Chapter 16: For The Good of Life

As Josh entered Rosa's office he could smell smoke coming from a fire place on one side of the room. Sitting next to the fire place was Rosa, The Rose. Selena walked towards Rosa and said, "I have brought his highness".

"Good, thank you Selena", replied Rosa.

"You are welcome. I shall be taking my leave now". Selena left the room and Josh was left alone with Rosa as she sat near the fire place with papers in her hand.

"Well hello Josh Celeste", said Rosa as she threw the papers into the fire.

"Hello, what are you doing?" Asked Josh.

"Getting rid of some papers", answered Rosa.

She got up and walked towards Josh as the fire crackled and illuminated the room with a warm glow. The metallic, purple curtains in the room were closed shut making the stars on the ceiling glow as many books aligned two walls. Her desk is placed in front of oak doors which Josh guessed lead to a balcony and many drawers were placed next to the desk. The white carpet on the floor looked like it is as soft as a bunny and the clean white complimented the pastel pink walls. All together the room gave a comfy yet mysterious feeling that the Prince could not shake of.

As Josh was looking around Rosa twirled her finger and a chair appeared in front of her desk. She gestured for Josh to sit down on the chair so he did that and Rosa sat at her seat.

"Thank you for coming here. Have you finished the assignment given to you?" Asked Rosa.

At this moment Josh was thankful for all of the lessons on how not to get nervous, since right now he looked calm but on the inside he couldn't help but freak out. "No I have not. I got a bit distracted by... Everything in Vas".

Josh sounded embarrassed when saying 'everything in Vas' so that way that small pause didn't sound suspicious.

"Is that so..."

Josh couldn't help but feel extremely nervous during the small silence after Rosa's sentence. He was scared that she might suspect him about something bad so his fingers started to fidget, a sign that someone could be nervous so he hid his hands behind his back and kept still.

While the Prince's skill in acting was good it was not good enough to fool Rosa. She knew he was hiding something but decided not to ask about it since she knew he had a reason for keeping it a secret.

"Well that's good because you no longer have to continue with that assignment, since I have something else for you to do", said Rosa.

"Really?" Asked Josh.

"Yes. In this assignment you are to work with Selena and her group. They found something linked to Black Lilac in the capital near her father's store and I want you to go work with her".

Josh was confused about why she gave him a new assignment but accepted it and went back to the guest house.

-With Rosetta-

Rosetta watched the Prince's figure exit the room and she started writing down plans and instructions. She still had to make it look like as if Rosa and Ariana are different people so she gave instructions to Adrian to tell others what to do while she is out as Pink Rose.

Pink Rose is supposed to be gathering more information about the magic Black Assassin and Black Lilac have been using recently and why they might be using it. Ariana and her group are investigating in the best libraries in Celeste, which is based in the capital (excluding the libraries of the Galaxious Group, the Royal Palace and Vas).

So Rosa changed to Ariana's form and appearance then made her way to the capital after finishing some work and practicing magic.

-With Black Assassin-

"Master. White Rose's group are now investigating what we are doing in the capital", said a man who wore a black cloak with a lilac on it.

The man was reporting to his master in the throne room of Black Lilac's main base which had very dim lights and walls made of uneven, sharp stone.

"Perfect, now let's put the next phase of our plan to work now shall we".

A handsome man with brown hair which had streaks of black in it sat on a throne made of crystals as his servant kneeled in front of him. The man had a chiseled face and deep blue eyes, but his arms and legs were a pitch black, one of the many signs showing whether or not a person is going through soul self destruction. If this person decided to be a model instead of a villain he would do great. He would just have to always wear gloves and long pants so they wouldn't suspect him.

The man got of his throne and smiled wickedly. It sent chills to the person in front of him despite the person not being able to see it. "Now lets make that little store fall a bit", said the man before he laughed in a sinister tone which echoed through out throne room.

"I vow on my name as Black Assassin that I will become number one".

-With Ariana-

Ariana entered the forbidden library after an intense security check. She met up with the most important people in her group who is one palace official, one of the high ranking scientists from the Galaxious Group and one member from the Rose Group.

They all sat around a table in a secluded area in the library which only some can enter. Many papers were stacked on the table along with books, stationary, coffee and energy drinks, with some of them empty. The people present had obviously spent all night awake researching so Ariana thought she might help by placing a spell on them that helps their fatigue go away.

When she cast the spell the others immediately felt better and noticed Ariana's presence. "There you are, I was wondering when you were going to show up", said the scientist who is named Michael.

"Yeah, you've only helped us through mail so we were starting to wonder if you were ever gonna show up", said the girl from the Rose Group, her alias is Lisa.

"Um yeah", said the officer named Jeffrey.

"Well I had some other stuff to do at Vas, sorry", apologised Ariana.

"Well at least you were doing work", said Michael.

Michael knows Ariana well as he used to play with her when she was younger and the 17 year old is also good friends with Ariana too. Lisa is of course good friends with Ariana since she is a a member of the Roses'. However this was the first time she has met the official from the palace. "Hello, it is a pleasure to meet you. I am Ariana Galaxious", said the Pink Rose as she shook Jeffrey's hand.

"A pleasure to meet you too. I am Jeffery Steele", said the official.

"Anyway what have we got so far on all of the events that have happened recently?" Asked Ariana.

"Well", said Michael as he touched his glasses. "In the past four hours the opposition used an advanced fire protection spell to protect them from the heat of a volcano. In the capital near Albert's store they have been using dark shadow, a spell of darkness and misty fog, one of the most powerful distraction spells. They used stage eight dark shadow making it pitch black despite the sun shining just before. For misty fog they used stage seven making it hard for the citizens to see two steps ahead of them".

"In Peter's home village", said Lisa. "They are using a mix of stage four to eight in spells and some of them are black magic".

"The black magic they used is of all types so we can't identify what their main preference of spells is", said Jeffery.

"I see", Ariana said while thinking.

'Everything Black Assassin has done recently is mild when compared to his past doings so what exactly is his intentions. Does he plan to take action later?' Thought Ariana.

"His actions are quite confusing aren't they?" asked Michael.

"Yes... They are indeed", answered Pink Rose.

"Well lets continue working shall we?" Said Lisa.

"Yeah we really should", said the palace official.

The four of them started to work again and further into the day. While Ariana was trying to figure out why they might need to use a fire protection spell in the first place, she then remembered how they used it for when they went to the home of eternal flame, perhaps they were trying to get more eternal flame?

As Ariana was thinking Selena and Josh were spying on a member of Black Lilac who seemed to be snooping around a newspaper agency. In his hands he clutched a brown case as he looked inside the building of that little company. Eventually with quick steps he entered the building and closed the door shut. Selena then crouched down and hovered her hands over Josh's feet and a little spark appeared. "We're going to try and take a better look inside so I used a spell to make it so your footsteps can't be heard", said Selena with telekinesis to Josh.

"Got it", said Josh back with telekinesis.

While Josh was at Vas he learned how to use telekinesis and is almost able to say more than ten words which is quite impressive.

They walked past the window of the building but at the same time Josh and Selena cast perfect memory and looked through the windows. Since they used perfect memory when walking by they were able to remember exactly what was going on inside. The Black Lilac member walked to the reception and pulled out what seemed to be a card. The receptionist looked at it and bit her lip, then walked into a room and came back to her desk after a few seconds. Josh read the lips of the receptionist while she was talking and she apparently said, "they are ready, please do not cause any trouble". Afterwards the member walked inside the room the receptionist had just left and closed the door.

Selena let the other group members do the rest of the spying as she and Josh made their way back to their temporary base.

"So what do you think of this?" Questioned Selena after she reported what they found out to others.

Josh thought for a while and guessed inside the brown case were some papers and since the member went into a newspaper agency it could be about some news or gossip. The receptionist seemed like she knew this person was no good but there is a chance she might have not known the person is a member of Black Lilac since she didn't seem scared at all... More like annoyed. That newspaper agency is notorious for spreading lies and misleading people so the member might have delivered false news about Black Lilac's enemies.

Josh said all of this to Selena and she just nodded then suddenly the crystal ball on the table lit up. Something was going on in her father's shop.

-With Ariana-

One of Ariana's instincts told her something was going on in Albert's store... It was correct.

She rushed to the store to see a woman getting strangled by vines so she swung her hand and a light cut the vines which fell to the floor before turning into ash. Suddenly black smoke engulfed the room and in the corner of her eye Ariana saw a figure quickly exit the shop. She ran after the figure and passed by Selena and Josh.

Both Ariana and Selena were moving to fast for Selena to notice Ariana but Josh felt something whiz pass him and he got curious. He had a feeling that it was connected to what happened at the store so he followed the trail left behind by the runners and used ability boost spells to catch up to see Ariana and a person with a black cloak standing in a grassy field.

The cloaked figure took of their cloak to reveal a man with brown and black hair. "Tsk, Black Assassin. One of the most annoying magicians to have ever exist", said Ariana with spite in her words.

"Why hello Ariana and Josh Celeste", replied Black Assassin.

"What-" Ariana turned around to see Josh standing behind them with a shocked face.

She sighed and simply mouthed run or fight. She then spun around and she now wore her uniform and in her hand was a rose gold sword. She then started to jump and while doing that she quietly said, "boost my ability". She then jumped high into the sky and disappeared.

While she was doing this Josh made up his mind and decided to fight. He might not be able to beat Black Assassin but he could at least help Ariana.

Josh put his hand on his shoulder and swung his arm while whispering, "vanish". Disappearing spell was one of the most hardest spells he learnt but now his hard work proved to be good as he circled Black Assassin. Josh knew that his disappearing spell was weak and that Black Assassin could have traced him when he was casting the spell so he used ability boost spells to circle Black Assassin in the hopes of confusing him.

The Prince circled Black Assassin for a while until he stepped back, said, "boost my ability", and kicked Black Assassin at the place where Ariana had shot him the last time she saw him. Thanks to Black Lilac, Black Assassin was able to find something to help his body cure better, but it still wasn't completely healed yet so when Josh kicked it incredibly hard Black Assassin stumbled forward and spat blood out of his mouth.

"So that's how you want to play huh", smiled Black Assassin. "Then in that case I shall grant your wish!"

With crazed eyes Black Assassin brought his hand up and brought it down which made a large, black scythe made of bones appear in his hand. He brought his scythe back and swung it at the Prince. His highness quickly dodged and dashed to behind Black Assassin. As he suspected Black Assassin turned around but while he was doing that Josh slid through his legs and kicked him at his weak spot again.

This time Black Assassin was fed up and started to use magic.

He threw his scythe into the air and it disappeared into crows which circled Josh and trapped him. Black Assassin then got some darts to appear and he started throwing them at Josh.

The first one hit Josh's shoulder, then his thigh, afterwards his stomach (didn't hit any vital parts) and just as Black Assassin was about to aim at one of Josh's vital parts, Ariana appeared from the sky and at the speed of light she struck Black Assassin with her sword. Black Assassin hurriedly blocked it with his scythe but when Ariana's sword hit it, it broke. She then aimed straight for his head and soon a massive cut appeared on Black Assassin's forehead.

Together Josh and Ariana attacked Black Assassin.

Josh used the darts that were thrown at him to throw back at Black Assassin and with a little help from wind spells the darts hit Black Assassin hard and after that Ariana shouted, "excisus!" She then swung her sword at Black Assassin's arm. Black Assassin's arm was completely cut off and it fell to the floor before it disintegrated into nothing. Black Assassin cursed and shouted an unknown phrase which summoned a tornado. He stepped in it and disappeared within the span of five seconds.

Both Ariana and Josh looked at the spot where Black Assassin just stood and stared at it. "Hey Ariana. Was the spell you just used a forbidden one?" Asked Josh.

"I couldn't help it. Sometimes you have to do the same as the enemy in order to create some damage. In the end I should have done better but hey at least he can no longer use his right arm", replied Ariana.

"Sorry but what?"

"That spell chops of everything and destroys it completely. No going back once that has been done".

Ariana then turned and looked Josh in the eye and said, "I will be honest. This is not the first time I have used forbidden magic. I did many things to get to the top but they were in the end all for good causes. You see most of the time you are supposed to be the better person but sometimes you have to use other ways to achieve things otherwise it might become much harder and worse. In the end no matter right or wrong, you have to do what you can for what is best".

Ariana then made her way back to Albert's store, leaving Josh to think about everything that he has ever learnt.

As Ariana knocked on the door of the now closed store, Selena opened it and let Ariana inside. "How is everything going?" Asked the Pink Rose.

"Well", said Selena with a sullen face as she handed a newspaper article to Ariana. "This is... Not really helping my father's store after what had just recently happened".

While Ariana took the paper she knew straight away something was wrong with it so as she read it she couldn't help but feel many emotions.

That notorious newspaper agency wrote an article about how Albert's store is no longer safe and that they will most likely be targeted again since the Pink Rose was the one who invested in them along with owner's daughter being the White Rose. This will definitely have a big impact on Albert's business and some people might no longer go to Albert at all. After what just happened people couldn't help but doubt the store.

Ariana sighed and placed her forehead in her hands. She wanted to let Selena go and help her father but at the same time she couldn't really let anyone go at such a crucial time like this. "Selena-", said Ariana before she was interrupted.

"Stop... I know what you are going to say". Selena stood up and made her way to Ariana and kneeled in front of her. "I know my father is strong and that he can deal with this on his own. I will help him out for some parts but in the end I have to work hard to make sure this never happens again. I vow on my family name to always stay with the Roses'. For us, for everyone, we shall never wither, but grow stronger".

Ariana couldn't help but feel tears in her eyes as she remembered the past and everything that has happened. There was once a time where she made a big mistake and caused something horrific, but she learnt from it and grew stronger. She learned that sometimes you have to put pride away in order to do what is best otherwise who knows what might happen. Rosetta learnt a lot from her mistakes in the past, they are what made her the person she is today. From suffering to happiness, Rosetta will always be a person, who will do everything she can for the sake of the people.