To Begin Again Chapter 3: The Red Queen Appears!
Welcome to the third chapter of To Begin Again. This story is doing rather well, so updates are going to be a bit more continuous from now on.
Mage of Hope: Thanks dood!
OverlordPringer X: Well in this story, Laharl has been going steady with both Flonne and Etna for a while now and they are soon to be wed. The reason why he is with both of them will be explained in this chapter.
Jonjames427: The reason why I don't have characters from Disgaea 3 yet is that they will be coming in later in the story. And Hanako is taking a vacation from being Etna's student for a little.
Guest: So I shall.
Another Guest: Here is your update and the reason why Desco and Emizel fell in love will be explained at a later chapter.
Disclaimer: Never gonna own it.
Chapter 3: The Red Queen Appears!
Alucard and Anabel slowly walked around, looking for the Beauty Queen known as Etna. The pair looked in the upper floors of the castle in order to find her. Their questions of the location of Etna to the other vassals led them all around the castle, following a random circle of ridiculous locations.
"Agh! This is getting us nowhere!" Anabel groaned in frustration. "We have no leads on where she even is, much less if she even is the traitor or not!"
"Peace Anabel, we will find her sooner or later. We just have to keep our wits about us."
Anabel sighed and continued to question vassals about Etna's location. Soon enough though, they found a Prinny who actually knew where she was.
"Yeah dood, I saw her out back making preparations for the wedding dood." The Prinny said with a point to the back garden.
"Wedding?" Alucard said with a cocked brow. "Who's getting married?"
The Prinny gave Alucard a funny look before coming to a realization. "Oh you must be new here dood! Master Etna is getting married to Overlord Laharl dood. Along with her, Lady Flonne is also marrying Overlord Laharl on the same day dood."
Anabel and Alucard looked at each other in shock. They knew Raharl's two moms both married his dad on the same day but they always assumed that they waited until they were a bit older. "Why is he marrying both girls?" Anabel asked curiously.
"Oh you should've seen it dood." The Prinny began. "You see, after the whole events with the Hades Party, Overlord Laharl had gone on another adventure with his crew dood. During the journey, Master Etna had fallen in love with the Overlord but he was already dating Lady Flonne at the time dood. When Master Etna had confessed, Lady Flonne grew furious that her best friend would try to steal her boyfriend from her so it lead to a falling out with Lady Flonne and Master Etna's friendship."
Alucard and Anabel took all the information in slowly, making sure not to jump the gun on any assumptions. "So what happened after that?"
"Well they started fighting tooth and nail for Overlord Laharl's affection dood. When one of them did one thing to earn his favor the other had to outdo that dood. Eventually it got to the point where Master Etna and Lady Flonne started actively fighting each other dood." The Prinny shivered at the memory. "I lost so many brothers due to Master Etna's rage dood."
"Sorry to hear that." Anabel said as she gave the Prinny a pat on the back. "So what did Overlord Laharl do to end the fighting?"
The Prinny sat down on the ground as he recalled the last bits of the story. "Well dood, the Overlord didn't want to do anything at first because he knew that when those two are angry, they'll snap at anything. But when his castle started to fall apart due to their fighting, he gave them a choice dood. He said, 'Either you two stop all this damn fighting over me, or I'm gonna get violent!' dood. When he said that, both girls asked him to choose between them but he couldn't, he said he liked them both for many reasons dood. So after a while of debating, the girls decided for the sake of their friendship and the man they loved, that they would share him dood. That took the Overlord by surprise but eventually, he warmed up to the idea dood. So now we are gonna have two queens dood!"
"Well that certainly sounds nice." Alucard said as he brought out a sardine from a tin case he was carrying. "I was going to eat this later but I want to give it to you as a sign of thanks for telling us that story." With that said, Alucard threw the sardine towards the Prinny who gleefully caught it in his flippers.
The Prinny ate the fish with delight. "Thanks dood. You guys are so awesome dood!" The Prinny then walked down the halls to of the castle to do the rest of his chores with a bounce in his step.
"That was nice of you Alucard." Anabel said as she scuffed up his hair a bit. "I know how you love your sardines so you really must have appreciated what that Prinny told us."
Alucard frowned at the girl before fixing his hair with a comb that he held at all times in his pocket. "Well with this information we can potentially remove Raharl's parents from the traitor list."
As Alucard and Anabel walked towards the door that lead to the garden, they heard a loud boom that shook the castle followed by the yell of, "GET BACK HERE YOU LITTLE SHITS!" Both Alucard and Anabel sighed as they ran to the direction of the explosion.
"How much you wanna bet that Axilia started it?"
"I'd bet anything and probably win."
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Axilia and Emilly ran in a full out sprint as they attempted to out run the blue haired Overlord. Pushing vassals and Prinnies alike out of the way, they made their way to the upper floors of the castle.
The girls turned sharply on a corner and pressed their backs against the wall as they caught their breath.
"Do you think he's still following us?" Axilia said as she panted with exhaustion.
"Let me check." Peeking around the corner, Emilly check to see if there was any sign of the diminutive Overlord. A fireball flew straight pass Emilly head, missing her by an inch. Pressing her body back against the wall, she only turned to her cousin. "Does that answer your question?" Before picking up a running pace again.
Laharl turned on the corner that the girls were at and launched another fireball in their direction. "When I get my hands on you I'm gonna make death look like an appealing option!" He yelled as he threw more fireballs as he ran after them.
"Damn it!" Axilia cursed. "Why can't we lose him!?"
"Maybe because someone had to open her big mouth!" Emilly snapped at her as she dodged the fireballs being tossed at them.
"Well excuse me! If he didn't call me a kid we wouldn't be in this mess!"
"We wouldn't be in this mess if you hadn't opened your smart mouth!"
"Oh forget this!" Axilia yelled as she turned around and bared her fists in defense. "Mom told me never to run away from a fight so I'm gonna kick his ass!"
Emilly cursed at her cousin's bravado and stood with her, scythe drawn. "You do realize that there is a high probability of us dying right?"
"Just shut up and help me fight him off until the others arrive. They probably heard the explosions he made." Axilia said as she held her ground.
As Laharl's footsteps thundered towards the girls. Emilly tightened her grip on her scythe as Axilia brought her fist back, ready to strike.
"Get ready!"
"It's Showtime!"
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As Alucard and Anabel ran towards the source of the explosion, they heard new sounds that shook the castle to its core. As the castle shook, Alucard and Anabel lost their footing and fell forward on the ground.
"Damn it, what's going on up there?" Anabel asked as she got back up and started to run again.
Alucard got up and sprinted after Anabel. "Do you think they got into a fight with someone?"
"If they did then that's not good. If they got into a fight with a high powered demon they could be in trouble!"
As they ran, they were soon met with a door at the end of the hallway they were traversing. Anabel quickly opened the door and rushed forward only to slam into someone in the process.
"Ouch!"
"Ouch!"
Anabel rubbed her head as Alucard helped the brawler up. "Sorry for slamming into you, we're kinda in a hurry." Anabel said as she looked at the person she slammed into. Her eyes widened when she saw it was Etna she bumped into.
Etna dusted herself off as she gave a look to the two kids. "Hm? Who are you guys, I've never seen you around before. Are you new?"
"W-Well-"
"You see-"
Etna watched with amusement as the two tried to come up with a feasible excuse of their being here. Chuckling, she only grabbed the two by their arms. "Shush..." She lead them down into the main hall. Making sure no one was looking, Etna opened a secret passageway and ushered Anabel and Alucard forward. Closing the door behind her, Etna turned on the lights to her secret room. "So what's the deal with you two? You both look familiar but I can't put my finger on it."
The two looked at each other before nodding their heads in silent agreement. "Can you keep a secret?"
Etna nodded her head.
"Look I know this may be hard to believe but we are from the future." Anabel said carefully.
Etna stared at the girl for a few seconds before bursting out with laughter. "Hahahahahahahaha! Oh man that's a good one! Hahahahaha!" She doubled over, holding her sides as she laughed away at the kid's info. After a while of this, Etna got back up while wiping a tear from her eye. When she looked at the kids again, they held a no nonsense look upon their faces. Etna frowned at them. "Oh god you guys are serious aren't you?"
"Why would we lie about something like that?" Alucard asked as he pulled out a photograph from his shirt pocket. "If you need further proof that we are from the future then look at this."
Etna examined the photograph as she grabbed it from the young vampire's hands. Her eyes widened as she saw herself in the picture along with all of her friends that she has made over the years, all looking much older with children next to them as well. She saw Alucard and Anabel in the picture as well, solidifying the true of their statement. Etna herself in the photo was taller than she was now and had much longer hair, seeming to have gotten rid of her pigtails along with wearing a black long, flowing dress with red trim on the sleeves and bottom of the dress. Her bracelets and necklace stayed with her in her adult form but she was delighted to find out that her chest size finally grew but she also took notice that there was a girl next to her that looked like her, but with Laharl's antenna.
Etna let out a small breath before giving the picture back to Alucard. "Okay, so you got some proof that you're not crazy. But why are you all here then? Shouldn't you guys be living it up with your family back there?"
"The reason we can back is that there is a traitor in the Hades Party." Anabel said.
Alucard nodded his head and stood up. "Given that you and your friends were a part of the Hades Party, you were all deemed as suspects as is everyone else who was involved with them."
"So we're all suspects huh?" Etna said, suspicious if they were telling the truth. "And have you crossed anyone off the suspect list yet?"
"At this point it is only my father Valvatorez that has been cleared off the list. But he is only one of many suspects."
"And what are you guys gonna do when you catch this traitor?"
"We are going to kick the crap out of him or her and make sure that they can't cause any damage to the future." Anabel said as she punched her fist into her open palm. A gesture that Etna recognized almost immediately.
"Wait a sec, are you Adell's kid?" Etna asked the flame haired girl. Anabel nodded her head in confirmation. Etna then started to laugh again. "Hahahahaha! Damn I thought that prude of a princess would never let him in!"
"Hey! That's my mommy you're talking about!"
"And you still call her mommy? Oh that's so adorable." Etna said as she patted Anabel's head in a condescending way. "Well you have a lot of your dad in you, I can tell you that much. So, what can Auntie Etna do for my favorite little niece?" Etna said as she gave a playful squeeze to Anabel's cheeks.
Anabel blushed red at her statement as she pushed Etna's hands off her. "Auntie Etna?"
"Yep from the looks of that picture, we look like to be all one happy family. So it's only natural that I play the cool aunt."
Alucard coughed in his hand to get the girl's attention. "Well then 'Aunt Etna', have you noticed any suspicious behavior from Flonne or Laharl?"
"Hmm, not that I'm aware of. Flonne is as bubbly as always and the prince is his normal egotistical self." Etna said. "Plus I don't think the prince would try anything, he's pretty happy right now so I wouldn't see why he would betray us. He may not admit it, but he cares for all of his friends."
Anabel stared at Etna for a little to find any little twitch of her body while she said this. When she was done, she turned to Alucard and gave him a thumbs up of approval.
"Well it seems that you are not lying."
"Are you sure about that?" Etna said as she made a devious looking face at the kids. "How do you know that I'm not bullshitting you?"
"Come on Etna don't try that crap with us." Anabel said. "You've babysitted so many times that we figured out your tricks when it comes to lying. Plus anyway why would you want to betray your son?" She added as an afterthought but clamped her mouth when the words escaped her.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa! I have a son in the future!?"
Alucard sighed in frustration at Anabel's slip up. "Damnit Anabel, why did you have to say that!? Oh well, no sense in hiding it now." He turned to Etna. "Yes you do have a son but he wasn't born from you. He was born from Flonne but you loved him all the same."
"A son huh…?" Etna said to herself. "What's his name and is he here?"
"His name is Raharl, and no he isn't here. We had left him behind at Hades because if we brought him here then we would've easily been discovered."
"Why would that be a bad thing?"
"Well time travel is a slippery slope." Anabel said. "I mean let's say you were Raharl's birth mother and we told you this and then you decided not to have him. Then Raharl would cease to exist and we would have no memory of him."
Etna nodded her head in understanding. "So why did you guys tell me this?"
"We told you because we feel as though you wouldn't overreact like Flonne would. Knowing how she is, she'd probably do something to change the future for us. We trust you because you are very level headed and can handle this sort of stuff without flipping out."
"So are there others with you or are there just the two of you here?"
Alucard opened his mouth to answer but another shake of the castle interrupted him. Etna sighed in frustration. "Damnit, who the hell is the prince attacking now!?"
Alucard and Anabel's eyes widened with realization. They rushed out the secret door to find their friends before it was too late.
"Wait!" Etna said as she ran after them. "Who the hell is he fighting!?"
"Axilia and Emilly!"
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Axilia was knocked into the ground as she got hit by Laharl's fist. Painfully, she managed to bring herself up on one knee before Laharl tried to punch her again. Before his fist came into contact with her, Emilly block his attack with her scythe and blasted him back with Star magic. "Axilia, we gotta run! We can't win this fight!"
"No!" Axilia said as she picked herself up. "I'm not gonna run from him!"
Emilly cursed as Laharl ran towards them, seeming unscathed from the point blank blast. "Blazing Knuckle!" he yelled as he charged at the girls with his blazing fist.
"Shield!" Emilly brought up a barrier to protect them from his attack. "Axilia now!"
"Right!"
Axilia jumped over the shield and behind Laharl who turned around only to be met by a Bass Guitar to the face. Her hit sent Laharl soaring through a wall with a loud crash and fall of debris.
"Let's get out of here before he gets out!" Emilly said. Before Axilia could even form an answer, Emilly used magic to pick her cousin up and started to run down the hall away from the Overlord.
"Put me down Emilly!" Axilia yelled as she struggled against the spell. "I can run on my own two feet!"
"Oh no! Knowing you, you'd just run right back to Laharl just to keep fighting!"
Emilly turned a sharp right down the hall. As she did this, she slammed into other people and released her hold over the spell used to carry Axilia out of surprise. Emilly looked to see who she bumped into only to be greeted by the sight of her friends and Etna.
"Oh guys! Thank God you're here with…Etna!? What is she doing here, I thought you told us not to engage!"
"We could say the same thing to you two!" Alucard yelled at the young girl, making her flinch slightly. "What made you guys think it was a good idea to fight with an Overlord!?"
"Hey lay off her!" Axilia said as she got up. "It's my fault, he called us kids and that ticked me off."
Alucard groaned. "Well this is a fine mess you got us into Axilia. How are we gonna get out of this one?"
"Don't worry kids, leave this to Aunt Etna." She said with a wink.
No sooner than she said these words, Laharl came bolting down the hall. Alucard and Anabel placed themselves in front of the two girls to protect them in case whatever Etna was planning didn't work. Laharl stopped in front of his bride to be and looked in back of her to see the future kids.
"Etna move! I got business with these brats!"
"Oh prince there's no need to kill them. I had those two kids insult and attack you."
"What!?"
Etna giggled in response. "You see prince, it's been so long since anyone has challenged you for the throne and you haven't been keeping up with your training. So I thought you were getting soft, therefore I had these powerful kids I found come here to test you."
Laharl looked at Etna with an incredulous look on his face. "You send these little brats to attack me because you thought I was getting soft!?"
"Yep!"
The complete candidness of her statement was surprising to Laharl, but he should have known she would try something like this. "*Sigh* We are getting married soon and you still do this sort of stuff to me. Honestly Etna I'm strong enough to handle anything that's thrown our way. Plus I have you and Flonne to help me out."
"Aw isn't that just the sweetest thing you've ever said?" Etna said as she gave her fiancé and peck on the cheek. Laharl blushed hard and turned away so the future kids couldn't see his face.
"Whatever, take these kids to the nurse to get healed up. I gotta go check up on Flonne." With that said, he walked off to the Throne Room to see if his other wife was alright from his little move earlier.
Etna turned to the kids with a smile on her face. "There, you guys are in the clear now."
"How did you do that?" Emilly asked in amazement.
Etna giggled. "Trust me, when you know a person long enough, you know how to get them to believe what you say." She helped Axilia her on her feet then pointed down the hall. "If you take a right down the hall, it should lead you to the Main Hall then take another right to get to the Nurse. Don't worry, I'll keep an eye on the others and tell you if something is up."
Alucard bowed respectfully to Etna. "Thank you Etna, we appreciate your help on this matter."
"Don't sweat it; just be sure to tell my son good luck and to give this traitor hell!"
"Will do." Anabel said as she threw Emilly over her shoulder like a duffel bag. "Take care Aunt Etna!"
The group turned around and started to walk down the hallway. Axilia looked at Anabel with a funny smile on her face. Anabel looked at the girl with a perplexed look.
"What?"
"So Aunt Etna huh?"
"Shut up…"
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"Ah! I feel so much better!" Axilia said as she stretched out after being treated. "That healing magic feels great!"
Emilly sighed at her cousin. "We wouldn't need to have come here in the first place if you hadn't opened your mouth."
"Eh, whatever. It all worked out in the end. Now we got someone on the inside to help us out."
"While that is great, I would prefer it that you don't go around picking fights with people from the past Axilia. Remember, one mistake-"
"Can screw up the future. Blah, blah, blah I get it."
Alucard sighed at the girl's attitude. 'She definitely has both her mother and father in her.'
Anabel cracked her knuckles to get the other's attention. "So where is our next stop?"
"I say we should go back to Hades to get Raharl before we plan our next move." Emilly said. "After all, if we do find this traitor soon, then we are gonna need his power to help us."
"You're right Emilly." Alucard said as he paid the Nurse for her work. The group walked to the Dimension Guide and asked her to teleport them to Hades. The Guide opened the Gate and the future kids walked through it.
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Raharl sighed in frustration. "What's taking them so long? It's been over three hours; it shouldn't take them this long!"
"The hell are you talking about?"
"Shut up!"
Raharl delivered a painful kick to the demon's head for his outburst who cried out in pain. When Raharl had finished getting the group new gear, he was attacked by a gang of demons who wanted to mug him. Raharl has easily mopped the floor with the group of four demons and now sat on them as he awaited the return of his friends.
"Hey Raharl!" A voice behind him yelled. Turning around, he saw his friends approach him. He noticed that Axilia and Emilly looked like they got roughed up a bit.
"Hey guys." Giving one last painful kick to all four demons, he jumped off of them and walked to the group. "What happened, did you find the traitor yet?"
"Nope." Anabel said. "Your folks seemed normal to us, we even got your mom Etna to be on the lookout for us. Also she say good luck and to give the traitor hell."
Raharl gave a feral smile at the message. "Good to know mom supports me tearing this bastard a new one!" Raharl quickly handed the others their new weapons. "So who's our next target?"
"I saw we try Anabel's parents next!" Axilia said with a smirk as she strapped on her new battle gauntlets.
"Indeed, that sounds like a good option!" Alucard concurred.
"W-Wait! Don't I get a say in this?" Anabel asked as the others walked towards the Dimension Gate.
"Nope!" Emilly said with a smile. "We gotta interrogate everyone eventually, so why not do your parents now?"
"But-!"
"Butts are for pooping! So get in there already!" Axilia said as she pushed her friend into the gate. "You coming Raharl?"
Raharl quickly placed his sword into the sheath at his side. "Yeah, yeah, keep your pants on!"
Jumping through the gate, the group was transported to a familiar sight of Holt Village.
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Chapter 3: The Red Queen Appears –End-
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Raharl: Next time on To Begin Again, Anabel's parents are our next target.
Anabel: Why now? Couldn't it have waited a bit?
Axilia: Despite her pathetic pleas, we are going to interrogate the human hero and his demon wife. We will even beat the answers out of them if we have to!
Anabel: Wh-What!?
Emilly: Next time on To Begin Again, Chapter 4: A Warm Home. Veldime awaits us!
Anabel: Why won't you bastards listen to me!?
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A/N: So how did you guys like it? Next stop for the kids is Veldime. Also thanks to a friend, some new characters will be joining the kids on their journey! Please hit that review button cause it makes me happy to see an new review! Peace out!
~Deviljho's Hatred
