#disasterconspiracy

Whew! Made it! Willow thought once she broke the surface of the water just before the sun came up. Finding her favorite rock beside a sea stack she climbed up, leaving her tail still halfway in the water and leaned her back against the stack to watch the sun rise.

The morning was already pretty comfortable so she was expecting a nice and warm day on the surface.

@disasterconspiracy 

“Right this way your majesty.” One member of Belos’s Emperor’s Coven beckoned as a group of half a dozen made their way down the halls of the Empress’s Castle that once housed her predecessor. The group moved with a panicked haste toward a destination. 

Approaching an apparent dead end, the front coven member rested their coven sigil along a stone of the wall. A small rumble would echo as a segment of the wall fell backwards, creating a domino effect, which would generate a staircase that journeyed underneath the main castle in a small spiral.

The group would guide Lilith down the staircase to the bottom of the secret passage. 

At the conclusion of the staircase was a laboratory area. 

Among the contents was a bookcase in the northwest corner containing five shelves. The top shelf and the bottom two shelves were all empty. The second most top shelf had five books and the middle shelve held thirty-seven books. 

In the northeast corner lay fifty replicas of the artificial magic staff that was given to Hunter during his time in the post of the Golden Guard. 

The southwest corner contained a midnight black armor rack with one suit missing. 

The southeast corner had the missing armor among a mass of abomination goo. 

At slightly south of the center was a table containing a schematic and a book. South of that table was a pedestal overlooking the table and an area just past the table. 

Ever since Alex had come into her life, Lilith had made it a point to always make sure he woke up to something special. So she woke up nice and early so that she could get some coffee going for herself and get herself awake enough to start cooking.

She had literally just gotten her coffee started when she looked up and saw Alex in the doorway. A smile curled her lips and she chuckled, “Seems like we had the same idea, huh?” Lilith thought for a moment and then suggested, “How about we make our birthday breakfast together? That way it’s special for both of us.”

Alex was initially rather downtrodden to see that his surprise for his mom had already been stopped, even before it even began. She had spent so many days making sure there was something special when he woke up. He really wanted to have one day when she would wake up to something special. Especially on her birthday, even if it was also his. 

Hearing her remark, however, would brighten up his mood. “Great minds think alike.” He answers happily as he nods his head and walks over. “We both wanted to surprise each other. It’s still funny.” He remarks with a light chuckle as he goes over to his mom’s right side and lightly hugs her leg. 

Her gold eyes widened, staring right at him. “Oh yeah? What is it then, Alex? Because to me, it looks like you’re- you’re a naga!” Her brow furrowed and she pointed at him accusingly, “I thought the naga had been banished like werewolves and vampires!”

Alex had many things running through his mind. Of all times for him to have pushed himself hard enough that his disguise spell had stopped working, it had to be at a point when he would be discovered by Amity. 

Emira paused for a moment as they sat together in Hexside; Edric was passed out beside her, his soft snores making Emira smile faintly in the dimly lit halls. On her other side was Alex. In the quiet, Emira murmured, “I know things are kind of fucked right now...but this very instant...it isn’t so bad, huh?”

Maybe it was the fact that it was a quiet moment between the chaos that was their current situation and maybe it was just her finally coming to terms with her feelings. But Emira turned her head and kissed Alex’s cheek, dangerously close to his lips. Then, without another word, she rested her head back against the locker with a smile.

It was peaceful for one of the few times in Hexside after all the fiasco with Belos and now the Collector and Boscha inside Hexside, at least Boscha was taken down and things were a lot calmer in Hexside. This was about as close as he could get to having a romantic moment with Emira, so there was a slight blush on his cheeks as he enjoys the moment. 

Hearing Edric’s snoring shattered that moment, but he would lightly laugh, looking over at Ed, to make sure he was alright. He would listen to her words and smiles nodding his head, resting his head against the locker. “Times like this, everything feels almost separate from what is going on.” He answers lightly, unsure if his blush was showing. 

Feeling Emira’s lips on his cheeks, Alex let out a quiet, surprised, and flustered eep of surprise. He wasn’t expecting the contact and the darkened blush on his cheeks would give away his response. 

@disasterconspiracy

Alex was still trying to get used to living the castle. It was far different from how he was used to living, though he could only attest to this by a feeling of modesty that he kept about him and didn’t want to really present himself as above others. 

Though he wouldn’t flaunt his status, there was still a measure of presentation that he felt he had to attest to, so he would tend to keep his hair neatly kept when out and about. 

He didn’t dress like royalty, keeping his attire mainly simple unless an occasion required dressing more formally and symbolic of his position. 

Making his way over to the throne room, Alex looked around to ensure that all the guards were taken care of for all that they door for him and his mom, waving to them warmly. Though the guards would open the door to the throne room for him, it was still embarrassing to be given the treatment. 

Turning to look at the guards, he would present the same friendly and warm wave in return as he slowly walked over toward his mom as she made her way to him.