And the story is done!
We made it to the very end of it. After two or three years of writing the Cuphead Show Adaption is finally over.
I'm happy and sad at the same to post this chapter here. The final chapter.
But what a ride.
I thank you guys for reading this story. I really appreciate your reviews and comments. I really do.
What happens next?
I don't know but we will see. ;)
Until then
"How much longer will it take?" grumbled from the pond. From the pond that has a face in it. "I need my daily nap and your screw-driving is ruining it," the voice rang out again. Quadratus, the Inkwell Isle's wise counselor, complained about the repairs to the portal that stood a few meters away from him and was bolted down so that it wouldn't fall over. The futuristic cordless drill screwed the last screw firmly into the shimmering platinum bracket. The portal was now firmly in place.
Neither the wind nor the earth could harm it. Meanwhile, both Dr. Kahls were working on the console connected to the portal. Several numbers and letters appeared on the screen. It was the same combination of numbers and letters that Varian had picked up while the devil was bringing the "audience" into the amphitheater. "Let's see if it works." By pressing the red button next to the keyboard, the portal switched on. The group gathered in front of the portal lit up in a light blue glow. Conversations that had just been held, laughter that had just taken place disappeared in a matter of milliseconds.
All eyes looked at the blue shimmer inside the portal before it tore open like a zipper. The amazement promised that the portal led to the right place. The familiar, cartoon-like landscape was recognized by everyone standing in front of the portal. Well, not everyone. Only the counterparts of the individual characters, not counting the wolf, both foxes, the casino manager, the devil himself and the human from the real world. "Inkwell Isle II!" Cuppy shouted in anticipation as he saw the rollercoaster, Djimmi's pyramid and part of Bon Bon's café in the portal. "Wow okay I thought this would lead straight to the dimension Al came from.".
"Oh that's okay Varian." Alicia assured him while she was glad to be back on the other Inkwell Isle's. The Inkwell Isle's she called her second home. "Besides, I could get back home either way." Unsure of Varian and Eira, Alicia was able to get back to her apartment via the notepad Alicia had taken with her when she had first landed in the book and had to write down the story to get out. Not everyone knew this secret. Only a few. Including Cuppy, his brother Mugman, her godmothers and of course Lucifer.
And that's how it should stay. Alicia was reluctant to let the devil know how to get into Alicia's world. It's bad enough that I have to either dress most of them up or lock them in the closet while I'm at university. It was enough for Alicia that the characters from the book visited her unannounced from time to time. She didn't want to see Brineybeard or Elder Kettle from the Cuphead show running around here while she panicked and covered the windows or fearfully tried to lock everything and everyone in her closet.
Varian did not question her decision. He just shrugged his shoulders and let the first people through the open portal. The conversations were brief with their respective counterparts. Bon Bon and the Baroness exchanged reciprocal recipes, Sally laughed with her counterpart about some past plays. You could tell they were all enjoying themselves. They wanted to talk more, but the time had come. The time to say goodbye. The inhabitants of the Inkwell Isle's from the book went through the portal one by one and left the world of the Cuphead Show. Each one disappeared until only the Cups, King Dice, Lucifer, Blood, Varian, Eira and Alicia remained.
"I'll go ahead and spruce up the casino," grinned King Dice, adjusting his tails before his jade-green eyes wandered to Alicia. "Won't you help me with that, Your Majesty?" Dream on Dice! She just crossed her arms. Nyx stuck out her tongue while she made herself comfortable on Alicia's head. Unlike Dice from this world, this one from the book just smirked before going through the portal. "He still thinks I have a crush on him, " Alicia sighed. On the one hand because of Psycho Dice on the other...
Alicia looked down at Cuphead and the others. Cuppy and Mugman said goodbye to their counterparts. The latter didn't smile or seem pleased. Quite the opposite. Their smiles changed to a sad one. Despite the several jags between Cuppy and Cuphead, the latter was already missing him. It was not for nothing that they hugged before Cuppy and Mugman entered the portal to return to their world. The only ones who had to go through the portal were Lucifer, Alicia and Nyx.
"Are you ready my love?" Lucifer held out his hand Oh boy. The sobs coming from the two brothers were hard to ignore. Not only that, they were clutching her legs as if Alicia would disappear at any moment. She knew that day would come. The day she had to say goodbye to them. Her eyes wandered downwards. The tear-filled eyes of the two brothers. "Please stay here." Cuphead begged, 'We don't want you to go.' Mugsy sobbed. It was just as hard for both of them to say goodbye as it was for Alicia. To others, the two were nothing more than anthropomorphic cups in a cartoon. To Alicia, however, they were more than that. They were like little brothers. Her little brothers. Whether they were related by blood or not, they were part of her family.
She knew it would be hard to say goodbye. But saying goodbye doesn't mean you won't see each other again. A message that Alicia always took to heart. "I know it's hard for you to understand. That I'm not here anymore." Both cups wiped their tears away, or at least tried to. Mugman found it particularly difficult to keep his tears in check. He blinked several times before he got a clear view. "But that doesn't mean we'll never see each other again." Alicia hugged both mugs as hard as she could. She was careful, of course, because they were both partly made of porcelain.
We met, it seems, such a short time ago
You looked at me
Needing me so
Yet from your sadness, our happiness grew
And I found out, I needed you too
They both quietly heard Alicia's singing voice. The tears stopped flowing. They both listened to the song instead of sniffling and sobbing.
I remember how we used to play
I recall those rainy days
The fire's glow, that kept us warm
And now I find
We're three alone
Alicia tenderly stroked her cheeks. They blushed. Not from embarrassment but from pleasure. Joy that they received from Alicia as she squeezed them both tighter.
Goodbye may seem forever
Farewell is like the end
But in my heart's a memory
And there, you two will always be
With a kiss on each forehead, Alicia let go of both brothers. She knew they both understood the message as well as the others. Alicia wouldn't be here on these Inkwell Isle's anymore. But they would see her again someday. "I promise I'll be back soon." Alicia promised "I hope you come back soon!" Cuphead demanded as he grinned mischievously again. "Yes, otherwise we'll come to you!" 'Oh, no, I'm so scared!' giggled Alicia before hugging them both one last time and saying goodbye to the other residents, her friends and new family members.
She waved before she and Lucifer stepped through the portal. Sally, the Baroness, Djimmi, Blood all waved after them before disappearing in a bright light.
Nine Months later…
Back in her world, Alicia sat comfortably wrapped in a blanket on her sofa. Time has passed since she went through the portal to get to the other version of the Inkwell Isle. The version from the book. From the book that was right next to her on the sofa. The mug logo was literally grinning at her while Alicia was busy watching TV. She was supposed to be studying for her degree, but she had long since finished. The papers lay on the table in front of her. The television was on in the background.
Alicia was glad to be back in her world. She really missed her bed and fell onto it after she got out of the book. The whole adventure in the world of the Cuphead Show had really drained her. She slept for almost a whole day to regain her strength. Besides her soft, cozy and definitely warm bed, she missed her modern technology like her microwave, smartphone and electric toothbrush. For better or worse, she had to leave all that behind before she landed unplanned in the world of the show.
Since then, she kept her distance from the TV a few days ago. She didn't want to be sucked in again. Not again. Once was enough. Fortunately, it never happened when she decided to turn on the TV on a Friday evening to watch something on Netflix. She actually wanted to watch Avatar: The Last Air Bender but her fingers wandered to the logo of the Cuphead show. The background was orange, the show's lettering was white and Cuphead and Mugsy were grinning happily at the viewer. Alicia smiled a little. She missed the two rascals just as much as the rest of the residents. Well, not all of them, but at least some of them.
It should be clear to everyone that she didn't miss the devil. His constant attempts to seduce Alicia, to flirt with her, to kidnap her several times and to force her to marry him showed her rapid disinterest. She wanted to never see him again. But what would the Cuphead Show be without the devil? The same as if Scrooge McDuck wasn't part of Duck Tales. A piece that is lost to the show. He was just as much a part of the show as Cuphead, Chalice, The Baroness and many others. He was the main antagonist of the show. But that shouldn't stop them from watching the show. Her thumb pressed the right arrow button on the remote control, the white border that had previously circled Avatar now circled the Cuphead show. By confirming the OK button, Alicia started the show and watched the Cuphead Show without any further problems.
Memories of all the adventures she had had with the two brothers filled her mind while her eyes were fixed on the television. There were small differences here and there between her experience in the world of the Cuphead show and the actual show. Alicia couldn't remember the Baroness or Elder Kettle somehow feeling the desire to eat both brothers after they turned into candy. Nor that Porkrind gave them a mission to go to Mount Eruptus to get his laundry. All things Alicia never knew about. Probably for the best. Let's be honest, Alicia was reluctant to see the creepy side of Bowlboy.
Creepy or not she didn't like him. "Well, luckily they can't hear what I'm saying," Alicia said to herself as she took a sip of her tea. Well, the figures couldn't really hear, but apparently the devil was the only one who could break through the fourth wall more than once. Alicia first noticed this in the intro before the Devil opened his eyes and stared directly into Alicia's eyes during his proclamation speech in the episode "Sweater Off Dead" just before Stickler interrupted. Alicia almost choked on her tea as the devil repeated her name several times. Each word more desperate than the last.
"Alicia my love please come back to me", 'Alicia baby please I miss you my queen!', 'Please come back to me I miss you so much and I'm a thousand times better than the copy!'. Every word made Alicia tremble. She tried to ignore it at first and wanted to rewind. But no matter what she did, her remote control didn't work. She pressed every button but there was no response. Even the on/off switch didn't respond. Panicked, Alicia got up and decided to switch the TV off manually. She pressed the red switch on the power strip to which her TV, PlayStation and Nintendo Switch were connected.
The picture went black. Alicia exhaled with relief. She was glad not to hear the voice anymore, but now she really wondered if she was safe. Could the devil get into her world via the television? Oh please, no. She shivered at the thought of facing him again. "Forget it, I'm married to Lucifer!" she muttered. She turned the TV back on and continued watching the show. Of course, every now and then there were the same moments when the devil spoke to her again. Her apprehension quickly turned to frustration. Every time it happened, Alicia had to turn off the TV so she could continue watching the show.
How often this happened plus her actual studies meant that Alicia made slower progress with the show than she hoped. She was glad that the devil didn't appear too often in the show so she rarely had to turn off her TV to continue watching. The 36 episodes the show had came to an end quickly. Alicia sat tensely on the sofa as the last few minutes of the final episode played.
The sky was glowing orange as the sun was just about to disappear over the horizon. Cuphead, Mugsy and Chalice wandered along a small dirt path while each of them licked three scoops of ice cream. "Let me guess, Chalice used her charm again?" Alicia guessed as she slowly shook her head. "Hard to believe it's been a month since we've seen the Devil." Cuphead mentioned as if it was a matter of course. It might be a month for the three cups. For Alicia, however, it was several. "Good riddance, I say," commented Mugman. "And how." Chalice added.
Alicia wasn't the only one who was happy to lead a normal life. If you could call it normal. But also the three cups. Calmly and without further problems, the three of them went their way until Cuphead noticed something strange "Say, what's that?" Oh no, don't tell me... There was an advertising stand in front of the three cups in the middle of a raised area. With glowing light bulbs and outstretched arrows, it advertised the Devil's Casino, which, unlike in the book, was not in Inkwell Hell or the underworld, but on the surface. It resembled one to one the casino that belonged to Lucifer. The tower, the red dice, the chess pieces on the roof surrounding the devil in question - everything looked identical.
"No way we're goin' near that place." Mugman replied bluntly. He knew that the place meant nothing good but only one thing: more trouble than the three cups wanted. "Yep. I think we all learned our lesson." Chalice agreed with him. She was extremely reluctant to come into contact with the devil again. The near-death experience was enough for her. "Right, Cuphead?" But the one who hadn't learned his lesson was Cuphead. "Oh, no." his brother and Chalice sighed. Alicia just rolled her eyes as Cuphead ran towards the casino laughing, not knowing what was coming. "Cuphead!" the others shouted after him before the screen faded to black and the end credits rolled.
Alicia just rolled her eyes before smiling. "I guess Cuphead never changes." she giggled and switched off the TV. Her eyes wandered to the Cuphead book next to her. The memories of that time and the ones from the show made her smile.
Her adventures in the Cuphead Show may have come to an end. But inside she knew that it was far from over.
Song: Goodbye May Seem Forever from Fox and the Hound by Jeanette Nolan.
