A collection of side stories and headcanons from "A Phoenix's Heart"

Halloween with Leopold

Leopold's point-of-view

With the holiday off and my siblings busy I decided to party the night away with the black Bulls. I arrived at their base at about 8 to find everyone else in a costume. Charmy and Vanessa insist that I change into one before going out. Unfortunately for me, the only costume left is a pumpkin. Despite the childish costume, I think I pulled it off. I joined the group of Charmy, Finral, Vanessa, Luck, Rill, Yami, and Charlotte as we headed off to one of the largest Halloween Fests in the area.

The Festiva was busy with drunk adults, mischievous teens, and serious magic knights. I was overwhelmed with the smell of over-sweet candy and strong liquor when we first arrived. I rarely drink because I'm always with Fuegoleon, but I decided to let loose tonight with the others old enough to drink. We bounce from bar to bar and from game to game, laughing and causing mischief. We went on this big Ferris wheel and got stuck at the top. The view from the top was magical and probably romantic. Or I assume so. Rill must have thought so as he tried to put moves on Charmy. I think she was either too drunk or too uninterested to notice though. Yami, Charlotte, and Rill drank far less than the rest of us. I assume to keep an eye on us and to prevent us from causing any damage or getting arrested. At around midnight, Yami cut me and the others off (though I only had 3 beers) and I vaguely recall Yami confiscating my grimoire. He grumbled something along the lines of "Don't get too drunk little lion brother. Your brother will have my head if I get you arrested tonight."

"Hey guy, look. Escape Rooms" shouted Finral as we walked around the still busy fair at around 1:30 am.

"Let's go. Let's Race. I'm sure we can escape the room faster than you captains can."

"Sure."

"What?! You you want to be locked in a room to together?."

"If it gets these drunk troublemakers off the street, sure. I don't mind spending the rest of the night alone with you. It's not like we aren't dating."

"Mhfdhhk" squeals Charlotte as she tries to run away but Yami grabs her and throws her over his shoulder.

"Hey game master man. We'd like two rooms. One for me and her and one for the six kids. Will this be enough?" asks Yami, slamming down a small bag with some gold coins.

"Yes of course. Please come this way. This room will be for the two adults. This much larger room would be for the six kids," He says ushering us inside the rooms. "You have 4 hours to solve all the puzzles and escape the rooms. The kids will have the jailhouse escape room and the two adults will have the Sex Dungeon escape room."

"The..the..tht... the What!?" stammers Charlotte as the game master slams the doors, locking us in. An escape room. We were locked in a "hallway" that led to two jail cells lined with iron bars. The room itself looked barren yet looked rather realistic compared to the jail cells that I've seen. I turn around and see the rules and instructions written on a poster taped to the back of the door.

"You and your friends have been locked in a jail cell of an old rundown prison set to be demolished by your arch-nemesis. The jail is being demolished for having a high record of successful escapes from these specific jail cells. However, the holes/tunnels have been filled in and the air vents have been locked, And the bars have been welded in place. There are still four master keys hidden throughout the room that will unlock the four locks on this door. The jail is set to be blown up in 4 hours. You have till then to escape. Or else you will die and your arch nemesis will kill your family or will kill your favorite pet." I read the poster aloud to the group. I turn around again to find Finral and Vanessa passed out drunk, sleeping on a bench in one of the jail cells. Only Rill, Charmy, Luck, and I were left awake. Luck only drank one beer and bounced off the walls, fell asleep, and picked fights with every random stranger he met. Yami confiscated his grimoire when he started drinking but still had to talk him out of getting arrested.

"Well looks like it's only us who really be helpful. Unless Luck destroys the place, it is up to us to escape this place."

"I'm the oldest so I'll take charge" proclaimed Charmy. Rill, you check the cells with the sleepyheads. I'll check the other cell. Leo, you stay out here and look for any clues scribbled on the hallway's walls." We all nod and break up. There wasn't much for me to actually look at, so I just walked along back and forth around the fake hallway staring at all the bricks and the steel bars of the cells. Eventually, I noticed that one of the steel bars of the second cell was loose but also had numbers on it. There are also numbers surrounding them on the floor. A smart sober me would figure out what the numbers mean t analytically but that's not who I am right now, so I just twisted the bars round and round and round and round until I heard this kind of locking noise. It stopped spinning around once I got all six of them in place, a secret compartment open to the ceiling, and a key fell out.

"I found one key," I proclaim proudly holding out for everyone to see.

"That's great," calls out Charmy. "I'm so glad I told you to find it." She jumped up and grabbed the key from me and walked over to the door to find which lock it belonged to." Just as she was about to place it into one of the locks we heard some loud screams and banging coming from the room next to us.

"What do you think they're doing in there," asked Rill.

"Nothing inappropriate, I'm sure. That's probably just Charlotte trying to break down the door to get away from Yami. It's great that they've been dating but I still don't think she's used to actually being with him, yet. They're not even in a committed relationship yet. Like, they're not boyfriend and girlfriend. They just go out for tea or coffee sometimes. They'd go out drinking if Charlotte could actually hold her liquor."

"Really? Well, it's still good that they spend time together. They make a good couple. I can see them making this work if they really try."

"Has anyone else noticed all the numbers on these posters? And they're random arrows edged onto the corners of the benches."

"Do you think they are the same clue or different clues?"

"Let's go with different clues. You two work on the numbers. Me and my sheep will work with the arrows," proclaims Charmy taking control of the situation.

Rill and I eventually figured out that we were supposed to add all the numbers together and then divide them. The number correlated to the stones on the wall. Behind the stone, we found a second key. Charmy was able to follow the arrows and found the third key. By then we had only about an hour and a half left. After we found the key we gradually all fell asleep or just slumped against a wall waiting for it to end. At the one-hour mark, the light went out and red emergency lights came flashing on. After the lights went out I finally fell asleep too.

"Hey! Sleepyheads! Wake the hell up. I will not be dragging you drunk bums home!"

I woke up with a start to see Yami yelling at us to wake up. The sun hadn't come up but it could tell it was morning. I was tired and sore as hell but I didn't have a hangover.

"Did we win?" asked Vanessa.

"No. You all fell asleep. But you all did find the first three keys faster than anyone else," said the game master praising us.

"I'll be on my way home then," I said staggering to my feet

"Little lion brother. Don't forget this," shouted Yami. As I turned to face him, my grimoire made contact with my head and knocked me to the ground. I scramble to my feet again and rush home. It was still dark out. I tried to sneak in to not wake anyone up when I came across the kitchen.

"Little Leo. You stayed up all night, didn't you? Come join us." waved Estella calling me in.

"Whoa," I was shocked. The kitchen was a mix of trashed and sparkling clean. Four delicious pies and other treats were lined up neatly on the counter. Fuegoleon and Estella were covered in batter and flour. I awkwardly walked in and took a few slices of pie they offered me. The pumpkin pie was creamy and thick and the apple pie was cinnamony and sweet. Both were absolutely amazing.