Repay You In Kind

"They claimed that everyone was able to experience peace afterwards, but this tale also shows the blindness of people when blinded by fear. None could have thought nor wanted to know the loneliness of the most powerful magician to date. If one just looks deeper into her life and her experience, they could've learned the true reasons to why she chose that path. If they looked into those tales, they could find small traces of footprints that links to another. The kings were cold and the queen distant. None tried to speak with her and the one person who did betrayed her. That person was the princess's father. In fact, if you looked up records and artifacts of her past, you could find that, in truth, it was the king who was at fault here. From a young age, they met and he promised her friendship and later devoted romance, but he later threw all of that away for status and power. You could say that this should've been his karma. Her life certainly reminds me of one individual..."

Noticing her eyes on him, Malleus looked up in bewilderment, "Me?"

"Is it really all that unusual?" Peony sighed, "You not only are her distant descendant, but you are also very like her. It wouldn't be wrong to say that you share the same fate as her. Now, the problem is what her downfall means to you."

"But, the past won't repeat itself." Malleus responded.

"No. It can, through different means." Peony shrugged.

"What makes you think that the past will repeat itself, then?"

Peony sighed, "Because everything around you is mirroring that tale on so many aspect in your life. Just as there were three fairies protecting the princess, you have three retainers protecting you and one of them even raised you. Living far from your birth family with another. being isolated and waiting to be invited. Compared to her experience, you, at least, have the chance to negotiate this and you still have a living relative. However, your experience has aspects of that princess. The only difference being that you grew up knowing your identity and were preparing to take on that title growing up. The biggest tie is the princess's name and fake identity."

"You know of her name?"

"Look up old records of old kingdoms in the past and humans fairies were sent to help in the fairy kingdom records and it all pulls up on three fairies who went to save one human baby. Her birth name is Aurora. However, the identity she assumed under... was Briar Rose." Peony glanced over him briefly, "She was a child born with blonde hair like sun rays and blue eyes. Raised by fae god mothers... Now doesn't this sounds awfully familiar..."

Malleus didn't say a word, but the atmosphere grew tense as he glared at her. He knew what she was talking about and he is angry to hear her hinting at it. However, his glare was not effective against her as she huffed, "Glare at me all you want. But it's best that you are made aware that Silver's sleepiness is definitely not an inborn trait he has going on. Let me ask you this, what are Silver and Sebek to you aside from retainers? Aren't they similar to family to you as well? That is the difference between you and Maleficent. Silver will be the key for Yuu to re-ignite your dorm's constellation which means that it'll give Maleficent's erased constellation another chance to shine amongst the others."

His dorm's constellation?! He paused with a look of surprise as it dawned upon him!

Seven constellations, seven dorms, seven figures...

There had been six overblots from what he heard. Could it be that these six overblots being overcame by Yuu re-ignited the constellations of the seven figures?

"However, Viper is not a dorm leader." Malleus responded bluntly.

"And neither was the tactician of the desert, Jafar. Have you heard of the thief and the princess tale of the scaliding sands?" Peony sighed and continued after seeing the hesitant nod, "He was simply a vassal back then too. In the end, he also attempted for the seat of sultan back in his days just as Jamil tried to become dorm leader. If Yuu had not stopped him, this problem would have become bigger than just him overthrowing Kalim. Can you safely say that the Al Asim family and his own could've been out of his sights? The Al Asim family spoiled Kalim. His own family's words and responsibilities restricted Jamil's freedom to stretch his wings as a child. When you overblot, you naturally lose sight of yourself and those around you. You will accidentally hurt those you care about your entire life and afterwards will come to regret it once your mind is cleared again. By the time Jafar realized what he had done, he stumbled upon realizing he had overthrown his own sultan and the thief he tried to take the life of for his sultan's well being had returned and that he tried to fix it by becoming a genie blindly. In the end, the thief succeeded in saving the kingdom and the princess and was granted marriage with the princess while the tactician was locked away in a lamp till he no longer remembered who he was. Yuu stopped Jamil before he could enter a scenario that crazy and this gave him the chance to slowly reconsider his surroundings and himself. His circumstances and environment mirrored the one who originally had such a fate and now is given a second chance avoiding the bad end. All of them are gathered here to be tested on whether they can attain another chance to re-ignite. However, Scarabia re-ignition requires Kalim's presence or the test could never have begun. Safe to say... Yuu played the role of the thief during that event rather well."

"So, you're saying that Yuu will come to slay me?" Malleus scoffed, "Ridiculous."

"It all depends on your definition of 'slay'." Peony sighed and turned around, "After all, even though everyone passed, have you seen a single student lose their life here yet?"

Malleus frowned, "What about the seeds of catastrophe?"

"I don't know about that part." Peony hummed, "However, I fear that it may be connected to Grim."

"That monster?"

"When Yuu was at STYX, they discovered that he had layers of ancient seals placed on him. All of them old seals." Peony responded, "If something were to happen to Grim, I fear that this remnant of light may grow weak as it would if you and everyone else in this school were to disappear. That guy is just that naïve, after all. Even when no one wants his sympathy, he will still sympathize with them unintentionally. If Yuu was in my birthplace, he wouldn't last past pre-teen."

"You seem to care a lot about him." Malleus sneered.

"Don't you find him interesting as well, Prince Malleus?" Peony shrugged with a sneer, "It would be rather depressing should he lost the ability to keep me entertained. Ah, right."

She turned around and shot a small yet powerful force at Malleus. Caught off guard, Malleus shielded himself but the force landed on his neck and he could feel a powerful seal over his voice.

"You-!" Malleus managed with a shocked expression across his face as he cried out hoarsely.

"With this, you can forget about sharing what you learned about me." Peony glared at him, "As grateful as I am for saving you my life, other things have different priorities. If you weren't an important friend to those two and granny's cherished grandson, I probably would've erased your memories without a second thought. Still, I will have to repay you in another way one day... Hmph... See you at the gala, then..."

"Peony!!!"

Malleus tried to catch her, but she suddenly vanished without a trace much to his bewilderment. How could it be?! Teleportation?

He quickly shifted his focus back on the seal within him and realized that the seal was actually very complicated and ancient. He was actually struggling to decipher it! Curses! He actually underestimated someone!

He was left stunned in silence before he suddenly laughed aloud, "You dare challenge me? Haha! Interesting... I guess I'll have to repay you in kind... Princess."

Outside of the room, Lotus walked with a slight hop in her steps when she slowly came to a pause in her footsteps and looked back on her hand silently. Her hand, which had always felt so empty like a knife had pierce open a large hole through them, finally felt as though it was filled with something as the warmth touched her palm. But, what was it? In the very end, her mother never told her the whole story of what had happened. She simply scolded her then told her that Malleus had arrived, learned her true identity and saved her life. To be saved by someone other than her friends and family...

It had been a long time since someone willing saved her out of their goodwill.

When was the last time someone saved her life? Ah yes, the last few time that someone did so was when she was but a small child at the age of seven. She had just encountered her first assassin from her birth world. Two young assassins came to take her life while on the venture for opportunities to increase their strength, status and fortune. It was the search for opportunities that they came across her who had just recently uncovered her cultivation from the seal she was placed upon. Interested in the fairies and thinking she was one of them, she was chased throughout the forest after her first fairy gala. There she was, a small young girl dressed in her silk dancing clothing for once after being chased around the castle by her caretaker and tailor. It was unfortunate that was the not case during her first visit to the forest of Briar Valley as an infant. Chased throughout the forest of Briar Valley as she struggled to throw poisonous critters at her adversaries. She was reckless that day and utilized a powerful attack upon her foes despite her weak power. She finally injured him enough for him to fade away in the forest from his injuries, but…

She fell down a ravine and nearly died.