Mugman ran as fast as his legs could carry him. A sopping – no, a melting – demon slouched in his arms. There was the entry door to the bakery. Just a straight line out and then to find a hiding place for Tsundere. For Saltbaker would be coming to look for them, no doubt about it. He was hell-bent on capturing the demon and using him for his own gains.

Using one hand, Mug swung the door open as hard and as fast as he could. Right at that moment, Cuphead and Chalice were approaching the door. Cup was reaching for the doorknob when it came flying open. The door socked him right in the head, knocking him down. The young cup sat on the ground seeing stars. Ms. Chalice in her ghostly form noticed that Mugman was the one who had opened the door. She called out to him, not knowing if he had actually seen them in his mad sprint.

"There he goes! Mugman!" Ms. Chalice said.

"Don't go in there! Come this way!" Mug yelled back frantically. He did not stop running even for a second. For he just had to get away from that building no matter what. He could only hope that his friends would follow him again.

"Sheesh! Go this way! Go that way!" She said in an exasperated manner. "Does your brother ever sit still?" Chalice asked the dazed Cuphead, who didn't answer. She noticed him still looking woozy. "Come on, lazy bum. Let's see where he's off to now." The ghostly chalice grabbed the red cup and dragged him along. Cup eventually recovered and ran on his own, following Mugman's trail, even if a little far behind.

Mugman found an area filled with bushes and trees before he finally stopped. The foliage should provide enough cover for now, he thought. His friends stopped a few feet away, Cuphead taking a minute to catch his breath. The young cup could hear his sibling breathing loudly too.

"Did anyone follow us?" Mugman inquired with a shaky breath. Cup looked around before responding.

"I don't think so." He said. His brown boots started to approach his brother, who seemed to be trembling. "What's going on, Mugs? Are you okay?" The young cup asked, slowly extending out his hand to touch Mug's shoulder. As soon as his gloved hand made contact, Mugman whipped around. He was sobbing and holding the dying creature in his arms. The inky liquid from the parasitic creature dripped all over the mug child, staining his clothes and skin.

"Please help! He's dying!" Mug sobbed. The young mug had no idea what to do for a dying demon that was without a soul.

"Ew, what's that?" Chalice asked, pointing to the creature. For she had never seen Tsundere before.

"Mugman…is that…Tsundere?" Cup asked, hardly finding the words to say. His eyes went wide. Mug nodded profusely. He was crying so hard that it was difficult to talk. "But…how? How on earth is the demon outside you?" Cuphead tried to understand.

"Saltbaker…c-cut him out of me. *sniff* Been using him to search the astral plane…and was leaving him to die!" Mug bawled. "And it's all my fault he had a chance to do so in the first place!"

This…. is not your fault. The mug child heard a faint voice followed by shallow breaths. Tsundere was using what energy he had left to telepathically communicate with his former host. Mug gasped and looked down to the creature in his arms.

"Yes, it is! If I had just listened to you about not going into Saltbaker's quarters…" Mugman responded to the demon, still bawling loudly for his friends to hear. But they could only hear the mug's portion of the conversation.

That doesn't matter now…. The black mug slowly shook its head. I'll be gone by tomorrow morning, Mugman. And you'll be free of me….forever. Tsundere sounded sad by this. He half closed his inky black eyes.

"Don't talk like that! We'll find a way to save you….I promise!"

The parasitic creature weakly laughed.

You're a knucklehead, Mugman. But there's no knucklehead I'd rather be with.

"Is there anything I can do to make you more comfortable?" Mug asked his creature.

Meanwhile, Chalice pulled Cuphead aside to voice her concerns about this scene unfolding before them.

"First mugboy comes flying out of the chef's bakery like a bat out of Hell carrying something that's supposedly a demon. And then he starts talking to himself. Somebody better start spilling the beans, cuz this whole scene," She motioned with her hand toward the sobbing mug and melting creature. "Is starting to freak me out."

"Long story short, that demon has been inside Mugman's soul for about a year now. They've become good friends over that time. But it looks like Saltbaker was – somehow – able to cut him out. *sigh* And it doesn't look like Tsundere is doing too good outside of a soul." Cuphead explained to her. "You wouldn't happen to know anything about the astral plane that can help us, would you?"

"Look, I don't know what dark mojo you boys have been playing with, but this is out of my scope of understanding when it comes to the astral plane. I don't know what the devil is going on with-"

"The Devil….that's it!" Cuphead interrupted her. He then turned to his brother who was now sitting on the ground with the parasitic creature on his lap. "Mugman! I'll be right back! I'm going to make a call…to the Devil!"

"Yes!" Mug replied with hope in his voice. The back of his gloved hand rubbed the tears away from his eyes. "Call David! If anyone knows what to do, it'll be him."

"Chalice, I need you to stay with Mugman while I go make the call." Cuphead told the ghostly female. The red cup didn't even wait for her confirmation and began to run off.

"Hey, wait a second!" She quickly caught him by the wrist. "Are you sure it's safe to be babysitting a demon? For all we know, he could be faking it." Her eyes darted around in paranoia. "Waiting for the right moment to go – RAWR!" Chalice said, transforming her head into a scary ghost figure; eyes turning blank, sharp teeth forming, and even rotating her cup around once for good measure. This action was intended to make Cuphead flinch. But he did no such thing. For he was too concerned about the demon's welfare at this point to take much care about any trivial matters. Like his friend trying to scare him.

"It's perfectly safe." Cup kept his voice calm. "Tsundere isn't faking that condition."

"How do you know that?" Ms. Chalice wanted to be sure. She reverted her head back to normal. Cuphead looked back to his sibling who was still cradling the parasite.

"Because I can feel it….in my soul. Even though our time being attached to one another was brief, I can still sense how he's feeling." The young cup solemnly explained.

"Hold up, you mean to tell me-" She began to say.

"Please, Chalice. No more questions." Cuphead interrupted her, holding up a hand to as a warning to stop. "Time is running out for Tsundere. I have to go now. Please just be there for Mugman. If something starts to go wrong, you can come get me."

"Oh….all right. But you better make it quick, mister!" The ghostly chalice told him.

"I intend to be. Thanks, Chalice! I owe you one!" He called to her as he ran off, waving a gloved hand in her direction.

"You sure do…" Chalice muttered under her breath with transparent arms crossed over her chest.

Cuphead raced back toward town, being careful not to make a lot of noise. For he didn't know who would be watching or listening. Hopefully not Saltbaker if he was the one who separated the young mug from his demon. That was the last person he wanted to attract. He ducked by the fountain in the middle of town. His cup peered over the stone rim, taking survey of the buildings available. No one was out at this time of day. Everyone was in their homes happily eating dinner.

"Someone's gotta have a phone." The young cup whispered to himself. And then he caught sight of one hanging off the side of what looked to be the town hall of the island. "Bingo!" He took another glance left, right, and behind him. Cup crouched low and approached the black rotary phone perched on the building's granite wall. He picked up the phone and began to dial 666 – which was the direct line to the Devil's lair. Even though it was only three numbers, it made Cuphead tense that it took so long to input each number. Every time the contraption had to rotate around to lock in the number he desired.

With the number dialed in, the phone rang a few times. Cup started to worry whether someone was going to pick up.

"Come on, come on. Pick up!" He told the phone, literally jumping up and down in place. The anticipation was seeping out of him. He was scared of what might happen to Tsundere and even Mugman if there was still some sort of connection between the two. What were they going to do if the Devil didn't answer? Neither of them had the answer to this question.

On the other end of the line, another person who's name also started with a "D" went to pick up the phone. The casino manager hummed away as he saddled his way next to the phone. Taking his sweet time, he took a moment to adjust his purple bowtie and flatten his skinny mustache. His purple suit was still in pristine condition. It was one of many that resided in his personal closet space. The die man finally picked up the phone.

"You've reached the Big D's office, Dice speaking." He said in his smooth tone.

"King Dice!" The young cup responded. For he was just happy that somebody answered.

"Oh, Cuphead! It's good to hear from you, lad. To what do I owe the pleasure?" Dice asked, shining up his gloved fingers on his chest.

"I need to speak with David! Now!" Cup said urgently.

"I'm sorry, Cuphead. The big man has asked not to be – "

"Please, Dice! It's an emergency!" Cuphead didn't even let him finish that sentence. "This is a life or death situation!"

"Who's life and death we talkin' 'bout?" The die man asked.

"Mugman's demon!"

Dice's mouth curled into a horrified and unnatural expression that caused his mustache to crinkle up. His eyes went wide. His slouched position against the wall suddenly straightened up. Did he really just hear what he thought he heard?

"Come again?" He said, wanting Cuphead to repeat himself to make sure he had heard right.

"I don't know how, but the two of them have been separated. And Mug's demon isn't doing too good." The young cup explained to King Dice.

"Hold for just a minute, Cuphead. Let me get the Big D on the line to hear this."

"Thank you!" Cup beamed, but the casino manager was already dialing his boss's extension number.

At that moment, the Devil was in his lair gently handling a demon. Its ten tentacles draped over his furry black arms and nearly dragged across the scorching ground of the cavern.

"Sweet nightmares. We'll see each other again tomorrow." David told the demon as he went to gently place it back into the well of darkness where the rest of the demons dwelled. There were still a few of the tentacled creatures lying about in the cavern that he still had yet to put back. For he had been taking a few demons out at a time to teach them about the world. Per his agreement with the cup brothers, he was to teach the demons about all aspects of the world. Not the just the negative and violent ones. For they were to learn about everything and make their own opinion of how they wanted to live and what kind of person they wanted to be.

The Devil almost had the one demon back in its realm when the phone rang. Its shrill ringing noise greatly disturbed the demons. They shrieked and attached themselves to the furry black creature. The demons looked to their master to save them from such an awful noise. Poor David had the one that was in his hands jump up and latch itself to his face. The king of demons let out a muffled growl of annoyance from behind the squishy round center of his subordinate. He blindly groped for the phone. David was unable to move fast due to the demons that had wrapped around his legs like insecure children. He eventually found it. Peeling away a tentacle, he held the phone to his imp-like ear. The Devil attempted to yell at the casino manager. It was horribly muffled by the parasitic creature smothering his face. The first sentence Dice was able to make out was: "Move off my face, god dammit!" But then the rest of his rant became clear.

"Dice! I thought I told you not to interrupt me!" David roared, making his fur sizzle a bit in his anger.

"Sorry to bother you, boss. But I've got Cuphead on the line with something I think you'll want to hear." The king explained.

"Ugh, fine!" He groaned and tried to roll his gray hand down his face. It only got part of the way down before he had to slap a tentacle away. "Go ahead and put him on the line then."

"Ok, Cuphead. Tell the Devil what you just told me." Dice said and switched the microphone capability over to him. Cup promptly explained to David what he knew about the situation.

"Yes, that's certainly….worrisome." The dark creature said, a couple of claws scratched his round chin. "I'll be over there as soon as I can. Just need to clean up this mess." He gestured to the demons as if the other participants of the conversation could see them. "I'll be an hour, tops, I promise."

"Thank you! Thank you! Please hurry! I don't know how much longer Tsundere has." Cuphead profusely thanked him before hanging up the phone.

The young cup rushed back to his brother, hoping that nothing bad had happened it the short time he had been gone.