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Cumulus had been a little down the last few days. The tour was winding down and that always made the ghouls a little melancholy, but it hit her the hardest. She got so much joy from singing with Papa, and her fellow ghouls and seeing all of the disciples in the crowd going wild with the same joy. Life at the Abbey was completely mundane in comparison. Sure, there were rehearsals and planning for the next tour, but nothing ever compared to the rush of the stage. Abbey life was slow, quiet. Boring.
The other ghouls did what they could to cheer up Cumulus, but nothing seemed to shift the gloom from her heart. That was until Dewdrop had an idea. He bribed one of the siblings of sin on the tour to obtain some contraband. Dewdrop was not one to care about getting caught doing something he shouldn't be doing, but it was easier for a human to acquire what he was after. He instructed the sibling he had paid off to get the goods and pass them to him discreetly after the show that night. After the ghouls and Papa said their farewells to the gathered masses, Dewdrop quickly exited the stage to find the sibling.
They were waiting awkwardly in the hallway where the dressing rooms were, trying to look inconspicuous. When they noticed Dewdrop approaching their face was awash with relief. Dewdrop stopped in front of the sibling and cocked his head. The sibling pushed a small brown bag against Dewdrop's waist. He grabbed it and shoved it into his pocket, nodding at the sibling and gesturing for them to make themself scarce. The sibling smiled slightly before turning and walking back to the stage to resume their duties. Dewdrop grinned under his mask. Now he just had to find Cumulus and hope she was alone.
She was not, of course. He found her in the ghoulettes dressing room with Sunshine, sitting on the couch it housed. Sunshine was doing her best to keep Cumulus from tearing up by talking about how amazing she sounded during "Call Me Little Sunshine" and that Papa should really think about recording another live album with Impera songs included. Dewdrop had to quickly think of a reasonable excuse to get Sunny to leave.
"Mum and Dad want to see you," he said, pointing to Sunny. Not an amazing lie, but it might buy him some time.
"Me? Why?" Sunshine asked.
Dewdrop shrugged. Sunshine and Cumulus had already removed their helmets and glamour so Dewdrop could see them thinking over Dew's instruction. Sunshine looked at Cumulus and also shrugged. She squeezed Cumulus' hand and stood up. She moved towards the door and stopped next to Dewdrop.
"Will you look after her while I'm gone? Tonight's not been good," Sunshine whispered.
"I got this," Dew nodded. Sunshine smiled weakly at him and left the room, closing the door behind her. As soon as the door clicked shut Dewdrop ran toward the couch and dived into the spot Sunshine had been occupying.
"Dew, what are you doing?" Cumulus asked, startled by the sudden movement from the fire ghoul.
"I got you something, but we have to get to the bus without being spotted." Dewdrop said, already grinning with anticipation.
“You got me something? How come? Why can’t you show me here?” Cumulus confusion grew as she watched Dewdrop remove his helmet and drop it gracelessly to the floor.
“I did, coz you’ve been sad. Too risky here, don’t wanna get caught.” Dewdrop answered all of her questions.
“You’re never worried about getting caught doing anything naughty, what have you got that’s so bad?” Cumulus furrowed her brows at him.
Dewdrop figured it was probably safe to show Cumulus if it would get her to stop asking questions and start moving to the bus. He fished the brown bag from his pocket and unwrapped it. Cumulus eyes went wide once she saw what Dewdrop had procured.
It was a single packet of gummi bears. The combination of sugars and additives in these bears had a similar effect on ghouls as it did on children. It made them very hyperactive. The ghouls were already a little feral sometimes, but even a small amount of gummi bears made them almost rabid. Papa had banned them from the tours as it made them incredibly disruptive and impossible to control. Bouncing around the bus, laughing and squealing like giddy toddlers. Papa wasn’t able to get any of his beauty sleep which made him cranky, and the come down from the sugar rush made the ghouls even worse.
Before Dewdrop could react, Cumulus snatched the packet from him and was about to tear it open, but he managed to grab her wrists.
“No dude not here! We can’t get caught with this stuff!” Dewdrop hissed.
As if on cue, a knock rapped against the door, and it opened revealing Aether.
“Dewdrop why did you tell Sunshine Cirrus and I needed to see her?” he asked as he stepped into the room. His eyes immediately dropped to where the air and fire ghouls were joined at their hands. Cumulus and Dewdrop snapped their faces to Aether’s and froze.
“No. No. Dew, NO!” Aether shouted, instantly knowing this was a hair brained fire ghoul idea.
Dewdrop let go of Cumulus’ wrists and looked at her. “Run!” he said with a gleeful flash of his fangs before he sprang from the couch and leapt at Aether. Cumulus watched as Dewdrop collided into the bigger ghoul and knocked him backwards, then she got to her feet and bolted from the dressing room. Aether had the wind knocked out of him and lay sputtering and trying to get his breath back.
“Sorry bud, I just wanna see her smile again.” Dewdrop said and with that he got off Aether and started sprinting after Cumulus.
Cumulus had gotten a little ways down the hallway and Dewdrop was hot on her heels. Cirrus and Sunshine were further down the hallway and watched Cumulus and Dewdrop rush past them, looking at each other, bewildered.
“Stop them!” Aether bellowed down the hallway as he finally picked himself up and gave chase to the mischievous ghouls.
Rain popped his head out of one of the dressing room doors to see what all the commotion was about and quickly had to duck back inside as Cumulus and Dewdrop whizzed by him. Mountain was carrying part of his drums to the bus and on hearing the pounding footsteps and Aether’s shouting he stepped out of their way. Cumulus giggling and Dewdrop thanking the tall earth ghoul as they ran down the last stretch of the hallway.
Cumulus and Dewdrop finally reached the exit and burst out of the door. The bus was in sight, they just needed to reach it before Aether or anyone else caught them. Cumulus looked back to see if Dewdrop was still behind her. He grinned at her, and she grinned back. She turned back toward the bus in time to see Swiss stepping out of it. He was looking at his phone and hadn’t noticed either ghoul barrelling toward him.
“Swiss get her! She has gummies!” Aether hollered, nearly out of breath from trying to keep up with the much quicker fire and air ghouls.
Swiss looked up from his phone and beheld the situation rapidly unfolding in front of him. He saw Cumulus fast approaching, the packet of gummies in her hand, Dewdrop right behind her and Aether a few feet behind Dewdrop. He raised his eyebrows and made a split-second decision. Never one to shy away from causing a little trouble, as Cumulus reached the bus, Swiss stepped out of her way and gave her a wink. Her face changed from one of determination to one of pure joy as a gleeful smile spread across her lips. She jumped up the stairs of the bus two at a time and disappeared from view.
Dewdrop was next to reach the bus and as he passed Swiss, he lifted his hand to high five him. Swiss laughed and high fived Dewdrop as he joined Cumulus on the bus. He turned and closed the door, clicking the lock shut just as Aether came crashing against it. He mouthed “Not sorry!” to Aether through the window.
“Dammit Swiss! You know Papa has banned gummies on the bus! Those two are going to be insufferable all night. Papa won’t be able to sleep and be on his A game for the last show!” Aether ranted at Swiss, angrily pacing the parking lot behind the arena.
“I dunno Aeth, I think he’ll just be happy Cumulus is feeling better before we go home.” Swiss shrugged. Aether sighed and shook his head. He started to head back into the arena to find Papa and explain what had happened.
On the bus, Dewdrop plopped himself into the booth opposite Cumulus in the small kitchenette. Cumulus had already ripped open the packet but hadn’t had any of its contents. She offered the bag to Dewdrop.
“Thanks Dew, you didn’t have to. I’ll only feel down for a little while.” Cumulus said softly.
“I know, but I can’t stand to see you down. It’s like watching a sad puppy moping around.” Dewdrop joked. He reached into the packet and pulled out a red gummi bear, his favourite. Cumulus smiled and reached into the packet herself, pulling out a white gummi bear, her favourite. She held it out to Dewdrop, and he pressed his gummi to hers.
“Cheers!” they said in unison and popped them in their mouths. They made short work of chewing and swallowing them and continued eating them until there were none left.
“How long until the sugar rush hits?” Dewdrop asked.
“I don’t remember, it’s been a while since I had any since Papa banned them,” Cumulus chuckled, “How much trouble do you think we’re in?”
“Maybe a little with goodie two shoes,” Dewdrop smirked, “but I think Papa will be secretly happy you’re back to your bubbly energetic self for the last show.”
Cumulus beamed and Dewdrop watched her pupils shrink to pinpricks. He stifled a laugh which caused Cumulus to break into a fit of giggles. They could hear the bus being loaded with their luggage and knew they would have to unlock the door and let the rest of the pack in soon, but just for the moment they had had their gummi bears, and everything was ok again.