"That poor child."
"Do you think that he could even protect us anymore?"
"I don't know if he can even still use the chalk."
"Maybe we should..."
Snap ground his teeth together. He had tried for the past several minutes to ignore the chattering going on between those two bakers. But he had just about enough of it and he swerved his head over to glare at them.
"Hey! Will you quit talking like that?!" Snap called out. He felt a little guilty when he realized that he had startled Blocky, who was sitting right next to him. But that guilt faded as he paid more attention to the zoners before him, his eyes narrowing into slits. "That boy spent the past couple of years protecting this place and you are already going to turn on him?"
The baker zoners looked at each other momentarily. They remained quiet for a few moments before they looked back at Snap. The blue baker said, "But you know what we say is true, right? How could a blind child help us?"
Snap yelled back, "He isn't going to be blind forever!"
That loud shouting was enough to make some of the zoners around him stare, although Snap already knew they were spying the moment that he said anything. He tried to ignore that, keeping his attention fully on the two baker zoners standing there. This time, they looked even more stunned and he had no clue when or if they would respond after this.
A part of him had wished that he waited until later before he decided to come to the park. After getting no big updates on Rudy from Penny, he had wanted to take his mind off of things. It had been an extra week and the boy still couldn't see well enough to draw. Even though Penny explained he could see some colored blurs now and a bit of shape, that didn't really help Snap feel much better.
Perhaps that was why he had taken so much offense to these baker zoners expressing doubt about Rudy. It wasn't just a matter of understanding how much Rudy had done for this place. It was also, in part, a way to hide and deal with his own feelings. He couldn't doubt that the chances of Rudy having permanent vision damage was getting closer to reality.
He had hoped that coming to the park with Blocky would help him sort out his thoughts better. He thought that the cool, permanent breeze created for this place and the multi-colored trees all around him would help him cope. Plus, he knew how affected Blocky was by all of this. He could have used the company.
But now all those thoughts were pushed out of him as these two idiots there decided that, out here in public, in a place that was supposed to be rather calm and quiet, this was a good place to start having this sort of discussion. Despite his best efforts, Snap couldn't block out their words. His mind was forced back into that state it was in before. All that doubt and uncertainty... And he grew resentful because of that.
Despite that, he tried to hold his ground. He kept his body stiffened to try to resist going after them. He wouldn't really solve anything if he did something like that. He took in a deep breath, let out a soft sigh, and he spoke up another time. He forced his voice to try to remain as soft as possible. "I know Rudy will be fine. Please try to have more faith in him than that."
The blue baker zoner stared at Snap for several moments. He opened his mouth to respond. He stopped immediately when the purple baker zoner put his hand on him, prompting him to shut his mouth and return to being quiet. Then the same zoner turned to stare at Snap intently.
"We can understand your concern. It is nice that you are so loyal to your friend. Don't get me wrong." The purple stick figure stated. "But don't you think that it would be wiser just to accept that things might not be as you think they would? Isn't it wiser just to accept the fact that Rudy may never be our Great Protector?"
Snap tried to tell himself that the zoners were not trying to be disrespectful. They were just trying to address what they felt was a legitimate issue. But that was growing incredibly difficult. His stomach was burning and churning from the thoughts and his skin felt like it was being set on fire.
It certainly didn't help when Blocky expressed concern and uncertainty of the whole thing. "B-But.. That can't be... H-H-He's Rudy! He'll fight back! He'll..."
"..get himself hurt? Face it." The purple zoner sounded more firm than before, causing Snap to narrow his eyes into slits. "Rudy isn't cut out to be our protector in the current state that he's in. He might never be again. It may be best to just move on from this. Confront the facts, little one." The purple zoner's eyes narrowed slowly. "Rudy's days as our protector is over."
Blocky shook his head. "I refuse to believe that..."
Snap remained silent. He moved slightly closer to Blocky as he glared intently at the two naysayers standing not far from him. He could feel one of his hands tightening up into a fist. He struggled not to let it shake too much and he tried to unfold his fingers. But that seemed to be an impossibility.
Not that he paid a lot of attention to this. His eyes remained narrowed and stared intently at these zoners. He couldn't believe how bold they were being. They were basically doubting Rudy in front of everyone here. He could see the other zoners watching. He could hear some soft murmurs amongst them. He could hear some more doubt being expressed about Rudy. And it was all thanks to these two bakers.
"How dare you say that..." Snap finally broke the silence. "How dare you try to spread such nonsense..."
"Nonsense, you say?" The blue stick figure zoner tilted his head to one side. "And just how are we talking nonsense? Can't you see the very real concern here? Can't you accept the fact that..."
"No!" Snap got up from his seat and started to make his way over. He ignored Blocky's shouts for him to come back as he confronted the two zoners. A part of him realized that he was going to regret this. But the other part simply didn't care. He gritted his teeth tightly as he snarled, "You are wrong. Rudy will come back. He will return to what he loves doing. You have no right to express doubt on him like that."
Silence fell upon the area. The wind seemed to amplify the effect, and Snap almost felt like he was in one of those old western shows. A face off between generally two people. Only this time, it was just him and two other zoners who appear opposed to him.
Snap could sense the other zoners watching. He could feel their eyes upon them. He could hear some coming slightly closer while others were murmuring tensely. But even with this going on, he still refused to look over at them or give them any acknowledgement. His entire focus was simply on these two, the ones who dare to deny Rudy like this. Despite what some might think, this was about more than just defending his creator. It was about defending the defender, returning the favor.
"Heh. Of course you would say something like that. Don't you think that it is doing Rudy a dishonor by making him try to live up to unlikely expectations?" The blue baker questioned.
The purple one nodded once in agreement. "Isn't it better to just accept that he might not be able to return? Isn't it better to just accept that he may not be our savior from this point forward?" He held his hands up in gesture. "Why must you burden him with forcing him to take part in something that he may not be able to do? Wouldn't that be...cruel?"
Snap's eyes widened for a moment before they narrowed back down into slits. "Are you saying that it's okay to let Rudy collapse and not even try...? Are you trying to say that all those times that he's helped saved you and everyone else here isn't a good enough reason for him to push forward and keep trying?"
"I..." The purple zoner stammered for a bit before shaking their head once. "That isn't what I'm saying at all! I-It's just that..."
"It's just that what?" Snap demanded.
The blue baker took a step forward, narrowing his eyes at Snap. "What other choice is there...?"
Snap didn't know why this was the line that finally pushed him, the one that finally broke the camel's back. He didn't know why his head suddenly pounded and hurt or why he felt slightly dizzy. He didn't know why there was a sudden, extreme urge of anger rising up inside of him.
The thing that he was aware about though, was his fit striking against the blue baker zoner. The sound resonated in the air and he thought he could hear something cracking and breaking. Everything seemed to go into slow motion as the blue baker backed off for a moment, rubbing his cheek. Then, before Snap knew it, the two of them became a blur of dust and colors, punches and kicks, all along the ground.
"Snap!" Blocky shouted at him. His voice was lost admist the yelling between Snap and the baker zoner. "Please, stop it! Snap!"
Snap refused to listen. It wasn't like he could hear much of anything, anyway. He couldn't think at all for the next several seconds. His mind was too locked in rage and emotion to even try to think. Instead, he reacted on pure instinct, raw gut feeling. He blindly struck again and again. He couldn't tell what or where he was hitting. But something drove him to keep doing it anyway.
While Snap was only vaguely aware of people shouting all around him, he was fully aware of what was going on where he was. His mind might be divided enough to not make full sense of the words being shouted to him and his opponent, but the blows that he recieved from the blue baker? That rang loud and clear in his mind. Each blow against him was heavy and collided through his body, echoing to some degree. Yet despite the pain, he still kept going, attacking with the full force of his own body.
Snap continued to attack until he finally heard a loud thud. He stared ahead at his opponent, who was now collapsed against the ground. Still locked in anger, all Snap could see was a red scene with concentrated black shadows and the baker himself looked more distorted, like some sort of villain that he had to defeat.
And that caused some memories to churn up inside of his head. The first few thoughts that finally came to him involved him remembering what that one zoner said. What was his name? Some kind of buff superhero... The exact words couldn't return to his mind, but it did at least remind Snap of something else related to that.
He was a superhero, wasn't he? And this zoner started to look more and more like a villain in his clouded vision... Perhaps it was time to finally exercise that.
Snap could feel his legs already propelling him forward, charging right at the baker zoner. He could see that he was trying to get up. He could see him waving his hands at him, as though taunting him. The zoner's eyes widened, something that Snap could feel himself smirking at very slightly. There was a sort of comforting burn in his stomach and before he had time to contemplate what he was about to do, he struck. His foot hit against the head of the baker zoner, he could hear a sickening crack, and then another thud.
Snap stood over the zoner almost victoriously. His hands were squeezed tightly, his mouth open and panting. He could feel his mind spinning as he tried to keep himself calm and steady. Sweat poured down his face at the grotesque and twisted zoner before him.
Then out of nowhere, he could hear a small squeak.
"S-S-Snap... Wh-What have you d-d-done..?"
With some words finally striking at him through the crimson and darkness, Snap shook his head once and his eyes finally could see the area around him decaying. What he thought were bold shadows were zoners that had gathered around to watch the fight. And the one that he had been fighting, the one he thought looked like a twisted villain, morphed back into what he had always been: an average stick figure.
Snap's eyes widened big as he saw what had taken place. He was suddenly aware of just how banged up the baker zoner was. His body was curled and trembling, his purple-colored comrade sitting down next to him and trying to help comfort him. Snap's eyes surveyed the body, noting the slighlty torn clothes, the cuts, the areas that had some slight bleeding, the deep bruising, especially around the stomach...
...but then he happened to see the worst of it. His foot had struck up against the zoner's neck and, while it didn't look like it was fully broken, it did seem like something was pulled there. The dark marks on his neck suggested extensive damage.
Snap could feel his heart freezing up at this. He took a few steps back, shaking his head in denial. He looked around a bit to find at least ten zoners, likely more, staring at him in horror or anger. In the case of Blocky, his expression held disappointment and confusion. Snap could feel himself breathe quicker and quicker. He took a moment to look over that the furious expression the purple zoner was giving him as well as the blue baker's look of terror, before he shut his eyes tightly and tried to deal with the swirling emotions inside of him.
No.. This couldn't be possible... There was no w... This had to be some kind of sick, twisted dream, right?
But seeing how nothing around him was changing, seeing how, no matter how hard that he tried to hope that this wasn't the case, nothing was changing. Everything around him looked and felt real. He looked down at his hands as he trembled hard. A few hot tears began to stream down his face. He did the only thing that he could think of to do.
He ran.
sss
"Mom, when is Penny going to come over again? I really miss her. The only time I see her now is if..."
"Now Rudy, you'll see her tomorrow...if Mrs. Sanchez shows up this time." His mother's answer sounded a little blunt at this. Rudy gritted his teeth and he tried to protest. Mrs. Tabootie cut him off. "Now just continue eating your dinner."
Rudy grumbled to himself. He then stared down at the plate situated before him. He growled deeply as he saw that he could still only make out shadows and colors blurred together. He still couldn't see well enough to do much precision. At least his mom was nice enough to give him some fully liquidated stuff. And by that, she made him mashed potatoes and mixed in the meat, gravy, and vegetables in it. This made a large pile on his plate that was hard to miss and would let him eat a decent amount before he had trouble.
But he wasn't that hungry. He was more bitter about recent events. And it had nothing to do with his eyesight this time.
Why did his dad have to go and do that? Why did he have to start accusing Mrs. Sanchez like that? He had cornered her when she was trying to leave. He claims that he wanted to wait, but he just couldn't. Rudy could feel the anger rising up inside of him as he recalled how his dad called out Mrs. Sanchez for a supposed hypocrisy.
Rudy could barely remember the words. It was something about how Mrs. Sanchez called them out for not watching out for their son, and yet she did not properly scold Penny when she found out that Penny 'irresponsibly took him out for a walk' without telling them. Although Rudy knew what the truth was, that should never be spoken and as a result, his parents didn't know the full story. But then again, if they did know, then that would just make the situation worse, wouldn't it?
Still, that did little to settle him down. The fact remained that his dad caused Mrs. Sanchez to start avoiding visits with him. Rudy was heartbroken, but not because he was upset with Mrs. Sanchez. It was not with him that she felt uncomfortable with. She just didn't want to see his parents for a while, though she did still occassionally brought over Penny.
He wished that they would just talk things out. He had already attempted it, but his parents refused. They say that they should wait a while before they try to speak again. Something about how they didn't want to 'pour salt in the wound' or whatever nonsense like that. But for him, that was not a satisfying answer.
Well there wasn't anything that he could do or say to change their minds. They were made up and he knew that he coudln't change it. So he tried to shift his mind off of that and turn back to eating. His mom would probably pester him again to eat. She's been slightly more...he guessed, naggy than usual. Probably had something to do with that chat she and dad had with Penny's mother.
He and his mom turned their heads when the door was suddenly flung open. It took them both by surprise until they quickly realized that it was just Mr. Tabootie. The coloring gave it away, at least for Rudy. But it helped that his mom had called out to him.
"Dear? What's wrong?"
Rudy's heart skipped a beat. Was there something going on? He tried to watch the best that he could. The blurred vision made it impossible for him to see everything that was going on, though. He struggled to try to see as hard as he could, but there was nothing that he could do. No amount of squinting or stretching his eyelids would sharpen the image enough.
So instead, he ended up getting out of his seat and walking over. He relied partly on the blurry mess before him, his own memories, and his parents' voices. They were talking about something, but he couldn't quite make out what it was. They were speaking way too softly. But when he got close enough...
"We have a week's time..." He heard his dad say in a low, hushed voice.
"Oh Joe..." His mom whispered.
Rudy immediately froze. It didn't take him long to realize what this meant. His heart froze solid as it all dawned on him. He felt his legs growing weak as he tried to keep standing, his mouth open and panting a little. His already sour mood was made even worse, making him put his hand to his mouth and struggle not to vomit.
It would seem that the officer had gotten everything set up. The evidence had been gathered. And now, his parents were being called to court. And they had only one week.
Things just keep getting better and better, don't they?
sss
Penny gritted her teeth in frustration. She couldn't understand why her mom wasn't taking her to see Rudy already. She had been waiting a while to go see him today. She had promised to take her. So what was...
Oh that's right. Her mom was still reeling from her unfortunate encounter with Mr. Tabootie, wasn't she? Penny couldn't really feel too surprised. As she recalled, it hadn't been the most...pleasant of experiences. She didn't bear any strong ill will towards Mr. Tabootie or anything. But she did wish that he had handled the situation better.
Now thanks to him, her mom was more nervous about visiting Rudy. Maybe due to the fact that Mr. and Mrs. Tabootie might be there with him and she didn't want to make it awkward. This made his visits to Rudy fewer and far between. She didn't want to let this get to her, although her stomach was already burning at the thought.
She had quickly decided that, since her mom wasn't going to take her right now, her other option was to head into ChalkZone. Meet up with Snap and talk to him. He would be happy to see her, wouldn't he? He's probably hoping for an update of some kind.
So while her mother was busy tending to an appointment, Penny took this chance to go into ChalkZone. She had even less of a worry about getting caught this time. Her mother had a few more appointments in line, which would make it pretty hard for her to check on her so quickly.
Upon arriving in ChalkZone, Penny did notice something pretty strange. Usually, lately anyway, Snap was standing nearby, waiting for her. He did it like this so that he could get information from her faster. But this time, there was no one. She looked left and right, trying to see if he was coming in from the distance. But nope. He simply was not around. This made her grit her teeth harder as she tried to think of where he could be.
But perhaps she didn't need to wait long. She could see, in the distance, someone standing there. She couldn't tell if they had been coming over here or not. Still, she hoped that this zoner could provide some information for her. She bit her lip before heading over as quickly as she could.
She soon realized that she didn't know this zoner. They must have been just passing through. Upon seeing her come over, the zoner turned to stare at her, cocking up an eyebrow. Penny froze for a moment, sensing some kind of emotional tension with this zoner. She bit her lip and tried to push through it.
"H-Hey... Can I ask you a question?" Penny asked.
The zoner did not answer. The lack of a response made the area around her feel even more tense. Penny bit her lip and she pushed forward.
"I am looking for my friend, Snap." Penny managed to say. "D-D-Do you know where he is...?"
The zoner blinked at this before snarling softly. This act took Penny by surprise and she took a few steps back. She could feel her legs shaking slightly and the adrenaline rushing through her, trying to tell her to leave, it near made her turn around and try to get away as quickly as possible. She could not move, however, finding her feet glued to the ground.
The zoner moved in closer. Being slightly taller, they leaned in and put their face close to hers. Penny bit her lip as she stared into their eyes, feeling her heart pounding. She didn't know why this zoner was so hate-filled. Was it something that she said? Was it related to Snap?
"So you're looking for him, are you?"
Well she guessed she could take that as a 'yes'.
They scrunched their face up in disgust. "I suppose I could tell you where I last saw him fleeing like a coward."
"Fleeing? Coward?" Penny whispered softly. "I don't understand.."
This did not sit well with the zoner. "Do you have any idea what he did? Do you?!"
Penny could feel herself being struck with confusion and concern all at once. She had no idea what the zoner was talking about, but she had a feeling that she wasn't going to like what she was about to hear. She thought about just fleeing and trying to find Snap. But she still felt herself bound here, watching the zoner cautiously, trying to think of what to say.
She needed to find out. Despite her reservations, despite her urge to ignore this zoner and pretend it never happened, she knew that this zoner might have something worthy to tell her. Something that might help her find Snap. Or at least, give her a good idea on where he could have gone.
She licked her lips once and she asked in a shaky voice, "What did he do..?"
The zoner just smirked, chuckling darkly. "You would like to know, wouldn't you?" They raised their head up a little, their teeth gritted tightly. "You would love to know what Snap had done to someone. I witnessed it for myself. I must say..." They tilted their head to one side. "I didn't know that he had it in him."
Penny felt her heart stinging. Still, she pushed through it. "Please, just tell me what happened."
She could feel the zoner's stare intensifying. She could see their expression changing, becoming a bit more vicious. The smile had completely faded away at this point. Then the zoner just smirked softly. No humor could be found in it, aside from bitterness. When they finally spoke, it nearly echoed in dark emotion.
"He nearly broke a baker's neck..."
Penny jolted at this revelation. She could hear her loud gasp echoing in the air. She stared at the zoner before her, wondering if they could be lying. But there was just something about this that told her that... But how could it be real? Snap wasn't that kind of person. He wouldn't try to...
Penny shook her head once as she finally turned away from the zoner. She didn't want to speak to them anymore. She tried to ignore them the best that she could while she fled. She ran as quickly as she could, her feet pounding the ground, her mouth going dry from all the heavy panting that she had to do. She needed to get out of here as soon as she could.
The zoner behind her did not give chase. This did little to settle her down and she tried to relax herself. She tried to focus on finding her friend.
But those words continued to echo in her head. It continued to drive her forward, burning her skin, her chest, her heart. She had to find Snap and find out exactly what happened. She didn't want to believe that he would do such a thing. She hoped that it was a misunderstanding or misidentification. There was just...no way that Snap would ever bring himself to do something like that.
Was there...?
