Dark Side Of The Moon

Chapter 28: Napoleon

His mood soured at the thought. He liked having something all to himself. There was nothing else of his that was private, or could truly call his own.

"No," he snapped.

"Why?"

Ugh, this guy is persistent, he thought, scrambling for an answer.

"Um...she thinks you smell bad."

"Oh," Devan said, eyes darting around quickly. He gave his shirt a little sniff before wrinkling his nose. "You're right. Sorry."

"It's fine." He rounded a corner.

"Wait! I never caught your name."

"Napoleon. Napoleon Dusk."

And so every day that week, after training, he would meet Devan outside the fortress and they would play ball. Talking, laughing, and sniffing the air to see whose farts smelled worse.

"Definitely yours," Devan insisted.

"It is not my fault we had lentils for lunch the fourth time in a row!" Napoleon excused. "You don't have an excuse! What did you eat anyways?"

"Gruel," Devan admitted, putting on a fake "mom" voice. "Devan! Lunch is ready! Today we're eating gruel-flavoured gruel with a side of gruel!"

And soon they were practically rolling around on the ground laughing, as well as debating whether gruel or lentils was the superior lunch.

He suddenly felt something suspicious. "Your mom makes you lunch? Don't you eat it at school?"

"Uh-uh....." Devan stuttered a bit.

"Is your mom a teacher or-"

"Uh-well-um actually I-"

"Oh! That's it. You're working too?"

"Y-yeah," Devan exhaled in relief.

Not everyone was at school full-time. Some kids would go to school in the mornings, eat lunch at home, and then take afternoon jobs. Others would be scouted to do training at the fortress for free, and would later go on to join the military.

"What do you do?" He asked.

"My parents run a grilled meat stall at the market, and I deliver it when needed." Devan puffed out his chest at the last part. "It tastes really good, so feel free to stop by! What do you do?"

"Military training," he grumbled, rubbing his shoulder. He had bruised it in hand-to-hand combat.

Every Saturday night, Elvira would host meetings, where everyone would list strange sightings and other new things that had happened during the week.

"I hit a bullseye in archery, not to brag," Nereza boasted, giving a pompous toss of her bright blue hair and gazing up at her mother.

Before she had what he and Ebony called the Big Switch, she put all her effort into impressing the empress, and loved to tattle on other students.

She pouted when the empress only nodded slightly, before moving onto Specter.

Specter stared at the ground, mumbling incoherently that archery was stupid and he wanted to go to bed.