Red Heart

Not much happened after Olivia’s phone call. She returned looking haggard, to the point where I didn’t dare to ask her what had happened - no matter how desperately I wished to know. Truth or dare sort of fizzled out from there, with no one having much enthusiasm to pick it up again, and it wasn’t long before we called it a night.

Unfortunately, I didn’t have much in the way of bedding down in the basement - just an old cot, and a sleeping bag I kept in a closet upstairs. Olivia pointed out that she could simply make a sleeping bag out of ooze, though, which meant that there was thankfully enough to cover all of us.

I took the least comfortable option - the cot - which might have had something to do with me not being able to fall asleep. Though, really, I thought it had more to do with the fact that I was sleeping in the same room as Olivia… The girl who’d stolen my first kiss.

You totally want to go kiss her in her sleep, don’t you? Heartily accused.

‘N-no,’ I mentally replied, drawing my blanket up and over my face.

You do realize that I don’t actually rely on sight to know that you’re blushing, right? Covering yourself with a blanket isn’t going to obscure anything from a crystal living inside you.

‘Can’t you at least pretend to give me a little privacy?’ I mentally grumbled, a little annoyed to have my embarrassment called out like this. ‘And it’s not as if I’m actually going to do anything. If Olivia woke up and found out, she’d be upset…’

You could always try and cast a sleeping spell on her.

‘Shouldn’t you be trying to talk me out of this?

For moral reasons, or because it’s a terrible idea? If it’s the former, I hate to break it to you but I’m through being the angel on your shoulder, and I for one have no intention of putting any more artificial restrictions on your psyche. If it’s the latter… fair, I guess, but I honestly think it would make for a more interesting night than just sitting here and watching you fail to sleep all night.

‘My life isn’t just about your entertainment, you know. I don’t want to make Olivia mad at me… I want to win her heart - to make her look at me, and only me… but it’s clear that Rachel is already interested in her, and I wouldn’t want to actually hurt her, so… I’m not really sure how to remove her from the equation?’

Maybe you should try reframing your thinking? It doesn’t have to just be you and Olivia, you know.

‘Please don’t tell me you’re going to suggest I allow her a harem, or something? I know she’s a ‘queen’ of sorts, and I do want to make her happy, but… I think it would take a lot of effort for me not to knife anyone who tried to steal her attention away from me!’

Who said she has to be the one with a harem? Heartly countered.

‘Huh…?’

Do I need to spell it out for you? If Rachel wants to be with Olivia, but you want Olivia to be yours then why not just make both of them your personal toys? Then it won’t really matter if they do anything together - I mean, what’s the point of even having multiple toys if you can’t mash them together now and again? At the end of the day, they’re both yours after all.

‘Th… that… I’m not sure it’s really a good idea to treat them like toys…’ Still, just the thought of them belonging to me caused a funny sort of heat to build up in my stomach. My nipples had gotten stiff, too, and were now completely visible through my nightgown. Even the thought of them being together did nothing to dampen my mood, when I pictured them both as being mine - if anything, the thought made me a bit excited.

Whatever you say, Red. It’s your choice in the end - I’m just along for the ride. Whatever you choose, I’ll support you. Just try not to bore me too much, alright?

‘R-right,’ I sent back, placing a hand over my chest. The possibility of Heartly abandoning me - out of boredom or otherwise - had never even occurred to me before. Now it was just one more thing to add to the growing list of things I didn’t want to think about, tonight.

Closing my eyes, I tried my best to usher in sleep, hoping that my wicked thoughts about Olivia and Rachel wouldn’t shift from tempting fantasies to inescapable dreams. With a little luck, I’d sleep through the night regardless - if Violet Heart knew where we were, she’d probably storm down here and wake us up before long, so obviously a peaceful night’s rest would mean that we’d successfully escaped her and White’s tracking.

Right?

***

Violet Heart

***

“Still no sign of them?” I asked, scanning the street below me as I flew past it. It was boring, annoying, and honestly a pretty terrible way of searching for someone to begin with, but what the hell was I supposed to do?

Nothing yet, Heartie replied. Maybe she turned back into a civilian at some point?

“No way,” I replied. “Why would she even do that?”

To go home, perhaps? It is getting pretty late.

“She wouldn’t do that,” I insisted, scowling. “Not when she knows it would make me worry…”

Heartie didn’t have an answer to that. Not that I was particularly interested in listening, anyway. I was way more interested in looking for signs of Red. Unfortunately, even I had to admit that my search was a bit… haphazard. I wasn’t good at coming up with plans like White Heart was - not even for simple stuff, like forming a ‘proper grid search’ or whatever else White might recommend.

White wasn’t interested in providing me with anything like that this time, around, though - even though I’d even gone so far as to swallow my pride and ask. She insisted that Red Heart had simply abandoned us to deal with the cleanup, even though that definitely wasn’t the sort of thing that Red Heart would do!

She also said that I ‘probably lacked the discipline to follow such a plan, anyway,’ which was totally besides the point! And it wasn’t like I was incapable of following directions, or anything! I just… didn’t really like to.

“Hey, have I been down this area already?” I asked Heartie, choosing to push aside thoughts of our so-called ‘team leader.’ 

Twice.

“Why didn’t you tell me that before!?” I snapped, swerving to the right in search of new territory.

Last time I told you, you said you knew and that just because she wasn’t there earlier didn’t mean she wouldn’t be there now.

“Yeah, well… duh.” Like hell I was going to admit that I’d just been embarrassed! Especially since the logic totally held and everything! Red Heart could easily have doubled back, or otherwise just… wandered into an area I’d already checked!

Did you want me to start pointing it out again? Because if so, I should probably let you know that you’ve been this way too!

“S-shut up! I know that!” I snapped, before coming to a stop. “Which way haven’t I been?”

If you go two blocks left, you’ll find a block that you more or less circumvented on your last pass through. Or if you go three blocks right, you’ll find two blocks that you’ve somehow missed despite surveilling every block surrounding them at least three times in the last time hour.

“…”

You know, this is really why you should be using a map and marking spots off at the very least. Just wandering around like this isn’t going to get you anywhere!

“Shut up!” I shouted, scowling. “I’ve got as much chance of finding Red Heart by scouting this block as that one, right? I mean it’s not like she’s just staying in one place!”

True. But you could also argue that you’d have an equal chance of finding her by just staying in place and seeing if she wanders by…

“That’s… Can’t you just take my side for once!?” I demanded, crossing my arms and scowling at the air. Which wasn’t nearly as satisfying at scowling at her directly would have been, but Heartie sorta lived inside me so that obviously wasn’t gonna happen.

I am on your side, Violet. That’s why I keep suggesting you go home! Your father must be worried sick about you at this point.

“Psh. I’ve stayed out late before.”

But never this late, Heartie countered. And your father lectured you every time, besides.

“He’s a worrywart! I’m, like, 20 already! And a magical girl! I should be allowed to stay out after dark!”

Of course - but you father doesn’t know you can take of yourself, does he? And you haven’t really told him about your desire to be independent, either - if you’re going to start staying out late on the regular, don’t you think you should at least discuss it with him first? So that he doesn’t have to worry something went wrong?

“That’s…” I scowled, again, not able to come up with a satisfying answer. I wasn’t going to admit to being wrong, though, either!

Come on, Violet - why are you so determined to avoid going home? Are you scared of what your father will say?

“No!” I mean, maybe? Kinda? But that wasn’t why I was staying out! “I’m just worried about Red Heart. She disappeared without a word! What if the Violet Queen got her?”’

Didn’t White Heart say that the Violet Queen was dead?

“Yeah, but…” I hesitated. I didn’t wanna say I distrusted White - I didn’t! - but… “What if she was wrong?”

 You think the Violet Queen might have survived?

“I don’t know! Maybe? I mean, yeah, I saw what was left of her inside the store and she looked pretty dead… But what if she wasn’t?”

Are you saying you think she did something to Red Heart?

“I don’t know… Maybe? I mean, it’s just a theory, but… I just don’t think Red Heart would skip out on us like that! And it’s weird that we haven’t heard from her or anything! What if… what if the Violet Queen got to her? What if… what if she’s doing something absolutely awful to Red, even as we speak?”

Even if that’s true, I don’t think you’re going to find out anything by pushing yourself to exhaustion like this…

“Well, what else am I supposed to do!?” I demanded. “Go to sleep and act like everything’s fine?”

That’s what I’d suggest! If something really has happened to Red Heart, then we’ll find out when she fails to check in come morning.

“But what if it’s too late by then!?” I demanded.

What if it’s too late now? Heartie countered.

“That’s… Don’t say that!”

I’m sorry, Violet, but I have to! You have to face the fact - whether she’s okay or in trouble, but there is nothing you can do without more information! At best, you’ll end up tiring yourself up and underperforming tomorrow, which could get you killed!

“How is that the best case scenario!?”

Because the worst case scenario - if the Violet Queen is still out there - is that she’ll wait for you to get tired and then strike when you can’t fight back! You need your sleep!

“But…” I wanted to argue. I wanted to scream, and stomp my foot, and insist that I wasn’t going to bed until I knew what had happened to Red Heart.

But I couldn’t find the words. I couldn’t think of a single good argument for staying out, other than the fact that I wanted to. That I didn’t want to give up.

Please, Violet. Go home.

“…Ask me again in ten minutes,” I said, at last.

But-

“Ten minutes!” I insisted.

You’ll just say the same thing again then, won’t you?

I didn’t reply. Mostly because she was right, and I didn’t want to admit it.

Was it going to lead anywhere? Probably not. 

Did I have a good reason to keep pushing myself, even knowing that? No way.

I wasn’t going to convince Heartie, either - not when I didn’t have a singular logical argument for pushing forward.

I’d never let that stop me before, though - and I sure as hell wasn’t going to let that, or anything else stop me now.

~~~

Author's Notes

This took far longer than I would have liked, but I did finally get the chapter done!

Tomorrow I'll move onto My Own Villainess, and then probably some Double Trouble? We'll see. For tonight, I'm just glad to be done with this.