Chapter Text
Angus had never had a problem with heights before. Chalk it up to too many daring rooftop chases or to just the fact that Angus McDonald was a very brave little boy, but being up high had never bothered him before.
Well.
That was before he tripped and fell down, down, down into the inside of a mountain.
He wouldn’t be so cliché as to say that this was supposed to be a simple job. But, well, it was certainly supposed to be easier than this. Someone had reached out to him, sent a letter to “McDonald Detective Agency”, and asked for some help looking into some disappearances. Mt. Starblaster , it had read, hikers keep going missing there. The mountain was a good two days' travel away by train, and for a split second Angus almost considered refusing. It was so, so far- but he could do it. It wasn’t like there was anyone or anything to keep him in Rockport. He could travel for work as far as he liked, as often as he liked. Sure, being a little boy would make being unaccompanied tricky, but he was the World’s Greatest Detective! He could figure something out.
So he set off. Packed his leather satchel with his detective kit, a couple pairs of clothes, rolled up real tight, and the first book of the Caleb Cleveland: Kid Detective series to read on the train. A couple of half-truths about his grandfather, many cups of pretty gross tea and one silent cab ride to the base of Mt. Starblaster left Angus alone, once again, staring up, up, up at the towering mountain before him.
When he had first looked into the case, he did some research into the mountain and surprisingly didn’t find very much about it. He was able to find it on maps of the area, but the only mentions he could find were the missing persons reports he was being sent to investigate. There had been seven so far, his client had mentioned in their letter, and what little research he could pull up corroborated that. The first happening over 30 years prior, and the most recent being within the last year.
Angus had worked some cold cases in his time as a detective, and while he had yet to have a case he couldn't crack was seriously worried about the older disappearances. Thirty years on a large mountain did not bode well for neither quality nor quantity of evidence, but he was willing to try his best! Especially with the generous amount of gold coins the letter had contained, with the promise of even more if he were to be successful.
So when he got there, he had double checked to see if there was indeed a park ranger, or a visitor center; some place for the hikers to have possibly passed through or might have kept track of when and where they began their ascent. But there was nothing. It was just a big, big mountain, a small, small boy and a single overgrown hiking trail from what he could gather. So, he began to hike.
One minute he was hiking up the secluded hiking path on Mt. Starblaster, eyes peeled for clues like footprints in the soft topsoil or anything the missing hikers could have left behind. The higher he got the windier it seemed to be, and a harsh chill bit through the tweed coat he was wearing and made his bare knees shiver. As the sun began to set on his first day of searching, Angus figured it was time to head back down and regroup when the ground beneath him shifted.
The pine straw beneath his feet suddenly gave way and with a gasp, Angus McDonald plummeted down into pitch darkness. It happened so fast, his heart didn’t even get a chance to start pounding in fear as one minute he was standing and the next he was weightless, gravity dragging him down and he was falling.
Falling.
Falling.
Falling!
Angus McDonald didn’t remember hitting the ground.
And then his eyes were open and he was okay. At first he thought he was passing out again with how dark the edges of his vision were, but then he realized that it was just dark, wherever he was. He sat up slowly, his mind struggling to catch up with what just happened but mindful of any injuries he might have gotten, but he felt… fine.
Not like he had fallen through a mountain.
Whatever that would feel like.
He had a full range of motion, he could stand up- hell, not even his knees from underneath his neat little plaid shorts were scraped from his descent.
Angus adjusted his glasses before looking up, but all he could see was pitch black. There was no light shining, not even from the hole he had made, and the room was lit only by the hundred and hundreds of bioluminescent mushrooms that surrounded him.
Angus gulped. He might be just a little bit fucked.
Fuck.
Brushing himself off and picking a mushroom out of his hair, the boy stepped off of the soft, squishy bed of mushrooms he had been lying on and headed towards the only exit the cavern he was in seemed to have. He put his hand against the rock to guide himself in case the light got too dim to see, and was happy to note that it was damp, which meant that there was water somewhere down here, so he wouldn’t die of thirst. That’s good to know.
The World’s Greatest Detective began his trek deeper into the mountain, shoes tapped along as he made his way, mind racing. When he had accepted the job to find the seven people who had gone missing on Mt. Starblaster, never in his wildest imagination did he think that this is where they could have ended up.
Gotten lost and died from exposure? Sure.
Got eaten by a bear? Alright.
Joined a Mt. Starblaster Cult and were living happy, fulfilling lives in a commune up here somewhere? It’s happened before!
But, as he always says, “When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth”. Even if that truth is falling hundreds and hundreds and oh god how am i even still alive feet inside a mountain.
The tunnel up ahead began to get lighter and lighter as he drew in close to where it opened up to an even larger cavern than the one he had dropped into. The mushrooms here were bigger and brighter, and came in many more colors like blues and greens and pinks, and even though he was scared Angus was taken aback by the beauty. He wasn’t so taken aback, however, to not notice the fact that there was a figure standing in the dead center of the cavern with him.
“Oh!” Angus couldn’t help but exclaim, causing the small form to quickly turn to face him.
“Hello, there!” At first glance he thought that it was another kid, which put him at ease, a little. Children were much less intimidating than grown ups- especially when they’re strangers. As he got closer, Angus was able to make out the fact that the new person had a mustache, which most children generally don’t. He also had, causing him to stumble over his own feet as he noticed, a tail .
Angus came to a halt a couple of feet away, and the tail he couldn’t take his eyes away from went ramrod straight with excitement as the creature before him smiled, mouth full of sharp, pointy teeth before loudly exclaiming “Davenport!” and taking a big step towards him. Angus fell back, the cold wet floor seeping into the seat of his pants as he threw a hand out in defense. Heart pounding, fully expecting to be mauled to death inside of a mountain, Angus McDonald was shocked once more when a small, slightly furry hand clasped his own in a firm, friendly handshake.
“Um,” is all Angus could say as the creature clasped his hand, chirped another “Davenport!”, and pulled him to his feet with surprising strength for his size. Big golden eyes stared back at him above a twitching mustache as Angus processed the fact that he was now face to face with some sort of monster-thing after falling inside of a mountain.
Okay.
Cool.
He could work with this.
He was the World’s Greatest Detective, after all.
“Thank you, sir,” he started, dusting off his shorts and fixing his glasses from where they had slipped down. “Sorry for spooking there, before- it’s just that I’ve never seen a monster before! Oh, I’m sorry, is that rude, calling you a monster?” the creature shook his head, still smiling with his many teeth, and Angus was relieved that he hadn’t made a faux pas.
“Can you tell me where I am, exactly?”
“Davenport!” Angus hesitated- this monster was just repeating the same word over and over again.
“Sir, is that the only word you know how to say?” Angus asked, and he received a sharp nod and a quiet “Davenport,” in reply.
Well shoot.
Not a great start on intel, but Angus has worked with less in the past. He quickly signed a greeting to see if the monster could use sign language but there was no reaction.
Double shoot.
“Alright, that’s no problem. Is.. is that your name? Davenport?” The long, slender tail wagged animatedly as the monster- Davenport, now- practically shouted his name once more. It echoed through the cavern and Angus put his finger to his lips to shush him automatically, and the two waited in silence to see if there would be a reaction from anything, which there wasn’t.
“Okay, Mr. Davenport,” Angus began after the last echo had receded, “It seems I have fallen quite a ways down here- is there anyway you could help me?” Davenport nodded, and he held out an elbow primly for Angus to take before leading them deeper into the cavern. Now that he was almost positive that Davenport wasn’t going to eat him, Angus spared a look at his new companion. He was shorter than Angus was, who wasn’t a terribly tall 10 year old, and wore what seemed to have once been a very bright red coat that now was falling apart at the seams and terribly dirty. On a closer look Angus noticed that not only were his hands furry and had pads on them like a cat, but his ears and tail were furry as well! It was all so incredibly interesting, and Angus wished that he could pull out his notebook to mark down his findings but figured it would be much too impolite.
They had been walking together for a minute or so, quiet except for the couple of times Davenport would point out an obstacle to maneuver around and the dripping of water somewhere. After the third time Angus had to clamber around a big chunk of rock, he figured that now was as good a time to ask some more questions as any.
“Thank you again, sir!” he said, wiping the little bits of rock that were stuck to the palm of his hand off on his shorts.
“You see, my name is Angus McDonald and I’m the World’s Greatest Detective! I was asked to come to Mt. Starblaster to find seven missing people- you wouldn’t happen to know what has happened to them, do you? I have a list with their names right here,” Angus began to reach into his satchel when he felt the monster stiffen beside him. His own head shot up to watch as the round, mustached face of his new friend went blank, and they both stopped before the entrance of a new tunnel.
“Mr. Davenport?” He began to slip his fingers out of the elbow he was holding onto but a hand shot out to grab his wrist, and Davenport still wasn’t looking at him. Angus was beginning to feel the now-familiar stirrings of panic once more as his wrist flared in pain.
“Mr. Davenport, please, you’re hurting me,” he began pulling at the furred hand that was gripping him so tight, trying to pull free when suddenly the hold was released and Angus stumbled back, eyes still trained on the monster who was now facing him fully.
“D...Davenport,” the monster said faintly, eyes unfocused, and began to move in quickly. Angus took off, slipping past the monster who was hot on his heels. He didn’t dare shout for help, almost certain that he wouldn’t find any here, just purely focused on getting away from the monster who had taken up shouting “Davenport!” over and over again behind him.
It seems that while they were similar in size, a monster is still faster than a little human boy because the wind got knocked out of Angus as he was tackled to the floor, Davenport shaking above him. Angus yelled, cursing, and thrashed as the furry hands that had helped him up just minutes ago landed on either side of his head, the monster looking through him with unfocused eyes. He was suddenly reminded of the mouth full of needle sharp teeth that Davenport had, and hoped to all hope that monsters like him didn’t care for the taste of ‘little boy’.
“Please!” Angus cried, trying to keep calm as the most peculiar feeling washed over him.
“Mr. Davenport, please, I-” he broke off, voice lost. It was almost like the edges of his mind were getting hazy, and he felt his memories just start to drip, drip, drip out of him. He gasped, trying his best to hold onto the memories that he could- reading his first Caleb Cleveland novel, receiving his grandfather’s silverware collection, solving his first case- but they slipped through his fingers like sand. His hands reached out to bat Davenport away but with every second he felt himself get weaker and weaker as his… his soul was being erased. Everything was stretching and going wonky and Angus would laugh, if he could. Angus would laugh, if he had a body. Angus would…. Angus….
Angus?
What?
There was a shout, somewhere off in the distance, and the weight that had been sitting on his chest disappeared and the body of Angus McDonald took in a deep breath he hadn’t realized he needed. He blinked hard, staring at the dripping roof of the tunnel he was in, and in the span of a second the parts of him that had been getting ripped from him slotted right back into place.
He was Angus! That’s right! He was Angus and he had a body and he was a person and he was the World’s Greatest Detective. He quickly scanned his mind, looking to see if anything was missing before realizing that he probably wouldn’t even know, there being no way to double check. Deciding that he would panic about that later, he sat up to see the retreating back of Davenport as he scampered away, back the way they had come, and a new person standing above Angus with his hands on his hips.
“Well kid, that sure was a close one,” Angus blinked, and gawked at the newcomer. For a moment he once again thought that it was another kid, being about his own size, but he instantly realized that this was another small man. This one had a long bushy white beard with little flowers weaved within it, and a very tacky floral shirt. As rattled as he still was from the betrayal of Davenport and… whatever what had just happened to him was, the thing that Angus was stuck on was how did this new fellow get fresh flowers? There didn’t seem to be any sunlight down here for them to grow? Was there sunlight down here, somewhere? Did his savior know of a way out?
For the second time that day, a hand was reached out to help Angus to his feet, and from his position on the ground Angus got an up close view of where this new man got fresh flowers.
They were growing from his hand.
His wooden, living hand.
Oh yeah.
Monsters.