Right now I'm giving The Malaxia Troupe a bit of a break. Working on that full performance with them and that side story really gave my inspiration a rough time.

Anyway in the midst of some depression I was going through I managed to get inspiration for this modularity story. Hope you modularity fans enjoy it.

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This was the place. I looked up at the doorway I had been led to by the map and invite in my paws. It was a simple archway that led into a stone building. Why I had been invited here I didn't know, but I was always the curious type of guy so I had to come and have a look to see what this was about. There seemed to be stone doors on either side of the archway, as I went through the archway and into the doors though they closed behind me.

Before I go any further, my name. I'm Ricky. I'm a male Pachirisu. I look mostly normal aside from my size, I'm 4 inches taller than a normal Pachirisu and I'm a few pounds heavier. I am a bit stronger as you'd expect, but it more shows in resilience, I'm tougher to bring down if I'm in a scuffle so I can escape more easily than others of my kind can in hostile situations.

Anyway, now those doors had closed behind me it was almost completely dark. I could see a light at the end of the tunnel I was in. Sticking close to the wall and with my paw on the wall I was. The walls of the cave were oddly smooth, definitely not naturally smooth bu that wasn't the only odd thing. Halfway down the tunnel I felt a warm tingle go through my body. In an odd way it felt pleasant but it felt just as un-nerving. I bit my lip to keep calm and continued on, towards the light.

The light I found at the end was a bit faint, more a glow in a large room which only made slight illumination, enough to identify shapes but not really see what they were. That was until the light brightened enough to be briefly dazzling. When my eyes recovered I could see what was in the room, it took my breath away but not in a good way. I had to pause to catch my breath.

What I saw was a mass collection of rather dangerous equipment. There was a spinning saw-blade hanging from a table, a box with swords pressing right through it, a spinning roller covered in sharp spikes, two walls coated with spiked that looked like they could come together. I recognised all these as magic tricks and illusions, that part wasn't so disturbing. What did get me more rattled were what looked like old torture and execution devices. I could see a Rack and an Iron Maiden, along with a modified brazen bull that seemed to use spikes instead of hear. There was even a Guillotine, sitting that made me put my paw to my neck.

"Welcome! I'm so glad you came!" That cheery, upbeat voice almost snapped me out of my daze. Nervously I looked up to the source. Standing on the box used for saw in half magic there was a Cinccino. I could tell by the tone of voice the Cinccino was female, at least I was very sure of it. The Cinccino put her paw on the handle of the saw but she didn't grab for it. "You're my welcome guest to my collection. I worked so hard on it."

"Uh, it looks... very... impressive" I was speaking slowly. I was trying my best to be polite but there was no doubt I was intimidated by the collection, plus things had a mysterious vibe to them. At the very least I was looking at everything. I hoped that it was just a collection and nothing would be used. At least until the Cinccino jumped down.

"But what's the fun in just seeing it all?" The Cinccino had suddenly taken hold of my paw, I didn't have the time to folly process what had happened. She was as tall as I was and she had a lot of physical strength to her. "Why not a bit of show and tell."

"W-wait!" I didn't have the time to show off my protest. I tried to pull but she was physically stronger, she was pulling me to some of the equipment. When I saw where she was taking me I couldn't hold in a gulp of nervousness. She was taking me right to the guillotine. The blade of the Guillotine was lifted up high and a bucket was underneath it, something I recognised to catch anything that fell when the blade did.

"Awww, there's no reason to be scared cutie" The Cinccino's tone, sweet and almost innocent, rang to me as she spoke but it didn't do much to cam me. Besides I was a bit shaken by her haste and caught off guard. The lock which held the head was lifted by her tail and she pushed me down, neck over the lock and closed the lock before I could try an pull back. "I'm a professional. You'll be just fine"

As she spoke that, she was stroking her paw right along my cheek. I tried sparking some electricity from my cheeks and tail. I thought she wouldn't be able to take such a spark but she did, then I remembered. Cinccino were coated in that oil an one of the things it did was repel static so electricity wasn't going to be effective. "P-professional? A professional crazy?"

"Does it matter? The point is I know what I'm doing. You'll be okay" Despite my sparking cheeks she kissed my cheek with those words, it was enough to still me and that tenderness. She really was hyper and a bit crazy yet I could tell there was a tenderness to her. Even though I was still, my heart was racing. Being locked in a guillotine, the blade looming above my neck, was always going to be scary. "I promise."

"You.. promise?" Her tenderness and her promise seemed to be sincere, I couldn't tell why. maybe there was some trick to it, I was trying to feel it. I was pushing my paws on the floor of the guillotine, maybe the floor would give way and pull me out of range of the blade as it fell. There had to be some trick. Out of the corner of my eye I saw her walk to the rope. The rope was tied to a stump, if it loosened the blade would drop.

"A promise is a promise cutie. You'll see" The tenderness in her words as she spoke again was there, but her excitement was there again. However I saw it, out of the corner of my eye she loosened the rope and I heard the blade fall. I closed my eyes in fear. I still expected there to be a trick, the floor giving way or something to protect me, but no such trick came.

I heard the dull thud of blade hitting wood at the same time of a sudden, brief pressure on my neck. Then I felt a soft thud as I seemed to fall, or part of me fell at least. It almost felt like part of me was rolling, it was a weird sensation that went through me and it led to a startled, frightened yelp. It seemed to echo from where I was. Then soft paws, hers, touched my
cheeks and I felt myself being lifted, then cradled. Yet only my head felt the touch.

"Open your eyes cutie" Her tender words spoke. I finally found the courage, my eyes opened and I was looking up to her face. Being this close, it was almost like I was being laid in her lap and my head could fee her lap and legs. I felt a warmth i my face, which only got warmer when she
giggled. "You really are cute when you blush you know. Just realised how cute I am huh?"

"I... only just now got this view. What... happened?" I tried lifting my paw up, I was going to put it on her cheek but it hit something I couldn't see. Cold steel, some kind of barrier. I didn't understand it, nor when I saw her giggle. She had one paw on my cheek, but then that cheek travelled down my face and to my neck. Then it turned, it wasn't going down my neck yet I could feel it. It was a touch to an area I had never felt before, but I gasped. That spot was sensitive to the touch but not in a bad way. Then the paw went up my neck again, but the other side of my neck and back to y other cheek.

"So, how does it feel cutie? Being decapitated like that." What? She had asked that so sweetly and innocently. I tried moving. My paws still moved and I could feel I still had control over my tail. I sat up and I tried lifting my paw up to my head but I couldn't feel it. I then tried following my own neck, but the neck stopped and led to a smooth stump of skin on my own body.

"Decapitated?!" I couldn't understand it. Yet what I could feel seemed to confirm it. It was further confirmed when she lifted up my head at an angle. Then I saw it. Right next to the guillotine was my own headless body. Still in my control as I was still feeling it myself and moving it, yet there was no head. No blood. My head wa actually in her lap, being held by her. I fell into a silence, a stunned silence. I could only stare in shock, a shock she noticed.

"I told you I knew you'd be safe" She stood up, still with her paws cupping my head and holding it securely. Her tail helped my body, she held my paw and instinctively I held onto it. She began to lead, thankfully she was slow as trying to walk and navigate while she held my head was incredibly difficult. "Did you happen to notice a sensation go through you when you came here? That was your dormant power awakening"

She was right. I had felt that sensation. It was the sensation which was oddly pleasant but also un-nerving when I had entered the area, through the tunnel. I didn't know what it was at the time, I only had more questions and I was still shaken. "Dormant... uh... what?" I had always been a curious one. Curious and shocked there was so much I had to ask and learn about what had happened.

"I've been observing people for a while. You always stuck out." She finally stopped, at bare ground with a lagged knife stuck into a wooden stump. That sight was unsettling, but really after being decapitated nothing could be as bad as that so I complied with her. I laud down on my front, well my body did anyway as my head was still in her paws. "You always had great stamina. You healed fro wounds faster than others Those were the signs."

How did she know so much about me? Had she been watching me? But she was right. All through my life, I recovered from cuts much faster, sometimes even by the end of the day there was no sign I had been wounded. Now she set my head down but it was resting on her tail, she still held onto me. I couldn't find the words to speak, all I could do was try to nod. It wasn't too easy so I had to gesture wth one f my paws, which she took as a sign.

"So I knew that when the power was unlocked you would be fine and you coming into my domain would do that" The Cinccino's cheerful voice had returned. She had picked up the jagged knife in her paws, once more she was giving me no time to really react to it. She grabbed my tail and put the blade right to the base of it, then with a sudden movement I not only felt that lagged blade go smoothly through the base of m tail, I actually saw it. As she pulled my tail free I tried flicking it, it still responded to how I wanted it to move. It was like i wasn't removed yet now something was triggering in me. This... didn't feel that bad.

"Awakening... my dormant power?" Things really didn't make much sense. I couldn't really get all of the answers all at once, odds were it would take a bit of time to fully understand all this. Was I secretly able to live forever? Or was there something else going on? A sudden cold pressure brought me to. I felt the knife again and saw it digging into my body, just below my chest ad from the left side and to the right. She was slicing me in half, there was no pain despite the cut being slow, just a chill from the cold steel inside my body.

"The power to survive through anything. Just like me" The Cinccino's tone was changing again. I had already seen her hyper and impulsive through excitement with also tenderness and care, but this was new. It was sorrow almost, like she longed for something. "An ability like that I've found is shunned by most people. People are frightened of it." She looked back to my body as she was making that cut through. As she finished the cut, she pushed my top and bottom halves half an inch apart.

I had fallen silent, with lots of conflicting emotions in me. I could still feel my heart beating and even when I'd been sliced in half, all my limbs could move. Even my tail, which she was now wrapping around her neck like another scarf. When she next put the knife to me t was at the stump of the neck on my body, now I took a deep breath and watched. The knife went into my neck and down my body, vertically. I could feel t going through my neck, then into my chest. I gasped again, this time the gasp wasn't a frightened one, t was one of acceptance and... being relaxed. My heartbeat was steadying. I listened to what she was saying.

As she cut through my chest she split the two halves of it apart but the knife went further down my back, to my stomach area and she began to cut through. "I live alone as a result. Maybe I came across a bit strong to you. I should have further explained myself. Instead... I dragged you into something you thought would kill you." She looked back to my face. She was still cutting through my body, the knife going through my back and stomach. "Maybe it's my fault if I'm shunned because of how I live."

"You're... only just realising?" I was now speaking up. I had some thoughts on this even if I couldn't move. All I could do was let her cut through my body while I spoke, I tried to ignore the cold chill going through my lower body. "People don't like sudden things brought onto them, especially horrific acts. You can't be hasty with what you love miss. You'll only push people away."

"Push... people away?" When the Cinccino spoke it was like a revelation to her, like he had never thought about it before. It came just as she finished the latest of her cuts and pushed my lower body apart. I glanced over, in total I was in 6 pieces. My head, tail, my upper left torso, upper right torso, lower left stomach and lower right stomach. Still in pieces yet I felt like I was in one piece It was the oddest situation. Yet my eyes were focused on her, I could see her sorrow. "Will... you be leaving me too?"

This question was like a knife, not like the ones which had been going through me. This one was a much firmer one going into my heart. The tone she used, she sounded like she was a lost soul wandering the darkness. All she wanted was company, yet she always came across strongly. "W-well" I didn't know how to reply, I was conflicted. I couldn't move right now, not very well. I tried to sit up, yet as soon as I did only both halves of my lower body sat up, then fell over in a heap. I couldn't keep my balance like that.

"Please don't go..." I heard her voice, now soft and quiet. I could see the sorrow she had now he had put the knife back in the stump where she had grabbed it. She was gathering up my body. She didn't push it together but she had each part close, like I was marking out a square. I almost thought I felt a tear drop out of her eye. Instinctively I tried to reach my paw to it, but my paw was so far away I couldn't reach with it.

"What... is your name?" I then remembered, one part of me could reach her eye. Her tail was wrapped around her neck like a scarf, I twitched it and got one of the little triangular prongs close to her eye. I could use that to wipe the tears from her eyes, now I was trying to calm her. As harsh and as hasty as she had been, she looked genuinely sad and in thought of her actions.

"My name... is Yvonne" Now I knew her name, I had to admit she had a very lovely name. And despite that she seemed to be hyper and insensitive at times, I was now seeing a lonely side of her. Something was tugging at me, I could sympathise. Since it was the only thing I could use, I used my tail to stroke her cheek, now it was my turn to be tender.

"Yvonne... I won't get into why now but... I know what it feels like to be lonely. I have other methods to cope though..." However despite what I had said, I had come to a decision regarding her question. "Alright. It... may take me a while before I'm used to all this but... I will stay with you, on a condition."

"On a condition?" That got her attention, she was looking down at me. What I had in mind I thought she would be happy with, though adding a condition to it was my way of trying to reign her excitable and hastiness in a bit. Even if it was only a little bit and besides, I wasn't going to pass up some company to ease my own loneliness. "What is this condition?"

"That what you did to me, I get to do to you, more than once" I had a smile on my face. Plus it was only fair, since she had gotten to guillotine and slice me up I wanted to do the same thing to her. I could see the glint in her eyes though, there was a lot of joy in them but also her enthusiastic nature was showing up. She rubbed her paw against my cheek, she kept my head cradled in her lap though. I don't think she was going to be putting me back together anytime soon, bu her reply still made me happy.

"Ricky right?" I smiled, I'm not surprised she knew my name. The name had been on the invite she had sent me, though I don't know how she found out, but right now it didn't matter how she found out. "It's a deal."