Chapter Text
Wemmbu wasn't going to lie, the argument between him and Mane had been brutal.
The human knew he was mostly in the wrong for sneaking out and getting hurt and then hiding it. But there was no reason for the other to yell, for the other to treat him like that, there was no reason for the other to not let him visit Rejoice’s grave…Or anyone in the monster realm.
… But most importantly there was no possible reason for Manepear to call him a lost cause.
The lion was one of the oldest in the little group of monsters so what he said or decided goes. Still he couldn't think of anything else other than what had just happened and nothing helped to keep his thoughts away from it for long, not even the pain that ran through his arms as he banged his arms into the hard cement wall where a portal that would lead him to the monster realm would usually be.
It had become a routine at some point, he didn't know when exactly, but everyday for the next two weeks he would just sit there hoping for the portal to open again or for at least someone to appear, it was selfish and attention seeking the human told himself but he couldn't bring himself to care.
When that didn't work, Wemmbu naturally drifted into scratching at his arms. A bad habit of his that he had let go of when he met the lion who was supposed to be his guardian, who had left him in the dust.
Now that he thought about it he was practically being isolated, Lomedy and Wifies took the month off from the school, he hadn't seen Parrot, Spoke, Minute, Flame or Mapicc in a long time, he hadn't seen Zam or Pangi either since he was grounded, the water monster was probably doing school online or something because Wemmbu didn't see him at the school.
But the one thing that bothered the most was actually how Egg, his big brother and first best friend, was gone as soon as he found someone more interesting to spend his time with. The human thought the angel would at least show up or respond when he called for him just like promised, but when the other didn't respond it felt like his heart shattered some more, more than it ever should have been. He wasn't even going to think about his d- Manepear that hurt way too much for him to think about.
And he wasn't going to lie, all of this situation felt really unfair for him, it was like one argument was all it took for the others to realize how much of a nuisance he was, how burdensome he was and they just chose to leave.
It felt like when he was alone with his parents all over again.
The world kept spinning but he felt like he was stuck in place, the world around him moved just like he did unintentionally. Everything felt like he was under water, and he wasn't referring to the time he and Zam explored a deep river in the outskirts of the city.
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It was a sunny day in the city, most of the people were out and about with their day enjoying the warm climate, going to the park to have picnics, to the public pool or other things that English speaking people do when it's hot outside.
There were two children who took their plans to a whole new level though.
Wemmbu stood on the edge of the river at the limits of the city where there wasn't anyone present to see Zam in his monster form.
Zam was already swimming and splashing water at him. In turn, the purple dyed haired human looked annoyed with the other one, as he complained about the cold temperature of the water.
“Dude- Don't do that!” Wemmbu yelled from the riverside, throwing his arms up. “The water is too cold!”
The monster only laughed at the human, “Cmon Wemmbu!”
“It isn't as noticeable once you are in the water!” Zam yelled back, finally satisfied when the other jumped to the deep side of the river.
Once the other surfaced, the two could finally do what they came here for… Go diving!!! And search for old things that the currents had carried to this deep part of the river. It was one of Zam’s favourite activities ever, and he was so happy that Wemmbu had finally agreed to do it with him.
There was just one problem: how would Wemmbu hold his breath for so long- Oh! Zam has used his water powers to make a bubble of air around the human’s head, convenient.
“This is so cool!” Wemmbu yelled in astonishment as he grabbed the monster’s hands, mindful of his claws, as the other helped him go deeper to the bottom of the river.
“It is, isn't it?” Zam replied softly, his voice a little muffled by the water since he could breathe just fine underwater and didn't have the need for a bubble of air like Wemmbu. “I wonder if we could find some more jewelry?"
You see the last time Zam came here it was just after a storm and tons of old jewelry and antiques had sunk to the bottom of the river, he was forced to leave early unfortunately but now he came back with Wemmbu hoping to maybe find something for him. It didn't have to be anything fancy, they were happy with just little trinkets too.
That's basically how they spent the entire afternoon, searching for interesting things and cracking jokes at each other below the water.
Sadly they weren't finding anything worth keeping, but just as the hour to go back home neared Wemmbu found an old necklace stuck and mostly hidden under a mossy rock. He waved Zam over, who looked genuinely excited to see what he had found, and the two swam back to the riverside to inspect the necklace better.
“Wemmbu this is so cute!!” Zam rambled, “I can't believe you managed to find something like this. It will make you look so pretty!”
“Yeah I really like it, I wonder if it will fit comfortably?” Wemmbu went to put it on before Zam stopped him.
“Wait.” The monster interrupted him, "Don't put it on yet, first go and boil it to disinfect it and clean it.”
Wemmbu tilted his head for a moment before his mouth broke into a teasing grin. “That makes a lot of sense.”
“Wha- Dude i can be smart too.” Zam gasped dramatically, before quickly standing up and reaching for him. “Cmon, let's go back, I already want to see how it looks on you!”
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Wemmbu sighed heavily at the memory while he walked back home from school, his shoulders dropped and one of his hands went unconsciously to grab at the necklace around his neck. The same one they had found that day. With no other close option on where to go, he had chosen to go back to his parents house, dangerous but stable. Not like some other one.
He felt numb, like his life continued on auto-pilot. He didn't even realise it but had become really dependent on the monsters, they were his family.
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Maybe it was just him who thought like that.
Once he reached his house he dropped his hand from the necklace and hid it below his shirt that Spoke had gifted him, and instead the same hand that was on his necklace dropped to fidget with the bandages around his other arm.
Both of his arms were bandaged but he hadn't actually changed them since the new school nurse scolded him for not taking care of himself and scratching at his arms. He hadn't actually intended to bandage them, a deep part of him wanted them to get infected, for him to get sick, pass out anything that would make someone speak to him again with something that wasn't hatred, disgust or anger.
The purple haired human, although dyed, went around and entered the house from the back door. As soon as he entered he knew something was up with his parents, the two adults usually argued or talked loudly or had the tv on with the volume a little bit too high for him, his parents were loud. But when he entered the house was silent, calm like it had never been, just like a grace of calm before a storm. Unease started to crawl inside of him.
And so, instead of going to the basement where his room was and spending all of his day looking at the ceiling, he chose to go to the living room, with both of his parents there that looked like anything but lived in, to see what was going on.
After all, curiosity always kills the cat.
Both of the people who were supposed to be his parents were sitting on the old couch talking in hushed voices, they seemed nervous for some reason. They immediately stopped once he stepped into the room, leaving it in an uncomfortable and awkward silence.
Wemmbu raised an eyebrow as his parents' gaze landed on him. They looked at him and for once he felt like they were actually seeing him, it made his skin crawl. He was about to question them for their weird behavior when a voice behind him made him jump and turn around.
“Wemmbu,” Lettuce spoke firmly, his body shivered when his name came out of the murderer's mouth. “You are going to be coming with us.”
The human shrinked backwards as his body tensed and his eyes widened in terror. He froze in place as he stared at the man in front of him, his breathing speed up and water blurred his eyes.
The teenager tried to scream at the officer who had killed rejoice in front of him, he wanted to yell in anger, at his parents, at everything but he simply couldn't. He was scared, he had already been scared but this was something much worse than what he thought it would be when he stepped into the room.
Seeing his reaction, Lettuce quickly assured voice , deliberate and measured, “You are going to be okay Wemmbu,” Wemmbu recoiled in disgust, his back close to the wall and hallway leading to the back door. “We were just looking for you because we wanted to ask you a few questions and your parents have been so helpful while telling us about you.”
The purple haired teenager scoffed before turning around and bursting down the hallway, running to the back door of the house.
Wemmbu ran fast throughout the streets with no place in mind, Lettuce and the two people with him close behind, shouting things at him but he wasn't stopping. Not when the picture of Rejoice’s crumpled body on the ground appeared in his mind any time he stared at the red haired officer.
The only other person who could offer him a place was on the other side of the city, almost a half an hour drive, even more if you ran. Safe to say he didn't have anywhere to go right now, there were no safe places near either, so with nothing to lose the panicked and terrified teen called out the names of the monsters who had always come to his help.
“F-Flame! Parrot! Spo- Spoke!” He forced himself to yell but nowhere as loud as he aspired to be, they had to have heard him but he didn't just stop there. “Minute, Eg- Egg! Please, I need help! Egg- You- You promised!”
Tears were now streaming down his face causing to choke on his breath, which was already unstable and unsteady. “Mane- Manepear please!” He cried out as the officer and his guards got closer, he felt like there was no actual air reaching his lungs, in turn he tried to take deep breaths as he turned a sharp corner but that only caused his chest to twist with sharp pain. “Mane- Dad please!”
Wemmbu swallowed as the words left his mouth but there was no time to actually think about it now, “Dad please! Please- someone!”
But with his energy rapidly depleting and nothing other than the officer on his tail and the people he was running by, he realised that nobody would come. More tears were brought to his eyes. His legs hurt too much, he wasn't accustomed to this kind of exercise, you know the running for your life kind.
Out of the sudden he dived for an alley between two buildings, losing the people chasing him down for a second, letting him think for a second. He hoped anyone would come, it didn't matter if they were angry with him or hated him, he just wanted someone to help him and take care of him again.
But he didn't want anyone to get hurt either, he knew the people behind him were after the monsters, it was why he called for rejoice after all. Wemmbu wouldn't be able to forgive himself if anyone got hurt protecting him.
But for that they had to effectively show up.
It didn't help him either because as he attempted to yell out names he was wasting his breath and between that and running he was exhausted. Wemmbu realized it had all been useless when he turned at the wrong intersection and ended up in a dead end.
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The teen froze as he stared at the wall in disbelief. There was no way, he didn't want to go with them, there was no other way to get out as Lettuce blocked the exit, he had to fight.
“G-Get back!” Wemmbu tried to shout as a warning but it was no use when the other quickly ran to him effectively tackling him into the ground injuring his right knee. A shout of pain escaped him when the officer lifted him up and restrained him just as the two guards caught up to them as Lettuce dragged to the one exit on the alley.
Wemmbu whimpered as he felt the lack of weight around his throat, his necklace was missing, probably lost in the commotion. The red haired man was barking out orders but he couldn't really afford to care, he tried to struggle to get out but did not succeed as his breathing came out quick and shallow, neither when his knee was screaming at him at any movement he was forced to make.
In a single second a flash of bright warm yellow interrupted his current train of thought and he was dropped to the ground as Lettuce was pushed back.
“Get away from him!” A familiar voice yelled loudly in front of him, he tried to look up the most he could while clutching his right knee. It felt like a cold bucket of water was dumped over him, the human couldn't stop panting heavily on the ground.
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“Zam!” A sob ripped out of his mouth in recognition. “I thought-” He thought nobody would come, that he would die alone, he thought they hated him, that he wasn't worth fighting for.
“It's okay Wemmbu, we just need to get out of here.” The monster said softly before turning and swinging at one of Lettuce’s guards who tried to get too close. “Just try to breathe!”
“I- I cant!”
“Zam I cant-” He said in what was supposed to be a yell but lacked the tone and volume. His vision obscured as Zam tried to fight off Lettuce and the two nameless guards. His body began to feel unusually heavy and he was beginning to feel kind of numb, not like how he had felt the last two weeks no… This was a kind of numbness that came with exhaustion, with his body shutting down after the overload of things that had happened and been piling up in the last two weeks, this was a breaking point.
“Yes you can, please Wemmbu!” the other yelled, getting distracted from the fight as from the corner of his eyes he saw his best friend finally collapse in exhaustion and adrenaline crash, still clutching his bruised knee even in his sleep.
In his carelessness and lack of focus in the fight he ended up getting knocked to the ground, still covering Wemmbu, he tried to stand up. But it was no use as a sharp and deliberate hit on the back of his head made him pass out just as fast as the human he tried to protect. The last thing he saw was the two guards reaching for both him and Wemmbu.