I'd like to open this chapter with an important statement: being a dish-washer is HARD! Don't let anyone tell you your job is easy.
Anyway, after a long week of working and babysitting, I've finally found time to update my stories as part of my relaxation process. As promised, this chapter will be longer than the last one. …So, enjoy!
Reviewer Thanks
Elizabeth: To answer the first question- who knows? Second, yes (and you MAY be right, unless I make a twist). Third, yes it is similar to the Scooby-Doo line, only it includes the word 'werewolf', making it similar to a similar show (I'll give u a cookie if u guess! ^-^) …Fourth, that sums it up. Fifth, I ran out of cool villain names :p Sixth, don't mention 'Bob', it makes me laugh XD Finally… I've updated, so read on! :D
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Chrys and Chris' POV
(a/n: Chrys' POV will be regular written, and Chris' will be in italics. That way you don't get confused)
Ever have one of those days where so many bad things happen, and you wish it were all a dream so you could wake up in the safety of your bed, overswept with relief?
Well… MY ENTIRE WEEK HAS BEEN LIKE THAT!
A few days ago, I came home from college to visit my family, laze around playing videogames, maybe even bring back fond memories by teasing Rudy a bit. Instead, I got turned into a rodent, came to a mystical world I thought only existed in lame kids' books, met some talking animals, a guy who dresses like Zorro, a girl who reminds me TOO much of Jimmy, and finding out fairytales are real.
Boy, and I thought taking in information in Biology was hard.
What I experienced four years ago could NEVER amount to being turned into a mouse, being whisked away to Lala Land, and watching crazy-things happen- I'm surprised my brain hasn't exploded from all of it!
Sadly, my urge to complain disappeared three days ago, and I'm slowly learning to deal with the fact that fairytales exist… now I'm trying to deal with the fact that my little brother took the next step into his homosexuality and kissed a guy, and my parents are under a sleeping-spell, AND we're all fugitives for something we didn't do. Plus the fact that red-hooded whore and Radio tried to rape Rudy (which I'm still plotting my revenge on).
The one thing that I couldn't understand was that Radio was making out with Rudy, and then Red (who I find totally hot) tried to take advantage of him, and the little homo didn't enjoy it! …Okay, yeah, I guess it's because he's gay, but you'd think getting grind by a sex-pot like Red would reconcile him!
I think my brain finally exploded when he kissed that Pin guy, mistaking him for Danny. I mean, sure, I always made wise-cracks about how- if he loved Danny so much- he should just kiss him… but I didn't think he'd actually DO it! And in front of God and everyone else!
…I wonder if I could get famous if I recorded it an put it on the internet. Slash videos are pretty popular, after all.
As Blu and Pin led us through the woods to find a good hiding spot, I couldn't help but look at Rudy. While I was a mouse, it was pretty hard to get a good look at him since he was so tall (the first time my little brother was bigger than me), but now that I was back to my normal size, I could feel my gut twist into every kind of knot. He had scrapes and bruises all over his body, his shirt was torn revealing some sort of second-degree burn on his chest, and it looked as if every step he took was too painful.
What made me feel worse was that his injuries brought back the past… when Chris and I used to abuse him 'til he couldn't even itch his nose without flinching in pain. I wonder if Chris feels the same way?
People practically pay to see gay couples make-out, the gross-outcome is usually higher with lesbians. …Damn it, why could Rudy have been a homosexual girl?
I guess Danny noticed too, because he put his arm around my little brother and gave him a one-arm hug, and then linked his arm with his own. Radio did the same, and the two of them helped him steady his walking. I couldn't help but feel grateful that Rudy had such good friends.
Maybe if I'm lucky, Radio will end up being a les-bo. …And double-lucky if the same goes for Red.
The way Chris was looking at Red, I doubt he even noticed a single scratch on Rudy. It's hard to believe that, after all we've been through, he doesn't even show a single sign of concern over our little brother. I can't even believe we're even twins…
…I wonder if that Blu girl is a lesbian.
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Goldie's POV
We walked for hours, the sun starting to set once we reached the swamp. …It's a good thing I was wearing hiking boots.
Now, in Fairytale Land, swamps are the most dangerous places, having the highest monster infestations known to man… but, it was also the most perfect place to hide from others. (Just ask all the kids who've played hide-and-go-seek in the bog… er, the ones that DIDN'T get eaten alive, trapped in quicksand, lost and never found, and abducted by hermits).
"Why are we hiding in a swamp, again?" I asked, giving careful consideration to my previous statement. "I mean, I know it's a good place to hide, but… wouldn't it be more dangerous?"
"We're on the mayor's Most Wanted list, a crazed monster-hunter with an expired license is trying to kill us, and there's no way out of the land." Silver answered. "Hiding in the swamp seems more content compared to the rest of that,"
"Plus, I know a place where we can hide out," Pin added. …He's always the man with a plan, I guess.
"Psst," came a voice.
I paused, looking around. "Pssst! Over here," came another voice.
I looked over, seeing a couple kids standing in the weeds. One was a girl with orange hair, braided in two pig-tails, and the other was a boy wearing a backwards cap. They were wearing clothes in a style that hadn't been worn since the 90's, and they were covered in grime and gunk. The others didn't seem to notice them. "W-Who are you?" I asked.
"I'm Hans, and this is my sister, Tellie." The boy said. "You wouldn't happen to know a way back to town, would you?"
I pointed to the east. "That way. Are you lost?"
"Yeah, we've been lost for so long, we even lost track of how long!" The girl, Tellie, replied. "Would… would you mind guiding us back?"
Before I could reply, Wolf leaped in front of me and bit Hans on the arm!
…Either he's naturally crazy, or Swamp Fever has a strong effect on him.
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Jimmy's POV
It's not every day you see a large wolf lash out on a couple kids… or see his jaws fade through one of their arms. "Wolf! What are you doing?" Goldie yelped.
Wolf continued to growl at the two kids until they backed away back into the swamp. Surprisingly, they were walking on top of the water and blended into the fog. "The Phantoms of the Swamp," Blu said, sighing and shaking her head. "Damn pests are always causing trouble,"
"P-Phantoms?" Rudy stammered.
"It's a Fairytale Legend, one that was too graphic to make the books," Pin replied. "It says that whenever a child dies out in the swamp, their spirit remains. Their memories are then wiped, the only ones remaining being how they died in the swamp, and the rest are replaced with methods on how to lead others to their deaths."
"Geez, remind me not to take up babysitting ghosts," Chrys commented.
"You should be thankful, Goldie," Radio said. "If Wolf hadn't sensed those phantoms, you'd probably be a spirit as well."
"How could you sense them, anyway?" Goldie asked Wolf.
"Animal instinct," Wolf replied, tapping his forehead. "We non-human creatures have a sixth sense that allows us to tell who's alive and who's a spirit,"
I rubbed my chin at this. I had sensed something in the air, some sort of stench that smelled like fresh hair crossed with rotting flesh, but I just thought it was swamp-gas.
Come to think of it, I was having that feeling right now. "Jimmy…" a voice whispered to me from behind, and I turned around, seeing a girl wearing an old-fashioned short-sleeved night-gown, pink hat, having dark skin and black hair tied in twin pony-tails…
Lilly.
Normally, I wasn't the kind of guy who'd be startled so easily, but I made an exception of seeing the face of a late-friend (okay, late-late friend) and stepped back gasping. I had thought she had passed on after helping us the first time, so of course this didn't make any sense to me. Maybe I'm getting delusional. I thought at first, but my new werewolf-instinct could sense paranormal essence reeking off her.
"Jimmy… help me…" she said to me, her voice sounding faint despite how close she was floating, reaching out for me.
I didn't move. I couldn't. I was too stunned, and she was already too close, touching my shirt.
I didn't know what happened then, but it creeped me out. It was as if the world I was in changed into some black-and-white blur, everything white and gray, while the others were faint shadows. I looked at Lilly, seeing her sweet, kind features twist into a face of rotting flesh falling off a skull with white balls of light in the pupils, the jaw opening with a hiss as it veered close-
I felt a hand on my shoulder and I was yanked back from the spirit, a sword pointing at it from my left. I stared at the Lilly-impersonator, who still looked like my heaven-bound friend- only without eyes, just balls of light in its sockets. It let out a hiss and faded away.
"Phontoms." Robin said, keeping a good grip on my shoulder. "I figured those shape-shifting ghouls were extinct,"
Blu arched an eyebrow at him. "How could something that's already dead be extinct?" she scoffed.
"You know what I mean,"
"That was one heck of a quick recovery you just made," Pin said, impressed. "Not as fast as Wolf's but still fast,"
"Yeah, how DID you guys recover so fast?" Red asked. "You were, like, limp and dangling over Pin and Silver's shoulders a minute ago!"
"My powers allowed me to heal quicker, just in time for my instinct to kick in," Wolf replied.
"I came to when someone was dunking my head in swamp-water," Robin said, giving Silver a dirty look.
Silver just rolled his eyes, innocently.
"How many spirits lurk in this swamp?" Danny asked as he stood close to Rudy.
"Estimated population is 7,000." Blu replied, flicking a disembodied ghost-hand off her shoulder. "It tends to increase every month by six stupid kids,"
"They normally lurk in this area," Robin added. "The trees are thicker and cast more shadows, keeping less sunlight from shining on them."
"Does sunlight kill them?" Radio asked, then added under her breath, "Please say 'yes', please say 'yes'…"
"I'm afraid not. They just prefer to lurk at night, where their ghostly-forms can be seen better."
"And we'd better keep moving," Pin said, looking at a small hint of the sun. "Their numbers get thicker after sundown… that's when they act like poltergeists, trying to pull you to your death physically."
I noticed Rudy tremble, and I couldn't blame him. His brother and sister once told him their attic was haunted, and how he had nightmares about being trapped up there and the ghost trying to kill him by strangling him, throwing him out the window, or scaring him to death literately (he couldn't get back to sleep after that last one, believing that he actually came close to dying from fright).
We continued our way down the path-
*SPLASH!*
"SILVER!" Robin shouted, pulling himself out of the pond.
Silver walked on, a smirk on his lips.
…And everyone wonders where I get my mischievous nature from- besides Blu's side of the family.
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Pin's POV
We made it to the hideout I was looking for within the next hour.
A long time ago, Blu had run away from home and I decided to help her out by leading her to an old house my uncle had left for me (which is my home to this day), and we took a shortcut through the swamp. …Biiiiiig mistake. A troll, Morlog, had captured us and took us to his lair, though we eventually escaped. After Blu had returned to Fairytale Land, she came across the troll- luckily I became a skilled-hunter by then and happened to be scouting the swamp, and killed the troll. His house had been vacant for years since then…
Now, standing at only 15 feet (It used to be 60), the walls crumbling and some floorboards broken or missing, and the roof was nearly gone except for the left-side of it falling at a slant, a few crows hanging around, an occasional snake slithering by, and no doubt a few dozen mosquitoes, dragon-flies, gnats, and black-widow spiders.
Not the most ship-shape hiding spot, but it'll have to do until morning.
"Why couldn't we have hid out at the Holiday Inn or something?" Red griped, shrieking a bit when a water-snake slithered past her feet.
We walked in, watching our step, until I lead them to the dungeon- the one part of the house that wasn't on the verge of collapsing at our feet, and where the remains of the roof were more stable. Glowing fungi was still on the walls, which was pretty much the only thing that hadn't changed since Blu and I last came here.
Building a small fire and setting up a couple tents, we began to rest, though none of us seemed tired, despite our long trek. "So… anyone feel like telling campfire stories?" Chris asked after a long pause.
Blu gave him a sneer and Jimmy rolled his eyes- and it was really amazing how similar the two of them were. (Jimmy was probably the only relative of Blu's who actually showed a family resemblance to her).
Only Rudy seemed intrigued by the statement, turning to Blu. "Sounds good. Maybe you could tell us a true-version of a classic fairytale?" he asked, and his tone made it sound as if he was really into fairytal-
Okay, before I continue, I have GOT to get something off my chest, and YES it's about Rudy kissing me. I expected switching places with Danny would involve getting cursed by Anchantor, not smooched by another teenager! All I can say is, I didn't enjoy it, and I don't plan on switching places with Danny ever again to make sure it never, ever, EVER happens again, and I pray to God no one will make slashy remarks about it, bring it up to anyone else, or that Red got a picture of it and put it on Fairybook. And as soon as we get our problem solved, I am going to rinse out my mouth, and find a way to forget about it for the rest of eternity! …I will admit, he IS a good kisser, but I'd rather he didn't make-out with me.
Alright, now that I got THAT out of my system…
"Nah," Blu replied. "I'm not exactly in the mood to tell stories,"
"I'll tell one, then." I said, throwing another stick into the fire. "You guys hear my fairytale, about how I went from a puppet to a real boy?" …Rudy was the only one who eagerly nodded. "Well, here's the true-blue version of what actually happened…"
"Good night," Blu lied down on her side, deciding to attempt to fall asleep- though, I could still tell she was listening.
"A long time ago, my father, Geppetto, had lost his wife in a car-accident. It hurt him deeply, especially since they didn't have kids. Both of them owned a toy-shop, which he still owns today, and they shared a hobby in carving wooden toys. After his wife died, he started selling the wooden toys in her memory, eventually moving on to puppets. The more puppets he made, the more he wondered what was missing from his life. That's when he realized he and his wife never had any kids. One day, he decided to make a puppet the same size as a young seven-year-old boy…"
"A.k.a you…" Jimmy guessed, nonchalantly.
"Right. Once he finished me, he made a wish that I could be a real boy, and wished upon a star. Next thing you know, I'm coming to life- which scared my dad a bit because he didn't exactly expect it to come true, but once he got over his surprise he started to rejoice. The only problem was that I was made of wood, and the only way I could become a real boy was to learn right from wrong and do good deeds.
It was going well, I was helping my father in the shop, but one day I went out on an errand to the market. On the way there, I ran into two thugs who called themselves Foxx and Kat, and they kidnapped me and sold me to this puppeteer called Stromboli. Rather than making me perform on a stage like in the fairytale, he made me perform on the streets, making me pick-pocket people while the rest of his puppets entertained him. Luckily, Jiminy Cricket…"
I paused. Jiminy Cricket managed to save me from Stromboli, by crawling up his pantleg and making HIM dance around like an idiot, while I got away. …If it weren't for him, I'd still be on strings, dancing to Moulin Rouge. He acted as my conscience… then one day he went off his rocker because Blu flushed him down the toilet, and he got squished by the 12 Huntresses.
I shook my head, getting my focus back. "He saved me by distracting Stromboli, and decided to be my conscience. He lead me home, where we found a note left by my dad, saying he was going out to look for me. We looked all over, though we took a wrong-turn downtown and ended up in an alley where a bunch of anthro-donkey boys were hanging out, drinking and smoking, and I got caught up in their fun… eventually earning a pair of donkey-ears and a tail after realizing their booze contained ass-potion, and that's when I grabbed Jiminy and got the heck out of there."
"Reminds me of a few assholes I ran into in my old neighborhood," Jimmy commented.
"Finally locating him by the docks, where a large man who called himself Mon Stro'h was mugging him and prepared to shoot him. I dove in front of the bullet- being made of wood, it didn't hurt me TOO much- and the guy freaked out at seeing a walking-talking puppet with donkey ears. While he was in shock I tackled him and tried to knock him out. Unfortunately, Mon happened to be carrying a knife and cut off one of my donkey-ears, then scraped my nose into a point. …That's when I started telling lies, making my nose grow, the sharp point aimed at his chest, and Mon backed away, eventually falling off the deck.
He grabbed my nose and pulled me with, and the both of us crushed our heads on a rock. He sank to his death while I floated, my head- literately- cracked open. My dad and Jiminy thought I was a goner, but saving my father acted as heroism. That good deed allowed me to become a real boy- no donkey-parts included, and…"
"And blah, blah, blah, you lived happily ever after." Blu finished, then crawled into her tent.
"I'm with Blu," Jimmy said, crawling into his own tent. "I'm gonna turn in and skip out on story-time."
The rest of the others did the same, only Wolf, Robin, and Rudy remained. "That was an awesome story… but…" Rudy was saying, seeming hesitant.
"But what?" I asked.
"Well… during the beginning, I saw a tear on Blu's cheek, and when she crawled into her tent, it looked as if she was about to burst into tears. …Was she in your story?"
I thought about it. My fairytale was pretty much the only one Blu wasn't included in (besides Rapunzel)… But her mother was. I unleashed a heavy sigh, shaking my head for my ignorance. "She wasn't, but… The Blue Fairy was her mother." With that, I crawled into her tent.
Sure enough, she had her face in her pillow, her muscles tense as she tried to keep from crying. Rubbing the back of my neck, I sat down next to her. "If you plan on bringing up any sympathetic cute-talk, I suggest you leave," she muttered to me.
I sighed. "I'm sorry… I just forgot."
"Next time, tell them a GOOD fairytale- like the princess and the pea. THAT one will keep them up for weeks. …Now, beat it. I wanna at least TRY to get some sleep."
But I didn't move. Instead, I lied down beside her.
"You're still here, aren't you?"
"And I don't plan on going anywhere until you're asleep."
She sat up angrily, glowering at me. "Why are you DOING this?"
I sat up, a little annoyed with her attitude. "Doing what? Being a friend? Maybe it's because I LIKE you, or did you forget that?"
"You SHOULDN'T like me… you'll just end up getting hurt," she turned away. "Everyone who likes me does… my parents, Wolf… even you."
I put my hand on her shoulder, turning her towards me, staring her straight in the eye. "The only way I could be hurt if I was never around you. Even if I end up dying, my spirit will still remain with you until the day you die, so that we may pass on together."
Tears welled up in her eyes, and she glared at me. "Damn it, Pin, how many times do I have to tell you NOT to tell me any of that sentimental crap? You know romance makes me want to puke blood…"
"Well, start puking then."
She scowled and started punching me in the abdomen, knocking some of the air out of me, though her blows softened and she started to sob. Naturally, I wrapped my arms around her and held her close.
"Why do you love me…?" she asked in a whisper.
I shrugged. "There's no reason for me NOT to love you," I replied quietly.
We didn't say anything else. The only sound I heard was her muffled sobbing as she cried onto my chest, and the sound of the crackling campfire outside. I really wished that I hadn't brought up my fairytale, especially since Rudy was the only one who seemed interested in hearing it… Comforting her really helps me distract from that awkward moment which I am trying to forget and refuse to bring up for it might cause me to once again drabble on and on about how much I didn't enjoy it and how I want to forget it otherwise it'll haunt me for the rest of my life.
…Wait, what was I talking about again?
Oh, right. Blu.
"Pin?" she said, after a long silence.
"Yeah?" I replied.
"If you tell anyone about this, I'm going to choke you with your own cape."
"Understood."
I noticed Rudy watching us and hastily waved him away, giving him a "This-Is-Private!" look, and he pulled his head out of the tent.
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Rudy's POV
Ah… love.
That reminds me, I gotta talk to Danny!
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A/N: Yeah… I'm gonna need some ideas 'cause I'm pretty much running out :p
Please review. Flame, and you'll be thrown into a swamp.