Chapter Nine
Confrontations
Princess Luna scowled fiercely, her level of anger rapidly approaching 'infuriated.' She had previously been sitting at the desk within her bed chamber, calmly filling out appeals in the Canterlot night court, as well as some separate work that Celestia hadn't finished the day before due to... him. Everything concerning 'him', for the most part, was going well. Although, the instance that the human had thrown himself from the balcony, as well as what had transpired in the dining hall, recently, was very disrespectful. Luna gave a frustrated sigh and used her magic to shuffle the papers into a neat order, placing them beside her on the desk.
Suddenly, a loud *THUD* came from behind the balcony doors, making her spin around. The princess frowned. "Witt!" she called, "If that's you again, then I've had it with your constant parachuting!" She strode over to the glass doors and peered out, but the darkness prevented her from making out much except a black, seemingly formless blob. Luna found it ironic that she ruled the Night, yet her vision in the dark was practically zero. She lit some simple, wall-mounted torches to shed some light on the intruding shape, and she gasped when it was revealed.
Alex was lying on her balcony in a pool of his own blood.
A large gash cut through the back of his head and was leaking large amounts of dark, red blood. The liquid was seeping into the grass, staining the green vegetation a deep maroon color.
Luna was utterly shocked. How could he have landed on her balcony? It was practically on the opposite end of the castle! Better yet, why? She watched the human for a few more seconds, looking for any indication of his revival. Witt and Hart had delivered the notes they took during their brief observances of Alex. Though, Witt had gone into much more intense detail when describing the resurrection process. Noting every single muscle twitch or describing each throbbing vein was slightly disturbing in Luna's opinion. So, she opted to wait for another few seconds.
"HHUUUUUUUNNNNNGGGGHHHHHH!!!"
Alex gasped for breath loudly. Luna was caught by surprise and her horn alighted, preparing a spell in self defense. The human before her quickly regulated his air intake and relaxed, leaving him staring up at the sky.
"Son of a bitch, Devilin!" Alex swore. Luna was taken aback. How dare he use such profane words in her presence! But Alex wasn't finished, "I'm going to kill him!"
This statement set off alarms in Luna's head. She knew he was dangerous! Luna decided that now was the time to reveal herself. "What you are about to do shall be far from killing, Alex." She watched as he went rigid and slowly turned his head towards her.
"Wh-who's there?" Alex asked, obviously unable to see her.
Luna internally scoffed, 'How ridiculous.' She increased the visible illumination that her horn gave off, revealing herself to the trespasser. "I do not take well to strangers trespassing in my private quarters," Luna said with a hint of agitation. She stepped closer to Alex, and it seemed as now he recognized her.
"Princess Luna, right?" he said casually, giving her a weak smile. Alex propped himself up on his elbows, "This suddenly got akward."
The alicorn of the night was simply annoyed. No other words, just annoyed. "Yes," she said through gritted teeth, "I am the Princess. What business do you have being on my terrace?"
"Your terrace?" Alex inquired. He looked over his position and saw another marble railing on the opposite side of him, the edge revealing the illuminated skyline of Canterlot. "Terrace," he nodded, "got it."
"Would you mind explaining your presence, here?" Luna asked again, with a hint of.
Alex grunted as he got back to his feet, "I was, ah... in my room... um..." He thought for a moment. "I was in my room..." Alex started to trail off. Alex walked over to the balcony rail and sat down on the edge.
Luna looked at him with a stony, unchanging expression. "What were you doing in your room that appeared to require such... interesting terminology?" she asked. This human was starting to get on her nerves, more than he already was.
"I was... ah..." Alex scratched the back of his neck. "I... honestly... don't know!" he admitted.
"You mentioned a 'Devilin?'" Luna asked. Luna hoped that he would recognize the name that he recently spoke of.
"Devilin...?" Alex looked up thoughtfully. After careful consideration, he shook his head, "No. I don't know a Devilin." 'What?!' Alex thought to himself, 'Why did I just say that?!'
"Well, you said that you were going to kill him."
"Then he must have deserved it," Alex said blatantly.
Luna's expression instantly changed to disgust. "How could anyone deserve death?!" she asked, outraged.
"Okay!" Alex put his hands up defensively, "Death is harsh, I get it."
"You are a pathetic waste of life," Luna sneered, "with that sarcastic attitude and being so full of yourself."
"What's with the verbal bashing and the sudden mood swing?!" Alex said, offended at the remark. "Listen, I'm sorry about what happened earlier, but I'm just trying to deal with the whole 'multiverse' thing right now!"
"My sister would make sure that I forgave you," Luna turned aside.
"Thank you."
"But my sister isn't here," Luna continued, "Is she?"
Alex's shoulders lowered, slightly. "Let me guess," he said dully, "since your sister isn't here you are not inclined to forgive me. And because you dislike me so much, you're going to do something bad to me? I take it that's why I was cuffed the first time I talked with your sister."
"I was just going to refuse forgiveness," Luna said in a matter-of-fact tone. "Because you have restrained yourself from doing anything ridiculous while you have been speaking to me, I'm not going to cause you any physical, or mental, injury. And the shackles were at my insistence. I wasn't aware of your threat level at the time of your arrival, so I asked the guards to take precautions."
"I'm glad I'm not going to receive any permanent scarring, but I don't exactly know what to say about the last bit." Then, something caught Alex's eye. A man in a black, pinstripe suit stood a few paces behind Luna.
Devilin mouthed a friendly, "Hello," and waved. Alex's expression quickly changed to anger when he saw Devilin. Devilin mouthed an eager, "Keep it going!" to Alex before vanishing.
Luna noticed Alex's sudden change in attitude immediately. "What are you looking at?" she asked, insulted by his lack of focus.
"Devilin," Alex practically growled. He remembered this time?! Alex turned back to Luna when he was sure that the executive wasn't reappearing.
"Who is this Devilin?" Luna asked impatiently.
"The cheap-ass son of a bitch that brought me here," Alex said. "He's the reason that I can't die because he said that he's trying to 'break me' and 'drive me insane.'" Alex let out a quick cough-like laugh. When he turned back to Luna, her face wore an expression of shock. "What?"
"You say that this 'Devilin' is trying to drive you insane?" Luna asked with uncertainty.
Alex gave her a confused look at the, again sudden, change of character. "Yeah. Why?"
Luna internally fumed. "It has been... nice... talking with you Alex," she said quickly, her horn alighting with its blue glow, "but I think that you should return to your bedchambers."
"Did I do something wrong?"
"Almost," Luna said.
Alex opened his mouth to question further, but he was suddenly enveloped in a bright blue light. When it disappeared, he was left sitting on his bedside, back in his room. "What the hell was that? Ugh, never mind," he said to himself. Alex just flopped back on the bed and stared at the ceiling. His internal clock was thrown off, and would probably take some serious work to get it back on schedule. Alex let out a long sigh before closing his eyes, trying to get as much sleep as possible.
The wooden bishop slid across the flawless glass surface of Celestia's chessboard. Witt's grey magic propelled it forward and across the alternating plaid patterning. "Check," Witt announced dully.
Celestia frowned and used her queen to attack Witt's rook, tossing the simple chess piece to the side. The simple move also blocked Witt's bishop. "Your move, Witt."
Suddenly, the doors to Celestia's chamber burst open and Luna practically shot in like a bullet. "Sister!" she exclaimed, panting for breath.
Celestia looked up at Luna with a concerned expression, "What is the matter?"
"It's Alex," Luna gasped.
"What did he do, now?" Witt asked, continuing to survey the chessboard. He moved his knight in a position that returned the status of check to Celestia's king, but also placed it in danger of being attacked by the queen.
"Alex appeared on my balcony after falling off of the tower. I don't know how it happened," Luna said, answering Celestia and Witt's confused glances, "but he knows how he arrived in our realm," Luna explained.
"Really?" Celestia said in surprise. She was focusing on Luna while simultaneously moving her queen to remove Witt's knight, but now leaving the bishop's path clear.
"He said that he was brought here be a 'Devilin.'"
Witt's ears perked up immediately. He quickly turned to Luna, "Are you sure?"
"Positive," Luna said.
"Did he say why he was brought here?" Witt asked.
"He said that Devilin wanted to 'break him,'" Luna stated.
Celestia instantly grew a worried look, while Witt slowly turned back to the board. "Well," he said quietly, moving his bishop to capture the king, winning the match. "It appears that the rules have now changed."