And the story continues. We are slowly getting to the intense part of the story, which I have kept for the end. I won't reveal what it is. You'll have to wait until we reach the last episode.
Good news: me, Gemwing88 and Nataliepthatsme are working on a sequel to the Hocus Pocus Story that I posted earlier. Therefore, the story here is on hold until the other one is finished. I hope you understand.
Until then
A night has passed after the intense basketball game in the underworld. But the tension was still palpable. At least for some of the demons, you could say. Of course the devil had lost the game and therefore also the right to the souls of the two cups. However, he also had the right to call Alicia his future wife. This, in turn, delighted certain female demons who didn't waste a second flirting with the leader of the underworld or sending him mountains of gifts that were currently stored in his bedroom where the devil was sleeping to recover from his loss.
Lively baroque music plays in his bedchamber. Above the king-sized bed hung several self-portraits of the devil, showing him in a variety of outfits (presumably matching the respective era). From Baroque to Renaissance to his own costumes, of course. So you could guess that the devil had survived and lived through many eras because he was immortal.
And just like every morning, he survived the struggle to stay in bed and attend to his duties as a devil. So he lifted his (naturally pink) sleeping goggles, smiled and flung them away. Or that's what he wanted, but his horns made this process difficult and he fidgeted a little until he finally managed to remove the sleeping goggles from his body. Yawning, grunting, he stretched out his arms and groaned. The day could now begin. But not before the devil had put on his morning sandals. Which had a devilish touch because, strictly speaking, they resembled the devil one to one.
The souls still in the underworld paced and wailed for mercy to be freed from their torment. But the devil seemed rather pleased. It was like birdsong in the morning for him. Except that the underworld had no birds. "Ah, beautiful day." he said as the souls continued to suffer agonizing pain.
It was deathly quiet in the throne room where the devil had just arrived. He liked that. Just like the food trolley with an open box of donuts in a white color on the front. You could guess that the word Hell could not be read. Because these donuts were not the normal kind you could just buy. They were special and every Imp and demon knew it. Scratching his butt and holding a trident in his hand, the devil approached the food cart, which now had a full pot of coffee behind the box with a coffee mug with #1 Boss on it and a devil's tail instead of a handle.
"Ooh! Don't mind if I do." the devil twiddled his fingers as he stood next to the food trolley and saw the box of donuts. Apart from crumbs, there was only one donut left with a pink glaze on top. Of course, the devil grabbed it, opened his mouth and was about to bite into it when all of a sudden.
"Excuse me." a familiar clearing of the throat sounded behind him which not only frightened the devil and made him tremble but also caused the donut to fall. Much to the chagrin of the devil, who just wanted to start the day without someone spoiling it for him.
This person was none other than the accountant who had just appeared in the throne room himself or had been there for some time. "Henchman, Amnon, bring more donuts." the devil ordered his two henchmen as he tried to control his emotions. But it was immediately apparent that the devil was annoyed. "And as for you..." you didn't necessarily have to guess the reason for this as he stood a few meters in front of the devil like a statue and didn't move at all. However, this made things much easier for the devil. It meant he could easily aim his trident at Stickler and fire a jet of flame at him. A cloud of orange smoke appeared after the impact, much to the devil's delight. At last, he and the other inhabitants of the underworld would have peace from Stickler and his constant interruptions and additions.
But like yesterday's basketball game, luck didn't seem to be on the Devil's side when the cloud of smoke cleared and Stickler was still standing there without any scratches or scrapes thanks to the Invisible Impenetrable Sweater he was still wearing. "Still wearing the invisible impenetrable sweater, I see." added the devil with an annoyed expression. "I come with news from the annual ledger review.", "Thrill me, Stickler." The devil didn't seem to be bothered by this news. On the whole, everything about Stickler seemed to bother him at the moment.
It was not for nothing that the accountant wasn't on the list of the most popular imps and demons in the underworld. To be more precise, he was not on any list, if there was one at all. But just as the devil cared little for what Stickler said, he cared little for the devil's answer and kept on talking. "Apparently you have not collected a single soul in months." the nasal voice really disturbed the devil. Not only was his start to the morning ruined by Stickler ruining his last (and best tasting!) donut by throwing it on the floor when the devil was startled to hear the loud clearing of the throat that Stickler was known for.
No, what also bothered him about the accountant was that he didn't think of anything else about the number of souls in the soul vault and that the devil absolutely had to collect more. It really made you wonder who was the boss here.
"Yeah. There's more to life than work, Stickler." grumbled the devil as he approached his throne. He stomped up each of the few steps leading to it like an annoyed toddler who couldn't get a lollipop or toy in the store. "Now, if you don't mind, I'm trying to start my day." Just as the devil was about to sit down, he was suddenly thrown out of the throne he had been sitting in for a millisecond without warning. Head first, the devil crashed a few centimeters in front of Stickler into the carpet that led to the devil's throne. As always, the accountant seemed to show no sign of astonishment or the like. The devil groaned in pain as his trident was hurled even further away, almost hitting Amnon.
The husky demon was sweating like ever and only swallowed nervously while Henchman's pupils retreated in terror to escape death. Neither of them wanted to experience that. The devil slowly came to as stars circled his head briefly, which he removed with a shake of his head before looking back to his throne and asking "What was that?".
"That is one of the Bubbles of Failure." Stickler explained with a raised index finger and continued, "they will entomb everything and everyone you cherish." The throne, which was now trapped in a pink bubble, was not the only thing that had been captured and was therefore unreachable by the devil. "Your bed, your coffee mug, your paintings." every object close to the devil was enveloped in the bubbles of failure.
"Aw..." this also included the donut which flew merrily past the devil and Stickler, much to the former's annoyance. But lying around and sulking didn't help, so the devil picked himself up, rubbed the sore spot and asked "And why is that, excatly?" to find out why these blisters appear in the first place. "To encourage soul collection." Stickler answered simply as he opened the book and saw a graph showing the soul collection rate going down. "No new souls, no access to belongings." The explanation was so simple and straightforward, but the devil didn't like this statement at all.
Outraged, he complained "This is an outrage! Who instituted this miserable policy?" the devil wanted to know. After all, it was a stupid regulation. In his eyes, although I have to admit that the devil is right. But the accountant's answer seemed to confuse the devil. "You did.", 'I did?' the devil asked again. "Yes." replied Stickler with a hissing tone at the end of his answer. "I did?" the devil asked again to make sure he hadn't misheard. "Yes." Stickler replied again in the same tone. "I did?", "Yes." I don't think I need to describe how the two of them sounded.
"Oh. Well, you have to admit, that is pretty evil" the devil chuckled at his own diabolical idea, almost forgetting what or who had been in the bubbles. "Per Clause 548B subsection C..." While Stickler opened his book "Uh, boss?" Henchman asked confusedly, while Amnon spun around in circles, repeatedly landing on his head. "...you must collect a single soul within one business day or have an assets from the surface returned." Stickler finished his sentence, but was not finished yet. "If you fail,…" He turned to the next page "...all assets will remain permanently seized." The devil knew that this was a serious matter, which is why he decided to take the souls of the two cups despite yesterday's game and maybe take Alicia with him. "Fine. I'll use this opportunity to finally get the souls from these cups and my dearest Alicia into the bargain." The accountant didn't care. 'Obtaining any soul will satisfy the requirements.' he mentioned in advance as the devil walked past him. 'I'm getting both souls from those cups, my bride and that's the end of it.' The devil interrupted him, growling.
"Your hubris will be your downfall." Of course, the devil ignored this sentence and made his way to his trident, which was stuck in the floor carpet. His claw reached for it, but before the devil could touch his trident, it was enveloped in the very bubbles that were circling around his throne room. "Ah! My trident!" the devil cried in despair until he heard a tinkling sound. Startled, he no longer looked up but forward. "My elevator!" It too had been enveloped in a bubble. "Now how am I supposed to get to the surface world?" His two individual paths to the surface were blocked by the very bubbles of failure. How was he supposed to get to the top now? He was not yet strong enough to teleport without his trident. This power did not seem to work properly yet and only brought him forward in dribs and drabs.
"Looks like someone is taking the stairs." was the answer the devil hadn't hoped for. Especially not since Stickler was cowardly hiding in the shadows of the underworld to avoid seeing the devil's outburst of rage while he only now knew that there were stairs leading to the surface. "Oh right. The stairs." not thinking about how Stickler disappeared the devil approached the stairs with a red velvet floor and golden banister with a smile.
But the smile faded from his face when he saw how many steps he had to climb. His head went up when he saw the many stairs that went up like a spiral and disappeared into the shadows into infinity until they could no longer be seen. "Ugh." the devil grumbled and went up the stairs annoyed. "That fathead Stickler..." and tried not to curse. Even though he was the devil.
Meanwhile on the surface…
"Boring!" Cuphead complained as he lay upside down on the sofa with his arms dangling. It was clear that he was bored and didn't know what to do to get rid of this boredom. Well, Cuphead wasn't the only one struggling with this problem. Mugman and Cuppy silently nodded to his complaint. Both were also bored and were sitting or lying on the sofa in a similar way. Mugman sat in the middle, holding his head firmly with his hands while his arms were propped up on his legs. Cuppy lay on the other side of the sofa opposite his counterpart from this world and stared up at the ceiling. He also sighed in boredom and agreed with Cuphead's statement for the first time. "You're so right," muttered the more mature and older of the three cups.
But why were the three cups bored? Was there nothing to do in the cottage? Had all the housework already been done? Or was there another reason for their sighs and groans? Well, there was. In addition to the things mentioned above, there was another thing that ensured that the three cups were never really bored. This thing was, or were, the other housemates in the cottage: Lucifer, Alicia and Blood.
The three roommates in the cottage usually kept the three cups busy when they were bored or about to be bored. Mostly, however, to prevent someone from getting stupid ideas like connecting themselves to an anchor and plunging into the deep sea with it, knocking out a streetcar driver just to ride the streetcar extremely fast or eating the hottest chili sauce in a local chili house to prove that you are not a weakling. And before anyone asks yes these things happened without Lucifer, Alicia and Blood being able to do anything about it. But nevertheless, the three cups were bored and wanted to be entertained or at least do something to get rid of their boredom. Suddenly, a flyer came out of the open window and hit Mugman in the face. "What the?!" He was completely shocked and tore the flyer from his face only to realize that it wasn't a flyer but a torn page from a magazine.
Not only he looked at this page, but also his brother Cuphead and Cuppy together. They both wanted to know what had just flown through the window. "Wait is that an advertisement for the Inkwell movie theater?" Cuppy wondered while Mugman confirmed his statement 'Yes it is and look guys apparently there's a special thing happening today', 'Ooh did you say a special thing?' before his brother could answer Cuphead grabbed the page and had an idea how to get rid of their boredom.
Without further hesitation and disturbing the others in the cottage, the three cups ran out the front door to see the special show the movie theater was offering. The fact that they didn't ask Alicia, Lucifer and Blood to come along wasn't because they had forgotten about them, but because Blood was busy with his work and Alicia and Lucifer were cuddling together.
So the three cups jumped laughing over the goat standing on the stone path and eating grass with relish. She didn't mind at all. But a certain someone who had just come running out of the front door seemed to have a different opinion. "Boys, wait!" Surprisingly, it wasn't Alicia or Blood but Elder Kettle who ran after the three of them. "Out of the way, goat." He stopped short and annoyedly pushed aside the goat that was blocking his path.
"When will you be back from the movies?" Elder Kettle asked in a sickly, almost depressed voice. He could not only see but also hear that Elder Kettle would like to come with us. "How about when he quits being so clingy?" but apparently there was a reason why the three of them didn't ask Elder Kettle if he wanted to come along. Because Alicia was always in the guest room with Lucifer and Blood was busy with his own things, Elder Kettle wanted to spend more time with the three boys.
Unfortunately, he got on the nerves of the three of them. Except that he didn't notice. But what should the three of them do now? Should Elder Kettle come with them? Or not? The three cups agreed and turned around. Cuphead smiled, Mugman seemed nervous and Cuppy tried to look neutral so as not to feign anything. "Uh, we'll be gone for a while." Mugman replied as he wiped the sweat from his brow. "It's a…" he rambled on and didn't know what to say. "Double feature." Cuppy added, helping the young mug out. "Actually, Cuppy and Mugman, it's a double double feature." Cuphead corrected with a raised index finger before nudging his brother with his elbow. Both Mugman and Cuppy, however, seemed confused. "Remember?", 'Oh, right.' Mugman and Cuppy's nervous grins looked skeptical but Elder Kettle ignored them.
"Oh. Well, let me give you a lift." Not only did he ignore this, but he offered the three of them a ride to the movie theater. All he needed was his car keys, which were still lying on the table in the kitchen. "Wait right there. Just gotta get my keys." Without much ado, Elder Kettle ran into the cottage, past the goat and left the three cups, which briefly resembled a stature, alone. Cuphead, Cuppy and Mugman looked at each other, nodded and ran out through the fence gate and made their way into town.
Unnoticed by the three cups, Elder Kettle, Alicia and the others, the devil could be heard moaning in the forest. He had just arrived at the end, or rather the beginning, of the stairs leading to a subway entrance in the forest. Only instead of a subway, the entrance led to the underworld. From this entrance, a clawed hand reached out to none other than the devil himself. He gasped and panted with effort as he climbed the last few steps and took a deep breath on the last step, stretched his body, wiped away the sweat and prepared himself for what he was actually up here for. "Now, where is that stupid cottage?" He wanted to have one or better yet both souls from the two cups and Alicia to boot before he returned to finally get rid of the stupid bubbles and maybe even change the rules for them. For good reason, because it was absurd that he had created this rule in the first place. What was the point? Just to please a certain accountant to collect more souls. The devil would love to strangle him, but unfortunately he would only get an electric shock because of that stupid sweater the accountant was wearing.
While the devil was quietly grumbling and trying to control his anger, he didn't notice the pine cone lying on the path, which he was just stepping on with his bare foot. The devil felt that he had stepped on the pine cone and the pain that followed made this even clearer. "Youch!" he cried out with a pained cry and picked up his aching foot. The red border was not difficult to recognize. Almost the entire underside of his right foot was swollen red "Ow, ow, ow, ow." the devil grabbed his foot and jumped backwards away from the pine cone with his other foot while trying to balance as best he could.
Unfortunately, the devil didn't notice one thing. That he was jumping straight towards something. He jumped further and further backwards until his feet no longer felt grass but fresh air? Confused, the devil realized that he was no longer on the forest floor but in the air over a precipice. "Ow?" was all he said before falling down as is typical in cartoons. His scream could be heard as well as the following cry of pain as he fell into a thorny bush and looked like half a pincushion himself.
"Yeow-whoo-hoo-hoo!"
"Hmm? What was that?" startled, Alicia lifted her head and looked around in confusion but also fear while the rest of her body was covered by Lucifer's. To put it better, Lucifer was lying on top of Alicia and she was just resting her head on his arms while his head was next to hers and almost falling asleep if it wasn't for that scream. "Is something wrong, my love?" he asked curiously but also cautiously while images of who was responsible for the scream appeared in his head.
Besides King Dice, who had let out a similar scream (we're talking about the book King Dice here) when he was planning something to seduce Alicia again, up to his counterpart, Lucifer couldn't think of anyone else who could belong to this scream and even if he did, he would probably make sure whoever this person was would scream even more. After all, Lucifer was also known as the master of terror. Even if he never referred to himself as such for obvious reasons. But the fact that someone dared to disturb him and his queen while they were cuddling did not please the demon at all. "Maybe we should see if it was the boys?" suggested Alicia, crawling out of bed.
Could be that Mugman was scared of something, or maybe Cuphead. Who knows? But why would they both scream like that? Alicia had heard the cries of the two cups more than once. That wasn't their scream. No, not at all. Even Cuppy, who hardly ever screamed, had a scream like that. Not even Elder Kettle or Blood. Alicia wasn't even sure if the latter had ever screamed at all. Never mind! "Something's wrong Alicia, you look so depressed." Lucifer also stood up and approached Alicia from behind to give her a hug. One of the many things he liked to do to cheer her up. Or to surprise her when she least expected it. That's the way he was and that's the way Alicia loved him.
"Well..." she sighed as Lucifer stroked her tenderly and paid no attention to the slammed front door while they both shouted "Boys! I got the keys." from outside. They both knew that the three cups were gone and Elder Kettle was running after them. Or rather drove after them. But still mistook the reverse gear for the forward gear, causing a loud crash and destroying part of the freshly painted fence.
But he could get upset about that later or ask Blood as he was better at fixing things thanks to his wand. Or so Elder Kettle thinks. Because it was actually the goat that fixed the fence. She inspected the damage, grabbed a hammer and bucket of paint and started to repair the fence.
"I have a sinking feeling that I know who that scream belongs to." Alicia's green and blue eyes stared into Lucifer's yellow ones. They shimmered like two gemstones in his and looked beautiful. Another of the many reasons why he was glad that Alicia was his wife and queen. But he digressed and wanted to know who she suspected. "Who do you think it could be?" He already had a suspicion of who it could be and flashed his teeth as Alicia lowered her head and exhaled deeply. She had to let it out and she did. There was only one to whom this scream belonged. "It's the devil-" No sooner had she said the word than Alicia was suddenly enveloped in a large pink bubble and hovered in the air.
Lucifer, who was as surprised as Alicia was, was not captured in the bubble. No, instead he flew against the wall with a heavy and painful groan. Alicia held her hands in front of her mouth in shock and was indirectly worried about him "Lucifer are you alright and not hurt?" but her attempts to get closer to him proved difficult. The bubble seemed to be conscious or moved on its own without Alicia moving at all.
She tried to crawl towards him like a baby trying to reach its parent. But it was no use. The bubble slowly floated away from Lucifer and approached Blood's bed. Lucifer, surprised by the powerful blow he had just felt, shook his head and freed himself from the wall in which his imprint had been left. "I'm fine love, I'm just ..." he landed on the bed that Alicia and he shared after freeing his arm from the wall.
"...surprised about what just happened." Lucifer slowly stood on the floor again and examined the bubble in which his wife and queen was located more closely. Unlike Henchman and Amnon, Alicia was lying calmly on her back, leaning against the inner wall of the bubble that hovered halfway over Blood's bed. But the bubble wasn't completely still either. It floated up and down and seemed to move from left to right. "Please tell me this isn't one of your protective measures," Alicia hoped. It wasn't the first or the last time Lucifer protected her even when she wasn't around him. The devil's mark on her shoulder was just one of many things to protect Alicia. Besides a Bracelet that was connected to Lucifer with an invisible leash, a bodyguard demon that accompanied Alicia everywhere and a demonic spell, there were many means Lucifer used to either protect Alicia or be closer to her.
Mostly the latter because it was difficult for him to let go of Alicia or let her explore the Inkwell Isle on her own for a few hours. But he would never have thought of a pink bubble. He knew Alicia hated that color as much as he did. "Unfortunately, that's not my doing my dearest" before the bubble floated further away Lucifer held it firmly with his claws before continuing to speak and looking Alicia in the eye with a depressed expression on his face. She was so close and yet so far away. "Do you think the devil is responsible for this?" might suit him. After all, he liked wearing pink.
You couldn't rule it out. Maybe it was to get revenge for yesterday's game that he lost. "Could be." Lucifer thought before he decided to free his wife from the bubble for good. His hands positioned themselves and allowed his claws to push deeper into the bubble. "Best to cover your ears honey" Alicia didn't argue with him and covered her ears while Lucifer pushed his claws deeper into the wall of the bubble, hoping at any moment to hear a loud pop or something. But both Alicia and Lucifer heard no bang and opened their eyes in confusion only to realize that no damage had been done to the bubble. It was intact and didn't appear to have any dents or scratches. Oh man that's a tough bubble. Alicia thought to herself and slapped the bubble wall in frustration.
Lucifer did not give up. He narrowed his eyes, pushed his claws deeper into the bubble so that they could almost touch Alicia and gathered all his strength in his arms and hands. But unfortunately it didn't help. The bubble did not give way. "Damn it, why won't the bubble break?" he cursed and slowly released his grip to avoid being thundered against the wall again. It hurt his soul not to be able to hug Alicia anymore. To feel her closeness and body heat, to kiss her and to whisper several times in her ears how much he loved her and how important she was to him. He didn't want to lose her.
But they both asked themselves the same question. Why was Alicia trapped in the bubble in the first place? Was she cursed by someone? Was it Misterie? No, I very much doubt that she has anything against me. The painted Wolf wouldn't want to curse her just because she's married with Lucifer. Misterie herself had said that she respected Alicia in her relationship and that Lucifer was different from the devil that Katie, Lexie, Liam, Matt, Natty and Kaichi encountered.
Silk and the others were also excluded. Why would they curse her when their marriage to her and the devil was made void by yesterday's basketball game? That made no sense in Alicia's eyes. Muru could also be on the list of suspects. However, he wasn't able to cast spells or even curses like Blood could. The latter was also off the list of suspects. But who else could it be?
Now there was still one suspect they could convict. Both Alicia and Lucifer knew who it was. The former swallowed nervously while the latter growled with rage but pulled himself together as best he could. "That dirty miserable cheating bastard..." he continued to whisper as Alicia flew back over to her and Lucifer's bed. She was no longer sitting in the bubble but lying on her stomach, looking bored but also sighing. She didn't want to start the day like this.
But what else could she do at the moment? Listen to Lucifer curse or devote herself to the drawing Katie had given her when she visited her dimension for a short time. Well, Katie said that the drawing was of a Sprigon with black fur, a light gray underbelly and paws, a long white mane and small white spines. It also has silver antlers, yellow eyes and its flowery wings are dark blue with light blue tips. It also has wolf ears and a bushy wolf tail.
She had received this drawing from Katie before she disappeared back into her dimension. Since then, Alicia never took her eyes off it and wondered what the drawing meant to her. Was it to cheer her up, to recognize her as a member of the Dreamstones since they all seemed to have Sprigons as companions. Or was it something else? Questions upon questions that Alicia would like to have answered like what was the reason why she was trapped in a pink bubble right now and Lucifer couldn't free her. Now the reason why she was trapped in a pink bubble just came through the front door. Well, rather, the guilty party was carried into the cottage and brought upstairs.
The devil's eyes slowly opened. His vision was still blurry and not entirely clear. "Ah." he groaned slightly as he blinked his eyes several times until his vision became clearer and he no longer saw everything double and triple. The devil looked around with a clear gaze. He was on a bed with a red comforter which was covered with patches in some places. The bed itself was made of wood, as were the door, window frames and parts of the wall. Next to the door was a picture frame with two oval cut-outs in which two photos of plants were hanging. Right next to it was a chest of drawers with a green bottle on top. "What happened? Where am I?" the devil asked as he rubbed his forehead in pain and looked to his right.
He saw a bedside table on which there was both a bedside lamp and a photo frame with several people on it, which the devil immediately recognized on closer inspection. Gasping, he grabbed the photo frame and examined the photo more closely with his yellow eyes.
It was a kind of family photo with nine people. All the people in the photo were standing in front of a beautiful sunset that left a luminous glow over the ocean and made the photo beautiful. But the devil didn't care how beautiful the photo looked. He was more interested in who was in the photo. His eyes wandered from an elderly-looking jug to the rest of the group. His mouth opened wider than before. He knew who the other people were.
"It's those cups, the foxes, the wolf, my copy and my love and queen!" Surprised, annoyed, angry and in love, he stared at the photo and had no idea exactly who had brought him here, let alone why he was here at all. The last thing he could remember was that he was about to button up the three cups that were not far away from him. However, he was hit by a car and lay unconscious on the forest floor. "And the old man who hit me." he grumbled with a frown.
The humiliation of having his possessions trapped in pink bubbles because the devil had stopped collecting new souls was enough for him. But being run over by a pensioner and being called a cat was a new low for the devil. And then to be called a female. I mean the horns, the ears and the end of his tail should already indicate that the devil is not a cat. It's not for nothing that he, his imps and demons were the only ones with yellow eyes with red pupils, while all the others had neutral white eyes with black pupils or other colors.
No one else on the Inkwell Isles had this. Well, with the exception of Alicia and the copy who called himself Lucifer. "The old jasper thinks I'm a house cat." You might think that Elder Kettle had once again forgotten to put on his glasses and saw the devil as a cat. That's what the devil thought until he had an idea and slowly put the framed photo back where it belonged while he came up with a diabolical plan.
"Hm. This could work to my benefit." He already knew how. "I'll just lie in wait until these two cups return home with my beautiful wife, then when they at least expects it, I'll not only snatch their souls but will take my wife with me." Like the villain he was, he rubbed his hands together and clenched them into a fist and chuckled. "Yes!" It was a plan that could not fail. The devil hoped so. "Here I come!" but his chuckles and thoughts were drowned out by the old man's voice. The devil didn't like this at all and tried to get off the bed by waving his claws back and forth in panic. But he didn't know how and the clock was ticking until the old man entered the room.
As the door slowly opened, Alicia continued to sweep through the guest room, where she and Lucifer were now joined by Blood. "So let me get this straight, the bubble just appeared out of nowhere and captured you?" the latter was not entirely convinced by the story. His first thought was that Alicia or one of the three cups had been playing with his potions, causing a bubble to appear that could apparently imprison people. But there was no sign of the three cups, and Blood's potions, which he had brewed just last night, were still untouched on the desk. So it wasn't that. "Believe me, it sounds stupid, but I don't want to be in here either." Alicia was now sitting cross-legged in the bubble, looking annoyed and anxious as Lucifer held the bubble in place to stop Alicia from floating away.
It was clear that she had to stay in the guest room. Elder Kettle would have a heart attack if he saw her like this. What's more, the devil could easily take her to his realm without her being able to defend herself. Well, how could she defend herself if she couldn't control the bubble because it had a mind of its own. "Whether you like it or not, for now you'll have to stay in here until we find a way to burst this bubble," Blood explained.
Alicia sighed and lowered her head. "So I don't have a choice then." Lucifer felt the pain in her voice and wanted to hug her. But the bubble prevented him from doing so and he was reluctant to leave another imprint of his body in the wall. Blood saw this too and swallowed his words instead of saying them out loud. Instead, he asked Lucifer to follow him. After all, the three cups should know about this and not Elder Kettle.
"Don't worry, we'll find a solution." Blood winked at Lucifer and made it clear that they should both leave the room. Not only to give Alicia time to get used to her new situation (although she didn't want to) but also to bring the three cups into the room. After all, they should know what was going on. But when both adults didn't even go through the door to get into the living room, they blinked to see the devil lying on Elder Kettle's lap, gently stroking him while the former purred and, for reasons unfathomable to both Lucifer and Blood, wearing a pink bow over his head. Blood stared perplexed while Lucifer just shook his head. Why is he, of all people, my counterpart? Lucifer asked himself mentally as he furrowed his brow.
But they could deal with that question later. As well as the goat looking sadly into the cottage from outside, they also heard someone approaching the front door. "So I says, 'You can take your nickel, and you can stick it right-" the front door opened before Cuphead could finish his sentence. Mugman and Cuppy followed him in silence and, like the former, realized that something was wrong. Something had happened while they were away. But what?
Nervous and curious, the eyes of the cups wandered around the living room until they spotted Elder Kettle dozing off on his armchair with the devil lying and now cleaning himself on his lap. Wait what?! Panic erupted in the eyes of the three cups when they saw the devil. They didn't know why he was here. Or what the reason was. However, one thing was certain. Blood and Lucifer didn't lure the three cups to them for nothing. What had happened? wondered Cuppy, who suspected something worse. Worse in the form of what had happened to Alicia.
The oldest of the three cups always looked after the young adult. He had done so since she was six years old. It was like a vow he had mentally sworn with Dolly to Alicia's mother and her brother John. He would protect both siblings with his life. Regardless of whether Alicia and John were older than him, Cuppy still considered himself the oldest of the group. That's why he cared more about Alicia than the others. Even though he wished that Cuphead, his counterpart in this world, would take this matter more seriously. It was not for nothing that the two of them argued more often than Cuphead did with his own brother.
On tiptoe, the three cups made their way unnoticed from the front door to the guest room where the door was wide open. Without the devil noticing, the guest room door slammed shut. Although he twitched like a cat, he stopped grooming his fur but continued to do so with a frown on his shoulder as if nothing had happened. Whatever it was, he could find out later. The most important thing was to continue the grooming and the enjoy the petting he received.
"Woah!" was the response Alicia got when the three cups saw her trapped in the bubble. Cuphead stood in front of Alicia with his mouth wide open while Mugman's jaw almost dropped and his head fell behind him if it hadn't been for his brother who caught his head at the last moment and grabbed it back where it was supposed to be. "Since when can you hide in a bubble Ali?" Cuppy asked curiously. He knew that Alicia had not yet shown all her powers and that many of the powers Lucifer possessed were still unknown. "I can't because I didn't conjure this up Cuppy." Alicia grumbled with an annoyed tone.
Cuppy apologized even though there was no reason for it. The other two were also reassured and carefully went over to the bubble and prodded it to see how strong it was. A normal bubble would have burst long ago. But not this one. "Pretty tough, I have to say.", "Yes, that's a bubble that you can't burst so easily." Cuphead saw this as a challenge to burst the bubble. But before he could run to the desk to grab Elder Kettle's craft scissors, Blood stopped him, "You genius, do you realize that you can't burst this bubble with a sharp object?" Cuphead felt like a fool. Of course you can burst a bubble with a sharp object. But where Blood was right, he was right. The bubble that held Alicia captive was no ordinary bubble.
It was one that only crackled with demonic forces. And it wasn't because Alicia was half demon. They all stared at each other and said nothing. The expressions on their faces were enough to indicate that they were all thinking the same thing. With a synchronized nod, they all spoke with the same answer: "It is the work of the devil." Alicia rolled her eyes. I should have known. She felt stupid for not thinking of it right away. It could only have been him. Why else would he be in the cottage? Well, luckily Alicia didn't know that the devil was in the next room. If she had known, she would have had a panic attack.
That's why the others kept quiet about it, as if a knife was being pressed under their throats. One wrong word and Alicia would panic. Lucifer would no longer be able to calm her down because the bubble would prevent him from reaching his beloved wife and queen. It was a dubious situation the group found themselves in. But sitting here didn't help either. Especially not when the devil was right there with Elder Kettle. The cups already suspected worse. The devil could be holding him hostage like he did with Mugman and Alicia. Only instead of his trident, he would ask for the souls of both Cupheads and the right to call Alicia his.
A choice that nobody wanted to make. Neither Lucifer nor the three cups. So they had to separate the devil from Elder Kettle. How was not a question. Since the devil was behaving like a house cat anyway, he certainly wouldn't say no and follow a ball of yarn that happened to roll past the armchair into the kitchen. The devil heard something rolling along the floor. Curious as to what it could be, he looked and saw the blue ball of yarn that Cuphead had rolled out of the guest room roll past him in slow motion.
His red pupils changed their shape to those same balls of yarn. The devil purred like a cat, meowed and jumped off the lap of the still dozing Elder Kettle and followed the ball into the kitchen. "Aw, ain't he cute?" whispered Cuphead. All three cups looked out of the slightly open crack in the door to make sure the devil was far away before they went to their guardian, who was now waking up from his nap. "Heya, Elder Kettle." the three greeted him with a friendly smile on their faces. Yawning, Elder Kettle stretched and greeted the three with a friendly smile that grew even wider and more cheerful as the three shared the following news with him. "There's a double double feature playing at Inkwell Theater." 'You wanna go?' both brothers asked curiously. "Last one there buys the popcorn!" Cuppy added and ran to the front door to get an advantage. Of course, the other three took up the challenge and followed the older of the three cups out of the cottage.
The devil stayed behind and continued to play with the ball of wool in the kitchen, unaware that the others had left him alone. His enthusiasm for playing with the ball of yarn disappeared. He came back to himself, stared at the ball of yarn and said "What am I doing?", confused at himself. "Pretending to be a cat?" He didn't want that to be true. Of course he purred. But only when he thought of Alicia and how it would feel to have her in his arms while they both lay in his bed. Furious, he threw the ball of yarn away, stood up and grabbed the pink ribbon, which he tore off his head. "I'm the Devil!" and threw it to the ground before kicking it away and preparing for his real target. "I just need one soul." One soul was needed to get rid of these annoying bubbles of failure. Or a possession that had to be here on the surface. But what kind of object or soul should he grab? That was the question the devil was asking himself until he thought of who he could snatch the soul from.
"Yes. I'll just get that old kettle's soul." Why didn't I think of it earlier? It would have saved him the whole "I'll pretend I'm a house cat" procedure. "Oh, Mrs. Meow Meow." But before the devil could put his plan into action, the front door from which Elder Kettle was looking opened. Wincing, the devil looked at him "I wuv you." before the old kettle disappeared and slammed the door shut, only making the devil wince even more.
Frowning and groaning at the same time, the devil finally decided against it "Fine. I'll get someone else's soul or look for my asset on the surface." But what was that again? He thought about it until it came to him and he grinned mischievously but also seductively. He knew what or who it was that the devil could bring to finally get rid of the bubbles. His gaze wandered to the door next to the staircase. The guest room where his beloved Alicia was. Slowly, with pounding steps, the devil approached the door that separated him from his beloved queen. His claws gripped the doorknob that was only millimeters away from them. Soon he would take her with him to the underworld where they would both rule over it. Whether she liked it or not. The doorknob turned to the left. The door was open and accessible to the devil. He stepped through the door and was greeted by two pairs of angry yellow eyes staring into his.
The devil realized this, was confused at first and thought they belonged to Alicia until he realized that he was pressing directly into the face of his counterpart. "You!" growled Lucifer. "Oh, you!" the devil countered, also growling. Both demons stared at each other like two predators fighting for territory. Or in this case, for a female. The female was, of course, Alicia, who was well hidden behind Blood and not in the devil's field of vision. The former hoped so.
"What are you doing here?" Lucifer growled in a threatening voice, hoping to make it clear to the devil that Alicia didn't belong to him. "You shouldn't be interested in why I'm here." Lucifer looked perplexed. He knew the devil was playing him. Why else would he be here? Probably not to drink coffee. No, he was here to kidnap Alicia. Or to appropriate the souls of both cups. One of the two.
"I'm here to take what's rightfully mine so I suggest you get out of my way before I show you which of us is the better devil!" The devil pushed Lucifer aside to get into the room. He didn't seem very enthusiastic about the interior. He yawned inwardly. He didn't like the idea of his beloved Alicia having to sleep in such a room. No, she needed better accommodation. "So where is my favorite..." Oh damn! The devil caught sight of Alicia. She slowly floated out from behind Blood and gasped as the devil himself grinned. Sure, she was trapped in one of those bubbles, but the devil didn't mind. After all, it made it harder for her to fight back.
But before he could reach her, someone else stood in his way. "One step further and I'll turn you into toast!" said the wolf. The wolf who was responsible for the fact that the devil could only use the other half of his powers when he had his trident with him. The wolf that had made him the devil he was today. A weak, simple-minded and ridiculous version of himself. No wonder the devil was literally on fire right now. "Get out of my way you stupid mutt!" he growled in a menacing demonic voice.
However, Blood did not give in. The devil was not the first to insult him as a mutt. Many did it before him and the wolf just smirked. "Is that the best you can do? Calling me a mutt even though I'm clearly a Timber-wolf?" He literally enjoyed teasing the devil further with his words. Of course, the devil only got angrier than before. But he did not lose sight of his goal. Alicia. She was more important to him at the moment than putting up with the wolf's insults. To be more precise, the devil ignored them and came up with a simple but effective plan. It was typical cartoon behavior again. "What's that!" the devil pointed at something with an outstretched finger. Blood and Lucifer followed the finger but didn't know what the devil was pointing at because it was already too late. Alicia was no longer in the room and neither was the devil.
"What the?!" Both Lucifer and the wolf were surprised at the sudden disappearance of the two, realizing that Alicia had been kidnapped and was no longer in the cottage. "Damn he took her...", 'Kidnapped her!' Lucifer finished Blood's sentence with a growl before grabbing his own trident and teleporting away to retrieve his beloved Alicia.
"Let go of me!" protested Alicia as the devil pushed her further away from the cottage. "Oh, and how are you going to do that my dearest?" smirked the devil as he held the bubble Alicia was trapped in tightly in his claws and carried her through the forest on a direct path to the entrance to the underworld, which looked like a subway entrance. Alicia caught sight of it and was less than pleased to be back in the underworld unintentionally. Not again.
"You're trapped in this bubble for a good reason." For a good reason? Alicia felt like she was being taken for a ride. But conversely, why had she been captured in the first place? Well, before Alicia, the devil or anyone else could say anything, suddenly none other than Lucifer appeared in front of the entrance to the underworld. He wasn't particularly pleased and he looked it. Alicia was relieved to see her husband again. The devil, on the other hand, was angrier than ever. Not only that he steals his beloved wife and queen every time. He started fighting with Lucifer over who gets to keep Alicia. Only this fight was more like two kids fighting over a toy. Lucifer grabbed the bubble with his claws and pulled it to take Alicia with him. "She stays with me. Her real husband and not a cheap copy like you!", 'Cheap copy?' the devil gasped before grabbing the bubble and pulling it too, "No she doesn't! I'm taking good care of her! Show her my kingdom and how much better I am compared to you!".
But Lucifer did not give up and reached for the bubble again before the devil could make a move. "Let go of the bubble!" he growled. "Never! You let go of the bubble!" growled the devil. They both pulled and pushed the bladder back and forth, not knowing that Alicia was not very happy inside. Not because she felt like a dog toy, but because both devils were squeezing the bubble instead of pulling on it. The claws pushed more and more into the bubble wall until it was thrown into the air.
"Now look what you've done!" the devil accused Lucifer while Alicia flew away in the bubble and screamed for help. "What I've done?" Lucifer was not going to take this lying down. Why should he? It wasn't his fault that Alicia was trapped in the bubble in the first place and was now floating away. "Everything was fine until you showed up." Like two ibexes, both devils jabbed their horns at each other, growled and stared at each other with glowing red eyes, ready to attack each other if it weren't for Alicia's cry for help. Both demons dropped their rivalry and looked around for the young adult. She really had flown away. But where to? Well Alicia was about to fly into a nearby thorn bush. The thorns shimmered at the tips and looked even more threatening than usual. Alicia didn't want to get hurt by the thorns. However, she couldn't control the bubble herself. The bubble floated closer and closer to the thorn bush until it suddenly stopped and floated in the other direction.
What the... Alicia felt the movement and slowly opened her eyes. The thorn bush that had been right in front of her a second ago was now several meters away. Confused, Alicia looked around, she also looked behind her. Perhaps Lucifer had heard and ran to her to prevent her from hurting herself. However, he wasn't behind the bubble, let alone anywhere near her. Instead, Alicia noticed something standing on the bubble and running in the direction of the thorn bush like it was on a treadmill. This movement caused the bubble to float in the other direction.
It was difficult for Alicia to see what was on the bubble because everything inside the bubble was blurred. She only saw that it was small, fluffy and had small wings. Her first thought was Fawkes her phoenix. But it couldn't be him. Fawkes was still in the book and couldn't easily be here. What's more, he was much bigger than the one that came to a stop on the bubble and flew down to ask Alicia if she was all right. Wait did it just say my name? She asked if she hadn't misheard. But that was not the case.
"Yes, I know who you are Alicia." replied the something that had just helped Alicia. "Um okay that's a bit creepy." Alicia mentioned slightly anxiously as she didn't know what kind of creature was walking around on the bubble. But when the bubble stopped and the creature floated off, Alicia realized that it wasn't just any creature but a Sprigon. Wait... Alicia took a closer look before she said what she was thinking. That can't be Kaichi. He went back to her dimension with Katie, how can it be that a...
Her eyes widened as it occurred to Alicia. This Sprigon was not Kaichi but the same one from the drawing Katie had given her. "How can you..." she couldn't believe it and gasped with her mouth wide open before the Sprigon answered her question. "Come to life?" Alicia nodded "Well, I don't really know." Okay, Alicia didn't get a real answer after all. But that didn't bother her. On the contrary. She was glad that she wasn't saved by some monster sent by the devil, but by a cute little creature called Sprigon.
But Alicia couldn't call the creature Sprigon. No, it needed a name. If it didn't already have a name, of course. "Hey um I know this might sound strange but do you have a name?" Alicia asked as the Sprigon pondered. "Hmm so as far as I know the note I came from said Nyx." Nyx? That name sounds interesting. "Maybe that's my name?" it asked curiously, looking at Alicia with a questioning expression. It waited for an answer from Alicia. "Well, I think Nyx suits you." it was pleased "Really, you think so?" its fluffy little tail wagged. Alicia smiled. She was pleased that the creature liked the name that she had forgotten she was still trapped in the bubble. "Oh man." she hated it Nyx noticed it in the pitch of her voice. "I wish I could help you but unfortunately the bubble of shame can only be destroyed by collecting a soul." Alicia swallowed nervously when she heard that. Collect a soul? You want me to collect a soul? She didn't want that. She couldn't. Alicia would never steal the soul of an innocent inhabitant. She was not like the devil who would delight in ripping the souls from the bodies of the inhabitants while their fears reflected in their eyes.
Nyx quickly realized that Alicia had misinterpreted this sentence. "I didn't mean you had to collect a soul." Alicia breathed out in relief "Only the devil has to collect a soul for you-" before Nyx could finish the sentence, the bubble burst and Alicia landed on the grassy ground. "Ow!" she moaned, rubbing the sore spot. Nyx flew down to her and asked worriedly if she was alright before a familiar looking shadow fell on them both. "Darling are you alright are you hurt?" Alicia looked up and smiled while Nyx just swallowed nervously and hid in a flash in Alicia's hoodie pocket.
Alicia didn't notice, but Lucifer spotted Nyx's tail and asked curiously what it was before asking another question. "Why aren't you trapped in the bubble anymore?" he was glad that she was free but also confused. Alicia didn't think twice and explained to him that the devil had probably collected a soul and freed her from her bubble situation. "But I was afraid that he had taken the soul of Cuppy or Cuphead." The thought that Elder Kettle had to watch his boys become pale, colorless and emotionless shells of themselves was enough for her to enter the underworld and retrieve the stolen souls.
But before Alicia could even summon her trident, Lucifer stopped her and reassured her that the devil had not stolen the souls of the two cups but another one. "All three are sitting in the movie theater with Elder Kettle right now, don't worry my love." He gently stroked her cheek and calmed Alicia down a little. She breathed in and out gently. No sign of a panic attack or anything like that. She was her old self again and thanked her husband warmly. "I'll do anything for you, my dearest queen." Alicia didn't feel the kiss, however, as Nyx slowly peeked her head out of the hoodie pocket.
"I would move mountains for you, catch the sun and make the moon shine." Nyx listened to Lucifer's words and knew that he was no danger. Alicia trusted him so she could trust him too right? Well, she played it safe and stayed hidden in her hoodie pocket. Better safe than sorry. "It's enough for me if you win my heart." Alicia's hands held Lucifer's face. She pulled it slightly towards her until her lips touched his. They kissed before it was time to return home. Of course, Lucifer asked several times if she was okay and who the little creature was that was hidden in her hoodie pocket.
In the meantime...
Stickler stood in the throne room surrounded by bubbles of failure and waited patiently until the devil returned. Hours passed as he set out for the surface to retrieve a soul. Stickler looked at his watch several times and sighed. Just as he was about to leave, the devil emerged with the phone's soul in his claws. You could see that he was annoyed. The soul, on the other hand, seemed emotionless. With its mouth wide open, it moaned softly and annoyed the devil even more. With pounding steps, the devil approached the delighted Stickler? Can you say he was pleased? Well, difficult to say. After all, he rarely smiled. "Here. There's your soul. Happy now?" the devil asked as he handed the phone's soul to him, hoping that the accountant was satisfied and that the devil finally had access to his possessions. "Quoata satisfied." the accountant answered his question. One by one, the bubbles burst, freeing the possessions.
The throne landed where it always does, as did the bed, the donut and the coffee mug. Only the paintings crashed to the floor. The glass that protected them shattered. But that didn't bother the devil. Henchman and Amnon, who were still trapped in bubbles, slept soundly. The former lay on his back and snored while the latter lay on his stomach and whimpered like a dog. But only until the bubbles burst. Both noticed and not a second later they both fell to the floor. Well, only Amnon ended up on the floor. Henchman was lucky enough to be caught by the devil and suffer the pain that Amnon felt. He landed with his face on the ground while the rest of his body was straight as a die. "Aw, thanks, boss." Henchman thanked him while Amnon just babbled something neither of them understood. But it sounded as if he also wanted to say thank you. The devil, however, was not interested. He was only interested in one thing: "Did you get more donuts?" Yes, he wanted donuts.
"Uh… I was in the bubble." The devil dropped him with a roll of his eyes. Henchman groaned, as did Amnon, before they both stood up and looked after the devil as he stomped towards the throne against which his trident was leaning. Annoyed and slightly angry, he sat down, breathed in through his nose and spoke. "All right. You three, get out. I've got important things to attend to." Henchman, Stickler and Amnon stared at each other and shrugged their shoulders before walking out of the throne room, leaving the devil alone as he commanded. His red pupils followed the three of them. He wanted to make sure he was alone.
He looked carefully from left to right, leaned his trident against the throne and took out a picture frame from behind his back. In this picture frame was a photo. A photo of a young adult. A female adult with black hair. (Okay I think we know who it is.) "Finally we are alone my love." It was Alicia in the photo. The devil hugged, caressed and kissed it while speaking in a baby-like voice that was unnatural to him. "Soon you and I will be together." He hugged the photo once more before placing it on his lap and fixing his eyes on a dartboard.
There were several photos of the three cups, the wolf, both foxes, an unknown young lady with a small creature on her shoulder and Lucifer (aka the copy.) All the photos had one or more darts in them. The photos of the cups were covered with darts so that it was difficult to recognize the photo. Same with the wolf and the copy. The latter also had Xs instead of eyes. With several darts in his left hand, which appeared as flames, the devil fired several times at the target and hit all the photos at the same time. This delighted and relieved him. It also quelled his anger. He slowly walked over to the dartboard and stared at the defaced photos before looking at Alicia's photo. "Don't worry, I'll soon get rid of these annoying beasts and then you'll be mine. Mine alone my dearest Alicia." His laughter echoed through the underworld as the photos on the dartboard burst into flames from below and burned until there was nothing left but ashes and the darts.
The devil didn't think about letting Alicia go so easily. No, he wanted to keep her with him at all costs. She should only belong to him and no one else. No matter who stood in his way, the devil would be willing to wipe out everything and everyone on Inkwell Isle just so he could have Alicia for himself. "Oh Alicia, you will be glad to have me with you soon. You will be so happy that you will leave this impostor and the rest of the circus troupe behind you just to rule at my side." His laughter sounded diabolical and threatening at the same time. The devil was determined to get his hands on Alicia. She belonged to him and no one else, and soon he would show this. Everyone would tremble and shiver, and he liked that. He liked that very much.
"You can run as much as you like, my dearest, but I will catch you and bring you to me."
By the way what do you think of the new style of writing? Should I continue writing like that or keep the old one?