Date: June 18th, 2004
Time: Evening
Location: The Decaying Foundation, Observation Deck
Perspective: Rosaline Valentine
"But he isn't a weapon!" Rose yelled, pressing her tiny hands against the thick observation glass, staring down Director Vance. "He's a person! There must be a way to let him out! Tell me how!"
Vance looked down at the fierce four-year-old princess, his expression entirely devoid of pity. "The only problem, Princess, is that there is absolutely nobody on this planet who can defeat or contain him if he opts to destroy the world. The risk is astronomical."
"Then give him a reason not to!" Rose argued brilliantly, her small fists clenching. "If you lock him in a white room and treat him like a monster, of course he will act like one! But if you bring him home and show him love, he won't want to hurt anyone!"
Noctis and I exchanged a stunned look. Her emotional intelligence was staggering for a toddler.
"Even if you gave him the most beautiful reason to love the world, Princess," Vance stated coldly. "He would completely forget it by tomorrow morning. His amnesia would wipe your love away."
"Then I'll just remind him!" Rose yelled back, tears pooling in her blue eyes. "I will remind him every single day! I will tell him every morning until he doesn't need to remember it, because he'll just feel it!"
I couldn't take it anymore.
I rushed forward and pulled my daughter into my arms, hugging her tightly as she broke down crying against my chest.
"It's unfair, Mama!" Rose sobbed into my dress, her tiny fingers clutching the fabric. "Why him? He is my brother! Why does he have to be in there while I get to be out here? It's not fair!"
I buried my face in her blonde hair.
Vance watched the scene with cold, analytical eyes. Then, he let out a faint sigh.
"If you are so determined to save him, Princess," Vance suggested. "Why not go in there and talk to him?"
Rose instantly stopped crying. She pulled away from me and looked up at Noctis with wide, desperate eyes. "Papa... can I? Can I please talk to him?"
"No," Noctis said immediately, his protective instincts flaring. "It is too dangerous, Rose. He doesn't know who you are. He might see you as a threat."
"He won't!" Rose reassured him, wiping her tears away. "He will understand! I'm his sister, Papa! We're twins! He won't hurt me!"
Noctis looked at me, his eyes filled with immense conflict. We both knew how dangerous the boy was, but we also saw the absolute, heartbreaking desperation in our daughter's eyes. Her soul was practically begging to reach him.
I gave Noctis a slow, hesitant nod.
Noctis sighed heavily, rubbing his temples. "Instructor. Open the primary doors. Take the Princess to the holding cell. But if Subject 000981 makes even a single aggressive twitch, you pull her out immediately. Understood?"
"Yes, Your Imperial Majesty," the terrified instructor bowed.
He gently took Rose's hand and led her out of the observation deck, guiding her down the final corridor toward the cell.
Once the heavy doors closed behind them, it was just Noctis, Vance, and me in the control room.
My heart pounded furiously against my ribs. I watched through the glass, terrified for Rose, yet overwhelmingly sad for the boy trapped inside.
"You shouldn't let her hope, Director," I said softly, my voice trembling. "Can't love reach him? If he feels genuine warmth from his own sister... couldn't it heal his mind?"
"He is far beyond human now, Your Majesty," Vance replied, his tone brutally honest. "His mind operates purely on raw, survival logic. He has lost his humanity."
"But parental love... sibling love... it can move mountains," I argued desperately.
"It cannot move carnivorous amnesia," Vance stated. "Even if his amnesia miraculously healed right now, I doubt he could ever truly care about someone. His brain isn't wired for empathy anymore. It's wired for winning."
I lowered my head, an immense wave of sorrow washing over me. My son was truly lost.
Vance stared through the glass, his eyes locking onto the small boy writing in his journal.
"However..." Vance murmured, his voice softening just a fraction. "If he did care about someone... genuinely..."
I looked up at him.
"Then they might just be the luckiest person in the world," Vance said quietly.
"They would be the only one capable of making that beatless heart start beating again."
*
Date: June 18th, 2004
Time: Evening
Location: The Decaying Foundation, Holding Cell 000981
Perspective: Rose Valentine
Thump. Thump. Thump.
My heart was beating so fast it felt like it was going to fly right out of my chest!
I gripped my little gift bag tightly as the massive, heavy metal doors slowly hissed open. Cold air brushed against my face, and the bright white lights of the room made me blink a few times.
I stepped inside.
The room was completely white and empty. Sitting on the floor, leaning against the far wall, was a boy.
When the doors opened, his eyes slowly drifted up to meet mine.
He stopped writing. He slowly put his leather-bound journal down, placed the pen neatly on top of it, and stood up.
I walked slowly towards him, my small black shoes echoing softly against the sterile floor.
He was wearing a white lab uniform, like a patient. His messy black hair framed his pale face, but the thing that made my heart skip a beat were his eyes.
They were cold, calculating, and completely empty... but they were blue.
His eyes are just like mine, I thought, a warm feeling spreading in my chest. Identical.
I stopped a few feet away from him. He just stared at me, completely motionless, studying me like I was a puzzle he needed to solve.
"H-Hi..." I stuttered slightly, feeling a little nervous under his intense gaze.
I offered him my best, warmest smile. "I'm Rose. Rose Valentine."
He tilted his head slightly. "Rose Valentine."
His voice was quiet and raspy, like he didn't use it very much.
"I'm your sister!" I announced proudly.
He blinked slowly. "Sister? What is that?"
I was stunned. He didn't even know what a sister was?
I walked a little closer, and I saw his eyes dart around, as if his brain was searching for the answer.
"Sister..." he muttered to himself, his blue eyes narrowing slightly. "A female sibling. An individual sharing one or both parents. A biological relative of the first degree."
He looked back down at me. "Are you blood-related, or a 'sister' as in words?"
"I'm your sister!" I repeated, puffing out my cheeks. "By blood! We're twins! We share the same birthday!"
He just stared at me, his face completely blank. The clinical definition didn't mean anything to him emotionally.
I realized Papa and Mama were right. He didn't know how to feel.
But that was okay! I was going to teach him!
"Come closer," I said, taking a step forward.
He hesitated for a second, then took a slow, calculated step toward me.
I reached out and asked, "Can I hold your hand?"
He looked at my hand, then slowly extended his own. I grabbed it tightly.
It's so cold...
My heart hurt again. His hand was freezing, like he hadn't felt warmth in a very long time. I felt incredibly sad for him, squeezing his hand tighter to share some of my heat.
He stared at my face, his head tilting again. "Why are you sad?"
I gasped softly. "How did you know?"
"The contraction of your corrugator supercilii muscles, and the slight lowering of your lip commissures," he replied clinically, his face deadpan. "It indicates an emotional state of sadness or distress."
I stared at him for a second, my brain trying to process all those big, complicated words.
"You don't need to overthink that much, Kaiser!" I giggled, swinging our connected hands.
He froze. "What is a Kaiser?"
"That's your name!" I beamed at him.
"Name?" He looked down at his white uniform, which only had the numbers '000981' printed on it. "Calling... my name is Kaiser?"
"Yes!" I nodded happily. "Kaiser. You are my brother, okay? Don't forget it!"
I have to cheer him up, I thought determinedly. I have to make him smile! He's my other half, I won't let him be sad!
"Since it's our birthday, I brought you a gift!" I chirped, letting go of his hand to open my little bag.
I pulled out a small, beautifully wrapped box of chocolates from the palace and held it out to him.
He stared at the box suspiciously. "What is its chemical composition?"
"It's chocolate!" I laughed, pushing it into his hands. "It's sweet and yummy! You eat it!"
He cautiously sniffed the box, his blue eyes darting toward me. "Is it laced with a neurotoxin?"
"No, silly!" I giggled again, lightly poking his cheek. He flinched slightly at the touch, completely unused to physical affection.
"I wouldn't poison you! I love you!"
He stared at me, his cold eyes lingering on my smiling face. "Love... a deep feeling of affection. A neurochemical reaction involving oxytocin and dopamine."
"Stop acting like a walking dictionary!" I playfully grabbed his arm and hugged it.
He instantly stiffened like a board, his entire body tense. But he didn't pull away. He just looked down at me hugging his arm with utter bewilderment.
"What were you doing over there?" I asked, pointing to the corner of the room. "Show me your journal logs! I want to see what my smart brother is writing!"
I didn't wait for his answer. I pulled him by the arm, and we both sat down next to each other on the cold white floor. He awkwardly picked up his leather-bound journal, holding it tightly in his lap while I leaned against his shoulder, eager to see inside.
He opened the journal. The pages were filled with incredibly dense, neat handwriting.
"These are my daily logs," Kaiser explained, his voice flat. "I hypothesize that I suffer from a severe memory deficiency. Amnesia. But I lack the medical data to determine its exact nature. Therefore, every day, the instructors provide me with new vocabulary words to serve as associative cues, attempting to bridge the gap to a past I cannot remember."
I looked at the pages. They were filled with words like Gravity, Anatomy, Calculus, and Monsters, followed by pages upon pages of perfect, encyclopedic definitions he had written down.
"What did you write about today?" I asked, looking up at him.
He slowly turned to the very last page.
"Today, an instructor used the word 'Birthday'," Kaiser said quietly. "It prompted a cascade of deductive reasoning. I have been formulating a theory regarding my current state of existence."
I tilted my head, curious. "What kind of theory?"
"I woke up in a completely isolated, white cell," Kaiser began to explain, his voice devoid of emotion, as if he were presenting a scientific thesis. "A cell is a structural construct designed for containment. The individuals who keep me here wear protective gear and utilize lethal security measures. Factoring in my approximate biological age of 4 to 5 years, it is highly illogical for a child to be contained in a maximum-security prison."
He pointed to a complex diagram he had drawn in the journal.
"Therefore, I am either being punished for a crime of astronomical proportions, or... my very existence is considered an active threat to the individuals containing me." He paused, his cold blue eyes locking onto mine.
"The cue 'Birthday' led me to conclude that whatever entity—human or otherwise—is keeping me here, wished to observe my cognitive reaction to the concept of my own birth."
He looked back down at the journal. "And my conclusion is... I shouldn't have been born."
I gasped, my heart physically aching. "Why would you say that?!"
"It is the most logical deduction," Kaiser replied clinically. "If you are my biological sister, as you claim, then it confirms my parentage. We have a mother and a father who are currently alive."
He looked at my beautiful blue dress, and then down at his sterile white patient uniform.
"If they are alive, why have they never come to see me?" Kaiser asked, his voice steady, though a faint, almost imperceptible tremor ran through his cold hands. "Why are you dressed in fine fabrics, while I am designated as Subject 000981 in a subterranean cell?"
"Because it's dangerous!" I argued desperately. "Papa and Mama do love you, Kaiser! They really do!"
Kaiser shook his head slowly. "I have theorized the nature of my physiological condition as well. I have read extensive literature on the mechanics of mana and aetheric souls. Yet, my body is entirely devoid of it. I possess a complete inability to utilize magic in a world built upon it."
He looked down at his small, pale hands.
"My parents did not want me," Kaiser stated, delivering his horrific deduction with absolute, chilling certainty. "They attempted to abort my existence while I was still in the womb. They utilized a chemical or magical poison to abort me. The procedure failed to end my life, but the toxins completely destroyed my mana soul, stripping me of my magic and rendering me a defect."
"No!" I screamed, tears instantly spilling over my cheeks. "No, no, no! That's not true! You can't think like that, Kaiser!"
"It is the only logical conclusion as to why I am isolated, magicless, and completely unwanted."
He looked away, staring blankly at the white wall. And for the very first time, the clinical, robotic tone in his voice cracked.
"At first... I cried in the morning," Kaiser confessed, his voice dropping to a fragile whisper. "When my mind realized, I cried because I wanted to know what was wrong with me. I wanted to know why my mother and father wanted to kill me before I even had the chance to exist."
He gripped the edges of the journal.
"I thought... what problem would I have been for them? I would do my best. I would try to get perfect grades. I would stay quiet when they hurt me. I wouldn't ask for the things other kids had. I would never be a burden. I would tell them I loved them. I would make gifts for them, even if they threw them in the bin the very next day."
His voice began to shake.
"I can't help but wonder why I was so unwanted. Unlovable. Why I was supposed to die."
Tears streamed freely down my face. I couldn't even speak. I just listened to the agonizing sound of his broken soul.
"I cried because I wanted them to answer me," Kaiser whispered. "But I realized it was selfish. To demand to know why they wanted me gone before they even saw my face. Did they hate my eyes? My hair? My hands? Did they hate that I resembled them?"
He looked down at his feet.
"I wish I got to see them... just once," Kaiser murmured, the pure tragedy of his existence spilling out into the sterile room.
"So I could apologize to them. Apologize for existing. Apologize for ruining their plans. For ruining their marriage. Their sleep. Their money. Their peace."
He closed his eyes, a single tear escaping and sliding down his pale cheek.
"I wanted to apologize that I was sorry I couldn't be the son they wanted. That I couldn't be the boy that made them proud. The boy they wanted to keep."
Kaiser took a shaky breath.
"I stopped crying earlier because I knew they would never want to see my face," Kaiser said, his voice hollowing out. "I suppose it was the concept called emotions that made me stop. They are happy out there. While I am in here... wishing I had died instead of being born."
Crash.
I couldn't take it anymore.
I threw myself at him, wrapping my small arms tightly around his neck and burying my face into his shoulder. I hugged him with every single ounce of strength I had in my tiny body, sobbing uncontrollably.
"No! No! You're wrong!" I cried loudly, my tears soaking into his white uniform. "You're wrong, Kaiser!"
He stiffened violently, completely shocked by the sudden, intense physical contact. "W-What are you doing?"
"I love you!" I screamed, hugging him even tighter, refusing to ever let him go. "Mama loves you! Papa loves you! You are not unwanted!"
"You... you are being irrational." Kaiser stammered, his arms hovering awkwardly in the air, not knowing what to do with a crying girl clinging to him. "Just because you are my biological sister does not mean you have to burden yourself with my existence. You should return to the surface."
"Because I'm your sister!" I cut him off, pulling back just enough to look him dead in his cold blue eyes. My own eyes were fierce, burning with the absolute, unyielding resolve.
"And I will never let anything bad happen to you!" I swore to him, my voice echoing through the white cell. "I don't care about the rules! I don't care about the security! I am going to free you, Kaiser! I am going to show you the world outside! I promise you!"
I hugged him again, burying my face in his neck as I made the vow that would alter the course of our entire lives.
"I'm never going to leave you alone again."
I held him so tightly, feeling his small, rigid body slowly stop trembling.
How? Crying into his shoulder. How can he even control himself after thinking such horrible things? How is he not screaming?
Kaiser slowly, hesitantly, wrapped his thin arms around my back. He didn't know how to hold me, his hands patting my dress clumsily.
"What... what can I do?" Kaiser asked softly, his voice laced with absolute confusion.
I pulled back slightly, wiping my tears with the back of my hand. I grabbed both of his cold hands and held them tightly in mine, rubbing my thumbs over his knuckles.
"Why are you doing that?" he asked, staring at our intertwined hands.
"Because I want to, okay?" I sniffled, acting maternal despite being the exact same age as him.
I wanted to warm him up. I wanted to give him every single ounce of warmth I had.
"You don't need to apologize for being born," I told him, looking him straight in his icy blue eyes. "And you aren't going to die in here. I am going to become the Empress of Asura!"
Kaiser blinked. "Empress... the female ruler of an empire."
"Yes! And when I become Empress, I will create new rules! I will shape the entire foundation of this empire to free you!" I promised fiercely. "I won't let you be alone in this cold world. I'll be the person who stands beside you! I'll even master the Level 20 curriculum!"
Kaiser stared at me, his hyper-logical brain struggling to comprehend my irrational determination.
"That is a burden," Kaiser deduced flatly. "Statistically, the probability of mastering a Level 20 curriculum while simultaneously reforming a global empire is near zero. Why would you undertake such an impossible burden for a defective anomaly you just met?"
"Because you're my brother!" I yelled, squeezing his hands. "You're my sibling, Kaiser! You are my responsibility!"
I let go of one of his hands and held out my pinky finger toward him.
"Promise me," I demanded, pushing my pinky closer to him. "Promise me that you won't give up until I come back for you."
Kaiser looked at my pinky finger, but he didn't raise his hand. Instead, his cold blue eyes darkened, a terrifying depth of intellect flashing behind them.
"Terrorism. Fanaticism. Absolutism," Kaiser began to recite, his voice dropping into a chilling, methodical rhythm. "Hunger and homelessness. Debts and deficits. Illiteracy and illness. Intolerance, illegality, and illiberalism."
I lowered my hand slightly, stunned by the sudden barrage of complex words. "W-What?"
"Physical and psychic violence. Environmental degradation. International conflict. Apathy, resignation, contempt, and selfishness," Kaiser finished, his gaze piercing right through me.
"What are you saying?" I asked, shivering slightly.
"I am explaining that the world outside this room is rotting from the inside." Kaiser stated coldly, his genius intellect analyzing the very fabric of human society.
"If you pursue this promise... if you try to change the absolute rules of the empire to free a biological weapon like me, the world will not let you. The races, the nobles, humanity itself will try to hurt you. They will try to ruin your life and destroy you."
He slowly raised his hand, his pale pinky finger extending toward mine.
"So, if I am your sibling too..." Kaiser whispered, his cold eyes softening for a fraction of a second.
"It is my responsibility to protect you."
He wrapped his freezing pinky finger around mine, locking our promise together.
"I promise you, Rose," Kaiser said.
"I will escape this room."
"I will come to you in the future."
"And I will remember exactly who I am... so that you can be proud to call me your brother."
My breath hitched. The tears I had fought so hard to stop came flooding back.
"I'm already proud of you!" I cried, throwing myself forward and hugging him again.
This time, Kaiser didn't stiffen. He wrapped his arms around me and awkwardly, gently, rubbed the back of my head.
"Do not cry." he murmured softly, his cold logic attempting to comfort me.
I gasped, completely surprised that he was the one comforting me. I buried my face in his shoulder, sobbing as the reality of our separation began to set in. The instructor knocked on the heavy glass door, signaling that my time was up.
"We'll see each other again." I whispered into his ear.
"I will create that future." he replied quietly.
*
Perspective: Rosaline Valentine
I felt completely hollow.
When Rose was escorted back onto the observation deck, her eyes were red and puffy from crying, but there was an undeniable, terrifying fire burning within them.
Noctis and I had heard everything through the magical audio feed. Every single word.
My son's deduction. His belief that we had poisoned him in the womb. His desire to apologize to us for being born.
It broke me in ways I didn't even know I could break. I was a sovereign, a warrior, a mother... and I had never felt so utterly, completely helpless in my entire life.
Rose didn't run to me. Instead, she marched straight up to Director Vance.
"I want the Level 20 curriculum." Rose demanded, her tiny voice echoing with absolute authority.
Vance looked down at her and shook his head. "Request denied, Princess."
"Why?!" Rose shouted. "I can do it! Give it to me!"
"Because anything above Level 10 requires a complete, absolute lack of affection or guidance," Vance explained coldly. "Support hinders education. Empathy softens the mind. Self-reliance is the absolute best teacher, because experience is knowledge. In the Foundation, we ensure our highest-level children have no love, so they have nothing to fall back on but their own intellect."
"I can still do it!" Rose argued fiercely.
"You can try," Vance replied ruthlessly. "But you will fail. You have loving parents. You have a warm bed. You have safety. You will break under the pressure of Level 20, and you will fail to keep the promise you just made to your brother."
Rose froze. The truth of his words hit her like a physical blow.
She couldn't save Kaiser if she was soft.
She couldn't reform the empire if she wasn't a ruthless, unparalleled genius.
She turned around, looking at Noctis and me. Her blue eyes were completely resolute.
"Mama. Papa." Rose said, her voice shaking slightly, but holding firm. "I want you to not love me anymore."
My heart completely stopped. "W-What?"
"Papa." Rose looked at Noctis, her eyes brimming with tears she refused to shed. "I want you to erase my memories. I want you to take away all my memories of a warm family, of your hugs, and your smiles. Replace them with something cruel. Make me believe I have to rely on myself."
"Rose, no!" I gasped, falling to my knees in front of her. "You don't know what you are saying!"
"And after I forget," Rose continued, ignoring my cries. "I want you to never help me. Never show me affection. You have to become indifferent to me."
"Absolutely not," Noctis growled, his golden eyes flashing with fury and heartbreak. "I will not subject my own daughter to that!"
"You have to!" Rose screamed, her tiny fists clenching so hard her knuckles turned white. "It is my purpose! I want to be worthy to lead the empire to glory! I want to be strong enough to change the rules! And I want to be worthy of being the person that allows my brother to be free!"
I sobbed, reaching out to grab her shoulders. "Rose, please..."
"Once I become the Crown Princess, or the Empress, I want my memories to return." Rose said, her voice dropping into a desperate plea as she looked at her father.
"Or... if my brother comes to me before then. If he escapes and finds me... I want my memories back. Please, Papa."
"This is what I want for my birthday..."
Silence fell over the observation deck.
Noctis stared down at our daughter. The fierce, terrifying determination in her eyes wasn't just childish rebellion. It was the absolute will of a ruler willing to sacrifice her own soul for her family.
Noctis slowly closed his eyes.
"Noctis... no..." I pleaded, looking up at him. "Tell her no."
"It is the only way, Rosaline," Noctis whispered, his voice cracking with emotion as he opened his eyes. "She is a Valentine. She will not back down. Do you remember?"
He looked at me, a tragic smile on his lips.
"Even before she was born... when she reached out and grabbed his hand in the womb." Noctis reminded me.
"She said, Mine. Stay. She is his possessive twin sister. She will tear her own mind apart if it means keeping him."
I remembered. The ultrasound. The tiny hands holding onto each other in the dark.
I let go of Rose's shoulders, collapsing onto the cold floor as I wept.
Noctis knelt down in front of Rose. His massive, scarred hands gently cupped his daughter's tiny face.
"Are you absolutely certain about this, Rose?" Noctis asked, his golden eyes swimming with unshed tears.
"You will experience a childhood devoid of warmth. You will feel isolated, pressured, and unloved."
"I am sure." Rose nodded, her tears finally falling.
"For him."
Noctis kissed her forehead one last time.
Then, his eyes flared with a terrifying, ancient magic. The Memory Magic.
I watched in sheer, agonizing horror as the magic washed over my daughter. Her beautiful, bright blue eyes slowly glazed over. The warmth, the childish innocence, the memory of my hugs and Noctis's laughter—it was all violently ripped away from her mind.
It was replaced with cold, fabricated memories of strict expectations and emotional distance.
When the magic faded, Rose blinked. The warmth in her eyes was gone, replaced by a cold, isolated determination.
From that day forward, her education was accelerated. She was thrown onto a colder, darker path where she was slowly losing herself to the crushing weight of the empire's expectations.
After that day, my daughter's entire purpose changed the course of her life, just so she could fulfill her promise to him.
But he fulfilled his first.
Back to the Present
Perspective: Rose Valentine
[March 7th, 2012 - 12:12 AM]
[The Crystal Ballroom]
How can I let his hand go... after he held mine first?
I stopped walking. The massive hand of the Emperor hovered just a few feet away from me, offering everything I had ever dreamed of since I was a little girl.
I looked down at the marble floor, my blonde hair shadowing my eyes.
"I'm sorry, Your Imperial Majesty." I whispered. "I cannot accept your offer."
Noctis's blue eyes narrowed slightly. "Are you certain, Rose? If you turn away now, you are rejecting your crown. You are rejecting your status, your safety, and my protection."
"I know." I replied.
"You have spent your entire life striving for perfection." Noctis argued. "You have bled for the Empire. You have fought for my approval. Why would you throw it all away now? Why is a commoner... a complete stranger... more important to you than your own family?"
I slowly lifted my head, looking straight into the terrifying, blue eyes of the most powerful man in the world.
"Because he is my brother." I confessed directly, the absolute truth leaving my lips without a shred of hesitation.
Father just stared at me.
I didn't wait for his reaction. I spun around on my heel, my dress violently swishing through the air, and I ran.
I ran as fast as my legs could carry me, straight back to the boy who was bleeding on the floor.
Kaiser's eyes widened in absolute shock. His composure completely shattered. He hadn't predicted this. He hadn't calculated that I would throw away the Empire for him.
I threw myself forward, crashing into his chest and wrapping my arms tightly around his neck.
He stumbled backward from the impact but caught me, his bloody hand wrapping around my waist to keep us from falling.
"Rose... what are you doing?" Kaiser gasped. "You ruined it. You ruined everything I set up for you."
"I don't care!" I cried into his shoulder, hugging him as tight as I possibly could.
"I don't care about the crown! I don't care about the status! I'm not leaving you behind!"
Kaiser let out a long, shuddering sigh. Slowly, gently, he wrapped his arms around me and held me close, his chin resting on the top of my head as he tried to comfort me.
"You're an idiot, Cilla." he murmured softly.
I held onto him protectively, wiping my tears as I turned back around to face the Emperor, ready to fight the entire world for him.
But as I looked back, I froze.
The Imperial Domain had changed.
Iris, Irene, Sera, Anastasia, Asylym, and Lionel's entire crew... they had all completely disappeared. The frozen figures of the courtroom were gone.
The only people standing in the vast, ethereal golden space were Emperor Noctis and Empress Rosaline.
And Noctis... was smiling.
"I will not let you take him!" I declared, stepping protectively in front of Kaiser, my dual-affinity mana flaring to life. "I will fight for his freedom! I will not allow you to use my brother as a scapegoat for your political games!"
Noctis chuckled, a deep, warm sound that completely contradicted the terrifying persona he had worn just seconds ago.
"There is no need to fight me, my brave little girl." Noctis said softly. "I think it is about time you remembered."
The Emperor raised his massive, scarred hand... and snapped his fingers.
CRACK.
It felt like lightning struck my skull.
My mind literally burned. I screamed, clutching my head as a dam that had been built inside my brain completely shattered.
The Decaying Foundation.
The cold white room.
The pinky promise.
The Memory Magic.
Millions of fabricated memories shattered like glass, immediately replaced by a flood of suppressed, blinding truths. I remembered the warmth of my mother's hugs. I remembered riding on my father's shoulders. I remembered crying in front of Director Vance, demanding they erase my memories of love so I could be strong enough to survive the Level 20 curriculum.
I stood there in the present, my mouth wide open, completely breathless as the crushing weight of reality crashed over me.
I... I did it to myself. To save him.
"What did you just do to her?!" Kaiser snarled.
I blinked, snapping out of my shock as Kaiser stepped around me, his cold eyes burning with absolute, murderous fury as he glared at the Emperor.
"If you damaged her mind." Kaiser threatened. "I will show absolutely no mercy to your Empire. I will tear this Empire down to the ground."
Noctis crossed his arms, staring down at the boy with an unreadable expression. "You are standing inside my Imperial Domain, Kaiser. You cannot do anything here."
Boom.
The floor beneath Kaiser exploded.
My eyes widened in sheer terror as Kaiser moved with a speed that only my enhanced vision could barely track. He was launching himself straight at the Emperor, aiming for a lethal, strike to Noctis's throat!
"Wait!" I screamed, throwing myself into his path.
I blocked him, spreading my arms wide to physically shield my father from my brother.
"Stop, Kaiser!" I yelled desperately. "Papa is not going to hurt us!"
Kaiser froze, skidding to a halt just inches away from me. His deadly momentum completely halted as his blue eyes widened in shock.
"...Papa?" Kaiser repeated, utterly bewildered by the word coming out of my mouth.
Rosaline stepped forward, a beautiful, tragic smile on her face as she looked at Kaiser. "Send him back, Noctis."
Noctis nodded.
Before Kaiser could even react, the golden light of the domain swallowed him whole. I turned around, and my brother was completely missing.
I spun back toward my parents, my heart pounding in my chest.
I looked at the Emperor. I looked at the Empress. The two people I had spent the last 8 years thinking hated me.
The two people who had broken their own hearts, just to fulfill my wish.
"Papa...?" I asked. "Was this... was this your plan to bring me back?"
"Yes, my dear," Noctis smiled. "Yes, it was."
I ran toward them. I threw myself into my father's arms as caught me.
"I used the assassination attempt to orchestrate this exact moment," Noctis explained, holding me tightly against his massive chest. "The Memory Magic is ancient and incredibly stubborn. It needed a massive emotional catalyst to break. Your choice... throwing away everything you had worked for in the present to run back to your brother... was the catalyst we needed to shatter the lock."
"But... what about the others?" I asked, looking up at him. "Iris, Asylym, Sera?"
"Nobody will know what happened in this domain," Noctis assured me softly. "I have already wiped their memories of the court-like trial. As far as they are concerned, time is simply frozen during the dance."
Papa smirked slightly, a hint of genuine pride in his eyes.
"Besides, I knew my cunning son had rigged the perimeter cameras to broadcast this trial to the outside world," Papa added. "So, I secretly severed his broadcast feed right before I summoned the domain. He foresaw an assassination, but he didn't foresee me using it."
"He is a genius, Papa," I sniffled, smiling proudly.
"He is my son, after all." Papa said proudly, brushing a stray tear from my cheek.
Rosaline knelt down beside us, wrapping her arms around both of us. She was openly weeping, pressing her face against my shoulder.
"My beautiful girl." Rosaline cried softly. "I am so, so sorry. You had to endure all those years completely on your own. You had to look at us like we were strangers, and we had to act like we didn't care. It broke my heart every single day to watch you isolate yourself."
"It's okay, Mama." I whispered, hugging her back tightly.
"Do you regret it, Rose?" Rosaline asked, pulling back to look into my eyes. "Do you regret the pain? The years of coldness?"
I looked down at my hand. The hand that Kaiser had just held. The hand that had wrapped his bleeding wounds.
"No." I shook my head, a genuine, radiant smile spreading across my face. "I don't regret a single second of it."
I looked back up at my parents.
"Because it was worth it. When we were dancing... the way he spotlighted me. The way he made sure I was the center of attention. He was keeping his promise to me." I giggled softly, a few tears escaping.
"He promised he would find me first. And he did. I was the slow one."
Papa let out a hearty, booming laugh that echoed through the golden domain.
"We can discuss the political fallout of this matter later." Papa stated, standing up and pulling me up with him.
"For now... you are back."
Rosaline stood up and showered my face with a barrage of affectionate kisses.
"Mama!" I giggled, my face blushing bright red as she kissed my cheeks, my forehead, and my nose.
"I missed raising my little girl." Papa teased, reaching over to playfully pinch my cheek. "You have been far too serious for the past 8 years. Now, we can finally go back to being normal."
"I couldn't agree more." Rosaline smiled, wiping her tears.
Noctis raised his hand. The golden energy of the Imperial Domain began to shimmer and fade around us.
"Are you ready, Princess?" Noctis asked, his eyes gleaming.
I took a deep breath, feeling the warmth of my family filling the hollow void that had existed inside my chest for an entire decade.
"I am ready, Papa."
The magic shattered.
In a fraction of a millisecond, the golden domain vanished. Sound, color, and time violently rushed back into the world. The grand ballroom of Asura Academy exploded with the deafening noise of the panicked crowd, the screaming nobles, and the clashing of knights.
Nobody remembered the trial. Nobody remembered the court. As far as the world was concerned, the assassination attempt never even occurred.
I blinked, adjusting to the sudden chaos.
And right there, standing exactly next to me on the dance floor, was Kaiser.