VI. lucine's theme

Lucine's in-game description was: A gentle, kind girl from a mountainside village who wants to protects the smiles of those she loves. In other words, she was 'the boring one'. She often charted near the bottom of popularity polls, had one of the least-played story quests, and had almost no porn made of her. 

Her design didn't help. Short blond hair? Check. Blue eyes? Check. White, ankle-length vest with a cape and blue ornaments? Check. The only remotely eye-catching thing about her were her elf ears, and even those were often hidden behind her white... nun... veil... whatever the name of that was. Like me, she wielded a golden staff, but hers ended in a pair of pegasus's wings while mine had the head of a dragon. 

A golden, sparkly smoke had begun to seep out of the village. While she wasn't strong enough to keep the antimagic spell running for much longer, at this rate, the mountain's winds would spread this to the imperial city. 

Villagers ran opposite to where I walked. All twenty of them. "Cut it out," I told Lucine, to no avail. "What is it? What do you want? Attention? Is this a cry for help or a tantrum?"

A petite, dark silhouette emerged from the piss mist. "Ah," said Lucine, "if it isn't Rafaela, God-eater General. What brings you here? The end of the world?"

Regardless of my actions, the antimagic spell was taking a toll on me. After all, dragonfolk were classified as monsters in the game files, and monsters, unless specified otherwise, were especially susceptible to light magic. "Yes," I replied. "What is it you seek? Speak fast, before my good will vanishes."

If I had to guess, I'd say that something within her had snapped at the news, and that she'd have a short-lived phase of rebellion until she realized that, if life was meaningless, so was death. "You," Lucine replied.

I blinked. "...huh?"

At last, Lucine emerged from the smoke, holding the staff to her chest. "You heard me. There is no one else I yearn for. No taste as sweet as—"

I split her skull open with a kick. As technicolor pixels splattered the streets, the golden smoke dissipated. 

Part of me had seized the chance to catch her off-guard, sure, but when she'd spontaneously broken into song, something had... I didn't even know. Something.

Said something refused to leave even when Lucine plopped onto the dirt path. As this happened, the golden, sparkly smoke dissipated, and as it dissipated, a second silhouette became a man at the distance.

A cursory glance told me everything—that he was a background character, that he was a bard, and that he'd witnessed the entire thing. The contempt on his otherwise blank expression was such that it was almost admirable.

I stared at the bard. The bard stared at me. 

Then he began to strum at his guitar.

there goes the poor tyrant

with a heart made of glass

and so, to protect it,

she hides it in her ass

"Classy," I said.

so fragile is she that

at the first sign of fear

she'll strike and uncover

the weak spot in her rear

"I'll sit on you if that's what you want."

To which the bard responded, "That won't do, Your Highness. You've made no attempt to hide the lyre under your cape. Why not put it to use? Why not respond to us?"

"To... us?" I glanced at Lucine.

"As we speak, I'm already conjuring a third verse."

Selene groaned, which reminded me he existed, so I tossed him next to Lucine. The bard had begun to pluck at the chords again, carelessly, lightly, as a bird serenading the sun. It wasn't a tune one could hear at an inn in the overworld. It was so complex that it might distract, rather than enhance. After all, wasn't it background music for a reason?

As Selene sat up, the music stopped. "Who..." He trailed off, holding his head. "What's... did y—"  Then he saw Lucine's remains and held back a gag with the back of his first.

The bard was gone when I looked back up. Backside... died? 

Lucine began to respawn. Butt... rot?

The villagers began to return. Behind... remind...

...which reminded me. The moment Lucine's body reformed but before she came back, I ripped off some of her cape to tie her wrists, then another for her mouth. Selene watched this, squinting, though the question remained in his eyes: 'Why?' The answer was because. Rump... dump?

Lucine did not at all struggle. Wordlessly, when Selene stood up, so did she. Glute... brute...

The bard was nowhere to be seen. He'd stank of human, but he could've been some kind of trickster spirit, too. However, those often roamed around forests, not mountains with little to no vegetation. Oh, well. The world would soon end. Patterns had already begun breaking all around.

While I'd read the outline and character descriptions multiple times, they were an aid and a guide at best; it was another thing entirely to witness two characters from the same party interact...

...or so I'd say, except Lucine and Selene barely acknowledged each other. When he told her to walk, she walked, and that was that. Her eyes said nothing.

"Hello?"

I turned around. The village elder tugged at my cape. Needless to say, he didn't recognize me. "Hello," I replied.

"Thank you for saving us. Please have a token of our appreciation."

Oh, the poor thing. He handed me some sort of meal with some sort of meat, which I took. Other than be the rebellion's main ally during the end of the game, which would never happen anyway, this old man had never really wronged me. Still, I felt like decapitating something, and he was right next to me, so—

But no, I did not. "Thank you," I said instead. Several of them peeked at us from their houses, those graceless white squares, scattered among the clay. "Good day."

The bard was nowhere to be seen.

Oh, well.

Thus concluded our short visit to the village before the end. Kiya and Aelius were, shockingly, nowhere to be seen. Still, I knew better than to assume that we were safe from their presence.

As the white squares became dots behind us and the mountain grew rife with gems again, Selene asked, "How come you're so... chipper? Didn't the antimagic spell hit you, too? Rafaela? Oh, you're ignoring me. I see how it is."

Lucine walked next to me on one side, Selene the other. I'd kind of forgotten they existed for a bit. "I'm not ignoring you, it's just a pointless question to which the simple answer is 'because I am better'. Can you think of any rhymes to 'bum' besides gum and rum?"

"Right, but you're also a dragon. You were susceptible to it last boss battle."

"Susceptible isn't the same as 'weak to'. Mages are useless under such a spell. I have claws. Scro... no, that's not right."

Selene groaned. "What are you doing, anyway? Is this part of your bard shtick? Because there are far, far better topics out there than... that."

"Such as...?"

"Such as... not... asses? I don't know. Anything else will do."

"I see. What sorts of things do you enjoy, Selene? What would you sing about?" How to improvise?

"Vengeance," he replied.

"And..."

"Studying?"

"And..."

"Sing about what you like," he told me. "Aside from power and killing. If there is even anything else."

He didn't say this to deride me, but because he couldn't think of anything for himself, either. As one of the General's three commanders, along with Kiya and a girl who'd been the tutorial boss, he seldom had any free time, and when he did, he'd read, or study, or train. 

As for me, I'd had two encounters so far with Aelius's party. One had been scripted so that I couldn't lose, leading to Selene's "sacrifice", and the other involved the antimagic gimmick as a tutorial. Other than that, my job mostly consisted of dispatching minions and sitting through endlessly dull meetings about politics during cutscenes. During the morning I'd sunbask along with half the city at the giant plateau behind the palace, and at night I'd sleep.

I ripped the makeshift bandage off Lucine's mouth, who gasped. "What do you like?" I asked. "Aside from the obvious."

Lucine glanced at Selene, who'd conveniently looked away. "Hmm... sweets and puppies."

"And...?"

"Rainbows."

Here it was, the rule of three. Now she'd say something outrageous. "And...?"

"Kitties."

I frowned. "And...?"

"Scissors."

Getting there. "And...?"

"No," Selene said. "Do not."

Lucine's smile was eerie.