Bunnyloverforever: I do not own anything pertaining to Disgaea: Hour of Darkness or any of the other games.
Chapter 4: Dynamics
It was beyond annoying now. Nick mirrored everything the Overlord did. The first movements were a bit silly and Laharl shrugged them off, but he wondered if Nick had ever really read the Netherworld newspaper as vigorously as he did. All ten of them were in the fancy living room. Etna and Jennifer had become very close over the year. The two of them were reading the same Netherworld fashion magazine and whispering from time to time. Flonne and Eric were both reading a novel. Nick was sitting next to Laharl on the couch reading the Netherworld newspaper and the exact same article as he was. And whenever he turned a page, Nick did as well. Every time Laharl scratched the back of his head, Nick did as well. And even when Laharl raised a brow, Nick mirrored it. The rest of the guardians, Devin, Kim, Robin, and Sasha, were playing Monopoly: Netherworld SPECIAL EDITION. There was no trouble brewing about in the Netherworld yet, or in Makai Kingdom. It had been almost an Earth week since Laharl hired all of them. The Overlord knew he had a pretty good team, but now he had no clues what to do with them. Flonne kept nagging him on getting to know everyone appropriately. Whatever that means…
"Okay! I've had about enough of this, Nickolas! Stop mirroring everything I'm doing! It's getting so annoying I just want to rip your head off!" Laharl erupted and jumped up on the couch, shouting over the cosmic hero.
Nick used his newspaper as a shield to cover Laharl's dragon breath and the fire breathing out of his mouth. He lowered it when he saw that a hole had been made through the paper that could have been through his face. Everyone had stopped what they were doing to look at the famous Overlord lose his temper and the surprisingly strong cosmic hero cower in fear. The warrior stood up with his head drooped and the newspaper rolled up in his hand. He slowly made his way out of the living room, ashamed of himself. Laharl stood on the couch triumphantly and was severely surprised to receive glares from his guardians and even Etna and Flonne.
"Way to be a good role model. His brother just passed away, he just wants someone to look up to!" Kim jumped up on her feet and angrily snapped at the Overlord, finding it hard to believe that the kid was the Overlord.
Laharl's eyes widened and he realized about a fraction of what he had done. "Well, he'll get over it, right?" He then jumped down on his bust to sit properly on the couch. He looked at Flonne and Etna for some kind of comfort or assurance. He received a nice slap of punishing looks.
"Dear Overlord, I think it was best to ignore poor Nickolas. His brother… I would have done the same thing if I had an older sibling pass away," Devin stood up next to Kim and held his hands together in front of him as he spoke. Eric finally broke his fixated stare at his book when Devin spoke.
"It's not like you would know the loss of a sibling since you're an only child," Etna put her magazine down in her lap and crossed her arms. Jennifer and Flonne nodded at her comment and also crossed their arms.
"What? You're all against me? Didn't you find it in the least annoyance that he was doing everything I was doing? Why are you all ganging up on me!?" Laharl stood up from the couch. With a thrust of his fist in the air, he tried to prove how right he was.
"I didn't," Robin glumly answered and lowered her vision.
"None of us did," Eric added and glared up at the Overlord. "You should go apologize… right now."
"Hey! Who the hell are you to tell me what to do?! And I'm going to apologize because I want to, not because you told me to! Is that understood?" Laharl's eyes turned a bright yellow as he erupted once again. He couldn't believe the audacity of this pirate! How could he tell him what to do? After all, Laharl was the one that hired him in the first place.
"Perfectly," Eric coolly replied to the hormonally challenged Overlord.
"Hmpf!" Laharl twirled around and exited the living room with haste.
"H-how did you do that?" Devin questioned in awe. Everyone else was wide eyed at the inconceivable incident.
"I just pretended I was talking to you instead of the Overlord," Eric blankly responded and continued to reading his book. After a few moments everyone went right back to their usual activities, but Devin was still in awe of his best friend, Eric.
Scene change.
"Oh, brother, you'll never be replaced! It's just… Laharl reminds me so much of you. I hope you never leave me," Nick heaved a sigh and completely lied down on his bed fully clothed. He felt exhausted. For some reason, doing nothing did get… tiring. The cosmic hero placed a picture of his black haired, older brother back under his pillow. There was a strong connection between him and the picture. The picture and even the smell of the photograph was the closest thing he had to his brother. And it was entirely true. Laharl's I-Have-to-Have-it-All attitude and other traits of his personality matched that of Nick's older brother, Darren. As Nick shut his eyes, he didn't notice a peculiar black light travelling from under his bed. Slowly, but surely, the black, floating, matter emitted itself into Nickolas's body without him knowing. The warrior grumbled, but never opened his eyes.
Laharl didn't care to knock on the boys' door. He opened it right away, as if his apology had some kind of time limit. The Overlord quickly marched his way over to the hero, to his unknowing, soon to be his only closest male companion. The demon shook the hero by his shoulder and received quite an appropriate reaction. Nick jumped at the touch and then sat up as fast as he could when he realized that it was none other than the great Overlord awaking him.
"What is it, dear Overlord?" he respectfully inquired.
Laharl rolled his eyes at the label. Yeah, he did appreciate it, but it did get quite annoying some times. He wondered how long the hero would keep it up. "Look, I wanted to say… say… say… sorry…" Laharl quickly breathed in when he stated his apology. As if it brought physical pain for him to apologize to someone, Laharl rubbed his lips, feeling quite filthy.
"Oh, okay," Nick blinked, confused. "Well, in that case, I'm sorry, too, my dear Overlord. It was awfully immature of me to do what I did."
"Hell yeah it was! It was fucking annoying if you ask me! I hope you never do that again, I sure felt like killing a puppy." Laharl crossed his arms and over his chest and breathed heavily after he clearly voiced his opinion. Nick was in awe of Laharl's outspokenness. The warrior stood up and went wide-eyed. The Overlord took a small step back and widened his eyes as well at his guardian's reaction. "Hello, I just insulted you," Laharl stood as tall as he could and waved his right hand above his shoulder in front of Nick. It was then that Laharl noticed a visible black aura surrounding the seemingly pure hearted cosmic hero. Laharl lowered his hand and attempted to somehow decipher the aura. It was different. And it was powerful. Could it be? Was Nick just putting up an entire show to get to him and possibly assassinate him? The thoughts swarmed the Overlord's mind and he blocked out everything else in disbelief.
"Sorry, I guess I'm so used to it because of my brother. You remind me so much of him! It's such an honor to be here, Laharl! Whoops, I mean, my Lord!" A bright smile made its way on Nick's face. It was scarier than Flonne's, Laharl thought. A chuckle slipped through the hero's throat and before Laharl knew it, he was being embraced by the male in front of him. The sudden hug snapped the Overlord out of his trance.
"Oh," he could only get himself to say. He looked at Nickolas in disbelief. He couldn't want to kill him. He looked like a man of his word… every word. It had to be something else. In a split second, Laharl decided to let go of the thoughts. After all, he had a dark aura as well. It's not like he went around killing people… most of the time.
"My Lord, is something the matter?" Nick questioned, truly worried.
"No, nothing is the matter. I just thought of something… we should hurry and get back to the others. They might think something's the matter," before Laharl could take a step, Nickolas flew out of the room with brimming smiles in a flash. The last thing he saw of the hero was his dark red devil tail.
A smirk made its way on the tyrant. What a naïve move! Nick flew out of the room first and left the Overlord in his privacy. The first thing he was going to do was try to find anything personal of the hero's. Perhaps a journal or photographs, maybe even letters. The Overlord ran quickly searched through his drawers and only found the generic items and clothing. 'I'm an idiot. I don't think Nick has the brains…' Laharl then sat down on the hero's bed, sighing depressingly. The Overlord casually lifted up his pillow to check for anything. He surprised to see the photograph of his older brother. The older male had pitch black dark hair and the same facial appearance as Nick. His were also a nice, dull-looking, grey color with no pupils. To Laharl, Nick's brother looked more like a vampire. Then it soon hit him.
"Huh? Why does Nick's transformation look like his brother's appearance?" Laharl wondered aloud. The Overlord thought back to when Nick transformed in front of him. His appearance sure did change, but the look in his eyes stayed the same. It was almost like he took his brother's appearance and gained an exponential amount of energy; the energy of the universe. 'Gees, I'd sure love to have the power of the universe in the palm of my hand,' Laharl glumly thought. 'I guess I'll have to watch out for little Nickolas, wouldn't want any of the enemies taking over him. That wouldn't be pretty.'
Line breaker.
The Overlord slowly walked back to the living and received a nice, grand, warm welcoming…
"Hey! It's not like I could help it! And it's not my fault! I'm going to go tell Laharl on you!" Devin proclaimed. His voice was higher than Laharl's ears would have liked it to be. All of a sudden when the Overlord stepped foot into the living, there were several gasps to be heard from the guardians.
"Look, I'm not saying anything. I don't see how you fit into the equation of being a guardian. I mean, seriously, Devin. You're way too weak. It's a wonder you got chosen with your odd Earthling clothes." Eric remarked in a matter-of-factly tone.
"C'mon, I don't see why you two are fighting. Devin did a really good job with his aim, isn't that right?" Flonne attempted to compliment the human and make Eric see that the Space Marine was rightfully given the title as Guardian of the Netherworld.
"Lucky shot," the pirate muttered.
"Laharl!" Devin raced over the Overlord and hid behind his lean and skinny body. Robin, Sasha, and Kim giggled at the human boy. Etna rolled her eyes and Jennifer bit her lip, concerned. The two quarrelling friends were standing head to head to each other with Flonne pushing them back constantly until Devin ran behind Laharl. Nick stood up from his seat and looked back at the pirate, and Laharl's perplexed expression.
"What the hell are you doing?!" Laharl swiveled around and yelled at the human. "Are you hiding?" The Overlord was appalled at Devin's reaction. Then again, it was probably something that Flonne would have done as well. The human sunk in size and stared down at his feet. He mumbled a weak apology and the Overlord was surprisingly satisfied with it. In the back of his mind, it was Flonne's doing; making him soft and so accepting of the littlest things. Now he wanted to chastise Eric. "And what's your problem? If anything were to happen to this human boy, you would be the first one to break down! So, I don't see where you fit into the equation of being a real guardian for the people of the Netherworld, so I don't want to hear anyone putting anyone down unless it's done especially by me!" The Overlord let loose and enchanted everyone with his famous, rehearsed, evil laughter of the great King Laharl.
"This is going to be quite an adventure," Etna whispered to Jennifer. The Earthling giggled at the demon's comment. She fully agreed with Etna.
After Laharl's laugh, everyone went back to their regular business; Eric proceeded to reluctantly read his book. What he really wanted to do was teach Laharl a lesson, but he figured he might as well learn how to hold his temper in now if he wanted to continue to be a guardian. Laharl and Nick went back to reading the newspaper as well. Kim was particularly doing very well in the game of Monopoly. She completely won again, for the third time.
"Gees, Kim. Why are you so good at this game?" Sasha inquired with a hint of annoyance in her voice. Robin looked back at her and they shared a look of defeat.
"Yeah, you really kicked my butt," Devin added and scratched the back of his head. Eric lifted his vision from his broke instantaneously when he heard the human boy speak. He looked once at the back of Devin's bright blonde hair, and then the triumphant archer. The pirate couldn't help it. He partially raised the boy, and he reminded him of his younger brother he left behind when he ran away from home so many years ago. Eric lowered his eyelids and felt immediately weak when he thought of his younger brother.
"Heh, I've… just got some experience," Kim timidly responded and then shrugged her shoulders. She couldn't let one of her deepest darkest secrets slip out yet. Even though she grew up with Sasha, Robin, and Nick, none of them had a clue that she was born into a very wealthy family.
"Hey, Nick, I'm really, really, curious about your power! So, when you transform, you can… unlock the powers of the universe?!" Flonne placed her book down in her lap and then laced her fingers together in excitement. Her bright blue eyes bugged out in pure enthusiasm.
The cosmic hero slowly lowered his newspaper and attempted to give a bright smile to the angel. He ended up shrugging slightly and then his lips made a clear frown. Laharl caught his reaction to be unusual, and so did everyone else since they had directed their undivided attention to the hero, their friend. "I guess, I mean, I've never really needed to use all of my power for anything. I've always had to use very little, and that's usually enough for me," Nick then smiled back at everyone, except for the Overlord. He felt Laharl's eyes burn a hole through the side of his head.
"Interesting," Jennifer remarked with a warm smile, and slightly tilted her head.
After the question was open, everyone went back to doing… nothing. Nick was actually craving for another decent with anyone. Eric wanted more than anything to prove to Laharl that he was fully capable of taking care of his emotional state no matter what happened to Devin. Other than Nick and Eric, nobody else really minded that weren't any fate-of-the-Netherworld fights coming up. Little did anyone know, two of those fate-of-the-Netherworld fights would come out of a betrayal of one of Laharl's closest friends and a guardian.