章 5: Chapter 5: True Identity

-Third person POV-

To be on the safe side Ariana added more enchantments to her room and once she was done she went inside to rest. While that was going on Josh was back in his office finishing the rest of his paperwork, but at the same time he was also thinking of a way he could practice his magic without Ariana always watching over him. Maybe he could practice in secret like she did or maybe he could come up with something with her. He sighed and then decided that he'll think about it tomorrow during his next lesson. He soon got up and headed to the dining room to have lunch.

When he was through the doors of the room Ariana's beauty placed a enchantment on him making him stare at her, sitting there patiently, underneath the sunlight like a beautiful doll.

He was soon brought back to reality when she said, "it looks like we meet again today Prince Josh".

"Please just call me Josh", he replied.

"Ok then. How ever I will only be able to say your name without any honorific in private".

"Of course".

"Anyway it seems your father is now going to make us have our meals together to deepen our bond", said Ariana, but she couldn't help but feel like it was as if the King were the parents trying to force two kids into a relationship. Although at the same time that could be the true reason; after all she is a powerful person and could probably make a great queen.

"Ah right, sorry my father just decided to do this all of a sudden. You know him, he can be quite mysterious sometimes which most of the time means he is planning something".

"No need to apologize since his majesty is the one who came up with the idea. Plus I don't really mind eating my meals with you, it's not like you're Black Assassin. Although you should be more careful of him now since it seems he has been more active with his killings and everyone knows about how much he despises The Royal Family… Then there's me here too".

Josh then thought about how much The Roses and Black Assassin hate each other; especially The Rose. It's said the last time they had a serious battle they had could have destroyed a whole kingdom but The Rose is known for trying to keep damage as small as possible so she probably did some extra stuff while they were fighting. He also must especially hate Ariana for healing the wounds he caused when he couldn't kill someone in time because The Roses found him. "Well I'm no fool of that so there is no need to worry".

Ariana frowned, she is going to have to teach him so much. To know it's serious but to pretend it's not that bad makes a ambush even more surprising and terrifying.

As she was frowning the food came in so Josh sat down and didn't notice her frown. As they talked Josh thought this was the perfect time to ask her about him practicing magic without her so he asked, "hey Ariana, is there anyway I could practice magic without you supervising me?"

"That would depend of the spell".

"Well of course it would only be the spells you are teaching me".

Ariana knew he would ask this question and said, "I'm not going to hold you back so you can practice them without me watching me over you. You can use my Spell Tester Box".

The Prince's face then lit up with a big smile on it. "But", Ariana quickly added. "You can only use the spells I am teaching you alright?".

"Yes ma'am", shouted Josh.

Ariana chuckled at his words and then made the Spell Tester Box appear and then handed it to Josh. "Keep it safe", she said with a smile.

They then ate happily for the rest of the time while occasionally stopping to talk. Once the plates were clear they went back to doing their afternoon activities.

Josh was supposed to go practice his sword fighting but instead he went to his room to practice the Perfect Memory Spell as Ariana made her way to the King's office.

Ariana was back at the King's office sooner than she had expected. She knocked on the door and was then invited in to be greeted by his majesty who looked the exact same as yesterday. "I didn't expect to see you here again so soon but I'm sure it must be something important", said the King.

"Well there are some things I must inform you of. Number one is that I have given the Prince my Spell Tester Box so he can practice the spells I have taught him without me watching over him and the second thing is Black Assassin sneaked onto the palace grounds and tried to break into my room during the Prince's lesson. So I want to get your permission to add more enchantments around the castle so that way we could at least know if he has gotten in".

"How interesting... Okay I will give you permission to add more enchantments and I will investigate further into Black Assassin and find more information than what you already have", he said as he started writing. "I also suspect that you will confront him too?", asked the King.

"Indeed".

"Well be careful. We might have been able to limit some of his actions for a while but as you should already know he has been moving quicker recently. For now don't get killed, that is a order".

Ariana chuckled and said, "of course your majesty".

They then said their farewells and went back to work.

Ariana exited the tower and as the sun shone down on her sparkling hair she set up a variety of spells all over the palace to detect souls which have been turned dark and if they did detect someone the spell would inform her and his majesty. Once she was done she rushed to her practice room and practiced for a few hours and then prepared to go out and meet Black Assassin. Once she was done it had already been four hours since she had met his majesty. The time was five o'clock, her lucky hour so while wearing her uniform she left the palace.

-Three hours before Ariana left-

After many failed attempts of trying to successfully cast Perfect Memory Josh had tired out. It was impossible! How could a spell that seemed so simple be so hard. Instead of trying again another day like others would Josh went back to practicing after a five minute snack break and continued to fail. With the last of his voice he shouted, "bonae memoriae", with determination and command in his voice and then a whiz of light struck the box and the engravings turned white. Filled with happiness he fell to the floor exhausted with sweat making his clothes cling to his body and he laid down with his arms and legs spread out. He soon fell asleep and entered a dream.

In his dream he was stuck in a pitch black room with no windows, no doors, no objects and no magic. As Josh was in a daze clouds of smoke started to appear out of a flame in front of him and soon the clouds formed a figure which he recognized immediately to be Black Assassin. Shocked he stumbled backwards and tried to find something to fight him with but it was useless. He had no objects or any magic and fighting him with his fists was impossible. He gritted his teeth and pressed up against the wall while he tried to think of something when suddenly one of the walls exploded.

Through the puffs of pink smoke he saw Ariana in her uniform. From behind Ariana attacked Black Assassin and he soon crumbled into a pile of ash. Ariana then offered her hand to him and he took her hand with admiration and a bit of sweetness in his eyes and woke up. He rubbed his eyes and saw it was now 4:30pm and got up to get to the bathroom.

After cleaning himself up he took a stroll outside while feeling refreshed. He was in such a good mood because he was able to cast Perfect Memory and because of the dream he had. The dream had somehow reassured him about the fact that Ariana will be there for him when he was faced with a situation he couldn't deal with.

As he walked on the path to the Sword Fighting Facility he saw Ariana in her official Pink Rose uniform. The Roses have uniforms to wear when they're attending special events or going to fight in a battle. The Roses wear the same uniform except for the Five Roses and The Rose. They each have their own uniform.

Josh remembered when he saw The Rose with her very galaxy like uniform which is why people like to call her Galaxy Girl sometimes instead of The Rose or Rosa; another reason is because she uses every spell there is so it's like she uses all the spells in the galaxy. Every single member of The Roses were there in their uniforms that day so he saw what Pink Rose's uniform looked like too.

For her to wear her uniform definitely means she is doing something important and out of curiosity he followed her to a cave in a mountain, located in a dangerous forest.

Josh hid at the entrance of the cave as he saw Ariana stand in the middle of the place which had drawings of patterns on the walls. The patterns creeped him out since they were unusual and it seemed like as if they were drawn with blood.

Ariana whispered something he couldn't hear then suddenly smoke appeared out of nowhere and formed the body of a human in front of Ariana. The smoke soon evaporated and Black Assassin was now standing in its place. Shocked, Josh hid himself a little bit more behind some plants and looked at the scene.

"I sure haven't seen you in a long time", said Black Assassin as he stared down on Ariana. "It looks like you're wearing this uniform today", he added.

"You should know why, after all I'm now the Prince's tutor. It's not like my tower where I can wear anything".

"Of course".

Black Assassin chuckled and soon said, "you've barely grown since the last time I saw you. I'm just gonna say it right here and now that you will forever stay short won't you".

In a annoyed tone Ariana said, "I heard you've been getting a bit more active, probably more powerful too... How about we have a small battle".

"I know what you're trying to do missy; you want to figure out my new strategy. Well I'll just tell you what it is. I now use more than one strategy so it won't be as easy to predict my movements now".

"Then I guess I'll just have to see how powerful you are now".

Ariana then charged at Black Assassin as her hand started to sparkle and a sword soon appeared. She swinged a rose gold sword at him which he then blocked with his sword that suddenly appeared and the two of them start fighting with only their swords until Ariana suddenly stepped backwards and disappeared. Roses then started falling from the ceiling and onto the floor leaving a sea of roses. This was when Josh knew they were going to start using magic and decided to leave while wishing he could help her but he knew she would never let that happen. He escaped to the forest and Ariana reappeared in the cave with her hair in a high ponytail while in a uniform with a jacket which is a window to the real galaxy with a rose on the back, a white, purple, blue and black ombre dress, white fingerless gloves with roses on them and golden knee high boots.

After reappearing she interlocked her fingers together, closed her eyes and said, "lux splendida".

A bright light filled the cave making it so the only thing you could see was blinding white.

Black Assassin cursed and lifted his hand then brought it down while shouting, "tenebris umbra!".

A large shadow soon engulfed all of the light but when it happened Ariana shot a arrow at his chest but Black Assassin quickly reacted and stopped it from going any further than his skin and bit of flesh. With a pained expression he raised a wall of fire in front and behind her which soon closed in on Ariana so she she created a water spout which broke through the fire and then she led it towards Black Assassin.

He quickly slashed through it with his scythe then ran towards her and aimed for her arms but Ariana saw through his plan and jumped onto the scythe and pulled him forward then put her finger on his neck and said, "this is all I need".

They stopped fighting and Black Assassin realised her real motive and said, "now you have seen my heart and mind is so rotten that you can't even fix it. I don't care if I die in the end as long as I'm the most powerful in this galaxy".

"Well I'm afraid that won't happen in this lifetime", replied Ariana.

"My my Rosetta, you're quite confident aren't you. Aren't you scared that I will reveal to everyone that Ariana is actually Rosa, The Rose and that the Ariana from the Galaxious duke family who supposedly got her name, hair and eyes changed because she is a new person because of her powers; actually changed it because she needed another identity. One where she could go out in public and not be as targeted much by your enemies and a hidden identity where you could grow without others thinking differently of you and targeting your family... I'm right aren't I?"

"You really have grown more powerful and smart. Like as if I didn't have a lot to deal with already", sighed Rosetta.

"We both have things to do tomorrow so let's continue this fight another day when we're willing to risk everything".

A portal then appeared and Black Assassin stepped through it with a wicked smile on his face.

Chilled by his smile Rosetta left the cave as her black hair glittered in the sunlight. She soon changed back into her Pink Rose uniform and changed the colour of her eyes and hair. She also went back to speaking in the voice Ariana used and told herself that as long as he doesn't reveal the truth; for now she will continue to live like this.