The Old Memories

Shutting the door behind him, Felix dropped like a rock onto the bed. He placed Velvet beside him and leaned back. He had been up the entire night, and only now was his exhaustion hitting him.

Velvet was frazzled too, but still a bit agitated from her encounter with Katie.

“You doing okay, Velvet?”

“Yes, I’ll be fine.” She paused. “This Suzie. Who exactly is she to you?”

“She’s my old employer, and the one who taught me alchemy. I first met her about ten years ago when I was a kid.”

“You’ve known her that long?”

“Yeah. We go way back.”

“What exactly happened between you two?”

“We had a disagreement and I said some pretty awful things to her.”

“A disagreement? About what?”

“Look, I don’t want to talk about it. I was being an idiot, she tried to talk some sense into me, and I got mad. Let’s just leave it at that. Now let’s get to bed.”

Velvet had her own bed back home, although she usually didn’t sleep in it, instead preferring to fall asleep in random places like chairs or window sills. It was incredibly odd to Felix, but also kinda cute. It reminded him of a cat.

Their room at Doll Corps HQ had only one bed, and while it perhaps wasn’t too gentlemanly, Felix took the bed while Velvet slept on one of the plush chairs. Felix assumed they’d just keep the same sleeping arrangements here. Afterall, beds weren’t Velvet’s style anyway.

However, Velvet hadn’t yet gotten off the bed, instead turning to him and saying, “You do know why living dolls need to sleep, yes? Sleeping helps us conserve mana and recover it from our mediums more efficiently.”

“Of course, everyone knows that.”

“And mana is physical, the closer a medium and their living doll are, the faster the mana flows.”

Felix felt blush creeping across his face, imagining what she was implying.

“What I’m saying is…” Velvet nervously looked away, and after a long pause, she finally said, “Nevermind. Goodnight.”

“Yeah, goodnight…”

As Felix turned away, his face burned, his heart beat fast, and thoughts tore through his head. Surely she wasn’t suggesting that, right?

Sleep did not come easily.

***

The sun soon rose, although Felix and Velvet didn’t get up until noon. Once they did, they went downstairs and met with their generous hostess.

“Oh, you two are finally awake.” Suzie was hard at work concocting medicine.

“Hmph!” Someone else was much less excited to see them. Katie was sitting in the corner with her nose turned up and a look of scorn on her face.

“Hey, Katie…” Felix said awkwardly.

She looked at him. “Let it be known that I still haven’t forgiven you!” she huffed. ”But I’ll let it slide for now, only because Suzie asked me to.” With an even more scornful look, she closed her eyes and turned up her nose again.

Felix was relieved, but Velvet was unimpressed.

“Thanks, Katie…”

Another “Hmph!” was her only response.

“Anywho, now that you two are done, can you come over here and give me a hand, Felix?”

“Sure.” Felix sat down next to her. “These are just standard potions, right?”

“Yup, for the military. They’re coming to pick up this order tonight, and I’m way behind. As soon as we’re done we can get started on Velvet, okay?”

“Okay.”

“Sorry, Velvet. We’ll fix you once we’re done. I’ve got some books up in my room if you want to do some reading.”

“I think I will, thank you.” Velvet disappeared upstairs.

Suzie started explaining how they’d do this. “You just heat up and prepare the base, I’ll mix in the elements and bottle each dose, sound good?”

“Got it.”

The process was thankfully simple and easy, just tedious. But with both of them working together, the job was done in only a couple hours.

Suzie let out a loud sigh of relief as she bottled the last dose. “Finally done.” She leaned back in her chair. “Still, it wasn’t so bad. Us working together like this, it’s a bit like the old days, right?”

“Yeah, I suppose so.”

“That reminds me.” Reaching down, she pulled up a newspaper. Check it, your handsome mug’s all over the frontpage.

Felix leaned in to get a good look, and lo and behold, beneath a massive printed “WANTED” were pictures of him and Velvet.

“Go figure, I guess.” He looked over the page, his eyes falling onto the reward. “A hundred-thousand!? Just for information!?”

“Yeah, that’s more than even I make in a year. They must want you badly.”

That number was outrageous. Felix figured they’d be pursued, but that seemed excessive. He took another look at the paper and saw something that didn’t quite fit. “Hey, what’s this here? It says we’re a part of the Empire? That’s not true at all! And hold on! It’s saying we’re responsible for the attack last night!? Why are they pinning that on us!?”

“Hm? It’s very strange. That other doll, Edea, did it, right? Honestly, she’s much more powerful than Velvet. If they recruited her then things start coming together.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, if Edea is now in their employ, that means they now have two Gwehrtain Angels, including debatably the most powerful one. Velvet becomes less necessary. They can then pin the attack on Velvet, you, and the Empire, justifying all-out war.”

Felix thought about it for a second. “Damn, you might be right.” He sighed. “We’ve gotten ourselves into some real trouble…”

This conversation was cut abruptly short, however.

“Oh, Felix!” A foreign mischievousness was heard in Velvet’s voice as she bounded down the stairs holding some kind of book. “Would this be you by any chance?” She opened it up and it was a photo album, filled with pictures of…

“W-where did you get that!?” Blushing furiously, Felix tried to grab it, but Velvet gracefully floated far up out of his reach.

“Upstairs in Suzie’s room.”

“Suzie!” He shot his head towards her. “You said you got rid of those!”

“Oops!” Throwing up her hands, she put on a cute face. Clearly lying, she said, “Must’ve slipped my mind!”

The album was filled with pictures of an adorable child who looked about ten dressed in various girly outfits.

“You were so cute as a kid. And these outfits are absolutely adorable.” Velvet pointed to a photo of little Felix in a pink dress with a red bow in his hair.

“Thank you, thank you, all my early work, but still quite good, if I do say so myself.” Suzie was giving herself metaphorical pats on the back. “My personal favorite is on the next page.”

Turning the page, Velvet’s eyes widened as she saw little Felix dressed up in a maid outfit. “Aw, such a sweet little thing you were.”

Furiously blushing, Felix attempted to explain himself, “Look, I was paid very handsomely to model those, all right?”

“Yeah, and he was a tough bargainer too! A whole steak for each dress!” Suzie reminisced about those old days.

“Oh-ho-ho! I remember this!” Katie had hovered up beside Velvet. “My favorite is on this page.” Flipping a few pages forward, she revealed photos of little Felix in a princess dress complete with a tiara.

Velvet gasped. “So cute!”

“That’s it! I’m leaving!” He shot up and started power walking towards the door.

“Wait! Wait!” Suzie latched onto him, trying to stop him from going. “You can’t leave! They’ll catch you!”

“I don’t care! Being locked up is preferable to this!”

They eventually managed to stop him, although he still had to endure the teasing for what felt like an eternity as they slowly made their way through the album, gushing over every new snapshot.

However, after all the fun had been had, there was still one last picture in the album, loosely secured with only a clip at the very back. A photo of little Felix, young Suzie, and Katie standing in front of the newly opened atelier, all smiling at the camera.

Felix stared at it quietly and nostalgically. The brand new atelier, those smiles… It felt like a lifetime ago… With a faint smile, Felix brushed his thumb over the edge of the picture.