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“Mind..” The timid voice of Whole came out as a whisper as he peered his head through the door.
“[What do you want? Can’t you see I’m busy?]” Mind’s voice was as cold as ever, clearly unhappy with the distraction. He was just trying to make sure the body was functioning properly. But something happened when Whole entered the front room. A change in the way they were feeling. “[Whole. What happened?]”
Mind could feel their heart rate increase and their steady breathing started to falter. Something was wrong and it was affecting the body.
“I can’t find Heart.” Was all he said before leaving front.
“[What? What do you mean? Get back here!]” Mind tried calling out for Whole, but it was no use. If Heart was missing, surely something was wrong. Whole was clearly in no shape to front, and he had no idea where Soul was. He sighed and brought them somewhere safe. A place where the body would be fine even with no one watching over it.
He left front and quickly stormed through their headspace, wanting to get this over with quickly. Mind looked everywhere, kitchen, living room, roof, all of Heart’s little hiding places, but he didn’t seem to be anywhere. The last place he could think of was Heart’s room, but surely it couldn’t be that easy, could it?
Mind paused when he got to the hallway where all their rooms were. Again something in the back of his head was screaming at him that something was wrong. The hall was off, distorted and longer than it should have been. If their headspace truly reflected their mental state like he was told, then this was bad.
He cautiously stepped down the hall. The closer he got to Heart’s room, the thicker the air felt. His mechanical heart “stopped” as he reached the door. Feathers. A few feathers were scattered on the floor covered in drops of… oh god. Blood? He reached for the door and carefully opened it.
“[Heart?]” he stepped inside the room, his eyes glowing because of how dark it was. In the center of the room sat a weeping Heart who was surrounded by feathers and drops of blood. “[Artemis?]”
Heart looked up at the cause of the sound. He wasn’t wearing his blindfold. Tears poured from his dark eyes which, along with his scars, had scratch marks around them. His long nails were stained with his own purple blood, the same with his wings. God his wings. He had ripped out so many feathers, they looked awful, but he wouldn’t say anything. Not for now at least. That would just make things worse.
“[Stay.]” Mind didn’t have to say that, Heart wasn’t in any shape to even go anywhere, but he had to be sure. He ran out of the room and distorted hallway, heading straight to the kitchen. The Sun flung open a cabinet and grabbed a container of cornstarch that sat inside. Pleased with what he had in hand he ran back to Heart’s room.
His eyes once again lit up the dark room. He kneeled behind Heart and gently touched his wings with his mechanical hands. He sprinkled the cornstarch onto the areas that had been bleeding as an attempt to get them to stop. Mind took Heart’s hands and helped him stand. He guided him towards his bathroom and had him sit on the toilet.
“[I am going to clean up this... vile mess.]” It wasn’t a question, it was a statement. Mind was going to clean the blood off of Heart even if he complained. He wet a washcloth with water and carefully dabbed around Heart’s eyes, cleaning the scratch marks. He grabbed a bottle of hydrogen peroxide and poured some on the washcloth. The Sun took The Moon’s gentle hands and started wiping away the blood off of them.
Heart not once tried to stop him. His eyes just looked empty as Mind cleaned him of his own blood. A faint, purple stain remained on his pale fingers. Something was wrong, but Mind wouldn’t push it. He knew how Heart could get and he didn’t want to risk him getting worse. Mind got the washcloth wet with water and brought it to Heart’s wings, where he gently wiped them as clean as he could, again leaving behind a faint stain.
“[Heart, I am only going to ask this once. Why did you do this?]” Silence. Heart refused to make eye contact with his other half. He picked at the skin around his nails and Mind grabbed his hands to get him to stop. “[Artemis answer me!]”
“(Its too much…)” his voice was weak and sounded forced. It was hardly a whisper.
“[What? What is too much?]”
“(Everything… All of it…)” Heart sniffed and pulled his sleeves over his hands and covered his eyes, trying to to cry again. “(All of Whole’s emotions… Relationships… Everything. It all relies on me being okay.. But what if I’m not okay?!)” Mind didn’t know how to answer. Not everything relied on Heart. He was clearly overreacting. Right?
“[Oh please, you can’t be serious.]” he scoffed and crossed his arms. “[Not everything relies on you. Soul and I are just as important.]”
“(But those aren’t emotions!)” The Moon’s voice came out as a shriek. “(You’re always yelling at me for not thinking logically, but emotions need to be precise! They have to fit the situation. The reason I seem so ‘unstable’ is because I’m in charge of two different people’s emotions!)”
Mind was stunned. Heart was never so… clear on what was bothering him. He always made it some game to try and avoid talking about what was truly bothering him.
“[Art, I-]”
“(No!)” Heart cut him off. “(You don’t understand! Neither of you understand!)” tears fell from his eyes again, something he was trying to avoid, but it was hopeless. Heart was always bound to start crying and be emotional once more.
“[Artemis, shut up.]” Mind put his hands on his other half’s shoulders. Heart froze and looked up. “[You are stressing yourself out for no reason! You do not have to do everything alone, just ask one of us for help!]”
Heart just clung onto Minds arms and sobbed into his chest. The Sun was uncomfortable with such display of emotion shown to him along with the blood getting on him, but he hid his reaction. He didn't need to upset heart more and make the situation worse for the two of them.
"[I may not be good at this whole emotions bullshit, but Soul can help.]" He said softly. "[And I can help manage relationships. I'm good with dates and information handling. Both come in handy when having friends... I think.]"
Heart chuckled at Mind's small statement. The fact such a cold man would offer to help with a job like Heart's was silly to think about. But The Moon appreciated The Sun's offer to help him.
"(Thank you..)" He let go his other half and sat up straight with a sniffle. "(Its a lot of work. And it's too much at a time.. Mind, I have to manage two peoples emotions.)" Heart looked up at the other.
"[Yes Heart, so you have said.]" He sighed. "[Just don't do this again. I don't want to clean up a bloody mess again.]"
"(I'll try my best..)" Heart gave a soft smile. He could asked the others for help when he needed it. He didn't have to work alone. He wasn't alone.