บท 5: Monster

Satin's vision swam, and she looked down at her chest, the string still there, longer even.

It fluttered in the cool breeze of night. She felt sick to her stomach as she watched the string suddenly pull taut. Hesitantly she looked back. The thread was tight, stretching out behind her from where she had come. At its end stood Nori.

The monster had used her hair like tentacles to move along the ground. The pair of shears Satin had attacked her with were still sunk deep into her chest. Nori acted as if nothing happened at all.

Nori's long mermaid tail curled around her waist, supporting the delicate fin off the ground. The spines were just touching the cobblestone, making a horrifying and ominous scraping sound as she moved closer. The tentacle made a soft popping sound as the suckers unlatched from each stone.

"I told you, you belong to me now." Nori's voice echoed from the string. The heartless' mouth hadn't moved. She reached one long tentacle out and caught Satin by the waist.

"N-no!" Satin screamed, grabbing the string. She pulled on it hard, feeling her heart burn as the thread strained. Nori grinned and pulled her close, tucking her tail around Satin's body.

Nori pulled Satin into a deep kiss once again.

Nori swallowed, still holding the kiss. With each gulp, Satin felt life being stolen from her.

Satin's eyes widened in horror, and she fumbled for anything. She grabbed the end of the scissors, and her mind raced.

Did she plunge it deeper?

So far, that idea hadn't worked. In Satin's glassy vision, she caught sight of the string fluttering in the wind. It was pulsing with each movement Nori took.

Satin felt tears sting her eyes and run down her flushed cheek. Finally, she found the strength to force Nori away and ripped the sheers out of her chest. Nori seemed surprised, as if no one had been able to resist like this before.

"I won't belong to a monster like you!" Satin sobbed and grabbed the string from the air.

It felt as if time slowed down. Nori's claws fingers reached out in desperation to stop what she knew was about to happen. Satin was quick, and in a moment, the thread binding them was cut in two from one swift clip of the scissors.

Snip.

The pain that had been there all along burned Satin's whole body. She felt it from the tips of her ears to the end of her fluffy tail.

Nori screamed, her green skin going ashen. Her long tentacles went limp as the monster fell before Satin.

"You idiot!" Nori screamed, opening her mouth wide to show the hollow darkness within that was encircled by her sharp shark teeth. "I will have your heart one way or another!"

The string fluttered in the air, and the end suddenly caught fire at the point it had been split.

Nori screamed and, in one movement, plunged her claws fingers into Satin's chest.

Satin swooned and collapsed into the dirt. Nori's hollow eyes locked with Satin's, smiled and said.

"Now you're a monster, just like I was.." And with that, Nori's was gone into the shadows.

There was no heartbeat, no sound, not even Satin's lungs would move.

Her body was silent.

Satin could feel the blood draining from her body. Her lungs still breathed, somehow, perhaps by magic. The place where her heart once was filled with slowly cooling blood. Just between her lungs and stomach.

As the world around her faded, she could make out the shape of someone running down the road. The distinct ching of metal on the hard cobblestone. Followed by the panicked pitter-patter of a set of paws. At that moment, she realized it.

She had become heartless.

Just.

Like.

That.

Darkness. Lifelessness.

Then words.

"Satin?"

"Satin!?!" The voice sounded so far away.

Satin squinted her eyes open, feeling a gut-wrenching pain in her chest. She lay collapsed into the dark earth, blood pooling around her.

She was dead. Right? No Heartless. A much worse fate. That was all a Nightmare.

Chanty was sitting beside Satin in the mud, her big green eyes filled with concern. Azuki beside her, looking as round and panic fluffed as a cat could get.

Chanty's once beautiful red tux was stained and mussed. Her vivid red hair was still tucked neatly under her hat as she supported her friend.

"What happened?" Satin dared to speak. How did the words even come out?

It burned with each word, and the pit of her stomach flipped. Satin swallowed, feeling her stomach swell as if she was going to throw up. She gagged, but nothing came up, making her cough.

Chanty bit her lip. She reached out and tenderly touched Satin along the side. She mused over her friend's ashen skin. Finally, Chanty took a breath and shifted her arms under Satin's ill belly.

"Chanty, don't move her!" Azuki hissed as the kirin shifted her metal leg under herself a bit better and heaved Satin against her chest.

"If she stays out here, they're going to destroy her," Chanty said darkly, feeling the bolts on her leg strain under Satin's colossal weight.

Satin hugged her friend around the neck, letting her legs dangle. They still touched the floor, creating drag marks and making it even more cumbersome. Slowly Chanty waddled her friend through the dark and sleepy town. Azuki trailing behind in near tears.

Chanty got Satin into the workshop floor before a long creek of metal sounded, and Chanty's metal leg gave out under the weight. Chanty cussed but hugged Satin as they fell. The drop was short, and Satin slumped into her. She didn't let go even when Chanty tried to get out from under the heavyweight on her good leg.

"Sat, get off. I already have one bad leg!" Chanty scoffed and finally rolled Satin.

Satin flopped to the ground and lay looking up at her simple wooden spoon house. The house fell silent, say for the grunts and straining of Chanty as she unhooked her now crushed metal leg from the stump that remained of her former leg.

She tossed the hunk of junk away, letting it land in a pail of Satin's fabric. Chanty took a deep breath and let it out, looking at her friend.