Hey guys! I'm back! So, I've been playing Cuphead for a while, and it's frustrating, but fun. So if it isn't obvious, the story is pretty much Cuphead meets Alice in Wonderland. And I've also seen art of Cuphead and Mugman in Wonderland and I actually really wanted to write a story based on some of that art. Hope you enjoy!
Alice in Wonderland belongs to Disney
Cuphead belongs to Studio MDHR
Cup Bros. in Wonderland art belongs to TheWallop-Cat12 on Deviantart
Original AU belongs to kkeomu1667 on twitter
I own nothing
Chapter 1: Down the Rabbit Hole
Once upon a time, as the classic storytelling goes, just out in the middle of the ocean, away from the rest of the world were three small islands called Inkwell Isles. It was a wonderful place, the first Isle full of beautiful landscapes, lush forests teaming with life. The second Isle full of carnivals and circus' packed to the brim with children, clowns, and laughter. And the third Isle, with huge cites and smokey factories with people constantly hustling and bustling about.
However, our story does not focus on the second or third Isles...
Our story starts in the first Isle, which was considered to be the more countryside/forest-esk by the other isle's standards. At the edge of the large forests and just before a small open pasture was a small cottage, with a straw covering on the roof, the walls made of polished plain wood, the windows cleaned and sealed nicely, with a small chimney made out of bricks, puffing out small bits of smoke.
The cottage belonged to old Elder Kettle, an old porcelain kettle who had seen much in his day. Though he was old, he was often known by the others to be quite spry when he wanted. He carried a worn out looking wooden cane with him to support his weight at that age. He had a bushy mustache just under his spout, one that he had cleanly kept and groomed for many years, never letting it get ruined. His porcelain skin was a light tone of brown, complementing his old age.
But it is not him this story will be focusing on either, no. That would be his two grandsons.
Just outside the cottage, Elder Kettle's two grandsons, Cuphead and Mugman sat at a tree by the river. Cuphead and Mugman were brothers, though never knowing who their parents were, having been raised by their grandpa all their lives. Both had grey cups and mugs for heads, brown shoes, matching grey and black stripped socks, and white gloves, but that was where the similarities ended.
Cuphead had a bent red and white stripped straw in his head, a small red nose, and wore a clean white shirt with a red ribbon tied around his neck along with a pair of scarlet shorts. Meanwhile, Mugman had a straight blue and white stripped straw in his head, a big blue nose, and wore a clean white shirt with a blue tie tied around his neck while also sporting a pair of short blue overalls.
Mugman sat at the bottom of the tree, taking in the breeze and watching the butterflies, the bees and flowers. He liked butterflies, the bees and flowers, they were always so majestic to him.
Next to him was Cuphead and Mugman's bright-eyed friend, Ms. Chalice. She was a clever, fun-loving young girl who while smart, had a bit of a mischievous streak that at times got them in trouble. But even still, she was also the best friend they had ever had. Like the brothers, she also had a porcelain for a head, only hers was a golden chalice instead of a grey cup or mug, with a yellow and white stripped straw in her head. She wore a nice orange dress and skirt with dark yellow shoes and white gloves. In her hands was a nicely sized book, one she had borrowed from the library on the third Isle. The title on the book read, "Willium the First of England." A history book no less.
"...wanted leaders, and had been of late," Ms. Chalice read aloud, already in the middle of the book with Mugman peering now and again into the paragraphs of the book. "much accustomed to usurpation and conquest. Edwin and Morcar, the Earls of Mercia and Northumbira declared for him, and even Stigand-" She was cut off by a leg with a brown boot dangling limply in front of her face. Chalice frowned in annoyance as she shoved the leg away, looking up above her. "Cuphead, really?"
Cuphead sat on the branch of the tree above, his hands folded behind his head as he leaned back against the stump and gazed off into the sky, twirling a stick in his fingers uncaringly.
Feeling his leg being pushed, Cuphead let out a nonchalant sigh. "Yeah, yeah, I'm listening." He said, sounding rather bored.
Chalice smiled before continuing with her book. "And even Stigand the Archbishop of Canterbury, agreed with William and offer him the crown." Cuphead at this point had stopped listening as he continued to twirl the stick in his hand, a smile twitching on his lips. "Williams conduct at first was not-" Chalice was once again interrupted when the stick suddenly fell out of Cuphead's grip and into her head, splashing some of the liquid in it.
Mugman couldn't help but laugh at how silly Chalice looked while she frowned and pulled the stick out of her head.
"Cuphead," She spoke through gritted teeth. "Could you please do me a favor and let me read in peace?"
The young cup gave a scoff. "Well I'm sorry, Chalice," He said with subtle smirk, "but it's kind hard to leave ya in peace when your reading a whole bunch of boring history." He then sat up and laid himself along the branch. "Besides, a book with no pictures in it ain't a book for me."
"Aw, c'mon, Cuppy," Mugman said, using his loving nickname for his brother. "Lots of books in this world don't have pictures and they're still good."
"Maybe in this world," Cuphead replied, still smiling. "But in my world, the books would be nothin' but pictures. Why if I could make a world of my own, I'd have everything be topsy turvy. No rules, nobody telling us what to do, just good old fun." He then climbed down from the tree, sitting next to Mugman. "Can you imagine it, Mugsy?" He asked, slinging his arm around his brother's shoulder. "A world where nothin' would be what it is 'cause everything would be what it ain't. And vice versa, what it is, wouldn't be."
"I don't know, Cuphead." Mugman responded unsurely. "I can imagine quite a bit."
"Really?" Cuphead asked. "What would that be?"
"Well..." Mugman tapped his chin as he tried to think before smiling. "I'd say in my world, cats and dogs wouldn't be fighting, but living in nice pretty houses with fancy clothes and all that."
Cuphead nodded, grinning. "Yeah, yeah! And plants would have some real special extra powers and talk to us for hours when we're bored."
"And when we get lonely, there'd be new birds that would say 'how do you do'. And everyone would have at least a dozen bluebirds."
"And we could listen to a babbling brook and hear a song we could never understand!" Cuphead sighed as he leaned against his bright blue brother. "Boy, it'd be a real wonderland, wouldn't it?"
"It sure would." Mugman replied, smiling.
The two sat there, snuggling against each other as they continued listening to Chalice read her book as the hot day was making them feel quite sleepy when suddenly Mugman sat up and spotted a strange white rabbit with a blue suit and red bow tie run close by them.
Mugman's eyes shot wide open as he sat up straight. He couldn't really be seeing this, could he? He rubbed his eyes with his hands and looked again. The rabbit was still there.
"Cuphead!" He said, shaking his brother, who at this point had fallen asleep due to his boredom. "Look! Look!"
Cuphead blinked his eyes open, seeing the rabbit. "Mm? Oh c'mon Mugs. It's just a rabbit with suit... and a watch!" His eyes too widened, his straw shooting up as he realized what he was seeing as the strange rabbit actually took a watch out of it's pocket, and looked at it, and then hurried off. "Gee willikers! Where's he going?"
"I got no idea!" Mugman replied as they stared at the rabbit racing over the hills.
Burning with curiosity, Cuphead shot to his feet. "Quick! Let's follow him!" With that said, Cuphead quickly gave chase in pursuit the rabbit.
"Cuphead, wait!" Mugman cried, getting up and running after his brother.
The two brothers chased the white rabbit, who didn't even seem to notice that they were following him. They hopped across rocks in the rivers and jumped over rocks and bushes.
"Cuppy, should we really be doing this?" Mugman asked.
"C'mon, Mugsy," Cuphead insisted, "who knows where he's off to? Maybe he could heading to a great party or something."
Bounding their way past bushes and trees, the two porcelain brothers arrived just in time to see the rabbit pop down a large hole underneath a tree.
"Well, this is a weird place to have a party." Cuphead observed as he and Mugman bent over to examine the hole.
"Come on, Cuphead. We should just let it go." Mugman said, standing up, looking ready to leave. "We really should get back to Ms. Chalice before Elder Kettle gets worried and starts looking for us."
"Mugman, where's your sense of adventure?" Cuphead questioned, already bending down and squeezing through the tight rabbit hole. "Besides, it'll be fun."
Not wanting his brother to get into trouble, Mugman reluctantly got on his knees and crawled through the hole.
The rabbit hole went straight on like a long tunnel, which was rather unusual, something that unsettled Mugman but excited Cuphead.
"You know, we really shouldn't be doing this." Mugman spoke up, once again voicing his concerns.
Cuphead rolled his eyes with an annoyed huff. He was really growing tired of his brother's anxiety. "Would you relax? It's not like anything crazy is going to happen."
However just as he said that, Cuphead failed to notice the tunnel dipping straight down in front of him until it was too late. With a yelp, Cuphead slipped off the edge, about to fall.
Mugman gasped before quickly grabbing his brother's leg and trying to pull him up. However, Cuphead was too heavy for him to lift and Mugman was soon pulled down with him.
The two now found themselves falling down a deep dark well. As they fell, the brothers noticed that this well seemed very deep as there was no bottom in sight. Mugman however, spotted a curious object floating next to them as they fell. He reached out and grabbed it, finding it to be... an umbrella?
Seeing no other options, Mugman opened the umbrella and held it up above himself. The umbrella opened up and surprisingly caught their fall like a parachute as they slowly floated down.
Cuphead held on tightly to Mugman's leg as they floated down. He then noticed that it was getting darker and darker in the well as they went further and further down. 'If only there were some light.' He thought to himself.
As if answering his request, Cuphead suddenly spotted a small lamp floating right next to him. How convenient. Hesitant at first, Cuphead reached out with his right hand while his left griped Mugman's ankle. He grabbed the string on the lamp and pulled it, turning it on and illuminating the tunnel around them.
The now brightened light from the lamp revealed that the tunnel around them was not even made from dirt anymore but rather smooth rock walls with grey paint along with several household objects floating all around them. Cupboards and shelves and mirrors hung all around them, making the two boys question if they were seeing things.
It was truly a bizarre sight indeed as they floated down past a nearby mirror, which strangely showed their reflection floating up instead of down.
"Golly, look at this place!" Mugman let out in astonishment.
As they floated down further, the boys found themselves passing more objects such as bird cages, chairs, and even a spiraling chimney! At one point, they even spotted a large map of the world.
"Wonder if we'll float through the center of Earth and end up on the other side of the world?" Cuphead pondered, looking closely at the map.
"Who knows?" Mugman replied as they kept floated passing several other objects such as floating chairs that were old and new, clocks of all shapes and sizes, and even a roaring fireplace. "We won't float down to Hell, will we?" He questioned fearfully.
Cuphead scoffed. "Don't be silly, Mugs!"
It seemed this fall would never end as the two brothers continued to float down, down, down. Cuphead tried to look below them to see the bottom, but saw nothing but darkness down below.
"Are we gonna keep floating down forever?" Cuphead questioned aloud, now starting to feel impatient.
Once again, as if to answer his question, Cuphead suddenly felt his shoes suddenly getting caught on an old pole rod. He looked down again and was shocked to see the ceiling suddenly below him and Mugman while the floor was suddenly above them!
The two then fell to the ground in a small pile before Cuphead lifted his head up (or at least he thought it was up, with everything that had just happened he couldn't really tell anymore), and quickly spotted the strange white rabbit disappear down a strange twisty tunnel, going around a corner that shouldn't have been there, in an angle that looked to be obtuse but acted as if it were acute.
Cuphead quickly scrambled to his feet, once again giving chase to the rabbit.
"Cuphead, wait up!" Mugman panted as he stumbled to his feet, still feeling rather dizzy from the fall.
"Hurry up, Mugman! We gotta catch that rabbit!" He said as he rushed down the hall after the rabbit.
The brothers pursued the rabbit through the funhouse of a hall, trying to ignore all the strange things around them such as chairs that hung from the roof, windows in the place of mouse holes and vice versa, before they heard the strange voice (which was most likely the rabbit) say, "Oh my ears and whiskers, I'm terribly late!"
Cuphead and Mugman rounded another corner, believing they would see the white rabbit again, only the rabbit was no longer to be seen. It was as if he had disappeared into thin air.
Instead, the two porcelain brothers were greeted with a massive hallway, dimly lit by a series of lamps which hung from the roof high, high above them.
"Aw, dang it!" Cuphead grumbled, crossing his arms. "We lost the rabbit!"
"Yeah," Mugman said as he gazed around the room, "but where are we now, though?"
Forgetting about losing the rabbit, Cuphead turned his attention to the large hall they were in. As he looked around, he noticed there were doors all along the hall, each of them looking the exact same.
"Huh, looks like a hall of doorways." Cuphead voiced his thoughts.
The two brothers, after a bit of discussion, agreed to each take one side of the hall. They both went all the way down, trying every door until the reached the end of the hall.
"Hey, all these doors seemed to be locked!" Mugman pointed out as he tried to twist a knob on one door, but the knob wouldn't budge.
The same thing happed with Cuphead as he reached the last door at the end of his side of the hall. "Yeah, they are all locked!"
Cuphead and Mugman walked sadly back to the center of the room, wondering if they were ever going to get out. "Wouldn't there be a key or something for these doors?" Cuphead questioned.
"There has to be." Mugman replied. "How else would anyone get through these doors?"
Suddenly, the brothers came across a little, three-legged table, made entirely out of glass, with nothing on it but a small golden key. Mugman walked over to the table and picked up the key, dumbfounded while Cuphead on the other hand was elated. Where had this key come from? For that matter, where had that table even come from? He and his brother certainly hadn't seen it the first time they entered the room.
Deciding to use the key, Cuphead suggested they try using it on the doors. It had to belong to at least one of the doors in the hall, right? Alas, the locks on all the doors were either too big or too small as the key would not open any of them.
"Ugh, this doesn't work for any of them either!" Cuphead grumbled, growing impatient as he snatched the key from his brother after they tried the last door.
"Well, if it's not for these doors, then which is it for?" Mugman asked.
The brothers decided they try to search the hall again. However, when they turned around, they were surprised to see a low red curtain which neither of them had noticed before. Just like the glass table, it seemed to have appeared out of thin air.
Brushing the red curtains aside, Cuphead and Mugman found a small wooden door behind it that stood only a few inches tall.
"Maybe it's this one." Mugman said.
"Pfft, really?" Cuphead scoffed jokingly. "For a door that small? You gotta be kiddin' me!"
"Just try it, anyway!" Mugman huffed.
Rolling his eyes, Cuphead crouched down on his knees and held up the key for the lock. To his surprise and great delight, it fit! He opened the door as Mugman crouched down beside him and found that it led into a small passage about the size of a mouse-hole.
Mugman gasped, "Cups, look at this!" He exclaimed with excitement.
Cuphead leaned in, peeking through the doorway. On the other end was perhaps the most spectacular casino he'd ever seen. The casino was huge with several large chess pieces and playing cards decorating the outside, along with a series of pretty palm trees decorating the outside walls.
"Wow!" Cuphead breathed in amazement. "Check out that place!" How he longed to get out of this hallway now, go inside and play all those fun casino games he had always wanted to try.
"But how would we get in there?" Mugman asked. "We're much too big to fit through this door."
As Cuphead closed the door (while also locking it the key, just to be safe), Mugman stood up and placed his hands on his hips as he walked back to the table, perhaps hoping there would be something that would help him and his brother get through the door.
When he and Cuphead got back to the table, they were surprised to find two little bottles simply sitting on the table, again seemingly appearing from nowhere. Tied to both necks of the bottles by strings were a couple of paper labels that read, 'Drink Us.'
Picking them up, the boys read the labels aloud.
"Hey, maybe these'll help us fit through that door!" Mugman smiled.
Cuphead grinned, popping the bottle cork off. "Welp, guess we better drink up, then! That casino ain't gonna wait itself."
Mugman popped the cork off of his bottle before the brothers raised the two flasks to their lips and began to drink. The liquid in the bottles had a unique taste that neither of them had ever felt, feeling like a strange but oddly satisfying mixture of salty, bitter, and sweet. And soon enough, the boys had finished their drinks.
As soon as they finished, Cuphead and Mugman felt a strange tingling sensation in their bodies. And suddenly everything around them seemed to be getting bigger. Except the room wasn't getting larger, they were growing smaller.
Only when they were at ten inches tall did the shrinking and tingling stop. "Whoa, now we're just about the size of mice!" Mugman said in surprise.
Cuphead's expression brightened as he turned towards the door. "And now we're just the right size to fit through!" He exclaimed, rushing over to the door.
Griping the door handle, Cuphead attempted to twist the knob, but alas it was locked! "C'mon! Why won't it open?!" He questioned in frustration.
"You didn't happen to lock it after we saw the casino and leave on the table, did you?" Mugman asked.
Cuphead's eyes widened in realization as he spun around and looked up at the table, seeing the now large golden key still resting on it high above. Cuphead grinned sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck while Mugman glared at him for his stupidity.
Trying to make up for his blunder, Cuphead quickly thought of an idea. "Hey, if we could give ourselves a boost up there, maybe we could reach for it."
"I guess that could work." Mugman replied.
With the idea agreed upon, Cuphead picked his brother up by the feet and raised his arms as high as he could. So far, the idea seemed to be working, as Mugman was nearly within arms reach of the edge of the table. However, he ended up reaching out too far, causing Cuphead to quickly lose his balance.
The brothers toppled over, with Cuphead roughly landing on his bottom while Mugman fell hard on his face. So much for that idea.
"Welp, looks like we got nothin' left." Cuphead sighed.
As Mugman sat up, his eyes fell on a small plastic box that sat under the table. "I wouldn't lose hope just yet, Cups." He said, opening the box. Inside the box was a single small cookie that almost looked like it was freshly baked, with pink icing spelling out the words, 'Eat Me.'
"What do you think it means by that?" Cuphead asked.
Mugman shrugged. "Who knows? Maybe it'll make us big again."
"Well then, why don't we try it?"
Splitting the cookie into two pieces, Mugman kept one piece for himself and handed the other half to his brother. The two quickly ate their own pieces of the cookie, which had a nice vanilla and chocolate taste to it, when they realized that the strange tingling sensation was back, only now they were growing bigger!
Soon, Cuphead and Mugman passed their original heights and kept growing and growing until they both hit their heads on the ceiling. The tingling sensation gone, the brothers found themselves to now be nine feet tall.
"Well, at least we're big enough to reach the key now." Mugman pointed out with a nervous smile.
"Yeah," Cuphead replied worriedly, "but now we're too big to fit through the door."
Mugman looked down at the door, which was almost barely visible from their height now. "O-oh, right."
Cuphead gave out a frustrated sigh. "It's no use, Mugs!" He said, tears beginning to well up in his eyes. "We're both stuck down here, a-and we're never gonna get to that casino or-or go home or anything!" He then began to cry, tears slipping down his cheeks which fell to the floor. To Mugman's alarm, each tear seemed to be equal to at least a gallon of water, and were quickly filling up the room.
"No, no, no! Cuphead, don't cry!" Mugman told him urgently. "If you do, you'll fill this whole place up with water!"
Cuphead tried to wipe his tears away. "I-I'm sorry." He sniffled. He then frowned, angry at himself. "That was really stupid, a big kid like me crying like that." He scolded himself as water suddenly began to fill up his head to the brim. "I'm just so tired of all this shrinking a-and growing and trying to solve this darn puzzle!" Cuphead was now on the brink of tears again as it looked like he was about to have a serious meltdown. "Now we're both stuck like this forever, and we'll never see Elder Kettle or any of our friends ever again!"
He choked and sniffled a bit, his head now beginning to overflow with water. "I'm sorry, Mugman. I just want to go home!"
With that his dam finally broke as Cuphead began to sob loudly and uncontrollably, the water in his head spilling out like a waterfall and quickly filling the room and causing the water to rise up to their knees.
"Aww, Cups," Mugman sniffled as tears filled his eyes as well, threatening to fall, "y-you're gonna make me cry too." Just then, he spotted the two bottle from earlier floating in the water, one of them still half full while the other had the white rabbit in it.
"The Devil! The Devil! Oh, won't he be savage if I kept him waiting!" He heard the rabbit say before disappearing into the waves of tears.
Picking up the bottle, Mugman smiled as he wiped away his tears. "Cuphead, look what I found!"
Cuphead gasped upon seeing the bottle as he stopped crying. Taking the bottle, Cuphead took a small sip from it before handing it back to Mugman, who drank the last of the liquid.
The two then suddenly found themselves to be extremely tiny once again as they fell through the neck of the bottle and landed on the base. The brothers sat there for a moment inside the bottle as it drifted through the waves of tears.
"Gosh, I probably shouldn't have cried as much as I did." Cuphead spoke up sheepishly.
"Well, it wasn't like holding it in was doing you any good either." Mugman replied, placing a comforting hand on his brother's shoulder. "And for once, I'm glad you decided not to listen to me." He then added, giving him a playful nudge with his elbow.
Cuphead chuckled before turning to face the small door they were now floating towards. "Okay, now let's see where this takes us..."
And with that, the boys floated through the door lock and into the unknown.
And so, that concludes the first chapter! I hope you enjoyed and I'll update as soon as I can!
Note: At first I honestly didn't know whether to make this a regular Cuphead fanfic or to make this a Cuphead & Alice in Wonderland crossover.