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Fangs and Feathers

Episode 08: Vampire

The spices, ingredients and other such things were precariously balanced in covered bowls and pots one atop the other in a mountain carried by Flonne and another similar mountain carried by Etna. Flonne had been talked into helping obtain the rare treats by Etna, who managed to find such an impressive amount of supplies to make desserts and spicy treats that she couldn't carry them on her own. As for the prinnies, they had recently gone away with the red moon and the next batch was yet to arrive, leaving the castle severely understaffed.

Flonne stepped into the stairs reaching out with her foot to test the distance, she couldn't see with the mountain she was carrying. Etna came up from behind, also unable to see where she was going, and accidentally bumped into Flonne. With a yelp of surprise and the fear of the impending fall, Flonne spun around desperately trying to regain her balance. Just as this occurred, Laharl curiously and somewhat suspiciously approached the girls to ask what they were doing with so many pots and bowls, and what was in them. As Flonne spun she accidentally shoved the mountain she was carrying into Laharl's arms.

The young overlord took the items as an automatic reflex and balanced them on instinct, save for the spices on top which fell off the pile, spilling on Flonne. By the time he and Etna managed to put their respective towers of ingredients down, Flonne was halfway down the stairs tumbling and rolling all the way. She finally landed on her head with a loud thud and a pained whimper; she did not get up. The other two rushed to their fallen comrade and tried to wake her, with Laharl loosing his nonchalance momentarily as he lifted Flonne's head gently and matched Etna's worried look, even surpassing it. "Flonne?"

"Ow... What's a Flonne?" The disoriented blonde asked.

Relieved that she was well enough to talk, while remaining ignorant of the gravity of the situation, Laharl attempted to recover his mask of nonchalance. "You're Flonne, hmp, clumsy." He helped her to her feet, pretending he didn't notice the action and gave Etna a serious look. "Make sure she doesn't break anything else, the prinnies can put that stuff away when the new batch gets here in a few hours... and I want some of those spicy treats when they're made!" Laharl glanced at Flonne again, who smiled at him still dazed, though she seemed to be well enough. "I have overlord duties to take care of now, so I'll be on my way." Dramatically flipping his long red scarf behind him, Laharl walked away.

"Well at least no major injuries came out of this," Etna finally spoke, knowing all too well that Laharl had just charged her with nursing Flonne because he was simply too stubborn to admit he was truly concerned.

Flonne replied with a somewhat silly giggle. "What a handsome boy that was, his antennae are so cute. What's his name? He said I was Flonne, is that my name?"

Etna blinked examining Flonne's expression, she wasn't kidding. "His name is Laharl. That hit to the head must have been worse than I thought. C'mon, let's get you cleaned up and stop by the infirmary."

"Infirmary?" Flonne repeated in confusion, "are you sick miss... um... what's your name?"

"Etna," the redhead replied as she led Flonne to her room, which the blond probably didn't remember the location of due to her amnesia.

Upon arriving at Flonne's room, Etna found that the other girl's closet was empty and remembered that hers too had only a few clothes left in it. "Ugh, all the clothes are in the laundry room, those prinnies better get here soon and wash them. Remind me to work the prinnies to dust until everything gets done when there's a red moon coming. Who would have thought they were all ready to go this time around?"

"What's a prinny?" Flonne inquired; her smile still present.

"I really need to get you to the clinic..." Etna sighed; Laharl would probably be stressed out if he knew, even if he would fight not to show it. "Okay, I'll let you borrow one of my outfits, since you've ran out of clothes to wear, until the prinnies do the laundry. Don't move I'll be right back." When Etna spoke those words, Flonne was about to point at something, her prinny plush toy, and ask what that cute thing was, but she froze, her finger in the air and her lips slightly parted. Etna hurried away, retrieved the clothes from her room and handed them to Flonne who remained frozen the entire time. "You can move now."

"What's that? It's cute!" Flonne asked her intended question.

"It's a prinny doll, now go take a shower and change, the bathroom's over there," Etna pointed.

"Okay!" Flonne chirped and skipped over to get cleaned up. A while later, she came out all clean, wearing Etna's borrowed clothing, the outfit was the same as what Etna usually wore. She had a towel wrapped around her long hair, which she had just washed.

"You know... I actually kind of wanted a sister," Etna admitted. "Let's see what we can do with that hair." It was okay, right? The castle's hospital branch wasn't going anywhere if they took a little longer. Some time later, Etna finished drying and brushing Flonne's hair into a pair of long pigtails that reminded her of some heroine from a magical girl anime series. "Okay, now let's go see the doctor."

"Oh no, are you hurt Etna?" Flonne pouted in worry. She didn't want her new friend to be in pain.

"I'm fine, it's you who needs more help than you realize," Etna led her away.

"I'm not sick," Flonne smiled as she went along with Etna. "I feel good."

"It's just a precaution," Etna finally excused and they walked the rest of the way to the castle infirmary.

The two girls arrived at the infirmary where the doctor examined Flonne and determined that she was physically alright. "Her memories should return on their own. I can't say when, there's nothing that can be done about it."

"This is too inconvenient," Etna frowned; her frustration was destined to evolve into mischief as a stress reliever. Flonne was amnesiac, the prinnies were late and Laharl was probably worried about Flonne while having an inner battle with himself about hiding his concern. As one of the top vassals of the Netherworld and more so due to her promise to the late king, Etna knew it was up to her to keep things in order, but it was simply too much at times.

"Etna, I'm hungry," Flonne complained as she and Etna left the castle's hospital branch and walked down the long halls. She was making an adorable pouty face that contrasted with her current punk-goth look.

To think that the whole mess began because the next batch of prinnies was running later. When they got there that evening, they better be ready for a massive amount of chores. "We're vampires," Etna finally blurted out at random, as a side effect of her frustration. "Our food is blood; you'll have to hunt down a victim if you're hungry."

Flonne adopted a thoughtful expression, "was that boy from before, Laharl, a vampire too?"

Etna grinned, no longer vexed, she was amused, this could be interesting, "nope."

"Do you think he'll share some of his blood with me then?" Flonne wondered, not taking the time to question Etna's revelations. This girl was her friend who taught her many things when she felt lost and confused, she worried about her health too; she wouldn't lie.

"Sure he will, go on and bite him, he doesn't mind," Etna's wicked grin grew, she had to see this. "I think he's over this way."

Flonne hurried after Etna to the throne room where Laharl was pacing around in front of the massive royal seat. He composed himself the second he noticed the two girls. "Flonne? Why in the world are you wearing Etna's clothes?" He blushed not understanding why. Etna, who he would never in a million years admit he cared for like a sister, wore clothes like that all the time and it never bothered him, why was it different with Flonne?

Flonne approached the confused Laharl, "I'll try to do it as nicely as I can," she was referring to the vampire bite she was planning to give him. Etna said he wouldn't mind, he must be very kind to help feet vampires. Flonne would make sure not to drink more blood than what she needed; she didn't want to abuse his generosity.

"Huh?" Laharl blinked in confusion, tilting his head to the side in a sign of curiosity.

The action was interpreted by Flonne as acceptance of her necessity for her to have easier access to the side of his neck. She gently pulled his red scarf down to reveal the flesh where she assumed her fangs would find their way by instinct.

"What are you..." Laharl couldn't even finish asking Flonne what she was doing before her lips touched the warm skin of his neck. She was testing the area, wondering where exactly she should bite. The overlord's eyes went wide, his face turned scarlet, his mouth fell open and a second later his red eyes rolled back as his eyelids closed and he lost consciousness.

"Oh no!" Flonne held the unconscious boy in her arms. "I didn't even bite him!" A theory formed in her mind that followed the logic of the vampire story. "He must be suffering from anemia from allowing vampires to feed on him. I have to take him to the doctor!" Flonne picked up the knocked out boy bridal style and rushed away with him back to the infirmary. Practically rolling in laughter, Etna fought to stand up and follow them.

Somewhat disoriented in her haste, Flonne found herself at the stairs where the ordeal first began. The multitude of pots and bowls was still there, set aside for the prinnies to put away when they arrived. Some kind of spicy dip was spilling out from a lopsided pot, its cap askew. Flonne's foot stepped on the slippery substance and she slipped, tumbling and rolling down the stairs some more. She hugged the boy she carried tightly and protected him from harm at the cost of hitting her head again.

"Flonne! Laharl!" Etna rushed down the stairs and knelt beside them.

"What happened?" Laharl finally woke up from having fainted and looked around in confusion.

Flonne was waking up as well, with her memories restored. "Did I drop them?" Flonne looked to the pots and bowls piled up at the top of the stairs. "It looks like everything's okay. Laharl?" When did he arrive?

Etna cleared her throat and prepared an explanation. "We were carrying those things then Flonne tripped as you approached and you ended up falling along with her."

"I see..." The explanation seemed logical enough to Laharl, except for the fact that he didn't remember seeing Flonne wearing Etna's outfit when he first approached. He had a feeling that something was hiding in his mind, like a self defense mechanism. He ignored it, it was probably best this way.

Flonne noted her outfit and wondered when she changed into that, she didn't remember. She attributed the disorientation to having fallen down the stairs and assumed she must have changed before going out to collect ingredients with Etna.

One of Laharl's many vassals arrived at the scene, announcing to the young overlord that the prinnies had arrived. There was a lot to do, so Laharl and Etna busied themselves in bossing the prinnies around while Flonne did essentially the same thing in a much more polite and friendly tone. As for the event that took place while Flonne had been told she was a vampire, Etna laughed every time she remembered it, Flonne was blissfully ignorant and Laharl remained unaware of the memory that was locked by shock in the deepest corner of his mind.

End of Episode 08

Disclaimer, I don't own Disgaea. This was... totally random! I had another one-shot planned out but ended up writing this random one instead. I'll get around to writing the other one too. XD