Hi there, so authors note, this one took a long time, and to be honest I'm still afraid I rushed through it. This will likely be one of the chapters where I need constructive criticism the most.
Also as always I don't own the Loud house.
...
The dark Countess Lucy felt listless as the moonlit scenery outside the carriage window flew by, her thoughts wandering to her dark prince, would he remember their time together? was he also thinking of her during his own journeys? she pondered over the answer somberly, the anticipation pulling at her blackened heart all the more.
Suddenly the carriage lurched forward, signaling their stop, With a resigned sigh she lifted up her long black dress and made her way out of the carriage.
Even outside of the ballroom proper, she could see countless fellow nobles of the night mingling and socializing, their fanged smiles concealing the bitterness in their souls, a bitterness she knew all to well.
But she wasn't here for them, she was here for him, her paramour. Making her way through she arrived at the ballroom, it's dark interior lit by scores of red candles and one giant opulent chandelier hanging at the center of the room.
Dozens of vampires, ghosts and ghouls of all nature waltzed across the ballroom, staring at each other with predatory intensity.
It was amoungst these creatures that the countess saw the object of her affections, the prince Spokes, his messy red hair and more colorful skin tone contrasting clearly to all the deathly pale brunettes littering the room.
Unfortunatly it seemed like he was also the center of attention for a number of other girls,all ravishing in their own dark way, all shamelessly huddled around him, each one asking him to dance and pulling him in a different direction.
She felt taken aback by the crowd gathered around the object of her affection, Many of them were at the top of the undead aristocracy.
The dark Countess hung her head in shame and sighed loudly, resigning herself to spending another night alone in the corner, pining.
Suddenly, the young Countess felt a warm hand on her shoulder, turning around she came face to face with her elder brother, the loyal Sir Lincoln of house Loud, leveling a kindly smile at her.
His bright orange and blue garb clashed heavily with the rest of the somber and dimly lit environment, giving him an almost otherworldly look amongst the rest of the crowd, His eyes however, conveyed a very familiar message.
Stand back sis, your big brother's got this
Then, without a word, he took Lucy's hand moved towards the prince and his entourage, the crowd parting before his confident stride, every head turned towards this strange, out-of-place gentleman walking amongst them.
"Excuse me, I believe I've found you a worthy dance partner."
He declared as he gently lead his dark sister towards the prince, allowing their eyes to meet for the first time, or more accurately he simply stared at the spot where he assumed her eyes would be behind her hair.
Meanwhile the young princes admirers were now near instantly crowding around Sir Loud, each of them stepping over each other to sink their fangs into the flashy newcomer.
The countess paid them little mind, even thinking about her brother being fawned over by a gaggle of night creatures couldn't ruin her mood now that she was with her prince at last.
"Lucy.."
"Yes beloved?"
"...Up and attem Luce!"
With a start Lucy awoke jumped out of her bed. After taking a moment to regain her composure she looked over to her Roommate Lynn, who was currently staring at her expectantly.
"C'mon Gloomy, We've gotta get to school."
Her older sister shouted, practically dragging her out the door, all the while the diminutive goth was barely awake, adjusting slightly to nearly being dragged out of her dream.
Soreness immediately flooded into her body at the mere thought of getting out of bed. She'd remembered last night and guessed her extended dance practice session had plenty to do with it.
Lincoln did his best to run through the steps at a pace she could handle, but it was still exhausting for her to keep up with him.
"Why the rush Lynn? You've never been in this much of a hurry before."
"Yeah well your usually up way earlier than this."
Not quite following what her sporty sister was saying she looked over to a nearby clock, which indeed read 9:45 which didn't leave her very much time to get ready for school.
Realizing this she let out a gasp and rushed out the door to try and take a quick shower, ignoring her sore joints and limbs as she hurried to get to the bathroom before Lynn.
"Hey wait, I call dibs on the shower next!"
...
Getting ready for the ride to school had been a chore thanks to her grogginess and aching limbs, thankfully Lynn was ready to cover for her and managed to lay out some clean clothing for her after her for after her shower, which she greatly appreciated.
Unfortunately, it was clearly from the impatient glare she received from Lori once she finally convened with the rest of the family that she'd still been noticeably late. Her other siblings simply staring expectantly, minus Lincoln who's expression seem to mix guilt and worry in equal measure.
"C'mon Lucy, we've been waiting her for literally forever."
The younger Loud recoiled at this, unaccustomed to being the target of her eldest sisters ire.
"Sorry Lori."
Lori's expression seemed to soften after seeing Lucy's reaction, giving her response in a slightly less terse manner.
"It's fine Lucy, Just try not to make a habit of it okay?"
The young goth simply nodded in response, and with that Lori moved on out the door, apparently satisfied with this resolution.
Her other siblings similarly continued on, some of them casting her sympathetic glances. Before Leaving Lincoln stopped and coughed uncomfortably, casting his gaze away.
"Sorry, I went a little overboard with the whole dance practice thing."
He stated apologetically.
"It' okay, you were just trying to help."
Lucy replied.
"Well, either way how about we wait till tomorrow to give it another go, that way you'll have some time to rest up."
She thought about saying she was fine, but the weariness of her legs and arms earned from countless hours spent learning differing steps, spins, and poses provided a compelling argument against it.
So she merely nodded to her elder brother and walked off to join the rest of her siblings in Vanzilla.
...
The ride had been mostly uneventful, mostly Luan bouncing a few jokes off of various sisters to gauge their reactions, most of which were poor.
Luckily after only a few assorted knock knock jokes and anecdotal stories about the kool-aid-man, they arrived at the school.
Various cliques of students congregated around the front schoolyard, mostly sticking closely to their own groups with a few outlying exceptions scattered about.
Among them was an older girl, about preteen, with long chocolate brown hair that was held back with a pink heart shaped clip, and a purple jacket over a lavender dress.
She'd been chatting up an un-enthused young goth girl, who silently pointed a black nailed finger toward Lucy.
Lucy felt her blood run cold, it was very rare that she was the subject of any attention, on the rare occasions she did receive it it was usually in a negative light.
As the preppy, chocolate-locked girl approached, she considered retreating to her class or finding one of her older siblings.
"Hey there, you got a minute?"
Surprised, the goth girl took a moment to scan her surrounds, before pointing to herself.
"Yeah, Lucy right? I saw you at Gus's games and grub."
Lucy simply slumped and nodded in response.
"Sigh, Yeah...I take it you're hear to remind me I can't dance?"
The newcomer simply smiled and shrugged.
"I dunno, you seemed to do pretty good, better than me the first time I tried."
Lucy couldn't help but crack a shy smile in return, true that was a somewhat cliche compliment, but it was a compliment none the less, which was rare to hear from somewhere besides her family or her circle of goth friends.
"Thanks, that really means alot to me."
"Mhm...Right, your welcome"
The girl replied hastily, before reaching into a handbag and pulling out a smaller, plastic baggie filled with sugar cookies.
"So, remember you need anything just call for your good friend Cookie!"
She said with a wink, handing the baggie to the diminutive goth and walking away.
"Uhh...Alright then."
Was all Lucy could respond with, feeling a sudden mental whiplash overtake her as a number of questions popped up in her mind.
I guess we're friends now? How am I supposed to call her?...What kinda name is Cookie?
Shaking her head she pulled a snickerdoodle from the bag and proceeded onward, confused but somewhat more confident after being complimented.
eventually she managed to catch up to her usual poetry group, Among them one of her best friends, Haiku.
"Lucy, it's wonderful to see you."
She droned out plainly. Her expression completely unreadable.
"You too Haiku."
Lucy replied in kind, pulling out another cookie and offering it to her friend, whom accepted it gladly (She assumed)
"You seem to be in a good mood this day, did you finally manage to translate one of the pages of the necromancers tome?"
"Sigh, I wish...no someone recognized me from Gus's, and was...impressed by my dancing."
The younger girl said, smiling slightly at the word "Impressed". Briefly she thought about how Rocky might be similarly wowed by her dancing.
Her friend meanwhile simply raised a curious eyebrow.
"I wasn't aware you danced recreationally."
Lucy nodded
"My brother offered to help me practice for the upcoming "Blackheart Ball"."
Immediately Haiku adopted a mischievous expression, one that Lucy recognized as an immediate indication that she'd made a mistake in mentioning her brother.
"Ah, yes, how is Lincoln? I haven't heard anything from him since that...Passionate night we spent together."
Lucy felt her stomach turn, Haiku still hadn't forgiven her for setting her up with her brother alongside the three other girls her other sisters picked, it probably wasn't helped that she'd used a bit of hyperbole' to sell her on the date.
As a result Haiku took a perverse pleasure in using that night as payback whenever Lincoln was brought up. Using her all-too impressive skill in the English language to squeeze every last bit of discomfort out of Lucy.
"I didn't mean for it to turn out like that.."
"I've no Idea what you mean dear Lucy, After all your brother was the "very model of gentlemanly charm" and "Silently burning with a passionate yearning for me he'd kindled from afar".
Lucy cringed as Haiku repeated her own words, the sarcasm clearly dripping through every syllable even through her monotone voice.
"Alright, Alright I get it, Last time I try and set you up with someone."
"Next time at least make sure they're aware of my existence beforehand."
The younger goth opened her mouth to respond, but quickly shut it again after realizing her losing position in the argument.
"So, you said you were practicing your dance moves for the Blackheart ball?"
"Yeah, actually planning to ask Rocky Spokes to go with me."
"Rusty's brother, red hair, freckles?"
Lucy Nodded.
"You won't have to look far."
Haiku stated, pointing over her shoulder.
"Hey Lucy, Hey Haiku."
The diminutive goth was fairly certain she felt her heart stop for a moment. She recognized the voice behind her, rough, but oddly kind and calming.
Slowly she turned around, silently egging herself forward even as her breath hitched. Immediately she regretted it as he affixed her with an adorable look of both concern and confusion.
"You alright?"
He asked, clearly not realizing that the little goth was currently liquefying in his presence.
He's so...cute
Lucy thought dreamily, unaware that she hadn't answered his question and left him even more concerned.
"...Uhh...Lucy?"
He asked, waving his hand in front of her face in an attempt to pull her out of her daze.
Haiku shook her head in annoyance before sharply jabbing her friend in the ribs with her elbow.
"..OW...uhh...Rocky,hi."
"...Hi."
Rocky repeated tentatively.
Meanwhile Lucy was trying her best to hold onto her newfound confidence, hoping desperately not to blow her chance to ask him out.
"Soo Rocko.."
Lucy said, attempting to lean back before realizing there was nothing to lean back on and hastily correcting her footing.
The redhead raised a curious eyebrow but said nothing.
Behind her she could hear Haiku's violent facepalming.
"..There's this dance coming up at a coffee shop I frequent."
"You're not old enough to drink coffee."
Rocky observed.
Rubbing the back of her head nervously Lucy tried her best to explain.
"It's more for the company, and they serve other stuff too. Anyways, it'd be pretty cool if you could.."
"Sure, I'll come."
The freckled boy interrupted politely, giving a slightly gap-toothed smile after finally recieving a more straightforward question.
A huge smile broke out on Lucy's face, fireworks going off on her head as her mind already raced with scenerio's playing out.
Music playing, a candlelit dance floor, the two of them twirling and spinning, getting lost in each others gazes as they prepared for the dark embrace of eternity toge-
"Lucy..."
Snapped out of her fantasy by someone calling her name, she turned towards her friend, curious as to what she wanted from her.
"He's already gone."
Haiku stated drearily the tiniest drop of exasperation managing to edge its way into her tone.
Turning around Lucy could indeed confirm that Rocky had left, Eliciting a sigh from her as she realized she'd spaced out and missed out on talking to him further.
But still, she did manage to win her coveted date with him, and that alone was enough to warm the black cockles of her heart.
"I can't believe it, he said yes!"
She finally blurted out, nearly shifting into a full swoon.
Her companion opted to saw nothing, simply rolling her eyes at her tiny friends transparent giddiness, but still cracking a light smile that belied at least some degree of pride in her.
"Truely the cards were in your favor, but if you don't mind, we should get to class before miss Burbanks takes attendance, lest we join the lost souls trapped here in detention."
Not waiting to see if Lucy was behind her the elder girl continued towards the school, mostly confident that her friend had the sense to follow along.
"Hmm? Oh...right, classes! right behind you."
The Loud girl replied with a start, the memories of Miss Burbanks previous vicious tirades snapping her out of her daydream, and prompting her to hurry after.