Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

What happens when you sell your soul? That’s a question I’ve asked my elderly caretaker many times. He would tell me not to worry about it, yet only answered it the day Cuphead went missing; however, he never gave me the full details on it. He told me that when someone sells their soul, they’re a lost cause. They were barely seen, and they became a permanent slave for the Devil. I asked him if he thought that’s what happened to Cup, and he would respond with a hopeful message saying that Cup could’ve just gotten himself lost.

How I wish that could be the right answer. I wish he just got lost, because he’d be easier to find. Easier to get back. I searched each and every Isle thoroughly, yet no luck. Elder Kettle would constantly be with me when I got home, trying his best to cheer me up. He would always give me loving gestures and hugs and all that. The only time he’d leave me be is when I requested it, yet he would check in on me every half hour. Such a kind guy.

Elder Kettle, I wish you could read this, however no matter how hard I try you’ll never be able to even catch a glimpse. Even hoping for you to get this would be silly, as we have no way in contact. It's all his fault, and I’m sorry for it. You were the best caretaker one could ever have, and I love you so much. I should’ve never brought myself into Cuphead’s horrible ways. Now I have to sit in here and suffer. I am so, so sorry.

Yet I shouldn’t be apologizing for it, because it’s all of his fault. He brought me here in the first place. He sold my soul, and now look at what he’s done. I hate him. I hate him so much. Kettle, why did you keep us? You should’ve sold us or something. Cuphead was only a spawn, and that’s taking full effect right now. He can’t lose what he doesn’t have.

To whoever is reading this, I bet you’re very confused right now. But it’s okay if you’re confused. I’m here to tell a story. The story of how one person who you trust the most can vanish right from thin air, and turn on you in the most horrible way. I’m here to show you how that one person can bring you the most pain.

It all started with that stupid casino. Now, I’m sure you’ve all heard the story; “Cuphead and his pal, Mugman like to roll the dice. By chance they came upon Devil’s game and gosh they paid the price” etc., etc.. You all know how we sold our souls, fought, and made the Devil cry. Yet it all started as we were getting those contracts.

I don’t even know how Cuphead ended up crossing the tracks. He never let me near them, ever. We were constantly told about how we shouldn’t cross those tracks or deal with the Devil, yet we still managed to get there anyway! So how did it all happen? Curiosity? Rebelling? I actually listened to Kettle and told you to stay away, but you were attracted to the casino like a magnet. Of course, he dragged me with him.

The atmosphere of the whole place made me incredibly uncomfortable, but you looked at me with a strange glint in your eye. You were having so much fun, so who was I to stop you? You always called me a party pooper. I was always the one who would “rain on your parade”. It was always for the greater good, but you never wanted to listen to me. You stubborn jackass. You never knew what was good for yourself.

The day you sold our souls, I thought I’d never forgive you. You are a dirty, greedy, toxic cup. I should have never trusted you. You only care about yourself.

Anyways, when he sold our souls he barely even seemed worried. I kept yelling at him, but he looked at me with such a dull look in his eyes. He seemed careless. He knew we were going to win this, and not just from determination. There was just no possible way of losing to him. He’s a servant. A spawn. Well, I should say he was a spawn. And when I say there was no possible way of losing to him, I meant it. He could simply be brought back to life if someone was with him. If someone was fighting by his side. I was so stupid. If only I knew back then. It hurts me knowing what he is now, but I hate him. I will always hate him, even if I don’t remember what he did.

He didn’t want to leave any potion for me, but I forced him to. I didn’t care how mad I was, I was going to help my brother get out of this mess. This was worse than the time he broke Elder Kettle’s glasses. Repairable at a price. This had a price, yet wasn’t repairable. It could never be repaired. The devil remembers you forever.

Seeing my brother covered in the debtors’ blood was traumatizing. What was once a nice and gentle puppy turned into a blood thirsty dog wanting to kill, that’s how I describe him. He would enter and exit fights blood-covered. It never phased him.

Yet, all he did was smile at me and say “It’s okay!”. It truly wasn’t. This wasn’t okay at all. You were changing, Cuphead. Nothing that day was okay at all. It feels weird saying “day”, but that’s the amount the Devil gave us.

When we beat King Dice, Cuphead didn’t let me proceed. He said that he could deal with the Devil himself. I didn’t approve, yet five minutes later he was back. Being the worried brother I was, I ran up to him.

“Oh my god, Cuphead! Are you alright? Are you hurt?” Further examination showed that he had not even a scratch on him, so I doubted that he actually did anything. Was he coming out to ask for help?

“I’m okay, Mugs.” He seemed paler than normal, and had a somewhat worried look on his face. “He was weaker than I thought.”

“Cuphead, don’t lie to me,” I said, “you look horrible. Something did happen there, and it wasn’t a fight. I know it.”

“I’m fine, Mugman. I told you, I knocked ‘im outta the park. We’re fine.”

“Then what about the contracts?” Cuphead jerked and seemed to hesitate.

“I... Er... Burned them! You know, gotta save them from their unpayable debt!” I just stared at him, raising a non-existent eyebrow as he chuckled nervously.

I had opened my mouth to say something when he interrupted me, saying how we should head back, and tell everyone the good news. He seemed nervous, but I shrugged and turned around, glad to leave this Hell. Literally.

Going through the Isles again made me feel nervous. There was a constant feeling of people watching me, and only me. I looked around self consciously, yet that piercing feeling was always behind me. Cuphead gave me odd looks from time to time, and I figured it was just me being silly. I was so wrong.

Cuphead could feel something watching him too, but he knew what it was. He was expecting the feeling. The Devil was watching over us, mainly him. He wasn’t actually gone. He didn’t actually surrender. They didn’t actually fight. Something had happened there, and it had nothing to do with violence.

We went to Isle 2 to have our big celebration because it was somewhere we could all meet up without much trouble. Once being sure everyone was there, Cuphead started the whole affair.

“You’re all free from the Devil’s debt!” He announced. Everyone started cheering. He looked at me as a signal to add on.

“Oh!” I said, as anxiety kicked in. “And- Er... And that fiend isn’t going to bother us again!” The crowd’s cheering got louder as they started to circle us around, and Cagney Carnation picked us up.

“Three cheers for Cuphead and Mugman!”

“Hip-Hip-Hurrah!”

“Hip-Hip-Hurrah!”

We were smiling at this point, uncontrollably. I looked over at Cuphead, who was looking at me with a large grin across his face. I simply laughed.

As he looked away, I noticed something in his back pocket.

Rolled up pieces of parchment.

Chapter Text

I let myself fall behind Cuphead as we walked back to our cottage. I was staring at those pieces of parchment he had behind him. I slowly approached him and snatched them away from him.

“What in the world are these?!” He turned around confused, but as soon as he saw what was in my hand he went pale.

“O-Oh! Those? Where did you get those from? I’ve never seen those in my life!” He chuckled nervously. He’s such a horrible liar.

“They were in your back pocket, Cuphead.” I stated sternly. I started to open one of them, causing him to shriek out “No!” and reach for it.

“D-Don’t open those!”

"I-... I-...” He was at a loss for words, I could tell.

“Listen, I won’t open them if you tell me what the heck these are.”

“They’re... Um... Our soul contracts! I wanted to uh... Burn- Burn them with you!” He chuckled again.

I quickly opened it up. How stupid does he take me for? Those contracts can only be burned with Hellfire. Our small campfire wouldn’t do anything to them. Plus, there were more than just two of them. I looked over at the contract and my eyes widened.

I saw the signature of King Dice and the Devil, and the golden seal at the bottom. I looked at the rest of them; he still had all of their contracts. I looked up at Cuphead with a pure look of disgust. Why would he do something like that? What kind of monster was he?

“Cuphead, what are these?!” I knew what they were.

“I-I... Eh... Just like I said before! Contracts to burn with you!”

“Cup, I’m not stupid! You and I both know we can’t burn these in the Inkwell Isles! And I’m not going with you back to Hell just to burn these!” I crossed my arms and glared at him, still holding the contracts tight.

Cuphead just stared at me with pure horror, looking back and forth between me and the contracts. He smiled weakly and tried snatching them back, in which I didn’t let him. I gave him a glare.

“What were you planning on doing with these, huh?” I asked, “You don’t care about them, do you? You want them to suffer!”

“Of course I don’t! What has gotten into you, Mugman?”

I snarled at him. “Oh, please! You’re keeping these contracts for a reason! You didn’t even try to fight the Devil, did you?” Cuphead was silent. He kept his focus on me, and was staring me dead in the eyes.

I stared at him back, wondering what his next move would be. His eyes seemed dead and dull, but I could’ve sworn I saw his eyes flash yellow. As I stared at him trying to get a good look at them, he tackled me down on the ground. I was startled for a moment as he hit me, trying to make me lose grip of the contracts. Soon enough, I was fighting back. Kicking, screaming, punching.

“Just hand over the damn contracts!” Cuphead yelled.

“Not until you tell me what you want to do with them!” I yelled back. I felt him hit me above my eye as pain shot through my mug. I yelped as I heard a crack.

I pushed Cuphead off and held my head in pain, and he took this chance to snatch the contracts away from me. I groaned and looked at my hand to be greeted with a crimson splotch across it. He started chuckling slightly while looking at me.

“Isn’t it obvious, Mugs?” He asked, in a teasing tone. “I’m keeping these until they realize they can't have two teens get them out of debt! They need to fend for themselves!”

I looked at him, disgusted, as he smiled innocently and started walking away. If we didn’t live together I would’ve split up with him then and there, but of course I had to follow him. At the time, I just suspected this as unusual behavior. Now, I know this was only the start of his reign.

As I caught up to him, I noticed how sad he looked, :( unsure if it was from our dispute or not. He was stiff as he walked, clenching the contracts in one hand as the other stayed open, swaying back and forth. Despite his big eyes, he didn’t seem to notice me since his head was looking down. He seemed more dull than he was before. I sort of felt bad for him, but as I focused again on the pain he gave me I looked away from him and walked ahead of him.

“Hey! Hey Mugs!” I ignored him and kept on walking. “Mugs! Mugman!”

I heard his footsteps approaching me quickly as he was now in a sprint. He was trying desperately to catch up to me to talk to me.

“Mugman!” He was next to me by now, trying to catch his breath, “I know you’re- huff probably very mad at me, but I just- huff I wanna say I’m sorry. I don’t know what has gotten into me, but I didn’t mean to hit you that hard. Once we get home,” he started reaching for my crack, “I can fix that up for y-”

I cut him off by smacking his hand away. He didn’t mean anything he said, did he? I mean, look at me now. One eye taken away from black magic, with a small horn growing out the side of my mug. That crack he gave me is bigger than ever, and it hurts like hell. Plus, he broke my handle, ripped my straw, cracked so many parts of my body, it hurts. It hurts so much. But all of this pain will be gone so soon, so soon.

After I smacked him, he went silent. I didn’t know if he was offended, understanding, or just mad at me. Mad at me for not falling for his act of caring. I glanced over at him to see his head turned away from me, looking down again. Perhaps this time, it wasn’t an act. But what did I know back then? I thought I could trust him.
As we entered the path of our cottage, Cuphead spoke up again. This time, he grabbed my arm which made me look at him.

“Listen, Mugs,” He started, “If you don’t tell Elder Kettle that I did this to you, I’ll make it up with you for some ice cream!” I still didn’t want to answer him, but I gave him something anyway.

“He’ll know eventually, Cuphead.” I replied. “It could be in my control, it could not. But he’ll know eventually.” He looked crushed, thinking it was a hint that I was gonna tell him no matter what. At least, he probably did. I can’t read minds.

As we approached the cottage, Cuphead went ahead of me and rushed to the door. I guess he wanted to take all the credit for what we did together, and what he didn’t do. He knocked on the door quickly, and shortly after Elder Kettle answered the door.

“Boys!” He exclaimed, beaming proudly at us. “I heard about what you two did on the radio, and I couldn’t be more proud!” Cuphead’s chuckle could be heard.
“Yep! And I couldn’t have done it without Mugs!” He pulled me beside him, causing me to jerk away from him. I was not in the mood to deal with him, and I didn’t want to be touched. He grabbed me again anyway and I felt so uncomfortable. I could see Elder Kettle’s soft smile.

“That’s great, Cuphead.” He glanced at me for a moment before adding, “Cup, let go of your brother. He’s uncomfortable right now.”

Cuphead looked at me before letting me go. He gave me an apologetic smile as I just glared at him. Elder Kettle moved away from the door, gesturing us inside. We both walked in, and I saw Cuphead go towards the kitchen. Of course. He wants something to eat when literally each and every one of those bosses took a minimum of 2 minutes, making it around 40 minutes. We did ALL of that in 40 minutes. Unbelievable.

I tried going upstairs to our room when Elder Kettle called me.

“Mugman? May I ask how you got that crack on your head?” I turned around to look at him, and saw Cuphead behind him. Cuphead was looking at me with a nervous look, but not signaling if I should tell the truth or not. This was my decision, not his. He knew that as much as I did. I paused, thinking about what I should say.

“I got it from fighting the debtors, plain and simple." I answered.

I could see the relief in Cuphead’s eye as I turned around and headed to our room. I don’t know why I did that. I guess I just wanted to “save” my brother.

Yet, he didn’t deserve that.

He didn’t deserve my protection.

Chapter Text

I started heading over to our little box that had some medical things in it. It wasn't first aid, but it had some helpful things and was in case something happened to Cup or I in the night. That, or if Kettle wasn’t here we could access something without struggling for reach with it. I took some bandages out of it and tried wrapping my crack up. It was a bit awkward due to the position it was on my head, but I tried to manage through it.

Cuphead came up, with some toast that had eggs, cheese, onion, whatever else people put on toast. He saw me fiddling around with the bandages and walked over to me.

“Hey, bro,” He started, “need some help?”

I was too uncomfortable to even speak to him, and I feared that if I opened my mouth I would start feeling sick. That always happens when I get uncomfortable or anxious. I stayed silent as I saw in the corner of my eye that he set down his toast and started reaching out to help me.

“Cup don’t-” He started wrapping up my head, almost perfectly. He took a lot less time than I did, and actually knew what he was doing. I stared in shock as he smiled and handed the toast over to me. I looked between him and it, trying to decide whether or not to eat it.

“I know you feel uncomfortable right now, so that experience was probably very. . . Scary for you? But I just thought you needed help, and as a thanks for covering up for me back there, I brought you this!”

“I. . . Thought you made this for yourself.” I admitted, quietly. “But I don’t know if I should eat it.”

“Why? Do you think I poisoned it?” Cuphead burst out laughing. Honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised if he did something like this now, but he doesn’t even offer me food like that. All he gives me is small bowls of rice.

“N-No,” I stuttered. Even talking like that was out of my comfort zone. “If I do, I might throw it up.”

“Ah. Well, just eat it when you’re ready, Mugsy.” Writing out that nickname makes me cringe. “I’ll leave you alone for a bit.”

He left the room. I took a deep breath and got up. He was right. That whole experience was terrifying for me, in the state that I was in. I found my heart facing and my eyes moving all around the room. I needed something to calm myself down before I passed out or something. I ended up grabbing a book, climbing on my bed, and reading until dinner.

It seemed peaceful, just me in that room. It was sunset too, making the aesthetic as pleasing as it could be. Honestly, this was one of the few moments I wish could last forever.

“Mugman!” I heard Elder Kettle call from downstairs, “Come and eat!” I still felt sick, but I went down anyway.

He made us some mac n’ cheese with Kool-aid. These foods were introduced to us not too long ago, the mac n’ cheese introduced in 1937 while the Kool-aid was introduced in the late 20s. Not to get historical or anything.

I sat down next to Cuphead and just stared. Again, I wasn’t hungry, and I wasn’t feeling too well. Looking at it made me sick. Cuphead, on the other hand, was devouring the dish like he was a lion who hasn’t been fed in weeks.

“Slow down, Cuphead,” I started, quietly, “if you keep that pace up it’ll end up coming back up.”

“Say that for yourself.” He replied. “If you keep acting like that then your food will end up coming back up.” He chuckled, but I didn’t find this funny. He always understood when I felt like this, but now he was brushing it off as something that can just be stopped on command.

I heard Elder Kettle’s voice from behind us. “Cuphead! Don’t tease your brother like that! We both don’t want him getting sick, do we?”

“Oh relax, Kettle. He’s fine.” I really wasn’t, but bold assumption I guess.

“Don’t just assume things, Cuphead! Now let him eat!”

“Alright alright! Geez.”

“Um. . . Actually, Kettle,” I started in between them, “I actually don’t feel all too well. Cup’s right, no matter what he does it’ll come back up either way. . .” I felt myself trail off as I looked back at him. He gave me a concerned look.

“Alright, Mugman. Just eat when you feel better, okay?” I nodded in response and made my way back up to my room. This afternoon was going to be a boring one. Not shortly after I got up on our bunk bed, Cuphead came into the room. He seemed dull as he sat on his bed, looking for something. Someone.

"Cuphead?" I asked, "What're you doing?" He looked up with a blank look on his face.

“Mugs,” He started, his voice hollow, “come down here.”

I went down slowly only to feel him squeeze me tight. I hugged him back, hesitantly. He was still embracing me when he spoke, softly.

“I love you, Mugsy.”

“Cuppy? Is something wrong?” He was silent for a moment.

“Goodbye, Mugs.”

“Good. . . Goodbye?” I felt myself trembling. Was he going to do something to himself? Was he trying to tell me something? Well, of course he was. He was going to go back to where he came from. Hell.

“Yes, Mugs,” He replied, “goodbye.”

“Do. . . Do you mean goodnight?” Of course he didn’t, yet he hesitated after I said this.

“Yeah. Goodnight, Mugsy.” He let me go and laid down on his bed.

I felt uneasy with how he was acting. He seemed like he really meant what he said. Like, he truly meant this and he didn’t simply mean goodnight. Writing this now is humorous because, spoiler alert, he did mean goodbye.

But other than me getting sick a few times, that’s how that day ended. I heard Cuphead get into his bed just seconds after I closed my eyes to sleep. I felt uneasy and had the urge to climb down and ask Cuphead for his comfort, but I felt like he’d start to think I was weird. His grasp always seemed to calm me down, and feeling embraced by him was such a comfort.

I tossed and turned for hours until I couldn’t take it anymore.

“Cuppy,” I whined, “can I come down there with you?” I asked.

No response.

“Pleeeaassseeee, Cuppy?” I whined again, with no response again. Usually he’s a heavy sleeper, but after the second time of me whining he’d hear me. I ended up getting down from bed to wake him up.

When I looked over at him, something seemed off. I just thought it was me being paranoid or something.

“Cuppy?” I whisper-shouted this time. Still nothing.

I placed my hands on him to shake him but, again, something felt off. And it wasn’t the sight or anything, it was how he felt. He didn’t feel like a real body, and I couldn’t tell if that head was real because of how dark it was. I slowly wrap my fingers around the tip of his sheets and tear them off of him only to be greeted by a teddy bear, and some clothing of his.

Chapter Text

My eyes widened at the sight of it. Where in the world was he? It wasn’t normal of him to sneak out like this, it wasn’t normal at all! Maybe he was going out to meet someone because, by golly, I knew all of this “we beat the Devil’s ass” thing would be getting into that greedy head of his. He was probably with some chick getting drunk at some bar.

Mind you, we were 17 at the time. It's very illegal to drink at that age, but coming from Cuphead it’s no surprise. He doesn’t even need to be peer pressured into it! Don’t do drugs, kids.

I sighed and slowly climbed into his bed. I don’t feel comfortable with Kettle, but he’s a heavy sleeper anyway and wouldn’t hear me. It wouldn’t matter how close I got to him or if I made any physical contact.

Climbing into his bed and cuddling with one of his stuffies was close enough to the real thing. I couldn’t feel the embrace around me, but his bed still lingered that comforting scent he had that I could already feel myself starting to relax. The first time the whole day. I slowly wrapped my limbs around it, like it truly was Cuphead here with me. My eyes closed slowly as I drifted off to sleep.

~~~~~~

I woke up, completely forgetting about what happened last night. I thought the object in my arms was Cuphead, but I came to the realization it was still his stuffie. I looked around the room, with still no sign of him. He was never the early bird either.

I eventually got out and checked my own bed, still with no result or evidence of Cuphead being in there at all. Maybe he passed out on the couch, drunk. I mean, there was a possibility he didn’t drink but I’ve seen him sneak some booze in his head, thinking no one would see before battles and, hell, even at the casino. Still, he probably passed out somewhere drunk.

I go downstairs to shower and try to peek in the living room and kitchen. I saw nothing, but it was only for a second. I enter our bathroom and start to strip, looking at my body in the mirror we had. In my eyes, I looked horrible. Too fat, too ugly, too imperfect. Wonder how I would look now. Still ugly, still imperfect, only skin and bones. Now I don’t want you guys imagining my nude body, but I’m including this for a reason. Bear with me here.

I turned on the water and hummed in delight as I slowly stepped in and let the warmth rain on my skin. It was a nice relaxation after having to deal with saving people from their own demise and having a horrible rush of anxiety for the rest of the day. I showered like normal, washing myself down and stuff. As I rinsed my body off the water felt nice, getting hotter, hotter. . . Hotter.

I yelped in pain as I felt my arm burning. I yanked it away from the water, but it kept burning, like flames were piercing into my skin. It got horrible to the point I found myself on my knees, agonizing screams escaping my lips. I held my arm tightly as a warm red liquid streamed through my fingers.

I let myself lay as the pain got worse and worse. I was sobbing at this point, wishing for the pain to end. Why wouldn’t it end? More importantly, what the heck happened to my arm? We have no sharp objects in our bathroom that we could just ram ourselves into while in the shower, so what hit me?

As I started to feel light headed, I heard someone banging on the door.

“Mugman!” Elder Kettle screamed from the other side. “Mugman, what’s going on?!” I tried pulling myself out of the tub as he banged.

“Kettle,” I choked a sob, “help me.” My world was spinning the more I pulled myself out of it.

Eventually, I plopped down on the cold floor, blood from my arm still gushing through my fingers. I cried out more, like the helpless little slug I was. I curled up as my world was fading away.

“Kettle,” I said once again that was followed by a shriek, “KETTLE!!!” Everything was black.

I couldn’t hear anything. No banging, no screaming. I rubbed my arm. The pain was gone, but there was still a red residue left on my hand. I looked around, but everything was the same. I was nude, still, and had no idea where the heck I was. I felt uncomfortable.

“Mugman,” A voice said from behind me. I turned around quickly only to be met with the abyss. My heart was pounding fast, and I was breathing heavily. The voice was deep and sounded oddly familiar.

A swarm of yellow eyes start to surround me, all piercing through me.

"Mugman," the voice repeats again. It echoes on and on, almost like each and every eye has its own voice box.

I couldn’t take this. It was too loud, too scary, too overwhelming. I covered my non-existent ears, hoping for all of this to stop. What in the world was happening to me? Why was it happening to me? Why was it me?

I look up only to be greeted with a white silhouette. The identity of it was never revealed, because as it got closer it still remained white as snow. A smile formed on its face.

"Mugman, you are a lost cause." It spoke. "You have no future."

What was this? Some loser who needed a life trying to bring me down? But as horrible as they worded it, they were right. My future was hopeless.

The figure traced its finger over the burn that I had got, making me wince. He made a symbol in the air, revealing a pentagram with a spade in the center.

"You belong in Hell, Mugman." It hissed. “You will be the demon of death. The god of death. Right next to your brother, of course.”

"What?” I felt a lump in my throat. But in all seriousness, why death? “What do you mean god of death?”

“Your future holds you as a powerful monarch. The god of death and wisdom, and the god of greed, and selfishness. Two brothers ruling the Underworld together. Two gods.” I felt a shiver up my spine. “You could be a monarch in Hell, or you could live a normal, boring life. Two roads. Choose wisely.” Since when did this become some cheap fortune telling shit?

The figure faded away. The eyes were gone, but the whispering remained. All I could hear was Cuphead’s name being repeated over and over again. I stood there, wondering what all of that could mean. The god of death, huh? Seems somewhat cool, if you don’t know the suffering required to fulfill the job. Cuphead did something to me to where my suffering is great, and I can’t get out of here. I want to escape, but I guess whatever was talking to me was correct. There were only two roads. I chose the bad end. I didn’t choose wisely.

Spades are supposed to be the wise out of the group, but I certainly wasn’t wise this time. Maybe I truly don’t deserve the title of the spade. The spade should have a different title, someone else. Maybe this was a good thing. The god of death. Suffering. Loss. Oh who am I kidding? But eh, maybe I’ll become an urban legend or something. The whispers of Cuphead’s name got louder and louder. Why were they whispering his name in the first place? We don’t look that much alike, do we? The abyss around me started to fade away. Was I finally getting out of here? I felt myself slowly leaving, and in the last moment of it I looked up finally seeing what the whispers were about.

Cuphead was standing there. He had humongous wings behind him, and he was wearing what looked like some dark gray robes on. He had a red leaf-like headpiece on as well. His eyes were black pools, with a liquid oozing out of his eyes. And he wore a smile on his face. A big, bloody, knife-cut smile.

Chapter Text

“Mugman... MUGMAN!” I shot up in a cold sweat. 

I looked around only to realize I was in my Elder Kettle’s room. I was wrapped up in a blanket, clothed, and on his bed. I noticed Elder Kettle looking at me with worry in his eyes. 

“Elder Kettle?” My voice sounded hoarse. How long was I out for?

I felt myself being embraced tightly, causing me to yelp out. I hesitantly hugged back as he squeezed me tighter. After a moment, he let me go and gave out a sigh of relief. 

“I’m sorry, boy, but you had me worried to my wits end! I heard you yelling in the washroom, and then the second I came in you were out cold! And I saw that your arm was bleeding, so I wrapped it up carefully.” I couldn’t help but smile at how much he cared for me. 

“Thank you, Kettle. I really appreciate it.” I could see his soft smile appear on his face. I embraced him again. It felt calming to me to be in his arms after not feeling any comfort. 

“So,” Kettle hesitated a bit, “what exactly happened, in there?” I looked away and hesitated a bit myself.

“I really don’t know. I was just showering when I felt something burning in my arm. I... I dunno how I...” I trailed off. He patted my shoulder. 

“That’s alright, boy. But by golly, it sure made an interesting mark.” His voice was low. My heart started racing. Don’t tell me that dream wasn’t just a dream. Don’t tell me that was all real and wasn’t some silly vision. 

“M-Mark?” I stuttered. I got up quickly and went over to a mirror he had in his room and looked at my arm. 

I saw my face turn pale. It was the same outline that the figure had traced in the air; a pentagram with a spade in the middle of it. It was blue, with a red tint to it due to blood. I traced it with my finger, like the figure did, and it still made me wince.

I will be the God of Death and Wisdom, I thought, If I were to choose the “path”. But I don’t know what the path would even be! Would I gain popularity? Would I drink something? Would I study how to be immortal? Nope. None of the above. The correct answer was going back to Hell. Being curious about where your brother is. Curiosity kills the cat. 

“Mugman?” Elder Kettle appeared beside me. I jumped, a bit startled. “I’m sorry, boy, but I have something to ask of you.”

I gulped. “Y-Yes, Kettle?” I was stuttering like crazy.

“Did you two really fight the Devil?” My heart dropped. 

“Erm... I... Don’t know, Kettle. I really don’t! Cuphead didn’t let me in there, and then all of a sudden he comes out saying he beat him. I didn’t believe him because he didn’t have any wounds on him, and- and he...” I swallowed hard. “He kept the debtors contracts...” I could see Kettle had a worried look on his face. 

“Oh dear. That doesn’t sound good at all.” He replied. 

“No, it doesn’t! He... He didn’t want to save them at all! He wants them to suffer ! He said that they can’t have two teens save them from their everlasting debt or... Or something... I dunno! And... And-!”

“Mugman! Relax for a bit, my boy.” Elder Kettle put a hand on my shoulder. It wasn’t until then I felt that I was hyperventilating. 

I tried calming myself down, but couldn’t. I kept thinking about what happened the day previous, about the mark, my future, Cuphead. I hugged Elder Kettle tight as tears formed in my eyes. Everything going on right then was so damn scary. Imagine you finding out that your future could be you becoming a God in Hell. 

I wanted to tell Elder Kettle everything that happened in that... Vision that I had, but I was scared to. I didn’t want him to worry about my situation. I didn’t want him to imagine where Cuphead was. I wanted him to believe everything was okay. Everything would be okay. God... I was so stupid . 

I felt tears running down my cheeks. “Kettle, I miss Cuppy.” I choked a sob.

“Miss him? Isn’t he just in youse two’s room asleep?” Oh right. He didn’t know that either. I slowly shook my head.

“Cuppy isn’t here,” I said, quietly. “Y-Yesterday night I wanted him to comfort me but... But he wasn’t in bed... I don’t know where he is, Kettle... If he would have woken me up to tell me something, I-... I would’ve...” I started sobbing. I felt Elder Kettle bend down to my level as his arms wrapped around my body. 

“Don’t worry, Mugs,” Elder Kettle said softly, “Cuphead is probably somewhere just hanging out with Mac or someone else.” 

Oh how I wish that was right, but no. Nothing can go our way. It’s Cup’s way, or no way. 

“Yeah... With Mac...” I repeated, trying to seem hopeful in any way. Kettle smiled at me, but he dropped it when he still saw my frown. 

“Mugman?”

“What happens when you sell your soul?” I asked him. 

He looked at me with wide eyes as I stared at him. I was positive Cuphead did something like that. He looked away from me, clearly nervous about me even bringing it up.

“Well... Uh... Nobody knows for sure,” He started, “however it is said that once you sell your soul, you become a permanent slave for the Devil. You might have your wants at first, but in the end you’re back down in the underground. Whoever sells their soul is a lost cause.”

“Do you think Cuppy sold his soul?” I asked.

“What? Oh heavens, no! Why would you think that, my son?” He asked. I looked down, ashamed, and then heard him sigh. “Listen, Mugman, Cuphead probably just got himself lost. He’s okay, alright? We’ll find him.” 

“Alright.” I said, hesitantly. 

Later that night, I quietly opened the window in my bedroom and climbed on the roof. I sat down and stared into the night sky. The soft moon light shone down from below, making the Isle seem to be asleep. The moon was full and showing its beautiful side that we see. The sky looked like an inky black abyss, that had small little piercings of light shining through it. Almost like little piercing eyes looking at you...

I looked back on a memory I had of Cuphead and I on the roof here. He was the reason I found this such a comfort when things were tough. It was years ago, but it’s something I’ll never forget. We were both 10 at the time.

“Come on, Mugs!” he whisper-shouted. “You can trust me!” 

“But, Cuppy,” I whined back, “I don’t want to get hurt!” 

“Oh, banana oil! You won’t get hurt if you’re careful enough!” Funny, that’s something he would never say to me. 

I slowly stepped out of the window and went onto the shelf. I turned myself around only to be greeted with Cuphead’s hand. I grabbed it and allowed him to help me up. I felt terrified. What if Kettle found us up here? Would we be grounded? What if he thought we were missing and we would worry him over nothing? What if the roof just collapsed, shattering us all?

I stepped on the roof for the first time and looked around. The view was amazing from here! Cuphead went over and slowly laid down. He patted beside him, gesturing to me to lay with him. He must’ve sensed my fear because a few moments after I laid down, I felt his arms wrap around my body. His head clinked against mine as we stared up at the sky.

“Isn’t it amazing, Mugsy?” He asked. I nodded in response, causing him to look at me and smile. “See? I told you you could trust me!” 

“Yeah.” I replied, “Sorry I ever doubted you, Cuphead.”

“Mugs, no. Don’t be sorry. I get why you would be scared of something like this.” He was always this understanding for me, even at this age. 

“But I should’ve trusted you in the first place. I should always trust you!” Ironic.

“Just don’t worry about it, Mugs. Enjoy the view.” Cuphead seemed even more relaxed than he was on a daily basis.

“But-” I felt his finger go over my lips, indicating to me to shush. 

We spent the rest of the night stargazing under the beautiful moonlight. It wasn’t until we started getting tired when we headed back to our room to sleep. That night would be one that was special to both me, and Cuphead. 

I sighed as I recalled this memory. Times were so peaceful years ago. Right now? I have a huge crack, still from the day we saved the Isles, small horns growing out of my mug, he ripped my straw, he’s torturing me, and now he’s treating me like nothing ever happened! How the little things change. 

I caught myself drifting off, and slowly made my way back into my room. I crawled into Cuphead’s bed again and grabbed his stuffie. I snuggled in and drifted off with a sense of comfort.

Chapter Text

Alright, it seems I’ve gotten the introduction down. That’s all you guys should know in good detail. I’ll give a little summary about what happened later before this part I’m going to inform you about took place. But first, a little explanation.

I am now going to transition to how I exactly got here, and what that horrible Cuphead ended up doing to me, and forcing me to do. That’s probably what you all have been waiting for anyways, huh? You want to know about my suffering all for being a god. You want to know how the God of Death and Wisdom was forced into his position.

Alright, now on with what happened after my little memory on the rooftop.

A year passed. One whole year of me searching for Cuphead and failing miserably. Everytime I would come home with no luck, Elder Kettle would get more and more worried for both me and him. He didn’t have any contact with one of his children, and he knew how close the one he had was with him. He knew how we couldn’t bare be seperated. We were twins who were constantly glued to each other.

I never gave up on searching, but the day that killed me was me and Cup’s birthday. My birthday. And that is where we start the real story.

I groaned as I slowly sat up on my bed. I looked around the room, trying to estimate what time it was. The sun was shining through the curtains leaving a yellow-orange tint in the room, so I imagined it to be around 9-10 AM. I got down slowly, checking Cuphead’s bed to see if he would just magically appear in there, which he never did.

I made my way down the stairs, not caring how I looked, and made my way to the door. On a clothes rack we had, I grabbed and put on my blue jacket I had. I hesitated as I put my hand on the knob.

“Elder Kettle!” I called out. “I’m heading out!”

“W- Wait! Mugman!” He called back.

I stepped away from the door. “Yes, Elder Kettle?”

“Stay here for a little bit. I have something for you.”

I sighed. I appreciated that he did something for me, but I couldn’t just stand around! Today could finally be the day that I find Cuphead! That’s what I thought everyday. I walked towards our kitchen table and sat down. I rested my head on my hand as I waited for Elder Kettle to come out with whatever he was doing.

“Alright!” He exclaimed after a bit. “You ready, Mugman?”

“Ready when you are, Kettle.” I said, trying to sound enthusiastic.

He walked in the room with a cake and a box. A present. The cake had candles in the shape of a 1 and an 8. One was a light red, while the other was a baby blue. My eyes widened at the sight of it. I couldn’t believe I forgot it was our birthday! Or... My birthday. Elder Kettle gave me a kind smile.

“Oh my goodness, Kettle!” I exclaimed, “You didn’t have to do all this!”

“Yes I did.” He replied calmly. “I’m not missing my two boys’ birthdays! Except, er... We don’t know where one is...”

I stared at him for a while, but eventually sighed and got up. Elder Kettle looked at me, confused.

“Kettle, I... I’m sorry, but I can’t accept this! I have to search for Cuphead! Today could be the one day that I find him! And if that’s the case, I don’t want to waste any time missing him!” I said.

“But... But what if you still don’t succeed, boy?” Kettle’s voice was genuinely concerned.

“Then... I’ll come home, and we can celebrate this. Together. Forgetting everything that’s happening right now, all for a chance to be happy for once! Alright?”

“Alright... But can you at least get your gift...?” He pushed the present towards me. I sighed again.

“If it’ll make you happy, I will.” I took the box out of his hands gently.

I saw him smile as I gently opened it. The box itself was just a simple one with a lid that could easily be popped off. It was only made to look like it was carefully wrapped. I gasped in shock as I saw the contents of the box.

It was a book on how to do dark arts and black magic. Now, you guys might laugh and think this is dumb or something, but I’ve always wanted to do this kind of stuff! You know, so I could know how to do something else rather than shoot something out of my fingertip, and I could be useful to others! Well, it turns out in the end I never really needed that stupid book.

“Oh my goodness!” I exclaimed. I rushed over to Elder Kettle and hugged him tightly. “Thank you, Kettle! Thank you so much!”

“You’re welcome, my boy.” Elder Kettle chuckled a little. “You can go look for Cuphead now. Just don’t come back home too late.”

“Yes, Kettle. Thank you.” I kissed him on the cheek and rushed back to the door, full of energy I’ve never had in months. “I love you!”

“I love you too, boy.” Elder Kettle smiled.

I rushed out the door and ran through our path, entering Isle one. Over at the bridge, I saw Mac standing looking over the edge at the water.

“Hey, Mac!” I greeted, running over to him.

“Hello, Mugman.” He said.

I bent over the edge, looking where he was looking as well.

“What’re you doing?” I asked.

“Nothin’. Just thinking.”

“Ah. Well, have you-”

“No, I have not seen Cups around.”

“Oh... Well, thanks anyways.” I got away from the edge and waved to him.

I started running past Isle One, seeing if anyone else had seen him. The fish gal by the mausoleum didn’t see him, Goopy didn’t see him, the Root Pack didn’t, Hilda didn’t, Cagney didn’t (and I think he’s finally starting to get extremely annoyed with me), and Ribby and Croaks didn’t. He didn’t seem to be anywhere else either. Well, that’s one Isle down. Two more to go before I go home, I thought. Like always.

At this point, it was like all I had to do was ask the debtors and then look around everywhere else. Some could say I didn’t look good enough, but it didn’t matter anyway, did it? I found him nonetheless, didn’t I? And speaking of the debtors, they’re still in debt. The contracts were never burnt.

Isle two was just like Isle one, so I went to the next. None of the debtors had anything, until I reached Cala Maria.

“Hey, Cala!” I called out to her. She turned around and gasped, I was confused at first.

“Mugman! Thank goodness you’re here!” She exclaimed.

“Huh? What do you mean?” I asked. I was here to ask her the same thing that I had been for the past year.

“I saw Cuphead!” She said, making my eyes widen. “It looks like he is waiting by the train tracks! Look, look!” She pointed over towards the train tracks.

I couldn’t believe my eyes. It was Cuphead! He was sitting down with his head hung low. Almost like his attention was glued to the ground, because I could tell he wasn’t lifeless. Maybe he was just tired after all of this? Maybe he was tired after where he was?

“I would’ve gotten him for you and watched him, but I can’t get up there.” Cala said, sounding guilty.

“Oh, no! It’s alright! Thank you so much, Cala! Thank you!”

“Of course. I’ve been keeping an eye out for him ever since you were looking for him.” She smiled her sweet little smile.

“I’m gonna go get him! Bye, Cala! Thanks again!” I said and turned around. As I was running back I stopped and turned my head towards her. “Hey, wanna hang out sometime soon?” I called out to her.

“Sure!”

I gave her a thumbs up and ran towards the tracks. Honestly, I’ve always liked Cala. I don’t know if she only saw me as a friend but, you know. It was nice being with her nonetheless. I wish I could see her now.

I made it to the train tracks and stopped. Cuphead wasn’t anywhere to be seen! My heart dropped as I looked around, stepping over the tracks. There wasn’t even a trace of him. Was this all some trick? I felt myself tear up.

I noticed Cala watching me, so I looked down at her. The tracks were on a cliff, so it made her look extremely small. It was funny, considering how big she was. I tried making the gesture of “Do you know where he went?” and she simply shook her head. I looked away and dropped on my knees.

I felt devastated. I felt tricked. I felt silly. All of this was some prank, wasn’t it? A prank I was gullible enough to fall for. I bet someone just simply dressed up as Cuphead and told Cala to trick me.

I was hyperventilating and I felt like I was going to black out any second. I couldn’t take this. Where the hell was that stupid cup?! Why? Why was this happening to me? Why did Cup have to be taken away? Why, why, why?!

I had a feeling I was being watched. I looked over to where Cala was, expecting her to be laughing or something, but she wasn’t there. I looked in the opposite direction. Nothing. Behind me? No. I was stupid for not checking in front of me first. In front of me laid the entrance to Inkwell Hell, and as I did I had figured out where the presence was coming from.

“Cuphead...?”

Chapter Text

I couldn’t believe my eyes! It was him! It was actually him!

At least, that’s what I thought. He looked off to me. His eyes were pupil-less, it looked like he was wearing his same clothes but now he had a heart in the middle of his chest? And he had a blue glow around him.

I stepped closer to him slowly. “Cuphead, is that really you?” I asked.

He simply smiled at me and went down into the entrance of Inkwell Hell. My eyes widened and I went to run after him. I didn’t like the idea of going back to Hell, but if Cuphead was going to do this, I would too. I just wanted to see my brother.

“C-Cuphead, wait!” I yelled after him.

The deeper I went into Hell, I realized he was nowhere to be found. I looked around a lot, wondering where he could’ve gone. Why the hell was he running from me? Didn’t he care about our family? Didn’t he care about me?

“Cuphead!” I yelled, starting to tear up. “Cuphead, where did you go?”

I walked deeper and deeper into Hell. I hated it. I hated it so much. The atmosphere made me so damn uncomfortable, and I felt like I would get snatched by a demon any second.

I felt my voice breaking as I called and called for him with no luck. I eventually collapsed, sobbing on my knees.

“C-Cuppy... Why are you running away from me... ?” I asked, shaking. "I ju-st... W-Wanna be with y-you again..." Top 15 words said before disaster.

I felt so weak. Today was the day we- I was an adult, and I was acting like a child. A damn baby. But, I did have cracks in my heart. Ones that were bigger than the one in my mug. Huge ones I thought were about to be fixed. They weren’t. I have a heart of stone now, and it’s all his fault.

I felt the presence of being watched again, and looked up. My eyes widened at what I saw. The Devil’s casino, but something about it seemed off, and I didn’t know what it was. Also, if you guys think that I must be pretty blind for not noticing things in front of me sooner, I wouldn’t blame you. The casino is fucking huge and I still didn’t see it until I felt the presence. However, it felt like it appeared out of thin air.

I gulped in fear and slowly made my way up the casino steps. At the entrance, I was met up with a familiar dice. King Dice. But instead of his smug and jolly look, he seemed dull. And to top it all off, he had bruises and cuts all over him and seemed to fidget and shake.

“Mr. Dice?” I asked. “What’re you doing out here?”

“Mug-face?!” He exclaimed. “What am I doing- No, what are you doing here? Aren’t you too young and... ‘Pure’ for a casino like this?”

“No, sir. I’m actually allowed in the casino as of today. Pure might be an overstatement... But I’m looking for my brother. I saw him run down the entrance to Hell, so now that I’m here, have you seen him?”

King Dice hesitated for a moment before answering me. “You wanna see boss...?”

“H-Huh?!” I thought he meant Lucifer himself, so there’s that. “No! I want to see Cuphead! Cup-face?”

He stayed silent and his expression was blank. He opened up the casino’s doors, letting me inside. As I entered, I immediately smelt the fume of alcohol and cigar smoke, and it almost made me sick on the spot from both anxiety and disgust.

In the casino, there were varieties of people starting from skeletons, going to immortal demons. Some were oddly cute, while others were terrifying. That’s how it is here now-a-days too. One time though, there was this drunk skeleton pressuring me with having a, and I quote, “bad time”, and saying so much nonsense. Some folks are weird here, but this is a casino. In Hell.

“Are you going to come with me to see the boss, or examine this place like a museum?” King Dice murmured to me. I snapped out of my trance.

“Yes, Mr. King Dice, sir. Sorry...” I felt tense.

I fell behind him as he led me into the back of the casino. It all felt so off... Why did I feel like I was teleported? Why was Dice not like himself? Why was he so badly injured? Why was he so... Emotionless? Why was he taking me to his “boss”? Why did he even allow me to come without an ID?

“Right this way, other boss.” King Dice spoke, gesturing me to an elevator that was located more towards the back of the casino.

Other... Boss? Okay, this was weird. I mean it was already weird, but this was weird-er.

“Dice, you don’t have to treat me like this... You can just refer to me by my name.” I told him as we were in the elevator, heading to the pits of Hell. Dice paused before answering me.

“You’re just like your brother, aren’t you? You’re just like him...” He trailed off.

“What do you mean, Mr. King Dice, sir?” I asked.

“You’ll see.”

That elevator ride was surely an awkward one. I felt incredibly uncomfortable, and it seemed like he did too. King Dice was always the one who was talkative and confident, but it seemed like that outer shell of him was broken by something. By someone.

My anxiety started coming to me, my heart racing faster and faster. I felt dizzy and sick. King Dice looked over at me and seemed to notice because, well, when I’m anxious and can’t help but make it very obvious. And listen, it’s out of my control. I’m no attention seeker.

“You don’t need to worry, Mugman,” He started, “The boss isn’t mad at you. He wants you.”

“That... Doesn’t make me feel any better...” I mumbled. He looked away as the doors to the elevator opened.

We walked down the corridors of Hell. Screaming could be heard as the smell of smoke filled the arena and souls were being tortured and burned by others. Hell was an unsettling place indeed. A soul flopped down in front of us, blocking our path. It was on fire, screaming in pain.

“HELP ME! PLEASE! IT HURTS!” It yelled out to us. “SAVE ME! PLEASE!” Those were its last words before another soul dragged it back to the abyss. I felt myself shiver as I heard its blood-curdling screams.

The screams of pain turned into an eerie silence, and let me tell you, the silence was loud. The only thing in Hell that remained was some pillars, and a chair that was turned so its back was facing Dice and I. My heart raced as I noticed the huge horns sticking out of the chair, knowing that the ruler of the Underworld would be sitting right there. Connected to the pillars were previous slaughters the Devil had caused in history.

“Er, Mister Dice?” I quietly started, “Is it too late to turn back?”

King Dice answered my question with a blank look on his face. It was too late to turn back. It was way too late, dumbass.

We were nearing the end of this lane, and the throne was getting closer and closer. I started shaking with pure fear, which eventually caused me to stop in place. I was frozen in terror, what can I say? King Dice kept walking closer to the throne.

“Boss, it’s your... Number 1... Here.” He seemed to cringe as he said that. “I have found him. I have brought you the mortal you have been looking for.”

The Devil was looking for me?! Why would he be looking for me?! Was he going to use me to get Cuphead? Or was I truly a sinner after all?

“The mug...? You... You found Mugs...?” The voice didn’t sound like the Devil’s, but was still very familiar. I just couldn’t lay my finger on it.

“Yes, boss. I’ve got him for you.” King Dice answered.

The chair spun around, revealing a figure that wasn’t the Devil (shocker, I know). It was a light gray ceramic cup that had huge wings that were black.

He had a dark gray robe on and red bandages wrapped around He seemed to like that color scheme. His left iris was a normal shape but with a small red diamond pupil to go with it. His other eye was just a diamond-shaped iris, and that was it.

“You’re kidding me, right? You’re just pulling my leg?” The devilish figure didn’t seem to notice that I was standing right there.

“I don’t know, boss,” King Dice answered, “why don’t you see for yourself?” He gestured towards me.

I watched in pure fear as his eyes trailed in my direction, seemingly shocked. It was like he’s been looking for me for a while, with no success.

The cup stood up from his throne, and let me say he was very tall. Taller than Cuphead was. He slowly approached me, with the curiosity of a cat. He reached his clawed hand out but quickly swiped it back, as if I were a lava source.

“He doesn’t bite, boss.” I heard King Dice behind him say, teasingly. The figure snapped at him with a sort of bark-roar? It was a noise. Let’s just say that.

I took a step back, and I saw the figure look at me with a confused look.

“Who... Who are you?!” I asked, terrified. “What do you want with me?!”

“You... Don’t remember me?” Whoever this was was very confused. “I... I thought it would be obvious to you...” He turned around, his back facing me.

He slowly walked back and sat on his throne, clearly upset. My heart was beating out of my chest. I turned around and tried to flee the place, but a barrier was set up locking me in. I looked back at the figure to see he was performing some sort of black magic for the barrier, that I couldn’t help but admire.

“You aren’t going anywhere, Mugman!” The figure said, “I just got you back! You already wanna leave me?! How much do you fucking hate me, Mugs?!”

“I don’t know who you are! You’re scaring me!” I yelled back.

He stretched out another hand, and I felt myself being dragged over in his direction uncontrollably.

“I’ve been looking for you for so long and you don’t even remember your own brother!” He boomed at me.

“... Brother...?” I was in awe. “C-Cuphead...?”

It seemed to me that both Cuphead and I had the same goal this past year. We wanted to find our missing piece

Chapter Text

“Yes! Yes it’s me!” Cuphead yelled at me, “I know, I’m a hideous monstrosity now, but you should still know who the hell I am!”

“Cuphead, please st-stop yelling at me...” I stuttered, “I-It’s making me feel anxious...”

He stared at me strictly before pulling me into a tight embrace. It felt like my spine was being crushed, but I kinda felt calm in his arms. I heard quiet sobs coming from him and looked over at him, worriedly.

“I’m sorry, Mugsy,” He uttered, “I just missed you so much, and... And I just wanted to see you, and... And-”

“Cuppy, calm down!” I said, rubbing his back. “It’s okay!”

“I know, but...” He trailed off, and then laughed slightly, “I’m just happy you’re okay.”

“Okay? What do you mean? I was spending all this time looking for you!”

“I know I’m supposed to be the tough one, but do you know how nerve-racking it was for me thinking you were just going to... Y’know... End up here one day... Still young and...”

“Cup, I would spend all the time I had left in the world looking for you before I would even think of committing suicide!” 

Cuphead smiled at me, tears in his eyes. I hugged him tightly, as a reassurance of things being okay and we’re almost done with this dark shade in our life. I missed him, I missed him so much. And now? I don’t even know if that’s even him, and it upsets me. I want to kill myself.

As we let go of each other, I slowly started to take in everything that was going on, everything that happened in the past, and my atmosphere. I had questions, and felt like if anyone were to have the slightest chance of answering them, it would be him. 

“Cuphead... What happened to you?” I asked, returning to a more worried and gloomy mood. He frowned at this.

“Honestly, I don’t know if I could even tell you... But let’s just say the Devil wanted to get rid of all his sin...” Cuphead answered, hesitantly. 

He seemed to notice something on the top of my head and reached out. I felt his finger slide across the brim of my head. He stopped it when he felt his finger go down, and then started to trace the crack that I had gotten as of a year ago. I shivered and winced. 

“What happened, Mugsy? What’s with this chip?” He asked.

I simply stared at him, an even more worried look on my face. He looked at me with pure confusion and then came to the realization. His face was paler than a ghost’s.

“Oh my goodness! I’m... I’m so sorry, Mugs! I thought it would heal! I- I never meant to hit you! I don’t know what I was thinking! I’m a horrible brother! I-”

“Cuphead! You’re rambling!” Cuphead looked at me, sadly.

“Sorry! Sorry... I just-”

“It was in the past, Cuphead... It’s okay...” 

Cuphead looked to the side, looking ashamed. How could he forget something like that, though? I would think that was something that you could never forget. That showed that he really didn’t care about the situation, or about me. 

He looked at my crack again and kissed it, giving me a warm feeling of security. I felt myself smile at him from the love. No, this isn’t incest you sick fucks, it’s brotherly love. Grow up.

“So... What made you come here? I’ve been watching over you, but I didn’t know what would even convince you to step into Hell. “ Cuphead asked me. 

“Well, funny you ask that...” I chuckled slightly, “I was desperate to get you back and I saw you in the entrance, across the train tracks. So I followed you in...”

He looked surprised and then looked back at Dice. 

“It worked...!” He said in uttermost surprise. 

King Dice gave him a slight smile, looking sad, and then frowned again. Cuphead looked over at me with a huge grin on his face.

“So why don’t I give you a tour of this place?” He asked. “It’s sorta like heaven for being in Hell! And with you here that makes it even better!” 

“Wait... What? No, Cuphead! We have to go back to the cottage with Elder Kettle!” I told him. “Do you know how much he’d love to see his two boys again?”

“Yeah, one of his boys, and then a demon. He’d be so eager to see that his son is a demon.” He frowned.

I looked down, sadly, but looked back up again. “If he really is our caretaker, he should love you no matter what.”

“Whatever you say... But I can’t stay there. I have a place down here now. A lot of things happened while you were gone...”

“I can see that.”

Cuphead seemed to hesitate, making me worry I said the wrong thing. He seemed insecure about his appearance, and I only reminded him. For someone with anxiety and self-consciousness, I shouldn’t have pointed out that stuff. But what did I do? Point it out. Kids, don’t use me as a role model.

After a long and awkward silence, Cuphead broke it by saying “I don’t want to go to the cottage yet... But could you stay with me here? It’s been so lonely here... And now that I know you have a way down here and know I’m here...” 

“Alright, Cuppy. I’ll stay with you for a bit. But... Wouldn’t Elder Kettle get worried?”

“Black magic, baby.” Cuphead said in a teasing tone, “I’ll send him a mental note that you’re okay.” 

At this point, I couldn’t help but absolutely admire Cuphead. He knew the dark arts, and that was pretty dang cool if you ask me. Maybe instead of what Kettle got me, I could study from the source. 

I smiled softly, “It’s so cool that you know how to work with that stuff, Cuphead.”

“Yeah, it’s pretty useful sometimes,” he remarked, “and it’s a strong power to hold. Any mortal would have the chance to butcher this power, which is why fate has to choose wisely.”

“... What?”

“Eh, it’s something you have to obtain to understand, I guess.” Cuphead started messing around with his long claws. “Not to mention all of the weird side-effects you get with it, like visions.”

“Visions? Wait, I- I could’ve sworn I saw you in a vision-dream thing!” I said.

“Really? What was it like?”

I started describing the dream that I had to him. Mentioning everything from the voices, to the eyes, the figure, and then finally, to him. I mentioned every crisp detail that I saw to him that I could grasp on. My memory at the time was a bit fuzzy, so I didn’t mention everything that was actually there. Demons remember everything, so I was able to tell you guys. 

He stared at me with wide eyes, and then looked at Dice again. 

“Is there a meaning behind that, Cuphead?” I asked.

“Mugman, all I can inform you about is that you have two paths, like the figure told you. You stay with me or you go home.” 

“... Can I do both?”

“No. One or the other would happen nonetheless. And I can already see something for your future. Something unsettling.” As he was saying this, a slight smile formed on his face. He quickly stopped himself, trying to hide the fact that whatever this unsettling event was, he wanted it to happen. It was all a trick.

I looked at him worriedly because all of this talk was really doing something to my anxiety. He noticed this and added on,

“ But you’ll be fine. You’ve been through worse.” 

He had a snarky attitude within him, seeming to not even care about me sometimes. It seemed to me that he had developed something within himself ever since this whole situation happened. But was it something that was out of his control or not?

“Do you wanna stay the night, Mugs?”

“I mean, you already made everything good with Kettle and wanted to show me around so... Sure.”

Chapter Text

Cuphead proceeded to show me around the place that he’s been in for the past year. Some of it gave me a creepy vibe, yet some had a nostalgic look to it. Sometimes when he would be showing a room to me, he would snap at some demons that seemed to be his pets to get off the furniture, out the room, etc.. After a while, he ordered Dice to clean up a “special room”, leading me to being curious. 

“See, Mugs?” Cuphead started after a while, “It isn’t too bad for being Hell, eh?”

“Not at all.” I admitted. “Part of it seems really nice.” 

And then he smiled at me. A smile so warm, soft, sweet, and gentle that it filled me up with so much joy. But this was all just bait. He’s a bipolar, unfair, abusive monster. Both mentally and physically. Not to mention he’s also abusing his power that he has. A god shouldn’t abuse their power. A god should be fair to all. 

Why the hell were we supposed to be gods anyways? Like... Us? Some stupid little cup teens (now adults, but y’know... At the time...)? Is it because of our “rEmArKaBlE mAgIcAl aBiLiTiEs”? That doesn’t make people gods! Or... Does it? We were very powerful... We could come back to life... No one could stop us... Holy shit... We are gods! Or at least the stereotype for them. This was our destiny all along... And I must say I’m not complaining. I am a god, and no one can prove me otherwise! Maybe all of this suffering was actually worth it... I can get rid of that good for nothing cup... My “brother”...

“Erm... Boss?” King Dice’s voice appeared behind him.

Cuphead didn’t turn around, but his smile had dropped and he seemed annoyed. “What, Dice?”

“The room is... Um... The room is finished...” He mumbled.

“Oh, great timing, Dice!” Cuphead was filled with delight again. “Come, Mugman! Let me show you!” He grabbed my hand and led me in the direction of the room.

“Oh- Okay!” I said, a bit surprised. 

He led me to the room that he ordered Dice to clean. He put his hand on the knob, gave me a smile, and opened it up. The contents of the room reminded me of everything about our actual room, but if you unmerged Cup’s aspects from it giving me my own room. I felt my jaw drop. 

“I-... What-... How???” I was at a loss for words.

“A liitttllleeeeee... Black magic perhaps?” He grinned.

“Oh come on, Cuppy! You can’t use that for everything!”

“Well, this time it’s true.”

Therefore, he never sent the mindset to Kettle. He was worried the whole time. Cuphead never took care of that. That power was out of his control because he’s a god of greed, not wisdom. That power would later be inherited by me, not him. He just wanted to seem cool. 

I gave Cuphead a big hug, which he seemed to be startled by. 

“I love you, Cuphead. You’re the best brother ever.” Don’t know why I said this. He just gave me a room but y’know past me, grateful for everything as he should be. Now, they’re grateful for nothing.

“Yeah yeah... Just the best.” He seemed to cringe, with a bit of a guilty pleasure. “Do you need anything?”

“No, not at the moment.” I replied.

“Alright, you need something, I’m right over there.” He pointed to another door in the hallway. “Feel free to roam around the place.” I nodded and watched as he set off.

I figured I would just stay in the room because of the fear of getting lost, so I did just that. I couldn’t tell what time it was hence no sky in Hell, and no sense of time in general. I still don’t know how long I’ve been down here for. Years? Months? Weeks? A millennium? I can’t tell you. 

I guess you can count how many times I’ve gone to sleep, but I can't count now. I would be giving you guys inaccurate information. Just settle on the fact I’ve been down here to the point I’m going nuts, and immortality is finally settling in.

I went inside and looked around the room for a bit. Cuphead seemed to be generous enough to give me some books and a radio. I turned it on and opened a book that was completely new to me. 

Little did I know that I was like a mouse. A mouse craving for something, and finally coming across it. Coming across it in a trap. I was so damn ignorant, it’s amazing. I’m not like that now. I know all of Cuphead’s dirty tricks. I know all of his lies. I know it all. 

The night kinda went by slowly, with Cuphead coming in to check up on me every now and then. He would ask questions like “Hey, are you okay?” or “Are you hungry?”. I would always answer with shaking my head or a “no” because I really didn’t want anything. I felt fine and secure. Wasn’t hungry or anything either. 

Eventually, since there wasn’t any sense of time, I just went to sleep when I felt tired. And it’s handy that your body makes a sleep schedule, because that means I went to sleep no later than usual.

The bed was honestly more comfortable than I imagined. This is Hell, not Heaven. So why did it feel like paradise? Well, I know the answer now. Cuphead wanted me to stay down there with him. He doesn’t want anyone else to be with me. He wants his precious brother to himself. He’s the god of greed .

As I lay down, I imagined how Elder Kettle would react when I brought Cuphead back. Both the good and the bad. If it was good, he would be happy that he was back, demon or not. If it was bad however, he would get on and on about his religion talk and how we made a great mistake with gambling with Satan and how we won’t be forgiven for our sins, and blah blah blah. Ew, religion.

I guess you could say I’m a part of religion, because not everyone believes in gods. That would be unwillingly however. Anyways, let me change the subject before the Christians get mad. 

I prepared myself for the day that was to come. I felt an anxious-happy. Like, you know when you’re excited and happy for something, but at the same time you feel anxious for it? That’s how I felt at that moment. And because of the excitement, I would try dozing off but no matter how tired I was, I would shoot awake.

“Alright, this is it!” I said to myself, quietly. “Tomorrow, all of this searching will be worth it, and Cuphead will finally be with us again!” 

I smiled softly and finally dozed off, excited for the horrible, horrible day that was to come.

Chapter Text

“Mugman,” A harsh voice whispered, “Mugman, wake up!”

My eyes slowly opened as I felt a bright light shining upon me. I was still in the room that Cuphead had given me, except everything was pitch black and the only thing illuminating everything was a figure on top of me. My eyes were in a blur and I shut them tightly again from the sudden brightness. 

After blinking a few times, I came to the realization that the figure was... Cuphead? Oh boy, what fresh new Hell awaits for me in the figments of my imagination. It had his iconic face; big eyes, red nose and striped straw, but something about him was still off. It was basically like the figure I saw before at the entrance to Hell. The Cuphead that Cala saw. I shrieked and bolted up, trying to get away from the thing.

“ Shh! ” ...Did this thing just shush me? “Mugman, you gotta calm down!” 

I was at a loss for words, hyperventilating from anxiety and fear. I backed up, crushing my back against the head of the bed. Cuphead only got closer and closer to me.

“Get away from me!” I yelled.

“Mugman, you gotta calm down! It’s just me!” He held my hand and smiled at me. 

“Wh-What...?” 

“Listen, I can’t do this for too long before he notices me but, you gotta run out of here before you still can, Mugsy. I can’t stay myself for much longer, he keeps fighting it!”

“...‘He’?” I asked, confused.

“Listen, I don’t know if I can tell you or not about him. Hell, I don’t know much about him myself... But just get out of here! While you still can!” 

“Why? Why the hell should I listen to something that isn’t even real?” 

His face dropped and he looked devastated. I stared at him, starting to get really angry at him. He was nothing but a hallucination. I refuse to believe he was real. I refuse to believe he is real. 

“Mugman, you don’t remember seeing me like this?” He asked. “You don’t remember parrying me over and over? I am the soul of Cuphead.”

I glared at him. “If you really were his soul, you would’ve been gone by now!”

“Well, actually due to everything that happened to me and my place, I would be attracted to here. Therefore-”

“Blah blah blah, I don’t care! Just get out of here and stop trying to convince me to run away from my brother who I’ve been looking for for the past year!” I yelled, tears forming in my eyes. Cuphead looked at me worriedly and then sighed.

“I’ve been looking for you too, Mugsy... I wanted to warn you... But if you want to do this, then so be it... I guess I can’t convince you otherwise.” 

“Get out! Get out of my head!” 

His legs formed into a ghost tail, as he flew off to the door, illuminating everything. Before exiting, he looked at me.

“Goodbye, I guess...” He flew out, literally going through the door. 

I sighed and hugged my knees against my chest. Day one in Hell and I’ve already gone coo-coo crazy. I guess it was normal for me at this point, y’know, seeing random things because of Cuphead leaving. Having creepy nightmares since he left. As terrifying as they were, it wasn’t a surprise to experience one. 

This one time I had this nightmare that Cuphead was shattered into little pieces, with no chance of recovery. He didn’t have a soul to parry, it was that bad. I was holding his limp body, shaking from fear. It was all the Devil’s fault. He was the one that shattered him. And when I woke up, I found my face wet with tears. As much as I never liked doing this, I went into Elder Kettle’s room and woke him up to tell him about it. That’s how bad that nightmare was. Sometimes I wonder if those were meant to tell me something about the real world, but that’s silly. 

So after all of this, I simply went back to sleep after calming myself down. I don’t want to end this off here, so I guess I’ll explain a bit about that figure I saw.

He claims that he is the soul of Cuphead, but I don’t want to believe it. He wants me to believe it though, so he keeps showing up and “hanging out” with me. Honestly, I should’ve listened to him when he told me to leave, because that was the only time he was correct about something. 

And even after all the times I’ve seen him, I don’t know who he’s supposed to be. Is he really Cuphead’s soul? Tch, no. That’s stupid to even think about. Perhaps he’s like a little shoulder demon that won’t leave me alone. He’s pretty touchy too, and doesn’t really know much about personal space, but half the time I can’t even feel him. I either sense his presence or see his glow. 

He sure is hell of a hallucination if I do say so myself. He almost feels real sometimes, and it’s creepy. But I refuse to believe everything he says. I refused to believe it since day one. He’s not my brother. My brother isn’t that caring for me, and he never was. 

Also, remember when Cuphead mentioned that he might not be able to say who “he” is? Well, just recently he told me, saying “heck, it’s not worth keeping it from you anymore.”

“He” as in the person separated from “Cuphead’s soul” is something that no one would ever even think about. Satan had given Cuphead all of his qualities because he just. . . Saw potential in him? Didn’t want to be the ruler? Wanted to revert back to an angel? All of the above? Hell do we know. And yes, “we”, because I’m actually quite interested in this story he has to tell.

Anyways, Satan gave all of his sin to Cuphead, leaving his personality, traits, etc. behind. “Cuphead” said that he had no choice in this, because what I’m dealing with now was choice A, and selling his soul was choice B. Kinda wish he went with choice B, because I could just fight the Devil like before but no . He was blinded by the wealth that Lucifer was leaving behind as well, wasn’t he? Wouldn’t be too shocking if he was. And basically, Luci wanted to become what God wanted him to be for. . . Some reason. So he changed everything about himself, putting his past all into Cuphead. 

The Cuphead I’m talking to now, with his demon form and all, is the result of this. Demon Cuphead is the mixture of Cuphead, and all of Satan’s sin. Almost like some sort of fusion. Cuphead is still in there, since his “soul” is talking to me, but it’s growing weaker and weaker by the day. He says that one day he might as well just be the Devil but in his body. 

He doesn’t mean to be harsh, but sometimes he just can’t control it. Well, that’s what he says. And sometimes he feels strange around certain people. He gets flashbacks of what they did and what they had in debt with the Devil. They’re not his memories, but he can see them. 

And I know you guys are probably like “Oh, Mugman! Why don’t you save that for later in the story so we can get the lore when it makes sense?” and, well, I explained this to you because I might not have time later to put it in. The demon is taking over and I can’t control him.

Still, what an interesting tale that cup has to tell. An interesting, fake story.

Chapter Text

I woke up, forgetting where I was, for some reason. I seem to do that a lot. I was scared, but soon remembered and calmed down. Again, there’s no sense of time, but I have a certain sleep schedule that my body has adapted to. I got up and opened up the door so people could get the indication that I’m awake.

I slowly went out and looked towards the room that Cuphead said he’d be. Walking towards it, I was thinking about the day to come. This was finally going to be our happily ever after. We were finally going to be together. We were finally going to be home.

I knocked on the door, waiting for an answer. I heard a quiet “come in” and slowly opened the door, peaking through. Cuphead was sitting at a desk, which was decorated in a nice aesthetic. He seemed to be writing something, perhaps a certain debt for a poor soul. He looked up and smiled at me. 

“Hey, Mugsy,” He started, “what’s up?”

I looked around his little office, taking it all in. I would’ve never imagined him in a place like this. I would’ve never imagined a place like this in Hell.

“Hey, Cup. When are we going to go see Kettle?” I asked. 

“Hm... Well, I guess it could be any time. We just need to make sure that it’s not too early in the mortal world.” He stated.

“Well, what time would it be now?”

Cuphead tossed me a pocket watch that he seemed to have on him. It was silver with a beautiful gold chain attached. I’m guessing he had this because it was something Satan left behind.

“I don’t really need it much, but you can use it to connect to the mortal world’s clock. What time is it?”

“According to this clock, 8:33. I’m guessing AM.” I frowned. Elder Kettle wouldn’t be up yet. 

“Seems we have some time. Maybe we should wait until noon so he wakes up fully, hm?” 

“ Four hours? ” I groaned.

“Afraid so. Sorry, Mugsy. Go up to the casino or something and maybe occupy yourself.” 

I just now realized my surroundings and looked at him. “Are you busy?”

His eyes were glued to the paperwork. “Not really, this is the only thing I have to do. But, it’s gonna take awhile.” 

I paused for a bit. “You really have a job down here?”

“It was forced, but yes I do. And man,” He looked up at me with a joking, tired face, “It is not fun.” I laughed a bit at this. He smiled and looked back down, continuing the work.

“Alright, I’ll stop nagging you.” I said, opening the door. “I’ll entertain myself somehow.” 

“Come back in here four hours from now, eh?” 

“Yep.” 

Of course I wasn’t gonna go up to the casino. Why would Cup even suggest that? I don’t care who’s in charge of Hell, I’m not going back to the place where my soul was sold! I will never forgive Cuphead for that. Never ever. 

I spent those four hours reading, doodling, and listening to the radio. The radio was mainly something that would generate background music. And also, it said that a certain show would be premiering at noon, so if I waited for it to come on, it’d help the time pass by. 

As I read, I heard clips of Dirk Dangerous episodes and reruns of Roll The Dice. It felt nice to listen to these, as they took me back to the past. I found myself drawing a family portrait type drawing. I was imagining everything about home, and putting our cottage in the background. My drawing was supposed to reenact the family portrait that Elder Kettle always wanted, but never got. 

I smiled slightly, looking at it. I was so happy to be able to have our family reunited.

“Cuphead! Cuphead! Cuphead!” I said, running into his office. 

“Huh?” Cuphead looked up at me, more tired than ever. 

I pulled out the pocket watch and handed it to him. “It’s noon! Can we go now?” 

He chuckled and looked at me. “What were you doing in those four hours? Just staring at the clock the whole time?” 

“No, I’m just really excited to go! I want us to be together again!” I was jumping and waving my arms around in excitement. 

“Alright, alright,” he said, getting up from his throne-like chair and grabbing what was once the Devil’s pitchfork, “let’s go, Mugsy.” 

I squealed and practically rushed out of the whole complex we were in, going in the elevator. Cuphead walked towards it, calmly and slowly. 

“Come on, slowpoke!” I was bouncing off the walls.

“Okay, okay, I’m coming.” He still remained the same speed. 

His pace wasn’t enough to satisfy me, as I eventually ran towards him, grabbing his hand, and racing back to the elevator. That seemed to wake him up. 

“What’s the rush?” He asked, “We aren’t required to be there exactly at noon.”

“But we gotta go! We have to see Elder Kettle!” 

Cuphead pressed a button on the elevator and the doors closed, letting it zoom up to the mortal world. I waved my arms in excitement again, trying not to jump and causing the elevator to go Blamo! you know? Cuphead put a hand on my shoulder, as if to hold me down. He smiled weakly as I was basically on a sugar-rush (without consuming sugar, obviously). 

“You’re so silly, Mugsy,” he started, “you’re getting so excited over this little thing.”

“But we haven’t been a family since like... Forever!” I exclaimed.

He just laughed and gave me a side hug. I smiled, fully embracing him. Man, I wish I could have those happy outbursts that I used to have. Now, I barely even know if I can feel happiness. I don’t know if I’m just depressed, or the feeling has been long forgotten. 

As soon as we heard the elevator ding, I eagerly rushed out embracing the warmth of the sun again. Taking in the blue sky, and breathing in the fresh air. It might’ve been one day in Hell, but it still felt nice. Cuphead stepped out, giving an iconic grin and taking in nostalgia (that’s what he told me). 

“Come on, Cuphead!” I said, ready to run through the isles like I was faster than light. 

“Wait! I... Er... Have a better idea instead of running. It’s quicker too.”

“Hm?” 

He grabbed me and tapped his pitchfork on the ground, like the Devil always did. In a puff of smoke, we appeared in front of our cottage. I gasped and squealed, as Cuphead looked at it with a face of regret. I ran up to the door and knocked, hoping that our timing wasn’t off and Elder Kettle would be awake. 

The door opened and it revealed our Elder Kettle standing in the doorway, looking out.

“Mugman!” He exclaimed upon sight of me, “There you are!” 

He pulled me into a tight embrace. I was grinning from ear to ear. Wait, I don’t-... Gah, whatever. You know what I mean. 

“I was worried about you, boy! Where have you been?” 

I gave him a reassuring look and stepped out of the way so that Cuphead could be revealed. He looked up at him with a shocked look on his face. He’s smart and actually knew who the heck he was unlike a certain SOMEONE...

“I was with my brother.”

Chapter Text

“Cuphead? Boy, is that you?” Elder Kettle asked, stunned.

“Um... Yeah, it is. I know my appearance isn’t as appealing as you’d want it to be but...” Cuphead awkwardly avoided eye contact with him. He seemed to be acting strange around him. 

Elder Kettle gave Cuphead an embrace, savoring the moment. Cuphead flinched and was taken aback by this. 

“Welcome home, Cup.” He said. Cuphead smiled warmly and hugged him back. 

“Thank you. It feels good to be back.” 

We spent the next few hours just hanging out together, talking and joking with each other. Cuphead was talking to Kettle about everything that happened to him, of course leaving out how he actually got this role. He also told Kettle “I don’t know if I could tell you”. Kettle seemed a bit upset about what happened, but he still showed Cuphead all of the love and care he deserved. 

Kettle told Cuphead how eager I was each day to go out and look for him. Mentioning how much hope was filled up inside me along with the determination. Cuphead smiled at me, giving me a warm feeling inside of me. 

Eventually, all of these good times had to come to an end. A gory end. 

“Well, I’m afraid I have to head back now.” Cuphead announced, his hand on the door. He seemed relieved that he had to go, and I didn't know why. “Dice can’t run the casino by himself.” 

“You have to go so soon?” Elder Kettle asked.

“Yes, I’m sorry.” 

“But, Cuppy!” I added, “We still have some time! It hasn’t been that long since we got here!”

“It’s been a few hours since we got here. If I don’t go back, chaos will rise.” 

He turned the knob, causing me to almost uncontrollably run up to him and grab his arm, holding it tightly. He looked at my hands, and then back at me, surprised.

“Please, don’t leave me again, Cuphead!” I said, tearing up. “I can’t last another day without you!” 

“You know you could always visit the casino and ask for me, right?” 

“No! I want you to stay with us! I’ll do anything!”

“Mugman, if he has to go, he has to go. That’s it. And like he said, you can just visit him.” Elder Kettle chimed in. 

“But... But...” 

“No buts. Let him go.” 

“Okay...”

Instead of smiling at us, Cuphead just looked at us. That look will forever haunt me. That look in itself told me that something was wrong. 

“Well, aren’t you going to go, son?” Elder Kettle asked, genuinely confused. 

Cuphead teared up, and then smiled. A smile so wide, and crazed. Something had gotten over him, and this wasn’t the Cuphead we were talking to before. Something seemed to be holding himself back. Maybe that “hallucination” was correct about that story...

He lifted up his hand and I felt myself being paralysed. I yelped out as he used me as a puppet; walking me towards him and turning me to Elder Kettle’s direction. 

“C-Cuphead, what are you doing?!” I yelled.

Elder Kettle watched this, speechless. I couldn’t turn my head to see him, but I knew Cuphead  was quietly laughing to himself in the most vile and brutal way. 

“Cuphead, stop controlling your brother this instant!” Kettle yelled. He acted like he’s seen something like this before, so I can’t help but wonder what he’s been through.

I felt my arm being lifted up, and my hand being formed into a finger gun. No, I thought, he can’t be doing this to me! But oh, he was. And he wouldn’t be stopping. I didn’t understand why Elder Kettle wasn’t running or something. Did he think he’d have a way of stopping this monster?

“Kettle!” I yelled, “Run away!”

“Cuphead,” He started (wow, what a way to ignore me), “stop this. This isn’t you, boy! Would you really want to put this upon yourself? Upon your brother ?”

Cuphead stared at him, bloody tears streaming down his face. He still had that same crazed smile, ignoring Kettle. I felt my finger gun being charged up and I shaked in fear. Shaking was the only movement I could do myself. Cuphead controlled everything else.

“Say bye-bye to Elder Kettle~!” Cuphead said in a teasing tone.

“Kettle! Run away! Please!” I yelled, in a sort of response.

Elder Kettle stood there in front of me, his eyes relaxing. He smiled at me, knowing that this would be it for him. This is where his story ended. 

I shut my eyes tightly as I felt the shot go off. I didn’t want to witness this. I didn’t want to keep the guilt of killing my caretaker, under my control or not. I felt my arm slam down to my side, Cuphead’s force on me being gone. I heard a slow, crazed laugh behind me. I made the mistake of opening my eyes again. 

Elder Kettle was laying on the ground, drowning in a pool of his own blood. I was paralyzed in fear, while Cuphead shoved passed me. He laughed like the crazed cup he was. He took handfuls of his blood and smeared it across his face. I felt myself feel sick as it dripped into his mouth. 

“Yes,” he hissed, “I finally have what I needed.” 

He kept smearing the blood all over him, some of it getting poured into his cup, some of it he drank. I gagged at the sight of it, and the smell and just let myself throw up on top of it all. I felt weak and dazed, and Cuphead looked back over at me remembering I was there. 

“... Er...” He seemed awkward now, “You... Feeling alright...?”

Was I feeling alright? WAS I FEELING ALRIGHT?! NO! NO I WASN’T! OF COURSE I WASN’T FUCKING FEELING ALRIGHT YOU DUMBASS! YOU MADE ME KILL MY CARETAKER, AND THEN PROGRESSIVELY MADE ME UNCOMFORTABLE BY EATING HIS DAMN BLOOD AND JUST- UGH! HE GETS ME SO MAD! 

I had no energy to yell at him, and when I tried opening my mouth again I just threw up more. He walked up to me, making the smell of blood more pungent, and put a hand on my shoulder. To this day, the stain from the blood on his hand is still on my jacket. I tried yanking myself away from him, but his grip was strong and I was very weak and queasy. 

“I guess it’s time to head back,” he muttered, “and I’ll let you wash up ‘n stuff...” 

With a tap of his pitchfork, we were back into Hell. His little workspace and house and what not. He guided me to a washroom. 

“I would offer to help you wash up but uh... That would be kinda weird, wouldn’t it?” He chuckled slightly. I stared at him with wide eyes, one of them twitching. It seemed to put him on edge. 

“ Do you need any-” 

“I’m fine. I’ll be fine. Thank you, Cuphead.” I cut him off, my words coming out like poison. 

From that point forward, I knew I wouldn’t be the same mug I was before.

Chapter Text

Eventually, I did wash up despite feeling weak. I know I said I didn’t need anything, but it was kind of a dumb move to leave me in there with no one. Not saying that I wanted anyone watching me intensely, dear god no, but I had a chance of passing out and drowning. I guess Cuphead wants me dead as much as I want him, or maybe I’m overthinking things. 

I dried myself up, simply keeping a towel over me as I didn’t have any spare clothes on me. Peeking out of the washroom door looking at the hallway, I quickly rushed towards my room. As I did so, I heard Cuphead talking to someone in the distance. Curious to know what it was, I quickly ran inside, got changed, and proceeded to stalk the conversation.

“No! It didn’t work! Why didn’t it work?!” I heard Cuphead yell in frustration. 

“Boss, maybe it needs time!” King Dice said, desperately trying to calm him down. “You can’t expect it to work in a snap!” 

“You don’t understand, Dice! Lucifer promised me that it would work as soon as I could get my hands on it! He lied to me!” 

“Did he lie, or is your guardian not blood-related to you?”

There was a long pause, and let me say the silence was loud . I bet Cuphead was either looking at Dice with a look of pure horror, or pure anger. King Dice was probably looking back at him sternly. I find it impressive how much Cuphead has hurt him, yet he still isn’t scared of him. Well, he doesn't express it anyways. 

“That’s impossible! Elder Kettle has been with us our whole lives!” Cuphead yelled, breaking the silence.

“It’s not impossible,” King Dice replied, “you don’t even know if your mother was related to him or not. You don’t even know who your mother is.”

Hearing him say that honestly hurt me. It hurts when you’re reminded of the sad truth that plays a role in your life. I’m pretty sure Elder Kettle never mentioned a mom around us because of how much it hurt. But Dice was right, we never knew our mother. We never knew our father. It was only Elder Kettle, our elderly caretaker. Who knows if he even knew who our parents were. 

“What do you know about my life, Dice?! He had to have known her! A lady wouldn’t come to some random stranger’s doorstep dropping off her two twins, saying ‘Oh, have fun with these two, stranger. Because I can’t take care of them,’ or something! Something had to have happened to her that made her give us away to someone close to her!” 

“Cuphead, stop acting like a child and listen to me!” King Dice’s voice was more fierce and serious now. You know he’s serious when he doesn’t call Cuphead “boss”. There was a hesitation before he moved on. “I know a little bit about what happened with you guys. Do you ever wonder how your Elder Kettle knew about the casino? He made a deal with the Devil. He had to go through the same things that you and Mugs went through! Except, he didn’t join forces with the Devil. He gave away the contracts to the Devil, and the Devil promised him freedom. We never saw him again. We never saw anyone he was associated with either. That is, until you two came along.” 

“What does that have to do with my origin?” Cuphead asked, impatiently. 

“If you could give me a minute, I would tell you.” Dice snapped back. “You know how you watched over Mugman for the past year?”

“Yes, what about it?” 

“The Devil did the same with your Elder Kettle. He did the same with you. He had to make sure his debtors would do what they were asked. And in the middle of him watching Elder Kettle, he called me over to have a good laugh. The poor man was suffering; his soul was sold, he had to fight people for theirs, and his mind was just all over the place. And when things just couldn’t get worse, you two arrived on his doorstep.”

“You sayin’ we were misfortunes?” Cuphead had a horrible attitude.

“Wha- No! I’m saying you two literally appeared on his doorstep at the worst possible time. He didn’t know what to do for you guys, because he didn’t have anyone to watch over you.”

“And?”

“Elder Kettle didn’t know who you were. He didn’t know where you came from. He had no family left. ” 

Cuphead was silent. I was thrown back. There was so much we didn’t know about our origin, and it was basically lying here in the casino all along? Why couldn’t Kettle tell us these things in the first place? I guess it’s too late to ask these questions.

“So... ALL OF THIS WAS FOR NOTHING?!”

“I’m telling you, you didn’t need all of his blood, therefore you can get some from Mugman and-”

“NO! I’M NOT LETTING THIS ALL TRANSFER OVER TO MUGMAN! MUGMAN ISN’T GOING TO BE YOUR BOSS - I WON’T LET HIM!” 

I felt a chill down my spine. Putting together the context clues, if he really wanted to get himself out of what he was he would need either the blood or the soul of a family member, maybe even both. And all of Satan’s sin would get out of him and be transferred to said person. 

The more I think about it, the more I wish Cuphead would give me that sin. I’m so tired of being portrayed as the “innocent and sweet little Mugs” people know me as. I am not an innocent being. I give no mercy. I would kill for a spot that Cuphead has. It’d be nice to be in control for once, and maybe slip in some revenge for Cuphead in there too. He doesn’t know what it’s like to drown in that sad little puddle of shame, pain, and regret. 

“But Mugman will still be in there, boss! And you know he would be able to come to his senses! He’s a kind little thing, and he has a heart.” I scoff at this. 

“So what’re you saying about me? Huh? I have no heart?” Well, he doesn’t but carry on, “I can’t remain in control for long in my own body?” He can’t, but carry on.

“No, boss- Listen to me. You’re a god, right? Mugman can give you a blood offering, and you can be out of here. And if you don’t want to leave him, you swap places with him, being the mortal living in Hell. How does that sound?” 

“Disgusting.” Cuphead hissed. 

“You don’t understand! Mugman can overcome all of that sin - he's a pure soul. You’ve a soul of a sinner. That extra sin weighing on you will do you no good.” King Dice argued.

“I don’t want him hearing Lucifer in his head like I do! I don’t want him ruling a place that he’s afraid of! I don’t want him to be the manager of something that most likely gave him trauma! I’m in control now... I’m the head of this place... I am the king of the Underworld.” 

“Boss, plea-”

“No, Dice. That’s final. You are dismissed.” 

I gasped and tried blending into the wall as Dice walked out of the room. I shut my eyes tightly, holding my breath waiting for him to go. I heard a sigh.

“How much of that did you hear, Mugface?” King Dice asked me, quiet enough for Cuphead not to hear.

“All of it.” I whispered out, looking down ashamed. Dice seemed unphased.

“It was bound to happen, I don’t really mind. Just don’t say anything to your brother,” King Dice started to walk away, “he’ll be real mad if you ever decide to make that offering.”

Chapter Text

Making a blood offering, I thought, hell no! Why would I make an offer to get my mortality taken away? Cuphead and I had no one else to give this power too, clearly since Elder Kettle was not one. Can’t believe we were basically adopted...

Anyway, the rest of the day was spent by me lying face up in my bed, contemplating life.

Elder Kettle wasn’t in any real relation to us?

I- Cuphead killed him for nothing?

What’s gonna happen now?

There’s no point in going back to Inkwell - I’m probably wanted for something I never did.

Yet, I want to get out of this place.

But Cuphead would drag me back down here.

Ms. Chalice could save me!

...Where is Chalice?

My mind was racing with these thoughts. Every single one of them was like a stream, branching out into different parts all because of one topic. I felt sad. I felt angry. I felt devastated. I felt hurt. I felt lied to. 

I felt broken. 

Maybe all of this was just a bad dream, I thought. Yeah, a bad dream. When I go to sleep, the next day I will wake up and realize that none of those events really happened, right? Right? I felt myself tearing up as my mind circled around the events that happened today. But it didn’t happen. It didn’t. I refused to believe that it did. 

I pulled out the pocket watch that Cuphead gave me, looking at the time. Dear lord, we left at noon and it was already 8:45 PM? Where did the time go? How long was Cuphead and Dice’s conversation? I sighed and covered my face with my hands, trying to calm myself down. It was no use.

I put on a channel on the radio that played some music and quietly sobbed. I hoped that the music would give me some sense of calming down and security. I just wanted to literally cry myself to sleep.

Elder Kettle flashed in and out of my mind. His terrified face, but then the gentle smile of acceptance haunted me. Why? Why did he let that happen? Why didn’t he do anything? 

I sighed and slowly got up, stumbling out of my room and to Cuphead’s door. I needed answers, and his comfort. I knocked on the door gently, and heard a quiet “Come in, Mugsy.” from the other side. He must’ve memorized how I knocked, or how Dice knocks but that’s not the point. 

I opened the door, tears streaming down my face. Cuphead wasn’t all bloody anymore, and he seemed sad as well. 

“Cuphead... Wh-Why did you-...?” I trailed off, stuttering. 

“Listen, Mugs,” He started, “I needed someone so things can go back to normal. Things could go back to how they were. I didn’t want that someone to be you. I didn’t want it to be Elder Kettle either, but he would be better than you.”

“Wh-What...? So if I wasn’t as special to you, you would’ve killed me too?!”

“No! No, Mugsy!”

“You favorited me?”

“Mugman, stop. You’re overthinking things.”

“Overthinking things?! You killed our only family, Cuphead! You made me kill our only family!” 

Cuphead sighed and looked at me sadly. It looked like he regretted it, but at this point I don’t know if he even felt the slightest bit bad. I teared up again and hugged him tight. He picked me up and placed me on his lap as he hugged me back. I kept my face buried in his chest.

“I’m sorry, Mugman, I truly am. If I would’ve known better, then I-...” His breath hitched as he hugged me tighter, and for the first time in years I saw him crying. Yes, years because he never cries. Not when nobody's around. He always keeps to himself.

We were both sobbing messes right then and there. I regretted everything I’d done, and I regretted that I hadn’t listened to that “hallucination”. Thinking about that made me sob even more. Cuphead had calmed down a bit by then.

“Oh, Mugsy... ” He murmured, sadly. He took my cheek and lifted my head up so I was looking at him. He attempted to wipe my tears away, but more just kept coming. 

“I’m-... I’m sorry, Cuphead. I-I-” 

“Why are you sorry, Mugs? I should be sorry!” 

I whimpered as he looked at me worriedly. He kissed my forehead, and I calmed down a bit from a wave of comfort. I also felt a tingling feeling, but I brushed it off. He put his hand on mine and smiled.

“It’ll be okay, Mugsy,” He said. “I promise you.” 

“O-Okay...” I sputtered out.

He lied to me. He didn’t mean it when he said that, I knew he didn’t. How could things get better in that state? Nonetheless, I embraced the moment. Do you know how much I would want something like that right now? Not from him though. Never from him.

 I stayed wrapped in his embrace. I never let go because he seemed to always calm me down, and he helped me get unwanted things out of my mind. He still held me, but his grip was loosening up. 

“Alright, Mugsy. I suggest you should get some sleep right about now... I’ll be here if you need me.”

“Um... Actually, could you stay with me?” I asked. “I always seem to empty my mind when I go to sleep. All of this will just come back to me... If I’m with you, your presence will calm me down.”

He hummed, “Alright, I will.” 

We went over to my room and I slowly got in bed as he sat beside me. He smiled softly at me as I held out my arms, wanting him to hold me. He laid next to me and I snuggled into his arms, fully relaxed. He kissed my forehead again, making me feel another tingling sensation near where my chip and crack was. Yet, I still dozed off in his arms, sleeping peacefully for the entire night.

I woke up just to be greeted by no one beside me. He really would just leave me like that? I thought. That may be a little selfish of me to think, but he seemed to care about his “job” more than anything else. He barely visited the casino unless havoc broke out, and the only person allowed to enter his office for no reason was me - Dice needed a reason. 

I sighed. I started to feel alone again as the silence of the room surrounded me. Nobody wanted to spend their time with me. I walked out of my room, feeling tired and... achy? Why was I feeling achy all of a sudden? And my one eye kept bugging me so I was rubbing it constantly. Pink eye maybe, and something else? 

I walked into the washroom so I could make myself at least look a little more awake by splashing warm water on my face and washing it. That’s when I walked over by the sink, turning it on and cupping my hands together so I could collect water in them.

I splashed water on my face, rubbing it for a bit, and when I put my hands down I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror and froze in horror. I wasn’t achy and messing with my eye for no reason, oh no no! My whole eye was now gone - or, that’s what it looked like. I could still see out of it, but it was a bright, cyan color that had no pupil in it. It watered up from it burning, and instead of tears coming out, it was just that cyan color streaming down my face like goo. 

I screamed in fear. It seemed screaming was the only thing I could do. What the hell was this? The crack on my head looked bigger as well - it was just getting worse. Everything was getting worse. 

My screaming turned into me yelling, “What the hell, what the hell, what the hell?!” Everything about this was terrifying. What did that mad man do to me? I thought. 

I knew Cuphead had something to do with this, because you don’t just enter Hell and have strange things happen to your body. Sometimes when we were fighting the debtors, they seemed a lot bigger than I remembered them to be. And King Dice was massive - he could squish us like a bug! 

So, Mugs, why are you bringing this up? Well, it’s because I believe the Devil manipulated our sizes when we fought some debtors, and that’s because we’d already entered Hell so he had a good interpretation on who and what we were.

Long story short, someone needs to understand who you are in order to use their magic on you, that’s what I believe. And in this situation, that somebody was Cuphead.

Chapter Text

I heard knocking on the door. “Mugman! What’s going on?! Are you okay?” It was Cuphead, but his voice reminded me of Elder Kettle that one night, making me sad and angry.

“To hell you’d care!” I yelled back at him, “You’re the one who did this to me!”

He hesitated before softly replying, “What?”

I growled and whipped the door open, staring him cold in the eyes. His eyes widened as he looked me up and down, seeing whatever he did to me.

“Mugman...”

“Look what you did! You turned me into a freak!” 

He whispered, “No... No no no...” 

“And let me guess,” I started, still staring him down. I pulled my shirt sleeve down so my shoulder and top part of my arm was showing, revealing the spade mark that was burnt into my skin. “You did this too, huh?”

He gasped and flinched at the sight of it. He looked like he was about to burst into tears at this. I knew I’d got him now.

“Mugman, I-” He cut himself off as he desperately tried to take a step back, leading me to grabbing his wrist and squeezing it tight.

I said in clenched teeth, “You gave me this ugly crack too, that’s getting worse day after day... I’ll make sure you pay for that.” I squeezed his wrist tighter. “And if you think killing my caretaker would fix things, you’re wrong. You’re so wrong.” 

“Mugman, you’re hurting me...” Cuphead whimpered.

I chuckled, which turned into a laugh that almost sounded maniacal. “ I’m hurting you? Me? Don’t you know what you did to me? Don’t you know what you’re doing to me?” 

“Mugsy, please! Let me explain myself!”

I growled and whipped him around, slamming him into the wall. That was a strength I never knew I had for sure. I let go of his wrist and glared at him.

“I don’t need no shitty explanation from you.”

He looked at me with tears forming in his eyes. I scoffed at him and held my finger gun up at him. 

“Maybe I should give you pain that will get you closer to how I feel right now. I’m sure something bigger than a chip and crack would suit you better than it does me.” I smiled wide.

“M-Mugman...” He sputtered out.

“What?” I asked,  “What do you want?!”

He whispered, “This isn’t you, Mugman...”

Hearing that, all I could do was laugh. And I did. A cold, unrestrained burst of laughter, echoing through the chambers of Hell. I was really going insane, wasn’t I? Hell, I’m already insane. 

“ Of course this isn’t me!” I yelled at him. “Why the hell would this be me! What are you? Sad because your precious, sweet, brother has seen how much of a horrible person you really are?”

Cuphead was getting heated up as he shouted back, “How many times do I have to tell you, I don’t want to do this! I never wanted any of this to happen! I didn’t want to make you kill Elder Kettle! But I couldn’t help it! The Devil is practically using my body for his advantage! Do you ever realize why he isn’t-”

“SHUT UP! Shut. up! You’re just making excuses for everything! All you do is run away from your problems! You’re not running away from this !” 

“I’m not making excuses, Mugman! I’m serious! I even brought out my damn soul to try and warn you to get out, and you didn’t listen!”

My eyes widened and I took a step back from him, putting my finger gun down. Cuphead stood up and stared at me, dead in the eyes. It was when I took the moment to look at him over again, noticing his wings at once. The wings of a fallen angel.

I shook my head in denial. There’s no way he could’ve ripped his own soul out and used it to talk to me, right? He was joking. He was lying. He had to be lying. 

I growled, “You’re lying to me. You’re a liar, Cuphead.”

“Mugman,” He started, “why would I lie about something like that? I know you thought I was all in your head, yet I still tried to convince you otherwise. Now here I am fully admitting to you it was me! What don’t you understand, Mugman? What don’t you understand?!” 

“I don’t understand why you act all sweet and innocent! You’re a monster, Cuphead! You really are! But you’re using the Devil to run away from your problems! I bet he would be much of a better person to deal with than you!” I shot back.

“Do you want me to show you what the Devil has fucking done to me? And I will not hesitate to show you that ‘hallucination’ was actually me!”

“No! It was all in my head, I’m sure of it! I don’t believe you, you liar! You can’t do anything to convince me otherwise!”

Cuphead put his hand on his chest, “Will this convince you, Mugman? Will this fucking convince you?!” A soft glow formed around his hand. 

I covered my face with my hands and looked away. “No, no, no! I’m not believing your lies, Cuphead! You won’t convince me!”

“Admit it, Mugman, you’re scared of the truth!” 

I growled and looked back at him only to be greeted with a heart in front of Cuphead, glowing. The glow was emitting out of his chest. It was his soul. I stared at it, feeling my eye twitch. Cuphead smirked at me.

“See, Mugman?” He teased me. “How could you call this a lie?” 

I was shaking as I felt myself, almost uncontrollably, reach out for his soul and grab it. He flinched and stiffened up, letting out a small but painful groan. It seemed like me just touching it was enough to bring him pain. That filled me with a guilty pleasure.

“I don’t care for your stupid soul,” I mumbled. “You’re just tricking me.” 

“M-Mugman, let go!” Cuphead said between clenched teeth. 

I just smiled at him as I let my fingers wrap around the small heart, squeezing it gently. He let out a small moan from the pain.

“You know how much I want to rip this into tiny little pieces, just to let out my anger on you?” I asked him. “The temptation is very high right now.”

“If you cr-crush it, I’ll kill y-you,” he stuttered back. 

“Crush it?” I teased, “What? Like this?” I let my grip on his soul tighten greatly. 

He screamed out in pain, filling me with joy. He fell to his knees, holding his chest. Seeing him like this was just something else. It was lovely to finally get a well deserved revenge. I let go of the soul, letting it slowly float back to him. He held it in front of him and slowly let it enter his body again.

“Although crushing your soul would be fun,” I started, “I have something better planned.” I lifted up my finger gun once again. His eyes widened.

“Mugsy, don’t do this!” Cuphead yelled, desperately.

I shrugged and kept my voice low and raspy. “I’m afraid it’s too late, dear brother. Now it’s time for you to pay for everything you’ve done to me.” 

He was very unlike Elder Kettle - I felt no guilt for doing this to him. I watched a blue glow form in front of his face from my finger tip and smiled wider. He backed up more, smashing his back against the wall. He had every right to try and run away, but he stayed at that one spot, practically paralyzed in fear. I can’t read his mind, but I know I would’ve shot him nonetheless if he ran, or tackled him down. That could’ve been what he was worried about. 

I crouched down to his level and traced a shape on his face with my other hand. I put my finger between his eyes, slid it down until I reached the bottom of them, and traced a cracking shape underneath his right eye (his right, my left).

“This would be a lot more than the chip you gave me, and it suits you well. Aw, look at the cute little diamond in your eye! It’s a shame you won’t have it anymore.” 

“You’re... Gonna shoot my eye out?!” Cuphead shrieked. 

I smirked. “Try and stop me, Cuphead. Humor me.” 

He opened his mouth to say something, but closed it and looked me up and down. He gulped.

“You’re getting mad at me just because of your eye?” He asked.

I burst out laughing and said, “It’s not just my eye, stupid! You really are an idiot, huh?” I widened my eyes and held him by his neck, and continued with a deep voice, “I’m doing this because of all the pain you caused me. This crack, killing Elder Kettle, and now, doing whatever the hell you did to me to cause this!” I gestured to myself. 

Cuphead grabbed my wrist, the arm where my finger gun was pointed, and tried pushing it away. I kept my arm firm, the glow growing bigger. I was charging one up to make sure it would do damage. Permanent damage.

“Mugman, I’ll make it up to you, I promise!” Cuphead begged.

“Yeah yeah,” I scoffed. “You won’t be able to do anything to make it up to me. You have physically, and mentally scared me. It’s time to do the same to you.” 

I grabbed the brim of his cup and harshly pushed it against the wall and pointed my finger at his right eye. He tried squirming out of my grasp, but it was no use. He wouldn't be getting out of trouble this time. Cuphead had a lesson to learn. 

I charged it up until his face looked like a blue, with no other hints of color. I finally let myself release the magic bullet. I got blinded from the blast, but the last thing I heard was a crack and a shriek.

Chapter Text

As I was able to see again, I saw a huge hole through Cuphead’s eye. In fact, it was just like I wanted - his eye was barely there anymore! He was still against the wall, shaking. The broken piece seemed to fall, and it was sitting in his lap. He was looking at it in fear. 

I smiled with satisfaction. The revenge had been given. 

“Alright,” I started, “you don’t owe me anything... For now.”

Cuphead whisper-shouted, “You’re a monster!” 

“Monster? Me? Have you seen what the hell you’ve done?!” 

“You aren’t letting me explain myself, Mugman! I thought I had to kill Elder Kettle to get out of this! So we could be together again! So we can be happy .” 

I scoffed, “Nonetheless, the amount of trauma you gave me wouldn’t make me happy with you. It’s a lose-lose situation for you.”

“That’s cold, Mugman,” Cuphead muttered. “That’s so cold.”

“Cold, it may be, but aren’t I supposed to be a god that doesn’t really show... Mercy? Wisdom might be one, but isn’t the other... Death?” 

“...How do you know about that...?”

I chuckled, “Ooohhhh I had that little vision, Cuphead. The one I told you about. That was the effect of me getting this mark!” I pointed to my arm again. “The little figure told me I had two paths - ha ha! Two! And I chose... THE WRONG ONE... ” 

“There’s no wrong choice,” Cuphead retorted. “It’s just based on how you view things.”

“Oh, wow, so suffering was the right choice?”

“There’s no right or wrong, Mugman. It’s how you view things.”

“And I view this as the wrong choice.”

Cuphead sighed. “Whatever.” 

“No go ahead and do whatever you do in that little office of yours,” I said. “You seemed to care more about your work anyways.”

Cuphead replied, “Yeah yeah, and what’re you going to do, huh?”

“And why would I tell you?” I scoffed.

“Hmph.” 

I turned around and started walking to Hell’s elevator. I could feel Cuphead’s eyes - or... eye - piercing on my back. I didn’t care. I walked inside and turned around seeing Cuphead running towards me. I flinched and quickly closed the elevator door, pressing the up arrow to get away. I didn’t want him stopping my escape. 

I felt the elevator ascending up and sighed with relief. Soon I would run out of the casino, and I would be out of this literal Hell. If anyone gets mad at me for “murdering” Elder Kettle - if anyone saw it - I will plead victim. I have proof for what Cuphead did; my scar and my eye.

The elevator dinged and I opened the door up to see the casino. I cringed one last time, remembering what this place made me go through, but soon smiled knowing that I wouldn’t have to be here anymore. I wouldn’t have to encounter Dice or Cuphead ever again. I wouldn’t have to make another deal with the Devil. I could go home, and start over. Move on and start over.

I may have lost everyone who I was close to, but that didn’t matter. Well, maybe for Kettle, but for Cuphead it didn’t. This was the start of a new chapter for Mugman. A new chapter in my life. Things will finally not feel like hell.

At least, that’s what I thought.

As I walked through the casino, King Dice stopped me to talk.

“Where are you going, Mugman?” he asked.

I replied, “I’m getting out of this joint.”

“What? No, you can’t go. Boss won’t be too happy with that.”

“I don’t care how he feels,” I snapped. “He could suffer for all I care!” 

I stormed away from him, unable to keep my temper. Why should I care about, of all people, Cuphead? He didn’t need me. He didn’t deserve me. I was too good for him. I smirked to myself.

I slowly laid my hand on the door knob when I felt a shiver down my spine. I whipped around, feeling a presence. The lights were dim, and the casino seemed deserted. It was Cuphead. Cuphead was the presence.

I sighed, “Cuphead, what’re you doing?”

“What am I doing? What are you doing?!” He yelled back, with a hint of rage in his voice. 

“How do you not know?” I began, “I’m getting out of here. I’m tired of what you’ve done, Cuphead. You’ve hurt me too much.”

“You can’t leave here, Mugman! You can’t! The power I gave you is going to take over you, you’ll be dangerous out in the isles!”

My eyes widened, “The... What?! ” 

“I gave you power, but didn’t realize how it’s too strong for you,” He explained. “It’s going to manipulate your mind, Mugman. You can’t get out of here.” 

He hated me for who I was. He did know it was too strong, didn’t he? He hated how I was, so he manipulated me so I could be perfect in his eyes. The perfect little god he wants me to be. It made me sick, and I felt my eye, the one that was taken away from magic, start leaking its mysterious goop. 

“So, you’re just going to tell me that you fucking ruined my life?! What, is that my late birthday gift? Being damned for all eternity?” 

“You chose this for yourself, Mugman!” Cuphead yelled. “I tried to warn you to head back to the cottage before any of this happened, but you didn’t listen to me! This is your fault, Mugman!” 

I stood before him, wide-eyed. He did not just say that, I thought. How was this my fault?! This was his fault! It's all his fault!

“My fault?! It’s my fault you decided to curse me in this casino?! It’s my fault you lead me to Hell?! It’s my fault that you gave me this crack?! It’s my fault that you damned me?!” I shouted.

He retorted, “Yes! Because you were so ignorant and didn’t listen to me when I warned you! I took out my own damn soul to warn you!”

“ And you took out your soul to lead me into this place!”

Cuphead teared up. “It was against my will, Mugman! It was the Lucifer inside me, Mugman! But you never understood that! You never understood what he did to me! I don’t care what he does to me, you never let me explain myself! The Devil was tired of his place and thought ‘hey, why don’t I just give all of my sin to someone else so that I could get out of here’, and what better person to do it than someone who already had so much sin in them?! 

“I didn’t fight him that day, I made another deal with him! A deal to become the next-in-line Devil! The god of the Underworld! The god of greed, wealth, whatever! And you are my right-hand man! The god of death! The god of sorrow! Co-god of the underworld! 

“I got rid of Kettle so that he could take my place! And no, I didn’t want to damn him, I wanted to transfer the power to a soul of less sin. He would go through some shit, sure, but he wouldn’t be as bad as me! And he would be able to shake the sin off, given his soul is pure! I could do it to you, but I would rather you not hurt yourself, and I’d rather you not go through this!

“You never let me explain myself! Or... Maybe it was I who was scared of what Lucifer would do to me... But still! You gotta understand me, Mugman! Please don’t leave me! You’re all I have left! I didn’t mean to do those things to you, I really didn’t! Please, Mugman! ” 

As he forced his plea out, I couldn’t help but feel a cold tear sliding down my cheek. He just sounded so... Desperate. Like he was lost in an unfamiliarity, and everyone and everything just left him. I almost felt sympathetic.

Almost.

“Cuphead, I-... I didn’t-...” I trailed off, having a new feeling wash over me. An evil feeling. “I didn’t realize you were so weak .” 

Was this what he was talking about? The mind manipulation? Nonetheless, I hated it. And I hated how I just wanted to run over to him and hug him tightly. I still loved him, and I hated that. 

“...What...?”

“No, I didn’t say that. I-... What? ” I was talking to myself. I held my head and looked down. “No no no no... What is this? I can’t-...” 

“What have I done...?” Cuphead mumbled, yet it was still audible. 

My head snapped up as he said that. That just made a wave of rage wash over me. He was only realizing now what he did? He was only realizing that now?! 

“What have you done...?” I asked, almost dazed. “What have you done?! You know what you have done, Cuphead! You know it! You know it, you know it, you know it!!!”

He yelled back, “I’m talking about now, Mugman! The power is already taking over you! You’re not going to be yourself for much longer!”

“Yes! Yes, and it’s your fault, Cuphead! This is all your fault! You were so obsessed with your god complex that you didn’t care!”

“I told you what happened to me! Stop it with the nonsense, Mugman!”

I sighed and turned for the door again. “Whatever. I just want to go home and start my life over. Pity, you won’t be in it.”

A hard hand grabbed my shoulder, making me tense up. I slowly put my hand over it, trying to push it off.

“Cuphead, get your hand off of me,” I whispered, having anxiety wipe over me. 

“No, Mugman,” He answered. “You can’t leave.” 

“You can’t force me to stay here. You want what makes your brother happy, right? Let me go. I’m getting out of here.”

“If you go out there, you’ll commit mass genocide, god of death .”

I growled, “Don’t call me that.”

“It’s what you are, Mugman. Embrace it.” Cuphead mumbled.

“It’s what I am, but not what I want to be. I can change myself, Cuphead. You can’t. Now let me go.” 

Cuphead sighed. “I didn’t want to have to do this, but it seems that I have no other choice. You will stay here, Mugman. Whether you like it or not.” 

I turned to look back at him, only to see him swinging something at me. Before I knew it, I felt a huge pain in my mug.

Then everything went black.

Chapter Text

I woke up in what looked like a jail cell, and that basically leads to now. Cuphead was saying something like, “oh, you’re finally awake. I’m keeping you in here until the power takes over and you realize shit” blah blah blah...

So now I’m stuck here. Cuphead rips out his soul sometimes and comes to visit me, just giving me the “love I deserve” but I can’t help but feel like he’s trying to trick me into forgiving him. It won’t work on me, I’m smarter than he thinks I am. 

He keeps explaining how he thinks Lucifer has completely corrupted his mind, and he hates how shitty “he” treats me, but if he can rip out his own soul on command, can’t he at least try and fight the corruption in his mind? Eh, I guess that’s why he wanted a pure soul to transfer the sin. 

I’m thinking about making the blood sacrifice for him, simply for the sake of being in control of everything. If I’m the god of death, then shouldn’t I be the god of the underworld? Plus, it’s always fun being in control. I’d show everyone no mercy, and show how much sorrow the god of death can bring. The god of death may be wise, but they show no mercy.

Yes, they, because I have chosen that I should not have a gender. I’m not what I once was anymore. I don’t need a gender, I’m a god now. An immortal being that serves the purpose of bringing wisdom to others, yet also death. I should wield a scythe. 

The name is Mugs, or Pluto if you will. Non-binary, sorta feminine immortal god of death and wisdom. The feminine part comes from the wardrobe I was given. . .

Like Cuphead, I have wings now. However, unlike his feathered wings, I have wings of water. They're pretty cool, actually. They make me seem like some person you can trust. The person you can rely on. I'm not that at all. Looks will deceive you.

I'm constantly fighting myself over control of my own body. I say things that I don't want to say. The thing that I wrote above this? Was barely me. I hate this. I’m not the villain. I’m not the villain. I’m not the villain. I’m not the villain.

It feels weird when you feel yourself slowly slipping away. I guess these are my final goodbyes before it takes over me for the most part. I will continue to fight it, though, unlike Cuphead. I bet he doesn't even try.

As much as I may hate you, Cuphead, I guess I still have something to say to you.

I’m sorry I was ignorant. I’m sorry I took you to Elder Kettle. I’m sorry I didn’t listen to you. I’m sorry I didn’t make that blood sacrifice.

I need to accept that what you did wasn’t you, but I guess Pluto is telling me otherwise. Pluto knows Lucifer, Cuphead. And now we’re reincarnates of the both of them. I can’t help what I say to you, and you can’t help what you do to me.

I’m sorry I shot your eye out. I’m sorry for the physical pain I caused you. You didn’t deserve it.

Thank you for everything you’ve done for me in the past, Cuphead. I love remembering everything that we did together as siblings before any of this happened. Like when you took me stargazing for the first time, and the countless times you comforted me after a nightmare.

No. No no no, I hate you. Why am I thanking you? I doubt that what you did to me was actually “Lucifer”.

But it was Lucifer.

But it wasn’t Lucifer.

Oh god, this is it for me isn’t it? I feel like my consciousness is hanging on by a thread, and is being replaced with Pluto’s consciousness. I’m so scared, Cuppy, I really am.

Maybe all this pain will end once the shifting of consciousness is over. But I don’t want to forget everything about my past life. I don’t want to forget about Elder Kettle, and what Cuphead once was. Yet, I’ll forget about the pain that he caused me in the past with the crack and stuff, right?

Right?

Perhaps if someone else is to come over to the casino, committing the same mistake that I made, I could guide them the right way. Pluto is merciless, but Mugs isn’t. Mugs will show mercy. 

Cuphead, if you do end up reading this, please try to fight the Satan inside you. Ripping out your soul is effective, but it isn’t enough. Yet, I know nothing about this. What if that’s all you are capable of doing? I think maybe one day I might have to do the same.

And for Elder Kettle, I’m sorry that all of this happened to you. Yet, I shouldn’t be apologizing for it. It’s still all his fault, whether Mugs thinks so or not. If he didn’t cross those stupid train tracks, you wouldn’t be dead. Remember that he went missing the day after we freed everyone’s souls. Not even a day, it was the night of the same day . 

Well, I guess this is where my story ends. There’s not really anymore to go over besides how I feel myself slipping away. It’s almost like slowly blacking out, but still being conscious while you’re blacking out... If that makes sense.

Thank you, for those who read my sad little tale. The story of how two normal brothers can have something life-changing happen to the both of them with just one twist of reality. How your actions have consequences. How they both now have no soul all because of one mistake.

Oh! One last thing, Cuphead.

I love hate you.