Chappie 5
Stormy: (Singing) Mele Kalikimakaº is the thing to say one a bright Hawaiian Christmas Day! Hawaiian Christmas Da-ay! (Begins dancing in circles)
Jareth: The hell are you doing?
Stormy: (still singing) I just did my Christmas Concert for Choir and I can't get the stupid song out of my head! (Stops singing) By the by, where's Celty?
Jareth: She's got the flu. I'm covering as your Guardian for her.
Stormy: I must say, I'll be highly surprised if the two of us are still alive at the end of today.
Jareth: Why's that?
Stormy: Because you have a habit of getting your charges into less than safe situations.
Jareth: (sarcastic) Why, I'm glad you have such faith in my Guardian skills.
Stormy: Oh, stop mopping and help me do the disclaimer.
Both: Storm-Maiden-Lucania owns nothing in this story, 'cept for the O.C's.
Stormy: And anyone who reviews on this chappie gets a cookie and a hug from a character of their choice. Please enjoy!
We didn't get back to the house for several more hours. By the time we walked thought the door, the girls and Gru had won several more games and were now face-painted up. The first thing I saw when we entered the house was an older man in a lab coat standing at the end of the hall, arms crossed and looking mighty annoyed.
"That's Nefario, Gru's chief scientist." Jareth explained.
"Go on gurls. Go play." Gru urged, and they ran off into the living room, myself following. They flopped down on the rug, Agnes laying on her new plushy.
"Mr. Gru is the best dad ever!" The youngest cried and Edith nodded in agreement.
"Yeah. Maybe…" Margo mumbled, a smile creeping onto her lips. I was currently focused on the arguing hushed voices coming from the hall. The voices stopped and Gru walked in, a solemn look on his face.
"Gurls, I ave some business to attend to. Please stay out of zis room for a vhile." He asked and they nodded, trotting out into the hall. I was about to follow when I heard Gru give a sharp whistle. Several minions appeared and he began giving them directions to set up the room for a meeting.
'What ever that means.' I thought with a shrug, flying out as Gru began to close the hall door. The girls had disappeared off to one of the houses many bathrooms to get washed up and I had time to think. Gru was a super villain, that was true, but from what I had seen back at the park, he also had the capability of being an excellent father. There wasn't much I could do to make him give up of the girls and this was the most stable home they'd had in a while anyway, so I might as well watch and see how things panned out. I didn't realize how long I'd been lost in thought until the girls came back, their faces scrubbed free of the paint and their prizes stashed safely in their room.
"So, what do you guys want for dinner?" Margo asked her siblings.
"Pizza!" The other two cried excitedly.
"We'd better ask Mr. Gru first." The eldest replied and reached for the door, and revealing Gru standing in the center of the room, a large display board set up next to him. He too was free of the bunny face paint he'd received.
"Zen I vill grab ze moon!" He said, seemingly talking to his T.V. He flipped to the next page of the pad, revealing a roughly drawn picture of who I assumed was Gru sitting on an old style toilet.
"And then I sit on the toilet-Vait. Vhat?" The villain did a double take, his eyes darting back to the board and the girls gave a loud giggle. We both turned to glare at them, knowing this was their handy work.
"I'ave told you not to touch my things! I'ave told you a thousand times!" He said in a desperate whisper as he stalked over to them.
"Hey, can we have pizza?" Margo asked, ignoring the fact he was already ticked off at them.
"Pizza?! You just ad lunch!" He replied, still in a whisper. Agnes tried to run past him into the room and he motioned to one of the minions who were standing by, the one named Phil I think, and the humanoid grabbed her, pulling her back into the hall.
"Not now, for dinner," Edith resorted, giving him a look of 'duh'.
'Dinner? Just…Fine, fine, fine, vhatever. Just get back en there!" He said, pinching the bridge of his nose in annoyance.
"Oh, wait! Can we get stuffed crust?" Margo asked, her eyes lighting up.
"Oooh! Stuffed crust!" The others, including Phil, echoed longingly, almost drooling over the thought.
"I'll stuff you all en the crust!" He said, raising his voice, just generally pissed.
"You're funny!" Agnes said with a laugh and he lost a bit of his bite.
"Just don't come out of there again!" He hissed, pushing them back into the hall and closing the door.
"I'll go order." The eldest told her sisters before trotting off in search of the phone. I became worried when I saw a devilish grin spread across Edith's face.
"I've got an idea. Wait her." She whispered to Agnes, and then ran off around the corner. The youngest sat down against the wall, humming quietly to herself. A few minutes later, Edith came whizzing back around the corner. She pulled her sister to her feet and pressed her finger to her lips, motioning to be quiet. She quietly opened the door, ignoring Phil's motioning her to stop, and the two slipped in. I groaned, tugging on the long side of my bangs in frustration, and followed them. The first thing I noticed was the man on the T.V. He was a large, roundish, powerful looking man. His sparse hair seemed to curl up into almost a pair of horns. I assumed he was the one Gru was having a conference with. Jareth pointed to the girls, who were currently sneaking along the wall, and cocked an eyebrow. I shrugged and went after them, nudging the door by accident. It gave a loud creak as it swung open and Gru whirled towards the sound. He began to creep around the room, peeking under the couch and just generally looking for them, assuring the man on the screen that everything was fine.
"Hello! Whoa, this guy's huge!" Edith cried, her jaw dropping as they popped up in front of the screen. The man gave a gasp, his eyes widening in surprise. Gru spun around and saw them.
"Vhat are you doing? I told you to stay out of ere!" He cried, chasing them out of the room. I winced as he crashed into the hall wall and sort of bounced off of it, continuing his chase. A few moments later, he backed back into the room, hands up in front of him in a defensive position. The girls followed him in, the two balancing a large ray gun like object between them.
"Hey! They found the extra freeze ray! I was looking for it!" Jareth said cheerfully as they pointed it at the panicked villain.
"Freeze Ray!" Edith cried, pulling the trigger, sending a beam of blue light shooting out the barrel. It hit Gru and encased him in a block of ice, leaving only his hands, feet and head free. It was then that Margo chose to walk back into the room and our jaws dropped in the same instant. I was horrified. Obviously, I was really sucking at my job if the girls thought it was okay to freeze someone. What the hell was I going to tell Ichijo?! I was yanked out of my thoughts by a crash. Gru had fallen backwards and was now lying in a pile of shattered ice.
"I don't understand." He said, his voice shaking slightly as he looked at the man.
"Let's face reality Gru. You've been at this for far too long with far too little success. We're going to put our faith, our money, into a…well, a younger villain." The large balding man replied.
"But, I…" Gru resorted, grasping at straws.
"It's over. Goodbye Gru." He cut Gru off, before holding an apple up in front of the screen, crushed it, and the screen went black. I looked over at Gru and saw that the most heart wrenching expression of defeat and loss had filled his eyes. He slowly got up and sluggishly trudged out of the room, the girls gazing after him in concern.
"What just happened?" Margo asked her siblings.
"Well, the big guy said some thing about how they weren't investing any more money in him." Edith answered and Margo's eyes went wide with understanding.
"Guys, I think we just kept Gru from getting a loan." She told them and I looked to Jareth for confirmation. He nodded sadly, his eyes downcast.
"They're right. Gru was trying to get a loan so he could steal the moon." He mumbled.
"The moon?!"
"Yeah. From a really young age, Gru was obsessed with going to the moon. And, well he didn't exactly have the most supportive mother, so his hopes were kind of crushed. I guess he just thought that if he couldn't go to the moon, he should steal it instead. And in order to do that he needed a loan."
We solemnly followed the Girls as they dashed after Gru. He was slowly making his way down the hall, eyes on the ground. He disappeared around the corner and the girls gazed after him. Suddenly, Agnes was off and running up the stairs. After a few moments, she reappeared, holding the girls piggy bank. She shook it and nodded after Gru. The others nodded in agreement and followed him. We wound our way into the depths of the house, eventually ending up in the Minions break room, located somewhere in the hidden factory. The multitude of yellow humanoids milling about halted as their employed walked in. The girls hid, peeking around the corner of the door as Gru sopped in the center of the room.
"I know zere are many rumors floating around about ze bank deigning os a loan." Gru announced loudly to the room.
"I ave come to put zose rumors to an end…Zey are true."
The minions stared at him in shock from the announcement.
"En terms of money, ve ave no money. So, ho vill ve geet to ze moon? Ze answer is clear." The villian continued, pulling a stool over and tiredly sitting on it.
"Ve von't."
The minions gave a quiet gasp.
"Ve are doomed. Now vould probable be a good time to look for other employment options. I know I ave fired up my resume as I suggest all of you do as vell."
The girls crept out from behind the doorway and trotted over to him. Agnes tugged on his sleeve and he looked down at them, his eyes filled with sadness.
"Vhat is it?" He asked, his voice cracking slightly. "Can't you see I'm en the middle of a pep talk?"
Agnes held up the piggy bank and he hesitantly took it, eyebrow crumpled with confusion. He uncorked the bottom and poured the contents into his hand, the $ 7.35 the girls had to their names. He looked at the siblings and smiled softly, the three returning it with their own sunny grins.
"Hey, hey, Boss! Loku!" One of the minions cried and we turned to see him waving a handful of money in the air. The reaction began to spread as more and more minions began to hold up money and other valuable objects, crowding around him. Gru's face slowly lit up and a smile appeared.
"Yes! Yes, ve vill build our own rocket!" He cried, holding the piggy bank high.
"Using zis and vhatever else ve can find! Grab everything! Het the junkyards! Take apart ze cars! Vho needs the bank?"
The minions burst in to action, picking things from the break room up and carrying them away. I was baffled however when one of them bumped into me. I don't mean passed through me like some specter. I mean literally crashed into and bounced off of me. He stumbled into another minion and the two proceeded to get into a fight.
"Let's go! Let's go!" Nefario directed, breaking up the squabble. I glanced at my hands in confusion, but didn't have much time to ponder as I too was swept into the commotion.
To say the next month was eventful would be an understatement. The girls accidentally turned Gru's space suit pink when they threw their tutus in the wash. Agnes somehow managed to tame Kyle, Gru's "dog", and proceeded to turn him pink as well. Gru worked on his rocket, meshing together as many different components as he could in an attempt to make it work, but would steal away time to spend with the girls whenever he could. Meanwhile, Nefario began to show more and more dislike for the children. I slowly became more accustomed to living in the chaos that was Gru's house. Jareth and I slept in the hall rafters together every night, comparing stories of our challenges trying to protect our charges. Jareth had me beat, being the guardian of a super villian and all.
One night, the girls just couldn't calm down. They were bouncing around the room, throwing toys and pillows at each other. Edith basically flung herself at Gru when he walked in, knocking him over. I giggled at his attempts to calm them down, which eventually worked, for the most part. He was just about to leave the room when Agnes pulled her story book out from under her pillow.
"Will you read us a bed time story?" She asked, giving him the puppy dog eyes. He stared at her from a few moments before answering.
"No."
"Pretty please?"
"Ze physical presence of ze please makes no difference. Et es still no, so go to sleep." He replied.
"But we can't! We're all hyper!" Edith argued, climbing up and standing on the dresser next to the door.
"And without a bed time story, we'll just keep getting up and bugging you, all night long." Margo said innocently.
The villain gazed at her for a moment before giving a deep sigh.
"Fine" he said, grabbing the book and sitting down as the girls climbed into their beds, which, might I add, were made of old bomb casings. Real safe, I know.
"Wow, that's actually really devious thinking for Margo. Have you been talking to her or some thing?" I asked Jareth as we settled down on the shelf Edith had been standing on.
"No, but maybe I should start." He replied, gazing in surprise at the eldest.
"Do, and your head's on the wall." I said, glaring at him.
He looked away and began to whistle innocently as Gru began to read the story; a work called "Sleepy Kittens" and used the provided kitty finger puppets to tell the story. I closed my eyes and began to mouth the words along with his, having heard the story many times. I looked up as his voice took a subtle change of tone.
"Good night kettens, rest your eyes. Sleep in peace until you rise. Though vhile you sleep, ve are apart. Your mommy loves you with all er eart."
He looked up from the book, his eyes filled with a strange emotion I had never before seen in their depths. Sentimentality? He suddenly snapped the book closed, waking the girls from their states of half sleep.
"Ze end. Ok, goodnight." He said, striding quickly towards the door.
"Wait! What about good night kisses?" Agnes asked, stopping him. He gazed at her for a moment with a conflicted expression before turning away.
"No. Zere vill be no kissing or hugging or kissing." He said, walking out of the room and closing the door.
"He's not gonna kiss us good night." Margo said, pulling up her cover and shutting of the light.
"I like him. He's nice." Agnes replied.
"But scary." Said Edith, pulling her hat down over her eyes.
Agnes thought for a moment than came up with a comparison.
"Like Santa!" she said happily, lying down. Jareth gave a snort of laughter and I elbowed him in the ribs. In the darkness, you could now see the slight illumination we both emitted. I looked over at him as he gazed about at the little touches of their own the girls had added to the room. My eyes drifted to his wings and I smiled. There was no denying the fact now. The tips of his wings had lightened to the same downy grey as my own.
"But these girls are becoming a major distraction!"
Jareth and I glanced at each other on confusion, having both heard Nefario's voice faintly through the wall. We jumped from the dresser and snuck over to the door, our sides squishing together as we each pressed an ear to the wood.
"If you don't do something about it, I will." The doctor continued.
"I understand." Gru replied sadly.
We looked at each other with concerned expressions. What in the world could those two be planning?
We found out the next morning when the door bell rang. Gru opened the door and seemed surprised to find Hattie on the other side.
"Umm, Mess Hattie. Vhat are you doing ere?" He asked.
"I was called to come and take back the girls." She replied, all business.
"But I didn't …"
Gru stopped when he heard footsteps behind him. Turning, he found Nefario standing there, hands folded behind his back. I saw realization dawn on Gru and a spark of anger flickered through his eyes. He seemed about to say some thing when the girls walked in.
"What's going on?" Margo asked, the girls stepping back in fear upon seeing Hattie.
"Get your bags girls. I'm taking you home," the woman replied blatantly.
The girls gave a look of horror to Gru before casting their eyes downward and trudging off to there room to gather their things.
"What is Gru thinking?!" Jareth exclaimed, looking over at his charge.
"Don't you get it?! This is Nefario's doing! Look at you wings Jareth! Gru loves the girls! He wouldn't willingly give them up!" I cried, and he looked over his shoulder in surprise, as though noticing the change in hue for the first time.
The girls came back down the stairs dragging their bags with them. Agnes's feelings finally broke loose and she ran crying to cling to Gru's leg. He sighed sadly and grabbed their things, walking with her riding on his leg out to Hattie's waiting car. He set their things and Agnes's plushy inside the car and began trying to pry the youngest off.
"Don't let her take us Mr. Gru!" She cried as Margo pulled her off and climbed inside the car.
"Come on girls. Let's go." Hattie said calmly, walking around to the driver's side door.
"We have to stop her! You have to convince Gru to take them back!" I yelled, gabbing Jareth by the shoulders and staring him in the eye.
"I can't. He can't hear us, you know that." He replied, giving me an apologetic look.
"Then let's smash the car or something!"
"Ichijo will kill us if we do!"
"We have to do something! We can't just let her take them!"
"There's nothing we can do."
I gave a sound of disgust and pushed him away, my eyes narrowed in anger as Hattie started the car.
"What good are you if you can't protect the things he holds most dear?" I spat, turning to fly slowly after the car.
Stormy: (dramatic music) Dumdumdum! Cliffhanger!
Jareth: Stop being so dramatic.
(Yukito¹ walks on and see them. His eyes widen.)
Yukito: Oh! I am totally in the wrong story!
(Goes to leave but Stormy grabs him and hugs him.)
Stormy: Yukito! Long time no see!
Yukito: Good to see you too, creator. But I really should get back to Oblivion².
(Toya³ walks on.)
Toya: Yukito, what are you doing in Angels Incorporated?
Stormy: Toya!
(Runs over and hugs him as well.)
Toya: (hugs her back) And Stormy and Jareth are here too. What a menagerie.
Stormy: (Lets him go) While you guys are here, wanna do the ender?
Yukito: (shrugs) Eh, Oblivion doesn't need us at this precise moment, so what the hay?
Everyone: Please review and feel free to ask or point out any errors.
Stormy: Flames will be used to make my hot cocoa 'cause my basement is where the computer's at and it's frikin cold down here! (Hugs Toya again) You're warm.
Toya: Uh, thanks.
Everyone: Bye!
0- This is Hawaiian for "Merry Christmas". I sang a song called this in choir last year and it was stuck in my head all day.
1- Yukito is a character from a play I did for Creative Writing. He's a Twili, or Spirit of Light. And yes, I did get the word from LOZ: Twilight Princess.
2- Oblivion is the dream realm Yukito and Toya live in, which is where the play takes place.
3- Toya is another character from the play. He's Yukito's older brother and king of the Shadar, Spirits of Darkness. He's actually a really nice guy.