Disclaimer: Esca isn't mine, no one in here is except for SkullyCat ß me!
Give a Dragon Slayer a Rose: Chapter 1
Rose Petals
It was Morning. A dark and not particularly interesting Morning. No one was around, they were all smitten with love. Dilandau thought that Valentine's day was the stupidest of holidays. Was it because everyone was all nice and lovey dovey? Or maybe because he had no one to share it with! It didn't matter, the idea that taking over Gaea had been delayed for a chance to spend time with your 'significant other' made Dilandau want to burn something. But he was too depressed by all the happiness to get off his throne. He had given the Dragon slayers the day off so they could spend time with their various girlfriends. A knocking at the door to the throne room caught his attention and he stared with some annoyance towards it.
"What do you want!" he called to the person on the other side of the door. The door opened and Migel peered in.
"Lord Dilandau?" he glanced around. "I thought you'd be spending Valentine's day with someone." The dragon slayer lord narrowed his eyes.
"What do you want Migel?!"
"Well…" the dragon slayer opened the door all the way and stepped inside. Behind him Dilandau could see the rest of the Dragon slayers, they filled in after Migel.
"What's going on….?" Dilandau asked. Jajuka and Refina were the last two through the door. All of them were smiling and sending secret glances back and forth to each other. The warlord sat up straight and looked at the suspiciously.
"Jajuka? Refina! Migel!! One of you explain the meaning of this!!" the dragon slayers walked towards Dilandau one at a time and put a blood red rose down on the stair in front of him. Jajuka put a lighter red rose and Refina laid down a white rose. They then took their positions behind the Throne. Dilandau was speechless. Why did they do this for him? He had never done anything of the sort for them. Tentively he reached down and picked up the seventeen roses. They even had thorns. Dilandau smiled, a happy smile, not an evil smile. He turned to his followers and said.
"Thank you… uh. It was very… nice of you. I like the roses." The dragon slayers beamed and Dilandau blushed, he wasn't used to this 'niceness'.
The door creaked and everyone glanced over. A girl stood there, she was nearly two inches shorter than Dilandau. He fiery copper hair was pulled into a loose ponytail. She had small auburn ears and a tail. The cat girl smiled. She had bright blue eyes and wore odd clothing. Dilandau blinked.
"Who are you?" he asked somewhat irritated.
"My name is SkullyCat Marie!" she smiled and walked up to the throne with ease.
"SkullyCa- wait… you're the author! What are you doing here? Are you aloud to do this??" Dilandau raised an eyebrow.
"Sure why not! It's Valentine's day!" the cat-girl jumped up the steps until she stood in front of Dilandau. He looked at her skeptically. "Here this is for you." She handed him a single rose. It was red and orange, with flecks of yellow. The boy admired it.
"Thanks I guess." He still gave her an odd look." The girl leaned forward and kissed his cheek. Then jumped down and stood with the dragon slayers. Dilandau just sulked and looked at her.
The door slammed open. Well it was already open, but it was slammed again for good measure. Everyone jerked around to see who it was. It was a girl. Dilandau frowned and sat up he looked to either side suspiciously.
"What's going on here?" he asked SkullyCat.
"Ohhh… Nothing!" she smiled innocently at him.
"Ahem!" the girl in the doorway was as tall as Dilandau. She had black hair with deep wine red streaks in it. Her dark eyes glinted mischeivously the girl was wearing red and black. The same red as the streaks in her hair were. She smiled at the odd group of people. "Hey everyone! Just stopped by to say happy Valentine's day!!"
Rolling his eyes Migel asked. "And you are…?"
"I am Meliae!" she walked purposefully over to them smiling politely at the leader of the dragon slayers then proceeded to walk over to the rest of the boys. They all stared at her somewhat baffled. Meliae walked right by them up to Dalet. The handsome dragon slayer looked calm and cool. But the girl could see he was also confused. She smiled up at him and handed him a wine red rose.
"Wine red…" SkullyCat smiled and shook her head watching them.
"Shhh…" Chesta elbowed the author, and she recoiled.
"I came here just to wish you a happy Valentine's day! After all it is a day for love and romance." Meliae said ignoring SkullyCat and Chesta. She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed his mouth. He blinked with surprise then closed his eyes and kissed her back. The rest of the people in the room cheered and Meliae and Dalet blushed. Dilandau looked like he had a headache.
There was a muffled noise, then "testing, testing 1, 2, 3!" everyone looked around trying to find the source of the voice. Dilandau smacked his forehead.
"Not another one!"
"Oh yay! More people!" SkullyCat jumped up and down. She smiled slyly at Dilly. He gave her a bored look and crossed his arms. The beautiful voice sang out. No one could tell where it was coming from. Music filled the throne room, the song was slow and soothing.
"I've walked so long I can't remember - where was my home? Their distance faces fade away I'm always on my own… I can show a smile, it's not hard to do. I can have the strength to go on, but sometime I wanna let go of everything." There was a pause then out of the darkness jumped a girl. She was about five two with shoulder length golden brown hair her dark blue eyes where kind. She wore a dark red quarter sleeve v-neck shirt with a black Chinese dragon on it, and black leather flares. "When thoughtfulness is not their game I teach by giving love. High Mountain seems higher endlessly when they're pebbles at your feet. And if you should still fall into despair, there is one thing left to believe…"
She walked towards the group of guys and girls a dark rose in hand. The edges of the petals were a pink colour. When she finished singing 'You're not alone' Dilandau said,
"Must I ask?"
"My name is Shakaku." She smiled brightly at him then turned to look at the rest of the dragon slayers. Chesta, who had been in awe of her voice applauded. The rest of the dragon slayers, and other people in the room did so also. The girl bowed and presented the rose to Chesta. The short blonde boy smiled sweetly and Shakaku blushed. He leaned forward and kissed her cheek timidly. The girl looked up surprised, then smiled and wrapped her arms around his neck he hugged her back and a few of the others chuckled.
The day was not over. Another girl entered and Dilandau was starting to catch on. This girl smiled at everyone in the room and she was around the same height as SkullyCat. Her sun-streaked brown hair was pulled back into a short ponytail. She had a dusting of freckles and dreamy eyes.
"Hey everybody, I'm Sabby." She smiled. SkullyCat, who was sitting in front of Dilandau, waved. Shakaku and Meliae smiled at the new girl. She wore simple clothing and had bare feet. Migel whispered something to Gatti. "Happy valentine's day everyone!" she smiled and walked over to the group.
"Just how many people are going to be here SK Marie?" Refina asked. She was sitting beside the author and looked just a little annoyed at the fact that Dilandau had been kissed by the impertinent writer.
"However many want too!" the cat-girl grinned and turned back to the crowd of people. Sabby approached Gatti and the tall slayer looked at Migel nervously.
"Um, I just wanted… this is for you." She thrust the rose into the boy's hands. It was odd colorings, red passing through purple then fading to blue. He smiled at her and she held out her hand offering him a small chocolate Hug. Gatti took it then hugged her and smiled down at her. She kissed him on the cheek and he blushed twirling the rose in his fingers. Sabby stood by him and they started to talk.
"Valentine's day is so cute!" SkullyCat smiled. "And romantic."
"It's nice to see everyone acting so… normal," Jajuka who had come up beside them said, he paused and continued. "At their age they hardly get to see this sort of thing. It's all battle and bloodshed."
"This place is so dark! Isn't there any happy things around here?" the author said as she looked around. "You know we could play music on the speakers that Shakaku used when she sang. Then we could dance."
"Hmmm…" the dog man smiled down at the author. "This sure is odd, especially since you're writing this… but anyway I'll see what I can do." He disappeared off and SkullyCat moved closer to Dilandau. He just gave her a wry smile and continued watching his friends while playing with the roses.
Giggling interrupted the peace. People looked to see who had come this time. The girl was short with hair pulled into a ponytail, her hair was the colour of blood. She wore a dark navy blue cape over her green dress. She laughed again then ran over and flung herself at Chesta. The gentle boy stumbled backwards in surprise. The girl glomped Chesta and laughed. Shakaku glared at her.
"Haha! I'm Sakuli! Happy Valentine's day!!!!" she kissed Chesta and let go of him. Shakaku stalked towards the new girl. Sakuli handed the dragon slayer a blue rose then ran over to Dilly. Chesta smiled at the rose and Shakaku's dark blue eyes narrowed at it.
Sakuli pranced up to Dilandau and kissed his cheek. She smiled prettily at him and SkullyCat inched forward tail fluffing somewhat. The girl giggled then laughed. Dilandau gave her that odd raised eyebrow look of his. This girl was sooo odd. He smiled and laughed. She did have a nice laugh. The author bristled, how come he was thinking these things!
Laughing Sakuli ran out of the room laughing. She called back to them.
"Have a great St. Valentine's day!!!"