Greetings my readers :O Yes I have once more revived from the pits of writer's block to produce this work! How far will it go before it goes on hiatus like the others, no one can say for sure-coughcough- But I can assure you that until that time comes, you will witness a story of epic proportions!
…Maybe not xD; But if you're expecting something like my other parodies, then you better think again. My version of Phantom of the Opera will be darker and sillier at the same time. And the fact that I'm just going to be making my own story of this will of course provoke some OOCness. I'll leave it up to y'all to figure out who are the three main people though the title should give a major HINT…as well as knowing who my pairings are :3. So yes, totally story format though I will still somehow manage to unleash my power of slapstick comedy at some point.
Now without further ado, ze disclaimer. Khettle :O
(They soon see the little cow dressed chibi person from the introduction come in holding a sign, looking very much like the Chik-Fil-A cows, only the words are more readable and spelled correctly.)
Khettle:o-o All characters…hey I'm in bold o-o! –coughcough- All characters unless otherwise noted belong to the creator of Dragon Knights, Mineko Ohkami. Any originally characters belong to Laenavesse, and those will be noted. I belong to no one )O –coughcough- Phantom of the Opera was created by M. Gaston Leroux.
And now without further ado, ze first actual chapter of the story! Enjoy :OOO
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"This is a fine opera house, Alfeegi."
"Do you think so, Ruwalk?"
"Well it's better than the 50 bazillion others you dragged me to."
Alfeegi just gave his companion a look that would make even the most vicious of pit bulls whine. Ruwalk just quickly turned away and looked up at the high ceiling, noting the exquisite artwork above.
"Must have been some work getting that up there, eh Alfeegi?"
He looked up. "Yes I would think so."
"Hm."
"Hm."
And so they stood there like that for a few moments, each lost in his own thoughts. So lost they did not hear or notice someone walking up to them and it was only until the person coughed and ahemed and poked them each for a few more minutes before they finally broke from their thoughts. Though, their thoughts were not the only things that were broken, as the person had slammed each of them with a boulder.
Alfeegi rubbed his head as he looked up at the young woman dressed completely in black, a pen stuck behind her ear, an eyebrow arched. "Are you that fascinated with what used to be MY ceiling? You better make sure to keep that place clean as it does hold expensive artistry that, might I add, was RATHER expensive."
Ruwalk gave a hesitant grin. "Er…yes…we noticed…"
She flicked her long hair back, the pen magically staying in place. "Good. Then I shall show you the rest of this damn haunted place."
Cue the dramatic music as Alfeegi and Ruwalk look at the young woman in slight horror. "H-Haunted?" they both cried in unison.
Their guide just continued walking past the people frantically trying to put together what looked to be a play, walking past the inside ticket booth and through the hallways. "Yeah, yeah, something about a phantom demon thing and whatnot. Never bothered me, just don't get on his bad side."
"DEMON?" Alfeegi screeched.
She turned and gave him an odd look. "What, like you've never seen a demon before?"
Ruwalk just laughed nervously, looking at his companion's livid face. "Erm…he just didn't have a rather good past with them…"
"Pft, tough it pansy boy."
"PANSY BOY?"
The mysterious woman just ignored Alfeegi's irritated mutterings and glarings as she led them further backstage before stopping abruptly, causing both the new owners to stumble so as not to crash into each other. They succeeded sort of. They crashed into the walls instead.
"This is the office," she waved casually to a room with the door open, the words "OPERA MANAGER" stuck onto the top glass window of the door. Alfeegi poked his head through the room. He noticed how clean it actually was and that some of their stuff had already been moved in. It had already been set up so both he and Ruwalk could work easily.
"I take it you approve?" she said after a few moments when Alfeegi continued to look about the office.
He blinked and hastily went back out the door. "Er, yes, this shall do quite nicely. Thank you."
She just waved him off and continued to walk forward, pointing out the several rooms along the way. "We have various dressing rooms and prop rooms. Men are on the far left while the women are on the near right. I've devised a system so that no one would go peeking…" she glanced at the two of them, once again ignoring Alfeegi's furious glares before continuing, "…though so far everyone has been on their best behavior."
"What happens if the system goes off?" Ruwalk asked curiously.
"The peeking toms are suddenly found locked in a cage, the floor dropping them to an area below the opera house, and are suspended by a chain as sharks leap up and try to eat them," she answered coolly. Ruwalk just gulped.
"How many actors are there?" Alfeegi asked as she led them back out to the main auditorium, looking around him awe. The opera house was much bigger than he had first perceived, especially taking in what he had seen backstage.
"Oh, I don't know, twenty, thirty, maybe even fifty. They come and go, depending whether they are needed or not. A lot of them double up as tech support, so that helps a bit. Though that also means they get paid twice as much. Oh and don't forget to pay the Demon Lord, he likes buying expensive things for himself and if you don't want to have it charged to the opera house then pay him as much as he asks."
This snapped Alfeegi out from his admiration as he just stopped and stared at the girl in disbelief. "I beg your pardon? We have to pay a DEMON LORD now? You just said demon!"
She blinked. "I did…?" After a moment of recollection she blinked again. "Oh, so I did. Well, yes, he is a demon lord. Not that he actually has DONE anything…okay well there was that one time that Shyrendora was trying to reach that high octave and he saved us all the torture by having one of the lights fall inches away from her…"
Ruwalk suddenly blinked when he heard something fall to the floor. When he looked to his left he realized Alfeegi had fainted and sweatdropped. "Erm…anything else we should know about this demon lord? Does he have a name?" he asked as he helped his stunned partner back to his feet.
The girl looked up thoughtfully. "Mm…well usually he usually goes by "The Demon Lord" or "The Demon" and he does like to have things to go his way. Else wise there will much havoc among the cast and the operas and plays won't turn out as well. But he and I are on good terms so the only incident was that one time with Shyrendora…" She paused when they suddenly heard a clamor on the stage and turned with an arched brow. "Ah…speaking of the real devil…and the one thing I know I will not miss…"
Alfeegi, now having recuperated from his original shock, turned with Ruwalk to see the "devil" the girl was talking about. They both blanched in unison. There on center stage was the infamous Shyrendora. Though she had a talent for opera, she also had a talent of manipulating people and getting what she wanted. She had an aura of evil and it reflected in her beauty as well, something she had no trouble showing off as she seemed to prefer wearing as little as was legally allowed. She was also youkai. She had a large ensemble trailing behind her as she walked right up to the edge of the stage and stared down icily at the two new owners.
"These…these DRAGONS are the new owners of this opera house?" she yelled in an obviously outraged voice.
"Yes, they are," the girl said coolly. It never ceased to amaze Ruwalk how she could always keep her cool and ignore such icy glares. "They have a good reputation and seem most capable of running this place during my leave. I hope you will be as civil and as cooperative with them as you have, though strained it was, with me. The systems will still be up and running and no, the Demon Lord will not leave," she continued as Shyrendora opened her mouth to speak. The girl ignored her snarl. "You should feel lucky that I even let you perform here," the girl said, her eyes suddenly going cold. "I gave you a start, don't ruin that chance. Make the time I wasted on you worthwhile while under Lord Ruwalk and Lord Alfeegi. If I hear one word of disobedience or wrong from them, I know how to contact the Demon Lord."
There was a tense silence as Shyrendora stared down icily at the girl, but even though she stood physically higher than the girl, she still seemed smaller compared to the girl. Both Ruwalk and Alfeegi looked at each other in awe. The girl could not have been but in her late teens or early twenties, yet she had managed to own and operate this whole facility with no help whatsoever. Well, save for the Demon Lord, but surely he did not help with the accounting and organization.
The silence was suddenly broken as a small boy suddenly burst from the right side of the stage, ignoring the ensemble and leaping off the stage, startling everyone but the girl as he hugged her waist tightly as that was about as high as he could reach. "Miss you're not really leaving are you?" he cried as he looked up at the girl's face, tears threatening to fall from his big eyes.
She smiled softly and gently stroked the top of his head. "Yes, Zoma, I am. But don't worry, Lord Ruwalk and Lord Alfeegi will take good care of you." She gave him such a warm smile that once again Ruwalk was amazed at how she showed her emotions and wondered what she really was like. "Now get along and help Garfakcy with the stage sets. You know how he can be. And don't worry," she said as he started to protest, "I'll come by and visit once in a while and if I hear anything is wrong I shall be here as quick as lightning." She winked at him and the boy blushed a bit as he nodded and gave her one last tight hug before hastily bowing to the two dragons and climbing back onto the stage where another boy, Garfakcy Ruwalk assumed, was watching and waiting with a wrench and a bucket of paint.
Shyrendora sniffed in such a snobbish way it made Alfeegi flinch a bit. He knew he was not going to enjoy being her boss. "Really, I don't see why you've bothered to keep that brat on the crew. He almost dropped one of the backdrops on me during one of our rehearsals!"
"Might have been better if he had," the girl said dryly, causing Shyrendora to huff and abruptly turned. "Have fun practicing and don't break a glass when going off key!" the girl called after Shyrendora as she led her ensemble huffily back offstage.
Ruwalk stared at the girl in astonishment. "I'm starting to wonder if we'll be able to keep this place as well as you had!"
She gave him a wry grin. "I'm sure you will. Like I said, just drop me a line if anything goes wrong. And if worse comes to worse, summon the Demon Lord. Though he is probably more interested in other things…" her voice drifted a bit as she mused a little before shrugging. "Well, just don't let Shyrendora get her way and you should be fine."
"Are there any other performers we should know about?" Alfeegi asked curiously.
"Hm…well we do have a rising star in our midst," she said with a sly grin. "She's probably in her room practicing right now. Her name is Cesia. If you ask me, she should be the one singing in place of Shyrendora, but she is just too squeamish about it. Probably feels she's not good enough yet."
"Cesia, hm…?" Ruwalk mused softly to himself. "If we ever get her to perform, we'll be sure to let you know," he said with a grin.
She returned it. "Good, I'll be wanting to see at least one of her performances." She suddenly glanced at her wristwatch. "Well I must be off. More details can be found on your desk and if you need to contact me just write on one of these and toss it into the fire," she said as she handed them a box of small Hello Kitty Chococat memos.
"Throw them into the fire?" Alfeegi repeated incredulously. "Couldn't you just give us an address or something?"
"Nope, I'll be traveling too often to stay in one place for more than a few days. Don't worry I'll be able to get them," she reassured them. She took one last look, a wistful look in her eyes. "I'll miss this place…brings back memories…"
Ruwalk suddenly held his head in his hand, wincing a bit. "…I feel some memories coming into my head, too…painful ones…"
The girl laughed, though it sent soft chills through the both of them as she gave them a grin. "Maybe you were in a past life…" She laughed again as she suddenly disappeared in a whirl of black and white winds, making the two dragons stare dumbstruck at where she had just been. After they looked at one another for a few moments they finally shook their heads and walked to where their office was.
"Well this should be interesting, don't you think, Feeg?" Ruwalk grinned at his partner.
Alfeegi twitched. "As I've asked for the umpteenth time, could you please refrain yourself from calling me that?" he sighed as he slumped into a desk chair, Ruwalk promptly sitting behind his own desk and propping his feet up upon it.
"I might," he just replied as he picked up a piece of paper from one of the organizing bins. "Hm…according to this there is an opera scheduled to be performed three weeks from now."
"Is that so?" Alfeegi said as he rummaged through his own papers.
"Yeah, and surprise, surprise, Shyrendora is the main female lead," he added in a dry voice. "Damn, that chick is going to drive me INSANE."
"And she's youkai to boot," Alfeegi grumbled.
"Hey, not all of them are that bad," Ruwalk said as he moved a little to look at his partner.
Alfeegi sighed. "I know…do you think His Highness would like to come here one of these days?"
Ruwalk laughed. "Always thinking about Lykouleon, eh?" He just grinned at Alfeegi's restrained twitchings of agitations. "But yeah, I'm sure he would. How about we see how this upcoming one comes along and if it seems good we invite them? Be good for the whole family. That Rath needs some time away from hunting game."
Alfeegi mused about this as he absently twirled his long, teal ponytail with his long, slender fingers. "I suppose that would be a good idea…and I know Her Majesty would love to see an opera. It has been ages since they've seen one."
"See? I told you buying this place was a brilliant move," Ruwalk grinned as he looked at the sheet. "Hm…that Cesia chick is also part of the cast."
"Oh?"
"Yeah, only one of the minor parts, nothing important. But I wonder if what she said was true…"
"About Cesia having a talent? I'm sure she does. Even though Shyrendora acts like a complete bitch she's pretty good."
Ruwalk arched a brow. "Did I just hear Alfeegi say a naughty word?"
Alfeegi just gave him an icy look. "Shut it."
He just laughed and leaned back in his chair. "But I hear you. She must be pretty good if she's stayed here for so long."
Alfeegi only nodded as he continued to browse through the papers before suddenly stopping and stared at a small piece of paper with curly script writing. Noticing his friend's silence, Ruwalk removed his feet from the desk and sat up. "Something up, Feeg?"
Without a word, Alfeegi handed Ruwalk the sheet of paper and with a worried glance at his friend, Ruwalk took it and quickly scanned it, only to be shocked by its contents:
Dear Sirs Who Have Now Come to Own This Establishment,
It has come to my attention that the Mistress has taken leave and has left the Opera House to your, hopefully, capable hands. And as such I have taken the liberty to write this letter, making my presence known though I am quite sure she has told you of my existence within this elaborately decorated and extremely expensive furnished theatre. Without further ado, I shall now leave with a list of things that I shall be expecting periodically throughout the course of your ownership:
1) You will follow whatever I say.
2) You will not question whatever I say or command.
3) You will follow the rules that have been left behind by the previous Mistress and myself.
4) No one should ever enter the chained door at the end of the dark corridor.
5) You will pay me $500 every week as well as give 15 of the profit of every performance.
If these terms are not met than do not be surprised to experience…unfortunate accidents. Thank you and have a nice day and I hope that we shall never have to meet.
Sincerely Yours
The Demon Lord