Hey all you Saints and Sinners! CJzilla here with the last chapter of C'est la Vie but I plan on doing an epiloge. So... in this next to last update, Lucius is not feeling well about losing Heloise. But you'll see everything unfold. Enjoy.
As I rampage all over this city, alls CJzilla has to roar is this: R&R! Love... Hate... review.
AN: If you wanna see some of my Jimmy Two-Shoes art, head on over to my DeviantArt profile. www dot cjzilla dot deviantart dot com.
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"There is no remedy for love but to love more."
Henry David Thoreau, Journal, July 25, 1839
US Transcendentalist author (1817 - 1862)
Chapter 10
Sweet Misery
Monday began sour. Lucius was still in a foul mood since yesterday. He summoned all employees to report to Misery Inc. When his workers arrived and assembled, he gave a speech; if you consider flying off the handle at a crowd of over a thousand employees held at gun-point a speech... Demonstrating what would happen to anyone who spoke against him, Lucius ordered a bound and gagged Samy hung piñata-style. After beating his sneaky assistant with a wooden board, the tiny tyrant commissioned Molotov and his army to take turns piñata-style flogging the small, green monster. And then Lucius retreated to his office. Even seeing Samy mercilessly pummeled wasn't pleasing to him. Even though he'd officially announced that his signature on the request for time off was a forgery, Lucius was still livid and unhappy. The feeling of getting kicked in the chest by a mule lingered, and he knew precisely why. He'd lost Heloise and his top inventor.
As Lucius sat in his office, he prepared himself to release the news that Misery Inc needed a new inventor. Now he must start the arduous process of finding someone to fill in Heloise's spot. The last time he did this, all the so called "inventors" turned out to be major flops. From a business standpoint, Lucius recognized that there would be NO one like Heloise. Her evil genius was unmatched as were her skills as an inventor and builder. Even if he did find some other genius to fill her spot, the measure of evil and misery would drop dramatically. And there would go everything he worked for.
On a personal, non-business note, he knew too that no one could even come close to Heloise. Barely twelve hours after firing her and he was missing her sadistic wit, her insults and her presence. Misery Inc all ready felt out of place, not to mention how miserable he felt right now. This was not going to be pleasant.
Suddenly the door opened.
"Just because you have massive bodily trauma, doesn't mean that you can slack, Samy!" Lucius growled, not looking up from the window. "I needed my coffee ten minuets ago!"
"Your horns are still in a bunch, aren't they?" It was Heloise. Lucius felt his eyes go wide as he swiveled around in his chair.
He saw the girl walk toward him with a smile and a cup of coffee in her hand. Reading the happy, chipper look on the evil girl's face, Lucius felt his curl downwards.
"What are you doing here?" Lucius growled lowly, glaring poison. Heloise just grinned.
"You make it sound like a bad thing, Lucy." The girl smirked. "Would you rather look for another super-genius or stick with your old one?"
Lucius got out of his chair and met her halfway.
"In light of what has happened the past few days, I suspect the only reason that you are here is to make me suffer." He muttered, looking distrustful and frustrated.
"Then it's business as usual, Lucy." Heloise gave a dry smile that was obviously a mask. Lucius's frown deepened; he was just SICK of this game.
"You know exactly what I mean, Heloise." He gnarled. Heloise's face straightened.
"Because of your feelings for me? Lucius, it's not going to matter. Things will no longer be the same." She replied. Lucius relaxed his tense body, but his frown remained.
"I can handle the little pranks and humiliation you inflict on me daily." He told her. Then his eyes narrowed with hurt. "But right now, you're being unusually cruel."
A frown came to her face.
"You know what your problem is?" She growled. Lucius's grimace tightened. "You give me too much credit."
With that she dropped his coffee to the floor. The short, devil-like monster watched the cup fall for a long moment and spill without a sound. In a movement he never expected, Heloise jumped forward and hugged him. Lucius felt his anger and frustration instantly evaporate as if doused suddenly by a heavy wave. Wrapping his arms around the girl, Lucius pulled her close and let himself give into the embrace. A haze washed over him; the world around them was a blur, fuzzy and suddenly gone. Her hair licked his face and her skin was cool against his. Exhaling, Lucius closed his eyes and felt a grin spread over his mouth.
Heloise was awed at how fast Lucius surrendered to her awkward and stiff hug. His arms wrapping around her was a surprise. Part of her squirmed but the majority of her was curious. So… this is what it was like with Miseryville's all-powerful tyrant… She expected a lot more yelling. Lucius was stunningly tender and docile. He pressed his head to the side of hers, breathing softly into her hair. She felt herself relax and rest her head on the nape of his neck.
The two strong personalities shared a moment together; bleeding off their attraction and testing whether this was true or not. Lucius kissed her hair. Heloise stiffened but didn't move. He kissed her hair again before kissing her cheek. He pulled away just far enough so that they could look each other in the eye. He grinned and then leaned in. Heloise felt frozen but drawn forward. Lucius met her halfway and took her lips in a kiss. He pulled her to him, wrapping her mouth with his. Heloise saw his eyes close as her heart knocked against her chest. His arms, his body pressure, his kiss; Heloise knew her mind was fogging over with pleasure. Finally her resistance fell and she relaxed, leaning into him and kissing him back.
The kiss was a blur; a rosy colored blur of pleasure. For being initially angry and violent, Lucius was now mellow and happy. He sat in his chair, face propped up on a fist as he listened to Heloise talk about ideas for new inventions. He watched her lay on his desk, occasionally rolling onto her back as she traced out her new weapon and/or device's outline with her fingers. It was wonderful, this was wonderful, and SHE was wonderful. Lucius couldn't have asked for anything better. After all the misery he put himself though, he never would have guessed that Heloise was returning his feelings.
"-self generating device that enables all snow monsters to move independently while still taking orders from their master!" The girl rattled off, gesturing wildly and smiling wickedly. Then she turned her head to him while still lying on her back on his desk. "What do you think?"
Lucius blinked, brought down from Cloud 9.
"Uh… Something about snow monsters…" He gave a goofy smile. Heloise sighed, rolled to her stomach and propped herself up on her elbows.
"You weren't even listening." She gave a tiny, irritated grin. Nope; Lucius was too busy watching her.
"Uh-huh." He nodded, that loopy look still on his face. The girl tutted and rolled her eyes.
Then Heloise leaned forward, bracing his wrists to the armrests of his chair and pressing herself dangerously on him. Lucius felt her hair on his face and her breath on his neck. He couldn't fight it; the fuzzy electricity numbing his mind and shoving him back into his dream. He didn't heard Heloise chuckle, but he did feel her move out of the embrace.
"Aw. Mr. Lonely Lovesick." The girl mocked. Lucius then found that his head was tilted slightly as he made an effort to smell her hair. "I should have known you were in love."
The red, devil-like monster gave her a slightly annoyed look.
"Why else would I act so strange?" Lucius asked before a dirty smile surfaced on his face. Heloise gave a wary chuckle as she blushed and took her hands off of his wrists.
"All this time I thought you were planning to-… to fire me." The girl coughed. Lucius looked surprised before he started laughing.
Heloise sat up on his desk and glared at him.
"You still fired me! Don't laugh like I'm paranoid." She grunted. Lucius wiped his eyes.
"And is that why you threatened me and gave me the random visits? Not to mention having Two-Shoes and Beezy spy on me." He rapped his claws on his desk with a slick smile on his face. Heloise gave a nod and chuckled warily.
"Pretty much." She responded. Then she looked him in the eye. "But yesterday was different. I couldn't get you out of my head."
Lucius's lips fell into a surprised frown before a lump hitched in this throat. She couldn't get him out of her head? His expression made Heloise blush, retreat backwards and sit in front of him. She gave a nervous snicker and fiddled with her nails.
"Gee… when you look at me like that-…" She trailed off as her mouth suddenly pinched shut. This wasn't easy for Heloise and Lucius's dumbfounded expression made her want to smack it off of his face.
But then the girl heard Lucius's chair creek. Looking up, she saw the devil-like monster nearly spilled on his desk, a flirty, love-struck look on his face.
"Well, my dear, now that we have THAT out of the way-…" He locked eyes with her and Heloise saw his signature, wicked smirk. Then she felt his hand on hers. "Why don't we-?"
Then the door flung open and instantly killed the mood. Heloise and Lucius jumped as Jimmy Two-Shoes and Beezy came running in.
"WHAT ARE YOU-?!" Lucius REALLY didn't like being interrupted, especially when he was just about to ask Heloise on an official date. But Jimmy and Beezy were very excited.
"Lookitlookitlookitlookit!" The tall blond squealed and shoved something into Lucius's mouth before he could yell more. The devil-like monster immediately gagged, spitting out whatever Jimmy pushed into his open mouth.
He saw what it was. A cookie. Lucius snapped the pastry in half with his claws as he glared absolute poison at his most hated annoyance. Before he could rip Jimmy and Beezy a new one, he heard Heloise hum.
"Ooo! These are good!" The girl beamed. Lucius looked over at the girl and saw her snatch another cookie from the tray held by Beezy.
Jimmy cheered.
"Thanks Heloise! This is me an' Beezy's latest cookie creation!" The boy looked at Lucius like he was his best friend. The short, devil-like monster just glared and thought of the ways he could dispose of the boy without Heloise knowing. "You ate that cookie that fast?! Gee, Lucy! Here's another one!"
And Jimmy slammed another cookie into Lucius's mouth. The CEO glared and growled through a mouthful of cookie but when he saw Heloise looking at him with an amused expression, he rolled his eyes. He chewed the cookie. It wasn't half bad. Lucius looked at Jimmy.
"What kind is this?" He squeezed out, pointing to his chewing mouth. Two-Shoes beamed.
"It's banana fudge walnut clam and onion!" He chirped, throwing his hands in the air and high-fiving Beezy. Lucius's face puckered as he thickly swallowed his mouthful of heinous cookie.
"I came up with the clam and fudge!" Beezy reached for another cookie but Jimmy swatted his claws away.
"Hang on! You have over a dozen of these all ready!" The boy complained then he looked at Lucius and Heloise. "So whaddya think?! Is it good enough to open a cookie business?"
Heloise nodded, crumbs all over her face. Lucius, on the other hand, picked up another cookie and turned it in his claws. Humming thoughtfully, he wondered how he could twist the situation in his favor. Then he came up with a nasty, misery-inducing plan. A wicked smile curled onto his face as his eyes sharpened.
"Of course it's good enough to sell." Lucius grinned like the Cheshire cat. "In fact, it's SO good Misery Inc will fully fund your budding business. Starting with this cookie's recipe."
Leaning back in his chair, he saw Jimmy and Beezy's smiles explode while Heloise studied him with a skeptical look. He returned the girl's distrustful expression with a sly wink. Heloise's face spread into a smile, suddenly sharing his evil thoughts.
"Really?!" Beezy and Jimmy peeped, so excited. Lucius nodded.
"We'll start production… as soon as you leave." The devil-like monster forced a smile and pointed a firm finger to the door. Squealing, Jimmy grabbed Beezy and left a tray of cookies on Lucius's desk.
As soon as the door closed, the devil-like monster rolled his dark eyes. That… nearly pushed him to the brink on insanity. He heard Heloise giggle.
"Cookies? THAT'S the next big Misery Inc product?" She quipped. Lucius looked up at her.
"Two-Shoes just gave us an untapped source of misery. We just need to tweak the recipe a bit." He gave her an evil look. The girl looked to the ceiling.
"I bet I could whip up some essence of chili peppers. That would put the misery in Jimmy's little cookie." She smiled at Lucius to which he readily returned. Then the devil-like monster leaned forward and his dirty smile resurfaced.
"Now… where were we?" He waggled his eyebrows suggestively. Heloise just smirked and rolled her eyes; a short second later she hopped off of his desk. "What? Where are you going?"
Heloise spun to him.
"To get cracking on that cookie recipe." Snatching a cookie from the tray she held it in her fingers. By then Lucius jumped out of his chair and was nearly on his knees in front of her.
"Wait! Wait. You're just going to leave? Just like that?" He gave her a desperate look. Heloise tried to keep her best straight face.
"Yep. It's not like you had something to say, anyway." Lucius's expression turned annoyed. Heloise almost laughed.
"But I did have something to tell you." He grunted. The girl looked back at him.
"And what is that?" She asked. Lucius suddenly felt nervous again and inadvertently bit his bottom lip.
"Well, since I confessed to you that I'm in lo-…" He trailed off. Swallowing, Lucius rubbed the back of his neck. "Would you-… Would you like to-… have dinner with me?"
He shut his eyes and waited for the girl's response. Oh! Heloise was having fun! Lucius was really nervous and hinged on her every word. A wicked smile curled onto her face.
"Sure, Lucy." She spoke. Lucius opened his eyes and gave her a genuinely stunned look. "But we go where I want to."
Lucius looked off and shrugged.
"Uh… all right. That's fine." He peeped, face flushing. Heloise smiled evilly again.
"Pick me up at seven sharp." She moved past him and slowly walked to the door. As if on cue, she heard Lucius pout.
"And you're still leaving?" Turning Heloise saw the irritated look on her boss's face as he folded his arms and tapped his foot. "You've lit my fuse and you're just going to leave?"
Heloise rolled her dark blue-grey eyes.
"Duh. Would you expect anything less from me?" She gave him a fiendish smirk as she tapped her forehead. Lucius was practically begging her to stay with him.
He bit his tongue to alleviate the wave of pressure he was feeling. Lucius wanted Heloise to stay in his office; the last thing he wanted was for her to go.
"And I thought I was evil." A dark shadow crossed over his face as he glowered at the girl. Heloise just pulled one of the most frustrating moves in a relationship: leaving when she had him wanting more.
Finally he relented.
"Fine! I get to see the look of horror on-mff!" And Heloise grabbed him by the front of his suit and jerked him into a kiss. Lucius melted and wrapped his arms around her tiny frame.
Oh… and another kiss from a girl who could easily steal his soul.
But all too soon, Heloise parted from him. Lucius gave her a grin.
"I suppose I have to get used to the come and go with you, huh?" He commented, an annoyed yet entertained look on his face. Heloise returned his grin.
"I like to see you suffer, Lucy." She returned. "And I know exactly how to torment you."
She traced the outline of his ear with her finger. Shivers ran down Lucius's back.
"Sweet misery, my dear." He responded and finally released her. Heloise easily moved away from him.
Folding his arms, he watched the girl walk to the door with a smirk. As she opened it, Heloise suddenly paused and looked over her shoulder.
"Pick me up in your car tonight. I want to chase some Weavils." She said. Lucius smiled.
"It's a date." He gave an agreeable nod. Heloise blushed at him as she walked through the door.
With a click of the door's shutting mechanism, Lucius knew she'd let go of the doorknob and was probably walking down the hallway. He closed his eyes and let a small laugh out. This was perfection. Banking back toward his big window, the small devil-like monster looked out over Miseryville. For once he could visualize red skies and doomsday weapons consuming the city. Soon enough, when he'd find the perfect mixture of misery, the town would be engulfed in it. And he could see Heloise standing at his side; not as an inventor but as his partner in crime and lover. Together, Miseryville would never be the same.
And so, there you have it. A love shaped between the most ridiculous and cliché of circumstances; but really what love isn't? You may not see too many fireworks in life, so the ones that do blaze and dazzle, hold onto as long as you can before they blow in your hand.
Fin
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