Cat and Mouse [SEQUEL TO FRAGILE MINDS]

Data Entry 8

It looked grey compared to the other strands of drastic pink or purple. Adrian reached out and grabbed it. He'd never actually touched Blavat's hair before and this was painfully obvious to not be real hair or even real hair that was dyed. 

"Oh," Blavat appeared to be a bit flustered. "Sorry," he grabbed the strand and tried to fix his hair. "Really ruins the vibe if you see my real hair." 

"What does your real hair look like?" Adrian rested his chin on his hand and stared. 

"Curious?" Blavat grinned. "I'm flattered." 

"Hm," Adrian rolled his eyes. 

"Hey," Blavat placed his hand on the desk and leaned down close to Adrian. "Would you like me to tell you a secret about the person you're looking for?" he smiled in a way eerily familiar. "All you have to do is give me a kiss," he smirked, pointing his finger toward his face. 

Something inside Adrian snapped. He grabbed Blavat's collar and picked him up off of the ground to slam him into the wall. His brightly colored eyes seemed to glow with his rage. "Do not doubt the lengths that I will go in order to find Vincent." Oh? So he was mad because Blavat thought he wouldn't kiss him for information? Not because he asked to be kissed? 

Adrian slammed his lips into Blavat's. The wanna-be magician was shocked and slightly terrified. He had no way to counteract and his feet were well above the ground. He lightly tapped Adrian's shoulders with his hands to try and get him to stop but of course, that would be useless. 

The former psychologist dropped Blavat and sneered. "Are you satisfied now?" 

"I-I- was just j-joking," Blavat's face was entirely red and radiating heat. He tried to hide it behind his hands but Adrian could practically feel it from where he was standing. 

"No you weren't," Adrian sneered. 

"Honest!" Blavat curled up into a ball on the floor to hide his face in his knees. "I wasn't going to make you kiss me!" 

"That doesn't mean you were joking," Adrian pointed down at Blavat. "You wanted me to kiss you. There is a truth behind every joke or lie."

"Dr. Crevan." 

Adrian's entire body froze. Did he hear that right? He turned his head slightly to face his various monitors. All of them blacked out with a single blue V on the center, spinning casually every three to four seconds. 

"It's been a while, hasn't it? You've been searching for me so faithfully," Vincent's voice, casual as ever, but so strange to hear after all of this time just imagining him. Adrian rubbed his eyes, trying to make sure this wasn't just another hallucination. 

"I think it's time for you to give up, don't you?" Vincent chuckled slightly. "In order to help you, I've decided, the best way is to delete your data." 

"My...data?" Adrian immediately sat down and started clicking furiously. 

"Was my distraction enough? Dear me, I didn't think I'd be able to do this without one but I didn't realize my voice had such a hold on you," Vincent chuckled again and the spinning Vs disappeared to reveal many open files being deleted rapidly. Vincent had a head start, which was enough, Adrian furiously typed to counteract but the damage was already too great. The deletion of files was a nuisance and more symbolic than anything. Adrian had already memorized everything he needed to. 

"It's been fun to watch you squirm, my dear, but don't you think it's time you explored other options?" The last V disappeared. Adrian held his face in his hands and screamed. He started crying. Unsure of where the tears were rooted. Rage? Frustration? Excitement after finally hearing his real voice after so long? 

Now, now, Uny. The fake Victoria shook her head. This had to happen sometime, you know? 

You've been making a huge oversight all of this time, after all. Victoria immediately shifted to Vincent and smiled, after walking through Blavat and disappearing completely. 

It's multiple personality disorder. Victoria and Vincent both laughed. 

"Of course," Adrian laughed, nearly tearing out his hair. "How could I be so stupid?" He laughed and he laughed and he sobbed. All of the signs were there. Just because he had only seen two sides doesn't mean that more personalities didn't exist. Blavat was unusual but not unspeakable as a Vincent persona. Adrian's long nails dug into the sides of his face, scratching enough to make him bleed. His brain worked as fast as it could trying to think of a way to get Vincent to come out. However, he knew it probably wasn't going to be likely. 

His hysteria abruptly stopped, shocking Blavat (who was scrambling trying to figure out how to help). "That's it then," Adrian lowered his hands. "I've failed, which is to be expected. I overestimated myself too much and underestimated Vincent." Adrian sighed and stood up. He started packing up all of his screens to put them back into his closet. There was no need to use them anymore. All he needed was a desktop. 

"You're giving up?" 

"Mm, yep," Adrian sighed. 

"Just like that?" 

Adrian brought his hand to his face and smiled in such a way that sent shivers down Blavat's spine. "Vincent is my God. It's only natural I would listen to him if he told me to seriously stop." It's a good thing, then, that Vincent didn't tell Adrian to seriously stop. However, the dwindling sanity residing in Adrian and his vast knowledge of the human brain was working against him. He had only one last plan and it was crucial that Blavat had no semblance of knowledge of it. 

"Ehhh?!" Blavat grabbed Adrain's shoulders and shook him lightly. "Isn't that a bit sad? Where is your fighting spirit? Your sense of romance? Someone is playing hard to get and you just give up because they said to?!" 

"Hm," Adrian shrugged. "No means no," he poked Blavat's nose. Blavat's personality relied on three things: observations explained by mystics, romance, and a lack of required intelligence to solve riddles. Adrian could use all of these to his advantage. Vincent's core was being smarter than everyone. Blavat's was just pretending to know everything and being unable to follow threads of logic. 

"I won't accept this!" Blavat huffed and grabbed Adrian's hand. "We're going back to that cellar!" 

"What?" 

"Let's look for more clues or something!" 

"But I-" 

"No!" Blavat huffed.