FW09: Yay, second part! Just like Tikki's most recent chapters, I had to split this arc into multiple chapters to give readers (and probably more honestly, myself) a break. However, I've decided that while I might be splitting these chapters, I won't start one Tikki chapter and then post a Plagg chapter while in the middle of a Tikki story arc. Like Uncle Jianyu's conflict, I don't want anyone to have to flip-flop between Tikki and Plagg mid-arc.
So, when I have arcs like these, I will keep writing until they're done, promise. And once they're done, then I'll switch over to the other character.
That being said, I'm really excited for you to see this next part! I sort of fell in love with writing the characters for this chapter, and I hope you guys like them, too! (Might've been re-watching Gilmore Girls while writing this, lulz) But, I won't say another word - just go on, read!
Disclaimer: Thomas Astruc and Zag Toons own Miraculous and all characters, I own story and OCs.
Bedtime Stories - Tikki and Plagg
Chapter 6: Adrien's Bedroom, Banda, and Zida - Part 2
"...Well, well, well," a deep, gruff voice echoed from behind me, and I started from the lip of the well, "What have we here?"
Trying to gain my bearings, I looked around trying to figure out where the voice came from, but there was no one in sight. Just hot desert sand and remnants of abandoned stone buildings, tufts of dead grass jutting from the sinking structures. And the well. Unease churned my stomach as I peered into the darkness, my heartbeat escalating and my breath quickening in fear.
"An appetizer," answered a different voice, this one higher-pitched and coy, "Barely enough for a morsel."
"Question is, who's morsel?"
"Mine's, obviously. You got the last one."
"Wha - excuse me?! We split that one, and you got the better end. Or head, I should say."
"Yeah, and only the head. You split it at the neck."
"Mmmm, yeah, well, point is, you got the good bit. Now it's my turn for bits."
"I-I'm not a morsel," I spoke up, interrupting the conversation, "I'm a cat God! You...you better leave me alone!"
My hackles were raised and teeth on edge, rear-end raised as I tried to back away. However, I didn't get far when something thick and ropy rocketed out of the well and looped itself behind me, pushing me towards the perilous edge of the well.
"Awww, sweet thing, we heard the whole thing," the feminine voice cooed, and I chanced a glance behind me to see it was the enormous body of a snake coiled behind me, "Abandoned for having a power you can't control. A power that humans find...Evil?"
Again, I could feel my instincts screaming at me - this was dangerous. Dark brown jeweled patterns decorated the small section that I could see, each diamond surrounded by shiny black scales. Its top was a dusty gold, and the bottom a dazzling white etched with sand. My eyes followed where both ends trailed off into the well, and a part of me started to grow cold in realization. This well was tens, maybe even a hundred feet deep. Yet, even with the girth of the beast and the depth of the well, whatever was talking down there was able to throw itself up and over like Ba'al throwing a sack of flour over his shoulder.
A hard lump of fear in my throat prevented me from swallowing properly.
"Humans, can't live with 'em, can't live without 'em," the masculine voice scoffed, and the smack of lips could be heard reverberating from the dark well, "Seriously, I couldn't live without having one now and again. Now there's a good meal. Should've eaten that fat one when we had the chance."
...Eat Ba'al? As a meal?!
"Well, if you'd been awake in time, we would have," the female hissed in anger, and a thump was heard at the end of the sentence, "You're never awake when I need you."
"And you're never quiet when I need you. Huh, ever think about that?" again, another thump was heard, "Agh! Why do you do that?! You hurt yourself just as much as you hurt me when you do that."
"Because points need to be made," the voices were growing closer, and I wasn't exactly keen on seeing whatever these two were face-to-face, "Any who, I think it's time we finish this. I'm starving."
Suddenly, the coils snapped open and wrapped me tight, my breath caught in my chest. Ba'al was right. Words weren't going to get me out of this mess - I couldn't even breathe! I gasped a few yowling protests before one of the two started dragging their snake-like body back into the well. All the while, panic flooded my system with adrenaline, and I backpedaled from the edge desperately. My claws dug into dried grooves and cracks, but before I knew it, they dragged me over the wall of the well. I was free-falling, my eyes staring after the light at the top of the well, watching it fade into a pinprick in the distance. Wind whistled in my ears, and the dampness that I felt against the snake's body started to make more sense as the walls turned sticky and coated with something wet.
And just as abruptly as my fall began, it ended. I was smashed into what I assumed was the rest of the snake, though the coils around me packaged me well so that I was only stunned by the impact. Brain rattled and skull shaking, I shut my eyes to recuperate from the sudden stop. Damp smells invaded my nose, along with some foul odor of something that had died and rotted long ago.
"Hmmm...first time we didn't have a screamer," the masculine voice, now sounding alarmingly closer than before, mused out loud, "You didn't squeeze it to death already, did you?"
"Pardon, but I believe that's your muscles, dear," she replied smartly before I felt my body being raised, "Not that I blame you. Look at the little thing - would've lost your grip if you hadn't held it tight."
My ears flicked as I registered warm breath against my face, and I opened my eyes. Unfortunately, the light didn't reach far enough into the well for me to make out what had caught me, but I could see a pair of glowing orange-yellow eyes staring into mine. My heartbeat pounded in my chest, straining against the strength of the massive coils crushing me, and again that strange power thrummed beneath my skin. This time, however, I didn't try to hold back, and felt it build within me, ready to unleash if necessary.
"O-oh, what marvelous green eyes..." the feminine voice murmured in surprise, and something flicked out to slap against my nose several times - a snake tongue, probably. And it was much larger than my face...
"What do you care about 'eyes'? They'll be in our stomach soon enough," I shivered as a pair of blood-rust eyes shoved the first pair aside, a second tongue flicking out to probe.
This was it. I was going to die. And if there was ever a time to use that destructive power, now would be the -
CRACK!
A sharp snap of jaws caused the second's tongue to retreat quickly.
"Oi! What's the big idea?"
My own destructive power seemed to retreat back into my body, stamped out by fear of that strike. If they'd had the idea, they could bite my head off before I had a chance. Or, at the best, I'd only be able to get one, and the other would kill me straight after. I closed my eyes again, terrified.
"Hold on...there's something about those - oh dear, come now, open your eyes again, sweet thing," the feminine voice seemed interested, less threatening, and I was raised higher as I complied, "Well, would you look at that. That's not something you see every day."
"What?" came the irritated reply.
"Thought it was just the dark, but it's an all-black cat God! Remember the last time we saw one of those? With green eyes?"
"...Yeah?" there was unease in the deep tenor.
"Oh, it must be!" the coils jostled my tiny body and I groaned, causing the voices to quiet, "...What's your name, little one?"
"No, no, no! Absolutely not!" the thick rings of muscles tightened around me, and I choked out a gasp, "We are not doing that - not again!"
"Why not?"
"Because you just said you were starving! And I'm starving! What happened to sticking to the plan?!"
"Plans change," she hissed and another light nip of jaws was heard again, "Besides, we made a promise, and if there was any right time to keep it - "
"You don't even know if that thing is his!" the male seemed to bite back, the heavy sound of his jowls contrasting against her nips.
"Hmmm...black cat with yellow-green eyes that can talk, no, you're right, couldn't possibly be his," sarcasm dripped from her every word, and the orange-yellow eyes rolled away from the rust-colored ones, "Ugh, you're useless. Just...let him breathe, would you? And, um...tell me, little God, what is your lineage?"
Thick muscles of reptilian flesh unfurled around me reluctantly, and I took deep, greedy breaths. I sputtered a response, barely forming words, but I kept trying. Information about my family was a small price to pay for precious oxygen.
"N...Nua," I coughed as my ribs filled with new air, "My m-mother's...name...is Nua."
"Nua, Nua, Nua...nope, never heard of it," the masculine voice, which I could now tell belonged to the rust-colored eyes, brushed off my confession, "Well, I guess that's that, time to - "
"And your father?" the feminine voice and orange-yellow eyes encouraged me to continue, a spark of kindness hiding behind slit pupils.
Noticing that I was still trying to get my breath back, she allowed me a few moments to compose myself before I continued.
"...I never knew my father," I had to think about it for a few moments, drawing blanks, "He wasn't there when I was b-born. And the caravan never spoke about him. But...my mother said I looked a lot like him. His name was Shamar."
"Shamar!" other parts of the snake body thumped against the bottom of the well in recognition, "That's him, I knew it! Oh! Oh...Oh, Great Gods - we almost ate his son. Put him down! Quickly!"
I was lowered slowly onto the floor, though the twitching of the snake's muscles told me there was a great deal of restraint happening. As soon as the snake's body touched the floor, I clambered off and skittered to the wall. Once there, I ignored the sticky, damp feeling that clung to my fur and pressed myself as far into the well's brick as I could.
"So, so sorry about all of that, sweet thing," the female's amber eyes warmed considerably, but I still tensed as they approached me, "Poor child, must be scared out of his mind...here, let me get the lights on for you!"
A flash of something neon and I found myself blinded, gasping and curling into a ball. I waited for something to attack me, eat me, but nothing happened. Slowly, my vision cleared with a few well-placed rubs of my paws and stared at the well in wonder. Dense moss crawled over nearly every piece of stone, and carpeted the entire bottom of the well, casting bright light in all directions. It stretched out in webs and clumps, creating pockets of lights like stars and suns. Also noticeable was the size of the place - the opening of the well had been much smaller, and as I gazed upwards, I saw that it had widened considerably. Probably carved out by the creatures.
"Well, that's better, isn't it?"
My eyes were drawn to the sound of the female's voice and, just as I'd suspected, she resembled a giant snake (it made her comment about eating humans less ridiculous, as her head was about the size of a 6-foot burly man). I couldn't quite make out the color since the moss dyed everything in blue and green hues, but she had the same jeweled patterns that I'd seen in the surface sun, embellished along the top of her long, slender skull. And just above her golden eyes laid horned ridges, like eyelashes, with a pair of dark horns curved elegantly from the back of her head. Strangely enough, a large bounty of silky fur sat just below her chin and stretched a good deal down her belly, like the dewlap or fluff on a female desert rabbit. She bunched up that bit of fur in front of her like she was puffing out her chest, and slithered closer towards me.
"Hmmm, never seen one like me, have you?" her mouth curved into a semblance of a smile, "We're 'Amphisbaena'."
"...I-I've never heard anyone with a name like that."
She gave a little, bell-like laugh at my honesty, like the ones Cybele used to do, and I started to feel a little better. At least, as well as I could be, being trapped at the bottom of a well with a gigantic serpent. The dark pulse beneath my skin slowed considerably into a pleasant beat, and warmth crept back into my limbs.
"It's not a name, per se, sweet thing," she came closer to me, eyes going half-lidded, "It's what the humans from the old country used to call us as a kind of beast, and the humans here don't quite have a name for us yet. It means 'to go both ways'."
"Why's that?" I managed to squeak out, and she chuckled again.
"Take a look at my body," she reared up and unwound her coils, "Go on, go on. You'll understand."
Doing as she said, I took a few steps tentatively away from the wall and traveled along her body. She was massive, that much was for sure, but it wasn't until after a few minutes of investigating did I realize something strange was going on. My mother had taught me all about snakes during our caravan journey, and their anatomy. There was the head, the neck, the main section of the body, then it was supposed to taper off into a tail.
The Amphisbaena didn't have a tail. It had a second head.
"What're you staring at, morsel?"
That's where the male voice had come from. And the second head was currently sulking off in its own corner, blood-rust eyes glaring at me grumpily. Just like the female, the male had horned ridges along its eyes and horns sprouting from the base of his skull. However, unlike her, the ridges decorated just above the eye socket, giving him a bushy eyebrow look, and there were two pairs of horns that curved back, then forward like horned cattle. Thick, coarse fur covered where his horns originated, like a lion's mane. I jumped when the head noticed me, and bolted back towards the female's side of the body. She laughed, ripples of muscle shaking with her vibrato.
"Don't mind him," she allowed me to sidle up against her, and I felt the touch of that fur against my back, "He's just a bit hungry - slim pickings around these parts, and all."
"You...mentioned that," I replied hesitantly, and wondered if the female was still intent on eating me.
"Which, if he weren't such a big sweet heart and made sure all the food ended up in my stomach and not his, he'd be less hungry!" she raised her voice with a nasty snipe, and it reverberated around the well.
"Well, I never - " the male joined us suddenly, and I buried myself in the female's fur, "Is that the sort of gratitude you show me after all these weeks?! Do I need to remind you that you are carrying our children?! Of course I'd give you all the food, but no - all you do is complain!"
"We share the same body, if one of us dies of starvation, then we both die!" she jutted her head towards him sassily to emphasize her point, "Then where would we be?! Dead! And our children, dead!"
"Gah! It's impossible with you!" he turned away and went back to his corner, shaking his head.
"Yeah?! Well, I could say the same about you," she huffed in exasperation before turning to look at me nestled in her fur, "Sorry about that, um...um...oh, I never did get your name."
"I'm...Dak'n," I replied shyly, popping out of her fluff as though I were wearing it, "It means 'dark'."
"Ohhh, how fitting," she bore down on me with a motherly smile, covering me with more of her fur, "Well, I'm Zida. The dark brooding one over there is my mate, Banda. And as you might've guessed, we've got a bit of a...situation."
She turned her head to the largest part shared between herself and Banda, and nosed it lovingly. I swore that I could see something squirming in there, and I cocked my head.
"Does that mean you're having babies?"
Zida paused in her tender nosing before smiling at me.
"Oh, such an innocent sweet thing you are," she cooed as she circled around me, "That's right, Dak'n. Lots and lots of baby Amphisbaena."
"Then...how come you're not eating me?" I decided to finally ask the question, Zida's friendliness breaking me away from my fear, "Aren't mommy animals supposed to eat a lot? That's what my mother said."
"That's right, but..." she trailed off as she settled around me, and I curled up beside her, "You remember me saying that we're not from here? Well, the reason we're here and not there is because - "
"Humans," Banda's voice seethed behind all the coils and Zida's massive girth, and I shot back into her fur as soon as I heard him skulking back towards us, "It was the humans."
"Finally done moping about back there, have you?" she cocked an eye ridge at him, and he rubbed alongside her half-heartedly.
"Yeah, yeah...wouldn't have made a good meal anyhow," he brushed off the snappy remark, a distant, nonchalant look in his eyes.
I looked between the two, and Zida gave me a reassuring smile. And in a moment of uncertainty, I stepped out of her fur just enough to peer up at the gigantic male. With a wink at me, Zida returned Banda's rub with a rub of her own, tucking her head underneath his chin with a smile. He remained stoic for a few more moments before caving. Twisting his head over hers, Banda dragged his chin along her forehead and horns gently with a soft rumble, sharing her affection with a big goofy grin.
"Anyway, it was the humans," he cleared his throat after the display, and she giggled at his uncomfortable cough, "We used to be 'Good Gods' - ate diseased corpses of animals, provided help with healing and fertility, venom for their wars and weapons...then they said we were 'Evil'. No warning, no explanation...just death."
"...I know how that feels," I spoke up softly, and Banda stared at me blankly before a twinge of pity pulled at his eyes.
"C'mere, cub," he lowered his head, and though I started to shrink away from him, all he did was give me a little nudge along my forehead.
"Told you he was a big sweet heart," Zida whispered to me, and Banda gave a disapproving frown.
"Well, that's because I'm the only one left you can talk to," he looked up at the tiny pinprick of light at the top of the well, "Only a few of us escaped when the humans started hunting us. And we haven't seen or heard from them since."
"It's been years since we left our home," Zida looked down at me, her voice soft and sad, "I'm afraid...that we might be the last..."
A few tears soaked my furry cheeks as I remembered my own situation. They were forced to leave the only home they'd ever known, parted from their family and friends, and hunted by humans.
"And it was all thanks to your father that we were able to escape safely."
I blinked away the blurry vision and looked at Banda, his blood-rust eyes watching to see how I'd react.
"You knew my father?"
"Of course," Zida raised her head and swept it to gesture to the well, "He guided us to these deserts, far from the humans who knew of us. Your father worked to save Gods like us, Gods who were cast out or shunned by the whims of the humans."
"Was he...was he an Evil God?" I asked with my ears folded against my head, nervous.
"No, no, of course not," the female comforted me and shook her head, "He liked humans, or at least some of them. But he also understood their fickle nature, and that they can make mistakes. He knew that not all 'Evil Gods' were really evil, not as the humans put it."
"That's how he judged us when he found us," Banda continued, nudging Zida affectionately, "So, he told us how to navigate the water veins in the earth, and guided us to our first well. And we've been hiding from well to well ever since."
"Wow," I stood up and let my tail swish happily, "I never knew my father was a hero! Mother never said anything about that!"
"Well, from what we understood about him, Shamar didn't stay in one place very long," Zida laughed, her tone turning romantic, "Maybe he saved your mother and just shared a night together under the stars in gratitude."
"Mhmm," Banda chuckled at Zida's dreamy eyes, "If your mother was anything like Zida, that'd happen in a heartbeat."
The female gave a little offended scoff and slapped him with one of her coils, getting a little 'oof' out of him. And for the first time since I got down there, I laughed. The sound of my chortle echoed in the chamber loudly, and they stopped and stared at me.
"...Well, that's just precious," Zida grinned widely and bent down to nuzzle me, "It's a shame Shamar never got to know you."
"With all the rumors, he's probably still roaming the desert, looking for more lost souls to guide," Banda nodded and chuckled at his mate, "Which is why Zida...and I guess, me, too...won't eat you. We made a promise to Shamar to pay it forward when we could, and...if his son is anything to go by, I guess now would be the time."
"And...if I wasn't Shamar's son?" I winced in preparation for the answer.
"..." they looked at each other and spoke in unison, "We would've eaten you."
"Wow, they sound like...quite a pair," Adrien laughed as Plagg moved a sock with his tail, making a giant shadow snake on the wall.
"Yeah...they were sort of like a fun aunt and uncle," he laughed with the blonde, then grimaced, "...Who could eat you. In a bite."
Plagg pulled the sock off of his tail and propped it against the light, grabbing a second sock and mirroring the image. The wall now sported two snakes facing each other, their heads touching in the shape of a heart.
"And no matter how much they fought, they always made up with each other," he leaned on the lamp lightly, chuckling, "Probably helped they couldn't exactly separate from each other, either."
"I wish I was like that with Ladybug," Adrien sighed as he laid on his side, "Not the fighting part, but...being with her 24/7? That'd be amazing."
A small twinge pricked Plagg's heart. Truthfully, the cat Kwami was thinking the same thing - about Tikki. Banda and Zida showed him that relationships were messy, hard, and a struggle, but worth every drop of blood and sweat.
"So...what happened? Did they adopt you?" the teenager turned back to Plagg with a smirk, "Did you start speaking with a hiss?"
"Hmph," the cat Kwami gave a flick of his tail and flew over to Adrien, dropping on his ribs heavily, "At least that'd make one of us who's actually good at being multilingual."
The boy gave a wince and rubbed at his side grumpily as Plagg grinned smartly.
"Now, where was I...?"
FW09: LOL Every time I do one of these arcs, they seem to get longer and longer. Anywho, if you were wondering about the Amphisbaena, they are actually of Greek origins, as monsters made when Perseus flew over deserts with Medusa's severed heads. When blood from her neck dropped into the sand, the Amphisbaena were born. They are known for having strong venom, a taste for devouring corpses, and was said to be great charms for fertility and health.
Also, I did watch a bit of the Jungle Book a little while ago, which sort of inspired what I imagined their voices to be. (Ben Kinglsey as Banda and Lupita Nyong'o as Zida.)
...And I pray that the next chapter is the last, LOL, to wrap up this arc.
