#ElliexMazzie

[orleans-jester]

“Dude, if I was a real zombie, you would have been absolutely done for,” Ellie said with a grin, rustling his curls with her fingers. It satisfied some deep part of her, being able to do that again. Like everything was going to be alright because she had done it, the way that some people with OCD have to flick a lightswitch three times or wash their hands twice.

“I’m so glad you’re alive!” She said, keeping an arm around him, sitting beside him and hugging him back, staying there while they watched the interaction between the brothers.

Of course it was BeBop. But despite their snarky back and forths that they often had, the redhead hot tempers, she was happy to see him.

Not that she’d tell him that obviously.

And she was even happier for Babyface. This was a surprise, something neither of them had been expecting. Mazzie was a win enough. Jax was a super bonus. But a Beagle?

She even started to laugh as they wailed at each other. It was the Beagle after. all. They weren’t touchy-feely the way that the Laveaus were, giving out hugs. Each wail was just love, even if it didn’t look like it from the outside.

“Some things are never going to change,” Ellie said with a nod, the grin still prevelant on her face. And thank God, or thank Loa, whichever, for that.

But Jax got her attention, and she noticed the glare that Mazzie gave, and raised her eyebrows, a touch worried about where this was going.

She got up, moving back to her place beside Babyface. Being the outsiders around here, she still felt the need to watch his back over anyone else’s, in case something jumped out. Some kind of zombie or -

“Are they zombie donkies?” She asked, curling her nose.

Some of the zombies seemed fresher than others and she was able to make out Bouncer, maybe one or two others that looked slightly familiar, but others were a bit too decayed to be able to tell. She didn’t recognize Mazzie’s other father, the one that was chained down to the chair, but she did recognize the one with the longer hair who was feeding them. He’d been at her family dinner table.

“Do we look like zombies to you?” Ellie asked in retaliation to his question. Though she did look playfully over at BeBop. “Oh, he might be brainless, but he’s not dead.”

Curly hair was down for the count!

He started screaming at the top of his lungs shrill like a girl. "ZOMBIE! ZOMBIEEEEEEEEEEE! OH GOD! Get it!" He was scrambling, flailing, trying to gain traction in a way that looked worse than a spooked cornered cat with nowhere to go. Bebop wasn't helping at all. He didn't come running to his aid like usual. What triggered him to open his eyes and focus a little was Bebop's voice saying, "Well, well, well, look what the Mother Ginger dragged in."

Then Jax finally noticed it wasn't a zombie that tackled him.

"ELLIE!" His face lit up like Christmas unlike the cautious way Mazzie had presented in Candy Land. "Ellie! You're here."

He pointed at Babyface too. He was smiling so big his eye was like slits and could barely be seen, so happy. He started hugging back.

When Bebop saw Babyface he stood up. Babyface started to smile. A genuine smile. It looked like he was coming in for a hug. Their whole damn family was dead. It was going to be okay this time.

Then he actually got the knuckle nudge. "Look at you actually living through this bullshit. Damn. There's a Beagle Holocaust out there and you're what I get?"

There was a time Babyface took it all and knew his place in the pack of Beagle Boys, but after everything he'd been through, he'd had about enough. The rest of the pack wasn't there to dogpile him if he barked back.

He took one glance to the air. He made up his mind and he charged his brother Beagle and started wailing on him. These two started a wrestling match that was a long time coming and long overdue. Every few jostles one would pin the other and say something snarky. While Bebop started with low blows like Wish it was you instead of Bouncer or insert name here type of jabs Babyface went in another direction when he finally got the upper hand. "Yeah, well while you're sitting here being a crybaby over who you didn't save, I was out there finding more Beagles. I was doing the footwork to start a new crew. I did what Ma Beagle told us to do not sit here on my ass doing nothing letting more of us die like you."

That one got Bebob too heated. He pulled a blade in anger. Babyface pulled his gun. They stared at each other and stared at each other.

Mazzie and Jax looked at each other. They both looked at Ellie. Everyone looked back and forth between each other and then suddenly both Beagles put their weapons down.

"Fine. Time." They'd say it simultaneously as if they both were counting down like it was a game. It was like they both knew if neither went for actually killing one another and they wouldn't because they were brothers that this was a Babyface won draw. He drew the weapon that caused the pause.

"Fine. Fuck." Bebop said sticking his blade in his back pocket. Then he'd start talking like nothing insane happened between them. "Who'd you find?"

"Black Arts. He's got some Beagle Babe with him. Calls her Nebby. Visited my Ma in prison, got some leads."

"Brandy? Zombies didn't take it over?"

"It's not in Nola, dope."

"Oh, right, right. Good thinking, little Beags." Then he rubbed the top of Babyface's hair as if he still wanted to infantilize him somehow even though he just got the drop on him not quite wanting to give up his position so clearly. He was the elder brother.

Mazzie looked over at Ellie as the drama unfoiled itself and then relaxed again. "So, everything's still the same."

Then she started grinning because at least if something was the same even though they knew nothing really was it was something to hold on to. Crazy as the boys being the boys was it; she didn't mind it being that something at all.

"Well, not everything." Jax blurted out.

Mazzie gave Jax a hard glare. She wasn't quite ready for all that, but then again why drag it out?

She waved them into the control room so they could start to understand what was different about Pleasure Island than before. They might not know it like the backs of their hands like Mazzie and Jax did, but they were going to start to understand this clearly the moment they got inside.

"Don't get your hands near them. Don't pet them or feed them."

"Pet or feed the donkeys?"

"No."

Then Mazzie pushed open the door as Babyface shook off his hair from Bebop rubbing it.

His cocky jaw fell wide open. His eyes were just the same. He couldn't decide if he wanted step backwards or run forwards. There inside the control room was the boat full of Beagles all chained to chairs including one of Mazzie and Jax's father's, Honest John.

An alive Gideon, the quietest one turned his head and said, "Oh 'ello there. I didn't expect guests. Do we needs more chains and brains or plates and sammiches? Which kinds of guests are you, dear?"

Then he threw a body part at the zombie Bouncer who started gobbling it down with no manners at all. Yes, Gideon was feeding the zombies.

This was only the beginning of the surprises inside.

[orleans-jester]

Anna would look a little more worried as they got closer to the address that the GPS was taking them to. It wasn’t quite a nightmare but it was getting there. Ellie, meanwhile, didn’t care about the looks of the houses that they were going by, would just keep looking out the window, looking for the number that she had on her phone. When she saw it, she’d start bouncing in her seat. “Here, here,” She’d say, making her mom pull over to the side of the road. She’d message Mazzie back, with a:

‘Ellie - We’re outside!!!!’

“And she asked her parents, her dads, if it’s okay to go to a sleepover? Should I go and introduce myself? Make sure that they have our number?”

“It’s fine, mom,” Ellie would say, super used to her mom’s pep. “She’s really cool. Don’t scare her away with all of your... you-ness.”

“Oh, right, I’m an embarrassment,” Anna said with amusement, wiping a little lipstick smudge off of the corner of her lip.

“Your words, not mine,” Ellie would say, lowering the window and would lean out of it, arms crossed on the sill, waiting for Mazzie.

[orleans-jester]

Ellie @ Maz

Ellie: Mom and dad want to know if you and your family want to come over for Thanksgiving? :)

[orleans-jester]

“Yeah, but some half-pipes would be cool, some railings,” Ellie said, looking around. If it was themed like an amusement park, why couldn’t it have a skate park? “I’m sure the boys would love it.”

She knew that she was torn. And she knew that Babyface knew. And Mazzie, even if they hadn’t seen each other in a long time. It was a big decision - and she knew the clock was counting down. But for now - maybe just try to get through this night alive, and make sure that everyone else was as well.

She stayed back, out of the questioning that Mazzie was doing to Babyface, which proved that everyone here knew that she was on the fence. She kept her hand on the weapon, looking around for zombies, making sure there wasn’t anymore coming. Mazzie might be able to get the boys to stand down but no one controlled zombies.

But she looked back in time to see the punches to Babyface, and she couldn’t help giggling at that.

“I almost was,” Ellie admitted to Mazzie. “I was stuck inside of our base when everything went to Hell. The zombie virus in the air went away, thankfully, and then there was just the dancing. I duct taped myself to my skateboard and went to Babyface over in Halloweentown. I nearly wiped out so many times because my hips kept trying to hula-hoop or something, it was ridiculous.”

But then shes caught onto what Babyface had. Survivors. What were the chances - not many people knew about the island. Almost nobody knew about the island, actually. So how -

“Beagles?” She repeated, her eyes wide with disbelief. Of all the people - of course the Beagles would endure. There was so many of them, there was no way that all of them could be lost. "Like - Real-time Beagles?"

Big Time. Bouncer.

She put an arm around Babyface, hugging him close, rubbing up and down on his ribs. If there was any time to try to provide comfort, it was that moment, learning the absolute truth. At least he didn’t have to see them, though. Like how she had been pretty sure that she saw her parents shuffling about through Feral.

Her eyes followed up to the porch. Red hair. Looks like she was no longer the only Ginger in Feral.

“Son of a bitch,” She said, grinning. And then she started to run, flats hitting the pavement, going right up to Jax and tackling him down with a hug.

When Mazzie asked Ellie if she'd planned on staying too Babyface knew it wasn't her plan. They hadn't even spoke about it. Still, put on the spot he knew it was his plan all along. He knew from the moment he stepped foot on the boat. He'd known long before that if he ever got the chance to step foot here again and get a do over what he'd do different.

This was it. He'd stay. He wouldn't have run away from Mazzie when she needed him the most. Hindsight made him realize that was biggest mistake.

So, he clenched every muscle as he waited for Ellie's answer. She was laughing and so did Mazzie, but it felt like a goodbye to Babyface. He smiled through it even though it wasn't a no. It was clever wording even a not so clever boy could manage to pick up on. It scared him.

The timer scared him. Her indecision scared him because of that clock. Come some time tonight the island would start it's feed and turning real people into donkeys. He needed the island to accept them or their time, Ellie's time would run out. Not just that but despite being wholly committed to staying, in his mind, it wasn't permanent. When the Foulfellows used to work the island they still left it all the time. Babyface figured he could work on the details of how to leave it later. What mattered is he was staying.

Mazzie laughed. "We skate all over." It seemed to diffuse her though. She was realizing herself what both of them were saying. The one she had been so angry with was the one pleading to stay, completely willing, and the one she was okay with was the one hedging. It gave off the feeling that they had no plans of ambushing her and trying to take her off the island. It made Mazzie have to slow down and think. She gave her memories a once over. It was hard not to be sentimental when these were the only real life friends she'd ever had. Everything Ellie was talking about was reminding her of the old days. No matter how many hard feelings she had, she had just many good or more.

Even all Babyface's questioning made her believe on some level he must have cared more than she realized. So, she looked at him real serious because she knew something he didn't. She was hesitant to say it.

"You'd care for the island like me?"

"Yeah. That's the point. The whole point."

"You're sure. Donkeys and all? You remember how it works?"

"Yeah-yeah. I know. I know. I don't care about all that. I can handle it."

"So, you'd forgive the island for everything."

"Yeah-yeah Alls forgiven. It's all good. Whatever."

"No matter what? You're sure?"

"Yeah. I said yeah. We're crew. Remember?" Babyface sounded frustrated by this point she was dragging it out so much.

"UGH. I'll see what I can do. Come on. Let's go find Jax at the control room." Then she went in for a hug finally giving the warmer reception Babyface wished for.

"And don't ever make me have to forgive you again. Ever. I hated missing you guys."

All the island boys were giving them side eyes but slowly backing away from area where they'd once looked like they were ready to pounce if Mazzie felt threatened. Babyface figured this was a good sign. He finally figured out the pace of the boys was the chaos of island's emotions. At least sort of. He was hoping if they were backing down that meant they were okay with him staying and he wouldn't be turned into a donkey like the offer years ago.

When she finally let go she punched Babyface twice quick with two fast jabs in the arm.

"Hey! What was that for?"

"I don't know. I haven't seen you in so long. I just feel like I owed you some."

She'd start to talk more like a regular conversational Mazzie as they followed her to the control room.

"I have to admit, a part of me thought you two were goners already. Over time I started to assume everyone I knew was gone. We don't have any boats left. We stopped trying to leave. We had the paddle boats and the water zombies would pull them down. Flip them. People would drown trying to leave the mainland dancing unable to swim. The magic didn't dance on the island. We'd never make it back to the mainland if we tried. We decided it was just best to hunker down and live it out here. We could survive. There's been a few to make it but the island either rejected them, got the donkey treatment in the end, or even the few I managed to save succumbed to the zombies eventually. All but one."

He looked over at Ellie with a bit of surprise. He never saw Mazzie as some sort of hero trying to save people on the island even if it ended up a failure.

"Sucks you found some you liked and lost them then I guess."

Mazzie glanced up, "Yeah, they were Beagles."

His feet stopped. "What?"

It wasn't like Babyface didn't already know. He'd been trying to mourn, but no bodies meant he could keep a glimmer of pretend hope. His heart started to pound.

"That's the boat that made it over. They'd been spying on us. You and us. All of us. Trying to figure out what you were doing all the time. It's how they knew. I got the island to let me keep them. Your family was the only people they let me keep. Anyone else that ever happened on the island got the donkey treatment. Sadly, I'm sorry, like I said, the zombies just over ran the place. We're finally getting it weeded down and protected. We have barriers up. But, they're still here."

Babyface was stunned. Fuck those details. "Who Mazzie? Who? Who was here?"

"Oh, Big Time, the zombies came out of nowhere that day. There was nothing we could do. We weren't fast enough. Bouncer, spinning tea cup accident. Not quite sure what happened there. It was going too fast. He got real pukey and dizzy after. Then zombies. He's so big and strong and he couldn't have protected himself if he tried. Not right then."

Babyface looked like he might puke himself. Putting images to his family's vague MIAness to actual faces of death was a reality check. He put a hand on his stomach as he asked, "Wait. Stop. Didn't you say earlier that you had a survivor? You mean of my family?"

"Mhm."

"Well who already? Who?"

Like a movie cue she waved to the control house. "See for yourself."

Babyface Beagle looked over at Ellie and then looked up following Mazzie's arm pointing in the distance.

There was Jax's curly hair sitting on the porch with all the carnival lights behind them talking to a god damn ginger.

Of all Beagles to survive. Mother fucking Bebop was sitting on the stoop with Jax.

[orleans-jester]

Ellie was not Marla Singer, and Babyface was not Tyler Durden. They weren’t going to stand hand in hand in an apartment building as their worlds fell apart. They were amongst the dirt and the debris, they’ve proved that enough. They were not do-nothing bitches, as Ronda Rousey would call it. So though they were on a mission here, they weren’t just doing what they had to do, they weren’t soldiers. As horrible as it might seem, knowing what they know, they were having fun, genuine fun, not wearing a mask.

Really, the giggles that came out of her when she saw the not-very-pleased and yet not pissed off look on the games-man was loud enough to cover the screams on the rollercoasters. She wouldn’t be forgetting that exact moment for a very long time. And it felt okay to laugh. It felt really okay because he clearly didn’t have any feelings, he just took the dart out of his head and there was a comic-looking spurt of blood that went over some of the toys, and then he was alright again, and ripe for another torturing.

A threat is a threat is a threat. It didn’t matter where it was coming from, or who it was coming from. Seeing the zombies as she went from their crib to the Halloweentown door, knowing her friends and family were out there and could turn to attack - if they weren’t so busy dancing - taught her that. Wandering the streets in an unfamiliar town and then getting hit by an old lady with an umbrella and having her grabby elderly hands try to get her wallet, taught her that. Real boys, fake boys, ghost boys, she wasn’t trusting anyone at this point not to suddenly turn and realize they didn’t belong here.

She had been looking up at the Ferris Wheel. Trying to gauge how to climb down if they catch sight of Mazz or Jax, rather than wait for it to take another half-turn and descend them to the bottom. There were the thin metal grids that held up the compartments, might be climbable. But then Babyface was on the jump with shooting off that gun right next to her, making her jump.

“En guarde, bitch!” Ellie said. Though Babyface was pushing her, she stood her ground, moving past him to jump at the zombie with her billy-club and to whack it over the head, putting all of her strength into it. You don’t leave a zombie behind. It could pop up again later. She blasted it’s goddamn brains out, standing there for a moment and beating it over the head as it fell down onto the ground, until there was brain matter splattered on the ground and she was slightly out of breath.

But she didn’t give herself time to catch it before she ran after Babyface towards Candyland, brainmush flying off of the billy-bat, adrenaline on an all time high. Again, thank fuck she didn’t go with a dress and heels tonight.

Run run run, feet slapping against the pavement, hair a red flying blur behind her. She trusted in Babyface and followed him, since he knew where he was going more than she did. Of course there was a Candyland though, she was not surprised at all by the giant candy canes. And then almost as if this place had a hold on her, her mouth started to water, and she felt this huge urge to just .. start licking them. She shook that out of her head. God knows how many bad boys’ tongues have been on that.

“It wasn’t,” She said, her shoulders heaving, as she heard Babyface’s words. “I promise you, it wasn’t.” She had seen the face when she bashed it in. She would have recognized it if it was Maz, surely. Even though it was all decomposing and stuff. She was sure of it. No, it had been a boy. And there had NOT been curls. But even if it had been … she would have done what she needed to do.

She slowed down like a cartoon character, her head nearly freezing in one place while her body kept moving, causing her to slip and fall backwards. While seated on the ground, her hands on it behind her, she looked up towards the night sky, to the towering lollipops that lit it up more than the stars ever could, and saw -

“Holy shit,” She said, when she saw that it was definitely Mazzie. Her hair grown longer, and more dishevelled than she had been before. “Maz! It’s us! It’s Babyface and Ellie!”

Ellie was living up to her name. Leave it to Ells to go through the carnival with her own soundtrack. Babyface Beagle was actually having fun too. He only had the sounds of the chaos and the music of the passing fun, rides, animatronics, and shows. He wasn't sure why didn't think fun was going to happen when he was approaching, but after they got started, and Ell's got so into it with him, he was having a rip roaring good time. It felt natural, like he was in on his own terrain, natural habitat, or his side of town. He didn't feel out of place. Maybe it should have felt surprising to him, but there was no cameleon affect here. He actually blended right in.

He felt like Ells was too he was enjoying himself so much. "Fuck Ed Norton. Rawwwwwwr." He'd growl like a lunatic and then start laughing as he ran to the next spot.

It kept going that way. Seeing the dart hit the barker only kept that Beagle boy pointing at others' misfortunes instead of running up to help like possibly a normal person might do in that situation. He couldn't help himself. The anything goes rules around there made it very easy for little shits like him to amplify when no one was around to tell them to stop. It was also really bizarre to not see people stick up for themselves and it was something he hadn't quite noticed the first time around. He wasn't looking for it then. But, that's how the adult sector of the carnival drew them to acting like even bigger asses to help the magic take hold. This time around noticing it was just downright funny.

Babyface took pride in the llama prize and Ells throwing skills. He kept reaching out to boop it's nose as they walked.

Real enough. True. He tried not to let any thoughts of the end of the night reality sink in. It just never dawned on him before he couldn't tell the difference between island boys and real boys. He decided right then it made no difference if they became a threat and put it out of his mind.

Babyface couldn't pick up the fact Ellie felt like she was being watched. He was too busy trying to keep his head in the game, so it went undetected.

In the end Ellie decided the ferris wheel was the way to go. She agreed. Worst thing to happen was they didn't see anything and they went on their way to Candy Land after. "Let's do it."

So, He led the way to get in line. This was the first moment-

CRACK

He fired his weapon. The first moment he learned there was more than the boys on the island to watch out for. Right from around the Are You This Tall sign flew back their first zombie.

"Oh shit!"

It wasn't dead. It fell over from the blast but it was working on getting back up again. "Ells-Ells-Ells!" He shook her to get her attention as if the blast wouldn't have shaken her completely out of any lull. "RUN!"

Ferris wheel mission was aborted just like that. He was pushing her. He didn't have a chopping off heads sort of weapon on him.

He fired again to slow it down to make their get away, maybe two more times. He wasn't counting. He got flustered at the haste. It was making his eyes do double takes as he passed every boy checking for that deathly pale corpse and rotten flesh appearance. Now he didn't want to accidentally bump into anyone by mistake and it not be a live someone or an island someone. He in no way wanted it to be an undead someone.

He'd head straight for Candy Land swerving in and out of giant candy canes until he thought they lost all signs of people. At that point he was jogging. No matter what Ellie's move was with the zombie back at the wheel he was going to be insistant they get the Hell out of there. He needed to think. In his mind he was realizing that's exactly what he thought the whole place was going to be covered in anyway. He really shouldn't have been surprised by a stray.

As his feet were slowing down to a jog all he kept saying though was, "It wasn't Mazzie. It wasn't Mazzie. It wasn't Mazzie." He fired so fast he was worried he shot a zombie Mazzie. "It wasn't her. It wasn't Mazzie."

Whoever it was just got stuck out there on the island when the Horned King's madness all took place.

Then a voice high atop one of the tallest of lollipops would call down.

"What wasn't Mazzie?"

Babyface's feet would stop dead. His head upturned. He knew that voice. She'd look... alive.

His head would turn to Ellie with the widest eyes his head could hold without popping out.

She'd look dirtier. Her hair had grown. Even from towering at least ten feet over their heads it was easy to see she was worse for wear like someone surviving in an apocalyptic world. Torn clothes. The works. It would seem she was clinging, maybe for dear life. It didn't look comfortable to Babyface.