#au world

Cuphead wasn’t sure what he was expecting when the Devil was defeated. Granted, he wasn’t sure if he and his brother would even be able to defeat the Lord of Sin. But they did. From the borrowed power that Elder Kettle gave them, the Cup Brothers were able to bring the Devil down. The physical being of evil let out a shriek of pain as Mugman landed the final blow. 

 But instead of falling as Cuphead expected, the Devil seemed to convulse in agony. The young cup quickly pulled Mugman behind him as the Devil’s skin started to crack. Instead of the white light they saw before, putrid looking gas, thick and a sickly green, started to pour from said openings. The Devil finally stopped moving after a few seconds, finally collapsing to the ground when he seemed fully emptied. The escaped gas twitching and spazzing as it hung in the air. The brother’s eyes darted between the fallen form and the new blockade. Unsure what was happening or what was coming next.  

 “C-Cuphead?” Mugman whispered, clearly fearful of what they’d just witnessed. 

 “I know, I see it too.” Unsure of what to do and still running on adrenaline, Cuphead took aim and fired at the violently twitching gas. 

 That, apparently, was the wrong thing to do. The gas actually let out a shriek (with what mouth?) of rage before launching itself at the brothers. 

 Unprepared for this, the brothers were unable to think of a way out. Weren’t even able to move before they were consumed. Fully enveloped in the gas, Cuphead was unable to see, breath, or even move. Feeling as if his entire body was on fire as something seemed to claw at him. Attempting to dig its way into his very soul.

 Only for his soul to fight back. 

 In a blinding flash of light, whatever had been attacking him had become fearful and fled. Out of the hole that the brothers had previously used to descend further into Hell to confront the Devil. The aftermath of the sudden attack left Cuphead feeling the weakest he’d ever felt before. Unable to stop himself from collapsing. Hearing a painful cry as no doubt Mugman followed close behind. 

 Cuphead held a brief thought of ‘What was that?’ before consciousness left him. 

 When he woke, Cuphead was unsure how much time had passed. It was painful to move. A deep ache throbbing through him, even his soul was sore. The young cup let out grunts and groans as he slowly sat up. Covered with gashes and deep bruises, a deep pain in his chest making it difficult to breathe. As he ran his hands carefully over himself to find any further damage he couldn’t see, Cuphead blanched upon finding his handle gone. Breathing became erratic as he frantically looked around for the broken piece. But it was gone. Either completely crumbled away or hidden away among the rubble.  

 Cuphead’s panic for himself fell away hearing Mugman let out a small moan. Turning to face his brother who was slowly sitting up. “M-Mugman? Mugsy, are you okay?”

 He quickly scrambled (or as quickly as his sore body could move) over to his brother’s side when he didn’t get a reply.

 Mugman looked as terrible as Cuphead felt. Just as his brother, Mugman was covered in deep cuts and bruises. The mug wincing as he attempted to put weight on his right hand. However, the largest shock came when the mug faced Cuphead. A crack, starting right below Mugman’s right eye, made its way up and feathered out as it reached the lip of the rim. Some pieces clearly missing. 

 “C-Cuphead?” Mugman voiced weakly, “I…I can’t see… I-I can’t open my eye.”

 “It’s okay Mugsy, i-it’s gonna be okay.”

 “Why can’t I see?!”

 Cuphead’s panic grew as Mugman’s jerky movements caused some smaller pieces to fall away. “C-Calm down Mugman! It’s okay, y-you’re okay…”

 The cup held the mug as he had a meltdown. Unsure of how to calm down someone who was now missing an eye. 

 It took awhile to calm Mugman down enough to try and collect as many pieces they could find before gluing them back. Cuphead was thankful that they had a giant tube of it in their bag. But even with as meticulous as the cup was being, Mugman couldn’t fully recover. Not all of the pieces were located since all of it looked so similar among the destruction. Which caused another wave of weak sobs bubbling up. 

 Cuphead was frustrated. 

 Mugman was broken. 

 It was unclear how long they sat there, but they eventually decided it was time to finally start moving. It was slow going. Both extremely sore while Mugman was also trying to not have the freshly glued pieces suddenly fall back out. As they reached the top, they found the Devil’s office appearing to be dead. No fire, no demons, no signs of any movement. Cuphead found it strange how damaged it all appeared to be. He would have thought the place had been abandoned for years to have it at this state of decay.

 How long were they out?

 Another punch to the gut arrived when the brothers left the Casino area. The city was in absolute ruin. If Cuphead had to guess, he would say a bomb had gone off over the place. Except he doubted it could ever reach this much destruction to such a wide area. Buildings were in ruin, there were no signs of movement. No life anywhere. No people, no plants, nothing. All of the color seemed to be wiped away. Leaving shades of gray and brown with a sky painted a blood red. 

 Cuphead felt Mugman gripped his arm, shaking weakly. “What…happened?”

 He really wished he could answer. 

 “Come on, we need to get home. Elder Kettle will know what to do.” Cuphead wasn’t sure how he could sound so confident. 

 But he now had a silently sobbing younger brother, who was desperately clinging to him as they walked through a destroyed city. While he was also feeling like he was drowning in dread, Cuphead needed to be strong for Mugman. Keeping his head high and reaching over to grip one of Mugman’s hand. He kept his face straight as they headed back.

 Back home. Back through the path they’d only recently taken to fight for their souls. 

 Their first meeting with others did not go so well. A small group of rather random people, huddled around a small fire. A look of deranged desperation to remain alive on this dying dirt in their eye. The brothers had barely given a greeting when the group attacked them. Brandishing anything and everything they could grab as they rushed the brothers down.

 Which brought upon another sickening realization as, when Cuphead went to take aim, he found his power gone. The familiar build up of power never happened. 

 They were just kids again.

 They immediately turned and fled. Desperately trying to lose their attacker and to find a place to hide. Losing their pursuers among the rubble of multiple buildings, ducking down to make themselves as small as possible. Hearts hammering at the footsteps thankfully passed by. As soon as they knew they were alone and ‘safe’, Mugman broke down again. Cuphead instantly rushed over to collect the pieces. Literally and figuratively. 

 “Hey, hey Mugsy, it’s okay.” Cuphead whispered desperately. Wiping away the single trail of tears while digging through the bag to locate the glue. “It’s okay, we’re gonna be okay.”

 “I wanna go home!” Mugman wailed, “I want Elder Kettle! Why did they attack us? I hate this!”

 “I-I know, I know. I don’t know why they attacked us. I-I just… We’ll be home soon enough and Elder Kettle will tell us what’s going on. But we need to keep it together until we get home, okay?”

 “...O-Okay.”

 Cuphead gave a weak smile. “Just keep being brave, Mugsy. It’ll all work out in the end.” 

 He wished he could believe his own words. 

 It took over a week for them to finally make it back to Inkwell Isle One. The damage they saw in the city seemed to have spread beyond Isle Three, but didn’t seem as bad as said Isle. It was terrible, but at least the structures were still standing. Didn’t make seeing the charged foliage that turned to ash when the brother brushed by feel any better. Or the number of ‘lost in their minds’ people they came across. All of it still feels like it’s fallen into a deranged state of living. A clear establishment of you save yourself and take down everyone in their way. Nothing was supposed to survive.

 The entire time, Cuphead kept his head up. Making sure to keep him and Mugman hidden and away from everyone. Giving his brother the food they found and only eating what remained. Constantly keeping an eye on the cracks, making sure to glue back whatever fell out. 

 A bittersweet feeling fell over them when they finally reached Isle One. While they were finally home, it looked just as ruined as the rest of the land they’ve seen. The grass was gone, filled with cracked dirt. The trees become long gnarled branches, appearing like claws. Reaching out in a desperate search for life. They ran into no one as they entered the dead forest that surrounded their home. The Isle dead and quiet. 

 “We’ll be okay Mugsy,” Cuphead quickly said, hearing a whimper behind him, “We’ll be okay. We’re almost home. We’ll get to see Elder Kettle again and he’ll hug us and tell us everything we’ll be okay. He’ll know what happened and what we’ll need to do next.” 

 “Cuphead…”

 “I promise, it’ll be okay! No need to fret.”

 “Cuphead.” 

 “Nothing to worry about!”

 “C-Cuphead!”

 The cup faltered slightly by the outburst. Turning back to his fearful looking brother. “What’s wrong?”

 “The house.”

 “The house? What, are we at the-” Cuphead faced forward, heart sinking. “Oh…the house…”

 It was in ruin, much like everything else they’d seen. But this was damage done by hands, pulled apart instead of crumbling. The yard was filled with garbage and debris. Grass gone, the usually lively garden turned to dust. The fence left in bits and chunks along the familiar perimeter. The door was completely gone, hinges and all, with the visible windows shattered. Walking in did not raise their hope. Everything had been ransacked. Every piece of furniture was overturned, destroyed, or cleared out. The stairwell leading to the second floor was dark. Seeming to have become a void of emptiness. Nothing was left alone.

 It was all still quiet.

 Cuphead winced as he stepped on some broken pieces of china that littered the floor. Eyes scanning the damage as he tried to find something to save.

 “Elder Kettle!” Mugman’s shout broke the silence. Causing Cuphead to jump, rushing over to cover his brother’s mouth. 

 “What are you doing?” The cup whispered frantically. 

 “Trying to find Elder Kettle-”

 “Mugsy, it’s way too quiet to just shout! We could draw attention-”

 “But you said-”

 “I know! I know, I know what I said.”

 “We need to find Elder Kettle.” 

 “I know, but we need to be quiet in case someone’s here.” 

 “But-” Whatever the retort was going to say fell away. Fear returned to Mugman’s eyes as he focused on something behind his brother. 

 Heart hammering seeing the fear, Cuphead slowly turned.

 From the darkened stairwell leading up to the second floor, yellow eyes peered down at them from the darkness. Cuphead got a fleeting moment of fear thinking that the Devil had somehow followed them home. They quickly stepped back as a gnarled tree hand emerged from the shadows. Gripping onto the banister as the rest followed. An elder tree-being, holding the only green foliage the brother’s had seen during that week, descended the stairs. Leaves falling to appear as wild hair and a beard while their bark was an ashened white that seemed to be flaking off. 

 As they fully entered the living room, they stared down at the shaking brothers. 

 “Do…you live here?” The tree asked when it was clear the brother’s were going to talk. Their voice deep and gravely. Eventually, Cuphead nodded. “Ah…I apologize for intruding. This house was abandoned when I came across it.” 

 “When?” Mugman weakly asked. Clearly wanting to continue, but wasn’t able to get more out. 

 “A few days ago… I would say about three days.”

 “T-Three days?” Cuphead added weakly.

 “Yes.”

 “D-Did you see anyone else here? Anyone at all?”

 The tree-being shook their head. “I’m sorry, but no.”

 Instantly, Mugman let out a series of small whimpers. Hiccuping as he let himself fall to his knees, clearly giving up the fight. Cuphead instantly turned to try and comfort while he himself was close to breaking. This was their last show of any semblance of stability. A final hope that someone else would be able to make sense of any of this. 

 Instead, Cuphead was standing in their destroyed home. Their caretaker was missing. With a brother who was physically, mentally, and emotionally broken. Tears streamed down both their faces as Mugman whimpered and Cuphead remained silent. Cuphead couldn’t even hold his brother close to comfort in fear of Mugman's crack becoming strained and would become further damaged. 

 Chest heaving in desperation to try and calm down, Cuphead jumped when something crinkled. Looking over to find the tree-being holding out a package of their favorite treats towards them. The being had apparently left towards the kitchen to get them something to eat. Probably in hopes to make them feel somewhat better. Cuphead took it, calming Mugman enough to eat some of the food. They ate in silence as the tree-being sat nearby with their knees tucked under their chin.

 “I’m sorry I couldn’t give you better news.” The tree-being eventually said, after the brother finished eating and had calmed down somewhat.

 “So, why are you here?” Cuphead asked. 

 “Shelter mainly. It has been left alone since I arrived. Others who have come across this place believe nothing remains inside and pass by.”

 “And you saw…no one when you arrived?”

 “You’re the first two to enter this house while I’ve been here.” 

 Mugman sniffed weakly, rubbing his eye. “...What’s your name?”

 “I am Woodford. You?”

 “I’m Mugman and this is my brother Cuphead.” 

 “Well met you two. I do wish this meeting was under better circumstances.”

 “Can you tell us what happened?”

 Woodford tilted his head in curiosity. “Have…you not seen the calamity that’s befallen the Isles?”

 “We have. We just don’t understand what caused all of this.”

 It took awhile for a reply. “It was a rather large event. I’m sure you know where the Devil’s Casino is located?”

 The brother’s nodded.

 “Several days ago, the Isles shook violently. A vile substance erupted from the Casino, an unnatural noise sounding from it before it attacked. …I suppose attack is the right thing to say. While I wasn’t there when Isle Three fell, I could still hear the screams…”

 “The same substance then arrived at Isle Two. It seemed to suck the life out of anything it touched. If you weren’t able to hide away, you were instantly turned to dust. Whatever was touched seemed to spread this deathly illness, spreading like a plague. Life seemed to just disappear. The gas disappeared to Isle One after a few hours.” 

 “When I thought it was clear to move away from Isle Two, I made a break for Isle One. I foolishly thought, or was overly hopeful, that I would find sanctuary here. Only to arrive just as life seemed to crumble away as well. That substance, whatever it was, just stole life wherever it went. I…I believe it’s gone now. Or at the very least it’s no longer here.”

 “It just…disappeared?” Cuphead asked. 

 “I believe that’s the best term for it. However, I don’t know where it could have possibly gone. Something like that…I doubt it could just fully disappear.” 

 “Is this thing the reason why we haven’t seen that many people?” Mugman asked. 

 “I would say yes. With the way the world currently is, those who haven’t already been lost are scavenging what they can to survive. Those who have more flesh or foliage based in their structure won’t be long for this world I’m afraid.”

 “W-Why do you say that?”

 “The dirt doesn’t allow anything to grow. I haven’t been able to feed for days. The sun has disappeared. There’s nothing on this dying planet that can save itself. Any salvageable grown food has been lost or stolen and already consumed. There’s nothing here to help keep this place alive.” 

 “B-But you’re still here!” Cuphead said, sounding very desperate. “You’re still standing.”

 Woodford nodded. “That I am…”

 “Could you-”

 “Child, whatever you are going to request, I must decline.” 

 “But-”

 “While I’ve been able to survive for as long as I have, it is merely by sheer luck. I have no sun or nutrition to feed from. I…I will be of no help.”

 Cuphead swallowed weakly. “Oh…Okay…”

 “I will remain the night. But I suggest that you two pack up what you can tomorrow and leave before it becomes too light outside. Avoid whomever you can and flee to a better place if you can find one.” 

 The brothers gave a nervous look to each other. Clearly uncomfortable with what the future held. Woodford reached over to pluck a quilt off the ground. Shaking it a bit to get a majority of the dust and debris off before wrapping it around the brothers. 

 “I can’t give you the words of comfort that you’re looking for. All we can do now is rest for the night and jump into action tomorrow morning. But for now, we sleep.”

 They didn’t argue. Instead, Cuphead moved him and his brother to lie against the partially destroyed couch. Making sure Mugman was comfortable and both were covered before trying to sleep himself. At some point, he must have done so as when Cuphead opened his eyes again it was brighter outside. Mugman was resting against his brother, still fast asleep. 

 Woodford wasn’t there. 

 Making sure not to wake Mugman, Cuphead slipped away, careful to maneuver his brother to lean against the couch. Rubbing his eyes, he surveyed the room once more. Realizing the front door was opened just a crack. Deciding Woodford had merely stepped outside, Cuphead turned to packing the supplies they could carry.

 Mugman eventually woke up and followed in his brother’s footsteps. Food, clothing, healing supplies, everything they could think of. It was also decided to carry a few memorabilia with them. A photo of them with Elder Kettle. Potions that carried the symbols their missing guardian said belong to something called the Calix Animi. A book that carried the same symbol. Finally, Cuphead grabbed the sword from the wall that Elder Kettle once carried into battle.

 “Cuphead…” Mugman said uneasily.

 “To defend ourselves, nothing more, I promise!” Mugman still didn’t seem put at ease by this answer. But didn’t respond further. When it was determined they couldn’t carry more, they settled up and headed out the door. 

Season 1 AU idea A: this idea sticks with canon in terms of the deal, so Robbie is a regular human until mid-way through season 2 (unless someone corrects me on my timing for this). Robbie is recruited long before the Bus Team became a thing (still deciding on the how’s, but i have a basic idea that he saw a speed chase and the vans shield was using, even with the tech, couldn’t keeping up with the target. Robbie managed to intercept said target with Lucy thanks to his skill set with racing and shield was able to apprehend the target thanks to his intervention. To me this idea is a little weak in terms of a believable scenario, but that’s the only thing coming to me for a “how he gets recruited” at this current time). Robbie is stationed mostly in LA (to stay close to his brother and uncle) and sometimes him and his team will cross paths with the Bus team. He’s at the hub when Hydra steps out of the shadows and with his team either being traitors or dead, he ends up going with Coulson and his team when they “go dark” and leave the Hub. 

Idea B: is basically the same thing as idea A; Robbie’s human, he’s recruited to shield before Coulson puts his team together, but instead of being stationed in LA, he’s one of the agents that Coulson wants to recruit for the Bus. This way Robbie is there through it all (even if he is only a level 1 agent) and his friendship with the team and Skye/Daisy has more of a chance to plant and grow roots rather then just being a reoccurring character.  

Idea C: takes either option A or B but with the difference of him being the rider from the start (maybe he’s recruited for the fact he is the rider and could be useful or they recruit him so he can be watched closely since no one knows how to contain the rider within him). 

Mostly, i would like to try and stay with canon, so i believe Idea B would be the most ideal since i want Robbie and Skye/Daisy to form a strong friendship in season 1 vs season 2. It would also allow Season 1 and part of season 2  to stay close to canon as possible (since the Rider wouldn’t be an issue)

As far as differences go, should Idea B be used, i would like Robbie and Ward to butt heads (not enough to be annoying, but enough to know that it’s clear they don’t like each other). Maybe Ward rubs Robbie the wrong way and vice versa, but eventually as they continue to do missions together they begin to grow on each other (which will make the betrayal all the harder to stomach)

Robbie is always amused by Fitz-Simmons, both of them reminding him of his uncle and brother in terms of their smarts and banter (for i head-canon that Gabe and Eli would constantly throw science ideas and what-not at the dinner table or in general conversation just as Robbie and Eli would talk cars). When Robbie feels home-sick, you’ll usually find him in the labs with these two, quietly helping where they need it, or simply sitting in a corner reading as the two banter for background noise. 

Robbie is a good cook and is usually the person who cooks most nights for the Bus (they may have a rotation to try and keep things fair, but Robbie tends to ignore it. He’s a man who’s hands can’t stay idle, so if he’s not being the team’s mechanic or helping Fitz-Simmons build things for the team, then he’s in the kitchen cooking/baking). 

Robbie has a healthy respect for Coulson and May and while Ward is Skye’s SO, May is Robbie’s unofficial SO when it comes to training/sparing (since the two of them are early risers and usually hit the mats around the same time anyway). 

Robbie and Skye get along easily the longer they work/live together. They’ll throw harmless insults and movie/tv show references at each other when there’s down time or high-stress situations (though the insults aren’t always so harmless when it’s the later). While Skye and Ward will usually play board games, Robbie and Skye will play Uno (occasionally joined by Fitz-Simmons) or racing games together.

Robbie has a deadly sense of humor that comes out the more he grows comfortable with people, and usually that humor comes out with Fitz or Skye (however that natural part of him will fade or dull once the Rider takes residence in his head).

When Skye breaks the teams trust when she helps Miles, Robbie doesn’t necessarily give her the cold shoulder, but he does make it clear that his trust won’t be so easily won back, she’ll have to earn it. 

When Trip joins the team, Robbie gets along with him pretty quickly (once it’s clear he can be trusted anyway). Trip just naturally has that way with people, that natural light and goodness that reminds Robbie of his brother. Not to mention Trip tells some interesting stories (and it also helps that he’ll occasionally give Robbie his grandmothers recipes for certain dishes/treats). 

Robbie is not at the secret base when Skye gets kidnapped by Ward, and he regrets it because he would have stayed behind with her, Eric and Ward had he not been so adamant in going on the mission with the rest (feeling too caged in the bunker and wanting something to do). He feels if he had stayed behind, maybe things would have gone differently, maybe Eric would still be alive, maybe Skye wouldn’t have been taken (though the counter-argument, from one of the others, is that he could have just as likely been killed too, since Ward is far more skilled then Robbie). 

Again all of season 1 and possibly all of season 2 is just friendship at this point, maybe some un-knowing or some teasing flirting here and there, but mostly just friendship between Robbie and Skye. I don’t think Robbie develops his feelings until after they both are different (with her becoming inhuman and him becoming the vessel for the rider). They bond over their shared differences and struggles as they go through these changes and learn to control it, etc. So i’m thinking more along the lines of beginning of season 3 when his feelings for her start to develop. Not sure if Skye/Daisy’s will develop around the same time, or if she does have similar feelings, they aren’t strong enough yet to warrant pursuing it, hence why she pursues Lincoln instead.

((((((I will end this here for now. I do plan on fleshing the ideas for some of the episodes out a bit more then this, as well as continue my ideas through the rest of the seasons, but for now I’ll leave Season 1 as partially finished in terms of background/relationship development goes.

Please, if you have anything to add to this, i’d love to hear it, or if someone were to attempt to write something like this, i would love to read it. 

This AU is such an interesting concept to ponder over, but i feel it’s also a way to see how Robbie was pre-rider. He seemed slightly more care-free, happier, and i really would love to explore that. Adding him into the mix at the beginning and also making him an agent pre-season 1, allows us to play with his character traits a bit more. To see how different he could be with this different path faced before him as well as the character development he’ll go through.