Naughty Magic - Chapter 16 - Red Heart

Olivia

Being ooze was… weird. I mean, I guess I was always ooze, these days, when it came right down to it, and it wasn’t actually that weird - if anything it was sort of weird that it wasn’t weirder? I mean, it felt so natural… but there’s being made of ooze, and then there’s turning into ooze. As in, a shapeless, boneless puddle of goo that somehow manages to move under its power.

Right now, I was slinking around in ooze form, keeping my body flatter than a pancake in hopes of going unnoticed among the grass. My destination was… nonexistent, I guess. I just wanted to escape the vicinity of the building I’d ducked into, just in case anyone had seen me entering. I doubted anyone was paying enough attention to my male form to notice anything suspicious, but I really didn’t want to take chances.

Eventually, I decided enough was enough and gathered myself together in one spot, rising up in the form of a gorgeous, violet skinned girl. My default Violet Queen form. 

It was then that I realized… I’d only traveled, like, five feet! Man, distance was hard to judge in that form… but whatever! It didn’t matter. It was time for me to make my… Well, it wasn’t really my debut or anything at this point. I couldn’t exactly call it a showdown, either, seeing how this was my first actual meeting with Red Heart… Well, it was time to make my third public appearance! And time to meet Red Heart! Which… was way more important, actually, and I probably should have lead with it!

You do realize I’m the only one who can hear this internal dialogue of yours, yes?

“Shut up!” I hissed, raising a hand to the sky. I’d already drawn the attention of a few students, who were staring at me from a healthy distance. Probably wondering what the hell was going on with the purple chick, since… I didn’t think most of them knew my name? Though I guess I made a bit of a splash during my battle with Violet Heart, so it wouldn’t be that big of a surprise if a few of them figured out my identity.

It wasn’t them I wanted to impress, anyway. 

Right, because impressing the magical girls who want to kill you is the most important thing, here.

Exactly! Which is why I had to do my best. Starting with a suitably dramatic opening. I was thinking… cloud cover. I really messed up my first appearance, and part of that was just me not having enough goo to work with - and being unwilling to feed any of the club property to said goo in order to get it bigger. This time, though, I was outside - that made it way easier to reach out for the ooze in the atmosphere. The Goo Report had… well, reported a higher percentage of goo in the atmosphere than normal, too. I still wasn’t strong enough to conjure a full scale storm, but a purple raincloud or two? Totally doable! And great for declaring my location, too!

Right when I raised my hand dramatically towards the sky, though, I was interrupted by a new voice. “Hold it!”

“Red Heart!?” I spun in surprise towards the voice, only to find the familiar figure marching towards me with a furious expression on her face.

“Have you no shame!?” she demanded.

“Wh-what?”

“I mean, I knew you were no good from the start, of course - and after the way you treated poor Violet, I knew you had no common decency, or respect for a girl’s modesty, but to think you’d so shamelessly show off your own body as well…”

“My own body…?”

Uh, Olivia? Did you not notice? When you remade your body, you sorta didn’t include any clothes.

“...End me…”

“Oh, I intend to!” Red Heart declared, pointing her wand in my direction. “But first, I’m going to take you down, and force you to apologize to poor Violet!”

The heart-shaped crystal at the tip of her wand began to glow, and a moment later it shot out of the rod, a golden chain trailing behind it. At the same time, the crystal morphed, first inverting itself so that the tip was pointing towards me, then elongating and sharpening. I knew from my studies-

Studies?

Yes, my hours of consuming magical girl content could obviously, retroactively, be viewed as studying for just such an encounter as the one I found myself in! Studies which had taught me that her crystal heart dagger could pierce just about anything!

Which is why I very much recommend dodging out of the way!

Right! I mean, I wasn’t sure if I could actually be hurt by something like stabbing, but it was important to remember that - despite its unconventional use - this was still part of her wand!

With that in mind, I jumped backwards and out of range. I also almost tripped on a rock and fell on my ass, but I managed to regain my balance by waving my arms around like an idiot.

Definitely, totally, the impression I wanted to give off in front of one of my heroes…

“You… are you trying to make a mockery of our battle?” Red Heart accused me, narrowing her eyes.

“N-no! I’m just clumsy! Honest!”

“Do you think I’ll let you go if you appear harmless?” she demanded. “After what you did to Violet? Not to mention poor Pink!”

“I didn’t do anything to Pink!” I protested. “And Violet… I mean, she’s the one who keeps trying to go for the kill, you know? I was just trying to survive out there!”

“And surviving meant leaving the poor girl nude?” Red demanded. “Do you know what it was like to see her picture in the tabloids? I felt my mind blank out, for a moment! The mere thought of all those people looking at her that way… the poor thing!”

“That’s… I… It was an accident?” I tried. Truthfully!

Judging by the death glare Red gave me, it was probably the wrong answer, though.

“How dare you play around so casually with an innocent girl’s heart and body alike!?” She pulled back on her wand, drawing the knife and chain back to her, before snatching the chain out of the air with her left hand and twirling it a bit. 

“Don’t think you can escape me!” she cried out, letting the chain fly towards me again. Again, I jumped backwards, out of range. A range I, of course, knew down to the inch - specifically the chain extended six feet, five inches, but the dagger represented another seven inches. There was actually a lot of debate as to whether the dagger counted as part of the chain’s length, though! The-

“Heart’s Binding!” Red called out, dragging me out of my thoughts as the golden chain and heart dagger to glow. Suddenly, the chain began to move like a living thing, lunging towards me. The chain extended, at the same time - this spell in particular gave her about a foot, last I checked, but something must have changed because it was going way further than that now in its determination to chase me.

“I won’t let Violet’s violator get away!” she declared, with all her might. A declaration that really should have been followed with a cool pose, and maybe some dramatic music. Instead, she was running across the campus lawn, trying to catch up with me.

She was succeeding, too.

‘Tell me you have a plan?’ I asked Chrys, desperation somehow audible even in my mental voice.

Yup! You might not like it though. All you gotta do is-

Suddenly the chain began to glow even brighter, the dagger zooming forward to pass me by, before curving around my waist and wrapping around me.

A cry of victory came from Red, followed by a viscous tug that sent me flying towards her. Flying, and then falling, and then skidding, until I finally came to a rest by her feet.

“Got you!” she declared victoriously.

I wasn’t done yet, though. See, I had a thought, suddenly. If I could turn into a literal puddle of ooze - which apparently I could - then couldn’t my shapeshifting be used in all sorts of situations? Wasn’t my shape more a suggestion than anything? Sure, right now I looked like a human laying down, but what if I just… yanked my mass backwards into a ball, and then grew straight up like a person? No time for her to react, no time for her to pull me down. It even got me untangled from her chain!

It also put me perilously close to her, seeing as how I’d formed my body literally right at her feet. Close enough that we were almost touching. Close enough that any sudden moves could prove catastrophic.

“You!” she screamed, reaching out to try and shove me away. I squeaked, stumbled, and - instinctively - grabbed hold of the nearest object. Namely her shoulder. Which accomplished little but to pull her down with me.

Thankfully for both of us, I was sort of a bouncy surface even in my slim and slender form. No hard bones poking at her, no elbows jabbing anywhere sensitive. Just her stomach on mine. Her breasts pressed against mine.

Her lips pressed against mine.

‘Oh shit…’

Hey, how’d you know I was going to recommend kissing the girl?

‘H-huh?’

‘Close contact plus emotional disturbance that her brain can’t even begin to process? Jamming her crystal’s easy in a situation like this. I’m putting it in reboot mode - it’ll be down for twenty-four hours, so uh… do your best!

‘Do my best with what?’

“You…” Red whispered, pushing herself off me and stumbling backwards. “You… my first kiss…”

“...Would you believe it was an accident?”

“You…” She repeated, and then louder, “you! You stole my first kiss! I… I always thought it was… It was supposed to go to someone who… who’d stay by me for life… and you stole it…”

“That’s… Uh… I’m really sorry?” I ventured. I did feel guilty, but… it wasn’t like it was that big a deal, was it?

…You know, I probably should have seen this coming…

‘Seen what coming?’ I demanded.

“Heartly? Heartly, where are you? I need you… I’m…. I’m having… I’m having thoughts again… Bad thoughts…”

“W-wait, wait, what do you mean bad thoughts!? I… I’m sorry, alright? Really! I’ll… make it up to you? Somehow?”

“Make it up to me?” she whispered. Her eyes were unfocused, her expression strange. “You’ll take responsibility?”

Don’t do it!

“Uh… Yeah?” I mean, what was I supposed to do? Act like a heartless asshole? What did Chrys take me for?

“But you’re the villain…” Red muttered. “I need to bring you in… Oh.” Suddenly, her lips cracked apart into a smile. I should have felt relieved, but there was something off about her expression. “It all makes sense, now… If I bring you in, then I can keep you, can’t I? And if I can keep you, then you can take responsibility…”

“Wh-what do you mean keep me, exactly?” I asked, deciding to scoot up a bit.

Her hands moved, faster than I could see, her golden chain sliding under me and wrapping around my arms. I, of course, tried to get out - tried to transform, as I had before - only for the chains to suddenly glow. I… couldn’t move my body anymore.

“Don’t worry, little pet,” Red whispered to me. “I’ll keep you safe. I’ll keep everyone safe. Everyone and everything important to me. Nice and safe, under my care… It’s not smothering, not at all… more like mothering… don’t you think?”

“That’s… uh… nice and all, but could you undo the chains maybe?”

“The chains… the chains represent my love,” she told me, frowning. Which was rather concerning, considering the golden chains were slowly darkening in color, At the same time, the heart dagger was shifting, its blade growing longer and more pronounced, the heart turning into a more traditional handle. Soon, it looked less like a magical girl’s weapon, and more like… a cleaver, with a pitch black chain looped through the handle, and a blood red heart stamped upon the bottom of its handle.

“Right… Uh… What if I promised to stay without the chains?” I suggested. At the same time, I frantically tried to send thoughts to Chrys, asking what the hell was going on.

I told you the magical girls have problems, didn’t I? This is just Red Heart’s true nature!

“Don’t worry,” Red whispered, smiling as she pressed the cleaver down down into the earth, until only the hilt was sticking out of the ground. At the same time, she pressed her hand against my stomach, splaying her fingers out. “I’ll take good care of you… Okay?”

In that moment, I realized that other than speech my movement had been cut off completely. I couldn’t even nod my head.

~~~

Author's Notes

Site Link

Another chapter where I'm not really sure how to feel.... I wasn't originally planning to reveal Red Heart's true nature so early - or at leaast not all at once - but that's sort of how it ended up going once her crystal got shut down... She'll be back to "normal" soon, though! Sublimating her yandere urges into harmless, protective mothering! Nothing to worry about there! Nope!

I have half-baked plans for the next chapter, and I considered making this one longer by incorporating them - but to be honest, depression's kicking my ass tonight, so I'm ending it here and hoping you enjoy...