Hi everyone, SK here.

No, I'm not dead, but it's definitely been a while. How've you all been doing? As you guys can tell I'm a bit inactive on here, motivation's been low and I'm being rushed into adulthood so that's funnnn. Anyway... guess it's finally time to hear Heliux and Layra's backstories. Originally I was going to publish both, but since it's taking me a while to write things I decided to just get Heliux's out for now. Layra's will definitely be next.

!!! WARNINGS: Some of the content is slightly disturbing.

Many, MANY years ago...

Part 1: Prince Lithius

In the dead of night, a young prince reads in his library that has a bountiful amount of books. Even at this hour he is dressed formally in a dark cerulean suit; his usual tie is forgotten though, replaced by a ribbon hastily tied into a bow. The words, written in now-fading black ink, on the yellowing paper are barely visible to him in the near-darkness. Moonlight barely illuminates the pages, tinting his honey-brown hair blue as it shines through perfectly-cleaned windows. Prince Heliux Andrius Lithius lets out a sudden sigh, closing the worn book before he even finishes the page.

As he stands up he lets out another huff. "Hmph, all of these books are so boring," he mutters to himself. To him, every single book in his little alcove has started to sound the same. "All of them, facts without flare. Where is the excitement?" He tosses his arms up as he paces the room, ranting to himself alone in the dark. "Where is the edge? Where is the magic!?"

When the word "magic" escapes as a shout, Heliux quickly slaps his hands over his mouth as his eyes widen. His heart pounds and he finds himself hyperventilating as he glances toward the door. No footsteps, not even a single sound apart from the noises he is making himself. A relieved sigh escapes him, one hand resting on his chest while the other props itself on the table to keep him standing. "Father is asleep," he repeats to himself. "Father is asleep."

That word has become a banned word in his family, that rule of course having been instated by his father. The King does not care for the word in the slightest and has a large hatred of it and everything it represents. Heliux has tried asking why before, that never ends well for him. The Prince shivers when he thinks about it now, about how his father lectures him, hurts him any time he remotely talks about that word. Lecturing him, beating him, telling him that a good king thinks about reality, about his people; lecturing him that Heliux will always fail when he believes in silly fantasies that are made to appease children.

The Prince clutches his right arm, which was the target of his punishment yesterday. He is absolutely terrified of the King, so terrified that he can't even think of him as a father anymore. The words are getting to him; perhaps his father is right, Heliux should give up this nonsense-

A clock chimes, pushing the young prince away from his thoughts as he tries to make out the time. As soon as twelve chimes reach his ears, he quickly tosses the book he was reading back on the shelf and runs down the corridor as quietly as possible. Despite its size he knows his home inside and out. Heliux quickly finds his way to the spiraling staircase that leads the way to the top of one of the castle's spires and follows it upward.

"Mom, did I miss anything?" he asks as he steps out into the open air at the top of the tower. He takes a deep breath, the cool air and the clear night sky beginning to calm him down from his earlier fright.

The young woman, who was attentively watching the stars, now turns her warm gaze toward her son. "Nothing yet," she replies, and after staring at him for a bit, she laughs. "My my. Here you are dressed up as if this is a momentous occasion while I am just in my nightgown." The two of them often like to stargaze while the King is asleep, albeit if the weather is clear enough.

Heliux rolls his eyes. "Bed clothes were made for sleeping, so I only use them for that. I prefer to be properly dressed."

"Perhaps that's the only trait you took from your father," she comments, holding out her arms to him. "Come sit next to me, you'll have a better view of the sky."

The Prince eagerly complies, sitting next to her on the wooden bench. Every spire of the castle has the tiniest of balconies that circle their tops. Due to his tiredness he finds that his head sinks to lean on her shoulder, which thankfully she doesn't seem to mind. Heliux and his mother have always had less of a mother-son relationship and more of a close friendship. Even as a near-adult he finds himself needing her as much as he did when he was a child. "Are your Pokemon asleep?" she asks.

He nods. "Sleeping soundly, last time I checked on them." His Kadabra, Vulpix, Servine, and Golett were sleeping soundly in his room when he last left them. Recently he'd also gotten himself a Feebas which he presumes is sleeping in one of the palace pools. He pauses. "Mom, I have a question."

"Go on."

"If I ever become King, am I going to become like Father?"

Her eyes widen as she turns to him. "No, of course not. Why would you think that?"

"I'm just..." a sigh escapes Heliux. "I am slightly terrified that he is going to force me into becoming a carbon copy of himself. He is already trying to with all the lectures, what if I snap and turn into him...?"

The Queen lets out a sigh. "Heliux, your father has always been controlling, he's always been fearful and hateful toward the undiscovered. He has his own ideals and will try and mold you to them, but you also have your own; you are your own person, and when, not if, when the time comes," she says with a twinkle in her eyes, "you will be your own King."

For now, the words are enough to reassure him. "Mom, why do you believe in magic, even when Father hates it?"

A smile graces her features. "Ah, well that's simple. We already have Pokemon, who are essentially magic beings themselves. Who is to say that there aren't other magical creatures out there that we just haven't discovered yet?" That certain twinkle in her eyes grows brighter. "Besides, the world would be dreadful if there wasn't anything fantastical about it."

Heliux smiles, looking upward. "How amazing would it be to see the stars up close?" For some reason, he's always had a fascination for that distant place above the sky. He knows that he will never be able to go there in his lifetime though, humans do not have access to magic to begin with and the tools that they do have are not sufficient enough to get them to space.

"Pretty amazing," a new voice answers genuinely. Another young girl now stands on the balcony: the Queen's Assistant, Gardenia. She also happens to be Heliux's best friend in the castle, given that they are the same age and share the same beliefs.

The Prince glances at her. "What are you doing here at this time of night?" he wonders out loud. Gardenia does not live in the castle itself, she cares for her ailing parents in a small town that is close enough to the kingdom that his mother has agreed to let her come to work by horseback every day. "Should you not be at your home?"

"She asked me to come join you guys tonight," Gardenia answers in a semi-rushed voice.

The Queen nods. "Not many nights are stargazing n-"

"There's uh, a slight problem," Gardenia adds, interrupting her. "His Majesty noticed both of you weren't asleep, and guards are patrolling around to find you."

Heliux jumps up immediately, heart pounding nervously in his chest as he thinks about what kind of punishment he'll have to endure. "Let's go," he urges both of them, pointing to the staircase that leads up to their location. "If we go now and stay low, perhaps we can make it back to our chambers and we can evade Father."

Surprisingly, his mother shakes her head. "He will be angry with us at this point no matter what we do," she points out. "So let's just stay here as long as we-" she cuts herself off, her eyes sparkling with wonder. "Look, look!" she points upward.

The Prince turns his head upward, eyes widening as he sees streaks of stars cross the sky, lighting it up with their starry glory. Gardenia sucks in a breath as Heliux finds himself enamoured with this phenomenon, the phenomenon that he does not have a name for because it is the first time he's ever seen it. There is only one word he can use to describe what is happening before him: magical. His father is wrong, there is magic, and he's seen it with his own two eyes.

The three of them stare up into that shooting-star-filled sky, witnessing the powers of a world beyond. And just when everything is perfect, guards appear, armed and ready, pointing their spears at... the Queen?

"Halt, Witch!" they shout, while other guards stand protectively in front of Heliux and Gardenia.

Heliux is just confused. Witch? His mother is no witch, why would they think that?

That's when he realizes who sent the guards.

His father.

But before any of them can say anything, the guards proclaim that all three must meet with the King and proceed to roughly push them all down the stairs.

~~~~~~~~~~

Heliux, by this point, is infuriated. Not only is he aggravated by the fact he is almost too tired to think, he hates that his father has the audacity to call his mother a witch just because of the phenomenon that was going on in the sky. When he shifts his gaze to Gardenia, she looks fuming, rightfully so.

Of course, he also doesn't like that the guards have the nerve to treat their superior like a prisoner. Oh, he definitely does not like that.

"What is the meaning of this," Heliux almost snarls when his father comes into view, enraged that the guards dare treat his own mother and friend like common prisoners.

King Andrius Manfred Lithius gives his son a look that instantly shuts him up. "Arabelle, I will give you one chance to explain what just happened."

The Queen is very, very confused as to what is going on but attempts to explain nonetheless. "Heliux, Ms. Gardenia, and I were on top of the spire when all of a sudden-"

"Stars started falling from the sky," Andrius finishes with a scoff. "Don't "all of a sudden" me. I know it was you who caused the stars to fall, you told your little witch assistant here," he sneers at Gardenia, "to stay and help you, brought my son up with you to try and corrupt him and sway him with your magic."

Arabelle just bursts out laughing as Heliux feels dread pool in his stomach. Andrius raises an eyebrow at his wife. "Well, that certainly does not look like a denial, now does it? You know what the punishment for witchcraft is."

"Execution."

"Father, wait-"

"And as for you," the King adds to Gardenia, "get out of my castle. Get out of my kingdom. If anyone catches you here ever again, there will be appropriate consequences."

"But Your Majesty-"

He stares at her menacingly with piercing golden eyes. "You are lucky enough to escape execution, do not test me. Go."

The Queen's Assistant quickly leaves the room, not wanting to test the wrath of one of the angriest people on Earth. Arabelle is desperately trying to break free from the guards, only now beginning to realize that this is not some sick joke. "Andrius, let's talk about this. I am your wife, your Queen. I am no witch, however fantastical that would be." She shifts her heartbroken gaze to Heliux, who by this point is frozen in terror. "I am the mother of our child."

"My child. My son is not the child of a witch." He grabs Heliux's wrist tightly and forces the Prince behind him.

He tries to fight back against this insanity. All that was supposed to happen tonight was a simple glance at the stars, how did it come to this!? "Father, this is, quite frankly, idiotic and ridiculous. Mom is not a witch, she cannot perform-"

The King slaps the Prince cold and hard across his face, and while Heliux is recovering from the impact, Andrius sees it fit to tightly squeeze his son's already aching wrist. "She is not your mother, she is a witch. And if you talk to me about any of this nonsense again, mark my words I will get it out of you in any way that I can. Am I clear?"

"Clear," the sixteen-year-old replies in a meek voice.

"Good." The King signals to the guards. "Take her to the dungeons. Her execution by bonfire will be three days from now. Lock her up and make sure she is guarded at all times."

Arabelle is afraid, too afraid. She looks at the King desperately. "Andrius, what happened, I thought you loved me?"

Andrius turns around, his voice stone-cold. "Who are you?" He starts to walk away as the guards imprison the Queen.

All of this, his father's cruelty, his mother's death date, all of it suddenly becomes real for the Prince. "You can't just take Mom away, I-I need her! You need her!"

"I have no use for a witch of a wife. And as for you..." the King turns around, his eyes like two dead suns. "Your future is becoming the King of this kingdom, and I am trusting the kingdom to you. Your needs do not matter. They never do, only the needs of the people matter... and they have a need to have this witch executed."

"But-"

"If you do not listen to me, you will fail as a person and as a King. Am I understood? Let go of her, or I will make you. Is this clear?"

Heliux gives a weak nod, his fingers shaking, and his father finally sees it fit to walk away. He wants to collapse and cry, but the guards will report his weakness to his father and he will surely be punished further.

That's when he remembers Gardenia's parting. His best friend and he will never see her again. He quickly finds himself running toward the palace entrance, hoping to catch her before she leaves. Luckily, he does; he can spot her bushy head of hair a short distance ahead of him. "Gardenia!" he calls out, she turns around when his voice reaches her.

"Heliux, I-"

"No, I must apologize for my father. I had no idea..." he trails away as he catches up to her. "I had no idea that-"

She interrupts him with a concerned look on her face. "Are you okay?"

"Of course. Besides, I cannot afford to not be fine anyways. Will you be alright though, without this job? If I ever become King, while it might not be soon, I will definitely hire you back." Heliux doesn't really want to get into his emotions at the moment, he can barely understand them himself. Part of it still hasn't set in while part of it has. To him, it is... extremely frustrating.

Gardenia nods. "I think so. That friend I always tell you about though... she relies on a bit of my income to help her family, I'm hoping she'll be okay."

Heliux has heard tales of this mysterious 'other friend' from her, especially about how mischievous she is. He has a dislike for those kinds of people, but perhaps if Gardenia likes her, he will too. "Can I fetch you both any money? You know the palace funds are not lacking in supply. How much would suffice, a few mill-"

She holds up a finger to his lips. "That's very sweet of you, but I do have some coins saved up. We'll be fine for a little bit." She lets out a breath. "Well, I guess this is the last time I'll be seeing you in a long while, huh?" Her voice quivers. "Take care, Mr. Prince Boy."

He rolls his eyes. "You take care as well, Ms. Bushy Head."

The two teens stare at each other, illuminated only by the starlight from a clear night sky. It only takes a few seconds for them to run up to each other, hug, and then part ways. As Heliux watches her take one of the palace carriages and roll away, the sinking feeling returns. Gardenia is gone, his mother is dying, and his father is still acting like he wants to kill him.

A single tear tries to fall but he wipes it away before it can. He walks back into the castle, heads up to his chambers, and changes into his bed clothes. By the time he is calm enough to fall asleep, it's almost dawn.

~~~~~~~~~~

Two days later...

It's taken two whole days for Heliux to muster up the courage to visit his mother's cell. He finds himself quietly tip-toeing through the hallways and down the spiraling staircases on the eve of her execution.

Too many thoughts are running through his mind. His mother and Gardenia were the only two things keeping him sane, keeping him from bending to the will of his father. With them gone, he fears the worst will come true. He will snap, and he will become the man that currently wears the crown.

He will lose himself.

Heliux hates how his footsteps echo as he walks along the cold metal corridors of the dungeon. There are other prisoners here, but most of them have dealt with the King and his guards long enough to know not to dare talk to the Prince. The worst part about it is that Heliux knows that most of them are innocent of any wrongdoing. At least he gets some privacy, for there are no guards close enough to her cell to hear anything.

"Mom?" He calls out her name in a whisper as he nears her cell. He feels enraged seeing her in nothing but rags instead of beautiful dresses, not dressed like the Queen that she is. "Mom, are you awake?"

"Heliux." He loves the way she says his name, even now at the end of her days her voice is full of love and warmth for him. "Heliux, why are you here?"

"I need to speak with you before tomorrow, before you..." his voice fades away into muffled sobs, he can't control himself.

The dungeon is dark, but the thin rays of moonlight that slip through the windows illuminate his tears to her. She reaches out a shaking hand through the cell bars and tries to wipe his tears away. "It's going to be okay," Arabelle whispers to her son.

"Not you too with the lies. Stop it," Heliux counters her. "Mom..." he tells her everything, about his worries about breaking, about how he wonders how he's going to live his life after she's gone, about everything.

"It's just like I've always told you," she tells him sincerely, "as long as you believe in a world beyond, you'll never lose yourself in the world you're in."

For once in his life, the Prince scoffs at her. "Mom, a belief in magic isn't going to save me from turning into Father."

Silver moonlight illuminates his mother's sly smile. "Then how would you like to become the king instead?"

"Wh-What?"

"Go to the garden after my execution tomorrow. While wearing gloves, pick some leaves off the belladonna plants. Sneak them into his food, ensure he eats them. It will only take a few for him to die. The people will likely blame it on me, the "witch" who was his wife as a last bit of revenge for having me put to death. You will not be blamed, and you will never have him hurt you ever again." The Queen looks surprisingly serious. "You can take over as king, mold the kingdom as you please. You can stop all this nonsense about witchcraft that your father created."

Heliux thinks the plan is perfect, yet he still hesitates. "What if Father catches me?"

Her eyes narrow. "You're just dressing his food. He won't suspect a single thing."

The Prince is still hesitant, but all of a sudden a guard's footsteps can be heard echoing through the corridor. "Go," his mother whispers to him. "Go now." If Heliux is caught here now, nothing good will come to him.

"But-" "But I didn't even get to say goodbye."

"GO."

Her voice is soft but firm, and he quickly rushes away before the guard even rounds the corner.

~~~~~~~~~~

The next morning...

Heliux was rudely awoken from his sleep by his father. At first the Prince worried that the King had found out about the conversation he'd had with his mother, but no, it was for something else.

Andrius wants Heliux to not only be there for the execution, but to commit the execution himself.

As the Prince stands out in front of his people, watching his mother get put up on the pyre, he feels his stomach churn. He's sick. All of the people chanting for this "witch" to be dead, this "witch" that, three days ago, was their queen who they all adored.

"Good citizens!" King Andrius calls out to the masses. "Today, we rid another witch from our kingdom. Today, we push her further to glory. Today, a witch will die! Today, a witch will burn!"

"BURN THE WITCH!"

Heliux's ears burn as that phrase is repeated and shouted out over and over. "My mother is not a witch, she is your Queen," he wants to say.

But he doesn't. He can't.

The King lights a torch, but doesn't light the pyre just yet. He leans in toward his former wife who is now tied up and gagged amidst dry wooden planks. "This is what you deserve for deceiving me for this long, witch."

Arabelle remains silent, her eyes downcast.

Andrius scoffs, holding out the torch to his son. "Light the wood," he commands. "Now."

Heliux is panic-stricken now, seeing his mother cast a desperate glance at him. He looks back and forth between his father and his mother, the one who he hates and the one who he loves, the one who he believes wants to kill him and the one who he has to kill.

The Prince's shaking fingers, which can't be seen by the crowd, reach for the torch and wrap themselves around it. The flame crackles, bright orange sparks cascading downward onto the ground.

"Light. The. Wood." His father repeats, this time more angry as the people start to cheer around them for the witch to burn. "Now." The King squeezes Heliux's wrist tight enough to leave a bruise, almost tight enough to break it. "Obey," he hisses, and Heliux lets out a whimper of a "yes".

The Prince gulps and slowly approaches his mother, his entire body shaking with every step. Despite his shakiness he keeps a firm grip on the torch, he doesn't want it to fall because the flame would escape. He looks down at his mother, at her face, the one he's loved for all these years, the face that has kept him alive all these years. Protected him all these years. The face that he is now supposed to burn.

"Your needs do not matter. All that matters are the needs of the people-"

He looks back at his father, his voice shaking. "I-I can't," he stutters, "I cannot do this-"

"Oh, for Arceus' sake," huffs his father, brutally grabbing the torch from his son's hands and tossing it into the Queen. Instantly the blaze grows and grows, consuming everything inside it. The crowd cheers as Heliux grows more horrified, stepping backward then falling to the ground as he watches the fire consume one of the only people that's ever made him feel loved. Something inside him breaks as he hears his mother's pained scream ring out into the air, only to fade away a few seconds later.

Nothing escapes him, not a sound, not a single tear. He's frozen in shock, in sadness, in horror as his mother burns in front of him. The flames reach high, as if the fire itself is trying to send his mother's soul to the afterlife by pushing her up to the sky.

All at once, Heliux's life is destroyed, and just like his mother, a part of himself died today.

~~~~~~~~~~

Later that day, the Prince finds himself in the garden wearing black fabric gloves. He's spent a lot of time with his mother out here while his father was being a tyrant, so he's learned to easily recognize the plants.

His heart is pounding in his chest. He's asking himself what he's doing, trying to commit regicide while all he wants to do is curl up into a ball and cry. He has no one. No one to love him, to care about him. Not anymore.

The scene is replaying over and over in his mind. The scream, it's all he can hear. The Prince falls to his knees in the garden of poisonous flowers, tears escaping from him. He's weak, he knows he is. He cannot allow himself to feel anything, anything at all, because his people will need a king and he must be it.

As he reaches out toward the leaves, he stops. His father barely seems to feel any emotion as it is. Could it be possible that not feeling anything would turn him into his father? Has Heliux already turned into his father? A cold, ruthless, unimaginative murderer? Is that what he is destined to become? Or has he already become it?

His fingers reach out toward the leaves. The Prince plucks one off of its stem and turns it over to get a good look at it.

He could eat it right now. One leaf, maybe two, and he wouldn't have to deal with anything anymore. He could end his life right now and he knows for certain that it wouldn't be grief his father would feel, it would be annoyance. Annoyance because he would have to find another heir.

Soft footsteps are heard against the palace flowers. When Heliux turns to figure out the source of the sound, he sees his Pokemon coming toward him, all of them. Golett, Kadabra, Vulpix, Servine, and-

"Feebas, you evolved," he murmurs, seeing the now-towering-over-him Milotic out of the water. He's happy, but not really. He doesn't think he can ever be happy again, he just wants to die so he can see his mother again.

His Pokemon don't say a single word and just cuddle up against the poor boy to try and comfort him. Heliux just sits there on his knees, a leaf of belladonna still curled up in his hand. He absently picks another, then another, until an entire stem has been depleted of its leaves. Despair washes over him. He knows he's weak and pathetic and everything his father tells him he is, and he knows that if he endures this any longer, he will cave and become his father. He will become clay, his father his sculptor.

He can't lead, he can't become a King. He would snap like a twig. Or, he would turn into his father.

Heliux can't be King.

"If you're thinking of eating those leaves, think again," comes the gruff voice of the real King.

The Prince freezes up, his heart pounding in his chest as he desperately hopes his father won't look at his tear-stained face and beat him for it. "Your selfish need to die and abandon your place is pathetic, Heliux. Your needs don't matter. They will never matter, because you are nothing. You are weak and you, right now, are the son of a witch. You need to prove to me that you are the son of a King."

"That "witch" knew how to live more than you," Heliux mutters to himself.

Andrius steps in front of the boy and lifts up his chin. His tear stains are visible to the King. "What did you say?"

Heliux is angry, too angry to rationalize any sense of thought. "I would rather be her son than yours. She was more human than you will ever be," he says loudly and clearly so there is no mistaking the words coming out of his mouth.

The King slaps his son hard across the face once, twice, three times, four. He keeps going until Heliux is almost limp. His head hurts and he feels like he's about to pass out. "Anything left to say, boy?"

The Prince takes in a deep breath. Inhale, exhale. "You're right. I can't be a King." Andrius smiles, but then Heliux has a sudden light in his eyes. "Because the current one isn't dead."

Heliux unfurls the fist full of belladonna leaves, shoving them in his father's mouth. For a small moment of time he has a victory, his own victory, and everything seems to stop.

And then, his father easily spits out the belladonna leaves, having not swallowed a single one.

"GUARDS!" calls out the King to the various soldiers around the gardens. "GUARDS, SEIZE HIM FOR REGICIDE!"

Before Heliux can even process what just happened, his Kadabra quickly teleports him as well as his other Pokemon away to the Rapidash stables. "Thank you, Kadabra." Embarrassment is burning his whole body, shame tearing through his heart. He failed to do his mother's last wish, and he failed it so stupidly too. How idiotic could someone be to attempt murder like that?

"I can't rule this kingdom." His voice is rushed. He's betraying his mother, all of her hopes she left with him and now he's tossing them into the fire to burn alongside her. "I can't stay here. I-I-"

"I'm scared."

Heliux lets out a breath he didn't know he was holding, then looks at his Pokemon. "Please come with me," he begs them. When they all nod, the Prince orders Kadabra to teleport inside the castle to fetch their Pokeballs as he begins to saddle-up one of the Rapidash to ride away on. He knows that this horse-Pokemon will probably never return, and it only adds to his guilt.

When Kadabra returns, Heliux promptly returns all of his Pokemon, and grabs this Rapidash's Pokeball from the shelf. "I need you to run as fast as you can," the now ex-Prince says. Heliux probably should've brought something with him, some of his belongings maybe, but he has no intention to return to this place and doesn't want to be reminded of it, ever.

Running footsteps sound behind the stables, most likely the guards. Heliux's Rapidash leaves just as the guards are arriving. He knows that he'll be chased with Rapidash riders, but he's prepared. The Fire-type runs down the hill, following the paths that lead toward the town. It's the middle of the afternoon and there are lots of people, and naturally all of them are confused as to why the Prince is riding down on his horse-Pokemon.

It only takes a few moments for the guards to appear behind him on their own Rapidash, it appears he didn't run fast enough. "Halt in the name of the King!" they proclaim, and now the town's people are confused as to why their Prince is a wanted man.

Heliux continues on Rapidash, quickly navigating through the town's streets and alleyways while trying to avoid colliding into someone or something. Eventually, he finds it to be less noticeable to run on-foot, so he quickly puts Rapidash in its Pokeball and continues by himself. He keeps running until he finds himself back in the open- he made a wrong turn, and that wrong turn will surely cost him his life. Guards surround him, there is no escaping.

He backs up into a street lamp as the guards near him with their weapons. "You can't run," they taunt. "You're a wanted man, Your Majesty. You must return to the castle at once."

Heliux's head hits something... not metallic. More like... paper? He turns around, and in what he thinks will be his last moments, sees a poster titled "Leave Your Life Behind, Join the Fairy Colony Today!".

His mother once told him to believe, and everything would be okay.

So as the guards near him, he rips the poster off of the street lamp...

... and from that day forward, Heliux Lithius was no longer called a Prince.

I hope you guys enjoyed that! I'm super sorry you all had to wait this long for pt. 1 of the 1st Extra... and unfortunately I don't have a guarantee of when pt. 2 (Layra's backstory) will be posted. But stay tuned, I'll try my hardest to work on it.