The day after Louise's explosive debacle and subsequent refusal to let anyone in her room (including Haise, which he found fairly disappointing) Louise explained to him about the upcoming familiar exhibition. Apparently it was incredibly important to Louise, as the princess would be attending.
"Now, do you have anything you can show off to the princess?" asked Louise. Haise contemplated for a moment searching for anything he could do without revealing his ghoul side. His mind blanked. Haise's silence was enough of an answer. "Alright. Today you will come up with something while I attend to other things. I expect something by the time I return to my room tonight." She swiftly turned and left, leaving him with his thoughts. He wondered around until he eventually reached a courtyard. It seemed many of the familiar-master pairs were out training for the exhibition tomorrow. He noticed a shadow pass over him, he looked up, his eyes widening. Overhead he saw a… dragon? Even now this world still never ceases to amaze me. He leaned against a tree, the cool shade a welcome reprieve from the unwavering sun. He felt happy. It was almost like living a dream, being in this fantastical world. He even had a friend. Even if Louise was the most temperamental person he had ever met, he considered life here to be good so far. He closed his eyes a small smile playing on his lips.
That night, Haise was roaming the hallways trying to find Louise's room. Even after all this time he still got lost in the labyrinthine academy. After turning a corner, he noticed a hooded figure quietly sneaking through the corridor. Haise's senses went on alert. At this point he still didn't know how magic would affect him. If he attacked the figure he might be killed instantly. Unless the person wasn't a mage. He didn't know that, that was a risk he wasn't willing to take. He tensed and slowly followed the unknown figure. After a bit of walking, the figure came upon Louise's room. Haise tensed. I need to detain him now, before he gets to Louise. The figure quietly grabbed the doorknob, twisted, and pushed in, waiting for the slow creak of the door to subside before tiptoeing in. Haise quietly snuck behind the figure, put him in a chokehold, and muffled his mouth with his hand. A surprisingly effeminate cry tried to escape the figure, but Haise silenced the unknown woman. I had better wake Louise and let her decide the next course of action. "Louise!" He called.
"H-huh..?" Louise startled awake.
"There was an intruder. I caught her, but I want you to decide what to do with her." Louise quickly lit a candle while scrambling out bed. She walked up to the intruder.
"Identify yourself!" She yelled in her usual manner. Haise released his grip on her mouth and throat, letting her finally speak.
"It's just me, Louise." The feminine voice said, pulling down the hood of her cloak. Louise gasped and quickly prostrated herself to the purple haired woman.
"My deepest apologies, your Majesty. I did not realize it was you."
"It's quite all-right Louise. I'm here to visit an old friend." Louise suddenly glared at Haise.
"Haise, apologize to the princess right now! Get on your knees and beg for forgiveness."
"Louise, really, it's fine. In fact, I'm glad you have a companion who cares about you and wants to protect you." A pang of guilt shot through Haise. He wasn't sure why. "Although, Louise, I would like to chat with you," she glanced at Haise, "in private." Haise looked to Louise who nodded. He bowed slightly and left the room, shutting the door behind him.
After a while the strangely colored hair woman exited Louise's room and nodded to Haise who was sitting on the floor. He nodded back and entered the room. "Who was that?" He asked the pinkette.
"I'll explain tomorrow. For now, goodnight." She crawled into bed and swiftly fell asleep. Haise followed suit.
Hey guys, It's been a while, huh. I'm really sorry about that. Honestly, I have no excuse other than motivational problems. I've always struggled with writing, but I wanted to get this idea in my head on paper and so far it's been really well received. And for that I can't thank you all enough. I truly appreciate it from the bottom of my heart.
Now with that said, I want to talk about this chapter and the story overall. I'm sorry this chapter is so short but I really wanted to update you guys on this story. This quality of this chapter isn't very good in my opinion, but I'll probably keep it as is for now. Now onto the story as a whole. This story isn't dead. I don't consider it dead, but just really slow updates. I want to continue this story and I even have a rough outline. And when I saw the reviews saying they wanted more I actually got some motivation to write. The problem is school has just started again for me so I'm pretty busy. To conclude, I just want guys to know that another chapter will be coming. I don't know when, but eventually. Thank you all so much for the support. I never expected to get 60-some follows. That's amazing! Hopefully I'll update again soon.