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Heart has been acting strange recently. To be fair, it hasn’t been long since I quite literally ripped his eyes out, but that’s besides the point. Mind hasn’t seemed to notice, I think he’s just grateful that Heart finally shut up for once. Heart is currently curled in a ball on the couch, his blindfold wet with tears. I sigh and go sit by him, placing a hand on his shoulder.
“{Artemis, what’s the matter?}”
I don’t get a response aside from a pained wince.
“{...You’ve been acting strange, and I’m worried. Please, tell me what’s wrong.}”
“(Hurts. It hurts so much.)” Heart cries.
I’m confused by his statement. “{What hurts? Your eyes? I thought they would have healed by now. Have you been messing with them?}”
“(No! It’s not my eyes!)” He tries to reach behind him, as if trying to touch his back.
He turns his back towards me and tries to lift his shirt. Is he trying to show me something? I get the hint and raise his shirt up his back, my eyes trailing over it to see what’s wrong. At the top of his back, right near his shoulder blades, are two large bumps.
My eyes widen upon seeing the bumps. “{What the hell? Heart, what is this?}”
Heart shakes his head. “(I-I don’t know! They just showed up one day, and they hurt! God, they hurt so badly!)”
I flatten my mouth in concern and sympathy for the purple man. I gently trace a finger over one of the bumps, earning a yelp and flinch from him. I immediately retract my hand and sigh.
“{Have you tried taking painkillers?}”
Heart nods. “(They don’t work.)”
“{Well… I’m afraid it’s not like we can go to a doctor, since this doesn’t affect the body.}” I look away, trying to think of what could possibly be causing these bumps.
Just then, a loud, painful cry is heard from Artemis. He turns towards me and latches onto me, hugging me tighter than I would’ve liked. I’m frozen, having no idea what to do. I hold his head as he buries his face in my shoulder, trying to soothe him at least a bit. I don’t know what’s happening right now, but I’m doing all that I can.
My own heart races in my chest as I try my absolute best to comfort the trembling man in my arms. Moments later, a horrific shriek comes from Heart as large, white angel wings sprout from the bumps on his back. They’re covered in his dark purple blood, and it drips all over the couch. The normal side of my face runs pale, and I freeze once again. The growth of the wings has ripped straight through Artemis’s shirt.
I feel Heart go limp in my arms. Seems he passed out. “{Mind, come here!}” I shout.
A minute later, Mind trudges into the living room. “[What do you want?]”
I point at Heart, who is still unconscious. Mind’s eyes widen at the sight, from the wings, to the amount of blood. “[...What the fuck happened?]” His voice modulator crackles with a bit of static.
“{I don’t know. Go get the first aid kit.}” I demand. Mind hesitates, in awe. “{APOLLO.}”
He finally snaps back to reality and runs to grab the kit, quickly coming back with it. I pop it open once again, grabbing the bottle of peroxide and the roll of bandages. I slip off Heart’s shirt to use it as a rag and pour the peroxide on it, gently cleaning up Heart’s wounds. His new wings are soft to the touch, although soaked in blood. Once the wounds are clean, I wrap the bandages around the bases of his wings. I look down at Heart, holding him tightly.
“{We should get him to bed.}” Mind nods and lifts Artemis out of my arms. I let out a breath that I didn’t even realize I was holding.
I follow Mind into Heart’s room and watch as he gently lays Heart down on his bed, laying him on his stomach so as to not damage his back further. I sit on the edge of the bed, frowning. I look up at Mind worriedly.
"{Did you have any idea about this?}"
Mind shakes his head. "[I wasn't aware of this in the slightest.]"
I look back down at the unconscious Heart, slowly reaching out and feeling his wings. They twitch gently.
A good while later, Mind and I are just sitting on the couch, waiting for Heart to wake up. We hear soft groaning coming from his room and stare at each other before running towards it. Heart is sitting up, stretching out his brand new wings with a confused, horrified expression on his face.
"{Heart!}" I quickly sit by him, wrapping an arm around him. "{Are you okay? Y-you… um…}"
"(I have wings now…)" Heart turns his head towards me. "(Soul, tell me, are they at least… pretty?)"
I'm a bit surprised by the question. "{They… they're sort of soaked with blood, but, I would say so. They're like the wings of an angel.}" I smile softly at Artemis, although he can't see it.
He sighs in relief. "(That's good… I think. Can you help me clean them?)"
"{Of course, come on.}" I help Heart up and guide him to the bathroom, glaring at Mind on our way out.
I don't want to write about the wing cleaning. So here's a shitty dumb little stupid bonus scene.
I groan as I hear Mind yelling from outside. I get up trudge to where the chaos is happening.
"[Soul! Fucking hell, I thought you'd never show up at this rate.]"
"{Yeah, yeah, whatever. Why are you yelling? I'm trying to take a nap with Darrell.}" I walk over to where Mind is, and he points up at the roof. I look to where he's pointing and my eyes widen to see Heart, wings spread, about to jump off.
"{Wh-?! Artemis, what the fuck are you doing?!}" I shout.
"(I'm gonna see if I can fly, duh!)"
"[Heart, you absolute dumbfuck, get down from there.]" Heart ignores our calls and yells. Before we know it, he's jumped off the roof.
Both Mind and I watch in horror as Heart falls to the ground. Well, Mind's expression is more of an 'I told you so' type thing. But I'm horrified.
Only a few seconds later, Heart hops up, brushing himself off. "(Alright. So I cannot fly.)"
"[...I need a nap.]" Mind goes back inside immediately after saying this.
I just stare at Heart in disbelief. "{I think you need to take a nap too.}" I grab Heart and drag him inside as well. Nap time for all of us, methinks.