Ch. Let the Journey Begin.
~ With Karma ~
It was half past midnight before Karma and Fanny had made it back to her place, the scared rabbit shivered out fear and the cold.
"What if he finds me Karma? Do you know what he'll do to me?" Fanny whispered, her eyes darting back and forth from each alley way and dead end street. The fox sighed as she pulled her friend close trying to comfort her, "Come on I said I'd protect ya so would you just chill already? You're making ME nervous."
Fanny sighs, "y-your r-r-right…I-I just need to AH!"
"WHAT!?"Karma exclaims before looking around and spies a little stray kitty walk out from an ally after jumping off a trash can.
"Fanny it was just a stray little ally cat. You're ok. Look we are almost to the house, and there's the hotel the guys are staying at. You need to calm down, you're in good hands okay?" Karma sighs reassuringly as a dark figure suddenly walks out in front of them making Fanny cry.
"Whoa there hot stuff it's just me…hehe sorry I didn't mean to scare you." Raully said stepping to the light making both girls sigh in relief.
"Raully! What are you doing out this late?" Karma smiles sleepily.
"Oh…uh...What time is it? I was just taking a walk before heading back up to my place in the mountains." He answers sheepishly rubbing his arm.
"Dude it's after midnight….you should stay with us tonight it's too late for you to head back up there. " Karma yawns pointing a thumb toward her house, he smiles and nods before joining the two girls. He glanced at Fanny who looked white as a sheet, "Fanny are you ok? You look like you've seen a ghost."
"I was…I thought….*sniff sniff*" Fanny mumbles something before hugging her friend, Karma smiled sadly rubbing her back trying to get her to calm down.
"She thought you were Brute. And I was just starting to get her to calm down…" Karma sighs deeply while shooting a look at the scrawny raccoon.
"Oh my apologies Ms. Fanny." Raully says kissing her hand before pulling her in for a hug. "Don't worry your little fluffy head…We'll protect you from any harm. Now stop that crying…"Raully says playfully as he goes to cup her face she prepares for pain but instead receives comfort. He smiled softly at hand placing his hand on her cheek wiping away a tear, feeling comforted Fanny leans into his hand blushing slightly.
"Don't worry Fanny…I won't let anything happen to you…"
~ With Bendy and Boris ~
Bendy was lying on his bed just thinking about the day's events while Boris was passed out cold. Soft snores echoed through the room as Boris slept making Bendy smile softly. Yawning the little devil sat up in bed and watched as his brother slept, remembering the man in black that was at the show that night Bendy thought back to what Cuphead said when they first became friends.
~ "I wish I could tell you who is making us do this, but I can't. All I can says is we are being forced to do this and we don't want to…"~
'He was very sincere when he said that, he just had that defeated look in his eye like they have been doing this for a long time…' Bendy thought to himself for a moment before flashing back to the show earlier that night.
~ Cups and Mugs stops for a moment when they make eye contact with Black Hat causing them to freeze in place. "Hey are you guys okay? You look like you've seen a ghost." Boris asked waving a hand in front of Cuphead who blinks and shakes his head. "Y-yea we're fine. Um we have to go do something really quick...we'll meet you backstage shortly." Cups said grabbing his brother's wrist and dragging him off in the opposite direction of the stage… ~
'They looked awfully scared…When they left, they went in a different direction then we did. I wonder if that guy is the one making them do this…' Bendy thought sighing as he glanced at Boris who had a dreamy smile on his face as he slept.
"I need some fresh air…" Bendy whispered to himself as he got up and stretched. Tip-toing toward the balcony door he gently pat his brother on the head a couple times before opening and closing the balcony door as quietly as possible. Turning around he heard a sigh, it was Cuphead…but what was he doing up this late? Cups hadn't even noticed the fact that Bendy was outside or staring at him as he turned to go back inside, 'Oh no, he's going back inside! Hurry Bendy this is your chance!' He thought clearing his throat loud enough to draw Cups' attention.
"Oh hi Bendy, what are you doing up this late?" He asked yawning as he leaned back against the side of the balcony giving the little devil his full attention.
"H-hey…Cups, I should be asking you the same thing...I…uh… Just needed some fresh air…I can't sleep." Bendy said scratching his head nervously.
"O-oh…Yea same here…Just been thinking..." Cuphead sighed stretching his back.
"C-Cups can I ask you something?" Bendy rubbed his arm nervously drawing a confused look from Cuphead.
"Um…Sure thing Bends, what's up?"
"….Um…Today at the show…..when we got up to leave...I –I saw you and Mugs stop when you saw a man wearing black and red…with a tall black hat…um…W-Who was that?" Bendy asked with his head pointed down at the ground before shifting his eyes back up to Cups who had a look of pure horror on his face.
'He saw him?! O-Oh no…then that means…he saw them!' Cups thought to himself before shaking it off, 'M-Maybe he won't ask…'
"Hey Cups are you a-alright? You look like you've seen a ghost." Bendy asks concerned as the cup looked paler than usual. 'So that is him! That's the one making them do this.'
"U-uh…y-yea I-I'm alright." Cups sighs scratching his head and nodding.
"S-so that man…W-who was he? If you don't mind me asking." Bendy asked watching as Cups tried to calm himself down while glancing at his sleeping brother through the glass door.
"T-that man was….h-he was….." Cups stutters before being cut off by Bendy. "The one that wants you to kill us?"
"Y-yea…" Cups says looking down.
"So how did you two get mixed up with a guy like that?"
Cups looks at him before turning to look out into the night once again. "I-I'm not really at liberty to say…Some other time huh?" Cups smiles sadly before waving good night.
"Well Bends I'm going to sleep…See you in the morning." Cups says closing the door behind him.
"Y-Yea see you tomorrow..." Bendy says turning to go back inside and go to sleep as well.
A few hours later:
Boris and Bendy awoke to the smell of smoke and sirens as their hotel room door slammed open, there standing in the door way a very fearful and upset Mugman.
"M-Mugman what's going on!?" Boris exclaims as he and Bendy both bolt out of bed and meet him in the hallway only to bump into a crowd of people, Mugman grabs their hands and leads them out of the building another way as sirens ring fill the air with their fearful wails.
"I-It's Karma! Her house is on fire!" Mugman exclaims as tears well up in his eyes. "WHAT?!" Bendy and Boris yell as they round a corner and standing in front of them is Karma's house engulfed in flames. The boys just stand there in shock as firefighters run back and forth trying to put out the fire.
"W-Where's Karma? A-and your brother?!" Bendy said nearly scaring the poor kid half to death at his sudden outburst, all he could do was point to the house where they saw Raully and Fanny running out of the house as the door frame collapsed.
"KARMA!" They run towards their friends but they saw no sign of their foxy friend, coughing could be heard not far from them as they saw Cuphead singed and coughing.
"Cup!" Mug shouted as he ran to his brother, "W-where's Karma?" Boris asked shaking with fear as he saw Mickey, Oswald and Felix run to the group just in time for Cup to shake his head and point toward the house. The little group looked on in horror, Bendy balled up his fists tightly and shoved his bag into his brother's hands before rushing toward the house pulling his goggles down over his eyes.
"BENDY!" Boris shouted getting the attention of the rest of their group as he punched through the burning boards and entered the raging inferno.
~Inside the Fire~
It was around in the morning when she smelled it. The burning wood…the suffocating black smoke… 'Oh no…' Karma thought as she tore awake and found herself surrounded by black smoke. Eyes watering she pulled the top of her shirt up over her nose as she carefully navigated her way from the bed to the floor.
"Karma! *cough cough* Where are you?!" She could hear a very frightened Fanny yelling from the first floor, she could hear the strain in her voice as the bunny kept calling out but she heard no sign of Raully….
"U-Up stairs! W-where's Raully?!" She called back as she crawled toward the staircase, "D-Down here! He's unconscious!" Karma coughed again before hearing voices below her, it was Cuphead!
"Karma where are you?!" As she got closer to the stairs she could see him looking around frantically while holding the passed out raccoon in his arms. "Up here! Get them out of here! I'll try and make my way downstairs!" Cuphead glanced up at me suppressing a cough he nodded, "Hurry! This place could collapse at any minute!" Cuphead and Fanny ran out the front door, outside a crowd had gathered as Cup set Raully on the ground before turning to go back inside when his exit was blocked. Back inside Karma had gotten halfway down the stairs when the second level collapsed down to the first floor.
"AAAAHHHH!" Karma screamed out as the steps dropped out from beneath her. Another wall started to collapse pinning her underneath a burning support beam, she tried to summon her blue fire to try and block out the fire around her but she couldn't even summon a spark. Her eyes widened. 'I'm going to die in here!' She thought frantically as she tried with all her might to push the heavy beam off of her but it became too much. She started coughing, the black smoke and flames sank down to the ground level burning everything in sight, at the other side of the house Bendy pushed his way through the fallen debris looking for the fox.
"KARMA! KARMA ANSWER ME!" After a couple minutes of looking he hears coughing to the left of him where he spots Karma pinned and barely conscious.
"KARMA!"
"B-bendy?" She coughs losing consciousness as the heavy beam forced what little air she had out of her lungs. Bendy tries with all his might to try and push the beam off of her but fails…
'No no no no no….I'm not strong enough! It can't end like this I've got to get her out!' Bendy thinks as he tries again to lift the beam when it starts to move he hears someone grunting next to him, 'What?' He turns to his left to see a very tired Cuphead helping him pull the beam off. After a few seconds they get it off of her and they both sigh, "We need to get out of here! The whole place is about to collapse!" Cuphead said picking up Karma bridal style and looking around for a clean exit, Bendy smiles when he spots an opening with only a little bit of fire.
"THERE!" Bendy exclaims pushing Cup toward the exit just as the roof above them starts to collapse.
Back outside the group panics as they see the roof finally come down, "EVERYBODY GET DOWN!" They hear a fire fighter shout as they try their best to shield the group closest to the collapsing house.
"KARMA!" Mickey, Oswald and Felix shout in fear for their little fire fox.
"BENDY!" Boris cries collapsing to his knees and sobbing at the loss of his older brother.
"CUPHEAD!" Mugs sobs trying to run toward the fires but gets stopped by a firefighter holding him back, he stops squirming and just stands there in shock.
Wait for it….
That's right nobody died...
"*Cough cough* Ugh...is she okay?" Bendy asks trying to get a better look at the unconscious girl, Cup sighs and smiles reluctantly.
"Yea she'll be okay, she just needs some fresh air and some-"
"BENDY! CUP!" Boris and Mugs shout as they run over to the duo and nearly tackle hug them, Bendy smiles and hugs his little bro as Mugs just stands there smiling at his brother not wanting to hurt Karma anymore than she probably was.
"Oh my gosh Karma! Sweetie are you alright!?" Fanny exclaims from nowhere as she runs up to get a closer look with Raully not far behind. Cups looks down sadly at the still unconscious girl in his arms, "Why don't we give her some space huh?" he smiled sadly,
"She can come stay with me at my house in the mountains...she'll be safe there…oh and you too Ms. Fanny if you don't mine me saying." Raully said walking up to the huddle just as Karma begins to stir.
Karma starts to cough turning the orange on her ears to white as the black tips darken. She opens her eyes slowly to see Cups' smiling face,
"There we go, we were wondering when you'd wake up." He said softly lowering her feet to the ground so she could stand. She keeps a hold of him as she steadies herself only to be knocked down later by Mickey and Oswald.
"Ow..." Karma hisses as both men hug her tight, "L-let go...I-I c-can't..."
"Hey guys give her some space huh?" Bendy said pushing everyone away from Cups and Karma, Karma blushed at Bendy's protectiveness and Cups' gentleness toward her. After everyone backs up Bendy turns and his eyes widen causing Cups and Karma to look at him panicked.
"Karma your ears, t-they're white!" Bendy exclaimed shocked that he hadn't noticed before, Cups looks at one of them and rubs it softly noticing a sticky almost ink-like feel.
"Oh…s-so they are." Karma says glancing at the ear that Cups held in his hand blushing a little, "Um Cups you can let go at any time…" Realizing that everyone was staring at him he quickly let go and blushed, "It's just that…uh…your ears feel weird…like the illness is turning them to ink…" Everyone gasped then turned to see that Raully's face had gone white as well…
"Raully are you okay? You look like you've seen a ghost." Felix asks patting the raccoon on the shoulder to bring him back to reality. Raully shook his head,
"No this is bad…" He paused, "The fire must have aggravated the disease so much that it progressed a little more… but it should just be changing color…the ink effect shouldn't happen until closer to the end…" Raully said taking out his journal and flipping through it until he landed on the page he was looking for. The group was silent as they watched the raccoon,
"Does that mean that she's going to die faster?" Boris asked sadly breaking the silence. Raully sighed.
"It could but if we find a way to slow the process then she should be okay…" He paused looking up from his book and reached up to touch Karma's ear. By this point the fox was a little annoyed and smacked his hand away, drawing a confused and slightly annoyed look from the raccoon.
"I don't like people touching my ears." She said flattening her ears down to her head and crossing her arms, "You didn't have an issue when Cuphead did it." Mugs pointed out making her blush slightly and Bendy glare at Cups who stuck his tongue out smiling, "T-that's different he was just curious…"
"So was I and you smacked my hand away." Raully said closing his journal and returning to it to his bag, "You ladies will be staying with me at my home in the mountains, you will be safe there and Karma we can do a few tests and I can create a new dosage for you that should hopefully prevent any further damage."
"Okay…" Karma said sadly looking at her friends that saved her life.
"A-Are you sure w-we'll be s-safe?" stutters out a very still shaken Fanny.
"Yes you will be safe I promise!" A slightly burnt Raully says confidently while hugging the shaken rabbit.
"B-but…." Mutters Oswald looking worriedly at the fox, she smiles softly and hugs him.
"They will be safe, they will stay with me and you all are welcome to come up and visit as well." Raully said dusting himself off as he readied himself for the long trek back to the mountain.
"B-b-but how long will they stay with you? And you'll let us know if anything happens right?" Cups and Bendy look at each other than at karma with sadness and worry in their eyes.
"You will tell us won't you?" They ask sternly.
"Yes I will inform you if something changes." He sighs and turned toward the ladies, "You two ready to go?" Both girls glance at one another sadly before nodding. Fanny walked up to his side as they waited for Karma to give everyone a farewell hug,
"I'll miss you guys." Karma said with a tear in her eye as she gave a tight hug to each pair of brothers, giving Cup and Bendy a quick kiss on the cheek before turning to leave. Mickey, Oswald and Felix gave her a group hug before they let her go…
"Hey Bendy I just realized something!" Boris said taking the map out and opening it as Felix walked over to the brothers as Mickey took Oswald home, "What?" Bendy questioned softly.
"Our first piece is located somewhere close by Bulk Mountain! Maybe if we hurry we can catch up!" Boris says smiling excitedly only to have his happiness dashed by Mugman,
"But the train for Bulk Mountain just left the station with our friends on it…"
"We'll just catch the next train then!" Felix exclaimed excitedly, pulling out his phone looking up the train schedule for Bulk mountain, "It says here that the next train should be arriving in an hour. So if we hurry and get tickets then we can get on when the train arrives." The black cat smiled closing his phone placing the small device back into his vest pocket.
"Yea!" Boris exclaims making his brother smile as they begin heading toward the train station Bendy takes one look back at the ruined house and sighs shaking his head catching up to the group.
In the shadows of the house where no light can be seen a figure stands smirking before vanishing into the smoke and ash.
*End Ch. 4*