran up to smoothly check on Bled. I looked over to see the panther glaring at me as I simply smiled back.

“At least you won’t have to pay extra,” I texted Crimson. “I bet Bled is going to buy one of those expensive cakes.”

“I would’ve been fine regardless,” he replied, “you know how much money I made because of the loops?”

“Oh? So does that mean you can be my sugar daddy~?” I watched his face cringe in pain as he read my message. I did think of asking how much he has, but felt like playing with him a bit.

“You know I can end you, right,” the panther immediately texted back.

“But you won’t, right sweetie? :3c” He stopped responding to my text messages for some unknown reason after that, so I decided to watch over him while I waited, wondering what baked goods the felines wanted.

He was looking over Bled’s shoulder, who was oblivious to his stare, until Bled finally decided to pick which of the cakes he wanted. It was surprisingly not the expensive ones, just a small, velvet-colored cake that had a white crescent moon on top of it. Crimson ordered something as well, it was some cupcakes with some tacky, yellow, candy heart on the top of the frosting. Just like he promised, he paid for both his and Bled’s order, giving an extra big tip as well. After getting what we wanted, we left, not before the panther left another generous tip to the singing lass.

We headed back to the Tower, talking about making some small talk as I noticed something emitting from Crimson. It was an unusual, yet familiar feeling as I tried to hone into where it was. Same as when I first got my other form, an eerie, dreadful feeling. It faded though, and before I knew it, Crimson was offering me one of the cupcakes he bought. “You didn’t buy anything for yourself back there,” he pointed out, “you can have some of mine if you want. They’re pretty good, they have a nice, sweet floral taste to them.” I grabbed it, thanking in the process as I began eating it on our walk.

Our walk back wasn’t long though, we stopped at Yuki’s place, the room that was closest to the ground floor. Crimson offered to give me most of his cupcakes, but I declined, wanting him to enjoy them. Before I forget, I took out the fabric that Bled wanted me to store, and handed it back to him. “Let me know if you need anything,” I reminded the big kitty, “I look forward to seeing what you’re going to make.” He nodded happily as it was time for me to go in. “I had a great day today you two,” I let out unconsciously, “and about that marathon, I’ll see if Yuki wants to join in. It was really nice being with you two.” The two gave me a smile as we both waved each other good bye while I opened the unlocked door that Yuki always does for me.

As I entered the room, I noticed it was considerably colder than I remembered as I saw Yuki peacefully sleeping in bed, his fur coat white as snow. I went over to check on him, putting my hand on his forehead to check his temperature, forgetting his fur is a bit colder when he’s like that. I looked around to see if he made some dinner and found a note from him. “If I’m not awake when you come back, serve yourself dinner, I already got it cooked for you. And don’t worry about me, I already ate some beforehand.”

After I stored the desserts I got for him, I placed down a note for him as well before going over to eating the rice porridge he made. It was a bit too sweet, but it was still nice, albeit a bit lonely since I didn’t have anyone to talk to. I kept an eye on Yuki while I took some mental notes today as I ate. Finishing my bowl, I cleaned up all the dishes for him and did some cleaning in the room to tire myself out a bit.

I eventually went to bed, carefully trying not to wake the white wolf as I gently, softly, cuddled him from behind. His body was a bit colder than I remembered, but it was still comforting even more as I saw Frost enveloping us, making sure our bodies were comfy. It quickly faded away though as I heard Yuki rousing from his slumber. I only knew he was somewhat awake when his Frost slowly melted away and his temperature rose a bit. “You alright there Yuki,” I whispered as I hugged him close, “did you overdo it with Bled today?”

“A-A bit,” he groggily answered as he snuggled up to me, “training was intense, but it was nice to learn something new. Even though I’m still not good at it.”

“Well if you need a sparring partner, I’m right here. I’m not as good at wrestling either, so I can be your perfect rival.”

“Yeah, but remember, you still owe me an actual match.”

“I know, but you should rest first. Get all those aching muscles healed up.” I heard Yuki whine in tired annoyance.

“Give me a message Ace, I want one.” I smiled at the adorable wolf. As soon as I tried to move, I heard him playfully growl in a denial. “Laterrrrr. I want cuddles.” I chuckled a bit, going back to hug the cutie.

“That’s fine with me, I was in a mood for them anyway. By the way, I bought some desserts for you. We should eat some together later.”

“…What’d you get me?”

“Macarons.” I hear the wolf let out a happy whine, his tail trying to wag from its encapture. “We’ll eat some very soon if you want, so don’t fall asleep on me.”

“I won’t.”

He fell asleep minutes later, snoring as his Frost came back on. It was cute, totally my fault for keeping him in bed for a little longer. Still, he must’ve been really tired out today, so I just cuddled with him before falling asleep with him too.

It was the day before I would meet up with the Red Brothers for a fun marathon. I woke up with Yuki already gone again, left to my own devices and no one to cuddle to in the morning. I didn’t really know what came over me, but I decided to check up on my dads, just to see how they were doing. I texted Crimson what I was doing today, but I guess he was still asleep at the time as I didn’t get an immediate reply from him. Whatever it was when I arrived at my fathers’ room, Jack was already there and it looked like he was leaving their room. “You’re here,” he said as he faced me, his purple, silver Eyes looking at me.

“Y-Yeah, you too,” I awkwardly replied, slightly wondering what Jack was doing, “are our dads in there?”

“They are, is something wrong?”

“I just wanted to check up on them. Why were you in there?”

“Adel told me to come over for a quick check up,” he replied, “nothing too important.” He put on his fake halo and summoned his white wings before continuing, “now if you’ll excuse me, I got to go to work. I got an important package I need to deliver soon.” He took one good look at me before letting out a sigh. Before I got a chance to ask anything, he leapt over the rails, descending down the multitude of floors before quickly running out the Tower. As if it was on cue, Simon opened up the door.

“Oh! Morning Ace,” he happily greeted, his innocent smile prompting me to do the same. “How’s my son doing? I heard from Adel you had a great time at that kingdom in the north.”

“Yeah, I spent it with some of my close friends. I bet you would’ve loved it if you came along.”

“Definitely, but I was busy with some things in the Demon World.” He took out a key again, the same one that led me back to the castle below before asking, “by the way, you wanna go back down there again? I was about to head there to do a bit of reminiscing.” I think I know why I wanted to visit them earlier, I never did learn anything about my fathers’ pasts. I accepted his invitation, wanting to know more about them not because I’m their son, but because I want to make up for lost time.

“Sure,” I answered, giving him a smile, “and if you don’t mind, can you tell me a bit of your past, Dad?” He was a bit surprised by my offer, but he beamed before immediately hugging me tightly.

“Of course, I have so many things I want to tell you as a dad,” he happily replied before he continued with a regretful tone. “Adel and I probably could’ve been better fathers if it weren’t for-”

“You’re fine,” I immediately interjected, not wanting to remember the circumstances for me and my brother, “you two took the risk and it didn’t turn out what you guys expected, but I’m glad that I was still born into this world. I got to experience having friends, explore our world, and find someone I can be intimate with. I’m sure Jack feels the same way, except the intimate part.” Simon let out a bit of a forced laugh as I said that last part.

“Don’t be mean to him, he’s going through a lot right now,” he defended the guy that isn’t here, “but thanks for telling me that though. I feel a little better knowing you and Jack are still enjoying life. Now let’s get going, don’t want to delay our trip anymore.” We descended to the depths of Hell, entering the castle as we briefly greeted Adrian before going to our destination.

Throughout our walk there, it was the same like last time, people staring daggers at him as the white wolf simply marched on. I was quietly told to walk as far away from him once people started glaring at me too. For both our safety, I did, only to go next to him as he made an abrupt detour, dashing off on his own as I quickly followed. When I found him, he was caring for two children, both of them carrying a plush of the same thing.

“Go on now you two, that’s enough magic for now. Have fun with Mr. Bear and his brother. Just make sure to play nice so the two don’t get hurt.” I watched as the kids happily nodded as Simon walked beside me. “Sorry for that,” he whispered, “I heard some fighting over here, so I came to check. We can go back to our little trip now.” He continued walking as I tried to see what’d I missed, noticing bits of fluffy stuffing scattered on the ground. I quickly chased after the white wolf before I lost him again.

It was a park filled with artificial grass and trees, as if it was a snippet from the world above. Compared to the rocks and lava I constantly see around the kingdom, this place has this serenity to it.

It was a giant artificial lake, water shimmering as nearby Demons sit around, reminiscing about their lives. Simon led me around the area, where there laid a wooden fence that separated the land and water. The white wolf leaned on it looking at the center of the lake, reminiscing a haunting past. I followed suit, trying to see what he’s seeing, standing next to him as I took in the view.

“I was looking forward to this place when I heard it was being built,” Simon somberly forced out with a tired smile. “Lakes like these rarely exist down here due to heat from all the lava lakes around. So it was quite popular when the mayor in this town announced the creation of this artificial lake. For someone who grew up most of his life down here, the idea of a lake of water was fascinating. Who knew the grand opening would be ruined when someone drowned later that day.”

“It was in your world isn’t it, or I guess, the world you grew up in? Did you know them personally?”

“Yeah, he was the first guy I dated when I was in high school. He’s only gone because of me, if only he let me go, maybe things would’ve been different for him. He would’ve graduated, gone off to train to become a knight, and be the best royal knight compared to me.” He blankly stared at the waters, coming up with a myriad of what ifs in his mind, it was depressing to see. I scooted close to him, hugging his side by surprise, feeling the intense heat inside him cooling down.

“I think you’re a cool knight dad,” I earnestly let out, thinking about his demeanor down here. “I know I haven’t seen you much in action, but you’re always so calm and collected when you’re down here. And despite how people feel towards you, you still made an effort to help them out, like the children you helped earlier. You used your magic, didn't you? Not only did you repair their toy, you made an exact replica. I bet that guy couldn’t conjure something like that.”

The wolf gave a soft smile, as he replied, “yeah, it was always cute to see him try to figure it out, never thinking that this magician is actually using magic. Though I guess if he was alive, he wouldn’t be able to stay in this world.”

“Was it because he exists here,” I asked, thinking back about Crimson, “I heard from a friend that they were able to stay because they don’t exist here.”

“Yeah, from what Adel told me, it’s to prevent some confusion for their friends and family. Especially if that person had died here. There are some exceptions, Adel was one of them, even though he’s Adrian, he’s also not. His story was completely different to the point that he was considered someone different.”

“So, did you find that guy here then?” His eyes narrowed as a soft, sad smile formed on him.

“I did, was the first thing I did once I was able to get the key to here, but he’s not my guy, y’know? ” I nodded in response, thinking back on Crimson’s feelings towards me and the other me’s he interacted with. “He never met me, so he never risked his life to protect me or knew I existed. For his safety and mine, I think it’d be best if he and I never bonded, not until my fight here is done.” Simon patted my head, scruffing it up lightly with a soft, determined smile. “One day, Demons and Angels will be allowed to coexist with each other and our births wouldn’t be looked down upon with scrutiny.”

“But first you have to open the gates, right? So Angels and Demons can visit each others’ worlds?” That changed the wolf’s mood, as he began pouting.

“Yeah and whoever broke those gates sure made it difficult to do that. Adrian and I thought it was just banged up. We got a tiny peek through earlier and there’s fallen pillars blocking it as well.” He noticed my look of concern before answering a question I hadn’t spoken yet. “Don’t jump to conclusions yet, they might be okay over there and just want to seal that gate. Adrian is trying to get in contact with anyone over there to see what the situation is. If needed, we’ll just get a favor from Death and send me over there to check.”

“What if I go there in your stead,” Ace asks, wanting to help his fathers out, “I know I don’t look either of them as much, but maybe I can pass as one if I-“ Simon gently pats the son, interrupting him.

“I appreciate the help Ace, but you got things you have to do. And the first thing you need to do now is to keep yourself alive.” His smile immediately faded as he drew his sword, pointing to the bushes behind us. “Show yourself, or you will feel a dad’s wrath.”

“Simon, it’s me,” a familiar lion with flaming manes spoke as he walked out of the nearby bushes, “the Lord of Flames, Pyrite.” Simon immediately drew a sigh of relief as he sheathed his sword and then happily changed his tune.

“Pyrite,” he happily greeted as he immediately hugged him, “what are you doing out here? I thought you wouldn’t like the lake.” Pyrite pried off the happy white wolf immediately, then quickly brushed the debris off the knight’s clothes out of concern.

“I may be the Lord of Flames, but that doesn’t mean I hate water. I just wanted to see the view and gather my own thoughts. I just happened to be nearby and overheard you two talking.” He stared at Simon for a long while, before patting his head. “So you’re here to pay tribute, am I right?” Simon backed away immediately, but he let out a sigh.

“So you did hear that,” Simon let out as his ears dropped, “yeah, I am.” He immediately brightened up as he smiled at the lion, his tail wagging. “I’m done here though, so if you want, you can hang out with us.”

“S-Sure,” the lion replied as he looked away from the happy white wolf, “I was going to ask anyway. I want to get to know you better. Though I must make changes to myself if we are to do that.”

“I understand,” Simon replied with a bit of a sigh, “it’s about your reputation, if people saw us walking around, people would judge your position as one of the 5 Lords.”

“Glad you understand, it’ll just take a second.” With just a snap of the finger, Pyrite’s formal suit immediately changed to a red track jacket with a white stripe running down on the side of his arms while a black shirt and shorts. His bright red mane was neatly tied into a ponytail, using his flames to make a hair tie.

“Wow, you don’t look any different at all,” I pointed out, immediately getting some ire out of the lion.

“You’d be surprised how many Demons recognize me just because I wear a suit,” he said with a bit of an annoyance. “Even got rumors about me that suggested my entire closet is full of only suits.” I was going to ask if he does, but he quickly let out a sigh. “It’s not entirely true though, my closet is full of different suits, but there is at least one set of casual clothes. I already got my retainers working on getting some more, I trust them to have better fashionable tastes than me.” He bashfully looked down at himself before admitting, “this set I just quickly bought so I could wander out casually.”

“Well I think it looks nice,” Simon happily replied, “you don’t look as intimidating as before and in a way, I think it suits you better.”

“Thanks,” the lion quietly said as his flaming mane slightly grew pink. It was then that I decided to see if Crimson texted me back, only to see no response from him. I texted him again, worrying if he’s doing alright, but still no reply. I couldn’t help but think of Joker, worried that Crimson is in danger.

“Something wrong Ace,” Simon asked, taking me out of my worrying thoughts.

“Y-Yeah,” I weakly let out, “mind if I head back, I need to check on a friend.”

“Of course,” Simon answered, “we can quickly head back to the palace so we can-”

“No need for that,” Pyrite interrupted as he drew out his spear, “I can quickly teleport you back.” Simon was going to try to speak against it, but Pyrite was already drawing a sigil on the ground. He backed off once he finished, instructing me, “just step on the middle of the sigil and I’ll do my magic. Whatever you do, don’t panic, any sudden movements and you might lose a limb.” I did as I was instructed with a bit of terror, perfectly standing still in the middle before I was surrounded by flames. I closed my eyes, calming down as I heard Simon saying a goodbye and then the heat was gone.

When I opened my eyes, I found myself standing at the lobby of the Tower, the runic bot manning the counter as guests and residents walked past me. At the same time, Yuki was standing nearby, standing in disbelief with my sudden appearance. “Oh, hi Yuki,” I greeted with an awkward wave, causing Yuki to immediately walk over to me with his winter coat.

“Where were you,” he asked, cautiously touching my fur before immediately trying to brush off the ashes that were left on me.

“Hell,” I answered with a serious answer, Yuki was immediately concerned, so I dropped it. “I was with one of my dads, a friend of his used magic to send me back here. How are you doing, Yuki? I’ve noticed you’re back with that coat on again.”

“I’m…” Yuki trailed off, trying to think of something before continuing, “I’m doing alright. I was strolling around Remixer City earlier, so that’s why I’m like this again. So, since you’re here, would you want to hang out a bit today?”

“Sorry, I can’t,” I replied, watching Yuki’s ears droop a bit, “I was going to check up on Crimson. He hasn’t been responding to my texts today, so I want to make sure he’s doing alright.”

“Oh, I’ll come along,” Yuki replied as his ears shot straight up.

“No, that’s fine,” I immediately interjected, “you just got back from the city, so you’re probably a bit tired. Go back to your room and get some rest, I’ll text you or Bled if he needs anything.”

“Oh, ok,” Yuki dejectedly replied before picking himself up, “I’ll head back then, just let me know if he’s sick, ok? I wouldn’t want him to feel awful right before we do our watch party tomorrow.”

As I arrived at the door to Crimson’s room, I noticed the door to the room being unlocked again. Remembering the last time this happened, I cautiously tried to listen in, hoping it’s just Crimson in the room. All I heard was mostly nothing, only the sound of two people tiredly breathing. “You can come in,” an exhausted voice echoed out, “it’s just me and I.” It was Crimson’s voice as he lay in bed with his other self, both of them showing immense signs of exhaustion. One of the panthers' heads lifted towards me, seeing my face with a weary smile before greeting, “oh…hey prince. Sorry you have to…see me like this. I’m not feeling so grand today.”

“What happened,” I asked, sitting down next to him as I checked his temperature. He wasn’t heating up and it doesn’t look like he got any injuries either. No scent of blood either, just his scent and something floral. “Did you overwork yourself today?”

“Nah, it's just one of those days,” Crimson answered as he merged with himself, a bit more energized than before, “as much as I would love to say I partied hard today, I’m just not feeling it today. Been in bed all day, just thinking and talking with myself. Some ol self reflection you can say.”

“Anything I can do to make you feel better? You don’t need to be out of bed if you don’t feel like it.”

After Crimson took some time thinking, he answered, “could you make some food for me? I haven’t eaten anything the entire day.” I nodded, immediately going to the kitchen and opened the fridge to see what’s in it. There were a bunch of veggies, some slices of meat, and some other goods and preservatives. “You can use the veggies, I grew them from my garden.”

“You do gardening,” I asked, thinking about making him a sandwich. A thought quickly occurred to me as I immediately asked, “wait no, you have a garden?” I took out the veggies, bread, meat, and butter on the counter and began prepping a sandwich for both him and I.

“Yeah, it’s in a different room.” Crimson replied, with him making shuffling noises in bed. “I can show you it later, maybe after I get some food in me.” As I turned to see what he was doing, Crimson was right up in my face, making me jump back a bit.

“So you’re making a sandwich, not even going to toast those buns to give it that crunch?”

“Do you want that? It'll take a bit since I’ll probably put it in the toaster oven.” The panther fervently nodded his head, so I put both sandwiches in the toaster before we both took a seat at the table. “Looks like you’re feeling better already,” I noted as Crimson casually leaned back on his chair.

“Well I have to if I’m getting food,” he replied, “especially if someone is making it for me.” He rested his head against his arms while we waited. “So how was your trip in Hell? Any prince-ly work you did down there?”

“Not really, just went to walk around a little with my dad and did some reminiscing.” He was still curious what else happened, trying to egg me on, so I did. “I did think about you a bit though,” I revealed, immediately brightening Crimson's mood. He wasn’t going to stop me, so I continued, “I was wondering what you thought about me. I’m not the prince that you’d loved all those years ago, but we’re still friends. Wouldn’t it be better for you if you-”

“I’m going to stop you right there Ace. No matter what happens and who I’m talking to, you will always be someone special to me. That’s the same with my family too.” His eyes frighteningly narrowed as I felt a grim determination from his glare, “And I will protect you and my family, memories or no. I will do everything I can to make sure they live, even if it means it’ll cost me my life.”

“Momento…Mori...” Static filled my head as I saw someone standing in a field of red flowers. In the background, I could see a meteor falling heading right towards the figure. There was too much uncertainty about what I was seeing, like it was a hazy, faded memory.

I shook my head immediately from the vision, feeling a tad headache before letting out, “you’re important too Crimson.” I grabbed his hands, startling him before I continued, “please remember I’m here for you. I always will.” His eyes didn’t falter, he looked just as determined as he heard the same words. I couldn’t think what else to say, but I wished I did.

“I know, I’ll do my best,” he casually replied as his gaze retreated towards the oven, “but anyway, we should probably take it out soon, I’m sure it’s done toasting already.” I could only nod as I went to pull the bread out and make the toasted sandwich. Suddenly I felt someone holding onto me, hearing purrs in my ear.

It was Crimson that was hugging me from behind, nudging his head against mine as I felt his warmth. “I know you’re trying at least and I love you for it. So, thank you, for checking on me again, wanting to hang out with me, and thinking about me.” He squeezed me tighter as he said those words, not wanting to let me go. “Thank you, for everything, my prince.” I leaned back, taking in his embrace and giving him as much peace of mind as I could.

It was only ruined by the sound of Crimson’s empty, growling stomach. “Sorry,” Crimson apologized with a bit of a chuckle, “didn’t mean to ruin the moment, but I can’t wait to eat. So c’mon, make that sandwich faster, I haven’t eaten all day after all.” Instead of helping me, he strolls next to me, endearingly cheering me on while I make a simple sandwich for us. When I finished, he immediately grabbed one of them and sat himself around the table, with me soon following him.

We chatted between ourselves, mostly me talking about what I’ve learned as I watched the panther diligently listening to me. He didn’t falter when I talked about what I experienced today, not even when I mentioned my dad’s meeting with his first love again. Nothing new that would surprise him, but he was still happy to listen to me and give his own comments until we finished eating.

“Mind if I stay with you today,” I asked, watching Crimson starting to clean up.

“Not at all, but you sure? You don’t have anything to do today?” He gently placed away our plates in the sink before washing his hands. “I don’t have any other plans today, so I don’t really know what we-“ He let out a short yelp as I surprised him from a hug from behind, my turn to give him his embrace. His body immediately tightened as I nudged my head against his.

“That’s fine, we can watch some movies, shows, anything really,” I answered, squeezed him a bit. “I just want to be with you and if it means just laying around on the floor next to each other, I’m fine with that. Just being with you makes me really happy.” He began purring again, signaling me to just shake him a bit, saying, “let’s just forget dishes right now and just relax together. Get us some more time to breathe before things start heating up.”

Without any hesitation, he put down the dirtied dish that he picked up and washed his hands. Instead of going to pin me down or move to the couch, he playfully flicked water at my face. “As much as I would love that, I should be responsible and do some cleaning. You know what they say, clean room, clean mind.”

“Oh don’t be like that, you can do it later,” I replied as I held onto his arm, “if you want, you go relax and I’ll do that boring work for you.” He gave me a smile before handing me the sponge.

“If you say so,” he happily complied, “I’m going to relax on the couch a bit and keep your spot warm.” He spent no time flopping on the couch, his body momentarily sprawled out before turning on his back to watch me. “You want something to listen to while you clean? I can turn on the tv for you.” I nodded my head, shortly the tv turned on afterwards to display a drama show. I made sure the panther was comfortable and relaxed before I did something else.

I carefully put down the dishes I clearly wasn’t cleaning, turning off the water. I kept an eye on him, his focus towards the electric box as I judged the distance between us. I quietly snuck closer to him, before immediately pouncing on him to hear him meowed in shock. “I changed my mind,” I cheered as I laid my entire weight on him, “I’ll do it later, I want to be with you now!” He didn’t resist at all as I adjusted my position so my head was resting against his soft chests.

“Fine, but I’m going to let you know, ” he sighed as he immediately wrapped his arms on my back, “I’m never letting you go if you’re going to look cute.” He licked the tip of my nose before snuggling me tightly in a warm, loving embrace. I was so ready to just take a nap with him, until I saw a message from Yuki, reminding me of the thing I totally forgot.

“Hey Ace, how’s Crimson doing,” Yuki texted.

“He’s doing alright, told me he’s been in bed all day.”

“Oh, need me to swing by and bring anything?”

“No, you’re fine. I think he just needs someone to keep him company. Do you mind if I sleep over in his room tonight? I want to make sure he’ll be alright.” There was a pause as I waited for Yuki’s message, all while I was listening to Crimson affectionate purring.

“You’re fine, take good care of him, ok?”

“I will! I love you Yuki!”

“Love you too Ace!” After reading that text, I continued my snuggling with Crimson, trying to see if I could make him purr even louder. It didn’t take long as I’m sure he realized what I was doing before giving me the satisfaction of hearing it.

“By the way Crimson,”I let out as I patted his head, “I’m going to sleep over tonight.” He froze, just as I expected before turning his attention to me. “I already told Yuki and I got permission, but would it be alright if I do?” He let out a sigh as I saw his shade raising his hand up above his bed.

“I’d rather you ask me first, but sure, since you got permission after all.” The Crimson I was laying on soon disappeared, making me plop onto the couch myself. “Now come here prince,” the Crimson on the bed shouts, “the bed is more comfier than that couch.”

“What about the tv? Weren’t you watching it?”

“Nah, I was getting sleepy to be honest. You snuggling me was soothing to me. Now bed! You were getting sleepy right? Let’s nap together!” He then started chanting the word “bed” repeatedly afterwards, sounding annoyingly, yet endearingly cute with every chant.

“Fine,” I shouted back, giving in to his demands, “I’m on the way!” I got up, finally noticing that Crimson was naked on the bed. One arm supporting his head as he laid on his side, exposing me to his entire lovely frontside. He was clearly posing like he was trying to be sexy, and it’s definitely working because he sure is. “Ah, so is this also why you want me in bed?”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” the panther coyly replied as he playfully twirls his tail. “Maybe I like sleeping in the buff. With how good our rooms are automated, I don't need to worry about the room being cold.” He flashed out a toothy grin before suggesting, “why don’t you come join me Ace, before you get…uncomfortably hot.” He snapped his fingers as soon as he said those last words, the heater in the room turning on as the air felt a bit muggy.

“So when’s the part where you do the usual rug pull on me,” I immediately asked with a smile, “are you going to turn the room cold on me once I strip? Instantly put your clothes on with your shade?” He playfully stuck out his tongue before his shade returned, naked, as he embraced the other.

“Funny as that would be,” he admitted, grinning at the idea of it, “though I’m a bit more serious this time. That stunt you pulled on me that one morning got me a bit…needy.” His hand explored a bit of his body as the Demonic instincts inside me started to unburrow from within.

“I see,” I let out as I hesitantly tugged a bit on the collar of my shirt, thinking of how I should go about it. I’ve done it with Yuki, so it shouldn’t have been that hard to do the same for someone as cute as him. Yet my heart was fluttering about when I scanned him. “Well since I started the problem,” I let out as I began undressing in front of him, “it’s my job as a Demon to satisfy your needs.”

As soon as I was fully unclothed, I climbed on the bed, kissing the panther as I pressed my entire weight onto him. Soon enough I was sandwiched between the two panthers, both of them audibly purring at me. The whole time I was still expecting a rug pull, but the two continued to divulge their needs to me until we fell asleep in each other’s arms.

The next day, I woke up with one Crimson by my side, hugging me closely as I heard him snore a bit. His fur felt very soft as it touched mine and all I could do was just hug him back whilst trying to calm myself.

“You’re awake, aren’t you,” I lovingly asked as I lightly tugged his tail.

“Yep,” he playfully answered, “what gave it away?”

“Just a hunch,” I answered, with Crimson soon lightly yanking my tail in response, “but your snoring sounded pretty fake to me. How long were you awake anyway?”

“Enough for my shade to grab all the snacks,” he replied before giving me a peck on the cheek, “I noticed you weren’t thrashing about last night. I was so ready for you to kick me off the bed like the last time you slept over.”

“Well maybe because I was too exhausted from last night,” I replied with a naughty smile, “by the way, thanks for the good time.” Crimson lightly blushed a bit, most likely reminiscing it.

“What can I say, I learned a lot because of you, my dear prince.” The panther went in, gave me a nice kiss, hugging me close by the waist as he played with my tail a bit. “Okay, that’s enough cuddling, we got stuff to do,” Crimson happily exclaimed as he hopped off bed, “time to get everything ready for the watch party.” At the same time his shade kicks open the door, bags full of snacks weighed both his hands.

“YO ME, I GOT FOOD,” the shade happily, eagerly shouted. He noticed his other self is up and out of bed already before disappointingly noting, “oh, you’re not in bed.” He immediately brightened up when he saw me in bed. “Though Ace is! Out of the way me,” he happily exclaimed, recklessly tossing the bags at the table before jumping in bed, “my turn!” He began lovingly snuggling me as I can’t help but embrace it more while keeping an eye on the other panther.

“You sure you two are the same people,” I asked as I gave the snuggling panther chin scritches, “I’m a lot more used to seeing you two now, but everytime I see you and your shade, you two always act differently.”

“Of course,” the snuggler answered, “it’s more fun to split who’s the fun one and who’s the serious one. Especially with guests that know my splitting secret.” He positioned himself so he could whisper in my ear. “Just between you and me, we take turns on who gets to be the serious guy and silly guy.”

“That’s enough me,” the standing panther ordered as he effortlessly pried him off the bed, “let’s not procrastinate any longer. Our bros are coming for movie night and we don’t want them to see Ace naked in bed, they’ll think things.”

“They already have though,” the cute one countered, “he’s been spending a lot more time with us after the trip. And I’m sure those two already made up their mind when Ace made that fateful decision, right Ace?” I nodded, thinking back about the ritual in Frozolin, suddenly thinking about the superstition about it. “It says that if couples go in there, their love for each other would be frozen in eternity. Way I see it, those couples are bound to each other, until death comes to us.”

“I highly doubt they’ll believe that, it’s just some dumb thing some people made up after all,” the defiant one sighed. “Now, are you going to sit there and look pretty, or are you going to get dressed?”

“Yeah; yeah,” I yawned as I hopped out of bed, “I’ll get my clothes and wash up.” I watched as both Crimsons quickly covered each other’s eyes, only for the silly one to slyly move their head out the way to reveal a mischievous smile. I couldn’t help but lightheartedly laugh at the two, causing both of them to smile back in response before merging into one. “You really do like your Eyes,” I commented walking up to him and kissed him on the cheek, “I can only hope mine are as fun as yours once I awaken them.”

“Yeah…” He paused slightly for a second, his face painting a tiny bit of concern, only for him to quickly note, “hey, I think I forgot to grab something.” He went towards the shopping bags, quickly taking the chips, fruits, and nuts out before lightly palming his hand to the right side of his head. “Yeah I did, I’ll be right back,” he told me as he started walking out the door, “I forgot to grab a snack that Bled asked for, I’ll be back. Take your clothes with you too when you go to the bathroom. I’m going to leave the door unlocked so my brothers can come in, ok?” I nodded my head, watching him go out before I went to the restroom to get myself cleaned up for the day.

When I got out, Bled was already in the room, chilling around by sitting on the couch with a can of soda in his hand. “Let’s see,” he murmured to himself, not noticing the sound of me opening the bathroom door, “if I write it this way, maybe it'll sound more romantic.” He was deeply into his thoughts as I naughtily snuck up to him, immediately hugging him to hear him yelp. He quickly countered by grabbing my entire body, flipping me a 360, and gently placed me on the couch next to him.

“Morning Bled,” I happily greeted as the big cat slowly calmed himself down. “What were you doing earlier? It sounded like you were writing something.”

“B-Because I am,” he shyly revealed, “I sorta started writing recently because of our time at Frozolin. Y-Yule showed me some interesting books to read from the royal library.” He shifted his body, trying to hide something as he blushed a tiny bit behind his mask. “It hasn’t left my mind ever since, so I started writing and showed it to Crimson. H-He said it was good, so I thought I’d write some more.”

“Can I read it,” I asked immediately, Bled’s red tint getting darker as he contemplated the decision.

“S-Sure,” he hesitantly answered, watching my HUD immediately light up to notify me that Bled sent me a document. It was a very explicit story, making me wonder what exactly he read on the trip. Still, his writing was good, with some minor flaws here and there, but I could give him some tips to improve it. “W-Well, how is it,” he nervously asked, bracing himself for my criticisms.

“It’s good,” I replied, causing him to let out a sigh of relief, “the characters are interesting and the flow of it is good. I feel like you could improve some more and I could give you some tips if you want.” His face immediately brightened up, nodding as I huddled next to him.

“You write too,” he curiously asked.

“I do actually,” I replied while I unconsciously opened my mental notes, “I just write a journal though, mostly so it’ll help me remember things. I tend to often look back at it and fix any mistakes I didn’t catch the first time. There was this journalist I talked to, I could give you some tips that they gave me.” We sat there, me providing some tips on his stories before we started brainstorming some ideas for his story until Crimson came back with another bag full of chips.

“Hey Crimson,” Bled happily greeted, “you got the thing I asked?”

“Of course,” the panther replied as he pulled out a bag of chips that had art of multiple muscled men posing while being surrounded by fries coated in powdered ketchup. I gave Bled a bit of a side eye before I noticed it had a sticker that showed it was an otherworldly imported item. “I promised you that I’ll get it, so here it is! Took a bit for me to get it though, but thankfully the Red from the other world knew someone that could get me some.” He looked at me, happily tilting his head a bit before continuing. “It’s why I took a bit to get back. I had to go through a bit of the Tower’s customs to get them.”

“Is it that strict,” I curiously asked, remembering about Crimson’s origins, “I wouldn’t think it’d be much of a problem if you’re there for some chips.”

“Of course,” Crimson calmly replied while Bled grabbed a bag of the macho fries. “Though it’s not just for the chips, they had to make sure that what I’m carrying won’t cause any historical problems. My world is still a bit underdeveloped compared to this one, so I need to make sure I’m not carrying anything that’ll disrupt its history. That goes the same here if that world discovered anything that this world hasn’t.” Before I even asked, Crimson naughtily grinned before continuing, “though I’d be willing to spill some get-rich schemes if you offer me some…services.”

Immediately I heard Bled gasping from the offer, slightly hearing Crimson quietly snicker before I decided to go along with Crimson. “Well I already did, haven’t it,” I naughtily pointed out, hearing Bled’s bag of chips hit the floor while I held on to the panther’s shoulders, “I’d say you owe me one.” I pretended to seductively stare at him while watching the big cat go red in the face in the corner of my vision.

“Of course,” the panther complied, kissing the top of my head, purring slightly before immediately flicking my nose, “not! I actually don’t know any juicy secrets to share.” He looked over at the flustered red cat, giving him a smile. “Don't worry Bled, I’m sure you’ll get your turn with Ace too,” he teased, turning the wrestler a darker shade of red, causing Crimson to laugh a bit. “Sorry,” he apologized, quickly appearing by the cat’s side, patting his shoulder, “I’ll stop with the teasing. For now, we just need to wait for Yuki, once he comes here, I can transform the room and start the marathon.” So we just hung out, sitting on the couch as both felines squish me between them with their bodies, both of them purring with their affection. When Yuki came knocking, I leapt off the couch and quickly went over and opened the door, seeing him, white fur as usual, and someone else.

They were a dalmatian that’s a bit shorter than Yuki by roughly an inch. Their slender body was wearing a white t-shirt with short, blue sleeves along with a pair of dark blue shorts, a colorful wristband, and a black hat that they’re wearing backwards. Their Eyes were brown, one that belongs to those that are gifted at crafting. I assumed their craft was related to the cocktail shaker that is clipped onto his shorts along with a small brown pouch on the other side. They were carrying a hefty shopping bag that I would assume are drinks. “Uhh…” I let out wondering who Yuki just brought over, “who’s this Yuki?”

“Oh, didn’t Crimson tell you I was bringing a friend,” Yuki asked, me shaking my head in response, “well this is Creme Beladone, they’re a really good drummer I met in Remixer.”

“And a certified mixologist too, don’t forget that too,” the dalmatian added as Yuki immediately adorably flared up, “I’m currently applying to join the Tower, so Yuki thought it’d be great for me to get acquainted with you all. He’s also the one that scouted me to join, after a bit of clarification.” Yuki hid his face away out of embarrassment, but Creme just happily wrapped their arm around the wolf. “You must be Ace, right? Yuki told me a lot about you, even told me about your part time job.” I could hear the internal screaming Yuki was doing as his entire face heated up.

I looked over at the embarrassed white wolf, admiring how cute he was looking before responding to his friend. “Yeah, it’s nice to meet you, Creme! Well since you're my bf’s friend, you're my friend as well! Though I’m surprised that Yuki shared that info, he’s usually…secretive when it comes to that.”

“I gotcha, he just sorta told me it out of the blue while we were talking about work yesterday. It was more of an accidental slip of the tongue, but it didn’t change my perception of him. Enough about that, mind if we come in? I brought some drinks and I’d like to make sure they get refrigerated.” I nodded, letting Creme come in as they lightly pushed Yuki with them before going over to the fridge to stock some sodas before putting some fruit syrups on the counter. I casually went over to Yuki, embarrassed as hell, and embraced him a bit, hearing him squeak as I kissed him on the top of his head.

“I see you’re like this again,” I pointed out, causing him to grip tightly onto my arm, “you really like the white fur?” His body was still cold to touch, but I was starting to wonder if I’ll ever see his usual black fur again.

“N-Not really,” he hesitantly replied, “I actually have something to tell you. Can we talk about it later, when we’re alone together, I don’t want the others to worry?”

“Of course,” I replied as I playfully played with his tail, “let’s just enjoy ourselves for the day. When we go back to your room, you can tell me everything. Even with your time with Creme, I bet you were having a good time with him.” His Frost immediately enveloped both of us as I let out a light chuckle.

“Them actually,” he lightly corrected before turning a light shade of pink, “but we didn’t do anything that serious. We just hung out, listened to some music, and had a nice little jam session. It was really nice to have another musician I could talk to.” I watched his face produce a genuine smile as he cutely thought about his time. I couldn’t help being a bit jealous that someone made Yuki smile like that, I bet if we weren’t dating, he’d probably be with Creme…

“I’m glad you had a good time,” I happily praised before snuggling him under the ice, “well if you ever need some personal alone time with Creme, I’d happily allow you to.” Yuki’s body warmed up a bit, removing the frost around us. “Remember, you’re allowed to have your fun too.”

“Please don’t tease me about that Ace,” he sighed as he pinched my cheek, “Creme and I are just friends. We just hit it off well with each other after I found them drumming in the streets.”

“Well, ever thought about forming a band,” I suggested, freezing Yuki immediately, “I bet that would be a fun time and hey, maybe it’ll give you that inspiration you needed.”

“I’ll think about it,” Yuki replied as he stopped pinching my cheek, “I’ll have to ask Creme first, but if we do, we still need other members. We already have a singer and a drummer. ” I immediately thought about the badger guitarist that was playing in Clef’s Dough Re Mi, so I mentioned about her and suggested visiting that bakery when Yuki had the time. “Oh? S-Sure, I can check that place out. I wanted to get some more macarons there actually. They were pretty good.”

“Yo Yuki,” Creme called out, “your drink’s ready.” Yuki and I looked at each other once more, him giving me a peck on the cheek before breaking the ice to go to his friend. I watched as the dalmatian poured the contents of their shaker into a glass partially filled with light coconut cream, revealing a light blue, fruity liquid before swirling it a bit before salting the rim of the cup with sugar. Yuki happily got his drink, drinking it immediately as ice formed around his body. I went over to Creme, who was cleaning out their shaker. “So Ace, any specific drink you want,” they asked out as they filled the shaker with ice, “or do you want me to make your personal drink?”

“What do you mean by that,” I curiously asked.

“Well I could make a drink based on what I know about you,” he explained as he prepared the sauces, “or based on your appearance too. That’s what Yuki chose and you can already see him happily drinking away.”

“Sure,” I answered as I saw my boyfriend’s adorable, delightful face. Soon Creme began gathering ingredients before stuffing them in their shaker. Only when it seemed they were half way, an idea popped out of my head. “Wait,” I blurted out, Creme calmly freezing in place, “let me do one thing real quick, that way. It might change how you see me, so that I won’t just be a black wolf to you.”

Instantly the cold breeze devoured me as my fur shifted to full white and my Demonic horns sprouted from the top of my head. “How about that,” I asked with a smile, “a demon hiding behind a color I bet you can come up with something where it splits into two.” The dalmatian simply shrugged, accepting my challenge, putting away the cup they had planned to use.

Replacing it was a cup that was modified to have a removable, curvy middle section, so it can hold two flavors of drinks separately. Creme opened the shaker, carefully pouring the black, fruity liquid on one side of the cup until it reached the brim of it. Soon Creme poured out the rest of the shaker onto an empty bottle before taking out a small container of milk and pouring it on the other side of the cup. They soon added some whip cream on top of the milk, ensuring that it never touched the other side before adding a blackberry on it. With their brown Eyes glowing, they quickly removed the middle section as they casted a light temporal magic to ensure the two sides stayed within their section, with the whipped cream frozen in place.

“Enjoy,” they said as they slid the drink over, “and do mix them, the look itself is just for presentation purposes.” I immediately mixed them immediately, watching as the milk revealed the tiny black seeds of the fruits that Creme used as the liquid turned to a nice shade of a light purple. When I took a sip, my tongue tasted the pleasant mix of the sweet and bitter from the fruits that Creme used. A mixture of raspberry and blackberry while the milk gave the drink a creamy texture. As soon as Creme noticed the delight on my face, they simply smiled, happily knowing they served a satisfied patron.

“Alright everyone,” Crimson loudly, dramatically announced, “now that everyone is here, we can start our little marathon! I prepared a special room for all of us to watch! All I need is for everyone to sit down, close their eyes, and keep 'em closed until I say so!” He looked over at the three of us at the bar, with two of us holding a drink. “You can still drink, just don’t get up.” With a nod, Creme casually stored away the mixtures and drinks before walking over to the other side of the bar, gently sitting next to Yuki. Bled soon joined, not wanting to feel left out, as he sat next to me, putting me between Yuki and the big cat.

With everyone seated closely, even though it’s not needed, Crimson started counting down to give us some time. I closed my eyes immediately, soon feeling both Yuki and Bled holding my hand at both sides with a different pressure coming from both of them. Bled surprisingly, being calm and delicate with my hand while Yuki was nervously, tightly gripping onto me as if he could disappear at any moment. Once he reached zero, the panther snapped and I could feel the chair beneath me change alongside the atmosphere. Soon enough, we would hear the panther’s charming voice again.

“You may open your eyes now,” the panther loudly announced. When I did, I was greeted with all five of us sitting in a gigantic theater, sitting directly in the middle of the warmly lit auditorium. Surrounding all of us were exact holographic copies of all of us, sitting silently and motionlessly in their seats. Each and every one of them have slight differences compared to the original whether it’s our clothes or our bodies. While everyone else was busy looking at the holograms, I looked back, seeing Crimson’s shade relaxing next to the projector. “Great isn’t it,” the panther braggingly asked as he leapt and stood on top of one of the seats in front of us, “I call this room, Crimson’s Mindscape Theater. Been working on this room specifically for a while. How’d you guys think of it?”

“Didn’t know tech like this existed,” Creme marveled as they poked at a hologram of themself wearing a brown cardigan sweater, “we only met once, yet these holograms are eerily wearing clothes I have in my closet. Even got the smallest details too.”

“Well it’s because this theater is using your mind to create those,” Crimson answered, “as for tech, it’s some runic technology that the Tower is still experimenting with. With a bit of data though, it projects any version of yourself to these seats, even versions that are from the future or you had long forgotten.” I scanned the room immediately, curious if I could find two specific people and I did. It was a bit hard, but I spotted two familiar pairs sitting in the upper right corner of the room, the holograms of Joker and Snow sitting next to each other lovingly.

“I’ll let you guys explore the theater later,” Crimson promised as he went back to his seat, “so for now, let’s just sit back, relax, and enjoy our marathon.” As if on cue, the warm lights dimmed down, the projector filled the giant screen with light, and the speakers around us surrounded us with music. A digital notepad soon appeared on everyone’s lap, with Crimson immediately explaining, “if you need any refreshments and stuff, order on that pad. It’ll be quickly delivered to you as long as I have enough in my pantry.” And thus, we began the marathon, enjoying it amongst each other as we sometimes discussed it between episodes, with Bled being really enthusiastic about it.

When it was over, we looked around to give a good look at the holograms. As I somewhat expected, the two holographic figures of Joker and Snow vanished. Most likely Crimson noticed it and got rid of it during the show, making sure his brothers don't see them, especially Yuki. Sadly, with everyone being around, I wasn’t able to talk to Crimson about it privately, but I’m positive that he knew I saw the pair. When we were done hanging out, Yuki and I took our leave first as we both had something important that we needed to discuss.

When Yuki and I returned back to his place, he immediately sat down at the table with a deep sigh. His smiling facade faded, revealing a more depressed look on his face. “Ace, we need to talk,” he asserted as he cautiously leaned forward on the table, “it’s about my body.”

“I thought so,” I replied as I sat across from him, holding his cold hands, “I had a feeling something was up when you lowered the room’s temperature every night. Even more when you show up with that soft, brittle white fur every day.”

“Y-Yeah, I’m sorry if it ever made you feel uncomfortable,” he apologized, lowering his head and ears, “it’s about the Frost I got back in Frozolin. Yule told me something very important about it the night before we left, a warning that everyone in Frozolin knows very well.” He was shivering in fear as he gripped my hands tightly, his breath quickening as the ice enveloped him before spreading it to me. “I-It’s very important that I keep my body temperature as low as I can. If it ever reaches a specific temperature, I-I’ll die.” He dug his claws into me out of fear, unconsciously hoping that it would alleviate the pain he’s going through.

“Shit,” was all I could say as I finally noticed the immense fear behind the white wolf’s eyes.

“Y-Yeah, that means I’m going to be stuck looking like this forever,” he revealed, “I-I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner, I didn’t want you to worry about me when you were busy with Crimson.” My heart sank as I watched him force a smile while anger boiled in me not just towards Yule, but towards the one that should’ve been there for him, me.

“No,” I immediately disagreed, startling my precious wolf as I got up and went over to hug him, “It’s my fault for not noticing how scared you were. As your boyfriend, I should’ve paid more attention to you and gave you all the attention you needed.” I held him tight as tears formed and dripped down, coating his cold, hardened fur. “I’m sorry,” I softly cried out, “I’m sorry I abandoned you when you needed me most.”

We both cried in each others’ arms, our tears repenting of all the things we both regret. The secrets, the jealousy, and our fears staining the white and black furs of the two wolves. I couldn't tell how long we cried, but it was enough for both of us to calm down for our hearts to beat as one. Holding on a little longer to give us both the comfort we needed.

“Please don’t tell the others,” he pleaded after we both got a cup of water.

“Why,” I asked, shocked and worried about that request.

“I don’t want anyone to give me any special treatment because of this problem,” he replied somewhat fidgeting his hands, “I’d rather be treated like everyone else. So, promise me you won’t tell, ok?” I paused for a second, thinking about what he’d want, yet I worried about what could happen.

“Of course,” I replied, deciding his wants are more important, “I’ll try to do my best to treat you the same way. But if there is ever a chance that your health is in danger, I want you to focus on that. I don’t want you to die on me.” He nodded, his face painted with a serious look before we both took a deep breath.

“Alright,” I casually spoke out as I looked over to the fridge, “but speaking of your health, I've noticed you’ve been drinking a lot of water lately. So I got you something.” I pulled out my small item cube, stuffing both my hands in to pry out a water dispenser. Yuki immediately went to help, mostly moving the item cube out of the way as I placed it on the ground. “I figured you’ll need this more than just getting some water bottles,” I continued, with Crimson’s knowledge, “if you ever need it to be refilled, I can go do it for you.”

“Oh Ace,” he lovingly coddled before revealing a painful, obvious truth, “I can summon one in my room, you don’t need to buy one.” The realization hit me hard, smacking me even further when I literally saw Crimson do it multiple times in his room. I’m definitely not going to get my money back. “I appreciate the gesture though,” he continued as he wrapped his entire body around me, “and since I hadn’t thought about getting one of these things, I’ll keep it. I do need a lot of water because of the Frost.” I nodded, not letting him know that Crimson was the one that hinted to me about it, but I let myself lovingly embrace the wolf the whole night.

The next day, Crimson requested me to join in on a case somewhere away in another continent. Thinking it was related to the upcoming threat, I’d joined him, but at the same time, I want to be with Yuki as much as I can. “Hey, would it be alright if I bring Yuki along,” I texted the panther, “I know it might be risky, but we’ll need more help.” He took a while to type a response, something I expected since, but he gave an answer.

“Sure,” he reluctantly texted, “but if anything dangerous comes up, get him far away no matter what.”

“Of course,” I mentally replied, sending a cute sticker of Red Rum, a lion with a red mane in a red skintight hero suit, pumping his chest. In return, Crimson sent me a cute sticker of Blue Whiskey, a blue wolf in a blue suit and brown trench coat, brooding as the words ‘good,’ were underneath it. Looking at the sticker, I was reminded of the pin Jack had worn when we went to Frozolin. It made me wonder how much he knew about the show and what he was doing before I came into his life.

I quietly looked down as Yuki slowly roused from his slumber. “Morning sleepyhead,” I cooed as I kissed the top of the white wolf’s head, “have any plans today?”

“N-Not really,” Yuki groggily answers as he clung onto me, “we going somewhere?”

“Yeah, out of this continent,” answered, stroking his white, cold fur. I thought much about what had happened last night before I lamented, “Crimson needs me for something, but I thought I should bring you along. After last night, I want to make sure we have a lot of time together.”

“You don’t need to do that,” Yuki bashfully let out as he cuddled closer, “but thank you. Now let’s get out of bed, if we hold each other any longer, we won’t be going anywhere.” As he tried getting out, I only held him down, forcing him back to a cuddle.

“5 more minutes,” I cutely demanded before smooching on his neck a bit. We both laughed together as Yuki decided on a counter offer.

“15,” he offered, feeling his hand grope my ass.

“30,” I added, embracing him and nipping his ear.

60 minutes of cuddling later, the both of us were out and getting ready to meet up with Crimson. I helped Yuki put on his gear, teasing him with every chance I got, knowing he’ll help do the same to me. He was very affectionate when he helped me out, his frosty touch adding a cold, delicate sensation with every touch of his tips. Compared to me, Yuki was going all out with his affection, making up for the lost time we hadn’t spent together. If it weren’t for Crimson calling me, Yuki and I would probably stay in our room the whole day.

When we went down to the Tower’s main lobby, we found Crimson deep in his thoughts as he sat upside down on a chair. He picked himself quickly, greeting us as we made sure we had supplies on us. Once we were done, we stepped through one of the Dimensional Doors that took us to our destination. With just a single step we traveled from the hotel-like lobby and into a town called Rokorook, a place located in the south western continent called Norren.

The town itself was a sight to see, wooden buildings mixed with fused steel metals, runic drones hovering as they carried a variety of goods, and a lot of people wandering around wearing either futuristic clothes with added neon lights or oriental ones adorned in various colors. The paved, rocky streets of the town are adorned with various street vendors using either technology or magic to cook and serve food to their customers. It was a fascinating sight of both past and future mixing together.

“Welcome to Rokorook,” Crimson happily presented as he lifted both his arms high in the sky. “The town of technical contrast of the past and present! Run by Bloody Red’s brother, the newly, magnificent, appointed Lord, Black’O Night!” As if on cue, the panther moved away immediately, presenting a black wolf that was more embarrassed than proud.

The tall, muscular wolf was wearing a light black jacket adorned with a graphic art of a cherry blossom on it along with a pair of black denim pants. The pants were adorned with rectangular purple lights as his back and white athletic shoes shone a bright purple color on the brim of them. Underneath the jacket was a plain dark white shirt, but there were signs of tear that were patched up with golden threads. Most notably, covering his right arm was a Kote, a gauntlet covered in dark purple metals as it seemed to have been altered to have the same purple lights on his clothes. I could see the wolf’s weapon, a katana with a black hilt resting in a white scabbard mostly covered up in blue rope that is attached to his pants, but what caught me most was his red Eyes. Even if he was taken aback from Crimson’s intro to the city, his gaze could slice me in an instant.

“Black,” Crimson cheered as he ran over to him. The wolf furiously shook his head to get rid of the shock before opening his arms wide.

“Crimson,” the black wolf happily greeted as he and Crimson immediately hugged each other, “it’s been a while since you visited. Who’s the two you brought over?” He curiously looked over at me and Yuki as I awkwardly waved at him while my boyfriend casually walked up to him.

“I’m Red’s oldest son, Yuki,” he formally introduced himself before doing an elegant bow, “it’s an honor to finally meet you uncle.” The black wolf beamed at Yuki, breaking his hug from Crimson as he towered over my white wolf.

“It’s great to finally meet you,” he replied, patting Yuki’s head, “I see Red taught you some mannerisms here, as expected of him. You look a lot different than the photo Red sent me.”

“It’s a bit of a story,” Yuki shyly replied, most likely remembering his predicament. Black looked like he was going to press more about it, so I quickly went to them to interrupt him.

“I-I’m Ace Heart,” I introduced myself, the black wolf’s red eyes quickly narrowing from my last name, “I’m their friend, mostly Yuki’s boyfriend. I came here because Crimson asked me to.” Yuki stopped shaking as I could feel his appreciation behind his faint smile.

“Didn’t know Adel had a second kid,” he coldly blurted out before lightening up a bit, “your brother came here near the end of last year. You know about that?” I shook my head, it was the first time I’ve heard of it. I always thought Jack was traveling around the Tower with his job, not out here. “Oh, how is he doing nowadays?”

“He’s doing alright, I think,” I answered, thinking back about our last encounter, “he works as a delivery man for Winged Packages so he can get used to flying with his wings.” Black was a bit skeptical when I answered, but he shrugged.

“Guess he didn’t get assigned to deliver here,” he let out with a hint of disappointment. “I was hoping to have a nice chat with him too, see how he’s been doing with his princely activities.” He looked at me as he said that last part, a heavy weight being placed on my shoulder. “I guess you’re a prince too, right? How’s that treating you?”

“W-Well it’s something,” I nervously answered, immediately remembering all the un-kingly things I’ve done, like being a stripper. “Compared to Jack, I’m probably still new to being a prince. He’s more capable than me after all.”

“Well I can’t say how much, but from what Crimson had told me, I’d think you’ll be a good prince too.” I felt my face flushed as I looked over to the panther that's having a conversation with my brother. “You don’t need to put yourself short, what you think of yourself is something you want to improve on. If Crimson thinks very highly of you, I think you’re already on a good track. He’s the best spy I’ve known.”

Black immediately placed his hand on my shoulder as I felt him firmly squeezing it. I looked back at Black’s face, only to see his eyes glowing red and a menacingly grin strewn across his face from ear-to-ear. “So if you do anything to break any of my nephews' hearts, I will end you. Got it?”

I nodded my head rapidly, soon watching the ferocious demon wolf go back to his casual laid-back self. At the same time, Crimson quickly ran over to my side. “Be nice to the prince Black, he’s pretty easy to scare. Almost shitted himself when I spooked him one morning.” Purposefully leaving out the fact I was in a bathroom, alone, but I wasn’t going to point that out when it helped ease Black.

“If you say so, then I guess I’ll back down. I do need to get going though,” the wolf continued, pulling out a pocket watch from his jacket before he looked straight towards the panther. “We can talk about the job when we head back to my place. For now, go explore the town, Crimson already knows where I live, so he’ll guide you back when you’re ready.”

“Alright, let’s go, Yuki, I know some shops that sell some nifty accessories,” the panther cheered, wrapping an arm around the wolf and quickly dragging him away before letting him say anything. I was a bit curious what Black was up to, but I didn’t want to be left behind, especially since Crimson was dragging Yuki a lot faster with every step. I bowed respectfully at Black, remembering some mannerisms from Yuki, and went to chase after Crimson, walking past the black wolf.

As I strolled past him, I felt Black’s hand land and grip onto my shoulder. I quizzingly looked up, only to see a threateningly serious look on the black wolf’s face. “Do you by chance know someone named Null,” he silently asked. I shook my head immediately, both not recognizing the name and wondering why he’d asked something like that.

“N-Not really, why?”

“You look almost like him,” he truthfully answered, his eyes staring right into mine.

I looked away from his piercing gaze before asking, “do you know him?”

“I do,” he replied, turning his head away, “but it’s probably better if you talk to your brother about it. Both him and your brother came here once, I was wondering how that wolf was doing.” He crossed his arms, watching the drones that flew while reminiscing the past. I joined him, wanting to know more about the past that I never knew existed.

I was nervous, there was clearly a reason why my whole family never told me about it. I wanted to know, even more so if this Null guy looked almost like me and he was my brother’s friend. “Why were they here?”

“Your brother said he was trying to help Null recover his memories, a goal your brother made because of his love for him.” I suddenly felt bad about my comment about my brother from a while ago, though it was at least a relief that only Simon heard it. “They both even promised they’ll come back here to visit as soon as he remembers his past,” the old wolf continued, “guess they both forgot. If you see your brother, can you give him something for me?”

“What is it?”

“An autograph,” Black replied, “it’s from an actor from a show when they were here last year. Your brother wanted to get one from him, but was pretty shy to ask once he met him. I thought I’d return the favor and get it for him, a thank you for helping me out last year. You mind giving it to him in my stead?”

“Yeah, I can give it to him then,” I answered, trying my best to imagine him being shy.

“Good, I’ll hand it over once you’re done with the job.” He gave me a smile before gesturing his head towards my friends. “Go have fun with your friends, we’ll talk about the job later.” I nodded in response before splitting off with Black and catching up to Yuki and Crimson.

“So Yuki, anything you want,” Crimson asked, nudging his arm against Yuki as the two saw me approaching. “Your bf can pay for it as a treat.”

“No, that’s fine, I can pay for it,” Yuki quickly and humbly replied. “I rather give someone a gift rather than constantly getting it.” He looked at me straight in the eyes, smiling at me. Crimson just grinned as he switched his attention to me instead.

“Alright, so what do you want Prince,” the panther asked, putting me on the spot.

“N-Not really,” I awkwardly answered, with nothing notable coming to mind, “I usually just want materials for our weapons.”

“Let’s find you some better tools,” Yuki suggested, my ears perking up immediately, “you were complaining about needing a replacement before.”

“Alright, let’s go find some,” Crimson cheered. Without letting me say anything, Crimson started dragging us around the town. Instead of going directly to a hardware store, Crimson lightly danced around it, taking us to various places near it. At one point though, Crimson took us to a grocery mart, telling Yuki to grab some things for tomorrow before sneakily walking out on his own. I went out to look for him, telling Yuki I was checking something out, and found him in the alley, leaning against the wall with his head held down.

“Doing some thinking,” I asked, joining him by leaning next to him.

“Sort of,” he answered as I could see a faint glow from his Eyes, “just sorting through my mental notes.” He looked at me before asking, “you worried about me?”

“Not really,” I replied as I held his hand, “just curious what you were up to. Mind sharing with me what's on those notes?”

“Sure, it’s some sex positions I was thinking I could try on myself,” he lightly answered with a chuckle.

“Oh? I could totally test out some of them,” I played along, thinking he was joking.

“Alright, I’m sure Yuki would be interested in trying some of them out.” With that he actually sent it to me, to my surprise, but I looked over it anyway. Some of the positions of the models were a bit impossible or incredibly silly, but I didn’t say any of that out loud.

“Well, I was thinking we could do some of them as well,” I suggested as I softly gripped his firm chest a bit, sending him heating up almost immediately.

“Y’know, if you’d asked when we’re not in broad daylight, I’d be down,” Crimson declined.

“So you’d be down if we’re out here at night,” I teased a bit more leaning on him a bit.

“…Maybe,” the panther shyly mumbled, hiding his face from me, “would you be interested in doing something risky like that?”

“Considering I’ve had sex at work, yeah I would.” I lifted my shirt a bit, playfully sticking my tongue, causing Crimson to chuckle.

“Alright well, pick a night and we’ll go out and be a bit risky. Just not tonight, Yuki would be worried about you.”

“Well he could-“

Join us? Nah,” he assertedly declined, “remember, he, Bled, and I agreed to not be involved when you decided to bang one of us.” He soon slightly unzipped his vest, revealing his crimson pecs out in the open. “And unlike me, Yuki gets mortified by the idea of stripping out here in the open, even if he’s a stripper. I don’t mind it at all, I’m a bit more confident in my body.”

“How confident,” I asked, ready to ask him to do more than just revealing his chest, “enough that you’d strip all your clothes right here, right now?” He let out a grin, as he unzipped his vest all the way.

“Depends, are you daring me to do that?”

“Hell yeah I am,” I devilishly dared before provoking him, “you have no balls.”

He lets out a chuckle as he places a hand on the waistband of his pants, calmly declaring, “alright, I’ll show you some balls.” Before I could even react, he removed both the pants and vest, proudly displaying his body as his underwear hides the only part left of him. The heat swelling within me grew more as I realized what this may look like to anyone else. “That feels better, now one more to-”

“O-Okay, you’re good,” I quickly backpedaled, grabbing his shoulder, “you can put your clothes on now. I-I believe you.” He laughed from my sudden outburst before starting to put his clothes back on.

“Thought so,” he chortled as he patted my head, “no matter who you are or how many times I see you, you’ll always be fun to mess with Ace. I’m glad that it stays that way.” A sudden thought came to me, reminding me of what I saw yesterday. I only asked after he put on the rest of his clothes, not wanting to make it awkward for him.

“Hey so, about that theater yesterday,” I cautiously let out, “you saw those two right?” Crimson quickly looked around, frowning immediately.

“Yeah,” he answered, “sorry about that. I didn’t mean for that room to spoil that surprise for you.”

“It’s fine, I had a feeling when I saw Snow’s weapon,” I replied as I leaned against the wall, feeling a bit sick, “so that’s my future, huh? Killing different versions of myself just for not following some script, what did I get myself into? I even brought Yuki in on the mess too.” I couldn’t help but remember his predicament, the curse that his body took. Are we going to end up like that soon? What’s going to happen to everyone else?

“Don’t worry about those two,” the panther let out, his hand caressing my face, “that’s just one of the possibilities and I’ll make sure you won’t become someone like him as long as I’m alive. I promise you that.” He had that look again, one filled with the same grim determination behind his smile. My head was aching as I was reminded of that vision, but I wanted to know one more thing.

“Momento Mori,” I quietly let out, the panther’s eyes widened and his smile faded, “is that you’re Illusory Field?” Crimson immediately pressed me against the wall, right hand tightly on my throat, left hand in his pocket, his eyes glaring at me with something fearfully new to me.

“Who told you,” he furiously interrogated as I could see his knife flashed in his left hand. He was really intimidating, his once calm and collected eyes were filled with immense dread, anger, and an overwhelming amount of grief. All those emotions mixed in a twisted sense of determination as he pressed the knife against my neck. Whether it was from the stress or it had happened, but I was daydreaming again, immediately feeling and saw him drawing the knife across my neck before I woke up again.

“N-No one,” I truthfully, fearfully answered, holding tightly on the hand that’s holding me, “I had a vision some days ago.” His mind was blank as he stared at me down, knife somewhat pressed against my neck. “Please, lower the knife Crimson,” I pleaded as I struggled to get his grip off me, “I-I’m really sorry, I wasn’t sure when it was a good time to ask. J-Just don’t kill me.” His eyes widened again, waking from whatever was taking hold of him, immediately dropping me.

“Shit, I-I’m really sorry,” he quickly apologized as he helped me get up before panickingly hugging me, “I don’t know what came over me.” He held onto me tightly as I felt a bit of his claws digging into me. “As your partner in this looping world, tell me that vision, tell me every detail you saw, even if it was a short one.” He leaned against the wall next to me, handing me a piece of recovering candy as a way of apologizing for what he did. I quickly explained what I saw, keeping an eye on him as I briefly mentioned a fire crashing down on the figure in that vision, then I told him about the vision I had when we got new clothes. The only thing I left out was the daydream I had of him killing me with his own hands. When I finished, he had this concerning look as he took out another tired sigh.

“Fuck,” he let out as he pressed his face against his left palm, “I was right to be worried after all.” I quizzingly looked over, the panther’s tail drooping while his hand trembled a bit. “Well I have good news and bad news,” he relayed, “good news, I think I’m allowed to tell you everything I know. Bad news, we can’t rely on my memories anymore.”

“What do you mean by that,” I asked, wrapping my hand with his.

“All my memories aren’t back yet,” he revealed, slightly fidgeting his jacket with right hand, “I only found out yesterday, right before I left my room again to get some more snacks.”

“We were talking a little bit about your Eyes weren’t we,” I asked recalling the image I saw on the chips Bled wanted. He nodded immediately, then I asked another. “It’s about mine, isn’t it?” I had thought about asking about it before, but I figured he’d shoot it down whenever, so I never did.

“Yeah and to answer your next question, I don’t know what they are,” he continued with a bit of annoyance. “Which is strange because I know you awakened them before. My body knows you did it before, but I can’t remember anything about them, what powers they have, what colors they are, nor even their name. All information or memory of it was blank, only this faint feeling that something should be there.” His eyes soon widened as his ears flicked immediately, hearing someone coming, I turned immediately as I sensed it too. I looked back at the opening of the alleyway, seeing someone that shouldn't have found us.

It was Yuki.

He was standing there, holding onto some bags as Crimson’s shade soon caught up to him. The white wolf glanced between both panthers out of confusion and a bit of fear. Soon fear took hold of him as we all watched Yuki quickly dropping the bags and taking out his naginata from his growing fears and pointed to the one that was talking to me. “I-I can explain,” both Crimsons quickly shouted in unison before the threatened Crimson disappeared and merged with the one next to him. The wolf turned his eyes toward his brother, soon witnessing Crimson and his shadow together, one with red eyes and the other with yellow eyes. He took off his colored contact lenses, revealing his yellow Eyes as he revealed, “it’s my Eyes, the Shade’s Eyes. I can be at two places at any time, I didn’t mean to hide this from you Yuki, I’m sorry.”

The white wolf took slow breaths, his eyes on both his brother and me, calming down before putting his weapon away. “Y-Your fine, I should be the one apologizing to you,” Yuki replied as he lowered his head. “I pulled my weapon out on you thinking you were an imposter. Especially since I’ve been hearing rumors of them happening lately, I wanted to make sure. I’m sorry.”

“You’re fine, I would totally do the same in your shoes,” Crimson forgave as hugged his brother.

“I was the last one wasn’t I,” Yuki asked, looking over to me as I silently stood aside. I nodded my head, as I nervously smiled. “Figures,” he sighed as the two broke off the hug, giving a good look at his brother’s Eyes, “colored contacts, clever. Do you and your clone always wear them?”

“Yeah,” the panther answered toward the curious wolf, “and I know what you’re going to ask, but sadly, I’ll have to tell you more about my Eyes later.” He goes over to the bags Yuki dropped and picks them up, looking into one of them. “Here,” Crimson continued, handing Yuki one of them, “it doesn’t look like it broke, but you have something to give to Ace, right? That’s why you stormed out of the store and accidentally caught us.”

“Yeah, thanks for reminding me,” Yuki thanked before turning towards me, with a bag in hand. “Here Ace,” he shyly blushed as he gave me the bag, “I’m not sure what tools you need to replace, so it may not be the best gift, but I hope you appreciate it.” I dug into the bag, feeling something metallic before pulling it out, revealing a multi-tool. I curiously messed around with it a bit, letting it open into a pair of pliers, switching it to a knife, and checking what bits the built-in screwdriver has. “I thought since you like modifying our weapons a lot, it’d be nice to have something to carry around, so you can quickly tune our weapons.” He was being adorably shy, bringing his hands together as he lowered his head a bit, his tail slowly wagging.

“Thanks Yuki,” I happily expressed, giving him a hug, “I appreciate it a lot.” I quickly snatched Yuki’s folded naginata on his back. The first weapon I made and cared for someone. “For that, I’ll treat your weapon first,” I continued, breaking the hug as I held his weapon lovingly, “give it the extra love that it deserves, just like its owner.” The white wolf blushed as I lunged in and kissed his cheek, putting his weapon back. He immediately hugged me close in response, we both making out on the spot before he lightly pushed me against the wall.

“Alright lovebirds, you two can continue that later,” Crimson playfully teased, “Ace still needs to get some tools right? Let’s go, faster we get upgrades, the more time for you two to have for each other.” Without hesitation, he started walking away with his hands behind his head, causing me and Yuki to break away and chase after him. After a bit more shopping, Crimson escorted us to Black’s place, with the sun already setting.

Black’s home was an ordinary, two-story house that was separated from the town. Mostly because there was a big plot of land behind it that is fenced off with a bamboo fence. I couldn’t really tell what was behind it, but I could see steam coming and a sweet smell flowing out. In front of the house though was a garden filled with vibrant flowers, as a tree with red leaves planted to provide a bit of shade for some of them. While Yuki and I looked around, Crimson skipped over to the front door, and firmly knocked on it.

With a sound of a crash, Black opened the door, wearing a black tank top and a pair of blue shorts. He was looking a bit scruffed up, but he was smiling. “Come on in you three,” he happily welcomed, letting us walk in, noticing the bags of food we got. “Y-You guys bought groceries?”

“Yeah, Red told me how he was always the one cooking for you back then, so Crimson and I thought we’d make something,” Yuki answered as Crimson escorted us to the kitchen.

“O-Of course he said that,” Black relented, “well I appreciate it. I’ll pay back the money you guys spent on it later. You guys need some help?”

“We’re fine, just sit down and relax, we’ll serve it when it’s ready. Go give him some company too Ace, our hands are already full here.” I obediently nodded, immediately dragging Black away from the kitchen and sat at the table.

“You really are not going to help your friends,” he asked as I leaned back on the chair.

“Well considering that they want to surprise me, I can’t do much about it,” I answered as I lovingly looked back at Yuki and Crimson. “So, are you bad at cooking or something?”

“A-Absolutely not,” he stammered, “I just wasn’t taught how to cook before Red and I became mercenaries.”

“So why does Red know, Yuki and Bled told me they were taught by him.”

“He taught himself how to cook, mostly to save money. Admittedly, he was also handling our finances back then, all I ever did was just hone my skills.” He was reminiscing about his time, looking a bit melancholic about the past before snapping back. “Not to say that I have been trying,” the wolf quickly backtracked before switching topics about our families until Yuki and Crimson finished cooking.

With a smile on their faces, both Crimson and Yuki served us a plate of what they made together. It was a plate of white rice with a rich, sweet curry served with sliced carrots, roasted potatoes, and beef. With another side, we were given a salad that had sliced-up cucumbers, cabbages, carrots, onions, and tomatoes with a drizzle of a homemade dressing. When I looked over to their uncle’s reaction, I could’ve sworn there were tears in his eyes before he immediately started wolfing down the food. Crimson tapped me on the shoulder before leaning his head down next to my ear.

“Yuki texted our dad earlier about a dish Black likes to eat,” he whispered, “instead of just telling him, Red sent him a recipe instead.” Yuki’s tail was wagging as he watched his uncle happily eat, proud that the dish worked out well. “You better eat up too, Yuki and I poured our whole heart into it and I’m sure Yuki would be pleased to see your reaction as well.” Soon enough, Yuki was staring at me as well, watching me dutifully, waiting for me to take my first bite of his dish, so I happily obliged.

With a spoonful of the curry, I get to taste the sweet and savory taste of the sauce, noticing there’s a hint of some apples that were cooked into it. I took another spoonful, this time with a portion with the meat and potatoes, noticing how tender the meat is while the potatoes had a fluffy interior with a bit of crunch from the skin. The salad itself was a tad sweet and a little bit sour from a hint of lemon juice on it, but it was lightly refreshing as well. Satisfied from seeing my smile and wagging tail, Yuki and Crimson sat down as we ate dinner together, with Black giving us a run through of tomorrow’s job, or at least a quick, clean one to not spoil the food. Nothing really to note, but after that, he’d escorted us to the guest room that’d be sleeping in, a bit nervous on the way as we strolled past multiple, dusty locked rooms.

When we got to the room, it was just one big bed with a dresser and a closet. There was a fruit basket sitting on top of the dresser, arranged where it depicted a lotus. “Sorry that I can’t get you guys separate rooms,” Black profusely apologized, “I wasn’t able to prepare the other rooms in time, so you all have to share this room. I know it’s going to be crowded, so I wouldn’t mind if Crimson sleeps in my room, I can sleep on the couch.”

“You’re fine, you need all the rest you can get for tomorrow,” Crimson assured his uncle, “ I should be the one apologizing Black. It was my last-second decision to get these two to come along. We’ll figure something out, so go get some rest Black for tomorrow.” The black wolf was a bit hesitant, but he trusted Crimson’s judgement and took his leave. Once he did, Crimson already had something in mind.

“Ok, you two can sleep here,” he quickly declared as he casually closed the door, “you both know Eyes, I can just head back to my room and sleep there.”

“You sure,” Yuki asked as I immediately leapt onto the bed to check for its bounciness.

“Yeah,” Crimson replied as he picked up the banana, “it’d be a pain for one of you to walk all the way back to the Tower. And besides, I wouldn’t want to ruin your time with our lovely Prince, alone.” He peeled the fruit in his hand before quickly eating it, shoving half of it in his mouth before snapping it off.

“You’re not planning on sleeping, aren’t you?”

“Yeah,” Crimson admitted, “I have some stuff to do for tomorrow’s work.”

“What are you going to do?”

“Just a bit of reconnaissance is all.” He tugged a bit on his pants as he said that as he flashed a grin. “Don’t worry about me Yuki,” he immediately continued, “I’ll be very careful. So instead, focus the rest of your energy on our darling cutie prince. Good night and have fun if you two decide to bang, the prince looks ready for that.” He chuckled, watching Yuki turn red before fading away.

Once we both made sure he was gone, Yuki looked over at me laying in bed, with me already stripped off all my clothes. Already posed to lay bare everything for the white wolf, I playfully stuck out my tongue as I gestured to Yuki to come over. He let out a sigh, smiling and adorably blushing as he adorably, shyly stripped off his clothes as well. I turned over, raising my tail seductively as I gestured to him to come over. He took a deep breath, walked over to the bed, and pressed his entire body on me as he bites softly on my neck. I moaned, followed by him as he summoned a leash around my neck. With another, tender bite, the two of us continued, until we were both exhausted from our love.

I felt a cold, steel blade piercing my back, a sharp pain immediately coursing through my body. My companions screamed my name as I slowly turned to face my assailant. He was a black, tuxedo cat, his face bloodied as a twisted smile painted his face and his purple Eyes glimmered in the light. He twisted the knife in me, forcing a scream of pain from me before kicking me down to a pit. All I could do was helplessly watch as my friends immediately ran over to detain my murderer before my whole body started hitting every ledge on my way down and painfully splattered against the cold, hard, stone floor. My bones, broken, blood spilling out beneath me, and my head feeling emptier with every second. There was only one thing running through my mind as I laid there, cold and alone.

I don’t want to die. I̸ ̴d̴o̸n̸'̷t̶ ̸w̷a̵n̶t̷ ̷t̸o̴ ̸d̴i̴e̸.̸ İ̷̖͍͇̑̍̑ͅ ̷̲̼͆̅d̴̻͕̹̳̓̐ö̷̳̀͋n̸̤͕̻̝̈́͒̋'̵͉̼̫͗́́̀ẗ̴̗͇́̌͋̀́͗͜ ̷̛̣̞̣͛͊̍̓ͅw̷̞̲̓̊̄̄̕͝ͅȃ̷̰̽̉͆n̸͔̲̮̼̱͌͜͜ṫ̷͇̯̺̎̈̅̍́ ̶̦̈́t̵̰̟̩̽̌̅̓ͅơ̴̧̪̼̠̜̗͚̈́̃̃̍̈́ ̵̨̡͕̼͎̻̋̾̇͜͝d̴̨̙̼̮̼̿͆̐͜į̴̡̼̓̂͒̐̌͜e̷̺̲̱̟͘.̶̗̲͝

Ǐ̴̧̞̳̯͎͓̘͓̼̈́̈́̄͗̀̽͝ ̴̟̘̤͉̻͍͚̅͊̌̓̉̋ͅw̵̨̙̺͎͚͈͈̫͍͕̞͒̈́̈́̿̑̓͛̉̂͛͜͝͠a̵̢̛͍̮͎̜̹̭̅̃͛́͒̋̾̇͘͜n̶̛̮͙̼̭̣͎̰̹͔͎̋̓̉̈́̚͝ť̶̢̛̮̟̫̹̲͎̬͐̉̓̆̈́̾͊͝ ̷͚̦̮̳͓͚͈̭͇̥̦̽̊̽͛͜ţ̴̢̧̢̣̗̦̹̲͉͎̼̱͕̽̌̉͜͜ó̷̧̰͔̹̞̥͍̖̩̺̮́̑̊̂̌̕͠ ̶̧̗̮̼̹̲̒̊͆̃̌͗̿͂̀̔͆͝ļ̶̻̝͙̽̔͐̒̋̂̔͂̑͐͐̓̃̾͝i̸̡̡̛̱̲̝̦̩̻̘͇̹̩̺͗̅́̿̾̓͠͝v̵̧̥̤͔͖̜̻̠͇̬̩̦̙̳͐͌ͅe̴͈̻̮͒́̀̇̓̊̂́̇͒͊̿͘͝ͅ.̵̡̠̱̩̣̞̖̙͎̤̜̫͙̝͎̪̎͌̊͐̆͜

Then I was gone.

My body shot itself up wide awake with a cold sweat, the sharp pain from the nightmare lingering and my breathing quickening out of panic. My body shook violently as my final words felt like they were etched to the core of my soul. My mind was racing as I tried to both grasp everything I could from the nightmare yet wanting to forget everything at the same time. Most likely out of worry for my panicked state, I felt someone’s hand on my shoulder, before he soon tried soothing me.

“Hey; hey,” Crimson calmly soothed as he rubbed my back, “deep breaths Ace, it’s alright. It’s alright. I’m here.” He hugged me close as I tried to slow my breaths, my heart slowing down as I let out a whimper, instinctively brushing my head against his. “It happened again, another bad nightmare,” he asked, with me nodding in response, causing him to hug me close. “You don’t need to tell me if you don’t want to, but you’re safe,” he reassured me, “I’m here and I won’t let anyone harm you.” It took me a couple of minutes to soon realize that Crimson was in bed with me, instead of Yuki.

“W-What are you doing here Crimson,” I nervously asked, looking around to see my white wolf is gone. I looked down at Crimson, noticing he’s naked in bed with me again. “I-I thought you were sleeping in the Tower last night.”

“I was, but I was also keeping you company,” he answered, pressing his bare body against mine. It felt nice, it was comforting being this close with him again. “Yuki asked me when he woke up early, just in case you had a nightmare again.” He gave me a little peck on the cheek before squishing his face against mine. “You feel better though,” he asked, letting me nod my answer, “you’ve been having nightmares often?”

“Yeah,” I answered back, feeling his thin tail brush the side of my right thigh, “Yuki’s been taking care of me whenever I get them, kind of why he wakes up early most of the time, just in case they get worse. Though after everything, I guess they’re not just nightmares aren’t they?” My body started shaking again as I thought of how I died, remembering and repeating the moment I was stabbed.

“Hey; hey, I’m here, I’m here,” Crimson whispered as his arms moved to wrap my stomach, his warmth calming me down. “I swore I will protect you after all. If you’re ok with it, can you tell me about it?”

I tightly held his hand before I decided to tell him my nightmare, leaving out the details that I felt every part of it, but putting in as many details as I could, in case he remembered something. He was calm about it, but there was this tense feeling in his touch.

“Don’t worry about those nightmares Ace,” he assured me, gripping onto my hand, “can’t say if it’s an old memory or it’s something you made up from stress, but I’ll make sure I’ll protect you.” A bit of worry arose from his answer, but I asked something else to avoid thinking about it more.

“What…What were you up to last night,” I asked as I placed my head on his shoulder.

“Like I said last night, just a bit of reconnaissance,” Crimson answered, being a bit secretive again as we both laid back down on the bed.

“I know that, but how?”

“Well you know our job today is to investigate an abandoned hideout right,” he reminded, with me nodding. “Well the entrance to it is locked behind keycards, and I happen to know someone that used to be stationed there. All I did last night was charm ‘em and make a quick copy of their keycard.” He gave me a little wink, hinting at what it was, not trying to be subtle about it at all. He playfully stuck out his tongue, as he gestured to me to come closer and inquire some more.

“Charm them how,” I naughtily asked as I groped his crimson pecs, “with those lovely things of yours?”

“Of course,” he purred as he guided my hand to somewhere lower, “though we had a bit more fun than just a little grope session.”

“I see,” I let out, heat rushing as my imagination started running, “was it good at least?”

“Yep, I made sure to give him a night to remember,” he confidently stated as I felt a bit of heat from him. “I can tell you the deets later, but enough about me, how was your time with Yuki last night?”

“Pretty good on our end too,” I answered, lovingly remembering it, “tried out one of those positions you sent yesterday. It wasn't the best, but it feels really nice.”

“You actually did try those,” Crimson asked with first surprise, then with a hint of curiosity, “which ones?”

“Hmm how about I’ll show you, when we’re alone at night,” I asked, rolling myself on top of and placing my head between his pecs. “It’d be more fun if it’s a surprise, wouldn’t it? Like this!” I quickly, lightly, firmly bit down his right pec lovingly, happily watching him immediately suppress himself from letting out an instinctive moan. He looked so adorable as I felt his heat rising a bit underneath me.

“Y-Yeah; yeah; alright my cute, naughty demon,” he playfully replied as he lightly pushed me off. He quickly rolled me onto my back before he pinned my arms to the bed, sitting on top of me, both of us smiling in our little naked scuffle. “That’s enough teasing from you, we’ll have plenty of time for fun when we get back.”

“Hehe, fair enough. So what’s for breakfast,” I asked, soon watching Crimson’s Eyes glow yellow.

“Well Yuki is teaching Black how to cook something basic,” he answered, closing his left eye. “And it looks like they’re searching for a waffle maker.”

“Ah so we’re having waffles today,” I joyfully exclaimed, the panther still resting on top of me. “We should probably help them.”

“Nah, you stay here and be cute,” the panther ordered as he adjusted a bit, “I’m already there helping…them…out,” he trailed off as his face went from calm, to confusion, then shock. “Why is Bled here?”

“Huh?”

“H-He’s here, you only invited Yuki right?”

“Yeah, though maybe he invited Bled to come too. I-Is that a bad thing?”

“Can’t really say, but if there’s more people with us, it’ll be easier for us to protect you at least.” The panther took a deep breath before smiling at me and licking the top of my nose. “Well since my brothers and I are already there, you should go help them. Or at least, give them moral support, ok?” I nodded, letting him roll next to me on his back before adding, “good, I’m going to get some extra sleep for my other self. Got to make sure I’m 100% when we leave.” I was a bit curious on how that would work, but I left the room and headed downstairs, getting a good look at the panther before I did.

As soon as I arrived at the kitchen, Bled immediately hugged me, letting out a mix of purrs and mostly whimpers. Watching us was Crimson and Black, both of them whispering to each other. “A-Ace, why didn’t you invite me,” he cried behind his mask, “did you forget about me?”

“N-No, not at all,” I quickly responded, “I just thought I should bring Yuki along to check out the town since Crimson invited me here.” I grabbed both of his cheeks as I looked up directly into his eyes. “But I’m glad you’re here now, having more firepower is always great.” He purred intensely while I scruffed up his cheeks. “C’mon, let’s help your brothers cook.”

“No need,” Yuki confidently shouted as he entered the room with a waffle maker in his hands, “we already made the batter and got the machine. I'm making the waffles and the fruits are being cut up by Black, with Crimson’s supervision, so you two can just sit out there and relax.” Yuki lightly pushed us out of the kitchen and into the dining room, watching us take our seats before exiting back into the kitchen. Though it was peaceful at first, Bled and I soon heard pots and pans banging around as we heard panic from the kitchen, making Bled a lot nervous of what’s happening inside.

“So, what’s been happening Bled,” I asked, doing my best to divert Bled’s worries, “anything interesting happening lately?”

“O-Oh, well actually, yeah,” Bled replied as I could see his cheeks darken a bit, “I signed up to this nightly tournament in Kolok.” I immediately understood Bled’s flushness, remembering what Sam told me about the rules some fights have in the colosseum and the wagers fighters made. One is just regular, knock ‘em down type of fights, but the other I redirect damage to the fighters’ clothes, making it a fight to strip down your opponent. Considering how flustered Bled easily gets whenever I strip next to him in the lockers of his room, I couldn’t imagine him doing those fights.

“What made you want to take part in it?”

“B-Because I want to grow strong,” he answered with a bit of bravado, “I heard there’s some strong people from the Tower fighting in it, so I want to test my skills against them. E-Even if it means I may have to be stripped naked in front of everyone.” He was shaking a bit out of nervousness from the thought of it. “T-Though once I fight them, I’ll start traveling and fight in other arenas around the world too.” He looked adorable as he soon got himself hyped for the thought of it. “So, I might be busy once I start traveling, but I hope you can have time to watch my matches.”

“Of course! It might be a bit difficult later,” I replied, putting my hand over his, “but I’ll definitely watch, whether I’m there in person or watching you from the screen.” I scoot on over to Bled’s side, affectionately nuzzling his shoulder. “So, when’s your debut match? I would love to come to that.”

“W-Well, the tournament starts next week, so maybe next Monday? I’ll let you know the official time when they send me an official notice.” He adorably smiled at me as we took in the moment together, his body still fidgeting before he grabbed my hand with his. “Hey Ace, you wanted to know what I look like behind my mask,” he asked with a slight purr underneath his voice.

“Yeah, I do,” I answered with a bit of curiosity, “you bound yours to your face with magic right? Sounds like it’ll be very hard to unmask you, unless you want to.” I looked behind us, making sure no one else was here before turning back to him, my eyes sparkling with anticipation. “Are you going to unmask yourself right here, right now?”

“Y-Yeah, but you’ll do it,” he anxiously replied as he moved my hand against his right cheek. “I-I already took off the magic, so you should be able to do it.” His body was shivering as my hand slowly inched upward towards his mask, my fingers soon colliding with the soft fabric. The strands of the mask immediately broke apart as it quickly felt more like strands of fur that were combed together, very much confusing me as I swept a strand away. I soon started sweeping the rest of his mask away, with a bit of help from him, soon being a mess of fur rather than a mask. Once my hands were away, he casually slicked his black, red, and white hair back, revealing his cute pair of bloody red eyes.

“You look so cute,” I quietly, but audibly squealed as I pinched the sides of his blushing face. He was purring as soon as I began stroking his cheeks and played with his hair. “And your hair, I never thought you would use it as a mask, but it looks good when it’s not a mask. That must’ve felt weird having it over your eyes.”

“I-It’s not that bad, I kinda got used to it to the point I sleep with it on. But anyway, you now know what my face looks like.”

“Before I go ahead and smooch your adorable face, I’m guessing your brothers knew about it,” I asked, wondering what spurred his reveal.

“Yeah, well Crimson knew from the start, but Yuki found out when we-” At that moment, we heard the guys in the kitchen enter the dining room, prompting Bled to quickly sweep down his mask again. When I looked over to the gang, I noticed Black’s hands were covered in bandages, Yuki had a bruise on his left shoulder, and Crimson looked perfectly fine as he was the one holding a tray of food for everyone. While Crimson happily went over to the table to set the plates, I went over to the two injured wolves and began healing their minor wounds, well Yuki’s was, Black had multiple cuts.

“So what exactly happened in the kitchen,” I asked the two, with Black sort of brooding in shame. “Bled and I heard some banging happening in the kitchen once we left.”

“Well, other than Black learning how to cut some of the simple fruits, he accidentally sent an avocado pit flying when he was trying to remove it with a knife.” Yuki looked over at where his bruises once were before sighing, “it somehow bounced around the kitchen, hitting the pans hard before it struck me in the shoulder. I didn't expect it to sting, but I probably would’ve gotten burned if Crimson didn’t catch me, since I was manning the wafflemaker.” I grabbed his hand immediately, feeling his body shaking as I gently brushed my head against his to give him some comfort.

His body calmed down, as he silently thanked me with a little kiss. He looked on over to Black, who was looking at us with puppy-dog eyes, somewhat letting out whines as a way of apologizing. “Needless to say, I could see why Red was the cook when he and Black were mercenaries. Not to say that Black can’t cook, it’ll just take a long while before he can do it for himself.” With that, we all sat around eating breakfast, getting ourselves ready for the mission today. Once we were done, Black led us to the living room before debriefing us about the task he wants us to help complete.

“Alright, we’re taking care of a nearby gang,” Black declared as he narrowed his eyes, “I knew about them for a long time, but they should’ve disbanded ever since their leader was killed in a tragedy last year. Though I’ve been getting reports that they’re back, it wouldn’t have mattered to me since they haven’t done anything yet, but Crimson has reported that it was being led by the deceased leader.” Bled, Yuki, and I looked over to the panther, who was leaning back in his chair sharpening his knives. “I’m not sure if you guys had heard about it, but the Tower had recently declared this year’s worldly threat, where people have been encountering mysterious people made of words that’d attack anyone on sight.” I felt an old sharp pain in my stomach as Yuki quickly glanced at me, and tightened his grip on my hand.

“Are you saying that the leader is one of those people,” I asked, glancing over at Crimson, who nodded at me.

“That’s what Crimson had told me, I haven’t seen it myself, but I trust my nephew’s words. The only thing I’m puzzled at is why he hasn’t done anything for months. All reports I had from the Tower points that those people are seen to display dangerous episodes, so it is a wonder that this one is racking up allies.” I was still looking at Crimson, who sat back in the chair, his eyes darted away from anyone. “Here, this is from last night,” Black continued as he played the air with his fingers, with a picture soon popping up on my HUD.

It was just a simple photo, definitely could tell that Crimson hastily took it in the dark, but it was enough to see who it is. Though it was just a back shot of a menacing man, I could see his head of a bear with a notched ear as he wore a black, mangled coat. I definitely saw black words slightly spewing out the top of his head, reminding me of that time again. And next to the figure was a giant greatsword shaped as a draconic beasts’ head. Yuki had this fierce, intense stare when I looked over to him, it was scarily new to me, yet equally hot as well.

“That’s our target,” Black declared, his words sounding sharp and deadly, “though I recognized him, he’s a lot different than I remembered. Once everyone’s ready, we’ll go and discuss the plan on the way.” With that said, I quickly performed maintenance on mine and Yuki’s weapons, quickly swapping out some parts for the upcoming fights. When everyone was geared up, we headed out, with Crimson standing next to me most of the way as we went through a dense forest.

On our walk through the trees, Crimson opens the base of his knives, refilling it with a liquid before sealing the cap. “Don’t worry, they’re sedatives,” Crimson assured as I curiously looked at his knives, “these knives cost themselves with whatever stuff I fill it with. The blades on my gauntlets however, I have to coat them manually, they weren’t designed that way initially.”

“Well maybe I could do something about that when we get back,” I suggested. “You have the design blueprints, right? I can modify it for you like how I did for Yuki’s weapon.” Crimson was reluctant when he heard it, but he just sighed and smiled.

“Of course, if it’s you, I’d love to let you modify my gauntlets anytime.” He nudged me on the arm soon asking, “though once you're done with my arms, mind if I look at your shovel in exchange? I always found it bizarre that you've been fighting with that this whole time.” I gave him my word, even letting him carry my shovel for a bit, leading to him realizing how heavy it is before handing it back. After that, Crimson and I casually just flirted with each other in the back while on our way to the base. It was a way for both me and Crimson to ease each other in the coming fights, soon reaching a cave that would represent a base. With a keycard in hand, Crimson opened the base and we walked in with no problems.

“Just as we discussed, I’ll stay here,” Black calmly commanded as he stood at the entrance of the building. He slowly drew his blade from its sheath, purple sparks of electricity spewing out of the sheath while his red Eyes glowed brightly. “I’ll make sure no one escapes and no one enters,” he continued, drawing out his blade fully, lighting up the lights on his gauntlets. “Don’t worry, I’ll catch up when you guys clear the area. I wish you all the best of luck in your job.” And so, the four of us ventured into the building, with Crimson already leading us through.

“Remember, just knock ‘em out if you can,” the panther reminded as we traveled down the halls, “they’re just following some fanatic imposter. They should be able to regain their senses once we take care of them.” He was more experienced compared to everyone in the group, maybe because of his situation. Yuki and I had some moments where we got our hands bloodied, but looking at Bled, he’s not prepared for it, probably because he’s only faced monsters. He was clearly panicking, but he calmed down as soon as Yuki broke off with me and stood next to him. It didn’t take long until we were discovered, alarms ringing out as soon as Bled’s gauntlets unleashed its first loud shots.

It didn’t take long for people in the base to start coming at us, forcing ourselves to defend ourselves as we ventured. Of course we left the ones fleeing away alone, knowing Black would deal with them. We spent no time making our way to the captain’s quarters, only to find the door to it locked, forcing us to hold the fort until we come up with something. While Crimson made sure I was safe, I couldn’t help but watch Yuki out of concern. I was even ready to throw myself to protect him when I saw a lion creeping up from behind, but he was ready.

In an instance, Yuki swiftly backs away, dodging the lion’s attack, his naginata unfolding from its mic form. He countered his attacker’s next attack immediately, powerfully sweeping his weapon at the legs before swinging his staff down and readied himself. He was charging up for another strike, his breathing steady as he quickly followed up with an upward swing, launching them high. He pressed the button on his naginata again, quickly turning it back into a microphone stand before swinging at them hard like a baseball bat, knocking back his assailant as he quickly took the microphone off to sing into. It was a mesmerizing sight and sound as Yuki started swinging and singing, each note summoning a block of ice that broke and knocked his enemy back to him as he swung back at it every time. In the process he’d occasionally sweep the area around him with his naginata, deterring the approach of other assailants, before shifting his focus back to his prey. He finished it off, calling for Bled before his last swing towards the cat, who catches the guy and tosses him against the wall.

“You two go look for the key, Bled and I will be just fine here,” Yuki barked as he defended his way to Bled’s side. I wanted to stay to protect him, but Crimson dragged me away. Of course, we were met with our own fights, testing my cooperation with my partner and fully seeing his skills for once. I can definitely say that once I saw him fully in action, it was fully clear that he and I were leagues of experience apart.

Crimson and his shade were like two different people, coordinating together as they both used their own weapons. It was like watching a couple fighting together as he and his shade fought side-by-side, quickly following up on each other’s strikes. When he was done with the first set, he dispelled his shade and charged into the next set himself. He was fast, dashing through the halls as he sliced his enemies with knives, making sure I didn't have to do anything. Whenever an enemy would attack Crimson, he would feint them by disappearing and reappearing to the side, countering immediately before quickly moving on. The only mistake he made was leaving himself vulnerable at the end, smiling at me with confidence, not noticing an ambush.

Instinctively I unleashed my ice and quickly tossed an icicle spear next to him, freezing a wall of ice over the attacker’s weapon and hand. The panther was sorta spooked, but he recovered fairly quickly. While he subdued the attacker after calming down, I hurried over to him and checked for any injuries. “You alright,” I asked, dispelling the ice off the fainted gang member.

“Yeah, thanks for that Ace,” he replied with an embarrassed chuckle. “I was a bit too into showing off. Sorry for that.”

“Hey it’s fine, you weren’t harmed in the end,” I assured him as I wrapped an arm around him to bring him close. “Let’s try to stick together, you’re my partner after all, so we should fight together.” I could see the panther blush beneath his mask, sighing as he grabbed my hand.

“Alright, well let’s find that key, I know exactly where it is, so let’s not keep my brothers fighting and waiting.” We quickly ran through the hall, eventually reaching a door at the end of a dead end. A part of me felt something very important was in there, so I approached the door first. “Hey Ace, mind if I go in this room alone,” the panther asked as I was about to touch the doorknob.

“You sure? No wait, of course you are, but why,” I quietly asked.

“There’s only one guy in there, most of the time I knock him out by drugging him,” Crimson answered casually. “I just thought, maybe I should talk to him this time. Don't worry, I’ve known him multiple times, so maybe I could talk him down to save us the trouble.”

“If you think you can, go right ahead, but what made you change your mind?”

“This trip, with how everything had been going, maybe I should try something new instead of following this set path I planned.” He patted my head as he swiftly, yet smoothly moved me aside. “Ever since that trip, you have this habit of messing that plan up a lot. Though each time you do, I learn something each time. It’s why I love you a lot, you make this looping life a lot more interesting, even if it means dealing with your dumb choices. So, I want to deviate from the script I had and just live the moment like you do, give myself something to learn and enjoy the present. Don't worry, if anything happens, I’ll send a signal. Wish me luck.” He winked at me with a smile before entering it, but I leaned close to listen in.

“I-It’s you,” a voice rang out as I hugged close to the wall. “H-How did you-“

“Don’t worry about that, you need to come with me,” the panther interrupted. “I need to show you something.”

“Huh? But I need to check on-“

“I’ll explain on the way, but I need you to-“

“I-Is it about, Mav-my captain?” Silence brewed the two for a long while, tempting me to open and peak through the door. “I thought about what you said last night.” Another pause of silence followed.

“Y-You did,” the panther asked out of concern.

“Yeah, but since you’re here with the alarms sounding, I guess it means you’re here for him, aren’t you?” Silence again before the panther lets out a sigh.

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be, I know it’s your job, but you know I can’t let you do that, not until I see him again with my own eyes….So if you’re going, mind if I tag along?”

“…No, you’ll just get your mind warped by him or maybe your heart will break. It’s for your own safety, I’ll escort you out so we won’t-”

“I won’t break, I promise I won’t get in your way. There’s this feeling of doubt I’ve been having since I met him again, only for it to grow stronger when we talked last night. I just need to ask him one thing and after that, you can take care of him. I just want to make sure if he’s the captain I knew or not before you…permanently take him away.” Silence brewed between the two, with Crimson eventually breaking it off with his choice.

“You can come,” Crimson answered with a sigh, “but my friends are going to be a bit skeptical when they see you with me, so stay with me at all times, ok? I’ll protect you.” With the other guy soon agreeing, I heard the two come towards the door, telling me to step back as I leaned against the wall. I was curious who Crimson was trying to recruit, but once that door swung open, I didn’t expect it was him.

I was soon faced with a purple grey tuxedo cat standing there with his left arm gripping his right arm, the one from my earlier nightmare. He was wearing a plain, dark green jacket over a blue collared shirt that covered the waist of his black jeans. Wrapped across his chest was a messenger bag with bits of silver devices with green lights sewn onto it. His purple Eyes stared back at me, a lot more sane in them than I had thought, but my fur was still standing on the edge. “Ace, meet Hugo, the lovely researcher I met up with last night,” the panther introduced, “Hugo, meet Ace, my leader, my partner, and my best friend.”

Crimson went to my side to calm me down, all while trying not to let him catch on to anything. The cat extended a hand, nervously smiling at me, but not wanting to leave him hanging, I shook his hand. “Nice to meet you Hugo,” I let out, suppressing my fears and worries, “sorry for everything that’s been happening here.”

“Y-You’re fine,” he assured as I felt a tinge of shock when I touched his hand, “let’s just hurry to the captain’s quarters, he should still be there.”

“You have the key for your boss’s room by any chance,” I inquired, remembering that it was locked when the gang tried to enter it earlier.

“I do,” the cat answered, taking out a keycard from his pockets as Crimson’s eyes narrowed, “swiped a spare key last night when I got back.” The panther quietly stood aside, most likely writing some more mental notes. “I was going to do it later, but I guess now is a good time.”

“Move,” he quickly pushed me away as he took out a tiny titanium acupuncture needle from his bag before tossing it to someone that was approaching behind me. His Eyes glowed as he threw it, the needle hitting straight between the man’s eyes before another was tossed at the side of the neck and the base of the left hand, soon causing him to faint. He catches the man and positioned him upright, before removing and cleaning the needles. Once he was done, he got back up before facing both of us. “Sorry about that,” he sincerely apologized, “I’ll try not to get in your guys’ way unless I have to and don’t worry about me getting attacked, my Eyes will keep me safe.”

“What exactly-”

“They’re the Trickster’s Eyes,” Crimson explained to me, “he can create multiple reflections of himself and others to divert the enemy's attention. They’re pretty fragile, but it’s enough for him to stay out of trouble.” I thought of the panther’s Eyes as he explained it, wondering a bit more about the two’s relationship. He gave this look that told me to shut up and don't mention his Eyes out loud, so I did and listened.

“So you knew,” the cat noted, looking at the panther, “well thanks for saving me the trouble. Let’s get going now, the longer we stay, the more we’ll have to defend ourselves.” With a nod from both Crimson and I, we made our way back with a new companion. I wanted to voice my concerns, but all I could do was frustratingly watch Crimson avoid it.

Unsurprisingly, Yuki and Bled were highly cautious of Hugo, enough that the two were always in close proximity. I gave the two the rundown on what happened, which made the two a little less cautious, but they let Crimson keep an eye on the cat. When we were sure everything was set, we called Black over and waited by the boss’s door, readying ourselves for a dangerous fight. It didn’t take long for him to show, he was running up to us, armed with his sword, as he left behind a purple spark with each step he took. When he and Hugo’s eyes met, they widened and he went directly over to the cat.

“It’s…I’m glad to see you are doing fine after all these months,” the wolf welcomed before he placed a hand on the cat’s shoulder.

“It’s been a while, hasn’t it Sir Black,” the cat formerly greeted lightly bowing. “I’ve heard what you and your group are doing.”

“…I’m sorry for what we’re about to do, would you like to leave it to us?”

“...No, let me at least talk to the captain before you do your thing.”

The wolf sighed, similar to Crimson’s, as he nodded his head. “Of course, we’ll protect you like I did last year. If anything goes wrong, we’ll fight it together, like last time.”

“Thank you sir Black,” the cat noted as he went to the boss door and unlocked it for us. Before we went in, I added him to the party, letting me get a good look at his stuff to plan ahead. We charged into the big room, seeing the scattered documents and books around the floor as the bear was at the desk, standing away from us. Behind him were three giant tubes, each of them holding a mutilated person in a grey liquid with various machines forcibly installed into various orifices.

“Maverick,” Hugo shouted as soon as we entered. His eyes widened as he looked in horror at what was happening behind the man. “W-What have you done?” We saw a big, lone bear standing tall with his back turned from us, his greatsword wedged into the metallic ground. It was a lot clearer seeing it up close, but the bear was shedding off the black letters and words similar to back then. He turned around, facing us all, his green Eyes narrowed as he looked directly at Hugo.

“Hugo? What are you doing with a group of rebels,” the bear menacingly asked. “Last I checked, you should’ve been out on an errand.” The cat moved forward, his right hand twiddling with a needle.

“I wasn’t given any,” he retorted, “but what the HELL are you-”

“These,” the bear finished as he presented the tubes behind him, “they’re soldiers, made to help create a kingdom of peace and tranquility. That way, we won’t need to rely on outsiders' to guard our homes. All it takes is a little…persuasion to get people to become one and the research papers you left behind.”

“I was sure I burned them,” Hugo confusedly stated, “I definitely did, after he killed you-”

“Me,” the bear loudly puzzled, “he killed you!” The cat stopped and looked back up even more confused at the person in front of him.

“That’s not how it went, he took me hostage, but you and Black’s group came and saved-“

“Failed to-“

“No, you sac-“

“He killed you, right in front of me,” the bear aggressively snapped before he looked and pointed directly at me, confusing me. “If that damn wolf hadn’t moved, you wouldn’t have been shot in the back protecting him! You were the cause! I spent so many months just to get Hugo back, so many days he laid there dead!” I stepped back a bit out of confusion, a lot of confused questions spiraling until I thought of one name, Null.

“I’m glad you’re back though,” the bear chided fiercely, “so I can slice you into pieces like I did to that tiger.” I knew he was referring to Jack, but I was more focused on what he said about Hugo. I wanted to pry more info out of him, but the tux had other plans.

“I-I’ve heard enough,” Hugo cried, his purple Eyes glowing, “just tell me one thing, what did you give me last year?” Maverick’s eyes narrowed, confusion painted his face as he just shrugged.

“A useless knife,” the bear snarled, the cat’s hair immediately shooting straight up. “I should’ve known,” he continued in his delusion as he pulled his sword from the ground, “you’re not the Hugo I brought back, just another failure of a replacement to die.”

“And you are not my Maverick,” the cat sighed, taking out a knife from his bag, the same one I saw. “I refuse to let you stain his legacy anymore. I will END your false kingdom and save those people!” His body suddenly turned mosaic, shattering instantaneously, as he soon reappeared striking at the bear’s side, both combatants clashing immediately before the cat hopped back to us.

“You sure about that,” the bear coldfully challenged as he swung his sword at the tubes, breaking them wide open, “then let’s see you try!” The fallen experiments soon rose from their feet as the machines whirred into life, glowing bright red and black words started emitting from their bodies. The bear fiercely leapt at Hugo, soon clashing with me and my shovel as I shot myself forward to protect him. My friends rushed to my side, as the bear ordered his huskless experiments to his, commencing the real fight.

I commanded Bled, Black, and Yuki to deal with the shades, letting Black take the lead for them. Even though I trusted Black, I still couldn’t help but worry about Yuki, glancing over to him to see he’s handling himself well. As for Maverick, it was left to the rest of us to deal with him. Considering our strengths, Crimson took the frontline charge with Hugo and I acting as his follow-ups.

The panther was the first to strike, quickly running to the bear, his left gauntlet immediately clashing with the sword as he slid under and slash at his chest before getting himself grabbed. Though just as I expected from him, just a blink of an eye and the panther was already out of his grasp, mischievously sticking out his tongue to taunt the bear to strike him. Hugo was good at getting out of the bear’s line of sight, striking from his blind spots, stabbing him multiple times with his knife and needles while I flung some spells to help them out. Everything seemed like it was going well, then I noticed he was looking at Yuki, my wolf standing there casting by his lonesome.

He suddenly grabbed a hold of Hugo before tossing him directly at Crimson, knocking the two away as he started casting a powerful spell. Flames gathered around his free hand, growing larger and larger by the second, forcing me to stop my spells.

He aimed the giant fireball directly at Yuki, I switched to my ice immediately, then he shot it as I propelled myself to stop it, shouting his name.

He turned…and death stared at him, his eyes widening as he faced the giant flames crawling at the floors to him, the frost around him melting into tears. The screaming flames of Hell would ring his ears, death approaching. My heart was ready to burst out as I flew closer; and closer; and closer.

…I wasn’t going to make it.

…He’s going to die on my watch.

… Just like before.

…And all I could do was watch helplessly as he was engulfed in flames. His loud, painful cries, screams, and howls constantly rang in my ears, until I shut myself away from the entire world. My vision blurred as my own tears blinded me away from seeing the aftermath. There was only one thing I could think, cry, and scream from the bottom of my heart.

Ỳ̷͍U̸͍͖͗̇̉̀͝ K̶̨̳̟̼͎̜̮̆̀̄I̵̧̡̬̟͔͙͙̫̜͉̱̣͋̃̈́̑̒

Out of nowhere, a shotgun shot echoed as I watched Bled propelling himself towards the flames. He braced himself, his golden gauntlets, his fists, his body, all of them readied as they all took the heat entirely. I landed next to Yuki and held him close, feeling his entire body shaking and his claws deeply digging into my back. I created an ice dome around us as the ball of flames exploded, propelling Bled back into us, toppling us down to the ground. Bled’s body was burning hot, yet his fur was still there and I could hear his heart, or maybe mine’s, beating rapidly, but both of them were alive and that’s all that mattered to me. My eyes were focusing solely towards Yuki, shivering and panicking within my arms, trying to calm himself down.

When I looked over at Maverick, I saw a knife pierced through his chest from behind. Soon it was followed by another, then another, and another, before he was kicked down to his knees. The experimented soldiers soon disappeared after the bear fell, fading into floating letters as they left behind only the metal installed on them. It wasn’t Hugo that did the murderous deed, it was Crimson, his face had this eerily, ferocious look, his black hoodie stained with blood, and his mask could hardly hide the intense yellow glow from his Eyes. He went over to me and his brothers, easing himself back, while Hugo went to the fallen bear.

“You three alright,” he worriedly asked, helping Bled get up as I helped Yuki.

“I-I am, at least,” Bled groaned before quickly checking on his older brother. “YUKI! You’re alive!” He hugged the wolf immediately, though a bit tightly, but the white wolf smiled as he hugged back.

“Thank you Bled,” he thanked, “I really thought I was going to die there. Thank you so much.” I quickly checked over Bled’s wounds, healing the burns he sustained.

“Of course, I’m your brother, I have to look out for you.” Yuki went to me as I just stood aside, a bit depressed I wasn’t close enough, and gave me a peck on the cheek.

“And thank you too Ace,” he continued, “I was able to get my ice up before…thank you.”

“N-No problem,” I spluttered, feeling a bit better, “I just wish I was-“

“You did what you could, you still saved me though,” he interrupted, patting my head.

“Come on Ace,” Crimson commanded, nodding his head to the bear, “we should interrogate Maverick, before I finish him.” Right. I awkwardly broke away from the two, telling them they should check on Black as I went over to the cat and bear.

“I understand,” Hugo acknowledged as Crimson and I got closer, he was putting something in his bag for a moment, “I’ll think on it. Thank you for telling me that, Captain.” He turned to us, giving us a bow before continuing, “thank you both for letting me come. It meant a lot to me. Do what you two set out to do here.” He took off, going to Black’s side as I saw a glint of his Eyes glowing. It was our turn now.

“So, it ends with you two,” the bear wearily rasped, “what did you want from me?”

“Let’s cut to the chase,” Crimson demanded, taking out his knife. “You, him, and I know you were summoned from another world. So spill, who summoned you here and why?”

“Summoned…I see, I wish I could tell ya, but I know nothing,” the bear answered, “all I knew was that I was here with some book.” Crimson’s ears twitched from the word as he was about to search for it on the man. “No need, it’s in the desk drawers.” The panther went ahead and started rummaging around, leaving me with him.

“You sure are more cooperative than I thought you would,” I pointed out as I was tempted to heal him.

“That’s because I can’t move my body,” the bear revealed as he looked over at Crimson. “Your friend there sure is deadly, coated his knife with some sort of toxin. The moment he started stabbing me, it took effect instantly.” I looked on over to the panther, who was busy shuffling things around, sweat trailing down his head. “You’re not Null, aren’t you pup?”

“Y-Yeah,” I hesitated, remembering what I wanted to ask. “What do you know about Null?”

“Not much,” he answered, “just some amnesiac that joined Black’s raid along with his tiger boyfriend. When Hugo died, I lost it and killed everyone around me. That tiger, despite having no guts to kill, did have the courage to fight me, so his friends could run.”

“I see,” I noted mentally, “the book my friend wanted, what was it about?”

“…See for yourself,” he tilted his head towards the panther soon coming back. He had a brown, untitled, leather book in his hand, putting it away underneath his coat. “That's all you need from me?” The panther confirmed, nodding his head as he pulled out his knife again. “Good, fin-“

He stopped speaking, a deep wound sliced itself open from the bear’s throat. Blood both red and black poured out as the bear collapsed in front of us and Crimson stood there with a clean knife. “Done,” Hugo’s voice rang as he reappeared again, broken glass everywhere beneath him, with his dirtied knife in hand. “You don’t need to do it Crimson, it was my fault for not stopping him sooner after all.” We stared at him, wondering how long he was there, listening to our conversations.

“I’m sorry,” the panther muttered as the three of us watched the bear slowly dissipate into nothing. “What are you going to do now?”

“…Hell if I know. Guess I’ll just wander until something happens to me, as long as I’m not here.” He sighed, leaned at the nearby wall, then sat close to it, his tail curled around him as his ears drooped. “Just go, you guys have already done your part… I’ll leave when everyone’s gone.”

The other three went to check on the people we knocked out, with Yuki hesitating as he looked at me. I gestured to him that it’ll be alright and let him leave. I looked up to Crimson, a thought passing me as Crimson thought the same thing. The panther took a deep breath and went to him, sitting alongside him as I quickly followed. “You wanna join us instead my friend,” he coaxed, the cat’s ears twitching from it. “We won’t force you to come, but it’s better than being alone with your own thoughts. You’ll fit right in with our group, I’m sure of it.” Silence. “I’m still sorry about everything, but I still want to know you better. We didn’t finish our talk last night after all.”

An audible sigh soon came from the cat as he pulled his head up. “Sure.” I helped both of them get up as we made our exit. Only to be stopped by Black, Yuki, and Bled, despair etched itself on my wolf’s face.

“Half of them are gone,” Black informed us, a grimace look on his face. I quickly made our way to where we dropped off the people, only to see ashy stains of black of the people I knew I dropped off as the waking survivors were panickingly thrashing about in their binds. We let Black take care of what happened next as the Tower’s backup he called came and took the people away, with Hugo staying close to Crimson and I. We didn’t talk much on the journey back, but when we did, Black offered us all to relax and suggested we bathe in the hot springs behind his manor.

We all separated into the different rooms, but I took up Black’s offer a bit later after I placed my equipment away. I went to the changing room between the manor and the springs, and changed my clothes with no one in sight. I fully thought I’d be the only one there, until I stepped out onto the stone floors and into the steamy fog of the outdoors.

Sitting alone by the hot water’s edge was Yuki, encased in his clear frost to protect himself from the heat. I walked over to him immediately, making my footsteps known as he looked towards me with a smile. “Mind if I sit here,” I queried, with my white wolf soon smiling at me.

“Of course,” he opened, tapping the empty, wooden spot next to him. As soon as I sat down, he thawed his ice to let me in, letting our shoulders intimately touch. He gave me a little peck on the cheek before he rested his head against me, our tails wagging at each other. He was still shaking, but it wasn’t much as before,

“How are you feeling,” I asked, brushing his soft, cold fur, “you’re not in any danger sitting here right?”

“I’m not, don’t worry, I’m keeping an eye on my temperature,” he asserted as he brushed his head against me more. “I can’t wait to go lay down and sleep after this. Did you and Crimson find what you two were looking for?”

“S-Somewhat, but I’m sure it’ll help Crimson out a lot.”

“That’s good…well if you need me to come, I’d gladly go with you. Though maybe not immediately, but maybe sometime after I cool off a bit from today.” He seemed pretty down, his body shuffling a bit as I could hear a little whine.

“Yeah…” After everything that had happened today, I don’t know if it’s a good idea to have Yuki around. It was clear that it’s going to be too dangerous for him to come, so maybe it’s best if we- “Hey Yuki,” I finally croaked underneath his cold air, “I…I think we should-wait, would it be ok if we-no, I was thinking-“ he took a sigh, knowing what was on my mind while we sat together.

“You’re fine Ace, I know what you’re going to say,” the wolf answered as we faced each other. “I was thinking we should break up too.” He took the words right out of my mouth, yet he was calm and collective as we sat within the steam. “Mind if you tell me why?”

“I’m sorry,” I uttered out, carefully thinking of what to say, yet still unsure.

“It’s fine, it’s because of Crimson right?” I paused, not sure how to respond other than nodding a bit, my hand over his as his cold touch soothed me. “I won’t say I’m not partially upset, but I understand. Ever since we came back from Frozolin, you and him felt a lot closer than it was just the two of us, enough that you’d have to keep secrets from me.”

“Well-”

“Not the thing about his Eyes, there’s still more you two haven’t told me, Bled, or literally anyone else, right?” I froze on the spot, a chill going down my spine as I could only watch Yuki smile. “I thought so, I won’t pry on it, but I know it meant he trusts you more than anyone else. The way you two look at each other, even if you both were trying to hide it, I can see that you both truly care for each other. It’s a lot different compared to just the two of us.”

“I…” I never thought about it that way. I was always thinking about him and he was always thinking about me, with both of us wanting to protect each other from a future. “I promised him that I’d be his partner,” I continued, wanting to say, “I didn't think much about what that’d lead, until today, when you almost died in front of me. I have no reason to be your boyfriend if I couldn’t be there for you when you need me. As much as I love to fight with you by my side, I want you to find someone that’ll protect you and help you like you did for me. But if you do, tell me, I’ll do all I can to bring you and your future babe together!”

“Thanks, I’ll let you know,” he laughed from the energy as he leaned back a bit. “Though that’ll take awhile,” he continued, the tone of his voice was a little more serious, “I talked to Black earlier, confided with him about my condition.” I was stunned silent, worried about Yuki’s well-being. “He offered me to live and train with him sometime next week, learn new techniques and all that to help me get adapted to my body.”

“Are you going to?”

“…Yeah,” he sighed with a bit of sadness, “I want to be stronger for you. I'll probably be away for a long while, so I guess that means you’ll need a new roommate, right? Most likely a new coworker too.”

“Yeah…it’s going to be a lot different after this. I’ll manage somehow, so don’t worry, just focus on improving yourself.”

“I will,” the wolf nodded, “when I come back, I’ll be better than I was before and I’ll fight again. Maybe I’ll even grow a few inches taller than Bled too! Won’t be the shortest sibling anymore!” We both chuckled as we heard multiple people starting to come in, Bled coming out first as Crimson followed suit alongside Hugo and Black.

“So, friends,” he offered as he offered a hand. He gave me his wonderful smile that I couldn’t help but do the same as I shook his hand.

“Friends,” I declared right before I gave him a little peck,”I’ll still love you Yuki, always will.”

“Same to you,” he softly chuckled. “Now out you go, go be with Crimson.” He dispelled his frost to shortly cut me out before playfully shooing me away as Bled went to him. Black and Crimson were in the middle of a conversation, so I sat somewhere alone, watching my friends. I stared mostly at Yuki, making sure if he’s alright and was, he wasn’t shaking, crying, or venting off steam. He looked a lot more relieved, and I was comfortably happy for him.

“Hey,” Hugo chimed in as he stood behind me, letting me get a good look of the cat's figure, “you mind if I sit next to you?” His body was a lot similar to Yuki’s, but a bit slimmer and a little more muscular. “I won’t do anything, I just need someone to lean on a bit.”

“Go ahead,” I answered, with him soon sitting next to me. It was pretty quiet between us, watching Bled with Yuki and Black with Crimson on the opposite side doing their things. “Sorry about everything today, we didn’t mean for-“

“It’s fine Ace,” he interrupted as he looked at the water. “It was bound to happen. I was just a fool not to realize the truth, that he was long gone and he’ll never come back.” He looked at me directly in the face with a solemn look. “At least, I got to deal with him directly, even though it hurt a lot.”

I wanted to ask about the research he did, but it didn’t feel like a good time to ask that. “What was he like? I’m sure he was a lot different from whatever we fought.”

“…He was an honorable, commendable, and lovable man,” he opened with a melancholic smile, “he’d always wanted the best for the gang, even if it meant putting him in harm's way. He’d remembered everyone’s birthdays, threw parties, and consoled us privately whenever one of us would break. The world lost a good man when he died last year, killed by some scum trying to make a profit out of us.”

“Did…Was justice ever served for the killer?”

“…I believe so, I heard he was tortured, brutalized, then killed by someone claiming to be a Demon King.” My body immediately froze from the sudden mention of my father. “The news never brought it up, but I received an anonymous letter about it, along with a generous donation. Never did find who it was, but the writer was very sympathetic about what happened.”

“I see, that’s good someone avenged him for you,” I emphasized, thinking it was probably Adel or Simon, but then I remembered Jack was here with his bf at one point. Whoever it was, I wonder if they saw what happened here. “So, have you decided where to go?”

“I do,” he answered with a bit of an ignited smile. He looked towards Crimson, who was talking with his brothers, then looked at me. “So this group you’re in with your friends, it’s to save the world huh? Forgive me for the eavesdropping back there, but it’s like something about summonings, right?” I nodded my head, doing my best to be vague about the worldly threat, watching as the cat’s eyes lit up. “Let me join the fight,” he requested, “I want to help Crimson and you with whatever is going on.”

My eyes widened as he gave this determined look. “Y-You sure,” I questioned, wanting to make sure, “there’s still a lot of things you don’t know, but it’s going to be dangerous. I wouldn’t want you to-“

“I want to,” he interrupted with more resolve in his voice, “if there are more fakers or whatever they are out there, then I want to make sure no one will be manipulated by them. It’s a mockery of the dead and I refuse to let whoever is making them play with other people’s lives. I may not be strong or quick, but I’ll do whatever it takes to get rid of those intruders, even if it means death.” I was stunned, hearing his voice never waver compared to the guy that killed me in my dream. “So please Ace, let me join your fight,” he pleaded again, his eyes filled with a fiery passion. All I could think of was Crimson’s trust in him.

“Of course,” I answered, putting my trust in him, “I’ll see what I can do, though it’s my first time recruiting someone.” If what Yuki told me about Crème’s recruitment, it shouldn’t be that long, right? He said there wasn’t a trial, so it shouldn’t be, yet I get this worrisome feeling nonetheless. “For now,” I continued, shaking my feelings off, “let’s just relax tonight, we’ll do the formal things tomorrow.” We shook hands on it before we sat together, taking in all the steam omitting from the waters.

“Hey Ace,” he looked directly at me, our eyes meeting once again, a glimmer soon shining in his purple Eyes. He was stunned for a moment, rubbing his eyes a bit, but then he gave off a warm smile. “Huh…I can see why Crimson hangs out with you a lot, you have this unique air around you. Kinda makes me a bit jealous of what you two have for each other.” I felt my face heated up as I blustered a thanks for the compliment, causing him to chuckle a bit.

“H-Hey, Crimson and I aren’t that just yet, we’re just very close friends. A-Anyway, I think you look cute as well,” I flirted back with a bit of honesty, not denting the cat’s facade. “I could see why you and him had a…um…”

“It was the best fling I had in a while,” he casually stated, staggering me, “no need to beat around the bush. Though, sorry if that came out of nowhere, just thought I’d say it since you and him seem fine with it.”

“Oh definitely,” I assured him, wondering before shooting, “you have a crush on him?” The adorable cat shied away, face flush with a bit of envy.

“I’d be lying if I said no,” he admitted as we both looked at the panther, “but yeah, I do.” I watched his left hand gripping onto his right shoulder before asking, “would it ok if he and I were to still…”

“I wouldn’t mind,” I truthfully answered, “though you should ask him that instead of me.”

“Y-Yeah, of course,” the cat fumbled with the late realization, “I-I’ll do that later.” He lowered down into the waters to immediately calm his nerves. At the same time it noticed that Crimson was finally alone. I told Hugo what I was going to do before making my way to the panther’s side.

“How are you doing,” I asked him, sitting real close to him.

“Could be better,” he sighed, “but I got what I wanted from that job, the book and a new friend.” He looked over towards the sinking cat, faintly smiling over him. “So, you two were talking about me, right?” He gave off this naughty look as I couldn’t feel like playing along.

“Yep, told me all the juicy things you two did last night,” I partially lied, watching Crimson flash out a toothy grin. “He wants to keep going at it with you, maybe even more.” He beamed as I could see some hearts in his eyes.

“Of course,” he purred lovingly, “and if you want, you could join us. I think I could convince him with some teasing. I know a lot of spots by now.” He groped his right chest, admiring his own physique.

“I’d be down,” I chuckled before going back to what I wanted to ask, “though as much as I’m curious about him, I’m more curious about that book.”

He was understandably silent, hunching over, mulling it over, then leaned back a bit. “I can’t really explain it out here, but I’ll give it to you when we head back to the Tower tomorrow.”

“Just like that? No need to wait or anything specific?”

“Yeah, because I always remember you having that book by your side.” He placed his hand over mine as his face was conflicted with worries. “Everything will change again as soon as you have it, so please be patient and let me hold it for just a day, so we can relax. Despite how it ended, we all did a good job living through it, that’s all I wanted.” He sounded tired uttering those words, but with a deep breath, he was smiling again.

“Yeah, I’m happy it went well,” I agreed as I hugged him. “We avoided that from happening and as you said earlier, we got a friend.” We both looked at the cat, who was chatting away with the brothers, who seemed to be slightly teasing him. “Speaking of again, Hugo wants to join the Tower and help us take on this year’s threat.”

“I thought so,” the panther calmly, yet joyfully smiled, “I’m happy with that, one of the many regrets I have was that I never saw him again after I did my mission here.” He then let go from my hug as he nudged me on the shoulder. “Maybe I will give what he wants, be his lover. Guess that means I’ll be out of your fuck square,” he naughtily teased, “you’ll have Yuki and Bled to play with now. I’ll be with-“

“Actually about that,” I interrupted him, “I…I broke up with Yuki earlier.” The panther froze as I continued, “well, more like he broke up with me and he’s going to be staying with Black for a while too. So I’m single again.” He was soon going to ask about Bled, so I answered it beforehand. “Bled is a no go too, he’ll be traveling around the world, so he can fight in all the arenas. His first match will be Kolok, but he’ll leave once he’s done there.” I…was a bit conflicted, I wanted to be with him, but I also wanted him to be with Hugo too.

“I see…Are you going to ask me if I want to date you?" the panther wondered to me, following with me nodding my head. He let out a sigh as he palmed the side of his head. “I…Oh boy.” He looked at me before parting away with a conflicted smile, then looked at me a bit more determined. “If you’re going to ask, then please do so as yourself and however you want to do it.” I obliged, switching to my cooler white furs and then moving his chin so he’s facing me again. “Thank you,” he purred, his attention fully on me as I tried to be a different Ace to him.

“Crimson Red, my crimson knight born from shadows,” I acted to help ease him, fluster him most likely, “for the many times you save me, past and future, I want to share with you these words I have for you for so long... I love you.” The steam from the waters wrapped both of us together in a hidden haze, getting us to inch closer and closer, until our shoulders were touching. “Would you like to share your heart fully with mine as mine to yours? Tie our destinies together forever more?” I watched his true, shimmering, yellow Eyes glow, his conflicting eased, bringing me closer to his maw.

“I do, my devilish prince,” he playfully joined, his fur darkened, “for this world and its possibilities, I will fight for you close to your side. I fully dedicate my heart to you with an act of this.” He sprang forward, our maws locking as his tongue danced with mine, a kiss made under the haze. I could feel eyes in the baths cheering me on, fueling me to hug him close and hold him tightly close to my body. The ice on my fur melted into a breeze.

“A-Ace,” Crimson interrupted, his eyes widened, as he parted our kiss a tad bit hastily. He took a deep breath before smiling at me and added, “look at your reflection.” He tilted his head towards the water and I looked down, soon meeting a surprise coming from my reflection.

The white fur I had donned on earlier was no longer there, replaced by my usual shade of black as my body was decorated in a dark green pattern. My horns changed their colors as they glowed green and I was given a pair of black, feathery Angel wings. There was the random bundle of dark green fur between my horns curving itself in front of my face, but everything else was like a healing breeze. The sclera of my eyes were pitch black, yet the grey was still there, the unexpected transformation was complete.

“HOLY SHIT,” I cheered with my heart beating rapidly, the boom of my voice scattering the steam away. Everyone else was startled from my outburst, but then stared when they saw how I looked. I took no time trying out my wings, leaping off the ground as I flew high into the sky, with only a towel wrapped around me. It was an amazing sight, seeing the lit streets of the town as I could see the edge of the dark horizon. To say I was ecstatic was a bit of an understatement, I was over the moon testing out my new wings, but I descended after my excitement died down, realizing people may have just witnessed me flying naked.

When I landed, I switched back to my usual self, with the Red brothers coming over to me. Bled wanted me to switch back, which I did, causing him to admire the new form. Yuki was very curious about it, shooting me with questions like if I could switch back to white or if I could do some sort of half-and-half kinda thing, which I could only do the former. Crimson was kinda staring, but he had this new, calming look on his face before he smiled. The other two were watching from a distance, with Black shrugging it off while Hugo was clearly confused but kept his distance.

After spending more time in the hot waters, Bled and Yuki were the first to leave. Then was Black, leaving very abruptly when he got a call from someone important. In the end, Hugo was squished between me and Crimson, our bodies close to each other.

“Y-You two,” the cat nervously steamed, his face flushed as his eyes wandered. “What do you two want?”

Crimson gave me this look and I gave him a nod, letting him continue what he wanted. “I was wondering,” the panther trailed, his fingers going up the cat’s chest to the chin. “I was wondering if you’d like to be close with me and Ace. Join us and make the three of us a throuple.”

“It was Crimson’s decision,” I added, petting the cat, “we had a private talk about what he wanted. Of course he wants to be a bit greedy, but I wouldn’t mind trying it out. So, what do you say, kitty?”

The cat fell to silence, contemplating his decision as he couldn’t help purr from our affection. “I-I…I guess we can try,” he responded once Crimson placed his head against his shoulder. He let out a soft mewl when we gave him a kiss on the cheeks. He quickly got up from the baths, flustered as hell. “But I-I need some time to think about it,” he proclaimed, “if you excuse me, I feel rather…sleepy. H-Have a good night you two.” He hurriedly gave us a bow before heading off, leaving me and Crimson alone.

“Well, I expected that, cute,” the panther sighed with a bit of joy. We both bumped fists together from our little ploy. “Thanks for joining in on the tease Ace. You sure are improving on the play.”

“Of course, I do better when I’m told ahead of time,” I playfully retorted before I questioned his true intentions, “but you were serious about that weren’t you? Wanting him to join us?” The panther leaned back as he brought me close.

“I do,” he admits with a truest grin, “like I said before, these loops carry the feelings we have, grief, anger, and of course, my affection. But I will hold off if you don’t want it.” I could see a bit of worry on the feline’s face, so I brushed the side of it as I got closer.

“No, you’re fine,” I answered, giving him a peck on the cheek. “I would’ve called off the tease entirely when we were talking earlier, I’m perfectly okay if you want us to be a throuple. We’ll just have to see what Hugo wants tomorrow, so let’s head to bed. The earlier we sleep, the faster we’ll find out.” The panther nodded as we started getting out of the baths and headed towards the guest room that Black prepared for us. Stripped of our clothes, we dived straight to bed, cuddling each other close til we fell asleep in each other’s warm embrace.

…But I chose not to fall asleep, I waited for them to sleep and got out of bed. There was one thing I was too curious about and I didn’t want to wait any longer. But I guess it too was impatiently waiting as well, the book that Maverick had, the important thing Crimson needed.

It was laying there on the top of the dresser, his cleaned, black, sleeveless hoodie sitting next to it. A brown, leather book that should’ve disappeared, but was there, menacingly giving off this aura. I should’ve waited for tomorrow, but I was too curious on why it was important to Crimson.

Pick it up.

It wouldn’t hurt if I sneak a look.

Just. A. Peak.

As soon as I touched the book, my whole body started weighing heavy as if the whole world was pushing down on me. My stiff arms could barely move as my legs shook out of both pain and fear. Various voices rang in my ears, crying, screaming, taunting, howling, shouting, all of them belonging to me. “ Open it ,” they spoke over each other, all of them pounding on my head as if it was a door as my fingers slowly reached over to the cold edge. Enduring the tormental feelings of pressure, I turned over the blank cover and read the title of the first page.

The Ace of Heart

Ch. 1: The Ace and the Jack

.

.

.

.

I watched as he opened the book. Static filled his eyes, his mind slowly…

No more waiting now

I stepped out of the corner

Took out my false knife

Then pressed it against his neck

It’s time for it to reset

I was ready to draw blood, but then my ear twitched.

————— ————————— ————

I was right to check on the noise.

The tall, older, black wolf in a white coat immediately turned and sliced through my mosaic mirror. It was a clean cut, shattering only the top part of the mirror as my magic was undone, forcing me to face the unknown assailant. If that were me, he’d have sliced my head off before I could do a thing. The mask he wore, I couldn’t tell what his Eyes were, but he was more surprised than annoyed when he saw me failing his assassination.

“It’s you…” the wolf muttered before he regained composure. He sighed, putting away his knife while I armed myself with the needles I had on me. “Ciao,” he mouthed, disappearing in a blink of an eye. I quickly scanned the area, getting no signs of the assassin before heading to check on Ace.

He was breathing at least, but he had this dazed, blank look on his face, his eyes were darting around crazy. In his hand was the book Maverick was holding earlier, opened with its pages fluttering from one end to the other. It was clear that whatever was happening to the wolf was caused by the book, his body refused to move an inch, he had a death grip on the book, and he wasn’t responding to anything I did to his body. I wasn’t sure what to do, but I was going to wake up Crimson and get his help. That was until I heard the book closed and a groan came out from the wolf before noticing me.

“H-Hugo, wha-why are you here,” he quietly questioned before noticing the shards of my broken mirror. “What happened?”

“That’s what I wanted to know,” I worriedly shot back, “I was in my room, sleeping, until I heard a strange noise coming from here. When I came over to check, I saw some old wolf about to cut your neck open while you stood there all dazed.” I took a deep breath as I tried calling myself down, when I looked back, I saw Ace having a conflicted look on his face. “Somehow I drove him off at least, but are you okay? Did that book do something to you?”

“…No, I’m fine,” he denied, putting the book next to Crimson’s clothes. I wasn’t convinced and it looked like he wasn’t either. “Look, it’s pretty late into the night, I’ll get some sleep then I’ll be fully fine,” the wolf of Demons diverted, making his way to the sleeping panther’s side. “You should get some sleep too, you dealt with a lot today after all.” He wasn’t going to budge and there was no point in doing so if we’d make a lot of noise.

“Fine, just let me do something real quick,” I relented, quickly heading to my room and returning with my messenger bag. I took out a little Rune bot I made, turning it on before setting it free in Ace’s room. He was in bed, confused, yet curious about what I was doing. “Have you ever seen these before,” I inquired, followed by a no from him, then I explained, “well, it’s a rune bot, they're tools that’d help with a variety of chores. This one is a little special one I modified from an old one sitting at my base. It was a part of a project I was working on.”

“Is it related to…y’know,” the wolf remembered, his words piercing my heart. I paused…thinking back on the research I did, the ones I burned away, the ones he mentioned to them. A shadow from my past, it was just the two of us, it’ll be fine, if Crimson loves him, I trust him.

“...Yeah,” I sighed as I opened up the settings and configured the functions in a hologram menu, “I originally modified it so I could imbue it to Maverick’s body when he was alive. Give him bodily enchantments so he wouldn’t have to deal with the tolls of old age.” I looked away, my mind clouded with his death. “After he died, I had no reason to continue, so I burned them, so no one else would use it.” “...Not that it mattered in the end, it was used in the worst way possible,” I lamented as I turned back to the wolf, “Even though I was not the one that went with it, I still contributed to it with my research. Forgive me if I was in a hurry to join your group, but I wanted to repent.” I quickly closed the bot’s settings, applying them automatically as I heard nothing from Ace.

“...You should be safe now,” I assured him, turning towards the door, “if anyone other than the three of us unexpectedly comes to this room, it’ll sound a loud alarm and form a wall around you. I’ll take my leave now, have a good night Ace…and Crimson too.” I took my first step out, only to get my arm grabbed by the black wolf.

“About what you said, I appreciate you sharing with me. Don’t think that all of what happened was all your fault, you chose to stand with us. So if you ever feel like you’re not doing enough, you’ll always have a place with me and Crimson,” he softly encouraged, my heart lifting from his words. “I can’t wait to work together with you soon. Have a good night, partner.” He let go and I walked out, my heart suddenly fluttered, similar to the reaction I had when I saw the glow of his grey Eyes back in the baths. I gave him a nod and took off, not before noticing that there was a random potted plant that had fallen over outside the room, then headed to my room to sleep.

When I woke up, I was met with Crimson, laying down next to me. I instinctively hopped off of bed, accidentally falling off, only to be caught by somebody behind me. I looked back, only to see Crimson again back at me, then realizing there were two of them as they both sandwiched me between. Thinking I was still dreaming, I closed my eyes, kept my breathing steady and hugged the one in front of me, both purring as they embraced me.

“This isn’t a dream kitten,” he teased, pinching my cheeks, stirring me more awake. They were both still there, but I had least noticed Crimson’s yellow Eyes, a similar color to the glow it emitted when he stabbed Maverick. It was Crimson’s true Eyes, no doubt about it. When I touched both Crimsons, they felt real enough, none of the two faded, but I noted how they both reacted when I touched one or the other. Then an epiphany hit me as I started putting things together.

“So that’s how you got access to the base,” I marveled, “you copied mine while we were banging!” I then remembered the fear my heart felt that night when we got interrupted before fuming, “you fucking made that noise to make us hide so you could swipe the card from my bag. You almost gave me a heart attack!”

“You got it,” the panther congratulated then quickly apologized, “though sorry about scaring you. I had to do something to get myself some time. As an apology, I cooked you something for the morning!” He got up, handing me a plate of waffles, fruits, and desserts as a way to bribe me to calm down….It worked. “I just thought I should reveal my whole thing, just in case you do want to be a throuple with me and Ace,” he attested whilst I ate in front of him. “Have you thought about it by the way?”

“...I have,” I replied, thinking about my own feelings towards him and his partner, thinking back on my time with Ace last night and how my heart would flutter whenever I saw Crimson. “I’d like to try it out,” I answered shyly, “see how it goes and all.” The panther warmly smiled at me as I couldn’t help being a bit flustered from seeing it.

“Good,” he sweetly cooed, his smile soon fading, “then I’ll tell you something important, something that only you, me, and Ace will only know. A secret between the three of us.” I raised my brow, confused by the sudden seriousness in his tone, but I trusted him and tuned in to his secret.

…It was definitely something, a year that constantly loops itself with almost no one remembering it. I couldn’t really believe it, thought he was messing with me, but the tired look I briefly saw in his eyes spoke true. There are some problems I have with his story, but if he’s telling me this, then…

I told him about my research, keeping an eye on his facial expressions, seeing if it was the first time hearing it. Some parts he knew, some he didn’t, which were the more technical babble of my bot. It was…a bit hard to fully believe him, but he partially knows some parts I haven’t shared with some wrong bits of info. “So where’s my bot,” I asked, remembering I left it by Ace’s side, “does Ace still have it?” The panther was confused when I mentioned it, not knowing anything about it.

“I’m not sure, when I woke up, Ace was up and he went out to have a walk with everyone. You were still asleep, so I stayed behind to keep you company.” He slid himself back to bed with me, fork out from nowhere, and took a bite or two of the breakfast he made.

“Well more like slip away,” the clone corrected, “speaking of, I should head back. Make sure they’re not getting into trouble. Later you two~” With a dramatic bow, the panther’s clone disappeared with a blink of an eye, giving me alone time with him.

“...So how long do we have until they get back,” I wondered, eyeing the panther up.

“Hmmm an hour or two,” he replied, closing his left eye, “so what do you want to do together?” I moved the tray of plates aside, putting them on the night stand as I rolled back to the panther.

“Don’t know, maybe sleep a bit more,” I suggested, “I’m still not in the best mood for much.”

“That’s fine,” the panther assured me as he scooted close to me, his face was more sullen. “Do you regret talking to me that night,” he questioned, reflecting on our little past together.

“Not at all,” I assured the panther, hugging him close as I remembered the dating app on my HUD. “You were better than anyone I saw on that app. You weren’t looking for a quick fuck compared to everyone else, you were looking for someone to talk to, right?”

“…I was,” he admitted, his tail curling around my leg, “just like you were since that false captain found you.”

“Yeah, but we got along. You were the first to find me, complimenting my body before being forward about my interests.”

“Well I can’t say no to a very lovely pattern,” the panther admired, specifically staring at my different colored nipples as he ruffled the purple bowtie made of fur on my neck. “And you then complimented on my lovely tiddies in return before we started actually talking.” The panther rapidly raises his eyebrows, groping his own chest, causing me to laugh at how dumb he was looking. As I calmed myself down, we couldn't help but stare at each other's eyes, our breaths slowly synching up. Next thing we knew, we were making out, hugging and cuddling with each other before we laid there together, just talking. Soon I was performing some acupuncture treatment on the panther because he was curious on how it felt.

It was very awkward when his brothers walked in on us, a naked panther laying face down on the portable massage table that I stored in my bag, multiple acupuncture needles scattered throughout his entire back. I was placing one around the base of his tail, my other hand tightly gripping on the panther’s tail so it wouldn’t move. The two would immediately close the door, letting me finish moving the panther’s tail so it wouldn’t affect the needles if it moved. With a little binding magic to secure the pins and a lighthearted slap on the butt, I took my leave to see what his brothers wanted.

“So, what did you two want,” I curtly asked, soon noticing my bot in Yuki’s hand.

“Ace told us to give this back to you,” Yuki replied, “he was going to, but he had to buy something when we were heading back.”

“Oh alright, were you guys using it on the walk,” I questioned, noticing the charge was almost depleted.

“Ace was, but we’re not sure what he was doing, but he was having fun,” Bled answered with Yuki soon bumping him with a sigh, “well until he started taking photos of everyone.” It sounded like he wanted to test out the bot’s capabilities...Shame the model isn’t that new, he probably would’ve had a blast with the newer functions. Despite Ace doing the deed, the two couldn’t help feeling bad for their friend’s antics, but I just smiled back.

“That’s fine, I haven’t used the bot in months,” I truthfully assured the two, seeing them smile again soon. “You two go do whatever, I need to head back in to finish Crimson’s treatment.” Yuki went down the hall, but Bled stood there momentarily with a question.

“So, how does that feel,” he wondered before clarifying, “the treatment I mean. Those are needles on him, right? Don’t they hurt?”

“You don’t hear your brother screaming when we’re talking, so it shouldn’t. If you’re curious, I could do it on you too, it’ll help if you’ve been having aches.” The cat thought about it, then shook his head, the mask he’s wearing obscuring his emotions, yet his voice wavered with embarrassment.

“N-No, I’m fine, I’ll let you and Crimson have fun,” the wrestler refused, staggering away from me with a tense body. “W-We got you some food by the way! We were at a b-bakery and got you some cake! I-I mean cupcakes, not cake!” Chuckling from his cute flustered mess, I went back in the room, putting the bot on the night stand before checking on Crimson.

He was asleep, hearing his light, peaceful snores as he laid there, just as I wanted. I undid the bindings on my needles, taking them off, sterilizing them in the process and putting them back in their case. I wheeled the massage table next to the bed, rolled the panther onto it face-up, and folded it back into my messenger bag. I picked up my little guy and charged it in my bag, putting the cord to the port hidden in the side panel. I was curious about one thing, so I went out to the room Ace was staying in, only to see Crimson sleeping there as well, albeit in a very uncomfortable position.

I went down, quietly chilling around with his family, time ticking down until it was time I went to their organization’s base. Ace came back eventually, this time having the book he was reading bound and clasped onto the left side of his waist. He looked unfazed from last night’s events, but I guess whatever ailed him was gone. He was openly flirty with me, pampering me with affection that Crimson totally told him about, not that mind it. Once Crimson came back from his quick, refreshed nap, the group led me to their base as I heavily wondered what it was like.

We stopped outside at the local guild house near Sir Black’s home, it was pretty small, but it was one I've seen before. I’d check it out once and a while when I’m on my usual run for supplies, checking out the bounties they posted. We went to the back of the place, seeing a nice view of the town with a door directly opposite of it. With a nice last look, it was time to go.

Yuki was planning on staying behind, so I watched him, his brothers, and Ace give each other a tender hug as their farewells. The black wolf prince would open the door, a hint of magic being casted as soon as his hand touched the door knob and swung it open. Ace, Bled, then Crimson went through, leaving me to be the last to go through. I gave another look back, seeing the place I’m leaving behind and Sir Black waving me off with a hopeful smile. I took one last breath of air and took one step through, the air around me shifted, my eyes adjusting to the unnatural lighting, and I was there.

I was greeted with a sight of a lobby full of doors decorated with a nameplate of destination and accessories from that place. Patrons from all over the world come and go from the doors, people I never expected to see. I couldn’t help but stare, wanting to check out the other places. Ace however, was waiting for me, grabbing my arm as he escorted me out from the empty fancy room to a fancy, comfortable hotel lobby.

A chandelier hung above the marble flooring carpeted with bits of red. The red velvet chairs were already occupied by chatting guests. There was a big bulletin board that pinned bounties, job offerings, services, and etc. The main thing my eyes truly focused on was the very advanced Rune Golem acting as the receptionist. My wolfy boyfriend had a different thing in mind, whisking me towards a nearby elevator with the panther following, taking us to the higher floors where a very happy looking tiger was waiting for us in the halls.

He was wearing a simple black t-shirt and shorts, his red scarf resting around his neck, and leaning on his mechanical red arm at the railing. He was looking at us with his heterochromia eyes, the left eye being blue while his right being red, looking very carefree despite the serious aura coming off of him. “It’s nice to see you Ace,” he joyfully greeted as we got closer, “didn’t think you’d call for an appointment. Those two are your friends?”

“More than that, they’re my boyfriends,” the wolf clarified, his tail wagging, “Crimson and Hugo. My loves, this is Adam, my…I guess uncle.” Crimson looked like he understood what that meant and he greeted him with his charming demeanor. For me, I just smiled and waved at the guy, thinking nothing about his demeanor. “Hugo wanted to join the Tower, so I came looking for you. You own this place after all.” The tiger gave me a piercing look, his smile was oddly unsettling as I approached him.

“I see…” the cheery tiger quietly uttered before his smile faded, “then let’s start. State your full name, the name of your Eyes, and your occupation. If you want to make this quick, state your intentions true right here, right now.” He drew his sword, an oceanic blue sword with some wheel mechanism built in the blade that spun rapidly as soon as it was unsheathed. I could hear Crimson starting to hissing and Ace snarling.

“If you are serious, then say it with conviction or lest this blade of mine will pierce your lying heart and stain the carpet with your blood.” Chains sprang up from the floor and onto my limbs, tying me down as I was forced to watch Adam slowly inching his blade close. Crimson was quickly ready to spring into action to save me, but was held back by Ace, who carefully looked at the situation, both being too far to do anything to save me. “No one cast anything,” Adam warned ferociously, “if I detect any hint of magic, your friend will be skewered.” The tiger’s face was eerily fierce, an entirely different personality than the one I was just talking to, but I gritted my teeth, calmed my heart, and faced the feeling of death head on, all so I could follow my repentance.

“I am Hugo Figuro,” I declared, my body shaking as I firmly stood on my own two feet, “ I was born with the Trickster’s Eyes, a former bandit and a researcher. I am no hero, but I still wish to join the fight to save this world. I’ve lost someone close to me twice, one from a murderer and later a tarnished memory created by a fake, one that had used my work to create monstrosities. I want to absolve the wrongs I had indirectly been involved with, even if it means I will die from it. After what I had seen and what I’ve been through, I refuse to let anyone fall into the same chaos I fell in!” My body heaved and shook after I said it, bringing my face closer to Adam’s glowing blade of death.

The wheel on Adam’s sword whirred itself to life, creating sparks wildly shooting out before slowly stopping. The magical chains that bound me dissipated, almost letting me crash to the ground if Crimson hadn’t caught me. Adam simply smiled, putting away his weapon, his heterochromatic Eyes glowing as a key magically appeared in his hand. “You passed,” he brightly congratulated, ignoring the panicked state of me and Crimson. I was ready to curse at him for what he did, but he simply gave the key to Ace…and leapt off the fucking railing, descending down hundreds of floors. I quickly went to watch his escape, watching as his scarf turned itself into a gigantic pair of draconic wings, letting him glide his way down.

“You ok Hugo,” the panther worriedly asked, hugging me, “I’d never seen him do something like that for recruits. I swear to it.”

“I know, it’s fine, wouldn’t be the first time I’d almost die,” I assured him, my voice trembling a bit. “Just need to calm down and I’ll be fine.” Ace joined in on the hug, doing his best to calm me down as well, both of their presence were helping me out.

“Here’s your key,” he presented after I was mentally fine, handing me the key he was given earlier, “it’s a sign that you are one of us now, a Resident of the Tower of Heroes.” I looked at the golden key in my hand, noting the room number was 4140. “Once a Resident, you’ll always have a permanent room here free of charge, in exchange for helping us save this world from annual worldly threats,” the wolf explained as we started making our way to the room. Crimson was awfully silent, his eyes directly on Ace as he continued his explanation. “There’s still a bit more about your room key and stuff, but that’s all I know so far.” We arrived shortly after, it was a regular door similar to mostly every door on the floor.

“You should go in first since it’s your room,” Crimson recommended, “also think about what a hotel room would look like to you. Could be luxurious or cheap, just imagine it while you go in.” With both Ace and Crimson watching me, I unlocked the door, opening it whilst imagining what my room would look like. I detected a bit of magic as I entered, seeing the room being almost eerily exactly what I was envisioning.

It was one of the spacious luxury rooms that you would usually find in Navineo, the main city of Norren. One decorated in the colors of the green bots handling the room, devices that convert to furniture with a press of a button, and the illusion of a window that displays a usual rainy day of the night. There was a fairly big kitchen filled with some of the best utilities as there was a counter that separated it from the rest of the room. Near the illusory window was a work desk on the left side and a king size bed on the other, obscured a bit from the door by a large bookshelf filled with novels.

Ace immediately went to the nearest bot, curiously examining it while Crimson checked at the windows. “Pretty neat room you got here Hugo,” he complimented, touching the fabrics of the bed before deciding to lay on it. “You went to a room like this back in Rokorook?”

“No, these are rooms in Navineo,” I corrected, walking around the huge space. “Only went to one when I was scouting for-…I rented a room in the city there before.” Everything in the room was real, the machinery and mechanisms of the devices, it was like I was transported through time. “So these rooms of ours are made based on our thoughts I’m guessing.”

“Yep,” the panther replied cheerfully, “the rooms will replicate mostly everything you have in mind, you just need to think about it. If you really wanted, you could just make your room an entire forest or a beach.”

“Pretty much you’re free to do whatever you want here,” Ace added, hearing him playing around with one of the bots.

“Speaking of rooms, where are you going to sleep now Ace? You won’t be able to enter Yuki’s room now since he’s staying at Black’s place.” My ears perked up out of curiosity as I turned towards the wolf.

“Does Ace not sleep in his room?”

“He prefers rooming in with someone else, and he said his room is pretty empty.” I was a bit confused, but Ace didn’t look like he was ready to talk about it yet. “Any idea on who you’ll room with until my bro comes back?” The wolf eyes darted to the panther and then to me before repeating it a few times.

“Would it be ok to room with either one of you two,” he obviously asked. Initially I wasn’t quite sure if I wanted him to be my roommate, but then I remembered last night’s events. I thought about the bots he was playing with, a bit curious he wanted to know more about them.

“He can stay with me,” I offered, “he seemed to enjoy the bots here, so he can-“

“Woah, hold it right there kitty,” Crimson interrupted, getting out of bed, “how about instead of just you two here, I’ll be your roomie too?” I looked over at the bed, wondering if it’ll be enough space for us. “Your big bed should have enough room for all of us together,” the panther reported, “but if needed, I can sleep on the floor or something.” I was still a bit hesitant, but if Crimson does end up sleeping here, we could protect Ace together. It wouldn’t be awkward too, since the three of us are dating each other.

“Sure,” I gave them my answer, “so how exactly do we do this? Is there some sort of paperwork we need to fill or…”

“Nothing really,” Ace casually replied, “I didn’t need to sign anything when I roomed with Yuki. I just asked him if I could stay with him and that’s it since I had nothing on me.” His tail shot straight up as a realization hit him hard. “Now though I should go get my stuff out of his room, Crimson can you-“

“Already on it, the door should be unlocked by the time we get there. Let’s go.” The panther casually waltzed his way to the exit of my room as Ace followed. “Ace and I will take our time moving in, see won’t be needing help, so go around and explore the Tower some more. It’s your new base now, so might as well get familiar with it.” The two quickly left before I could say anything, only for Crimson to reappear at my side.

“Don’t worry about staying here for us,” the shaded clone assured me with a smile. “I’ll be staying here and open the door whenever they come back. Go explore Hugo! Go!” I wasn’t allowed to say anything as the taller feline pushed me out of my own room, giving me a quick kiss on the cheek. “Love you! See you later!” With those final words, I was left in the halls with my key, my bag, and a map of the Tower’s layout.

After leaving the copy of Crimson to chill in my room, I went straight down to the lobby to talk to the Rune Golem at the reception. Though instead of an interesting chat about his mechanisms, I was faced with an unexpected reunion. As soon as the elevator opened to the lobby, a very familiar angelic tiger stood in front of me, both of us with widened eyes as we stepped to the side.

Though it’s been months since I saw him, I still remember his face when he was there long ago. He was wearing some sort of delivery man outfit with a fake halo, but I recognized his white wings. His Eyes were a bit different, a little bit brighter color, but I noticed there were bits of silver mixed with it. His left hand was black and red, almost like he stained it with some sort of demonic sin. We probably stared at each other for a minute until he broke the silence.

“Hugo?”

”Jack?”

“Y-You’re a resident here now,” he asked with a hint of fear in his voice.

“Yeah, I just got recruited today. A friend of Sir Black’s nephew invited me.” The tiger froze, quickly figuring out who I was referring to.

“…Of course he went there,” the tiger calmly mumbled, “well welcome to the Tower, Hugo. How’s um…How’s life treating you?”

“…A lot, you?”

“…A lot.”

We awkwardly stood there, feeling bits of dread from each other. Even gave each other an awkward smile as people walked past us. It was pretty depressing, so I thought I’d ask something else.

“How’s…” I was trying to remember his partner’s name, a face similar to Ace came to mind and it sort of rolled off my tongue naturally.

“How’s Null?”

“…”

Jack’s heart immediately dropped hard to the ground when I spoke that name. He was dead silent, his eyes quickly losing life as he gripped tightly onto his left hand, his claws almost digging into it, he could’ve drawn blood if didn’t intervene soon. For his sake and sanity, I quickly dropped the question by asking another one, putting a hand on his shoulder to violently shake him out of it.

“H-Hey, so you know Ace right? It looked like you knew who recruited me based on what I said. What’s your connection with him?” His purple, silver eyes quickly had its light restored as he let go of his hand.

“…He’s my brother,” he calmly, somewhat tiredly replied, quickly recovering from earlier. I was surprised by it, but then realized I never did get either of their full names. I have a couple more questions, but I don’t think he was emotionally stable enough to answer them. “So why were he and his boyfriend in Rokorook? Did something happen?”

“Sir Black needed some help to…take care of an imposter.” He knew who I was referring to.

“Shit,” he quietly uttered to himself, “I didn’t know, I’m sorry I wasn’t there to help.”

“Don’t blame yourself, Sir Black told me you’ve been busy.” Jack looked regretful momentarily. “Still, it’s nice to see someone familiar here,” I commented, holding his left hand. “If it’s ok, would you like to hang out later this week?”

“S-Sure, let’s exchange contacts,” Jack awkwardly answered before we do that quickly, “what’s your room number? I’ll come over later to give you a welcoming gift.”

“4140," I replied, then remembered Crimson and Ace being there, “I might not be there, but your brother might, so he can take the gift for me since he’s moving in with me.” He looked really confused when I said that.

“He’s moving in with you,” he quizzingly asked, but then stopped. “No, I’ll ask him when I head over. I have some stuff to take care of now, I’ll leave you to…whatever you were going to do. It was nice seeing you again Hugo, see you later.”

“Later, it was nice meeting you again.” With that said, Jack went into the elevator as I went back to checking the Rune Golem in a red suit vest and white dress shirt managing the lobby. He was still manning the reception area, dutifully standing there, watching a live-action show on a tv screen in front of him. If I hadn't noticed the faux fur he’s covered in, he would’ve looked like a regular, living person. He had an artificial, purple, fluffy lion’s mane that slowly turned black at the ends, matching the rest of his black, furry body. Looking a bit close to his clothes, I could see a bit of metal on his left pec peeking out. His digital face had a gradient hue in a visor with the sides of the helm were winged and separated into 3 parts. The base had 3 glowing blue crystals, followed by a chunk of that same crystal protruding, and then followed again by a green crystal, all of them glowing. He was calmly there in a suit, his natural-looking fingers moving fluidly as he fiddled with a fidget toy with one hand and doodling on a notepad with another.

“E-Excuse me,” I let out as I approached the golem, watching him stretch his metallic arms upward before sitting upright in his chair and abandoning his little hobbies. His digital screen was soon covered with text written in an ancient language quickly scrolling down fast before closing.

“Ah, the new resident, Hugo Figuro,” the ancient golem noted before greeting himself. “I am a HMGol 10-4-09.1, Hotel Manager Golem, the only surviving product of this type in this world, but everyone calls me Botler. I work here all day and night! How may I be of service?”

“Nothing really, I’m just curious about you,” I replied, curiously watching his fluid movements. “I haven’t seen a Rune Golem like you before. You look a lot like us compared to-”

“Ones anywhere else? Yes, I’ve been told before, it’s due to how I was designed,” he interrupted with an elegant smile on his digital face. “My original purpose was to manage hotel buildings before the past civilization died out. This form of mine was designed by myself to help ease customers and my personality was slightly configured for it as well. As you can tell, I now manage this Tower’s automation, which is why everything here is akin to a luxurious hotel due to my influence.”

“I see,” I let out, mostly curious about his body, “I was wondering, is your body fully synthetic? I could tell your fur is artificial, but you look so natural and lifelike with your movements.” The…Lion-like being let out a chuckle as he stood from his chair, his body towering over me as he stretched out his right arm towards me and opened his palm. I shook his hand, noting how similar it felt to touching anyone’s hand and the steady beat of what I presume would be his heart.

“It’s to help me understand people, I’ve been given synthetic body parts and organs with materials the Tower collected over the years. It was a prototype when my line was being designed, but wasn’t fully implemented as we originally wore plated armor. I would’ve kept the armor on if…Any more questions you want to ask about me?” Two questions came to mind, a naughty, but curious question and one I need to know.

“How do you manage the systems in this place,” I quickly asked, shifting my thoughts for another day. It seemed to bring the guy out of it, his screen filled with joy.

“Everything in the Tower is automated by my protocols,” he simply explained. “It’s a whole bunch of complicated codes and power and stuff, but whenever you decide to do stuff with your room, the magic of the Tower would use my programming to form whatever you desire within reason. Even automatically rewire or readjust the room’s pipes for you to get what you need. As long as I exist, the Tower’s systems will continue to automate, even when I’m not around.”

“And what if you do leave this place?”

“Well once and a while I upload a backup version of myself into the Tower’s core, located where only I and a select few know. If I ever need to leave this place, my backup version will take care of the systems while I’m gone. Though if my body ever breaks when I’m out, my body would send an immediate signal to the Tower and would reconstruct my entire body using the memories of the latest backup.”

“And when was the last time that happened,” I inquired from noting his finger slightly twitching.

“A couple years ago,” he answered with a sad whirr in his tone, “caused a lot of grief with everyone, since the backup at the time was when I initially started working here, so technically I died. My past iteration left no memories behind, just a lot of…complications to deal with, enough that I chose to change my whole identity to help process that.”

“…I see, what was your past self’s name?”

“Attendbot,” he replied with a slight chuckle, “he purposely named himself that, so I gave myself a name similar to that.” His digital eyes wavered a bit before he whirred back to life. “So is that all you want to know? I don’t want you to spend too much time with-“

“Nah, I think we should,” I interrupted, seeing an exclamation point fill his screen. The way he’s been responding, he’s very much different from other golems I’ve studied, but I can’t help but feel for his plight. He’s very emotive despite his mechanical noises, but I can tell he’s being genuine with them, an odd, but refreshing type of Rune Tech I’ve seen. I can’t leave the poor guy alone with his thoughts. “You’ve been working here everyday, right? Wouldn’t it be nice to just take a break, you looked pretty bored when I got here.”

“Y-Yeah, but I don’t get bored,” Botler defended his position. “I just don’t have any better stimulation. I’ve taken care of all my tasks for today hours ago.”

“So you're bored.”

“…Yeah,” he defeatedly replied before perking himself up, “but if you say it’s fine, let’s hang out. I wouldn’t mind if it’s just here, but I have a feeling you’re going to drag me around. So where are we going?” I realized I asked the bot out too late when I barely knew anything about this place.

“I-I’m not sure really,” I honestly admitted, “I didn’t think this far. I don’t know much about this place yet.” The golem let out a chuckle, petting my head.

“Well let’s do it some other time then, once you get to know the Tower better,” he spoke happily. “Thank you for asking me out though, I look forward to when we can. Go tour around Hugo, it’s your first day here, so explore and enjoy the Tower’s amenities.” With a smile and a wave, we parted, with me wandering the halls, taking a glimpse of what I could do and where I could go.

The more notable ones were stuff I could get supplies from like a general store I found on the first floor, Zig & Zag Emporium, one that sold a variety of goods from medicines to games, not sticker mods though. There was a floor dedicated to crafters, mostly shops that would be used to help the people here get their weapons maintained, but there were a couple of workshops I could use for my bot. An arena took up another, letting people spar and train with each other, a good idea to do for the future. Other than that, there were a couple of restaurants from around the world, I didn’t notice anything interesting before losing steam and heading back to my room.

Jack was there, conversing with Ace when I arrived, only to get a snippet of an end of their topic. “So that’s what happened over there,” he noted, “well thank you for helping them out. I wish you and your…boyfriends the best.” He was about to head off, but noticed me approaching, freezing in place.

“Oh before you go, I have something to give you,” Ace remembered, soon rummaging into his Item Cube and taking out a long cylindrical package. “Black wanted me to give this to you, a ‘thank you,’ for helping him out last year.” With a smile, he handed the gift to Jack, the tiger’s tail drooping immediately as he opened it immediately, a black cloud looming over his head. I couldn’t help but be curious, so I quietly summoned a thin mirror behind him and slightly, slyly peered into it as I slowly walked towards the two.

It was a poster, an autographed one, of a hero show that was popular for some time. It was a poster portrait of one of the heroes, a dark blue wolf in a blue skintight suit with a cowboy duster coat and a 10 gallon hat. “To my great stoic fan, Jack Heart -Signed Blue Whiskey,” was what was written on the poster, shaking the tiger to his core.

“…Thank you,” he said, putting up a brave front, “I’ll have to make sure I properly thank Black too. Take care.” He faced me soon, greeting me with a smile, waving me off before leaping over the rails, his wings popping off. Ace greeted me with a smile soon after as I headed in.

“Welcome back Hugo,” he greeted me as I saw Crimson putting up some potted plants on the shelves.

“Plants,” I noted quizzingly, noticing how healthy they looked.

“It adds a bit of life here with all the machines,” the panther replied, placing the last pot on before heading over to one of the devices. With a tap, a couch unfolds itself into reality. “How was exploring the Tower,” he asked before going over to the other devices to see what else it would unveil.

“A bit tiring,” I answered, making my way to a couch that Crimson was able to unfold. “Didn’t think a floor here would take a while to go through, but I got the gist of the ones closer to the ground floor.” I looked over to Crimson, who was suddenly sitting right next to me. “Any recommendations of the amenities, Crimson? You know a lot more than I and possibly Ace do.” The wolf looked a bit insulted from that remark.

“Well the 66th floor leads to a very good hot springs and inn,” he answered with a grin, “the actual place is located in the mountains so you get a lovely view when you bathe. The staff gives some really good massages too, definitely worth a visit after a strenuous day.” He looked over at Ace and me, a naughty little grin coming up. “Let’s go there one day, we can rent out a private area for the three of us and just take in the view.”

“That sounds lovely,” I answered, softly petting the panther’s head, “though to be honest, I wouldn’t mind just going there to bathe in public if it means saving money.”

“Shouldn’t be a problem with Crimson, he’s pretty rich,” Ace retorted, “he’s going to be our-”

“YES, I am,” the panther quickly interrupted. “I can pay for the room for us, it’ll be a treat from me to you two.”

“It’s a date then, just pick a date and we’ll go there together,” I warmly replied. The two boyfriends of mine went to my side to snuggle, only for Ace to quickly change topics. One I should have expected, but I happily took part in.

First was Jack’s Welcome Gift, Ace gave me, resting on a table. I opened it fairly quickly, unveiling it from the two for all of us to see it was a luxurious item from him. It was the latest portable game console I’ve heard on the news, packaged with a game. I was confused mostly, but I took it as a sign for when I meet up with Jack later. So instead of booting it up right away, I left it to charge, soon being dragged away by a curious Ace asking about the rune tech in my room.

I was quickly bombarded with questions about Rune Bots from the Demonic wolf, his eyes adorably sparkling with curiosity. A similar shine to the one I had when I got my hands on my first bot. Though, he was very keen on “politely borrowing,” one of the ones hanging out in my magical hotel room. I’d let him take one, only after I performed a quick assessment of the model and its parts. As I somewhat expected, it was one of the cheaper models, but it could still perform the necessary functions, so Ace and I sat by the table and I guided him through the menus.

…It felt nice helping him, it reminded me of the times I helped Mav for his tech trouble. He’d sit there, listening to my explanations and guidance, trying to take it in, yet forget some steps afterwards. Ace is learning it a lot faster, but his curiosity towards Noreen’s tech was really cute in a way. Despite how complex the Tower is, their daily tech the people used aren’t as advanced yet. I couldn’t help but yap about Rune Bots, taking out Sticker Mods, optional limbs, or upgradable components, never realizing it because Ace was diligently listening like Mav did in the past. It was only until I heard Crimson cooking that I was going on a spiel.

We took a break from my lecture to help the panther out, with me giving the wolf some unopened packs of sticker mods I had bought earlier last week. I thought about the receptionist immediately, wondering if any of the stickers would work on him. I saved an extra pack, just in case and gave the rest to the wolf. He was pretty eager to see them, opening them up to see a bunch of stickers of objects, shows, and some monsters. I left him to customize his little guy while I helped the panther cook his dish. Before I knew it, the three of us were eating dinner together, the two of them chatting away as I happily listened to their conversation.

It was a nice feeling being with them, it felt like the old days when Mav’s group wasn’t big. Even still, it was like I was with my gang again after I brought them back since he died. …I just hope they’re doing alright after what happened. I quietly asked Crimson about them when Ace was asleep, but he didn't know either, soon offering his aid. I declined, compared to what he and Ace are facing, I shouldn’t deter them from that. It’s my problem and I intend on finding it out on my own.

It’s been a couple days since I moved into the Tower, I got a basic idea of where everything was with the help of Crimson and Ace. Jack’s been helping me out as well, but it’s usually whenever we stumble upon each other and our meetings are fairly short before he darts off to do his own thing. As for the assassin, he hadn’t shown up since that night and whatever ailment Ace was afflicted with from his book hasn't made itself known to me nor Crimson. I asked the two what our next steps should be to deal with our problem, but I was told to wait until they got more information. So while I waited, I thought to get more close with the Residents and went to the lobby to ask out a certain receptionist.

Botler was looking bored as usual, this time though he was playing solitaire with some playing cards. Instead of ruining his game, I just watched in a corner, summoning a couple thin mirrors, silently adjusting them to get a better look at how it’s going. He was…struggling, or at least he’s been taking a long time making his moves. He was pretty late into the game though, but he soon gave up, shuffling the cards back into the deck. It was a good time to approach him, so I dispelled my mirrors and walked up to him.

“Hey Botler,” I greeted with a smile. The bot’s face soon quickly beamed at me as soon as he heard my voice.

“Morning Hugo,” he greeted back. “How’s life in the Tower so far? I hope it's to your liking.”

“It has, I’ve checked up on a couple of places since our first meeting,” I replied as I watched his moves courteously. “So you like solitaire?”

“I do, it helps keep my logic parameters refreshed. I know plenty of other card games, but I’m usually alone, so I play solitaire.”

“Let’s change that then. How about we play some poker,” I offered, soon dragging a chair over from the sides to the desk before sitting in it. “No wagers, just a couple rounds to get to know each other better.”

“You sure? I thought you came by to get me out of here.” The feline-looking bot quickly shuffled the deck, before putting it between them. “Still, I won’t say no to a little game. Split the deck and deal the cards then.” And so I did and our quick little poker game began, a little learning moment to read into him.

He was demure with his movements, a mix of classy yet shy and reserved on how he presented himself. Still, he had his playful personality as we played, trying to trick me into him having a bad hand with his digital face, but was given out based on how fast he acted. I chose to give in some points whenever he tries, mostly to see and hear how happy he is, his visor making some joyful chippers and tunes. It must’ve been a long while since someone played games with him. …He must’ve been pretty lonely sitting here all day.

“Sorry Botler, but I won this round,” I declared on our final game, revealing my hand. A full house that would beat his two pair hand, the feline let out a disappointed whirr. “So, wanna head out now?”

“Suurre, where are we going,” Botler asked, curiosity soon filling his screen.

“Exploring,” I replied, followed by a confused chipper from him. “I explored the Tower and its amenities, but couldn’t think of anything you would want to do. You haven’t explored much of the Tower too, right? You’ve been manning the station here all day and night.” The bot weakly agreed, nodding along to it. “Then let’s go, if anything tickles your fancy, then we go in. My treat if we need to pay for anything.”

“O-Of course, thank you,” the receptionist thanked me as we got out of our seats. He was a bit hesitant, but he took a second to breathe before a hologram took his place. “Let’s go,” he spoke with more vigor, “my backup should handle any troubles should it arise.” So instead of me leading the way, he was. The bot prancing towards the elevator as we skipped to the 33th floor, the Crafter’s Floor.

The store that caught his immediate attention was Alch-Many Things, the store and station that revolves around alchemy, one of the various crafting methods. Another study I took part in to help familiarize myself in Rune Tech with the use of similar magical algorithms. The facility has most of the varied workbenches needed for all kinds. There were some newly added benches that’d help me configure my Rune Bot, though they were eerily similar to the ones I’ve used before, having the worn scratches on it. I looked over at my traveling companion, who was staring intently at the benches.

“Hey, so about these shops, how exactly did the Tower get those stations,” I asked whilst staring at a specific one. “Do you people order it or does the building-“

“I materialize them from schematics I gathered using the parts the Residents collected,” he quickly answered. “Though if I don’t have the design, it’s from a database entirely made by collecting the Resident’s cognitions, so it might not be perfect compared to the original.” He looked over to the ones I was staring at, noting my expressions as well. “Those new ones, they’re made from your memories. I don’t know how it works, but if you could find both the parts and the design, I could make it perfect for you.”

“I’ll see if I can get one, it’s best if that station works as intended,” I replied, thinking of where I could find one.

“What are those two for anyway,” Botler curiously asked. “I sensed a bit of a connection with them more than the others.”

“Well they’re used to upgrade and perform maintenance on Rune Bots,” I explained as we went towards one of them. “I could probably upgrade you as well Botler, but I need to get the schematics first. I’ve only used them to work on the little bots. If I try to work on you with these stations as they are, there’s a likely chance you’re going to get injured.” That lit a spark inside the bot as his facial screen was filled with sparkling eyes.

“Let me assist in your search then,” he excitedly exclaimed, “I would very much love to upgrade myself! Especially if it’s done by someone experienced as you.” My heart skipped a beat from watching his adorable self pressing up to me with his obliviousness.

“Ye-Yeah, sure. Some help would be nice,” I replied, taking in the warmth his body was exuding. “You have some experience in fighting? We may need to explore some abandoned buildings.”

“I-I do,” he lied with a wavering voice. “Not really,” he admitted immediately, “my past iteration installed some newer protocols. I haven’t booted it up to test them, but I assure you that I am prepared to do fieldwork. I’ve studied the books and records of past expeditions.”

“You say that, but the world out here is more treacherous than the books you’ve read,” I warned before parting him on the head to lift his spirits. “Still, it’s better than nothing, I’ll ask you out whenever I leave. If you come with me, I’ll make sure to protect you, no matter what.” It was the first time I’ve seen a blushing face on the bot’s monitor, his body heating up.

“Yo-you don’t need to do that, I could simply-“

“No, I will,” I claimed, “if you fall in battle, you won’t come back, it’ll just be a copy, not the original.” I thought of him again as Botler stared at me.

“…I understand,” he relented, distancing himself a bit before smiling at me. His gaze went back to the station before asking, “so, how do you usually operate this thing? Do you have something you have to tinker with?”

“I do,” I answered, rummaging through my messenger bag, “I usually do maintenance on the bots in my hideout, mostly because I had the most knowledge of them.” I took out my little Rune Bot and with a starry-eyed feline-like being next to my side, I connected my little guy to the bench and pulled up the menus.

Navinet InterRunetristic Operating System Software

Host Name: HBot.P

ROS Name: Therapeutic Physicality

ROS Version: 0.5.89

ROS Owner: Hugo Figuro

Model Name: Healiza 2

Model Manufacturer: Eden Robotics Corporation

Status: Online

After giving it a quick check of the systems, I gave the curious Botler a quick rundown of the menus. I set the menu to be in Simple Mode, allowing Botler to see what he could do to the little machine and let him play around with it, like changing the colors it emitted or its defensive parameters. I had to keep him away from some of the more important options, to prevent him from resetting it to its factory setting. He seemed to understand some of the more detailed things, but he was definitely not used to how people program them nowadays. When he was done, I reverted all the changes he made, letting him watch.

It was then that my stomach audibly rumbled and growled, making me remember that it was time for lunch. With a little chuckle from the one that can’t eat, he’d suggested, “let’s head down. We can talk more about the generation’s Rune Tech while you eat.” With that said, he sent me a digital copy of the menu of the cafe on the first floor. “No need to pay, consider it my thanks for inviting me,” he insisted as I quickly finished my work. “Just let me know what you want and I’ll send an order down.”

He had an insistent gaze at me, adding painted sparkles to his eyes as he looked at me like a puppy would. So I looked at the menu for the day and gave him my answer as we made our way down. It wasn’t long, since we took the elevators, but I noted the reactions the other Residents made when they saw him walking around. Some were surprised, a couple of them worried for me, but most of them looked happy for him. All of them would at least greet, prompting the guy to greet back with a lot more enthusiasm.

When we arrived to pick up the food at the cafe, we were greeted by the head chef, who was also the manager of the cafe. Botler and him would give each other an awkward greeting before we took the food and sat in a corner. It was a bit awkward, eating in front of him as he just stared at me the whole time.

“So…” I uttered, trying to find something to say.

“How’s the food?”

“Good…”

“…”

It was like this for a couple of minutes as I ate. He was trying to think of something to talk about, just as I was. Without him noticing, I stealthily rummaged through my messenger bag, hoping to think of something to break out the silence. Though once my hand hit a particular small, rectangular, plastic package, I pulled it out immediately for the golem.

“Oooo what’s that,” he asked, eyes quickly sparkling as he read the package. It was a pack of Sticker Mods I had kept on me, now having their gifted purpose. It was just a beginner’s pack I was saving for someone, but it wouldn’t hurt to give Botler it instead.

“These are Navineo’s latest trend towards Rune Technology, they’re called Sticker Mods. They’re used to help boost a Rune Bot’s system by applying buffs and modules,” I explained, watching Botler getting invested in the little things. “That workbench we were talking about, we could use it to make our own, or upgrade the ones we have on us. Though I haven't made one myself, that bench could at least let us upgrade them. Still if these work on Rune Tech, theoretically it should on you as well. Consider this a gift.” I handed him the pack I pulled out, offering him to open it.

He did, almost instantly, ripping the top off with such ferocity before delicately placing the trash on an empty spot on my tray. He dumped the entire contents of the back, his digital eyes shimmered as he looked at the cute, simple designs of the stickers. He shifted them around, organizing them in two piles, one for what he likes and the other for junk, which were just the alphabet ones the pack included.

“So how do they work,” he asked, picking up a little star from a pile. “Do I put them on my body?”

“Yeah, though for better effects, they should be applied near the core of a Rune Bot. I haven’t seen a golem have one on, but I believe it works the same.” I watched Botler immediately hovered his hand over his metal headband of his visor, trying to get a good look of where he’s placing it. “Here, let me do it,” I insisted, taking the sticker from him before asking, “any particular spot?”

“Nope! Put as many as you can, I want to look pretty! Thank you Hugo.” He gave me an adorable smile as I couldn’t help but smile in return. With how old Botler’s model is, I was a bit worried that it may not be compatible with him, but a tiny bit of fear that it may crash him. I quietly hoped as I leaned over the table.

I placed a Sticker Mod on the middle of the band, noting the immediate magical seal application taking effect. Nothing happened to Botler initially, so I stuck another on, then another, until I reached the advised number of stickers the pack recommended. When I sat back, Botler was still facing me, nothing seemed to happen, until I realized he wasn’t responding to me. Soon, he was spasming out as his visor started making very concerning whirrs and beeps. Not wanting to be the guy that crashes the Tower’s only automation and living historical artifact, I quickly went to his side to peel the mods off.

“I-I’m fine Hugo,” a different, yet valiant voice emitted from the visor, his arm quickly grabbing mine. “I’ll ve-verily be back up soon, my fri-en-go-good fellow. I will ha-hath finish updating my processes soon enough. Do-Do not worry, no ill winds hath fallen upon this knight yet.” I was concerned about my new robotic friend as I saw the crystals on the side of his visor turning into flames for a brief moment. But Botler quickly recomposed himself, smacking the left side of his chest before his face recovered.

“Sorry about that, I had to reapply my newer configurations for my speech patterns,” Botler apologized with his usual casual voice. “My system automatically created and applied an update as soon as you placed the first sticker. As you theorized, my body’s parameters has effectively been enhanced by this age’s tech.” I sighed with a lot of relief as I decided to sit next to him, soon given a hug by him. He was purring affectionately, his mechanisms whirring in a more light, yet positive manner.

“That’s good to hear,” I let out as I stroked his soft mane, hearing more of his happy noises. “By the way, there is a recommended number of stickers to put on, usually to prevent Rune Bots from being overloaded and crash,” I advised, with Botler soon making a disappointed beep. “Though they’re easily removable, you just dispel the magic seal and reapply it if you want to put it back on.” I peeled one off of him and then reapplied it again, noting Botler’s fur shooting up when I reapplied it.

“I see, thank you for the wonderful gift Hugo,” he thanked again as he put away the stickers in his pants. “I’ll send an import order form right away so the Tower can start selling these stickers here without needing to go to Navineo.”

“You just want more stickers, don't you?”

“Yep, but you might find them useful too, right? Why else would you have a pack?”

I couldn’t help but sigh and smile as I saw his curious eyes. “Fair enough, but might I add in a request to that? Import some Rune Bots as well, so other people can have a use for the stickers. It’d be a waste if they weren’t used properly.” His facial screen was soon covered in text before his face returned back to normal.

“Done, soon Zig & Zag Emporium will have them in stock as soon as possible,” he exclaimed happily. He looked on over to the unfinished food, bringing my tray closer to us. “You should finish eating Hugo. It’d be a waste.”

“I was, I had to stop because I was worried about you,” I reminded him, resuming my meal, with Botler staring at me. “Seeing how your face is, I’m guessing your body doesn’t have a digestion system of any kind,” I asked, noting how depressing it was for me to be the only one eating as Botler watches.

“I used to actually, though it was a test feature my creators left by accident,” Botler admitted with a sigh, “my…Attendbot was able to remove most of the unnecessary features to make us more efficient.” He looked sad admitting it, making little depressing whirrs as he looked at my plate. “Though I do wish my creators actually gave me a functional mouth instead of this display. It’s a bit…envious of me, but I want to feel what everyone is saying about tasty foods. ”

“Maybe you could, if Attendbot was able to configure his own body, you could too,” I pointed out, “I haven’t seen your programming, but if your last self can rewrite his code, I’m sure you can too eventually. I can help with that, I just need to brush up on the Ancients’ language.” The cute guy made a lot of happy whirrs as he brightened up.

“Really? You’re willing to help,” he excitedly asked. I nodded my head, his screen soon filled with sparkles as I finished my meal. “Let’s get started then! We’ll go to your room and start our lessons!” Before I knew it, I was dragged away by the robot, drink in hand, as we traversed up the floors to my room. He didn’t even wait for me to grab my key, just waved his hand around and the door unlocked itself. We both went in seeing only one person occupying the room.

“Welcome ba-oh! It’s you,” Ace greeted with a bit of shock. He went up to both of us as we entered, taking a good look at Botler. “I didn’t think you’d be out of your desk,” he curiously let out.

“Yeah, I usually don’t,” the bot awkwardly chuckled as he examined my room. “It’s been a long time since I’ve set foot into a Resident’s room. Physically anyway.” He was nervous, trying to calm his own excitable nerves, with Ace watching his movements carefully.

“Still it’s nice to see that you’re out and about. You have this depressing look whenever I come to the lobby.” He realized what he blurted out soon after, seeing the bot awkwardly shift. He quickly tried to explain himself, “I would’ve went to talk to you, but I wasn’t sure how to go about it. So what did Hugo do to get you off the desk?” The bot froze in place as the gears in his head began to spin.

“I…I’m not sure actually,” he truthfully answered, disappointing Ace. “I didn’t think much about it, I just wanted to reciprocate his request when he asked me out the day he registered here. I had to deny it initially since he was new that day. I didn’t expect that I would be exploring the Tower myself today, but I’m happy that we did. Though mind if you leave, I plan on teaching him something that’ll be beneficial for him.”

“I see,” Ace let out, looking over to me with a mischievous grin with an idea that he got entirely wrong. “Alright, I’ll leave you two then. Have fun! Don’t make a mess of the place.” Grabbing his little guy, he walks out, closing the door behind him with me and Botler together.

“Why’d he say that? I’m just going to teach you a new language, last I checked, that doesn’t leave a mess.” The oblivious bot looked at me, wanting an answer for me. “Oh well, let’s begin,” he ignored as he summoned up a digital menu in front of me, the design of it is the exact same one I used to modify my little guy. “Surprised? I was able to copy something similar when I got that sudden update I took earlier, letting you look at my code or change some stuff about me. You can’t change my code though, it doesn’t have that permission to do so.”

“That’s fine, but you sure this is a good idea to show me this, I could take advantage of you by finding a loop hole,” I pointed out to the sweet bot.

“Of course, I trust you a lot,” he joyfully claimed with an innocent smile, somehow wounding my heart. “That and there isn’t much you can do to my settings anyway. You can only change the colors of my displays, so have fun messing with my colors,” he explained proudly, healing my heart. With a casual sigh, I explored the curious menu thoroughly, checking for anything that he may accidentally have left out. There wasn’t as he stated, but an option did catch my eye.

Heart Monitor Display

“…Hey Botler, it says you have a heart monitor display, where is it?” I looked over to him, his left hand covering his own left breast.

“It’s underneath my shirt, right where a lot of people would have a heart.” He had already removed his vest, his hands ready hovered over the buttons on his dress shirt. “Would you like to see,” he asked, already unbuttoning half of them. He didn’t seem to mind and it’s just the two of us, so…

“Sure, but are you ok with me seeing you shirtless,” I asked back, his actions not faltering.

“Yeah, but if you’re not comfortable, I won’t go with it.”

“No, please go ahead, I’ve seen a lot of naked people at the hot springs. Another shirtless man wouldn’t stun me.” I leaned back a bit as I watched him quickly take off his dress shirt unceremoniously, revealing his entire upper body.

His black furry upper body was more defined as I expected, his build being a bit similar to Crimson’s. His body looked a lot natural, but his right shoulder was fully metallic. Then was his left breast, the entire pec made of metal as a blue screen filled it entirely. Taking up that entire blue screen was a cute symbol of a heart colored in neon green, beating at a constant, slow rate.

“There, my monitor is right here. What do you think,” he calmly asked as his right hand rested on top of the bottom of his left pec.

“Well you look a lot hotter than I thought,” I bravely declared, watching Botler flare up, his heart beating faster. “But it is very cool, it doesn’t seem to have any real purpose, but it’s charming,” I added as I leaned over to touch his chest. “You feel anything with this pec,” I asked, noting how malleable it was when I pressed a finger against the cold metal.

“I don’t believe so,” he admitted, his heart still beating faster as I grope, fondle, and brush against his metal breast. His body was heating up a bit as he watched, but grabbed my hand when it was enough for him. “W-We should get back to what we were doing.”

“Yeah,” I backed off, letting him redress himself. I went back to the menu and gave a thorough look again, before I let him take over. He used the menu his update made by turning it into a screen to help present his lesson. Though it was more of a review than a lesson as he tested what I remembered so far against what he knows. He mostly turned it into a game, but he was very thorough as we both had fun with it. We spent like an hour or two before we decided to end it and part ways.

It was just simple banter between us as he was preparing to leave. We were talking more about Rune Tech and the gadgets that Norren had developed with it. It should’ve just been that, between two budding friends with similar interests. Yet there was a question that lingered on my mind while I was talking with him. So before he left, I thought of asking him whilst he walked toward the door.

“The people recovered from Crimson’s last mission, what did you guys do to them?” Botler froze on the spot from my abrupt question …and I did too. It wasn’t what I was going to ask him, at least, not yet.

He slowly turned around as I quickly put up a facade, watching his movements carefully. He was struggling with his words, stuttering and stumbling over his own reply.

“We…That’s classified information,” he eventually, disappointingly answered quietly. “I can’t give that to you, not yet, but I assure you that nothing bad happened to them. They are alive and well and given the best of care given by the Residents of the Tower.” Fear crept in his eyes as he looked at mines, wavering from the professionalism he automatically relied on. “I’ll tell you in due time when I am able to, please trust me.” His voice was very distorted as he cried his plea, his only way of expressing his sadness.

“I do,” I sighed, watching relief wash over the bot’s face, “I should’ve known that, I’m sorry for stressing you.”

“No, you have every right to know what happened to them. I should be the one apologizing when I’m blocking that info from you. I’ll try to see if I can find a loophole or do something to help, so have a good night Hugo. I’ll see you around.” He left the room in a hurry, not letting me say goodbye to him or console him. I stood there, conflictedly confused as the silence of my room surrounded me.

What the hell happened back there?

“That sure was ballsy of you,” a very familiar voice echoed behind me. My body sprang forward from the ground, my head almost hitting the ceiling. After recovering, I quickly turned around behind me, seeing the window curtains wide open, a panther entirely sitting on the window still with a mischievous grin. “Didn’t think you’d go straight to the manager, but at least Botler is very kind to answer you, even if he can’t give you anything.” Crimson gave me a little wink as he lovingly teased, "I'm glad that I met you. You get a lot cuter the more I learn about you. Especially that cute jump you did, didn’t think I spook you that bad.”

My face immediately flared up, not knowing whether I should go over and pinch his cheeks or bite him. “S-So you heard, how long were you in there?”

“Hmm The whole time,” he revealed casually, walking past me to grab a banana. “I was going to fade away and chase after Ace when he left, but your friend was more interesting. I was right on that, Shame I didn't get the chance to see the guy’s pecs, but it seems you had fun teasing him.”

“…How is Ace,” I asked, my face still heating up.

“Doing good, he’s prepping himself to see my bro’s first match at Kolok. Apparently tonight would be the last day for late registrations for some grand tournament.” He walked over to the kitchen area pouring some water for us.

I took the glass he pushed over to me as we went over to the couch. “And you’re not coming to support your brother?”

“I would, but he told me he’d be mortified if I was there when he loses. So I’m staying here with you while Ace records the match since he promised Yuki.” I felt his fingers trailing around my tail as we huddled close to each other. “Since those matches take a long while, we have plenty of time to spend with each other. Just the two of us.”

“No need to beat around the bush kitten, just say you want to have sex,” I called out as I lightly tugged his tail, causing his body to jolt in response. “I’d be down, but let’s get some food in us before I start bending you over the table.” I went to the kitchen and looked over what we have, thinking of something light for us to eat.

“Alright, what’s for dinner then,” he chuckled as he seductively laid on the couch, “and don’t say you. You’re more dessert than dinner.”

“Says the kitten that loudly mewls a lot when his cake gets eaten,” I playfully countered as I brought out some sliced, marinated salmon and veggies. “But we’ll be having a simple plate of grilled salmon and some vegetables. Wanna help out?” Before I knew it, he was already next to me, leaning his head on top of mine. We spent the whole night together, just the two of us lovebirds enjoying our time together.