Meaningful Names

A banquet was being held the day before Allen and Calix would leave the underworld to attend the Mellifluous Conjuring Academy.

The Art Family had invited themselves over to see their son as they knew it would've been a long time before they saw him again.

People can't just leave and enter the underworld as they liked, if they abuse the privileges by returning back and forth continuously, it'll cause a disruption in the system and the person will be executed for their reckless behaviour.

Calix was enjoying time with his family members and even with the Drakos with the exception of Allen who had locked himself up in his room, only willing to leave when the banquet started.

In silence, Allen sat beside his bedroom window, staring onto the sight below. He didn't believe that he would've auctually missed this place when the time comes for him to depart.

The underworld was filled with horrible memories for him now that Allen had carefully thought about it. The frustration he felt when he fell to the abyss, the betrayal was unexpected, but won't be forgiven either.

The Kruls made him feel the worst pain imaginable, from physical torture to mental torture. Using visions that they knew would break him and make him go insane. Therefore, he had already proposed a suiting punishment for the Kruls.

It was an eye for an eye, all the things they did to him, would be returned back to them, not for 3 years but for an eternity or for as long as they had the will to live and not end themselves in the midst of their pain.

Allen didn't think twice about the punishment for the Kruls as he had much more important tasks to focus at hand. He was to attend a academy under the name of a nobility's adopted child along with Calix.

With his last named replaced to hide his two identities, he wondered whether he should replace his first name too.

There would be a setback that would come if he used his first name, if his identity was being investigated, for whatever reasons and means, that could bring some trouble.

Hypothetically, if he had used the name 'Allen', The Throndsens that were still unsure of his death and were still searching for him, the first search they would make is to find children with the name Allen or something close to it.

If they had ever come across his profile and recognize him based on his latest appearance 4 years ago, that would definitely cause a ton of problems.

Allen clicked his pen and wrote down mutiple first names that he could use in the meantime. However, his deep concentration was disturbed by Calix peeping into his room and sneaking in to annoy Allen.

"Why don't you join us outside before the banquet starts?" Calix asked, looking behind making sure nobody was listening in on their conversation as he knew that Allen hated eavesdroppers.

"If I see them for too long right now.." Allen paused, wondering if he should really tell Calix the truth. He sighed and looked down at the view once again, "I might..become too attached." he said quietly.

Calix's jaw dropped, pleasantly suprised at Allen's reasoning, he had suspected that his friend wasn't too fond of his family or the people around him and wanted to avoid them.

"How about I accompany you for now?" Calix skipped over happily and snatched the paper from Allen's table. Confused to find random first names that had started with the letter A's.

"Names to use." Allen said when he saw Calix's confused expression.

"Oh.. a fake name, got it." Calix understood the need to change their first names just in case the people they had encountered in the past had recognize them and had already marked them as deceased.

If people found out that they were somehow 'resurrected' it would spark controversy and a ton of riotts due to the sudden dismissal of people's beliefs.

"How about you choose one for me and I'll choose one for you. Besides, I already have a name in mind that terribly suits you, Allen." Calix said, taking a pencil from Allen's table.

Allen looked unwilling at first but sighed, knowing that it would be better to let Calix choose a name befitting for him. It would definitely help his bad habit of overthinking and wasting an abundant amount of time over such a small matter.

Calix wrote on a small piece of paper he tore from Allen and passed him back the remainders. With ease, Calix wrote down a short name and smiled proudly at his work.

"So confident.." Allen remarked when he saw Calix's big toothy smile. He sighed and look at the piece of paper, he wasn't great with naming things, he mainly just took names from book authors he liked.

Scribbling down a endless mountain of names starting with the letters C, Allen furrowed his eyebrow and cricled a name.

"Done?" Calix asked, trying to take a peep at the name his best friend had chosen for him after such careful trial and error. "Say mime first, cause we have to save the best for last!" he said.

Allen held back the urge to roll his eyes, with reluctance he mumured, "Chance.."

"Eh? But I already gave you a chance to pick my name?" Calix replied, sounding more confused than ever.

"Chance, that's the name. It could be short for Chancellor if you don't like the name." Allen said in an annoyed tone.

Calix looked at Allen with tears in his eyes, he showed a smile and attempted to hug his friend, "I like the name Chance." he reassured.

Allen gave him the weird side eye and nodded. "Can I have mine now? We need to make this quick, the banquet is starting." he said when he had noticed the knights closing the gates, meaning that all the guests invited were in.

"I need to give you a full speech about why I chose this for you! So give me a moment here!" Calix said, standing up and standing proudly infront of the door, standing there just in case Allen tried to escape from his presentation.

Allen held back a small laugh at the desperation of Calix and tapped his finger on the table, indicating that he was counting down the seconds with each tap, giving Calix a time limit to start his speech.

"Say, you do know that you are strong right?" Calix asked, his eyebrows raised suspiciously.

Allen shrugged his shoulders and kept looking out the window, not knowing the answer to that question.

"Ace, that's the name I chose for you." Calix said, looking Allen straight in his eyes, stating that the name he had chosen need no further elaboration.

Allen for the first time showed a confused expression on his face infront of Calix, extremely baffled by the name his friend had chosen for him.

"Let's get down to the banquet, Ace." Calix said, opening the door.

They both walked down the stairs in silence before Allen turned his head towards the carefree Calix. "Why?"

Calix paused and look up at the celling and place his hand beneath his chin, "You would be my number 1 choice whenever I am in a perdicament, whether it's a test of power or knowledge, you excel at both." he complimented.

Allen let out a small laugh at the praise that Calix had just given him, it was truly shocking that his friend viewed him as such a reliable character. "I do hope I live up to your expectations than."

They both arrived at the ballroom, everyone's attention was immediately directed at them as they were the main characters for the event that day.