That Butler, New Face

That Butler, Shadowing 3

"Agni, what is wrong with you!? Explain yourself!" Soma yelled anxiously. Why wasn't Agni listening to his orders anymore!?

"I..." Agni said, his face cast partially in shadow as he sweated nervously. "I have nothing to tell you," Agni said, furrowing his brow and grimacing, as though he were in pain. "Please leave now."

"Wh—" Soma said, shocked. He stared at Agni, eyes wide, in disbelief. "What are you say—" West smirked evilly, his teeth holding his cigar in his mouth.

"Good boy," West said patronizingly.

"You bastard!! What have you done to him!?" Soma demanded furiously as he grabbed West by the front of his suit jacket, much to West's displeasure.

"Please stop!" Agni begged Soma as he pulled his prince off of West, restraining him as best as he could without hurting him.

"Let me go, Agni! Why are you doing as he says!?" Soma cried, feeling confused and betrayed.

"Well, I never!" West huffed indignantly as he brushed himself off, and tried to straighten out his suit. "My Gieves & Hawkes suit is all wrinkled!" West said, grimacing in distaste as a vein mark throbbed on his forehead.

"Agni! Get your hands off me!" Soma cried as he struggled to break free so he could get at West. Agni squeezed his eyes shut sadly and grit his teeth as he held on tightly to his prince. If he let Soma go now... then it would all be for nothing...

"Y'know for those chaps who are a bit hard of hearing, a good beating always does the trick!" West said thoughtfully, smirking. "Agni. Give his highness the prince a good whack to shut him up," West ordered.

"!?" Soma said, alarmed, as he and Agni both flinched in shock. He wanted Agni to hurt him!?

"Ha-ha! What's wrong?" West asked in mock concern as bullets of sweat dripped down Agni's face. The Indian man was clearly horrified at the thought of harming the prince he served. "I'm not ordering you to kill him." West said as Agni's right hand trembled. "I'm only telling you to rough him up a bit to get him to bite his tongue. Aren't I a nice fellow?" West asked, smirking slightly, knowing that what he was asking Agni to do wasn't 'nice' at all.

"Agni..." Soma said nervously, paling slightly when he saw the look on his khansama's face. Agni's brow was furrowed in frustration, his eyes were wide, and his face was cast in shadow as he sweated heavily. He no longer resembled the kind and confident man they had all come to know. He looked like a man tormented by demons.

"Agni!" West said firmly, letting the poor Indian man know he wasn't going to wait forever, smirking deviously. Agni squeezed his eyes shut tightly, unable to bare to look at Soma's pained and frightened expression as he raised his hand against his prince and god. Soma flinched in shock and horror as Agni's hand flew towards him, too stunned by Agni's betrayal to move.

SLAP!

The loud sound echoed through the room as Agni's arm slammed into not Soma, but someone else's arm, as they blocked the attack intended for the prince, standing in between Agni and Soma.

"!?"Agni and Soma said when they realized what had happened, their eyes widening in shock. Soma's mysterious rescuer... was wearing a butler's uniform and what appeared to be... a deer's head...

'A deer?' Soma and Agni thought, positively stunned, giving the deer-man a blank stare. They were so shocked, that they had both turned into white chibis...

"Wh-Wh-Who the hell iiiiis thiiiiiis!?" West demanded incredulously, turning blue with shock, and breaking out into a nervous sweat. It was like he had just witnessed a UFO crashing in Roswell, and they were making first contact with an alien. Deer-man whipped his head around to stare at West. "Eep!" West yelped, squealing like a little girl.