Chapter 1

The Keys to Success

Mae wakes to the blaring of a 7 AM alarm, her red-pupiled and slightly bloodshot eyes staring up into the rafters of her attic bedroom as she registers yet another long day ahead. She sighs and smacks her clock, debating whether to take a bat to it, as she drags herself up. This routine isn't anything new at this point, not after two months of it, but it's still far from ideal or familiar just yet. Not enough for her tastes.

She stumbles down to the bathroom, using a thorough brushing of both teeth and fur followed by a bit too much of a potent and stinging mouthwash to force herself awake. She marches into the kitchen to find her dad up and brewing coffee. "Morning, kitten." He finishes pouring his own mug and passes her the pot. "Bea getting another truckload in this morning?"

She yawns and nods, pouring herself a tall travel mug and loading it with egregious amounts of sugar and hazelnut creamer. "Yep… lot of rock salt this time, probably." She takes a sip and shakes the sleep out of her head. "But hey, I'm faster and better at unloading than anyone else there."

Stan huffs. "Yeah, cuz they're all drunks and heavy smokers, and most are getting a bit old. Is Selma helping today?"

Mae nods as she pulls her jacket on and munches at a muffin her mom had made a batch of last night. Of course, she speaks with her mouth full. "Yep… mm.. and she's doin pretty great with it too."

"Shame three of her employees went missing, but at least it's given you two a chance." He sighs and stares out the living room window. "… How's she handling her dad's disappearance?"

She lowers her ears. "Oh, um… better, I guess. She's coming to terms with a lot of things. I mean…" She shrugs. "Unlike you, he… never really left the bar."

Stan nods and pulls himself away from the sight of gentle snowfall. "True, true. Well, we should both get moving. Want me to drop you off on my way?"

"Nah, I'd fall asleep in the car." She zips up her maroon jacket and marches for the door. "The cold will wake my up faster. See ya back here after band practice tonight, dad!" As she races out the door and into the cold, she pulls a pair of headphones up and on with her hood, turning on a cheap old mp3 player she got at a discount thanks to Angus. The moment it's playing, she hops off her mailbox and swings off the lowest branch of the tree out front to gain momentum, and starts skating across the thin layer of ice on the neglected sidewalks. Suburban homes and school buses pass by in a blur. As she hits the hill, where the sidewalks are properly salted and sturdy, she breaks into a jog and waves at Mr. Chazakov on his way out the door to teach another class. The hill takes a bit of wind out of her, the winter chill tearing through her lungs, but another heavy gulp of coffee gives her boost she needs to trudge up and reach the top in fine shape. She catches up with the magenta-clad bear she was expecting to work with today just a block before The Ol' Pickaxe. "Yo, Selmers!"

She lowers her earmuffs and shoves her hands back into her fleece-lined jacket pockets. "What's got you so hyped this morning?"

Mae tilts her head in thought, walking backwards ahead of Selmers. "Huh… not sure. Maybe I put too much sugar in my coffee? I dunno, today just feels different, I guess. I mean, if you told me ten weeks ago I'd be up at this hour for a decent job before the end of winter and not hating my life, I'd have looked at you like ya grew three heads and started speaking in tongues!" She wheels around and hip-checks the Pickaxe's front door open before throwing her hands up and calling out to her boss. "I'm back, Bea!"

"Really?" Sarcasm doesn't just drip, it floods from behind the counter as Beatrice Santello finishes marking off the next week's schedule. "Two weeks now without even a minute late." She raises her head and an eyebrow as she stares Mae down. "You sure you didn't get replaced when everyone disappeared?"

She snorts. "I dunno, I feel like that week certainly made a new me." She hops onto the counter across from Bea and sips down more coffee. "Mm… just took me a while to figure out who that was, I guess."

A barely perceptible smirk stretches her scales for a moment. In Mae's book, that may as well have been a full-blown grin. "Well, New Mae, how about you get your ass in the back and start lugging all the salt in before we lose all the heat in here through the dock door?"

"You got it!" She takes off her headphones and sets the mp3 on the table- but leaves her headphones on Bea as she marches back and turns on the radio in the warehouse. Bea just stares in shock for a few moments, peeking between the lent device and her best friend going straight to work without the slightest complaint.

She trades looks with Selmers for a moment. "Um… you got any clue?"

Selmers shakes her head. "Nope. But hey, I ain't gonna complain. Oh, you guys got band practice later, right?"

"Oh, yeah." She pulls Mae's headphones down for a moment. "I uh…" She peeks back to be certain Mae won't hear her. "I actually have a bit of a surprise planned for the band." She sighs and bounces her leg anxiously. "Just hope it's a good one and not the mess I'm expecting."

Selmers nods and saunters back into the warehouse. "Safe with me. Let's knock this out, I got a fire of my own to burn."

"Really? What's your deal, then?"

"Girl, rehab ain't the end of the road. I've finally got some energy of my own back, and I feel like I could pull a truck up the hill right now."

All the while, Mae's in the back with a smirk of her own. She's already got her own plans, something to drop on them all during band practice, to celebrate all their progress.

.


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Mae almost kicks the door open on her way out at noon, making her way to her other bestie's workplace. Bea calls after her on the way. "Bring me back a soda, our breakroom minifridge ran out cuz of you!" She chuckles a bit at that. Yeah, that's her fault. Selmers barely touches it.

It's warmed up a decent deal out here, but not much of the snow is melting. What little does is just sure to make more ice by the next morning, but whatever. The ice is fun, especially on the way home.

She peers into the Snack Falcon and sees Gregg half asleep as he reads through an old comic book. Her immediate choice of action is to throw the door open and scream at the top of her lungs at him.

Though Gregg jumps nearly out of his chair, his instinctive response is to scream back and prove his singer's lungs are far more capable in a screaming contest. Mae ends up falling into a coughing fit, and Gregg throws his arms up in victory. "HA! Holy shit Mae, what made you think that was a good idea challenging the master?"

"I have… no clue." She groans and uprights herself, still trying to see straight again. "Ugh…"

"You need to sing a lot more during practice to have any chance against me, dude." He tosses her a bottle of water fresh from the minifridge under the counter.

She catches it and chugs half down right away. "I'll… keep that in mind. So, band practice still on? Bea's in."

"You know it! We just keep sounding better lately, now that you stopped sucking so much!" Mae stares blankly, then splashes him with the last of her water before tossing the empty bottle at his head and bolting for the pre-packaged meals. Gregg huffs and shakes the water out of his fur. "So, how many songs ya think you'll be up for this time?"

"I'd say we should try and knock through three since we won't have to do the same one five times now." She pulls out a tuna salad sandwich for herself and a cobbler salad for Bea. Selmers already left for the day 'cuz she's got an appointment to deal with a town over. She grabs some dark chocolate for her as well, since Bea deserves something sweet but isn't the biggest on them. She begrudgingly gets Bea's Fiascola. The heathen. "I've got a few upgrades to my bass lines I kinda wanna test out, too."

Both pause as the bell rings up front and Molly saunters in, clad in her full uniform and topped odd with her new hat to denote her new rank. Gregg leans over the counter to wave. "Sup, Chief?"

She nods. "Gregg, Mae. Good to see you two. Figured you'd both be here about now, got some pretty important news for you." The two semi-reformed troublemakers look to one another nervously, knowing there's only one direction this could be going. Molly nods to confirm their fears. "Yeah, it's about them. FBI's labeled the mines a waste to dig at this point, but after some documents and cult paraphernalia found at the Applebaum residence, they're certain what's been going on down there. My reports of covered disappearances and tampered evidence tied it together pretty fast. They got no clue you kids have anything to do with it, though. Their best guess is the elevator collapsed and the resulting rock shift led to that old well opening into the sinkhole that came from Jeremy blasting it. To them, it's an open and shut case where they agree there's no survivors and nothing left to do but mark it a mass grave once they've informed all the families involved."

Mae sighs in relief, hunching over as she drops everything off at Gregg's counter. "Finally…"

Gregg rubs the back of his neck as one last question burns in his mind. "Have… have they linked Casey's disappearance to it?"

She nods somberly. "The Hartleys will probably know by the end of tomorrow." She huffs out a deep sigh and slouches. "Still remember arresting the three of you for setting off illegal fireworks in the Food Donkey parking lot."

Gregg nods with a gentle smile as he starts absent-mindedly scanning Mae's stuff. "Hmm… if it's a tribute to him, ya won't arrest us for doing it again, would you?"

She tilts her head back and thinks. "… Actually, if you do the right paperwork for it and I'm there to supervise, you're more than welcome to go bigger this time."

Mae slowly perks up at the thought while scanning her bank card. "…We'll do it after his parents know, then. Make a public memorial service."

Molly smiles and nods as she turns to leave and adjusts her hat. "Exactly. Well, you two have a nice day. I've gotta get back to work. Still a lot to clean up after back at the precinct."

Mae takes her bag and gives Gregg a quick fist-bump. "See ya at practice after work, man." She turns and catches up with her aunt outside, stopping beside her car. "H-Hey, um…" She gets a bit quiet and awkward once she knows she's got Molly's attention. "… Thanks for being so cool since this all went down. And for letting us know we'll be able to finally put it behind us soon."

Molly smiles and shakes her head a bit as she sinks into her cruiser's seat. "Nah, Mae. Thank you for being honest with me and helping to get this mess cleaned up. You and your friends have done more for this town than I or anyone else could or ever will thank you for." She starts the car and reaches for the window controls to raise it back up. "Tell your parents I said hi. Might stop in for dinner sometime this week."

Mae nods and starts walking back to the Pickaxe. "See ya 'round, Aunt Mall Cop!"

Molly huffs and shakes her head. "I'm the goddamn chief, and she's still never gonna stop callin me that."

Ten minutes later, Mae pops back into the Pickaxe and passes Bea her food. She stares for a moment at the chocolate bar before raising an eyebrow at her. "Now what the hell's this for?"

Mae shrugs as she sits on the counter and digs into her sandwich. "Well, I figured ya deserve a little reward. Don't think I didn't notice the total lack of cigarettes today."

Bea blushes and turns away. "Yeah, it's… it's tough, but I wanna give this a shot. Been kinda jittery 'cuz of it, though."

"The chocolate should help." Mae reaches into her pocket and slides a pack of gum over. "And I snagged this right in front of Aunt Mall Cop for ya, too."

Bea's jaw drops for a moment, but she shakes it off and takes the pack. "Ok, this is an altruistic theft, so I'll give it a pass."

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As Mae and Bea arrive for band practice at the Party Barn's hollowed-out husk of a building, they find two surprise additions waiting by the stage. Germ is a common enough extra, but Selmers is a new one. "Huh…" Mae steps up and pulls her bass on. "Who dragged you here?"

Germ raises his hand. "Yo."

Selmers snorts and shakes her head. "Like you could. Nah, I just happened to be passing by on my way back from my appointment. Decided to stop and check it out when I saw Angus and Gregg piling the speakers in." She leans against the front of the stage and peeks back. "… Looks… pretty empty without Casey's drums, huh?" Everyone slows to a stop for a moment of silence in their fallen friend's honor, but Selmers cuts it off with surprising energy. "He wouldn't want that. Angus, you got another round trip in ya to stop at my place?"

Angus looks between her and the rest of the band for a moment. "Um… I suppose I could. The timing is good, anyway." He turns to Bea and points to her usual spot in the back right corner of the stage. "Your new stuff's ready over there, Selma and I will be back shortly." He steps up to Gregg and plants a quick kiss on his cheek. "Back soon, bug."

"I'll be waitin, Cap'n." He watches his boyfriend leave with an ear-to-ear smile. Ever since the night of the cave-in, Angus has been a lot more affectionate. When you brush so closely with death, it's hard not to come back without a deeper appreciation for everything you could have lost. Once he's out of sight, Gregg sighs and starts tuning his guitar. "So Mae, did you know Selmers still played? I thought she gave that up ages ago."

Mae shrugs and watches Bea's back as she heads to her corner to unpack something. "Uh… as far as I know, yeah. But lately she's been trying to… I dunno, be more like she was before Dennis the Dick, I guess."

Gregg nods and flinches as he over-corrects his tuning and loosens the string a bit. "Well, good for her. She always deserved better than that shithead." He tilts his head and watches Bea unpacking something from a long rectangular case. "Uh… Bea? Whatcha got there? And why didn't ya speak up when Selmers brought up her drums? That's your spot, dude."

Bea grins as she hefts an electric keyboard and props it on its stand. "Not anymore." She strokes from one ends to the other and tests the keys. It's not plugged in yet, but it still feels right.

Mae's ears twitch as she approaches for a better look. "Bea… I thought you stopped playing, after…" She can't bring herself to finish.

"Yeah…" Bea sighs. "I did. She was amazing, playing for the church. Once she was gone, my dad never wanted to hear another piano or even see one. He couldn't stand anything that reminded him of her. Even me…" She shakes her head. "Now that he's gone, I'm finally reconnecting with mom in ways I never could with him around. I picked it back up pretty easily…" She smirks as she stops on a key. "And I started composing." She leans over the board and looks them both in the eyes. "It'd be pretty stupid to bring this here unprepared. I've already got five of our songs covered."

Gregg grins ear-to-ear. "Bea, you're officially fucking awesome."

"What an honor." She backs up and gets to work plugging all the cords. "Just hope Selma's as good at drums as she hypes herself up to be. I've still got my laptop to run the track if need be. Having an actual drummer for once sounds almost too good to be true."

"Well…" Mae rocks back on her heels. "I've heard her a few times, she's pretty good. She's got solid rhythm, I'm sure ya noticed that in her poetry." She shrugs. "She was also kinda salty back in highschool about there only being one band in town and two drummers."

"Yeah, I can see that. Selma tends to be peeved about something 24/7, so that's just one more thing for the list." Bea finishes plugging and tests a few keys. After testing the base settings, she tweaks things a bit to test a few sound settings she plans to use for different tracks, and it all proves to be in order in a matter of a few minutes.

While Bea deals with testing her keyboard, Mae sits beside Gregg as she works on tuning her bass. "So, how's saving going?"

Gregg grumbles as he replaces a string. As jittery of a guy as he is, he's got quite a habit of stabbing his fingers with them in the process. Not that he doesn't get his fingers stabbed in knife fights for fun. "Shit, actually. Turns out the places we were looking at all got renovated and the prices jumped. Now we'll have to save for another two months and have jobs lined up there before we move to have a chance."

Mae cringes and lowers her ears. "Wow. I… I'm sorry, dude. That fuckin' sucks."

"Yeah, well… that's life, apparently." He shakes his head and as he tightens the new string into place. "You just keep fuckin' trying, and nothing ever works."

Her eyes narrow and fists clench. "… We'll make it work, dude. I'll never stop fighting for it, and you shouldn't either."

He slowly peeks up to her and his scowl breaks, giving her a genuine smile. "Yeah… yeah, alright. That sounds good."

Mae offers a quick fist bump, just before Selma and Angus pile back in with all the pieces of her drum kit. She starts setting it up with mechanical efficiency while everyone watches on in awe. Bea cuts in with a whistle. "I need to get you on more of our repair jobs."

She waves Bea off. "I used to have to move this thing a lot because my family's house doesn't have room to keep it up all the time. I'd set it up for about two hours, and have to put it away again. Then I didn't have the energy or attention span for it for years 'cuz of my addiction, and rehab, and the divorce…" She huffs as she stands. "Been meaning to bust this out." She pulls her sticks out of her hoodie pocket and drops into her seat. "Angus let me give your tracks a listen on the ride, I think I can manage some of em in short order. Bea, if ya let me use my headphones with the drum track off your computer, I'll have it in no-time."

Gregg's jaw drops. "Selmers, when the hell did you get this awesome?"

"When I ditched that sack of shit and got all the energy he stole from me back." She drums out a quick solo to test herself, then adjusts two drums' placements by an inch or so. "Ok, what's first?"

Silence falls for a moment as they all consider their first practice with the new band roster. Normally, it comes to them quickly, but with a new instrument and member in the mix…

But Mae cuts in first. "I think… if we're gonna do this with a real drummer for the first time since Casey, there's really only one song to pick." A round of subtle nods and hums in agreement follows. Talking about Casey still hurts, but at a time like this, it's more melancholic. He'd be glad they're still playing, and tributing this song to him.

Before a word could be said, Bea was already tapping away at her keyboard. When she started practicing piano again, this track was the first she composed for. It meant too much to the band as a whole to not dive into it. It's somber, yet hopeful, trickling in as she slowly turns the volume up. Mae slowly brings in her bassline and Selma drums out a soft, slowly ramping beat. The moment Bea hits full volume, she kicks the bass pedal and makes the pattern a bit more complex, just as Gregg starts strumming. Angus' ears perk as the new sound hits him, and his excitement for this song reaches it's peak. There's a new life to his vocals this time.

"Dust on this tired old street…"

The speakers carry their sound out into the chilly winter streets, and soon, passersby are piling in to hear them, awed by the leap in quality. The beat of a real drum will always draw more attention than a digital copy, and the keyboard is a sound none would have expected- yet here it is. By the time Angus' vocal bridge approaches, there's another ten people who've never stopped to listen before piled in, even employees from the shops next door abandoning their posts to check. Gregg finds he's jamming more than ever, and the backup vocals at the end of the bridge are almost explosive as even Bea gets in on it. Bea's keyboard slowly fades out at the end, and the small crowd that gathered cheers, with Lori nearly jumping out of her shoes, front and center.

Mae's widened eyes scan across the crowd as her grin grows wider, and soon, she raises her bass over her head for an announcement that would change their futures in an instant. "Ladies and gentlemen, we are Night in the Woods, and you've just witnessed the start of greatness!" The crowd hollers as Bea turns back to look at her bandmates, all bewildered by the undiscussed name drop. But after a few moments, Angus adjusts his glasses and nods curtly with a grin. Gregg howls and shreds out and improv solo, soaking up the small crowd's praise. Bea crosses her arms and tilts her head, but shrugs and nods. Selma gives her a thumbs-up and gives her sticks a spin. Finally, Mae knows. "Guys, I think we all just found our ticket out of here."

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A.N.: And here we are, the start of a brand new fic I've had in the works for a LONG time now! Night in the Woods is one of my favorite games of all time, and I genuinely love the characters, so I just had to take a crack at them myself. I have 8 chapters already written, but to space it out among my other fics and various projects, you can all expect an upload every 2 weeks! For now, just enjoy what I've got fir ya, check out my other two fics, my youtube channel (Psychonauts 2 tomorrow!) and get ready for some big things in this fic, because I started brushing up on my family's natural musical talent and wrote lyrics to original songs for the band for this fic!

Thank you all for reading, and I hope you all get a big of a kick out of reading this as I got writing it!