Sweet Mother of God! I updated again. Well, that's the end of the world. Wait, you guys like living? Fine, you can keep living.
Now for the boring stuff: disclaimers. I don't own Devil May Cry, Ever After High, or Nahliel.
Now for the part I hope you've all been waiting for...READING!
Tale 7: First Day; First Date
Rel sat in his literature class and listened to Genesis read passages of 'Loveless' to mark the beginning of class. Already he was on Act II.
"'There is no hate, only joy/ For you are beloved by the Goddess/ Hero of the dawn, Healer of Worlds/ Dreams of the morrow hath the shattered soul/ Pride is lost/ Wings stripped away, the end is nigh.' Act III… Come in." The class looked to the door. "You, at the window," he says to Zeno. "Open it." The windows were tinted as to prevent distractions. He did as was told, and sitting on the windowsill was Cerise. She was as shocked as the class was.
"How did you know I was there?" Cerise asked.
"If I couldn't see through tinted windows what kind of soldier would I be?" The rest of the class immediately felt a stab in their pride. "Why aren't you at your own school, in your own classes?"
"There's a dragon on the loose, sir."
"A dragon?"
"It's not as bad as it sounds, sir, but it is enough to close school for at least a day…sir." She was nervous in his presence.
"Why are you here? Interrupting my class."
"Well, I didn't mean to…I mean, that wasn't my intention. I was just going to hang on the window until class was over…hopefully."
"Why. The question was why."
"I was hoping I could speak to Rel after class."
"…Fine; you can have him."
"Really?" She was more surprised than anything.
"After class. As of now you are a student of mine. Take the desk in the corner."
"What?"
"Corner. Now." She was reluctant to do so, but didn't want to see the sword at his side unsheathed. She did as he said and sat down. He handed her a copy of 'Loveless'. We are on Act III. There will be no slacking on studies."
"Yes, sir." The class silently laughed. The rest of class went by slowly for her. The bell rang and they all headed to their next class.
"Remember, your essays on Lara Croft's journals are due by the end of the week." Cerise and Rel got to the door. "He's all yours now."
"Thank you, sir." She handed him the book back.
"Keep it." He smiled. "I love giving the book to all the eager readers out there."
"Th-thank you, sir." She and Rel walked out and down the hall. "Does he give this book to everyone?" He nodded. "He really likes this book." He nodded again.
Rel signed: "So what do you need me for?"
"I wanted to see if you would go on a picnic with me. I know this great area in the forest on my side. Perfect amount of sunlight with enough shade, flat land, and a great place to watch the fairies fly around."
Rel signed: "Sure. Will Cedar be there?"
"No, I was thinking it would be just us. Is that a problem?"
Rel signed: "No, of course not. School ends around two; would three be a good time?"
"Yeah, sure."
"Rel signed: "I see your understanding of sign language has gotten better. You're a fast learner."
"Thanks. It's one of my many talents. So I'll see you at three?" He nodded. They stood at the entrance to the gym.
Rel signed: "You wanna join me for soldier training, too? Angeal is a cool teacher, and Mr. Jay is joining us for class today. He's cool, too; usually late for class."
"Ha ha," she said, sarcastically. "I'm good, thanks."
Rel signed: "You sure?" When he does come in he's followed by a smoke cloud."
"I kind of do. You think he'll let me leave?" Rel nodded. Ten minutes after class started Angeal and Mr. Jay came in with a cloud of smoke behind him.
"Sorry we're late class. We got caught up helping— who is that?" Mr. Jay asked, looking at Cerise.
"I'm not a student here. I heard you were always late and there was always smoke. Have a good day, sir. Bye, Rel." Rel waved and the class turned their attention to the teacher.
"Am I really that predictable, this early on?" The class and Angeal gave as many synonyms to the word 'yes' as possible. "Hmm."
Venna was sitting at the desk in her dorm with Cress. Venna was making the designs for Cress' new clothes; Cress was re-thinking and writing down theories on the multiverse, omniverse, and parallel universes.
"Jumping out of a window isn't as awesome as you would think it is," Venna says.
"What?"
"Just remembering the whole jumping-through-of-the-window situation Nina had yesterday. It was just really weird."
"That was an out of the blue statement." Cress went back to writing. "Have you ever done it?"
"Tons of times; 50% of the time there is a fire/explosion. The other 50% is a flood of demons. You spend all that energy fighting a powerful demon, then you have to run away cause there are too many to fight in such a small space, and after all that you have to worry what's at the bottom when you do jump out the window. It's too much."
"That sounds like quite a lot."
"Damn it. Now I want to do something outside. Stupid dragon."
"There's nothing we can do about it."
"I could kill the dragon."
"Leave that to Daring and enjoy the moments of rest until your job." Venna sighed.
"Maybe I'll jump out the window."
"Venna!" She sighed. "Have you ever thought about the theory of there being more than one dimension?"
"Not really."
"It's interesting. There are theories about parallel universes that indicate that anytime there are multiple outcomes another universe is created. It could be either exactly the same with only one difference or the one outcome leads to entirely different futures."
"That actually sounds very interesting." She spent her time listening to Cress' theories.
At lunch Rel met up with Slate, Starby, and Zeno out in the courtyard. They were all looking at Zeno.
"Why is he eating lunch with us?" Slate asked Rel. He shrugged. "I just find it odd, given he was so hostile when we first met him."
"I was in a very bad mood that day." Zeno said. "I apologize for any misconceptions about my person." Slate looked at him.
"We accept your apology."
Rel signed to Starby: "It's like they're signing a peace treaty." He got Zeno's attention. "So, wanna join team Lacrimosa?"
"No thank you. I'm already in a team with Gigaman, Cyclone, and Jess."
"We know Gigaman," Slate started, "but who are Cyclone and Jess?"
"Cyclone is the son of Spyro the Dragon. Jess is daughter of Commander Shepard of the Mass Effect series."
"I have heard of their parents. I hope they live up to the reputation of their parents. Rel, Starby, I am going to the shop to buy a new sword after school. Would you like to come with me?" Starby started jumping for 'yes'.
Rel signed: "Sorry not today."
"Shame. Why not, if I may ask?"
Rel signed: "I'm going to be hanging out with Cerise today."
"Oh," Zeno started, "so she was there to ask you on a date?"
Rel signed: "No. I'm just going to go on a picnic with her, alone, to watch the fairies in the forest— oh my god, it's a date." Slate chuckled
"I do not know what I am most surprised about: Rel not knowing it was a date, or Zeno knowing it was a date first."
Rel signed: "What do I do? I've never been on a date before. Do I try to be manly? Do I show my sensitive side? Do I punch a dolphin?"
"Punch a dolphin?" Zeno and Slate asked.
Rel signed: "I don't know, that's why I'm asking."
Slate spoke. "Look. Calm down. The best way to win a woman's affection is to impress her through display. Do something that shows you are important and interesting."
Rel signed: "Is that what you do?"
"I live in a castle and fight monsters. It is wasted on me anyway. Most of the potential ladies in waiting are dull."
"If you want my advice," Zeno said, "you must show your physical capabilities. Then you must take her."
Rel signed: "Yeah I'm not listening to you anymore."
"Hey, guys, and Zeno." They turned to see Storm carrying two trays of 36 cupcakes.
"Where were you?" Slate asked. "And why do you have cupcakes?"
"I made them. I thought that I could bake instead of fight my entire life." Rel and Starby took a cupcake and ate with delight. "Those are chocolate-vanilla-strawberry swirl. I don't think I'll keep it up. It takes too much time just to make a few." Slate took one and started to gag.
"It is too sweet."
"Oh yeah. I also stink at it." She looked at Rel and Starby. "You two can have them." They each took a tray. "So what's going on?" Zeno spoke.
"Rel is going on a date with the red hood and needs advice for it."
"Bring sweets," Storm told him. "It's a kind gesture. Other than that, be yourself."
Rel signed: "To be honest, I'm not sure I even want to go on the date. She's my friend; I haven't really felt anything else for her. Is there any way I can let her down easy?"
"Not really, but the easiest way is the honest way. Just be straight forward, but be a little sensitive. You don't wanna hurt her."
Rel signed: "Yeah, thanks Storm. These guys were no help at all."
It was around the time school would end; Venna is now heading to Nina and Lisa's room.
"This should be the room." She walked in to find Nina standing up straight with a cup of tea on her head and Lisa doing the same, but with ease.
"Stand up straight, Nina. Stand up straight. A princess must have good posture. It shows that she is not only a woman with status but has the ability to maintain the pressure of running a kingdom."
"I am standing up straight," Nina complained.
"Then why is the tea spilling?" Nina corrected herself.
"Hello," Venna said. They turned to her and Nina spilled her tea.
"Aww." She looked at Venna. "Venna! I didn't know you would be here. Why are you here? Did she have something to do with it?" She pointed to her sister.
"Yes she did. She hired me to be…" She waited for Lisa to finish the sentence.
"I hired you to keep her from running away. And, should she leave, keep her safe."
"From what."
"You may or may not know this, but she has a tendency to make 'daring escapes'. Please just make sure that she isn't harmed during the lesson days."
"That sounds simple enough. What are my work days?"
"Mondays-Thursdays, right after school for two hours."
"Two hours of princess training. That sounds like too much time."
"That's what I've been trying to tell her," Nina said, happy that someone finally understands her. Lisa picked up the tea cup and refiled it.
"No slacking," She told her sister. She set the coffee cup on Nina's head. "Just ten more minutes and we can move on to the meal order."
"Sounds fun," Venna said, sarcastically.
Rel was walking down the hallway of his school. It was almost time for the date and he had no idea how to let her down easy. He felt a walk around the school would clear his mind. He was eating one of Storm's cupcakes when he found a very short woman moving some boxes into one of the empty rooms. The woman spotted Rel.
"You there," she said, "help me for a while. It may even give you a smile." Rel walked over and started to help her move the boxes. One of the boxes opened and a plethora of files started levitating in front of the woman. "Tell me, what is your last name? Please, let it be something with fame." Rel set down a particularly heavy box and signed his last name. "Sparda?" She started to shuffle through the files until she found Rel's file. "So you're Dante's son? I never expected him to have one."
Rel signed: "Who are you?" She looked away from the file.
"I am the famous Black Mage, Shantotto the Tarutaru. I shall be the new school guidance counselor for students like you." She looked back at his file. "It says you are mute in your file." Rel nodded. "I bet you wish you could speak every once in a while." Rel nodded again. He offered her a cupcake, but she refused. "So, how can I be of assistance?" Rel kept as silent as he could. "I'll have you know, I shall win if this is a game of persistence. If you have anything to sign then I shall be at your disposal. I honestly just want to collect as much data on you as possible." He kept silent. "Sign something now, or I would have asked for this position for naught; and, just to let you know, I always get what I want." Rel gave in.
Rel signed: "One of my friends asked me on a date today, and it's gonna happen soon, but I don't want to be in a relationship with her. How do I let her down easy?"
"Finally." She cleared her throat. "Why would you want to let her down easy?"
Rel signed: "I don't want to be her boyfriend, but I don't want to hurt her feelings."
"Have you ever considered being her boyfriend?" He looked at her confused. "Having a girlfriend is not something most boys would contend. I think you should go out with her. The worst that could happen is that, in her heart, she is a monster."
Rel signed: "She is not a monster. She is a kind person, but pretty shy. But she's coming out."
"And you may know more about her on the date. Take the risk before it is too late." He thought about it. "Run along; you cannot stay her for long." Rel walked away to his date. Shantotto used her magic to unpack everything and set up her office as she saw fit. "What a lovely office. And in the walls, ceiling, and floor, no crevice. I shall like it here." She reached into one of the boxes. "I'm out of tea…oh dear."
Rel arrived at the bridge on time, ready for his date with Cerise. He waited nervously for her to get there. Finally she arrived.
"Hey, Rel. You ready to go?" He nodded. "Great. It's this way." She led him to the picnic area.
Nina sat at a fully set up table. She went to pick up a spoon.
"Wrong spoon," Lisa told her.
"But I like this spoon better. It's smaller."
"That's still the wrong spoon. That's the tea spoon. You start the meal with the soup spoon."
"Why would I even eat this much? The main course is too big, nobody knows how to make a salad the way I like it, and I don't even like soup."
"That doesn't matter. We can always tell the chefs your preferences in salads, you can have a smaller full course, and we'll get you a cold soup or something of the sorts. Stop complaining and pay attention. Learning the full course isn't that hard."
"It is for me. Can we move on to 'Addressing the People'? I don't have a hard time speaking in front of a crowd."
"But you're already good at that. Also, I don't want you addressing the audience with 'My fellow Americans' again."
"I'm American," Venna said. "It's not like she'll be wrong."
"Please don't take her side on this," Lisa pleaded. "The answer is still no."
"Can I at least have some water in my goblet?" Nina asked.
"Fine," She stepped away for a second and Nina bolted to the window.
"On no you don't." Venna reached out and grabbed her dress, but Nina cut it with her ice and jumped out anyway making an ice slide.
"I can't believe I got away from Venna," Nina said, triumphantly. In a split second an enormous dragon in black, sinister armor flew in, ate Nina whole, and flew away. Lisa and Venna watched in horror.
"DAMN IT, DARING! You said you could take out the dragon."
"That's the dragon they warned us about?" Venna was seething with rage. "I'm gonna make that lizard pay with blood." Venna jumped out of the window and ran after it the moment she hit the ground.
Rel and Cerise had set up the picnic area. Cerise started taking things out of the picnic basket.
"The only thing I made was the sandwiches. Do you like B-L-Ts?" Rel nodded. "Also, do you like pink lemonade?" Rel nodded, with a big smile on his face.
Rel signed: "I bought some freshly baked lava cookies from the Pokémon games." He gave her one and she took a bite.
"It's sweet and salty. It's really good."
Rel signed: "Storm also gave me some cupcakes." She took a bite and almost spit it out.
"It's…sweet." Rel ate wholeheartedly. Soon the fairies came out. "I usually come here with my parents." One of the fairies landed on Rel's cupcake and started eating it. He set it down.
Rel signed: "It's so cute. I want to keep one."
"Yeah, no. Fairies don't really like being in confined spaces."
Rel signed: "Hey, Cerise, I have a question."
"Yeah." He was about to sign the question but they noticed the fairies fluttering away. They looked opposite of the fairies and saw the iron clad dragon flying at them at top speed. The behemoth loomed over them. In a second it knocked Rel into a tree with its tail and ate Cerise whole. It looked back at Rel and flew away. Rel was about to give chase but noticed, lying next to him, a disoriented student. It was the jock from Rel's first day. He had a sword and shield with him. The boy snapped back to reality.
"It's you again," the boy said, his voice deep and regal for someone his age. "You fight, right?" Rel nodded. "I need your help taking out that dragon. I was hanging onto its tail for the longest time, but it finally shook me off. Will you help?" Rel nodded.
Rel signed: "That thing ate Cerise. I'm gonna gut it and get her out of there."
"I have no idea what you said, but let's go." They got up and started to run towards the dragon.
Cerise looked around the inside of the dragon. It was dark and empty, save for a heart made of clock gears that loomed over her.
"This is too weird," Cerise said to herself. "I thought it was a flesh and blood dragon that was running around the school. I also didn't expect it to be this bad."
"Neither did I." She turned to see Nina looking up at the heart. "Hi, I'm Nina, and this is a Clockwork Dragon."
"How do you know that?"
"I remember it in a book, I think. Yeah, it was definitely a book. This is armor class black. The entirety of the dragon's body is hollow. The only thing in it is its heart."
"So does that mean we can stop it if we stop the heart?"
"That's exactly what it means, but its heart is way too hot for us to get near. The inner gears turn at an unimaginable rate. We can try to weaken the dragon's structure by attacking the joints." Cerise looked at her, astonished.
"You sure know a lot about the situation we're in, don't you?"
"Of course I do. This is the moment I've been waiting for. I get to fight monsters like a hero." She started to look around. "Now let's see what we can do about those wings."
Rel and Daring found their way to the dragon.
"You know," Daring started, "you don't talk much, but you respond to danger, like a prince would. I like you. Sorry for attacking you the first time. Friends?" He held out his fist for a fist-bump. Rel accepted. They looked back at the dragon, hovering over a part of the forest. Its wings tensed up. Once they stopped moving the dragon fell out of the sky.
Nina filled the wings with ice. Once the dragon started to fall so did they; Nina directly on the heart.
"Let's take this thing out." Daring was standing on the platform of Rebellion. "Ready?" Rel responded by throwing him towards the now grounded dragon. When Daring's sword made contact it cut through the chest armor, but stopped less than half way. The dragon smashed its torso into some trees, trying to shake him off. Rel came from behind and started cutting its wings, but was alarmed by the amount of ice in them. The dragon spun around, hitting Rel with its wing. It loomed over him and started to stomp him into the ground. Rel took out his wand and summoned a circus ball. The ball exploded with enough force to knock the dragon off balance. Rel used this chance to get Daring away from it. "I really hate this thing. Its armor is crazy tough. Our combined strength only made a scratch on in the grand scheme of things." The dragon regained its balance. It opened its mouth. The heart's gears spun faster and a fire was created, shooting out at Rel and Daring. Daring put the shield up to protect them. "Why aren't we feeling any heat from the fire?" They looked from behind the shield and saw a wall of blue swords in front of them.
"You armored bastard." They looked and saw Venna. "First you eat Nina, then you attack my brother." She unsheathed her sword. "Yup; you'll die now." She swung the sword twice, cutting through the armor, both attacks aimed at the important areas of the body: one for the brain and one for the heart. Once the heart was cut the armor was having a hard time keeping itself together. Finally the heart exploded and forced anything around it back. Through the flying pieces of dragon armor Venna saw Nina falling down to earth. She ran over and caught her just in time.
"Wow, nice catch," Nina said to her. "I feel like a princess who just got rescued by her knight."
"Heh, yeah. You know, just…doing my job and stuff."
"I don't like it. Put me down." Venna did so, but noticed Nina was limping a bit.
"What happened?"
"Nothing, except I got burned by the dragon's heart. But it's no big deal, it's just my leg."
"That is a big deal. I'll help you back. Let me just check on Rel and his friend." She ran over to where Rel and Daring were. "Are you guys okay?"
"I'm fine," Daring said. "That was one heck of a battle. But the other guy ran into the forest. He's probably looking for someone else. I'll go see if I can help."
"Please do. His name is Rel. I'll be back as soon as I get her home." She ran back to Nina.
"Will do." He ran into the forest in search of Rel.
Somewhere in a dark part of the forest, pieces of dragon armor littered the ground. Cerise hung on a tree branch by her hood.
'I've got to get myself free before someone sees me without my hood.' she thought to herself. A noise came from the forest and Rel popped out from behind some bushes. He was shocked to have found her as fast as he did. 'Oh come on.' He took out ebony and shot the branch she was hanging from, catching her just in time. He set her down by the tree. "Thanks," she said. He didn't pay attention he was distracted by what was on Cerise's head; a pair of wolf-like ears. He finally couldn't contain himself any longer and touched her dog ears. "Stop that." He wanted to touch them again but restrained himself. "You're not freaked out?"
Rel signed: "Why would I be?"
"Because of…this." She pointed to her ears.
Rel signed: "In the world I live in, with the things I've seen, this is the least weird. I do want to know how, though."
"My mother was Red Riding Hood and my father…was the…Big Bad Wolf." Rel raised an eyebrow. "He has a human form, if that makes it less weird?" Rel shrugged. "I've always kept it a secret. We don't want anyone to find out. They'd shun my family or worse, and who knows what people would do to me. It's always been safer just to keep it a secret." Rel set her hood back on her head.
Rel signed: "I can keep a secret." She smiled.
"Thanks."
Rel signed: "Cerise."
"Yes."
Rel signed: "Was this a date? Was this meant to be a date?"
"Y-yeah. Why?"
Rel signed: "Well, I just don't think I'm ready to be someone's boyfriend. I've never had a girlfriend or even been on a date."
"Rel, we don't have to be going out to go on dates."
Rel signed: "We don't?"
"No. I'm not forcing you to be in any kind of committed relationship or anything like that, but I did want to hang out with you. Sometimes it's fun to go on dates. You get to know the person."
Rel signed: "This was pretty fun."
"No it wasn't, it was destructive. But I would like to try again sometime. Hopefully without the Clockwork Dragons."
Rel signed: "I would like that, too, actually."
"That's cute," a demonic voice said, its voice clearly audible as if it were all around them. "I would like to see that next time, Rel, but, unfortunately, there won't be."
Yes. That did just happen. Anyway, now for some references. Oh, most of the characters in Ever After High are actual characters. The only ones that are mine are Nina, Lisa, Cress and Venna.
~Clockwork Dragon- My Imagination. It's not from any video game, book, movie, nor is it based off of anything. This is the most original thing I've made for this story...other than the story.
After confirming my imagination is there, I would like to thank my editor/friend, Arch (that is the name he will be going by from now on). He's keeping me on a regular writing schedule.
My final message is to all the authors out there, both on and off the site. Keep imagining. Keep up the joy and the sorrow of it all. I've always thought of writers as gods in their own right. To create worlds and situations that please the readers. The feeling is wonderful, too. It's always satisfying to know that there are people out there that like, or love, what I'm writing. The characters, the world, and so on. It's beautiful. So, writers, keep on writing. I applaud you all for your creativity and willingness to give your stories to the world. The readers and I all love you.
Have a good day/night everyone!
