Cecile/Season 1

## Plot

### Aftermath

Curious about the identity of the anonymous reporter who made a story of the Kovoro Mall incident, Remi went in to see Cecile. Instead of obeying the Queen's orders, however, Cecile decided to challenge Remi by making the queen assert her authority on her. Seeing that the Queen couldn't force her, Cecile began to criticize Remi for being a weak Queen and sent her off with a message, "*You should learn from his (Rei) mistakes."*

Cecile was then approached by Arlo and initially criticized the King for favoring Remi, dreading that she and Blyke would run the school into the ground, like Rei had. Triggered by Cecile's disrespect for Rei, Arlo reminded Cecile that Remi overthrew her and warned her to respect the queen. Reluctantly, Cecile revealed to Arlo that the anonymous reporter's name was Terrence.

### Secrets

Cecile was reviewing an article, submitted by Terrence about John defeating Arlo, Meili and Ventus, while listening to a recording of Elaine talking to Arlo about the same incident. Cecile evidently wanted to post the article to humiliate Arlo. However, she remembered Arlo's demand that all Royal-related articles and articles written by Terrence had to be checked by him, forcing her to reject Terrence's article.

Juni then approached Cecile, and presented a sketch of Seraphina shielding herself with her arms. At the time, Seraphina's ability allowed her to dodge any attack instantaneously, which made blocking an obsolete action for Seraphina. Juni wished to write an article about this phenomenon, but Cecile rejected Juni's article proposition, saying the evidence was not strong enough. While alone, she schemes to bypass Arlo's orders.

Cecile later gave Isen a call, in hopes to glean information about the "*Shadow King*." After Isen arrived, she asked him about John, since he had done research on him earlier. Cecile then showed Isen the article about John, and Isen warned her not to publish it. However, Cecile took note of Isen's reaction and accurately deduced that there must be a catch if Isen was against such a groundbreaking headline. Isen tried to escape, but Cecile threatened him that his articles would not see the light of day if he ran. Cecile then started interrogating Isen about John and managed to squeeze out every last bit of information out of him, including John's past and ability. Though Cecile was more interested in making John the next King of Wellston, Isen argued against it. After considering Isen's words she finally lets him go.

### Change

After Juni gathered solid evidence and written an article regarding Seraphina's current condition, Cecile has Arlo review it, only to be rejected. Unwilling to back down, she tells Juni to spread the news through some other way. This would later come to bite her when Arlo fires Cecile from the school newspaper for disrespecting the Royals and also disobeying his orders. She tries, in vain, to challenge Arlo's authority, but eventually is backed into submission in front of the newspaper staff.

### Capture

Cecile witnessed a masked John battle Isen and was amazed by John's power. Knowing the identity of Isen's masked attacker, Cecile began to plot ways to get on John's good side. Her opportunity presented itself when one of her informants informed her that Arlo and his team were searching for the missing Seraphina. After overhearing Arlo force Hower to reveal where Seraphina was being held captive, she approached John and offered to lead him to his missing best friend.  They arrived at the house after Arlo and Elaine had already rescued Seraphina, but John still wanted to make the abductors pay for what they did. Cecile waited outside while John entered the house to unleash his wrath on the five who were in there. When he exited the house and umasked himself, Cecile asked if John at least went easy on them. John did not answer. He only stated they were done here, and then returned to Wellston to see Seraphina.

### Joker

After Seraphina finishes recovering in the infirmary, she and John walk down the hall. Mardin then notices them and starts heckling Seraphina on her life as a cripple and that she could only walk away from him. Cecile noticed this and shut him up by using her Energy Ropes to trip Mardin and give him a nosebleed. She then proceeded to tell Mardin to not yell first thing in the morning. John seemed to be puzzled by her actions, and planned to look into it.

While Cecile was walking through the corridors, John called out to her and asked for an explanation. She claimed she was only trying to help him. John believed she was only motivated to do so in order to make him King and gain influence for herself, and he said as much. John told Cecile he had no interest in becoming King. Cecile doubted this, given that he attacked Isen in full view of the other students. She thought that this was John's way of revealing his presence. John modestly replied he was to angry to care about discretion at the time, which Cecile thought was a lie. Cecile stated that she believed John made his debut with the intention of eventually dethroning Arlo, and offered to help him do it. John relented, and allowed Cecile to aid him in light of their similar goals. Puzzled by John accepting her help so easily, she asked whether he was concerned she'd expose him. John said he was confident she wouldn't do anything to piss off the one student who could re-establish her old status.

To help John prepare for his fight against Blyke, Cecile orders a student to activate his ability for John to copy.

As John and Cecile meet up to discuss their Joker plan, John brushes away Cecile’s questions on his inefficient method of climbing the ranks. Cecile finally drops the subject and asks him who his next target is. Stunned to hear she is the next victim, John laughs at her expression with Cecile scolding him to be serious, but is only even more shocked to hear he wasn’t joking. John explains she is next in the rankings after Blyke which makes her his next target.

Sure enough, Cecile found herself experiencing Joker's fearsome power firsthand. As he used her own ability to wallop her, Cecile helplessly wondered why John was taking it this far. After being slammed into a wall with a single lash, Cecile uttered that he had already won. But Joker wouldn't stop there, and he generated several more ropes to skewer her with. Cecile had only moments to register the horror of John's relentlessness, and the last thought to come to her mind was that he was crazy. Cecile coughed up blood the instant she was stabbed and fell unconscious. She later came to in the infirmary and was greeted by a concerned Otis, who had watched the fight from one of the windows. Finding that just sitting up was a painful endeavor, Cecile was told that she was lucky to avoid a trip to the hospital. Cecile couldn't believe that John didn't hold back after everything she had done for him. Otis asked her if she had any plans to fix the situation. Cecile replied that it was up to the King and Queen to do the planning from now on. Otis started to protest, but Cecile shut him down by reminding him that she had already been defeated and there was nothing she could do anymore. At that moment John popped in to check on Cecile, making her nervous. Seeing Otis present, John quickly shifted into his cripple act and claimed he mistakenly checked the wrong bed and made himself scarce. Otis griped about how John really should better not to invade her privacy, but Cecile said it was no big deal. She sent Otis away under pretenses of wanting some time alone. After he left, John reappeared, relieved that their cover wasn't blown. After a bitterly sarcastic welcome, Cecile angrily demanded to know why he didn’t hold back. John nonchalantly replied that she was fortunate enough to have been warned of the battle beforehand. Going easy on her was asking too much, since Joker was infamously merciless. Had Cecile gotten off with minor injuries, everyone would go around doing whatever they wanted. John said that he wanted to avoid becoming a pushover that she criticized Arlo of being, which Cecile couldn't argue with. John assured her that the worst part was over, so she wouldn't have to worry anymore. Cecile informed him that everyone most likely noticed the pattern of his attacks by now, and realized that he planned to target Remi next. She added that Remi herself was probably working on a plan to beat him as they spoke. John flippantly replied that all the planning in the world wouldn't save her getting crushed.

After recovering, Cecile had another strategy meeting with John. It was a rather unproductive one, as John felt that Remi's power and skill didn't merit any discussion. Cecile tried to get John to take the matter more seriously by mentioning that Remi's Lightning managed to defeat *her*. This did little to worry John, who from personal experience didn't consider overpowering Cecile to be an impressive benchmark. John told Cecile that she should really stop fretting over Remi, so she tried to inquire about what plans he had for Arlo. John decided that information was on a need-to-know basis, which frustrated Cecile even more. She began to ask John how they could maintain an alliance when he continued to keep secrets when she was suddenly shushed. John alerted her to the presence of an eavesdropper. Cecile activated her ability and went out into the hallway to ensnare Isen. She then brought him before an angry John, who accused him of spying on Remi's behalf. When John proceeded to beat the helpless Isen, Cecile winced and averted her gaze. John told Isen to deliver a warning to Remi about the attack he had planned two days from then, along with a threat to break his legs the next time he was caught snooping.

Cecile was baffled by John's decision to inform Remi of when he planned attack. On the designated day she met with him and sat in silence. John asked whether she wasn't excited to see him in action. Cecile told him that not only did he lose the element of surprise, but Remi was given the opportunity to spend the past two days to formulate a strategy. John insisted that nothing Remi planned would save her from him. As a matter of fact, John claimed that he already figured out what Remi's plan of action. He believed that Remi had given up all hope of beating him outright, and thus decided to try for a smaller victory. Cecile was skeptical when she was told that Remi would attempt to unmask Joker, but resigned that John was sure of what he was doing. She then asked if he wanted to start the fight with her ability, activating it in case he said yes. John replied he would rather save her power for later, and that had somebody else's ability in mind. He sent her to locate Zeke, who she found wandering in the courtyard. She greeted him before forcing him to activate his Phase Shift. With this ability in tow, John managed to catch Remi off guard and force her into using her ability earlier than planned. His prediction about Remi's plan turned out to be correct, and he was able to lure her in close for devastating physical attacks. Though Remi had support from Blyke, Isen, and later Arlo, Joker managed to crush all opposition with his superior strength, cunning, and resolve.

## References

1. ↑ Chapter 60
2. ↑ Chapter 65
3. ↑ Chapter 67
4. ↑ Chapter 82
5. ↑ Chapter 85
6. ↑ Chapter 100
7. ↑ Chapter 109
8. ↑ Chapter 126
9. ↑ Chapter 127
10. ↑ Chapter 128
11. ↑ Chapter 130
12. ↑ Chapter 133
13. ↑ Chapter 134
14. ↑ Chapter 137
15. ↑ Chapter 140
16. ↑ Chapter 143
17. ↑ Chapter 148
18. ↑ Chapter 153
19. ↑ Chapter 154
20. ↑ Chapter 155