Show Back on The Road

"What if you... Tried stealing others' hearts?"

"Biologically different."

"Have you tried contacting Parfait and Ami?"

"Yes, still no word."

"What about... Turning yourself off and on again?"

"No." Lucy answered flatly while Kiola and Arachne continued pestering her with ideas. They had returned to their travels to their next destination, Bug-Beat, a rather unremarkable village that was mainly home to bug Demi-Humans.

"So, w-why is the spider here?" Ayre asked with a nervous tone as he peered his head up from behind a set of old books, staring at Arachne while she relaxed on a web hammock in the corner. "She's my former trusted subordinate."

"Yeah- Wait, former?"

"You killed fifty seven people during your little rampage in Diminutive."

Arachne slowly sunk back in her hammock, not really having a good come back. Though Arlo, listening in while taking a power nap, became more fascinated by the idea that the little spider woman before him could kill so many.

He quickly shot awake and darted over to Arachne, begging her to tell him how she did so much damage as his tail wagged furiously. She seemed a bit hesitant, but after enough pestering, she relented and went over a very abridged version of what happened.

"So you... Got angry and killed a buncha people..."

"Because her "Friend" turned her into a bug and denied her love." Lucy chimed in with a sing song tone. "Speaking of murdering... You owe me a contract, dog." 

"Yeah, no. You didn't "take care" of Titania in the way we wanted." He smirked, leaning close to her face. "You never specified how I got rid of them."

"Death always f-follows. You should have figured we meant death." Lamb called back from the front of the carriage with Ro next to her. The two became distracted as they reminded Lucy of their contract, though aggravating the demon at having to be reminded of such a trivial matter only made her blood boil.

Though that all quickly faded when Ro failed to notice the road ahead. Everyone in the newly remodelled carriage froze at the same time when they felt a bump and heard the sounds of pained screeching.

"Oh crap... D-Did we hit someone?" Ayre asked in a panic, rushing out to check on whoever they hit. Lucy and Lamb quickly rushed out as well, since the rest of them were all but willing to let whoever they hit die.

As they rushed outside and into the gloomy forest surrounding them, they looked under the wheels to find a wounded white feathered Harpy wearing a paper bag over her head. Lucy let out a relived sigh, slowly making her way back into the carriage. "Were a-are you going!?" Ayre yelled when he grabbed Lucy's black sleeve.

"Inside? This is the harpy that was causing trouble for me when I first arrived here. A simple bit of cosmic karma has finally hit her." She smiled, whipping his hand away with a chain. "D-Don't you have any compassion? A heart? A soul?"

"My compassion died when I was sixteen, I lost two of my three actual hearts in battle, and my soul is practically non existent. I am a demon. Not an angel." She quickly spurted out with a condescending look in her eye.

"Weren't you raised by an angel?" Lamb chimed in with a small smile while she leant against her crook. Lucy was about to argue back, but let out a reluctant sigh. "My family has nothing to do with this. It's a matter of principles."

"Then use any shred left of your soul and help her." Lamb said as she managed to get the harpy free from the carriage. The Harpy Queen was barely breathing, her body lightly mangled from the weight. 

"Isn't Ro a doctor? Why can't she do this?"

"Her solutions usually involve death. Now what method will you use to help?"

"Uh.... I don't know? I could just kill her?"

Lamb stared at Lucy with a scowl. " Heal her. You have a portion of my magic, use it."

Lucy let out a light sigh of relief before summoning chains that wrapped around the harpy like a cocoon, quickly healing most of her wounds. The harpy quickly took off once she was freed, flying off into the forest with a scared squawk.

"Happy?" Lucy grumbled as she went inside, followed by Ayre. Lamb did seem rather happy with herself as she leapt back into the font seat before whipping the horses back on the road. 

"So you ran an entire place filled with bugs? And you were a musical star? How did you even qualify?" Arlo asked as he tried to grab Arachne to get her attention. "I, again, can answer that. I hired her because I needed someone small to run Diminutive. Even then, I was actually running the place. She was just the face."

Arachne looked stunned at Lucy's words, quickly swinging onto the demon's chest to look her in the eyes. "I thought you hired me because I showed resilience no matter my circumstances?"

"It was Rat's idea to make it a talent competition, I wanted to have an actual political debate. In the end, I think she chose you to be the domain leader and made it appear like it was pure coincidence."

"That's... Disheartening."

"Could be worse. I could have punished you for KILLING my citizens." Lucy said flatly, tossing the spider idol away, accidentally throwing her onto Ayre, who let outa terrified scream. 

After a few more hours of travelling they came into a clearing in the forest. Kiola's titanic airship stood in the dead centre of what was an unusually small town that looked more child sized then anything. 

The homes and stores were all built with different materials, from simple stone and wood to old bits of steel and even plastic.

Once the carriage pulled into the town, everyone except the four horsemen, who were busy setting up shop, stepped out to explore. "What do we do first? Get my ship back? 'Cause I kinda want it back." Kiola asked as she stepped over a few miniscule street carts with a smirk. "Your simple one tracked mind will only serve to hinder me. Why don't you go off and find something to eat?" Lucy grumbled, tossing a bag of gold coins that she got from Min to her. 

Lucy went on her own way with Eido, leaving Kiola, Ayre, Nvr and Grey to wander about their rather small surroundings. "Guys... Do you care if I have fun here?" Kiola asked with a sly smirk. Ayre was the only one concerned by Kiola's phrasing, yet was powerless as the dragon went off on her own.

"I-I guess that leaves y-you and me..." 

"No it doesn't." Nvr giggled, disappearing in a puff of black smoke with Grey still around her neck. "Oh gods..." The elf mumbled before running off to find someone to be with.

"Hey, Pan. You were just screwing with me earlier, right? You do think I was a good domain leader." Arachne asked while sitting idly on Lucy's head, dangling to peek between her blonde bangs. "Does it matter what I think of you?"

"Kinda?" She awkwardly laughed, sitting back up straight.

"I suppose you were more then I expected. A useful ally and comrade." 

Arachne's multiple eyes lit up before she quickly hopped off and began doing a little dance in celebration, accidentally bumping into a young cockroach Demi-human with thin, silver hair. She tumbled to the ground, letting out an annoyed grunt.

Arachne quickly apologised, trying to help the woman up, only to have her hand slapped away. "Bloody... Great, now my work clothes are dirty. Thanks, Spidey." She grumbled while dusting off her now dirt covered overalls.

Arachne watched in silence while the cockroach quickly left in a hurry towards were the ship was being kept. "Hmm, maybe your likeability has gone down a bit here." Lucy said with a smirk before continuing to make her way to the ship, leaving Arachne to try and catch up with her.

As Lucy reached ever closer to the ship, she noticed how the buildings became more industrial and complex in design despite their small size. She was almost impressed by the architecture, a glowing review by her standards. 

Once she reached ship, the sound of metal being welded and hammers banging against the steel hull could be heard. It filled Lucy with a bizarre sense of nostalgia, reminding her of the first time she dragged someone to her realm.

"I should burn someone with scolding metal when I get back." She mused while looking for someone in charge. With a bit of exploring and ignoring a few warning signs littered through out the fenced off area she was heading towards, she entered a small, hurriedly put together looking metal shack.

The inside was filled to the brim with bug demi-humans crawling about, working on different projects with a dimly lit lightbulb illuminating the rather dark room. Lucy leaned down to one of the bugs and asked about who owns the ship.

The bug pointed to a doorway, saying that their boss was just through there. With a quick thank you, Lucy cautiously made her way to the backroom and opened the door to see Senshi, tied to her desk with a gag in her mouth with the cockroach girl from earlier, holding a riding crop while standing on the human's chest.

Lucy lifted her bangs and looked at the scene before her four eyes in pure confusion. "What the actual fu-"

Senshi let out a muffled sound of shock and terrified embarrassment, quickly getting free from her bindings. "I-It's n-n-not what it looks like!" She yelled, throwing her gag away and scrambling to reach Lucy, who was slowly backing away.

Senshi began to panic, and in a moment of desperation, summoned a chitinous crowbar and whacked Lucy over the head in front of everyone. The demon let out a pained yell, now looking pissed. "WHAT WAS THAT FOR!?"

"Uh... Y-You're not a-allowed in here." She said with an awkward smile before getting a swift punch to her throat, incapacitating her while she struggled for a single breath.

After Lucy took a few minutes to calm herself down while Senshi recovered from the blow to both her pride and throat, the two sat in the backroom office in awkward silence. The cockroach girl, Raz, decided to break the almost tangible tension that filled the bleak room.

"So... You know Senshi... How'd you meet?" Raz asked with a nervous smile, putting the small riding crop she held behind her back.

"I met her when she turned her wife into a spider." The demon said flatly while adjusting her bangs back into covering her eyes. 

"Wait, wait, wait... You have a wife?"

"Did she not tell you that? Hells, I was the officiant at their wedding." Lucy cackled a bit, watching as Senshi began to fiddle with her hands, practically squirming in her seat. "W-Well... I-I... I-I... Oh Mollia, at least she isn't here."

"She's right outside, Centipede." Lucy smiled while waving her hand towards a window. Senshi took a deep breath before running out of the room as fast as she could, leaving Lucy and Raz alone together. 

"So are you two like... Partners or something?"

"Huh? Nah, we just fool around with each other."

"As in intercourse, I assume?"

"Yeah. But who the hells says "intercourse"? Are you in your fifties?" Raz said jokingly while stretching her extra set of arms that hung just below her shoulders. Lucy let out a small laugh, leaning down to the cockroach with a sharp, toothy grin. "I'm old enough to know you have caused an issue for me in the immediate future."

Raz slowly crawled off the desk before running off after Senshi. The demon sat alone, looking around the rather poorly made office.

"I swear if this ends with another love struck idiot trying to kill me, I'll kill the next person I see." 

Senshi stood under the shadow of Kiola's airship, slowly gaining back her clarity. That was until she heard a familiar high pitched squeal of delight. "Seeenshi!" 

Before the 'poor' woman had the chance to react, Arachne launched herself at Senshi and wrapped her six arms around her neck softly. Despite the massive size difference, Arachne still had the strength to make Senshi slightly gasp for air. 

"H-H-Hey... I-It's been awhile." 

Arachne gave a dismissive wave with one of her back arms, sitting herself on top of Senshi's head with a cutesy smile. "Heh, I thought it was usually my fault we couldn't be together."

"A-Are you t-trying to guilt me into something?"

"Not this time." She giggled, she was genuinely happy to see Senshi after all this time... Then along came Raz. "You got a creepy friend, Shi." She laughed, her long brown antenna shaking in the breeze as she walked over and rested on Senshi's boot, failing to notice Arachne.

"Who's that?"

"N-N-No one!" 

"Who you talking too?"

"N-N-No one!"

Senshi began breathing heavily, fearing that her entire life was about to come crashing down. She decided to introduce the two of them. Telling Raz that Arachne was her partner and telling Arachne that Raz was her assistant in repairing the ship.

Raz held out her lower arms to shake Arachne's hands while smiling. Senshi was able to breathe as it seemed that everything was going to be okay. 

"By the way, it's great how open you two's relationship is."

"Open?" Arachne questioned with a confused smile while shaking Raz's hands.

"That's what Senshi said before we slept together. Right?" 

Arachne laughed playfully before realising what the cockroach had just said, her grip tightening. Senshi looked like she was going to faint, but was quickly pinned to the side of the ship in webbing. "Say that again." She asked, her eyes filled with a cold rage as she leaned in closer to Raz's face.

"T-That was just a joke, Spidey. Calm down." 

"Y-Yeah... Just a joke. Oh Mollia, I overreacted." Arachne laughed, letting go of Raz. Lucy had finally made her way over and seeing Senshi webbed up against the ship made her laugh. "I suppose you figured she cheated, right?" Lucy asked with a grin. 

Arachne looked between Raz and Senshi before taking a few deep breaths, trying to think of her next words carefully.

"I'm going to feed you your own antenna, you wife stealing whore." 

Lucy watched with joyful delight as Arachne began violently beating Raz, even handing the spider idol an extra small chain to use. Once she finished, the cockroach was nearly unconscious on the floor with Arachne standing over her. 

"L-Lucy... C-Can you get me down?" Senshi asked with an awkward smile. The demon gave a half hearted shrug before waving a hand, cutting Senshi down with a jade chain and laughing when the woman fell face first to the ground.

Lucy looked over the scene before her and decided to use her expert political skills to fix it, failing to be self aware enough to realise she had no actual experience when it came to both relationships or mortal happiness. 

"Why don't you two go and talk for awhile and I shall deal with the cockroach?"

"D-Don't l-leave m-me with h-her-"

"Fine." Arachne barked gruffly, her cutesy idol persona melting away. Senshi was soon being pulled off in webs by the tiny spider woman, who had enough strength to actually drag her away with no problem.

Lucy was left alone by herself once more. She gave a light sigh before picking up the unconscious cockroach and went off to wait in Senshi's office.

"I do hope they don't kill each other... While I'm not there."