NecroKitty Tales

"Finally!” Sullivan yelled, “What took you so long?” “You can’t rush love, mi amigo…” The cat said, holding two tickets. Sullivan and Hilda looked at each other, preferring not to ask any more questions and just took the tickets. “Two tickets…So you’re not coming?” the salamander asked. “I will accompany you, my friend, but I don’t need one to get in,” he assured with a wink. They arrived at the hive and got in the line for the visitors. When they arrived at the door, a very slim male bee asked to see their tickets. Sullivan and Hilda showed theirs. The bee turned to Carlos who smiled charmingly at the bee. “I’m here for Beatrice,” the cat informed him. The bee narrowed his eyes. “…There’s 235 Beatrice’s in this hive, sir…” “I’m here for THE Beatrice,” Carlos repeated. The bee opened his eyes wide. “THE Beatrice?” Carlos nodded, smiling even more. “…A moment, please.” He stepped behind the reception desk and made a phone call. The three saw the look of surprise in the receptionist’s face. He hung up the phone wordlessly before returning to the group. “..eh… Mr. Buenaventura?” “At your service.” The cat tipped his hat. “.. She’s asked for you to wait for her at the Main Hall,” he said, still looking at the cat, skeptical. “Muchas gracias!” Carlos waved and walked, whistling happily next to the other two, who were as surprised as the receptionist. They entered the hive and quickly followed the group of tourists before finally arriving in a circular hall as tall as several stories of the hive. There was buzzing sounds and movement everywhere they looked. The visitors group gathered in the center and four guards accompanied them. A very small female bee greeted the tourists and started explaining the history of the hive. Sullivan and Hilda tried to remain behind the group and be as discreet as possible as they tried to figure out where the prison was. After the speech was over, the guide asked the group to move forward to a corridor that would take them to the honey factory. “Vaya! That was surprisingly interesting,” Carlos said, happy to have learnt something new. “Say, how much do we owe you for the tickets?” Sullivan asked, grateful. “Your friendship!” Carlos replied patting him in the back. “I would do anything to help love soar. Now you two go ahead and save your loved ones, and live your happily ever after!” Sullivan’s eyes brightened. “Thank you, Carlos! I will never forget this!” He shook his hand. Hilda rolled her eyes. “Happily ever after…pff…” She mumbled, crossing her arms and blushing slightly. “Carlos!” A female voice called from behind the hispanic cat. The cat turned around to see an impressive bee fluttering toward him. “Oh! There you are my beautiful sunshine!” He greeted the large female bee guard wearing her uniform. “Sorry I made you wait.” “No need to apologize, it was actually very instructive,” he explained, gesturing to the tour group. The bee looked at her wrist watch. “I only have an hour before I need to go back to work…” “Then let us not waste time!” He offered her his arm and walked towards the mess hall. Carlos turned and shot a wink at Hilda and Sullivan before disappearing into the crowd. “Hey! Keep up or you’ll be kicked out” One of the guards flanking the tour group yelled at Sullivan and Hilda, forcing them to return back to the group.

____

Amber bounded through a beautiful field full of catnip. She wasn’t sure how she arrived here but it was a welcome respite from her ordeal in the hive. The wonderful sun felt warm on her fuzzy body and she couldn’t help but rejoice in this new experience. She pounced and leapt and napped. This was the best day ever! She thought it couldn’t get any better when a dark shadow rose over from behind. She turned around to see a very monstrous looking Cagney. “I’m gonna to eat you!” He roared. Her eyes went wide. “No! No! Don’t eat me!” She tried to run away but found she couldn’t move. She looked down to see the field was turning to mud under her feet. She tried to run faster only for his large gnarled hands to seize her. She waved her paws pathetically. “Wait, wait! I’m not very tasty! I’m all fur!” “You’ll be a delicious pussy!” He growled as he lifted her up in the air above his face. She almost groaned at the pun…until she realized it wasn’t a pun. The flicking of his tongue between her legs made her tail shoot straight up. “Wait, wait!” Amber shrieked, pushing down her suddenly way too short skirt.

He continued to lash at her entrance and she bucked and squirmed helplessly. “Ooh, uh wait? No, a little to the right. Yeah, ah!” Amber mewled starting to enjoy the attention. She threw her head back and felt something sharp poke her. Amber woke up with a startled gasp, looking around wildly. When she realized she wasn’t being stabbed, she sighed. “Just a dream. Just a really messed up dream!” She exhaled, trying to shift only to find herself unable to do so. She looked down to see a pair of green, leafy limbs wrapped around her body, holding her snuggly. She glanced behind her to see Cagney dead asleep to the world, snoring. Was he…cuddling her? That was kinda cute? He was mumbling something about a blimp and rubbing his petals into her back, every now and then poking her with a thorn. That thorn part was less cute. She remained where she, scrunching her nose as she couldn’t remember why they were here together. There was a knock at the door and Amber jerked fully awake as Cagney groaned. Holy crap, how could she forget? They were in the hive. Queen Rumor’s hive, to be precise. And it was quickly becoming a dangerous place to be for anything non-insect. 

Although Cagney would probably disagree with that statement, she remembered, spotting the bandanna around his neck. It was imbued with some form of magic curse that turned this flower into a mindless vegetable, subservient to the crazy Queen. The Queen would be most displeased to find the feline here within Cagney’s quarters and Amber did not want to stick around to find out what punishment would lie in store for her. “Gotta go, stay safe, Cagney,” Amber whispered, wriggling out of his grip as the door started to unlock. She climbed up the wall into the rafters just as the door opened. Cagney felt around and blinked unsuredly. “Amber?” He asked. The cat was gone.

Rumor opened the door slowly, holding the scepter tightly in her hand “..Sorry for waking you up,” she spoke coldly, glancing at the salted water and locking the door behind her. “Just came here to check on you.” She pointed her scepter at the water and turned it back to dirt.

Cagney brightened considerably at seeing the bee. “Good morning, Rumor…it’s morning, right?” He stood up, still hesitant eyeing what used to be the salt water. “Listen, I kinda want to apologize for what happened yesterday. When I’m in that form, I don’t have the best control and it just really wrecks my ability to think.”

Rumor’s heart melted at the carnation’s apology, but she kept her cool facade. “You’ve turned into that before?” She asked, a bit relieved that it wasn’t her bandanna's doing.

He nodded. “Yeah, one of the ‘perks’ when I traded my soul to look like this,” he gestured to his body. “It’s kind of my body’s way to defend myself if things get really bad…or if I get really angry.” He stretched. “Still wasn’t strong enough to stop Cuphead and Mugman when they collected our contracts,” he chuckled.

The Queen’s look softened. “Why where you angry before? Was it something I said?” She played the scene again in her head, blushing heavily.

He hesitated. “I don’t think it was anything you did. Maybe I was just anxious about becoming a royal gardener. I mean, do I have to make public appearances and stuff?” He asked.

“That’s what’s bugging you?” She smiled sweetly, getting close to him and taking his hands. “You just have to keep doing what you’ve been doing in your own garden. Except, in here… with me…” She got closer to his face, encouraging the plant to kiss her.

The carnation perked up at the touch of the bee and nuzzled her with his petals. “You’re a doll, Rumor,” he sighed happily. He eyed the spot on the bed that had been occupied just a few minutes before and brightened even more. “By the way, I really want to thank you for sending in your special service guard last night.”

Rumor’s soft look disappeared. “what are you talking about?”

Cagney nodded, not noticing the change. “Ya know, Amber. The cat I was fighting with? She came in and told me all about how you recruited her for the special guard thing ya had and how she was here to protect me.” “And I gotta admit, I never petted a cat before, but she was pretty soft. Definitely helped relieve some of my stress!” He exclaimed with a chuckle, “I don’t even know when we fell asleep but it was probably one of the best sleep I’ve had in a while! It was like holding a warm teddy bear. With teeth.” The carnation showed Rumor his hand where the cat had bit him. “She bites pretty hard if you touch the wrong spot. Gotta make sure to stroke correctly.” He pressed a kiss to Rumor’s cheek. “So, what’s the plan for today?” He asked cheerfully. He paused at the expression on her face. “Something I said?” 

____

The Queen Bee stormed out of the room. “Guards! GUARDS!” She screeched loudly and almost instantly a couple of guards, armed with spears, appeared on the corridor. “Yes, my Queen!?” They both answered. “Seal the hive. Nobody gets in or out! Look for the small cat we caught the other day at the docks with Cagney, and bring me the responsible bee of the prisoner transfer to the camp!” The guards nodded and immediately flew to carry her orders. An alarm blared and the hive became a buzz with commotion with windows and gates quickly being sealed. 

Cagney followed Rumor out, looking really confused. “But she was wearing one of these?” He pointed out, gesturing to his bandanna. He doubted Rumor could hear him.

Rumor turned to Cagney, even more confused and angry. “What? What did she tell you? What did you do in there?” Jealousy started to sting her heart. “My Q-queen!” Beatrice, the giant female bee guard, flew towards them, exhausted. “I-I’m sorry - I was-!” “Silence! Escort Cagney to my chambers. Nobody but me goes in or out!” Rumor yelled at the tired bee who nodded and made a sign for Cagney to follow her. “We’ll talk later” Rumor said to Cagney before flying down the corridor, leaving him alone with the bee.

____

“And that’s how we manufacture the delicious honey we all enjoy!” The small female guide announced, holding a jar of Rumor’s honey. “Are there any questions?”  

Hilda and Sullivan seemed a bit traumatized by what they had seen but at the question of the tour guide, they quickly snapped out of it. “This is a waste of time,” Sullivan loudly murmured to Hilda. “We got to find a way to get out of the group!” As if an answer to his prayers, an alarm suddenly blared loudly throughout the hive. “Attention please! A fugitive has escaped. For your safety, please remain indoors and cooperate with the guards!” The bees started to fly in an organised fashion to their homes and places to shelter themselves. The tourist group though, started screaming and running to the nearest exits. The guards were trying to keep them together but they were too many to control. Hilda smiled, grabbed Sullivan’s hand and ran away from the group, back towards the main hall.

____

Cagney allowed the large guard bee to lead him away as Rumor flew off. He couldn’t help but notice the fur on her uniform. “I think you got some fur on your pants…and your chest,” he pointed out, realizing midway through his observation that this was probably not the time to be pointing this out to the clearly stressed out but yet simultaneously relaxed looking bee. He cleared his throat and changed the topic. “So, eh, any chance I could go looking for the intruder too?” He asked hopefully. 

Beatrice immediately cleaned the fur from her uniform and cleared her throat, ignoring her red cheeks. “You heard the Queen. No one in, no one out” They reached Rumor’s office and the guard opened the door for Cagney, signaling him to enter. “I’ll be guarding the door." 

Cagney entered the room only to hear it lock behind him. He turned around and tugged on the door knob uselessly. "I’m getting really sick of being the damsel in distress around here,” he grumbled. He looked around his surroundings, trying to see if there were another exit. 

The big window that allowed the light to come in, was now sealed shut. The only light came from several small lamps hung around the room. The lamps illuminated the walls in Rumor’s chambers revealing them to be covered by books, perfectly arranged on the shelves. A few books were laid on the ground opened and stacked. 

With no easy exit, and nothing else better to do, Cagney flopped himself down on Rumor’s bed and began to play with his petals. “Ugh, hopefully Rumor fixes things up so I can get out of here.” He hummed to himself, “Maybe I could make friends with some friendly woodland creatures or sing a song or…” He jerked back up. “Oh my God, I AM turning into a damsel!” He spotted Rumor’s patch of garden and gave a slight smile. “Well, at least that’s something.” He rooted himself within the dirt and started to strengthen himself, especially since he was still feeling pretty sapped from the salt water. 

____

Having escaped the tour group, Hilda and Sullivan now looked around, trying to find a sign or some indication of where the prison cells were. Although there were thankfully no guards in sight, there was also nothing else but hundreds of bees flying in perfect lines to their shelters. “Arg! How can they live without any signs?!” Sullivan groaned in desperation. “Let’s just think for a second!” Hilda exclaimed. She paused and thought. “If you build a prison here, where would you put it?” Sullivan seemed to be thinking but before he could come up with an answer, Hilda spoke again. “Underground! No windows, only the doors you build, it’s perfect to lock up people!” She exclaimed. They found a set of stairs going down and they ran towards it. “I can’t help but be nervous that you were able to think of this so quickly!” Sullivan admitted as they descended, “and so enthusiastically…” he couldn’t help but add.

____

Amber ran like hell through the halls, using all four paws to propel her tiny furry body like a speeding bullet, whizzing past confused bees and tourists alike. Looks like Cagney had blabbed and very soon she wouldn’t have an exit. And without an exit, then it was only a matter of time before the guards found her. Then she might actually end up wearing a real piece of jewelry instead of the fake one she currently sported. One that turned her brain to mush. She scurried along the top part of the main hall but paused at the sound of a familiar voice.

Amber knew that voice. That was Sully! She saw him and an unfamiliar looking woman running toward the set of stairs leading into the dungeon and she nimbly leapt down behind them. “Hi, Sully! Looking for me?” She called out, striking a pretty pose.

Sullivan turned to the voice behind him and his eyes brightened at the sight of his beloved feline. “Amber!” He hugged her tightly. “I was SO worried about you! What did they do to you? Did they hurt you?” He asked, turning her around to look for wounds.

Amber allowed Sully to check her for wounds. “Aw, I’m okay! Nothing I can’t handle." 

Hilda looked around, hoping to see her friend any second now. "Where’s Cagney?” Amber looked at the woman and realized who she was. “Oh….you’re Hilda, aren’t you?”

Hilda lowered her sunglasses to have a better look at the cat. “Have we met?”

“Officially? No. From what Cagney told me or, uh tried to tell me when he could,” Amber admitted, “I figured you had to be her." 

She glanced aside and pulled them into a side hallway as a patrol buzzed by. She glanced at Sullivan. "This place is a looney bin, Sully. You shouldn’t have come, although it’s awfully romantic that you have,” she purred.

The salamander blushed. “Gee, well, of course I had to come. They took you without even hearing you out! It was all a misunderstanding.” He paused, looking at the patrol fly by. “Yeah, yeah, get a room!” Hilda snapped at them. “Where’s Cagney?” She hesitated. “…And what exactly did he say about me?” She asked, her curiosity stronger than her survival instinct.

Amber would have to break the news to Sully eventually. Especially considering there were nearly a 100 eye witnesses placing her at the scene of the crime, it was only a matter of time before he found out. But now was not the time. She turned to Hilda. “Well, last I saw, he was locked in his room. And do you wanna know what he said before or after he got brainwashed?” She asked, smoothing down her fur.

Hilda raised an eyebrow. “His room? Since when does he-brainwashed!? What are you talking about!?”

The cat groaned. “Listen, I don’t know what’s going on here. After we got arrested and tossed in jail, the Queen talked to Cagney and he must have pissed her off something royal-” she hated herself for the accidental pun- “Because the next morning, they came down to the prison talking about taking us to reprogramming camps or something like that.” She shuddered. “A lot of the bees are acting really weird, more weird than normal after they all went to this reprogramming thing so I busted us out. We were doing pretty well until we ended up in the Queen’s office and uh…Cagney couldn’t hide in time.”

Amber motioned for them to duck down with her behind a cleaning trolley. “It was the Queen and some scary ant lady. And guards. Lots of guards. She scampered down another hallway. "He and Rumor started yelling at each other until she made him put on this stupid cloth and the next thing I know he’s acting just as weird as those bees, going all gaga for the queen!”

Sullivan noticed the cloth on Amber’s neck. Before she could speak any further, he grabbed the feline and pinned her facing against the wall. Hilda nearly jumped in surprise. “What are you doing!? Has everyone gone insane today?!” She exclaimed, yanking off her glasses. “I’m so sorry!” The amphibian apologized profusely as he carefully removed the bandanna. “How do you feel now?” he asked once it was removed from Amber’s neck,  “Are you still mind controlled?” Hilda facepalmed herself.

Amber turned bright red, feeling the salamander press into her from behind. “Sully, trust me I’d love to but now is not the time-oh!” She chuckled. “Oh, that’s just a cleaning rag I swiped from one of the janitorial trolleys! Fooled old grumpy petals last night into letting me crash the night with him so I didn’t get caught.”

Sullivan released Amber. “Oh boy! I-I-I’m so sorry!” He blushed and felt horrible for being so bold with her. 

Amber’s face turned serious. “No, the real one doesn’t come off.  And that’s a big problem. It’s messing with his mind. Every minute he’s starting to forget stuff. He’s having trouble remembering why he came here! He can’t even say your name anymore!”

Hilda felt a slightly jealous at twinge the mention of the cat sleeping with Cagney, but the thought quickly stepped away at the idea of her dumb weed forgetting completely about  her. She shook away her thoughts, focusing on their situation and how dangerous it had quickly become. She paid more attention to the bees around them and noticed that the worker ones had a bracelet, while the higher ranking bees had bandannas around their necks. “The cloth must be more powerful than the bracelets,” Hilda concluded, talking more for herself than for them. She pulled off for her own cloth on her head and tied it around her neck. “Sullivan, wear the cat’s cloth! We’ll pretend we are brainwashed that we found the fugitive and we are on our way to deliver her to Rumor."  She turned to Amber. "You think you can take us to Cagney?”

Amber nodded. “Yeah, I last saw him locked into the room. But there’s a good chance Rumor moved him to hers when the alarm went off.” Amber scratched her ears. “Which one do you want me to take you to?”

Hilda sighed, starting to get anxious. “I guess the best option is going to Rumor’s directly. That way if he isn’t there she might tell us where he is.” Sullivan nodded as he tied the fabric around his neck.

Amber nodded once more. “Okay, then hold onto me like you’re taking me prisoner and I’ll whisper directions to you." 

Hilda, Sully and Amber traveled through the hive, trying to look as inconspicuous as possible, which was rather hard to do when you were a human, a lizard and a cat in a hive full of bees. However, Hilda had that natural 'approach me and die’ look to her that deterred most bees from asking any questions and they were able to make it to Rumor’s door soon enough. As they neared the door - and the large bee guarding it - Amber’s fur suddenly went on end and she hissed.

"HALT!” The guard shouted. “ What’s going on here?” She demanded, extending her arm signaling them to stop. They obeyed but Sullivan couldn’t help but tremble, nervous at the sight of the imposing figure. 

“We are taking the fugitive to Rumor” Hilda said, keeping her cool. Beatrice eyed them skeptically before looking at their bandannas. “Rumor is not here. Who gave you the order?” She growled. Hilda gulped but remained still. “Beatrice,” she said, knowing that there where more than 200 Beatrices living in the hive. “Beatrice who?” The bee started to reach to her gun. Hilda was about to reply 'Smith’ when Carlos appeared from another hallway. “Ah! Ahí estás, my sunshine! You left me wanting more,” he smiled charmingly, leaning against the door and waving a pair of handcuffs, one side still attached to his wrist. The large bee looked at him, surprised, and then reddened. “H-how…?” “I told you I was full of surprises,” he purred. He noticed the group and gave them a smile. “Is this the fugitive I keep hearing about?” “Y-yeah,” Beatrice admitted, “But, uh, I’m not sure~” “Great! Then YOU can turn off the alarm and WE can finish what we started.” He shook the cuffs, smiling mischievously. Beatrice was really tired of guarding the door. She took one more look at the group, trying to figure out if they were really brainwashed. “Who did you say gave you the order?” “Uhh..” Hilda was caught by surprise, but Sullivan quickly intervened. “Beatrice! You know… the one with the…” He did a gesture with his opened hand circling his face. The guard opened her eyes widely. “Oh! Beatrice Smith?” Hilda grunted. “I thought she had to leave because of the wax incident.” The bee mimicked the same gesture around her face. “Y-yeah, uh… ” “The fugitive hid in her home,” Hilda intervened, noticing Sullivan was running out of material. Carlos signaled Beatrice to get lower and whispered something in her ear. The group saw the bee blushing and they both started giggling. It was comical to see the large, tall bee being all cute with the smaller skinny cat. “Fine! Fine. You can leave the prisoner here.” She unlocked the door. “I’ll go call Rumor."  Beatrice flew away through the corridor. When she was out of the way, Carlos applauded the trio. "Bravo! Bravísimo! Honestly, I never thought you were going to make it”

Amber cautiously watched Carlos. “What’s he doing here? Who is this?” She asked Sully as Hilda strode towards the door and fiddled with it

“He’s a friend, he helped us get in the hive,” Sullivan answered Amber, letting her go when the bee left. Carlos made a small bow and smiled charmingly.

Amber stuck close to Sully. “If you say so,” she acquiesced. Hilda opened the door with a shove, eager to see her friend again. “Cagney! Cagney?” She called out looking around the office and noticing the Queen’s chambers door open. Cagney’s head jerked toward the office at the familiar voice. “Hi-hello?” He tried, peeking out..

“Cagney!” Hilda smiled and ran towards him to give him a hug. “What are you doing in here?”

Cagney saw the slender woman running toward him and instinctively put out his hands to stop her from touching him. “Woah! Lady, ya can’t just run at a guy like that!” He cocked his head. “And how do you know my name? Have we met?”

Hilda stopped and looked at him, surprised, not really certain if he was joking or not. “How do I know your name? It’s me! Hilda!” She waited for his reaction. “Hilda Berg? The sky witch? Your best friend?”

Amber heard the shouting coming from the bed chambers and face palmed. “Oh shoot, it doesn’t sound like he remembers. Give me your bandanna, Sully.”

Sullivan gave Amber the fabric, wondering what she was planning to do. Cagney twitched at the name but he didn’t know why. His throat started to itch but he ignored it to keep looking at the woman. “Best friend?” He echoed before shaking his head. “Nah, Rumor and me are besties. You sure you don’t have your flowers messed up?” He asked, uprooting himself slightly.

“Wha…?” Hilda felt a knot starting to form in her throat. “I’M your bestie!” Tauros was starting to take room in the woman’s head. “You only like her because she’s a bee!”

Cagney scoffed. “Uh, no! She’s actually a very intelligent bee. And nice…when you know, she’s not turning dirt into salt water,” he admitted with a chuckle. Amber scampered in, wearing her bandanna. “Hi, Cagney!” Cagney looked past Hilda to see Amber. “Hey. Did you know Rumor’s looking for you?” His eyes hardened. “And did you also know she also says you’re lying about being a secret guard?” Amber pshawed. “Whhhattt? No way! If I was lying, why would I be here? Wouldn’t I be running away?” He raised an eyebrow. “Didn’t you run away this morning?” Amber paused. Shoot. He had a point. She broke into a wide smile. “Seems like you’re having a really stressful day so far!” “You can say that again. Rumor’s furious, this broad says I’m her friend,” Cagney jutted a thumb at a disbelieving Hilda, “And no one’s explaining anything.” Amber crept a little closer. “Would you like to pet the kitty?” She offered. The carnation’s eyes lit up. “Really?” “You can even pet the belly!” Amber insisted. “That would be great!” “Excellent, just reach down, yes that’s it, rub the belly,” Amber coaxed as Cagney reached down to pet her. Just as he was about to touch her belly, she latched on, nails out and sank her teeth into his hand. He swore and ripped Amber off of his arm. “Goddammit, Amber! That fucking hurt!” He turned toward Hilda and demanded, “Hilda, what the hell?! Did you know she was going to do that?!”

Sullivan looked unbelieving what Amber was doing, and Carlos laughed at the trick, for it reminded him of the many times it helped him get out from a sticky situation. 

Hilda smiled at him. “You DO remember me, you dumb dandelion!” She couldn’t help but hug him tightly.

The carnation felt like a ton of bricks hit him as the memory of who Hilda was came back heavy and strong. “Hilda?!” He wrapped his leaves around her tightly and returned the hug. “Aw man, I’m so happy to see you!”

The cat and the amphibian looked surprised as the Carnation seemed to recover his memory.

“Cagney we gotta get out of here!” The witch grabbed his hand pulling him to the door. “And take that bandanna off!” She managed to keep her voice steady, terrified her friend would forget her again.

The carnation couldn’t help but snuggle her hand, blowing off the tightness in his throat. “You can say that again. All I did was come here to ask Rumor for help but… Rumor!” He suddenly remembered where they were and he stopped snuggling her. “Hilda, Rumor’s nuts!” He insisted.

“And you just noticed now?” Hilda chuckled. “You can tell me all about it later! C'mon!” She pressed on.

Cagney stopped following Hilda. “I’m serious. She’s never been acted like this before.” He pulled away from her and grimaced. “Something’s really wrong and I can’t figure out why because I can’t think straight! And every time I try to think about it, it just hurts more, Hilda!” He grabbed his head with both hands. “Why does it hurt so much to try to say your name!? Or even think about you?!”

“Cagney!” Hilda drew close to him, not sure what to do. It was painful to see him like this. It reminded of her when she found out about the constellations living in her head.

Amber hesitantly eyed Cagney as he looked almost frantic. She psst the other cat, trying to get his attention.

Carlos ear twitched and looked at Amber curious.

Amber pointed to her neck and made a pulling motion toward Cagney, hoping the other cat would get the hint as the carnation proceeded to become more panicked by the second.

Carlos nodded at Amber and discreetly came closer to the carnation as he struggled with his thoughts. He got in position and waited for Amber’s signal.

“Cagney,” Hilda said softly, noticing the cats moving closer. “I know what it is to have a mess in your head. Just, uh, think about something that made you very happy. Like, eh, the first day of spring? Or uh…” She was getting really nervous as he started gasping. “I don’t know! Mineral water? Focus on that!”

“Mineral water?? Are you kidding me right now?” He gaped at her, “What kind of stupid idea is that?” His eyes widened as the bandanna tightened and he fell to his knees, choking.  One of his arms reached back toward the soil in the room. “Now, now, now! Before he touches the dirt!” Amber yelled pouncing on the carnation with Carlos, trying to rip off his bandanna. The carnation plunged his hands in the soil and immediately started changing form with a snarl. He flung the cats off and turned on Hilda with a glare. “You’re just using me, just like she said you would. Just like you always do!” He sneered.

Hilda stepped back frightened. Her heart broke to see the hatred in his best friend’s eyes… again! “Cagney, what are you saying?” She felt Tauros wanting to take control in her mind. 

He tried to continue speaking but any further speech Cagney had been capable of vanished as he continued to warp into his monstrous form. Carlos shook his head and saw the flower growing bigger. “I think it’s time to leave now!” He suggested, hopping to his feet. Sullivan immediately came to aid Amber. “You ok? Where does it hurt? ” He worriedly asked.

“I’m okay, I’m okay,” Amber groaned. She unsteadily got to her feet with Sullivan’s help and turned to see the carnation approaching a scared Hilda, the bandanna still snugly around his neck. She looked around for something but saw nothing she could chuck at him. “Kick his ass!” She finally shouted at the woman. The carnation turned away from Hilda at the sound of her voice, sharp teeth exposed.

“You ALWAYS have to ruin EVERYTHING!” The group turned to see Rumor screaming as she barged through the door, glaring daggers at Hilda. Beatrice and a bunch of other guards accompanied the queen and took positions surrounding the intruders. 

Sullivan stood between the nearest guards and Amber, extending his arms to protect more with his body. Carlos, used to these kinds of situations, remained calm and discreetly tried to approach Beatrice. “Rumor! What did you do to him!?” Hilda shouted pointing at the monstrous carnation. “I opened his eyes, Hilda! You can no longer control him, you manipulative witch! He’s FREE!” Rumor shouted, waving her scepter and throwing a strange purple sphere towards her. Hilda dove behind Rumor’s desk, barely managing to dodge it in time. The sphere exploded just inches where she was standing before, leaving a burnt mark on the floor. She popped her head out from under the desk. “You fucking crazy BEEch!” She shouted, surprised that she would blast her without a second thought. She knew they weren’t good friends, but they never fought this serious before. “Seriously!? Bee puns? Now?” Rumor answered angrily and, very bothered by it, threw another sphere, destroying her own desk. “Jesus Christ, Rumor! Did you brainwash yourself too?!” Another blast from the queen’s scepter forced her to jump near Cagney. “Snap out of it, Cagney! Do something” The meteorologist pleaded with the huge flower. “Oh! Good idea!” Rumor chuckled maliciously, flying in the air and waving her scepter, pointing to the ground. "Do something, Cagney. Get rid of the intruders!” A bright blast turned the floor into dirt. All the bees started to fly in place, avoiding contact with the ground.

 "Oh shit.“ 

That was all Amber managed to get out before large green tendrils shot out from the newly formed ground and seized Hilda, Sully, Amber and Carlos, hoisting them into the air. The intruders struggled to free themselves, trying to unwrap the vines around them with minimal success. Cagney chuckled darkly and looked toward Rumor, as if waiting for her next order.

Hilda had a déjà vu feeling. She couldn’t hear the constellation’s voices but she could definitely feel their panic. All except Tauros. He filled the woman’s body with enough anger and adrenaline to keep struggling. "So we’re doing this again, you overgrown weed!?” Hilda was so scared that she allowed Tauros to take over. “Well, this time I’m not holding back!” But when she was about to turn she realized nothing was happening. She looked down at herself. “What the-?!” “Hahaha!” Rumor laughed. “What’s the matter, witch? No sky to drain power from?” She delighted herself to see the woman powerless between her lover’s grasp. She flew closer to Cagney and sweetly stroked his petals. “We do make a great team! Right, Cagney?” She gently kissed him making sure Hilda was watching. 

The witch’s heart broke into pieces and her eyes started to get glassy. “You… fucking… is all this just to get at me somehow!? IT’S NOT MY FAULT HE DOESN’T LOVE YOU! You-you-” “Oh! But he DOES love me, Hilda. He ALWAYS did. But you kept luring him away from me! For your own benefit! Always taking advantage of his kind heart” She turned to the flower. “But now he sees the truth, what you really are. And what I really am…” She almost whisper tenderly to the carnation, stroking gently his petals.

Cagney leaned into Rumor’s touches, the bee knowing exactly where to touch on the monstrous flower’s petals to entice him further. At the sound of Hilda shouting, he turned toward the distraught woman and paused briefly, something flickering in the back of his mind at how upset she was. His vines loosened ever so slightly on the prisoners. 

“Alright, screw this,” Amber finally growled, freeing her front paws. She grabbed the vine wrapped her chest and bit down on it as hard as she could, drawing sap. Cagney roared and smashed the cat through the honeycomb wall leading to the next room. He lurched himself blindly toward the new opening of the wall. Rumor attempted to hold him still but this only led to him shaking himself wildly, knocking the gloating Queen out of the air and into her flying soldiers. The scepter flew out of the bee’s hands and clattered to the floor, shooting out a stray purple laser. It narrowly missed Hilda’s head, instead searing and blasting a large portion of the ceiling clean off. Large chunks of roof like honeycomb crashed down on everyone in the room, pinning some of the vines down and scattering the soldiers. The carnation could see nothing but red even with the sun now shining down on them. He whirled on everyone else left and opened his mouth, revealing very large sharp teeth. More appendages sprouted up and restrained both bee and mammal alike now.

“Amber!” Sullivan shouted, struggling to get out of the flower’s tendrils. He bit and scratched, but his tiny fangs and claws barely sunk into the monstrous carnation’s skin, and only made him tighten his grip, making it more difficult for the amphibian to breath. Carlos, feeling the loosened grip and taking advantage of the chaos, decided to follow Amber’s way and bit the vine as hard as he could before being thrown against the wall near the entrance door. Hilda’s eyes widened at the view of the sky and felt the constellations getting stronger. Her eyes and bracelets shone brightly and a thick mist started to cover her body and the rest of the room. “Let’s put an end to this!” The witch’s voice resonated like a thunder within the walls of the hive.

The carnation heard the loud boom of a voice and shot spiked vines toward the cloud of mist that billowed from where Hilda had been, leaving the rest of his captives trapped on the ground. The vines grabbed nothing but air as they attempted to seize where Hilda had been.

From the thick fog, a bull charged forward,  avoiding the thorny vines, and headbutted the carnation. He recoiled after the impact, cackling, happy to finally be able to strike a blow. Rumor shook her head and looked at the transformed Hilda with horror. “Cagney! Stop her! Get her away from the sky!” She yelled, searching for her scepter.

Cagney reeled back from the impact, shaking his head as he saw stars. He looked around, slightly confused, but upon Rumor’s order, hardened his expression and attacked Hilda. He coughed and hacked up dandelions toward the rampaging bull, trying to knock her out of the air, flaring his petals angrily when he continued to miss.

Taurus kept avoiding the tumultuous dandelions with quick turns and swirls. “Hahaha! Looks like the bigger you are, the dumber you get! You’ll never hit me with those! But I bet I can hit YOU!” Taurus did a swirl, creating a strong draft that flipped the dandelions back toward Cagney. A few of the dandelions hit some of the guard bees as well as Sullivan, who started to feel dizzy and confused. Carlos withdrew a knife from his coat and started hacking his way toward the scepter, dipping and ducking under dandelions. Rumor buzzed her wings rapidly, creating a draft to shoo dandelions away but still found herself struggling to completely get out of the tendril’s grasp.

A couple dandelions hit Cagney right in the kisser and he grew very disoriented, inadvertently releasing whatever captives he had retained. “Stop moving!” He yelled, his voice strained, even as he rocked back and forth, trying to keep his balance. He winced as something cut him again and took a wild swing in the direction of the attack.

Carlos got hit by the swing of the vine, knocking him against Rumor making both to fall down.“Ouch! Perdone, señorita!” Carlos apologized only to be pushed by the angry Queen. Taurus groaned.“Oh! NOW you remember me!” Noticing the flower’s confusion, Hilda saw her chance to get the bandana and flew quickly around Cagney’s head. To make sure the flower would stay disoriented, she flew in circles several times to confuse him even more. With each turn she drew closer and closer. “Don’t worry, Cags! I’ll get you out of this!”. “What are you doing!?” The queen shouted at her guards. “Get her! Don’t let her get close to Cagney!” Most of the bees were still disoriented.  They tried, without success, to chase the fast cloud turning in circles, confusing them even more.

“Beat this!” Cagney snapped, plunging his hands back into the soil. Large vines shot up from all around, effectively surrounding and closing around him until it was almost a cactus like cocoon. He continued to cackle from inside his makeshift fort.

“Oh! You bastard,” Taurus groaned but his mouth turned into a twisted grin. “Let’s put you to the test. How much can you take?” The mist grew thicker again around Hilda’s body and turned into a giggling Gemini. “Fair warning!” They spoke in unison towards everybody. “Get out while you still can!” And with a sinister laughter, Gemini created a golden sphere that started shooting projectiles in all directions, most of them hitting Cagney’s cocoon, leaving some significant burnt marks.

Sullivan was still disoriented, but at the warning he started calling out for Amber. 

Amber stirred awake in the next room at the sound of her name. She limped back over to the hole she was flung through and peeked inside. Her eyes widened at the chaos as projectiles, vines and bees flew in all directions. 

She spotted a disoriented Sullivan and grabbed him by his shirt before dragging him back through the hole. She waved her paw in front of his face. “Hey? You okay? What’s wrong?” She worriedly asked, not liking how confused he look. She continued to snap fingers at Sullivan, growing increasingly worried when he didn’t respond. “Hey! You in there or not?!”

Sullivan started to recover. “A-Amber? You ok!?” He grabbed her by the shoulders. “You gotta get out of here!” He looked around trying to find a way out.

Amber nodded along with Sullivan. She looked around the room they had been launched into and scowled when she realized there were no other exits. That crazy bee really did have everything sealed off. 

“Ay! Otra vez no!” Carlos lamented, helping a confused Beatrice to dodge some projectiles. Rumor was livid, having been the painful recipient of quite a few golden shots. She clenched her fist, seeing red. “Kill her! KILL HER!” She ordered finally reaching for her scepter. “YOU WON’T TAKE HIM AWAY FROM ME AGAIN!" 

The least disoriented bees started to wonder about their queen’s sanity. The way she was yelling orders, not caring for their safety was unlike the monarch. Even Beatrice, one of her most loyal bees was starting to have her doubts about whether or not she should follow the orders.

When the last of Hilda’s projectiles finished firing, the cactus cocoon crumbled, revealing a large hole. Before Gemini could react, Cagney emerged from the dirt behind them and seized the women with his hands. He was fairly beaten up, the fiery ball of death having done its job well and damaging everything - including all the plant material that was part of him. He stared at Gemini, a confused but still upset expression on his face. "Turn back into Hilda,” he finally panted.

Gemini struggled in the flower’s grip and the mist surrounded them. Cagney felt how the delicate figures merged into one and suddenly he had to tighten his grip to the feeling of something trying to burst out of his hands. The mist cleared and in front of the flower was Sagittarius trying to push the carnation’s hands apart with his powerful hooves. “Transform back to Hilda? So you can squish us again!?” The constellation glared at the flower, showing more fear than confidence. Sagittarius was still Hilda, and he didn’t want to hurt their dearest friend. Gemini had already done enough damage. “M-my queen… it’s dangerous here! We have to take you to safety!” Beatrice managed to say to Rumor, as Carlos held her up by her arm. Rumor didn’t listen to her guard, instead watching Cagney’s movements intently, waiting for the moment he would crush the witch and putting an end to all this. Beatrice and some other bees trembled noticing the craziness on their beloved queen’s eyes. Sagittarius was incredibly strong but Cagney was determined not to release his grip. “I don’t want to let go!” He growled, and he wasn’t talking about the constellation. Memories were starting to come back and it was a struggle to hold on to them. He wasn’t sure if he was going to pass out first. He looked desperately at Sagittarius. “Hilda! Please! I don’t want to let go of you again!” Sagittarius saw the despair in Cagney’s eyes and felt his heart quiver. The mist started to cover the constellation, revealing a very worried Hilda trapped in his monstrous hands. “Cagney?” She almost whispered, tired of the struggling and fighting. She looked deep into his eyes, hoping to find her best friend again. Her eyes were glassy and it was getting really hard to hold her tears.

Cagney looked at Hilda, immediate relief seizing him at seeing her alive and…uh, not exactly well, but in good enough condition. He saw how worried she was and he could only imagine what she had to get through to even get here. He clasped her to his chest and enveloped her in the biggest hug he could. “I am so happy to see you,” he exclaimed, trying not to crush her in his excitement. He nestled his petals against her even as the bandanna began to tighten. “Hilda, please don’t let me forget you,” he choked.

Hilda returned the hug as hard as she could, a couple of tears escaping through her cheeks, when she noticed the bandanna. She immediately grabbed it and looked for the knot. Rumor couldn’t believe her eyes. “What are you doing!? CRUSH HER!” “NO! Cagney, please!” The witch tried to whisper calmly but it was hard to talk with a knot in her own throat.

“CRUSH HER!” The queen repeated. “Cagney! Hold it! I almost… got… it… ” Hilda said going as fast as she could.

Cagney felt himself dipping back under Rumor’s influence and he panicked at the loss of control. Hilda was starting to fade into a target again and it was only another second or so before he made do on the order to crush her. He needed to get hurt again. He spotted one of his sharp spiky plants still erect, with a particularly long thorn protruding from the side. It was within reach. He winced preemptively as he seized it, continuing to hold Hilda to him with his other hand. “This is going to hurt,” he chuckled before he thrust the thorn sharply inwards, stabbing himself in the stem. His grip weakened on Hilda and he continued to chuckle, shooting Rumor a dirty look even as he felt himself bleed sap.

Hilda, noticing the loosen grip, saw her friend stabbing himself. “Shit, Cagney!” She finally untied the bandanna and she held it tightly in her hand. “I GOT IT!” She shouted, happily waving the fabric, victorious. “Cagney, I got it!” She hugged him again. “No…” Rumor whispered. Her eyes narrowed and her fingers tightened on the scepter within her grasp. “WHY DO YOU ALWAYS RUIN EVERYTHING!” She screeched, launching herself into the air. 

Rumor flew in dangerous zig zags before aiming the scepter at the embracing couple. A dark smile formed on her lips as she instead flipped the scepter downwards and blasted the ground, obliterating the entire floor of her office. With the exception of Carlos who held onto a levitating Beatrice for dear life, everything that had been on the office floor, furniture and folks alike, plummeted downwards into the depths of the hive.

The moment Hilda had pulled that bandanna off his neck, there was a second of clarity and nothing else. The next second, Cagney was hit with an intense pain from his self inflicted stab wound and a deluge of memories about Hilda, both good and bad. It was so staggering, he swore he was falling backwards into darkness just from the sensation of it all.

Well, until he realized they really WERE falling. Not that he could do much about it. Without the dirt around his roots, he had no powers to stop them from the fall. Seeing Hilda’s face near his and realizing that the memory of her wasn’t going away did make him smile. “Thank you, ya dumb blimp,” he chuckled, returning the hug once more. 

The action made him wince. The lack of dirt also meant he lacked any ability to heal. “Man, I really wish I hadn’t stabbed myself so hard,” he finally managed still laughing, even as he felt like passing out.

Hilda was still hugging the carnation. She was so happy to hear his insult she didn’t realize they were falling until they hit the bottom floor, Cagney’s body breaking their fall. The plant’s grip slackened on her with the impact and she was aware he wasn’t moving much. “Cagney! Shit! You ok!?” She reached down to check for wounds only to be stopped something violently yanked her off of him.

Hilda struggled to pull herself free and looked up to see Rumor had been the one to grab her, making sure to bruise her skin with tightness that the bee held her. Before the sky witch had a chance to fight back. Rumor flew up as fast as she could and threw Hilda against the wall with all her strength. Cagney definitely did not feel so good either. One minute, Hilda was holding onto him and the next he was hitting the ground and she was getting dragged off. “Ugh, wait come back…” He groaned quietly.

____

Amber walked back over to the hole in the wall and blinked in surprise. The floor was completely gone!! And everyone was in the process of tumbling down the new large hole. Which was probably the only way out. She grimaced and turned toward the salamander. 

“Hey, how good of a climber are you?”

Sullivan nodded and got to the door to climb down. His amphibious body was perfect for latching onto the sticky huge wall. He secured his grip before looking up at Amber. “You need help going down? You can hold onto my back.”

Amber nodded. “Yes please.” She carefully climbed onto Sullivan’s back and held on tightly as the salamander quickly scaled the wall. She glanced below to see the Queen bee tossing Hilda like a rag doll and winced. 

____

For a few seconds, Hilda saw more stars than what she was used to. When she recovered, she was on the floor next to a few drops of blood. She reached for her head with a shaky hand and realized that it was her blood when the crimson liquid decorated her fingers. 

Her eyes glinted with a combination of anger and pain. “Fuck is WRONG WITH YOU, RUMOR!?” She managed to stand up, her bracelets and eyes shining very brightly as Rumor descended upon her in her bomber jet form. “Since when do you want to kill me?!” She quickly turned into a blimp and rocketed up in the air just as Rumor launched towards her, missing her and hitting the wall with her face. “This!” Rumor spat, recovering from the hit. “This time, I WON’T LET YOU WIN!” She charged again against the confused blimp. The bees tried to recall their queen back to her senses, but the royal bee wouldn’t listen. Carlos had been watching the fight from the side but upon seeing Cagney on the ground barely moving, signaled Beatrice to take him down to the ground. “Petals! Petals, groan twice if you’re still conscious” He asked, surprisingly worried. He barely knew the guy, but seeing how he hugged the crazy moon lady, it melted his heart. Plus, he was losing a lot of sap at an alarming rate and that couldn’t be good for a plant. Sullivan and Amber arrived shortly afterwards to the ground floor. 

Amber spotted Cagney and bit her lip. “…uh, Sully. The flower doesn’t look so good.”

The amphibian carefully let Amber get down from his back and saw the flower’s bleeding wound. “Oh boy…”

Amber scampered over to the carnation. “Hey! Hey! Wake up!” She yelled but the carnation only groaned again and waved weakly at her. 

“Does anyone know any first aid?”

“I do!” Sullivan and Carlos answered at the same time as Beatrice left Carlos on the ground and looked at her queen, terribly worried. “We have to remove the thorn,” suggested Sullivan. “Not before making sure we have something to stop the bleeding,” Carlos added, looking closely at the stab wound.

Amber pulled off the yellow bandanna off her neck. “What about this? Can we use this?” She asked hopefully.

“That might work!” Carlos said to Amber with a smile.

“I’ll call for reinforcements!” Beatrice flew quickly out of the room and made a signal to the other confused bees to tend to the other wounded bees.

____

Hilda had never seen such a furious Rumor in her life. She kept avoiding the plane’s charges, hoping that Rumor would come to her senses once she figured out she was destroying her own hive, only to realise the queen didn’t care what she charged to. Everyone was in danger. Hilda looked to the hole in the roof and flew quickly in front of it. Perhaps, if she could lure Rumor out in the open, she would have a chance to knock her outside without hurting anyone. “Rumor! C'mon! I know we had our differences but brainwashing!? Aren’t you taking it a bit too far?” “Ha! You’re the one to talk!” Rumor yelled. “You’ve been controlling him ever since you met him!” “Stop saying that!” Hilda was getting tired of hearing that. Or maybe it was exhaustion from transforming so much. “Cags and I have been friends since before we met you! It’s not my fault you don’t have friends, only these-these brainwashed  zomBEES!” She chuckled. “DAMN YOU, HILDA!” Rumor shouted, charging towards her again, but this time, with saws on her wings.

Hilda waited until the last second to dive out of Rumor’s way, an error she paid dearly for by getting slashed on her leg, making it really painful to pedal. Rumor flew through the hole, making it bigger with her deadly wings. So manic was she that she acted in a bloodlust, hardly aware of the pieces of ceiling that tumbled down…nor the falling scepter that had slipped from her grasp during her transformation.

____

“Ok, then, listen up,” Sullivan signed Carlos and Amber to get closer as Beatrice left. “Carlos and I will take the thorn out. As soon as it’s out, Amber will tie the bandanna and put pressure on it."  

"C'mon Petals! Don’t fall asleep now!” Carlos said, getting ready to pull the thorn. “His name is Cagney,” Sullivan corrected him. “Petals is easier to remember”. Sullivan rolled his eyes. “Ready, Amber?”

Amber nodded. “Ready!” On that, Sully and Carlos pulled the thorn with a yell. She immediately dove on the wound, bandanna on hand and applied as much pressure as she could. She smiled but then looked at Sully. “Uh….now what?”

Cagney gasped in pain at the thorn’s removal. “Shit,” he muttered, “now I know how Hilda felt.” He listlessly looked around for the woman only not to find her. The sounds of explosions and destruction clued him into the fact that she was probably up in the air. He tried to focus on her but his vision was hazy. She looked like she was moving slower somehow. Which didn’t seem right. The crash of honeycombs smashing near him didn’t really get his attention until the clank of something metallic followed it. He looked over to see Rumor’s scepter sticking out of a honeycomb and his mind started racing. He remembered all this craziness started as soon as Rumor pulled out that dang scepter. Which didn’t make sense. She always had a scepter. But this one looked different from what he recalled. Almost dull and warped. Whatever the change, he had to get it. He reached pathetically for it, just out of his fingers’ reach.

“Now we should find a way to disinfect and stitch the site,” Sullivan explained, looking for something they could use, unaware of Cagney’s attempts.

“Say no more!” Carlos opened his jacket and pulled out a flask, a needle and a thread. Sullivan looked at him strangely. “You just walk around with that all day?” “Of course!” The Hispanic cat replied, gesturing for Amber to remove the bandanna and spilling the alcohol over the wound. 

The splash of alcohol on Cagney’s wound burned like hell, forcing him to jerk upwards with a girly scream before Amber could slam him back down with a surprising amount of strength from such a small feline. “Ow! What the hell?!”

Carlos continued. “Mi abuelita used to tell me: 'Carlitos, it’s a very big world out there, and you’re a very clumsy boy! Always take a first aid kit with you’ ” He spilled some on the needle and thread. “Ok Petals! Not gonna lie to you, this is going to hurt… I think. I’ve never had to stitch a tree before…" 

____

Hilda wasn’t sure how much blood she was losing from her leg wound but it had to be a lot. She knew she couldn’t keep up pedaling for long and she rested on the roof of the hive, turning back to herself. She struggled to stand, but she managed to stay still as Rumor did a U turn in the air and back headed towards her again. 

"CAGNEY IS MINE!!!” Rumor shouted, completely mad, her eyes full of hate, and her grin twisted with anger. Hilda was very angry herself, her bracelets and eyes glowing like a fire. “You’re gonna have to kill me to get to him!” Her voice was distorted with the voices of the twelve constellations. She lifted her arms and thick clouds covered her entirely in a magnificent spiral.

Rumor couldn’t see anymore and, although she was very angry, knew better than to fly through the sky witch’s cloud. She halted just outside of it as clicking and tinkling sounds emerged from within. The mist parted as Hilda emerged in crimson moon form, a malicious grin upon her lunar face. “Let’s put an end to this!” Rumor didn’t waste a second and fired missiles as Hilda did the same. The aftershocks of the projectiles exploding in the air produced some twisted fireworks visible from the other isles.

“Cagney would be so much happier if he never met you!” Rumor shouted as she sliced the moon’s cheek. “You keep using him to boost your weak, pathetic ego!” She jabbed again, inflicting another wound.  “What is wrong with you, Rumor?! You’ve never been this crazy for him! Or anybody!” Hilda argued, hoping an appeal to reason would slow her down. “I found a good friend, Hilda. She warned me about you. She showed me what you really are!” The plane charged again but this time Hilda was ready for her, deflecting the attack. The counterattack infuriated Rumor and she instinctively reached for her scepter only to realize she didn’t have it.  “W-what? W-where is it!?” She started to panic, a moment that Hilda took advantage of to launch one last attack: throwing missiles, stars, and even herself towards the confused plane.

____

“Can’t you let me just die or something?!” Cagney whined as Carlos haphazardly stabbed him against with the alcoholic needle.  “No! You need to stay alive, you petal for brains!” “The only one who’s allowed to call me that is…Hilda!” The carnation looked up to see Hilda in her moon phase. That was her last resort attack which meant she must be really faltering now. He looked around for and spotted the scepter again. It must be connected to all this. He had to get it. He tried to reach for it only to recoil in pain with another jab of the needle. 

“You call that stitching?” Sullivan shook his head seeing the poorly attended wound. “As long as it holds, mi amigo”. “It’s not going to hold! Argh! Gimme that!” The salamander took the needle from Carlos and begun stitching gently, doing a better job than the Hispanic cat. “Help Amber hold Cagney down,” Sullivan ordered. Carlos obeyed and held the flower’s stem down to the ground.

Cagney struggled against their help. “No, I gotta do somethin! Hilda ain’t gonna last much longer!” The flower reached for the fallen scepter one last time, this time grasping the base of it and dragging it to himself. He panted and collapsed again, holding the dumb metal rod to his chest.

“Hey!” Carlos exclaimed, noticing the scepter. “How did you get that?”

The whole world spun for the carnation but he finally managed to stand up, shoving off Carlos and Amber’s attempts to lay him back down. He waved the scepter. “Hey, Rumor!” He yelled, attempting to get the attention of the Queen Bee.

Hilda and Rumor looked fairly war torn, having taken some serious damage from their special attacks. Despite their exhaustion, they still glared at each other, neither women determined to give up the fight. They were about to charge into each other again when Cagney’s voice from below drew their attention and they looked down. “Cagney?” Rumor called back sweetly, glad to hear her beloved call out her name and not that of the witch’s.

Cagney smiled weakly. “I’ve been thinking about us and, ya know what?” He held out the scepter toward her. “I think we should take a break!” And with that, he slammed the scepter into the ground, shattering it into hundreds of pieces.

“NO!” Rumor screamed, transforming back into her royal self. She rapidly landed and attempted to scoop up the pieces of what remained of her scepter.  “What have you done!? What have… you…you…?"  

Her voice died in her throat. Her mind flooded with blocked and distorted memories that the scepter had prevented from her remembering. The queen felt like everything was swirling around her as flashes of memories kept popping in her mind confusing her. Hilda turned back into herself and cast a cloud with what little energy she had left. She slowly levitated back into the hive, putting pressure on her leg wound before she landed close to carnation. Sullivan, Carlos and Amber didn’t dare move a muscle, expecting the Queen bee to burst angrily any minute.

Finally, Rumor took a shaky breath and looked up to see the two island bosses. "Hilda? C-cagney…?” She asked softly, uncertain if she was hallucinating, looking more like herself again. 

“Hey, Rumor,” Cagney painfully managed, “Glad to see you being you.” He made a motion to step forward only to wince and clutch the side of his stem. Hilda approached him and he pulled away his leafy hand to reveal it was now coated in thick sap. Her eyes darted down to see the wound now free flowing, the sutures having popped during his exertion.

He looked down at himself before back up at Hilda with a strained pale smile “…I’m just gonna stop standing now, ok, Hilds?” And with that, his legs crumpled from underneath him, passing out without another word.

———————————————————————————

The woman immediately crossed her arms and frowned at the man. “You could have called before starting!” She shouted up to him.

“Calling is offerrated! Hologram or nothing,” Werner shouted, walking past Dr. Kahl with a scientific little doohickey . “You’re not blanning on sdaying inzide totay, are you? Ve may need to sbray zings zat do not like zee human skin,” he mentioned, eyeing Hilda.

Hilda raised an eyebrow at Werner. “Eh… actually I’m planning on seeing Cags today.”  She looked at the two men working with their machinery. For every piece of debris they picked up, another two fell from another place. It felt like they were destroying more than what they were clearing up.

The woman sighed and tried to comfort herself with the thought of a free telescope and a 50% reduction on the cost. “I see you guys have everything under control… just… please don’t destroy my house…”

“Ja, ja. Ve are professional!” Werner turned just in time to duck as one of Kahl’s inventions nearly sliced him in half. “Vatch vere you’re svinging zat zing, you idiot!”

“Hello, Hilda!” The woman turn to see a familiar large carrot hopping her way with a friendly greeting. He paused as he got a bit closer to the observatory and then whistled. “When did you decide to start renovating?”

“Oh! Hy Psy! Well, I wasn’t really planning for it. Ya see, what happened was…."  

The woman explained what happened to the observatory, excluding the details of her evening with Cagney. Psy nodded his head, making the appropriate facial expressions at the various points of her story.

”..and now, Dr Kahl and Werner are clearing all so I can start building up again. IF I can get the funding for it, that is!“ She sighed, a bit sad. "Anyway, you need something? I was about to head to Cagney’s.”

Psycarrot brightened up. “Well, I just decided to pop by after hearing all that noise. It’s awfully convenient for you to be heading that way as well. I got to give him back the key to his shed if he’s home. Do you mind if I join you?”

Hilda thought for a moment, and came to the conclusion that it would be less awkward if somebody else was present. Plus, it would be a good test to see if they were really back to normal or if there was still some tension left. “Eh, sure, let’s go.”  With a wave of her hands, she cast a cloud big enough for both of them. “Hop on!”

Psy hopped onto the cloud and away they flew toward Cagney’s field. “I haven’t seen him in a few days so it’d be nice to touch base with him about some of those honey suckles he’s been growing. Figure out what type of mulch he’s been using to get them as bright as they are.”  As the cloud cleared the forest and Cagney’s field came into view, the carrot peered inside. Psy groaned. “Darn, still not here.”

Hilda squinted her eyes and saw a figure in Cagney’s favorite tree. “Hey! Somebody IS down there!” She immediately approached the tree to find Carlos lying on the branch with his face covered by his hat. “Hey! I know you!” She yelled, waking up the cat and nearly sending him falling from the tree. “What the heck are you doing here?”

“Señorita Luna! Oh, por favor! Don’t hurt me!” Carlos held on to the branch with claws. “Petal’s said he wasn’t gonna be here for a few days, I’m just keeping his spot warm.” He smiled nervously.

Psycarrot glanced at Hilda slightly suspicious. “You haven’t been scaring guys again, have you Hilda?” He teased.

She looked at Psy confidently. “M-me? Naaah. I just had a very civilised conversation with him when he trespassed in my home the other day.” She looked at the cat and his multiple wounds and bruises, and shrugged, feeling slightly guilty for coming down so hard on him.

Carlos looked at the woman with wide eyes. “Well, if that was civilised, I don’t want to see what’ you think is barbaric!”

“Yeah, you don’t. Now get down from there before I make you get down,” she threatened the cat.

“Fine, fine!.” He climbed down. “But I don’t see why I can’t stay. I’m not bothering anybody, I have a place to sleep and I’m keeping an eye on his property. It’s a win-win!”

Psycarrot brightened up. “Say! You don’t know where that grumpy weed is, do you? He was all hush hush about it with us! I think he was going to another isle.”

Carlos and Hilda chuckled at Psy’s pun.

“Maybe something happened to him on the way?” Hilda said, worried. “It’s a long way for him…”

“Hmm…I remember he was in a hurry. He needed to take care of something really serious.”

Psy flexed and cracked his fingers. “I see that my vast psychic skills are necessary to see more than what this simple minded feline realizes he can provide us! Step this way, my good fellow and allow me into your mind!”

Carlos raised an eyebrow. “Read my mind?” He got closer to Psycarrot and crossed his arms. “Are you one of those charlatans at the circus?” He said not convinced of the carrot’s habilities.

“No, the real deal, my feline fellow!” Psycarrot had the cat stand in front of him and he began to massage his own head. “You…originally thought he was a girl. A very angry girl…your mind is telling me about a different flower in New York that you…oh. OH! Oh, eh, well looks can be deceiving I suppose!” Psy managed, seeing an image he would have rather not seen, or at least not in public.

Carlos paled and stepped away from the carrot. “I-I-I don’t know what you’re talking about!”

Hilda laughed. “You looked a little too far, Psy, hahaha!”

Psy nodded, wiping his brow. “Ye-yeah.”  He had to admit he wasn’t quite sure what he would do if he ever saw the flower from the cat’s memories but he doubted he could keep a straight face. So he concentrated on the day Cagney left. “Cagney said he was going to…well either fix things or fuck things,” Psy admitted sheepishly. “Sorry, just wow, uh…”

“Fix things?.” Hilda started to have an idea of her best friend’s plan. “Shit! I think I know what that dumb dandelion is up to…”

____

Cagney woke with a clanging and a yelling outside of his prison. He blearily blinked and looked up to see bee guards storming through, smacking their batons along the bars of the cages as they walked through. “Rise and shine, sweethearts!” one guard yelled.

“What’s going on?” Cagney grumbled, wiping his eyes. He didn’t know how long he was asleep or if the sun was up or not and the yelling was certainly not helping his mood. Granted, he did feel a lot less pent up than he had the last few days, but the circumstances leading up to and following that point were a bit…stressful to say the least.

The old bee shook worriedly. “They’ve come to take us to the Reprogramming camps!”

“What are you talking about, old timer?” he asked, as the bees walked toward the cat’s cage first.

“The Camps. It’s where they take problem bees and turn them into mindless drones, or "model citizens” as our Queen puts it. It wasn’t so bad at first. First, they were just taking the real bad riff raff, the ones that were stealing and have repeated violence and stuff. But lately, it’s been anyone who’s so much as hiccuped in front of her.“

"Huh, then why are you in here?”

“I stole and sold royal jelly,” the old bee admitted.

“And you haven’t been to the camps before, because…?”

“Oh I’ve been! But I’ve got a metal plate in me head from the last war, so it hasn’t been so successful! But I hear now that they got some even stronger force that could change that!”

Cagney did not like the sound of that but shrugged. “Well, I’m not a bee, so I’ll be just fine.”

“Don’t be so quick to think that!” The old bee warned, “I’ve seen fellas with twice as much spitfire and sass as you come back as tame as a kitten.”

Despite the seriousness of the threat, the carnation couldn’t help but grin at that last part. He tapped on the wall connecting his and Amber’s cage. “Ya hear that, ya dumb feline? They’re going to turn you into a kitten….hello?” There was no reply and the carnation scratched his head as the guard bees stared into her cage.

“The feline prisoner is missing, sir,” one of the guards spoke up.

“What?” Another guard fluttered over and quickly unlocked the cell before stepping in. The carnation had to take a peek as well. Sure enough, Amber was nowhere to be found.

The guards flipped over all the furniture and blankets in the room yet there was no cat. The one with the key pushed the other one. “We have to find her!”

“What about the other two? Should we bring them down?”

“And risk Rumor finding out we lost one of the prisoners?! Are you mad?!? Quick, I think I smell something furry this way!” The bees took down the hallway, leaving the two occupants still locked up.

Cagney grumbled. “Least she could have done was take me with her,” he lamented.

“Weren’t you two at each other’s throats yesterday?” The old bee asked.

“Yeah, your point?” He groaned. “How did she even get out of the cell to begin with?”

“I didn’t.”

The two men turned to see one of the walls shifting until the little orange cat dug her way out, covered in dried honeycomb wall debris. She flicked the stuff off of her fur and pushed open the unlocked cell door. She stood in front of them, beaming.

Cagney gaped at her. “How the hell did you do that?”

Amber stuck out her tongue. “Trade secrets. Now, if I unlock your cage, are you going to try to kill me again?”

“Ooh, I’d really like to,” the flower admitted, much to the bee’s chagrin.

“Fine, then you can rot in there.”

“No, no! Wait. Ugh fine!” The carnation scowled, crossing his arms. “Fine, I won’t try to kill you.”

“Great, I accept your apology and also feel bad for what happened due to your actions,” Amber responded smugly, extending out a nail and starting to lock pick Cagney’s door. After a few rotations, the satisfying sound of a click echoed through the hallway and Amber was soon pulling open the second door.

“Wait, wait, you whippersnappers (young people) have to take me?” The old bee protested.

“What? Why? You actually have a reason for being here…I think

"Well, if you don’t let me out, I’m going to raise the alarm,” the old bee threatened.

Cagney nudged Amber. “Be a good girl and go unlock his cage.”

____

The three escaped convicts started to quickly travel down the length of the passage, looking for an exit. They couldn’t stick around here. It was only a matter of time before they were caught by some patrolling guards. It didn’t take long for them to get hopelessly lost.

“Cagney, really think, you don’t remember where they brought you or how we got in?” Amber asked as they rounded another corner in the hive.

The flower shook his head. “I didn’t. Thought we would be just lead out the way we came. Wasn’t expecting Rumor to be completely psycho.“

“And yet, you still had whoopie with her,” Amber grumbled, “didn’t your parents ever teach you not to stick it in goofy?”

“Considering my parents have split up, they didn’t,” the flower grimaced, “I honestly didn’t think Rumor was carrying a torch for me.”

Amber nodded. “The thought of anyone having feelings for you is hard to believe.“

“Bees are naturally attracted to flowers and vice versa, so if you two are done squabbling, we really need to keep moving!” The old bee hollered at the two.

The group stopped as the sound of buzzing drew closer. “Quick, through here!” Amber squeaked, scampering down another hallway.

The three came to a door and the old bee immediately panicked. “Oh! No, this is the worst place we could be!” The old bee cried.

“What? Why?”

“This is Rumor’s office!” the bee exclaimed, pointing at the royal insignia on the door.

Cagney hesitated. “Shit, he’s right.”  He had just been here 24 hours ago, negotiating with the queen bee. And this is one of the last places he wanted to end back up at.

Amber’s eyes lit up. “Think there could be some treasure in there?” She asked hopefully.

“Is that all you think about?” The flower grumbled.

“Well, no, sometimes I think about cream and a warm fireplace.“

The bee shook his head. “There’s no way I’m going in there!”

“Well, there’s no way back that way!” Amber hissed, pointing from whence they came. She glanced around. “The only other way is toward some place called the waste dump and considering honey is like bee throw up, I don’t even want to know what’s considered waste to them!”

“Anything’s better than the office!” The bee flew down the hallway before either Cagney or Amber could stop him.

The buzzing grew louder and the two exchanged nervous looks. “Office?” Amber suggested

“Office.”

They turned around and quickly entered Rumor’s office, shutting the door behind them. Cagney looked around some more. “Looks like Rumor’s not here.“

“Shh!” Amber shushed, putting a paw over his mouth, peeking through the keyhole. The Carnation leaned down and peeked through other one.

In the corridor, a couple of bees walked by, pushing a cleaning cart. The fugitives recognised one of the bees as the young fellow they met back in the cells, before he was taken to the reprogramming camp.

”…I’m telling you, I’ve never felt better! You should totally go!“

"I don’t know… I heard spooky stuff happens in there,” the other bee answered, cleaning some dust from the corridor decorations. "You don’t come back the same bee.”

“All lies! It was like a day at the spa! All I did was talk and enjoy massages! And I’m telling ya! Those ants really know what they’re doing”

“Ants? What are ants doing in here?”

“Oh! No no no! It’s cool! They made like a treaty or something with our beloved queen. Oh! And at the end of the day, after I let aaaall my stress and concerns out, they give you this lovely bracelet!” Cagney and Amber saw the young bee show his wrist to his friend.

“..WWRD?” He read. “What’s WWRD?”

“What Would Rumor Do! Isn’t it neat? Now, whenever I get too tense, I just look at this and think about our magnificent queen and all that she does for us, and I feel like I can do better! It encourages me!” He said, excited while leaving the corridor.

Amber heard some movement behind the royal chamber’s door in the office. The cat turned toward the door. Her fur stood on end as the door knob jiggled. “Hide!” She whispered, jumping under Rumor’s desk.

Cagney blanched. “Where the hell would I hide?!” He hissed back. The carnation wasn’t fast enough and braced himself as the door to Rumor’s bedroom opened.

“Thank you for seeing me, Queen Narween,” Rumor said to a slim winged ant, smaller than the bee, as they came out of the room. Rumor looked like she had been crying, her eyes were glassy. “You’re really a good~.” The bee opened her eyes widely at the view of Cagney. “friend?”

The ant noticed the surprise on the bee’s face. “Intruder!” She yelled, pointing at the flower. A couple of huge ants with massive jaws came out behind the royalty and threatened the carnation with their teeth.

“NO! No! Wait!” Rumor yelled, stopping the ant guards. “Its…um…my appointment. Just a pollen gardener!” She tried to calmly say. “I’ve been expecting him.”

Narween looked at Rumor skeptically but ordered her guards to stop with a gesture of her hand. "Oh… my sweet dear.” She caressed Rumor’s cheek softly. “Friends don’t lie to each other. Who is this?” She gestured to Cagney with an open hand.

Rumor’s eyes brighten at the touch of the ant. “He-he’s Cagney…" 

A creepy smile appeared on the ant’s face and she took a couple of steps towards the flower. The ant guards remained defensive. "I’ve heard so much about you…Cagney.” She pronounced his name with disgust. “You’ve really hurt my sweet Rumor. What do you have to say for yourself?”

Cagney had a very bad feeling about all of this, especially with how Rumor almost responded passionately to the other woman’s touch. Was this her girlfriend or something? He hoped not, otherwise, there would be some explaining about the events from yesterday. He almost glanced toward Amber’s hiding spot but stopped himself. The ant appeared very perceptive and no doubt might pick up on the fact that he wasn’t alone.

He puffed up his chest and gave the ant an intimidating glare. “What do I have to say for myself? I have quite a lot to say for myself. Like, who the hell are you? And what the hell is going on here?” He turned to Rumor. “Because right now, it’s looking more like a loony bin than a hive, Rumor.”

Amber could have slapped herself. Her many, many brushes with possible injury and impairment had made her hyper aware  of potentially deadly situations and this just screamed ‘Danger!’ to her. Cagney had no idea what he was getting into but he was smart enough not to look her way. She had crawled into a tight crevice of the desk and watched the scene anxiously through a slit in the wood.

Narween looked at Rumor to see what she was going to do about the flower’s insolence. The bee frowned at Cagney angrily.

“Looney? YOU want to talk about looney? What about yesterday? Uh? Sleeping with me to get what you want for that fucking witch!?” She took a deep breath to cool down and looked at her desk. “You know what.? I’m tired of this.” She took out her scepter. Cagney noticed something different in it, it looked as if it had loosened his golden brightness and was a bit cracked, like a branch.

Rumor waved the scepter muttering a chant and in her hand appeared a dark red silk cloth. “There!” She wrapped it up in a ball and threw it at the flower’s feet. “This bandana will allow to see the solution to every problem! You’ll be able to help her on your own.” She said sadly. “You simply have to wear it whenever you need to think clearly”

Narween ordered her guards to stand back to leave some space for the flower to pick up the fabric, and looked curious at the carnation.

“Take it and get out of my hive, Cagney.” Rumor said, crossing her arms and turning her back to him. She had to do an effort not to cry.

Amber looked at the piece of fabric fearfully. “Don’t touch the cloth, don’t touch the cloth, don’t touch the cloth,” she silently prayed to herself.

Cagney resisted the urge to snarl at the bee. “You wanna blame me for this? Really?!” He knelt down and scooped up the bandana, clenching it in his fist as he drew closer. “I’m not the one who asked for sex, Rumor. That was YOU, asking me to give you the 'greatest orgasm of your life.’ And not to toot my own horn, but I’m pretty damn sure I did just that!”

Cagney threw his arms in the air. “Yeah. I’m just as responsible for what happened next, I’ll give you that! And if I had known what I knew now, I would have had a hell of a lot more questions before I’d have done that with you!”

His head drooped and he looked away. “I came here to ask for your help, Rumor! And I was willing to work for it, sure! You could have told me no or to buzz off. You were my friend, I would have listened!” He looked back up at her, daggers in his eyes. “But you saw an opportunity and you took it. So here we are. Congratu-fuckulations!”

He didn’t dwell on Rumor’s hurt expression, instead dangling the piece of cloth in front of her. “You want me to put this on?”

“Please don’t put it on, please don’t put it on, please don’t put it on,” Amber desperately begged to herself.

“Fine! I’ll put this on!” Cagney snapped, tying the bandana around his neck. “You think it’ll help me think clearly? Because I haven’t been thinking straight for the last week and if a piece of fabric is going to suddenly change things, I’d like to see it try!”

Rumor felt worse at each word the carnation yelled at her, turning red in embarrassment for her moment of weakness. She turned slightly to see the flower putting on the fabric and she looked at him wondering if she had done right.

Seconds later, Cagney started to feel a bit light headed. His angry thoughts started to fade away at the view of Rumor’s glassy eyes. Had he just been saying horrible things to the friend who was willing to give him what he needed to help Hilda? Hilda… that name made him feel slightly angry for some reason.

Narween seemed very pleased to see what she was witnessing, the guard ants still at the defensive.

“Cagney?” Rumor asked worried. “Y-you ok?”

Cagney blinked unsteadily. “What were we talking about just now?” He asked.

Amber gaped at the scene. The carnation had been outright yelling one minute and the next, acting like someone had just kicked him in the head.

The bee looked at Narween worried but the ant reassured her with a nod.

“You-you were yelling at me for trying to help you with…Hilda.” She despised the witch so much, she could barely say her name. She looked Cagney into his eyes, trying to identify any sign of change in him.

Cagney shook his head. “Yelling at you? Why would I be yelling at you? About Hilda? Why the heck would we be arguing about her?” He asked, the very name eliciting a bad taste in his mouth.

Rumor’s expression lightened and she looked back at Narween. The ant smiled back at her. “Well, I see you have everything under control here.” She walked towards the door, accompanied by her guards. “I leave you with your…meeting.” She left the office, closing the door behind her.

Rumor turned back to Cagney. “Eh… d-do you remember anything from yesterday?” She needed to see if her magic erased everything prior of being worn, or simply it distorted the memories, but she knew it might be a little too soon to really know. Some magic artifacts required some time to fully act.

Cagney struggled to make sense out of yesterday. It seemed like a muddled mess but gradually pieces started to fall into place. “Well, uh, I remember coming here cause I had to ask you for a favor.”

The flower scrunched up his face. “Hilda’s dome was broken. I accidentally broke it, and she said I had to fix it. I had to come bother you to try to fix it, I think.”  He made a face. “Why the hell would she have made me bother you? You’re really busy! If she wanted it fixed, she should have come here herself, right?”

“Right!” Rumor said, happy to see Cagney realizing that. He just needed a little push. “Uh… d-do you, do you remember what we… 'talked’ about… in my chambers?” she asked, blushing slightly, remembering their love making session and how abruptly it ended.

“You were offering to help but the more we talked, the more I realized how right you were about everything. And we got to flirting and we…did, holy shit” Cagney turned red in the face as he recalled their coital session.

The bumblebee underneath him, squirming and squealing in pleasure. He couldn’t even remember how long he was waiting to hear her make those sounds.

Rumor smiled shyly as she noticed his redness. “Yeah. That was… pretty amazing, actually… w-was it good for you?”

Cagney tried to play it cool. Rumor was asking him if he enjoyed their magical night together. “Y-yeahh!” He stammered before clearing his throat, “I mean you’d have to have honey for brains to not see how much I enjoyed myself.”

Rumor’s heart beat so fast. Her spell seemed to be working perfectly. Cagney now realized she was the one for him, and not that filthy human. She looked at her feet. She needed to be certain of the efficiency of the magical cloth. “Eh, and…do you remember how it ended?”

The flower concentrated. “The end?” For how muddy the rest of the memories were, for some reason the end was still fairly vibrant in his mind. Perhaps it was because it was such an emotionally fueled moment that it didn’t melt away with the rest of the memories?

He brightened as he remembered he had imagined he was making love to Hilda in that moment. “Oh, yeah I said Hil-!” His voice was cut off mid-speech as the bandanna constricted against his neck.

He tumbled down, knocking some items off of Rumor’s desk before he collapsed to his knees. The thought of Hilda moaning in sublime ecstasy within his grasp turned painful and he couldn’t breath.

Amber had been bracing herself to hear some really disgusting sex stuff about this Carnation that she really didn’t want to hear, but watching him fall to the ground almost made her leap from her hiding place. What the hell was going on?

“Cagney!” The queen yelled and she reached for him. “Cagney, look at me!” She forced him to face her. “Focus on me! Please, Cagney! Look into my eyes and breath slowly!”

After struggling a bit, Cagney finally focused on Rumor. He felt how the silk cloth relaxed around his neck, allowing air to finally pass into his lungs.

He rubbed his neck, continuing to breathe carefully, lest that happen again. “Christ, Rumor, you’d think they’d make this bandanna a little softer,” he grumbled. He softened at her worried expression. “Hey, hey, no, I’m okay, don’t freak out, dork,” he chided. He leaned in to her touch. “This feels nice though, you can keep doing this.”

The queen worried expression turned into a blushing smile, even though she didn’t appreciate being called a dork, she kept caressing his cheek.

If only thinking about Hilda almost made him choke… what would happen if he actually saw her? She would have to work fast to erase every memory of the witch before that happened…not that Hilda would show up in her hive. 'That’s it!’ She thought to herself, 'I’ll keep him in my hive until he forgets all about that blimp!’

Rumor cleared her throat. “ I’ve been thinking… Since we’re doing business together maybe-maybe you would like to work in my Royal Gardens? That way you won’t have to walk all the way here every time. You will have your own room, of course! As well as a team of gardeners. Everything you need will be take care of!” She said with bright eyes, hoping he would accept.

“That, that would be amazing! I mean, I have to get my old garden taken care of, but that shouldn’t be too hard.”  Cagney eyed her sideways with a smirk. “You’re being awfully nice to me, what’s the catch?”

“Catch? Well, I guess you’ll technically be working for me. Does that bother you?”

“I think I could get used to the idea of having you on top,” he chuckled.

Rumor blushed heavily, laughed and pushed him slightly. “Oh! You! You better watch your tongue in front of my workers!” She was really liking this. It felt so right!

He stuck his tongue out and waggled it at her. “Just let me know how you’d like to see it when the workers aren’t around.”

Amber was wondering what the hell was happening.

He glanced toward the direction of where the ant went. “Unless your girlfriend has an issue?”

“Girlfriend?” She took a second to understand what he was referring to. “Oh! Narween? She’s just a friend. A very good one. And to think we used to be rivals! She bought other small hives to make honey but my high quality has always beat hers in the market.” She helped the flower to stand back up. “And then one day, she came in peace. We had a looong talk and now we’re partners and best friends!” She said, a little too excited, as if she was over acting it.

Cagney pulled a petal. “Huh. Yeah, I don’t even remember seeing the honey she makes in the village store. Best friends, huh? Well at least you’re not lonely,” he teased

Rumor frowned at him but kept her smile. “You know… I’ll be less lonely if you accept the job.” She held her hands on her back and gave him a hungry look. “I could show you where your room would be right now….” This felt incredible for the queen, to speak freely, to the point, with naughty overtones. Is this how he felt with Hilda? No! She shouldn’t waste her thoughts on that witch. If everything worked out, in a few days Cagney wouldn’t even need the bandana anymore. He would be completely free and, hopefully, they would finally be together.

Cagney nodded. “If you got the time… And the energy,” he hinted, the allure of the bee once again stimulating his interest, “I’d love to see it.”

She bit her lip and walked to the door. She stopped in front of it and took a deep breath, stood straight, changed her expression to her typical noble stare and opened the door. She had to make sure nobody would get any ideas about them. Gossip literally flew in this hive.

They both left the room, leaving the little cat burglar alone in the office. The door was closed after they got out with the sound of a few locks.

Amber popped her head up and looked around. “What the hell is going on around here?!” She exclaimed. She looked around the room for something. Magic mirror? Evil puppet? Hypnotic ant monster?

The bandana. Cagney was all ready to brawl until he put it on and then suddenly he and the crazy queen were flirting and oh man was she glad they didn’t start anything on the desk.

And the staff that the bee have been holding; it made the bandana come out! “The staff has got to be the source of this,” she realized, “I have to get out of here!”

She started to make a beeline in the opposite direction of Rumor and Cagney only to stop. That scepter was dangerous. Really dangerous. And from what she had just seen, it wasn’t restricted to bees. Anyone could suddenly find themselves wearing a bandana or a bracelet and their brains turned to mush. Plus, she really couldn’t leave Cagney to his fate. She groaned and plopped herself down on her butt. “I hate being the hero,” she grumbled.

She had to get that scepter out of the bee’s hands.

But how? Amber wasn’t good at magic, having none of her own, and so there was no way she could just confront Rumor head on. She couldn’t take on a bee and her really unsettling ant friend. And if Cagney was really zonked, he might attack her too!

She had to play to her strengths. And her strengths were being sneaky and stealthy. Amber glanced around the room, already planning out her route to follow the two bosses.

____

Cagney followed Rumor to what he assumed was his room. For the most part, the workers did not give him a second glance. Word did travel fast in a hive. No doubt they heard that he had accepted the gardening position and realized he didn’t need to be arrested.

But the cat he was with. Amber. She was still around. He really should have mentioned to Rumor that she was in the room, but something deep in his gut had prevented him from doing that. Oh well, maybe he could help her look for the cat later. After she showed him the bedroom.

She finally came to a door and opened it up, revealing a very similar set up to her own chamber with access to ground and water. Even in the privacy of the room, Rumor still remained calm and regal like. He wondered if he could get her to drop the act now that they were alone.

Or so he thought.

Amber clung to the beams holding up the ceiling of honeycomb. It was fortunate that they had some form of structure for her to even grab onto, much less hide behind. Honeycombs were strong and all but a place of this size and capacity probably needed a bit of help to stay intact. She had been following Rumor and Cagney, hoping the queen might hand off her scepter to someone less capable but no such luck. She squeezed through a gap in the rafters to get into the room only to freeze as she saw the way the flower eyed the bee.

Oh, she definitely did NOT want to see this. She turned and tried to hightail it out of there only to remain stuck. She looked to see her tail tangle on some of the nails. She tried to pull it out quickly only to stifle a pained gasp. She had to go slow otherwise they would hear her. She regrettably go to work on freeing her tail as quickly as she could.

Cagney planted his roots into the moist soil, enjoying the feeling of dirt again on his feet.  When this was all over, he was going to go home and stay burrowed in his garden for a week. He paused. But he wasn’t going to go home. Not yet at least. This was his home now, right? There was a reason he wanted to go back to the isle but he couldn’t quite figure it out.

The line of thinking distressed him and he chose instead to play with Rumor. He placed his leafy hands around Rumor from behind, fiddling with top of her breasts. “Ready for round two?” He asked.

Rumor bit her lip, wanting very much to have a Round Two but stopped herself from just submitting once more. Yesterday’s events were still very much in her mind, especially how Cagney blurted out Hilda’s name at the end of what was supposed to be very stress relieving coitus. “Cagney, I don’t think I have the time at the moment.“

Cagney nuzzled against her. “You’re the queen, ain’t ya? You’re saying you don’t want to mess around just a little bit?”

She was the queen, wasn’t she? She could allow herself to indulge in this again. Besides, the bandana looked like it was already doing its job. Cagney had barely mentioned Hilda ever since he put it on. “I suppose there’s some time,” Rumor admitted, sitting down on the bed and beckoning him closer.

The flower approached her but paused. “Ya gonna hit me again?”

“Depends on how good you are,” she smirked.

“Great.”

Keeping his position in the dirt, Cagney leaned over in front of Rumor and pressed a surprisingly gentle kiss to her lips.

The bee was caught off guard, expecting the roughness from yesterday. She quickly responded in kind, taking her hands and softly stroking along the sides of his face, rubbing the sensitive spots on his petals that her bee vision could see. The flower shivered at the contact, his tongue slipping out and begging for entrance to Rumor’s. She granted entry and met his tongue with her own, enjoying the sweetness of his nectar.

His fingers crept alongside her shoulders and pulled away the royal garments she wore, exposing her black and yellow skin. She shivered at the contact with air and she reached out to pull his stem against her. She enjoyed how warm the plant felt. She started to rub down his rough stem to shamelessly try to coax out his piece already.

Cagney squeaked in surprise at the bold gesture. He pulled away from the kiss and smugly eyed her. “Guess you really don’t have a lot of time if you’re already wanting the big finish.“

Rumor blushed at being called out. “It’s just, well after yesterday…”

“Yesterday?” He asked, “didn’t we have some fun yesterday?”

‘Yes, and you screamed out another woman’s name during sex,’ Rumor wanted to remind him but stopped herself. Ugh, Hilda wasn’t even here and she was already putting a damper on this ardent affair. “Never mind yourself,” she replied sharply, “just hey!”

In his absent-mindedness, Cagney had torn a little bit of one of the garments. He looked at the piece of cloth in his large hand. “Oops.”

“Oops? That’s silk, how did you rip silk? You better fix it after this!” She gasped, trying not to let on to the fact that the thought of the Carnation ripping her clothes off was actually kind of hot.

Cagney nodded. “Don’t worry. I’m going to fix this…” there was an odd feeling inside of him as he said those words. Like he had said them before.

Rumor rolled her eyes. “I’ll just have the Royal tailor fix it, don’t concern yourself further…“

Why had he said those words? He remembered clutching someone tightly to his breast, repeating those words. Hoping he could make them true.

“Cagney?”

The flower looked back in her. “Huh?”

“Is everything alright?” Rumor asked, trying not to look too worried.

“Yeah, yeah everything’s fine,” he said, even as he swore he could feel someone small in his arms.

Rumor eyed the flower a bit worried before gently pulling him towards her lips. She focused on the moment and try to keep the thought of the meteorologist out of her her mind. 'Better keep her away from his thoughts as well…’ she said to herself, raising the intensity of her kiss and stimulating him. "On second thought, maybe you could give more work to my tailor,” the queen said, sensually looking at her torn up clothes.

Cagney returned the kiss, trying to match the intensity of it while trying to ignore the weird feeling that festered within his chest.

He ground himself into her touch and pressed kiss after kiss along her cheeks and her neck. His fingers tugged at the garments, trying to pull them off, but now shying away from outright ripping them. He already had so much to try to do, he didn’t need to add more to it.

What did he come here to do? He was here to work for Rumor, right? He came here to try to fix something but the more he tried to focus on what it was, the more it slipped away, agitating him further.

He could feel his stem starting to thicken as he continued to paw at her breasts and her hips

Rumor let some soft moans escape from her throat, rubbing her body impatiently against his. She caressed his sensitive spots behind the petals slowly leaning on him. “Take me,” she moaned between playful tongue kisses. “Take me now!” She ordered, stealing a really heated kiss from the flower.

The order reverbated deep within him and he couldn’t help but growl at the authority behind her words. He resisted the urge to just forget and submit. He grabbed Rumor and pulled her fully into him, his tongue darting out and caressing the insides of her mouth. He could feel a heat growing within him as his stem continued to thicken and his petals turn ragged with her touches. The frustration of it all, wanting to screw Rumor into oblivion yet still remember what he had come here for was proving too much for his regular form to take and he felt himself gradually transform.

The queen abandoned herself to the flower’s needy and gradually rougher touches. This was surreal for her. Two days ago their relationship was purely business, and now, here she was, quivering and almost dripping from their still covered crotch.

She rubbed herself against the thicker part of his stem looking at him with preying eyes, not paying attention to the slightly changes that started to appear in his body.

He flipped her around so her back rested against his chest and removed the garments around her pelvis, exposing her sex. His fingers dipped down and spread her vaginal folds, fingering the  sensitive tissues to prepare her for penetration.

He felt so pent up. He wanted nothing more than to pollinate the queen bee, make her scream, hoping that her shrieks of pleasure would shake him from whatever lingering thoughts kept him from accepting this was what he wanted.

“Are you ready?” He groaned, rubbing his penis against the outside of her vulva, silently begging for her to let him in.

She gasped in surprise and spread her legs to allow Cagney to reach better. Her body was burning with desire. “Hhnng… yes! Don’t make me wait any longer!” she cried, caressing his neck and moving her hips to the touches.

He slipped it in easily as her entrance was already slick with desire. He lingered inside her without moving, enjoying the feeling of her warm walls wrapped snugly around his cock.

This felt even better than yesterday! He ran his hands along her body pausing as he felt the bareness of her wrists. There was supposed to be something there. He grit his teeth, growing increasingly frustrated by how his mind refused to remember. He knew there was supposed to be something there. So why couldn’t he remember?

He should start soft. She asked him to…right? But Rumor didn’t ask for that. Someone asked for that. But it wasn’t Rumor. He thrusted into her slowly at first but quickened his speed as she wiggled impatiently.

He felt like he was losing his mind. His teeth elongated and sharpened as he warped his shape. His petals looked bedraggled and his stem had thickened and fleshed out. She felt increasingly tight on his growing member as he continued to rut into her, his lustful groans turned into a growls

Rumor moaned at the slow friction and turned around when she noticed the tightness in her womanhood. “Cagney, what are you~CAGNEY!?” She yelled, surprised to see the monstrous figure of the flower thrusting and growling. The queen tried to pull him out and release herself from of his grip. “What’s going on!?”

Rumor’s desperate wriggling to escape only led to Cagney tightly grasping her, pinning her arms to her sides, and jerking her back down roughly on his enlarged penis.

He hadn’t been in this form for a while, not since he broke the dome. And he was supposed to be fixing it. But he wasn’t. He was here, abusing this sexy bee. The more he touched her, the less he started to care about anything else. Except for screwing the honey out of her.

The carnation’s capacity of speech in this form wasn’t the best but he managed another snarl, “What’s wrong, Rumor? Can’t handle me like this?”

“Handle you!?” She moaned. “Since when you can turn like this?” She was more surprised than worried. The thick member of the flower pounding her wet vagina, sending waves of pleasure all over her body, making her shiver and groan loudly.

She started to love this feeling of being trapped like a fly between Cagney’s strong vines. It didn’t take long for the bee to accompany the carnation’s rough love making with her hips.

He didn’t answer the bee, instead choosing to nip and bite at her neck. He could feel himself close to climaxing as her walls started to spasm around him, indicating she was also near her edge. He continued to keep her pinned, his vines rubbing and stroking the front of her clitoris as he erratically rammed into her.

A final thrust of his hips sent him shooting his load deep inside her, coating her with the sweet, sticky nectar. He let out a rather monstrous growl, unable to call out an unknown name. He kept Rumor planted firmly as she started riding out her own orgasm.

Rumor screamed Cagney’s name as her orgasm exploded like a bomb through her shivering and wet body. That was the best orgasm she ever had, including the one from yesterday.

“My queen! Everything o~OH GOD!” The cleaning bees from before opened the door and saw the weird scene in a flash before shutting the door again. “W-we’re so sorry my queen!!!”

“P-please don’t kill us!”

Rumor’s reaction was slow, she was still panting, lost in the afterglow of her exquisite orgasm when she tried to speak and sound like her usual self.

“Hhh… you’re…hhh… you’re dead, if hhh you say anything… hhh.” She could only think about Cagney and how much she wanted to be with him, even in this monstrous form. She wondered if the silk cloth was responsible of his transformation.

“Of course, my Queen!”

“We won’t say anything my queen”

“We heard and saw nothing!”

The cleaning bees kept reassuring the queen as they walked away from the door.

Their problems continued even into the hallway. A large female bee guard stopped the smaller workers, startling them. “Why aren’t you cleaning?” She demanded.

“AH! Oh! Eh… uuuhh… we … we thought we heard something but.. eh…~!”

“Turns out was just a bird smashing into the window….” They replied nervously.

The guard narrowed her eyes. “Get back to work,” she said in a severe tone. The little bees nodded and continued their cleaning routine.

The guard eyed the door they were standing by and paid attention to any sound. They were still looking for the fugitives and it would be horrible if their Queen found out they managed to reach this level in the hive.

____

Amber knew what sex was. She had had it a couple of times. She liked it, usually.  She had actually been wanting some sex for a while now and it was getting to the point where she was seriously considering offering herself to anyone as long as she got a screw. There was only so much self loving could do for her. The point being, despite how long it had been since she had sex, she was fairly certain she could recognize it when it was happening.

This was not sex.

Amber had watched the entire thing with the expression of someone who was watching two trains not only crash but also start screwing each other like spring fueled rabbit. She had freaked out once or twice but thankfully her voice was drowned out by the vocalizations of the bee and flower. She was incredibly heated and knew she could probably pass for a furry strawberry with how red she was.

She held her freed tail in her paws, frozen to her spot until the door slammed open, jarring her back to reality. She fled the way she came, wondering how long it would take for her to forget the image of Cagney screwing the bee into oblivion that was burned into her mind.

____

After a while without hearing the bees, Rumor pulled Cagney out of her dripping sex of his big load. She tightened her thighs together, enjoying the warm fuzzy feeling inside her, and turn slowly towards Cagney, still in his last stage. He seemed a bit confused, still panting from the effort and releasing soft growls.

The queen wanted to comfort him, she  extended her hand and reached for his cheek. “You ok, Cagney?”

Cagney blinked unsuredly and growled at the hand before realizing it belonged to Rumor. He allowed it to make contact with his head briefly before wrapping a vine around it and growling quietly. He was still very much coming down from his high, unsure if he enjoyed the touch or not..

Rumor didn’t dare to move and looked at the carnation worried. Did she turned him into this? Maybe she did the spell wrong…

At the sound of the growling the guard from outside stepped in, pointing a gun at the couple. “HOLD IT TheoooOOOOHMYGOD!” She saw the flower holding onto a naked Rumor who didn’t seem very comfortable with the situation. The carnation must be assaulting her beloved queen! “LET HER GO! NOW!” She yelled, pointing the gun at Cagney.

Cagney turned at the shout, still somewhat confused. When he saw the gun being aimed at him, he bared his sharp teeth. He released Rumor and advanced upon the bee. “I’m going to break you like a ceramic pot,” he snarled.

The guard shot a few rounds, planting a couple of bullets in his stem, but it only seemed to make the monstrous plant angrier.

“STOP SHOOTING!” Rumor covered herself with her clothes and shouted at the guard who obeyed immediately lifting his hands.

“B-but… my Queen?.” The large bee said confused.

Getting shot did not feel good. So Cagney was fairly sure he was about to make the large guard bee feel worse than him. Before the guard could lower his hands, Cagney backhanded him through the door with a vine. “Ha! Hahahaha!” He cackled. “Bet that didn’t feel good!”

“CAGNEY!” She quickly put on her dress, picked up her scepter and turned the dirt into salted water.

The result was instantaneous. One second, Cagney was raring to knock out the next guard. The next second, he had collapsed, the saltwater stinging his roots. Without the dirt to support his greater form, he quickly shriveled back into his second form.

He wasn’t shrinking in pain persay, but he definitely wasn’t being quiet about it either. “What the hell? What the hell is going on?! Ow, ow, ow!” He hissed, trying to get out of the water.

“I haven’t hurt this much since Tauros landed that lucky shot the last time Hilda and I went at it!” He groaned, just the memory of it making his stem sting even more.

Rumor growled, angry at the sound of the sky witch’s name. She clenched her fists and got to the door. “I hope you enjoy your new home.” She got out and slammed the door behind her. A series of clacking noises came out of the door suggesting it was being locked.

Rumor stood for a while in front of the door looking down. She was feeling horribly guilty. This was the second time her passionate time with her beloved flower had ended with him blurting out Hilda’s name and being locked up. She was seriously starting to believe their relationship wasn’t meant to be.

“My Queen!” The large bee approached Rumor worried. “You ok, your Majesty?”

“..I’m fine”

“I’m sorry I didn’t react sooner, my Queen. I will execute him inmediate~”

“No,”  Rumor interrupted. “You will NEVER speak of this. You saw NOTHING.” She threatened the female guard. “And the two cleaners who were here earlier. Send them to my office.” She walked towards her room. “Cagney is the new royal gardener. Make sure everybody knows”

The guard looked at her unbelieving, but nodded softly. “As you wish, my Queen”

____

Cagney tried to follow her but couldn’t open the door. Had she really locked it?! He didn’t have the strength to break it down. And without the soil, he was stuck like this.

“UGHHHH!” He growled and proceeded to punch the bed, trying to figure out what had gone wrong once more.

____

“Ugh. Here he comes again,” one of the bee guards at the entrance of the Honeybottom building said to his colleague, when he saw a familiar reptilian silhouette, approaching fast and dripping with water.

Sullivan was livid. He had spent an entire day explaining the incident to his superiors and authorities, and no-one cared about the individuals the bees arrested. He stomped up to the guards. “Let her out!” Sullivan yelled. “Or I’ll get her out myself!”

“C'mon, pal! don’t make me throw you over the bridge again!” The bee replied.

“Go ahead! I’m an amphibian! I’ll just swim back out again! At least let me see her, you brutes!”

At that moment Hilda approached on her cloud accompanied by Carlos, who was clutching desperately to the cloud. “Oh great, more weirdos,” the other guard murmured, watching the woman land softly in front of them.

Hilda heard the salamander yelling and quickly approached the entrance of the hive. “Wow. What’s going on here?”

“Hey! Mi amigo! How are you doing?” Carlos said, happy to see the amphibian. After the fiasco at the docks, Amori ordered him to keep an eye on Sullivan and to find the masked cat he claimed was the cause of his failure.

The sailor turned to the familiar voice. “Carlos? What are you~Miss Berg? H-hi!” He said, surprised to see the meteorologist.

“Eh, hey there…you.” Hilda completely blanked. She knew the amphibian had something to do with boats, and he often came asking for detailed weather reports, but she never managed to remember his name.

“Sullivan.” The sailor said, noticing the doubt in the woman’s face.

“Suuullivaaan! Yes! Of course! I knew it! Just…you know…my head is always in the clouds,” she chuckled awkwardly.

"Oh! You know each other? What a small island.” Carlos smiled. “What are you doing here? Anything I can help you with, my friend?”

“Ugh, not really. Unless you know how to get in there and out. Alive.” The bees looked at them listening carefully. The group noticed their dirty looks and stepped away.

Sullivan explained what happened at the docks and how Amber and Cagney got arrested by Rumor’s guards and never got out.

“..and now, I’m trying to at least see Rumor and talk some sense to her! She’s not the queen of the world! She can’t just arrest people as she wishes!” Sullivan finished talking, pacing in circles angrily.

“Ugh, dumb weed! He must think all cats are burglars now!” Hilda said, a bit pissed herself. “I’ll go in Sebastian”

“Sullivan.”

“Sullivan.” She corrected, and walked towards the guards.

“Hi there, I want to talk with Cagney,” Hilda said to the guards at the door. The bees looked at each other and back at the woman.

“No visitors, miss,” one of them finally answered.

“Look,  I know Cagney. He must have said something stupid and made things worse. I want to talk to him so I can make sense of what actually happened and clear this whole thing up with Rumor.” The bees were starting to lose their patience.

“Only bees allowed inside miss. Please, go away!” Hilda was about to yell at the bees when a hand pulled her roughly away from the bees.

“Señorita Luna, mire!” Carlos pointed at a large group of tourists getting inside from another large gate. The bees took a look at their yellow and black stripes badges and let them in without paying any more attention to them.

Hilda smiled maliciously. “That’s a great idea, kitty cat! We’ll CRASH the bus into the door! No-bee is gonna be able to STOP US!”

“Qué dices loca? No! The tourist group! We can get in as a tourist group, you psycho,” Carlos said, surprised to her enthusiasm to crush the vehicle.

“But that was the last tour for today! We’re going to wait for tomorrow! And who knows what horrible things they might be doing to my poor Amber!”

The woman sighed, tired. “Fine, but I like my plan better…” .

____

Amber tiredly plodded down the halls. This place was a giant maze and her normally acute sense of direction was horribly messed up by all the sweet smelling honey. She figured it had to be night by this point, right? She would need to sleep soon since she didn’t have an opportunity to take a cat nap during the day.

However, she was very wary of where she could sleep. The hive was swarming with bees and she constantly had to be on the lookout for the next patrol or cleaning crew. She had to find a safe place and there were very few places that the bees did not barge into.

Well, there was one.

The Queen had made Cagney’s room practically off limits to anyone other than herself. Amber grit her teeth. Cagney had been acting real goofy ever since he put on that dumb bandana. And he wasn’t exactly fond of her before either.

The sound of wheels clattering indicated that one of the cleaning crews was returning, and she scampered back up near the ceiling. She had to think of some way she could get in there without the large Carnation murdering her on sight. She watched the cleaning crew as they swept and dusted the hallway.

Geez, didn’t the cleaning crews ever stop? She’d imagine a hive could get very messy really quick without them, but seriously it felt like they were here every. As one of them pulled out of cloth to polish something, Amber’s eyes lit up. “Hey, that could work.”

____

Cagney grumbled to himself as he observed his stem. The wound had pretty much healed at this point, but it didn’t mean it wasn’t sore to the touch. He was glad? Yeah, glad, he’s supposed, that he got shot in his third form and not the second. There could have been a lasting injury with the second form.

He heard the door knob rattle and glanced over to it curiously. The doorknob stopped rattling and he shrugged. “Must have just been someone trying the wrong door,” he figured. He paused again, this time he swore he could hear scratching above him. A small figure landed near him and he turned on it.

It was Amber. “Heya, Cagney!” She greeted cheerfully, taking a step forward.

There was suddenly no more ground underneath her paws as the flower scruffed and dangled her in the air. “Rumor’s been looking for you,” he evilly grinned, “kind of a dumb move for you to come here, don’t you think? Maybe I oughta dunk you in the salt water before I call the guards.”

Amber’s fur raised at the sight of the water but quickly waved her paws at him. “No, no no! Rumor already found me! See?” Her little paws gestured to her neck. Tied around it was a bright yellow bandana. “We’re on the same team now! Go bees! So no need to dunk the kitty!”

“…You’re lying. I’m going to call the guards.”

Amber shrugged. “Oh, sure, sure, go ahead and call them, I guess. And I’m sure they’ll come take me away, but man, the Queen is going to be super mad about it when she finds out you woke her up to turn in her secret agent.”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

The cat batted her eyes at him. “How do you think I was walking around all day in the hive? You think I’ve been hiding this entire time? No, sir. Rumor made me one of her Secret guards. And only she knows about it.”

The carnation stared at her. “I thought I was the only one to get one of those bandanas,” he mumbled, putting her down.

Amber raised an eyebrow. “Really? You’re unhappy because you think you’re not the only one to get mind controlled by a bandana?”

“What was that?”

“Oh, eh, I mean. You’re still special. Mine’s slightly different from yours. I’m here to guard you.”

He chuckled. “Guard ME? Really? That’s hysterical.”

“I don’t know, you look a little bit beaten up. And no offense, I don’t think it’s from the sex.”

His eyes widened. “How the hell do you know about that?!”

Amber smiled. “Secret guard, remember?”

Cagney groaned. “Just, whatever, fine guard me.”

“Awesome! I’ll start by checking out that bed!” The cat crawled onto the small bed and began to knead the blankets.

The carnation walked over to her and stared down at her. “Hold on, aren’t you supposed to guard me?”

“Hmm? Oh yeah, wake me up if someone comes in and I’ll -yawn- defend your honor or whatever,” Amber yawned, curling into a small ball.

Cagney rolled his eyes and sat down next to her. “Well…this sucks.”

Amber flicked an ear at him. “You know what helps make things suck less?”

“What?”

“Petting a fluffy animal.”

The carnation scoffed, crossed his arms and looked away. “Yeah, right.” Amber hummed and remained lying down. There were a few quiet seconds that passed before Cagney glanced at her. “Really?”

“Mmhmm.”

He uncrossed his arms and extended a hand out to her. “So, I just, pet you?”

“Yes.  But only one direction. And not my belly unless I say so.”

“Sounds complicated.”

“Only if you’re a moron.”

He scowled but very cautiously placed a hand on her and began to carefully pet her. He raised an eyebrow. “Huh. This isn’t hard.” He froze as she started to vibrate. “What is that?!”

“I’m purring,” Amber explained, not opening her eyes.

“Is that good?”

“It’s good, it feels nice. That’s my way of saying this feels good and I like it.”

“Why don’t you just say that then?” He snorted, continuing to pet her.

“I think purring gets the point across better, don’t you?”

The cat had a point, carnation could feel himself relaxing the more he petted the small asshole, her vibrations making him feel unnaturally calm. His thorns started to recede and he could feel his leaves start to perk up. He sighed. “I wish I could figure out what’s going on with me and Rumor. Like, everything’s going well and then suddenly she’s kicking me out or turning my soil into ocean water. Something feels wrong.”

Amber grunted. “Maybe you guys aren’t as close as you think.”

The flower did not like her questioning his relationship with the bee. “What are you trying to say? Rumor’s the whole reason I came here!”

Amber sighed. “Yeah, I hear you.”  

He eyed her belly curiously. “What happens if I pet your belly?”

Amber opened one eye. “…Do it and die,” she warned. The flower smirked.

“I’d really like to see you attempt that.” He reached down and stroke to rub her belly…only for Amber to clamp down on him like a bear trap and bite his hand. His eyes widened and he pried her off. “Dammit! That hurt more than Berg’s sewing needles!” He swore. He stopped midswear, still cradling his hand.

Amber licked herself. “Good, I warned you.” She squeaked when he grabbed her.

“Do it again.”

“Do what again?” She asked.

“Bite me again.” He looked completely serious.

“Are you serious?” Amber gaped at him.

“Yeah, because -AH!” Amber bit him on the hand once more, this time breaking the skin. The flower had to resist the urge to fling her off. He grasped the bed and whined. “You didn’t want to listen to why?!”

Amber giggled, leaving the carnation to swear. “Things start to get clearer when it hurts!” He growled, “And I-I didn’t come here just for Rumor! I came here to help Hilda!”

The cat released him. “Yes! Yes! And what else?” She asked excitedly. Cagney opened his mouth only for his hands to claw at his throat as the bandanna. He coughed and choked and Amber could only rub up against him. “Hey, hey! You okay?” She asked.

The carnation swallowed hard. “I,  uh, really wish I had some water. Some unsalted water,” he coughed, rubbing at his throat. “You think Rumor will bring some tomorrow?” He asked hopefully, “Could give me a chance to apologize to her too!”

Amber sank onto the bed. “I’m sure she’ll do SOMETHING,” she resigned herself. She wasn’t going to try biting the carnation again. If he actually choked and perished, lord knows she would feel intensely guilty about it all.

She curled back up only to perk up once more as she felt a hand on her. She looked to see Cagney petting her again. He looked embarrassed. “I’m still kinda stressed,” he admitted.

Amber sighed. “You may pet the belly. But only for a few seconds.” She rolled onto her back, exposing her tummy to the confused carnation.

He gently touched the area, wincing although he couldn’t quite remember why. He broke into a silly grin. “This is so soft!”

“Yeah, yeah,” Amber grumbled, “Softest part of the cat.”

“Like the feathers on baby birds!”

The cat batted his hand away. “Okay, no more belly rubs!”

“Fine, fine. Man, that was really soft though.” The carnation resolved himself to petting the cat who started to yawn again. “Think things will make more sense tomorrow?” He asked.

“Hopefully,” Amber purred, nuzzling into his hand.

“You sure?” He was greeted with only the sound of snores and he turned to see Amber had fallen into a deep sleep. He exhaled. “Well, shit, it better start making sense soon. I feel like I’m going crazy here.” The carnation passed out next to her shortly thereafter, his hand still midscratch on her ear.

———————————————————————————

Mina shook the metallic lock box holding their coins, making a clinking sound. “Look how much we made!” She gave the box to Hilda, who took it with a raised eyebrow.

Hilda opened the box and whistled. “Wow! You guys! This is a great help! Thank you so much!” She gave a hug to all of them, including Spike. Well, she had to force him a little, the pup did not take to physical attention as easily other the other two children. “I’m glad to see you’re putting your destructive energy to good use,” she whispered to the pup.

“All this work deserves to be rewarded!” She picked a few coins from the box and split it amongst the kids. “Thanks a lot…seriously.” She didn’t wanted to show it, but she was really touched by the gesture. She had a knot in her throat and she could feel her eyes getting glassy.

“Woah! Thank you! But we didn’t do this for the reward! We did this for the good of humanity…. and, you know… to help you,” little Mina said, referring to the possible arrival of violent extraterrestrials. “Right, guys?”

Harvey nodded. “I really like the observatory and I would be sad if we can’t get it rebuilt!”

Spike sighed. “Plus, where will the teacher take us on field trips? No field trips means more school and that sucks!” He whined.

Hilda smiled sincerely at them. “Aww, thank you! I didn’t realise you liked this place so much.”

‘One more reason to stay,’ Sagittarius pointed out in the woman’s head, making her smile even more.

“I’ll try to hurry up and fix this as soon as possible. And you’re welcome here anytime! You’re now my tiny VIPs.”

“Thank you, Miss Berg,” Harvey thanked, making sure he got the correct title this time. He tapped Mina. “Hey are you coming to sleep over tonight?”

Spike butted his head in. “What? You guys are having a sleepover?”

“Oh! Yeah! That would be so much fun! I just have to ask my mum real quick, but I’m sure she’ll say yes.” The kids said goodbye to the sky witch and headed to Mina’s. “You should come too, Spike. His dad makes fruit come out of ears!” The little bat explained mimicking the gesture of the magician.

“Your dad sounds like a quack!”

Harvey just silently prayed his sister wouldn’t make Spike a quilt.

____

Beppi shooed Hilda away. “I got this, I got this! Just go organize your stars!”

Beppi had not awaken when the children had come to visit earlier that evening, much to Hilda’s relief. Unfortunately, he was still here even after she snuck in to check on him in the hopes that he would have taken off. So she was stuck with him until his obnoxious alarm went off, sending the clown tumbling over himself in a perfect pratfall.

Hilda rolled her eyes but finally obliged, casting her cloud and soaring into the night sky to enjoy the moonlight and the quiet away from the clown. He was pleased with this and set up his equipment. It was his first shift and he was a little groggy after a nap, but otherwise happy to start his shift of being a lookout.

If he had to be completely honest, however, he didn’t expect the dragon to REALLY come back to Hilda’s tower. That was like a criminal coming back to the scene of the crime. And he didn’t know any nostalgic criminals. Still, it was something to do and bugging Hilda had been an absolute delight! Not as good as the Baroness, but she was a close second for sure.

He really hoped Djimmi wasn’t too mad at him. The genie had been under a lot of stress as of late but he didn’t really share unless the clown managed to get him to smoke some of his special pipe. He should do that when he got home. Provided Hilda and he weren’t married by that point and running a bumper car business. These thoughts soon filled his dreams as he promptly fell back asleep.

____

The skies were fully covered in dark clouds, hiding the moonlight, as night finally set upon the Isles.

Grim was not bothered by the darkness. Instead, he was trying to make himself less nervous, but he was not having much luck. He had spent hours thinking of the horrible, embarrassing thing he did earlier that day in Bon Bon’s castle, and tried to gather the courage to go out again. He wanted to recover his letter to Bon Bon that was sent to Hilda by 'fortunate’ mistake.

He kept playing in his head the awkward conversation Hilda and he would inevitably have, over and over again, until finally one of his heads got sick of it and forced him to get out and start flying towards the observatory, ignoring the rumbling of an approaching storm.

As he drew closer to Hilda’s home on top of the hill, he could feel his heart beat even faster. He so hoped the meteorologist hadn’t opened the letter yet. The storm that had been slow to approach was much closer now. A crash of thunder nearby, startled the dragon into a surprised roar, destabilizing his flight somewhat before he realized it was just thunder. He was really just too tense! He needed to hurry and get to her home so he could put this whole mess behind him. ____

Beppi was startled awake by the thunder. He looked at the tea next to him suspiciously. “Hmmmm, I wondered if Hilda drugged me…wouldn’t be the first.” The sound of a loud roar perked him up immensely and he stuck himself out of the window.

Coming toward the tower all shadowy and spooky like was a large dragon. Beppi gaped. “Wow, this IS really lucky!” He gleefully giggled and started to load his glitter cannon.

Grim was flew around the observatory, feeling sorry to see it in such a state. He looked for some lights or indication that the woman was home.

Beppi finished loading his sparkle cannon and took aim. He was still a bit too low so he reinflated his legs and he gave a happy grunt as he was able to aim more effectively. He spotted the dragon and paused.

“Huh, that kinda looks like Grim,” he mused. Then again, the dragon was supposed to look like him a bit. He shrugged and fired.

Grim heard what he thought was a very small thunder, before something painful struck his thigh. He released another, and more terrifying, growl, thankfully managing to keep himself stable in the air as a soft rain started to fall around him.

____

The time away from the observatory was a pleasant change for Hilda. It allowed her to calm down, diminishing, although not destroying, the urge to strangle Beppi. She spread the stars out across the night sky, unfortunately missing a few constellations she had forgotten in her hurry to escape the clown.

When she was done, she took the chance to fully clear her head. Taking a deep breath, she settled comfortably on her cloud and admired her work. The view of the stars on the blackness of the infinite universe helped her put thing in perspective. It wasn’t too bad that her observatory was partially destroyed, she realized. It could have been much worse. Like what had destroyed her house when she was on the bed with-.

'Oh! We should definitely do that again!’ Gemini interrupted all too cheerfully in their recognisable unison. Hilda rolled her eyes. She did agree with them that as much fun as she had with Cagney, it was most certainly a one time thing.

'What are you afraid of?’ Sagittarius tried to figure out.

“I’m not afraid of nothing!” The stubborn woman yelled, “I just…don’t feel the same way.”

'Again, you DO realize we are inside your head right?’ Tauros pointed out, rolling his eyes. 'Of course you have feelings for him. We want to kill him, remember?’ Now it was Hilda’s turn to roll her eyes as the rain started to pitter patter around her.

“Leave me alone for a moment, please! I just want to enjoy-!” She heard some kind of growl in the distance. For a second, the sound confused until her thoughts jumped on the possibility that it could be Cagney, who might have turned into his monstrous form for some reason. Though for the life of her, she couldn’t figure out why at this point.

'Well, seeing the clown in your place in the evening might be a good reason. IF he’s the jealous type,” Tauros suggested with an invisible smile, delighting himself with the idea of a possible scuffle with the carnation.

'Don’t be silly!’ Sagittarius said, “It’s probably the mirror dragon! We better head home fast! Beppi might be in danger! He is still injured, right?!’ Hilda opened her eyes widely at the thought before turning into a blimp and rocketing through the clouds towards her home. ____

Beppi reloaded another canister of glitter, noting that the first case he shot did a really good job of making the dragon really shimmer.

He was a bit surprised the mirror dragon wasn’t already glittery like it was in the circus. He started to chuckle. "Knowing how things go, it’s probably Grim!” He fired again, now smiling even wider at the thought of dousing Grim in glitter and sequins

Grim roared again at the second impact. He spiraled slightly out of control but this time he was able to see where the projectile came from. “Miss B-b-berg! Why are you shooting me!?” He managed to shout, flying closer to the window, not knowing Beppi was the shooter. “It’s m-me! Grim!”

There was a heavy rain now. Lighting and thunder filed the skies, illuminating the shadowy silhouette of the dragon.

____

Beppi scratched his head. He has about 75% sure this was not the dragon they were looking for. Then again, it WAS glittery now - granted it was probably due to him shooting it with glitter but that was beside the point.

He loaded up on canisters and shot it just above the dragon so it would explode, completely drenching it with the glitter. It was even brighter than a disco ball!

Grim growled angrily as the explosion of the glitter and sequins got into his eyes, blinding him. As he struggled to paw the material away from his eyes, Hilda advanced upon him from the skies. She spotted the flailing, shiny dragon near her home and saw red.

“The crystal dragon!” She furiously hollered. The dragon seemed like it was going to crash into her house, so she immediately gathered a small tornado and threw the spiraling wind towards it. “GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM MY HOUSE, YOU BASTARD!”

The tornado reached its target, tossing him away from the house. Grim had to do a great effort to stay in the air, and growled again, confused.

Beppi stopped firing at this point as Hilda swooped in from the sky. He cracked his knuckles. “Whelp! I’ve done my part! Time to grab a snack!”

Grim stabilized his flight, managing to clean his eyes. He looked around, trying to find where the voice came from and what it actually said, for the thunder and heavy rain prevented him from hearing and seeing clearly. He was starting to get really scared. Another thunder boomed near him, making him think it was another of the glitter bombs. He quickly spat a huge flame and turned around frantically, giving him the appearance of whirling fireball in the night sky.

Hilda was too close and didn’t have enough time to doge the attack, forcing her to quickly transform into Gemini. The twin constellation split just in time for the fire to pass between them.

“You’re gonna get it now!” Gemini yelled, creating their golden sphere and shooting projectiles towards the dragon.

Grim felt the hits and growled in pain. He decided it was probably best to flee than to confront whatever was attacking him.

Gemini saw him trying to escape and grinned. “Oh, no you don’t!” Clouds covered their bodies and Tauros thrusted with a snarl towards the scared creature and crashed him against the wall of the cliff, where Hilda’s house stood. Grim released a painful roar and sunk his claws into the rocky surface to prevent him from falling down.

Taurus took the opportunity to strike the dragon a few more times before the dragon could finish scrambling up the wall back up to the house. Grim retaliated with whip-like attacks of his tail and a few fireballs. The heavy water of the rain started to wash the dragon’s scales making him less shiny, but Tauros was too focused in his anger to realize it. ____

Another thundering shake of the observatory finally cajoled Beppi to look outside as he ate his snack. “Looks like Hilda’s taking on the dragon. Neato!” He searched through his bags until he found the long, blonde wig and fluffy pom poms he had packed in anticipation of something like this.

He climbed through the hole, put the wig on and started cheering enthusiastically. “Go, Hilda, go! Go, Hilda, go!”

Tauros was about to thrust again when he heard Beppi’s cheers. He looked up and his eyes shined with anger. “You can walk!?”

Grim saw his chance and hit the bull with his tail, giving him the opportunity to get a better look at what he was dealing with. The hit made Taurus lose his focus and transform back into Hilda, who had to immediately summon her cloud to avoid falling.

“Ok! That’s it! NOW I’M PISSED!” She yelled as the clouds started to cover her body to turn into her final form.

Grim finally recognized the woman. “No! No! Wait! It’s me, Grim!” He shouted to the sky witch. At the sound of his voice, she halted mid transformation.

“Grim!?” She exclaimed, emerging from the clouds, still in her human form. “What the fuck!? You scared the shit out of me!”

“I scared y-you!?” The dragon replied with teary eyes. It was obvious he was terrified.

“Well, yeah! I thought you were that shiny dragon who destroyed my observatory!” The woman flew closer to the dragon and pet him gently. “I’m sorry.” She looked back, frowning at the clown, her eyes still shining with anger. “Come, Grim, let’s get dry before we catch a cold.”

____

Grim and Hilda stared angrily at the clown as all three sat at the kitchen table, a tea set spread out for them. Well as best as Grim could sit considering he didn’t quite fit into the home. Hilda had to rig up a series of tents and sheets to provide a makeshift protection for the rest of Grim’s body that could not fit within the confines of the home. Grim had the suspicion Beppi knew all along it was him. And Hilda was angry to see him walking and cheering like he never got hurt, which meant all the hugging and caring he had asked from her was absolutely unnecessary.

Beppi continued to smile at both of them. “Sooooo…..how are things going?”

The two bosses were still glaring at him and he couldn’t figure out why. “I feel like you’re both upset with me somehow.” He snapped his fingers. “Oh right! One second!” He reached up and pulled off the wig. “There, you know my secret. I’m not a natural blonde,” he sighed, pouting

“You made me hug you….” Hilda said softly but in a very angry tone. “And you were just FAKING IT?!” Grim rolled his eyes and drank a bit of his tea, his body still sore from the glitter cannons and the fight with Hilda.

Beppi’s smile got a bit smaller. "Would you rather I had been seriously injured?”

Hilda felt a bit guilty, maybe she was overreacting. Again. But she didn’t like being played for a fool neither. “No! Of course not! But, c'mon! You emotionally manipulated me. That’s not cool.” She sipped her tea, trying to gulp the guilt building up in her throat.

Grim had no idea what they were talking about, and he thought it would be wise to stay out of it and wait the proper moment to state his business here. He took the chance to discreetly look around for the letter.

“Am I?”

Beppi pulled up one of his legs up to show a hastily patched long hole. It was already starting to open up again. “Comedic timing makes things hurt less,” he explained with a grimace.

The woman swallowed loudly. “I-I-I’ll help you patch that properly. L-later,” she said, lowering her voice until it was almost a whisper. She avoided the clown’s eyes and tried to hide behind her mug.

“Wow! What happened?” Grim asked, worried. “You need to go to the hospital?”

Beppi stretched and slowly got up with a limp. “No, just back to the circus is all! Give me a day or so and I’ll be right as rain. Just like this rain!” He opened the door and gestured to the rain.

They both looked looked at each other, worriedly.

“If you’re leaving, let me at least give you a lift!” she offered, standing up.

“Oh, or, I can take you. It’s on my way, anyhow. I just need to recover something first.” Grim said shyly.

Beppi shook his head. “Oh no thanks! I’ll just float home! I’m sure I’ll see you both later!” The clown inflated his head and slowly floated back toward the second isle.

Hilda couldn’t help but feel a bit relieved. Having the clown around was really starting to get to her nerves, not to mention the guilt! She truly hoped he would recover soon. After watching Beppi float away, the meteorologist turned to the dragon. “So what’s that something you want to recover? I don’t remember you lending me anything lately.”

“Oh… yeah.. uh… it’s… it’s about…a m-misdirected letter….” The dragon blushed.

“A let~oh! Right!” She smirked. “You mean….” She walked to the counter near the door and opened a drawer, pulling out the letter. .“..this very honest letter you wrote to Bon Bon?”

Grim turned a more intense shade of red. “Y-yeah…that one…I see you have read it…d-did you showed it to Bon Bon?” He asked, afraid of the answer.

“Not yet.” She sat back at the table. “Where did you get the courage to write and send this letter? I mean, no offense, but you don’t really strike me as the 'direct approach’ type.” She let the letter settle on the table between them.

“Uh, yeah. I had a little encouragement from a friend…and Cagney.” Grim replied, embarrassed.

“I knew I recognized this handwriting.” She pointed to the envelope. “But I don’t understand the mix up. This was obviously for Bon Bon, so how come Cagney wrote my address?”

“Well… uh… we were v-very drunk, I guess he must have wrote it b-by reflex.” The dragon decided to keep the existence of Cagney’s letter a secret until Bon Bon decided to give the letter to her. “I should g-go now. It’s getting late and I’m still sore from the f-fight.”

“Oh, yeah, I’m really sorry about that,” Hilda apologized nervously.

“It’s alright… uh.. just… one last t-thing.”

“Yeah?”

“P-p-please don’t tell Bon Bon! I d-don’t want her t-to know that I… I….”

“That you want to see how she looks without her dress?” She giggled, making the dragon very uncomfortable and red with embarrassment. “Don’t worry! I won’t say anything. But you should tell her how you feel before it’s too late.”

Grim nodded shyly and thanked the woman for the tea before taking the letter and flying back to his tower. Hilda found herself alone once more. She took a deep breath, trying to take in the peace.

'How come you never take your own advice?’. Sagittarius asked, making the woman cringe.

____

Finally, Grim got back home with the cursed letter and opened it to read its content one last time before turning it into ashes. His eyes opened wide and his jaw fell, his two other heads popped out to the surprise of the content of this envelope.

“Oh… that fucking clown….” They all said in unison. ____

Isabella agreed to let Mina go have a sleepover at Harvey’s. After helping her gather her things together, she kissed her goodnight and sent her off before finally turning on herself. She started to get ready herself, for tonight might be the night King Dice would show up.

It didn’t take long for Isabella to reach the Night Owl Club. She walked in, filled with a confidence that cleverly disguised the fact that was indeed blind. “Good evening, Isabella.” The bartender and the rest of the staff greeted the woman as she walked by.

“There has been some changes for tonight.” Oliver, the rooster who worked as a host, said, a bit worried to the bat. “Our lead singer Patricia Parakeet is back, so you will be her back-up singer for tonight.”

Isabella felt awful about this new information. She didn’t mind being a back-up singer but she was expecting King Dice to show up and get a chance to impress him with her musical talents. She would a harder time doing this if she was in the back.

“Oh! Well, that is great! I’m glad she recovered so quickly,” she lied. “Are you going to introduce us?”

“Of course, of course! She’s in her changing room now. We’ll have to wait 'till she comes out. She, ah, doesn’t like to be disturbed.”

Isabella greeted the band and sat at the bar to wait for the lead singer, drinking water with lemon. ____

Patricia sat in her dressing room, fuming. She had to share the stage. She NEVER had to share the stage before. But all of her squawking and shrieking did nothing to change Marvin’s mind. Apparently the other girl had signed a contract. Which was a bunch of bird seed in her opinion. Who just signed some girl from nowhere up for a gig? Marvin was as dense as he was short sighted.

She applied the blush heavily to her puffed up yellow feathery cheeks. "I’m should be the one who travels the world, recording records and singing for royalty!” She scowled, adjusting the boa around her neck. She practiced a few bars, applied some throat spray before smirking. “We’ll see what Daddy has to say after he gets back from his business trip!”

She finished up dressing and stepped out, her beady eyes immediately scanning the bar for any new faces. Particularly any dumb floozies that were stupid enough to try to steal her gig. There was a peahen that tried one time and, well, one of her feathers made for a wonderful decoration for Patricia’s hat. And let’s just say the beautiful feathery boar around her neck had been a delightful gift from her father after she had him remove that trio of flamingos that tried to force her to be a back-up singer.

Her eyes fell on a mature bat and she paused. This wasn’t the competition she was expecting. But bats weren’t know to be powerful singers so she confidently swayed toward the woman. “Are you the back up singer?” She asked when she got close enough, ruffling her feathers.

Isabella’s ears wiggled at the sound of approaching steps and her nose twitched at the smell of strong perfume. “Hi! Yes I am. And you are Miss Parakeet?” She guessed, judging for the expensive scent she was wearing.

Patricia smiled at the introduction. “Yes, I’m Patricia Parakeet. But you will continue to refer to me as Miss Parakeet. Not Patricia and NEVER Patty. Do you understand?”

“Of course, Miss Parakeet.” Isabella smiled. She wasn’t the first star wannabe she encountered. And she was sure it wouldn’t be the last. It was best to let her think she was in charge. “Your voice is very familiar! Where have you performed before here?” Better gather some intel, she thought.

Patricia smirked. “Ha! I truly doubt you have heard me before. I only sing at places where the patrons are real class acts. Cream of the crop, the like you wish you had a chance to even glimpse at. But you will have the opportunity to hear me tonight.” She leaned in a bit closer. “There’s a chance of a promoter coming tonight and if you screw this up for me or try to upstage me in some way, I will make life in the isles very, VERY uncomfortable for you. Do we understand each other?”

“Oh my! Coming on a bit strong, are we? You feel threatened by my voice, dear?” Isabella used her enticing tone to show how charming she could get.

Patricia snorted at the bat’s attempt. She recognized the change in tone. She couldn’t copy it, but she could recognize it well enough. “Hardly! I can’t have an amateur mucking things up for me! And if you hadn’t signed on with Marvin, you would already be gone.”

The bird started to walk away only to pause. “Don’t think you’re the only one who can win a crowd, sister. I’m not just a pretty parrot.”

“Well, I wouldn’t know about your looks, but you certainly are a smelly one if you need that amount of perfume.” She finished her drink. “Should we practice, Miss Parakeet?” she asked innocently.

Patricia had picked up a very thin champagne flute but at Isabella’s words, she snapped the stem in half. “Smelly? Figures you bats only have a refined sense of hearing, not smell!” She hissed. She patted her feathers down at the sight of patrons starting to walk in.

“I’ve already practiced, but I’m sure you could use a warm up. Perhaps in the alley attached to the kitchen? Where they throw out the dish water.”

The bat stood up and walked towards the band. "You know what? I’ll wing it,” she said, waving her delicate wings, “That way you’ll have a better chance to get noticed by the promoter.” She smirked, but got distracted and stumbled into a table with a thud. “La naiba!” the woman cursed, embarrassed, and walked slowly towards the stage.

The Lounge Lizards had just finished tuning their instrument when Patricia stepped on stage. She started to croon, not putting too much effort in as the night had barely got started. Still it earned a whistle or two from the small amount of patrons and she couldn’t help but shoot the blind bat a dirty look.

Isabella started the evening as a pretty good back singer, adapting her tone to the bird’s voice as the song required it. She didn’t overstep into Patricia’s spotlight and let her continue on, letting her become overconfident. The night just started, and the bat knew she would get her chance to wipe her shoes with Patricia’s feathers.

During the short intermissions between songs, Oliver would stop by to critique them, to say how good they looked out there and how well they complimented each other. And more importantly, if any promoters had arrived. Isabella acted humble in front of the rooster, but whenever the singers were alone, they would get right back to the fighting.

It was during one of those spat breaks where Patricia really found herself getting riled up by the nonchalance of the bat. “What do you hope to get out of this? A free ride to some of the most elite clubs? Money? You wouldn’t know what to do with class if it came and bit you in the ass.”

Marvin tried his best to ignore the women’s squabbling. At least the two could sing well even if they were at each other’s throats. He started to walk toward the bar to reorganize the stash only to freeze as the atmosphere changed.

There was no mistaking the new visitor and he turned quickly toward him, rubbing his hands together. “Aw, King Dice! What an absolute pleasure for you to visit my little club!”

The large casino house boss stepped toward the mole. “Little might be stretching it, Marvin.”

Marvin nodded, glad no debt collection was happening. “Can I get you a whiskey neat, or sour patch on the rocks?”

King Dice shook his head. “Perhaps later, I’m here for business reasons.”

“Business?” He gulped hesitantly. The last time someone from the Casino was here for “business”, a couple of arms were broken and the wall paper had to be replaced. However, none of those things had happened yet so Marvin was cautiously optimistic. King Dice chuckled.

“Well I hear you’ve got two singers that are a choice bit of calico.”

The mole brightened up. “Oh! You mean Isabella and Patricia! Yes, yes. Had you wanted to meet them?”

“I would be most obliged.” The mole lead King Dice to the stage at the sign of a break and winced as he overheard the two women bickering. “Ladies,” he interrupted, “I would like you to meet a friend of the club, King Dice.”

Isabella’s ears perked up, but she kept her cool. Finally, there was his opportunity to meet King Dice. “Pleasure to meet you, Mr Dice,” she said, charmly, taking a lovely pose, with one hand on her hips, that innocently showed her soft curves.

King Dice very subtly took in her figure. “Well hi de ho, ma'am. You must be Isabella?”

“And I’m Patricia!” Patricia interrupted, pushing her way in front of Isabella and batting her eyelashes.

King Dice smirked. “You certainly are. How long have you both been singing?”

The bat smiled at Patricia’s childish way to interrupt, for that proved she was nervous and more prompt to make a mistake.

“Well…”. She played shyly. “My origins are humble, but my hardwork has taken me far. Started singing in the lower districts in Paris when I was eight, and somehow I made my way to Germany, England, Italy…and now here.” She added a subtle sensual inflection into that last sentence, hoping that King Dice would pick up on that, and hopefully, fall for his charms.

King Dice smiled appreciatively at Isabella’s summary. “I like a woman who’s traveled. A gal who knows her onions.” He turned to Patricia. “And how about you?”

Patricia fluffed up her feathers. “Well, I’m a born natural! But daddy made sure I had the best lessons anyway even though he says that you can’t improve perfection,” She tweeted happily.

The casino employee raised an eyebrow and grinned. “Well, you ain’t certainly no canceled stamp, that’s for sure. Do you have family around here?”

Isabella shrugged. She didn’t like to talk about her Mina in the club. You never knew who could be listening, and years of hiding had made the bat paranoid. Still, she was planning on staying here for while, so he would eventually find out regardless.

She cleared her throat and recovered her confidence. “I like to travel light”. She kept smiling. “ I only bring my daughter with me.”

King Dice grinned even wider at that. “Well, that’s just sweet. So you and Miss Parakeet here? How long have you worked together?”

Patricia waved a feather, flopping Isabella in the face. “Oh she hasn’t been here very long at all! She’s a temp is all. Just one of my background singers until my career really takes flight if ya know what I mean,” she winked at the older dice.

Isabella’s nose got tickled by the feather, and the woman decided to not hold it back and sneezed on Patricia. “Oh! Dear! I’m SO sorry!” She fakely apologized. “My nose is very sensitive, you know?” She had to make an effort not to laugh.

“Well hopefully your nose isn’t too sensitive for all the cigar smoke around here. I’m from a place that caters to a certain type of clientele that values their vices, including have a drag or two.” Patricia shrieked and made a motion to strike the bat with her wing.

King Dice took Ms. Parakeet’s wing. “I’m sure you could find it possible in your incredible large heart to allow Isabella here a chance to sing as well. I’d hate to have to leave if I didn’t think things were…fair.”

Patricia was irritated but didn’t want to wreck her chances. “I suppose she could have a turn. But only ONE song. She IS back up, afterall.”

He grinned. “I’m sure that will be enough for me to determine who has the greater stage presence.” The King waved them both off as he turned around. “I look forward to hearing what you girls sing.”

“I will not disappoint you,” Isabella said sweetly as King Dice walked away. Once she was certain he was out of hearing range, she turned to Patricia. "Well, I’ll let you go first dear. I wouldn’t want to put you in the position of following my act.” she said, full of confidence.

Patricia smiled. “Yes, I can only see how appropriate that is. After all, it’s beauty before age.”

“Isn’t the saying 'age before beauty’?” Marvin asked as he walked by the two women.

“Nobody asked you, Marvin!” Patricia tweeted angrily. She strutted back up to the stage and quickly chatted with the band before approaching the microphone with a sensual smile to her lips.

“How many of you boys here want to feel special tonight?” She asked before she started to croon.

____

'She has a strong stage presence, I’ll give her that…’ Isabella thought to herself hearing how the audience cheered and whistled to the bird. 'If she wasn’t such a diva wannabe, I could learn a thing or two from her…’

The sing ended and everybody broke in a applause, including herself.

Patricia blew a couple of sweet birdie kisses to the crowd, already spotting a pile of telephone numbers waiting for her on one of the watier’s trays. She flipped her tail feathers at Isabella. “Hope you fly well because there’s no way you’re reaching the bar that I just set with that”

The bat smiled at the bird, trying to show confidence. Truth was, she was starting to doubt herself.

She talked to the band and Oliver accompanied her to the microphone.

“Evening, ladies and gentlemen. Let’s hear it again for Miss Parakeet!” Isabella spoke into the microphone. Everybody started cheering again. “She’s a wonderful inspiration to us singers all around the world,” she continued talking as the applause started to fade. “And I have to thank her for giving me the chance to prove my worth here tonight. Thank you, Miss Parakeet, for trusting in me”. She sounded sincere and elicited some admiration applause from the crowd.

The music started and Isabella waited for her cue. “Trussst in meeee…” The song began and she accompanied every phrase with subtle sensual movements of her body.

The audience grew mesmerized by her enticing tone and the snake like movements she did with her body.

It was as if a spell has been placed over the crowd - a fact that did not go unnoticed by King Dice. Even he found the bat very mesmerizing indeed. It appeared Chips and Mangosteen had been on to something after all. It would almost make up for the fact that he was going to be assigning them extra shifts for having dragged him out of an important meeting for this.

Yes, a singer like this could do very well at the Casino and he started drafting up the contract in his head already

The song ended and the public broke into an applause and cheered at the new talent. Isabella thanked them and Oliver helped her back down the stage. She hoped King Dice was as pleased as the audience.

Patricia shook her head as if she was waking up from a dream and confusedly looked around. Everyone was cheering enthusiastically and she furrowed her feathered brow in confusion. How did this happen? Was she a witch?! Not a missed note nor an accidental warble. There was no way this could have been happened.

The evening continued as normal, with both singers on stage this time. The public was very pleased and the evening got very animated.

It was time for the singers to take a break and Isabella headed to the bar and ordered a glass of water with lemon. She was starting to get worried. Patricia had a talent to change tones very quickly and it was a bit hard for her to follow sometimes. She wondered if that would hurt her chances to get picked by the casino owner.

She took a sip of her drink and tried to relax. Her thoughts shifted to her deceased lover and sadness rushed in her heart like a wave. If she played her cards right, she might get him back again.

“Tonic water and lemon?” King Dice observed as he took a seat next to her, “I respect that. It’s not professional to get zozzled on the clock.”

They could hear Patricia guffaw as she sat on a table surrounded by some of the males. “Oh you’re so funny, Charlie!” She laughed, gently hitting a bloke and taking another dip of her martini.

Her ears perked at the voice of the man and she quickly recover her charming facade, showing a sweet smile. “Some people need a bit of liquid confidence.” She chuckled. “Enjoying the show so far?”

King Dice motioned for the bartender to bring him a drink. “Quite. Any chance I could borrow some of your time for a private conversation?”

She hid her enthusiasm. “Of course. If you like, we can go to the changing room backstage. To talk. In private”. She felt like she needed to clarify. Although, he did sound like a gentleman, and it had been a while since she was handle by a gentleman. Her cheeks blushed slightly, and her heat rate started to become dormant, as it has been for years.

King Dice smiled. “You sweet bunny, I ain’t no skirt chaser.” He followed her into the dressing room and took a seat. “Miss Isabella, I am the house manager for a little place at the edge of the isles called the Devil’s Casino. I’m responsible for a lot day to day tasks, special events and tournaments, as well as the entertainment. And from what I’ve seen tonight, I think you would make a good addition to our staff. Is something that would tickle your interests?”

The bat widened her smile. “Indeed it does, Mr Dice! When can I start?” She said sweetly, feeling closer to her goals.

The dice smiled and retrieved a piece of paper. “You could start this week if it so pleases you.”

He laid the paper flat on the table in front of the bat, the raised dots on the parchment indicating the braille text. “The casino doesn’t just employ anyone off the street, mind you. That Patricia bird is a very lovely doll, but she doesn’t have the right lifestyle for a position like this. We like to employ those that have more experience, maturity,” King Dice started to explain.

He pulled out a pen and held it out to the eager woman. “An employee who knows to follow the rules because they have something…or someone to lose if they don’t,” he added, still keeping a smile on his face.

Isabella heard the warnings of the casino owner, and she didn’t like what he was implying. Still, she caressed the paper sheet with the tip of her fingers and started reading the dots on it. It seemed like a standard contract.

She held the pen nervously. She was so close to get what she wanted. Not only would she work at the Devil’s Casino, but she would have easier access to the Big Boss himself. It was just a matter of time.

She signed the contract with a lovely, well calligraphed signature, and extended her arm to shake his. “Thank you very much for giving me the chance, Mr Dice. I won’t disappoint” She said sweetly.

King Dice plucked the paper away and stuck it into his breast pocket. “We look forward to having you on board. Swing by this week when you’re ready to start.”

He excused himself and left the room, leaving Isabella alone. He made eye contact with Patricia as he walked through the bar and smiled and nodded at her.

Patricia froze, not needing words to understand what had happened. But that didn’t mean she wasn’t going to use some of her own words to express HER displeasure what happened.

“Are you freakin serious?!” She shrieked, nearly making KD laugh.

Marvin went to assuage her. “Patricia, calm down.”

“She wasn’t even here for a week!”

“Trust me, I’m just as disappointed as you are. I would have loved nothing more than for you to leave as well,” Marvin admitted.

Patricia really fluffed up her feathers and pushed away some of the guys she had attracted. She went to the bar and ordered something heavy. She would make that bat if it was the last thing she did.

———————————————————————————

Cagney turned bright red and looked away awkwardly back toward the bearded bee. “So that death thing…how often does that actually happen? I don’t remember Rumor being so… violent.”

The old bee turned red as well and looked away from Amber, trying to focus on the carnation’s question. “Oh! Uh, well, she’s always been a bit intense, specially after the whole deal with the Devil. But from what I’ve heard, she’s kinda coo-coo now.”

“She’s insane….” A voice came from above the old man’s cell. It was younger bee, and he looked scared. “It was my first day as a servant, and I entered her chambers to clean up. She-she was at her desk, surrounded by books and she was so furious…It’s been three weeks since she locked me in here! I was just going to change her sheets! How is that a crime?!”

Even Cagney had to admit, that sounded a little severe for Rumor. “Oh, well, yeah I guess that’s a bit weird.” Rumor was a bit strict but he expected all members of royalty had to be like that. He jokingly thought to himself that maybe the bee had caught her doing something illicit with another bee. However, the bee royalty did seem to be on the prudish side and he doubted it. “Do we get a trial or anything?”

The old bee burst into laughter. “A trial he says! Hahaha!” He wiped his tears. “I’ve been waiting for my ‘trial’ for thirty years now, boy!”

“What!?” The younger bee exclaimed, surprised, holding onto the bars of his cell. “ But… we all have the right for a fair trial! It wont be long now ‘till I get mine.”

“Keep telling yourself that, kid. Dreaming is free… for now.”

At that moment a couple of guards flew in towards the young bee’s cage.

“Neddie Nibley, you’ve been accepted into the Royal Reforming Program of our gracious Queen Honeybottoms. You will now be escorted to your new chambers at the reformation camp.”

The little bee tried to process what they were explaining him. “Uh…w…what about my trial?” He asked confused, but the guards ignored him and cuffed him, roughly taking him out of his cell and escorting him out of the prison.

The old bee sighed and laid down on his wax bed.

Cagney had a bad feeling in his gut at this but decided to shrug it off and start wiping the honey off. Maybe once he had a chance to talk with her about this, he could clear the air. He glanced over at the cat and groaned. “For Gods sake, are you done yet?”

Amber giggled but secretly continued to scope out her jail cell as she over dramatically groomed herself. There had to be a way out. Every cell had its weakness.

After a while the female bee guard returned and stopped in front of Cagney’s cell.

“Cagney Carnation, you have been summoned by our beloved Queen Honeybottoms.” She opened the cell and signaled him to come out. “I will escort you to her office.”

The old bee looked curious.

Cagney cocked his head at her. “Uh yeah, sure. Thanks.” He followed the bee down the hallway. He realized what the guard had said as he stepped out of his cell. “Office? Don’t you mean her throne room or something?”

The guard smirked, feeling the nervousness in the flower. “I know what I said. She probably wants to kill you personally, you know, for old time’s sake.”

They passed a few doors before reaching the elevator. The guard tried not to get too close to the sticky carnation, and pressed the button for the highest floor, 127.

The elevator’s doors opened revealing a tall golden hallway decorated with columns and paintings of the past Queens. At the end, there was a beautifully carved wooden door. The guard knocked.

“My Queen, I brought you Cagney Carnation.” There was a noise at the door, as if several locks were being removed.

“Let him in, you’re dismissed.” Rumor’s severe voice could be heard through the door.

“Yes, my Queen.” The guard opened the door for the flower and as soon as he passed she closed it behind him.

Rumor’s office was round and as golden as honey could be. The floor was covered in a soft red carpet and the walls were tall, decorated with paintings and pictures of members of royalty, antiquities and other artifacts Cagney couldn’t recognize. There was only one huge window and siting in front of it, on a tasteful wooden desk, was Rumor, surrounded by towers of books and papers. There was a door on the right of the office. If Cagney had to guess, it was probably Rumor’s chambers. Her personal chambers,

The Queen lifted her eyes from the documents she was reading and looked up and down at Cagney. She didn’t show it, but she was delighted to see him, especially covered in royal jelly.

Ever since she met him in high school, Rumor had felt an attraction towards him. At first she thought it was an instinctive attraction, him being a flower and her a bee. But as years passed by, she got to know him better, and to her misfortune, she found herself falling hard for the carnation. If Hilda wasn’t around, she liked to think she might have had a chance with him.

When she had to leave high school to start her royal education, she lost touch with Cagney. Fortunately, when she was finally Queen of the hive, she immediately started a business relationship with him. Not only his flowers were exceptional quality, but that allowed her to have a perfect excuse to see him.

She cleared her throat and placed some papers back to their folder. “Why are you covered in my priceless royal jelly, Cagney?”

Cagney was really hoping she wasn’t going to ask that question, but it was kind of impossible not to expect her to do so, considering he indeed was coated in the stuff. He clasped his hands together. “Yeah, funny story about that. See, I was actually coming to see you about something totally unrelated to this. When I passed by the docks, I got into a fight. Unprovoked, by the way,” he casually explained.

“Anywhoo, one thing led to another and I threw a bitch-uh assailant at a box and we got smeared with the stuff….your majesty,” he quickly added, remembering that Rumor was a Queen after all.

It was a bit surreal to see her like this. He hadn’t really spoke with her on a personal level since high school. And when she came and offered to do business, he wasn’t exactly sure how to interact with her and ended up resorting to his normal brash gruffness. Which still landed him the contract much to his smug delight and Hilda’s bewilderment.

He waited to see if Rumor believed the story.

Rumor had to do extra effort not to smile at the flower. She found him adorable trying to talk in a politically correct way.

She raised an eyebrow, not fully believing his version of the facts, for she just read a detailed report of the situation in which they where found. And it seemed the adorable flower was the main reason of the incident. “I take it that the assailant is the cat we caught with you.” She looked back at the report. “Who is she?”

Cagney had to bite his long tongue not to blurt out the first profanity he could think of. Instead, he shrugged. “I don’t know, some cat burglar from the first isle maybe.”

“Burglar?” She couldn’t hold her smile. The cat would be a great subject for her reforming program. “I see.” She pressed her hands together. “You mentioned earlier you wanted to see me for something else. If its not urgent, I would suggest you go clean up at one of the guest chambers, and we can talk afterwards.” It sounded more like an order than a offer. She pressed a button on her desk to call service.

Cagney abruptly reached forward and put a green sticky hand on hers, physically preventing Rumor from completely pressing down the button to give the order. “Uh, actually, well it kinda is…”

The look she gave him, which he could only interpret as barely repressed lethality, made him realize that touching her at all was probably a pretty severe line to cross and retracted his hand before he could lose it.

He backpedaled especially as he saw he dripped some jelly honey on her desk. “Actually, maybe it’s not so urgent, just like a favor but you’re right i should go clean up first…”

The unexpected contact took Rumor by surprise. “How dare y~!” But she managed to keep her cool. It was obvious he didn’t know anything about protocol. And she realized she liked that.

She was tired of all those endless rules and manners that everybody had to keep in mind if they had the chance to speak to her. But Cagney didn’t know half of it. He was a wild flower. Her memories of those teenage years flew back to her mind, reviving the flame of her feelings for the carnation.

For a moment, she got lost in her thoughts and unconsciously she licked the honey from her fingers. When she realized what she was doing, she hid her hand and blushed heavily, looking at Cagney, hoping he wouldn’t make any comment about it. She cleared her throat and tried her best to keep a poker face.

“I-it seems important…we should talk about it now.” She offered him to sit with a motion of her still honey covered hand. “Don’t worry for the mess, I’ll call somebody to clean up later.”

The fact that Rumor was still willing to listen after he dripped honey all over her desk was a humongous relief. He was more wrapped up in the realization that he didn’t just screw everything up to notice her slight indiscretion. He took a seat and began to try to explain.

“So, a couple days ago, the observatory on the first isle was broken into. There was a lot of damage. The worst part is, the dome got broken. You know, the big glass lens that Hilda uses to show people planets and stuff?”

Cagney was choosing his words as carefully as he could, not wanting to indict himself further than he already had. When Rumor slightly nodded to indicate she understood, he continued. “It was insane how hard it was to even get the dome in the first place, but now we’re trying to rebuild it and we definitely don’t have the materials to do that.”

He swallowed. “I guess that brings me to why I’m here. Other than the folks at the casino, you’re the only one who has the cash to fund the observatory’s repair. And well, none of us are going back there after what happened, so I came to ask if you’d be willing to loan the money needed to fix the observatory.”

She was very quiet after this and he cleared his throat. “I don’t got a lot of collateral I admit, but I’m willing to do anything - make more pollen, clean up the mess, be nicer to the worker bees, whatever you want.”

Her eye twitched at the mention of Hilda’s name. After all this years, he was still hanging with her even though she didn’t show any signs of being interested in him. It was as if she was using him for moral boost, a simple toy to play with when ever she was bored. Rumor despised Hilda for it.

She looked at the spell books next to her with an air of satisfaction. From what Cagney was telling her, her spells might be doing their effects. Everything precious to the sky witch was crumbling in front of her, and there was nothing she could do… But Cagney! He was willing to do it for her. 'Dumb carnation! Can’t he see she’s using you!’ The bee thought to herself with an angry sigh.

When the flower finished explaining his problem and what he needed from her, she felt a knot in her throat. So that was it, he needed money to build what she tried to destroy. Looked like their relationship was bound to be a professional one, and nothing more.

Dark thoughts started to fill the Queen’s mind. If that horrible witch wanted to use Cagney for her own benefit, then why not take advantage of it? Maybe that’s what Cagney found so attractive in Hilda. She could order him around, and he would gladly obey. Well, she could give orders, what was better than a Queen in giving orders.

She hoped by forcing him to do her will, he would realize Hilda wasn’t worth the trouble and he would be free from her once and for all. She looked at the honey on her hand with a smirk. “Hmm. That is a lot of money, Cagney. I’m going to need a little more…convincing.” She slowly licked the honey at the back of her hand and looked at him to check if he understood what she was suggesting.

A sexual proposition would surely dissuade the carnation, and Hilda would have to find a new errand boy, or better yet, leave the isles.

Cagney stared blankly back at the Queen as he watched her lick her own hand. More convincing? What else could he do? He glanced around. “Did you want me to get you a towel or somethin?” He asked.

Rumor blinked unbelieving. Maybe she wasn’t being as clear as she thought. She sighed and stood up, walking sensually towards the flower and leaning on her desk. She slowly ran a finger along one of his honey covered petals.

“I meant. What arguments do you have to make me more…inclined…to give you what you need?” She sensually sucked the honey from her finger.

The flower suppressed the shiver that ran through his stem. He tried to focus on her words. Arguments? was she asking him for evidence or debating material? Wasn’t really good at that. Mostly he just yelled at something until it either went away or he threw something at it to make it go away.

He subconsciously pulled the petal she touched. “I don’t know, uh, please?” He groaned. “Shit, I didn’t really think this through,” he admitted, “Do you want like data or something? Like, how many kids go to the observatory a year something?”

He couldn’t help but have an awkward chuckle at his situation. “Probably should have gotten information like that. I kind of just hurried over here. Hell, I was such in a rush I didn’t even tell anyone where I was going, so if you want something like that, give me a few days to go back and figure it out.“

Rumor raised an eyebrow, confused, dropping her sexy act. "What do you mean? Hilda didn’t ask you to come here her behalf?”

“What? No,” he scoffed. “Hilda is way pissed off at the universe at the moment. This was my own idea… Well…not the dock thing, and again, sorry for that even though it totally wasn’t my fault.”

The bee backed a little from the flower, trying to make sense of it all. “So you’re selflessly willing to go into serious debt to help HER? Are you together?” She finally dared to ask, although she was terrified of the answer.

He remembered Hilda’s words before shaking his head. “No, we’re not. In fact, I’m the one who broke the dome…” He figured he might as well come clean with the bee. She seemed reasonable enough

Rumor couldn’t help but feel relieved by the answer, but notice the sadness in his tone and felt a bit bad for him. “I thought you said someone broke in. Did you guys argue again, like you used to?” She knew how bad tempered they both were. In high school, they would get in stupid arguments that almost always ended with something broken, or somebody, besides them, getting hurt. “Old habits die hard, uh?” She crossed her arms.

She looked at the honey covered flower imagining how amazing it would feel to jump on him right now and make him forget all about the sky witch.

Cagney grimaced. “Well, it didn’t help things that’s for sure. We did fight. And that was pretty messy. We’re back to being friends at least but yeah, nothing else. Figure the least I can do is try to fix the dome?” He asked hopefully

She frowned at him. She wondered how far was he willing to go to help that witch. “I can’t believe you’re still friends. After all your fights, I don’t think I ever saw her apologizing to you. It was always you who had to go after her.” She crossed her arms and looked at the flower serious. “You want to do business?” She smirked. “Let’s do business. I want you to triple your pollen supply.” She waited for his answer.

Cagney started to argue with her that this wasn’t always the case. “Well, I mean, sometimes Hilda does bring me…wait, t-triple my pollen delivery? Are you insane?” He realized, his eyes widening. When Rumor’s gaze didn’t break, he started to think about it. He’d pretty much have to work from sunrise to sunset nonstop. He would be burnt out in no time.

Perhaps he could ask some of the gardening students from the school for help. They had been hassling him for the chance of an internship and he had been violently rejecting the offer. He settled down. He could play nice for Hilda’s sake. “I think I could do that,” he finally nodded, “Is that it?”

The corner of the bee’s mouth twitched. It was insane for him to accept that. “So you will work three times as hard for a woman who only cares about you when somebody else is interested. That’s why you didn’t tell her you where coming here. You knew she would overreact.” She would have to push harder. “You will also repay the Royal Jelly you made me lose in public service hours.”

Cagney grit his teeth and felt them threaten to turn sharp but he exhaled quickly instead, forcing them to remain dull. He wrecked the jelly, and from what he remembered, it was something that only Rumor was capable of producing. Hence her royal status and the reason it was so expensive.

“Fine,” he grunted. “What did you have in mind for the public service?”

“Well, for starters you will clean up your mess. Including the cells you and your friend were in.” She could see how he was starting to realize her demands were being too much. She smirked at him.

Cagney realized “friend” referred to Amber and he scowled. “I’m not going to even try to take a sponge to the cat unless she takes a break on that whole licking herself thing. Who just licks themself?!” He saw her continue to smirk. “Fine. Hope that flea bag likes a hose.”

She leaned in. “For how long are you going to follow her, Cagney? She’s obviously not interested in you. Just last night, my workers saw Beppi going to Hilda’s place, and this morning they were leaving together. It doesn’t take a genius to see they spent the night together.” She paid attention to his reaction. Hopefully that would be enough to dissuade him from helping her.

He calmed down as she continued to speak about Hilda. The flower was starting to feel his resolve shake as Rumor continued to point out the glaring flaws in his relationship with Hilda. He thought back to the night of the date, where Hilda admitted she was jealous. It was only then that things progressed further, only for her to practically mock him mid coitus about the likelihood of a romantic future between them..

The thing with Beppi made him break out into a wide smile. “Now as far as Beppi goes, I actually had him go to Hilda. He’s supposed to keep her somewhat sane or at least give her some relief if she snaps and has to attack someone!” The carnation chuckled. “So unless you got something else about those two I’m not aware of, I can tackle thing that cleaning stuff!”

'Dang, that last one backfired.’ The Queen thought to herself. She couldn’t believe what he was willing to do for that manipulative bit~witch. Time to get out the big guns. She would present him with an indecent proposition. One he would definitely refuse, and the deal would be off.

She slid onto her desk, getting closer to the carnation, with a malicious smile and hungry eyes. “Well aren’t you sweet? Worrying so much for somebody who only cares about you when boredom strikes. It warms my heart.” She put a hand on her chest. “I’ll help you, Cagney., IF you can meet all my demands: triple your pollen supply, public service hours until you pay your debt, and… .” She drew closer to his face. “Satisfy me,” she almost whispered. “Make me feel the biggest, most intense orgasm of my life.” It was really hard to keep a straight face saying this, but she was confident he would run out that door as soon as he processed the info.

Cagney nodded at the first two requirements. Although they would suck, it was something he ultimately would be able to pull off. Granted, not without a lot of pent-up rage, but it was technically doable.

“How long do I have to triple…?” Rumor’s last demand hit him right in the chest and his jaw dropped. “Wait, what?! Is that a joke?” He stammered. There was no way she was serious. He looked at closer and nervously chuckled. “Y-you’re screwing with me right now, right?”

The Queen smirked at him. Her plan worked. “I guess there’s no deal then. Hilda will have to find another puppet~way! Another WAY to finance her observatory! It has been nice seeing you, Cagney. You can use the guest rooms bathroom to clean up before you leave,” she said, extending a hand, showing the door.

That puppet comment really stung and he felt a few thorns slip out. He wasn’t a puppet. This was HIS idea to make up for what he and the universe had accidentally done to destroy her life. And it’s not like Rumor wasn’t attractive or nuthin.

He could have slapped himself. No, what was he thinking?! He couldn’t do that to Hilda…could he? She would never want anything more than a friendship with him if she saw he would stoop this low to even considering sleeping with the royal Queen. It was pretty much cheating-If they actually had a relationship and a mutual attraction, he realized.

Rumor’s words made him angry, sure, but they were starting to feel true the longer she looked at him. Hilda wouldn’t have even gone as far as she did on their date night if she hadn’t been jealous of Isabella. And when they actually were having sex, the way she emphasized that this was a one-time thing, to enjoy it while he could, it made him feel kind of like a dog getting a treat for “being a good boy.”

Yet, despite all of that, he was still crushing on her. It was kind of pathetic. And one of the things he wanted most was for her to be happy…and maybe fall down the stairs of her repaired observatory while he got to watch. That would be pretty fucking funny. Plus, this might be one of the few things he would have to do that could be enjoyable, he noted, checking out Rumor’s thick but curvaceous frame.

Cagney leaned back in his chair, looking disinterested despite the fact he was freaking out. “I was just wondering if you were joking because you only wanted ONE, but I guess not. Haven’t had anyone take care of you in a while, huh?” he scoffed, trying to appear fine with this.

The Queen blushed and blinked in surprise. “E-excuse me?” As a proud Queen, she never showed weakness to the lower class, so she immediately recovered from the unexpected answer, clearing her throat.

“My personal life it’s none of your bees wax!!” She was really bothered by his comment, not because it was rude, but because it was true. It was hard to find time for that when you had a hive of incompetents to run. “And I have to warn you, I’m very hard to please!” She declared proudly. “Are you really that confident in your skills that you think you can satisfy a Queen?” She was full of royal confidence. He wasn’t talking seriously… was he? Her inner teenager secretly hoped he was.

He caught sight of her brief weakness and realized he had a shot. He grinned, his teeth a bit sharper. “Why don’t I go clean this stuff off and then you can show me how to make a bee buzz?” He said, gesturing to the royal jelly still coating his body.

Cagney was already very nice to look at, but covered in royal jelly really made the Queen melt. She felt the familiar tingling sensation between her thighs, and bit her lip to not lose it and jump on him. She had to stay strong. He was bluffing! He was in love with the blimp, he wasn’t gonna go through with this. He was obviously testing her.

She pointed at her chamber’s door on the side of the office with a shaky hand. “T-there’s a shower in my chambers…” She tried to keep her confidence but the view of the honey dripping from the carnation’s petals made it very difficult and her voice came out as shaky as her hand.

Her voice continuing to waver, spurred him on in this show of bravado. He took her hand that was pointing to her chambers, letting a few drops of honey fall on her fingers before wrapping his tongue around them and and sucking the honey off them slowly.

Only once he was done did he wink at her. “Can you show me where that is exactly?”

Rumor was as red as a tomato. The tingling feeling was now a bell sending waves all throughout her body. Her brain was no longer in control of her body and, as if it was an order, she took Cagney to her room without letting go of his hand.

To the surprise of the carnation, the room was a beautiful Arabian garden. Soft grass covered the floor, small bushes and flowers were carefully planted to create a harmony. And in the middle of the room, right in front of a gorgeous, curtain covered bed, was a fountain, set on floor level, as big as a small pond, filled with crystal water and lotus flowers.

'Cagney Carnation is in my room! OMG OMG OMG!’ Rumor’s teenage girl was yelling like a fan girl inside her head. With an even more shaky hand, she pointed at the fountain in the middle of the room to show the flower where he could clean himself.

Cagney was impressed by the state of the garden. It was beautifully well-maintained and as his leafed feet touched the soil, his petals flared happily. The city was no place for a big flower so it was indeed a welcome surprise to be brought here. There’s was only so much his body was capable of without access to the soil, but this would do just nicely for what he had in mind.

He looked eagerly at the waterfall. He was pretty dehydrated from picking fights in ports and getting arrested. He glanced at Rumor. “You planning on watching me while I wash off?”

Cagney’s question brought Rumor back from her thoughts. She let go of his hand and she shook her head. “Oh!” She thought this might just be part of his game. He knew she was bluffing so he was testing how far she was willing to go. 'Ok, the finger licking was very convincing, but he won’t dare to bath in front of me’. She thought eyeing the flower.

“This ARE my chambers, Cagney. No-one is in here unless I’m present.” She said with a bit more confidence, crossing her arms.

Cagney shrugged. “All right, fine by me.”

Considering he was already naked, he was hardly fazed when he entered the fountain in front of the Queen bee, rinsing himself. That honey stuff was sticky, but he was able to eventually scrape it off. He finished his wash, taking a long drink from the fountain, before stepping out and shaking himself dry.

He gave her a sly grin. “So, got anything you don’t want me to do? I know it might be hard to think about if you haven’t done it in forever, but just thought I’d ask.”

Although it wasn’t very sensual, the Queen still enjoyed watching him scrub the sticky substance from his sturdy stem and delicate petals, although she didn’t like at all when he dried himself like a dog, splashing her royal clothes. She wiped some drops from her face and looked at Cagney angrily. He was having a blast, she thought, humiliating her like this. She was a Queen and he acted and spoke to her like she was a nobody!

'Why do I find that so attractive?’ She couldn’t help ask herself, blushing with both embarrassment and anger at the flower’s comment.

“Very nice of you….” She replied angrily. “Number one: you will obey me. When I tell you to stop, you WILL stop. This shouldn’t be a problem, since you have a lot of practice following Miss Berg’s orders.” She grinned. Maybe she could rile him up enough to make him drop his act.

Cagney humorlessly chuckled and approached her until he was to his full height over her, prompting her to step back. “Heh, do you know why she calls me a stubborn weed?” He asked as he rooted himself. Before she could respond, he had wrapped an arm around her and drew her against his rough stem. “Because I ain’t good at following orders.” And with that, his mouth crashed against hers with a quiet growl.

Rumor buzzed her wings in surprise, trying to get out of his grip. Since she couldn’t release her arm to slap him, she kicked him on the bottom of his stem, making the flower release her mouth but not his grip. “How dare you!?” She yelled, even though she found this very arousing, “I could have you killed for this!”

Cagney hissed painfully at the unexpected kick. He glared at her and let her go. “Okay, YOUR MAJESTY,” he grumbled, “What do you want me to do?”

She rubbed her arms where Cagney held her and stepped back. Her heart was beating so hard in her chest, she never felt like this before…being handled roughly, getting a kiss stolen… Adrenaline and arousal was rushing through her body, clouding her judgment.

Still, lingering doubts continued to ebb at her and she stared at him, confused. “You really would sleep with me just to help her? Do you even like me!?”

“Of course I don-” Cagney stopped mid-speech. If he told Rumor he didn’t like her like THAT, then what would happen? That would probably crush her. She’d kick him out and then the observatory might be forever domeless. If Rumor didn’t go on a murder sting spree. So Cagney decided to rethink his previous outburst.

Rumor was hot. Flowers naturally found bees attractive, so that wasn’t the issue. Cagney decided to go with that. “Of course I don’t-wouldn’t do it for that! I like you,” he explained. Besides, he’s thought, as he waited for her response, there’s no way that Rumor actually liked him like that or something. This just had to be one of those weird royal power things monarchies did.

“Y-you do?” The bee gave him an skeptical look. “You…find me attractive?” She needed to hear it again, even if he was lying. It felt really good to hear him say it. She had waited for so long to hear him say something like that to her.

Ah, he smiled, now that one he could definitely answer (fairly) truthfully. “You’re pretty hot,” he reassured her, wrapping a leaf around her waist and drawing her close to him again to emphasize the point, “Ya know, when you’re not hitting me,” he added.

Rumor’s wings buzzed at the touch, but this time she didn’t fight back, allowing him to pull her closer. She was still unsure as she studied him. Her bee vision allowed her to see the special UV markings in his petals, inviting her to get even closer to him. This, combined with his sassy personality, made him irresistible to her. She couldn’t hold it any longer. If she didn’t do anything now, she would forever regret it.

She gently pulled his petals and kissed him passionately. “Oh, Cagney! I’ve been wanting this for sooo long!” She kept kissing him and caressed the sensitive spots on his petals.

A warning bell went off in his head at those words but he quickly theorized she was referring to sex. His mind went blank and couldn’t stifle the pleasured groan that fell from him as she petted the sensitive parts of his petals.

The bee knew exactly where to touch and very soon he found himself wriggling needfully against her. His hands stumbled, trying to find a sensitive spot on Rumor’s chest before he just ran his long tongue along the sides of her neck.

The bee moaned between his arms, surrendering completely to his touch. To help him out, she unbuttoned her striped dress, exposing her generous bosom. She pressed herself more against him, enjoying the attention the tongue was giving her, and lowering her hand to caress his stem. “What do you like about me?” She managed to ask, blushing heavily and petting his sensitive spots, as if she was trying to motivate his answer.

Cagney tried not to pant but Rumor was too determined in her attentions that the carnation could only hang his head. He realized she had partially disrobed, and quickly seized upon her chest, kneading the thick skin between his fingers. “Well, definitely this,” he lewdly purred, nipping down her neck toward her chest.

A shy smile showed in the Queen’s face. She pet his petals again while he was working his way to her chest, and noticed something sticky. “Looks like you missed a spot,” She gently pushed his head to her level and slowly licked the honey.

“Holy shit!” He exclaimed as her tongue lapped at the leftover honey on his chest. He instinctively started to wrap around her but quickly pulled back. He bit his lip trying to reset his brain and decided to play along with what Rumor had started earlier. “Now what part of this old flower do YOU find attractive?” He teased, sliding a hand down the side of her waist.

The bee smiled maliciously. “All of you!” She groaned and pushed the carnation pinning him on the grass, sitting on his very sensitive spot, her hands pressing him down on his shoulders. She rubbed against him and kissed him passionately, looking for his tongue with her own.

It was a bit strange. He had just been in this position with Hilda not even a week ago. The memory of the woman moaning on top of him sent his piece slipping out. It nudged against Rumor’s entrance as she ground against him but he wasn’t able to stick it anywhere. He desperately bucked against her but she held him down pretty well. That bee was stronger than he remembered. His eyes darted around, realizing they were on soil and his fingers started to dig into the dirt.

Rumor noticed Cagney’s eagerness to go further and she broke the kiss to quickly remove her bloomers, for she was just as eager as him. She went back to be on top of him, but when she felt the carnation’s piece poking at her entrance, she stopped.

She had waited for this moment for so long, she wanted to savor every second of it. She looked directly into the flower’s eyes, radiant with confidence, and gave him a mischievous smile while she slowly allowed his entrance inside her. She moaned softly at the sensation, delighting herself at the expression of the flower underneath her. Finally, he was hers.

The flower really dug his fingers into the ground as his piece was surrounded by her tight, hot womanhood. He never stuck his dick in a warm honeycomb before, but he imagined it would feel just like this. His tongue lolled out as he groaned and squirmed, “Hil-holy shit,” he finally managed, nearly blurting out something else instead. “Rumor, you’re so tight!” He panted.

She bit her lip and kept grinding him very softly, letting him reach the bottom of her honeycomb before pulling him away from it. She leaned over Cagney and used her tongue to play with his, tasting his sweet flowery saliva, ending in a wet, sensual kiss.

It was one thing to roughly kiss, it was another to do it sensually. Cagney wasn’t sure what Rumor’s sexual history had been, but her kissing was almost seeming like that of a lover and not that of one needing a rough screw. She kept teasing him below, never letting him remain hilted for more than a few seconds at a time. Her dangling her sex just above his tip, leaving him to go nearly crazy trying to put some friction on his piece once more – it was too much.

He could feel himself wanting to grow and take control, but he remembered what happened when he tried to do that in the beginning, so he let Rumor set the pace.

Gradually, she ended the kiss. She stopped grinding him and fully sat upon on him again, feeling his manhood reaching that particular extra sensitive spot, and releasing a moan of pleasure. She then moved up and down his piece, still taking her time, caressing his chest and enjoying every single one of his groans. “Do you like it like this?” She asked, softly.

He almost didn’t hear her gentle, quiet question. “Yeah, this feels pretty good, but I thought you said that you wanted ME to give you the best orgasm of your life?” One of his vines had sprouted from the dirt and slowly curled around her waist.

“Alright,” she moaned, deciding to follow his game, “show me what you can do.“ She smiled, pulling him almost out of her, but she kept playing with the tip, letting it inside and out very gently while caressing the flower’s vine around her.

Cagney grinned maliciously as she granted him permission. "Good to hear,” he chuckled, clenching his fingers. The other vines that have been quietly growing underground broke through the soil and seized Rumor, pinning her arms to her sides. Before the bee could react, she was jerked up into the air off of Cagney until she was suspended slightly above his level. The vines around her arms continued to grow, fondling the tips of her breasts as more began to press and remove whatever clothes were left on the bee.

Rumor gasped, surprised by Cagney’s sudden movements. She instinctively buzzed her wings to release herself, but the vines got her tied up real neatly and in a matter of seconds, she was completely immobilized in the air. She blushed heavily, embarrassed of being handled like a fly on a spider web, fully naked in front of her high school crush.

The carnation smirked and closed the gap between them once more. Before she could protest, he wet one of his long fingers and inserted it inside her, massaging and fingering her inner folds and playing with her clitoris with his thumb.

This should be humiliating for her, for no-one has ever dared to treat her with nothing else but full respect and submission to her. However, she couldn’t help but feel excited about it, especially since it was Cagney doing all these things to her. She moaned softly at the carnation’s gentle touches.

The fact that the Queen bee was moaning and not trying to actively murder him was a good sign. He removed his finger only to stick in two this time. He scissored them inside of her and kissed her again, savoring her the taste.

The Queen was living a dream. How many times had she fantasized about being this intimate with Cagney Carnation? Way, WAY too many. When he kissed her, savoring her mouth, while fingering her, she returned the gesture making the kissing more intense. If this was another dream, she never wanted to wake up.

There was something very alluring about Rumor. Maybe it was because she was a bee and there was that natural attraction between flowers and bees. He could only imagine it would be even more pronounced due to her being a Queen. Whatever it was, it was intoxicating and he lifted her higher into the air, removing both of his fingers. His tongue darted out and started circling the sensitive flesh before plunging in and wriggling inside her, stroking and poking all the sensitive spots

She groaned softly as he lifted her up, sorry for breaking the kiss, but immediately recovered at the feeling of the flower’s tongue filling her very wet womanhood. “Oh my God, Cagney! W-what are you doing to me?” She blushed and panted heavily, enjoying every wave of pleasure that the carnation’s oral stimulation was providing for her.

Cagney drank heavily of her essence, pulling her thick body against his mouth so he could reach deep inside. He shut his eyes, blissfully taking in his partner. He ran his hands along her sides, continuing to press needfully into them, imagining if he continued to rub down, he could pull apart her thin pink legs…

Wait, no. Rumor wasn’t pink. Where did that come from? His mind started to clear as he remembered a few bits until Rumor panted his name. At the sound of his name, he could feel his penis twitch and ache. He lost focus as he spotted the bed and his hormones spurred him forward. He carried his insect companion to the bed before releasing her, dropping her on back on her bed.

He loomed over her. “Are you ready?”

Rumor was absolutely delirious, such boldness in his actions and yet, so tender, so intense! Her entire body was burning her, asking for more of the sweet touches of the flower. For her, this was more than just a natural attraction. This had to be love, or at least something really close to it.

She was panting heavily when Cagney asked her the question. She nodded and spread her legs to accommodate him.

Cagney pressed down on her and slid his piece inside her in one smooth motion. He lewdly groaned as he began to pump into her, slowly at first. He badly needed the friction. He was so pent up from…from…huh, why was he so pent up? He tried to shoo the thought away as he concentrated on screwing his companion. He shut his eyes again, increasing his speed, listening to her squealing for more.

He ran his lips along where her ears would be, hoping to catch the scent of rain but it was only an overpowering sickly sweet small that invaded his nostrils and made his mind all muddled. God, how long had he wanted to satisfy the stubborn woman? He leaned down and lavished kisses against her neck and her breasts which were no longer covered up by her red dress. Every moan sent a thrill up his stem.

He could feel his vines wrapping around her wrists, pinning her down. He was confused to find the wrists bare. Where were her bangles? Didn’t she always wear bangles? She wore the bangles the last time they were in this position. Yes he was sure of it. He saw the glint of them, even with Hilda goading him on as he made love to her.

His eyes shot open and looked down. This was not Hilda. This was Rumor. Oh my God, what was he doing? Her bee pheromones tickled his senses and he tried to resist. Mentally, at least. Physically he was still plunging deep within the squealing member of royalty, twisting and pulling at her chest.

Hilda, Hilda would be crushed by this? Right? It was so hard to think. He could remember her words that night, telling him they would return to being friends, so this should be fine, right? Why did he suddenly feel so guilty? And why did he keep hoping that when he shut his eyes again, he would open them to the vision of his feisty best friend calling out for him?

He was doing this for her. For Hilda. To fix everything and oh holy crap, Rumor knew exactly where to touch. He stifled a squeal of his own and increased his speed, his libido fighting whatever conscious thought he still possessed.

“Ah! Yes, Cagney! Oh please, give me more!” Rumor groaned out loud moving her hips to accompany his thrusting. This was amazing for her, the pleasure she got from all the roughness, being tied up in her royal bed, as he had his way with her! And those beautiful petals brushing against her skin, sending chills to her boiling body.

The closer she drew to her orgasm, the deeper she let the carnation go. Her voice increased in pitch, the deeper he plunged. This was even better than what she ever could ever imagine. She didn’t want to ever be apart from him.

Cagney could feel himself reaching his limits and with that, all his frustrating and complicated feelings about this situation were driving him insane. He swore he was with Hilda one minute and the next with Rumor. And every time it switched back to the bee, he couldn’t help but feel a deep sense of bitterness at that, despite reminding himself that was all okay. His body was certainly fine with it and he continued to moan and pant lewdly with each stroke. No wonder flowers spoke almost religiously about their sexual experiences with a bee. It was incredible!!

But when it changed to Hilda, it was an emotional euphoria. He didn’t care about trying to fix the dome, nor catching the dragon anymore. He just wanted to grab the small woman tightly and never let her go. With this was all over, he’d take her on a real date, under the stars where they could just be alone. No one for her to be jealous of, just them so he could finally ask her how she really felt.

He felt the woman underneath him let out a particularly throaty cry and her vaginal walls clamped down on him, blowing his mind with how good everything felt. The muscle contractions sent the emotional carnation over the edge and he moaned out the woman’s name as he spilled his load into Rumor. A sense of immense relief and gratification filled the flower and he could have collapsed in delicious satisfaction if he wasn’t holding himself up. In fact, it would have been perfect, so perfect except for one tiny little detail…

The name he called out didn’t belong to Rumor.

Rumor looked at the carnation with wide eyes, not able to believe what just happen….

The next thing he knew, Cagney was violently thrown back to the cage by a group of guard bees, with a bucket of soaped water and a sponge.

“And after you’re done here, you will take care of your sticky friend there.” The guard bee pointed at Amber as he locked the cage and left.

The old bee looked curious at the confused flower. “Hehe, I see you’ve reached an understanding.” He chuckled.

Amber made direct eye contact with the old bee as she licked her inner thigh, forcing him to look away. She stopped licking and looked over at the bewildered flower. “If you try to even get anywhere close to me with that bucket of water, you’re dead.” She sniffed the air. “…and why the hell do you smell like sex?“

Cagney groaned and buried his head.

—————————————

Rumor was sitting on her bed facing the fountain. Still in that bitter afterglow from her climax. Her eyes were glassy and she had to do a huge effort not to let the tears fall.

He was in love with that blimp, and there was nothing she could do about it.

… Or was there?

She reached for her spellbook at her desk and started looking for more deadlier curses to throw at the sky witch. And maybe a little something to help clear the carnation’s mind and allow him to see that the one for him, was the Queen bee.

—————————————

After making sure there was nothing else they could recover from the observatory’s destroyed exposition room, Hilda decided it was time to clear the place. And for that, she had to go to the city’s junkyard.

Dr. Kahl, Inkwell’s mad scientist, was the owner. He had bought the place to guarantee access to materials and have all the space he needed for his crazy inventions, such as giant robots with a particular taste for bubblegum.

The scientist was usually friendly (in a creepy way sometimes). There was only one individual that could set the doctor off and that would be his rival, Werner Werman. The rat mechanic always tried to sneak into the junkyard to get free materials for his weapons and machines, and Kahl always tried to prevent him from doing so by inventing creative and deadly traps.

Today it looked like Dr Kahl was having a nice day. When Hilda and Beppi landed near him, they could hear him chuckle and rubbing his hands excited. "Hi, Dr Kahl! Is this a good time?” Hilda asked, making the cloud disappeared before the clown could get off, making him fall with a thud.

“Oh! Ja! You’re chust in time to zee mein latest creazion!” The scientist pulled out a remote control in his hands. Hilda stared raising an eyebrow, hoping that her expression would let him know she needed more explaining.

“It’s a trap! Zat rat vill haffe no chance next time he decites to schow his filthy tail arround my bropriety!” . The doctor clarified. He pressed some controls and a chihuahua shaped robot dog walked towards them.

“BARK, BARK. IM ROBODOG 0.1. I AM PROTECTOR OF DR Kahl’S JUNKYARD. IDENTIFY YOURSELVES, OR YOU WILL BE OBLITERATED. BARK BARK.”

Hilda looked at it skeptical and a bit scared that it might actually blow in their faces, for it kept making a buzzing noise, as if something wasn’t connected right inside. “That is… something. Uh, it’s not gonna kill us though…right? You have the remote? Doctor?” The dog deployed a gun from its tiny back.

“BARK, BARK. IM ROBODOG 0.1. I AM PROTECTOR OF DR Kahl’S JUNKYARD. IDENTIFY YOURSELVES, OR YOU WILL BE OBLITERATED. BARK BARK.”

“Don’t vorry! I kot zis!” Kahl started to press buttons trying to find the right combination to make it stop.

Beppi whistled and slowly backed up, gently tugging Hilda along with him. “I’m sure it’s going to be fine.” Hilda looked at him. “Probably.”

“Vat a joke!”

The bosses all jumped at the sound of clunky metallic crunching. Werner Werman, the scrap metal progeny, marched toward them proudly. He was followed closely by a large metallic cat. He looked at the dog and laughed.

“Ha! You zink your zecond rate hunk of mismatched vires und lasy zoltering is not effen vorth to look ubon mein ovn masderbiece. Arh ! PattleCat 0.2!” He announced, gesturing to the large, very deadly robotic cat.

Beppi continued to whistle and hide behind Hilda.

“Ha! You und your zilly opzezion vith giant cats!” Dr Kahl laughed. “Is not zee zise dat matders is vat you can do vith it dat’s imbortant!”

“Weeell… they all say that….” Hilda chuckled remembering Cagney last sleep over.

Dr Kahl didn’t pay attention to the woman or the clown, and pressed a big red button in his remote. “Ropotog 0.1! Schow dis apominazion of a cat vat you can do! Inidiate brodocol 'Get out of mein broperty’!”

The mini dog started to vibrate violently and the gun on its back returned to its place. The sound of an engine came from the little robot’s rear, and with a huge flame, it rocketed towards the cat.

Werner lit his cigar and pressed his button. “Pattle Cat! Initiate brodocol 'Broof of mein Zuberior Intellect, you hack!’” The rat saluted the cat as the tail turned into a rocket and the robot launched itself toward the dog.

The two mechanical monsters collided with each other, both openly firing weapons as the scientists shouted commands with their very thick German accents. Ammunition ricocheted off the various objects in the scrap yard. Sprockets and springs flew in all directions.

Beppi very slowly shoveled popcorn into his mouth while he watched the battle, offering some to Hilda who just seemed equally stunned or annoyed. It was hard to tell with Hilda sometimes.

The woman smiled and took some of the popcorn the clown was offering her without looking away.

It didn’t take long for the fight to escalate causing a fire to start from an exposed wire. A few more punches and with a colorful explosion, the robots where completely destroyed.

“Nein! Robodog 0.1! You killed it! You filthy, yunk schtealing rat!” The scientist threw the remote aiming for Werner’s head.

The remote clunked the rat on the helmet and Werner turned on the scientist, equally indignant. “Pattlecat vas ein marffel of science und your clunky mechanical mongrel ruined it!” He chucked the remote at Dr. Kahl. It hit the ground and shattering into a bunch of pieces at his feet, leading the rat to yell angrily and charge the scientist with a flurry of swears.

The doctor did the same as his rival and charged waving his fist hoping to hit the rat. Hilda couldn’t help but chuckle at some of the German insults she understood.

“Five more minutes and then we should probably do something before they actually hurt eachother.” The woman said to Beppi, eating more popcorn.

“I really wish I was selling tickets,” Beppi sighed.

The scientists had resorted to flimsily slapping at each other, their limited physical prowess not allowing them to actually land any effective blows on each other.

It was a few more minutes before Beppi showed Hilda an empty bag. “Ran out of popcorn. Think we should stop them?”

“Yeah… I guess….” She sighed getting close to the men. “Alright! Alright! You’re both beautiful ladies, now break it off!” She got between them and easily pushed them from each other, making them stumble and almost fell down. “Oops! Sorry.” She apologized.

“Ouch! Miss Berg! No need to get fiolent!” Dr Kahl rubbed his chest where she pushed him. Hilda rolled rolled her eyes.

“Ja! Ve are chust haffing ein intelligent discuzion!” Werner whined.

Beppi grinned. “I know, right? She can be quite a handful these days!”

“Oh! You bunch of sissies… .” She crossed her arms. “And YOU….” She said looking at Beppi. “If I’m such a handful, you’re more than welcome to go back to your circus!”

Beppi shook his head. “Nah, this is way more fun! Hanging out with a woman like you can really make a clown’s balloon pop, if you know what I mean.”

“Vat does he mean?” Werner asked, cocking his head.

Hilda’s eye twitched in disgust for the clown’s comment, and decided not to ask what he actually meant.

“Don’t mind him! I’m here cause I need to get rid of some debris at my observatory. Are… any of you free this week to come pick it up?”

Dr Kahl rubbed his hands anxiously. “Uh! Vhat kind of debree are ve tahlkin about? Old delescopes? Avstral measurements ardifacs?”

“Yeah…” she replied a bit sad. “All that and some big rocks.”

“Uuuh!!!” Kahl tried hard to contain his happiness.

Werner shoved Dr. Kahl aside and cleared his throat. “Hilda, pleaze bermit me zee honor of helbing you manage und clean up your opzerffadory! Dr. Kahl here vouldn’t know zee first zing apout astronomical deffices!” The rat boasted.

Beppi slowly pulled out another bag of popcorn.

Hilda rubbed her chin feeling an idea forming inside her head. At that second, her cap lit up like a  light bulb.

“What the~?” She gasped turning around. Beppi had pulled an imaginary cord, as if he was turning on a lamp. Hilda rolled her eyes and pushed him away, her cap turning back off. “Well, I guess I’ll have to pick one of you, huh? If only there was a way to see who’s the best for the job….”

Kahl’s eyes shined, he adjusted his googles. “If you chooze me I’ll giffe you ein 50% discount!”

“His zerffices aren’t effen vorth zat much. Arh ! Chooze me und I vill help you repuild zee opzerffadory valls!” Werner protested.

Beppi nudged Hilda. “Are we bidding or are they bidding?”

Hilda smiled at the clown and gave him a knowing look before returning to the scientist. “Wow! Werner, that’’s an offer really hard to deny….” She look at Dr Kahl waiting for his offer.

The doctor looked nervous. “oh! Uh… I’ll… I… Uh… I von’t only help you repuild it, I’ll get you ein new telescobe! Ein more boverful one!”

Hilda open her eyes wide. “Wow! Really? Those things are expensive….”

“Ja, ja! Don’t worry! I can build one.” Kahl said confident, glancing at his rival over the shoulder.

Werner glared at the scientist. “Ja, ja zat’s all vell und kood put how do you blan to atdach zee combonent to sdudy zee cosmic lights?! You vould need at least tvo beople of intelligence to effen azemple zee biece much less atdach it!”

Kahl cleaned his glasses, mumbling something to himself. He hated it to admit it, but his rival was right, it did required intelligent people to build such a precision instrument.

Hilda noticed the doctor hesitate and decided to give it a little push. “Well, Dr. Kahl, do you know any 'intelligent berson’ that might be able to help you?” She mocked a bit, mimicking Werman’s accent.

The professor put his glasses back on and crossed his arms. “Hm… zee only mind dat bearly gets cloze to mine… is zis rat here. Arh ! Put I refuze to vork vith him !” He immediately added.

“Aw… that’s too bad… so I guess the best offer is Mr Wermer’s, then.” Hilda extended her hand to shake Werner and close the deal, but Dr. Kahl jumped between them.

“NEIN! Nein! Vait! I… eh… we… argh!” He turned to the rat. “I bropose a truse, rat… vork togeder and split the brofits.. and den back to distroy each odher.”

Hilda smirked discreetly.

Werner huffed. “I zuboze, put only to vork tovard ein common interest. Arh ! Put afdervards, svorn enemies! Understand?” The rat held out a hand only to withdraw it quickly and remove the shocking trap that was attached to the underside of his paw. “Zorry, zorry, force of hapit,” he grumbled. He held out his hand again. “Deal?”

The doctor frowned and looked at his hand untrusting for a second, but finally , he shook it. “Deal.”

“Great! So, you will get rid of the debris, knock of 50% of the price, and get me a brand new telescope for free.” She recapitulated with a big smile. “You guys are hired! When can you start?”

"I can pe zere tomorrow. 10am,” Werner bragged.

“Oh, great! I’ll b~.”

“I’ll be dhere at 9!” Dr Kahl said looking at Werner as if he wasn’t done fighting yet, interrupting Hilda

Beppi clapped his hands. “That sounds-!”

“Nein!” Werner paused. “Eh, wait, I’ll be dhere at 8:30!”

“Uh….” Hilda look at them, starting to get a bit worried.

“I’ll ve dhere at 8!” Dr Kahl yelled facing the mechanic.

“Ok! You guys… just… be there at 9:15! There. Nobody wins.” She said, hoping to settle the matter with a stomp of her foot. At that moment, moved by a strong wind, a small cog started roll down one of the junk mountains around them, creating a domino effect ending into a huge ball of mechanical junk about to crash Hilda.

An exclamation mark appeared over the clown’s head at the sound of something crunching. He spotted the pile of junk precariously falling toward an exasperated but unaware Hilda. Before the pile could crush her, he tackled the irate woman out of the way.

Everything hit the ground with a loud smash, sending parts and pieces flying everywhere. Werner and Kahl stopped arguing and stared in complete surprise.

“Scheisse! Fraulein! Idiot! Are you okay?” Werner yelled, scurrying over.

It took a minute for Hilda to realize what just happened as she shook her head on the floor. But when she did, her reaction was quick. “Oh my God! BEPPI!?” She immediately ran towards the pile of junk, turning into Sagittarius and lifting the heavy scraps.

With a gasp, Dr Kahl quickly reached for another remote from his lab coat and seconds later a few human size robots got close to them and begun to help Hilda remove the junk.

“Beppi! Zay somedhing!” The doctor started calling while helping everyone.

More of the debris was lifted and lying on the ground relatively unharmed looking was a halfway covered Beppi. He shook his head a bit disoriented and blinked as he looked up at the other bosses. “Oh hey guys! Did you like my smashing rescue?”

As of the last of the debris was lifted, the group’s faces went from relieved to shocked. Beppi raised an eyebrow. “What? You don’t like my junky jokes?”

Werner pointed. “Your legs, Beppi, they’re gone!”

The clown turned his head around to see his legs completely deflated. “Huh.” He nudged the astounded rat. “See? Whaddya I tell ya? Women like Hilda really make my balloon pop!”

Hilda returned to her normal form and gasped. “Oh my God, Beppi! I-I’m so sorry! Your legs! Can you move them?” Even though Beppi wasn’t always the best company, she cared about him enough to worry. Plus, he just saved her!

Beppi made an attempt to move and shook his head. “Nope! Better tie a string to me before I accidenally float away!” He lamented, sitting up and holding a deflated foot sadly.

Dr Kahl looked thoughtfully at the collapsed mountain. “Dhis is very odd… I allvays make sure to keep my mountains sturdy prezicely to prevent dhis.” He turned angry at Werner and poked his chest. “Is dhis your doing?”

Werner narrowed his eyes. “Mein fault?! Your schoddy sdacking apilities are to plame for zis! You could haffe crusched us all, you girnverweigerer!” The rat argued, slapping away the finger and shaking a fist at the scientist.

Hilda raised an eyebrow and looked at her amulet ring. Could it be that she was actually cursed and the ring prevented her from getting harmed? Nah, she was just reading into things. This was a junk yard with skyscrapers of debris. Of course it was only a matter of time before something like this could have happened.

The woman rolled her eyes hearing the inventors starting to argue again. She cast a cloud and helped the clown to get on it. “I’ll take you to the hospit-wait! You don’t have bones….” She looked at his deflated legs, feeling very guilty. “How are you supposed to recover? Like, should I get an air pump? I have one at home.”

——

“Clowns are very special creatures!” Beppi explained as he finished wiggling up on her couch. “They thrive on happy, positive emotions like laughter and love! That’s why you always see them at circuses! All that togetherness keeps them healthy as a horse!”

“I’d normally just go to the circus and get better but I can’t go looking like this! I’d SCARE everyone. That type of negative energy could kill me!” Beppi explained, hanging his head sadly. “I’m afraid I’m stuck like this unless someone starts treating with me lots of love and kindness…”

'He’s gonna die for sure’ Taurus voice echoed in Hilda’s head, making her smile.

“I see…well…I’ll do my best then.” She accommodated some more pillows around him. “You wan’t a nice cup of tea? hot coco?” She tried to sound nicer that usual.

Beppi brightened up. “You know what would really brighten my buttons? If you sat next to me for a bit!” He exclaimed, clapping his hands together. “Maybe being close to someone as nice as you would make me feel better in no time!”

The woman skeptical look at the clown and crossed her arms. “Argh… fine.” She finally accepted and sat carefully next to him. “But I warn you! No funny business.”

“Not even a knock-knock joke?” He asked hopefully. The look she gave him made him sigh.

“Oh alright. How about some serious business?” The clown faced her and batted long eyelashes at her. “Have you ever been in love before?” He dreaming asked.

“What!? N-no… never… no-one is good enough for me.” She crossed her arms and avoided the clown’s eyes. She could hear Gemini giggling.

The woman blushed.

Beppi gasped loudly. “No one?! Never?! That’s terrible! Ohhh, I feel myself getting weaker just thinking about it!” He moaned, starting to sink into the couch.

“Wha-!? Nononono!” She tried to sit him up normally again. “Fine! I’m in love! Just don’t die on my couch!” She opened her eyes widely, realizing what she just said. “I mean I’ve BEEN in love, I’m not in love right now!” She kept turning into a deeper shade of red. Gemini was having a lot of fun. “I was in love, and now I’m not.” She felt like she had to clarify further.

Beppi wiped his brow, “Whew! That was a close one! Thought I saw my life flashing before my eyes there!” He wrapped his arms around Hilda in a gentle hug and pressed his face against her shoulder. “Tell me how you two met! Was it magical? Were there birds singing and flowers blooming?”

Hilda didn’t appreciate the hug, but she felt compelled to indulge him after he saved her from getting smashed. She sighed. “Yes to all that. It was sunny, and flowers were blooming too. Happiest moment in my life.” She truly hoped her answer would satisfy the clown.

She did, however, started thinking about her feelings for Cagney. What was going on between them?  Was it simple sexual tension build up or was it something more?

Beppi nestled in closer. “Oh that makes me feel much better. But why aren’t you two together still?”

Hilda got lost in her thoughts and actually answered the clown sincerely. “Because it’s weird! We’ve been together since we were kids and, well, we know everything about each other, the good and the bad! We know how to get on each others’ nerves.” She chuckled. “We always have a good time together, even when we fight.“ She made a pause there. It felt good to say all this out loud, but she quickly realized she wasn’t alone with her twelve constellations. "But like a said! I’m not in love, I used to be, and the feeling is gone and…” She stood up nervously. “I’m gonna make some tea, you want some tea? I’m gonna make tea.”

Beppi was a bit surprised by the honest answer and let her get up without realizing he had done so until she was standing and offering him tea. Oh well. Time to make the best out of losing his cautionary cuddle companion. “That sounds nice! Can I have a lot sugar in mine, pretty please? And anything else sweet you have!” Beppi asked.

“Sure!” Hilda quickly walked to the kitchen and prepared the pot to heat the water. She reached to the closet to pick up the sugar and honey, but she couldn’t reach for the second item. She remembered the last one to use it was Cagney, and she rolled her eyes with a smile, reaching for a chair.

Cagney always took opportunities to make fun her, even when he wasn’t there. One of his favorite ways was to put her stuff in high places to make fun of her height, making her realize that, without her powers or furniture to climb on, she was just a tiny person. He found that adorably hilarious to imagine a great sky witch asking for help anytime she needed to reach for something.

“I bet he even closed the lid tighter, that dumb dandelion,” she chuckled, reaching for the jar. She stopped a second to see Rumor’s picture on the honey jar. Some memories started to pop in her mind.

One in particular made her cringe: the prom. They weren’t the best gal pals, but they got along, until prom night. Rumor somehow convinced Cagney to go with her, but when he found out that Hilda was stood up by her date, he competently forgot about Rumor and spent the rest of the evening focusing on Hilda. The evening ended with Rumor going home early and them continuing the party under the stars.

Rumor was obviously furious, but not with Cagney. No, she was very bitter toward Hilda. The bee had mentioned that Hilda was the one brainwashing the flower by teasing him and pulling his heart strings. This made her think. Was she really manipulating him?

She shook her head to clear her head and prepared the tea. Minutes later, she went back to Beppi and served him a cup of raspberry tea. “This is all I got.” She said, showing him the sweet products.

Beppi squealed happily at the selection of sweet things. “Oh this is perfect! You have the sugar and the milk and …milk.” He stopped himself from saying the last item she brought. He saw Rumor’s picture on the honey jar and remembered Cagney’s words about it. He had to be subtle.

So he picked up the bottle and chucked it out the window with a squeal.

“What the hell!?” Hilda yelled. “What are you doing!?” She frowned.

“Reducing the negativity in the room?” He suggested.

“Wha-?” She looked at him confused. She started to wonder if he could read minds or something. “What are you talking about?” She asked, leaving her trembling cup on the table. She was getting nervous.

Beppi waved his hands. “I can’t talk about it. Tooooo much stress and bad juu juu if I even think about you and Rumor!”

Hilda shrugged. “That was a long time ago. We’re grown ups now. She probably forgot all about it with her responsibilities and all.” She crossed her arms to better hold her shaky hands, but her foot kept tapping on the floor.

Beppi pretended not to care but he was grateful Hilda was uncomfortable even discussing it. Keeping Hilda away from the third isle was easier than he thought. He held her one more time. “Are you cold? Hugs are the best for keeping warm and healing clowns!” He declared.

She grunted and hugged the clown back. “You better get well soon.” She kept thinking about Rumor. She knew Cagney was still in touch with her because of the pollen business, so maybe he could arrange some sort of reunion and she could have the chance to clear the air with the bee. Also, it was a great excuse to talk to Cagney.

Beppi started to play with her shirt from behind. “So, who’s taking first watch for the dragon?”

Feeling the clown playing with her shirt made the woman think he wasn’t as injured as she thought. “I’ll take first shift.” She pushed him away roughly. “And you better keep your hands to yourself if you don’t want to loose your hands too.” She looked at him threateningly.

Beppi actually looked saddened by that only to break into a sly smile. “Oh. I’m sorry! It’s just the material of your outfit reminds me of the circus tent!” He yawned. “Wellllll, if you insist on first shift, I guess I should just get some shut eye! I’ve had a crazy last few days after all!” He tucked himself, flopping his deflated legs over himself. “Crystal dragons, crazy carnations, angry genies and magic churros take a lot out of clown.”

———————————————————————————

“I… I don’t kn~.” Cagney pinned her down on a soft bed. She gasped in surprise as she felt him rubbing against her body.

“Is this what you want?” He asked again, grinning and with lust in his eyes. Hilda’s back arched as she felt him penetrate her roughly and released a moan of both pain and pleasure.

“Wh- what do YOU want?”  She managed to say between the hard thrusts Cagney was inflicting upon her.

The flower started to pull vines around the bed and started to entangle around Hilda’s body. She felt the vines getting tighter on her chest. She started to suffocate. She couldn’t speak or yell.

Cagney transformed into a terrifying mix of his monstrous self and the crystal dragon. He came face to face to her, and with a deep horrifying voice, he whispered.

“I don’t want to see you again.”

The need for air woke Hilda from her nightmare with a startled shriek. She remained still in her bed, laying on her side for a moment, recovering her breath. She felt something tight in her chest. She look down to see Beppi’s arm wrapped around her - the clown was spooning her.

She looked horrified at him, as he slept sweetly with a teddy bear between them, sucking his thumb. “GET THE FUCK OFF ME!” She yelled, violently pushing the clown off the bed.

“Miss Beeerg!?” She heard a child’s voice calling her. “Mis Beerg! You ok?” She recognized it was Mina. She must have seen the mess at the observatory.

Beppi hit the ground with a thud and a whine. “Honey, not now, I have a headache,” He groaned, sitting up and rubbing his eyes, still hugging the teddy bear in his other hand. He looked to see an irritated, yet distracted Hilda and sidled back up to her. “Looks like you woke up the kids,” he teased. He patted her on head. “Don’t worry, I’ll go get it for you!”

Beppi planted an overdramatic kiss to her cheek before hopping off the bed and running to open the door first before the zeppelin woman could recover.

Hilda stayed on her bed, unbelieving the clown’s boldness to treat her like that. This was already turning out to be a horrible day.  

—

Mina and Harvey knocked a few more times, paying attention to any sound that came from inside the house.

“You think she’s ok?” The little bat asked worried. They had seen the damage from the observatory from a far and she was understandably worried about the woman.

“She’s really tough,” Harvey pointed out, “for all we know she might actually be the one who broke the roof. She’s done it before.”

The door swung open and Beppi stood there, manic grin already on his face. “Hello there, children!!!” He exclaimed grabbing the two kids and dragging them inside. “I’m about to make pancakes!”

The kids yelled, terrified and tried to escape the clown’s grip. Hilda was alarmed by the shouting and ran down stairs. “Beppi! What the hell are you doing!?”

“He’s gonna kill us!” Mina yelled, clawing at the clown.

Beppi plopped the children at the table. “I’m making pancakes!”

Harvey panickedly looked toward the kitchen. “Made with flour and not children, right?”

“Wellllll I do have a special ingredient that I like to put in the batter. It makes the children really scream.” The horrified faces of the kids left him delighted. “It’s chocolate chips,” he added with a wink.

“Sorry about Beppi,” Hilda started to prepare some tea. “He can be a bit… intense.”

The kids exchanged confused looks but remained at the table. “If you’re not here to kill us… what are you doing here? Did you destroy the observatory too?“ The little b-cat asked the clown, still a bit scared.

Beppi had started making pancakes as Hilda apologized. But at the little bat’s question, he started to giggle again.

"No, no. Hilda and I just had a sleepover is all. I’m here dragon hunting!” He explained.

Harvey paled. “You’re not hunting Grim, right?”

“Nah, that would be too easy. I’m hunting the dragon from the other night. The one you blew up with a churro.”

Harvey gasped. “You mean it is still around?”

Beppi finished making the pancakes in the shape of circus animals and plopped them on the table. “Well not now, but Cagn-eh, I’ve got good knowledge that it might be lurking around this isle.”

Hilda’s eyes twitched at the comment of the clown. Harvey would certainly tell his mom all this, and it would be a matter of hours before the whole isles knew about Beppi’s sleepover.  

"Heheh! Yeah! Eh… don’t tell anyone though. It’s a secret mission!” She tried to persuade the kids, serving them more pancakes onto their plates. “If the dragon finds out there’s a hunter hiding in here, he won’t come back at all!”

“Ficrwept mifion!” Mina said with her mouth already full of pancakes. She swallowed with a noisy gulp. “How can we help?!” She said, excited. This would be a great chapter in her adventure journal.

Beppi whistled. “Wellllll, it’d be nice if we could get Hilda’s tower rebuilt so I could have a higher spot for looking out…but I’d also settle for both of you two keeping a lookout if you see something weird.”

Mina looked at the pancakes and an idea popped in her head.

“We can sell cookies! Like the girl scouts.” She said excited, looking at Harvey for his approval.

Harvey’s ears perked up. “Yeah! We can use my mom’s kitchen and we can go set up in places with a lot of people.”

Beppi waved his hand. “Feel free to use the circus. I’m sure they’ve swept up all the glass by this point.”

Mina yelled of happiness and excitement. “We will make money in no time! But we’re going to need help. We should call Spike!”

While the kids talked, Hilda sipped her tea, thinking that it was actually a good idea. Maybe she should talk to the school principal and make a whole event out of it.

Harvey nodded excitedly. “This is a really good idea!” Hopefully Spike wouldn’t try to bully them but it seemed for now there was at least an okay truce between them.

After eating a bunch of pancakes, the kids decided it was time to leave.

“The sooner we start baking, the sooner we’ll get the money! Don’t worry, Miss Berg! We will help you rebuild your observatory!” Mina said, walking towards the door and waving goodbye.

The sky witch’s heart melted at the kids’ enthusiasm to help her out. Maybe she wouldn’t have to leave after all. “Thank you, kids. I’ll take all the help I can get.”

The kids left in a hurry, heading to Spike’s house.

Hilda eyed one of the pancakes and tried one. “Hmm! This is pretty good, Beppi! I didn’t expect you to know how to do anything else but hotdogs and popcorn.”

Beppi nudged her. “My speciality is my hotdog cotton candy pancakes!” He cracked his fingers. “So what’s on the agenda for you today, Miss Berg?”

The woman made a disgusted face at the clown. “For today, I need to call someone to clear the debris, I got to talk to the mayor see if I can get some money for repairs. That baking thing might be a good idea, I may talk to the school see if we can organize something with all the kids.” She served herself a bit more tea. “What about you?”

Beppi slapped her on the back as she attempted to sip more tea. “Say, that’s exactly what I was going to do! Why don’t we go together?” He started to pick up pancakes and shove them in his pockets. “You should definitely wear that ring though. I don’t want to get smushed by an anvil because I’m walking with you!”

Beppi made her spill some of her tea. “What!? Don’t you have a dragon to catch?” She said frowning at him cleaning the spill.

Beppi threw his hands in the air. “Do you really think I’d be able to catch it if I saw one without you? I can’t exactly float very fast, you know.” The clown made sure to be even more overdramatic than necessary. Cagney did not want her out of his sight. And the last thing the clown wanted to deal with was an angry daisy AND an angry genie.

Just one of them was hard enough.

Plus, he thought as he eyed Hilda’s legs as she bent over to clean the tea spill, she wasn’t too hard on the eyes either. Since Bon Bon wasn’t working out, it wouldn’t hurt to try things with Hilda.

He had a thing for deadly women.

Hilda knew it was pointless to argue with him. He always got what he wanted, so she might as well play along. She finished cleaning and went up stairs. “I’m gonna get ready, don’t come up here.” She said, giving him a threatening look.

—-

On their way to Spike’s, Mina took the chance to explain Harvey what happened to her and Spike when they were in front of the magic mirror with the large dog that tried to come out. And how Spike had spoken fearfully that the dog looked just like his dad. “So I hope his dad is not around…”’

Harvey nodded solemnly. “If SPIKE doesn’t like his dad, I can only imagine how scary he is.”

The two children approached a shack with a fire hydrant up front. There wasn’t much to the house, a couple of big bones in the yard, but otherwise it was just a house. Harvey knocked on it hesitantly and waited.

In a few minutes, a sleepy Spike answered the door. “Hey losers,” he yawned, “What’s up?”

Mina smiled at him. “Hey, Spike! We just found out the observatory got destroyed by the crystal dragon from the carnival. We were going to earn some money to repair it by selling cookies. Would you like to help us? We’re going to need all the hands we can get!”

Spike snorted. “That sounds kinda girly but okay. Lemme just get dressed.”

Harvey paused. “Do you have to ask your dad if you can go?” He asked curiously.

Spike shook his head. “Nah. He’s busy right now. Gimmee a sec.” The bull dog pup shut the door and quickly got dressed. He opened the door again, a little wider this time, allowing Mina and Harvey to see a large figure laying on the couch, snoring heavily. There was an empty jug labeled “XXX” nearby.

Spike shut the door as he stepped out. “Alright lead the way”

Mina felt sorry for Spike. Because of her mother’s line of work, she had been around clubs, and so she was familiar of the negative effects the alcohol produced in people. She decided not to address it, though, and focus on their mission.

On their way to Grim’s, Mina and Harvey told Spike about the night they saw Venus and why was important to rebuild the observatory.

“And without it, how are going to see if there’s life in other planets? Or if evil aliens come to conquer us! That’s why we have to save it,” Mina said, hoping Spike would get onboard for the long run, and not just to use them as an excuse to get away from his dad.

Spike considered it. “If any evil aliens come, I would totally kick their butts. But I guess it would nice to see them coming. So I guess I can help fix it.”

Harvey nodded. “Great! As soon as Mina is done with her flying lesson, we will get started!”

The kids reached the dragon’s tower and knocked at the huge door. Seconds later, Grim opened the door with a smile. “I was starting to t-think you forgot about our classes.”

“Hi, Grim! Actually, we have an important mission today, and I was wondering if we could make it a short class?” Mina asked, holding her hands on her back.

“W-why?” The dragon asked, curious.

The kids explained what happened to the observatory and told him about their idea to help Hilda earn money for repairs.

“Aww, kids! T-that is a wonderful idea! I would like to help. You could cook here, I got a huge oven I barely use.” He went inside his tower signaling the kids to follow him to the kitchen.

“What type of cookies should we make?” Harvey asked as they walked in.

“If anyone says oatmeal raisins, I’m going to give you such a bad charlie horse!”

Mina wondered what was a charlie horse, but knowing Spike, it was probably something painful.

Harvey winced. “How about chocolate? Or sugar cookies?”

Grim opened the oven to show the kids, and they were surprised to see they could all three fit in if they wanted to.

They had the oven, now they needed the ingredients. A sudden realisation hit the little girl.

“Uh… guys… I just realized we need money to buy the ingredients….” She said searching in her pockets.

Harvey huffed. “Darn. I didn’t think about that. We could go ask my mom if we could have some money.”

Spike scratched his ear. “Why don’t we ask the Baroness if she has the dough we can borrow?”

Even though Grim would love to go see Bon Bon again, he knew how busy her agenda was, and he wouldn’t like to bother her for something this small.

“I t-think I have enough ingredients for a first b-batch. No need t-to bother the Baroness.” The dragon searched in his pantry and tooked the ingredients. “Hey! I even have some ch-chocolate left.” He said, happily surprised.

“Oh great! We can make chocolate chip cookies!” Mina said excited.

“And while t-they bake we can start your flying lessons,” Grim added, preparing the tools to make the mix. He also grabbed a few chairs so the kids would reach the counter and help with the preparations.

They all had fun making different shapes for the cookies and finally, it was time to bake.

As Grim said before, they went outside for a quick flying lesson for Mina, who was improving very fast. The dragon thought she was a quick learner, but the truth was he was a very good teacher. He didn’t notice, but he even stuttered less when he focused on his lessons.

Finally, the time for testing the first batch arrived. They all took a cookie and ate at the same time, only to spit it almost immediately. They could only taste the bitterness of the flour and the texture was all dusty. If it wasn’t for the chocolate chips, the cookies wouldn’t have any flavor at all.

After drinking some lemonades to wash up the taste, Grim admitted it was time for professional help, and flew with the kids to Bon Bon’s castle. They landed at the door and Grim asked politely to one of the guards  if it was possible to get an audience with Bon Bon.

The Baroness was in the midst of some paperwork when one of the guards knocked on her door. She glanced up irritably. “What is it?”

“Sorry to disturb you, Baroness, but you have some visitors.”

“I’m rather busy at the moment.”

“It’s Grim Matchstick and some children.”

The Baroness raised an eyebrow. “Oh, well, that’s different.” She excused the guard and checked herself in the mirror subconsciously, patting down her hair and straightening her dress before walking out to the entrance, calm and regal.

“Grim, what a delight to see you and the little ones. What brings you to my castle? Are you having another flight lesson?”

Grim discretely wiggled his tail happy to see the Baroness.  Mina did a knight salutation with her fist on her chest.

“Hello, Bon Bon! We’ve just finished t-the lesson, but we’re here for something else.” Helped by the kids, the dragon explained the situation of the observatory, how they wanted to sell cookies to earn money to rebuild it, and the fiasco their first batch was. “So, c-could you help us out? M-maybe you have an easy recipe we can follow?”

Bon Bon’s eyes lit up at the request. “Of course. But perhaps we could do accomplish this task best in my personal kitchen? I have quite the confectioneries to work with,” she suggested, beckoning the small group to follow her.

When no one immediately declined the invitation, the Baroness led them to the kitchen. It was almost surreal. Cupboards upon cupboards of every topping and sugar and flour and cream known through the isles. There was honey and molasses and cherries and raisins. Almost too much to count.

She knelt down to Mina’s level. “So what type of cookies are you looking to make?”

Mina’s eyes widened at the view of all the ingredients. There was even stuff she never saw before. The Baroness’ question brought her back from her thoughts. “Oh! Uh, we tried to make chocolate chip cookies, but, anything will do! As long as it taste good.” She chuckled looking at her friends for their approval.

Harvey and Spike nodded, equally gobsmacked by the selection of baking supplies. The Baroness nodded and began to pull out ingredients. “Grim, can you hand me the cookie cutters on the shelf up there?”

Harvey brightened up. “Hey, do you have any star shaped ones? Since we’re doing this for Hilda?”

“Oh! Good idea, Harvey!” Mina patted the little bunny.

Spike clapped his paws together. “Oh! Aliens! Got any aliens?”

Bon Bon nodded. “I’m sure I have the stars. Grim, do you see any aliens or other space ones up there?”

Grim looked on the shelves and found cookie cutters in.the shape of stars, half moon, a couple of rockets and a planet with its halo.

“Would t-this suffice?” The dragon showed the shapes to the kids. Mina nodded excited.

“They’re going to look awesome!”

Bon Bon could easily turn out rows upon rows of cookies by herself but she knew that this would defeat the purpose of the children raising the money so she helped instruct them how to put the right amount of flour and sugar ratios.

Spike learned how to beat an egg. He was quite pleased with himself and even Bon Bon was impressed by how naturally he could do it. “I’ve beaten a lot of things,” he chuckled, much to Harvey’s chagrin.

Harvey meanwhile loved to roll out the dough, putting flour on the rolling pin so as not have it be too sticky.

The Baroness had Mina pick and choose ingredients as she saw fit, making a batch of chocolate and then a batch of sugar cookies next.

Grim was delighted to see the Baroness  explaining to the kids how to prepare the cookies. His imagination quickly drifted to a future with her. But that bubble quickly burst, realising the big differences between them. Even if they could, somehow, manage to do it, not to brag, but it would probably destroy her.

Besides, Bon Bon probably didn’t want him romantically. Sure they had fun together, and she often would pet him and stroke his head, but did she see him only as a pet?

He glanced nervously at the Baroness from time to time while helping the children to cut the shapes into the dough.

The Baroness was unaware of Grim’s inner turmoil, helping the children to get the first batch of cookies onto the tray. She went to open the oven only for her brow to furrow.

“The oven’s cold,” she realized, “The pilot light must have gone out.” Someone would pay dearly for that but until then, she would have to think of something else.

“Grim,” she called, breaking the dragon from his thoughts, “would you be a dear and help relight the pilot light?”

Grim nodded. “O-of course!” He got close to the oven and softly blew a small flame to turn it on. Mina was amazed at how easy he made spitting fire look.

“While we wait, we should think of a spot to put our stand. Or should we go door to door?” Mina asked her friends.

Harvey thought about it. “We should choose a spot to sell the cookies and maybe someone can go tell people we are selling cookies?” He suggested.

“Didn’t that dumb clown say we could use his circus?” Spike asked.

“You’re right, Spike! Oh! And we’re going to need a big sign so people can see us from far!” Mina started to get really excited and was imagining a neon sign guiding people to their huge stand.

The Baroness left the kids to work with the oven, catching the sight of a piece of paper to the side of the kitchen counter. She picked it up and read it over, her facing becoming slightly irritated. “It appears we are behind on a cake order,” she realized, “what with the pilot light being out.” She ran her surprisingly clean hands through her hair. “It’s a large cake…and I’ve set the baker home already.” This would take forever on her own, even with knowing the recipe by heart.

Noticing her irritation, Grim shyly approached her. “Em, well, c-can I help?” He said, playing nervously with his cookie dough covered claws.

Bon Bon nodded. “Yes, I suppose. We might get a bit dirty though. Let me change real quick into something a bit more comfortable?”

“Of c-course!” The dragon nodded and washed his hands in the sink. His mind drifted again and wondered what Bon Bon looked like without all those layers on. He shook his head to prevent his imagination to go further. That did remind him however, he had his letter to recover from Hilda! Maybe later tonight he could swing by and ask for it. He hoped Hilda hadn’t opened it yet.

Bon Bon departed to her chambers and quickly changed into a shorter dress and blushed. She almost felt naked with something with only one layer but she knew she would quickly overheat in her regular outfit what’s the oven going and working next to Grim who generally seemed to run hot.

She stepped back into the kitchen, pulling a book from one of the shelves. “How familiar are you with Grand Marnier cake?” She asked, trying to be nonchalant about it, even as she felt highly sensitive in her outfit.

Grim was astonished when he saw the lovely frame of the Baroness in that light dress, and could only mumble his answer. “Uh…um… eh… .”

The Baroness began to pull ingredients as she could hear the excited children making another flying saucer batch of cookies. “It’s a bit of a more difficult cake to bake but I think we could do it. Are you sure you’re okay to help me?”

The dragon managed to snap out of it and nodded. “Yes! I want t-to help. What do you need me t-to do?” He asked nervously, trying to not stare at her.

“I’m going to need you to start mixing with this while I pour ingredients in.” She gestured to a large bowl and whisk. “It gets really tiring to have to do both at once,” she admitted.

“Okay.” The dragon nodded again and started mixing.

After a few minutes Grim started to feel awkward and decided to say something about her dress. “Y-you look delicious, by the way….” He realised how horrible that sounded and quickly tried to correct himself. “I mean! The d-dress looks delicious cause…what is it made of? M-marshmallow? I-I-I didn’t mean as… you are delicious… just… eh…oh b-boy….” He started to rumble, red of embarrassment and whipping the mix way too hard and not daring to look at the Baroness.

The Baroness awkwardly laughed. Her family had been very concerned when Grim first showed up that the dragon would indeed eat her up along with anyone else on the isle.

Obviously by the fact that everyone was still alive and well that this wasn’t the case and Grim ended up being a very nice, innocent dragon. A little too innocent, she lamented to herself.

Sometimes when they were alone, she wanted to do a little more than tea and giggles. But there was no way such a shy dragon such as himself would be up for that. So she took care of things herself, imagining what it would feel like.

Bon Bon especially liked the daydream she’d have where he really would be eating her up…just a little further down is all. She realized she had turned a bet heated at that and tried to respond to what Grim said as she fanned herself. “Yes, it’s marshmallow…probably not the best choice. It’s so warm in here, I would love for you to eat it off.”

She froze. “Uh, take it off. Wait, I mean, I would love to take it off with you. Cause…excuse me one moment,” she calmly walked out of the kitchen, grabbing a glass of water. Only once she was out of sight did she splash it on her face.

“Control yourself, you’re a Baroness,” she ordered herself quietly

Grim was dumbstruck by what he heard, or thought he heard. She wanted him to EAT her dress off? He blushed heavily. He could feel his body heating up at the thought. But she didn’t really say that…did she?

He glanced quickly at the children to make sure they didn’t get any of what just happened. They seemed too focused on making the perfect shape for the cookies and creating slogans to boost their sales.

“If it rhymes, it will bring bigger dimes!” He heard the little bat chant to prove her point to the other two.

“How about, buy our cookies or else?” Spike suggested.

Even Harvey had to giggle a bit, enjoying the sugar high from working with all the baking supplies.

The Baroness cooled off enough to come back in, a smile on her face. “How’s the whisking going?” She asked. She saw how quickly he was stirring and she frowned. “Oh! Slow down a little bit otherwise you may beat the air out of the mixture!”

Mina shook her head. “Oh, Spike. Violence is not the answer for everything. Mind games is.” She smirked. “We need to make people believe they need our cookies, or their lives would be miserable.”

Grim was still very red and he didn’t dare to look at Bon Bon. He did slow down his movements and started to mix more gently. “Like t-this?” He asked shyly. He couldn’t get the idea of devouring her outfit out of his head.

The Baroness smiled at Grimm’s careful whisking. “Yes, that’s it. Not too rough. can’t be too rough with this stuff, otherwise it won’t be so fluffy. Now for the final ingredient.” With the children distracted, the Baroness withdrew a brown bottle from a discrete cupboard.

It was liquor. Grand Marnier to be exact. “We don’t want to accidentally pour too much, otherwise this will become quite a boozy cake.”

Hearing the Baroness explaining him with a gentle tone aroused him even more. He felt the pressure in his crotch and knew he had to get out of sight immediately.

“Uh! I g-g-gotta use the bathroom!” He said pushing the bowl into Bon Bon’s hands and running out of the kitchen to go to the nearest toilet.

Mina kept thinking out loud. “Hm… if your day sucked, take a bite back… hm… if you want to help Berg… buy our cookies, you turd!” She chuckled.

Bon Bon blinked in surprise at Grim’s rapid departure. She placed the bowl down and started to add the liquor. “Huh, maybe he was overheating too?”

Grim locked himself in the bathroom. It was a service bathroom, for the kitchen staff, so it wasn’t as impressive as the ones reserved for the guests, but it was good enough for the heated dragon.

He immediately opened the sink and splashed his face with fresh water and looked at himself in the mirror. “K-k-keep it together, Grim! You’re not an animal!” He scolded himself, feeling embarrassed and ashamed of his natural impulses.

The pressure between his legs started to turn from irritating to painful. He knew he wouldn’t be able to hold it much longer.

He looked around desperately and noticed the bathtub. Maybe a cold shower might calm him down. It would be weird to explain to Bon Bon why he was taking a bath in the service restroom.

He ground his teeth and decided he would worry about that later, and opened the water to fill the bathtub.

“C'mon,c'mon, c'mon!” He whispered while the water painfully filled the tub at a slow rate. He held his crotch to make sure his piece would stay put, but it only made him want to rub himself against his own hands.

“Enough!” One of his extra heads popped out alarmed. “Shame on us! You’re in the Baroness Von Bon Bon’s castle, you perv! And there are kids and everything in here!”

“I knew this was gonna happen!” The last head interrupted. “We should masturbate more often! I keep telling ya! This is not healthy to bottle it all up!”

“Guys! Not the b-best time to argue who’s right.” Grim pointed down at his now erect penis.

“Quick! To the bathtub!” Said the first head, and Grim obeyed.  The tub was too small for the dragon, but he managed to fit his rear in, spilling half of the water all over the bathroom.

“Oh, for Christ sake!” All three heads spoke at the same time. They looked down to see if the cold water was doing its job, but their piece stood there just as hard.

“Okay… let’s get this over with.” The second head broke the awkward silence. “We gotta do it.”

The first head looked at him horrified. “You want us to masturbate? Now!? Are you insane!?”

“Well, it’s either a quick relief or go back out there with a fourth head. You think she won’t notice THAT?” The second head said sarcastically.

Grim sighed. He was starting to think he was right. Since it had been so long since he paid any attention to himself. It was be quicker to just do it and go back like nothing happened.

“You are disgusting! At least let’s fly back home….”

“Yeah… haven’t you noticed the big red flag we’re hoisting?”

Grim shushed them. “K-keep it down!” He whispered and looked again at his crotch. “Maybe if I hurt myself will g-go away.” The other heads looked at each other, worried.

Grim drew his tail to his mouth. “Okay…just a little b-bite would do.” His tail was now between his teeth, but he was too scared to close his jaws.

The third head was tired of waiting and pushed Grim’s jaw roughly down, causing all three heads to growl in pain. They stood silence for a few seconds to hear if somebody was coming.

They didn’t hear anything, and now they were hurting in two parts, not just one.

“Well, that was pointless. Can we, please, just, touch ourselves?” The third head started to get anxious. “We already have the material to work with,” he smirked maliciously.

“Ugh! Fine! I still think this is filthy and we WILL regret it!” The first head said, blushing, thinking of ‘the material’ the other head was referring too. Grim blushed heavily and looked away from his crotch.

—

The Baroness was starting to become concerned when Grim didn’t return within a few minutes. She thought about trying to find him however, she didn’t want to leave the children alone with the high powered furnace. Luckily, she spotted one of the Jelly Bean Bakers walking by and quickly called him to attention.

“Watch the children while I locate Matchstick,” she ordered, keeping her voice stern and authoritative.

“Yes, Baroness, of course. I believe I saw him near one of the service washrooms.”

“Thank you.” She paused as the Jelly Bean approached the children with oven mitts. Why on Earth’s name would he be over there? He knew where the guest restrooms were. Maybe he was looking for a glass of water?

She poured a glass from the bottle next to her and quietly walked out of the kitchen to find him. She didn’t hear anything as she approached the washroom and was about to consider that her servant had been incorrect when she picked up the slightest of groans.

She approached the door, the groaning continuing, now a little bit louder and heavier. That sounded like Grim. Was he having a stomach ache? Perhaps he’d eaten one too many of the ingredients they were using. It sounded like he was trying to talk to himself, maybe to make himself feel better?

“Hmm, what did she say again? She wants you to eat her dress off… yum!” He said, slowly licking his lips with his long pointy tongue.

Grim reached down slowly and twitched at the touch of his hand against his very sensitive part. He delicately wrapped his hand around the tip and started stroking very gently. They all bit their lips at the pleasurable sensation.

“Ohh… this is so wrong,” the first head said nervously. "We better hurry up, they’re right next door.”

“Hey, hey, calm down.” The third head whispered. “Focus on Bon Bon’s delicious marshmallow dress.”

“Probably melting with the heat in the kitchen.” The fist one added innocently. He was just stating the fact, but realised how Grim was stroking a bit more vividly at the thought of the melting dress.

“I would have t-to lick all of it.” A silly smile grew on his face.

Lick all of what? The bowl with the cake mix? Bon Bon was puzzled. 

Licking the bowl would just get him sicker if he was having a tummy ache. She can hear another voice now speaking and realized it was one of his heads. Goodness, he really wasn’t feeling well if those two had popped up.

“Oh yeah! That’s what I’m talking about. And we would help you out! We cover the north… and you go aaall the way south.” The third head smiled widely, feeling the more rhythmic strokes Grim was giving to himself.

That, that didn’t sound like baking. If she didn’t know any better, Bon Bon would have almost thought he was talking about…

The dragon heads all tried their best to moan as little as possible, but it was hard to keep themselves from groaning after a long time of neglect.

“I would….” Grim continued. “I would stick my t-tongue all the way inside her. I wonder if she tastes as sweet as she smells.” Even in cold water the dragon was really hot. He let his tongues hang from their heads, panting softly.

The sound of the dragon moaning made the member of royalty stiffen. Bon Bon turned as red as a tomato as the image of cute little Grim shattered as the dragon managed to purr out such sensual words.

She stifled a gasp with her hand as his words triggered a needy twitch within her abdomen. Her eyes darted around worriedly for any other witnesses but there was none.

“I want to give her so much pleasure,” the first head spoke this time, delirious from the good sensations.

"I want to bite every part of her delicate body.” The other head added breathing heavily.

BonBon sent her fingers on her lips trailing down against her neck and the suddenly very tight feeling of the hem of her dress.

Who was he talking about that had the dragon so worked up? His heavy panting and the lack of other servants emboldened her actions, the free hand having dipped further so it was needing her now very sensitive breasts. She entertained the idea he was lusting after her and a desirous thrill made her body shiver with the thought.

“I want to show her how much I love her….” Grim said stroking his piece more violently.

The Baroness froze at that line.

Grim was in love with someone? Her mind raced with thoughts of who it could be. She had always thought that the dragon had a crush on her, but hearing him like this, learning about a side of him that she had no idea existed, she wondered if she had been completely wrong about that.

Sure, the dragon had asked her out, but perhaps it had been friendship? He never said he liked her or anything. Guilt and shame began to press in, small during the desire that had sparked up at hearing him speak like this. She was the one who pressed little kisses to his cheek, not the other way around. And there were times during summer where he disappear for days, even weeks on end sometimes in the summer… Was he seeing someone else?

Without realising they had an audience, Grim and his heads all started to moan and groan a bit louder. “I want her… only her…. I need her to scream my name!”

Bon Bon felt so foolish. She backed away from the door and took a shaky swig of the water, only to nearly choke as she realized should accident report herself a glass of the Grand Marnier liquor. It burned as it went down her throat, and she quickly hurried down the hallway, stifling a cough and perhaps the beginning of an unhappy sob.

Grim could feel he was pretty close to climaxing. He kept imagining the delicate frame of Bon Bon under his hungry tongues, dipping inside her as deep as they could reach, feeling her twitch and moan his name.

“Oh, Bon Bon!” All three heads growled climaxing releasing a heavy load. He tried to recover his normal breathing, caressing himself slowly while his erection, finally satisfied, softened away.

"I can’t believe we just did that….” The first head said, embarrassed.

“Wow, we REALLY needed that!” The third one added. “Maybe next time I suggest something, maybe you’ll listen to me, huh?” The first head rolled his eyes and Grim was still in the blissful afterglow to pay any attention.

He stood up, emptied the bathtub and washed himself. The fresh water was very welcome. Now that he was relaxed, the other heads returned to the body and he started to get ready to come out again.

—-

As a future explorer, Mina was very observant, she figured out something was wrong between Bon Bon and Grim and now that they both left she dared to ask.

“You think Grim and Bon Bon had a fight? I feel like something is wrong between them….”

Harvey looked around, realizing that Mina was correct. Both the Baroness and Grim were gone. “Maybe we should go look for them?” He suggested.

The kitchen doors opened abruptly and the children jumped up in surprise. The Baroness had walked in, looking slightly just shoveled. Upon realizing she was being watched, the woman straightened herself out, placed an empty glass she had been carrying on the counter, and coolly smiled.

“I apologize,” she began, “I was worried that Grim was having a stomach ache.”

Spike laughed. “Haha, that sucks.”

Harvey’s ears drooped. “Is he okay?”

“Yes, I’m sure he’ll be joining us later. Let me see how your cookies have come out.” She wiped her eyes and approached. Spike sniffed the air, slightly confused. "You kind of smell like my dad right now,“ he noted.

She appeared taken aback. "Does your dad smell of sugar?”

“Not exactly…nevermind. Look at my alien cookies. This one is eating Harvey’s astronaut cookie.”

—

After a few minutes, the dragon got out of the bathroom, still blushing of embarrassment, but much more relaxed. He took a deep breath before entering the kitchen, waving his hand to the kids.

“H-hey! Sorry about that. I had a t-tummy ache. Probably from the first batch of cookies we made.” He smiled awkwardly.

“Oh! You feeling better?” Mina asked, worried.

“Uh, y-yeah, don’t worry! I’ll be fine….” He turned even more red. “Are t-the cookies done baking?” He asked Bon Bon, playing with his fingers nervously and avoiding eye contact.

Bon Bon swallowed, pushing down the last of the bile in her throat and appeared very calm. “Yes, the first few batches are done. I think the kids will be ready to go sell in an hour or so.” She made sure to also not directly look at Grim nor touch him at all, not even a brush with her shoulder.

Harvey hopped up and down. “I forgot, where did we say we’re going to sell these?”

“We could try next to the third isle bridge. A lot of people pass by. Or near the balloon tree,” Mina proposed.

Spike whistled. "I haven’t been to the third isle in a while. Plus, if they don’t buy a cookies, we can throw them over the bridge!”

“I am going to pretend I didn’t hear that last part,” Harvey muttered starting to pack away the cookies for transport.

Grim hadn’t noticed Bon Bon’s cold shoulder for he was still thinking of what he had done minutes ago, and that made him lose focus on what was going on. He did hear the Baroness and he nodded.

“G-good, good….” He wanted to leave but leaving the Baroness alone with the kids would be kind of rude, so he decided to stay until the batch was done. “Eh… what about your cake, Bon Bon? Anything else help with?” He asked looking for the bowl they were working on.

Baroness hardly heard Grim initially. She realized what he had asked and that a response was probably necessary. She looked at the half finished cake batter and shrugged. It had been whipped too harshly, she doubted it would rise. She probably could have saved it, but the idea no longer appealed to her.

“No, that will be all. Thank you, Grim,” she responded politely.

“O-okay.” Grim answered, starting to suspect something was wrong with her, but he shook his thoughts, thinking it was probably him being paranoid. He helped the kids to finish packing up all the cookies and they were soon ready to go.

“Thank you very much, your highness.” The little bat bowed to Bon Bon. “Thanks to you we will save the observatory!” She smiled at her, truly grateful for her help.

“Yeah, t-thank you very much, Bon Bon.” Grim smiled and forced himself to look at her, turning really red, afraid she would see through his eyes to see what he did earlier.

The Baroness politely nodded. “Of course. I’m afraid I don’t have the type of dough that Ms. Berg could really use, but my kingdom would like to help in any way that we can.” She motioned for one of the jelly bean guards to approach.

“I’ll have you escorted safely to the bridge when you are ready. I would hate for somebody else to just steal them away before you get a chance to sell them.”

When they were at the door, Grim said goodbye to the kids who left with the escort Bon Bon had assigned them.

The dragon gathered the strength to talk to the Baroness. “S-say.. uh… t-thank you again for helping…  hmm… I was wondering… if you’re not t-to busy, perhaps … you would like to come by later? I bought this new forest t-tea blend I think you might enjoy….” He said shyly, smiling trying to sound normal.

The Baroness almost instinctively said yes but stopped herself. Knowing that Grim was involved or at least romantically interested in someone else, it would not look good for her to continue her frequent visits to his home. People would talk, especially if any of them had spotted Grim’s beau.

The last thing she needed was to tarnish both her and Grim’s name with people thinking they were engaged in something sordid.

She shook her head. “I’m sorry, but I have some delegations I need to attend to. Perhaps another time?”

Grim dropped his ears sad to hear that. “Y-yeah, whenever you’re free. Uh… I’m gonna g-go now…. t-thanks again… .” And with a couple of powerful flaps, the dragon flew away to his tower.

—-

Amoury sat in front of a wounded and tired Carlos. They were in a simple hotel room, and at the door there was Francis and Connor, the gorilla and toad who were assisting Carlos in recovering the cargo.

The spider was furious, but you could only tell by the deadly look he gave to the cat, for he didn’t spoke a word to him. In his hand, he held a glass of brownish liquor, making a tinkling noise with the ice hitting the glass.

“Amory… I know I… kinda messed up things… but it wasn’t all my fault. The guy wanted to check the cargo! Mc Crabbe didn’t tell him about our… arrangement… and this masked cat, popped out of nowhere!” Amory hold a hand to signal him to stop talking, and took a sip of his glass. Carlos rolled his eyes. He knew Amory had a taste for the dramatic acts, but this ‘silent type’ was starting to get to his nerves.

“You said you were ready for the job, Buenaventura.” Amory said calmly.

“You can just call me Carlos.” The cat smiled. “Buenaventura is kind of a mouthful.”

The spider didn’t find anything amusing in his comment, and glared at him with his five eyes. Carlos gulped. “Buenaventura sounds fine!” The cat quickly added. “And, again! I was ready! just… I miscalculated… I should have listened to my mamá and stayed in school.”

Amory left the glass roughly on the table with a loud thud. “Three quarters of the cargo, Buenaventura. Three quarters, gone….” He kept that disturbingly calm tone.

Carlos dropped his ears. “Well, let’s stay positive! Thanks to Francis and Connor here….” He pointed at the two at his back. “We recover one quarter! That’s better than nothing! … right?” He forced a smile but it erased from his face when he noticed one of the spider’s eye twitch. “Mmmkay… I’m going to shut up now.”

The spider finished his glass with one gulp and left the glass softly on the table this time. “You will keep an eye on Sullivan Wells, and you better pray that this… masked cat won’t interfere with our business, Buenaventura. I can get us out of this one, but we won’t be so lucky next time.” He gestured the cat to leave. “You have two days to recover. Then, come see me here.”

Carlos nodded and, with a bit of difficulty, he stood up from his chair and left the hotel, heading toward Cagney’s garden.

—

Cagney had probably had one of the worst sleeps he had ever had in his life. Grim hadn’t really been up to taking visitors, so he kind of made camp at the edge of his garden. But the city kept him up. All the loud noises and screams from Beppi’s circus kept jostling him awake. And he could have sworn he heard fireworks coming from the third isle.

So, he was irritable, a little more than normal at least. He was tired, sore and maybe just a tad pent-up. He did have quite a few lewd dreams with Miss Hilda that he would have greatly enjoyed except for the fact he was getting woken up every 30 to 45 minutes.

As he crossed the bridge connecting the second and third Isle, he can hear the whistling of the boat coming into harbor and could smell the salty air. Plants weren’t so much a fan of the ocean water, due to its high concentration of salt, but Cagney could appreciate any form of natural thing in this part of the industrialized Isles.

He was close to Rumor so now he was starting to run what he was exactly going to say through his head. If he could even get an audience. The bee was a peculiar one. His mind was so preoccupied, he hardly noticed the orange furry cat darting to and from between nearby shipments on the dock.

—-

Another day, another heist. Hopefully. Although this one was slightly different than Amber’s normal targets. According to Sully’s charts, this was a honey delivery. But not just any honey. Royal jelly honey. The premium stuff, the top shelf stuff, the stuff that they kept locked behind the counter to avoid people like her getting her paws on it.

Oh, not that Amber should probably touch that stuff. She could only imagine how sticky it would get her fur, and how much it she’d have to groom and bathe herself before would finally come out. But, it was worth a lot, and considering what a bust last night had been was losing the rest of the weird magical exploding gems, it was a risk she was willing to take.

Actually, it was probably a slightly greater risk as she was doing this in the afternoon. Trying to steal when the sun was up at any point, was never the best idea. But if at night, people with guns were going to shoot her, she was willing to deal with a possibility of getting spotted rather than getting shot..ted.

She watched the dock workers carefully unload the stuff and noted the absence of bee guards. Amber would have thought the cargo of this quality would result in the Queen Bee’s own guards standing guard but it didn’t appear to be the case.

Amber sidled a little closer to the boxes of honey, holding in her hand a sturdy flask. Even one glass at the stuff could net a hefty sum and would have her rolling in catnip for weeks if she so desired.

—

Sullivan had just started his shift. His coworkers kept asking him questions about last night and he  started to grow tired of the attention. He tried to focus on his schedule for today and he sighed tiredly. Royal Jelly for Rumor Honeybottom. He hated to deal with the bees. They were all very pompous and spoke down to him, even though he was the one making sure their cargo was safe.

The big boat arrived and Sullivan order people around to get the crane’s ready for the unload, while he went to the shack to notify the bees of the arrival of their honey. The corkers did as they were told, and carefully stacked the boxes at the dock, next to many other bigger ones hiding them from simple view.

“We will send our people immediately to pick up the honey.” A male’s voice answered on the other side of the line that Sullivan dialed. “Please, take good care of it! And in the name of her highness Honeybottom, thank you, once again, for your service and we apologize for our delay.”

Sullivan rolled his eyes. “Its ok, Gary, you don’t have to be so formal with me.”

“Actually, I do!” The voice whispered. “ Our beloved queen has ordered to do an inspection in all sectors of the hive. Her majesty wants to do 'adjustments’ on the personnel.”

“Adjustments? What do you mean? Like fire you?” Sullivan couldn’t help but ask.

“No… her graciousness prepared a program to turn every bee who’s not working 100% into a model worker. Robert got busted resting his eyes for a minute after a ten hour shift, and when he came back from the program…it wasn’t the same Robert. If you go tonight at the joint, I’ll tell you more about it.”

“You’re just exaggerating!” Sullivan grumbled, “Robert is a lazy ass, and you’re no better either. You should have been here forty minutes ago! I bet the program is just a friendly reminder of your obligations as workers or something like that,” Sullivan tried to rationalize. “Now hurry up, we’re running out of space and we’re still waiting for more shipments.”

They both said goodbye and Sullivan hung up, picked up some more papers and got out of the shack walking back to the honey cargo.

—

Cagney watched the dock workers unload whatever shipment they were getting in next. It didn’t really concern him too much and he was about to keep walking toward the hive when the flash of brown caught his eye.

He looked again to see a familiar looking feline lurking near one of the isolated boxes. He felt himself tense up, but stopped himself. He had literally attacked two other mammals in the last week in a case of mistaken identity. he shouldn’t just be jumping through violence whenever he thought he found the burglar.

And then he saw her take out a bag and slip on a mask and start to dig a hole in the box and realize that this was her. He grinned, realizing this was her and he was well within is right to beat the ever living shit out of her.

—

Amber had just about punctured the box when she felt something tap her in the shoulder. She froze. She had counted the number of workers, there was no way she missed one. It tapped again and she turned around to find herself looking up at a large carnation.

“Hi there,” he greeted.

“Hey-?” Quick as lightning, he backhanded her hard enough to send her flying over the honey box and crashing into a pile of boxes.

Sullivan’s team just finished unloading the last box when something passed flying the boxes. A couple of workers turned their heads where they thought they flying thing landed.

Amber grunted painfully as she sat up from where she had been slapped. Pieces of wood chunks lay everywhere. She wondered how she wasn’t more seriously harmed, until she realized she had crashed into a box carrying several large bags of flour. It looked like Rumor wasn’t the only Royal resident expecting a shipment of something.

She didn’t have much time to thank her lucky stars as she saw the carnation bearing down on her. Amber’s eyes widen as she realized where she have seen him before. He was the flower from the observatory. And he looked pissed enough to kill her. “Woah, woah, wait,” she started, “listen, I only took one thing, I’ll bring it back!”

“There is nothing you can do to bring back Hilda’s dome!”

“Hilda’s…dome?” Amber was really confused. She hadn’t stolen any domes. “Wait, Mr. Flower…”

“It’s Cagney, dammit!” He snarled, lunging for her.

She struggled to escape, but her foot was stuck under heavy bag of flour. And when flight was off the table, that only left one other option.

Before he could grab her, she grabbed one of the bags of flour and smacked it down on his petaled head.

Cagney saw stars and white powder as he reeled back from the surprise attack. He blinked unsuredly before growling and opting to swing around wildly instead, hoping to make contact with something

The workers around the flour shipment saw the giant flower get hit with one of the precious cargo.

“Hey! What’s going on!?”

“Somebody’s fighting!”

The crew mates started to gather around the carnation.

Amber freed her foot just in time to take an acorn to the gut, sending her rolling backwards in a clumsy somersault. Cagney dizzily pulled out another one, shaking his head to regain his senses. “Next one’s going for the head!”

Amber scowled. “If that’s how it’s gonna be, then fine!” She picked up the acorn, climbed up one of the rafters and chucked it at his face, smacking him hard in the nose.

Cagney drop the other acorn and grabbed his nose. “Argh, you bitch!” He couldn’t stretch up after her but he still had his thorns. He wrapped his thorny stem around the rafters beam and squeezed tightly, sending the pole shaking as he sent cracks up and down the sea soaked wood. It wavered dangerously close to the edge of the water.

Amber hissed, her fur raising. She crouched and pounced on the carnation, latching onto his hand and clawing him with an angry yowl.

Cagney squealed, unwinding himself and tried to shake her off by slamming her into things but the cat had sunk her claws in nice and deep.

Amber went to pull out something from her bag, loosening her claws. Cagney saw his opportunity to yank her off and slammed her in the ground, breaking through the bottom of the deck of the porch. The cat clunk desperately to his green fingers and looks down fearfully at the cold choppy water underneath.

She scrambled up the length of his arm, back on top of the shipyard, before clinging to his petals. the Carnation tried to pull her off, but this time she wasn’t letting go, biting at hands that got too close. “Get off me, pussy!”

He head-butted the rafter once more, hoping it would just dislodge her, but it only made both of them dizzy. Amber hissed and yanked a petal. “Thought you were tougher than this, I’m going to prune you, you dumb daisy.”

He flinched at that comment. Hilda liked calling him a dumb daisy. It is much as he dislike the term, he hated that anyone else would dare to use it other than her. A burst of vindictive rage finally allowed him to pry her off despite her biting and scratching and he held her aloft by the scruff. “I’m a carnation, you flea-ridden rat!” He pitched her at a box and she hit it with a thud.

Amber felt around for something to use, only for her paw to touch something sticky. She looked down to see she had touched honey. Where the hell was the honey coming from? She turned behind her to realize the honey was leaking from a small hole in the box. The force of the carnation’s throw must have led to her accidentally puncturing the box. It was only a small hole though and just one of the boxes… Amber realized at the site of one of the insignias stamped on the box, but this was the royal jelly box. She panicked but tried to remain calm. As long as nothing else hit it, the leak could be fixed and the box could be saved.

At the sight of the carnation approaching, she realized the flower was oblivious to how weak the honey box was, so she held out her paws. “Wait, wait, the honey, hold on!”

Cagney stared at her in disbelief before snapping.  "My name’s not honey, it’s Cagney!“ And with that, he slammed both his fists down toward her.

"No, you stupid-!” She didn’t even finish her sentence as she couldn’t quite move in time, splintering the box open behind her with a loud snap. Honey gushed out, coating the combatants in its sticky yellowness.

Cagney slipped and fell to the ground when he tried to keep his balance and Amber screamed angrily as she looked at herself.

“Do you have any idea how long is going to take to wash out of my fur, you stupid carnation!?” She hissed, leaping on the fallen flower. “It’s going to take weeks! Weeks!”

“Weeks?! Do you even know how long it’s going to take Hilda to rebuild that dome, even if she had the money!?” Cagney snapped back, trying to push the sticky feline off of him. At least her claws were pretty much useless with amount of yellow gunk covering them.

“You broke it!”

“After you broke in her place!

"But you broke it!”

“Shut up, I know!” Cagney angrily admitted, “and I’m ruining everything I had with her trying to fix it, you dumb bitch!”

Amber paused slightly at that. “Wait, you and the meteorologist…?”

“Not anymore!”

“I didn’t know.”

He finally managed to get a scruff on the slippery cat.  "Of course you don’t! You’re a thief! You don’t care at all!“

Amber felt something inside of her that she didn’t normally feel at that. She didn’t know what it was, but she didn’t like it. So she hit Cagney a little less hard. Still hard enough to cause bruises if he was an animal.

"I’m going to fix this,” Cagney continued, “beating the shit out of you is going to make me feel a lot better about it!” He tried to toss only to have her stick to him even more.

Sullivan was on his way to the honey containers when he saw a bunch of working bees and some guards arriving in their trucks. He greeted them and took to their shipment, only stop abruptly at the view.

A few of the priceless royal jelly boxes where cracked and leaking the precious amber product all over the docks and into the sea.

In the middle of the mess, Sullivan recognized the giant flower, struggling to stand up, and somebody else was with him. He got closer and recognized the voice.

.“..Amber?” He said in disbelief.

Amber cocked her head at her name and looked around only to stop in her place as she saw Sullivan staring right at her. “Uh…hi Sully?” She managed, “this looks bad but…”

Cagney managed to catch the cat off guard and smack her into one of the broken boxes. “Didn’t see that coming, didja you bi-hey! Hey! What the hell are you doing?!” His attention turned toward the guard bees who had appropriately swarmed the flower and were in the process of trying to restrain him.

Amber likewise managed to pull herself out of the honey only to get pinned to the ground next to Cagney with an indigent yelp. “Hey! Watch where you’re putting those antennae, you perverts!” She hissed, struggling uselessly against the guard

“What the…! .” Sullivan dropped his clipboard and got closer them. “W-wait! This is a misunderstanding! A-a-an accident! GET YOU HANDS OFF HER!” He wanted to pull one of the guards away from Amber but was violently restrained by another bee.

“This is Royal business now, Mr Wells,” the big bee holding him said in a deep voice. “And you better watch it, or we will take you too.” He threatened him.

The worker bees tried their best to fix the leaking boxes while the guards took Cagney and Amber to their truck. Sullivan struggled to get loose. “No! It’s a misunderstanding! They’re not even supposed to be here! Please! No! AMBER!”

But the guards ignored him and drove their sticky prisoners to the hive.

———————————————————————————

This seems more insane then having wish to be a real boy. Why was he holding Hilda? Memories flooded back pretty quickly as he remembered. They had both gotten sloshed on their “date not date” which led to near caterpillar manslaughter and a run from the police back to Hilda’s home. 

The next parts were a bit fuzzy but he remembered her coming on to him and one thing led to another and they were screwing like animals. Well…until…something was said that he got upset about and then there was this weird dragon that had totally trashed the rest of Hilda’s life work. Oh shit. Yeah. That. Cagney remained where he was, stewing about this. He remembered he kept telling her he was going to fix this but he wasn’t exactly sure how. But he had to find something. Maybe he could start with finding out how to get out of her bed without her waking up and murdering him. He wasn’t exactly sure how much of their “date” she remembered but he was pretty sure she might not be so happy about the sex now that she was sober.

Hilda felt a pressure around her bruised body and groaned softly, still half asleep. She grabbed Cagney’s leaf and covered herself up to her shoulders, thinking it was her sheet, but at the touch of the unfamiliar material, the woman frowned and opened an eye to check what it was. She saw a green thing wrapped around her. “What the…” she whispered raising her head to follow how far this thing went. When she turned completely she was face to face to a just as surprised flower. “THAFUCK?!” the woman yelled and kicked the carnation out of the bed, realising too late it was her friend. “ Cagney?!” She asked, covering herself with an actual sheet this time. “What are you doing in my… bed…?”  Memories started to rush in, as well as a headache, multiplied by the number of constellations.

Cagney hit the ground with a thud and a swear. He staggered to his feet with a groan. “That’s….ugh…well I WAS sleeping but uh before that you and I were…” His voice trailed off as he saw Hilda’s dumbfounded expression. His eyes widened. Holy shit. Did she not remember?

The woman stared confusedly at Cagney. Her head was hammering hard but she tried to make an effort to remember what happened last night. “…We actually did it?” She said softly, more an affirmation than a actual question. This would definitely affect their friendship. She noticed the carnation was wearing her cute nightgown and a small smile showed on her face. “That’s funny, I just dreamt about you wearing that.  And there was a dragon that came out of nowhere and started destroying everything.” She said yawning, certain that, except for the parts where Cagney was intimate with her, it was all just a dream, probably induced by the stress of the broken dome.

Cagney winced. She totally regretted it. That bitterness was manifesting itself internally. Not even her cute smile made him feel any better. “We were in the process but uh…the dragon was actually real and your place is a wreck.”

Hilda frowned. “Not funny, Cags,” she replied, thinking he was just messing with her. She laid her back down on the bed. The constellations weren’t helping keeping her hangover at the minimum.

“Wasn’t trying to be. Glad you think it’s all a big joke though,” he petulantly grumbled.

She noticed the serious tone of her friend and the sheet hanging on top of them confirmed it. She remembered the creature made a hole in her roof too. It all came back to her now, the horrifying feeling of having your most precious thing taken from you.  She felt a pressure on her chest and the familiar sting in her eyes announcing tears. She sighed, rubbing her eyes and stood up to get close to Cagney and gave him a hug. “Thank you for staying with me” she said softly.

He hesitated but returned the hug, trying to suppress the happy trill his body wanted to have when he touched hers. “It was the least I could do,” he admitted. He couldn’t really do anything else. His head hurt with alcohol still as he tried to remember what he said last night about all of this. He ended the hug and stepped back with a cough. “I uh, think your tea pot is still intact. You want me to make some tea?” He offered.

She felt a bit sad when they had to break their hug. She wiped a small tear from her cheek and she nodded. “Tea sounds nice. And you can keep my nightgown, it suits you,” she chuckled, getting out of the bed.

He stuck out his tongue at her. “Heh, thanks. Always wanted to feel pretty,” he chided, taking off the gown and placing it to the side. “Come down when you’re ready,” he told her as he left the room and went downstairs to make the tea. Sure enough, the pot was still intact and he quickly set some water to boil. Without Hilda in the room, he let his mind wander. Last night had been amazing! Well….up to a certain sobering point. And the dragon. The dragon had kind of ruined everything. But still while it lasted, it had been amazing. His petals dropped as he remembered that last night was a one time thing. Hilda’s drunk mistake. He rested his aching head on the side of her cupboard and lazily stuck his hand into it to see what he could pull out for tea.  Drunk or not, he needed to find some way to fix all of this. His leaves pulled out the honey and he couldn’t help but chuckle at the Rumor logo on it. “That lady’s everywhere, ain’t she?” He smirked, going to set aside the bottle only to stop. Rumor. Rumor had the resources to fix this. There was no way Hilda would go to her, she had already been through so much he couldn’t imagine the zeppelin woman wanting to go beg for help. But Cagney wasn’t above that. He already did have a connection with the bee, albeit a business like one for his pollen in his field. He fiddled with the honey jar before putting it down. He could go today if he got his shit together in time.

—

Hilda kept her smile until Cagney left the room. She sat on her bed holding her head on her hands. She started to play out the evening, getting so many questions: What was that dragon?  Could it have been Grim’s friend or sibling? What would she do now with her life work destroyed? All her research… What was going to happen between Cagney and her? Things wouldn’t be the same, that was certain. Why did she let it happen? Why did she encourage him? She had gone years avoiding this but after last night…

She was jealous! Seeing Cagney dance with that bat… the time she kissed him on the cheek…but that was ridiculous! She had seen him with other girls before… he even introduced them to her. But, maybe because it wasn’t a flower? She couldn’t compete with a flower, but what could a bat could offer him that she couldn’t? … sucking his blood? She could make him bleed if he wanted to… The constellations went wild on her head, questioning everything, giving her a rush of mixed and conflicted emotions. She grabbed a pillow and yelled at the top of her lungs. A few minutes later, she calmed down, dressed up and went downstairs to have the tea.

—

Cagney continued to think to himself, unaware of Hilda’s inner turmoil. Rumor lived on the third isle. A quick trip if Hilda was flying him but he didn’t want to get her involved more than she had been already. It’d be a two day trip. Crash at Grim’s place again if he’d be okay with that. Then an audience with Rumor. He’s not sure how he’d finagle that but he’d figure it out. He didn’t really want to leave his garden for that long. Then again, maybe some distant would do him some good. Get the dumb thoughts out of his head about Hilda. He’d get the Root Pack to take care of things while he was gone. He’d have to swear them to silence if they asked. Or lie. Lying was good too. He’d have to leave soon if he wanted to get to Grim’s before nightfall. He set down the tea absentmindedly and turned around to see Hilda coming down the stairs. Shit. Hilda. He would normally tell her everything. He reached back in the cupboard and grabbed a cup, accidentally knocking over the honey in the clumsy process. He filled the cup with hot tea and held it out to her.

“Thanks” she quickly said softly, avoiding eye contact and taking the cup. “So, uh how you doing?” He asked.

“I’m … ”

-‘At the verge of turning coo-coo and destroy everything around me’- she thought for herself.

“I’m ok” She decided to go with something short. She stared at her cup. “… you?” She finally had the courage to look at him.

He bit his lip. “I’m ok too…” As tempted as he was to try to leave right away, he knew that would raise more suspicion. “You want some help cleaning up?”

“No, no! Don’t worry… I’ll try to rescue whatever I can and the rest… I guess I’ll call the mayor or something to clear up the place.” She took a long sip. She would have loved to talk about them and where they stand in their relationship, but thought it would be best to wait until her emotions were a bit more in control. For once, in all the years of friendship, there was an awkward silence between them.

The awkwardness was stifling. Cagney slapped his leaves together. “So, listen, I’m going to go… now.” He went to put a leaf on her shoulder but stopped just short of doing so. Probably shouldn’t  be touching her. “Listen that stuff I was saying last night…I meant it. I’m going to try just…ya know, don’t hate me, okay?”

She wasn’t sure what he was talking about. “It’s gonna take a lot for me to hate you, you big dandelion,” she snickered, trying to act normal. “I’ll… I’ll see you soon?” She hesitated before asking him, afraid that if he left now, she would never see him again.

“Yeah, just I gotta go do some stuff. I should be back soon enough,” he assured her even if he wasn’t sure himself. There were rumors about Rumor he would over hear every now and then. She wasn’t quick to violent anger like the Baroness could be but there was something about her that commanded an almost revered respect and worship of her by her subjects. It was part of the reason he had been hesitant from visiting her in the past. Still, he smiled at Hilda. “I’ll see ya later, Hilds.” And with that he left, his mind completely filled, forgetting all about the letters sitting in her mailbox.

He didn’t sound sure about coming back. When he left, she sighed and left the cup on the table. “What have I done… ” she whispered to herself. ‘You knew how he felt about you and took advantage of it!’ A voice yelled in her head. 'Who cares about that giant weed?“ Another one started talking, “What about your research? Years of observation gone in a blink!’ 'You’ll never see him again… there’s no way you’re staying friends now…’ 'How are you going to fix this? You will have to move!’ The voices kept getting louder until the woman broke into tears. She stayed sitting in her kitchen for a while before daring to move again and check the damage in her observatory.

—

Cagney hurried back to his field once he was out of sight of Hilda’s tower, taking a short side trip to the Root Pack. To his pleasant surprise, they were willing to watch his garden for him. Granted there was a question or two about his plans but a surly "None of your beeswax!” got the point across. He emerged from the dirt in his garden and quickly gathered whatever supplies he was going to need. He glanced at his tree only to do a double take as he spotted a small fuzzy body in it. He grit his teeth. “Mother fucker,” he snapped, lobbing an acorn at the figure with a snarl.

The acorn hit the cat, waking him abruptly and making him lose his balance. “La madre que me parió!” He yelled while falling. His feline reflexes saved him from landing on his head and he took out his knife and pointed it at Cagney. He opened his eyes wide and immediately relaxed. “Oh! Señorita!” the cat said, thinking Cagney was a woman, “ My apologies! I thought I was being attacked,” he said with a charming smile and his Hispanic accent, putting his knife back in his pocket.

Cagney gritted his teeth. That wasn’t the same cat. He was getting really sick of cats. “You ARE getting attacked! Now scram! I gotta pack my stuff!” He growled.

“Y-you’re a man?” The cat said befuddled. “They’re male flowers!?” He got lost in his thoughts for a moment. “I have a lot to rethink….” He shook his head. “And you just go around attacking sleeping folk?” He cleaned some dust from his clothes and looked around for his hat. “You could have the decency to fight face to face, cobarde!”

Cagney laughed. “I’m more than happy to attack people who trespass on my field face to face but I don’t have time for this! I’ve got to meet a bee.”

The cat raised his eyebrows and put on his hat on with grin. “A bee?” He didn’t know there were male flowers but he did know about their 'special’ relation with the bees. “Oh! El amor! Spring fever, am I right?”

Cagney grit his teeth at the cat. “Say that again, and you’ll be pushing up daisies in no time.”

The cat eyed him from top to bottom and came to the conclusion it was probably best to avoid conflict with a giant plant, specially in the middle of a garden. “I guess I touched a sensitive spot there, eh amigo?” He wiggled his eyebrows and extended his paw. “I’m Carlos Buenaventura. A citizen of the world and a defender of Love!” He said proudly. “And looks like you need someone to talk to, my friend. Usually flowers are much more… friendly this time of year. And since thanks to your tree I had a wonderful good night sleep, I feel like the the least I can do is help a brother out.”

Cagney raised an eyebrow. “A citizen of love, eh? Is that why you’re sleeping on a random branch in the middle of a garden?” He crossed his arms. “And heh, no thanks. My problems are none of your business either! Plus, I’m going to be fixing them anyway in no time.”

“Well, luck doesn’t always smile, but when it does… interesting things happen… like finding out about the existence of male flowers.” A shiver ran through his spine. “I knew that was too weird to be a vine….” Carlos said softly to himself, remembering his past floral conquest.

Cagney wasn’t sure what the cat said under his breath but it was best not to ask what. He finished packing up and looked at the cat again. “Why are you still here?”

“Short version: I’ve got nothing better to do. Even shorter version: I’m curious,” the cat said, leaning against the tree with his arms crossed.

Cagney huffed. “Pretty sure curiosity killed the cat.” He glanced at his satchel and swore. “I’m forgetting something. What am I forgetting?”

“If only I got a coin for every time someone said that to me…” he snickered, looking around. He noticed the pile of school supplies. “Maybe you’re forgetting your kids?” He pointed at the pile.

Cagney snorted. “I ain’t got no kids. All those notebooks and letters-” His eyes widened. “The letter!” He remembered, his leaves to his face in an instant. Shit! He forgot about the letter! Even if he did fix things, that letter would absolutely destroy any chance of reconciling with Hilda. She would think he was some pervert! That he had been planning on screwing her for a while and used her drunkenness to take advantage of her. “I’m so screwed!” He moaned, pulling at his petals.

“Woah woah! Calm down, amigo! What letter?” The cat said even more curious.

Cagney waved toward Hilda’s observatory. “I accidentally sent a letter to the dame who lives there that I didn’t mean to send. Kind of a friendship/relationship ending kind of letter. I was gonna snag it this morning but I forgot.”

Carlos looked at the direction he was pointing and crossed his arms, thinking. This fellow needed help with something love related, and as a self proclaimed Agent of Love, he felt the need to give him a hand. “Judging by the way you almost rip your own petals, I’m guessing you going back for it is out of the question.” He deduced. “Well, Lady Luck is smiling you today, Petals.” He took his hat off and bowed slightly towards Cagney. “I will retrieve it for you!”

Cagney gave him a sideways look. “You uh sure about that? It’s not exactly gonna be a cake walk.”

“Amigo, I’m a stray cat. The hard way is the only way I know.” The cat said putting his hat back. “So what kind of mademoiselle are we dealing with?” He crossed his arms and listened attentive to the giant flower.

“Well, her name is Hilda Berg. She’s incredibly deadly-” and very sexy - “And she can control the weather.” He finished tying up his satchel. “The letter is pink and if you get it, great. Burn it. But if you don’t…well this won’t be the worst thing that happened to me.” That already happened last night.

“Deadly, controls the weather, got it~controls the weather? As in… storms, and hurricanes and such?” Carlos said thinking the flower had more than pollen and sap in his system.

“Yeah.” He saw the skeptical look in the feline’s face and he shrugged. “Looks like it might be above you, short stuff.”

Carlos narrowed his eyes, feeling challenged by the flower. His pride overtook his reason and decided it do it. If he succeeded, he would win a big ally, if he failed…well, he still had a few lives left. “Muy bien!” He said, putting an open hand on his chest. “I’ll retrieve your letter, Petals.  I’ll destroy it for you, and that weather girlfriend of yours will never know what happen.” He said boastfully, walking towards the fence.

The carnation grinned. “All right, if you’re successful, you can hang around here. But if not, I do know a guy who’s good at making gravestones.” He looked up at the sun and scowled. “I got to get going otherwise I’ll be fighting anyone else who comes in my field.” Cagney Carnation took off down the path for the second aisle, crossing his leaves that this might actually work.

“Trato hecho!” Carlos said at the carnation looking him leave towards the city. He remembered he had to meet Amori at the docks, so he hurried up to the observatory to make sure he would be there in time.

—

Hilda was  examining the observatory ruins, recovering what she could. She analyzed the way the walls fell, and it look like if something exploded from the inside of the building. This detail really intrigued her. If the dragon destroyed the observatory from the inside, how did he get in there in the first place? All the constellations in her head started to discuss theories, but Hilda had to shut them up to calm her hungover ache. Small rocks fell from the ceiling hole catching the woman’s attention. She had a glimpse of what look like a furry tail. 'Is that…?’ Gemini said softly. 'The cat burglar! Must be the one Cagney saw the other night!’ Sagittarius said, a bit alarmed. 'It came back for more, uh? Let’s give it more…’ Tauros sneakered. Hilda’s eyes and bracelets started to shine and a dense fog started to appear.

Carlos stood still wondering about the fog, until he remembered what the flower said about her being able to control the weather. He opened his eyes wide, does that mean she saw him? or maybe it was just a fog? After all they lived in a island surrounded by water, fog is common in this kind of places, he thought. “Cálmate, Carlos!” He said softly to himself and continued walking silently on the unstable roof towards where he thought he saw the main house. He took a few more steps before hearing a deep bellow behind him. He turned his head just in time to see a bull’s head with bright horns charging from the fog and pushed him off the roof. The impact was too strong and Carlos’s feline reflexes failed him, landing on his back with a thud and cursing in Spanish. “I can’t believe you’re stupid enough to come back!” Taurus snickered, levitating towards the cat, getting ready to attack again. Carlos held up a hand. “I-I’m sorry! I just wanted to recover somet~!” He avoided a fatal attack with a roll and the cloud bull got stuck in the floor. Now he had a chance to see what he was dealing with. This wasn’t a woman. It was a monstrous cloud bull! Carlos looked befuddled at the struggling creature. “Petals forgot to mention this…” he managed before Taurus disappeared in a cloud and turned into Sagittarius. The cat’s eyes opened wide, not believing what was in front of him. The constellation made his glowing bow appear and with a smirk he immediately shot a few arrows at the cat. Carlos reacted quickly this time and ran to what he thought was safe - the ruins of the observatory. Sagittarius saw red. “GET THE FUCK OUT OF OUR OBSERVATORY, YOU FUCKING THIEF!”

“I’m not a thief!” Carlos said, running through the rubble. “This is all a misunderst~!” Another arrow missed him only by a little and hit one of the few mirrors that survived the dragon. Hilda yelled furious. “YOU’RE DEAD!” She shouted with a thunder echoing voice. Sagittarius vanished into the fog and for a moment everything stood still. Carlos was hiding behind what looked like a space rocket, holding his breath to make as little sound as possible, trying to calm down. After a while the cat dared to get out of his hideout, looking every direction for the cloud creatures. It looked like the coast was clear, but Carlos had the feeling this was just the calm before the storm. “W-weather lady?” He asked with a shaky voice. “This is a misunderstanding! I’m not a thief!” . He said slowly, getting out from his hiding spot and walking outside the ruins. “I’m more of an errand boy! I’m here to recover a lett~?” As soon as he set foot outside, a bright orb started shooting small hot projectiles at him and Hilda bursted into two maniacal laughter. She was now in the form of Gemini. He got painfully hit quite a few times and his strength was starting to fail him. He hid behind a big pile of debris. “Por favor! I surrender!” He kept yelling, but the sky witch wouldn’t listen. Her eyes were shining really bright. “I’m not done with you, you son of a bitch!” Gemini said in unison while vanishing into a huge dark cloud. Sounds of mechanic parts getting into place filled the air along with thunder and lightning. The clouds spreaded revealing a huge red half moon with a terrifying humanoid face laughing like a crazy witch. “Petals forgot to mention that too….”

“HAHAHAHA! I THOUGHT CATS LIKED WITCHES!” The half moon laughed, shooting stars and rockets at the poor Hispanic cat. He did all he could to avoid the attacks, but the blasts were almost just as bad as the projectiles. “Maldita loca! Stop! Already!” Carlos shouted, jumping passed the obstacles to get away from her, but a nearby blast blew some debris, painfully burying his ankles. “THEY SAY CATS HAVE NINE LIVES. LET’S PUT THAT TO THE TEST!” the red moon Hilda laughed. She had so much anger and frustration built up that this made her feel really good. To just let herself loose like this, with no restrictions whatsoever! She got closer to her victim and got a bit of altitude to get ready to crush the man. “Ay! Jesusito de mi vida! I just wanted to retrieve the flower’s letter! What a horrible end for an Agent of Love!” Carlos yelled, closing his eyes and getting ready for the impact. “The flower’s letter?” Hilda stopped in mid air. “What flower?” The moon asked impatiently to the wounded cat, although she already had her suspicions. Carlos looked up at her, and sighed in cautious relief. “I don’t know his real name, I call him Petals. He’s a giant fl~.” “Giant flower…” She interrupted while a dark cloud covered her completely to later reveal an angry woman in a red dress. Carlos was seriously starting to question his sanity. “Orange petals? Yellow face? A bit of an asshole?” She continued describing and Carlos nodded. 'Why would Cagney send us a letter?“ Sagittarius asked. 'Scratch that, WHEN did he send the letter? We just saw him last night…’ 'We can worry about that later! Let’s finish this bastard first!’ Taurus growled. 'Uuuh! I wonder what he wrote to us! Could be a poem? Or a list of all the things he likes about us.” Gemini blushed so intensely that actually made Hilda blush. The woman shook her head to stay away from the memories of last night and focused on the cat. “What’s your name, thief?” She said threatening. “Carlos Buenaventura” he immediately answered, still a bit shaky. “And…I’m a lot of things… but thief isn’t one of them.” He dared to clarify. Hilda gave him a deadly look that froze his blood. “B-b-but for you, señorita, I’ll be anything you want!” He laughed nervously. Hilda looked towards her mailbox in front of her house. “This is what’s gonna happen, Caaaarlos.” She tried to pronounce it the same way she mocked the caterpillar’s name. “I’m gonna go check if there is indeed a letter from… Petals.” She snickered. “If there is one, I will let you go, because that would mean you know my friend and if he didn’t kill you, it’s 'cause you’re not the thief of the other night… BUT! If I find nothing… well, let’s say I’m gonna have a lot of fun using you as my target practice.” Carlos took a deep breath. “It’s not like I can go anywhere…” he pointed at the debris around his ankles

Hilda walked towards her mailbox and found a couple of bills and a pink letter with something on it. “…glitter?” That was odd. She had trouble imagining Cagney using glitter for anything. She opened the letter intrigued and was pleasantly surprised to see such a great handwriting. The pea brain really put an effort on this, she found that sweet. “You are one of the most beautiful women I have ever met. You are so strong and fierce. -Aw… you dumb weed,”  She said blushing. “Your dresses are so pretty and sometimes I wish I could see you without one too~?” She read that line again. “ …but that would be really bad to say so I’m not going to say it. Would you like to go out with me and maybe have a picnic? Sincerely, Grim.” “Grim?!” All constellations yelled in her head. She read the letter a few more times until she realised it was addressed to the Baroness Von Bon Bon. She couldn’t help but laugh. Grim must have realised he sent the letter to the wrong address and asked Cagney to get it back for him, but since now they were a bit awkward with each other, the grumpy dandelion decided to send this poor idiot to retrieve it for him. She thought about it for a moment. The envelope had her address in another hand writing… one much more familiar… She heard a noise and turned to see Carlos had manage to free himself but instead of running, he just laid on the floor. She raised an eyebrow and walked back to him. “What are you doing? Why aren’t you running?” “ I just realised that maybe Petals tricked me to get beaten by you.” He said more to himself than to her. “ There might not be a letter at all….” The cat said sadly rubbing his wounds. “ You’re a hell of a woman!” He smiled and pulled a cigarette and matches from his pocket and lit one taking a deep breath. Hilda realised if the cat didn’t say those words she would have definitely turn him into mush. No matter how good it felt, she went way too far… “I found the letter… so… you’re free to go.” Carlos raised a shaky finger and took another deep breath from his cigarette. “Just a couple more minutes, and I’ll be out of your life.” She was starting to feel very bad. “I can take you to the hospital? Or home… where do you live?” Carlos thought for a moment. “I have to be at the docks pretty soon. Can you give me a lift?” The woman nodded “Sure! No problem. But… you should really see a doctor though” She cast a cloud and helped the scared cat get on it.

—

Amori was waiting impatient at the docs. He kept looking at his pocket watch and eyeing the surroundings looking for the Hispanic cat. A cloud landed in front of him carrying a woman and the feline he was waiting for. He looked horrible. He was covered in dust, cuts, bruises and blood stains. He acknowledge the woman with a slight movement of his head, without saying a word, and he looked at Carlos, waiting for an explanation. “Hey! Mi amigo Amori! You’re not going to BELIEVE the day I had… But let me introduce you to my lovely companion: Señorita Hilda Berg.” Hilda waved, feeling awkward. The spider gentleman didn’t say anything and kept staring at Carlos. “Señorita Berg, this is Amor~” “You’re late.” The gentleman interrupted. Carlos chuckled. “It’s a funny story, really~.” “We got to go.” He said going back to his car. “What a charmer…” Hilda said, helping Carlos to get down. “You sure you don’t want to see a doctor?” “I’ll be fine.” He smiled sweetly, getting down of the cloud. “Well! Can’t say it has been a pleasure meeting you, but you have made quite an impression on me.” He bowed. Hilda forced a smile. “Yeah. A piece of advice, though: knock first.” She said, slightly annoyed. The cat laughed “That is a very good advice indeed, my dear. Adiós, señorita.” They both waved goodbye and Hilda returned to her ruins, with a new thing to worry about.

“We don’t have time for your conquests, Buenaventura.” Amori said disturbingly calm, looking through the car window. “Hehe, she was the one conquering me.” The cat chuckled, taking out another cigarette. “No smoking in my car.” The spider said, without looking at Carlos. The Hispanic cat sighed and put the cigarette back to its package. The gentleman looked to his pocket watch again. “Are you going to be able to do the job tonight?” “Hmhmm” Carlos answered tired closing his eyes. “I just need a shower and a nap.” “Fine.” He gave Carlos some money. “Get yourself a room in a mediocre hotel, register with a fake name, obviously, take a shower, a nap, and call a doctor. How badly are you hurt?” “Aw! You DO care about me! Come here! Gimme a hug!” He laughed trying to hug Amori but the spider managed to keep him away with his six arms. The driver let a big smile appear on his face, but immediately vanished at the deadly look he gave him. “The only reason I’m so generous is because I need you in top shape for tonight! It’s not because I appreciate you in any way!” The gentleman said, losing his coolness. “Haha! yeah yeah! Act all tough, but I know deep down that hard rock facade there’s a flaming heart waiting to explode, like a volcano!” He mimicked a volcano erupting making noises with his mouth. “I just hope it doesn’t erupt inside somebody though, if you know what mean, ehhh? ” he chuckled,q elbowing the spider who was now covering his face in embarrassment.

—

Cagney was just reaching the second isle when he stopped short at the sight of the carnival. There was shards of glass all over the floor, overturned hot dog stands and the ferris wheel actually looked a little warped. “What the hell happened here?”

“Only the greatest entertainment here at Beppi’s circus!” An annoying voice announced from behind him. Cagney groaned at the familiar voice and turned to see Beppi proudly posing with a broken mirror. There was something a bit off about that mirror. Other than the fact that it was cracked. The carnation knew he was going to regret asking, but he had to do it. “What’s with the mirror, Beppi?” “Oh, this old thing? Why it’s just one of my many magic mirrors for my haunted mansion.” “Magic mirror? Does that mean you get extra bad luck for it breaking?” Beppi giggled. “Oh, I didn’t break it. But something did break out of it! It was a rather monstrous surprise that’s for sure!” Cagney shook his head. “Alright, I officially don’t care anymore.” “Oh, really? What a shame. Grim got to fight a mirror dragon last night! And then it exploded!” The clown squeaked when  Cagney grabbed him by the lapels of his outfit. “Mirror dragon?!” “Yes. Have you seen it? We haven’t found it yet.” Cagney humorlessly laughed. “OH I saw it alright. I saw it break into Hilda’s home and smash all her stuff!” “Woah, really?” “Yeah so-” “You were really at Hilda’s house?” Beppi prompted. Cagney felt his petals stiffen slightly. “No, just…” “You were there awfully late. What were you guys doing?” “N-nothing. Just, screw you.” “Nah, but judging by how tense you are, I should tell you the same.”

Cagney growled at the clown’s suggestion. “Where did you get these mirrors from?” “Djimmi got them for me. Which reminds me, don’t tell Djimmi that they’re almost all broken. I only got like one left.” Cagney grinned maliciously. He had a little bit of time. “Let’s go pay a visit to Djimmi then, maybe he can tell me how to prevent that dragon from coming back. You know, after he kills you.” Beppi’s eyes widened. “Wait, no no no!” The carnation grabbed him the lapels and dragged the screaming clown toward the road.

—

When Cagney and Beppi reached Djimmi’s pyramid, it was closed with a note on the door: “Do not bother the Great Djimmi, especially you, Beppi!. The Magnificent Djimmi won’t clean your mess!”

Apparently Djimmi had come back to the isles late last night, after a quick visit to the family. He had been surprised to see the park in such a mess. He immediately recognized the mirror shards and wondered how they got everywhere. People had no respect for things anymore! He decided after his long trip it would be best to worry some other time and went to rest. Hence the note.

Cagney saw the sign on the door and swore. He didn’t want to agitate a genie. But at the same time, he really did want to see Beppi get murdered. So he knocked on the door, much to the dismay of the clown.

Cagney had to knock a couple more times before an aromatic smoke came out of the eye symbol carved on the door. It took the shape of a miniature Djimmi and started to speak with a high pitch voice.

“Did you turn blind!? I do not wish to be disturb today! Be gone, before I turn you into slugs!”

Cagney scowled at the irritated genie before thrusting out a protesting Beppi out the at him. “Reading ain’t my strong suit, bud. Why the hell you selling magic monster mirrors to this idiot? And how do I get rid of the monsters?!”

The miniature Djimmi crossed his little arms. “First of all, none of your business who or what I sell to people. Second, it’s not my fault everyone is scared of very freaky stuff. You just stop looking at the mirror and the monster will disappear from the reflection.” He said, not understanding what Cagney really meant.

“Now, it eludes the magnificent Djimmi how this clown managed to break all the mirrors and spread the shards everywhere, but I’m not selling anymore. I’m out of stock!” He added turning the back at them.

Cagney scowled, thinking the genie was being sarcastic. “Turn around huh?! You wanna explain that to Hilda because one of your magic mirror monsters took a side trip to her home and destroyed all of her exhibits?!”

“What?” said a very confused mini-Djimmi. “What are you talking about? The reflections can’t come out of the mirror.”

Beppi threw his hands out. “That’s what I said! But then a big dragon flew out grabbed the candy princess and me!” The clown laughed. “I thought the rabbit with the churro made it go away but all they did was teleport it!” Cagney looked at Beppi. “What?”

Smoke-Djimmi looked at the clown unbelieving what he was hearing. He sighed loudly. “Come in….” The mini-Djimmi disappeared with a puff and a trap door opened at the visitors feet, making them fall into an underground sledge made of reddish stone. Shortly after, they landed on a pile of pillows. When they recovered from the fall, they realised they were in a small room, floor covered in carpets and pillows, walls decorated with veils and other exquisite fabrics, the air was heavy and filled with incense and a touch of a minty scent. Djimmi was sitting in front of a small table containing a steamy silver tea set, smoking a water pipe, and wearing a silky green robe.  He wasn’t happy to have them. “Explain EXACTLY what happened.” The genie said seriously, blowing some smoke and pointing in front of him with an open palm, inviting them to approach the table.

Beppi had managed to wiggle out of Cagney’s grasp during the fall. “So,” he started, “Bon Bon and I were on a date-!” Cagney looked at the clown. “What?! No way.” “Oh alright. Maybe the date was with Grim. But I was there too!  And I just happened to get my magic mirror maze all set up! When all of a sudden, Grim’s scary reflection reaches and yanks Bon Bon and I through the mirror! As much as I enjoy my pranks, I wasn’t expecting this one to reflect on me this much.”

The genie took a deep breath out of his water pipe with a concern look on his face. He blew the smoke softly staring at Beppi trying to understand what he just said.

“Grim’s reflection dragged you inside the mirror….” He paused  and crossed his arms. His look still on Beppi. “What did you say earlier about a bunny and a magic… churro?”

Cagney was really disappointed that Beppi wasn’t immediately turned into a toad or nothing but even he had to admit he was curious about the rabbit and magic churro. Beppi nodded. “Oh yeah! Had a group in there with us in the maze.” He slapped his knee. “There was this really spooked bunny waving around a churro and doing spells or something.” “You mean Hopus?” Cagney asked. It was the only rabbit he could think of that could cast spells. “Maybe if Hopus was a kid, then sure! Ooh! Can Hopus turn into a kid? That would be hilarious!” This was getting nowhere in a hurry. “What’d the rest of the group look like?” “Well, it was a group of kids, two bunnies, a bat and a bulldog. Goopy. I think he was supposed to be babysitting or something. And that salamander dockworker fella and his cat date, who I must say was quite the acrobat!” Cagney froze, “A cat?”

Djimmi knew Hopus a bit better that Beppi, he was a frequent client, closest thing he had as a friend. He always enjoyed chatting with him about curses and funny stories about backfiring spells. “It still eludes the great Djimmi this story about … a churro….” He said, rolling his eyes, thinking that the clown simply didn’t see clearly in the middle of the chaos. “But sounds like they might have been Hopus’ kids. They must have taken their father’s wand and fooled around.” He left the water pipe on a side and started gesturing with his arms and hands as if he was caressing a round object. He hummed and murmured a chant before a shiny crystal glass materialised in front of them floating in the air. “You say you saw the creature at Mis Berg’s, right?” He said to Cagney, his hands moving around the crystal sphere, that was now turning cloudy and slowly revealed the observatory ruins. They could see Hilda, trying to reach something in a pile of debris in her exposition room. It didn’t took long before she got angry and turned into Taurus to kick the big chunk of wall out of her way. “What exactly did you see?” Djimmi said inspecting the damage. He had a pretty good idea of what they were dealing with, but still wanted to gather as much information as possible about the creature that popped out of his mirrors.

Cagney pursed his lips. “Well, it was shiny, and mean and could fly. Pretty much a shiny dragon. No idea where it went after it took out Hilda’s place though.” Beppi clapped his hands together again. “Think he would like to join the circus? I’ve been wanting to practice my damsel in distress routine for years!”

Djimmi glared at the clown. “Oh, you will have the chance, alright… because YOU are going to catch it.” He looked one more time at a sad Hilda, holding an old spyglass in the shape on an L, trying carefully to bend it back to its original shape, only to completely break in her hands.  "Poor girl… I’m starting to think she’s cursed or something.“ The image of the crystal glass changed showing the damage caused at the carnival. "For something so big to come out of the mirrors, it must have been a pretty strong spell… maybe it wasn’t the kids after all.”.The genie kept thinking in silence, while the sphere showed an air view of the carnival.

Beppi blinked and looked at the crystal ball. “What do you mean I have to catch it? With a glass net or something? It ain’t exactly a butterfly, ya know.” Cagney harrumphed. He had been really hoping to see Beppi skewered but since that didn’t look like it was happening, he was growing restless. “Well, you both better figure out something. I’ve got errands to run. I gotta meet up with Rumor,” he complained, looking around for the exit.

Djimmi was very irritated by the clown and didn’t pay much attention to Cagney. The flower realised there were no exits in the room, and that the trap door hole was gone. “It’s the physical manifestation of Grim’s fears. Just find out what exactly are those, and you might be able to figure out a way to catch it. In the meantime, I’ll try to find out who made him come out of the glass.” The genie took a long puff of he’s water pipe. “Can you describe the man from the docs and the cat?”

Cagney settled in. It looked like he was going to be here for a while, especially as Beppi pulled out a detective hat and a pipe of his own….oh wait, that was Djimmi’s pipe. The flower wasn’t sure when he managed to swipe it from the genie. Beppi tapped the pipe to his chin. “Well the one from the docks was some type of older salamander fella. Goopy seemed to know him well enough. The other one was the cutest little cat. Rather jumpy-” Cagney growled. “Do you know where that rat went?” Beppi chuckled. “It was a cat.” “I know that! But she’s nothing but a dirty rat after the crap she pulled earlier.” “…but she’s a cat.” Beppi reminded. Cagney’s hands were on Beppi in an instant. “I KNOW, Beppi, I KNOW! But she’s the reason I’m in this mess to begin with!”

Djimmi’s eye twitched of contained anger when he realised the clown took his pipe. He decided this was a waste of time to try get more information out of him, but Cagney seemed to know something about the cat. After Cagney let him go, he grabbed Beppi by the neck, producing a squeaky toy sound from the clown. “Find out how to attract that creature, and I’ll find out how to get rid of it.” He said angrily face to face.  He then started folding the clown’s body like a long balloon and made the shape of a doggy and gave it to Cagney with a satisfied grin. 

“How do you know the rat~? I mean, the cat!” He decided to ask the flower.

Cagney very much enjoyed his new balloon even though Beppi seemed hardly phased by this. Still he didn’t want to incriminate himself too much. “The cat came to steal some stuff from Hilda and the dome was broken,” he answered evasively.

The genie cleaned his pipe looking surprised at the carnation. “Her dome got broken before this? Poor girl…hmmm….” He took a deep puff and blew the smoke slowly on his palm. The smoke strangely started turning as a slow small tornado, changing into a shade of green and materializing a ring, completely full with small weird inscriptions. He extended his hand to Cagney. “You spend a lot with her. Next time you see her, give her this. It’s an amulet against the evil eye. If somebody has indeed cursed her, this should protect her as long as she’s wearing it. On the house, obviously.” A door opened where the slide was before. “Now, please, leave! And next time you bother the magnificent Djimmi, I’ll make a tea out of your petals and drown the clown in it!”

Cagney knew better than to test fate much further and bailed, taking the Beppi balloon with him. It was only when they were outside that the carnation reflected on Djimmi’s words. He eyed the amulet skeptically. It did seem like Hilda was running into a lot of bad luck lately. Granted, most of it was related to him, but still, there had to be some weight to his prediction.  Nothing was ever free with the genie, whether it was money or something else, there was always a price. So Djimmi had to be really concerned to have given Cagney of all Islanders a artifact at no cost. Perhaps the genie was on to something. But, Cagney could not go back and give the amulet to Hilda. He had wasted too much time as it was, he realized, seeing the sun’s position in the sky. The clown’s humming clued him into the fact that he was not alone and an idea hit him. He jerks at the balloon down to his level and scowled at Beppi. “Listen up, moron, I need you to take this amulet to Hilda. Don’t tell her where I’m going, just say Djimmi thought she could use it for all of her….bad luck lately.” Beppi shook his head. “No can do. Mr. Magic Flying Carpet really wants me to find that dragon. And I think a visit to Bon Bon might be in order to learn more about that,” he giggled with a wink. Cagney held up a leaf. “I don’t even want to hear what you had in mind for the Baroness, but listen! If you really want to catch that dragon, you should definitely head to Hilda’s place first. And here’s why…”

—

Hilda managed to gather some of her expositions and research and was sitting on a pile of debris, holding a cup of tea, looking towards her destroyed observatory. 

'Maybe Bon Bon would agree to give you a loan?’ Sagittarius said cautiously, for he also felt the strong feelings rushing in her body. 'She’s a reasonable woman… I’m sure she would listen.’ 'Beg? You want us to beg!?’ Taurus replied angrily. 'Shhhh! Not so loud! Head still hurts…’. Gemini said softly, recovering their sync. “Pfff… maybe I should just give up. Nobody cares about the observatory anyway.” Hilda sighed, sadly taking a sip. 'What now? What are going to do without an observatory?’ Sagittarius asked, alarmed. “There are other observatories in the world, you know.” 'Yes, but in here WE are in charge!’ Taurus pointed out. 'All our friends are here’. Ini said softly. 'Cagney is here…’. Gem talked this time. 'Are we really going to leave him again?’. Hilda’s heart felt heavy in her chest. Last thing she wanted was to hurt him again… It felt like everything she cared about had to be destroyed somehow.  Ever since that bat moved in, she thought to herself. Maybe the singer brought a wave of bad luck. “Bad bat luck…hehe, try to say that three times in a row. Bad bat luck, badbatuck, babadack” she started to say amusing herself, helping her to forget briefly her bigger problems. Unaware that another problem was soon bouncing its way to her door.

–

Beppi bounced up and down the path on the first isle toward Hilda’s observatory. Every now and then, he thought about taking the amulet and skipping it across the water like a rock but then remembered he needed to hang on to it just a bit longer or at least until Hilda had it. Cagney’s words echoed in his helium head. And not just because the carnation shook them into the clown. 'Once you give her the amulet, you gotta do whatever it takes to keep her from following me. Every bad thing that’s happened, I’ve been a part of. If Djimmi is right, I could be the bad luck. So, the last thing I want is for her to be around when I deal with Rumor!’ 'So what’s in it for me?’ Beppi was started to climb her hill, remembering. 'You wanna find the dragon so bad? Hilda’s tower was the last place it was seen. I didn’t see it head back toward the second isle so it could still be around the first isle. And Hilda’s place is the highest part of the isle for lookout. There’s no way in hell she’ll let you use her place as a lookout if she’s not around. So don’t let her know where I’ve gone. Got it?’ 'Not at all.’ 'You stupid-’ The rest of the conversation was a bit of a haze after that, he had to admit, as he stood in front of Hilda’s door. He took out a doorbell, placed it on her door and proceeded to ring it nonstop.

—

Hilda covered her ears at the intense ringing. “What the heck!?” It came from her house, so she rushed to open the door. “If you’re the vacuum seller, you better start running!~oh!” She said, opening the door to find Beppi, who was still ringing the bell, even tho she was standing right in front of him. She stared at him for a few seconds waiting for him to stop, but when she realised he wasn’t going to, she slapped his wrist. “Cut it out! I’m here! What do you want?”

Beppi tucked away his bell and tipped his hat at her. “Hello, Miss Berg! What a surprise to see you here! How are you doing this fine day?”

“….Yeah, very surprising to see me at my own house,” the woman replied crossing her arms, “I don’t have time for this, Beppi, I’m really busy. You need something?”

Beppi cleared his throat. “Actually, I believe YOU are in need of something! And I’m here to help!” Before Hilda could say anything further, Beppi scooted in and started to walk toward her former exhibits hall. “I hear you’ve been having a lot of trouble lately?”

“Wha~ hey!” She managed to say while Beppi invited himself in. She followed him angrily. “What have you heard?” News travelled fast. Maybe Carlos had something to do with it. She started to not like newcomers.

“I heard that a dragon came out of nowhere and smashed all your stuff! I’m fairly sure it’s the same dragon that smashed up my circus too!”  Beppi entered the room and whistled loudly at all the damage. “Whoo boy, looks like it did a number on your place!”

“Smashed your circus too? What the heck! Where did it come from? Could it be Grim’s relative or something?” Hilda asked, surprised of the news.

“Oh, not quite. It’s a magical dragon! It came from a magical place. And if I am successful, that’s where I’m going to send it!” Beppi cheered. “But in the meantime, you’ll need to wear this. Courtesy of our friend, Djimmi, here!” Beppi plopped the amulet into her hands and started to scope out the place. “Cagney told him about what’s been happening and this will hopefully help keep you from running into anymore bad luck!” He started to walk away. “Now which roof should I set up my lookout spot? I want to make sure I’m as high as possible.”

Hilda looked at the strange ring.  "Cagney? Bad luck?“ She tried to keep up with what the clown was saying but she couldn’t help but feel confused.  "The highest place is my room’s roof~wait, WHAT? What lookout? You’re not staying here!” She said angrily at the clown. “And watch where you’re stepping! I’m not done rescuing my expositions.”

Beppi looked around and sighed. “Oh fine. We can rescue what we can save. But afterwards, we’ll set up camp in your room and keep an eye out for that dragon. Cagney didn’t think it left the isle.”

The woman stared at the clown unbelieving. “You can help me pick up my stuff, if you want, but you are NOT staying!” She said, angry stomping her foot down, “And THAT’S FINAL!”  

— A few hours later, Beppi was setting camp in Hilda’s room near her big window. The woman was sitting on her bed with her arms and legs crossed, looking angry at the clown for his persistence. “You should sleep outside, on the roof. And while you’re there you could fix the roof.” 'Let me pop him with my horns!’ Taurus said, losing his patience.

Beppi pulled out a jar. “I could use this jar of gorilla glue to patch things up?” He held the jar out to Hilda. The faint sound of a monkey could be heard from the can.

Hilda raised an eyebrow at the sound.“.. Nevermind….” She thought it might be better to ask somebody more sane to fix her roof, perhaps the Root Pack. “So what’s your plan? Sit in here 'till it casually flies back?” She inspected the ring in her hand.

Beppi finished setting up his tent made out of one of her sheets and motioned her to sit down next to him. “Only for the next day or so. Then I’ll get bored. But you need to stay with me in case I do see it!” He insisted. He saw she hadn’t put on the ring yet and tittered. “I am rather offended you won’t wear my ring. Don’t you trust me?”

“Of course I don’t trust you, Beppi. Who trusts a clown?” She chuckled. “But I know a thing or two about enchanted jewelry.” She said shaking her bracelets. “Can’t recognize the symbols….” She wondered why would Djimmi give her something for free? Did he knew something she didn’t? …Did Cagney say something to him to make him worried… or… 'A love enchantment!’ Gemini yelled in Hilda’s head. “Hey! Keep it down!” Hilda said out loud as a reflex.

“And they say I’m the crazy one,” Beppi muttered, making a screwball gesture next to his head. He glanced at the ring. “it’s supposed to protect against the evil eye. Piss off any gods or sorcerers lately?”

Hilda’s cheeks turned slightly red of embarrassment. “Evil eye?” She thought of the people who she could have made angry. “Well… there’s the freaking door to door seller, mail man, the baker, hm… there’s Carl, the owner of the Night Owl Club, and last I can think of is Carlos.” She noticed the look of confusion.in Beppi’s face. “Carl is a caterpillar son of a bitch, and Carlos is a mail stealer cat.” She clarified. ’…maybe Cagney gave us the evil eye’. Sagittarius said sadly. 'We haven’t been a good friend lately…’. 'Ha! He can barely remember our phone number. You think he has the capacity of throwing spells and curses?’ 'He can always pay somebody to do it for him’. Ini said worried. “How many sorcerers you know Beppi? So far I can only think of Djimmi and Hopus.”

Beppi nodded. "That’s all I can think of too. Maybe someone on the third isle is having a rough day. You haven’t taken out any new gambling debts, have you?”

She shrugged “I have enough debts already.” She said, thinking of the fortune she was going to have to win to be able to get the observatory back on track. She noticed the sun was pretty much gone. “Shit! I gotta set up the stars!” She quickly put on the ring and ran to her chest where she kept the burning spheres. She grabbed a bunch in a sack and jumped from the window casting a cloud. “Don’t sleep in my bed, there’s leftovers in the fridge, you can use the shower and don’t you DARE touch or sneak into my stuff!” She said while leaving in a hurry.

Beppi remembered Cagney’s words about keeping her close and bounced to his feet. “WAIT!” He hollered, hopping out and wrapping himself around her waist.

He almost made her dropped the sack with the stars. “Jesus Christ, Beppi!” The woman said turning red and looking down at him.

The deadly glare she shot him made him smile. It reminded him of Bon Bon. “What if the dragon comes for you when you’re out here?” He quickly explained, making sure to tie his arms in a knot like a balloon snake animal. “You’ve got a better chance of making it out with Beppi on your side.”

“Fine! You can come, just… don’t interfere.” She made her cloud bigger and pulled his arms to try to undo the knot in her waist.

Beppi grinned and snuggled in against her. He sniffed her hair. “Did you know you smell like a flower?”

—

Amber crept along the large crates carefully, being careful not to draw too much attention. This was the first of the many shipments she had learned from Sully’s notes and it wouldn’t do her any good to get caught on the first day. She watched the dockworkers continue to carry the supplies from the ship and she racked her brain trying to remember which shipment was this.

That’s right, it was some stones and baubles and something like that for the genie, Djimmi. Normally, Amber didn’t mess with magical folk. She wasn’t superstitious per se, but there was always a little worrisome to try to take something from someone who with a snap of his fingers, could turn her into a stuffed animal.

Especially since he had caught her once before… A particularly promising box soon caught her attention by the way that the crew members were holding it carefully as they unloaded it. That one. She’s going to go for that one

Amber had been scoping out the docks for some time but there was one particular cargo box with the word “danger” stamped on it that caught her eye near the edge of the dock. Where there was danger, there was risk, and where there was risk, there was treasure. She crept along the beams of the dockyard, keeping an eye out for the boxes that were being lifted out of the ship and high into the air by the massive rusty levers. She didn’t like how some of the levers’ structure creaked and moaned under the weight of the cargo. It was only a matter of time before one of the old levers snapped and dropped a box on someone and she wouldn’t want to be around for that.

—

“Sorry, Sullivan, we all have to do extra shifts to cover for Gary.,” Mc Crabbe, the large red crustacean, said to the salamander while he was getting ready to leave. “It’s just a temporary thing 'till we can find someone to fill in. Hang in there, bud.” He said, patting Sullivan on his back with his huge claw. “Oh, and I need you tomorrow too. Good night!” He said, leaving the office. Sullivan sighed, tired and sad. Working twelve hour shift was really too hard for him, specially after a long day of multiple shipments. It also didn’t give him much time to spend with Amber. There was a lot he wanted to ask her after their weird date at the carnival. But his thoughts drifted to Gary. His sudden decision to retire early was a bit weird knowing the fellow. But the boss said not to worry, and he knew him better than anybody. He poured a cup of strong coffee to get through the night and started reading the papers on the desk unable to focus, for his thoughts were taken once more by his beloved Amber. He sighed and wondered if they would see each other again.

A knock at the door brought Sullivan back from his thoughts. “Oh! Eh… come in! Is open.” Carlos, the Hispanic cat entered taking off his hat. “Buenas noches, caballero.” He shook the salamander’s hand. “Name is Carlos, I’m looking for Sullivan?” The amphibian shook back smiling. “Talking to him!” He noticed the bruises and black eye of his visitor. “Eh… you found trouble on your way here?” “Hehe, just a misunderstanding with a lovely señorita.” He chuckled putting his hat on again. “Thank you for your concern, amigo, but I’m afraid time is a bit of an essence for me tonight….” “Oh! Of course, of course.” Sullivan picked up his keys and notebook and locked the shack on his way out. 

Amber finally reached the box and pried open the cover with her miniature crowbar. She peeked inside. Lots of weird strange baubles and gems looked back at her. What was so dangerous about these things? They looked harmless (and pretty enough). She pawed through them and placed a few choice items in her satchel, her ears perking up at approaching footsteps.

Amber’s ears perked up immediately at the sound of a familiar voice. That sounded almost like a certain salamander. She ducked behind the cargo box, being careful not to jostle her prize within her bag and peeked out.  Sure enough there was Sullivan walking along the docks and he wasn’t alone. Another cat was walking alongside him, chatting as they continued their stroll. It was a rather attractive looking tom cat she realized and she instinctively patted down her fur before remembering she was on a job and cats were nothing but trouble (she was a perfect example of that).

The sailor wanted to make some small talk but Carlos seemed distracted. Without knowing, they passed near Amber and stopped in front of a big metal box the size of a table near the water.

She flicked her ears trying to hear what they were speaking about, but she couldn’t hear much. Her eyes followed the two until they stopped by a large metal box along the edge of the dock, next to the cold ocean water. She had eyed it earlier but it was too close to the water for her tastes and although it probably wasn’t terribly deep, the last thing she wanted was to get soaking wet.

Sullivan had pulled out his clipboard and was tapping it. She could make out him saying something about “costumes and fabrics” and she started to lose interest. That probably wasn’t too much of value. “This is it.” The salamander verified checking his papers. “A cargo of… costumes and fabrics….” He read cocking his head. “Yeap! To be delivered at the casino, ASAP. Dancers need to practice with their outfits, and Spring Festival is only a couple of weeks away!” Carlos explained to his friend with a cheerful tone. Sullivan knew the casino prepared big shows for the festival, but this was the first time they sent someone in the middle of the night to do the pick up. This all seemed very shady. .“..I’m gonna need to check up the cargo. Would you mind opening it for me, please?” Sully asked politely. Carlos was surprised to hear him ask that. He knew he was coming to pick up this particular cargo but nobody told him to avoid that question? That was a problem. And Carlos wasn’t sure how to tell him no. It raise suspicion, since it would bring up McCrabbe and would compromise the entire operation. On his way to the shipment, Carlos had noticed the pitiful state of some of the levers structures. They were very near under one right now. It pained Carlos to realise that he may have to use one of these structures to secure their operation. He’d have to make sure Sully saw nothing, and said nothing. For good. One of the levers was suspending a large cargo box over them. So all he had to do was get Sully to stay still long enough. “Arg! Sure sure, let’s get this over with!” Carlos pretended not to have the strength to open the lid to the cargo. “ Oiga! A little hand here, amigo? I’m not in my best shape today….” He said, sitting near the lever structure, pretending to be recovering his breath.

Sullivan rolled his eyes and got close to the box, yanking the lock making an irritable metallic noise. Amber was about to turn around when she noticed something off about the other feline’s behavior. How he backed away from Sullivan and sat near one of the rusty levers, huffing and puffing. A young tom in physique like that shouldn’t be that out of breath. She flattened her ears and glanced around. Her eyes followed the lever up and realized there was a rather heavy cargo box suspended above the two. It swayed in the cold wind and she could only imagine that if that box fell, it would obliterate the floor, along with anyone else underneath.

Carlos looked at Sully with a sad expression, and with a quick hit, he broke the lever, releasing the floating cargo.

Her vision drifted back to Sullivan as he attempted to open the box only for a loud crack to reverberate in the shipyard. Her eyes shot up to see the lever had snapped, sending the box crashing downwards…toward Sullivan. There was no way he’d be able to move in time. She dropped to all fours and shot toward him, her bag flying up in the air almost in slow motion. She thought she might have screamed his name but she wasn’t entirely sure. She did, however, full on collide with the salamander, throwing her entire weight into his frame and knocking him out of the pathway of the box…and into the ocean. Oops. Amber’s fur shot up on end at the sight of the water and she managed to desperately cling to the edge of the dock, just as the cargo crashed and broke through the dock where Sullivan had been standing just seconds before.

“Holy shit, holy shit,” she managed, as planks of wood and metal flew everywhere.

Carlos watched, horrified at the scene. He miscalculated and now the cargo was broken in half losing its content, a collection of illegal weapons and firepower. The arsenal of guns and rifles started sinking slowly into the black waters. “Mierda!” He released a particular whistle and ran towards the sinking cargo trying to bring it back up. It was then when he heard a female voice cursing near. He opened his eyes wide at the view of another cat, a rather lovely one, he thought, holding on to the edge. Another witness! He was really screwing things up tonight. “Mierda!”  He said again leaving the cargo and offering his hand to help her. “Hold on to me, señorita!”

Amber looked up at the voice to see the tom cat extending a paw toward her to pull her up. She grasped it and pulled down sharply, using the leverage to not only lift herself up, but in doing so, jerking the cat face first against the dock floor. She nimbly landed on the prone cat before pouncing forward, snatching the bag of ill gotten gains before it could smash to the ground and darted down the dock, her eye mask still snugly tied around her face.

As if his face wasn’t in enough pain already, he felt his own weight and the female cat’s crushing him harder against the wooden floor of the docks, stunning him for a moment. A huge gorilla and a big toad ran towards Carlos, guns in hand. They looked surprised at the mess. They saw a shadow running away and, as an instinct, they started shooting its way. Carlos managed to stand up and waved his hands to signal them to stop. “Idiotas! Stop! Francis, save what you can.” He said at the gorilla, pointing at the cargo. “Connor, look for a salamander in the water!”

The gorilla easily pulled back the metal box and carried it to the truck they came in. The toad dove into the water, recovering some guns on his way, and keeping his eyes open for the individual. Carlos rubbed his nose and tried to follow the masked cat. —- Sullivan heard a familiar voice shouting his name, but before he could react his body was violently pushed towards the cold waters. A huge sound vibrated in the dark, something fell on the docs, very near him, cracking the floor. He saw pieces of wood, chunks of metal… a rifle? He knew it! Something was up, and he was in great danger. He looked back up and noticed a couple of distorted silhouettes. There was a sudden movement and one of them left. He thought he heard some shooting… and seconds later a huge toad dived into the water. Sullivan was an excellent swimmer and in a blink of an eye he hid into the dark depths. His heart beating so fast and loud he thought it might give him away.

—

Amber managed to drop behind a cargo box just in time for gunshots to ricochet off the top of her box. Her eyes widened. She was getting shot at?! What type of place was this?! She expected this from Porkrind but not from here. She was thinking more pirates and daggers and parrots. She heard someone yelling at them to stop and she sighed in relief. It was short lived as her ears perked up again at the sound of fast approaching paws. She turned to see the other cat giving chase. Amber continued her sprint, climbing and jumping from box to box.

Carlos tried to keep up with the feline but after a few minutes of painful running and jumping, he had to stop to recover. There was no way he would be able to catch her, and because of the gun shots, she wouldn’t trust him even if he proposed a peaceful deal. An idea started to picture in his head. He smirked. He went back to his colleagues. “Francis, put the metal box back here, Connor. Connor!” He called out over the water and the Toad came out caring a couple more rifles. “Connor, drop it and swim away from here.” The toad looked at him strangely.  “And the salamander?” “I’ll take care of it! Just get the fuck away from here!” Francis came back with the box and slid it into the hole where it slowly fell into the water. “Good job Francis, now, I need you to get into the truck and drive normally. Just, go to the rendez-vous point, as planned.” “What are ya~.” But before he could finish the cat already left to the shack. He had to break a window to be able to get in and use the phone. “What’s the emergency?” A bored voice answer on the other line. “Yes! Thieves at the docks! Two of them, they shoot us and my friend fell on the water! Please! Come quick!” Carlos explained, pretending to be worried. — Sullivan saw the toad pass him by a few times, picking up some of the sunken weapons, until at some point he just dropped what he carried and swam away quickly. He remained hidden for a while longer. Something fell into the water.  It was the cat. He looked worried and seemed to try to call his name. Sullivan noticed he kept a hand on a side of his body, it was blood! He got stabbed? The salamander started to think Carlos had nothing to do with the cargo, otherwise why would he be wounded? He cautiously came out of his hiding place and noticed the relieved look on the cat’s face. The both got out of the water and Sullivan inspected Carlos wound. “There… there was this cat! A masked cat!” Carlos started to explain. “And… a toad… They… they wanted to hurt me… they fucking stabbed me! But I managed to escape, I reached the shack and called the cops, they should be here any minute now….”

True to his word, a few minutes later the police arrived, finding a wet Carlos shivering, with a stab wound on his side and Sullivan attending to him.

—

Amber sat high in the rafters watching the police canvas the entire dock. She didn’t like that cat though. As she caught sight of him and Sullivan chumming it up, she begrudgingly kept her suspicion to herself. She was just being irritable about not getting more treasure. She groaned. She wish she had grabbed more shinies. But at the same time, she probably wouldn’t have forgiven herself if it had led to Sullivan getting smushed. Probably. She retrieved one of the baubles from the bag and looked down at the desirable cargo box still below her. Well, she knew a buyer for these that’s for sure. Maybe she could come back after the police had left and purloin a few more. She stood up and nearly slipped, dropping the pretty stone. She watched in wide eye as it flew down toward the box of magical items. She wondered what would happen if it actually hit- – The cargo box exploded in a flash of bright smoke and flames as the baubles all detonated at once. Any number of police officers were immediately drawn to the scene staring at the explosive display while Amber ran like crazy. God, what a day….

———————————————————————————

—

As the flyers finished their stretches, Hopus moseyed around the Second Isle’s stores, browsing the selection of stuff. It would be really nice if he could find something for his wife. She was a real trooper, managing the home while he had been putting in the overtime.

King Dice had been especially demanding as of late. Something must be going on to get the house manager all worked up but Hopus preferred not to know what it is, preferring to keep his head down and work.

He was aware of residents furtively glancing his way and he realized he was wearing his bow tie. He would have taken it off but the rabbit wanted to stop by the circus real quick, check out the damage.

Maybe have a talk with the clown.

Hopus walked into the carnival and let out a low whistle. “Wow,” he admired. There was broken glass and embers everywhere. He carefully walked around the bits and pieces. Looks like Harvey and Hannah had a very good time last night. He should let them go out more often.

He could hear the familiar voice of Beppi and casually walked over to see the clown sulking, holding a piece of broken mirror.

“Hello, Beppi,” Hopus greeted casually.

Beppi froze for only the briefest of seconds before looking at Hopus with a humongous smile. “Heya Hopus! I haven’t seen you in a while! Not since your buddies dragged your beaten butt back to the casino.”

Yes, their last interaction hadn’t ended on the most pleasant of circumstances. Not that Hopus minded as much. Or at least was not showing that he minded.

Hopus kept the same grin. “I could say the same. Looks like they stitched that arm back on really well. Could hardly tell it had been torn off.”

Beppi gestured elsewhere. “We can thank Djimmi for that. You haven’t seen him, have you?”

“No?”

“Darn. I’ve been trying to call him on day but he’s not picking up.” Beppi held up his “phone” to prove his point.

Hopus looked at it. “That’s a piece of mirror.”

“Magic mirror. That Djimmi made,” Beppi clarified.

“You could always walk to his home?”

“Nah. This is more fun. I’m hoping that if he picks up, his face will be all warped because of the mirror… And he won’t be too mad that a lot of the mirror’s got broken last night.”

“Yeah, I can tell.”

Beppi looked at him more closely. “Ya know, you don’t happen to have mini versions of you running around, do ya?”

“That’s a queer question.”

“Two of the little kids from yesterday were rabbits is all. Looked a lot like you, minus the sharp pointy teeth ya know?”

Hopus played dumb. “Huh. I’ll have to check around and make sure I didn’t conjure up any by accident.”

Beppi tried one more time with the mirror but gave up. He checked with Hopus. “Did you wanna ride the bumper cars with the rest of your buds?”

“Oh nah, just wanted to…rest of my buds?”

“Yeah, Mango and Chips are on them now. Isn’t that why you’re here?”

“Not exactly. Just wanted to check things out. But I’ll head over there and see how the guys are. Good luck with your phone call.”

“Thanks. Hopefully it doesn’t reflect too badly of me if I can’t make it ”

Sure enough, Mango and Chips were at the bumper cars, ramming into each other over and over again. They spotted Hopus and waved. “Hey, Hopus!” Mango yelled, “Care to join us?”

“Not now, just visiting with my family. You two having fun on our days off?”

Chips grinned. “Hell yeah, we just saw the most amazing siren!!”

–

The Baroness stifled a giggle at how enthusiastically the flyers were shouting. Hopefully Grim’s booming voice wouldn’t alarm any townsfolk. It had before but by this point, everyone was quite used to his volume and just carried out with their daily lives.

“So what’s the next step?” She asked curiously.

Grim looked at the tower. “I g-guess we dive? T-that’s how I learned.”

“By jumping off towers?” Mina asked, very worried.

“Actually, it was a m-mountain,” The dragon clarified.

“Ah! Me too!” Isabella chuckled. “I even broke a leg.”

“I broke t-two, and my tail!” Grim replied, strangely proud of it. Isabella whistled in admiration.

Mina looked curiously at her mother. "Who taught you how to fly, mama?”

“Hmmm. It was this friend of Madame Butterfly. I remember he was very nice with kids…until we found out he was a pedop~!” Isabella bit her lip, remembering there were kids present. Grim and Bon Bon looked at each other nervously.

Harvey raised an eyebrow and scratched his head. “A pedo what?”

Knowing her daughter, it was best to give an answer, or she wouldn’t rest until she figured it out herself. The woman cleared her throat. “ A pedooo…dactyl!” She finally said, hopping that would be enough to satisfy their curiosity.

“A pedodactyl? You mean pterodactyl?” Mina asked, confused.

“Ah! Yes yes, that’s it! Haha! Me and my awful English!” The bat laughed nervously.

“Pterodactyl…as in a dinosaur?” Mina insisted.

“Mmmhmm.” Isabella affirmed.

“A 65 million years old dinosaur?”

“Oh yes, he was quite old. Probably dead now.” The woman tried to sound convincing. “But enough questions now! Let’s go diving!” She kneeled in front of her daughter so she could climb on her back.

“Actually, can I go on your back, Grim?” She asked innocently with big puppy eyes “I always wanted to ride on a dragon!”

Grim couldn’t resist her cuteness and nodded. “Sure! Hop on, k-kids!” He said, lying on his belly so they could climb on him. “And leave some r-room for Bon Bon.”

Baroness Von Bon Bon seemed surprised. “Oh! Am I riding too? Will that be too much for you?” She asked as Harvey and Mina were already climbing into the flopped dragon.

“Well, y-you won’t see m-much from down here,” Grim blushed, embarrassed. Truth be told, he really wanted to have her near him again just like this morning.

“Hop on! Hop on!” Mina said trying to encourage Bon Bon.

Isabella listened to their interaction, trying to catch any hint of subtext that would confirm Goopy’s gossip from last night. This was going to be fun for her too.

“Well, if that’s going to be all right by you, let me me board.” The Baroness climbed on top of Grim and made sure to securely hold onto his scales. She didn’t ride Grim that often, but if she treated it like riding a horse bareback, she could manage it.

A large horse that is, she mused, glancing down at the ground.

Harvey patted Grimm. “Okay we are all on now!”

Grim shivered slightly feeling Bon Bon on his back and when he was sure everyone was settled in, he spread his wings. With a powerful flap, he lifted from the ground. He started to fly in circles around the tower as he climbed altitude, making sure his back would stay as horizontal as possible. He didn’t want to let anybody fall.

Isabella followed, keeping her distance to avoid getting hit by Grim’s wings. Mina started giggling and yelling out of excitement. She was riding a dragon!

Noticing her enthusiasm, Grim roared to make her experience more authentic. Mina tried to roar as well, only to release the cutest kitten meow. She covered her mouth and lowered her ears, embarrassed.

Minutes later, they reached the top of Grim’s tower. The dragon softly landed and laid on his belly to let everybody down.

“That was amazing!!!” Mina said, lifting her arms in the air. Isabella landed as well and smiled at her daughter’s excitement.

Harvey hopped off. “Holy cow! That was amazing!”

The Baroness slid off, running her hand along Grim’s back affectionately. “Yes it most certainly was. Is it Mina’s turn now to fly?” She asked, winking at the B-cat.

The kids enthusiasm made Grim feel more confident, but it quickly faded when Bon Bon slid off him, sending a delightful shiver all over his spine. He turned his head away pretending he needed to scratch his nose to hide his blushing.

Mina smiled at the Baroness and nodded. “Yes! Today will be the day I conquer the skies!”

Isabella smiled tenderly, sitting on the edge of the railing and crossing her legs. “That’s the spirit, my little îngar!” She cheered.

Grim recovered and cleared his throat before speaking. “Let’s begin!” He got closer to the railing where Isabella was sitting. “The easiest way t-to start flying is by catching a wind. Did your mother t-talk to you about that?”

“Oh yes! I kinda manage to do it when I glide, but I can never use it to lift myself,” The little girl said, a bit sad.

“It’s alright, nobody gets it on the first t-try” The dragon tried to make her feel better and Mina smiled shyly. “It’s very easy, you just have t-to dive in, heads first, and keep your wings closed” the dragon showed with his wings the correct position. Mina tried to imitate him. “That’s good!”

Isabella clapped “Yay, Mina!”

“And then, ” the dragon continued “you open your wings slowly, k-keeping the right angle.” He demonstrated again with his wings. “And then, you k-keep going until you’re horizontal. Questions?”

Mina didn’t seem very sure. “Could you demonstrate, please?”

“S-sure!” The dragon nodded and threw himself from the tower doing the movements he had described until he caught up to a wind. To return, he decided to show off a little, and did an elegant swirl before landing in the tower again. “Tadaaah!”

Harvey clapped enthusiastically. “Mina can totally do that! She’s the best!” He cheered helpfully.

Grim did some small bows with his head in appreciation. The bats clapped in admiration as well. Well, mostly Mina. Isabella clapped when she heard everyone doing so, although felt a bit sad she wouldn’t be able to enjoy the show.

The Baroness winked at Grim. “Maybe float by her if she needs a pointer or two?”

He nodded at Bon Bon and turned to the b-cat. “Ready to d-dive with me?” the dragon asked.

Mina hesitated, looking how far up they where, but she nodded at the dragon. She stood on the railings, spreading her wings.

“On three,” Grim said showing Mina the starting position. “One. Two. Thr~!”

“I can’t do it!” Mina panicked at the last second. “I-i-It’s too far! Too windy! Eh…the sun is on my face!” She tried to made up an excuse.

“Oh! Don’t be afraid, draga mea!” Isabella approached her. "You have to trust your wings. You were built to fly!”

“And I’ll be flying right next t-to you! You’re not getting hurt on m-my watch,” the dragon said, pointing at himself with his thumb.

“You can t-try to close your eyes, it helped me on my first flights.” Grim suggested.

Mina tried to go a second time only with her eyes closed, and even if it was better, she didn’t dare to take the leap. She started to feel nervous and a bit ashamed. All this fuss and excitement just to back down like this. What would Harvey think of her now?

“Mina.” Her mother put a hand on her shoulder. “Every great journey starts with a small step.” She smiled tenderly. “Sure! It can be a very scary step, but think of the wonders that await you after! You will explore the world, you will conquer the skies, and if you put your mind to it, you will discover the wonders of the universe itself! Aaaall that…from a small first step.”

Mina looked at her mother, charmed by the idea of becoming an explorer, and looked back down with renewed determination. She took a deep breath and got into position. Grim prepared himself as well to jump next to her.

The little bat closed her eyes and imagined she was about to jump into a pool full of cotton candy. She slowly let herself get pulled by gravity until it made her fall. Isabella had to fight her motherly instinct to jump to her aid when she heard her small child screaming.

The floor was getting close at an alarming rate, and Mina started panicking and flapping her wings, scared.

“Head first!” Grim said, flying next to her with a smile. Mina looked at him relieved that he was around, and tried to get into position. “That’s right, you got this! Now, you have the speed, time to ride! Change the angle on your wings.” The girl did as she was told but the speed made the air too strong around her tiny wings and she couldn’t get the right angle.

The impact was imminent but Grim softly grabbed the b-cat in the air and with a swirl he flew back up to the tower. Mina clung to the dragon’s skin, breathing heavily and full of adrenaline. “That was…hhh soo…hhhh scary!” She managed with a smile.

“First time always is” Grim chuckled not feeling the feline’s claws. “At least you didn’t break any bones.”

“Oh! My dulceata! I’m so proud of you!” Isabella clapped.

Grim was an excellent teacher; he was very patient with Mina. He didn’t mind repeating himself, and he really had fun correcting Mina’s knowledge about dragons.

Isabella was very grateful for his help. She felt a bit sad she wasn’t able to teach her herself. But the bat was very aware of her limitations, and as the years passed by, she learned to accept it, and take help from others. She was happy to know her little girl was going to fly soon.

The flyers kept diving from the tower and Mina was making progress. At some point she managed to catch a wind that carried her to the limits of the garden.

“That was really g-good, Mina!” Grim said, getting close to the tree she grabbed on to. “A bit more practice and you’ll be flying in no t-time!” The little bat smiled at the dragon, panting exhausted.

Isabella, who was flying next to them, noticed her child’s fatigue. “I think we had enough for today” she chuckled. “We’ll take over again next week.”

“Oh no! Can we continue tomorrow?” The little b-cat asked.

“Dulceata, we can’t be bothering Grim all weekend! He has a life too, you know?”

“It won’t b-be a bother at all” Grim hurried to answer. “I’m really enjoying it, you can come by when ever you want!” This was helping him to be way more confident, and he liked that feeling. If this kept up, he might almost have the courage to ask Bon Bon out. He turned red at the thought.

“Aww! that’s very nice of you, Grim” Isabella used her enticing voice this time, confusing the dragon.

“No p-problem,” he had very little experience in terms of love, and he thought she was actually hitting on him. He got nervous. “I-I-I’m gonna go pick up the others,” he said, flying towards the tower.

Isabella smiled. He was a sensitive dragon, and she found that adorable. The bats flew down to ground and Grim reached the tower, slightly blushing.

“C-classes are over, let me t-take you down.”

–

“You saw her at the club, you say?” Hopus confirmed.

“Yeah, well until that fight broke out and we all had to leave. But KD sounded very interested. Ya know, when he was done yelling at us.”

“Best part is, she’s blind! Mango totally have a shot at her since she can’t see his ugly mug.”

“Buzz off, Chips!”

Hopus scratched his head. “She sounds an awful lot like the mother of Harvey’s friend.”

“Ah, what? She’s a mom?!”

“She’s still hot.”

Hopus jutted a thumb toward Grim’s place. “They’re having a flying lesson right now but maybe we can head on over in a few just to be sure.”

“Sounds like a plan!”

–

The Baroness applauded the way Grim was patient with the little bat girl. As she brought her hands down, she couldn’t help but feel something poking at her from the side. She peeked at it and spotted an envelope.

Oh yes, the strange letter. Normally she wouldn’t be one to open personal mail outside of her castle but it seemed harmless enough and everyone else was enthralled with the lesson. She pulled it out and carefully opened the envelope before removing a bright sheet of glittery paper.

Her eyes glossed over the body of the letter and she turned as red as a cherry. “O-oh!” She couldn’t help but gasp, quickly folding the letter shut.

Harvey heard the gasp and looked over to see a very red faced Baroness. “Baroness, are you okay?” He asked, hopping over to her.

The royal woman swallowed but her throat was dry. “Oh, I uh, I’m fine!” She tried to say.

Harvey pointed out the letter. “Did you get a letter?”

The Baroness had no words.

Grim noticed the Baroness was slightly more red than usual as he landed. “Y-you’re ok, Bon Bon?” He asked, worried.

Harvey bounced up and down as Grim approached. “The Baroness got a letter!” Harvey cheerfully pointed out. He looked up at the dragon with a smile, “How did Mina do? Are you guys going to practice again tomorrow?” He asked, distracting the dragon.

The Baroness took another moment to reread the letter whilst the dragon was distracted. She had been so caught off guard she hadn’t finished reading it:

‘You are one of the most frustrating, stubborn women I have ever met and I cannot imagine a day without hearing your annoying stupid voice because hearing your voice makes me so happy that it drives me insane. And I can only imagine how your voice would sound when it’s screaming my name while I pollinate and dominate you dumb, sexy, amazing, silph. Sincerely, Cagney’- CAGNEY?

She turned even redder. The crass flower from Isle one had sent her a love letter. Oh God, the very thought made her stomach twist. Sure, there could be something very, very, VERY small about him that might be charming (and that was really pushing it) but she in no way reciprocated those feelings.

Bon Bon’s mind swam. How long had he felt this way? What would she do next time she saw him? She realized there was more and quickly read on:

'PS I wish I hadn’t broken that tiny pot because it means so much to us and I love you but i gotta puke because Grim pours heavy absinthe…’

Tiny pot? She never made a pot when she was younger. A trebuche, yes. But not a pot. Now she was even more confused. But Grim was mentioned. Perhaps the dragon would know more. She looked up to see the dragon still around. “Grim, may I speak with you privately?” She asked, trying to keep her tone even.

Grim nodded. “Sure! Just, let me t-take Harvey down real quick.” He helped the little bunny hop on his back and swiftly flew down the tower, leaving the bunny with Isabella and Mina. He quickly flew back to the top of the tower. “Is everything ok, Bon Bon? You f-feeling sick?” The dragon asked worried.

The image of Cagney pinning her down and deflowering her DID make her nearly gag, but Bon Bon swallowed hard instead, trying not to shudder at the thought of that plant getting anywhere near her privates. She presented the letter to Grim. “The post delivered this letter this morning. I, well, perhaps you would know more about this than me? I’m rather disturbed by this.”

The dragon froze. He completely forgot about the letter. That’s why she was weird! She must think he’s a disgusting pervert! This was going to be the last conversation he would ever have with her.

He reached for the letter with a very shaky claw. “Eh! B-b-baroness! I-I-I can explain… I….” He looked at the writing and realised this wasn’t his very exquisitely calligraphy handwriting. It was Cagney’s!

“Oh! Thank God!” He yelled in relief. He noticed Bon Bon’s look and quickly explained himself. “I mean~ t-this isn’t f-for you. It’s for Hilda!” He showed her the scribble at the beginning of the letter. It was actually a bit hard to read. “Cagney came b-by a few days ago and we t-talked and… well, we kinda drank a bit,” the dragon said nervously.

Then it hit him, if Bon Bon had Cagney’s letter, then that meant…

The Baroness immediately let out a huge sigh of relief. "Oh thank God. The thought of doing anything remotely sexual with that plant sounds rather unpleasant.” She looked at the letter. “I, should I deliver it to Hilda? It IS addressed to her, I suppose, but did Cagney even mean to write this?”

The thought of his beloved Baroness doing something remotely sexual with anyone, made his blood boil… even more than what was natural. But at the mention of whether or not the letter should be delivered made his blood turn cold.

“Oh no! Nonononono!” He shook his head and clutch the letter. “C-cagney was really drunk and, let’s face it, t-this is a horrible letter.”

“Oh! We should make a better one!” They both turned their heads at the very pleasant voice. Isabella had managed to fly silently towards them and was now hanging from one of the spires. “I just flew here to tell you we were leaving, but this is so much fun! Let’s do it!” She said excited. “Let’s give a little push to those love birds.” She smiled, holding her hands together. Grim looked at the bat speechless.

The Baroness looked at Isabella a bit confusedly. “This is a fairly adult letter,” she managed to finally admit, “but at the same time, I can’t imagine Cagney otherwise willingly admit any form of romantic feelings unless under duress.”

She crossed her arms, “Then again, tampering with the mail is against the law…it should be delivered to its intended recipient…. what do you think, Grim?”

“I d-don’t know…” Grim hesitated. “It’s still a bad letter…Hilda might kill him for this.”

“Wait a minute!” Isabella flew down to the floor. “Let’s deliver it!”

“B-but-!”

“Wait! Listen, listen… you say the flower has trouble expressing his feelings, but this letter express them pretty well.” She chuckled. “So we deliver it to Hilda, she gets pissed or, who knows, maybe she likes this kind of language… either way, she will go confront him. They will both be forced to talk about their feelings for each other, and they will realise how much they love each other, and they will live happily ever after, if they work on their relationship.” She added quickly extending her arms with open palms. “What do you think? Good plan, right?”

Grim looked at the letter worried. “I d-don’t know. Besides Bon Bon, Cagney is pretty much my only friend, and we’re not even that c-close. If he ever finds out I didn’t take back the letter, he will never speak to me again….”

Bon Bon folded the letter and put it back in the envelope. “I will call an audience and deliver it to Hilda then. If Cagney inquires about this letter or if you had any involvement, you can just deny any knowledge.” The Baroness smiled and patted him on the arm. “It’s not like you wrote a letter or anything,” she reassured him, hoping her words would soothe the large dragon.

Grim gulped. “Hehe, y-y-yeah, ” he laughed nervously, trying to think for a way to recover his own letter.

“Yay!” Isabella clapped excited. “Oh please, you will have to tell me about Hilda’s reaction.” She said to Bon Bon before diving from the tower giggling. 'Goopy is not gonna believe this.’ She thought to herself.

Mina’s mother had nearly landed on the ground as Harvey grabbed Mina’s claws. “How was it? What was it like flying? Did you have fun?”

“It was amazing!” Mina yelled, happy. “It felt so weird to be carried by the wind like that! Oh man! I can’t wait to actually fly! And then I’ll carry you around with me! It’s gonna be so much fun!” She kept rambling about how awesome having wings was until Isabella reached the ground.

“Ok! Great class! Now time to go home and eat! I’m starving! Harvey, would you like to eat with us?”

Mina’s eyes opened wide. “Oh yes! Please! Stay!”

Harvey had just opened his mouth to agree when he heard his name being called. “Harvey!”

He turned to see his dad walking toward him and he wasn’t alone. Two of the other casino employees were alongside him.

Grim was about to fly down with the Baroness when he noticed all the people in his garden. He shrouded nervously. “So m-many people… you want me to take you home directly?” He asked Bon Bon.

The Baroness looked down and her eyes narrowed. “Those are casino debtors, Grim. What are they doing here?” She didn’t realize she had started holding him a little tighter and pressing herself against him worriedly.

It felt really good to have the Baroness so close, but Grim knew her well enough to notice she was concerned. “We don’t have t-to go down right away. We can go inside and have tea?” He dared to ask blushing heavily. “O-or I can t-take you home! T-they won’t see you on my back.” The dragon offered, hoping she would choose to stay.

“Tea sounds like a really good idea,” she decided,  unwilling to admit that even though they had beaten the debtors, their presence still made her uncomfortable.

The dragon wiggled his tail discreetly and opened the floor gate to enter his tower. He was going to let Bon Bon come in first, but he remembered he didn’t had much time to clean after the night with Cagney, so he ran in first, picking up things that were on the way.

“I’m sorry f-for the mess!” He said, sitting on a chest full of weapons to force it to close.

The woman gave the dragon a reassuring smile. “This is just fine. Thank you. Can I help you get ready?”

—

Harvey recognized the two adults with his dad. "Hi, dad! Hi, Mr. Steen. Hi, Mr. Bettigan,” he greeted politely.

“Shucks, boy, Chips is just fine,” Chips called out. He and Mango stopped when they spotted Isabella.

Hopus paid them no mind. “How was the flying lesson, Mina?” He asked of the little girl.

Isabella wiggled her ears paying attention to the people accompanying Hopus.

“It was fantastic! I almost flew on my own, and we even got to ride on Grim!” She explained happily. “And we were going home to have lunch. Can Harvey come, please?” The little b-cat asked sweetly.

“Is that okay?” Harvey hopefully asked.

“Should be okay with your mom and I-,” Hopus started to say.

“IT’S THE DAME FROM THE CLUB!” Mango finally squealed, startling everyone.

“Ah man, you got quite the voice on you!” Chips yelled. “We even called the boss to talk about you!”

Hopus looked startled. “The boss? You mean, the boss, boss?” He asked.

“No, no, God no. KD.”

Hopus hesitated. “That’s not…how are you both still here?”

“Oh my!” Isabella said, startled before releasing this could be an opportunity. “Thank you, darlings, it’s always a pleasure to meet fans,” the bat said with her delightfully enticing tone.

Mina understood her mother was working her magic and she thought it was best to let the adults talk. “Harvey, let’s go climb those trees!” She said running through the garden away from the adults.

Harvey didn’t quite understand what Mina’s mom was up to, but he could see the way his dad was eying his co-workers and thought a tree climb sounded like a really good idea. “Race you to the top of that one!” He yelled, bouncing after her.

Mangosteen and Chips hadn’t realized the children had left, their attention focused solely on Isabella. “Yes, helluva show!” Chips agreed.

“The fight at the end really took the cake!” Mangosteen chortled.

Chips nudged her. “Ya ever think about working in a casino, beautiful?”

Isabella didn’t appreciate their closeness but she was very interested in their proposition.

“A casino? Hm… I don’t know… .” She pretended to have doubts taking the opportunity to pose innocently with one hand on her hips and the other on her chin, very softly touching her lips with her index finger. “Big crowds can be frightening, even for a blind dame.”

“Nah, it’s real classy joint,” Chips chuckled, “we got a great house manager too. Keeps things nice and tidy and neat, ya know?”

“And if someone steps out of line… Well, it ain’t just their money they could lose,” Mangosteen suggestively hinted.

Hopus had to step in. “We all work at the casino on the fourth isle,” he clarified to the bat. “There had been talk about maybe getting some new entertainment, try to draw in new blood.” The rabbit looked at his coworkers. “Is that why you two are here?”

“Sorta. Thought we was gonna be seeing some other dame last night but this one is much better.”

“Aw, you flatter me, boys.” Isabella said shyly. “I’ll be at the Night Owl club again tonight. You think your boss could come see me then?”

“Does anyone hear someone screaming?” Hopus asked glancing behind him.

Mangosteen grinned broadly, ignoring the rabbit. “That’s just the thing, he’s still on the fence, ya know. He might swing by, he might not. That’s KD for you. But I can tell ya he’s interested.”

“So keep singing them lovely tunes! You’ll know him when you see him.” There was a pause. “Uh or not. You’ll know when it’s him.”

The woman chuckled. “Well, if he doesn’t have the time to see me, you can tell him I can always swing by his casino and show him what I got.” Isabella was excited, but she kept her cool. She already knew a bit about King Dice. If she could work for him, her plan would be on track.

Hopus saw the look of absolute delight on his co-workers’ faces at the thought of bringing the woman with them to the casino and stepped in. “Oh, well Isabella has a lot of responsibilities here. But I’m sure King Dice will head this way soon enough, especially if you two keep getting into trouble,” he hinted to the two debtors.

Chips glanced around. “Oh yeah, ya got a kid. Say, where’s your kid, Hopus?”

“He was just here a few minutes ago, wasn’t he?” Mangosteen realized.

Hopus pointed toward the kids. “They’re over there playing.”

“I’ll be waiting impatient for him.” Isabella said sensually before calling the kids to take them home.

Hopus gave a sharp whistle, calling over the children. “Well it was nice to see you boys outside of the casino. I’ll see you back at the grind on Monday, yeah?”

“Sure will.”

Hopus pulled out his own wand. “Now Miss Isabella, if you can hold little Mina tightly and Harvey you go ahead and hold on to me, I’ll get us back to your friend’s house in time for lunch.”

Isabella did as he said not really sure what Hopus was going to do. Little Mina held on to her mother and looked at Hopus, excited.

Hopus made sure to get a good grip on Isabella and Mina before fishing out his wand. With a quiet chant, a wave of his hand and they disappear in a poof, reappearing at the entrance to Mina’s home.

“And we’re here!”

Isabella held tight to her daughter wiggling her ears in every direction. She was very lost but the familiar sounds and smells indicate her they made it home.

Harvey looked at his dad who seemed a bit tired. “Dad, you okay?”

“Yes, yes,” Hopus assured him, “Just a little tired after doing magic like that.”

Mina’s excited shrieks stopped the conversation after a little more chit chat, the kids and the bat said goodbye to Hopus and got inside the house to eat.

———————————————————————————

After a while, he saw there was a carnival in town and he brightened up. He loved those! Plus he could find a lovely lady to impress with his throwing skills, both winning her heart and a bed for tonight. However, most of the attractions were closed when he arrived, and for some reason the ferris wheel looked like it had been toasted and mauled. Thankfully, there were still a few stands left open. 

He recognized a baguette fellow at the ‘Shoot the Duck’ stand, and he approached it with a grin, adjusting his jacket and taking off his hat. He might be able to play him and get a bed to sleep. “What a small world! If it isn’t my good old friend Jean-Jacques!” The cat said leaning against the stand smiling charmly. The bread turned to the voice. “Oh! Non! Non non non non,” he shook his head. “You get away from me immediately’!” He replied with a strong French accent. The cat tsked at him. “Oh! C'mon! You still mad at me? It has been… what? 3? 4 years now? I think we’re all mature enough to~?” “Ferme ta gueule, conard!” The bread yelled angrily, hitting the wood of his carnival stand with his fist. “They almost ate me alive!” He pointed at several real stuffed ducks decorating his stand. “And you just left me there like the coward you are!” The cat held out his paws defensively. “Ok, first, there were a LOT of them, like, crazy a lot of them. And very aggressive too! I thought I even saw one with rabies!” “Oui, there was a FEW of them actually. That’s why they attacked in the first place!” The cat smiled nervously, “Oh, well, see all the more reason to lea-.” The baguette lifted a rifle until it settled just in front of the cat’s whiskers. The cat swallowed, "And I see it was a big trauma and you need time away from me…” The baguette emphasize his point by cocking the gun. The feline smiled and backed up with his hands in the air. "Au Revoir, mon amie.” The baguette shot into the air, scaring the cat away “JE NE SUIS PAS TON AMIE!” The French bread yelled.   “Plan B then,” the cat said to himself, looking around, doing his best to remain hidden from the view of his “not-friend”. He rubbed his hands together. “Look for a lady to impress…”

Unfortunately, the carnival was pretty empty at this point with only couples remaining walking under the colourful, carnival lights. “Hmm… Plan C then!” He said with renewed determination. He saw the trees on the first isle from where he stood and decides to go sleep in the forest. It was a lovely, warm spring night after all.

After a few minutes, he walked by a flourishing meadow protected with a white fence. Some big trees stood high and strong on the other side of the fence.

“Una vez más la fortuna me sonríe!” He said happily, hopping over the fence. He picked a big tree with a solid big branch standing out and climbed it easily with his sharp claws. He sat comfortably on the branch, laying his back against the tree and resting his arms behind his head. With a delighted sigh, he gazed up at the stars for a while before covering his face with his hat and falling asleep.

–

The Baroness led an exhausted Grim back to her castle. By the time the dragon realized what was up, he was sitting in a big bubble bath that smelled of cotton candy. He wondered what had happened to the Baroness and it was only when a jelly Bean came in with a towel that he heard that she was also taking a bath. Apparently the mirror dragon’s explosion had coated everyone in some type of glittery ash and burnt smell which Bon Bon didn’t want in the castle. His clothes had been taken away and would be pressed and cleaned by the morning. Which meant he was spending the night? He tried to suppress the silly giggle as he followed the jelly bean. “Does she have a big floor I can sleep on or something?” He asked hopefully, “like the throne room?” “No, you’ll be sleeping in her bedchambers with her.” Grim turned bright red and was a ton of jitters and nerves as he got to her bedroom. He knocked and her voice telling him to enter sent shivers down his scales. He entered and looked to see Bon Bon waiting for him in an elegant nightie. She smiled sweetly and gestured to a large pile of soft blankets and pillows. And next to that, a rather posh sleeping bag. Grim wagged his tail happily and settled into the sumptuous bed while she pulled the sleeping bag over herself. She turned to wish him goodnight but Grim had already passed out, loudly snoring. She glanced around before pressing a tiny kiss to his snout. The dragon snorted happily and she settled in, covering her blushing face with her blanket. –

Sullivan was sad to see Amber leave and decided to walk back home after saying goodbye to everyone.

It had been a crazy night. He walked slowly with his hands in his pockets and lost in his thoughts. He was thinking about Amber, and the amazing stuff she has done tonight. He couldn’t shake the idea Porkrind was right, maybe she wasn’t an interior decorator after all.

He wondered, in case she was a thief, would he really mind? She was an angel with him, she might even start falling in love with him. He blushed at the thought, he was really beginning to be very fond for her.

He reached home and went to bed with a silly smile on his face.

—

Amber ditched the clothes in a pile as she entered her home, exhausted and worn out. She opened her satchel and dumped out her various findings - mostly wallets and coins with the occasional shiny jewelry. She’d have to find someone underground to buy the jewelry and that could take a couple days. She looked at the map she had taped to the wall and scratched a few notes. According to Sully’s notes, the first shipment was due any day now and she should prepare to scope out the docks. She wondered if she would see Sully and she smiled a bit too silly at the thought. No, Amber. Focus. Seeing Sully would be bad. He might not be bright but she doubted he was a real moron and would have figured out her identity. Still, if she did see him, well as long as he didn’t see her back, there was no harm in it. Just kind of watch out for him a little bit. Fight off any more burlap sacks. She shuddered. “Ugh, what a night.” She flopped on her bed and started to clean the glitter and ash out of her fur. –

Isabella returned home angry for having her evening interrupted and therefore not getting paid for the full night. She managed to compose herself enough before entering her home. Mina was already asleep and Goopy was already half dozed off in the kitchen chair listening to her records. At the sound of the door opening, he woke up abruptly but settled at seeing that it was only Isabella.

Isabella made sure Mina was fully asleep before telling Goopy all about her evening and the rough ending. Goopy wasn’t terribly surprised that Hilda and Cagney had something to do with how her evening ended. The two could get awfully rowdy. When she asked about how the evening with the children went, Goopy was more than happy to regale the tale. Well, perhaps tuning down how dangerous it actually was. He didn’t want to alarm the single mother and have her think he was irresponsible. He was fairly certain he had the whole thing under control most of the time at least.

And so they kept talking and gossipping until almost sunrise, when Goopy decided it was time to leave. Isabella thanked him with a kiss on the cheek and he left for his home, blushing a bit at the sweet gesture. Only after did she make sure he had left that Isabella finally dragged herself out of her chair and into her bed. What a night!

She could only imagine the mess they would have to clean up before her next shift.

–

Marvin had just finished setting the last bottle of whiskey back on the bar when the door slammed open. He turned around as he heard footsteps. “Excuse me but we’re closed…” His voice died in his voice at the figure in front of him. A slim yellow parrot with a black dress was tapping her foot angrily at him. “Patricia! I had no idea you were coming. Are you feeling any better? Can I get you anything?” “Cut the hornswaggle, Marvin!” She snapped, “What’s this about you finding a replacement singer?” He wrung his hands together. “Ah, see, I didn’t have much time when you called in sick and the club would have lost a lot of money if we had to cancel the entertainment.” “I don’t care about your stupid club,” Patricia cawed, pouring herself a glass of champagne. “There were recruiters, Marvin, recruiters tonight! Of all nights!” “Recruiters?” “People looking for singers for the bigger clubs!” Patricia took one sip. “This was my chance to make it big, to have my name in electric lights all over the isles - Patricia Parakeet - siren of song!” She glared at Marvin. “But you! You brought in some rat thing to take my place!” “She’s a bat,” Marvin tried to correct her but she fluffed her feathers irritably. “I don’t care what she is. She better have been terrible. You’re lucky Daddy likes you, Marvin, or I’d have his friends peck out your kneecaps!” Patricia threw the rest of the glass at the mole. “No one is as good as me, you know that.” “Yes, ma'am,” Marvin mumbled, wiping the liquid off his face.

Patricia tapped her foot and walked toward the door only to stop. “Oh and if you’re stupid enough to have her still employed by the time I’m back, she will be background chorus only!” She threw her boa around her neck and walked out to rejoin the two large ravens in suits waiting outside. Marvin groaned. “What does it take to get one normal night in these parts?” He scratched his head. He didn’t remember any recruiters. Maybe there was someone he didn’t know but definitely didn’t look like any recruiter. He shrugged. “Patricia is just being paranoid,” he mumbled, shrugging and getting back to fixing the bar, “I would have definitely noticed some new patrons if we had any.” – Two very drunk patrons were at a telephone booth in the middle of nowhere. One of them had squeezed in and was giggling as he tried to dial a number. “I need another coin,” he lamented. “I just gave you a coin!” “I know I dropped it and I can’t find it, c'mon, help a guy out here, Chips.” There was a grumble, a rustle of a bag and more coins being given. The first patron dialed the number again and started to squeal excitedly. “It’s ringing, it’s ringing!” “What is he saying, Mango?” “Shhhh shush your mouth. It’s a none of your business-Pirouletta! Baby sweetheart, chocolate bunny how are you- What? Drinking? I haven’t been drinking? Chips, have you been drinking?” Chips shouted from outside. “Is it the boss?” “No, listen is the boss around? I wanna talk to him. He’s what? What? A meeting? With who?” “What’s he saying?” Chips asked. “It’s not the boss, it’s Pirouletta!” Mangosteen yelled. He turned back to the phone. “When’s the meeting over? Has he gone in yet? Hey! Wait, no get outta here, there’s no room for ya-no Babycakes, I ain’t talking to you!” Mangosteen assured, trying to push Chips out who squeezed into the box with him. “Did you tell him?” Chips asked with a hiccup. “Not yet! Can you go get him? …of course I know what I’m asking? It’s really important. He won’t mind, will he?” “He’ll be cool,” Chips giggled. “Just put him on real quick, okay? Awww I’ll miss you too, now put him on.” There was a pause and the sound of the the telephone being handed to someone else prompted Mangosteen to continue,  "Heyyyyyy, DK, how’s it hanging-?“ There was a lot of shouting on the other line and both men had to take a step away from the phone lest they go deaf. Chips scratched his hat. "Ya think he’s mad or something?” “Pfffffftttt, what no! Here lemme talk. Listen, hey yeah remember how you said we needed to class up the joint a bit? So there’s this dame…”

— Isabella woke up startled by the alarm clock that she silenced immediately. It was 10 in the morning and she went to her daughter’s room to wake up. Mina was still very tired from last night at the carnival. Like her mother, she had a lot of difficulty keeping her eyes open. Yet that didn’t put a damper on the little b-cat’s excitement as she told her mother all about the dragon she met and how they were supposed to meet at his tower. After their breakfast they both got ready to go. Sleepy Mina climbed onto her mother’s back and rested her eyes while her mother flew to the second Isle unaware of the nearly destroyed observatory ruins.

After some time, Isabella had to wake up her child to know where exactly was the tower and graciously landed.  "Looks like we are the first ones" the little b-cat said, yawning, walking towards the giant door and holding her mother’s hand to guide her. Mina knocked at the door but nobody answered. Isabella tried knocking harder, but still nothing. “You sure about the place, micut îngar?“ Isabella asked, thinking her child might have misunderstood.

"We said to meet here at 10:30, I wouldn’t forget a rendez-vous with a dragon, mum!” The little girl replied crossing her arms. The woman chuckled. “Hm… ” she wiggled her ears towards the tower. “I’m gonna fly around, maybe he’s on the top and can’t hear us.” “Ok, mum!” The little girl nodded and watched her mother take flight with a couple of strong flaps of the wings. She made it look so easy. After a moment she looked around hoping to see the dragon or her friend Harvey.

—-

Harvey woke up with a groan as he was shaken gently awake. “Heya, kiddo! Time to get up.” Harvey looked up to see his dad giving him a gentle rub on the head. “Heard you had a rough night last night?” “Yeah…how did you know?” the young rabbit asked with a yawn. “Oh, your sister told me all about it,” Hopus cheered, “Especially how you stood up to that dragon! Way to go champ!” Harvey beamed at the praise. “Gee, thanks, dad.” He looked around the room. “Where is Hannah?” “Oh she’s helping your mother make lunch.” “Lunch? Wait, what time is it?” Harvey glanced at his alarm clock and leapt out of bed. “Oh my gosh! I was supposed to meet Mina on the second isle an hour ago!” He hopped and scurried around as quick as he could, pulling on clothes. Hopus cocked his head at him. “Did you want me to help you get there?” Harvey paused as he pulled up his overalls. By the time he got dressed and headed out the door, he would be even later. “Are you sure it’s okay?” His dad didn’t like to go into town that much, what with his job and everything. “Yes, yes. Let me just get dressed and we’ll be there in no time!” –

Grim woke up between soft pillows and the sweet smell of baked goods and candy. He opened his eyes slowly to find himself hugging the Baroness. He turned red and immediately backed up careful not to wake her up.

For a few moments he didn’t knew what he was doing at Bon Bon’s castle until he felt his wounds. The memory of the mirror dragon, Beppi and his beloved Bon Bon in danger crept into his mind and he blew some smoke from his nostrils, still upset about that. Beppi ruined everything, he could have have a great time with the Baroness instead of running like a coward. Well, at least he got to sleep in her room. His eyes opened wide. He remembered the whole reason he went to the carnival in the first place: the letter! He looked around hoping he might see an envelope somewhere, but nobody entered her room so far. He was starting to panic, not knowing where to go, or what to do.

The Baroness had felt like she was swimming in a cup of toasty hot chocolate. She felt so warm and cozy that she could almost feel her icy heart melt. Almost. But slowly the hot chocolate got cool and she felt herself stirring awake on a marshmallow. Ooh. Not a marshmallow. She was on a bed. Not the one she fell asleep on. She very quietly looked around and realized she was on the bed prepared for Grim, with the aforementioned dragon spooned behind her. She turned bright red and laid very still. Had she crawled into his bed? Oh god, she had, hadn’t she? She had allowed herself the occasional daydream of crawling into a nest with Grim on some of her more stressful days of ruling and that must have manifested itself into her subconscious. Poor Grim had no idea she had climbed into his bed. She couldn’t just wait here forever though. She fake yawned and stretched and turn around, placing her hands on him before blinking in fake surprise. “Oh, Grim, I’m so sorry! I thought you were a fluffy marshmallow! You weren’t too uncomfortable, were you?”

Grim shivered at the touch of the Baroness and turned even redder. “N-n-no! I-I-I slept p-p-perfectly!” He stuttered more than usual. “I-I didn’t even feel you where t-there…” he said with a nervous laugh, looking away to hide his reddish face.Even though he was really nervous, he did enjoy having her so close. He almost wanted to forget about the letter and stay there forever. “What about y-?” He saw a clock made out of multicolor lollipop and his ears perked in surprise. "The flying classes!” He stood up “Oh no! I-I-m late!” He darted towards the bedroom door but stopped in front of it and turned his head to Bon Bon. “Em, actually would you- would you mind c-coming with me?” The dragon said shyly. “Y-you know, for moral support, or something. If you have nothing b-better to do,” he quickly added scratching the back of his head. The Baroness nodded quickly. “Of course, of course. Let me get changed real quick and we’ll leave immediately.” Years of training had allowed the Baroness to disrobe and rerobe massive amounts of sugary petticoats in a matter of minutes and she was very quickly dressed, prim and proper. She started to leave with Grim only to pause. “Oh shoot. Grim, go on ahead, I’ll catch up, I forgot something in the castle real quick and I would rather not keep the children waiting.” She briskly walked back inside.

Grim nodded and quickly took flight towards his tower, completely forgetting about the letter.

—

It was a matter of minutes but Hopus and Harvey soon popped into existence by Grim’s castle. Harvey hopped off, a bit disoriented but here in one piece. He spotted Mina and hopped over to her. “Hi, Mina! You haven’t had the lesson yet, have you?” He asked worriedly, hoping he hadn’t missed everything.

“Harvey!” Mina hugged him “ Hi Mr. Hare” she waved at Hopus. “No, we haven’t started yet. Looks like Grim is not home.” “Looks like your friend is not home, dulceata!” A woman’s voice came from the sky. Isabella approached the ground, flying graciously, and landed near the children. Harvey noticed the change of outfits, they were both wearing a sport-dress like combination with tight shorts. Mina’s was orange and Isabella’s was green. 

“Mama! Harvey is here!.” “Oh! Hi there, Harvey! It’s so good to finally meet you, properly that is,” the woman said sweetly, stretching her arm to offer a handshake, “Mina won’t shut up about you!” She chuckled. Mina blushed “Mum!” The little girl cleared her throat, “And Mr. Hare is here too, he’s a magician, mama! He made fruit appear from my ear!” “A magician, you say! So sad I won’t be able to enjoy your performances, Mr.Hare,” the woman said pointing at her eyes.

Hopus nodded his head. “Yes your daughter was an absolute delight to have over.” He leaned into the bat “And vision isn’t the only sense needed to experience magic,” he chuckled, waving his hand casually. The smell of overpowering citrus briefly invaded Isabella’s nose but faded quickly when he stopped twirling his wand.

Isabella was pleasantly surprised  by the sudden citrus scent and smiled. “I hope we will get the chance to chat more, Mr Hare. And thank you for having Mina over.”

He clapped his paws together. “Of course! Whelp! I’m gonna take a walk around. Wouldn’t want old fire and brimstones to get nervous with an audience,” he laughed, “be good, Harvey.”

“I will, dad,” Harvey agreed, waving goodbye to his dad.

“Later, Mr. Hare!”

Harvey turned his attention back to his friend. He liked Mina’s outfit. It looked like something his sister would like to wear. “Are you excited about flying?” He eagerly asked once his dad left.

Mina waved and turned to Harvey. “Actually I’m a bit scared. I’ve practiced jumping from trees but… ” She looked at the tower. “This is awfully high….”

“Well, that’s just going to make it easier!” Isabella tried to comfort her child “You just have to dive in, spread your wings, and ride the winds like you own them” the woman said excited spreading her wings and posing with pride. Mina chuckled “You make it sound so easy.” “Oh! It is! You just have to break a few bones to learn” she snickered. “Nah, I’m joking” she kneeled next to her child “I’m not going to let you get hurt my ingerasul meu pretioase!” She squeezed Mina’s cheeks. “Muuum!” She released herself from her mother’s hands, “Not in front of Harvey.,” she whispered, embarrassed. Grim was still sore from the fight last night with the mirror dragon, but he managed to fly fast and in a few minutes, reach his home. He recognised Mina and Harvey and assumed the woman next to them was Mina’s mother. He flew down in circles and landed near them, producing some wind with his landing. “Hi! S-sorry I’m late! I slept with Bon Bon.” He stopped, realizing how his sentence might be misunderstood, “I mean, not WITH her! In her c-castle!” He immediately corrected. “In different rooms,” he lied to make sure no one would get any wrong ideas. Isabella usually felt uncomfortable around dragons. In Romania, she had the misfortune to meet a few nasty ones. But this one had a different vibe, far less threatening and way friendlier. Maybe was the stuttering.She couldn’t help but smile at the dragon’s obvious nervousness. “It’s ok!” Mina said innocently, not noticing anything. “This is my mama, Isabella.” She turned to her mother, “Mama, this is Grim!” “Pleased to meet you, Grim,” Isabella said with her usual sensual tone, offering a hand shake. “Thank you for flying with us today.” Grim had a better look at the woman and something in her voice made him blush a little. “I’m happy t-t-to.” He shook her small hand with his big claws. Isabella perked up her ears for that, allowing her to get a better idea of the dimensions of the creature.

Harvey gave Mina a gentle nudge as if to point out that Grim was a sweetheart. “Have you ever taught anyone how to fly before?” He asked Grim eagerly.

Grim scratched the back of his head nervous. “Em… not really, no… This will be the first time.”

–

The Baroness had forgotten her candy cane. She felt rather silly to have forgotten it but with Grim being here, she had been a bit scatterbrained. She passed by her desk and paused as she saw a strange envelope. She picked it up and and glanced at it curiously.

No return address and the handwriting was smeared and smelled of liquor. The Baroness started to open it up only to glance at the time. Goodness she should really be going. She tucked it into the folds of her outfit and hurried out after Grim.

The Baroness hurried up to the small group. “Sorry, sorry I’m late. I had to tend to some last minute preparations.” She turned to Isabella. “Are you the young lady’s mother?”

The dragon recognized Bon Bon’s smell before she arrived and he happily wiggled his tail, looking her way. Isabella caught the smell as well and for a second thought it was a candy vendor, here to claim payment for her child’s excessive consumption, before realizing who it really was.

“You must be Baroness Von Bon Bon,” the bat made a modest, but well executed bow. “Yes, I’m Mina’s mother, Isabella. It’s very nice to SMELL you,” she chuckled. “I understand why Mina was so happy to meet you.” She put a hand near her mouth and whispered loudly, “She loves candy!.” Mina crossed her arms, starting to get annoyed by her mum. “Good morning, your majesty,” she saluted Bon Bon the same way as last time, pretending she wasn’t flushed from embarrassment. Isabella giggled at her child’s greeting.

Baroness smiled, pretending like she hadn’t heard the joke before a million times…and also deciding not to order the bat’s head removed. She bowed at both Isabella and Mina. “Good morning to you both, it is a pleasure to meet you. I am the Baroness Von Bon Bon.”

Grim played with his tail nervously. “Y-yeah… I’m not sure where to start…” “Well, how bout we can start with our stretching routine and you can step in when ever you feel like it. Is that ok, darling?”

Grim blushed “Uh… yeah. OK.”

“Good! So let’s begin! Everybody join in, winged or not winged! Everybody benefits from a good stretch!”

She separated her legs, put her hands on her hips and rotated her back right and left a few times. Mina did the same with a smile on her face.

This was going to be fun.

———–

He remained dumbfounded. “In the club? You mean dancing? Kinda hard to…oh! Kissing. Right.” He chuckled. “Technically, we did it outside of the club,” he smugly pointed out. His smugness was rewarded by a rough grind of her hips and he bucked against her needfully. “You-you have no idea how long I’ve wanted to do something like this,” he admitted.

Hilda smiled shyly this time, still close to his face. “Well… I may had some idea that you did.” She always knew he had strong feelings for her, and she always tried to keep her distance ever since she made the deal and got her powers. She had a lot to deal with and she didn’t wanted to involve her best friend and risk getting him hurt.

But then again, why not have a taste of what it might be? They’d be back to being friends tomorrow. They both needed to blow up some sexual tension that had been building up between them for years now. Finally, she gently took off his shirt and let it drop next to them. She wanted to kiss him but she wasn’t very good at it and she didn’t wanted him to laugh at her in this very vulnerable moment. So, she decided to taunt him by standing really close to his lips and caressing his chest. “What did you always wanted to do to me” she practically whispered against his lips. “Besides leaving me breathless,” she snickered.

Cagney flexed his free arms and let them sneakily go down his sides until they hovered to the sides of the woman on top of him. “Are you sure about that?” He smirked, “You might not be able to handle it.”

“Tss! Try me.” She challenged him, smiling and rubbing against him tightly.

Before she could say anything further or back out, Cagney’s arms shot out and pulled her into a hungry kiss. He was worried briefly that this might be a bit much but a quick peek at her face during the kiss assured him she really was just as eager. Judging by how red she was, he was doing a pretty good job as she didn’t seem to even notice when he adjusted himself into a sitting position. He broke the kiss, sending her panting as she looked a bit star struck.

The woman was a bit surprised for the passion the flower was showing and by how easily he could handle her. Maybe she was made of air after all, she chuckled.

With her distracted, he continued his plan. Cagney’s leafy fingers wrapped around her waist and spun her so that her back was against his chest before pulling her down tightly onto his lap, his tip roughly pushing against her underwear. “One night, to do everything I wanted to do to you? There won’t be enough time for all that, but I’ll do my best,” he huskily whispered into her ear, nipping her neck from behind. His hands trailed down her chest, and alighted just above her right breast. “But before we start, maybe you could help me fix something,” he suggested, hoping she would take the hint.

She moaned at the feeling of his hard piece against her now very wet bloomers, and his voice made her shiver. She slowly pulled down her dress  and grabbed his hand, guiding it slowly down her breast, caressing, to where she felt the thorn was stuck. Cagney could feel the small prickly with his leafy fingers, as well as Hilda’s rosy, pert nipple. He noticed her wincing at the touch of the sensitive, hut area. “Please, just take that thing out already!” she begged, tired of the pain, arching her back to push her chest against his hands.

His fingers groped her nipples, easily finding the thorn. With a surprisingly gentle tug, he removed the thorn, tossing it to the side. “I wanted to know how good you taste,” he purred, his long tongue rolling out and circling the sore breast while his other hand roughly massaged the left one.

The woman released a painful moan when the thorn was finally out. The feeling of Cagney’s soft tongue was somehow relieving and she ended up melting in his arms. She hadn’t had this much attention in a while and she realized how much she needed it, especially coming from her best friend.

“And I always wanted to know what you can do with that tongue of yours,” she said softly caressing his cheek and moving her hips to stimulate the giant flower.

He relaxed into her soft touches, pressing his cheek against them. He couldn’t help but shiver at her voice. Her voice drove him nuts, especially when it was encouraging him in a situation like this.

His tongue pulled the freed nipple, delighting in her both painful and erotic noises. His hands canvassed her body like a landscape. One of his hands was at the top of her now exposed bloomers and he played with the band of it. “We should take this somewhere else,” Cagney suggested, “ I don’t minding the ground per say, but I think you would appreciate a softer floor after what I do to you.”

“Hmm! That sounds promising,” she whispered pressing a kiss on his cheek. “I’ll be disappointed if you don’t deliver,” she smirked, standing up.  She turned around and offered a hand to help him to get up.

Cagney grasped the hand and let Hilda lead him to her bedroom. Even when they entered and she made a motion toward the bed, his fingers still remained interwoven with hers.

He made all this talk about wrecking her and pleasuring her and he just kind of stood there, suddenly feeling very shy. She probably was thinking he was a weirdo for not just throwing her on the bed and pollinating her right then and there. Was it dumb that he didn’t want to let go of her hand?

Hilda noticed his shyness. She got close to him pressing her body against his stem. "Something wrong?” She asked, trying not to sound worried  as she playfully brushed one of his petals with her free hand. “Do you want to stop?” She asked quietly, hoping he wouldn’t back up now. She was really ready to go, and, from what she had felt through his pants, so was he.

The teasing of his petal made him feel even shyer but he swallowed and pushed passed it with a fake grin. “Nah, just letting you catch your breath one last time before we keep going.”

He hoped she would believe the lie but just to clear any remaining doubts, he pressed another kiss to her lips, a little less rough, before laying her down on the bed.

In other circumstances, she would have noticed the lie, but alcohol and arousal was clouding her mind and the woman didn’t pick up on it, instead letting him handle her to bed.

She closed her eyes and turned the kiss into a much passionate one, wrapping her legs around his stem, pressing her womanhood against his erection. A few moments later, she broke the kiss and looked at the flower in his his eyes.

“Ready when you are, big boy,“ she whispered, caressing his cheek. She was so eager to feel him inside her. She always wondered what would it be like, and finally here they where, him on top of her and ready to please her. "Oh! No! Wait!” She pushed him a bit to be able to take off her panties “I don’t want you ripping those” she snickered taking them off quickly. “They’re really comfortable” she smiled laying under him again with resting her arms on the sides in L shape. She realized she was very comfortable in her bed and it was getting harder to keep her eyes open. If they didn’t do anything soon, she would probably fall asleep.

Cagney stared down at the naked woman below him. Shyness or not, Hilda was hot and his body was ready for this. It probably hadn’t helped that he had daydreamed about doing this with her since they were teenagers so he was probably more ready for this than he should be. He ran his tongue along her neck before drawing it back up against his very sharp teeth, hoping that would make him look a bit more cool and confident.

Eh, she might have been a bit too aroused to notice actually. He shifted her legs apart and settled in between her, prodding his member against her entrance. He watched her squirm and lift her hips up to try to meet his piece and he growled in appreciation of how eager she was. Still, he wasn’t just going to shove it in. Even though she wasn’t a virgin, he could seriously hurt her. He eased the tip in and almost bucked at how hot she felt. He could have sworn he heard her gasp, (or maybe it was him, he wasn’t sure.) He had to grab her bedpost and dig his fingers into it to keep from plunging into her. Finally, he hilted inside her and his mind went completely blank with how tight she felt around him. He could feel every twitch of her body and he looked toward her for confirmation. “You okay, Hilds?” he panted.

“My God, Cagney! You’re huge!” She held onto his arm, arching her back. Her other free hand  clasped the bed tightly, as if she was afraid to drift away in a wave of pleasure.

This was exhilarating! She had been with men before but none of them have filled her up like Cagney was doing now. His piece was so deep inside her, she didn’t even know that was possible. It felt really good. She took a moment to accommodate to the new sensation, moaning and panting. Soon, her heart rate accelerating and her hips shifted eager to get into action.  "Let’s start softly,“ she finally managed to say, focusing on relaxing for a better penetration and allow Cagney greater access.

Candy had to turn away his face so she didn’t see how red he was at the outburst. "I’ll go slow,” he finally reassured her, calming himself to look back at her. Very slowly, he slid his dick out some before thrusting back in at a slow pace. He pressed gentle kisses against her neck, hoping to encourage her to relax. Gradually, he increased his speed and his gentle kisses to the neck turned into aggressive nips at her ears and cheeks. “You feel incredible,” he groaned, admiring how her body continued to squirm and tremble with his efforts. The waves of pleasure were starting to overwhelm Hilda. She continued to hold onto him, gasping and moaning louder as he picked up the pace. “Oh! Cagney! Ah! This feels aaAh!  SO GOOD!” She accompanied his now rough thrustings with the jerking of her hips, her thighs holding him tightly. “AHH! Give me more! aaAAH! HARDER!” She ordered him, practically yelling and groaning loudly. The cracking of her bed accompanied the heavy breathing of the lovers as well as a rhythmic bumping against the wall.

Hearing her shout his name sent shivers throughout his whole body and Cagney increased the intensity of the love making. He was absolutely delirious with desire. He grasped her wrists and pinned them down on the bed above her head.

“Next time we do this, give me some access to the dirt and I’ll really make you shriek,” he promised with a laugh, continuing to pump in and out of her. “Course, I don’t think you’ll have much of a voice by the time you’re done screaming my name,” he bragged.

“Ha! Yeah, right” she chuckled, “as if we’re ever- ah- getting drunk enough to do this again!”

Cagney’s heart stopped in his chest at Hilda’s cackle. Did she really mean that? Yeah, they had decided to stay friends but he thought at least in the heat of the moment, she would have said something else. But the dismissive way she responded to his slip up, not even humoring him, was this really so bad?

Then again, Hilda had NEVER made a move on him prior or even hinted at something more. Everything up to this point..it was only happening because of the alcohol. She basically said it herself. Even as she shut her eyes and threw her head back, this was just one dumb drunk mistake that she’d never repeat. His eyes stung with this realization and he let go of her wrists to wipe at them. He was such an idiot. He continued to thrust into her, trying to laugh along with her but it was just kind of hollow. “Y-yeah,” he tried not to sniffle, (damn being drunk and confused), “I don’t think we would.” He almost wished he had been crushed by the glass dome.

His sudden slow pace bothered Hilda, who was really enjoying herself and pretty near her orgasm. She opened her eyes to check on her friend. He’d lost his lustful look, yet was still slowly pumping inside her.

It made her think it was a reaction to what she just said. She was right… right? This was just a slip up. Maybe she should explain herself. “Cagney, this, this is REALLY good… but, a few days ago we almost killed each other and now, look at us! You think we would have done anything if we weren’t drunk?” She insisted, moving her hips to encourage him to keep going. “We’ve known each other for sooo long,  we created some tension between us. And we eventually explode. Most of the times by fighting but this time, well…” She smiled and pushed hard against him to allow him to go deeper within her.

“This is just another way of fighting,” she smirked, hoping he would regain the rhythm he had before and finish what they’ve started.

Cagney grit his teeth. So that was it, huh? He feel like even more of an idiot, especially by the way she smiled at like she was trying to make him feel better. She was pitying him. And he hated that.

“Another way of fighting, huh?” He finally managed, narrowing his eyes. “I get it.” Just another fight that he was losing by feeling bad for himself. He hardened his heart can continue to pound into her at a much rougher pace. “There’s not going to be a next time,” he snarled, “so try to keep up because this is the only time we’re doing this.”

Hilda bit her lips, enjoying the increased thrusting, but something in Cagney’s eyes scared her. This was all so confusing now.

She tried to keep up, moving her hips at his rhythm, but he was getting more rougher with every penetration, sending a mix of delightfully muted pain and pure pleasure all over her body. She clasped her bed tightly and arched her back groaning loudly. “AAAH! AAH! Then you better make it count! AAAAAH!” She was gonna add ‘you big weed’ but the pleasure was too overwhelming to allow her to formulate sentences.

Even though he was angry, he couldn’t help but find Hilda even sexier with each passing second. Which just made him more upset. His hand briefly touched hers as he gripped her bed and he yanked his away, hating how he felt so happy just minutes before when he just wanted to stand there and hold her hand.

He kept himself from transforming. He was angry with himself, not her, and transforming would probably severely hurt her even if it was possible for him to do. He ground into her from above. “You can do better than that,” He snapped, “Why don’t you tell me how much of an idiot I am? How I’m nothing but some dumb weed?” He punctuated that with another deep penetration, his tip pressing against her g spot.

Hilda couldn’t say a word, even if she wanted to. Only loud throaty moans and gasps came out of her mouth as she got closer to her orgasm. She threw her head back and clawed her bed sheets with her fingers. She was so close.

A loud sound, like an explosion without the big 'boom’, shook the entire home, forcing them friends to stop mid coitus.

“Was that you?” Cagney panted.

Hilda swallowed, “N-no. If that wasn’t you, then who…?”

A bizarre growl confirmed they weren’t hearing things. Hilda’s eyes widened in realization that something might have happened to the observatory and she pushed Cagney out of her, despite her desire to keep going. She snatched her dress from the floor to cover herself before sprinting down the stairs. Cagney’s frustration was overshadowed by curiosity and the impending sense of danger. With an angry groan, he picked up the first piece of clothing he could find and put it on to hide his still thriving piece, before he followed Hilda. The woman passed the kitchen and reached for the door that connected to the observatory and stopped abruptly. Where once was the exposition room, full of old astronomy devices, models and charts there was now the clear starry sky, and in the middle of it all, a crystal dragon, turning in circles, destroying the walls of the projection and telescope room. Cagney arrived shortly after, wearing Hilda’s nightgown. It was too short for him, enough to cover his privates. He turned to say something to Hilda only for his words to die in his throat at the sight.

The creature didn’t seem to be aware of their presence and continue to tear down all of the observatory’s belongings. It only carried on for a few seconds before the dragon took off, but the damage had been done. With a roar, it tore loose and flew towards the sea, knocking a small chunk of HIlda’s bedroom roof down with a last flick of its tail. Their eyes followed the dragon until it faded out of view, leaving them standing there alone among the debris.

What just happened? Hilda couldn’t believe what she had just witnessed. Minutes ago, she was about to climax, and now, well, now she didn’t knew how she felt. Sad? Angry? No. That wasn’t it. Actually, she didn’t feel anything. She stood there, indifferent, holding the doorknob of her kitchen like an idiot.

Cagney remained rooted, absolutely bewildered before realizing Hilda hadn’t said a word. She looked shocked beyond words or even expressions, just staring at what was left of her collection that had most undoubtedly taken her years to put together.  All of her work, gone. He was filled with an overwhelming sense of guilt even though he had no idea what the hell just happened.

Her feelings were a mess right now. She was still enthralled about having sex with Cagney, but also incredibly despondent about their misunderstanding. And now, angry and helpless for the destruction of her life’s work. Even the constellations in her head didn’t know which way to feel. Some of them were laughing sincerely at Cagney’s new outfit, others frustrated for not being able to finish, others screaming out in sadness for the observatory.

Cagney tried to put a hand on her back.  "Hilda?“

The woman noticed the touch on her back and looked to Cagney. A small smile started to draw in her face at the view of the carnation wearing her cute nightgown.  The smile turned into giggles, that turned into chuckles, until she was just laughing too hard for what it was. Her eyes became glassy and she wiped the tears that were starting to fall.

Cagney had undergone many of Hilda’s manic episodes in the past. She’d burst into laughter or hysterical sobbing (or both) when the constellations got a bit too much. So when she started doing this now, he wasn’t entirely sure if this was one of them.  

Normally he’d hug her..but he was also wearing her nightgown so he’s not sure if she would be receptive. And his stupid erection was still there too so she’d be feeling that if he tried to give her a tight hug. He decided to risk it and pulled her into a hug when she started crying. "Hey, hey, Hilda. It’s gonna be okay,” he tried.

She returned the hug still laughing with her cheeks covered in tears. “Hahaha! Everything is falling apart! My dome, my life’s work, haha! Even our friendship! Hahahaha!” She hugged him really tight against her, hiding her face on his chest and not caring about his erection.

Cagney knew Hilda would say a lot of things during a manic episode. Not all of them were true (or even made sense to be honest) but he learned to accept whatever she said and just roll with it. At the mention of their friendship falling apart, he was taken aback.

She said she wanted to remain friends but was she trying to say they couldn’t even be friends anymore? He held her tightly as she continued to sob. He couldn’t afford to lose their friendship. He looked toward where the monster had flown but there was no way in hell he was going to be able to catch up with that thing. Just as well, he would hate to leave Hilda alone in this state. The woman’s entire life - destroyed in a matter of days. And it all started with him. He was the one who broke the dome, who asked her out, who let her get drunk and encouraged her to make a dumb stupid mistake. And for what? What could he do? He had to do something. He couldn’t just sit by and let her try to pick up the pieces herself. “Hilda, I-I’m going to fix this,” he told her, petting her head.

The wind began to rise as some very dark clouds started to appear threateningly over the site of her ruined observatory. A soft rain started to fall.

She couldn’t help but to laugh harder, pressing her head against his chest, cleaning her tears with the nightgown as she did. She could hear the yelling voices in her head, making her feel all kinds of emotions at once. 'It’s all our fault!’

'Nobody loves us!’

'A lifetime of research destroyed!’

'When do we finish?!’

'He looks ridiculous! Hahaha’

'It doesn’t matter what we do! We always make it worse!’

'Hahahaha!’

'Why!?’

'What are we gonna do!?’

'Destroy everything!!!’ It was overwhelming. Holding Cagney was the only thing keeping her from creating a hurricane and devastating all of Inkwell.

Cagney was aware of the darkening weather and realized Hilda was not getting better. If anything, she was getting worse. He continued talking to her. “This is really bad, I know it’s really bad. But I want you understand, I’m going to fix this.” He don’t know how the hell he was going to fix it, but he was going to fix it. Already he was going through his mind, trying to think of any power or connection he had that could even begin to help Hilda regain her life. His mind briefly wavered over to someone who could help but he shut it down. There had to be another way, he just had to think harder was all.

Hilda’s laughter got softer and so did the wind. A few minutes later Cagney managed to calm her down, at least enough to guide her back to toward her room. He had to keep a good grip on her waist as they climbed the stairs lest she suddenly collapse. He finally laid her on the bed and went to try to at least make some form of shelter for them.

The hole caused by the dragon unfortunately let in the rain, making the bed damp from rainwater. Hilda sighed, defeated and turned away from Cagney, burying her face in a wet pillow. The carnation was finally able to rig together a roof by nailing some sheets to the wall, using a few thorns as makeshift nails.

Cagney looked back at the depressed Hilda and sighed. He laid down next to her and carefully spooned her, trying to be as gentle as possible. He kept reassuring her he was going to fix this. Hilda didn’t truly believed him, but somehow, hearing him saying it made her feel better. She uncovered her face and got closer to the flower, felling his thin body against her back, and held his hand tightly.

They remained laying there, neither of them saying anything, until they finally fell asleep, unsure of what tomorrow would bring.

———–

Spike roared with laughter. “Beppi’s just a balloon with legs, you babies.” The children and Goopy stopped at another branching path. This time it went two different ways. “Huh, looks like a fork in the road,” Goopy mused. He turned to the kids. “Alright, stay here, kids. I’m going to check one of the paths.” He started toward one of the paths before turning back to look at the children. “Don’t move, got it?” The children nodded and he nodded. The ball hopped down one of the paths and was soon out of sight. The children waited a minute before Spike started heading for the other path. Hannah hopped up. “Mr. Le Grande said we were supposed to stay put!” The little rabbit protested. Spike snorted. “That’s BORING. Come on, Mina! You and me right now go down the other way and see who really is a scaredy-cat here.” Harvey looked at Mina. “Don’t do it, Mina.” Spike laughed again. “Too scared to come huh? I didn’t know those bat wings were chicken wings. Bawk! Bawk! Bawk!” He taunted, flapping his arms.

Mina glowered angrily at Spike. If there was one thing she hated most in the world, besides broccoli, it was being called chicken. “I’ll show YOU chicken wings!” She started walking the path, turning back toward Harvey and Hanna. “You stay here!” she ordered to the bunnies, “if we find the exit, we’ll yell!”

Harvey watched his friend leave with Spike and groaned. “Oh gee, I was really hoping we could go play some games after this.”

Hannah hopped up and down. “Don’t feel too bad. Just think about what you wanna do for my birthday next week!” She suggested with a giggle. Harvey stopped feeling bad for himself. Oh yeah. Hannah’s birthday was coming up. He had just enough money to buy her the sewing needles too! It helped that Mina had stood up to Spike and not let him take his lunch money. He relaxed at that and looked over at his sister. “Oh yeah! You think mom is gonna make you a carrot cake?” “I want a blueberry cake!” “You better tell mom that now because I think she’s making you a carrot cake.” “Ah! No, I want blueberries!” Hannah walked over to the mirrors and started making faces in them. “Hey, I can make my face all squishy in these!” She started giggling. Harvey walked over to his sister and look in the mirror as well. “Hey, you’re right!” The two bunnies started making faces to their reflections together, unaware of the dark figure creeping up behind in the mirrors.

— Sullivan walked next to Amber, looking everywhere, hoping nothing else would try to attack them. The bear was terrifying enough without some other monster trying to get them. He wondered if this was a good moment to ask about her lockpicking abilities. He didn’t wanted to think about it, but maybe Porkrind was right about her… Was she the thief? He cleared his throat, trying to think of a way to casually bring up the topic. “T-thank you for breaking my fall… that was pretty impressive,” he added, watching her hopefully.

Amber realized she might blow her cover if she wasn’t careful. “Oh yeah! When you do interior work for some of those older houses, sometimes the floor just gives out, you know?” She tried with a silly giggle.

She gave him a gentle nudge. “But hey, thanks for trying to not let me hit the ground like a pancake, that was really nice of you. Maybe after this, we could do something more fun,” she suggested with a wink. Even fearful adrenaline was adrenaline and there were quite a few adult ways she’d like to use it up.

Every doubt Sullivan had about Amber banished from his mind as she winked at him. She was so lovely! He couldn’t help but turn really red at the idea she suggested. He felt the butterflies in his tummy again and couldn’t say another word without turning into mumbling nonsense.

Amber continued to walk when she suddenly felt her fur stand on end. She looked around, her face contorted in concern. “I have a really bad feeling about this.” She continued walking but let out a small, scared squeak as she spotted something in the mirror next to her. It was a thick, closed, wet burlap sack. Before she could stop herself, she instinctively hissed at it and clung closer to Sullivan. She didn’t like that sack.  

Sullivan was startled by her change in demeanor and looked to see she was indeed hissing at something. “What! What is-?” He looked at the reflection in the mirror as Amber clutched deeper on his arm. “I-it’s just a sack!” He exclaimed, try to assuage the irritated feline.  

“These magic mirrors are a bit busted if they think a bag can scare us,” he chuckled nervously, trying to lighten up the mood.

“Bags like that are bad news. That’s why I only use nylon bags,” she spat angrily, looking at the bag very distrustfully. She resisted the urge to scratch at the bag and instead continued to growl under her breath.

— Grim waited until the others walked down their respective paths and started walking the last one with Bon Bon.

“I-I hope they’ll be ok,” he sighed, looking at his deformed reflections in the mirrors. “B-beppi really overdid it with t-this ride!”

And that might work in his favor, he thought. Bon Bon might ask him to have a sleepover after all and he would be able to recover that stupid letter he drunkenly wrote.

The Baroness walked alongside the dragon, silently fuming to herself about what she’d do to Beppi if she got her hands on him. First, she’d strap him to a table with licorice and cut off each of his limbs with a candy corn saw. And then she would remove his head and put him in her trophy room with his mouth sewed up so he couldn’t make any more dumb jokes. She realized Grim was speaking. “I’m sure everyone will be okay, a bit spooked probably.” They continued to walk by warped mirrors and the Baroness glanced in a few of them. “I failed to see how my own reflection is supposed to scare me though.” She walked by one mirror, glanced in it, only to stop and look again.

Grim sighed hoping the Baroness was right and they will all be ok. He couldn’t help but look at his reflection in the mirrors around them only to freeze in fear.

Bon Bon stared at the mirror in disbelief. It was another dragon. A rather scary looking one with fire and teeth. It almost looked like it was moving. She scoffed at it, even as she thought she could hear the mirror growl. So that was Beppi’s game? Magic mirrors. It only made sense if he got them from Djimmi. She’d have to pay a personal visit to the genie tomorrow about selling anything to Beppi. She could hear someone childishly giggling and turned to see Beppi hopping up and down in one of the mirrors. “You really think I’m scared of a dragon?” She tsked. “Oh, not YOU!” The clown cackled. “Then who-?” She stopped as she heard some quiet whining. She turned to Grim to see the dragon very worried indeed. “Grim?”

Grim tried to hold himself but the vision of the terrifying dragon was just a painful reminder of what HE was supposed to be…and what he still could become. “N-n-no…” he muttered to himself. “You’re n-not real… I’M NOT LIKE YOU!” He roared fearfully. He broke the mirror with a quick devastating whip of his tail, sending shards of crystal glass everywhere.

– Spike and MIna walked down the empty rows of mirrors. He glanced at the bat. He had to admit. He was slightly impressed that the girl still wanted to do this. But she was a girl. And girls cried just as much as little boy bunnies. He looked over at the mirrors on the side and his hackles raised slightly. With the distorted images on the mirror, he almost looked like his dad. A fact that did not make the bulldog pup very happy at all. His attention was taken away by the appearance of a very large mirror at the end of the hallway. “Last chance to go back,” he teased, pointing to the mirror up ahead.  

The little bat smirked at the pup and passed by him, walking towards the mirror. “Ha! You’re dealing with a bat here! I’m part of the spooky folk!” She said with her head held high. She looked the huge mirror up and down bravely.

Spike looked at the mirror and his smile dropped as something large materialized in front of him. He didn’t quite see it until the image brightened and his jaw dropped open in shock.

—-

Goopy sighed in disappointment as his journey came to a dead end. “Shucks, and I was real hopeful about this one,” he grunted. He was about to turn around but stopped. It looked a bit too suspicious to be just a dead end. He stuck his hand through the walled off way only for the wall to give way like a curtain, revealing the exit. He grinned. “Well, Goops, looks like you did it again. Better go back and collect everyone before someone gets really spooked!” He congratulated himself, turning around. A little girl’s scream made him stop before he barreled down the path. Crud, Hannah must have gotten spooked. He better go check this out.

–

Harvey’s ears perked up and he turned around at the sound of an unfamiliar noise. “Hello, is someone there?” He called out. There was nothing there, just the empty mirrors looking back at him.

He shrugged and turned back to continue making faces with his sister only to see a monstrous looking figure in the mirror in front of them. He squeaked in alarm and pulled Hannah back away from the surface. The figure looked just like Spike. A scary, spooky form of Spike. The deformed dog laughed and laughed as his reflection spread across all the mirrors surrounding the rabbits. “G-Go away!” Harvey yelled at the laughing dog reflection. Hannah clung to him, burying her face into his side. The figure seemed to get even bigger and Harvey shakily reached into his coat, pulling out the training wand. “I’m warning you! I’ll make you go away!” He ordered. A really loud roar sent the rabbit into fumbling and muttering over the chant before dropping the wand, but the spell had been cast. A yellow bunny skull shot forward and connected with the mirrors before sinking into the reflection like a puddle of water. The figure looked really confused before it completely vanished, leaving the rabbits alone. Harvey let out a shaky weak chuckle. “Oh, oh that actually worked.” “Harvey!” A familiar voice yelled “Agh!” The little bunny nearly jumped 10 feet in the air before turning around to see Goopy rapidly approached them. “Mr. Le Grande?” “Is everyone alright? I heard Hannah screaming!” Goopy explained, kneeling down to check on the little rabbit Hannah unhurried her face from her brother’s overalls. “I wasn’t screaming,” she answered the adult. Goopy’s brow furrowed.  “Well, if you weren’t screaming, then who-?” A high pitched scream broke out again and now everyone jumped and ran toward the noise.

– Spike covered his mouth in horror at his second scream. He didn’t dare look at Mina, instead keeping his eyes staring at the figure in the mirror. “This-this looks just like my dad,” he finally managed, looking up at a scary bull dog in the reflection. His eyes remained wide and glassy still. “My aunt says I can come live with her but, my dad, he’s just tough on me to make me strong,” Spike tried to explain, not daring to look away from the reflection. Mina understood now. His father! Spike’s father was the reason he had turned into a bully. 

The bulldog was shaking now. “Please tell me you see it too?”

“Spike! It’s ok! It’s not real!” She tried to calm him down, hugging him with her wings, protecting him from the view of the mirrors.

“Pa is gonna be real mad at me that I screamed,” the bulldog whimpered.

“Look at me! He can’t hurt you!” She looked at his glassy eyes. “We’re gonna go back. Don’t look at the mirrors! Focus on me.”

Spike nodded quickly at the bat’s instructions and swallowed hard, his eyes threatening to tear up again, but he seemed to understand.

Mina slowly uncovered him and holding his hand they walked the path they came from. They had only walked a few feet away before a heavy thump sent Mina’s ears rigid.

Spike blinked and nervously glanced behind them and stopped dead in his tracks. The warped looking dog was stepping out of the mirror with a snarl. The pup couldn’t run - he was frozen to the spot.

“You’ve been a bad dog,” the big dog growled, reaching two gruff paws out towards the terrified children, “And you know what we do with bad dogs…”

– Sullivan paused in his observation of Amber as he could hear the screams of the other group members break out from the other parts of the maze. This was even more of a reason to get going! The faster they found the exit, the sooner they could get out of here and bring help.

“Let’s just keep going,” Sullivan finally stated, determined to keep walking past the mirror. He took a few steps in front of Amber to check the way, hoping to see nothing but their reflections from this point on. Amber looked like she was about to say something to his request only for her voice to die in her throat as the bag fell out of the mirror and slumped to the ground. This was just supposed to be a reflection! She remained rooted to the spot, hoping the bag would just stay there, even though she swore she could feel cold water up to her neck. The bag flopped to the ground before slowly slithering toward the salamander, who hadn’t seen it fall from the mirror. Its hole opened up to as if to eat Sullivan and Amber snapped out of her dark memory. She pulled out her gold claws and viciously attacked the bag, tearing into it with her clearly illegal weapons. It tried to roll away but she wasn’t having it, fur flying everywhere as she continued to attack the snake like bag.

The salamander heard the noise of cloth being torn apart and turned his head to see what the heck was going on. He froze when he saw the snake like movements of the once inanimated sac. Of all the creatures in this world, it had to be a snake, twisting around as his beloved Amber attacked it fiercely with her claws and… were those knives?!

“A-Amber!” He manage to yell and run towards her. He grabbed her paw and pulled her off of the terrifying creature. “We’re going back!!!” He shouted, tugging her in the direction from whence they came.

She was swearing an awful lot. She might not be a sailor but she certainly had the mouth of one. Amber threw one last knife at the ruined bag before allowing Sullivan to drag her toward where they came from.

—-

“I told those two to stay put!”

Goopy was very disappointed, but honestly not that surprised that Mina and Spike had charged off into the unknown. Those two were full of plucky energy, just like he was when he was just a small slime. But still, he was already planning on what he was going to say when he found the two small mammals. He led Harvey and Hannah down the path the other two had taken only to stop short. In front of Spike and Mina was a giant unfamiliar dog he had never seen before. It didn’t look friendly either. “Mina! Spike! Duck!” He hollered, winding up his fist.

Mina fearfully held onto Spike, not sure what to do, until the familiar voice of Goopy brought her back. She pulled her friend down to the ground with her.

And not a moment too soon. The second the children dropped to the ground, Goopy sent a fist flying, colliding with the dog monster, sending it stumbling back and falling into the mirror. Another quick punch shattered the mirror into pieces, leaving the group alone. “Is everyone okay?” Goopy wearily asked, completely forgetting whatever disciplinary speech he had prepared as he surveyed the children.

Hannah punched the glass just for good measure only to draw her little paw back with an “ow.”

“Mina! Are you okay?” Harvey asked, darting to his friend’s side. “What happened?”

The little bat tried to talk but she could only mumble nonsense as she was still scared.

“I’m gonna take this as a yes.” Goopy knelt down. “C'mon, we need to head back. We can catch up later.”

The little bat nodded and helped Spike back to his feet. The two followed Goopy, still shaky from the experience. –

Bon Bon waved her arms. “Grim! Stop!” But the dragon was panicked and continued to smash. He wasn’t listening to her! And there was no way she could, nor would she really want to, take down her much more physically impressive friend.

She saw Beppi laughing within his mirror and reached in to punch the glass…only for her hand to slide through the mirror and actually grab the clown by the shirt. He looked equally surprised by this development. “Uh, wait a second-?” The Baroness grinned darkly. She pulled him out and pinned him to the ground. “Stop the mirrors,” she demanded.

“You’re so forward!” Beppi chuckled, fanning himself.

Only once all but one of the mirrors were destroyed did Grim finally settle down. He panted sharply, trying to recover his wits. He spotted Beppi on the floor with Bon Bon on top of him, and his anger stirred back up again. His eyes started turning black and white and smoke came out from his nostrils. “You…” he growled. Beppi waved at Grim. “Hey buddy, having a good date so far?” He asked pleasantly, either unaware of the danger or entirely dismissive of it. Bon Bon lifted Beppi to his feet and nearly shoved him into the only intact mirror behind him, the nozzle of her candy cane shotgun jammed against his chest. “You think this is really funny, huh, Chuckles?” Beppi shrugged. “I think it’s pretty hysterical to be honest. Plus, you two should be totally thanking me! Can’t get anymore cozy than being trapped in a maze, am I right?” “Thanking you?! Grim is freaked out!” Bon Bon growled. “Imagine how I feel? Totally didn’t see that coming you getting me through the mirror!” He exclaimed. He leaned in toward her. “How’d you do the magic trick? That’s super cool!” Beppi marveled, holding onto her arm. “I have no idea what you’re talking about! But you better put a stop to this right now!”

Grim’s mouth lit up with a spark as he saw nothing but red. He  took a deep breath, about to release a powerful flame.

Bon Bon could feel the heat behind her and quickly turned around, alarmed to see Grim aiming for them. She held out a hand once more. “Grim, wait! We can’t set the place on fire! They’re still kids here!” She yelled at him. Beppi giggled. “Looks like he really has the HOTS for you!” Bon Bon turned on Beppi once more and now the nozzle of her gun was under his chin. “One more joke, Beppi and I’ll-I’ll…” Her eyes widened as she looked behind the clown. Beppi grasped the gun and peeked inside before looking at the pale Baroness. “What’s wrong, sugar? Something on my face?” He started to laugh only to stop when a claw reached out from the mirror behind him and wrapped around his waist. He looked down. “Huh. This wasn’t the plan at ahhhh!” He was yanked into the mirror with a squeal and the Baroness felt herself jerked toward it as well, too surprised to let go of her candy cane gun.

Grim’s flames barely licked the mirror before he could swallow them back in shocked surprise as Beppi and Bon Bon were dragged into the mirror. He charged the shimmering surface angrily. “Bring her back!” He yelled, puffing out his chest. “I will turn your entire carnival into ashes! WITH YOU IN IT!”

He had barely managed a scratch before something massive and reptilian shot from it, knocking down an angry, surprised Grim.

It was the dragon from the mirror, now even more bedazzled and luminous than before! The magic of the mirror must have influenced its appearance. Yet, despite its glittering exterior, the dragon retained its ferocity, spinning and swinging around wildly, growling and snapping at everything. Another spin revealed its two captives, Bon Bon and Beppi, held tightly in its massive paws. “Let us go!” Bon Bon growled, kicking out at the air but the dragon didn’t listen. It continued striking its tail around, smashing the mirrors. “Oh, come on! Those are expensive!” Beppi complained, even as the dragon started to open its wings. Before anyone could say anything else, the mirror dragon gave one flap, before jetting down the hallway, back toward the center of the maze.

Grim finally snapped out of it as he heard Bon Bon’s yelled echo down the hall where the mirror dragon took off. “Bon Bon!” was the only thing he had time to say before the crystallized creature was out of sight, and with it, the Baroness. He frowned and exhaled a huge cloud of smoke before gathering the courage to flap his wings and follow the dragon as fast as his wings could carry him.

–

Goopy hadn’t really wanted to run toward danger, or rather bounce to it. But it sounded like Grim was in trouble and the last thing the goop needed was to have to carry a massive lizard out. He hopped back to the start of the path and motioned everyone down just as Sullivan and Amber hurried onto the clearing. “Hey, old sport! Attacking any reflections lately?” He asked of the salamander with a grin.

Sullivan gaped at him. “You too?” He pointed behind them. “We ran into a crazy snake-sack down that path. How do we get out of here!?” He hold his head in disbelief. “You guys are okay, right?” He asked, turning to the children. Mina was still a bit shocked for what just happened but she managed to nod, still clutching Spike’s hand.

Hannah crept over to Harvey. “Did we do this?” She whispered, worried that Harvey’s spell had done more than they had anticipated… “I-I don’t know!”  Harvey bit his lip. “I didn’t mean to! I just was trying to make it go away!” He whispered back.

The other members of the party were unaware of the quiet exchange. Another loud howl from Grim did get their attention.

“Sounds like Grim is in trouble,” Sullivan shakily spoke, looking worriedly toward the third path that now had smoke practically billowing the entire hallway. A draconian silhouette started push through the smoke.

The salamander sighed in relief. “Oh! Here they come! Grim! What’s going oOAAH!!” He screamed at the sight of an unfamiliar dragon barreling toward them.

The group flattened themselves as the terrifying shiny dragon thundered over them, carrying something yelling within its claws.

Amber was one of this first to lift her head back up from where they all flattened themselves on the ground. “Hey, was it just me, or was that dragon carrying the princess and the clown just now?” “I think so?” Spike finally managed. Goopy looked back toward the smokey path only for his eyes to widen. “Duck!” This time everyone hit the deck once more as now Grim roared over them as he pursued the dragon.  Everyone looked at each other once more and chased after the two. There was a loud crash as the crystal dragon broke through a wall, followed shortly by Grim and the rest of the maze runners.

—-

There was lots of excited shouting and yelling in the carnival. Families and couples still walked and ran around, enjoying the delicious fried goods and circus games. It had been a stellar opening to be sure and there was still some time before the circus ended for the night.

The line for the haunted mansion was still pretty long. As the next group hesitantly started to walk in, they couldn’t help but stop at the sound of loud roaring and banging. The people in line looked at the mansion curiously only to see a large crystal dragon break through the wall and blitzed into the carnival. There was a quiet moment before the line members grew excited. “The haunted mansion looks way scarier this year!” One line goer noted as he watched the dragon charge away. “Definitely better than the bed sheets!” Another one agreed, now even more eager to enter the haunted attraction. The mirror dragon spun and thundered through the crowds, much to the unexpected delight and surprise of the islanders at “one of the most realistic attractions yet!” A massive flap of its wings sent the dragon to the top of the ferris wheel. It dug its back nails into the metal frame, grinding the ride to a shaky halt. The people still on the ride looked up, confused by the new development. Was this part of the ride? They didn’t remember this from last year.

Grim had dashed through the now open hole, followed closely by Goopy, Harvey, Hannah, Mina, Spike, Sullivan and Amber. The group looked around. Mina stood near her friends trying to make sense of what was going on and happy to finally make it out. Amber pointed to the top of the ferris wheel. “Look! Up there! That dragon thing got both of them…uh, that’s them, right?”   “I think so!” Sullivan realized, alarmed that Amber’s observation earlier was correct. “W-what do we do? What CAN we do?” Mina turned to Harvey, remembering that her friend’s father was a magician. “You think your dad can make it disappear?” Harvey squinted his eyes and looked up. “He-he won’t be here for at least another hour or so!” He explained. He pulled his ears worriedly. “Oh man, this is all my fault!” “Don’t say that, Harvey!” Hannah insisted. “You were just trying to be a good brother!” Spike looked over at the rabbits. “Whaddya talking about? Why is it his fault?” Harvey looked abashed. “I-I tried to use my wand to make it disappear and I just made it come out of the mirror instead…” Goopy, Sullivan and Amber were trying to brainstorm, once again oblivious to the children’s’ conversation. “I don’t think Grim is going to be able to listen to anyone while he’s like this!” Goopy pointed out. “We gotta get him to calm down otherwise he might just set fire to the ferris wheel!” Amber noted, watching the green dragon warily who circled around the ride dangerously, “Sully, got any ideas on how to stop Grim?” A high pitched scream broke out from on top of the ferris wheel and Amber bit her lip.“Oh man, I can hear Bon Bon screaming. She must be real scared,” Amber groaned, looking up. Goopy grimaced. “That-that was not the Baroness…” – “Shut up, Beppi!” The Baroness yelled, attempting to kick the shrieking clown but she was too far away to successfully do anything to him. “There’s so much I wanted to do! Drive a real car. Made of rubber and float it across the lake! Have my first kiss with a meringue pie and not just a lemon pie! Blast myself out of the cannon!” Beppi wailed. The Baroness rolled her eyes. “Will you just-?” She let out a startled shriek of her own as the dragon abruptly dropped her. It was only her quick reflexes that led her to grabbing the metal bar next to it attached to the ferris wheel. She tried to pull herself up but she was fatigued and only able to wrap her arms around it tightly. “Shit, shit, shit!” She openly swore now. The mirror dragon stomped up and down, shaking the entire ride and Bon Bon held on for dear life as Beppi continued to lament his missed opportunities.

Grim circled the ferris wheel, his eyes narrowed with anger. Everytime he tried to get closer to rescue Bon Bon, the mirror dragon took a swipe at him jostling and shaking the ferris wheel even more - loosening the Baroness’ precarious grip.

After a third attempt that brought him too close, the dragon managed a snap at his neck. At the frustrated cry of pain, Grim’s other two heads sprouted forth from his shoulders.  "No more games!“ He shouted. All three heads spat fire towards the dragon, avoiding the Baroness, and with any luck, toasting the clown as well.

The mirror dragon rocked the ferris wheel back and forth and with each movement, the attraction became more unsteady. The Baroness was furious when the dragon bit Grim and she landed a good hit on one of its paws. Unfortunately, that only angered the dragon and before she could react, the mirror dragon gave one good stomp on the ferris wheel and she lost her grip. She managed to grab the spoke of the ferris wheel a few feet below the angry dragon with two hands but it was slipping fast between her fingers.

“AH!” She yelled, realizing her situation was quickly looking grim, and not the way she would have liked.

—

“We’re running out of time,” Goopy realized, watching the Baroness slipping.

“How the hell are we going to calm down Grim?” Amber asked.

“Eeeehhh…. ” The salamander looked around, trying to find ideas. The only thing he knew that could calm the dragon was Bon Bon herself. But with her in danger, it was only a matter of time before Grim became frustrated enough to miss and really do some damage. “W-what if…evacuate the carnival? Maybe call the fire department!” He exclaimed as he watched a fireball bounce of one of the rails.

Mina scratched her chin before snapping her fingers. “I know what we can do!!” She yelled to her friends.

She hit the palm of her hand with her fist “If we can distract the bad dragon, we can give a chance to our dragon to rescue the princess and Harvey can send that dragon back to the mirror!” She turned eagerly toward her friends. “Spike, how good are you with a slingshot?”

Spike grinned maliciously. “I’ve hit a couple nerds off a tree before in front of their moms!” He bragged before clearing his throat. “Uh, yeah I’m good with it. You got your magic stick, rabbit?”

Harvey patted down his jacket. “I-I don’t have the wand!” He realized, “I must have dropped it in the maze!” He started to panic but Hannah thrust something else in his hand. He looked to see it was a churro. “Hannah, now is not the time to eat!”

Hannah shook her head. “No! Maybe you can use something that’s like the wand!” She insisted, pushing the churro back to his hand. “It’s sparkly, right?”

“I think that’s just the sugar-?” Harvey tried to explain but Spike give him a push.

“Just go with it.” He turned to Mina. “Alright, whaddya want us to do?”

The little bat couldn’t help but chuckle at the idea of making magic with a churro, but it was worth a try.

Mina dropped to her knees and began to draw on the ground. “Ok! Here’s the plan: Spike and I will go get slingshots and fire crackers and throw them at the bad dragon every time he tries to hurt anyone! While we distract him, Hannah and Harvey, you’ll get up the wheel and use your ‘wand’ to make him freeze or, just get rid of him!”

She heard Grim’s terrifying growl and realized they didn’t had much time. “GO!!!” She yelled, already running with Spike to gather what they needed.

Harvey made one step toward the ferris wheel only to stop. “How are we gonna get close enough? None of us can fly,” Harvey realized.

“And we can’t climb too good!” Hannah added.

Hannah, pointed to the cat. “Can we ask her to climb?”

“Worth a shot.”

–

Another slam of the crystal dragon’s tail against the metal structure sent the Baroness’ grip to just one hand. “Grim! Help” She desperately called out to her friend, knowing she couldn’t hold out much longer.

“Bon Bon!” All Grim’s heads yelled and the green dragon dove towards the baroness. The mirror dragon attempted another strike at Grim, but this time, he was ready for it. Right before the crystal claw could make contact, Grim did a last minute flip and pushed the mirror dragon backwards making him lose its balance, freeing the path towards BonBon.

He passed one of his heads through the metal bars and reached BonBon as she finally lost her grip. She fell onto Grim’s head and wrapped her arms tightly around his neck. The other two heads kept an eye on the mirror dragon who had recovered his stand, ready to keep fighting.

Bon Bon tapped Grim. “The wheel won’t take both of your weights, we need to get down!” She ordered, pointing to the ground. She glanced over at Beppi who was still being rather dramatic about the whole thing. “I’ll deal with Beppi later,” she assured Grim.

Grim nodded, just happy to see the Baroness was safe. He withdrew himself from the wheel and  quickly descended towards the ground. The other heads approached Bon Bon.

“Oh thank God you’re ok!”

“It didn’t hurt you, did it?”

“You’re so strong!”

“Sorry it took me so long…”

– “You want me to what?” Amber stared at the children. “Harvey made him come out of the mirror with magic,” Hannah explained, “So we need to magic him back into the mirror!” Amber groaned. “Fine, fine. But I can’t take both of you. I can only take one.” Hannah was about to step forward but Harvey pushed her back. “I’m going, okay?” “Harvey!” “No buts.” Hannah pouted as Harvey approached Amber. “I’m ready.” Amber eyed Sullivan. “Gimme just a sec.” She strode over to the salamander and pulled him close to her. “Sully, I just wanna say you are the nicest possible serial killer I ever went out with.”

Before Sullivan could say anything, she pulled him into a passionate smooch hard enough to make Harvey shut his eyes before letting go of the amphibian. She pulled the clawed knife out of her pocket and sliced her skirt up to the thigh, allowing her more free movement of her legs. She gave a final wink to Sullivan before Harvey leapt onto her back and she proceeded to climb the ferris wheel. Goopy watched her go. “What did you say she was? An interior designer?” He asked, a bit gobsmacked.

Sullivan’s eyes widen and stood there like a statue with a silly smile for a few moments before her words clicked in. “Wait… did she called me a serial killer?”.

–

Mina and Spike dumped their haul on the ground and started putting it together, They had quickly amassed quite an arsenal: a couple of slingshots, some big firecrackers, some matches she had hidden within the folds her dress…definitely things that children shouldn’t be playing with. Which just made it all the more exciting.

“The princess is safe!” Mina exclaimed happily, “So all we gotta do is distract that bad dragon!”

Spike dumped the firecrackers at Mina’s and his feet. “Aw, I really wanna hit the clown,” he grumbled but notched up his slingshot with a lit firecracker.

Mina chuckled at Spike. “Resist the temptation” and threw firecrackers near the mirror dragon hoping to distract him.

– The cristal dragon hadn’t noticed Amber nor Harvey yet, but that didn’t mean anyone else was safe either. As soon as they realized that, the dragon reached down to paw at a couple in one of the carts to the side only to stop at the sound of some musical humming. It swiveled its head to see the clown humming to himself while applying lipstick. Beppi puckered his lips in his mirrored reflection of himself on the dragon. “If I’m going to play the damsel, I just HAVE to do things correctly, wouldn’t you agree?” He glanced down and squealed. “It seems my knight in shining armor is fast approaching too!” The dragon looked down to see Amber and Harvey closing in and growled. “Oops,” Beppi realized. The dragon reached down with its free hand to swat a struggling Amber when something detonated to the side of it. The dragon jerked up at the noise and looked around wildly only to hear something crackle to its other side. Spike and Mina continued to shoot the firecrackers as Amber and Harvey maintained their climb, successfully distracting the dragon. Spike whistled as Mina nearly landed a shot on its wing. “You’re pretty good at this,” Spike whistled, “maybe we can go toss crabapples at Mrs. White’s house next!” He laughed.

“Yeah, let’s put a pin on that!” Mina said to Spike, throwing another firecracker that nearly hit Beppi. She winced. “Oops, I gotta be careful!” – Amber’s eyes darted back and forth as she leapt side to side, quickly clamoring up the ride. “You got your magic wand ready?” She called as they got close. Harvey nodded and pulled out his churro. “Yeah.” “Is that a churro?!” Amber shrieked. “I couldn’t find the wand!” “Oh my God, we’re going to die…” the cat groaned quietly. “What?!” Harvey shrieked. “I mean, uh concentrate real hard, okay, Harvey? And maybe pray too just to be safe.” Harvey just hoped Goopy was watching Hannah. – Goopy had no idea where Hannah had gone. “Sullivan, did you see the little bunny? Sullivan?” He waved a mitt in front of the salamander’s face. Sullivan snapped out of it and looked at Goopy, a bit confused. “What? The kids? Amber?” He saw the dragon and the Baroness approaching “Oh! The Baroness is safe!” He paused, realizing the dragon only had one passenger. “What about Beppi?” Grim’s heads exhaled heavily toward the salamander, releasing some smoke, a warning that Sullivan quickly understood. Grim knew he shouldn’t leave Beppi but he was sore and tired and the last thing he wanted was for some lizard to tell him he had to go rescue him when he was the one who got them into this mess. He could only painfully flop on his belly and take joy in the fact that the Baroness stroked each of his heads. The sound of firecrackers got their attention and the adults saw Mina and Spike throwing firecrackers at the crystal dragon. “Well that’s a good idea!” Sullivan exclaimed, more than happy to get away from the sore dragon. He hurried towards Mina and Spike and joined them, throwing with much more accuracy at the crystal creature.

–

Beppi was starting to pout. “C'mon! Hurry up and save me already!” He whined to Amber and Harvey.

“I’ll give you something to save,” Amber growled under her breath as she neared the top. Now with more people throwing explosives, the dragon was certainly distracted…but so was Amber. A near crackle made her miss a particular beam and she really had to scramble to prevent her and Harvey from plummeting. Amber turned around as she reached the top. “Hey! Be careful down there, you almost hit us!” “Amber, watch out!” Harvey squeaked. The cat looked too late and had just enough time to push Harvey to the top before she was hit by the dragon. The cat landed with a thud on top of one of the suspended carts, dazed and not moving. The dragon advanced on the fallen cat now as Beppi started to boo the dragon. Harvey jumped in front of Amber, swallowed and held out the churro. “S-stay back! I’m warning you!” Harvey tried to bravely yell.

Beppi peered at the “wand.” “A churro? That’s a sweet way to beat a dragon!” He exclaimed.

The dragon edged closer, the firecrackers detonating harmlessly around it. Harvey planted his feet down and aimed the churro wand at the intimidating dragon. “It’s t-time to go back to your mirror!” The dragon roared and charged and Harvey yelled the magic words. A massive puff of brown and gold sparkles shot toward the charging dragon and hit it square in the chest. The dragon stopped and struggled to fly away, dropping Beppi next to Harvey in the process. It made it only about 30 feet in the air before the mirrored dragon shone a bright light and exploded into a fantastic display of colored sparks and smoke. The occupants on the ferris wheel were quiet for a moment before they burst out into deafening  applause. Harvey swore he could hear them remark on ‘one of the best fireworks displays ever,’ as he looked down at the churro in his paws. “I can’t believe that worked,” he breathlessly gasped. Beppi plopped himself next to Harvey with a manic grin. "Say! That was a lot of fun! How about you come back tomorrow night and explode more mirrors for me? The crowd will love it!” –

“I can’t believe that worked,” Spike gaped as he stood next to Mina, staring up at the night sky as the rainbow sparkles fell down like colorful snow.

Goopy whistled. “This has been one of the best nights I’ve spent at the carnival,” he admitted. He slapped Sullivan on the back. “Good job on those throws, old sport!” “A night like this must cost a fortune,” a gruff voice spoke up behind Goopy and Sullivan. The two turned to see Porkrind standing there, hoofs on his hips. He looked up and his eye narrowed, recognizing the thief as she started to stir.

Sullivan smiled at the view of his pall Porkrind but remembered why he was mad at him and decided to face him so he wouldn’t get to her.

Mina ran toward the ferris wheel and cupped her paws to yell up at her friend. “Harvey! You did it!” She gave him a thumbs up.

Harvey could hear Mina shouting at him and he looked down to see her giving him a thumbs up. He smiled widely at her. He looked toward Amber who was pushing herself back to her feet. “Amber, are you okay?” She groaned and stood up unsteadily. “Yeah, yeah, I’m okay…Just…uh,” She glanced down to see Sullivan…and Porkrind. She swore. “Hey, Harvey, you can get down from here, right?” “What? I don’t-I can’t-!” She smiled and waved. “Great! I’ll catch you later!” She waved once more at Sullivan before dashing across the ferris wheel, leaping onto another attraction and disappearing into the crowd.

Sullivan waved sadly at Amber and watched her run away. He sighed and put his hands on his pockets. “Next time I’ll take her for a simple walk on the park….”

Unfortunately, her fast departure had left poor Harvey and Beppi stranded up on top of the ferris wheel. Beppi walked her go before plucking the churro from the rabbit. “Thanks for the snack, kiddo. Sorry about your ride!” He sympathetically spoke, his mouth full of magical churro.

Harvey looked down and swallowed. “Aww man. I don’t want to climb down.” Beppi patted him on the back. “Here, hold my hand, I’ll get us down.” Harvey reluctantly held the clown’s hand and Beppi…removed his head and inflated it, string and all into a giant balloon. The rabbit just stared weirdly at him as they started to slowly float down. —

Bon Bon was oblivious to the sounds of applause and instead continued to soothe an exhausted Grim. She wasn’t sure how conscious the dragon really was but there was no way she was letting the poor guy try to sleep this off alone in his own tower. He needed to be watched and she was already calling in the arrangements to have the spare bedroom made up so he could rest easy, without some clown knocking on his door.

Grim shook his heads until there was only the main one left. He was really tired but he managed to stand up. He looked at BonBon. “I’m s-s-sorry it took me so long… you could have~"  The words died in his throat as he looked away.

Bon Bon shushed the dragon. "You were very brave, Grim, just rest. Is it alright if I have you stay at my place tonight? I just want to make sure you’re okay?” She quickly added, hoping no one overhearing her would get the wrong idea.’

The dragon smiled at the baroness. “I would love t-to sleep over… thanks” he said shyly turning slightly red. He was glad, after all they’ve been through he would be able to recover the stupid letter. For a moment he wondered how Cagney’s notreallyadate-date was going, only for his mind to go blank as the noble woman led him away, continuing to stroke his ears just the way he liked it.

–

Goopy, Spike and Mina met Harvey and Beppi on the ground. “That was great!” Goopy exclaimed, “A real group effort for sure!” Spike laughed and grabbed Mina and Harvey into a rough smacking hug. “You dorks are lame, but I had fun tonight. We should do this again. Especially the fire crackers!”

Harvey was just glad he wasn’t getting beaten up. He looked around. “Hey, wait, has anyone seen Hannah?” Mina hugged back, happy her plan had worked, although it really got out of hand. She looked around and found Hannah wandering towards them. “There she is!” She pointed “Hannah! Over here!”. “Hannah!” Harvey exclaimed happily as his sister bounded up to him. He swept her into a big hug. Hannah waved at Mina as she was smushed. “Thanks for saving my brother!” She exclaimed happily. He let go of her and she bounced up and down. “You were so cool!! Do you still have that churro?” Harvey shook his head. “No, I lost it too,” he admitted sadly, “Just like I dropped dad’s wand.” Spike gaped at him. “Aw man, I always wanted to eat a magic churro!” Hannah reached into her coat and pulled out the wand. “Don’t worry! I picked it up in the maze!” She reassured proudly, holding it aloft. Harvey broke into a relieved smile. “Really?! You’re the best, Hannah. You should probably give it to me for safety.” “Awww, okay,” Hannah pouted, handing over the wand to her brother. Harvey didn’t remember the wand being this hot before but he put it into his chest, just happy to get it back. Goopy gathered the kids together. “Alright, let’s get all of you monsters home. I’m sure your parents are going to have a lot of questions.”

Harvey didn’t even know how he was going to broach that topic with his parents. No doubt they were already really worried that they hadn’t heard anything from them yet…

—

Mrs. Hare sprawled out on the bed, blissfully exhausted next to her husband. “Whoof!” She exclaimed, “That was amazing, Hopus, amazing!” She pulled the rabbit against her and pressed butterfly kisses along his neck. Hopus hugged his wife. “Yes, sooo good,” he yawned happily. Mrs. Hare ran a paw along his chest. “You know, the kids won’t be home for another 30 minutes. If you want, we have time for one more. You could even wear the bow tie if you wanted.” Hopus chuckled. “Might not be able to handle the bow tie right now. Remember, last time we did it, that’s how we got Harvey.” Mrs. Hare blinked in confusion. “Harvey? That wasn’t Harvey.” “Really? Who was it then?” “It was…”

–

“Hannah!”  

The little rabbit blinked at her name and looked back as she waved goodbye to Sullivan. “Yeah?”

“Come on! I’ll give you a piggyback ride home!” Harvey offered, his ankle feeling a lot better. She jumped on her brother’s back with such a happy squeal that the kids couldn’t help but laugh as they began the trek home.

Hannah went to wrap her arms around her brother’s neck only to realize her fur had all been mussed up from their adventure. She brushed out her fur, pausing only once more to finishing straightening out the bright red bow on her head before burying her head into his back with a happy trill.

———–

As if on cue, something growled behind the locked door. The group exchanged concerned glances and started to walk through the room toward the hallway.

Mina couldn’t help but look at her surroundings as they walked. It seemed pretty eerie so far. Every piece of furniture and spooky decoration were covered in dust and spider webs. and a very soft greenish light gave the place a very disturbing feel to it. Maybe this mansion would save this scary contest afterall.

“Please keep all arms and legs to yourself or you might just lose them!” Beppi’s voice called after them. Bon Bon muttered a colorful swear under her breath that nearly made Grim blush.

As they reached the hallway, a poorly disguised fake ghost dropped from above, the sheet not even full covering the plastic dummy. Harvey still stifled a small squeak. Spike scoffed and pushed the ghost out of the way. “He’s gonna have to do better than that if he wants to scare us.”

Mina actually heard the mechanism of the ghost before it got deployed. She sighed, disappointed. “I guess we’ll have to find another challenge… maybe the last one to die from boredom wins?” She smiled at Spike, hoping he would smile back. Goopy had to agree. This might have worked when they were babies, but when even Hannah started giggling, it definitely seemed a little subpar per the clown.

“Hey! What do you know? same sheet!” Sullivan pointed out to Amber. “Aw, brings so many memories….”

The Baroness still seemed skeptical. “Beppi’s a moron, but he’s a clever moron. Be careful, Grim.”

Grim nodded at the Baroness. He drew closer to her, keeping an eye out behind them.

The group moved forward until they came to the beginning of the hallway. They started to walk down the hall only for Harvey and Mina to stop. “Do you hear that?” There was a new noise. Something clunking and banging loudly. The group looked around curiously “Did anyone hear that?” Harvey asked again. Goopy shrugged. “Maybe they’re locking the big door again?” The banging grew louder and now there was a deep guttural groaning to it. They started nervously glancing around. Even the Baroness was on edge. “I’m sure it’s just Beppi shaking a piece of metal outside the window or something.” Hannah turned around and pointed. “Look! Eyes!”

“Eyes? What are you dumb? What do you mean eyes?” Spike laughed, turning around. Levitating in front of them were a pair of large, red, menacing eyes. And teeth. Very sharp teeth.

Amber stared in disbelief. “What the he-?” The teeth opened and the loudest, deepest roar bellowed out, along with a very thick trail of smoke. The Baroness spotted the flicker of flame within the spectral mouth and her eyes widened. “Move, move, move!” She ordered, pushing the group forward through the hall.

Everybody obeyed immediately and started running.

“I don’t remember this part!” Sullivan yelled, holding Amber’s hand. The sight of the ferocious fangs awoke in Grim very vivid memories of his childhood in his homeland.  The other dragons were, most of the time, extremely violent, and he never had the courage to fight back.  He tried to convince himself this was just a ride and that Beppi wouldn’t hurt them… would he? Mina looked around frantically to try to find a door or passage to get out of the hall. “There! A door!” Mina pointed out and ran towards a large wooden door with scratches on it.

Harvey was the quickest and reached the door Mina pointed to. He tried to jiggle the handle but it wouldn’t budge. “It’s locked!” Goopy wound up an arm, “Here, I’ll punch it down!” The Baroness caught his arm. “No! It’ll just keep chasing us!” She argued, “We need to find a key or something.” Amber’s mind raced. She could jimmy open that door in a second but doing so would probably lead to a lot more questions and could just blow her cover. But that weird mechanical monster was getting real close. She glanced toward Sullivan and saw he looked absolutely spooked.  She sighed. She didn’t want the salamander to be squashed. “Move,” she commanded and grabbed the handle. She inserted a claw in and very quickly lock-picked the door. It swung open with a creak. “Door’s open! Let’s go!” The group dashed in and the cat turned and locked the door behind them, just in time to see the fire really shoot out from the ghostly mouth. It was pitch black in the room and everyone panted with exertion. “That was really scary,” Hannah squeaked. She looked around in the darkness and squinted her eyes. “Harvey? Where are you?” Harvey felt around until he found his sister and grabbed her paw. Only to realize he had grabbed Amber’s paw. He reached around and found Hannah this time. He looked hopefully in the direction of the salamander. “I thought you said they were bed sheets?” Spike wasn’t laughing anymore. This was no longer funny. “Bed sheets my butt. Is that clown tryin’ to kill us or something?” He asked, trying to keep the shaking out of his voice. The Baroness cleared her throat. “It seems Beppi has upped his game a bit. Can anyone see anything?”

“I-I can see a bit,” Mina shyly admitted. Her feline eyes allowed her to see some shapes, but nothing really precise. She tried to use the echolocation but she wasn’t very good at it. She managed to find Harvey and hold on to him to be safe. “I c-c-can make a bit of fire.” Grim offered “Won’t last long b-but will help us see a little.” He took a deep breath and bleu very softly to make a small flame come out of his mouth he managed to keep the flame for a minute, enough time for the group to have a glimpse of their surroundings.

They all gasped at what looked like disfigured animal heads all over the walls of the room. Mina understood now what were the big shapes she was able to see in the darkness. “We’re in a trophy room!”

Amber had been stewing in silent relief when no one immediately noticed how quickly she jimmied the lock. She looked around, able to see her surroundings a bit better than most due to being a cat but she was glad when the dragon offered to light the way. She was not, however, glad to see the animal heads and clung to Sullivan instinctively, accidentally digging her claws into him.

Sullivan let out a startled shriek in his throat at the pain of Amber’s claws on his skin. “P-please, tell me that’s you, Amber…” he asked scared not daring to move.

“Sorry,” she apologized, loosening her grip.

Grim turned his head toward the center of the room and gave a frightened squeaked as his light illuminated something large and hairy in the middle room. He shut his claws over his mouth, accidentally snuffing out the flame.

Everyone was quiet again. “Was that a bear?!” Harvey finally asked.

“I’m g-g-gonna light up again. T-try to find a way out.” Everybody answered with a soft ok and the dragon took another deep breath before releasing the small fire.

Sure enough, it was a bear in front of them, posed on its hind legs. Hannah looked up at the bear. “I don’t think he needs a quilt,” she decided, keeping her distance.

Spike scoffed and shook his head. “It’s just a big teddy bear. I bet the rest of the stuff in here are fake too.”

“Spike’s right!” Mina said with renewed confidence, looking around. “If you think of it, these ARE just plushies!” She hoped her little commentary might help keep people calm. She looked closer at the animal heads only to see how disfigured and twisted the heads really were. She bit her lip. “Just, really scary looking plushies.”

Grim didn’t feel very calmed. He looked away from the animal heads, and illuminated the bear again. He blinked in confusion. If he didn’t know any better, it almost looked its head was moving. But that was impossible- 

The bear’s eyes shot open, revealing blood injected eyes. Before the group could react, the creature dislocated his jaw with a fierce throaty growl and charged them, waving its large bear paws. Everyone screamed but before the bear-like creature could reach them, the floor underneath them opened, sending the group falling down a large hole.

The bear stopped growling and looked down the hole. It let out a low whistle and pulled its head off, revealing Beppi. “Huh, maybe I should have made the drop a little bit shorter,” he considered. He shrugged. “Oh well. Learn from our mistakes.” He pulled a lever to the side of him and the trapdoor closed. “Time for the final part.”

….

Grim tried to flap his wings as the guests all plummeted down. However, the hole was too narrow, and his claws kept slipping from the walls, creating some sparks in the darkness. He hoped he wouldn’t crash anybody in his landing. Sullivan held on tightly on Amber and tried to position himself under her so he would hit the floor before her.

Amber grabbed Sullivan tightly and flipped the desperate salamander so she held him on the side. She dug her nails into the wall, slowing their descent long enough to finally allow them to drop, landing on all four of her paws, Sullivan now holding onto her waist.

The Baroness managed to slow her fall somewhat by digging her cane into the wall but even then she could only hold out for so long before she fell down to the ground, hoping something might break her fall.

Harvey grabbed his little sister and tucked her into his arms. He nearly hit the ground but Goopy managed to catch the little rabbits, cushioning their fall with his elastic body. Still the impact led to Harvey crying out in pain, most likely spraining his ankle in the process.

Goopy managed to cushion Spike as well who leaped out of his arms and hit the ground with a tuck and a roll. It didn’t hurt that much. He had worse. Still it definitely rocked him a bit and it took him a few more seconds to recover. He looked over at Harvey. “Hey, you okay, bunny?” He called.

During his fall, Grim saw the shape of BonBon trying to slow her fall with her candy cane without much result. He couldn’t let her get hurt! The dragon maneuvered to grab her with his long tail and helped her get on to his back just in time for impact.

Mina flapped her wings but she was too scared to really control what she was doing, and she only managed to reduce her falling speed. Thankfully, Goopy managed to catch the slower falling Mina and place her down on the ground. She turned to say thanks but looked up to see Grim fast approaching.

“Dragon!!!” Mina shouted to warn everyone to move. The rest of the group leapt out of the way just in time. With a heavy thud, Grim landed painfully on all fours. He winced. He didn’t break or twist anything but the impact still hurt him. The Baroness clung to his neck. “Everyone ok?  Bon Bon?” The dragon worriedly asked. “I’m ok!” Mina answered quickly, followed by Sullivan who was still surprised by Amber’s quick reaction. He had a lot to ask her if get out of here alive.

The Baroness slid off of Grim. “I’m going to kill that inflatable idiot!” She snapped angrily. Goopy smirked. “Guess Bon Bon’s okay. How about you little monsters?” He asked. Harvey and Hannah nodded in the dimness. “Harvey hurt his ankle,” Hannah spoke up. Le Grande quickly squatted down and looked at the bunny’s feet. “I think I wanna go home now,” Harvey gulped as Goopy checked out his foot. “This is nothing,” Spike scoffed, “I have way scarier things to worry about than a bear and a hole!” The room lit up with a flicker and everyone looked around only to blink in surprise. They were in a maze of mirrors. Long, short, straight and warped mirrors of all different types branched out endlessly. Even Grim couldn’t see above them. The Baroness looked at her distorted image in the reflection of one of them and coughed. “This is just getting ridiculous.” She cupped her hands together and called out to the ceiling. “Alright, Beppi, this is officially the stupidest trick you ever pulled!” She yelled. There was a loud giggle that echoed through the room. “Awww, that’s awfully SWEET of you to say, Bon Bon!” Beppi’s voice broke out. “Are you not having fun? I was hoping you wouldn’t reach this room just yet but I didn’t count on one of you being able to lockpick!” He admitted with a laugh. Amber kept her head down as the Baroness responded. “Fun?! You’re a lunatic!” Spike growled. “Just let us go, you dumb balloon!” “Such harsh language! And here I thought you were all having a little competition to see who gets scared last!” Beppi chastised. The Baroness pulled out her cane and cocked it. “Enough games or I start blasting mirrors.” “That’s 7 years bad luck-” the Baroness shot a small mirror, cracking it. She aimed at another one. “Hey! Those weren’t cheap, you know! Had to get them special ordered from Djimmi!” He argued.

“Good. Then I know who to go after next when we’re done here,” the Baroness declared, aiming at another mirror.

“Wait! Wait! Fine! You convinced me!” Beppi called out. There was some silence before he spoke up again. “Okay, I’ll let you out.” “Finally,” Amber muttered. “However! You’ll need to get through my mirrors first!” Beppi continued. The room lit up a bit more revealing three paths. “The last one to scream, wins. But if you all scream, then I win!” Beppi declared, “Tick, tock though! If you take too long, the park will close and you will have to spend the night here, so goooooddddd luck!” His laughter faded away, leaving the group alone again. Harvey’s ears drooped. “I don’t wanna spend the night here. Mom would get pissed. And she might be scarier than the clown.” Goopy patted him. “We’ll all stay together, not to worry.” The Baroness shook her head. “We can’t afford to do that. Beppi’s right, if we can’t find out our way before the park closes, there’s going to be a lot of broken glass to clean next morning.” Amber huffed. “Ya mean, you want us to split up?” “Yes, unfortunately, there’s no other way.” Bon Bon pointed to the paths. “Grim and I will go down this one, Amber and Sullivan will go down the middle one, and Goopy and the children will go down the last one. Does this work for everyone?”

Everyone agreed with the Baroness and started walking their respective paths. –

(Elsewhere on the first isle)

The fresh wind on her face helped Hilda to relax and clear her mind from all that just happened. She hoped the owner of the bar wouldn’t come knocking at her door tomorrow asking for money. She already had a big expense coming up with the glass dome. She focused on Cagney’s presence behind her. Even though there was enough space in the cloud for both of them to sit comfortably, he always pressed right into her and held her tightly, scared of falling. Lost in her thoughts, she almost passed the observatory having to do a last minute maneuver to turn her cloud and descend. The flower groaned uncomfortably at the quick u turn. “Sorry ‘bout that!” She apologized once they reached the ground in front of her door. “And sorry about this!” Without any other warning, she made the cloud disappear, sending Cagney falling to the ground with a thud.

Cagney hit the ground with a swear and a name call. “You awful sky witch,” he groaned, climbing to his feet.

She chuckled while looking for her keys.

“You’re lucky you didn’t tear my shirt, you…you!” The jingle of keys clued him into the fact that they were at Hilda’s observatory and he stopped thinking of other insults he could call her. Holy shit. He had made it to her home. And it sounded like he might be spending the night. How did this even work? And, more importantly, what were they going to do next he wondered, eyeing her figure somewhat lasciviously from behind as she struggled with the door.

She opened the door wide open and headed to the bathroom. “Sit down,” she ordered, pointing at the couch in the living room.

He was a bit caught off by the order, but did as the woman asked. Soon he was sitting on the couch, twiddling his thumbs, and still very drunk.

A couple of minutes later, she came back with a bottle of rubbing alcohol, some cloth and bandages. She stood in front of the flower. “Let’s see the damage,” she said, giving the bottle a little shake. She smiled, knowing this was going to sting him.

Cagney did not like the way that she was smiling at him, especially when he spotted that bottle. “Ah, come on Hilda, it’s not that bad,” he tried to protest, scooting away from her on the couch. “I’ll be fine. See?” He tried to demonstrate his point by rubbing the spot, only to pull his hand away with some sap on it. “Oh…” Maybe he wasn’t as okay as he thought.

“Yeaah…” She gently pulled a petal to make him lower his head and poured some of the disinfectant over the cloth. “I can’t believe he hit you with a bottle… fucking Carl…” She gave him a funny look. “And I can’t believe you didn’t bury him alive.”

That would be just what he needed. Yet another reason for people to call him the Monstrous Carnation. Instead, he cleared his throat and just mumbled, “too many witnesses.” He winced, already expecting the pain of the alcohol any second now.

Hilda smiled and softly cleaned the wound with the cloth. It had a few cuts, not very deep thankfully. She noticed a couple of shards and whistled. “Damn! He hit you pretty hard! You got shards and everything!” She drew closer to better reach the shards and plucked them out carefully. “There!” she left them on the coffee table in front of them and gently kept rubbing the cloth on the wound.

“Thanks, Hilds.” The cloth stung against the wound, but Cagney didn’t mind it as much. He liked having Hilda this close to him, even if it did hurt like hell. He resisted the urge to wrap a hand around her waist. Hilda couldn’t help but admit that she was finding it hard to concentrate. She was pretty tipsy and being so close to the warm carnation didn’t help either.

She was exasperated by the cliché of their situation: the maiden healing the knight’s wound; the nurse and the fallen soldier… the sky witch and the delicate flower… Oh! She did like that. She grinned devilishly as much more graphic situations started to picture in her mind, turning her cheeks redder.

After a minute or so of silence, Cagney finally realized that technically, she was also part of the bar brawl that they had, even though she had been transformed at the time. “What about you? Did you get hit anywhere?”

Cagney’s voice brought her back abruptly.

“What? Hit?” She took a moment to process what he asked. “I don’t think so.” She inspected her arms for splinters. Except for the thorn on her chest, she couldn’t see anything. She turned her back to him. “You see anything?”

Cagney checked her briefly, brushing his leaves over her skin carefully before scoffing. There were a few shallow marks. “How the hell did you get out without so much as a scratch?” He might be drunk but he thought he had seen her injured. “I could have sworn I saw you holding your ribs or something,” he wondered, “turn around.”  

Hilda turned to face him and she irritably crossed her arms. “Yeah, but that’s YOUR fault, actually. Your last ‘hug’ left me with big, colorful bruises!” She waved her hands to indicate the surface of the bruises on her chest. “ And a tiny, little, VERY ANNOYING and PAINFUL thorn in a rather SENSITIVE spot.” This time she pointed at her wounded breast. “So, yeah, want to say anything else, Cags?”

Cagney blanched slightly. She had mentioned something about that at the beginning of their “date.” And he knew from having plucked most of them out that he indeed put some rather nasty ones in her. He could only imagine how irritating it was to have one still in her. “Uh, I can take it out if you want? Where is it exactly? On your shoulder or something?” He offered, gesturing to her shoulder. Shoulders were sensitive right?

“My boob, Cagney. Right on my nipple!” She put her hands on her hips looking at him in defiance. An evil thought came to her mind, probably instigated by Scorpio. There was no way he’d actually try pull out that thorn, but she could have so much fun daring him to do so! She smirked. “Do you still want to get it for me?” She said in a much more seductive tone.

He turned completely red in the face at her question. He nailed her in the breast?! Crap, no wonder she was pissed. Well, other than besides the destroyed dome…and the ruined birthday party…and the near attempt on her life…okay maybe there were a couple of reasons she would be pissed. But this was one he could theoretically fix. Theoretically. He wasn’t sure if she was serious or not. “Yeah, I probably can…do you want me to try?” He readied himself, fairly certain he was going to get slapped for the question.

Oh! There it was! Red really did suit him well. ‘Lets see how far he can go’ , the sky witch thought, grinning at the flower.

“If you dare!”  She was certain he was bluffing. She let her arms drop and rest on her hips, appearing confidently cool despite the fact that she was actually kind of impatient for his next move.

Cagney had dreams where he was touching Hilda, running his leaves along her body in a meadow and just enjoying the feeling of skin against stem…He never had a dream start like this. He pinched himself just to be sure but when he didn’t wake up in his field, realized that this was really happening. Unless…unless Hilda was messing with him. He grinned. There was no way she’d let him ACTUALLY touch her. He crossed his arms, a lot more drunkenly confident now about this situation. “Heh, alright, well, take off your dress then,” he chuckled, “Can’t get a thorn out if I can’t see it.” The room really needed to stop spinning.

Seeing him confident all of the sudden almost made her doubt herself, but years of growing up with him made her realized he was on to her, and they just started another one of their daring games. She was pretty good at those. Cagney would always break at some point and she got to bug him about it for ever after….Although, her last dare backfired and ended with him enjoying a pretty good dance with Isabella. Still, she was confident she would make him crack the second he’d have to touch her. She grabbed the zipper from the side of her dress and slowly unzipped it down to her hips. She slid one arm out of the dress, then the other one, very slowly and sensually, caressing her skin and releasing soft moans whenever it felt appropriate. Her bruised chest was only covered now by her lovely reddish bra, and her hips remained hidden by the dress. She wasn’t going to strip it all off for him. That would be too much…wouldn’t it? Even after he kissed her? Yeah, it probably would. The witch felt like it was getting really hot in her living room and her body was starting to really warm up, coloring her rosy cheeks. She pointed at her bra. “I’m not gonna make this easy for you,” she spoke, indicating that she was not going to completely disrobe. At least, not on her own.

Cagney stared at the sight of Hilda incredulously. “Holy crap, I just thought you were going to just pull the dress out a bit!” Cagney exclaimed, definitely staring at her now half naked body.

Hilda blushed, embarrassed, realizing he had a point. She could have just pulled down her dress a bit and it would have had the same effect on him. But she was a stubborn woman, so she acted as if this was exactly what she wanted to do. “So you won’t take out the thorn then?” She smirked, slowly pulling her dress back on.

“Eh, I didn’t say that!” Cagney quickly spoke up, his leaf reaching out to stop her from further pulling her dress back on. He realized he had nearly yanked her dress down even further and let go. He turned her around to see the clasp on the bra, glad to not have her see how stunned he still was. He fiddled with it for a bit, growing progressively irritated with each unsuccessful attempt.

She resisted the urge to grumpily snap at the clumsy way he was handling her. He couldn’t take off a bra? Seriously? “How much do you like this bra?” He finally asked, his arm quietly sprouting small thorns.

“Ha! Yeah! Go ahead! Tear it off, I’ll just include it on you tab,” she sarcastically answered, waving a hand over her shoulder.

Cagney brightened. “Great!” He sliced it off in one motion before he realized she was being sarcastic. He froze. “Wait, were you being serious or not about that?”

She held her ripped bra on, crossing her arms over her chest. She look  at Cagney in angry bewilderment. “I was being sarcastic!”

“Oh….uh, sorry about that,” Cagney apologized, trying to avoid Hilda’s glare. Her back was awfully slim, he noted. It was rather pretty but he was definitely interested in what she had in the front.

She frowned. “It was brand new too! I just bought it for our dat~ outing…meeting.” She cleared her throat and continued to shoot him a dirty look. This was becoming a slippery slope and Cagney gestured to her, hoping she’d stop looking at him like that. “So, thorn?” He managed, his voice nearly cracking. “How do you want to do this? Are you going to turn around or do you want me to do it from behind?”

Hilda kept holding her bra with her arms. This was starting to get weird. But she really wanted that thorn out. She thought about what he just said, confused. “From behind? And how exactly are you gonna see the thorn, you pea brain?” She tried to recover her usual witty tone, hoping to relax the tension that was building up between them.

She was really not backing down at all. Cagney threw his hands in the air. “Well then I guess you need to just turn around already, air head!” He finally snapped, spinning the woman to face him. She looked somewhat surprised by the action and he tried to keep cool even though she felt very warm to his leaves. He swallowed and looked away, trying not to stare at Hilda’s bare covering. “So, uh which one?”

Facing him made her blush even more and she tightened her arms over her chest. She pressed a little too hard on the wounded breast, making her wince. She sighed. “Ok. It’s the right one,” she started explaining, looking down at her still covered breasts, “the thorn is stuck right on the nipple. It’s a bit hard to see but you’ll be able to…” she cleared her throat again “feel it.” She stood there, not daring to uncover herself, looking as red as a tomato. This wasn’t right, HE was supposed to be the one getting all embarrassed, not her. This was the first time he would see her fully grown body, well, half body. And it was all bruised and wounded. Ugh! What an awful sight it’d be. Her confidence started to turn into doubt and fear. Would this ruin their friendship? Granted, he did kiss her, but seeing her like this now could scare him away.

Cagney had grown up with Hilda. He had seen her in bathing suits and some dresses. He was freaking out internally for nothing. At least that’s what he told himself. He finally turned his head back to her and his thorns sprouted out in surprise. Bathing suits be damned, even in her flustered state, she was very, very attractive and he could feel his chest beat wildly. He opened his mouth to say something, only managing a “You look…” only to realize what he had just done to his own clothes. “Oh shit, shit! These aren’t my clothes!” He exclaimed, retracting his thorns and pulling off the shirt. But the damage had been done. The shirt was covered in lots of holes now. So were the pants. He tried to pull the pants off too but was not too successful. Instead, he fell off the couch and landed on his back. “Help,” he whined, “I’m stuck in the dumb pants.”

He tried unsuccessfully to pull at least the shirt off the rest of the way but that just led to getting his long arms stuck in the sleeves. And with no access to the dirt, there was no way to shrink himself out of this. He had successfully managed to pin back his own arms. A toddler was more adept at dressing than he was.

“Oh my gosh, Cagney!” Hilda couldn’t hold back her laughter.

He glared up at Hilda. “Don’t you dare laugh!” He tried to regain some of that confidence but it was hard to do that when he was feeling like some tied up turtle.

“Hold on a sec,” Hilda giggled turning her back on him and let the bra slide off her as it was now useless. She pulled back her dress without zipping it, just to stay covered before turning back to help her dumb friend. She reached down to his pants. “Stop wiggling, you giant baby! You just gonna make the holes bigger.” Cagney didn’t listen and after hearing another tear, she rolled her eyes. She sat on his lap to prevent him from moving and gently started to remove his belt. “I can’t believe you can buckle a belt but you can’t unhook a bra,” she snorted.

Cagney was forced to stop moving when Hilda actually sat on him. That wasn’t too out of the ordinary - sometimes they could really go at it when they were sparring and once Tauros had managed to physically pin him for nearly an hour. The thought of her turning into Tauros if he actually did stab her again did get him to withdraw his thorns but not his sass.

“Yeah, get all the laughs now because you’re not going to get another chance when I’m up…” He warned her with a smirk as she started unbuckling his belt. He didn’t realize he had to unbuckle his belt to get these pants off and was rather relieved when she started to do it for him, unaware of how red she was looking.

She realized the position she was in: Sitting on him, him blushing under her, her hands so close to his privates (or at least she thought that’s where they were). In her altered state, she couldn’t help but find this was very arousing. Her lingering doubts were disappearing as the thoughts she had earlier at the shower snuck up on her. She looked at him but this time with more confidence. She still felt heated but now it radiated from her thighs and not her face. “To bad for the clothes. They really look good on you,” she mused. She took her time with the belt, every now and then letting her hand “accidentally” brush against his pants covered stem. She was very much enjoying this delightfully empowering position.

Cagney rolled his eyes and went to make another comment about how dumb clothes really were when he realized Hilda looked a lot more of herself. He couldn’t figure it out…. …Until he felt her soft hands brush against his lower stem and he suppressed a squeak as that sent shivers through his entire body. Dammit, she looked so hot like this, just how nonchalantly she was removing his clothes, her fingers accidentally rubbing through the fabric of his wrecked pants, lasting a little bit longer with each accidental stroke. It was accidental, right? She said she wanted to return to being friends. And she hadn’t expressed any desire to do anything physical with him. But the mischievous looks she kept shooting his way as she continued stroking this very sensitive spot made him squirm underneath her. "Ye-yeah. Had to get them fitted first. They were originally Grim’s. I guess they don’t make clothes for plants that much!” He tried to also nonchalantly answer, even as he felt his stem press into her touches. He didn’t know if it was a good or a bad thing his hands weren’t free otherwise who knows what trouble he’d really get into.

She smirked at the shivering flower and finished unbuttoning his pants. “Looks like you’re trapped in that shirt, huh?” She observed, not paying attention to what he said about the clothes.

She slowly slid up his body, sitting right on the sensitive spot of the carnation. She rubbed her crotch softly against his. “I wonder just how you’re gonna get that thorn out now,” she spoke lowly. She ran a finger over her wounded breast, hoping to make him shiver and maybe, even try to kiss her again. In this position, she didn’t feel nearly as shy as before. She felt she had things under control and that reassured her. Also, alcohol seemed to be catching up so that help with her prior inhibitions.

Cagney’s eyes went as wide as dinner plates as she now definitely NOT accidentally rubbed herself against him. Holy cow, holy cow. It was taking everything he had to keep it together and not let his, uh, intimate part slide out. He tried to think of something clever to say only for his words to die in his throat as she ran her fingers along her now covered breasts. He barely registered her question. “Thorn?” He echoed before remembering there was a thorn and that’s why she had taken off her dress and why he even tried to remove his own clothes. He struggled with his hands but damn, that fabric, although torn, was still fairly sturdy. There was no way he was going to be able to remove that thorn like this. Well, technically he had one hand free. But that was a tongue and the thought of running his tongue along her breast nearly drove him over the edge. Wait, didn’t Hilda say at the bar that she wanted to return to being friends? He definitely remembered that line and took that chance to kiss her, knowing that was probably his last opportunity to do so if they were indeed to return to a platonic relationship. He must still be reading the situation wrong, but he was very quickly understanding that might not be the case. No, he needed to get everything together mentally and ask what was going on and then maybe he could, could… His erection finally slipped out and pressed back against Hilda and he died inside at the horror of it.

The woman released a surprised moan at the pressure between her legs. She looked down to find the big phallic silhouette marked against the fabric of his pants.  She bit her lip and looked at Cagney with predatory eyes. “Didn’t you put enough thorns inside me already, Cags?” That was definitely the alcohol talking… or Scorpio. Either way, she chuckled and rubbed herself harder against him, softly caressing his chest to let him know she wanted this.   “So…You want to do another thing before going back to friends?”

———–