Later that Night

Aria Blaze

I’m practically sauntering down the hall as I make my way out of the ED towards the Sleep Clinic.

Maybe I cheated a little, but I’d been waiting for Redheart to make a move for almost seven months with no luck, so that meant either I’d been wrong about her feelings, or she just wasn’t going to try it.

The latter, I’d figured, was probable. Redheart is stubborn and snarky, but she’s a good, ethical doctor, and she wouldn’t make a move on someone like that, no matter how much she wanted to.

So I made the move for her.

I rap my knuckles against the clinic door before letting myself in and hipchecking the door shut.

“Hey, Red, how’s the sleepers?” I say quietly.

A young woman with a fair amber complexion is sitting at the only desk in the room, and as she looks up at me her hair, which is two shades of red, one darker than the other, falls over eyes that are a forgettably dull shade of gray. She’s wearing clean scrubs and a white coat, and clipped to her breast pocket is an ID badge that reads:

SCARLET DREAM - Sleep Technician

“I assume it went well?” The woman who calls herself Scarlet Dream asks cooly.

“Yeah,” I nod as I take a seat on the couch in the corner of the room. “I owe you big for that, Red… I really do.”

“Yeah well, don’t ask me to do that again, okay?” She replies quietly. “I don’t like getting into people's heads like that… it feels wrong.”

I wince at the subtle admonition and nod.

“I promise, never again,” I say, holding up a hand. “Nodens Oath, I won’t ever ask you to do that again, Shimmer.”

She sighs and nods before finally turning to me, the light catching oddly on her cosmetic lenses as she looks me up and down.

“You sure about her, Ari’?” Sunset asks. “Dragging her into our world, I mean? She’s not like either us, she’s never tasted the Fog before.”

“I know, I know,” I wave my hand at her as I shake my head. “But she won’t leave it alone either! I can’t hedge her out, she’s my superior, and besides… I like her.”

“I’m aware,” Sunset says with a wry smile. “Kind of a weird December-May relationship you got going there, Ari’.”

“Yeah, but not in the direction you’d think,” I say with a laugh. “I’m over two thousand years old! I may look like a twenty-something, but believe me, I do not want to date one. I prefer a little maturity, thank you very much.”

“So how do Adagio and Timber function?” Sunset asks, chuckling as she leans back in her chair. “He’s, what, twenty-three?”

“Twenty-five,” I correct. “And that’s different, big sis likes taking control, so if her partner is a little immature it’s no big deal, she’s the one who wears the pants in the relationship anyway.” I pull a dum-dum, mystery flavored, out of my pocket, unwrap it, and pop it into my mouth. “And besides, Timber’s a little dumb but he’s a good guy, and he treats ‘Dagi like a queen.”

“Fair enough,” Sunset replies. “So… you moving in with the Director now?”

“Maybe,” I say around my lollipop. “We’ll take it slow for a bit and see where we’re at.” I shake my head and sigh as I lean against the couch. “Those Trials really messed me up, Red… I’m tired of just fucking around for eternity, I want something to come home to for once that isn’t my bitchy sisters. I want something good in my life for once and Redheart? She’s good.”

“I know,” Sunset says quietly. “I still didn’t like getting into her head like that, but I’m glad doing it meant you could find someone that makes you happy.”

“Yeah… I owe you big, Red,” I reply. “Nodens Oath, I’m such a fucking coward… I shoulda just asked her to begin with.”

“You didn’t want to risk ruining your friendship,” Sunset says with a smile as she turns back to her computer for a moment to look over the readings, then glances back at me. “Trust me, Ari’, I get that part in spades.”

“Bet you never thought you’d be using your weird murder-magic powers to get me laid, huh?” I say.

Sunset laughs raucously at that, and I can’t help but join her. After all the bullshit of surviving the Trials and getting back into the world, and then trying to find a place in it between all the nightmares and trauma, I think we owe ourselves a little laughter.

“Alright, fine,” Sunset says, shaking her head. “Just promise me you’ll try and be happy with her, okay? I want to see my ‘sister’ happy, for once.”

“I am happy, Red,” I assure her, letting the jokes and sarcasm fall away. “Seriously, I’m really happy, thank you.”

Sunset sighs and nods.

“I’d do anything for you girls, you know that,” she says softly. “I always will.”

I nod. I don’t need her to tell me that to know it. She died for us, or all but. She locked herself in Hell just to give us the chance to get free, without any promise to making it back on her own. I’ve never had anyone do something like that for me, so it was hard to ask her to use her powers to walk into Redheart’s dreams and see if she really did feel the way I thought she felt about me.

Times like this I miss my old powers. If I’d still had my gem I could have just taken a nibble of Redheart’s emotional aura and known for certain, but that was all in the past.

//Doctor Blaze to the ED, please. Doctor Blaze to the ED.//

The intercom blares my name and I roll my eyes.

“Once more unto the breach,” I say as I stand up and grab my intercom, a little black cylinder that looks like half a recorder and hit the call button.

“Call Kindheart." I say, and I wait as it connects. Once it chirps I speak up again. "This is Blaze, I’m on my way, what’re we looking at?”

//Stab victim. EMT’s say they're extremely deep wounds, open lacerations, patient isn't clotting right and she’s bleeding out.//

Sunset frowns and I curse. “See ya later, Red, time to stitch up Canterlot again.”

I’m not sure why but as I’m running down the hall towards the ED I get a cold pit of fear in my stomach. Something about this feels… strange.

Familiar.

Whatever… I’ve got a job to do and I’m gonna do it. I’m a doctor, after all.

Author's Note

Here's your first taste of what's to come in Dead by Midnight.

Hope you all enjoy!

P.S. Also... Redheart x Aria, how's that for a crackship?