•Key•
Y/n: Your Name
L/n: Last Name
H/c: Hair Color
H/l: Hair Length (Long, short, etc.)
E/c: Eye Color
F/c: Favourite Color
S/n: Sister Name
Y/I: Your First Initial

Italics are thoughts... and maybe memories...

?????'s POV

"Now that our daughter has left to go to guard school, I... I thought it would be a good idea to go back to my hometown, just for a bit. Are you sure you don't want to come?" I asked my lovely wife.

She nodded. "Yes! Kawaii~Chan is going to be really busy with the bakery, and can't afford any days off thanks to all the attention Aphmau~Senpai is getting... You can go on ahead! Kawaii~Chan will be okay, and will be awaiting your arrival!"

I smiled, kissing her forehead. "Alright. I'll only be gone one or two days, so we won't be separated for too long." I then start heading towards the door. "I'll be heading off soon... I love you."

"I love you too! Have fun seeing your family!"

My... family...

I quietly sighed to myself. "Uhm, thank you, darling! See you soon!"

"Bye Dante~Kun!" She exclaimed as I left the room and closed the door.
~
Your POV

"You can go now, Amber, we've completed our mission." I lay down on my bed, my muscles immediately relaxing.

I could see Amber's smile from the doorway. I raise an eyebrow at her, but I don't say anything. Nothing came from that assignment. No amusement, shock, or fun, and, this time, it's not just me, despite the fact that I haven't been the best at observing emotions after all these years. The mission was absolutely pointless.

"You seem tired, Sociopath," She remarks, walking into my room and sitting down in a chair.

I sat up. "We spent half a night sitting outside Lady Ro'meave's house for no reason, am I not allowed to feel tired?" I ask.

Amber tilts her head in curiosity. "I'm still shocked how you can say that with no emotion in your voice... it's weird. I remember when we first met you at least showed some feelings..."

"That was sixteen years ago. Now, can you leave me alone so I could start packing for my trip? I need to get food, water, and I need to head out to steal a horse from some unsuspecting travelers-"

"Why don't you show feelings? Did something happen to you? Or was this by choice?"

I stare at the ground. "Choice." Then, despite the fact that she's still there, I pick up my leather bag and I start stuffing things into it, careful not to rip the paper crown that still lay in there.

"Ch-Choice...? Why?"

I shrug. "I figured it's not worth feeling anything. Happiness is too bright and innocent for this world, and sadness is a weakness, so is anger. Love..." I sigh. "Love just hurts people."

Amber shook her head. "Not all the time. Love is an amazing feeling if you get over the things that hurt you. You just need to find the right person!"

"... the right person?"

That person obviously isn't Gene, then. He fell for someone else. He doesn't care about me.

She put a hand on my shoulder, which made me jump a little. The purple-eyed thief smiled. "I'm just saying, if you someday love someone, don't dismiss the feeling. It's not as worthless as you may think." She pulled her arm away from me and starts walking towards the door. "I'll leave you to prepare." ...and, with that, she's gone.

"Amber doesn't know anything," I mutter.

~
Now, I'm almost to my hometown... well, at least, what it used to be. I have everything, food, water, and a horse I stole from a group of travelers heading to O'khasis. I also have extra clothing and my paper crown.

Honestly, my trip here has been a little odd. I have a strange feeling someone has been following me. I know I'm not supposed to dismiss that feeling, but I have. I hallucinate a lot, so I think it's just another hallucination. Although I thought I saw something yellow when I looked behind me... eh, it was probably just a flower or something.

Meanwhile, things start to get familiar until I reach the end of the forest, and what I'm looking for is right in front of me, in plain sight - the ruins of Boboros. Nobody has come along and tried to fix this place up again. To this day it remains burnt to the ground, and, until the day someone decides to rebuild Boboros, "Ashes Anniversary" will always be in effect.

I arrive at the ruins, planks of darkened wood and pieces of stone lay at my feet the minute I get off my horse. I sigh, breathing in the cool autumn air. With one thought going through my mind:

Sixteen years ago today, I lost everything.

... everything... except for my paper crown.

I dig into my sack and I pull out the delicate craft.

When I was younger, my sister was obsessed with creating things with the paper our father gave her. One day, she taught me how to make a crown, to show that, although we were only the Lord's daughters, we were true princesses. When I made mine out of gold paper and fake blue gems, we both wrote our initials on the back. When she wrote down hers, she told me, "No matter how old we get, keep this to remind you that I love you! So much, little sister!" and, my mother and father watched us as we pretended we lived in a big castle and wore fantastic dresses... even though, in real life, I never really liked dresses that much. Sometimes, we would even have village picnics and we are able to play our princess games with the other children. It was so much fun...

... but, things change. My sister gave up caring about me, I gave up my feelings, and, I've never mentioned this before, but my parents gave up trying to spend time with us as a family after a while. As years passed, they stopped thinking about family and started thinking about business. I felt neglected.

"We should've spent more time building our empire, like O'khasis...!"

"Stop asking for things, Y/n! You're just like the other bratty second-born children. We should've just stopped at S/n..."

"... but, I just wanted to spend time with you..."

I put the crown on my head and walked into the ruins, like I always did, reminiscing about my past. All the buildings were torn down, moss and overgrown plants rested on the rotting wood that used to be the homes of people I knew... but, despite the changes, I still remember what this place used to look like when it was bright, beautiful, and full of people.

I walk on the old stone paths towards the burnt down house in the middle of the town - the Lord's house.

My house.

I still remember the first time I found this place burnt down. It smelled of ashes, blood, and death. Now, the smell has disappeared, but the memories remain.

I walk into the roofless home and into what used to be the living room. I could still see my sister and I's childlike figures sitting at a small wooden table that still stands to this day. I could hear our voices.

"So, what color gem do you want to put on your crown?"

"Um... blue!"

"Why blue? Is that your favorite color?"

"I don't know..."

"Hm, well, you'll figure everything out when you're older. I have faith in you!"

"I figured it out, sis... it's f/c..." I mutter under my breath.

"Hey! S/n!"

I immediately turn to see my sister and I again, except, as teenagers. I could see the shock on young Y/n's face... S/n had just pushed me to the ground.

"Get out of my way! I don't want to talk to you!"

I felt my heart almost sink to the bottom of my chest. I remember exactly when this happened, and what happened. I wanted to turn away, but I couldn't.

"What- What happened to you? I thought you loved me!"

"When did I ever say that?!" My sister laughed.

I took my paper crown from a nearby chair and showed it to her. "When we made this, you said-"

"HA! You think what I said when we were kids changes anything?! I was young and STUPID. Anything I said back then means nothing, you got that?!"

I huffed, running a hand through my hair trying not to knock the small crown off my head. My sister was such a jerk.

After that moment, I remember my teenage self-running outside crying. I felt neglected, unloved, and upset. I, as my current self, walk outside to see another scene unfold. Young Y/n was sitting against a white picket fence in our backyard, crying.

"Hey, you okay?"

"H-Huh?" I looked up to see a boy around my sister's age peering over the fence. The first thing I noticed about him was his blue eyes, the same dark blue color as the gems on my paper crown.

"Y/n L/n, the Lord's daughter, right? I'm Gene. Hey, what's that? A crown?"

I looked at my craft and nodded as he jumped over the fence and took it from my hands. "Hey-" I was about to scream until he put the crown on my head.

"There, perfect. Hold your head up high so your crown doesn't fall, princess." He then sent me a charming smile. "Hey, wanna come to my house? We can talk about what made you upset there, and then we can hang out with my brother, m'kay?"

"Okay... thank you."

Then, I snap back into reality, to see the white fence gray, dirty, and broken. My heart sinks even more thanks to the memory, and I silently curse myself for falling into Gene's trap all those years ago. I remember from that day on I had gone to his house whenever I felt sad. I talked and laughed with him and Dante, but I constantly found that he was asking questions about S/n. As much as it bothered me, I say anything about it. My sister had used me in the past... I figured it was my turn to use her to get closer to the person I loved.

... but he loved my sister... and now they're both gone.

I look past the fence and all the rubble that follows it to see what I dread to see the most every year - the cemetery. I step over the destruction that came after the fire towards the many gravestones laying beside each other.

Many years ago, the survivors of the fire created a cemetery for everyone who had died - well, at least, all those who died who they could remember. When they saw my family's bodies, they left them to rot in the debris of their home. When I came back for the first "Ashes Anniversary" to see nobody here, I decided to make graves for them. I also made graves for the people who I had been forgotten, as a memorial for them... Gene and Dante.

I miss them. I miss the hours I would spend with them, with a smile on my face. I miss the fuzzy feeling I felt in the pit of my stomach every minute I spent with my black-haired knight... I miss having people who actually cared about me.

I walked up to their empty graves, dropping to my knees. As much as I didn't want to... I heard their voices in the back of my mind.

"Gene! Y/n! Let's all train together!" That was Dante.

"Don't worry about it, Dante. I believe in Y/n..." And that was Gene.

"Y/n, you know we're both concerned about you..." Dante, again... 

"I'll always care about you, princess, no matter what happens..." and that... was Gene... 

That last sentence strikes my aching heart the most. He sounded so sincere... I miss him. I miss everyone and everything.

WHY DO THINGS HAVE TO CHANGE?!

That's when I break down. All the emotions I've kept in for all these years pour out of me in the state of angry tears. It feels relieving to finally let out some emotion, but it also hurts. A lot.

"Happy Ashes Anniversary..." I cry.

That's when I hear a voice that I was not expecting to hear.

"S-Socio?! Are you crying?!"

My eyes widen. I slowly turn my head around to see a certain blonde's head peeking out from behind a stone wall. I sniff as I wipe the tears from my eyes.

"Amber?! Ugh, I knew I should've double checked to see if anyone was following me!"

She slowly walks towards me and puts a hand on my shoulder. "I... Socio what is this place? I thought you were going home?"

I shove her hand off me. "This... was my home... but... it burnt down... and everyone I knew either died or completely forgot about me." I start sobbing again. "I... feel so alone..."

We sit in silence a bit, Amber not knowing what to say... until I hear another voice. A voice I've only imagined, a voice that I thought I would have never heard again...

"Y/N?!"

I immediately turn and I freeze, my eyes resting on a man with deep, dark blue eyes, and dark blue hair...

"Dante...!"
~