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“Yuko.” Mia mumbles, staring at the guards as they pull Mo away for an unexpected chat. The last few days have led quite a few breadcrumbs towards him, and Mia knows they just established contact with Kadi again. She met Mo as the supposed heir.
“Yeah?” Yuko says, fidgeting with her water glare to stop herself from causing a scene.
“Remember what you said?” Mia turns her face towards her.
“I say a lot of stuff, you'll have to be more specific.” She stays unnaturally stiff, fully in guard mode.
“About pretending…?” Mia whispers tentatively. She may or may not have replayed “I’m saying we’re married or something so they take all three of us” about a hundred times in her head the last few days.
“Do you think they'll buy it?” Yuko suggested it on impulse, but she'd rather leave the logistics to her.
“Maybe not a marriage,” Mia agrees softly, she doesn't know enough about such ceremonies to lie convincingly. “But if we say we're dating, that we were complicit in anything they might suspect, we will stay together.”
Yuko's heart hammers, but she nods. “You should go do the talking, it's wiser.”
“Wait.” Mia says. “Cover for me.”
Yuko draws an illusion spell, hiding the glow of her hands. Mia concentrates, picturing the Bottled Hearts she'd hidden in the human world. Even if she didn't outright mean for them to be a declaration, they did have romantic connotations. They'd serve as proof. The two bottles appear on her hand, one by one.
“You good?” Yuko checks in, considering the effort it must take after having done so many spells lately.
“No, but I'll live.” Mia sighs, handing them to Yuko. “Try to hide them somewhere, if the guards think they've found them on their own, it'll be easier to convince them.”
Yuko nods once, squeezing her hand. Mia takes a deep breath, casting an invisibility spell over herself. She wants to get some idea of what's going on first.
She sneaks into Phuddle’s lab. Savia sighs, her thumb pressing down on her temple, Posa looks at her, her tone a little defensive. “He did not seem like it.”
“Posa.” Savia quietly chastises. “Captain Kadi confirmed it, this is precisely why we don't write anything off as-”
“I'm the interrogee, pay attention to me?” Mo interrupts, glancing between the guards.
“Are you the heir?” Savia asks, just to see if he'll actually tell them.
“I am.” Mo finally admits, since dragging it out might get the kids into more trouble.
“And why didn't you say so before?” Posa snaps.
“No one asked me.” Mo deadpans, remembering her little comments. Savia has to take a deep breath, and during that time Mo beats her to the question.
“And no, I didn't know they weren't the rulers.” He must put on a poker face, to hide the sting of his… parents having put them in this situation. “We were just worried about leaving Centopia alone after they were found out.”
“We?” Savia immediately catches his wording, her eyes narrowing as she starts to draw the obvious connection. She doesn't even need to voice it, though.
“Surprise.” Mia says, letting go of the invisibility spell. Mo doesn't pretend to be shocked at the fact she was eavesdropping.
The guards seem a little offended, but Savia looks at them both, not all that surprised at the possible revelation. “I'm assuming that's why you lied so… fervently.”
“Perhaps.” Mia agrees. “I did tell you to stop looking for him. He's not tied to whatever is wrong with the magic.”
“And as I've explained to you both, we won't harm him, but even if he had nothing to do with it, we can't just leave you two kids in charge of an island.” Savia tries to get through to her.
“Three.” Yuko corrects from the hallway. “Now, if you try to take him away-”
“Don't threaten me.” Savia tells her firmly, if not without sympathy, recognizing the desperation behind it.
Posa sighs, murmuring something about a raise. Mia takes the moment to speak up. “Are you taking him to Iriditopia?”
Savia looks at her, now clocking that yes, she is a smart girl. One that's gotten away with fooling them. Her spell skill could not be more fitting. “We might need to.”
There could be political aspects Mia isn't privy to or cares about, what she does care about, however… “If you do, we're going.”
“You're giving yourselves up?” Posa asks.
Yuko can't hold in the small surge of attitude. “That implies we're guilty of something. We protected this island while you were doing celestials know what.”
Mia places a hand on her arm, not crazy enough to pick a fight with the guards at this very moment. “Mo is innocent in all this, but if he's being dragged into it so should we. We're his girlfriends, and we were here for all of it. It's the best outcome for all of us.”
Because it is, the guards probably shouldn't let them roam if they are involved with the Heir. Mo’s ears can only focus on the girlfriends part, and for all his seriousness, if he were somewhere else, he'd be whooping and cheering. The fact it's technically fake kind of bums him out, but it's ok, he can ask them properly once they get out of this mess.
With the best timing ever, one of the guards walks into the lab, holding the Bottled Hearts. “We found this after checking behind the furniture again.”
Now, as Mia found out, that gift holds said romantic implications. She gave it to Yuko to plant as evidence around here for a reason, but she can't help but feel a little nervous at it being exposed. The bottles have a yellow and red ribbon respectively, so… it's obvious it had to have been from her.
Mia gives the guards a small, obviously forced smile as if to say “see?”. She internally prays no one starts reading the messages she filled the bottles with. Not that they won’t all sound... perfectly platonic in this context. Maybe if Viva was here Mia could tell her to make a hole in the earth so it could swallow her whole.
The guards exchange looks. It might not be wise to keep them together, but if they're being cooperative it doesn't seem like a danger. They don't seem like a danger, just like three kids who've been through something terrible and are clinging to each other blindly. Savia stares at Mia, analyzing the situation. Mia only levels a look back, silently willing her not to separate hem now it’s clear the trio know way more than they were letting on.
The captain sighs for the hundredth time today, not quite capable of taking him away from them. “Alright then. If he goes, you go.”
Mia instinctively reaches for her… girlfriend’s hand, squeezing it reassurance as she looks at Mo. Wow, they must be really good actors if everyone believed them.