***The World***

***Angrod***

Celes and I are sitting next to each other in the embassy’s study, facing Nicosar who is waving a chalkboard in our faces.

“I feel humiliated,” I mumble and Celes nods. She looks at me, disbelief written all over her face. “Do you think that he is for real? Or is he just trying to mess with us?”

“Come On! Say it with LOVE!” Nicosar closes in but stays well outside Celes’s range.

I smirk. “Even if he is just messing with us, he learned his lesson when you went to town on him.”

Celes reaches for the chalkboard, but Nicosar is too quick and pulls it back. “Ah, ah, ah! I won’t make the same mistake twice. Why don’t you make it easy on yourselves and take an active part in your lessons?”

Too bad. It was too hilarious when Celes managed to snatch the chalkboard out of Nicosar’s hands and bashed him with it.

Looking down, I study the heavily enchanted chains around Celes’s and my ankle. They are connected to an iron ball, ensuring that the two of us can’t run off in different directions.

“Angrod is my ONE and only ONE!” Nicosar chants in a creepy voice. Upon getting no reaction, he addresses Celes again. “Say at least: I love you! For starters!”

“I l- l- lov- y- ou. I guess,” Celes stammers with a cramped up face while looking at me.

“Okay. We will work on the stuttering. The expression comes second,” Nicosar states, grinning at having achieved at least a small victory.

“Now you Angrod! Say: I love you! I would lay the world at your feet if you asked me for it!” Nicosar’s eyes gleam feverishly and he wriggles his body in a creepy way.

“I shove you! I would slay the world and throw the cadaver at your feet, so you trip over it!”

SMACK!

Ow! Nicosar hit me with the chalkboard. Again!

My head already hurts so much from the approaching transformation and now that old bastard is using violence on me.

Wincing, I reach for my temple and massage it. I think my brain is splitting apart!

Nicosar looks at the broken chalkboard and sighs, then drops it onto the pile of broken chalkboards in front of my feet. Our lessons have been going on since this morning and the pile has grown until it almost reached my knees.

He takes a new chalkboard out of a chest and scribbles something onto it. “Okay. Let's try that again.” He faces us and nods to me while waving the board.

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

♥“I LOVE YOU CELES!”♥

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

Tears are dripping from my eyes, but not because I am crying. My tear ducts started leaking ever since the whole transformation-thing began, blurring my vision. There is nothing I can do about it.

I know that giving in to Nicosar's spiel is just the first step to my doom, but by now I think it's easier to say a few damned words than to endure this torture any second longer than necessary.

“I love you Celes,” I whisper, giving up.

I don't want to get another board smashed onto my head. It just makes my headaches worse. There is an aching pain as if someone is slowly pushing two screwdrivers into my eyes, while a mixer is mashing up my brain!

“YES! That's the emotion! You got that across just right!” The pervert wipes the board and steps in front of Celes, scribbling something.

Celes blushes and looks down at her legs which are almost completely covered by another pile of broken boards.

“M- my dearest one! Take me here and now!”

Something in her voice touches me, and I have the sudden urge to rip off Nicosar’s head.

Oh my god! What am I thinking? Protecting Celes? That’s a big no-no! The headaches and the stress are at fault, impairing my decision making. Yes! That's it!

“Oh! You are starting to get damned good at this! Hmhmhmm. We should start working on the physical part too?” Nicosar muses to himself.

That causes me to freeze up. What do you want to make little children do, you sicko?

“What's the point of this anyway, old pervert!? I thought you wanted to train us!” Celes asks with empty eyes.

“Am I not training you? On your graduation party, you two will have to be convincing enough for the guests. You will be scrutinized by every noble with a name and power. There can be no doubt that this thing between Tirna and Stricc can work out, or chaos could be the consequence!” Nicosar states, his creepy demeanour suddenly gone and replaced with total earnestness.

“If one of the larger houses manages to make a convincing case that this bond won't work out, they could try to seize power. That would mean civil war for both Tirna and Stricc. You two have to be the perfect pair to the public and present a united front as the future rulers of the world!”

“What about our physical training?” Celes asks. “We are children. It's not healthy to be locked up in a room all day.”

“Pfff! No need for that! Both of you have royal blood. That means that your bodies are the strongest you can get in this world and you will always be in top condition. But the strongest bodies in the world won't help us if we are poisoned or bombed by some asshole. Also, with everyone running amok, we can't be everywhere. So, you two will be here until you can convince everyone that you were made for each other.” Nicosar stops his tirade.

Then he puts on a smile and waves the chalkboard in our faces.

“I will train my magic like mad! And then this pervert will burn!” I mutter to myself. I am really, really mad right now! Nicosar is going a step too far in this!

“Hahaha, you are a hundred years too early for that!” Nicosar grins.

Celes forces a smile to her face, then looks at me. “We will see, Angrod, I would gladly give you a hand against the pervert!”

I regard her, thinking. She is my enemy, but Nicosar is also my enemy. I also already have a truce with her, but none with Nicosar. It goes against my principles, but this indeed might be a case of the enemy of my enemy being my friend.

“Maybe.”

“YES! A mutual goal! The first step on your path to love!” Nicosar cheers, seemingly not noticing that he is the one we intend to team up against.

That was the last straw! Who does he think he is? This guy needs to be taught a lesson!

“On a second thought, yeah, let’s do this!” Shifting my eyes, I look at Ghost who is sleeping in the corner of the room and whistle. The little Razorclaw perks up upon hearing me.

“I can’t wait to see what the two of you can do.” Nicosar rubs his hands together, preparing himself for an escape attempt.

I return my attention to my grandfather. “Oh, you have no idea what I can do.”

***The World***

***Ghost***

Looking deep into my Servant’s eyes, I feel his mind touch mine and rub all the right spots, promising a thorough cuddling session. It doesn’t take long to consider the offer, and I accept. There is a particularly itchy spot just behind my ear that’s in dire need of scratching.

Getting up, I stretch and waddle over to him, eager to receive the promised present.

While he is talking with the large two-leg, his mind nudges my attention towards the pieces of metal which are dangling on the large two-leg. They are all shiny and twinkly, but more importantly, my servant sends me a mental picture of how one could play with this toy and receive a lot of tasty food.

The mind-picture also suggests that it makes interesting sounds when the toy is moved around quickly.

Almost like p- p- prey!

***The World***

***Celes***

I bite my lower lip as the little kitty’s attention wanders back and forth between Nicosar and Angrod. It’s so cute and I really want to pet it, but the stupid animal never even looks my way. I already tried several times to gain its affection, but nothing worked. If nothing else, I have to admit that the little bastard is a loyal critter to his master.

Then, with a screech, the little furball jumps onto Nicosar’s waist, hacking and clawing away at the set of keys on the old man’s belt.

Gasping in shock, Nicosar tries to slap the little monster away, which suddenly turned from a lovely furball into a little porcupine with an identity crisis – thinking of itself as some kind of butcher’s tool. Razor-sharp claws sink easily through Nicosar’s blue uniform, while little teeth sink into flesh, entirely too close for comfort to the old man’s jewels.

I wince as Nicosar’s slap doesn’t achieve the intended effect. Instead of slapping Ghost off of him, he hits the Razorclaw’s fur and his hand stays stuck. The beautiful pelt of fluffy, white hair turned into countless needles, each about ten centimetres in length.

And Nicosar impaled his palm on several of them. Screeching like a girl, he wrenches his hands away, breaking off some of the needles.

Amongst the chaos, Angrod reaches out and Nicosar’s keys fly into his hand. Quickly, my accomplice gets up and unlocks the cuffs which chain us to the big iron ball.

I am out of my seat as soon as the chain is off. “Quickly! We have to get away before he can do his mist-thing and reassemble himself!”

Running towards Nicosar, I leap and bring both my legs forward, hitting his knee with a satisfying ‘crunch’. His leg folds the wrong way and the pervert’s scream takes on a new level of urgency.

I quickly get back up and flee the study.

Nicosar topples sideways and Ghost jumps off, following Angrod and me.

We run down the hallway, then up a set of stairs into the servant’s quarters where we hide in a storeroom.

Thankfully, Angrod picked up his familiar once we were outside the study. Otherwise, a set of bloody paw-prints would have led Nicosar right onto our trail.

Sinking down onto my ass, I catch my breath. “That old codger is raving mad!”

“Agreed.” Angrod sits down, leaning against the closed door of the storeroom, while Ghost starts cleaning his fur from the blood. The kitten looks like someone dumped a litre of blood onto it.

“You probably shouldn’t use your familiar like that,” I suggest. “What if he gets hurt?”

“No worries.” Angrod knocks his knuckles onto Ghost’s forehead. “Razorclaws have an exoskeleton beneath that spiky fur. I’ve read up on it after getting him. He can take a lot before he is hurt.”

I raise an eyebrow, studying the purring animal. “Do I want to know what they hunt to be in need of such a physique?”

Angrod just pulls down the corners of his mouth. “Nope.”

I sigh. “So, what do we do now? I am already bored.”

“Now we wait and hide until Rose is back. And then we beg her to hide us even longer!” Angrod reaches for his head and winces. “Say, has the pain been getting worse for you too?”

I touch my temples and my backside, right above my ass. “Yes! I learned to endure it, but it’s almost unbearable by now. How about you?”

“I-” He blinks, tears running down his cheeks. Then he reaches for his temples and suddenly starts twitching, a tremble running through his entire body.

“Angrod?” Was he hurt when we escaped!?

Then I realize that it’s the transformation. “Damn it!” Why does it have to start now when we are hiding in some closet! Katrine told me to come to her when it starts.

I get up, but a bright flame stabs down my spine. It’s as if someone rammed a hot iron into my backside. Then I feel something breaking through my temples and I scream.

Crawling towards the door, I try to open it, but I can’t get high enough without toppling over.

After the third attempt, I give up and decide that we just have to ride it out.

Worst timing ever!

***The World***

***Angrod***

Of course, the plan of hiding ourselves eternally didn’t quite work out. Thankfully, a maid found us.

The next few months were a nightmare! It wasn't just the board-treatment and us escaping Nicosar on a regular basis. Though, I have to admit that Celes and I got quite good at working together.

We had dancing lessons, smiling lessons, lap-sleeping lessons, oh, and not to forget the BIG-HUG lessons in which Celes tried to crush me with her brutish strength. She apologized afterwards, saying that she has no control over her strength.

I am really afraid that she will eventually become strong enough to do it for real.

Sometimes, even Nicol and Arthur joined Nicosar’s insanity. At least they are better people than Nicosar, but its still far from fun being taught by them. I felt a little masochistic for enjoying my father’s presence, but he is usually busy with matters of the state which means that I don’t get to see him as much as Ireth.

At the dancing lessons, Celes and I initially made a sport of trying to step on each other’s feet.

Sadly, I have to admit that there wasn’t much conscious effort necessary on my part. I am just bad at dancing. I know, it’s hard to believe, but I never intended to trip Celes into the anthill, having her swarmed by stinky crab-ants.

Thankfully, she believed me after I prostrated myself. The last thing I wanted was for our cease-fire agreement to break. The fact that she isn’t actively trying to kill me is the only thing that makes our co-existence possible.

After two months, Celes and I were desperate enough to try to kill Nicosar – several times – but we never succeeded. Be it a fatal injury or poison, he just turns to mist and heals up in an instant.

The both of us are speculating that Nicosar has some high-level illusion or cloning technique. It's not magic, but some kind of innate ability he got from his raccoon heritage.

One time, I blew up an entire room with him inside. We thought we got him, just to be caned from behind by his walking stick. That was the day we learned that it’s a deadly weapon in his hands.

By now, I have realized that we won't get him. At least not until we have grown-up bodies. He is several levels above us.

Like that, the time went by and I lost track of the passing days. Nicosar was drilling us from morning till night with four hours of sleep a day! It was worse than a military boot camp.

۞۞۞

So it was after a particularly bad day that Celes sat down next to me on the couch in the study, after our evening meal.

Holding her hairpin, she pulls a nail file over the metal with an audible ‘sratch’, sharpening it while muttering something incomprehensible to herself.

Suddenly, she turns to face me. “Angrod, I can't take it any more!” Her chin quivers as if she is about to start crying at any moment.

Wary of this unexpected development, I edge away from her. I am really not sure if she is for real, or if she is testing her acting skills on me.

“Hoh? And what do you want to tell me with that?” I sip from the soft-drink which I took with me to the study.

“Let’s run away together!”

“PFFT!” I almost spit out everything, thankfully catching most of the liquid with my hand. It takes a second to gather myself and to clean up the mess with the paper of some cheap magazine. “I don't get it. Why do I have to join you for that?”

“Because, if you stay here, it will fulfil the prophecy and you will destroy the world. If you are with me, I can have an eye on you!” She looks at me.

“You know Seria very likely just made that up? She is a strong god, but even the Council has problems with such detailed predictions?” I don't buy that story.

“And who judged us? Despite having better things to do?” Celes reminds me.

“Who started the whole affair by killing my minions?” I shoot back. “Why should I do anything you ask of me?”

She twists her mouth. “For what it’s worth, I didn’t tell my people to start the war. They acted on their own, but I know that there is no way to prove it, and you have no reason to believe me.”

I think shortly, then shake my head. “You are right that I don’t believe you, but it doesn’t matter whether I believe you or not. Those things happened in the past and we can’t change any of it. Anyway, I wont run, since I happen to like the possibilities that happen to come with being a prince! What happens if I run away in this body? I doubt anyone would take us seriously!

“Aside from that, where do you want to go? Everyone can recognize us from afar as royalty! I don't think you will manage to hide those things on your head for long. Think it through!” I point at the two horns which are crowning her head.

They did a real growth spurt since they broke through the skin. Starting at her temples, they curve backwards close to her head while splitting up in an admittedly cool pattern. It makes them look like some sort of adornment, but there is no way that people wouldn’t recognize them for what they are.

“There is no way to hide that!”

She winces and touches her horns, remembering the horror we went through thanks to hiding in that stupid storage room. Instead of being knocked out by a sleeping drug, we had to suffer through two hours of the worst pain imaginable before a servant found us.

My own horns are a little boring compared to hers. Starting at my temples, they curve straight back above my ears, splitting upwards thrice, like a crown, before the tips stop a little behind my head.

If I wanted to, I could probably wear a hat to hide them. No chance with hers, though.

My eyes also changed to slit pupils and turned golden. In addition, my canines lengthened somewhat, making it clear to anyone that they shouldn't provoke me into biting them.

Celes’s tail wriggles beneath her yellow dress and draws my attention.

She shifts uncomfortably, sitting on it to keep it still. “You really don’t want to go?”

I shake my head. “Can I see it?”

“See what?”

“Your tail,” I point. “You've been hiding it from me ever since we had our transformation. Did something go wrong with it?”

“No!” She holds down her yellow skirt and fans it out on the sofa, making sure that I don't get an accidental glimpse. “It’s inappropriate for a girl to show off her tail. That’s all. You should know that!”

I purse my lips. “Ireth and Katrine have no problem showing off their tails. Come on, show me. We are living together. I am bound to see it sooner or later.”

Celes presses her lips together. “Promise not to laugh.”

I nod

For a moment, it looks like she would rather continue her spiel, but then she shifts her dress and reveals a long, black tail.

I start smiling like an idiot but claw at my face to get my expression back under control when Celes turns angry. Then I clear my throat. “Ahem! It’s… cute.”

And it is, just like the ones of Ireth and Katrine. But where their tails end in pointy little arrowheads, Celes’s tip is a little more round and formed gentler. It’s still pointy, but certainly not an arrowhead. It rather reminds me of…

“Pfff!” I can’t hold it anymore. “It’s an Ace of Spades!”

Whip!

“Ow! Stop that!” The witch just hit me with her tail!

“Hmpf, can't help it! It tends to do that when I am frustrated,” she declares high and mighty.

Whip! Whip! Whip!

“Ow! I am sorry! Stop it!” I block her with my elbow, barely able to hold back my laughter. Hell will freeze over before I believe her that she has no control over her appendage, but I’ll forgive her in this case. I did laugh after all.

“Come to think of it... why do you know Seria’s prophecy regarding me in such detail?” I ask.

“My parents told me,” she answers without hesitation.

“And why did you know about my title back then? Little One?”

She hesitates. “I heard it from your mother.”

“LIAR!” I call her out.

“Okay! Okay! I investigated your room before our first meeting and found your plate.”

“What?”

“I have no bad conscience about it. There wasn't anything interesting anyway. You are a hermit after all. Just books about magic and science. Do you know that it's not normal for a guy to hide an encyclopedia under his bed?” Celes looks at me with pity in her eyes.

“There I wanted to try the girl’s search through the guy’s room – and what do I get?” She shakes her head. “Apart from that stupid title, Not... A… Thing!”

It's on now!

“Why am I treated like I have to be some kind of pervert. I have never done anything to deserve this! For all the time I can remember, I have been a nice guy! Fuck it! In my first life, I was even a monk!”

I shouldn't have said that!

“A… MONK!? Nooow eeeverything is clear to me!” Celes grins from ear to ear!

“Don't dare to say something about it! It was a good, nice life!” I pause at a new thought.

“But if I learned anything from that, living a life of abstinence didn't get me anything! Those who live their lives as pure perverts are right! No matter what you do, you end up in bad situations anyway” I nod to myself.

Whip! Whip! Whip!

“OW!”

“Don't you dare go down that path! As you are already a sadistic idiot, you would lose the last decent point you have!” Celes glares at me with hateful eyes.

But my thoughts derail completely. “Hoho, maybe I should start right here and now? We are stuck with each other anyway! No loss there, so why haven't I jumped at the opportunity! You are not really usable yet, but for a test-run, it should suffice, as my body isn't at its height either!” I close in and have a nice feel, groping her.

Whack!

She slaps me and we go down while wrestling with each other. Something shatters and we roll over the floor. At that moment, the door opens and we freeze.

Ireth, Katrine and Nicosar step in.

“This isn’t what it looks like,” Celes gasps.

I am trying to choke Celes with one hand, while she has both legs around me in a suggestive position. With the other hand, I hold her left, which is armed with a hairpin.

Using her free hand, she is trying to release herself from my hold. Her tail is entangled around my upper body and neck, trying to choke me in turn.

“HoHo!” Nicosar puts on a stupid grin while opening one eye wide.

“The training didn't progress like planned,” Katrine states.

Mother just looks at me with an accusing expression.

Celes drops the hairpin and pulls me closer, hugging me! “Wahaha! What are you talking about! My darling and I were just exploring new ways of communication, isn't that right, my love? So older and wiser people shouldn't interrupt the young!”

A shudder runs down my spine! Okay! This! Is! Creepy!

“Play along, idiot!” she whispers.

I hug her in turn and set us in a straight position. “Yes, we just found out about each other's good points! This is really a big misunderstanding! No need for more training!”

Celes nods at my chest!

“We will see how long you two can keep that act up! Then there will BE punishment. One way, or the other! Both are wrong! You forget that you're still children!” Ireth stabs her finger at us, sealing our fate.

Seeing no way out, we both start crying.