ame

The rampant thudding of his chest is loud in his mind. Every pulse and beat. Every painstakingly slow second, he can feel.

He didn’t even know how many of his totems got popped, how much of his supplies he went through, all that could cross in his mind was how shaky his hands has gotten wielding his sword and the glower that came his way from Billy.

“Theo…” Billy murmurs.

Theo steps back, “Are you gonna ban me?” His hands quiver too much to hide any form of fear he feels from Billy. Theo lets out a sudden rush of breath as his back collides with a wall, his uneasy footing barely keeping himself up as pain spikes to his wings from the impact. “Ow..”

Billy lands in front of him, mace in hand. The weapon drags on the dirt below leaving a trail. “Theo,”

“Stop saying my name.” Theo spits out. He could see Billy roll his eyes at his words.

“I’m waiting,” Billy starts, “and for that, I won’t kill you just yet. It would be a waste.”

The mace leaves his hand. All he does is just stand there, looking at Theo like a fledgling barely out of their mother’s nest.

Theo could barely fight back with the supplies he’s left with. Even the hard feel of the netherite sword felt too weak in his hands. He doubts his wings even work with the number of arrows shot at it. He settles on something else to say instead.

“Leave me alone.”

Billy looks at him for a moment before saying, “I’ll wait for you.”

Theo hears a clinks from in front of him coming closer until he could vaguely make out the black shape of his sunglasses. He hadn’t even realized that he’d lost it during the fight. He moves to pick it up, though a sudden stinging sharpness from his wings forces him to stop. "Dude, ouch.."

Sure, it could just be percieved as friendship, one strong enough to completely reshape the fate of the world but tragic love stories are awesome so let's go with that instead. (I'm also listening to All I Ask so that might have some effect)

Now I could be completely wrong with this, correct me if so. My Amphoreus knowledge is limited to until Cerydra shows up in the story (I still haven't continued it) and Ashikai videos.

Let's begin with Phainon and Cyrene. Those two are close, both from the nowhere village of Aedes Elysiae, childhood friends. One to be the deliverer; the other, the demigod of time. Or, as it's been always been written, the destruction and the beginning of Amphoreus. Two sides of the same coin. In the end of the journey, of the cycles, it was them. The ones to rewrite the fate of the Era Nova.

To spent 33 million cycles in hopes for a better future. These two random kids from a small village, playing with oracle cards and wooden swords, are the one who change the world. It's always been the two of them. When the final cycle came, it was Cyrene and Phainon who schemed and hoped for a new Amphoreus. Even when it was hard, so hard, they pushed and continued forward; knowing the other would to. In 33 million cycles, their trust for each other never faded and their dream of a better world persisted.

Of course, this dream of theirs would be nothing without their hero beyond the stars. They said it, not me. The one who made everything possible in the first place, the one to kickstart the makings of a new Amphoreus. This random racoon completely changed their fates. Becoming so entangled with both Cyrene and Phainon that it changes the fate of the world. To be the 'new variable', the new hope. The person they spent those 33 million cycles for.

Stelle's bond with Cyrene and Phainon is so special. She experienced Phainon overcoming his insecurities and grow to become the deliverer and leader of the Chrysos Heirs then to becoming Khaslana, yet in the end, Trailblazer will always have a special place in Phainon's heart, no matter what happens. He wasn't kidding with the 'hero of his heart' thing.

With Cyrene, it's more intimate. They were by each others' side since basically Stelle arrived in Amphoreus. They experienced everything together. Even now as they go through the final cycle of Amphoreus, Cyrene remains by her side. I know they get separated at some point in the story but I haven't gotten there yet and it seems like they find their way back to each other anyways.

Phainon and Cyrene have a bunch of lines that border on romantic in the story. I'll see if I can find and compile them when I have the time. There's a line that Cyrene says to Stelle in the balcony of Aedes Elysiae. One that mentions Phainon and her. It was what started this train of thought into my head.

Now I'm 99% sure it got deleted since its spot in my bookmarks has disappeared and been spontaneously replaced by deleted work, but maybe it still exists somewhere in this world.

Anyways, it went like this:

Jon and Damian are talking, I think on a rooftop?

Suddenly, Damian mentions how "in love" Jonathan is with Jay or something along those lines.

Jon is like "???? ( ・д・) " "How can you tell??"

Then Damian says just WAY to CASUALLY: "You look at him like how you looked at me"

LIKE???

And Jon is like the whole time in the story, and I mean THE WHOLE TIME was down bad for Damian. I don't remember the specifics but bro was IN LOVE. Always talking about his unrequited feelings and everything. While he's in a relationship with Jay, may I remind you!!

After Damian said that, Jon was like heartbroken. Once again, I have a very vague memory of the exact events, but Jon was just.. sad after what Damian said. It reached into his soul and tore it apart.

The story ends somewhat abruptly, but I honestly love it like that. There's a lot of ways you could have interpreted the story. Mine personally is that Damian knew Jon liked him but didn't feel the same. Jon then, y'know, ages up, dates Jay and everything. BUT his feelings for Damian never went away. They just kinda.. grew distant.

Which is also one of my favourite aspects of this fic. The angst potential for Aged up Jon coming back to regular old Damian is so GOOD. And they USE it in this fic.

Germany - Definitely math smart. Like, 0 question about it.

Italy - also math smart. A little science smart, too, but mainly math.

France - Science smart. Dude is probably doing the most insane concoctions and physics stuff in his room.

Greece - Both. He's just smart smart.

America - Math smart. This just makes sense for him. I don't know why.

Iran - Also both. This needs no explanation.

England - Science smart. He probs memorizes the whole periodic table and knows the factors that lead to liqufaction and what dry powder extinguishes but can't divide to save his life.

Thailand - math smart. Also fairly science smart as well but leans more towards math.

Like after living for, what? 200 years? Even more depending on the country, they just... don't care anymore. They have more things to worry about than whatever gender they identify as. Pretending to be a dude for a mission? No worries. Growing out their hair and wearing a wedding gown? Sure, go. Refering to a 5'11, well-built dude in a suit, full beard, and all as "Her" and "Motherland"? Yep, that's Mother, alright.

This also adds to the fact that I've always felt like nations look pretty androgynous. Like even the most typically masculine or feminine of them could definitely still pull off being another gender. Honestly, they probably have.

They're permanently stuck at the physical age of 25 as that's when the brain fully develops.

Most nations don't particularly care. It is what it is. It's what they've known all their lives. It's a fairly good age to be stuck in anyway— not too young to be disregarded or dismissed, not too old to be pitied or neglected, just right to be acknowledged and "knowledgeable".

Some nations grieve it. They view it as a loss of a special thing in life. The process of growing and changing physically. As your mind, so does your body. For some, it feels like they've lost something significant and crucial. Almost like a part of them they'll never really have.

Well, it doesn't really matter at the end of the day. It's not a choice— a flip of a coin or whatever. There's nothing they can really do about it. No use in thinking about it for so long.