Chapter 10

I do not own Happy Tree Friends. All credit goes to Mondo Media

Flaky had returned to Sniffles's lab that afternoon in order to clear his suspicions. He didn't want to believe that there was nothing in Ruby's mind that caused her to kill, and he sure as hell wasn't going to let this go until he found an answer. He lifted his head to look in the mirror to see the toddler with a lowered head and eyes shaded by her bangs. He couldn't blame her; after asking what was going on, Flippy had decided to tell her what really happened back in the facility. He felt there was no need to hide it from her considering she would have found out about it either way. Flaky never wanted her to hear that she had actually killed someone, but he knew it was best that she leaned now than later. He soon started to wonder if the other kids will be taught by their parents about the mysteries surrounding their town.

"Flaky? What are you doing here?" The red-head gave him a stern glare as he approached the door. Sniffles allowed him inside the lab and closed the door behind him."I know that I said that we'll talk about this another time, but I'm not fully believing what you said earlier. I want to know what you really found in Ruby's mind."

"Like I said, I didn't find anything."

"And you expect me to believe that?" It was rare for Flaky to have a serious look on his face, and it was more rare to see him get angry. The red-head had his arms crossed and the toddler clinging onto his leg behind him. Sniffles released a sigh and placed a hand on his hip. "There was nothing in her mind that lead me to what I was looking for."

"Sniffles." The glare on his face seemed to harden at the response, and he clutched his jacket sleeve. The bluenette pushed up his glasses as he gazed at the other. "But you know, I'm not sure if we should take Flippy's word. For all we know, he could have made it up."

"He doesn't have a reason to lie."

"Does he?" Sniffles replied with a blank look. "Last night, I overheard Handy say that Flippy must have gotten the fight with Lovelace too close to her and that was why she was covered in blood. I expect that to be the truth than a three-year old being able to kill grown men without the blink of an eye."

"And you're not gonna think of the guess that she inherited that from Fliqpy?" Flaky retorted. "Or have you forgotten that they were still one person during the course of over half of my pregnancy? Surely there was a huge possibility that she had gotten something from him, or did you think I was too paranoid to think that was never going to happen?" Flaky was almost at the point of shouting if he didn't get an answer soon. He heard Ruby whimper slightly and stroked her hair to comfort her. The two parents stayed in silence for a few moments before Flaky felt a pair of arms let go of him and saw the toddler slowly going towards Sniffles as if she was possessed.

Both of them saw her stop two feet in front of the bluenette, and she had instantly punched him hard in the torso. Sniffles coughed and bent over, looking out from the corner of his eye to see the blank gaze that she wore. He barely had time to dodge her next attack, grabbing her by the hair and throwing her to the floor. "Ruby!" Sending another glare towards the bluenette, Flaky gently shook the toddler to see if she was alright. Ruby shifted slightly and lifted her head to look around. "Mommy, why am I on the floor?" She asked. The red-head lifted her off of the ground and into his arms, never severing eye contact from the bluenette. "Now do you believe him?"

Sniffles was speechless, but pushed up his glasses in response. "I can't doubt it now that I've got a glimpse of it, but Flaky, I swear I didn't see anything in her mind. Please believe me." Flaky lowered his gaze and held his daughter close. "I'll think about it. This is a lot to take in."

"I know. Just take your time." The red-head nodded before leaving the lab and getting back in the car. "Hey Mommy?" Flaky drew his attention towards the toddler. "Do you think there's something inside me that makes me hurt people?" Flaky was reluctant to response, but strapped the girl in her seat and pecked her on her forehead. "Don't worry about it, alright?" He made his way back into the driver's seat, and began to make his way home.

Flippy traced his finger along the rim of the glass before taking another sip of his drink. He harshly lowered his head with a slight groan and instantly regretted it after receiving a splitting headache. Whenever he was stressed, Flippy would usually spend his time either hiding in the woods or drinking in a bar to clear his head, and right now, he had no idea what to do. He took another sip and heard a familiar voice call him. He turned around to see Lumpy and Handy join his table and sit across from him. "I see that you two are stressed too."

"For good reason." Handy replied, chugging the shot he had and slamming the glass on the table. Flippy looked over to Lumpy and pointed to the orange-haired male. "Should he even be here? I mean, you know how much of a lightweight he is."

"He wanted to come." Lumpy replied with a shrug.

"Also, I thought you were laying off on the drinking."

"Well, technically I am, but. . ." Lumpy trailed off while holding the glass. "I'm trying not to drink too much in case it happens again." Flippy knew he was talking about the last time he was out drinking, and soon after he had assaulted Russell. He sighed in response before speaking once again. "So, how's it going with your family? Is Umi still avoiding Russell?"

"Like the fucking plague," The bluenette swirled his drink with a lowered gaze. "But I can't really blame her. If I was a toddler and I saw my mom covered in blood AND found out that she used to kill people, I would freak out too. How come Ruby isn't scared of you?"

"I'm not sure," Flippy replied with crossed arms. "I suppose she thinks it's better here than in a building filled with corpses."

"And now that we're on the subject," Handy interjected while waving another glass. "Did Sniffles find anything in her mind?" The veteran leaned back and took another swig of alcohol, releasing a belch and closing his eyes. "Sniffles claimed that he didn't see anything, but I refuse to believe it."

"So you probably did get the fight too close to her."

"I made sure he was well far away from her," Flippy replied with a slight glare. "What I'm saying is the truth." The orange-haired male smiled and finished his second drink before stretching his arms across the table and lowering his head with a small hiccup. The veteran brought the glass to his lips and chugging it. "While I don't fully believe it, I may have an idea on why Sniffles couldn't find anything," Lumpy finished the glass and folded his hands on the table. "Didn't you say that Ruby didn't remember what happened?"

"Yeah. What's your point?"

"Well maybe, since she was scared as shit, her fear might have clicked into her brain and she began to think about how she couldn't be scared. And the only way for her to do that was to get rid of what was scaring her."

"So what you're saying is that she killed them in a trance?" Handy asked as he reached for another shot glass. Flippy rolled his eyes and slid him the bottle and glass. Lumpy nodded and lowered his head. "That could be why she doesn't remember. As for whatever the hell is in her mind, it might only be her fear getting the best of her and not another personality."

"I think I get it," Flippy leaned back. "We were all thinking that Ruby had her own version of Fliqpy, but that's not the case. It's just her fear. But if that was true, then why didn't she kill me too?"

"Maybe she wanted to help you?" Handy replied with half-lidded eyes and a grin. "I mean, you looked pretty fucked up last night." He broke out in a fit of laughter, and Lumpy began to quiet him. "Then again," He continued with a lifted eyebrow. "There's also the Freud Theory, but that's probably another matter entirely." Flippy choked on the alcohol in response and Handy looked traumatized. The veteran took a few deep breaths and glared at the bluenette. "No fucking way," He said in a dead tone. "Why in the name of Mondo would you ever bring it up? And how do you even know about it anyway?"

"Unlike you two, I have a PhD in psychology, so how wouldn't I know about it?" Flippy couldn't help but agree as he took another swig. Lumpy grabbed Handy and began to pull him out of the seat. "Well I better get him home before it gets worse," Handy was slurring something under his breath in a fit of hiccups before he shouted some nonsense about aliens, flying cows, and the world being engulfed in flames because of a blue flying squirrel. The bluenette sighed and waved a good-bye. "Just be sure to think about what I said."

Surprisingly, Flippy had driven home with no trouble despite his half-drunken state and his habit of being a slightly bad driver at night. When he parked in the driveway, he noticed that Flaky was already home, and proceeded to head inside the house. Automatically, he made his way up to the bedroom and opened the door to see the red-head fast asleep, but was woken up by the sound of the door opening. Flippy slightly groaned and fell on top of him with a nuzzle. "I was worried something might have happened to you," Flaky whispered while wrapping arms around his neck. "Everything okay?"

"I'm fine." Flaky took a sniff and his eyelids lowered in response. "Are you drunk?" He asked in a blank tone.

"Little bit." The red-head rolled him over onto his side so he wouldn't suffocate him before getting out of bed with a light sigh. "Give me a minute. I need to get Ruby." He felt arms wrap around him and a whine from the other. "I want you to stay."

"Flippy." The greenette wrapped legs around his waist from behind to trap him and nuzzled his shoulder. "Stay." Flaky lowered his head with a sigh. Flippy tended to get clingy when he was drunk, so it was no wonder the bedroom was the first place he would go. He patted his hand gently with a smile. "I'll be back in a second. Promise." After a moment, Flippy released him, and he stood up so he could bring the toddler into their room.

Flippy had explained to Sniffles what Lumpy had told him the night before, leaving the bluenette with crossed arms and closed eyes. The other three who were in the room were also thinking about his theory. Ruby was half-asleep because it was so early in the morning, and was trying not to fall asleep on the table. "Hmm the trance part would make sense," Sniffles had spoken a few moments later. "So you're saying that there might not be another personality."

"It would explain why you didn't find anything," Flippy replied. "Because if she had another personality, we would have already seen it."

"Why don't we ask her what happened?" Fliqpy suggested while pointing towards the toddler. Ruby's head shot up with half-lidded eyes. Flaky stepped over to her and sat next to her. "Sweetie, can you tell us everything that happened the night Daddy saved you?" The tiny red-head was quiet for a moment as she lowered her hands into her lap before she spoke. "Well, after Daddy had hurt the mean man, we were gonna go back home, and then more bad guys showed up. I-I wanted to help Daddy because he looked really tired. I don't know what's after that, but I was covered with blood." The toddler lowered her head and curled up into a tight ball. Flippy crossed his arms and turned to the bluenette. "Well? Still think there's another personality?"

"If it was the same situation of me and Flip, then she would already know about her other self." Fliqpy stated. Sniffles could help but nod in response and muttered under his breath about how Lumpy could have figured it out. Flippy released a sigh and turned towards the toddler. "Well, if we're going to be seeing this more often, we need to give it a name so we know when Ruby flips out."

"How about Psycho?" His doppelganger suggested with a smile. The other parents glanced at him as though he was out of his mind. Sniffles pinched the bridge of his nose and shook his head, and Flaky had a look of disbelief. "No!" Flippy shouted with discomfort with a slight glare at his other. Fliqpy shrugged in response. "Why not? That's technically what it is."

"If that's the case, why don't we call you Hypocrite?" The other replied with a blank tone.

"Knock it off, you two," Sniffles got between them. "We have to figure out what we're going to do with this."

"Can't we just leave it be?" Flaky spoke up and bringing the attention to him. "I-I mean, since we now know it's not another personality and only her fear, all we have to do is keep an eye on her, right?"

"That wouldn't be hard to do," Sniffles replied. "I mean, if she's not with you, she's usually with Umi, and I don't think she'll be scared of she was with her." Flippy had small thoughts of the Freud Theory Lumpy had mentioned the night before, but he decided not to say anything. He sighed and placed a hand on his hip. "Alright. Since there's nothing we can do, I suppose this mystery is solved." The others nodded in response as the red-head helped the toddler place her feet on the floor. "If you three are going to stay here and bicker, I might as well take her home."

"Don't leave me with these two." Flippy whined while pointing to his doppelganger and Sniffles, who looked personally offended. "Why not? I'm a great guy to be with." Fliqpy replied with a smile.

"First of all, you kill people," Flippy jabbed a finger into his chest before turning to Sniffles. "Second, half the time you fuck up everything you touch. The other half of the time you fuck up everything you look at."

"And that's supposed to mean something?" The bluenette asked with crossed arms and a lifted eyebrow.

"Knowing you, yes." The greenette had a blank look as he grabbed Flaky and his daughter and pulled them out of the lab. "Well, now that this is over, I can finally relax," Fliqpy sighed while placing his hands behind his head. "I can actually get some sleep without worrying for those two."

"So you do care." The doppelganger turned towards the bluenette with a straight face. He turned back to the door and lowered his head. "Sure, if you wanna call it that." He shrugged and left the lab and Sniffles made his way back to the main area of the house, where he saw the rest of his family in the living room watching TV. Nutty spotted him and patted the seat next to him, signaling for him to join them. The bluenette ran a hand through his hair as he stepped over the triplets and sat next to him and wrapping an arm around him. "Everything okay?" The candy lover asked him with a lifted chin. Sniffles pecked his forehead with a smile. "It's fine." He tried to push the other family out of his head and focus on the one in front of him, wanting to find a way on how to help the children with their minds.