8 Dante's Dilemma

Victory. Glorious victory. Defeating your adversary against all odds, and rising up in triumph with your wit and skill. Slaying a mighty beast with your own might and strength had been the essence of dreams for so many people for so long, and that dream was now a reality!

He thought for a second, staring out of the window from his hospital bed. Maybe the glory was slightly tainted by the rain. He thought a bit more. Maybe him being left injured and that he had to be saved by Lucina tainted it. He impatiently tapped his finger on the table, knocking over a get-well-soon card. No, the thing that tainted his victory was…

The fact that Xena had bought him dark chocolate as a present! There's no way she thought he would ever like this. Had she even tried it herself? He snapped off a piece, eyeing it cautiously. He had never been a fan of chocolate in general, but dark chocolate was by far the worst of the lot. How could anyone love anything so repulsive and bitter? She had to be crazy. Only a demon could even remotely like this gift from Satan.

He remembered where he was.

Demon food or not, it was still a gift, and he had to treat it with respect. And also Xena would probably throw a dictionary at him if she found out that he'd just ignored her chocolate.

He swallowed it as quickly as possible, bracing himself for the blast of bitterness that was sure to arrive

But to his shock, the chocolate was surprisingly sweet. At least, it was far less bitter than he had expected.

He actually… Liked it?

He checked the packaging again. It was definitely dark chocolate. So why did he suddenly like it? He used to be absolutely repulsed by it, and it's not like he had never tried it before. His hands scrambled over to the get-well-soon card, opening it to see if there was any writing inside. His eyes widened.

'Try not to get into any more fights; your fists aren't the only way for you to settle an argument. Amazing, right? In any case, hopefully this will make you feel better after getting injured that bad. I know you'd do anything for some chocolate. Get well soon.'

Xena must have been talking about the demon Lucine liking dark chocolate, so why did he like it as well?

He absentmindedly took another bite out of the chocolate, casting his worries aside. Well, it's not like it meant anything. It was just chocolate. He gazed scornfully at the open window, which let in drafts of cold air, along with the occasional splashes. He pitied anyone that was outside in the torrents of rain.

But man, it was boring being injured.

What's a guy meant to do on the hospital bed? Do some meditation breathing to speed up his recovery? Sighing, he sunk into his bed and stared at the ceiling, wishing for something interesting to happen. His wishes always seemed to come true. Last time he wished for those dumbasses to stop gawking and to actually confront him and he got his ass handed to him on a silver platter by Gemu.

He heard the door creak open. A quiet voice came out from it.

"Lucine? You dead yet?"

He rolled his eyes, wondering whether or not he should bother even looking at who was at the door this time. His curiosity won in the battle against his reluctance, and his eyes wandered over to the small figure.

It was a small boy. He shook his dripping white hair out of his face, revealing two pitch black eyes and unfolded his wings, spraying water everywhere. He slung an equally wet bag off of his shoulder. As he met Lucine's gaze, he tilted his head, revealing two stubby, but sharp, horns.

"Looks like you're still alive." He sounded almost disappointed.

"Did you want to find me dead?"

The boy dropped his bag on the table, and slumped onto the chair, seeming to not care about how much water he was dragging everywhere. "It wouldn't make any difference; you're as useful awake as you are asleep, now that you've got a broken arm." He sighed, stretching out his legs. "We can't even spar anymore…"

Spar? What was this kid talking about? He felt disgust rising up in his stomach. How often did the demon Lucine fight? But then again, he was no different now that he'd attacked Gemu like that…

More importantly, who was this kid to begin with? His eyes started to glow gently. He didn't even know his name yet, and even he could tell that this could go downhill real quick if he didn't do something about it.

"So how'd you get beat by Gemu anyway? Did he catch you off-guard? And apparently Lucina had to come save you from Karent." He pulled the chair closer to Lucine, his black eyes somehow gleaming with curiosity. "You've never lost so badly that you'd end up in hospital. C'mon, what's going on?"

This kid was seriously a nuisance. Why did this guy even care?

An idea struck him, derailing his train of thought. It was so obvious. How could he have not seen it before? It was so obvious who this person was…

Lucine leant back, his eyes gleaming with pleasure as he laughed. "Oh, nothing's going on. I just decided to give them some mercy and not crush them all underfoot."

"But you, quite literally, did crush Gemu underfoot, and you're basically a cripple now."

"Tch! Your master's injuries will heal soon enough. You don't need to worry about me."

The boy went strangely silent at this. Was he really that relieved to know that his master was all right? Lucine felt a warm feeling bubbling up inside of him. The demon Lucine was a bastard alright, but he had a servant! A kind, caring servant, who looked up to him and wanted to make sure his master was all right. This world might not be that bad after all!

"…what?"

"Hm?"

"My who?"

"Your master…"

A look of disgust crept onto his face.

They stared at each other in silence.

Lucine cleared his throat. "Ahem. So…I'm not your-"

"Not a chance."

Lucine sunk into his covers. So much for this world having some sort of redeeming quality.

"Argh, your stupidity made me forget why I came here in the first place." The boy started rummaging through his bag.

He took out a battered schoolbook that was not being helped at all by all the rain. The name on the front was hardly legible, but Lucine managed to get a glimpse of it.

Dante Dabaso

First Karent, now this? Just how many people in this world were there that he had never met before?

Dante frantically flicked through the book." Where's that dumb page…?"

"What?"

"Nothing. Aha! This is what I came here for."

Dante threw the open book on Lucine's lap, looking expectantly at him as if he was waiting for something to happen.

After a few seconds, Dante broke the silence. "So are you gonna start or what?"

"Start what?"

"Oh, I don't know, it's not like I placed an open book in front of you or anything."

Lucine stared blankly at him.

Dante sighed, getting up from his chair and slinging his bag over his back. "Okay, lemme explain. Due to orders from the higher ups, you have to do some work to make sure your brain doesn't rot while being a cripple."

Lucine continued to stare blankly at him.

Dante walked to the door.

"Oh yeah, I just remembered. That work happens to be my homework so-"

Lucine threw the book at him with his good arm "So you can go do it yourself, dickhead."

"Hey hey pal, Xena's orders are that I've gotta give you some work to do, and it just so happens that this work is my homework." He picked up the book and yeeted it back "Surprisingly, I don't want to get murdered by her, so I've gotta do what she says."

"IF YOU DON'T WANT TO GET MURDERED BY ME, PISS OFF AND TAKE YOUR HOMEWORK WITH YOU!" He hit it back like it was a tennis ball

"HAH, XENA SCARES ME MORE THAN YOU EVER COULD!" Keeping up the momentum, Dante's eyes glistened as he volleyed the book back.

"WHAT WOULDN'T SCARE YOU, YOU DAMN MIDGET!" Lucine's eyes shone like spotlights as he hit it back with surprising strength for a cripple.

"NOT YOU AND YOUR ARROGANT ASS!" In a last ditch effort to get Lucine to give up, Dante knocked the book forward with a well-placed punch. The book flapped right past Lucine's head…

And out of the open window.

The two stood in silence processing what they'd just done.

Lucine was the first to react. "Now look what you've done, you shitty midget. If you just took the book and pissed off, it wouldn't be outside in the rain."

"This is my fault? You should have just taken the work, you prick."

Dante rushed over to the window, looking out of it to see if he could find where the book landed.

"Ugh, I really don't want to go out in that rain to find that book."

"You're already wet, it doesn't make a difference."

"Oh, Shut up." His eyes scanned the area . "Heh. It was chemistry, you know. I might as well just leave it. Wait, I think that's it down there!"

"Yay, we found it! Now get your ass down there and make yourself useful." Lucine sunk back in his bed, and rolled over. "Meanwhile, I'm gonna get some well deserved rest."

Dante looked out of the window, and he went pale. "Oh, Lucifer." He ducked under the window like a soldier in the trenches, his eyes shining in fear "Oh, Beelzubub, Satan, everyone of you gods down there-"

"Will you shut up?" Lucine covered his ears with his pillows. "Save your demon chants for when I'm not trying to sleep."

"Lucine, we're fucked! Guess who found the book?"

Lucine turned over, to find Dante's fear-stricken eyes staring at him.

"It was Xena! That damn bitch's down there and she found the book!"

He turned back, and wrapped his wings around himself. "Yeah, not my problem. I'm going back to sleep."

"Are you dumb? She's gonna kill us!"

Lucine slowly rolled over, leering mischievously as his glowing golden eyes met his glistening black eyes. "Us? Haha, that's your book, not mine. You're the one who threw it out. I had nothing to do with this."

"You bastard! What happened to being friends?" He scrambled to his feet, taking one last look out of the window. "She's gone, she's fucking gone. I'm out of here." He slung his bag over his shoulder, knocking over the chair in his haste to get to the door.

"Bro, calm your balls. It's just Xena. What's she gonna do?"

Dante gawked at him in astonishment. "What do you mean 'what's she gonna do?' Did you forget what she did to us last time?"

What? Come on, Xena couldn't be that bad. And besides, it was just a book. She wouldn't get mad over a book, would she?

Dante tore open the door and pelted out. Lucine sunk back into his bed, eyeing the swinging doors. In any case, this really wasn't his problem.

But it was about to turn into his problem, as Dante came flying through the door like something out of a bad movie, hitting the bottom of his bed with a sickening crunch, that must have been his wings.

What.

The.

Fuck.

Lucine whipped up, his wings unfolding in shock. "Holy shit. Dante, are you okay?"

Dante sat at the foot of the bed, his despairing eyes staring lifelessly at the floor.

"She- I couldn't get past..."

"D-Dante, what-"

The doors slammed open.

A sinister figure appeared in the doorway, blocking their way of escape. Her wet hair trailed across the floor as her shadowy eyes shimmered with malice. In her hand was a sopping mass of paper, barely held together by the mud-stained covers.

"Would any of you like to explain to me...?"

Dante whimpered while wrapping himself in his wings, as a sense of impending doom filled Lucine's chest.

Xena stepped into the light, her face warped by an animalistic snarl.

"WHAT THE FUCK YOU BASTARDS DID TO THIS BOOK."