Chapter 183 - Not Here

"It's not here. It's really not here. Where is it? Who took it?!" the fake Petunia said and eventually shouted at the end which almost made her lose grip on her glamour to all these female guards in the precinct.

"I mean, can you please help me find it?" She followed up immediately with puppy eyes which made the glamour's grip stronger on them.

"Roger that, ma'am." The guards saluted and scooted out of the commander's office in one line.

"This is bad. I can't convince those royal people with my shitty acting skills and I can't even find the collar ughh!" Heize said and took a deep breath as she took off her disguise inside the now empty and messy commander's office.

"I'm sorry Petunia. But this is the last chance I've got in saving us. And with you losing your memories? I don't think you're capable of pulling this off anymore.. I have to make sure we're going to live and mark our words to them. That we're not just anybody's price nor possession. We are human too and we have the right to decline," Heize said and put on her disguise once again.

"Did they catch the princess and those two escapees?" Bring me to them immediately," Heize, the cat impersonating Petunia, said to her assistant who was waiting for her outside of the commander's office.

"And make sure that cat's there, no matter what."

"Roger that, ma'am Petunia!" the assistant said which made Heize roll her eyes at her again in secret.

"Well at least they haven't noticed my glamour yet," Heize said and fixed the wig-costume that she used to cover up for her cat baldness.

"I hope you'll forgive me, Petunia," Heize whispered before her assistant started walking towards the garage space where she ordered to bring all the prisoners from the holding cells.

***

"So, does distance here work the same in the real world? Like time?"

"Yes, that's why we're not traveling that far," Gem answered Von's hundredth question with a tired eye roll.

"But why am I so tired! I've never felt so tired before in my whole life!" Von grunted while exaggerating his walking posture by putting weight in his hands and looking like he was just dragging them around with him.

"That's probably because you've been super used to flying your whole life that you don't know how tiring walking is actually anymore," Gem said.

"But isn't walking just the same as sitting down? Gravity works for me whenever I sit down or lay in the bed, but I have never felt this heavy before!"

"That must also have something to do with losing your very little strength even if it's already close to being non-existence," Gem said and stifled her laugh which made Von pout and glare at her.

"You're mean. But hey, at least I didn't lose my memories here like Fily, right?" 

"Yup. You're right and we're here. Do you want to go out with me?" Gem said innocently which made Von's eyes enlarge and his cheeks blush a little bit even though he actually did not misunderstand what Gem said.

"Hey, you still listening?" Gem followed up and waved her hands in front of Von who was just suddenly silent, "Don't tell me your memories are also gone? If so then you're Von and I'm your friend who's asking you if you want to leave this place together with me or just stay in here while I peek at the real world."

"Your friend… ah right! Yes, I would like to leave," Von said and flashed a totally innocent smile to Gem which weirded her out a little.

"O-Okay, are you sure?" Gem said and asked hesitantly.

"Yes, why?" Von said, acting like an innocent child even though his mind was being bombarded with a lot of different 'what ifs' thoughts.

"Because it will be hard if we get caught at the same time, especially if we come to the wrong place. But that's not actually an issue since you could just fly away and I could just go back here in Solitude anyway…" Gem said while thinking about her thoughts out loud.

"Or you could just bring us both back to Solitude, right?" Von said.

"Uhhh, I'm not sure about that…'' Gem said, being very cautious of Von's involvement with the Salamandite's powers because she's not entirely sure if it would be safe the second time and the next time that she would bring them in here.

"Why not? It's not like something bad will happen to me here, right?"

"I think it's best if we just do this… once and never do it again. I can't risk harming you, Von."

"Is there something you're not telling me?" Von asked with a serious face.

"Nothing! I just…. I'm scared, okay? This is only my second time bringing someone else in here and I don't know if the second one and the next ones would be the same or different. I just don't want to hurt you… you understand me?" Gem said with a pleading tone which also made Von's heart soften for her a little bit.

"Okay, fine. But what about when you come back? Do you think I would still be here when you come back? What if I just disappear while you're gone?" Von asked curiously while marveling the big black with green wires on the edges of the black screen that Gem summoned to show them the description of her skill Solitude.

"Hmm, you're right. We don't want that to happen so we should just go out together," Gem said and offered a hand mindlessly to Von which made him blush once again.

"Uhmm, we're going out now?" Von said and immediately put his closed hands in front of his mouth to cover the naughty smile that he couldn't stop from forming with his mouth while awkwardly trying to reach for Gem's hand with his other hand.

"Yes now," Gem said and grabbed Von's hands aggressively before dissipating into the air with him immediately.

"What the-," a guy said and fell down on his butt from the surprise of two kids just suddenly popping out in front of his way.

"Petunia! Where's Petunia!? Have you seen Petunia?" Gem shouted out Petunia's name the moment she opened her eyes and saw a lot of guys loitering around the hallway where they decided to enter the holding cells area secretly at.

"We're not here to look for Petunia," Von whispered to Gem.

"Oh… really?" Gem said and looked at her Stat-hut to check if Von was telling the truth.

And then she saw the word collar in her notes which made her facepalm herself.

"We went in the wrong direction. I thought we're looking for Petunia… sorry," Gem whispered, which Von did not hear clearly because of the tight crowd that almost pushed them away from each other.

"Why are you not in your cells?" Von asked in annoyance and tightened his grip on Gem's hands so they would not get lost.

"W-Which cat?" the guy who fell asked while taking a few steps away from Gem and Von for scaring him like that.

"The one in jail," Gem said and noticed the circle that these male guards had unintentionally made around her and Von while the two parties were keeping a safe cautious distance from each other.

Not even a second passed and the whole hallway's attention was on the two kids already. In the newcomer's eyes, the two of them seemed very lost in the middle of the open circle that the crowd made for them as a result of that guy who did his very best to step away from them.

"She's been brought to the garage where we're told to go now." A calm guard stepped forward and told them the changes that happened in the real world without their knowledge whatsoever.

"Oh no, this is bad," Gem said and looked worriedly at Von.

"Should we go back to Solitude?" Von asked and noticed his hands that were still far from letting go of Gem's hands even though the crowd already gave them space to not lose each other anymore.

"Wait, we need to report to Venedette and the others," Gem said and proceeded with her task without even letting go of Von's hand which made Von's heart pound against his chest a little bit. There was even a little bile of saliva stuck in his throat which made it harder for him to pay attention to what was happening around them without getting lost in his loud heartbeat.

"Why is this so loud? Calm down heart, this is nothing," Von whispered to himself and even used his free hands to knock his chest back to its senses but the beating of his heart won't listen to him nor stop by his command.

"This sucks!" Von whispered and accidentally pulled his hand away from Gem's by his accident which caught Gem by surprise after being too focused on her task.

"Oh, sorry," Gem said mindlessly before going back to her task without even paying a little bit of attention to Von, which bombarded his mind with a lot of positive and negative thoughts at once.