A/n: Thank you Sorceress of Stories, Fanficteller, Stitchthebest36 and Llamaqueen666.
Further notes: Stitch likes baths in my story and he's not afraid of sinking in the bath. I also see Lilo and Stitch as very close siblings/best friends personally, but as mentioned I will not be confirming if they have feelings for each other or not in this story.
If you would also like to see any art for this story you can visit me at LullabyoftheLost over on deviantART! I usually create artwork to go with my stories.
I apologize for any grammatical errors, also. Ever since I started on medication for my brain a few years back I've found that I tend to type words twice or miss words altogether, and it happens very frequently. If anybody is willing to beta my story for further chapters or spellcheck then please let me know! Thanks guys.
I hope you enjoy the rest of the story. I promise, there is far more to come!
Since the hole prevented any way for Nani and Jumba to use the buggy, Lilo and I had permission to use the hovercraft to get to places we needed, provided we weren't seen.
It was Sunday that day so most places were closed. Lilo wasn't in the mood to go anywhere and even the news we were allowed to take the hovercraft didn't seem to phase her. I knew this was because she had used the hovercraft to get to me when I crashed the ship into the mountain and it provoked those memories.
Nani was particularly grumpy that morning and the two of them ended up having a small fight when Lilo refused to eat her breakfast. She hated oatmeal.
Jumba didn't seem in a good mood either. When he arrived at the breakfast table, he had bags underneath his eyes and barely touched his breakfast. When I asked him what was wrong he just grunted and then rolled his eyes when Pleakley walked in ranting about a weight loss article in one of his magazines. David hadn't woken up yet.
Usually Jumba was ecstatic to hear Pleakley's articles and advice, especially when it came to weight loss, but not that morning. I wondered what was bothering him.
I watched sadly as the two sisters bickered.
"I'm NOT touching it. I don't care if it's mummy-chow, it's disgusting!"
"Lilo, it's LITERALLY all we have considering the groceries are gone!"
"Then I'd rather starve!" she stuck her tongue out in disgust. "Yuck."
"I'm not going to tell you again, Lilo. Eat it."
"No!"
Nani growled. "Fine then! Go hungry for all I care. I shouldn't have to waste my time on you like this! You're almost nine, grow up Lilo!"
Lilo just stared at her before she screamed in anger, sticking her tongue out at Nani. She forced back her chair, jumping down and running from the kitchen.
"You're such a pain Lilo!" Nani roared out after her and I heard the door to our dome slam.
I flinched at that. Jumba had no expression and Pleakley looked mortified.
Nani went quiet but I could tell she was fuming. She just turned around and started cleaning up.
I stared at the oatmeal for a while. I'd had my breakfast but I was still starving. Not able to resist any longer after a few minutes, I reached across and grabbed the bowl, about to devour the contents when Nani suddenly turned around and almost violently grabbed it away from me.
"DO NOT EAT IT! IT'S FOR HER, NOT YOU."
I got such a fright at that I slipped backwards and fell off my chair.
I heard a fist slam into the table, causing such a loud bang that it made Lilo run back to the kitchen and caused David to rush in, rubbing his eyes. Nani had gone still. Jumba was standing up, staring at her in fury.
"DO not EVER be yelling at 626 like that again..." he growled.
Nani looked scared for a brief moment. She glared at him before suddenly throwing down her tea towel and leaving the kitchen.
"Nani?" I heard David call after her, rushing after her.
I remained where I was on the floor in shock.
"626-" I heard Jumba start to say but I ran out of the doggy door. I knew they'd follow me so I climbed up onto the roof and hid there.
I just wanted to be alone for the time being. Even though it had started to rain again, I didn't care.
I knew that Nani was dealing with hormonal changes. Her mood swings had steadily been getting worse as she had a baby starting to grow inside of her, and the slightest thing would set her off. Lilo was wrong to carry on as she did about the oatmeal, but I'd never seen Nani as angry was she was before over it.
It seemed to me just to be bad timing. Jumba looked extremely grumpy, and after dealing with me falling down the hole and being as scared as he was yesterday, I knew he was highly strung. He'd looked that tired after he'd stayed up creating the microchip, but this was different. I could smell dried sweat and tears and concluded he must have had a nightmare. A bad one at that.
"Stitch!" I heard Lilo calling sadly down below. I looked away. I felt terrible, but I wasn't ready to go inside yet.
She looked around and when she looked up at the roof I ducked back.
Eventually she went back inside.
I remained up there, staring at my knees and pushing my head against the side of the roof. I hated how everything seemed so rocky and tense between everybody lately. First Mertle and the girl's bullying, now Nani's mood swings and Jumba roaring like that. Nani had been a little shaken up. I could tell.
I couldn't blame her. Jumba was terrifying when he was really angry. It was the first time she'd seen one of my father's tempers. I'd seen plenty of them in the past.
I was the only one that knew why Nani was so moody. But I couldn't just break my promise to her and tell everybody the real reason for her outbursts. I wasn't scared that she was going to yell at me again, but I was scared for my family at that point. I hated arguments.
I wasn't sure how long I was up on the roof for, but I became aware of it soon enough. My ears perked up when I heard a tiny buzzing sound beside me, and looked up to see one of Jumba's B.U.G androids.
In the past he'd created quite a few of them. The B.U.G stood for Bionic Utility Gyroscope and they were little flying utility robots, equipped with sensors, microphones and of course, a gyroscopic camera equipped with motion tracking as well as infra-red and thermal lenses.
I stared at the little robot, knowing that Jumba was staring back at me through it. I wondered how he knew I was up here but then remembered the chip in my head had GPS tracking. Damn it.
The robot flew off, but returned shortly later carrying what appeared to be a blanket. I just sighed, taking it from the robot and wrapping it around me. I didn't need it, but I didn't exactly want to refuse it either. I knew he was just looking out for me.
The robot stared at me for a few moments longer and then flew off again. For him to send up a blanket told me that I'd been up on the roof over an hour. While my fur kept me warm, the wind was quite cold.
I wondered what was going on inside. I must have dozed off because I was startled by a beep. I woke up to find the B.U.G hovering in my face and swatted it away by mistake. The robot hit the side of the roof, but then flew back up to face me again.
"626, storm is approaching. Come inside." I heard Jumba's voice through the microphone. That made me look up at the sky and I realised it had gone very dark.
It looked quite spooky. I quickly climbed back down the side of the house and went back in.
My family was sitting together on the couch, watching the television. They all looked up at me when I entered and Lilo smiled, but none of them said a word. They looked very solemn. I did notice the tension between Jumba and Nani.
Quietly I went over and sat beside Lilo on the floor, who pulled me into her lap.
"Look Stitch..." she said quietly, pointing to the television. I sensed something was wrong.
It was the weather. A storm was headed our way, but it wasn't a typical storm. It looked like one that was going to cause some damage. I hoped our home would be okay. I could make out the word's Moderate Tropical Storm.
Nani and Jumba were very quiet. I could tell they were too worried about what was happening outside to worry about what had happened before though.
"When is it supposed to hit?" David asked, and Jumba turned up the television.
The weather announcer reported it was going to hit overnight. David Nani and Lilo all looked scared when I heard the words 'category one' come into play.
"Gaba?" I asked. "What going on?"
Lilo looked at me sadly. "She's saying that it's a tropical storm, but it's border-lining into a category one, Stitch..."
"One?" I asked.
Lilo went quiet for a few moments, but Nani spoke up. "A category one hurricane. Not enough to cause severe damage and flatten houses, but the winds and heavy rain will cause more damage. If that hole gets bigger outside it could spread up to our home."
I was mortified to hear that. Lilo looked scared too.
Jumba was set. He stood up. "Come 626, Pleakley. Am calling Grand Councilwoman straight away. Will need ship repaired by tonight."
Nani didn't try to stop us, but she did stop Lilo from trying to follow. Lilo wailed to go. I knew she felt as though she was being left out, but Jumba turned to her.
"Little girl, process is lengthy and very dangerous, especially in weather. 626 is capable of task, and Pleakley knows ships systems so I am needing his assistance, however is no place for young child. You could be hit by debris, or fall onto large piece of scrap metal and be injured. Stay in house and remain safe with larger sibling."
Lilo looked at me sadly. I reached out a paw and we held hands briefly, before Nani pulled her up. "I don't think it will be extreme Jumba, but I will start packing up just in case. Lilo, you need to as well. Don't try to fit everything, just what is important."
Jumba nodded. "Once ship is repaired, we will reside in there in case home is damaged or flooded by storm. I can obtain clearance and orbit the earth until is safe to return if need be, considering cannot fly ship where noticed and cloaking device is kaput."
Nani just gave a nod. The phone rang at that moment and she went to pick it up. It was Lilo's hula teacher.
Jumba just gestured for us to follow him, and I looked at Lilo one last time as we left the house.
Inside the ship, we stood before the monitor. The Grand Councilwoman's face flickered into view.
"Jumba Jookiba," she greeted us. "Agent Pleakley, Experiment 626. This is quite the surprise."
"Greetings Miss Grandcouncil woman sir," Jumba responded and Pleakley hit his arm hissing "Madam!"
"Madam. My apologies," he corrected himself in embarrassment as the Grand Councilwoman raised her eyebrow. I would have laughed if the situation wasn't so dire at that moment.
"Normally would not bother you like this," he continued. "However I am calling on emergency grounds on behalf of family."
"What is the matter?" she asked.
"Am requiring all of remaining parts to fix ship to be delivered, right now. As well as requesting clearance for GO type A6."
She looked stumped. "A global orbit clearance? What is going on, Mr Jookiba?"
"Deadly storm due to hit in a few hours. Could be damaging home. We are being advised to brace ourselves."
"I see," she responded, gesturing to another alien out of view before turning back to us. "A 'catergory one' hurricane?"
Jumba nodded. "Is low in severity, but still a risk. Winds can cause damage and rain can cause flooding."
"Very well then," she responded. "I will process the remaining deliveries right away. I am allowing clearance this time, Mr Jookiba. You know how expensive those ships are to repair."
"I understand," Jumba responded. "O'hana takes priority right now."
Pleakley nodded eagerly beside him.
The Grand Councilwoman nodded. "Expect arrival in one hour."
The screen flickered off, and Jumba faced both myself and Pleakley.
"Bah. Hour to wait," he put a hand to his head. "Guess we can use time to start clearing debris. 626, you come with Jumba. Pleakley, you begin figuring out which areas of ship will need to be repaired first with new deliveries."
"Right," Pleakley responded, scruffing me on the head and I swatted him away. I followed Jumba back outside and he stared at the side of the ship before looking at me.
"Begin clearing debris," he instructed. "In case little girl sneaks up."
"Ih."
I set to work moving the chunks of broken metal aside. The larger ones I had to tear apart. Jumba watched me as I moved the larger pieces that he couldn't handle. He had his arms crossed with one arm raised and tapping the side of his chin with a finger in contemplation.
"Why go to roof?" he eventually spoke up.
I paused what I was doing and looked at him. "Scared."
"Of Jumba?" he asked me.
"Of anger," I responded. "Nani angry... Jumba, angry."
"Oh 626. Was not being angry with you. Larger girl made Jumba very angry, yelling at you like that for no reason. I will not stand for it."
I just looked down unsure of what to say. He walked over to me and picked me up. "You are my son, only I can be yelling at you."
I smiled slightly and poked his nose with a claw.
"Ow!" he complained, flicking my ear before putting me down. I continued what I was doing.
Eventually there was a small pile of cleared debris. Jumba instructed me to toss it into the incinerator the Grand Councilwoman had sent us. He let me handle burning it as I was fireproof and could get close to it without being hurt.
I pretty much did everything. I didn't mind though. Jumba couldn't lift most of the debris as it was too heavy for him.
By the time I finished, it had been half hour or so. The area was cleared now, so the parts could be delivered safely. I helped Jumba move the transporter out of the ship and then carried it the rest of the way to set it down.
"Aka tooka," I announced and Jumba wiped his brow.
"Good job 626. Let's rest while waiting for parts."
I nodded. Jumba went back into the ship to talk to Pleakley for a moment, before heading back out to me. He sat down and patted at his knee, prompting me to jog over to him and sit in his lap.
"Larger girl not acting like her normal self lately," he said to me. "Is something wrong?"
"Naga nota," I said quietly. I really didn't want to break my promise, but Jumba could see right through me.
"You know something 626. What are you hiding?"
I sighed. I looked my father in his two main eyes. "Cannot tell. Stitch promised."
"I see," he responded, putting his hand on my head and pulling my ear down to scratch it.
I went quiet. He continued.
"As long as larger girl does not have outburst like that again."
I couldn't predict that she wouldn't. Jumba picked up my arm in his fingers and flexed it back and forth a few times before doing the same with my leg.
"How are you feeling? Sore?"
"Little bit," I responded. "I'm fluffy."
He rolled his eyes. "I know. Even the fluffiest of fur won't prevent 626 from being injured."
I rested my head back against his stomach. He put his hand over me.
"Papa?" I said up to him and he looked down at me. "Did... have nightmare?"
He closed his eyes and reached up and rubbed at his head. "Yes 626. Quite bad nightmare."
"Gaba habata chi?" I asked quietly.
He sighed. "Fusion chamber did not work on mountains. It blew up with 626 inside... and..." he trailed off. "Pleakley killed, and little girl had limbs severed by machinery. Died in larger girls arms. Family broken beyond repair. Very bad."
I shuddered. Poor Jumba. No wonder he was so wrecked and grumpy this morning.
I flipped around and hugged him. He smiled and returned my hug. "Very bad dream..." I said against him.
"Yes. Not one I can be forgetting easily."
"I understand," I said. I knew what bad nightmares were like. I'd had them myself when I was glitching and almost killed Lilo in one of them. I'd never told her about that one.
"626. I know... long ago I sent you out on missions to destroy," he said. I looked up at him again. "But I did not predict that 621 would turn on me the way he did. After that, I have felt as though you might one day do the same. After what I put you through... and with me being too late to rescue you... and failing you like that..."
"Naga," I gripped at his shirt. "Naga. I do not hate you."
"I wish that eased my mind, 626."
I was about to close my eyes when my ears perked up from movement. This startled Jumba (one of them had accidently hit him on the chin) and a few seconds later Nani peered in from the entrance to the tarp. Jumba looked at her deadpan. I turned and buried my head in his stomach.
"I..." she started, stepping inside hesitantly.
I noticed Jumba held me against him tightly as she came in to us. Nani noticed it too. She sighed.
"Stitch, look. I am sorry for what I did this morning. I'm just dealing with a lot right now and Lilo wasn't helping."
Jumba was frowning. "You should not have yelled at him like that."
"I know. I apologize for that. I really do," she sat down beside us. "I overheard you guys."
Jumba looked away. I peeked at her. She reached out towards me and I flinched, but she continued regardless and I felt her stroke my head. Jumba watched her warily.
"Oh Stitch..." she said softly. "I really didn't mean it. Please understand that."
We stared at each other for a moment or so, before I gave a nod.
"Forgive Naanee."
She gave a small smile.
"Eh. As longer as larger girl does not do such a thing again, I can put this behind us too," Jumba spoke. Nani looked at him but didn't say anything more.
Although she did say something that caught Jumba's attention.
"621...?"
Jumba frowned slightly. "...was experiment from early days. Not important."
Nani looked at me and then back to Jumba again. "You made more of him?"
"Similar," Jumba said. "As I said, is not important right now. That is long past."
I could tell Nani was curious about this. The family knew nothing about the history of my father and I. Jumba had sworn me to secrecy about it. We'd both done horrible things in the past. Lilo was much too young to understand the concept of it all, and Jumba was afraid that Nani would kick us out of the family if she knew the real truth of our past. Especially about me...
As Nani looked at the ship, I could see Jumba looking down at me and I looked back up at him. We both knew what was on each other's minds.
He simply just put his hand on my head.
"Waiting for parts to be delivered. Shouldn't be long."
Nani nodded. "I don't think I've ever see you that mad before," she said quietly. "You scared Lilo and David."
Jumba sighed. "626 is my boy, larger girl. He has been through a lot. He does not need you taking your anger out on him over oatmeal. I would never be yelling at your little sister, so respect me and do not be yelling at my child, ey?"
Nani stared at him for a moment at hearing that. "You really love him, don't you?"
I gripped Jumba's shirt. He looked uncomfortable for a moment but then he smiled. "Of course. I created him."
"He's your son, right? Biologically?" Nani asked.
"Yes, is having my genes. Why do you ask?"
"Did Stitch have a mother?"
"No. I did have a wife," Jumba said, looking at the ground. "But I only used my DNA when creating him."
"Did... she know about Stitch?"
"Yes," Jumba responded. "She... didn't agree with what I was doing at time."
"Oh?" Nani pressed.
Jumba just sighed. "I really do not wish to discuss with you. Brings up bad memories. Ex-wife was... very nasty. Did a lot of mean things to Jumba."
"I'm sorry to hear that," Nani responded quietly. "What happened between you two?"
"She was only with me for my money. When I created Stitch, she became even more vile towards me. She could not have child of her own. I wanted child. I had my reasons for creating him how I did."
"So... did she turn on you out of jealousy?"
"Something like that," Jumba muttered. "I had to keep 626 secret for long time. She made it... very difficult."
"Why was he a secret?"
Jumba looked annoyed. He really didn't want to talk about this with her. I could tell. I gripped his shirt again and he put his hand on my back. Jumba faced Nani directly.
"626 was illegal, larger girl. An illegal experiment. If he was discovered, he would be terminated and I would be arrested. I had to keep him a secret. But she went too far one day..." Jumba trailed off.
Nani looked shocked.
"No more of this. Past is past. We have bigger things to worry about right now."
"I see..." Nani responded to that. She stood up and turned to head back inside but paused at the entrance to the tarp and looked back at us. "Come back in as soon as you're done. The weather is really starting to pick up now."
Nani left, and Jumba sighed. "Cannot ever be telling them. About past. About you..."
I nodded. There was a buzz from the transporter shortly after and it started flashing, indicating that the parts of the ship were being teleported. Jumba put me aside and stood up to go and receive them, Pleakley coming out from inside the ship to help.
"I heard Nani," I heard Pleakley say to Jumba. "She was asking, wasn't she?"
Jumba just sighed again. "Yes. Perhaps truth will come about one day. But for now, please do not be mentioning a thing. Do not even bring up subject and if larger girl probes, ignore her."
Pleakley was the only other individual that knew the full extent of our past besides the Grand Councilwoman and the Galatic Federation. Jumba had thought Pleakley might call quits on their friendship after telling him the truth, but Pleakley had stayed. He was loyal. He had given me the nickname 'Little Monster' after Jumba had told him. Everybody thought it was a cute nickname for me and suited me well, but Jumba knew the real reason behind it, as did I.
I shuddered slightly and rubbed at the back of my head momentarily before going over to help with the parts.
It took us only two hours to repair the ship. Once Pleakley confirmed all systems were operational again, we started up the engine. There were no warning indicators. It was all fine.
Jumba picked me up and all three of us headed back up inside once we packed up and removed the tarp. We made it back inside just as it started to heavily rain. Lilo ran to me when we opened up the door and pulled me into a hug. I could see luggage behind her and I noticed that the place looked kind of bare.
"Everything's ready to go into the ship," Nani said, looking at the TV. "We probably won't even need to do this, but better to be safe than sorry."
Jumba nodded. "Come Pleakley. We will pack our belongings."
Lilo gripped my paw. "I packed our stuff, Stitch. I know you didn't have anything when you came to earth, but I packed your favourite things."
"Dougabba," I told her.
Nani faced me once Jumba and Pleakley had left the room. I had a feeling what she was going to ask.
"Stitch?" I twitched my ears in indication I was listening, although I was facing Lilo.
"What did... what did Jumba mean by '621' up there?"
I looked at her slowly. "Another experiment. Like Stitch."
Lilo looked shocked to hear this. It was the first she had heard of it. "What?! What do you mean?" she asked her sister. "There's more Stitch's?"
I put a paw on her arm to settle her. She looked at me excitedly, but her face fell when I shook my head.
"No mention. Jumba no like," I said quietly.
Nani just stared at me. "But... who was this experiment? Why did he... or she... turn?"
"Naga remember," I said. "Bad... things happened. Between me and him. Stitch don't remember what were though."
Nani stared at me for the longest time after that, but she didn't say anything else about it.
"There's another one of you?" Lilo asked me. "What happened to him?"
"Lilo, I don't know," I responded. "Pleechi-ba. Jumba won't be happy to talk about this. Is... lot of things. From past that need to stay there."
Both sisters stared at me.
"Okay Stitch..." Lilo told me quietly.
"Ih..."
Nani pet me on the head. I could tell she was a little suspicious now, but there were other things to worry about. She would likely ask again later.
"I made you some oatmeal while you were up there. And I added all your favourite toppings."
I smiled at that and as if on cue my stomach rumbled. The sisters stared in disbelief from how loud it was and I groaned in embarrassment.
Lilo smirked and poked my tummy. "Someone's hungry!"
She pushed me towards the kitchen and we followed Nani in. I sat down on the stool again and Nani handed me the oatmeal. Lilo watched in disgust as I ate it all. I opened my mouth wide at her with the oatmeal inside and she looked like she was going to throw up.
"Ewwwww!"
"Stitch!" Nani said in alarm, seeing what I was doing. "Stop that!"
I closed my mouth and grinned. I was glad the mood had lightened up from this morning. I was scared about how things would to later on this evening. But at least my family was happier than before.
I just wished I wasn't so haunted by my past. It played on my mind frequently and after today I knew it was probably going to get worse.
I did remember who 621 was. The memory of what exactly happened between us was still a blur, but I did remember what he looked like. Jumba had created him before me and he'd always been jealous of my multiple successes while carrying out Jumba's missions. I had succeeded where he had failed and in turn he'd started to spite me as well as Jumba's constant approval. But it was not just me he'd spited. It was Jumba too. Jumba had often neglected him.
621 had only been able to take so much. He'd changed and he had attacked Jumba. After that was when things had got bad. Real bad. Perhaps it was best I didn't remember what happened.
I didn't want it to interfere with my relationships with my family. Especially Lilo.
I watched her with my head in my paw as she sat in front of me. She was colouring in a picture of what appeared to be me playing with a toy car. It was hard to make out.
I didn't want to think about how Lilo would react to my past. There was so much more to it than me breaking out from exile and escaping to earth. A locked away past that only myself, Jumba and Pleakley knew about. As much as I tried, it was hard for me to imagine now about my father and how he'd used to be. I was there through it all. Through his missions. His double life that he'd hid from his wife.
Like me, he'd killed in the past. Because he'd been an assassin when he was younger. Cold and remorseless – and that was exactly how he'd originally raised me. To fight and to kill. His ex-wife had been involved with something that majorly effected him. There was a real reason as to why he'd created me with the programming he'd given me. But only I knew it, and only he knew it. That was something Pleakley didn't know about. I doubted that Jumba would ever tell him about that. Jumba often thought I hated him because of that reason, but I didn't.
Sometimes it amazed me how Jumba had gone from cold and ruthless to a warm and devoted family member. He cared about Lilo as if she were his own. I'd seen Lilo fall asleep in his arms before. He was protective of her, just as he was me. His temper before was only a small indicator of how truly angry he could get.
He'd changed so much. But... so had I.
I hated thinking about my former life. I wished it wasn't there. Because I would always be haunted by it. My actions and what I'd done. The cities and people I'd destroyed. The damage I'd caused.
Watching Lilo helped blanket those resurfacing thoughts. It was why I watched her so much. She amazed me. Everything she did amazed me. She was so energetic and full of life. She had pain and worry in her life but she was a soldier. She marched on. She danced on.
She was the reason why I danced on. Why I could dance on.
I would be able to as long as she was in my life.