Happy snow day! After a bit of downtime due to laptop trouble, here's Chapter 3. Thanks to crystalfeathers for her (short) review.

Chapter 3 - To Be a Heartless

When I finally caught up with my group (they ran much faster than me), I saw Cobalt pointing in various directions. As he did, a couple of Powerwilds would scramble off where he had pointed. When the last two had left, I realized that only Cobalt and I remained. "Well, then, Miss White," he began, jumping in front of me, "it looks like we're the only ones left." He turned in another direction and stared for a few moments. "Let's test your abilities. Go ahead of me, and if you find a heartful being, distract it. I'll be right behind you." A shiver of nervousness crept through me. I swallowed a lump in my throat, suddenly worried. Cobalt turned to me. "Something wrong, Miss White?"

I felt myself blush. "Well... I've never done anything like this before." It was embarrassing to admit the fact... though I couldn't figure out why.

Cobalt laughed shortly. "You're only a day old, aren't you? Don't worry about it." I was a bit surprised that he wasn't yelling at me; my first impression had been that he was short-tempered. "I don't think you can get in trouble you first day on the job. Now get out there." His last statement was a bit tense as he pointed. I nodded and followed his gesture to a thick cluster of trees. I looked back to see the Powerwild jumping up into the branches before proceeding forward.

"Oh, here's one!" a female voice exclaimed. I turned toward the source of the sound, only to see nothing but more trees. The rustling of the leaves above me ceased, and I concluded that Cobalt had heard the sounds, as well.

"That sounds like a human," he whispered, just loud enough for me to hear. "I didn't think we'd find any of those around here. Keep going."

Without responding, I continued to walk to where I had heard the sound. A second voice, also female, could be heard: "You're right! We should take this one home."

I wasn't sure what they were talking about, but they sounded happy. I continued creeping through the trees until I saw a very small clearing. Two slightly tan creatures stood around something. Both of them stood on two thin legs and wore similar outfits that looked like they were made for blending in, had they not been orange or pink. The pink-clad one stood up, holding a shining rock with her fingers. I felt a bit jealous as I looked at my own fingerless arms.

"This is our chance," Cobalt hissed from above. "Go over there and distract them. Once they're occupied, I'll strike and rip out their hearts."

I couldn't help but cringe. The whole process sounded so painful... but I figured that it was best not to question him. With a deep yet silent breath, I paced into the clearing, looking up at the women. The one in orange looked down at me and gasped, jumping back. "Fuchsia!" she cried. "There's a Heartless!"

"Fuchsia" looked down and, too, appeared startled. Instead of screaming and jumping back, though, she only laughed. "Relax. It's only a White Mushroom. They're harmless. In fact..." she bent down to my eye level and grinned, "they're kind of cute."

I blinked my yellow eyes. Cute? I was... cute?

The woman in orange was silent for a moment. "I... I knew that." She approached me as Fuchsia stood up to full height again.

"This is a good time to see how good you are at magic. If it shivers, use Fire. If it fans itself, use Blizzard. If a lightbulb appears above its head, use Thunder. Got it?"

"I think so." The other woman nodded.

Confusion washed over me. Shivering? Fanning? Lightbulbs? What was she talking about? The air around me suddenly felt... colder. I began to shake slightly and wrapped my arms around myself. "That's it!" Fuchsia pointed at me. "Use Fire, quick!"

The other woman (whose name I still did not know) took a step back with one foot and held out her hands. "Here goes..." she muttered. "Fire!"

My eyes went wide as her hands glowed red. Was she really going to throw fire at me? I tried to stop shivering, but I only felt colder as the seconds slowly ticked by. There was a flash of light before a fireball went rushing toward me. I gasped loudly, expecting to feel extreme pain -- even in my young age, I knew that fire could burn and even kill someone. However, the pain never came. I stopped shivering, feeling the temperature return to normal. I opened my eyes and saw the woman in orange smiling proudly. "I did it!" she cheered.

"Nice job, Sis!" Fuchsia cheered, slapping her sister's hand. I couldn't help but feel happy for them, as well. I began jumping up and down.

"Congratulations!" I acclaimed, clapping. I continued cheering and jumping, but the two humans were silent. "What's wrong?" I asked, stopping.

"It... it talks..." Fuchsia's sister squeaked, eyes wide. "Heartless aren't supposed to talk..."

Cobalt's screech could be heard at that moment. I wheeled about to see a blue blur rushing toward us. I ducked as Cobalt pounced on the woman in orange. Fuchsia screamed and ran in the opposite direction, but an orange figure stopped her. My eyes darted back and forth from Cobalt's struggle with the unnamed human to the Bouncywild's assault on Fuchsia. Nothing but pure horror filled me as Cobalt knocked the woman unconscious and reached into her chest. He pulled his hand out in a dramatic motion, holding a shimmering pink object. It pulsed a few times before he crushed it in his fist and dropped the shards to the ground, where they vaporized into nothing. The orange-clad woman, face frozen, suddenly began to fade.

"W... What's happening?" I whispered, trembling again. My eyes gazed toward the Bouncywild to see her doing the same thing to Fuchsia. For some reason, I pressed my arms against my chest, feeling something in it pounding rapidly. "This isn't right..." I wasn't even sure if those words made it out of my mouth before I blacked out.

"Somebody get this girl up!"

"Oh, give her a break, Bow! Even you fainted when you saw a heart being removed for the first time!"

"I did not! I was just... sleepy, that's all."

"Sleepy my freaking --!"

"That's ENOUGH! You two separate or I'll separate you myself!"

My vision slowly returned to me at the sound of the familiar voices. Hovering above me was Embre Bell, and Cobalt and Bow were slowly backing away from each other at her harsh glare. Involuntarily, I made a small noise in my throat. The red bell-shaped woman looked down at me. "Oh, you're awake," she gasped, hovering down to my eye level. Her voice sounded much more level than before.

"W... What happened?" I groaned, feeling my head throb.

"You lost consciousness" -- another word I was surprised I knew -- "during your mission in Deep Jungle, after you saw a heart being removed. Cobalt brought you to your room to rest." She looked around my large room and shook her tiny head a bit. "Who decided to room you alone?"

I began to think. Who had assigned me my room? "I... I'm not sure."

Embre locked eyes with me and laughed lightly. I noticed that her laugh was unlike Bow's and far less monotone. "I didn't really expect you to know the answer to that." I felt my face heat up a bit. "But don't worry. I'll pull a few strings and see if I can't get you a novice-level roommate."

"O-Okay," I stammered, a bit unsure about the thought of a roommate. Being alone in the room was a bit scary, yes, but would it be more or less with someone else around?

"Oh, and one more order of business, and you can get your rest." She cleared her throat. "I know you are not familiar with the rules of being a Heartless, but one of the most important ones is that..."

Bow suddenly jumped on my bed and leaned forward so that our faces were nearly touching. "You're not supposed to talk to humans!" she half-shouted. I could feel her gripping the sheets; I felt more nervous than I ever had in my little time of existing.

"Bow, control yourself," Embre gently commanded. The Bouncywild "yes ma'am-ed" meekly before letting herself fall to floor. "You are excused for the rest of the night, Miss Tangi." Bow bowed slightly before scurrying out of the room. Embre turned to me again. "I apologize for that. Bow can be a bit... extreme sometimes. But she is right. Talking to humans, as well as nearly every other creature with a heart, is strictly forbidden. Our job as Heartless is to make them believe that we are stupid beasts who cannot plan an attack ahead of time. Otherwise, the humans would be more weary of us."

I was silent for a few moments. "So," I began, blinking, "in order to be successful as a Heartless, I have to act stupid around humans?"

"Exactly. I know it sounds a bit ridiculous, but you'll understand in time. All you have to do is act like a White Mushroom." She paused. "You do know how to act like a White Mushroom, right?"

I began thinking to what had happened in the jungle. I remember Fuchsia saying "If it shivers, use Fire. If it fans itself, use Blizzard. If a lightbulb appears above its head, use Thunder." When I had shivered, Fuchsia's sister had cast Fire on me. "I... I think so," I finally answered. "I remember that when I shivered, one of the humans cast Fire on me, just like the other one told her to. She also said that if I fan myself that she should use Blizzard, and... if a lightbulb appears over my head, she should use Thunder. What's a lightbulb?"

If I could have seen her mouth, I would have sworn that Embre was smiling. "You'll see." She floated higher into the air. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to conduct my nightly inspection. Come along, Cobalt."

"Yes, ma'am," Cobalt uttered, following Embre out the door.

"Get some rest, Miss White," Embre called from outside. "Your second mission begins tomorrow morning."

I didn't even bother to reply and just rolled over to go to sleep.

To be continued...

I don't know why, but I don't really like how I wrote this chapter. Give you feedback, please!

Oh, and you know what's weird? SpellCheck dot net doesn't think "lightbulb" is a word... Weird.