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No intro this time, if you've ready my other Maid in Fantasy stories, you should be fine. If not, well you'll still be fine.
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Serena clutched her broom and sighed. The grand crystal halls of the New Celene Palace had never looked so big. Lady Aré’s vague instructions to “dust the halls” was looking less straightforward by the minute. The raven-haired maid rolled her eyes and got to work anyway. After all, it’s not as though she was expected to clean the entirety of a building the size of a small city by herself…right?
As the teen worked her way through the halls, not another soul in sight, she wondered how it all came to this. Then she remembered why and cursed Lady Aphros’s name, as she did every day, and continued her work as normal.
“It’s going to be one of those days,” Serena grumbled as a small shape crossed the edge of her vision. “The heck?” She turned towards the figure and realized it was only a small dog. It had a grey coat, wild fur, and big cloudy eyes. Serena noted the fur around its face rested in a way that looked like a beard, its ears were short and perked up, and the tail was a little furry nub.
Serena watched as the dog wandered around the hall, either lost or with no particular destination in mind. It paid Serena no attention as it continued walking in a seemingly random direction.
“Whose dog is this?” Serena looked around, but no owner or keeper was in sight. “Don’t tell me it escaped from…” She looked back, only to realize the dog was gone. Which was pretty impressive as they were in a large straight hallway with no turns, reflective walls, and very little furniture to hide behind. “Okay, hallucinating now, got it,” Serena returned to her work.
\\~~~\\ I //~~~//
Serena continued her day; her orders changed from dusting the halls to cleaning all the furniture in an unused office. The maid grumbled about the pointlessness of her work until a small sound caused her to jump. Something rumbled beneath a nearby table, causing Serena to go into a defensive stance waiting for whatever it was to pop out and attack. But all that came was the small dog again, having apparently trapped itself under the table for a while.
“Okay, I know for a fact I cleaned under there ten minutes ago, and you weren’t there,” Serena stated, but the dog didn’t even look in her direction. “Yo,” the maid whistled, “come here, doggy.” She beckoned the animal, but it completely ignored her and went on its merry way. “Are you really going to ignore-” Serena shook her head before looking back and realizing the dog had vanished again, “-me.” Serena took a deep breath and got back to cleaning. She didn’t have the energy to deal with this now.
\\~~~\\ II //~~~//
Serena was beginning to think Aré had it out for her. Now she was sent to clean the rafters and chandeliers of a detached hallway full of mirrors. The maid couldn’t even begin to ponder the purpose of this small section of the palace. However, knowing the Queen’s eccentricities, it was almost certainly something silly.
“Better this than chasing the princess for the ten thousandth time,” Serena sighed as she pulled herself into the rafters. Sensing movement, she glanced to her right and spotted who else but the dog again. “Alright, how in the Lord’s name did you get up here?” The dog obviously didn’t answer and glanced at Serena curiously for a moment before walking away again. “Yeah, sure, ignore me again- Oh shit!” The maid realized the dog was walking right to the edge of the rafters. She dashed over, grabbed the animal before it could fall, and took it into her arms.
“Are you blind?” Serena exclaimed before looking into the dog’s eyes and realizing how cloudy they were. “Oh, I guess you are.” As the maid held the dog, it flailed in her grasp, smacking Serena in the face with an errant paw. “Alright, alright,” Serena climbed down from the rafters and placed the dog on the floor. “Now stay here while I call someone,” Serena pulled out her communicator from her pocket, only to glance back and see the dog had again given her the slip. “Alright, where’s the camera?”
\\~~~\\ III //~~~//
After a somewhat arduous day, Serena was finally given leave from her duties in the early evening. The maid sighed and stretched as she headed to her room for a quick rest before dinner. There she ran into Orion; the blonde was waiting outside his own room adjacent to hers.
“Hey, Serena,” Orion greeted her. “Have you run into anything odd today?”
“More so than usual?” Serena asked. “Is this about that dog?”
“How’d you know?” Orion was surprised.
“I don’t know, that little dog just seemed to come and go as it wants so much that I assumed it was teleporting,” Serena shrugged. “And if that’s the case, there’s a strong chance I’m not the only person who saw it. Unless I really am going crazy.”
“No, I saw it too and…” Orion’s eyes went wide as he looked up.
“Now what…? How?” Serena yelled as she saw the dog walking on the ceiling above them. Apparently, oblivious to its blatant defiance of gravity. “That’s it. I’m figuring out what this is about right now,” Serena chased after the dog, which wasn’t hard as the dog was not fast. But it wasn’t easy either, as Serena had yet to learn how to walk on ceilings.
“Serena, wait,” Orion followed behind.
“Don’t take your eyes off it,” Serena ordered. “I want to get to the bottom of this before I wake up with it looming over me at night.”
“It’s just a dog, Serena,” Orion pointed out.
“For all we know, General Chrona’s behind this,” Serena pointed out, “a gravity-defying dog would be right up their alley.”
“I still think…Oh!” Orion pointed as the dog began to do…something. Almost like it was tripping or falling into the ceiling.
“Oh no, you don’t,” Serena jumped and grabbed the dog. However, whatever force pulled the dog was greater than her own strength, and the maid was sucked in along with the animal.
“Serena,” Orion jumped up and grabbed her ankle, only to be pulled up with her.
\\~~~\\ IV //~~~//
“Ow, my aching head,” Serena came to, thanks to a pressure on her chest. “Orion, get off me.”
“I’m over here,” Orion groaned from nearby.
“Let me guess,” Serena opened her eyes, which were met by the dog’s. “Who even are you?”
“Come here!” Another voice exclaimed with an accompanying clap. Suddenly, the dog clambered over Serena and practically skipped over to the other voice.
“Ow,” Serena muttered as she pulled herself up and quickly realized where she was. The throne room she was in the throne room, which meant.
“Your highness,” Serena and Orion jumped to their feet and bowed.
“Hello, Serena, Orion,” the Queen giggled. Her long silver (or was it pink or lilac?) hair flowed without any wind. She reached down and picked up the dog bouncing around at her feet. “And where have you been, little missy? Getting into trouble?”
‘You know, considering how the dog was everywhere and nowhere at the same time, I should have made the connection sooner,’ Serena scolded herself. Appearing and disappearing was the Queen’s thing. It wouldn’t be surprising that the royal might have enchanted the dog to be the same. “So, that’s your dog, your highness?” Serena asked.
“I’m caring for her for the time being,” the Queen half-answered as she poked the dog in the nose and rubbed her belly. The dog playfully grabbed the Queen’s hand between her front legs. “Aren’t you in good spirits today?”
“So, your highness, that dog…?” Orion tried to say.
“Don’t worry, she just likes to wander randomly,” Celene explained. “Don’t feel bad if she ignores you. Her eyes and ears aren’t what they used to be. But she’s still full of energy, like a little puppy, aren’t you?” The Queen nuzzled the dog, who tried to nip at her nose.
“If that’s all, then we’ll just leave,” Serena bowed again.
“Oh right, it’s a long walk back to your rooms,” the Queen realized. “Don’t worry, I’ll send you back right away.” Celene waved her hand.
“What do you meannnnn!” Serena shouted as she and Orion were pulled through the floor. Next thing they knew, they were back in the hall outside their rooms. Alas, the Queen had not teleported them back to the floor but to the ceiling, and the two fell. “Why me…” Serena muttered.
“The Queen certainly has interesting pets,” Orion pulled himself and Serena up.
“Yeah, well, as long as it’s her responsibility,” Serena dusted herself off. “I’m going to take a nap,” the maid walked into her room, only to find the dog sitting on her bed. “Of course,” Serena sighed. “Alright, I’m going to look away, and…there she goes.” The dog disappeared again.
\\~~~\\ V //~~~//
“Are you sure this is okay?” Lady Aré asked. She, the Queen, and Lady Aphros stood in the Queen’s personal chambers, which had a notable new addition. A massive luxury dog bed, its new occupant currently peeking her little head out from a stack of pillows. However, Aré’s eyes focused not on the dog but on the nameplate fixed at the bed’s base.
“It’s fine. It is her name, after all,” Celene smiled softly. “Besides, I’m just watching her for the time being.”
“Whatever you say, my Queen,” Aphros nodded. She turned to Aré. The two shared a glance and left the room. Now alone with the dog, Celene turned to her new companion and placed her hand upon its head.
“You’re a sweet girl. They were lucky to have you,” the Queen smiled. “Don’t worry, it may take a long time, but we always come back together with our loved ones.” Celene planted a kiss on the dog’s forehead before walking back to her own bed and lying down. Not even a minute later, the Queen felt something pushing up against her side. “I should have known,” Celene placed her hand on the dog before the two drifted to sleep together.
“Goodnight,” the Queen’s gaze drifted to the nameplate on the dog bed one last time, “Goodnight, Luna.”
\\~~~\\ VI //~~~//
Dedicated to my dear Luna Blue.
We were lucky to have you.
People always said we saved you, and that’s true.
But you also saved us.
I’ll miss you, my little light of my life.
I’ll miss our walks and booping your little nose.
I’ll miss playing with you, rubbing your belly, and telling you how much I love you.
I’m glad we made these last few years count.
I never thought we’d get this far, but you were a fighter.
Even to the end, you had this energy like you never forgot how to be a puppy.
I hate to say goodbye, so instead, I’ll say goodnight.
We’ll see you again one day.
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Something a little different from usual, something a bit more personal. There won't be a story posted tomorrow, this was put up in its place.
The rewrite of Maid in Fantasy Chapter 1 is finally at a place I like it, so it's going up either next Tuesday (unlikely), or the following Tuesday (more likely).
Until next time, Read, Comment and Enjoy.
