章 6: Still There
"I am sorry." These were the first words the Kirin spoke.
Her once hard cold green eyes were soft and mellow. Satin had never seen them like this, almost like Chanty could feel something.
Satin didn't move. Her body still burned like it was on fire, but it was all becoming dull. Painfully dull as if she could feel nothing at all. Not the floor below her, or the breath of the wind blowing in through the windows.
Satin had suddenly become very aware of simple sounds. The ticking of a clock's gears and the soft rush of a piston.
Tick.
Tock.
Tick.
Tock.
Click.
Satin turned her head, and to her horror, she could see straight through Chanty's chest. Past the flesh, muscle, and bones right to her heart.
Chanty's heart was unique, to say the least.
It was mechanical. Made of hard, cold copper and steel. Small pistons forced blood in and out of the arteries. While gears ticked, allowing her ventricles to work. Her organs were all connected to it. It worked as if she had a normal heart.
The even subtle flow of blood and the tender whoosh of the pistons passing it through the piping was strangely calming.
However, it was doing something else to Satin.
It was making her hungry.
Satin shifted her arms under her chest.
She had lost all her blood now. It was everywhere, covering herself, Chanty, and it led from where the horrible crime had happened. It took some time, but the centaur was able to sit her chest up. She felt light-headed, scared to speak.
"It's okay. But I would like it if you didn't stare. You know my heart is mechanical." Chanty said with a flick of bitterness on her tongue.
Satin flinched and forced herself to look away. She refocused on Azuki, who, much to her surprise, had no heart. There was a space for one, but there was an emptiness in its place.
"What did she do to me?" Satin dared to ask, finding her voice duller, without inflection of any kind.
"She tried to kill you," Chanty said blankly. "But you ended up making yourself into something much worse."
Satin's eyes narrowed at her so-called friend.
"Why are you like this?" she muttered holding her head as she slowly tried to get her legs under herself. It would have been much easier with two legs rather than four.
"Because I am a bitter bitch." Chanty huffed but smiled and reached out, putting a hand on her backside. "Satin stay down just a moment, your body is going to struggle for a while."
Satin shifted away. "How would you know." She snapped, hugging her slowly chilling body.
"Why do you think I have a mechanical heart?" Chanty muttered, she looked at her crushed metal leg and took a breath. Satin's eyes widened and she stared at Chanty.
Finally, Chanty pulled out a collapsible metal walking cane and opened it. The head of the cane was shaped like a mermaid. Chanty got the cane under her armpit and pushed herself up with a grunt. She hobbled over to the kitchen and started making some tea for Satin.
As Satin stared at her friend she noticed thin, long glittery strings forming along her arms and body. The threads whispered off her slowly disappearing into the world around them. Only one was fully visible. It was frayed and tattered. As Satin's eyes followed the thread it sank into her chest.
A friendship thread.
It looked old, many years with many different thicknesses. The closer it got to Satin's chest the more frayed it became, almost breaking at one point.
Satin hesitated then reached for it.
"Don't eat it." Chanty's voice startled Satin and she grabbed the thread.
Her vision was suddenly accosted by many memories of her dear friend.
The day the two had met, a young kirin girl, full of life, with joy, and eager to play. She was just a child then, hugging a huge orange striped cat. Still with both legs and a smile Satin hadn't seen in a long time.
Satin's hand was suddenly slapped and she jerked away letting go. The images were gone and Chanty stood glaring down at her. She had moved quickly and was leaning heavily on her cane.
"What was that?" Satin's voice quivered looking around confused.
"You touched a memory thread, ugn. I hate that memory." Chanty scoffed.
"Why, because you were happy?" Satin huffed.
"No, because I was stupid and naive. You don't know anything do you!?" Chanty's voice was raised but softened as the kettle started to scream in her ears.
"Then teach me!" Satin snapped back looking around, she could see the strings again but didn't touch any this time.
Chanty hobbled back over and filled the teacups with water and three early gray bags each. She looked over her shoulder at Satin and closed her eyes.
"Okay." she finally said.
"When a person is going to be eaten by a heartless," She began, setting one of the teas down beside Satin, "two things can happen, the first is what normally happens. You are scared shitless, frozen and then you die. The second is what happened to you and me. We fought back. If you are somehow able to break the thread connecting you to the heartless, you gain their magic." The Kirin set a second mug down and grabbed the sugar cubes.
"Once that happens, if the heartless chooses to still eat your heart, you become heartless, just like them.." It took Chanty a while to gather everything and finally with great balance and effort sat down with a small empty saucer and a small pitcher of cream.
Satin's mouth hung open as Chanty quietly filled the saucer with cream for Azuki. The cat didn't touch it. She was staring with big soft eyes at her master. Slowly tears trickled down Satin's cheeks but her face showed no real expression.
No sadness.
No Fear.
Nothingness.
週次パワーステータス
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