✍️ Write based on the line prompt above

*some cussing*

"c'mon, sweetie... locking yourself up in your room won't bring him back." her mother looked at her with hopeful, comforting eyes. "he's in his eternal life now. it's good that you want to remember him, honey, but he's gone."

she was grateful for her mother's encouragement, but the despair in her heart still lingered like a foul stench in the air. this, this was despair... an emotion she wouldn't wish on her worst enemy. it was more than depression, more than agony, it was like combining both and doubling it. "mom, i can't go on without him." she said.

"well, he could go on without you if he just took off to hope's peak like that." her mother snided. "you really sure he loved you? i mean, why didn't he take you with him?"

for a moment, she was given a break from despair, but it wasn't a good thing. her mother's words mixed with the despair turned into blood-curdling anger. "why won't you understand?! it's an invite-only school, damn it!! i didn't go because they didn't want me, he would've taken me with him in a second. not that you would have let me go, 'cause you're selfish like that."

she regretted her words when she saw the true hurt in her mom's eyes, but the older woman just sighed, stood up, and walked away. "i'll tell dad to make you some dinner."

"i don't want it."

That night... They went out to a party together, just a regular house party, nothing really special. Shizuko was flirty as usual, and Yuuto came to expect that from her, touchy and flirty, enough to capture any guy. While he was grabbing something to drink and making small talk with people, out of the corner of his eye, he saw something he should have never seen. He didn't want to think about it anymore. 

They left the party early. The ride back to her apartment was silent. He was usually quiet but still talkative, but she knew him well enough to know that he was the type of person to be silent when angry. And he was furious. Sure, she was the flirty type; it's not like he can really change that, and it didn't bother him that much since he knew Shizuko wouldn't do anything to betray him. But man. Anyone with a significant other would be upset too if they saw what he saw. 

When they entered her apartment, both of them sat on the couch. It was silent for a moment until Yuuto threw off his glasses and covered his face with his hands. A loud groan filled the room, it shook her down to the core. It was really obvious but, she just had to ask:

"Are you mad, baby?" 

He nodded his head, not even bothering to say anything to her as his usual demeanor shattered. Her usual stubbornness was nowhere to be found since even she knew the harm of her actions. 

“I’m sorry... if I hurt you...” She quietly said, leaning over onto his shoulder and embracing him in a warm hug. Her face nuzzled right into his cheek, a sign of her apology since... She can't say sorry very well. 

"I am. Very. Disappointed." 

Hearing that hurt more than being told that he was angry. It probably hurt a lot more than being hit or slapped. Or yelled at or berated. Any pain she felt before, whether it be arguments or physical abuse, meant nothing to those words he said. 

All she could do was cry and hold him tighter.

En stood at one of the large hallways in the castle, staring at the moon through the windows. This was one of his last days here.
He couldn't sleep, hadn't been able to for a few days now, not ever since his performance, if you could call it that. He hated thinking about it, but it always wormed its way into his mind.
Royal sirens were meant to have voices more beautiful than any others in the species, voices capable of conjuring up instruments of any kind; it was like listening to a concert come from just one person. Everyone had seen it when his brother performed, and they had eagerly awaited the same thing from him. But he didn't know how to sing, he couldn't even play an instrument. Several teachers had been called in, Allegro even tried, but no one was able to get him to hold a note.
He remembered seeing everyone so happy for him and excited when he "sang"... and he remembered the horror and fury on their faces when the stereo messed up and started to loop.
It was like some kind of cosmic disaster.
Shutting his eyes tight, En dipped his head and tried to shake away the humiliation.
"Trouble sleeping?"
He looked up, visibly relaxing. "Allegro," he sighed, though his relief quickly reverted back to dread.
The older prince walked over to him and smiled tenderly. "Still beating yourself up?"
"Yeah..." he mumbled as he looked back through the window. "I didn't mean to make fun of the sirens, I was just scared." He spoke with a lot of hesitation, afraid that even his brother would condemn him.
Allegro was quiet for a moment, slowly turning to face the windows as well. "Yes, though I suppose in hindsight a race of singers would find faking to be an insult," he mused, making En feel worse. "However," he started. "I think you were destined to lose from the start. They were already antsy from so much postponing, and if you had gone there and sang as you can now? We'd be in this exact same situation, with this same amount of hate."
There was a long silence. "... Do you think I'm a siren?" En whispered.
Another silence. "I do." En looked up at his brother, who smiled warmly. "Being a siren doesn't mean you're automatically a great musician. There have been plenty accounts of that. We're also human, and with your eyes, it's safe to say your human blood takes more priority than the sirens. Without a doubt I know you're my brother. Even if you weren't, I'd accept you as mine anyway."
En felt something warm on his face, vaguely recognizing them as tears. He hadn't realized he was crying. It overwhelmed him, and he hugged Allegro tightly, burying his face into his shirt. The older prince's expression softened as he hugged him back. "I'm so sorry you had to go through all of this, En," he said. "It's not fair, and it's not right." He gently pushed En away so that he could look him in the eyes. "I'll make sure you don't have to stay exiled. Go to Anthea in the meantime, they'll be able to shelter you as I figure things out." He smiled. "Don't worry, En, I'll fix this. Soon we'll--"

SCHWIING!!

En's eyes widened.
W... What...?
He took a step back, then another, then another until he tripped and landed on his rear. He looked down for a brief second before looking back up.
Back up to his brother, who had just been impaled.
Allegro clenched his teeth, whether out of pain or to keep the blood from spilling out too quickly. There were already trails dripping off both his chin and the black blade sticking out of his chest. "H-How...?" he coughed. The blade pulled out of him, causing him to gasp and stagger forward.
"Allegro!" En screamed. Move, he felt his mind yelling. Move! HELP HIM!! But he didn't. His eyes stayed glued on both his bleeding brother, and the person behind it: a silhouette with horns and green eyes. He was actually staring the Devil in the face. He was frozen with fear.
A weak hand rose up, and a lance appeared in its grip. "En..." The young prince turned his head to Allegro. Despite his wounds, he was still standing, albeit slumped; blood was still dripping off him, and his breathing was heavy. "Get out of here."
"B-But-"
"NOW!"
En hesitated. He didn't want to do this. He could help! He could fight with Lan-Ran!
But he was too scared.
Tears blurring his vision, he shakily got to his feet and ran away.
"Ah yes, run," he could hear the assassin's voice call out. "Run like the little, frightened bunny you are, Loser Prince!"
En ran as far as his legs could carry him, searching desperately for help, praying that his brother would be okay.
And with every step he took further away, the more that memory burned itself into his mind.

It was silent in the laboratory; there was nothing, not even the sound of machines whirring or of Etheral's pet slime knocking something off. It was quiet, and the man felt as though he could hear a pin drop. He was alone in there, alone, waiting, standing solemnly as he waited for the scientist to return. For once, since the incident, he was finally important to someone, and he wasn't sure how to feel. In this time, there was someone who wanted to know about him -- someone who wanted to know his history, and what happened between him and his old friend. It didn't sit right with him.

After what felt like eons -- odd, for the immortal man to be feeling time dilation like that -- Etheral returned, holding a stack of papers and a clipboard. "Sorry for the wait. Though, I can't imagine it felt that long to you, huh?"

He simply chuckled; explaining it would take too long. 

"I found out what that energy you channel is; er, I found out what it... does. I don't know what the hell you call it," Etheral explained. "It's magic. Not really my realm."

It wasn't as though Felix was listening to her explanation. He was staring into space, thinking about what he'd done. He'd seen wars, and famines, and plagues, and experienced pains beyond the scope of any regular human; he'd lived a thousand lives before, each as a different person, and none with a proper ending; he was not important to anyone, not anymore, but here he was, being studied by the very descendant of the man who ruined him. Suddenly, he remembered something -- something he'd carried with him, ever since he was young. 

"Uh... Felix?" Etheral said, snapping her fingers in his face. "You kinda spaced out there."

"Oh... sorry," he replied, suddenly aware of his presence in the room. "I- I wasn't listening." (Etheral groaned when he said this, of course -- that was a long explanation.)

He shuffled through his pockets, unsure of which one held what he was looking for. "I remembered something -- here, I found it." He pulled a locket out of a pocket within his cloak. He handed it to Etheral. "This was once mine... but now I'd like you to have it. Open it up."

Etheral opened the locket, and found a small picture inside. It was of Patton, and Felix, though he was less visible. They were clearly young when the photo was taken. "...Thanks," the woman said, putting it in her coat pocket. "Now, about what I was saying earlier..."

"Okay, that was probably not my finest moment." Anna said, finally calming down from that verbal tongue-lashing she gave to Aoba mere minutes ago. "But I mean, the little twerp had it coming. I hate the way he talks to all of us- especially us girls, you know?"

Akemi nodded. "Yeah, I get it...you just better hope that he makes it through the night or his murder might be pinned on you- you'd absolutely be suspect number one."

Anna's face grew a few shades paler upon that realization.

Akemi continued on. "I mean, you did get pretty damn violent there. I mean, I've had to-" The tattoo artist cut herself off before she outed the fact she used to work on plenty of unsavory folks in the Yakuza and that Anna's insults were on par with some of the gruffest violent dudes she knew. "Never mind."

Anna could tell the tattoo artist was hiding something, and given Akemi's own tattoos she had an inkling of what the girl's secret truly was.

"Hey, Kitamura-san...if all our secrets are gonna be revealed if nobody commits a murder, why don't we just get everyone together to spill their stuff and promise not to judge or anything- I mean, we're all high schoolers, what're the worst secrets we could be holding onto?"

Akemi pondered that train of thought for a second. "...Murder, for one. That could be a good reason for someone not to want to tell theirs. It'd immediately place a target on their back for the next murder case."

"Are you saying th-"

"Oh no, not me. Someone else here possibly. For the record, my secret is that I'm a tattoo artist for the Yakuza. No murder here! Just tattooing possible murderers, that's all."

"I see...thank you for sharing that. I had a hunch, given your own tattoos and all. For that, I'll share mine with you." Anna said, pausing for a bit to gain her composure. "I used to participate in compensated dating. I fucking hated dealing with those shitty, perverted older dudes, but I needed the money. It's not like my parents gave a shit, they were too busy fighting with each other and cheating on each other. I wish they would've just divorced and saved each other the pain of having to be together.

Akemi wanted to hug or embrace Anna to try and comfort the sukeban, but she was too at odds with herself- namely, her sexuality, her real secret, to do so. Instead, the girl gave a cool nod to acknowledge Anna, and decided to lighten the mood.

"So, what do you think Kokoni's big secret is?"

"Probably something really embarrassing for him, like getting his ass kicked by a girl or something!" Anna cackled.

Talos was tapping his bronze platted boots seeing his limping lackies come over to him. Talos had a nasty scowl on his face as his two nincombots had came to him empty handed once more. One of them was a robotic Hyena named Cackle and the other, a short beaver bot named Buzz. Both of them were shivering at seeing there boss's scowl, clearly he was not happy by them returning without the item in question.

"Well you s-" "Shut it!" Talos held his silver index finger up to stop Buzz from speaking.

"So let me get this straight. I send you two to bring me back some coal. Coal I need to power up my new coal powered doomsday robot. You know the thing I spent MONTHS building."

Buzz and Cackle nodded, clutching onto each other. They knew how there master Talos was prone to anger every time they failed him, which seemed to happen more often then not.

"So, I sent two powerful robots to a coal mine. Thinking, hey, maybe they can overpower some filthy fleshes. Only to come back, empty handed and so broken down that you two are shivering more then a wimp noodle?"

Cackle and Buzz seemed hesitant to answer, so they just went with a simple nod. 

"let me just say, NINCOMBOTS! METAL MORONS! IDIOTS! ROBOTIC REJECTS! SEDITIOUS SLABS OF INSALUBREOUS CIRCUITRY! YOU... YOU... YOU NINCOMBOTS!"

Cackle lifted up his paw as he responded with, "Excuse me boss, but uh, you already said that."

Talos leaned his head forward to bash heads with the tall weakly sounding hyena. 

"Then allow me to repeat myself yet again, YOU ARE NINCOMBOTS!!!!"

The loud shout caused Cackle and Buzz to topple over onto the ground. 

"Oh, Let me also say this. You are incompetent!" Talos leaned back, you could hear a faint growl from the metallic mastermind. "I must attend to my oil bath, all this name calling puts stress on my bolts." 

With that, Talos left the two wimpering bots on the ground. They seemed to be sighing of sweet relief. "You know, we got off pretty easy there." "Yeah, being incompetent might be a good thing." Cackle lightly chuckled.

Also featuring: Aunath  

Amitabh whistled cheerfully as he returned to his domain, pausing to admire his reflection in some of the shimmering gold trinkets he adorned his space with, "Ooh, yes, this necklace was the perfect offering~"
The smell of smoke still clung to him, though in his domain it was rapidly dispersing into the more earthy scent of fallen leaves and the spices that were often offered to him this time of the year. He turned a time or two, enjoying the way firelight glinted off of the jeweled necklace until a cold wind made the flames flicker out.

"Amitabh." The death god's voice had an edge to it, his eye narrowed as the young god turned to face him.

"Yes, Aunath~?" Amitabh's voice was all sweetness as he turned, reviving the flames in his various sconces and candles with a snap of his fingers, "How can I help you tod-"

"You can 'help me' by explaining why I suddenly had ten mercenaries scorched by divine flame entering my realm and babbling about their boss's caravan going up like a struck match." Aunath replied sharply. Amitabh hated when his fellow god was like this, it reminded him of mothers dealing with petulant children.

"Divine flame? Are you suuuuure?" he drawled.

"Positive."

Amitabh gave a pout, "Do I look like the type of person to commit arson?" 

"Without a doubt." Aunath stated, "Amitabh, how many times do I have to tell you that you can't just intervene like that? I understand that the whole lot were rotten as far as mortals go, but it isn't your place to affect the ba--"

The fire god literally couldn't roll his eyes far enough, "To affect the balance, blah blah...Aunath, come on! You act like I'm doing massive interventions, but I'm not! The offering matched the prayer, so I fulfilled it. No one else was involved, and those who wished to flee were able to do so if they hadn't wronged people on the same scale. I'm young, but I'm not inept! Listen, sorry but not sorry about the extra work, they had it coming. So, are you going to keep trying to lecture me, or are we done here?"

The scarred god let out a slow breath, icy gaze fixed on the other, "...fine. We're done, for now. But there will be consequences if you keep this reckless behavior up." he turned, vanishing in another gust of cold air that once again doused the flames. 

"...stuffy old fart..."