Silence followed her retreat into the adjacent room, leaving them to wonder what was going on inside. The minutes slowly crept by, and after a time Chavo ventured forward, only to stop midway when Credence held out his arm, blocking his progress.

Knowing his daughter, there was probably something gruesome taking place behind the door. Chavo had already been exposed to more than enough blood and violence. He didn't want to further traumatize the little boy.

After a while, the silence was broken by the sound of something heavy hitting the floor with a sickening crunch. If it weren't for the sound of his daughter's laughter, the Obscurial would have been in a panic, thinking that something happened to his little girl. However, he wasn't entirely sure that her laughter was a good thing, knowing the type of violent acts that amused her. He cautiously took a step forward, the door opening on its own as he reached for the handle.

"Chilindrina?" Credence raised his wand, shining the light into the room. There were footsteps shuffling behind him as Chavo drew near, clinging to his uncle's cloak. "Is everything alright in there, baby girl?"

He shone the light across the floor, a low gasp piercing the silence when he spied the koala-headed man lying on the floor, a pool of blood seeping from where his plush head used to be. Chilindrina was standing over him, a pair of bloody scissors in one hand, the severed koala head in the other. There were scarlet stains splattered across her face, coating her palms and trickling past her wrists. Her shrill laughter echoed off the walls, the flickering candles casting shadows across the contours of her face.

When Chilindrina heard the door creaking on its rusty hinges, the laughter abruptly died in her throat. She spun around to face her father, a sinister grin spreading from ear to ear.

"Daddy, I got the head for Quico's dirty old bear! Aren't you proud of me?" She thrust the severed head towards him, holding it by the ear as it continued to drip down the front of her dress.

"Uhm..." Credence was at a loss for words. He stared at the spreading stain on the floor, taking a step back as it crept towards his shoes. Bravery was one thing. He was grateful for the fact that his honorary daughter wasn't afraid to venture into the unknown. Quite a feat for someone so young. But this... there were no words for what stood before him in the dark.

"Looks like someone spilled a lot of tomato soup in here," Chavo commented. He knelt down and was about to taste the warm substance when Credence took hold of his suspenders, giving them a sharp tug and leading him away from the blood.

"I think we'd better take that back to the hospital," said Credence, hoping to leave this place as soon as possible. "Your patient is going to want his head sewn on. Maybe then he can tell us what happened to Quico."

"Okey-dokey!" Humming a tune, Chilindrina merrily skipped across the floor, the bloody head swinging as she passed her father in the doorway.

.oOo.

Never in his life did Credence expect to be sitting in the waiting room, waiting for a stuffed animal to come out of surgery. Then again, this was the same little girl who claimed to have given birth to an eggplant, so he really shouldn't have been surprised. Still, when his daughter emerged from the operating room, pushing a gurney with the koala plushie resting under the covers, Credence watched them go in stunned disbelief, not even saying a single word.

Chavo, who was sitting beside him, looked up at his uncle. "Can we go visit Quico's teddy now?"

Slowly, the Obscurial rose from his seat. "Might as well. Though knowing Chilindrina, she'll probably tell us he needs time to wake up from the anesthesia." He took a couple of steps down the hall, motioning for his nephew to follow. Chavo hopped out of his seat, taking Credence's hand as they continued towards the recovery room.

When they entered the room, Chilindrina was holding Leon's paw, apparently checking his pulse. She scribbled something on her chart, pausing to adjust her nurse's cap when Hank climbed onto her shoulder. The opossum plushie sniffed the papers on the clipboard, reading her notes and nodding in approval before she finally addressed her father.

"We've finished reattaching the patient's head, Daddy. He might have symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, having survived decapitation. But other than that, he should be just fine." She was smiling again. Merlin, this whole scene was getting creepier by the minute. And his daughter's unsettling behavior wasn't helping.

Credence moved towards the bed, pulling a chair out from the table and sitting beside Leon. Quico's toy had definitely seen better days. The koala now had a ragged line of stitches where his head had been sewn into place. There were patches applied to his wounds like bandages, including a large strip of plaid material sewn to his cheek. He was just starting to open his eyes when Credence sat down beside him.

It took a couple minutes for the koala to adjust to his surroundings, gradually waking up and seeing that he had visitors. At first he was more concerned with the whereabouts of his friend, anxiously looking around the room for any sign of Quico. When Chilindrina told him that they didn't know where he was, the koala's expression changed, the corners of his mouth turned down as he sniffled and wiped his nose with the back of his paw.

"What were you doing in the graveyard?" Credence asked, hoping to get some useful information from the koala.

"I was watching over my friend's dad," the plush koala replied, shifting slightly and sitting up in bed. "He sleeps there, deep in the ground. My friend asked me to watch over him. But then... the bad creature acted very badly... Did some ugly things... It was very rude. The creature hurt me! It cut off my head! I... I..." Leon whimpered, breaking off in mid-sentence. "I'm scared!" he wailed, tears flowing down his furry cheeks.

Chilindrina moved closer to her patient, holding and patting his paw in a gesture of comfort. "Don't be scared, Mr. Bear. You're safe here. We're right here with you." She nodded towards the others, and Chavo came closer, holding up his frog.

"Would you like some frog boobies?" Chavo asked, his voice so young and innocent. "Whenever I'm feeling sad or scared, my frog always makes me feel better. Even when I don't have sandwiches, some boobs are always nice."

"No!" Leon sobbed, trembling and rocking. "I'm scared! I want to go home!"

"Get that nasty thing away from him!" Chilindrina spat, her opossum snarling and baring his fangs. "We won't get any information out of him that way." She looked to her father, who was still fairly confused by all of this. "We need to find something that'll calm him down. Normally we'd give Quico his koala when he's upset, but what do we give his koala? A pacifier? Baby toys?"

"If I had my teething rings, we could try giving him those," said Credence, trying his best to figure out what would help in this situation. This was giving him flashbacks to Mary Lou and her squadron of baby peas. But at least the stuffie could actually speak, which helped make their predicament less awkward. "He has a childlike mind, so maybe we need to give him a toy or a coloring book."

Chilindrina was in the process of digging through her pockets when Chavo suddenly stood up and exclaimed, "The computer! There's an old computer in the nurse's office that has coloring pages on it. We could print them out and give them to Quico's koala."

"Or we could try giving him these." Chilindrina reached into her pocket and came out with a bottle of sedatives. She shrugged, offering the bottle to her father. "It doesn't hurt to try."

"Uhm, maybe not, baby girl. Let's not give the patient drugs unless there's no other option." With a tired sigh, Credence got to his feet, scooting the chair out behind him. "I'm going with Chavo to the office. I think it would be better to print out some coloring pages and see if that helps."

The little boy was already bouncing with enthusiasm, eager to be of use to his friends. It wasn't until Credence sat down at the computer that he realized the little boy was eager to assist for other reasons. A few clicks with the mouse revealed some poorly animated drawings of women with very large breasts on the screen. The Obscurial sighed.

"Chavo, have you been downloading boobs again?"

"Maybe. Just a little." Chavo blushed sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head. "But there's other stuff here too. I found some My Little Pony coloring pages and Sesame Street too. Quico's bear will like those, right Uncle Blueberry?"

"He should. But do we have anything to color them?" Credence looked down at the drawers on the left side of the desk. He then opened the top drawer and started searching for art supplies and printing paper. "I suppose I could always use my magic if we don't have anything else. Color changing spells are easy enough."

"Uncle Blueberry, why do you have magic? Are you a witch like the old lady who lives next door to us?"

When Credence looked at his nephew, the boy was anxiously tugging on his suspenders, averting his gaze as though he were afraid the Obscurial would cast a spell on him. His first thought was to explain that only girls are witches. But after a moment, Credence decided it would be better to deny the existence of magic altogether.

"Chavo, remember what Chilindrina told us? None of this is real. You know that."

"I know," Chavo replied, sounding somewhat doubtful that his uncle was telling the truth. "But if this is a dream, then why can't I fly? Why don't I have lots and lots of sandwiches and big boobs everywhere?"

Credence motioned towards the computer screen. "Doesn't seem like you had any trouble finding breasts." His nephew grinned, feeling proud of his accomplishment. "Anyway, I think we need to get these pictures printed out so we can help Leon feel better. The sooner we do that, the sooner we can figure out where Quico went. Then maybe we can get out of here."

A few clicks of the mouse and the printer began churning out coloring pages. Fortunately, Chavo was able to locate a box of crayons in the desk drawer and sat down to color one of the pages. Though not before asking his uncle if they made coloring pages with pictures of breasts and sandwiches.

Credence couldn't help smiling. "It's my dream, Chavo. But that doesn't mean you can't find what you want here."

It was amusing, seeing this innocent child celebrating breasts and the nourishment they provide. For a while he sat and watched, until eventually he picked up some crayons and started coloring with his nephew. Though his fingers ached with each new color he added to his picture, Credence was feeling better than he had in ages, just sitting there, happily spending time with Chavo.

Unfortunately, their time together was short lived, knowing that they needed to return to Leon as soon as possible. As they gathered their crayons and coloring pages, Credence found himself wondering if it would be possible to stay in this dream world, perhaps changing it for the better. He'd been told several times that the dream could change depending on the thoughts of the inhabitants. So wouldn't it be possible to create something better than the world they were given?