Just a heads up, Acxa, Narti, Ezor, and Zethrid's last name is General. Cause they're generals. Eh? Eh? I'll stop.
Enjoy the story.
...
Chapter 25: Chartreuse
"But the amulet chose me." Jim said, his voice holding more bravery than he really felt. He could hear his friends protests behind him, but he ignored them. This was his battle. As he stepped through the portal, he heard the voice of his mentor. "Master Jim... what have you done?" Then end credits blared, and the season finale of Trollhunters was over.
Acxa sighed, and leaned into one of Keith's pillows. "This show is amazing." she said.
Keith nodded in agreement. "You excited for season two next week?" he asked. Acxa smiled. "Of course! Do you want to watch it together?"
"Sure." Keith answered. The two sat in silence for a minute, just enjoying the end credits, when Acxa's phone began to ring. She reached into her bag and pulled out an old flip phone. When she flipped it open, a picture of a tall, dark skinned woman with black braids appeared.
"Looks like it's the fun police." she joked. Acxa pressed a button on the phone and held it up to her ear. "Hello Zethrid." she said in the cheeriest voice possible. Zethrid said something on the other line that Keith couldn't here, but whatever it was, it made Acxa's entire face turn pink.
"No." she said curtly. "We're just talking." Acxa nodded along with whatever her sister was saying, throwing in an occasional "yes" or "no".
"Okay, yes. I'll remember to pick up milk on the way home. Goodbye." Acxa finished, but she paused for moment. Zethrid must have said something else. "Okay, I'll go get her..." she said, and frantically covered the phone with her hand. "Zethrid wants to talk to your mom." she explained.
Keith gave her a puzzled look. "That's going to be hard, considering my mom gave up her physical form to make me."
"I can't tell her that!" Acxa exclaimed. "She'll freak out!"
Keith thought for a moment, before a plan formed. "Come on!" he said, dragging her down to the living room. As if she knew they needed her, Blue sat on the couch. "Blue!" Keith called out.
She looked up from her book. "What?"
"We need you to pretend to be my mom to Acxa's sister!" he said.
Blue looked frightened, but she grabbed the phone anyway. "Hello?" she asked. Zethrid asked something. "Yes, this is... Keith's Mom."
She asked something else, and Blue thought for a moment. "Yes. The children are playing with swords." Blue smiled. "I wouldn't worry, they're not that sharp. Oh wait. Keith just stabbed Acxa. Now she's yelling, 'if I'm going down, you're coming with me!' And now, they're both dead. Don't call again." Blue hung up, and handed it back to Acxa. Both she and Keith had horrified looks on their faces.
"I panicked." she defended.
...
"You really told Zethrid that I have a nuclear family?" he asked. His hand tightened on his phone. Why would she do that?
"Sort of." Acxa winced on the other end. "She knows that you were raised by your uncle, but I didn't do a very good job of explaining the gems." She scratched the back of her head. "Somehow, I ended up saying that you live with your mom, which in my defense, is technically true..." Acxa could practically feel Keith's angry glare. "And after what Blue said, she wants to meet your entire family face-to-face."
"When?" Keith asked.
Acxa smiled. "Dinner at Olive Garden tomorrow night?"
"We'll be there." Keith said, and hung up.
...
Keith pulled on the dress shirt, and tucked it into his slacks. "How do I look?" he asked. Blue stepped out of her bathroom wearing a purple sundress and makeup. Her hair flowed loose down her back. "Good, let me just..." she grabbed him by the arm, and dragged him into the bathroom.
Blue set him on the vanity stool, and began to brush his hair back. She pinned a few loosed strands, and pulled the top of his hair back into a ponytail. "There we are." she said, fondly. Keith smiled. "Thanks." he said.
Blue giggled. "It was nothing. I'm just glad that your hair doesn't look hideous."
Keith glared at her through the mirror. "What's wrong with my hair?"
"Nothing." she assured, running a hand over the top of his head. "At least, now that I've fixed it."
Keith suddenly felt the urge to yank the pins out.
...
Blue and Keith exited her room, and entered the kitchen. They sat down at the table, and Keith pulled out his phone. "Coran's going to pick us up in twenty minutes." he told Blue.
"So what exactly are you guys doing?" Shiro asked from the living room. He and Hunk were playing chess, and they seemed to be in a stalemate.
"Zethrid says Acxa and I can't hang out until she meets my family, which wouldn't be a problem," Keith paused to let out a frustrated sigh, "Except Acxa told Zethrid I live with my mom."
Shiro raised an eyebrow. "So Blue's going to pretend to be your mother?"
"Isn't that the thing that got you in this mess?" Hunk asked, and, ever the multitasker, moved his rook five spaces up. "Check."
Shiro scowled, but it vanished when he realized Hunk had exposed his bishop. "Hunk's got a point. Besides, lying is a dangerous game. Keeping up the lie is only going to make things worse for you."
Keith glared at the pearl. "Stop poking holes in my plan with logic and reason."
Hunk let out a tiny chuckle. "That wasn't a joke, Hunk." Keith told him.
"I'm not laughing at you, I just don't think you're the kind of person who lies." The yellow gem moved his queen over six spaces. "Check."
"I'm not." he defended. "But Zethrid wants to meet my entire family, and I don't want to freak her out."
"It's not like she has to know what we really are." Shiro countered, both in the conversation, and in the game. He subtly moved his pawn to the final space in front. "Checkmate."
Hunk's jaw dropped, and he hopped up. "Winner cleans up." he said, before heading into the kitchen.
When Shiro finished cleaning, he joined them in the kitchen. "The only problem I have with this is she's not going to meet your entire family." the gray gem explained.
"Shiro, there isn't a way to bring you all unless..." Keith trailed off as a (terrible) idea formed in his head. You could practically see the light bulb go over him. "You guys could fuse."
Blue sputtered, Hunk scoffed, Shiro frantically shook his head, and all three blushed. "We can't do that!" They said simultaneously.
"Why?" he asked.
"Because we only fuse in deadly situations!" Shiro explained.
"And even if we did fuse when ever, our vermarine isn't the most stable fusion ever." Hunk backed up. A frown spread across Keith's face. "I guess you're right." He leaned into his chair, and let out a long sigh. "I guess I'll never get to hang out with Acxa again." he sighed.
"We have to do it." Blue said, her tone firm.
Keith grinned at the sound of Hunk and Shiro's protests."Shiro, I know how you feel about eating," Blue began, "and I know fusing for too long makes you uncomfortable, Hunk," she continued, "But this isn't about us. It's about Keith." she gestured to the youngest Paladin.
Shiro let out a long, frustrated sigh. "Fine."
Keith smiled. "You guys are the best!"
...
Ezor drummed her fingers on the table, bored out of her mind. She was already having a pretty crummy day, starting with the fact she had to come to this terrible dinner, continuing with the fact she had to lie to Zethrid, and ending with the Universes being late.
"We have been waiting for thirty minutes." Zethrid growled out, matching Ezor's impatience.
Acxa fidgeted with the hem of her dress. "I'm sure they'll be here soo-" she was cut off by a loud rumble. Confused, she turned her head to see a six-armed, forty foot tall woman marching towards the restaurant.
Is it sad that that wasn't the weirdest thing she had ever seen?
"It's a good thing we requested an outside table." Ezor muttered.
"Don't be rude." Narti signed.
As the woman got closer, it was easier to make out the details of her appearance. She had short, messy hair with thick, green bangs covering her eyes. Her skin was a pale green, almost translucent, and she wore a gray sundress.
Keith, and a very frazzled Coran sat on her shoulders. "Hi, everyone! Sorry we're late!" Keith called out. The woman picked him and Coran up, and set them down at their places on the table.
"Hello." The woman said. She sat down on her knees next to them and folded all three sets of arms in her lap. "Thank you for inviting us, Miss General." she said politely.
The four sisters just looked at the fusion in terror. Coran cleared his throat. "It's nice to finally meet all of you." He held out his hand. "I'm Keith's uncle, but everyone calls me Coran."
"And this," Keith butted in, "is my mom... Chartreuse."
"But you can call me Char." she added. Chartreuse held out one of her right arms. Zerthrid stared at it, before realizing she should shake it. She did so awkwardly, even though Char's hand was big enough to hold her.
"So... What's everyone ordering?" Char asked.
Acxa gave her an shaky grin. "I was thing of the baked ziti?" she answered. "That sounds good." Char said.
As soon as the two families ordered, silence descended over the group. They needed a really good icebreaker, and they needed one fast.
"So how did you two meet?" Zethrid questioned.
Char blinked, before frowning. She turned her attention to her drink. "I don't... I'm not a very good storyteller."
She looked back up, and smiled. "But Keith is!" Char patted his head. "Go on, tell them!" she encouraged.
Said boy turned to give her an a dirty look. "I wasn't there. I couldn't do it justice." he argued.
Char smile widened into a very Blue-like smirk. "You've heard it so many times, it's like you were there." she shot back. Keith glared at her, before resigning himself to his fate. "After my dad died, my mom knew she couldn't take care of me all on her own, so when she found out my dad had a brother, she asked him to help." he explained.
Another awkward silence descended on the group. Zethrid made a mental note not to ask anything like that ever again.
"What do you three do for a living?" Char said, resting her chin on one of her closed fists.
Ezor tisked. "You've known us for years, and you still don't know we work in a coffee shop?" she questioned teasingly.
Char suddenly looked very selfconscious. "I knew that!" she squeaked. "I was just trying... What do you do Zethrid?" the fusion wanted nothing more than to disappear, to hide from the disapproving glares and the mocking looks, but she had to keep it together... for Keith.
"I'm a security guard." the answer cut through Char's inner struggle. She stared at Zethrid for a moment, and gave her a shaky smile. "That sounds fun."
"It is." Zethrid took a sip from her drink. "What do you two do?"
Coran smiled. "I run an autoshop on the other side of time. And Char here..." he trailed off. He looked to her, but she just gently shook her head. Why didn't they spend more time thinking about this stuff?
"My mom works on an apple farm!" Keith answered. "She uses her arms to pick from the really tall branches."
Coran smiled, and patted Keith on the arm. "You know what they say. An apple a day keeps the doctor away."
Char smiled, seeing where they were going with this. "Mmm-hmm. I hate doctors."
"Our father was a doctor." Zethrid deadpanned.
Char turned pale green. "I, uh... well. You see..."
"Keith, help me find the restroom!" Acxa interrupted.
The two skirtted off, leaving a flushed Coran, stuttering Char, and angry Zethrid.
...
The two kids walked down the hallway towards the bathroom. When they arrived, Keith sat down.
"So things are going pretty well right now, huh?" Keith asked.
Acxa jolted around, and glared at him. "Are you kidding me? What... who did you bring to dinner?"
Keith hit her with the same look. "It's my family. It's all the gems, fused together."
Acxa crossed her arms, and sat down. "Why didn't you just bring one of the gems? This could have actually worked!"
Keith just shrugged. "I'm sick of lying." He stared at her for a second, before he realized something. She was still wearing her old frames, just without the lenses. "Your glasses." he whispered.
Acxa just barely heard him. She reached a hand up, and grasped the frames. "What about them?" she questioned.
"You don't need to wear them. I fixed you eyes." he explained.
All that stuff she said about my family...
"You're just ashamed of me." he accused. Acxa looked like she had been slapped in the face, but her face contorted into a snarl. "Let's just try and get through dinner, okay?" she spat.
She stood and marched past him, and he glared at her back. As he followed her, Keith wasn't sure if he wanted this to all work out.
...
Food arrived at the table, and everyone dug in. Everyone except Char.
"Aren't you hungry?" Narti signed.
Char smiled. "Yeah, I just have terrible table manners." She speared one of her shrimp, and held it up to her mouth. But at the last second, she jerked her head away. "What are you doing?" she asked herself. "Can't we just make up an excuse?" she whined. "Cut it out you two!" she scolded.
Everyone stared at her. Not even Keith was sure what was happening. He had never seen anything like this. Granted, he didn't know too much about fusion, but this was weird.
What made it worse was that Char started to whack herself with her arms, and her face cracked. She groaned, and her entire body turned to light. Oh no.
She split into three parts, and Keith's friends lay on the ground. Keith and Coran stood up, and ran over to them. "Are you three alright?" the older human asked.
"We're fine, I just couldn't eat that." Shiro said as he stood up.
"Eating is not that bad, Shiro." Hunk scolded.
"You chew food into mush, swallow that goop, and then it comes out of you!" Shiro said exasperatedly.
"It doesn't matter what you two think!" Blue butted in. "We're doing this for KEITH!" she yelled, and slammed the shorter Paladins' heads together.
They shrieked in pain, and yelled out Blue's name simultaneously.
Keith shook his head, and decided he should go apologize for this disaster.
"I never thought I wouldn't be able to trust you." he turned to see who had had said that, when he realized it was Zethrid to Acxa. His friend looked so sad. She sucked in a breath, and ran from the restaurant.
...
Twenty minutes later, Keith found Acxa sitting on a bus bench. She didn't look like she had been crying, but her eyes were pretty red. "Hey." she called out softly.
He smiled, and sat down next to her. "I'm sorry. I know how much disappointing your family sucks."
"I'm not upset about that." she snapped. "I'm angry at myself. I'm not ashamed of you, I was just worried that my family would think all this magic was dangerous, and then they wouldn't let me hangout with you anymore." She bit her lip. "But all I did was hurt you."
Keith sighed, because he knew what he had to do. No matter how weird it would be, he had to make this up to her. Keith slung his arm over her shoulder. She tensed for a moment, surprised, but she calmed down after a second.
"I wish there was a way for us to hang out without anyone getting in the way." he muttered.
Acxa perked up a bit. "Keith, let's just hop on a bus and run away without telling anyone!"
"That's a great idea!" Keith agreed. As if fate was listening, a bus drove up at that moment, and the kids got on.
They didn't get very far as Chartreuse started running towards the vehicle moments later. "KEEEEEEEEEITH!" she roared. Like, actually roared, because her face grew into a lion muzzle, and burst of green flame emitted from her mouth.
The two kids shrieked in fear, and clutched each other tightly. Char picked up the entire bus in four of her arms. "You two come out of there right now!"
"Okay! We will!" Acxa promised.
"Yeah! Just put us down first!" Keith agreed.
...
"Thank you for getting her back!" Zethrid cried out. She, Ezor, and Narti wrapped the girl up in a hug. "If you ever do anything like that again, you'll be grounded for a year." Zethrid warned.
"Can I still hang out with Keith?" the girl asked. Zethrid raised an eyebrow. "What made you think I wasn't going to let you hang out with him?"
"I thought that you were mad about the magic." she answered.
Zethrid laughed. "I just wanted to make sure his family didn't run a drug cartel or something. Coran and the others filled me in on your little ruse." she gestured to the humans.
"So we can still hang out?" Keith asked her.
"Sure." Zethrid said.
"But you can't watch TV for the next three thousands decapheobs." Shiro said coldly.
Keith stared at her. "But season two of Trollhunters comes out next week!"
"Then you're just going to have to hope Netflix is still around by then." Blue said as she ruffled his hair.
...
GO WATCH 3BELOW! Seriously. If you got the Trollhunters reference, but you still haven't seen 3Below, get on that!
I love the lore, the characters, the design of pretty much everything, it all ties together really well with the Trollhunters timeline, 10/10!