Demon Queened - Chapter 63 - Rough Draft

Devilla

I woke up the next morning to find Abigail in my arms, her tail wrapped around my thigh. I hesitated a moment, before choosing to wake her with a kiss upon her forehead.

“Mrr…?” she murmured in her sleep, her tail squeezing my thigh a little before loosening up as she stretched her arms towards the ceiling.

“Good morning, sleepyhead,” I told her, giving her a small smile as she blinked the sleepiness away. “I hope you don’t mind the chaste kiss, but I thought it best to ask before moving on to more… intimate areas.”

“You’ve been spending too much time with humans if you think I’d mind it,” Abigail replied. I got the distinct sense that she was rolling her eyes at me. Not that I could ever hope to prove it, with her pupils being so hidden.

“They’re actually not as repressed as you’d think, you know?” I informed her. “At least, not compared to those in my past life’s world. Though I suppose it’s that world that’s influencing me, more than anything - my past self was always told to ensure consent before touching anyone inappropriately.”

“And you think kissing me on the tits is inappropriate?” Abigail questioned me. “Why? It sounds like a pretty good way to greet the day, to me.”

“Not everyone thinks like that, Abigail,” I warned her, before frowning. “Or at least not every human thinks like that. I don’t think…”

“You don’t think?”

“Well, it’s not as if I’ve held a survey in this world, or anything, but so long as I don’t know I think it’s best to err on the side of caution.”

“That’s…” Abigail paused, before sighing. “Probably smart, I guess? It just seems like a pretty big deal over nothing, to me.”

“But it might not be nothing to the other party,” I warned her. Of course, I had no idea how high or low the risk of that was among demons. To humans - or at least the humans of Earth - sex was considered something intimate, almost sacred. To us demons, it was simply a fun activity. Consent for it was little different than “consenting” to a game of cards. Yet, despite that, I couldn’t deny that forcing one was far worse than forcing the other. That was enough of a reason for me to consider asking the best policy.

“I guess,” Abigail conceded, with a shrug. “Guess that means I should be asking you what you’re okay with, then?”

“Pretty much anything, so long as it’s pleasurable,” I informed her. “Though I would hope you’d avoid starting anything you’re unable to finish.”

“Why wouldn’t I be able to finish?” Abigail asked, with a teasing smirk on her lips. She reached for me, as she spoke, but I caught her hand and shook my head.

“I have to get back to my tent before the others discover my absence,” I told her. 

“Right… The others. Grell and Dyona, right?” Abigail asked, no doubt thinking back to one of the discussions we’d had over dinner. She was as up to date on my adventures as anyone. “I don’t think you need to worry about Grell, but Dyona sounds like the sort who might cause trouble.”

“I think she has too healthy a respect for ‘the Heroine’ to start anything… It’s Grell who concerns me. If she did somehow notice something, I fear she’s liable to blurt it out without a second thought.”

“Blurt it out to who? Grell and Lucy are the only people with you, right?”

“Until we reach the city. Grell is holding onto secrets about her identity - and while I’m hardly in a position to judge her for it, I can still be a little wary of it when it comes to this…”

“Fine, fine,” Abigail sighed, before waving me away. “Go back to your girlfriend.”

“My other girlfriend, you mean?” I asked, arching an eyebrow. I tried to sound confident, but when Abigail’s only response was to blink at me I couldn’t keep the blood from flushing my cheeks. Apparently my body’s adaptability had some annoying limitations. “I-I mean, if you’re willing to accept such a label. I’d understand if you’d rather not-”

“No!” Abigail interrupted. “I mean, I just… didn’t expect you to come out and say it like that. Isn’t it a bit early?”

“It might be our first date, Abigail, but it’s hardly our first meeting. While I may have never dared to think of you in a romantic light, before, I have known for some time that I want you by my side. I treasure your presence in my life, Abigail, and I want it to continue. Whether it be as lovers of friends.”

“So what? You want to be my girlfriend so that I’ll stick around by your side?”

“I want you as my girlfriend because I care for you,” I told her, trying not to flinch. I knew that Abigail meant no harm to me. This was just her response to the same uncertainty and fear I myself felt - the worry that things might break apart, and that our current happiness would fail. “I don’t entirely know my own heart when it comes to you. I know I treasure you. That I rely on you. That I care for you, and that I want you to remain forever by my side… It’s a type of love, I’m sure, yet as for whether it’s the love you seek… I’m still too inexperienced to say.”

“Inexperienced?” Abigail demanded. “What about Lucy?”

“You think I haven’t suffered the same problems there?” I asked her. “My desire for her presence is only matched by my fear of her loss, and yet at the same time some part of me wonders if I’m not just using her to make myself feel better until the day she abandons me. Some part of me even thinks that it’s fine if I am - because surely I’ll receive my comeuppance in due time, when she sees through me and tires of my leeching presence.”

“...Devilla…” 

I closed my eyes. The pain in her eyes, the pity in her voice - I couldn’t face it. “I am the worst person I know, Abigail, no matter what everyone says to the contrary… and yet, despite it all, you both see something else in me. Something I desperately want to believe is there, if only for the sake of those who put up with me on behalf of its presence.”

“Devilla,” Abigail said, again, a bit more firmly this time.

“All I’m saying is that if you’re willing to put up with me… I’d be honored to be your girlfriend. Whatever pain might come down the line is worth it.”

“Devilla!” Abigail all but screamed in my ear, grabbing my shoulders as my eyes flew open. “For the last time, stop using the fact that people fucking care about you as a reason to hate yourself more! Love isn’t something you have to earn, and it sure as hell isn’t anything you need to pay for with a breakup or whatever! You’re allowed to be happy!”

“But-”

“No buts!” she interrupted. “You want to be my girlfriend? Then fine! We’re girlfriends! I love you! You… maybe love me! And we’ll figure out the rest together. Alright?”

Somehow, her pitch black eyes seemed to be telling me that there was only one acceptable answer. “...Alright.”

“Good.” She released me, taking a step back, and letting out a deep sigh. “No go back to your girlfriend, and try not to depress yourself or anyone else by dwelling on how you totally deserve to die alone and miserable, alright?”

“It’s more that I deserve to live miserably, actually, but… That’s… not entirely better, is it?”

Abigail’s glare was more than answer enough, and moment later I was stepping on the teleportation circle and teleporting away.

***

Abigail

***

Devilla was… exhausting, sometimes.

Okay, maybe more than sometimes. Like, at all times. I mean, the whole reason we’d gotten close in the first place was that she’d exasperated me too much to maintain any sort of customer service facade. Our relationship (if you could call it that, back when we were just maid and employer) started with her being terrible, changed when she threw everything I knew about her out the window and then somehow evolved to the point where I found myself missing her fat ass the moment she went and teleported out of sight. Back to her girlfriend.

Her other girlfriend.

“...I need a drink,” I muttered, mostly to myself. I was seriously considering getting one, too. I mean, sure, I was technically on the clock, but it wasn’t like I actually did much of anything when Devilla was away. Outside of maybe meeting with Nivera and Chloe, anyways, but they were currently busy sorting everything out with Mellany and trying to steal away Alira’s powers.

Unfortunately, I was a little too professional to start drinking out of nowhere… especially since Devilla didn’t actually keep any sort of booze in her bedroom, and I preferred to stay in that bedroom during work hours, if not otherwise busy. Mostly because I’d start to feel guilty if I saw any of the other maids actually working for their money.

In my defense, though, what work I did do was way outside my pay grade, even after the considerable raise I’d gotten from becoming Devilla’s personal maid.

A knock at the door, with a rather squelchy undertone, dragged me out of my thoughts and set me to sighing.

“Speaking of work outside my paygray,” I muttered to myself, before opening the door with a fake smile on my lips. “Sylvanna. How great to see you.”

“Really?” the foot tall slime asked me, beaming. “It’s great to see you, too!”

“Because it means you don’t have to see Devilla?”

“And because you’re totally hot,” the mini-slime agreed, nodding her head furiously. “Even if you are, like, totally a big dummy who actually enjoys Devilla’s company for some reason.”

“Uh-huh,” I muttered, opening the door wider to let Sylvanna in.

“You’re naked,” the slime noted, as the door opened. “Wait… Were you having sex with someone? Who?”

“I wonder,” I muttered dryly, wondering just how stupid the little slime had to be to not figure that out. “Look, why don’t you just tell me what you came here for so that I can get on with me?”

“What I came for?”

“Yeah. The thing that brought you to my door?” I asked, gesturing to the entrance she’d come through. At the same time, I started to pull on my panties. The same ones I’d been wearing last night, unfortunately - I probably needed to start storing clothes in Devilla’s room, if I was going to be sleeping over this often. Something to talk about later.

“But this is Devilla’s door?”

“Not the point!” I snapped, snatching my breast band off the floor next.

“What was the point again?” Sylvanna asked.

I sighed, deciding not to dignify her with a response until after I’d gotten my maid’s outfit on.

Thankfully, right as I was reaching for my stockings, Sylvanna let out a loud, “Oh! Right! I know what I’m here for!”

“Let me guess,” I said, dryly, “you want to know about Devilla’s progress with the depetrification spell?”

“Uh-huh!” the mini-sylvanna nodded. “Big-me said she wanted to know if Devilla was keeping with her part of the a.. Ac…. Ack? Uh……. Deal! That’s it! The deal thing they made! Which was… important?”

“The deal’s still on,” I replied, rolling my eyes at the idiot slime. I guess it was better than dealing with the bitchy full thing, though, if only just. “Devilla’s sorta figured out a way to depetrify people, but-”

“Then she can depetrify the other slimes!?”

“But it’s not foolproof, and she doesn’t want to risk all the slimes on her succeeding. She’s still working on getting the depetrification spell proper so that she can do it right, though, okay? So tell big-you that or whatever.”

“Oh, I don’t have to tell her anything!” Sylvanna promised. “She’ll know for herself when she absorbs me, and gets all my knowledge!”

“...Right, because that’s not existentially terrifying, or anything.”

“It’s fine!” Sylvanna promised, cheerfully as she headed for the door. “I mean, we’re all Sylvanna! So long as we keep our memories sync… Syn,... Sin… Uh….”

“Synchronized?” I suggested.

“Sink-onized! Right!” Sylvanna agreed, before stretching an arm up towards the doorknob. “Anyways, thank you, bye bye!”

“Wait!” I called out, before she could leave. “I wanted to ask you something. About General Doll - do you know where she is?”

“Uh-huh!” Sylvanna informed me. “But I’m not supposed to tell anyone about it, so I won’t!”

“Wait!” I called out again, before she could slip through the door. “Devilla wants to talk to her.”

“But I don’t know where she is!”

“You literally just told me you do,” I reminded her.

“That must have been a different me!”

“That’s-” I started, only to stop when she closed the door behind her. Instead, I just let out a sigh. Hopefully Devilla wouldn’t need Doll any time soon, because I didn’t know how I was going to drag the information out of her.

“Maybe I can ask Chloe for help with it…” I said, deciding to get up and exit the door - only to stop when someone knocked.

“What now?” I griped, flinging the door open. Where I expected to find a one foot slime, though, I instead found a few feet of kitsune. “Chloe?”

“Hihi!” She grinned at me. “I’m here to help you with your date.”

“Aren’t you a bit late for that? I saw Devilla last night.”

“Not that date, silly!” Chloe chided me. “That one was always going to go fine! I’m here for your other date!”

“How did you-”

Chloe held up a finger to interrupt me, closing the door behind her. “Know you were going out with the Heroine? I didn’t, but it wasn’t exactly hard to figure it out. Lucy’s the sort who wants to have it all, right? To make everyone happy? And you’re too unsure of yourself to say no and potentially make things awkward with Devilla, sooo… When’s the date?”

“...Tonight…”

“Great!” Chloe grinned, before pulling a pair of red and black dresses out of thin air, and holding one up in front of me. “Let’s get started!”

~~~
Author's Notes

I finished this over the course of a couple hours - possibly a sign of my ADHD meds already taking effect? Or maybe just a sign of how excited I am for the next few chapters...

Next up, we'll be seeing sort of a mirror of chapter 61 - we'll have Devilla and co arriving at the city, then transition to the start of Lucy's date with Abigail. It might end up a short chapter? Or it might end up containing the entirety of Lucy's date. We'll see.

Next up is probably the finale of the slime bonus story trilogy I was writing? Though there's also a chance I'll just rush to finish the next couple DQ chapters... Again, we'll see. (The first two in the series have gone public, by the way, if anyone's interested in them.) The Ranma 1/2 fanfic is currently on hold to writer's block, more or less, but I'm hoping to have another chapter of that before too long.

 Regardless of all else, I hope you'll look forward to what's to come!