Not All Bulls Charge at Red

**Date Started:** July 31, 2019
**Date Completed:** Ongoing
**Previous Role-Play:** Magic Knights Exam: Aspiring Knights
**Users Involved:** User:Ripcordkill345, User:Dragon Lord Erin, User:Dal101, User:HoloArc, User:GeminiVIII, User:Berserkchart486

**Setting**: Clover Kingdom
**Characters Involved:** Alana Merle, Korag Gildamesh, Colby Monterey, Wesley Umbra, Zela, Haruhi Rephalia, Lea Kira

## Welcome Party

There were hundreds, if not thousands, of participants who basically dragged their way out of the arena as their hopes and dreams of becoming Magic Knights were crushed by the realization that they hadn’t simply gotten picked by a squad. For others who were spectators, they were crushed by how much money they had lost gambling on which magic knight candidate would go where. Among them, Lea was probably the most disappointing, and she knew it. For some reason, at that moment, she had the sudden desire to choose the Black Bull, despite her father’s excessive advice to become a member of Golden Dawn. If it weren’t illegal, Lea would have thought he had some money in that choice as well.

But, more than anything, Lea found herself with a purpose. With the revelation of Marco, and her excessive display of force against Arissa Wu, Lea was stripped of her position as the heir of Alexander Kira; she would no longer be the leader of the Crownsguard as she had prepared the entirety of her life to be. To say she was sad would be wrong. She wasn’t sad, nor was she relieved. The feeling was something that tasted of uncertainty. What would she do now? Was it even her destiny to become a Magic Knight? What was her calling if not to lead the branch family of House Kira to prosperity? Was she even fit to serve the great King?

These thoughts ran rampant throughout Lea’s mind as she deeply reflected on the options before her. She stood silently at the outside of the arena, her back leaned against the wall of the massive coliseum as she awaited Korag alongside the other Black Bull inductees.

"Is this part of the wall taken?" Colby Monterey, a Black Bull inductee and friend to Lea nervously approached the white-haired girl. This was clearly his attempt at comforting the girl after witnessing the events that took place following the exams. He would lean on the wall next to her, an odd silence engulfed the space as he did so. Colby knew not what to say, all he did was stand next to her, looking off into the distance, silently waiting for the remainder of the Black Bull recruits to arrive.

“Of course not, Colby. You are welcome to stand here,” Lea responded casually. Her tone itself was normal for that was how she was trained. The ability to discern emotion in one’s voice could jeopardize situations, and even destabilize moral. Right now, all Lea had was her training. But, even with her tone remaining constant, her eyes gave away her emotions. They looked aimlessly into space, not taking in any physical object. For Lea, all she could see were paths; hundreds of them branching into dark trails that she couldn’t see.

"I've been around enough hurt people to know when someone not feeling themselves." Colby said, looking Lea in her eyes. He could feel the oddity emanating from her, no matter how hard she tried to hide it. "Hey Lea, I have a question." Colby paused for a moment, taking the time to stare at Lea as her dark eyes trailed off to foreign places. "Do you feel like what you did in there was right?" Colby said slowly and deeply, a bizarre tone for him to take. Colby's question would be an easy one for Lea to understand, but a hard one to answer, however, Colby was ready for whatever answer she could provide.

Lea’s eyes slid over to Colby. “I apologize, but I am confused by your question. What do you mean?”

"Y'know, by choosing the Black Bulls over Golden Dawn, among other things. Do you feel like you did anything wrong in there?" Colby said dropping eye contact, his eyes trailing across the pattern of the street below him as he fidgeted with his fingers behind his back.

“It’s irrelevant how I feel on the matter,” Lea answered. “My actions were unacceptable. My father reacted strongly to my decision, so did the Vice-Captain and Senior Magic Knight of Golden Dawn as well. Of course, though, King Guthrie redacted my position as the heir of my father, and instead placed Marco as my replacement. There is nothing to suggest that I made the correct decision at all.”

Lea paused.

“However, Captain Gildamesh’s speech has unfortunately placed doubts in my mind. I have never heard someone speak so confidently about one’s destiny before. It is unusual, and I should not pay it any attention, but I find myself intrigued by his words.”

"I-It's not though!" Colby said in a striking but still low toned outburst. "In my eyes, you did nothing wrong. Shouldn't you have the right to decide your own fate? You can't live your life just being an *heir*. You have to live your life being Lea Kira, and nothing more." Colby spoke in an inspiring and strong tone, being irregular for the normally soft-spoken and shy boy, it was clear he felt strongly on the matter, for reasons unknown.

Lea looked back out towards the vast space beyond the pillars of the coliseum and exhaled deeply. She shook her head side to side as she lifted her hands up and dropped them alongside the side of her body. “But what exactly does that mean? I do not understand. For what other reason do I exist if not to serve my King? What have the gods chosen for me? Those are the questions that I no longer have an answer for, but those questions are the most important. Tell me, Colby, what do you live for? Do you not live to serve your House?”

Colby thought to himself for a second, thinking on a suitable answer to Lea's question. "I don't really know what I live for, but, I do know that I have a purpose and the only way to discover that purpose is to be true to myself." Colby clutched his sword at his side before going on. "Things happen in life, it doesn't always go how you thought, but as long as you were true to yourself, where can you really go wrong?" Colby let out a subtle smile, his normal aura and tone returning to him as he spoke. He leaned harder into the wall letting out a sigh, staring off into the sky after answering Lea's question in the best way he thought he could.

Feeling content with her choice to become part of the Black Bulls despite also feeling sorry for all those who had not been so fortunate, Haruhi still did not know where to go from here. She simply leaned to the wall in a corner waiting for something, anything, to happen. Holding a bottle of water in her hand she pondered how her family would react to her having passed the hardest application in the kingdoms history and landed a spot in a squad. However, she still knew that whatever their reaction, one thing was certain: They would still not think much of her. Had someone like the Golden Dawn or Crimson Lions stepped up to take her in she might have had a leg to stand on. But with the Bulls being in the "pity tier" of the squads in her family's eyes, they would be less than thrilled to find her in it. Yet, somehow, it didn't bother her as much. She was happy knowing that she was adequate to be a Magic Knight, and just wished to grow stronger from here on out. *One day. Mom, dad, one day I'll show you.* Haruhi thought to herself with a smile on her lips.

"Well here we are again, always such a pleasure." Came a voice from beside Lea and Colby on the wall. Wesley sat beside the two grinning. He'd fully recovered from his injuries in the exam and was ready to finally get to work. It was almost amusing to him as thought of the three sitting on the wall waiting for induction into the Black Bulls of all squads. They'd aimed so high, declaring their wishes to end up in Golden Dawn. This was their reality though. Wesley had been disappointed at first but soon realized he was probably better off here. After seeing what Avalon had become he'd been conflicted if he even wanted to live like he once did. "Lea you doing alright?" His genuine concern was a far cry from the arrogant tone he'd approached them with almost a year before.

Zela moved to be near her newfound team mates, her arm still slung up despite the healing. Nuclear Punch did a number on her arm no matter what she did about it. But she'd heal given time.

The red haired girl leaned up against the wall before staring impassively at the arena. Zela fidgeted slightly, not being one to enjoy uncomfortable silences. In an attempt to break it, she added to no one in particular. "You know, compared to how I thought it'd be, this really seems kind of depressing for having passed the exam."

As the rookies patiently waited for their captain to be finished with his duties inside, it didn't take very much longer till Korag exit out of the Colosseum with Alana following behind and walked over to where to rookies were standing at. "Old wind bag just loves hearing the sound of his own voice." He said as he tried to take one last gulp of booze from his bottle but nothing came out.

"You shouldn't let him get to you Captain." Alana said as Korag checked his bottle to find it empty.

Korag threw his bottle away and approached the rookies. "Alright everyone first off i wanna say congratulations on your acceptance into the Magic Knights. You should all be proud of that fact alone." He informed as he looked over them. "I know that some or all of you are having doubts on the squad you've chosen, but hopefully in time you'll grow accustom to your new life and home and maybe you'll come to realize if this decision is right or not but make that decision on your own." He added. "Alana." He looked over to her as the signal to do her part.

"Yes captain. She stepped forward as her grimore levitated in front of her and flipped to a page. She rose her hand up and portal opened up behind the rookies.

"So if you feel like sticking around and seeing where this path will take you, step into the portal. If not then ill see you again next year." He explained as he wait for their response.

"I mean our captain just yelled at out king, he made the arena sickly with mana and our friends were publicly shamed for things that aren't their fault. All and all it's been a sort of upsetting finish and we're not even done here." Wesley responded to Zela, sighing.

It was then that their captain emerged from the arena, Wesley stared at him, Korag was certainly something. Mouthing off to the King was probably just an indicator for what this man was really like.

The portal was made by Alana and Wesley shrugged, not responding to Korag but simply walking through.

Colby was startled by the large and loud man as he heard the large clash of an alcohol bottle crash to the ground before him. Regaining his composure he looked the man up and down. "*I guess I have to live with this guy now...Fuck*" Colby grew a skeptical look on his face before turning his attention to the short woman who stood behind his new captain. He watched as she opened up a large portal and Wesley stepped through without a second thought or glance. "What's the worse that could happen?" Colby said to himself stepping towards the portal. "S-See you on the other side, Lea." Colby said to his friend before he walked through the portal, disappearing to what should seemingly be the Black Bulls base and his new home.

It Lea a moment. If she wasn't to be the leader of the Crownsguard, then what reason did she have to even become a Magic Knight? Was she even worthy of serving King Guthrie as a warrior, or was she better off like some of the other women in House Kira, and becoming some type of diplomat. No, she could never do that. She wasn't charismatic enough. But, what would she do?

"*S-See you on the other side, Lea*"

Lea's eyes shot open at the realization that Colby had stepped through the portal; that timid, shy, meek boy that she admired so much. How could she be so weak? If there was one thing she was certain of it was that she wanted to make sure Colby was safe. She could never forgive herself if she allowed her friend to wander into the fray alone.

"Apologies," Lea announced, directing her words towards Korag and Alana. She turned around, and stepped through the portal.

"I guess..." Zela scratched her head with her good arm once more. It was at this point that Korag gave his little speech, and the portal was opened. She wasn't entirely certain what to make of the guy, or most guys really. Zela could realistically count the number of men she'd had more than a dozen words with on her fingers. After all, they weren't exactly common at home.

She stared at the portal for a moment with trepidation as she picked up her broom. She had been having second thoughts about leaving home in general, let alone which squad to choose. So she just settled her mind the same way she had chosen the squad. "Fuck it, already come this far." She muttered under her breath before stepping through the portal.

Haruhi had no hesitation what so ever. Even if this wasn't entirely ideal to her, to ditch them now when Korag had so kindly accepted her, what would that say of her. She rushed up to the portal from her own little corner, gave a polite bow to her new Captain, and without further ado, she skipped through the portal, ready to face on her new life.

Korag looked over to Alana and stepped into the portal with her following. As he walked through the other side the rookies were gazing upon an old, run down, abandoned looking castle building towering before them in the middle of creepy looking woods. This castle was none other then the base of the Black Bulls. Korag gazed at the base with delight, it never fails to amaze him every time he sees it. "This is us, the worst of the worst Magic Knights Squads. Welcome to the Black Bulls."

"Lets take you inside so you can meet the others." He continued as he took the lead and walked inside base. "Hey! I'm back! Come and meet your new squad mates." He called out to anyone left inside the base as he walked into the main hall with the recruits following after him giving them a chance to see the gathering room of the squad, the Main Hall which is littered with trash, dirty clothes and junk scattered all over the floor and various furniture such as couches and tables toppled over. The walls are covered in mysterious stains and burnt marks and even has crippled holes into them. It reeks of booze, various odors and smoke and is an all out mess as far as the eye can see. Truly a world of paradise for the Black Bulls living quarters.

One of the members in the main hall was a young woman with long flowing pink hair named Juno who was currently in the process of cleaning up the mess before she stopped to greet the new visitors. "Oh hi. You must be our new recruits, welcome the Black Bulls." She greeted them with a welcoming smile.

"Hello everyone, welcome to the squad," says Tristan enthusiastically, as he walks towards the new recruits.
"Pleased to meet you, I'm Tristan Amaro,and what are your guys' names?", he asks after stopping near Juno.

Wesley looked around, noting the decrepit looking building around them. It was honestly quite shocking to see, especially for someone who'd had it so good most of his life. Wesley could imagine the shocked looks the others would have already.

"Hey there I'm Wesley Umbra, nice to meet you both." He spoke, with a small polite bow.