Chapter Text
The First Attempt
Three days after planning out this evening with Alexia, Cid returned to the palace with an attractive red-eyed girl wrapped around his arm. Typically dignified and serious, she almost seemed like a new person, all her hard edges seemingly melted away in the presence of her favourite escort. A few of the other young noblemen waiting to be let in looked at Cid with envy, blissfully unaware of how this girl would force him up at the crack of dawn to train before their classes started for hours at a time, or how she ruthlessly attacked him whenever she was pissed off.
As Cid considered his sister, all he could think was:
At least they don’t look alike.
“You know Alexia’s my date for this thing, right?” Cid checked again as they were escorted past the front gates.
“You’re just faking that though. I don’t see why you can’t keep me company and join me for a dance or two,” Claire whispered back. “Besides, these things can be dangerous. I need to be around in case someone tries challenging you to a duel.”
That was… kind of a fair point. Alexia had warned him ages ago that people might try to remove him by force, and a good number of those people were stronger than his public persona. He still would have left Claire at home if she didn’t have her own invite though.
***
Her having an invite in the first place was entirely his fault. When Cid explained he’d been hired as Alexia’s fake boyfriend (and explained that they had never even held hands), she’d insisted he was wasting his time and tried to get him to abandon the job, offering to fix him up with any of her friends. If photographs hadn’t just come into circulation, he thought she might have brought an album and made him flip through all her hopefuls.
“Even Nina would be better,” she’d said with some fervour. “I personally think someone a bit more reserved would be better for you, those mini-skirts of hers really are tiny, but at least she’s honest.”
“I’m really fine with what I’ve got,” Cid tried to explain.
“Well you shouldn’t be. Cid, you’ve only got a couple of years in the academy left. When it’s over, Mom and Dad will pick someone for you, and that’ll be that. This would be the time for you to find someone, and you’re wasting it messing around for a quick Zeni.”
It just went on and on. Deciding he needed some way of keeping her busy, he realized he could give her a helping hand in the academy tournament by overcharging her with mana right before the fight. The odds had been about 70:30 in Rose’s favour before that point, but after he’d pressed a hand on the scale, it was more like 99:1 to Claire.
It should have kept her too busy training for the Bushin festival to keep poking her nose in (and it had mostly worked), but being the academy’s representative candidate had also made her a VIP in the capital, so she was invited to almost every high society event in the city (including this one).
***
Thankfully, Alexia was there to save him from the consequences of his actions as soon as they made it to the entryway. She wore a dark blue dress (he could remember her saying something about hating how pale outfits clashed with her complexion, because she had repeated it about thirty times during their Mitsugoshi ‘date’) and a gold necklace he wished was up for grabs. She smiled warmly at the pair of them as they met just outside the doorway.
“Claire, it’s so nice to see you again. All packed for our trip tomorrow?”
“Y-What do you mean our trip?”
“Our trip to the Kagenou Barony tomorrow. Don’t tell me Cid forgot to tell you?” Alexia said, pinching Cid’s cheek affectionately. “What a silly boy you are sometimes.”
Weird dog stuff notwithstanding, Cid was impressed by Alexia’s technique. She’d chosen to give Claire the bad news in a room full of witnesses with no possibility of her forcing a solo confrontation until the next day. He had been planning to tell her when they all met at the station tomorrow, but this worked too.
“Right. Silly,” Claire said darkly, looking at Cid out of the corner of her eye.
“Maybe you could show me around sometime? Cid’s been telling me all about the manor and the village. I’ve even heard there’s rumours of a dragon in that area somewhere… the Mist Dragon, I think.”
Claire rolled her eyes. “It’s just an old bog that’s always foggy, and you can drop the routine. I know this is an act, remember.”
“Not so loud,” Alexia whispered angrily. “I need to introduce Cid to my parents now, so if you don’t mind,” Alexia said in a businesslike tone as she extended an arm for him to take.
Claire looked around the entry hall, and concluded there were too many people around to cause a fuss. “Come find me when she’s too busy for you,” Claire said as she released him.
“Good luck in the Bushin Festival. I can’t wait to see you face off against Iris,” Alexia said loudly and happily as Claire went on ahead of them.
“That went better than I thought,” Cid said happily as they began walking to the ballroom. “What was that about the Bushin festival? You trying to get her to train harder so she’ll leave us alone?”
“Partly,” Alexia whispered. “But it’s also a bit of a joke. It’s been delayed until November.”
“Why?” Cid said unhappily. He had some big plans for that tournament arc. It was like hearing Christmas had been pushed back to April.
“Isn’t it obvious? A certain someone damaged the arena so badly that repairing it will take months. I would have told Claire ahead of the official announcement next week, but if she wants to be a pain in the ass, I can play that game too.”
My own blade cuts more deeply than any other. Oh that’s good, I should use that.
The structure of the party was apparently typical for Midgar high-society, Alexia explained. The entrance hall was left open for people to come out for a quiet word away from the music (a couple of rooms full of comfortable sofas were also supposed to be used for this, but they were more for the old folks for whom standing up for several hours and staying awake past midnight were pipe dreams), while the ballroom itself was where all of the open conversations were held. Another wing of the palace was quarantined off, and held the children of the guests in comfortable seclusion to make their own amusements.
“I basically ran those until I turned fourteen and started coming to the real thing,” she whispered.
Cid could only imagine what sort of abuse Alexia had inflicted on her ‘guests’ as queen in that Lord of the Flies scenario.
Maybe growing up in the boonies wasn’t so bad.
Between the six chandeliers and hundreds of smaller lights built into the ceiling, the inside of the ballroom was probably brighter than outside had been at midday. It made all of the jewellery stand out, which he appreciated. If there was time, he would make a few acquisitions on his way out.
Dozens of small tables lined the rectangular room, the chain broken only where a raised platform held the band currently playing ‘Roses from the South’ and by a dais at the very end of the room. The interior of the chamber was given over to the dance floor, about the size of two basketball courts stuck together and polished so brightly he could make out his reflection on black and white surface.
Their progress across the room was glacial. Alexia knew everyone, and apparently had to check in with them all as she headed to the dais where her father sat. Cid knew a couple of people, either by reputation or by knowing their kids at the academy, and stuck to the reserved ‘out of his depth’ hick boyfriend of Princess Alexia persona, letting her do 80% of the talking.
“That’s-” Alexia started, pointing to a red-haired man in a crown not thirty paces away now.
“I can guess.”
“I was going to say that’s our fool Jimenez, dressed up as the king as part of his act. I didn’t want you embarrassing yourself bowing and scraping to him.”
“Really?”
“No, not really. That is my father. I was just messing with you,” Alexia said, catching her father’s eye as he spoke with Count Mono. The king wrapped up the conversation as soon as he caught sight of his daughter and waited for them to approach.
“Showtime, Pooch,” Alexia said, tightening her grip on his arm as she marched him forward.
Cid had seen Klaus Midgar before in a painting he’d ripped off a bandit corpse years ago. He had the same red eyes and slightly unkempt red hair as Iris, although he looked much less intimidating than the stern warrior-king pictured on Cid’s stolen loot (and even his eldest daughter, if Cid was being honest).
The woman beside him could only be Alexia’s mother. She was a bit taller, a bit slimmer, and her eyes were grey rather than red, but from behind or even from the front at a distance, he might have mistaken one for the other. The biggest difference between them Cid could see was that the older Midgar was willing to wear beige.
So similar were they that despite being a different colour, Cid recognised the glint in Karina Midgar’s eyes that signalled she was up to something. Internally, he cheered.
Yes. The insignificant country kid is made a laughingstock by far more important characters. Exactly what I need to balance out all of this positive attention.
“Y-your majesties,” Cid said as he bowed.
A second later he was bid to rise and the king clapped his shoulder and gave him a welcoming smile.
Dude, come on! You’re supposed to be way above me and act all judgy. I’m totally unsuitable for your daughter, so break out the disapproving father routine dammit.
“Cid Kagenou, so good to finally meet you. I was just saying to Karina that if Alexia didn’t bring you home soon, we would have to summon you to the palace ourselves.”
“W-why would you do that?”
“To thank you of course,” Karina said delicately. “If Princess Rose had died at the academy, I fear to think what might have happened with King Raphael. There’s also what you did the night you and Alexia absconded from the academy.”
What the hell? The first one I get, but why is the queen congratulating me for taking a-
“Yes, if you hadn’t held off one of those slashers for me, I could have been seriously hurt,” Alexia put in before he could ask why she thought so highly of his bathroom break.
“I just did what I could. Someone else probably would have been more help,” Cid said timidly.
“How modest,” Alexia’s mother said as her daughter trampled his shoe. He got where she was coming from, but being praised like this by the royal family was too much. He had to lower their expectations immediately.
She stopped when a young man about their age made a beeline for her. Cid didn’t recognise him, which was odd, given he’d seen almost every noble around their age at the academy at some point (even if he did forget a few names sometimes). He was half a head taller than Cid, with dark violet eyes and artfully messy black hair. Unlike Cid, who’d gone for a simple black suit, he wore a more traditional, almost military style white and gold jacket that cut off just past his knees and long black boots that came up almost as high.
Thank god I don’t look like that. I’d never blend in anywhere.
“Your majesties, apologies for my late arrival. My younger sister was having trouble getting ready,” he said, bowing to Klaus and Karina before facing Alexia. “Princess Alexia, how wonderful it is to see you after all these years.”
“The same to you Hans,” Alexia said, blushing slightly as he took her hand and kissed her knuckle.
So the noble otome game hero is her type.
While Alexia was busy speaking to her father and Hans, her mother stepped gracefully between Cid and the trio. “I was talking to your sister earlier and she told me you play the piano, is that right?”
“I took some lessons as a kid.” They had been a great time to practice magic, since he could perform most of the exercises in his sleep, and making mistakes on purpose let him seem like an annoyingly slow learner to his instructor.
“Oh, modesty again Cid, you really must stop doing that. Claire told us you play beautifully. In fact, the pianist in the second lounge is due for a break soon, and I’d love to hear you play something.”
“Queen Karina, I’m don’t think-”
“If you’re good enough for my daughter, I’m sure you’ll be good enough for the rest of us. Come along. If we wait any longer, you’ll lose your chance.”
Discreetly, a knight approached them and (almost but not quite at swordpoint) prodded Cid forward. As Cid was forced to the lounge, he couldn’t help thinking it was a waste this woman was so obviously Alexia’s real mother. She would have made an amazing wicked stepmother.
---
Alexia found herself enjoying her reunion with Hans Montfort Chad far more than she thought she would. He held himself with a lot more confidence than the boy she remembered, and his time abroad made him seem more cultured. He was full of new stories and interesting tidbits of information compared to the rest of the nobility she saw at least once a month. She also had to admit that he’d become slightly more handsome in the intervening time, not that it mattered in any way.
He had been… slightly boring to her as a child truth be told, even if they were friends. He had been either too smart or not brave enough to try competing for her affection, which had allowed them to be on good terms. At times, he’d helped her sabotage some of the hopefuls whenever a female assistant would have failed.
“I can still remember those three getting pulled out of the lake,” Hans said. They had moved on from politics to old stories when her father left them to talk with Marquis Desphot. “What was it you said was at the bottom, Excalibur?”
“No, that time it was the Holy Grail,” Alexia corrected. “The legends say you need someone of Freya’s ancestry to find it, and I was right there. To them, it was the only chance they’d ever get to have their wishes granted. If you put it like that, diving into a freezing lake doesn’t seem that stupid, does it?”
“I did feel a bit bad when their parents arrived. They were furious,” he said, still amused enough for her to know he didn’t feel too terribly about it.
“It was their own fault,” Alexia said teasingly. “You were always smart enough not to do every stupid thing I hinted at. They could have learned from your example.”
“I didn’t play along because I knew there was no winning, playing against you. Are you still running your trail of suitors into the ground?”
“Oh no. I haven’t done anything like that in years. I’ve been going out with someone I met at the Royal Academy for a few months now. He’s…”
She trailed off, looking behind her for Cid and realising he was nowhere in the room.
“Did you, by any chance, see where the black-haired man with me earlier went?”
“Yes, your mother took him to the lounge over there about ten minutes ago,” Hans said, pointing to the second lounge.
Oh hell. What’s she doing now?
She’d known some punishment was coming for breaking her promise to keep her friends in the room while Cid was visiting, but had assumed it would be directed at her.
She cut across the ballroom in a rush, Hans trialling after her. Her path was impeded at times as other people wandered towards the lounge, apparently drawn in by the music. As she arrived, she stared open-mouthed for an instant at Cid, hunched over the piano and playing a complex, beautiful piece entirely at odds with the insensitive slob she was used to. Then Alexia stood beside her mother and acted as if she had been aware all along that her boyfriend was one of the most talented pianists of their generation.
It’s not like I didn’t suspect he had hidden talents.
Sooner than she (or anyone else) would have liked, Cid’s song ended, and the original pianist returned. Alexia recognised her from their trip to Mitsugoshi as the blue-haired elf congratulated Cid on his performance, blinking away tears as she did. It was a testament to how well he had performed that Alexia was barely annoyed when he eyed up the bombshell from head to heel with an appreciative look. The rest of the room didn’t notice, and gave a brief burst of applause that seemed to physically assault Cid.
Come on Cid. They’re not that loud.
“That was… quite something,” her mother said quietly.
“I’ll say,” Hans agreed softly. “Even in Orianna, he would be considered an exceptional talent.”
“Hey Alexia,” Cid said, looking at her with narrowed eyes. “Where’ve you been?”
“Just talking with Hans,” Alexia said evenly. “Cid, this is Hans Montfort Chad, Duke Chad’s firstborn son. Hans, This is Cid Kagenou, Baron Kagenou’s son, and my boyfriend.”
“And personal assistant,” Cid added lamely as he and Hans clasped hands.
“Personal assistant?”
“Yes, he works for the Crimson Order. He does so many things that we just couldn’t cover it all in one title,” Alexia added quickly.
A few more people lined up to shake Cid’s hand, which he treated as a massive inconvenience. Then Rose Orianna appeared. Alexia smiled as she noted that despite the obvious effort Rose had put into her appearance, Cid’s initial expression on seeing her was something like what her classmates looked like when they had examined pictures of advanced possession cases.
“That was… incredible Cid. Really amazing. What piece was that?”
“Oh, I… came up with it myself,” Cid said abashedly. “I suppose art comes naturally to a man in love.”
“It must,” Rose agreed fervently, blinking back tears. Even her mother’s disapproving look was nowhere to be seen. For a moment everything was peaceful, but when Rose faced Alexia, all traces of tenderness in the other princess drained away. Alexia smiled all the wider, clasped Cid’s arm, and brought it to rest in front of her chest.
“Alexia.”
“Rose.”
There was a brief stand-off which Alexia would have held until the end of time, but being close enough to Cid to read his watch, she noticed that the guards shift change they were aiming for was due in less than an hour. “We should go dance,” Alexia said hurriedly. “My friends will be wondering where we’ve got to.”
“Right. Queen Karina, Hans, Rose, We’ll hopefully see you later,” he said as they departed, giving her mother a brief dip of a bow before ducking out.
“Y’know, after all that crap you gave me at Mitsugoshi-” he whispered before they even reached the centre of the ballroom.
“Oh shut up,” Alexia said, careful to keep her voice low as they began moving to the rhythm. “I was just talking with an old friend and assumed you could take care of yourself for five minutes without me. Besides, I saw you checking out that pianist again.”
“Whatever.”
A brief silence fell over them as they swayed, then Alexia said. “You were… quite good. Your song, I mean. I take it you didn’t really write it for me?”
“Hell no. Besides, I’m really not that good. The bar is just a lot lower in Midgar compared to what I’m used to.”
That was an obvious lie. Two people who’d lived in the kingdom of art and culture had been awed by his skill. It wasn’t as if there was anywhere else with a higher skill ceiling.
“You… don’t like public attention, do you?” She asked, remembering how he’d shrunk at the crowd's applause. Perhaps it was part of why he kept his true power a secret, only revealing it when disguised.
But I don’t think that’s it either. He hates it more than being afraid of it, I think.
“Depends on what kind. I just don’t want people to have high expectations for me. I aim to be perfectly average at pretty much everything.”
“So lazy,” Alexia complained. “You wouldn’t mind playing for me in private though, would you?”
“I guess not. About your mom-”
“I told you I’d be punished for being alone with you. I assume that’ll be the end of it, but try not to upset her again.”
“My bad. I didn’t realize I’d be dealing with two of you.”
With that their conversation ended, and Alexia was allowed to simply enjoy the music. Whenever Alexia caught sight of Rose’s angry golden eyes, she shot the other princess a gloating smirk and put a bit more spring in her step. Eventually, the other girl grew tired of looking at her failure alone and moved to speak with Hans.
Cid himself was a more than competent dancer, and knowing Rose was watching, he kept his gaze glued to her as they moved. In a rare showing of restraint, Claire didn’t approach them at all during this time, and circled the hall to talk with a few of the other guests. It took Alexia a few minutes to realize she was speaking exclusively to young men, and she almost believed Claire was over her bro-con phase before working out the pattern between the men she was speaking to. Claire was heading off Alexia’s more enthusiastic suitors, circling her and Cid like an angry guard dog. Doubtless she would have loved to take Alexia’s place, but she simply couldn’t find the time.
Bro-con or not, she does have her uses.
Despite the slightly creepy undertones, Alexia was a bit touched by Claire’s dedication to protecting her little brother. If not for the fact she and Cid absolutely needed to be together at the moment, Alexia might have offered Cid up for a quick five minutes.
Then, just as they’d planned, Cid spun her with just a bit too much vigour at the end of their foxtrot and she collided with Alisa by the edge of the dance floor, who promptly squeezed her glass so hard it shattered in her hand as she was pushed forward.
“Oh goddess, I’m sorry,” Alexia said, running to her friend and grabbing a napkin from a passing server. “Come with me and we’ll get that healed up right away.”
Millicent joined the pair of them and they left the party through one of back entrances that led deeper into the palace as Cid took Alisa’s betrothed aside for a quick drink. She had wanted him to come along for this part, but he’d insisted she do it, this being ‘her storyline,’ with him being only the organiser. A little part of her suspected he was just afraid of being caught, knowing he’d be the most punished by far if they were.
---
Finally, he’s alone.
Hans took another sip of his drink and prepared himself for an awkward conversation. Cid and Alexia had been practically glued together on the dance floor, to the point he felt he would have been intruding just by approaching.
They had seemed very much in love. For the better part of an hour they had done nothing but dance in each other's arms, barely acknowledging anyone else in the room. Every time he saw Alexia she had the most satisfied smile Hans had ever seen plastered across her face, and he could feel his heart recoil every time he saw it.
He may have even given up on his current course if Rose Orianna hadn’t given him a brief flicker of hope.
***
Rose had seemed irritated (which was very unusual for her) as they had watched the pair. Thrice, she had taken a step towards them, reconsidered, and then stepped back. As they made small talk and tried to pretend they weren’t paying any attention to what they were watching. Hans considered many times asking Rose to partner with him, but never went through with it. His heart wouldn’t have been in it, and she deserved an interested partner, at the very least.
“They seem very happy together,” Hans finally said. It had been a long shot from the start, but he had hoped…
“Things aren’t always as they seem Hans,” Rose said sadly.
“What do you mean by that?”
Rose blushed and took a long, slow sip from her drink, giving herself time to respond.
“I can’t say much, but… I don’t think Cid is as fond of Alexia as he has to pretend he is.”
***
Rose said no more on the subject, so there was no telling what exactly she’d meant, but Rose wasn’t one to lie. He still had a chance.
Knowing he had to have answers and that it would get no easier to ask, Hans dropped his glass off with one of the wait staff and was about to call out to Cid Kagenou when a vice-like grip seized his shoulder. He turned to see an attractive young woman slightly older than himself, wearing black and looking at him with narrowed red eyes.
“Why are you-” she began angrily, trailing off and reddening a bit as they came eye to eye before clearing her throat and continuing more calmly. “Why are you following my brother?”
“I need to speak to him about something?”
“A duel?” She asked, back to angry.
In a manner of speaking.
“No,” he said. It wasn’t exactly a lie, he reasoned. What he did next mostly depended on what Cid said in their talk. If he and Alexia were truly happy together, he wouldn’t bother the man again. “I just wanted to have a quick word with him about the princess. She was an old friend of mine before I moved away, you see.”
Cid’s sister sighed. “Go on then,” she said, letting him go and moving to intercept another young man that was approaching Cid from the opposite direction.
“Baron Kagenou, might I have a word?”
“Uh, sure,” he said, letting himself be led to the outer hall so they could speak privately. Even in the dimly lit hallway, more than twenty feet from anyone else, Hans felt exposed.
“I… this is rather hard to say. I’ve been in love with a girl for a long time you see, we were friends for many years before circumstances split us apart, and it seems now that her heart belongs to another. Despite being a princess, I believe she’s very much in love with you, Baron Kagenou.”
Cid froze. “You heard about that? How?”
“She told me herself, more or less. She didn’t have to though, I could see it on her face. I must tell you that I intend to make my feelings for the princess clear, and lay my intentions bare, as much as I can. I wanted to tell you first so that this can be done properly. With civility.”
“And…” Cid replied, frowning. “You know what she’s really like. Deep down?”
“Ah,” Alexia had always had a bit of a wild-side when they were younger, but from what he’d seen, she had matured into a dignified young woman. From their brief conversation, he could still sense a bit of that troublemaker in her somewhere. It didn’t put him off at all. It was a defining feature of the girl he’d fallen for, so he would have been disappointed had she lost that spark.
“I know she’s a bit more… mischievous than she lets on. It may not always be proper, but I find it rather endearing personally.”
“I’d say it’s more like sadism, but…” Cid trailed off. All of a sudden, Alexia’s boyfriend was clasping his hand and smiling warmly at him. “I’m so glad to hear that.”
“Is that so?” Hans asked guardedly. This was what he had hoped to hear, but he still didn’t want to show weakness to this potential rival.
“Yeah,” Cid said happily. “I’m really not as big a fan of her… quirks as you are. You coming in to take the heat off me is really coming in clutch,” Cid said, giving him an encouraging pat on the arm.
Hans was somewhat split on hearing this. On the one hand, it made what he had to do much more palatable, but on the other, hearing someone you cared for being disrespected was unpleasant. “If you dislike her so, why not simply say as much?”
“She’s a princess. I’m a baron’s second child. I can’t just tell her to get lost. I’d probably get arrested, y’know.”
“Right,” Hans said, endeavouring to stay calm.
What a loathsome wretch he is to speak about Alexia like that! She would never respond with violence just because she was romantically rejected.
“So you don’t mind if I-”
“Go right ahead. Don’t let me stop you.”
“Thank you. This was much easier than I thought it would be.”
“I’ll bet.” Cid peered back into the ballroom, and they saw Alexia had returned. She smiled and waved him over.
“Gotta go. Boss is calling,” Cid said. “Seriously, good luck buddy. I wish you two all the best.”
With that, all that was left was for Hans to pick his moment. It had to be public, at a time when it could be witnessed by all. In the end, he decided on the time immediately after the king toasted his father’s appointment. The room was quiet, the dancers all still, and every eye upon him as he took the glove from his pocket and slapped Cid Kagenou across the face with it.
“I Hans. M. Chad, challenge you to a duel for the honour of Alexia Midgar.”
He should have known based on how enraptured by Alexia Cid had appeared before, but he really was an incredible actor. The look on his face was a perfect imitation of someone who had just been completely blindsided.
---
Zeta’s master entered the apartment like a man worn out from a long day of hard toil. He hung his fine black coat on a hook near the door and slumped onto the sofa, loosening his tie and the top button of his shirt to get more breathing room.
“Bad date, master,” she called. Cid had shut his eyes, so it was impossible to tell if she’d truly surprised him as she stepped out of the shadow of his bedroom door.
“Hey Zeta,” he said, looking at her tiredly. “The date went fine. It’s just… have you ever had a conversation with someone where you thought you were talking about the same thing, but you were actually talking about two completely different things?”
“No. I can’t say that I have.”
Cid narrowed his eyes. “You probably have and just didn’t realize it.”
“Maybe,” she said, shrugging and moving to take the place beside him on the couch. If he was saying it, it was at least possible, even if she couldn’t come up with a single example no matter how hard she tried.
Cid explained what had happened on his ‘date’ and it was a struggle not to laugh as she imagined him being slapped across the face with Hans’ glove, or when she imagined what he might have done to the man if he showed a fraction of his true power.
“Don’t you think you’re wasting time with Princess Alexia. I think you’d be able to find a less troublesome option almost anywhere,” Zeta purred, brushing her leg against his. For his part, he began gently playing with the strands of fur from her tail, which was never unwelcome. Alpha had given her two hours, but based on where they sat now, it could be settled in the next two minutes.
“Probably but… there are other factors in play. If I didn’t know I was going to live forever, I’d be pretty pissed off, but if you have infinite time and you waste infinite time, you still have infinite time.”
Zeta went very still, her hair (and fur) standing on end as the pleasant warmth she had been feeling drained away. “You plan to become immortal?”
“Yes, I’ve been using magic to slow down my ageing. Right now, I’ll live to be about 300, but I’m still working on it. It’ll be a while until I can teach it though, so you’ll have to wait a couple of years.”
“R-right,” she stammered, a flood of relief coming over her. This was… incredible news. Her scheme to expand her splinter faction and steal Diabolos’ immortality wasn’t needed. She could just go back to being Cid’s loyal partner in the shadows, Zeta. On the topic of their partnership, maybe she should start-
Oh Goddess, Eta’s going to-
Eta was inducting Victoria into their ranks tonight. If they brought her onboard, told her everything, then shut the whole thing down, Victoria would immediately confess the scheme to Cid in a fit of guilt. Even compared to the other women of Shadow Garden, that one was fanatically obsessed with Cid to a point Zeta found disturbing. In fact, that was exactly why she would have been the perfect recruit.
She shot up, barely noticing the small yank on her tail as she pulled it out of Cid’s grip.
“I’ve got to go. I left something on in Eta’s lab that I need to shut down.”
“Alright. Before you go though, I need you to look into something. I believe Rose Orianna has a betrothed in her home country. There can’t be any obstacle to her returning to Orianna, so I need you to speed him along his path. Do you understand?”
“Yes, I’ll look into him,” she said, rushing to reform her slime suit and leapt out of his bedroom window to the next building.
Later that evening
“I don’t know why you’re so unhappy… I’m the one that’s not getting to dissect Diabolos anymore,” Eta complained. The lab was deserted, a clueless and confused Victoria safely sent home, and Zeta was entirely Cid-less for the night. The generous two hour time window Alpha had allotted her expired in seven minutes, with Cid’s apartment being almost an hour away. Besides, he was probably asleep right now, and breaking back in to wake him was a bit forward, even for her.
Zeta thought she couldn’t feel much worse, until she realised Delta’s turn was next.
He wouldn’t… surely no man would be stupid enough to start anything with her.
But her master did have an inexplicable soft spot for the unruly mutt. An image came to Zeta of hundreds of young wolf-pups with Cid’s red eyes and Delta’s black fur smashing their way across the world as a conquering army. Their mother followed behind in a chariot to egg them on, nursing another pair while ten squalling littermates lay just behind her as she cracked the whip and shouted “reinforcements on the way!”
Zeta shut her eyes and tried to think of anything else.
“Don’t talk to me.”
Shades eliminated 1/7