Torn Apart

I Know I Let You Down

Vivi dug her fingernails into her cheeks as the hole closed. As the light faded so did Lewis' mansion, leaving nothing but an imprint to show where it had been. Her eyes darted from Aji rocking on the ground to Mrs. Pepper disappearing into the dark after her husband to the all-too-still white lump of fur at the edge of the field.

Lewis was gone. She's known he had to go. They'd talked about it. But then, he'd promised to never leave her again. And Arthur was gone too. And she was alone with a dog, a horse, two birds and a loon.

Maybe two loons, counting herself.

Arthur had left. Arthur had been piecing things together the whole time while she bumbled around chasing the edge pieces. The Pepper family was the real crux of the case while Chloe and Duet's parts had fallen into place as events unfolded.

Mystery and Aji were hurt. Chloe and Mr. Pepper were scrambled. Mrs. Pepper had just been cracked wide open between Demeter and Arthur. That only left Vivi.

I've been making all the mistakes. I can't do this.

Her spine sagged under the weight of her disastrous headlong charge into danger, her wild accusations at Lewis, and the terrible question that had almost cost him everything. Even now, she stood perfectly still while the world came down around their ears instead of doing something useful.

And then her spine snapped straight.

She was the one that had put ink on the contract for the van and it had turned out perfectly. She was the one who had dragged them together to become an investigative group. She was the face of the team to the public and the one that picked the cases. She'd made plenty of decisions before this mess and plenty of them had turned out great.

"Besides," she muttered to herself, plucking up courage, "Squire and Lew have made plenty of mistakes too and they're still doing what they have to do. Aji!" She hurried over, pulling her scarf off. "Hey, lemme see that."

Aji's face screwed up as she breathed through her nose, her face white. Her wing-was that her arm under it?-hung too far out and was twisted at a weird angle. Feathers were damp, but the scarlet coloring made it hard to tell where the blood came from.

"Here, take this." Vivi handed her the scarf. "Bind it up. I'll get our healer over here in a minute."

"Don't bother," Aji managed through her teeth. "Find Dad!"

"I'm pretty sure your Mom has that under control." Vivi made to stand, but Aji swung her good arm around to grab at Vivi.

"That's what I'm worried about! She tried to kill Dulcie! This whole time, and I never knew... You have to keep her away from Dad!"

Vivi hesitated, weighing Aji's words. Then she shook her head. "I'll be back with Chloe."

"Vivi!"

"He wouldn't want you to bleed out, Aji, and that's where you're headed." She turned on her heel, making for the edge of the field as fast as she could.

As she approached, she could see Mystery struggling to regain footing against the unicorn that kept butting him to the ground. Their argument became clear as she drew closer.

"Yatsume! Stop moving, you'll make it worse."

"There's nothing to make worse, it's just some scratches. I can heal myself. Stop this foolishness!"

"I saw the whole fight and the only foolishness is you, the baka-desu dog that won't lie still and let me do my job!"

"I don't need you to heal me, I can heal myself!"