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When Leo woke up that day, it was quiet. And that in itself was strange, since in the demon castle there was always at least some kind of noise. But what was even stranger was that, when he got up and out of his room, he didn’t even meet one of the four generals, and the demon queen was nowhere to be seen. And that seemed to be the case for everyone else too , apparently. He entered the dining area, where at that hour he would have normally found someone having breakfast, but although the table was all set with food, no-one was there. Weirded out and confused, he decided to better search the castle, but came up empty. What was happening? Did someone attack the castle? No, that wasn’t possible, he would’ve noticed if that was the case. Did Echidna and the others go out on their own? That too was impossible, they would’ve woken him up or at the very least left a note somewhere to tell him what was going on. Before his worried mind could conjure more disastrous scenarios and jump to the worst conclusions, Julietta appeared in the corridor he found himself in as if she was an envoy from the gods themselves.
“Oh, Julietta!” he exclaimed. He was so happy to see her.
“Good morning, Master Leo,” she greeted him, smiling and tilting her head slightly.
“Julietta, sorry, have you seen by chance your father, or one of the other generals, or the queen today?”
From her not at all worried expression, he must have seemed perfectly calm and collected when he asked that. “Yes? Why, Master Leo, what happened? Is everything okay?”
“Yes- no, well. It’s just that I haven’t seen anyone anywhere, and I was beginning to get concerned.” Yeah right, he was only beginning to get concerned. Obviously.
“Oh, I understand,” she replied, nodding empathetically. “Well, if I’m not mistaken, the last time I saw them they were together in the throne room.”
In the throne room? But he was so sure he checked there, how was it possible that he missed them- No matter. They were there and that was the most important thing. “Thank you very much, Julietta,” he said, grateful. “I’ll go now, see you later!”
“Don’t mention it, see you later.” She waved her hand, while he sprinted down the corridors – he never got the memo that one shouldn’t run there – to get to the throne room faster.
When he arrived there, he didn’t even think about knocking, instead he just opened the door with both hands and entered.
He didn’t know exactly what he expected, but what he definitely didn’t expect was for confetti and sparklers to scatter in front of him when he so much as made a step inside the hall.
“What…?”
“Happy anniversary, Leo!” everyone exclaimed. Echidna, Shutina, Edvard, Lily and Mernes, Canaan, Virgo and Aquarius, Dianette and every person who worked in the castle… they were all there, with sparklers in their hands. At that moment Julietta arrived too and patted Leo on the back, smiling and joining the others.
“Anniversary?” he asked, confused. His brain, in the process of rebooting, struggled to connect the dots.
“Yes, dummy,” replied Echidna, putting her hands on her hips. “Today is the anniversary of your first full year as an official member of the Demon Army.”
“Oh.” Leo’s eyes widened, realization settling in while his brain finally connected the dots. He hadn’t paid attention to the calendar that day, but a year had indeed passed. Time flies when you’re having fun, huh? Being an immortal with three millennia under his belt, days, weeks and months washed over him in waves and a year should’ve amounted to next to nothing, but that wasn’t the case. That had been the first time he felt as if he had actually lived and not only existed. Since he had started being officially part of the Demon Army, he had felt so alive: he had a purpose and it was something he himself decided on his own.
Echidna grinned. “Come on, everybody, once again!”
“Happy anniversary!” they exclaimed, prompting another round of exploding confetti and sparklers.
“Thank you,” he said smiling, his expression fond. He felt so lucky to have them as family and friends, and grateful that they had accepted him there, where he had found a home and a place to belong.
After that, they shifted their focus to the tables filled with food, because as Virgo said, “ now let’s eat, that’s what parties are really for”. The throne room filled with the sound of chatter and laughter.
“Oh, by the way, I’ve been meaning to ask,” Leo said at a certain point to the queen and the four generals, with a plate filled with pancakes in his hands. “Where were you this morning? I searched everywhere for you, but I couldn’t find you.” Between the surprise party and all the consequent excitement, he nearly forgot about it, but he had been very concerned earlier.
“Yeah, about that,” Shutina replied, fixing her glasses in an unconscious reflex. “We are sorry we made you worry so much, it was not our intention.”
“It’s okay, I know you just wanted to surprise me. I would prefer it if you didn’t disappear like this next time, though,” he said, receiving nods and “okay”s in confirmation. “And talking about that, how did you do that? I was so sure I checked the throne room not so long before meeting Julietta.”
“Oh, that was because everything was ready in the kitchens. After you walked away from the throne room, I just teleported everything here, so that after a bit Julietta could meet you and redirect you here,” answered the master mage. For her, a trick like that was probably as simple as breathing.
“I see.” He was also surprised at Edvard’s daughter for her theatrical skills, they had improved since a year before.
“But, but! It’s not finished here!” exclaimed Lily with enthusiasm. “We’ve prepared something for tonight too!”
“What?”
“Ah, Lily, we were not supposed to tell him that, at least not now,” Edvard told her, with the air of a father who had already seen a scene like this one before.
“Oh-! Right, sorry…” she said, rubbing the back of her head.
The dragon general put a strong hand on it and ruffled her hair. “No matter, it’s better anyway if one knows that there’s more to celebrate.”
“So, the meeting point is at the castle’s entrance, this evening after the sun sets,” Mernes informed.
“Until then, let’s party!” Lily exclaimed, grabbing Leo’s shirt sleeve and pulling him in the direction of the tables with food.
“Yes, yes,” he replied, being careful not to drop the plate he already had in one hand. He wondered briefly what awaited him that night, but he was soon distracted by the party and didn’t linger on that thought until way later.
***
The party went on until before lunch, when they relocated in the dining room to eat together, and then the afternoon passed peacefully. When evening came and the sun set, Leo went dutifully to the front of the castle’s entrance, where he was surprised to see only Echidna and the other generals.
“Perfectly in time,” the demon queen commented, grinning.
“So, what are we doing?” he asked, looking around curiously. Nothing was out of the ordinary at the palace gate.
“You will find out in a moment,” Shutina answered, positioning herself in the center. She then hit the ground with the tip of her magic staff, and a purple light erupted from there, enveloping them in a violet dome. Leo closed his eyes so as not to be blinded, and opened them again when the glow subsided. The master mage had teleported them in the Seshat mountains, of all places.
“What…?”
“Well, we thought, what better place to finish properly celebrating your first year anniversary in the Demon Army?” Echidna asked rhetorically.
Before he could say something, Lily jumped in his direction and hugged his middle, effectively taking his breath away. “We’ve prepared something great!”
Mernes raised his brows. “Ready?”
The second after, Shutina snapped her fingers and stripes of light rose rapidly from the ground, exploding in colorful fireworks when they reached the sky.
Leo observed them in wonder as they continued to illuminate the night. Echidna joined him, her eyes fixed on the magic propelled light show.
They stood there, fixated on the bright colors exploding in the air, their hues reflected in the everpresent snow on the mountain. After a year, it has long since covered the flat area of the peak again. Leo passively wondered if underneath all that snow, there were still marks left in the stone; it surely must’ve cleaned off all of the dried blood by now.
Fireworks. Such beautiful, dangerous things have endured for millenia, bringing joy to generations upon generations of people. Leo heard that fireworks were invented thousands of years before he was born, no, thousands of years before the calendar the mechanical age used had its starting point. Such ancient things, and yet they too had their place in this world, uniting people in celebration.
After a bit, Echidna decided to speak, not shifting her gaze from the display.
“So, do you regret it?”
She didn’t need to specify what “it” was, they both knew all too well what she was referring to.
The former hero, however, didn’t even have to think about it. “No, not at all,” he answered, without an ounce of insecurity in his voice. “If you’ll have me, I want to spend as much time as possible here with you all.”
Echidna smiled, closing her eyes. “Of course, Leo.”
One year before, the Seshat mountains had been the theater of his convoluted and well planned suicide attempt, and the subsequent fight. But now, this place could become something other than just battle memories, it could become something more.
Maybe now, he could think about the Seshat mountains and see not tears of desperation, but fireworks of celebration.
A celebration of life.