The mayor of Oleander was a man named Grove. Consequently, he was also a man who had very little power. Grove was mayor in title alone and oftentimes had to obey the whims of someone else.
Today was no different.
"While I do acknowledge the destruction of Daisy and view it as unjust, you cannot actually expect me to take them all in?" Grove stirred his tea with a silver spoon and raised an eyebrow at the person who was currently calling the shots.
Alice Ward survived ground zero. She saw the Lord of Threads, his puppet army, and several Arcane Knights battle, and she made it out of that alive. Now she resided within the mayor's office, seated on the other side of his desk, as Grove stared at her as if she had grown a second head.
Alice lazily snapped her fingers, and Suits, who stood next to her, placed a suitcase onto the desk and spun it toward the mayor. It opened, and Grove's eyes filled with greed as he stared at the stack of bells.
"Now, how do you manage to afford this kind of stuff on your salary?" Grove chuckled and closed the case, then placed it onto his lap.
Alice hummed and took a sip of her own tea. "Those who control the media control the world. Allow me to cut to the chase. Daisy is gone. Its buildings were torn down, and it lost most of its crops. I doubt it'll recover anytime soon, and the kingdom won't exactly be quick to help. Daisy was never a moneymaker. That's their loss, though, and our boon."
"How exactly does it benefit us?" Grove questioned.
"Oleander isn't exactly a popular city." Alice tapped her chin in thought. "Ever since Phoenix Flight moved into the residence, those that could move away left, and the only ones that remained were the stubborn or the poor. Let's be honest, Grove, Oleander is a mess. It barely rakes in any bells, and you lack the funding to fix its many damages. Useless subway stations, piles of trash that have stacked up, abandoned buildings, and so many jobs that lack the manpower that is needed. The only reason this place still exists is because the king needed somewhere to put Phoenix Flight, and you all are still paying your taxes. I picked this location to be my home because I knew no one would ever glance at Oleander. Running my business is so easy here, but it'd be even easier with some extra bodies."
Grove let out a sigh and folded his arms. "I understand what you're getting at. You want the people of Daisy to move into Oleander and be put to work? Fill out a few jobs here and there, get some bodies in run-down buildings, and milk them for all they're worth? There are a few issues with that thought, though. Even if Oleander's population isn't as large as it used to be, I doubt we can fit every member of Daisy so easily. Not to mention, we'd be putting up a lot of bells just getting them settled in. They were farmers, and we don't have crops out here. We survive through the mines that my family has owned for generations."
"And before that, Oleander thrived on tourist attractions." Alice pointed out.
Grove snorted. "Yes, back when Oleander had a beautiful beach, a respected guild that lived nearby, and the living legend known as the Lucky Lucy. People would come from all over the kingdom just to see her, hoping to be blessed with her luck." Grove smiled for a moment, remembering better times before his joyful look faded. "And then Phoenix Flight came. Hydra Storm left, Lucky Lucy left, the beaches became cluttered with trash, and people stopped coming to this city. If you're trying to say that the people of Daisy would work as tourists, then I think you've got a few screws loose."
Suits growled at Grove's blunt response, but Alice silenced her bodyguard by raising her hand. "The people of Daisy have nothing but one thing left."
"Oh?" Grove raised an eyebrow. "And what's that?"
"Hope."
"Hope?"
"Daisy seems to care a lot about the Knights," Alice explained. "I personally saw them cheer on a member of the Phoenix Flight guild. Unlike most other places, they aren't scared or worried. They have hope. A desire to see a better outcome, and they're willing to do whatever it takes to preserve their hope. I'm sure that even if we cheaped out, stuffed them all into small rooms, and made them work their asses off, they'd do just that. We could use them as cheap labor to clean up the beach, and more importantly, it could cause Oleander to be glanced at again. The whole kingdom has its eyes on Daisy, but no one wants to be the one to offer up a solution. If we offer them a home, we're bound to gain a few brownie points with the goody-two-shoes, and some people won't be able to help themselves and will want to come and see the survivors of a disaster, especially after three other cities were wiped away with not a single soul making it out."
Grove gave a hesitant nod. "Let's say we do let them live here. What happens then?"
"Well, we'd get a large group of people that don't hate the Phoenix Flight guild."
"Why are you so interested in Phoenix Flight?" Grove asked, confused. "You seem to do a lot for that guild. You even pretended to be a reporter just to make some articles on it."
"I didn't pretend to be a reporter; I am one. Just one with two jobs." Alice glanced at her nails and smirked. "As for why I like them, they're everything the current society isn't. Rooting for an underdog is easy. Hating an underdog is just as easy, but that's the beauty of the media. The public waits to be told who is good and bad because they can't make their own choices. Daisy isn't afraid to show their support to the Phoenix Flight guild. If we give them an outlet, that feeling might spread. If Phoenix Flight grows more popular, that'll make the other guilds angrier, and they'll respond by taking on more jobs to prove how much better they are. The more jobs they do, the more the people get helped. No one wants to be surpassed, and I've come to learn that organizations like these will do all that they can to remain on top. Don't you think it'll be an interesting race? I can't wait to see who reaches the finish line first."
Grove let out a sigh. "Well, from the beginning, I didn't have a say. I know you'll do whatever you want, so sure. You'd better make sure this all works out, though. If Daisy is to join my ranks, I expect them to clean up this messy city and make Oleander at least half as good as it once was."
"Sure." Alice nodded. "I'll ensure they work hard. Who knows, maybe if they do a good enough job, Lucky Lucy will return. Wouldn't that be spectacular?"
"Indeed, it would." Grove mused and looked out toward the city below through his window. "I can't help but wonder sometimes… Where did she go?"
***
The hands of a clock go tick, tick, tick. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve. Twelve, eleven, ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one. Tick, tick, tick. The hands of a clock go around and around.
Tick.
Tick.
Tick.
Time flows for all things, age claiming everything within its grasp, and none knew that better than the prodigy mage, Lonian.
"Tick, tick, tick."
On a balcony that overlooked the entire sky island that was the Shining Sentinels guild base, a woman with blonde hair stood at the edge. If one were to look her in the eyes, they would surely be shocked by her golden orbs and her spectacular eyes, which were shaped with the image of a clock. Twelve numbers, two hands, tick, tick, tick—the clock goes round and round.
Person after person, Lonian stared at them all, and with the golden orbs within her skull, she saw things no other person could.
The hands within her eyes, the ones on a clock, would tick and go around, and Lonian would find herself staring at trillions of golden lines, similar to the ones a person might see when they used the instinct trait, only there were so many more, and they told her the story of all that she gazed at, young and old, the past and the future.
With her eyes, the time mage saw fate itself.
"Are you sure there will be someone interesting today?" Lonian asked, as her strange eyes gazed at the people down below. The balcony she was on was empty, save for her, and the only thing present was a garden of flowers. "Well? Go on. I'm waiting for an answer."
Several pots were scattered around, as were a few hedges and vases. One hedge shimmered for a moment, and dozens of pink roses suddenly coated it from head to toe.
"Oh? Someone real special, that's what you're saying?" Lonian reached out and plucked a pink rose, but a second later, a common white lily was in her palm. "A girl or a boy?" The flower changed into a purple oleander. "I see. A man, hmm? Normally, I'm not interested in men, but this one must be special if you're talking about them like this." The flower shifted again, this time into a bright orange daffodil. "Yes, yes, I hear you loud and clear. I'll-"
Lonian suddenly stopped. The hands within her eyes reached twelve, and she saw him. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve. Time reached its peak.
On the island, a group of people had appeared. Lonian recognized most as the civilians from Daisy. They had all been healed up, even the mutants, which was a shocking fact. Also amongst their ranks were the members of the Phoenix Flight guild, who had been staying, waiting on one of their members to recover.
It seemed that had happened, as the guild, along with the members from Daisy, were all getting ready to leave. One of the mutants, one covered in zippers, was opening a portal for them all. At last, their guild would be rid of the filth that was the Phoenix Flight guild, and yet Lonian found herself unable to look away at a particular member who stood down below.
A man with raven-black hair, piercing blue eyes, and an ugly burn mark on the right side of his face.
The flower she held was crushed as Lonian's fist balled up. "No," she said simply, and she shook her head. "That isn't possible. That man is dead."
The bush glowed, and dozens of other flowers began to sprout and grow from it as well as from the pots and vases. The entire balcony began to get covered in grass and weeds, and a full-blown tree jutted out behind Lonian, but she ignored it, even as flowers grew across her flesh and wrapped around her. None of that bothered her. Seeing the man down below did. A dead man who was still alive.
This wasn't the first time she had seen him, nor was it the first time she had read his fate. Lonian reached up hesitantly and placed a hand under one of her eyes. She kept them fully fixed on the raven-haired man down below, and her frown only deepened every second that passed.
"He's dead. I know it. I read it. His fate is over. His story ended. So why? Why is he here?" Among the sea of gold that she had grown used to, this man was one of the few who didn't shimmer and have threads growing out of him, and the reason for that was simple. His fate had already ended a while ago.
She had seen this man for the first time when she skipped the entrance exam. Back then, her ability told her that he was to die that same day, and since he was a nobody and not important to her own story, she kept it to herself and allowed fate to take place.
For him to be alive down there meant he didn't die, which should have been impossible due to the fact that she was never wrong, or he did die and something else happened. That still made very little sense to her, though, as even if he were fated to come back to life, that would mean he should still have a fate, and yet there was nothing that was clinging to him at all.
"I'm almost jealous," Lonian mused. "That man down there is more free than any other being in the universe. I wonder what caused fate to let go of him. Only the dragons of old, and of course, Haru, could do such a thing."
The tree that had formed around her twisted, and a branch jutted out in front of her face. Dozens of roses, lilies, and daffodils were formed across it.
"Davi?" Lonian said the name as if it were sacred, and she gave a hesitant nod. "I see. What an interesting fellow. I'll need to have a chat with him sometime in the future. It seems he and I are a lot alike. After all, fate can't control either of us. Yet how did he break all his chains? Not even I have managed to do that for myself yet." Lonian rubbed her chin and frowned.
The flowers shimmered and changed rapidly, flickering into new species and colors every few seconds. Lonian rolled her eyes and laughed.
"Relax. I won't do anything rash. I still have plans of my own after all." Slowly, she stood up and brushed the tree's arm off of her. "This Davi man is interesting, but he isn't as special as I am. I alone am the main character of fate. I am the one who will reach absolute freedom."
Right on cue, because she knew it would happen at this exact moment, the voice of one of her sisters came through the doors to the balcony. It was Newton, who, no doubt, had Nebula with her, coming to complain that some woman named Mary Lot didn't spar with Nebula. Lonian had seen the conversation hundreds of times before, and so she already knew what she needed to say and what the outcome would be.
Lonian walked to the door, about to leave, but stopped. She glanced back at the tree, which had started to shrink, and all the flowers faded away.
"We'll talk some more later. Got it, Grandpa Green?"
And with those words, she left the flowers and the old man behind.
Tick, tick, tick; the hands move around. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve. Twelve, eleven, ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one. Tick, tick, tick.
Time and fate had just taken note of Davi Hawker. The man who craved freedom.
Down below, Davi glanced back toward the balcony, feeling a sudden ache in his scar.
"Something wrong?" Olivia glanced at him when she noticed him staring off into the distance.
Davi kept his eyes fixed on the balcony for a few more seconds before he finally looked back at Laerton, who was waving people through the portal that would take them all to Olenader. The people of Daisy were also coming with them, as apparently Laerton had worked out some deal with Father, but nobody knew what that deal was.
"Davi?" Olivia asked again when he didn't say anything.
"I'm fine," Davi said casually. He turned to look at Olivia, and his lips curled slightly into a soft smile, and he held his hand out to her. "Let's go home."
Olivia looked at his hand and then managed to give a soft smile of her own and took it. "Yeah. Let's start the next step in our adventure."
Tick, tick, tick—the hands of a clock begin to move.
What's more superior?
Time? Or a story?
What's mightier?
A quill or a clock.