Dance in Time
Disclaimer: I own nothing but my own thoughts.
Chapter 11
It was early in the morning as Chloe, fresh out of the bath, along with Lillie, made their way to the dining area. "It's too early." Chloe yawned. "I wanted to sleep more." That dream had been a lot of fun and while she was sad that it was just a dream, at least she felt better after the dream. The two were dressed for school and were looking forward to breakfast. "Hey, Lillie, I've been wondering." Lillie gave her a confused look. "Dragons are beings of energy, right? That's what Ravel said about you." Lillie gave a curt nod. "So... Why do you eat?"
"I like eating with my family." Lillie said softly. "Everyone in this castle." She pointed at Chloe and then at the people already eating at the table, none of whom Chloe recognized, "and everyone who's part of our family is my family." She smiled at Chloe. "My family is precious."
Chloe was about to say something about that when she realized that she really didn't recognize anyone who was sitting at the table. There were four people. A woman with blonde hair that barely reached her shoulders, a black-haired woman who had cat ears and two young children that couldn't be older than three or four years old, one with white hair and one with orange hair. And, for some reason, they had cat ears as well on their heads. "Huh?!"
"Ah, Chloe," a male voice said from behind her, which caused her to jump slightly as she turned to see Ranma standing right behind her.
"When did you get here?" She asked as she tried to catch her breath.
Ranma looked confused. "I just got here. Didn't you notice?" She shook her head and he smirked. "Well, I'll have to help you with your sensory perception and..."
"DADDY!" Two voices yelled and Ranma smiled and knelt down as the two ran to him and hugged him.
"Did you two have fun with your aunt?" Ranma asked as he picked them up.
"Uh huh." The one with orange hair grinned. "Fun, fun!"
The white haired one nodded. "Aunt Shirone was fun."
"Wait, Shirone?" Chloe asked in confusion. "There's a girl who goes to school in Kuoh by that name, is she..?"
"That's my younger sister." The black-haired woman said as she walked over. The woman was wearing a kimono that showed off a lot of leg and the top part of her cleavage, which left Chloe burning in envy as she saw just how big her boobs were. "Dear," she looked at Ranma, "can you introduce us to this girl?"
"Of course." Ranma smiled as he put the children down. "This girl," he gestured to Chloe, "is Chloe von Einzbern, my knight and newest peerage member."
"Does that mean she outranks Hayate and myself since we're pawns?" The blonde woman asked and Ranma smirked at her.
"Well, if you don't work hard, she will." He clarified. "Anyway, Chloe, the blonde woman is Arisa Bannings, one of my pawns and childhood friend."
Arisa's face got a light dusting of pink as she heard that. "D-don't just go around calling us childhood friends! People might misunderstand."
Ranma smiled at her while the others all sweat-dropped.
'Such a tsundere.' Everyone but the two youngest children thought at the same time.
"And these two," Ranma ruffled the heads of the children. "Are my sons. This is Tenma," he patted the white-haired one on the head, who flinched and tried to get behind Ranma's leg, "and this is Daidama." He patted the orange-haired one, who grinned and ran up to Chloe. "And this," he gestured to the black-haired woman who walked up next to him and the two shared a kiss, "is their mother and my wife, Kuroka Saotome."
It was at that moment that Chloe looked down that she noticed that Kuroka had a bit of a big belly. "Um... Are you... Expecting another one?"
Kuroka blushed and put her hand to her cheek. "Oh my. She noticed? I'm just starting to show." She had a large smile on her face as she squirmed and hugged Ranma tightly. "We're going to have lots of kids together."
Ranma put his hand under Kuroka's legs and smiled at Chloe. "Anyway, Tenma, Daidama, Chloe is your new big sister, so get along with her."
"SISTER!" Daidama cheered and glomped onto Chloe, purring as a tail came out of his backside and swished from side to side.
"Sister?" Tenma asked as he peeked out from behind his father's leg before walking over to Chloe, who was struggling to hold onto a squirming Daidama. "Sister!" Suddenly he latched onto Chloe's leg and Chloe let out a yelp as she fell onto her butt.
Lillie just giggled as she saw the antics and nodded, glad that she had this family.
"Ne, ne, Ranma, put another baby in me while this one's growing." Kuroka purred as she nibbled on his ear.
"Even for me, that's impossible." Ranma told her and shifted her so he could swat her butt.
Kuroka mewled and gave him an aroused look. "You don't know unless you try."
'Even if my family is weird.' Lillie thought to herself.
"Mou!" A new female voice was heard as Lilith, Bulleta and Mittelt came into the dining room. "Master! No more making new kittens unless you get me pregnant first."
"I'm fine with waiting until you marry Ravel." Bulleta said with a shrug while Mittelt nodded.
Ranma sweat-dropped heavily upon hearing that. "I can't believe that you two and Ravel all agreed to get pregnant at the same time."
Bulleta grinned at him. "What can I say? We're the loli blonde trio."
"Ravel has boobs though." Mittelt pointed out. "You and I are flat-chested though." She still grinned though. "But we have fun together, so..."
"Fine, fine." Ranma shook his head. "Guess I can't say no to that."
"Very weird." Lillie muttered and laughed softly as both Tenma and Daidama acted like overly affectionate kittens and were pinning Chloe down, who was begging for help.
"Can we eat breakfast and not turn it into an orgy?" Arisa asked with annoyance in her voice. "It's my first day off in over two months and I'm off for two more days, I'd like to just eat breakfast."
"Don't you want breakfast and a show?" Lilith asked with a grin.
"NO!" Arisa yelled, her face red while everyone else laughed.
Ranma put Kuroka down, gave her a kiss on the lips and then helped Chloe get out from under his sons.
Soon Yohko, Ravel, Leonardo, Fubuki, Kunou and Atsuko joined them to eat breakfast.
No one said anything as Fubuki put her chair right next to Leonardo's chair while they ate.
(-)
Later that day...
Chloe stretched as she stood up from her desk. "Ngh, that was... WAGH!" She yelped as she slipped and would have fallen down had she not grabbed onto two desks that were next to each other.
"Sorry!" A familiar voice spoke up and Chloe looked up to see Tatsun standing in front of her, smiling nervously. "I dropped my pencil and you stepped on it."
Chloe sweat-dropped as she stood up properly. "Well, at least it wasn't a body or water."
Tatsun grinned at her. "I know! Hey, I told my dad about you yesterday and he wants to meet you. Do you want to come over this weekend?"
"I'll have to ask my dad," Chloe said while scratching her head. "But I'm sure that it won't be a problem." Tatsun let out a cheer and glomped Chloe, who grinned as she hugged her friend back. "Okay, I got to get to my club."
"Okay, have fun!" Tatsun said as she let go of the hug and ran off.
(-)
After saying goodbye to some more people, Chloe made her way to the clubroom and immediately ducked as a paper airplane flew right past her.
One couldn't blame her. The paper airplane was on fire.
And when it hit the ground, it exploded violently, sending Chloe flying forward into the clubroom, which was a complete disaster.
In the center of the room were Rossweisse, who had her outfit in tatters, and two girls that Chloe hadn't met just yet. One of them had dark purple hair and gold eyes while the other had blonde hair and red eyes.
"Well, Miss Orcus, do you and Miss Testarossa have something to say for yourselves?" Rossweisse asked with her arms crossed over her chest. What was surprising to Chloe was that Rossweisse's bra was actually holding together.
A tearing sound was heard as both Rossweisse's bra and panties tore and fell off of her, along with the rest of her outfit, leaving her standing there naked. Letting out a scream, Rossweisse tried to cover herself up as she ran out of the room.
Azazel came by just as Rossweisse ran off and he blinked in confusion. "Why was miss Rossweisse running around naked?"
The blonde girl raised her hand nervously. "Um, I was trying to use magic to make a paper airplane and then..."
The purple-haired girl giggled and rubbed the back of her head. "I tried to do the same, but our magics didn't like each other and they caused a small explosion."
Azazel sweat-dropped as he looked around the room. "...I see. You two have to clean up this mess before you leave."
"Okay." Both said with a nod.
Azazel shook his head. "And you," he looked at the blonde girl, "I know that you like to experiment with magic and take after your mother when it comes to observing things and seeing the results, but next time you want to experiment with magic, make sure that there are bounded fields to limit the destruction." The blonde blushed and looked down while clasping her hands in front of her.
"Okay... Uncle Azzy."
Azazel just groaned and shook his head. "You really took to calling me that since I took your mother on a date one time, huh?"
She blinked at him in confusion. "But you took her on several dates. Isn't that why she says she has hot coffee dates with you all the time?"
"...Yes." Azazel said, thankful that the girl was still innocent.
Chloe raised her hand. "Who are you two? I didn't see you yesterday."
"I'm Bennia Orcus." The purple-haired girl said with a smile. "I was going to be here, but my King, Issei, needed my help with a client who was remodeling his house and lost something very valuable to him. I'm good at phasing through walls." She chuckled softly. "It turns out that what he lost was a baseball that his great-grandfather had while visiting the United States and was signed by Joe Dimaggio."
"I'm Alicia Testarossa." The blonde said with a bow. "I got sick a couple of days before school started and while I was feeling fine yesterday, mother wished to keep me home just in case I ended up getting sick again."
"Hard to blame your mother, considering what happened to you in the past." Azazel said.
"I'm Chloe von Einzbern." Chloe said as she introduced herself. "At school, I go by Chloe Saotome."
"Oh, like Sona Sitri was known as Sona Shitori, huh?" Bennia asked and Chloe nodded. "Oh, cool. Sorry about the mess, but magic paper airplanes..." She rubbed the back of her head. "Oh well."
"I can help." Chloe said as she helped move the less destroyed desks out of the way while Azazel went over to a closet to get a broom and dustpan.
Not much got done, other than cleaning, even as the others showed up and helped out as well, but Chloe still had fun. Mostly because when Shirone heard about it, she grinned and ruffled Alicia's hair. "Should we call you an explosion loli?"
"Nooo!" Alicia's face went blue at the thought. "I don't want to be labeled a terrorist because I made things explode."
"I don't know," Chloe said with a grin, "explosions are fun. So long as you don't have a crazy lady who can punch through them trying to kill you that is."
The others looked at her in confusion. "Do you know someone like that?" Millicas asked and Chloe looked at him as an image of a tall, buxom woman with short, magenta colored hair flashed in her head. "Chloe?" He asked as she gripped her head.
"I... Ngh, I don't know. I might know, but I can't remember anything." Chloe didn't even know where the idea of a crazy woman had come from, but for some reason, she felt compelled to comment on it. Shaking her head, she smiled at Millicas. "I'm fine, my memory before I was found by master is still scrambled."
"Well," Azazel said as Rossweisse, now in a tracksuit that did nothing to hide her curves, walked in. "If you do recall the memories before you were brought to this world, Miss Einzbern, please let us or your master know." Chloe nodded. She wasn't going to keep that stuff a secret if she could remember it.
'If only I could remember why and how I ended up here.' Chloe really hoped that she wasn't forgetting something really important.
(-)
It was a few hours later when Chloe, Lillie, Kunou and Leonardo all got back to Makai. They were met by Ranma, who was grinning at them while wiping some sweat from his neck. "Hey, have fun at school?"
Leonardo sighed softly. "Big brother, is this your way of saying that we're about to get our asses kicked in sparring?" His only answer was a grin while Lillie made her clothing disappear as she walked inside the castle. "School was fine, I guess."
"Good, now I'm going to..." Ranma trailed off as Chloe raised her hand while putting her bookbag down. "Yes?"
"One of my classmates asked me to come over to her place this weekend." Chloe said while lowering her hand. "Is that okay, master?"
Ranma tapped his chin and nodded. "Sure, I don't see a problem with it. Let her know that you'll show up around noon." Chloe nodded as Ranma tossed a staff to Chloe, who caught it. "Now you were saying something about not being fully aware of your surroundings?"
Chloe just gulped as Ranma walked over with a blindfold. "This is going to suck, isn't it?"
"Don't worry," Kunou said with a resigned look on her face as she patted Chloe on the shoulder. "Daddy won't let you get seriously hurt."
Chloe gulped as the blindfold was tied around her eyes and she wasn't allowed to see. She supposed it was for the best, while she still had all her magical skill from her old world, some of her secondary abilities were long gone.
Which wasn't surprising, since the Archer card that had been the basis of her life was no longer in her. And with that, all the non-magical skills the Hero she was borrowing power from were gone with it.
It didn't stop her from being one big bruise at the end. Mostly from her own inability to fight properly while blindfolded.
At least a good meal and Phoenix Tears made it better in the end.
(-)
The next day...
"Ah! Millicas." Chloe spotted the redheaded boy as she ran up to him. He turned and smiled at her. "I'm not going to go to the clubroom today."
"Is something wrong?" Millicas asked as he tilted his head in confusion.
"No, no, nothing's wrong." Chloe said while shaking her head and holding up her hands. "I just realized that I don't know much about this town and wanted to go for a walk and get lost for a bit. I have a phone, if I don't know where I'm at, I can call Kunou or Leonardo to come pick me up."
Millicas had a concerned look on his face. "If you want a guide, I can..."
"Oh, no, not that, I just want to explore on my own and see what's around here." Seeing Millicas looking unsure, Chloe smiled at him. "If you want, we can exchange numbers and if I get into trouble, I'll call you right away."
"Okay." Millicas smiled as they pulled out cellphones and quickly exchanged numbers. "Just call if you need help."
Chloe nodded and ran off while waving goodbye.
Millicas' eyes widened and he blushed as he realized that Chloe's skirt fluttered up, showing him a peek of the panties she was wearing that day.
"Green..." He muttered softly as he tried to ignore what he saw.
(-)
As she walked through the town, Chloe pulled out her phone to look at the time and was shocked at how it was more than an hour since she left school. "No wonder I'm starting to feel hungry." She looked around before spotting an ice cream parlor and smiled. "Yeah, that will..." Her smile slipped as she remembered sitting at a table with Illya and Miyu, the three eating ice cream and arguing because Chloe swiped a bite from Illya and Miyu's ice cream, which caused both of them to swipe a bite from her ice cream.
"...That was a good time." She sighed and felt her shoulders slumping. "But what happens now?"
"That depends on you." A female voice that Chloe never heard before caused her to turn around to see a blonde-haired woman with blue eyes and a pair of breasts that Chloe could only describe as perfect. They were big, especially on the woman's thin frame, but they stopped just before getting to obscene levels of huge. She was wearing white pants and a long-sleeved shirt that hugged her body in the best ways possible.
The woman had a very warm and pleasant smile on her face. "Greetings, young Devil." Chloe's eyes widened and she tensed up, only for the woman to hold up a hand. "Please, I mean you no harm. My name is Gabriel, one of the Seraphs of Heaven and I merely wish to talk to you."
Chloe gulped and took a step back, trembling. "W-why? Aren't we, you know? Enemies?"
"Why would we be enemies?" Gabriel asked softly. "While the treaty of peace between the three factions is less than a decade old, I have no reason to treat you as an enemy." She continued to smile and walked towards the ice cream parlor. "I hear the ice cream is really good, would you like some? I'll treat you."
Chloe wasn't sure what to think when her stomach growled. "Ah..." She blushed and Gabriel's smile increased.
"You can ask me anything you want when we're eating." Gabriel told her. "After all, your master asked me to talk to you."
A lot of tension in Chloe's body seemed to leave upon hearing that and she nodded. "Um... Okay." She didn't know why, but there was something about this woman that was causing her to relax just by being around her.
After entering the shop, the two went up to the counter to see a young man with blonde hair working behind the counter. "Hello, welcome." He smiled at them. "What can I get for such a lovely mother and daughter?"
Chloe was about to say something when Gabriel spoke up first with a smile. "How sweet. I would like a chocolate sundae and my daughter will get a strawberry one." Chloe gave her a sharp look. "Did you not want a strawberry one?"
"...How did you know what I wanted?" She asked and Gabriel winked at her.
"Your father mentioned that you like to sneak some fruits when you think no one is looking."
The young man laughed as he heard that. "You remind me of my sister. She recently came home demanding we call her by a new name and she loves sweet fruits. She always needs to run the energy off after eating it though."
"...Sounds like Tatsun." Chloe muttered softly and the man laughed.
"That's what she likes to be called." He grinned at Chloe. "You're the one who gave her that nickname? She loves it."
"I, um, am coming over this weekend." Chloe said as she fidgeted and realized that this boy looked a lot like one of Tatsuko's brothers back in her old world. "Small world." It was then that she noticed his name tag, which listed him as Reiichi.
He laughed and nodded. "Yeah, alright, you came on a good day. It's a buy one get one half off for families."
Gabriel smiled and paid the young man. "Thank you."
The ice cream sundaes didn't take long to get made and the two made their way over to a far corner to sit and talk while eating.
"How come you lied?" Chloe asked as she looked across the table at Gabriel, who gave her a confused look. "You're not my mother."
"Well, you are Ranma's daughter, aren't you?" Gabriel asked and Chloe nodded slightly. "Then you're my daughter too." She smiled as Chloe had a look of contemplation on her face. "Let's just eat."
The two ate in silence for more than a minute before Chloe looked at Gabriel again. "...Aren't you really busy? I heard that you're one of the leaders of Heaven. Why would you come to Earth to see me?"
Gabriel gave her a neutral look before nodding. "One of my duties is to help lost souls. I would say that a young girl who was violently thrown away from her home and was forcibly turned into a Devil would count." Gabriel's voice held no animosity in it, as though she was just stating facts. "Ranma told me quite a bit about you."
"I..." Chloe took a few more bites of her ice cream as she tried to clear her mind. "...I miss my sister." She trembled and sniffled. "I wonder if she's okay. I don't know what happened just before I was sent to this world. I..." She hiccuped and the next thing she knew, Gabriel was sitting next to her, hugging the little girl to her chest. Chloe gave up trying to hold it in as she hugged Gabriel and started to sob, loudly.
'Poor dear.' Gabriel thought to herself, thankful for the silencing spell that she put up to keep people from hearing the sobs and cries coming from Chloe's lips.
After a few minutes of crying, Chloe calmed down and rested her head on Gabriel's chest. "...Is there anything for me?"
"Hmm?" Gabriel asked as she rocked Chloe softly and handed her a napkin so she could wipe the tears out of her eyes.
"Thank you." Chloe said and wiped her eyes clean of tears. "I mean, I was nothing more than a clone made from magic. If I ran out of magic, I would disappear. And now I find that there's Gods in this world and... I'm just a Devil." She trembled softly. "I didn't even get a chance and I was damned before I could live."
Gabriel rubbed her back. "However you were born, it doesn't matter. What matters is that you're alive now and what you do with the gift of life that you were given." Chloe looked up at her and Gabriel smiled at her. "That's what Father taught me. Everyone has a chance to leave a positive mark on the world."
"...He wouldn't accept me." Chloe said softly. "I'm a Devil. Surely he'd hate me."
Gabriel shook her head. "No. Father was only angry at the Fallen Angels who betrayed him and became Devils, as well as the first humans who allied with them. The rest of you didn't have a choice in how you were born."
"...Would he forgive me?" Chloe asked and Gabriel nodded.
"You have done nothing wrong." Gabriel said while rubbing Chloe's back. "Do not worry about Father or Heaven punishing you simply for existing, young one." She gave Chloe a warm smile. "So, please, do not let this weigh down on your soul anymore."
Chloe nodded and sighed as she rested her head against Gabriel's breast. "Thank you."
"You're quite welcome."
"Um..." Chloe bit her lip softly. "May I ask, why would you and master talk about me?"
"Why?" Gabriel asked in confusion. "Is it not normal for a husband to speak with his wife?"
"Well, no, it is, but..." Suddenly Chloe sat up, her eyes wide as she stared at Gabriel in shock. "YOU'RE MASTER'S NINTH WIFE?!"
Gabriel winced, glad that she had silenced the area. "Yes." She held up her left hand, where a glowing band appeared on her ring finger. "We married a month before you arrived. Sadly, my duties prevented us from having a honeymoon at the time, we were planning on having our honeymoon after his Rating Game with Sona Sitri was over." That is, if their schedules didn't conflict, it wasn't easy for them to meet up after all.
"Um," Chloe blushed softly, "is... Is it okay?"
Gabriel smiled as a golden halo appeared above her head before she dismissed it. "I love him, he loves me and we're married, under the rules of Heaven, it is."
"...I have no idea what to think." Chloe said as she tried to relax at Gabriel's smiling face. "...Can I call you, mama?" Gabriel nodded and Chloe hugged her again. "Okay... Mama."
Gabriel smiled as she hugged Chloe back.
(-)
The days that followed passed quickly and before Chloe realized it, it was the weekend and she found herself standing outside a moderately-sized house, knocking on the door. She looked at Kunou, who smiled at her. "Thanks for coming with me."
"Hey, no problem." Kunou grinned at her. "I wanna meet my sister's friends too."
The door seemingly burst open and Tatsun appeared, grinning as she grabbed Chloe and ran inside. "DAD! CHLOE'S HERE!"
"WAAAAGH!" Chloe struggled to right her balance before she found herself in front of a man in his late thirties who was muscular with brown hair and eyes.
"Ah!" He grinned as he saw Chloe. "So you're the one who gave little Tatsu..."
"TATSUN!" Tatsun screamed while Kunou came into the room.
The man coughed and nodded. "Quite. Tatsun her new nickname. My name is Gouto Gakumazawa, chef extraordinaire!" He took a pose as a red sun appeared behind him and Chloe and Kunou both wondered where that came from. "From Kyoto to Osaka to Kuoh and even to Tokyo, there are few in this country that can cook better than me. And those that do often specialize in one dish."
"...Gakumazawa?" Chloe asked as she tilted her head. "...Do you know an invincible defense style?"
Gouto blinked in surprise, as did Tatsun. "You know of the Gakumazawa Traditional Style Martial Arts? I'm surprised as it hasn't existed since before you were born."
"Dad never talks about the old days." Tatsun said as she looked at her father. "How come you stopped?"
Gouto sighed as he thought back to when he stopped. "I was a young man, a foolish man. During my youth, I held a trial for anyone to challenge me." Images appeared behind Gouto showing him in a Gi slamming people around. "I bragged that my style was completely unbeatable when three strangers walked in. A mountain of a man who had thinning hair and was wearing a bandanna over it," a still image of a younger-looking Genma, who was so tall that he was practically touching the ceiling and so buff that he put Olympic power lifters to shame appeared behind Gouto.
"...Grandpa doesn't look that big." Kunou muttered softly.
"A young girl with purple hair and the biggest butt on a girl that age I have ever seen."
A still image of a young-looking Lilith appeared next to Genma, though she had exaggeratedly large and muscled thighs and an over-sized butt.
"...She doesn't look like that." Chloe muttered as she sweat-dropped and looked at Tatsun, who had sparkles in her eyes as she listened.
"And finally, a young boy who had to be the son of the mountain of a man all walked in." A still image of a younger-looking Ranma, who, unlike Genma and Lilith, looked normal for someone of his age. "The three sat in the corner and waited while I finished up several challengers."
"When did this happen?" Kunou asked and Gouto nodded.
"It was... About twelve years ago today." He nodded. "Anyway, after defeating the final opponent, the man told his son to fight me." A still image of Genma patting Ranma's back as the young boy got up and ran out to the floor. "I told him to attack me and I thought that it would be easy when he did, but then the impossible happened."
A still image of Gouto on his back with Ranma slamming him into the ground was shown.
Gouto's eyes watered as tears flooded out of his eyes. "And it wasn't just one time, it happened over and over again."
More and more still images showed Ranma on top of Gouto.
"I realized..." Gouto wiped his eyes. "If I cannot defeat a boy who was only eight or nine years old, then I should give up."
"Where did the images come from?" Chloe asked and looked around, only to see a blonde woman standing behind a projector. The woman smiled and waved. "...Oh."
"So!" Gouto said while he crossed his arms over his chest. "I realized that if I couldn't become a master martial artist, then I should focus all my efforts into becoming the best chef in Japan. And the work has paid off. I am one of the ten best chefs in all of Japan. HAHAHAHAHA!"
"PAPA!" Tatsun yelled and glomped her father. "You're the best! Bwahahahahahah!"
Both Chloe and Kunou sweat-dropped, though they did appreciate the enthusiasm that they both had.
As she watched, Chloe couldn't help but think to herself, 'If there's a Tatsun and her family in this world and they're so similar to the ones in my old world...' Chloe trailed off as a thought came to her. '...Is there an Illya in this world?'
End Chapter 11
End Part One of Dance in Time
By Part One, I mean specifically Chloe adjusting to her new life as a Devil. She's basically settled in from this point on.