Morals of a Villain

Chapter 13: The Garden

Damon grinned down at Pandora, thinking to himself that she was really going to regret this decision. But he didn't want to tell her so. Not yet. He wanted her to only know after it was too late to change the dance or her position in it, so that she was forced to either keep going or let him take the lead. He laughed to himself, letting Pandora guide him over to the large, old-fashioned wood and metal radio standing in one corner. They were hardly dancing, just walking in rhythm and stepping lightly around each other. If this was her idea of what a dance was, then Damon couldn't help smirking a little to himself. He would be able to get this back under his control in no time. 
Pandora reached over and turned the knob to switch the radio on, then moved the dial to the exact station that she wanted. She knew what she was doing with the music, at least. After a moment of static, the start of a waltz that Damon was not familiar with drifted out of the radio, filling the air with a sweetly strange tune. There was something odd about this piece of music. It didn't seem to be the kind that Damon was used to or knew how to move with. He knew almost every classical piece in the kingdom, whether it was new, old, or ancient, and this sounded like none of them. Of course, it could have just been one that came out so recently he hadn't had time to listen to it yet. But he was inclined to believe it wasn't, since it didn't have the modern feel of any of the musicians he knew of. Unless this was written by someone who played like the old greats and had risen up in popularity over night without making it into the newspapers, Damon could see no reason why he wouldn't know the piece. And yet, he still couldn't even begin to place it.
Pandora grinned at him, noticing his confusion. "Oh, I forgot that our music doesn't cross over all that much." She said. "This is a radio channel from my kingdom, and this waltz is one of the ones that everyone over there knows. Anyone with a brain, anyway." She smiled. Damon nodded, realizing that he hadn't ever listened to the music of his enemies. He had always thought it would be something obnoxious and annoying. But this was rather peaceful. "It's nice. Definitely something that I would see a beginner wanting to dance to." He grinned. Pandora laughed. "Oh, you'll resent that in a minute." She said, placing herself properly in lead once again. Damon cast her a condescending look, but a part of him was a little perplexed. For how much she clearly either didn't know or didn't care about the dance, she certainly knew the proper footing. In fact, if Damon wasn't so absolutely sure that someone like her wouldn't have had enough time to learn to waltz properly, he would have thought that she was a professional at this. 
Damon let Pandora slowly guide him in a wide ark towards the door, matching her moves easily as the music played on and got steadily quieter and softer. He was starting to worry that they wouldn't be able to hear it from the garden, when it let out a last few notes and faded completely. He stopped and looked down at Pandora, trying to hide the smirk that was beginning to creep into his eyes. "Really? That was the famous piece that everyone in your kingdom knows?" He asked, hardly able to believe it was so extraordinarily unexciting. He guessed music from Pandora's side was truly very boring, after all. The young hero grinned. "I didn't mention the name, did I?" She asked. Damon shook his head, a little confused as to how this would matter at all. "I suppose you didn't." He said. "Oh, silly me." Pandora mocked herself. "I should have said something sooner. I hope it's not too late now?" She asked, clearly enjoying this. Suspicion was starting to build in the back of Damon's mind, but he chose to ignore it for the moment. There was no way. "What's its name?" He asked, a little uneasy. What if the music was what he thought it was? There was no way his opponent knew how to dance to that. Pandora grinned wider, seeing the apprehension in Damon's eyes and thoroughly enjoying it. "'Half a Second Before Hail'." She said. 
Damon panicked, trying to drop her hands so he could change the station to something that didn't play music almost impossible to dance to. But it was too late. The tune had already picked up again, catching him by surprise as a whirlwind of music fountained out of the radio and wrapped both him and Pandora in notes so quick you almost couldn't hear them. Damon did his best to recall something that would help him get out of this before things got too bad, but instead he got a random list of things that he knew about the piece from growing up around people who danced in multiple different kingdoms throughout their lives; There had only ever been one band that could play it without messing up, and hardly anyone could dance to it without years and years of training for this one specific piece. It was the kind of thing that was played at gatherings between the kingdoms, just so one could rub their dancing skills in the face of the other. Damon couldn't believe that he hadn't recognized it earlier. It had such a distinct beginning, and he doubted that if he had been thinking straight he would have dismissed the fact that Pandora practically had to know how to dance to this. It was nicknamed 'The Hero's Waltz', after all. Knowing it note by note was almost required when you were known across the world. 
Pandora took Damon's momentary panic as a chance to bring him fully into the dance, trapping him in it before he even had the chance to figure out what was going on. She guided him out into the garden, where their movements were constricted by the rows of flowers on either side of them. Pandora didn't seem to care that there was minimal space for her to waltz to impossible music, though; she carried on with the dance as if they were in an open ballroom, avoiding the flowers by carefully and quickly altering a few of the dance positions to fit her needs. Thrown even more out of his depth by the slight variation on a dance he already only just barely knew, Damon was forced to simply follow along as Pandora took the lead and guided him deeper and deeper into the garden. He tried to match her steps, but it was nearly impossible when he couldn't even distinguish one from the other. Still, he did his best, knowing that there was no way out of this now and that he would be stuck spinning and twirling like a top for a good ten more minutes. He just hoped that this was the original, and not one of the remixes that went on for over half an hour. Ten minutes seemed impossible, but he was sure he could do it. However, if he were to be dancing to this for very much longer then that, he would probably get pretty badly hurt. This dance was not one that inexperienced people could just jump into. And even though he had danced for over ten years and knew his way around almost every dance that could be imagined or name even better than some of the people who had originally choreographed the moves, Damon was still very much a beginner when it came to this specific dance. 
Pandora smiled up at Damon, dragging him further into the garden as he struggled to remember each step he needed before it was too late to make it. "And I thought you were going to be the one who took control over this." She said, clearly very pleased to be taking Damon down a notch or two. Damon wanted to answer, but he was too focussed on the dance to do so. Each step he made seemed like that of someone who had only just stepped out into a ballroom for the first time, not knowing what they were getting themselves into or even what they were supposed to be doing. It was humiliating, especially when he forced himself to remember that he had held the position of the best dancer for his age group in the entire kingdom at just eleven. And that was when he was put up against people like the current king, who had spent a good chunk of his life learning ballroom etiquette. Damon was not the kind of person who would easily be bested in any dance, especially not something he was as familiar with as a waltz. And yet, here he was, struggling to so much as match Pandora as they twirled through the flowers. It honestly wasn't fair, since the waltz had been made specifically for heros to show off to their enemies and add an extra little 'fuck you' to what was in all likelihood already a pretty scornful meeting. But he wasn't about to complain over it. He had done many things that weren't fair in his life, too. Choosing a dance that his opponent couldn't match was probably one of the less harmful things that could have happened in a petty one-upping war, if he was being perfectly honest. But still, he didn't like not being able to maintain his usual scornfully confident air as he did his level best to move in time to the music.
The dance went on for what seemed like forever, until Damon and Pandora were standing beneath one of the massive trees and Damon was relying more on the young hero to tell him what move was next through her body language then the music that was now so distant he could barely hear it. Pandora recognized this, and intentionally tried to give him a chance to catch up by slowing the dance just a tiny bit. Damon seized the opportunity she offered him, but not in the way that she had expected. Instead of letting his mind process the steps he still had to do and put them into some sort of order, he chose to take back the lead and put Pandora in the place of the one who would be twirling around like a top. She let out a little gasp of betrayal as Damon pulled her into the last stretch of the dance, attempting to pull herself back into the lead with every move. Damon wasn't planning on letting go of his proper place in the dance, however, and firmly kept his position as the last few steps came with a speed that he was actually starting to appreciate. He felt much better leading the dance, and found that he was even able to keep up with it now. He smiled, feeling as though he was on top of the world once again. Right where he belonged. The last few steps were pretty easy, now that he was in the position he was used to. Pandora seemed to struggle with them a little bit, but Damon didn't mind. After all, she was probably just as used to leading as he was. 
Finally, after what had seemed like an eternity at first and then seconds once he got things under control, the last notes of the music faded out. Damon paused, remembering that whoever was in lead by this point was supposed to catch the other one in their arms and bring them in close enough that the lead could put their chin on their opponent's head or shoulder. He normally wouldn't have hesitated, but something felt wrong this time. As though it might actually mean something if he did such a thing. Pandora recognized his doubt, and took the second or two he would have needed to make up his mind to put herself right back where she had started and pull Damon in close enough that he could feel her breath on his neck. Damon let out his own little shocked noise and shuddered, unsure what he was supposed to say now. There was an odd feeling like that of being shaken up and down running through him, and he didn't like it. He was half inclined to push Pandora off of himself and scold her for even considering getting that close to him, or warn her that if she ever even tried to pull a stunt like this again she would regret it for the little remaining time she would have left to live. But the other half of him was considerably louder, and a lot less intelligible. The best he could make out was that he liked this feeling. Even though it was out of the ordinary and so extremely strong compared to what he felt on a daily basis, there was a part of him that was enjoying it. And that part was growing disturbingly stronger with each passing minute. 
Pandora laughed, her voice ringing like music in Damon's ears. "What's wrong, darling?" She purred, obviously enjoying herself. "If I didn't know any better, I would say you were...shaking."