Chapter 13: To Swim A Storm
-A few hours prior-
Courage opened his eyes. He was floating in a black void and was clearly all alone.
He remembered entering a portal to The Realm of Emptiness that he and Shirley had opened up. But there was clearly a gap in time between then and now. It was a gap in time that he could not remember anything from. He may or may not have been self aware or conscious during that time, and anytime he tried to recall those memories, his head would just ache much worse.
But after floating there for some uneventful time, he finally spoke aloud.
"Well, here I am," Courage spoke. His voice sounded normal, but didn't bounce off of anything. There was nothing for his voice to bounce off of. Regardless, nothing diminished his volume either.
"Here I am, all alone, in The Realm of Emptiness," he spoke again.
"Yes, indeed," he heard a hauntingly familiar voice say. The voice was very masculine, and he knew that voice from his dreams.
"What?" he replied to the voice. Then right after he said that, a white, ghost-like head appeared right beside him on his right.
"AHH!" he screamed, before trying to "swim" away. After getting nowhere, he turned back to the face in horror. It looked like a beagle with a big, shaggy mustache. Its eyes were lit with worry, but outlined and sunken with exhaustion.
"He is quite stuck," the head spoke again.
"Huh?" Courage asked, innocently. Then all of a sudden, a white, phantom-like fence viced around his neck. It had a tight grip on his neck and strangled him. It caused him to frantically try to get free. He clawed and teared at the metal gate, but it would not budge. He became very scared and cried as he did so.
"Oh, Henry! Our poor boy! What are we to do?" Another, more feminine, voice said from his left. And he recognized this voice as well. It belonged to another ghost-like head that appeared on his left. It was the head of another beagle. But this time, it wore makeup and a lovely hat.
He knew who these people were and what was happening. And he could not bear to experience this all again.
"No," he said. "NO! I can't!" Courage cried as he tugged on his ears. Whenever he opened his eyes again, he was nose to nose with a phantom Noel. He looked depressed and furious at the same time.
"Noel!" Courage cried out.
"YOU!" Noel spat in his face before punching him square in the muzzle. The gate held onto his neck, making him defenseless. and making the force of inertia strangle him a bit more.
"How can you treat me like this?" Noel spat again. "Over and over, you make meaningful promises and then throw them away!" He punched Courage in the gut, knocking the air out of him. "Throw ME away!" He punched Courage in the throat. Courage saw stars and he could not breathe.
"You take advantage of my emotions, and you continue pushing me and shoving me!" Noel yelled. He grabbed onto Courage's muzzle and glared him in the eyes.
"And you managed to push me somewhere neither of us want to be," he whispered coldly before delivering one final punch to the muzzle. The punch broke Courage free from the gate, and he flew backwards to land directly on his back. After phantom Noel delivered that final punch, he and the other dogs were now nowhere to be seen. Courage weakly coughed and spat out blood that was leaking from his nose. His muzzle ached, as he rubbed it, and he and began to cry.
"Oh, Noel!" Courage sobbed loudly. "What can I ever do to fix how I've treated you?!"
The guilt of letting Noel down overwhelmed poor little Courage, as he rolled around on the ground, bathing in his tears. He sniffled and tasted the metallic taste of blood in his mouth. Then he rolled over to try to get up. But when his paw touched the ground, it felt rough and grainy. This was enough to steal his attention. As he opened his eyes, he realized something.
He was no longer in that black void. Instead, he was in a forest of some sort under the sky of a dark blue void. The terrain was hilly, and he was surrounded by tall, evergreen trees. The ground consisted of coarse, green grass and dead, yellow pine needles on top of a weird, gray soil of some sort. But before he could get up, his thoughts involuntarily returned to his parents.
"I'm never gonna see them again!" Courage pulled his ears so hard, he thought he was going to tear them off. "And it's ALL MY FAULT!"
"You stupid dog!" Courage heard Eustace's voice say.
Courage abruptly stopped. He swiftly sat up and scanned the vicinity. All he could see was the thick vegetation of the dark forest. But he knew he heard the voice of Eustace Bagge.
"Farmer?" Courage yelled out, hoping to find Eustace.
"HEYYYY!" Eustace screamed from somewhere above. "Stupid dog, over here!"
Courage's eyes shot up to the overlooking canopies of the trees and branches. Sure enough, a phantom Eustace was on top of the tree adjacent to Courage. Horror was struck across his face.
"Get me AND me money down from here!" screamed Eustace. And sure enough, he held a small handful of phantom dollar bills.
This all seemed oddly familiar. As he backed away slowly, he ran right into something behind him. Whenever he turned around, he spotted two small, non-phantom raccoons. One was of a red brown color, and the other was of a dark green color. They growled and snarled viciously at Courage. Courage, remembering these raccoons from the Nowhere Forest, was confused by their hostility.
"Hey fellas, what gives?!" Courage yelled at them. "I thought we were friends! I helped you guys! Remember?"
"Grrrrrr!" they growled back.
"Ahhhhh!" Courage screamed before running in the opposite direction.
"Hey, stupid running dog!" he heard phantom Eustace shout at him as he passed the tree.
Courage's legs burned as he clawed through shrubs and bushes. He was too scared to turn around and face his pursuers. But when he finally did, he ran right into someth-
WHAM!
Courage ran into it so hard, that he fell to the ground. When he looked up, he realized he ran right into a tall stake sticking out of the ground. As he looked closer at what was on the spike at the top, he realized that it was the severed head of what looked like an alligator. It had yellow eyes and wore a sophisticated blue hat with a white feather. It carried a sharp, sinister grin on its face. Flies were buzzing all around it.
Courage's heart was painfully beating out of his chest. He no longer heard the footsteps of the raccoons, which hopefully meant that they lost him. But as he refocused onto the head, he slowly rose up. He stared at it in horror, as he slowly reached a paw out to it. Right before he was going to make contact, the alligator head swiftly snipped right next to his head to scare him. And as it did so, some of its teeth fell out.
"AHHH!" Courage fell back down again in horror.
"AHAHAHAHAHA!" the alligator laughed loudly, spewing blood out of its mouth. "You were always quite the stupid little one, huh?" it laughed down at Courage.
Once he heard that voice, Courage couldn't believe it. He was talking to the head of Fusilli, who was the theater reptile who tried to turn them all into puppets a long time ago. Oh boy, Courage was about to give this guy a piece of his mind. As he approached the stake with a glare, he grabbed onto it and shook it violently.
"Wait, WAIT!" Fusilli spoke. "BASTA! STOP! I can explain!"
"Aburururdu ateteta bergulalunadu!" Courage babbled to him in anger.
"SÌ! I know we used to be enemies. I know I turned your owners into puppets and you had to get Shirley to turn them back. But we are on the same team now, I assure you!"
"Mmm hmm?" Courage tapped his foot, still acting like he's not buying it.
"I swear!" Fusilli swore. "Your true enemy is my creator, Devius!"
The mention of Devius's name seemed to slightly alter the environment in an unexplained way. This was enough to pull Courage from his grudges. His eyes slightly widened, and now he really listened.
"He spawned me and sent me into your realm behind Shirley's back. By turning people into puppets, I could trap their souls and easily transport them to Devius to be ruled or consumed. I took the profession of a nomadic thespian and troupe leader who was also a puppet master. I lured my victims with promises of fortune and fame. But after you defeated me and turned me into a puppet, Devius declared that I have failed him. So he pulled me back into here, changed me back to normal, and then had me beheaded. My head was to remain on a stake as an example and I was to continue to live in agonizing pain forever. But you honestly get kinda used to being up here hahaHa…OWWWWW!" He wheezed in unfathomable pain.
Courage felt extraordinarily weird now, and he couldn't help but somewhat pity Fusilli and his fate.
"But by defeating him, you also free my soul," he explained. "I am dead, nothing can change that, but I'm frozen here, and I cannot move on until his breaths cease."
Courage brought a paw to his chin to think.
"Please, little dog, save me," Fusilli more than begged. "Save US! I am not the only one he's keeping trapped within these realms, not by a long shot!"
Courage thought of Noel and Noel's parents. And he suddenly remembered why he was here in the first place.
"AHHH!" Fusilli suddenly gasped in pain. "I've said too muuuuuoooooch!" His voice dramatically lowered in pitch as an ungodly amount of blood started fountaining out of his mouth. An unearthly amount of flies swarmed his head. Courage could no longer see his face, but he heard his gurgled screams from beneath the flies and blood.
Courage ran to his left in utter terror. He had the feeling the Devius himself was now watching and coming after him. And after clawing through more forest, he tripped and fell head first into some thick, gray, clay-like mud. However, his face was stuck in the muddy ground, and he was quickly suffocating.
"Mmph! MMPH!" he whined out, fearing that he'll asphyxiate to death. His head eventually came free and he gasped for air, only to have his butt stuck this time now.
"ARGH!" he groaned, trying to get it unstuck. And with an insane amount of effort, he freed his rump. But now his feet were stuck under.
"Great," he sighed, and eventually freed a foot. "At least I don't think I'm sinking like it's quicksand or something," he said aloud after freeing the other foot.
Courage realized that he was on the shore of a very beautiful lake. A layer of fog settled just above its crystal clear waters. He stuck a toe into the lake. Its waters felt warm and welcoming, a sharp contrast to the forest he just exited. Across the lake, he spotted a very peculiar looking mountain. He had the feeling that was the place he was looking for. Now he just needed to find a boat or raft to cross this cake walk of a lake with.
Courage decided to head to his right. As he traveled down the shore, he tried to process what he just witnessed.
"The 'Great' Fusilli," he thought to himself. "That whole encounter was just an elaborate scheme by Devius to get more souls to consume or rule?" Courage then recalled memories including the mattress demon, the Queen of the Black Puddle, the kidnapping record, and the Stitch Sisters. "Were most of these encounters actually attempts by Devius to capture more souls?" These thoughts chilled Courage to his core.
"Even if Noel and I escape this realm, will we ever actually be safe? If Shirley herself isn't, then there is surely no hope for us." Courage pulled on his ears as he walked. He looked out to the gorgeous lake beside him. The refreshing air, colorful plants, and vivacious butterflies were all too beautiful. He involuntarily stopped walking to stare out at the beauty in awe.
"Woah," he caught himself saying. "This place is beautiful." And when he was finally able to look back ahead of him, he then noticed just a little further ahead of him was a vacant rowboat. He approached it, half expecting to come face to face with its owner. But when nobody was around, Courage was easily able to push it into the water. It almost felt like the environment was helping him, as the boat felt like it glided over the sticky, clay mud. Courage didn't think that much of it as he knew this was the fastest way across regardless.
As he rowed deeper and deeper out into the lake, the fog grew more and more dense.
"Weird," Courage said aloud. He also heard ghost-like whispers from the fog. They were disembodied voices and he could not make out a word that any of them were saying, but they grew in volume along with the fog in density. The two seemed to be correlated. Then Courage noticed that he started feeling rather dizzy. After rowing for some time, it got much worse. He finally had to stop.
He laid his head down for a moment. He could not think straight, and he felt unsure of his emotions. Something then touched him on the shoulder. He jolted up to come nose to nose with the same beagle from earlier with the mustache. Only this time, he was not a phantom. The dog was actually there, sitting across from him. He had a paw on Courage's shoulder, and he looked down at him with worried eyes. Courage could not believe it.
"Dad?" he spoke to the dog.
"Son," his father spoke back.
Courage lunged forward and bearhugged his father in his arms, as tight as he could possibly hold him. He full fledged sobbed into his chest. He did not care if this was really him or not. He missed him too much that it might as well be the real him he was hugging.
His father hugged him back just as tightly and soaked Courage in his own tears as well. It made Courage cry harder to hear the broken-hearted sobs of his father. To finally be reunited like this on the most beautiful lake in existence was nothing that could ever be expressed in words. The imprisonment of isolation he felt for so long, he felt shackled for most of his life to that. And for the first time in his entire life, Courage felt like he had truly been set free.
"Oh, my boy!" his father sobbed again. "I love you so much! I am SO proud of you!"
"I'm proud of you dad," Courage involuntarily squeaked out in emotion. He knew there wasn't anything specific that he had to be proud of his father for, but he just repeated what his father said in the form of an "I love you too."
"I have watched over you for so long," he father cried. "I have come and fought so hard for so long because I knew this moment would come one day."
"Dad, I have soooo much to tell you!" Courage sobbed again.
"I have so much to tell YOU!" his father cried back.
"It's been very rough," Courage expressed.
"I know it has, buddy," his father empathized. "But it's all going to be okay, now." He gently patted Courage on the back.
They hugged for a little longer before breaking apart. And after looking at each other in the face, they couldn't help but start laughing. They laughed with nothing but pure joy and many tears. They were just too happy to be with each other again, that nothing else mattered in that moment.
"My god, you're so big in person!" his father laughed.
"Or you're a little smaller than I remember!" Courage laughed back. His tail was wagging so fast.
"God it is so great you're here!" his father expressed.
"Here?" Courage then asked, thinking a little more clearer.
"This place is pure heaven, minus you of course! Your mother and I haven't left purely because of how great it is!"
"Mom?" Courage asked.
"Oh, your mother is back at the house," his father explained. "She'll be THRILLED to see you!"
"You guys have a house?" Courage asked.
"Of course, silly!" his father playfully scratched Courage's head. "I was just out here to be. I come out here all the time to meditate."
"But how are you here with me right now?" Courage asked.
"Because you stole my boat!" his father giggled. "But that's okay."
His father stood up and sat down next to him. He put an arm around Courage and as the fog started to clear a little, Courage could see the shore of the other side. It was very colorful and beautiful too. His father then pointed around at the different places that came into view.
"Once you've discovered this place, you realize that there's nowhere else you'd rather be. Of course we were waiting on you, but now that you're here, our waiting is done and our family is complete."
Courage then remembered Noel and his parents.
"Dad?" Courage asked. "What about my friend, Noel?"
"The blue one?" his father asked.
"Yes," Courage confirmed.
"He's family too of course," his father said. "If he is like a brother to you, then he is family too. His parents are also very nice folks."
"You know his parents?!" Courage couldn't believe it.
"Know them? Hahaha! They are like siblings to your mother and me! Our homes are right next to each other."
Courage could not believe it. Their adventure had been complete. Both pairs of their parents are here, alive, happy, and want to see them again. And Courage himself could not lie to himself. This place was just too beautiful and everything had never felt so real.
His father stood back up to return to his seat and face Courage. He started to row them.
"Once you found us and this place, we knew that we'd finally be happy and complete. Your life of misfortune, abandonment, terror, and loss is finally over." He stopped rowing before continuing to talk. "And we'd all finally be reunited and live the rest of our lives in peace." He leaned back and closed his eyes as a very beautiful butterfly gently landed on his chest. Courage watched as his father took a moment to enjoy his existence on this lake. The butterfly kept flashing its wings very gently. But Courage remembered something. His mind cleared enough to remember the one thing he kept fighting for and protecting all of these years.
"Muriel," Courage whispered very softly.
Upon him saying her name, the butterfly suddenly flew away like Courage had thrown something at it. The fog became more dense again. His father opened his eyes, sat up, and his smile faded.
"The choice is yours son," his father said. "But you cannot have both."
"Sure I can," Courage playfully punched his father's arm, trying to bring some life back into him. "I'm here now, and I know how to go back and forth."
"I'm afraid it doesn't work like that son," his father said in sadness.
"How come?" Courage asked.
"It just doesn't," he confirmed. "I'm sorry."
Courage took a moment to really consider his options. But his mind still felt rather foggy, and he didn't feel like he was suited to make a decision like this right now. Before he knew it, his father's pink little paw was stretched out towards him. Courage looked up at his face. His eyes were watery and his lip was trembling. For the first time, Courage saw his scared little self inside of his father, and it destroyed him. But he knew what the right thing to do was.
"I'm sorry," Courage said very softly. His throat hurt because of the sobs he held back.
A single tear finally ran down the side of his father's muzzle. And then the fog grew very dense.
Or no, it wasn't the fog. Courage's father was now translucent. And he was now fading in the fog.
"No, dad!" Courage cried out. As he grabbed onto his father's paw, his paw went right through his father's.
"No no no!" Courage panicked. "Dad! Dad, PLEASE!"
His father's expression was now unreadable, as his form was now very distorted.
"Dad, PLEASE! Don't, leave, me," Courage finally slowly sobbed into his hands within the mist of his father. "Don't go," Courage cried. "I don't want you to go away again." He sobbed a little harder again. "What am I to do with all this silence?"
And whenever he opened his eyes again, he noticed that the boat had drifted a little away from where his father was still in the air.
"No dad, NO!" Courage screamed as he stood back up. He stood on the edge of the boat to try to reach for what was once his father again. His father's paw was still in the form of a translucent paw, and Courage reached as far out as he possibly could.
"JUST, WAIT, ONE, MOR-."
TIP!
Courage was now underwater before he even knew it. As the undercurrents pushed him around, he saw his father's paw from above the water disappear entirely. He now felt more alone and dejected than ever. He had no more drive to try to swim up for air. He would just let whatever happens happen. As he sobbed under the water, his body drifted deeper and deeper down. And things grew darker, and darker, and darker.
End of Chapter
A/N: The amount of crying I did while writing this chapter was UNBELIEVABLE! I did base this whole scene off of a scene in Far Cry 5 where the player and one of his long lost buddies are trapped in "The Bliss" and the buddy is trying to convince the player how great it is there. The butterfly on his "father's" chest moment was directly out of game. I also played the Far Cry 5 soundtrack titled "Oh The Bliss" while writing the lake scene and my god, words cannot describe how powerful that experience was. Also the scene with Fusilli's head on a stake talking to Courage was a direct reference to Lord of the Flies when Simon hallucinates the pig head on the stake talking to him.
I am still working on the next chapters so hang tight!