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Cuphead: Isle of Memories (Rewrite)

*Hey guys! I'm back with the new episode! To let you all know, this is going to be a long chapter/episode. I'm so sorry in advance for this. There's a lot of juicy stuff in the episode though, I promise. Anyway, this is published on October 11, 2023. If you guys enjoy the episode, don't be afraid to heart it, reblog, and comment! They would be greatly appreciated! Enjoy!*

Episode Eight: A Devil in a Red Dress

“BECAUSE I LOVE YOU!!!”

Cassidy woke up with a jolt. The familiar voice screamed in her mind. It seemed to be in pain and in grief. She couldn’t remember how she ended up in a lone cell. She was in the dark, alone. Just as she should be…right? She bit her lips and started to sob, tears streaming down her red furry cheeks. Her heart hurt when she remembered the voice who told her that he loved her. Now she could remember every single detail of the fight. She was choking Natalie…she might have killed Canteen…she was fighting with Mugman. No, no, no…she remembered now.

She sobbed into her hands, burying her face. Maybe she deserved to be surrounded by darkness. Maybe she deserved to die along with her kind. She was a demon. A burden. She became what others see her as her whole life. A monster.

Cassidy looked up to see the silver door of her cell, crying her eyes out. She felt something tingle under her red fur. The feline glanced down and noticed her veins glowing blue. That was weird. Tremaine didn’t look like that. There was something else that happened. Did…something electrocuted her?

She heard an evil chuckle as she looked up to find The Devil peeking through the window of the door.

“You know, Cassi, if it weren’t for the fact that you’re valuable, I would’ve killed you instantly for failing me to not kill any of your ex-friends,” Devil stated with a grin. “What’s holding you back from killing your little ex-friends, hm? Is it because you still care about them even though they could care less about you?”

Cassidy gritted her teeth. “You’re lying.”

“Oh? I’m lying?” Devil stated. “Let me ask you something. How could you care about a world that doesn’t give a damn about you? It’s not like anyone is going to miss you. No one in this world will ever miss a piece of burden such as yourself.”

“D-Dad and Jerry would—”

“Your ‘dads’ only took you in because they feel nothing but pity for you. You pathetic thing. Your ‘friends’ only pretend to be your friends because they’re afraid of you. You saw Natalie’s memories. She laughed and mocked you. She pushed you around and dragged you everywhere, even though there are places that could’ve killed you. Everyone thinks you’re a burden. Do you really think that everyone else will not see you that way? Think again, Cassidy. Think again.”

Cassidy tried to fight the tears, but she felt more anger than sadness. “Mugman doesn’t see me that way!”

“Yes he does—”

“No, he doesn’t! He loves me! He says so himself! You can’t keep lying to me like this—!” Cassidy felt the burn in her veins all the sudden, causing her to scream in pain.

“He never loves you! No one loves you! Why can’t you accept that?!” Devil yelled demonically.

“Mugman loves me!”

“No, he doesn’t!”

“Dad loves me!”

“Ha! You know that’s a lie—!”

“Jerry loves me!”

“Oh, get over it, will you?! I’m telling you! They are only pretending to love you—”

“Mugman loves me!”

“Shut up!”

“Dad and Jerry love me! And I refuse to believe anything else other than that!” Cassidy growled, a sudden burst of electricity zapped at the door. It almost got the Devil, which shocked both Cassidy and Devil.

Cassidy looked at her paws in confusion as to how she did that.

Devil gritted his teeth in anger. “Well, if you won’t accept the truth I’ve given you, then I guess I have use force!” The Devil teleported into her cell and snatched her chest, pulling her soul out of her body. For a moment, she felt her body going limped. It was a painful process but she felt she was ripped out of her body. She looked down and saw her own body, laying on the ground in the red silky dress. The Devil took her away from her cell with teleportation, just to put her soul in the special soul vault where she will never get out.

~.~

Mugman snapped his eyes open and sat up abruptly in the late evening, his vision blue for a moment until it faded instantly. He breathed heavily with tears streaming down his porcelain cheeks. He saw it all. He saw the Devil taking Cassidy’s soul without remorse and hesitation. It had to be a bad dream, right?

“Mugman?” Cuphead’s voice piped up.

Mugman turned to see Cuphead, Chalice, Canteen, and Natalie looking at him with concern.

“Are you okay?” Chalice asked softly.

Mugman broke down into tears, which got Cuphead to rush over and hug his brother.

“Hey, hey, it’s okay, buddy. It’s okay. It’s probably a bad dream,” Cuphead soothed his brother.

Mugman cried into Cuphead’s chest, gripping his shoulders.

Chalice frowned to show sympathy along with Canteen and Natalie. However, the three kids notice Mugman growing angrier than normal.

“Uh, Mugman?” Canteen uttered.

Mugman pulled out of his brother’s hold and stormed out of the bedroom, his brows drawn together and his veins glowing blue.

“Mugsy?” Cuphead questioned while following his brother. “Hey, are you okay?”

Mugman extended his wings when he was about to approach the exit of the base. Cuphead zoomed in front of his brother. “Whoa, whoa, what are you doing?”

“Move, Cuphead. I gotta go—”

When Mugman tried to walk past him, Cuphead blocked the way.

“Where?”

“Just move—”

“Mugman, please talk to me.”

“Just let me go—”

“No! No way! I don’t want to lose you, Mugman.”

“You won’t—”

“I already almost lost you twice. I can’t lose you again. Please, Mugman, tell me what’s going on. Maybe I can help.”

“Since when are you helpful?” Mugman snarled, causing Cuphead to wince at the question. Mugman gasped to realize what he said and shook his head. “Nevermind, stupid question. I gotta go—”

“Why do you always gotta go?”

“What are you talking about?”

“Lately, you’ve been trying to do things on your own that can get you hurt or killed. Usually, you would get onto me about that! The first time you went out by yourself to save Cassidy, we weren’t able to save Cassi—” Cuphead widened his eyes when he noticed his brother tearing up. “Wait, does this have something to do with Cassidy?”

“Cuphead, please—”

“Answer the question.”

Mugman hugged himself, tearing up.

Cuphead waited patiently for his brother to answer.

Mugman looked up at his brother. “The Devil…he…he…” He collapsed on his knees, his wings withdrawn in his back as he was sobbing.

Cuphead kneeled down and rubbed his brother’s shoulder. This time, Chalice joined in and placed her hand on Mugman’s other shoulder.

“Hey, you ain’t gotta explain it if you can’t,” Chalice said while hugging Mugman from the side.

Porkrind approached the scene while rubbing his eye. “What’s the commotion? It’s in the middle of the night.”

Dice entered the entryway with a pot of coffee. “I was wondering what the sobbing sound.”

Porkrind arched a brow at the former gambler. “Why are you drinking coffee in the middle of the night? You know it’s gonna keep you up at night, right?”

“It’s kind of why I drink it.”

Porkrind shook his head with a sigh and shifted his gaze back at the kids. “You kids should head back to bed—”

“I-I can’t,” Mugman sobbed, hugging himself tighter.

“Why not?” Porkrind asked.

“Please, I don’t want to go back to sleep,” Mugman whimpered.

Dice looked at his half-empty coffee pot and held it over to Mugman. “Wanna take a drink?”

“What? Don’t give him that,” Porkrind scolded Dice.

“Why not? He obviously gets nightmares,” Dice replied with a deadpan stare.

Jerry entered the scene with a groan. “Guys, it’s in the middle of the night—can’t we all go back to sleep and worry in the morning?”

Mugman shook his head and stood up. “I can’t…I gotta go—”

“Go…where?” Dice asked.

Cuphead blocked the entrance. “No! You’re not going down to the Underworld again by yourself.”

“Oh yeah, that’s a dumb idea,” Dice responded while throwing the pot of coffee aside. “You guys just came out of there and you were in a coma for a couple of days while Canteen here got injured.”

Porkrind frowned when thinking about his kid. “Well, now we know where the entrance to the Devil’s lair is, we just need to update the map.”

“Yeah, and then we need to make a cure for Cassidy and make a thought-out plan to rescue her. Then we’ll be swell,” Dice responded with a bright grin.

“Now that’s an idea I can get behind,” Chalice encouraged. “There’s someone in jail who can help us make the cure. He’s able to help last time.”

“You’re not saying who I think you’re saying,” Porkrind growled with his arms crossed.

“He’s changed—”

Porkrind shook his head at Chalice’s comment. “Eh-eh, he doesn’t change in the span of overnight. Seems a little suspicious.”

“You do realize that he’s been in jail for a couple of weeks, right?” Chalice responded.

“Oh no, not him,” Cuphead groaned.

“Hey, he’s able to help your brother last time with the cure. I’m sure he’ll be up for it to help Cassi.”

Mugman relaxed a bit once he realized that everyone had already thought of a way to get Cassidy out of Hell. He frowned and took deep breaths.

“Great, we got a plan. Now, let’s get some sleep and do this in the morning,” Jerry determined.

“We don’t have much time,” Mugman uttered.

“What do you mean?” King Dice questioned. “She’s most likely just sticking with Big D while Big D rubs his hands evilly and thinking of a world-ending plan. I think we got a little time for sleep—”

“No, Devil already took her soul!” Mugman cried, collapsing on his knees.

“What?” Porkrind growled.

“I-I saw it…I saw the Devil taking her soul and putting her soul in the special soul-vault,” Mugman whimpered.

“Hey, that’s where I was when he took my soul,” Cuphead recalled.

“Are you sure that it wasn’t just a dream?” Jerry asked in fear.

Mugman’s lips wobbled. “I can’t even tell what’s real or a dream anymore.”

Porkrind clenched his jaw to keep himself from crying and huffed. He walked over by Mugman and pulled him up by his feet.

“C’mon, let’s go,” Porkrind determined.

“What?” Mugman uttered in surprise.

“Whoa, whoa, do we even have a foolproof plan to get into Hell?” Dice questioned the pig.

“Yeah, I got a plan. We’re gonna get that maniac out of jail and have him make a cure for Cassi. Then, we’re going down to Hell, rescue Cassi, and kill the Devil,” Porkrind responded with a growl as he was ready to head out of the door.

Dice raised his finger nervously. “Eh, technically, you can’t kill the Devil.”

“Then I guess I oughta knock him out cold,”Porkrind stated with a cold stare before leaving the base.

Dice and Jerry exchanged looks of confusion.

“We should catch up to him before he gets himself hurt,” Jerry responded.

“Yeah,” Dice agreed.

Both Dice and Jerry exited the base to catch up to Porkrind.

Chalice placed her hand on Mugman’s shoulder with a soft smile. “Don’t worry, we’ll get Cassidy out of this.”

“Yeah, and the Devil will pay for it,” Cuphead reassured his brother.

Mugman wiped the tears away with a small smile. “Okay.”

Natalie clenched her fists and pumped them up with a determined smile. “Now, let’s go kick some demon butt and rescue Cassi!”

Canteen nodded his head in agreement.

The six kids exited the base and hurried to catch up with the three adults.

~.~

Chef Saltbaker sat alone in his cell with a bored look on his face. His head was resting on his hand while sitting on the creaky bed. The police had shut down the prison since Tremaine had infected half of the population of the town. Now, they barricaded the premises of the prison, not letting any infectees into the prison.

Saltbaker couldn’t do community service, which part of him was glad. But he was still banned from the kitchens and his sentence has been extended since he was in the kitchen to make the cure for Mugman. A little sacrifice won’t hurt…right? Well, if it weren’t for the fact that the sentencing went from five years to ten years, maybe he wouldn’t feel like he was tortured by boredom and Tabitha’s constant complaints of the prison’s condition.

He heard a clink sound from the bars and looked up to see the bug cop standing there with a baton.

“You got yourselves visitors,” the cop responded while referring to Porkrind, Dice, Jerry, Chalice, Cuphead, Mugman, Canteen, and Natalie approaching the cell.

“Ah, you still allow visitors. It makes being here less boring I suppose,” Saltbaker replied cheekily to the bug cop.

The cop rolled his eyes and turned to the others. “Ya got fifteen minutes.” He walked away from the group.

Porkrind instantly turned to the chef. “So, I heard you can make a cure for Tremaine.”

Saltbaker arched a brow and stood up from his bed, walking over to the bars dividing him and the group. “Well…yeah. That’s what extended my sentencing period.”

“Sorry,” Chalice uttered.

“Nah, don’t worry about it. Is Mugman…?” Saltbaker noticed Mugman standing there without having Tremaine inside of him. “Oh good, it cured him.”

“Well, we’re going to need your help curing someone else,” Chalice uttered with a nervous smile.

Saltbaker tilted his head and looked at Canteen. “It’s not him, is it?”

“No…actually…it’s Cassi,” Mugman responded.

“That piece of burden?” Tabitha snarled.

“Mom, stop calling her that,” Natalie argued.

“Well, she is. No one remembers her fondly—”

Dice flicked one of his cards at her to keep Tabitha’s mouth shut.

“Ah, Cassidy. I remembered her fondly,” Saltbaker interrupted while looking at the scratch mark on his finger that appeared to be from a cat. “She’s probably the only one besides you kids who appreciates my cooking.”

“Yeah, and you’re gonna make a cure for her,” Porkrind growled with his arms crossed.

Saltbaker arched a brow. “Wait, how did she get Tremaine inside of her—?”

“The less you know, the better,” Porkrind snarled at the chef.

The chef sighed. “I would make the cure for her, but I’m trapped in this cell. If you have some genius plan to get me out and back into the kitchen, that would be swell—”

Chalice pulled out the key to his cell with a mischievous grin.

Saltbaker smirked back. “Oh, you’re good. But you’re also gonna need a distraction—”

They heard an explosion, drawing the bug cops’ attentions as they ran outside.

Cuphead and Canteen smirked and fist-bumped each other.

“You little gremlins,” Saltbaker responded with a chuckle.

Chalice unlocked the cell door, letting Saltbaker walk out of his cell. Saltbaker was guided out of the prison with Tabitha looking onward with jealousy written on her face.

Tabitha ripped the card out of her mouth and threw it aside. “You’re willing to let a maniac out of his own cell rather than your own mother, Natalie?”

Cuphead glared at Tabitha over his shoulder and wrapped his arm around Natalie. “Don’t listen to her. She ain’t worth listenin’ to.”

Natalie frowned and snuggled close to Cuphead, who blushed a little.

“You and your sister are disappointments!” Tabitha called angrily. “That’s why your father left you both! If it weren’t for me, you both wouldn’t even get to this far! Your father doesn’t care about you!”

Natalie became fed up and whirled around with a glare at her mother, yanking herself out of Cuphead’s arm. “Call me a disappointment! I don’t care! But don’t you dare talk about Aurora like that! You’re supposed to be our mom!”

She started to tear up. “You’re supposed to protect us! But you don’t protect us! You’re the one who doesn’t care about us! You care about our status, our beauty, and your profit! You can call me a disappointment all you want, but you have no right to talk about Aurora the way you do! Aurora is not and will never be like you and me!”

She wiped her tears away, calming down a bit more. “I will stop trying to be like you, because I’m not you. I’m me. I’m Natalie Ruth. And I refuse to be anything else other than that.”

With that said, Natalie walked away and held Cuphead’s hand without hesitation. Cuphead blushed to the point where his face was completely red and the liquid in his head boiled. She was blushing too as he was holding her hand softly, caressing his thumb over her knuckles.

Natalie turned to look at Cuphead, who stared at her with sparkling eyes.

“You’re so beautiful…” Cuphead uttered before blinking and snapping out of his trance. “I mean…uh-hehe…let’s, um, focus on gettin’ Cassi out of hell.”

Natalie blushed and nodded her head.

They hurried out of the prison, following the group back to base while the cops were distracted by putting the fire out.

~.~

Porkrind, Dice, and Jerry snuck Saltbaker into the Howling Aces base with the kids behind them.

“Looks like everyone is still asleep,” Dice whispered to the others.

“Good, let’s get to work,” Saltbaker said while coming into the kitchen of the base. He looked through the ingredients and found honey and milk in the fridge, however, there was a small amount of milk left and more honey left behind. Saltbaker glanced over at Chalice with a frown on his face. He searched through the cabinets and found the med-kit and took out a syringe. He turned to the others, noticing them staring at him intently.

“Why do you need a syringe?” Jerry questioned the chef.

“Oh, it’s in the ingredients. To make the cure, you need to mix honey, milk, and the blood of the Calix Animi member,” Saltbaker responded.

“What if you’re lying about the ingredients like last time?” Porkrind asked with skepticism in his tone.

“Believe me, if I were lying about the ingredients, I wouldn’t even include the blood in the ingredients,” Saltbaker responded.

“I told him it was one of the ingredients when he made the cure last time,” Chalice added.

Porkrind arched a brow. “Oh, uh, okay. Wait, how did you know the ingredients?”

“Quadratus told us,” Cuphead replied with a bright smile.

“Quadratus?” Jerry questioned and glanced at Dice.

Dice shrugged his shoulders.

Saltbaker got out an empty bowl and started pouring all the milk and using as much as honey as he could. He looked at Chalice and then at the others until an idea struck him. “Say…Is that the member of the Calix Animi?”

The group looked behind them.

“Where?” Cuphead asked excitedly.

Canteen looked back and noticed Chalice extending her arm while Saltbaker was using the syringe to draw blood out of Chalice’s arm that wasn’t bandaged. He squirted the blood into the bowl from the syringe and bandaged Chalice’s other arm after he put down the syringe. Canteen gave the chef a deadpan stare while watching it unfold. When the group turned around to look at him, Saltbaker started mixing Chalice’s blood with milk and honey.

“There’s no one behind us,” Jerry replied with a deadpan stare.

“Oh, really? I thought I saw someone,” Saltbaker said while beads of sweat form on the side of his head.

Canteen clenched his teeth while Saltbaker continued to mix the ingredients until the bright blue glow exploded suddenly.

“Good gravy!” Saltbaker shouted, causing everyone to gasp.

“SHHH!!!” Porkrind, Dice, Jerry, and the kids shushed Saltbaker.

They suddenly heard footsteps running to the kitchen.

O’Fera appeared from the side door. “Did someone get hurt?”

She froze when she noticed Chef Saltbaker in her kitchen in his black and white striped pajamas, mixing unknown ingredients in the bowl that was glowing blue. She looked to see Chalice scratching the bandage on her other arm nervously and then back up at Saltbaker. She noticed a bloody syringe on the counter next to the bowl.

Saltbaker moved his eyes at the bloody syringe and then back at the sergeant. “It’s not what it looks like—”

“You used a child for your own sick cooking experiments?” O’Fera growled at Saltbaker, ready to attack him.

“No, it’s not like that,” Chalice responded quickly to diffuse the situation. “He’s makin’ the cure for Tremaine.”

“Yeah,” Cuphead added.

O’Fera calmed down a bit. “And he’s the only who can make it, because—”

“He’s an expert on making magical foods,” Chalice explained.

“Oh, like that Wondertart incident he almost cooked up one time?” O’Fera questioned while giving the chef a withering glare.

Saltbaker laughed nervously. “It was only one time.”

“And you went to jail for it,” she snarled.

“Right…” Saltbaker responded. “But hey, I’ve changed now.”

“Really?” O’Fera replied. “I’ll know it when I see it.”

The chef rolled his eyes with a groan.

The familiar brown rat popped out from the top of Mugman’s porcelain head. “Vill vu all chust sdop schouding for fiffe zeconds? Vu’re ruining mein peauty sleep.”

“Hey! What are you still doing in Mugman’s head?!” Cuphead shouted at Werner angrily.

Werner laid his chin on the edge of Mugman’s porcelain head. “It’s nice und cosy up here.”

“Werner, get out of his head,” O’Fera demanded tiredly.

“Nein!” Werner said while ducking back into Mugman’s head.

Mugman rubbed his arm with a nervous laugh at the others.

O’Fera rolled her eyes at the rat and looked at the chef. “Alright, first off, who are you making the cure for? Because it doesn’t look like this can be given to multiple people.”

“It’s for Cassidy,” Porkrind responded with his arms crossed.

O’Fera’s brow quirked up. “And you let Saltbaker out in the middle of the night because—?”

“The Devil has her soul in the soul vault,” Mugman explained.

O’Fera squinted in confusion. “How?”

Werner popped out his head out of Mugman’s head again. “Does the liquid in your head glow plue veneffer vu haffe ein ‘fizion’?”

“Uh…I don’t know,” Mugman answered.

“Hmm, schtrange,” Werner responded while climbing out of Mugman’s head and landed on his shoulder. He sat down and pondered for a moment, his clothes soaked from being in the liquid in Mugman’s cup head. “How often do vu get fizions?”

“Uh…every night,” Mugman answered.

Werner nodded his head in understanding. “Okay. Vo’s Cazi?”

“Uh…my girlfriend,” the mug responded.

“Ah, vu are romandically infolffed I zee. I honestly neffer zee vu vith any girl. Glad I vas broffen vrong,” Werner replied with a smirk.

“Alright, can we get back to the subject at hand?” O’Fera interrupted. “Look, it’s in the middle of the night and—”

“Please, Sergeant,” Mugman begged. “If we don’t save Cassi now, who knows what the Devil is going to do to her sooner than later. I know that it’s risky and you probably don’t think it’s safe, but please…I—” he clenched his teeth to withhold the tears. “—I want to help her in any way I can. Please, let me help her.”

O’Fera frowned at the sight of Mugman almost ready to break down in tears with a little whine. With a sigh, she crossed her arms loosely. “You’re not going down there…”

Mugman frowned and looked away.

“…Without reinforcements,” she finished with a small soft smile.

Mugman perked his head up with his eyes widened. Everyone else smiled at Sergeant O’Fera, who drew her brows in determination.

“We know the entrance to Hell here, right?” O’Fera asked the others.

“Yep,” Dice responded.

“Right where you picked us up last time,” Chalice replied.

O’Fera nodded her head in understanding. “I got a plan on how we can get in.”

~.~

Throughout the isle, there were more and more infectees eating the remaining food in the shops until they eat from the trashcans. The silhouette of a long plane flew over them, catching some of their attention. Up in the night sky, the plane flew in the shape of a dachshund with windows on each side of the plane. It had a face of a dachshund with long ears and a bow used as a propeller. Within the long plane, Mugman looked out of the window to find the volcano they were circling around to enter into Hell.

Mugman felt a hand on his shoulder and looked over to find Cuphead rubbing his shoulder.

“You ready?” Cuphead asked his brother.

Mugman drew his brows together in determination and nodded his head.

Werner popped out from Mugman’s head. “Alright! Let’s get ready! Ve’re apout to chump into Hell!”

Mugman and Cuphead looked to see Brineybeard, Ribby, and Croaks aboard on the plane along with Bulldog and the pups known as the Yankee Yippers. Porkrind took his hammer out while Jerry loaded his guns. Dice practiced his card magic for combat. Saltbaker held onto the cure in the syringe, leaning against the wall.

Natalie rubbed her arm nervously while Chalice patted her back to reassure her that everything will be alright. However, Chalice noticed Canteen sitting in the shadows, rubbing his bandaged arm. She went over to him and sat next to him.

“Ya ready to get Cassidy?” Chalice asked with a bright smile.

Canteen faked a grin and nodded a bit. “Yeah, a little. Although. I think I should stay back with the Howling Aces.”

“Why?” Chalice questioned.

“I, um, not a good fighter…” Canteen uttered sadly. “I think it’s best if you guys go without me. That way I won’t weigh you down.”

Chalice frowned with a brow arched.

“Don’t worry, I’ll be safe,” Canteen reassured Chalice.

“Okay, if you say so,” Chalice responded sadly.

Canteen frowned when she got up and walk away, not knowing he was approached by Bulldog and Charlie Left-legs.

O’Fera was driving the plane with Murray sitting next to her. “Prepare for landing.”

Everyone nodded their heads in understanding.

The plane landed on all four paws on the edge of the volcano. Everyone got out of the plane with Bulldog setting up the crane and platform while Charlie strung up his webs so that it could hold the platform and connected to crane.

“Bulldog, Charlie, and Canteen, stay here and wait till I signal you guys to pull us up,” O’Fera stated. She looked at the others. “Brineybeard, Ribby, Croaks, Saltbaker, and Werner, go with the kids. Porkrind, Dice, Jerry, and Murray, you’re coming with me to get Cassidy’s soul.

The group nodded their heads in agreement. O’Fera hopped onto the platform, signaling Porkrind, Dice, Murray, and Jerry to come with her.

They stepped onto the platform and Charlie lowered the platform into the volcano. The group was lowered into the volcano.

Dice glanced at O’Fera with a brow quirked up. “Do you know how to get souls out of the soul vault without trading your soul?”

“Do you?” O’Fera questioned.

“Yeah…”

“Then that’s one reason why you’re coming with us,” O’Fera responded. “Do you know where we can free Cassi’s soul?”

Dice cracked his knuckles. “Yep. I know this place from the back of my hand.”

Once the platform landed on the ground into the underworld, Dice stepped off of it, leading his group through Hell to get to the library.

It was the kids’ turn along with Brineybeard, Saltbaker, Ribby, and Croaks. As they were getting onto the platform, Chalice looked back at Canteen with a frown. Canteen softly smiled at her in reassurance that he will be alright up here with Charlie and Bulldog. He waved at her for good luck as the platform was being lowered by Charlie.

Saltbaker noticed this exchange between Chalice and Canteen and placed a hand on her shoulder with a soothing rub. The lower they went, the more determined the kids became to rescue their friend.

~.~

Dice led O’Fera, Murray, Porkrind, and Jerry through the hallways of Hell.

“We’re almost there,” Dice informed the group.

They snuck towards the library while Dice went towards the door and checked to see if the coast was clear. His eyes widened when he saw a couple of imps cleaning the library. Dice hid behind the door and looked at the others, shaking his head.

O’Fera, Porkrind, Murray, and Jerry peeked inside to find the imps dusting the shelves. Jerry took out a smoke bomb from his jacket, but was stopped by Murray.

“I got this one,” Murray whispered to them and snuck into the library.

The others watched intently while Murray was sneaking up to the imps.

Murray placed his heads on their heads, controlling their memories that would paralyze them. The imps fell onto the ground, trembling from the powers.

“Okay, the coast is clear,” Murray whispered to the others.

O’Fera came in while looking at Murray both impressed and shocked. “How did you do that?”

Murray rubbed the back of his head. “I’ll explain it once we’re done here.”

O’Fera smirked at him with her arms crossed.

Dice climbed up to the shelves where all the soul contracts used to be, only noticing one in the C-section. They all could assume that it might be Cassidy’s contract. Dice brought the contract out and looked to see that there was no signature but there was a sentence written in bronze.

“A deal was made by the handshake.”

No wonder Cassidy didn’t sign her name. She shook hands with the Devil.

Dice climbed back down to the others, not realizing another small contract fell out of the one he was holding.

Porkrind picked it up and opened it up to see that it had his own signature and Jerry’s.

Jerry peeked over his shoulder and gasped.

“We’ve never made any deals with him,” Porkrind growled.

“Look, he forged our signatures to give up Cassidy’s soul,” Jerry pointed out.

“Are you kidding me?” Porkrind growled.

Dice looked around the library. “Guys, we need to make this quick.”

Murray and O’Fera witnessed Porkrind putting the contract on the ground and Dice getting another upside down cross from the wall. He flipped it over, letting it glow bright in his hand.

Dice dropped the cross onto Cassidy’s contract, burning it. The bright glow took over in a shape of a cross and disappeared without a trace.

“Whoa,” Dice uttered in shock. “We did it.”

“We need to find Cassidy,” Jerry determined, opening the door and rushing out.

“Jerry, wait!” Porkrind called while chasing after him. Dice followed after them.

O’Fera and Murray hurried after the guys and followed them towards the soul vault where they froze instantly in shock. They saw a faded glow from a figure holding Cassidy’s soul.

“Hey!” Porkrind shouted before the glowing figure disappeared with Cassidy’s soul in his arms.

“What’s that?!” Jerry shouted in panic.

“It’s not the Devil at least,” Dice responded nervously.

“Come on! We got to find her!” Porkrind replied in panic.

Everyone rushed through the soul vault, looking for Cassidy’s soul.

~.~

“Are you sure you know where you’re going?” Ribby questioned Mugman as they were walking through the hallways towards the dungeons.

Mugman nodded his head.

Werner popped out of Mugman’s ceramic head with a withering glare at Ribby. “Hey, don’t gueszion zee mug. He knovs vere he’s koing!”

“Hey, since when did you start believing in Mugsy?” Cuphead questioned the rat.

“Zince he’s schowed his bovers,” Werner answered plainly.

“I got powers too,” Cuphead responded.

“Ha! Zee only zuberpover vu kot vas peing Hannoying,” Werner said while laughing at the cup.

Cuphead growled, his eyes turned flaming red as his fists started to become aflame.

Werner stopped laughing and looked at Cuphead in fear. He ducked his head into Mugman’s ceramic head.

Brineybeard patted Cuphead’s shoulder. “Why don’t we calm down? Who knows wha’ could lurkin’ around here?”

“The pirate is right,” Saltbaker said while holding the syringe close. “The demons might be nearby and your glowing fists might draw their attention to us.”

Chalice sighed while rubbing her hands. “Oh, I hope Canteen is doing okay up there. He ain’t the same as he was ever since we tried to get Cassidy out of here the first time.”

“Really? He seemed to be the same to me,” Saltbaker responded.

“I don’t know. He ain’t as talkative as he used to be,” Chalice responded.

“Yeah, I did notice that,” Natalie replied.

“Might have to check on him once we get back,” Chalice responded.

“Guys, we’re here,” Mugman alerted the group.

Croaks and Ribby ran ahead of them.

“Guys, wait!” Saltbaker alerted them.

“Cassi!” Ribby called.

“Cassi!” Croaks joined, searching within the cells until they found the silver door.

Ribby looked through the window along with Croaks.

“Oh no, Cassi!” Ribby shouted.

“Hang on!” Croaks growled in determination and used his shoulder to bash the silver door.

“Whoa, whoa, hey, you’re making too much noise,” Saltbaker whispered to the frogs harshly.

Cuphead touched the silver door, having it melt in his hands to reveal Cassidy’s soulless body laying against the wall.

Mugman gasped and ran towards her, sliding on his knees beside her. “C-Cassi?” He moved her black bangs out of her face to see her fully. He tried to hold in the tears when he was seeing her like this.

“Hurry,” Chalice ordered.

Saltbaker rushed towards her until he noticed her opening her eyes, red with white slit pupils. With a gasp, Saltbaker grabbed Mugman by the handle. Mugman screeched and zapped Saltbaker, electrocuting him.

“Ow! I’m trying to save your life!” Saltbaker shouted at Mugman, his veins glowing blue.

Mugman breathed heavily with Werner popping out of his head with sparks around his body.

“Ow, that really hurts,” Werner groaned in pain, losing his German accent.

They heard Cassidy laughing evilly, causing everyone to widen their eyes in fear.

“Zat’s your girlfriend?” Werner questioned.

Mugman nodded his head with a sigh of admiration. “Yeah…”

Werner gave the mug teen a deadpan stare. “Ve’re zubozed to pe afraid of your girlfriend, not Hadmiring her.”

The walls fell away from them as if they had been tricked to think they were in the dungeons. But they were in the grand throne room, surrounded by imps and demons. The Devil was sitting at the throne, his veins glowing orange.

“Well, well, look who shows up for a little rescue mission,” The Devil stated while using his fingers to control Cassidy’s body.

“Hey! Leave her alone!” Ribby shouted.

“Yeah!” Croaks added.

Before they could charge at the Devil for controlling Cassidy like a puppet, the imps came forward with their weapons.

Ribby and Croaks clenched their fists, ready to fight.

Brineybeard took out his sword and stood in front of Natalie to defend her.

Cuphead clenched his fists, the red flames glowing.

Chalice turned into a ghost with a determined look on her face.

The blue sparks came out of Mugman’s body, his glare set on the Devil.

Werner ducked back into Mugman’s head and then coming back up with a mini-gun aimed at the imps around them.

“Ooh, I’m so scared,” Devil mocked them. “I have enough patience as it is. I have been waiting for this moment when I can finally kill you all. Now…let’s get the party started, shall we?”

The imps charged towards the others.

Ribby and Croaks yelled out their battle-cry and threw punches at the imps, knocking down every single one of them coming at them.

Brineybeard slashed through the demons with his sword while Werner was firing his mini gun at the imps from Mugman’s head.

Cassidy threw a fireball at Natalie, but it was intercepted by Cuphead. Cuphead threw the fireball back at Cassidy with his wings spread out. Cassidy grabbed the fireball and held it for a brief while.

Mugman zoomed towards Devil, causing Werner to fall back into the mug’s head. He did not hesitate to throw punches at the Devil, letting the sparks fly out of his hands to electrocute the Devil.

The Devil took a hit, his body convulsing a bit until he managed to control himself and smacking Mugman in the face with the back of his pitchfork. He raised his hands up to control Cassidy’s body, turning her around to aim the fireball at Mugman. Before she could throw it, Chalice jumped into her body as a ghost and possessed her, yanking the aim to Devil instead. The fireball was thrown at the Devil, hitting his body.

Cassidy had blue eyes instead of red, indicating that Chalice was possessing her temporary.

“Hurry, Saltbaker! I don’t know how much longer I can hold her!” Chalice shouted with Cassidy’s voice.

Saltbaker nodded his head and rushed towards Cassidy.

Devil noticed Saltbaker running towards Cassidy with the cure in his hand. The demon growled and used his telepathic powers to shove Saltbaker away from Cassidy, sending him flying towards Ribby and Croaks. He took back Cassidy’s body under his possession, shoving Chalice out of Cassidy’s body.

Saltbaker shrieked and crashed against the frogs, knocking them back away from the imps.

Brineybeard gasped and hurried to defend the others by slashing at the incoming imps attacking them. “Are you guys okay?”

“Never better,” Saltbaker groaned.

Mugman drew his brows together and charged towards Devil, tackling him off the throne.

Cuphead was about help, but the imps were piling up on him. He threw his fists at them to get them away from him. Natalie noticed this while breathing heavily in fear. She looked to see Chalice being shoved out of Cassidy’s body, reverting her back to her physical form. Chalice groaned in pain and looked up to Cassidy forming fireballs in her paws.

Before Cassidy would throw a fire ball at Chalice, a mini cannonball crashed between her and Chalice. It blew up before they both could question what it was.

Chalice gasped and looked to the side to see Canteen holding a pistol. He jumped between Cassidy and Chalice with a glare at her, earning Chalice’s bright smile.

“If you want to hurt her, you’re going to have to get through me,” Canteen growled, his gun aimed at her.

Cuphead noticed Canteen standing between Cassidy and Chalice while Bulldog and Charlie entered the scene with Esther tagging along with them.

Bulldog took out his M60 machine gun and fired the bullets at the imps, backing them away from Cuphead and Brineybeard.

Charlie threw bombs in his webs at the imps while Esther fired her shotgun at the imps attacking Brineybeard.

Mugman punched the Devil continuously and sent sparks onto the Devil’s body until someone familiar knocked him away from the Devil. Mugman groaned in pain and looked up. His breathing stopped and his mind went blank. He could only stare in horror to see a familiar tiger standing over him, his stomach opened and an orange glow in his veins.

Devil stood back up with a condescending smirk. “You remember Hunter, don’t you?”

Mugman had tears trickling down to his face, watching Hunter approaching him closer. When Hunter leaned down to meet Mugman’s eye-level, a smirk came to his face.

“It’s nice to see you again, little animal,” Hunter snarled.

Werner popped out of Mugman’s head. “Hey, vo are vu calling little animal?!” Angrily, Werner hopped onto Hunter’s forehead, slamming his fists between the tiger’s eyes with a battle-cry.

Before Devil could step in to help Hunter, a wooden hammer slammed into his face and knocked him back. Devil growled in pain and looked to see Porkrind gripping the hammer with a pissed-off look on his face. The Devil laughed and more arms were pulled from his sides to scare the pig.

Jerry came into the scene and used the other arms out of his trench-coat to pull out his pistols. “Two can play that game.”

Before Devil could attack both Jerry and Porkrind, two cards blocked his eyes. Devil screamed and ripped them off, realizing Dice was right beside him and holding his pitchfork to aim it at Devil.

“Don’t make me use this,” Dice growled.

O’Fera and Murray jumped into the scene, helping Cuphead and Charlie with the imps with O’Fera firing her gun and Murray jumping into the imps’ memories and torturing them with it. Bulldog joined O’Fera, firing at the imps.

O’Fera looked at Bulldog. “Wait, who’s at the edge?!”

“Djimmi, Cagney, Hilda, and Bowlboy! Don’t worry, they’ll lift us up once we let them know!” Bulldog shouted in determination.

Natalie was the only one not fighting the imps. She didn’t know what to do until she noticed Cassidy ready to fire another fireball at Canteen. Chalice got up and gripped Canteen’s bandage shoulder with a glare at possessed Cassidy.

Natalie had to think of something to do. She noticed the Devil controlling her despite being attacked by Porkrind, Jerry, and Dice while Mugman couldn’t move an inch from noticing Hunter and Werner attacking Hunter. Natalie wondered if she could get Cassidy away from the Devil. That’s when an idea struck her. She took off her pink high-heels and threw one of them at Cassidy’s head. Cassidy got hit in the head by the shoes and looked at Natalie.

“Come get me!” Natalie shouted and ran off.

Cassidy grinned evilly and chased after Natalie.

Chalice and Canteen gasped in shock and chased after Cassidy.

Saltbaker noticed this and decided to hurry after the other kids.

Natalie lured Cassidy through the halls of Hell, hoping to get her friend further enough away from the Devil for him to lose control of her. However, Natalie hit a dead end and gasped in fear. She turned to find Cassidy creeping closer to her, a fireball ready in her paw until she crossed an invisible line. Her veins no longer glowed orange and she slumped forward, her fur pale as if she had no soul within her.

Natalie smiled in relief and noticed Chalice and Canteen approaching them. Chalice widened her eyes and noticed Saltbaker rushing besides Cassidy, injecting the cure into her body. Cassidy vomited out Tremaine, but she was still slumped forward.

“Come on, let’s get out of here!” Saltbaker shouted to the kids while picking Cassidy up in his arms.

The kids nodded their heads in agreement and hurried back to the others.

~.~

Mugman watched Werner slamming his tiny fists against Hunter’s forehead before Hunter thrusted Werner against the wall.

“Ow!” Werner yelped.

Hunter turned back to Mugman, who breathed heavily in fear. “You know, I should be thanking you for killing me. I can come back more powerful thanks to you.”

Cuphead noticed Hunter approaching his brother, his brows drawn together. He zoomed towards the tiger and punched him square in the face. “You get away from my brudda! If you ever come near him again, I’ll kill you myself! Ya hear me?!”

As Cuphead was saying this, his body started to burn up in pure anger and vengeance while growing more orange phoenix feathers in his body.

Mugman widened his eyes in shock to see his brother defending him.

Cuphead turned to his brother. “You okay, Mugsy?”

Mugman noticed Hunter forming a fireball. “CUPHEAD, LOOK OUT!!!”

Cuphead turned too late as Hunter shot a fireball at the cup, knocking him back away from his brother.

“CUPHEAD!” Mugman cried, breathing heavily. He looked back at Hunter, who laughed.

“Now, your annoying brother won’t interfere,” Hunter growled at Mugman.

Mugman gritted his teeth in anger and stood up with blue tears streaming down on his face. “Don’t you call him that. Only I get to call him that!”

With that said, the sparks grew larger around Mugman’s body. Mugman’s blue feathers glowed around his torso and his eyes glowed blue, charging towards the tiger and punching his face while electrocuting him.

“You don’t come near me, my brother, my dad, Elder Kettle, and Cassidy ever again! I won’t let you use me to hurt my family again!” Mugman cried, slamming his fists against the tiger’s face before finally shoving him back against the wall.

Dice, Jerry, Porkrind, and Devil noticed before Porkrind landed the last punch at Devil.

Dice dropped the pitchfork when he noticed Saltbaker running out of the hallway with Cassidy in his arms and Chalice, Canteen, and Natalie following him.

“Guys! We got her! Let’s go!” Saltbaker shouted.

Mugman switched his gaze over to find Cassidy’s soulless body in Saltbaker’s arms. He dashed towards Cuphead to pick him up and then to Cassidy, picking her off of Saltbaker’s arms.

“What the—?” Saltbaker uttered with a confused look.

“We got to go! More are coming!” Esther pointed at more imps coming towards them.

O’Fera led the group consisting of Bulldog, Murray, Dice, Porkrind, Jerry, Charlie, and Esther towards Saltbaker and his group.

Brineybeard, Ribby, and Croaks joined the others and ran towards the exit as fast as they could.

Werner rushed behind them, climbing up on one of Brineybeard’s wooden peg legs and onto the pirate’s broad shoulder.

Devil growled. “You don’t just get to run away!” He looked at his imps. “AFTER THEM!”

The imps chased the others through the hallways, following Mugman towards the exit. Mugman flew up through the volcano exit while the others jumped onto the platform.

“PULL US UP!!” Bulldog shouted as the platform was being pulled up immediately by Cagney, Djimmi, and Hilda.

Bowlboy stood and watched in shock while the others were being pulled up. “Hurry!”

Everyone hurried to dissemble the crane and get onto the plane. O’Fera controlled the plane to take off and get away from the entrance of Hell for good.

~.~

Elder Kettle waited at the Howling Aces’ base with Sally, Aurora, and Philip along with the Root Pack, the Moonshine Mob, the Casino gang, and the Yankee Yippers.

“Are they gonna make it?” Ollie asked with a trembling voice.

“I hope so,” Elder Kettle responded.

They heard someone approaching the front door, looking up in fear and anticipation until the door opened to reveal Mugman carrying both Cassidy and Cuphead in his arms.

Mugman had blue feathers glowing as he carried them inside of the base towards the others.

“Oh dear,” Sally uttered in shock.

“Are they dead?” Ollie questioned tearfully.

Mugman collapsed on his knees, holding them tightly. The tears started to trickle down on Mugman’s cheeks.

A couple of tears landed on Cuphead’s cracked face, instantly shocking him and waking him up.

Cuphead snapped his eyes awake with a gasp. “Whoa! What the—?” He realized he was in Mugman’s arms and crawled out of it. “Mugsy—” he looked to notice Cassidy laying in his arms without her soul. “Oh…”

“I’m sorry,” Mugman uttered to Cuphead.

“For what?”

“For not being a good brother. For not being good enough to protect you,” Mugman responded.

“Hey, you ain’t a bad brother. And you’ve always protected me. It’s me who doesn’t protect you enough,” Cuphead said sadly.

Ollie started to sob.

“Ollie, no,” Sal warned the onion.

Mugman held Cassidy closely as the others hurried inside of the base.

“We’re back!” Djimmi announced before noticing Mugman holding soulless Cassidy. The genie turned to Porkrind and Jerry to see their sad looks. “What happened with Cassidy’s soul?”

“Some glowing figure took her soul,” Dice responded. “We don’t know what it was, but—”

“The Most High,” Mugman gasped when the adults mentioned the glowing figure. He held her tighter until he broke down in tears. “Why? Why did you take her from me?”

Porkrind frowned and tried to hold in his tears. Jerry placed a hand on Porkrind’s shoulder, comforting him.

Everyone gathered around dead Cassidy as Ollie begin to cry to see someone dead. Ollie’s stench caused the others to start sniffling.

~.~

Cassidy woke up to a bright glowing light carrying her out of Hell.

Part of her didn’t know who the figure under the glowing light was, but once she was out of Hell and into a brighter place, she almost understood who it was.

The Most High carried her soul towards the golden gates as the gates opened for him to walk through. “You’ve been through a lot, haven’t you?”

Cassidy frowned and snuggled close to Most High’s chest. She nodded her head. “I’m sorry…I wasn’t thinking clearly and I’m…I shouldn’t have made deals with the Devil.”

“That’s true. You shouldn’t have. But I see why you did. You didn’t think you’re loved. Didn’t you know that it’s a lie that was created for a long time?” The Most High asked her.

“It didn’t feel like a lie. It felt like it was truth.”

The Most High set Cassidy down on her feet. “Well, I like you to meet someone who will tell you otherwise.” The Most High gestured Cassidy to look forward.

Cassidy looked forward to find a grassy field with various of multi-color flowers. Up ahead, she could see two red felines running to her. They were adults and…she instantly recognized them.

“Mom? Dad?”

Jack and Shayna slid on their knees and hugged their daughter with cries of joy.

“My precious baby!” Shayna whimpered into her daughter’s shoulders.

Jack kissed the top of Cassidy’s head. “We love you so much, sweetheart. More than anything in this world.”

“Really?” Cassidy asked, her voice cracked.

“Of course,” Shayna, Cassidy’s mother, replied while wiping the tears away from her daughter’s face. “Look at you. You’re all grown up.”

Cassidy started to sob while snuggling her parents. “Why did you guys leave me?”

“Oh, baby,” Jack choked back tears.

Shayna wiped her own tears away. “I left you with Po to keep you safe from the Night Stalkers. It was only to keep you safe, honey. If I can come back for you, I would’ve…but…life had other plans.”

Cassidy blinked her eyes. “Po? You mean…?”

“Yeah, your adopted dad,” Shayna answered.

Cassidy tilted her head. “How come he never told me anything about you guys?”

Shayna frowned and looked to the side.

Cassidy glanced to the side and saw a cloud playing a memory of Porkrind collapsing on his knees in the snow.

“Shay?” Porkrind uttered on his knees.

Shayna looked back at Cassidy. “He tends to bottle things up. I wish he wouldn’t. It would catch up to him at the end. Maybe you can help me through that the same way he helped you through your childhood.”

Cassidy watched more memories of Porkrind defending her from bullies along with Jerry. She widened her eyes to find Jerry jumping into the lake when Cassidy was thrown into it by her bullies and Porkrind punching the teacher for calling Cassidy a burden. She also noticed the memories where she was dancing with Porkrind to practice her date with Mugman. She saw that she was dancing with Jerry when she wanted to go to Natalie’s birthday party. She saw Dice playing cards with her, Jerry, and Porkrind with Dice shutting Tabitha up so that they could play cards together without Tabitha making a comment.

She saw Mugman complimenting her when reading beside her one time and calling her an angel. She also saw Chalice and Cuphead prioritizing what Cassidy desires for her birthday along with Canteen defending her when Natalie tried to make suggestions that would go her way.

She also saw Ribby and Croaks being happy whenever she came around to visit them along with Cagney, Hilda, and Goopy Le Grande. Even there were memories of Djimmi the Great giggling at Cassidy’s antics as a kitten.

Most of all, she saw Natalie not being a good friend to her by walking all over and getting Cassidy to do things she wants. However, she also saw that Natalie was the one who rescued Cassidy out of the tree trunk and would defend Cassidy whenever someone made a snide remark at Cassidy.

Cassidy started to cry when she saw everyone surrounding her soulless body and crying. Mugman holding her and sobbing into her chest. Ribby and Croaks were crying into each other’s shoulders to see Cassidy like this while Porkrind was trying to hold in his tears until he finally collapsed on his knees, sobbing. Jerry hugged Porkrind from the side, joined in by Dice placing a hand on Porkrind’s shoulder. Cuphead whimpered a bit from the onion stench while Murray and Elder Kettle hugged him. Natalie sobbed to see her friend like this along with Aurora. Chalice and Canteen comforted Natalie and Aurora, trying to hold in their tears as well.

“They love me,” Cassidy uttered.

“Yes, they do,” The Most High replied.

“I’m…I’m not a burden to them,” Cassidy added.

“You never were, Cassidy,” The Most High said. “And you never will be to me. You are loved by me and everyone who you call family. Don’t ever forget that, okay?”

“It’s going to be easy for me to forget,” Cassidy responded.

“Then I will remind you along with the others of how much loved you are,” The Most High replied.

Shayna and Jack stood beside her.

The Most High looked at Cassidy. “You can stay or you can go. It’s your choice.”

Cassidy looked at the memories in tears. She looked up at her real parents, who were smiling at them. Then she noticed the cups, who were smiling at her too.

Cassidy wiped her tears away. “I want to go back to them.”

The Most High nodded his head. “Then you shall go back to them.”

“Can we hug our daughter before she leaves?” Jack requested.

The Most High nodded his head. “Of course.”

Jack and Shayna pulled Cassidy into a hug for one last time as all three of them purred.

“Will I see you guys again?” Cassidy asked her parents.

“Of course, you will,” Jack responded.

Shayna kissed her daughter’s forehead and looked into her daughter’s eyes. “Po and Jerry did such a good job raising such a beautiful girl like you.”

“They sure did,” Jack agreed.

Cassidy sniffled and wiped her tears away.

“Don’t be angry at Po,” Shay reminded Cassidy. “He bottled a lot of things up, but he shows more emotion when you’re around. Can you tell him that I’m proud of him for me?”

“Yeah, of course,” Cassidy replied while wiping the tears away.

“Thank you,” Shayna responded while her parents let Cassidy go.

The Most High extended his hand out for Cassidy. “Are you ready?”

Cassidy nodded her head and grabbed his hand. “Yeah.”

“Good,” The Most High said as he guided her into the memory where everyone was surrounding her at the Howling Aces base.

~.~

The cries faded from Ollie with the stench fading from the air. However, half of the group were still sobbing like Natalie and Aurora. Both of the girls were comforted by Brineybeard holding them close like they were his own daughters.

Cassidy’s soul watched them still gathered around and looked to see Djimmi sighing.

“We gotta bury her,” Djimmi responded.

“No,” Mugman whimpered. “Give me five more minutes with her.”

O’Fera frowned and looked away, wiping the remaining tears away.

Cassidy’s soul shook her head and entered back into her body without anyone being aware. However, Werner noticed color coming back to Cassidy’s body.

Mugman noticed Cassidy’s felt warmer than expected. Before he could question the sudden warmness, he heard purring. He gasped and looked at her, noticing her fluttering her eyes open to wake up.

Everyone gasped at the sight with both in happiness and shock.

Cassidy glanced up and the first person she saw was Mugman. “Mugsy…?”

“Angel…?” Mugman uttered in tears. He buried his head against her forehead, sobbing.

She caressed his face, crying along with him.

“I thought I lost you,” Mugman uttered.

She rubbed her face against his, purring louder than before. “I love you too.”

He held her tighter, his wings extended to wrap around her.

She gasped in shock. “Whoa, you got wings?!”

Mugman giggled and placed her on the floor, letting her sit up and looking at his wings. “Yeah. You missed a lot.”

“Wow,” she responded with a blush.

“Yeah.”

She looked to see Porkrind, who was now tearing up. “Dad?”

Porkrind immediately rushed up to her and picked her up, cradling her in his arms. “I miss you so much!”

“I miss you too, Dad,” Cassidy responded.

Jerry approached beside Porkrind.

“Jerry!” Cassidy cried while leaping into Jerry’s arms.

Jerry hugged her with all of his sick arms. “Oh, Cassi, you’re alive!”

Ribby and Croaks ran towards Cassidy. “CASSI!” They picked her up from Jerry’s arms and hugged the red feline.

“We misses ya,” Ribby whimpered.

“The Devil will pay for what he did to you!” Croaks responded out of vengeance.

“Guys, guys, I’m okay,” Cassidy reassured the frog brothers. “I miss you both too.”

Cagney swept Cassidy off of Ribby and Croaks’ arms and spun her around. “It’s been such a long time since I’ve seen you!”

“Oh, we got so much catching up to do,” Hilda replied excitedly.

“Where’s Goopy?” Cassidy asked Hilda and Cagney.

“Uh…no idea,” Cagney responded.

“CASSI!”

Cassidy was suddenly tackled out of Cagney’s hold by Cuphead. Cuphead twirled around and hugged. “You’re back! You’re back! You’re back!”

“Careful, Cuphead, you’re going to crush her bones!” Mugman hurried to Cuphead to make sure he wouldn’t hurt Cassidy.

Chalice and Canteen approached Cassidy.

“It’s good to have you back, Cassi,” Chalice replied warmly and hugged her.

“It’s good to be back—” Cassidy noticed Canteen’s bandaged arm. “Did I—?”

“Not intentionally,” Canteen answered. “Don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine.”

Cassidy noticed Aurora running up to her.

“Cassi!!” Aurora shouted with joy.

Cassidy picked Aurora up and spun her around in a hug. “Aw, Rori!”

She looked up at Natalie, who gave her a frown. She rubbed her arm and gave a deep sigh.

“Cassi…”

Cassidy put Aurora down and listened to Natalie intently.

Natalie sighed heavily and looked into the feline’s eyes. “I’m sorry.”

Cassidy’s gaze softened.

“I’m sorry that I called you a burden…I’m sorry that I pressured to do things that I only want…I-I’m sorry for being a terrible friend. I will understand if you don’t forgive me. I wasn’t the friend you deserved. I was caught up in being like Mom that I was pushing you away. But I won’t try to be her. I want to be a better friend to you. You deserve to have a better friend than how I treated you back then and—”

Cassidy hugged Natalie, interrupting her speech. “I forgive you.”

Natalie clenched her jaw and hugged her back, crying into her shoulder.

Brineybeard smiled proudly at Natalie.

Cassidy and Natalie broke away while Mugman approached beside Cassidy and wrapped his arm around her shoulders.

Cuphead approached beside Natalie and held her hand with a soft proud smile at her. They both blushed at each other, but they still held hands.

Chalice and Canteen stood side by side as Chalice glanced at Canteen and smirked at him.

“Hey, Hughes,” Chalice called.

“Hm?” Canteen questioned.

“You are a hero today,” she responded. “Do you know what heroes get when they save damsels in distress?”

“Uh…I have think about all the stories I read and—”

Chalice kissed his cheek with a blush on her face. “They get a kiss on the cheek, silly.”

Canteen blushed madly. “Oh…”

“I’m trying to say thank you for saving me.”

“Right, right,” Canteen answered with his face becoming more red.

Cassidy looked up at Porkrind, who smiled at her. She pulled out of Mugman’s hold and climbed up on her father’s shoulder. She rubbed her head against his. “Thank you, Dad, for everything.”

Porkrind smiled softly and hugged her.

“And Dad?”

“Hm?”

“Mom is proud of you.”

Porkrind widened his eye in shock. “Huh?”

“Um…I saw her up in Heaven and she wanted me to tell you how proud she is for you and how you raised me.”

Porkrind softened his gaze while slightly freaked out. “You’ve seen your parents?”

Cassidy nodded her head.

“I’m sorry I haven’t told you about them—”

“It’s okay. I understand,” she said. “Maybe you can tell me more about them someday.”

Porkrind smiled and nodded. “Sounds like a good idea.”

Cassidy climbed back down from her father and went to her friends, cuddling her boyfriend.

Porkrind smiled softly and watched his daughter talking with her group of friends.

Djimmi floated next to Porkrind. “She’s a miracle, isn’t she?”

The one-eyed pig nodded his head in agreement. “Yeah, she really is.”

To Be Continued...

A/N: I'm so sorry for the long chapter, but I really hope that you enjoy it nevertheless. Please leave hearts and comments. Reblogs are appreciated. <3

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elm-writes-stories · 1 year

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Cuphead: Isle of Memories (Rewrite)

*Hey guys! I'm so sorry I took so long to get the next chapter up. I got a case of writer's block, but I'm back now! So, this is published on September 22, 2023. If you guys like this episode/chapter, don't be afraid to heart, reblog, and comment! That would be greatly appreciated! Warning: blood. Enjoy!*

Episode Six: The Roots of Hatred

Natalie breathed heavily while running through the dark maze. She was hiding from someone. Someone she knew for a long while. Someone who was her best friend. Now…a monster in her head. She hurried to hide in the dark corner, watching red eyes peering through the darkness to look for her.

“Oh, come now, Natalie, we’re not finished with our little game yet,” Cassidy’s voice rang through the maze.

Natalie breathed faster than ever before, looking around the maze to look for her.

It was sudden Cassidy appeared beside her with a mischievous grin, causing Natalie to yelp in fear and fell back against the floor.

“Found you,” Cassidy replied with a demonic giggle.

Natalie stumbled onto her feet and kept running. She refused to stop. She looked over her shoulder and found that Cassidy was catching up behind her. Finally, Cassidy pounced on her like a feral cat and pinned her against the wall with the cat’s grip around her throat.

“Cassidy! Please! I’m so sorry!” Natalie cried while struggling from her grip.

“Oh, you think your sorry is going to make everything better for you? Oh no, no, no. You see, there are these things…oh, what are they called? It’s something you’ve never experienced in your pathetic rich life!” Cassidy thrusted Natalie through the wall, taking her back to the Ruth Mansion.

Natalie blinked in shock to find her and her mother sitting together. Her mother was measuring Natalie’s food along with Aurora’s food. Natalie had to eat the food her mother measured. Natalie frowned at the sight before noticing her mother turning around her eyes red with white slit pupils like Cassidy. She was face to face with Natalie.

Natalie screamed in fear.

~.~

Natalie screamed awake and sat up abruptly from her bed in the early sunrise. Cuphead nearly stumbled out of his stool placed next to the bed where Mugman was sleeping at.

He whirled around to find Natalie breathing heavily from the nightmare. “Are you okay?”

Natalie started to calm down and looked at Cuphead. She rubbed her head with a groan. “Just a stupid nightmare.” She noticed Mugman sleeping. “Is he still passed out?”

Cuphead glanced at his brother sadly. “Yep. He’s still passed out.”

She noticed the bags under his eyes. “You haven’t been getting sleep at all. You need to—”

“I ain’t too worried about it,” Cuphead responded.

“O-Okay. I-I will just take a walk around base to clear my head.” She got up from her bed and started to head out the door until she saw Cuphead staring at his brother with a sulk. A frown was present on her lips while she looked away for a second. She sighed and walked over to Cuphead. “And you’re coming with me.”

“Huh?” he uttered while she sat next to him. “No, I’m fine.”

“Please?” she asked with her eyes sparkling.

He glanced into her eyes and rolled his. “I’m fine here.”

“Have someone else watch Mugman.”

“Like who?”

“Anyone in the base is good enough.”

He frowned and stared at his brother.

She smirked. “You’re sulking.”

“No, I ain’t.”

“Yes, you are. It ain’t good to stay like that forever.”

“But I’m not sulking.”

“Then what’s going on in that liquid brain of yours?” she asked with her head tilted.

Cuphead frowned. “I kept thinking that it’s my fault for every time Mugman passes out. Down in the hall of mirrors, I hallucinated that Mugman just died in front of me while transforming into a monster. It was fake though because I just saw Mugman right in front of me and I knew he ain’t no monster. But…it did get me thinking a bit that even though I can see right through the illusion, I keep thinking that ole should’ve, would’ve, and could’ve. Like I shouldn’t have left Hell when Mugman, Chalice, and Canteen were dealing with Cassidy. I mean, I was helping you and it ain’t got nothin’ to do with you. Still, I wished I’ve gone back and help Mugman…or understand how to break Cassidy’s curse.”

Natalie looked away sadly.

“My brother needed me and I wasn’t there…I know that it sounds stupid and I shouldn’t get all emotional thinkin’ about it. You know what, it probably is.”

She smirked. “You’re definitely sulking.”

He rolled his eyes. “Okay, fine. I am. So what?”

“That’s why we’re taking a walk around base.” She held his hand, which caused them both to widened their eyes at her sudden action. She was about to move her hand away from his, but he held it for a moment. They were both holding hands, blushing madly.

Cuphead blinked and shook his head, letting go. “Sorry, I don’t know why I did that.”

“Eh, nothing to be sorry for.”

Cuphead smiled at her and looked at his brother. He rubbed his brother’s head with a soft sigh. “Fine. But I’m walking around for ten minutes and come back.”

“Sounds fair.”

Cuphead stood up from his seat along with Natalie and followed her out the door. They walked through the hallway and exited the base. They didn’t go too far from the base and started their walk around the base.

They walked for a while without saying anything to each other. They exchanged glances before blushing and looking away.

“Soo, what’s your favorite hobby?” Natalie ignited the conversation with a nervous grin.

Cuphead blinked in surprise and rubbed his chin. “Hmmm, I have a bunch of hobbies. I’m not sure if I can name them all on the top of my head. Let’s see…oh! I like going to carnivals.”

She smiled a bit. “No way, me too. It’s better than being cooped up in the house with Mom. Heck, it’s a lot better to hang around Cassidy than around my mom…”

Natalie lost her smile and lowered her gaze on the ground.

He frowned and looked ahead of him. “Don’t worry. We’ll get Cassi back. We just need a foolproof plan and—” He heard a whimper from her and looked to see she was trying to suppress the tears. “Hey, are you okay?”

She clenched her teeth. “Yeah, I’m okay. Just a little…um…worried about Cassi is all.”

He tilted his head. “Hey, how did you find Cassidy yesterday? We looked everywhere for you both and we don’t how she took you hostage in the hall of mirrors.”

“I didn’t find her…” Natalie said sadly. “She found me.”

He arched a brow. “Did something happen between you and Cassidy?”

She shook her head. “She just held me hostage and stuff. It’s nothin’ to worry about.”

He shook his head. “There’s more to it, is there?”

She looked up at him and frowned.

“Did she hurt you at all?”

“Nah, not really.”

He found it hard to believe when he noticed her rubbing her throat as if she had been grabbed there before. He looked away and noticed they were rounding the corner of the hide-out approaching the woods with leaves swaying in the gentle breeze. Putting his hands in his pockets, he leaned back as if he was trying to act casual while looking at her. He noticed her gazing at the ground, trying to hold in the tears around him.

“You know, you don’t have to toughen up around me, right?”

She looked at him when he made the comment. He put his hands back out of his pockets and leaned forward more to show that he was more attentive if she needed to vent. He gave her a friendly smile.

She exchanged a smile back before losing it when she looked away from him. He lost his smile when he saw that she was hugging herself.

“I’m okay, Cuphead. Really.”

He looked away until an idea came to his head. “Hey, Natalie, wanna hear a joke~?”

“What joke?”

He smirked at her and walked confidently. “So, there are these two cannibals eatin’ a clown and—wait…dang it! I always forget the punchline.”

She chuckled. “One of them goes, ‘does this taste funny to you?’. Heh, that one is always a classic.”

“But it makes you laugh,” Cuphead uttered in shock.

She nodded her head.

He grinned in excitement. “Oh! I got a good one. You know what’s worse than finding half a worm in your apple?”

She snickered. “What?”

“Fallin’ in the sewer!”

She bursted out laughing with tears in her eyes. “That is so bad!!!”

“But it’s funny.”

“Yes, it is!” She wiped the tears from her eyes.

Cuphead softly smiled to see her like this.

She looked back at him as her laughter died down. She blushed when staring into his eyes, causing him to blush too. They looked away from each other, their hearts picking up the pace when they were around each other. They looked at each other for only a couple of seconds before looking away again.

Cuphead noticed a pink rose they were about to walk by and picked it up. He smiled and glanced at Natalie. He stuck a stem with the pink rose in her hair, which caused her to turn and look at him. She took the stem out of her hair and looked at the pretty pink rose. She twirled it around with a soft smile. When she stared at Cuphead, she found her cheeks growing warm.

Her stomach was turning into knots and her palms became sweaty. Was this natural for someone to make her feel this way? She watched Cuphead looking away with a soft smile on his face, looking around the woods. He seemed to be in his own little world, which made her curious as to what world was Cuphead in. Maybe something stupid and idiotic…but also chaotic and wonderful. She couldn’t believe she was thinking all of those things. Was she having a crush?

No! No! No! Oh no!

She wanted to slap her own face for having a crush already. No! Now she will have to hide it from Cuphead. When he glanced at her, she couldn’t help but get lost in his eyes and—

“What?” Cuphead asked while looking into the woods and then back at Natalie awkwardly. “What are ya staring at?”

Natalie blushed madly and looked away. “Nothing!” She rushed off away from Cuphead, who arched a brow in confusion.

“Huh? Did I do something wrong?” Cuphead asked himself.

However, he didn’t notice Bowlboy walking into the scene beside him.

“I think she likes you,” Bowlboy commented.

“Ya think so?” Cuphead replied without looking at Bowlboy until he recognized the voice. His pupils shrank dramatically and he slowly turned his head with a creak.

Bowlboy waved with a goofy smile. “Heeeey~”

Cuphead glared at the bowl. “You.” The flames wrapped around his clenched fists, fire blazing out of his cup head with red-orange glow in his eyes. “Ya gotta a lot of nerve to show up here after what you did with Mugman! Ya lucky he ain’t here to whoop you into a new oblivion!”

“Wait, how did you—?”

“Mugman told us after you put Tremaine inside of him. Did you really think he wouldn’t tell me anything?!” Cuphead growled at Bowlboy.

“Whoa, whoa,” the flower with orange petals and a yellow face came out of the woods while putting up his hands shaped like leaves. “There’s no need to start a forest fire.” He leaned over to Bowlboy. “I thought you were on good terms with ‘em.”

“Keyword: were,” the humanoid zeppelin hybrid said while approaching beside the flower.

Bowlboy giggled nervously. “It’s not like I knew what Tremaine will do to Mugman.”

“Oh, bananer oil! You got Tremaine from the Night Stalkers and injected it into my brother! You shoulda know that they are dangerous just by ‘em killin’ people in the city!” Cuphead barked at Bowlboy.

“You know, that cup’s gotta point,” the flower whispered to the bowl.

Bowlboy frowned. “Well, I didn’t think much of it then.”

“Well, now do you—wait a minute—what are you doing here along with—?”

“Hilda,” Hilda introduced herself. “This is Cagney and—wait, where did he go?”

“Where did who go—?”

“Did you see that demon-infested camp?” The red-skinned genie replied while flying into the scene. “The Devil has already made camps around the isle and it’s only a matter of time before he—oh, hello. What’s going on with the flames?”

“Uh…he’s about to burn down the forest when he saw Bowlboy,” Hilda responded.

“Oh…what did Bowlboy do—?”

“He injected Tremaine into my brother a while back! He’s lucky that we found a cure to get Tremaine out of his systems,” Cuphead responded with his arms crossed.

“You have the cure to Tremaine?!” Cagney shouted in shock.

“Where?!” Hilda gasped in excitement.

Cuphead widened his eyes in fear. “Um…”

~.~

Brineybeard had Aurora sitting on his shoulder while she watched him search through the woods for some food so that the others could eat. However, he could barely find wildlife to munch on for everyone to eat. He approached the cliff and looked to see more Tremaine spreading around the isle.

“Shiver me timbers,” Brineybeard muttered.

“No food?” Aurora asked.

“Afraid not, lass. The food store be ransacked by infectees ‘n we be barely survivin’ wit’ the portion we ‘ave left. We ‘ave more mouths t’ feed than anticipated.” Brineybeard looked to see the fishes were floating up to the surface of the water. “Dang it, we can nah even fish wit’ the ocean bein’ this bad. We ‘ave t’ reckon o’ somethin’ creative t’ get grub fer everyone.”

Aurora and Brineybeard heard rustling in the bushes. Before Brineybeard could react, Natalie stormed out of the bushes and sat down on the tree stump with her face red.

Brineybeard tilted his head in confusion and glanced at Aurora.

“Sissy seems sad,” Aurora pointed out.

“Aye...I’ll go talk t’ her alone. Here, ye can play right here, make sure ye stay where I can see you,” Brineybeard replied while putting Aurora down on the patch of grass.

“Okay,” Aurora said with a bright grin.

As she was fiddling with the flowers on the patch grass, Brineybeard approached Natalie. He watched her hiding her face and holding a pink rose in her grip.

“Uh, are ye okay?” Brineybeard asked.

Natalie whirled around to see the pirate and her blush went away instantly. She hugged herself and faced the horizon in front of her. “Yeah, I’m fine.”

Brineybeard didn’t seem to believe that for a moment. “Uh…do ye mind if I sit next t’ ye?”

Natalie glanced back up at the pirate and looked around for her little sister. “Uh…where’s—? Oh, there’s Aurora.”

Brineybeard turned to find Aurora still playing with the patch of grass, befriending the tiniest bugs she could find. “Aye, she’s right there.”

“Oh, I’ll watch her—”

“Are ye sure?” Brineybeard asked.

“Yeah, she can be a handful sometimes,” Natalie replied with a soft smile. “I have to keep an eye on her and—”

“Don’t worry, lass. Take a moment t’ relax a bit. I’ll keep an eye on Aurora. She doesn’t seem t’ be a handful t’ me.”

“You sure?”

“I ‘ave handled the rough seas afore. I can easily keep an eye on yer sister,” the pirate reassured her.

Natalie hugged her legs and looked out into the distance.

The pirate tried to read her face to see if there was something wrong while occasionally looking back to see Aurora playing on the patch of grass still with the bugs crawling on her. She didn’t seem bother by it, which surprised the pirate captain for a moment before shifting his gaze back at Natalie.

“Wha’‘s wrong, lass? Is everythin’ okay?”

She nodded her head. “Yeah, I’m fine.” She sniffled, the tears now approaching her eyes. She bit her lip and turned her head away to not show the pirate she was about to cry.

He noticed this movement with a frown. “Look, I dunno wha’ happened down in Davy jones’ locker yesterday, but I know that ye did the best ye could t’ rescue Cassidy ‘n we can come back t’ get her afore it’s too late.”

“It’s already too late,” Natalie responded with her voice cracked.

“No, ‘tisn’t. We can still save her ‘n—”

“And then what? It’s not like that everyone in this wold is going to have a different opinion of her once she gets back!”

Brineybeard shook his head. “But she’s not a burden—”

“I know that!”

“Hey, I’m trying to help ye,” Brineybeard snarled in harsh tone.

Natalie gasped and hugged her legs, trying to hold in her sobs as best as she could.

Brineybeard frowned and wanted to mentally slap himself for the tone he used on Natalie.

“I made her into a monster she is now,” Natalie sobbed.

Brineybeard blinked in surprise at her response. He stayed silent.

“I called her a burden, because I was so angry. I know that she isn’t. She’s been my best friend since I was a kid. She was one of the most real friends I ever had in my entire life. And I called her a burden. I made her into this monster. I-I said that she should’ve died along with her kind. I didn’t mean it! I never meant any of it…but she doesn’t see that! Why would she want to be friends with someone who’s imperfect? That’s why Dad left me. I wasn’t perfect enough for him. And now, I am having a crush on Cuphead! Of all people to have a crush on, it’s Cuphead! I can’t tell him I am starting to have a crush on him. Why would he even be with me? Ah, great, I’m ruining my face.”

She started to wipe her tears away with her sleeves. Natalie let out sobs, her body shaky. Brineybeard witnessed it and looked to see Aurora approaching them with her face in concern for Natalie.

“Are you okay, sissy?” Aurora asked Natalie.

“I’m fine, Aurora. I’m fine,” Natalie answered.

Aurora approached Natalie and hugged her from the side. Natalie glanced over at Aurora and picked her up to cradle her.

Brineybeard softly smiled at the girls. He glanced over at the horizon with a sigh.

“Ye took advantage o’ Cassidy’s friendship, ‘ave ye?”

Natalie nodded her head sadly. “It’s my fault for how she turned out.”

There was a pause as Brineybeard sighed sadly.

“Let me tell ye a tale about the pirate cap’n who scuttled his crew,” Brineybeard said in a low tone, which caught Natalie and Aurora off guard. He lowered his head and his gaze was cast down on the ground in what appeared to be shame. “‘twas a long time ago, way before ye were even born, the pirate cap’n was the fiercest across the seven seas. He had slain the sea monsters, bloodied the other crews, ‘n was feared by all who dared t’ walk past ‘im. The pirate cap’n had an amazin’ crew who backed ‘im up, no matter wha’. Howe’er, the concerns o’ the crew grew ‘n the pirate cap’n didn’ even pay attention.”

Natalie and Aurora glanced up in interest as Brineybeard continued, “He took his crew fer granted, walk all o’er ‘em, ‘n would send ‘em t’ the planks if they dared speak up against ‘im. One fateful day, the seas became rough. The crew wanted t’ turn back, but the pirate cap’n was stubborn. Too stupid ‘n stubborn. The waves rocked the ship, damagin’ it. Howe’er, the rogue seas took more than jus’ planks o’ wood. It took his entire crew ‘til he was the only one left. Once the seas were calm, the pirate cap’n had already lost his crewmates. Most o’ ‘em are the most faithful, the most loyal, ‘n...’n the most trustworthy crew the pirate cap’n ever had the pleasure o’ workin’ wit’. But...he lived wit’ his actions ‘n the consequences o’ ‘em fer such a long time.”

Natalie and Aurora frowned at Brineybeard’s story. Brineybeard paused and looked at the girls with a frown at first…until he softly smiled at them.

“It took years fer ‘im t’ finally realize how mighty miserable he was ‘n even longer fer ‘im t’ realize that it didn’ ‘ave t’ be this way.”

Natalie tilted her head while Aurora became distracted by the butterfly and chased after it with a little giggle.

“‘twill take time ‘n effort t’ change fer ‘im. But all he knew he wasn’t who he used t’ be. He could ne’er take back wha’ he had done t’ his crew ‘n, even though he was the blame fer thar demise, he tried everythin’ t’ make up fer it. Then he found a new crew. A crew he swore he’ll protect no matter wha’ happens.”

“Are you talking about yourself?” Natalie asked with a brow raised and her tears dried.

“Heh, it was kind of obvious, huh?” Brineybeard chuckled.

Natalie nodded her head.

“The point is, lass,” Brineybeard said while looking into her eyes. “I couldn’t make up fer me crew aft me time o’ bein’ a jerk t’ ‘em. But thar be still a chance fer ye t’ right yer wrong between ye ‘n Cassidy. Sure, ye might nah be mateys fer a while, but ye know better now ‘n ye realized yer mistakes. That’s all it takes t’ get better. Ye learn from yer mistakes ‘n avoid makin’ ‘em again.”

Natalie pondered about what Captain Brineybeard said. The pirate captain noticed this with a small soft smile at her.

“‘n thar’s a chance fer ye t’ be wit’ Cuphead.”

Natalie blushed when he mentioned Cuphead.

Brineybeard smirked at her when he noticed the blush.

“I want to be a better friend to her,” Natalie replied.

He nodded his head in understanding.

“But I’m afraid that she will…well…she would have every right to not be my friend. I gave her more than enough scars.”

He frowned. “Aye. I know...’twill take time, Natalie. Don’t rush it. If we do save her, thar might be a chance where ye can tell her that yourself. She might nah wants t’...or maybe she wanted t’ try the friendship wit’ ye again. Let her know how ye feel about her. She needs t’ know it sooner than later.”

She rubbed her arm. “She might not believe me.”

“Then that’s somethin’ ye both could work on together. Show her that ye can change ‘n be the matey she deserves. ‘n she will work on believin’ it.”

Natalie and Brineybeard exchanged smiles until they heard Aurora’s scream.

Brineybeard got up from his seat on the stump and hurried over to the sound of Aurora’s scream. Natalie followed after the pirate captain in concern for her little sister.

~.~

Aurora was surrounding by demons with red eyes staring at her. Her back pressed against the tree.

“Get back, meanie heads!” Aurora shouted while glaring at the demons.

One of the demons leaped to attack before Brineybeard stormed in and tackled him, throwing him into other demons.

“Are ye alright, lass?” Brineybeard questioned the toddler.

Aurora gasped and smiled brightly. “Briney!”

He scooped her up into his arms and placed her on his shoulder. He noticed Natalie approaching the scene behind him.

“Aurora! Are you okay?!” Natalie shouted to her little sister.

I’m okay, sissy!” Aurora chirped happily.

Brineybeard looked around to find more demons approaching them. “It ain’t safe here. We needs t’ go back t’ base. Go!”

Natalie hurried to find the base while Brineybeard followed behind her.

Meanwhile, Cuphead hurried through the forest with Cagney, Hilda, Djimmi, and Bowlboy to run from the demons coming from the trees.

“There’s a safe place we can go to! Hurry!” Cuphead determined while speeding ahead of them.

“Uh, little cup, slow down!” Djimmi shouted.

“He ain’t gonna! Come on!” Cagney determined while carrying Bowlboy on his back.

Cuphead was too far ahead of them to really tell where the cup was going. “It’s right up—” He looked behind him to find no one following him. “Uh…guys.”

“WHOA! WHERE DID YOU COME FROM?!” Cagney’s yell could be heard from a distance.

The cup hurried back over to find Djimmi fighting the demons by summoning mummies from the coffin shaped like him. Cagney used vines to fight off the demons attacking from all sides while defending Bowlboy. Hilda flew into the air and sucked in the clouds at the sky, just to shape-shift into a centaur with a bow and arrow.

Cuphead clenched his fists to summon the red flames and joined in the fight to punch every single demon they missed. However, Cuphead could hear Natalie’s scream and looked at the direction where it came from.

Cuphead zoomed through the forest and managed to tackle the demon encountering Natalie. Natalie gasped in shock when he stood in front of her with gritted teeth at the other demons.

“Come on! Show me what you got!” Cuphead growled at the demons.

Brineybeard pulled out his sword and looked to find Aurora missing from his shoulder. He gasped in fear and looked around until he heard her scream. He turned his head to find the demons leaping branch from branch while carrying screaming Aurora in their arms.

The pirate gritted his teeth and glanced at Cuphead. “Cuphead, get Natalie back t’ base! Go!” Brineybeard charged through the woods to get Aurora.

Natalie breathed heavily while Cuphead scooped her up and extended his wings, flying away from the demons. However, as he flew up with Natalie in his arms, Cuphead noticed Cagney, Hilda, Bowlboy, and Djimmi getting tranquilized and captured by the imps, dragging them through the forest.

“Oh no,” Cuphead uttered in fear. He looked around to find the base and flew down in front of the entrance. “C’mon, we gotta—”

“They got my sister,” Natalie responded. “I can’t just go back to base without her.

“You stay here. I’ll go get them out of the demon camp.” Cuphead started to walk off before being grabbed by the shoulder. He turned to look at her. “What?”

“I’m coming with you.”

“What? No, it’s not safe—”

“I don’t care. That’s my sister. I can’t just abandon her,” Natalie responded with her brows furrowed.

“Well, do you have anything to defend yourself with?” Cuphead asked.

Natalie looked around to find something to take with her. “Give me one second.”

Cuphead noticed her heading inside the base temporarily with a brow raised. He waited for a few seconds before she came out with the large steak knife.

“Alright, let’s go,” Natalie determined.

“Uh…that wouldn’t be my weapon of choice,” Cuphead stated. “I don’t think you can fight demons with it.”

“Maybe if I stab them multiple times, they could fall over and die!” Natalie determined and strode forward.

Cuphead blushed a bit and followed after her.

~.~

Natalie stormed through the forest, gripping the handle of the steak knife. Cuphead walked beside her with a confused look on her face.

“Do you even know where we’re going?” Cuphead asked with a brow raised.

“No, but if we keep walking, we might find something—”

Cuphead grabbed her from the handle before she could fall off the cliff in front of her. She blinked and blushed, shaking it off.

“I guess it’s not that direction,” Natalie replied while Cuphead shifted his gaze down to find a beach below them and the demons dragging the familiar pirate captain and the little cup toddler into the cave.

“Wait, we’re in the right direction,” Cuphead responded while pointing below them.

Natalie looked to see her little sister being carried into the cave along with a passed out pirate captain. “Oh no…”

“I didn’t we got caves in this isle,” Cuphead uttered in confusion.

They watched the demons and their captives disappeared into the cave.

“How do we get down?” Natalie asked.

Cuphead smirked and spread his wings. He scooped Natalie up in his arms as she gasped in surprise. He hopped off the cliff, hovering over to the beach and landed on his feet. His wings withdrew into his back and he smiled.

“Heh, glad I have wings,” Cuphead replied until he realized that he was holding Natalie in his arms longer than expected. They both blushed as he put her down. “Uh, sorry.”

“It’s…fine. Now, let’s go!” Natalie determined while striding into the cave.

Cuphead followed after with an interested glance on what she was going to do. “Uh, you realize that there are probably more demons inside the cave.”

“Don’t care. They got my sister. I’m going to get her.”

Cuphead and Natalie walked through the dark cave. The flame lit up on Cuphead’s porcelain head. He lit the way as they headed down the dark cave. The deeper they went, the more they heard something crawling around.

They entered the area where webs were all around them, causing Natalie to shiver.

“Huh? You would think that it would be warmer inside of the cave,” Cuphead replied.

Natalie froze with pupils shrinking in fear. The teen cup noticed her froze and arched a brow.

“What?” He looked up and widened his eyes in pure fear. On the ceiling, they saw a large eight-legged spider demon with eight eyes crawling to the ground.

They clenched their teeth to watch the giant spider roared at them.

Natalie screamed in terror and ran behind the boulder to hide from the spider. Cuphead spread his fiery wings with his fists clenched. The orange fire surrounding his fists as he leaped to punch the spider. As Cuphead was fighting against the giant spider, the imps came in to aid the spider and fight Cuphead.

Natalie snuck towards the pathway that will lead her to the dungeons, but she stopped and looked to see Cuphead taking down most of the imps. However, the spider was the one grabbing Cuphead by the ankle and throwing him against the wall. She watched with a soft look on her face and shifted her glance over ahead of her. Her eyes moved down to her knife in her grip, narrowing her brows in determination.

Cuphead was thrown onto the ground and tumbled against the wall. His eyelids were getting heavy from the amount of damage. He watched the imps slowly approaching him with their cackles and the spider crawling towards him. Before Cuphead could get back up to face them one more time, Natalie hopped onto the spider’s back with an angry battle-cry, stabbing the spider’s back with her steak knife.

The spider whined in pain while trying to shake her off. While the imps were distracted by Natalie, Cuphead got up and spread his fiery wings, letting out the fire to burn the imps. The imps screamed in pain as his whole body became on fire, orange glowing feathers growing on his skin. He stretched his muscles with cracks and turned his whole cup head with more cracks. Then he jumped into battle, his fists punching the imps and breaking their bones just by his strength of his punch. His speed picked up more intensely, but Cuphead didn’t care that his powers were only growing.

Cuphead noticed that Natalie was thrown off the spider while she yelped. He bolted towards her and caught her in his arms. Sitting her down, he zoomed towards the spider and burst through the spider’s body to permanently kill him.

Natalie heard someone coming into the area while taking out her knife and stabbing the imp who came into the room. The other imp stepped in and pinned her against the wall. Before he could make a move on her, Cuphead dove towards the imp and flipped in the air to kick the imp off of Natalie. The imp was pushed off of Natalie and collapsed on the ground.

Natalie and Cuphead exchanged gazes at each other as she blushed to see Cuphead glowing orange and red mixed together, his feathers covering his torso and his arms.

“Wow…” Natalie uttered in awe with a blush. She shook off her awed gaze, but her blush was still there.

Cuphead blushed a bit for a moment until they noticed the imps ahead of them. “There’s more comin’ at us.” He glanced over at Natalie and extended his hand out to her. She looked at him with a confused glance at him.

“Wanna take them out together?” Cuphead asked with a smirk.

She exchanged a mischievous smirk back and took his hand.

As the imps charged towards them, Cuphead and Natalie held hands and zoomed towards them. He swung her towards them, letting her kick them with her heels while he still held onto her. They spun around in a circle while Cuphead used his other hand to form a finger gun and shoot fireballs from his fingertips. He pulled her back into his arms only for him to throw her up towards the ceiling. He was shooting fireballs from his fingertips while Natalie slashed the spiders about to come down from the ceiling to fight them. Soon, Cuphead caught her in his arms and set her on her feet, but still holding her hand when using his other fist as a finger gun to shoot the incoming imp.

Natalie slit the imp’s throat when he approached them. Cuphead pulled her back into his arms and used his finger gun to fire at the imp coming at them.

As they were fighting, it appeared like they were dancing to an unnamed rhythm. They took out each imp while storming through the cave and holding hands in the process.

~.~

Brineybeard shared a cell with Djimmi and Aurora while Cagney, Hilda, and Bowlboy shared the cell next to him. They were all playing card games while being contained.

“You know, you can get us out of here with the snap of your finger, right?” Cagney questioned Djimmi.

“Of course, but I just want us to suffer here,” Djimmi responded with a fake grin on his face.

Cagney squinted at the genie. “I’m sensing sarcasm in your tone.”

“Of course, I’m being sarcastic. I wish I could get us out of this mess magically, but there’s one problem.”

“What’s that?” the flower asked.

Djimmi took off of his hat and pulled out his lamp. “This is the problem.”

“Then why are you carrying it around?”

“Because I’m chained to it for millions and millions of years. You see?”

“But you’re able to fight all those bad guys with magical abilities—”

“Limited magical abilities. I can only summon mummies from the past and create some solar fireballs. Nothing else,” Djimmi explained. “I can’t snap us out of this situation, because someone needs to wish it out.”

“Okay, I wish you could get us out of here,” Cagney replied.

Djimmi gave the flower a deadpan stare. “You have to rub the lamp and make the—”

Cagney snatched the lamp and rubbed it. “I wish you could get us out of here.”

Djimmi gasped in shock. “Oh my goodness. Oh golly! Cagney, yo-you’re my new master.”

“Wait, really?”

The genie gave the flower a deadpan stare and snatched the lamp back. “No. You have to have the DNA of the last person who rubbed this lamp. And you don’t have it obviously.”

“Great, guess we’re not getting out of here then,” Cagney said while placing a card in the middle to continue the game.

“Who was the last person that rubbed the lamp?” Hilda asked in curiosity. “Do you remember the name?”

“Eh, not really. It was a decade ago when he last rubbed the lamp. He wished for his son to be…well…non-existent.”

“Poor kid,” Bowlboy uttered.

Hilda covered her mouth in surprise. “Did you make his son non-existent?”

“No. I just teleported him to a local orphanage,” Djimmi said. “There’s a lot of gray-area in ‘make my son disappear’. Sooo, I teleported his son to a local orphanage. I didn’t bother to ask for specifics. People could wish some awful things sometimes.”

“That is awful,” Hilda spoke softly while laying her card down.

Cagney blinked for a moment. “Wait, did he make three wishes?”

The genie shook his head as he laid down a card. “Nope. Only made one and was satisfied with the result.”

“Do you know where he lives?” The orange-petaled flower inquired

“Yeah…but I think he might be dead from the Night Stalkers situation.”

“Great, we’ll never get out of here,” Cagney groaned.

Aurora was sitting on Brineybeard’s lap and picked the card for him to put down. The pirate brightly smiled while putting the right card that reversed to Djimmi.

“Is she your daughter?” Hilda asked with an adoring smile at Aurora.

“Oh, uh, no. I took her ‘n her sister in though when her mom be in jail,” Brineybeard informed.

“Oh, where’s the sister?” Djimmi inquired.

“OVER HERE!!!”

The prisoners turned to see Natalie and Cuphead entering the dungeons, drenched in both imp and spider blood.

Cagney widened his eyes in shock. “Uh…wow…”

Brineybeard noticed Natalie holding Cuphead’s hand, smirking a little.

“Sissy and Cuppy are coming to rescue us!” Aurora celebrated while clapping her little hands.

Cuphead headed over to the cell where Brineybeard, Aurora, and Djimmi were held and ripped the cell door open with his super strength.

Djimmi blinked in surprise. “My, my, you might want to be careful—”

Cuphead tossed the cell door aside and ripped open the next cell door that held Cagney, Hilda, and Bowlboy.

“Holy cow, did you go to a boxing gym or what?” Cagney uttered in shock.

“We need to get out now! Come on!” Cuphead urged the group. However, before they could all band together and get out, more imps showed up with their weapons.

“Get them!” the imp shouted.

“My arms are getting tired from fighting them,” Natalie uttered while stretching her arms.

“Don’t worry about it, lass. I’ll take it from here,” Brineybeard said with a glare at the imps.

Djimmi summoned solar fireballs and looked around the imps.

Cagney rooted himself on the ground, ready to attack with the vines.

Hilda cracked her knuckles before putting them up.

Cuphead spread his fiery wings with his eyes reflecting the flames.

Aurora hugged her sister’s leg in need of protection.

Bowlboy noticed the lamp on the ground in the cell and picked it up. “Are you sure the lamp won’t work?”

Djimmi glanced over his shoulder. “It only works for whoever rubs the lamp last—”

The sudden glow burst behind them and they looked to see Bowlboy rubbing the lamp in curiosity. Bowlboy blinked in shock at the sudden reaction.

“Wait, how come it works on him?” Cagney questioned timidly.

“Oh, you’re the son,” Djimmi muttered to himself.

“What?”

“Nevermind that. Make a wish and make it snappy.”

“Uh…I wish to get us all out of here.”

The imps came closer to them.

“I hate to break it to you, champ, but you’re going to need to be more specific,” Djimmi responded.

“Uh…uh…out of this dungeon…excluding the imps.”

“I can work with that,” Djimmi replied while clapping his hands together, creating smoke all around them. The imps charged to attack them and noticed that they disappeared without a trace.

~.~

The group teleported outside of the cave on the shore thanks to Djimmi’s powers.

“Yes! We made it out!” Cagney shouted in victory.

Bowlboy frowned while holding the lamp.

Everyone sighed in relief.

“We need to go back before everyone worries about us,” Cuphead responded.

“Go back where?” Hilda asked with a brow raised.

They all heard thundering footsteps coming from the cave.

Cuphead clenched his jaw and hurried towards Bowlboy. “Bowlboy, wish us back to the Howling Aces’ base. Hurry.”

Bowlboy rubbed the lamp with a confused look at Cuphead. “Uh, I wish for you to take us back to the Howling Aces’ base.”

“You got it,” Djimmi replied while snapping his fingers and the group teleported over inside of the Howling Aces’ base.

“Yes! We’re here!” Cuphead shouted.

O’Fera noticed them and walked up to Cuphead, Brineybeard, Natalie, and Aurora. “Where have you guys been? Everyone’s worried sick about ya.”

Elder Kettle came into the scene. “Cuphead, please don’t tell me that’s blood on you.”

“Uh…no,” Cuphead lied with a fake grin.

Brineybeard let out a hearty laugh and lifted both Cuphead and Natalie up on his biceps. “Har har har! They scuttled the imps ‘n the spiders while rescuin’ us from the dungeons!”

“Wait, what?” O’Fera uttered in shock and fear.

“Yeah…um…there was a demon-infested camp over by the shore,” Cagney informed.

“Great, one more thing to deal with,” O’Fera said with a deep breath.

Bulldog overheard the conversation and stepped in. “We need to strengthen our base then if the demons are gonna come at us.”

“That’s a good idea. But will it be enough?” Elder Kettle asked.

“I guess we’re going to have to fortify everything we got. We need to train the others in combat and we need to—” as O’Fera listed on about what to do with the base, Cuphead and Natalie noticed they were holding hands still.

“Um…sorry—” When Natalie was about to pull away from Cuphead’s hand, he kept his grip on hers. She looked up to notice a soft smile in reassurance.

“It’s alright. I ain’t too worried about it.”

She noticed her bloody clothes. “Ugh, I look disgusting.”

“Same. At least we look disgusting together.”

Natalie snorted with a blush. “Yeah.”

They exchanged smiles while everyone else was getting ready to fortified the base more from enemies nearby.

To Be Continued...

#cuphead #mugman #ocs x canons #elder kettle #cuphead: isle of memories rewrite #cagney carnation #hilda berg #bowlboy #the howling aces cuphead #djimmi the great #captain brineybeard

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