Chapter Text
Empanada stood unmoving between her mothers. In the distance, she could see Sunny clinging onto Tubbo. She wanted to hold her sister’s hand. The sight of that damn bear made her blood boil. He held her life in his hand and that life was precious now.
Leaving her mothers behind, Empanada stepped onto the warp plate, landing in a mockery of a daycare. After spending so much time building the school with Bad, anything else was just incorrect.
Cucurucho’s voice box, robotic and sour, made her skin itch. Paint your worst fear . The words sat repeating in her brain. Worst fear? Dying again? Leaving her moms… Leaving Sunny and Ramón… Leaving Tubbo, Fit, and Pac… Disappointing everyone. Joining Bobby. Being memorialized in stone. While her sister loved the idea of statues, they made Em sick. Maybe it was the one of Bobby that she would sneak away to stare at. She wondered if Pepito thought the same. She looked at the little boy at the canvas and clenched her fist. Did anyone else see it? The mirror image of a boy she never knew. A picture she saw a million times, scattered across the house that wasn’t even hers. Shown to her by Pepito.
She was guided into the questioning room by a guard. Over her shoulder, she saw Ramón standing casually by the door, looking prepared for a fight if he needed to. Em could pick a fight if she needed to. While her death was unfortunate due to it being a death, it also caused a the dip in reputation. She was no Chay, but she was still strong. She protected Sunny and Pepito when she needed to. She was their Chay…
“Who are your parents?”
“Bagi. Mouse. Niki. Tina.” She looked at Cucurcho, unsure if she had to legally include Jaiden on the list.
He nodded and wrote in his book. Gods she wanted to look into that book. She wanted to rip it out of his hands and show it to everyone. She wanted to slap it across his face. She knew everything she was saying now was snarky and that she could be reprimanded for that.
When she was back out in the room, Ramón swept her behind him and guided the girls away from the rest of the group. She hated his level of anxiety. It was making her anxious. Somehow Sunny was fine through all this. Maybe it was a coping mechanism, but Em couldn’t understanding it.
“I don’t know what you are so stressed about…” Sunny sat, kicking her feet. “I told him that I am gonna own this place one day.”
“What?”
“My step-pa works here. I’ll figure out how to own it. I’ll put Accountant Bad to work. Maybe have Pop threaten someone or Pa create something. I don’t know. But I’ll own it.”
“Your step-pa?!” Em pulled her sister close, grabbing them by the wrist. “Sunny, you can’t say shit like that. You’ll get them both in trouble if they figure out.”
Sunny shook Em off. “What the hell is wrong with you? Get a grip.”
“Don’t curse. Both of you.”
“Shut up, Ramón.” The girls said in unison.
The robotic voice cut through the pairs of siblings seperate whispers. “Please, follow me.”
As they each walked through the door, a guard shoved a little wooden sword and a totem into each of their arms. She saw Sunny shift to be an inch or two taller just behind her, while Tallulah was doing the opposite, making herself smaller. Chay, Dapper, and Ramón stood against the wall, looking like good little soldiers. Em had read plenty about old school wars. The older boys fit the bill perfectly. Ramón already had a black eye that Em could only assume was from a guard.
“Chayanne versus…” Cucurucho called out, reading from his book. “Empanada.”
A guard shoved them both through the sliding glass door. Em wiped her hands nervously on her jumpsuit. Chay looked at her with pity. If he had been a little less competitive and a little less scared, maybe he would’ve thrown the fight. But he was Chayanne Minecraft, son of Philza Minecraft. There was no backing down from a fight, balanced or not. Before he could charge on her, Em raised her sword, holding her totem in her belt.
“I don’t want to do this.” Chay muttered, getting closer… getting some good blows in.
Em’s glared. “Don’t go easy on me. I won’t go easy on you.”
Before either of them knew it, she was flat on her back, staring up at Chayanne. The green glint of his eyes felt like it was mocking her, staring back at her instead of the totem that she popped. He opened up his hand to help her up, but she just slapped it away. He took the hit stoicly, nodding before walking away. Em rolled to her side, standing up and smiling. She would not let this stupid game ruin her. She was stronger than that.
They stood on the other side of the glass, watching each of the fights. Ramón pretended to hit Llulah for a few minutes as she dropped her sword and switched to hitting him with a rose. When he exited the room, Em looked at him arms, now covered in cuts from the thorns. He shrugged her off, turning his attention to Sunny as they entered the room.
“And Leonarda.”
Em turned to Cucurucho and glared at him. He stared back, menacingly. She wanted to strangle him, but Chay and Ramón had been hitting him in the knees all day and no damage was done. She came to the conclusion that he was indestructible. She would have to read up about that. She would make herself indestructible. She knew it was possible. She knew the Federation controlled how many times they could die. Juanaflippa had come back twice. Their parents came back for an indefinite number of times.
Sunny was hitting Leo with quick crits and Leo just kept missing. Em was proud, but she was still holding Ramón’s hand nervously.
“Shit!” Ramón winced as Sunny fell to her knees taking a serious blow to the back and popping her totem.
Sunny stood up and went to the door to help her out, except instead of ending the fight, Leo kept hitting. Sunny had already dropped her sword on the ground. She banged on the door to be let out. Em pushed her way through the guards, but they just picked her up.
“Let me go! Let her out!” Em screamed, tears rolling down her cheeks. “I will get you for this, Leonarda! You’re dead!”
While the guard was distracted with Em, Ramón snuck to the door, sweeping Sunny behind him. “Leo, back off!”
“Lo que sea…” Leo rolled her eyes, pushing past Ramón for the exit.
Leo made her way to Tallulah and Chayanne’s side of the waiting room, but Tallulah on shot her a warning look before muttering, “Cheater.”
Slowly, Cucurcho lead the kids back into the faux daycare. The guard who was holding Em placed her down in the corner, signing Timeout at her before walking away. From her corner, she watched Ramón caring a shrunken Sunny into the room with Dapper by his side. She wanted to comfort her sister but she didn’t know how to help. She wanted fight Leo, but the guards were posted throughout the room and she could tell the back wall was a two way mirror. She had snuck into her uncle Cellbit’s old house in the Favela plenty of times to know what one looked like.
Em sat in the corner, stretching at her arms and hitting her head lightly against the wall. What would her moms think? She lost her fight. She couldn’t even protect her sister. She went with Cucurucho blindly. She wanted to sit with them while they slept. She wanted to protect them. Anyone could have them… Hurt them and Em wouldn’t even know. She was such an idiot. The wall and her head collided harder and harder until a guard sent Ramón to talk her down.
“What is wrong with you? You’re gonna give yourself brain damage.”
She looked up at him, her eyes shifting colors every three seconds and her hair every six. He blinked, none of them really shifted like that. They picked their one look. They picked the pieces of their parents that they wanted.
“I want my moms!” Em cried out, letting everyone hear before bursting into tears.