Taken in Stride

by Recon

08. Heartbeat

Heartbeat
08

Tweeting of early mockingbirds floated up from the ground level, echoing through the area that surrounded the hotel. The Advent complex's garden roof was unusually calm today, save the breeze of the autumn wind and the sudden bursts of practice magic and their subsequent grunts coming from the blonde-maned colt. He discharged another bolt of electric blue magic, directly at a can he threw up as a target, shattering in pieces and floating to the ground.

"Cobalt..." the suited stallion whispered teasingly. "If you push yourself too hard, you'll hurt yourself," he said in an antagonistic playful tone.

"Shut up," the green colt grunted. "Once I see that man, I'm going to settle this once and for all. He's going to regret making a fool out of me." He flung a rock up into the air and expelled another blinding beam of magic to destroy it. "I know I'm not good right now, but I-"

"It's so nice out today," the stallion resumed in his un-charming carefree voice.

"Don't interrupt me!" he countered.

"It feels so good..."

"Hey! Are you even listening to me! Shut up! You always do this to me!" the colt continued, frustrated. However, he was only a whisper in the wind to the stallion.

"When the weather is this nice... It makes me want to go out and do something."

"Good morning, Miss Vinyl."

"Good morning, Emerald." The two exchanged their typical morning greetings, unchanged since even the first day of their service in each others' company. Even their voices, their rhythm in the simple sentence managed to stay identical, the act being as routine as waking up in the morning. Yet, Vinyl could never manage to look Emerald in the eye; it even proved difficult even to say his name directly to him. Their meeting quickly revived memories at the ballroom last night.

~

"This time, I am going to ask you," she continued. She held up her hoof to him, locking their eyes together. "Would you be my Secret Service agent?"

~

How embarassing, she thought, visibly blushing and cringing at the memories of that moment.

"It made me so happy yesterday," Emerald said, snapping her out of her trance, "when you asked me to enter into this contract with you." Vinyl stammered, unsure of what to say, so she let him continue. "Now I can serve you again," he remarked with a reassuring smile.

She gave a quick chuckle before responding, punctuating her persona. "I just thought it would be handy to have a bodyguard around in case something happens." Emerald appeared unfazed by the obvious lie, leading Vinyl to believe he's become accustomed to this habit.

"Yes," he agreed, acknowledging her false point. "But still, it made me very happy. However," he continued," I never imagined that taking you to school would bring much sorrow," he conceded with a wistful expression, almost on the verge of tears. "It's like a divine punishment," he crooned melodramatically. Vinyl sighed.

"It isn't just school," she told him, raising an eyebrow. "Seeing me go anywhere makes you sad."

"You're right. But I feel it makes me sadder than before." He paused, picking up her bags and holding her hoof in majestic fashion. "May I at least escort you on the way there?"

"Yeah," Vinyl said in a tight, restricted, embarrassed voice, her cheeks dyed a scarlet hue. Emerald closed his eyes and smiled, visibly overcome with joy.

"Thank you." Leading the way towards the elevator and gesturing her to come over, Emerald found himself almost nuzzling her as they were walking, and the effect it had on Vinyl was telltale.

What is this? As they were inside the elevator, she bowed her head and raised a hoof to her heart, feeling her heart beat with a deep blush, absolutely confused at the strange, unfamiliar pattern and fluttering she'd never felt before.

~

The school day passed, Vinyl managing to get through the day without any pointless groundless hostility, as, being the second day of school, it was quite lax and not laborious in the slightest. Despite this, she had decided to treat herself to a bath in the extremely well-refined bathroom - which was resemblant to an indoor pool - the complex had provided for all of its residents, as beautiful as the exterior would suggest.

The bath was unoccupied by anyone other than her at the moment, so Vinyl decided to spend a little over half an hour in the room. She faced the glass wall that also doubled as a window, staring out into the tranquil scenery of the complex's courtyard in the shroud of night. There were dim lights scattered along the cobblestone path that lead to the hotel, the light just barely reaching the surrounding abundancy of trees and the wildlife that inhabited them. Wind had blown leaves from time to time, evoking an eerie yet refreshing atmosphere in and out of the complex.

No other feeling in the world could measure up to the comfort of this. She took the time to readjust her unkempt mane and reconsider the morning's events that plagued her throughout the day. With her head thrown back in enigmatic abandon, she pondered the busy morning.

My heart rate's been weird since this morning...

Finishing her bath, she stood up and obtained a set of towels from the racks not too far from the pool-like bath. She draped a small cloth one around her head and mane, effectively drying them off before resting it around her neck, while she wore the other standard, generic pale blue robe. She sighed, stretching her limbs before lying down on a couch.

I can't seem to settle down.

As soon as she laid down, her cell phone began to vibrate, but only for a fleeting moment as she received an incoming text message. She flipped open her phone, greeted by the text "Message from: Emerald". He replied? She navigated to the message app, reading the text.

"I did nothing to deserve your thanks. Rather, I must thank you for sending me such kind e-mails. I am very grateful for your kind of treatment."

Again, she found her heart beating incredibly rapidly, figuring it would almost be audible to those around her, as well as herself. It raced and raced, showing no sign of stopping. There it goes again... Could this be what they call...

An irregular heartbeat?

Her tension eased up. With the move, it's been so hectic... I need to take care of my health.

Just then, the sound of an aluminum soda can clashing against metal brought her out of her thoughts. She looked in the direction, noticing a colt with a jade green fur coat, complemented with a blonde, frazzled mane. He turned around, noticing her as well, revealing brilliant blue eyes.

I wonder if he lives here. I've never seen him before.

"Hey, you," he called, pointing at Vinyl. "What are you looking at?" the colt asked aggressively as he walked over.

"You were looking at me first," she confessed.

"Stop staring at me. Look somewhere else."

"You first."

The colt paused, inspecting her more closely, recognizing her ever so slightly. Wait...

"You're that white-maned agent's partner, aren't you?" he asked accusingly. "Your attitude sucks."

"Huh?"

"I'm Cobalt, room one, and I'm a delinquent!" he yelled in a confident voice, raising a triumphant hoof. Vinyl laughed and smirked.

"Hah. You say that like you're proud of it," she remarked. "How kind of you to warn me." He visibly recoiled.

"I'm Vinyl Scratch," she continued, offering her hoof in a sarcastic hoofshake. "Room four."

Another person who won't take me seriously? Cobalt thought, his anger rising. "Just because I don't look as tough as an agent, doesn't mean I can't hurt you! I'm a delinquent! I'm fully capable of- ah!"

He was cut off by an arm dragging him backwards by the throat, revealing what Vinyl believed was his Secret Security agent. "Don't talk to ladies like that," he scolded playfully in a high pitched voice. The pony was dressed in the typical agent attire, exactly identical to that of Emerald's, except he had a distinguishing feature. Above his beige coat and brilliant red mane was a bandage strapped around his head, covering his right eye.

"Hellooo~," he crooned. "Nice to meet you~ Oh, who am I? I'm Joker! I'm Cobalt's Secret Service agent~" he said in a painful singsong voice.

"You're... his agent?" she asked in disbelief. [i\These agents aren't seeming very intimidating anymore; first, a shy girl who seems hungry all the time, and now a playful one acting like a clown?

The stallion, while appearing like a run-of-the-mill magician of some sort, possessed an air not unlike a sinister... well, joker. His bright red hair punctuated his brilliant smile, though she found the bandage covering his right eye very unappealing. He was by no means handsome by any standard, but rather cute in a mysterious, even sinister way. His verbal approach stayed true to none of it, however.

"I was born twenty-three years ago, with a weight of 3020 grams~ I quickly grew into a quirky boy. Virgo, blood type B. However, I see things I don't wish to see~" he admitted, ambiguous as ambiguous could be. "This is my sad story~"

"When looking to combat my distrust of humans," he continued, "I look to the east, to the west-"

Vinyl cut him off. "Wait, are you-"

He returned the favor. "Oh~! You wish to know more about me? Sorry, but I think a little mystery can be quite an enticement. How-ev-er~," Joker said, ending his playful tone and beginning a matter-of-fact one, yet still keeping an edge of playfulness around.

"I know everything about you, Vinyl Scratch. I also know what's causing your irregular heartbeat," he said, pointing towards her chest. She raised an eyebrow. "I know your past and your future~ All than can be seen and all that cannot be..." He nudged the bandage that covered his right eye.

"You're..." Vinyl began, only to be interrupted again.

His playful, joking tone resumed. "You may ask me anything about anything, so long as you win the match tomorrow~"

"Match?"

"I've come to challenge your agent to a death match," Cobalt admitted, yet still strangled under Joker's firm grip. She couldn't tell if he was serious or not, but given their demeanors, it was highly unlikely they were and he was simply overexaggerating, as he did earlier.

"That's right~!" the agent yelled, picking Cobalt up and hoisting him on his back like a baby.

Joker waved back at Vinyl as they left, an eager smile on his face. "I'm looking forward to tomorrow."

Author's Note:

Hey there. Some of you may also be following another ongoing story that I'm writing named Croitre and probably noticed the "irregular heartbeat" concept being used here as well. Truth be told, this story is actually where the "irregular heartbeat" originated, so this story doesn't recycle content, but rather, Croitre does in a sense. Anyway, just thought you should know. As always, I hope you enjoy, and thanks for reading.

Comments

[hakumei]

3541145 i figured there would be more anime fans in fimfiction