Disclaimer: If I didn't own them last chapter, what makes you think I'd own them this one?
Warnings: Shounen-ai. Still. If a little more pronounced. Brief out of character-ness, but it has a reason and it's explained.
ChapterII
Chris lay on his back, well within the glow of his small fire, and stared at the sky. He tucked his hands behind his head thoughtfully, and chewed the blade of grass he had in his mouth. However, despite his calm and retrospective person, his thoughts were neither.
"How dare they," Chris stewed. "I am the next high cleric and a SUPERGENIUS!" he shouted to the sky. He quickly looked around the forested wilderness to make sure no one had heard his outburst. Earlier that morning, after once again going against his master's wishes and attempting to assassinate the noble demon visitor they had had, he had been summoned to the high cleric's study. The ensuing conversation went something like this:
"So you were trying to kill a visitor who was here to work out a peace treaty?"
"But they're demons; they don't want peace-" A series of konking sounds could be heard through the doorway. When Chris had woken up, he was out here with a limited amount of supplies and a note relaying his master's best wishes. Involuntarily Chris reached up to feel his head and winced.
"Thank Rased I had passed out before he came to the E's," Chris said, remembering the way that Maechen had thoroughly and systematically beat him with each volume of the encyclopedia in alphabetical order.
Chris sat up sharply. He could have sworn that he had heard a rustling come through the bushes.
"Too loud to be the wind, too loud to be some cute and cuddly little forest animal," Chris muttered very fast. "AH! A MOUNTAIN LION HAS COME TO EAT ME!"
"I don't think a mountain lion would waste its time on an idiot like you," a voice said from behind him. Chris jumped and turned around to see a brown-cloaked figure. "However, I did hear you say you were the next high cleric, so perhaps you are worth something after all."
"Is there something I can do for you?" Chris asked, suddenly remembering one of the many protocol lessons he had had when he was younger 'rule 237: when in doubt, be polite!'. He didn't realize that that rule might not have been meant for this particular situation.
"As a matter of fact there is. My companions and I are on a crusade to exterminate a certain demon that has been particularly…" here the cloaked figure trailed off.
"Demonic?" Chris asked helpfully.
"Demonic. Thank you. Seeing as you are the next high cleric we could surely use your assistance."
"Well," Chris said thoughtfully, "normally I'd be all for a little demon-hunting jaunt through the wilderness. However, I find myself too absorbed in other matters to be able to aid you at this time," Chris turned away from his visitor. A second later he collapsed, unconscious, for the second time that day.
Chris came to slowly and groggily. At first, he wondered why everything was so dark, even though he was relatively certain he had remembered to open his eyes. Then he wondered why he was having such a hard time moving his limbs. He thought about this for a second.
"Hey, let me down!" he yelled, when he had come to an adequate conclusion.
"Shut him up," a hoarse voice called. "We'll be at the castle in a minute."
"Everyone, stop!" an authoritative female voice shouted. All the noise halted. "Remember," the voice went on, "Kill only the dark haired demon. He is likely to have a young blonde boy in his possession. Do NOT kill him. After all, one of our tasks is to rescue him."
Chris thought about this statement, and a strong feeling of foreboding began in the pit of his stomach. Please let there be more then one dark-haired demon with a young blonde boy in his possession, Chris silently prayed. Because I definitely do not want to meet Eclipse when he's as angry as this is likely to make him.
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"No," Eclipse said, exasperated. "Try again."
"Aww, can't we please take a study break?" Raenef pleaded. "You'll get nothing useful out of me until I've taken a little break."
"Very well," Eclipse said, throwing rule no. 317: demons do not give in to pleading' out the window.
"Yay!" Raenef shouted and gratefully sank back in his seat. Eclipse stood up and went to the window.
"Is something wrong?" Raenef asked, and went to stand next to him. "Whatchya lookin' at?" Seeing that he was going to get no answer, Raenef snuggled into Eclipse's side. After a minute, Eclipse put his arm around him. And, a few minutes later, Raenef ended up in Eclipse's lap.
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"We're here, cleric," a rough voice snapped in Chris's ear. He heard a snapping sound, and a minute later was able to pull the bag off his head with his own two hands. He looked upon the Castle with no name. A groan escaped his lips.
"I knew it," he said feelingly.
"Knew what?"
"Knew we were going to end up here! Eclipse is going to burn me to a crisp!"
"Relax, little twitchy one," the woman who appeared to be the boss said. "We're just here to rescue the blonde boy and any other hostages the demon might have taken." Chris looked at the woman.
"Just out of all curiosity, why are you attempting to rescue this blonde boy?"
"A few years ago an evil dark-haired demon came through every kingdom in the west trying to find a suitable blonde-haired fifteen year-old with a childlike demeanor. He must have found a boy to his taste because all of those kingdoms are still standing." Chris was staring at the woman, a blank expression on his face. A slow smile started to spread across it however.
"And what do you assume this evil demon was going to use this boy for?"
"One can only assume that he was going to make him his love slave." Chris snorted.
"Oh come on. Eclipse would no sooner touch Raenef then admit to enjoying cooking." Seeing everyone's blank stares, Chris said with a sigh,
"You've got the wrong idea, mates. Follow me." Chris led them through an incomprehensible web of hallways and corridors.
"How do you know your way around here?" one of the people who had chosen to come with the leader asked suspiciously. Chris, mistaking the question, sighed and said,
"Trust me, it wasn't easy. Here we are," he exclaimed when they came to the library door. Chris threw open the door and stopped, completely poleaxed.
"See!" the boss shouted, stepping in front of Chris and drawing her sword. The shout got Raenef's attention.
"Uh… can I help you?" he asked with a smile, his hair slightly mussed and still perching lightly on Eclipse.
"Boy, get over here," one of the leader's companions snapped. Eclipse tensed, sensing what was to come. Raenef unconcernedly massaged his shoulder until he began to relax again.
"Why?" Raenef finally asked when he deemed that Eclipse had been thoroughly mellowed.
"To protect you from the evil demon!" one of the other people cried, surprised.
"What evil demon?" Raenef asked, looking around obliviously. By this time Chris was laughing so hard the rest of the rescue party had to pay attention to him.
"What's your problem, cleric?" the leader said, stepping aside.
"Chris!" Raenef squealed, running over and giving him a hug. "Wow, everyone is turning up this week. Boy, both you and Erutis show up within two days of each other!" Raenef continued prattling on; completely ignoring the looks on the people's faces who weren't clerics or demons.
"Oh," Raenef said suddenly, noticing the rest of the cloaked figures were still there. "Can I help you?"
"Wait a minute," the leader said with a sigh. "Didn't he KIDNAP you?" she asked, pointing to Eclipse.
"Of course not," Raenef replied happily. "Why would Eclipse kidnap me?"
"But… isn't that the demon that was looking for a suitable blonde boy in all the kingdoms of the west?" Raenef looked questioningly at Eclipse. He stood and walked over to Raenef.
"I believe, master, she is talking about the time you ran away from home." Raenef winced.
"I'm sorry I caused you so much trouble," he said, hanging his head.
"I was simply relieved that you were all right," Eclipse said with a small smile, forcing Raenef's head up. "And no harm done."
The rescue party had been watching this exchange with growing expressions of shock and dismay.
"He must have the kid under some kind of spell," one was whispering to another.
"Hey, what's going on here?" Erutis asked, stepping into the room. "Chris?" Erutis asked incredulously. "What are you doing here?"
"They kidnapped me," Chris said, completely unconcerned, pointing to the group of confused figures in the middle of the room.
"Oh, okay. Why?"
"I dunno. What time is it?"
"Almost time for lunch. Want to go down to the kitchen and make sandwiches?"
"Ooh! I want to come too!" Raenef shouted. The three turned and left, chattering amiably. Eclipse looked at the rescue party, then shook his head and disappeared.
"Um, boss? What are we supposed to do?" One of the cloaked figures asked.
"I have no idea," she answered.
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"So, how's the demon lord stuff going?" Chris asked between bites of his sandwich.
"Better. Lately I've been learning elemental magic… and I've managed to not burn the castle down," Raenef said happily.
"That's always a good thing," Chris said with a slight smile.
"So how about you, super genius?" Erutis asked. "How's the cleric training coming?"
"I've mastered quite a few complicated spells," Chris said with a sniff. His haughty expression fell away. "And I tried to assassinate a demon envoy and my master sent me out into the wilderness where I got kidnapped by those buffoons."
"Hey, didn't we leave that rescue party in the library?" Erutis asked.
"Hey, I've got an idea!" Raenef said suddenly, completely ignoring Erutis. "No, wait… I forgot." Erutis and Chris rolled their eyes.
"I have to go see if my guild is doing okay," Erutis said.
"Oh yeah!" Raenef said brightly. "I moved them out of the courtyard." Taking both Chris and Erutis by the arm, he shouted 'Go!' happily and appeared in a field.
"Where did this come from?" Erutis asked, surprised.
"I don't know, but I asked Eclipse and he said it was okay." Raenef said brightly.
"You do realize that just because Eclipse says it's okay to use it doesn't mean it doesn't belong to someone else," Chris pointed out.
"Huh?" Raenef asked, not listening.
"Just never mind," Chris said rather dejectedly.
"Wow, your guild is big, Eru!" Raenef said, shocked, for the first time grasping the immense amount of people camped in the field.
"Yep. It's one of the five biggest Knights Guilds," Erutis said proudly.
"Hey, what's going on?" Chris asked, pointing to a place mid-field where many of the knights seemed to be grouped.
"Let's go see," Erutis said, striding purposefully over to the crowd. The knights respectfully got out of Erutis' way, to reveal Wurg and an old man in a heated argument.
"I don't care! You don't own this property!"
"I never said I did! I don't see any one else using it though, so why can't we just camp here for a few nights?"
"Can I help you?" Erutis asked, stepping forward.
"Boss, this guy says we need to be packed up and off the field by sundown," Wurg snapped. "Otherwise he says he'll call Imperial Guards."
"Why can't we use the field?" Erutis asked, curious as to the reason why the old man before her was growing red with rage.
"This property belongs to the Church!" the man said.
"Does it really?" Raenef asked. "I was wondering why the ground seemed to be pricking me. I probably won't be able to stay her very long, guys," Raenef said. Chris looked vaguely surprised before realizing,
"Oh, church ground disagrees with demons, doesn't it." The old man was looking at Raenef in consternation.
"Vile demon, stay back!" he yelled, waving a book of scripture at Raenef.
"What church?" Chris asked suddenly. Seeing the man's blank stare, he continued "Which god does the church worship? Rased, Lioys, Hearngi?"
The man sniffed. "This church serves none other then the one true god, lord over all other creations," the man said haughtily. Chris groaned.
"I hate these guys!" he said. "Came up to the temple of Rased one day, said that if we didn't convert they'd send us all to hell." Raenef couldn't help but laugh.
"They had the nerve to say that to High Cleric Maechen and one who has the power of the divine flowing through him? Don't sound terribly bright, do they?" Erutis grinned.
"Now, Rae we're all entitled to differences in opinion," she said. "But that doesn't explain why you won't let us use this field for a couple of days," she said, turning back to the old man.
"I don't allow demons to rest in my church yard," he said.
"We already told you, demons can't!" Chris yelled, getting annoyed.
"Then how do you explain that?" the man yelled, pointing at Raenef. "Both of you admitted to him being a demon! Don't try to deny it!"
"I'm not trying to deny it," Raenef said in surprise. "I'm the Demon Lord Raenef the fifth. And the only reason I can be here is because I'm a demon lord. The average demon wouldn't be able to. Eclipse might, though," Raenef added after a moment.
"They're all demons!" the man shouted, pointing at Erutis's guild. "I saw them appear out of the air, with my own eyes!"
"My fault," Raenef said. "They were in my courtyard, so I moved them here. I'm sure that we could come to some kind of agreement," he added.
"I do not parley with demons," the man said, turning his back. Raenef sighed.
"I do not see how you can make the guild leave," Raenef snapped, startling both Erutis and Chris. "So they stay. If you have any further problems you can take it up with me at my castle. Go!" he called, holding onto Erutis and Chris's sleeves again.
"Wow," Chris said weekly. "I didn't know you could act so… demon-like."
"I can be if I try," Raenef said with a huge yawn. "Besides that guy was annoying me, and the prickles were really starting to hurt. I shouldn't have lost my temper though," Raenef yawned hugely again. "It took a lot out of me though," he said, through yet another yawn. "I'm going to go take a nap." And with that he wandered off.
"Raenef's really starting to become a demon lord, isn't he," Erutis said sadly.
"Yeah," Chris said. "But he'll always be our Raenef," he added brightly.
"We hope." Chris winced.
"We hope," he agreed.
That's all for now. I'm sorry this chapter wasn't as good as the first one. The second part was actually just filler. I tried to make it interesting filler, but I think it failed. As always, reviews would be greatly appreciated. Thank you so much to Skyflyer, StormMistress, and DaughterofDeath. Your reviews we're not only greatly appreciated, but probably helped me get this chapter out a little bit snappier then it would have otherwise (hint hint wink wink). Flames will be read, but other then that completely ignored.