Meet Me in the Middle Ground

Chapter Two

The celebrations went on to the next morning, the day of the great parade King Charioce XVII organized every year to commemorate his ascension to the throne. Anatae was generally a lively city, perfect for a person like Nina, who woke up every morning with lots of energy overflowing her body and an eagerness to get things done. In these days of festivity, Anatae was as charming as ever, clean, crowded with people having a great time just like her – or maybe not exactly like her. She was really, really euphoric and not only because of the parade: it felt natural in her mind expecting that, if she had been able to encounter Chris yesterday night, it could have been just as easy to spot him in today's crowd, him having a distinguished look recognizable amongst other people – the one time she had mistaken a passerby for him didn't count.

They had sold enough Zombie omelets, earned the money for the day and now it was time for the parade, for the real fun to begin. She went to the back of the carriage, finding Mugaro dressed up in one of the adorable dresses they bought together. It nicely highlighted her small figure, cream white suiting her more than that ugly brown coat Azazel forced her to go around with. Mugaro didn't seem the type to complain, but surely Azazel knew girls had to have at least some pretty things for themselves, right?

Bah, he's one weird guy. It wouldn't surprise me if he didn't know.

She didn't mind weird guys, as long as they didn't make a scene in front of her ending up attracting unwanted attention, that is. With all the misfortunes constellating her life for quite a while, it was best to stay under the radar and try to go back to the trouble-free days of before – before she decided the Rag Demon had to be her first bounty, before she decided she had to capture at least one wanted person to make her master proud. She had changed her mind since then, opting to wait for a criminal of lesser caliber to show up and get a taste of her whip. Sometimes, she had to remind herself that she was still sixteen, she would have most likely lived longer than a regular human thanks to her draconian blood, thus she was in no rush to do anything. This was one of those times.

"Ready to go Mugaro?" Mugaro nodded and hopped down the stairs of the carriage, smiling lightly. More than ready, said that blue eye uncovered by black bangs. "Sorry for the wait, turns out I have some selling skills and clients were eager for those Zombie omelets," She had even managed to grab one in between one order and the other, gobbling it up before Hamsa could squawk too loudly about CLIENTS-ONLY-FOOD. The omelet had been so soft, the pre-steamed vegetables inside warmed up just right, the egg dough had instantaneously molten on her tongue upon her chewing: all of this made the theft worth any trouble in the end. "Or maybe it was Rita's cooking our selling point."

That seemed more believable actually.

Mugaro's lips quirked up, amused by her way of talking, in turn almost making her squeal from the cuteness. Four days weren't enough to wear down the enthusiasm of basically acquiring a little sister she could spoil to no end.

The sudden surprise in Mugaro's eye served as kind of a warning to her, although one that came way too late to do her any good.

An arm clasped her waist, her scream was reduced to nothing more than a suffocated grunt by the clawed hand silencing her. She was in the air the next instant, her heart skyrocketed up in her throat, her arms holding on the one around her waist in fear of plummeting to the ground already so far, too far down her! She squeezed her eyes shut, heartbeats pounding in her ears together with the occasional and firm fluttering of a pair of wings, a feeble noise compared to the panicked thundering in her chest.