Genre: Angst/Horror
Rating: PG (this chapter)
Warnings: Shounen-ai (as per usual), more weirdness than usual
Notes relevant to text: Flashback/s are denoted between single backslashes, thoughts remain in italics.
Notes not as relevant but still important in my opinion: Apologies for potentially disjointed note, as FF.Net appears to be eating my asterixes. Here we go again. I have the impression I'm going to get smacked for bad cut-off points sooner or later...Kyia Star: Krayon does have a hobby - being a pain in the ass. (waves to yami seraphim, nancy and Trin) Sankyuu! Eike: Yay! You say nice things about me! (Krayon plushie for Kalli) You realise you're making me write Angel Sanctuary stuff, don't you? Silverlie, you deserve a medal or something for following this for so long. hugs EEevee (did I spell that right?): Yipes, that IS a long review. And a very nice one indeed. Thankies! DaughterofDeath? Your wish is my command!
A soft knock at the door snatched Erutis' attention back from the dancing flames and her own melancholy.
"Excuse me, miss?"
The servant Krayon had promised edged around the doorframe and stood demurely, waiting to be acknowledged. Erutis' eyes slid warily toward the voice, and she wasn't at all surprised at what her glance revealed. A youthful, pretty creature garbed in a short black dress with a pristine apron over the top of it, her dark hair pulled neatly away from her respectfully downcast face and her eyes on her meticulously polished shoes. Bloody pervert; the man is employing teenage Eclipse with cleavage and no free will. We've all wondered at one point or another what he'd look like in a dress, but sheesh. I guess if you can't have the real thing...
"Eclipse," Erutis muttered to herself.
"I'm sorry, miss. I'm afraid I didn't quite catch that," the servant replied.
"Never mind. You just remind me of someone I know."
Skirting carefully around the fact that her master's guest was a tomboyish figure curled up in a ball on the floor and mumbling incoherently to herself, the servant's eyes flicked quickly to the sideboard and back to check the contents of the alcohol Lord Krayon kept there. "Miss?"
"Erutis," the knight grunted.
"Miss Erutis, I have been sent to show you to your quarters. Are you ready to leave now, or do you wish to be left alone a while longer?" She shifted uneasily from foot to foot, as if expecting to be reprimanded.
"Now's fine." Erutis sighed heavily and heaved herself to her feet, cracking her joints as she went.
"Please follow me, Miss Erutis." The servant bobbed her dark head and walked quickly out into the vast labyrinth of corridors on near-silent feet. Erutis scuffed along far more distractedly, making a half-hearted effort to memorise the route she was being led on. Up a flight of stairs...to the left...third corridor on the left again...It's no wonder Krayon just phases in and out - he probably gets lost in his own house. She shook her head to clear it, and the Eclipse-lookalike stopped at a broad, highly carved set of doors of righ mahogany.
"These will be your rooms for the duration of your stay, Miss Erutis. If they are unsatisfactory, please tell me and I will see to it you are moved to somewhere more to your taste."
Bowing slightly, the servant held open the door for Erutis to pass through. The room she walked into was cavernous, draped in rich fabrics and adorned with furniture not unlike that of the sitting room. The tangy scent of pinecones met her nose, and she realised that someone must have recently lit a fire somewhere in the depths of the space. If Eclipse ever found out I was staying in a room like this, he'd make sure the Council declared Krayon senile and have his guts for garters. She ran her fingers lightly over a carefully embroidered cushion, and cast her gaze from the priceless rug beneath her dusty boots past the sequential landscapes in their heavy frames to the magically lit lanterns floating above the delicate silks of the bedspread.
"Miss Erutis? Is this sufficiently to your taste?" The servant was still standing by the door, wringing her hands nervously.
Erutis nearly laughed out loud at the thought of Eclipse in the girl's place, and managed to stifle the snigger that escaped by dropping heavily onto the bed. "It's more than to my taste. Thankyou."
"You are most welcome, Miss Erutis," the servant bobbed her head again, and the beginnings of a pleased smile began to spread across her lips before she forcefully resumed her blank expression. "If there is anything you need, please call me."
She moved to back out the door, but Erutis stalled her. "Hey...could you hang around for a minute?"
The other girl blinked and acquiesced, carefully closing the door behind her and stepping uncertainly towards her lord's guest. "Yes, Miss Erutis?"
If I can wring out of you what I've done to annoy Krayon, I might live an extra day or so. Best start small, hadn't we?
"What's your name?" Erutis blurted.
"I--I do not have one, Miss Erutis."
Cocking her head curiously, the knight probed further. "Huh? Why not? Didn't your parents give you a name before they sold you off to Krayon as a maid?"
"I do not have parents, Miss Erutis, and I was not sold to My Lord," the girl answered quietly.
Erutis' eyebrow raised ever-so-slightly. "Everybody has parents, kid. Even demons. Why do you think you don't have any?"
"My Lord created me as he did all the servants in this palace, Miss Erutis. All of us, at one point, became lost in his realm and have forgotten who we were. He gave us mortal form and a purpose. In a way, I guess my Lord is my father."
What on Earth?! What's he trying to pull?
"So do all of you look the same or what?"
The girl shook her head slightly, as if disbelieving. "No, Miss Erutis."
More confused than she had been when she appeared in Krayon's sitting room, Erutis blinked in relief nonetheless. "Thanks. You can go now, if you like."
"Goodnight, Miss Erutis."
Erutis heard the latch of the door click shut, and sprawled herself across the vast bed to think.
It was very late, Raenef noted as he took in the low position of the moon in the sky. He had little idea as to how long he'd been sitting alone, bathed in the pale light streaming in through his window, and frankly he didn't much care. Eclipse had left him in the dark with his horrified thoughts, and he was fairly sure that if he called for the other, he would not come unless he sensed his master being attacked by something other than his own consciousness.
You promised you'd stay with me forever, he thought almost bitterly. I've got half a mind - Erutis, that's not funny, stop laughing - I've got half a mind to march into your room and demand that you…that you…
The boy smacked himself in the face in frustration. Even in his less than notable previous state of memory retention and general common sense, he knew better than to fly off the handle half-cocked. Most of the time. Well, since becoming a demon lord. Kind of.
What would I demand of you? That you apologise for my stupidity or for behaving in the way I should even though it made me sick to watch? Make you feel sorry that you ever took up the task of tutoring me?
Raenef's shoulders slumped in defeat, and he dragged himself gingerly off the bed to the chair. There was no sense going after the other demon until he'd devised a suitable plan of action. Wondering briefly where Erutis had gone he rested his head atop his knees to do some heavy thinking while somewhere far, far away, fate coughed up another hairball on his eiderdown: instead of scheming, Raenef fell asleep.
Erutis shot up with a start, disoriented and strangely weaponless. As she scrubbed fiercely at her sleepy eyes to clear them, she remembered exactly where she was and relaxed as much as someone cooped up in what looked like the honeymoon suite of an irate demon lord's castle could allow themselves to. Water. She must have been sleeping with her mouth open - she was awfully thirsty. Coughing lightly, she used the dull glow emanating from the fireplace to search the room for a jug or something similar, but the search was frustratingly fruitless.
/"If there is anything you need, please call me."/
"Oh yeah. That."
Feeling somewhat triumphant, Erutis made it to the door and had leaned out into the empty corridor with a cry of greeting on her lips before she recognized two crucial things: First, that the servant she was trying to hail didn't have a name to be hailed with; and second, that she had no idea how else to get someone's attention without rousing the entire castle.
"Oh well, I'm sure if I wander for a bit I'll come across the kitchens or a fountain or something in a place as poncy as this," she concluded. Shutting the door firmly behind her, Erutis set off in pursuit of her second Exceptionally Bad Idea of the night.
Endnotes: flinches Please don't hurt me. Yes, a dream is coming up and Erutis will find herself In Deep Crap because the next chapter will have drumroll actual content!
P.S: EEeve - yay! Embrace the man-bitch! Have a nice summer, even if you've got to work.