Welcome to chapter three, I know it's been a lot of Mekeke and Putata as of now.

Putata was drawing, the rain was nice to listen to. He didn't need his headphones, Putata liked listening to the rain. He was finishing his last commission for the summer, he probably shouldn't have left it opened for so long. Putata decided he was going to take a break from commissions, work on drawings he wanted.

The Nyororo he found the other night was resting on his bed. Putata smiled at it and turned off his lap light. Putata was feeling tired, it was 3am, he should probably sleep. Just as Putata was going to lay down, he heard banging. At first he thought it was the rain and shrugged it off. Then the banging didn't stop.

Putata growled and opened his door, everyone should be asleep. It wasn't his parents, it wasn't Siroro playing terrible depressing rock music. Putata looked down the stairs, was it the front door. Putata started down the stairs, the banging started to get quieter but it was still there. At this point the tadpole was annoyed.

"What the hell!?" he shouted and opened the door. What he saw shocked him to his core. Mekeke. The kid from school he had lunch with. Mekeke was covered in bruises and cuts. His eye! His eye was pouring out blood. His black shirt was soaked in water and his own blood. "Holy shit?! Mekeke!" Putata said. He caught Mekeke as he fell over but his footing wasn't right Putata ended up falling back. Putata tightened his grip on Mekeke trying to support his head.

"MAMA!" Putata yelled from the top of his lungs.

His mother was sleeping in bed with his dad. She grumbled awake, she sat up. Checking the time. 3Am? Really? She thought to herself. She knew that if she woke up her husband Putata would get the spanking of a lifetime, but Putata rarely called for her. She rolled out of bed and walked into the hallway. As she did, her other son Siroro had slammed open the door. "I'm going to kill that fucker." Siroro hissed as he ran towards the staircase.

"Siroro…" she started before she yawned, she heard her son's footsteps suddenly stop and the look of horror on his face. "Siroro...what is it?" she asked, walking over.

She let out a gasp. Putata was holding a teal tadpole, the tadpole looked like it had been beaten to death. Putata was holding his head trying to stop his eye from bleeding. "Siroro...go get my medical kit."

"Yes ma'am."

She ran down the stairs and took the tadpole from Putata. Putata hands and chest were stained red. "Mekeke!" her youngest son screamed, he gripped onto Mekeke's hands. "Mekeke! Wake up!" Until now, she's never seen her son care deeply about anyone. Putata was shut in, a loner. No one could get close to him, he would always push them away. Putata didn't like his own family. He hated his brother and his father, she didn't even know what he thought of her. She checked for a pulse, it was weak, but there. "Putata, go get your father, we need to take him to the hospital."

Putata nodded and ran up the stairs, he passed his brother who was carrying his mom's medical kit. "Dad!" Putata yelled pushing open the door. His father hissed and sat up quickly. "What is frogs name is all the running around for?! Boy, it's…" his paused for a moment as he saw Putata sobbing and his blood stained hands.

"What's wrong boy?"

Putata insisted he go with his parents to the hospital, his brother staying behind. Putata stayed in the backseat of the car as his father drove to the hospital.

"How is he?" his father asked his wife, keeping his eyes on the road.

"There's glass in his eye, I'm trying to get it out but it's already too late, he's lost all feeling and vision in his eye." his wife explained.

"And his other eye?"

"It's thankfully unharmed."

The father took a deep breath as looked into a car mirror, Putata…

He's gotten mad at his son before, he's hit his son before. But never like this. This tadpole was barely breathing, he was going to be half blind for the rest of his life. He hoped that Putata would realize how bad other tadpoles have it and respect his family more.

The hospital. Finally. Putata had to stay with father as they took Mekeke into the back. His father sat in a chair with his son right next to him. Putata hadn't said a word, he was probably scared, traumatized even. "Putata…" his dad said. It caused Putata to grip his legs and started crying. His father unsure how to react, he reached over and touched Putata's shoulder. "Putata...you can talk to me…" he said. "Tell me what's wrong, I can't help you if you don't tell me what's wrong."

"It's all my fault!" Putata yelled. "I told him to go see his mom, I told him not to listen to his dad. This is all my fault." Putata sobs got louder.

His father scooped him up and held him gently. It was the first time in years that Putata would actually let him hold him or even touch him. Putata sobbed into his shoulder as he patted his back trying to figure out how he wanted to phrase his words. "He can't see anymore because of me."

"No...Putata, it's not your fault." his father finally said. "How could you have known that this would happen? What happened to your friend isn't his fault either, who ever did this to him, that's who's at fault. Your friend can see, he'll be able to see...just not as well as everyone else can. But he'll adapt to it I'm sure of it."

Putata's father rocked him gently as he spoke, this was probably the nicest he could speak. He didn't want to make anything worse for Putata, he already went through enough tonight. Putata didn't need to be yelled at. That was the last thing he needed. Putata gripped onto him, laying there in his dad's arms. His dad wasn't going to show it or tell him, but he was also getting emotional. He rested his chin on Putata's head.

"This is not your fault my boy."

Beep. Beep.

Were the things Mekeke heard as he woke up. He opened his eye, the sun was out. He had no idea where he was. The only thing he remembered was falling into someone. Putata...where was Putata? He tried to sit up but someone put their hand on his shoulder. He squeaked, he couldn't see. Why couldn't he see? He turned his head to see who it was.

"P..Putata." he smiled widely and reached for his friend. Putata held his hand and smiled back. "The one and only." the artist laughed sadly, he was mostly trying to lighten the mood. "Glad to see you are awake…"

Mekeke nodded and shifted a bit. "What happened?" he asked. Putata let out a sigh and looked down at the ground. "My ma tried…" Putata started. "You can't see out of your left eye so they stitched it together so they could stop the bleeding. You probably shouldn't move around." Putata squeezed Mekeke's hand as he spoke. "What happened Mekeke…?"

Mekeke shivered as he thought about it, he wasn't so sure if he should say. He was scared. It was like being sucked in that blackhole again. That same hole pulling him in. Why was he scared? His dad wasn't here, was he? Mekeke's eye widened as he started to see the shadow of his father in the room. The beer bottle. The beer bottle. The flash back of the beer bottle smashing against his face was playing back into his head. Then being thrown over the counter smashing into the woodpile. The beating he got. Mekeke's unheard screams of pain, that's all he remembered.

Putata squeezed his hand and touched his face trying to snap him out of it. "Hey...Mekeke…" Putata said, shaking him. "Hey Mekeke, what's wrong?" Putata frowned watching Mekeke break down in front of him. He didn't know how to help him. "Mekeke, you are okay. No one is going to hurt you." Putata rubbed Mekeke's cheek. "I promise, no one is going to hurt you not while I'm here."

Mekeke started to cry and leaned into Putata. "I'm sorry…" Mekeke sobbed. "I just wanted to go see my mama. I wanted to see my mama. I fell asleep. I didn't mean to." Putata held his friend and stroked his back as he started telling him what happened.

Putata waited for Mekeke to fall asleep again before telling everything to his parents. It was made official that Mekeke would not be going back to his father and his father would probably go to jail. Mekeke would probably go into the foster care system. Putata didn't want that, he heard so many bad things about foster care. What if he never saw Mekeke again? He saw Mekeke breakdown in front of him over the thought of his father coming back to get him. Mekeke would be safer with him. Putata thought that would be best for Mekeke.

Putata's dad was telling them goodbye so he could leave for work. "Dad." Putata stopped him. "Can Mekeke stay with us? I feel like that would be best for him."

His dad stared at his son for a bit before looking in the direction of his wife. His wife gave the 'I told him to ask you look', so he was on his own on this one. Putata anxiously waited for his response, he looked very determined to have Mekeke stay with them. Was it because Putata blamed himself for what happened? His dad looked over at the teal tadpole who he knew nothing about and from what Putata told him they just met yesterday. After thinking for longer then he should have let out a big sigh. "Mekeke can stay."

Putata and Mekeke smiled widely at each other as if they had won a victory.

"But…"

Putata glanced up and frowned, there was a condition?

"No skipping class...you miss one class Putata and Mekeke won't be able to live with us."

Putata grumbled and nodded. Anything for Mekeke. "Together until the end, no?" he asked Mekeke, holding out his hand to him.

"Tsh...it looks like that doesn't it." Mekeke answered, taking his hand.

Mekeke was released from the hospital two weeks later and his father was arrested, set for a trail next month. Mekeke was taken to the house by Putata's mom. He learned a lot of everyone through his friend's mom for the past two weeks. He learned that Putata and his older brother Siroro don't get along very well. They fight a lot, Siroro always teasing Putata and once Putata got so mad that he hit him. Putata was punished for striking his brother and his brother was punished for destroying his art project. This happened when they were younger. They don't talk much now, not even at the dinner table. Putata's mom said that it wasn't any use to force them to get along, that was up to them.

He also learned about Putata's parents. Putata's dad's name is Anono. He's a drill sergeant in the Keron Army. Putata's father hadn't been assigned to a platoon yet but he's on a list. Being in the military was a family tradition for Putata. He was expected to join too. Apparently the highest ranking member of their family is Anono's mother and Putata's grandmother. She was Sergeant Major before she retired. She retired due to a hip injury but died when Putata was very young. Only Siroro remembers her but it's very faint.

Mekeke was sitting in the back of the car, he was still getting used to one eye. He wore a patch over his blind eye to hide his scar. He was happy to hear that Putata was doing his school work now. Knowing that if Putata goes back on his promise he couldn't stay there anymore. Putata was struggling a little bit. Apparently school fights happen a lot and Putata can't keep his cool. Mekeke never thought of Putata as an aggressive person, he was smiling all the time. But his mother always told him that everyone has a dark side, even the happy people.

Thankfully, Anono took the time to get everything of Mekeke's out of the wood shop. They haven't asked about the puppets yet. But they didn't think it was weird. Putata was an artist after all. Mekeke wondered if Putata would think it was weird.

Mekeke looked out the car window, they were almost there. He could feel it. Soon enough they pulled up to the house and Mekeke quickly got out of the car. He managed to catch himself before he fell over. It was the weekend so Putata was home. Mekeke made his way to the front door. Before he could open it, it swung open.

"Yo, yo yo!"

Putata was standing in front of Mekeke grinning widely. Mekeke smiled nervously. "Were you watching from the window?" he chuckled.

"Once mother said you were coming, I've been waiting." Putata happily answered. Mekeke nodded and made his way inside. Putata's house wasn't a mansion but it was still...big. Bigger than what he was used to. "So where am I staying?" Mekeke asked and looked around. Putata laughed and put his hands on his hips. "My room."

Mekeke nodded and followed Putata up the stairs. He gripped onto the railing so he wouldn't fall. "H-hey, slow down." Mekeke begged as he struggled to find his footing. Putata apologized and waited for him at the top of the stairs. The one eyed tadpole made it up the stairs finally. "Why am I staying in your room?" he asked, he was okay with it. He really was. He just thought that this house would be big enough where Putata didn't have to share his room. It didn't look like Putata minded, but he didn't want to be a burden.

"Because, all your stuff fits in my room and we don't have an extra bed for you." Putata explained and opened the door with his symbol on it. Mekeke looked in the room and yelled. There was a Nyororo sitting on the bed laying in all of Putata's blankets.

"Why do you have Nyororo!?" the teal frog yelped and took a step back from the door. Why did Putata have a Nyororo? Why would his parents allow that? Putata looked at the Nyororo on the bed and took a deep breath. He explained to Mekeke the night he found the Nyororo and how he tried to hide it from his parents. But while they were moving Mekeke's stuff in his room his mom found it. After begging and begging, he could keep the Nyororo as a pet.

"P-pet.." Mekeke repeated, he's never heard anyone that wanted to keep a Nyororo as a pet. Putata was a strange person. "There's not gonna be a boring day with you by my side?" Mekeke laughed and stepped in the room. Putata grinned widely as his response and jumped on the bed with his pet. Mekeke still felt weird calling it that. Mekeke walked into the corner, his box of puppets! Mekeke smiled and started to go through his box. Putata was laying on his bed with his Nyororo on his chest. "You like to play with puppets?" he asked, looking over at the direction of Mekeke. His friend nodded as he pulled out one of his puppets.

Putata grinned as he watched Mekeke start playing with one. He was going to like living with Mekeke. He was glad he made a friend this year, even if it's the strangest friend he was ever going to have.

That's it for this chapter.

Took awhile cause I was stuck on what to do.

Note: I'm aware that Putata's actually name is Anono, but I forgot to put in my notes for the fanfic, so I made it his dad's name. I still have no idea what to call his mom.

The next chapter will probably be the last for young Putata and Mekeke