The day had turned to night, and Satin hadn't gotten a wink of sleep. She couldn't. All she could feel was the burn in the empty spot in her chest.
Her chest was still open. She hadn't even noticed it until Chanty pointed it out. It was so gross looking, she could see her innards and grimaced, finally disappearing to the bathroom. She was just able to squeeze her butt into the tiny shower on Chanty's ship. At least the water was warm, salty, but warm. It was a wonder her open wound didn't burn in the salty water.
She still felt nothing. She washed off the blood and cleaned out the wound easily enough. Wrapping herself in a thick heavy towel when she stepped out, having to lay another along her backside as she reached for a needle. She always kept a few in her hair. She had used them to hold the once fancy grey braids she had worn for the wedding.
The wedding.
The pain was back.
"I am so stupid." She breathed and touched the needle to her thin unicorn horn.
This time, however, nothing happened. No glow. So spark of magic. Nothingness. Much like how she felt.
In a panic, Satin tried over and over to get the once simple spell to work. After several dozen attempts, she sat on her knees in the tiny bathroom. She stared at the needle between her fingers. Her eyes squinted as if to let tears fall, but none came. She slumped against the hot shower wall, her face twisted as if she were sobbing deeply. She still felt nothing.
Azuki, who was just outside, yowled at the closed door.
"Satin. Are you okay?" the cat herself had the same sobbing expression and started to paw at the door frantically.
No.
This wasn't okay.
Satin had easily decided that. Finally, as her shoulders shook with invisible sobs, she reached out and plucked a single long gray hair from her braided locks. She unwound it from the clips, pins, and hair ties that kept it in place. It was long enough for what she needed. She licked the tip of the hair and threaded the needle. All to the sound of Azuki's claws digging deeper into the bathroom door.
Finally, with a deep breath, she pressed it into her skin and pulled the hair taut. There is no pain, nothing telling her brain she had just stabbed herself. Of course, if she couldn't feel the huge open wound, why could she feel anything else.
Her shaking slowed as she mathematically stitched her body back up, like some centaur Frankenstein. The stitches were neat and clean like she always did. She had somehow convinced herself she was sowing a lovely corset threading. She hummed a dull tone as she worked, pull by pull, pressing her skin back together.
Then it was done.
The door opened, and Satin jerked, dropping the needle she had just freed from the hair she was using as a thread. Chanty stood in the doorway scruffing a very panicked-looking Azuki.
"I liked that door," Chanty growled but reached in and pulled Satin to her feet.
She looked at the work Satin had done and nodded, seeming to care less if she had pulled poor Satin out naked. Her soft round breasts were neatly leveled after Satin's wonderful sewing job. Satin's legs trembled, but she didn't bother to cover her chest. She knew Chanty wouldn't care.
That she couldn't care.
Chanty could feel nothing after all. Just like Satin was starting to feel. Satin grabbed Azuki from her friend and snorted. She hugged the cat close to her chest lovingly and stroked her.
"I am fine." She felt her voice go monotone again.
"Liar." Azuki spit in her face, still in mourning. Satin frowned, grabbed her towels, and headed to the room she had been given.
No one else was on the ship. Of course, who would want to be around Chanty that long? Tart only survived because he was fully connected to her like Azuki was to Satin.
As soon as the door closed, Satin sat Azuki on the bed. The cat yowled in worry and paced, looking at the once vivid young witch who stood before her.
"S-so, you have no powers. That's not a big deal!" Azuki protested to Satin's dull, lifeless eyes.
The centaur sighed and finally flopped over on the bed, almost bouncing the cat off. Azuki had just hung on with her back claws.
"You never needed your magic before to do your work, a-and it shows." Azuki placed a paw on Satin's newly sewn chest. It reminded her a bit of back corset lacing, something Satin had never been amazing at, but she was oddly proud. Satin stared up at the ceiling as her mind reeled, trying to make sense of what had happened, what she was to become, and if she even wanted to be alive at all. She noticed small gears along the underside of the hull.
"What is that?" Satin asked, pointing a thin finger up at the gears. Azuki looked up and was about to answer when the words were stolen from her mouth.
"It is how Chanty controls the ship." Tart explained with much effort clawing his fat butt onto the bed. He was out of breath and flopped against Azuki.
Satin perked up. There was warmth, not pain, this time as she watched her normally calm and collected feline friend melt into momentary panic and embarrassment at the touch of the other.
"So, this is what she has been doing all these years?" Satin asked, using the decoration of the gears clicking to try and take her mind off everything.
"Working on some insane flying pirate ship?" It helped for a time until she noticed thin heartstrings winding through every turning gear. It was all connected.
"That and plotting revenge." Tart smiled, seeming proud around his now wicked master.
"I hadn't seen her for almost a decade, then she showed up out of the blue to Tea's wedding," Satin muttered, throwing her arms over her face to try and block out the tantalizing heartstrings in the gears.
"Oh, she could care less about the wedding. She was only there to get revenge on the person who made her heartless. Shame you had to mess it all up." Tart laughed, making Azuki's ears prick up.