Romeo Leoni

Romeo Leoni is a character introduced in God Eater 2. A member of special forces Blood who comes from the Magnolia Compass orphanage. Romeo entered Blood as the second member, a year before Nana and the Protagonist. Despite being their senior, it is revealed that he has yet to be able to use Blood Arts and has not unlocked his Power of Blood.

Biography
Romeo was one of the many orphaned children of the Magnolia Compass orphanage. At the start of the game, he meets the new recruits Nana and the Protagonist and gets along with them. Soon, Gilbert arrives to Blood and Romeo finds himself in arguments against Gilbert many times. When the Protagonist unlocks the Power of Blood and scars a Marduk's eye, Romeo and the rest of the team arrive in time to chase off the scar-eyed Marduk.

After Ciel's arrival and everyone's Powers of Blood and Blood Arts awakening, Romeo is the only one who has yet to awaken his powers. This leads to his morale lowering in battle and is confronted by his fellow Blood members about his unusual behavior during Julius Visconti's temporary absence. After getting into an argument with Gilbert about his current state, Romeo reveals the feelings of inferiority he felt by being the weakest in Blood and runs away to the outskirts of Anagura's residential areas.

At the outskirts, he meets an old couple who kindly listen to Romeo's troubles while giving him shelter from the ongoing Red Rain shower. After the rain, Romeo thanks the old couple and is about to return but a sudden Aragami attack occurs so he calls for back-up from Blood. After regrouping, they beat the Aragami attack and Romeo apologizes for his selfish actions to which everyone welcome him back and reply that a cheerful Romeo is who every likes best and that Gilbert was worried about Romeo. At the end of this cutscene, Romeo's power is shown to unlock.

Later, after explaining Romeo explains his former troubles to the Protagonist on a mission, Blood checks the Scarred Barricade when Romeo sees Red Rain coming to Anagura which leads to everyone returning to the shelter. When all think that the Red Rain guard can be left to the God Arc Soldiers, Dr. Rachel shuts down the God Arc Soldiers as part of her plot. Soon after this, Romeo finds that the old couple from the outskirts were not present at the shelter and a radio call from the shelter's North Gate that a white Aragami (Marduk and Garms) have broken through. Romeo grows worried and wears a hooded coat to run out in the red rain to check on the old couple. Julius follows him and they defeat a Garm before the scarred Marduk and other Garms arrive and strike down the two. Romeo then, at the moment before the Marduk can attack an unconscious Julius, activates an unknown mid-ranged Blood Art slash that hits a Garm but misses the Marduk which attacks Romeo and flings him into the air before fatally gashing his stomach in mid-air. Romeo then gets up and activates his Power of Blood which drives away all the nearby Aragami.

Julius then wakes up to find a dying Romeo in the red rain and talks to him to keep Romeo awake. After telling Romeo that the old couple was saved thanks to him, Romeo apologizes to Julius for always causing trouble for everyone before dying in a grieving Julius's arms. Romeo's funeral is carried out with members of Blood, the Far East Branch, and the old couple attending while Yuno sings a song in hopes it would reach him in death. Romeo's death was the key stimulus of Dr. Rachel's plot in convincing Julius to join her in her God Arc Soldier Research Project which was a disguised plot to use a now Black Plague infected Julius as the new Singularity to devour the world. Romeo's grave is located in the Friar's Roof Garden and is viewable when visited.

In God Eater 2 Rage Burst, Romeo's soul is revealed to have migrated to his God Arc upon his death, and his Power of Blood activates from within his God Arc to drive off an Aragami attack. When Rachel triggers the Devouring Apocalypse, the members of Blood pool their Blood Powers through Romeo's God Arc by means of the Protagonist's Evoke ability and Livie's adaptation, transforming the Apocalypse into something different, more akin to a gradual re-terraforming of the planet. The members of Blood are all devoured and subsequently reborn as pure humans, including Romeo.

However, in spite of the newfound peace they have arrived at in becoming human, the members of Blood nonetheless choose to become God Eaters once more, so that they might fight for the world they live in.

NORN
Romeo 1

Romeo Leoni (19 y.o.)

Joined Friar in 2073.

Born: March 14, Height: 163cm

Assigned to the special forces unit "Blood".

''Although praised for his efforts to promote harmony within the group, there are many issues with his fighting style, chiefly how he separates himself from the enemy and times his attacks. Like Julius, he also passed through the Magnolia Compass orphanage.''

God Arc: 3rd-Generation Buster Blade/Blast Gun

Romeo: 2

''His performance in battle briefly dropped off, but has since recovered. Though his Blood Power has not yet awakened, he has been supporting his allies with strategic item use in addition to greatly improving his own abilities and tactical understanding. First and Second-generation God Eaters should carefully observe his movement in battle and put them to use in their own missions.''

Romeo: 3

Romeo Leoni (Deceased, aged 19)

Joined Friar in 2073.

''A former member of Blood. Confirmed KIA during the defense of the satellite bases in 2074. His final rank was corporal (due to a special promotion from private). While serving as a God Eater, he gained a reputation at Friar and the Den for being frank and reliable. His death came as a great shock to all. His grave is located in the Garden at Friar.''

Romeo: 4

Romeo Leoni

Joined Fenrir in 2073

''Exactly how he survived the localized Devouring Apocalypse and returned alive is unclear. With his existence confirmed, his KIA status has been removed along with his promotion, returning him to the rank of private. He seems upset that he is now the lowest ranking member of Blood, but returning to his unit has renewed his will to improve. His Blood Power, Heart, has awakened.''

Personality
Romeo is generally the positive moodmaker of the group, but has little intellectual information on complex matters, similar to Kota's personality. He has a kind heart despite his boisterous personality. He knows much about the new trends and idols.

Appearance
Romeo is a young man with short blond hair and blue eyes. He wears a customized hat that covers most of his hair. He wears an orange and white small jacket with the collar extended outwards that covers over a black shirt with a gold-colored zipper,  with striped black-and-white sleeves, and checked shoes.

Character Relationships

 * Protagonist (GE2) - His underclassman in Blood, they generally get along well, although initially with the Protagonist's recent promotion to Vice-captain, he felt a bit jealous, but overcame that after talking to the Old Couple about how he feels about his teammates.
 * Nana Kozuki - His sociable underclassman in Blood, they too get along well.
 * Gilbert McLane - His new ally in Blood as well his close friend, despite the fact that they generally disagree and argue.
 * Julius Visconti - As the first two members in Blood, they have a strong bond as teammates. It is, in fact, the grief he felt after Romeo's death that pushes Julius past the breaking point, and in turn leads him to leave Blood and become Dr. Rachel's assistant/test subject in her goal to create God Arc Soldiers, with the express reason of creating them so that no God Eaters have to die again.
 * Ciel Alençon - He doesn't interact in-story as much with Ciel and rather tends to hang out with noisier people like Nana or Kota.
 * Kota Fujiki - Another fellow idol fan whom he bonded with after their meeting at Anagura.
 * Yuno Ashihara - Romeo is a big fan of Yuno, as evidenced in cutscenes in-game. Before his death, he asked Yuno to make a song for Blood, to which she agreed, as long as they all promised to return safely. In God Eater 2 Rage Burst, you can view his last message through the mails, with him saying he was excited for Yuno's concert.
 * The Old Couple - They are a an old couple who happily listened to Romeo's inferiority worries in Blood and provided him with a meal and shelter from the Red Rain.
 * Livie Collete - Romeo's childhood friend. Romeo first met Livie back at the Magnolia Compass orphanage and attempted to befriend her. Though Livie constantly rejected him at first, Romeo's persistence eventually caused the two of them to become friends. As such, their friendship serves as a driving force for Livie in using his God Arc to advance into the Spiral Tree. Eventually, the two are reunited when Romeo is resurrected and Livie officially joined Blood as one of its member.

Trivia

 * Post-Rage Burst main story after reuniting with Romeo and Julius, Romeo will gain access to his Blood Art.
 * If you finish his Rage Burst Character Episodes, he will be able to use his Power of Blood and Blood Art CC Divide, renamed CC Arbiter on his Personal Ability page.
 * Romeo and Julius are named after the European names Romeo and the male-form of Juliet, Julius. This name choice for these two characters is made to fit in a historical manner as both of them face a fate of death/no-return in by the end of GE2's storyline.
 * In a cutscene of Romeo protecting Julius from the scar-eyed Marduk, Romeo uses for the first time what seems to be the Charge Crush -Divider- Blood Art but without the move's unique upward swing (he uses the normal downward crush in the cutscene). Romeo never uses his Blood Art outside this one cutscene. In Free Update 1.3 for God Eater 2, a memory of Romeo's avatar is available for use post-game but plays like his original avatar with no special attacks.
 * Romeo's Link Support Device is the consumption of overall stamina down by 30%.
 * Romeo switches to Gun form before using Blade form during combat.