+ Fallacy, a 100themes Challenge +
Sarehptar
Theme: 29, Happiness
Characters: Kharl, Zouma, Rath, Rune, Ruwalk, mentions of others
Pairing: Implied Raam/Gil... as well at something that might be a hint at Roubal/Bierrez.
Warnings: Crossdressing? Madness.
Need to Know Info: Follows the storyline established in Theme 14, Smile.
Title Provider: Pure Emotions (Noir)
What Color is Sorrow? What Color is Happiness? I Woke this Morning and Realized my Heart Knows Nothing.
The boy giggles, a happy light sound that, for only a bare second, makes Kharl's steady pace falter. How can any one sound be so very uplifting? Just listening to the little demon makes something inside him dance with benevolence. Momentarily, it makes him feel old, feel wise, feel as if he has been returned to the innocence of children.
"And then Rune said, 'Rath, don't you say another word!' And Rath said, 'But Rune… You are wearing a dress…'" The little demon chuckles again, amethyst eyes half closed in delight.
"I imagine our poor Dragon Prince came out of the affair sporting more than a few bruises?" Kharl cannot help but ask, though he had seen the results this morning himself—of course Rath had not let him get close enough to heal the wounds, but that he'd been close enough to see the wounds was a sign of considerable progress…
"Yes," Zouma sighs as he hurries to keep up with his Master, "and Lady Raseleane made him try on the dress too."
"Ooh, rubbed salt into his open wounds." Sudden shock stops them both in their tracks, and collision is narrowly avoided as Ruwalk rounds the castle corner in a dead barrel.
"Ah! Zouma-chan, K-Kharl-san!" the Saffron officer pants and covers the unease in his amber eyes quickly. "Have either of you seen Bierrez today?"
"No, I haven't."
"I saw him being chased by Delte this morning…" Zouma seems keenly aware or how strange that statement sounds—he flushes and stutters out the rest quickly. "She told me she's got a message for him, from his dead friend, Rou-something? He was actually going to take the message from her, but then Ringleys told him all about Gil's visitor…" The tiny demon colors again; an awkward laugh worms its way across his tongue. "I guess Bierrez wasn't as close to his friend as Gil was to Raamgarnas..." Ruwalk and Kharl stifle snorts, and wonder if it wouldn't be kinder telling Delte to just give up.
"Well, all right…" the brunette Dragon huffs finally, "I guess I'll have to keep searching."
"Why do you need him? Has Lord Lykouleon called an officer's meeting?" Kharl cannot halt his curiosity, even at the thought that, had a meeting been called, he would not have been invited.
"Oh, no, nothing like that—Lady Raseleane wants him. She said it was a dire emergency, and 'if she didn't get someone with a thirty-two inch waist, she'd never be able to finish her alterations'." Zouma's amethyst eye catches Kharl's lilac, and both of them burst into uncontrollable giggles. Ruwalk blinks slowly, more than a little lost. "Okay well… I guess I'll keep looking."
"I almost feel pity for the Red Officer… And I'll think I'll avoid the main castle for the rest of today," Kharl tries to stifle a smirk and fails.
"Why?" Zouma questions gingerly, wiping tears of mirth from his delicate lashes. The Alchemist grins sheepishly in answer, setting both hands on his hips.
"I happen to be a trim thirty-two!"
"Ssshh!" the little demon flails dramatically, "she'll hear you!"
"I highly doubt that—"
"I could have sworn I heard someone say thirty-two out here…" The Dragon Queen's voice carries over the gardens.
"Ahhh, I told you!" Both demons scuttle off down the cobblestone path like hermit crabs without their shells.
-X-X-X-
"RATHHHHH!" Kharl and Zouma pause in their lesson –attempting to change the silver fastening of the older demon's Light Dragon Amulet to gold– at the sound of Rune's enraged shriek. Though they can hear the footsteps long before they reach the meadow, it is not less shocking when a nervous Dragon Prince streaks through the clearing, Faerie Prince (sword flashing) not far behind.
"I take it back Rune! The dress did look better on you!"
"RATHHHH!"
They are gone as quickly as they'd come.
"Well… continue please." Kharl gestures to his bird companion. The smiles on both their faces shine briefly with pure feeling.
As he watches the smaller demon –nose wrinkled, eyes narrowed– work through the Alchemy that is their common bond, warmth wells up inside him. It has something to do with Rath's desperate shouts echoing over the rampant wildflowers; it has something to do with Bierrez's youki dashing back and forth across the castle, Delte's spiritual shine in pursuit. It might even have something to do with Raseleane's distant "Ruwalk, why didn't you tell me earlier that you were a thirty-two?!"
It's a feeling foreign to him: encompassing, a lightness that threatens to float his heart away. Zouma cheers in triumph, childish eyes shining in the golden sun of the afternoon, and Kharl thinks that, for once, he knows exactly the right word to say—happiness.
Theme 30: Under the Rain
There was a time when this would have meant something to him—but now it is nothing but another night, another fruitless display of power, just another storm that he will weather and forget.
