Disclaimer: I do not own Disgaea OR the characters in anyway whatsoever, nor does this fanfic benefit me financially. The only thing I own is the the CD game of "Disgaea, Hour of Darkness", and this Fanfic.
Rober2's rant:
This chapter is dedicated to a certain someone. This chapter was actually just created in my head when at the date of June 23, 2009, at around 2 o clock, something was imprinted in my mind... and in case I forget it, this chapter will remind me, despite the sad memory.
I hope you guys don't mind reading the rant just below this story. After all, this chapter was never meant to be here.
Chapter 11: Common Idles of a Demon
It was a normal day at the castle; Laharl had to bear with Flonne's usual quirks with love, Etna was doing her chores (Who orders the prinnies to do them) given to her by Laharl, Davis was relaxing peacefully at the flowery veranda, Tomoe was performing her usual exercises, and Stella was... nowhere to be seen.
As the sun in almost completely set, Stella appears before the Dimensional gate, arriving home from who-knows-where. Although The dimensional gatekeeper is familiar with Stella, something was OBVIOUSLY different with her... Well only an idiot wouldn't notice the unfamiliar creature wrapped around her arms.
"*Bark bark*" The little thing yelped energetically.
"Huh?" The female brawler, sweating from her training, arrives just around the corner and hears the weird sound.
"Hey, What is that?" The male warrior asks Stella in a rather curious tone. Tomoe, also curious with the unfamiliar creature, walks closer behind Davis to find the source of the weird sound and Davis's curiosity.
"Remember the world where Jennifer, the robot, and that idiot wearing the space suit lived on?" Stella questions the two, and both nods.
Meanwhile on Earth, Gorgon sneezes.
Back at the netherworld...
"...Well, I saw those two creatures that was on all fours, just like a 'cu sith', but cuter. and when I saw their young, I just HAD to nag one! Isn't he just the cutest?" Stella blushes as she gleefully holds the puppy forward for everyone to see.
Davis's eyes widen at the little 'thing' while Tomoe show no interest at the creature, despite looking at it.
"Cool! what are you gonna call it?" Davis asks happily.
"Ummm, I guess I'll call you Apple!" Says Stella while facing the creature.
"*Bark bark*" The creature barks happily, as if liking it's new name.
"Energetic little thing, isn't it?" Says Tomoe, looking at the creature's wiggling body. "what is this thing called again?"
"Ummm, if i remember correctly, I'd say it's a... Dog." Stella explains, as if guessing.
"A... Dog?" Tomoe raises a brow. "What a weird thing to call this creature."
"Don't you think it's weird that we look older than our master?" Stella retorts.
"Good point." Tomoe accepts Stella's piece.
"Oi, oi. you two shouldn't talk about Master Laharl like that." Davis sweatdrops.
Suddenly, the 'Dog' starts wriggling around furiously, as if trying to get away from the spear-wielder's hold. "Ah!" Stella yelps as Apple escapes her clutches and make a dash into the deeper parts of the castle.
"Uh-oh!" Tomoe merely states. "That can't be good!" Davis follows. "Kya! After him!" Stella screams in a panic and immediately orders her two companions. The two complies in reflex, even though they don't have to.
The dog runs around the weapons and item shop, taking the vendors by surprise and making them shriek and yelp in surprise at the foreign creature. Tomoe chases after Apple but is eluded just as easily as she could 'try' to catch up with the small creature, despite her fleet footwork. Davis follows just behind Tomoe while Stella follows just behind Davis.
After the mayhem at the shops, Apple makes its way to the throne room, followed by the trio.
"Hurry! He could run into-" Stella was cut off as she notices her two companions come to a halt. In front of them was their master, staring the the alien. In front of their master was Apple, as if ready to run away, not out of fear but glee. "M-Master Laharl!" Stella finishes her last sentence in a wierd tone from the last word. "U-uhhh... h...hehehe..." Stella nervously laughs.
"...Davis..." the male warrior tenses up as Laharl calls him. "...Tomoe..." the brawler does the same. "...Stella..." The female warrior tenses up even more than the two... "WHAT THE HELL IS THIS WRETCHED EARTH CREATURE DOING IN MY CASTLE!?" The trio's faces widens with fear as they hear their master's thunderous yell of anger.
"Gwaaa! I'm sorry, Master Laharl! I'm so sorry!" Knowing her responsibility, Stella steps up in a panic and begs for her master's forgiveness.
"Uh, This earth creature is what those humans keep as... pets! Yes, and uh... and Stella is hoping if she could...uh...keep one..." Tomoe sweatdrops at her last few words as she quick-wittingly comes up with an excuse... little did she know how true her own words were; it was actually true that humans keep dogs as pets... if we think about it, ANY human would find it more than weird to have a 'zombie' for a pet.
"Thing thing?! as a pet!? in my castle!?" Laharl Glares at the creature as if expecting it to cower in fer, but instead, the dog maintains it's energetic huffing while looking at the young figure in the eye. the trio sweats heavily as Apple and Laharl stare at each other awkwardly.
"...Alright." Laharl suddenly speaks, catching the trio off guard and causing their jaws to drop. none of them (more like nobody) expected Laharl to let such a foreign creature stay in the castle.
"Re-re-re-REALLY?! can I really keep him!? can I, can I, CAN I?!" Stella asks her master gleefully like a little girl while her two companions sweatdrop at Stella's actions.
"Yes you can. You don't have to act so surprised!" Says Laharl.
"(How can we not?)" the duo behind Stella thinks of the same thing while sweatdropping, both failing to realize that Flonne's quirks were rubbing off on their master.
"Oh, thank you thank you THANK YOU, Master Laharl!" Stella gleefully bombards her master with gratitude as she grabs Apple and happily hugs her new pet. "*Bark*" the dog merely barks happily, now believing that he has himself a new home.
Over half a year later...
"Aaaapple, we're hoooome~!" Stella, with her spear behind her neck, happily hums loudly for her pat's attention as Stella and the gang arrive from another one of their usual outings.
"*Bark bark!*" Apple, from out of nowhere (actually from the other corner), responds to Stella's voice and bolts towards her, not taking him long to see Stella.
"Hey, buddy! You miss me?" Stella tells the little creature as she lowers herself by placing one hand on her knees with her other hand still holding her spear.
"*Bark bark*" Apple responds with its usual energy, spinning around without removing its eyes off Stella.
"Boy, that thing sure is energetic." Says the axe-wielder behind Stella as he observes the spunky creature.
"Ok, ok boy. I'll walk you soon." Says Stella to the still spinning dog as Apple whines impatiently for his walk. "...I guess I'll just walk Apple right now since we're already here. I'll catch up with you guys later." Stella bids her friend as she turns around towards the Dimensional gate with Apple already ahead of her.
In cue, the dimensional gatekeeper prepares their usual destination; a plain grassy field, much like Laharl's tutorial map.
As their destination appears in sight of the dimensional gate, Apple bolts forward, Leaving Stella behind. "Ah! wait!" Stella shouts but is inevitably ignored by Apple. "Mou! I said wait!" Stella enters the gate and finds Apple sniffing every dirt and grass he sees, sometimes leaking on them. The two enjoy their walk; Stella was slowly following Apple wherever he went with a smile on her face and moving the hair on her face behind her ears, while Apple was frolicking around every nook and cranny of the field eventually 'doing his business'.
Unfortunately, their time alone was short lived...
Four Cu Siths appeared just in front of Apple. Being close to her dog, Stella immediately takes notice of the danger and takes up a stance. to Stella, taking out the Cu Siths would be no problem; the only thing is Apple is with her.
Apple, oblivious to the dangers, merely considers them as 'fun' and comes dashing towards them.
"A-Apple! No!" Stella shouts at her dog, but is, once again, ignored. The Cu Siths, taking notice of the incoming creature, loudly growls, sending Apple the message of hostility.
Apple quickly turns around and returns to his previous position. "*Bark bark bark!*" Apple barks at the larger creatures while staying at a safe distance beside the spear-wielder.
Taking Offense to Apple's barking, The Cu Siths loudly growls as they lunge forward to attack, frightening Apple and sending him dashing away without the notice of the female warrior. Stella on the other hand, anticipates the monsters' movements, and counters, taking out one of the Cu Siths with ease.
The Cu Siths were smart and resilient; despite the loss of one of their comrades, they still attack on different directions... Still, Stella finds it no problem to make short work of them; all three of the monsters attack left, right, and middle. The ones on the side attacks, but Stella easily counters their attacks, easily taking them out. The one on the middle, now completely aggravated, lunges in rage of Stella... but Stella merely takes a step back and dodges the enraged beast and takes advantage, poking and piercing the Cu Sith's hide with her spear with lightning-fast movements. Stella spins her spear above her head and gives the final blow, speedily getting behind the monster, as if she went through him. Successfully performing 'Lightning Spear', The Cu Sith falls lifeless.
After finishing off all the Cu Siths, Stella looks around to cue her dog that they're no longer in harms way... but Apple was no where in sight.
Meanwhile, Apple's running begins to decelerate as he realizes that he has strayed too far away from his owner. And instead of the grassy plain he was used to, he soon realizes that he has strayed at the 'swampy' area.
In the distance, Apple notices a rather familiar figure; it had feathers, but appeared flightless. it had that waddle just below its big beak... A smile-like shape crept on Apple's panting mouth as he remembered that it looks awfully like a 'chicken', the one he's been enjoying of chasing before Stella took her in. the only difference is it's size (it was like what, 30 TIMES BIGGER?!)
Apple rushes towards the big chicken (?) with excitement and intent on getting a bite.
In reaction, the creature suddenly reacts as a mysterious gas is extracted from the creature's mouth.
Upon getting closer, Apple inadvertently takes a whiff of the gas. "*Yelp!* Completely befouled by the gas, Apple make a speedy u-turn and dashes back to its origin.
Meanwhile...
"Aaaaapllllle~! aaaaapllllle~!" Stella continues to call for her dog in the distance.
Arriving on cue, Apple quickly appears and rushes beside Stella, running around her in circles out of cheerfulness.
"There you are! c'mon, boy. let's go home. I think you've had enough excitement for one day." Stella tells her dog as the two walk side-by-side on their way home... but once again, Apple dashes forward, leaving Stella behind him, with 'home' as his destination.
Three days later...
At the castle yard, Tomoe trains her kicks, but is soon interrupted by Stella's presence.
"...What is it?" Tomoe asks as she noticed Stella in a somewhat distressed look.
"I-it's Apple..." Stella replies in a shaky voice while Tomoe raises a brow. "He's... he isn't acting like himself... he's not his energetic self; he's mellow for some reason... and when i took him out for his walk, and when he did his business... what came out of him wasn't the usual mucky brown... but a watery red... Tomoe I'm worried!" Stella finishes with her face in even more distress as if she was about to cry.
Tomoe couldn't let out any obvious emotion on her face as she didn't know what to do. After all, she was a fighter, not a doctor. "Why don't you take him to the netherworld hospital? They might know what to do; and I'm sure Master Laharl won't mind using the team's funds for him. (Using his money is a different story though)"
"I already did. but since Apple was a creature from Earth, they told me that don't know how much they could help him." Says Stella with her head down and her shoulders drooping. Tomoe's face was also starting to show distress since she didn't know how to help her friend.
"Hey." a broad and familiar voice calls the two girls. The two turn to face the source and find Davis with his usual serious look. "You'll have to save your talk for later. Master Laharl is calling for us. We're going into battle again."
"B-but... Apple is-" Stella begins to stutter, worried for her dog.
"We'll have to worry about him later." Says Davis with a stern face. "Right now, we have our Master to worry about." Davis's words pierced Stella's heart, making her more depressed.
Tomoe glares at Axe-wielder, signaling that he should be mindful of his words. Davis responds without even looking at Tomoe. Davis knew that going against their master's wishes would yield gruesome consequences; Davis didn't want Stella to face that, thus his attitude.
"Don't worry. Let's just make this quick so we could visit Apple at the hospital. Hopefully, by the time we get back, the doctors may have already found a way to help Apple. So, what do you say?" Tomoe asks Stella with a smile, hoping to ease her depression. Stella lets out a small sad smile in response to Tomoe's kindness.
Finally settled, the trio head to their master's presence, and the gang enter the battlefield once more. Although they wanted to end the fight as soon as possible, luck wasn't on their side... They had entered yet another rare item. It took them over four hours to finish the first ten floors. Although the team would normally dread the thought of how difficult the remaining floors are, they were too preoccupied with their earth friend. Davis was just recently informed of Apple's condition and apologized to Stella while they were still in the Base panel.
Finally finishing their mission, Stella rushes to the hospital to check up on Apple, with Davis and Tomoe following behind her.
Arriving at her destination, Stella searches for her dog. "Doc! how is he? do you know how to help him?" Stella hastily asks the female ronin doctor.
"Ah, Stella. I wanted to contact you two hours ago. About Apple..."
"Yes? YES?" Stella asks anxiously.
"Apple passed away."
The words kept ringing in her head while her face didn't show any change of emotion. She merely remained silent with her unchanging expression. "...oh..." Stella finally speaks. "...Then... Where is his body?"
"Would you like to bury it? We'll put it in a box."
Stella becomes silent again with her face still unfazed. The box appears in Stella's eyes, yet she still remains emotionless. Stella grabs the box and heads out to look for a good burial ground for Apple's body.
Stella finds a good place for Apple's burial; above a small hill with a dead tree on top. It was only a ten-minute walk from the castle.
Stella buries Apple's box just a few feet away from the dead tree. in respect, Stella grabs the nearest rock to make it Apple's tombstone.
Hours pass and Stella remains near her dog's grave. the sun was setting in such a melancholic sight that most people would find it sad to find their dog die and see such a sunset just above the small hill... But Stella's face still remain emotionless.
a few minutes later, Davis arrives to pay his respects, and places his hand on Stella's shoulder to give his sincere condolences... but Stella still remains unfazed, not even looking at the male warrior behind him.
Not a minute later, Tomoe also arrives to pay her respects. The three remain silent, for the sake of Apple's passing.
"I think I'm going to train..." Stella suddenly tells her companions out of the blue. Davis was taken aback and was about to talk to Stella, but was stopped by his partner. The two watch as Stella walks away. Although they couldn't bear to see their friend in such a state, they could only watch her go by, hoping that she'll get over it soon and return to her normal self.
The day was about to end, as signaled by the sunset. Stella was practicing her pierces, Tomoe was still looking at Apple's grave, and Davis was watching the sun go down.
The whole day ended as if nothing had ever entered their lives...
Rober2's Rant:
In case you guys wanna know what the dog looks like, it's like a cross-breed of a dalmatian, a terrier, and a chiwawa...I know it sounds weird but lemme clarify:
It has the body figure of a terrier, white coat and black spots of a dalmatian... and the size of a chiwawa... only 2 times bigger... Okay, I guess the chiwawa thing was over the top.
Why is there such a chapter? well...
My dog, Ringgo, passed away. the cause was "parasitic infection". I only saw the symptoms just less than 24 hours ago; what turned an over-active dog into a rather depressed one made my heart drop. And the next thing know, he was gone; it was literally fast... I mean 2 hours ago, he was alive, and now, he's gone. This whole chapter is practically based on what happened with some extras.
Here in the Philippines, there are no laws with animal abuse whatsoever, not that I was abusive mind you... but when I was told by the vet that my dog passed away, no tears were dropped. In my heart, I thought, "Maybe this is for the best. This way, I won't have to worry about him anymore, since he's no longer here... and good thing that I arrived late. Otherwise, I would've had to buy useless medicine for him... and I probably shouldn't have brought him to the vet; now i have to pay 700 pesos for a measly check-up. (700 pesos is, more or less, 14 dollars; still a big amount for us here)"
Did those thoughts of mine sound cruel? I thought so too.
Then, one thing hit me on the chest like a stake; one of my housekeepers believe in such superstition... and one of them was "If someone in the family gets sick, the owned animal gets sick in return for the sick person's health." And just a few days ago, I heard from my dad that he had a few "problems" with his lungs and he rested in a hospital. I thought "Damn it dad! i keep telling you to lay off the cigarette! and it doesn't mater even if it is light on nicotine!"
Not long after, I heard that he was immediately discharged... but that was AFTER I saw my dog's ominous symptoms.
ever since i heard my housekeeper's words, i kept thanking God... and soon, I learned that trying to live on with your life is easier said than done, because despite having my Dad okay, we lost our dog... of course, I'd like to have my dad more, thank you very much... but still... it was not as easy as I had thought.
And every time i got out the backdoor of our house, I still have the reflex t look at the cage where Ringgo used to be... I guess the image of my dog still haunts me.
Word of advice: never EVER think of yourself as a big shot and say that you could live your life through any hardships. otherwise, you'll think pathetically of yourself in the future. it's actually easier said than done.
P.S.
In case you didn't know, Ringgo is Japanese for Apple.
Now if you'll excuse me, i'm feeling rather sick since i carried the box containing my dog's corpse from the rain, and i'm gonna take a break... again...