Caleb let out a big and loud yawn as his alarm clock went off at 6AM, with his other roommates all stirring and waking up at their own paces. Z-Tron instantly sprung to attention, Maple and Gladius were a lot slower to start to really 'get up', and Purdy… She just did anything she wanted. Caleb would blink and she'd go from a sleeping pink fluff ball to out the door like a lightning bolt.
The boy stretched his arms up and cracked his neck, hopping off his bed and making his way over to his dresser. As he opened the drawers to pick out his outfit for the day, Z-Tron activated his blood jets and flew on top of the dresser/vanity combo and watched his owner do his usual thing. Maple had climbed out of his flower pot and was simply wandering around as he waited for time to pass.
Gladius groaned as he stretched, and hovered over to Caleb slowly. "Good morning, Caleb", the blade mumbled. He yawned and then rested on the couch. "Ready to get the day started?"
Caleb Nodded happily, shooting a sword a thumbs up as he headed into the bathroom. "You know it, Gladdy!" He closed the door, and the sword chuckled. Ever since their last big adventure, Caleb had been getting very punctual about when he wakes up. He claims it's just so he can make the most of the day, but the sword could see that look in his eyes. The resignation, the fear, the panic… There was a deeper reason for it.
But Gladius knew not to press, because pushing for a clear answer from him usually transpired into something a lot worse. The blade hummed bitterly at a memory two years ago, not long after Izzy went to her first therapy appointment. He seemed a lot more… overprotective than usual. And when it got to the point where some of the others started to bombard him for answers, he shut up and said nothing for a week.
Clearly, even three years later, despite the warm exterior, there was still a frosty interior they hadn't fully broken away yet, which did make most of the others have guilt well up in them. The boy did confide to the sword and Katania later about why he shut down like that, and what he told them broke their hearts.
He just… still couldn't remember. All of the memories were layered under a wall of fog and ice, so he couldn't come up with a straight answer.
Gladius let out a quiet and sad sigh as Caleb stepped out of the bathroom, smiling bright and with fresh comfy clothes on. The sword perked up and made his way over to him, and looked his saviour and companion over.
"You are looking very dapper today, my boy", the blade said kindly.
Caleb snorted and his smile widened. "You tell me that everyday, dude." Maple and Z-Tron each climbed onto him and each rested on a shoulder. Smiling, the boy looked in his vanity mirror to do some last little touches, and was surprised to see Purdy on top of his head, awake and smiling her vacant but adorable smile.
"I'm just being honest, Caleb", Gladius added kindly as he hovered beside him, looking into the mirror.
Caleb smiled as he saw the reflection, and felt oh so happy at how complete they all looked together. All they were missing was Kat, and everything would be perfect..
"Well, no point in gawking at a mirror", he said suddenly, moving towards the door. "I want to have a great day like always, and staying holed up in here is not how I want to spend it!" He started walking over to the door, no sense of balance lost because of how used he was to being a jungle gym for the little ones at this point.
Gladius barked out a laugh, and followed after him. "You always say that yourself!"
"It's true, trough!" The boy swung his door open and walked out into the hallway, just stopping short of bumping into Gwen. "Oh, Gwen, hi!"
"Hey there, dudes", the goth said with a smirk. She held onto what looked like a bag of some kind, and Caleb caught sight of some art supplies sticking out.
"Oooooooooo, are you feeling a burst of creative inspiration?" The young man said in a teasing way.
The goth giggled. "Something like that." She glanced into his room for a moment. "I heard that there was a new art room installed somewhere, so I wanted to go and check it out."
His face became one of surprise. "Wait, really?" He looked at the sword in confusion. "Did you know about this?"
"I might have heard something", Gladius mumbled, sounding uncertain. "But that was decades ago. Maybe it was plans that finally resurfaced after someone remembered…"
Gwen let out a quick hum. "Well, I was gonna go and check that place out, see what they have going on."
Caleb faced her again, smiling a bit. "Well, hopefully you have fun Gwen! Good luck with any sort of creative creations you come up with!"
The goth laughed and headed down the hall, waving goodbye as she went. Caleb returned the wave until she was completely gone around the corner. As he stood there, his head bobbed a bit as he put his hands on his hips, a thoughtful look on his face.
"Something on your mind, Caleb?" Gladius asked.
He shrugged in response, shifting Maple and Z-Tron a bit. "Just thinking, nothing much else."
"The prospect of an art room intrigue you, hm?"
Caleb nodded, making Purdy meow quietly before turning around. Her tail plopped right in the boy's face, but he paid it no mind. "I guess I'm both wanting to tag along with Gwen, but also don't have any energy to make art right now. I guess we'll see later."
With a second shrug, the boy turned around and headed down the hall towards their cafe, with the sword thoughtfully looking back to where the goth went before following his best friend, somewhat hoping they go to the art room just to at least check it out.
"Don't you think we should check out the new art room, Caleb?" The sword asked as he caught back up with said boy.
He shrugged in response. "I would, but I'd rather go there if I actually feel in an 'artsy' sort of mood. So it feels weird to go there and distract Gwen and any others there if I don't have any intention to draw."
Gladius hummed in uncertainty, but then shrugged. "I suppose that does make sense. Still, I feel we should at least see what else this place has in story."
Caleb gave him a look. "You know you're more than allowed to go and check it out on your own, dude. Don't let me stop you."
The sword looked about ready to retort, before he fell silent. He huffed and flew off, making the boy giggle quietly as he headed into the cafe. The moment he entered, Caleb took a big whiff of the food and headed over to the front counter. His three smaller companions hopped off him and made their way to their own corner to eat.
Caleb smiled as he came up, with the head chef Tolken looking up and beaming at the boy. "Ah, Master Caleb, welcome back! How did you sleep?"
A shrug in response. "Eh, it was the same old, same old, Tol. It was great, nothing else to say about it!"
The chef beamed and nodded. "That is wonderful to hear! So, what can I get you this time for breakfast?"
The bespectacled boy hummed in thought as he looked at the display food and what there was in the menu up above. As he looked, something in particular caught his eye.
"Hard-boiled omelette?" He asked in curiosity.
Tolken gasped in happy delight. "Ooooooo, that's something I thought of myself. It's a traditional omelette with peppers and various other spices, with sliced hard-boiled egg on top and a thin layer of mashed potatoes on top. And if you want, I can drizzle it in our specialty made catsup, just the kind you adore."
Caleb's eyes widened at how delicious that all sounded, so he nodded. "What can I get on the side?"
"All the usual things", the chef continued. "But I highly recommend the pancakes. Pancake plus the omelette plus the syrup is so good. I tried it myself, as did the staff, and we all loved it!"
The boy looked thoughtful for a moment, then beamed. "I'll have it then! And for a drink I'll have a glass of water and a…" He paused as he looked over the drink menu. "An Oreo milkshake."
Of course, Master Caleb. We will get right on it!"
The boy nodded back, and went to go and take a seat. But after a moment, he had an idea crawl into his head. Glancing at the cafe's TV, he realised he didn't know anything about Encanto, and if he and all the others were going to go and watch it, they should know what they were getting into. So, he made his way over to the fireplace mantle and grabbed the remote, turned the TV on, and started to flick through the channels to find any sort of trailer or coverage on the movie.
As he did so, the others all slowly started to file into the room, groggy but smiling. Caleb said good morning to them all as he channel surfed, with his family all heading over and ordering their food. It was a bit slow, but since everyone had their one or two usual picks, it didn't take that long in all hindsight. As everyone sat back down, they all finally took notice of what Caleb was doing.
"Whatcha' doing there, mijo?" Manolo asked curiously.
"Trying to find a trailer for Encanto…" He mumbled, squinting as he opened the channel listings. "I just feel like we should know a bit about what we're going to see…"
"That's going to be hard", Laney said as she sat with Corey, their hands intertwined. "Trying to find one trailer with who knows what commercials playing is like-"
"Trying to find a needle in a haystack", Corey finished making Laney look at him flatly. "I don't think it's worth the trouble dude."
"I know, I know… I was just hoping…"
"If you want to find the trailer", Tolken said with a smile, pushing a cart that had most of the group's food hot and ready. "I recommend channel 52. It's a news bulletin for all the upcoming features, and they usually play segments pertaining to the biggest ones. Since Encanto is a Disney movie, it's going to be treated like a big deal."
Caleb looked over his shoulder at the chef, smiling at him as he handed out the food. "Thanks for the tip, Tol!" He faced the screen again and looked for channel 52, eventually seeing that he had just barely found it before a time slot listed 'Disney Breakdown' started. So he selected the channel, and turned the volume up as he sat down to enjoy his meal.
The previous program ended as he started to eat, and naturally fed into the Disney block. A formal looking man was behind a news desk, hands politely crossed on the desktop, and smiled warmly into the camera.
"Good morning and welcome back, people of the Capital", the host started. "As always, my name is Tredson Hobby, and I am the host of this week's Disney Breakdown." A graphic flashed on the side of the screen showing the block's logo, the host smiling all the while. "The biggest news right now is the fast approaching new massive theatrical movie from the ever present company, Encanto."
"Here we go!" Steve said happily. "This has to be good."
"First, let's share the trailer to show what you can expect from the movie. Hopefully it catches your interest." Tredson gestured at the camera he was looking at, and it faded to black before somewhat intriguing music started playing, which made everyone look up at the screen in intrigue.
The trailer started with some old woman explaining how the candle in her hands works, and how it granted each member of the family a special gift of some kind, and how it made their home come to life. There were some shots of the other characters, probably this magical family, but Caleb found himself drawn to the girl in green glasses for some reason.
She seemed spunky and energetic, but… even though it was just a trailer, he could see something more in her eyes. Something that made my stomach twist uncomfortably at how familiar it was. And the fact she was the only one of her family to not get a gift, based on the trailer… It made him tense up a bit.
Even as the trailer showed that something was wrong with the Encanto, when the home started to crack and crumble, he couldn't help but stay somewhat stuck on the girl's mannerisms. Something just hit him in a weird way, and he hated it.
The movie as a whole looked good based on the trailer, but now Caleb wanted to watch it more out of a morbid curiosity rather than plain curiosity. The family… The message of family would be massive in this story, he knew it. And he was terrified how it'll turn out.
As the trailer ended the Tredson came back on screen, Caleb looked down and started to block out what the TV was saying. But he was still acutely aware of what his friends were saying.
"It honestly doesn't seem like a bad one", Amy said as she took a sip of her tea. "Way better than Ralph and Vanellope's sequel at least…"
"Normally, I'd be offended", the wrecker said nonchalantly. "But I gotta agree. I'm so much happier with how things actually turned out for us, because I'd probably jump off the top of the Google building if things played out how they were supposed to."
"That's morbid…" Steve muttered. "But yeah, Encanto looks fun! I'm curious to learn more about this mysterious family."
"I liked the kid that could shapeshift!" Molten Freddy cheered as he dangled from the ceiling. "He seems like someone I'd love to meet in person!"
"Make sure that never happens…" Lefty whispered to Jenny, who giggled and nodded.
"I would like to learn the origin of this 'miracle'", The Doctor said as he paused his eating. "Because something that offers that much power, brings a building to life, and can just choose not to give someone in the family a 'gift' makes me wonder…"
"Who here thinks it's because of a dead relative?" Dry shouted, raising a bony hand. While there was a brief bit of hesitation in a few of the others, pretty much everyone except Manolo, Rory and Hilda all raised their hands. "Yeah, I thought so."
Flowey giggled, then looked over at Caleb. "What about you, Glasses? Whatcha' think of the trailer?"
The boy shook his head and looked back at his family with eyes that were a bit too wide. "O-Oh! Yeah, it was great! The singing was cool and… all that…" His voice trailed off into a mumble, and everyone's smiles faded as they looked at him in concern as he turned back away.
Gladius hovered in front of him, and Caleb sighed. "I just… The girl with the glasses, Mirabel… She reminded me of… Me…"
Everyone violently flinched at that, the implication clear as day. The bespectacled boy blinked sadly and quietly left the cafe, the others simply watching him leave. It was best to leave him be and not press, else they could face a very emotional wrath they knew was devastating. Even Purdy, despite always seeming on Cloud 9, knew to back off during this.
Caleb was dead silent as he headed down the hall, but when he was far enough away, he let out a snarl and rubbed his face harshly, looking up at the ceiling in immediate exhaustion. He felt stuck, hurt, and so massively conflicted that it just made everything hurt more.
He sighed and shook his head entering the Rec Room and heading straight for the library. It was the one place aside from his room he could get full peace and quiet, and it was just what he needed right now.
He headed up to the upper level and stormed over to the nearest couch, flopping down on it, grabbing a cushion, and burying his face in it so he could scream everything out of his system. Even with the cushion muffling his cry, it still was decently loud in the typically quiet library.
When his vocal cords were ruined, the bespectacled boy dropped the cushion on the floor and he rolled over, looking up at the ceiling with a hollow look. He was just… not doing okay.
Back in the hallway, Maria, Manolo and Dry Bowser were the first to leave the cafe. They had sombre looks on their faces, and glanced at the open Rec Room door.
"We should do something for him…" Maria whispered. "We really should. It doesn't feel right to leave him like this…"
"He'll get better eventually, Maria", her husband said with a gentle smile. "He just needs some space."
"I don't, Manolo…" The skeletal beast said in worry. "The more we just let this stew, the worse this sort of thing will get. He needs an outlet to spend his energy…"
The trio looked down, only to look up when Lefty and Blossom walked by, wearing aprons and carrying face masks. "Where are you two going?" Maria asked.
The superhero and black bear looked at the trio. "To the new art room", Lefty explained. "The two of us and Gwen were going to have a bit of a drawing day."
"Yeah! I was looking on doing some big sculpture or something", Blossom said happily. "So I would like to get started soon."
"Wait!" The wooden woman ran between the two of them. "Would you two be okay if Caleb joined you guys? Just so he can distract himself from… what happened earlier."
The bear and hero shared a look, then glanced at the open Rec Room door. "I don't see why not", Lefty said with a kind tone. "Blossom, go and get him. He definitely needs this."
The hero nodded and zipped into the room, quickly heading to the top floor of the library, Caleb jumped at her sudden appearance, and then quickly relaxed. "Blossom, hey! What… WHat are you doing here?"
"You're joining me and Lefty to the art room with Gwen, that's what! C'mon!" Before the boy could sound off any protest, the superhero had picked him up and carried him out the room. When he was set back down, he was in the middle of the group in the corridor, frozen in shock.
He blinked and looked over at Maria, who gave him a gentle smile. "You have fun, mijo, okay?"
Caleb squinted his eyes at her in mock rage. "We'll talk about this later…"
"Oh shush", Lefty said quietly, grabbing his hand and pulling him down the hall. "Focus on art, Caleb."
The boy sighed and looked ahead, the trio left behind catching a smile just barely gracing his features. "See, already he's happier", Dry whispered in a glad tone.
The married couple nodded and headed into the Rec Room, looking to do some relaxing reading to pass the time. Dry smiled as they left, gave the departing trio one last look, and headed towards his room.
~X~
Heading down the hall, Caleb was in a state of calm silence as they neared their destination. He was in a part of the castle he never really explored before, and it was kinda getting him excited to see what was in store for this art room.
"So, do you have any idea what you want to make, Lefty?" Blossom asked the bear.
They shrugged in response. "Not entirely sure just yet. But I was thinking of something involving a landscape as the focus, I don't know…"
"That sounds like a good idea", Caleb said with a smile. "If you need help, I can be that… Help…" He looked down in confusion. "I don't know what I was trying to say there."
The bear giggled and ruffled the boy's hair. "You just focus on your own art project, Caleb. I'll figure my stuff out eventually, I just need to get in the right headspace."
The boy nodded and looked back ahead, thinking over what he would even do. He didn't want to come here in the first place simply because he didn't want to disturb Gwen's own work. But the more he thought about it, the more that was such a dumb reason. He would've gotten a burst of inspiration as soon as he stepped in.
As he thought over what he could draw, the hallway became more quiet as the trio reached a wing of the castle that was more calm. Looking around, the trio saw quickly that this was the more art based area of the palace. It definitely lived up to the vibe, with plenty of artists and musicians walking around and quietly talking between each other.
"This place is really nice", Blossom said quietly, trying to be respectful. "I should come here more often, just to see what else they do around here."
Caleb looked around, and stopped walking when he saw a massive cork board. The other two saw and followed his gaze, and they all walked over to look over the multitude of flyers and bull items. It seems this wing of the castle was also the headquarters of planning all the massive events that hit the Capital, as there were flyers and reminders for anniversaries, festivals and various other get-togethers of all kinds.
It was kinda admirable to see it all in one place, like seeing the most insane behind the scenes film of all time.
"Do you think we could help out with any of these events at some point?" Blossom asked as she flew up a bit higher and looked at a Cirque Du Soleil flyer. "Because it'd be cool to do one of these sometime."
Caleb looked them all over, and saw something that caught his eye. Looking closer, he saw it was an in progress flyer for what seemed to be some sort of festival to close off the summer.
"We could help out with this one", he said, pointing at the flyer. Lefty and Blossom looked at it in intrigue, becoming more enticed the more they read. "I could talk to Rainbow and we can see where it goes from there."
"Good idea, Caleb", the black bear said. "It'd be nice to get out and see something like this first hand."
"Oh, it's so much fun, Lefty", Blossom said in building excitement. "Trust me, you will love it." She looked over her shoulder, glancing around the space. "I think we kept Gwen waiting for long enough, c'mon. I want to see what this place has for us."
The other two nodded and followed the superhero down one of the halls, and soon they came across a door that stood out from the rest. It was a pair of double doors, with a photo of the whole group Caleb had assembled over the past three years embedded in one of the doors. The other door had a plaque that read "RESERVED FOR KNIGHTS OF CREATION", the title Rainbow gave the group for identification reasons.
They headed inside, and the sight before them was ridiculously impressive. Think everything you'd find in a high school's own art room, only fused with Da Vinci's studio and a kindergarten classroom. Art supplies was all nearly organised into its respective corners as there was a massive area in the middle.
Gwen was in said middle area, working away at a canvas with a painting that seemed to depict a gothic styled skull hanging from a metal fence spike. As the trio approached her, the goth paused her painting and looked over, smiling with her usual bored eyes.
"Nice of you guys to join me", she said, setting her paintbrush down and wiping her hands on a cloth she had with her. "I was wondering what was keeping you guys."
"Maria wanted Caleb to tag along with us", Blossom said, frowning slightly. When the goth gave him a questioning look, the boy sighed.
"I put on the first trailer for Encanto", he explained. "And the look in the main character's eyes… Well, let's just say it hit a bit too close into the territory of Deja Vu."
Gwen gave him a sad look and walked over, kneeling down a bit and looking him in the eye. "You okay, dude?"
Caleb shook his head and hugged the goth, who carefully hugged back. She gestured to the others to get set up with their own stuff set up, and they went off. After a bit, the two broke the hug and Caleb gave Gwen a tired smile.
"Sorry about that, Gwen", he said apologetically. "Just… I needed that."
"It's all good, dude", she said with a relaxed smile. "You helped me get back into art, so it's only fair."
"And you don't Merida chewing you out, right?" The boy had a smirk on his face.
Gwen laughed. "Yes, that too." She looked over at her art project, then looked back at the boy. "So, do you have any ideas what you want to make?"
"Hmmmmmmm…" Caleb hummed as he looked around, seeing Lefty set up a canvas stand much like Gwen, and Blossom gently set down a chunk of stone on a table. "I'm not quite sure, honestly. Maybe… uh…"
As he trailed off, Gwen giggled and pat his shoulder. "You'll figure something out soon. Just take a look around at all the supplies, it'll click for you soon." She walked off to get back to her project, and Caleb decided to heed her advice and walked over to the plethora of supplies in all their spaces.
As he looked over the massive wall, he looked down to see a platform on the floor with two shoe markings on it. He stepped onto them, and stumbled a bit when a railing suddenly rose and he was raised into the air slightly. As he adjusted to his new position, a console blinked to life in front of him and a screen flickered on to show a catalogue of everything that the art room had to offer.
Swiping through all the different options in intrigue, he soon came across the selection of different coloured string, yarn, and such… An idea started in his head. He let it stew around for a while before it all clicked, and his eyes lit up with excitement in inspiration.
He selected the option on the screen, and the platform moved over to the materials. Acting quick so he didn't waste an ounce of time, he grabbed everything he needed, putting it all in a basket that the platform revealed to help with carrying everything.
He grabbed strings of all kinds and colours, clips, beads with all sorts and other things that seemed somewhat random. With all his stuff selected, he brought the platform back down and grabbed the basket, running over to a massive empty table. As soon as he set the basket down and sat in a chair he pulled over, he got to work.
With swift movements while still being careful, Caleb started taking the strings, and wrapping them together while stringing the beads along. He spelt out names with other smaller beads as he went, giving each object its own flair, which was complemented with the colours.
Name after name, he worked tirelessly, which also did catch the attention of the other three in the room. They all shared looks, pausing their progress on their own projects to see what Caleb was working on. As she was the nearest, Gwen was the first to pick up one of the first finished things in the slowly growing pile on the opposite side to the basket.
Looking it over, the goth was surprised to see it was a bracelet. Made out of firm material, it had her name on it, with two bat charms on either side of her name. As Lefty and Blossom joined her, looking over all the bracelets, they blinked then looked at Caleb.
"Caleb, what are these?" The black bear asked, holding up their own bracelet which was more than big enough to fit around their wrist.
"Friendship bracelets!" The boy said, looking up and smiling at his friends. "We've all been together so long that I thought we could have a signature thing that connects us all together. Sure, we have the phones, but I want something more… visible, if that makes sense."
Blossom held up her own bracelet and put it on, smiling at how comfortable it felt. "I think it's cool, Caleb! It's also sweet, and… Honestly, I like that idea."
"Just so we always have a reminder of each other, and so people know not to cross a line", the boy said firmly. "So you guys can put your bracelets on now, if you want. I'm gonna be at this for a while, so don't wait to put them on."
He got right back to work, carefully crafting Merida's bracelet and shutting out distractions. The others all shared looks, unsure what to do next. Well, Blossom went right back to work on her statue, wearing her bracelet tight. Lefty was next, putting the bracelet on as they headed back to their canvas.
Gwen was the last to go, looking down at the simple object with such intrigue, really letting it sit in her how long it's been since getting roped up with all of this. Since Izzy had her time as a hollow reflection of herself… It's been so long.
Sure, two years isn't that long, but a lot can happen in that time when you're in a place like this.
The goth smiled with a very quiet chuckle, put the bracelet on, and walked back over to her canvas to finish it up and start a new painting.
~X~
It was in the late evening by the time the quartet was done in the art room. Blossom's sculpture turned out to be a mini model of the Townsville skyline, Lefty painted a very detailed landscape of the Australian Outback, and Gwen was able to do two more paintings in a similar vein to her first one.
Caleb, meanwhile, had a new basket filled with all the other finished bracelets in it. He carried it as they all talked and laughed amongst each other. It was nice, doing things together. Because of how well the session turned out, the quartet agreed to make this a bi-weekly thing, and to assist each other if the creative spark ever faltered.
As they made their way back to the Rec Room, they stopped to look out one of the wall length windows to spy out to the city, taking in the sight of the clusters of buildings.
"You know, I live in a city", Blossom said wistfully. "And despite that, there's still something cool about this place."
"I'd like to believe it's simply us being unbelievably lucky", Lefty said, eyeing the metropolis with a watchful eye. "We all we so lucky to run into the right person at the right time."
"Yeah, this little gremlin right here." Gwen smirked and ruffled Caleb's hair, making the boy shoot her a pointed look.
"We're the same age, Gwen!"
The others simply chuckled, then they all went back on their way. As they walked, Caleb looked back at his faintly visible reflection in the window glass, seeing how much older he was at this point. Time had moved by so quickly, yet he wasn't scared of it one bit. It was crazy to him how much had happened in such a short amount of time, and he wouldn't ever say he was upset with how things turned out.
As the group turned into their hallway, they froze when the saw the others looking up at an upside-down Courtney and Zomboss, both looking living as Molten held them up with his wise.
"What did we miss?" Caleb asked as he poked through the crowd and made his way beside Gladius and Katania.
"These two ended up getting into a bit of a heated argument", the sword explained. "And when it started to turn violent, Molten stepped in and did… this… to make them stop."
"Hey, it was a reasonable argument!" The Ex-CIT spat out, pointing at the blade in an accusing fashion. "I was just trying to correct Zomboss on his awful legal knowledge, he was the one that wanted to die again on the at hill."
"I was telling you my knowledge is fine!" The zombie overlord roared back. "My issue was that you were stuck with your brain in a knot because you saw me doing my system differently than what you know."
"My brain in a knot… that doesn't make any sense!" Courtney cried out. "When I get my hands on you, your brain will be in a knot!" The two of them started trying to reach for each other, to get into another altercation, but Caleb clearing his throat loudly made everything stop.
He glared up at them. "Guys, c'mon. You're both adults, act like it. Plus… I have something to show you all, and I'd rather not have two of my family feel the need to rip each other's heads off when I share."
The Type A and undead scientist both relented, and Molten set them back down carefully so as to not accidentally set them off again. When they were on the floor, and Molten was more level with everyone else, Caleb led them all into the Rec Room. As everyone filed in and took whatever seats were available, they all turned to the boy expectantly.
"Alright, Caleb-Chan", Majima said in a semi-bored tone. "What's up?"
"Well, after spending all day in the art room…" The boy dumped all the finished bracelets on the table. "And made all of these! One for each of you!"
The entire group minus those who were also in the art room with him all leaned forward and looked at the massive pile of bracelets. They then all looked at Gwen, Lefty and Blossom, and saw what they were.
Hilda grabbed the one assigned to her, and she looked at Caleb with star-filled eyes. "You made each of us a bracelet, Caleb?"
"Yep! Like I told Gwen, Lefty and Blossom, these are so that we all all connected in a more… I guess in a physical way would be the way to put it. Plus, it shows everyone else that we are a family, and they can't do anything to change that."
Hilda beamed and worked quickly, giving Alfur and Twig their own bracelets after getting her's on swiftly. Everyone else followed shortly after, admiring the crafts with happiness and excitement, with those who had older, simpler bracelets like Izzy and Corey discarding them for the new ones. Caleb watched them all chat with a beaming smile, only to be caught off guard when Kat slid up next to him and hugged him close.
"You really did all of this just today, huh?" She asked, looking at her own bracelet.
"Yep! I just… I just wanted to do something fun. Especially after what happened at breakfast…" He looked off to the side with a bit of a forlorn look, but Gladius looking him in the eye did lift his spirits just a bit.
"We'll help you through it, Caleb, I can promise that."
Caleb nodded and moved over to sit down on an empty chair, watching as his friends all mingled and headed off to do their own things. He was so unimaginably lucky with his life. All of this, these past three years, still didn't feel real half the time.
As he stayed there, Maple, Z-Tron and Purdy all hopped onto his lap, and he laughed as they all found places on him to have a nap before dinner. This… This was the life he needed, but still questioned he deserved. And he'd take it like a champ, regardless of the good or bad…
~X~
Well, this is it people! The next big part of DCT2 is here! I took a few days to write some side one-shots to try and let my creative juices flowing again before tackling this new beast, and boy I feel more than ready to take this on!
So yeah, this chapter had a lot going on. We saw the cafe, the art room, and even hints to something that will happen later. I got big plans for this first stretch, and it'll all congregate with the movie viewing. But there will be something a moment earlier that will just be a buttload of character interactions and moments of fluff. You'll all love it so much!
Also, I wanna add that the friendship bracelets are super important going forward. They'll play a big part in character growth and bonds strengthening. So keep an eye out for that…
As always, I hope you all enjoyed the next part in our thrilling saga…
Up next: Caleb, trapped in a bout of boredom, ends up coming up with a dumb idea. Even with Dave, Barranco and a reluctant Laney tagging along, trying to go hunting for fantastical creatures would always have some hiccups…
~Caleb~
