Life of a Little Red Porcupine Ch. 2

By Flaky Ciel

(Notes: I hope I'm doing well on the story. I really appreciate the input too, thanks guys!)

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Flaky rubbed her eyes awake, having slept well for the first time since she could ever remember. She yawned and sat up, wincing at the pain still in her legs, which were still cut pretty badly. She laid back down before she realized Flippy was gone. "F-F-Flippy!?" She cried, panicking a little. The door instantly opened, revealing a slightly startled Flippy. He nudged it open with his elbow since he was carrying a tray in his hands.

"Don't worry, I'm here. I was about to wake you up for breakfast, but you beat me to it." Flippy said. Flaky let out her usual nervous laugh, a little embarrassed from freaking out like that. Flippy chuckled a little in response. He set the tray down in front of her, which was carrying a big plate of pancakes and a glass of orange juice.

"Awww… Thanks, Flippy…" Flaky said. "B-but, you didn't have to get me breakfast like this…"

"What? It's not like you can walk to the kitchen." Flippy joked. "Besides, I don't mind at all. I hardly ever have company like this." Flaky nodded shyly and started picking at her food. "Don't worry about anything, Flaky. Just relax and rest up. Okay?" She nodded again, and Flippy left do work elsewhere around his house. She kept eating happily, seeing as how that was the first meal other than hospital food she'd had in a few days.

When she finished she set the tray aside and snuggled back into bed. Despite her physical condition she was actually pretty comfortable. Normally she would have had to take care of herself, injuries or not. She really liked Flippy, and appreciated him for what he was doing for her. He was just such a sweet guy. Flippy himself loved taking care of someone too. He spent so much of his time hurting others, willfully or not, that it felt great doing something nice for someone like that. Especially someone as sweet as Flaky.

A few more days passed, and Flaky's legs and other injuries healed up pretty nicely. The curse over Happy Tree Forest accelerated healing too. It set up more opportunities to get hurt later, Flaky guessed. Regardless, Flaky was all healed up, which they discovered when Flippy was changing her bandages. "Do your legs still hurt?" He asked.

"Nu-uh. I think I'm all okay now…" Flaky answered. They both sat there, silent for a few moments before Flaky continued, "Well… I-I guess it's time for me to go home now…"

"Oh, you don't have to. You can stay here as long as you want to." Flippy responded, quickly.

Flaky shook her head, "No, that's okay. I'll get out of your hair now." She smiled.

"Well, just remember that if you want to stay it's really no trouble…" He said. He hadn't "flipped out" in days, and was enjoying the company. But Flaky insisted. She walked up and gave him a big hug.

"Thanks for taking care of me…" Flaky said. Flippy blushed a bit and hugged her back.

"Of course. Just take care of yourself." He told her. She smiled and nodded, and then waved goodbye before setting off towards her home.

She opened up her door cautiously, finding her house practically untouched. She sighed in relief. Shifty and Lifty hadn't been there. She started cleaning up her bed, being in a much better mood. Yet she still missed Flippy's company already. She started vacuuming up all of the large flakes of dandruff and threw some new sheets on, putting the ones full of holes in the trash. She needed a new mattress soon too, she thought. She put her bear on her bed, and let out a small sigh.

Suddenly she got a knock at her door, and she cracked it open and peeked out. "Hi, Flaky!" Cuddles said, recovered completely as well.

"Oh, hi C-Cuddles." She returned, opening the door all the way. Cuddles had a snowboard in his hands and another on his back.

"I'm glad to see you're all better!" He said, loudly but cheerfully. He shoved a snowboard into Flaky's hands. "We're going up to the mountain for some snow-boarding today!"

She looked around, nervously, memories of her last ski trip flooding back. "I-I dunno…" She stammered. "I just g-got out of the hospital and-"

"C'mon, Flaky!" Cuddles half-begged. "You're not gonna have any fun inside by yourself."

"W-well…" She started, but Cuddles grabbed her hand and started running off with her in tow.

"Great!" He exclaimed.

After getting her gear, Flaky looked around, nervously. Practically everyone was up on the snowy mountain that day. Flaky's sense of confidence and security she got from her stay with Flippy was already practically gone. "Cuddles… I'm not so sure…" She said.

"Flaky, you can't be so scared all the time. Around here bad things are gonna happen, so you might as well have fun in between, right?" He said, optimistically. Flaky only looked down and moved the snow around with her boot. "C'mon, let's get over to the lift area. Everyone's already over there." He added before running off, expecting Flaky to follow him.

"Well…" She started, before seeing a board with a nail in it. She instantly jumped backwards, remembering how she slid down hill and tore up both her feet on a similar plank last time. "Wait for me!" She yelled, scampering up to Cuddle's side.

The two friends got up to the lift area safely, Cuddles deciding to socialize before actually starting. Flaky breathed a sigh of relief and sat on a log to wait for the inevitable trip up the slope. She slid backwards a bit and wobbled before tumbling onto her back, ungracefully. She opened her eyes lying down in the snow to find the face of a green bear staring back down at her. "Hey, Flaky!" Flippy said, happily. "I didn't expect to see you up here."

"W-well, Cuddles convinced me to c-come up here with him…" She admitted, blushing, as Flippy helped her to her feet. He smiled and helped her brush the snow off.

"Just be careful out there. I don't want you getting hurt again or anything." He said. They both laughed a little awkwardly. "Well, see you at the top!" Flippy said, hesitantly walking backwards up the hill and catching a lift up. Flaky kept watching him for a few moments before blushing and looking away.

"Okay, ready to go up, Flaky?" Cuddles asked, his craving for attention sated. She nodded hesitantly before he shoved her up to the lift, which they rode all the way up to the top. She looked down to the ground below the moving chair before shrieking and clinging to Cuddles with a death grip.

"Okay, I'm ready to go back home now!" She yelled. Cuddles gently shoved her off of him.

"Relax!" He told her. She continued to shake, scared, until they finally hit the top. It wasn't as high as the last mountain she was on, but it was still scary for her. Cuddles strapped on his board and said, "Race to the bottom!" Before sliding off. Flaky wasn't really into the competition though, and just stared down the slope and clinging to her board.

"Ohhh…" She whined, scared. She thought about boarding down, but changed her mind at the last second. She turned around to find a different way down, and was about to ask Lumpy who had just arrived behind her for help, but he suddenly turned sharply and smacked her with his snowboard. She tumbled backwards, landing belly-down on her snowboard and sliding downhill fast. She screamed as she started gaining speed, miraculously avoiding every tree in her way.

She clung to her board for dear life and shrieked horribly when she suddenly caught air, flying off of a snowbank. She closed her eyes and clenched her teeth, ready for an eminent impact. But she landed safely and after a few moments she opened one eye and breathed a sigh of relief. It didn't last long though when she hit a rock and her board stopped flat, sending her flying off by herself. She screamed and collided with a tree, stopping her immediately. She groaned in agony when she peeled off the trunk and flopped onto the ground, stumbling to her feet. But Flaky's dizziness made her trip and fall, rolling downhill further.

Her world started blurring as she fell off the recommended path and onto a steep, rock-littered incline. She bounced off the jagged surfaces, leaving a trail of blood in her wake before she finally crashed into another tree and rolled to a stop, with her back against a stump. Her eyes kept spinning in her head, which had a moderate crack in it from the concussion, as well as several other broken bones and bruises. She started crying, starting to become delirious from pain, cold, and head trauma. She knew she just should have stayed home. She had just recovered from her last injury, so she was beating herself up for letting Cuddles drag her up the mountain again.

She could hardly move so she just buried her face in her hands, trying to stay conscious. "Are you okay..?" Called a voice from in front of her. She looked up and in her blurring vision she saw the image of none other than her mother.

"M-mommy…?" She asked, her eyes swelling with tears. The blurry image of her mother got closer and looked to her left, and then back down.

"Yes, sweetie, it's me…" She said, kneeling next to her daughter and hugging her.

"I missed you so much, Mommy…" Flaky cried.

"I missed you too, Flaky." Her mom replied. Flaky ignored her aching body and continued to embrace her mom. But, suddenly something clicked.

"F-Flaky..?" She asked, stunned. Her mom never knew about her new name… She was still Ruby…

"Yes… You look delirious sweetie. Where do you keep your wallet?" Her mom asked. Flaky looked up at her "mother's" face. She rubbed her eyes, trying to shrug off the effects of her split head. When she looked back up she saw the green haze of a certain fedora-wearing raccoon. "Sweetie?" Shifty asked, his voice suddenly clear that it was just a poor imitation.

Flaky only started crying when she realized she was hallucinating. Shifty shrugged at Lifty, and the two started sifting through her belongings and patting her down for valuables. She started crying louder from her injuries which they were only making worse by touching. "Stop!" She cried. Seconds later the two raccoons held up their bloodied hands, which were holding Flaky's wallet and keys and laughed idly to themselves. They turned around and were prepared to leave the crying and injured porcupine behind, but suddenly they were face-to-face with a pair of manic green eyes attached to a bear that was even crazier-looking.

Shifty only got one scream out before Flippy had twisted his head a complete turn, snapping his neck several times over. The veteran let out an evil chuckle before grabbing the fleeing Lifty by his tail and slamming a knife into his back, yanking it up and carving him clean in half. Flaky covered her head, shaking in fear while the thieves' carcasses hit the ground and Flippy pocketed their stolen goods. Footsteps crunched down in the snow in front of her and suddenly she felt herself being hoisted of the ground. She screamed when she saw Flippy's manic face inches from hers.

She kept screaming until Flippy hugged her to him and patted her back. "Shh… Shh… Don't worry…" He told her, his voice gradually becoming lighter. Flaky looked up at him, his eyes back to their normal black color and full of worry. He had heard her screaming after he had broken his board, and when he checked to investigate she was being harassed by the two thief brothers. He went berserk after that, but now with her in his arms he felt more at ease. She just started crying again from her injuries.

"Th-th-thank you… Flippy…" She choked between sobs. "M-my head h-hurts…"

Flippy looked down at her split skull, "We'd better get you back to the hospital…" He said, sadly. She nodded in response and he lifted her up all the way, one of his arms supporting her head to keep it upright. He started walking down the slope with her in his arms, and it actually did not take long to reach the bottom.

Cuddles and Giggles both ran over to them. "Flaky!?" Cuddles hollered.

Flippy shushed him, "I think she'll be okay if we get her to the emergency room soon…" he said. Everyone motioned to take her off his hands but he shook his head, "I got her. My board's broken and my jeep's just around here anyway."

"I'm coming too. Someone needs to keep her head up…" Cuddles responded. Flippy nodded and in moments they were both in the jeep and heading towards Happy Tree Hospital.

Flaky had lost consciousness on the trip over, but when she woke up she was in the exact same bed as last time, looking at the exact same person. Flippy was holding her hand, and smiled at her when she woke up. "Hi, Flaky…" He said.

"H-hi…" She smiled back, woozy. Her head was all bandaged up and her body had lots of bandages and her leg was in a cast.

"That's two times." Flippy joked, nervously. Flaky laughed nervously too. "At least you avoided death both times, huh?" Flaky shook her head in agreement and he squeezed her hand.

Flaky asked, blushing, "D-do you think that, maybe… I could l-live with you again for a little while…?"

"Of course, Flaky. I told you before, I'd be more than happy to have you…" He said. They looked into each other's eyes for a few moments more. "I'd love to because…" Flippy started, stopping himself. Flaky's eyes started watering, as if asking him to go on. He looked into her eyes and clasped her hand in both of his. "B-because… I love you, Flaky…" He confessed, almost crying. He had to say it. He'd been so lonely over the years. He'd cast himself away from the idea of being involved with anyone, thanks to his other self. But, the day he rescued Flaky on the mountain, his rage was quelled. He thought, maybe, he could make this work.

Tears started rolling out of her eyes and Flippy hugged her, gently, trying not to hurt her. "I love you so much…" He said, hugging her tight. She hugged him back, gingerly. "Ever since I started spending time with you… I've felt that…"

"F-Flippy…" She choked. She rested her head on his shoulder. "I… l-love you t-too…" She cried. She realized that she'd never be able to replace her parents, no matter how hard she tried. But she still had feelings for Flippy, and at that moment they all blossomed into full-blown infatuation.

They both cried tears of joy, quietly as Flippy rocked Flaky as they hugged. Years of loneliness for both of them just started melting away in that moment. An eternity trapped in Happy Tree Forest suddenly started looking more bearable. "I d-don't wanna live by m-myself anymore…" Flaky said, quietly. Flippy patted her back.

"Well now you won't have to…" He said, rocking her. "We'll have each other now." Flaky sighed and smiled. He seemed perfect for her. He was older, but since when in Happy Tree Forest did age matter? It's not like they looked very far apart, age-wise. He looked down into her eyes and smiled, and they gave each other a small kiss. She blushed heavily and he laid her back down. Her eyelids started drooping heavily over her eyes, still pretty tired from the concussion. He held her hand and soon enough she was asleep.

When she came to she was in Flippy's arms in the middle of the night. She looked up at the stars and then where they were going, which was Flippy's house. He opened the door and went to his bedroom, putting her down before realizing she was awake. "Welcome home…" He said, happily. She was right back where she was a few days before, but this time she was much happier. She was not only safe, but loved again. And now she had someone to love as well. She curled up against Flippy and rested her head on his chest, who put his arm around her as she slowly started drifting off again.

"I love you…" She said, weary.

"I love you too…" He responded, before she finally conked out, a smile dominating her face.