Sparrow Truman May 2nd, 20XX

I awoke in a daze and tumbled off my bed, feeling disoriented and lost even though I could recognize I was at my apartment.

My head still hurt a lot but the moss-like fog that had encroached my mind when I was with Rubella seemed to have calmed down a lot and was no longer aggressively eating at my consciousness.

I tried to do a quick scan to see if I was missing any important memories but realized how dumb it would be to even try. The very basis of forgetting a memory is that you wouldn’t be able to remember it.

At first, I tried to dismiss what had just happened as a weird and oddly vivid dream but there were too many facts working against that.

The first would be the thick web-like tattoos that sprawled over my arms. The next would be that my originally short hair was still long enough to touch the middle of my back and the final would be the loss of time.

I had essentially lost a whole days’ worth of time.

This was especially concerning because I couldn't afford to have lost so much time. The showcase was in less than a month and we got so many new applicants daily. It was bad before when Jake’s fan club was running around recruiting people by word of mouth, but it got especially bad when the quads and Mellissa took a few sneak shots and started selling merchandise of the various people in the team.

The students from the traditional streams such as classical music and calligraphy and really whatever else one could think of suddenly flocked over to our team.

Who was it that said that the people of the classical departments would never lower themselves to participating in something as base as the showcase?

I wanted to string them up by their feet and show them the avid fangirls and boys that threatened to storm the rehearsals and practices if we didn’t let them join us.

In some subconscious corner of my mind I was well aware that I was overcompensating for my broken reality by focusing on the showcase a little too much but I choose to ignore it and instead rolled out of bed, throwing on a long-sleeved sweater despite the fact that it was already springtime and taking a pair of scissors to my hair.

While I wasn’t anywhere close to Rin in hairdressing skills, I could hold my own.

I ran out the door and started to speed towards the studio, not wanting to be late for a meeting that I had arranged but somehow, no matter how loudly I blasted the music in my car I couldn’t drown out Rubella’s voice out of my mind.

Like, why curse an unborn child?! And even if it did choose to retaliate can you even say anything about it?

The only reason I was willing to help honestly was what she had said about the ‘extermination of all witch and wizards, the human world and the alternate world alike’.

Genocide was a bit much I thought.

But well, it was nothing a good conversation couldn’t solve the next time I saw him.

I pulled into the parking lot of the studio building there my crew and a harassed looking Finn waited for me to arrive and open up.

I’ll think about the whole fairy and witch thing later on. But for now, priorities.

Mei Ruan May 2nd, 20XX

“General Ruan. We came here because, as much as it kills me to admit, we need help.”

I was stunned for sure as I never thought the day would come where the great Lieutenant Gagnon would come to me for help, never mind my ragtag group of non-leaders of the four duchies.

Although our existence was known we never really operated on a high enough key to draw the attention of the main meetings and the people involved in them. Securely categorized within the group of ‘the people’ were the Gagnon sisters.

Corin took Talan’s seat, leaving her sister-in-law standing and a quick look sent Aruna flying from her seat as well despite my signals not to give in.

I heavily exhaled at my timid younger sister and hoped she would grow up soon as I sent out the aides for two more chairs.

“I’d like to hear the request first before I agree to help, Gagnon. If its anything that could even possibly harm his highness in any way I’ll have to not only not help you but even oppose you.”

Corin gave a satisfied smile at this but stayed silent and let Cambridge talk, which showed the seriousness of the situation.

“We would rather carve our wings off than to harm Cai, so no worries about that... Even Esmeralda knows that which is why we weren’t all that surprised when we discovered that an Aversion spell had been cast on ourselves.”

“An aversion spell?! To what? And who could be so bold as to cast such a thing on you two?”

Talan tried to participate in the conversation by asking many questions and trying to investigate but she was shut down by the twin glares of the sisters.

You guys really shouldn’t be like that you know? Even if she’s your sister in law she’s also one of the most powerful people in the Aslan Clan.

I couldn’t help but internally reproach but I wasn’t nearly close enough to Talan to stick out my neck for her like that. And if anyone was to speak, I was the worst person to do so, considering that I had almost replicated the tragedy that had gotten her into such a position, even if I had been under effect.

Corin finally began to speak. All traces of the deceptively sweet voice she used to coddle Cai out of the way.

“Recently Cambridge and I realized that we had been spending a lot less time in the castle than was normal. We are very busy people so the time we could have spent was limited either way. But it couldn't be anything but odd that we would be absent for so long upon the princes return.. or that we would have let Cai spend so long in the human world, to begin with. At first, we just thought it was Esmeralda making things difficult for us, seeing as we…. aren’t on the best terms. But after a bit more analysis we realized that unless we are in front of Cai, or at least are reminded of him then it’s impossible to even remember his existence.”

Cambridge picked up the trail here, conscious of showing outsiders that the inner castle wasn’t a united front but also, as they had stated themselves, needing help.

“As Cai’s primary caretakers you can imagine how ridiculous that is, that he wouldn’t be our uppermost priority at all times. But it didn’t hit us until the recent attack where our first instinct wasn’t to immediately seek out his highness but to chase after those who had launched the attack. That confirmed not only the suspicion of the aversion spell but a layered spell that could hide the existence of it from our memories. If it had just been the spell itself then we would simply have executed Esmeralda on the spot but to have played around with our memories... we only fear the worse. Durand!”

The Durand girl snapped to attention at suddenly being called out and out of default switched to a militant response despite coming from a renowned scholarly clan.

“Yes! Lieutenant Gagnon!”

Although it had nothing to do with anything, I still couldn’t help but feel proud of the way she responded. It had taken a lot of work but I'm glad it stuck with her even so many years after.

Cambridge, on the other hand, was a lot less impressed and waved her down.

“No need for formalities Durand. Your clan has a lot of information on the effects of memory alteration. Do you think you could work together with Nicosia and help us out?”

She and Liose nodded in affirmation and immediately left to discuss the proper way to go about it.

They definitely weren't just escaping the intense atmosphere that the Gagnons had set... Yep. There was no way that the two powerful members of such larch duchies would ever be so cowardly.

As the two made their hasty exit, Cambridge and Corin turned to Talan and I. Talan immediately broke the standstill first, looking downwards in submission but I couldn’t let myself do that. The bow I had done earlier would be more than enough to be respectful to them both as members of an older generation and as the prince's caretakers. any more would only be brown-nosing.

Corin was the second to break the silence but it was not at all in the subservient way Talan had.

“General Ruan. You’ve made no secret of your distrust of Esmeralda which is why we took the initiative to come to you for help. Once our minds are clear would you be able to help us out with the next phase?”

I smiled in response, happy at the development but more than a bit wary.

What I had been planning was the execution of the aide of the royal family, with that and the fact that I had just disposed of my elder sister it wouldn't be too difficult for someone to push me off any chance I had of claiming the throne.

The best way to avoid this was for me to work with the Gagnon sisters and make it clear that I only did so for the Sake of the Queendom. It was very beneficial to me but also a bit too convenient for my liking.

I couldn't let my doubts stop me though, after all, if I knew nothing else then I knew of their devotion to the royal family and how much they doted on his highness.

We shared the same priority of securing Cai's safety; I just had to be careful and make sure my role in their plan to protect his highness wasn't as a sacrificial pawn.

I put on a friendly smile and coated my hand with a thin sheet of magic, creating a makeshift contract, before extending my hand in their direction.

“I’ve always dreamed of fighting alongside you two.”