Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Bobby opened her eyes to see herself alone in a completely black space, the only sense of light or even color coming from herself. She realized she was probably crouched and if she wanted to make sense of where she was, should probably get up and start exploring, but just didn’t have the energy for it. It was like she couldn’t even muster the curiosity to get out of this place, but instead she could only feel glimmers of hope and happiness in a shallow pit of pain and regret.

It’s lonely here…

It really was lonely there for Bobby, although she didn’t know why she was agreeing with an unknown voice that had a strange sense of familiarity to it.

I…I don’t like being alone…

Bobby was the same, she thinks at least. It was scary being alone in the world, so she always wanted friends she could experience it with. She felt like she did that too, but for some reason no faces or even names came to mind when she tried.

Maybe I deserve to be alone…maybe it’s my fault I’m lonely…

Yeah, maybe it was just her fault that she was alone here. If had the qualities to have friends, then she would’ve obviously had at least one. If she was left alone to wallow in the black loneliness, then that’s how it should be. She was so, so tired being alone, so exhausting without anyone to spend time with. Maybe she should rest for a bit and when she woke up, maybe she could find the energy to make a friend. That’s what Bobby promised herself, that when she woke up from this, she wouldn’t be so lonely anymore .

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Meanwhile, Catnap was standing at the corrupted remains of the shack, panting heavily as sweat glistened pristinely against his purple fur under the moonlight. He had spent hours running around, looking throughout the entirety of the zones and factions he marked off for the others in hopes of finding even the faintest whiff of the emotional support bear, but his endeavors remained fruitless. Clenching his fist, he stared at the black remains, feeling the almost faded remnants of Bobby’s healing magic in what was left. Taking a knee, Catnap started pouring his magic into the corruption, a deeper black flowing into it with a pained face.

“Goddammit Bobby, you better be alright when we find you,” Catnap muttered, absorbing the corruption back as the remains fell to ash against the wind. “I’ll hear any complaint you have, so please….just be alright.”

“Catnap!” Crafty called out, landing nearby with a soft tap against the ground. “I cleared my entire area and nothing’s come up, not even a whisper of her magic! She transformed, so there’s no way even a bit of it can’t be sensed!”

“My area was clean too, a little too clean to be honest,” Bubba added, landing with a thud as he walked towards them. “Even when I tried tracking her using the traces where she stayed for the past week were wiped clean from a trail. It’s like her magic doesn’t even exist in the area.”

“Then that means one of 2 likely scenarios; either she’s actively hiding from us by being as far away as possible, or, the more likely case, she’s already in a playground.”

“Then that means-!”

“I’m not saying we’re too late bubba, but if the person I think is was behind this, chances are she’s on his radar and he wouldn’t exactly make it easy. You’ve already seen Protocol learn how to get control over playgrounds…”

“No way…” Crafty muttered, her hooves covering her mouth in worry.

Hope seemed all but lost, but suddenly all 3 turned on a dime readying to attack the foreign register of magic, only to see a blackened silhouette of a little girl, whose face was obscured by a mask of belladonnas, timidly holding a lone red rose. The sight was unnerving to Bubba and Crafty, who were unaware of what a child was doing here, but to Catnap, her presence was a welcome development, despite the unease of seeing the rose in her hands. Disarming himself, Catnap calmly walked to her with his hands held firmly behind his back to show he meant no harm, before crouching in front of her.

“That rose…is it meant to be her?” Catnap asked gently, calmly holding out one hand to her, before she gave him the rose with a single nod. “I see, can you lead us to her?”

“Catnap?” “What on earth?...”

She nodded weakly, holding her hands up to the cat, before climbing on his back after he presented it to her to ride. He didn’t waste time with talk, just a slight nod to Bubba and Crafty as he immediately took a giant leap in the direction the silhouette pointed. They were confused and quite frankly worried, but trusted the feline’s word enough to follow almost immediately.

“Catnap, who is that?” Crafty asked him, taking a leap off a platform of paint to keep flight after him.

“This isn’t someone I know, but obviously someone Bobby does. If what I’m feeling is correct, this is a ‘remnant,’ the last fragment of a person before they fully become a plaything.”

“What!? So we’re being led to the playground!?”

“More than likely, as remnants naturally return to the playground after some time. Most of the time, they guid people to the playgrounds to be food for the plaything, but the intent of this one is different from that.” Catnap could tell at a glance, that this remnant wasn’t one playing a role to trick someone, but searching for someone to help it. “I don’t know what the story behind this remnant is, but I can feel an intrusive magic different from pure corruption of a plaything. This thing is hurting right now and essentially bringing us to put it out of its misery.”

“And the intrusive magic is tell-tale sign that this individual you suspect, meaning there’s a good chance this playground is more or less his base of operations, correct?”

“Protocol uses shitty and shady means to reach their goals. Now that they know how to practically override control over a playground, an isolated magic space, there’s no way they wouldn’t take advantage of it…him especially.”

“Catnap, who is this person exactly? What exactly was he at Protocol for you to behave this way?”

Catnap hesitated slightly at her question, implying a deep history with them that was something more than simply knowing them. For Catnap, that person was nothing but a blight, a never-ending pit of grief that’s haunted him since he arrived. Just thinking about him again was enough to flare up the cat’s overwhelming air of corruption as they traveled, even if it was a small dose.

“...Andy, that bastard, he’s the former head of Protocol’s research division, also known as the ‘Mad Puppeteer’ of Protocol,” Catnap stated, an expression flat and monotone despite his tone venomous and low. “He’s also the bastard who made me like this, who corrupted my magic and made me a ‘tainted’, a person who’s stuck between a normal toy and a plaything.”

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With a rush, Bobby’s eyes shot open, a blur of emptiness filling her head as the sounds of squishing and chewing filled her ears. Nonchalantly, her eyes looked downward to her stomach, seeing it ripped open and actively being feasted upon by the flower children victims as they shed tears of black liquid, yet Bobby couldn’t seem to find the emotion or sense of pain to be bothered. Forcing her head off the side of the table she was laid on, she could see a large belladonna bud in the center of a grand hall of plant and flesh, with the doctor standing idly by as he watched it beat to the rhythm of a heart beating.

“I see you’ve finally woken up, little bear.” Andy started, pocketing his hands in his overcoat as he turned to her. “I must say, your magic is truly frighteningly efficient. Even with exposure to falling into a plaything’s corruption, the overall process for you is practically slowed to a halt. Normally anyone else would’ve fallen into a state of infected their surroundings, but you? Your magic is healing you full force, even when your gem is practically one breath away from dust. You must be an indispensable support to those pitiful brats you call friends?”

“...If this is your means of getting some sort of reaction out of me, save your breath,” Bobby coldly muttered, the usual light in her eyes dull and black as her very pupils were nothing but static. “As I am now, I can’t even feel anger towards what you’ve done to me, to everyone.”

“Wow~” Andy teased, walking towards her with no sense of fear or worry. “Such a cool line, although it doesn’t fit someone like you.”

“I’m not exactly myself to begin with.”

“Quite so, but that’s neither here nor there. What I want to know is quite simple little bear.” Andy instantly slammed his foot next to her head with enough force to actually dent the table she was on, yet her gaze never faltered, nor did she flinch at his action. Despite her current state, she was still perceptive of the emotions of those around her, so it was clear that what he felt was something deeper than anger. When he gazed upon her, nothing but the unbridled wrath that could rival the sin itself was felt aimed at her. “Where. Is. Catnap?”

“Who?”

“Don’t play dumb with me bitch,” Andy started, trying to intimidate her by wrapping his hand around her neck. “Where is that little brat hiding? Him and his little playmates!”

Bobby’s expression didn’t change all that much, but the air it gave off switched to something far more apathetic, much to Andy’s chagrin. It was disrespectful enough to him that he magically backhanded the bear clean of the table, with a disgusting sounding crunch and splatter to follow. Bobby lay unbothered as her already mangled and torn body was even more ruined with broken legs, a splintered arm with part of the ulna jutting out like a knife, even her neck twisted in an unnatural way, before directing her eyes to the man as he approached her, menacingly.

“You think I can’t force the answers out of you?”

“I know you can’t actually.” Although slow, her body started snapping back into shape in some areas, each crunch and crack associated with sounds that’d make most tremble and shiver. Despite that, the flower children trekked over, ignoring any injuries to their plant bodies as they continued their previous meal endeavors. “By the look of it, my magic, while delaying the inevitable, is also numbing any pain I feel, both physical and emotional. Any plan you have of forcing my compliance will be met with more apathy than anything.”

“You’re clearly underestimating me, bear. Because just where do you think we are?”

“If I had to bluntly guess, I’d say the playground of Cale’s mother,” she surmised, the hypothesis actually making Andy react, despite him trying not to show it. “After losing most of my thoughts, my emotions and my sense of self, I’ve had plenty of time to think about things. Thinking about that log you said aloud, B.3.L.14…it stands for ‘Bella,’ doesn’t it. That’s her name.”

Given the frustration building up on Andy’s face, it was obvious she was correct, but the ursa couldn’t find it in herself to feel joy or sense of pride in her deduction. Only a sense of emptiness and tinge of regret as it confirmed more of what a failure she really was.If she had only been a better healer, none of this would’ve come to pass, none at all. Andy was obviously not too fond of her nonchalant attitude and stance on this entire thing, so with a snap of his fingers, she was reminded exactly what made Protocol and it’s members so dangerous, as vine speared through the fleshy floor and ceiling to string the bear up as if she were being crucified.

“You will give me the answers I want to know, whether you like it or not.” he threatened, implying his methods will get an answer out of her, but to Bobby, his threats weren’t nearly as grand as that. They were something more desperate, something that he was saying to himself more that her as if trying to manifest the effectiveness, akin to pleas.

“Why do you need to know where Catnap and the minis are?”

“What business is that of yours?”

“Is it because Catnap did something to you? Or rather, you believe he took something…or some one ?” She hinted, getting a larger reaction out of Andy than before as he grabbed her by the neck. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to hit a nerve.”

“You know a lot more than you let on, huh?!” he all but screeched, looking absolutely pissed at her as the anger radiated off him. “You don’t need to know all my reasons, but I guess you can learn why I want the damn cat.”

Andy proceeded to explain a bit about Catnap’s past as an important figure for Protocol for various reasons, becoming someone Protocol truly couldn’t operate well without. Catnap, while not very niche or well-received, was the cornerstone of Protocol’s very foundation of operation. Finance, Magical research, even inquisitional duties, Catnap talents and abilities shined in every sector in some way, but that’s also why he became a problem. He didn’t agree with some of Protocol’s decisions and chosen means of operation and unilaterally decided to leave without permission.

“I can’t judge him for leaving when I'm guilty of the same, but honestly for a killer like him to act as though he can take any moral high ground is pathetic. Honestly, if he just minded his own business, I could let it slide of what he’s done. But that unruly brat has done 2 unforgivable things that I will never allow him to get a pass for.”

Andy’s words carried heavy levels of hate towards Catnap as he continued, like the heat of a branding iron radiating agonizingly close to bare skin. Bobby could tell that whatever driving force was behind Andy was vengeful, yet she couldn’t feel herself caring about it. No matter how much she knew she should care, she knew she should feel something, anything about this situation, her heart remained plainfully dormant and cold. Andy’s situation, Catnap’s involvement, even her predicament as a whole, she was eerily still and unmoved as she grew numb to it all. It was all so tiring to think about, enough to elicit a yawn.

“Are you done?” Bobby asked, her apathy present in both her tone and expression. “What you tell me won’t change my stance. Even if I’m like this, I don’t see myself selling my friend out to the person who caused all this. Objectively speaking, you’re not even worth thinking about in my final moments.”

“...It’s unfortunate I can’t refute that, especially knowing exactly why you’re like this, but it’s fine,” he responded, initially annoyed, but regaining his composure and carrying an air of arrogance as he carried away in stride. “Your presence alone is invaluable to me, because either Catnap or your friends will inevitably come to look for you. There’s no greater role for you anymore than bait for my revenge my dear, so rest easy and sit pretty for me, I’ll handle the rest.”

There was a flicker of worry in Bobby’s eyes, if only a moment from his words, but just as quickly as it shined, it went out. She had become so numb to everything that even hearing that she’ll be used in targeting her friends wasn’t enough anymore, like she couldn’t care about something so trivial as that. It felt much more fruitful to follow Andy’s advice and rest, because there was no point in retaliating, no point in reacting. It was much easier to close her eyes and wallow in that loneliness for as long as she could.

“Alright…then I’ll rest,” Bobby said as her eyes began to flutter, a wave of lethargy washing over her, but just before her eyes truly shut, there was a whisper that rang in her ears that almost woke her up. “...Cale?”

Her last words confused Andy as he turned to her, but seeing her hang still like the dead, he merely shrugged it off as the boy was long since dead. He was a useful nutrient farm for the converted brats and keeping him alive kept B.3.L.14 dormant long enough for Andy to achieve his goal, so allowing him a proper send off was only appropriate. Now the stage was set, a fitting tomb for the cat who ruined everything. Taking a locket from his pocket, he opened it to tenderly caress the image that greeted him from the inside.

“It won’t be long now sister, I’ll get your revenge,” Andy started with a single tear falling onto the glass covering, the picture of Ann smiling warmly at him. With a destructive entrance, his touching moment was uprooted with a loud interruption, courtesy of the entrance being coated in a heavy black, before the doors and area around were smashed open. “You sure took your time.”

“Andy…” Catnap growled under his breath, the feral look in his eyes being the only sign of Catnap’s anger as Crafty and Bubba followed behind him. “Where is she…”

“Oh my, just where are you manners? A gentleman should always start with the pleasantries before-” he started, getting cut off as a bullet nearly grazed his cheek, though the teasing smile never left his face.

“Cut the bullshit Andy, Where. Is. she.”

“C-Catnap…,”Crafty whined, trembling as she held up her hoof to point behind Andy. Noticing the subject of her pointing, Bubba’s face tightened as he looked away solemnly. Catnap, after finally seeing her, let his unreadable expression drop into disbelief, the former air of quiet anger falling into an empty grief as his grip faltered.

“No…N-no, No no no!” Catnap cried, tears forming in his eyes at the sight of Bobby. Despite being mostly intact, the remains of his insides hanging messily from the cavity where he stomach should be told a far worse story. The obvious rip and tear of her flesh present in the bite marks, the chlorophyll stained cuts and scrapes littering her clothes and fur, even some of the twisted and broken bone injuries that never got time to fix themselves, all on display for the 3 critters to see, but the worse, for Catnap, wa none of the above. What hurt Catnap the most, was her medal, the once beautiful and deep shade of red that glimmered so elegantly, was now a putrid and disgusting shade of blacks, reds, and muted colors that flickered about.

“Do you like my gift, Catnap~ I prepared it especially for you, so I hope you appreciate-.”

Andy didn’t even get to finish his statement, before a loud crunch interrupted him. The force behind Catnap’s punch sent the man flying into the pulsing bud behind Bobby’s display with a sickening impact of broken bones. Not even a second passed by, before the cat grabbed the man by the face and slammed him back against the bud, almost certainly shattering the back of his skull from the force alone, but he didn’t care. Catnap was beyond consolation at this point, beyond words, he wanted this man dead.

“ I’ll kill you…I’LL FUCKING KILL YOU, ANDY!! ” The cat screamed, actively trying to not to crush the man’s face as his killing intent alone felt like it’d choke him half to death. Unfortunately, Andy didn’t look very bothered or intimidated by his threats, in fact he relished the anger Catnap displayed, to a fault at that.

“Temper, Temper, Catnap~” Andy teased, his voice choking under the obvious pain of his injuries, but not showing or experiencing it. “Don’t tell me you still can’t control it?”

Catnap realized what he meant by his words and looked around in a panic, seeing how quickly his corruption was pooling at his feet as it began seeping into the playground. Releasing his grip, Catnap pulled back as he held himself to calm down, absorbing a lot of the corruption that had leaked out, but not before Andy kicked the cat away, with far more force than the cat used on him. Just before Catnap could slam into the wall, Crafty instantly made a cushion to absorb the impact, but the fact that a loud thud was still heard despite it spoke volumes of how much damage was packed in that kick.

“Goodness, even after all this time, I had hoped you’d have matured at least a bit, but to only be at this stage with such a proliferation period is quite disappointing,” Andy calmly observed, cracking his neck before wiping the dust off his overcoat as if the damage he sustained was merely a trifle.

“D-damn..you…” Catnap groaned, sitting up with a pained glare.

“Will you ever mature? You were my finest subject and had the most positive results. Why do you reject your gift so?”

“ This isn’t a gift! ” Catnap screamed, biting his tongue to calm down from the pain. “This is a punishment…a promise to pay back what I’ve taken from them, what you’ve taken from them!”

Andy didn’t look impressed by his statement, but shrugged with a small sigh as if he couldn’t be bothered to deal with it, before swiftly snatching the air beside with a loud crack. His hands merely motioned, tightening before the space around it shattered, revealing a struggling Bubba who was gripping the man’s wrist tensely as his face distorted in pain. Andy’s expression looked amused as he saw the ‘Bubba’ standing next to Catnap and Crafty distort, before fading and had a small chuckle at the antic.

“You must be the light show elephant Ann mentioned she failed to kill, quite an interesting magic.” Bubba didn’t respond, trying his hardest to conserve what oxygen he could as the man’s grip was a lot stronger than anticipated, but what put the elephant off guard the most was how almost instinctively the man knew Bubba’s precise location. Even Catnap had a hard time discerning him when using that, but there was no way a doctor should have hunting instincts anywhere near developed Catnap’s level. “It’s wasted on someone like you though.”

Reeling back, Andy slammed the pachyderm to the ground, kicking him in the side as the blue boy bounced off the ground from the recoil. Catnap swiftly intercepted him, skidding to a halt as Bubba coughed harshly with a sharp intake of breath, much to the man’s delight. Crafty stood in utter shock of it all, watching the man easily overpower them with a familiarity that was impossible to forget, but couldn’t possibly understand. Andy was supposedly a scientist in research, not part of the inquisition squad, so theoretically, he shouldn’t be near this capable, but after taking a more focused look, she noticed a drastically different level of magic power silently enveloping his body constantly. It didn’t take her long to piece things together.

“He’s already connected to the playground, he’s practically leeching off it by the gallons!” she shouted out, swiping her brush through to air, fierce blades of wind slashing at him, but merely damaging his coat as he himself remained unscathed.

“What! But that doesn’t make sense!” Bubba retorted as he stood, wiping the blood from his mouth. “It shouldn’t be possible for him to absorb from the playground, only move it around! A playground should be too corrupted for anyone to safely intake anything from it!”

Catnap didn’t comment, only following up Crafty’s volley by closing the distance at the first swat from the doctor, his dagger mere inches from Andy’s neck, only for a loud clang to resound. Recoiling from the counter, Catnap clenched his teeth in frustration at the slightly brighter black corrupted blade mass that grew from Andy’s sleeve, the man himself grinning arrogantly. Just before the mass could slash the cat in retaliation, Catnap fell to the floor and swiftly swept his foot under Andy to catch him off balance, before firing off a point-blank revolver shot that sent the man flying back into the beating bud with far more force than should be physically possible for a handgun. Wasting no time, he simply used his claws to cut Bobby free from her bindings, before jumping back to the other Critters with her firmly in his arms.

“We got Bobby, the main objective is taken care of for now, let’s-” Catnap started, before a loud thumping of a heartbeat resonated through the theater. Just as quickly as they could blink, the way they came in was mended behind a solid wall of flesh as the pace quickened to a normal rhythm. Looking back at Andy, all 3 could see the twisted satisfaction on his face as he rested his hand on the bud they had neglected for so long.

“Did you really think I’d allow you to simply take her and go?” he asked condescendingly as his corrupted was removed from the bud all at once.

On cue, it began to open slowly as a crude and pungent dark blood poured from the inside to the floor. Despite the color that should’ve dyed its inside, what bloomed was a plaything reminiscent of an alraune, a mandrake with the upper body on a human woman and lower half buried under the spider lily flower it bore from. Skin a sickening muted green with thorns scattered across it, hair flowing a deep purple with rose petals falling elegantly from it like snow, and littered across her body were scars of whips and carvings, as if her body had been assembled haphazardly, yet delicately enough to retain her supple beauty. What stood out the most, was how her face above her nose was obscured by a vibrant bouquet of deep violet belladonnas, but the noticeable chunk barely visible from the side almost told a story of its own, as if her entire top portion of face was smashed or ripped off.

“Meet the plaything of the grieving mother, whose beauty cost her the life of her husband and drove her to a murder-suicide of her son; Belladonna~ ”

With a loud howl of pain, the area came to life as the once pasted medical lab fell to ruin and the flesh matted garden revived in full force. The critters had little time to react as almost immediately, the plaything’s control of the playground honed in on them like hawks, a flurry of vines darting from the flesh hedge walls like bullets. Narrowly avoiding a hit was the easy part, but for Catnap, it was a constant dance of death, maneuvering swiftly and accurately as Belladonna seemed to be targeting him, or more specifically, who he was carrying. They didn’t understand why, but it was obvious this plaything wanted Bobby specifically and that was something they would not let slide. Whether or not Andy was controlling it was irrelevant to her, as Crafty’s brush skated across the garden floor, a fierce wall of flame rising to burn any approaching plant, before roaring forward towards the plaything and burning all vines in its path.

“Bring her here!” Crafty called out, her brush awash with orange as flames were dancing around her brightly. Catnap was hasty in following through, practically appearing behind her like a phantom as he gently set the bear down on the ground. “As long as I have magic, I can burn away any plant that even tries to come here.”

“Thanks Crafty, that makes things easier, “the cat said coldly, a faint spray of his gas falling from his mouth. “ I’ll take care of things. ”

That firm, yet chilling remark was the equine’s only warning before Catnap rushed out, his signature dagger in hand as he zeroed in on the plaything with a vengeance, but before his blade seeped in his corruption could touch her, Andy’s own blade mass intercepted him to a stand still.

“Ah ah ah Catnap, I’m afraid we have business of our own to discuss before you even think of destroying ‘another’ of my precious test subjects,” the man teasingly said, forcing Catnap’s retreat as he forced the cat back. “Especially after what you did to Ann.”

“She knew the risks of fucking with me, she had it coming!” the feline retorted, recovering and slashing away at the blade mass Andy used to defend himself, perfectly blocking each slash, although still being forced back. “I had no problem letting Protocol continue its bullshit. As long as I could atone for my sin, I didn’t care what happened!”

“Yet you still got in our way! Time and time again, I received reports of experiments and test subjects either dead, released, or their corruption taken by you, again!” Andy countered, using his free arm grab and through the cat by his attacking wrist. “Was what you stole not enough!? For someone so greedy for what represented his god, you sure seem hellbent on avoiding its use!”

“ He’s no god of mine anymore! ” 

With that line, Catnap’s corruption began falling off him in drips again, his dagger colliding with Andy’s mass with a resounding clang. Although Bubba was interested in the conversation, he couldn’t afford to keep his attention on it for long as he narrowly jumped out of the way of several more vines. Despite their concentration on Crafty and Bobby, it seemed that this plaything was critically aware that he and co were interlopers and needed to be handled, if only they would let it be so simple. With swift reaction, a light screen shield activated to intercept a set of vines coming from in front, using his free hand to make a circular saw that he immediately launched at the plaything. Sensing the danger of the impending object, belladonna raised a hedge that practically swallowed the attack, before the saw’s light slashed it to splinters.

“This plaything is much more intelligent than usual, could it be retaining its identity somehow?” Bubba hypothesized, kick-flipping off the hard light shield, avoiding the vines that skewered through it seconds later. Standing on a hastily formed hard light platform, forming an unconfirmed 3D shape in front of him as he aimed at the plaything. “I need to wrap this up and assist Catnap.”

As magic condensed on the shape in front of Bubba, it finally solidified into a torus with a fragile light sphere in the center. Jumping away, more of the same began shaping around the original in a spiral, before firing off beams of light like rain, only to be blocked off by a never-ending wall of walls that swallowed and crushed them like a tsunami washing over a city. Bubba was not happy seeing that occurrence, but didn’t get long to dwell on it and he had to create more hard light shields to defend himself. Crafty was dealing with a comparatively lighter role, but the stress and pressure was almost greater. Despite being flames, the relentlessness of the transformed children wasn’t easy magically nor mentally. Despite the pain and struggles to push through the fire, the flower children were burned until they were almost char or close to it, only to retry after a short recovery.

“I don’t want to hurt you all anymore, so please-” Crafty started, swiping her brush to spread the flames wider, raise them higher. “Leave us alone!”

Soon enough, the children halted the fruitless assault, but not to give up, merely to re-group. Through the flames, Crafty could see each child’s fragments sink below their bodies, before they ran into each other into a messed up pile of bush and twig limbs, until an ominous shine blared from the inside. As the fragments decorated it like a christmas tree, the amalgam giant of children with a cacophony of faces twisted in pain stomped menacingly towards Crafty, its groans reverberating with each step. Conflicted at causing more pain to something so innocent, but with a heavy heart, she painted a flurry of wooden arrows that launched through the wall of flames into the creature, watching with sadness as it fell to its knees yet continued the painful advance.

3 fights, 3 possible winners, only 1 outcome that is allowed to come to pass. Unbeknownst to the critters fighting for her, Bobby herself was standing at an abyss, her despondent eyes lost, yet a strange sense of direction kept guiding her. It was faint, almost a whisper in her head when she heard it, but it was unmistakably his voice. She wanted to find him, she needed to be sure that it wasn’t just her imagination, just a desperate wish. It felt like she had run an eternity, but the little flicker of light she found, almost reflected a small glimmer of hope she wasn’t sure she could feel.

“Is…is it really you?” Bobby muttered quietly, a few tears forming in her trembling eyes. “I know I might be crazy….I know that it shouldn’t be possible, but please…please…”

“...”

“Cale….”

“...doctor?...”

Hearing his frail voice was like a wave washing over her as she felt her arms tremble. Suddenly the ball of light felt so heavy in her hands, despite not being able to physically touch or hold it, yet she couldn’t help but fall to her knees. Blinking away a tear or 2 did nothing as she felt the dam holding them back break under the sound.

“Doctor? Is that you?...” Cale's voice, now coming a bit stronger from the contact with Bobby, helped him feel better.

“Yes Cale…I’m here,” she cried, pulling the ball close into a warm, gentle embrace. “I’m…I’m here this time…”

As if her grief was a dream, it was like a wave refreshed Bobby in the abyss, the small ball of light reflecting the color in her eyes. Despite still feeling like she was drowning, the comfort from simply hearing his voice after everything was something she didn’t know she needed. Opening her eyes, she could see Cale in a broken spiritual form, one so fragile, it was as if he’d fade with a simple breeze, but it was enough, it was more than enough.

“I’m so sorry Cale…I’m so, so sorry I couldn’t help you sooner. That I failed to heal your mom! I-” Bobby started, before a gentle finger stopped her self hate in its tracks, with a gentle smile accompanying it. Even without words, it was obvious what he wanted to say, but the tears glossing her eyes told Cale she just didn’t want to believe it.

“It’s okay doctor,” he assured her, hugging her as best he could, despite not being able to feel her, nor was she able to touch him for fear of breaking his already fragile state. “It’s okay…It wasn’t your fault we ended up like this.”

“But I…I-”

“Bobby, you did more for me and mommy than anyone ever has. In this or the one before, I don’t think I’ve ever felt so safe…so happy, than when you came to help us…”

“But…I don’t understand it. You’re such a lovely kid and your mom cares so much about you!...How did you…end up like this?...”

With his smile falling slightly, a wave of his hand washed a golden light in the black abyss, blinding Bobby into closing her eyes. Once she opened them, she could see herself standing in the busy city streets of an unfamiliar city, the hustle and bustle of it all unnerving at first, before she gradually came up to speed. She almost panicked as someone was about to collide into her, but before she could move, they passed through her as if she were a ghost. Taking a closer look, she finally noticed how gray the colors of the world looked, one that was obviously viewing the world through ‘their’ eyes.

“Is this a memory?” She asked under her breath, but looking around, she noticed she was by herself. “Cale? Cale!”

Before she could get too much time to panic, a rushing child ran by, a familiar golden hair drifting against the wind as the sole splash of color in a world of dull gray. Without giving it much thought, Bobby’s slow approach turned into a full chase, following the child as carefully as possible, despite not being able to run into others. It didn’t matter how congested or how quick he was, Bobby could spot and follow that golden shine through it all, the scenery and surroundings quickly blending into a blur and before she realized it, she arrived in a rather rough looking apartment building.

“Is this where-”

“Mm,” Cale’s voice rang, despite not being visible to her. “ This is where we lived before, me and mommy. ”

Bobby felt that statement tug at her heart, but wasted little time in trekking up the rough looking steps into the rundown building, observing how torn and tattered the walls looked despite this being the memory of a child. Cale must’ve been a very observant child, one who’d notice even the littlest details of things. Was it because he had seen these walls all too often or was it because they were the last thing he could remember about it? Whatever option it could be, Bobby didn’t like thinking about it, especially when a loud sound took her attention. Following the source, she arrived at such a beautiful door that held a stark contrast to the surroundings that it was a wonder what it was doing there.

“ Home was always my favorite place to come to after school, because no matter how bad my day was, mommy was always there to make it better. ”

Walking inside, Bobby could see the proud look on Cale’s mom’s face as she tightly hugged him, not fair from what looked to be a shattered bowl or plate she seemed to have dropped on the floor. The shattered pieces were almost a reflection of Cale’s battered and bruised face that was obviously something more than a playground accident or friendly rough house, but through it all, the colorful world remained so bright in his eyes. His home wasn’t just his safe place, it was his everything and his mom, the source of light that would illuminate even the darkest of corners of his mind.

“How beautiful,” Bobby muttered, lost in the childish innocence of it all, the tug on her heart much stronger than before.

“ But once he came back, home wasn’t home anymore .”

Shifting as if it was smoke, the scene of the once happy and loving home was replaced with something that fit the outside more, a dull gray that sucked the very light out of anything that bore witness. Unlike the moderately kempt and clean home she saw before, what lay before her now was a den of empty beer cans, bottles, discard and used cigarette butts and boxed, along with heavy television static with something complicated and certain words popping out every so often like faint flickers of recognition in a sea of confusion. A new, but obviously well-used recliner now present like, with a large black blob sitting loftily on it, like a stain on the environment.

“You stupid *burps* brat…” the voice rang out, throwing the can at the trembling boy with golden hair that had just come home. “What did I tell you to do every time you come home?”

With trepidation, the boy quietly eased his way to the kitchen and returned with a new bottle and fearfully handed it to the blob, flinching as it was snatched out of his hands

“Finally, been waiting on this beer for ages. Stupid bitch said she was ‘called in for another shift,’ to cover. Lying broad, knowing damn well that slut’s just doing it to hook up with that pussy stained cuck of a manager. Thinking she can use that job as an excuse not to serve her husband who's been busting his keister for this house.”

Vulgar, pathetic, pitiful, all words Bobby would immediately use if she had to describe the man that said such harsh things. What was he possibly providing to the house sitting on a recliner and complaining, practically taking out his insecurities on a child just because he lived there. What really set her off was how after finishing his beer and despite Cale already being there with a replacement, he slams the bottle on the poor boy’s head. The bear couldn’t help the quiet fury that bubbled beneath to surface as she futilely tried to help the boy in the memory, only to remember she had to influence what-so-ever on what happened.

“ You stupid little shit! I said I wanted Wisconsin, not Maltberry!” the blob yelled, ignoring the blood mixed tears that trailed down the boy’s face as the obvious wound on top of Cale’s head was clearly being overlooked in favor of reprimands. What struck Bobby the worst was how instead of apologizing, or even pretending to care about the boy’s injury, he slapped the boy, hard enough that she was sure Cale’s neck snapped 90 degrees. “What kind of boy cries, man the fuck up you little bitch and get me my Maltberry!”

God, Bobby swears if she ever met this man hurting or in pain, she’d let him wallow with how terrible he was being. This was sick, disgusting, practically inhumane on any level she’d ever seen, but the fact Cale had to suffer through this at all was killing her inside. The scene skipped to whenever Cale’s mother came home and Bobby would quietly thank whoever that she had sense enough to care and treat Cale before anything. Bless her heart at how tender and loving she was, whispering words of affirmations and love to him, telling him that he was so brave and how sorry she was. Bobby could guess immediately at who the blob was thanks to the context of it all now and quite frankly, she was disgusted something like that would even dare to call himself a father.

“ He didn’t like me all that much. Said I was a parasite to the money he could be using, but mommy would always tell me that he was just having a bad day…He never had good days.”

Booby found herself skipping through days of more bottles being thrown, yelling, and at some point, a physical beating where punches were thrown at Cale for simply existing . All the boy did was sit quietly in his room, quietly hugging a small stuffed animal, but in comes the man from nowhere yelling expletives at the boy, grabbing him by the collar, and punching him square in the cheek. Bobby didn’t even have time to cry, before witnessing the man pummel the boy into the worn out mattress with crunch after sickening crunch. The bear had to plug her ears just to endure, because even if she didn’t want to watch, even if she knew she didn’t want to continue this, she knew she had to. She owed at least this much to Cale, to understand him, to share his pains even a little.

“ Mommy did everything she could for me, but that wasn’t enough for him. He was bored of her, he said to me. Said it was time I learned to play more grown-up games as ‘bonding with daddy,’ time.”

The implication alone nearly had Bobby throwing up, timidly looking over to her side to see a resting Cale being abruptly woken up by the loud slam of his bedroom door. His dad standing there with a bottle in hand and the first scent in the memory sequence, a stench so strong and commanding that it was no wonder Cale remembered it so vividly; alcohol. The man was beyond smashed, so out of it mentally that it was a miracle he could even function enough to be a nuisance, but what he said next made Bobby’s blood run cold.

“ You…little shit…,” the man slurred, buzzed beyond belief, his heavy staggered steps toward Cale resounding like a giant rumbling the very earth he walked on. “That whore you call a mom…really is a stingy cunt….taking all those shifts for my…*burps* beer money…leaving me here blue-balled.”

Cale’s trembling body under the sheets were small, but enough that the man could still notice despite being mentally gone, enough to smirk as he hunched over the bed, heavy alcohol laced breaths harshly blowing into the young boy's nose. Small tears could be seen glowing in his eyes as his dad helped himself under the boys sheets, pulling Cale close, his heavy breathing growing louder with every second as if tickling even Bobby’s ears with how loud they were.

“You’ll be a good boy for daddy, right baby?...You look so much like your mom, but unlike her, you’ll be loyal…you’ll be obedient…you’ll feel so good~ ”

“I didn’t like the games daddy made me play, it always hurt so much that I’d cry for mommy. But after the first time, he said mommy would be hurt too if I told her…so I had to, to protect mommy.”

Bobby didn’t even leave it to chance to continue further, her magic bursting at the seams to break the scene to pieces as she stood resolutely, the biting of her lip drawing blood as the tear-filled rage on her face was something that could only equate to Catnap levels of rage. No matter how painful her teeth felt piercing her lip, no matter how righteous the unbridled fury she felt towards the man, she knew it wouldn’t change the past. All she did was destroy a memory, run away from something Cale had to face all alone. If not for the clenching of her fist, she wasn’t sure she’d even try to continue, but she couldn’t run now. She had a responsibility to see this through to the end, to honor what Cale had suffered through and know why they ended up like this.

“Mommy came home one day when daddy was playing the game with me and she wasn’t happy. Mommy hit him and pulled me away crying… ”

Cale’s mom was holding him so close that it looked suffocating, but the cries of sorrow and regret were so, so loud. This was something painful for her too, something she had no idea of and learning only now that her baby, her only child was suffering from, but she didn’t get to wallow in it for long before a fist sent her careening to the floor, Cale ripped straight from her arms.

“FUCKING BITCH! WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE!?” the man hollered, kicking her in the stomach, sending her further along the ground. “Fucking BITCH thinks she can come into MY home and take MY slutty toy from ME?! You don’t have any right to tell me how I raise him when you’re never here! HE’s obedient! HE knows who to listen to! And unlike you, HE still feels as good as the first time!”

He dropped Cale roughly to the ground, before straddling his mom, his hands gripping around her neck tightly. She was struggling hard, kicking and screaming as her heels clacked and scratched across the floor in retaliation, but it was obviously a losing fight. Her struggles were weakening as a grim smile formed on the man’s face, before Cale used something he learned from the man against him, smashing one of the discarded bottles against his head as some of the shard stabbed the top of his balding head, gripping it in pain. Regaining air in her lungs, Cale’s mom swiftly took one from Cale book and grabbed another bottle, smashing it across the man’s face and stabbing him in the side as he rolled over in pain. She wasted no time grabbing Cale as she rushed towards the door, but a deafening bang had her stagger and stop, before collapsing in pain as blood began to pool under her.

“Fucking! Useless! BITCHES!” the man screamed, the gun barrel releasing smoke as his one good eye looked on in rage as he forced himself up despite the obvious pain. He wasted no time shooting 2 more rounds in her legs, her screams looking as if they were music to him, before setting his sights on Cale. The boy tried to get away, but didn’t get too far before a familiar rough hand yanked him back, only to get a firm hand from the man. “Who! Gave you! The right! To fucking! Disobey me!”

Each word was another hit, another slap, or another punch, beating Cale until he was practically blue in the face, bruises all over his uncovered body. The man didn’t care about either of them, because to him, they were merely tools, toys for him to use, break, and throw away whenever he wanted. He used the word like ‘son’ to describe Cale, but it was obvious he didn’t see him that way.

“When I get through with you, you’ll wish you behaved right, you little shit! I’ll have that ass so fucking ruined, even a DOG won’t use you!” He screamed, holding the crying boy by his hair, before hitting him again. “:You’re NOTHING you hear! You and that tramp you call a mother are useless! Fucking! Toys! Nothing but a good lay for a good man! You are ONLY good for taking dick and pleasing me like the BTICHES you are! So keep crying, because this is only the beginning you little faggot! You and your whore mother are never leaving this place, EVER AGAI-!”

One loud bang interrupted the man, then another, before 2 more shots sent the man to the floor, his body lying warm in a pool of his own blood. Looking up as best he could, Cale could see his mom weakly holding up the freshly used gun, before weakly letting it fall as she let the weakness overtake her. Cale rushed over as fast as his pained-riddled body could push him, crying loudly as he called out for her over and over again. Even weak, Cale’s mother found every bit of strength she could muster to comfort the boy as best she could, whispering an apology for being so terrible a mother that she would abandon him so soon. Cale could only weakly hold the hand caressing his cheek, his tears wailing loudly as he finally felt her fall limp to the floor with her head splashing in the pool of blood. He knew she was gone, he knew his mommy had gone away to protect him, but Cale didn’t want that. He didn’t want to be here without his mommy, but he didn’t know how to follow her, at least until he saw the gun. He didn’t know what it was, but he was sure it was what took both his dad and mommy away. It didn’t take him long to figure out how to follow, the loud bang abruptly being the memory to an end.

“Why…” Bobby cried, her tears falling freely as her emotions swirled like a hurricane in a mix of anger and grief. “Why did you have to endure that kind of…”

Cale shook his head, floating like an angel as he hugged the bear, trying to console her through her tears and for Bobby, that was more than she deserved from him. A boy, who suffered so much in life, only to be let down and suffer just as much pain in death, yet still he was kind enough to worry about her. He was blinding for her, a dazzling kindness that she could only dream of, yet she called herself the emotional support for the Smiling Critters.

“I don’t deserve this Cale. You should save this kindness for someone-”

“Someone like you doctor,” he interrupted, smiling at her.

“But I’m a monster, a pathetic excuse for a friend who was too weak and pathetic to help them before, too naive to betray her patron…” she cried harder, looking to the ground defeated. “...Too arrogant, to believe I could heal anything, especially the pain I caused my friends…”

“Nu-uh, the doctor has great friends! Even now.”

Confused, Bobby looked to the boy as she followed his hand to see things through the eye of her blackened medal. The tenacity of Crafty as she held strong to protect them from the monstrous flower child. Bubba’s unwavering resolve in tackling a dangerous plaything by himself as efficiently as possible. Catnap’s rage, not at Bobby, but at the man who did this, all of this. The person who felt betrayed by her, wasn’t just fighting to defeat the man, but to save her, save all of them. The sight of them coming together was so warm for the bear, cracks of warm light forming in the pitch black space.

“I see…” she quietly muttered, a small smile finally creeping onto her face, before she dried her tears. “I see, then it’s about time I stopped crying and grow up a little myself. I should go out with a bang at least, after all, it’s the last time I get to help my friends!”

“Then can I help too, doctor? You’ll be saving mommy and the others, so as her son, I should help too!” Smiling tenderly at Cale, Bobby gently caressed his cheek as the cracks in the space became more plentiful, even appearing on her.

“Of course you can!”

-----------------------------------

In the playground, things weren’t nearly as warm or nice for the critters. Catnap hasn’t lost any ground, but he was certainly not gaining any against Andy who was displaying and releasing a corruptive magic almost as potent as his own, despite being seemingly fine and even better for combat than he should. The frustration of it was making it hard to keep his own corruption under control, already staining parts of the playground which given how unchecked it was being left, made the situation much worse. Bubba was struggling enough as is to land anything significant or decisive, but as more corruption stained, the more viscous the plaything became, and almost relentless assault on the pachyderm to an unholy degree.

“This is getting ridiculous!” Bubba shouted, jumping out of the way of a storm of vines spearing through where his shield had been, quickly rolling and flipping up over a pair attempting to skewer him, barely having the time to put up a sturdy enough shield to block another stab at him. Although he stopped the initial attack, the force behind it wasn’t deflected so easily, sending him barreling into the wall of flesh and hedge, the impact almost like concrete despite that fact.

“Bubba!” Crafty shouted, distracted by that single moment, that proved to be a fatal error by the time she realized it. The moment her concentration broke, the focus from her painted flame waned just enough for the amalgam child to break through and swat her against the wall, cancelling the paint out in a splash. Unlike most of the boys and Hoppy, she wasn’t built for or accustomed to physical damage, so the shock it put on her body was far greater, making her react slower as she looked up to see the large amalgam flower child towering above her with a raised fist.

“CRAFTY!” Catnap shouted, immediately turning to rush to her aid, only to be blocked off, defending against a slash from Andy.

The equine herself was too stunned to process, only the blaring wind of the fist coming to slam down on her being the last thing in her vision before closing her eyes to accept the outcome. Just before she felt the presence of the attack above her, a burst of magic power stunned the surroundings into stillness for a single second, that moment being enough for Crafty to feel the displacement of her position and hear the impact of the amalgam’s fist hitting the ground. Looking up to see, tears began to form as she saw a transformed Bobby giving her a shoulder with a gentle smile, despite her soul gem a storm of grief and black.

“Bobby…”

“Mmm, I’m back Crafty,” she responded gently, her magic flowing warmly through the unicorn, before letting her rest on her knees. “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry to you all and I wish I could repay every bit of joy you all gave me, but I’ll have to make this our last fight together.

Crafty looked confused, before the bear stood and turned to face the amalgam child. It reeled back its fist to pummel the bear, but just before it could connect, it suddenly stopped cold, trembling as if it was being held in place. It was stunning to the unicorn, but upon closer inspection, she could see Bobby holding the punch back with one hand, before tenderly unclenching it’s fist and tenderly nuzzling a finger.

“It’s okay now you all. You don’t have to suffer anymore pain.”

With that statement, the fragments that decorated it sank into the flower child, twitching and jerking before detonating in a cascade of petals as Bobby tenderly held the collection of fragments in both hands. The sight of it shocked all around into stunned silence, before a now angered howl came from the plaything, its sights now dedicated solely on Bobby who didn’t even give it the time of day. She merely blew a bright red mist over the fragments, watching joyfully as they all began to shine brightly before fading away like ashes into the wind.

“Don’t worry, I plan on saving you too,” The bear stated unbothered, the cracking of her soul gem deeping, but the color now a solid black as a strange black liquid began to leak out of it from her nurse cap and over her face. It trailed down, dying the once white parts of her magical form a deep black with crimson embroidery growing into many roses blooming along thorny stems as a contrast. What struck out the most was the unfamiliar golden ribbon that tied itself to her nurse cap and fluttered freely under her belt, a golden medical cross shining dimly on her back. 

Upon the golden ribbon being noticed, the plaything shifted, now changing from simply anger to a now righteous fury at the bear. It was a tantrum in nature to a degree, grabbing its head and slamming the ground as it howled and screamed, shaking the playground they stood in with its behavior, before a simple snap of Bobby’s fingers silenced the rumbling, much to the plaything’s further ire. Slowly waving her hand broadly, a wave of magic, both familiar and corrupted, washed over everyone as fissures and cracks immediately opened across the playground. There were nothing but blank spaces from them, but what grew out were the very flower that was Bobby’s calling scent, roses. Bubba looked at her completely stupefied as he was familiar with the concept of controlling a playground from his own history, but not to this degree. It wasn’t like him who hijacked control of a playground, no. Bobby was in control of the playground, as if she were the plaything who ruled it and she was making it known.

“It hurts being alone, believe me I know,” Bobby started, pulling out a syringe from her pack, before the black corruption from her gem trailed down her arm to it. “But it’s okay now Bella. Cale and I, we’re here for you.”

As Bobby’s corruption took over the syringe, it exploded into a rapier, the tip as thin as a needle, while the main blade was simply a sharpened container of the syringe. The guard and handle merely rose stems curved to the pommel, where a single black rose bloomed. Even the excess corruption that fell off Bobby to the ground of the playground was different, as it slowly faded on contact, blooming small patches of flower and cleansing the area around it, despite the black color. Seeing this, Andy’s eyes trembled with a silent rage, yet the shaking in his arms held an unspoken fear.

“What…what is this?” he muttered, watching Bobby, his focus on the bear he wrote off as nothing more than a mere variable nuisance in his experiment, but seeing her now, was something far more important. The twitch of his finger on his untainted hand was the only warning before he rushed at her almost instantly, closing the distance in only a moment. “ You’re what I’ve been looking for! ”

Surprised, Bobby staggered back, unprepared to defend, but before his swing could even fully come at her, the loud thud of impact against Bubba’s signature hard light shield had him stagger from recoil, before the elephant took  that same shield to slam his gut and send him flying away, skidding along his face for a few seconds and recovering with an angered expression. Andy didn’t look all too affected by the impact and even attempted to go back for seconds, but merely moved forward a centimeter, before Catnap’s familiar dagger had him reeling back in fear of losing his head. Although he avoided the decapitation, the feline’s follow-up didn’t give him much option but to retreat some distance if he wanted to recover enough to retaliate, which proved a miscalculation. Before he could notice, a small green object dropped past his face, a thud and a few similar occurring around him before a chain of explosion obscured him in a cloud of flame and smoke.

“Grenades Crafty? Really?” bubba asked incredulously at the equine, who looked sheepish at the choice.

“It seemed appropriate?”

“Don’t feel too bad, it was,” Catnap added, landing with a large flip and skidding to just beside Bubba. “Besides, that won’t be enough to lay him out anyway.”

“That’s relieving to hear…”

Bobby’s comment was surprising to both Bubba and Crafty, but Catnap looked at her with a bored expression, receiving a gentle,  but sad smile in response. There was a conflict of emotions that was obvious in Bobby’s eyes, one that was so obvious that Crafty could probably paint an entire gallery from the amount. Bobby was about to reach out to Catnap, but an interruption courtesy of Belladonna’s howling took everyone’s attention, especially with a crazed looking Andy who was now bare chested, revealing the extent of his corruption taking over most of his body, leaving on the right sight of his face and right arm, huffing roughly.

“I’d appreciate it if you could leave him alive if you finish before me,” Bobby commented, her smile unwavering as she looked at the plaything, ignoring Andy’s existence. “I think…you understand better what I mean by that Catnap…”

“...” Catnap’s silence was deafening, but unlike what they expected, he merely stretched his arms upwards, before pocketing his hands, the shine of his dagger still gleaming despite the obscurity his hoodie pockets provided. “I take it the grief is heavy?”

“It’s…a learning experience ... .but I can handle it at least until they’ve had their fill. I just need to honor one brave boy’s wish first.”

With a hum of acknowledgement, the feline flicked his tail at Bubba, signalling him to pair up with him, to which the elephant nodded. Andy had just recovered enough to launch at them, being greeted with a fierce corrupted punch from Catnap’s fist and Bubba’s hard light shielded one, sending him flying practically into an entirely different area if the large hole through the theater was any indicator.

“Wrap up your side quick, you know I’m not kind enough to strangers, nor is my patience large enough to hold myself back,” Catnap returned, jumping off with a black after image behind for but a moment.

“I’ll see if I can buy you any time,” Bubba nervously added, quickly following with a leap, the hole being sealed off by rapidly forming roses. With a single tear rolling down her cheek, Boby stood at the ready, before feeling Crafty at her back, in her own pose of the paintbrush as they looked at the plaything together. Taking their actions as a challenge, Belladonna swiftly sent out a fluffy of vines that both girls easily jumped out of the way of. Crafty quickly painted a sea of flames as if dancing through the air in dodges, burning away any continued assault of plants. Bobby’s approach was much gentler in comparison, running along the vines looking at ease and carefree, jumping from vine to vine, closing the distance to the plaything of the wounded mother. Even when the thorns along the vines grew to attack the bear, her swordplay with the rapier-like syringe more than made up for it as they were merely scraps of paper for her.

What she didn’t account for was the hand of Belladonna to grab at her, forcing Bobby to jump in retreat, but leaving her vulnerable to the other hand reaching for her. Despite a slight look of gentle surprise, the smile quickly returned to her face as she rotated in the air to use the painted platform above her as a foothold and shot to the ground, narrowly avoiding the grip. Twirling the corruption around her rapier, the bear stabbed the ground with enough force for a shockwave to go off, yet her form of holding herself up from her grip on the sword was nothing less than graceful. The point at which the sword was impaled, immediately being dyed a blood-like reddish black that was rapidly growing around Belladonna. Realizing the danger, the alraune plaything grabbed for the bear, growing frustrated as a volley of ice chunks hitting her face messed up her accuracy, slamming next to Bobby. Using the force of the impact, Bobby rode the shockwave as it blasted her away towards Crafty, landing gracefully as she curtsied as a few rapier syringe fells from under her skirt.

“Crafty.”

“On it!” the unicorn said with vigor, not even having to be told as she raised her paintbrush high, a stream of purple and black gathering overhead. 

With a final swipe, it popped as splotches decorated the field around Bobby, before a few cartoonish Catnap silhouettes arose, all giving unnerving smiles as they looked towards the plaything. Sweeping her foot under every rapier that was stuck in the ground, Bobby sent one out to every Catnap, each one catching responsively as she pointed her own rapier to Belladonna with that same smile that was left unchanging. Understanding the order without words, the small militia of Catnaps ran at the plaything at full force, like an army of rats. 

Seeing the danger, Belladonna attempted to retaliate, finding out far too late that her body was under the effects of Bobby’s corruption, the sword she’d left in the ground by her earlier long since staining the area. Before long, the cartoon Catnaps had climbed on  and impaled teh syringes into her, all over her body as if performing acupuncture, Belladonna howling out in pain, rather than anger. Once every sword was impaled, Bobby formed another in her hand, flipping it in her hand, before imapling it in the ground with a kneel, the rose pommel popping up, revealing it being the end of a plunger.

“Let me take on all your grief Bella, so just rest peacefully for now. ,” Bobby started, looking at her before closing her eyes. “Cale misses you…”

At those words, it was almost as if Belladonna understood, a single moment of hesitation being the only indication, before Bobby’s action of raising the rose plunger was followed similarly by the cartoon Catnaps. Howls turned to screams as the alraune’s pain was sent to the heavens as the ‘blades’ of the rapiers were slowly filling with a putrid black as she slowly dried out and withered. Thrashing and struggling were the only options it took, before the effects started taking their toll and its movements began to weaken. Like a flower before the winter, Belladonna fell forward, her impact nothing more than cotton connecting to steal as Bobby rose to her feet. Despite not having eyes, it was like she was looking right at the bear, or more specifically, the golden ribbons that adorned the bear, with a look that spelled regret. Seeing how it looked as though the plaything wanted to reach out and hold the ribbon, Bobby gracefully lowered her head to bop the ribbon of her cap with Belladonna like a kiss, before standing stall, raising the rapier high, giving her a kind smile with unshed tears. A single slash down the middle was all it took, for Belladonna to finally loss the fight and unlike other playthings, merely faded away solemnly as black and purple petals, leaving behind a cracked and barely held together jar of candies, reflecting the tears in Bobby’s eyes.

“I’m sorry, Bella…” Bobby softly whispered, hugging the jar. “Just a little bit longer, okay?...”

Once contact with the jar was established, Bobby felt a stabbing pain go throughout her body as she fell to her knees, clutching her chest as hard as she could without letting go of the jar or even putting force on it. Crafty immediately came to her aid, but the amount of corruption flowing off Bobby’s body made it hard to approach. Only when the bear calmed down enough and the corruption burned away into black plants did Crafty finally approach, only to see the flesh walls and original motif of the arena burn away as only vines and roses remained. Fear on her face, she tried to call out to Bobby, only for the words to get stuck in her throat as Bobby smiled at her gently, slowly shaking her head no as the tears proceeded to flow.

“It’s okay, it’s for the best. Besides, I can’t let myself go out without having their revenge.”

“But-!”

“Please, Crafty…I owe it to them,” Bobby said quietly, giving a small bow to the unicorn. “At least help me, until then…”

With a trembling heart, Crafty gave a kind nod, holding out her hoof to the bear, signalling for them to hold hands. Bobby’s gentle smile, couldn’t look more touched by the gesture, being sure to recede every drop of her corruption before taking it as they headed slowly to their friends. Walking hand-in-hoof with a close friend before her finale, was a small kindness that Bobby was happy to spend.

On the flip side, Catnap was demonic in his assault against Andy, switching up between endless slashes and vicious volleys of his revolver. There wasn’t even a thought to breathe for Andy, no matter how hard he tried to retaliate. Before, it had been somewhat an even fight, but the playing field was drastically against his favor. If things were at least even, he could hope to turn things around, but not only was Catnap seemingly getting even more dangerous, the support from the pachyderm with him was making it impossible. Any chance Andy could ‘try’ taking was swiftly met with a hard light geometric forming or an attack that would disrupt him in his tracks. Despite not being involved, that elephant could support the cat to a T and it was driving the doctor mad.

“Is this how you want your revenge, Catnap!?” Andy shouted, on the defensive from one of his heavy slashes. “Didn’t you want to return everything back to me 10-fold?! What about this is-”

Interrupting his attempt at manipulating the situation was the surprising kick to the gut, one that held enough force to feel it shatter a bone or 2, forcing the man to cough blood as he looked up with a criminal glare at the unbothered cat. To Catnap, the revenge level didn’t matter, who he got help from didn’t matter in the slightest. The cat wanted one thing and one thing alone and was single-mindedly putting everything he could into getting there. Just when the man was about to try another cheap word play, he staggered as he felt a sudden cut that had him overwhelmed as a realization quickly took over him. Andy didn’t get a chance to say a thing, before the cold face of Catnap was staring at him with a blank expression that had Andy trembling.

“Cut off from your fountain I see…” Catnap stated coolly, before a devilish smile crept on his face. “ How tragic~ ”

“W-wait a-!”

“I don’t think so~ ” Catnap sang, grabbing Andy by the neck, his grip tightening slowly and excruciatingly as he began lifting the man from the ground. Andy gripped the wrist that held him fearfully, kicking and fighting back as that burst of magic and power had waned almost instantly. Cut off from his source meant the man was nothing more than the weakling the cat remembered and that was a fatal position to be in with him.

“Wai..C-Catna…” Andy tried through choked breaths, his weak attempts to breathe for a chance to negotiate resulting in nothing but being slammed into the ground with enough force that the impact left a crater. It was the exact same strength Catnap had used when he was first discovered, but unlike before, the choked howls of pain from Andy were practically a symphony for the feline.

“ Ah, that’s much better Andy. This is much more what I was expecting from you, ” Catnap teased, the smile on his face growing more loose and more maniacal the more pain he could see Andy in, but it wasn’t nearly enough. 

Easing his grip just enough for Andy to get small wisps of air, the cat’s signature smiling critter's smile clicked as a small amount of pale red gas leaked over Andy with puffs as the man tried to avoid it with all his might. Unfortunately, when a pissed, monstrously strong and modified toy cat has you practically starving for air, your body doesn’t give you much in the way of options when you’re suffocating. The pleading look on Andy’s face was comedic to the feline, the man realizing exactly what the cat was doing as he started hearing a chorus of voices as he looked up to the cat.

“You’re a disgrace!”

“How could you do this to a child!?”

“I’ll kill you! I’ll fucking kill you!”

One by one, voices from his past began to haunt him in his head, voices long since passed and forgotten, but unlike how indifferent he’d felt thinking about them before, these were much more influential. Getting plenty of his magic of ‘manipulation,’ paired with the hallucinogenic properties of Catnap’s gas were torture, his once cold and apathetic feelings towards the memories, now had him wrought with fear and guilt. They weren’t real, he knew they weren’t real, but the more the gas filled his vision, the harder it was to resist, especially the voice he never thought he’d hear again.

“Why did you leave me to die, Andy?”

“Ann? “Andy choked out, the fight in him snuffed out the minute he started hearing that voice.

“Tell me Andy, why didn’t you help me? ”

“A-Ann I-”

“Why didn’t you come with me when I asked for help? Why didn’t you protect me like you promised?”

“I wanted to- I swear I wanted to protect you, but-”

“ Because you’re too weak, you had to let your only sister fight and die on her own . ”

The finality of her tone was like an arrow through the chest for him, even if Andty knew it wasn’t real. It was a watered down effect of his magic playing tricks on him, yet the words she was saying, the way she was blaming him, they weren’t something he could write off. It’s simple, because he couldn’t deny something that was an indiscriminate fact. He was weak, he had always been weak in comparison to Ann. Whether here or their first life as toys, he was always like her shadow, trailing behind her, never getting a chance to shine on his own, but he never cared. His big sister was his world, his everything, the only thing that mattered to him. As long as she was okay, as long as she was happy, he didn’t mind being weak.

They were promised their wishes would be fulfilled in Protocol, that they’d have a chance at their happiness as long as they followed the organization’s doctrines and did what they could to aid ‘ his ’ return. Sure, Ann got her hands dirty and sure, Andy had sacrificed plenty in the name of his research for bringing him back at his strongest, but no one was innocent, so why? Why did they have to suffer like this, why did fate punish them as if they were the worst. Andy didn’t know, but quite honestly, he didn’t care anymore either. All he wanted now was for things to end, for him to have  a chance to join his sister again.

“Kill me,” Andy muttered softly, his eyes already devoid of life. “Kill me already, so I can be with my sister again.”

“ As much as I’d love to rip you to shreds right now, introduce you to a hell that’d make even the devil shiver in anticipation ,” Catnap started, the corruption from his body receding back as his expression blanked out, before standing up and pocketing his hands as he stood aside. “I promised a timely worrywart her piece if she was fast enough.”

Following his line of sight, Andy looked to see Bobby coming hand-in-hoof with Crafty, the look of worry on the equine’s face prevalent despite the calm smile on the bear’s face. Despite her looks, Bubba could clearly see the effects of things taking their toll in droves against Bobby, something he didn’t like at all, but the shaking of Crafty’s head told him that it wasn’t a point he could make. It was obvious she was long past her limit, but she was pushing on with a smile, because that was just who Bobby was, someone who’ll bleed their heart out for everyone else’s emotions, even if she can’t protect her own. Catnap gave her a look that neither critter could quite pin, but right now, they had better things to worry about.

“Thank you for leaving him alive Catnap, I appreciate it.”

“I didn’t do it for you bearhug, merely giving those brats and bitches housed in you a chance to vent.”

“I’m sure they appreciate it too, even if they can’t say it.”

Bobby gave Catnap a look of appreciation, something he merely tilted his down at as she closed the distance to Andy..Their exchange did more than raise a few red flags in Bubba’s mind, but the groaning from Andy cut those thoughts short. 

“So the bear wants the final hit against me, huh?” Andy groaned, too weak to mount much of an argument or defense. Thanks to Catnap, he was physically impaired, mentally exhausted, and far too outmatched to even dream of retaliation. “Whatever, I don’t care who at this point. As long as I die, I’ll be reset and there’s a chance I’ll see my sister agai-”

Cutting him off was the impalement of one of the many filled syringe rapiers that Bobby swiftly impaled into his mouth, stabbing into the back of his throat. He couldn’t even gargle, before a flurry of them impaled him more, 2 sets that covered his body below his neck in a bed of syringes. Bobby’s face, once giving off nothing but kindness and gentle nature, had fallen into a bored expression that looked straight out of Catnap’s book. In fact, even the air of her magic was following more along the corrupted lines of the feline as well to a degree that spoke volumes of a level of rage and grief, it was impossible to say it was all hers.

“Wh-whargh?(What?)” Andy gurgled, looking at her, seeing the raised plungers of the liquid in the rapiers with a panicked expression.

“Surely you didn’t think you could simply run away that simply?” Bobby asked rhetorically as she looked down at him as if he was a roach, the corruption of her magic flaring more. It was enough that even the rapier syringes themselves were vibrating in rage despite being impaled into him, as if they could see him and knew to be mad at him. “Your crimes are as plentiful as the stars, as vast as the sky we live under, but I’m no saint, nor do I have a right to punish you further for what you really did to me. However, these guys are a different story. ”

Spreading her corruption out, letting it drip plentifully as Crafty and Bubba took steps back, they watched in wonder as the grass that grew all took on the forms of various people made of bushes and flowers, some kids, some adults, all looking at Andy with some kind of anger. That anger she was exuding, it truly wasn’t just her own and the corruption of her magic, it was simply a by-product of that. Corruption, magic they had once thought was Catnap’s magic, was a side-effect of taking on the rage, the grief, the negative emotions and regrets of those in this afterlife. This revelation had Bubba shivering internally, his mind going a million miles a minute, thinking about what all this means for Catnap, about Catnap, because this was really something he could avoid explaining now. Although, his thoughts got stopped at those flower people entering the syringes that impaled Andy, the agitation of their insertion making him grumble in pain before they stilled.

“These guys are victims who have had their afterlife, their second chance at peace, ruined by you. You took advantage of them, kidnapped and abused them, twisted them and manipulated them and for what? All for your own personal chance of granting your wish?” This wasn’t the kind Bobby the critters were used to, because the Bobby Bearhug they knew, the one from playcare, was someone who’d give plenty of ‘second chances,’ who’d look for even the smallest bit of goodness is someone’s actions to help redeem them. She believed everyone could change, that everyone was a good person deep down, but now? With Andy as the subject, she had no kindness, no mercy to give. “That isn’t fair, but it’s fine now though. Because they want to come with you.”

Hearing her statement, the panic on Andy’s face grew, turning into full-blown fear, trying fruitlessly to shake his head no at her implication. He watched helplessly as the plungers began their slow descent, the liquid in them barely even an ounce in his body, yet the weight of it crushing him under the gravity of a thousand suns, the piercing of a million needles dancing through his body, the chill of temperatures so cold, even lava would freeze over. Not like this, he couldn’t go out like them with this much grief otherwise he was beyond saving.

“It’s no use you know, trying to escape this fate,” Bobby said solemnly as she looked at him apathetically as his eyes practically bulged out of his head as the corruption, slow and like a virus, began to creep and overtake his body. “This is your punishment, their feelings of retribution against you. Savor every last drop of their anguish. ”

The process was slow, excruciatingly slow, an agonizing pace that had Andy feeling like he had died 100x over in a matter of seconds, yet still wishing for death. This is what he wanted, this isn’t how things were supposed to end. Even as he felt himself slipping, the pull of his soul was something far worse, something far more terrifying than what he’d been imagining. He didn’t know what it was, but he knew instinctively that if he let himself be dragged down into that sea of grief, there would be no second chances. Struggling in his mind, in his spirit, in everything he could, he swam away from that black void, only to panic as a hand took hold of him by his ankle. Soon another gripped him and pulled, then another, until he was yanked back and a mass of hands clung to him, gripping him for dear life as they pulled him under. Andy reached out, hoping, praying for anyone to help him as a single tear escaped his eye as the last thing he could remember was the gentle smile of his sister’s face for the last time.

In the playground, Andy’s body was a pure black in corruption as the syringes emptied themselves and disappeared with shatters, Bobby looking gently at the jar in her hands, before finally feeling the strength leave her body. Bubba attempted to grab her, but before either him or Crafty could react, Catnap had already pulled Bobby away from them and held her gently as he crouched to the ground. The corruption was finally spreading over Bobby, the black slowly creeping her like it had Andy, although it was noticeably weaker, it was significantly faster, especially as the playground began to crack.

“Bobby!”

“It’s fine, Crafty. I was bound for this sooner or later, right?”

“Maybe Catnap can-”

“Don’t even bother wishing for a miracle Bubba…” Catnap muttered, at least looking somewhat conflicted by her condition as he cut off the elephant. “I’m not a god, this is a fundamental that can’t be changed about those of us who fall.”

“But you survived! You’re corrupted right now and-”

“My circumstances are a lot different compared to Bobby. The fact she held on this long, already shows she is stronger than I could ever be.”

Hearing that from the feline was like a punch to the gut to Crafty and Bubba. They both knew the chances were slim, that after the quick summary he gave them that there was a chance Bobby was beyond salvation, but they still clung to that chance. That small, microscopic hope that they weren’t too late to save their friend before she destroyed herself. Now that they were here to witness it first hand, it more than hurt, yet Bobby merely giggled weakly, resting her hand on Crafty’s hoof with a smile.

“It’s alright, you know. This kindness is more than I deserve after the way I acted.”

“No it isn't! You deserve the world in kindness, Bobby! Everyone makes mistakes, but you could learn from them, you just….just….”

Crafty couldn’t even finish her sentence as the tears began to fall with the pieces of the playground. Soon all the memories of the times she spent with Bobby, both in the playcare and in death, were playing like an album. The good times,the bad times, the fun times, and the hard times; all of them like a tease in telling the unicorn those were all that she’d have left to remember who Bobby was. It wasn’t fair, it was downright cruel that things could end up this way and there was nothing she could do to prevent it.

“Thanks Bubba, for all you did for us, all the stuff you taught me-”

“Don’t thank me for something as simple as that…” Bubba muttered, holding back tears as he tightened his muscles as if clenching a fist. “In fact, don’t thank me at all as if you’re leaving and we’ll never see you again. Fight back against this outcome, prove that feelings can overcome anything like you always say!”

“Never thought I’d hear you asking for the impossible in my final moments. What a treat…”

Bubba didn’t have a retort to that, because even though he didn't believe what he was saying, he didn’t care all that much. Right now, he was grasping at straws, clinging to some shred of hope that she could survive this. Even if he had to forsake logic, to forget every bit of knowledge and relearn everything from scratch just to accept that impossibility, he’d do it every time. He loved to learn, so if he had to learn everything all over again for a friend, he’d do it without hesitation.

“And Catnap…I’m so-”

“Shut up,” Catnap cut her off, not even giving her a chance to be entertained. “Shut the fuck up Bobby. Don’t you dare apologize to me.”

The initial reaction to his words felt harsh, but looking up at the cat told a different story, one Bobby always believed as she smiled and gently caressed his cheek, wiping the tears that fell. The subtle trembles of his body, the way his normally swaying tail was limp and weakly sweeping the ground. Catnap was hurting so much more than he was letting on behind this. While she didn’t get why, Bobby was happy, not because he was upset, but because even after what she did, he still shed tears for her.

“Don’t you fucking dare apologize to me! Not to a monster like me!” Catnap cried, the trembling on his body getting worse as he held her closer, biting his lip. “I’m sorry…I’m sorry!...I’m sorry! It’s all my fault goddammit! If I- If I just gave you a chance, just a goddamn minute to hear you out!...”

“It’s alright Catnap.”

“NO IT’S NOT! THIS WAS YOUR CHANCE AT HAPPINESS! AFTER ALL I DID TO RUIN YOUR FIRST LIFE, YOU FINALLY HAD A CHANCE TO BE HAPPY AND I-!”

Catnap couldn’t even finish his thought as the touch of Bobby’s forehead to his, the way even in the end she was releasing as much of her pure magic she had left to calm him down, to heal the pain they were feeling. He knew he didn’t deserve it, that she was too nice to him, even after everything. The least he could do was honor her last wish, right? Holding back his tears, he gently laid her on the ground, his dagger materializing in his hand.

“Catnap!?”

“What are you doing!?” Bubba yelled, trying to grab his hand, but stopping as he noticed his expression and Bobby’s happy smile.

“It’s what…it’s what she wants…” Catnap quietly stated as he held the dagger with trembling hands. Weakly raising his dagger above his head, he gave, possibly the gentlest and kindest smile he could muster as tears cloud his vision. “Goodbye Bobby, we’ll miss you…”

“Thank you, Catnap. Thank you so, so much…”Bobby responded, closing her eyes as her transformation broke, before the corruption completely overtook her body, her soul gem over her medal, pitch black and cracking. Catnap knew she wanted to go out before the corruption took her fully, something she knew Catnap could do easier than the others, because she’d rather die before becoming a problem to anyone else. He didn’t have any right to deny her dying wish, that he had no right to be this hurt being asked to do this since he was the best option, but it still hurt. Coming to terms with it for one moment, he swiftly brought the dagger down to her soul gem, only to freeze just on the surface as he noticed the unfamiliar gold ribbon that appeared when she transformed still on her body.

“Wh-what the…”(CN)

“H-Huh?”(Cr)

“What in blazes…”(Bu)

The gold ribbon grew, wrapping itself around the jar of Belladonna and Bobby’s soul gem, before the subtle shimmer became a full blown bright light, blinding them all. Through narrow eyes, Catnap witnessed as the golden light forced Bobby’s transformation, slowly eating away the corruption and changes that occurred for her. The black of her outfit returned a pure white, the tattoo-like embroidery falling away, but the biggest change was the purifying of her soul gem to its former pure red, the mending of crack renewing the gem to its former glory. This wasn’t just a miracle, this was an impossible outcome that shouldn’t be happening, yet here they were witnessing it. Once Bobby was restored, the ribbon tied itself around the jar with a tender bow, it cracking as the candies inside, falling away like gas through the crack, before gently landing on the bear. The impact, while soft, was enough to stir Bobby as she opened her eyes with a groan, looking up to see the tear-ridden faces of the 3 critters.

“Oh…what a nice ending…I get to wake up in a post-ending dream I guess.”

“B-bobby?” Catnap asked, his voice trembling, Crafty covering her mouth weakly, and Bubba looking with his eyes nearly popping out of his head.

“This Catnap seems a little nicer than mine though, after all…what kind of Catnap would cry for-” Bobby started, stopping as she felt a tear fall on her cheek. The shock immediately took over her face as she slowly touched the wet fur, her heart dropping as she realized things. She didn’t know if she could say it, if what she wanted would jinx the truth she was undoubtedly experiencing as tears formed in her eyes. “Is…is this real? Are you really-?”

Catnap didn’t even let her finish, pulling her into a tight hug and burying his face in the crook of her neck, crying quietly as he clung to her. Bobby felt a new level of emotional intensity as she felt him hold her, his tears he was shedding for her, before returning it with a weak cling back, still not believing it. She was alive, she was still here after everything. As if to further confirm her suspicions, Crafty tackled in with a hug of her own, her loud sobs filled with laughter. Even the less emotional Bubba could help but join in, unable to hold back his own happy tears at this outcome. If she wasn’t sure before, Bobby was more than sure now, finally unable to hold back the dam of emotional tears, crying loudly at accepting that she was still alive. She didn’t know how, nor did she understand why, but she was still here with a second chance and she wasn’t letting it go to waste. 

The cleanup of things was a bit rough, considering it was necessary for it to be known who Andy turned out to be and what happened to those who were his patients, although the detail about him being from Protocol was conveniently left unsaid. Despite him being from Protocol originally, since he was supposedly a runaway, putting the blame on the organization here might prove more problematic and fruitless than cautionary, but it was of no consequence. Thanks to seeing how effective her magic was, Bobby was established as the new main back-alley doctor for the slums, or more accurately, she was the newly established person people would come to for healing, almost like a saint. Honestly, the fact this happened all in the morning after was too much, yet Bobby kept going forward with it, because she didn’t find herself hating the title at least.

“I wish you could see Cale,” Bobby said, crouched in front of a simple grave where the shack used to be. Although she didn't have bodies or really anything to qualify as mementos for the victims, she still had the names and some of the memories of their feelings, so she at least wanted to leave a monument for those who would probably be forgotten, but Cale and Bella deserved a little something different, especially since they did leave things behind. “You know that shop owner who used to give you some of the leftover produce, he was sad hearing about what happened to you. He said he’ll miss seeing that ‘brave little pair of kids doing what they could for their mother,’ so…”

It wasn’t much, but while the other victims got a modest monument with their names of it, i.e a large and somewhat nice stone that had the names magically carved into it, she buried the jar of Belladonna that was tied off by a golden ribbon, realizing fairly quickly who was the reason for her survival. Once Bobby was satisfied by her visit, she laid a single rose on the grave, before standing up and dusting herself off.

“Well, hope that the abandoned parking building is still empty.”

“Yeah, no,” a voice cut in, startling the bear as she turned around to see Catnap, standing bored with his hands in his pocket with Dogday close behind. “Why are you thinking about that building when the hotel is way more comfier and safer?”

“Huh?! O-oh, I…I thought-”

“I know what I said Bobby, but…that was before the circumstances came to light and….and…”

“Come on!” Dogday egged on, elbowing the cat with a cheeky grin. “Go ahead and say it pussycat.”

“I’m getting to that muttface, why the hell are you even here!?” Catnap hissed, looking ready to rip off the arm that touched him.

“Because~” Dogday sang, getting in the cat’s face, looking unimpressed or afraid. “Some kitties are terrible at saying how they actually feel and being the kind leader I am, came as a means to motivate you to grow a pair and spit it out.”

“I don’t need your fucking support!”

“Really? Because you sure seemed SO motivated asking Crafty how to approach the subject and asking Bubba what to say, maybe how you asked Picky about-”

Wrapping his tail around the motor mutt’s mouth, the feline facepalmed in embarrassment as he practically aired out every outlet Catnap used to try and approach the subject. It was confusing to Bobby as she wasn’t sure what she was hearing, at least, not correctly. Before she could ask for clarification, Catnap walked up to her, the blush lightly showing on his face as he avoided looking at her.

“L-listen okay, I’m only saying this once,” the feline started, the shy expression on his face unfamiliar to both the dog and bear. “I…We…”

“Catnap?”

“Goddammit, the hotel is your home bearhug, okay!?” Catnap shouted, turning his back to her as his tail shyly coiled around himself. “You already have a good home with everyone, so don’t bother them by trying to find another…”

“...Wow, you suck at this.”

“Shut the ice cream fuck up and go find some ass to sniff!”

“You wanna make me fish breath!?” Despite the battle of insults by the sun and moon, the living red power crusher felt a wave of emotion rush through her body and before she knew it, she hugged Catnap from behind, unsure if she heard properly. “This is why you need to tell her properly, asshole, so quit beating around the silver vine.”

“Fuck you!”

“Not my type, so no thanks.”

“I swear-!” Catnap started, before taking a deep breath, looking up to the air. Since she was hugging him from behind, Catnap used that as an excuse to not bother looking at her, so he mustered every bit of courage to say this to her. “Bobby, I know I said to never come back, but…I was wrong. I want you to come back, okay? We want you to come back. Bobbi just isn’t the same without her ‘big sis,’  to share hugging techniques with.”

“Yes,” Bobby responded, breaking the hug with a bright smile. “I’d be happy to come back and live with everyone.”

“Then let’s go, because I had to tie Hoppy to the stove just to ensure she didn’t try this before I did and I know Picky is tired of choking her out.”

With that, Catnap, Dogday, and Bobby all started making their way back to the hotel, but not before a subtle wind blew by the bear with a gentle whisper. Turning around, Bobby could see the golden outlines of a familiar young boy and an older woman holding her hand, their faces obscured by the gleam of the sun, but not enough to hide that bright smile and bright shining hair. Rubbing her eyes for a moment, she looked again to see nothing there, yet strangely enough, the rose she had left was instead standing from the ground carefully.

“Bobby, is everything okay?” Dogday asked, both him and Catnap stopped in their tracks waiting for her.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” she quickly said, hurrying to catch up to them, now walking with them as they walked back home, back to their home. “Everything will be fine now, I just know it~”