Author's note: Hi! Thank you so much for the reviews! I appreciate it! Here's the next chapter, I did it longer like you asked yay! I hope you enjoy!

Mechanical Hearts

Chapters 3: Clearness

The next morning when the sun had just popped out tearing the sky with shades of violet, Bloodberry and Cherry found Lime sleeping under a tree on the grass curled up on her knees, shaking cold. Cherry looked down at the marionette feeling sorry for being the cause Lime burst out from the door not to return to sleep inside.

Cherry and the red-haired had spent the whole night looking for Lime, thinking that if something happened to her, once they found Otaru, he would never forgive the two. Deep down inside both their circuits, although they didn't want to believe it, they knew Otaru would kill himself for Lime, somehow she was his favourite even if just by a close inch. She was his first marionette and because of her childish, naïve personality it made her seem needier of his attention and protection than the other two.

There were times Cherry felt jealous of Lime just because the way Otaru held Lime's hand was different than the way he held her own. But above that jealousy she felt at times, she couldn't control feeling almost motherly towards Lime. It was simply impossible not to like the blue-haired marionette.

Kneeling down on the floor next to the sleeping girl, she caressed Lime's hair out of her cheek. Mumbling something that looked like "Five more minutes Otaru", Lime slowly and blinking opened her eyes.

"I'm sorry Lime." Cherry asked in a faint voice, her eyes beginning to water. "For the way we acted last night. I'm sorry you slept like this."

"It's ok." Lime lazily kneeled next to her friend and smiled. "We just need to be together and I don't like it when you fight."

"I'm sorry too Lime, you're right. We should go back to the house, you're shaking." Bloodberry helped her friend up.

"Now that we are all friends again, can you make me chocolate milk when we get home?" Lime asked as she accepted the help.

"Hey, don't push it." Bloodberry smiled back at the blue-haired.

"Cherry, Bloodberry?" Lime called looking down at her feet. The others kept walking alongside of Lime but turned their heads to look at her. "I miss Otaru a lot. He always put a leave of mint in my chocolate milk when I asked him to make me one. Sometimes I even started doing one myself and he always said for me to go do something else that he would take care of it himself. Then I would go play outside or join you two doing something and I forgot about the chocolate milk because I got so distracted. And then just as I had forgotten about it, Otaru appeared with the best chocolate milk ever! And there it was the mint leave…"

"Lime…" Cherry smiled softly at the sobbing girl. "You'll get your mint leave back. We will find Otaru."

"I know what you mean…" Bloodberry looked away as she spoke. "There were nights when everyone was asleep that I couldn't so I went downstairs to drink a glass of water. One night Otaru heard some noise from the kitchen and he found me. He said I shouldn't get up every time I couldn't sleep because then it would be harder to fall asleep. After that, every night Otaru took a glass of water and placed it next to my bed just in case I got thirsty. It would calm me down and I wouldn't have to get up."

"I just wished I knew what these people want from him. We're completely lost." Cherry's voice was trembling.

Once the three girls reached their now empty house, heads down thinking where to look for Otaru next, Lorelei waited there accompanied by Luchs and Panther, standing still in front of the sliding doors with anxious eyes and a piece of paper tightly gripped between her hands.

"Lorelei!" Lime called while running towards the group of three.

"Luchs and Panther found something that might be related to Otaru." Lorelei informed, stretching out her hand lending them the piece of paper she had in her hand. Bloodberry took the white sheet on her hand and stretched it open on her hands in order for the others to take a good look at it as well. There in the middle of the piece of paper were written in black ink the words:

"Lime -JSM-01L

Cherry - JSM-02C

Blodberry - JSM-03B

Target to eliminate: Master – Otaru Mamiya"

"What does this mean?" Cherry asked in total shock, her hands rising to cover her opened mouth.

"Luchs, Panther, where did you find this?" Bloodberry asked in greethed teeth while closing her hand in a fist and wrinkling the paper with it.

"In the old Japoness History Museum. We were looking for Otaru there like Faust instructed us to help you and there on the ground was that piece of paper and it caught our attention as it had your names written on." Panther informed.

"We thought that was some kind of clue the kidnappers left there. The paper had a stone on top of it so it wouldn't fly. It's really as if someone left it there for someone to find." Luchs added glancing at the trio.

"The Japoness History Museum... That was where Otaru first found me! I was sleeping there!" Lime yelped breaking the silence that had formed.


Otaru was suddenly awakened by a loud bang on the wooden door and a painful "ouch" coming from the other side of it.

"Stupid door." He heard as a huge, muscled man rounded the door knob and entered the room Otaru was being kept on. The man had a fluffy moustache on top of his thin red upper lip and big round ugly dark eyes almost covered by two fluffy eyebrows matching the moustache of the wrinkled face. He brought a tray balancing on his arm and with his other hand he rubbed his knee making a hurting face as he did. "Just when you think you have the strength to kick open a door to intimidate the kidnapped." He mumbled as he made sure the plate of soup on the tray didn't fall from his arm.

"You hungry?" He growled as he freed Otaru's mouth from the adhesive tape. Otaru tightly closed his eyes as the man did and tried to control the pain he felt as the glue unleashed his skin.

"Who are you? What do you want from me?" Otaru yelled firmly, his eyes glaring at the man, he couldn't show weakness.

"Three simple things." The man laughed loudly. "One is red, the other one is pink and the other one is blue."

"What…? My clothes…?" Otaru asked in a shriek.

"No you idiot!" The man growled again placing down the tray next to Otaru. "Your marionettes!"

Otaru's eyes widened as the man informed him. Suddenly the world came crashing down on him, he felt numb, sweaty and his blood running fast through his veins. They could take everything from him, but not them, not the girls.

"Why do you want them?" Otaru yelled, frantically agitating his arms and legs trying to break free from the ropes holding his wrists and ankles but once again with no success. "Who are you?" Otaru yelled again, his eyes watering from the pain the ropes were causing each time they rubbed his skin, from his sore body that had to lay down at night in the same position on the cold hard floor, but mostly from the thought of his girls being in danger.

"He is just a mere servant I arranged." A calm motionless voice came from the door where a not much older than Otaru man stood, dressed in a navy blue suit with shiny perfectly pulled back dark hair and small stretched eyes of a dark gazing blue. A smirk formed on his pink wrinkled lips, making his face almost delightfully evil.

"A mere servant? Aah come on I have to be more than that!" The muscled man complained but as he wanted to continue saying his rights out loud, the young adult lifted his hand in sign for the man to be quite.

"Leave." He coolly demanded and the other one obeyed mumbling some curse words as he left the room. Something in that young man was already irritating Otaru, the look in his eyes was devilish but hollow at the same time.

"Who are you?" Otaru asked again, impatiently sighing that he was asking that question a little but more than what he intended to.

"My name is Lucas. I was once a soldier of Faust's army. One of the best, if not the most brilliant one." The young man started talking, walking slowly around the one wooden table that stood still in the middle of the abandoned room, and distractedly letting the tip of his finger slide down the surface of the table in a perfect line as he walked by its side. His eyes stared blankly at the air as if he was silently seeing the images of an army of men holding their shot guns on their arms, causing panic all around were they passed. He carried a smirk on his lips as he did. "I served Faust for many years since a young age. I trained everyday to reach perfection so to be close to Faust, to learn from him, to be there by his side once he ruled all of Terra II. He was a master, a role-model for me. I was more than just a soldier by the end. I was like a brother to him, he trusted me to help him get what he wanted. But then…"

His expression now turned serious, his hands curved into tight fists. "I lost Faust. He was charmed by the angelic figure he kept painted in his room. Lorelei. The great man who would once rule this entire planet, had fallen because of the curse of a woman!" He yelled slamming his fist on the table. "But now it's my time to rise. I will continue what some time ago Faust started but I won't fail, I won't fail because I have what it takes to rule, to be the leader of all. No woman will ever stop me from creating an empire by my hands."

"And how do you intend to do that?" Otaru interrupted, a feeling of revolt in his stomach by the fool's words.

"That's where you enter." The young man turned at Otaru, smirking again. "Your marionettes are what I need to complete my goals. You see, their maiden circuits or how you marionettes' lovers like to call them, hearts, are going to be last ones I get from all the maiden circuits I've already started to steal. Once I get all of the maiden circuits in Japoness, the marionettes will become what they really were meant to be. Simple puppets controlled by men to do their chores, to work for men. But before that, they need to do me the favor of helping me conquer all of Terra II. You see… my army will be the marionettes."

"You're insane." Otaru laughed. "There's no way you're getting all of the maiden circuits from marionettes. Their masters won't agree and once they start noticing they have been stolen they'll hunt you like a dog."

"You're so close-minded my friend." Lucas's lips formed a thin smirk. "The ones that don't give me their marionette's maiden circuit freely… Are left with something more painful than not having their marionettes' feelings, for say, a broken arm, a broken leg, most of them never walk again you know, it's a shame. And the ones that happily provide to me of their marionettes and the maiden circuits are offered a very important place in my group of close friends."

"So why not just giving me that special treatment too? Why did you bring me here?" Otaru was now repulsed by the man standing in front of him.

"I am not stupid Otaru. I know what your marionettes are capable of. Once my men got near them they would kill them in a blink. But getting to you first would make your marionettes completely low their guard. I'm sure they will do anything to have you back safe and sound. Once I get them desperate enough they will do anything I ask of them, and I mean anything. You want to know the one I like most?"

Lucas leaned down to get his mouth close to Otaru's ear and whispered "Lime" before he started laughing loudly. It was as if Otaru had been stroke by lightning, fury ran through his blood madly, his heart could come bursting out his chest just by beating fast. With all his might, he balanced on his feet in order to lift from the floor and with his head he hit Lucas head making a loud thud echo through the room's walls, Otaru remembered seeing a vertical line on blood run down Lucas' face and his wide open eyes staring astonished down at him, next thing, two different men came running towards him from the door and then it was dark.


There's something about marionettes. They are not just simple dolls that will do anything you tell them to whenever you like but more than that, they have feelings, they have their stages of life, they grow up mentally, they learn things but most important of all, they are capable of feeling back every kind of feeling you have towards them.

That was something Otaru learnt from the marionettes. Every time he felt happy to have them there with him, so did they to have Otaru as their friend. When he found Lime, Otaru remembers thinking "what have I gotten myself into now?" but as she stayed with him he noticed he liked having Lime around him, more than just a marionette she was his friend. This lively, playful, cheerful sort of woman had wakened in Otaru feelings he thought would never have in a planet where only men lived. But he didn't see Lime like that. At least, not until the others joined them.

Cherry… The sweetest girl he had ever met, she was kind, she was quite and gentle and she loved cooking for everyone as well as taking care of the house. If Otaru had some time before dreamt of having a wife, Cherry would fill the idea of it perfectly. She took care of him when he was sick, he caressed his hair until he slept and she was the sweetest person to talk to when he felt lonely.

When Bloodberry appeared though, Otaru had never thought women could be like that at all. She was impulse, always talked her mind, she was loud and was constantly trying to make Otaru touch her. From all the others, she was the one who physically touched Otaru the most. She hugged him whenever she felt like it, she kissed him on the cheeks and dressed sexy clothes to call for his attention.

There were times even Otaru asked himself what he had done to deserve three perfect girls in his life. And for all they had done for him, he couldn't give up. No, they wouldn't turn into motionless, heartless puppets. Otaru opened his eyes.


There in the back alley of a darkened street stood a man dressed in white, leaned back on the wall, the shadows covering his face, waiting for something. He coolly tied his neck bow tightly close to his throat so it would remain in place…

"Ok, too tight!" The mysterious man gasped freeing his throat back a little more. The sound of squeaking footsteps could be heard in the distance getting closer by the second. This time, he would stop them with his fierce courage and strength. The running footsteps were getting louder, they were close. In a brick of a second the man stood out of the shadows into the sunlight of the adjacent street he had been watching. Hanagata jumped to their way, arms stretched wide open.

"This time you'll let me help you look for Otaru!" He yelled, but the three marionettes, unstoppably ran over him not minding he got stepped on.

"Not now Hanagata." One of them said as they continued running fast through the street.

"Damn you…" Hanagata muffled on the ground, his hand twitching from the sudden weight of the foot that had stepped on it.


The girls ran as if they were running for their lives with one thought only in their minds, "Target to eliminate – Mamiya Otaru", that line was ringing in their ears, where was he? Was Otaru ok? They had to know.

As soon as Luchs finished telling them where they had found the paper containing their names and series, the next thing they thought about were the places where the other two had been found. If the kidnappers left a note where Lime had been sleeping, maybe they left one too where Cherry and Bloodberry had been asleep as well and that's where they were headed. They saw nothing in front of them but the Castle Japoness, the place Cherry was found.

They weren't sure they would find something there, maybe the history museum was just a coincidence but they had to find out. They had searched every inch of Japoness not to mention the help Faust was giving them with his men and nothing. Maybe they would find hope in the Castle.