This chapter is a bit intense than the other ones I did before.
Still I hope you like it and of course can't wait for the second part of it. After all we don't know who the Villain in these two chapters are.
Well no spoilers on my side. Just wait until he will show up in the next part of the chapter.
But before we go over this I like to remind anyone I'm not interested in commision artworks. I'm learning drawing right now and might post stuff later. If you do artworks of my story I'm happy to see them. But spamming me in PM's isn't helping it.
So just to remind you: DO NOT SPAM PM ME!
Otherwise I will block you
Until then
The next day broke over the individual houses, trees, mountains and lakes on the Inkwell Isle's. A new morning had dawned, a new start to the day for the islanders. Small round clouds smoked from the small chimney of the teapot house. A sign that someone was sitting at the stove in the kitchen. This someone was not Elder Kettle, of course, but today Alicia was at the stove frying bacon. A change from all the pancakes they usually ate almost every day.
The smell of frying bacon was in the air and slowly crept into the nostrils of all three cups. She could hardly wait to eat the bacon. Drool hung out of their mouths like three begging dogs. "Oh, boy does that smell delicious." mentioned Cuphead. "Yeah, I'm literally dying of hunger." his brother added. Neither of them could wait for the bacon to finish cooking. Blood grinned and read the newspaper while Nyx sat on the table and ate some strawberries that Elder Kettle had given her so that she wouldn't eat his from the garden as she had done several times before.
Neither Nyx nor the others wanted to endure the anger that Elder Kettle would unleash if anyone dared to tamper with his vegetables. After all, they were his babies, as he kept claiming. But Alicia understood him. Elder Kettle took a lot of time and investment in his garden. If someone tampered with his work and destroyed it, Alicia would react in the same way. After all, she also spent a lot of time on her studies. If someone were to tamper with it, Alicia would be as unhappy as Elder Kettle.
"Patience, guys, I'm almost done," Alicia said, glancing over her shoulder every now and then to make sure none of the three cups were up to any mischief. The real reason why she was cooking dinner today was because Elder Kettle had hurt his back again and was now lying in bed in agony to rest. "Both sides must be crispy fried," said Alicia, turning each piece of bacon individually with tongs. "But we're hungry!" complained Cuphead, his stomach growling. "Patience Cuphead. Didn't you hear what Alicia said?" Cuppy mentioned "The bacon has to be crispy or do you want to eat a soft bacon?" the question answered itself that Cuphead's disgusted expression said more than enough. He wanted to eat a crispy bacon. Not flabby soft bacon.
Silence quickly returned to the kitchen. Only the hissing of the fat bubbling in the pan in which Alicia was frying the bacon could be heard. The light pink layer of bacon changed color to a golden brown in just a few seconds. The last four pieces of bacon were ready and were added to the pile of bacon that Alicia had placed on a large flat plate before placing it on the table with the others. They were already waiting patiently for breakfast.
With fork in hand, each of the three cups poked into a fried piece of bacon and placed it on its rightful plate. No one wanted to eat the pure bacon except Blood, who used his claws as a fork to grab a piece of bacon. But the group was not quite complete. Besides Elder Kettle, Alicia's husband and the king of Inkwell Hell were missing. The incarnation of all evil and someone you shouldn't make a deal with. Lucifer.
"Hey where's Lucifer?" asked Cuphead with a mouth full of bacon. Alicia looked away from the stove, confused. She thought Lucifer was in the kitchen with the others but his place was empty. "Good question." wondered Alicia, looking all around the cottage for her husband. He wasn't in the living room, the two brothers' room, Elder Kettle's room, the attic, the storage room or the guest room. But he was very close to Alicia. She just didn't know it because Lucifer was standing right behind her, mimicking her every move and not making a sound.
His grin widened with every passing second until it became his familiar trademark. Both arms stretched out, his claws extended and his eyes glowed amber. They seemed menacing in the shadows. But they were not. Quite the opposite. They were staring at what they wanted most. At what was right in front of them. A beautiful young lady looking for her husband who was standing right behind her.
"Boo!" a loud voice rang out behind Alicia's back. Goosebumps and shrugging her shoulders, she turned around and exhaled in relief. Luckily it's only Lucifer, Alicia thought to herself until she realized that her husband had played a little trick to scare her. A thing Alicia hated even as a child. Her brother John was known for scaring her unexpectedly. Whether it was when she had to get something from the laundry room or from the shed behind the house. John took every little opportunity to play a trick on his little sister. Of course, these were harmless. Who is afraid of an eight-year-old wearing a gorilla mask that is far too big for him? Certainly not Alicia.
So she didn't scream as Lucifer hoped but just gave him a light punch on the stomach "Do you always have to scare me like that darling?" she asked him and heard him giggle, his hand wrapped around half her torso as he pulled her towards him. Alicia felt his warm and soft fur and the vibration of his laughter. He liked to scare others. Especially his wife and queen. "Sorry darling, I couldn't help it." he chuckled. "You really seem to like scaring me." She slowly stroked his stomach. A soft purring could be heard, a sign that the King of Inkwell Hell was happy and content.
But happy and content or not Alicia wasn't here to cuddle but to remind him that breakfast was ready and he'd better hurry if he wanted some of the bacon before Cuphead ate it all. At least that's how it looked from the living room where Alicia was watching. "Oh, I don't think you have to worry about that, dearest." Why should I worry at all. In his hand, Lucifer held four strips of bacon. Where he got them from, Alicia didn't want to know at the moment. You can't think well on an empty stomach anyway. So Alicia grabbed two strips of bacon and enjoyed every bite.
The crunch in each bite, the juice of the meat on her tongue filled her with pleasure. "Do you like it?" Lucifer asked. His tooth bit off the bacon and left a typical cartoon bite mark in a zig-zag pattern. "Of course I like it darling or do you think my cooking skills have deteriorated?" Alicia doubted this and Lucifer's laughter more than confirmed her statement. "Oh dearest, of course not. You're a great cook." His lips came close to hers. Alicia grinned and was ready to kiss her husband in equal measure when suddenly there was a soft humming in the cottage.
"What the hell is that?!" Cuphead shouted from the kitchen. Confused and bewildered, Lucifer and Alicia returned to the kitchen to find out what was bothering the cups and presumably the others as well.
It could have been anything. A bat dressed up as the devil himself, a flying letter from Harry Potter or even an arrow with a message attached. But instead, something flew around the kitchen that neither Alicia nor the others could identify. Whatever it was that worried the others was still circling over the table like a fly over a garbage heap or a vulture over carrion. Wait, is that... It was only when it stopped that Alicia and Cuppy immediately recognized what it was.
It was a small U-shaped light bulb drone. The same drone that Dr. Kahl's robots had used in the fight against Cuppy, his brother Mugman and Alicia while they fought against him to get his soul contract. It was a tough fight. For both brothers as well as for Alicia herself. Avoiding a death laser was not exactly easy when you also had to avoid those drones and a pink laser robot that fired a vertical laser. Both brothers were shaking for weeks after the fight. Alicia didn't blame them, they were always under time pressure and Cuphead's plane was wrecked (even though the doctor had repaired it).
But still, the question remained why the drone was flying around in the kitchen and suddenly came to a halt as if it were staring at the group threateningly. "Do you think it wants to harm us?" Mugman whispered nervously. 'I think if it wanted to harm us, it would have done so long ago,' Alicia said before the light bulb of the drone lit up and a bright beam of light shone on the group. Everyone closed or covered their eyes with their hands or arms while the bright light shone on them.
The light shimmered in a bright tone, similar to the sun, until it disappeared and a printer-like noise could be heard. Huh? Alicia lowered her arm, all three cups removed her hands from her eyes and Lucifer and Blood looked back towards the table. Only Nyx kept her eyes closed. "What's this paper?" Mugman asked as his eyes caught sight of the piece of paper that was now lying on the table. The piece of paper was not the usual white, but a futuristic blue with a beehive pattern. The lines themselves were a light, almost white shade of blue. The writing was in a charcoal black font. Otherwise, the note looked quite normal. "What's that?" Well, not quite. Alicia saw a loudspeaker symbol next to the text.
Everyone in the room looked over Alicia's shoulder with curiosity. Slowly, her index finger moved over the symbol button. The line above the speaker disappeared and Varian's voice rang out in the room.
Hey guys, I have big news. The portal is finished and works flawlessly. But before we send you through the portal, me, Eira and the Doctor have to experiment a bit so that we don't send you back to the wrong dimension.
That was understandable. Alicia asked Varian to tell her that the coordinates that brought her, Cuppy and Lucifer back home were not their real world but the book world from which the latter two came. She didn't want cartoon characters from that world to get into hers. Alicia didn't want to suffer the consequences of what was happening. Probably the same thing that would have happened to E.T. Seeing Lucifer or even some of the cups tied up on an examination table shook the young adult to the core.
Until then, no one else except us should know that the portal is finished, Alicia thought. She didn't want the devil to find out. But worse than the devil knowing was looking at the faces of the two brothers. Neither showed any joy as usual. No, they showed sadness. Small tears formed at the edges of their eyes. Their lips were not smiling but pouting, sometimes even trembling. "Does that mean you will..." Cuphead didn't have to finish his sentence. Alicia knew what he meant.
"Um..." Alicia didn't know what to say. Both brothers were on the verge of tears. A sight she had rarely seen since she had been here. "We...", 'We knew it!' both cups shouted before clinging to Alicia's legs. As if they were trying to stop her from leaving. "Please stay here Al!" sniffed Cuphead, 'Yeah, we don't want you to go!' added Mugman. They both cried like a fountain. The tears literally flowing from their eyes like two waterfalls or fountains. Either way, Alicia felt bad and didn't want them to feel sad. But she missed her home, her family and even her university. Alicia wanted to go back to her world.
However... "Cuphead, Mugsy..." both brothers were still sniffling. Their tears were only a few drops instead of waterfalls, but they weren't quite finished yet. The younger one rubbed some of the tears away while the older one tried to get rid of them without using his hands. After all, the tears ran down their eyes several times so that both brothers could only see a little and kept blinking to be able to see anything at all.
Finally, he also wiped away his tears with his hands. Neither of them had any tears left in their eyes, but they still looked sadly at the young adult, which didn't really make things any easier for the latter. On the contrary, it made it much more difficult because now Alicia had to explain to both brothers that she would soon no longer be here, but that didn't mean for eternity. But how? Alicia thought about it. She thought as best she could until she remembered one thing her grandmother said before Alicia and her family moved to California. It was a very simple phrase, "Just because I'm gone doesn't mean I'm gone forever." As a child, Alicia didn't understand the phrase, but as an adult she did. "What do you mean you're not away forever?" Cuphead asked, sniffling as he slowly clung to Alicia's leg, as did his brother, who didn't quite understand what Alicia was trying to say. Was it a piece of wisdom that adults liked to say? Or was it some kind of hoax like Elder Kettle's promise when they took the family photo and then didn't go to the movies or the amusement park like he had promised?
"What I meant by that is even if I go away I will still come and visit you." Alicia knelt down and spoke with both cups now at eye level "Besides, we don't know how long it will take Varian to find our dimensions so until then I will explore the Inkwell Isle's before it's time to return home." she explained to them both and hugged them tightly. Too tight, because both cups were turning blue and Alicia was gasping for breath, asking them not to squeeze so hard. "Sorry." Alicia apologized and let go of both of them so they wouldn't turn as blue as a Smurf.
But exploring the Inkwell Isle's took more than a day, maybe even weeks, as there were several places Alicia had not yet explored that the cups had known from an early age. "How do you want to explore the Inkwell Isles? It takes too long on foot." Mugman mentioned with a shrug of his shoulders while his brother nodded in agreement. Blood and the others were silent but knew that Alicia had some idea. "Who says I have to walk?" her smile told the others.
Alicia didn't have to walk when she was able to fly. Her Wyvern form wasn't her fastest form, but it was her strongest. Bigger than the cottage itself to be exact (if you don't count the top of the chimney). Malefiz's dragon form wasn't even close to the size of Alicia's wyvern form. "So you want to fly?", 'While the devil is still out there?', 'And could kidnap you?' Alicia hadn't thought about that. All three cups were not wrong. The devil could strike at any moment while she was flying in the air like a majestic dragon. "Not as long as she has a little companion with her." Little companion? Who did Lucifer mean? Why would he leave his beloved Alicia alone when he loved her so much and tried everything to make sure no one kidnapped her?
Just one word: trust.
Lucifer trusted Alicia and Nyx as her companions. "What am I supposed to..." the Sprigon couldn't believe what a task she had been given. She was to accompany Alicia in case the devil thought she should pay both ladies an unwanted visit while they were enjoying the flight. "I trust you both to come back alone. Unharmed, of course." Lucifer mentioned and hugged his favorite Alicia while whispering in her ear. "Don't worry, we'll be back before midnight." she whispered back. "But if it happens that I'm not back by midnight..." she didn't have to finish the sentence. Everyone in the room knew what to do if Alicia didn't or wouldn't show up. A search operation was imminent should this happen.
To prevent this, Alicia decided not to attract so much attention. "If I fly above the clouds, I wouldn't stand out." 'But how are you going to explore the Inkwell Isle's if you only fly above the clouds?' asked Mugsy, scratching his chin. "I uh... don't want to spread fear and terror when I fly over the islands as a Wyvern." The fear is not justified. Alicia didn't want to scare anyone. Especially not the inhabitants of the Inkwell Isles. However, Alicia didn't have to worry because while she was here, the inhabitants of the Inkwell Isle had already gotten used to the fact that Alicia wasn't a normal human but half demon. That didn't bother anyone.
No one screamed or seemed to panic. Apparently there were worse things than seeing a demon in front of you who also had the ability to transform into different shapes. Alicia thought to herself as she walked out the front door with Nyx on her shoulder. The others followed her and saw with their own eyes how Alicia's body changed. Her skin darkened and became covered in scales. Her arms doubled in length. Her hands morphed into lumps, almost every finger disappearing except for the thumbs. These grew longer and acquired a longer claw. A flying membrane grew out of her arms.
A long, scaly tail, adorned with a long pointed spike at the end, grows out of her pants, slowly melting into the scales along with the rest of her clothing until it disappears and only the scales are visible. Alicia's head took on the shape of a dragon. Horns formed from her hair, her nose and mouth also grew longer and took on the typical snout shape of a dragon. Her eyes also changed. Instead of blue and green, her eyes were an amber-yellow color. Her transformation was complete. Nyx was now sitting on Alicia's head instead of her shoulder and was surprised by the height.
Alicia was now significantly larger than the cottage. Her head reached over the chimney. "Woah!" Nyx was amazed as she held on to one of the many horns when Alicia moved. After all, she needed enough space to spread her wings before taking flight. And of course, Alicia didn't want to wreck the garden as she took to the skies. Elder Kettle would only blame me for hurting his babies. Neither she nor the others wanted that. Especially after the incident with the Root Pack.
Caution towards the garden was now of paramount importance. Nobody wanted to watch plants all day long. Cuphead knew where Alicia was talking or thinking much more. She didn't want to think much at the moment anyway. The others knew when to start worrying. Nyx was with her as a companion in case something happened, so there was no reason for her to worry anymore. Without a care in the world, Alicia took to the air and left the ever-shrinking cottage behind her. The others waved after her before she took care of the rest of the tasks that Elder Kettle usually took care of.
A large but impressive shadow flew over the forests, meadows and mountains of the Inkwell Isle. The individual inhabitants noticed the shadow and looked up in confusion to find out where it came from or who it belonged to. No one had hoped to see a wyvern in the sky. Although the shadow more than clearly showed what it could be. "Look mom, it's a dragon!" said a little squirrel child who was walking through the forest with his mother. "Oh!" said the elephant grandma as she sat in the park feeding ducks with her grandson. "Cool, that's Alicia!" said Hali Seafire as she scrubbed the deck with the captain, who was surprised to see the shadow himself. They both waved after Alicia as she flew over the harbor.
The townspeople also saw the shadow. No one screamed or panicked. Nope, quite the opposite. Nobody was worried about it, let alone concerned, because so far the wyvern had only flown around in the air. Nothing had really happened yet. So why should the townspeople worry? Alicia just wanted to take a little spin around the town anyway. Nothing more. No one would chase her. How could they? She was gone faster than you could think. Even as a big wyvern, she was just as fast as Toothless from How to Train your Dragon when she wanted to be.
"I don't see any devils at the moment." Nyx confirmed confidently as she observed the surroundings. No sign if the devil was around. That reassured Alicia. She exhaled with relief and let a small blue flame rise from her mouth. That was good to hear. But Alicia still had a bad feeling. Of course she was looking forward to flying over the Inkwell Isle's. But something was wrong. Somehow Alicia had the feeling that something was coming towards her. Something she didn't want to experience yet besides the devil as her unwanted lover.
"Call the boss!" croaked a voice. The telephone box outside Inkwell City was manned by the same figures. The hands of the figure inside the phone box pressed on the keypad. A soft beep was heard from the receiver until a scratchy voice was heard. "What is it?" crooned the voice from the receiver with an annoying tone. Both figures flinched before saying something "Boss we...", "The girl she's in sight and ready to be caught.". The voice from the phone buzzed as if it was thinking. "Is she alone?" both figures shrugged again as the raspy voice spoke from the receiver. Neither had looked to see if she was alone.
The smaller of the two figures ordered the larger to look while the former grabbed a chair to keep from falling as his other hand reached for the receiver. A glance upwards into the sky was enough for the taller figure to answer his boss's question. "She's alone sir. No one is with her, neither the three cups, the wolf nor her husband is with her." the voice from the receiver chuckled. A diabolical chuckle, to be precise. "Excellent..." the voice rang out. Both figures were pleased to hear that they could make their boss happy.
A thing they could rarely do without first being snapped at by their boss and insulted as unthinkable idiots who couldn't get anything done except put butter on bread. An insult they had to endure more than once among themselves. "Should we release the griffins?" asked the smaller figure with a curious tone that sounded cautious but also careful. After all, neither figure wanted to push their luck. Who knows if the boss would just bleat and then insult them again, as was usually the case. Another humming could be heard. This time it sounded like a familiar tune used for Circus or the carnival. The silence that followed felt like half an eternity until "Release the griffins.".
Alicia flew above the clouds and slowly watched as the sun, which had already reached the horizon, slowly set. Behind her, the sky turned its darkest color, heralding the beginning of night, while in front of her the last rays of sunlight could be seen from the day before they disappeared for the night. The day had passed quickly for Alicia and Nyx. It was nice to fly again. Alicia sighed with relief as the clouds below her looked like waves. Every now and then Alicia would fly over a gap and look down to see where she was. "I don't see any more skyscrapers, so we should be on the right track." Nyx assured her as she wandered from Alicia's back to her head.
"Good to hear Nyx." Alicia replied and flapped her wings several times before gliding again. Flying over a sea of clouds was not the first time for Alicia. On the other Inkwell Isle's in the book world that Cuppy and Lucifer came from, Alicia flew over the islands and over the clouds almost every day (if Lucifer allowed it of course). Mostly alone or accompanied by Hilda Berg, Sergeant O'Fera in her Dachshund Destroyer or Grim Matchstick. The latter often flew with her. Not because he was happy to no longer be the only dragon on the Inkwell Isles (that's not really a reason) but because he had promised to fly over the islands with her one day when Alicia was still small. "D-Don't worry Alicia I will f-f-f-f-fly over the Inkwell Isle's with you one s-s-s-some-day." he promised her.
The dragon had not forgotten this promise. But Grim from this world was different. He was more like a normal dragon. Instead of stuttering or talking, here he let his fire do the talking. Alicia had not forgotten Porkrind's burnt store. Just as she could forget that Grim lived far away on Mount Eruptus. I prefer the tower to an active volcano. And as far away as Grim was, Alicia missed the other version of Inkwell Isle's and her own home. The sigh of relief turned into a sad sigh.
Nyx felt sorry for Alicia. She knew how much Alicia missed her home. Almost every day, Alicia talked about how beautiful her world was and how advanced her technology was compared to the Inkwell Isle's. She also talked about the other version of the Inkwell Isle's and how much the inhabitants lived in harmony (which was rather different here if you name a few characters).
But suddenly Nyx felt something, her ears twitched and stood up straight as a candle. A thing she only did when the devil was around, an unwanted lover was ready to flirt with Alicia or generally something bad was about to happen that neither she nor Alicia suspected. Slowly, the Sprigon looked behind her and saw nothing but the sunset and the sea of clouds over which Alicia was flying. Everything was normal, so why did Nyx bother...
Whoosh
Nyx's ears twitched again. This time the Sprigon had not made a mistake. This time she knew something was wrong. She knew that they were no longer alone up here but had a visitor. Nyx took a closer look and noticed something dark flying through the clouds. But she couldn't make out what it was. The something was moving far too fast for a human eye, or in this case Sprigon's, to see. "Alicia..." Alicia's ears heard. "Is something Nyx? Am I moving too fast or are you cold up here?" As a Wyvern, Alicia didn't feel cold and heat as intensely as others. She also didn't feel the wind as much. In fact, she didn't feel it at all when she was flying.
"Alicia I don't think we're alone anymore." her eyes widened as Nyx's words rang in her ears. As if on cue, Alicia stopped in midair and watched her surroundings closely. She wanted to make sure Nyx wasn't mistaken. But apart from clouds and the now dark sky, she saw nothing but fast-moving shadows? Okay, something is wrong here. Alicia thought to herself as her only thought was to get back to the cottage. Nothing else mattered. She ignored how something black flew through the clouds, she ignored the noises and she ignored... What the heck. Alicia flew straight out, panic building inside her as the creatures she could barely recognize flew next to her, yelling menacingly at her. What do they want from me? Alicia thought to herself and flew in different directions several times to avoid the creatures. But every time she did so, one or two creatures appeared in front of her at the same time and scared her off.
They pushed Alicia and Nyx further and further away. No matter what Alicia did. No matter how many times she flew away or shouted at the creatures, nothing helped. While she was standing here in the air, Alicia hadn't noticed that a creature was flying towards her from far above. "Alicia!" screamed Nyx but it was already too late. Alicia felt the pain in her back and how she was pulled out of the sky and approached the ground with a tremendous force.
The impact could be felt in the immediate vicinity. "Oh god, my back hurts." Alicia felt the pain and knew whatever the creatures wanted they wouldn't hesitate to hurt her. "Are you alright Alicia? Can you get up?" Nyx asked nervously but she didn't get an answer because suddenly a huge metal net fell on Alicia with anvils attached to the ends, some of which dug into the ground to hold the net in place and prevent Alicia from escaping. "What's going on here? Is this the devil's doing?" Nyx screamed in panic as Alicia tried to get to her feet. Which was harder than it should have been as Alicia was already extremely strong as a Wyvern. She could easily drop the net if she wanted to. Unfortunately, that wasn't the only problem Alicia had to deal with.
Several armed people ran towards them from every direction. They shouted like barbarians but didn't look anything like them. On the contrary, they looked more like... "Get the wagons, we'll take them to the boss!" To the boss? Over my dead body! Alicia had had enough and opened her dragon's mouth, a small blue flame could be seen inside of it growing more and more before it burst out of her mouth like a jet of flame and heated the net to melt it.
The flames stabbed through the net like a hot knife through butter. The people around Alicia and Nyx realized that they had to act quickly. A very quick one. "Bring out the stun guns!" one of them yelled with an outstretched arm. Some men ran to the wagons that were scattered behind some trees and searched under blankets and sheets for stun guns. Time was ticking and Alicia knew she wouldn't make it out in time. The metal in the net was far too thick for her to melt with ease. She paused for a moment, thought and got an idea "Nyx..." the Sprigon stared into Alicia's large amber eyes. She was not afraid, but apprehensive. Concerns about what Alicia was telling her to do.
"Flee and tell the others that I'm in the clover." Nyx shook her head. Tears ran from her eyes as Alicia gave her this order. She didn't want to flee, she wanted to stay with Alicia. But she had no other choice. If she didn't follow her order, the others would never know where Alicia was, let alone what had happened to her. Nyx nodded after she was told this and fled deep into the forest where no one could find her. Just in time, as Alicia managed to lift part of the net, the dark figures landed around her and cawed at her while the men with the stun guns returned and didn't hesitate to use them.
Alicia yelled a few times to shout away some of the stun darts but unfortunately it wasn't enough. A tranquilizer dart hit Alicia in the neck and weakened her. Her vision darkened and everything around her went black. The men, the dark figures, everything was blurry and unclear before she finally gave in to the anesthetic and fell to the ground with a dull thud. Her eyes opened one last time before she fell unconscious. "Alright, let's get this baby on the bus." were the last words Alicia heard.
The cottage was quieter than ever. It was dead quiet except for the fact that the living room was lively and the radio was playing soft music that was drowned out by the fire. Nevertheless, no one said anything. Why should they? All three mugs were standing around one window looking out of it while the other was taken over by Blood and Lucifer. Why were they staring out of the window? Well, it was already midnight and there was no sign of Alicia and Nyx. "Where are they?" 'Shouldn't they be here by now?' wondered Cuphead and Mugman, both looking out of the window with big googly eyes while Cuppy wondered why Alicia was late. "I hope she didn't run into you know who." Blood suspected that a certain demon might be responsible for Alicia's lateness.
It wouldn't be the first time and it wouldn't be the last. But they lacked the evidence that the demon was to blame. Simply appearing in his realm did little for the group. So there was only one thing the group could do. Wait until Alicia came back. It could be minutes, hours or even seconds before the group got an answer. To be more precise, they got an answer right away because they heard a knock on the window. A knock that drew everyone's attention. The group looked towards the window and saw Nyx knocking on the pane. Her face radiated panic. Not a very good sign from the group's concern for Alicia. To the group's dismay, Nyx was the only one to return.
"Nyx! Where's Alicia?" Nyx gasped out in exertion and slumped in Lucifer's hands as Mugman opened the window to let her in. She breathed in and out deeply as the others waited patiently to see what Nyx would tell them. "Alicia..." she panted out strenuously before she could get the rest of the words out, "She's been captured. Captured by a group of men and strange creatures." Nyx sank into Lucifer's hand, exhaling with effort as the group realized the statement.
Alicia was not kidnapped by the devil but by someone else, someone the group has never met before. Someone no one in the group knew, let alone thought was guilty. Someone who has great influence on the Inkwell Isle's.