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It felt something like a pang! , and he’d never felt that before. He didn’t know what to do with it, and he didn’t know how to feel with it, but it made him want to throw himself into it. Wholeheartedly, unabashedly, unabatedly,
“I wanted to see the human trying to sabotage our plans… but you’re pretty cute!”
He dove in.
Intentionally, into it , unintentionally, into her . Not so much headfirst as heartfirst. Lipsfirst. He kissed her. She was shaking. He kind of liked it. She must have liked it too?
But when he even proposed such a thing, when he even suggested a sequel, she started swinging, and he remembered that he was here on business.
He cast the parasites down. He sat back. He watched. He wondered how long she’d live. He felt his heart begin to race with anticipation. Feeling like, the longer she lived, the more present the pang! would become. Like if she lived long enough, he might be able to put a name to it and figure out what to do with it -
But, before he could think on it any further, she was losing. And not even in a particularly cute or fun or desperate way… just, losing. The pang! felt kinda dull at this distance, but it was there. He figured he should tell her.
Swooping down to where she lay, trapped under a lion’s claws, he placed a hand under her chin, lifting his eyes to meet hers.
Hm.
The pang! was back again, and loud, at this proximity. His heart was doing laps again, now that she was up close.
Weird.
“This is boring.” He informed her. “So… I guess I have to kill you now?”
Not that he particularly wanted to. Which was new, but not unheard of.
“ No …” She pleaded.
The pang! struck once again, hard. Almost hard enough to hurt. He felt like he ought to explain himself. “It’s nothing personal but, keeping you alive’ll get me in trouble later.”
As though he needed to justify his actions. As though it mattered that she know that this was largely out of his hands. As if any of this mattered. As if she mattered.
But, before he could think on it any further, he heard the cry of, “Ribbon Mint Echo!” and thought it in his best interest to live. He released her, he dodged the beam shooting toward him, and he looked up. He hoped that the pang! would come back again, if only to know if this were a one pang! fits all type of deal.
It was looking like a no.
There were two more of them - which, was good, he had mostly been here to evaluate the situation anyway - but neither of them made his chest feel anything out of the ordinary. Bummer. Why’d it only work with pinkie?
Weird.
They told her to transform, and she did, and when that was all settled she threatened his life, which made the pang! strike again and a tingle run through his body.
Not the point. That was not why he was here. He noted that there were three of them. He had been expecting maybe two. Good to know. By the end of this whole fiasco they had upped their numbers to four. Also good to know.
And. Debatably less importantly, he was finally getting to see her fight for her life like he’d been wanting to. He had been right about the pang! . It loved watching her struggle. It was going crazy inside him. It was enamored with the sight. It was strong. He still didn’t know what it was.
He’d become kind of fond of it. The way it made him feel. He wanted to get a little more of that.
...Maybe not now, though. Um, the chimera anima were all captured. He’d been a little too enthralled. He almost missed the end of the fight.
“Great job!” He yelled, standing up, not thinking. “Thanks for the show.”
He should have shut up. He should have never said that. He should have just gone home.
“Get down here, you coward!” She screamed at him.
It was cute. She was angry. He liked the look on her face. He liked that the pang! had worked its way down to a steady thrum, pounding a beat in his chest like he’d never felt before. It was catchy. He wanted to hear it more.
“Ah-ah, no need to rush.” He said. “Because I’ll see you again, honey.”
Her face turned red. He liked it.
“I promise.” He reassured himself more than threatened her.
It was time to go home. He’d gotten the information he came here for.
And something else.
Something new.