For the rest of the day, I made sheets of music and messed around with The King, perfectly emulating the Jester of the Court. I truly sunk myself into even further into the role, going so far as to wipe certain memories from my brain for the day to make sure I acted in the way he liked.

We laughed together as twisted best friends, wiping away tears of joy and patting each other on the back.

Miasma whispered his emotions and cruel thoughts endlessly into my ears.

The pretense of happiness is so frail, though I had regressed in my opinions to a more juvenile understanding of the world due to the memory wiping. As a result, it couldn’t bother me.

He broke my rib cage as easily as twitching when he hugged me, before ordering the bone to fix itself. I gain a few levels in Pain Resistance as a result.

At night, I snuggle with Facet, perfectly comfortable. We cozy up with each other, sharing in each other’s warmth like wild dogs in a den.

I get up first thing in the morning, ready to rack their minds with terror. I was the unruly Princess, ready to torment those around her.

I skip eagerly to the vault, sneering as I prepare a plan to terrify them.

They are so innocent, hiding in their shelters, living in a whole ‘nother world separate from the bloodshed I crawl through every day. It enrages me to see them come out everything every day whole and hale. They are completely incapable of beginning to understand my personality and decisions because their surrounding life never molded them into a monstrous cast.

I will teach them how to be HAPPY.

My head twitches to the side, snarling as if I could growl out the mental intrusion. I clutch my face, drawing ethereal blood easily.

No. I have done enough. I’m changing my mind.

I refuse to do pranks at the behest of the wrong concept. I don’t want to teach them a lesson. I do pranks to liven things up. It increases the entertainment of life, and increasing entertainment betters life. I am no philosopher taking their logic to the natural, yet extreme, conclusion. I am a monster enslaved to my whims and quirks, not to some higher ideology.

So on my whim, I backflip in the opposite direction of the vault and run on my hands back to the throne room.

Suddenly, the wall in front of explodes!

*CRASH!!!*

The walls in front of me shatters in a massive flash of light and I switch to my legs for running, not that it would make much difference in my speed given my Inhuman Movements.

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Massive chunks of solid stone tumble down in an avalanche, half-molten with lava condensing from the air as parts of the wall that had turned gaseous cool down to liquid state.

The timing is rather suspicious, no?

“WHOOP! WHOOP! I never get tired of blasting through these Tormented Zones,” shouts a high feminine voice.

A smile fights its way across my cheeks. It doesn’t seem like they noticed me.

“Hey, WATCH IT! There are people walkin’ here!” I shout out towards them in a Bostonian accent, giving my voice a curmudgeonly affect to it.

“Kids these days, firing their dinky little weapons everywhere!"

“Who the fuck is talking to us?” A Magical Guardian with electric yellow hair shouts back, zooming in with a befuddled expression on her face.

“It’s me, a poor, innocent citizen of our most noble city." I say wryly.

"Please don’t kill me, Magical Girl Sunshine.” I drop the act, smiling in amusement. I recognize her easily. She’s one of the top protectors in our neighborhood and she is well-known for being trigger-happy. She could kill me at any moment.

Her jaw completely drops, her face flushing intensely. While floating mid-air, her posture turns nervous and she pulls on her armor plate like she is trying to release heat. Which is honestly kind of weird because her armor looks it is one continuous humanoid tank shell made of solid plasma.

It wouldn’t exactly make sense to be trying to release body heat when you are armored by something as hot as the surface of the sun.

“Oh my... ummm, hi.”

I frown at her reaction. I know I did nothing that would elicit such a reaction. Was she poisoned by one of the Anathema? I literally asked her not to kill me. That should have elicited worry or concern at the very least.

“Are you ok, ma’am?” I ask worriedly.

“Oh yeah, I’m, uh, I’m fine.” she gives my body a long look and I don’t even think she knows that she was obvious.

My eyebrow raises.

I understand now.

This is ridiculous. She is in the midst of what amounts to a warzone. Thoughts of romance should be the farthest thing possible from her mind.

“Well, um, I’m going to leave now. I hope your work goes well.” I give her a sloppy salute. I jauntily walk off, whistling as I go.

“UH WAIT!” Suddenly, she is right next to me, holding onto my shoulder. I look back with interested, wide eyes, staring into the depths of her eyes with an intense stare. I then look neutrally down at her hand and then back up.

She looks down at her hand on my shoulder and then leaps back with an “EEP!”

“I’m sorry! I was just wondering whether I could have your phone number?”

Now it's my turn to be shocked. My skin turns a darker shade of brown-grey.

Puhhhhuhuhuhuhuhahahahahahaha! I mentally wipe a tear of laughter. What the fuck is going on?!

“Ummm, I wouldn’t mind trading phone numbers for, like, friend-type shit. I, er, have a girlfriend. Still would love to be your friend,” I say awkwardly.

We... trade phone numbers... and that’s it...

She didn't attempt to stab me...

I go towards The King’s throne room, and she goes to back to her team of Magical Guardians. She did not attack me, nor did she interrogate me. Was this really due to Fae Heart? Without skills to weaponize that Charisma though, my thousand points only emphasizes what is there.

I am dearly confused.