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giftfromthesleepprincess · 5 years

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Chapter 3–The Green Flower Seeds Fluttered to Toragay; Scene 2

Gift from the Princess Who Brought Sleep, pages 79-90

Hanne walked through Toragay for the first time in weeks. There hadn’t been any official statement regarding the matter of Kaspar’s death from the World Police since she’d been there last. She had once more arrived in town, both to inquire as to the progress of their investigation as well as to conduct her own research.

First she decided to meet with Constable Ayn Anchor. He might have despised Hanne, but to her he was the easiest person to talk to among the police. That was because she knew that Ayn was, essentially, a ridiculously soft-hearted person.

And then…while it wasn’t on level with an epic tale, she’d managed to obtain a small tidbit regarding his roots during her research on Toragay, and planned to tell him about it.

“…You have some business here?” When she visited Ayn at the police station, he had greeted her with a curt attitude as she’d anticipated. “I’m very busy, myself.”

“Doesn’t look it to me. Idling here so far away from the scene of the crime—is your investigation at a halt?”

“It’s not so much that it’s at a halt as it is on the way to being wrapped up. The only reason it’s been continuing on so long is because it involves the death of a man who had court rank.”

“So in other words the World Police sees his death as being from natural causes as the official report states? …You lot are more incompetent than I’d thought.”

Upon being told that Ayn’s countenance became openly indignant.

“There’s no point in you telling me that. That’s what the good doctor told us.”

“You honestly believe in the word of that Dr. Felix?”

“Naturally, I had a doctor properly investigate for myself. …In the end, he said the same thing; ‘suffocation by respiratory failure’. Only, he wasn’t completely certain on tobacco being the cause. Apparently it seems implausible at this point that any acute abnormalities would come about from it...Basically at present, we have no choice but to declare it as an accidental death by illness.”

“But that’s not what you think, is it Constable Ayn?”

“...Why do you say that?”

“You said ‘there’s no point in telling me that’. In other words, you don’t agree with the investigation results.”

Bulls-eye. Ayn’s brow furrowed. And then he checked to make sure there was no one else around them.

“…It seems the deceased Marquis Blankenheim was a shady character.”

“Enough to have a mistress. I know he wasn’t a man of good morals.”

“It’s not just that. The Blankenheim family has had wasteful habits since the previous generation, and thanks to that their financial affairs have been a disgrace. Though apparently they temporarily recovered by having him be married to the daughter of the Felix family, a family line of affluent doctors. However…even the Felix fortunes have run dry lately.”

“Now that you mention it, I didn’t happen to catch sight of any servants there. Or guards. They don’t have the funds to hire anyone?”

“On the contrary. According to nobles in the marquis’ social network, his financial standing had rapidly improved several months ago. They said he’d been buying up many expensive imports from the new continent.”

“That tobacco being one of them.”

“That was close to one thousand ev. Not the sort of thing you’d expect an impoverished marquis to be able to buy several of so freely. …Which means there’s a chance he had a means to earn money no one else knew about.”

If Kaspar was the manager of a black market, then there was the connection.

“Were you able to find any clues on this income source from the marquis’ home?”

“No...Although, there was something of interest there.”

“And that is?”

“In the mansion’s cellar. It looked as though it was being used as a food larder, but one of the rooms in it was empty. Well, thinking on their money troubles it’s plausible that all the private property in it was sold off…But I couldn’t be satisfied with that. All the others were untouched, with that one room being completely empty...I tried carefully searching the room one more time. When I did, I was able to find a single piece of paper in a gap in the wall. It was part of a front cover that a story title was written on.”

“Was it...a Freezis Fairytale?”

It was obvious that it was, but Hanne ventured to ask pretending to know nothing.

“Yes. I had no doubt that it was one of the items on the ‘Lost List’. I have a strong suspicion that the marquis was involved in the underground sale of Freezis Fairytales….Though I don’t have any solid proof yet.”

“If that’s the case then you really should investigate more. That’s what you’re for, isn’t it?”

Ayn said something for a moment, gazing at the wall. Regret was spreading across his face.

“...I was told not to look into this matter. By my boss. Apparently someone’s been applying pressure from somewhere.”

“--? From where?”

“Isn’t it obvious who could put pressure on us?...The Freezis Foundation.”

“You’re joking. Why would the Foundation need to stop it? That’s the last thing they’d do.”

The ones who wanted to eradicate the backroom dealing of Freezis Fairytales was none other than the Freezis Foundation itself. They were the ones who controlled the author rights.

It seemed Ayn didn’t know the reason for it either. He silently shook his head.

“Anyway, it means that the World Police can’t pursue this matter from there. …It’s for that reason that I’m talking about this with you now.”

“So, basically you want me to look into this myself?”

“The fact remains that you and I are both subordinates of the foundation. But as I can tell that you’re not the type to get overly bound up in organization—"

“No wonder, I thought you were telling me everything awfully easily today. …I guess I ended up not needing to tell you your souvenir story.”

“My souvenir story?”

Ayn made a strange expression.

“It’s nothing major, just forget it.”

“When you put it like that it just makes me more curious.”

“It really isn’t all that outrageous...Very well, I’ll tell you. As I recall—you got the name Ayn from your grandfather, didn’t you?”

“Yeah. I hear that when my grandad was a baby he was abandoned at a church in Lucifenia, and given that name by one of the sisters there. My dad revered my grandad, so when I was born he gave me the same name. He said he wanted me to become a splendid officer like him.”

“He was the founding commissioner of the World Police, wasn’t he, your grandfather? Well, that just leaves the question of why that sister gave him the name of ‘Ayn’ to begin with, doesn’t it?”

“I’m not sure on that… Though I did hear that the sister was a Netsuma just like my grandad and me.”

“Sister Clarith. The woman who later became the founder of the Sisters of Clarith. Well, there were several things written in her autobiography—things written about Toragay. When she was young…there was a period where she was held as a war prisoner in Toragay during the war between Lucifenia and Elphegort. And it’s written that there was also a single soldier working for then-lord of Toragay, Earl Felix, who had been a childhood friend of hers. The name of that childhood friend—was ‘Ayn’. It seems the sister gave your grandfather his name based on that one.”

“…I wonder what kind of person that ‘Ayn’ was.”

“He was very brave. It’s written that to the end he protected the sister as she was being pursued by the Lucifenian soldiers, and laid down his life for her. You inherited that name from your grandfather, but at the same time you also inherited the name of the bravest soldier in Toragay.”

“I see…What an astounding tale…”

Ayn nodded several times, deeply moved.

“That you and Toragay have such a connection—it must be fate. The land of Toragay protected by the ‘soldier Ayn’…As time has passed, a new incident has occurred here…Well, do you have the confidence to uphold peace in this land, Constable Ayn Anchor?” Hanne said bombastically to Ayn. She could see that the shine in his eyes was distinctly growing.

This young, hot-blooded constable loved heroic narratives like that. The simplest method for persuading him was historical tales of heroism—telling him the combined names and stories of heroes like, for example, “Leonhart Avadonia”. Once you had he would become fired up on his own, and in a state of great excitement answer anything asked of him.

Hanne knew that very well.

“Got it! I’ll do it! Miss Hanne! I will hold to the name of ‘Ayn’! To uphold! The peace in Toragay!”

It seemed the effect was immense. It was particularly intensified by the fact that it was something related to his own roots this time.

“I will keep on and investigate regarding the marquis’ death! And so Miss Hanne, I entrust the black market of ‘Freezis Fairytales’ to you!”

“No thanks.”

“…Huh?”

“Hate to say it while you’re all excited, but I’ve got no interest in that—in the black market. What I want to look into is the death of Kaspar Blankenheim…or rather, his murder.”

“Sigh…But, we haven’t determined it’s a murder yet…”

“There must be some method to make a murder look like natural causes, yes?”

“Such as?”

“Like a poison that’s untraceable after use...”

“If there is such a thing, then that would be the perfect crime. There have been cases like that in the past, but nowadays we’ve become able to detect such poisons. You mustn’t turn down your nose at the advancement of medical science. Especially the doctors that the World Police take on; all are top of their class,” Ayn boasted proudly.

“That’s not something you should get all pompous about. And just because they’re top rate doesn’t mean that they’re necessarily flawless, does it?”

“If you’re going to say that, then maybe you should hear it from him yourself. The doctor that inspected the marquis’ body, I mean.”

“Is that man here in town?”

“No, he’s already returned to his country, unfortunately.”

“...Wait a second. You mean he’s gone to Marlon again? I’ve only just gotten back myself!”

A round trip to Marlon, no matter how fast, took four days. There was nowhere in Elphegort where you could come and go that quickly.

“Ah, sorry. I wasn’t talking about Marlon. It’s Lucifenia. Doctor Rogzé living in the royal capital Lucifenian was in charge of this case.”

Hanne also remembered having heard that name before. A celebrity in his own right.

“...Puerick Rogzé. The authority on pharmaceuticals. If he’s in Lucifenian, then I could get there on a day trip.”

When her various investigations in Toragay were finished, she should probably try to visit him.

“Let’s leave that aside for now…Say for the sake of argument that Kaspar was murdered—the problem is then, who did it. Were there any signs of someone trespassing into the house?”

“All the windows were locked. Same for the front door. But apparently Dr. Felix had a spare key. He found the body using that to get in—at least, if his testimony is true.”

“And Kaspar’s wife? She didn’t notice the marquis’ death despite being in the house?”

“It seems she was prohibited from entering his room. Whenever that—mistress was coming over. She first learned of the deaths after entering the room with her father. She didn’t hear any unusual noises during the night.

“During the night?”

“Yeah, all night through.”

“That’s peculiar isn’t it? She couldn’t possibly have been awake the entire time, could she? Couldn’t something have happened while she was asleep?”

“Well that’s—”

There Ayn suddenly grew tight-lipped.

“What is it? Tell me now.”

“The wife...This Margarita, somehow it—it appears she has a condition where she doesn’t sleep.”

“...Huh? She doesn’t sleep...ever?”

“It appears so. Ever since she was born she allegedly hasn’t slept once.”

A human being that doesn’t sleep—could someone like that even exist?

“At first I also thought she was lying, but according to her father it seems it’s true, somehow. Maybe it’s some kind of idiosyncrasy? Actually, after the incident I’ve had one of my colleagues stay in the house to serve as a guard, and from what he’s told me she’s always awake, showing no signs of having slept at all.”

“That’s a little…actually a lot concerning, for multiple reasons. –Was there anyone else in the mansion at the time?”

“Like you said before, there aren’t any servants working at the mansion. So from night to morning, the only people to enter were the marquis, his mistress, lady Margarita, and Dr. Felix. That’s assuming that all the involved parties told the truth.”

“On the other hand, if either the wife or the doctor or both of them are lying—then it’s hard to deny the possibility that there was an intruder from outside.”

The fastest way to ascertain that would be to ask them personally, after all. Especially the wife that Hanne hadn’t met yet…She couldn’t help but be drawn in by this Margarita’s “sleepless” condition.

“Ah, pardon. There is one other person,” Ayn suddenly blurted out.

“What?”

“Someone who entered the mansion…You. Hanne Lorre.”

Certainly, Hanne had gone to the mansion to visit Kaspar that day.

“W…wait a second! Are you seriously suggesting I could be the culprit?”

“I guess that could be true--Augh! Dammit! What’s the matter with me, blathering on about case details with a suspect of all things…”

Ayn immediately went on guard.

“Give me a break. I didn’t have any motive to kill Kaspar. I’ve never even met him.”

“Motive, huh? That’s true. A killer’s gotta have a motive.”

“The wife and the doctor must have plenty of motives to kill Kaspar.”

Margarita must not have thought very highly of Kaspar, publicly fooling around as he was. And it wouldn’t be so strange if Dr. Felix harbored anger towards Kaspar as well for making his daughter bear such ill treatment. And in addition to that, the Felix family were the original lords of the land. The one to inherit the lordship now that Kaspar was dead—

“Did the marquis and his wife have any children?”

“No, they didn’t.”

Then that meant that the one to govern the area in Kaspar’s stead would be, as was customary, his wife Margarita. A member of the Felix family had bloomed once more in their territory. And if Margarita were to marry some other man and bear his child, that child would take over after her, and from then on the Blankenheim family name would disappear from the genealogy of Toragay’s sovereigns.

Though it was, after all, a theory. At this point she had yet to find any certain proof that the wife or the doctor bore Kaspar or the Blankenheim family any ill will, and furthermore taking into account the existence of “Pere Noel” made the case much more complicated than that.

“Well, I suppose for the time being I’ll see about arranging a meeting.”

She had heard the main points of the case from Ayn. Now it was her turn to do some digging.

“Who are you going to meet?” Ayn asked.

“Who…For now I think the wife,” she replied.

After a moment of thought, Ayn said, “That might be difficult.”

He likely meant that his colleague staying on at the Blankenheim house would get in the way.

“He’s more stubborn than I am. I doubt he’ll let a newspaper reporter meet with the wife.”

Hanne did have her trump card of “the chief minister’s signature”. Any World Police officer, not just limited to Ayn, would be able to do anything with it when it came down to it; but, from what she’d heard from him earlier, there was evidently some turbulent developments going on within the police and the foundation itself. She’d rather avoid making the situation more serious until the very last minute, if possible.

“I’ll go on ahead and talk to him for you. Though it might take a little while—Well, I know some of his weaknesses, anyway. I’m sure I’ll figure it out somehow,” Ayn said. With that, Hanne decided to rely on him to take care of it this time.

“I see. Then I leave it to you.”

She had no choice but to bide her time while Ayn persuaded his colleague. But that being said, she didn’t have enough free time to go see Dr. Rogzé in Lucifenia and get back here.

Then that leaves…Dr. Felix I guess.

That doctor had been fairly suspicious. He was bound to have some skeletons in his closet.

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hale-of-stiles-heart · 7 years

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destiel + meet cute?

Not gonna lie, I couldn’t come up with any good meet cute scenarios on my own so I found this one x And honestly, it’s perfect for Destiel. (also on ao3)

Dean and Charlie always made time to hang out at least once a week, even if it just meant walking home from work together.

Between Dean's job at Bobby's garage, his part-time gig bartending at a local bar, and his college courses, he was stretched pretty thin. Charlie was in a similar situation, juggling two jobs, one as the head of the IT department at some big name enterprise and another at a bookstore, and a new relationship with her girlfriend Dorothy.

When Dean had decided to finally get his degree, having gotten his GED a few years prior, he had met Charlie at the bookstore where he had been looking for a copy of the textbook Sam had accidentally ruined. She had been working behind the desk, tapping away on her laptop while blasting some kind of pop music, when Dean had gone to the front to buy the overpriced textbook.

They had both winced at the exorbitant price, Dean cracking a half-assed joke that had fallen flat as he pulled out his wallet. She had given a courtesy laugh before brightening with a genuine smile and punching a cash register keys that immediately brought the price down by at least twenty percent.

Beaming, she had informed him, in a conspiratorial whisper, that she had used her employee discount, much to both Dean's delight and astonishment. They had been friends ever since, bonding over their shared love of all things nerdy and the struggles of being the only LGBTQ+ members of their families.

Now, two years later, they were as close as siblings, Charlie the sister that Dean had never wanted and Dean the sometimes overprotective brother Charlie had never had. Between their busy schedules, it was increasingly difficult to hang out, even just for an afternoon.

Not wanting to give up on their hang out day altogether, they simply improvised. Which is why there Dean was, walking Charlie from her office building to the bookstore a dozen blocks away.

"Oh my god, did you see the new trailer?" Charlie asked after taking a sip of her coffee, some kind of caramel latte frappuccino thing with a huge dollop of whipped cream on top.

"Yeah. Looks pretty good," Dean answered, weaving around a woman pushing a three seated stroller. She murmured a grateful thank you as she passed.

"Pretty good? Pretty good?!" Charlie gasped, thoroughly scandalized. It showed on her face as she gaped at him, her jaw slack as she pushed her glasses further up her nose.

She gestured aimlessly with her free hand, nearly smacking a passerby in the face in her unchecked enthusiasm. Yanking her arm back, she continued on, "It's Wonder Woman 2, Dean! It's gonna kick ass!"

"I know, kiddo," Dean chuckled, holding up his hand in a placating gesture. Taking a sip of his own coffee, black with just a little bit of sugar, he rolled his eyes at Charlie's outburst.

Both of them were devout comic book fans, Dean preferring DC while Charlie was a Marvel girl through and through. They had never missed a superhero movie and they didn't plan to, always reserving tickets for the premiere. Charlie's hacking skills, while beyond illegal, were extremely helpful.

"So..." she sing-songed, batting her eyes at him innocently. But from the tone of her voice, Dean knew that she was anything but. "Have you thought about what I said about my boss?"

"Ugh, Charlie. Not this again," Dean groaned, hanging his head as they crossed the street. Shaking his head, he firmly announced, "For the last time, I don't wanna go out with your boss."

"But why not?" Charlie whined in return, jutting her bottom lip out in an exaggerated pout. It was the same pout that was just as effective as Sam's ridiculous puppy dog eyes, maybe even more so. "You've never even met him!"

"Yeah, that's why I don't wanna go out with him, Charlie," Dean sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. For the past few months, Charlie had been trying to convince Dean to go on a date with her boss, claiming that he was perfect for Dean.

Apparently, the guy's name was Castiel which was the most pretentious thing he had ever heard and he had once gone out with a dude named Brady. And according to Charlie, he was downright dreamy.

Dean had to admit that she was probably right about that. If even she thought a dude was dreamy, he must be a modern day Marlon Brando.

Charlie had talked his ear off about how handsome and considerate her boss was, detailing all of his contributions to various charities from the local animal shelter to Meals on Wheels. Not to mention how entrepreneurial he was, opening the bookstore with his brother a few years back when he had moved to Lawrence from Illinois.

She had even sung praises about how smart he was. One day she had spent fifteen minutes detailing her boss' time at Columbia, listing his degrees, and mentioning a few books he had written.

But as amazing as this Castiel guy sounded, Charlie making it sound like the dude shot rainbows out his ass that she assured him was objectively perfect, Dean had learned his lesson about letting friends set him up with people.

The last time he had gone on a blind date it was with some guy his friend Benny had set him up with. It was a disaster.

The guy's name was Fergus but he went by Crowley, probably because his parents had cursed him with a ridiculous name like Fergus. He had spent the entire date, dinner at some overpriced French restaurant where Dean had stuck out like a sore thumb in his flannel shirt and faded jeans, talking about himself and making lewd innuendos about the size of his dick.

That had been the end of Dean going on blind dates. Besides, he may or may not have had his eye on someone.

There was a regular at the bar that had captivated Dean since the first time he had seen him and he had been working up the nerve to ask him out for weeks. And he wasn't going to give up on the cute nerd he'd admittedly been pining for just because Charlie had a hot boss.

The first time Blue Eyes, as Dean referred to the man in his head, had come into the bar where Dean worked, he had looked like complete and utter shit. His black hair was messy, his clothes were disheveled, and he was sopping wet.

It had looked as though he hadn't gotten the memo about the storm that had drenched the city and filled the sky with strikes of pale lightning. Looking exhausted, dark circles under his beautiful blue eyes, thus the nickname Dean had given him, he had taken a seat at the bar. With a resigned sigh, he had ordered some whiskey, a bacon cheeseburger, and a plate of loaded nachos.

Blue Eyes had offered to share his nachos with Dean when the sound of his empty stomach rumbling had filled the air. Dean had been eternally grateful, giving Blue Eyes a beer on the house.

They had spent almost two hours talking, bantering lightheartedly as Dean made drinks for the others at the bar. And yes, Dean might have been a teeny tiny bit more dramatic as he used the cocktail shaker to make cosmopolitans and daiquiris, flexing more than necessary to show off his biceps in his tight black t-shirt.

He had been pretty disappointed when Blue Eyes had finally left the bar, though he had left behind a tip worth more than his meal. His disappointment didn't last long. Blue Eyes showed up again the next night.

He had ordered one of the fancy cocktails that Jo had come up with to set the Roadhouse apart from other bars in the area and it had somehow morphed into a little game between them. Every time Blue Eyes came in, Dean would surprise him with different cocktails, never telling him what the drink was called until he had tried it.

Dean would never forget the look on Blue Eyes' face when he told him that he was drinking an angel's tit. The poor guy's entire face had turned bright red as he choked on the mix of cherry liqueur, half-and-half, and white creme de cacao.

But for all of Dean's flirting through sexually named cocktails, he had yet to work up enough nerve to actually ask him out.

"Anyway..." Charlie drawled, whipping some whipped cream off the tip of her nose. "You doin' anything tonight? It's been way too long since we've actually hung out."

"I work at the bar tonight but I'm off all this weekend for once. No classes, no work," Dean replied, a wide smile stretching across his face at the thought. He couldn't remember the last time he had been able to sleep in past nine o'clock. He couldn't wait. "We'll have a slumber party. You can braid Sam's hair."

"Ugh, I haven't seen Sam in months. He's off being a hotshot lawyer," Charlie lamented, throwing her head back. Looking over at Dean, she narrowed her eyes and asked, "He still growing his hair out? It's gotta be past his ass by now."

"Oh, yeah," Dean agreed, nodding a couple times. "Pretty soon he'll be tripping over it."

Charlie laughed and started rambling on about how if Sam was Rapunzel then Dean must be a Disney princess, too. He nodded along as she debated whether or not he would be Moana, a free spirit who loved travel, or Belle, beauty and brains all rolled into one, until he was distracted by a store window.

It was an independently owned clothing store, an upscale boutique called Sew It Seams that catered to women especially. And by that, he meant that a large portion of their stock was lingerie.

They sold everything under the sun, from frilly lace panties to dominatrix-esque leather bustier, in every color imaginable. From what he had heard from customers at the bar, they actually had plus sized articles of clothing made for women who didn't just have hourglass figures or bigger thighs.

In their store window, there were a few torso mannequins, headless, armless, and legless as they advertised different types of lingerie. It was an unexpected sight on the street full of more family friendly shops which is probably why it caught Dean's eye.

Well, that and the fact that he had always been a bit fascinated by lingerie. Ever since he was nineteen and he'd tried on Rhonda Hurley's satiny pink panties.

Call it a kink, call it a fetish, call it a run-of-the-mill preference. Whatever the hell it was, he had it.

The only person he had ever dared tell was Charlie. Which is why he was glad she was with him.

As he admired a pair of bright red panties and a matching sheer babydoll, he reached over to nudge her hand. He groped under blindly under he finally made contact, muttering, "Hey, Charlie. Wouldn't I look sexy in that?"

He turned around with a cocky grin to see her reaction, expecting an eye roll or a punch on the shoulder. It was fair to say he was expecting to see Charlie standing beside him, not Blue Eyes himself.

The man blinked at him, his angelic blue eyes wide as Dean's face filled with heat. He quickly glanced around in search of Charlie, finding her about a yard away with a hand clamped over her mouth as she shook with poorly concealed laughter.

"Uh, I—" Dean squeaked, his voice high pitched, but he didn't get to finish his pathetic excuse because Blue Eyes cleared his throat and squinted at the store window.

"I suppose," he murmured thoughtfully, nodding to himself. But, turning to Dean, he pointed a finger at the store window and claimed, "But I believe that color would be better. It complements your skin tone."

His jaw nearly dropping, Dean inclined his head to look at the other mannequin that was adorned in the same style of lingerie. The babydoll and panties were pale pink, dainty and feminine and oh so intriguing.

"Uh, yeah... I guess you're right," he managed to stammer out scratching the back of his neck as he was overwhelmed with how much he suddenly wanted the lingerie set. Face still warm, he dropped his eyes to the sidewalk, staring at a spot of old chewing gum.

"So, uh..." Charlie's voice sounded, making Dean tense. He knew that tone. That was her 'I'm-about-to-meddle' tone. She confirmed it a second later when she announced, "I guess this is as good a time as any for introductions."

Dean whipped his head up so fast he was surprised he didn't break his own neck, narrowing his eyes at his best friend. She just smirked back at him before she spoke. "Dean, this is my boss Castiel Novak. Castiel, this is my best friend, Dean Winchester."

Dean's jaw immediately dropped as he turned to Blue Eyes, or rather Castiel. Charlie's fucking boss. The guy he'd been pining over and the guy she'd been trying to set him up with apparently one and the same.

Blu—Castiel offered a rather shy looking smile, drawing Dean's attention to the chapped pink of the other man's lips. He managed to tear his eyes away before things got even more awkward, returning Castiel's smile with one of his own.

Their moment was interrupted by Charlie who chimed in, "Y'know, as good as Dean would look in those panties, I bet they'd look even better on your bedroom floor, boss."

"Charlie!" Dean squawked indignantly, shooting a glare at his friend over Castiel's shoulder. "Stop hitting on him for me!"

"Well, someone has to, Dean," Charlie said simply as though it made complete sense. She rifled around in her purse for a moment, handing Dean her hoity-toity coffee as she did.

A moment later, she pulled out a slip of paper and a pen. After writing something on the paper, she handed it to Castiel, explaining, "That's Dean's number. He has the whole weekend off so you can take him on a date tomorrow."

She turned to Dean with a bright smile. "Well, I'm gonna get to work. You crazy kids stay here and talk about where you're going for your date—" she looked back at Castiel "—Dean loves pie. The diner on Fifth Street serves his favorite pecan pie. You should take him there."

Without another word, she spun on her heel and continued her walk to the bookstore, her ponytail swaying as she jogged across the street. Dean and Castiel were left to stare at Charlie's back before awkwardly glancing at each other.

"So..." Dean began, pursing his lips and shoving his hands in his pockets. He rocked back on his heels as he chanced a look up at Castiel. "Tomorrow night?"

"How about tonight?" Castiel countered with another smile, sounding adorably hopeful. After biting his lip, he elaborated, "I'll be at the Roadhouse tonight. Maybe we could split some nachos again? You could make me one of your dirty cocktails."

"Yeah, that sounds good," Dean responded, maybe a bit too eagerly. "How does a cock sucking cowboy sound?"

"Depends," Castiel said, nodding decisively. Smirking, looking much more confident, he inquired, "Is that the drink or you?"

Letting out a startled laugh, Dean answered, "Depends. How good are you gonna tip me?"

As Castiel laughed, the sound lighting him up from the inside, Dean acknowledged that he might have to change his stance on letting friends set him up. Then again, he hoped that he wouldn't ever need to be set up with anyone because Castiel seemed pretty damn perfect.

Send me Destiel prompts!

#destiel #destiel fic #meet cute #alternate universe #my fic #halerogers

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scaplivingtogether · 7 years

Text

Seven Crimes and Punishments- Living Together: The Oujia Demon

Chapter 13

The Ouija Demon

The house they're residing in had been restored to it's natural glory as promised by Held, but the sinners are now precautions about the basement since the "Black Widow Incident" and had decided to leave it alone...however the only sinner brave enough to go down there was Kayo Sudou of Envy, who suggested in turning it into her personal tailor shop, the sinners agreed, now the basement belongs to her. The sinners had returned to their box after being discharged from the Hospital, their wounds have been fully healed thus allowing them to remove their bandages, they've spent the whole afternoon and evening just relaxing and not getting on each others throats like they normally do, well the only ruckus that most of them made are about Margarita's new engagement to Jun. Margarita was sitting at the dining room table with Banica and Kayo, talking about it.

"Ooooh I'm so nervous! I'm getting remarried and here I am getting chills." Margarita said, she can fell her pigtails moving with excitement, but then she started to feel sad. "But what if it doesn't go well like with...you know."

"Come now, Jun seems like a nice young boy." Kayo said. "Even better than that worthless playboy of a noble, forget about Kasper." She smiled.

"Yeah, plus his food is wonderful." Banica said, liking her lips.

"True but that's not a good reason to marry someone."

"Oh well, speaking of food, I'm hungry."

"Where was I? Oh yes, Maybe I can tailor you a wedding dress, Margarita, I got the best material for it."

"You're too kind Kayo, but you don't need to put yourself through all that work." Margarita responded.

"Think of it as a kind gesture." Just then, she saw Allen coming in the dinning room with a large pumpkin in his arms "Oh Allen, do you need help with it?"

"Ugh, no thanks." Allen said while showing signs of struggle. "I'm almost at the kitchen anyways. " Allen walks to the kitchen, he tries his best to not drop the pumpkin on the ground.

"Are we having a giant pumpkin pie?" Banica asked with an excited look on his face. "Maybe even pumpkin soup?"

"Riliane is cooking dinner, she can't make those two things in one night." Margarita said.

"Can't I dream?"

"You can but still." Kayo replied.

"Oooh you're no fun, Sudou."

"DINNEEEEEEEEEER!" Riliane called from the Kitchen, a triangle can be heard to, Sateriasis, Gallerian, and Nemesis soon walked into the dinning room once they heard her.

"Finally, I was starving." Banica said.

"And you'll soon be hungry in an hour." Sateriasis joked.

"Oh hush." She sees Allen coming into the dining room. "So what are we having tonight Allen?"

"I don't know, I was too busy bringing the pumpkin inside."

"I doubt Riliane can make dinner very well." Sateriasis smirked.

"She made pancakes on the first day." Gallerian said.

"Yes, but that's breakfast, this is dinner and it's more complex, I bet she comes out with disastrous results.

"I wouldn't be too sure, Sateriasis." Allen said smiling. "Look."

"Here it is guys." Riliane came in with a platter of food. "I made Grilled chicken breasts, homemade mashed potatoes, green beans with sliced carrots, and last but not least: buttermilk biscuits with a side of trauben jam." Sateriasis can mentally feel multiple wash pans landing on his head after seeing how well Riliane did in preparing supper.

"Told you."

"You brat, how did you do all this?!" Sateriasis asked with an angry tone in his voice.

"I learned it from Clarith while residing in the Held Monastery, age 15, brioche, and was a natural on the first try." Riliane said with pride in her voice, causing the Duke to feel even more wash pans falling on his his head mentally.

"Settle down you two, this ain't a popularity contest." Kayo said, Riliane then took her seat at the table.

"Now everyone hold hands, because we're gonna say grace." Allen said as the sinners did what he tells them, he began his grace: "Dearest Levia, we give our thanks and ask for your blessings for the meal we're about to partake in, Amen."

"Amen." They proclaimed and began digging into their meals.

"So Allen, what's with the giant pumpkin?" Banica asked while stuffing her face.

"Please don't talk with your mouth full." Allen said in disgust. "Also I'm planning on having it carved into a jack-o-lantern, tomorrow is "Hallows' Evening" after all."

"That time of the year already?" Nemesis asked, visibly excited. "Awesome!"

"I beg your pardon but what is Hallows' Evening?" Sateriasis asked.

"It's a holiday first constructed by the natives of Lioness and Marlon during the late-Magic Kingdom era." Gallerian explained. "It was celebrated on the 31st of October, a time of year that was often associated with human death. The Followers of the Levin faith believed that on the night before November 1st, the boundary between the worlds of the living and the dead become blurred. On the night of the 31st they celebrated Hallows' Evening, when it was believed that the ghosts of the dead returned to earth. In these days however before Margarita was born, many Levin followers began to detest the holiday as a ritual associated with demon worship currency of the Behemo Sect due to having a undead theme."

"Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaawn." Riliane said sarcastically.

"So it's like a Behemo sect ritual?" Sateriasis asked.

"Sort of but no, fortunately there's still some followers and people outside of Levin Faith who celebrate it up till this very day." Gallerian continued. "How can you not know that?"

"I've been indoors most of my life."

"Figures, *cough* pervert *cough*!"

"Anywaaaaaaaays, what are the customs?"

"Back then: it would be just bonfires and offering sacrifices to their gods." Banica said. "Though in recent years they removed the sacrificing and included trick-or-treating, costume parties, decorating, carving pumpkins into jack-o'-lanterns, apple bobbing, divination games, playing pranks, visiting haunted attractions, telling scary stories, and watching horror films instead."

Nemesis started making scary faces at the Duke. "Y'know anything scary related and filled with pure terror?" Sateriasis started shivering from looking at her, but then stopped when something hit him.

"Oh right, I saw some dwellers of hell viewing it, I thought it was just demon worship or a masquerade party."

"Nope, it's the very same holiday. Though trick-or-treating was a thing to satiate the ghouls or ghost's hunger, it now became more of a child thing." Nemesis drank some water.

"What do you mean?"

"It involves children dressing up and going door to door getting candy or fruit by saying "trick-or-treat"." Margarita said. "I heard It also became more mandatory in Gallerian's time because of the Witch Trials."

"That's correct." Gallerian said. "The fools believed that the witches would eat the children if they don't dress up as monsters."

"Pfft, please not at the table." Kayo said, holding her neck to prevent vomiting.

"Sorry."

"Ok, I see your point, If that were the case: what I should dress up as?" Sateriasis was brushing his chin with his forefinger.

"Now we're talking!" Riliane said patting his back vigorously. "I think we may have something in the attic...do we?"

"Yes, I checked." Allen said.

"Wait wait wait wait!" Kayo called out. "Aren't we just gonna stay in the box though? We can't leave the box and no one but Behemo and the Demons come here." The sinners sighed in a bummed out way, drooping their heads down.

"Not to worry, I have made a deal with Sickle for tomorrow night."

"What?"

"I asked Sickle to allow the children residing in the Heavenly Yard to visit the box to trick-or-treat tomorrow and extend us their good wishes." The sinners became relieved when Allen proclaimed it. "All I need now is help getting these bags into the living room for tomorrow night." He pointed at the bags by the door, they're five in total and are just around the same size as Allen and Riliane.

"What's in them?" Gallerian asked.

"Lollipops, each child participating gets one, no more, no less." The sinners were surprised by what Allen told them, who knows how many lollipops are in those bags, or better yet: how many children are coming?

After dinner

The sinners were browsing through the attic to see what they can find for tomorrow night, so far they found white bed sheets, black and orange fabrics, old masks, old clothes, and a stuffed black cat. While searching for more things to do for Hallows' Evening, Nemesis heard a thud from behind her, she saw a game board covered in dust, she picked it up and blew the dust off, the title of the box reads "Ouija".

"Oh! an Ouija board!" Nemesis said with a smile. "Mom and I used to talk to spirits with it when Friday the 13th is around."

"How you do it?" Kayo asked from behind her.

"You'll know while the others aren't around."

"Why?"

"Because I don't want my father getting involved and screwing everything up!"

"Don't be so negative."

"Oi! What are you two doing?" Riliane said, Nemesis hid the box behind her back. "This ain't a vacation now helps us out!" The two nodded, Nemesis hid the box under the shelf.

"We'll use it while the others are asleep." Nemesis whispered.

"Ok." Kayo agreed.

Later that night

The sinners eventually gotten ready for bed. Showers, teeth, pajamas, and all, after which they went to sleep...except for Margarita who sadly cannot sleep and can only lay down in the living room so she won't disturb her roommates with her chronic insomnia, and is unaware of the events that are about to occur tonight. At 11:30 at night, Nemesis woke up, she made sure that the people around her are asleep, she got out of bed and proceeds to wake Kayo up.

"Hey." Nemesis whispered as she shakes Kayo, Kayo slowly wakes up and sees Nemesis standing over her. "Ready?"

"Yeah." Kayo yawns and gets out of bed, the Sudous proceed to head into the attic, trying their best not to catch Margarita's attention. Once there, Nemesis got the board ready and lit the candles around her. Kayo has gotten slightly anxious from the site of the fire.

"What's wrong?" Nemesis asked.

"It's the fire...are they...?"

"No they won't catch anything on fire, I moved the furniture and put stands under them so they won't fall over. Now turn off the lights." Nemesis said, Kayo did and sat on the floor across from where Nemesis is sitting.

"So you and your mother can talk to spirits with this thing?"

"Yes, so far me and mother were able to contact a mischievous ghost from the spirit world, always telling us jokes and riddles, even the ones I'm not supposed to read."

"Read?"

"Yes, this planchette here with the open glass tells us what the spirit is saying by pointing at the letters and numbers, that's how they communicate."

"I see, I would like to know about my family with it."

"You sure?" Nemesis was concerned about what Kayo was seeking.

"Yes."

"Oh right, put your hand on the planchette." They both put their hands on it, they both clear their minds and took deep breaths. "Spirits living between heaven or hell, come forth and speak." Nemesis said, they waited for a response for at least a minute or two until..."Ah!" Nemesis gasped.

"What?" Kayo asked, she felt something moving under her fingers, her heart began pounding when she saw the planchette moving. "I-it works."

"Don't be afraid or shocked, demons from Ouija boards are attracted to fear." Nemesis instructed her, Kayo took deep breaths as the planchette moves, all the while the fire from the candles turn into an eerie red-violet, which could only mean one thing: "...It's here."

"WHAT GOES ON MORTAL?" Was the board's response, supposedly by a ghost.

"I'm Nemesis Sudou, this is my friend Kayo Sudou...no relations."

"THAT'S RIGHT, YOU'RE THE SINNER OF WRATH."

"So you know of my sins?" Nemesis asked, she was quite calm about this.

"WE BEINGS OF THE SPIRIT WORLD SEE MANY THINGS."

"C-can I ask?" Kayo asked Nemesis.

"Sure, remember don't stress yourself and don't show fear."

"Ok...Do you know me or my family?" Kayo asked, she tried her best not to show fear.

"WE KNOW NOT OF YOUR FAMILY." The being replied, "BUT WE KNOW OF THE SINS YOU'VE BESTOWED UPON ENBIZAKA."

"Ah!" Kayo gasped in surprise.

"Stay calm." Nemesis snapped.

"Sorry."

"ARE YOU TWO RELATED?" The ghost asked.

"No, I mention that already." Nemesis said.

"YES BUT THERE'S ANOTHER WAY THAT SHOWS THAT YOU TWO ARE RELATED." The ghost said. "BUT IT'S NOT THE SURNAMES, IT'S SOMETHING ELSE."

"Uhhhhhhhhhhh..." The two got confused by what the ghost had asked.

"TOO SOON?"

"Wait, aren't we the ones asking questions?" Nemesis asked.

"ASK YOUR QUESTIONS THEN."

"Um, ok...Wow you stumped us." Kayo said.

"IT'S QUITE ALRIGHT, THEN I HAVE A QUESTION FOR YOU."

"Oh, what is it?"

"I HEARD THAT TOMORROW IS HALLOWS' EVENING...IS IT TRUE?"

"Uhhh yes...why?" Kayo was sounding anxious.

"JUST WONDERING, WE SPIRITS DON'T NORMALLY COUNT THE DAYS OF THE HUMAN WORLD."

"Ok?"

"THE WITCHING HOUR IS ARRIVING, YOU MORTALS MUST GET TO BED SOON."

"Oh, your right." Nemesis said. "It's a pleasure talking to you." She then moved the planchette to the word "goodbye" under the numbers and letters, the planchette stops moving and the candles went back to normal.

"Wow, just...wow." Kayo breathed out finally, her heart was pounding really hard and fast.

"Awesome, huh?" Nemesis asked.

"Well actually to be honest, I thought it wasn't gonna work, but we actually talked to someone from the spirit realm."

"Well it did work, Mother and I are professionals." Nemesis puts the board in the box.

"Have you find it odd that the spirit asked if tomorrow is Hallows' Evening?"

"Well yeah but not to worry, I made sure the board is put back properly, so the spirits won't get out."

"Oh good." Kayo sighed in relief, the two Sudous blew the candles and left the attic...however, the bottom part of the shelf that was holding the box broke, causing the board to fall out, it glowed in an eerie red-violet just like the candles, then a red-violet silhouette came out of it, appearing like a young woman with long draped hair and no clothes on. In the bedroom, Kayo was about to fall asleep in her bed when she heard something, she left her bed to see what's going on. In the hallway, Kayo saw that everything was just the way it was, just as she was about to head back to bed, she heard a slow creaky noise that made the hairs on the back of her head stand on end. She turned around and saw that the attic was slowly opening and a ladder coming out, Kayo walked over to try to close it...but, she then saw a red-violet foot on the step, that surprised Kayo. "Wh-whose there!?"

Kayo breathed out in fear. There was no response from the person in the attic, but instead jumped down to the ground and began staring at Kayo with a sinister grin that signifies dread. The area around her and the strange being in front of Kayo was turning into a deep shade of red. Kayo ran back to her bedroom to warn Nemesis but as she runs, the hallway starts to get longer and narrower until the doors disappear and she was just running in complete nothingness. She turned around to find that the being behind her is gone, she stopped for a moment or two before letting out a sigh in relief, but as she turned around, the strange red-violet being was standing in her way. Making a very frightening demon like face and letting out a scream that is loud as a banshee.

"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGHHHHHHHH!"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Kayo screamed out in horror as she began flaying her arms around, she stopped and found that it's already morning and that she was still in bed, she looked around and saw the girls in the room were laughing and the being in front of her was only Riliane wearing a Red Hannya Mask. "Y-you little brat! How dare you scare me with that thing!?" Kayo berated the Princess as she snatched the Hannya Mask away from her.

"HAPPY HALLOWS' EVENIIIIING!" Riliane proclaimed as she made a v-sign hand gesture.

"I GET YOU FOR THIS!" Kayo was about to chase her before being held down by Banica.

"Geez calm down, Kayo it's only a harmless trick." Banica said as she was eating a black and orange swirl lollipop. "Though to be honest, I kinda expected that type of reaction from Nemesis." She pointed at Nemesis who is face planted on the ground, possibly from Riliane's prank.

"Hm, your right...where did you get the lollipop?"

"Allen lets us have one each." She gave her one.

"Good." Just then, the door opened up, slowly revealing a strange cylinder shaped creature with black holed eyes completely void of any light, this surprised Kayo to which caused her to let out another scream. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" And grabbed her scissors to attack it, but Banica stopped her.

"Oh, did I really scared you?" The creature said as "she" removed the white sheets from her head. "Good Morning!"

"Phew, it's just Margarita." Kayo calmed down. "Why are you wearing a bed sheet on your head?"

"I'm a ghost!" She said with a smile.

"Ha! I knew it was you the whole time." Nemesis said as she was standing up.

"Could you girls be any louder?" Gallerian asked with a cranky tone in his voice from being woken up by Kayo's screaming. "One of us wants to sleep more." Margarita, not pleased with what he said due to not being able to sleep herself pinched his nose, startling him.

"How do you think I feel, old man?" Margarita said to the Judge with a dark tone in her voice, she pulls on his nose before letting go of him, he covers his nose after that, she then smiles. "Sateriasis is making croissants and omelets for breakfast!"

"I hope he doesn't contaminate it." Riliane said as she and the others left the room. "Who knows what disease he maybe carrying?" After everyone left, Kayo grabbed Nemesis by her arm and pulled her back in the room.

"Hey!" Nemesis called out before being slammed into the wall.

"Have you closed the box properly?" Kayo asked with an angry tone in her voice.

"The Ouija box? Yes I have!"

"Are you sure? Because I had a dream about a demonic being attacking me because the box wasn't closed properly!" Kayo for years possessed an ability that once belonged to her ancestor Lukana Octo, the prophetic dream ability, which allows her to see the past and future via dreams based on a specific color. If colored purple, the future will happen and cannot be changed, No one in the box knows about her ability except for Allen and Nemesis.

"What color was it?" Nemesis asked, sounding scared.

"The dream was red." Kayo replied, which calmed the former dictator down.

"Then there's a chance that it won't happen."

"Yes, but still, we have to make sure." The two Sudous went to the attic to see if the box was properly close, much to their chagrin however, the box was tipped over because of the broken shelf, glowing in an eerie red-violet. "Oh no! Oh no! NO! NO! NO! NOOOO!" Kayo was now in a state of panic. "THE DEMON IS OUT! THE DEMON IS OUT!" She screamed on the top of her lungs before being slapped across the face by Nemesis.

"GET A HOLD OF YOURSELF KAYO!" Nemesis yelled at her. "Ok so a demon is out, but it's not like it has the will to kill anyone here right?" She finished with a smile before she began to frown. "Right?"

"We're dealing with a being who was haunting me in my sleep! Can you send it back to the box?"

"I don't know how."

"But you and your mother used this thing right?"

"Yes but the being we had was well-behaved, it had no malicious intentions on escaping the Ouija board, I never learned how to seal it back as a result."

"OOoooooh this is bad! this is oh so bad!" Kayo was pacing back and forth.

"Heeeeey! Nemesis! Kayo!" Sateriasis called from down stairs "What are you doing up there? Your breakfast is getting cold!" The girls let out a huge sigh.

"Ok, let's just calm down, we'll deal with it soon." They went down from the attic and down the stairs into the kitchen, Sateriasis was by the stove placing an omelette on a plate with a croissant and a couple of strawberries and blue berries on the side. "There you two are, don't you know how long I've been waiting?" He berated the Sudous, but then he smiled.

"Sorry we're late, Kayo accidentally knocked over her tailoring supplies so I was helping her out." Nemesis nervously smiled while receiving a plate from him.

"I thought you broke your toe up there." Gallerian sneered as he ate his breakfast, he received a middle finger from her, Gallerian threaten to bite it off.

"Where's Allen?" Kayo asked, playing with her blueberries.

"He went back to the heavenly yard to make preparations for tonight." Riliane answered, as she talked, Kayo was too distracted to hear her words because behind her was a hallway, but what caught Kayo's attention was the red-violet spirit standing in the halls, the tailor was petrified bu the site of it as it stared right into her soul through her eyes with it's black ones. "Kayo? Hey! What are you looking at?" Kayo snapped back into reality when Riliane said her name.

"Huh? Oh it's nothing." She lied, trying her best to not cause a panic in the box.

"Anyways, should we dress up for tonight?" Margarita asked. "I got my ghost costume ready!"

"We could actually!" Banica said as she licked her plate clean. "It's Hallows' Evening after all." She then took a bite off her plate.

"HEY HEY HEY! DON'T BITE IT!" Riliane exclaimed, she looked at the plate's bite mark. "Hm, actually I'll let this slide, makes a great edition for tonight." She gave the plate to Margarita, as she walked to the counter, she nearly felt limp, almost falling over. "Oh! Are you ok, Margy?"

"Y-Yeah, just almost tripped." She smiled as her arm shook a little.

~After breakfast~

Kayo was digging through Nemesis's box under her bed, she found a dark green book with the title "Bible of Held", indicating that the bible is from the Held sect, and inside is a necklace with a silver cross on it. "I just hope these work." She said.

"What are you doing?" Nemesis asked.

"I'm gonna try to bless the others, hoping that the demon won't posses them."

"Don't bless the sinners, it'll make the demon worse for us."

"What about exorcising?"

"Hmm...We could, actually. But we have no idea where that ghost went!"

"Where what went?" Riliane asked as she entered the bedroom.

"Uuuuuh Makeup! Yeah! Makeup for tonight!" Kayo answered.

"It's right here." Riliane said as she took out the box. "What are you guys gonna dress up as?"

"I'm planning on going as Kaguya-Hime, the protagonist of my country's folklore: "The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter"." Kayo said.

"And I'm going as a Shinigami, the Death Gods of Jakokunese mythology." Nemesis said with a devilish smirk on her face.

"But there hasn't been any official depictions on them, other than the fact that they're rumored to be hideous." Riliane said, apparently she's aware of Jakokunese folklore and myths.

"That's why I'm Improvising through literary works." Nemesis pushed a stack of black books under her bed with her foot. "I just need some red contact lens...what about you?"

"I'm thinking of going as the Queen of Hearts."

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!" They heard a scream coming from the men's bedroom, it sounded like Gallerian.

"Heh heh heh, looks like he's afraid of the queen." Riliane chuckled at Gallerian's scream, just then they heard a thumping noise.

"No, something is wrong." Kayo said with a worried tone in her voice, she walked out to the men's room, only to find only a judge's coat on the floor. "Gallerian's coat."

"Oh great, is dad running around naked again?" Nemesis said.

"He wouldn't leave his coat like this."

"What's going on?" Riliane asked.

"It's nothing, where is he though?" Just then, they heard a loud thumping noise from the floor. On ground floor, the only people there are Margarita who is making candied apples while wearing her ghost costume, and Banica and Sateriasis were in the living room, possibly working on their costumes. They then heard another thumping noise, but under their feet. "The basement." Kayo whispered to herself. They went down the stairs to the basement in order to confirm their speculations of Gallerian being in the basement, once they open the basement door, they heard muffling noises, indicating that Gallerian is down there, they went down the stairs, preparing for the worst to come. Riliane turned on the light to find Gallerian being tied up in a chair with the same red rope used on Sateriasis the other day, gagged with a handkerchief, struggling, and wearing a maid's dress. He gave Nemesis a death glare upon seeing her. While Kayo and Riliane are stunned, Nemesis burst out laughing at her father's situation.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Hey! hey! Riliane! Take a picture!" Nemesis said as she passed the camera to the Princess, Nemesis smiled for the camera while doing a peace sign in front of her bonded father, Riliane took the picture, Gallerian made a angered muffle from that.

"NEMESIS!" Kayo called out irritably.

"Riiight right." She began to untie Gallerian's gag, he began panting

"WHY THE BLOODY HELL WOULD YOU BOND ME LIKE THIS, YOU SLUT!?" Gallerian cursed her off loudly.

"What?!" Nemesis was baffled by what he told her.

"DON'T BE OBLIVIOUS! YOU CAME IN THE BEDROOM, DRESSED ME UP! TIED ME UP LIKE AN WILD ANIMAL, AND LEFT ME HERE TO ROT!"

"I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING! I WAS WITH THESE TWO THE WHOLE TIME!" Nemesis was so enraged by this wild accusation that she was fixing to clock him in the jaw, Kayo got in between the two conflicting family members.

"Desist you two!" She said. "Nemesis would never use bondage rope on you! Even if she wanted to."

"That bitch obviously wants to try something new to torment me with." Gallerian sneered.

"Don't make me kick you again." Nemesis growled.

"Enough!" Kayo untied the red rope. leaving red marks on his wrists and arms, he stood up saying saying to Nemesis:

"You'll pay for this, bitch." He stormed off from the basement to change, they can hear Sateriasis laughing upstairs. "SHUT UP!"

"What the hell?" Nemesis muttered to herself.

"Ok, what is really going on?" Riliane asked again "I demand an explanation so no more excuses." Met with no other choice, Kayo sighed.

"Fine, but you can't tell anyone." Kayo said, she began explaining about the Ouija board to the former princess, from using it to contact spirits to how it was improperly closed. At first she thought that the Tailor was joking, but the more she hears, the more Riliane's smile goes away, now becoming aware of the dreadful curse that's now in the sinner's black box.

"If that's the case, then the one that attacked Gallerian was the ghost." Riliane said, fully aware of the situation.

"Yeah, who knows what it'll do next." Nemesis said as they walked back upstairs. As Kayo and Nemesis talked about the ghost, Riliane walked back into the hallway...that's when she felt a disturbing aura in the area, she looked and saw the same ghost with her very eyes, it caused her to be frozen in place that she can't even scream out. The red-violet being floated all the way to the bathroom upstairsbackwards, Riliane traversed up to the second floor and walked to the bathroom door, she stopped once she heard noises in there.

"Don't be afraid, Riliane." She thought to herself. "You have to be bold like father was." She slowly opened the door to find steam coming from behind the shower curtain, is the ghost taking a shower in there? She grabbed a shower brush and slowly walked to the shower, her heart was beating out of her chest, but was ready to punish the ghost for what's it done. Riliane took hold of the shower curtain with her left hand and thrashed it open to reveal the person inside the shower who unknowingly to her looks suspiciously like her...it was her brother.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Allen let out a scream in horror as Riliane began to whack him silly with a shower brush. "NO STOP! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!" But Riliane didn't stop, the ghost haunting the box clouded her judgment and continued to whack the daylights out of her twin brother before she began tiring out. At the same time, Allen, on his last legs desperately grabbed hold of the shower curtain and pulled it down with him to the floor. Riliane panted for a bit before straightening her dress, it was then that her expression turned from exhaustion into horror when she realized what she had done.

"A-A-Allen!?" She stuttered. "I-I-I-I-I'm sorry! I didn't know it was you!" Allen began to crawl on her dress with his hands.

"...E-e-every moment I live...is agony." Allen said weakly as he fell on the ground again.

Few Minutes Later

Margarita was putting an Ice pack on Allen's head, Sateriasis was in the background laughing his head off over what Riliane had done to her brother.

"I'm so sorry, Allen." Riliane apologized. "I didn't know it was you! I thought you were a ghost!"

"What Ghost? Is this a joke?" Allen groaned in pain.

"Yeaaaaah." Nemesis lied. "I was pulling a prank on Riliane, making her think there's a ghost here."

"Bu-" Kayo was about to say something, but was silenced by Nemesis. "I see, you should be ashamed of yourself, tricking his sister like that."

"Enough you two." Allen said, holding onto the Ice pack. "I know it's Halloween but like Kayo said, someone could've gotten seriously hurt, I know I had, Ow. So no more pulling dangerous pranks, especially on me!"

"Yes Allen." Nemesis said.

"And Riliane, please knock on the door next time, it's rude to enter without knocking."

"Ok." Riliane said.

"Now if you excuse me I'm gonna take some painkillers, finish taking a shower, and bring the kids over here."

"But it's not even night yet." Gallerian said, now dressed in his usual suit, sans the judge's cloak.

"I mean the ones who don't celebrate Hallows' Evening."

"Oh right, the religious ones." Banica said.

"So please, behave yourselves." Allen heads back into the bathroom. "Owwww, she whacked me hard." He said under his breath.

A half hour later

The sinners are setting up their chairs on the front porch, they're waiting for the children of religion to arrive and give the sinners their blessings in hopes of redemption, Nemesis was pacing around the porch with a nervous look on her face.

"Oh dear, I just hope that ghost doesn't get aggressive." She said to herself, "Considering that blessing us would make the it worst."

"I hope so too." Kayo said to the dictator.

"KIDS HOOOOO!" Banica exclaimed as she pointed at the distance, a bunch of tiny lights began falling from the keyhole shaped sun, coming down on different colors and sizes much to the sinners's amazement. Once they've reached the ground, the lights formed into many, many children, each of different ages, era, and nationality, and every single one wearing red church gowns and holding song books. The last one to appear was Allen Avadonia holding a conductor's baton. "Oh look how adorable they are! I just wanna eat them up!"

"That better be a figure of speech." Sateriasis said as he took his seat, "We cannot afford to be dragged back to hell because of your cannibalism.". After the sinners sat down in their seats, Allen readies his baton to conduct the children in front of him, the children began humming a tune, and soon began singing a lovely hymn.

"O our lord of old"

"From the heavens with this hymn I call to thee"

"To these souls damned by sin and blasphemy"

"Your light shall still be shown"

"To purify their sins"

"and return signs of hope to their heart and souls"

"Please allow these sinners to go hand and hand with thee once again"

The sinners quietly listened to every word coming from the hymn sung by the children of god, meanwhile in the house, the demon that was tormenting the household earlier was sitting by the window listening to the hymn. As Nemesis said earlier: the blessings would cause the demon to get worse...But something else had happened, the demon instead just laid by the windowsill listening to the children, nodding as a shear sign of fatigue before falling asleep there. Kayo looked by the window to see the red-violet being slumbering, much to the tailor's delight, Kayo tapped Nemesis's shoulder and pointed at the sleeping demon, to which confuses Nemesis but at least she can calm down a little.

"Lulila la lulila la la"

"Sinners and Saints, though differ"

"They're both our lord's dear children"

"And so are seven of thee"

Their song ends, the sinners gave a full round of applause to them.

"BRAVA LITTLE DARLINGS! BRAVA!" Banica exclaimed in happiness as she clapped vigorously, the children bowed to them.

"Thank you so much everyone!" Margarita said as she threw a bouquet of roses. "You're too kind."

After a few more hymns, the children bowed once again and said: "God bless you, and we wish you the best of luck." The sinners thanked them for their wishes and their performances. After the children left, Kayo, Riliane, and Nemesis returned to the attic to see the ghost, the said being was still asleep by the windowsill much to their confusion.

"I don't get it, mother told me that blessing the household would make the demon worse, but it's asleep instead." Nemesis whispered.

"Maybe there's a reason, either the hymn was a lullaby or it's a child." Riliane whispered back.

"Oh well, at least we won't have to deal with it anymore." Kayo sighed.

"I found my Mom's old journal." She said. "It also has the spell to put the ghost back". Nemesis then opened the Ouija box and began quietly chanting the words from her journal:

"Spirit from the hellish yard, desiring innocents to be maimed, return to the pit from whence you came." And like that, the ghost was sent back into it's box while it was still slumbering, the box closed by it's self, both of the Sudous and Riliane let out a sigh in relief, finally they can be at peace away from the demon within the box. Nemesis put the box under the broken shelf and put a book on top of it to increase the weight and chances of it not escaping, the trio left the attic soon after.

Sundown

Allen, dressed as a purple wizard with a fake beard carried the large jack-o-lantern he carved to the front porch and lit a candle inside of it. Inside the house, Banica was in the kitchen dress as an "attractive" chef with fishnet leggings, a mini skirt, a chef's hat, and high heals, she wants to try some of the cookies Margarita made for the sinners, but Margarita, dressed as a ghost again slaps her hand with her sheet covered hand.

"No! Bad chef!" Margarita said.

"Oh come on!" Banica complained. "I just want some of the treats."

"Why don't you snack on a ice cream pint in the freezer?"

"Oh very well." Banica walked over the freezer and found a few pints in there, Banica picked out a mint flavored one. Banica remove the lid, takes out the spoon, and happily devours it.

"What flavor did you get?"

"Mint chocolate." That answer caused Margarita to freeze in place, she knew full well of who likes that particular flavor.

"MINT CHOCOLATE!?"

"Yes, Mint Chocolate, why?"

"TH-THAT'S GALLERIAN'S FAVORITE FLAVOR! HE'LL KILL YOU FOR IT!"

"Ah bologny."

"Oookay, it's your funeral." Margarita said sheepishly as she left the room, possibly to avoid the judge's wrath. Banica blissfully enjoys the ice cream pint, completely unaware of her surroundings let alone another visitor in the room, she stopped when she felt a cutlass sword near her neck, scared, she slowly looked up and found that it was Gallerian, dressed like a pirate with a dark blue coat, white blouse, black gloves, black boots, brown pants, red sash, and a black hat with golden rims. He also has an enraged look on his face.

"The ice cream, give it back." Galleran said coldly, Banica frightfully complied, giving the pirate back his frozen treat. Gallerian causally bonked the chef on the head with a cutlass sword revealing it to be plastic. Gallerian took a bite out of his ice cream, forming an expression of happiness and pleasure.

"You scared me Judge!" Banica exclaimed irritably, "Who do you think you are?!"

"A pirate who loves his ice cream."

"Geez Dad, you've could've just said "please"." Nemesis came in dress in a biker chick-esque attire with platform boots, ripped thigh high socks, fishnets, one biker glove, a dark grey jacket with holes secured by baby pins, a black tank top with matching skirt, a cross with a choker, red eye contacts, and a black notebook in toll.

"What are you? an urban slut?" Gallerian asked, changing the subject.

"Screw off trash-beard-the-pirate, I'm a Shinigami...my interpretation that is."

"Whatever." He takes another bite of his ice cream.

"Oof!" Banica exclaimed when someone grabbed her from behind, she looked and saw the one responsible was Sateriasis, dressed in a nice black suit, black cape, and a white mask that's covering only the right half of his face. "Sa-Sati! We're related you nimrod!" She exclaimed embarrassingly.

"Sati? Who is Sati?" He teased as he picked up and tilted Banica's body back as is he was gonna tango with her. "I'm the phantom of the opera." He leaned in "Now, sing for me, my Angel of Music." He was then smacked in the back of the head by Nemesis's black notebook, dropping Banica in the process. "OW!"

"Knock it off pervert, we got kids coming over."

DING DONG

"Speak of the devil." She saw Riliane going to the door, dressed in a black and red version of one her dresses and holding a stuffed flamingo, going as the queen of hearts liked she promised. She opens the door to see several kids dressed up for Hallows' Evening, quoting:

"TRICK OR TREAT!"

"Oooh! Great costumes!" Riliane cheered as she gave the children their own lollipops.

"Thank you!" They thank her before being on their way.

"HAPPY HALLOWS' EVENING!" She shuts the door.

"I'll take it from here." Margarita said as she grabbed a bowl, the two sinners see Kayo going down the stairs dressed in a layered kimono called a junihitoe, pink, red, orange, and fuchsia colored layers of them. She was also wearing a black hime cut wig with parted bangs and a golden crown. "Oh my goodness Kayo, you look beautiful!"

"Thank you, I'm Kaguya-Hime." She said with a smile, "It's a little hard walking around in this though." She and Riliane enter the kitchen where the sinners are, she sees Banica messing with the radio.

"What are you doing?" Riliane asked.

"Jun gave me a radio channel before we life the hospital, he said something about "K-Pop"." Banica said as she was turning the nob on the radio, just then music started, it was loud and thumping and was speaking in a language that sounded like Makokunese but different, there were ounces of English in it though.

"What the hell is this racket?" Sateriasis asked, covering his ears. "Can you even make out the lyrics?"

"I'm not familiar with this language, it does have a catchy beat though." Banica was shaking her hips to the beat, but then the noise stopped, finding that Nemesis had pulled the plug.

"That is the most annoying thing ever, next to dad's crying." Nemesis said.

In the attic

The box under the shelf was glowing in an eerie red-violet color and convulsing, indicating that the ghost from earlier is now awakened from it's slumber once again. The box tipped the shelf and book over, allowing it to escape it's box again, it stretched before looking out the window in the attic. Seeing a bunch of children arriving to the box, the ghost smiled creepily.

In the kitchen

Allen had made homemade pizza, made with pepperonis, tomato, and basil, and had sliced them into slender pieces for each sinner, Gallerian was removing tomatoes from his slice with a fork and putting them on Banica's plate. "Giving me more tomatoes?" She asked while eating her slices.

"Well yeah, I don't like them so here."

"Huh, how generous of you, Father." Nemesis said, that comment made Gallerian blush a little.

"Don't get the wrong idea, everyone knows I hate tomatoes but I can't just waste them either." Puffing his cheeks.

"Looks like someone's has a little warm side to them, don't you agree, Riliane?" Sateriasis smiled, Riliane giggled.

"Sh-shut up!" He exclaimed. Just then, the lights went off, startling everyone and scaring the children trick or treating.

"Oh no, did we blow a fuse?" Allen groaned, he went to the cabinet and found a wax candle and lit it, he went out of the room to fix the fuse box.

"I-it's ok children! There's nothing to be afraid of!" Margarita said as she tried calming the children down, while saying that, she felt faint, "There's...nothing...to be..." She fell on her back, startling the children.

"HEY! G-GUYS!" A young boy exclaimed, "YOUR FRIEND FELL OVER!" Overhearing it, Sateriasis and Riliane ran over to Margarita and checked her pulse.

"Her pulse is normal, but what caused her to faint?" Sateriasis asked.

"I don't know, but she never slept either, maybe it's fatigue?" Riliane asked, they heard some of the children screaming outside, causing the kids present to run inside the house. "Wh-what's going!?"

"MONSTERS!" A young girl screamed.

"THEY'RE HEADING THIS WAY!" Another boy yelled, just then Allen came out of the basement.

"The fuse box isn't blown but I don't understand why the power we-...Why are the children here!?"

"Th-they're monsters coming this way!" One of the kids said.

"Monsters?" Allen moved through the sea of children to look out through the window, it was dark with the only exception of the keyhole shaped moon, he looked for a bit until he saw that there's several red-violet balls of light slowly coming towards the Marlon flat, and in those lights are strange looking creatures, each having a dark grey skirt and crown like appearances with red faces and arms, and large glowing yellow eyes. The site of them has made Allen's spine shiver and his hair stiff.

"WHOA!" He exclaimed. "WHAT ARE THOSE THINGS!?"

Banica looked out from the kitchen window. "Cripes, they're Flatwoods Monsters." Banica said in astonishment.

"What?" Sateriasis asked.

"Flatwoods Monsters, very common in Mastia's Alien folklore, they terrorize people until dawn, but how are they here?"

"Red-violet lights?" Kayo whispered to herself, that's when she realized something was wrong. "The ghost!"

"Kayo, now's not the time for ghost pranks!" Allen said, recalling the shower incident from earlier.

"N-no, I'm being serious! The ghost is real!

"What are you saying?"

"It's my fault." Nemesis said. "There was an oujia board in the attic and I brought the ghost who is possibly controlling those things upon ourselves." The sinners were both baffled and confused from what Nemesis said.

"YOU WHAT!?" Allen yelled.

"I'm sorry! I never meant for it to happen, I just wanted to show Kayo how it works! I closed the box properly! Honest!"

"Honest nothing! That thing tied me to a chair!" Gallerian yelled angrily. "I've could've rotted in there because of your friend, you sl-!"

"Hey hey hey! Not in front of the children." Riliane said, cutting him off from swearing.

"I'm so very sorry." Nemesis said with her head down.

"We'll deal with it later but now we have to take care of those monsters here." Allen said irritably as he pointed at the window, "They're getting closer."

"We need guns to shoo them off." Banica said.

"We don't have any, Held confiscated the weaponry."

"I found a BB Gun in the basement." Banica said while holding up a hand held BB Gun with a container.

"How did-".

"I guess the gods forgot about it when they made our house."

"Mine." Gallerian takes it and runs outside.

"Alright, but remember to give it back when your done, It counts as weaponry." Allen said, he then saw Riliane running up into her room, a few seconds later she comes back with a slingshot. "Where did you get that?"

"From my toy chest." Riliane stood next to Gallerian, took out an acorn from a small bag and aimed it at the monster coming towards the front door.

"Just a little closer." Gallerian said quietly, he shot the monster and it disintegrated, Riliane shot the other one coming from the right, Gallerian did the same to the one on the left, and so on. The children cheered for the their aim.

"Excellent! You two!" Kayo said.

"We're not through yet." Banica said, there's three near the kitchen's door, and the ones that were shot will just keep coming back til dawn."

"We'll either need to fight them off, or shut the oujia demon away!" Riliane said as she shot another one heading towards the kitchen door.

"Nemesis, this is a chance to redeem yourself for this mess." Allen said, "You need to properly seal the oujia demon away before we run out of ammo."

"Why don't we just attack them with brooms or rakes?" Sateriasis asked while holding a broom, he was about the exit the flat when Banica pulled him back by the arm.

"NO SATI! It's too dangerous to attack them at close range." Banica said, "There have been people getting pneumonia and swelling throats from making physical contact, you have to shoot those buggers from a distance."

"How? We only have plastic weaponry."

"It will have to do for now." She turned to Nemesis and said: "Seal the demon, Nemesis."

She nodded upon hearing the Epicurean's words and went to the bedroom, there she grabbed her cross and bible. Nemesis then returned to the attic with the things in hand and found the demon, fully awake, and floating. the Ghost turned around and saw Nemesis. The demon smiled wickedly at the former dictator. "I didn't want to do this..." She takes out the cross. "...But you left me with no other choice..."In the name of the great millennium tree, I command thy evil spirit: back to the depths of hell"!" As she was holding up the cross, the demon let out a wicked cackle, the cross didn't work. "Alright then, maybe a passage from the bible will do the trick then." She opens the bible and says:

"When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person

It passes through waterless places seeking rest

but finds none.

Then it says, 'I will return to my house from which I came.'"

Downstairs

meanwhile, the children are hiding in the living room with Kayo treating a comatose Margarita, she was confused to why Margarita fell unconscious when she could never sleep herself.

"Is she going to be ok?" A little boy dressed like a vampire asked.

"I hope so little one." Kayo said, "It's just weird though, what made her faint? Did something happened to her demon?"

"THERE'S TOO MANY OF THEM!" Sateriasis yelled from the front yard. He was throwing rocks at the monsters slowly gliding to them, each sinner present were shooting or throwing their own ammo at them, Riliane with a slingshot and acorns, Banica with a plastic bow with suction cup arrows, and Gallerian with a hand held BB gun. But every time they get hit they revert back to their original spot they first appear in and continue coming for them.

Soon Sateriasis and Banica ran out of their own ammo and ran back inside. "You can't be out of ammo now!" Gallerian yelled as he was shooting at the Flatwoods Monsters, he soon ran out of his round, he tried refiling the gun but accidentally dropped his bag of ammo, forever lost in the vast darkness, even finding them would be futile because they gotten too close. "SHOOT!" He dropped his gun and ran back.

Riliane and Allen were the only ones to stand up to them, Allen soon ran out of rocks.

"Oh no! Riliane we have to get back!"

"No! I can take care of these savages!" Riliane said as she kept on shooting acorns.

In the attic

"...And whenever the unclean spirits saw him

They fell down before him and cried out:

"You are the Son of God."

Nemesis finishes reading a few passages, only to fine that the demon is still there, mocking a yawn and wicking at Nemesis. "HURRY UP NEMESIS! WE'RE ALMOST OUT OF AMMO!" She heard Allen calling from downstairs.

"DAMMIT!" Out of sheer frustration, she kicked a tower of boxes which caused a chain reaction to occur, the boxes landed on the red-violet being, rendering it useless. Seizing the opportunity, Nemesis jumped on the demon and began to bash the ghost's head with the bible and yelled: "THE POWER OF HELD COMPELS YOU! THE POWER OF HELD COMPELS YOU! THE POWER OF HELD COMPELS YOU!" Over and over.

"O-O-OK! UNCLE! UNCLE! YOU WIN!" The demon said, it sounded feminine yet childish.

"Huh?...That voice...who are you?"

Downstairs

Riliane was out numbered by the Flatwoods Monsters surrounding the house, just then they all disintegrated into nothingness. "I-Is it over?" Riliane asked as the lights came back on and the kids cheered, Margarita began to stir, waking up.

"Oh your awake, Margarita!" Kayo exclaimed, relieved.

"Wha? What happened?" Margarita asked tiredly while rubbing her eyes.

"You've passed out."

"I have? That means Eve must be doing something."

"Eve? As in Eve Moonlit?"

"She's right." Nemesis said suddenly, over her shoulder was the bonded ouija demon that was terrorizing the household. ""She" told me everything." She began walking down the stairs as she continues. "This so called ouija demon had set the whole thing up, the oujia board that I used turned out to be a fake just to lure me and Kayo into a false sense of security thus starting a chain of events, why? Just for her own twisted amusement."

"Oh come on! I was just bored that's all!" The demon said. Nemesis threw her on the couch next to Margarita.

"Allen, remove her wig."

"Wig?" He asked.

"Just remove it." Nemesis said, Allen complied, he stepped forward and removed her wig, long strains of teal green hair fell out, much to their surprise and confusion. "The false Demon of Sloth; Eve Moonlit, I've should've known...how did you get out of the doll?" He asked.

"The Demon of Wrath let me out." Eve answered. "He wanted me to do him a favor, I only agreed because I was bored."

"That would explain why Margarita fainted." Sateriasis said. "By using your powers, Margarita temporarily went out of existence due to just being a persona."

"Now I get it, I fainted because her powers were on overdrive." Margarita said.

"What favor did the Demon of Wrath want with you?" Allen asked.

"I'm not saying, if I did you all be dead by now." Eve answered with a sadistic grin on her face, enjoying the view of the sinner's frightened expression.

"And why was Dad tied up while wearing a maid's dress?" Nemesis asked.

"I thought it be funny, plus I want to see if he looked cute in it, and he is."

"I AM NOT ANYONE'S DRESS UP DOLL!" Gallerian yelled. Just then the doorbell ringed, Gallerian answered the door, it was Behemo, wearing a black gothic dress with skeleton makeup on. "Behemo?"

"That's my name, don't wear it out." He joked. "I believe I have misplaced some children in this here residents...there they are." He stepped inside. "Where have you all been? Your parents are worried sick." He then saw Eve. "And what do we have here? An escaped fugitive?" Eve raspberries him.

"Eve was summoning those Flatwoods Monsters at us!" Riliane said.

"Is that right? Well then we'll make sure she doesn't do that again." Behemo then walked over to Eve and threw her over his shoulder much to her disdain, "Come kids! Back to the Heavenly Yard!" Just as the children are leaving, one little girl stayed behind, she smiled and said:

"Thank you for protecting us, Sinners."

"You're very welcome dear." Banica said, smiling. The girl ran back with the others to the Heavenly Yard, they saw as many partials of light flew into the keyhole shaped hole. Just as things are finally calming down, a piece of parchment flew down onto the porch. Kayo picked it up and saw that it was written, it said:

~Dear Sinners,

You've think I'm through with you yet? I think not. In fact: I've enjoyed my time terrorizing you eight with my Flatwoods Monsters that I've decided to make it a new tradition. "Every year on Hallows' Evening night, at 2:30 AM, my Flatwoods Monsters shall attack your home until 5:45 AM, if you can fiend them off till then you win! If not...well you'll just have to find out yourselves." Be sure to stock up on plenty of ammo! Happy Hallows' Evening!

Love, Eve Moonlit! XXX~

This news had gave Allen and the sinners a look of horror, now they're forever cursed with having to deal with Eve's new "Holiday Tradition". "I'm so sorry about this, I never attended it to happen." Nemesis said quietly.

"It's fine, Nemesis, it wasn't really your fault to begin with anyways." Allen said.

"Yeah but now we got an invasion coming after us next year."

"That's true, but we'll be ready when it happens...Come on, let's just enjoy the rest of the evening before it gets any later, we got to get up early tomorrow." They all headed inside.

"Get up early? For what?" Riliane asked.

"We'll be returning to Capriccio Academy tomorrow." The sinners stopped when they heard the name of that place, their first day of course was pretty rocky so it was highly understandable to why they hanged their heads down in utter disappointment.

END CHAPTER

#chapter with illustration #evillious chronicles #fanfiction #Seven Crimes and Punishments #book 1 #chapter 13

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New Post has been published on https://toldnews.com/united-states-of-america/intense-competition-for-2020-talent-ramps-up-in-south-carolina/

Intense competition for 2020 talent ramps up in South Carolina

If one candidate were to galvanize the black vote in South Carolina, the result could signal viability to voters and donors alike in many of the states in the Southeast that also fall early on the primary calendar.

In recent weeks, advisers for Kamala Harris, Joe Biden and Cory Booker, as well as other White House aspirants, have engaged in a fierce battle for operatives in the first-in-the-South primary state. They have courted potential hires with job offers and big titles—or in Biden’s case, a promise that the wait would be worth it—as they seek to build their broader network of influencers in the state.

For the campaigns and the campaigns-in-waiting, the importance of South Carolina has meant careful tending of relationships with leaders like Rep. James E. Clyburn — the House majority whip who has pledged to remain neutral in the Democratic primary, but will still have enormous influence over the process — as well as state Rep. Jerry Govan, who is chairman of the black caucus; state Sen. Marlon Kimpson of Charleston; and state House Minority Leader Todd Rutherford.

Several sources who spoke to CNN say that top political talent in the state is being courted most heavily by three hopefuls: Booker, Harris and Biden. Biden’s political team has been making calls to South Carolina Democrats to get them on board, possibly to launch a campaign with a solid team in place.

For his part, Booker clinched two top hires in the Palmetto State who’d been pursued by multiple campaigns. Christale Spain will lead the campaign’s South Carolina efforts as state director, and Clay Middleton was tapped as a senior political adviser for Cory 2020, the campaign announced Monday.

Another talent with strong South Carolina ties, Jalisa Washington-Price, who recently left a top post at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, is still being lobbied by several campaigns.

A similar hunt is brewing in Iowa, where presidential hopefuls hope to recreate a winning coalition similar to former President Barack Obama’s that launched him into an upset win in South Carolina. Elizabeth Warren created a vacuum by snapping up much of the elite talent earlier this year. Warren hired operatives from Obama’s successful 2008 Iowa caucus campaign and those responsible for more recent congressional pickups in November’s midterm election. That’s left other campaigns scrapping over whose left. Harris and Booker have named a campaign chair and state director for the Hawkeye State, respectively.

“When I tell you this race is wide open, I’m not trying to be coy — I’m being deadly serious: there are 100 ways this election could go, and right now you don’t see anyone who has put the ground game in place,” said South Carolina Democratic Party Chairman Trav Robertson in a telephone interview Friday evening. “There’s not anyone who has that front-runner status in South Carolina right now.”

Robertson noted that for the first time—at least for as long as he’s been alive—the state will have two well-funded, well-organized black candidates competing for the Democratic nomination.

“What that means is that they are going to be campaigning to the African-American community — not taking it for granted,” Robertson said. “And then when you’ve got a state where 54.5% to 55.5% of the electorate are women—this will potentially be the first primary where women will have a choice between two, or as many as four, female candidates for the President of the United States. That makes this a completely transformative election cycle, specifically in South Carolina.”

If Biden jumps into the race, “there are going to be a lot of people who look at him positively — white and African-American voters — based on his relationship with President Obama,” Robertson said, noting that many South Carolinians remember the eulogy that Biden gave at the funeral of the late South Carolina Sen. Strom Thurmond, as well as a his close relationship with Fritz Hollings, a former US senator and governor for the state.

“It could potentially give (Biden) a favorite son type status,” he said.

All of the candidates will want to have their operations up and running before Clyburn’s famous fish fry on May 10, a must-attend event that will be held, per tradition, on the same night as the Blue Palmetto Dinner and the same weekend as the Democratic State Party Convention.

Harris and Booker, the first two black candidates to enter the 2020 field, both visited South Carolina in January, marking their second visits since October.

The New Jersey lawmaker is set to return to South Carolina on February 10-11, on his first official trip since announcing his candidacy on Friday. He’ll come straight from a swing in Iowa.

Booker, along with 2016 presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, spoke in the capital city of Columbia on Martin Luther King Jr. Day at the annual King Day at the Dome celebration.

Two days before her official launch in her birthplace of Oakland, Harris flew to South Carolina to attend the Pink Ice Gala, a fundraiser for Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated. As a fellow AKA, it was a savvy political move that set a marker for the early play Harris is making to consolidate the vote of black women, who are the Democratic Party’s most reliable voters.

“It’s Kamala’s race to lose. Black women voters are the key here. Kamala has these continuous connections, she’s doing the work necessary,” said Bakari Sellers, the state’s youngest-ever lawmaker and a CNN political commentator. “I don’t have much fear of Kamala losing the race, I think that it’s Kamala, Joe and Cory third.”

During a visit to the Lowcountry last October to campaign for down-ballot Democrats, Biden told voters that South Carolina would be a key part of the “battle for America’s soul” at a time when Donald Trump is in the White House. Biden, who has vacationed several times at Kiawah Island, is expected to make his decision in the coming weeks.

State Sen. Dick Harpootlian, who hosted a fundraiser for his own state Senate campaign with Biden in his Columbia home in October, said many of his friends are waiting to see what Biden will do.

“He’s sort of iced out a lot of folks that would go to Booker, Harris or anybody else that’s running,” said Harpootlian, a longtime friend of Biden and former state party chair who has joked that Biden is the state’s third senator.

Talent scramble

The assiduous courting of talent is no surprise in a state where the black vote delivered a lopsided win for former President Barack Obama in 2008 primaries, and tendered a similar victory for Hillary Clinton eight years later.

Clay Middleton, Booker’s newest senior political adviser and veteran political organizer who served as the South Carolina state director for Hillary Clinton’s 2016 run, told CNN that he thinks it’s too early in the game for lawmakers and Democratic officials to be making endorsements, especially before the campaigns have made true inroads in the state.

“Unless there are individuals in the state that have deeply rooted relationships with a particular candidate, I do not see there being a wave of endorsements this early. You’ve got to organize first,” Middleton told CNN.

A top talent from the state, Jalisa Washington-Price, recently left her position at chief of staff at the DCCC after just two months — signaling that the former political director for Hillary Clinton’s South Carolina efforts is gearing up to take on a top role with a 2020 candidate.

Several sources have said Washington-Price is leaning toward joining the Harris campaign, but is still negotiating while staying in close touch with the other campaigns.

Christale Spain, now the state director for Booker’s South Carolina campaign, says this year’s recruiting came unusually early.

A founding chair of the SCDP Black Women’s Caucus Chair and the former executive director of the state party, Spain says she didn’t become the former political outreach director for the Bernie Sanders South Carolina primary campaign until September 2015. (Clinton’s staff was on the ground in April of that same year).

“There are so many candidates this cycle. Last cycle, people thought Hillary was a foregone conclusion, so they were going through the motions with her,” Spain told CNN. “Now it’s anybody’s game. You want to reach voters early and often, so the earlier you can build operations in some of these states, the better.”

Some operatives who wanted to see Biden run in 2016 have already joined other teams. Tyler Jones, who was a top strategist for Rep. Joe Cunningham’s 2018 campaign and helped him flip a red district that hadn’t gone blue in 40 years, was the state director for Draft Biden in 2016.

This year, Jones has signed on as state director for Draft Beto, which is trying to build support for a potential 2020 run by Beto O’Rourke.

The top Democrats in the state, especially those with presidential campaign experience, are also fielding lots of phone calls, including from the candidates themselves, to win them over.

“If I had to rate who’s done the most, I’d say Kamala,” Rutherford said. “Since before (Harris) announced, she has definitely been making phone calls and drumming up support. That is not just with elected officials, but with anybody that’s viewed as being important in the Democratic Party for the primary.”

The contenders and would-be candidates are also looking beyond South Carolina’s borders for influence in the South. Both Booker and Harris recently held private meetings with Stacey Abrams, the former Georgia gubernatorial candidate.

All of the campaigns have also been courting Louisiana Congressman Cedric Richmond, an influential black lawmaker with close ties to Clyburn who recently appeared with Booker during a visit to New Orleans.

“I’m definitely planning on being involved in the race, I just haven’t made a firm commitment of who I’m going to be with,” Richmond told CNN in an interview.

“Biden and I are very close friends. He’s always been there; he’s consistent; we know he knows how to do the job,” Richmond told CNN in an interview. “I’m very confident that he could beat Trump if he got the nomination. Those are the things that are most important to me, and his policies and his experience.”

Elizabeth Warren and Sanders are also making their own plays for South Carolina voters. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand is planning a trip to South Carolina in the second week of February to meet voters and local leaders.

CNN’s Rebecca Buck, Nia-Malika Henderson, Gregory Krieg, Elizabeth Landers, Dan Merica, Maeve Reston and Arlette Saenz contributed to this report.

#Intense competition for 2020 talent ramps up in South Carolina - CNNPolitics #Politics #united state news #us headlines #us latest news #us local news #us national news #US news

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sleepyverstappens · 7 years

Text

Dancing Through Life (4/?)

Title: Dancing Through Life

Pairing: Aaron Dingle/Robert Sugden

Rating: M (for later chapters)

Warnings (New warnings in italics): Canonical Character Death, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, Non-Graphic Violence, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Panic Attack(s), Coming Out

Summary: Two boys, stuck in a small village in the Yorkshire Dales, until they found their unlikely way out, through ballet and each other.

(Read on AO3)

(Chapter 1) (Chapter 2) (Chapter 3)

Chapter 4: Aaron

It hadn’t taken long for Aaron and Adam to become friends. Adam who had just started at Upper School after going to the Elmhurst Ballet school in Birmingham for his first years of training. His northern accent however hadn’t faded over his years spend in the city, so they had had an instant connection as soon as Adam had introduced himself on that first day. Adam had started dancing because his sisters had done ballet when they were younger and he had always been dragged along. So one day bored out of his mind he had decided to join in and his love for ballet had been born.

From day one conversations between them had come easily, not only had they had ballet in common, they both also loved cars and could talk about it for hours on end. Aaron telling Adam all about the work he did in his uncles garage when he went back home to Emmerdale and Adam talking about the tractors he helped to fix on his father’s farm. When they found out that they had both grown up in small villages they had even more to talk about; about the constant gossiping from the old ladies, the local pub that served as a meet up place for pretty much anything and the church where people pretended to be of faith only on the religious holidays. They reminisced about both of their need to get out of those villages, ready to see and experience more of the world than the small towns and their communities.

It hadn’t taken long for Aaron to spend most of his down time in Adam’s room across the hallway either. The game console hooked up to the tiny TV working overtime as they riled each other up in whatever game they were playing that day.

Those first few months of Upper School had been fantastic, it wasn’t as if Aaron hadn’t had any friends during his time at White Lodge, but none of them had become his best friend so quickly like Adam had. As they made their plans to take the train back home together at the end of November Aaron had actually started to dread going back home for the winter break. He had known he would miss his friends during the two weeks back home in Emmerdale; the contrast between his life in London and Emmerdale only having become bigger now that he didn’t only have friends in London but a best friend and he had to go back to the place where he had none.

Aaron hadn’t really realised that his feelings for Adam had started to grow into stronger than just best friend feelings though, that was until the day before they were off on their winter break.

“Wow, what’re you doing?” Adam asked pulling back as Aaron had moved closer. They were sat on the floor of the empty dance studio, in some weird way he had managed to bang his head on the barre. He had fallen down in pain and shock and Adam had sat down next to him to check if he was alright. As he had reached over to look at his forehead to see if he was bleeding Aaron’s body had seemed to move on its own accord, leaning in to his friend, eyes focused on his lips.

“Nothing, forget it,” Aaron said as he scrambled to his feet.

“Hey, it’s alright. It’s just I’m straight an’ all, but it’s alright if you’re not. It’s okay if you’re gay.”

“I said forget it!” Aaron shouted before walking out of the studio.

“Aaron!”

---

“Mum,” Aaron said breaking the silence in the room. They were sat at the kitchen table in the backroom of the pub. His mum reading one of her gossip magazines as their dinner simmered on the stove. He had been playing a game on his beat up Nintendo DS, his mum nagging at him to turn of the sound. And ever since he had turned off the repetitive music his mind had started to wander. The image of Adam’s surprised face kept breaking through his thoughts. His voice calling out his name when he ran out of the dance studio.

He hadn’t spoken to Adam before leaving for his train home. They were meant to take the train back home together. Adam would be spending the Christmas break further up north, but they were supposed to share the same train for the beginning of the journey. But Aaron had left way before Adam would’ve even stirred in his bed across the hallway. He hadn’t been able to sleep all night, twisting and turning in his bed. So at 5am he had given up on sleep, gotten dressed and grabbed his already packed duffel bag and headed to the tube station around the corner. By the time he made it to King’s Cross station the first few shops were opening up and he had bought some food to last him the two and a half hour train journey to Leeds. When the landscape of buildings had turned into green fields sleep had finally caught up with him, but by 8 am his phones had started buzzing with an onslaught of messages from his friend; he had ignored all of them. He had wondered if Adam was on his own train already, if he had talked to their classmates before he left. Would they all know when he came back after the Christmas break?

Adam’s words had kept playing in his head as he watched the outside world flying by. It’s alright if you’re gay. Was it though? He had been telling people that just because he did ballet didn’t mean he was gay, what felt like his whole life. Telling them all about the professional dancers that weren’t, joking that while they were out running behind a ball with a bunch of other lads he was in a room full of girls. The girls had never interested him though, sure he had a laugh with them, but none of them had ever caught his attention. None of them had ever made him feel the flutter of butterfly wings inside his stomach that the other boys talked about. He hadn’t felt them when he looked at Alecia, with her blonde hair that fell in waves over her shoulders. No, he had felt them when Alex had grinned at him when he had nailed a lift. When Adam’s concerned face had been so close to his yesterday. When Kyle had glanced at him from across the street as his football bounced off of the garage door with a loud bang.

“Yes,” his mum’s voice broke through his thoughts. He glanced up at her, his hands twisting inside the sleeves of his navy jumper. He opened his mouth, trying to get the words out, they wouldn’t come though. He realised he had never even actually said the words out loud, not after he had realised that he was, not even to himself. His mouth fell shut, teeth clinking together loudly in the silent room. The smile slowly fell from his mum’s face and was quickly replaced with worry.

“Baby, what’s wrong?”

Just say it a voice inside his head pestered. He was trying alright, but the look on his mother’s face only grew more concerned as his silence drew on. What if she hated him after he told her? Maybe he shouldn’t tell her yet, at least he knew she would still love him then. He didn’t want her to stop loving him.

“Aaron. Hey look at me,” she waited until his eyes were fixed onto hers again, “you know nothing you’ll tell me will make me stop loving you right? No matter what, I will always love you.”

He blinked away the tears that had started to cloud his vision. The fierce look in her eyes told him that she was really telling the truth. He took a deep breath and ran over the words again one more time.

“I-I’m gay,” it hadn’t been more than a whisper, but it was enough. A number of emotions ran over his mum’s face, but the smile on her lips never fell.

“Oh,” was all she said.

“Mum?” he asked voice wavering as he looked at her, desperation written on his face as the tears in his eyes finally fell.

“No, no, baby, don’t cry. It’s alright, it’s alright,” she said as she wrapped him in a hug, a hand brushing over his cheek.

“You still love me?”

“Oh baby, of course I still love you. I told you nothing could ever stop me from loving you. I just didn’t know what to expect, you looked so torn up, all sorts of scenario’s were running through my head. And baby, while this wasn’t one of them, it is definitely the best one. I love you Aaron.”

“Okay,” Aaron sighed, breath finally coming back to him.

“What? You not gonna say it back then?” his mum smiled.

Aaron laughed, a smile breaking out over his blotched face, “Of course I love you mum.”

After coming out to his mum a weight he hadn’t realised had been there – because it had been there for so long- had been lifted. He hadn’t told anyone else in his family that winter break, but he had had a feeling that his mum had at least told Cain. Knew that she could never really keep stuff from him for long and he had seen them share a look across the table as Shadrach had asked him if had found himself a lady yet at the family Christmas dinner. For some reason having someone know the truth had made it easier to evade the question, telling Shadrach that no there wasn’t anyone yet and that he was focussing on ballet. Shadrach still hadn’t really understood why he was still doing ballet, but after enough dirty looks from the family he had given up on trying to talk him ‘round.

His 17th birthday came and went with a chocolate cake made by Marlon and a pint sneakily given to him by Cain as the Dingles had celebrated in the Woolpack. His mum had drunkenly patted his cheek and told him to stop growing up so fast, Aaron trying to get away from her before the waterworks started. At the end of the day he left the still rowdy pub to sloppy kisses and my baby’s from his mum, his pocket full of crumpled up tenners and an assortment of sweets the little ones had given him, a novelty ballet shirt courtesy of Cain slung over his shoulder, and a duffel bag and new hoodie from his mum clutched in his hand.

He had worried on the train back down to London, worried if people would know when he got back to school. They hadn’t known, Adam had kept quiet. The boy had greeted him with a bright smile as he had gotten in to London that night, joking about like nothing had happened that day before winter break. Aaron had wondered if he would mention what had happened.

“So are you not gonna ask about it?”

“About what?”

“You know what,” Aaron sighed.

“You told me to forget it though, figured you needed time.”

“Thanks,” Aaron muttered, “It’s alright though.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, came out to me mum ‘nd all,” he shrugged, but grateful for the big grin that appeared on his friend’s face after his words.

“Mate, that’s great!”

“Sorry I tried to kiss you.”

“Hey I told you it’s alright. Was just a bit of a surprise. And you know…”

“Yeah.” Aaron knew his friend wasn’t gay, figured he had just liked the idea of him. It probably wasn’t even a crush, he had just liked how he paid attention to Aaron.

It wasn’t until just before their summer break that he actually kissed another boy. There had been some end of the school year party combined with a birthday party for all of the students whose birthday’s fell during the summer months. The few alcoholic beverages he had had – snuck in by some older students- and the fact that he wouldn’t actually be seeing anyone for 2 months had given him the confidence to kiss Eric. Eric who had been outed at the end of their time in White Lodge, but had kept his head held high ever since. Aaron had just been glad that hadn’t happened to him, grateful for Adam’s courtesy. Still, kissing another bloke when people would see had been easier than actually telling them. It had been alright, but they had both known it hadn’t held that much meaning, the summer holiday just around the corner and the next school year focussed on auditions.

---

His last year at the Royal Ballet School had flown by, one minute he had been arriving back in London after the summer break and the next he was in his audition for the Royal Ballet. While his nerves hadn’t been there for his second audition for the school they sure had been there for his audition for the Royal Ballet. He had gone to bed early the day before to try and get enough sleep, but all it had done was mess up his sleep, waking up at all hours of the night. Still the audition had gone well and after a week of nervous waiting he had received his contract.

The day he had first performed with the Royal Ballet he had been so nervous. Not only would he be performing for over 2000 people, but among those people would be most of his family members. Even though none had a particular interest in ballet, beyond the fact that Aaron did it, they had all scraped together money for the trip to London and tickets for his performance.

A stagehand come up to him as he was stood stage left, the curtains about to be drawn.

“Your family wanted to let you know they’re here.”

“Thanks,” he laughed. He had seen his family during lunch, but still they had made the effort to let him know they were there.

---

His first performance had gone great, the imperfections of the rehearsals smoothed out and everything. Just as he had sat back down in his dressing room after getting out of costume someone knocked on the door. All of the dressing room’s occupants looked up as the door opened and Chas walked in, a bright smile on his face.

“Oh baby! You were great!” she called out as she kissed his cheek.

“Mum!” Aaron grumbled, embarrassed by his mum’s affection in front of his fellow corps members.

“Oh shush, it’s not everyday ones baby boy performs at the Royal Opera House.”

“Where are the others?” he asked.

“Still out front, too many of ‘em they said. They wouldn’t even let me come in here at first. I told them I’m your mum and you would want to see me,” Chas huffed out.

“Well, lemme just grab my stuff and we can go and see them,” he sighed at his mum’s antics, but grateful she was so proud of him.

As he had walked into the foyer of the theatre that night loud cheers had greeted him. Other audience members still enjoying a drink had looked over at the spectacle, expecting to see one of the principal dancers, but it had just been Aaron.

A similar thing had happened for his first performance as soloist. He had been 23 and after 4 years in the corps de ballet he had finally been promoted to soloist. But luck had not been on his side, as after only 2 weeks as soloist he had sprained his left ankle after he botched a landing during a performance. Luckily he hadn’t fully torn the ligaments in his ankle, but he still hadn’t been able to perform for over two months.

He had hated that he had to sit out on training and rehearsals, envying his colleagues who were still able to dance. He had been dancing since he was 8 and this had been his first major injury other than minor sprains and he had never been out for more than a few days.

During that time however he also met Brian, a violinist with both the Royal Ballet and Royal Opera. Even though he had been injured he had had to be at a rehearsal with the orchestra. During the rehearsal his eyes had kept wandering over to the man that seemed so emerged in the music, blond hair falling into his eyes as he concentrated on his piece. He had been caught staring and during a quick lunch break Brian had approached him, asking about his injury and when he would be able to perform again. One thing had let to another and they had gone on their first date a few days later. Aaron conscious of the crutches he still had to use as he had walked into the far too fancy restaurant.

They had fallen into a relationship easily, they shared enough interests to keep their conversations going and physical side of things had come easily as well. It had been his first real relationship. After that first kiss with Eric he had kissed some random guys at bars, but nothing had ever really ended in more than sloppy hand or blowjobs in dirty bathroom stalls. It had never really bothered him, he had first been too focussed on finishing school and getting a contract and then life as a dancer of the corps de ballet had been hectic enough to even try and add a relationship to it. With him out of action for a few weeks the timing couldn’t have been more perfect. Brian had been a perfect distraction, but also still kept him in the loop of things happening within the Royal Opera House.

Sex with Brian had been different from all his previous hook ups. They actually managed to make it to a bed for one, well most of the time. But not only that, they actually took their time getting to know each other, finding the spots that made the other tick. Searching for those hitches in breath, teasing at those spots that would make the other moan the loudest. Brian was the one who really popped his cherry so to speak. He had been gentle with him, had really taken his time and then he had made Aaron see stars, made him realise what he had been missing out on all those years. Quick and tipsy hand and blowjobs were one thing, but feeling the stretch of another person inside of him, someone who really cared for him had been amazing. So had the other way around, to share that with someone, someone who trusted you enough, took sex to a whole new level for him.

Brian had really helped him through his recovery process as well, knowing when to talk about the company’s going-ons and when to shut up. He knew just how to cheer him up when had been feeling down, taking him to little hidden gems all over the city. The tiny ice cream shop a few blocks away from the theatre, the music store hidden between tourists shops and the little side streets free of tourists bar the occasional lost soul.

But however nice their relationship had been it had still come to an end. Brian had gotten an opportunity he hadn’t been able to pass up, an opportunity to work with the Royal Concertgebouw, the world famous Dutch orchestra. They had tried to maintain a long – well it was really just across the pond- distance relationship going, but both of their busy schedules – Aaron had fully recovered by then- had made them decide to call it quits. Aaron had been bummed out by it of course, but it hadn’t been the end of the world. One drunken night out with Adam had done wonders and him and Brian remained friends to this day.

---

After recovering from his ankle injury he had returned to his position as soloist. Life had gone back to normal pretty quickly. One or more members of his family made the trek down to London whenever they could and the few times he had time off from work he had gone up to visit them. Back home he would often get roped into some hard graft, as his family used to joke. So more often than not instead of enjoying some time to relax he had found himself hunched over the boot of a car or pulling pints behind the bar, had hadn’t minded though just glad to spend some much needed time with his family.

Then after the busy December period and just after his 26th birthday he had been promoted to principal dancer. The director had complimented him on his hard work during the busy end of the year, he had been delighted to see him mature into the role and was sure he would be able to fulfil his responsibilities as principal dancer. He had been so surprised, but so grateful for the chance, so ecstatic to start this new journey. His mum’s scream through the phone had deafened him for a while when he had told her and the whole Dingle clan had already started planning their next family trip down to London to see him perform.

#dancing through life #chapter 4 #my fic #robron #robron fanfiction #robron fic #emmerdale fic #emmerdale fanfiction #aaron dingle #robert sugden #the ballet au

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