Chapter 43. Untangle
Poch yawned, waking up in Loona's embrace, the hellhound spooning her boyfriend. He smiled and tapped her arm around his chest. "Loona?"
"Hm?" She mumbled, half asleep.
"I'm gonna hop over home and make some breakfast for us. Want anything?"
"Hmmm…breakfast takoyakis."
"Alright."
"And could you add extra bacon?" She reluctantly let go of him.
"Sure." He kissed her on the cheek, causing her to smile and crack her eyes open slightly to see him.
She watched him take his daggers off the desk, placing his jacket on, and leave through his gate, stretching and waking herself up. She was still a little tired but sleeping without Poch was difficult for her so she decided to sit up and go through her phone. "Jeez, more rumors?" She said to herself, seeing posts on social media about the exterminators related to the color of their souls, some theorizing they were seeing demonic arts energy while some were saying it's their shadow demons residing inside. Very few brought up souls which was relief since they weren't getting much attention. "Hope this doesn't blow up."
Poch entered his dining room, making his way to his kitchen. He paused when he heard something, a soft rumbling breath paired with gentle low hoots, emanating from his couch. He grew curious and approached the furniture, holding his dagger cautiously. Once he glanced over the top of the couch, he was relieved yet annoyed when he saw Blitzø and Stolas laying on his couch, sleeping. He sighed, thinking about talking to them afterwards but was more focused on making his girlfriend breakfast. He went to his kitchen, taking out all he needed, getting Shivarna to help out, having the Shadow Demon mix the batter and scramble the eggs, while he cut up the bacon and added seasoning. He mixed batter with seasoned bacon and scrambled eggs, and cheese, pouring it in the Takoyaki pan.
Poch took a breath, breathing in what he was making. "Nothing like the smell of breakfast in the morning."
"Uh…" Shivarna tapped his shoulder.
"Hm?" He looked back and saw him point to the couch, gazing in that direction. He deadpanned, seeing Stolas and Blitzø peeking above the couch, now awake, looking with interest. "...What kind do you want?" He sighed.
Shred was looking through his drawer, having just gotten out of the shower, only having a towel around his neck, deciding what to wear. Tonight was the night he was gonna see Tenya and he was nervous to say the least. It was hours away but it was looming in the back of his head ever since the invite.
"Shred?" Moxxie called out, knocking on his room door.
"Coming!" He moved to the door and opened it, seeing M&M who oddly turned red and flustered when seeing him, but he didn't pay attention. "Hey guys, glad you're here."
"U-um." Moxxie stuttered, trying not to glance down.
"I'm trying to figure out what to where for tonight," He said, walking towards his dresser, taking out a few of his clothing, "Like I'm thinking of going casual," he gestured to his usual attire/armor, "but at the same time, it's a hang out, so I was thinking sprucing up a bit with a cool look," He held up a pair of jean shorts with a chain on the side, and a black metal shirt with flaming skulls and guitars.
"Uh, Shred?" Millie tried to say something.
"But then I remembered that this isn't some casual get together. I haven't talked or hung out with him in years so I can't just act like nothing happened, so I was thinking about casual but different." He held up a striped shirt and khaki shorts.
"Shred?" Moxxie spoke up again.
"But then I was thinking…" He placed the clothes down, leaning on the drawer, "that…I'm just overthinking what to wear cause…I don't wanna think about what to say or…that I CAN'T or just…I don't know, what do yall think?" He looked over to them, almost pleadingly.
"I think you need underwear." Millie told him, nervously smiling, pointing down at him.
"Hm?" Shred raised a brow and looked down. Flabbergasted, he both realized and remembered that he only had a towel on his neck. "Oh shit!" He quickly retrieved a pair of boxers, placing them on, chuckling embarrassedly. "Sorry, I wasn't paying attention!"
Moxxie rubbed the back of his neck, feeling the awkward tension. "Its- a…It's fine. You got alot on your mind with meeting Tenya."
"Y'know we still got like half a day before seeing him, right?" Millie added.
"I know, it's just…" He huffed, going to the couch, taking a seat. "This isn't just some meet up with an old friend…not like we can just laugh and pretend what happened didn't happen."
Moxxie and Millie came to his side, taking a seat next to him, sympathetic to his turmoil.
"I know, but he invited you didn't he?" Moxxie reminded him. "That means he wants to work this out just as much as you do."
"That's the thing…I was…ok with just letting this go, letting our friendship go and… do I even have the right to rekindle it?" Shred replied, looking down shamefully.
"You weren't ok with it, you were just scared of ruining it."
"And I ruined it anyway."
"Shred," Millie leaned in, placing her hand on his shoulder, "you made a mistake, yeah, but…now you got a chance to fix it."
Moxxie leaned in himself. "You wouldn't be doing this if you didn't want to be friends again right?"
"Well…no." Shred begrudgingly said.
"I'm sure that means you got every right to rekindle this."
Shred sighed. "I guess I'm just….worried I'll ruin it again."
"You're overthinking it." Millie told him. "All you gotta do is just say sorry."
"It's not that simple."
"It really is." Moxxie chimed in. "Just gotta mean it. You are sorry aren't you?"
"Well, yeah."
"Then there ya go. That's all you gotta do."
"Hm…" He clenched his fist, careful with his broken fingers, "Your right." He got up, filled with determination, no not an undertale reference, "Just gotta say sorry, ill grovel if i have to!" He looked at them, no longer sulking.
"That's the spirit!" Millie smiled along with her husband.
"Yeah! Glad you'll be coming though!"
"We got invited too, ya know."
"Hmmm." Jack was on his phone on Nala's couch, reading over a manual.
Collin was looming over his shoulder, reading along. "How exactly does this work again?"
"So this is basically magic combined with tech. There are these eyeball cameras that follow us around and this console controls them. It's simple but I didn't expect there to be so many features. Like why did nobody tell me there was an X-ray?"
"Cause you'd abuse it."
"Do I look like an abuser?" He glared at Collin offendedly.
"Not of people at least," He smirked.
Jack groaned. "Fuck you." He said before turning back to the manual.
Collin read along with him. "Oh hey it says you can use magic to control it."
"Yeah, it doesn't change much, just gives it a different control style."
"That does beg the question; can you still use your magic?"
"I…huh." Leaning back, he realized he hadn't thought about that. "Well it's not like me or the others really use any spells. The only real time I use it is when using my Dust Dive, or that one time at M&M's when setting up the terminal."
"I thought Echo had some spells."
"Those are tied to his Shadow Demons so they're different."
"That begs ANOTHER question. Can you even use Dust?"
"It's not like it's sealed or something so of course. The problem is whether or not it stirs…whatever it is calling me and I don't wanna risk what happened last time, cause I might wreck the house."
"Nala would kill you if you did. Although that was when you were fighting wasn't it?"
"Yeah."
"So what if you use it when not fighting? Have you tried?"
"Uh…No." Glancing down at his hand, pondering the question, he was curious to try. "I guess it wouldn't hurt to try…but," He stood up and took off his Scythe, handing it to Collin, "Hold this."
"Why?" Taking the weapon is when he realized it was lighter than he thought. "Huh. This is lighter than it looks."
"I don't wanna risk it changing and doing whatever."
"Wait, should we get Clark? He might not have his Divina Vasa but he could still knock you out if you go crazy."
"Hmm…We'd have to call Stolas for that since he's out of state but even then he's probably working."
"He starts at midnight and gets off at seven, so he should be free."
"Or asleep since it's almost ten."
"That…could be possible." Collin deflated feeling a bit stupid. "Still we should get something just in case."
"Just get Nala's trang darts."
"...She has trang darts?"
"You didn't know?" He looked at him baffled.
"I've never seen her use it, not even on the girl that tried to rob her, she just bashed her head in with a bat."
"Sounds like her. Well she has some in her dresser, carrying one in her purse just in case."
"In case of what, her bat breaks?" He chuckled.
"Yeah." Jack said seriously.
"Wait really?"
"It's happened. Now go get her trang." He ushered him to go
"Alright alright," He set the scythe down, "which dresser?"
"Top right."
"I won't get in trouble for this will I?" He asked before leaving.
"Nah it's fine, it's her sock drawer not her panty drawer, we can explain when she and Ken get back from shopping."
"Alright, but I'm blaming you." He remarked while heading to her room.
"Dick." Jack did a few stretches, twisting his body left and right and bent back, stretching his arms.
Collin came in with the trang gun. "Alright, ready?"
"Yep." He formed a halberd with his right hand and wrote for Dust. "Here goes."
"Dart ready." Collin aimed.
"...Dust." The words broke down, entering at his shadow at his feet, the darkness rising and taking the shape of a thick black mist, surrounding Jack. "Hm…" He moved his hands, manipulating the mist. Twisting his hands around, raising them, parting them, the mist followed it all and he felt no sensation. "So far so good."
"Still fire ready."
"Calm down, trigger happy." He had it take shape, turning it into chakrams, knives, and a claymore. "Ok…let's try," The next form it took was Moxxie before shifting into Millie then Blitzo, Dundy, Shred, and the others of the team. "Alright." He flexed his fingers, feeling nothing different, dismissing dust. "Guess fighting triggers it."
"What about your dive?"
Jack did a small hop and dived into a Dust Pool, moving it around. "Dust Dive is diving fine." He hopped out.
"Welp so much for shooting you." Collin lowered his weapon.
"Don't look too disappointed." He glared in annoyance.
"So it just happens when you fight?"
"Guess so."
"But does it matter what you fight?"
"Huh?" He raised a brow curiously.
"Hear me out. What if it only happened cause of WHAT you were fighting?"
"A reaction to the angels? Why?"
"Well it's demon related right?"
"Yeah but what about my hot flashes? Those were random."
"Yet the first time you got all psycho was cause you were fighting angels."
"I get what you're saying but it wouldn't make sense. Like why now?"
"I don't know, maybe cause you reached a new stage or something?"
"But how does fighting angels specifically fit into this?"
"That's what I'm wondering, if it is that….but thinking on it now…why you at all?" Collin began to think.
"Whaddya mean?"
"You're technically a human so…why would something demonic be targeting you?"
"I…maybe it doesn't know?"
"Hm…this is a mystery…I'll get my notebook!" He flew away.
"What for?"
"Notes for this mystery!"
"What are you? Sherlock Collin?"
Shred was carving his claws on a piece of bone, carefully holding it with his broken hand, sitting in the lobby of I.M.P.. He was getting progressively distracted as the work day went by, countless shavings around him, not even focused on the bone.
Millie and Moxxie walked in, Moxxie wearing a trench coat and bowler hat and Millie holding the book.
"Hey, you…ready?" Moxxie slowed himself down once he noticed the shavings surrounding Shred's feet.
"Hm?" Shred got out of his trance, facing the married couple. "Oh, sorry," He set the bone down, getting up, "I'm set."
"Still nervous, huh?"
"How'd you guess?"
Moxxie pointed down. "That."
"Hm?" He glanced downward. "Oh," He chuckled awkwardly, "sorry."
"Just take a few deep breaths," Moxxie came behind him, patting him on the back.
"Don't get cold feet on us now." Millie joined.
"No worries…" He took a deep breath, steeling himself. "I'm gonna see this through!"
"Good," Millie placed on her disguise while her husband donned his unfinished one, the hat and coat hiding the obvious, opening the book to make the gateway, "let's get going!"
"Right!" Shred turned to his human self, heading over to the gateway, keeping a brave face but still scared on the inside, stiffening as he got closer to the yet to be open gate.
The portal was complete, Millie standing on the side. "Go first."
"Ok…Ok…" He took another breath and stepped through, one foot at a time, emerging through to the human world, heading into an alleyway. He stood there for a moment, looking at the trash that littered the floor near the dumpsters, the graffiti that was placed on the walls, and the rats that scurried around. He recognized some of the things written on the wall, noticing the new things. Looking forward, swallowing down a lump in his throat, he moved forward, heading to the sidewalk in front of him. A wave of nostalgia flew into his being, encroaching upon the neighborhood, seeing the multitude of houses and small businesses before him, businesses like arcades, bakeries, and laundromats, all ones he knew well. It's been a long time since he's been here and not much has changed, his memory of what they looked before invading his vision albeit slightly. He turned to his right, looking down the pathway briefly before following it. Moxxie and Millie weren't far behind, following the Exterminator and just observing, getting a grasp on how he's feeling. He kept walking down the pathway, glancing at the places he knew well, seeing how they've aged and had been slightly altered, recalling things. He even saw a few familiar faces, nervously smiling and saying hey to them, getting surprised looks that followed up with smiles and waves, others just smirking as if they knew he'd be coming. Each step he took closer to his destination, every move of his foot forward, his heart beat became louder in his ear, so loud that he could hardly hear anything else. He stopped moving, swallowing a lump, turning around. Right up a short flight of stairs was a wide green two story house, Tenya's house. Looking upon it, it looked so close yet so far, the steps leading up to it multiplying in his eye, the house rising further and further.
"Shred?" Moxxie called out, noticing his trance.
"..." Shred didn't hear him.
"Shred!" Moxxie shook him out of it.
"Huh!?" Shred shook his head, looking down at the barely disguised imp. "S-sorry. Kinda lost it there." He rubbed the back of his neck.
"Deep breaths," Millie patted, giving an example.
"Right…right." He took a deep breath and moved forward, going up the stairs, onto the porch, and in front of the door. He shakily raised his fist against the door, pausing for a second before giving it a few taps.
It didn't take long, maybe a few seconds, before the door opened, Tenya greeting them in a Friday the 13th shirt that showed Jason with a bloodied chainsaw and jean shorts with a chain hanging on the side. He had a calm expression on his face. "You're early." He greeted.
"Is…is that bad?" He asked nervously.
"Nah, just surprising." He smirked. "Come in." He moved out the way to let them in.
They entered the living room which was right next to the kitchen which was separated by a bar with stools right in front of it. On the bar were pizza boxes, holding about six boxes, the living room having a 60 inch flatscreen tv with two Ps5's, an Xbox and a Switch, across from it being a large couch.
"Nice place." Moxxie commented, taking off his coat and hat. "Where can I put this?"
"Closets right there," Tenya pointed to the closet next to the stairs.
"Thanks." He stored them inside.
"I got pepperoni, sausage, and your disgusting favorite, Shred."
"Disgusting?" Millie raised a brow.
"It's uh…not that bad." Shred tried to play off, forcing his smile.
"It's pineapple on pepperonis. It's blasphemy." Tenya said.
"That…doesn't sound too good," Moxxie commented.
"Yeah…I mean…you could try it." Shred solemnly suggested.
"I'd rather not poison my tongue." Tenya scoffed.
"Heh…yeah I guess you wouldn't. A-anyways, what'd ya wanna do?"
"Well, I'm curious if you still have your MK skills." He said while approaching his tv and systems, turning the ps5 on.
"You got 11?" He perked up a little.
"Duh, you expect me not to?" He smirked.
"Well no but…you mod it?"
"A little, not a lot of good mods for this game, the best thing there was was some skin mods." He looked at Moxxie and Millie. "You two ever play MK?"
"No." Moxxie answered.
"Yes." Millie answered in unison.
Moxxie looked at his wife in confusion. "You have?"
"Girls night. I'm good with Jax."
"Oh yeah."
"Well in that case how bout this, loser switches out, me and shred will go first and you can teach your husband the rules."
"I'm ok with that." Moxxie agreed.
"Sweet, game on Shred." Tenya handed Shred a controller.
"You're on!" Shred said with some enthusiasm.
It's been at least an hour of gameplay gore, Millie teaching Moxxie how to play, and doing pretty well herself when it was her turn. When Moxxie finally came in they agreed to go a little easy on him.
"Fatal blow!" Moxxie called out, something everyone was doing when they did it, playing Frost, managing to hit Shred, who was playing Johnny cage. Moxxie cringed at the stabs into the chest, back, and head via icicles. "Such overkill."
"That's MK for ya." Millie stated, eating a slice of pineapple and pizza.
"Can't believe you're eating that." Tenya said in disbelief.
"It's not bad actually."
"Vindication." Shred smirked, finishing Moxxie off.
"Crumbs. Be gentle?" Moxxie said in relation to fatalities.
"Sure," He imputed the command and Johnie proceeded to open Frost up from behind, "here's Johnny!" He said in unison.
"That was gentle?"
"Gentle as can be with Johnny!"
"Well I lost, your turn Tenya." He handed Tenya the controller.
"Thanks." Tenya took the controller, cracking his fingers. "No more nice guy Shred." He selected Lui Kang.
Shred slouched. "Oh fuck."
"Yep, and no mercy."
"Ugh If only I could use Ripper as a character."
"Ripper?"
"Oh, uh…my Shadow Demon."
"Shadow demon? Also how come you're still in your human form?"
"Whaddya mean?"
"I thought you couldn't stay in that form for long?"
"Howd you-?"
"Your dad told me."
"He did? What uh…what else he tell you?' He asked nervously.
"A few things…Like how you apparently did have a gift ready for my birthday."
"Oh…" He looked away.
There was a moment of silence and awkward tension. Millie bumped her husband signaling that they should give them a moment.
"Uh, where's your bathroom?" Moxxie asked.
"Upstairs, on the left." Tenya answered.
"Great!" Millie grabbed Moxxie's arm, "Well be right back!" She pulled him up and they went upstairs.
Tenya and Shred were left alone, both looking at each other before looking away somewhat awkwardly, both wondering what to say. Tenya thought to apologize for making it weird and he was about to until,
"Sorry." Shred spoke.
"Huh?" Tenya looked at him confused.
"I'm…sorry…about…everything." He looked down, remorseful, finding his words.
"..." Tenya let him continue.
"You were like a brother to me, honestly…you know me, lot of people didn't really…interact with me in highschool…but like…you got me…and it meant something…but I was so afraid of losing that that…I ended up losing it anyway…I should've just told you but…like a moron…I didn't…" He tensed, his face scrunching, like he was to tear up. "Im…im so so so-" he turned to face his friend only for a snickers bar to be shoved in his mouth. "BLOP!"
"Aaaand gonna stop you there." Tenya pulled back after shoving the candy in.
"ERG!" Pulling out the candy bar, he swallowed the chunk that was shoved in. "Why'd you-!?"
"To stop the water works before they start…Look I…" He adjusted himself, facing Shred better, "I had a talk with your old man and well…while I can't forgive you for just ditching me…I..kinda understood with all he told me about you becoming a demon and stuff but it was still shitty dude."
"I….Im so-"
"Wait, not finished." Taking a sigh, he continued. "But…you came today…you actually wanted to fix this and…i appreciate that…it means alot…I honestly expected you to ditch me again but you didn't…thanks." He smiled. "So here's the deal…no more secrets…well at least these kinds of secrets, no more leaving me in the dark, and…visit when you can ok?"
"..." Red flames engulfed Shred's person, turning him into his cat demon self. "Deal."
"Great…glad to have you back man." He raised his fist for a bump.
Shred looked at his fist and was about to bump it back but hesitated, thinking of something different, embracing his best friend in a hug instead, which surprised him.
"I swear if you purr," Tenya chuckled while returning the hug.
"I can."
"Pft, shut up." They seperated and Tenya grabbed his phone. "Now then, time for a video."
"Huh?"
"You owe me one don't ya think?"
"Well…I guess but what-"
"Ever heard of the sad cat dance meme?"
"...How many followers you got on youtube again?"
"Nearly half a mil."
Shred smirked. "Not after this! Ey," He called to the stairs, "you two wanna join?"
Moxxie and Millie poked their heads out from the top of the staircase. "Sure…uh what's a sad cat dance?" Millie asked.
They made three seperate videos, Tenya having had a pair of cat ears and a tail for M and M for them to participate.
Shred version played with Tenya starting out with him holding a collar, cutting between shred looking at it and the collar itself, the cat progressively getting a smugger smirk before the chorus started. He started the dance by swaying side to side, flashing his fangs, and opening and closing his hands to the songs beat, shifting to waving his arms side to side, smirking again, for a few seconds, moving again to making cat paws and bopping them up and down, swaying again, ending it by turning around and shaking his hips and tail side, finishing with a twirl.
Millies was more simple, the imp looking at the accessories on the ground before contemplating it, smiling a bit devilishly until it went to the chorus. The first half consisted of her bouncing side to side holding her arms in front, clearly enjoying herself, the later half having her turn around, looking back mischievously, hands on her hips, shaking her tail a bit provocatively.
Moxxie was a lot more shy about it, his starting with the others doing the begging, Shred and Millie even able to raise their whole bodies up for the intense beg (if thats what its called) though not for long before it cut to Moxxie blushing redder than his skin, embarrassingly moving his top half side to side, his hands above his head, simultaneously opening and closing, doing the cat ear thing (I don't know what its called, spare me)
Tenya did a quick review of the rough draft before saving it to edit later. "Thanks guys!"
"That was so embarrassing." Moxxie reeled in awkwardness.
Millie hugged him. "Aww you looked adorable baby!"
"This shit gonna do numbers I tell ya." Shred claimed confidently.
"Maybe, speaking of, wanna do a let's play?" Tenya asked.
"Hell yeah! Oh wait, you use face cam."
"No worries, I'm actually getting into vtubing and I know a guy who can make heads for you all."
"What about tracing?"
"What's vtubing?" Moxxie whispered to Millie.
"Virtual youtubing, like using a 3d avatar to mimic ya." Millie answered.
"Oooh!"
"No worries, I've done post recording tracing before, so it should be fine." Tenya stated.
"Sweet!" Shred thumbed up.
"Be right back." He left to get his equipment.
By the time he left, Shred turned to the power couple. "Hey uh…thanks guys…really I'm glad you came."
Millie and Moxxie smiled at him before giving him a hug. "You're welcome." They said in unison.
End.
Next chapter. Dive.