⋆˚𝜗 𝙰𝚜𝚒!𝜚˚⋆

Within a few seconds, Mugman was already at his side, having already placed his own serving tray on a nearby (still standing) table, concern written across his face as he reached out to his brother. After taking a quick look over Cuphead, Mugman pulled his hands away from his face.

The right side of Cuphead’s face had a huge series of cracks, blood seeping and soaking into his already-wet uniform. A huge crack crossed over his right eye, blackening it out.

King Dice suddenly felt a chill wash over him. He felt frozen on the spot, unaware of how he was to respond. That wasn’t right, he thought. King Dice was always level headed and professional, he’s experienced hundreds of situations like this before, but now, his process of thought was completely disoriented. Why? Because an employee got hurt? Specifically an employee who only ever served to be a nuisance and a pain?

A flurry of movement broke him out of his thoughts as Pirouletta and Chips rushed to the brothers’ side and Chips placed a hand towel onto Cuphead’s injury. Cuphead grabbed it and held it tightly to his face, the blood already staining the once-white hand towel. Allowing Cuphead to grab onto him like a crutch, Chips led him away to the ‘employees only’ break room, Mugman walking along his brother’s side offering support and holding a hand to the hand towel as well, just in case. Pirouletta shortly stayed behind to instruct some Imps to clean up the mess (the blood) and bring medical supplies to the break room before she swiftly made her way to the break room herself.

Summer brought a fleeting happiness: Mugman passed his first year of medical school, and Cuphead continued a sweet relationship with Vanille, finding quite a bit of success with the piano at the casino. However, King Dice, consumed by envy and taking advantage of the Devil’s absence from business (or who knows why), demoted him to scrubbing and warehouse work to humiliate him in the shadows, making up an excuse for the public, enjoying his back on stage.

One day, Dice begins to make possessive advances toward Cuphead, which leads to a heated argument. The violence escalates until, in an obsessive outburst, Dice strikes Cuphead and breaks one of his eyes, causing a vision problem. Mugman no longer knows what to do. He treats Cuphead, but the brothers’ relationship is pushed to the limit because Cuphead refuses to tell him the truth, and Mugman, scared, needs confirmation of his suspicions.

Everything comes to a head one day when a police raid at the casino forces him to face reality. In the holding cell, after a harsh argument, Cuphead’s traumas and his secret job come to light, along with Mugman’s lie -he had spent most of his savings on his studies, leaving Cuphead trapped in his job-. Neither of them can even look at each other, caught between anger and disappointment.

When he finally returns home, shattered, Cuphead discovers that Elder Kettle has died without him being able to say goodbye. The brothers reconcile through their grief, burying their grandfather in the garden and reading his final letters. They soon realize they are not safe, as Dice’s henchmen are searching for Cuphead to kill him.

In the following days, Elder Kettle experiences a strange improvement that allows Cuphead to go to work without worry, only for him to suffer one final and dark act of abuse in Dice’s office. It ends with Cuphead biting a certain… part of Dice to escape, his mouth covered in blood as he leaves him behind. (Of course, that part wasn’t going to be shown explicitly.)

Quick note: I was considering whether to use this part in the future. It’s something I would decide on eventually. I know it’s intense, but I wanted to reach a point in the story where everything felt dark, sinister, and extremely tense. I wanted to see how far I could twist the situation and push Dice’s villainy to the extreme because… I simply love a story with some good misery.

Vanille, aware that the henchmen would come for them, decides to risk her life to hide them and join their escape, as she is unhappy with her life at home. The AU concluded with the three of them transformed into criminal fugitives, fleeing by car and stealing weapons and other things to survive in a Bonnie & Clyde style, escaping from a King Dice determined to kill them, while trying to leave behind the ruins of their old lives. And deep down, they begin to enjoy that life as outcast criminals.

Perhaps it’s an unrelenting tragedy, and that’s something I planned to improve as the AU developed, but this is what TLJ was truly going to be. It’s a shame, because the good part was getting closer and closer…

I’ll answer any questions you might have. Thank you :)