Chapter Text
Courage had heard of Out of Body experiences, and has had a couple himself; the sensation of leaving your shell as the mind is unable to contend with whatever stress or trauma the body was going through. Mentally shutting down or at least feeling like you're separating from your delicate meat casing, floating up above yourself, removed from the paltry issues down on Earth, like spiked heartrates. A sort of detached mercy in dealing with something traumatic, and Courage has certainly dealt with many-a-traumatic situation.
He was familiar with the feeling.
Which was why, what was happening now, wasn't it.
Because unlike the dream-like weightlessness he had come to know when his body was busy dealing with a fresh tidal wave of stress, this time it was the opposite. This time he was frozen, painfully alert and aware of every little piece of stimuli begging for his attention (heart racing out his skeleton, sweat pouring down his head and tangling with his fur, teeth not so much chattering but clenched together hard enough to feel something start to fracture), while raw terror filled his veins, all because of Kitty's words that she tossed out with such menacing ease.
Brother
Brother?!
Thoughts raced across the little dog's mind, roided-out thanks to his fear and thus ran with enough oomph to leave behind flaming tire marks on his mental speedway.
Was this all a trap? A ruse concocted by Kitty? A sibling okie-doke, working in tandem where Katz is finally able to finish Courage off now that he's backed up by his possibly equally capable sister?
Was Muriel in trouble? Was Bunny in trouble? Did Bunny know about Kitty's machinations or would Courage have to save her too?
Was he going to have to alert the whole hotel? Was the staff unaware of whatever trap Katz laid out for him and ran the risk of getting caught up in a madman's plot? How many spiders were already loose in the walls? Did he already unleash his confectionary creation to eat anyone who may come to the rescue? Were their bombs? Trapdoors?
Knives?
Sharp sticks?
What was waiting for him?
Courage trembled, eyes wide as he found himself unable to banish the shaking from his body, all while the cold stare coming from Katz was somehow far worse than even that time he was frozen solid by the snowman. He'd defend himself, defend Muriel with everything he had in him, but what chance did he stand going up against two -
"Courage?"
The only part of him willing to move were his eyes. The rest was trapped in a stress-induced tremor he couldn't control (blood pounding, little fists clenched against his will, body somehow hot despite the frigid chill racing down his spine), and so there was little he could do to respond when he suddenly realized that, in his tunnel vision of being unable to look away from Katz, Kitty had at some point knelt besides him.
"Courage, dear."
Muriel's soft lilt made itself known as well, concern laced into every letter in his name and somehow acting as the very thing needed to pull the rip-chord in his back. Like his heart was suddenly attached to a car battery, Courage felt himself light up, terribly aware of Kitty's proximity to Muriel and what that could mean for his poor owner. Without thinking, without caring for his personal safety, he scuttled away from Kitty and placed himself in front of Muriel, eyes narrowed as he kept the cat siblings under his glare.
He attempted a growl, but sadly his vocal chords were built for panic, not intimidation, and there wasn't much in his twelve-pound-frame that could back up his meager attempts.
Still, the point seemed to be made as Kitty straightened up, eyes wide at Courage's sudden shift in temperament, while Katz simply stared at him, a scoff escaping his triangle nose.
"Oh look, he thinks he's being brave."
"Katz," Kitty snapped at her brother, but that meant little to the pink dog. For all he knew this was some cruel ruse; some sick game they played where one lured an unsuspecting victim into a false sense of security, and then -BAM-, fed to a hungry shark or some other twisted reveal. Courage tried not to think of what the cats had in store for Muriel, only focusing on the best possible exit route.
"Now Courage, what's gotten inta' ya?" Muriel spoke up from behind, somehow confused regarding the little dog's behavior, despite being in the same room with the cat that had her turned into a washing machine for the sake of battling to the death. "I know we haven't had the best experience with Mr. Katz in the past, but we're not going t'start anything right before Kitty's wedding."
Courage watched as Kitty's concerned look turned to something stonier, her large eyes narrowing as she straightened up and turned to her brother. "Oh, I think I know what's gotten into him." Her voice was deadly low, already dripping with frustration far beyond how she spoke with her cousin. "I think I know exactly why just the sight of you has sent one of my guests into a tailspin."
Katz actually had the audacity to look surprised. "Now Kitty dear - " he started, but his sister wasn't having it.
"Don't you 'Kitty dear' me!" She snarled out, short tail thrashing with indignation. "Not two seconds after you slither out from the shadows like a rat and poor Courage is looking like he's on the chopping block!"
A scoff escaped the other cat, looking for all the world like she more blamed him of stealing her candy than being accused of threats of bodily harm. "Hardly. I wasn't even able to bring my chopping block through customs."
"That works in your favor, because if I find you even look at this little dog and his family wrong, it'll be your head on that thing, dear brother."
Green eyes met green as the siblings stared down, all while Courage did his best to get his breathing under control, slowly coming to the realization that this, possibly, wasn't where it ended for him. Kitty's posture was a wild opposite to her brother's; spine stiff as she stared him down, paws balled into fists while her tail continued to whip angrily. Katz meanwhile stood there like he had never done anything wrong in his entire life and wasn't sure why Kitty was mad with him now.
"Dear sister," he tried again, and Courage wasn't a fan of that warning rumble in his words. "This is certainly a lot of indignation for someone who hasn't graced anyone with her presence for the last few years."
But Kitty clearly wasn't done yet. "And like you have such a lofty place to judge me from? When was the last time I heard from you even before I took off?" Her short little tail fluffed up behind her. "You left long before I did, adrift to every shallow little whim that you chased."
"Shallow?!"
“ - flitting from one twisted fantasy to the next in your desperate attempt to prove that you didn’t peak in high school.”
“My endeavors have been far grander than something as stunted as seeking personal gratification - !” Katz fired back, fur finally beginning to match his sisters as it started to raise on his back and shoulders.
“You want to talk stunted?” As Kitty’s voice rose in retaliation, Courage felt an interesting shift in himself; his emotions taking the strange turn of going from near mind-numbing terror, to the sudden sensation of feeling like he was listening in on a very private conversation, and all the ensuing awkwardness that came from it.
“Every little thing you’ve done since you left was for personal gratification! You started that money pit of a motel just to have a captive audience for your spiders! You entered that candy competition simply because that wretched ex of yours had the nerve to say you weren’t good at something, only to throw a tantrum when you didn’t instantly win!” Kitty was on a roll as she counted off her various points of ire on her little cat fingers.
“It was several years of losing, I should tell you, to that very woman!” Katz fired off an accusatory finger at Muriel, prompting Courage to reposition himself between the two should the towering cat decide to pull a fast one, all while his owner gasped out a surprised “oh my.”
“Time after time my brilliance wasn’t recognized by small-minded idiots who refused to look beyond paltry examples of folksy mediocrity!”
Courage was struggling to remember a time, in all his encounters with the cat, that he actually heard him this upset. Siblings certainly seem to have that magic.
“You could admit when you’re wrong, for once!” The two were circling now, both emitting terrible low cat yowls of irritation in between firing barbs. “You could admit you’re not the center of the universe and actually respond to my letters so I didn’t have to hear from our parents about how you’re doing!” Kitty was looking larger and fuller by the minute as her fur continued to fluff up. She was staying low, with claws out, looking for all the world like she was ready to pounce. “You jump from project to project, traveling all over on the latest whim takes you, determined to prove your brilliance to a public that has the audacity to not automatically know your name, all while ignoring the actual people in your life who want to talk to you!”
“And you’re any different?” Katz mirrored Kitty’s posture, low and angry, his tone not as emotional as his sister’s but still somehow holding more in it than his usual monotone. “So certain your latest relationship will fill whatever damage was left by the last one? Only to find those emotional cracks even bigger than before? Face it, dear sister, I’d rather seek to broaden my intellectual capabilities with my, as you call them, ‘projects’, rather than be an emotional maelstrom every time my toes get stepped on.”
“You - you -” Kitty rumbled, paws clenched as she continued to circle her brother. Her fur continued to fluff up the angrier she got, making it look like from Courage’s perspective as though she was doubling in size, and Katz wasn’t far behind.
“Egotistical”
“Overly emotional!”
“Uncaring!”
“Sanctimonious!”
“Giant walking toddler of a cat!”
The sound that crept out of the usually calm and composed Katz could only be described as something from nightmares, and Courage would know seeing as how he’s literally had those nightmares. It was a terrible low, yowling thing, something that crawled out of his chest like one of the many-legged beasts he once collected at his motel. Crouching low, he looked ready to pounce, and Kitty seemed to be mimicking his posture. The siblings looked ready to go for the throat as they raised their hackles, low to the ground and coiled like springs, poised to strike like deadly snakes and take whatever chunks of flesh they could out of one another…but before they could -
“That’s ENOUGH!”
Muriel’s voice boomed through the din of cat snarling like a thundercrack, and before Courage knew what she was doing, the kindly old woman had appeared between the warring siblings, rolling pin deployed out of nowhere and brandished like a mighty sword.
Courage was pretty sure his heart had stopped.
“Now is that any way t’behave?” Muriel stared down the two cats on either side of her, somehow having halted the vicious war of sibling squabble with a well-placed Look. “For goodness’s sake, we’re having a wedding tomorrow! You’re wedding, lass, in care you haven’t forgotten. Is this what you want to do the night before?”
And like someone had pricked her with a pin to let the air out, Kitty seemed to deflate in the face of the stern Muriel. Her little tail tucked behind her body as she straightened up. “He - he was clearly trying to get under my fur! It's junior high all over -”
“And you!” But before Kitty had even a hair’s chance of getting an excuse out, Muriel had rounded to face Katz, who had also straightened up and was now looming over Courage’s owner, and yet Muriel somehow stood taller than the maniac cat. “I know you and I haven’t had the best encounters in the past, but that’s besides the point.” Breezing past that understatement of the century, Muriel pointed her pin at Kitty, directing it like a conductor would a baton. “Years away. No calls? No letters? Your poor sister missing you dearly and you only show up when she’s getting married with not even a ‘how do you do?’ That’s simply bad manners, Mr. Katz.”
Courage knows Katz. He’s experienced Katz. He’s survived Katz enough times to know that being talked down to in any way was a sure-fire way to set off the madman. Katz took umbrage at the fact that Muriel bested him in a candy competition, and now here they were - with Muriel staring down the same deranged cat like he had just brought a dead rat into the house and was beyond disappointed in him.
And the strangest part? The part that had Courage wondering if he had somehow taken a mental break from reality amidst the stress of being in proximity of his chief tormentor?
Was that Katz actually looked cowed by Muriel’s words.
Oh, he wasn’t taking any noticeable steps away from the raging Scotswoman like Kitty was, but Courage knew enough about the behavior of the maniacal feline that the fact he wasn’t lunging at Muriel with some weapon in his hands for speaking at him that way meant her words were genuinely giving him pause.
“I know you two have a complicated history. Far be it from me to think I have all the answers when I didn’t even have a sister to grow up with.” Muriel continued, all while the siblings shuffled in their spots like chastised children. “But don’t think I’ll be lettin’ you two act this way when we’re supposed to be celebrating love and family.”
“Pretty words, but hardly - OUCH! ”
Before Courage even had a chance to blink, Muriel brought her rolling pin down like a mighty hammer on Katz’s head. His acid-green eyes bulged from the impact before he skittered away out of striking range, rubbing his no-doubt smarting dome as he glared daggers at the woman. Courage felt his heart leap into his throat, ready to once again place himself between Katz and his owner should the feline make a move, but the blow seemed to have him stumbling back.
“Woman!” He snarled out, all while Kitty cawed with laughter next to Courage. “Do you know who you’re talking to?!”
“I do.” Fists thoroughly planted on her sides, Muriel looked like she was made of stone; solid and immovable as a mountain, somehow looming over the taller figure. Courage could swear that the weather outside was turning stormier in response to his kindly owner’s turn in temperament. “I’m talkin’ to the brother of this lovely lass who is about to have the most special day of her life, and instead of having a lovely reunion, you’re coming in here and stirring up all kinds of trouble.” And with more ease than her plump figure would suggest, Muriel pivoted to Kitty, lifted her up, and planted her next to her equally stunned-looking brother.
“Now I’m not asking you two to sweep everythin’ under the rug. Lord knows it isn’t easy having a history with family, but ye are still family, and I won’t be having any kind of squabbling this weekend.”
Wordlessly, Muriel beckoned Courage to her side, and the little dog couldn’t help but feel like he was somehow disconnected from the situation; a strange dream his mind would occasionally cook up when it had emptied the well of its usual nightmare parade. He joined Muriel, who nodded at him with a small smile before turning her still no-nonsense expression back on the cat siblings. Courage almost didn’t believe his own eyes when he saw the two share a joint shudder when they were back under her fierce glare.
“Now then, Courage and I will be going out. It’s getting on in the day and we’re due to enjoy a lovely lunch at this fine hotel. Kitty dear -” And again, the little dog was treated to seeing the same figure who once tormented him with repeated beatings just for being in her line of sight, suddenly straighten up like she was being called on by a stern teacher. “Thank ye again for the lovely accommodations.”
Kitty looked to be doing her best impression of a deer in headlights. “I…you’re welcome, Muriel.”
“So I don’t feel too bad when I say that you two are going to stay in here until you reach an understanding. I’m not asking ye to move mountains, just to agree that this weekend isn’t going to be about whatever lifelong argument you two have had going. I’m hoping you’ll be gone by the time Courage and I come back. Are we clear?”
Truly the two were siblings, because Courage was treated to twin shakes of the head as the cats agreed to Muriel’s terms. Even Katz looked like he’d rather hash out talking with his sister than face the wrath of another whack on the head from Muriel’s frightening rolling pin.
And like magic, the stormy expression lifted, the sun even returning to stream through the sprawling windows in the room. The shadows even lightened to nonexistence as a smile returned to the kindly old woman’s face.
“Aw, that’s lovely. Come along, Courage - let’s see where Eustace got off to. I’ll bet you anything that he found the dining hall before us and is already tucking in.”
With a turn of the doorknob, the pair left the still frozen cat siblings, and against all odds when it came to any and all Katz encounters, Courage found himself not only surviving, but stunned that he didn’t have to risk life and limb in the process. Whatever fear of retaliation from the twisted cat was smothered under the fresh memory of watching his owner overpower the psycho, if only for a moment. He smiled up at Muriel, a new appreciation welling up inside his little body, happy that he didn’t have to be his owner’s shield for once, only to see the usually confident posture Muriel held melt away as soon as the door closed behind them.
“Bless me, Courage.” She sighed, taking a hanky out of her pocket to wipe her brow. “That took a lot more out of me than I thought.”
Leaning against Muriel’s leg, Courage let out a concerned whine, only to get a gentle pat on the head. “It’s nothing, dear. Just…” she glanced back at the door behind them before resuming her walk down the hall. “You know that Katz fellow had been trouble before.”
Courage had to fight to choke down a sarcastic response. Something along the lines of; if Katz was a good guy, then his name was Fifi Kazadore…and it’s not.
“But I wasn’t going to see him start something right before his sister’s wedding. This is no time for fighting’ or squabblin’ when we should be focusing on love.” She returned the hanky to her pocket, her posture evening out to her typical gait. “I’m sorry I had to get rough with them in front of ye, but I’ve had enough of that kind of behavior when Horst was alive. I wasn’t going to sit there with my hands held and swallow my teeth while another family event is ruined because two siblings couldn’t play nice.”
Courage had heard of the legend of Eustace’s elder brother, the late Horst Bagge, who he had lived in the shadow of all his life. It at least explained…everything about the man Muriel had married, though Courage himself had never had a chance to meet Horst, who had already passed before the pup was adopted (having perished in the middle of one of his latest adventures). If he thought about it, it made sense that Muriel responded so negatively to the cat siblings fighting; everything he heard about when Eustace and Horst would interact sounded like a small-scale war, and it was obvious none of that was helped by Eustace’s nightmare of a mother, who didn’t hesitate to play favorites.
He wasn’t sure what he would have done if he was trapped along with Muriel while in the middle of the Bagge sons decades-long war, but he wished he could at least have been there to comfort her.
With another sigh, he leaned against her side as they continued towards what they figured was the direction of the dining hall, and a moment later he was gifted with another couple pats on his head. Muriel smiling down at him, all tension in her posture forgotten. “Ah, what a good dog ye are, Courage.”
As the two turned to leave the hall where their room sat, Courage did his best to ignore the arguing behind them that he was pretty sure only he could hear. Kitty’s husky tones mingled with Katz’s sardonic and biting ones as their argument hopefully turned to an actual conversation. He wasn’t sure, he couldn’t make out the words.
Really Courage hoped he was out of panic for the day. He didn’t think he could take any more surprises.