Yay! Chapter 2 finally here! Thanks to everyone who has waited patiently for this!
...But they probably all went home by now...oh well...
~*~
Etna sighed dejectedly as she stared at the floor, deep into her own thoughts. It was just another ordinary, boring, depressing day. Well, one out of three isn't that bad, right? Sure she had plenty of work around the castle that she could be doing, but she let the rest of the vassals take care of that. And the day was certainly not depressing, for one look outside and you could plainly see a certain angelic foreigner frolicking in what little beauty the Netherworld had to offer.
Nevertheless, the demoness was bored and depressed. What use would it be at this point, she thought, to go looking for the prince? She hadn't seen him at all today. Perhaps that is why the day was off to a rough start; her schedule was very much interrupted, and thus she had too much free time on her hands.
As usual, she woke up earlier than everyone else. She snuck down the long corridor of the vassals' chambers, past the stairs, around the corner, through the throne room and into Laharl's bedroom. She would gently lift off the lid of his coffin, kneeling and hovering over him in a way to shadow his face from the impending morning light. Then she would just sit and watch him sleep until he began to stir, which was her signal to high-tail it out of there and get back to her own quarters.
But today was a disaster. As soon as she stepped through the doors to his room, she heard the ever-cheery voice of Flonne call out her name. Fifteen decibels too loud, might I add. As soon as the noise reached her delicate ears she instinctively spun around and zoomed past the angel, ignoring her confusion and hiding beneath the stairs.
It was a while before the Celestial gave up looking for her, and when she came back to Laharl's literal death bed, he was gone. She of course recorded this in her diary, but if I posted the contents here, this fic would far surpass its M rating. She in fact shocked herself that she knew so many curses that she tried to look some of them up in the dictionary afterwards.
'It wasn't really Flonne's fault,' she reasoned. 'She just...is really stupid. And loud... and has no common sense whatsoever.' Her brows knitted as she glanced outside, watching the angel dance with one of the prinnies. She silently wished the prinny's dance would somehow put her into a coma, but after several minutes of observation, she turned away with disgust.
"Why so blue, Etna-chan?"
The demoness jolted back to reality, crimson eyes meeting with deep blue. She sighed in relief. The voice belonged to a foreigner, but at least it belonged to the most level-headed of the bunch. Etna glanced back down at the floor as the blonde Earthling sat beside her. The older girl tucked some stray hairs behind her ear, looking over her younger mentor with concern.
"It's...nothing."
"Oh come on," Jennifer nudged her slightly. "I'm not as dumb as my comrade, remember? I know when something's up."
There was a short pause before Etna rocked her upper body back for a moment, then forward again, in a motion that would be accompanied by a chuckle had she been in a better mood. She released her tongue from the roof of her mouth, breathing in deeply a couple of times before she found the strength to speak her thoughts.
"Jennifer...what do...what do guys think...is romantic?" Out of the corner of her eye, she could see the young woman's face shift slightly towards astonishment, but then quickly into a sort of, 'Ohh, I know where this is going' kind of grin. Etna recognized this immediately and cut her off before she began her Sex 411 lecture.
"Ahh, no, no! It's...ah, for a book."
"Ohh...I didn't know you liked writing."
"Yeeeah...Flonne wanted a...romance novel, and..."
"Well, let's see..." Jennifer rested her chin on her gloved hand, searching her memory for something that would be appropriate. 'It's for Flonne, right? Hm...Aha!' She perked up, removing her hand from where it steadied her chin, curling it into a fist and bringing it down into her palm with a satisfying little smack.
"Dancing," she said with a smile, "Dancing is romantic."
"Dancing? Heck, anyone can do that." The demoness rose to her feet, immediately setting them to work. Jennifer watched with interest as she started breakdancing, techno songs automatically coming to mind. When it seemed like she wasn't going to stop anytime soon, the Earthling broke in with a smile plastered on her face.
"Ah...not that kind of dancing." The blonde sweatdropped as Etna tumbled out of a certain dance move involving spinning on your head, slightly dizzy, and replied to Jennifer's remark with a confused look.
"...What other kinds of dancing are there?"
"Well, there's the waltz, which is really romantic, and then there're the Latin dances like the salsa and the tango and the mambo...those are more sensual. Oh yeah, then there's square-dancing, and..."
Silence.
"...Well...I can teach you to waltz."
"Yeah!" Etna leaped up, staggering slightly as the room spun around her. "I bet Laha-- er, I mean, I bet...I bet Flonne would like it if I...wrote about that."
Jennifer smiled.
~*~
"Yeah, that's it! One, two, three, one, two, three, one, two, three...You're doing great! Keep up the pace!"
Etna wondered how she got into this mess. Not long ago she was worrying about her unrequited love; now she was worrying about stepping on her partner's feet. As all new dancers would, she had squished many a toe in the first thirty minutes, so much so that Jennifer switched her dance partner with a prinny. No one worried about stepping on a prinny's foot. They had no feet.
After she became moderately comfortable to dancing with a prinny, Jennifer switched her with a Red Skull. Etna came to the conclusion that this was because although Skulls had feet, their feet were very tiny. Finally, she was dancing with a somewhat normal partner, a scout by the name of Cid. But his name isn't important.
"One, two, three, one, two, three, turn. One, two, three..."
Jennifer kept pace, watching every detail as the two drifted across the dance floor. The awkward feeling of waltzing with a stranger had almost completely lifted, though she could tell Cid was reluctant to dance with her. She had noticed a few moments ago that he kept his feet a good distance away from hers, as well as moving them quite a bit faster.
'I wonder if there is any waltz music we can use here… A radio or something..?' The Earthling began tapping the tempo out on the floor instead of cycling through the first three numbers over and over. She noticed Thursday in the corner and strode over to him...her...it... with a smile.
"Are we doing good?" Cid failed to stop looking at the floor in fear that Etna's spiked boots would come smashing down on his toes.
"You're doing great, keep it up. Hey Thursday, can you please play some waltz music?"
"SEARCHING FOR MP3 FILE. BLEEP. BLIP. BLEEP. FILE FOUND."
The three of them were sent flying across the room as heavy metal blasted out of Thursday's speakers. After a few seconds of play, the music died down and the robot bleeped and blipped a few times in confusion.
"WRONG FILE. SORRY."
~*~
Anxiety drifted over her head like a veil, a bead of sweat rolling down the side of her face. She was hesitant. And who wouldn't be? Jennifer insisted that she was good enough to write about it, but there was a certain girlishness in the woman's voice that made it obvious she knew what Etna was really up to. She blushed.
The demoness heard a shifting behind her, and turning saw the blonde and her robot companion watching from around the corner. Upon being seen, the Earthling gave her a thumbs-up, while Thursday blipped a quiet cheer. The encouragement only made the girl blush more, but it was working. The veil was lifted, the butterflies retreated from her stomach and the lump in her throat was swallowed.
No prinnies in the room; the coast was clear. She took a deep breath, and...
"Priiince!"
The blue-haired boy snapped his attention towards the voice, eyes widening a bit as they fell upon his right-hand vassal. Her tiny black wings fluttered, letting her cross the room in two steps. She landed gracefully before the Overlord, immediately going on one knee and bowing before him.
"You called for my assistance?"
"I..." Laharl hesitated for a moment as he thought. "...Don't...think so..."
"...Ah...my mistake." A hint of overacting was in her voice, but the prince didn't pick up on it. She rose from her kneel and tried to act like her normal self, hoping she wouldn't sound as nervous as she felt. "Say, prince...what do you think of the waltz?"
"Waltz?"
"Yeah. It's...my new favorite dance."
"I've...never waltzed." He spoke slowly, unsure if he was using the right term.
"Ah...I can show you." Etna avoided looking back; she knew if she didn't focus on the plan, she would never have the courage to do this again. "Put one arm around my waist, like this, and the other hand like this..."
She could sense the anxiety from before immediately begin to infect Laharl as she put his arm around her. He tensed as her hand intertwined with his, her free hand resting on his shoulder. One second of hesitation...
...Then they began to waltz.
"It's so cute," Jennifer whispered, "They make such a cute couple...oh dear, his arm is supposed to be around her back. Ooh, she made a wonderful turn. She's doing great."
Thursday blipped quietly in agreement.
And indeed, inexperienced as they were, they waltzed better than any other amateur. No feet were squished, no hesitation in the turns, no falter in the tempo -- it was hard to believe that this was their first time waltzing for real. This thought was shared by the red-haired demoness, and she made sure that it would continue that way. Her eyes darted everywhere. To the floor -- get those feet moving. To the side -- two, three, turn. That's the way. To the floor again, watch your toes. That's the way.
"Etna..."
They darted up, and stayed there. She had made the mistake of looking him in the eyes.
"Ah, she missed a turn...Is that a rumple in the carpet? Oh no..." Jennifer opened her mouth to speak, but she suppressed her words as a cold metal claw rested on her arm, reminding her she was supposed to be out of sight. She could only watch in dismay as the plan crumbled to pieces...
...Or so it seemed. The demoness tripped over the crease, stumbling forward into the prince with the force of a fangirl's glomp. Her hands rushed forward to stop her plummet, and they came to rest against the cold stone wall. Her heart beat rose from the ordeal, then it seemed to stop. Time itself seemed to freeze; no breath was taken, no peep was heard. It was utter silence.
Their eyes were still locked. It took a moment for the information her other senses gave her to register -- she was leaning against him, skin against skin; her mouth but a centimeter from his. She could feel his jagged breaths against her lips, his erection against her front, and she forgot all about the plan. The thought that it had worked better than expected had never even crossed her mind. All she could think of was him...
He leaned forward, arms wrapping around her waist as he drew her closer against him. Her eyes closed and her tail curled slightly as she was swept into his tight embrace, ecstatic that she was once again in his arms. She wanted to remember the way his kiss tasted; the way he ran his hands over her body...
"Jennifer? Thursday? What are you doing here?"
"Gordon! Shhh!"
"I demand an explanation!"
Panic struck both lovers as the nitwitted American's voice broke the magic, the demoness jerking away and bolting from the room. "Wait, Etna!" Her beau raced after her, only to lose sight of her when he reached the staircase. She could have gone in any direction from that point...It would be useless to keep looking. Knowing her, it would be a while before she appeared again. He gave up, retreating to his room and hiding himself in his coffin.
'Look what you did...' Jennifer threw a sad glance towards the Overlord's room, grasping the sleeve of her unconscious comrade, whose fat jaw came in contact with the blonde's elbow just before Etna took off.
"THE PLAN FAILED." Thursday bleeped in sympathy. "WE WERE CLOSE."
"That poor girl..."