Chapter 17: End of the Fifth Day

Before we begin, I have to say that there will be a parallel addition with the final scene of the ADDICT music video at the end of the chapter. When I watched this music video again, I didn't know if it took place before the events of the series or not, but I thought it would be a good addition to the future development of the plot. And with that,you can start reading now.

Anya found herself leaving Alastor's room, who had wished her a good afternoon before closing the door again. She let out a sigh as she looked back with a tired expression.

She had. She had accepted the deal. She had expected to have her soul stolen or something, but that had not been the case. Thankfully, Alastor had explained that once the deal was finalized, it would be over. She would not be bound by it, just doing him a favor in exchange for healing her injuries from the other day (even though she had not begged for his help).

Relief or not, she still couldn't tell anyone, although she knew that Husk would find out even without her having to say anything and Nuggets, in turn, couldn't even speak the same language as the others.

But despite this, the child continued walking, deciding to pretend that nothing had happened and that she was fine. She headed to the bar, where she found the feline taking a sip of his drink from a bottle.

Anya then sat down on one of the stools and rested her head on her arms on the counter, and let out a sigh, drawing Husk's attention to her.

"Ah, hello, Anya. Having a rough day, I see." - he asked, as he checked to see if there was another drop in his bottle.

Anya just nodded, while grunting in frustration. This didn't go unnoticed by Husk, who already started talking to her in thought. - "Let me guess? Again, problems with Alastor, right?"

The little girl just rolled her eyes down in response. She heard the feline sigh at that and he continued. - "I was right, it was only a matter of time before he wanted something from you in return, girl."

He saw Anya close her eyes tightly, before opening them again, as if she wanted to wake up from this nightmare. He approached her and again began to lightly rub her hair, trying to calm her down. - "Don't worry, Anya. As long as it wasn't a soul deal, you'll be fine. I just hope he didn't make that kind of deal with you."

Anya didn't respond, and simply closed her eyes, with a slightly relaxed expression. And then, Niffty also joined them at the bar, interrupting the moment.

"Hello, Anya and Husk! How are you guys?" - She asked excitedly. They both jumped slightly, caught off guard by the sudden appearance of the little cyclops in red.

"Ah, hey and Husk were just... uh... waiting for you." - The child pretended, with a nervous smile. The feline just sighed and rolled his eyes, uninterested. He turned around and started preparing two smoothies for the two little girls.

Anya felt better after talking and spending time with Niffty again. They both agreed to spend some time having fun tomorrow, when the little cyclops had some free time. Husk had also comforted her after they had vented to each other, albeit through thoughts, of course.

She went back to her room, bathedand brushed her teeth,put on another outfit, and then gathered her colored pencils and some papers from a trunk in front of her bed, and finally left the room.

She looked around before starting to walk down the hallway, hoping someone would find her there or something.

Anya then stopped and knocked on Angel Dust's room door a few times. After hearing grunts in response, she opened the door and entered the room before closing it.

She came across Fat Nuggets again, and petted him lightly in response. - "Good evening, Nuggsie. Sorry, Anya left you like that in bed earlier, it's just that Mr. Dust had gone out, and Anya was worried about him." - She explained, hoping the little pig wasn't upset with her or something like that.

Fortunately, Nuggets understood and asked what they were going to do at that moment. The little girl walked a few steps and put the papers and pencils on the floor.

"Want to make more drawings, Nuggsie? Anya bets they'll make Mr. Dust happy again." - she suggested, followed by a happy grunt from Fat once again, she began to scribble and draw on the papers, following many of the ideas and memories that the little pig told her in his thoughts.

After scribbling on all the papers, they were both talking and telling each other one point, Nuggets asked her to turn off the bedroom light to show her something. As soon as she found a switch and pressed it, Anya turned around and was briefly shocked to see pink lights in the dark. But when she heard the little pig's thoughts, she realized it was him.

"Wow, you can glow in the dark, Nuggsie. That's awesome, Anya wishes could do that!" - she exclaimed, smiling, after approaching the bed.

After that, she turned the lights back on and went back to bed, to reveal her next secret to Nuggets. - "Another thing is that Anya has a weakness. During the New Moon phases, Anya loses the ability to read minds. It's called "Eclipsing". But promise not to tell anyone about this, okay?" - she finished with a smiley wink.

They both laughed briefly, until Anya remembered something and then stepped closer and made sure to whisper softly so that only Fat Nuggets could hear. - "Promise not to tell plus one other thing anyone, Nuggsie?"

The little pig nodded in response, and then she began. - "Anya made a deal with the guy in red to act as some sort of secret agent. But Anya doesn't know how to act like that without failing and making him angry. Do you have any suggestions for Anya to accomplish this mission without Anya failing?"

After waiting a few seconds watching him think, she hears Nuggets suggest that she get a small notebook so she can write down all sorts of information she finds or sees in other people's thoughts.

With that, Anya muttered to him. - "That's a really good idea, Nuggsie. With this, Anya can end this deal as soon as possible." - She slammed her fist into the palm of her other hand in conclusion.

But while she was thinking about how she was going to get a notebook, the little girl decided to play something else. - "What do you think we play hide and seek, Nuggsie?" - she asked, followed by the piggy's affirmative grunt.

With that, Anya covered her eyes and began counting. After finishing, she began searching for him. After 2 minutes of searching, the child found him hidden in a pile of clothes lying on the floor. She noticed that some of the clothes were female, but that didn't seem strange to her.

Seeing that it was her turn to hide, the little girl made sure to turn off the lights to make it more difficult for Fat Nuggets to find her. She then hid under the bed as she heard him count and begin to walk and sniff around the room.

In just 1 minute, he found her under the bed, causing her to say: - "Yay, you found me, Nuggsie." - and then laughlightly.

The moment she crawled out of under the bed, they both heard footsteps and a voice outside. Upon listening better, they both realized that it was Angel Dust, and that he had actually come back early or something.

As they both approached the door, they saw that he was about to open it. Could Anya hear him... singing or something? She didn't have time to continue thinking, when the spider finally opened the door,turned on the lights and saw them in front of him.

In response, he carried Fat Nuggets in his arms and ran his free hand through the child's hair, while still singing to himself.

Anya continued to watch him with a worried expression, and began to approach him. She could see that Angel was looking at the mirror on the vanity, as if admiring himself.

But what she saw in the mirror's reflection through Dust's thought almost tore a harsh sigh from her throat: it was a broader vision of one of the shadow forms she had seen in Angel Dust's thoughts. And not only that, Angel himself was also in the reflection, but in a way she had never seen before.

The vision disappeared in the blink of an eye, leaving only a disturbed and dejected Angel, still singing. She could hear Nuggets' thoughts that he might notice something wrong too.

Anya thenwatched as he threw a rolled-up piece of paper into the trash, still exhaling pink smoke, and lay down on his bed. She and the little pig looked at each other briefly and nodded at each other, and then the little girl walked towards the bed.

She climbed onto the bed, and together with Fat Nuggets, they both approached Dust at the same time, who was finishing his song.

As soon as he noticed them near him, they both began to comfort him in their own way:Nuggets licking him on his face and Anya hugging him gently.

The little girl could read in his thoughts that Angel was fine and happy... for now. She then thought back to what she had seen in his mind moments ago. Who was that person? Was he the one who made Angel feel that way?

She shook her head slightly, wanting to ignore that for now and focus on one of the people who mattered most to her right there and right now.

02/21/2025: And here's another chapter. Wow, when I posted it on other story sites, many artists liked my story so much that they wanted to make art out of it. I would like them to do it too, if I wasn't broke and had a way to pay them by other means (I tried , but the login just gave me a headache). I regret posting this story elsewhere because it turned out so well.

But back to the chapter, I was mentally exhausted when I wrote it, but I managed to finish it. I had to fight not to cry while writing the last few paragraphs, as the aforementioned scene from the music video is very sad and painful to watch. I hope it turned out well enough and I hope I can write the next one with a more relaxed mind.