Her Favorite Lullaby
Writer's Log: Hehe, hey everyone, I'm back. I am absolutely sorry to anyone who's been waiting for this story to update...let's just say work and college isn't a good combination. Luckily, I'm going to be going to school full time instead of work and school, so I should have more time to work on the story...I'm going to have to update every two weeks instead though. Sorry about that...anyway, on to the next chapter!
By the way, this is only part one...Chapter two deemed too large to write as a single entity. O.X
Chapter 2, part 1: Cunning Thief! The Adventure of Magical Little Girl Etna Begins!
"Get her!"
"Stop, thief! Not you, HER! STOP!!"
"I swear, when I get my tentacles on you...!"
A little, redheaded demon girl with a small bag clutched in her hands raced through the Dark Marketplace, not daring to stop or even look back for anything, for chasing close behind was certain doom. Marketplace guards may have been stupid and easy to take care of one by one, but they were as persistent and brutal as they were ugly little bastards, and unfortunately, they had hundreds in their number. And even worse, most of those hundreds were dead set on that scampering little thief, each one hoping to get their hands on her for the trouble she caused them. Some had even darker, dastardly motives for wanting to catch her, motives that cannot be written lest you wrench your ears and wish this author death for writing such things about acts done towards little girls.
Demons did swim in sin, after all. The ugly male ones with writhing tentacles, especially.
Wasn't much of a chance for any lone, normal girl to make it through alive...however, this little demon girl was neither normal nor alone. As she passed the final market cart and reached the Marketplace boundary gate, which was locked in advance of her theft, a dark figure flew over the wall with a flip, landing neatly between the girl and her pursuers.
"Etna, you have the item?" he asked with a very heavy, cultured accent, looking back at our mini-heroine.
"Right here, M! Catch!" Etna shouted, lobbing the item as hard as she could over the demon known as M's head.
For a moment, it looked as if the bag would return to the sweaty hands of the Marketplace guards, but suddenly, there was a great popping sound and M disappeared, a whole swarm of bats appearing in his place. With the guards in shock and with no warning, the bats suddenly zoomed towards the item and grabbed it, flying towards the direction where Etna came from like...well, like bats flying out of Hell. The squadron of guards, still awestruck, took one look at Etna, who was grinning her trademark devilish smile, and back at M's transformation, and chased it instead, in hopes of getting their precious item back. However...
"Hehehehehe...you're all ours, little girl, and Mr. Vampire guy isn't here to save you!" screeched one of the four ugly tentacle dudes, rubbing his tentacles with glee at the sight of his prey. "You took us for fools...now...where should we penetrate first...?"
Blech.
"Um, excuse me, but I'm not a little girl, I don't need to be saved, and you guys are idiots. Looky looky!" Etna grinned, taking out something from behind her and throwing it up with playful ease. The guards were stunned; it was the item that was supposedly inside the bag M had: a severed mummified head. With the head still in the air, Etna continued, "By the way..."
As the head dropped on the grass, a sickening squelch could be heard in the direction of the main tentacled-demon who spoke first, followed by a restrained squeal. The three other demons turned to look towards him.
"Looks like you get the first penetration!" Etna said, a mischievous look on her face. In front of her was the demon; in her hands was a spear, the sharp end of which was pushed rather firmly into the only hole the demon's tentacles never dared to touch. The demon, with teeth gnashed, eyes tearing, and a strange, high-pitched sound escaping his lips, he collapsed bent over, the spear still sticking out of his rear end.
"And look, since you like holes so much, I'll rip you a new one!" Etna said in reply to his gagged squealing. She turned her hands over the perimeter of the spear handle and with a firm, twisting motion...
"Ge-GYYAAAAAAAAAHHH!!" The other demons looked away as their fellow demon squealed, disgusted yet awed by the vile brilliance of it all. The girl moved with almost ninja-like speed, and the utter depravity of sticking a sharp spear up someone's rear end and twisting...even they had their limits. As they turned to look back at their fallen comrade, they were even more horrified to see her sitting on the spear as an insult to injury, with her smiling and giggling like an innocent little girl while the poor demon behind her screamed bloody murder. Truly, there was no scarier sight than that; the three demons had enough and ran away, not caring about the punishment they would receive for not retrieving the head.
This would be the last time they'd ever have impure thoughts of little schoolgirls.
"Morons," Etna said under her breath, her wide grin reduced to a small, evil-looking smile in her face. She pulled the spear out of the fallen demon, who yelped in pain, and looked at the spear, disgusted by the mess that was left on it. "You owe me a new spear!" Etna pouted, shoving the spear back in again, a louder squeal being his only reply. Taking out a camera from her pocket, she pranced towards the front of the demon, and as she said, "Say Cheese!" she snapped a shot for her Portfolio of Memories...this would serve to amuse her for quite some time. She jumped effortlessly over the wall, and started on her way home, the Netherworld sun starting to set behind her.
The poor demon never got that spear out.
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"Perfect. Absolutely perfect."
"So, if we pawn that, we won't have to starve anymore, right?"
"Y-yes...maybe. But you do have to understand of course...not all Legendary items sell for very much, especially if they're stolen. There's bound to be a bounty on this particular one...not many demons are villing for such a risk. But, I shall see what I can do. Ciao, bella."
The vampiric form of M vanished once again into a miasma of bats flying out into the dark night sky, carrying their prize to be sold in the streets of the Netherwold. Etna sighed, sitting against the wall of their shabby hideout. It wasn't much, just an abandoned, dusty tower that no one cared for, but she didn't mind. It was her home...the only place she ever belonged to. The only place she'd ever known.
"Man...I hope we get a good haul today. I'm starving..." Etna said to herself. It was funny...for every rare and valuable item they stole, M and Etna never seemed to get very much for them. And since both received equal shares, it wouldn't be very long before they'd need to steal another item to survive. A strange recurring thought came to Etna again, 'Either Maderas is a really bad salesman, or something fishy's going on.' But she shook the thought away: she couldn't bear to think about that about M. Especially not after...
Etna tensed. There was something in the room. And it wanted to come after her...
"Grah!" growled a dark shape as it pounced on Etna.
"Oomf! Runty!"
Etna found herself on her back with a lion-like beast on top of her, but she relaxed. It was only her faithful pet and companion, Runty, a small, non-sentient Manticore. Like most demons in the Netherworld, Manticores came in two varieties, wild and sentient. Sentient Manticores were just as smart as humanoids, but wild ones usually were crazed, bloodthirsty hunters. This one, however, was too small to take on even a Prinny, and had Etna not taken it in when she did, Runti would have died a miserable death on the cold streets of the Netherworld.
She stroked the small Manticore on its mane, and closed her eyes, contemplating. Looking back, she never had any reason to take in the thing. It was small, abandoned, probably of no use to anyone...but it reminded her of her past. From what little she could remember, she too was alone and abandoned, at least according to M. Her nightmares at night of being lost, lonely, and afraid certainly seemed to prove it. M took her in, found her an adequate (though dusty) shelter, and trained her to be the cunning fighter and thief she was today. She owed herself to him, she knew, and she couldn't repay him by being suspicious of him. Even if she was his main tool to success in their crime sprees, she still owed him her life, one of the few pacts even demons took a solemn vow to protect.
Though, she had to admit, she didn't know very much about him...only that he lived elsewhere, because he preferred his 'solitude,' and that M wasn't his real name at all (how could it be? It was almost as stupid as a name like 'Z'). She also always wondered why her parents abandoned her...it wasn't a very common practice to abandon children, even if some demons were vile and disgusting scum. Even still, children with those kind of demonic parents would be kept as slaves to prevent being wasted...
"Etna! I'm back! You vill not believe vhat I have found!"
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Writer's End: Hope you enjoyed Chapter 2, part 1! Part 2 is coming soon!
By the way, anyone who gets this reference to 'Z' and 'vile brilliance' gets a cookie. :-3