Author's Notes:

Okay, I lied…the last chapter just kept getting bigger and bigger on me...so this is Part 2 of 3. Hey, once I get the writing bug, I can't stop myself. Can't stop, won't stop.

I even debated for a while whether if I should just make Part 3 a separate one-shot story that ties in with this one…but I didn't like that idea of 'go read this story to understand this story' so much, so here we are.

Also, a small, minor spoiler for Game of Thrones.

11:56 p.m.

Heloise Nerz – her true name – gave Dot a big hug. The nurse would normally advise against hugging or any close contact of any kind during this time…but at the very least, they were wearing masks. And even though that meant the four of them – the Warner's plus Heloise's family – would get tested or quarantine for two weeks…

It was still worth it.

"W…h…a…t?" the man with the ugly grey top tried to say, confused as to what was going on. He saw the water bottle lying next to him, the poison – the evidence – draining it's contents onto the brown lawn.

Did they hire this attractive woman to be a 'runner'? Thinking that he would be more inclined to take a water bottle from her rather than from any other person?

She said she was a nurse…but how can a nurse give someone this much pain? Didn't this go against the Hippocratic Oath or something? What kind of nurse was she?

He underestimated these toons…and now he was paying for it with his life.

"Thank you for doing this," Yakko told Heloise, clasping his hands together. He rarely showed such vulnerability and gratefulness to a human before. "I…I don't know how I can ever repay you. I owe you a great debt. Thank you."

Normally, he would bark at Dot to not get too close to another person…but Heloise was an actual nurse and so he trusted that she took the most precautions better than anyone else in this state.

"Nonsense, darling," she said under her red mask, "I'm happy to help."

"That was faboo!" Wakko exclaimed, although the eldest gave him a look to keep his voice down. "You're such a great actress, I wish you didn't give it up. You still got it!"

"You two were always sweet," Heloise said. "But my acting days are over."

Although she looked like a toon on their old show, she was 100% human; the animators just used advance software on their part to make it look like all the humans on the show were toons as well. There were really only a handful of human toons in the industry, such as Elmyra, the Flintstones, the Scooby-Doo gang, etc. All the rest were human actors 'stylized' as toons. Heloise acted for a while just so she could pay for med school and become an actual nurse instead of playing one on tv.

"We…we weren't too touchy with you? Were we? On the show?" Wakko asked her, afraid of the answer. Since she wasn't in the reboot, he had to wonder why, and if it had anything to do with them and their behavior towards her.

"Darling…it was a show, you were playing characters, it was all staged, all rehearsed" she said, trying to ease his mind. "You two were always very sweet…as opposed to other people I've worked with. I've had far worse jobs than that," she looked at Dot and brushed off a twig that was caught in her hair. "That's why I agreed to help when you called, I know the feeling."

Dot smiled through her mask and tried to hold back her tears. The brothers didn't dare to ask what the nurse meant by that; they could tell it was a secret between the two women and they didn't want to break that bond.

They were almost ashamed – well, mostly Yakko was – that they didn't think to call the good nurse years ago. She would have been a great advocate and friend for Dot during those early days. She would understand what Dot meant by 'the pain' that she felt. Yakko could only imagine what kind of pain she was talking about, but Heloise would just know and could prescribe better treatment than her brother.

But it wasn't until last year, when Dot found her number in the office of one of the studios executive and gave the good nurse a call. Dot was furious about the studio's decision to not include Heloise in the reboot and so Dot wanted to apologize to her on behalf of the cast and crew.

And that's when the two started talking…

One thing led to another…

The good nurse could sense Dot was on edge about something…

And asked her what was wrong…

For the first time, Dot relented and told all: her rape all those years ago and the lies she hid from her brothers. The anxiety she felt about starting a new show and how she was afraid what others would think about her new role and would they reject it or embrace it? And finally, the small fear that new fans would stalk her in the dreaded age of social media. That anime short was fun to film, but she realized later on that she probably had unleashed a new set of perverts to gawk at her online.

Dot was surprised how easy it was to confide in Heloise, but she figured it was because Heloise was a distance third-party person who was not as emotionally invested in Dot's wellbeing as her brother's were. Also, again, because she was a woman and just understood.

The good nurse had more than enough experience working with those types of people…those types of men…making snide comments at her when she walked.

Sometimes even the women would scoff at the good nurse for wearing tight clothes, but she was gifted with an hour glass figure and so all of her clothes were going to be tight. What could she do about that? Wear ugly, oversized sweaters for the rest of her life?

Cue eyeroll by both women…

And so, after Dot finished her story and confessed her fears…

Heloise, like any good nurse, asked her what she could do to make it better, to make the pain go away?

Dot called her a few months later with her answer.

So, the good nurse had arrived early and parked a block away. She had debated in her car whether she should just turn around and go home as she wasn't entirely sure if she was ready to be an accomplice to murder. But as soon as the man walked out and the nurse saw the poor girl freeze up and had that look on her face, the nurse knew she wouldn't regret her actions tonight.

Heloise knew that Dot was stuck in her prepubescent body, that she wasn't actually ten, that technically Dot was older than Heloise if they were both counting human years…but the nurse had seen that particular look before from the kids she treated who had been abused.

As a nurse, there was only so much she could do, but as a human who was off the clock, this was her chance to do more.

"Oh, you're okay, little one," Heloise said, when Dot began to teared up in her arms. "Call me anytime you want to talk. It gets better; I promise," she gave her one last hug. "And I hate to do this now…but I do have to go. I need to go back home to my family. I told them I just wanted to drive around town to clear my head from work…and it's been almost an hour. You will take care of the evidence, right?" she looked down at Yakko.

"You know it," Yakko said, giving her a thumbs up.

"And yourselves?" she asked, raising her eyebrow at the eldest because she knew how much stress he was under. He never listened to her advice on the show to take it easy whenever he would get overwhelmed...even though he tried to hide it from most people, the nurse could read him like a book. "You'll take care of yourselves?"

"Always," the eldest said, giving her a look to indicate that he'll try, but he won't promise her anything. "Goodbye Nurse…and thank you."

The bright blonde woman with her bright red mask placed Dot back down on the ground and started making her way to her car.

The three masked toons ran to the gate to wave goodbye to the black Porsche, as it sped through the pavement, and there was silence once again on the street.

12:06 a.m.

Dot turned her attention back to the man.

"Sorry about that," she said coldly, completely changing her tone and expression. She peered down at the man as he was lying on his back, now forced to looked up at the sky. "Just a little reunion, you wouldn't have accepted anything we would have offered, so we had to call for backup."

"I…b..ut…I've…chan…ged…" he tried to say, his voice starting to sound like Daffy Duck with his slurred words.

"Buddy, I gave you a choice…you could have just turned yourself in, but you chose the hard way," she said, glaring into his eyes. "And if you have changed, there's still one thing you haven't done since you first saw me. Not even now, at this very moment? Do you know what that is?"

"W…h…a…t…?"

She took off her mask and for some reason, seeing her mouth and red nose again for the first time in a decade gave him more vivid flashbacks...

"Well, I'm in control here, buddy," she said emotionless, "soooo, you should be begging for mercy, begging me to release you, start acting nice, or at the very least apologize, like a lot of guys in your…situation."

It took him a few seconds to realize…

Those words…

He remembered saying something about 'you should start acting nice', because of the attitude she gave him…

Oh god, he just wanted to talk to her…

Wanted to talk to a star…

Everything afterwards just spiraled out of control…

"I…I'm…s…s…so…" he began to say, but then stopped. "Look…things…got…out…of…ha…nd…"

"That's the understatement of the millennium," Wakko murmured off to the side.

"I…ju…st…wanted…some…one—"

"—were you going to take that thing out?" Dot interrupted, carefully kicking his crouch, she wasn't interested in his little pity party, "were you going to take that thing out when I was…loose enough for you? Were you just warming me up? Was your finger just the opening act, had I not escaped?"

"…I…I…don't…kn…ow….I…don't….reme…ber….my….pl…ans…" he said, unsure if that was true himself.

"Jesus fucking Christ dude!" Yakko shouted, his eyes bulging out. He came strolling up to the man's side and was about to stomp on his face with his giant foot.

"Yak—big brother!" Dot threatened, forgetting for a second to not say his name; anytime she heard him utter a four letter word, she always prepared herself for the worst. "Remember…I'm doing this…please don't…"

Wakko grabbed Yakko's hand and tried to lead him away, but the eldest wouldn't budge.

"But…but…but…" Yakko cried, his face bright red and his mask was soaking with the spit that flung out of his mouth as he shouted. Once upon a time, he was able to walk away from stomping on the man's face to death, but now, not so much. They say time heals everything, but time just made the eldest angrier, and he just didn't realize how angry he was…until now.

"I know, I know," Wakko said, trying to hold the eldest back. "But let her do this. It's her turn, not ours."

"It's just…out of everything he has said tonight," Yakko cried, gasping for air from a rage that was burning up inside of him, "that made me really mad! He won't even admit it…'I don't know', that's a cowards answer! He was going to do it!"

Wakko once again tried to drag Yakko away, but he turned around to face the man and waved his finger at him.

"You were going to take your dick out, don't lie to us!" Yakko's voice cracked, his face was sweating, "I just thank god she escaped! I thank god everyday how brilliant she was in that moment! I also thank god she's not like other toons! She can't get pregnant! She can't! Did you know that?! They stopped her aging well before she could go through puberty! But you were going to try and put a baby in her anyway! I know your kind, so don't lie to me! I know you fetishize us toons — I followed your case for years, to make sure you didn't get out, so I know your likes and dislikes and I know you like toons — and I know you wouldn't have stopped yourself from creating your very 'own' toon with my sister!"

"Shh, shh," Wakko comforted him, trying to get him to keep his voice down. At this point, if the neighbors hadn't come outside yet, they either couldn't hear anything or they truly didn't care, "Yak—big brother, remember what the nurse said…you need to calm down…shhh, shhh," the middle child rubbed his back, "you're going to wear your voice out and I know you hate it when that happens."

The man was clutching at his throat, with drool and tears washing over his face.

"Big brother, please," Dot pleaded with Yakko, staring into his soul.

Yakko looked into her glossy black eyes; the man had told Dot that they were soulless, but that couldn't be further from the truth. Wakko and Dot's black eyes looked like the quiet night sky and any light reflecting off their pupils reminded him of the stars. If he stared at them long enough, he swore he could see a whole galaxy within. Their eyes were beautiful, which is why her cuteness act almost always worked when she flashed her eyelashes; her eyes held the universe...his universe…as cheesy as he knew that sounded.

Yakko sighed heavily and turned around, so he wouldn't have to see the man anymore. The eldest was just glad that he said his piece at least, but a little ashamed that he blew up like that in front of his sibs. The nurse was right, he needed to take better care of himself.

"You're right…I'm sorry Princess, it's not my turn, it's yours," he mumbled, retreating to the tall tree that was just a few feet away with his brother holding his hand.

"Well," she looked back down at the man. "You see? You see the pain you caused? Anyway, at least now I know that you were going to properly rape me, with your little stick figure and all. So, I don't feel bad doing this. You see, I'm just tired of the being the nice girl."

The irony had dawned on him, not the 'nice girl' line, but the fact that he had been released from prison early to avoid getting covid, to avoid gasping for air on his back, to avoid his lungs failing him…

"…so…sorr…sorr…y…" he spat out, trying to give her what she wanted so he could get the much needed help.

"I can't hear you," she said softly. "Say it again."

"…s…s…sor…r…y…"

"Mmmm, you're still very quiet."

"Sorry…sor…sorry…!"

"What exactly are you sorry for?"

"Fo…r…hurt…ing—"

"—Hurting? That's an interesting word to use right now," she told him, crossing her arms. "It implies that you ran over my foot or you spilled hot coffee on my lap. It implies there was only a minor amount of pain involved, and you know, nothing else."

"I…I'm…sor…r…y…fo…r…touch…ing…yo…u—"

"—Raping me. It's not a hard word to say…you've said worse to me," she squinted her eyes at him.

"It…wasn…'t…rape…" the man said.

This time both brothers came storming back to his side, with Wakko getting out his mallet and Yakko wanting to stomp on his face again.

"Guys!" the youngest snapped.

"…I…fingered…yo…u…" the man said, "th…at's…not…ra…pe…"

Yakko glanced at his sister, still visibility shaken from before. "Princess, can't we at least—"

"No!" she cried, resting her hands on her hips. "You promised. It's my turn, you had yours—"

"—But what about me?" Wakko asked and she was annoyed that the middle child was now breaking her trust too. "I didn't beat him as much as—"

"—guys," she flashed her eyelashes at them and pouted her lips, but she didn't put on her adorable voice like she always did; she was serious and stoic when she said, "let me do this. Please."

The brothers glanced at each other and for a second, she thought they weren't going to listen. She could see the hate in their eyes and their hands were ready to strangle someone with a thick neck. But after another second or so, Wakko loosened his grip on his mallet and Yakko set his foot down on the grass, both of them sighing before walking back to the tree that was a few feet away. She sighed in relief for small miracles.

"That's not how apologies work," she told the man in a deep voice, "which is why I know you haven't changed. You understand that society has told you that you did something wrong. So, you say you did something wrong. But I don't think you know why it was or even care; you're just regurgitating lines your lawyers told you to say and you have repeated it enough times, that the judge shaved off your sentence and let you go. But you raped me, good sir, you raped me. Violently, I might add. You…you…you," she glared at him, and for a second, the man swore he saw her eyes flash red before changing back to it's natural black color; it probably was a toon thing, "you went deep and you went hard. You…you never wavered for a moment."

She wiped whatever tear appeared in her eyes and tried to reframe from showing such weakness to him.

"Your…your hands were dirty and your finger nails were long and sharp…and I…I even think you stuck in two fingers, possibly three, who knows…"

Both bothers winced at the image that their baby sister just painted. They wished Dot had given them a bit of a warning first before she described such things…uh…vividly. Not even Yakko was told that much by her, and even though he was the only one who'd seen the video…he wasn't exactly watching that closely at that particular angle.

Any small doubts that either of them had about being here and being apart of this heinous act were instantly gone.

"Just because I'm a toon doesn't mean I am indestructible and 'can handle it'…"

"…pl…ease…he…lp…" he begged, "I'll…give…you…money…any…thing…ju…st…help…"

"I don't care about money and if I let you go now, you'll tell someone," she said in a biting tone, "no, I'm gonna take a page out of your book; to prevent you from going to the police, I need to hurt you more. Hurt you so much that it'll shut you up…forever."

"But…but…bu…t…" the man pleaded.

He was running out of time, he could feel his tongue burning, his heart beating faster, his vision getting blurry. He gave her an apology and yet she still refused to help him.

"You…" he managed to spit out. He was angry now, he still wanted help, but if she wasn't going to give it, then he wanted to hurt her. He narrowed his eyes and glanced up at her, "you…you…liked…it…you…liked…it—"

"—What?!" Dot snapped as her face turned a deep shade of red.

This whole time, she tried her best to be calm and to keep her emotions in check. She tried her best to stick to the plan, to be methodical and careful, even just now, when her brothers were about to ruin it and splash their DNA all over him, she stopped them. She was able to be cool and calculating, even when the man spout off a pathetic excuse, she never gave into her rage, her anger, her wrath.

That is…until now…

Her left eye starting twitching as she clenched her jaw tighter. She was about to launched at him, wrapped her fingers around his little throat, and snuff out whatever pathetic life he had left. However, before she could, before she could end this all with her own two hands, she felt a sudden gust of wind rush past her face as two toons sped to her side. They used their four hands to hold her back, preventing her from charging forward.

"Let me go! Let me do this!" she shouted at them; she never thought she'd see the day that her brothers would hold her against her will, but here they were. They, of course, would argue that they were doing it for her own good.

"Don't listen to him," Wakko said, gripping her left arm, "let the poison do its work, you'll get your DNA all over him and it'll be instantly suspicious if there are red marks around his neck."

"He's only trying to gaslight you, so you will make a mistake, don't give in," Yakko whispered on her right, tugging on her right arm and wrist. "Remember, it's what you did when he had you pinned against that wall. Your instinct was to make him angry, so he would get flustered and make a mistake."

"You…" the man continued, knowing that he hit a nerve with her, "You…you…were…moan…ing…"

"I was not!" Dot shouted, she tried to jump forward again, but her brothers used all of their toon strength to keep her still. It wasn't easy though, because she was just as strong as they were.

"No don't, you'll regret it!" Wakko pleaded with her.

"Let me go!" she cried, struggling to get out of their tight hold. "You guys are such hypocrites! It's okay for you two to whack him on the head with your mallets or stomp on his face, but I can't twist his neck myself?!"

"We'll strangle him for you, if you want," Wakko said, "we're okay going to prison, if we get caught. We'll find a way to escape, but we don't want you to go through the court system."

"You've been through enough," Yakko added.

"I didn't moan! I didn't moan!" she cried.

"Shhh…we know, we know," Yakko told her, "remember, I watched the video, I know everything that happened. If you were moaning, it was because you were in pain, not because you enjoyed it. So don't listen to him, Princess!"

"He's trying to make you doubt yourself," Wakko added. "Don't do this!"

"You…were….wet…" the man said, smiling. "You…you…liked…it…"

"Oh, go cough up a lung!" Yakko told him, before whispering to Dot, "Princess, don't do this, I beg of you."

"Please…don't do this…" Wakko pleaded.

"Listen to us…"

"We know what's best…"

Oh, she hated that line.

She stopped struggling for a second and whispered in a soft voice, "then you two probably shouldn't have taught me this move, I'm sorry in advance."

Before either of them could respond, she ducked her whole body down and as they both were forced to leaned forward with her, she hit their faces with the back of her head. They fell backwards pretty hard and she was free. In that one second, her brothers watched in horror as she sprinted towards the man.

"Princess!—"

"—Khaleesi!"

She was now a foot away from him and just as her hands were about to reach for his neck, she hesitated when she saw him smiling.

"You…you…loved…it…" he said, in between coughs.

He didn't seem to care that he was about to die when earlier he was begging for help. No, he wanted this. Either he knew he would die, but she would get caught in the act or worse, he was getting some weird sexual pleasure out of being choked…even in death.

Gross.

She stopped herself, looked down at her shaking hands and then back up at his pale face. She closed her eyes, as she listened to the little voice inside her head.

'Inhale…exhale…' it whispered. 'Don't be stupid, stupid.'

She took a deep breath in before slowly letting it out. In that moment, she remembered her old self: when she would run amok with her brothers around the studio; when she hung out with her girlfriends and they would watch bad movies together and laugh at the pathetic attempts that Hollywood called entertainment; when she plan out her outfit for the whole week and never once worrying if something was too short or too see-through.

She missed that girl.

She wanted her back.

She didn't want to be angry and sad for the rest of her everlasting life, that wasn't her, that wasn't what a Princess would do...or even a Khaleesi.

'Don't be stupid, stupid," the voice told her again.

She remembered the times she laughed and gave sass to anyone who dare annoy her even a tiny bit. She smiled at that memory and made a wish that there would be more laughter in her future, more sass, more attitude, and that this moment in time wouldn't be her life forever.

She wished that she would be happy again.

Dot opened her eyes and saw that her hands had magically stopped shaking. Weird, but anyway...

"I…I…I…made…you…a…woman…" the man continued, "you…were…wet…"

"Yes," she told him and his smile vanished when she agreed, "with ink and blood."

She sat down next to him and he tried to spit out, "No…you…were…coming—"

"—Isn't it beautiful out tonight?" she interrupted, looking up at the sky. She swore that she just saw a shooting star go by, but figured she was seeing things since there was technically too much light outside to see the galaxy above her in such detail. When she didn't hear a reply from him, she turned and asked, "what's a matter? You've finally got your wish, ya know? You wanted a pretty girl to talk to you, well, here I am! I'm gonna talk to you all night long! Think of it as our first and last date, isn't it romantic?"

The brothers sighed with relief as they helped each other up, rubbing their heads from that hard punch she gave them. They were thankful that she stopped herself when they couldn't.

"You…you…were…coming…" the man tried to say again.

"Mmm, doesn't matter if I was or not," she said, unbothered by his words. "You went so hard and so deep, I was still losing ink. I was still in pain. It's like force feeding someone cake; even if it might be delicious for one second, that doesn't mean it was perfectly pleasant for those other minutes it was shoved down their throat against their will. They didn't want cake…I didn't want cake."

"…but…gk…gk…gk…" his throat gargled and she raised an eyebrow.

"You're on the second stage of the poison now. I'll admit, it's a little slow, it did take it's time to get there," Dot said calmly. "It's obviously painful and people will initially think you just had covid when you died, because you were just released from a prison where cases were rising. Well, until they can perform an autopsy, that is. But…with less workers on the line as cases start to go up again – who knows when that would be? A few days? A week? A month?"

She watched as his body start to convulse on its own. She studied him with intense eyes.

"It'll be a shame really," she continued stoically, "the poison will be out of your system by the time they do an autopsy. Oh sure, they'll probably know that you didn't die of covid…but…who would even care enough to do a thorough search at this time? They'll mark it as an overdose of drugs or something and leave it at that…they have bigger fish to fry right now. And if they don't think it's a drug overdose, well then, I'll cross that bridge when I get there."

His arms and legs were shaking and flapping on the ground.

"I only feel bad for those workers right now. I feel bad making more work for them. But I'm saving some future girl the trouble…possibly your nieces. Oh sure, pretend like you're disgusted by that comment, pretend that incest is beneath you…but you weren't disgusted with me. Even after I tried to dissuade you with my cartoon age. You didn't even know me, so I don't know what you're capable of."

He was foaming at the mouth.

"How much longer?" Dot asked Yakko, her face and voice still emotionless.

"Not much," he said, "I say roughly, mmm, 5 to 10 minutes? That's if we mixed it right."

"I should probably confess now," Wakko spoke up behind him, "I think I put a little too much nightshade in when we were mixing it together. You said a teaspoon…I think I put in a tablespoon by accident."

"You what?!" Yakko snapped, but Dot didn't seem that bothered by his confession, she was lost in her own little world as she continued to stare down at the man, whose face was turning purple.

"Is that bad?" Wakko asked. "Did I screw this up?"

"I mean…uhhhh…no, not really," Yakko looked over to the rapist, his mouth caked in spit bubbles, "it'll still work the same, but…" he thought for a second, remembering the chemistry behind the poison they created, "he'll just have a more painful death and it'll just be messier. But you're cleaning it up mister…"

"Sorry," Wakko said, at least he wasn't in too much trouble.

"Jesus, mixing up a teaspoon with a tablespoon," the eldest muttered under his breath.

"Hey, I said I was sorry, the abbreviations look very similar on the spoons."

"You know I would ground you for a month if we weren't already stuck in the tower all day!"

The two brothers walked over to the tree and leaned up against the sturdy branches – with Yakko making a mental note to lecture Wakko on the importance of measuring sizes – while they watch their little sister continue her 'date'. It looked almost romantic…if one didn't know the context.

"You have a clear view of the stars," she coldly told the man, carefully watching him convulse on the ground, "the sun was pretty much in my eyes the entire time, the last time we met, so be grateful I allowed you this small mercy."

She looked up at the sky and tried to see if she could find the Big Dipper or any of the zodiac constellations. With all this sweet revenge planning, dealing with lockdown, and the constant nightmares, she almost forgot that her "birth" day was coming up in…in well…a week. Huh, time sure does fly when you're planning your rapist's murder.

She was going to turn the big one: 100 human-years-old.

At least…that was the "birth" date according to Yakko. After years of study toon history and theory, she still couldn't tell – at least not by looking at a toon – if they had been drawn by humans and or if they were born from other toons…including herself. For all she knew, she could have been drawn on the same day as her brothers and Yakko made up individual "birth" days for them.

But that line of thinking on her part always led to the uncomfortable question that the eldest dreaded to hear more than else anything in the world: what happened to Mom and Dad?

He always told his sibs a story about their birth, but she knew it wasn't the complete truth. After a while, she just learned not to ask too many questions and accept whatever wild tales Yakko told them. He tried to put up a façade and claim that he told them everything and that he just didn't remember anything else, but his siblings knew that wasn't true.

Wakko vaguely remembered living in an apartment in Toontown, but he couldn't say for sure if that was their old home, some rundown orphanage, or a building where they store freshly drawn toons before they were cast in a movie short. He did remember a lady and possibly a man coming and going into the apartment, but most toons back then had black and white fur – color fur just wasn't in fashion yet – so the lady and the man that he remembered could have been their parents…or just some random people who ran and oversaw the orphanage.

All he could remember was that one day he was sleeping in a warm bed with a bottle, and the next, he was following Yakko around a lot, going from one street corner to another. He remembered sleeping under the stars for a few nights before they hopped in a car with some strange men…

But then Wakko would leave it at that and would tell Dot to stop asking questions because it made him feel bad that he couldn't remember much and Yakko would just get mad at them both if she pestered him for more details (Dot was a little afraid that those 'strange men' had done something to them – something similar to what the man did to her – and Yakko was shielding them from knowing the truth).

12:22 a.m.

As Dot stared up at the sky, trying to find and remember all of their zodiac signs – Wakko was a Taurus, right? – she could hear the man's body shake violently against the grass as he continued to cough and gag. She stopped daydreaming about her parents and remembered where she was. She looked over to her 'date', peering into his bloodshot eyes. The poison sure was taking it's time, but that was probably because of the extra nightshade Wakko unintentionally gave him; she figured he was near the end.

"You know, being in lockdown gave me time to think," she told him softly, "I always thought I was better than this…I always wanted to be saving something or someone…not create pain. But then you came into my life…and you know, the world is full of evil monsters right now, and I want to get rid of one of you at least. I know I won't truly ever get over what you did, not really…but this helps…"

He was gargling at this point and she figured he wasn't aware of his surroundings anymore as his organs shut down. He probably couldn't even hear her anymore or process what she was saying, but she didn't care.

"You have two minutes I believe," she continued to talk, "we were very careful in mixing the ingredients—"

"—but not measuring it, apparently," Yakko murmured before glaring back down at Wakko.

"It was a little inspiration we got from Lady Olenna Tyrell," Dot continued on, "…oh, that's right! You probably have never seen Game of Thrones, correct? You probably don't know what I am talking about, wow, prison must really suck. Okay so basically, the gist of it is…she poisons an evil person…he dies a very sloowww and painful death. Chaos ensues…but nobody discovers it was actually her who did the deed…until she tells them…" she went up right against his ear and whispered, "and so, she gets away with it…"

She smiled as he continued to gasped for air. She could hear him drowning on his spit, his body becoming more animated. He looked up at her with his red eyes and she swore he seemed scared in that moment. Maybe he could still hear her and understand what was going on.

Good.

"And you may ask, why didn't we just end your misery with our mallets or anvils? Why poison? Of all things we toons could use, why poison? Why am I letting some liquid do the dirty work instead of doing it myself? Why plan it this way? Well one, as you heard and saw us before I was about to rip your neck open, it would create too much evidence; two, it's nice, slow, and quiet, well, at least for us it is. You're no longer talking, so that's the important thing. And three…my favorite reason…"

"…gk…gkkk…gkkkkkk…" he gargled one last time.

"…poison is a woman's weapon," she whispered, staring into his eyes. And with that, he let out his last breath and his red eyes rolled up in the back of his head. "Oops, my bad, I timed it wrong. You had one minute."

She carefully slipped on a second pair of gloves and gently checked his pulse on his wrist.

She felt nothing.

No pulse. No heartbeat. No life. Nothing.

It was over.

The nightmare was over.

She threw the gloves back into her hammerspace, to be disposed of later.

His face was purple; his cheeks were covered in spit and tears; she could only see the reddish white corners of his eyes now as those dark beady pupils had disappeared. His mouth hung open, like he was letting out one last scream, but nobody would hear it.

It was exactly how she wanted him to look.

He looked…dare she say it?

A bit cute.

Well, not in the traditional sense…

More in the 'morbid goths obsessed with death' sense…

For a few seconds, she seemed perfectly calm and at one with herself, as she looked up at the stars again. She wondered if there truly was such a thing as a Wishing Star. Maybe in some cultures or other countries perhaps, and that whatever wish she had made all those years ago…or even tonight…had finally come true. She had her chance to get revenge in the most perfect way possible…with both her brothers by her side.

She was free. She could feel it in the sudden cool breeze that rushed past her face. She was more of a heat person…but something about the summer night breeze had calmed her down and softened her broken soul.

Her brothers watched her bask in the moonlight…

The sun was considered a masculine energy source, it was hot and fiery and had almost blinded her when she was pressed up against the wall all those years ago…

But the moon, well the moon was definitely feminine, it brought her peace and serenity and she smiled up at the cold, yet gentle rock…

A small smile escaped her lips and she seemed happy at first…

But suddenly, as if a switch turned on in her brain, her face swelled up with tears as she just realized what she had done.

She had killed someone in cold blood.

She was a murderer.

While she had tried to be mentally prepared for this part of the plan, it was still a shock to her system. But what really scared her the most was that she knew that if she were given the chance to go back in time…she would still do it all over again in a heartbeat. A chilly thought to have, but there it was, this is who she was now.

Yakko raced to his sister's side and picked her up. "Shh, shhh, it's okay," he whispered, ripping his mask off so he could nuzzle her small nose.

"I-I-I-I…killed…" she simply said. Her tears streamed down her face, but she seemed more shocked than sad.

"Shhh, shhh, shhh," he said, bouncing her up and down. "It's okay, it's okay," he repeated to her, before he looked toward the middle child. "Wak?"

"Right!" the younger brother exclaimed.

He put on a hazmat suit that he kept in his hammerspace and carefully vacuumed the man's body, getting rid of any trace of fur and possible DNA that might have accidently fallen on him. Wakko took the water bottle that was on the ground, put five different plastic bags over it, and threw it into his hammerspace – the poison only worked if one ingested it, but not from touching it. He then went through the whole crime scene, retracing the rapist foot steps, so that he was sure to pick up any evidence that was left behind.

He was incredibly thorough; he even found hair strands from Heloise near the gate's entrance.

Wakko then carefully picked up the rapist's body and placed him inside the house on the couch. He turned on the tv and put the remote control in the man's hand. Wakko then wiped down the Android and the cordless phones, cleaning away his fingerprints, before placing the phone in the man's hand, so his fingerprints would still be on it.

Wakko noticed that the phone was damage, and remembering that the very last conversation the man had was with his sister and it did not end well, Wakko threw the phone up against the wall really hard, aiming high to match the rapist's height. Wakko hoped that it would look like the man did it in a fit of rage.

The middle child then continued to tidy things up, cleaning down doorknobs, making sure their fur was out of the carpet, but he also didn't want to overclean it either. The first clue for any good detective to spot in a homicide was if the house was too clean, smelled too good, and vacuumed too much. Watching 100 hours of true crime shows in lockdown had really paid off…

Although Dot was the very last person the man saw when he was alive, Wakko would be the very last Warner to see him period.

So, just as Wakko was about to close the door on him and this chapter in their lives forever, he stared at the lifeless body one last time.

"You know, the poison may have been slow and painful," he whispered and the stiff corpse could do nothing but sit and listen. "Absolutely agonizing. It almost hurt me to watch you suffer. But I think it killed you too quickly. Even after I put in that extra nightshade," he smiled and looked around to make sure Yakko wouldn't overhear,"…which wasn't a mistake, I'll admit. I was fibbing; I knew what I was doing when I put in that tablespoon. I just wanted you to suffer a little bit more. Ya see, if she wasn't here, I wouldn't have hesitated to rip you from limb to limb myself."

He tightened his fist, but tried his best to stay calm. It was over, after all, and he was arguing with the dead.

"If I had my way, I would have kept you alive for days on end, so you could slowly bleed out...but I couldn't, she wouldn't let me. So, once again, she saved you from me, even now, even when she planned your demise, she was compassionate. That's the kind of person she is…that's the kind of person you hurt. So, the very least you could do is rot away, stay out of her dreams, stay out of her head, and never bother our family again. Goodbye, Mr. Rapist, I don't know what your real name is, but I don't care. That's your new name now. Mr. Rapist, have fun in Hell."

He closed the door and let out a heavy sigh. If he was a smoker, he would want a cigarette right about now, but as it was, he just wanted to eat a giant turkey leg. He was getting hungry after only eating three hours ago, but that was a good sign that he was getting his appetite back. He took off his mask and walked back to his siblings.

12:31 a.m.

"It's okay, it's okay," Yakko told Dot.

"He-he-he's gone…because of m-m-m-me…" she stuttered, still shocked, still processing her actions.

"Shhh, shhh," he said, bouncing her up and down.

"Done!" Wakko proudly told his brother.

"Shhh!" Yakko shushed him. "Not so loud."

"Sorry," he said, before adding in a soft whisper, "we can go now."

Yakko quickly looked over Wakko's handiwork inside the house, being careful not to step inside and to just look from the corner, making sure to shield Dot's eyes from the scene. He even shined a black light they had brought to make sure that it was clean, but not too clean. After a few minutes, he was satisfied with how everything looked and gave Wakko a small pat on the head and the signal that it was time to go.

The two brothers turned around, and began walking away from the crime scene, strolling under the moonlit sky, with Dot still in Yakko's arms. They knew it was probably going to take them all night to return back to the water tower, especially at the pace they were walking, but they were fine with that.

It's not like anybody was keeping track of the puppy dog children anyway; Yakko knew which security cameras were out and which were facing away from the main entrances, so it was easy to slip in and out of the studio during this time with limited security. Their alibi – if the murder was ever traced back to them – would be that they had no alibi, because they were always in the water tower and nobody in the studio could say for sure when's the last time they saw the Warner children leave the tower.

"Do…do you regret what we did?" Wakko carefully asked Dot, who was clutching Yakko tightly, her eyes focused on the bright moon above them.

"Wakko," the eldest snapped, trying to keep his voice down. "Don't. Not right now."

"No…no….no it-it-it's okay," Dot said, getting out of her trance. She looked down at Wakko. "I…I…I just feel awful right now, I'm just in shock…like I-I-I just realized that…I am just a c-c-cold…blooded…k-k-k-killer…"

"Remember, you never gave him the water bottle, Khaleesi," Wakko assured her. "And you restrained yourself from choking him."

"You know what I-I-I mean," she said. Although she had stopped crying, she was still stuttering. "We-we-we can play that game all night…I-I-I didn't give him the bottle…but we all know…it-it-it was me."

Wakko thought for a moment, before adding, "Just like Lady Olenna said on the show." She smiled at him.

"But," Yakko said, "do you at least feel a little better?"

"I mean," Wakko replied, "it just happened, but I won't lie, I feel great and relieved."

"Of course," the eldest rolled his eyes. "I shall sleep with one eye open, but my question was not aimed at you, Jason Voorhees. So, Princess, what do you say? Do I need to sleep with two eyes open from now on? What are you feeling right now?"

She paused. "It's…it's too early to tell…I'm-I'm sure tomorrow, I'll say no, it-it-it didn't make me feel better…but…but I know in a week from now, or-or a month, or even a year, p-p-possibly, I know the answer will be yes…yes, I-I-I n-n-needed to do this…it was for the best…I mean, I-I-I can say I am protecting other women, but truthfully, I'm j-j-just protecting myself…but-but until then, I just want to sleep all day tomorrow."

"We all do," Wakko agreed.

"Hey!" Yakko said, trying to brighten up the mood. "Do you know what will make you feel better, sibs? And to pass the time?"

"What?" they both asked.

"How about the story?" he winked at them. Dot held onto him tighter and rested her head on his shoulder, while Wakko took a hold of Yakko's free hand.

It was kind of a cheesy late-night story Yakko told on the rare occasion, but Dot always ate it up and even Wakko admitted that sometimes it gave him a warm fuzzy feeling inside. The producers of Animaniacs had overheard Yakko tell 'the story' one time after shooting the Beauty and the Beast parody.

Hey, sometimes Dot screwed up saying her name, it happened, especially after a long day of shooting scenes and not having enough caffeine in her bloodstream. She would roll her eyes at others making fun of her for not saying a name that they themselves couldn't even say without stumbling over the Louisa Francesca part. But what she didn't appreciate was the director and the producer telling her point blank, 'no, we're keeping your mistakes in, it'll make the sketch funnier'. Those were bloopers, but they would air it as if they were supposed to be a part of the show. She blew a fuse on them.

The crew all thought it was funny and cute, but she didn't think so and Yakko had to calm her down by telling her 'the story'. Once the producers heard him recite the beloved tale to his sibs, they did not hesitate to write it down quickly on their notepad, change the words here and there, and - with Yakko's blessing of course - add it to the movie script they were working on at the time for the yet to be named Animaniacs movie.

The rest, as they say, was cartoon history.

"Let's see," Yakko started. "Once upon a time, a handsome man married a beautiful actress and they had two sons…"

"But they wanted a daughter too," Wakko chimed in.

"Right," Yakko said, "and so they searched high and low for an animator all over the studio, and on the first day of summer, every animator presented them with a drawing. And out of the prettiest drawing came—"

"—me!" Dot exclaimed.

"Yup. And so, the man and his bride - Mom and Dad - took you home…" Yakko continued, before pausing, "and then every night at bedtime Mom, Dad, and I would come in and say, 'Who's the cutest girl?' and you'd say—"

"—I am!" Wakko shouted.

"No, I am!" Dot smiled, punching him in the arm. "Smartass."

"And we'd ask you two," Yakko continued, "'how'd you ever get so cute?' and you'd say—"

"—we were drawn that way," both siblings said.

"And we'd say, 'Tell me us your names, young sibs,' and you'd say—"

Dot cried, "Princess Angelina Contessa Louisa—"

"—Wakko."

"—Francesca Banana Fanna Bo Besca the Third…but you can call me Dot—"

"And we would ask," Yakko said. "'Can I call you Dottie? Can I call you Wak?' and you'd say—"

"—Nah, call me Dottie and you die!—"

"—sure, I don't care either way!"

"Annnd we would laugh and laugh and I would tickle you both," Yakko leaned forward to tickle his brother, before tickling Dot in his arms.

"Stop!" she cried, giggling.

"And you laughed too! And I would hope you two would fall asleep with a great big smile in your heart," Yakko said and Dot nuzzled her nose against his. "But I know you both better than that; you both are little monsters."

They both flashed him an evil grin.

"But you're my little monsters," he said.

"That must make you the biggest monster of them all then," Wakko quipped.

"Children," the eldest rolled his eyes.

The younger siblings looked at each other.

"Children," they said together, mocking his nasally tone, before giggling.

"Uhhhh…well I could tell you the other story," the eldest said. "Once upon a time, Mom and Dad loved each other so much, that they made the perfect son: me. You two were just adopted later on for the fun of it."

"Well," Dot smiled, "that just means they picked us little monsters, whereas they were stuck with you."

The younger siblings giggled and the eldest rolled his eyes.

12:57 a.m.

As they were exiting the city and beginning the long trek into the rolling hills and the desert landscape that was Southern California, Dot had situated herself on Yakko's shoulders. Wakko had found a big stick and was twirling it around as if it was a baton. Yakko was more or less focused on the map in his hands and following the directions home. So even though it had been an emotional night for all, everyone seemed to be getting back to normal.

Dot rested her arms on Yakko's head, occasionally braiding his fur just for the fun of it, and looked up at the night sky to see if she could find another shooting star in their mists. She swore she did see that shooting star before.

She thought back to what she was thinking about earlier tonight, about growing older and reaching her special "birth" day. Human age may not be that big of deal to other toons, but the Warner's had prided themselves that they were one of the few toons in the business to reach such a milestone…and they didn't look a day over 16! Dot watched the galaxy swirl and move above her and she decided it was time.

She wanted answers.

She gathered up enough courage to ask the eldest a question that she hadn't asked in decades.

"Yakko…" she began.

Maybe she was secretly afraid that she would get arrested for her crime and everything would be traced back to her so easily. If so, she rather know where she came from before she was sent to prison. Maybe she just wanted to know because it might bring a small comfort in her life, some closure, to an otherwise awful year. Or maybe she realized that if she could stand up to her rapist, she could handle anything this cruel world threw at her, even the painful truth…whether the eldest wanted to admit that or not.

"Yakko are you…" she said again, hesitant to continue. Her courage faded and she became a coward again and backed off. Maybe now wasn't the right time.

"What?" Yakko asked her, putting down the map and reaching up to gently poke her on her cheek. "Ha' penny for your thoughts?" Wakko groaned loudly at that tired and outdated bit his brother always did and Yakko just smiled at him.

"Nothing, never mind," Dot mumbled.

"Believe or not Dot, this is your night," he said. He could sense that she really wanted to ask him something, but was just afraid. "I also know that someone has a very special birthday/existence day coming up. You probably thought I would forget, with everything that's happened this year, but no, I remembered—"

"—hey, I remembered too!" Wakko interrupted.

He didn't like it whenever Yakko would try to steal the 'Best Big Brother' award. The three of them had just bonded over the fact that they watched their little sister's rapist suffocate to death, was Yakko trying to pick a fight with him now?

"I just thought we were gonna throw a surprise party – like you guys did for my 100th," Wakko said, still twirling the stick in his hand, "which is why I haven't mentioned it to Dot yet!"

"Uhhhh…well, we can't really throw a party, not this year," Yakko said, "and even if we were planning a party, the surprise is kind of ruined, Wak. Sorry, I should have told you sooner what I had planned for her birthday…which is just a small affair with us three…but we were busy planning and training for this….uh…little adventure," he poked Dot on her cheek again, "Dot, I'm sorry we can't go all out with the festivities like we did with Wakko's 100th, but maybe next year, when the world becomes sane again. So, what do you want to ask me? You could ask for a pony for all I care and I'll probably say yes…er, but don't…that was just an example. I have no place to store a pony in the tower. So go ahead and ask, birthday girl!"

She sighed. "Okay…are…are you ever…" she stopped, why was this so hard for her?

She remembered the last time she asked, which was a couple of decades ago, she wasn't so afraid, but now she was. Maybe because she thought she was pushing her luck to conspire, kill, and to ask her big brother this one important question. Maybe she realized just how spoiled she truly was.

"Dot, just tell me, there's seriously nothing you could do or say that would surprise me anymore," Yakko said plainly and Wakko glanced up at her, wondering why she was being so hesitant and weird. After all, she literally just got away with murder with him.

Like a band aid, she thought to herself, just rip it off.

She leaned forward so she could peer into Yakko's eyes, that usually did the trick whenever she knew whatever she was about to ask or say was going to get her in trouble.

"Are you ever gonna tell us the real story about Mom and Dad?" she asked quickly, wanting to flash her eyelashes, but was afraid to commit to the act.

Wakko stared up at her in disbelief and the stick that he just threw above him, fell on his head. Yakko had stopped in his tracks and instantly became still. His muscles tightened up and he tried to shift his eyes away from hers. Wakko became uncomfortable and looked over to his brother, preparing himself for the proceeding fight that would ensue; this was no longer going to be lovely night stroll after a violent murder.