"Dude. I still can't believe she actually said yes to you." Skel hissed, sitting at a table with Po and Cid.
As usual, Po sat to his right and Cid sat across from him. Their usual food on their table and their usual table being the one that they sat at. Everything was as it had been for the past three weeks, except for one thing.
That being the recent relationship status of one Cid Kagenou, boyfriend of the Second Princess of Midgar.
"Neither can I. Its super worrying." Cid sighed, taking a bite of chicken.
'It's barely seasoned at all. Only the worst for us "lower-class" I guess.' The secret Eminence thought to himself, swallowing the food pretty quickly to avoid subjecting his tongue to its flavour any longer than necessary.
"Oh yeah, its super weird too. But if she was willing to take you then I should have asked her out. A chad like me would have whoo'd her instantly." Po bragged, placing a hand on his chest.
"Yeah, totally. I'm in the same boat. Maybe next time I see her I should ask her to take me instead." Skel huffed, clearly caught in his own delusions, much the same as Po.
And Cid could practically see their delusions in his own mind. Clearly Po was thinking something about her body, the dopey smile he had on his face only corroborating his thoughts. And Skel was clearly thinking about something similar, but mostly just the riches available to the royal family.
The way his eyes were trained on the designer bag being touted by one of the girls in their year only served to prove Cid's assumption correct as well.
"Excuse me, gentlemen." The pleasant voice of Alexia cut through all three of the young men's thoughts.
And while Cid only twitched a little as his expression fell flat, both Po and Skel froze entirely while staring at the young woman who was now standing at the end of their table.
'In the end. We're still together even at lunch, damn this Princess is stubborn…' Cid sighed mentally to himself, careful not to let such an action slip outward for multiple reasons.
"P-P-Princess A-Al-Alexia!?" Both of his friends stammered over themselves, their faces beat red and their hands jittering like mad.
To everyone it was a supremely disappointing sight, worthy of a great deal of embarrassment given their previous statements, but at the same time Cid couldn't help but feel a surge of pride within himself. He truly couldn't have picked anymore perfect friends for his civilian life.
"I didn't want to be separated from my dear partner so soon, so I was wondering if I may join you all?" She spoke politely and with a pleasant smile on her face, which only got a slight flattening of Cid's gaze as he pre-emptively moved aside.
"O-Of c-c-course!"
"A-Any-Anything y-you w-w-want P-Princess!"
And those spineless responses were exactly why Cid had already moved aside, since he couldn't deny her without drawing the ire of….everyone, and he knew that neither of them would deny her. Even forgetting her status as Second Princess of the Kingdom, they would have accepted simply for the chance to fail at subtly staring at her.
"Excellent, thank you gentlemen." Alexia spoke, folding her skirt under her with both hands as she sat down where Cid had previously been sitting.
"Are you sure you want to be here? This cafeteria isn't exactly suitable for a Princess." Cid droned, taking another bite of his barely seasoned chicken.
And the brief twitch of her cheek as her eyes squinted at the chicken ever so slightly let Cid know exactly what she thought of the quality of food served to commoners and lower-class Noble's such as himself. Not that he was extremely surprised, even if Alexia wasn't the picture perfect example of spoilt, she was still Royalty. She'd probably never seen such poor quality cooking up close in her entire life.
"Well as I said, we were separated by our classes so I wanted to spend some time with you." Alexia spoke, leaning in closer so that their shoulders touched and tilting her head slightly towards him.
'I have to give her props for her acting if nothing else. If I'd been watching this from afar I wouldn't have even blinked an eye at the act.' Cid thought to himself, knowing that pretty much any other guy caught in his position right now would have fallen for her charms instantly.
"I hope you gentlemen don't mind but I brought some food over." Alexia clapped her hands together softly, right as a small brigade of maids and butlers came into the cafeteria carrying all manner of plates and dishes along with them.
And even Cid had to admit his respect at the sheer affluence on display as they marched up to the table he sat at and promptly began to fit as many dishes as possible onto its surface. While showing it off in a manner like this, with all the attention it brought, wasn't exactly Cid's cup of tea. He could admit that within the privacy of Shadow Garden, those who knew of the actual might under his control, he would enjoy a display like this.
Though he'd still have to keep at least a semblance of a cool front up even in that situation.
"Wow…" He muttered, blinking when he looked down and saw that his plate of poor-quality food had been entirely stolen by one of the maids and replaced with an empty, yet pristinely polished, plate.
"Huh? Isn't that set-" Alexia muttered under her breath, looking at the plate put in front of Cid with a squinted gaze.
"What's that?"
"Oh nothing! Don't mind me, I was just looking at the lobster." Alexia waved Cid's question off easily, reaching for the dish in question.
Meanwhile, the young man in question hummed quietly to himself as he let his gaze slide over to the maid that had taken his tray from him, yet had conveniently left Po and Skel with their own trays of terrible food.
The girl in question was admittedly rather cute, with dark blue hair pulled up in a tight and professional bun with two braids going from her temples to the bun in question. Her clothing was, to most people, the regular maid garb of the Royal Family of Midgar, complete with the insignia and all the frills and folds designed into the uniform.
To Cid, however, it was painfully obvious that the uniform was made of the signature slime of Shadow Garden. Controlled remarkably well but nonetheless the calling card of his very own organization.
'Getting a bit confident to be placing people inside the palace, aren't we Epsilon?' He thought to himself, able to tell the hallmarks of an operative taught directly by [Epsilon the Precise] through small but meaningful differences in the way that their magic flowed compared to others.
Though he could also extend that confidence to the maid-operative in question since, based on Alexia's reaction, she hadn't been ordered to do anything with Cid's food and had instead done so by herself.
It only took about a second of Cid looking at her for the girl to begin blushing ever so slightly and jitter slightly, clearly wanting to squirm or do something else but trying her best to act professional as all the other servants were doing.
'He noticed me! Lord Shadow noticed my work for him. Ahhhh i'm so happy.'
'While its probably not good to go against direct orders, i'll give her props for handing me a perfect opportunity to make Alexia break up with me!' Cid thought to himself, fired up after realizing that just the plate itself had already annoyed the Second Princess.
He hadn't been successful in getting her to dump him by lunch, but with this new setup he'd be a single-man by the end of school today!
"Oh wow. That looks real tasty. Mind if I have some?" He asked Alexia, keeping his gaze intentionally on the food and already reaching for a dish before he'd even finished speaking.
"A- You-" Alexia stammered, a little shocked at the sheer audacity that Cid displayed, but quicker than any of the onlookers could notice, she managed to smooth out her expression and smiled pleasantly. "Of course not. Here I'd recommend this."
Cid mentally clicked his tongue as not only did Alexia seem to take his attitude in stride like everything else, but even aided him in his endeavour. This was starting to get real annoying, especially because the longer that this went on, the more rumours would start to fly as well.
'Though maybe I'll get through lunch first. This food is actually good.'
And unfortunately for Cid, he was correct in guessing that rumours would begin to fly the longer he was with Alexia. Except while the rumours at school were just starting up, they were far from the worst. No, instead those ones came right from home, right from his very own operatives. Of which one got a front-row seat to his first day as 'Boyfriend of the Second Princess'.
XXXxxxXXX
That Night, Mitsugoshi Building (Under Construction)
"Lady Alpha, Lady Beta, Lady Gamma, Lady Delta." Number 227, the subordinate of Epsilon and Maid of the Midgar Royal Family, greeted respectfully, falling to a knee as was proper.
"Heya!" Delta greeted enthusiastically, only to yelp and pale at the small side-eye that Alpha shot her.
At least it wasn't an angry side-eye though. She hated Alpha's angry side-eyes.
"227, we were told that you had information that we, specifically, would find important? Did you find a Cult member amongst the Royal Palace?" Alpha questioned, interlacing her fingers and resting her hands on the desk she was sitting at.
"No, Lady Alpha. I have, as of yet, to find any members of the Cult that have infiltrated the Royal Palace of Midgar."
"Then is it perhaps something to do with the economy? I'm aware that our growth into the Capital is still mostly unknown but shifts in the financial situation of Midgar can greatly effect our business once we open." Gamma commented, blinking in surprise as 227 shook her head and spoke once more.
"It's not that either, Lady Gamma. Instead it's…It has to do with Lord Shadow."
"Is the boss ok!?"
"Lord Shadow!?
"Has something happened!?"
Immediately Delta, Beta and Gamma were questioning the poor numbered operative. Neither of the three allowing the girl to even open her mouth, let alone speak and explain what she was trying to report to them.
But, fortunately, at least one member of the Seven Shades was able to keep a cool head about her in response to the reveal, or to be more accurate– Was able to act like she was keeping a cool head.
"Silence." There was a brief surge of magic power in the room, instantly making all three of the immensely powerful women shut up and stop crowding around the thankful but immensely frightened 227.
"What do you have to report about Lord Shadow, 227?" Alpha asked, her voice smooth and calm, as if she wasn't running through a million scenario's all at once in her mind.
"Lord Shadow, under the guise of his civilian identity…Is currently dating the Second Princess, Alexia Midgar."
You could have heard a pin-drop in the room as the four Shades tried and failed to comprehend the words that had just left 227's lips. Though, as always, Delta's simplistic thoughts brought her to her own conclusion before any of her fellow colleagues were even finished comprehending the outlandish claim of their operative.
"Woah! Finally!" She cheered, throwing a fist up high.
"Lord Shad- Why- Her- Not- Huh?" Beta muttered, swirls practically appearing in her eyes.
"Why are you so excited about this Delta!?" Gamma asked accusingly, only to get a look in return that was so confused it almost, almost, made her doubt her own intelligence.
"Are you certain that this is what's happening?" Alpha's question cut through the room, instantly shutting Delta up before she could begin speaking as the sheer coldness that emanated in each word filtered into her mind.
"Yes, Lady Alpha. I even eavesdropped in on other students, maids and butlers before I considered coming here. It seems as though they only began dating today, your ladyships."
"Only today…" Beta muttered, at least able to take solace in the fact that this information hadn't exactly been hidden from her.
But instead all she could feel was confusion. Why Alexia and not her? What did the Princess have that Beta didn't? Looks? Certainly not. Intelligence? Not even close. Power? Beta had more than Alexia could ever hope to have.
'So then…why did he choose her?' She thought, her eyes staring blankly at her own hand.
Meanwhile, Gamma, while equally as confused as Beta, was taking it just a little bit better. Thinking not that Shadow had forsaken her in a romantic sense, but rather, wondering what sort of advantage he sought to gain by dating Alexia. Her mind, trained and honed in the art of business, immediately connecting the dots between the leader of a shadow organisation and the sheer, overwhelming power that the Royal Family of Midgar contained in the palm of their hand.
"You seem confused, 227." Alpha spoke, her expression flat and her voice still oddly cold and clipped compared to even her usual cadence.
"I am, just a little, Lady Alpha. For Princess Alexia to be dating Lord Shadow, the civilian identity of Lord Shadow at that…It's rather odd. She seems rather cold to him, despite their apparent dating and then there's the matter of her betrothal."
"Princess Alexia is betrothed?" Beta questioned, instantly narrowing in on the perceived 'weakness' she had found in the Second Princess.
"Indeed. To a sword instructor from the Academy, actually. Zenon Griffey." 227 reported.
"I see.." Alpha muttered, covering her mouth with one of her hands before giving a small nod to 227, "If that's all you have to report, you may go."
"Of course, Lady Alpha." 227 nodded and hurriedly left the room, closing the door behind her.
And for about two seconds there was peace and quiet, before chaos erupted.
"Why would Lord Shadow date her of all people!?"
"I think the more important question is why not inform any of us first?" Gamma responded, getting a small twitch from Alpha as she tried to sort through the facts and find her own conclusion.
"But why her!?"
"I don't know Beta, I just can't figure out what Lord Shadow is aiming for."
"Enough. Whatever they may be, Lord Shadow wouldn't do something like this without reasons and a proper plan." Alpha spoke confidently, even despite her own confusion, only to look over in confusion as the happy humming of Delta finally managed to reach her in the silence of Beta and Gamma.
The Beastkin was smiling happily as she sat cross-legged on the very fancy couch in the office, her hands holding onto her ankles as she swayed side-to-side and her tail was wagging at a furious pace between her and the couch back.
"Delta, is there a reason you're so happy?" Alpha asked, too curious at the young woman's strange actions to keep herself completely serious.
"Of course. Boss-man is finally dating people. Which means that I can be one of his wives! Or concubines, that works too." Delta said simply, completely unaware of the blushes that she lit up on all three women, though Alpha's was gone in a matter of seconds as she used some magic to forcibly suppress the reaction.
"And…how do you suppose that?" She questioned, wondering what sort of thought process the wolf-girl was running off of.
"Well Boss-man is…Boss-man. There's no woman who can handle him by herself. And he's super strong too! So it's only natural he has a bunch of wives and concubines." Delta said, crossing her arms and nodding to herself.
'Ah, right. Beastkin.' Beta thought to herself, even if the idea of dating Shadow made her blush an even brighter red.
"Despite that logic, you said 'finally' before. Were you expecting something like this to happen?"
"Uh huh!" Delta smiled brightly and nodded, "But the Princess was super surprising. I thought it would be one of us first!"
Gamma slipped as she attempted to stand up, slamming her face into the coffee table and hitting the ground like a sack of bricks.
"Are you ok, Gamma?" Alpha asked, craning her neck just a little to look at Gamma's face, where she could already see a slight blood-nose coming on.
"U-Uh huh…"
"Regardless. This situation is a rather bold move and declaration from Lord Shadow. I'll do some looking into it myself between our other priorities." Alpha concluded, leaning back in her chair slightly.
The information and hints were all swirling around in her head like a hurricane, stirring up her emotions no matter how good of a poker face she kept up in reality. The thoughts of Alexia were laughably simple for her to parse together, to escape her betrothal, but why Cid, and why he accepted, were entirely separate matters. While she had plenty of theories, she couldn't nail a single one down and she found that, that was surprisingly stressful for her.
Though, in a strange sort of way, Delta's thoughts on the matter of Cid dating had helped to calm her down somewhat. If only to give her some fledgling, childish hope that she wouldn't be left behind by the man she loved and adored.
Meanwhile, in the rest of the building that was still in the early-mid stages of construction, the rumor that Lord Shadow was dating Princess Alexia, while unfortunately true, spread like wildfire.
XXXxxxXXX
Two Days Later, Midgar Dark Knight Academy
Alexia hummed to herself quietly as she stalked the halls of the Academy for her prey. Her footsteps light and dainty, as 'expected' of a Princess like herself, and her expression pleasantly light and exuberant. The picture perfect act that she had spent her entire childhood developing for when she needed to play as 'Princess Alexia', instead of simply just Alexia Midgar.
And while it was perfect in meeting peoples expectations of what she should be as Princess, it was equally as perfect in leaving someone off-kilter when she showed just a little of her ruthlessness that lay beneath it. Which was her grand-plan for this lunch period, if she could find her targets. Though she was practically guaranteed to find them, they weren't exactly 'break the mold' type students.
While usually she would have relied on purely rumors and her own deductions, the sheer enigma that Cid Kagenou continued to be was just beginning to get on her nerves. The behavior that he had exhibited that first day that, they had met was so totally, drastically, different to how he had acted the last two and a bit days that she genuinely didn't know what to think of him.
So, she was going to the two people that she knew would know what he was like. Obviously his sister would probably have a better idea of what he was like but she didn't want to open that can of worms when it would take a week or two and then Zenon would give up and drop the betrothal.
It was simple, it was efficient, and if she really turned up the pressure then she could get rid of Zenon, dump Cid, and be totally free by the time of the High-Gala. And the Low-Gala too but it's not exactly like royalty went to that one, and if she had a say in it, she wouldn't be.
"I'm telling you dude! If I asked out Alexia she'd totally leave Cid and go for me. What lady wouldn't?" The smarmy voice of Po Tato echoed through the halls, making Alexia's grin darken.
'Targets acquired.'
Quickly, yet silently, she snuck up behind the smug, cowardly, duo of Po and Skel. Slowly raising her hands and waiting for the perfect moment to reveal herself, for max scare factor.
"-and with me she'd totally fall head over heels and be all like 'Skel, my beloved, you're so smart and-'"
Alexia clapped her hands down on Skel and Po's shoulders, freezing them both solid as she leaned her head between theirs and smiled sadistically.
"Hello, 'my beloved'. Would the two of you mind answering some questions for me?"
"IIIIEEEEEEEEE!"
XXXxxxXXX
Side-story: A mission given
227 blushed minutely and fidgeted as she found herself alone in a hallway with Cid Kagenou, otherwise known as her Lord and Saviour, Shadow. She couldn't believe this, she'd only reported his dating of the Princess last night and now she was getting to talk to him one on one, this was amazing!
"Lord Kagenou. Is there something you require of me?" She asked, trying her absolutely hardest not to break character as she clutched her hands in front of her, as was proper of a royal maid.
"Yeah. You're doing reconnaissance." He said, staring directly at her.
'Lord Shadow has already checked for any eavesdroppers? What talent! No wonder Lady Epsilon continues to strive for his level of control!'
"Yes, Lord Shadow." She nodded, slipping out of her 'civilian' persona slightly. "I reported the situation with Princess Alexia to Ladies Alpha, Beta, Gamma and Delta last night."
'THEY'RE HERE!? WHERE!? WHY!? WHERE!?' Cid thought to himself, humming and leaning in closer to 227, making her blush a little brighter, her composure beginning to waver.
"You have consistent meetings with the Shades?"
"I-I…Y-Yes Lord Shadow. E-Every month."
"A consistent schedule?" 227 paled, pressing her lips tightly together.
'Is he angry? Is he approving? No. He's so intense he must be angry. I can't have Lord Shadow being angry at me!'
'If yes then I can use her as a way to get information back to the girls even though they're hiding somewhere!...At least as long as this farce with Alexia continues.'
"N-No Lord Shadow. I-I'd never be so careless. The date and time are always randomized to avoid a consistent pattern to be exploited."
'Shit. But smart, i suppose that having a maid disappear at the same time during the same night would be sorta suspicious.' Cid thought to himself, sighing internally.
"Good." He nodded in approval, still leaning in close as he reached into his pocket and pulled out his notebook, ripping a small page out without looking. "This is to be handed to Gamma. I trust her to handle the situation appropriately."
Quickly he held the paper up to her between two fingers. The undercover operative quickly grabbing the paper and absorbing it into the slime making up her uniform.
"It shall be done, Lord Shadow." She replied seriously, glad that she at least managed to get through that without stammering.
"Good. You may continue your duties now."
"Of course, Lord Shadow." She said, quickly powerwalking away from him the moment that he stepped back.
'Oh my goodness! That was so close. If someone had seen us they would have thought that he was h-h-hitting on me!' She thought, blushing brightly as behind her, Cid looked down into the notebook that he'd just pulled a page out of.
And realized that while sure, he had managed to give her the correct page and not like…anything stupid or embarrassing. He'd also given her a page that had, on the back, the list of businesses that he had thought could have been Cult hideouts. Including multiple that he had already crossed out before getting distracted and forgetting to cross out the rest.
'I TOTALLY FORGOT WHAT WAS ON THE BACK OF THAT PAGE!' He screamed mentally, falling to his knees and pounding on the hallway floor with a weak fist.
An act which was, luckily, unseen in the now empty hall.
XXXxxxXXX
Hello Ladies and gentlemen. It is I. The man who took a scene I couldn't fit into the chapter and just made it the side-story. Victory achieved.
So, fun fact. In the last chapter I'd said that it had been 3 weeks since Cid had joined the school because I thought that we hadn't been given a time frame. We had. Except its not fucking consistent. In the anime, both dub and sub, the time frame between Cid joining the academy and asking Alexia out is 7 MONTHS. While in both the Manga and LN (According to a helpful fan in the discord) the time frame is stated to be 2 months.
So, either way, I messed up on the timeline and now can either ignore it, go back and retcon, orrrr acknowledge it and create an entirely original arc. So hi, welcome one and all to the Dual Gala arc. Made by yours truly.
I have quite a few ideas for this arc and began proper setup for it in this chap. So I hope that you all enjoy it and everything that I have planned.
Other than that, my trip to Japan was great, uni continues to be annoying, and I have the next chapter of my spider-man fanfic finished and it just needs to be looked over by my beta readers.
Shilling time!
Discord code; ctMzhq3 or plasmaassassin
REVIEW REPLIES:
MEleeSmasher: Oh there would be violence in that fight. I can guarantee it.
Omnipotente Vargas: It'll definitely be interesting by the time that we get around to that point in the story. And I have a couple small ideas so far for that arc.
Rodvek97: You're welcome.
Seiichi Yotsuba: Yeah I know that they meet him on a consistent basis. And while I could make an excuse in-world for why they haven't come around yet, I just forgot XD
SGKaisa: I mean to each their own. I just love Iris' appearance.
Cainabel201X: Thank you, I'm glad to hear it.
Anikong: A FELLOW IRIS LOVER
Naysayer(Guest): You're a fucking gem. Thank you.
Xerzo LotCN: Well while he could do that. Its not really in his style to. He's also a rather twisted person in more ways than one.
Warrior of six blades: Unfortunately no Eta or Zeta yet. They'll appear eventually though, mark my words.
END OF REVIEW REPLIES.
Goodbye one and all, I shall see you all in my next update. And know that Episode 4 of Season 2 has some fucking goated scenes of Delta.