Amy

“Must you smile like that?” I groused, mildly annoyed by the grin on Clara’s face. I couldn’t even say why it irritated me so - it wasn’t as if I hadn’t always known myself to be nothing but a poor replacement for ‘Lady Amelia’ in her mind.

“Apologies, my Lady, but that is one request I must refuse,” Clara replied. If anything, her grin seemed to grow even wider with those words.

“I’m surprised you’re still calling me that, with your true Lady present. Or that you’d even consider humoring my requests, really - unless it being the ‘one request’ you must refuse was more a figure of speech?”

“Of course not, my Lady,” Clara said, her smile finally disappearing. “I am, as always, your loyal servant. For as long as you remain in Lady Amelia’s body, anyway.”

“Yes, well… about that…” I grimaced. I didn’t want to tell her that I had no intention of vacating the body, at this point - I wasn’t even sure where I could go in the first place. Nor did I currently wish to think about what state my old body might be in, now that Amelia had left it behind in order to return. Still, it wasn’t as if I could keep her entirely in the dark.  “It would seem that Amelia has only a limited ability to interact with this world, through me, at the moment.”

“As she did with that tentacle?” Clara asked, arching an eyebrow.

I nodded, seeing no purpose in denying it. “It would seem she has some limited ability to influence my spells. Though I’m not exactly sure as to how, or what the limits are.”

I paused, half hoping that Amelia would fill me in on the details. In the end, though, I wasn’t surprised when she chose to remain silent.

“Is she talking to you?” Clara asked, after about half a minute of silence had passed. “Can you hear her?”

“She isn’t, at the moment,” I informed her, shaking my head. “But yes, I can hear her, when she chooses to speak. As of now, at least - please believe me when I say that I had no idea she had returned, prior to my recent nap.”

“Your nap?” Clara asked, narrowing her eyes. “Did something happen in your sleep? Some form of dream? A vision of my Lady?”

“Something like that,” I replied, not wanting to get into the details. Especially since I could hardly recall many of those details, myself. “All I know for sure is that I’ve been able to hear her in my head, since waking up.”

“I think you will find that it is her head,” Clara replied, frowning at me. “Which raises the question of why you are in control, and not her.”

“I’m not sure myself,” I confessed, shaking my head. “Perhaps she simply lacks the power to seize it from me? Since I was here… Well, not first, I suppose - in fact, one could argue that I’m more of a squatter than a proper tenant in this body, in all honesty… but there is a thing called squatter’s rights, where I’m from.”

“Squatter’s rights?” Clara asked, clearly confused.

“I’m not that familiar with the matter myself,” I confessed. “In truth, it was generally only something I came across in works of fiction… but the idea behind it, to my understanding, is that if someone takes over the property of another during their absence they have certain rights and protections that keep them from being unceremoniously evicted.”

“So, in other words, you think that because you claimed her body while she was gone, she is now unable to kick you out of it?” Clara surmised.

“More or less,” I confirmed.

“In which case if you were to leave that body behind, Lady Amelia would be able to regain her rightful control…”

“That’s… I mean… I suppose?” Though the conclusion she’d reached was rather unpleasant to my ears, I still saw little point in denying it. Considering how easily she’d likely see through any attempts of deception, I honestly had very little to gain, and quite a bit to lose - namely Clara’s trust and cooperation, which I would most certainly need if I was to have any hope of sorting out this mess.

“You needn’t look so worried,” Clara remarked. “It’s not as if I actually have a way of doing such a thing. Short of summoning another demon, at least.”

“You wouldn’t?” I asked, my eyes wide.

Clara did not reply.

“Do you really think we need a second demon running around? Or were you planning to wait until the original next bugs me, so that you can swoop in and make a deal? You must know it will end badly, either way, don’t you?” Though I kept my voice and expression under control, not wanting my true emotions to leak, I was in truth terrified that Clara might very well be considering such drastic measures. Even worse, I had no idea how I could possibly talk her out of them, or even keep her from enacting them.

…No, that wasn’t quite true. I had one idea - telling Bridgette everything and then throwing myself on the mercy of the king, hoping they would not only see fit to let me remain alive and free but also be willing to lock Clara up where she could do no harm… Except, even as the idea occurred to me, I already knew I could never do it. Not only because I lacked the courage to come forth with the truth, but also because I truly didn’t wish to see Clara behind bars when her only crime was loyalty to her true mistress.

Oh, stop trembling, would you?

“I’m not trembling!” I protested. I was, if anything, standing far too still and stiff, afraid to let myself relax.

“Is that Lady Amelia you’re talking to?” Clara asked. “Does that mean she can hear me?”

You might be maintaining control on the outside, but within you’re so terrified of what comes next that the very walls are quaking in here! 

“Well, excuse me for not being able to repress my emotions at the drop of a hat!” I snapped.

“What is she saying?” Clara demanded, leaning forward.

Tell her to stick to my previous command like a good little maid and stand down. I’d rather languish in here for the rest of my life than put my soul in the hands of another meddling demon. Not that it will come to that, of course.

“That… Is that supposed to comfort me?” I asked. “Even ignoring the obvious implication that you intend to find your own way out, how do you expect me to possibly convince her that you’re the one giving these instructions?”

Clara stayed silent, this time, despite the curiosity in her eyes, and I realized too late that I might very well have sealed my own doom. Where before she was eager to hear any word at all from her true mistress, now she was eyeing me with naked suspicion. Which, to my surprise, rather stung. Even if we’d never been truly on the same side, even though we’d always had our own goals, I still felt a bond of companionship with the maid that had helped me through so much. It hurt to see her look at me like she might a lying stranger.

Eight thousand, four hundred and fifty two.

“What?” I asked, caught off guard by the sudden numeration. 

Eight thousand, four hundred and fifty two, Amelia repeated. Tell her that.

“What does it mean?” I asked, nervous now. All the more so with Clara now narrowing her eyes at me. “If this is some form of practical joke, or an attempt to undermine me, then-”

Have a little trust, won’t you? Amelia retorted, sounding exasperated. It’s merely the precise number of times Clara has served me tea.

“…Eight thousand, four hundred and fifty two? Are you telling me you actually counted?”

Of course. As did Clara - per my instructions, mind you. Keeping an unspoken mirrored tally such as this makes for a remarkably reliable way to pass on messages while confirming our identities. Even if the messenger memorizes the number in question, for whatever reason, the number will naturally change in a way they can’t predict.

“Doesn’t telling me what the number represents undercut that a bit?” I pointed out.

Yes, well, as paranoid as you are, you seemed to need the reassurance in this case… and as Clara has been serving tea to you instead of me of late, the number will remain unfortunately static for the time being, anyway. As such, it’s not as if I intend to use the number again anytime soon in any case.

None of Amelia’s words were untrue - I was certain of that much - but I was equally certain that there was something she’d left unsaid. I could feel her embarrassment, after all - albeit barely.

“Did you… not think it through before telling me?”

Don’t be ridiculous! You’re talking to me, you know. The mistress of a thousand plots - do you really think I wouldn’t think things through?

“It’s alright to not be at the top of your game,” I replied, surprising myself with the teasing tone that tinged my words. “You have been through quite a bit of late.”

You… Don’t you think it’s time you stopped focusing on the voice in your head, and started paying to the maid in front of you?

I wanted to roll my eyes at the obvious deflection, but a quick glance at Clara stopped the motion in its tracks. She was trembling - her knuckles having turned white from the strength with which she was gripping her uniform’s skirt.

“Clara?” I asked, my tone soft. “Is everything alright?”

There was no verbal response from the maid - but that didn’t mean there was no response at all. Even as I watched, tears began to well up in her eyes, trailing down her cheeks and dripping from her chin. 

“What did you have me tell her!?” I demanded, wishing for once that Amelia did have a body of her own, if only so that I could physically grab her.

I told you, already! 

“Then why is she crying?”

How should I know!? All I listed was the number of times she served me tea, I swear to you - not that you particularly need such an oath, considering you can literally tell if I’m lying!

“That’s…” I paused, realizing I had no response to that. Not that I had much time to think on it, either, as it was at that moment that Clara let out a strangled sob. “Clara? What’s wrong? You know you can tell me, right?”

“I’m just… so happy,” Clara whispered, her voice soft and low. “My Lady… No. My Mistress has returned.”

“I thought we’d covered that already,” I remarked, admittedly confused.

Clara nodded silently, another sob tearing itself from her throat a moment later. More tears fell from her eyes - and yet I could see, now, that they weren’t tears of sadness or fear.

“It’s alright,” I replied, stepping forward to wrap my arms around my maid - even though I knew that she was never truly mine. “You can let it out.”

“She’s back,” Clara whispered, her voice so soft that I could barely hear it, despite her head now being pressed against my shoulder, her mouth nearly touching my ear. “She’s safe…”

“She is,” I confirmed, rubbing her back in a slow, soft circle.

“She’s back…” Clara repeated. “She’s safe…”

“She is,” I repeated in turn, squeezing her a little tighter as she broke down in my arms, sobbing and crying even as her legs gave way beneath her, forcing me to conjure my tentacles to catch her and gently lower her to the floor - never taking my real arms off of her in the process.

One of the tentacles, I noticed, hung back from the rest, refusing to encircle her. Instead, it tentatively, slowly and almost gingerly touching her thigh before pulling back again.

I said nothing, simply comforting Clara in silence as Amelia, in her own clumsy and uncertain way, tried to do the same.

~~~

Author's Notes

A little unsure on the chapter title, but I think it works well enough? I like it, at least - but I'm also kinda sorta extremely sleep deprived! I stayed up all night, in large part because I kept saying I wouldn't go to sleep without finishing this chapter but also kept procrasting said chapter writing and now it's 12:20 PM and ahahaha I'm finally done...

I also have dimension 20 running in the background, because I wanted to do stuff with my GF while she was free, but then couldn't bring myself to stop writing, so... I just really hope the chapter is as good as I think it is! Usually depression makes me thinks everything sucks, but said depression is actually in a lull right now so for once I'm worried about overestimating what I've produced... I mean, sleep deprivation plus multi-tasking is generally not the best combo for anything, let alone the creative process... And yet. I'd at least like to think it's pretty good, all the same?

So uh. Tell me what you think I guess~? DX

PS: Probably Double Trouble up next. My GF has been sighing about the lack of chapters :P