Title: Reappearances
Fandom: Disgaea: Hour of Darkness
Rating: PG
Length: 1,080 Words
Content Notes: Fluffy, but a little sad, too.
Author Notes: Revisiting the fandom that started my journey in this community.
Summary: Playing a game inside a game is good fun for one pair of Demons. Or is it?

* * * *

Papaya closed her large eyes – as red as the stone in the ring she had inherited from a previous incarnation – and made certain to hold her breath as she passed into the realm inside the board, imagining each of the squares, half black, half white, becoming one of countless rooms in a castle too big to be real. As soon as her black slippers touched ground, she exhaled and opened her eyes again, centering herself and allowing the dizziness to fade before she started exploring, her steps echoing through the halls.

The Mage had originally come to the Item World in search of Specialists – in particular, Masters and Teachers like those she had once been – to extract and rehome inside the apatite rod she used to cast her spells, but she had befriended a Resident there that, unlike the bulk of those she had encountered, had not attempted to destroy her.

And, indeed, she looked up to notice the Knight in front of her, a familiar half-smile on her face, holding a board that looked like a perfect copy of the one that Papaya had entered. Ditalini. Short hair, a dark enough red to appear brown unless one squinted at it. Bright eyes, so blue as to seem almost purple. And tall, tall enough to easily rest her elbows on top of Papaya if she so chose. But, being polite, she did not do that.

"Is it my turn today?" Ditalini asked, tilting her head to one side. "Time does funny things here. I can't really remember much about the last time you and I played, to be honest."

"You can go first, Dita," Papaya replied, seeing a small table and two chairs in one corner of the room. "I mean, you usually do better if I let you go first, right?"

"Maybe." They took their seats, and Ditalini set up the board, humming to herself as she put all the pieces in place, black for her, white for Papaya. "Here we go." And they started playing, neither of them in any hurry, always taking long moments to contemplate their moves before making them. "So ... how're things outside?"

"Hasn't changed, really," Papaya admitted, pursing her lips as she noticed that she had made a poor move. "Either invading something or preparing to invade something. I think we're back to preparing again. There's always another Netherworld to conquer."

"Hmm." She noticed the poor move and used a black bishop to take a white rook. "You're always welcome to come here if it gets too boring. What is it, you spend ten minutes here, it's like ten seconds out there? I think that's what you told me before."

"Something like that." White pawn for a black pawn. "I don't know if I could get used to it, though, not feeling a need to eat, sleep, and all that. Too many stories about people getting lost in places like this." She paused. "Have you thought about what I asked you before? About, maybe, how you got to be in here in the first place? Do you remember?"

Ditalini did not pause, instead making a move that trapped a white knight. "No, not really. I know I'm not a Specialist. You can't move me from one thing to another. I'm just a Resident. It feels like I've always been here." A soft laugh. "If you try to take me back with you, I might just ... vanish. Poof. I don't really wanna do that. I'm having fun."

"I-I see." Papaya did her best to keep her face neutral, but her voice betrayed her sadness as she attempted to free the white knight. "I know I shouldn't ask, but I always worry. What if I lose the board? It's crazy out there, and Demon's don't have any respect for each other's things. One day, it could be broken, it could be stolen, and then –"

"I'd be gone?" Her black bishop struck again, removing the white knight from the board. "I don't know if that's how it'd happen. Let's see you broke the board in half. Would I still exist in one half? Would there be one of me in each half? Would I just be gone? It's hard to say." She thought for a long moment, staring at the board, but also staring at the Mage across from her. "What did your one friend say? That maybe Demons are summoned out of a place like this, that this is where we live between reincarnations?"

"I'd like to think that, but –" She sighed. "I'm sorry. I'm being dramatic. We're just here to play and have fun, right? Let's keep playing." And they did, continuing until she had her white king stuck in one corner, staring down the black queen. "I guess it's checkmate."

"Yeah, I don't think there's anything you can do, really. Play again?" No response, Papaya only staring down at the board. "It's really eating you up, isn't it?"

"I'm a Demon. I'm not supposed to care about anybody but myself." She looked up at Ditalini. "And you're a Demon, too, even if you're not real in the way I understand it. But I care about you." She rested her hands on her knees. "Is it something from when I was human, lifetimes ago? Or is my Demon-ness just not as much of a thing here?"

"Always asking questions," Ditalini scolded. "Come here." She leaned across the board and stole a quick kiss on her lips. "Tell me: Did that feel real enough to you, Papaya?"

"Yes," the Mage said softly. "Yes, it did." No tears in her eyes, but she could not help but feel that, if she had not been a Demon, she might have cried. Like a human girl.

"Then keep coming here." The Knight touched her cheek. "As long as you can. Maybe, one day, I'll reincarnate in your world. Wouldn't that be something?" She leaned back, smiling. "Really. Wouldn't that just be something?" Another laugh. "Demons aren't supposed to hope. 'Abandon all hope' and all that. But you can. You'll see me out there, one day." Another kiss. "Until then, just keep coming to see me here. Do that."

"I will." In spite of herself, Papaya smiled. "Another game?"

"Oh, of course." Ditalini stroked her hair. "I could play you forever." One more kiss, one that lingered just a bit longer than the others. "Here, out there, anywhere."

Papaya blushed and started setting up the pieces again.

END.