Napoleon knew to tuck and roll left, then run right and flatten himself against the wall as soon as he entered. After years of being subject to Ebony's pranks, he'd learned the pattern that her knives flew in.
You were slow on that roll, Elvira's voice scolded in his head.
"Good morning, Napoleon," Ebony greeted him, hanging upside down from the chandelier like an aerial artist. "What brings you here?"
"My mother," Napoleon muttered, and they both laughed at that. "So, do you wanna go for a drink like all the other cool young people here?"
Ebony rolled her eyes. "All the cool, young people are dead. Do try to keep up."
Napoleon sighed. Whenever he was around Ebony, he made himself look like a fool.
"So, how's spying going? Must be more interesting than being cooped up in the Duskan Empire like me," Napoleon tried, drawing in closer.
"Really great! Much more interesting than I thought. I even get to do espionage as a nightclub shadow dancer. I get free drinks at the bar, and kisses," Ebony teased.
Napoleon visibly reddened at that.
"Did you want a kiss too?" Ebony rolled onto her stomach, taking the cascade of crystals with her. The chandelier shuddered with the movements, yet Ebony barely noticed, instead cocking her head to examine Napoleon.
"Yes!" He burst out too eagerly, leaning up towards her-
Don't show your feelings to anyone. A true warrior's poker face is impenetrable, Elvira hissed.
With a delicate arm, Ebony reached out and took his chin in her hand. She drew nearer to him, and he reached up to grab the nape of her neck-
"Well, you'll have to earn it," Ebony said mischievously and pushed him onto the table below. "That means, focusing on what we have to do."
Napoleon nodded quickly, filling Ebony in on Nereza's visions of Sombra and Chrissy, the Dark Side of the Moon, along with the Dusk's plans.
"So, why did Elvira send you over here? Surely my spying is good enough," Ebony asked him, playing with one of the tinkling crystals.
"When you, Sombra and Chrissy go to the Dark Side of the Moon, I'm going to tail you guys in secret to see how everything plays out," Napoleon explained. "And for backup. Remember the last time we didn't have secret backup?"
Ebony laughed a nervous laugh at that. She and Napoleon had been on a spy mission for the Dusk family, and gotten ambushed. The result was hostage taking, multiple stab wounds, and an extremely pissed off empress.
"Elvira was terrifying. Going on for weeks!" Napoleon shuddered at the thought. "Napoleon, you're setting a bad example for Nereza and Specter. Napoleon, I didn't go through nine months of pregnancy for you to get us all killed."
"Do you agree with Elvira?" Ebony inquired, drawing a knife and dangling it lazily in front of his face.
Napoleon stopped at that. What he really wanted to do was impress his mother. Have her pat him on the back and say "Good job," without a backhanded compliment to go along with it.
"Of course I support my mother! It is my role to bring honor to our family," Napoleon answered out of habit, so well-trained and rehearsed the moves felt robotic.
Ebony raised an eyebrow. "You've got to do better than that. Do you think I'm stupid?"
A blush blossomed across Napoleon's cheeks at that. Never reveal secrets to your enemy, Elvira's voice chided.
"I won't tell her. She'll never ask," Ebony promised, leaning out from the tangle of lights to draw closer to him.
Her amber eyes were so focused, and he was so tired of keeping everything inside.
"I agree with her goals, of course. We were nothing, but now we have a fighting chance of restoring ourselves to our former glory. But some of her methods are....questionable."
"Questionable?" Ebony laughed her harsh little laugh at that, shaking her head and sending a tumble of black into his eyes.
"Then again, maybe it's the only way that we'll definitely be in control," Napoleon hypothesized. "Mother didn't get anywhere being nice. Being nice won't help you when your life flashes before your eyes."
"Have you never read?" Ebony retorted, arching her back like a cat during the coming of dawn.
"Of course I have!" Napoleon scoffed at the question, yet still bracing himself for a witty comment that would send him back onto the path of embarrassment.
"Then you must've heard of Karma. Someday, all your deeds will come back around. For better-" Ebony's amber eyes glimmered at that, "or for worse."
"Maybe all of this will come back to bite us in the future, who knows. But maybe, just maybe, having a little bit of mercy will save you one day," Ebony continued.
"I don't see how having mercy is going to make my life any better," Napoleon grumbled, crossing his arms over his chest.
Be the most ruthless, the most cunning, the strongest, the merciless.
Mercy is weakness. Weakness is failure. Failure is worse than the sweet mercy of death itself.
If you fail us all, you are nothing, Napoleon Dusk.
If he was what his mother wanted him to be, if he was the best, maybe he'd finally reap the benefits. But twenty three years of life had passed, and he was tired of waiting.
"Yet deep down inside, you agree," Ebony purred, tracing a finger down his cheek.
"My mother's beliefs aren't always....morally right. But who cares at this point? If I have to do this for another ten years, so be it. As long as I get what I want," Napoleon blurted out to her. She was the only one who he could trust.
"And what is it, that you want?"
Appreciation. Applause. The glory of achieving something and being given recognition for it! For Napoleon Dusk had achieved many things. But never, not even once, had he been given the credit for it by the ones who mattered most.
And then, maybe, after years of hard work and toil, he would be able to relax.
"I've always wanted to play the piano," Ebony whispered to him, like she did when they were kids. "The way someone's hands can glide across the keyboard so effortlessly, it makes me jealous."
"You glide across the battlefield gracefully, like a dancer," Napoleon acclaimed.
"War and music are very different things," Ebony responded, twirling a lock of hair around her finger. "But once we've succeeded, we'll have all the time in the world."
"Yeah, especially with Nereza around," Napoleon joked, praying that this one wouldn't be a failure.
Ebony certainly found that one humorous, going so far as to compliment him on his wit. Maybe these were the benefits. The little things he never took the time to notice.
"I think painting would be fun to try," Napoleon admitted. "It fascinates me how little strokes make up something so brilliant. The intricacies."
Ebony nodded along with that.
"Napoleon Dusk, you've won your kiss."
He sat, stunned. He'd done it. He had won over Ebony Song.
"Well, come get your reward. Or I'll make you catch it." Ebony's eyes lit up with a dangerous sparkle.
Napoleon groaned, remembering all the times Ebony had taunted him, and made him chase her around the room for anything he wanted from her.
Ebony pulled him towards her, one hand pressing against the back of his head, the other cupping his face.
The kiss was the best thing that had ever happened to him, real and perfect and everything he'd imagined. He found his fingers in Ebony's hair, and gently tracing her collarbone. Sharp nails dug into his scalp, sending a shudder through his body.
Somehow, the chandelier was holding the both of them in its crystalline tentacles: a meticulous trapeze act with gravity as their audience.
So focused, neither noticed the increasingly loud demands. "Hey! Hey! You! Open up the door! Open the goddamn door now!"
The knocks grew louder, so did the curse words. "There's rent you haven't paid! Hand it over!"
Bang! The door's weakened joints gave in to the landlord, red-faced and grumbling.
Napoleon stopped furiously kissing Ebony to turn and look at at the landlord.
He stared right back, his jaw falling open. Ebony raised an eyebrow.
The chandelier trembled, then shook, then yanked painfully as Ebony attempted to turn to climb down."Shit!" Napoleon cursed as the chandelier caved in, sending them plummeting onto the table.
For a moment they laid there: a tangle of limbs in a web of crystals, dazed and holding their heads. Unbelievably the landlord hadn't ceased his demand for money, so Ebony got up and retrieved a small brown sack to hand over.
Both sighed in relief as the landlord left. Then they burst into laughter. Raw and real laughter (and not the maniacal kind Elvira forced them into).
"That was fun," Ebony admitted, hugging Napoleon.
"Let's do it again!" Napoleon, though breathless, urged.
Ebony nodded vigorously, and they moved to the sofa.
Later, they lay side by side, Ebony's head resting on his shoulder, his arm wrapped around her.
She beamed and snuggled closer to him. "You know, all these missions won't be so bad if I get to do them with you," she whispered.
And that's when Napoleon realized it was the in-betweens that mattered. The successful missions, the appraising looks from soldiers, and the moments he got to spend with Ebony.
Maybe he would never stop going to war and charging into battle. Maybe he would never understand the feeling of guiding a brush along a crisp white canvas. But if he got to do it all with Ebony, it would be worth it.
Hey guys! I hope you enjoyed that chapter! Remember to vote if you did, and comment any thoughts.