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Character(s): Laharl and Flonne (And Etna is welcome to intrude of course ♥)
Content: Flonne and Laharl finally talk since the cake thing the day after.
Setting: Actua Are near Central Station/Cid's Shop
Time: Late morning
Warnings: None now.

Seeing Flonne return the night before had made him feel bad all over again. Laharl was really not enjoying the guilty feeling gnawing in him all over again, but still he turned a blind eye to it and her. It wasn't easy though. His resolve was already faltering. He never liked to see her unhappy, and now he was being the cause. Still... he had to do this.

Hopefully she'd just get over it and they could move on. At least, that's what he was hoped for. He wanted to get out of the city, after all. Not so much though that he made any rush to get out of bed that morning.

Laharl was still lazing, half awake, in bed, trying to decide if he should get up or try to sleep a little longer. The later was awfully tempting. He wasn't exactly looking forward to waking up and dealing with... whatever was coming. Then again, maybe it would be better to just get it over with?

...Nah.

He rolled over, pulling the covers further over his shoulder, trying to get comfortable again.

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Flonne sat on the chaise in the small main room in their suite, gazing down at the elegantly crafted metal flower in her hand. She'd been uncharacteristically quiet since coming home the evening before. However much she enjoyed the chaotic company of Kanji Tatsumi, coming to back to this place immediately disintegrated any cheer she had. A sinking feeling in her chest hadn't gone away since she returned, as much as she tried to ignore it. She even went so far as to avoid Laharl entirely.

But she couldn't avoid him forever, could she? It was time to jump back into things, pretend nothing was wrong. Smile and maybe everything would turn out okay.

Flonne remained sitting, glancing up from the flower to Laharl's closed door, trying not for the first time to work up the courage to go to him first. After a few more minutes of fiddling with the flower, she sighed and stood up quickly.

There was no helping it. He'd never come to her on his own. She marched to his bedroom door, lifted her hand...then dropped it again. No! There was no choice; she had to knock! Squeezing her eyes shut, she rapped gently on the door.

"L-Laharl-san...?"

Edited 2010-02-20 03:36 (UTC)

He'd almost started to doze back off, but the knocking jerked him from it pretty quick. Who the hell was tha--oh.

Flonne.

Rolling over he stared at the door a moment. Should he answer or pretend to be asleep? He wasn't sure what to do, but finally he settled down beneath the covers, closing his eyes. He just couldn't bring himself to answer her. Maybe she'd go away if she thought he was asleep.

She called his name again, knocking a little more insistently, but still there was no answer. He must be asleep still.. That being the case, Flonne knew nothing would wake him up until he wanted to be awake. She sighed, resting her forehead against the door. "Oh, Laharl..."

Without realizing it, she started speaking her thoughts out loud. Not that he would hear her anyway, right? "I know you...you went through a lot before. You don't talk about it. Nobody really does, b-but...I know it must have been horrible for you to be so afraid. For me. But, you know? I think...I think the Flonne who was here before, if she truly was me...I think she wouldn't have wanted you to hide her from the world because of the pain she might experience."

She turned and leaned her back against the door, tilting her head back, a small, sad smile on her lips. "Even if she cared for you a fraction of what I do, she would've have wanted to stay by your side no matter what." She closed her eyes. "I wish you could understand that."

Laharl lay there silently listening for her to leave, eyes widening as he heard her continue to speak. Did she think he was awake? Well, he hadn't answered or anything so why the heck was she talking like he was awake?

Slowly he slid from the bed, moving closer to the door to listen more closely. Since when had she picked up on what he was doing? (Well, partially.) He was, well, surprised.

Sinking down silently to the floor on the other side of the door, he felt his resolve to remain silent starting to fail. Flonne before not only wanted to, but had stayed by his side through everything, until she'd vanished. Not by her fault, he realized, but it had been so soon after his mother had vanished. It had just been too much. She clearly didn't understand.

"Flonne..." he mumbled, breaking his silence.

"You still don't understand," Laharl said quietly, leaning back against the door, fully aware she could hear him at this point, but not seeing her somehow made this easier.

Flonne's head shot forward, eyes wide. Had...had he just answered with her name? He was awake? Her hands flew over her mouth, a flush spreading over her face. He wasn't supposed to hear any of this! She was just supposed to be cheerful so he could forget anything had happened!

It was his next quiet words that cut through her mortification. She swallowed, turning against the door a bit to place her ear against the weathered wood. She placed her hand against the door, as if she could reach him, not only through this, but the wall he'd begun erecting around himself. "Tell me so I can understand," she begged after a moment, fingers curling over the door into a fist.

He closed his eyes trying to figure out where to even start. How could he explain something he barely understood himself? Heck, how could he explain something he wasn't going to explain in the first place? Laharl hadn't intended to ever tell Flonne any of this at all, and now here he was doing exactly the opposite. Ergh...

He wrestled with himself for a few long, silent moments before he finally spoke again, voice wavering with uncertainty. Even though he couldn't see her, he could still picture her on the other side of the door from him. He could picture her expression from the sound of her voice. An expression that was not making this any easier.

Why was shutting her out so hard? This should have been easy!

"Etna, you... moth-- ..." he began, whispering the last bit, but catching himself. No, he didn't need to bring her up.

"You... You disappeared, dammit!" Laharl said, keeping his voice still low. He said it as if it explained everything; to him, it did.

Edited 2010-02-20 07:33 (UTC)

Flonne was silent as she gazed forlornly at the door. She could hear the pain in his voice, the anger and hurt and uncertainty. It went through her like a knife and, bizarrely enough, she felt guilty for hurting him this way, however unintentionally. "I-I'm sorry," she said so softly, it was almost a whisper. Without even realizing it, tears had welled up in her eyes. Now they fell on to her shoes as she ducked her head against the door, squeezing her eyes shut.

"I'm sorry, Laharl-san...!" she said more firmly now, holding back her sniffles. "But...I'm here now. And I know I'm not the Flonne you...you experienced this place with. I wish I was! If I could have those memories, I'd...I'd give anything!" If only to stop you from pulling away. "But...i-if you...don't want me around anymore...if the thought of me disappearing again is so painful that y-you want to deny our friendship, then...I can leave."

She smiled through her tears, nails digging into the wood from the effort to keep the tears out of her voice. "I would do anything for you...Laharl. I never want you to hurt because of me."

He could tell from her voice she was crying. Laharl knew her too well now to not pick up on it. And as always it was painful to hear like this and her words made something in his chest twist uncomfortably.

Laharl just... couldn't do this. His resolve was crumbling with every word she spoke. He'd thought it would be better her angry at him, but he just felt bad now. The thought of making her leave now somehow felt like it would hurt more than her disappearing in the first place. How did that work? He had no idea, of course, but he couldn't bring himself to possibly consider telling her to leave.

"Flonne..." he mumbled, as he slowly scooted from the door, to the wall beside it, remaining seated on the floor. He wasn't sure he was ready to face her, but it was no good her standing out there crying either.

"You... stupid Love Freak," Laharl said a little louder, but emotion still lined his voice. She'd gotten to him, very clearly. "...Get in here."

She sniffled, not at all certain she'd heard correctly. Instead, Flonne remained pressed against the door, looking up quizzically, blinking away her tears. After a moment, lowered her hand to the knob and opened it hesitantly.

The room was dark despite the morning sun, which was to be expected. It took her a few seconds to adjust to the dark, peering almost desperately through the shadows for any glimpse of Laharl. Her back to the demon in question, she didn't see him until she turned around. She gasped quietly in surprise and stood awkwardly in the center of the room, searching for something to say.

Finally, having collected herself enough that she could speak without her voice wavering, she said softly, "I'm sorry." It was the only thing she could think of to say.

He hadn't meant to startle her, but... oh well. Too late now, wasn't it?

"Don't be," Laharl replied quietly, slowly pushing himself back to his feet, not yet meeting her gaze. He didn't know why she kept apologizing. Somehow he felt like he should be the one apologizing... not that he was exactly considering it - not yet anyways, but whatever. She didn't have to be saying it, either way. "You don't have any reason to apologize, Stupid."

Straightening, he turned to the door and pushed it closed and slowly turned to face her. Yeah, he'd called it. She was definitely crying, from what he could see in the darkened room.

Closing the distance between them, he looked up at her, meeting her gaze finally. "Dammit, Flonne... Don't cry," Laharl said with a sigh, his voice softer again.

Oh...he'd noticed. She quickly scrubbed at her face with her sleeve, biting her lower lip. "I'm so-" she broke off at the last minute, not wanting to apologize again. "Um, I...I shouldn't have...gotten upset at you. For not wanting me to make a cake." Of course, she knew that hadn't really been the issue between them, and she knew that he knew, but it was easier to talk about this face to face than...

She smiled weakly, hands going behind her back. "You were right...I really am awful at it, aren't I?"

"Heh. You... don't really want me to answer that, do you?" he asked her, almost smiling for a moment, before moving past her to perch back on his bed. He noticed he'd pretty much just changed the subject. Well, sort of.

"A-anyways, whatever. Don't worry about it," Laharl continued. The whole thing with the cake really wasn't an issue now. He hadn't given it really a second thought. It had only served to make the real underlying issue come to light.

Folding his arms, he fell silent trying to figure out how to approach this.

"L-look..." he began, struggling to find words.

Edited 2010-02-21 01:26 (UTC)

At the smile in his voice, Flonne smiled as well -- she couldn't help it. It was a relief to hear even slight amusement. But, then he was back to the quiet words, averting her eyes. As he began his next attempt to talk about the true matter at hand, she swallowed with some difficulty, tugging at the hems of her sleeves. What was he going to say? Maybe he really was going to tell her to leave? Or something worse...?

"They... you..."

Ugh, this was just so damn hard.

Clenching his fists, he glanced up at her standing there then looked away again.

"Don't wish to remember what happened here before, Flonne. They--She... hurt you because of me... It's for the best that you don't remember any of it," he tried to explain. While Flonne seemed to differentiate herself from the self that was here before, Laharl didn't. The Flonne before him seemed no different than the Flonne that had been before. She just didn't remember the same stuff. She was still Flonne, his vassal, and her memory, or there-lack-of didn't change that in the slightest.

Maybe he did feel like he had lost something... but he really was glad she couldn't remember some of it. He still didn't know to this day what they'd done to her when she'd been taken, but he'd known it couldn't have been good.

Flonne lowered her gaze, unsure of what to say in response. Finally she moved towards him, sitting next to him on the bed. She gazed down at her shoes for a moment, opened her mouth and then closed it again. She lifted her gaze and stared out into the dark room.

"...bad things might happen to me again. I'll do everything I can to prevent it...even train more, try to get more levels. But...it might happen. It could happen even if we're not together." She turned her head, gazing at him somberly.

"What would you do then?"

He clenched his fists tighter, almost trembling, at her question. His gaze locked on the far wall.

"I won't let that happen. Not again," Laharl replied, with determination. She'd been hurt twice. Twice he'd failed to protect his vassal. Not to mention Etna... What kind of king was he, if he allowed his vassals to be injured like that?

Edited 2010-02-21 05:30 (UTC)

She watched his profile, gaze tracing the rigid line of his jaw, the distant look in his eyes. She reached out and took his fist in her hands on her lap, looking down at them. Wordlessly, she unlocked his fist, putting her fingers through his. "We're only truly strong when we're together. You, me and Etna-san." She looked back up at him and smiled, squeezing his hand.

"You can believe in us."

Laharl blinked as he was jerked from his thoughts by her touch, turning his gaze to her hands on his fist. He remained silent as she manipulated his hand, allowing her to pry open his fingers and take hold of it. Laharl's face, however, told a different story as he met her gaze briefly before looking away. It had, very promptly, turned bright red.

But she did have a point to some degree. Maybe not so much the truly strong crap, but things never seemed exactly right when the three of them weren't together. That was something that had some time ago become clear to the Overlord.

Laharl didn't reply in words, but did give a slight nod.

Edited 2010-02-21 06:04 (UTC)

Flonne smiled wider; even in the dark, she could see the flush that had spread over his face. There was still so much that had yet to be resolved, things that perhaps couldn't be resolved. She knew she'd still catch that pained, distant look in his eyes when he remembered something she or Etna didn't, knew that he'd always be worried she'd disappear...or worse, get hurt again. But they'd said all they could, and...he needed her around, just as she needed him. She'd just have to work harder.

Still holding his hand, she jumped off the bed, tugging him towards her. She almost didn't want to let go, but judging by the blush that wasn't going away, he'd be tearing it away from her soon, so she let go. "Let's find Etna-san and see about exploring."

He peeked for a moment towards her, before looking away again, seeing she was smiling at him. Well, that resolved that, he supposed. This wasn't how he'd intended things to be, but... he was okay with it, he supposed. The discomfort of knowing he'd been upsetting her had been replaced with, well, that other feeling he got around her. One he both liked and disliked, but there it was, none-the-less, and he was happier to feel it this time.

"Uh?"

Laharl was caught off guard slightly at her movement, but did get up onto his feet, following and not tugging his hand away just yet. Exploring. Etna... "Ah--R-right," he mumbled, still flushed across the face.

Right outside the door to Laharl's room was Etna, listening in on the conversation between him and Flonne. She wasn't there the whole time, just as far as Flonne saying that the three of them together were strong. Not much was said, but Etna could imagine what was going inside, much to a point where Etna was grinning at the idea of the two of them together in the same room. She had to admit, sometimes the two of them were just so cute around each other.

Etna didn't move when she heard them getting up. Clearly, Etna wanted them to know she was listening in when they opened the door.

Flonne giggled softly at his expression, feeling an answering blush spread over her features at his awkwardness. He was so cute! Seeing that look on his face stirred a strong affection in her that seemed to be bordering on something new that she couldn't quite name. Rather than thinking about it, she turned away and headed towards the door.

She opened it and started, staring at Etna.

It had been a good thing that Flonne had let go of his hand, or this would have been an even more embarrassing situation. Although it was still plenty embarrassing anyways. "E-Etna?!"

"W-What the hell are you doing there?!" he choked out, horrified to see Etna standing there. She'd obviously been listening in, but for how long? Although, it was bad enough she'd caught them at all. His face was even more red than it had been now.

Edited 2010-02-21 07:32 (UTC)

"Hee hee~" was all Etna responded with at first. The Prince's reaction was quite expected, of course, but it only served to make Etna all the more intent on making him feel more embarrassed. It was simply a plus that Flonne was caught blushing too. How cute, really. The two of them blushing like this was pretty priceless.

"Oh~ I was just thinking maybe I should try and drag you out of your room, but I heard you and Flonne talking, and I didn't want to bother you two," she replied, still looking at the two with a devious looking face.

Flonne had settled into frozen silence, gradually turning redder. "Exploring!" she suddenly said a bit too loudly, darting away from Laharl and past Etna, into the main room. "W-we were just saying...we shouldn't stay inside all day. W-weren't we going to, um...see about finding a way home?" She fidgeted a bit, glancing a bit desperately between the other two.

While Flonne darted off, Laharl remained frozen in place, but for turning away slightly, his face half disappearing behind the neck of his scarf. Now why again had he been missing having them both around?

Flonne's subject change was hardly subtle, but it was a change of subject, none the less.

"R-right. Getting the hell out of here," Laharl stuttered, still unable to face the two girls. He didn't even want to think about what was running through Etna's head right now.

"Riiiight~ My mistake." Well of course they dodged around the subject. Etna didn't mind though. It'd be much more fun if her ideas stayed in her head.

"So, where do we even start on getting out of this dump?" Etna crossed her arms over her chest, hoping to hear that they wouldn't be just roaming around to find their way out.

Flonne started to answer only to find she had no idea. Laharl had mentioned earlier about castles and floors and doors, but she didn't get it then and she certainly didn't get it now. So she turned her head to gaze questioningly at him, hands clasped loosely.

"A church," Laharl answered, starting to relax a little, though his nose remained hidden behind his scarf.

"Supposedly there's a door there that'll take us to this so called next floor. Some sorta tropical island or something," he continued, trying to remember what he'd heard about it, which wasn't much. No one had given an exact explanation for what was beyond the door.

"It's meant to be outside the city. Out of Niflheim, if I'm remembering right. Tch. No ones talked about it in awhile." At least, he couldn't recall it coming up in some time. That made remembering where it was a bit tough.

"A church, huh? Kind of an odd place to put a door to a tropical island floor" Etna mumbled quietly to herself. Well, it was a weird place.

"You think we'll find any monsters or whatever along the way?" she continued, her voice back to normal volume. Hopefully there would be low level monsters she could gain levels from.

"I hope so!" Flonne said quickly, smiling. She wanted to gain more experience as well. The thought of being a liability to Laharl and Etna was just unacceptable. Of course, she doubted she'd ever be as powerful as them, but if she could just get to the point where they wouldn't have to worry about her...

"Hopefully," was Laharl's reply. Not that he was concerned with gaining any levels or anything. His experience with most monsters here, he'd found them to be pretty weak anyways, but Laharl hadn't so much as even lifted his sword in, what? Months? Something like that. It had been too long, suffice to say. Beating the crap outta a bunch of monsters sounded pretty good, right now. Getting out of the city sounded pretty good too, and vastly over-due.

"So, yeah. Let's go."

No time like the present, right?

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