Disclaimer: I don't own Dragon Quest Dai No Daibouken, no profits are being made.

All For Love…Right?

It was another peaceful day in Papunika, there's no fighting demon armies or monster hunting, not even grueling training by a certain closet sadist of a demon blacksmith. Yet Dai couldn't help the uneasiness that he's feeling deep down in the pit of his stomach, even as he laid down under the large tree just outside of the newly rebuilt castle. The tree sat on a hill overlooking the city and the port, a perfect place for a nap and relaxation.

Still, the fluttering uneasiness lingers.

It was the kind of feeling he had when something bad or equally unpleasant was about to happen.

"Dai-kun!"

Dai blinked as a curtain of long deep orange hair filled his vision before his eyes settled on the heart shaped face currently being framed by said hair and a pair of clear blue eyes sparkling happily at him.

"Leona?"

The Princess and sole successor of the Papunika throne gave him a bright smile. "Guess what, Dai-kun? I have a surprise for you!" She said cheerfully.

The uneasy feeling in his stomach seemed to have gotten worse.

"A surprise? For me?"

The princess nodded, "Yep! Come on! It's over there, behind the tree." She then reached down to pull him up.

Dai sighed inwardly as he lets the girl pull him along, they went around the tree but then Leona suddenly stopped and turned to him. "Before I show you the surprise, you have to turn around and close your eyes." She said cheekily.

"Eh? Why?"

"Just do it! I promise you'll like it!"

He knew from experience that once she gets persistent like this it was better to play along, so he did as was told. Then he felt hands on his shoulders turning him around and pushing him forward a bit. He heard noises from somewhere that sounded like clothes rustling or leaves, he was starting to get a bit worried.

"Ok! You can open your eyes now!"

He did and blinked at the sight that greeted him. A picnic spread was laid on the ground before him. There was a wicker basket filled with assorted snacks, a bottle of wine, glasses, plates and cutleries were laid over a white and blue checkered blanket.

"Hehe! Tada!" Leona grinned happily at him, a light blush dusting across her cheeks. "Since it's such a nice day outside, I thought we could have a picnic or something, just the two of us."

"Wow! This looks great, Leona." He smiled encouragingly at her; maybe this won't be so bad after all. Ever since the war started, they hardly get to spend time with each other. There was always something to do or somewhere to go. Then he realized what she just said earlier.

"Just us? Aren't the others coming?" He knew Pop wouldn't have missed something like this for anything.

"I invited them but all of them said they were too busy doing something." She mused.

Busy? With what?

"Well anyway, since it's just us today, we should just enjoy it right?" She grinned, clapping her hands together excitedly. "Come on, Dai-kun! Sit!"

Just as Dai sat down on the blanket, he heard a rustling in the bushes beside him. He looked over his shoulder and was surprised to see Pop and Chiu poking their head out of the bush. He opened his mouth to say something but both of them shook their heads and gestured wildly for him to keep quiet. Dai stole a glance at Leona who was happily preparing their picnic food, seemingly oblivious the two newcomers in the shrubbery.

"Pop? Chiu? What are you guys doing?" He whispered.

"We're here to save you!" Pop whispered back urgently.

The Dragon Knight blinked in confusion.

"Huh?"

"Hime-san's been acting really weird all morning, and what's worse…" The Daimadoushi gave a troubled look at the Princess's direction.

"She's been cooking!" Chiu finished the sentence.

"Dai-kun!"

Dai quickly turned around to her and the two others snuck their heads back into the shrub.

"I made these just for you; it's my best dessert dish!" She held out a plate that had a piece of what looked like blueberry pie.

"You can cook, Leona?" The pie looked normal, no deformities or burns. What could be wrong with it to get Dai and Chiu acting like that?

"Of course I can! Just because I'm a princess it doesn't mean I can't do something as simple as cooking." She huffed at him. "Do you doubt my cooking skills, Dai-kun?" She gave him a look that dared him to say it.

"No! Not at all!" He wisely deny it, girls can be quite scary when you rubbed them wrong.

"Ok then!" The bright sunny smile was back and he felt a little like a jerk for doubting her. "Here, have a taste, Dai-kun!" She cuts off a small piece from the pie and held it to his mouth using the fork. Eh? She's feeding him?

Then he heard the some faint hissing sound coming from the bushes that oddly sounded like 'No! Don't do it, Dai!' and 'Oh God! He's going to get himself killed!' or something. He was starting to sweat, looking at the piece of pie and then back to the brightly smiling Leona, something tells him those two weren't kidding and that pie could be lethal.

B-but it's Leona!

The one girl who could ever make him fluster, who pushes his buttons intentionally and unintentionally, the one with a smile so bright it rivaled the sun on a bright sunny day, the one whom he would give his life for, whom he would run or fly from one end of the earth to another for…the…the…

It couldn't be that bad…right?

When she saw him hesitating, her bright smile started to dim and in that instant Dai made his decision. He grabbed her hand that was holding the fork and ate the food.

Gack! Wha-what is this?! Is this really blueberry?!

He called forth every ounce of inner strength to hold back his gag reflex and chew.

"How is it?" The hopeful look on her face made him swallows, blinking rapidly to rid of the tears that started to well in his eyes.

"I-It's good." He congratulated himself secretly for able to hide his grimace from showing.

The bushes rustled again.

"He's doomed."

"We're too late!"

'Shut up, you guys!' He wanted to yell at them but Leona beamed at him, and that made him feel ten times worse than a jerk.

"Oh good, I was a bit worried that it turned out bad since I kind of improvised the recipe a bit."

A bit?

"Have some more, Dai-kun!"

Crying silently in his head, Dai surrendered himself to the inevitable.

All for love after all.

That night found Dai curled up on his bed while holding his stomach, moaning in pain.

"All for love, huh? I guess even Dragon Knights aren't immune to food poisoning." Pop smirked at his miserable friend.

"Don't tease him, Pop! That was very sweet of him to do that for Leona." Maam scolded the Daimadoushi from her seat next to Dai's bed.

"Yeah, he sweetly sacrificed himself to bad cooking in the name of love!" Chiu snickered, earning a reproachful look from Marm, which he instantly quailed under.

"I supposed that was noble of him to not want to hurt the Hime's feelings." Crocodine said, looking very amused.

"He should've just be honest and save himself the pain." Hyunckle added.

"But what did Leona actually make anyway? It shouldn't be that hard to make a pie." She wondered aloud.

"I'm truly sorry, Dai-san!" Marin exclaimed in apology. "Hime-sama was never a good cook no matter how many times we tried to teach her. She always seemed to deviate from the original recipe to do something 'creative' as she would say, and it usually ends up in a disaster."

"We saw her in the kitchen this morning, I believe she somehow switched sugar with salt, butter with lard and other stuffs that are better left unmentioned." Pop recounted, and then plopped down on the bed. Making the mattress bounce and Dai groaned. "Still, I can't believe you ate ALL of that! What are you? A masochist?" He grinned, poking the other in the sides.

"Hn, you're one to talk, Pop." The silver haired swordsman snorted.

"The hell was that, asshole!?" Pop jumped to his feet, glaring at the older man before sneaking a glance at Maam who was still fussing over Dai.

"Maybe next time you can feign allergies to fruits." Crocodine chuckled.

"But then she'll turn to main course instead of just desserts." Hyunckle smirked.

"Ah, love. It can make you do wonderful things, like endangering yourself to protect your loved ones!" Chiu said sagely.

"And it makes you wonderfully stupid too." Pop added.

They laughed.

He really love his friends, honest! They're the greatest friends he could ever wish for…but right now he wanted nothing more than to bury them all in Leona's Pie.

Let's see how they like it then.

Meanwhile…

"Hmm…I wonder if Dai-kun came down with something. I know! I can make some soup to make him feel better!"

With a new goal in mind, Leona skipped towards the kitchen. Never realizing that she had single handedly subdued the Great Dragon Knight Hero.

Hopefully the Demon Army never finds out about this.

The End

A/N: Love is a double edge sword. It can either take you to Heaven or drag you to Hell. Take your pick. Bad food does that too.