FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

“Another bad ending,” the black wolf in a white coat angrily replied, aiming a gun at my head as all of my friends around me lie around me, either dead or bleeding out. My body, bruised, beaten, and broken tried to move, but the only thing I could do was fall and crawl to the nearest person. The once-stoic corpse of a tiger in front of me was stabbed, chopped, and filled with bullets as he lay there dead. His open, silver eyes stared back at me as blood came out of his mouth while the gun was pressed on the back of my head. Tears flooded out of my eyes as I cried out in pain, “I’m sorry everyone,” and everything went black.

Awaking from a nightmare, the black wolf finds himself alone in the room of his brother’s and a middle-aged tiger staring back at him with purple eyes. Though Ace was a little groggy from his sleep he lets out a yawn as he questions, “M-Morning Jack, do you need something?” Without answering, the tiger immediately picks Ace up, immediately waking him up confused as the two were instantly teleported to a colosseum area where the fake sun shines down upon the fighters. Ace finds himself standing on the sand while the tiger walks towards him, his dark blue, heavy hooded coat swaying in the wind open, showing the multitudes of knives hidden under and in his hand, a shovel. The tiger that walks towards Ace is his father, Adel, the Demon King from another ending.

“Morning Ace,” the tiger greets with his low, tired-sounding voice, “sorry that I have to wake you up so early, we need to start training immediately.” Ace was standing confused as Adel gave him a shovel, which made him even more confused on what was happening. Adel lets out a sigh as he begins to clarify, “Seeing that he has yet to inform you, since you are also my son, you are still considered a Prince of Demons, and one day you or Jack will be king when I’m not. Unlike Jack, you haven’t gone through combat training yet, so here, you’ll fight with this shovel, don’t question why and we’ll begin immediately.” Catching the shovel and some equipment from Adel, Ace is cut off as he immediately sees Adel standing across from him as a countdown goes down between them. “I’ll teach you the basics of fighting,” Adel yells as he loads his red flare gun, “make sure you wear the equipment I gave you! Every fighter needs one of those types of equipment!”

With the time edging closer, Ace looks at the equipment that Adel gave him, a singular shoulder pad with a ‘on’ button, Ace presses it immediately. The shoulder pad sprouts a small, red, digital wing as it begins to hover over Ace’s shoulder before scanning his entire body.

When I equipped the one singular shoulder pad, my vision began to fill with information. It felt like a game to be honest, there were some huds that displayed my information, some of it I don’t even know nor want to share. It looked like I could easily manipulate it just by thinking, though it was for a brief moment, I was able to try it out before I saw a knife fly past me. My first fight began and I panicked and immediately closed everything to see Adel warmly smiling at me while pulling out another knife from underneath his coat.

“Pay attention Ace,” Adel yells as he begins to flip his knife, “you can play with that system later, you need to learn to defend yourself now if you want to become king.” He begins to toss knives at a slow pace, letting Ace be able to dodge out of the way, though it took some time, Ace was able to get a feel for handling the shovel while moving around. “When training is done,” Adel calmly yells while still tossing knives at Ace as he pulls another from his coat, “I’ll give you the tools to mod that shovel.” Though after watching his son dodging for quite awhile, Adel decides to take a different approach as he takes out a flare gun and points it to the sky.

When the knives stopped flying towards me, I could see Adel pointing in the sky, his red hot gun in his hand as he yelled, smiling as his purple Eyes glowed, “Solar Flare.” The sound of the flare rang out in the arena as I watched this bright, orange flare go up in the sky, the shot growing bigger as it flew higher and until it became as big as the sun in the sky. “Now, attack me,” Adel taunted as he swung his arm down, letting the massive sun scatter into pieces as it all launched towards me as small fireballs. My body instinctively moved towards my dad as I started dodging and deflecting them with the worn shovel in my hand.

Ace swings his shovel as it hits Adel, though it was evident that he wasn’t phased by it. The swing from the blade of the shovel left only a cut on Adel’s clothes and a scratch on his right arm. “Good now onto the next lesson,” Adel praises Ace as he takes out his knives again and starts Ace’s lesson on close combat, though it was mostly Ace getting hit the most while Adel stares into his eyes the whole time.

Skipping Ace’s tutorial into combat stuff, he goes back to his brother’s room, battered to all hell with a blue cube in his hand and a shovel on his back. Jack, the tiger with grayish purple Eyes, comes out of the showers the same time Ace enters his room. Jack, his face was unphased by the situation, as he goes to get something from the kitchen while Ace’s face flushes red with embarrassment and sits down on the table. “What are you doing,” Jack asks as he drinks a carton of milk from the fridge, little drops of water trickling down his muscled-tone body, and walks over to Ace, “you have your room right? You should do your things there.”

“Yeah, but it’s comfy here,” Ace says as he places the shovel and cube on the table, “I can concentrate on work.” He pulls out some tools and some random materials from the cube as he sorts them out. Despite the small amount of memories Ace was given being false, his skills carry over as he begins to replace and give upgrade parts to the shovel. Shrugging his shoulders, Jack begins to put on clothes as he watches Ace do various things to the shovel. Though it was a bit distracting that Jack watches over Ace’s shoulder, Ace did appreciate his company while he spends a lot of time working on upgrading the shovel while Jack helps give some advice on what to add.

Hours pass by as eventually it leads the two inside the same arena, but with training dummies set up. Ace, sitting next to a table, places cartridges on the shaft of the shovel, now polished with a white, sharp, silver head while a very durable chain dangles at the base of the handle. After making a couple of finishing touches, Ace gladly begins to practice with the shovel, wielding the shovel with one arm as a chain attaches to one of his fingers with a ring on his middle finger.

Jack clapped his hands together as I happily yelled out Sir Shooting-ton of Shoveling III before saying, “Good job Ace, but you should try it out before you give it a name.” Laughing a little, I began to run towards the dummy, giving it a few slices as I swung my shovel in different directions before finishing it off by pulling on the chain and blasting myself away while launching a red energy ball at the dummy. Though the landing was rough, I immediately began testing the firing mechanism again, removing the fire elemental cartridge and replacing it with an earth elemental. Instead of shooting at the dummy, I dug my shovel inside the ground as I pulled the trigger, creating a wall in front of me made of sand and dirt. Everything about the shovel seemed to be ready for combat, so I immediately placed it on my back as I put away the messed up dummies while Jack trained himself on an extra dummy, swinging an actual sword with a controlled, but fierce style.

Time passes while the brothers fight and train, sometimes fighting against each other or trying to find a way to have some sort of synergy between them. Night eventually comes, though Ace should’ve gone to his room to sleep in it, he went to Jack’s room again and sleeps in his room, both sleeping on their own side of the big bed. Giving their goodnights, Ace drifts himself to sleep as he prepares himself for the next day to hang out with someone else.

Graceful, yet fierce, the flames within the scarlet singer burned brightly as he struck down his foes with his naginata. Though his fur is mostly black with ashes, the tips of each strand shone brightly scarlet as he performed his attacks. Each step he took was a beautiful dance, as he continued to sing his tune, his orange Eyes glowing as the bright flames guarded him, dancing to the tune as they searched for a body to dance with. He was warmly smiling as he looked at me, wanting to protect me from harm and I will do anything to make sure he smiles. I want to protect him.

Skipping straight to the middle of the day, Ace, still a bit beaten from training, finds himself spending time with the younger, original Adel, Adam, one of the heroes that has helped the world reach where the story is. The two are hanging out in the city named Kolok, a city where fighters gather to partake in an annual tournament that takes place in the colosseum. Adam is just walking nonchalantly, happy to not be known for his actions in a peaceful world that clearly can’t resist having its own problem, helping Ace on grocery shopping for the night, ignoring the technicality that he’s responsible for him as his father. In terms of his attire, Adam, a tiger, wears his long red scarf, wearing a blue, long-sleeved jacket that goes well with his black pants. His heterochromia eyes of blue and red watching the sky as he makes some light conversation with Ace, mostly about Ace’s dad and the first training session.

Though he never liked talking about it, Adam’s right arm has been replaced with a red metal hand ever since I was born. He looked similar to Jack and I can see where a bit of my personality came from, he’s very different from Adel. Now that I think about it, despite Adel being a lot older, he looked like Adam’s big brother. “So, how was training Ace,” Adam asked as he got me back from my thoughts, “you enjoy using that shovel I gifted you? I know the Demon King couldn’t resist giving it to you when I brought it up.”

Taken aback, I replied, bittersweet to get a shovel as a weapon “Thanks, training went really well, it’s just that Adel was doing something weird when we were training.” Adam stopped in his tracks as he egged** _ me to continue, “When we were doing some close combat, he stared me right into my eyes and he had this scary look.”_**

Without hesitation, Adam joyfully reveals, “Don’t worry about his face, that’s what happens when you’ve seen the death of your friends,” Ace immediately worries about that thought. Without any notice, his demeanor suddenly changes as he grips on Ace’s shoulder and stares at him, his Eyes glowing a dim light. “Though as much as I want to tell you all the juicy stuff about his history, I think he knows something I don’t even know. Scan.” His Eyes glow brighter as he backs off and plays with the air with his hand, whispering to himself as he starts to reach a conclusion. His eyes stop glowing as he presses his hand together to happily blurt out, as if he’s a child that made a great discovery, “you don’t have your Eyes yet!”

Shocked and a lot more confused, Ace stands there in awe as Adam reaffirms himself to explain, “Eyes are easier to say then Eye Powers, though it was introduced to the world four years ago, everyone should at least have one, but it looks like yours aren’t awake yet.”

“Why does that matter though?”

“It matters because you were able to turn into a demon when you’re not pure blood of a demon. You would need those purple, Demonic Eyes to be able to do that, but your Eyes are gray.”

Trying not to remember the first fight he had with Jack after his mental breakdown, Ace asks, “What about Jack then? His Eyes are gray and he can-“

“They’re purple gray,” Adam quickly shoots back, ”and his Eyes are a bit special. I can’t explain much in detail right now, but let’s talk about you.” Having no position and information to argue, Ace stands there and lets Adam talk a bit. “I should’ve taught you this sooner, but the gist of it is that Eyes have a variety of effects on people. Some that enhance your skills in and outside of combat, a way to show a person’s status, and gives people some unique, sometimes godly powers.”

“Godly as in…”

“Oh you know, Eyes that can control the weather, alter time, or ensure we’re walking on the right fate.”

“So does that mean I’m weaker than everyone?”

“Yep,” Adam says, ruthlessly smiling, “because of that, I recommend you study some battle tactics. You seem like the guy that can be a great tactician, I’ll just give you the books when you get back.”

Though I was looking away, I immediately asked, “Don’t you mean we?” I turned my head towards Adam to see him already heading into the forest nearby. I immediately chased after him into the forest, defending myself from various creatures as he easily slipped by everyone of them without sheathing out his sword. Eventually I wasn't able to follow him with the constant monsters attacking me. Exhausted, I was ready to just go through the forest alone, until I heard a warm lullaby echoing throughout the forest and went to follow it, throwing caution to the wind.

It was then I found the source, a black wolf with red-tipped fur wearing only black shorts, singing in an open clearing as he gracefully danced around. Little balls of fire danced around him as the sweat from the heat glowed his beautiful mane as he enjoyed his alone time, practicing for a dance that can engulf the field in flames. I was mesmerized by the way his slender body moved as I quietly hummed along to his tune, paying no attention around me as I started to hum a little louder. The fire that danced around the wolf slowly, but rhythmically, surrounded the wolf as the flames hid him in the flames of a vortex of passionate heat. The vortex slowly scattered its flames into the air as it revealed the wolf, wearing a black tank top with a fierce look on his face and in front of me was the sharp end of a naginata.

“Show’s over,” the wolf barks as his orange Eyes glow, “get up now and I may spare you from getting cut.” Ace slowly gets up from where he is standing, blushing from embarrassment as he smiles weakly at the wolf.

“S-Sorry,” Ace apologizes with his hands in the air, “I couldn’t help but enjoy your song.” The tension between the two is high, not in a romantic way, but it is high enough to almost kill someone as the two continue to stare at each other, one a lot scarier than the other.

Minutes pass by and eventually the wolf lets out a sigh as he lets out a ditty tune, summoning his flames that carry a freshly-filled teapot and some empty teacups hiding behind a nearby fallen log. He walks over and sits down on the log as he pours himself a cup for himself before taking a sip. Singing a different tune while pouring another cup, he lets the flames carry the cup to Ace before requesting, “Please, have a seat and drink some tea. I am so sorry I pulled a weapon on you, it’s the first time I’ve been interrupted here in a peaceful clearing.” Ace, accepting the cup of tea, sits right next to the wolf as he tastes the sweet, rosy tea that was mixed with a little bit of honey. “I am Yuki Red, son of a beast tamer and a samurai. Who are you and why are you here?”

“I’m Ace Heart,” Ace answers as he warms himself up with the hot tea, ”son of a Demon King. I was chasing a friend in here and I lost him.” Yuki looks at Ace with a surprised face as he nods his head sideways. “Though I’m curious, what song were you singing earlier? It sounded really nice.”

Yuki blushes a little as he takes another sip before replying, “it’s my first song, I only got the melody down so far, still working on the lyrics.” He pours himself another cup as his Eyes continue to glow.

“So, that whole thing you were doing, was it because of your Eyes,” Ace asks as he watches Yuki drinking.

“Yeah,” Yuki replies as places the cup on the log and stretches, Ace finally noticing his golden earpiece shining in the light, “but the earpiece helps my casting too.”

“I see,” Ace responds while he fills his thirst to distract himself from his problem, “well knowing my friend, he'll be fine. If you don’t mind, would it be fine if I can sing along with you Yuki?” The scarlet singer warmly smiles at the prince before he answers with a nod, letting the two spend the rest of their day together, chatting along about their lives in an area that no one should know about.

All in all, I am really grateful to have such wonderful friends and people in my life. Though it only started with the three of us, we were a really good team and they gave me so much in life. The only regret I have at the end of the day, is that I didn’t spend as much time with each and everyone of them.

Though it has been a couple of weeks that passed, Ace was able to learn how to cast magic with a little help with the mage that lived in the tower, a really great traveling companion with Adam, named Azure Blue, the same mage that helped teach Yuki his own spells. Though it was a bit rough, Ace was able to learn how to cast spells, specifically the greater healing spells. To those that don’t know much about this world, healing spells are extremely limited due to the rules of the world, so it was a shock to see Ace surprisingly heal a lot of deep wounds that were inflicted on him. Anyway, back to the story at hand, since Ace refuses to sleep in his room, he decided to sleep in Yuki’s as his roommate. When he wakes up, he finds himself in the arms of Yuki’s fluffy body, blushing immediately as he accepts his fate of the inevitable cuddle, falling back to sleep.

When I woke up, I found myself standing in a white void and across a figure that was sitting across from me. He was wearing a white cloak as he drank from an old, but preserved teacup, a pair of golden bracelets lying next to him as a cage with a green flame seemed to burn forever. Everything here was really unsettling as the figure sang a familiar tune as his black, overgrown fur came out of his jacket from time to time. “Ah you came,” the figure said in an husky, mesmerizingly lovely voice, “I guess since you’re here now Ace, it’s time for an assessment to see how far you’ve grown.” Getting up, he puts on the golden bracelets as he turns to face me, turning the bracelets to gauntlets. His face was covered with a red mask as he smiled at me, “As for my name, you may call me Joker for now, I am just here to make sure everything is going well.” The area around us completely changed, broken pieces of what used to contain life floated around us as we stood atop of a large, floating grassy rock, forever hovering alone on the sea of clouds. “Get ready to fight Ace,” he said, breaking my awe towards the area, “Your first test begins here. I’ll go easy on you.”

“W-Wait what are you talking about?” I cried out as he calmly turned his golden bracelets to gauntlets. There was no time to react as instantly as he got into a stance, my shovel appeared right before me as I was forced to arm myself.

“Emotions,” He muttered as the white spaces of his mask stared deeply into my soul, the fire in the cage next to his hip started glowing brighter and growing bigger. “Release,” he cheerfully yelled, the fire inside the cage turned yellow as it burned along with his smile. His Eyes, though blocked behind the mask he has, I could feel his gaze turn hollow as he ran towards me, smiling with a murderous intent as we began our first fight.

For the first test, it was really difficult, even though I could tell Joker was pretty sloppy with fists, him casting his spells continuously made it hard for me to dodge his attacks as we both danced on the battlefield. His fists collided with the base of my shovel as I gained distance between us. Though still new to casting, I began to create some distance between each other and started casting some spells, running away while casting the simplest spells I could think of from the top of my head. He was taking all my magic, especially my powerful spells. It was really suspicious as I slowed down my casts and watched him carefully. Every hit he took, the brighter the flames beside him grew and the shinier his gauntlets shone. It was a good call as I saw his hands engulfed in flame, he took out a red cube, and slammed his fist towards it after launching it in the air. When his sizzling fist collided with the cube, my instincts reacted quickly by shoving my shovel to the ground and creating a wall of hardened dirt to protect myself as I heard and felt the explosion erupted, the heat singeing a tip of my fur as I hugged closed to the wall. When I opened up my eyes again, I saw Joker standing in front of me, his hand extending to help me up as he smiled at me.

“Emotions,” he sighed as the flame in his cage returned back to normal green, “restored.” He stumbled back as he shook his head and helped me up, “you did well Ace, you passed the first test,” he said as he pats my head with his soft, scarred hand. He summoned some drinks as he offered me to sit down and relax from the fight, with all the different selections he summoned, he went for a bottle of water, leaving me with so many choices of soft drinks. “I know our first meeting here is unexpected and questionable at best, but hopefully you don’t mind us getting to know each other before you leave. After all, we’ll be meeting each other again repeatedly for a long while.” He takes a drink down his never ending bottle of water, “I know you have recently begun living your life, but I’ll tell you this right now, you’ll enjoy it a lot so make everyday count.”

“Uh…” I stammered as I looked at him with curiosity, I didn’t divulge further as I just replied with, “thanks.” I cautiously drank as we just sat in silence amongst the awkwardness between us.

“Yeah, when you’re in battle, make every move count,” he continued as he looked towards the sea of clouds and broken land, “you won’t know what happens until you lose the people you love.” He looked away as he just solemnly stared off into the sky, something about him seemed really lonely, he was definitely hiding something. He looked at me as he forcefully smiled at me while petting my head, saying, “I would love to tell you so much, but I am just a Watcher.”

“What’s that,” I asked as I felt him scratching the good spots behind my ears. I couldn’t help but wag my tail from the nice petting.

His face turned sour as he realized what he just said, he facepalmed himself as he explained, “Though I shouldn’t have said it, a Watcher is what it is, someone that watches the world. Though it’s not our only job, we also make sure the events of the world are going smoothly.” Right as I was about to ask more, he immediately interrupted me by rubbing my head and said, “When you learn more about this world, I’ll tell you more. So, let’s end it here and I’ll let you go back to your day.” Without any hesitation, he snapped his fingers together and slowly, I started becoming really sleepy as I eventually passed out.

When Ace finally wakes up, he finds Yuki serving breakfast as he sings a catchy tune. When Yuki notices Ace, he smiles at him and beckons him to eat, saying, “morning Ace, come get some food. You need some energy to make that weapon.” Ace looks at him tiredly and quizzingly as Yuki drinks down a cup of milk before explaining, “You promised that you were going to work on making my weapon.”

Though the experience I had earlier was nothing more than a dream, I immediately stored it in the back of my mind as I wrote it down. The information that guy was giving me sounded really important, so I wrote whatever I could remember before I went to go eat and hang out with Yuki for the day.

After Yuki and Ace eat some breakfast, Ace immediately spends his day working on Yuki's weapon that would replace his naginata and be a perfect weapon for the wolf with the Singer’s Eyes. Though it took a lot longer compared to the shovel, Ace was able to craft something to make it portable for Yuki to use. It was a silver naginata that contracts and expands when pressed with a button, allowing Yuki to take it out immediately and ready to fight with. Though it took multiple tries, Ace was able to have an extra function to it, when the weapon’s button is pressed when implanted in the ground, the weapon will contract as it turns to a microphone stand. When it’s in this stage, the blade turns to a microphone as it is rooted deep to the ground, allowing Yuki to sing and increasing the range his magic can go. Though even if the day seemed short, Ace was really productive, improving his skills as a weaponsmith as he enjoyed the company he had with Yuki.

All the people I met, all the friends I made, and all the stories we created, they were all inside that tower. Though I’m surprised that it still stood despite how many times it was involved in situations of the past. Many of us were considered heroes, but in truth, we all have our own things to do and jobs to work on. One day, when this is all over, I can only hope I can visit there as a guest.

In this world, a tower stands where many fates have intertwined with each other, some that lead to being heroes and some that lead to their bad end. A tower with an owner, unknown to those outside, invites those that will be important to the pages of history, the writings that always continue to write itself till the world ends. Right now, this tower has been converted to a grand big hotel that has its own rules to hide its identity from the outside world while it provides many services to the guests that stay there. At the lobby of this hotel, Ace stands alongside Jack as the two look at postings on the billboard, fully ignoring the stuff that would most likely endanger the pair and some missing posters of some same tiger.

“Why are you looking for a job again Ace,” Jack asked, curious that I was looking at the job posting section of the billboard, “you know the hotel gives us free services and a room because we’re considered heroes.” He just got back from his job as a traveling mailman, his fake halo ring still dangling on top of his head as his real angelic wings peeked out a little from his back. On his hip, a carrier bag that holds mail, though it may look empty, was filled to the brim when I saw him depart. It must’ve been tough for him to fly everywhere with that much weight, yet he never complained nor talked about it when I asked.

_“Materials are expensive,” I answered as I began to stare at one of the more intriguing job postings, “I promised you I’d make a weapon for you, so I’m going to make a lot of swords that would fit with you.” Though I wish his swordplay wasn't so simple and basic, nothing really noteworthy to come up with anything. Doesn’t help that he has no preference whatsoever when he asked me, I can’t just create something unique when all I got was to create the most basic sword. _

“Oh yeah, I forgot about that promise,” Jack said as he took off the fake halo to stuff in his bag, “but I did say you can do it whenever, no need to rush when we still have a lot of years ahead of us.”

“We do, but we can die anytime in a fight so…” While staring at him, I unconsciously pulled down one of the jobs, not realizing I pulled the wrong one until I was going to call the number.

The job posting that Ace pulled down was from a bar that needed a stripper, not the dancer job that he was planning to get. When Ace looks back at the board, that posting was taken immediately, in the hands of a tall, cloaked figure, walking out the hotel doors.

“Well, at least you’re dancing,” Jack said as he looked at the paper in my hand, “it’ll just be for a different audience.” It was a good thing no one else was there to see my mistake, it was pretty embarrassing to make a simple mistake.

As the two stood there in silence, one of the red doors in the lobby, a door that was a teleporter to another location with the same door, opens up as a burly husky walks in with dark blue shorts. It’s the owner of the bar that the posting was from and is here to visit the indoor pool of the hotel that is past the lobby. His muscled, dark blue back has a black tribal tattoo of a sun and one of a moon on his left shoulder. He immediately looks over to where Ace and Jack are and begins to walk towards them when he notices what is in Ace’s hands.

“I leave for a couple of minutes and already someone is interested,” the husky audibly said to himself as he walked towards us, “So, you’re interested aren’t you?” He examined me from the bottom up as I was shocked about the unfortunate timing and before I said anything he declared, “Well you look like you’re fit enough for the job, I’d say you’re hired.”

“Wait,” I hesitantly said immediately, “I don’t know how to-.”

“Ah don’t worry about it, it’s easy to pick it up if you know how to dodge in a fight,” the wolf said as he immediately cut me off, “I’m sure some practice will get you ready in no time. You live here I assume.” He paused for a second as he regained his composure, his tail wagging around as he smiled at me, “By the way, the name is Bullet, what’s yours newbie?”

“Ace,” I replied, “but really, I just took this flier off by mistake.” His tail immediately drooped down along with his ears, he continued to smile forcefully. Without thinking much, I placed my hand on his shoulder, or at least how far I could reach him.“Though hearing you say it being easy to pick up, I’ll take the job, I need the money badly.” Not really, though I couldn’t help but do it to cheer the husky up.

“Great,” Bullet happily exclaims, “since you’re new, I’ll provide you some training.” Without a moment’s notice, Bullet held onto Ace’s arm and moved back towards the door he arrived from. “We must begin immediately, the pool can wait another day,” he says as the shocked Ace immediately complies to the fates he’s been given. From the corner of Ace’s eyes, he sees Jack wave him off as he begins to head back to his room.

As the two go through the door, the entire scenery changes, with one step through, the two find themselves in the lobby of a mansion, a mansion that currently holds 8 residents. Bullet drags Ace across the mansion, going through hallways until they reach a big room with a giant mirror and a white fox doing a bit of stretching alongside a tiger. There’s a tall, stainless steel pole that reaches from the ceiling to the floor on the other side where the two are stretching, having their own conversation.

Looking through the mirror, the tiger has glowing white robotic Eyes, his orange and black fur looks a bit roughed up, but the air around him makes him look familiar to Ace. He’s wearing a white, short sleeve t-shirt with some gray basketball shorts as a pendant of one angelic wing shines around his neck. His build is more similar to Bullet’s, albeit a little bit more bulky.

The white fox next to him, has a similar build as Ace, but a little slimmer as the blue that paints the tip of his fur reflects against the light. On his right ear rests a polished golden earpiece that shines along with his orange Eyes. He’s wearing a white tank top with a snowflake pattern along with his black shorts and some colorful wristbands on his right arm. The air around him is somewhat cold like he’s coated in snow.

Spotting the two people coming in, the tiger tilts his head back a little as he yells, “Found someone already Bullet? I didn’t think you would find someone that quick.” Stopping his stretches he walks over to the two, letting the fox finish his stretches by himself. His robotic eyes shift the glowing color to purple as they stare at Ace, examining him carefully. “You got the looks, but is this alright Bullet,” the tiger asks as he soon places a hand on top of Ace’s head, “I do know who this young man is.”

“Of course,” Bullet confidently answers, “Besides, we’re short on staff and you both know we can’t both be on stage and serve behind that counter at the same time.” The tiger shrugs as he gives his nod of approval, after moving his hand off of Ace. “Ace, meet my coworker, Samson. You can call him Sam for short and Sam, this is Ace.”

Giving a proper bow as the glow changes to greenish yellow, he greets the black wolf, “nice to meet you Ace. Please ignore my robotic eyes, they change colors based on what I am feeling. It’s annoying, but it’s better than getting surgery to turn that setting off.” He gives Ace an assertive handshake, as he continues, “I work alongside Bullet as both a stripper and a bartender whenever it is needed. Seeing that you are here, Bullet is going to teach you isn’t he?”

I nodded my head, “ah, just like the recruit I just found,” Sam said out loud, “hey Snow, come over here, we found you a partner.” My eyes directed towards the white fox as he walked over to the three of us, his movements elegant and quick. Sam wraps an arm around the fox as he looks directly at me in the eyes, as if he’s staring right into my soul. “This here is Snow, he has his own reason for applying, but he’s around your age. Snow, this is Ace.”

My body was stiff as a board as I extended my hand towards him, he warmly smiled at me as he gripped my hand and shook it. “It is a pleasure to meet you Ace,” the fox said in a lovely, low voice, “I can’t wait to be on stage with you. Especially with someone as cute as you.” He winked at me as I began to feel my face flush with red as I stuttered a thank you out of my mouth. We stared into each other for a long while, his handsome face smiling at me as I tried to calm my beating heart. It didn’t take long for Snow to become my first crush, he was a good looking guy.

Wrapping an arm around me, Bullet, who still has yet to put on a shirt, interrupted as he exclaimed, “anyway, let’s start our lesson immediately. I assume Sam taught you too Snow, seeing that you two were doing some post-exercise stretches.”

“Yeah, Snow is a fast learner, he got it immediately,” Sam answered, “as much as we love to stay and help Ace, Snow has somewhere to go now right?” The fox nodded as he went to pick up his bag along, “I’ll escort him so I’ll have to go with him. So, we’ll see you guys next time, hopefully before you get on stage for the first time. Take care and good luck Ace and Bullet, I’ll talk to you later.”

As soon as the tiger and the fox leave the room, Bullet turns his attention towards Ace as he begins to teach him everything he knows and assists him for the whole day. Though it took some time and effort, Ace was able to get the hang of it due to the times he hung out with Yuki. When the two are done, Ace heads back to Yuki’s room, tired and ready to sleep as he crashes on one side of the bed. Although Yuki was not on the other side of the bed, Ace quickly falls asleep to regain all the energy he spent that day.

Days and weeks pass and go as Snow and I continue practicing, once and a while having some small talk. Overtime, I got used to his flirtiness and I played along with him, it was really nice. Today was no different, we were on break, just sitting around, side by side, talking about what has been going on with our life. Bullet and Sam were exchanging some friendly blows to each other, Bullet’s red Eyes glowing and Sam’s robotic eyes glowing green.

“Hey Ace,” the white fox confidently said suddenly, “Do you want to go on a date with me?” Everything felt like it was stopped, my face flushed with red as I processed what he said. When I looked at him, he was really serious about it all. Bullet and Sam were still punching each other, but they were definitely listening as their blows became weaker and slower.

To be honest, I had a little crush on him, he’s cute and he’s the guy that knows what he is doing. Though I was stuttering, I was able to answer, “Y-Yeah, of course, when do you want to do it?” The white fox smiled towards me, he looked really happy.

“If you want,” Snow replied, his Orange Eyes staring back, “we can go out right now if you really want to. We already practiced a good amount today.” I just nod my head as I become mesmerized by the fox’s Eyes. “Good, I already know a good place to go for our first date,” he happily exclaimed as he got up to his feet, “it’s a bit of a walk, but we should be able to get there.” He waved at our mentors as they immediately stopped in to listen to him. “We’ll get going for today,” Snow shouted, “don’t worry about escorting me today Sam, Ace will be accompanying me for today.” The two smiled at us and waved us goodbye before they continued beating each other up in a friendly match.

Though it was somewhat of a journey to another city, the two made it to the city known for its musical citizens, Remixer City. Leading the way, Snow shows his date around the place as they run past many performers on the street, dancing or playing to their own tune. As the two weave through the crowded streets, they eventually reach their destination, a huge stadium located right at the heart of the city. It was shaped like an arena as machines moved the seats of the audience around and away from the stage, music blasts out from the giant speakers as the lights correspond to it. On the stage were two fighters, already getting ready for their fight, on one side was a young orange wolf wearing a lot of belts and chains as he performed a bit of dance. The other side was a yellow rabbit with a really nice earring shaped like a lightning bolt carrying his custom electric guitar, he seems to be close to finishing tuning it.

“Ah nice we made it just in time,” Snow panted as the two of us went inside to claim our seats. Though it wasn’t the front row seats, we did have a great view of the arena, the rabbit swaying his hips from side to side while the wolf tapped his foot along with the beat of the song blaring from the speakers. Their orange Eyes glowed brightly as the countdown began and the field around provided a shield, the audience chanting along with it as the fight began. The screen immediately showed the combatants faces as it displayed both their health and a score of zero. When I was going to ask about this place, Snow shushed me as he whispered, “I’ll explain how this arena works after the fight.”

After the buffs are casted and the countdown reaches zero, the wolf immediately dashes towards the rabbit, who starts with casting magic as he strummed along to the music. After summoning some colorful orbs of light, he nods his head as they move on their own, heading towards the wolf, who in response, dashes forward as his steps and dodges sync up with the rhythm. As soon as the orbs flew past the wolf, they continued as they curved up in the air to explode as fireworks, bringing the rabbit’s score higher than the wolf. That didn’t stop the wolf as he went up close to give some blows to the rabbit, who was happily strumming his guitar. With a press of a button on his guitar, the guitar immediately turned into a battleax as the rabbit started swinging, which the wolf narrowly dodged every strike. The wolf was dancing as he both attacked and dodged, increasing his score as the wolf’s body emits a faint glow and the audience cheers for the guy. Backflipping away from the rabbit, the wolf poses for the audience, pointing his finger towards the rabbit like he’s aiming a gun while tapping his foot to the beat. A white energy ball appears at the tip of the finger, increasing as his foot taps along, before blasting towards the rabbit who quickly moved out the way. The fight continues after that until the timer runs out, both fighters tired out. A drumroll begins to sound as the screen would soon display and call the wolf the winner as it displays the stats of the fighters.

As most people leave the audience, I watched the two combatants give each other a handshake before they packed up to leave. The rabbit was already gone as he placed his guitar in his case before heading out, the wolf however, was immediately swarmed with most of what I assume to be his entourage. There was a lion with a blue streak in his white mane leaning against one the exits, watching the orange wolf with a solemn expression. Before I knew it, I could feel Snow wrapping his arm with me as he asked, “how was it? Did you enjoy that show?” I nodded as I asked him about the rules of the arena, which he happily answered.

Though this is the first fight I’ve seen, I had heard from Adel that a lot of the cities have their own arenas that have their own set of rules. The only one I was familiar with is Kolok’s, damage is transferred to clothes instead and the winner is determined when one is mostly if not fully stripped of their armor. That does explain the tower’s residence since that city is nearby to the tower. Anyway, the rules for Remixer City’s arena solely rely on the fighter’s performance. Based on the audience’s mood towards each fighter and their movements with the music determines the amount of points they earn throughout the fight. Though it does seem to heavily penalize the fighter if they weren’t in tune with the music, but either way, the fight ends when either a fighter is downed or the timer stops. It seems like a fun arena to fight in, though I know for sure I’ll be at a disadvantage since it seems to favor the Eyes of a performer of any kind.

After getting a couple of more drinks, the Snow allowed Ace to go explore the city, following alongside to give a tour. Though the arena was the main attraction, there are a ton of stores open around the arena along with some usual performers going along with their own tune. Some of these shops sell music and some popular electronics while some sell equipment that tailors towards the citizens' battlestyle like a pair of gloves that speeds up the user if attacking in a rhythmic pattern.

Yuki would’ve probably loved to come here, despite how noisy the place is, I’m sure he would enjoy performing and listening to others. I should probably get something later for him, I still need to thank him for letting me sleep in his room. Our travels had stopped in front of a prestigious institute, with many students coming in and out. They had their own garden that sat next to a courtyard filled with students performing to each other, some of them actually fighting, “You go here,” I asked Snow as we stood outside the gates.

“Yeah,” he happily answered, “after I saved enough money. Ever since I was born I wanted to come here, but they don’t allow anyone to just go. You need either fame or money to go, I’m sadly not a famous singer or dancer so money is my way to go.” Thinking about school, I did recall Adam talking about having one in the tower, probably not the best idea considering who lives in there. “One day,” Snow continued, snapping me out of my thoughts, “I want to go make a band and go on tour around the world. Since Alpha Studios is sponsoring the institute, I’m bound to get a lot of opportunities if I attend here.” I asked about the studio, and a lot of people around us glared at me, probably because they’re famous around here. Laughing nervously Snow immediately answered, “they’re a famous recording studio known for a lot of the music here. A lot of us here want to make it there, even some of them are even trying to connect with the CEO’s son.”

“Do you know the son,” I asked immediately.

“Nope,” he said, “all I know is that he’s some lion with the Musician’s Eyes. Though I heard rumors that he doesn’t have any talent in music despite his Eyes.” Couldn’t it just be because people didn’t like his music, the Eyes is guaranteed to give people their talents. “But enough about him, we should get going, it’s getting dark,” Snow noted as he wrapped his arm around my back, “I know a shortcut to get you home.” We immediately continued to walk down, heading towards a building that was built to be an adventurer’s guild or something.

Inside the building, we were greeted with the same orange wolf that was in the arena, he seems to be the one taking care of the establishment as he posted some quest on the board. He seems to be around my age, probably a bit younger than me, but his attire was the same, wearing a multitude of chains and belts between his open black shirt and white pants that compliments his orange fur and orange Eyes. Behind the guy was a red door, the same door that helped me get to Bullet’s place, it looked like it was freshly installed too. “Welcome back Snow,” the orange wolf greeted as he finished putting up the papers, “did you forget something from Bullet’s place?”

Snow shook his head as he answered, “no, I’m here to send my boyfriend home.”

“Ah, must’ve been your partner you’ve been talking about,” he confirmed as he waved a goodbye towards his entourage, “you must’ve been from the tower right? People usually call me Orange, but my real name is Free Ryder.” I introduced myself as we shook hands, “it’s nice to meet you Ace, I’ve heard stuff about you from Adam. Good to know that Snow will be in good hands.” He flashed me a smile as I thought about what my dad has been telling people about me. “Well as much as I want to stay, I have to get going,” Orange declared as he started to walk out the building, “make sure you lock the door Snow.”

“Well,” Ace says as he faces Snow, “I guess it’s time to get going.”

“Yeah,” Snow answers as he brings the black wolf closer, “it was nice to hang out with you Ace. It was a nice date.” The two smile towards each other as Snow leans in to give Ace a tender kiss on the lips, hugging him to a close embrace. “See you at Bullet’s place again,” he whispered in Ace’s ears, “can’t wait for our first day at work. It’ll be fun.”

“Same here,” Ace happily said, hugging the fox’s back, “I’ll be nervous, but at least I have you with me when we perform. Have a good night.”

“You too.”

After hugging a bit more, it was time for Ace to go, opening the door as he arrived back to the tower. He heads back to Yuki’s room to go to sleep, entering it to find no one there but a note on the table that gives a reason for his absence. Shrugging it off, Ace crawls to bed as he falls asleep for the day, smiling as he remembers the warm embrace of his new lover.

The lights shining on both of our bodies as we did our first performance, the heat rising as we used what we learned from our mentors. I’m sure if we didn’t decide to limit ourselves that night, it would’ve been a wild night. I still can’t believe that I had the courage to do all that and more, but I’m happy nonetheless. It was a great place to ignore all my responsibilities and forget about the duties I’ll have to face. Though, if I could just watch the performance instead of being the main attraction, I would definitely improve if I could watch myself.

The day finally arrives, the day where Ace and Snow would do their job as strippers. Wanting to help prepare for the night, Ace arrives at the bar to help clean up the backstage and meet up with some of the other staff. The bar, Fated Bounty, is located on the right side of the city of Kolok as the bar itself doesn’t stand out as much with the buildings next to it. Upon entering the establishment, it may seem to be a regular bar, the staff serving drinks and food to patrons that just want to have a drink and hang out at the counter.

The staff itself is uniformed with a butler outfit, albeit a little more revealing top depending on the staff’s desire. Some, like Sam, prefer to wear an unbuttoned black tailcoat, exposing his muscular chest to his patrons. For Bullet, he’d prefer to wear a black cropped jacket with a white harness underneath it. Though they’ll always be an option to just wear the suit itself, though it’s a rare occasion. When there is a full house or holiday, most of the staff will just wear a black speedo and a black harness. There’s usually one staff member, at least somewhat clothed, at the front counter and the rest of them are found deeper in the bar.

Behind a pair of doors that can be seen upon entering, leads to the club portion of the bar. Immediately on the left side is the stage where the strippers may perform and on the right is where the rest of the bar counter extends. Two big corner sofas are on the southwest and northwest of the club with a big round table to accommodate the food and water. Lights decorate the room as the bartenders have access to when and what color they illuminate to fit those that perform. Further back, is a banner that’s labeled for staff only, as it is the backstage area that has rooms that the staff may need.

It was midday when I entered the bar, some snazzy music was already playing as I went through the place. When I entered through the banner, I walked down a corridor until I saw the stripper’s room. I was going to go charge in and put away my things, but I heard a bit of chatter behind the door. Opening the door slightly, I didn’t expect to see Bullet’s muscular naked body, trying out some costumes as he showed off to someone sitting in front of him. Without them noticing, I closed the door and proceeded to knock on it. The sound of clothes shuffling comes from the room before the door opens, Bullet wearing some black short shorts as he donned on his cropped black jacket and a white harness that hugs his bosom a bit tightly.

“Hello Ace,” Bullet happily greeted, “you came earlier than I expected. I thought I told you and Snow that we are open at night.”

“You did,” I replied, trying not to stare as I tried to see past his big body of a husky, “but I came here to see if you needed help. Mind if I come in? I’ll need to put my stuff away.”

“Oh yeah sure,” Bullet agreed, letting me go through as I got to see the entire room. The room itself is huge as a couple of lockers covers the wall near the entrance and on the opposite side of it is a big heart shaped bed with a big brown wardrobe sitting next to it. On top of the bed, is a lean, brown tabby cat sitting, donning on a black leather pants, a black mask that goes with his green Eyes, and an open vest. He just shyly waved at me as Bullet introduced, “Ace, meet my fiancé, Kamon. K, meet Ace, the new guy I hired.”

Getting up from the bed, the cat walked towards me as he took out his hand, greeting, “nice to finally meet you Ace. Bullet’s been telling me so many things about you.”

“Like what,” I asked immediately.

“Well first, how cute you look,” he answered as he eyed me down, I can feel my face going red, “you’re a pretty flexible fellow, but you’re also a quick learner.” As I tried to process and find hidden meaning in Kamon’s** _ words, I felt Bullet’s hand on mine, giving me a key for what I assume to be for the lockers. “Anyway, have fun out there tonight,” the cat continued, “I’ll be serving drinks with Bullet for the night. I know it’s a bit nerve wracking to be up there, but you’ll be fine. You have a partner after all.” After giving a kiss and a touch at the butt of his soon-to-be husband, Kamon happily left, leaving me and Bullet alone. Bullet’s tail wagging away as he fawned over his kitty._**

“So, you weren’t dating Sam,” I asked as I used the key on a locker. Bullet jolted as he turned towards me.

“Oh no,” Bullet answered, scratching behind his head, “Sam and I had a long bit of history. Would you believe me that before I owned this bar, I had to beat Sam and his gang up mostly every night?” I shook my head as I put my stuff inside the locker. “We started to become friends two years ago, “Bullet continued, nostalgically looking into his locker, “though that only happened after he got those robotic eyes and learned the truth of his existence. Either way, it was a pleasant surprise when he asked to work with me.”

Ace scoots over to see what Bullet is staring at, it was a group photo. Ace could recognize three of them, Bullet, Kamon, and Sam. Bullet and Kamon hugged close while Sam was bringing in a smiling, white wolf, wrapped in multiple bandages while wearing a necklace with an angel wing. The four were in front of a beach, some of their friends in the background doing various things, mostly creating their own fun mess of chaos. After staring at the picture long enough, Bullet closes the locker, gently smiling towards Ace before leaving him to change into his outfit for the night.

Though I was given a heads up that I’ll be wearing an outfit for tonight, I didn’t think it would be in good quality. The mask itself is pretty nice, hides my eyes very well and I can be a lot more expressive. I had to get Bullet’s help on putting on the red and white leather harness before covering up with a white cropped jacket, but it felt really comfortable. I was given a nice white bowtie to wrap around my neck along with some white wrist cuffs that were still in good condition. The white speedo I was given was a little tight, and there was a nice little red heart placed at a very interesting location.

As the two went to the club area, Kamon sits at the counter with Sam next to him, chatting about their days and their loves. Sam, who appears to be dressed and already drinking, notices Bullet and Ace as he waved at them as his robotic eyes slowly change to a purple shade. Time continued as Bullet helped Ace practice for a bit, giving some pointers as Kamon and a somewhat drunk Sam cheered them on. When Snow eventually comes over to the bar, the two stars for the night would begin practicing together, sometimes getting Bullet to help out while Kamon tends to Sam before the bar opens.

When it was time for Snow and I to do our job for the first time, I was really nervous and really embarrassed that I was going to start doing it in front of an audience. “You ready to dance, hot stuff,” a voice asked behind me. When I looked over it was Snow, he was wearing a similar outfit as mine, but his was entirely black. He gave me a wink as he unzipped his jacket to reveal his black and blue harness before grabbing my hand to place it on his fluffed chest. It was warm and I could feel his heartbeat beating rapidly before Snow zipped up his jacket again. “I’m pretty nervous too,” Snow admitted, smiling weakly, “but we’re both here now. We’ll be fine now that we’re here together.” He brought me close as I felt his warmth embrace, I couldn’t help but start making out with him as we both waited to get called. It definitely helped us calm down before the show started and we were ready to give them our debut.

I wouldn’t go to detail what happened after we were called, but there sure were a couple of people there. It was pretty hot up there, especially with the spotlight shining down on our bare bodies. Even when we started showing more of our bodies, the heat was still there. Eventually Snow and I got off stage so we could both cooldown and meet with some of the customers. There were some cute guys that were there, especially this muscular black and red cat, he had a mask on, but I knew he wasn’t part of the staff so he’s probably too shy to show his face. When we got off stage, I went to him immediately, he was cute, just letting out soft mewls as soon as I sat at his table.

“S-So kitty,” I weakly teased as I tug on my harness, “what brings you here tonight?”

The cat was pretty stiff as he quickly drank his cup of water, “I-I’m just here to see the show,” the kitty answered nervously, “this is my f-first time here.” He continued to examine me as he asked back, “do you want some water? It must’ve been hot up there right?” Before answering him, I looked back to check up on Snow. He was attending to someone else, but for some reason I wasn’t able to see who it was with people blocking the view.

“Sure,” I answered as I signaled Sam to come over, “what’s your name kitten?” The cat oddly froze in place when I asked, looking around as if he’s searching for someone.

“B-Bled,” he murmured sheepishly as Sam walked over to us. A weird name to be given, but it’s easy to remember I guess. I told Sam that I’ll take one of the soft drinks they sold. I would’ve ordered some alcohol to try it out, but Bullet told me that Adel would kick his ass if he found out. “I’ll pay for it,” Bled answered, immediately changing to a confident demeanor.

When Sam walked away to get me my drink, Bled immediately returned back to his soft demeanor as he continued to drink his glass of water. After getting my drink, the two of us tried to make conversation before I had to move on to the next guests. Though he was slowly warming up to me, despite what I was wearing, we had fun with the time we had left. When it was time to go, I had to wave him goodbye as I continued to spend the night serving other customers until it was time for the bar to close.

It was very late at night when the bar closed, every customer in the establishment had already gone home, leaving only the staff to clean up the mess that they left behind. While the whole crew cleans up, Bullet comes towards Ace and Snow, who are both clothed and not naked. “You two did great today,” the husky compliments as he gives the two the tips that they earned, “but how do you guys feel now? It would’ve been earlier, but at least you two experienced your first day here.”

“A lot better than I thought,” Snow answers as he grabs Ace close, “especially with my cutie here.” Ace blushes a little as he nods in agreement, getting a head pat from Snow. “Thanks for preparing the costumes for us Bullet, they fit really well. Right Ace?” Ace nodded, hesitantly, but agreed.

“That’s great to hear,” Bullet happily says, “well it’s already getting late, so you two can sleep here if you want.” Without any hesitation, he gives Ace and Snow one golden key with a small ruby heart on it. “Don’t worry,” Bullet assures, “I have a spare, but if you two do plan on sleeping here, make sure you lock the door when you two head to sleep.”

I was going to immediately return the key back, but Bullet gave the key to Snow. Though I was convinced to stay when Snow whispered in my ear a proposition I wouldn’t mind taking. “If you’re offering,” I replied as I could feel my heart beat a bit faster, “we’ll sleep here for the night. We’ll give you back the key when we see each other tomorrow.” Bullet smiled at us before we continued cleaning up the place.

Sam was the first one to leave, he left early when it was clear that it was close to finishing, but he said his goodnight before he left. When it was time to go Kamon and Bullet waved at us goodbye, Bullet winking towards the both of us before the two happily walked out. Snow locked the door immediately as we both stared at each other, nodding each other before we headed immediately to the stripper’s room. It was a great night, the heart bed was really comfy, especially when you have someone to cuddle with.

As Ace ponders about his life, he sits in a restaurant located on the second floor of the tower. Residents of the tower coming in and out to dine, some dining with their friends or loved ones and some eating by themselves. It is a lively place with some patrons having meaningful conversations, some boasting about their latest excursions, and some just here to eat the meals the everchanging staff cook up. It was a perfect place for Ace to come and think deeply whenever he needs to.

It’s been a couple of days since I went on a date with Snow and all of a sudden I start thinking about life for no reason. I know I haven’t talked about my fathers a lot, I haven’t seen them a lot compared to Jack. Ever since I remembered, or given, my memories, I’ve been neglecting my duties as a prince and to be honest, I don’t think I deserve to be called the Prince of Demons. I know Jack and I are a hybrid between an angel and a demon, but I don't even have the demon horns or the angel wings. In Adel’s eyes, I’m probably a disappointment to him, I started training late and I’m a stripper. I haven’t told my fathers that I became a stripper, but I don’t know if I want to.

Without noticing someone walking towards Ace, a friendly white wolf taps Ace’s shoulder before sitting down. He’s a little thin in terms of his body stature, but it was clear he has a pair of angelic wings similar to Jack’s and horns that belong to a demon. A piece of one of the horns seemed to have a piece broken off as if it was from a fight. Taking off his black jacket, revealing a floral patterned white tank top as he places his sword next to the table. Creating a top hat out of thin air, he shoves his jacket in it before it disappears away. His purple Eyes of a demon gleamed towards the black wolf’s, smiling warmly as he greets the black wolf.

“Hi Ace,” the white wolf happily greeted, “how’s life treating you so far?” He’s Simon, the wolf that married Adel, he still works as one of Adel’s bodyguards. I don’t know much about their history, but I do know that Adel had been training Simon for a long time. I haven’t fought him before actually, he told me that he doesn’t want to accidentally injure his sons.

“Life’s good,” I answered back as I watched Simon’s tail wagging back and forth, “I’ve got a boyfriend recently.” Immediately a big smile formed on Simon’s face as he slammed his hands on the table. His body inching forward as his tail was wagging even faster. A couple of the patrons and staff of the cafe were now staring at us.

“Oooo tell me about it,” Simon excitedly shouted, “I would love to know how you guys met!” I immediately started blushing as I realized I had to talk about my job, but Simon looked really happy with his purple, puppy dog eyes staring right at me. He immediately backed off and sat normally at his seat, nervously smiling as he quietly continued, “only if you want to though, if there’s something you can’t tell me, I understand.”

“I’m sorry Simon,” I hesitantly answered, “I don’t mean to keep it a secret, I just don’t feel comfortable talking about it in public.”

“Oh no you’re fine Ace,” Simon consoled, “I understand, I have my own secrets too. Especially my horn.” He gave a slight chuckle as he patted his own horn, saying, “I haven’t told anyone else about what happened to them, except Adel, but it was something dumb and dangerous at least.” He gave a nostalgic smile before remembering what he came here, pulling back his top hat as he took out a black key. “Hey Ace you wanna go somewhere,” he asked as he waved the key around, “Adel told me not to do this, but as a prince, you should at least see the Demon World.” He gave a devilish smile as he teased, “he'll definitely lecture me again, but I want to hang out with my son. Just say the word and I’ll teleport us there right now.” We went to the Demon World immediately after I smiled back and gave him my answer with a nod.

The change of atmosphere when going from the peaceful hotel lobby of the tower to the big, empty castle was surprisingly depressing. There seems to be no one in the castle except the real king of Demons in this world, a younger version of Adel. The real king is sitting at a library, reading the laws and histories with a bored expression on his tiger face. When he looked up, his mood changed as he bounced up to greet me and Simon with his purple Eyes. “Ah it’s great to finally meet you, my somewhat son,” the tiger happily exclaimed, “I am Adrian, the young king of Demons.” He doesn’t wear a heavy coat unlike Adel, he’s wearing casual clothes, a simple t-shirt and sweatpants with a pair of glasses with black, bottom, square frames. He noticed me examining him as he spoke up, “yes; yes, I know I don’t look like a king right now. So what brings you two here?”

Before I got to say anything, Simon replied, “I wanted to show Ace here the world he may rule one day. Mind if you come along with us Adrian? I’m still used to my world’s version of this place.” Adrian let out a sigh as he took out a thin, glowing, rectangular communicator from his pocket. It’s called a phone, but calling it a communicator sounds more fun and those are an old relic compared to what people have nowadays. Though as soon as I thought about it, my glowing shoulder pad’s HUD popped up as if reminding me how advanced it is.

Back to the topic though, Adrian answered, “sure, don’t want you two getting lost out there. I’ll get changed immediately.” With just a flick of a finger, the tiger’s clothes immediately changed to being a white, plaid shirt with suspenders attached to his jeans. I saw no weapon on him, but he quickly assured me, “don’t worry, my weapon choice is as weird as yours Ace, yours a shovel and mine is my phone.”

“Yep,” Simon agreed, “Adrian prefers to stay in the back unlike Adel. Though if we ever need to fight, I’ll protect you both.” He happily patted the scabbard of his sword as his tail wagged a bit. “Well my king,” Simon happily continued, “lead the way, a knight is here to protect you.”

“Thanks Simon,” Adrian calmly replied back, turning off and putting away his phone, “there’s still some stuff that needs to be repaired, but we can take a visit to Adel’s recent retainer’s house. Knowing what Adel has planned for you, you’ll be seeing him around once and a while.”

The Demon World, though it has no name but that, it is a place formed in a plane that is connected to its counterpart, the Angel World. Forever being reminded as a giant, golden gate separates the two, seen no matter how far the two worlds can reach. In the Demon World, the sky no longer exists as the hellish, cavernous landscape has become their home. The only thing that remains of their sky is the reflection of continuous water droplets that clung onto the stalactites while the heating lava flows freely around the land. Though the Demon World only has one kingdom, they have continued to grow and prosper due to the past demons that became king.

While we were strolling around, I noticed that people were glaring at Simon throughout the whole trip. When I looked over to check on him, he was nobly walking tall with each heavy step he took. His arm was on his sword, ready to defend himself in case someone attacked us, but he was eerily calm about it. Adrian was gripping his right arm tightly as a pained expression painted his face. It only stopped when we arrived at our destination, a big, white mansion stood in front of us as two servants greeted us. Quickly, as if they knew we would be coming, invited us inside as they gave out some refreshments. They were friendly, they told us to wait while they get their master.

While we were waiting for Adel’s retainer, I asked Simon about the glares he’s been getting, carefully trying to word it so I wouldn’t disturb him. He answered, not with his peppy voice, but with a solemn voice, “I am a hybrid of both an Angel and a Demon, who both look down upon ever since they were separated. Don’t worry about me, I’m used to the looks so many times. When you ascend the throne, I only hope you won’t deal with it as much.” He patted my head as I was given some pleasant scratches, “guess some of my favorite spots passed on to you as well,” Simon chuckled as I could feel my tail unconsciously wagging.

“So,” Adrian trails, signaling Simon to stop the petting of Ace, “I’m sorry you had to witness that out there Ace. As the current king, I’m doing my best to deal with this issue.” Adrian, with a pained expression on his face as he looks up towards Simon, continues, “From the stories you told me Simon, I can only hope that I could do anything to prevent a similar incident from happening again.”

“Well that’s why you got that king to help you right, my young king,” a voice roars as the three look towards its direction. Ascending down the stairs of white was a white lion in a fancy suit, his mane made entirely of flames as he looked at the three of us with his red-orange Eyes. “I see the other son finally shows up,” he notes as he continues to leave a trail of fire behind him, “You may call me Pyrite, but outside these walls, call me by my official title, the Lord of Flames.” He looked over towards Simon with a caring smile, “it is good to see you again pup. Do remember that you may call upon me if people are hurting you, I wouldn’t want that king to go into a fit of rage.”

Pouting, Simon immediately replies, “I’m not your little brother Pyrite. I know how to fight, he taught me after all.” The lion could only sigh as he went over to the wolf and patted his head. Simon could only whine as the tufts on his head got messed up again by the lion’s hot hands, pushing away Simon’s attempt to stop him.

It only lasted a while until Adrian cleared his throat to get attention, “we can hang out soon Pyrite, we still have that matter to discuss from your call.” The lion nodded as the two looked towards Simon and Ace. “It is fine if you two are here, it’s just a part of the tower’s business,” Adrian explained with a soft smile on his face. After facing his lion with a stern look, his Eyes glowing a shade of purple, Adrian continued, “you wanted to be one of us right, a hero of the tower me and my companions reside in? What I said in our call is true, our goal is to prevent our world from meeting a dead end. We will do what we must to prevent it, even hurt those that worked alongside us. Are you willing to sacrifice everything and everyone to protect this world?” When he uttered those words, I felt an odd, familiarly dull pain in my heart as he spoke with a noble air around him. The lion only nodded as Adrian continued, “Good, then here you go.” Adrian pulled out a room key, the key itself had a flame pattern on it as the tag attached to it displayed the room key, and gave the key to Pyrite along with a golden key. “Stab that golden key to any wall you want, it’ll be your doorway to the tower so you won’t have to go to the castle. Pyrite, as one of the overseers of the tower, I officially welcome you to our fight.”

After the exchange between the demons, Pyrite’s two servants arrived with a cart full of an assortment of drinks and homemade snacks. Some of them homemade while others were snacks that could be bought in the lands of the Demons. “Enjoy,” the two says in unison as they present the sweet treats to the group, “and Master Pyrite, the successor of the Dark Lord has called and asked for your presence again.”

The lion could only sigh in annoyance as he immediately responded, “tell that wolf that I’m busy today.” The servants bow as the two disappear into a room, letting Pyrite to lighten his mood as he faces the group with a faint smile.

“I see you finally started talking with the other Lords at least,” Adrian notes as he pours himself a cup of tea, “I’ve read that the 5 Demonic Lords stopped talking to each other because of the last king. Do you happen to know anything about the others? Since you’re the Lord of Fire.”

Pyrite shrugs as he answers, “Nope and I don’t care. Dark Lord is an old creep, Lord of Thunder is in your realm and the Lord of Soils sleeps all day. Other than the Dark Lord’s son, I’m the only one that’s been working here.”

“What about the Lord of Butterflies,” Adrian asked, my ears perked up as the familiar title rang into my ears.

“There’s no one that exist with that dumb title,” Pyrite answered as he snacks on a lava cookie, “the other lords made that guy up based on legends so the Demons won’t complain about there being 4 of us. You should’ve seen the riot we had to deal with when the king appointed us, people were comparing us to the 4 horses that became corrupted with their own power. You know the story, right King?”

“Yeah, the library in the castle has a lot of history books,” Adrian admitted as he looked toward me, “even how Demons came to occupy this land. You should read them sometime Ace, I’m sure the legends of this land would be interesting to you.” I nodded as the tiger immediately continued, “good, I’ll lend you a copy of it when we return back to the castle.”

When I looked over at Simon, he was enjoying himself on the sweets, though a question popped into my head as I asked Adrian, “hey Adrian, are you related to my father? I never thought about it until now, but why is that?” Simon immediately looked away as Adrian stared at my father.

He let out a sigh before he explained, “I see that your fathers didn’t explain their origins. Though I had a feeling that your dads didn’t tell you or your brother about it.” Simon let out a soft, embarrassed whimper as he continued to eat his snack. “Whatever, I’m used to these sorts of things” Adrian said as he took a bite out of a cookie, “in a way, Adel and I are the same person, we both have similar tastes and share similar pasts, but the difference between us is when his personal story diverts from mine. Right Simon?” The white wolf could only nod as he drank down some tea as I tried to understand what Adrian said. “Adel and Simon are from a different world almost parallel to ours,” Adrian explained as Pyrite quietly excuses himself out, “let me give you an example, I know about your job Ace, Adam was there to make sure you take it for some reason.” I felt my face heat up real quick as I was annoyingly reminded of the hooded figure. Simon was curious, but that was stopped as the tiger continued, “well let’s pretend that Adam didn’t exist that time, there would be another world where you actually did pick the job you wanted instead of what you picked now. You may not think it wouldn’t affect much, but you and that other Ace would have entirely different lives. You wouldn’t have met your bf if you had chosen what you desired.” I was about to intervene, but thinking about how I met Snow quickly shutted my mouth.

“So what did my dad do differently compared to you,” I asked as I thought about what could have happened.

Adrian took a moment as it looked like he was trying to find the right words to say. Simon was pretty nervous while he also tried to find an answer that won’t hurt me. “Well,” Adrian spoke up calmly as he gave his answer, “let’s just say grief is a dangerous feeling to have. Someone important in his life died and he went insane because of his grief. There’s a bit more to that, but that’s when our paths splitted away from each other.”

“It’s still fresh on his mind,” Simon quietly chimed in, “we can talk more about it together when Adel recovers from those scars.” I stopped my questions after that as Simon smiled at me, promising, “but when he’s ready, we can share that story. The time we spent on this world was pretty eventful after all.”

“Oh definitely,” Adrian agreed as he gave out a nostalgic laugh, “I saw the reports when I was busy studying here. A shame the antics happened after I decided to become more serious with being the new Demon King.”

Time moves along as the demons chat around the table, eating the foods that can be found in the Demon World. Though night could never settle in the cave of hell, the eyes weigh heavy as time continues throughout their talks. Simon was the first to take his leave, letting Pyrite use his key to make a quick shortcut back. Ace is soon asked to leave as Adrian and Pyrite begin to talk about some private business of the Demon World. On his way back to Yuki’s room, Ace watches people in the tower hanging out on the various floors he climbs up, wondering about their lives.

It had been a couple of days since Ace did his first night for his job, his mood continues to be getting better as he does his daily duties. Today is a bit different as he asked Jack to hang out a day prior, the tiger happily agreed. Telling the wolf to meet him in his room, Ace heads there first thing in the morning after bidding farewell to a singing Yuki. When he arrives, he sees the tiger sitting at the table, with a couple of refreshments and snacks. His silver Eyes shimmer as he looks at Ace with a warm smile and ushers him over.

When I met up with Jack again soon after my time at the bar, I told him a lot of things that happened there as I carefully and casually took out the part of what happened at the end of that night. Not sure what he was thinking, but I could feel his glare as I recounted my first day at work, specifically when I mentioned Snow. Though he’s been doing that ever since I mentioned that I dated him, this time he seemed a lot angrier, he usually hides his anger the other times I mentioned him. “He’s a good guy,” I reassured my brother, “if you meet up with him, I’m sure you’ll see how sweet he is.”

Though before we continued, a very familiar voice echoed in the room, “Ah so you’ve been enjoying your life. That’s great to hear, I can’t wait to meet him, my son.” Jack and I were pretty spooked when we saw our dad coming out of the dark corner of the room. When the light shone down upon his body, his demonic side slowly faded away, the black and red fur slowly turning back to his orange and black stripes. Black ooze still continued to leak as it left a black stain on the freshly-cleaned carpet.

“Can you please stop doing that when I’m in my room,” Jack asks, now annoyed towards Adel, “you always do that after I get the carpet washed.”

Adel, immediately taken aback from Jack’s sudden outburst, nervously apologized as his entire form reverted back to his usual self, “s-sorry Jack, teleporting like that is pretty addicting. I’ll pay for the cost next time.”

“Good,” Jack forgives the tiger before drinking, “so what do you want from us father? Is it related to our duties?”

“Yes,” Adel answers, returning back to his serious side as he clears his throat, “as with each previous Demon kings and queens, they all have to face their own path. Since I refused to partake in the tradition to cast my offspring to their own mission that would potentially end their life, I have decided that you two will be given multiple trials.” He immediately grabs both Ace and Jack by the head as a black mist slowly surrounds them, crowding their visions. When the mist dissipates, they find themselves in the arena of the tower, the fake sun and moon in the sky slowly creating an eclipse. “Ah perfect timing,” Adel says as he walks towards the opposite side of the arena, his body slowly transforming from the bottom up as his fur changes from orange and black to black and red. He pulls out one of his silver knives underneath his cloak as the metal convulses rapidly, morphing and elongating itself to become a black shortsword. “Though we demons and angels may look like regular people,” Adel explains as he faces his own sons, sword stabbed to the ground as his purple Eyes glowed, “we possess the ability to reach into ourselves to transform to our full potential. For your first trial, I must see you two transform in front of me.”

“How do we do that,” Ace asks as he cautiously takes out his shovel. Jack follows suit as he takes out his glowing red sword.

“After you two do it the first time, it’ll come naturally to you two after that,” Adel answers threateningly, “but in order for you two to do it the first time, you two would have to be in a stressful situation. I’d say a battle would suffice, but seeing there is two against one, I asked someone to help even this out.” As if on cue, a beam of light appears next to him as Adrian appears with a simple smile on his face.

“Heyo you two,” he greets the two princes casually as he takes out his phone, “I’ll be facing you two as well. I’m not as strong compared to your father, but please pretend I’m a threat to deal with.” Without giving the two to respond, the ring of the phone echoes into the arena as a countdown begins. “Don’t worry about dying, we’re just going to rough you two up a bit.” Quickly the two princes armed themselves immediately as they watched as Adrian fiddled around with his device, casting a multitude of buffs on Adel and himself immediately. When done with his buffs, the tiger holds onto his phone with his right hand as multiple red runes and magic circles appear on his left.

Though when the countdown my dad set up reached zero, everything around me froze as the color drained away. I do admit that I did think I was drugged by the drinks Jack made, but I heard a familiar voice that told me otherwise. “this is pretty awkward, you caught me when I was on a date,” it was the same wolf I met in my dream, though he was holding two waffle cones with about three scoops of the ice cream, “I didn’t expect us to be fighting so soon, was hoping it would happen next week.” Joker immediately shoved the ice cream underneath his cloak, never to be seen again, before continuing, “anyway, you’re on your first duty right?” I only nodded as I examined his mask, the mask being eerily similar to that big cat I met on my first night. He stared towards the frozen Jack with a puzzled look as he asked, “is your brother taking part of it too?” I nodded as I noticed his brief change in demeanor before blurting out, “I will concede then, and let you two do your fight together. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go back before the ice cream melts and before my cutie worries about my disappearance. Remember this though, if you find yourself in horrible pain, embrace it and never forget how it felt. You’ll need it.” Without letting me ask or even say a word to him, he quickly turned and walked away to disappear in the darkness, resuming time in the process.

Though I wish time froze some time beforehand, I was given no time at all as Adel pulled out a red pistol from his coat and began shooting at me. “Bad time to start daydreaming Ace,” Adel, with a serious face, scolded me as he fired another bullet towards me, “every second matters in a fight.” Jack quickly stood in front of me, his Eyes glowing as he deflected the shots, telling me, “Ace, get behind me, Adel’s weapons get enhanced when he’s in that state. I know our dad is crazy, so mind if you lead us again? You’re better at that sort of thing compared to me.”

I could only nod as I took out the cartridge from my shovel before pulling the chain immediately, causing the shovel to emit a big wall of black smog cloud that blocked their view of us, giving us time to move away and plan. Though it seemed I was wrong about giving us time, as soon as we backed away, we would see a flare launched to the sky, gradually expanding itself to become a giant ball of flames. One of Adel’s favorite and deadly skills as Jack told me, something I would expect to come out later in the fight. I immediately plugged in my water cartridge as I prepared myself to somehow defend the two of us. As the giant ball of flames started dispersing multiple shots of fire flying out towards us, I could hear Adrian scolding at Adel. I told Jack to crouch as I began swinging my shovel in an ark above us as water poured out, creating a barrier to prevent the flames that rained from above. When the flames died out, Adel ran straight towards us, bursting through the smog with his sword in hand.

Jack immediately got up as he shoved me back, clashing his sword with Adel’s. Adrian was behind Adel, immediately firing a bunch of energy arrows from the runes around his wrists as soon as he passed through the smog. “Go for Adrian,” I commanded, “I can hold Adel long enough so you can overwhelm him.” My brother, without a word, started running towards the young Demon King as I intercepted my dad by tackling him from below, before trying to bash his head with my shovel.

As soon as Jack gets close enough to Adrian, the runes take shape as it stops firing and turns into a sword. The two swords clash while Ace and Adel fight each other, Adel taking out another sword from his coat as he goes all out on his son. As the father starts bashing hard against Ace’s shovel, he would count up as he strikes even harder than the last. As the count goes even higher, the black ooze slowly starts to pour out of Adel as it splashes and stains everywhere it lands.

Adel’s strike was getting a lot harder to fend against as I felt every part of my bones vibrated painfully. Didn’t also help that getting splashed by Adel’s weird, black liquid felt really disgusting on my fur. I could feel my mind slowly drifting off as I could feel my strength getting sapped away. I will say that it was a really horrible time to daydream.

A shot rings through the air as Joker stood there, two pistols drawn as one pointed towards me and another straight to the sky. I immediately shoved a random cartridge in the shovel before we both started firing at each other. I realized halfway through my first set of ammo that I was a bad shot, so I decided to run towards him. Due to work, dodging his shots felt normal to me, but he was definitely missing on purpose. When I immediately got close enough to him, I felt a sharp pain in my back as I fell face first into the ground. Wanting to show me how it happened, Joker slowly approached me as he pulled out a knife and dug into my back, blood and cries pouring out of me until he was done. He crouched down in front of me, showing a bloody, round bullet as he disappointingly said, “you should’ve paid attention Ace. Don’t worry, just embrace that pain and it’ll be over.”

I felt a sharp pain in my back as the screams of everyone woke me up from my daydream. There was a crimson sword stabbed through me from the back to the stomach, my blood staining the clothes I was wearing. I looked back momentarily to see a tiger stained in black, words coming out of his body as his hollow, purple Eyes stared right back at me with a menacing smile. I saw the horrified faces of everyone around me, even Adel. My father’s face was drained of color as he stood in front of me, dropping both of his swords immediately as he ran towards me. I was kicked off the sword as Adel quickly caught me in his arms while Adrian and Jack immediately went to attack the mysterious intruder.

I could hear Adel screaming out profanities as he slowly turned back who he was, trying his best not to cry as he did his best to tend to my wounds. I looked over to Jack, the fur on his body gradually turning red as he fiercely attacked my assailant. The wings on his back slowly went up in flames as the color turned to a burnt black. He looked like he was ready to let out a painful scream as his attacks resembled more of a thrashing wild animal. Adrian was doing his best to both take down the attacker while also making sure Jack doesn’t go mad.

I, on the other hand, was groaning in pain, I’m not sure what that sword was made of, but I could feel my insides burning with a flame that would never stop. It was getting real hard to breathe as the burning sensation would soon cover my lungs. I could only panickingly thrash around and groan as the searing pain courses through my body. “Embrace the pain,” the voice from Joker rang through my ears as my breathing slowed, “there we go. You will not die today, you have people you want to see again.” I could only think about Snow’s warm smile and his warm embrace as my eyes slowly closed. The burns diminishing away as I could slowly feel the cold brushing against my black fur. The next thing I knew, I woke up feeling cold and refreshed.

When Ace wakes up from his wounds, he finds himself standing tall, his black fur turning pure white as his silver Eyes glows bright. Red ice that had formed over his wound shattered to show it had completely healed. Ace, feeling a bit happy to be alive again, picks up his shovel as it resonates and transforms into a blue spear encased in ice. He looks over at his attacker, Jack and Adrian doing their best to fight with their emotions high.

Intercepting the attacker between everyone else, “recover you two,” I calmly commanded Adrian and Jack, “I can take care of this.” Jack was definitely worse for wear though, half of his body is turning red as his right Eye is turning black while glowing white. “Calm Jack down, we don’t want him to go mad.” Adrian immediately dragged an angered Jack away to help calm him down, letting me try out my new strength. Though I was never trained with a spear, somehow using it started to feel natural to me, like I was trained to use one.

The tiger immediately swings at Ace, clashing with the tips of Ace’s spear as he calmly prevents the blade from getting close to his body again. Soon enough, Ace was the first to lunge himself towards the dangerous tiger, who readied himself to stab the reckless white wolf. What the tiger stabbed in the end was an ice sculpture of Ace as the ice encased the arm of the tiger. The real Ace appears behind the tiger, watching the tiger’s back with his spear in hand, ready to charge. In an instant, the tiger was pierced through by the ice sculpture in the front as Ace’s spear pierced him from behind as blood splattered onto the white wolf.

Every move I made felt natural, it was refreshing, but at the same time it felt really scary how my body was used to killing someone. I know the guy almost killed me and I’ve been dreaming about my death multiple times, but the feeling of killing someone was not what I expected. I only realized it as soon as I stabbed that tiger with my spear and ice, his blood splattering onto my fur. It was really disturbing to watch the guy writhing in pain as he weakly tried to break out, slowly descending deeper into my spear, not something I wished to see, but it felt eerily familiar to me. I just stared at the body as his life slowly faded away and my ice melted away. I could feel my body transforming back, my fur turning back to its usual color as my spear turned back into my silver, bloodied shovel, still embedded in the person I slain.

As soon as I pulled my shovel out of him, I walked over to the dead body to get a good look at him. He had the face of Adel, but he had so many different scars from old battles that paint his entire body. Before I could get a good look at them, his body dissipated into black words, forcing me to go immediately check on my family.

Adel, he seemed to regain his composure, or at least hide it well enough to start helping out Jack through his transformation. Though when he saw me alive and back to my usual self, he calmed down immediately as the red fully covered his body and his wings filled with crimson feathers. It only lasted for a couple of minutes before his body returned back to normal, Adel was relieved as he faced me. He examined me, looking to see if any more wounds were on me and sighed.

“I’m sorry about what happened to you,” he apologized, “but I’m glad you and Jack are ok.” He tried to hide his face as he pulled over his hoodie, asking me, “could you transform for me Ace? I know it wasn’t pleasant, but I want to make sure you can do it.” I didn’t mind, just like he said, after the first time, it starts to feel natural to me as I remember the cold chill running through my body and closing my eyes to wake up with a cold breeze covering me.

Within seconds, Ace’s body was soon fully covered in black ice before breaking off to reveal his white fur. Adel is mostly surprised when he sees his transformed son, but Adrian walks towards Ace to congratulate him. “Why is his white,” Adel quietly notes as he continues to stare at Ace, “Between me and Simon, it should’ve been red or purple.” After some bit of thinking and watching Jack coming up to Ace to make sure he’s okay, Adel can only shrug it off, answering to himself quietly before joining in. When Ace was done being checked for his injuries and wounds, he was the first to go back and rest for the day.

Though I don’t like the idea of being told to go rest, I understand why they did that. I fully healed, I don’t feel any stab wounds on my body, but I could still feel the metal going through me. I tried not to pay attention to it and immediately went back to Yuki’s room to tell him about my new power. When I entered the room, Yuki was writing something on his notepad, and warmly smiled towards me when he saw me. His naginata lay next to him as I could barely see some lyrics written down on his notepad, he seemed to be in a good mood today. I wonder what happened to him today, definitely better than getting stabbed I’m sure. “Welcome back Ace, did you have fun today?”

I will admit, after I was able to get my body to transform for the first time, I spent an hour or two constantly transforming between myself and my demonic self. I even tried doing various poses every time I transformed, like I was in one of those hero shows. The only one to witness all that hubris was my roommate, but he didn’t mind, though he probably thought it as cute. I promised to hang out with him for all the things I’ve been doing in his vicinity.

After yesterday, I made a promise with Yuki that we would hang out today. Though before we head out, Yuki had to go get something for someone, he didn’t want me to come along, but I insisted on coming anyway. He sighed as he eventually gave in and went to the fridge. After rummaging around his fridge, Yuki takes out a bottle that contains what I assume is a protein shake as we head straight to the gym located on the first floor.

It’s exactly what I expected to see, lots of various people working out with various equipment. Nothing really stood out as Yuki and I walked past people until we reached the corner of the gym, where a boxing ring was setted up. There was a black panther waiting for us there, his Eyes obscured by a mask. It looks similar to that red cat I met before, but less fluffy in a way and it seems to be handmade from what I could tell. The panther himself was wearing a white, mesh fishnet tank top, he seemed a bit taller than Yuki and I, but his muscles are more defined compared to me, a little less compared to the red cat. He noticed both Yuki and I as he excitedly smiled and exclaimed, “ah thanks Yuki, I’m sorry I left it in your room, I forgot about it til now.”

“You’re fine,” Yuki replied as he warmly smiled at him, “just make sure you don’t lose it. You’re still adjusting to your life after all, but do make sure you don’t exert yourself.”

He nodded as he immediately stared at me, asking, “who’s that guy? Is he that Ace guy you’ve been constantly talking about?” Yuki immediately blushed as he answered a passive aggressive yes, I did think about asking for more details but I’m sure Yuki would intervene. “Ah I see,” he happily replied, oblivious to Yuki’s tone, “good time to make some introductions then.” He calmly took off his mask as he revealed his red Eyes to me. He's definitely a fighter if he’s here with those Eyes, but anyway he smacked his closed, left hand on his chest and smiled at me. “I am Crimson Red,” he introduced, “son of a Bloody Red from a different world connected to here. To make things simple for everyone, I am Yuki’s younger brother.”

I was a bit surprised, but not as much considering me and Jack are related, but I’m more surprised that he’s younger. I looked directly at Yuki, who caught on to what I was going to ask. He answered with a bit of annoyance in his tone, “blame my genes, I’m sorry I wasn’t born with a frame like his.” He smiled immediately again though as he continued, “but I’m happy to know I have a younger brother at least. I only met him two days ago, but he was really happy to talk to me about everything.”

“Yep, though you got to meet this other guy Ace, he’s this big red cat. He’s Yuki’s actual younger brother. If you guys aren’t busy, we can wait for him here, he should be coming soon.” Yuki was suddenly ready to leave, but hesitantly stayed as I insisted on meeting him. “He’s a good wrestler, like me,” the panther self-proclaimed, “we met two weeks ago, but we’ve been having a blast beating each other up.” Though I have an idea who this could be, I was still pleasantly surprised who it was as he soon emerged while Crimson and I talked.

As soon as the big red cat showed up, Crimson immediately pointed in his direction and shouted for him to come over. The big cat was wearing a black stringer hoodie, revealing his muscled arms and the unique fur pattern on his hands. I immediately recognized him, mostly because the fur on his hands looked like he’s wearing gloves, but I kept quiet as I smiled towards the cat. He was fairly startled at first as he immediately looked towards us, but unlike that shy mannerism I saw back at the club, he growled as he walked towards us. “Welcome back,” Crimson happily greeted, “Yuki and I have a friend to introduce you.” He and I looked each other in the eyes, though he was still wearing that mask of his, making it hard to know what expression he’s making.

Seconds pass as the two continue to stare at each other before the red cat soon speaks in a gruff voice, “Brutal Red.”

“Please say your real name Bled,” Yuki immediately pleads, hiding his face.

Bled goes silent for a bit as he soon speaks, his arms crossed against his chest, “Bled, don’t forget it.”

“Of course,” Ace calmly responds, “I’m Ace, but I’m guessing you know that since Yuki talks about me.”

Bled looked at Yuki and back at me before answering, “Yeah, my smaller, older brother told me a lot about you. I was curious about you, and he told me you were a bit of a-”

“Anyway,” Yuki interrupts, face flushing with red, “Ace and I are planning to head out to Remixer City today. We need to get going now.”

“But we can just use the door to get there,” I pointed out as I recalled how I got home from my date with Snow, “I want to spend some time with your brothers, get to know them a bit more at least.” Yuki conceded as he let out a sigh.

“Go right ahead,” he said, “though I’ll wait by the door, I need some fresher air than here.” Fair enough.

After Yuki leaves the three together, Bled immediately orders, “Ace, Brutal Red needs you to come with him, alone.” Without a moment to lose, the cat grips onto the wolf’s arm as Bled drags Ace to the bathroom.

I have a feeling what Bled was going to do, but I came along with him. When he made sure we were perfectly alone, he dropped his act immediately as he gently smiled. “I-It’s good to meet you again. I’m sorry if I was a bit rude or curt earlier. We must always commit to the act sometimes.” He was sheepishly cute as he twiddled with his fingers as he continued, “I act a bit more meaner because of how much I use my Heel’s Eyes. I get stronger every time I anger people or fight dirty. So I’m sorry if I offend or hurt you in the future.”

I kept that in mind as I gently caressed his arm, startling him for a second as I responded, “it’s nice to meet you again too, big guy. Though I didn’t know you were Yuki’s younger brother, you could've fooled me.” He gave out a chuckle as he grabbed my hand.

“Yeah, Yuki tends to get a bit bitter about it, but he’s a really cool brother,” Bled happily said, “but let’s get going. I shouldn’t let Crimson wait, I promised him another fight.” He shyly looked away as he asked, “d-do you want to come watch? I don’t want to take away your time with my big brother.”

“Yeah, as much as I want to see how you two fight, I don’t want him to wait any longer,” I answered. I saw Bled a little sad, but he was understanding, “but I can come and watch next time,” I reassured him. He was smiling at least, though I felt like pushing it more as I added, “if you want, we could duke it out in the ring too. I’d be happy to have a practice partner like you and learn how to wrestle.”

Bled pauses as the heat rushes to his face, yelling with a mix of his two personas as he does a pose that would belong to those hero shows. “Y-Yes,” he exclaims, “B-Brutal Bled would love to spar with you!” He realizes his blunder and his posture as he awkwardly smiles at Ace, adding, “meet me at the colosseum this weekend and we can start our training.”

Ace nods and smiles back as he gives Bled a pat on the shoulder. “Well let’s get out of here, we wouldn’t want to leave your rival alone too long.” The two head out and go towards Crimson, who is busy chatting with some of the other patrons. When he spots the two, he waves them over as he naughtily grins.

“You two took your time,” he notes, “did you two have fun?” Bled immediately blushes as he covers his head with the hoodie while trying to make an intimidating growl, causing the panther to laugh. Reassuring the big cat, Crimson confesses, “I kid, I know how shy you are, Bled. I’m more surprised how quick it was for you to open up to him. You took about a week after we met when you opened up to me. Even longer with Yuki.”

Crimson turned his head towards me as he declared, “well since both of my bros are on friendly terms with you, I’ll gladly join along and be your friend.” He smiled at me as he smacked his right hand on his chest. “And as your new friend, be ready to start seeing me more often, whether you expect to or not.” I was confused about what he meant as I just simply nodded and took my leave as I watched the two get into the ring. Though when I saw Yuki by the door, I was more surprised to see Crimson chatting with him too.

“And that’s why you should try out fighting with your fists. Just give em a one; two and you’ll be good,” Crimson says as he punches his fist into the palm of his hand as Yuki smiles at him, “I could give you some pointers if you want. It’ll be like learning a new dance.”

“Thanks Crimson,” Yuki replies as he notices Ace, “I’ll ask for your help another day. Ace is here now, but thanks for the talk though.”

“Hey Crimson, didn’t we just talk a couple minutes ago,” Ace asks with confusion on his face. He freshly remembers hearing Bled and Crimson exchanging blows as he left the gym.

“Of course,” Crimson answers as he opens the door to Remixer City, “Remember what I told you? Get ready to see me more often, whether you expect to or not.” Without a second to waste, he enters the room and shuts the door, smiling at Ace as a hint of yellow glows from his red Eyes. “Later Ace, I’m going to have a lot of fun with you.”

Ace rushes to and immediately opens the door, to see only Orange lounging around in the adventurer’s guild, who immediately waved at Ace upon seeing him. “Crimson tends to do that sometimes,” Yuki acknowledges as he pats Ace’s shoulder, “he’s pretty good at it too, appearing and vanishing whenever he wants to.” He simply smiles at the wolf as he walks through the door. “Let’s get going Ace, we’re going to a shop first, but we can walk around the city after that.” After greeting Orange, the two immediately head out into the busy city.

When we arrived where Yuki wanted us to go, it was a jewelry store, but the accessories seem to have some enchantments imbued in them. Though I wasn’t really interested, what caught my eye was this gold pendant necklace that had this misty blue gem shaped as a heart embedded in the middle of the case. It looked familiar to me for some reason, but the enchantment was interesting. My HUD showed me it speeds up the wearer, but there’s an extremely small chance to nullify damage. It cost a real hefty amount of money, even a good tip at my job wouldn’t dent it. I looked over to see what Yuki was looking at, it was a silver chain necklace with small, round white gems embedded in each link. It seems to enchant magic, just like his earring, but Yuki seemed conflicted on buying it.

I went over to Yuki as he was in deep thought and chimed, “I could buy it for you Yuki.” Though just in case, I took out my wallet and checked if I had enough money for it.

Yuki lowered my hand as he smiled towards me before he interjected, “you don’t need to do that Ace. I can just wait and save up money to get it.”

“Why wait,” I asked as I am now hoping I have enough money to buy it, “I think it would look nice on you and think of it as payment for me bringing all my antics to your room.” Like the multiple times I made a mess in his room after I tinker my shovel or work on Jack’s new sword. Yuki was still trying to stop me from buying it, but I did have enough just to get it for him. Though as soon as I got the necklace on him, Yuki became bashful and adorable as he tried to recompose himself.

Other than that, Yuki and I just hung out in the city, we even participated in the city’s arena together as partners. We were really close to winning, though Yuki was the one accumulating points with his performance, I was just there to dance to his tune. Though I didn’t really notice it, with Yuki fighting next to me, we got some great synergy going between us. We were a bit exhausted after it all that though so we headed back to end our night with a bit of relaxation.

Though when we arrived at our room, Bled was leaning next to the door, waiting for us to come back from our time together. He didn’t say much, just stared at the both of us behind his mask before ruffling our heads with both of his hands and saying a simple “have a good night you two.” He flashed us a somewhat intimidating smile before walking away. Yuki and I decided to go to sleep after that, toss away all our weapons and dove straight to bed.

I remember meeting up with the big red kitty, he’s really frightening when we met. Doesn’t help that our first encounter was him tackling me to the ground when I was out in the forest gathering ingredients for a weapon. He’s a lot sweeter than people give him to be, but I do agree that he does pack a punch. When we first fought, I could feel my bones breaking with each punch he landed on me. I still owe him a wrestling match, but I wouldn’t mind if we can wrestle again after this situation ends. I’m sure he’ll be surprised to see the new tricks I’ve learned since.

I was a bit serious that I wanted to try out a bit of wrestling when I met with Bled, so remembering what he told me, I would probably meet him up at the Tower’s colosseum. After washing up and eating breakfast with Yuki, I immediately headed out and made my way down the Tower. When I arrived at the third floor of the Tower, I could see him leaning next to one of the doors, carrying a black duffle bag. His head was tilting down as I could hear him snoring as I walked closer to him as I saw his lovely mask. “Bled,” I yelled, startling the big wrestler awake, “sorry I was late, I fell off the bed this morning.”

“You’re fine,” Bled yawned as he rubbed his mask, “I needed a nap.” He slaps himself awake as I can see the tired cat getting revitalized with every smack to his face. ”Though that’s a lie, Yuki told me you toss and turn in your sleep,” he mentioned as he recovers from his slaps, “sometimes you kick him off bed once and a while.” I blushed a little as I noted to myself to apologize to Yuki when I came back. When he seemed ready, he flashes me a smile as he pats his duffle bag, happily exclaiming, “well since we’re going to be wrestling, we might be a bit too rough against each other and it’d be really bad if both of us ruined our clothes. So, I asked my brother about your size a while back and bought you something comfortable to wear.” He was a bit blushy as he looked away from me before he explained, “the colosseum has a locker room, so we can change our clothes there. We can go to separate rooms if you’re uncomfortable changing around me.”

“I don’t mind,” I answered immediately, “you know my profession already, I’m used to others seeing my body.” I tugged my shirt up a little, only for Bled to smack my hand down immediately, apologizing after doing so with a blush on his face. “Well let’s get in then, I’m really curious on what you got me to wear.”

Both Ace and Bled went through to be greeted with the sight of the halls of the colosseum, the gray marble coats the flooring as the torches lit up the dim stone hallway with red. The two fighters continue to walk down the empty hall, their steps and voices echoing before they reach the locker room.

As soon as we entered the locker room, I dragged Bled close to me as he dropped the duffle bag on the bench. I immediately opened the bag to check the contents of it, I was content with it. It was obvious what Bled plans on wearing, it was a red speedo with the words, “Brutal Red,” sewed on the waist belt and black lightning bolts on the hips. I looked over to Bled, who was staring right back at me blushing, and tossed his speedo to him. The outfit that Bled got me was a blue speedo, on the bottom right cheek has a black heart on it. It’s a bit tight, but it was comfortable enough. There’s even some matching blue gloves to go along with it. When I looked back at Bled, he’s already in his red speedo, but I did get a nice look at his fur pattern.

“D-Do you like it,” Bled nervously asked, eyeing me carefully, “is it a bit tight?”

I gave the kitty a smile as I replied, “a bit, but I do like it. Thanks for the gift Bled.” The wrestler immediately beamed at me as I could see his cute face. “So, you’re still going to be wearing that mask,” I asked as I was about to touch it only to get it smacked away.

“Yes,” Bled growled as he immediately backed away from me, “a mask is a wrestler’s honor and my identity.”

“But people already know your name,” I noted to Bled, making him turn red before he bonked me in the head.

“Sorry. I get really awkward without it,” Bled admitted as he made sure I’m ok, “wearing this mask makes me feel like I’m stronger and courageous.” He looked a bit solemn when he mentioned it, so in order to cheer him up again, I playfully smacked him in the ass. He let out a yelp before laughing and slapping me back. “Thanks Ace,” Bled thanked as he gave a smile, “though I won’t lie, I would smack my ass as well.”

The two would eventually come out of the gym, chatting with each other with some flirting here and there as they reached the arena area of the colosseum. Bled immediately looks around to look for some switches as Ace walks down to the middle of the arena. While waiting for Bled to find the switches, Ace stares up to the sky, seeing the sun in the air shining down on him as the heat warms him to the core. “Found it,” Bled yells as a sound of a click echoes across the colosseum and the ground begins to shake. In an instant, the arena becomes pitch black with sky being covered up, the sound of cheers begins to rise alongside the lights to turn on.

The first set of lights to turn on was the ceiling lights, immediately shining upon Ace, standing on top of a wrestling ring and multiple lights to represent an audience that is watching them. Taken aback, Ace awkwardly tries to pose for the fake noise as it goes wild even more from doing so. Slowly all the lights begin to turn on, slowly turning colors to red as it beams over to a walkway where Bled is standing there, taking a deep breath.

When I looked over to Bled as soon as the lights shone upon him, I would hear the audience immediately booing him with some cheers in there once and awhile as I saw him performing his act. He was enjoying the noise with one hand over his ear, egging the crowd to make more as he flipped them off once and a while. When he’s done building up the noise of the crowd, he walks towards the wrestling ring, winking at me as he flashes a toothy smile.

When he entered the ring, he pushed his body very close to mine, grabbing my face so we could stare into each other’s eyes. Before I could even say anything, the big kitty pressed his lips against mine for a quick kiss before pushing me towards the ropes. A 60 second countdown immediately begins as the heel begins to laugh.

“My; my; my,” I laughed with a bit of a blush as I recovered back to my feet, “how ballsy of you Bled.”

“Bled? I’m not Bled, pup,” Bled retorted as he flexed his muscles, “I am Brutal Red, the wrestler that’ll make a dog like you heel to me.” He winked at me again with that mask as I could feel something inside me awaken a bit. “So tell me pup, who are you?” He probably wants me to use a stage name, so I stood there in silence for an idea to sprout.

Silence emits between the two fighters as Ace eventually comes up with a name. Immediately trying to get into character, Ace immediately lifts a finger in the air as he loudly proclaims, “Call me Lucky Heart.” Cheers from the audience erupt as the timer reaches zero. Though nervousness settles in Ace, seeing the red cat immediately beaming relaxes Ace as he plays his role for the fight. Starting off the match, Ace throws himself towards the cat, he surprisingly, successfully tackles the big cat to the ground. The two staring each other in the eyes, before Bled immediately throws Ace off as he blushes a bit under his mask.

Upon hitting the ropes of the ring, Ace smiles back, ready to continue the offensive by launching himself off the rope in an attempt to tackle the cat again. Bled scoffs as he takes the attack, letting Ace hit his chest before counterattacking by grabbing the wolf’s waist and arching his back to suplex him. Despite a hard hit to the head, Ace immediately rolls back up as soon as Bled lets go of him.

“Impressive,” Bled compliments as he smiles, “I didn't think you would get back up that quickly. How many hits in the head did you take while protecting my brother?”

“Many,” Ace answers as he stretches, “you’d be surprised how many times I have to cover your brother.” Bled lets out a chuckle as he gets back into his stance.

“He can be reckless at times,” Bled notes as he slowly brings himself close to the ropes, “but so am I.” Ace immediately prepares for the attack as Bled leaps on the corner of the ring. A bit of red glow emits from the cat’s mask as he lets out a howl of a wolf, the cheers around the two grow rapidly as large pieces of confetti rains down on them.

“Guess you like to use distractions too,” Ace mutters to himself quietly, “but if you want to use magic, I’ll use mine as well.” Snapping his fingers, the wolf’s fur immediately turns white as he mutters, “blow.” A chilled breeze sweeps the confetti away to reveal Bled dive bombing from above. Ace backs away to a corner quickly before Bled crashes on the ring, stirring up some dust.

“That was a good move pup,” the cat shouts, “but not good enough.” Suddenly, Bled slams his body towards Ace as the wolf’s body gets sandwiched. “You did your best pup,” he compliments the dazed wolf, “but bodies are a lot warmer than that.” Upon letting the wolf go, the body immediately freezes into solid ice as Ace tries to grapple from behind.

I should’ve known Bled would notice the cold decoy if he’s going to touch it. I tried my best to lift the big guy after wrapping my arms around his waist, I wasn’t strong enough. He noticed the failed attempt as he lightly pushed me a bit before turning around and patting my head, smiling at me as his mask glows red. Soon, he lifts me up before jumping and delivering a painful pile driver. I blacked out some time after he pinned me down.

When I woke up though, I found myself in Bled’s comfy bed in his room. I was still in the speedo I wore, but that didn’t bother me. I got up to see Bled cooking food as he dances to some music playing in the background while wearing his speedo. I just watched him shake his body until he eventually notices, but when he did, he immediately shot up in embarrassment. “Don’t mind me,” I playfully said, snuggling myself with the blanket, “keep dancing, it’s cute.” I can see Bled’s face heat up. “But, what are you cooking there Bled?”

“J-just some rice porridge,” Bled meekly answered as he turned the music off, “I knocked you out hard back there, so I took care of you. Yuki would get mad if anything happened to you.” Bled looked like he was going to continue, but he immediately turned his attention to the pot. “Just rest up a bit more, I’ll wake you up when food is ready.”

I didn’t want to go back to sleep, so I got out of bed and casually sneaked towards the big cat. When I got close enough, I gave him a nice hug from behind as I pressed my head against his back. Bled let out a loud yelp as he immediately began purring. “Shut up,” he quietly and quickly threatened as he continued cooking.

“I didn’t say anything,” I teased as I let go and watched him stir the pot.

“You know what I meant.”

“I do.” I decided to let Bled peacefully cook and I chose to sit back and gather my thoughts. It was mostly about the fight as I thought about a weapon that would work for him. I mostly thought about his Eyes since he’ll use it more if it helps him out a lot. I did have an idea on what weapon it should be, making a pair of gauntlets seems easier to do compared to making combat boots.

“By the way Ace,” Bled said as he slightly blushes, “your clothes are still in the bag. I put it on top of the dresser, but you can keep the bag and speedo.” I let out a thanks as I went to the bag and equipped my shoulder pad to start creating the schematics for gauntlets. I definitely took a lot of time creating and jotting down ideas for them as I was eventually called over to eat dinner.

The food wasn’t to write much about, but it was nice to have a pleasant conversation with Bled. Especially since I don’t have to worry about taking away too much time from other customers. We talked about our brothers, traveling, and some battle techniques I could use. He taught me a bit more about wrestling, though he let me try out some grapples on him and how to get out of some of them. By the time we were done, it was already getting late and I was both tired and lazy. “Hey Bled,” I asked as I laid on his big bed, “mind if I crash in your bed for the night?”

“But you’re already in my bed,” Bled answers.

“Yeah,” Ace replies as he gets cozy, “but I just wanna ask. Don’t worry, I’m not going to do anything weird and I’ll try not to kick you in my sleep.”

“If you’re fine with it,” Bled answers as he reluctantly goes to bed, “I’m sure it’ll be fine.” Upon covering himself with a blanket, Ace immediately grabs onto the big cat, making him blush.

“You sure you wanna sleep with that mask on,” Ace asks as he looks Bled in the eyes, “doesn’t it bother you?”

“Not at all,” Bled answers as he immediately grabs Ace’s hands, “but please stop asking about my mask. I’ll take off my mask whenever I want, if you really want to see my eyes, just give me time.”

“Fine,” Ace answers, making Bled release his hands, “but when you do, I’m going to call you cute.” The cat blushes immediately, as he soon squeezes Ace tightly.

Though it took some time, I had to make sure Bled was asleep before I could check. When I heard him starting to snore loudly, I carefully moved my hands towards his mask and tried to remove it. The mask itself feels really soft, reminded me a bit like fur, but taking it off was nearly impossible. Most likely Bled knew this would happen, but it felt like his mask was magically locked into place as I could barely make it move. I gave up after some trying and just went to sleep, embracing the warmth that Bled was emitting.

It was a day after I got myself beaten up by Bled. It was surprisingly nice to sleep in his room, even though Bled’s snoring did make it a bit hard. Today I got an unexpected visit from Crimson and by that, I meant he fucking showed up in the bathroom when I was on the porcelain throne that morning. He was hiding behind the shower curtains and he only decided to make his appearance known minutes after I sat down. At least he’s wearing some clothes at least, would’ve been even more awkward. “How was your morning Ace,” he immediately asked, with a toothy grin after scaring me shitless in the bathroom.

“Shitty,” was all I could answer as I resisted the urge to throw the soft roll of toilet paper at him.

“Damn,” he casually said, trying not to laugh as he leaned against the shower wall, “I wonder why. Anyway, when you get out of here, you wanna hang out?”

“If I say yes, would you leave,” I sternly asked, “preferably now?” Crimson simply smiled as he answered me with a nod. I let out a sigh as I said yes to him and as soon as I blinked, he was gone without a trace left behind and the bathroom door still locked. When I left and asked Bled about Crimson’s surprise visit, Bled simply shrugged it off as he brushed it off as a normal thing ever since he met Crimson. After a bit of talking and eating some breakfast, I immediately headed out and went towards Crimson’s room.

When Ace arrives, he sees the black panther leaning against the wall, sporting a crimson red tank top and a pair of black booty shorts. He’s adjusting his mask, smiling at Ace when he spots him. “Heyo Ace,” he greets as he immediately launches himself at the wolf, “you ready for some good old investigation?” Ace, bewildered by Crimson’s question, asks about the investigation before being brought closer. “Just some rumors I’ve heard around the tower,” Crimson answers, “thought it’d be a bit more fun compared to just walking and talking.”

“Well as long as we get out of the tower,” Ace replies as he breaks the hug, “that’ll be fine. What’s the first rumor?”

“It’s an interesting old one from what I’ve heard. It’s about this unique pair of ghosts that can be found around the world and lately it’s sprouting up again.” Ace’s ears perk up upon hearing ghosts, being wary of what this could lead to. “Anyway, rumor has it that when we travel, there’s a chance that we can hear an eerily, haunting melody. If we follow where it’s coming from we’ll get to see a pair of two lovely, hostile wolves.”

“Why are they hostile,” Ace asks with a bit of a tremble in his voice.

“I don’t know,” Crimson answers back with a smile, “but get your shovel ready, we’re going to dig them their grave if we fight. If they’re exactly what I’ve been hearing, we’re going to be dealing with something really dangerous if we get caught.”

“Shouldn’t we get some people to help us out then?”

“Nope,” Crimson immediately says as he sticks his tongue out, “we’re just going to look, if we need to escape, I can whisk us out of trouble.” Before Ace could respond, Crimson immediately picks up and carries Ace in a bridal position. “I’ll take good care of you, after all, both of my brothers like being with you.”

With that said, Crimson recklessly leaped off the railings of the hall on the 40th floor of the tower while still carrying me. We were safe though, I’m pretty sure someone at the bottom floor noticed it and casted a spell to slow our descent. Could be him though, I noticed his Eyes were glowing the same time I felt a gust of wind below us. After we landed though, Crimson told me to wait a bit as he went out the tower to take care of something. I took that time to buy some supplies on the first floor just in case before I eventually went out to look for Crimson.

When I came out, he was just standing there equipped with his weapon and with a black vest. His weapon was a pair of black gauntlets with a grappling hook attached to the right one while the other had a slot to fire some arrows out of it. I noticed his shoes were switched as well, they went from white sandals to white climbing shoes with some slots for his claws to protrude out. He’s wearing a black vest, but he’s wearing brown cargo shorts. “Hey Crimson,” I said with an inquisitive tone, “did you want me to wait inside because you didn’t want me seeing you change your pants out in the open?”

“No,” he answered as he tilted his head up, “I was just preparing a path. Some dumb adventurer blocked the road behind me with some boulders last night.” I saw no boulder nor any big rocks near him. “I woke up really early to clean it up before I went to Bled’s bathroom,” he explained, “I just wanted to make sure it’s clear again.” I just shrugged my shoulders and just went along with the panther.

The path we took was through a forest that is both foggy most of the time and was filled with some carnivorous monsters. The only problem I had was that I don’t recall this forest being so foggy since Yuki and I went through this forest a lot. The fog probably scared some of the monsters as well, but it sure did bring out the stronger ones from hiding. Good thing Crimson was there, his grappling hook helped get us out of danger.

“And there we go,” Crimson said as soon as we escaped our last fight, “how are you feeling my prince?”

“I’m doing fine Crimson,” I answered as I got to my feet, “how about you? We should rest a bit if we’re going to continue fighting.”

“Sure let’s take a break,” he agreed as he simply sat down on the ground, “brought any food I can snack on? I’m a bit hungry from all that grappling I have to do.” I tossed him an energy bar, he wolfed it down immediately.

“You want something more filling,” I asked as I looked through my small storage cube, “I made some sandwiches with Bled this morning.”

“Yes please,” Crimson happily exulted, smiling at me with childlike wonder. I tossed him one of the two as he caught and ate it happily. His tail was wagging rapidly like a dog as I watched the panther enjoy his meal. “I’m so jealous,” he said as he continued eating, “you had porridge with Bled yesterday, his cooking is really good.”

“Well why didn’t you come over,” I asked as I began to snack on a fruit bar. “He even cooked extra because he thought you would come over.”

“Well,” Crimson hesitantly answered as I could see a bit of red on his face, “Bled told me how much he wants to hang out with you, so I didn’t want to ruin it when you two were having so much fun.” It looked like he was going to say a bit more, but he continued eating before he did. “So how was wrestling with him,” he asked, “he has a pretty good grip when it comes to grappling.”

“I’ve noticed, “ I answered as I remember my head getting bashed, “it was fun though, I’m still new at it, but he taught me some of his moves when we were in his room together.” I saw Crimson pouting before trying to hide it. Wanting to tease him a bit more, I continued, “it was a pretty nice feeling, a big, strong guy wrapping his arms around me as he carefully pressed against my back with his big fluffy chest.” Crimson was pouting even more, with a tad more red in his cheeks.

“I get it,” he curtly said, “you hung out with my sexy soul brother. Don’t need to give me the details, I already saw-” He gasped as he immediately shut himself up while I raised my brow. “Fuck, why did I spill that so easily,” Crimson moans as he buries his face with disbelief.

“Were you spying on us?”

The panther only nodded his head as he continued, “I can’t help it, it took me a week for him to start opening up to me. Seeing you and Bled hanging out after just meeting once, it made me a bit jealous.”

“About that,” I spoke up, “Bled and I met before I met you guys. He regularly comes to this bar I work at.” Crimson’s ears perked up as he immediately stared at me in awe. “You should come, I already asked Yuki, but he usually says he’s busy.”

“Oh definitely, send me the address later and I’ll happily come,” the panther happily said, “though I’ll avoid Bled, something tells me I’ll drive him away if I show up.” We laughed a bit as Crimson starts recounting some moments that he’s seen his brothers flustered, mostly poor Bled, but Yuki gets some too. “Oh yeah, why don’t you stay up a little when you’re sleeping with Yuki,” Crimson suggested with a sly grin, “you’ll love it. He tries to sing this song he’s been writing.”

“Sure, though I highly doubt Yuki wouldn’t check his surroundings if he’s practicing his singing.”

“You’ll be fine, he’s just practicing in the most safest, not-really-private abode of his own room.” I can feel Crimson staring into my soul. “Why are you staying in his room anyway,” the curious panther asked, “you have your own, personalized room in the tower, right?”

I lowered my head a bit as I admitted, “yeah, but it doesn’t feel like my room.” Crimson cocked his head and looked at me quizzingly. “I think they made a mistake when they made my room, it’s really empty.”

“Well of course,” Crimson replied as he leaned back, resting his hands to help support him, “you got to imagine them to life. Our rooms are shaped by our minds because of the Tower’s magic.”

“Yeah, I’ve already heard about that from my brother. My room still stays empty, no matter what I do.” I saw his ears perked a bit before he tried to hide it.

“Weird, but that’s fine,” Crimson noted, ”maybe you’ll get inspired if you stay with him. Just take good care of my big bro.” I nodded my head as we continued to sit in the comfort of the foggy forest. “Well that’s enough for a break,” the panther announced as he quickly stood up, “let’s get going, don’t want to be here when night falls. Especially if those ghosts are actually here.”

As soon as he mentioned ghosts, I could feel a cold chill coming from the trees as we heard a man singing a slow, broken, familiar lullaby. Like I was being called, my legs were moving before I even noticed as I ran towards the source, with Crimson following behind. When I was getting close, I immediately hid in the bushes as I was able to get a look of where it was coming from. In the middle of a clearing filled with fog, I saw the figures of two wolves slow dancing together to the melody. One was a white wolf with some weird black collar tightly wrapped around his neck with a somber look resting on his face with glowing orange Eyes. The other wolf on the other hand, was a shirtless black wolf revealing his overgrown fur and his muscular body as he danced with his eyes closed the whole time.

There was a cage sitting nearby with a green flame burning brightly as it should be while a white cloak and black shirt lay next to it. It was him, I wasn’t surprised that he exists, but I wasn’t fond of the idea of him existing. I want to ask him a lot of things, especially the dreams I’ve been getting lately about my multiple deaths, but he was responsible for most of them. It’ll also be pretty rude to ruin their moment and if they’re the rumored ghosts, they won’t take kindly to being spied on. I was interrupted from my thoughts as I felt Crimson’s presence behind me.

“We need to leave,” I immediately whispered to Crimson as I dragged him down with me. Understandably, Crimson was bewildered as he tried to get a good look at what I’m seeing. “We found our ghosts, but let’s go before they spot us.” Hearing that, Crimson quickly popped his head out to look before ducking out of sight.

“Why? They seem like good people,” he quietly asked as he watched the two dance. “They don’t seem…ghostly, they look like regular people.”

“Just trust me,” I replied as I tried to stop him from jumping out, “I want to talk to them too, but we shouldn’t-“

“Then let’s go,” he interrupted as he stood up and walked towards them. “Hey,” the panther shouts, interrupting the wolves and the song, “what are you two doing here?” The black wolf, who is holding the white wolf tightly with one arm, pulls out a gun as he aims it near Crimson. His eyes were still closed shut, but he was able to aim it at the panther.

“Having a moment,” the black wolf cautiously answered, “why are you here? Don’t move, just answer or I’ll shoot.”

“Just investigating a rumor I heard,” Crimson said as I felt a breeze passing by, “I’m sorry to intrude on your moment, but I have some questions.”

“Ask,” he black wolf threatened, “and leave. You shouldn’t be here right now.” He looked around as if he’s searching for someone before clarifying, “no, before he comes here.”

“Well, how about later,” Crimson asked, “I’ll leave and we can chat another time.”

A full minute passed by in silence before the wolf put away his gun. “Fine,” he said as he let his friend go, “can’t believe I let my guard down again. I’ll give you a call, just don’t bring anyone else.”

Though I wanted to hear more, a black hand covered my mouth as I felt the person swiftly, but quietly dragged me away. Seconds later I saw a knife landed almost exactly where I was hiding. I clutched onto my cloaked savior as we were whisked back to the path. When I was let go, the cloaked figure just ran back into the forest without saying a word as I heard Crimson coming back.

“Oh good, thought someone kidnapped you back there,” Crimson sighed in relief, “it’s a good thing you left, you could’ve gotten hurt back there.”

“Yeah that knife landed way too close, but did the guy give you his number?”

“I forgot to ask,” Crimson answered as he placed his hand on the side of his head, “I was too worried about you to think about it.”

“That’s fine,” I assured him, “let’s get going though, if we encounter those guys again, we’ll be attacked.” Crimson nodded at the idea as we went back to the Tower quickly as possible.

The wolf and the panther go to Crimson’s room after he insists on cooking something up for the wolf. When the two got in, they were met with a big dojo filled with training dummies with multiple knives lodged into them. In the corner was a wardrobe that’s been partially opened, revealing some of the panther’s fun secrets. “Whoops,” Crimson says with a blush as he closes the wardrobe door, “let me just change the room real quick.” He snaps his fingers as the room slowly transforms into a room similar to Bled’s room, a big bed for two with a kitchen on the side and radio sitting nearby. Ace was in awe with the sudden changes as he looked around a bit more.

“Out of curiosity,” Ace asks as he flops onto the comfy bed immediately, “can you add more furniture?”

“Of course, with some limitations,” the panther answers as a small, square tv appears on top of a dresser, “I don’t watch as much as Bled, but I can summon the tv whenever I’m in here.” Crimson walks over to the kitchen area after locking the wardrobe.

“So what are you making tonight,” Ace asks while watching the panther go through the fridge.

“Nothing too special, just some meat and rice. I already prepped the rice and I got the meat marinating overnight with some sauce I made.” The panther smiles as he brings out the meat and starts cooking it up. “Mind if you check the rice for me Ace,” he asks as he sways his hips left and right, “and get the bowls too. I’d do it myself, but I need to keep an eye on the meat.”

After he was done cooking, we chose to sit, eat, and talk as music plays from the radio. Thinking about his gauntlets, I asked, “where’d you get those gauntlets?” I thought about Bled’s weapon as I planned on making something for him to use.

“Oh I got them from my dad,” he answered nonchalantly, “they were from his dead brother.” I was a bit confused for a second, as I remember seeing Red’s brother recently, until I remembered that the panther was from another world, totally not going to be confusing whatsoever. “You can take a look at it later if you want,” he offered as he casually ate, “maybe you can spruce it up too if you want.”

“You sure, you’re not afraid of me ruining it?”

“Well try it,” Crimson insisted, “better weapons means I get to live longer. If you break it, I can just get you to make a new one.” Fair, though it did remind me that I should look at Yuki’s weapon again. I haven’t performed maintenance on it for a while. Anyway, I accepted it as we continued eating our juicy, savory food.

After we ate, I started working on Crimson’s weapons, mostly examining the parts, but there was some work. Especially with that grappling hook, it was more of an attachment so I worked my way to incorporate it so it won’t be knocked off. I also moved the trigger so he won’t shoot his fingers off by accident. I was sadly disappointed to see the lack of maintenance Crimson does, some of the parts need to be replaced. At least Crimson was good about it, he offered to buy the parts and after a few minutes out the door, he brought them in with no effort.

As expected once again, it was pretty late when I finished going through the gauntlets. Crimson was kind enough to allow me to sleepover for the night. He even seemed happy for me to sleep with him, but I went to bed immediately. When Crimson did go to bed, he was wearing his mask, like Bled. “Don’t mind me,” he assured as he tugs the mask a bit, “I prefer sleeping with an eye mask on.” I rolled my eyes as I felt his arm caressing mine as he whispered, “sleep well Ace, it was fun hanging with you today.”

My sleep was interrupted by a nightmare I had, it was mostly about what would have happened if I got struck by that knife earlier. It felt way too real, but I dreamt Crimson running away only to be hunted down by the black wolf as the white wolf finishes me off. I couldn’t stop thinking about it until I felt someone pressing their body onto my back.

Opening my eyes, I still see Crimson sleeping with his face mask on, a yellow glow dimly emitting from them. I tried to look behind me, but the person was locking both my hand and head in place. “Don’t struggle,” I could hear Crimson whispered before I got sandwiched between the panther’s and the other body, “you seemed stressed. Let us embrace you cutie, go back to sleep. We’ll take good care of you.” I fell asleep shortly after that, but when I woke up, I was in the arms of the panther. He didn’t mention anything about that night when I asked.

I enjoy going out to explore and gather materials, especially when I have my friends watching my back. A shame I mostly stopped after upgrading our weapons to their full potential. Was really fun messing around with them mechanically, despite how much they despise me doing so.

After some days of resting and drawing, I was ready to go gather materials. Looking through my blueprints of weapons, I wanted to get Bled a new weapon as thanks for giving me some training. I thought about going out alone, but Yuki caught wind of what I was doing and insisted on having a partner. Bled followed soon enough as he wanted to join in for some extra training, but at least he asked to come along. Crimson, being Crimson, joins the party without my consent as he magically inserts himself to the group as soon as we get outside.

I asked my brother a little later if he wanted to come along, but he told me he was busy with his set of friends. First time I heard about him having friends, it was nice to hear that from him though. I was worried about that since I wasn’t spending as much time with him lately. Before I went out with my group, I saw him at the Tower’s store buying some playing cards.

After making their preparations, the group of canines and felines head down south of the Tower of Heroes, going to a grove filled with trees with pink trunks and red, star-shaped flowers blooming across their branches. Along the trail that would cut through the grove is a river covered in the same flowers as tiny, flying red, crimson butterflies flew around them. The small critters that reside in the grove let out their own cries of chirps and croaks as the sound of flowing water blends in the background.

From what Adel told me about the place, there’s some sort of strange, powerful beast that lives in that grove. When I asked some people at the tower, I was told either it was a gentle giant or a ravenous monster. Either way, I’m not going to go hunt for such a creature, though I do wonder what material I could get out of it.

Seeing that my friends came along with me, it’ll probably be useful if they can help me gather materials too. I need some ores for Bled’s weapon so it’ll be faster if I get them to help out. “Alright guys,” I shouted to the Red Brothers as I took out a pickaxe, “get your tools out cause we’re gathering today.”

The three of them quizzingly looked at me as they brandished their weapons instead. That was when I realized that I’m the only one that carries tools with me. “Ace,” Yuki revealed, “you’re the only one that has tools.” The three stood there in an awkward silence as I stared at them. “Well I don’t know about you two, but I came here to protect Ace from any harm,” Yuki chided his younger brothers. When I looked at Bled, he was pouting a bit as he looked a tiny bit distressed.

“B-Brutal Red should’ve asked what we were doing,” Bled reflected, “thought we were here to train or take care of some bounties. Sorry.” That mask of his makes it really hard to tell if he’s crying or not, I should apologize to him later for not telling him beforehand. I looked at Crimson, who casually leaned against a wall as he looked at all of us.

“I’m just here to mess around,” he happily said, “but you did see us, or rather, Bled, coming with Ace. You could’ve gotten something to help out too, Yuki, so we’re all at fault.” That shut the black wolf immediately as the panther looked towards me before admitting, “though we should apologize to our prince here, we did intrude on his solo expedition today.”

“No, that’s fine,” I responded as I felt the three Reds staring at me, “I’m just glad to have some company rather than being here with my own thoughts.” I realized too late what I said as I immediately dug into my item cube before continuing, “Here, I’ll check if I have any spare tools for you guys, if I don’t, you guys can still help me out.” It wasn’t that long before I found a spare pickaxe, I gave that to the big guy of our party, Bled, who immediately gave it to Crimson instead. Upon getting his hands on the pickaxe, Crimson gave out a creepy smile and immediately separated from the party once our eyes were off him for a second. I could only hope that I wouldn’t regret that decision and get the ores I needed.

With no more tools left for me to give out, I asked Bled and Yuki to help me gather some wood. I did not expect to see poor Bled punching the trees with his gloved hands. Yuki casually borrowed my ax while I did my best to heal Bled from the trees. “You ok there Bled,” I quietly asked as I wrapped my hands around his, “you can help gather herbs if you want.”

“No, Brutal Red is fine with this,” Bled answered as he immediately pets my head with a smile, “Brutal Red can help get you some great wood.” I couldn’t bring myself to tell him how bad the quality of wood he’s getting. I’ll just use his wood to learn about wood carvings.

“Hey, just let me know if you need healing,” I notified him, “I’m going to check on Yuki real quick. Don’t overwork yourself.” I cautiously walked towards the black wolf as he chops away. “How are you doing Yuki,” I asked the wolf while standing near him, “you look like you know what you’re doing.”

“Yeah, I learned it from watching you when we go out together,” Yuki answered as he chopped the logs, “it’s pretty soothing and it’s better than doing nothing.” He smiled at me as he examined me quickly before giving me back the ax. “So what’s the occasion this time,” Yuki asked, “is it for another sword for your brother?”

“Not this time,” I answered as I started swinging the ax efficiently, “I’m making a new weapon for your brother.” Yuki looked a little bewildered at first, but he simply smiled back at me again.

“For Bled,” he asked, I nodded my head, “so what’s with you two being a bit friendlier with each other?”

“Nothing really,” I answered, “we just hit it off well together. We both appreciate each other’s company and he teaches me how to wrestle. I just want to give him something in return for the lessons.” I felt a bit of a cold silence from Yuki shortly before I asked, “how do you feel about him Yuki? You worried about him or something?”

“Well yeah,” he answered almost immediately, “he’s my younger brother. Even though I find him a bit excessive when he acts with that persona of his, I still care for him. I just want to make sure you’re not doing anything to him.”

“You don’t have to worry,” I assured the wolf, “you already know how I am, I’m your roommate after all.” Yuki didn’t look at me with much confidence when I said that. “Is there something wrong with that Yuki?”

“Just don’t get too close to him,” Yuki warned as he took out his naginata, “anyway I’m going to go look for Crimson. He’s going to cause us some trouble if we don’t look after him.” He gently bows at Ace before running deeper into the trees. Something was up with Yuki, that was the first time I’ve heard him be aggressive towards me. That warning he gave sounded more for someone else other than me.

“Hey Bled,” I shouted towards him, “did something happen with you and Yuki recently? He’s a bit concerned about you.” There was silence coming from him as I lowered down my ax. “Bled?” I walked over to where Bled was, only to see him hunched over, with one bloody fist connecting with a tree. His body shook violently as I immediately went over to him to heal him. “You ok there big guy,” I asked as I took out a first aid kit, “you can take a quick break if you want.”

Without warning, Bled tiredly sat down immediately with a pout on his face. I continued healing him as much as I could while I wrapped bandages over his hands. “Did you and Yuki have a fight or something,” I asked as I cautiously looked around, “or were you two always like that?” Bled looked at me with that mask of his, staring me in the eyes as there were moments of him stopping himself from speaking.

“We had a fight earlier,” he answered as he faced away from me, “it’s nothing to concern you, just some squabble between siblings. But hey, did you get some good wood though?” He gave out a smile immediately as he picked up all the bloodied wood he gathered. “I have my share right here, it’s probably not great since I bled on it, but it should be fine if you clean it right?”

I could only lie a simple yes as I grabbed his share and stuffed it in my cube, but after doing all that, I gave the big cat a hug. “And Bled,” I continued as I gripped onto him, “about that fight you had with Yuki, if you want, I could go talk to him. He’s more calm around me after all.” I hugged the cat close as the big scary man tried to get out of my grip immediately.

“Look at you two cuties,” a familiar voice emits behind them, Bled immediately pushes me off of him. As if he materialized into reality, Crimson emerges from behind a tree with a sly smile on his face. “Don’t worry my Soul Brother, your secret is with me, go be affectionate to your friend.” I could hear Bled growling at the panther before he grabbed me even closer and began purring.

While I was enjoying the cat’s embrace, I was wondering about the pickax I gave him. “Hey Crimson, where’d you put my pickaxe,'' I asked the panther, who immediately went quiet, “where’s my ores you promised?” After some silence, I noticed that Yuki wasn’t near him at all. “Where’s Yuki,” I nervously asked, “he went out to look for you.” As if on cue, a monstrous roar echoes throughout the grove as I saw Crimson flinching in pain.

“We need to go,” Crimson immediately answered as I noticed a small gash forming on his arm, “follow me.” With some urgency behind him, Crimson immediately fled into the woods. Without any hesitation, Bled got up and ran after him before I got a chance to pick up my shovel. They were really quick on their feet, and as soon as I got up to chase them, they were already gone. Without even thinking, I replaced the ammo inside my shovel with a cartridge storing some strong wind ammo.

After looking around for any signs of his friends, Ace thought of a plan of looking for them. Planting his shovel straight down on the shovel, Ace plants himself firmly on the base of the spade with one of his hands clinging on the chain that pulls the trigger. Pulling as hard as he could, the shovel fires, propelling him high into the air. Angling himself towards where Crimson ran off to, Ace begins to propel himself to that direction while scanning the ground for his friends.

Despite the cool wind brushing against my face, I could feel my body heating up as I desperately looked for Yuki. It didn’t help that I couldn’t find Crimson or Bled either as I continued hopping alone in the air. My own thoughts began to swell up as I started thinking about the worst case scenario and remembering all my nightmares all at once. It was when I heard Yuki singing below me that broke me out of my own trance as I looked below me and saw an area covered in snow. Angling myself towards it, I readied myself as I launched myself towards that ground and felt the cold breeze enveloping me.

With a loud, sudden crash, a white Ace lands between a wolf laying on the ground and in front of a great, drooling beast. The two wolves were cornered by the beast that stands in front of them as a rocky wall stands behind them.

When I was told that a great beasts lives in this grove, I never expected to see something horrific.

The monstrous beasts with a ghastly, skeletal body covered with red moss and multitude of weapons.

So many people died fighting that thing, I wondered if some people from the tower died from it.

With a head that belonged to an old deer, red beady eyes of a wise raven’s, and claws from a ferocious lion. Seeing its new prey, the beast opens its jaws to ready a strike.

The beast was really huge, it was double my height despite it being on all of its four legs. My body trembled when I saw it open its maw filled with a multitude of rows of bloodied teeth. If I stood still any longer, I would surely lose my head cleanly from its ferocious bite. I only lived because I remember Yuki was nearby, so I created a wall of ice before rushing to his side.

When I got a good look at Yuki, I didn’t expect to see him the way he was. He was still the black wolf I know with those red tips, but there were patches of white and blue fur over his body. When Yuki noticed it was me, he did his best to cover them up, but I think I understood why he’s hiding it. I also realized why Yuki gave that warning earlier, but I’ll leave that awkward mess for later.

“You ok,” I asked as I stretched my hand out for him, “I’m sorry I was late, cutie.” That got a rise out of the wolf as he got up immediately before getting his naginata. “You’re allowed to change too,” I assured Yuki, “we can talk about this later, I want to see you in action, my fox.”

“You weren’t supposed to see me like this,” Yuki quietly let out with a slight blush, “not yet anyway, but this is fine. Better now than later.” Planting his naginata on the ground, the built-in microphone emerged as Yuki prepared himself. He sang a low note as his fur quickly shifted to be white with blue tips. “I’m not used to fighting like this,” Yuki revealed as he pulled his naginata out, “but since you’re used to the cold, might I ask to follow your lead?”

“Of course my love,” I replied as I stood next to him as my ice walls started to crack, “we’ll stall as much as we can. Bled and Crimson are on their way, we can escape when we’re together.” I traced my hand down to his arm before holding onto his hand tightly. “You know what you could do in that form?”

“I know some ice magic at least,” Yuki answered as he wrapped his fingers against mine, “other than that, I can still swing my blade like usual.”

“How’s your singing,” I asked while I tried to come up with something.

“My voice is still good, no fire, but I could make it snow with my voice so far.” We could hear the ice starting to break even more as we saw the beast’s claw punctures through. “Any ideas Ace?”

“First thing first, we get open space, when I pull the wall down, I’ll immediately create ice for you to slide away. I’ll defend you from the beast, but when you get away safely, make it snow immediately so I can get to you safely. It would also let your brothers know where we are.” Yuki nodded his head as we readied ourselves, with me walking over my frozen spear.

I felt time slow down as I was about to pull out my spear, every day of my life with Yuki and Snow flashing in front of my eyes. I was determined to get us through this as I pulled out my spear immediately and swung a wave of an icy front towards the beast. The snow around and in front of me instantly turns into ice as the beast lunges towards me with its claws. I slid back to avoid the attack as I signaled Yuki to go, watching him immediately going around the beast before planting his microphone down to the ground. After ensuring the white wolf was safe, I immediately started attacking the beast to grab its attention, stabbing and slicing the thick skin it has.

It looked like it was working, until Yuki started singing, where the beasts immediately knocked me into the sharp rocky wall behind me before going towards the singer. Despite the painful rocks that pierced through my skin, I felt myself pushing my body off the wall to protect him. Every part of my body ached as I felt some of the rocks stuck onto my back, quickly thinking on what to do next. Without the snow falling to help me get to him, I quickly mustered my strength to grab my spear and hurled it in front of the singing wolf, creating a wall of ice to protect him. As if my body went on autopilot, I rushed towards the beast, clawing at it with my hands while doing my best to keep myself up. The beast itself targeted me as I endured some of its strong swipes towards me. It was when I felt my body starting to give out was when I heard Crimson and Bled finally coming.

With a yell of a warrior, I saw Bled launched out of nowhere as he landed a strong punch to the beast’s head. Followed up was Crimson quickly using his knives to quickly slice the legs while landing next to me. “Sorry we were late,” Crimson apologized as he hoisted me up on his back, “would’ve gotten here sooner, but I had to get my share of ores for you.” The ice wall broke, revealing Yuki holding tightly onto my spear as he immediately went to my side. Bled was busy grabbing the beast’s attention as he counter and took the brunt of some of the attacks. “You ready to go Bled,” Crimson shouted as he took my spear from Yuki, “we have to leave now!”

“Go on ahead then,” Bled shouted back as he knocked down the beast, “Brutal Red will catch up! Just make sure everyone else is safe!”

“Will do, follow me Yuki, I know a quick route out of here,” Crimson commanded as he ran away. Yuki was hesitant on leaving behind the big cat, but started following soon enough. I couldn’t keep my eyes open as I fell unconscious, holding onto the warm panther.

When Ace wakes up from his slumber, he is greeted with the sight of Crimson sitting beside him on the floor. The two of them are in a tent together with some supplies sitting next to them. “How was your rest my prince,” Crimson asks, “you got all us worried sick when you passed out. Well mostly Yuki and Bled, I knew you were going to be ok.” Ace immediately gets up as he remembers what happened earlier.

“Where’s Bled,” he asks the calm panther, “is he ok?”

“He made it out fine,” Crimson answers as he gently pushes Ace down, “Yuki is taking care of him right now, but you on the other hand need to rest. I just finished taking out those rocks stuck on your back and bandaging your wounds.” Ace immediately resists, but Crimson overwhelms him back to the ground, pinning his arms up. “If you’re so worried about them, I’ll go call them, just stay here and relax.” Crimson lets go of the wolf as he heads out the tent and comes back with Yuki and Bled beside him.

When I saw the two, I was really happy to see them alright, though Bled was looking more beaten up. When they both saw me awake, they immediately rushed over to me and hugged me. When they had their time, they let go of me as soon as I complained that I couldn’t breath under their combined weight. “So about earlier,” I spoke up, feeling guilty for Yuki, “I’m sorry. I should’ve talked to both of you earlier.”

“You’re fine Ace,” Yuki immediately replied, “I should’ve known something like this would’ve happened, considering our job. I’m more surprised I didn’t see Bled earlier when he came to the bar. I only found out because Sam was talking about him one night.” He looked up towards his younger brother before continuing, “Bled and I talked earlier while you were asleep, from what he told me, I’m going to be more lax about our relationship. All I want is to be with you more Ace, but just make sure you talk with me next time.”

“You’re not going to give me any consequences for it,” I asked as I awkwardly smiled at the black wolf. Bled looked away as soon as I said that as I could see a smile forming on Yuki.

“Oh you’re going to get punished,” Yuki answered, “but when we get back to my room. I already contacted Bullet to get some things from the bar. I’ve learned a lot more after our first night of work together and I want to demonstrate it to you personally.” That didn’t sound like a punishment to me though, but I was very wrong when we got back the next day. “Well for now, go get some rest my wolf,” Yuki said before heading out, “and I’m sorry I hid my true identity for you, I can tell you more about it after you heal.”

After Yuki left the tent, Bled nervously looked at me as if he wanted to say something. He shooed away Crimson, who happily obliged and left. “So what do you feel about all this Bled,” I asked, “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you that I was dating.”

“Actually, I already knew you were dating my brother,” Bled revealed, “I was jealous of him for meeting you first. I knew it was wrong, but my feelings were pretty strong for you after we met. I understand if we stopped meeting up after today, I’m sorry for causing this mess.” He bowed at me before immediately trying to leave, only for me to grab onto his arm quickly.

“You’re fine, Bled,” I answered as I pulled him closer to me, “I’m still at fault for all this after all. You don’t need to take all the blame and burden. So come here, let me take care of your injuries at least, I have some energy left in me to heal some of them.”

“Can’t you heal yourself,” Bled asked, “my wounds aren’t that serious.”

“Can’t,” I answered as I sat up, “my healing only works on others. Now get over here big guy, let me take care of your injuries.” Bled looked at me reluctantly for a moment, before sitting next to me at a distance. I began unwrapping the bandages as I healed the more severe wounds. “There,” I said as I patted his back, “that’s all I can heal, thanks for taking the hits Bled.”

He smiled back at me as he replied, “no problem, anything to protect you guys. Now go get sleep, we’ll wake you up when it’s time for dinner.” The big red cat swiftly left as I was left alone to my devices. I followed my friends’ advice as I chose to get some rest for the day. For once, I was able to sleep without dreaming about death, it was a really pleasant dream about Yuki.

** **** After we came home, Yuki’s punishment started and lasted for the entire day, leaving me not able to move for half a week. My legs still ache, but I deserve it for keeping a relationship a secret. Definitely the one time I wished my healing magic would work on myself, but I guess that’s the downside of naturally learning it, other than it draining my energy. I was also hoping I would meet Joker in my dreams or something, but at the same time I’m worried about my next encounter with him. Anyway, despite enforcing the punishment, Yuki did take care of me though when my body was inoperable, while Bled and Crimson often came by to check up on me.**

Though after that day of gathering, I noticed that the three brothers started getting along well with each other, though I think Yuki and Bled made some sort of deal with each other. I couldn’t tell, the two would leave the room as I was forced to be in the care of Crimson, who loved to put things slightly out of reach unless I compliment him. When I did recover from my aches, I was back to my usual work as a stripper at Fated Bounty with a bit more new workers. Well, that’s what I wanted to do anyway, I was wondering if those two knew about Snow’s identity.

I decided to go to Bullet’s house on my off days, hoping that he wouldn’t mind me coming to his mansion. Though in retrospect, he’s most likely used to people going through his mansion. The door connected to that building was the only way to get to Kolok quickly and I’ve seen some people coming to and fro from it. When I descended down to the lobby of the tower, I saw Jack heading outside as I followed him out of curiosity as my plans immediately changed.

When Ace leaves the tower, he sees Jack talking to a white leopard with blue Eyes, who is wearing a cropped light purple jacket that has a red heart on the left side sleeve while equipped with two pistols holstered underneath. Laying below is a blue shirt with a white stripe down the middle as there is a necklace wrapped around his neck. His pants were a pair of black skinny jeans while a belt that held a small box of bullets.

“You’re ready to go Jack,” the leopard asked as he fiddled with the edge of his jacket. “It’s just the two of us this time, though we can take care of the bounty ourselves.” Jack noticed me immediately as I walked out and overheard the leopard. The leopard immediately hid behind the tiger, after clinging onto his arm.

“Hey Ace,” Jack greeted me, “what are you doing here?”

“I saw you leaving,” I answered as I looked directly into the leopard’s blue Eyes, “I was just curious what you were up to. Who’s that guy hiding behind you, is he a friend of yours?”

“Yeah,” Jack answered nonchalantly as he pushed the leopard away, “don’t worry Trigs, he’s my brother that I mentioned earlier. I promise he doesn’t bite, I think, but he’s a good guy.” The leopard cautiously walks towards me as he takes out his hand towards me.

“I’m Trigger Memo,” the leopard quietly said as he looked at the ground, “t-there’s not much to say about me.” He was shaking throughout our interaction, but I gently grabbed his hand with mine as I softly shook it.

“It’s good to meet you Trigger,” I replied back, “I’m Ace Hearts, Jack’s younger brother, and I thank you for spending time with him. I felt like he was being a bit lonely for a while.” I could see Jack pouting at me when I looked towards him.

“That’s how we met actually,” Trigger answered as he slowly lifted his head up, “we just bumped into each other when we were looking for bounties. Though he was the one that dragged me to come along with him, we became friends after that. He even comes for game nights with my sister and another friend.” I looked at the tiger, who just shrugged at me before beginning to sloppily shuffle some playing cards.

“We’re about to head out for a bounty,” Jack blurts out loud, “if you want, you could help and join us. We can split the pay with you too.” I noticed Trigger being nervous about the idea at first, but that went away immediately when he saw Jack smiling. Though I was hesitant at first, considering I wanted to go check up with Bullet and Sam for the day. “We’re hunting down a monster by the way,” the tiger revealed, “maybe you could get some materials out of it for your shovel.”

“Sure,” Ace answers, “I could use some materials actually.”

“Cool, let’s get going,” Jack replies as he walks the southern path, “you too Trigs, it’s a long walk to where we need to go.”

With the group decided, the trio of heroes venture south of the Tower of Heroes, venturing towards a town full of flowers that contains an old teleporter. “This is Florafice,” Jack announces as the trio arrived, “a town known for their abundance of flowers.”

“And their portal too,” Trigger chimes in, “Apparently they draw in people from other worlds, but I haven’t seen someone like that before.”

I vaguely recalled Simon talking to me about this town before, apparently he and Adel came out of that portal. I was about to mention it, but I was interrupted by my brother. “Same here, though I’m sure my dads would tell Ace and I something about it.” I kept myself quiet as I decided to go look for the portal. “What are you doing Ace,” Jack asked as I split off with them, “we should be getting supplies for the hunt.”

“I know,” I answered back as I walked away, “I’m going to take a look around the place. Might as well get an idea of where everything is since it’s my first time here.” Trigger was concerned as it looked like he was going to say something, but…

“Stay safe,” Jack replied back, “we’ll go buy the supplies then. Meet us up at the plaza when you’re done looking around.” I nodded as I immediately left the two by themselves.

It didn’t take too long though, I asked a nearby dragon about it, who happens to be a resident here and was happy to give me directions. The way the dragon did it was weird enough, he grew a long line of vines and told me to follow them instead of telling me some sort of direction. It worked though and what I saw was definitely out of the ordinary. The machine itself looked old as its moss grew on it, but the mass of blue roses surrounding the machine was breathtaking. The machine looked really old and there wasn’t any power going through it either when I recklessly tried to turn it on.

“You should stay away from that machine Ace,” a voice called out to me. Immediately stopping and hesitantly following what the voice said, I looked towards the source, he looked like Sam, but it definitely wasn’t him. Not only because his Eyes were actually gray eyes, there was some sort of strange distortion that obscured his right ear entirely. “Good, don’t want you to get sucked up to another world,” the tiger explained with relief, “if you didn’t have some sort of anchor from here, you’re most likely not coming back home alive.” I retreated from the machine a lot further as the thoughts of my death came back to haunt me again.

“Thanks for the warning,” I thanked the tiger, “but how do you know my name? Who are you?”

“Ah, I’m Glitch,” the tiger answered with a bow, “let’s say I’m Sam’s younger brother to make it easier, that’s how I know about you.”

“So you’re from another world,” I asked immediately.

“Nah,” Glitch replied as I noticed the distortion oddly changing to a different hue, “I’m an abnormality.” He smiled at me as he said that last part. “Even I don’t know what I am, but what I do know is I’m me and I have a family. Speaking of family, you should go to your brother Ace, I’m sure he’s waiting for you.”

_ “I know, but let me ask you one thing,” I replied as I looked at the lax tiger, “why are you here?”_

_ “I’m here to keep an eye on my brother’s kid,” he answered, smiling with half-closed eyes, “secretly too, as he instructed, so don’t tell anyone about our meeting. Or do it, wouldn’t matter to me, ciao.” Grabbing the distortion on his ear, Glitch expands it to match his size before walking into it and disappearing in midair with the distortion. Just to make sure I wasn’t hallucinating or asleep, I pinched myself pretty hard before I went to look for Jack and Trigger._

_ _ As Jack finishes up paying for some bullets for Trigger, Ace sprints into the store. “That was quick,” Jack notes as Trigger happily takes the bullets and stores them in his small box, “I thought you were going to look around a bit more.”

“I planned to, but I didn’t want to make you two wait for me,” Ace replies as he pants heavily to recover from his run, “are you guys done yet?”

“We just finished actually,” Jacks says, “you ready too? If we go now, we can get back to the tower before night falls.” Ace simply nodded my head as the wolf followed the two out, “oh and make sure you don’t use any fire magic or bullets,” Jack warns while the trio head out of town. “The bounty is hiding in the Origami Forest, the last thing we want to do is to accidentally create a forest fire and anger the locals.”

“Fair,” I answered back as I put away my fire cartridges, “but why is it called the Origami Forest? Are the trees made of paper or something?”

“Yeah, they are actually,” Trigger answered meekly, “apparently there’s some stuff written on it as well, but it’s supposedly in an ancient language.”

As we arrived at the entrance of the forest, there was an unsettling amount of fog that settled in. The trees themselves, white as sheets, stand tall with its many folds that created it. The sound of paper fluttering against the wind echoes from within along with growls of the beasts that dwell.

Though Jack and Trigger were watching over me, I unconsciously found myself walking towards it to examine it further. Just as Trigger said, there is some writing on it, though I couldn’t tell what it says. Something about looking at those ancient scribbles somehow was giving me a bit of a headache. “You ready to go in,” Jack asked as I looked back at the two, “if you really want to, we can explore after our hunt.”

“Wait,” I responded as I looked at the party, “do you guys need me to lead the group?”

“No that’ll be fine,” Trigger answered immediately, “Jack’s been leading me and my friends to battle.” I stared at my brother as he looked away immediately.

“I just learned it from one of their friends,” he quietly admitted, “I don’t mind doing it, but we can leave it to you if you want.”

“No, you can do it,” I replied, “I’m very curious on how you’ve been improving.” I could see Jack disgruntled, but it made the leopard happy. “If anything goes wrong, I could take over.” I casually walked behind the two as we started going in. “It’ll give me time to not think too much too,” I thought to myself as we headed to the forest, “so it shouldn’t be too bad if I let Jack take care of the orders.” It was not what I was expecting though when we did start fighting.

It was pure silence throughout the whole fights we had, no communication on what we had to do. I had no idea what was going on in their heads, just a simple nod from Jack and Trigger would start blasting almost immediately with his pistols. I definitely felt like I was intruding between the two, so I just acted on my own. Surprisingly, Trigger and Jack followed up on my attacks almost instantly. It was actually pretty creepy how quick they reacted to me swinging and shooting, but I appreciated the help nonetheless.

When I was able to stand back to watch them fight, I spent those moments watching Trigger. He was agile as I expected from a leopard, but he was pretty accurate with his shots. He must’ve been used to guns for a long while, considering his Eyes don’t belong to a gunner. They’re yellow from what I recall when I met my teacher’s yellow friend. Anyway, those pistols look pretty worn down, they definitely need maintenance or a replacement. For now, it was fine since our venture was pretty smooth until we reached our target.

After a couple of hours of relaxing, fighting, and exploring, the three reach to a field opening, where a long, black, draconic, paper beast rests on top of torn scraps of paper. As it snores, the blood-stained paper scales brushes up towards the sky as it reveals a purple, fleshy skin. Carefully scanning for a vital organ, Jack quietly walks over to the beast with his sword in hand. After finding the organ, the tiger points his sword at it, ready to stab as he looks towards Trigger, who is aiming his pistol somewhere else on the beast’s body. “Go,” Jack mouths as he immediately stabs the beast as Trigger shoots his shot toward the beast’s stomach. The draconic beast immediately awakens from its slumber as it thrashes around wildly as parts of its limbs tear away from the main body.

Jack knew what was going to happen, after stabbing the monster, he immediately rushed back to us with blood on his sword. “We’re not done yet,” he noted as the beast got up from its wild thrashing, staring right at us with its black, hollow eyes, “we have a couple more hearts left to destroy. Ace, just leave it to me and Trigs on taking care of it. Just provide us some support and stay safe.” With that, the two immediately charged as I got sent back on the reserves. The first word of command I got from Jack and it’s to push me away from danger. I reluctantly followed, providing supportive fire as I watched Jack and Trigger syncing up their moves with each other. It was pretty boring, providing some healing when Jack called out to me.

When it was becoming real clear that our fight was dragging too long, the tiger finally called me in as a last resort. “Ace,” he shouted at me, “aim for Trigger’s marks, there’s not much hearts left, but it’ll be quicker with your help.” I smiled as I heard his calls while I immediately changed my form. I watched Trigger quickly reload his pistols and shoot marked bullets at the beast, giving me the sights I needed to start. After I got to a good position, I immediately started creating sharp icicle spears before launching them towards the marks that Trigger left behind. I was getting reckless as most of my throws pierced its flesh, and I didn't really have the thought to think about any incoming attacks towards me.

Taking note of the white wolf firing, the beast turns towards Ace, immediately starting its attack by clawing at him. Though barely getting out of the way, the beasts manage to leave a big gash down across Ace’s chest. Staggered and filled with adrenaline, the wolf’s fur transforms back to black as Ace immediately retreats, leaving a bit of blood behind before checking on his own wounds.

After hiding behind a tree, I immediately clutched against my chest, feeling the blood getting on my hands again. It definitely was painful, but I was more surprised I got knocked out from my cold form. I immediately tried to bandage myself as I heard the death cry of the beast and the sound of crinkling paper leaves getting close to me. It was Trigger that went to check with me, holding a healing salve in his hand as his face was painted with dread. “Y-You ok Ace,” Trigger asked as he looked at my gash, “no, I-I’m sorry I wasn’t quick enough to kill it.”

“You’re fine,” I replied as I clutched onto my chest, “I was reckless. Mind giving me that salve and helping me patch up, can’t really take care of it alone after all.” The leopard immediately opened the salve before applying the cold, gelatinous liquid on my open wounds as I immediately tried to get bandages from my belongings. It was pretty uncomfortable, the stinging grew the more salve was smeared on it. “Shame you don’t know any healing magic,” I thought out loud, “it would’ve been nice to get this healed faster.”

Trigger looked away from me. “I do know a spell that can heal you,” he admitted as he took out one of his pistols, “though I don’t think you like how it’ll work.” He looked around the area, making sure no one else was around. “I learned this from this guy I met at a shooting range,” the leopard continued as he emptied the cartridge of the gun.

Closing his eyes and taking a deep breath, he slowly brought up the pistol next to his head as I realized what was happening. “No, don’t do it,” I immediately shouted as I failed to stop Trigger from pulling it. The bang was loud as Trigger still stood, with a bit of blood on the side of his head.

“Alright, this is going to hurt, but you’ll be mostly healed,” Trigger happily continued, aiming the pistol at me as it glows bright green. The first shot hurt like hell, felt like a real bullet piercing me as I felt wounds closing up. The next thing I knew, Trigger nonstop, unloaded all of his healing bullets on my gash before I fainted from the shock.

When Ace regains consciousness, he wakes up to see himself in Jack’s room at the tower. The owner of the room is cooking a stew as Trigger talks to someone unfamiliar to the black wolf. “Oh hey,” a feminine voice calls out as she looks towards Ace, “your brother’s awake Jack. C’mon Trigs, you owe him an apology for knocking him out.”

“Y-Yeah,” Trigger replies as he walks towards the wolf, “I’m sorry about earlier Ace. I should’ve shot you slower so it wouldn’t hurt too much.”

“It’s fine Trigger,” the wolf responds, “you healed my wound up, that’s a lot better than my spells.” He looks towards the female visitor as he groggily gets up and rubs his eyes. “Who’s the person you’re talking to by the way, Trigger?”

Looking at the people in the room, Ace sees a slender, white tiger with red Eyes sitting on a seat as her long black, fur on top of her head is swept mostly to her right side. She’s wearing a red, light jacket with a black shirt underneath alongside some blue short shorts. On her wrist are some colored bands and around her neck is a silver necklace. “The name’s Bit,” she answers happily with a wave, “I’m Trigs’ sister, nice to finally meet you Ace. Sorry about what he did to you earlier, but also thanks for taking care of him today.”

“No problem,” Ace replies as he stares at a well-maintained crossbow sitting next to her, “nice to meet you too Bit. Is that crossbow yours by any chance?”

“Yep, I was getting it tuned up today, so thanks for giving our brothers some support.”

“I wasn’t doing much,” the black wolf modestly replies, “they were doing much of the work together, I was more of a bystander most of the time.”

“Oh they must’ve forgot to add you to our group,” she answers as he looks at the cooking Jack, “we usually issue our commands in the HUD chat, just so enemies don’t know what we’re calling out.” I never thought of that, I should really take the time to explore the HUD more. “Anyway, I’ll send you the invite. Feel free to message us if you wanna hang out or need some training done. Most of us have a lot of free time, enough that we have game nights almost every night.”

“Well that’s because there’s only four of us in the chat except Ace,” Jack revealed, “Other than me, the rest of you guys don’t have a job to work at other than being freelance bounty hunters.”

“Well because we were trying to get his memories back,” Bit answered back, “can’t leave an amnesiac by himself, it’s a dangerous world out there after all. Anyway, how’s the food going? Is it ready yet?”

“Should be soon,” Jack replied as tasted the stew, “you wanna stay for dinner Ace? I understand if you want to go back to your roommate’s room.”

“Sure,” I answered, “it’s been a while since we hung out like this. I wanna hear all the things you’ve done, especially with your friends here.” I could see Jack slightly smiling as he started grabbing the bowls and filling them up with his stew. From there on, the night continued with the four of us talking with each other, though mostly I heard Bit and Trigger gushing over Jack as we played with some cards. I eventually headed back to Yuki’s room, who was sleeping peacefully under his white winter coat, and went to bed with him, cuddling him close.

After spending a bit more time recovering, I chose to hang out with Yuki instead, though it was the same day we were going to practice more with the help of our employers. We were heading towards Bullet’s mansion, as I noted how Yuki was staying as his usual self. “Y-You don’t need to stare at me Ace,” Yuki awkwardly blurts out with a slight blush, “we’ve seen each other naked before.”

“I know,” I replied as we continued walking, “I just thought you were going to switch to Snow or something.”

“There’s no point in doing that anymore,” Yuki answered, “you already know who I really am.”

“But can’t I see you transform,” I asked as I got close to the red-tipped black wolf in front of me, “I only caught you in the middle of it last time and we were mostly in a rush. I want to see it in full.” Yuki was blushing a lot more as I wrapped an arm around him before pleading, “please, my cute Snowball?”

“Alright,” he answered quietly as the red of his fur stood out more on his face, “but only when we’re at Bullet’s place. I don’t really like doing it in front of a crowd. And I trust Bullet and Sam, they were the ones that taught me this ability.” I simply smiled back as we continued our way to the manor.

As Yuki and Ace head to the lobby of the Tower of Heroes, the door that leads to Bullet’s place opens up as Jack and Trigger come out of it. Upon meeting his gaze towards the red-tipped, black wolf, the tiger briefly glares at him before smiling.

“Did you tell him,” Yuki whispers into Ace’s ear as he watches Jack and Trigger walking away, “I don’t think I saw him like that before.”

“Yeah,” the wolf answers as he leads Yuki through the door, “if we’re still dating, I need to make sure my brother knows about who you actually are instead of an alias.”

“I think that made your brother like me even less,” Yuki replies with a slight frown on his face, “not that I really care though, he took that big slice of cake that was meant for me.”

“To be honest, you would’ve gotten an extra slice,” Ace refutes, “and I still gave you cake at the end of that night.” The demon wolf winks at his lover before continuing, “I’d say that’s one of my best treats I gave you.”

“Sweetie, your ass is a different meal,” the pouty canine barks back, “I do love it, but I still want my dessert. I was so looking forward to eating that delicious treat again. Though, speaking of treats, let’s go get some after we do our training.” As the two walked towards the manor’s gym, they continued their conversation about sweets and their future plans for the day. When the two arrive, they see Sam and Bullet immediately going at each other with all their might as magic envelopes the two.

“Well while those two are beating the shit out of each,” Yuki noted as he takes off his shirt and leaves on his red, athletic shorts, “let me show you that transformation of mine.” He took out the naginata I made for him as the rod transformed into a tripod while the microphone sprang up from the other end. It was mystifying to watch him as his tunes summoned up a white mist that hovered him. Snow gently fell onto the black wolf, with each snowflake painting him white and blue. He was singing a sorrowful tune as the snow got heavier and heavier, piling and merging with him until he looked more like a fox. When he finished his melody, his weapon shattered into ice as they attached themselves onto his wrists like gloves.

“You’re Snow White is here, my prince,” Yuki declares before winking to his boyfriend, “hope you don’t mind me turning your creation into gloves this time, but how was my performance?”

“It was lovely,” I answered as I gave him a kiss, “guessing you can take that off on the fly too?”

“Of course,” the white wolf sang back as he got surrounded by a storm of butterflies made of flames, returning back to himself as it went away. “But it’s not special compared to yours,” the singer admitted as his weapon merges back into a naginata, “you can switch between yours almost instantly, you don’t have to worry about your voice or getting attacked.”

“True,” I agreed as I wrapped my arms around his shirtless torso, “but I think it’s cool that you put in effort to learn and understand how it works.” I let the cold develop as my fur turned immediately white before continuing, “even though I use mine so naturally, I’m not sure how it works at all. Every time I’m in this form, I feel like my inner demons are coming out.” I could see the red flushing his face as I wrapped my arms tightly around his waist before making out with him on the spot.

“You’re doing this on purpose, aren’t you,” the singer asks, staring directly into Ace’s eyes with a slight smile of embarrassment.

“Oh I am,” the wolf answers devilishly, “if it means I get to see you fluster under me, it’s worth it.” He lets go of his partner before melting his fur back to black before continuing, “I am serious though, it feels like a part of me is ready to burst out.”

“Did you ask your family,” Yuki asks as he puts his weapon away, “I feel like they’re more useful for giving you some advice for that.”

“I would, but I’m also afraid that I might not get an answer from them,” Ace answers as he hesitantly looks away, “my fathers been pretty busy with Jack lately too, so I’ll let him take the spotlight.” He lets out a quick sigh, smiling as he continues, “considering how aloof he can be, he definitely needs it more than I do.”

“Well don’t wait too long, ok,” Yuki asks as he embraces his boyfriend, “I don’t want something bad to happen to you after all.”

“I won’t, don’t worry,” Ace replies back, closing his eyes as he softly butt his head against Yuki. The two take in the moment with each other as the fight between Sam and Bullet ends. As soon as the barrier surrounding those two disappears, the two walk towards the pair of wolves.

“We noticed you chose to reveal yourself,” Sam notes as he wraps his sweaty arm around the shirtless Yuki, “and like I said earlier, you two are still together.” The red-tipped black wolf blushes slightly as the tiger ruffles the top of his head. “White or black, you still look pretty handsome,” he compliments, “shame you don’t want to perform with that look, but we understand your choice.”

“So why did you do it anyway,” I asked, “were you embarrassed of being seen by someone we know?” If so, I wish I’d thought of that earlier or something. I’d probably die out of embarrassment if my dads decided to show up there one day.

“It’s mostly that,” Yuki answered as he let Sam play with him, “but I also wanted to not be tied to the tower for once, you get what I mean?” I was a bit confused, but I think I got an idea on what he meant. “So I can get out of my father’s shadow,” he clarified as he brushed off Sam, “it does get pretty annoying being compared to him every now and then.” While we were talking, Bullet dragged Sam away out of the gym momentarily, briefly mentioning food or something before they left.

“Is it also why you want to get money for that institute in Remixer City,” I asked as I recall our first date. I remember the big institute we saw while we were there and how prestigious it looked.

“Yep,” he answered, “though that’s mostly for my dream. Red is a warrior, not a musician, so I doubt he’s known over there.” He looked around, finally noticing that our instructors left. “But that’s enough about me, you wanna start training now,” Yuki asked, “we came here to train after all. Go grab those two back, I’ll quickly put my white coat on quickly.” As he went to grab his naginata, I grabbed onto his hand, stopping him in his tracks.

“Nah,” I responded immediately as a passionate flame within me burned brightly, “they’ll come back when they want to. Why don’t we train by ourselves? I just thought of a new act we can do together, if this works anyway.” Yuki looked confused as I spun him around to my arms, guiding him closer to me. With me leading, we gently waltz around the gym as we slowly get closer and closer. I could see the black wolf in front of me flushed with confusion, meekly tugging onto my shirt as he tried to find something to say.

“H-Hey Ace,” Yuki finally spoke up, “do you mind if I put my shirt back on? It feels a bit awkward dancing with you like this.” I let him go momentarily, as I took off mine in response and continued our waltz immediately.

“Better,” I asked with a devilish smile, “now we’re both even in terms of clothing.” I could see steam coming from his head as I sped up even more, ready to move to the next part of the act. “But let’s do the thing I wanted to test, get ready, my hot wolf.” After swinging my partner around, I immediately dipped him as I leaned close to him. “Kiss me, you lovely fucker,” I dared to the black wolf, “when our lips touch, get ready for the breeze to come.”

Yuki, stunned by what I said, took a moment as I could feel his hot breath touching my face. I could see him taking in a deep breath and as soon as I knew it, he wrapped his arms around my neck as he leapt forward, our lips touching. Quickly, I switched my fur to white, casting a white, cold mist around us, watching it quickly working on Yuki as well. Happy with it working, I quickly dispelled the mist as we broke our kiss, though I was soon pushed on my back as my fox sat on top of me.

“So that’s what you were trying to do,” he commented with a smile as he pinned my arms down, “you sure had your fun getting a rise out of me today.” I let out a chuckle as I smiled back at him. “I do like that stunt you pulled, even if we can’t do it with an audience,” the fox continued, “but you are definitely getting it tonight.” Satisfied, the fox kissed me before pulling me up to my feet. We put our shirts back on while we walked towards the door to the hallway. “Now seriously, let’s go get Bullet and Sam so we can actually do some practice.”

As I opened the door that led to the hallway, the door immediately swung back at me with force as a familiar panther tumbles through it. “H-Hey Ace. Hello Yuki,” Crimson hesitantly greeted me with a nervous smile, “weird coincidence to see you guys here. How’s the ol dance going?” He gave out an awkward laugh as his tail drooped** _ in front of his own face._**

“Why are you here Crimson,” Yuki asked immediately, “I thought you were with Bled today.” It only took a moment to realize what Crimson had said as I could see my black wolf’s fur flare up before asking. “Were you watching us the whole time!?” Crimson could only weakly laugh as he rolled up to his feet.

“Sorry,” Crimson apologized as he rubbed his head, “I didn’t see everything, I only saw that cute** _ ending between you two, that’s all.” Yuki calmed down immediately, but I felt something was up with the panther. “And why I’m here,” he continued as he adjusted his clothes, “I was bored, so I thought I checked out some of the doors in the Tower, considering Bled and I decided to end our little adventure short.” He didn’t seem to be lying, but I’m surprised that he and Bled called it off early. I should probably message him later when I get the chance._**

“So what are you going to do now,” I asked as Yuki walked next to my side, “you wanna watch or something? Yuki and I are practicing today for work.”

“S-Sure,” the panther answered as rubs the back of his neck, “w-well only if you’re ok with it Yuki.”

“Of course it’s ok,” the singer answered back, seeing Crimson smiling immediately, “There’s no reason why you shouldn’t.”

“Good,” Crimson replied before walking to a spot and sitting in it, “but go get your mentors, I’ll be here, waiting and watching.”

“I’ll get him,” Yuki replied as he headed out, “go keep my brother company Ace, just in case he does something” I nodded as I chose to sit right next to him.

“My brothers sure are cute aren't they,” Crimson asked as he patted my shoulder, “considering you stole their hearts.”

“How long did you know about my boyfriend’s real identity,” I asked as I turned towards him.

“Since the night I met him,” Crimson answered with a sly smile on his face, “it’s easy for me to sneak around at night after all. By the way, your room is really easy to get through, you guys should do something about it.” I’ll need to tell Yuki to lock the doors later tonight. “I’m more surprised that you didn’t find out earlier, you guys are roommates after all. Though I guess you’re a pretty heavy sleeper if you didn’t wake up from Yuki’s late night singing.”

“I guess so,” I admitted as I leaned my head against the wall, “I always wondered if I was annoying him if I brought my antics over or if I was being more of a nuisance to him at times.” Slowly, I closed my eyes, resting and reminiscing the times I had with him. The extra set of food he would cook up for us early in the morning, the times I woke him up late in the night, and the times I made a mess of his room.

“Don’t overthink it Ace,” Crimson let out as he crossed his arms, “my brother doesn’t mind it at all, of course he finds it a bit annoying sometimes, but he still loves you.” He patted the top of my head as I could feel him ruffling my fur a bit, smiling at me before looking around the room. “Anyway, you think I’ll have what it takes to be a stripper,” he asked slyly as he got up immediately as he stood in front of me. All of a sudden I had a bad feeling as I heard that question, but I didn’t want to deny that he’d probably look good as one.

“I guess,” I weakly let out as I nervously looked around, “you have the body and you’re pretty agile. Why are you asking so suddenly?” I could see a sly smile forming on the panther’s face as he sauntered towards me before leaning down to grasp my maw towards his face.

“Because I felt like it,” he answered as I stared into his eyes, “and maybe even I could snatch someone to call my own, someone as cute as you, my prince.” I wasn’t sure what to say about that as I felt heat rising up to my face, that certainly got the rise out of him as he gave out his usual sly smirk out of my confusion. “Though to tell you the truth,” Crimson continued as he moved closer to my ear, feeling his warmth close to me as I braced myself for some sort of confession. “I like messing with you,” he whispered before backing off, smiling as he rested his arms behind his back. It surely was a truth that I already knew.

“I knew that already,” I replied as I watched the panther giggle to himself, “though you got me there. I thought you were confessing to me or something.”

“And why would I do that,” the panther asked as he closed one of his eyes, smiling at me, “I’m not going to be that dumb to join in your cute, little love triangle.” Though despite that, the panther seductively stretched in front of me as he stuck out his tongue. “Well anyway, mind showing off your skills for me? Maybe I can learn from watching you a bit. I won’t join in though, if I do, I feel like we’ll both cross a point of no return.”

I think I understood what he meant, but I didn’t mind being watched by him, so I performed a bit in front of the panther. His stare was surprisingly really intense, sometimes a bit uncomfortable as I did my thing, but for some reason I was feeling familiarly happy throughout it. It only lasted for a while before Yuki came back, with the husky and tiger behind him. It was a bit awkward, Yuki didn’t say much as I nervously explained what I was doing. Instead of asking or saying anything else, Yuki joined in as he was more provocative towards me and towards Crimson.

The panther wasn’t phased by Yuki’s attempt as he just happily cheered for the both of us. I, on the other hand, was dancing as the wolf’s pawn as I melted under his warm arms. When we finished training for the day, the three of us, with me stuck between them, went out to a bakery at the tower. After that though, nothing really eventful happened between the three of us, just the three of us chatting around as we talked about gossip and stuff. The only thing worth mentioning was a note that Crimson left behind when he went back to his room.

Meet me in my room tomorrow, alone.

Curious about Crimson’s note, I decided to go visit him, hoping that it wasn’t important or life-threatening. After I did my morning routines, I had to tell Yuki that I was heading out for the day after he asked me out for another date. I had to also say the same thing for Bled too, as he was asking me if he wanted another wrestling lesson. Both of them looked disappointed when I had to decline them, but they were understanding. I quickly made my way to Crimson’s room to see what he wanted.

Right at his door, almost ready to knock, I noticed he left it slightly open as I heard voices coming inside and the smell of incense. Inside the crack, I could see Crimson sitting next to a table, with a cup of coffee sitting in front of him. I don't know what was going on in there, but considering Crimson left it open, I chose to eavesdrop on him. “So, you do know what’s happening don’t you,” an unfamiliar, robotic voice asked, “you could just join us if you want, you don’t have to go through it again.”

“I’m fine, as tempting as your travels sound, I’ll still have to decline that offer,” Crimson calmly answered, “I know you two meant well, but I can’t leave my friends here. I’m still rather fond of all of them despite what I know, especially that one.”

“Even though he’ll never remember those days,” the voice asked back. Crimson lowered his head, his tail drooping before our eyes briefly met for a slight second. Taking in a deep sigh, he perked himself right back up as he voiced his answer.

“Of course, even if he doesn’t remember it, I’m still personally indebted to him. I’ll do anything I can to help him,” Crimson answered before taking a sip of his coffee. “But enough about me, anything you like to share with me? Specifically, your goal in this world, I could keep it a secret if you want.” He slightly glanced at me, giving me a wink before facing the unknown character.

“Well that’s sudden, I don’t think I want to say anything,” the voice replied, “especially if you got someone listening in to us right now.” I probably should’ve left hearing that, but I trusted the panther and stayed where I was.

“Why would you suspect me,” Crimson dramatically asked, “I’d never do something like that after the pleasant conversation we had some minutes ago.”

“Well I have multiple reasons,” the voice answered curtly, “first of all, you lit up some incense when I got here, you hate the smell of it.”

“What do you mean,” Crimson defended as he leaned back his chair, “I actually grew rather fond of it because Ace gave me these as a gift.” He was lying, I never got him a gift, or at least anything that could resemble a gift. I immediately felt bad that I hadn't though, since I gave his brothers things.

“Is that so? Must’ve been a cheap one, I just so happen to have seen a bunch of these on sale yesterday at Kolok’s marketplace.”

“So what if it’s cheap, it’s the intent of it that matters after all. Just like your collar, anyone could’ve bought it for you.” I felt a colder breeze immediately emanating from the room after that remark.

“I won’t press further than,” the voice replied after a long sigh, “but if you really don’t have anyone here, you wouldn’t mind if you reveal that secret of yours, right? I want to see it happen here, right in front of my eyes.” The panther was shortly taken aback as he pondered a bit before taking a deep breath. Slowly, he covered his red Eyes for a moment with his hands, adjusting something before removing them with his eyes closed.

“See,” the panther answered, his eyes still closed, “that should be enough right?”

“No, I don’t see if you can’t, I’m not that dumb Crimson, open them, your eyes and your hand.” The panther let out a disgruntled sigh as he opened the palm of his hand, revealing a pair of something tiny. “Now your eyes, I want to see what your eyes really look like.”

Opening his eyes, he revealed the true color of his Eyes, a pair of yellow Eyes glowing brightly compared to his usual red Eyes. “Happy,” the panther asked, “now can you tell me?” He briefly glanced at me as I stared back directly at him.

“Well, considering your Eyes are glowing, I guess it’s fine since I can’t force you to use it if he’s busy,” the voice answered as Crimson let out a relieved smile, “I am here just to watch right now. Can’t do much anyway if I wanted to, my friend does all the dirty work unless I’m needed there or he calls me. Now, assuming that you’re lying right now at this very moment and get a call, I will be forced to end this violently again.” The cold chill came back again as Crimson sat there, unphased by the man’s words as an uncomfortable silence filled the room for a couple of long minutes.

“See,” Crimson happily replied, “nothing happened, means I’m safe right?”

“For now,” the voice voiced in annoyance, “but I’m glad regardless, at least this meeting is a happy ending.”

“Yep,” the panther agreed with a slight grin, “but anyway, you should get going, bet your friend is waiting for you, am I right?”

“Not really,” the robotic voice answered in a much happier tone, “he’s currently busy dealing with someone right now, but I’m sure he’ll be happy with what I’ll tell him about this.”

“Good; good, well it’s almost time,” Crimson continued as he looked up at most likely a clock, “Ace should already be kidnapped by now, I’ll need you to leave before he shows up.” As I immediately questioned what he just said out loud, I was quickly grabbed from behind by one arm as Crimson’s voice whispered in my ear.

“Hey prince, why are you standing out here,” the voice asked. I looked back immediately as I saw it was Crimson and his red Eyes. As I faced the door again, it was already shut, with no voice or sound emanating from it. Looking back again, I noticed Crimson put a finger to his lips, only momentarily before continuing to put me in a chokehold. “I was looking all over for you Ace,” the panther teasingly groaned, “I even went to my brothers’ rooms and asked them about you.”

“You gave me the note yesterday,” I reminded as I tried to escape Crimson’s grip, “don’t you remember?”

“I do,” he happily answered as he gripped even harder, “you took too long though, so I went out for a walk and thought I would steal you on my way back. I did have to give an awkward reason to my brothers why I was looking for you though.”

“Well you didn’t give me a time so I came late,” I replied as I was tempted to bite his arm, “but what exactly did you say to them.” Curious as I was, I already knew Crimson was going to make things complicated.

“Well, my exact words were something like this,” Crimson answered as he immediately swept me off the ground and carried me in his arms closely, “your prince and I are going to have lots of fun eloping today. As your great and loyal brother, I will take on the duty to fulfill every heartfelt desire and needs your prince naughtily has. See you next year!” He proudly stood there as I could feel heat rushing to my head when I slowly realized what he meant. “Surprisingly, they didn’t take it hard,” Crimson continued with a fake, woeful look on his face, “they were so greatly stunned by my great declaration, I left them to celebrate our new step to our friendship.”

“Please let me down,” I could only utter as I tried to think of the many ways to how Yuki and Bled would react when I see them later.

“Nope,” Crimson excitedly exclaimed, “not until we’re in my room, now that I have a surprise for you.” He covered my Eyes, only briefly, as I heard him opening the door and felt him tossing me straight towards his bed resting in the dark room. From the shadows, I watched as a pair of glowing, yellow Eyes staring back at me. “I know it can’t be helped, but since you already saw it,” Crimson continued, “I might as well reveal it all for you, my prince.”

Despite how creepy it felt, I could feel a mix of glee and excitement as I embraced Crimson’s act. Emerging from the darkness, Crimson crawled towards me, smiling at me with his yellow, narrow eyes. Soon, a slender black arm emerged, grabbing onto him before forcibly dragging him back into the gray darkness. Then the one with the red eyes emerged, teasingly smiling at me before being dragged back again as I heard both of the panthers eerily laughing. With no immediate warning, four arms emerged, each one grabbing onto one of my limbs before I got dragged down towards the cold, soothing shade. The next thing I knew, I was squished between two slender, warm bodies as the room was once again illuminated by the lights above us.

As I expected, but still to my surprise, the bright lights revealed the two Crimsons, sandwiching me between them. “How’d you like our performance, our prince,” the two simultaneously asked as they lifted me up together, “you’re the second guy to find out our little secret. How’d you feel?”

“Surprisingly calm,” I replied with a smile, “but I have a lot of questions now.” With a blink of an eye, the two panthers merged into one, with his yellow eyes.

“Sure,” Crimson answered as he let me down, “and just to preface this, I don’t have a twin, me and my shadow are one and the same.” He sat down on top of a chair as I leaned against the bed frame.

“So you and your clone can talk,” I asked as I remembered his usual disappearing act.

“Yep,” the panther answered, “it’s still a part of me after all.” His yellow Eyes began to glow as his shadow below spits out a splitting image of himself. After the two exchange looks at each other, Crimson two went over to the kitchen and he started cooking some food. “Here, let me demonstrate,” Crimson one continued, “hey me, mind if you pass me and Ace a drink?”

“Sure,” Crimson two answered as he pulled out a pair of fruit milk drinks, “which one do you guys want?” Both of the milk drinks in his hands were a different flavor of strawberry and melon.

“Strawberry,” Crimson one and I answered, with a slight pause, the shadow threw me the bottle of the pink liquid while Crimson one was given the green one. Crimson one was pouty, or at least was acting, as he glared at his shadow.

“Guests first me,” Crimson two answered, “you know our rules.” With that said, Crimson one let out a soft chuckle as he looked back at me.

“See,” Crimson reaffirmed, “makes being alone a lot easier too, since I have someone to do chores while I’m out. Also it’s nice to talk my problems away with myself.” That does sound nice, though that would probably lead to reaffirming my thoughts.

“So what happens if one of you gets hurt,” I asked as I looked at Crimson two, chopping away at some veggies. As if on cue, the cooking panther flinched alongside the sitting one for a sec before the cooking began sucking on his finger. I hope he didn’t do that on purpose, I’d feel awfully bad about that.

Crimson one smiled at me before he revealed his hands, with no injury in sight. “If one of us gets hurt, we both feel it, but only one of us gets the wound” Crimson answered, “though when we get back together. Our body balances our wounds out.” I wasn’t sure what he meant by that, and I’m sure he read my face. “Ok, let’s say I get shot, and the bullet went straight through my body.” I don’t like this thought, but it's better than talking about losing a limb or something. “If I quickly merged with my healthy, uninjured shadow, the wound could be healed halfway. It’ll still hurt, but it won’t be as dangerous as it was before.”

“Wait, so it works both ways,” I continued to ask, “I thought your shadow isn’t real.”

“Of course he’s real,” Crimson happily replied back, “everything about him is as real as me, we just share the same feelings.” I then noticed his sly, naughty smile as he looked directly at me. “If you really want to check, me and I will happily let you thoroughly touch us.” He wrapped his shirt up as he revealed his abs and a bit of his crimson chest at me before continuing, “careful though, touch a sensitive spot of mine and the other me will feel it too.”

“I’m fine,” I quickly responded as I felt my cheeks flare up, “but I guess that means you experimented with it.”

“Absolutely,” Crimson happily exclaimed as he tucked his shirt back, “I can’t ask anyone here because no one has these Eyes as far as I know. I would indulge you with what I’ve done, but I’m sure you already have some ideas in your head.” At this moment in time, I realized most of my friends I have are into men and a small number of them are into me. “But let’s move on from that, any more questions,” Crimson one happily asked as he was sitting in a more precarious way in his chair.

As I stared at the two of them, I recalled what he mentioned earlier, that I was the second to find out about his ability. Surely the guest he was talking to earlier weren't the first, they seemed to know about it since they forced him to reveal it for me. “So you said I was the second guy to find out about it right,” I asked him, “who was the first?” Upon asking him, he immediately fell off his chair, losing all his cool as his face seemed to turn darker.

“W-Well,” he uncharacteristically stammered, “Bled did, though how he’d found out was because I left my door unlocked the night before. It definitely wasn’t my finest moment when he walked in on me and I that morning.” Curious as I was, I forced myself not to ask more for his sake. “Anyway,” Crimson one exclaimed loudly, “I think you have enough questions for the day. I’m going to help myself with the cooking real quick, but we can just hang out and watch something when we’re done.” He snapped his finger, summoning a couch, a coffee table and a tv, replacing the small dining table and chairs.

“Sure,” I answered back as he went up to his shade and patted his head. I casually moved and sat at his couch, watching the panthers cook and mess with each other, they seemed really happy. They were a lot more relaxed compared to what I saw earlier.

I couldn’t help thinking back on what happened earlier and wondered what that meeting was about. Crimson was very serious, even if he was signaling me, I could tell in his eyes, he was really nervous. It makes sense, I’m sure that person could’ve killed him and I easily, but that sure was a gamble he did. Though despite thinking about it, I didn’t have my usual, interrupting realistic daydreams, I wonder why. I thought about asking him about that guest, but I want to make sure he’s at least relaxed and alright before I do.

“Hey prince,” Crimson whispered, waking me from my thoughts, “you forgot to turn on the tv.” Before I knew it, the panthers were done with the cooking as the food sat, covered by a lid, in an ordinary pot. The two sat at different sides of me, not squishing me between them, but they were still relatively close.

“You forgot to summon a remote,” I replied as one was summoned immediately with a snap, “but that’s fine, it was nice seeing how you two live your lives together.”

“Actually, just one of us does the cooking,” the Crimson on my right corrected, “it’s kind of rare for both of us to be together during the day.”

“And since we’re spending the day here,” Crimson on my left continued, “we might as well help speed up the chores. So we can mess with our prince as much as we want.” He immediately rested his head against my shoulder, purring as he held onto me. “Hope you don’t mind me being affectionate, my prince,” he admitted, “it’s been a while since I opened up.”

“Not at all,” I replied as I wrapped an arm around him, “your brothers are as well, I’m quite used to it.” The two panthers merged as he comfortably got closer.

“I know that, I just don’t want to make this awkward for my prince. You’re dating one of them after all.”

“You’re fine Crimson, just do what feels comfortable to you.” I hugged him close as I felt the panther snuggling up to me. “And something is telling me you wanted to do this for so long, am I right?”

“Yeah,” he admitted as we just cuddled on the couch, “I miss this feeling.” His body felt really soft as I stroked the top of his head. Eventually he started purring, signaling me that I found a favorite spot, and repeatedly petted him there. We stayed like that for most of the day, just relaxing and enjoying each other’s company. It was refreshingly peaceful as eventually we fell asleep together, his body resting on top of me. Though it took a while for me to sleep too, I did hear the panther murmuring something in his sleep. “Hate…incense.” I fell asleep, feeling a bit disappointed, but the next day he gave me the rest of the incense he hadn’t burned earlier.

“Hey Ace,” Jack texts, waking Ace from his slumber next to Yuki, “my friends are organizing a free-for-all battle. You want to participate?”

“Why,” Ace mentally texts back.

“So I can beat you up,” Jack answers, “or you can beat me up too. Just thought you need some training and my friends will think better of you if you come.” Ace pauses as he reads the latter part of the text, pondering.

“Sure, what time does it start?”

“Now.”

“...I’ll be there soon.”

When the black wolf arrives at the coliseum, he sees three familiar figures and an unfamiliar one. The snow leopard takes stock of his ammunition with his sister helping him out. Jack is alone, leaning against the wall away from everyone, watching all of them doing their thing. Sitting on a lonesome crate, a black tiger with gray stripes shuffling a deck of cards.

The black tiger with orange Eyes that Ace stares at is a bit taller and older compared to the whole group. The tiger with white fur edges on his chin wears his black vest speckled in red on top of his white collared tuxedo shirt with a black necktie that touches his belt. On his hands are a pair of white gloves, both of them modified by the wearer. On the sides of his black formal pants, are four different deck box belts, two on the right and two on the left, having different symbols on them. The ones on the right have a red heart and a green spade while the ones on the left have a yellow club and blue diamond. “Jet,” the tiger softly speaks.

“Is that your name,” Ace asks as he approaches the tiger, who simply nods in response. “Well, my name is Ace, I’m sure Jack told you about me, right?” Jet simply nods again before silence comes between the two, with an anxious feeling rising within the wolf. Jack eventually notices the two and comes to break the silence between them.

“Don’t get anxious about it Ace,” the orange tiger assures as he patted the wolf’s head, “Jet’s not much of a speaker. From what Bit and Trigs said, he’s been like that ever since they found him.”

“Sorry,” Jet texts towards Ace, “my body gets really uncomfortable when I talk.”

“You’re fine Jet,” Ace replies verbally, “as long as we could still communicate, it’s perfectly fine.” He then looks over towards Jack, who is mimicking Jet’s style. “Is that why you text your commands,” the wolf continues as he questions his brother.

“No,” Jack quickly answers, “he was the one that taught me to lead that way.” Stars shine in the tiger’s eyes before praising, “he’s a good leader from what I’ve experienced, so I asked him for some pointers.” The black tiger smiles with pride. “Anyway, are you ready Ace? We’ll start as soon as you are.”

“Sure,” I answered as I pulled out my shovel, “I look forward to fighting you Jet.” I bowed out of respect as I quickly went far away from everyone. Soon, a timer began to appear, signaling everyone to get ready. Like me, Trigs and Bit went far away from everyone. Jack was hiding behind some boxes that were placed, equally away from everyone. Jet however, was walking towards my position as I noticed what his weapons were.

His white gloves slowly turned pitch black as they were emitting dangerous sparks of electricity. The deck boxes that were on his sides opened up automatically from the top, revealing thin, metal cards packed together tightly with each other. He picked up a card from the red box, revealing the backside of the metal card. The back was colored red, but in the middle of the card was a tiny vial shaped as a heart that contained some red powder. He was ready to toss that metal slicer at me, so I aimed my shovel at him in response.

When the countdown reaches zero, Ace shoots ice out of the shovel at the black tiger, who immediately sticks out his left palm in response. Electricity shoots out as it strikes and shatters the ice into multiple pieces. Following up, Jet throws his red card at Ace, but the card explodes on impact as the wolf tries to smack it away with his shovel.

Multiple shards of shrapnel flew at me as the card blew up at my face. Luckily, none of them went into my eyes, as most of it shredded parts of my torso and shoulder. Quickly thinking about Jet’s weapons, I ran away immediately towards Trigs, reloading my weapon with different ammo and avoiding close combat with the guy chasing me with his taser hands.

Trigs was a bit distracted as he was having a shooting war against his sister. I decided right there that I’m going to take a page out of Bled’s ideas and force Trigger to be a distraction. He didn’t notice I was going to run past him, as I kicked him towards Jet and quickly blasted both of us away from each other. He was understandably not happy about it, but I still kept running as I saw the felines fighting each other until I reached a safer distance. Once I was in position, I took advantage of their fight and started shooting at them as well, keeping an ear out in case Jack or Bit came my way.

Jet was beating up Trigs faster than I thought, he took every advantage he could take whenever the snow leopard reloaded his pistols. I didn’t help the poor guy, I was watching how Jet fought and noted how every card he had thrown either exploded or just sliced the leopard. I wanted to figure out the deal with those cards, since I felt like they were really important. So with the help of my UI, I was able to get a quick, detailed snapshot of the cards Jet was throwing.

I’ve gathered that Jet’s cards ranged from the numbers 2-10 and the letters J, Q, K, and A, similar to playing cards. The colors of the card help determine what element they’ll do when thrown, which would explain the four different deck boxes on his belt. While watching poor Trigs getting pummeled by his friend, I noticed the low numbered cards immediately exploded on impact while the high numbers usually remained intact, sometimes swiftly coming back to the tiger. The non-numbered cards are a bit more special, other than them glowing when they were in the Jet’s hand, he threw them up in the air. They acted more like turrets as the little glass on the center of the card shoots colored energy beams based on what color the card is and the letters determine how long the card shoots, with A being the longest.

Ace’s thoughts are disrupted as Jet fully overwhelms the snow leopard and tosses his body towards the wolf, the leopard seeing stars. Ace quickly runs away again, right after stealing one of Trig’s pistols and his ammo, as the tiger chases after him again. In the opposite direction towards the wolf is a familiar tiger, his brother running away from a rain of arrows.

I felt like Jack and I had the same idea when we saw each other running away from our opponents. With just a simple nod from each other, I stopped in my tracks to switch ammo and ready an angled swing as Jack somersaulted over me. Once he landed on the head of my shovel, I swung at Jet, launching Jack above him. At the end of my swing, I shot a giant fireball in the sky and aimed the pistol that I stole at it. I shot it once, with an electric bullet that I stole from Trigs, and watched the fireball carefully.

In a matter of seconds, the fireball exploded into multiple flames like blinding fireworks. Jack and I used it to our advantage, with Jack immediately divekicking Jet on the head while I made a mad dash towards Bit’s location. She was pretty good with a crossbow though, even though the bright fire made it very hard for her to see, she was able to accurately shoot her arrows towards me. When we were close enough, I began swinging my shovel at her, while she dodged and started summoning knives out of thin air and threw them at me. It didn’t stop me from getting closer as I batted them away and eventually started smacking her head repeatedly with my shovel. Definitely wanting to not get a concussion from our fight, she quickly surrendered and retreated to the spectator seats after.

On the other side, Jack and Jet duke it out towards each other, exchanging blows as Jack’s sword slices while Jack’s fists pummels. As Ace watches the duel, both tigers equally outmatch each other, but slowly Jet’s orange Eyes begins to glow as Jack starts missing most of his swings and Jet starts dealing direct hits to Jack’s body.

Jet quickly notices his own glowing Eyes and immediately starts throwing his cards in the air, all of them being lettered cards as they start shooting both Ace and Jack. Despite the two attempts, the cards shoot at them with pinpoint accuracy, forcing Ace to create his magic dirt wall.

“What’s Jet’s Eyes,” Ace texts Jack as the wolf hides behind his dirt wall.

“Gambler’s Eyes,” Jack mentally texts back as he starts guarding Jet’s onslaught, “it makes him the luckiest person when they glow. Please don’t shoot him, you’re most likely going to hit me instead.” Ace aims his shovel in response, ready to take down another person in the competition. “Remember that if I go down, you’re next,” Jack quickly reminds the wolf, who quickly lowers the shovel, trying to come up with an idea instead. “Just keep healing me,” the tiger texts, “sooner or later, his Eyes will stop glowing. When it does, let’s beat him up.”

I groaned again when I was told to be back on healing duty, but I went with it until Jet’s Eyes stopped glowing. After that plan started, Jet started throwing some brutal punches at Jack as I was forced to heal him almost constantly, slowly draining my own energy. It took a very long time before they actually did and by that time, I was tired out and resting against my wall. I could only watch as Jack slowly got beaten up by Jet, who’s gloves started aggressively shocking Jack every time he punched the tiger’s sword. The battle was over, once Jet was able to grab Jack and electrocute him intensely, dropping him on the ground. I began worrying more about my brother’s health as I saw a lot of smoke rising out of his body.

As soon as Jet approaches the tired wolf, he flicks his forehead. A minor spark sets off, disabling Ace’s defenses and signaling the end of the fight. The tiger helps the wolf get back to his feet, patting his back before going over to Jack and softly kicking him, eliciting a groan. “He’s ok,” Jet softly assured Ace as he lifted the tiger up to his feet, clinging onto Jet’s shoulder. Ace quickly spends more of his energy to heal Jet back to health and collapses to his feet, his left hand pressing against his forehead.

“Here,” Jet says as he kneels down, giving Ace a piece of candy. Eating it immediately, Ace gets a surge of energy back as he gets slowly back up again. When Bit and a recently-awakened Trigger comes to them, Jet gives them the same candy that helped reinvigorate them.

“Congrats on the win, Jet,” Bit happily congratulates the black tiger, “I didn’t think you would shock Jack that badly. At least his brother didn’t suffer the same fate.”

“Probably because he didn’t want to harm him when they just met,” Jack interjects, “but dang it Jet. I know I take a lot of hits, but you didn’t have to shock the lights out of me. Why’d you do that anyway?” The black tiger simply pointed at Ace in response.

“So he wouldn’t faint from exhaustion,” Jet texts in the group chat, “whatever Ace was doing for you, he was overdoing it. I had to make sure I get you in one blow for his sake.” Jack looked directly at me and then hung his head low.

“I’m sorry Ace.”

“You’re fine,” I replied, not wanting to see him down as I lied, “I probably just overdid it again with my healing spell.” I was ignoring the agonizingly dull pain I felt swirling in my head. I kept mentally telling myself it’s just a simple headache as the gang looked at me with a concerned look.

“Hey, you should get some rest Ace,” Bit advised as she quickly went over and checked my temperature, “you’re not heating up at least, can you walk?” I nodded in response. “Well just in case, we’ll escort you back to your room, don’t want you to collapse on the way there.” With that, Bit and Trigs immediately started pushing me along, as Jack and Jet trailed behind.

“Hey Ace, as an opponent, you did good,” Jet texted to me, “you may not have faced me directly, but you did great at range combat. If you’re still not tired tomorrow, wanna come and play some cards with the gang? It’ll be in my room.” I smiled when I read his message, as I thought of my plans.

“Sure, send me your room number later.”

With some guidance from Ace, the group moves towards Yuki’s room, which was left unlocked. Not wanting the group to come in, Ace says his farewells with the group before promptly going in alone. When it seems that Ace was fine on his own, Jack’s group walks away, chatting about their last fight or antics they’ve been up to.

Surprisingly, Yuki wasn’t home when I entered the room. I didn’t think much about it as my body immediately flopped onto the bed and went to sleep right there. I wasn’t sure how long I was out, but I was awoken by Yuki, gently shaking me as the smell of food reached my nostrils. “Wake up Ace,” he gently spoke, “dinner’s ready and you’ve been asleep the whole afternoon.” He gave me a cute kiss on the cheek before nuzzling his muzzle against mine.

Smiling back, I groggily got myself up as he led me to the dinner table where both a bowl of mushroom soup sat at the table and a letter addressed to me. “Oh yeah, your brother came by earlier to drop that off,” Yuki noted, “he didn’t say anything, just gave me the letter and walked away.” I examined the letter, a chill coming down my spine as I saw the word “Trial,” imprinted boldly on the back.

Prepare for your next trial Ace, as you and Jack will be visiting a cold, foreign land up north. The place you’ll be heading towards is a kingdom called Frozolin, a kingdom where their history is tied with Demons. Word has it that they’re going to hold a week-long festival to honor them and their history. Instead of forcing you to read history books, you will attend the festivities and create relations with the kingdom. Just so you two won’t feel alone out there, you may bring your friends along for the trip. We’ll meet up next week in the lobby, so be prepared for the trip beforehand.

After reading the letter, I immediately thought of who I was going to invite. I already knew Yuki wanted to come, as he read the letter as soon as I was done. “Don’t worry Yuki,” I reassured him, “you’re coming too. I wouldn’t want to leave my cutie behind.” He smiled at me in response and went to brew some tea for the both of us. Not long after that, Crimson casually texted me, asking if he could come along too. He wasn’t in sight, but I had a feeling he was hiding under the bed or something listening to us.

Anyway, that left me with one more person to invite and a weapon I’ve neglected to make for a while. After finishing up dinner, I cleaned up my workspace on top of the dining table and got to work. Sitting across from me was Yuki, watching me do my work as usual with a cup of tea in his hand. I pulled out a pair of golden bracelets I bought and began altering it with some magical tools I’ve bought. It only took most of the night, as I had some trouble dealing with how to deal with the triggers and mechanisms.

The next day, I headed over to Bled’s** _ room immediately with my present for him in a red paper bag. Well, I was on my way, but I got stopped in my tracks as I met a familiar, dangerous face again. Smacking my face against a door that won’t open, everything around me froze as I heard footsteps behind me. It was Joker again, though I didn’t sense any hostility from the wolf this time. He gave me some time for me to recover from face planting at the door before he spoke to me._**

“You sure are late Ace,” he casually commented as he looked at the bag, “but better now than never. You’re getting ready for your exciting trip right?”

“Yeah,” I answered as I gently put down my bag, “it’s been a while since we talked though. So what do you want?” I moved my hands towards my shovel, in case he’s going to attack.

“Nothing,” the masked, black wolf replied as he walked closer to me, “I’m just here to check up on you. Ask you some things to make both of our lives easier.” Before I knew it, he was right in front of me, putting down my hands before continuing. “I’m not here to fight, I just want to make sure everything is going smoothly.” I couldn’t see a weapon on him, but the sense of danger was still too great for my comfort.

“Sure, but only if you let me go and I get to ask questions.”

“Of course,” the wolf answered, freeing my arms from his. Joker leaned against the railing, watching in the distance. I did the same, which led to him ruffling the fur on top of my head. “So how’s life going Ace? I’ve heard that you found out about your friends’ secret.”

“Yeah, I didn’t expect my boyfriend to be my roommate, which makes our nights together even better I’d say.” He gave out a slight chuckle as he patted my back.

“As it should, you two are a couple,” he said with a bit of joy and sadness, “I trust that you’ll always be by his side until the very end. He’ll need your full support for him to achieve his dreams. And how’s it going with you and your other friends?”

“Well I’d say we’re on good terms,” I honestly answered, “I was actually on my way to meet up with Bled, but you came along.”

“Sorry about that,” he apologized with a slight sigh of annoyance, “but believe me, if I could control our meetings, this would’ve happened after your meeting with Bled.” He took out a canteen from his jacket, drinking it for a second. “It’s good you still want to hang out with him though. He’s a cute guy, pretty strong too, maybe too strong for his own good, so make sure he doesn’t get into any trouble.”

“So what do you think about Crimson,” I asked, wondering about his thoughts about my crimson pal, “I’d say he’s pretty cute, despite how he acts, he can be a bit affectionate.” He frowned in response when I asked about the panther.

“He’s wasting his time searching for answers he’ll never find,” he replied harshly, “he’s stuck trying to reclaim what he lost while also moving on with his life.” I stared at him with bewilderment as he glowered at me, right before calming down. “Sorry,” he apologized, realizing what he said, “I said too much again. He’s a good guy that knows what he’s doing.”

“Wait, what do you mean by that,” I asked, worrying about the panther, “how much do you know about him?” Joker just stood there in silence, most likely thinking of a way to get out of the situation and he did. Without a warning, he disappeared as the surroundings started to shift back to normal. I was left alone with none of my questions asked nor answered and an anger welling up in me.

“You fucker,” Ace angrily shouts as he waves a closed hand in the empty halls, “get back here!” Tiredly coming out of his room to check the commotion was a shirtless Jack. After rubbing his eyes, he noticed the noise was coming from his brother shouting at nothing.

“Ace,” he yawns with a stretch, “isn’t it too early to yell for this?”

“It’s already the afternoon though,” the wolf comments with a bit of bitterness.

“Not important,” the tiger quickly responds, “do you need to talk? I don’t know what or who you were seeing, but as your brother, I can at least listen to what you’re going through.” The wolf shakes his head, calming down from his outburst as he reassures the tiger he’s fine. “So is that bag yours,” the tiger asks as he looks directly at the bag sitting in the corner, “if it is, don’t forget about it.”

“Yeah,” the wolf answers, looking back at the tiger briefly, “and thanks Jack, I’ll come to you if anything happens.”

After grabbing his gift, the two went their separate ways, with the wolf going to his friend’s room and the tiger going back to his room to sleep in. Arriving at Bled’s room, the wolf knocks on the door to receive only silence. He barges in soon after when he realizes that the door was unlocked.

His room had transformed like Crimson’s, the expansive room was shrouded in darkness, with lights focusing on the center, where both the wrestler and the ring stood. He was too occupied to notice I came as he was pummeling a training dummy as much as he could, giving me an idea.

With a quick change of clothes, I equipped the bracelets I made for Bled and stealthily made my way closer to the arena, until I got enough distance between me and the ring. After a quick check of my newest creation, I sprinted and leaped at Bled with the golden bracelets glowing into a new weapon as I flew through the air.

The golden bracelets on Ace’s wrists begin to glow as they elongate themselves until they cover the back of his hands, starting its transformation into a pair of gauntlets. Underneath the golden metal, black metal forms and wraps itself around his hands and the bracelets themselves wrap themselves securely on the arms. A metal rod grows, placing itself under the wolf’s palm. Ace clings onto the rods hard as he descends into the cat, who turns instinctively to fight back.

I was ready to punch the big kitty right in the face, but I was also ready for him to react too. We both smiled when we saw each other’s faces, his eyes underneath the mask glowing red as our fists touched each other. I gripped onto the rod as tight as I could, triggering the mechanism I installed on it.

A metal opening shoots up from the top of the gauntlets as energy quickly lights up. The sound of a shotgun echoes in the large, empty room as Ace flies high from the recoil and lands roughly on the ropes of the wrestling ring. He poses in front of the cat, with his arms stretched up high, fingers pointing to the sky as another shot rang in the arena while a shower of blinding confetti flew out from the gauntlets.

“Like that Brutal Red,” I asked as I flexed my arms, “I got your gift right here, custom made for you. Thought I should test it real quick for you before you could use them.” I saw some sort of glimmer in the cat’s mask before a fiery aura of passion exuded from him.

“Give it to me,” he happily demanded as I casually hopped down the ropes, “Brutal Red wants to try now.” He was vibrating with excitement as he stared at the gauntlets, it was really cute as he sort of acted like a puppy, so I obliged. I sheathed them, forcing them back to being fashionable bracelets before handing them over to Bled.

I taught him about what he needs to know about them, telling them how to unsheathe them while also teaching him how the firing mechanism works. “So how are you doing Bled,” I asked, “it’s been a while since I saw you.” His face turned sour as he slumped over.

“I still feel awkward about what happened,” he answered as he sheathed his bracelet, “but I’ve been training a lot because of it.”

“I’ve noticed, you took that shot really well,” I complimented as I healed his bruises, “but you don’t need to feel that way Bled, your brothers and I still love you.” He wasn’t as convinced when I said that. “If you still feel awkward about it, there’s a festival happening next week in a place way up north, you wanna come with me? Yuki and Crimson are coming too, so you could spend more time with them.”

“Sure,” he answered with a smile, “but where exactly are we going?”

“A kingdom named Frozolin,” I answered, “from what I saw when I looked at the map, it’s located all the way north, so make sure you pack some heavy clothes or warm equipment.”

“I will,” he responded as he unsheathed his golden gauntlets, “but that also means I train even harder, got to get used to these new little guys.” He finally noticed me wearing the outfit he made for me and smiled even more. “Do you want to help me test them out?”

_ “Of course, I also need to make sure if I need to make some adjustments. I’ll just stay out of the ring and watch you do your thing, I already told you how you trigger the mechanisms.” Bled nod at me as I softly jumped off the ring and sat in the front row seat._

The training dummy stands in place as the big cat adjusts his gauntlets. Bled starts experimenting by dangerously leaping high into the air using the ropes of the ring and his gauntlets, with confetti being left behind. He angles himself towards the dummy and uses his gauntlets to blast himself towards it and crashes into the dummy before giving himself some distance. On his face is a big, precious smile as he closes both of his hands together and shoots a big ball of energy at the punching bag.

He was having a blast trying out his weapons as I thought of new ideas on how he could synergize with Yuki or Crimson. Though when it came to him trying out another shot, I saw both my own creation in action and Bled’s Eyes. There was a flash of inspiration on his face as he tauntingly posed, his gauntlets resonating in response as I noticed a change occurring with the magic confetti launcher. Instead of confetti being launched, a mix of cheers and boos towards him rang out while a faint red glow emitted from Bled’s** _ mask. He stood there gleefully grinning in his own little world as the artificial crowd grew louder. He clapped his hands together, pulled the firing mechanism, and out came a giant, swirling mass of energy that obliterated the dummy along with the ropes and some empty seats behind it._**

We stopped immediately after that, fearing that he might destroy his own room, but he was satisfied with the results. I was too, but a part of me got really worried as I remembered what Joker said about him. Bled probably saw that worrying part of me as he soon tried to distract me from it. “Are there any adjustments you need to make,” he asked as he took off the golden bracelets.

Ace shakes his head in response, smiling back at the big cat. “Not at all, it’s doing exactly what I was hoping for,” he answers, “I was a bit worried about one of the components, but you showed that it worked.” Ace takes his item cube and takes out a kit of tools before saying, “I could go into specifics, but I should teach you how to perform some weapon maintenance first. You taught me some stuff about wrestling, so in exchange let me teach you how to do some mechanical work.” With the help of Bled turning the room back to normal, the two sit down at a table and begin their lesson until nightfall.

** You ever just wondered what life would be like if you went down a different path? What would fate do to you if you chose a different path instead? Would you still be the same or would your entire personality change? And last of all, would you be happy at the end of that road?**

I think about these thoughts too many times for many years, wondering when those journeys will end and my travels abruptly end. I’ve seen, written, and forgotten each scenario I’ve witnessed happening before my eyes. At least when it comes to this day, there’s this feeling I get, excitement, dread, and hope, wondering if my own path is to continue onward or end in righteous tragedy.

When I thought about the next trial Adel was going to force me to do, I didn’t expect I’d be forced to travel to a foreign nation, specifically the one located on the cold, northern part of the continent. I didn’t have any clothes suited for the cold, so I bought something for myself using the money I made from my job. Though reading through the note, it seemed more like Adel wanted both Jack and I to explore the world, which I didn’t mind. At least the good thing about it is that Jack and I can bring our friends along for the trip. Our group of two suddenly became a group of eight, though I’m sure it’ll be lively as ever.

On the day our trip started, my group arrived at the meeting point early, decked out in our winter attire. I was wearing a black jacket and white vest, but I mostly adjusted the settings on my little shoulder pad on my right to emit heat if needed. Yuki’s clothes weren’t that different from his usual outfit, but I did worry for him since all he added to his outfit was white, long-sleeved light jacket. Bled looked like he was prepared for the trip, he was wearing a brown bomber jacket and black fleece pants, resting around his neck was some sort of fire pendant. Crimson was wearing a black leather jacket and some dark red pants, but I noticed that he was wearing some climbing claws on his hands.

“Yuki,” I let out as I stared at his light jacket, “aren’t you going to get cold in that?” He simply stared at me with his orange eyes filled with disappointment, I didn’t continue, so I asked about Crimson’s climbing claws.

“Y’know, just in case,” he answered with a sly smile, “I brought extras too, in case everyone needs them. I already did some reconnaissance there, so I have an idea what the land is like.” I worried about the journey even more. Soon enough, Jack’s group finally arrived with their usual banter about games as most of them were dressed for the trip.

Bit and Trigger were wearing cute matching white jackets, with the only difference was Bit’s jacket has a red diamond on her right sleeve and Trigs’ has a purple heart on his left sleeve. Jet was just wearing his suit, but I noticed he looked a bit thicker than I remember, so he probably wore some extra clothes underneath. Their leader, Jack, was wearing a black overcoat with blue rims that covered his black sweater and jeans. Laying on his right breast was a pin of a blue wolf wearing a cowboy costume, it was probably some random gift from Trigs or Bit.

As soon as Jack’s group enters the lobby, the group of eight splits into their two respective groups. The mediator between the two, Ace, casually introduces the two groups together while trying to encourage them to open up a bit. Jack interacts with most of them, except Yuki, where both of them avoided each other as much as they could.

Yuki seemed to be fond of the rebellious, but caring Bit while Crimson was fond of getting inspiration from the mysterious air that surrounds Jet. They both seemed like they were having fun, at one point I heard Yuki singing a bit as he showed her something from a small journal.

Bled had some trouble getting along with others, probably because he put on his act immediately and teased Trigs. Scruffing the top of the poor leopard’s head before letting him go with a pat on the back. The cat apologized for it later when he saw Trigs was getting uncomfortable and reverted back to his shy self for a slight second once Bit went over to them. Out of the whole group, Crimson got along with everyone pretty nicely, though it was pretty creepy how much he already knew a lot about them.

When everyone seemed like they were well acquainted with my dad, he instantly shifted into his demonic form. “Alright, let’s get going then. Promise me you guys won’t panic for what’s to come next,” he asked with a calm look on his face. All of us didn’t know what he was going about, so we just nodded and waited to see what would happen next. “Good, we’ll be taken outside the kingdom, so prepare for a walk after this,” the black demon happily spoke as he took out one of his knives and put it up against his wrist.

We didn’t have time to react as black blood spilled as the knife made a visceral sound against the demon’s flesh and the endless liquid surrounded everyone in the group. Multiple hands shot up from the large puddle of liquid as it grabbed every one of us except the caster, Adel, and slowly dragged us down below. Despite somewhat promising Adel we wouldn’t panic, everyone did, except him and three others. While Bled was hugging me and a startled Yuki very tight, I watched Crimson happily and consciously face planted and accepted his fate. Bit and Trigs got their hands tied down as they struggled, poor Jet sank immediately up to his head, and their leader calmly stood there doing nothing while trying to act cool. I couldn’t do much either as Bled was both panicking and crying while making it hard for me to move my arms. It was pretty hopeless as we all sunk into the black sea, floating in the visceral liquid for a while before we emerged back up into an cold, unfamiliar land.

In the northern part of the eastern land, an endless amount of snow and ice covers the ground with crystals emerging from the ground. This land is surrounded by a barrier of an unforgiving land trifled with dangers that blend with the scenery and the endless blizzard that obscures one's vision. It’s a trial to push through the barrier, but once you do, you’ll get to see a large kingdom that is surrounded by a lake filled with crystal clear water that makes it seem as if it’s floating by itself. That is the kingdom of Frozolin, a kingdom isolated by the cold and stuck in their own bubble of time, barely touched by the outside world.

Most of us were stunned by what we were seeing, a kingdom standing tall as we saw an endless blizzard happening behind it. “Hope you guys enjoyed that experience,” Adel declared, revealing himself in front of the group with a grin, “because I did.” Most of us looked at him with a bit of dismay, while the usual suspects were in contempt. Attempting to reconcile for his unexpected scare, he revealed, “I’m sorry, I had to do that since it’ll be hard to get past the phenomenon going on out there. Our method of transportation goes past it, so we won’t have to face the monsters in that blizzard over there.”

He began lecturing us there about the land, so I went over to check on my boyfriend, whose fur already turned white as snow. “You doing alright Yuki,” I asked as I wrapped an arm around him, “you still feeling warm with that light jacket still?”

“Yeah, I’m used to the cold to be honest,” he answered before smiling and leaning closer to me, “but if it means getting close to you, I’d say I’m a bit chilly.” I smiled back at him as I brought him closer to me, both of us chuckling in the process. “So is your dad always like this?”

It took a little while for me to think of an answer, as I try to recall my interactions with my dads. Adel, though I don’t talk to him much, he always tries to be mysterious or something, but Jack ruins it for him most of the time. “I’m not sure,” I answered as I looked at the demonic tiger, “he might look scary, but that usually goes away because of Jack. Once you get past that facade, he’s a bit awkward. I hope he didn’t leave a bad impression earlier.”

“Not at all,” he replied as we huddled together a bit, “remember, you’re a demon too, a cute one.” He gave me a kiss on the cheek as I heard Adel’s lecture starting to die down.

“So, let’s march forward,” he declared as he started walking towards the kingdom, “there’s still monsters roaming around, so let’s proceed with caution.” We all took the long trip towards the kingdom, working together as a team whenever monsters started to attack us. Though it was a bit awkward doing so as Jack and I took turns leading our friends to battle with mixed results while our dad did his own thing. We eventually decided that Jack and I will lead our groups separately, both of us sending our groups to support each other when needed.

As the gang reaches past the entrance of the kingdom, they are met with an interesting sight. The mosaic paths that lay in front of them are entirely made of a mix of white pebbles, blue crystals, and cement that leads to a fountain with a crystal shaped as a big snowflake floating on top of it by the water. It’s one of the plazas of the kingdom as it is filled with multiple different vendors.

The people themselves are interesting as well, all of them were a mix of having blue or white fur or scales. Though most of them are wearing little amounts of clothes, they are covered in a layer of thick, clear frost. They didn’t seem to be bothered by the cold or how they dressed as they continued their way of life. In front of the gang is a white rhino, wearing only black short shorts and a thin, sleeveless tabard loosely covering his body.

“Welcome to Frozolin travelers,” the rhino greets them as he approaches the gang, “you guys here for the festival?”

“Indeed we are,” Adel answers while Bled ogles on the rhino’s muscular physique, “your king should have known we’d be here today.” The rhino looks at the tiger confusedly, forcing a sigh to come out of Adel. “Your king had a demonic visitor last week? Black and red tiger that showed up from the ground, declared himself king of demons. Ring any bells?” His form shifts immediately as Adel shows off his demonic side as the rhino’s eyes widen.

“So that report was real,” the rhino replies while Adel shifts back, “are you all demons?”

“Only three of us,” Adel answers as he pushes his sons forward, “the others are just friends with these guys.” The guard smiles softly, whispering something to himself.

I couldn’t help but notice that the sexy rhino in front of us was shaking with excitement. Considering the kingdom worships demons, I really hope I won’t be involved in some weird ritual. “Hey,” I let out, “is there a place where we can stay? It’s been a long journey for us to get here and I want to make sure our friends get some rest.”

“O-Of course,” he replied as he stood up straight, “the king ordered that our most sophisticated guild would accommodate your stay. I just so happen to be a member of that guild, so I’ll escort you guys back to my base. I can answer mostly anything that you guys want to know about, but anything about the guild can wait until we get there.”

“Isn’t everyone around here cold,” Bled immediately asked as he stared at the rhino’s clothes, “you guys don’t have a lot to cover yourself.”

“As long as the people are gifted with Frost, they won’t be cold under their ice,” the Tundro answered, “as for our clothes, we can’t wear as much or we’ll overheat. So in order for us to express ourselves, we tailor our Frost to our taste whenever we want.” The ice that covered the rhino transformed into more casual clothes as we continued our walk.

“Can anyone get that gift,” Yuki asked with curiosity in his orange eyes. The rhino looked at him curiously, mostly because of the wolf’s appearance. “I don’t have that gift, but I’m curious if it’s possible for me.” From there on, we asked the poor rhino some questions, some of it leading to repetitive answers. Though no one noticed it except for me, Adel disappeared on his own while we walked around.

As the group arrive at their designation, they are greeted by a cozy, four-story building standing by itself. On the top of the building lies a sign that says “The Frozen 12th,” though the 2 was a piece of paper tacked onto a painted 1. “This is the place, welcome to my guild,” the rhino announces as he approaches the door, “it’s more of a dorm and most of us aren’t really professional, so sorry in advance if we walk into something indecent.”

As they enter the building, the party is greeted by a white rabbit with a lightning bolt earring strumming on a yellow, custom guitar while a polar bear with a snowflake earring dangling on his right ear dances in front of him. The polar bear spins towards the entrance, his eyes widening seeing the rhino and company as he happily lets out, “welcome back Tundro! Is that who I think it is?”

“Y-Yeah,” the rhino answers with a slight hint of embarrassment, “you should take this seriously, these are important guests to the kingdom.”

“I was,” the bear answers as he rests his hands behind his head, “I just happened to listen to Morain practicing and couldn’t help myself dancing to it. It’s really invigorating to listen to something new.” The white rabbit simply smiles and waves at the group before continuing strumming on his guitar.

“Enough of that though,” the bear continued as he walked towards us, “to start off with introductions, I am Yule Everwinter, the prince of Frozolin!” Everyone was more surprised then shocked, but my eyes widened with glee as I forced myself to the front.

“I’m Ace Heart, prince of Demons,” I proudly exclaimed, followed by a cough from Jack, “one of them anyway, but I’m still happy to meet a fellow prince.”

“Same to you,” Yule joyfully replied, “even more since you’re a Demon. So that visit I had at night, that was your father right? He was really talkative for me to keep up with. I don’t really remember much of what he said except that a group is coming and he’s a Demon King.” I immediately felt bad for my dad, he probably worked hard on it only for most of the speech to go in one ear and out the other.

“Hey Yule,” Tundro interrupts as he walks out the door, “I’m going back to my patrols, so take care of these guys. Give them some energy or refreshments, I bet they were tired from traveling.”

“Oh,” the polar bear lets out as he walks to the center of the room, “let this prince do something to give you guys the energy you need. Since you guys seem tired from all that exploring.” The frost that wraps around his body gathers into a swirling big ball around his right hand. It dissipates in a matter of seconds, revealing a green shard of ice shaped as a snowflake floating above the palm of his hand.

He crushes the piece of ice, instantly transforming the field around everyone to a different landscape, the ground turning into a myriad of purple flowers and white grass made of ice. In the distance is a full moon that shines down on the white polar bear while his Eyes glow a bright ice blue. He takes out an old, tattered book, opening it as it unleashes a huge swarm of icy blue butterflies. The bear’s head tilts up towards the fake, night sky with a peaceful look on his face. “O Lord of the Butterflies, I seek your demonic audience once again with the frost you gifted to my people. Please grant my friends the strength they need in this field, my Garden of Frozolin.” After his chant, the butterflies scatter around, landing on top of people as a flow of rejuvenating energy is transferred over to them. The prince lets out a soft smile as he looks at the party, closing the book as the field reverts back to normal.

We were in awe as I’m sure everyone in our group was curious about that spell. Bled especially was excited, he was shaking pretty hard with a scary grin on his face. It definitely was a rejuvenation spell, but that was on a larger scale in terms of power and range. The chant he made was interesting, definitely fits with what Adel wrote about the kingdom, but I never recalled demons having the ability to heal, other than myself. I did find it curious that he mentioned that name though, the books that Adrian gave me love to contradict each other whether he existed or not.

“That’s what we call an Illusory Field,” Adel informs as he approaches the group from their shadows, “a strong type of magic that is unique to everyone and not tied to the rules of this world. Didn’t think I’d see one being used so casually though, unless you’re in a heightened emotional state, they cost a lot of energy to cast one.”

“Oh is that why I always feel so tired when I use it sometimes,” Yule asks, “oh but I'm not tired now, I was really ecstatic that I was helping a demon and his allies. So I guess that’s my cost.”

“Can we all learn one,” Bled quickly asked Adel, “if so how? Do we need to be stronger or do we need to be in danger?” Adel was getting uncomfortably overwhelmed by Bled’s questions as he stepped back a second to gather his thoughts.

“First of all, yes, everyone can learn it,” he answered after clearing his throat. “How you guys learn it, it’ll be different for everyone. To give an example, how’d you learn it prince?”

“I got mine while I was out on a job with my guildmates,” he answered while pulling out the same tattered book, “my friends were in a dangerous predicament then suddenly the history book I bought that day flew in front of me and the spell just etched itself to my mind. Before I knew it, I just cast it naturally and let my body do the work.”

“Good, it was the distress that caused it,” Adel noted as he looked at Bled, “that’s different compared to your father’s. He learned his Illusory Field after he learned his familial origins and after he gradually mastered his family heritage he gained from them. Now don’t go around trying to learn one immediately, like the ice prince said, it came to him naturally. That’s how everyone should learn it and if you force yourself to do it, you could go berserk when you use it.” It didn’t look like Bled got the gist of what my dad said and simply nodded, most likely ignoring the warning.

“Anyway,” Frost interjected, “now that you guys are more energized, I’d say you guys should go out and explore more of the area. I would give you guys a tour, but something tells me you guys are going to split up. So, I’ll just go give a tour to the first person that wants me.” No one in the gang really wanted to go with him, heck, Crimson immediately disappeared once he said we’ll split up. I felt pretty bad for the outgoing prince, so I walked over to him.

“I’ll take it,” I answered as the polar bear beamed at me, “As I'm a prince of Demons, I might as well establish relations with the people that worship mines.” Adel nodded at me, giving me a thumbs up for me trying to live up to being an heir. The prince smiled at me with a childlike gaze and grabbed onto my arm immediately. “Well let’s get going, I want to show you everything.” I got dragged away from my friends as I ventured the streets with my new companion, exploring the bustling streets of a winter wonderland.

Traveling through the streets of the kingdom, the polar bear happily drags around Ace between different stores and vendors. Most of those vendors and stores sell different food, with Yule quickly spending his cash to treat Ace to many delicious delights. Eventually their travels ends at the palace, a tour given by the prince himself after the guards interrogate Ace. Stares from the staff go towards the wolf as the outsider stands out with everyone else.

The palace itself is humongous, with a grand lobby inviting the pair to venture in. Though the doors to the middle section of the castle are locked, the Yule continues his tour with a hop in his step. On the right side is where the hall is where the staff quarters, the knight barracks, and the dining area for them. On the other side of the castle there is the royal library, a medical bay, and an entrance to an open garden. A garden filled with blue and white flowers with some made pure of ice while a stone bench sits near the walls in front of an elegant flowing fountain.

When we entered the garden, I was greeted with the sight of a familiar panther scaling the castle walls like a lizard, our eyes meeting almost immediately. “Get down from there Crimson,” I shouted, “that’s really dangerous.” He actually did come down, landing directly in front of me and placing his climbing claws down on top of a nearby stony bench. “Why are you trying to climb the castle,” I asked, “if the guards find you, they’ll arrest you.” I watched as Yule casually walked over to the bench, examining the claws.

“You worry too much prince,” Crimson casually replied as he patted my head, “I just wanted to see the magnificent view when I get to the top.” I saw his ear twitch a bit as he turned towards Yule, who picked up Crimson’s climbing tools and tried to hide it by encasing himself in his frost. He looked guilty immediately like he was a little kid that got caught doing something bad. “Don’t worry, I brought extras. You can have them,” Crimson lets out, calming the bear down, “if you want, we could climb the walls together.” The bear beamed as he dispelled his frost, put on the claws and attached himself to the wall. “See? Even the cold prince wanted to check too. Wanna join us or are you going to leave your friend to me?”

The two stared at me with pleading eyes, though mostly Yule, Crimson gave off a smug look instead. “I’ll join you,” I answered, surprisingly shocking Crimson, “if needed, I’ll just use my shovel to hop my way there.” I pulled out my shovel as I slowly saw Crimson’s smile falter a bit slightly.

“You know what, sure,” he quickly replied as he put on his claws, “well since you want to cheat, go right ahead, but you should stay right here, just in case you need to catch one of us.” I agreed, as I watched the two of them begin the climb, clearly seeing the difference between Yule and Crimson as Crimson was already near the top of the wall. Though when Yule was nearing the top, Crimson jumped down as I was forced to catch him in my arms before he happily, dramatically exclaimed, “my hero,” and began purring. He was back in a blink of an eye, next to Yule on the roof, acting like nothing happened. I shot myself up there, greeting the two after landing and we carefully walked around the roof of the castle to see the beautiful view of a snowy landscape. Eventually Yule decided to head back down, telling me and Crimson to meet him back at the guild later, giving me and the panther some alone time.

It felt like a perfect time to discuss some stuff about him, so I took my chance. “Hey Crimson can we-”

Before Ace says anything, Crimson shuts the wolf’s mouth with his hand. “Let’s just enjoy this for a minute,” the panther immediately says before facing the landscape before the two. “We don’t get this opportunity to be together like this,” he notes as he releases his hand and brings the wolf closer, “you’re busy with my brothers after all. They love being with you after all.”

“I know that, ** **** you keep telling me that**,” Ace replies, “I just wish we could hang out more, I still feel like I don’t know much about you.”

“And I prefer to keep it that way,” Crimson answers as he averts his face away from Ace’s eyes, “the last thing I want is to make that love triangle even more complicated. It’s better that way, trust me.”

“But I-”

“I understand,” Ace lets out, “but that doesn’t mean we can do something like this more often. It’s nice to talk to you after all.”

“...Same here,” the crimson panther answered as he laid his back on the shingles of the castle roof, “I get to be myself a bit when I’m with you, be a bit more vulnerable, affectionate, and carefree.” I laid back as well after shaking off my weird feeling, looking at the panther with a smile, before he stopped smiling. “Do you want to know what my world is like? I know you could always visit it whenever since it’s literally a door away, but you get to hear the story I was told.” I nodded, seeing a nostalgic smile forming as I could see his mind working hard.

My world was just like this one, but the characters were either different or taken out of the script entirely. That included the main characters that would continue the story, they never existed, leading it to lands that are peaceful, but stagnated with no evolution in sight. Then Adam crashes into it by falling from the sky, forcing the world to evolve as mine and his world were in danger of dimensional collapse. With aid from his world, they fixed the dimensional hole that Adam fell through and used it to create the Dimensional Doors, linking our worlds together and a convenient way to travel around the world.

Even though we don't have to deal with the whole annual danger thing that this world is forced to do, we try to provide aid as much as we can to this one. We mostly send supplies, but we try to send people over to help out in expeditions, though we try to send people that don't exist here to avoid confusion. So, when I was born in my world’s Babymaker and got my false memories inserted in me, I wanted to come over and help. Thankfully, a Crimson never existed in yours, so I got my permission to help out on any expeditions and was rewarded my extra room key.

I obviously was lost on what to do at first, but I found Bled at the gym one day and instantly bonded with him after some wrestling matches. Yuki was next, who was introduced to me when I met Red in this world, he made sure I was ok and treated me with some food and drinks. They treated me like their younger brother, I love them for that and I’ll do everything I can to repay them for what they taught me.

“And that’s the same to you my prince,” Crimson notes as he smiles at me, “you may not know it, but you taught me a lot of things too and I’ll gladly repay you as well.” He caressed the side of my face as I felt the heat rushing to it. “So, any ideas on how I’ll repay you, my prince? Because I have plenty.”

“W-Well what is it,” I meekly asked as more heat started rushing to my head as a lot of thoughts started flooding in. They were abruptly interrupted as I felt Crimson pinching the sides of my cheeks.

“Mess with you like always,” he happily answered, “because I like you a lot, my prince.” He continued teasing me a bit as we enjoyed our time together, eventually heading back to the guild when we felt like it. What happened earlier though, it didn’t feel right, but I couldn’t do anything to talk about it on the way back.

From there the group meets up with the rest of the guild members during dinner. To accommodate space for the group, they were paired up into two to sleep in the guests rooms. Ace gets paired up with Yuki, Bled with Crimson, Trigger with Bit, and Jack gets to be with Jet while Adel volunteers to sleep somewhere else.

The next day, Ace gets invited to hang out with Bled, though mostly to get out to do some fieldwork. The black wolf happily agrees when Bled suggests that it’s a good way to collect unique materials. That mood quickly changes when the wolf finds out Bled didn’t invite anyone else except him as they headed out of the kingdom.

“Bled,” I spoke out as he started marching to the snowy lands, “shouldn’t we get more people to help us?”

“It’ll be fine,” he joyfully answered, “I can protect you! It'll be good for my training after all.” I thought about yesterday immediately. “I also trust you too, you always do a good job when you lead our group. You even thought about my Eyes too and gave me fake orders that I can ignore.”

“Thanks, but I’m not familiar with this land, wouldn’t it be better to get someone from the guild to help us?” Bled paused in his tracks as I could see his mind working behind his mask.

“You’re right, let’s go get someone.” We went back to look for another member, which ended up with Yule again as he was the only one available. He was pretty happy to come along though, so hopefully he’ll get something out of it.

As the group of three travel through the snow, Yule asks a couple questions about the world outside the natural barrier. The polar bear’s eyes gleam as Ace and Bled share their experiences and memories with him, most of it being their time at the Tower. In exchange for those stories, Yule leads Ace and Bled to some areas filled with an abundance of raw materials. Learning from his past, Ace gives Yule and Bled extra tools to help him gather them, with Ace spending most of the time teaching Yule how to use them.

After Ace gets his fill of materials, Yule leads the two to a training field to help with Bled’s training. The polar bear simply stands to the side, wanting to cheer for his newfound friends, Ace and Bled, to beat each other up. “Don’t worry about your injuries guys,” he cheers happily as he pulls out his book, “I’ll use my field thingy to get you guys back up after the fight. So go all out, but don’t kill each other!”

Without hesitation, Bled leaps at Ace while he looks at Yule for a split second, his gauntlets launching him forward as the cat body slams into the wolf. The pinned wolf quickly dissolves into a pile of snow as he reappears in the air, white as snow, and dives straight down with his spear in hand. The cat rolls out the way as Ace crashes into the snow, both of them facing each other with their weapons drawn.

“Rude,” I let out as I dissolved my snow, “good thing I know about your Eyes, would’ve started in a terrible position.” I looked over at Bled’s gauntlets, noticing it had been recently maintained. “I’m happy you’re taking good care of them, how often have you used them?”

“Too many to count,” the cat revealed as he stretched a bit, “and well enough for me to do this!” He pointed his finger towards the sky, letting me gullibly look up at a cloudy sky while the sound of a shotgun rang. Before I could react, I was hit by the cat’s blast as I was knocked back into a tree. He didn’t let the opportunity go as he ran straight at me and performed a divekick at my stomach, forcing me to clutch my stomach in pain as I collapsed to the ground. “That's all you going to do Ace,” Bled taunted as felt my pride sting a bit, “thought the Prince of Demon would be a lot stronger or smarter.” I rose myself back up as I scooped up some snow with my shovel and switched ammo.

Ace aims his shovel above the wrestler cat, shooting a big amount of snow that flies in every direction. The light glimmers to each spec of the snow, enamoring the spectating polar bear and cat before being hardened into frozen shards midair and falling directly onto the wrestler. Ace’s fur turns to white as he snaps his fingers, commanding the shards embedded onto the cat to dig deeper into the skin. Multiple small magical glyphs appear from the snow as the wolf summons icicle spears towards Bled.

Using the advice I was given by my magic master and his friend, I forced Bled to defend himself from an onslaught of ice as I turned my fur back and started swinging. He was pretty durable though, he took a lot of my magic face on, only deciding to dodge as I continuously swung my shovel at his face. I chose to start being sporadic as I randomly blast my shovel mid-swing to delay, quicken, or divert my swings, letting me get more hits on him. Eventually he got tired of it as he caught my shovel, brought me closer to him, and proceeded to strongly bash his skull against mine, forcing me to tumble back in immense pain. As I recovered, I saw some blood coating the snow, realizing it was mine as I touched my head with my hand, but all traces of it were gone with a blink of an eye.

I looked back up in confusion as I saw Bled still standing, waiting for me to strike, but his stance and aura felt more intimidating than usual. For just a second, it felt like I was seeing an entirely different person as I stared at him, paralyzed with fear. He sensed my hint of fear and heard my rapid breathing, stopping immediately as he signaled Yule the fight ended. “A-Are you ok,” Bled asked as he ran towards me, quickly embracing me, “did I hurt you anywhere? I-I’m so sorry!”

“I’m fine,” I quickly answered out of instinct, “I think that attack you just did scrambled me a bit.” I hugged back at him as I realized he was still panicking, his heart beating rapidly. “Hey Yule, mind if you do that field real quick?” The polar bear nodded as he performed his same trick, both me and Bled feeling rejuvenated from it. “And now I’m feeling a lot better,” I spoke to Bled, hoping it would reassure him, “but dang you’re really tough. You took a lot of my attacks like it was nothing.”

“That’s because I built myself up to protect you,” he replied in a somber tone, “I didn’t mean to hurt you too bad. You weren’t bleeding were you?”

“No,” I quickly lied, “like I said, just a bit dazed, it’s fine since Yule healed us. It just means I need to train myself to be even sturdier.” He was a bit hesitant, but he just sighed and patted my head. “Well let’s get back to the guild, we don’t want to be out here when it’s late.”

“Ok,” the big cat replied with a slight smile, “you sit there and get some rest for a bit, Yule and I can pack up our things before we get going.” I petted the cat in response before leaving me to help Yule. I looked back at the hand I used to pet him as I saw it coated in blood once again. I wiped it away on the snow before the two noticed.

Once done, the trio heads back, with Ace tailing behind the two, stuck in his thoughts. He stays quiet most of the time, only answering as the two call for him. He slowly eases back his worries as Bled starts giving the wolf some treats, wanting to make sure he was alright, all of the treats being paid by Yule again.

The next day, while I was wandering around the kingdom, I found Yuki standing by himself in his little corner. It was a wonderful spot that provided a view on the outskirts of the kingdom. It was enough to relax oneself, but the white wolf’s face was looking the opposite of that. He was gripping onto a pen tightly as a journal was being held in the other. There was music composition on the page I briefly saw and a lot of lyrics crossed out.

“You alright there Yuki,” I asked as I approached him, somewhat startling him. He closed his journal very quickly as he faced towards me, his expression softening up to an awkward smile.

“I-I’m fine Ace,” he answered with a bit of hesitation, “just having a creative block like usual. Nothing to worry about.” He let out a strained chuckle as he put away his pen and journal. “So, what are you doing here Ace? Were you looking for me?”

“I was just wandering around,” I truthfully answered, somewhat disappointing the singer in turn, “but I saw you standing here alone and wanted to check up on you. I know creating something can be hard, so I’m here if you want some motivation. I can even sing for you if you’d like, just so you won’t strain your cute voice.”

“I’d like that,” Yuki answered as he eased into a gentle smile at me, “thanks Ace, I feel better when you’re next to me.” We sat down at a nearby bench, looking at the scenery of the white mountains. “I’m just stuck writing the lyrics,” Yuki revealed as he opened up his journal, “I have the idea for the melody, but no matter what I write, the lyrics feel like it’s lacking something.” As I peaked inside the journal, I first noticed there were tally marks on the right corner of the pages, then I realized I couldn’t understand nor read music composition. “That’s fine if you can’t read it,” Yuki assured me with a laugh, reading the look on my face, “we can do this later. I appreciate that you’re here, sitting with me and taking in the sights. Would’ve been a great date, don’t you think?”

“Why don’t we make it one then,” I offered as we got closer, “we’re alone now and we have all the time in the world to be like this.” I gave him a kiss, watching the white wolf melt under me again as I wrapped an arm behind his back, causing the wolf to lean his head on my shoulder. We stayed like that for a while, enjoying each other's company as we stared at our landscape.

“So how’s the trip so far,” he asked me, “I don’t know much about your trials that your dad is having you take, but are you enjoying your time here?” I took some time thinking about it, remembering mostly Yule being around me.

“I am,” I answered as I pushed him closer to me, “though I’m sure my dad is calling it a trial as an excuse for me and Jack to get some sort of vacation.”

Yuki let out a soft, adorable chuckle. “I can believe that, it’d explain why he let you two bring everyone here. I’m glad he did though, I feel like I can learn a lot from this place. Maybe I can also get that Frost power the people have here so I can put myself in the front and protect you.” I immediately thought of Bled and the injuries he sustained from protecting me, not liking the idea of my boyfriend getting hurt.

“I appreciate it, but I want to protect you too,” I worriedly protested as I hugged him close, “I don’t know what I’ll do if you get hurt.” Yuki didn’t like hearing that.

“Well I don’t know what’d I do if you get hurt too, but you always like throwing yourself at the enemy to protect me,” Yuki snapped back. I wanted to object, then I remembered that material expedition and shut my mouth. “I know you mean well, but I don’t want to stand back all the time when it means watching you guys get hurt all the time. That’s why I wield my naginata and not some old wooden wand, so I can leap into action any time.”

“I understand,” I conceded, thinking about my times where I was forced to heal, “but if you’re really sure about it, let’s spar when we get back. I always saw you as a mage when we go out, so if we fight, I can think of some moves we can do together.” I saw him smile, though something treacherous was behind it as I felt a chill down my spine. “Who taught you how to use it by the way,” I asked the wolf.

“My other dad,” he happily answered, “you haven’t met him yet, but I can introduce him to you later. He’s the beast tamer that takes care of the monster ranch behind the tower and he also helped me convince Red to use one rather than a staff. You should’ve seen his face when I started swinging and singing at him, telling me I was pretty ruthless when he was getting overwhelmed by my barrage.” He cutely smiled even brighter when he continued talking about his fight with his dad as a tiny bit of fear and mostly love for him etched itself to my soul.

“Well I can’t wait to see your skills when we come back,” I loudly, but happily promised when he finished, “so I can brag to everyone that my boyfriend is hot and strong in both magic and in strength.” He got flustered immediately as he immediately pinned me down on the bench, looking around to see that no one was nearby. “I love you,” I let out as I playfully stuck out my tongue, he let go immediately.

“I love you too Sweetheart. Shame the walls in our room are thin,” Yuki whispered as I sat back up, “I could’ve shown you how strong I am in bed.”

“Oh I know,” I affirmed the wolf, recalling my experiences, “I figured you are since that one time. Got me bedridden for half a week, but I’d say it was totally worth it. I get to see you in a better light and we’re still together after what I’ve done.”

“Yeah, yet we’re both a mess aren’t we,” Yuki asked as he let out a slight chuckle. “We both kept secrets from each other, you hid your affection for others and I hid my identity. All while we lived together for a long time since-”

“We’re both roommates,” Yuki and I echoed together as we cuddled more. We spent some more time talking with each other about random topics before we decided to get going and continue our date. We enjoyed each other's company, whether in conversation or in silence. We went to a lot of the shops that Yule took me to and ordered the best dishes from a restaurant that the prince recommended. I had to thank him privately later, but it was a lovely, peaceful time I had with Yuki.

After a day of rest and bit more sightseeing, Yule invites Ace to come along, escorting the wolf to the royal library. “Your dad told me that you wanted to know the history of the town, right?” The black wolf answers with a nod, his eyes looking around a gigantic room filled with book-filled shelves being perused by some high ranking individuals. “Perfect,” Yule happily exclaims, “because I know a great book I can give you. There’s this old tale that’s been well preserved and republished.” The bear hums a tune as he leads Ace to a secluded corner of the library.

“So how’d you guys get so many books,” Ace asked, “I thought the kingdom would have less, considering how secluded it is from the world.”

“We’re not that secluded, we got a lot of these from traveling merchants,” Yule answers as he browses through the shelves, “and well, since most of the citizens can’t travel out of the blizzard, a lot of them wrote books. Though mostly autobiographies, so some of it gets samey since we’re all mostly raised in the kingdom.” A glint of light shimmers in Yule’s eyes as he takes out a book. “Though once and a while we get a couple of story writers that want to share their fantasies, like this one, I'm a huge fan of this writer’s works.”

He gave me the book, letting me open a few pages to skim through it. It was a very raunchy adventure romance novel involving a bear swordsman, a rhino knight, and a cat mage exploring the world in search of treasures and riches. All three of them seem to be romantically into each other, but it seemed there was a fourth member too, who seemed to have taken the side of evil. I am a bit miffed that Yule didn’t give me the first book in the series as I realized that there’s some past events the characters reference. I looked back up at the bear, smiling at me with glee as I saw him in a new light and smiled back. “I can see why,” I answered as I handed him back the book, “I’m guessing you’re a bit of a romantic, aren’t you Yule?”

“Yeah,” Yule answers after a bit of giggling, “but I can’t wait to read this later, I was waiting for this for a while. Do you like writing by any chance Ace?”

“Not really, but I’ve been writing in a journal,” I answered as I unconsciously opened it in my HUD, “mostly to keep track of what happened each day.” As I expected, he was staring at me with a glimmer in his eyes. “I’m sorry to say this, but I don’t plan on sharing it to anyone, but myself.” The glimmer immediately faded away, but he was still smiling at me.

“That’s fine, I was curious, but let me look for that book for you,” he replied as he started browsing the shelves again. We made some short talks as I waited for him to look, but it was comforting to have someone energetic next to me.

After sorting through multiple shelves, the prince of Frozolin takes out a hefty book before handing it to Ace. “That’s the book, it’s a story that explains why Frozolin worships demons. It’s a tale that’s been told each generation, but it tells a bit of history at least, especially since it talks about the Lord of Butterflies, the demon a lot of people here associate with.”

The wolf opens the book, noticing it talks about two demons and an angel. The Lord of Fireflies, the Lord of Butterflies, and the Angel of Death, the three of them journeying through the lands to rebel against the Angels that took over the lands for nefarious deeds, including the once simple town of Frozolin. Though years after their heroic deeds, the only one that came back to the surface was the Lord of Butterflies, who revealed his name to be Beowulf. He chose to live in Frozolin for hundreds years as their guardian before passing away, leaving behind his treasured artifact, a blue-bladed longsword summoning an endless amount of frozen butterflies.

“So, do you know where the sword is Yule,” Ace asks as he closes the book, “I assume the royal family would know where it’s located at least.”

“We do, but for obvious reasons, we can’t share that with anyone,” Yule answered as he clung to his left wrist, “that includes you too Ace. I know you’re a Demon, but it is important to both the kingdom and its citizens. You can keep the book though, we have a lot of people copying it so losing one isn’t going to be a huge disaster.” Ace immediately shoves it into his item cube with no questions asked. “That’s probably the only book I could lend you though, but feel free to look around and do some reading. I’ll do the same too, but I can help you out if you’re looking for something specific. I practically lived in this room for my entire life.”

After he left me by myself, I thought I would try to sneak away to see the sword, but every time I looked back at him, he was also looking at me. I gave up shortly and just continued looking for any history about Demons that I could find. I wanted to know about the Lord of Butterflies the most, since Adrian mentioned it before, but a part of me was curious about the Lord of Fireflies too. Some of the books I read were helpful, some weren’t, but I learned that even if the Butterfly was an outcast, he was treated properly like everyone else, an equal. I thought about Simon being a mix of an angel and a demon and the problems he faced in the Demon World. I wondered if I have to hide my race when I take the throne, the stress I’ll have to face, knowing my choices would leave an impact. We left the library shortly, my thoughts stuck on that thought throughout the rest of the day as an eerie, familiar feeling came over me.

The first day of the festival begins, Yule summons the whole gang to follow him to the castle. Going through a door in a secluded area of the castle, they stood in an empty hall where a metal cage hung over a hole in the floor. The sound of water could be heard as the hall is decorated with floating, shimmering icicles. As the group ventures through the hall, the icicles sing melodious memories of another, cheers, cries, and rallies emit from the frozen water.

“Here we are,” the polar bear loudly proclaims, “this is where the kingdom performs an annual tradition called Frosting. It’s both a test and a requirement for every citizen of Frozolin, as this tradition is made to grant them the power of Frost.” Both the white wolf and the red cat took interest immediately, listening in closely. “There’s also some superstition where if couples do it, their love for each other would be frozen in eternity.”

“How are we doing this,” Jack asks as he stares at the metal cage, “that cage doesn’t seem stable.”

“Well, it’s because it’s old,” Yule answers as he walks over to it, “and we’ll be using this cage to safely lower you guys down into the deepest depths underneath Frozolin, where a special flower grows. You’ll know when you see it, but grab it, eat it, and you have a chance of gaining your Frost. Sadly the cage can only hold two people, probably why that superstition was made in the first place, so we’re going to take turns. Who wants to go first?” Everyone stares at the metal cage as the door eerily creeks open by the polar bear.

“I’ll do it,” Jack answers as he walks in, “you go with me Jet. Let’s make this quick for the others.” Jet obliges as he squeezes into the cage.

“By the way,” Yule notes as he walks over to a lever, “you’ll be underwater for a while once you reach the depths, so you might drown. Enjoy!” Jack and Jet didn’t have time to process what the bear said as Yule pulled on the lever, immediately plunging the two tigers deep below. “Alright, who’s the next pair that wants to go?”

I immediately looked over to see my Yuki and Bled looking at me with anticipation, waiting for me to make my choice on who should come. Standing on his own was Crimson, watching me with a blank expression on his face. I pondered on who I should choose, knowing all of them are important to me. I wish all three of them could come with me, but the size of that metal contraption says otherwise. It was a good thing Jack went to the metal elevator first, it gave me some time to think about my choices. When I looked at the three of them, my heart became torn as a part of them belonged to one of them.

Yuki has been pretty stressed out lately, it’s definitely related to that song he’s writing. He has all the time he needs, but he’s in a rush for some reason. I promised him I would help him however I can, so maybe I should help relieve that stress. That date I had with him helped him a lot, but I know he still wants to be useful as well. I want to give him inspiration and to assure him that no matter what, he always will be amazing.

Same could be said about Bled, he’s been focused too much on getting stronger, I’m worried that he’ll overwork himself or something. Now that we’ve learned about Illusory Fields, he's way too eager on training himself to learn it. I know he wants to protect us, but I fear that he might cause an accident, especially with our last sparring session. If I go with him, I want to help calm him down and convince him to go on a different path.

And for Crimson, I still feel weird about what happened in our last time together. Doesn’t help that he’s standing on his own, but he looked different than usual. He’s holding a secret and I’m worried about what Joker said about him. Whatever answer he was searching for, I would love to help him find out. I want to know what’s on his mind and to show that he can confide with me when he needs to.

I took a deep breath as I gathered my thoughts and calmly thought about it. I really shouldn’t care about that superstition, it’s just something that the public made up for fun. All I want to do is help each of them out, they have their problems and I want to help them. Even if I can only choose one today, it doesn’t mean I won’t be busy with the others later. I’m sure there’ll be more opportunities to talk to each one of them alone, I’m sure of it.

Yet, what’s this sad feeling in my heart?