Chapter 2: The Escape
Laharl was unable to go back to sleep the following night, he wanted to be ready for the angels who might come to take Flonne at any time. After his talk with Etna, he began to come to a different conclusion.
"Flonne is my vassal," he thought, "Nobody takes her without MY permission!" He just thought how exactly he was going to keep the celestial host from getting their hands on Flonne. Unfortunately, his thoughts were interrupted by a loud sound and a flash of light. The room was full of angels, and they seemed to have the same blank expressions as when Laharl and his party had gone to Celestia and dealt with Vulcanus.
"Target located: Proceeding as ordered…" One of the angels said, "Capture Fallen Angel Flonne, the use of..."
SMASH
Laharl slugged the angel so hard it went flying through a wall. "You're not touching Flonne you damn, dirty angels!" Laharl screamed at the top of his lungs, "Get out of my castle or I'll kill all of you!"
"You have demonstrated a desire to protect Fallen Angel Flonne," the angel said in an almost robotic voice while Laharl had a shocked look on his face, "the use of stun poisons is authorized." They proceeded to pull out what looked guns, and proceeded to fire darts at him.
"Why are Celestians carrying firearms?" he thought as the darts approached. He dodged most of them, but one pierced him and he began to slow down. Soon, a second, third and fourth penetrated his skin and he fell to the ground, twitching and looking up at his attackers. "The threat has been immobilized, proceeding as ordered."
Laharl couldn't move a muscle; he was forced to stare at the angels walking away from him, perfectly in step with each other. "Protect…Flonne?" He said, barely able to muster the strength to say it. "I wonder if I really want to protect her." Laharl got lost in his thoughts, the stun poison was surprisingly strong, almost to the point of seeming unnatural; how could someone develop a stun poison that could immobilize HIM?
"That's it Prince, writhe in the poison, it makes the situation seem hopeless. Soon you'll have to rely on THAT power if you want to save her from those angels. So…What's it gonna be Prince? You don't have much time left."
"Damn it!" Laharl said to himself, his strength starting to come back, "I'm not…going to…let some angels…decide…what my vassal's…fate is." He began to move, slowly regaining his composure. Quickly he found himself standing up and running as fast as he could to Flonne's room. His mind was racing between why the seraph ordered this, why Flonne was dissatisfied with his efforts and why everything was going wrong in a way that almost seemed to be planned around him doing something.
"HEEELLLP!" Flonne screamed as the angels came into her room.
"Fallen Angel Flonne," it began, "by order of Seraph Lamington, you are to be brought back to Celestia for failure to follow orders. The use of stun poison is authorized, resistance is futile." The angels fired upon Flonne, she was pierced by all of the darts fired at her, immediately falling to the ground, essentially unconscious. "Target acquired, proceeding as ordered."
CRASH
"Flonne!" Laharl screamed as he broke through the wall, "Flonne, you okay?" She didn't respond. Then he noticed she had been pumped full of that stun poison, and considering how many darts were in her, he assumed she was in a coma. Laharl knew with that poison he had to be careful, he only saw one option, run away. "Flonne, don't worry, I'll get you out of here." With that he grabbed her and slung her over his shoulders and darted through the wall, rushing as fast as he could to get as far away from the celestial host as possible. They were guarding the dimensional gate, so his only option was to bust through yet another wall and run away from the castle, to somewhere that Flonne could recover, and he knew just where to go.
"Very impressive, he not only fought the poison and made it to his feet, but he also jumped head first into a group of armed soldiers to save her. Well done Prince, you're progressing much faster than expected. Now all I need is to force you to admit that you are in love with Flonne. You need that if you're ever going to be a worthy and accepted overlord!"
Author's Notes: Chapter 2 is done. I feel it might seem a bit forced, but I couldn't think of a better way for the person testing Laharl to force him to take drastic measures (I'm sure you know who it is).
As always reviews are greatly appreciated.
