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hyperpsychomaniac · 4 years ago

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Who Says You Can't Go Home - Chapter 8

Darkwing Duck (90s series) fanfiction

Sequel to my recent fanfic The Other Side of Me

Summary: Down on his luck, the Negaverse Launchpad crashes at Launchpad’s parents looking for help. Launchpad, who has avoided visiting his family since he started working with Darkwing, returns in a panic to ensure his double isn’t causing trouble. And then it gets awkward.

Chapter 1

***

Loopey shuffled her cards back into her deck as Gosalyn rushed past into the kitchen. It seemed she was feeling better, and she was a little bundle of energy. A window slammed. The bolt on the kitchen door rammed across.

“Gos, what are you doing?” Birdie called after her. “Come help shuffle the cards.”

“It’s, um, cold in here.” Gosalyn ran back into the living room, leapt on the sofa, and closed the window behind it.

“The deadbolt isn’t going to keep the wind out, sweetheart.”

The front door crashed back into the wall.

Birdie rolled her eyes. “Every time… Launchpad? Are you alright? What was that explosion?”

A silhouette in a broad brimmed hat moved into the entrance of the living room. For a second, Loopey thought it was Darkwing Duck. She’d seen him a couple of times on television but what was he doing in her parents’ house?

Gosalyn leapt off the sofa and her tiny hands balled into fists. “Negaduck!”

Birdie shot up, wrapped her arms around Gosalyn, and dragged her back. “Stay behind me!”

“Let me go! I’ve got to protect you.”

Negaduck. Darkwing’s enemy. The man who the other Launchpad had worked for. Who he, the rough and burly version of her brother was terrified of. Loopey slowly stood to her feet and put herself between Gosalyn and her mother, and Negaduck.

“Loopey, get back,” said Birdie. Her arms were full with a squirming Gosalyn.

Negaduck lifted a chainsaw and its blade glinted in the overhead light. “Oh, look at this cute little defenceless…”

Loopey raised her fists in a guard. “Back off!”

“Don’t interrupt me, you little…” Negaduck drew in a quick breath. “Well, well, well, if it isn’t the Pink Baroness.”

“I… what?”

“Or her double anyway.” Negaduck threw his head back, and laughed. “Oh, man! She’s his sister, isn’t she? It all makes sense now. This night has been full of surprises. It’s not even my birthday!”

Loopey slowly shuffled around in front of the coffee table.

Negaduck began to pace. He wagged a finger at her. “Do you know how much trouble your counterpart has caused me over in the Negaverse these past few months? Announcing my second in command was dead, oh, that must’ve been what pushed her over the edge. That’s why she started being such a nuisance with her little resistance. You know, I’ve been wondering how I should go about killing her. I guess I’m going to get a practice run.” He reached for the starter cord of the chainsaw.

“Then come get me!” Loopey pegged her entire pack of cards into his face.

Negaduck dropped the starter cord, and laughed. Until Loopey darted past him and kicked her shin as hard as she could into his ankle. Negaduck let out a yelp as he dropped to one knee. Loopey ran for the kitchen.

The chainsaw started up. It bit into the entrance hall wall, tearing through photo frames as Negaduck trailed behind her. Thank God, he was following her. Oh crap, he was following her. With a chainsaw.

Loopey slammed into the gun cabinet in the kitchen, and rattled the doors. Locked. Of course. Because it was unsafe and messy for it to be unlocked. She slammed a fist into the doors. “Damn it, Dad!”

“Oh, pink mousy. I’ve got something for you.” The chainsaw roared as Negaduck dragged it through the frame of the kitchen doorway.

Loopey grabbed the knife drawer and ripped the whole thing right out of the kitchen cabinet. She dove to hide behind the central island counter. Time for plan B.

“Aw, are you hiding?” Negaduck carved up the nearest cabinet. Crockery crashed to the floor. “At least put up a fight. I mean, I get the lot of you are just pale comparisons of your Negaverse doubles, but come on. I want my practice run to at least be a little realistic.”

Loopey dug through the knife drawer. “Oh, I reckon I can give you a decent run for your money.”

The chainsaw cut down to an idle. Negaduck ripped open a drawer and riffled through it. “Yeah? What you got, mousy?”

Loopey hissed as her frantic search drew her palm across a blade. But she’d finally found the longest, sharpest knife. She put it out beside her. Then grabbed the one she was sure had cut her and flung it in Negaduck’s general direction. She needed a moment more, and if she could just make him a little wary…

“Clearly you don’t know how to throw a knife. Didn’t your parents teach you anything?”

Loopey kicked over the kitchen broom had dragged it towards her. She wrenched off its head. “Well, lets see. I can pull the tightest loop the loop in the country. I’m halfway through a mechanical engineering degree. I can can fix anything with chewing gum… or… duct tape!” she exclaimed, a little too loudly, as she found a roll of the stuff stashed in one of the floor cupboards beside her.

Negaduck cackled. “Such an intimidating list!” The chainsaw roared back to life.

Loopey pinned her knife to the end of the broom handle, and wrapped the duct tape around and around and around, strapping the two firmly together. “Oh, yeah. And I could MacGuyver stuff since I was five.”

Negaduck reared around the island counter and swung the chainsaw down. It bit into the lower cupboard where Loopey had been a second before. She scooted back and thrust her makeshift spear. It skimmed past the chainsaw blade, just that little bit longer, and the knife sliced into Negaduck’s shoulder.

“Son of a!” Negaduck jerked back. The chainsaw bit through the broom handle and sent the knife spinning away. Negaduck backed up, a hand to his shoulder, the chainsaw idling down by his side. He chugged in deep breaths. “Oh, you are going to pay for that!”

The window behind Loopey shattered. A body wrapped in a purple cape rolled over her head and slammed into the floor, between her and Negaduck. Smoke filled the kitchen as the caped figured unfolded itself.

“I am the terror that flaps in the night! I am the awkward family reunion, long overdue. I, am Darkwing Duck!”

The smoke cleared. Darkwing stood in front of her, cape billowing around him. The kitchen door slammed. Negaduck was gone.

Darkwing’s shoulders slumped. “And you just used my smoke bomb as cover to bail. Wonderful. Negaduck doesn’t normally run that easily.” He spun around, a smug look plastered across his beak. “It was a rather intimidating entrance, wasn’t it?”

“Um…” Loopey stared up at the caped superhero. How and why was he standing in her parents’ kitchen? Not that she was ungrateful. “I did also stab him with a kitchen knife.”

Darkwing’s eyebrows shot up. “You… stabbed Negaduck? Remind me never to mess with your family.” He reached out a hand. “Are you alright?”

“I… just fought a guy with a chainsaw.” Loopey grabbed his hand and let him pull her up off the kitchen floor. Now that Negaduck was gone she could feel a faint tremble coming to her hands. “Um, yeah, I’m okay. I think I just made him mad though. You saved my life.” On her feet, she was about a half head taller than him. Huh. Seeing him on TV she’d always thought he was, well, taller.

Gosalyn rushed into the kitchen and threw herself around Darkwing’s middle. “DW, you made it!”

Darkwing got down on his knees and ran a hand through her hair. “Are you alright?”

“I’m fine. Loopey distracted Negaduck.”

“And don’t you ever do something like that again, young lady.” Birdie ploughed into her daughter and wrapped her arms around her.

“Aw, Mom.”

Birdie pushed her back, and smiled shakily. “Thanks.” She took Loopey’s hand. “You’re hurt.”

“I just cut it on one of the knives.”

“Let me get that patched up.” Birdie turned to Darkwing. “Now what are you doing all the way out here, away from Saint Canard?”

Darkwing ruffled Gosalyn’s hair, remarkably affectionately. “I was… out visiting family nearby. But Darkwing always knows when there’s trouble.”

“I called him!” Gosalyn yelled over the top of him.

“When? You were squirming in my arms the whole time.”

Gosalyn’s eyes narrowed. “I have my ways…”

“Er, luckily your daughter was able to keep Negaduck at bay until I got here,” said Darkwing. You should be proud of her. I’ll stay, if you want, and make sure Negaduck doesn’t come back.”

“That…” said Birdie. “Is probably a really good idea.” She grabbed Loopey by the hand, and started looking for the first aid kid in the mess of the kitchen.

“At least Dad and Launchpad are safely out of the way at the canyon,” said Loopey. “But do you think Drake and the other Launchpad will be okay?”

“Oh, I’m starting to think Drake is just fine,” said Birdie. She chewed her lip. “But Launchpad…”

“We should send a message to him, DW,” said Gosalyn. “Our Launchpad, I mean. Tell him to bring, you know…”

“Gos!”

Birdie finally found the first aid kid in one of the dismembered drawers. She picked it up with a sigh. “Darkwing, we know our son’s been flying that plane of yours, okay?”

Loopey’s eyebrows shot up. “Wait, Launchpad works for Darkwing Duck? Oh…” Suddenly, all the times he’d avoided family invitations made sense. Of course he hadn’t wanted to talk to their parents! Not that he couldn’t have, but Launchpad had always been a little funny about stuff like that. He could have at least told his sister though.

Darkwing Duck stiffened. “Wait, you know… that?” he squeaked. Actually squeaked. Suddenly, despite rescuing her from a crazed villain with a chainsaw, he didn’t seem so formidable.

Birdie smiled faintly. “Don’t worry, sweetheart. That’s all the other Launchpad told us.”

***

Telling his story had taken all the energy out of Ripcord. He’d stayed up a little longer, talking to Launchpad, before deciding he was going to bed. He’d set up his sleeping bag at the fireside, right at Launchpad’s feet, and fallen asleep almost immediately.

Alone with nothing but his own thoughts, Launchpad realised he was ravenous. He hadn’t eaten anything since half a sausage and numerous cups of coffee for breakfast. He took the stash of cans to the back of the jeep and picked out a woefully watery tin of tomato soup, then bulked it out with beans, some tins of mixed veggies, and another tin he couldn’t quite see in the dark but was either sardines, anchovies, or smoked mussels. He opened them all as quietly as he could then dumped the whole lot in a saucepan and brought it back to heat on the fire.

Launchpad consumed the whole thing, only slowing when he reached the bottom of the saucepan and had to be careful not to let his spoon clank against the sides, lest he wake his father. The crackle of burning wood, the wind, and his father’s gentle breathing relaxed him. He felt better now, and it was hard to tell if it was because he had a stomach full of warm food, or because Ripcord’s mood and overreaction to the canyon incident finally made sense.

It turned out he hadn’t been the only one keeping secrets. And he couldn’t blame his father for thinking he could get away with never telling him. If Loopey hadn’t crashed in the canyon they may never have had this conversation. And maybe it wouldn’t have mattered.

But now, wide awake and with nothing to do but stare into the fire, Launchpad couldn’t help but wonder what that crash at only five years of age had done to him. Every single crash since then he’d come out practically unscathed. Maybe the universe was making it up to him; maybe it had decided he was invincible. And maybe that crash had actually really hurt him. Now he knew what had happened, he’d always wonder.

Launchpad watched his father’s shoulder steadily rise and fall, close enough to touch, and he felt an ache grow in his chest. He really had a lot of lost time to make up for. With his father quietly sleeping at his feet that no longer felt so scary. He’d always wonder what that crash had done, but he knew for certain he’d never hold it against his dad.

A sound came to him on the night air; a buzz. Launchpad squinted as he tried to make it out. Something slammed into the back of his head. “Ow! Hey!” Launchpad leapt to his feet and swatted at what must be the biggest, bitey-est beetle that had just landed on him and most definitely was not staying a second longer.

The Flashquack spun away from his palm, ploughed into the ground, and then hovered back into the air, a very definite list to its flight pattern. “LP?” DW’s voice came over the speaker. “Are you there? This stupid thing… LP, will you stand still!”

Launchpad grabbed the struggling drone out of the air and cupped it in his hands. “Yeah, DW. I read you. What’s up?”

Ripcord snorted and sat up. “The heck is that?”

“Um, DW? My parents…”

“Know that you’ve been working for me? I know. We can talk about it later. Listen, before I say anything more, everyone is perfectly safe, no one got hurt, but your house got a bit trashed…”

Ripcord stood at Launchpad’s shoulder and rubbed his eyes. “Wait, what’s happening? Why is Darkwing Duck in a tiny aeroplane talking about our house?”

“Dad, that’s what he’s trying to tell us. What did Gosalyn do?”

DW huffed. “Seriously, LP? It was Negaduck. He followed us from Saint Canard. He attacked your family, and…”

Ripcord grabbed Launchpad’s shoulder. “What?!”

“Are they alright?”

“Yes! That’s why I led with that.”

“That bastards here,” Ripcord growled. “What did he do?”

“Came into your house with his chainsaw. It’s okay, I chased him away, after your daughter kept him at bay.”

Loopey’d held off Negaduck. Heck. Launchpad felt his father’s grip tighten on his shoulder. “They’re okay?”

“Yes! Your wife and daughter are fine. That’s why I said that first…”

“Gosalyn, and Drake, and…”

“Yes!”

“What about the other Launchpad?”

DW paused. “We don’t know where he is. You should both get back here. Don’t worry about your family; I’ll protect them.”

“You’d better. It’s going to take us hours to get back, and…”

“Dad! DW, I’ll bring the Thunderquack. We’ll be there in ten minutes. I’ll see you there.”

Ripcord gulped. “How are we supposed to get there in ten minutes?”

Launchpad carefully shifted the damaged Flashquack into one hand, and squeezed his father’s shoulder. “It’s okay. DW knows what he’s doing. Mom and Loopey are going to be fine.”

“I know. But they don’t know where Launchpad is, and after all those stories he told me…”

“He won’t hurt you. We won’t let the happen.”

“I’d like to get my hands on him! I hope the other Launchpad is okay. This is the last thing he needs. If Negaduck’s hurt him…”

Launchpad reached into his jacket and pulled out the remote for the Thunderquack. “DW will take care of Negaduck. He just needs a bit of air support.” Within minutes the whine of the Thunderquack’s engines reached them. Launchpad dropped her straight into the canyon beside Loopey’s plane.

Ripcord put a hand to his aviator’s cap to keep it in place as the engines wound down. “Vertical takeoff… this is what you fly for Darkwing Duck?”

Launchpad let the dust settle. He could finally say it. What he’d wanted to scream into the phone every time his parents called and asked what he’d been doing with his life. “No, Dad. This is the plane I designed, built, and fly for Darkwing Duck.

For a second, Ripcord didn’t seem to know where to stare, at his son or the plane. He ran a hand over the smooth metal, and swallowed hard. Then he slapped a hand onto Launchpad’s shoulder. “Damn kid, you’re smart.”

***

The Gator had long burnt itself out. His shack was dark and Launchpad could only see the outline of the door, his crates, and planks in the ceiling. The shack creaked and groaned, and, every once in awhile, he gasped as he fought to stifle a sob. He’d run out of tears. His back hurt from the ridged position the rope held him in. He couldn’t stay here. But he was stuck; unable to do a thing. Darkwing might protect the McQuacks, but he might fail.

He should have asked for help instead of taking on Negaduck by himself. But that would’ve meant telling the McQuacks Negaduck had threatened them because of him. Even if bringing his own problems along with him was what finally got them to realise he was trouble, to boot him out, it shouldn’t have mattered. He should have put their safety first.

The bloody crate Negaduck had left him on was making some decidedly unpleasant cracking noises. He had to get out of this. But any slight movement made the crate creak and splinter. The last thing Launchpad wanted was the McQuacks to come out here and find him, swinging. They would assume he’d given up. But standing here crying wasn’t going to solve anything either.

Launchpad straightened himself, and the crate creaked. But so did the rafter he was strung to, and the support column, and the entire bloody shack. He tensed his neck muscles and carefully put his weight on the rafter, until he spluttered, and had to let off the pressure around his throat.

“Come on, you stupid thing. I’ve frickin kicked your door in enough times.”

Launchpad inched to the edge of the crate and reached out a boot for the support column. He was short by about a foot. He could reach it, but not while he stayed rooted to he crate. As if to underline that thought, the crate splintered, and Launchpad felt it give ever so slightly under him. “Aw, shit.”

Launchpad gulped, gathered himself, then leapt off the edge of the crate. He aimed a kick at the support column and got his weight onto his boot before it could drop onto the rope. Friction held him there for about a second. The support column groaned, but stayed put. Then he skidded off the column and the noose jerked tight around his neck.

The rope tore into his throat and Launchpad gagged as his air supply cut off completely. It felt like his eyes were popping out of his head. He started to tremble, and then spasm, and then the shack let out one final, aching groan. The central support column tilted over under his weight and the whole thing crashed to the ground on top of him.

***

As soon as Launchpad popped the cockpit Ripcord leapt out and rushed up the front steps of their house. “Birdie!” His wife met him at the front door and he threw his arms around her. “Are you alright?”

“I’m fine. Can’t say the same for my kitchen cabinets though.”

Launchpad walked into the house he’d grown up in and gulped. The walls of the entrance hall had long ragged gashes that cut right through the family photos that hung there. Glass littered the floor. He knew how destructive Negaduck could be. But this was his home. His fists tensed at his sides.

Darkwing must have seen the look on his sidekick’s face as he came out to meet him. He put a hand on his arm. “LP, you okay?”

“I’m fine,” Launchpad said tersely. “You’ve taken care of everything, yeah?”

“Your family is fine. I don’t know where Negaduck went but your little sister sure gave him something to think about. Only trouble I’ve had is trying to figure out how to make everyone ignore the fact Drake Mallard hasn’t turned back up yet.”

“Launchpad!” Loopey threw her arms around him. Launchpad hugged her back tight. Holding off Negaduck; she must’ve been terrified. But as she extricated herself from his arms, she just fixed him with a glare. “Why didn’t you tell me you were working for Darkwing Duck?”

“I…”

Ripcord pushed past him. “Loopey, your hand…”

“Dad, I’m fine.”

“What the hell was Negaduck doing here?” Ripcord turned his glare onto DW. “And what are you doing here?”

“I think you’re lucky that I was,” Darkwing said coldly.

“Dad, he chased away Negaduck,” said Loopey. “He saved my life.”

Ripcord’s glare softened, then he turned and wrapped his arms around his daughter.

Loopey patted him on the back. “Aw, Dad. We’re all okay.”

Ripcord grunted and pushed her back. “Where’s the other Launchpad? Has anyone looked for him?”

The front door slammed back against the wall as the Negaverse Launchpad shouldered his way inside. He stood in the doorway, breath coming in ragged gasps, hands bound behind his back, and stared at everyone wide-eyed.

***

The Negaverse Launchpad’s chest heaved as his gaze darted around the entrance hall. Mrs McQuack, Loopey, Gosalyn… Launchpad and Mr McQuack were back too. And, Darkwing Duck. They were okay. He hadn’t destroyed this family.

Birdie rushed to him, arms extended. “Sweetheart, are you okay?”

Launchpad fell to his knees at Birdie’s feet and buried his face against her shoulder. “Mrs McQuack, I’m so, so sorry. Negaduck…”

“We know. It’s okay.”

“No! I knew he was here. I knew he was here from this morning, but I thought I could deal with him myself and, please, please don’t be mad at me, I tried to stop him…”

“If you’re mad at him, you have to be mad at me,” Gosalyn spoke up, loudly. “I knew Negaduck was here too!”

A hand squeezed his shoulder. “On your feet, son. You don’t need to beg in this house.”

Launchpad’s legs felt weak, and not only from the strain of standing on that crate for the last few hours. He just wanted to remain in a heap on the floor. But he sniffed and staggered up. Ripcord put his hands on his shoulders and looked him over.

“Here, I’ve got the ropes.” Launchpad knelt behind his double and worked loose the knots that bound his wrists.

Ripcord gently pushed his fingers through the ruffled and torn feathers around Launchpad’s neck. “Did Negaduck do this to you?” He didn’t need to reply. Ripcord put his arms around him. “It’s okay, buddy. I’m going to take care of this for you.”

“Alright, there you go.” Launchpad removed the ropes and tossed them roughly to the side. The Negaverse Launchpad rubbed at his wrists and winced as the blood made its way back into his hands. Launchpad put a hand on his shoulder. “Hey…” And then drew him into a hug. “Sorry I’ve been such a jerk since getting here. It’s okay that you needed help. Sorry I wasn’t here for you.” It wasn’t like he’d never fallen apart in front of this universe’s Launchpad before. Back when they’d been building his plane, when recounting stories about Negaduck had gotten too much, his double had always patted him on the back or put an arm around his shoulders. But he’d never given him a proper hug. Maybe he’d still been scared he was going to get clobbered. But Launchpad got his arms right around him, which not many people could do, and the hug was just as warm as his father’s had been.

Gosalyn ploughed into his knees and hugged him hard.

“Coming through.” And then Loopey had an arm around him too. “That Negaduck is terrifying. He chased me through the kitchen with a chainsaw. Are you okay?”

It finally hit him. No one here was mad at him. Of course they weren’t. He’d screwed up, but it didn’t matter. “I can’t… I can’t stand up to him by myself,” he said shakily. And it hurt to say it, but he knew the McQuack’s wouldn’t hold it against him for being vulnerable.

“You don’t have to,” said Darkwing. “We’re going to get Negaduck out of here, and, you know, if you still want to help…”

Launchpad nodded. “Yeah, I, wait…” He grasped Loopey’s bandaged hand. “Negaduck chased you through the house with his chainsaw? Are you okay?”

Loopey looked him in the eye, and in that split second she looked exactly like his sister. “You should’ve seen what I did to him.”

“You…”

“… stabbed him with a kitchen knife.”

Damn. Somehow, that information made Launchpad feel a bit better. “He’s going to be pissed.”

“Yeah, um, Launchpad… who’s the Pink Baroness?”

Launchpad frowned. “The who?”

“That’s what Negaduck called me. I’m pretty sure he meant your sister. Apparently she’s started some kind of resistance or something?”

A resistance. Loopey was standing up to Negaduck. And here he was hiding in a completely different universe. Launchpad’s chest tightened and tears filled his eyes. The pain he’d been feeling inside suddenly made sense. He wanted to see his sister. And Gosalyn. He wanted to go home.

“Alright,” said Darkwing. “So everyone’s accounted for…”

“What about Drake?” said Birdie with a faint smile.

“I…” Darkwing trailed off.

“Wait, oh!” said Loopey. “Drake is Darkwing Duck?”

Darkwing Duck, masked vigilante, paled under his mask.

Loopey winced. “Are we not supposed to know that?”

Launchpad put a hand to his face. “Oh, DW…”

Darkwing’s shoulders slumped. “Well,” he growled, “like I said, everyone is accounted for now, so…”

“Wait!” said Launchpad, as his hand slid off his face. “Where’s Dad?”

Birdie’s triumphant grin fell. She spun on her heel and bolted for the kitchen. The Negaverse Launchpad followed her, along with everyone else. They found her standing in front of the open gun cabinet. The gun cabinet that Ripcord was always careful enough to lock behind him. He’d shown it to the Negaverse Launchpad when he’d first arrived. Told him that whatever else he decided to play with out there, the shotgun was here for their protection, and was to be used for that and that alone.

Birdie stared at the empty cabinet and swallowed hard. “Oh, Rip. No.”

***

Chapter 9

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thebrotherscupheadandmugman · 5 years ago

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Aviary Action! With Wally Warbles!

Before you read: This is a rewriting of the main game Cuphead. Characters, certain dialogue, music, and locations obviously do not belong to me. This is best read with the OST playing over it.

Before you start reading, I now have a Patreon you can donate to as well if you should want to support where I wish to take this project! Patrons have unique opportunities to help bring this story to life, so please check it out or become a patron if you feel so inclined! Too young or unable to give financial support? That’s perfectly fine! You can also support this project, and my future ones by reblogging these episodes for free! Oh, and here’s a link to all published episodes. Enjoy!

The brothers flew around, over the mountain and trees in their Aeroplanes, looking for the next debtor. “You sure he's gonna be up here?” Cuphead asked, looking over to his older brother. “That's what Floyd said.” Mugman quickly glanced down at his watch, then back at the skyline. “Just keep your eyes peeled.” “What are we even looking for?!” “Floyd didn't say.” “Swell,” Cuphead grumbled sarcastically.

Suddenly, a loud cuckoo clock chime echoed across the park, causing both the boys to jump and the milk in their heads to spill just a bit. Cuphead and Mugman looked around to find the source, before Cuphead finally pointed to the center of the second isle. A large, red birdhouse with blue wings circled about, above the balloon tree to gather the patrons' attention as it rang. Cuckoo! Cuckoo! Cuckoo! “Think that's the guy?” Cuphead asked.

“Well, they're the only other one up here.” Once the clock was finished announcing the time, it started to fly back towards the side of the mountain, where a few bird nests and a large wooden perch were. “Got the scroll, Mug?” Mugman dug into his pocket and pulled out the list of debtors. The sooner the birdhouse saw it and realized they weren't messing around, the sooner they could get this over with.

As the birdhouse flew back to its perch, it quickly caught sight of our heroes before it could land on it. The door of the clock flew open, and a wooden bird on its own, smaller perch was pushed out. The bird then flew out and landed on the blue Aeroplane, right between the pilot and the propeller. “This here's a restricted area. You two lookin' fer trouble?” “Not...intentionally.” “Hey, I will have you know that we are like a magnet for trouble!” “Cuphead, that's not something to be proud of!” “Keep it down!” The wooden bird snapped before flying atop Mugman's nose in order to look down and read the paper he had. “Statechure business!” “We're here with the Devil's office.” Mugman started, a guilty look plastered to his face. “We've, uh, come for Wally Warbles' Soul Contract.” The wooden bird's eyes suddenly widened, and it flew back into the door of the cuckoo clock, pulling the perch back in and shutting the door behind it.

Not long after that, the door sprang back open. “Cuckoo! No!” The door shut once more, only to spring back open moments later. “Cuckoo! No!” Once again the door shut, only to reopen. “Cuckoo! I don't want to!” The door closed, then opened once more. “Cuckoo! No!!” As the door slammed shut one last time, the orange pendulum stopped swinging, and something stretched out from the face of the clock. The pendulum separated into two legs of a bird, and an orange beak tore out from the clock, freeing the head of a red and blue feathered bird. “Bacaaaaaaaawwww!!” He screeched, glaring at the two, young pilots. “If yer thinkin' I'm goin' down quietly, y'got another thing comin'!!” “Open fire, Mugs!” The brothers promptly began shooting at Wally, although their bullets didn't seem to be doing much.

Something seemed to travel up Wally's throat and after a short while, he closed his eyes and spat out a white egg with blue, green, and red spots. “Hueaeaeahhh!” “Ahh!” The brothers both screamed and scrambled to dodge. “What's th'matter? Don't like my scrambled shots? Hueaeaeahhh!” Wally spat out another egg, “hueaeaeahhh!” Then another. “Cuphead, break!!” Mugman cautioned, maneuvering his Aeroplane out of harm's way. “Why is it every time we get in these planes you want me to break?! I said I was sorry!” The three eggs smashed against the edge of the screen behind the brothers, breaking off into three shells each. “Cuphead, six-o-clock!!” “Ya can't fool me, Mugs! He just chimed for three-ow!!” One of the eggshells hit Cuphead's undercarriage as he spoke, leaving a white cross-shaped mark on the aircraft. “Well, ya can certainly tell which one a ya's th'smart one.” Wally taunted. The cuckoo figured that if the red bogey didn't know aviation terminology, that'd certainly make this easier for him. “Hey!!” Before Cuphead could say anything else, Wally's head morphed to form a giant, white-gloved hand with the thumb pressed over the pinky finger, and the other three fingers pointed at Cuphead and Mugman. “What?” “Get ready to br- dodge!” With the flick of the neck-wrist, the hand fired out three large bullets, one from each finger, and the brothers just barely managed to squeeze through the space between the shots. “Gosh, talk about trigger fingers.” “Nail Birds! Engage blue and red bogeys! Send 'em back to th'taxpayers!”

Four small birds with nails taped to their backs flew onto the scene and headed straight for Cuphead. “Ack! Incoming birdies!” “Focus on Wally! I'll cover you!” Mugman flew in front of Cuphead and began firing at the yellow and pink birds. Upon being hit, each little bird made a squeaky cheep and exploded in a puff of smoke and feathers. “Aauugh, why'd they have to make such a cute noise?! Now I feel bad!” “Ya didn't feel bad before?” Asked Cuphead. “Well, I feel even worse now!!” “Hueaeaeahhh!” Wally spat up another egg towards Cuphead, forcing the child to fly downwards to avoid getting hit. “Engage padlocked bogeys!” Wally commanded once more, four more birds flying towards Mugman. “Mugs, our fire ain't doin' anything!” “Get up close, use your new weapon!” Mug strategized, “I'll give you cover fire, you just watch out for his breakfast!” “Get close, don't get puked on. Got it.” Cuphead gave Mugman a thumbs up, then flew in closer to the feathered debtor. Mugman shifted his focus back onto the incoming birds. “Alright, time to hit the nail on the head!”

With Mugman's cover fire, Cuphead was able to inch in closer to Wally's head, soaring over and under any eggs the cuckoo clock spat out, up until the boy managed to hide right over the top of Wally's head, just outside his field of view. “No joy! I've lost visual, Red Casablanca!” Cuphead switched his weapon, and dropped a mini-bomb right over Wally's noggin. “Yeowch!!”

Inside the birdhouse, a small figure stirred. “Shh, go back to sleep, little one.” The voice of the wooden bird tried. “There's nothing to--” A muffled explosion from outside caused the whole house to tilt and shift, startling the small figure.

Cuphead dropped yet another mini-bomb, hitting Wally right on the beak with it, which caused a few of his teeth to fly out. Then Cuphead dropped another mini-bomb right onto his neck, earning a loud yelp of pain from Wally. “Son of a-” Wally's head morphed into a red factory steam whistle as he cursed. “Twooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!” Out of frustration, Wally began to gobble and flail his wings about, launching out the blue feathers from his body. “Wuh-oh!!” Cuphead saw the incoming feathery bullets and pulled back, trying to fly through the small openings he could find, all while keeping his fire locked onto Wally. However, it didn't take long for Cuphead to become overwhelmed, and a feather scraped against his left wing, causing the Aeroplane to tilt down further than he intended, which resulted in another feather scraping his undercarriage. That was what pushed him up in such a way that allowed for two more feathers to hit his wings, which ultimately pushed him back to the edge of the screen, smashing the young cup between the aircraft and the bordering. “Yeesh. Guess we really ruffled his feathers, huh?” Mugman commented. “Oww!” Cuphead whined as his blue spirit began to drift up towards the clouds. “Hey! Don't you dare leave me here to fight this guy on my own!!” Mugman cried, pulling his straw out from his head. A hand formed at the end of the blue straw to grab Cuphead's pink heart, and Mugman yanked his brother's ghost back down into his body. “'M okay...” The child mumbled woozily. “Shake it off, bro. Just keep a consistent fire, but focus on dodging, don't worry about landing your shots. Okay?” “Yeah?” Cuphead answered after he shook his head rapidly to regain his focus.

It wasn't easy, but the brothers managed to dodge Wally's feathers up until he suddenly stopped to breathe. The bird panted as he caught his breath, and Mugman saw an opening. He released the built-up magical energy from his body, and morphed into a smiling Super Bomb that sailed right for Wally. “Oh nooo!” Wally took in one last deep breath and began flailing about again, launching feathers everywhere. Without so much as an animation for it, the Super Bomb's smile turned into a panicked, anxious frown, Mugman did his best to navigate through the barrage of feather bullets, but he was hit just inches away from Wally, detonating before he intended to. “Son of a gu-- ow!!” A feather grazed Mugman's right shoulder, cuing the preteen to pull back towards his brother. “Well, that didn't go as planned.” “Ya probably....still...” Cuphead trailed off, focusing on dodging whatever was coming his way. Although, Mugman still got the message his brother was trying to get across and started firing again. Cuphead was right. With an explosion that large, Wally still probably got hurt from that.

Once again, Wally found himself needing to stop to take a breather. “Dad? What's goin' on?” A young, sleepy voice asked. Before Wally could answer, Mugman managed to fill enough of his Super Meter to attack with an Ex Move. “Now, Cuphead!” Both the brothers pulled themselves into an aileron roll and fired off one Chomper Missile each, right at Wally. Both the Chomper Missiles smacked Wally square in the chest, causing an explosion of blue and red feathers. The now bald bird gasped in pain before falling out of the birdhouse limply. “Dad, no!!” “Wait, did you hear that?” Mugman asked.

After a few moments, the house fell apart, and a small chick in a nest with four, flapping, wing-like leaves attached to the bottom flew out. “He has a son?!” Mugman shouted. The chick glared at the older cups. “You came fer my dad, huh?! Well, you can't take 'im! He's mine!!” “Calm down, kid! We ain't here ta fightchya!” “R-right! We don't want to hurt you, alright? We just need Wally Warbles.” “Well guess what? My name's Wally Warbles Jr.! So if ya wanna take Dad away, ya gotta go trew me!!” “More like Weirdo Warbles,” Cuphead mumbled to his brother. Junior tried to whistle, but he couldn't do it, so he just shrieked instead. “Ommulon Orbiters! Activate!” Suddenly, five spiked eggs circled out from behind his back, surrounding the chick defensively. “Do yer worst!!” “Look, kid, we don't wanna hurt ya! Now scram before-” “Ya misunderstand. My dad's the brawn and I'm all brains! Together, we bring the pain. Hee hee hee hee!” Junior cackled. “Are you serious?! We have to fight a little kid?!” “He ain't givin' us much of a choice, Mugsy.”

Junior flew towards Mugman and watched in amusement as his invention expanded in a perfect, circular formation, which would surely corner those ugly mugs! “Cuphead, watch out!!” Cuphead flew over one of the eggs, finding himself between it and Wally Jr. Although it might have been a perfect opportunity to strike Cuphead, Junior had already cornered Mugman between the bottom left corner of the screen, and one of the spiked eggs. The young chick grinned maniacally and watched as his attack continued to expand outwards towards the blue Aeroplane. “Oh no!!” Mugman had literally backed himself into a corner, with little to no room to escape. “Mugman!!” The mug tensed up, bracing for impact when he suddenly felt himself shrink down. Suddenly, there was a small opening for Mugs to fly through, and the teeny pilot was quick to squeeze through the gap between an egg and the bottom of the screen. “Curses!!” Junior scowled. However, now that Mugman's form was smaller, he happened to be more aerodynamic and moved much faster than he expected, so he crashed into a second egg before him. Mugman gasped in pain from the force of the impact and in a puff of smoke, the child grew back to normal size, just as the eggs started contracting towards the ceramic duo. “Ahh! Not good!” “I'll show ya fer hurtin' my brother like that!!” As Mugman scrambled to dodge, Cuphead began firing, not realizing the spiked eggs were drawing ever-closer to his plane. “Ouch! Stop dat! Meanies!!” Junior whined. “Cuphead, get outta there!!” “Huh?!” The cup looked back towards Mugman and finally noticed the eggs slowly surrounding him. “How do ya shrink?!” “I-I dunno, just move!!” Cuphead pulled his Aeroplane into a nose-dive as he spun into a sort of corkscrew, just narrowly avoiding a crushing disaster. “Whew!” Cuphead pulled up beside his brother, and firmly pressed the button down on the plane's stick, firing at the fledgling. “Mug, just shoot!!” “R-right!” Mugman followed suit, trying to quickly come up with some sort of plan to take this little fella down without actually hurting him.

“I betchyoo two think yer so smart, eh? Well, guess what? I'm smartah!” Junior pulled out some sort of raygun from inside his small nest and wasted no time in taking his aim and firing with a small giggle. Cuphead was quick to react and flew up and over Junior's shield of spiky eggs, finding himself past the chick. “Ah!!” Mugman did his best to dodge as Cuphead had, but when pulling up, he'd accidentally tilted his right wing up first, rather than pulling the whole plane up at once, and a pink electrical bullet severely damaged the lower wing, bending and tearing the metal in the sky. “No no no no!!” “Gotchya right where I wantchya!” Junior drew closer to Mugman, expanding the eggs out to try and hit him while he was weak. “Mugman, no!!” Cuphead quickly sped around and angled himself between Junior and his older brother, shooting the chick relentlessly to try and protect Mugman. “Ow! Stop it! Ouch!!” Junior whined, the bullets pushing him back just a little with each hit. Mugman grabbed some tape and stood up in his cockpit, after straightening out his aircraft. “Keep him busy! I'll make some repairs!” “Got it!!” Cuphead nodded. “Hey, bird brain!! Where'djya get that toy?! The dump?!” “Yes! And I'll have you know that I made it from broken radio parts and a toaster!! And a buncha other smart thingies an imbecile like you would never understand!!” “Hah! Joke's on you! I don't even know what that means!” “My point exactly!!”

Mugman tied some rope around his waist for safety and then wrapped some tape around his straw and the control stick, leaving quite a bit of room for leeway. He slowly and carefully inched out across the wing of his Aeroplane, until he was close enough to the damaged area. Mugman got on his knees and pushed the bent metal down back to its original place. He taped the two pieces together and pressed the line of tape across the damaged crack before letting go of the roll, watching it fly across the rest of the wing. The tape swung down across the underside of the wing, until Mugman caught it in his left hand, then raveled several more layers of tape across his wing by repeating this process. “Mugman, incoming!!” Cuphead's voice warned, just as Mug tore off the tape from the roll, Mugman looked up to see yet another pink bullet soaring right towards him. Mugman quickly dropped the tape roll and held on to the wing as tight as he possibly could as he pulled his straw out from his head, and yanked. The tension he created in the line was enough to pull his plane to the right, and just out of harm's way.

As his Aeroplane stabilized, Mugman heaved a sigh of relief before quickly crawling back to the cockpit, and removing the tape from his straw and steering. “Thanks, Cup!” “No, no, no!! This isn't fair!!” The child threw a temper-tantrum and pulled out his raygun once again, but before he could fire it, Mugman skillfully shot the pistol right out of the chick's hand, causing him to drop it out of the sky, and breaking the invention upon impact to the ground. “My invention!!” Cuphead began to relentlessly shoot at Junior once more, until the youngster threw down his arms and began wailing, creating raindrops of tears. “Waaaaaaaaaaaaahh!! Waaaaaaaahh! Daaaddyyy, these kids are meeeaaaann!!”

The boys looked at each other. “What good's zat gonna do 'im?” Cuphead asked. “We already knocked Wally out.” Mugman glanced at the ground below. “Now we just gotta find him and get his contract.” Cuphead then noticed something, and his eyes widened in surprise as three drops of milk splashed from his head. “Uh, Mug?!” Mugman looked back in front of them, only to catch sight of Wally on a stretcher being carried up by two, blue, medic birds. Wally was bald, his wounds had been wrapped up in white gauze, he had two black eyes, one of which was swollen shut completely, and he was noticeably missing a tooth. “Wwwwwwwwwwwwwwhaaat?!” Mugman yelped in surprise. “Mister, stop! Yer gonna hurt yerself even more!!” “After ya made m'son cry?! No way!!” Wally growled. “I've worked hard t'keep m'family in tact after th'mistakes I've made! I won't let ya dirty dishes take it all away from me! I won't letchya take it all away from Junior!” “L-look, Mr. Warbles! W-we're sorry, b-but we have no choice!” “Please, just give us yer contract! It ain't like ya got any feathers left ta lose!” The brothers pleaded. “Even without my feathers, you're in for stormy weather!” The feather father, or rather the featherless father, growled, then looked to the only medic he could. “Lefty! Righty! Engage!” Wally hissed out a groan of pain under his breath, and the medic bird at Wally's feet regurgitated a blue and yellow pill capsule into the air. “Does the fighting ever end?!” Mugman brought his plane up to get a better angle to hit Wally with, but just before he could start firing again, the capsule broke apart, and the yellow cap suddenly shot right towards Mug. “Woah!!” Mugman barely managed to pull his Aeroplane down just a tad to gain enough speed in time to dodge the pill. Before the older mug could get the chance to heave a sigh of relief however, Wally suddenly kicked his legs into his own chest. “Pihoo!!” Wally's beak forced itself open as his pupils turned into black X-es and something traveled from his chest, and up his throat. A large red heart pushed its way past Wally's tongue, and out his beak, grinning slyly at the dish pilots as it rose to the air. Cuphead didn't at all hesitate to take his aim at the heart, and start firing. “Mugman, snap outta it!!” Mug shook his head at that. “Right!” Mugman started to fire at Wally, but it didn't seem to be doing anything at all! The red heart suddenly spat out three black bullets at Cuphead and Mugman, then slowly floated back down into Wally's mouth, where Wally immediately swallowed his organ. Mugman was forced to pull his plane back to avoid one of the bullets, as he watched Cuphead steer his red Aeroplane between two of the shots. “Righty! I said engage! Now!!” The blue bird by Wally's head spat out a pill, just as his partner had, and once again, the capsule broke apart and soared towards Cuphead, who pulled into a large barrel roll to dodge. Mugman suddenly got an idea. If one of those medics go down, they'd drop Wally too! Mugman sped his aircraft above Wally's head and switched his weapon. “Here! Have a taste of your own medicine!” Mugman tried to drop a mini-bomb onto Righty, but he had just barely missed, and the bomb dropped to the left of him. Mugman found himself flooded with relief, as he had realized a fall from this height would potentially kill Wally. “Ya think you little cheap chinaware children can just come inta my sky and beat up my boy?! You two got another thin' comin', you puny, tiny, pale little--” Wally's head suddenly morphed into a trashcan as he spoke, sending a pink boot flying towards Mugman. “Ah!!” Mug quickly pulled back, just as the boot soared high in the sky, and Wally spat out rotting fish-bones that rocketed just as high. As gravity pulled the boot down, it just so happened to land onto Mugman's propeller, spinning around and around until it launched into the air for a second time, right as Wally spat out a black boot, and an apple core. Mugman was forced to pull back into a Split S maneuver, twisting and looping his aircraft behind Cuphead to avoid getting hit. As high as the garbage was launched, it seemed to fall just short of hitting the brothers. “You stink!!” Cuphead taunted. “That's the garbage, Cuphead.” Mugman informed, pinching his nose at the smell. “Move closer!!” Wally commanded, and the medics flew his stretcher closer to Cuphead and Mugman. Cuphead switched over to the mini-bombs and began dropping as many as he could onto Wally. The father began to spit out more trash again as he edged closer to the two. Mugman soon realized that he'd collide into Lefty if he didn't move, so he let his plane drop down, only to realize what a mistake that was.

As Mugman tried to move his Aeroplane back to get above Wally, he tapped the edge of the screen, leaving him trapped in the bottom corner. “Huh?! What?! Wait! Th-this isn't fair, I can't move! There's nowhere to go, the projector screen ends!!” The trash quickly began its descent, right towards Mugman. “Just keep shooting at him!” “I literally can't! There's nowhere for me to shoot!” “Shoot his butt!” Mugman sighed but switched his weapon. “Classy. Ah!!” Mugman moved his plane horizontally, one way, then the other, trying to dodge the rainfall of boots, apple cores, and fish-bones, but once there was a break in the garbage, he began firing once again. “Back away from my brother!” Cuphead threatened, dropping more and more bombs onto Wally. “I'd rather have a heart attack and die!!” Cuphead noticed how Wally shifted his legs and zoomed over to his beak just as he kicked his chest once more. Just as his heart was about to ascend from his mouth, Cuphead dropped one last mini-bomb that conked the heart right on the top, stretching the two curves apart and causing it to fall back down into Wally's mouth, just as the bomb detonated.

Wally's head fell limply to the side as his eyes rolled around and around dizzily, moaning just a bit as his whole world rotated ceaselessly. Lefty and Righty grinned and licked their beaks as they ripped off their medic hats, revealing chef hats underneath. They each grabbed the stretcher with their feet and pulled out a salt and pepper shaker, seasoning Wally. “Finally, we got him!” Lefty smirked, licking his beak again. “Huh?!” “We've been after this juicy slice of poultry for years! He'll sell for a fortune once we prepare him!” Righty explained. “Couldn't have done it without ya kiddos!” “Here!” Righty reached into Wally's beak and pulled out his Soul Contract, before wadding it up into a paper ball, and throwing it at Cuphead, hitting him right in the face. “Ack!” “That's what you were after, right?” Cuphead unraveled the wad and checked over the contract to see if it had been forged or not. “Mm-hmm?” He nodded upon confirming the legitimacy. “Take it. Consider it as thanks fer helpin' us find the dinner of the century!” Lefty thanked. “Let's go, we should prepare the oven!” The two birds quickly flew away, landing near the rainbow bridge, freeing Mugman. “They're gonna cook him?!” Mugman gasped in fear. “I think?!” “Wait, stop!!” Mugman rushed to the ground below and frantically landed his Aeroplane, Cuphead following suit.

The brothers chased after the two birds as they attempted to drag the large bird away somewhere. “Stop, don't! What are you doing?!” Mugman cried. “He has a son he's gotta look after!” “What's any of that matter to you?” Lefty asked, tilting his head. “Yeah, ya got his Soul Contract already. What difference does it make if he lives or dies now?” “Yeah!” “And just what do you mean by that?!” Mugman inquired, equal parts worried and insulted. “Yer workin' with the Devil's Office, right?” Righty asked. “Well once you give the Devil his contract, he's as good as dead. His soul will be dragged down to Hell regardless. What difference does it make if he's already dead when that happens?” “Yeah! He's already as good as dead! What's it matter if he dies now or later? At least this way someone will get some sort of benefit from 'im!” “That doesn't matter!!” Mugman shook his head. “All life is precious! It should be protected!” “He's already lived a good life kid.” “So?! All life is precious nonetheless! Age and race doesn't matter!!” “Look, fink!” Righty snapped, “the guy sold his soul to the Devil himself! And that's just what we know about! Who knows what other crimes were committed before any of that! He may be a good father, but that don't mean he was a good person! He sealed his fate ages ago!” “That! Doesn't! Matter!!” Mugman spat back. “All life is precious!” “Just because he made some bad decisions, or maybe did some bad things, doesn't mean he deserves to die for them!!” “Yeah!” “How do ya figure?” Righty asked. “Because! How could he ever change for the better if you end his life?! How could he ever become a good person if you never give him that chance?!” “Well, it doesn't matter now, brats!” Lefty yelled. “He's going to die anyway! What's it matter if it's by your hand, or by ours?!” That seemed to make Mugs lose his nerve. “W-we're not...” “Yes, you are! You're the ones giving his Soul Contract to the Devil himself! You are the ones responsible for that much!” “He...He at least deserves to say goodbye to his loved ones!” Cuphead tried. “Too bad for him! We've been after his hide for years, and we ain't going ta let this golden opportunity slip by!” Righty grinned. “Now then, let's go, partner!” Just as the birds began crossing the bridge, a pink boot whistled as it fell from the sky. Mugman was about to chase after the birds, but Cuphead quickly noticed the whistling, and grabbed his brother's right shoulder to stop him. The boot suddenly clocked Righty right in the head, causing the bird to lose balance and stumble off the rainbow bridge, and right into the shallow waters of Sweetheart's Stream with a shocked yelp. “Woah, woah, hold up, don't panic, I'll getchya out!!” Lefty quickly flew off the bridge and above the stream to help his partner.

The brothers didn't hesitate to rush to both sides of the stretcher, and pull Wally back to the tree by the wooden perch, only to be met with a crying Junior. “D-Dad?!” As soon as the chick caught sight of his father, he pushed his tiny legs through the bottom of his nest and ran over. “Y-yer alive, I-I thought they took you!!” “They tried to.” Mugman informed setting the bird down by the tree trunk. “We just got lucky.” “Y-you saved him!” “He looks bad, Mug.” “I know.” Mugman bit his lip, then turned to Junior. “Do you have a telephone?” Junior stared Mugman right in the eyes and pulled a telephone out from his nest. “Tell the operator you need to take him to the hospital, and give them your address. Okay?” Mugman instructed. Junior nodded and picked up the phone. The mug turned to face Cuphead. “We need to go.” “What? Mugs, shouldn't we stay with--” “Under normal circumstances, we would, but right now, we can't afford to.” Cuphead nodded somberly and joined his brother as the two began walking away. “W-wait, where are you going now?!” Mugman turned his head slightly to look back at the fledgling. “We're going to collect the Soul Contract of Grim Matchstick.” Junior's eyes widened at that. “Grim's a debtor?” His attention was suddenly taken by the phone against his ear. “Ah, y-yes, operator?!” Mugman sighed as Junior talked on the phone. He truly felt bad about leaving this kid all by himself when those two were still so close by. The most they could do is provide a distraction of some sort for Junior, to lead them away, but that was about it. As the brothers started to walk away once again, Junior stopped them. “Hey, w-wait.” Cuphead and Mugman turned around. “U-um, I-I know I p-probably shouldn't do this, b-but you saved Dad, s-so...” Junior felt bad for doing this, but he had to do something for them in return, right? “G-Grim is the security dragon.” “D-dragon?!” Mugman jumped at that. “Yeah. You'll find him in the security castle. Butchya gotta cross both the rainbow bridges to get to it, and the sprinklers fer the second one tend to not work right.” “Okay.” Cuphead nodded. “Thanks, pal.” “You stay with your dad until help arrives. Okay?” “Right.” Junior nodded, hugging his dad's neck as the cup kids ran off.

As the brothers ran past the two birds again, it was evident that Lefty had fished Righty out of the stream, and would probably start searching for Wally soon. Mugman continued to run across the rainbow as he suddenly fired at Righty, causing Lefty to drop the soaked bird back into the water with a splash. “Mug, what are ya doin'?” Cuphead whispered, stopping. “Sh. Just follow my lead,” Mugman whispered back. “Hey! Over here, you two twitty birds!” He taunted. “Catch us if ya can, bird brains!” “Pbthphfhpfhphbphfbpbpt!” With that, the boys ran off once again. “Why you little--!!” Lefty quickly fished Righty back out again, set him on the bridge, then began his pursuit of the brothers.

As the two birds flew past the Mausoleum, our heroes hid inside, knowing that they had successfully tricked the two. “Whew.” Mugman breathed. “Think the coast is clear?” Asked Cuphead. “Not sure.” Mugman shook. “Let's wait a few--” Something behind them suddenly collapsed forward, causing Mugman to jump and nearly run out of the building in fear, but Cuphead outstretched his arm to stop him. “Mugman, relax! Somethin' just got knocked over! Besides, if you go out there, they might spot you!” “R-r-right.” Mugman nodded, horribly shaking as he glanced behind himself to try and find out what fell, but since he hadn't known what the area behind them looked like, that wasn't quite possible. “Relax, we're not goin' in any farther than this.” Cuphead tried, holding his brother's arms to try and comfort him. Cuphead looked his brother right in the eyes until something behind Mugman caught his attention. Something that Cuphead really hoped that his brother wouldn't notice. “R-r-right. Y-you're right.” Mugman nodded, oblivious to the large spider behind him. “W-we'll just w-wait a few minutes, th-then we'll be on our way.” Cuphead wasn't at all listening to what his brother was saying, he was too busy watching the spider slowly creep down towards Mugman. He knew he had to calmly lead Mugs away before he noticed since Mugman had always been terrified of spiders. Cuphead gently pulled Mugman closer to him, and away from the wall, hoping his brother wouldn't notice, but unfortunately, Cup's facial expression alone was enough to tip his brother off. “C-Cups? What's wrong?” Mugman started to turn his head. “D-don't look!” Cuphead stopped. “U-uhh, there's nothing there, I swear! Uh, uhhh, I-I'm just messin' with ya! Hah hah hah hah hah!” He laughed nervously. “You're actin' strange. C-cut that out, it's already creepy enough in here!” Cuphead suddenly noticed that the large spider wasn't alone. Another spider, about the size of a small coin, descended from its web above, hovering all too close to Mugman's left shoulder. There was nothing Cuphead could have said to try and hide it without risking Mugman taking a glance, and he knew it. “Okay, fine...Just whatever you do, don't look to yer left.” Cuphead warned, still trying to pull Mugman away as he crept closer to try and knock the spider away. Of course, Mugman began to sweat at his brother's words. “W-w-w-w-why?” His body began to clink as he shook, slowly turning his head to see what his brother was talking about. Cuphead immediately realized it would have been better to keep his mouth shut.

The second Mug saw the arachnid, the child screeched, and scrambled to get away, but as he turned to make his escape, he caught sight of the larger one that had been less than inches away from his head. Mugman let out a shrill shriek in fear and tried to flee out the Mausoleum's entrance, but three more spiders suddenly dropped down to block him in. Mugman skidded to a stop, falling back on his rear end before frantically climbing to his feet and running deeper into the tomb. “Mugs! Mugman, wait!” Cuphead called, but it was no use. Mugman was in a blind panic now.

After fleeing for what felt like hours to Mugman, he eventually stopped to catch his breath, resting a hand on the wall. The boy looked back behind him, only now realizing he'd left Cuphead behind. “C-C-Cuphead?” He called, one of his fingers finding something to move. He looked back only to find he'd accidentally pushed a skull and reeled back in fear. “C-C-C-Cuphead, w-w-w-where are you?!” He really messed up this time. “Help!” A voice called. It wasn't Cuphead's, but the voice sure sounded familiar. It was a woman's voice, and it sounded like the cries had been coming from below the staircase around the corner. Against his better judgment, Mugman cautiously took a step closer towards the sound of the voice, until he suddenly found himself at the bottom of the steps. Light from the stain-glassed windows filtered in over a stone urn set on an altar. “S-someone please, save me!” “M-Ms. Chalice?!” Mugman recognized. “Oh! Goodness, me, Mugman, is that you?! Oh, please help! I've been trapped again, open the urn, quickly!” Mugman nodded, and rushed over, jumping atop the altar to try and pry the urn open before the ghosts came out, but it was too late.

Organs filled the air, and ghosts began to moan and groan. “Ladies and gentlemugs! Get yourselves ready for yet another spooktacular performance from the Specter Syndicate! Boo ha ha ha ha!” Mugman tried to yank the lid off, but it seemed it hadn't planned on budging. Mugman knew there was no way to pull it off before another specter would reach Ms. Chalice. Despite his fear, Mugman lunged forward at a pink ghost with a blue hat, the end of his straw closed up to form a white-gloved hand, and he parried the spook away. Mugman turned around to try and take another crack at opening the urn, but he spotted another spirit from above, going 'woooo' as he glided towards the altar. The mug rushed over and quickly parried that ghost as well, catching sight of yet another hat-wearing specter just below him, and just barely managed to parry-slap him. Mugman soon caught sight of yet another spirit that looked certainly disgruntled and attempted to block his path by spreading out his arms. “N-now just wait a minute! What exactly are you trying to do? W-what will this accomplish?!” The ghost grunted in annoyance, and passed right through Mugman's body. “Ah!” The preteen gasped, turning around and jumping up to parry the spook once again. If this kept up, there was no way Mugman would ever get an opportunity to free Ms. Chalice! “C-Cuphead! W-where are you?! Ah!!” The mug quickly ran up, jumped on top of the altar once more, then jumped across the room as he tried to parry two more spooks, only to miss one. “No, no, no!!” Mugman quickly stood and rushed over to parry the grumpy ghost he missed, heaving a sigh of relief as it disappeared. That was far too close. “Cuphead, i-if you can hear me, p-please hurry!” Mugman quickly tried to parry-slap another specter, but once again, he missed the first time. “I-I need help! I-I need your backup r-right now!” Mugman gasped, rushing to the other end of the room in order to parry another hat-wearing ghost. The boy knew he couldn't keep this up for much longer, but as long as he kept calling for help, Cuphead would eventually find him. “Cuphead! I-if you can hear me, f-follow my voice!!” Mugman heard something behind him, and quickly turned around to find yet another specter reaching out for the stone urn. “No! Stay away from that!!” Mugman lunged at the other, just barely managing to parry the spook away. “Wheeeeee!! Wheeeeeeeeee!! Hee hee hee hee!” The voice of a little girl giggled. Mugman's head followed the spiral patterns the ghost with a bow was making as she danced and twirled about. Mugman jumped at her, but missed the slap, so he waited for his second chance only to miss that as well. As the spook spiraled around and around, and ever-closer to the urn, Mugman grew more and more panicked, especially upon noticing another spirit trying to sneak past him. If he missed her again, she'd reach Ms. Chalice. “Cuphead, please hurry!!” Mugman rushed over to the dancing spook, and successfully managed to parry-slap her, then jumped over to the other ghost and slapped him.

The mug tried to take a moment to catch his breath, but it would seem the Specter Syndicate wouldn't let him have that. Another hat-wearing ghost shimmied down from the top left corner of the room and edged closer to the altar. “Cuphead, please hurry. I can't take much more of this.” Mugs tried to shout, running up to the spirit and slapping him with his straw. Mugman fell to his knees, still somewhat tired from running earlier. Mugman absolutely needed to catch his breath, but he could still hear two other ghosts moving behind him. The child forced himself to get up, and jump over to slap the first one, only to miss the second, and fall to the ground. “No!” Mugman got back to his feet again, but he knew he couldn't make it to the altar in time. Ms. Chalice was a goner! “Hyiat!” From seemingly nowhere, Cuphead parry-slapped the grumpy ghost, just inches away from the stone vase. “Cuphead!” “I'll get this thing open, you keep 'em off me!!” “Got it!” Mugman nodded, feeling more than ready now that his brother was here.

Two more female specters danced and twirled around the room, and while Mugman got the first one, Cuphead was able to parry the other that he missed. Mugman saw another disgruntled-looking spook above him, and jumped up to successfully parry-slap him as well. Meanwhile, Cuphead tugged, yanked, and pulled on the lid, but with very little progress to show for it. Mugman quickly ran across the room to parry another ghost wearing a hat, only to catch two more female specters on opposite sides of the room. “Cuphead, get that one!!” Cuphead looked up to see the two spooks circling around the altar, and just as Mugman slapped one, he parried the other. “Mugs, I've almost got it, just a little more!!” Mugman nodded, then rushed over to the other end of the room to take out another spirit. Cuphead yanked until his grip slipped. Two more ghosts appeared and Mugman jumped, consecutively parrying them both. “Woah, I-I did it!” “Don't celebrate too soon!” Cuphead gave several more harsh tugs on the lid, just as another female spook twirled around the room, and the second she was close enough to Mugman, he parry-slapped her, just as the lid finally came flying off.

“Victory!!” Ms. Chalice cried, floating out from her stone prison as a twinkling spectral orb, before taking her normal form as a ghostly grail. “Not to mention I managed to find it!” “Ms. Chalice, what are you doing in another mausoleum again?” Mugman asked. “Oh, well, ehehehe.” The benevolent soul scratched the back of her metal head nervously, rather embarrassed by her mistake. “I knew if I rooted around here I could find something special for you! But I didn't know I'd get trapped again!” “Ah, we all make mistakes.” Cuphead waved. “Thanks for saving me a second time. Here!” Ms. Chalice flicked two coins at the brothers, both of which appeared to be exactly the same as the first two coins the Legendary Chalice gave them, only slightly more or less eroded than the other, and with an 'II,' which Mugman realized must have been the Roman Numeral two. “Take this magical Super Art and I'll see if I can find you another!” “Golly! Another? What does this one do?” Cuphead asked eagerly. “This one enhances the connection between the body and soul, allowing you to cross the astral plane to become invulnerable for a short time.” “Good golly gosh!!” The brothers breathed. “Invincibility! That's so incredibly useful! It's sure to come in handy!” Mugman beamed. “Thank you, Ms. Chalice!!” “Consider this a token of appreciation for saving me again! And may we meet again.” Ms. Chalice bowed, before fading away.

“Golly, that worked out better than we thought!” Cuphead smiled. “Speaking of, we should probably shake a leg, those birds are probably gone now.” “Oh, right!” Suddenly, a mischievous spook poked his head out from the wall, and pushed three skulls onto the ground, the sound alone enough to force another shriek out from Mugman. “Eek!! L-let's get outta here!!” Mugman cried, latching onto his brother's wrist as he fled out from the door on the right.

Missed the past episodes? Want to check for the next one? Here’s a link to the list of episodes currently published!

#Cuphead and Mugman: Don't Deal with the Devil #Aviary Action #Cuphead #Mugman #Wally Warbles #Wally Warbles Junior #Ms. Chalice #The Legendary Chalice #Legendary Chalice #Mausoleum II #Word on the Wind {Rebloggable Content}#Drabble #Rewriting #Queue the Credits!

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millieswickedbooks · 5 years ago

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chapter three: goodbyes and old memories (part one)

previous chapter || masterlist || next chapter >>

pairing: Stiles Stilinski Black!OC

word count: 8,454

warnings: kate argent, abuse, pedophilia, trauma, swearing, implied PTSD, mention of a panic attack, slight violence, slight assault, mention of hunting, slight mention of bullying, mention of deaths via fire

"You have six minutes," the Peacekeeper informed us and shut the door behind my family. It was silent for about four seconds as my father, two sisters, Derek, Cora, Laura, William and Talia all stared at me. For some reason, those four seconds felt like an eternity and I thought the peacekeeper was going pop his head in any second now to tell us our time was up. Shockingly—but at the same time not shocking at all—my father was the very first to speak.

"Aurora?" He said, his voice trembling. I didn't know what to say. The look on his face—the look in his eyes brought my walls down.

"Daddy," I said, tears already beginning to roll down my face as I stood up from the chair I was sitting on and ran to him. I ran into his waiting arms, wrapped my arms around his neck and he hugged me back, wrapping his arms around my waist tightly. I didn't care if they all saw me crying, looking like a big baby in front of them. I needed to feel safe, even if it was for a second. Either way, they're all family anyway, so it shouldn't even matter.

"Daddy, I'm so sorry. I couldn't let Alise go up there, I-I just couldn't. I'm sorry," I sobbed out.

Bubba shushed me as I sobbed, hiccuping and all. He pulled away and gently wiped my tears away.

"I'm scared, Daddy. I'm terrified. I-I-I d-don't wanna leave you, I don't w-wanna kill chil-children. They're gonna m-make me kill kids, Daddy. But I-I... I don't... I don't wanna die. I'm so scared, I don't know what to do," I rambled, hiccuping like crazy and honestly at this point I felt a little embarrassed to be this emotional in front of the Hales. They've never seen me like this.

"My baby girl, my brave, beautiful baby girl," he began, and he looked at me with, so much love in his eyes, it made me feel like my heart was breaking all over again. "I'm scared too, baby. But you have a shot, okay? Remember, you have a lot of people waiting for you to come back. And you must come back to us, you understand?" I nodded, gripping his shirt like as if the Peacekeepers were about to come in any second now and take me away, and my Bubba's lip trembled.

"God, I love you so much. You have to be brave, okay? Just as brave as you were out there, you have to be in there. And the killing... no one will look at you differently, you won't be killer, okay? You have to do it to survive, Aurora. It's... messed up, you know that the most out of everyone, but in these conditions, it'll be okay. You gotta do what you gotta do to get back home," he told me firmly. I nodded and he continued, "no one will view you differently, baby girl. I'll make sure of it."

I nodded again, knowing damn well he couldn't force others to think I wasn't a murderer but I let it go for now. That's a different conversation for a different time, a time that I might not live to see, or a conversation I might not live to have either. He sighed and tears began to form in his eyes as he looked me over once again.

"God, you remind me so much of Rose," he commented and I smiled because, for the time being, I guess I could see what he meant. Mama would've done everything to protect her children, just like I did. He kissed my forehead and hugged me once again. I breathed in his calming, familiar scent and as I did, I heard him whisper in my ear.

"Hopefully now you can realize that you truly are a good person and can stop blaming yourself for a death that wasn't your fault," I pulled away from him, like as if I was burned and I stared deep into my father's eyes and he gave me a knowing look. I don't think he can even begin to comprehend how much those words are affecting me right now. I looked down in shame, suddenly feeling guilty for an unknown reason, and he tilted my head up, looking up at him once again.

"I love you, Aurora."

"I love you, too, Daddy," I replied, hugging him tightly for the last time, sniffling into his shirt, silently thanking him because for once in five whole years, I didn't feel the guilt of my mother's death on my shoulders. Even though I knew it wouldn't last all too long, since I have long accepted the weight of the guilt and allowed it to make a home somewhere deep within me, it was nice, at least for now. I unwrapped myself from his body and turned to face my sisters and, honest to God, I had literally one nanosecond to register the fact that Alise and Amara running at me. Literally running at me.

"God, why would you do that?!" I heard Alise say and she was quickly interrupted by Amara.

"Oh my God, you idiot, are you okay?!" Amara bombarded me. And then she, as well, was interrupted by Alise's screams.

"WHY WOULD YOU DO THA-" Alise screamed at me and I couldn't take it any longer.

"Alise!" I cried out, causing her to stop talking and I pulled away from both of their arms and crouched down to level myself with her crying face.

"Wh-why-why? Why would you do-do that?" She cried, hiccuping as she hugged me tightly.

"Alise, I would rather die a million times over than to watch you be in those Games," I informed her. She looked at me like she understood but I know she's incredibly stubborn, she wasn't having it. "When I heard your name be called I nearly lost my mind, I thought my ears were literally playing jokes on me."

"You have to win, you have to-to try, you have a chance," she whimpered out. I sighed, knowing this would be a hard conversation to have.

"I do have a chance, everyone's always told me I'm smart all my life. I'll definitely try, okay? You have my promise, Alise."

She nods and I kiss her forehead, hugging her tight.

"Don't let Beau forget about me..." I commented trying to lighten the mood, smiling at her. Alise laughed, sniffling as she nodded at me. I went to stand up but Alise stopped me again. I looked down at her expectantly and I felt her slip something metallic and small into my left hand. I opened my hand and I saw it was a golden pin; a golden pin of a Mockingjay holding an arrow in its beak

I looked down at Alise in confusion, why is she giving me this?

"It was Mom's pin... I made it a while back. I knew she loved Mockingjay's. It was her favorite bird. She told me once when she dies she wanted to come back as one of them. After she passed... I didn't what to do with it, so I just kept it on me all the time," Alise explained and I felt my heart break at the mention of Mom. I was also slightly taken back at the fact that Alise had managed to forge a literal metal pin but at the same time, I still didn't understand why she was giving it to me though...

"Alise, why are-?" Alise cut me off.

"Just take it, so you know we're with you, always, even when we aren't there. Even Mama, she's gonna be there with you, too. Through the pin," Alise rambled out and I nearly melted at the sentence. I wanted to break down into tears once again, but I had to stay strong, for my family. I quickly wiped the tears that escaped and nodded my head at Alise, putting the pin in my pocket.

I turned around to face Amara and I truly took in her appearance, like as if it would be the last time I would be seeing her and I wanted to capture the beauty that is my sister. She's crying just as much as she was when Alise's name was called, and probably not more than Alise currently is. I wondered if she had the same moment I did when she heard Alise's name and saw me go up on stage.

'Do you think she wanted to replace the both of us? Volunteered for us?' I thought to myself. It must suck for her not to be able to do anything, just stand in the sidelines and watch her siblings get sent to literal Hell. I think I would've literally lost my Goddamn mind if I knew I couldn't have done anything about to save Alise.

"Amara-" I started but she cut me off.

"Just come back, Rory. Please, come back," Amara whispered to me as she pulled me into a bone-crunching hug. She finished with; "I don't know what I would do if I watched... if I watched you get ki... get mur..."

I cut her off, knowing she was struggling with finishing that sentence, "you won't. I promise."

I pulled away from her hug and looked at the Hales. Cora and Laura were crying and so was Talia, which was a rare sight to see. William looked troubled, probably keeping it together for his weeping family and I looked next to him and my eyes landed on the last Hale, Derek and- wow. Derek was actually crying.

Derek and I had a nice relationship, which I'm proud of. He is a very silent, loner-type of guy. Reminded me so much of a hermit. He was a very closed person, never really wanted to let anyone in, never wanted to show that he cared. The fact that I managed to sneak into his life, slipping in through the cracks of the walls he has built around himself and that he allowed it, was a pleasant, almost satisfying feeling. It felt like a weird accomplishment, like a trophy. Especially since he basically acts like he despises everyone, and just barely tolerates Boyd, Erica, and Isaac—even though they still, very clearly annoy the shit out of him. He's super nice to me, Alise, his family, and my father—duh! And it annoys the shit out of Stiles, which is the best part too. And don't even get me started on he acts when it comes to Amara. Lord, the only time I've ever seen a love that deep and profound was when Mama was still alive. Bubba treated her like as if she was his entire world, which she was. Derek treats Amara that way and it what she deserves. I do pick them good, don't I?

The story of Amara and Derek began when I was twelve years old, almost thirteen. I had asked Amara, who had turned sixteen at the time, why she stares at this specific boy at school so much and she had admitted to me—after about five minutes of her making me super-pinky-promise not to tell a soul about her lil' secret—that she liked the boy. And after watching the boy myself, wanting to see what the hype was about, I noticed the boy was a year older than her but he was indeed cute. And I even tested him, acting all clueless and asked him to walk me to class because I was "lost". And he passed it because he did without a second thought, even it was about five months in the school year. He's a lil' clueless but it's whatever, his beautiful hazel eyes make up for it. He carried a nice conversation with me the whole time in which I learned that his name was Derek Hale. And he didn't forget about me either, which I personally thought was adorable, he would say hi to me in hallways all the time. So I knew he was a good person—and most importantly good for my sister.

But Amara never did anything to act out on her feelings. And I wasn't going to force her either. Mama used to say that if something is meant to happen, it'll happen, that fate works in mysterious ways. So nothing happened, no matter how many times I told her "stop waiting for something to happen out of nowhere and to do something about your feelings" or how much I wanted it to happen, Amara was too shy, too scared of being rejected. And soon it was too late.

The Hales were a big family and they lived in a pretty big house. They had many family members; cousins, uncles, and aunts. But then the Hale Fire happened, four years ago when I was still twelve. The only survivors were Talia, William, Laura, Cora, and Derek.

The Hales were a family of twenty-two.

Derek closed himself off from the world. He lost nearly all his friends, which was a disgusting thing, only five of his family of twenty-two survived and you leave him? Yeah, better not to have those people in his life but it's such a wrong time to leave him. I felt so bad for them and racked my brain for days, trying to find a way to help them out.

I remember a couple weeks, probably one or two, later, I overheard Bubba talking to Ms. McCall about the fact that the Hales were struggling food-wise and that they wanted to help them out. I decided that the next day I would hunt as much as I could give it to them. It took all day and I lost a lot of bows and knives and Scott and Stiles wouldn't stop complaining but I managed to catch four bunnies and two ducks and one squirrel. I even managed to get Alise to ask the Dunbar's for two pieces of bread that morning, which she got thanks to how adorable she was.

The next day I went over to their makeshift home at the time with five bags and a timid smile on my face when the door opened. Mr. Hale, whose name I would learn later on is William, answered.

"Sorry to bother you, Sir, my name's Aurora Galloway, daughter of Hudson and Rose Galloway, and I feel really bad for what happened to your family. You may be a stranger but my Mama... she used to always say our house is always open to those in need, even if they are strangers. And you are a stranger, in need. Hopefully, this helps," I proclaimed and I handed the bags to a very confused looking William. Once he looked in the bags the man broke down in tears.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you cry, also please don't tell the Peacekeepers I hunt," I begged the man, confused as to why food of all things is making him cry, hoping that he wouldn't rat me out because I hurt his feelings. He then dropped down to his knees and hugged me, thanking me profusely.

Out came Derek and Talia, I didn't know her name either, at that very moment, from inside their makeshift home, probably wondering what was taking the man so long or why he was on the ground. Now that I think about it, that view from inside the house was probably terrifying to them. They came running over and Talia spoke first when they reached William.

"William...? William?! What happened?! William, what is it?!" She yelled at him. Derek looked long and hard at his father and then at me and I saw anger flare in them. He then proceeded to grab me by the shirt.

"What did you do?!" He yelled in my face and recoiled back, trying to get out of his grip, scared at what was happening.

"Nothing, I didn't do anything! Well, I don't think I did anything! I just gave him this! I promise I only wanted to help!" I explained, trying desperately to remove Derek's hands from my body.

"Derek, let her go, now," his mother ordered and Derek looked torn but he begrudgingly let me go. I took a couple steps back, fearing what his mother had in store for me. At that moment I was terrified of all of the remaining Hales. What the heck is wrong them all? Are they vegetarians or something? Oh my God, what if they are vegetarians?

"Thank you, thank you so, so much!" Their father yelled, now up from his knees and literally picked me up off the ground, hugging me tightly. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Mrs. Hale take one look at the meat in the bag and she gasped.

Mr. Hale put me down and Talia crouched down to my level.

"Did you get this... for us? How...?" Even though the Hales were showing me kindness, they still pretty much terrified me, so I cut her off.

"Yes, but you can't tell anyone or I'm gonna get in big trouble says my Bubba! And I can't say, it's a secret. Well, gotta go now! You're welcome, bye-bye!" I rambled out, trying to get out of that conversation as quick as possible. I ran away from the Hales without a second glance.

I unknowingly began my relationship with the Hales after that day. A week later, William came to my house and Bubba answered the door. I was standing at the kitchen, absolutely terrified that Mr. Hale was going to tell them what I did and get us all in trouble. But he did the opposite; he thanked us, he told my father that what I did basically saved them, helped them out a bunch. He told Bubba that he should be glad to have a daughter like me.

Bubba ended up giving me a stern talk about hunting and how I was supposed to keep it a secret but I could see in his eyes that he was proud of me. I remember being so happy that day.

But what I personally believe really formed my relationship with Derek was the whole Kate fiasco. God, that crazy bitch.

Shortly after the fire, Derek had gotten involved with a woman. Her name was Kate Argent. Lord, did that break poor little Amara's heart. She assumed he wasn't on the market because of the fire so she hadn't made a move because he was still healing. When I told her that he was seeing this Kate lady, the look on her face said it all.

I felt bad for Amara, she really fell for this boy. And I know that I hated Kate because Amara is my sister and I have to hate whoever is hurting her, even if they don't mean it but this Kate chick was just... off to me. She gave me a bad vibe, one that said 'steer-clear-of-this-bitch!'. I had no idea what Derek saw in her.

I found out that they were a thing when I saw them making out in the woods when I went to do everything; hunt, practice my knife-throwing, my archery and hang out with Stiles and Scott when we weren't beyond the fence. They dated for about three months before I realized something was seriously wrong in that relationship. She had this grip on Derek that was... something I can't even begin thinking of the proper word to explain. She refused to let him do any work with any girls, have any friends, barely talk to family, it was bad.

Talia came over to my house one day and talked to Mama about it.

"I just... I don't know what going on anymore with him, you know? He was so open with me, used to talk to me about everything... and now, it-it's like I barely know my own son," Talia cried, laying her head on my father's shoulder as Bubba comforted her, trying to calm her down. She had shown up that night randomly at our doorstep, crying. I had answered the door. My father took her in immediately asking if she was okay. She explained that she hadn't to do her husband because he was "too worried about his job and he didn't need more on his plate". It was at that moment, after watching Talia sob into my father's shoulders, I decided I would put an end to that relationship, and possibly create a new one.

After spying on them for about a week or two, I realized that this Kate chick was using and abusing Derek.

I found out she was using him while walking to the Townsquare, for a little trading action. I had unintentionally eavesdropped on a conversation Mrs. Farway and Mrs. Evergraze were having. Mrs. Hazel Farway and Mrs. Primrose Evergraze were two little old ladies that had retired and spent the rest of their days watching others work, giving advice to others and, mainly, gossiping about the district. Always. Like gossiping was literally all they did. I had no idea how they got all the information they spoke of since they barely moved from those rocking chairs they basically lived in but everyone knew, when they said something, it was either true or going to happen.

Mrs. Evergraze was talking about how the Mayor had felt bad for the Hales and had made an arrangement with the Capitol to get them some money to get back on their feet.

"When will that Derek boy open his eyes and realized that slimy Kate is only with him for the money?" Mrs. Farway sighed. My eyes widened. First off, how the hell does she know they're together? And Kate's only with him for money? What money? I decided to continue my research later on that day, with my father because now he and Talia are constantly coming over each other's houses, quickly becoming best friends.

Later on, that day, before I went to bed I saw Bubba in the kitchen, reading. I decided to question him.

"Bubba?" I remember asking him quietly. He looked up at me, his brown eyes eyeing me curiously and a smile appeared on his face.

"Yes, Rory?"

"I got a question, I was wondering if you help me understand..." I explained vaguely, beginning to wonder if this was the right thing to do.

"Of course, what's going on?" Bubba asked, setting his book down on the dining table and motioning me over to him. I walked over and sat on his lap.

"I heard the Hales are getting money from the Mayor... is that true?" I had asked him, tentatively. Bubba's face changed almost instantly, going from curious and slight worriment to an almost angry look.

"And where in the Hell did you hear that from? Were you spying on my conversation with Talia?!" He interrogated me and instantly I regretted asking him anything at all. I remembered I made a mental note to trust my gut feeling always.

"No, no, Bubba! I heard it from Mrs. Farway and Mrs. Evergraze earlier today..." I explained myself, hoping not to get in trouble because of some gossiping old ladies.

"Gosh, those ladies do love to talk, don't they? Well, no one is really supposed to know but yes, they are. And honestly, it's great for them. It'll really help them out," Bubba explained and I nodded understanding. I then decided to ignore my gut feeling once again and ask him about Kate.

"And also, who is Kate Argent and why did they call her 'slimy'... is she a bad person?" I remember asking Bubba again and I also remember his eyebrows raising in shock or surprise, I don't know but it was one of those two.

"Kate? Did she talk to you?!"

"Bubba, no! It was Mrs. Farway and Mrs. Evergraze again! And no, she hasn't spoken to me! Is she really that bad?" I asked again, wondering what she did that was so bad.

"Oh goodness, you nearly gave me a heart attack, Aurora. Stay the hell away from those women, Rory, you're too naive, they'll confuse your little mind. But Kate Argent... is not a good person, at all. She's known for being a thief. She stole from everyone at the market, even assaulted Mr. Cornell when he caught her. But that was years ago, anyways her father, Gerard Argent, got her out of those accusations those, he's 'close' friends with the Mayor," Bubba tried to explain, using his hands to do the quotation over the word "close". I nearly recoiled back in shock at the new information.

"The Mayor's gay?! Doesn't he have a wife?!" I asked Bubba, now incredibly confused. I don't hate gay people, not at all, I'm literally bisexual. I believe all people have the right to love whoever they want to love, regardless of gender, but this man has been married to his wife like a thousand years now... and they have kids, too—and to this day I still laugh at the look my father gave me when that sentence came out of my mouth.

"My Lord, Aurora! No, he blackmailed him!" And afterward Bubba had to explain what blackmail was to me and after getting a stern talking for being a little snoop, I was sent to my room.

While laying in bed, after being banished to it by Bubba, I tried to figure out a plan on how to help Derek but nothing came to mind. I decided I would confront him after school.

And that's exactly what I did the next day. And after taking an entire day to explain the whole situation, what I was doing and what I was planning on doing to Stiles, I managed to get him on board. After I begged him for help for like ten freaking minutes.

"Derek scares me Aurora, let him suffer in peace, please, for the sake of me, pretty please?" He begged me, his arms flailing everywhere—a thing he still does to this day, you can't have a Stiles conversation without he waving his arms around like a madman—and I shook my head at him.

"Quit your begging, peasant boy! You made a pinky promise you'd help, and you're keeping it. Stop being such a coward," I argued, in a weird posh accent. I remember thinking that Stiles needed to calm down, he was acting like as if Derek was going to kill us.

"Aurora, come on-"

"Fine coward boy, I'm going on my own then," I had interrupted him, being fed up with his stubbornness. I had turned around to walk away from him and I was suddenly yanked back, a hand grabbing my arm. I turned and saw it was Stiles. I stared at him in confusion.

"I don't want you going on your own though," Stiles admitted, looking extremely conflicted. I glared at him. He wasn't giving me any leeway in this situation.

"Stiles, what the hell? Dude, I'm going, whether you like it or not. And I don't understand you couldn't just come with, it's not you had to talk to him," I tried bargaining with him, feeling a little bummed because I really wanted to spend some time with Stiles and I thought he was going to come with me but he didn't want to do this and I obviously wasn't going to force him too either.

"Fine, let's go," Stiles groaned out, finally giving up. I broke out into a big smile because thank God, I really didn't want to do it alone.

"Yay!" I cried out, grabbing Stiles' wrist and dragging him out of the school. We managed to find Derek speed walking down a neighborhood and I had a feeling I knew where he was going. We hiding behind Ms. McKenna's house, sneaking glances at him from a safe distance.

"Wait, so how exactly are you gonna do this? Just go up to him and say, 'Hey, your girlfriend is a scummy, gold-digging bitch with a serious history of theft and you should dump her for my sister,'?" Stiles whispered, mimicking me. I smacked his arm for his language and sighed because he was right.

"Just follow my lead," I whispered back and I ran up to Derek, coming up to him from behind.

"Hey Derek, how you doing?" I said, greeting him loudly. He jumped, obviously getting scared by my sudden presence.

"Aurora?" He asked, looking confused. I wiggled my eyebrows at him, smiling.

"In the flesh," I responded boastfully, striking a lil' pose for him. I turned my head, wanting to see where Stiles was and spotted him right behind me. I winked at him and turned to face Derek once again.

"What do you want?" Derek grunted out, his eyebrows scrunching up and his eyes glaring holes into my face. He eyed Stiles up suspiciously too. I decided to continue my lil' innocent act.

"Why are you assuming I want something? Can't I just talk to my old pal?" I lied to him, shaking my head at Derek.

"Who's the boy?" He questioned. I felt Stiles get closer and grip my arm from behind.

"None of your business. Anyways, back t-" I retorted quickly, trying to change the subject from Stiles back to whatever it was I was trying to do. I was still trying to figure out a plan and I only had like twenty-three percent of one at that moment. But Derek cut me off.

"I gotta go, don't talk to me," he grumbled, shutting me down completely. He turned around and began walking once again. I began following him and Stiles followed me.

"Derek, come on, don't go. Derek!" I pleaded, trying to get him to stop but he was ignoring me. I huffed and suddenly an idea came to me.

"How's the house-money treating ya? You just gonna not talk to me because you gonna be rich now?" I quipped, knowing damn well that would get his attention. 'Try ignoring me now, bitch,' I had thought to myself and then I quickly chastised myself for swearing.

Derek whipped around, causing me to stop abruptly, apparently too abruptly for Stiles because he ran right into me, causing me to stumble forward a lot and nearly fall on my face. He grabbed my arm from behind once again, stopping me from making a complete fool of myself.

"How do you know about that?" Derek questioned glaring at me harder than before.

"Don't need to worry about that, Derek, but just know, I'm not the only one," I said, smirking at him as I managed to finally figure out a plan and I had him exactly where I wanted him.

"Who else knows?" He interrogated me, stepping closer to Stiles and I. I stood my ground because if he even thought I found him in the slightest bit intimidating, he was going to be very discouraged and very soon. I decided to still answer his question though.

"The only people I know who know apart from myself and your family are my father and some big-mouthed old ladies. But maybe you should ask your girlfriend, maybe she knows someone else who does..." I hinted, trailing off at the end. I remember seeing something flash across his eyes and face, but as quickly as it appeared it disappeared before I could analyze it.

"How do you know about her?" He asked once again, deciding to get in my face, probably hoping that would get some answers from me. I could basically count his eyelashes from how close he was. Stiles at that moment decided to do something besides stand off to the side with his tail between his legs and that was to get in between Derek and I. He pushed me back and stood protectively in front of me. I couldn't see his face but it must've been a scary one because I honestly, at that moment, I thought Derek would swing at him for his bold move but Derek stared at him for about five seconds and then backed up.

"Y'all suck face where I hunt," I admitted, sneering at him. How dare he get in my face, has he lost his damn mind? I began to get mad because what the hell, why is he being so freaking mean? What happened to nice Derek? What does Amara even see in him anymore? But then I remembered the conversation my mother had with his and I remembered Kate. This is what his mom meant by "I don't recognize my own son anymore," He's acting like this because of her.

"Whatever, I gotta go. Don't tell anyone what you know or else," Derek said, threatening me. I was pissed but I decided to let it go. He went to turn around but I quickly began talking again.

"Wait, come on, Dere-bear, I just wanna talk, why you in such a rush?... Wait, are you in a rush to see her?" I said, realizing that I was right earlier, he was rushing to see Kate.

"Aurora, I really need to get going-" he began to say but I wasn't letting him get away that easily, so I cut him off.

"Yeah, get going out of that relationship!" I interjected in a witty way.

"Shut u-" I cut him off again because don't ever tell me to shut up. Fuck you.

"You're scared of her, Derek. I see it. I've seen what she does to you, what she tells you to do. My Mama told me that in a relationship the couple loves each other. What you guys have... it isn't Love. Hell, it's barely a relationship, Derek. I know you see that." I affirmed, looking him right in his eyes, trying to get him to see what she was doing, trying to get him to see that Kate was a bad person.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," he claimed and I rolled my eyes at him. He's more stupid now for thinking I'm just as stupid as him.

"Derek, you're observant, you're smart, I know damn well you are. I know you see that she isn't a good person, I know you know about her not-so-secret past as a literal criminal, I know you know she's using you to get to that huge stack of money you're about to receive, and I know you know that she's turning you just as rotten as her and that this rotten version of yourself is hurting your family, especially your mother," I stated, glaring right at him. His eyes widened and I quickly continued, "And you're just ignoring that because you don't wanna face the consequences yet."

Derek stared at me and I could tell he looked defeated so I knew I was getting through to him.

I continued, "but the funny thing is, there are no consequences, Derek. If you explain what happened, your family will understand, you know that. They'll forgive you and they'll help you. You know they're there for you always."

"But she'll do something, her... her grandfather is... not a good person," he explained, looking at the ground.

"I know about her grandfather, but you shouldn't suffer through this because of some raggedy old ass man. Now go and break up with that scummy, gold-digging, pedophilic, slimy bitch," I finished, quoting Stiles a lil' bit, walking up to Derek placing a hand on his shoulder. He looked up at me and I smiled at him.

"Now? But-" I cut him off.

"We'll go with you, if you feel like you can't do it on your own, she won't be able to do anything, we some good, innocent, adorable ass kids," I advised, pulling Stiles close to me and pressing my two pointer fingers into his cheeks, making it seems as though he had dimples.

"But Aurora-" I cut him off once again, finally getting fed up with his stubbornness.

"Dude, don't do this for me, do it for your mom. She's hurting seeing you like this," I mentioned, knowing I was hammering this home.

Derek looked as though he was thinking it over and I mentally patted myself on the back for accomplishing this. Stiles looked at me with this face that clearly screamed, 'what the hell else did you just get me into?' And I smiled innocently at him. Derek then spoke up, interrupting our little moment.

"Okay, fine. I'll go break up with her now but-" I nearly burst with joy at the sentence, I didn't even need to hear the rest of it. He's finally doing it!

"Yay, let's go!" I more or else shrieked, grabbing both of their hands, pulling them in the direction of the forest.

The break up consisted of many screams, insults, fake crying, and threats but he managed to maintain being calm and did get through it somewhat cleanly by pulling out the classic 'you're literally a pedophile and I can totally use this information against you and ruin your life forever' card which was a nice touch, in my opinion, got her to back off instantly.

Afterward, he went home, explained the whole situation to his family, apologizing to them. But Stiles and I obviously weren't there for that part, I found out through Talia. She had come over once again and she talked about the whole situation to Bubba over coffee, talking about how they all forgave him, how much he has truly changed and how happy and at peace she finally was. I walked into the kitchen to grab a glass of water while she was talking and as I made my way out of the kitchen, my father looked at me and winked at me. I smiled back, greeting Mrs. Hale on the way out.

And the look on Amara's face was great when I told her that a certain boy whose name starts with 'D' was single once again.

After the whole Kate fiasco, For about a month afterward, Derek would show up literally out of nowhere and pull me away from everything to talk to me. Now that I look back at it, I realize he was confiding in me, trusting me and I subconsciously smile at the memories. The first time he appeared out of nowhere. I was in school, in the hallways, talking to Scott and Stiles about some stupid test we had to take the next period. He had come from behind me, startling the hell out of me.

"Can I grab Aurora for a second?" Without even waiting for Scott nor Stiles to respond—which most definitely was going to be a big, fat"no" from the both of them, they had yet to trust him, around that time—he dragged me into an empty classroom. He apologized for being a lil' prick and I accepted his apology, in return I told him if he ever needed a friend to talk to, I'll be there. I didn't he would take me up on that offer so literally.

One day, about three-ish months after the Kate fiasco, Derek had come over to my house. He was telling me about some rumor that was speculating about him and at that moment Amara came in through our door. I smiled at her and then I saw her freeze. I also saw Derek kind of tense up as he stared back at her. I looked at Amara and then Derek and an idea popped into my head, gasping so hard I nearly choked.

"HEY AMARA, how you doing?!" I exclaimed, grinning like wild. She didn't answer, seeming frozen as she probably was trying to figure out why in the world her crush was at her house, so I decided to help her out.

"I'm good, thanks for asking, anyways have you met Derek Hale?" I asked, trying to sound as clueless as possible. Amara looked at me like as if she wanted to smack me and I smirked at her, giving her a thumbs up and winking at her. I got up from the couch and grabbed Derek, pulling him off too. I dragged him towards and I pushed him a lil' so he would be standing right in front of Amara.

"Derek Hale, meet my older sister, Amara Galloway. Amara Galloway, meet my friend, Derek Hale," I overexplained, grinning like a little school girl at the same time. All they did was stare at each other so I huffed, a lil' annoyed that I had to do all the work but I was going to do anyway. I pinched Derek's side and that seemed to snap him out of the trance that my sister's beauty put him in.

"N-nice to meet you," he stuttered out and I could already see them together. I was grinning like a madman.

"Nice to meet you too," Amara echoed shyly. She had this little smile on her face and I saw Derek smiling at her.

"Hey aren't Y'all in the same school? That's crazy, what a coincidence," I rambled out, trying to get them to talk.

"Yeah, I've seen her in halls before," Derek responded, sounding in a slight daze, still staring at Amara. Aurora turned to look at me weirdly.

"Aurora, there's only one school-" she began but I interrupted her.

"Anyways, that was nice, I gotta talk to Derek in private, bye Amara!" I exclaimed, excitedly. Amara stared at me and I motioned for her to go away. She huffed and walked in the direction of her room. I didn't want to send her away but I need her to out of the room for now.

Derek stared at her as she walked away and then when she was out of sight, he turned to look at me. We stared at each other for a few minutes; I had the biggest grin on my face and he looked a little scared.

"Aurora, are you okay? I've never seen you smile this much." Derek commented, looking at me incredulously.

"Am I okay? I'm great! But the real question is... what do you think about my sister?" I asked, not even trying to hide what I was trying to get at.

"What do I think about her? She's... nice I guess," Derek half-confessed, looking over in the direction Amara left. I scoffed, she's Goddamn stunning, nice is belittling to her, well, at least in my eyes.

"You guess? She's more than nice, I would say she's... gorgeous, don't you think?" I instigated, smirking at Derek. His eyes literally bulging out of his head.

"I didn't say that," he sputtered out and he was just making this too easy. They are literally meant for each other.

"Yeah, but you didn't have to because I already know that you want to."

"Umm..." he uttered out, looking around my living room frantically, possibly trying really hard to find something to get out of this conversation. I rolled my eyes at him.

"Derek, I saw the way you look at her, you look like me when I..." I trailed off, stopping myself as I realized where I was taking that god awful comparison. 'You look like me when I stare at Stiles,' I was going to say... how stupid could I be, nearly revealing my crush like that? I internally shook the thought out of my head and quickly continued my sentence, knowing that Derek would catch on and see this as a way out, "Look at some pumpkin bread or something."

"Pumpkin bread? What? You know what? Whatever. I don't like your sister," he disclosed to me, not even realizing it and my eyes widened. Jack-fucking-pot!

"I never said you did," I replied with the biggest, shit-eating, devious, smug smirk on my face. His eyes widened as he quickly realized his mistake.

"Fuck."

Turns out, about two weeks after the whole Kate fiasco, Derek caught me talking to my sister in the halls at school and was wowed at her beauty, because fucking duh, my sister is fucking drop-dead gorgeous, getting hooked on her immediately. He told me he wanted to talk to her but didn't know how to approach her due to the many rumors speculating about him at the moment. A week later, Amara grew some tits and asked Derek out. And the rest is literally history, they are literally married now.

I returned back to reality and realized I was staring right in his red-rimmed eyes. At that moment, that old memory of us made me realize something. I realized just how much I meant to Derek. I realized why Derek and I had such a lovely relationship, why he was so kind to me. I realized why Derek had allowed me to sneak into his life, why he let me slip in through the walls he built. I realized at that moment how much love Derek must have for me. I saved his family from starving to death, got him out of a predatory, abusive relationship, was his friend when he really didn't have any, held all of his secrets, let him confide in whenever he wanted to and helped him meet and get with the love of his life. He wanted me to get in because he trusted me, he cared about me. That old memory took a whole new meaning in my mind.

"Come back, Aurora. Please," Derek pleaded me, more tears falling down his cheeks. I nodded, now noticing that tears falling once again dripping out my eyes. Great, now I'm crying again.

"I will, Dee, I will," I whimpered out and he walked towards me, wrapping me up in a big hug. I hugged his torso tight, feeling my tears wet his shirt. I looked over and I saw his sisters, still crying and holding each other for support, staring right at me. I looked at them and smiled weakly.

"Get over here," I called out to them, pulling my left arm from Derek, motioning them over. They ran at me just like Alise and Amara did minutes ago and I allowed them to group hug me this one time. Might be the last one I ever have, so might as well.

"Time's running out, guys," Alise warned us and I let the Hale siblings go, wiping my tears away as I swore under my breath. I speedily walked towards Talia and hugged her, not wanting to let them leave without a hug.

"Oh, my sweet, brave Angel. You're gonna be okay, okay? You got this in the bag, you hear me? No one can throw a knife or shoot an arrow like you, sweetie. We'll be waiting for you when you win," she encouraged me and I hated it but she actually gave me some hope that I could possibly win this shit-show. I nodded and watch as a single tear ran down her tan skin as she leaned down and kissed my forehead. I smiled and turned to Mr. Hale and he quickly wrapped me up in a hug.

"There's nothing I can really say that hasn't already been said but as Talia said, you can do this, just remember that we're going to be on the edge of our seats waiting for you to return back to us," he promised me and I smiled once again, hugging the man tighter. I pulled away and turned to look at my family, smiling weakly at all of them, looking at them and feeling an almost... bittersweet... emotion? I couldn't think of the proper word since I was so focused on the fact that I had so many emotions running through me at the moment.

"Well, this is it, Y'all," I stated quietly, my voice cracking at the end. Alise suddenly looked panicked.

"No, no it isn't!" She cried out and at that moment Amara decided to speak up, looking very anxious and... bothered.

"Aurora, there's something I have to tell you," she said quickly, her Galloway rambling coming out. And before I could even process the sentence that came out her mouth, the Peacekeeper came in through the door.

"Time's up," he said simply and I felt my begin heart beating erratically. I didn't want them to leave, all of this instantly becoming too real for me but I couldn't cause a scene because then Peacekeeper would nine times out of ten hop in and that's the absolute last thing I want to deal with. Getting a war-styled trauma flashback while my hearts beating a thousand miles a minute and also, on top of that, I'm already on the verge of having a full blown panic attack doesn't sound like a good time for me. Sounds like the literal recipe for a heart attack.

Fuck.

They all began to be escorted out of the room by two Peacekeepers and right before she would step out those doors, Amara ducked under the Peacekeeper's arm and ran towards me. She wrapped me in one last, crushing hug and I felt her press her face up against mine, her mouth close to my ear.

"I'm pregnant. Come back so you can help me name your future niece or nephew," she whispered and turned around, letting the Peacekeeper who's arm she ducked under grab her and pull her out of the room. She was pulled out of the room and the doors were shut abruptly before I could fully process the news.

I stood there in shock at the revelation that was essentially chucked at me, my legs giving out and thank God, I was already standing in front of a chair, my knees would've paid dearly. Amara's pregnant. I'm an Aunt now... Aunt Rory. Let's see if I live to hear myself get called that.

I sat in silence for what felt like forever, with my head in my hands, wondering what the fuck was going on and I wasn't meeting my mentor, seeing Liam, or on the way to my inevitable death yet. Shouldn't I have been gone by now? What were they, or I guess, I was waiting for?

The sound of the doors opening once again got my attention and I swiftly looked up, wanting to see who came in and got the answer to my "who am I waiting for?' question from before because through doors I saw Isaac, Allison, Kira, Boyd, Erica, Lydia, Malia, Scott, and last but not least Stiles wall shuffle into the room.

"That's funny, you thought you were finally gonna stop crying about three minutes ago, didn't you?" I heard a tiny voice say in the back of my head as I stared at the group of friends that I loved so dearly. 'Think again, bitch.

➳

chapter tres was a long one... sorry, got a little carried away there. PART TWO IS GONNA BE LONGER !!! so sorry, just there's a lot of flashbacks and shit/ anyways, as always feedback always appreciated !!! thanks for reading ♡

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babydollsmadd · 6 years ago

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25, 23, 29, and 30 because i hate (love) you and want you to suffer 💖💖💖💕

EYYYY I’m finally getting around to finishing these lmao. (also I just noticed u changed ur profile picture???? I’m iN LOVE ❤️✨❤️)

WARNING this is super mega long!

I ended up writing a lot of these for all of my paras bc I can’t fucking stop myself n you’ve honestly heard enough of my mains and not enough of my others so I Had to I’m so sorry

this entire post ended up being such a mess and I’ve been working on it for weeks I’m so fucking sorry

send me emoji asks!

🏈 Does your para enjoy playing sport?

Zazie does actually enjoy playing sports quite a bit, just.. alone. He’s not a team player, and often doesn’t know his own strength, so it’s better to let him do things on his own. He used to do a lot of running & parkour, but nowadays he mostly just works out on his own. He still does gymnastics tho. Tatsu very much loves playing sports, be it soccer, football, whatever, he’s in. He likes team sports, but he’ll still go work out alone most of the time. With Nyru it’s a bit more complicated, bc on one hand she has to be in top form for her concerts, but on the other, she really hates sports and just moving in general. Usually Zazie motivates her n they end up working out together, but otherwise, she doesn’t like playing any sports. Nyro plays a lot of chess, that counts right? Otherwise, he & Nyra really don’t like sports either. Meg & Ao tho work out a ton and always look incredible, and especially Meg enjoys playing sports, even if she’s not the best. She’s also quite strong tho, so that’s nice. I think Rin would be into sports as well, he’s all about a healthy balance in his life. He spends so much time painting, that I feel like he’d take some time for physical activities as well. Daiki is a fucking nerd and hates sports as much as Nyru, a subject they like to rant about a lot. Suki probably isn’t into sports either, like at all. Ami.. yeah actually. She spends a lot of time with the more active in the group, especially her brother, so she’d be into team sports as well.

🌼 Describe the aesthetic of your para (can include visual)

OKAY u already know how much trouble I’m having with this one but. My first plan was to actually write them down, like, all those posts u always see, but I only really liked the one I wrote for Zazie, all the others I disliked. Now I’m going back to wanting to make boards, and I think that’d be really cool, but I just do not have the energy to make all of those first, so I’m putting this on my to do list and hopefully I’ll actually do that at some point lmao. Now I can finally post this beast. ✨

✍ Write headcanons/imagine about your para(s)

OKAY so uhh. With any other person I would just take some more points from my hella long list of fun facts about Zazie, but you know literally all of them. I think?? Yeah literally every single one of these I’ve told you about. So. Huh. What do I do now. We’re at a point where I can’t tell you shit about Zazie & Nyru bc you literally know everything. So let’s see if I can come up with some other facts about Tatsu on the spot bc he needs more love.

despite the fact that he’s been appearing a lot less in my daydreams, my heart still goes ❤️🚨❤️🚨❤️ when I think about Tatsu.

i mean COME ON he’s amazing and he needs to come back I miss him!!!!!! I just feel like he’s been.. sorta withdrawn and depressed since he’s no longer with Nyra. That happened a while ago tho, idk maybe he’ll finally come back soon.

not sure if I ever told u this?? but he also doesn’t have a gag reflex. like at all. zero (0). 👀 for some reason he likes to bring this up in the most random moments too.

he’s actually fluent in 4 languages, at some point Zazie dragged him down the rabbit hole and they learned a bunch of languages together. these are English, Spanish, Japanese & German.

he has an incredible voice as well, obviously. it’s relatively high, but has this.. hmm I guess seductiveness about it? not sure how to explain it lmao. apart from Jay Kay & Brendon Urie, this song here is very close.

he can hit ridiculously high notes, on the same level as Nyru actually.

I told u this before, but his theme song is hey look ma, I made it due to how fucking perfect it is for him. he was very close with his birth mother, but she died shortly after his sister’s birth. his step mother was very abusive & made their life a living hell, and now, many years after they’ve gotten out of that situation, he still wishes he could show his real mother what has become of them.

he really didn’t deserve all of the bad shit that has happened him. sadly, he’s kind of a sheep, he just follows along with whatever’s happening. he’s not a bad person at all, he truly has a heart of gold, he just doesn’t have the strength to actually fight against anything. not really.

so in situations where he has to do bad things bc Zazie basically tells him to, he’ll do it, matter how much he hates it. man writing that out is actually heartbreaking damn.

he has a lot of regrets in his life, but the biggest one is probably his relationship with Nyra. he really did love her (still does tbh but don’t tell anyone), it’s just that he really fucked that up. and I don’t think he’ll ever be able to have a normal, healthy monogamous relationship the way Nyra wanted. so that’s heartbreaking as well. why did this turn into me talking about how fucking sad I am about Tatsu lmao ok we done here

🎙 Write a poem/song/or a story with song verses about your para or parascom

nshjfbkjdsbfkjds u know I hate poetry & I’m way too insecure about my writing so we’ll just uh… write down a fitting song verse for each of of my paras.

Zazie

I ain’t niceNo I’m quite a dickI’m the bad guy who’s makin’ you sickIt’s easy for meI’ve got no shameI’m in it for the money and fame

Nyru

But I got a mind to show my strengthAnd I got a right to speak my mindAnd I’m gonna pay for thisThey’re gonna burn me at the stakeBut I got a fire in my veinsI wasn’t made to fall in line

Tatsu

So I don’t feel loveBecause I got no faithI’ve seen those twisted lies thrown back into my faceI’ve heard the crazy doctrines of the human raceI must be alone

Daiki

Got an eagle beak with the ostrich feetSeven spider eyes for every day of the weekMeans I’m still up working while your bitch ass sleepsI’m an alien among the human beings

Nyra

Picture, picture, smile for the picturePose with your brother, won’t you be a good sister?Everyone thinks that we’re perfectPlease don’t let them look through the curtains

Nyro

Triangles are my favourite shapeThree points where two lines meetToe to toe, back to back, let’s goMy love, it’s very late‘Til morning comesLet’s tessellate…

Megumi

I just keep elevating, no losses, just upgradingMy lessons, made blessings, I turned that into moneyThank God I never settled, this view is so much betterI’m chilling, I’m winning, like on another level

Ami

Well you think that you know what I am but you don’t‘Cause I say what you can’t and I do what you won’tI like it loud really proud like a crown upon my headI’ll always be this way ‘till the day that I’m dead

Somehow, you’ve remained modestFlashbulbs pop, paparazzi goes wildWith amazing grace you walk and smileThey answer to your beck and callYou’re flawless

Rin

Prove to yourselfThere’s nobody elseRaise up your handAnd leave no man standing

Suki

I see how your attention buildsIt’s like looking in a mirrorYour touch like a happy pillBut still all we do is fearWhat could possibly happen next?Can we focus on the love?

#baby answers #paraportal #ask meme #get this beast outta my draaaaaaafts #I hope you're satisfied 😂

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thetakenpokemon · 7 years ago

Text

Act 3 - Action!

[PoV: ???]

Not once did my excitement damper the further I walked. The constant thoughts of actors acting their acts continues to fuel me, the prospect of stumbling upon their ‘stage’ and joining them makes me extremely giddy.

I walk- No, I MARCH with purpose! My beak possessing a wide grin, one arm swinging to and fro while the other holds my hoe over my shoulder. I’m gonna become an actor, and it’ll be the best thing ever!

A loud snap makes me stop and immediately turn to the noise, my eyes sparkling that maybe I’ve found one of these actors in this secluded forest!

To say the least I was quite surprised when I looked.

Standing behind me is a rather tall and intimidating fella, his eyes glaring and his rather toothy smile looking real unsettling.

Is he...an actor? He doesn’t really look like one.

Despite my nervousness I give him a wide smile. “Howdy!” I greet, giving him a friendly wave. “Ya startled me there, with ya sudden appearance an’ all that.”

The...Bisharp(?) blinks at this, probably not expecting my greeting. Soon said eyes narrow and his clawed hands clench into fists, in which I notice some real nasty looking blades on his arms. “How unlucky, to be at the wrong place at the wrong time.” He chuckles darkly, his grin widening further. “But for me, it is the right place at the right time.”

Now I would’ve been more nervous, but a thought struck me.

Maybe he...is an actor too?

...

My eyes widen, but not in fear...but in realization.

Yeah! He gotta be! He’s probably trying his acting skills out me, to see if I’m deserving enough to join their group!

Well, time for me to show him the what for!

I point the end of my hoe at him. “YA DON’T SCARE ME, FOUL RASCAL!” I shout with conviction, doing a pose that I assume looks ‘knightly’. “AH SHALL SMITE YA WHERE YA STAND LIKE THA’ PROUD KNIGHT AH’ AM, YA WON’T GIVE THIS PLACE NO TROUBLE ANYMORE!”

[PoV: Rook]

The...hell?

I don’t know where the hell this is coming from, but this Magmar seems to think of himself as some kind of knight? I know for a fact that this is not true.

The white and red plaid shirt, the denim overalls, the large boots, the wide-brimmed straw hat...

He looks like a stereotypical farmer, not a knight.

I feel myself grit my fangs in irritation. Is he mocking me?!

“You’ve made a grave mistake coming here.” I growl at him, raising my blades threateningly. “And an even graver mistake opening your mouth.”

The Magmar brings his hoe back and holds it like some sort of sword before leaning back and laughing loudly...and excessively. “Ain’t that a kick! Ya made a mistake messin’ with a knight of tha’ square table! We don’t stand by while ya foul villains be runnin’ around and causin’ trouble!” He swings his hoe a few times, the movements containing too much force and obviously showing his lack of training. “So ah’ll be teachin’ ya a lesson!”

At this I couldn’t help but chuckle.

Yes, I’ll be enjoying this...so very much. It will be greatly satisfying to watch that facade of his crumble when I dig my blades into him.

Without warning I leap for him, striking down with my arm-blades. This element of surprise should allow me to put him down instantly, so that he’ll stop his mocking and weep in agony.

But what I got instead was a loud clang of metal connecting to metal soon followed by resistance to my arm. I look down in surprise to see that the Magmar actually managed to block my attack with his hoe.

“Now ain’t that just dirty!” The Magmar says lowly. “Attackin’ a knight he was ready, ya really are just a dirty good-fer-nothin’ scoundrel!”

I pull back, my irritation growing at his lucky block. He shouldn’t have even managed to fend it off, but he did.

Oh...I am going to end this right here and now before I get pissed to the point where I might even consider killing him.

I strike again, delivering another precise blow with the intention of burying my blades into his shoulder. But the Magmar swings his hoe wildly, the tool managing to connect to my claws and sending it off-course...making it miss.

My teeth grind again as I start swinging and stabbing more and more, but the Magmar keeps swinging his hoe with no direction or plan. Yet with each swing he somehow parries or blocks my attempted attacks, making it so that I can’t even land a hit on him.

What...the...hell?!

“YA CAN’T WIN AGAINST ME, FOOL!” He shouts loudly. “AH AM A KNIGHT OF THE SQUAR-”

I let out a loud growl and rush him, bringing both of my blades down on the farmer. The Magmar stops his speech half-way upon seeing this before bringing his hoe up, blocking both of my claws.

I push down with all my might, using my enhanced muscles to try to overpower him. But the Magmar stays firm, underneath his clothing I can see his small limbs bristling with lean muscle. The standstill continues from a few seconds to a near minute, both of us pushing at each other.

“How...are...you...so...strong...?” I ask through gritted teeth, more to myself in anger than actually talking to him.

Yet apparently the Magmar misinterpreted my rhetorical question. “Been slayin’ tons of dragons, workin’ mah strength up so I could join tha’ knights!” He boasts with satisfaction before pausing. “Although in real seriousness, farm work knows how ta’ make ya nice in strong.” He clears his throat loudly. “But back ta’ bein’ in character... YA WON’T WIN, VILLAIN!”

Is this like a damn game to him?! He’s not even treating this seriously?!

I release the pressure on him and take several steps back, my irritation morphing into full-blown anger.

I’ve taken on three warriors at once and beat them all with relative ease, yet I can’t seem to strike down a damn farmer who’s treating this fight as some sort of acting scene?!

Enough of this, I’m going to end this right here...and right now.

I pour my power into my blades, causing them to glow with a bright blue light. The air around them crackles and hisses from the extreme heat, possessing the cutting ability to slice cleanly through steel.

I let out a loud roar before charging the Fire-type again, once more delivering an overhead blow. I fully intend to cut through his hoe if he were to block it and then slicing directly into his shoulder, perhaps even taking an arm.

No...I WILL take his arm, for defying me for this long.

The Magmar brings up his hoe again to block my attack, which makes me grin wickedly. My super-heated blade makes contact with the tool...

...and it stops dead..

My sick satisfaction quickly morphs to one of pure shock and bewilderment, for not only was the tool not cleanly cut through, but it seems to not even be bothered by the pure energy running through my weapons.

What...is that thing...made of?!?!

“How?!” I breath out, still trying to comprehend what the hell is going on.

“Ah’m stronger than ya think, that’s what!” The Magmar grins. “Don’t mess with tha’ knight of the square table, we will beat ya up and make ya regret takin’ tha’ path ta’ villainy!” His eyes look at my glowing blades. “Also, ah like them special effects.”

This...is the last...straw.

With a furious howl I pull my blade back and start attacking with great ferocity, no longer caring about precision. I slash and hack at him wildly, intending to fully tear him apart for this infuriating mockery of a ‘fight’.

But with each strike the Magmar somehow blocks and parries, the plasma-infused blades of mine are easily deflected just as they were earlier.

I push and push, forcing the Magmar to back-pedal. Yet each blow is met by his wild swing, as if reality itself would find it amusing to mock me by keeping the fool from getting harmed through sheer luck.

Just as I feel like I’m getting the upper-hand, the Magmar swings much harder than normal when our blades meet. The sudden force knocks me off balance, making me stumble to the side before face-planting.

My snout burns with pain from the impact, the flesh on my face being much softer than that of the rest of my body. I dig my fingers into the dirt in anger, my plasma blades having long burned through the ground. I push myself up and whip my head to the Magmar, my breathing heavy.

“Who are you?!” I shout with exasperation, my anger quickly giving way to sheer disbelief and confusion. How the hell did he manage to fend off all of my attacks?! He has no combat experience or training due to his movements, his swings are clumsy and predictable, and he’s treating this fight like it’s some sort of game.

How is he even alive?! How is he UNHARMED?! WHY IS THIS SITUATION LIKE THIS?!

The Magmar brings his hoe over his shoulder and grins widely. “Ah’m Charlie Higgins!” He says proudly. “Farmer an’ aspirin’ actor!” He stops for a moment before quickly correcting himself. “Actually ah’m Sir Charlie of tha’ square table! Tha’ bane of evil fella’s and champion do-gooder of...good!”

I...can’t...believe this.

I am losing a fight to a farmer who thinks that this is some sort of act.

Why is the world so cruel?

#charliemagmar #rookbishaxeldurr #hwdp #act 3-3 #plot

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ncscope-archived-blog · 8 years ago

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“Grandma’s Got A Gun” (aka: my favourite Ana TV Tropes according to this website)

Action Mom: Mother to Fareeha (aka Pharah), Ana's returned to the fight to protect her daughter and her closest allies.

Animal Motif: Birds, like her daughter, though in her case it's more subtle. The white hair emerging from her hood resembles a hooked beak in her concept art and most of her victory poses.

Archenemy: Widowmaker. Widowmaker is responsible for Ana's missing eye and decision to fake her death. If the two meet each other again, Widowmaker taunts the aged and weathered Ana, and Ana snipes at her by saying Gerard was a fool to love her. If Widowmaker eliminates Pharah, she mocks "Like Mother, like daughter" and if Ana eliminates her, Ana throws back her "One shot, one kill" line.

Badass Longcoat: She wears a tattered gray hooded sniper's coat that helps her blend in with the environment and shield her from enemy sight (and fire). Her Origins skin gives her a blue trench coat that she used to wear when Overwatch was still active.

Badass Family: Together with her daughter Pharah.

Brought Down to Badass: Lost her cybernetic eye during her last mission with Overwatch and has refused to get it replaced by either a new prosthetic or through Mercy growing her a new one. The lack of it only slowed her down a tad.

Brutal Honesty: When Reaper tries to say that teaming up with her is like old times, she says that it is..."except for the part where [he] became a homocidal murderer".

Chameleon Camouflage: As seen in her character trailer, her sniper's cloak helps her blend in with her surroundings as realistically as a real-life sniper can do. When put in the Anubis map, her cloak adopts traces of brown to fit in with the desert color scheme.

The Chick: Despite her skills as an elite sniper and later becoming Morrison's Number Two after Overwatch was established, Ana remained acutely aware that she was a killer, albeit one which had a better reputation than most. This weighed on her as time went on.

Cold Sniper: She used to be one in her prime, but later came to regret all of the lives she had taken. Has moved into Friendly Sniper territory since.

Cool Old Lady: To the younger Overwatch members. Winston mentions to Pharah that her mother was a hero to him and "all of us". Hell, even McCree calls her "ma'am", with respect.

Combat Medic: More ranged than Mercy, as Ana fights from afar.

Deadpan Snarker: Several of her lines and interactions have her as this.

Dented Iron: While she's still fighting in the present day, she's no longer a crackshot like she was in her prime, due to having had her dominant eye shot out. As such, she became a supporting hero.

Even Evil Has Loved Ones: She's not evil herself, but in the comic that was released after she was added to the game, after giving a rundown of her team and their families, she acknowledges that her enemies most likely have people that care about them too.

Eye Scream: She lost her right eye during a moment of hesitation via Scope Snipe thanks to Widowmaker. While she knows that she can probably get it fixed (especially since it was already a cybernetic implant to begin with), she decided to leave her wound as it is as a personal reminder.

Faking the Dead: She was content to let many people believe she died after her failed mission hospitalized her. She most probably received help from her medical team regarding the cover-up.

Follow in My Footsteps: Subverted. Despite what her former co-workers assumed, Ana never wanted her daughter to join Overwatch, since Pharah would be exposed to the same violence and death as she had been and forced to make the same difficult decisions as she had done.

Friendly Sniper: Her shots heal allies. You can't get more friendly than that.

Gone Horribly Right: A non-negative example, except from Ana's personal perspective. Ana's main motivation in the old days of Overwatch was to create a better future for her daughter and to set an example that taught her to stand up for what's right. That's why she made it so that Fareeha would grow up in the presence of heroic role models. It worked — but to Ana's horror, it worked too well. Fareeha didn't just look up to those heroes, she wanted to join them.

Handicapped Badass: You'd think that the loss of an eye would be a detriment to a sniper, but Ana makes it work.

Hypocritical Humor: Ana, who faked her death for years, a very close friend of Jack Morrison, who also faked his death for years, has an unlockable "Everybody dies." voiceline.

I Did What I Had to Do: She didn't like the horrible things she did in her career, but she justified it as Just Following Orders. That, and killing her foes was a much better option than letting innocents die.

I Was Quite a Looker: She looked like a long-haired Pharah when she was younger. Now, her hair has gone completely white, and she shows visible signs of aging. She knows she's still hot though.Ana: [Upon killing a young opponent] Age before Beauty, and I've got you on both.

Knight in Sour Armor: Ana will still do the correct thing, but like Mercy, she's not too sold on the idea of Overwatch coming back.

Like Mother, Like Daughter: Double Subverted. Ana and Pharah are very different types of people, in terms of personality. And Ana never wanted her daughter to experience the horrors of war, and tried to discourage her from joining the military. Subverted because Pharah still inherited her mother's ideals of courage and justice, and although Pharah went against her wishes, Ana is very proud of her. When Pharah gets a kill, Ana proudly states, "Like mother, like daughter".

Mama Bear: She is called this by her teammates in the Legacy comic. When they were attacked by two snipers she ignored the retreat orders and went after them. It didn't end well.

Missing Mom: Pharah tells Winston that he "probably" knew her mother better than she did. In hindsight, it was Pharah putting Winston down gently as she realised that he idolised Ana, without knowing what truly happened to her.

Military Superhero: A member of a legendary strike team that became the foundation of Overwatch.

Moe Greene Special: Years ago in Egypt, she was on the receiving end of this courtesy of Widowmaker, as shown in Legacy. Miraculously, she survived and is now back in the fight once again, now sporting an Eyepatch of Power.

A Mother to Her Men: She was this to her soldiers back in the days of Overwatch. One even called her "Mama Bear."

My Greatest Failure: She still regrets the moment of hesitation she suffered when she had Widowmaker in her sights, giving Widowmaker the opportunity to take the first shot. It's implied that Ana's mistake led to the failure of the mission and the deaths of many innocent people. Despite offers to have her blown-out eye restored, she chooses to keep it the way it is, as a personal reminder of her life-ending blunder.

Never Mess with Granny: Ana is in her 60s by the time of the game. She was in combat operations as late as her 50s.

Not So Different: In the comic short "Old Soldiers", because he was also kept in the dark about what really happened on that failed mission, Reaper believed that Ana was also screwed over by Overwatch, left to die by Morrison and her comrades after she was injured by Widowmaker. When they meet up again some years later, Reaper invokes this trope in hopes it'll earn him an ally.

Number Two: Was Strike Commander Morrison's second-in-command, according to her profile.

Parents as People: While Ana tried to raise her daughter as best as she can, training her in both martial arts and raising her alongside the greatest heroes of their time, some of Pharah's lines in-game when interacting with former Overwatch members seem to indicate that she may not have been the best mother to Pharah. Following her playable reveal, it's shown not to be as bad as previously thought: she was an alright parent, but simply didn't like the idea of Pharah joining Overwatch, trying to prevent her daughter from suffering the same moral dilemmas and tragedy that she did.

Retired Badass: She briefly retired from hero work after nearly being killed by Widowmaker, but eventually returned to her old line of work when she could no longer ignore the state the world was in.

Seen It All: Part of her snarky demeanor comes from the fact that she's seen the worst the world can offer and has survived it. While healing her teammates, she'll tell them things like "I've seen worse. You're going to live" and when respawning, she states "I've come back from worse". One pre-fight line she has also goes, "There's nothing I haven't seen before. Stick together — we will complete our mission."

Shell-Shocked Veteran: Time and war had not been kind to Ana. First, the reason why she got heavily injured was the realization that it was her former friend (Amelie/Widowmaker) who's the villain, causing her to hesitate and get gravely injured (she couldn't even know about how Talon modified her to be like that). Then, not only did she had to deal with Overwatch's fall and the separation of her former friends (with one of them performing a Face–Heel Turn), but the things she did in her career constantly plague her conscience. Despite what her co-workers believed, she hoped that Pharah (who idolized Overwatch) would never become an Overwatch agent so she wouldn't experience the same horrors she had to go through. Her guilt and regret was to the point where she even believed that people assuming she was killed by Widowmaker was for the best.

The Snark Knight: Ana is one of the snarkiest characters in the entire game, with many of her lines, emotes, and highlight intros have her behaving in a mocking, humorous tone.

So Proud of You: Although Pharah doesn't believe it to be the case, Ana does show that she's proud of what her daughter has become. Most notably, if she witnesses Pharah get a kill, she'll state, "Like mother, like daughter".

Stepford Snarker: Ana is deeply troubled, conflicted, and haunted by her past — both the people she's failed to save and those she killed herself. She never fully recovered from the horrors of war. In the years since she faked her death, however, she's developed a very snarky attitude and penchant for trolling. The majority of her lines in-game are either motherly words of encouragement or one-liners mocking her opponents. Or, in the case of Pharah...Both.

Team Mom: She is very protective of her team and often tries to calm down injured allies while she heals them.

10-Minute Retirement: Her defeat at the hands of Widowmaker took her out of the game for only a few years at most; Old Soldiers establishes that she was operating in the shadows even before her official reappearance, much like Soldier 76.

Troll: In her elderly years, Ana has developed a knack for jokes and quips specifically designed to mock opponents or get under their skin. Glimpses of Ana in her youth have shown her as serious and focused. The current Ana, however, does things like throw her enemies' catchphrases back at them after a kill, feign motherly concern for them while putting them to sleep, brush off their own insults with sarcastic quips, and specifically insult them or people they once cared about to get under their skin.

Unwitting Instigator of Doom: We're not given the exact sequence of events, but it was entirely possible that Reinhardt's forced retirement was due to the fallout from that fateful mission (whereby Ana's age was blamed for its failure). Without her and Reinhardt around, it seemed inevitable that Reyes and Morrison will come to blows that day at the Swiss HQ. in Old Soldiers, Reyes flat out believed that Ana was left behind to die after that mission, without knowing (or caring) that she deliberately hid her survival from the world.

You Are Better Than You Think You Are: Although she presumably never let McCree know about it, she already considers him worthy of being mentioned as one of the heroes in Overwatch whom Pharah grew up with. Mind you, Mac was only a few years older than Pharah and at the time, his days as an outlaw were not that far behind him yet.

You Fight Like a Cow: Ana's lines typically mock her opponents. In particular, for one Bond One-Liner, she asks: "Who taught you to fight like that?!"

#[headcanons]#[save a bullet]#i absolutely love these #i can't believe *troll* is actually one of her tropes #she is a freaking troll though #a protective mother bear #a badass grandma with a rifle #and a messed up motherfucker ready to take on the world #you should look up the tropes for your characters #it's super interesting

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