A/N: This one has been long overdue to be touched up and posted, and what better time of the year to do so? (Even if it is a day late haha) Call it a sequel of sorts to the first story I ever posted here. My writing may have improved over nine years(!), but my choice of characters hasn't changed too much. I'll always like these weirdos, even if I can't actually play either of them.

News of the double event, one Skullgirl right after the other, had rocked headlines across Canopy. Even now, two weeks afterward, people were buzzing about both the unprecedented catastrophe and the resounding victory. Faith in the monarchy and its peculiar laboratories was bolstered like it never had been, vanquishing fears of the undead army in only the length of a sunset.

Valentine's Day couldn't have come at a better time. With the kingdom in such spirits, it was the perfect holiday to celebrate love conquering all.

So naturally, Peacock was miserable.

Under a star-crossed sky, the twenty year old toon heaved her chainsaw through the trunk of another oak tree. She sliced through the bark with a final jerk and watched the unfortunate column fall with a boom that bounced between Canopolis' less developed hills. She had chosen somewhere out of the way, but she almost hoped a couple's convertible would pass by to scare the daylights out of them.

'Bet they'd still be havin' a better night than me.'

A shiver through her gut urged her to action. She jumped and swung through the roadside forest, scarring anything in her path, but her excitement began to wane. This wasn't quite scratching her itch.

She shoved the chainsaw back into her hat and yanked out a sledgehammer. She remembered when this would have been carefree fun, back when the only 'Valentine' she had to worry about could be taken care of with a short pier and a cinder block. At present if she stopped destroying, she'd start thinking. And she couldn't stand that.

Her swings slowed as the rumble of an engine emerged from beneath the volume of carnage, coming to a stop at the roadside behind her. She twirled around, ready to force a mischievous smirk, but her smile came a bit more naturally when Argus locked onto the visitor.

"Well, well, look what the egret dragged in!"

"Peacock."

The proud form of Princess Parasoul navigated splintered wood and kicked-up dirt. Her right eye was ever stoic, but the other was concealed by both her hair and an eyepatch. Despite her limp being slight, she still supported her stride using Krieg as a cane.

Peacock tried to tease, but wound up with a good point. "Should you really be walkin' yet?"

"It was only a sprain. It's the least of my problems."

She pointed to her own eyehole. "And how's the shiner healin' up?"

"It's not. Stanley says it's unsalvageable."

"Damn. Well, look on the bright side: maybe you can get yourself a cyborg eye!"

The princess shrugged. Like many in Canopy, she had found any optimism in the wake of the Skull Heart was better than none.

Peacock leaned leisurely on her sledgehammer. "I'm guessin' someone snitched on me. So who's gettin' the stitches?"

"Big Band. He told me you ran off earlier and weren't answering any calls."

"Ahh, he worries too much. I just went on a walk. Sue me."

"He said you seemed upset when you left."

Peacock's bear trap teeth snapped into a grimace. Big Band had known her since her lowest point as a bloody orphan in rags and talked her out of her first manic binge of rocky road rage. Even if she hadn't gone alone, she should have known he would have noticed her attitude all day. Why he cared tonight she wasn't sure, since he was busy like everyone else she knew.

Everyone except for Parasoul. And Renoirs weren't the best at reading emotions, but they could still snipe a liar from a mile away.

Peacock sounded so much like she had at thirteen, but sometimes the years crept into her voice. "Cut me some slack, Red. I just whacked a Skullgirl and helped whack another one. Can't I just blow off some steam?"

"Not when it's public property." Parasoul crossed her arms. "Now, let's be up-front: Are you going to make this easy?"

Peacock desperately wanted to say no. Violence was her favorite hobby, especially sparring with a fellow Skullgirl veteran. However, the Jiminy Cricket on her shoulder pointed out Parasoul's condition. It wouldn't be a fair fight, or a fun one.

"...Yeah. Guess so."

"Good. Then you are to return to Lab 8 as soon as possible."

Peacock contemplated. Argus' blank gaze didn't betray the conflict behind her eye sockets.

"Can I get a lift?"

"Can't you call your wagon?"

'I'd rather sleep in a hole out here. The boys're gonna ask questions. They're gonna talk like everything's fine. I might throttle 'em before we even get home.'

"Don't wanna." Peacock mustered as much charisma as she could, "Unless you want me to walk back and wind up startin' trouble on the way."

After a few agonizing moments of scrutiny, Parasoul nodded. "Alright."

The pair of redheads tramped back through the woodland wreckage to the motorcycle parked at the side of the road. Peacock hopped on the back and side-eyed the princess as she secured Krieg in a side brace.

"You gonna ask me what's wrong?"

"I won't ask if you don't want to tell me."

"Good." She always liked that about Parasoul. "But do we have to go back to the Labs?"

"Ben said you should." She took a seat at the front while staring off at one of the hills in the distance. "But I was going to take a detour before heading back."

"Fine by me." She sat back-to-back with the driver, lazily crossing her arms behind her head. "So we headin' to the glue factory or -"

"Hang on."

Peacock scoffed and placed a lazy hand on Krieg right before the motorcycle shot off, its passenger cartoonishly lagging behind in the air for a second before being dragged in tow.

She clumsily threw her arms around the motorcycle's frame and managed to pull herself into her seat with a boost from her rocket shoes. Adrenaline spiked as they tore through the countryside, bubbling up through Peacock's throat into a wild cackle. They slowed a bit to safely navigate the turns of a corkscrewing hill, only for Parasoul to make several smooth cuts through beaten paths like a roller coaster along a track.

Doing a small amount of air off a dirt bump, the bike skidded to a stop at the top of the hill. Peacock excitedly hopped off, the pep brought back to her step.

"Damn, Red! You drive pretty well for only havin' one eye!"

"I've been getting used to it. And I've driven this route for years."

Peacock's giddiness was pleasantly subdued as she caught sight of the landscape and let out an impressed whistle. The hilltop overlooked the whole of Canopolis, gilded and lively as its fashionable sister city twinkling across the river.

"Nice view. You come up here often?"

"When I need a break. Sometimes the palace is…too much."

"Mm. I get that."

Parasoul sat on the grass, Krieg at her side, and Peacock joined her. As a child, keeping her sitting still without a show to watch had been like pulling teeth, but she had found it easier in the last few years to take a moment to appreciate being alive, a miracle that sunk further in with every year she survived and every death she defied.

Their silence mercifully wasn't laden with the pressure to speak. That said, Peacock loved to talk. And complain.

"Valentine's Day is stupid. Ya' think it's stupid, right?"

"I just consider it as a holiday I don't celebrate." Parasoul paused before adding. "But yes."

"I mean, why does everyone care so much about this schmaltzy stuff?! Jeez, even back at the orphanage, the girls would talk about gettin' married someday. Even Marie."

She briefly held onto that thought - the idea of what her sister in suffering could have grown up to be and to have - before moving on.

"But then I found out everyone talks about it. And now that I'm old enough, people've started askin' me about it. Like I should care."

'...Should I care?'

Anyone else would have fed that ant-sized insecurity had she voiced it (or even though she hadn't), but this was Parasoul she was talking to.

"I know what you mean. My mother was like that. A hopeless romantic."

Peacock drew a cigar from her hat. "Even when she got betrothed to a Renoir?"

"Well, my parents weren't arranged. They fought against both of their families to be together. Mom's disowned her for it and Dad's were…difficult." She gingerly traced the petals in a patch of gold wildflowers. "This is actually where he proposed to her."

"Ya' don't say?" Peacock examined the landscape again. "Good choice. Wouldn't have thought your old man was a romantic too."

"He was with her."

She let that occupy her for a moment - the idea of a kinder future her ill-fated parents could have enjoyed - before continuing.

"They loved each other, and Mom always wanted that for me. We never saw eye-to-eye on it, but I know it was out of care." She scowled. "I can't say the same for the peanut gallery of politicians. You would think they would have recognized a lost cause by now."

"You don't sound too sad to be one." Peacock's tone was more genuine than she'd meant it to be. With all her own troubles, she couldn't help but run with the question. "Why is that?"

Parasoul took a long look at her capital. Even after years of knowing herself, words were still lost on her and she didn't often get to verbalize it.

"How do I put it? I care about my family, friends, comrades, all of my people, but I've just never…" She fruitlessly gestured with her hand, "I've never felt anything else."

Peacock took a drag, gears turning in her head. "So you've just never had a crush? On anyone?"

"Never once."

"...Huh. Y'know, now that 'cha say it, that explains a whole lot." She grinned. "You're real lucky, y'know that? 'Cause trust me, you ain't missin' anything. Most gals n' goons couldn't handle bombshells like us anyway."

Parasoul smiled a little at that. "Admittedly I've always been a solitary person anyway, so it may just be beyond me regardless."

"No, no, I getcha sister. I don't get why everyone's so crazy about it. It's way too much to worry about. I got enough on my plate already. And for you? Imagine handing the keys of your kingdom to someone."

"Right? Parliament acts like it's simple. I can't trust Canopy to just anybody. There are so many joint decisions that need to be made, and I already deal with enough bureaucracy. Not to mention finding someone content with a political marriage. Nobody seems to grasp that affection is not in my wheelhouse."

"Preachin' to the choir, hon. To heck with all the cutesy nicknames and gifts ya' gotta get. Leduc spent like an hour tryin' ta' figure out what color teddy bear ta' buy his girl. It's Needles, for cryin' out loud! She'll like any of 'em!"

"You haven't seen half of it. I watched one of the congressmen give five dozen roses to his wife this morning. What do you even do with all of those?"

"And then they get all gross with each other. All that huggin' and neckin' and other junk. Maybe I don't wanna be slobberin' all over someone!"

Parasoul groaned. "Goddess, and it sounds so boring."

"Ex-actly!"

As their frustrations were aired out, Peacock felt lighter. Unfortunately, as they fell into comfortable silence, the weight on her heart became more prominent. She was in the mood to talk now, but…

For a moment, Argus and Krieg looked at each other, unnatural sets of Theonic eyes that knew by now the other would be open.

"There's a girl I like." Peacock stared tiredly at a particular cluster of lights far off in New Meridian. "And she's on a date with someone else."

A breeze drifted over them, carrying her cigar smoke into the distance with her faint forlorn confession.

"It's so stupid. It's not like I asked her out and she said no. I don't even want to ask her. I don't want to be with her like that. I don't wanna be like that with anyone! And I ain't just talking the whole 'white picket fence, two and a half kids' kinda way. I mean nothin', not even a partner in crime. Like you said, it's just not for me, but-"

She took off her hat and smoothed her hair back, an uncharacteristically saccharine smile overtaking her face.

"This gal…she's just dynamite. She's a fighter. I mean I watched her tear through Black Dahlia like the Sunday funnies! But she's also the nicest person ya' ever met. Stuff people hate about me she doesn't mind, or even likes. Called me 'charming' once. Charming." Her face started to flush. "And she's amazin' onstage! Her singin's one of the few things that calms me down, and I don't even like oper-"

She clamped a hand over her mouth. Her company wouldn't judge, but she still hated the idea of spilling this much. And in the pause, growing longer as she tried to shoulder the weight of her life's grief dug up by fresh heartbreak, her usual demeanor cracked under pressure.

"...Y'know, it's been years since Avian fixed her up and she still talks about how great it is that she gets to be alive again. Growin' up, singin' for a crowd...findin' a partner-in-crime."

The mafia was long gone. Her friends were at rest and avenged. She had just surmounted a Skullgirl and a half, primed to tear down decades more. Peacock should have been roaring in her twenties, and here she was, fighting depression.

For the first time in years, that phantom feeling struck her sockets. The Medici really were merciless: first the thug who had taken her eyes hadn't even had the decency to rip out her tear ducts too, and now the only one of their horrible family left - the only good one - had swept the apple of her eye right off her feet.

"It's so stupid, Red." She laughed. "If love's so great then why does it have ta' hurt so damn much?"

She hunched over and grit her teeth, just upset enough to cry but too frustrated to let it happen. As much as she hated this feeling and hated blubbering over it, venting her misery without chaos as a vehicle was a gift she could only appreciate after years of refusing it.

All the while, Parasoul patiently watched. She remembered when the idea of Peacock being mature would have seemed impossible, back when the only soul she could confide in was her own Living Weapon.

"I don't know, Trish." She finally said. "But I think it hurts because it's so great. It's why we have Skullgirls in the first place." Parasoul traced her eyepatch with her fingers. "It's how we managed to have two."

Peacock played back the scenes in her head. Some poor girl had made a wish to protect another, only for the other to make a wish to avenge the first. A rare double feature for the Skull Heart's screen, the kind of love that rallied armies, raised the dead, and struck thrones half-blind.

Parasoul went on, "If you care about something, you're bound to miss it when it's gone. I loved my mother and it still hurts to think about her. Dad loved her too," She gazed off at the impressive palace she called home and sighed, "And he's holed up in his office drinking right now."

Despite it all, her companion couldn't resist a giggle, envisioning the king pouring vodka directly into his flame of a head. "Heh…ain't that a fire hazard?"

"It is. But we have plenty of fire extinguishers. And insurance."

Peacock wiped a lone tear away from the corner of her socket with another little laugh. The lightest levity was enough to reinvigorate her personality, an emotional whiplash that would stun most people yet was all too natural for her.

"Got any bright ideas on how ta' make this go away?"

"Not one you'll like."

"Ah, jeez," Peacock braced herself, "Is this one a' those things I gotta wait to get better?"

"Unfortunately, I think so."

"Ugh!" She facepalmed and fell back onto the grass. "Waitin' seven years ta smack the Skull Heart is bad enough! Is that all bein' grown up does for ya'?! Makin' everything complicated and makin' ya' wait for everything else?!"

"If politics have taught me anything, yes."

"Zoinks." Peacock dragged her gloved hand slowly down her face, stretching out her features before they snapped back into place. "Don't tell anyone about this, by the way. I'm only tellin' you because I know you won't pity me."

"You're right."

She took a few moments of relief and satisfaction that quickly became dull. "So now what? I still don't wanna go home."

"Well…" Parasoul tapped Krieg's barb in thought then spoke quietly, as if prying ears could be around to hear her. "I found a copy of Annie: Girl of the Stars: The Secret Ninth Planet. The director's cut."

Peacock jumped to her feet. "WHAT?! And you didn't tell me?!"

"I only got a hold of it yesterday. I was hoping to catch you when you weren't deforesting the capital."

"Well I ain't now." Peacock shrugged with a smirk. "Someone's gotta keep an eye on your pops, and Ben won't throw a fit if I got a royal eye on me. Plus, Illeum never gets a day off takin' care of the kids. Let 'em have their sappy dinner date for once. It makes 'em happy, after all." She took a breath before allowing herself acceptance. "And it makes her happy. That's what's important."

"Careful, Trish." Parasoul warned. "You're starting to sound like an adult."

"Don't even joke about that, Red."

They lingered to admire the shimmering scenery as the population went about their celebrations. Two Skullgirls had been defeated in a row, and while Canopy loved and rejoiced, two of their heroes took the scenic route home to watch an old movie three times over before falling asleep on the couch.

For them, after all, this was just another day in the calendar.