Chapter 9: Darkness Inside the Heart
IMPORTANT! Author's Note- Just to keep most of you from getting bored, I'm gonna do you all a favor and tell you in advance that this chapter turned out really boring in comparison to the rest of the story- really all's it is is Raspberyl's Father talking to his True Heart self (which made for a confusing web of 's, since his true heart's name is 'Raspberyl's Father's True Heart', and it got even worse when it was about something he owned!) You don't have to read this chapter to know more of what's going next chapter, cuz I kinda ended on a mystery anyways- this chapter is skippable, but there's a small bonus in the chapter if you do, though it's hard to pick up on... Whatever, it's there, and there is no real disadvantage to not having read this chapter, so it's up to you all- have a nice day! END NOTE, RESUMING STORY
"Well this was right about what I expected from my own heart, if a little more... active than expected." Raspberyl's Father noted to himself as he looked around his heart.
The general shape of the overall heart was a cube, albeit a cube with many jagged edges and curiously shaped extensions- it was by no means peaceful to look at. Running around the heart site like a bunch of sweaty worker bees was nearly everyone that Raspberyl's Father has ever met in his entire life, along with several copies of himself which reflected his many sides of his heart, many copies of Raspberyl- most of them hardly older than 500 who were also running around doing the same work as the older reflections; and the director of it all, Raspberyl's Father's True Heart, the guardian of the secrets of the inner heart who was not only the only one present that was not only not doing any work to speak of, but he was also the only one with a gun- a simple 6-shot revolver, but considering no one else had any weapons at all, that was certainly an advantage; somehow Raspberyl's Father (the one from the outside) didn't think that those two facts were unrelated.
"KEEP WORKING YOU DOGS! ALL THIS MATERIAL ISN'T GOING TO CARRY ITSELF AND I SURE AIN'T GONNA DO IT!" Raspberyl's Father's True Heart barked out, aiming that particular 'Work Enhancement Statement' at Lazy Raspberyl's Father, who had just fallen asleep on top of a pile of sand that was designated for Raspberyl's Father's True Heart's private beach. Raspberyl's Father's True Heart shot twice in the air to get him awake and return to working, which he reluctantly did, albeit quite sluggishly.
"Very impressive operation you've got running around here." Raspberyl's Father commented as he approached Raspberyl's Father's True Heart.
"Oh? A visit from the whole being on the outside? This is truly a rare occasion- in fact, I think this is the first time this has ever happened- no, I KNOW this is the first time this has ever happened, because I haven't threatened to shoot you yet, and if I did shoot you, you wouldn't just come back the next day like the rest of these slackers." Raspberyl's Father's True Heart said, shooting his gun randomly wherever there was someone to shoot at until he ran out of bullets in his clip- 3 targets hit, none dead; they all returned to work after quickly examining their wounds, mostly out of fear for getting shot again.
"Yes, and as a first time visior I must say I'm quite impressed by the surprisingly efficient working system you've got in place here- everyone almost seems happy to work here." Raspberyl's Father said, surveying the hard-at-work reflections of himself, most of which were doing labor void of purpose.
"Why thank you, it's always nice to hear a compliment from someone who is essentially myself- though I have to say that the system in place is quite simple, really- they do whatever I say or I shoot them in the face, and those that do a good job and prove themself useful I deliberate more power to; and those I don't like but not enough to shoot them, I take away power from them- the more power certain sides of yourself have, the more they affect your actions on the outside-" Raspberyl's Father's True Heart paused for a second, then smiled and continued in a different direction. "Ah, listen to me telling you how your heart works- certainly you came into this... wonderful establishment for a reason, and you should tell me that reason before I get bored of your presence demeaning my authority and I shoot you in the nose for my amusement... so... uh... what was I saying..?"Raspberyl's Father's True Heart lost himself in his sadistic imaginings, but he quickly regained himself. "Right, your reason for being here- or else."
"Uhh.. right, I'm here bec-"
"Stop." Raspberyl's Father's True Heart cut in, and Raspberyl's Father stopped just as he said that- Raspberyl's Father's True Heart continued immediately when he stopped. "I already know why you're here- if I didn't... well... I wouldn't be a very good guardian of your heart then would I? You're here for that... minor ocurrence that happened about... 2 hours ago? I will tell you what happened here, but you must tell me what happened on the outside at that time." Raspberyl's Father's True Heart stated, though it was more of a question than a statement.
"You call it a 'minor ocurrence', while I, on the other hand call it a massive burning pain in my chest- like someone lit a bonfire in my chest for about a minute- that's what happened on the outside- which hardly warrants being called a 'minor ocurrence', now what happened here that was so... relatively minor?"
"Ease up- calling it a minor ocurrence was a joke- THAT would be the understatement of the millenia- To put what happened here in perspective, the mere fact that both of us are still here talking about it I'm certain is nothing short of a miracle- and considering that's coming from me... well, I'm sure you understand." Raspberyl's Father's True Heart paused for a second, though it seemed largely unnecesary- he continued after a second of choosing his next words. "It began with a normal ocurrence here- your dark self and his lighter counterpart were conflicting over who's the big-boss around here, the one who gets the final say in what happens on the outside- in this conflict, your dark self managed to gain the upper hand for a short time, and after we noticed what the conversation was about- that being... well... you know-"
"I know, let's just skip over the details- what did you do?" Raspberyl's Father asked sternly- a passive way of saying 'get to the point!'
"He made you leave- the logic behind it being to end the conversation before unwanted information was spilled. It was after you fled the gym that... something happened- not immediately, about a minute or two afterwards, but... something was born; something from the deepest depths of your daughter's heart... Something so incredibly powerful, that the echos of it's emergence were felt here, in your heart. It may have just been a shadow of the REAL darkness, but it still took the combined strengths of ALL of us just to drive her back... the power she weilded... it was nothing short of incredible... GODLY, in fact. The damage from this clash can still be seen around, if you look hard enough." Raspberyl's Father's True Heart said, gently tilting his head to the right; Raspberyl's Father looked toward where his True Heart was passively referring him to, and what he was talking aobut became all too obvious- a massive hole in the wall of the heart, dark fires were still cackling gently on the shattered crystals.
"A dark side of my daughter that gives her such incredible power that she can nearly kill me with just it's surfacing? Such a powerful force must reside in my heart as well, yes? How can I call upon the strength to match hers?"
"... I... That would be... well..." Raspberyl's Father's True heart hesitated- this was obviously not a topic he wanted to be talking about.
"That would be what, exactly?"
"To... to have the darkness of your heart overpower myself; and in the end, the darkness will make me obsolete and completely overtake you."
"That gives me power? Something so simple as letting my inner darkness take over?" Raspberyl's Father said with an enormous sense of relief- a solution so simple, so perfect and it was right within his grasp! Or so he seemed to say...
"It isn't without it's drawbacks- the only reason I'm telling you this is because I'm hoping that you'll see the... futility behind such an endeavor- do not try to use your inner darkness to match your daughter's growing darkness- fighting fire with fire will make both sides burn to the ground in a sea of hate; you must heal the wound that yo-... our actions caused, not tear it wide open!" Raspberyl's Father's True Heart cautioned.
"Alright, calm down, I wasn't serious about it anyways- but I'd like to think of it as a fallback: CAN I do it? CAN I gain such power to defeat my daughter if it becomes necessary?"
"... You can, but it won't be as easy as your daughter's relatively quick transformation- normally one can only do such a feat if they have a considerable amount of hatred or malice tied with... something- in your daughter's case, her hatred is tied to her mother's absence in her life and the fact that you're silent about the subject-"
"If I were to tell her the truth, then she'll DEFINITELY turn dark again!"
"You don't need to tell me, I know the situation at least as well as you do. But as for you transforming into... well, 'Dark Di-'"
"STOP! Read my name as is shown in the menu before you continue, please."
"Right, right, sorry; 'Dark Raspberyl's Father'- as for that happening, you would need your hatred and raw passion to overcome... well, me- in doing so though, you will lose not only any sense of morality and emotion, but also any memories you have- you will cut down your daughter without a shred of remorse or a second thought-"
"ENOUGH! I get that I will only use it as an absolute last resort, now let's move on to a more... peaceful method of removing my daughter's darkness, shall we?"
"Agreed; the way I see it there are 3 ways of dealing with the problem, I'm sure none of which you will enjoy: the first option being that you could just tell your daughter the truth about your mother and hope for her to accept the truth and forgive you." Raspberyl's Father's True Heart said, waiting for feedback on that obviously terrible option.
"Uhhh no, I'm not leaving the future of Evil Academy- or EVERYONE, EVERYWHERE, actually- to the whims of fortune, WHAT'S NEXT?"
"Right, well option 2 would be to go into your daughter's heart and deal with her darkness at the source." Again he paused, waiting for a reaction.
"Maybe... that's certainly an impro- wait... won't her heart's darkness be REALLY powerful, as in more powerful than me in this form?" Raspberyl's Father asked.
"Probably, again- it's just an option." Raspberyl's Father's True Heart shrugged.
"I suppose, so what's the final option?" Raspberyl's Father asked.
Raspberyl's Father's True Heart hesitated for a moment- again it seemed that he didn't want to say what happens next:
"Kill Raspberyl before she turns again."
Silence.
"You've gotta be kidding... So, the overall idea being that I either have to tell her the truth about her mother that I basically murdered the day Raspberyl was born and hope she takes it well, OR I could go into her heart and probably get murdered at the source of all her hatred and still everyone everywhere dies at her hate-filled hands, OR I can just murder her and forever live with both my daughter's and my wife's blood on my hands? Gee, isn't that such an easy choice!"
"Well... if you put in a way so pessimistic that it seems no matter what you do you'll fail, yeah, that's kinda the gist of it."
"That can't be all there is to it... There must be something else... There HAS to be another way..."
"hmmmm... It's a long shot... well, it's more like a long shot that was so long there was just about no chance of making it, then it was made about 10 light-years longer and instead of a gun, you've got a pea and a straw- but it's a shot none the less."
Raspberyl's Father made a 'go ahead' sign with his hands, and so he did.
"The only REAL downside I see is that to do it you have to... open your heart... Though that certainly is a massive downside, given the unknown amount of time we have to do it."
Raspberyl's Father had to chuckle at the thought- open his heart? Like Mao has been doing for just under a month? Right, THAT'LL happen- maybe right before the universe implodes, or maybe the day after the end of time- whichever happens first.
"Open my heart? What good will that do?"
"Here's what I'm thinking..."
Raspberyl's Father exited the heart bank, evidently in a hurry because he was nearly sprinting toward his office- Mr. Redhsirt barely had time to catch up to him to give him his daily report- he didn't have a chance to give him yesterday's report since he was in the Heart Bank for nearly a whole day.
"Guidance Counselor, sir, I have-"
"Mr. Redshirt- I have an important job for you, much MUCH more important than just monitoring delinquent activity- I need you to watch my daughter, if you notice any significant changes in her behavior and strength, notify me IMMEDIATELY- and I can't stress that enough- I'll be in my office; if I'm not in my office, then have every prinny, teacher and student available search for me- this is a matter of grave importance, if you let me down I swear I'll... I'll have to come up with a new manner of painful, gruesome and horrible execution to punish you- do I make myself clear?"
"Yes... Yes sir, I will do as you say." Mr. Reshirt managed to say.
Raspberyl's Father rushed into his office and slammed the door, locking it from the inside as soon as he was certain it was closed.
No one saw Raspberyl's Father for several days, at least.
A.N.- BOOOOORING! I so hated writing this chapter, it was so BORING! and I'm sure it was quite dull to read, too. Arbitrary explanation for everything that could've happened and why they didn't- it had to be here eventually, and in the end I pretty much ended up just about where the chapter started! In my opinion, this chapter doesn't even need to exist- I could've just written around it, but I chose not to for reasons unknown to myself- so here it is, despite how much I HATED how it turned out.