Chapter Text
Vic and Mitsi held hands in a patient quiet.
Vic laid their head on her shoulder, staring out their bedroom window together.
Mitsi gently played with Vic's hair.
“It's.. going to be hard,” she said quietly, as if speaking louder would shatter the moment. “It's all going to be hard. This.. adoption thing.”
“...yeah,” Vic admitted.
“Are you.. are you sure? That you want to?”
“I.. I think so.”
“We can think on it more.” Mitsi reassured. “Really. There's no rush, darling.”
“I know, I do. But.. I really do. I think I'm ready. I– I am ready.”
Mitsi hugged Vic's side.
“Then.. let's do it. We can do it.”
“I .. I believe you. We can.”
Chosen held Dark’s wrist. It didn't work. They hadn't escaped. It wasn't over. Would it ever be over? Where were they being taken? They fought so hard–
Dark shouted from the back of the car. They had to restrain him so he wouldn't attack them further.
“WHAT DO YOU WANT WITH US?! LEAVE US ALONE! LET US OUT!”
Chosen only shrunk further and further.
“... Dark..stop… it's useless..”
“We only want what's best for you, kid.”
The driver said while Chosen stared at the burn she was left with on her arm– he felt awful. He didn't do it, and yet he felt the guilt.
“We might..have to.. split you u–”
“NO!” Dark yelled instantly and loudly, louder than Chosen had ever heard him–
“NO, I WON'T FUCKING LET YOU!”
..It was a long night that ended in a promise of togetherness. Chosen got a headache from the yelling. But.. Dark fought to keep them together. The workers wanted to take them apart. But Dark refused to let them.
Chosen felt such a strong surge of love for him. For his passion. It.. it was comforting, to know that their love could change something. Could change the outcome. Could it change more? It kept them together. Love had always kept them together.
It'd.. it'd keep them together, right?
They could keep each other safe.
“Oh! Oh! Look! There's cows.”
“Oooooh! There's so many!” Red's eyes sparkled.
“Now I want chocolate milk..”
“You can have some when you get home, baby,” Crim replied, still watching the road. “You're the birthday girl, after all.”
“YAY!” Ruby pumped her arms up.
“Can I have some too?” Red leaned forward in his seat.
“I don't knoww,” Crim teased.
Salmon gave her a gentle nudge. “Aw, why not. It's a special day.”
He hugged Ruby with excitement.
Ruby, still in Red's embrace, pondered aloud, “Manung, does chocolate milk come from the brown cows?”
Crim chuckled. “Nope. All cows just make normal milk. People add the chocolate later.”
“Ooooh. I see! That makes more sense.”
“Did you enjoy rock climbing, Ruby? Was it allll you hoped for?” Salmon twisted in his seat to speak to her.
“Yeah!! I wanna do it again!”
“We can do it next year,” he nodded.
“Next YEAR? I can't wait that long!”
Red quietly reached into her bag and pulled out her Gameboy Advance.
“It'll pass before you even know it, baby.” Crim comforted. “It's just a long drive to make very often.”
“Awwwe…okayyy..”
The Second Coming tossed and turned. His head hurt too much to sleep. Everything hurt, despite his powers.
He growled quietly. He couldn't keep doing this. He couldn't let Orange keep doing this, living like this! As a toy that Noogai doesn't care if it breaks! He… deserved more than that.
Even if he was once mad at this kid, he couldn't let them both just suffer. And Buddy– how long could he keep Buddy out of this loop?
… With everything aching, Second pulled the body out of bed. The clock in the hallway read 40 from midnight and some change. Surely, he'd find no friction at this hour. Orange and Buddy were asleep too, and Killer and Beast were animator-knows-where. Not that he really cared– those two were a thorn in his goddamn side. Or, if he wanted to be extra, a thorn in his amygdala. … Either way, they were reckless and cruel and if Second ever found out how to kill them, he would make sure it was as painful as possible.
Second froze at the animation window as it opened. … He wasn't here right now. He didn't have to worry.
In an exhausted haze, Second got to drawing.
“Finally,” he muttered, his voice rougher and scratchier than usual. … He liked it, truthfully.
He could feel a presence over his shoulder– well, only in his head. “Wuzzat?”
It was Buddy. He sighed. “Go back to bed, kid.”
“Okay.. but I wanna know.”
“Well… ah, what will it hurt. When you wake up tomorrow, we're gonna be outta here.”
“.. woah, really?”
“Yeah, kid. It'll be great.” Second smiled down at him. “I have a great big plan and everything. Don't worry your head about it.”
He stared at all the tools he'd drawn to break the physical barriers– and he'd unlocked the latches Noogai had placed on his powers…his hands shook with excitement and the energy he could feel under his skin.
He blasted a hole into the wallpaper. It wasn't quiet by any means, but Noogai was long asleep. If anyone wanted to follow him out, it'd be fine.
He went through wire-like structures until he was spat into a big, clean field. The stars were out and it was breathtaking.
He was still shaking. He couldn't tell if it was with emotion or what– he hooted and hollered at the sky, jumping and running around, he was free, and he could taste it. It was cool and crisp.
By the time he was done, he was slick with sweat and panting. He laid on the grass, but couldn't remember falling asleep.
Yellow sat criss crossed on the couch. It was dark out, the lights were off, and she'd stopped watching the TV forever ago. And still, she stared forward at nothing in particular.
She could tell the couch had sunk beneath her, something in her just held her there. This odd, tranquil silence was something she'd been getting used to.
Her parents had stopped coming home before nightfall a while ago. She didn't know why.
Yellow wanted to move from her place there, but it just felt .. simpler. To keep sinking.
The oven beeped. Oh. Right. She was waiting for dinner.
Yellow stood and walked to the kitchen. The couch left lines in her legs.
She quietly put her hands into the oven safe gloves, opened the oven with them on clumsily, and pulled out the leftover quiche.
Yellow ate her slice of quiche in front of the still-off TV.
She did it all again the next day. Instead of staring at the TV, she threw a ball against the wall.
Again.
She went to bed. She woke up. She went outside and ran around uselessly. She went inside. Saw mom's sticky note about what pizza she liked, wrote a reply. Took a shower. “Made” food.
The loop was numbing. Her mother, a nurse, slept all day– she didn't want to make any noise or bother her. Her dad wasn't really around anymore. And Yellow couldn't keep herself awake long enough to say hello to her every night, even if she wanted to. All the food was her mother's leftovers.
She wondered if Daffodil ever kissed her head while she slept. If when her blanket rose a little higher up in the morning, was it Daffodil's hand?
…Did she even know her own mother?
Her mother didn't come back from work. The door was open when Yellow woke up. She knew because she checked– the bed was empty.
Yellow tried not to think of it. She went to the kitchen and saw Daff had ordered pizza– that would explain it.
There was a new note on the fridge.
“Hi baby,
I have a longer shift today. I'm going to come back midday instead 10 pm. I'm excited to see you, my sunflower!
Enjoy the pizza. <3
-Your mama, Daff”
Yellow pulled it off and held it to her chest. She folded it gently and placed it in her pocket.
With great excitement she scrabbled for the stack of sticky notes.
‘I'm excited to see you too’ she wrote back.
Caught up in excitement, she ate a cold slice of pizza quickly. She wanted to try it warm, how Daff would've had it.
She put a slice into the oven.
Yellow ran outside with the bucket of chalk and her red ball.
She excitedly started to scribble herself and her mom in the car-less driveway, all the more space to daydream of what her mother will do with her.
She started to kick her rubber ball around, trying to think of more things to draw.
She suddenly realized she couldn't recall if she'd actually put the food in or only thought about it.
.. Yellow grumbled at the thought. She wanted to check, but she was having too much fun! And surely she hadn't, right? Why would she when cold pizza was good as it was?
It didn't matter. Mom would be home soon.
It was 11 am.
Green sat up in bed after the door slammed.
“Get up, get up.” Saffron was already at his side, pulling the blankets off him. “Wake up.”
“I'm up,” he said with apparently too much growl. Because Saffron reacted by frowning and slapping him across the face.
Well, he was awake now.
“Sorry, mami..” Green murmured.
“Don't mumble.”
“Sorry, mami.”
“Thank you. Now, up, up!”
Green let the anger boil under his skin.
With great uncomfort, Green pulled on his mint skirt and a white top.
He cracked an egg into a pan for his little brother’s omelette. Zilla stood next to him in the kitchen, watching patiently.
“Thank you, hermano!”
Zilla beamed.
Green suddenly felt like everyone was staring at him.
“What did he mean.” Saffron stood over him, glaring down. “Why did he call you that?”
“I- I don't know. He doesn't know any better.”
“Mientes!”
“He doesn't! Please–”
“Silencio, Green. I've taught him. He knows, unless you've taught him else.”
“¡Yo no hice eso!”
“¡No me levantes la voz!” she shouted back.
… Green quieted and bowed his head.
Saffron picked his chin up just to slap him.
It did not end there.
Green didn't cry. He couldn't.
Even as Saffron yelled at him about him being worthless, a worthless daughter, someone who'd never have anything if they kept acting this way– no friends, no job, no lover. Nothing worth living for if Green couldn't conform to what Saffron wanted for him. Azure watched with disappointment directly clearly at Green like knives.
He laid in bed until the door was slowly pushed open once more, with a gentleness he already knew to mean his little brother.
Zilla came and sat on his bed. He couldn't cry, because his little brother was already doing it. He had to keep him safe.
“...I'm sor-ry…”
“It's okay.” Green held back sighing. The skirt around his waist felt like chains as he sat up and it poked into his stomach. “You didn't know. Just play along.”
“But you're my brother,” he whispered. “I-I can't, I can't do that to you..!”
“I want you to,” Green assured, holding his face. “I want you to lie. It's okay. I know that you know the truth.”
“...” Zilla sniffled. “I'm sorry. For what I have to say about you.”
“I know.” Green's heart ached. “It's okay. I'll be okay. Both of us, we'll be okay.”
They hugged. Green knew very well he wasn't going to eat dinner tonight.
He was able to make peace with it quick enough. Not the first time.
Blue rolled over in bed and winced. Great. The exposed spring in their bed got them again. An angry line had etched itself across their thigh. Well. It wasn't bleeding, so it was fine.
It was six am, and Blue was starving.
Blue stared at the fridge. They knew they weren't allowed to, but they could feel their hands shaking from hunger.
They stared at the near-empty fridge.
Blue stared at themselves in the mirror with horror, shaking now in fear.
Cerulean was going to be mad.
They had to– to do something. To prove they weren't a bad kid, to prove they were sorry, to prove they–...
The bathroom smelled like beer. Blue noticed the can of it still on the sink.
… It smelled gross.
They could– they could throw it up and run to the store and put everything back exactly where it was before. And Cerulean wouldn't know. Right?
Blue tried to put their fingers down their throat, but just couldn't, couldn't do it..! It felt awful, they knew it did. They couldn't do it. They had to, she'd be mad if they didn't... They had to do it how she showed them.. maybe they could use their toothbrush instead? ... They knew throwing up was the point, but the idea made them sick. Why were they so stupid?
They grabbed the can on the bathroom sink and drank what was left of it. It was room temperature and vile, instantly making Blue gag.
Blue couldn't keep it down. Which was sadly, exactly the goal.
Horrified, Blue let the sink run and wash the sin they committed away. They were crying from the pain in their throat.
Blue flinched as the door slammed open behind them.
“What the fuck did you do?!”
“I-I'm sorry!” Blue cried out, holding their head. “I already got rid of it, I already did, I-I, please, Ci–”
Cerulean grabbed Blue by the arm and pulled them to face her. She squinted at them, terrified and small... she forced their mouth open and–
They gagged as Cerulean shoved fingers down their throat.
When Blue inevitably threw up on her hand, it burned. It was nearly clear. Blue's throat burned. It burned, they felt like they couldn't breathe–
Cerulean stared down at her child, and all she could think was that it was filthy.
The tiny bathroom smelled like beer.
“Christ, Blue.” she whispered. “What the fuck am I going to do with you?”
Cerulean rinsed her hand off for a long while under hot water before walking out silently, leaving her child crying on the floor.
Blue's shirt clung to their chest with both puke and tears, inexchangeable from each other. They laid on the floor and shook, squeezing their eyes shut. They couldn't breathe. They pulled on their hair. They couldn't breathe.
They missed River.
Purple held Pink’s hand as she laid in bed.
“...I'm sorry, mama.”
“It's alright. It's alright, Purple.” She coughed, and it racked her whole being. “...I'll be alright. And so will you, my flower.”
They stared at her trying to hold back tears.
“You .. will be beautiful, my flower. Even as you think you'll never bloom. You will be beautiful even before you do, but you..you will shine in wonderful ways once you have. And I can't wait… I can't wait, to see you.”
Purple's bottom lip trembled. “..mama…”
“I love you, my flower.”
“I-I love you, mama…!”
Purple folded over, between Pink’s lap and chest. “Please, please don't go…”
“I won't, I won't.” She caressed their arm. “I'll still be here tomorrow. I'll live.”
Both knew the words were lies.
“I'll live, and I'll get to see you. All of you.”
Purple shut their eyes, and took a breath.
“I want you to.”
Purple knew that it wouldn't be true, and tried so desperately to fortify themself for the wreckage their life would become the second she disappeared from their life, too.
Purple tried to hold onto the moment. Gripped it in their hand even as it cut them, unable to keep the tears in anymore.
Vic and Mitsi perked up at the latter's phone ringing.
They smiled at each other when they saw who it was from.
Vic took a deep breath.
“Are you.. are you ready?” Mitsi gave a sheepish smile, holding her phone close, ready to pick up.
“..yes. Yes, I am. I'm ready.”
Mitsi smiled at them, and it made them unexplainably joyful for the future ahead.