Chapter Text
I sat on the window sill and was putting on the last leg of the spider on its body. The plush was almost done, and the legs were tickling my own.
Something soft scratches my leg, and I look down at Felix. He looks distressed, and his usually happy face is trying its best to frown.
"What's going on?" I asked as he pulled my sock down. I followed him to the living room where the other ones joined him and start pulling on my clothes. Margot even pulled me forward by my hair.
"Hey, hey, hey! Everyone take it easy! Dit Samira eat all the food again?"
I found all my Frankenstein babies around a small, dark blue mouse. They were all making noises and poking her to wake her up. There was even some cheese next to her.
"Oh shit!"
I pick her up and start to look for wounds or scratches or other signs of a fight. The only thing I notice is that she is drenched, but there is no water around her. The other thing I notice is her heartbeat; or rather, a lack thereof.
"Did someone pick a fight with Cameron?" I asked and everyone shook their heads. "Is everyone sure? If it's an accident and someone threw water on her I am not going to be mad."
Parrot Lisa started to scream: "Fainted! Fainted! Fell over! Fainted!"
I froze and storm out of the house with my emergency bag.
If Cameron is wet, Marceon is also wet. And if Marceon is wet, Dazai is wet. If Dazai is wet, he is in water,…if he is in water, then …
A while later I arrive at the river and look for beige clothes.
"Dazai! Dazai! Where are you?"
I know he is in the river, but I needed him to be alive.
How do you find someone in a fucking river? This is why I have Cameron!
"You idiot!"
I drop my bag and start to rip open her stomach seam and stab my finger to put another drop of blood on my paper in it. I quickly scribble 'talk' with my finger and messily sew it shut. "Cameron, twin and another half of Marceon. I want you to be able to talk and join minds with your other half. You will feel what they feel and know where they are at all times.
Wake up!"
I feel her little body pulsating and I see her little eyes glisten.
"Welcome back Cameron. Can you tell me where Marceon is?" She closes her eyes, jumps out of my hands a few seconds later and starts to run away. I pick up my bag and follow the blue mouse. She stops a couple of meters later and just sits down.
"Here?"
She nods: "In the water, Mom. Marceon is in the water with Mister Chocolate."
"At the bottom?"
She looks puzzled: "I don't know."
"That's okay," I sigh, "Mom is going to get Marceon, wait here for me and remind me later to redo your seam!" I leap and jump into the water. It's cold and it pulls my skirt down. I look at the bottom and see a sandy coat dwindling in the water.
The water is cold and bites my body when I jump in the river. It pulls on me and tries to bring me back to the surface world. I fight it and swim towards the sandy coat.
I can barely grab the belt, but when I finally grab it I pull and pull and pull until Dazai is close enough to grab his shoulders. He is so heavy! Why is he so heavy? He barely eats! We have sunken to the bottom and the sunrise is but a watercolour painting ceiling to me now. The colours mock my situation and I push us from the floor and swim to the surface. The water breaks Dazai out of his prison and I push him against the wall.
How I got him out of the water is still unknown to me, but I'm sure that Cameron's help was of great importance.
I check his neck for a pulse and fortunately, I feel one; I start panicking again when his chest stays flat.
"Cameron, call Mister Strawberry please!" She listens to me and puts the phone next to me while I try to give CPR.
"What is it?!"
"Dazai jumped into the river and he's not breathing. His heart is still beating and I'm trying to give CPR to him. What do I do?"
"Continue doing that. I'm on my way."
"Shouldn't I call a doctor?"
"They don't treat him anymore since he comes there so often!" Chuuya hangs up and I continue doing my bad CPR. I blow into his mouth a few times until I hear Dazai breathing again.
"Call him back Cameron! I think he's fine!"
"That isn't necessary, Mom, Mr Strawberry is running at us. But he has lost his hat."
"He's breathing again and his heart is beating!"
"So the bastard made me come here and is still alive!"
I hit his arm and he acts as if it hurts. We carry him to my apartment and Chuuya dries him off and put him in my bed.
While he does that, Cameron sweetly reminds me of her seam, which I repair.
"Here you go, sweetheart!" She squicks happily and I give her some cheese to eat while I work on her sibling. I opened him up and changed his filling as I did with Cameron. I added the ability to talk to her note with fresh blood and dry her body with a hairdryer. She wakes up and immediately wants to cuddle with her twin and wants to go to Dazai right after.
"Mom, he can't come back as I can! I want to know if his chest still bumps!"
Oh, why did I not make them robotic? They are too endearing and caring for their own good. I pick her up and knock on the door.
"Is he decent? Marceon wants to see him."
"Of course he's decent I ain't looking at his naked body! Wait, Marceon? Who? Does that bastard have a girlfriend?" He opens the door and I show him the red mouse. I push him aside and put Marceon on his chest. She nuzzled in his neck and fell asleep with Cameron against her other side.
We left them alone and Chuuya sat in "his" chair.
I make us some tea and continue finishing up my new spider friend.
"Why are you making a spider? I thought you hated the little critters!"
"I don't hate them, I am afraid of them and I don't want to be anymore. So I'm making a spider friend for me to help with that. They don't have a name yet, so you can make one up if you want."
He gently strokes the fat cat, Samira, and finishes his cup of tea. He puts it down with a thud: "Sheldon."
"Okay," I finish his paper and sew him shut, "Sheldon, please wake up and be a nice friend to everyone in the house. Be protective and always speak with kind words."
He woke up and spoke softly: "Hello, Mother, thank you for bringing me into existence. I shall try to be the most gentle being in the universe."
"You can say 'mom' or 'Mary' if you want to. I am sure you'll get along with the rest.", I get up and introduce him to everyone present, "Cameron and Marceon are sleeping in the other room, so you'll meet them later on. On Mr Strawberry's lap is Samira, but she is asleep right now." I carry him to the snuggle corner and introduce him to everyone present: "Everyone, this is Sheldon, please welcome him and introduce him to the rest. Sheldon, the bunny is called Felix, the little bird is called Margot and the parrot is Lisa." I put him down so they could properly meet without their "mom" watching them.
"Why do you let them call you 'mom'? You hate children."
I shrug my shoulders: "The first one called me that and everyone followed suit."
"Who was even the first?"
"Mowgli; a snake I made as a child. He's not here anymore and I don't want to talk about him."
"Stupid name for a snake, you should've called him Kaa."
I throw a pillow at him and wake Samira up in the process.
"Why don't you give them my or Dazai's real names? They probably know it from hearing it."
I keep quiet for a moment and take a sip of tea: "Shouldn't we call someone from his work? They're probably worried why he hasn't shown up yet." I grab his phone from the zip lock bag I found it in. For someone who doesn't care about himself, he does take care of his phone very well. It's probably so he doesn't have to remember everyone's numbers.
I know his password and try to make sense of all the nicknames he put on his phone. I assume 'Mr. Stickler-for-Rules' is the college that he always complains about. He also called him an obnoxious amount of times in the last week so I try the number.
"Dazai! Where are you, you were supposed to come in two hours ago! What is your excuse this time?"
"I'm not Dazai, I'm a friend of his. I found him in the river in the morning and I thought I should warn you about it."
"Again? That is the third one this month!"
Why didn't Cameron die sooner?
"I found him the first two times!"
That explains it…
"I'll send someone from the ADA to pick him up if you give me the address."
I did that and then he hang up right after. "Someone from his work is coming to pick him up."
"I'll take that as a cue to go away. Wouldn't want any of his colleagues finding me here." He grabs his hat and wants to go, but I hold his arm. "What?"
"He didn't care. He didn't care that Dazai tried to commit suicide. He didn't care that it was the third time this month. He just found it annoying..."
He shrugs his shoulders: "It happens a lot, they probably got used to it. Also, he's late often, he isn't exactly a model colleague, you know."
"I know it happens a lot and that he isn't the best colleague, but he didn't care about him. It was just a nuisance to him… Do you even care?"
He stays quiet: "You didn't answer my question from earlier."
"You didn't answer this one."
We both know neither of us is going to cave and he pulls his arm out of my grip and slams the door shut.
Dramaqueen!
I decide to let Dazai sleep until his colleague comes to pick him up and just continue my daily tasks. I take my medications before feeding everyone and then I eat myself
I hear some stumbling and start making a plate for Dazai. I stop hearing steps and start the speech I prepared: "I don't need you to talk or explain anything to me. I am just glad that I found you. I called your work and someone is coming over. I don't know who it is, but if you don't feel comfortable with going I'll send them away. Anyways, I made you …"
I get stopped by Dazai hugging me.
"I'm not used to this, what do I do?"
"Hug me back, you idiot!" I listen and put my arms around him after putting down the plate of food. He smells like water. I pet his head and run my fingers through his hair, which is still wet. He nuzzles his face in my neck but since he's much taller than me he's practically bending himself in half to do that.
"Darling, maybe you should eat before your food gets cold..."
He listens and starts to eat with too much enthusiasm.
"When was the last time you have eaten?"
"Like a week ago …"
I slap his arm with that answer: "You should move in with me before you starve to death."
He chokes on his food and I hit his back until the coughing stopped.
We stayed quiet for a while until he asked me: "When did you put that mouse inside my coat? I noticed it a while ago, but I never seemed to figure out when you did it."
I tried to remember: "I don't know the exact date, Dazai. She has a name tho, Marceon."
"Is she your little spy ?"
"Yes, she is a spy."
"For what? To make sure I don't get hurt?"
"Exactly!" I put down my teacup to refill it.
He stops eating: "How?"
"How what?"
"How does she communicate with you?"
I smirk: "That's a secret, otherwise it won't work."
"Does Chuuya have one?"
He is done eating and I take his plate to wash it.
"Yes and no, I have one, but she isn't alive yet and I haven't had an opportunity to give her to him."
"What's her name gonna be?"
"Romance, the three names are anagrams for each other. Since their minds are linked I thought it'd be suitable."
Dazai just smirks at me. I know I told him the secret and he knows I know. I don't say things without thinking.
"Do you mind that I put her in your pocket?"
He shrugs his shoulders.
His silence annoys me and I want to continue questioning him when someone knocks on the door.
"I suppose that's your colleague." I pull my socks up and go open the door.