The King and the Peasant - A Pico x Nene Medieval AU

Part XII

Nene was tidying things up in the kitchen when all of a sudden she heard a commotion near the entrance. It sounded like people. A lot of people.

"Are they back? That would mean..." she ran near the source of the sound. Maids and guards were everywhere to be found, walking back to their stations, getting back to work. Finally, she saw Pico, who was talking to Steve. She walked closer to the crowd, which eventually cleared up, causing her to be face to face with him. An awkward 'hi' was the only thing she could utter. Words couldn't express her relief.

"Hey... so apparently the situation wasn't as serious as we thought, so I'm sorry to have worried you so much," Pico apologized.

"Oh no, it's fine!" she blushed and looked to the right of her. "I'm glad nothing happened to you- uh- to anyone, I mean...!"

"Come with me," Pico finally said after studying her for a bit.

"Okay. Where are we going?" Nene asked.

"To play chess. Servants are to do that when I'm bored. Steve and Darnell are terrible at it. And it's like playing chess with yourself. Boyfriend is a god at it but brags about it," Pico began, "and then there's you," he explained.

"Oh..." she replied. Nene felt as if she was discovering more and more about her boss each day; mainly that he wasn't cruel or scary. Not when you've been around him for long enough. Or close to him.

In the wee hours of the afternoon, Pico had been enjoying himself. His head maid had lost a total of 10 times but insisted on getting a rematch. He didn't mind; that's why he thought her reaction to finally winning was priceless. In a good way.

"Ha!" she exclaimed, standing up and pointing at the chess table. She then gasped, sat back down and bowed. "I apologize for my sudden outburst," she said.

"You're fine. I told you not to apologize for every little thing, didn't I?" Pico, who thought it was cute, replied. However, somewhere inside him, this kind of made him upset that she might have still feared him, what with her constant hostility and formalness.

Nene had one more extra duty as a head maid. From then on, she would have to be with Pico if he was finished with his work, bored, or wasn't reading. Similar to a jester, but with table games instead of card tricks and such. Due to this, the both of them had a fondness for one another. They knew more about each other, and the two of them both thought the other's company was enjoyable.

Of course, they were never around each other, talking all the time like friends or a couple. Fondness meant they may have developed feelings for each other. More than they already have.

***

Alas, moments of bliss and calmness could never last for long in this life, it seemed.

Skid was headed home after a long morning of delivering newspapers. He then looked off into the horizon. There was nothing there, but he felt something coming. He kept staring until he saw something small plummeting towards him. As it got bigger and bigger, it appeared to be a comet. Or something thin on fire.

Skid yelped and jumped to the side as the object shot right past his ear, his panic causing him to land on the ground. Upon further inspection, he and a few nearby citizens found out it was an arrow. A large one, with a pointy, singed tip. Another one. Three more. Soon enough, it seemed like it was a meteor shower of torched arrows. A nearby adult quickly led Skid into a building.

It seemed as if the arrows were being launched further. The whole town eventually found out about the weapons. They had reached uptown, and even Girlfriend's boutique.

"Your majesty! The town, it-"

"I know! Inform the other guards; we have to-" crack!

A brick with a piece of parchment wrapped around it was thrown through the glass window. Pico sped walked towards it and picked it up.

Du hast dich entschieden die dinge zu komplizieren!
-Flacit

Pico crumbled up the letter, not understanding a word of what it said while still understanding the message clearly, and hurled it to the other side of the room.

"Old bastard! I should have known!" he exclaimed. He turned to the guard in the room. "Gather all the guards. We're going into town and then meeting King Flacit and his army at the battle grounds," he ordered.

Pico came face to face with his enemy, right in the middle of an empty, abandoned spot in the town. Instead of thinking rationally, they started the fight then and there, soldiers scattering everywhere. It was Armageddon.

...

It had already been an hour since the surprise attack. Being so involved in the fight, Pico nor the guards noticed that some soldiers of Flacit's army had made their way to the castle to destroy it. A lot of workers had either evacuated the castle or went into hiding. Nene, who had been cleaning up in Pico's work room 15 minutes prior, was hiding under the desk.

Holding her hands over her ears did not help to block out the sound of racket and weapons and low voices. Eventually, she had to put a hand over her mouth to silence the sound of her own whimpering as a mass of tears streamed down her face. She had been hiding for 20 minutes until she heard a commotion at the door of the room she was in.

Nene's heart almost stopped as she remembered she didn't lock the door before she started hiding. They were in.

"This must be his work room," remarked one of Flacit's soldiers in a husky voice.

"We can find and steal things of value to him, possibly," said another voice. It was higher, smooth too. Masculine but feminine.

"Good idea, Alucard. We already took the lives of some of his weak ass bodyguards. As if his reaction to that won't already be priceless!" replied the deeper voice.

Nene couldn't help but gasp. One of the guards...? Dead? Of course, it couldn't have been Steve, Darnell, or Boyfriend. They went far into town with Pico. That didn't affect the significance of the situation, however. Just because those guards weren't the closest to Pico didn't mean their deaths weren't shocking or devastating. She felt her cheeks heat up, and tears started streaming down her face all over again.

She tried her best not to make her hitched breaths and small sobs of confusion and panic and fear and worry too loud. The intruders inspected the room as Nene stayed as quiet as she could. That was until one of them walked around the desk, having decided to rummage in it. Her breathing got heavier. As of now, one of Flacit's guards was directly facing her. She was facing him. He just had to look down and...

Nene kicked him in the left shin. He exclaimed, and she took the opportunity to crawl out from under the desk and run out of the work room as fast as she could. She could hear voices behind her.

"Who was that?!"

"Get that broad!"