Demon Queened

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Chapter 54 - Talking Things Through
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    • Abigail​


    Sleep wasn't exactly easy to come by that night. It did eventually take me, mind you, but I've got no idea when - I mostly just remember tossing and turning and trying real hard not to think too much about my feelings. Not the way I'd normally be handling things, but considering the source of those feelings was sleeping right next to me… Well, it wasn't exactly ideal for sorting through my mental state.

    I know I fell asleep eventually, though, because I came to when I felt Devilla start to tug herself out from under my arm. An arm I definitely didn't remember putting around her - probably happened in my sleep, or something. Thankfully, whether because the clue was too small or the Queen too oblivious, Devilla didn't seem to make anything of it.

    "Eager to get back to your girlfriend?" I asked, stretching and trying very hard to ignore the pang of what was probably jealousy going through me.

    "Apologies for waking you," Devilla replied, a soft smile on her lips. I wish it was for me, but I was pretty sure her mind really was on Lucy. "To be honest, though, I'm actually rather nervous… I trust Lucy to have cleared the place of rats, and yet I can't help but worry she might have failed… It's utterly irrational."

    "Relax, you'll be fine," I promised. "What sort of rat could even hurt you, anyhow?"

    "It's not a matter of physical harm…" Devilla protested, frowning. "It's simply… fear. Terror, even."

    "Terror… over rats?" The big bad Demon Queen being scared of rats was still difficult for me to wrap my mind around. I mean, she was half a step away from being invincible! There was literally only one person in the world who could beat her, and not only was she too weak for it right now, she'd actually joined forces with her enemy!

    The way Devilla actually flinched when I said the word, though? Yeah, that was enough to convince me this was no joking matter.

    "Alright, alright, I'll drop it," I promised. "For real, though - Lucy's probably missing you. It's her first night by herself since you reunited, right?

    "I suppose that is true," Devilla conceded. "And I still wish to elucidate Lucy on matters of demonic etiquette before we meet with Chloe's mother, tonight."

    "You mean your aunt?" I asked, causing her to flinch again. "No offense, but are you sure it's a good idea for her to be coming? Meeting a relative for the first time sounds stressful enough without adding an undercover Heroine to the mix."

    "She wants to know more about her family," Devilla replied with a shrug. "Who am I to deny her a firsthand account?"

    "I don't know, maybe the queen?" I pointed out. "The future of our country is at stake here. Not exactly the best time to let your heart lead over your head."

    "My heart's taken me this far," she replied with a pout, "and I think it will take me farther yet. I won't ask Lucy to be satisfied with second hand crumbs when she could have been in a position to ask questions herself."

    "Then how about a compromise?" I suggested. "Bring her in after your aunt cracks. Assuming she does crack, anyway."

    "That… might be doable," Devilla conceded after a long moment. "I'll discuss the matter with Lucy."

    "Good…" I sighed in relief, glad to have that sorted. Lucy showing up and announcing herself the way she did last time could easily lead to disaster… It was honestly a miracle it hadn't ended that way the first time around!

    Though, at the same time… Well, considering those newfound feelings I was still trying really hard not to think about… Could I be 100% sure that this was a selfless move on my part? That I didn't just want a little more time with Devilla, sans Lucy? I mean, I could have brought this point up at any time, yet I was stomping all over their plan the day of?

    Yeah… Feelings were complicated.

    ***​

    Feelings were complicated. You know what else was complicated, though? Cooking! Or something.

    …Honestly, I had no idea where I was going with that logic - or why I was even bothering with it for that matter. It wasn't like I needed to rationalize what I was doing, anyways… Not really…

    Long story short? I was going to see a certain cook because she was the closest thing I had to a friend aside from Devilla… even if Lenora was more like a 'work friend,' really.

    I wasn't exactly good at the whole social thing. Too prickly. Too prone to saying whatever the hell was on my mind. Also terrible at reaching out. And it didn't help that everyone at my last job hated me. They kept accusing me of getting good clients through nepotism, rather than hard work and talent. It was the main reason I ended up switching careers to be a maid in the first place, and as for making friends among the staff there? Yeah, good luck finding someone who'd stick around long enough to form a proper friendship. One day you'd be best buds, the next they'd be fleeing the floor in tears and you'd never see them again… All at the hands of a girl I now had feelings for.

    So yeah. Even if I did actually have more friends to pick from, I probably wouldn't have been able to explain to most of them why I was feeling the way I was… Lenora, though, had actually respected Devilla before she stopped being a… No - before she started healing and actually became nice to be around.

    So there I was, standing outside the kitchen, taking deep breaths and trying to calm down. Also trying to ignore the horned wolf sniffing at the air besides me. She was back to her usual 'protect Maid' schtick now that she'd been returned to the tower. Something I didn't need or appreciate! Even if it did sorta send warm tingly feelings through me when I remembered how Bailey's reasoning was that I was 'important to Queen.'

    …Dammit, I had it bad, didn't I? When did this even start? I mean, up until a day ago, I'd been completely comfortable just being Devilla's friend! No, more like I'd finally gotten over the mind boggling fact that I was the supposedly bratty queen's friend! And now I was feeling warm tingles at the thought that I was important to her? What the hell!

    Shaking those thoughts off - alongside my nerves - I went ahead and made my way through the kitchen doors. It was a bit past lunch at this point, and while I was pretty sure the kitchen never really came to a full stop during working hours, everyone there still needed to take breaks now and again. This was around time for Lenora's, which made it all the more baffling for me to find her exactly as I always did - sweeping the floors.

    "...Seriously?"

    "Ah… No, um…." She tightened her fingers around the broom, looking both ways as if begging someone to come save her. Of course, the few people who were still in the room just focused on their own tasks even more intently. "It's not what you think…"

    "So you're not sweeping the floor during what's meant to be your break?" I asked, arching an eyebrow.

    "N-No…?" Lenora tried, red tingeing her cheeks as her tail swayed nervously back and forth behind her. "I-I mean… I am, but… but I was cooking, earlier! I mean, it was mostly just mixing sauces, but still! The head chef said my work was satisfactory!"

    I opened my mouth. Then I closed my mouth, placed my head in my hands, and let out a long sigh. "So you're pulling double duty as a cook and a scullery maid?"

    "W-Well… I'm still proving myself…" Lenora muttered, shrinking in on herself. "I… I need to show that I can work hard! That I'm not just here because of my family's name…"

    "Sounds more like you're letting them walk all over you," I replied, letting my hands drop back down from my face as I let loose another sigh. "But, as long as you're happy, I guess it's a step in the right direction…"

    "It is!" Lenora agreed, happily thumping her tail against the ground. "I-I mean… it is…"

    "Alright…" I conceded, holding my hands up in defeat. "But do you think you could at least put the broom down long enough to have a late lunch with me? I… maybe kinda sorta really definitely need someone to speak to for a bit."

    "S-someone to talk to?" Lenora asked, confused. "But don't you have Bailey right next to you? S-she is a demon, isn't she?"

    "Of course she's a demon!" I replied. Maybe a little too forcefully. I was a little tired of people asking me about that, though… There was a stubborn rumor about Devilla sneaking in a wild animal that just wouldn't die down. "I just… It isn't something I can talk to her about."

    "Why not?" Lenora asked with a sort of tactless innocence I didn't even feel right get annoyed at her for.

    "Because she'd be way too smug about it! Now, can you come talk with me or not? Because I'm feeling pretty close to my wit's end, here…"

    "A-Alright…" Lenora promised, biting her lip. "I'll um… I'll just use magic to clean up the remaining dust… it's sort of frowned upon, since it sends dust flying everywhere for a second, but…" Lenora scrunched up her eyes, obviously concentrating, and a moment later I felt a wash of power running over me. Next thing I knew, dust and dirt and food particles were coming up off the ground all around me and gathering into a neat pile by Lenora's broom. Much to the complaints of those still scurrying around doing things, as the dust swirled around their legs to reach its destination.

    "S-sorry!" Lenora called out. "I-It's for the Queen's p-personal maid, though, so-"

    "Emergency!" I interrupted. "Very important Queen-based emergency. She's coming with me for a bit." Saying so, I grabbed hold of Lenora's hand and practically yanked her out of the room.

    "A-Abigail?" Lenora stuttered. "I-is there really an emergency?"

    "Yes. No. Maybe sort of? It's related to Devilla and it's urgent, anyways…" At least to me it was.

    "I-I'm not in trouble, am I?" Lenora asked next, her voice shaking from fear.

    That, at least, managed to stop me in my tracks. I looked back at her, baffled - an expression Bailey mirrored. "Why would you be in trouble?"

    "I-I mean… W-well… The th-things I said to G-G-General S-Sylvanna, the other day… I mean, I was really mad, so I said things, and I meant them, but…"

    "You mean the bimbo bit of her we had the displeasure of speaking with?" I asked, remembering the unpleasant interaction. "If she wants to stir up any trouble, she can go through me. And probably Devilla, too, but I'm not going to let her get past me in the first place." Not if it meant Devilla would have to face a woman who'd been verbally abusing her for the last fourteen years.

    "S-So there is trouble?" Lenora asked, her usually dusky skin now almost pale.

    "No, there isn't," I promised, forcing myself to keep calm. No need to push Lenora into a freak out. "I promise. I just want to talk to you about something… Queen related."

    "A-Alright…" Lenora agreed, nervously nodding her head. "It um… Doesn't have anything to do with the secrets of why the Queen's sneaking around, does it? B-because I kn-know you trust me, but I r-really don't think I'm the right p-person for telling secrets to…"

    "Not… directly," I replied, evading the question. I didn't really know how to answer it, myself. Did I even want to talk about Lucy? I mean, she was a complicating factor in the whole feelings thing… "I'll keep it vague," I promised, tugging her further down the hall and into Devilla's room. It was sound proofed, so far as I could tell - you could hear what was going on outside of it from within, but not the other way around. Other than that, I just had to keep an eye on the teleportation circle and make sure the owner didn't show up unexpectedly in the middle of this embarrassing chat. Bailey was a bit of a problem, but so long as she stayed in wolf form and kept quiet I could… think about it later. There had to be some way to buy her silence. Assuming she wasn't outright willing to let me handle things, anyways…

    "Wh-what's going on, A-Abigail?" Lenora asked, her voice trembling as she looked between me and the closed door. I'd almost forgotten how nervous Devilla's room made her, but it wasn't like we could have this talk in a staff break room, so…

    "I think I have… feelings for Devilla," I confessed - though I basically had to force the second half out of my mouth. Saying it aloud made it feel way too real.

    "...L-Like… romantic feelings?" Lenora checked, staring at me with wide eyes.

    I didn't answer right away. Instead, I wandered my way over to Devilla's bed, plopped myself down on it, and closed my eyes.

    "A-Abigail?"

    "...Yeah," I said eventually, opening my eyes again. "I think so." Envy for how much she cared about Lucy, warm tingles when I thought about how much she cared about me… fear when I thought about what she might say. I'd never really fallen in love before, but so far as I could tell this checked all the right boxes. "Maybe it's just a crush or something? Maybe I'll get over it…"

    "W-well…" Lenora bit her lip, her tail shaking a little from nerves. "Th-the last Queen married a commoner, right? It wasn't really popular among the bloodliners, I guess, but…"

    "The Smiling Soldier, right?" I asked, trying to remember what I'd learned about Devilla's dam, Issa. "She was already basically a hero on the front lines, though, wasn't she?"

    "W-well… yeah," Lenora said. "B-But I don't think Q-Queen D-Devilla would care…"

    "That's true…" Nivera might throw a conniption fit about the politics, but she'd get over it. It wasn't like she actually wanted Devilla to pick a bloodline member or anything, anyways. Sallina would probably be happy enough that Devilla was at least interested in a demon this time. They'd probably find a way to make it work, too… but… "It doesn't matter, though. She's already got a girlfriend."

    "Sh-she does?" Lenora asked, her eyes wide.

    "Don't tell anyone," I immediately added, "but yeah. They're both real lovey dovey, too. Devilla's always smiling whenever L…she comes up…" The tenderness in her eyes when she looked at Lucy was another dead giveaway. Also the determined look that she sometimes had - like she was ready to face the gallows if it came down to it, just so that she could spend a little more time with the girl. Which probably had more to do with Devilla's own hang ups than anything, but… it really did drive home how much she cared.

    "D-Do you t-think they'd be willing to… um… share?" Lenora asked. At some point she'd grabbed hold of her tail and was now nervously fiddling with the tip of it. "Demon Queens ha-haven't really d-done that, h-historically, b-but Queen Devilla's pretty… different… than most of the others."

    "Different how?" I asked, deciding to avoid Lenora's question for now. I wasn't sure about Devilla's answer, but from what little I'd seen of Lucy… maybe.

    That would put me in the same relationship as the Heroine, though, and I really wasn't sure what to think of that. I mean, it wasn't like we'd have to date each other, but we'd definitely at least have to be able to get along.

    "I-I've heard that most Demon Queens start acting v-very… distant after the Rite," Lenora told me. "Th-they always tend to k-keep to the s-same policies and s-stay away from the common folk… They're always aloof and mysterious. Q-Queen Devilla's mom was a-another exception, though, so m-maybe it's not a surprise?"

    "Her Mom?" I asked, interest actually piqued now. I didn't really know a lot about the late Queen Grimmilla.

    Lenora nodded. "S-she v-v-valued people's lives more than anything," she said, the stranglehold she had on her tail slowly loosening up as she started to get an excited look in her eyes. It was the same one she'd get when she talked about cooking. "She… maybe w-wasn't the best tactician, according to s-some people, but she interceded a lot more in the war efforts than most Demon Queens did, and she did her best to keep as many soldiers as she could alive! Sh-she always said her people were more important to her than the land… t-though some people say that's why we ended up with nothing but the Tower left… She ceded a lot of land to save lives. M-most people say that no other Demon Queen would have done that, let alone marry a commoner. She did charity work, too. And she was always so humble! Sh-she talked a lot about how she was only doing what Luci would have wanted of her… "

    "Huh… I never knew all that," I admitted with a frown. "I mean, I knew the part about us losing a lot of land, but… I suppose that's the difference between a public education and one given to a bloodliner, huh?"

    "O-oh, I-I'm not a bloodliner," Lenora protested, holding up her hands and waving them about as if she was scared of being hit with the label. "Th-though my family did hire tutors, I guess… but… Mostly it's just an um... s-special interest of mine..."

    "Demon Queens?" I asked, then shrugged when she nodded. "Huh… And you're not a bloodliner? Even though you have a last name?"

    "W-we're just… kinda… rich," Lenora murmured, sounding embarrassed. "W-we have a lot of stores. But we're not from one of the bloodlines, or anything…"

    "Huh…" I repeated.

    "B-but um… Didn't you want to talk about… your f-feelings?" Lenora asked, timidly.

    I grimaced. "Yeah… about that… I'm not exactly sure what there is to say. I'm in love with a girl who's taken, and the only way forward is to ask her girlfriend, right?"

    Lenora nodded, looking a little confused. "S-so then… Why did you want to see me?"

    "I don't know… so I wouldn't have to think about it by myself, maybe?" I suggested, honestly unsure. "Because the thought of what I have to do is so mind bogglingly outside my comfort zone that I was really hoping you'd have another suggestion? Or maybe just because it's… I don't know. It feels more real when I'm saying it to someone. Like I can't avoid it anymore…"

    I didn't like avoiding my feelings. Confronting them was unpleasant, mind you, but hiding from them? That was the worst. It got nothing done! Usually I didn't need to recruit allies for that sort of confrontation, though.

    "M-Maybe you just needed a friend to talk to?"

    "...Yeah…" I agreed. "Maybe." I was still in pretty much the same place I'd started, despite sorting through what my feelings meant, but… it somehow felt better being stuck with a friend around than if I'd been by myself.

    "Want to eat a late lunch?" I asked. "Something tells me I'm not going to have much of an appetite come dinner…"


    Once again, I'm delivering a chapter that didn't go the way I expected it to. The info on past Demon Queens? Never meant to be there. And I did think we'd get some time with Devilla, too... Oh well. I'm actually rather happy with how it came out.

    ...Kinda? For some reason I was constantly worried that I was messing up Abigail, despite the scene coming out more smoothly than anything has in a while. It was almost too easy to write her, which only made me more concerned. Hopefully you all enjoy it, though?

    Thanks, as always, to the FallingLeaf for the amazing proofreading job!

    Next week might need to be skipped, again - I'm working towards preventing that outcome, but I've only gotten Patreon up to chapter 55 so far... I blame the sudden back pain that's been throwing me off. (It's getting better, but I slept funny or something and have been in pain for a few days. Nothing too bad, but enough to mess with my flow.)
     
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    • most excellent!

    it's pretty interesting how inexperienced the pair of them are about poly stuff - really feels like they're two friends who don't really know what they're talking about but are making a solid effort anyways. for example: it wouldn't be being in the same relationship as Lucy - the same network/polycule/whatever, sure (I guess they'd be metamours? anyway..), but polyamory is just removing the mono limiter on romantic relationships so you end up with more relationships, not one bigger one. and Lenora is so funny for the "share" comment xD it sounds like a euphemism in context which is somehow even funnier than it just being a misunderstanding of it all xD

    so yea. absolutely love this chapter and the sausages driving it xD
     
    Chapter 55 - Dinner Reservations
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    • Devilla​

    "Are you truly sure you're alright with being left behind?" I asked, wishing to confirm once more that Lucy actually was fine with Abigail's suggestion.

    "I really am fine with it!" she promised me with a soft smile. "This is a family reunion for you, too, isn't it? It isn't just a chance for me to ask questions! If you do things this way you can focus on the first part first and I can do my thing after!"

    "It can hardly count as a reunion if I've never actually met her before," I pointed out with a soft frown. "And I don't expect it to be very pleasant either… You aren't the only one intent on getting answers tonight, you know? It seems she also has information on my mother, and her plans for me…"

    "Plans for you?"

    "Right… You weren't there for that, were you?" I murmured, recalling that it was prior to me telling Lucy the truth of things. "My mother supposedly claimed that I would be the one to stop the war, at least according to my aunt's drunken ranting. I intend to find out what she meant by that."

    "Well, if you can get her to open up, then we'll both win!" Lucy pointed out. "But it's still starting out as just a dinner with your aunt, right? It's fine if you don't include me for that."

    "I suppose…" I reluctantly agreed, eyeing the teleportation circle that would take me back to my room. "It just feels wrong to leave you here, eating dinner by yourself while we feast… Especially since I made you relocate to the forest after the…incident at the inn..." Was it free of rats? Probably not. But it was a matter of not knowing! Ignorance was bliss!

    "You're sweet to worry," Lucy told me, with a quick kiss to my cheek that set my face ablaze, "but I'll be fine! I've had plenty of meals in the woods by myself before I met you!"

    "I don't believe that's as good a point as you think it is in terms of assuaging my guilt…" I grumbled before shaking my head and moving towards the circle. "Very well. I'll be back to spirit you away shortly…"

    "I'll see you soon!" Lucy said cheerfully as she waved goodbye.

    And just like that I was gone, away from the dark woods and back into my brightly lit bedroom… Or at least I assumed that my room was brightly lit. I'd come to realize that I was actually terrible at telling the relative light level unless I intentionally focused on it.

    "Oh good," came Abigail's voice, "you're back."

    "Indee…" I began, only to trail off as I caught sight of the speaker.

    It was Abigail, of course - who else would it have been, waiting in my room? - but she looked very different from what I was used to. Gone was her maid uniform - or rather it was laying nicely folded upon my bed. Instead, she was wearing a bewitching backless black dress. Though it technically covered more than her maid outfit, going almost all the way down to her knees, the way it clung to her, and the absence of decorative frills, left even less to the imagination than usual.

    "...Is it too much?" she asked, plucking at the tight hem and doing a quick twirl for me. "I didn't really know how formal I should be going for this, so I just went with my gut and picked out something nice from my closet."

    "N-No," I said, my tongue suddenly tied as a torrent of competing compliments tried to jostle their way forward to reassure her. "It's… You look gorgeous."

    "Th-thanks," she replied. I couldn't help but notice the red upon her own cheeks as she did so, as if my compliment had caught her off guard. "W-Well, I guess we should hurry up and join the others, then? I hear Chloe's Mom's a pretty big stickler for being on time."

    "Right…"

    ***​

    The trip to my aunt's place went smoothly, if only because I'd grown used to walking through town in disguise while taking cooking lessons from Abigail. She apparently lived on the 47th floor in an area that looked closer to suburbs than the urban territory Abigail and her mother inhabited. The houses were a little further away from one another and grass and trees could be spotted between them.

    "Is it just me, or is Chloe's mom way better off than I was expecting?" Abigail asked, looking up and down the street. "I mean, maybe you're not aware of this, what with the whole 'having a whole floor to myself' thing, but space is kinda at a premium when your entire civilization is stuffed inside a single tower. It feels downright weird seeing this much room between buildings…"

    "Well, she is the Queen's aunt," Chloe pointed out, popping up from inside a nearby bush. "I'm pretty sure she got this place when your dam was still alive, too - guessing Aunt Issa didn't really want her sister living in relative poverty while she feasted on royal delicacies every day."

    "Wha-why- why were you…" Abigail looked between the small bush and the girl stepping out of it, obviously confused.

    "To surprise you, of course! Really, I'm just glad I properly predicted what street you'd be coming down. Makes the time I spent waiting totally worth it"

    "Right…" Abigail sighed, shaking her head. "I guess this is your take on being a trickster?"

    "Oh, you haven't even scratched the surface of that!" Chloe promised with a sharp toothed grin. "Honestly, I've been too busy acting like the responsible one to get any good tricks in of late. It's been starting to make me feel all icky and stifled… Not exactly planning to pull a ton of pranks during a big important dinner, though, so you can get that right out of your head."

    "Just a minor trick or two before dinner, then?" I guessed, unable to help the smile that came to my own lips.

    "Exactly!" Chloe confirmed. "You get it, cuz!"

    "Cuz, huh… It's odd, to hear that word used in reference to myself. In truth, I never truly thought of family as something I could have, in this lifetime… the idea of people simply spending time with you and loving you because of who you are was a foreign one for much of my life."

    "Well, you've got a whole bunch of family now," Chloe pointed out, her toothy grin shifting to a more mundane looking smile as she undid the partial transformation she'd placed upon her maw. "I mean, sure, it'll take time for everything to properly settle in - but like a big lump of sugar in tea, it's only a matter of time before you ever so slowly melt into the greater whole that is a properly functioning family unit! Or something like that."

    "You make it sound like I'd lose my sense of self," I pointed out, frowning a little.

    "Yeaaaah, I'm not the best at metaphors. Try not to poke at them too much, or they'll fall apart like a sandcastle before a mighty toddler's foot. My main point is that right now you're in the teacup with the rest of us, but you haven't actually made yourself one of us. You're forcing yourself to trust us, because you want what we're offering, but you've been by yourself for so long that it doesn't feel real. Unless I'm mistaken?"

    "...No," I confessed with a grimace, "you're correct. As much as I want to accept Nivera as a sister, of sorts, I've spent fourteen years trying my damndest to never think about her. It's… difficult to accept that we're suddenly talking again, no matter how happy the thought makes me…"

    "Just give it time," Chloe suggested. "And make sure you don't accidentally alienate the people already in your life just because you're chasing after something new… Or am I imagining that slightly neglected look on your face, Abby?"

    Abigail missed a step, obviously caught off guard by her sudden inclusion in the conversation. A miscalculation on my part - I should never have allowed the conversation to drift so far from what she could participate in.

    "I'm fine," Abigail promised as if to assuage my fears. "I mean, I get it - you're talking family stuff. It doesn't affect me."

    "Perhaps not directly," I interjected before Chloe could reply, "but you are as important to me as any other member of this new family I've found myself a part of. Perhaps even more so."

    My words, meant only to reassure my friend, seemed instead to fluster her. Her cheeks turned bright red, and she looked away from me. "Careful who you say that to. You're going to give someone the wrong idea…"

    "Then let the wrong idea form in their heads," I declared. "I care not a whit, so long as the truth reaches your ears. So I'll say it, again, Abigail - you are important to me."

    "And you're both important to me!" Chloe added. "Important guests, that is. The house is right this way!" Saying so, she grabbed our hands and began to drag us down the street. "Come on! The sooner we get to the table, the sooner we can get this incredibly awkward dinner started!"

    "You say that like you're looking forward to it," I remarked, frowning. "I didn't think you were the sort to feast upon misery."

    "Misery? No. But stuffed pork chops and thrice baked potatoes? Yes! You can always tell just how awkward Nivera expects a conversation to go by how good she makes the food, and this one's going to be a doozy…"

    "Wait," Abigail called out, her pace just short of a run as she struggled to keep up with Chloe's fast, if short, strides. It was a problem I could relate to. "You mean Nivera's the one cooking?"

    "Surprised?" Chloe grinned. "She's actually pretty good at it. Mostly because she's too paranoid to let anyone else cook her meals when she can help it, but still! You haven't lived until you've tasted her potted meatballs."

    "I'll keep that in mind," I remarked, trying not to chuckle at the mental image of Nivera in an apron. It wasn't even all that funny, just… so very different from how I normally envisioned her.

    "Well, I guess if nothing else it's good to know the food won't suck…" Abigail sighed.

    "Right?" Chloe grinned. "Always look on the bright side of things! That's my motto of the minute. And hey, I'm pretty sure we're going to get the answers you're looking for today, too. It's just… maybe…probably….definitely gonna be a bit messy…"

    "Messy?" I queried, a little concerned by the phrasing. "What do you mean messy?"

    "I mean, Mom might… say some things you aren't gonna wanna hear. Mostly about your own mom. She's… not a fan…"

    "If that's all, we'll be quite fine," I assured her, shaking my head and smiling. Perhaps my smile was a touch colder than usual? Abigail certainly seemed to think something was off about it, from the way she practically flinched backwards. "We don't need to get along. I'm also not particularly fond of an aunt who never even attempts to make an appearance in her niece's life. I just need answers…"

    "Well, you'll get them," Chloe promised me, releasing my hand and Abigail's alike so that she could wrap me up in a sudden hug. "With a side of family too. Because no matter what reason Mom did - or didn't - have for not contacting you, nothing's going to change the fact that you're in my life now."

    "...You know, I don't recall you ever trying to visit me, either," I pointed out. There was no heat to my words, though. My aunt was one thing, but Chloe wouldn't have had the autonomy to seek me out until long after I'd descended into brathood. It was unlikely I'd have willingly seen her, even if she had tried. Still… "I'm honestly rather surprised you never showed up and tried to help. Not that I deserved it, but you just seem like the sort who wouldn't let that stop you… Unless you thought I was too far gone even for your sake?"

    "Actually, I considered it," Chloe admitted. "I drew up all sorts of plans to sneak up to your room and give you an earful. Nivera always shot me down whenever I suggested it, though - always with some logical flaw on why my plan wouldn't work. Not that I was going to let a little thing like logic keep me from at least slipping you an invitation to our wedding, but… Well, you snapped out of it on your own before it came to that."

    "When is the wedding, anyways?" Abigail asked.

    "It's postponed, actually," Chloe admitted with a shrug. "Just until everything gets sorted out with you guys and the whole saving the world thing… It was going to be just a couple weeks after the coronation, originally, but then Illa suddenly started acting differently and Niv got way too freaked out about that to concentrate on wedding things even for a minute… The delay will be worth it in the end, though! Just so long as you actually attend your sister's wedding."

    "I'll be there," I promised, a faint smile tugging at the corner of my lips. I probably should have felt bad about interfering with their plans - I did feel bad, in fact - but… knowing that I was wanted there? Filled me with a fuzzy sort of warmth inside.

    "Good!" Chloe declared with a grin before coming to a sudden halt in front of a blue doored building. "Now come on in! Dinner should be ready by now and it smells amazing."


    Short chapter is short, I know, but I didn't wanna do yet another scene change in the same chapter. I'm afraid the next chapter's about the same, too, but I promise I'll get us through this dinner and back to the adventure as soon as I can manage. (Depression is trying to make things difficult on me, but... Well, I'm trying not to let it win.)

    Thanks, as always, to FallingLeaf for the amazing job of proofreading! And if anyone's interested in skipping ahead... Well, you can read chapters 56 and 57 on my Patreon for as little as $1! Though I'll be upfront and tell you neither have been proofread yet.
     
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    • Chapter 56 - Wine Aunt
  • Threadmarks


    • Devilla​


    There wasn't much to say about my aunt's place. It was… nice, I suppose? It had four walls, decorated with a few painted family portraits and the occasional knick knack. To be honest, I was a little too stressed out to focus on the details.

    It was only just occurring to me that I didn't even know my aunt's name. I couldn't exactly ask, either - not when I'd just been seated at the dinner table, sitting across from that very same aunt, who was now glaring at me from across the wooden surface.

    "You look like a smaller version of your mother," my aunt said after a long and awkward moment of me desperately wishing for Chloe and Nivera to get back from the kitchen. Abigail's presence besides me, with her hand on mine, was just about the only thing keeping me from having a panic attack. "Except for your eyes, I guess. You took after my sister, there."

    "...Thank you?" I proffered after an awkward pause. "I'm afraid I've only had the occasional portrait to go by, personally, so I'll have to take your word for it."

    Rare were my mother's portraits, and even rarer were my dam's. In fact, the only picture I had of her was the singular family portrait I'd seen - my dam's arm around my mother, each of them placing a hand upon the latter's belly, with soft smiles on their faces.

    Mother's face used to grace the currency, as well, but I'd had it replaced with my own image… perhaps in part to avoid feeling her judgmental eyes on me whenever I saw a coin.

    "I didn't say it was a compliment," my aunt replied, "though I suppose your mother wasn't hideous."

    "Look, Aunt…" Oh no. Why did I open my mouth? Now she was bound to find out I didn't know her name, and-

    "Do you have to be so bitchy, Marlene?" Nivera complained, slithering out of the kitchen with a large platter of food in each hand. One was stuffed to the brim with the stuffed pork chops Chloe had promised, the other with thrice baked potatoes. Chloe was following not far behind, carrying two bottles of wine and four glasses while floating a green bean casserole behind her. Each of us was given one of the glasses, except for Marlene who received the second bottle in its entirety. "Devilla's her own person, not a derivative of her mom."

    Aunt Marlene's head swiveled about to face Nivera, and for a moment the two's gazes met - one icy cold, one fiery hot. Then both pairs of eyes seemed to mellow out as Marlene let out a soft sigh. "Fine. I'll try. For your sake and Chloe's, if no one else's… but I'm going to need a lot to booze tonight."

    "Got you covered!" Chloe said cheerfully. "There's half a dozen more wine bottles chilling as we speak!"

    Marlene grunted, plunging a claw into the cork to pluck it out so that she could take a deep swig from the bottle. "...Alright, out with it. What do you want?"

    "Who says we want anything?" Abigail asked defensively, narrowing her eyes at my aunt.

    Marlene snorted. "Please. If this was just about getting to know my niece, Chloe would have come up with a twelve step plan to ease me into things - by the time I actually sat at a table with you, she'd have found some way to get me relaxed and open to you. This? This is rushed. You're after something."

    "I'm pretty sure you already know what we want," Chloe chimed in. "Something to do with the name Alira, perhaps?"

    "Personally I'm more interested in what you know of my mother and any plans for me," I confessed, shifting uncomfortably in my chair. This dinner felt like a crucible for scouring out the truth.

    "Yes, well, lucky for you it's almost impossible to talk about the first without the second," Marlene informed me before taking another swig of wine. "Seeing as how Alira's blackmail material can be traced directly back to your mother's Fallen forsaken interference in my sister's life."

    "Alira blackmailed you into staying away from me?" I asked, arching an eyebrow. That was certainly unexpected.

    Then again, I wasn't entirely sure what I expected her reason to be.

    "I've heard that Alira was a big proponent of isolating you," Nivera said with a frown. "I can't prove she was the one to come up with the idea, but she's always been my top contender."

    "It was theoretically less about isolating you, and more about keeping people from having 'undue influence' over you," Chloe reminded us. "But we all know the end result. I'm guessing Alira didn't want you interfering, Mom?"

    "Something like that," Marlene confirmed, swirling her wine bottle around and staring at the sloshing liquid. "And before you ask what she blackmailed me for, I'll repeat myself - it all goes back to that bitch who birthed you."

    "You really don't like Aunt Grimmilla, do you?" Chloe noted before I could say anything. "Any reason why? Most people who remember her talk about her like she was the next coming of Luci, or something."

    "Ha!" Marlene scoffed. "Don't think I don't know what you're doing, young missy! Trying to get more information from me… Whatever, I already promised I'd tell you, didn't I? All about that conniving, lying bitch who took advantage of my sister's idealism…"

    "Aunt Issa's ideals?" Chloe pressed. This time, though, I was fairly certain the interest in her eyes was real.

    "To start with, get that stupid image of Grimmilla out of your head," Marlene warned, her eyes trailing over everyone at the table before finally coming to rest at mine. "She might have tricked the masses into thinking she cared, but deep down she was just as selfish as you. I'm pretty damn sure there was only one person in this whole world she cared about, and it wasn't my sister, or even herself. It was you."

    "Me?" I questioned, hardly able to believe my ears. "But I hadn't even been born at that point?"

    "Yeah, well, you already meant the world to her, all the same," Marlene muttered, lifting her bottle of wine up and practically chugging at it for a moment or two. "Ah… Yeah. She… at first I think she mostly saw you as some sorta tool to use in her scheming. She talked about you all distantly, like you weren't real to her. When she actually got pregnant, though, she shifted her tune. Started actually getting excited when she talked about your future. She was always going on about the various possibilities you'd have before you… She said you'd be the first Demon Queen to ever truly be free. Free of the war, free of us, if you wanted to be. Because you were going to be the one to end everything."

    "Everything?" I asked, my head spinning. The idea that my mother actually cared for me was somehow a revelation I had not expected - it felt like someone was squeezing my heart, all of a sudden, except instead of pain I just felt… warmth. Care. Like I suddenly had expectations to live up to, and yet those expectations weren't harmful to me in the slightest… I felt like crying. Instead, I pushed that potential meltdown aside for later, and focused on the woman in front of me. "Not just the war?"

    "Definitely the war," Marlene agreed, eyeing her wine bottle - now with noticeably less wine in it. Chloe grabbed the second bottle from our side of the table, handing it over to her Mom without a word. "As for the rest… I don't know. She always said to interpret that however I wanted to. The only thing she cared about was that we helped. Or rather that Issa helped."

    "Wait," Abigail called out, holding out a hand. "I get the whole 'she was secretly a selfish bitch' complaint, but where does your sister fit into this? I mean, she was just a commoner, right? She couldn't have been of that much help, could she? Mom said she won the heart of the Queen with her jokes and laughter, but-"

    "Oh, she won something with jokes and laughter," Marlene snarled, violently ripping off the cork and putting the bottle to her lips for another big gulp.

    "She won your mother's attention, but not her love. The only reason your mother approached my sister was because she wanted her daughter to 'inherit that smile.' She figured any child of Issa's would have the strength to keep laughing through even the most terrible times… Not that I was ever really sure why she thought a princess, of all things, would need such a trait. Wasn't exactly guaranteed you'd get it, either - obviously." She gestured at me with her wine bottle before taking another big sip.

    "...I'm starting to realize just how little I know about my dam," I confessed. "Especially if her humor and smile really were enough to reach my mother's ears. That said, I'm afraid I fail to understand what my dam got out of this deal… assuming she wasn't already secretly in love with her queen?"

    "What she got was an end to the war," Marlene told me, slamming her wine bottle down on the table. "Or at least that's what the bitch promised… Issa loved to fight, but hated killing. An end to all the death was all she'd ever wanted. That might be why she got the idea in her head to be a little proactive about it."

    "Proactive?" Chloe pressed, before I had the chance to ask. From the enthralled look in her eyes, she was as eager to learn about my dam's actions as I was.

    "Aye," Marlene confirmed, taking another long drink from her bottle. "Proactive. She decided that if her daughter was going to play such a big role in ending the war, the least she could do was play a small one. Or at least that's how she explained her insanity to me. How saving a single soldier's life was supposed to change anything, though, I have no idea…"

    "A soldier?" I repeated, my mind flicking to Lucy. "Her name wouldn't happen to have been Brielle, would it?"

    Marlene sputtered, spilling wine down her front as she slammed the bottle down on the table. "How do you know that name?! Don't tell me she came back?!"

    "No… but her daughter did… sort of," I replied, not wanting to admit that I'd personally brought a human into our halls. Let alone the Heroine.

    "By the fallen -just how dumb is she?! I heard Brielle hoped for her to be a bridge between our people - even talked about naming her after Luci herself - but this… to come this far… No, wait… How did I not hear about this before? A human coming to the tower should have spread like wildfire… She hasn't been squirreled away in the dungeon, has she?"

    "I… wait…. Lucy was purposefully named after…?" I paused before shaking my head. This wasn't the time to get hung up on details. "She isn't in the dungeon. I've been keeping her disguised during her time here ever since I found her."

    "Disguised?" Marlene demanded, narrowing her eyes. "And you're sure nobody found out? Because my sister went to all the trouble of hiding her human in a remote cave, yet she still ended up getting trailed…"

    "Hence the blackmail material?" Abigail guessed, shifting a little in her seat besides me
    .
    "Aye," Marlene confirmed. "Hence the blackmail material. All for nothing - or so I'd thought… Don't tell me she has something to do with all the rumors swirling around you? The reason you've supposedly changed so much? Did my sister's insanity actually… lead somewhere?"

    "Not… quite," I replied noncommittally. I still wasn't sure how much I could afford to tell this woman, aunt or no. I'd certainly had no intention of blurting out Lucy's status, or my own recent activities, this early on…

    Not that it hadn't worked out fine for me in the past, but still.

    "How about I go get her?" I suggested. "She'd likely appreciate hearing the rest of the story."

    "Well, what are you waiting for?!" Marlene snapped at me, waving her bottle wildly in the air. "Go get her! I want to know what my sister's sacrifice amounted to."

    "Right…" I responded with a nervous smile on my lips. It seemed as if Marlene's initial reluctance to speak with me had disappeared entirely, and I wasn't quite sure what to make of it… It didn't seem like she meant any harm, at least? Hopefully, meeting Lucy would even calm her down… and maybe lead to some answers for all of us.

    I doubted she could answer the questions I really wanted to know, though. Like why the daughter of someone my dam had saved ended up as the Heroine… did my aunts in heaven do it on purpose? Had they hoped for the events of the game? For me to be slaughtered at the hand of someone who wouldn't exist if not for my parents' actions?

    Lucy would probably say otherwise. She'd definitely think that the Goddess picked her in hopes of ending the war instead. That she could be the bridge her parents wanted her to be… It was possible, but considering I knew for a fact how the timeline would have gone if the rite had gone correctly…

    I sighed and shook my head as I stood up from the table. Worrying about all this would get me nowhere. It was time to collect Lucy so that together we could extract whatever answers we could from Marlene.


    Ugh. Ugh, I say! I spent days stressing out over how best to bring Lucy into the conversation, only to realize it was best done with a chapter break… It feels a little pointless to have excluded her, considering how the story went, but the cast didn't expect the dinner to devolve into this so quickly. They haven't even gotten to the food yet!

    Oh well. Next time, we'll finish up the dinner properly so that we can get back to the adventure. (Though there is one thing that needs to be done, beyond the dinner, before we can go back to the outside world… Wonder if anyone can guess what?)

    Of course, if you don't want to be stuck guessing, you could always head over to my Patreon - I've got the rough/unpolished drafts (waiting for my proofreader) of chapters 57 and 58 already posted there, and available for as little as $1. Plus, you can read two chapters ahead on Naughty Magic, another series I'm working on, and be among the first to read any of my other series I manage to update when I've got spare time. Currently I'm working on a long overdue Ranma 1/2 fanfic commission, of which I've written four parts so far.

    Thanks, as always, to FallingLeaf for the amazing job of proofreading - not to mention helping me smooth things out in general, and helping with the title.
     
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    • Well this promises to be interesting… was expecting some fuckery, but not to the level of their parents having met before this.

    Honestly makes me worried that they're playing too far into their parents plans.
     
    AmeliaNyoom said:
    So she's half monster girl or human with some extra powers I guess depending.
    Ngl I hadn't even realised that brielle wasn't human 😅
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...

    Neah, Brielle was human - but Lucy had two moms, and using the demon terminology for that was more convenient in the moment... (It's been mentioned that two human women can reproduce, but the mechanism hasn't been explained as of yet)
     
    Chapter 57 - Food for Thought
  • Threadmarks


    • Lucy​


    Sending Eena off was… Well, it wasn't exactly harder than I let on, but it was definitely a lot more difficult than I'd thought it would be. I really did want her to have a nice dinner with this aunt of hers, but I also really wanted answers to my own questions… Answers about whether Mom really had kept such big secrets from me and, if so, why? I didn't regret my decision to send her off first, though! I just wished I'd been more keenly aware of my own feelings so that I could've talked through them with Eena before she left.

    That dissatisfaction is probably why I was more happy than surprised when Eena showed up a lot sooner than I'd expected. I'd just finished cooking up some soup for dinner. It wasn't much - conjured water, dried meat, vegetables, and a little bit of spice, all cooked in a makeshift pot of magically hardened earth with a magical fire. It was the sort of thing I always used to eat on journeys before Eena started spoiling me with all sorts of fancy food from the tower.

    "Eena? You're back for me already?" I asked with a smile.

    Eena didn't smile back. She just stared at the pot for a long moment before finally speaking. "Is… is that what you were planning to eat while the rest of us enjoyed our meal?!"

    "Yep!" I confirmed while giving Eena a reassuring smile. "It's a bit plain, but it's also really warm and filling!"

    "And to think I was going to be eating a decadent meal while you were - Why didn't you tell me your food stores were so limited?! I would have offered you something from my bag before I left!"

    "Eena…" I said with the same smile still on my face. "Don't take this the wrong way, but… I'm not that picky about food."

    "...?" Eena didn't respond, just staring at me with wide eyes.

    "I mean, I do like eating!" I hurried to assure her. "Good food really tastes good! But I'm also really lucky when it comes to food! I can afford anything I want at the street stalls when I'm in a town or city, and I get served luxurious dinners when I'm being hosted by nobility or one of the bigger churches! I've eaten things most people will never even get to taste once in their lives… So I think it's okay to eat simpler food now and again! It helps remind me that not everyone can afford the stuff I usually eat!"

    "But… You… It's…!" Eena faltered before shaking her head. "No! I refuse! I am the Demon Queen! No beloved of mine is going to be subsisting on subpar sustenance while I feast at my tower! You will be eating dinner with the rest of us even if I have to spirit you away to make it happen!"

    "Well… It's not like I mind eating good food," I admitted, blushing faintly, "but what happened to eating with your aunt before coming to get me?"

    "She didn't even give us time to pick up our utensils before questioning my ulterior motivations," Eena told me with a sigh. "I'm pretty sure she hates me. Honestly though, the feeling's getting fairly close to mutual. I have little to say to a woman who'd abandon her niece, only to insult her at every turn when they finally meet. Even if she was blackmailed into staying away from me during my childhood…"

    "She was blackmailed?" I asked with wide eyes. "That doesn't sound good… Who did it?"

    "Alira, a woman I fired many years ago. One of the ringleaders behind keeping me isolated as a child, if Nivera is to be believed. The better to hold power over me, I suppose? It obviously backfired, if so. I blamed her for the separation between me and Nivera, you see, so I was very… harsh when I kicked her out - or rather, when I threw her down the stairs… Regardless of her original motivations or actions, I must admit that her desire for revenge on me is at least a little bit justified. Not only did I treat her roughly, but I even stripped her family of all political power. A choice that nearly led to the other Bloodlines revolting…"

    That…sounded pretty bad, but I was willing to bet it was a lot more complicated than Eena wanted to admit! She always tried to paint herself in the worst possible light, after all. Like everything was always her fault.

    She was stuck in another negative thought spiral from the looks of it. Probably finding whole new ways to blame herself… That's why, rather than directly responding or asking more questions, I just stepped forward and pulled Eena into a hug. She seemed a little surprised, at first, stiffening up in my arms, but then she melted, wrapping her arms back around me.

    It was warm. Not literally - I mean, I couldn't really feel it because of all the armor I was wearing! On the inside, though, it warmed my heart to be holding someone I loved like this. To reassure someone I cared about. Someone who cared about me…

    "Yes, well," Devilla murmured after a moment before reluctantly pulling away from me. "We're meant to be going to dinner, yes? I'm sure you also have many questions for my aunt. She's already confirmed that my dam found and rescued a human soldier, by the name of Brielle. Apparently, my mother roped said dam into marriage with promises of me somehow ending the war, so my dam decided to do her own small part to help work towards peace by rescuing one of your parents…"

    "You're sure it was my mother?" I asked, leaning forward a little bit. Mom used to talk about my… I guess demons called them dams? Mom talked about my dam sometimes. I knew she'd been a church guard and a soldier in the war against demons. That she'd been really strong and kind… that she loved to laugh and that she made my mother smile a lot. Lots of little things like that. But I'd never really known her in the way I knew Mom. So the chance to learn more… I was kind of excited!

    "Fairly certain, at least," Eena confirmed. "She apparently had a plan to name her daughter after Luci - that is, after my ancestor. Considering the single letter separating your names, it's hard to believe my aunt could have been talking about anyone else."

    "Well, I'd love to learn more," I admitted. "As long as you're sure about bringing me?"

    "Trust me when I say that there's no heartwarming reunion, or even friendly meeting, at risk of being interrupted. So far all my aunt's done is continuously insult my mother and complain about the supposed lies that led to my birth. If she has any fondness for her niece hidden in that heart of hers, it is buried extremely deep."

    "Well, if you're sure… I can't say that I'm not kind of excited!" I confessed. "Maybe a little worried, too? I never thought I'd be learning about my other mother like this…"

    "Welcome to the club," Eena replied, holding out her hand for me to take. "It's been one unexpected thing after another ever since I messed up the Rite of Insight. Did I ever tell you that I was actually on a mission to gather salt when I first ran into you? I'm not sure what was more shocking - coming face to face with the Heroine I feared, accidentally seducing her, or discovering potatoes of all things in a tiny village I'd stumbled across."

    "Um… Eena, one of those things seems pretty different from the others," I pointed out while taking her hand.

    "Yes, well, I suppose perhaps intercourse should have been expected, considering our mutual lack of sexual inhibitions, but still. It was quite a shock to me at the time when you were so eager to go along with it…"

    "That's not what I meant!" I protested, allowing Eena to lead me towards her teleportation circle.

    "What, the potatoes?" she asked. "Please. If you think their discovery was anything less than life-altering, then you are severely underestimating the versatility of tastes they can offer! In fact, my sister's already figured out the wonders of thrice baking them as you'll see tonight."

    "Eena!" I laughed with a broad smile on my face. Even though I was a little worried about meeting with Devilla's aunt and hearing about my family, I couldn't help but think that as long as I had Eena by my side everything would work out fine. "Oh right - Eena, what was that earlier about a 'beloved?'"

    "I don't suppose you'd be willing to ignore words spoken in the heat of the moment?" she replied with a bright blush on her face. "Not that I have any intention of taking them back…"

    I giggled and hugged Eena's arm against myself as we continued on to the teleportation circle. Yes, so long as I had Eena by my side, I was sure we could handle any hurdle that came our way. Together!

    ***​


    Devilla​

    ***​

    It was only upon returning to the dining room that I noticed a grievous oversight - namely that there were only enough pork chops and potatoes prepared for the expected number of guests, leaving poor Lucy with nothing to eat. Of course, I could settle that easily by giving her half of mine, but still… It was something to consider if I ever chose to crash another meal with Lucy.

    "So this is the girl?" Marlene asked, her low tone dragging me back to arguably more important matters. "Brielle's daughter?"

    "That was one of my moms' names," Lucy confirmed with a nod. "I don't really know if she was the same woman you're talking about, though… Mom - the mom who raised me, I mean - never told me about any of this stuff…"

    "She didn't?" Marlene asked with an arched eyebrow. "And yet you somehow find yourself at the tower anyway?"

    "Well, that's because I'm-"

    "I discovered her," I interrupted, making a mental note to apologize to Lucy for the interjection. "In fact, we're dating… Quite the coincidence, I must admit, if what you say about her parentage is true."

    "You're dating… a human?!" my aunt asked me with a mixture of horror and shock.

    "More than that," I continued, sparing a glance for Lucy. She gave me an encouraging smile, no doubt predicting what I wanted to say. The very thing I'd kept her from admitting, a moment prior - but timing was everything, and saying that she'd come to the tower purely because of this would have given the wrong impression. "I'm dating the Heroine."

    For a moment the table tensed. Marlene stared at me with wide eyes, while Nivera's gaze flicked between us, even as the tip of her tail curled and uncurled in anxiety. A tic she'd had since childhood. Abigail, meanwhile, had her eyes closed, but I could practically see the vein throbbing in her forehead. She was probably screaming on the inside, thinking me nearly as bad as Lucy for my tactlessness. I didn't even want to think about the lecture that was undoubtedly in store for me.

    At least Chloe seemed amused.

    Then Marlene laughed, loud and long. "By the Fallen… the angels above must have a truly twisted sense of humor if they chose her. They must absolutely loathe your family more than anything if they'd pick a girl who only exists because of your parents' actions…"

    "And what, precisely, would those actions have been?" I questioned, noting the frown on Lucy's face. I was sure she had her own interpretation on matters and that we'd be hearing it shortly. For now, however, I was more interested in what my aunt had to say. "I know that you said my dam saved a human and brought her to a cave - but surely there's more to the story than that, yes?"

    "Oh yes," Marlene confirmed, grabbing her bottle of wine and taking what was - by comparison to her previous binge drinking, at least - a reserved sip. "Lots more… Like the fact that said human's wife came to the frontlines looking for her."

    "Mom did?" Lucy asked with a look of surprise.

    "Aye," Marlene confirmed with a nod "assuming you're who my niece claims you are. It was a priestess by the name of Olivia. She came searching for her wife who'd gone missing in action, and one thing led to another, and well… I don't really know the specifics myself, but next thing I knew Issa was telling me there were two of them. Which is when things really started going to shit."

    "What do you mean?" I questioned her, leaning forward across the table. "Is that how they got caught by Alira?"

    "Maybe," Marlene said, shrugging. "Don't really know about the timing of that. But once there were two of them… Well, Issa was already struggling to figure out how to send back one missing soldier without attracting attention, so you can imagine the headache it gave her when there were two. It wasn't like they could just head back to human lands, no questions asked, you know? People would want to know where they'd been. How they'd escaped detection by demons. How they'd gotten back… That's why Issa had the bright idea to ask your mother for help."

    "My mother?" I asked, blinking from surprise. "Mother helped with this, as well?"

    "That she did," Marlene confirmed, taking another - much longer - swig of wine. "She and that General Doll of hers. They hatched the idea of putting their two guests together with a bunch of prisoners of war and allowing an escape attempt, letting them go back to their lands alongside a couple unimportant prisoners of war… And it worked, too - for a certain definition of it, anyways. I don't think it was worth the cost though…"

    "What was the cost?" Lucy asked, trepidation obvious in her tone.

    "Aunt Issa." Surprisingly it wasn't Marlene who answered , but Chloe. "She, along with a bunch of other soldiers, died when the Heroine attacked the prison camp they were at…."

    Marlene didn't say a word. She just grabbed her wine bottle and emptied it before slamming it back down on the table.

    "So that's what happened…" I murmured. "But why didn't Lucy's mother ever tell her about it?"

    "Olivia was never sold on everything," Marlene muttered after a moment. "Not as much as Brielle, at least. Maybe she wasn't sure of what to say, or something." She shrugged. "No clue. You'd have to ask Doll if you wanted to know more. She was actually in on it, at least. I just sat back and worried about my crazy human sympathizing sister and hoped for the best…"

    "Doll did seem to think we'd have questions for her at some point," I recalled, thinking back to her cryptic words the other day. "Perhaps it's time we went to her for that conversation?"

    "That might be hard," Nivera said with a sigh. "She's on vacation."

    "...Vacation?" Abigail asked. "What do you mean vacation? As in time off? Because I'm pretty sure this is big enough to warrant an interruption!"

    "If she was taking time off I'd have said that," Nivera replied, crossing her arms. "She's on vacation. You know, as in, off who knows where, doing who knows what?"

    "You mean she left the tower?" I questioned, hardly able to believe my ears. "Where could she have gone? Across the wasteland into human lands?"

    "Maybe? Probably not, but… who knows? She's just gone. Left a lot of careful notes for her assistants to run things in her absence, but didn't even say when she'd be back…"

    "Great…" I muttered, groaning. "So we have no way of tracking her?"

    "I wouldn't say no way," Chloe chimed in between bites of food. She'd grabbed a potato and pork chop from the center plates at some point, and seemed to have consumed half of each already. "There's one person in this tower who's basically aware of everything, right? Even if Doll really has left the tower, she'll probably be able to point us in the right direction."

    "You mean Sylvanna?" Abigail asked with a grimace before shaking her head. "Hell no! No way. You don't know what she's like to Devilla."

    " Like hell I don't," Nivera replied with a scowl. "Do you think I haven't been keeping tabs on my sister all these years? I know exactly how much of a bitch Sylvanna has been, and I agree with you - Devilla shouldn't have to deal with her crap. I'll ask."

    "Wait," Lucy interrupted, holding up a hand. "Isn't Sylvanna the slime lady Devilla promised to help? What's wrong with her? Devilla said they don't get along and that she did something very bad to Sylvanna when she was younger, but she never really went into details beyond that."

    "She used unpetrifying the slimes as a ransom over Sylvanna's head, to force her into her current position," Abigail informed Lucy before I could say anything. "When she was seven. Sylvanna's taken that as an excuse to abuse her at every possible chance she gets ever since."

    "I would hardly call her anger at me abuse," I protested. "She simply has… well deserved ire towards me."

    "Nobody deserves the sort of stuff she's said to you, sis," Nivera argued, curling up the tip of her tail. "She's done everything from insulting your intelligence to outright blaming you for your mom's death. You don't need to go back into her crosshairs for more abuse."

    "Well, I still need to report how I'm doing with the depetrification progress," I pointed out. My voice sounded weak even to my own ears, though.

    "I'll handle it," Abigail promised. "Like I told you I would last time she came up."

    "But this is different! It's about Lucy's parents! Surely it's worth me facing her for that, right?"

    "No, it isn't," Lucy said firmly. "I mean, I'm not really sure of all the details, but if what they're saying is true then she's basically been abusing you since childhood, right? I don't want you to needlessly face more abuse just to help me learn more! Especially not when someone else could do it."

    "...Fine," I conceded after a moment. "But if she insists upon seeing me to finish things-"

    "You can burn that bridge when you come to it," Nivera said. "And maybe throw her into the canyon while you're at it so that you never have to see her again. For now, though, you're going to eat the food I cooked like a good girl and get to know your fucking family. Alright?"

    "...Alright…" I nodded, cheeks red.

    Lucy giggled, reaching out to take my hand and give it a squeeze. It helped me manage a smile, even as I began to load up my plate with potatoes and pork chops for the two of us. We'd likely have to split the potato in half, at the very least, as extras hadn't been made - but I was sure that seeing Lucy's delightful reactions to the food would make it worthwhile.

    Of course, the dinner wasn't all fun and games, from that point forward. Marlene began to speak at some point, again, earning herself glares from me and Nivera alike. Abigail drank what felt like a little too much wine, though she still didn't seem drunk to my eyes. Nivera struggled to relax, muttering about Sylvanna, glaring at Marlene, and only managing to eat because Chloe literally spoon fed her. How she even managed to serve pork chops via spoon, I have no idea…

    Yet, through it all, Lucy maintained her smile, finding delight in the wonderful cooking and dragging people into conversations about all sorts of mundane topics, all with a sparkle in her eye.

    I didn't know how long this cheerful girl would allow me to stand by her side, but… so long as she did? I couldn't help but feel as if the two of us could take on anything.


    Happy New Year! Depression was still super bad when I wrote the first version of this chapter... I think it came out pretty well, all the same, though? And FallingLeaf's editing (because it really has gone beyond just proofreading at this point) has really helped it shine!

    Tune in next time for a long overdue conversation between Lucy and Abigail! Or, if you're feeling antsy, you can check out the rough drafts for chapter 58 and 59 right now, over on my Patreon~!

    Either way, thanks for reading!

    PS: As there's been some confusion, I think it's worth clarifying that Olivia is Lucy's mom/the one who raised her, while 'Brielle' would be considered her dam in demon terms.
     
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    • I somehow get the feeling that Lucy of all people is probably going to be the one to get Abigail to tell devilla how she feels.
    This has absolutely nothing to do with this chapter though.
     
    Chapter 58 - In Pursuit of Happiest
  • Threadmarks

    • Abigail​


    Dinner went… better than I expected it to, I guess? Which really wasn't saying much, but I was honestly just glad that it ended without any dishes being thrown - Marlene slamming her wine bottles onto the table so much was bad enough, already. I guess Nivera didn't want to piss off her soon-to-be mother-in-law that badly, though, because she mostly stuck to glaring at Marlene a few dozen times to keep her in check.

    The food was probably the one good thing about the entire affair. Nivera was a way better cook than I expected and Devilla emptied two entire plates, even if she did share with Lucy. Where the hell Devilla put it, I had no idea. Maybe angels just didn't have to worry about that sorta thing? Or maybe it all just went straight to her tits and ass? Something to maybe ask her about later, maybe.

    Either way, with dinner done, the next thing to do was pretty obvious - get Lucy and Devilla back up to the 101st floor without anyone noticing that a human had been brought into the tower. Not that it was exactly a challenge with Devilla handling the illusion. In fact, it went so smoothly it's barely even worth a mention.

    The rough part came after we reached Devilla's room, where the teleport circle was. That's when Lucy put a hand on Devilla's shoulder and asked, "Is it okay if I talk to Abigail for a bit before we go?"

    "I certainly don't have an issue with it," Devilla replied with a glance at me. Despite what she said I could see the worry in her eyes. I wanted to believe it was for me, but I knew at least a little bit of it had to be directed towards her girlfriend's wellbeing. Maybe she was afraid of what I might say to her? I didn't know. Still, it was clear as day that she was asking what I wanted, which was appreciated, but… not really necessary.

    "Not like I have any reason to refuse," I replied with a shrug. "What did you want to talk about?"

    "Actually, I was sort of hoping we could discuss this by ourselves?" Lucy admitted. She looked at Devilla. "If you don't mind?"

    Devilla blinked in surprise - hell, I did too for that matter - but shrugged and nodded before heading towards the door. "If that is what you wish, I certainly have no problem with it." She did her best to make eye contact with me before actually leaving though, and only opened the door after I gave her a little nod. Which, again, was appreciated, even if I couldn't help but think she might be worrying a bit too much.

    I mean, sure, she was basically leaving me alone in a room with the woman whose entire existence was supposed to be dedicated to exterminating me and everyone like me, but I mean… it was Lucy! I didn't exactly like her, but I sure as hell didn't fear her. Even if I was a lot weaker than her, what with me being… well, weak in general. At least by demon standards. My magic capacity in particular being absolute shit…

    "So," I began, deciding to push those self-deprecating thoughts away, "what do you want with me?"

    "It's not really about what I want," Lucy said cryptically. From the smile on her face though, I don't think she was trying to be infuriatingly vague. "It's about you! And Eena! And how much you like her!"

    …Okay, maybe the vagueness would have been better after all.

    "What do you mean?" I asked, forcing myself to smile. Thankfully, I was really good at faking it. Certainly a hell of a lot better than a certain pair of sisters who couldn't even trick a toddler with their strained expressions.

    "I mean… You like her, don't you?" Lucy asked in return, curling a strand of red hair about one of her fingers. "Like, you really like her. I can see it in your eyes when you look at her."

    "So? You want to tell me to back off or something?" I asked, wincing internally at the obvious irritation in my voice. I wasn't trying to make enemies with my boss's girlfriend, here. Even if I did maybe sorta kinda fancy the boss in question…

    Lucy's smile never budged, though. Hell, if anything, it maybe grew a little wider as she shook her head. "I think you should ask her out!"

    "What…?" The hell? "Do you not have a jealous bone in your body?! Who the hell tells another girl to ask out her girlfriend?!" I mean, sure, polyamory was a thing - and a relatively common thing, at that - but there was a difference between accepting multiple partners and pushing someone towards your own partner with absolutely no regard for yourself! Especially considering Lucy didn't exactly know me. Hell, I wasn't even sure we'd ever actually directly talked with one another before. It was definitely the first time we had a private conversation, at the very least.

    "I don't really get jealousy," Lucy admitted with a shrug. "I mean, if something's really great, why wouldn't you want to share it with people you care about?"

    "You can't possibly be including me in the list of people you care about, can you?! We don't even know each other!"

    "No, but we could fix that! You could go on a date with me after your date with Eena! Then maybe it'll turn out we all like each other!"

    "And if we don't?" I pressed, narrowing my eyes at the Heroine. "What then? You expect me to give up on Devilla after actually working up the nerve to ask her out?"

    "Well, it's not like we have to be head over heels for each other to share her," Lucy pointed out. "I mean, as long as she makes enough time for us both, it's fine, right? If things don't work out between us we don't really have to interact that much, but why should we assume the worst? Isn't it better to hope for the best? I mean, Eena really likes you, even if she doesn't see you that way just yet! Which means you're a good person, as far as I'm concerned, and I don't see why I wouldn't get along with you too!"

    "Uh, maybe because you're a human?" I countered. "Not to mention the Heroine!"

    "Why does that matter?" Lucy asked, confusion written all over her face. "We're working together to end the war, aren't we? Doesn't that mean we're already on the same side?"

    "Yeah, but-! But…" I trailed off, unsure what to say. That this was different? It was - or at least it felt like it was, but I couldn't really explain why. Maybe because she was literally born and raised to exterminate people like me? Because she was a human, a member of the same species that had hunted our species to near extinction? Sure, I was onboard with the idea of peace, but that was more about necessity than anything else. We demons weren't in any position to win the war short of Devilla going on a mass killing spree to take care of all the enemy leadership, at a minimum. It didn't mean I actually wanted to live side by side with humans, or anything. I just… had to.

    Just like I had to at least try and get along with Lucy if I wanted to stay by Devilla's side.

    "Forget jealousy," I said. "I'm starting to think you don't even have any selfishness in you, either. Actively trying to share your loved one with a total stranger? No way I could ever do that."

    Devilla probably could, though. In fact, I was willing to bet she'd do the exact same thing as Lucy if she was standing in her shoes. Though in Devilla's case, she'd probably outright expect to be left for the second party at some point. Speaking of…

    "Aren't you afraid that I'll steal her away or something?"

    "Definitely!" Lucy replied, causing me to gape at her in surprise. "I mean, I've never been with anyone before, you know? And Eena's really kind, sweet, and selfless - though the last part is maybe more about thinking she doesn't deserve anything… I'm sure she'll still be just as kind and generous even once she gains confidence in herself, though! Just… maybe… a little less self-destructive? Oh, but that doesn't have anything to do with why I'm terrified, though. Not directly, anyways. It's just that I can see all sorts of people wanting her time for themselves… Still, I don't want to keep her from knowing that someone else loves her! I want her to choose to stay by my side, even knowing that - and I don't mind if she wants to stand by someone else's side, too! Though I'd like it even more if we could all somehow stand side by side together!"

    "You're actually insane. That's… You're basically pinning all your hopes on a dream of an ideal future! What if it goes wrong? What if I do try to steal her away from you? What if she's not interested in dating two people at the same time? What if she ends up having to choose between us? There's no putting things back in the box once I open up about my feelings, you know!"

    "I don't think you're the sort of person who would try and steal her," Lucy replied. "And even if I'm wrong, I don't think Eena's the sort to be stolen…"

    "And if you're wrong about both?" I countered.

    "Then I want to know now, before I fall even deeper in love!" Lucy declared, placing a hand over her heart. "I really don't think I'm wrong, though! I believe in Eena!"

    "Why?! You've known her for… what, a few weeks? There's all sorts of stuff you don't know about her!"

    "And I can't wait to learn all those things about her!" Lucy replied, beaming at me. "But for now the first thing I want to learn is whether she's willing to date two people!"

    "...I don't get it… Why are you willing to go so far for me? To risk everything for me?"

    "It's not really for you." Lucy admitted as her smile faded. "Or at least not completely? I mean, I guess it partly is, but… it's also for Eena. Because I want her to be as happy as she can be! And I think that if you keep quiet about your feelings, it might interfere with that happiness… but even if it doesn't, I don't think Eena would be able to achieve peak happiness without knowing the truth! That can only happen if everyone Eena cares about comes together!"

    "You're dreaming," I said, shaking my head. "You want an ideal scenario, where nobody has to give up anything, and everyone's happy - and you're willing to risk your relationship with her to get it? The happiness she already has with you? It's crazy."

    "Maybe I am dreaming," Lucy admitted. "Maybe I'm crazy for trying something like this, but I know polyamorous relationships can work! And even more than that though… It's like I said before - maybe Devilla and I could have a happy ever after if I let things continue as they are, but we'll never have the happiest ever after if we don't at least try for it!"

    "...Fine, have it your way. Not like I have anything to lose…" Except Devilla's friendship if things didn't pan out well. And my job, I guess. Not because she'd fire me, or anything, but more because it would be super awkward to keep working around her if things went sideways.

    "Great!" Lucy said cheerfully. "Let's go ask her, then!"

    "What? Now? Right now?!"

    "Yup!" Lucy confirmed while reaching for the doorknob. "The sooner we do it, the sooner it'll be over! Then we can work towards our ideal future! Together!"

    "That's…" Technically true? Though whether my heart was ready for it was another matter entirely! Lucy was already swinging the door open with a wide smile, giving me no time to steady my nerves. Devilla was right outside with a strained smile, obviously trying to pretend like she hadn't been quietly panicking throughout our entire conversation, wondering what we might have to say to one another.

    The way she couldn't help but wear her emotions on her sleeve was part of what I liked about her, though…

    "Is everything alright?" she asked, looking between the two of us with concern in her eyes. I couldn't help noticing that she didn't actually
    linger on one of us in particular, either, like she was concerned equally about us both…

    "Yup!" Lucy replied. "Abigail has something she wants to ask you, though!"

    "Something to ask?" Devilla inquired with an arched eyebrow. "Something that required a private conversation between the two of you?"

    "Yeah, well…" I hesitated a moment, but only for a moment. Then I took a deep breath, closed my eyes, and took the plunge. "It would have been a bit awkward asking you out without getting her permission first."

    Silence. Absolute, deafening silence. Then, the slight clanking of armor as Lucy began to move. Clanking that only got louder the longer I kept my eyes closed, until eventually I forced one open to take a look.

    I kinda wished I hadn't. I mean, Lucy was basically dancing in place and barely holding back a squeal of glee from the looks of things, while Devilla was just sorta… staring at me in shock?

    "Did I break her?"

    "N-no," Devilla replied, shaking her head rapidly back and forth. To clear it, I guess. "It's just… You've caught me off guard, is all. It… it almost sounded like you were expressing romantic interest in me, but… I'm sure you just meant… I mean, you can't possibly… I mean, I haven't done anything worthy of your affection, so why in the world would you…?"

    "Like I know?!" I asked with my arms crossed. "Maybe it's because you're nice? Or maybe it's just me clinging to the first person who's
    actually put up with me… Who listens to me and takes my advice seriously. Or because you're actually really sweet, and selfless, and you're always thinking about other people, even when you should really be thinking about yourself… Maybe I just have a thing for broken chicks? I don't know! I've never fallen for anyone before! But… I don't know. The more I learn about you, the more time we spend together, the more I start hating our time apart. I didn't even realize it, at first. I mean, one day I was perfectly fine, and the next I was dreading the moment you'd leave my arms to go back to her. And yet she's the one who's pushing me to ask you out, like some sort of martyr, while I'm rambling like a loon who doesn't even know when to shut up, and… and…"

    Devilla's form blurred. One moment she was standing still, shocked, and the next she was standing in front of me, her arms wrapping around me to pull me into a hug. It was only then that I realized I'd started crying at some point.

    "I would be honored to go on a date with you," Devilla declared in that formal tone of hers. The one that helped hide how incredibly bad she was at this sort of thing. I was willing to bet that her face was red as a beet, right then. Half the reason she was hugging me was probably to hide it.

    …Okay, maybe more like a quarter of the reason? A third at most. It was mostly just because she cared.

    "Then it's a date," I replied, deciding to push that thought out of my mind for the time being. "We can go… uh…" Crap. I hadn't thought about what to do after asking her out.

    "How about tomorrow?" Lucy suggested. "We can fly to the city I wanted to take you to in the morning, and then you can go on a date with Abigail that night!"

    "I… yes, that sounds good," Devilla replied. I couldn't help but notice the slight tremor in her voice, though. And her body. She was obviously feeling a bit overwhelmed, a feeling I shared.

    "Tomorrow, then," I said, deciding to end the hug and save Devilla fro, further embarrassment.

    Well, that was the plan before Lucy flung herself at us, anyways, wrapping both of us up in her arms and squeeing directly in my ear.

    It was only then that I remembered something she'd said earlier, about her wanting to go on a date with me after my date with Devilla. She didn't actually expect me to go through with that though, right?

    …Right?


    I nearly forgot my plans for this scene, but a random comment inadvertently reminded me… The good news is that writing this was a lot less stressful than I expected it to be. Abigail's been coming super easily of late, though, so maybe that's not too big of a surprise? I'm pretty happy with the results, one way or the other.

    Next up is the adventure proper, and then the first date soon after. Of course, if you're too eager to read ahead, you can always join my Patreon and read two (unedited) chapters in advance! You also get 2 advance chapters of Naughty Magic, all for as little as $1~!

    Thanks, as always, to FallingLeaf for the amazing job of editing! And thanks to all of you for reading, liking, and commenting!
     
  • Threadmarks
    • Ah, I see Lucy's secret evil plan to get Devilla a lesbian harem proceeds apace.

    Come to think of it, the original game (whose name eludes me) did it have routes? Like, was there specific endings where the heroine ended up with a particular general? Wouldn't this be Devilla's route, in that case? Was the harem route a smokescreen for the TRUE Golden Ending?
     
    LocalCatHybrid said:
    Ah, I see Lucy's secret evil plan to get Devilla a lesbian harem proceeds apace.

    Come to think of it, the original game (whose name eludes me) did it have routes? Like, was there specific endings where the heroine ended up with a particular general? Wouldn't this be Devilla's route, in that case? Was the harem route a smokescreen for the TRUE Golden Ending?
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...

    Tower Conquest was more combat and sex than romance. Though you could use diplomacy with the Generals, there weren't really routes to end up with anyone in particular.

    Trust Lucy to find/make one anyways!
     
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