when i hear the german anthem:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cIff7EB7pvc

when i hear the italian anthem:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3RToBymttA

when i hear the russian anthem:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AOAtz8xWM0w

when i hear the romanian anthem:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zTwgwEHiWm0

(though i think i like its rhythm out of all other nation anthems the most. anyways)

when i hear the greek anthem:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7Zgp-EzfOU

when i hear the punbreak of altertale playing:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NEcQuom4YD4

:0

:D

readers (actually) worrying for what is going on in my head like:

(yes, my helper was given a glow up)

now why did i mention punbreak like that? well,

1st, just because I LOVE IT

2nd, to give some atmosphere for when i tell you to put it playing

3rd, i give the chance to any reader who hasn't listened to it (or as a matter of fact never knew it existed until now), perhaps do that now (raise your hand if you haven't listened to it, don't be shy. you don't have to say anything, just an emoji raising hand)

dear god, i could rumble about this track all day long, analyse the different parts, how nicely executed and cleverly put together it is, in a quite simple way! composer of punbreak, I KNEEL DOOOWN U-U🧎🏽‍♀️!!!

anyways, put it play when i tell you. and if possible, go through laptop

alright. let's read now

Where the two skeletons come to a point to get seperated, not in a very fond way.

No one's POV:

"ØUT ØF THƏ ₩Æ¥!"

The monsters were fast jumping on the sides of the road seeing a large horse running and the 2 skeleton pirates on it, with the taller's eyesockets glowing madly hues and shades of blue. Geno, still dizzy from the accidental attack he gad gotten from Tefra, was looking around on edge, worried about accidentally stepping on any monster.

For many minutes the stallion was running at the highest speed it had in him while breathing heavily. A few human soldiers had tried to stop them, threatening to shoot the horse. But Alter was even faster to respond as he would throw bone attacks and sometimes throw soldiers at each other with blue magic.

"Gøød jøb my bøy. Kəəp runnıng!" He would sometimes encourage the horse with words like these and the animal would respond with a loud neigh, temporarily speeding up. At last the two skeletons reached the gates of the monster town.

About 30 soldiers were waiting there with weapons on hands.

"PARE-OS!"

Alter stopped the horse and looked at the soldiers with dagger-like eyesockets.

"Now what?" Geno asked.

"Rəməmbər Dævıd thə yøung łıøn?"

"Yes?"

"Tımə før hım tø pæy hıs łıttłe dəbt." Alter said chilly and placed 2 fingers on the edges of his mouth. He whistled so loudly, it caused Geno to shut his ear holes. Not many seconds later, God only knows how, the rooftops of the monster houses around the area were filled with figures of assumingly monsters, wearing masks.

The human soldiers started sweating bullets, not knowing if they had to aim at the 2 skeletons or the monsters on the rooftops. Alter got off his horse and summoned a long bone. He pointed it to the direction of the humans. By just that gesture, the monsters took out slingshots, anti-magic weapons, a few summoned their magic and started hitting the soldiers.

Key word hitting, not killing.

The humans didn't know where to find cover to avoid the rain of pebbles and bullets coming at them. Not like they would stay awake for long, as Alter would dash at them while they were distracted and knock them out by hitting their heads.

Very soon all soldiers were down and tied up, by the monsters that helped the skeletons. They were cheering, even encouraging the pirates to keep going!

"But how come they don't care that we are pirates?! Are they from the rebels perhaps? Where did they even come from?! When?!" Geno thought surprised as Alter was going back to the horse ready to climb up. He saw a monster approaching them and found the chance to express his thought. "Why did you help us? We are pirates." The monster took off their mask, revealing David.

"No matter what you are, I still owed that debt. Even as a pirate now, at least I owe it to someone of the highest importance that existed once amongst the monsters." He turned to look at Alter. "At first I was hesitant. I had almost forgotten the debt. But... one of us knew and told us who you really are. Even if you are on the side most consider wrong, I'd rather defend someone who was once follower of the 3 Aces!" He bowed down. "Best of luck out there Astera!"

"Raise your head. I am not a leader. I am just an Astera." Alter said a little abruptly. He streched however his hand towards the lion monster, who looked at him surprised. "I thank you for your help. We'll take off from now on by ourselves. I thank everyone who is still loyal to him. Take care of yourselves and never stop fighting for what you believe is right!" He said loud enough for all masked monsters around to hear as him and David were shaking hands.

"Todos saúdam o Aster e os Asteras!" They said in sync.

"Here I am, about to leave this terestrial Hell and only now I am getting filled with even more questions about the Aces." Geno thought, looking at his friend(?) surprised. "Just what else has he been in his life?!"

"Oh stars, I touched an alive Astera's hand! I'm never going to wash that hand ever again!!!" David said, seeming ready to explode from happiness as he walked away, looking at the hand he had hold Alter's. The priest hummed cheerfully and sat on the horse's saddle. He looked ahead as the gate was slowly opening by the monsters.

"HIYAH!" He did sharply and the horse ran ahead.

~

(i think it's the right time for punbreak to start playing here👍🏽)

The soldiers weren't any less now that the two skeletons were on the human kind's side of town.

They had been informed on time to be on the lookout for two skeletons, pirates of the Reapers. There were so many.

And they had many more weapons.

Alter wasn't able to evade as much as he wanted. Many bullets, anti-magic and not had hit him on the biggest part of his body but he was clenching his teeth stoically as he was still trying to use magic on anyone who was covered in armor and flesh and had weapons. Geno wanted to do something. Alter was holding himself together, but for how long?

Theee soldiers haveee set up a roaaad block~

Hurry and changeee direction~

Or do someeething to get rid of the roaaad block~

"Uh oh." Geno did.

"Whæt's thə mættər prıncə?" Alter asked.

"The winds told me there is a road block way ahead of us."

"Ðrøga." The taller commented. "But we can't change direction. We will only waste more time to reach the port!" Suddenly an idea popped inside Geno's skull.

"Hey, can the horse jump high?!"

"Yes, but not high enough to evade a horde of soldiers waiting for us!"

"I have an idea! But I need more space. Is it possible you can throw me on the rooftops?!" Alter looked down on the smaller surprised and confused. "Trust me!" The smaller pleaded. Eventually the priest nodded. Risking to fall off the horse, Geno kind of stood up and gave a quick glance at Alter. "Boost me up!" He said.

The very next moment his soul turned blue and Alter sharply and quickly send Geno up and high, but just enough for the small skeleton to reach a random rooftop and not break his legs on the fall. He rolled one time to soften his landing and quickly started running ahead, jumping from rooftop to rooftop and always being on Alter's left.

Sometimes from high he would send bone attacks to any soldiers who were trying to stop Alter, making it easier for the priest to keep going forward. Little by little however, the small skeleton was getting further ahead.

First he saw the soldiers who were waiting with spears and guns, expecting the arrival of the 2 skeletons. 5 lines of armored humans blocking the way. Geno braked and stood parallelly with them. He raised his hands on his waist level and his eyesocket glowed in red and blue colors. He saw how Alter was fast approaching, looking at the soldiers intensively.

Geno exhaled and sharply raised his right hand, the one on the direction Alter was coming. The ground just a few feet away from the soldiers cracked and bones popped out. However in such way they were creating actually a ramp! Seeing this, it occured to Alter what had to be done.

"Go faster my boy!" He commanded and the horse sped up. While at it, before the soldiers could prepare to attack, Geno moved sharply his left hand, just a tiny bit.

Now the area beneath the soldiers' feet started cracking and many short blue bones popped out. Each and every single soldier, who panicked seeing the bones 'piercing' them, the moment they tried to move away got injured by moving and fell on the ground groaning in pain.

Perfect timing, as Alter was leading the horse to the ramp and jumped above the road block of the soldiers. He kept running and so did Geno from the rooftops. The two skeletons looked at each other exchanging for a few seconds triumphant smiles.

Geno felt confident, ready to exhale a sigh of relief that they were going to make it. He didn't know why, but felt that even going back to the Reapers would be a peaceful place, just to get away from Lisbon. The air in this place was feeling sultry.

You might think that you're going to make it, but I am willing to fullfil my threat and promise, you half-mortal: Łısɓœn wiłł ɓə yœur grævə~

Geno almost stopped running, hearing the wind carrying this message, in the voice he heard just a few times but was already haunting him.

"Oh stars no, not her again-."

"GENO LOOK OUT!"

A loud explosion threw Geno even higher and ahead fast, who screamed feeling his back killing him and loosing enough of his senses. Did some kind of bomb just hit him?! How? When?

Alter tried to speed up seeing Geno flying. But he didn't see the small bomb thrown by another soldier as he passed him through. He didn't prevent to change direction. The bomb exploded as he had barely passed it and the explosion send him and the horse in the air.

It didn't hurt the priest much, but he felt a sting in his soul hearing the horse's panicked neighing and of pain. As he was up high, he looked ahead. He saw Geno who had started falling down, half-uncoscious and unable to do anything to break his fall.

Mid-air Alter streched his arm and tried to use blue magic to get the smol closer to him. There he felt a soul attack and could almost literally hear the magical object that was keeping him alive cracking. He couldn't resist the anti-magic elixir of the bullets anymore. It had kicked in his system.

With every second passing Geno was closer on hitting the ground. Alter exhaled and using the last drops of will and available magic in him, streched his arm towards Geno again and for just a fleeing second the blue magic did to him the favor. He managed to drag, grab and close tightly in his embrace the smaller.

Holding stably Geno's skull in one place by placing one of his hand on the back of it and pressing the siren's face against his chest, Alter managed to turn, so his back was facing the ground. He closed his eyesockets and started internally praying to ignore the evergrowing pain in his chest and the other that would soon come once he would hit the ground.

~

"THEY'RE NOT FAR AWAY!"

"KEEP MOVING MEN!"

The groups of human soldiers and monsters who had exited the monster town were now following the reports of where had the skeletons passed from. Amongst them, Tefra had the worry and anxiety dancing inside her soul.

Here she was again, about to face 'Guido'. Definitely she wasn't excited about it, from her experience fighting him. But then again, there were reports that him and Geno had been hit by small wave bombs.

They weren't causing much damage and that was exactly why they were used, so the houses wouldn't get destroyed. These bombs were based on blue magic and were creating waves that were pushing anything and anyone in their range.

"I § Æ I Ð G Ə T T H Ə £ U € K Œ U T Œ £ M ¥ § I G H T!"

The ground trembled. Every human soldier's and every monster guard's blood froze hearing that voice. Tefra recognised it.

"That was Guido, alright." She said calmly, succesfully managing to hide the wave of fear inside her.

"STOP BEING SCAREDY CATS MEN! FOLLOW THE VOICE!" The commander of the human group yelled and everyone started moving to the direction of the voice, hesitant however.

~

A few minutes ago...

Geno woke up groaning quietly. He pressed his hands on the ground, layed prone as he was and blinked hard many times to adjust his sight. He managed to stand up supporting himself on a nearby house and looked around him. But his eyesocket stopped on a figure supporting himself on all fours and coughing aggressively.

"ALTER!" Geno yelled and tried to run, only to almost fall, dizzy as he still was. But he managed to approach the taller skeleton who wouldn't stop coughing blue gushes. The smaller's eyesocket went empty. "Oh no. No no no..."

"I'm ałıvə..." Alter said very calmly, temporarily holding back his coughs.

"Hey, c'mon! We-... we gotta keep going!"

"Rυn awaγ prıncə..."

"No! We can still do this! We're not so far away from the port!"

"I'm in no condition to keep going..."

"We can both make it! C-Come on man! Can you stand up?"

"I've cracked all bones in my body..."

"Alter, please, I-... I can help you stand u-!" The taller skeleton suddenly held Geno's hands and raised head.

Definitely the icon he was giving to the smaller wasn't good. The sides of his skull and assumingly the back of it had plenty of cracks. He was covered in blood and it was a miracle it hadn't stained his cloak yet. Or maybe it hadn't start staining it enough yet to be seen.

"Rule... Number... 2."

"What?" Geno asked confused and still agitated.

"In tension... If I command you to run, you will run..."

"Oh no, don't you start me with thi-." Geno tried to say remembering how the 2nd rule of Alter's went.

"If I command you to hide... you will hide." Alter kept going.

"Screw this rule! Not now!!!"

"And if I command you to leave me behind..." Alter's irises contracted and it almost seemed as if he was death staring at Geno. "Ðœn't əvən τυrn tœ łœœk æt mə." He cleared his throat. "Yøu mıght bə thə prıncə, bυτ αs γουr gυαrdiαn, I mυsτ səək τø đø whατ ıs bəsτ før γøυ. Prıncə Gənøcıđə-."

"No! I ain't going anywhere!"

"Rυπ. Nœw."

"But I-!"

"Rυπ fœr tηə pœrt."

"Alter!"

"§wım æwæγ."

"Stop talking!"

"Fınđ thə Rəæpərs ænđ təłł thəm whæt hæppənəđ. Thə mıssıøn must nøt støp."

"There ain't no way I'm leaving you behind-!"

"Yœυ ægrəəđ tœ tηə rυłəs."

"W-Well, as Geno, not your prince-!"

"Ðœπ'τ γoυ ðærə wæłκ ærøυπđ τηə rυłəs wıτη əχcυsəs łıκə τηəsə! Gət øut øf hərə. Nœw."

"Alter, we must keep going. I ain't letting you die in the hands of the humans!"

"I wıłł đəłæy thəm. I wıłł ənđ up đəæđ ænywæys. Gət œυτ øf-."

"Don't say these, DON'T!"

"Yøu ðœπ'τ wænt mə tø rəpəæt mysəłf før ª τηırð tımə ρrıπcə Gəπœcıđə-."

"Stop being stubborn!" Geno yelled and Alter closed his eyesockets, taking a deep breath. "Alter, we will leave from here together! Stand up and-!"

(how i poorly present the rage that follows in gacha club style like:)

You know how serious it is when a 'a ray of sunshine', a calm and patient person or monster yells at you. Even more when they so happen to control gravity and the ground starts shaking. Geno took a step back shocked, still staring at the priest with an iris almost about to dissapear, this small.

Oh, but Alter was far from over yelling at Geno.

"§TŒÞ ßƏING §TUCƘ ŒN MƏ ŁIƘƏ Æ §ŁIMY, Ð I § G U § T I N G ŒY§TƏR! §TŒÞ NŒT £Æ€ING THƏ RƏÆŁIT¥ Œ£ THƏ §ITUÆTIŒN! ÐŒ §ŒMƏTHING Æ€TUÆŁŁ¥ RƏÆŁŁ¥ U§Ə£UŁ £ŒR ŒN€Ə ÆNÐ RUN Æ₩Æ¥! §TŒÞ! ₩ƧTING! TIMƏ!"

If words could kill, Geno would have ended up dead. Each word was like a stab directly in his soul. And yet it wasn't a pain strong enough for him to make him cry. It wasn't as strong as the pain he felt when Error and Fresh were gone from the face of earth. Even on a situation like this, he was comparing the pain he was feeling right now to the one of the past that wouldn't leave him alone.

"STOP BEING SCAREDY CATS MEN! FOLLOW THE VOICE!" A rough manly voice was heard from somewhere far away.

That pain slowly turned to numbness. Geno clenched his fists and walked passed Alter, who didn't even spare a glance at him. He stopped a few steps away from the priest, but didn't look at him either.

"I don't understand what has gotten into you. But very well. Let's do us both a favor... Wow... what a f*cking fool I was, wasn't I? To even believe you had good thoughts about me. To share my past with you. To dare call you a friend." And without another word, Geno ran ahead.

Alter's POV:

Alright.

He's far away enough.

I start coughing again.

If I was coughing in front of him, he might was staying around for longer.

And I couldn't allow that to happen.

I fall on my fours again and watch my magic staining the paved ground. There suddenly my vision blurrs. Am I starting to loose my senses-? No...

*Sigh*

I'm crying.

It hurt me more saying all those things and acting the way I was acting the whole day with Geno. But I felt I had to. Otherwise he would insist on staying with me.

He is most likely going to hate me for the rest of his life. But maybe after all, that's fine with me.

I can hear them approaching. They are soon going to arrest me. Or maybe, they're gonna kill me instantly for being a pirate. I can't allow that to happen.

I had two plans before tagging along for Lisbon. The one was meant to work if the other was failing to... meet the circumstances. The first being staying alive and simply leaving with Geno. But that plan ain't possible anymore in the condition I am.

But that means I can execute the second plan now that I can't move much and Geno is out of the way.

I must get arrested. Not killed. I need to be handled by the monster guards. Not humans. The monsters will be able lead me closer to Raymond more peacefully. This coward is not easily approached. But if monsters with authority high enough can handle me and lead me closer to Raymond so I can get 'judged'...

I can finally have 'a word' with that filth.

I cæn fınæłły ənð hım.

I will finally fulfill my vengeance. One that against the beliefs I learned from the moansteries, I have been nurturing for 4 years.

I don't care if I die. Yes, I will succumb to death. But not from my injuries. From using my gift without Geno being in danger.

That is the most major restriction of the siren blessing: if I use it to kill someone without 'em being a threat to the one I protect, I can instantly die. And considering how slow and painfull I wanna make Raymond's death, I am positive I'll dust.

My gift is the only 'magic' I have left and will have. If they put on me magic blocker, which is most likely to happen, my magic will be locked. Except from the blessing. 'Cause it ain't mine. I wasn't born with it. I figured out that magic blockers don't... recognise the magic of the siren blessing and so can't block it.

Yes, I will try use that to my advantage. Play it humble and weakened. But the moment I see Raymond, oh.

Hə wœn't əxpəct whæt's cœmın' fœr hım.

As long as Geno is safe and away from this land, I don't care what will happen to me.

The soldiers are coming closer.

"There is only one monster who can keep me alive until I get closer to Raymond. Please Lord let her be amongst the humans who are coming for me." I silently pray and cross myself 3 times. I look ahead and smile.

Guess... I'll be seeing mother and father soon...

3660 words

readers after seeing all true intentions of alter's and why he was being an *sshole to geno all this time (or after seeing they were right about why he was acting like that if they suspected it from before) like,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EzE5aWL35-k

or

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJI1UsK5gC4

and then,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ap4nvdEotqw

but save your tears!

hopeful readers: will- will things turn out ok?!

me: 😀no! save your tears, cause it will get worse😈

readers:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TgfVRwS_0Y8

or

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DVIyLjvaKWc

or

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5J5FPHatp0

ok, that's enough crying. go read the next chapter if you dare~😈😈😈