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Character(s): Laharl and Flonne
Content: After Laharl has a bad dream and posts a journal post, Flonne comes to see him.
Setting: Laharl's room in Vyers' apartment
Time: Late night
Warnings: Angst and Fluff, as requested!

He was in his castle, sitting on his throne. Not anything unusual, but what was unusual was how quite the castle was. It seemed dead silent, not a vassal or prinny in sight.

This was odd, so he decided to start searching the castle. Wandering through winding corridors, he seemed to have no problem finding his way through, despite there being a small part of him that recognized this wasn't the layout of his castle at all.

He couldn't find anyone. No one was here at all. Flonne, Etna, his father and mother... not even a prinny could be found! They'd all left him? That was the conclusion he came to very quickly, a sense of loneliness falling over him in droves.

Everyone was gone. He'd been abandoned.

Then came pain, as something sharp plunged into his back and he fell to his knees. He was almost frightened to look up at the person who was hovering over him.

"What's wrong? Did everyone abandon you?"

That voice... No! NO!

The next thing he knew, he was being strapped down to a table, in a painfully familiar room. He was trapped and rendered helpless once more. Rarely was Laharl truly horrified, but he was pretty close to it, as he dared to open his eyes to face the one above him.

"It seems they were tired of waiting for you to become that amazing Overlord," she taunted from above him. "Left you allll alone. Poor Overlord Laharl..."

"A suitable punishment for a filthy half-blood brat."

That voice. Even though he hadn't heard it in many, many years, he easily recognized it. He easily knew who it was. He was instantly frozen, barely able to breath. He didn't look over. He couldn't. The voice was enough, though he knew she was standing on the other side of him, leering down at him.

"How pathetic."

"Such a disappointment, aren't you~?"

Then she stabbed him with one of her knives. He cried out and found himself somehow was able to break free. He dashed to the door, escaping into the hallway. He was sure they weren't too far behind him, as he ran through dark hallways, finally ducking into a dark room. Laharl hid there, peeking though the keyhole, as he watched his chasers pass by. He stayed there a moment, before backing into the large room. He needed to find a different way to get out of here.

The room was dark, but he realized there was something on the floor... or... someone. Someone in a white dress...

No... no, it couldn't be...

Dashing over to them, he fell to his knees beside them, pausing when he realized there was also something red on the floor. He took all he had to reach out and flip them over... to see if it was who he feared it was.

Only once he'd turned them over could he suddenly see who it was. It wasn't who he had been expecting to see at all, but the face was no less familiar.

He cried out in horror, jerking up from his pillow.

"Flonne...!"

He was out of bed and on his feet and halfway to the door, before he stopped as reality came into focus, and the dream started to fade. He wasn't in that dark room, there was no body and he didn't have people from the past searching for him. He was in his room, in the apartment in Paixao. Laharl had just had yet another nightmare.

He stood there for several moments, trying to catch his breath, as he rubbed a hand over his face, damp from sweat and... tears? When had he...?

Shaking it off, he flopped back on the bed, with no intentions what-so-ever of going back to sleep now. For the past few days it was always the same... nightmares. Some had been of memories and people from his past, or of certain things that had happened to him in Paixao... some he couldn't even make heads or tails of, but still managed to wake him up, disoriented and shaking. They just seemed to be getting worse and worse.

He needed a distraction...

Reaching for his journal, he made use of it, secretly glad for familiar voices... Flonne's was especially a welcoming sound, but it seemed she was suffering from bad dreams as much as he had. Before he knew it, he was agreeing for her to come here.

Laharl wanted to see her... especially after THAT dream, but obviously he wondered if he would regret it. She'd suddenly sounded excited, and her wording still made him uncomfortable... At least no one had seemed to notice...

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"Laharl!" His door flew open and Flonne came bursting in, not stopping in her path straight towards him. As the door slowly swung shut behind her, she dived into his bed and immediately burrowed completely under the covers. Unseen, she reached for his arm and hugged it close to her pounding heart, pulling him awkwardly toward her.

"I hate nightmares..." came her muffled voice. She was shaking slightly.

It took Laharl a moment to realize what had just happened when Flonne burst in so suddenly and had disappeared under his covers in the blink of an eye.

"Flo--?!"

He couldn't even finish her name, as he suddenly felt his arm being grabbed. The next thing he knew, he was being tugged close to her, arm pulled in an awkward direction. "O-Oi...! What? Flo--!" her name died again on his lips before he could complete it, her shaking and words making him pause. She seemed... frightened? What kind of dream had she had? If it was anything like his...

His expression softened, as he scooted himself into a more comfortable position for his arm, reaching out with his other to lift the edge of the cover, trying to peek under at her.

"Flonne...?"

She didn't want him to see her tears -- the last thing he needed was a crying vassal on his hands. But as the light filtered in from the lifted blanket, Flonne lifted her face from his arm and smiled a teary-eyed smile. "I-I'm okay, Laharl...I just wanted to be near you. You can pretend I'm not here."

Easier said than done when she refused to let go of his arm.

Laharl wasn't fooled by her smiling face. He'd felt her shaking a moment ago and seeing tears in her eyes now, well, it got to him. While, true, seeing her cry any time tended to do that, it seemed worse tonight. Then again, considering the dream he'd just had... yeah, no, he needed to not think of that.

"Idiot... How can I pretend you're not here?" he replied quietly, wiggling his captured arm a little, making his point.

"...oh!" She let go quickly, blushing pink. She hadn't even realized fully what she was doing. Scooting further under the blanket so that she was covered once more, her muffled voice squeaked out, "I'm sorry! I don't want to be a bother! I just don't want you to disappear!" Rolled up like a burrito in the blanket now, Flonne froze as she realized what she just revealed. In the back of her mind, her conversation with Vyers earlier reared its troubling head. All these feelings in her heart were so confusing...then to have terrible dreams about Laharl disappearing or, even worse, turning into a demonic beast without any shred of love or light in his heart...!

"Disappear...?" Laharl echoed, a bit surprised. Is that what she'd been dreaming?

"Tch... I'm not going to disappear," he told her, with fair certainty. Sure, everyone else around him seemed to have a habit of vanishing, but it seemed like this place liked him. He'd never even had a round trip home and back here again. It didn't seem like he was likely to vanish any time soon. It was everyone else he was more worried about vanishing.

Her ribbon popped out from the blanket first, followed by wide, expressive eyes as Flonne sat up and looked at him. Still wrapped up in the blanket -- which was now entirely in her grasp and off of Laharl -- she sat next to him in silence. Her hand idly poked the mattress as she looked down, the bottom half of her face obscured by the blanket. "But...but what if you do? What if you find a way back to the Netherworld and leave everything behind?" Everything meaning her, specifically. "O-Or what if..." She sniffled, eyes welling up with tears yet again.

"What if you start to hate me..."

She was crying again... Seeing her eyes tear up, made his stomach clench. He hated seeing her like that. He almost reached for her; what he'd intended to touch wasn't obvious, but his hand hesitated, then withdrew. He was never sure how to deal with tears like this.

"I'm not going anywhere without you or anyone else, if I can help it," he told her. If a way to return was found, Laharl wanted to bring everyone back with him; Flonne, Etna, and his parents. He didn't want to leave any of them behind.

"And why the hell would I hate you?" he asked, baffled as to where that had just come from.

"W-Well...! I don't know!" Flonne cried, flapping her arms under the blanket in flustered exasperation. "It's just what I dreamed! And that wasn't even the worst one!" She calmed down and sighed, scrubbing away her tears with the blanket. "Such terrible nightmares...ones where you left me behind or where you became so evil and black-hearted that you destroyed everyone, denying all love and family!" Worked up again, she lunged forward and pinned Laharl to the bed, eyes wide and vulnerable.

"Don't stop loving, Laharl! You can't, okay?"

He was starting to look halfway worried about her, before his expression changed to one of shock, as he was suddenly shoved over and pinned down to the bed by Flonne.

All he could manage at first was to incoherently splutter up at her, his face rather red. He half wanted to yell at her, which would be a pretty typical reaction from him in such a situation, but there was something in her expression; something about her emotions that seemed, well, fragile. He hesitated, and considering her words and how to best respond that wouldn't upset her.

Figuring out what to say was easier said than done, however.

"F-Flonne... You... Would you calm down?" he managed, trying to keep his voice fairly soft. He finally also got up the guts to touch her-- a hand resting lightly on her shoulder.

At his touch, she was startled out of her panic. She blushed but didn't pull away, instead lowering down to rest on top of him, her head on his chest. "I don't r-remember ever having nightmares like these," she said after a moment, her heated cheek over his heart as she hugged him like a pillow. "It seemed so real...it reminded me of that fog. The things I swore were real..."

While Flonne was getting comfortable, Laharl was just utterly frozen. This was certainly not what he'd thought would happen when Flonne had asked to come into his room. Of course, he'd been expecting awkward to happen to some extent. It was kind of rare that there wasn't some moment of awkwardness between them, but this; this was definitely beyond awkward.

He did actually hear her words, to some extent, but he was a bit overly distracted to answer at the moment. A faint uttering of her name again, was all he managed.

She squeezed him again in a gentle hug, as if reassuring herself that he was still there. He was awfully quiet...she lifted her head to look at his expression, head tilted. "Laharl...? Are you okay?" A sudden realization struck her -- here she was, talking about all her fears when he'd had nightmares too! She was being so selfish?

"What were your nightmares?" Was is it just her imagination, or was Laharl's heart beating faster? Was he that scared?

He took in a shaky breath, releasing it just as roughly, still having troubles being anything but, well, whatever this was. His face was still flushed red. She was so close.

He swallowed, trying to find his voice. "F-Flonne... I... you... why are you...?" Any form of coherency was still lacking, but it was pretty obvious he wasn't responding to her question.

Laharl's dreams were the last thing he wanted to discuss right now.

"Why am I...?" she echoed, confused. Finally everything clicked: she was too close! But...a selfish part of her wanted to keep holding on, even if it made him uncomfortable. She needed to feel his presence tonight, had to make sure he was really real, despite all logic telling her that of course he was. She closed her eyes, sighing. "Oh...I'm sorry, Laharl. I just...really wanted to be close to you. I-I don't feel scared if I can touch you. Can I stay like this a little longer?"

She opened her eyes to look into his, blushing despite her words. "Please..."

"Y-you..." he mumbled, trying to decide how to answer and how he felt about this.

Truth be told, this wasn't the first time Flonne had curled up close to him, but those had been... strange circumstances, and... well... Flonne didn't remember then. It was some time ago now, but it seemed history was repeating itself... The way she was saying his name and how much closer to him she seemed to becoming. Did that mean she was feeling the same way as before?

Ugh, what was wrong with him?! Part of him wanted to shove her away, but... the other half... Ugh, the way she was looking at him... and if he said no now... guh, the look she'd have on her face if he denied her would likely make him feel worse.

"F-fine," he found himself agreeing. "F-fine... BUT... but would you at least... just... ah..."

Saying it was hard, so he just did it, wiggling and scooting a bit, to least move Flonne partially off him. She could stay on his chest just... less being on him was a little more manageable.

"Mmn," she merely murmured in the affirmative, relieving him of some of her weight so he could shift more comfortably. Laying down like this, the height difference between them didn't matter so much. She could easily put her head under his chin and wrap her arms around his waist again, snuggling close to his side rather than directly on top of him.

After a moment, she smiled a bit. Amazing how calmer she felt, being with him like this. "Laharl..." she said softly, closing her eyes. "Can I be your vassal for a long time?"

He breathed in an out a few times, still tense, but not quite as much now. Yeah, that had helped actually more than he'd expected. Not that she wasn't still uncomfortably close, but he could deal with it a bit better now.

Still, his mind was reeling from all this, as he was trying to not only get a grasp on his own mixed up emotions, but trying to figure out what was going on in her head--a far difficult matter.

"Why just 'a long time'?" he asked, with an arched brow. Generally he considered being a vassal to be a 'for all eternity' kind of deal. No one could just go and quit, like Etna had apparently tried to do.

She paused, feeling more shy at his question. "W-Well, I...I didn't want to assume." Flonne reached up her hand and placed her fingers lightly under his scarf, over the pendant she now knew he always wore. "Are you saying I can stay by your side forever?" Her heart thumped a little faster as she waited for his answer.

His pink cheeks darkened again, as he knew instantly what it was she was touching. Laharl's gaze, unsurprisingly, fixed itself to a wall.

"O-Of course, I am!"

There was a lot of emotions that confused Laharl when it came to Flonne, but the one thing he knew for certain: he wanted Flonne to stay with him, always. If she tried to leave, well, he'd just have to follow her and bring her back!

Laharl... It was only after the words were said that Flonne felt that she knew the answer all along. Of course they'd be together forever! Laharl and Etna-san and Vyers-san and Gwen-san...all of them and her. The nightmares she had were completely banished in the wake of this sudden deep conviction.

"Good..." she said softly, nuzzling his chest. "I won't ever leave you." She couldn't imagine a life without him in it now anyway.

"Good," he almost whispered, happy with her answer. He couldn't imagine life without her any more than she could without him. No matter how much she confused him and drove him crazy, the idea of her not being there... or not even existing... it had been too much that day in Celestia, and that would likely never change.

Slowly his gaze returned to the top of her head. She seemed happier, if nothing else. There were no more tears; that was a good thing. He wasn't sure how he still felt about letting her do this, though. It was still a little too close for comfort... but at the same time he felt kind of taller, which did kind of please him.

Maybe... Maybe he could get used to it, to some extent, at least for a night.

"O-oi... also... what happened to 'Laharl-san'?" he suddenly asked out of the blue, trying to change the subject, hoping for distraction.

"Huh?" Flonne lifted her head to look down at Laharl curiously. "Oh...well, we've been through a lot already. After the fog a-and..." She trailed off, turning red as she stared into his eyes. "U-um..." She couldn't tell him about her conversation with Vyers and the awakening of her new feelings, could she? It was too soon! And just because he wanted her as a vassal forever didn't mean he liked her that way.

Oh no! She wasn't saying anything! "I-I-It's only natural for a vassal to call her overlord that, right?" Flonne finally asked in desperation. She slunk down a bit, eyes shimmering. "...does it bother you?"

"...No, it's not!" he said, a bit surprised she even tried to suggest that. Next to no one ever called him that back in the Netherworld. It was Laharl-sama, King Laharl, Overlord Laharl, Your Majesty or your Highness or, of course, 'Prince', much to his chagrin. She must have really gone airhead on him there.

"But... No, not really," he said, shrugging slightly. It didn't really bother him at all. "You're only sort of a vassal, anyways," he suddenly added, after a moment's thought.

Of course she knew no other vassal called him by his name so familiarly, but she'd hoped he'd let it slide. She hid her blushing face behind her hands in embarrassment...but then slowly peeked between her fingers. "Sort of...? What else am I to you?" A simple question, perhaps, but she never considered she was anything but his vassal. To Laharl, "vassal" seemed to encompass all kinds of terms. She'd know for awhile how bashful he got when it came to real friendship and positive feelings, so she'd assumed vassal was as good as friend, but...

He'd been pondering since the moment he said it how to explain better, because she was sure to ask. Of course, she did ask, and thus he now had to try to make an answer, though he wasn't sure she'd understand.

"W-well... it's just... you're...... more," he attempted to explain, his explanation simple, or perhaps vague, so he hastily added, "A-and... well... important."

Not that his vassals weren't important to some degree, but she was... more important to him. There was no denying that his feelings about her were more. His feelings concerning Etna were too, but... even he knew that was in a very different way.

Important to Laharl... A warm glow spread out through her chest and she smiled brightly at him. It'd taken her awhile to get over her worry and insecurity over the Flonne that came before, but if he said she was more to him than just a vassal as she was now...that was wonderful!

She put her head back down and snuggled close again, happier than she'd been since the nightmares started. "You're important to me too, Laharl."

Edited 2011-11-14 02:09 (UTC)

"You make that obvious," he muttered softly. She kind of did, after all, especially given their current position... literally. At least now he seemed like he'd settled a little more. Though one arm was left awkwardly behind her, since she was half parked on his chest. It was awkward enough that he finally gave in even, and let it settle lightly over her, which seemed to be the only real comfortable position. Hopefully she wouldn't notice.

She noticed, of course. But luckily, even Flonne could figure out that saying anything about that hand on her back would ruin the magic, so she kept quiet. Right now, it was like it was just the two of them in the world, listening to each other breathe in the empty dark of the room. Who knew she could feel so much comfort being with him like this?

"A-Are you...feeling any better now?" she ventured, keeping her hand on his chest. "Should we try to sleep?"

Laharl was happy enough with the silence, but her question made him tense again, as thought of his previous dream returned at just the idea of sleeping.

"I-I don't think I'm about to try that," he said, not feeling ready to even try it, "But if you want to, go ahead. I'll wake you up if you start dreaming."

He wasn't sure what he'd do, lying in the dark with a sleeping Flonne, but that was still better than nightmares. Hell, anything was better than these nightmares. He'd had some rough ones in his lifetime, but these were just... bad.

She shook her head, her blonde hair rustling over his skin with the movement. "If you aren't sleeping, neither am I," Flonne said stubbornly. This was, of course, punctuated by a yawn she couldn't quite stop. "It's been awhile since we could slow down and just be around each other. Once this snow clears up, I guess we'll be moving on to the next floor."

Flonne smiled. "It'll be kind of nice to be in the Netherworld again, even if it's not really our world!"

The idea of going to the Netherworld floor had definitely been on his mind. If it wasn't for the snow and, well, other reasons, he'd have gone already, but there was one little problem with the idea.

"I donno... I would want to, but... I don't know if Mom and the old man want to move," he said, sounding like he had put a fair deal of thought into this. "And I'm not sure if it's a good idea to leave them here alone. I haven't heard Larxene do anything in ages, but..."

The worry that she could pop out of no where never really went away. She'd been quiet for some time, making Laharl think maybe, just maybe, she was out of the picture, but he didn't want to put any bets on it.

Larxene...before she came here, Flonne didn't think Laharl could be afraid of anybody. She had no memories of the Nobody, but he had enough for the both of them. Was that what his nightmares were about? All the torture that terrible woman had done to Laharl and...herself? "Mm...maybe we could ask them and see what they think." She lifted her head and put her chin on her hand, watching his face. "If Larxene really is here, we'll have to fight her together. All of us! There's no way she could beat us then."

"Tch, it's not like I can't handle her myself," he said, still hating the fact she'd managed to trick him the last time. If it hadn't been for that, Laharl would have likely been able to handle her attacks no problem. "She just caught me off guard last time. That's all. She won't be able to pull what she did again on me."

"Anyways... Yeah, we should talk to them, I guess," Laharl agreed, changing the subject.

"I'd at least like to see what exactly this floor looks like." He was definitely curious to see if it really was his Netherworld and just how accurate it would be.

"I wonder if any of the other vassals will be there," she murmured quietly, lowering her head again, using her arm as a pillow. A small smile on her face, her eyes closed. "It'd be nice...to see everyone again...." Flonne was breathing a little slower now, resting comfortably against Laharl. It seemed she was falling asleep, warm and snug and feeling safe once more. As long as she heard his voice.

It would be nice... Seeing his castle... his room... his throne! It would all be a welcome sight for sore eyes. Laharl was so tired of this place. There was few things going for this place. The fact it had brought his mom back to him... that was really the only one.

"Who knows," he replied, not yet realizing she was falling asleep, thus just continued on, obliviously. "Then again, I hope not, because if they're here, who'd be left at the castle?"

He sighed a bit, "Then again, not like it would matter. It's not like half of them do anything..."

"Mm..." was all she could murmur in response, though a small smile curved her lips as memories of the vassals and their interactions with Laharl came to mind. He complained and, truthfully, the mischievous demons made things harder for him sometimes, but...she thought perhaps there was some affection in his voice when he spoke about them.

As she fell asleep against the overlord, her last conscious thought was of his happiness.

"Tch, they're lucky I haven't made them leave. Free-loading in my castle..." he continued on, pausing when he finally realized Flonne was no longer responding in any kind of way.

"Flonne?"

She'd fallen asleep. Obviously, he wondered if that was a good thing or not. Would her being beside him even keep the terrible dreams away? Well, if she started dreaming, he could always wake her up, he figured. She might've given in to sleep, but Laharl wasn't about to.

With a soft hmph, he carefully pulled the covers up a little more over her, maybe part for her sake, but more so to hopefully somewhat keep her hidden if anyone barged into his room. With that done, there was nothing much to do, but to lay there and try to stay awake. It was going to be a very long night...

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