Disclaimer: I don't own 1/2 Prince, or the characters from Clockwork AE that will be appearing (Aeolus and Dib belong to Tiggipi). I trust that you already know which characters belong to me. Enjoy!

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Chapter 39: Bloody meeting.

Stupid Mei, stupid Starlight, stupid fangirls, stupid support group, stupid reputation, stupid luck, stupid game, stupid me!

"This is so annoying!" I mumbled darkly as I was ordered to open yet another stupid treasure chest. I couldn't help but wonder, Why does life treat me so unfairly? as I passed the loot to one of the fangirls. Apparently they decided that I was one of their "sisters". I should not have let Starlight get me involved in this stupid search of money, for the stupid concert, given by that stupid Infinite Band . . . I was so utterly worn out by the whole thing that it felt like everything was stupid.

I'm so going to kill Starlight the next time I see her.

After the wonderful night I spent with my father in-game, and getting to know the new branch together, he had left me alone - both in game and real life – in order to attend various real life parties that would be taking place in the days to come, celebrating Christmas festivities with various acquaintances and the corporate elite. I was extremely annoyed over the fact that my father had forbidden me to go with him, citing the fact that I had way too many things to fix up before the branch became functional. Whose fault was that anyway? I would have had everything ready, if he hadn't so abruptly given me a promotion, and I was even going to miss out on one of my favorite heir privileges!

Life is so unfair.

I spent several days alone with these women, who told me that my husband had gone on a business trip. Since the fangirls blamed themselves for my death, opening treasure chests was the only thing they allowed me to do. They even forbade me to take part in any battle. I kindly suggested for them to let me aid them from behind with my bow, but they confiscated it under the pretext that it was a threat for everyone who trained with me. After I complained that I felt completely useless, they assigned me this stupid task. Additionally, now they won't let me go, since I – unfortunately! - have a high Luck statthat makes the content of the chests more likely to contain rare items, and more money . . . I found it ironic that having a high Luck stat was now the thing that doomed me to spend my days with a bunch of fangirls – who were brainwashed to think of me as adorable - sitting in the back, while being leveled up, and opening treasure chests . . .

This is so-o-o-o boring! Mei, I'm going to make sure to get back at you for this.

"My dear sister!"

Speak of the devil and she will send you an annoying PM. Calling me 'dear sister' . . . the nerve of her!

"How are you doing in such a radiant day?"Starlight PMed me; her usual smooth voice and flowery language made me tremble in anger.

"How I am doing? I'll tell you how I am doing, YOU DAMN SADISTIC BULLY! I HAVE BEEN SUFFERING HERE WITH THIS CRAZY BUNCH FOR THE LONGEST TIME EVER!"My initially quiet voice kept rising as I snapped and continued throwing Starlight a long list of complaints over the my situation, which was, of course, her fault. "Tell me one reason not to go find you, right this instant, and make you explode in a million pieces!"I murderously hissed.

"I found you an archery teacher," she calmly declared.

"You what?"

"I went to Infinite City, and, since I'msuch a good friend, I made a hu-u-uge effort to get the best archers in the city to help you improve as an archer."

My anger, along with my thirst for her blood, vanished after hearing those words.

Mei had been doing so much for me all this time? And here I was getting mad at her just because I was having a bad day - or three . . . I feel so guilty!

"Me-e-ei, thank you so much!"

Now I can become a proper archer!I was so glad that it made me completely forgive her for abandoning me and saddling me with all that money-gathering work… Oh well… I guess that stalking the band was also an important job, though I'm not really sure why.

"Tell the girls about it, and bring the money you earned along with you in your way back," she ordered.

I dutifully relayed Starlight's commands to the party of fangirls. They couldn't help but point out how thoughtful Starlight-daren had been in going to such an extent for my sake, and, for the first time in the stretch of long, boring days I spent with the women, I sincerely agreed and showered my best friend with praises.

With a giddy smile on my face, I ran all the way back to Infinite City.

"Starlight!" I chirped as I saw her at the city-gate.

I almost colided with her when I put my brakes, but managed to stop myself barely 10 centimeters away from her (about a meter closer that I would have wanted, but I had been running with all my might and... well you get what I mean). Starlight, who was used to my almost-colididng-with-her in a regular basis, didn't bother to move from where she was standing. although the wind that follow my abrupt halt made her close her eyes. I looked at her, waiting for some sort of scolding on her part, but she smiled, making me feel slightly warry.

"Windy! My friend!" She greeted and I jumped back half a meter by reflex. Starlight smiling sweetly is a really bad omen.

"What's wrong?" She asked with feighn ignorance, but seeing that my nervous stand suggested that I would run for dear life if she made some sort of suspicious movement, she stoped smiling "Geeze, way to spoil the mood" She voiced and I looked at her with puzzlement. "Anyway," She continued "I brought you soemthing" She exclaimed, taking out a bow from her pouch "For you." She pushed the bow into me in a way that was anything but gentle.

"Ouch" I voiced and then grabbed the impresive-looking bow and raised my eyebrow in her way.

"Is my way of thanking you for your help... Plus I heard that the girls took yours away, you will need a bow to learn archery anyway" She explained and smiled as she added "It´s a high leveled bow... It will help you deal more damage when you shot" Starlight let her smile grow even wider but I was too focused on my bow to notice how evil her expresion was turning, and too happy on getting a free upgrade to bother wondering why my friend would give me a bow that would make me deal more damage to my enemy when I had never hit the enemies I was aiming for.

"Thanks" I smiled and looked up, missing the evil vibes she had been sending all around.

Starlight started to walk without saying anything else, as she "Floated" like a cloud, with endless grace and that ever so mysterious and elegant behaviour she displayed to fool unsuspecting people... People who she would later brainwash or torture depending on her mood. I could not bare looking at her for too long, her fliplant, sugary and fake behavior was getting on my nerves, so I let my eyes wander around the buildings around us. Infinite city gave the impresion to be a whole diferent city from the last time I saw it, everything gave the feeling of being new. All the "upgrades" If I can call it that, most have cost a fortune... There was no wondering where the obsenely large amount of zeroes in the ticket's bill were put there for the renovations.

I was still feeling awed by the improved sorroudings when Starlight abruptly halted and I almost crashed into her back. "We've arrived."

A place I had never been before, an archery ground, was now before our eyes. It was a very spacious area; the targets, the grassy field, the clear blue sky and the rustic walls gave the tidy space an invigorating aura.

I felt so optimistic about finally learning archery.

As I looked around with a mixture of expectance and nervousness, I was led to a group of fifty or so archers that were standing inside the training grounds. Upon spotting us, they headed our way.

Wow! Starlight certainly outdid herself this time! Am I really the only one going to learn archery here? Why are there so many archers? Are they all going to teach me? I wondered.

I was about to ask Starlight if it wasn't going to be a private lesson when two unfamiliar women came up behind us. Well, one of them did seem familiar, but I could not quite place where had I seen her before.

"Yu Lian, Madame White bird, this is my friend Windy." Starlight introduced me with a wide smile and an unnecessarily-dramatic hand gesture. "I will leave her in your hands, remember to give me a call when she hits a bulls eye," she said sweetly. I couldn't help but flinch upon seeing how her eyes started sparkling. I instinctively readied myself to give a run for it if she gave any signal that indicated that she was about to start giving one of her speeches.

Much to my relief, after an ominous pause, Starlight limited herself to a brief "Windy, do your best!" and a pat on my shoulder as she walked by.

I was a bit taken aback. After all, I was sure I had recognized the apocalypse-inducing sparkle . . . maybe her sadistic plans weren't aimed at me, but at the two women.

I sighed in relief after reaching that conclusion. I knew that Starlight was up to something, but as long as it didn't involve me, or anyone I cared about, then I would stay as far from it as possible. After all, I was no saint, and it's not like her annoying pranks would become a threat to the world, as long as she limited herself to do them online. There was no doubt about it - the reason Mei created Starlight was to release her sadistic inner self and create havoc all around.

The woman in the mage robe - Yu Lian, Starlight called her - exchanged a brief look of resolve with Madame White Bird, before calling goodbye to Starlight. Then, she guided me to the group of archers.

"I'm Legolas," said an archer, stepping forward. He seemed kind. His eyes rested on me for a moment before he said, "Are you a newbie? You don't look like a newbie. And you don't look like someone who needs to be taught archery . . ."

At his words I let the corners of my mouth rise in the tiniest smile, feeling thoughtfully proud of my gear and, it seems like my outfit makes me look like a pro; I'm so glad I decided to become an archer . . . well, at least dress like one.

"Do you have a bow?" he asked. I nodded, pulling out the holy bow Starlight had given me on our way over. The other one I used to have was still in the grip of the fangirls, who forbade me to ever use it again . . . Talk about an overreaction.

"Wow! What a good bow!" he exclaimed excitedly, taking the bow away.

"We will leave things to you. Remember, she must hit a bulls-eye no matter what," Yu Lian said, with a smile that reminded me a bit of the one I sometimes display before firing someone – you know, the one that makes people flinch in fright.

Unaccustomed to being on the receiving end of such an evil aura, I couldn't help but give a small flinch.

Yu Lian and the other woman went ahead to talk to the archers and smiled at them with the same threatening aura she had displayed on my way before. After giving them some instructions, both women left the archery grounds, following the path Starlight had walked moments before.

As I quietly followed them with my eyes, I hoped that they wouldn't meet too much trouble by running into Starlight right now. The fact that I didn't have any intention of helping didn't stop me from feeling empathetic.

I was snapped back from my inner apologies to the women when when someone gave me a friendly pat on the shoulder. "Shall we start?" Legolas asked. Behind him all the archers were looking at me, most of them wearing a sober expression. Some of them oozed boredom, as if saying that there was no need for so many of them to be around just to teach one person - which was completely true.

As if in response to that fact, Legolas told the other archers to resume their practice. They spread out in a neat line on the training ground and began shooting arrows at distant dummies or targets with bulls-eyes painted on them. I looked at the way they shot for a moment and memorized their stances, so that I could use them in my techniques - they seemed to be experienced, and the way they stood clearly indicated that I had been doing things poorly all along.

"Show me what you got," said Legolas,. He handed back my big holy bow.

I hesitated for a moment, but he simply waited patiently by my side. Well, here it goes . . . I pulled one of the thousands of arrows tucked in one of the nearby barrels. I adjusted my bow, and brought out my newly-copied, flawless archer-pose (I made a mental note to give it a shorter less-lame name in the future). Then, drawing the arrow back with a natural, efficient, motion, that didn't waste any energy, I let go of the arrow which flew graciously, in a gentle arch and thudded into the ground three meters away from the target.

I looked at the arrow with pride. I have improved so much just by copying their positions. No wonder, these people are real archers!

"How weird," Legolas said, and then handed me another arrow. "Do it again."

I nodded, and fired the second arrow. It failed by around three meters as well. I must be in top condition today!

I was sure I had earned myself a praise; however, the man was not satisfied and made me repeat the feat, making me shoot about 10 arrows, however, my hands were already feeling a lot of pain. Maybe it was because I had been copying other people's form and was still not used to shooting like that?

"It doesn't make any sense," Legolas said, scratching his head. The man had been giving me all kind of advices, and by the look of it, the other 50-or-so archers scattered around the archery area were having such an easy time and yet I had managed to fail a thousand times. However even though I had yet to hit the mark, the arrows I had been shooting had fallen all at the average distance of 4 meters away the target –then again, it seemed that my failing by 4 meters when the targets for beginners are placed only 10 meters away from the archer is nothing but impressive, which I find really unfair! I mean, no matter how you look at it getting over half the points in a test makes a passing grade, so this should qualify me as an archer… It's obvious that once I have polished myself up I can be both a mage and an archer, after all, all I need to be an archer is a bow and archer gear! [AN: Yeah, because having the ability to aim has nothing to do with it]

Legolas kept talking. "I don't see the problem. The posture is all right, you seem to be aiming pretty well… Try putting more strength over it. Use your whole strength," he advised, and the others nodded, in agreement.

"Um . . . I don't think that's a good idea," I said timidly, inwardly crying for the pain in my hand. It hurt so much it felt like it would fall off at any moment, but probably once I get used to the positions I should be able to practice archery without my hands being in pain.

"I'm the one instructing you. If you wish to learn, you should follow my suggestions."

"It can't be helped then," I mumbled. I was reluctant for a moment, but I knew I couldn't let my pride -or pain- get in the way of following the instructions of an experienced teacher. I pulled the arrow back with as much force as I could gather, and let go of it when the bowstring was at its stretching limits. The arrow went down and met the floor with force, but contrary to the laws of physics it bounced of the soft soil and kept moving forward, just to hit the wall and ricochet again. Then, as if gaining more strength by bouncing, it sped up in mid-air, impaling the neck of one of the random archers innocently practicing to my right. He died on the spot.

The whole place fell into a shocked silence for a few moments. Then, baffled remarks such as "My god, did that arrow just bounce?" "What kind of skill is that?" and other similar comments filled the air with unbearable noise.

It seems that my arrow bouncing was the straw that broke the camel's back, Legolas seemed to have been angered over my incompetence, but restrained himself from yelling at me as he switched places with one of the other archers. One after another all archers started teaching me in earnest. At the beginning they were all kind, some of them even gave me a lascivious look or two given my revealing attire -obviously happy that they were getting to spend time with cute-ol'-me. But, the story repeated itself over and over, then, at some point they ended up scolding me. They got louder and louder until they were all exasperatedly yelling at me -even the ones that had yet to teach me were frustrated over that I hadn't hit the target despite the efforts of their comrades. As for the contents of their shuots, the accusations ranged from being helpless to being a sadist – some thought I was failing on purpose, but then again considering that one in three arrows would bounce on one of them, I think that they had every right to be mad . . .

I kept failing and failing for hours. I shot so many arrows; but no one seemed to be empathetic to me anymore, so they instructed me to drink potions whenever I complained, so we could continue, making my poor little hands to go through a cycle of getting sore, getting healed, getting sore, so on and so forth, for endless hours, until I nearly ran out of potions. I was peeved, I was the only one who had gotten no rest at all! the men were taking turns to instruct me, but, in their want to make me learn as fast as possible so I would never return, they had forbidden me of taking a rest. Damn them! This is so unfair . . . !

"What are you guys doing?" A very familiar white-haired elf came into view.

It's Prince! I looked at him with eager eyes. Why should I stay around listening to the instructions of these less-than-proficient, rude archers when such an impressive sharpshooter had come around? Prince, who shot a hundred warriors in the war, all by himself, should be capable of pointing out my mistakes.

"City lord," I called with a bow. Then, with impressive speed - it looked like I had teleported - I leapt in front of him and grabbed his hands, staring into his face with a worshipping look.

"You were amazing at the war!" I praised excitedly, not noticing the coughs that were coming from behind me, after I had created a trail of smoke in my rush. I continued my list of praises. "The way your arrows pierced your enemies at the battlefield was so cool! I on the other hand only got myself killed…" I looked down dejectedly and then up again with renewed resolve. "I want your advice. How do I become a good archer?"

There was a smile on his face, but the corners of him mouth were twitching slightly and there was a big sweatdrop running down his face. I blinked uncomprehendingly at his odd response; it looked like he was nervous because of my question, or as if he was fishing for the right words. I must have been reading too much into it, though - he was Prince, the great sharpshooter and liege lord of Infinite City. Such a capable person wouldn't be nervous over something like one of his citizens asking for his advice. Awaiting his answer, I felt my eyes become extremely expectant, and my admiring gaze didn't waver for even a second.

The city lord finally broke eye contact, and coughed, when his demeanor changed from slightly nervous to completely suave and cool.
"To become good at something you need to practice, so shoot as many arrows as you can, to learn fast. Even if it's by just a little, you will get a bit better with each shot."

I nodded and then thanked him, before going back to my position in front of the target. Ignoring the never-fading angry looks from my fellow archers, I picked up an arrow and notched it on my bowstring. I couldn't help but wonder, If archery is just about shooting arrows, shouldn't shooting them faster help me learn faster? With that thought in mind, inspired by Prince's advice, and filled with new motivation I stopped all efforts of copying the other's archers technique, and aiming as I always had, emptied the barrel arrow by arrow, so quickly that I didn't stop to see the destiny of the arrows that crazily started going in any directions, bouncing everywhere and hitting everyone. It only took a couple of seconds for me to go from the first barrel to the second -I had one placed to each side behind me- but the second one was soon emptied as well, and, as soon as my hand grabbed the air, while trying to get a nonexisting arrow out of the barrel on my left, I stopped making my arm turn into a fan with the never ending motions. I paled to see one of the arrows coming on my way. I dodged, just to see another one coming from behind, and in a rush of adrenaline I started dodging - with some difficulty, since the horrible noise and the slippery ground under my feet were so distracting. Geeze, would it kill them to be a bit more quiet? I'm busy dodging arrows here! Ouch! An arrow scratched my foot. Those stupid archers, do they have to be so noisy? They must know that I can't stand noise and they are yelling on purpose . . . talk about being uncooperative!

The whole situation lasted about two minutes. I managed to get out of it with near to no damage, and for some unknown reason it seemed that the whole thing had made me gain seven levels. Huh? Wait, but I didn't kill any mobs, so I couldn't have gained any EXP unless . . . oh crap.

I finally paid attention to my surroundings and glanced wide-eyed around the practice field. The walls, the ground, the storage shed, the players . . . everything seemed to be covered in arrows. The slipperiness of the ground beneath my feet was blood, the fifty plus archers had been reduced to less than ten, and the curious onlookers that usually lingered by the gate were nowhere to be seen. I even saw an archer running away, potion in hand, dragging his feet and using his bow as a cane . . . What a drama queen. Oh, look, my rep went down! Yay!

My happiness was short-lived as I heard a yell form behind me. "I'm going to kill that bitch!" and I spun around, just in time to duck an arrow shot by one archer who seemed to have relatively few injuries, especially compared to the other people around, who looked like porcupines.

"I'll kill that woman once and for all!" someone shouted.

"Let's avenge our fallen comrades!" another one yelled taking, rising up own bow.

"It was an accident, I swear!" I screamed once before I started dodging arrow after arrow. Everyone left was apparently set on killing me. Several archers that had been sent to the rebirth point came back to get revenge. The place exploded into total chaos - some people ran away, others charged, and arrows flew everywhere. Soon, the ground was bloodied even more - the arrows I dodged hit some of them, and of course, at some point (when my temper snapped) I also went back to shooting the arrows I could catch in mid-air. Having super speed is so convenient . . . But, I had to make sure not to die; they were probably waiting for me in the rebirth point.

"Stop this!" Madame White bird cried out, drawn to the grounds by the alarming amount of players that had turned into pillars of light. They lit up the sky so brightly it seemed that you could go blind looking up. I seemed to have been the only one to notice and stop shooting, but I still didn't dare stop my feet, for the arrow I had shot moments before was still bouncing around, and there were still people shooting at me.

"STOP!" A loud roar came from the door and I looked around to see a tall, grey wolfman with a scar over his eye and that woman, Yu Lian, next to him. He looked vaguely sick. The calm was soon restored and Prince, who was hiding behind one of the targets, rushed to his teammates, and exchanged a few words, before he was scolded by the wolfman. I had the impression that he said that he had gotten lost trying to get to the concert hall, but I must have hit my head real hard - as if there could be something like a city lord getting lost in his own city. Just the thought of it was ridiculous.

Yu Lian -whose face seemed to be sickly pale after inspecting the damage of the archey grounds- came my way to ask for explanations. "What happened here?" She voiced, her paleness fading away as a vein popped on her temple. I embarrassedly told her what had happened and she sighed irritably, mumbling something about money, and I am completely certain that I heard her mention Starlight's name, though I didn't completely get what she said.

I knew for a fact that they wouldn't keep on giving me classes after all this, but I still felt dejected when Yu Lian ordered, "Heal yourself and get out of the archery ground." All the archers, including me, started walking out.

"Where do you think you are going?" she said, and caught me by the neck of my cloak.

"Out of the archery grounds," I pointed out, "just as you told us to . . . "

"I didn't mean you. You can't go anywhere yet. Don't worry, I will go call the best archery teacher we have. Wait here," Yu Lian said, and rushed off somewhere. I felt a bit happy to stay, and I waited as instructed. Apparently I was about to get a second chance, and with their best archery teacher, too!

I looked at nowhere in particular as the archers healed themselves and hastily left, others coming back with priests, to heal those who were so injured, that they couldn't even bring themselves to drink potions. As soon as the now healed archers could walk, they quickly fled the grounds –the ones that were still badly injured after the healing spells were now gulping down potions.

I heard a somewhat childish voice come from the ground gates. "Whoa! Al, look!"

At the sound of that childish voice, I noticed that Yu Lian had returned, followed by Gui, who was carrying the noisy kid.

I strongly hoped that the kid was not going to be my archery teacher; after all, I knew that Gui was a bard, despite of the fact that he is now wearing an archer's gear. Now I finally get why the fangirls had done a voodoo doll of Gui dressed like an archer.

"This is Aeolus. His teaching skills in archery are superb," said Yu Lian with a smile, as she pointed at Gui, who looked like there was a monster about to pop out of any corner.

"Aeolus? Isn't he Gui?" I asked, dumbfounded. I thought that I got the name of the bard right, but it turns out that I even got the profession wrong.

"I'm not Gui Wen," he said, somewhat irritated.

I was wrong? This guy isn't Gui? Then, what about the voodoo dolls the fangirls had? Maybe they mixed him up, too. So, if Aelous, who looks so much like Gui, is really an archer, then, maybe the Halfling on his shoulders is -as his clothes suggest- a warrior. That is so relieving - for a moment there I thought I was going to have to spend time with the little one . . . Oh! Now I see the difference between the two! So this guy Aelous has golden eyes. Golden eyes and black hair . . . I wonder how my avatar would look with that combination of colors...

"Windy?Windy‽" I faintly heard my name being called as Yu Lian poked my arm.

"Oh, what?" I replied dazedly, as my mind slowly came back from wherever it was traveling. I raised an eyebrow behind my mask as I saw that Aelous had already gotten out his bow and notched an arrow.

"Shouldn't you two get started?" Yu Lian suggested, smiling faintly. "You've just been standing there for quite some time, after all."

"Yes. Sorry," I said, immediately falling silent, and feeling my mind wander for a brief moment wondering how long it would take the blood on the floors and walls to vanish. I was feeling a bit worried over the possibility of it dirtying my clothes. However, my attention was back as I heard a high-pitched voice calling me from outside the gates.

"Windy, there you are!"

Some of the women who had been training with me earlier than night were gathered outside the gate.

"DON'T LET THEM GET ME!" the kid unexpectedly cried loudly.

The fangirl who had been talking with me didn't seem to notice."We've been looking for you, Windy!" The woman explained. "The concert is starting soon. Aren't you coming?"

I felt a bit confused about the abrupt mention of the concert. Does the concert have anything to do with me?

"Look! Isn't that Aeolus?" The other two women's heads immediately turned to Aelous as well. "Aeolus? You mean Gui's brother?"

So they know this man isn't Gui . . . Now I'm confused. Why do they have a voodoo doll of this person in their hideout?

I hadn't noticed I had spaced out yet again - my mind seemed to have been drifting away a tad too easily all day - until I felt myself been yanked into a hug, and I immediately eyed the woman, who pointed to the front yelling "Windy, do you know who this person is? That guy is a shameless bastard who has his own harem and even tricks little boys! Plus he's a Prince-hater, who tries to kill Prince every time he sees him! He's the worst!"

Furiously baring my teeth at them, Aelous snarled irritably, "I'm not and I don't!"

"Heh! As if anyone would believe a pedophile like you!"

"Pervert!"

"Scum!"

I looked at the man with confusion, being certain that I had missed on something. Maybe they hated the man just because he looked like Gui. Given the fact that this people were so idiotic, it was definitely a possibility.

"He is even worse than Gui!" The women announced and I immediately chased away that train of thought.

"Even worse than Gui?" I chorused somewhat horrified and looked at Aelous with suspicion.

I don't believe that Gui is a bad person, in fact, as a prominent woman in the business industry I meet gay people really often and they are mostly nice people. But to hear a member of a support group made solely of Gui haters, say that the man in front of me was 'worst than Gui' made me feel extremely wary . . . What kind of horrible thing would a person need to do to get a group of lunatic fangirls to hate you even more than the guy who they made an oath to protect Prince from?

I tried to come up with a reasonable explanation, as the ideas of what he had done popped into my head, and at the same time battling with the want to believe that the man was not a bad they were just exaggerating.

. . . but what if . . . but then...

I grew increasingly annoyed at the wave of shouts that came out as I tried to think; their noisy discussion interfered with my thinking, preventing me from reaching a conclusion. I hated noise, especially when I was trying to think. Attempting to analyze the situation under such situations was giving me quite the headache.

The whole noisy thing kept on for a while, and the kid added to the annoying noise by continuously yelling, "No! No! No!" over and over.

I snapped.

"SHUT UP!" I yelled, not-so-accidentally triggering my endless scream ability, making my words come out with deafening potency. There were several exclamations of pain as everyone around covered their ears a tad too late.

It took the women a minute to recover and uncover their ears, glaring at me. "Are you siding with him? You traitor!" One of them accused me reflexively, but I wasn't fazed at all.

"Weren't you going to the concert hall? If you don't hurry, you will miss the performance." I reminded them, keeping myself from showing how pissed I was. If they had brought up the concert, then it meant it was their turn to attend to one of those, since the fangirls had been taking turns, to go see Infinite Band's performance in Infinite Rhapsody, so they could make sure that Prince would be cheered properly through every concert (they all would have gone to every single one of them, if they had enough money).

Predictably, all of them paled upon the reminder. "The concert!" they exclaimed at the exact same time, and ran out of the archery training grounds, disappearing in the distance, and letting the beautiful sound of silence reign once more. I felt happy to go back to my training in peace and calm, but in a matter of minutes one of them came back.

"You shouldn't miss the concert either," the woman that had come back declared hurriedly, before dragging me along with her, crossing the bloody ground, and taking me away from my long-awaited archery training with the best archery teacher of the whole city.

Oh well tomorrow will be another day . . . Wait! They're taking me to the concert?

"No-o-o-o! I don't want to go to a concert! Starlight, He-e-e-elp me!" I hastily PMed her.

[System Notification: Game unable to contact player Starlight]

As I received that notification, I resigned to my fate and tried to mentally prepare myself for the horrors that were to come . . .

Sadly, my mental preparation was surely not enough to shield me for the impeding trauma that was sure to follow.

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AN: Yay! I finished it! It took me so much effort. I hope everyone enjoyed it. I know that there is no love development, but cut me some slack in here, I promise there will be something happening after I take care of the crossovers.

Now, the winner has been chosen! the person who gets to chose who the next character -or ask for any one spoilerish thing- is… SeaDevil! Cheers for you! The lucky number in the review contest was 301 (Who belonged to "Love it" who doesn't have an accoun, so I chose whoever person with an account who reviewed before her). Why 301? You might ask. Well, 301 is 7x43. You obviously know that 7 is a lucky number, but then what does the 43 have to do in this? Well, 43 is the chapter in which I reached the 200k+ words, so, that 301 in the review count means that you, wonderful and amazing readers, have given me enough reviews to get to an average of 7 reviews per chapter. This is so exiting! I went over the 200k+ words, gotten over 300 reviews, and have an average of 7 reviews per chapter. I feel like the most fortunate fanfic writer on the face of earth. *Tears up* I love you people! You make me keep on wanting to keep on writing even when I have a schedule so packed that I might die from over-exhaustion.

Remember to give me your thoughts about this one. And remember to take a pick on the Aeolus POV of all this... And for those who already read Tippigi's vertion... I believe that now is a good time for re-reading... and reviewing her on that one if you haven't yet.