Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

[CYCLE 4IXV, SOMEWHERE OUTSIDE THE ROSE STAR NEBULA]

Grian questions all of his life decisions leading up to this very moment.

There’s voices screaming in his ears, alarms screeching across the ship as they try to alert the poor captain of the status of the hull or how low the shields are. Screens keep popping up across his vision, flashing angrily red at him.

Scar, his co-captain next to him, sighs in frustration. He responds to a notification that pops up, a video call coming up. “WHAT DO YOU WANT?” He shouts, his patience clearly having gone. The camera on the other end doesn’t really register, the screen crackling and glitching. 

“I WANT YOUR HEAD ON A SPIKE FOR WHAT YOU DID TO ME—”  The voice that comes across is deep, snarling like a beast.

Scar forces a smile. “Please hold!” He slams his fist on the hang up button with a grunt. “This is ridiculous.” He mutters under his breath, sparing a glance at Grian. He quickly does a double take, face softening in concern. “Hey, you okay?”

Grian looks down and realizes his hands are shaking, how his breath is quickening and how he can hear his own blood pounding in his ears. “I-I…”

A voice speaks in his head, one that’s not his own. “ Captain? Is everything alright? ” It thinks.

“ No .” He thinks back.

Scar puts his hand over Grian’s, squeezing it gently. “Hey. Deep breaths, bud. Here.” He hands him his water bottle, Grian shakily taking a sip. “We’re gonna be okay. I’m right here, okay? You’re not alone. You’ve got the crew, too. We’re gonna make it out of this.”

Grian takes deep breaths, squeezing Scar’s hand back. “Okay. Yeah, I’m…I-I’m okay. We can do this.” Scar smiles at him, giving him a pat on the back. “It’s just another day for us.”

Grian gulps as he stares at the sheer amount of ships facing them down.

How the fuck did he end up here?

𓈒⠀𓂃⠀⠀˖⠀𓇬⠀˖⠀⠀𓂃⠀𓈒

It all started when he enrolled in the Apollo Luminary Spacing Academy. That was the start of his downfall. 

Well, maybe it was more like the moment he decided he was into spaceships and space travel when he was younger, which led to him enrolling in said academy, but that’s getting technical.

Every bad life decision is due to the Apollo Luminary Spacing Academy. Sure, he enjoyed his time there, he made great friends, he learned a lot of useful skills, but…if he hadn’t graduated he wouldn’t be in this mess.

Joining the academy was bad enough, sure, but meeting and befriending Scar was truly the final nail in the coffin. 

The two of them became inseparable the moment they met. Something about them just instantly clicked, and they were almost never seen without the other. If Grian was there, Scar was close by.

Naturally, when they graduated they decided to stick together. The two of them decided to put their cycles of learning to good use and become delivery pilots for hire around the galaxy. It sounds kinda lame, but the two of them enjoy it a lot. They’re pretty much always traveling and making good money, and it’s all either of them could ask for. 

They pilot a small red ship together called the P4RR0T, and it’s Grian’s pride and joy. He pooled most of his money into it, and he does everything he can to keep it in tip top shape. Scar jokes he takes better care of the ship than he does himself. Maybe it’s a little bit true. 

Well, he used to. That’s part of the story. 

He tells himself it was his childhood, or enlisting in the academy, or meeting Scar, but the real moment his fate was sealed was the day he and Scar got a job from one Herr Doc Monster of the Intergalactic Octagon Corporation. 

It was a simple delivery job. That was all it was supposed to be. 

They were supposed to deliver just one large crate of cargo for 5 million galactic credits. 5 million credits is more money than they’d ever seen in their lives. Just deliver the cargo, get paid, and it’s a job well done. 

Grian can’t help but anxiously bounce his leg as they approach the IOC headquarters. Scar notices and chuckles softly, turning down the music he was playing. “What’s on your mind?” He asks. 

“I don’t know, I just…I’m so nervous. Like, this is a big job! And it’s a lot of money! What if it all goes wrong somehow?” Grian says quietly, chewing on his nails. Scar pats his shoulder, giving him a reassuring smile. “Relax! It’s gonna be fine. We’ll be in, we’ll be out, and then we’ll be stupid rich! Also stop biting your nails.”

Scar gently takes Grian’s hand and pulls it away from his mouth. He reaches into a compartment next to him and pulls out a nail file, handing it to him while he keeps talking. “Everything’s gonna work out! I can feel it in my soul.”

Grian reluctantly takes the nail file and sighs, staring out the window. “I hope you’re right. Can you read the instructions again? We’re getting close.”

Scar pulls up a screen, making little boop noises as he hits buttons. The instructions pop up in front of them, taken from the job app they use. 

“Alright! It says here…we need to go through loading dock A, there’ll be a gate attendant to check our IDs and then a marked drop off area where we’re supposed to unload the crate and then exit the same way we came in. Sounds ea—Grian you’re chewing on the nail file now—that’s probably bad for your teeth stop it—“

Scar snatches the nail file out of Grian’s mouth, setting it to the side. Grian huffs in frustration, running his fingers through his hair. “But it’s too simple, Scar! It can’t be that straightforward! What if we explode or something?”

“We’re not gonna explode! Here, take some deep breaths and pet Jellie to calm your nerves, yeah?” Scar turns around and Jellie pads into the room, flicking her tail and hopping onto Grian’s lap. 

“ Stop stressing out. It’s so loud. ” She says with a sniff. Her collar has a little device that can read her thoughts, exporting them into the universe via a robotic voice that sounds something akin to a grumpy middle aged woman. Grian sighs, scratching between her ears. “Thanks Jellie. You’re so helpful.”

“ Of course I am. ”

[CYCLE 4IXV, THE PLANET OCTIS]

They enter the atmosphere of the planet the IOC headquarters resides on, making their way towards the massive, sprawling buildings on what seems to be miles and miles of land. The rest of the planet seems to be built around the entirety of the IOC headquarters, towns and cities sprouting off around the area.

They pull up to the loading dock, coming across the security attendant to get themselves checked in. They connect to the audio channel in order to be able to communicate with the attendant, readying their IDs.

The attendant’s voice crackles over their speakers. “State your business here.” They drone tiredly.

Grian flicks a switch on his side of the dashboard. “Delivery for uh, Herr Doc Monster.”

There’s a pause as the attendant looks something up on their computer, sighing. “Alright. IDs please.”

Grian takes Scar’s ID and holds both of theirs up to the window for the attendant to check. The attendant squints at the IDs, then looks over at Scar, then back at the ID, before giving another sigh. Grian wishes he had 10 credits for every time this person sighed.

“Your ID is expired, Mr. Goodtimes.”

“WHAT?!”

“Normally I’m not supposed to let you through with expired ID, but…” They print out a little sticker, slapping it on the hood of their ship. Grian leans forward to look and sees it's a visitor’s pass. “I don’t get paid enough to care.”

They lean back into their post, pressing a button so a gate opens for them. “Enjoy your visit or whatever.”

“O-oh, thank you. You too.” Grian says softly, pulling the ship inside. He takes a deep breath, whipping around to face Scar. “YOUR ID IS EXPIRED? AND YOU DIDN’T THINK TO CHECK BEFOREHAND?!”

Scar throws his hands up in defense. “I thought I had more time! And you just ‘you too’ed the security guard!”

“WE COULD’VE LOST THE—” Grian shakily inhales, gripping the controls of the ship. “Sorry, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t be yelling at you. I’m sorry.”

Scar pats him on the shoulder. “You’re stressed, I know. Look, once we’re done here and cash that check in, I’ll get my ID updated and then we can do something special.”

Grian snorts. “Like what?”

“I dunno, Vegas?”

“You wanna gamble?”

Scar shrugs. “Could be fun.”

“We’ll see. We have to make it out of here, first.”

Grian pulls them into the specific loading dock, bouncing his knee as he parks the ship. He flicks a few switches to open the cargo bay, getting up from his seat. “Okay. We’re here. We got this.”

“The biggest paycheck of our lives is just a few rivacs away! Come on Jellie!” Scar whoops, following after him with Jellie hot on his heels.

The two of them get to work unloading the package, pushing it down the ramp together with frustrated groans. They push it towards the drop off area, Jellie sitting and watching them by sitting on the package itself. 

“Are we done?” Scar pants as he wipes the sweat off of his forehead. Grian wheezes as he pulls out his phone, marking the delivery as done on the app. “We’re done!” They jump and cheer, high fiving each other and laughing happily. Grian glances down at his phone when he feels it buzz, getting a message from Doc himself. 

“Oh! He says the money might take a day or two to fully transfer to our accounts, but he said it’s on its way! Th—Scar what are you doing?”

Grian looks up and sees Scar fiddling with the box of the package itself, like he’s trying to get a peek. Jellie yowls and jumps off the top. He takes a step back, putting his hands on his hips. “Aren’t you just a liiiiittle bit curious about what’s inside there?”

Grian looks at the massive sticker on it that says [CONFIDENTIAL]. “Only a little bit. ”He looks up at Scar and sees him biting back a smile. “What? You’ve got that look in your eye, I’m scared.”

“I kinda wanna snoop around here…”

“Scar.”

“I know! But…it’s so tempting Grian! Aren’t you curious? Don’t you wanna know more about what goes on around here?”

“...I’m giving you five rivacs. 5 rivacs of snooping time before I make us haul ass out of here.”

“YAY!”

Scar skips away from Grian, the captain following right behind him as he picks up Jellie. Most of the employees don’t pay them any mind, almost as if they’re not actually there. Grian thinks they probably mirror the same sentiment as the gate attendant. 

Scar pauses in front of a large cargo ship, parked next to a control board full of many shiny switches and buttons. Grian’s fingers twitch as he stares at the several, several big red buttons. “Oh. Oh this is dangerous , Scar.”

Scar rubs his hands together and giggles. “It’s exciting ! What do you think everything does?”

Grian snorts, tugging on his scarf. “Maybe if we hit one it’ll transfer all of the money in Doc’s account into ours.” Jellie laughs along with them. “Man, can you imagine?” Scar chuckles, eyes glancing over the control board. There’s a few slots and screens for employee IDs and fingerprints to be scanned and checked for authorization, and Grian can’t help but wonder what would happen if a non-employee tried to touch anything.

“...I wanna touch the buttons.”

“Scar. Scar don’t. Be strong about this.”

“Griiiiiian.”

“Scar! We don’t know what any of them do!”

“I know you want to, too.”

“...You’re right. I do. One button. You get one button.” 

“YAY!”

Scar immediately slams his fist on one of the bright red buttons, flinching when an alarm starts to sound. 

“ UNAUTHORIZED USE DETECTED. INITIATING PRECAUTIONARY SELF DESTRUCTION PROTOCOL. ”

“WHAT?!” Scar shrieks.

“ SCAR !”

Scar pulls the three of them away just in time, the ship self-destructing and exploding, blasting them across the floor. “You okay Jellie?” Grian asks, looking down at her. “ Yep. A bit ashy, but okay .” She responds.

Grian and Scar look up at the smoldering remains of the cargo ship, feeling several eyes turning towards them. “We gotta go.” Grian whispers. They scramble to their feet, more alarms blaring  as they start to sprint back to the P4RR0T. Scar fumbles to find the keys for the ship, screeching to a halt when he hears a repetitive beeping noise. 

“Grian, wait, that doesn’t sound g—”

The package they delivered earlier begins to beep, detonating and exploding, destroying the P4RR0T along with it. Grian shrieks, dropping Jellie in surprise. “ OUR SHIP! ”

“OKAY! WE NEED TO GET OUT OF HERE!” Scar yells, scooping Jellie up. Grian whips around to face Scar. “HOW THE HELL ARE WE SUPPOSED TO DO THAT?!”

Scar yanks Grian by the waist, slinging him over his shoulder and breaking into a sprint. He finds an abandoned scooter, setting Jellie in the basket in the front and practically throwing Grian onto the back of it. 

“WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING SCAR—“

“WE NEED TO THINK FAST OKAY! HOLD ON TIGHT!”

Scar starts up the scooter, slamming down the accelerator and speeding through the loading bay. Grian clutches onto Scar’s waist, burying his face in between his shoulder blades. They whizz past other ships, employees scrambling to get out of the way so they don’t get accidentally run over. 

They speed through the entrance gate, breaking it off as more alarms start to go off. Grian catches the face of the gate attendant one last time, seeing them tiredly visibly sigh and hit another button that sets off another alarm. 

“Grian? Can you do me a favor?” Scar asks.

“Mhmhm?” Grian squeaks out, eyes screwed shut. 

“Look up the nearest ship nursery on this planet. I’m gonna get us a new ship.”

“Scar! At least let me pay half.”

“Not if I can help it!”

Grian pulls his goggles down and pulls his phone out, wincing when he sees the notifications popping up. “Uh, Scar?”

“What?”

“…Doc’s not happy.”

“How mad is he?”

“…There’s a bounty on our heads now.”

“WHAT?!” Scar whips around and nearly crashes the scooter. “How bad is it?”

“…The 5 million credits we were supposed to get from the job. He canceled the transaction by the way. We uh. We lost the money.” Grian tries to sound calm, but his voice keeps shaking. 

“OH FUCK ME!”

“Nearest ship nursery is in a mile!”

Grian holds on tight for the rest of the ride, Scar definitely breaking several traffic laws as they go, but there’s already a bounty on their heads so Grian can’t bring himself to care. They hear distant sirens, and when Grian turns around he swears he sees some scooters and ships approaching in the distance.

“Scar?”

“What?”

“STEP ON IT!”

They finally make it to the ship nursery, hopping off the scooter and practically kicking it to the side into the dirt.

They run up to the sale booth, despairing when they find it empty. Scar rings the bell on the counter once, and then again, and then again, grumbling and spamming it aggressively. An employee finally pops up from behind the counter, cheerfully smiling. “Hello! How may I help you two today?”

“We need to buy a ship.” Scar says. Grian keeps glancing back and forth between where the sirens are coming from, tapping his foot stressfully. 

“Perfect! Would you like to take a look around?”

“NO! No, we’re…we’re kinda in a hurry. Just whatever's cheapest will do.”

“Oh! Well we have that one over there.” He points to a fairly sized ship, the exterior a nice coppery shade. “It’s very worn down, but with a bit of love and care it can be good as new! Think of it as an investm—”

“Yeah yeah yeah whatever we’ll take it! How much for it?”

“2,500 credits!”

Scar winces as Grian tugs on his sleeve, signaling for him to hurry up. “Fine. Okay. Yeah, that’s fine.”

The employee disappears underneath the counter, returning with a stack of papers. “Alright! If you’ll just sign these, please.”

Grian cringes as he hears a distant explosion.

Scar signs as quickly as he can, shuffling through the stack of papers. “Oh, wait, what are we gonna call the ship?”

“I don’t know! Just name it whatever, we don’t have time!”

“What about the SW4G0N?”

“Oh you’re not naming our fucking ship the SW4G0N! Swag is so 2,000 cycles ago Scar!”

“Come onnnnn Grian! Please? I’m paying for it!”

“I’ll pay for it myself if it means you won’t name it the SW4G0N!”

“You know what, I’ll compromise.” Scar scribbles some other signatures and nonsense, slamming his pen down and pulling out his card. “Alright, everything’s signed. Here’s my card. If you could make it quick, please.”

“Perfect! One moment.”

They disappear for a few seconds, returning with Scar’s card and a set of keys. “Alright! You guys are all set. Any other questions for me?”

“Nope! Thank you so much!” Scar picks up Jellie and runs off, Grian right behind him. Scar tosses the keys to him and they run towards their new ship, nearly tumbling over each other while they try to make it to the cockpit. Grian slams down into the pilot’s chair, fumbling with the keys to start the ship. The ship buzzes to life, lights turning on and systems coming to life. 

“Okay. We’re gonna be okay. This is fine.” He mutters to himself. 

“Systems are a go!” Scar says, tapping buttons with one hand while the other pets Jellie. 

“Alright, we’re taking off!” Grian shouts, cranking a lever and gripping the steering wheel. “Hold on tight!”

The ship lurches forward, the beams and walls groaning from strain. Grian slams on the pedal and they speed off the surface of the planet, flying through space as if it were a comet. 

“Should we enter faster-than-light travel?” Scar asks, pulling up the command screen for it. Grian adjusts some of the controls on his side, making sure they’re more to his liking. “I think so. It’s nearly impossible to track us, so hopefully it’ll throw anyone after us off our scent for a while.”

They nearly fall backwards as they flip the commands for faster-than-light travel, the ship making more noises like it’s protesting. “Dear void, we’ll be lucky if this thing survives the jump.” Grian mutters. 

“Hey! Don’t insult my shell like that!” A voice yells.

“...Was that you?” Scar asks. Grian raises an eyebrow and shakes his head. “No. You? Jellie?”

“ I don’t sound like that. ” Jellie huffs. 

“No! It was me! Over here!”

The three of them look down, seeing a little animated face staring at them from a small screen on the dashboard. There’s two little dot eyes, a cartoonish mustache and little choppy bangs. 

“...Who are you?” Grian asks. 

“I’m Grumbot! The personal assistant for this ship!” Its little robotic voice chirps. “How happy am I to have company again!”

Grian and Scar look at each other. “Well…Nice to meet you?” Scar says. 

“Nice to meet you too! I will be here to provide any assistance you need on this here ship! Navigation, controls, you name it!”

“That’s great Grumbot, um…do you have an off switch?” Grian says, tapping his fingers impatiently on the console.

“Nope! I am always on! And I am everywhere on the ship! If you walk into the kitchen I will still be there!”

“Oh that’s fun. I didn’t know there was a kitchen!” Scar says cheerfully. “Thank fucking void.” Grian mutters. 

“Where are we going?” Grumbot chirps.

“Anywhere.” Scar says. “Anywhere, everywhere, just somewhere far away from Octis for now.”

Grian takes a deep breath, rubbing his face with his hands. “We have nothing. Oh my void we lost all of our stuff. All of our stuff is gone.”

Scar winces, remembering everything he left on that ship. “Ah, fuck.”

“Our clothes, anything special we had saved, my fucking meds! It’s all gone!” Grian yells, panic starting to rise in his voice. His breath starts to quicken the more he thinks about what he lost in the explosion. 

“Hey, it’s okay—“

“HOW CAN IT BE OKAY SCAR—“

“I DON’T KNOW! But I know everything always works out in the end. We can rebuild. What matters right now is that the two of us are right here and we’re alive. Clothes and meds and stuff can be replaced. Your life can’t. Okay?”

Grian pinches the bridge of his nose, taking a deep breath. “Okay. I…I don’t fully believe you, but okay.”

Scar stands up and holds his hand out for Grian. “C’mon. Let’s get you some water and we can tour our new ship.”

Grian reluctantly takes his hand, letting Scar pull him to his feet. 

“…Okay.”

𓈒⠀𓂃⠀⠀˖⠀𓇬⠀˖⠀⠀𓂃⠀𓈒

[BACK ON THE PLANET OCTIS, INSIDE THE INTERGALACTIC OCTAGON CORPORATION HEADQUARTERS]

A switch is flicked, turning on a microphone connected to the speakers throughout the complex.

“May all of my personal mercenaries report to my office, please.” A deep, low voice rumbles over the intercom. The monstery voice of the CEO of the Intergalactic Octagon Corporation.

Doc waits for a few rivacs, smiling coldly as his five mercenaries walk into the room, setting themselves up in a straight line. They’re used to this sort of thing.

“Well, if it isn’t my favorite group of people.” He purrs, folding his hands under his chin.

The blonde mercenary snorts, her blue eye piercing right through him. “What an honor.”

“Yes yes, I know. You all never care for small talk. I’ll cut to the chase. You know how the bounties I set are technically for the entire galaxy, correct?”

They all nod in unison.

“And you all know how much I trust you guys and your abilities, correct?”

They all nod again.

Doc swipes up something on his phone, sending a notification to all of them. “A new bounty. For the five of you. Dead or alive. I’ll pay you handsomely for them to be returned to me.”

The five of them look down at their phones to see the notification. “5 million? What did they do?” Another mercenary asks, twirling the ends of her orange braids absentmindedly.

“Blew up one of my ships. One of my nice cargo ones.”

The hooded mercenary looks up. “How much information do you have? Or do we just have their picture to go off of?”

Doc laughs lowly, reclining in his chair. “You ask so many questions.”

“We’d like answers.” He says. “Makes our jobs easier.”

“Well, if you must know, they fled off planet on a ship from the nursery a few miles down the road.”

“What happened to their own ship?” The short, brown haired droid asks. 

“I blew it up. A ship for a ship, an eye for an eye.”

“I see.”

Doc wrings his hands together. “Truthfully, I don’t know where they could be headed. That’s where my leads end. But I trust you’ll all figure it out, right?”

They all nod in unison.

“Good, good.”

“And if…it’s not us that brings them back?” The droid asks.

Doc smiles, sharp teeth showing as he does so. “I trust you all will make sure that won’t happen. I dread what would happen to you.”

The five of them don’t respond. 

“Well!” Doc claps his hands, kicking his feet up on his desk. “Off you all go now. Every second that passes is another second where they get further away.”

The five mercenaries are practically shooed out of the room, huddling up in the hallway.

“You’re going down, Dog .” The blonde mercenary sneers.

The mercenary with shiny red glasses lets out a bark of laughter. “We’ll get to them first, trust me. And that’s The Red Death to you, Falsie.”

She scoffs, turning up her nose and whipping her head dramatically so he gets smacked with her hair. “Over my dead body. Come on girls, we have a bounty to collect.”

The five mercenaries split off into groups of two, both determined to be the one to bring the bounty back to their boss.

Scar and Grian don’t know what’s coming for them.

𓈒⠀𓂃⠀⠀˖⠀𓇬⠀˖⠀⠀𓂃⠀𓈒

Chapter Text

[CYCLE 4IXV, STATION 127, SEVERAL DELTRON UNITS LATER]

“I brought lunch!”

Scar dramatically enters the ship, carrying a bag of fast food and a few drinks in hand. Jellie jumps out of Grian’s lap and runs to Scar’s feet, meowing incessantly. 

“ Chicken nuggets! Chicken nuggets! ” She yowls.

Grian chuckles as Scar approaches, Jellie not shutting up until he sets the food down on the table. “Thanks, Scar. I appreciate it.”

“Of course, we gotta stay fed, ya know?” 

The two of them unpack their food and fall into a comfortable silence, digging into their dinner. They’ve been trying to make their ship a home, even with their limited time and budget. 

They don’t have chairs for a dining table, so they just sit on the ground, eating at an old coffee table they found on a random planet.

There’s more bedrooms in the ship than they realized, but they’re all in pretty bad condition. They’ve added bed sheets and comforters to their shopping list, deciding they’ll worry about the other bedrooms later. 

“Grumbot, can you eat? Or no?” Grian asks, trying to keep Jellie away from stealing his fries. 

Grumbot beeps to life, showing up on a screen on the wall. “I cannot! Us electronic beings cannot eat at all, as there is no need for it!”

“Huh, I see. Guess it makes sense.” Grian hums, taking a bite of a nugget. Scar lifts Jellie into his lap, scratching the top of her head. “Who owned this ship before us? How long have you been all alone?” He asks.

“Before you…hm, I’m not quite sure. It’s been so long my memory’s grainy! I think he was an inventor of sorts. Left in a sudden hurry.”

“Huh. Interesting, At least you have us now!”

“I do! And I’ve already learned so much about you guys!”

Grian and Scar both blink at him. “What?”

“How much could you have learned in like, 3 deltrons?” Jellie sniffs.

“Everything! Your personal histories, your records, every piece of technology you’ve ever owned, and the bounty currently on your heads!”

Grian and Scar exchange a nervous glance.

“Oh, don’t worry. It doesn’t look like anyone’s accepted the bounty yet!”

Grian pushes away his plate of half eaten nuggets and fries. “I’m suddenly not hungry anymore.”

Scar sighs as Jellie immediately tries to pounce on the food, pulling her away. “That’s great, Grumbot. Keep us updated.”

“Of course!”

Grumbot beeps as he goes to sleep, and Scar turns his attention back towards Grian. “Not gonna finish?”

Grian stands up and sighs, shaking his head. “No, I’m good. I can save it for later. We’re still going shopping later, yeah?” He goes over and washes his hands, wiping them dry on his pants. He opens a cabinet and pulls out an empty food container, the only one they really have. Scar finishes the rest of his food as he watches Grian shuffle around and put his leftovers away. “Yeah. I’ve been making a list.”

Grian huffs as he shuts the fridge. “It’s gonna take a lot to get this place into the shape the other one was. We don’t even have bedsheets. ”

“They’re on the list! Along with…pretty much everything else. Towels, dishes, silverware…we gotta start taking up jobs again.”

Grian stressfully runs a hand through his hair, pacing around the kitchen and sighing. “I know, I know. I’m just paranoid. What if whoever is offering the job sees us and just decides to turn us in or something? They put up a fight? I’m just worried we’re not safe…”

Scar stops him, gently putting his hand on his shoulder. “We’ll be okay. That’s the thing, Grian. It’s space. We’re never really safe. And I know that’s not at all reassuring but…it’s just sort of a fact, ya know? We’re prepared for this sort of thing!” Scar pats the blaster on his holster, gesturing to Grian’s matching one. “We’ll just have to make sure nothing explodes this time.”

Grian snorts, rolling his eyes and biting back a smile. “Okay. Thanks Scar. I appreciate it.” Scar smiles back at him, eyes crinkling up into little crescents. “Of course! Now come on!” He grabs Grian’s hands, starting to tug him towards the door. “We gotta go shopping!”

“Okay okay okay! Wash your hands first, they’re greasy!”

𓈒⠀𓂃⠀⠀˖⠀𓇬⠀˖⠀⠀𓂃⠀𓈒

[CYCLE 4IXV, STATION 127, AROUND THE NEO CIRCUIT TOWN]

Scar and Grian make their way down their shopping list, getting all of their essentials. From bed sheets and general cooking supplies, they stock up as much as they can from their list, with their limited budget and arm space. Grian’s glad they have a few groceries. He doesn’t know how many more pieces of fried food he can eat.

The city is positively bustling, calling it a town is very much underselling it. Grian links his pinky with Scar’s, making sure he won’t get separated from him. The mass crowds of people hide them from being easily spotted, and they don’t stick out as much as other citizens. A bit of the worry lifts off of Grian’s shoulders. 

“What’s next?” Grian asks, practically yelling to be heard over the sounds of the crowd. Scar pulls out his phone, eyes scanning the text on the screen. “Um…just some general medication. Ibuprofen and your melatonin.”

Grian sniffs. “Right. And what way are we paying for these? The old way? Or the ‘right’ way?”

“Well, looking at our bank account—” Scar winces as he checks their balance, “I think there’s nothing wrong with doing things the old fashioned way, don’t you think?” They both share a look and chuckle, memories wandering back when they were younger and still in the academy.

“We haven’t done it in a while. Think we still got it?”

“I’m sure we do! I know I do. What about you? I can’t remember the last time I saw you snatch something unnoticed!”

Grian holds up Scar’s phone. “I wouldn’t be good if you noticed me doing it, eh?”

Scar gasps, snatching it back. “Oh, you little! Fine, I believe you. We got this. You know what to do.”

The two of them walk into a small convenience store, stepping out of the busy streets and into a quiet, suspicious alley. The convenience store is small, filled with few shelves and fridges stocked with goods. There’s just a singular counter, with a singular woman standing behind it. A little bell jingles as they enter, and she lifts her head.

“Welcome, welcome If you need any help just let me know.” She says cheerfully. Scar gives Grian a look, and Grian gives a nod, wandering off into the aisles. “Hello! Can I ask you something?”

The lady smiles, leaning forward across the counter. “Sure you can. Fire away.”

Scar smirks, turning all of his charms up to the max. “You’re a local, right?”

“Born and raised.”

“Can you tell me about the good local stuff around here? Food, things to do, separating the tourist traps from the real , genuine stuff. My friend and I are here for a few deltrons and we want the full experience.”

The lady hums, tapping her chin in thought. “Well, let’s see…”

Grian looks around as he shuffles deeper into the aisles. He doesn’t spot any obvious security cameras, but he can’t be too sure there aren't any hidden ones. He decides to bite the bullet and hope there just isn’t any, and if there is, he hopes no one routinely checks them. 

He finds the medication, scanning the boxes and bottles for all the names. He gingerly grabs one of the bottles of ibuprofen, quietly unzipping his bag and slipping it inside. 

He looks around and spots the melatonin, going to grab it at first before stopping. He thinks on it for a tick, then retracts his hand. He’ll be fine without it, surely. He zips up his bag again and wanders around, pretending to just be browsing while Scar chats up the lady at the counter. 

He decides to grab a few more random things, mostly little snacks and knick knacks he knows Scar might appreciate. He makes his way back to the counter, innocently whistling as he waltzes up behind Scar.

Him and the employee laugh about something, and Scar turns his eyes back to Grian. “Well, that sounds a-may-zin’! Find anything, Grian?”

Grian hums, shrugging. “Not really, just browsing. Very cozy place you have here.” The lady smiles, nodding. “Thank you. I try.”

Scar smiles at her. “Thank you again for your help. What’s your name?”

She winks. “That’s a secret. And yours?”

“I guess that’s also a secret.” Scar winks back.

She giggles. “Fair enough. I hope you enjoy your time here. It’s a lovely city, I promise you.”

“We’ll be sure to visit everywhere. Thanks again!”

Scar waves as they leave, and he sighs as they make it to the alley. “I feel kinda bad now. She was really sweet.”

“It happens. Maybe we can come back and actually buy something some deltron.”

“Did you get what we need?”

“Yep.” He lies. “And more! I snatched up some snacks and candy. Your favorites!”

Scar gasps, putting a hand on his chest. “Oh, you angel! Thank you!”

There’s only a few people with them in the alley, getting more crowded the closer to the main street they get. 

Scar freezes for a tick, putting his hand on his back pocket. “My phone’s gone.”

“What?”

He turns to Grian, confused. “You gave it back to me right?”

“I did! I don’t have it. Did you drop it in the store?”

“I don’t think I did. Let me s—“

He looks up, seeing a figure in the distance very much holding his phone. “Wh—HEY!” He shouts, and the figure notices, jumping and starting to run away.

“GET BACK HERE!”

Him and Grian take off after the stranger, running as fast as they can. They push and weave their way through the massive crowds, sprinting to keep up. The stranger is fast, but luckily their bright blue skin makes them stick out like a sore thumb.

Grian doesn’t know how long they run, his feet starting to get sore. Over the sounds of the city, he swears he hears the sound of jangling chains in the distance getting closer. It makes him uneasy.

He looks overhead, spotting a mechanical eagle soaring over them. That’s definitely strange. He decides not to focus on it too much and keeps running.

They eventually reach a dead end, the thief freezing and looking around, like they’re trying to find some way to escape. The high buildings don’t offer any way to climb up, and they whip around and hold their hands in the air.

“Don’t shoot me okay! I-I’ll give it back, just don’t hurt me!”

Grian quickly clocks them as a Guiltic, an aquatic species of alien that tends to live on their home planet of Atlantis. It’s very rare for one to be seen off world, much less in the middle of a bustling city stealing phones. 

Scar holds his hands up. “Oh no! No no we don’t want to hurt you! We just…want my phone back!”

“Oh. Okay. That’s surprising.”

“...Can I have it back now?”

“Oh. Yeah. Sure.” She tosses Scar’s phone back, sticking her hands back in her pockets.

“I’m surprised it was that easy.” Grian snorts. The Guiltic shrugs. “Eh, I’m not really looking to fight you over it right now. My time is valuable, you know.”

Scar slips his phone into his bag this time. “What were you gonna do with it anyway?”

“Pawn it off, or something. I’m more of a grab things first and think later kind of gal.”

“Interesting.” Grian nods. “What’s your name?”

“I’m Pearl! Nice to meet you.” She says with a smile. 

“Oh, I’m Scar, and this is Grian! Nice to meet you too.”

Grian nods and looks back at Scar, seeing a look flash across his face. Grian steps in close, dropping his voice to a whisper. “ What are you thinking? ”

“ I mean…we do have two extra bedrooms that aren’t getting used. We could always expand our team. ”

“ We did also just meet her. And she tried to rob us. ”

“ She could be cool! It’s kinda like the academy. We didn’t know each other at all when we first roomed together! ”

“ I feel like this is a little different. But… ”

“ But? ”

“ Having another pair of hands is always good…but what about the bounty? ”

“ Oh. That’s a good point. ”

Pearl glances between the two of them, the two antennae on her head glowing and wiggling around. “Um, if it’s any consolation, I’m sure there’s a few warrants out for my arrest. A bounty doesn’t worry me.”

Scar blinks. “Oh. Were we that loud?”

“A bit, yeah. And…”

Grian and Scar suddenly hear her voice echoing in their minds. “ I can read your thoughts! ”

“Oh! Well…are you…living anywhere in particular right now, Pearl?”

“Not…really! I don’t really have a home right now. Not counting Atlantis, but that’s very very far from here.”

“Would you…like to come with us? We’ve got extra rooms.”

“We do odd jobs here and there, and with extra hands we could take more expensive jobs. We could always split the profits, and you get a roof over your head! Even if the ship is…not in the best condition.” Grian explains.

Pearl hums and haws, thinking it over. “Well…That is a pretty good offer. And traveling around sounds better than just rotting away here…okay! I’ll help you guys out.”

“Okay! I’m sure Jellie will warm right up to you!”

Pearl’s little antennae wiggle again. “Oh, you have a cat? Cats love me!”

“I wonder why…” Grian mumbles sarcastically. “But anyways, now that that’s settled, we should go.”

“Go where?” A voice calls from above, 

The three of them look up, seeing a silhouetted figure standing on one of the rooftops above them. A mechanical eagle lands on their shoulder, robotically screeching into the air.

They jump down, and the three can finally get a good look at them.

Their hair is long and blonde, an eyepatch covering their right eye. The eagle tilts its head, flapping its wings. They’re decked out in pieces of armor, several different pistols and blasters strapped to their belt.

“Um…who are you?” Scar asks, slowly stepping in front of Grian. They smile. “That doesn’t matter. What matters is that I know who you are, and you’ll be coming with me.”

“Not so fast, Falsie.” Another voice calls out.

They yelp as another figure appears behind them, blocking off their exit. Chains jingle as they walk, a devilish smile on their face. 

“Go away, Ren.” False scoffs. “ We’ll be the one reaping the rewards from the bounty.”

“Why? Worried if you don’t he’ll take your other eye?” Ren says with a sneer.

False silently glares at him, cracking her knuckles. 

“Ohhhh, did I hit a nerve?”

“I’ll make sure I do when my foot meets your throat. Where’s your friend?”

“You know his name. You can say it.”

“His silly little stage name that he chose himself? I’m good, thanks.”

Ren snorts. “Oh, get off your high horse. Your name isn’t that much better either.”

“I at least earned my name. I didn’t pick it out myself, rather given to me by citizens in the galaxy. I think that’s more noble than whatever you two did.”

“We were just building ourselves up. No shame in that.”

False hums, rolling his eyes. “Whatever. We’ll be getting the bounty first.”

“Sure you will. Over my dead body.”

“You wanna bet?”

Ren laughs. “I’m no gambling man, Falsie. Even if I do like my odds.”

“Suit yourself. Anyways w—Oh my void where did they go.”

Ren and False look up, not having noticed the three criminals slipped away when they were distracted. “Oh, you’ve fucked us Ren!” False shouts as she takes off. Ren sputters as he runs after her. “Not my fault!”

𓈒⠀𓂃⠀⠀˖⠀𓇬⠀˖⠀⠀𓂃⠀𓈒

Grian, Scar and Pearl all sprint together, weaving again through the bustling crowds of the city. They crouch a bit to stay hidden, hoping no ship ends up flying above them or anything.

“It’s okay! I think we got a head start!” Scar pants as he quickly glances behind them.

“I think you’re forgetting to account for something?” Grian yells.

“What?”

Grian points up at the rooftops of buildings, seeing multiple figures running in the same direction as them. “The fact that there’s more of them!”

One of the figures drops down, maniacal giggling getting louder. A droid zooms by on roller skates, cocking her cannon arm. She starts wildly firing, quickly dispersing the crowd as they run and hide in fear.

A hooded figure drops down, pulling out blades from out of nowhere. “Stress! Doc did say dead or alive, you know!” He shouts, tossing a blade at Grian and just barely missing.

Stress giggles, roller skating past him. “Alive is just a suggestion! Dead is a promise!”

Scar yelps as he grabs onto Grian and Pearl’s arms, dragging them forward as he runs. “Okay, they’re with Doc! We’re fucked!”

“Not yet we aren’t! ”Pearl digs into her pockets, pulling out a grenade and removing the pin with her teeth, throwing it behind them. The grenade goes off, setting off a giant cloud of smoke that quickly fills the city square.

They pick up their pace, not bothering to look behind them this time. “Where’s your ship?” Pearl asks. 

“It should be up ahead!” Scar says. Grian puts his hands together in a praying motion as he mutters to himself. “ Please still be there please don’t be blown up please still be there please please please— ” He whispers stressfully. 

Luckily, the ship remains intact. They quickly board the ship, throwing their bags on the ground as they rush to make it to the cockpit. Grian practically slams down in his pilot’s chair, flipping various switches and turning the power on.

Grumbot boops to life, smiling as he sees them. “Good morning! What’s happening?”

“A hot exit, Grumbot! We need to get off this planet ASAP.” Grian says. 

“Okay! I’ll turn all systems online and get you ready for takeoff!”

“Thank you!”

Pearl sticks her head into the cockpit. “Do you guys have like…gunner positions or anything?”

Scar swivels around in his chair. “Down the hall, I think? Why?”

“Just in case you need some extra protection!” Pearl shouts as she runs down the hall. 

“Who’s that?” Grumbot chirps. Scar swivels back around and gets to work prepping his side. “Oh, a new crewmate! We picked her up like…5 rivacs ago.”

“Oh yay! I like new people!”

Pearl’s voice comes across from the ship’s communications. “I found it! It’s a bit dusty in here…”

“Yeah, this ship is …something . ”Grian mumbles in response.

“Hi there! I’m Grumbot!” Grumbot says cheerfully.

“Hi Grumbot! I’m Pearl!”

“We can do self introductions later! We have to worry about take off!” Grian yells, slamming his foot on the pedal to get the ship off the ground.

“You’re no fun.” Grumbot grumbles.

“Yeah, yeah. Anyone behind us, Scar?”

Scar quickly pulls up a few screens, fingers practically flying at the speed he types. “Not that I can see right now, but that can change at any moment.”

Grian grips the controls, flying the ship up and off the ground. “We’ll just have to keep an eye out. All systems looking good?”

“Aye aye, Captain!” Scar says, miming a tiny salute.

Grian rolls his eyes and laughs. “You okay over there Pearl? All buckled in?”

There’s a quiet click from Pearl’s comms. “I am now!”

“Okay! Get ready!”

The ship speeds up, and Grian barely squeezes the ship out of the shipyard out of where they’re parked without damaging another vessel. They hear Pearl yelp in the distance as everyone’s thrown backwards in their seats.

“Sorry!” Grian shouts.

“It’s okay!” Pearl sputters, swiveling around in her seat.

“Oh, we got ships on our tail! WINTER 321 and THE EAGLE are leaving the shipyard!” Scar shouts, activating the SW4G0N’s shields.

“I’ll take care of them!” Pearl responds, distant sounds of the ship's cannons firing to life.”

“There’s an asteroid cluster up ahead! You can try to lose them there!” Grumbot suggests. Scar whips his head up. “Woah, are you sure? This ship isn’t as small as the last one.”

Grian tightens his seatbelt. “I know what I’m doing Scar. Just trust me, okay?”

“Okay, I trust you.”

They speed off into space, making their way towards the asteroid cluster. Grian weaves the ship through tight groups of the floating rocks, jostling around everyone on the ship.   

Pearl grips the ship’s cannon, releasing a barrage of bullets onto the following ships. The EAGLE attempts to fire a capturing net, but Pearl shoots it out of the air before it can even reach them. 

Scar lets out a whoop of laughter. “Nice one Pearl!”

“Thank you!” 

A sudden incessant yowling fills the air. Jellie stumbles into the cockpit, looking very annoyed. “ What the hell is happening? I was taking a nap! ” She meows, scrambling to join Scar’s side. 

Scar gasps and scoops her up into his lap, holding onto her tightly. “Sorry! We’re in a bit of a pickle right now.” She huffs and buries her face into the crook of Scar’s arm.

The ship jostles around as a blast hits their shields. Jellie yelps, tail puffing up. “It’s okay! We’ll be out of this shortly!” Grian reassures, diving to avoid an asteroid straight to the windshield. “The cluster’s coming to an end up ahead. We can make a jump to hyperspace and lose them even more.”

“I got an idea.” Pearl says, reloading the cannon. 

“Oh?”

“Trust me on this, but you have to turn a bit to the right!”

“Are you sure?”

“Positive!”

“Okay, I’m putting my faith in you!”

The ship starts to turn right, and Pearl gets into position. “When I say go, step on it!”

“I’ll try!”

The ships behind them start to speed up, their own guns and cannons trained directly on them. 

Pearl focuses on the asteroids around them, blasting as many as she can. The rocks explode into a million pieces, effectively creating a wall of debris between them and the bounty hunters. 

“GO!”

Grian thrusts forward a lever, increasing their speed and getting them successfully out of the cluster. 

“Entering FTL!” Scar shouts, flipping the necessary levers and switches. The ship makes a groaning noise as they make the jump, being met with the quiet rumblings of space as they settle into faster-than-light travel. 

Grian pants as he slowly lets go of the controls. “Grumbot. You got autopilot?”

“I sure do!” Grumbot chirps.

“Good. Care to take over for a bit? I need a drink of water.”

“I got you! I’ll keep us in hyperspace until you say so.”

“Thank you.”

Grian and Scar unbuckle and get up, Jellie hopping down and padding off on her own. “Ugh. I’m light headed.” Grian grumbles. Scar rubs his shoulder gently. “Go get some water and lie down. I’ll check on Pearl.”

Grian shuffles off into the kitchen while Scar gets Pearl, making sure she’s okay. “That was kinda fun!” She says cheerfully, entering the living space. “My tank didn’t break or anything, so I’m okay!”

“Your tank?” Scar asks. 

She nods and turns around, moving her hair out of the way to reveal a big water tank attached to her back. There’s straps like a backpack, and a few tubes looped through her clothes and attaching it to her skin. “Keeps me hydrated! Guiltics can’t survive without water so when we go off planet we need hydration devices.”

“Ohhhhh! It was so bulky I thought it was a backpack!” Scar exclaims. 

Pearl snorts. “Yeah, it was the cheapest option, so it’s the biggest. It’s all my family could afford, but it does its job so I’m not complaining!”

Grian hums as he settles onto the singular couch they have, curling up with his knees close to his chest. “Interesting. How do you sleep then? Is it comfortable?”

Pearl sits down on the floor next to the coffee table. “Oh, I sleep in a bathtub usually. More comfortable and I can stay entirely hydrated the whole time.”

“Oh good! We have a bathtub!”

Jellie waltzes over and settles into Pearl’s lap, sniffing at her skin and licking her. “Hi there.” Pearl coos. “You must be Jellie!”

Jellie sniffles. “ Damn right I am. ”

Pearl looks up in surprise. “You never mentioned she could talk.”

Grian laughs softly as Scar pets Jellie’s head. “I think you’ll fit right in here, Pearl.”

𓈒⠀𓂃⠀⠀˖⠀𓇬⠀˖⠀⠀𓂃⠀𓈒

[CYCLE 4XIV, SOMEWHERE ON THE MOON SWAN 6 OF THE PLANET SWANLAE, TWO DELTRON UNITS LATER]

After a couple of deltron units, they drop out of hyperspace and hide away on the moon of a planet none of them have ever heard of. Their ship needs a break, and Grian’s hoping they can at least do a few repairs before they get up and moving again. 

They step out onto the surface of the moon, being greeted with a musty, earthy smell. The air is dense, covered in a thick fog and the atmosphere is seemingly permanently covered by clouds, blocking any light from coming in. 

“This place is…spooky.” Grian grumbles, foot squelching as he steps in something…mushy. He doesn’t know what he just stepped in, but he feels like he doesn’t want to look.

The surface is rocky, with many overgrowing plants and moss growing everywhere. Pearl’s little antennae swivel around as she glances around. “I’m not sensing any other living beings. Just some critters and little guys.”

“I think that’s a good sign, then. No bounty hunters after us or anything.” Scar says, setting Jellie down on the ground. Grian snorts. “Don’t jinx us. They could always just show up.”

Grian and Scar pull out flashlights to see, creeping deeper into the greenery. Pearl squints to get a better look.

“Well, we could camp out here. Despite how eerie it is.” Scar suggests. Jellie walks closely next to his foot. “We’ll fly right under the radar.”

Pearl looks around, noticing what appears to be footprints in the dirt in front of them. “Oh, we should be careful.”

“What? Why?”

“Someone was here. I don’t know how long ago, but we might not be alone anymore.” She says quietly, lowering her voice. 

Grian looks around, moving his hand to rest on his belt where his blaster is. “Stay close, you guys. Don’t wanna lose either of you.”

Scar grabs his own blaster, finger resting on the trigger. “Maybe we should go back to the ship.”

“I think that’s a good idea.” Grian mumbles. “I’m a bit worried about what could possibly lie here.”

Clink, clink, clink. 

Something falls by their feet, clinking up against Scar’s foot. Grian and Scar flash their lights down in sync. 

“What’s that?”

The object, a small and round capsule, makes a clicking noise.

“Oh my void, It’s a grenade! Stand back!” Grian shouts.

The three of them practically leap several feet into the air, trying to quickly move away. They aren’t quick enough, the grenade detonating and releasing a mysterious gas into the air. The crew starts to sputter and cough as they inhale the gas, covering their mouths and noses too late. 

“What even is this stuff?” Scar wheezes.

Grian gasps, coughing violently as he collapses onto the ground. Whatever he wanted to say comes out like a choked out cry as his body hits the ground.

“Grian!” Scar tries to rush to his side, collapsing to his knees instead as he inhales the gas. “It’s—it’s knockout gas!” Pearl wheezes as she collapses.

Scar hits the ground, vision blurring and swimming as he tries to fight against the effects. He hears the sound of something smaller hitting the ground next to him. Jellie .

He looks up, seeing silhouetted figures approaching them. He wants to fight, but his body feels oh so heavy.

He catches what looks like the silhouette of goat horns approaching, and his heart rises in his throat. “ No…it can’t be… ” He mutters. They’re supposed to be safe here!

He hears faint clicking and whirring sounds as the figures get closer. “My my, what do we have here?” Someone coos.

Another voice snickers. “Let’s bring them in and see what we can squeeze out of them.”

Scar’s vision goes black.

𓈒⠀𓂃⠀⠀˖⠀𓇬⠀˖⠀⠀𓂃⠀𓈒

“ Scaaaaar. Scar!”

Scar’s brain rouses itself to consciousness, eyes not yet opening. “ Hmmmmm? ”

“ Scar! Scar Wake up! ”

“ God?” He thinks blearily.

“ No, it’s me Pearl! ”

“ Oh. What’s going on Pearl? Are you okay? ”

Pearl’s voice echoes in his mind like she’s talking in a cave. “ Just trying to wake you up. These guys are kinda scary and wanna talk to you. ”

“ Oh. Okay. Should I be scared? ”

“Maybe? Just wake up already!”

Scar gasps, eyes flying open.

“Someone’s awake!” A voice cheerfully hums. Scar squints his eyes, trying to adjust to the dim lighting. His head feels incredibly woozy, his arms dangling above his head.

His brain processes that thought. His arms are above his head. 

Scar looks around and realizes he’s hanging upside down, wrists and ankles bound as they’re all hanging from the ceiling. Whatever room they’re in is dark, nearly impossible to see a few yards in front of them. Pearl’s hanging to his right, while Grian limply hangs to his left, still unconscious.

A face comes into view, Scar just barely processing blonde hair and piercing yellow eyes. “Well hello there. Nice to see another one of you finally waking up. Are you the captain?”

Scar glances over at Grian’s unmoving body. “Co captain. Who are you? Let us go!”

A gun is pointed at Scar’s throat. “You’re in no place to be making demands, my friend. Do you know how big the bounty on your head is?”

“Unfortunately.”

The man steps back, and Scar can finally get a sort of good look at him. Blonde hair and big gray horns sit atop his head. Not Doc, thankfully, but a non-zero chance he works for him. There’s two other guys, one crouched down in a squat, looking incredibly bug-like.  A Samsar, no doubt, a species of alien well known for their insect features. The other stands to the side with his arms crossed, looking human at the very least. 

“5 million galactic credits is no small amount. Can you believe it?” The horned man laughs, twirling his gun in his hand. “That is a life changing amount of money. And just for you and the little one! And we have both of you right here in our humble abode.” He gestures towards Pearl with the barrel of his weapon. “There’s no bounty for you either, but I imagine we could at least get something for you.”

Scar groans. “What do you want from us? Are we just your hostages?”

The human looking man barks a laugh. “Basically. Unless you can offer us something better.”

“But there’s no rush!” The horned man says, gesturing wildly with his hands. “We’ve got plenty of time! You lot are going nowhere. So why don’t we get to know each other?”

He flicks Grian on the forehead, “I know who you are,” he flicks Scar on the forehead, “I know who you are,” he stops in front of Pearl, dramatically crouching down to get to her eye level. “But who are you? What’s your name, love?”

Pearl smiles. “Oh, I’m Pearl! What’s your name?”

The man leans back, grinning. Scar notices he has fangs. “Me? You can call me Zedaph.” There’s a long scar over his left eye. “You lot wanna introduce yourselves?”He asks, turning back towards his companions.

“Impulse.” The human responds. “That’s Tango.” The Samsar chitters, hissing from his crouched position. Scar also realizes he has four arms. Interesting. 

“Well, now that we’re all close and personal, why don’t we start negotiating? Tango, can you get me a glass of water please?”

“Oh, how nice of you.” Scar scoffs. He’s butted in the head with Zedaph’s gun. “Ow!”

Tango goes off and comes back with a glass of water, which Zedaph gladly takes. He turns around and splashes it directly onto Grian’s face.

Grian gasps, screaming as he comes to. “Where am I?! What happened what’s going on why am I WET?” He coughs, wiggling around. 

Zedaph throws the glass over his shoulder, chuckling quietly. “Now, here’s the thing my new friends, we have two options here. We could either turn you guys in to Herr Doc Monster ourselves, or you could maybe give us a little something in return for your freedom. Like I said, your bounty is life changing money.”

“Don’t we know it.” Grian mumbles. 

“What do you want from us?” Scar groans.

“Your cat!” Tango shouts. Scar gasps. “JELLIE! Where is she? Is she okay? What did you do to her!?”

“Oh, she’s right here!” Tango steps out of the way and reveals Jellie, sitting on a little catbed with bowls in front of her. There’s wet food and water for her, and she seems content, despite all of their circumstances.

Scar sighs in relief. “Oh, that’s good. BUT I’M NOT GIVING YOU MY CAT!”

“Then what will you give us?” Tango hisses, scratching the spot between her ears.

“What do you want ?” Grian repeats.

Zedaph raises an eyebrow. “Well what do you have ?”

“Not a lot.” Pearl says bluntly.

“We can offer…food? Fuel? Credits?” Scar offers. Zedaph hums, looking back to his friends. “How much?”

Maybe you let us down and we can discuss this more? Kinda hard to negotiate when you have us hanging like bats.” Grian offers, gesturing with his bound hands. Zedaph chuckles, pacing in front of them. “What do we think, boys? Do we let them down?”

Tango chitters and giggles, rubbing his hands together. “I dunno, I like them like this. Easier to handle.”

Impulse snorts. “We could get something out of them. If anything, we could always use more credits. I say let them down but keep them tied up so they don’t try anything funny.”

Zedaph tsks his tongue. “I like the sound of that. Alright! Let them down. It’ll make things easier.”

Tango and Impulse help the three of them down, Grian whining at the sudden rush of blood to his head. “Oh god. Dizzy. Horrible, Bad.”

Jellie pads on over to Scar once he’s set on the ground, rubbing her face against his leg. Scar tries to pet her but instead awkwardly bumps his hand against her.

“…Now what?” Zedaph whispers. “We’ve never done this before.”

“We could kill them.” Tango replies. “The bounty did say dead or alive.”

“We are not killing anyone Tango! Then we won’t get any money!”

“…Do you guys want water?” Impulse asks.

“Impulse!” Zedaph whines, stamping his foot, “No! We look totally unscary right now! Tango do something scary.”

Tango spits at them, the saliva hitting the floor near their feet. The saliva bubbles up and sizzles, burning the floor. Acid. Great.

“You’re certainly scary when you stomp like a toddler.” Impulse snorts.

“Water would be nice.” Grian mumbles. The three of them are offered water, glasses pressed to their lips while another holds them steady. “Thank you.” Scar says. “That was…weirdly tender.”

“Now, let me ask you guys something. What did you do for Herr Doc Monster to put a 5 million credit bounty on your head?”Zedaph asks as he pulls up a chair. 

“It’s a long story.” Grian sighs.

“We have time. You aren’t going anywhere.” Zedaph says with a smile, eyes twinkling threateningly. 

“It was a job gone wrong! We blew some of his stuff up, but it was an accident!” Scar cries. 

“And why are you with them, fish lady?” Tango asks, tilting his head towards Pearl curiously. 

“Oh, they just kinda picked me up. They’re good company!” She says happily. 

“Awwww, Pearl!” Scar coos. “I’d hug you if my hands were free!”

“How sweet. Now a second question. What do you have to offer us so we don’t just go ahead and hand you over to Doc?”

“Well…what do you need? We can maybe offer things you’re looking for.” Grian says.

The three of them huddle together momentarily. “What do we need?”

“Money. We’re running low. As well as food and fuel.” Impulse mumbles, rubbing his chin in thought. “We’d need to do a supply run soon, and we all hate supply runs.”

“10 thousand credits and a fuel unit. Two! And a crate of food!”Zedaph yells excitedly.

“10 thousand?!” Grian squawks. “We don’t even have that much! No!”

“5 thousand!”

“That’s all of our money!”

“2,500! Take it or leave it!”

“But—“

“TAKE IT OR LEAVE IT!”

“FINE! 2,500. As for the other stuff…”Grian looks to his friends for help. They huddle close together.

“ Two fuel units and a crate of food? That’s not…bad. We’re okay on fuel and food. ” Scar whispers.“ It’s just the credits I’m worried about. ”

“ It’s half of our money… ” Grian frowns. 

Pearl wiggles her antennae, talking to them psychically. “ It’s okay, I have about 1k to my name I can pitch in. Besides, we could always earn that money doing odd jobs and such. ”

“ OOH! Mas Vegas is on our bucket list. We could gamble!” Scar cheerfully suggests .

Grian gives him a look. “ No. No gambling.”

“Fiiiiine. But can we still go? Just for funsies?”

“We can go. But are we good with the deal?”

Pearl and Scar nod. Grian turns back to the trio patiently awaiting a response. 

“Okay, 5 thousand credits, two fuel units and a crate of food for our freedom. Sound good?”

“Hmmmmmm……Deal.”

“Great!…Can you untie us so we can actually give you that stuff?”

Zedaph whines, rolling his eyes. “I guess .”

They cut the restraints, the crew of the SW4G0N finally getting to stretch their arms and legs. They make awkward small talk as they walk all the way back to their ship, handing over the credits and supplies they promised.

“Pleasure doing business with you.” Zedaph says, shaking Scar’s hand firmly. “Same to you. And uh…” Scar hands over an extra hundred credits and winks. “Don’t tell Doc we were here.”

Zedaph looks at the money in surprise. “My lips are sealed.”

They load up their ship, promising to get off the moon quickly and get out of their hair. 

Grian sighs in relief, slumping into the pilot’s chair. “Okay. That…that sure just happened. So much for lying low here.”

“Oh, come on. When one door closes another door opens! We’re going to Vegas!” Scar says excitedly, sitting down next to Grian in his co-pilot seat.

Pearl cheers, jumping up and down.

Grian smiles tiredly, laughing. “Right, right. That is true. Are we all ready for take off?”

Scar and Pearl cheerfully respond.

“Alright! Vegas here we come!”

𓈒⠀𓂃⠀⠀˖⠀𓇬⠀˖⠀⠀𓂃⠀𓈒

Chapter Text

[CYCLE 4IXV, OUTSIDE OF THE ORBIT OF THE GREEN STAR GALAXY]

Grian sighs as he leans up against their kitchen counter, a pot of coffee brewing slowly. It’s early morning, and he’s the first one up. Not like he slept at all anyways. 

He’s used to being the first one up, and he likes it that way. The ship is quiet, just the low hum of the machinery and engines filling the silence. He doesn’t get moments of peace and quiet to himself that much, so he savors it while he can. 

He likes to make coffee for the others, keeping his hands busy. He knows Scar likes his with a dash of milk and sugar, and Pearl prefers to drink matcha, something she graciously bought herself and shares with them. Grian likes it, but it’s not something he’ll be drinking daily.

The coffee finishes brewing, and he pours himself his mug, doing the same with Scar’s. He pours a shot of 20-Velton Energy into his, and adds the desired amount of milk and sugar to Scar’s own. He stirs it together, placing Scar’s drink under the ship’s food warmer so it’ll still be hot by the time he wakes up. He quickly brews up Pearl’s drink, feeling something small and fuzzy bump up against his leg.

“Morning, Jellie.” He says, not even looking down.

“ Morning .” She responds. She rubs herself up against his leg, purring and hopping up on the counter, sitting by the food warmer. “Are you gonna want your breakfast now, or when Scar wakes up?” Grian asks, sticking Pearl’s drink in the fridge.

“ Mmmmmmmmmmm…now! ” She meows.

Grian chuckles softly. “Of course.” He grabs Jellie’s food from the pantry, snorting as she follows closely after him. “ Don’t forget the wet food. ” She yowls. Grian raises an eyebrow. “You only get wet food for dinner.”

“ No. Scar gives me wet food for breakfast too! ”

“We both know that’s a lie.”

Jellie huffs, flicking her tail. “ Fuck you .”

“Yeah, yeah. I’ll sneak you some of my breakfast. Don’t tell Scar.”

Jellie starts to scarf down the food Grian sets in front of her. “ Perfect .”

Grian sighs as he leans against the counter, taking a sip of his nightmare coffee. It tastes terrible, but it keeps him up. 

He hears the sound of the bathtub draining, and the sound of the water running. He’s gotten used to hearing it in the morning, telling him Pearl’s awake. She’s been sleeping in the bathtub, refilling her tank every morning so she never goes a moment dehydrated. She steps out of the bathroom, wringing her hair.

“Good morning!” She says cheerfully, skipping into the kitchen. “Morning. Your matcha is in the fridge.” Grian hums with a smile. She smiles back, practically beaming. “Oh, thank you! You didn’t have to.”

Grian shrugs. “I don’t mind. Besides, it gives me something to do when you both are asleep. Sleep well?”

“As well as I can. The tub is a bit cramped, but I make do.”

“Sorry about that. I wish we could get you something more spacious.”

“Oh, don’t worry. It’s better than what I was living with before.”

Grian moves and sits down at the coffee table on the floor, across from Pearl who happily sips her drink. “What were you doing before?”

Pearl hums thoughtfully as she stirs her drink. “I slept in corners of alleys and anywhere I could rest my eyes for a while without someone shooing me away. I always slept sitting up right because it’s hard to lie on your back with a tank, ya know? So I don’t mind the tub much at all. Lying on my back is nice for a change.”

“Oh…I’m sorry.” Grian says softly.

She chuckles. “Don’t be. I should be giving you guys a million thank you’s. Truthfully this is the best I’ve been sleeping in… cycles .”

Grian can’t help but frown. “Can I ask…what was your life like before the city? How’d you end up there?”

“Well that’s my secret tragic backstory I get to reveal later.” She says with a wink. Grian lets out a silent wheeze of laughter. “Really?”

She laughs. “No, I’ll tell you. I’ve lived on Atlantis for my entire life, but I’ve always had a desire to …explore , ya know? My family was kind enough to save up money to buy me the tank so I could actually go out into the galaxy and see it for myself. They gave me some credits as well to keep myself fed and even buy a ship but…that didn’t work out that well.” 

She sheepishly rubs the back of her neck. “But it’s not so bad. My mom says everything happens for a reason, and all of that led me here. It’s only been a few sun units but I really like it here.”

Grian’s face softens, a smile spreading across it. “Oh, Pearl. That’s really sweet.”

“Mhmm. I want to go back but only when I have enough to repay them. Show them I’ve done something for myself when they sent me out into the universe. Preferably with money that I didn’t pickpocket off of a stranger.”

They both laugh quietly, enjoying the cozy morning vibes. There’s a distant thump from somewhere deep in the ship, followed by a groan. 

“Oh, sounds like Scar’s awake.” Grian chuckles.

Scar shuffles into the living area, hair disheveled and shoulders slumped. His eyes are barely open as he flops down onto the floor, resting his head against the table surface. “Mhhm…morning.” 

Grian lets out an exhale of laughter. “Did you fall off the bed again?”

“Yeah…” Scar slowly blinks as Jellie runs over and hops in his lap. “I was having a nice dream.”

Grian hums as he gets up, grabbing Scar’s coffee and bringing it over to him. “Well, at least it wasn’t a nightmare.”

“Mhmmmm…” Scar hums as he takes a sip. “Did you sleep well?”

“Yeah.” Grian says. He’s gotten better at lying about it. “Normal sleep, no dreams or anything.”

Pearl gives him a look, looks back at Scar, and then back to him. She doesn’t say anything, sipping on her matcha.

“That’s good.” Scar yawns. “How far are we from Vegas?”

“Just a few veltons. We’ll definitely be there before the afternoon.”

“Oh, yay! We can maybe even spend a night at a hotel or something.”

Pearl snorts. “I don’t know if that’s exactly in the budget.”

“True, true. We can certainly dream.”

Pearl gasps suddenly, a thought flashing across her head. “Oh, Scar! I wanted to ask you and Grian something?

“Yeah? What is it?”

“How did you two meet! I told Grian how I kinda got here, but I wanna hear about you guys!”

“Oh!” Both of them blink in surprise. Grian chuckles, sipping his coffee. “It’s a long story.” Scar shrugs. “We have time!”

“Yeah, I guess so. It all started when I was a little boy—”

“Oh come on!”

The three of them laugh, exchanging stories and memories the entire morning, getting to know each other just a little bit better.

𓈒⠀𓂃⠀⠀˖⠀𓇬⠀˖⠀⠀𓂃⠀𓈒

[CYCLE 4XIV, BACK ON THE MOON SWAN 6 OF THE PLANET SWANLAE]

“This sucks.” Zedaph huffs, kicking the empty crate of food. The food they were promised is entirely gone, having been chewed up by some parasite which they quickly disposed of.

Tango whistles as he counts the credits in his hands. “Well, we certainly got a lot of money. This could buy us food for at least half a cycle.”

Impulse rolls his eyes and grumbles. “I knew we should’ve checked the crates beforehand.”

“Oh, but we didn’t! And now look at where that got us!”

“Does this mean that if we ever see them again, I have permission to kill?” Tango asks cheerfully.

Zedaph paces around the room. “Yes. It’s on sight.”

Impulse sits himself up on one of the crates. “We should take that bounty on them. Reap the rewards for ourselves.”

Tango groans as he goes to put the credits away. “Bounties are so much w oooo rk. I’d rather not leave here.” Impulse tsks his tongue. “Our ship is pretty run down anyways… but we could always put some of the money we got from them towards repairing it.”

Tango nods, looking back over at Zedaph. “Why are you pacing so much?”

Zedaph chews on his nails. “This is so frustrating! I feel like we need to do something about this!”

“Like what?”

“I DON’T KNOW!”

“I think stressing yourself out over it won’t make you feel any better. We don’t have to do something right away. Just go lie down and relax.” Impulse offers, trying to be helpful. 

Zedaph groans, stomping his foot. “This is fucking ridiculous.”

Tango goes to say something, quickly shutting his mouth as he hears a crash somewhere deep in their base. “What…was that?”

Zedaph and Impulse look up. Zedaph’s hand flies to his gun on his belt, twirling it into his hand. “Sounds like we’ve got company.”

Impulse and Tango rush to grab their weapons, Tango going for a pair of blades and Impulse a blaster cannon.

They hear footsteps approaching, walking slowly. They all wait silently for whoever’s approaching to turn the corner, weapons raised.

Two figures step into the dim light, one of them whistling nonchalantly.

“Hello, gentlemen.” The first figure says.

Zedaph, Tango and Impulse step close together. “Who are you?” Zedaph asks. 

“The Red Death.” Impulse whispers. 

The Red Death, better known as Ren, smiles. “Aw, I’m renowned? Always an honor to hear it.”

“Who is he?” Zedaph whispers. Impulse leans in closer. “Bounty hunter. Him and his buddy. The other goes by The Watcher. It’s bad news that they’re here.”

“Relax.” The Watcher, also known as Martyn, says. One eye is hidden behind an eyepatch, the other staring directly into their souls. “We’re not here for you . We’re just here to ask you a few questions.”

Zedaph’s finger sits lightly on the trigger as Tango hisses at them. “What sort of questions?”

“We’re looking for two people. Heard word they passed by here.” Ren pulls out his phone and shows a picture of Grian and Scar.

“We just were wondering if you knew where they were headed afterwards.” Martyn says with an unfriendly smile. 

Zedaph thinks back to the credits Scar slipped him and takes a deep breath. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. We haven’t had anyone stop by in lunar units. Now can you get out? We don’t take kindly to strangers.”

Ren lets out a bark of laughter. “No need to be so aggressive. Lying isn’t going to help you either.”

Tango’s eyes flit around nervously. “We aren’t lying. Now buzz off!”

Martyn looks at Ren, giving him a small nod. Ren takes it as confirmation and attacks, swinging at Zedaph and knocking the gun out of his hands. Zedaph yelps, hands flying up to cover his face as he's suddenly pinned to the ground. 

Impulse and Tango try to move to help him, only to be blocked by Martyn who quickly knocks them down. Ren digs his boot into Zedaph's chest, making the man cry out in agony. 

“Zed!” Tango yells, trying to reach out, getting kicked in the face instead. Impulse silently watches, trying to come up with a plan. 

“Now, I think you'll really want to tell us the truth.” Ren sneers, getting in close to Zedaph's ear. “ Where . Are . They .”

“We don't know! They didn't tell us!” Zedaph cries, trying to pry Ren's foot off of him. Ren instead digs his foot even deeper into his chest. 

“We're not leaving until we get a proper answer.” He hums. 

Impulse silently tiptoes behind Martyn, trying to ambush him and going for his head. Without even looking, Martyn reaches over his shoulder and punches him in the nose, making him fall to the ground. 

“We DON'T KNOW ! I don't know what to tell you! Yes, we lied about them being here, but that's it! They just left!”

Ren makes a noise, almost like a purr. He twirls a pistol in his hand. “Now how do I know you're not lying about that?”

Tango watches in a panic as Zedaph screams, more pressure being applied to him.

“VEGAS!” He yells.

Everyone turns to look at him.

“What?”

“They're headed to Vegas.” He says, voice wavering with fear. “I-I heard them whispering about it.”

Ren lets out a chuckle, removing his foot from Zedaph's chest. “That's all we wanted to hear.” He gives him one last kick to the side, sending him flying across the floor. 

“Pleasure doing business with you all. May we never meet again.” Martyn says, flicking his cape dramatically as the two of them leave. 

“ZED! You okay buddy?” Tango yells as he gets up on his feet, him and Impulse rushing to Zedaph's side. They help him sit up, the poor hybrid groaning in pain.

“Oh, look at you. You've got a black eye forming. Let's get you some ice.” Tango says. Zedaph blinks, covering his eye with his hand. “Impulse, your nose.”

Impulse lightly touches his own nose, pulling his hand back and seeing his fingertips stained with blood. “Oh.”

Zedaph's helped to his feet and brought up to rest in a chair, Tango rushing around their base to get the two of them patched up. Zedaph presses an ice pack to his eye, while Impulse shoves a few tissues up his nose. 

“Don't forget about yourself, Tango. You got kicked real hard.” Impulse says sternly. Tango grabs himself an ice pack with a huff. “I know, I know. Don't worry. You guys doing okay?”

“Those guys fucking sucked.” Zedaph grumbles. 

“Sure did.” Impulse whistles. 

“Tango, can you hand me my phone real quick?” Zedaph says blearily. Tango goes and grabs his phone from his little charging port. “Here. Why?”

Zedaph opens his phone, typing in something furiously. “We're taking that fucking bounty on them, before those assholes can get to them.”

𓈒⠀𓂃⠀⠀˖⠀𓇬⠀˖⠀⠀𓂃⠀𓈒

[CYCLE 4XIV, IN THE CITY OF MAS VEGAS ON THE PLANET NYADA]

Scar lets out an excited squeal as they land the ship, the sights of Vegas unfolding before them. 

He gets out of his chair and runs around, grabbing his phone and his wallet and standing by the door impatiently. “WE’RE IN VEGAS!” He cheers, Jellie following after him.

Grian chuckles, parking the ship and getting up. “Excited?”

“Very!” He says with a smile.

Pearl joins Scar, excitedly typing away on her phone. “My parents aren’t going to believe this!  I definitely have to get them a little corny souvenir.”

Grian smiles as he joins them, opening the cargo bay doors. “Don’t go and gamble away all of our money now, Scar.”

“I won’t! I promise!”

“Pinky promise?”

Scar intertwines their pinkies. “Pinky promise!”

“Alright then. Let’s go!”

They step out of the ship, Grian getting them cleared with the landing dock workers and paying the parking fee through gritted teeth. They make their way out of the landing dock, immediately being greeted with the bright and flashing lights of the city.

Casinos and hotels sparkle in the night, many different kinds of vehicles and ships zooming around both in the sky and on the ground. People wander around the streets in varying states of dress, laughter and talking filling the air. Stores, bars and restaurants are full and bustling, enticing anyone to come in. It’s extremely overstimulating, and Scar loves it.

“Where the hell do we go first?” Grian says as they look around. Jellie claws at Scar’s leg so he picks her up. “I don’t know! Should we eat?” Scar says excitedly.

“Hmmmm…I think…we’re in Vegas, so we have to look the part, right?” Pearl suggests, a scheming smile spreading across her face. Grian raises an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”

Scar gasps. “Oh, is it what I think you mean?!”

“Yep!”

“What? What are we talking about?” Grian looks around confused as Scar and Pearl each grab onto his arms. 

“We’re going on a bit of a shopping trip!”

𓈒⠀𓂃⠀⠀˖⠀𓇬⠀˖⠀⠀𓂃⠀𓈒

“I can’t believe you talked me into this.”

Grian looks down at his new outfit, while Pearl and Scar admire theirs. He has a shiny half jacket and a tight black shirt with red stripes on the side. He also got a new black pair of pants and boots, and he has to admit, he does like it. He just feels a bit ridiculous.

“What? You look good!” Scar tells him. Scar got a new leather jacket, and a nicely ironed button up shirt. He has a new pair of sunglasses hanging off his shirt, despite the fact it is very much night time. His shirt is also unbuttoned, just enough so his chest peeks out a bit.

“I mean, it’s not like I feel bad . I just…I dunno. I guess I feel a bit ridiculous.” Grian says softly.

Pearl steps up next to him, ruffling his hair. “Nothing wrong with a bit of ridiculousness!” She sports a sleek black top, which fittingly has ALIEN printed in funky font on the chest and sleeves. She got a metallic skirt, with a big chunky belt. “I think you look great too, Scar.”

“Aw, thank you!”

Grian stares at his feet, before squinting up at Pearl. “Why don’t you have shoes?”

Pearl shrugs. “Guiltics don’t wear shoes.”

“I feel like for your own safety you should get a pair.”

“But I don’t like them!”

“Pearl! What if there’s some broken glass and you step on it?”

“Then I’ll pull it out!”

“Animal poop?”

“I can wash it off!”

“No!” Grian looks around. “Look, what kind of shoe bothers you the least? We can get you a pair. Just for tonight.”

Pearl hums. “Nothing chunky, or with an overly textured sole. Those feel bad. Uh…sneakers in general I don’t like the feeling of. Some flats are okay but they’re really tight—“

“How about these?” Grian holds up a pair of silvery strappy sandals, flat and no weird texture on the sole. Pearl reluctantly takes them and slips them on. She looks down, stepping around in them. “They’re okay. I’ll take ‘em.”

Grian pats her on the back. “Just trying to look out for you. Besides, they match your outfit!”

Jellie waltzes up, purring as she rubs up against Scar’s leg. She has a new scarf around her neck, and a tiny pair of cat sunglasses. “You all look great.” She purrs happily.

“Right! And can you believe it’s only 60 credits for everything ? That’s crazy!” Scar says excitedly, leaning down to pet Jellie. “Are we ready?”

Grian and Pearl look at each other. “I guess so!” Pearl grins. 

“Well then let’s pay already and go!”

𓈒⠀𓂃⠀⠀˖⠀𓇬⠀˖⠀⠀𓂃⠀𓈒

The three of them explore Vegas, waltzing into practically anywhere that looks shiny and appealing. They eat the most extravagant food they’ve ever seen in their lives, having to share everything between all four of them. 

Wallets slightly emptier and stomachs full, they finally make it to a casino. The lights and signage of the Dripstone Casino & Resort shine down at them, enticing them even more.

They step inside and are amazed by the architecture, big pillars reaching up as far as the eye can see. The lobby is massive, bigger than…well, most things in their lives. Still, it’s impressive how extravagant the place is. There’s the faint sounds of slot machines and tables, and humans and aliens and droids of all sorts mill around the space. 

“Scar. I am begging you. Be responsible while we're here.” Grian says as he turns to him. Scar scoffs, putting his hands on his hips defensively. “I will! Who do you take me for?”

Grian makes a face at him. Pearl’s antennae move and she makes the same face.

“Oh, stop it. I promise I won’t gamble away all of our remaining money.”

“Pinky promise?”

Scar reaches out and links their pinkies together. “I promise.”

“You take your pinky promises very seriously.” Pearl observes. Scar nods. “Of course! I have never gone back on a pinky promise.”

“I can attest to that.” Grian hums. “Now let’s see what this casino really has to offer, yeah?”

They walk deeper into the casino, finding the room with all of the dealers tables and slots. It’s the busiest spot of the casino, no surprise there, even more packed and crowded than the rest of the place. There’s a pair of golden doors

“Where should we hit up first?” Scar asks, bouncing around as he soaks the energy of the place. 

Pearl hums thoughtfully. “Hmmmm…the slots? I’m gonna be honest, my only knowledge of casinos comes from movies and there’s always something about the slots.”

“Don’t sink all your money in them.” Grian warns.

“I won’t! Come on!”

Unsurprisingly, they don’t yield massive rewards from the slot machines. They each take a turn, and Grian urges them to move on before any more credits are lost. 

They pick up a few drinks from a server with a little tray, and Pearl can’t help but notice how every employee she’s seen so far has been an android. She tries not to think much of it as she sips her drink. 

They curiously approach one of the blackjack tables, a droid muttering under his breath as he shuffles cards. Scar waltzes right up and smiles, cheerfully greeting the droid.

“Hello!” Scar says with a smile. Jellie hops up onto the table and lies down.

The droid looks at him blankly for a moment, the frown etched on his face flipping into a smile. “Hello! How may I help you today?” Scar glances down, noticing how his name tag says ‘Mumbo’ in extremely neat font.

“We’d like to…play! I think!”

Mumbo snorts. “You think ? That’s why you’re here, no?”

He pauses, eyes widening. There’s a look that flashes across his face, a fleeting feeling of fear that he quickly replaces with an apologetic smile. “I’m sorry, that was rude. Anyways, um, you’d all like to play?”

“Yes, please.” Grian says softly.

Pearl squints at him, sending her thoughts towards her friends. “ Something’s off about this droid. ”

Scar and Grian silently nod, keeping up their smiles towards said android. “So, ante up?”

Scar lowers his voice. “Is this a bad time to mention I don’t know how to play?”

“A bit.” Grian whispers back. 

Mumbo chuckles softly. “Do you want me to explain the rules to you guys?”

“Yes please.” They all say in unison. 

Mumbo very kindly explains the rules to them, telling them exactly what they need to do and how to play. They all decide to play on one hand, betting only a small 20 credits to start. 

They manage to beat Mumbo, doubling their credits with a triumphant cheer. Mumbo laughs, collecting back all of the chips and cards. “Not that hard, is it?”

“Again!” Scar says cheerfully.

“This is how they get you, Scar!” Grian reminds, trying to hide his smile.

Mumbo laughs along loudly, suddenly freezing when he looks up. He looks scared.

“What is it?” Pearl asks quietly.

“Mumbo, my boy!” A boisterous voice booms out. 

Mumbo quickly fakes a smile as someone walks around the table and slides up right behind him, chuckling and putting an arm around him. 

“Nice to meet you all, I’m the owner of this here casino. The name’s Fwhip. I assume Mumbo’s taking good care of you?”The man says, holding his other hand out for a handshake. He shakes everyone’s hand as Mumbo nods along.

“Oh, he’s been lovely!” Scar says enthusiastically. “He’s been helping us too!”

“Really now! Why, isn’t that wonderful?” He gives Mumbo a firm pat on the shoulder. “I’m glad to hear it!”

He leans in close to Mumbo’s ear, whispering something to him that makes his eyes go wide. He pulls back and smiles, Mumbo looking utterly haunted. “I’ll leave you all be now! I just wanted to check in. If you have any questions or concerns, don’t be afraid to come to me, alright?”

The crew nods in agreement. “Well then! Bye bye now!” He waves and turns on his heel, walking off about as quickly as he showed up.

Mumbo takes a deep breath, a breath he doesn’t even need to take. His hands shake a little bit as he thumbs the cards in his hand. “So…where were we?”

Pearl’s face softens as she takes a look into his electronic mind. “Are you alright?” 

Mumbo sighs, avoiding eye contact. “Can…I be honest with you guys?” His voice is soft, barely audible.

The crew shuffle closer. “Of course.” Grian says, reaching out and putting his hand over Mumbo’s. Mumbo squeezes it appreciatively.

“I’m…I am unhappy with my life. I want to get out of here. But I don’t have a choice.”

Scar raises an eyebrow. “You don’t have a choice?” He whispers.

Mumbo nods, looking around. “I’m not supposed to want to leave. I’m supposed to be a casino droid. I can’t leave the casino without shutting down or thousands of alarms going off. It’s like my own personal prison .” 

Pearl’s face softens. “Oh no. Do the other droids also feel that way?”

“The other droids don’t feel anything.” Mumbo whispers harshly. “You’re psychic, aren’t you? You can take a look around and see.”

Pearl takes a glance, skimming the thoughts of the other droids working around the floor. She’s met with…nothing. An eerie silence. The few thoughts she reads circle back to the casino, about the players they’re beating and the triumph they feel about a job well done. 

“Oh wow, you weren’t kidding…” Pearl mumbles. Grian takes a deep breath, looking at his crewmates. There’s a silent nod between the three of them. “...Is there anything we can do to help?”

Mumbo looks at all of their expectant faces. He feels something for a moment, something he’s never felt before. He can’t describe it but…it feels good. 

“Take me with you.” He whispers. “Help me get out of here.”

The three of them look at each other, silently nodding. “Okay. What do we have to do?”

Mumbo blinks. “Really? You’ll actually help? That fast?”

Scar nods. “Of course. You want to get out, we have the space, so what do we have to do to help you get out of here?”

Mumbo pauses to think, circuitry turning in his brain. “It’ll take a lot of moving pieces. I’ve…put a lot of thought into this. I need to find a way to remove myself from the system so we can sneak out without alarms going off. Then I need to get my charger and other things and we’ll be good to go.”

“I assume you’ll need someone as a distraction?” Scar asks. Mumbo nods silently. “Well, lucky for you, I’m an expert at distraction! No one can resist my charms.”

Grian quietly snorts.

“Do you need someone to go with you?” Pearl asks. “Because if so, I can go with Scar—“

“ And me! ” Jellie supplies.

 “Right—and Jellie—and Grian can help you out and we can stay in touch via psychic communication. If we need to find a rendezvous point.”

Mumbo nods, locking eyes with someone behind the group. Fwhip is gesturing at him to cut the talking short. 

“Is he looking at us?” Grian whispers.

“Yes.” Mumbo says softly. “We need to wrap it up. He’s telling me I’m doing too much talking. So, one last game to make it all count?” 

“One last game!” Scar cheers.

“I think we should all play on the same hand again. Makes it a bit easier on all of us.” Grian suggests. 

“Alright, make your bets.”

If Mumbo could sweat, he would. His eyes dart around the entire casino, from Fwhip back to the gamblers in front of him. “For our sake, I hope you all win.” He says softly.

“That’d be a lucky chance, wouldn’t it?” Grian laughs. 

“It really would…”

Despite Mumbo’s best wishes, they lose. 100 credits down the drain for them. Out of the corner of his eye he sees Fwhip smile and turn, walking away. 

“I’m sorry.”

Pearl’s face softens, and they all look at him with pity. “You don’t have to be. There’s a saying about this for a reason.”

It’s a mantra that’s been drilled into Mumbo’s brain. The house always wins.

“Don’t get hung up on it. Let’s get this plan in motion, alright?”

Mumbo nods, a smile spreading across his face. “Let’s do it.”

𓈒⠀𓂃⠀⠀˖⠀𓇬⠀˖⠀⠀𓂃⠀𓈒

Scar and Pearl and Jellie step away from the table, going off to find Fwhip. Grian and Mumbo stay behind, eyes straining to find them in the crowd. A few rivacs pass, and Pearl’s voice rings in his thoughts.

“ Scar’s got him. Coast is clear.”

Grian turns to Mumbo, holding his hand out. “We’re good to go. Ready?”

Mumbo silently nods, taking it. “As I’ll ever be. I’ll show you the way.”

Mumbo looks around to make sure no other droids are watching him, and steps away from his table. He drags Grian along, into an employees only hallway and down to a locked door. “I can find a way to override the system and remove myself so the security doesn’t go insane when I leave the premises. If you could do me a favor, behind the shelf next to you there’s a file of documents I’ve hidden, can you grab it please? And if you could grab my charger off the wall and stick it in my backpack that’d be great too.” 

Mumbo wastes no time in getting to work, popping open a panel in his arm that reveals tons of wires and circuitry and connecting himself to a computer sitting on a desk. His fingers fly on the keyboard as he types in various codes to get past the increasing levels of security. 

While he does that, Grian finds the shelf he was talking about and moves it, finding a small dusty folder.  He picks it up, blowing the dust off it and peeking inside. There’s a few papers full of legal jargon, and the one that catches Grian’s eye is a Certificate of Creation.

He sees Mumbo’s full name, Mumbo K. Jumbo, and the rest of his information printed on it. There’s the date of his creation, and Fwhip’s signature confirming him as his. Grian looks at the date of creation in horror. 

“Mumbo…how long have you been working here?” Grian asks quietly. Mumbo doesn’t even look up at him. “Since the moment I was made.”

Grian looks down at the certificate again. Mumbo’s been working here for cycles . Cycles and cycles of nonstop work. If he were a human, Mumbo would be young. Just about Grian’s age when he was in the academy with Scar.

He can’t help but feel pity for Mumbo. The way he works so quickly, the way he already knows what needs to be done, he’s been planning this escape for a while. He finds an ID inside the folder, picking it up curiously. “Why don’t you keep your ID on you?” Grian asks.

“Well, with us not being allowed outside of the casino there’s no point. He just keeps them all in a locked box, but I managed to fish mine out of it a few cycles ago.”

Grian hums, setting the ID back in the folder and shutting it. Mumbo kicks a backpack towards him, and he slips it right inside. He turns to the wall of chargers in front of him, finding the one labeled ‘Mumbo’ and ripping it from the wall. It’s small, a little circle set on top of a chair. Perfect size to be shoved into a backpack. 

“Anything else?” Grian asks as he puts the charger away. Mumbo continues typing away at the computer. “No, everything I need is in there. Thanks. Can you just keep an eye on the door for me?”

“Got it!” Grian slings the backpack over his shoulder, standing on his toes and peeking out the window in the door. 

Pearl’s voice enters his mind.  “ How’s it going over there? ”

“ Good. I think Mumbo’s nearly done. How’s Fwhip? Is he distracted? ”

“ He’s distracted alright. Scar seems to have charmed him. I’m sure they could keep it up for another 30 minutes. ”

“ Void. Should I be worried? ”

“ Ehhhhhhhh? Not…really? Just let me know when you’re ready. ”

Mumbo pulls out the wires in his arm, hitting an enter button and standing up and nearly knocking the chair over. “It’s done. We’re good to go. Oh my void.”

“Really? Let’s go then!”

“Wait! Actually…can you wait right here for a tick? There’s…someone I’d like to say goodbye to.”

Grian smiles softly. “Of course. Take your time.”

They step outside and Grian stands by the door, watching Mumbo walk off to find someone. He sees him in the distance walk up to a man, exchanging a few words Grian can’t decipher. They hug for a few minutes, and as Grian watches he hears chains jangling behind him. 

“If it isn’t the man I’m looking for.” A voice rumbles in his ear. He whips around and comes face to face with The Red Death, leaning up against the wall and trapping him in with an arm. 

“Um…hi.” Grian says. He blinks. Why did he do that? He should be screaming and running!

“Hi.” Ren smiles, fangs baring. “Now, we can make this easy and you can just come with me, or we can do this the hard way. What’ll it be?”

Grian gulps, looking at Mumbo. He seems to be making his way back towards him. 

“I think that uh…well…BYE!”

Grian punches him in the face and runs, Ren howling in pain. He runs up to Mumbo, grabbing him by the hand and dragging him along.

“What’s going on?” Mumbo shrieks.

“Long story!” Grian yells. “ PEARL! TELL SCAR TO WRAP IT UP! WE GOT COMPANY! MEET US AT THE ENTRANCE! ”

Grian and Mumbo weave through people in the casino, sprinting to make it to the entrance. They see Pearl and Scar running up, Jellie hot on their heels. 

“What’s going on?” Scar asks. 

Grian points at the bounty hunter slowly closing in on them. 

“Oh, okay! Yeah, let’s get out of here!”

“Did you work everything out Mumbo?” Pearl asks as they start to leave.

“I should’ve! We’re about to find out!”

Mumbo braces himself as they cross the threshold of the casino, relaxing when no blaring alarms go off. “That’s one problem out of the way!” He says with a smile.

Scar scoops up Jellie in his arms as they all start to pick up their pace. “Well that’s good! We just need to worry about making it back to the ship—oh no.”

Martyn’s waiting for them at the end of the street, pincering them between him and Ren. Grian looks around in a panic, spotting an empty convertible parked on the side of the road. “There!”

They all hop inside, Grian managing to start the vehicle by hitting a few buttons. “Looks like the owner left it unlocked! Good for us!” He revvs the engine as he sees the bounty hunters approaching in the rearview mirror. “Don’t bother buckling up! Just hold on tight!” 

He steps on the accelerator, speeding down the Vegas streets. They all yelp, holding onto the sides of the car. Mumbo looks around, staring at the city skyline. “I’ve never left the casino before… woah .” He says softly. 

Pearl follows where his eyes are looking, eyes fixated on the stars. “You’ve never seen the stars before?”

“Only from inside the casino.” Mumbo says breathlessly. “They’re pretty.”

Pearl smiles. “Wait until you get to the ship. There’s big windows and the stars look even better from there.”

A smile spreads across Mumbo’s face. “Really?”

“Really!”

Pearl glances behind them, her own smile fading as she hears another revving engine behind them. “Uh oh.”

“Uh oh?” Scar shouts. 

“They’re still after us!”

A motorcycle speeds towards them, Ren steering it closer to their side. Martyn comes up behind them, manning another motorcycle.

“Hello!” Ren shouts. “You’re very rude, you know! You didn’t even bother to actually talk to me!”

Grian scoffs. “Forgive me for my rudeness, but I think you threatening our lives is much more rude!”

“A job’s a job, my friend! Now why don’t you pull over? Wouldn’t want to hurt your pretty faces!”

“Fuck you!” Grian swerves the vehicle, hitting Ren’s motorcycle. 

Ren yelps, skidding and falling behind next to Martyn. Grian glances in the rearview mirror, putting as much pressure on the pedal as he can. “Scar, do you have your blaster?”

“Left it back on the ship!” He shouts over the sounds of the car and ensuing chaos.

“Fuck!”

“Oh, I came prepared!” Mumbo opens his backpack and rummages around, pulling out a small blaster and a grenade. He tosses the blaster to Pearl, clicking a button on the grenade and throwing it behind them. them. 

“WHAT?” The crew yell in unison. 

“Mumbo, you’re strapped?!” Grian shouts in surprise. 

“In more ways than one!”  He twists his arm, and the skin inverts, crunching and crushing and morphing into a cannon. “We’ll fend them off! Just worry about getting us where we need to go!”

Martyn and Ren start firing back, Pearl dragging Mumbo down to duck. A ship roars above them, and Grian and Scar quickly recognize the writing on the side of the ship as False’s ship. Great. More bounty hunters after them.

There’s a drone that hovers by them, and by the logo on it they can tell it’s a news drone. Even better . 

False’s ship flies lower, and a figure suddenly springs out from the cargo bay. They slide down the wall of a building, jumping off and skating down the street at inhuman speeds. Stress.

“At least it’s not the cops?” Scar offers.

Sirens sound in the distance.

“Nevermind!”

“I’d much rather go to jail than be dead!” Grian shouts.

“Well I think one of those fates is closer to us than the other!”

Stress skates right up to the convertible, jumping on the trunk. “Ello there! Just here on business!”

The convertible shakes as she slams down on it. She looks down at Mumbo and gasps. “Oh! A fellow droid!”

Mumbo can’t help but stare in awe. “You…you’re like me?”

She laughs. “I’ve never destroyed a droid before! I wonder what it’ll feel like!” She lifts her arms above her head, and before she can slam her arm down on Mumbo, Pearl shoves her off the vehicle.

She yelps, tumbling and rolling down the road, Martyn and Ren swerving to miss her.

“How close are we, Grian?” Pearl asks as she reloads the blaster.

“I can see the landing dock up ahead! It should be like, 20 more s—OH MY VOID!”

Grian swerves, narrowly missing a person standing in the middle of the road. The car screeches to a halt, and a blade lodges itself into the windshield.

“Hi friends!” Gem says cheerfully, tossing her other blade from hand to hand. “Don’t mind me, just here to collect our bounty!” 

Grian steps on the gas, and she leaps out of the way, the convertible crashing into the nearest wall. 

“Make a run for the ship!” Grian shouts, hopping out of the vehicle and helping pull the crew out of their seats.

Gem pulls her blade out of the windshield, twirling it in her hands. She chases after them, slinging one blade that flies right past their heads. She throws the other, and it lodges itself in Pearl’s tank. She yelps, stumbling as water starts to leak out of it.

“Pearl!” Scar shouts, pausing to help her. She waves him off. “Keep going! We’ll worry about it later!”

They sprint to the ship as fast as their legs will let them. Stumbling, tripping, anything that can get them closer to it.

Grian opens the cargo bay and they all slide in, shutting the door before Gem can sneak her way inside. There’s a clang against the ship’s walls, and a visible dent forms in the side. 

Grian and Scar fling themselves into their piloting chairs, Pearl stumbling to her gunner spot. The ship roars to life, and Grian doesn’t even bother getting himself properly situated, just tells Scar to find them somewhere far away to jump to and starts moving the ship out of the landing dock. 

The ship groans as they weave their way out, making the jump to faster-than-light travel and zipping away from the planet.

They leave Vegas behind them, the shimmering and shining planet turning into nothing more than a speck in the sky.

𓈒⠀𓂃⠀⠀˖⠀𓇬⠀˖⠀⠀𓂃⠀𓈒

Ren curses as he screeches to a halt. “Dammit. They got away again.”

Martyn runs up next to him as they watch the ship get smaller and smaller in the sky. “Fuck!”

Gem puts her hands on her hips, humming quietly in thought. She smiles to herself as he hears Ren and Martyn complaining.

“We parked on the opposite side of the city!” Ren huffs in distress. “This is all your fault!”

“How is it my fault?!”

“If you hadn’t started firing, we’d have caught them by now!”

“Don’t blame me! Your incessant need to monologue at everyone we meet isn’t exactly helping us!”

“YOU TAKE THAT BACK—“

Gem grins as she hears the whirring of a ship, turning around as False lands their vessel and opens the cargo door for her. Stress is waiting for her, holding a dismembered arm in her hand. Her dismembered arm.

“Stress! What happened?” She calls out.

“Oh, when I got thrown off my arm fell off. But it’s okay! I’ll pop it back on!” She says cheerfully. False walks towards them, chuckling quietly. “Always an optimist. Where are they headed, Gem?”

“Well I don’t really know now since they jumped to hyperspace, but when they hop out…” She fishes her phone out of her pocket and waves it in the air. “We’ll be able to find them and ambush them real quick.”

False smiles. “Void, perfect and calculated as always.” She glances at Ren and Martyn still bickering. “We should go. Get off this planet at the very least, and help Stress with repairs.”

“I’ll be alright!”

“Still.”

The three of them walk further into their ship, taking off and leaving their fellow bounty hunters in the dust.

Martyn only notices when the engine roars. “You’re s—HEY! They’re getting a head start! No fair!”

“Fuck!” Ren hisses, hopping back on his hijacked motorcycle. “Come on! We have to get back to our ship!”

The two of them speed off, hoping to make it to the bounty before the others do.

𓈒⠀𓂃⠀⠀˖⠀𓇬⠀˖⠀⠀𓂃⠀𓈒

“PEARL!”

Grian and Scar launch themselves out of their seats once the ship is safe enough, rushing to find Pearl.

“I’m okay!”

She hops out of her gunner chair, water trailing behind her. “Is your tank broken?” Scar asks. She slides her tank off, staring at the massive blade lodged into the glass.

“Well…partially? It’s stuck in the top so most of the leaking is over…”

“At least it’s not at the bottom?” Grian offers.

“I’m sure we can fix it. If we don’t…I’m a bit screwed.”

Grian nods. “Scar, I’m gonna go help Pearl fix this. Do you wanna go check on Mumbo?”

“Oh, right! Where is he?”

“I saw him go into the living room, but I don’t know if he’s still there.” Pearl offers, biting back a wheeze.

“I’ll go find him and see how he’s doing. Pearl, stay hydrated. If you need anything just holler!”

Grian helps Pearl run to the bathroom, and Scar breathes a sigh as he turns around. “Mumbo?” He calls out.

Mumbo doesn’t respond. Scar walks around the ship and he finally finds him by a window, sitting on the floor and staring through the glass. Scar silently walks up behind him and sits down next to him. 

“Hey.” He says quietly. “Are you okay?”

Mumbo blinks, glancing back at him. “Yeah. Yeah, I’m okay.”

Scar hums. “Enjoying the view?”

Mumbo silently nods. “It’s beautiful. I’ve never seen stars like this before.” He turns his attention back to the sky. “I’m feeling…a lot right now. More than I’ve ever felt before.”

“Oh yeah? Like what?”

“A weird sense of relief, some excitement, some fear…I don’t know. It’s almost overwhelming.”

Scar pats Mumbo’s shoulder, pulling it back when he sees him flinch. “It’s okay. This is all very new to you, so it’s to be expected. Take it easy. Let’s hope the next few sun units aren’t as chaotic as today.”

Mumbo smiles. “Thanks Scar.”

“Of course! Now, do you wanna keep looking at the stars or do you want a tour of the ship?”

Mumbo hums softly. “I think…I wanna stay here for a bit. Thank you though.”

“No worries. I’ll leave you be for a bit.”

Scar gets up as Grian and Pearl return from the bathroom, an intense amount of duct tape wrapped around the top. Scar goes over to join them. “Got it fixed?” He asks. 

Pearl shrugs. “Yeah. It’s holding it together well. Hopefully I won’t need to replace it anytime soon!”

“How’s Mumbo doing?” Grian asks.

Scar looks back at Mumbo, still entranced by the view on the other side of the glass. “He’s doing okay. I think he has some stuff to process but…I think we should let him have a moment to himself.”

The three of them watch Mumbo, Jellie walking up to him and plopping herself down right beside him. He tentatively reaches out, petting the top of her head. Pearl pauses to read his thoughts, and she smiles. “He’ll be just fine here, I think.”

Grian bites back a grin. “Yeah, I think so too.”

𓈒⠀𓂃⠀⠀˖⠀𓇬⠀˖⠀⠀𓂃⠀𓈒

[ ???, ??? ]

There’s a change in his environment.

The warm, muggy air suddenly turns cold and sterile. The leaves under him disappear, and now he’s on a smooth, textured surface. He doesn’t know what’s happening. He can’t see or hear, but he thinks something is wrong. It all feels wrong. 

He suddenly feels something warm, fleshy. There’s a beat, one that almost feels like a drummer fighting with his own instrument. He follows the warmth, letting the feeling swallow him completely.

He finds something.

Air fills his lungs as he takes in a deep breath.  

Light floods every sense, a ringing filling his ears as he’s overwhelmed with everything . 

He blinks, taking in his surroundings. He looks down, seeing arms and hands that are not his. The legs and feet are not his. Nothing is his own. 

He’s covered in dirt and grime, and it slowly dawns on him that he has no idea where he is. There’s grass underneath him, and a buzzing behind him. He turns around, and there’s a large barbed wire a few feet away from him. He pats himself down, finding something in the pocket of his jacket. He decides to worry about it later.

The body’s heart is racing and something inside his brain is telling him to run and get as far away as possible. He tries to stand on his legs, knees trembling like a baby deer and falling flat on his face. He grunts, dragging himself upright. He can do this. 

He stumbles but manages to stand, taking a few shaky steps forward. There’s a sound that pierces the air, almost like screaming. It hurts his ears. He needs to get away. 

He gets up on his feet, and runs.

𓈒⠀𓂃⠀⠀˖⠀𓇬⠀˖⠀⠀𓂃⠀𓈒

[CYCLE 4IXV, PLANET CB-0531, THE URSA SYSTEM]

The crew lands on a small planet that’s isolated from other planets in its system, far from the peeking eyes of bounty hunters and the general public of the galaxy. They make their way into the nearest town, just trying to have a moment of peace. 

“Do you eat, Mumbo?” Scar asks as they all walk together. Mumbo shakes his head. “Nope! Wasn’t built like that. I’m not sure if it’s even possible to make a droid that eats. Too many moving parts.”

“Aw, so what if we all go out to eat?”

Mumbo shrugs. “I guess I’ll just sit there.”

Scar pouts. “That’s a little sad! We can get you a kids menu and some crayons so you don’t just have to sit there.”

“I…don’t think I know what that is?”

Scar gasps, putting his hands on his chest. “No way! If we go out for lunch, we’ll get you one.”

“Okay!”

Grian pauses in front of an electronics store, tons of different screens playing newsfeed from various channels. He scrunches his nose up at one in the corner, showing coverage of a Vegas car chase. The camera cuts to Fwhip at a press conference, and he’s glad he can’t hear what he’s saying. He’d probably punch the screen for Mumbo’s sake.

“So much for keeping a low profile.”Pearl says as she walks up behind him. The screen shows enhanced close ups on their faces, boasting their bounty and wanted status. Grian snorts. “Well, hopefully no one else is watching the news right now.”

“That bounty on your heads probably looks real appealing.”

Grian sighs. “Let’s try not to think about that.”

The crew stop to get themselves lunch, and Mumbo does in fact get a kids menu to draw on while they eat. His eyes light up, scribbling to his technical heart’s content. 

After they finish their meal, they decide to snoop around the town. 

“Do you think we could maybe pick up an odd job here?” Scar asks as he walks along with Grian. “We’ve had a lot of money going out but not enough going in.”

“Oh, that’d be really nice. We’ve been skating by on our savings.” Grian hums. “Any good ones coming up?”

Scar pulls out his phone, pulling up the job app. “Ah…not a lot. Very small jobs for not a lot of credits.”

“Augh. Well…something’s better than nothing, no?”

“I guess so. Th—“

All of them freeze up as they hear sirens in the distance. They all take a step back and a motorcycle zooms by, sirens wailing and flashing brightly. They all sigh in relief.

“Not for us. Thank void.” Grian mumbles. 

A few others go by, whizzing off in the same direction. All of them relax a little bit more. 

“Wonder what’s going on.” Pearl hums. “I couldn’t get a read on their thoughts.”

“Let’s hope we don’t get wrapped up in that,” Scar says. “There’s a package delivery across town for 30, a food delivery for 20, and a—“

They’re interrupted by a cawing in the air. They turn around, and a familiar mechanical eagle stares at the four of them. “No. No . How did they find us?”Grian groans.

“We gotta hide.” Scar ushers them down the street and into an alley, yelping as they find someone already there. “Hello?”

The person looks at them wide eyed and petrified, glancing between all of them. They’re shaking like a leaf. 

“Are you okay?” Grian asks.

“Uh…um…” They mumble, looking even more scared.

Pearl smiles warmly, slowly approaching the stranger. “Hey, it’s okay. We’re not gonna hurt you. What’s your name?”

They hesitate for a moment, face scrunching up in thought. “…C…Cub. Cub. My name…is Cub.”

“Nice to meet you, Cub. Are you okay? Did something happen to you?”

Cub looks around. “I…”

“Are words hard right now?” Grian says softly. Cub nods. Pearl lights up.

“That’s okay!” Her antenna wiggle and glow, and she taps on her temple. “ You can talk to me up here.”

Cub’s face relaxes. “ Oh. You’re psychic? ”

“ Mhm! Now, why don’t you tell me a bit about what's going on? You seem really scared. ”

Cub inches closer to her. “ I don’t…know what’s happening. This isn’t my body, really. I woke up in it and there were these loud noises…I just ran. I don’t know. It scared me. ”

Pearl nods along. “ What do you mean it’s not your body? ”

“… You won’t hurt me? ”

“ No. I promise. ”

“ …I’m a brainslug. This is my first time in a body. ”

“Oh.” Pearl says out loud.

“Oh?” Scar asks. Pearl holds her hand up.

“ Well, I promise you none of us will hurt you or anything. I’m sure we can help you. Do you want me to ask them?”

Cub silently nods.

Pearl turns back towards her friends. “So…he’s a brainslug. He said it’s his first time in a body and he’s very confused, and if I had to guess? The police that went by are probably looking for him. Do you think…we could help him?”

Grian, Scar and Mumbo all look at each other. 

“I think we have room, no?” Scar asks. Grian nods along, biting his lip as he thinks. “I wouldn’t want this guy to suffer if he ended up in the wrong hands. Plus, since Mumbo doesn’t eat we’re saving money.” He jokes.

“What’s a brainslug?” Mumbo asks quietly.

“They’re slugs who attach themselves to people’s brains and take over their body.” Grian whispers to him. “There’s not many of them in the galaxy.”

“Oh. Isn’t that bad?”

“Well…yeah? But he seems alright. I’m not paranoid about slugs.”

“Okay!”

Pearl smiles as she turns back to Cub. “You’re gonna come with us, okay? We’ll make sure you stay safe and no one hurts you.”

Cub gives a very small grin. “Okay.”

“How do we go about this? We already have the girlbosses after us and now there’s the people after him.” Scar asks.

Grian hums in thought. “We could sneak through these back alleys and find our way back to the ship.”

“What if they’re camping outside?” Mumbo asks.

Grian scrunches his nose. “Well…we’ll cross that bridge when we get there.”

They creep through the alleys of the town, poking their heads out every now and again to see where they are. They make it to the shipyard they parked in, hiding when they see the bounty hunters waiting right outside their ship. They strain their ears to eavesdrop the conversation.

“I’m surprised your blade still stayed jammed in there through space travel.” False says.

“I know right! The other one’s inside the ship. So if this one falls off, the other one’s secure.” Gem cheerfully says, patting the side of the ship.

“Oh my void. We’re being tracked.” Grian whispers.

“So what’s the plan? What did Eagle find?” Gem asks.

“Eagle saw them walking around the streets, so they should still be around. I’ve got him patrolling overhead.” False checks her watch, seeing her eagle’s view through the little screen.

“I’m gonna patrol around with Stress to see if we can find them at ground level. Would you be cool staying here in case they come back?”

“Oh, for sure!”

“Can’t we just rig up the ship to explode if they come back? It’d get the job done much faster!” Stress supplies.

False rolls her eyes playfully. “Then we wouldn’t have anything to bring back to Doc. I’d much rather drag their bodies in that their ashes in a bag.” 

“Oh, that is a good point.”

“I’ll wait here for them. I’ll give you the signal if they come back.”

“Perfect. We’re getting that bounty tonight. ”

False and Stress walk off, and Gem stays peacefully waiting by the outside of the ship. She hums as she patrols around, skipping around gleefully.

“We’re at the bridge, Grian. What do we do?” Scar whispers. Grian scowls. “I don’t know. We need to get her away from the ship so we can go back. But how?”

“I can…talk to her psychically?” Pearl offers. 

Grian raises an eyebrow. “And say what? ‘Ooo you should walk away from the ship oooo’?” 

“Well when you say it like that…”

“We can’t charge her, she’s too strong. And she’ll alert the others and they’ll come running back.” Mumbo says as he thinks.

“Sound distraction.” Cub mumbles. Everyone turns to look at him. “What?”

He freezes up at the sudden attention on him. “Like…sound here. Walk away. We run back, ya know?” He mimes what he means with his hands, signaling something to make Gem leave her post.

“Sounds good. But what kind of sound?”

Everyone pauses to think for a moment. Mumbo eventually pipes up.“…I have an idea. It’d take some work but…I think we can do it.”

Scar looks at him expectantly. “Oh? What’s your plan?”

𓈒⠀𓂃⠀⠀˖⠀𓇬⠀˖⠀⠀𓂃⠀𓈒

Their plan is set.

Gem continues patrolling, whistling to keep herself occupied. She busied herself with adding a few more trackers for good measure.

She stops when she hears the click-click of keys. The ship’s been unlocked behind her.

She pulls up her communicator. “Just heard the ship unlock. They’re near here.”

There’s a click, and False responds. “Copy that. We’re on our way back.”

Her ears perk up as she hears approaching voices.

“Such a bummer we couldn’t find any good jobs here, Scar.”

“I know Grian! Guess we’ll have to go back to the ship and find another planet.”

Gem slowly walks forward, following the sound of the voices getting louder and closer. Her hand comes to rest on her blades, and as she leaps around the corner, she’s surprised to be face to face with a singular Vegas droid.

The voices are coming from him. 

“What!?”

“TAKE THAT!”

 He shoots her in the chest, kicking her down and running as fast as he can.

“RUN MUMBO!”

She groans as she looks up, seeing the ship’s door close as the droid makes his way inside. The pilot’s seat is already occupied and the ship roars to life, blasting off with a groan. 

“Those fucking bastards!”

False and Stress run up just in time to see the ship taking off, flying away from the small planet.

They help Gem to their feet.

“They got away. I’m so sorry.” Gem whispers. “It’s my fault.”

“Shh, hey. It’s okay.” False says softly as she helps her up to her feet.

“No it’s not—“

“Yes it is.” Stress says. “You’re hurt. That’s what we’re gonna worry about first.”

“That damn droid shot me. It burns.” Gem groans, leaning all of her weight on her friends.

False brushes some of the hair away from her face.“I know. We’ll make him pay. Let’s get you back to the ship and patch you up, okay?”

“…Okay.”

𓈒⠀𓂃⠀⠀˖⠀𓇬⠀˖⠀⠀𓂃⠀𓈒

“THAT WORKED!” Mumbo screams triumphantly as he runs onto the ship.

Pearl gives him a high five, whooping excitedly. “That was so smart Mumbo! Using your voice box as a distraction!”

Grian and Scar come out from the pilot’s chair. “That was incredible!” Scar says.

“And we’re all in one piece!” Grian says in relief.

Pearl turns towards Cub, who’s sitting peacefully on the couch. “Are you feeling okay, Cub?”

Cub looks at them and silently nods, smiling. “I’m okay.”

Jellie yowls as she comes out of Scar’s bedroom, flicking her tail. “ What’s all the ruckus? I was taking a nap! ”

“Sorry Jellie, we almost died.” Scar says with a chuckle, petting her head. 

“ Well, don’t let it happen again. ” She hops on the couch next to Cub, who freezes up and looks at her in fear. “ Who’s this guy and why is he so smelly?”

“This is Cub! Be nice to him, he’s had a crazy few veltons”

“What is that.” Cub says, wide eyed.

Scar sits next to him. “This is Jellie! She’s my cat. She’s nice, I promise.”

Jellie sniffs at Cub and he yelps, practically jumping into Scar’s arms.

“Are you scared of cats?” Grian asks.

Cub squeaks as Jellie gets closer. Scar gives him a pat on the back. “I guess he is!”

Pearl laughs softly. “Cub, why don’t we go get you cleaned up? Then you can relax and probably stay away from Jellie.”

“ Don’t have to tell me twice. ” Jellie says with a sniff. 

“Okay…” He scurries after Pearl and Grian, who lead him towards the bathroom.

“Poor guy.” Mumbo frowns.

“Yeah, I’m sure he’s probably feeling a lot right now.” Scar says softly. “But he’s in good hands.”

“That’s for sure. You three have been so attentive and caring despite only knowing me for a few sun units.”

Scar shrugs. “What can I say? We care a lot.”

“You sure do…thank you again, Scar.”

“You’re very welcome, Mumbo.”

𓈒⠀𓂃⠀⠀˖⠀𓇬⠀˖⠀⠀𓂃⠀𓈒

Chapter Text

[CYCLE 4IXV, MIDDLE OF NOWHERE]

“Is the water too cold?”

“No, it’s okay.”

Cub’s situated on the bathroom counter, Grian and Pearl helping him clean up. He looks around the bathroom, soaking it all in. He fights back the urge to just start grabbing things and looking at them, knowing he’d look a little foolish. 

Pearl helps wipe down his arms and hands, while Grian cleans his face. Grian takes his glasses off, and he gasps and squints as his vision suddenly changes.

“Everything’s blurry.” He says softly. 

“Mhm.” Grian says as he cleans his glasses. “Without these, you can’t see.”

“Oh. Why don’t…you have any?”

“Well, I do actually. I wear contacts! But every person is different. Some need glasses, some don’t.”

Cub hums. “That sounds complicated.”

“Being a person is complicated.”

“I’m sure this is all new and scary, but you’ll get used to it. I promise.” Pearl says with a smile. 

Cub sits silently as they finish helping him, losing himself in thought. He tries to dig back through the body’s memories, to find anything about who the original host was.

He can’t decipher much at all, angry flashes of glass breaking and shouting and people in white coats. He feels the body breathing heavily, scrambling to grab something from a surface, the word desk comes to his mind, shoving something thin and rectangular into his coat and running through tunnels, looking behind him in fear. Loud noises hurt his ears, and he pants heavily as he reaches a door. 

“Cub? Cuuuuub?”

He’s snapped out of his thoughts by Pearl gently touching his shoulder, trying to get his attention.

“Huh?”

“We’re all done. You can get down now.”

“Oh.” Cub slides off the counter, thinking for a moment. “Thank you.”

Grian gingerly puts his glasses back on his face. “Here you go. I cleaned them up for you. Can you see better?”

Cub’s eyes widen. Everything looks clearer now. He didn’t even realize how difficult the dirt and grime was making it to see. He silently nods to Grian.

Grian chuckles. “Good. Come on, let’s go back to the others. It’s been a long one.”

Cub trails after Pearl and Grian into the living room area, Scar and Mumbo are lounging around, pausing their conversation when they see the rest of them walk in.

“Well look at you! All freshened up!” Scar says cheerfully. “How’re you feeling?”

Cub thinks. “Good.” He says with a shy smile. 

Scar pats the spot next to him at the couch, and Cub looks at him blankly.

“Come sit!”

“Oh! Okay!”

The crew settles into the couches and chairs, an air of calm setting over them. 

“It’s almost dinner time. What do we feel like eating?” Scar asks. Grian groans. “Anything that doesn’t require moving.”

Pearl turns over towards Cub. “That reminds me, when was the last time you ate, Cub?”

“I don’t…know?”

“Well, we’re definitely gonna get you something to eat. Craving anything in particular?”

Cub silently shakes his head. 

“...Have you eaten anything before?” Mumbo asks. 

Cub shakes his head again. “Brainslugs don’t really…eat? In general? Only when we take over bodies. And it’s my…first time.”

“Awww! We should get something special for your first meal then! What about sushi?” Pearl explains.

“You just want sushi, Pearl.” Grian snorts.

“Okay, and if I do? It’s a good first meal I think!”

“Sushi does sound good, honestly.” Scar adds.

“ I agree. ” Jellie meows as she walks in.

Grian rolls his eyes, failing to hide his smile. “Fine, We can get sushi.”

“YES!”

“Do you have any memories from your body about eating? What did the guy like?” Mumbo asks curiously. 

Cub thinks, trudging back through his memories. He hears beeping, the sound and feeling of a hungry stomach rumbling and staring at shelves of different packets of food.

“He didn’t…eat a lot. But when he did…a lot of ra……men ? I think?”

“ RAW MEN? ” Scar and Grian shout in unison, concerned.

“No! Like…” Cub makes a circular motion with his hands. “A cup…full of stuff and he’d put something in it and…I don’t know!”

Pearl squints at him, antennae wiggling. “Ramen. In the microwave. He’s talking about the noodles. Not a cannibal, thank Neptune.”

“OHHHHH. Okay that makes more sense.” Grian says.

Cub spaces out for a tick before blinking and looking up again. “That’s all he’d eat. At least that I can see.”

They all wince. “Oh, poor guy. Eating that all the time can’t have been great.” Scar says with a frown.

“Now I’m curious. Do you have access to all of his memories?” Mumbo asks, leaning over and resting his chin in his hand.

“Um…yeah? But to see all of them…it takes time. And a lot of effort. Some are easier to comprehend than others.”

“Is Cub your name or the body’s name?” Grian asks. He pauses, eyes widening and covering his mouth. “Sorry, is that a bad question?”

Cub chuckles, shaking his head. “No, that’s okay. I don’t have a name, Cub is the body’s name. But I like Cub…it feels right.”

“That’s sweet. What else do you know about the guy?”

“Um…not much? Looking through his memories is hard. They don’t make sense. I do have…this?” He pulls out a file from his coat, along with an ID. He hands them off to Scar, who scans the front. 

“Ooh, classified? Wonder what secrets are in here…” Scar hums, opening the file. He hands off the ID to Grian, who raises an eyebrow. “Your full name is Cub Fantiago?”

Cub shrugs. “I guess!”

Scar gently tugs on Grian’s sleeve, pointing at some of the papers inside the file. Cub studies their facial expressions as Grian’s brow furrows and he mumbles something to Scar. Pearl scoots over and her face does the same thing, looking over at Cub in concern. 

“You don’t know what any of this is, right Cub?” Pearl asks quietly. Cub shakes his head, looking concerned. “No, is it…bad?”

“Well…” Scar says, voice going up in pitch.

“It’s not…well, okay, it’s complicated.” Grian winces as he thinks. “You’re not…in danger? Potentially? Don’t worry too much about it.”

Cub frowns. “I feel like I should.”

“As long as no one from where the guy worked comes looking for you…you should be fine.” Scar says as he shuts the file.

“Oh come on, the guy’s barely been sentient for a deltron unit. I feel like we’re scaring him.” Mumbo scoffs. 

“You’re gonna be okay, Cub. Don’t worry. As long as you’re with us, you’ll be safe.” Grian says as he stands up. Pearl leans over and gives him a reassuring pat on the shoulder. 

“What are we gonna do with all those papers?” Mumbo asks as he watches Grian take the file from Scar.

“Hide them, probably? I feel like throwing them out would be a bad idea.” Scar says.

“I’m gonna stick ‘em somewhere safe.”

“Under your bed?”

“…Maybe.”

Cub can’t help but feel curious about what’s in the file, but decides not to ask. His eyes flit between everyone talking back and forth, unsure what to focus on. Grian claps his hands as he comes out of his room, sighing loudly.

“Alright, now that that’s all settled, let’s find somewhere to eat! We’ve been cruising on autopilot for a while.” He says cheerfully. 

Scar turns towards Cub and Mumbo. “Have you guys met Grumbot yet?”

Cub and Mumbo both look at each other, shrugging. “I don’t think so.” Mumbo says.

Grian gestures them over as he walks up to the wall, right next to a little square screen. He knocks on the wall, whistling loudly. “Oh Grumbooot!”

The screen blips to life, Grumbot’s pixelated face appearing before them. 

“Hello! What do you need from me?” He says cheerfully, eyes turning into little triangles. 

Cub looks at him in awe. “Woah.”

“Just introducing you to the new crewmates. This is Cub, and this is Mumbo!”

Mumbo steps up to the screen, sticking his face in it with an intense curiosity. “Incredible. How fascinating.”

“Oh! Hello! I like your mustache!” Grumbot chirps. Mumbo breaks out into a smile. “Thank you. I like yours too.”

“Well, now that you’re acquainted, we’re gonna be dropping out of autopilot. We gotta find somewhere to eat.”

“Perfect! Do you want me to look up places nearby?” 

“YES PLEASE!” Pearl excitedly shouts from the couch. “WE WANT SUSHI!”

Grumbot’s screen buffers for a moment before his face pops up again. “I found a place less than a velton from where we are!”

“Perfect. In the meantime, Pearl, Mumbo, care to show Cub around the ship?”

“We’d love to! Oh, we can even pick out your room!” Pearl gasps, clapping her hands excitedly.

“Okay!”

Grian gestures for Scar to join him, and they start to make their way over to the cockpit. “We’ll come find you guys when we land!” Scar shouts with a wave.

“Alright! C’mon Cub, we have a lot to teach you.”

𓈒⠀𓂃⠀⠀˖⠀𓇬⠀˖⠀⠀𓂃⠀𓈒

[CYCLE 4IXV, ON THE PLANET PLEASANTGROVE]

They’ve landed their ship on a small planet in the middle of nowhere, so small and quaint they don’t have a proper landing dock, instead using an extremely flat and open field. 

Scar, Pearl, and Cub all run off into the little town to get some dinner for all of them, while Mumbo and Grian stay behind to look after the ship.

Grian hums as he walks to the side of the ship, stopping right in front of the blade lodged in its side. 

“We gotta get rid of this sooner rather than later.” He whistles, pulling it out of the metal with a groan.

“What is it again?” Mumbo asks.

“Gem’s blade. And if my guesses are right…aha! Here.”

He turns the blade around and finds a little flashing red device hidden on the bottom. Grian picks it off, holding it up to Mumbo.

“Ohhhh, it’s a tracker, isn’t it?”

“Yep! Do you wanna do the honors?” Grian asks as he places it in Mumbo’s hand. 

“The honors of what?”

“Destroying it so we can’t be tracked anymore.” 

Mumbo’s face lights up. “Oh! Really?” 

“Yeah! Go ahead, crush it in your hand, stomp on it, throw it, whatever you think is right.”

Mumbo stares at the device in his palm, his mechanical brain whirring with thoughts on what to do. The shape almost reminds him of the chips back at the casino, the sound of slot machine dings and obnoxious clacking filling his ears.

His brain produces a myriad of ways he could destroy this thing, overwhelmed by all of the choices he has. He’s never had this much freedom for anything in his life.

He closes his eyes and simply decides to let his instincts take over, chucking the tracker into the field at full force. He opens his eyes again just in time to watch it bounce and roll into the dry dirt.

“Ohhh, smart! I like the way you think.” Grian says, patting him on the shoulder. “Hopefully leaving the trackers here will throw them off for a deltron or two.”

Mumbo lets out a soft hum as his eyes stay fixated on the spot the tracker dropped. “That felt good.” He mumbles.

Grian raises an eyebrow. “Yeah? Well luckily there’s another one still in the ship we have to deal with. I’ll get it in a second.”

Grian runs his fingers over the spot the blade was lodged into, the old paint flaking away at this touch. “Void, this thing needs a new paint job.” Grian mumbles to himself. Mumbo looks over the side of the ship, copying the way Grian moves his hand across the metal. His eyes settle on some faded text, trying his best to read it. 

“What’s it say?” Mumbo asks.

Grian takes a step back, tilting his head to the side. “Well…it looks like the old name of the ship from whoever had it last. I can’t make it out, though.”

Mumbo hums, tilting his head the same way. “What’s the ship’s current name?”

Grian pauses. “I don’t know actually. Scar chose it and he never ended up telling me.”

“Oh.”

He squints, eyebrows furrowing in thought. “I’m gonna have to ask him about that.”

Mumbo looks down at Grian, his internal systems whirring softly. “Grian, can I ask you something?”

“Mhmmm?”

“Do you…realize your hands tremble like that all the time?” His voice is quiet, full of concern. Grian looks up at him, frowning. “What do you mean?”

Mumbo gently takes Grian’s hand in his, pointing out the subtle way his hands seem to shake. “Sorry if that’s weird to say but…I’ve noticed it recently. Are you alright?”

Grian purses his lips, pulling his hand back slowly. “Yeah. I’m alright. You don’t have to worry. Let’s go get that other tracker, yeah?”

He shuffles back towards the ship, and Mumbo sighs as he reluctantly follows.

𓈒⠀𓂃⠀⠀˖⠀𓇬⠀˖⠀⠀𓂃⠀𓈒

Back on the ship, the crew tear into their cheap sushi.

Pearl wiggles out of joy, chittering in a language none of them understand, but her happiness transcends the barrier. Cub fumbles with the chopsticks handed to him, giving up and using his hands. He struggles with learning to chew, but he manages to get the hang of it.

“So Cub, how’d you rate your first meal?” Scar asks, gently nudging him with his elbow.

Cub hums softly, mechanically chewing on his sushi. “I like it. ‘s good.”

Mumbo reaches over and gently wipes some remaining food from Cub’s face with a laugh. “It certainly looks like you enjoyed it.”

Pearl leans back with a satisfied smile, stretching and yawning. “See? Good things happen when you listen to Pearl!”

Jellie mrrps as Scar feeds her some fish. “ Damn right. Can we listen to Pearl more often? ”

Grian rolls his eyes and chuckles, resting his head against the table. “Thanks for the suggestion, Pearl. That food was good actually. But now we gotta start thinking about our next plan of action.”

“Right.” Scar nods. “We’re probably alright for now, but we should keep it moving. Any ideas where we should go?”

Pearl scoots forward, raising her hand. “I had a thought, actually. I think we should get Mumbo and Cub new clothes.”

Cub looks up from where he’s shoving the last sushi into his mouth. “Whuh?” 

Mumbo pouts dramatically. “But I like my clothes.”

“Do you?” Grian asks with an eyebrow raise. 

Mumbo pauses, machinery softly whirring as he thinks. “I don’t know actually. I think I do?”

“I just mention that because…if people are looking for both Mumbo and Cub, your outfits stand out a lot. You’re still wearing the casino uniform. And Cub…well I’m not too sure honestly. Maybe if you lose the coat you’ll be fine.” Pearl suggests, shrugging. “They make you instantly recognizable is the thing.”

Scar tsks his tongue. “That’s a good point. I hadn’t even thought of that.”

Cub lets out a quiet grunt of thought.

“What do you think Grian? Think we can spare a few credits to get some new clothes?”

“I think so. And I know we have some discounts.” Grian winks and wiggles his fingers, and Scar can’t help but laugh as he puts together what he means.

Cub blinks. “I don’t get it.”

Pearl gently pats him on the back. “Don’t worry, I’ll tell you later.”

“So what do you say you guys? Down for an outfit change?” Scar’s eyes sparkle with excitement, clasping his hands together. 

Mumbo’s systems hum as he thinks to himself. “Well…there is somewhere I’ve always wanted to go to.”

𓈒⠀𓂃⠀⠀˖⠀𓇬⠀˖⠀⠀𓂃⠀𓈒

[CYCLE 4IXV, IN A SHOPPING CENTER ON THE PLANET MILLENIA]

“Huh. Never took you as the emo type.”

The crew all stare up at the sign of a Hot Topic, Mumbo excitedly bouncing on his heels.

“I’ve always wanted to go here! There was a customer at the casino who always dressed so cool and they told me they got their clothes from here.” He says excitedly, fidgeting with the hem of his vest.

There’s an excitement coursing through Mumbo’s wires, looking expectantly at the rest of the crew.

Scar notices his staring. “You can go ahead Mumbo. We’ll be right behind you.”

Mumbo squeals, grabbing Cub’s hand and dragging him inside. Cub yelps as Mumbo pulls him along. “Let’s go let’s go let’s go!”

Mumbo’s about as happy as a kid in a candy store. He goes back and forth with himself on what to choose, and Cub quietly trails behind him. He looks around with wide, curious eyes, Grian thinks he almost looks like a lost kitten.

Mumbo and Cub find themselves in the dressing rooms, trying out the new clothes they picked out. There’s a clatter as some hangers drop on the floor. 

“Oops.” Cub says quietly.

Scar raises an eyebrow. “You okay in there?”

“Yeah, um…I’m new to this so…just figuring things out.”

Grian frowns. “Do you want some help changing?”

Cub goes silent for a moment. “...Yes please.”

Scar ducks into the dressing room to help Cub out, just as Pearl steps out from a dressing room behind Grian. She sports a shiny new white jacket with pink accents, a thin silk scarf around her neck and a camisole top with a lace panel. She has a new pair of shorts and silver sandals that match, and her old jacket is tucked under her arm. 

“Did you change?” Grian asks with a raised brow.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I walked in looking like this.” She says with a wink. Grian hums, chuckling softly. “Oh, silly me. I must’ve forgotten.”

Mumbo and Cub step out, excitedly showing them their new outfits. Mumbo’s kept his red vest, swapping out his golden tie for a simple black one. His shoes have been replaced with big black chunky shoes, black baggy pants in place of his uniform slacks. He fiddles with the edge of his hoodie, the garment half-hanging off his shoulder. He very excitedly shows off his new fishnet fingerless gloves, beaming proudly.

Cub shyly steps out from behind Scar, dressed much more simply than Mumbo. An oversized mossy green cardigan drapes over his form, and his old blue button up has been swapped out for a cream colored one with a ribbon around the collar. He has flared jeans with star decals on the bottom, and he’s kept his old shoes. 

“Ohhhh just look at you guys!” Pearl gasps, clapping her hands together. Mumbo does a dramatic twirl to show off his new outfit. “Do you like it?”

“It’s great. It really suits you!” Grian says with a smile. “You too, Cub. You look very cozy.”

Cub gives a small smile in return. “Thank you.”

“Are we ready to go?”

Scar shrugs. “I think so. I’ve already taken care of Cub’s outfit.” He holds up a handful of clothing tags and security tags. Mumbo and Cub gasp in unison.

“We’re just taking it?”Mumbo whispers.

“Noooo, we’re just…borrowing. Sampling, if you will.” Grian says as he plucks a tag off Mumbo. “Besides, they probably don’t get paid enough to care.”

Pearl snorts. “Definitely don’t. I’d know.”

“You worked at a Hot Topic?”

“No, but I did have a part-time retail job when I was younger. Pay was awful, because of course it was.”

“Damn. Working retail sucks in every corner of the galaxy…”

“Can I still buy something?” Mumbo asks quietly. “I’ve…never bought anything before. Like, ever. And I kinda wanna…be able to say I got something for myself.”

Grian and Scar glance at each other, shrugging. 

“Sure, why not? Pick something out and we’ll give you the credits for it.” Scar says. Mumbo’s face lights up. “Really? YAY! Cub c’mon!” Mumbo grabs Cub by the hand and runs off, the slugged scientist yelping in surprise. Grian, Scar and Pearl all share a fond look between themselves. 

Mumbo runs up to them a few rivacs later, holding a plush backpack of a skeletal bear. “This.” He says.

Grian hums as Mumbo shows it to them. “Cute. How much is it?”

“35 credits.”

“Here.” Pearl reaches into her pockets and hands Mumbo some credits. “I can cover 5.”

Scar and Grian also hand him some. “And 15 from each of us! Go on, Mumbo. Treat yourself.”

Mumbo’s face lights up, stars twinkling in his eyes. “Thank you guys!” He can’t hide his excited giggles as he once again runs off.

“I’ve never seen a droid so happy in my life.”Pearl comments quietly.

Grian nods along. “I don’t think they’re even programmed to. Not any I’ve ever met before.”

“It’s been less than a deltron since he left the casino and you can already tell how much happier he is! I think it’s sweet.” Scar says cheerfully, putting a hand over his chest.

Mumbo bounds up to them again, waving a receipt in his hand. “I did it! I’ve made my first purchase!”

“Yaaay!” Pearl cheers, patting Mumbo on the shoulder. “Feels good, doesn’t it!”

“It really does!”

“Now, let’s get out of here. Especially before anyone catches on.”

𓈒⠀𓂃⠀⠀˖⠀𓇬⠀˖⠀⠀𓂃⠀𓈒

Mumbo’s practically skipping down the street, hand intertwined with Cub’s. They’re giggling amongst themselves as they move ahead of the group. If Mumbo had lungs, he’d take a deep breath. It’s the most fun he’s ever had in his android life. 

The planet is busy, unsurprisingly, and they manage to easily slip into the crowds and hide themselves from any prying eyes of the law. Grian’s a little glad Mumbo is insanely tall. Makes him easy to keep track of. 

“Anywhere specific we plan on going after this?” Pearl asks, keeping her eyes peeled for anyone who might be after them.

“Mmmm, I don’t think I have any place in mind. Do you, Scar?”

“No, not really. I think it’d be smart to fly until we have to stop for the night. Make it harder to stay on our trail, ya know?”

“Sounds like a plan to me. What do you think, Pearl?”

“ Lower your voices .” Her voice is clear in their mind, and they both whip their heads to look at her. She points into the crowd, and Grian and Scar manage to catch the back of Ren and Martyn’s heads passing them. Ren’s ears twitch and swivel, as if listening for them. “ We’ve got company. ”

They all duck, trying to use some of the taller people in the crowd to hide themselves. 

“ Mumbo, Cub, could you guys slow down for a sec? ” Pearl sends out.

The pair freeze, turning around and quietly shuffling back to the group, heads low. “Are we in trouble?” Mumbo asks sadly. Cub lowers his voice to a whisper. “What’s going on?”

Pearl gestures behind her. “ There’s bounty hunters about. We gotta be careful. ”

They both nod in understanding, and keep their pace besides the rest of the crew. They all stay quiet all the way to the ship, even when they escape the crowd and it opens up more. Grian takes a deep breath as he boards the ship. “Woop! Glad we made it back in one piece.”

“Is this our first time recently where we’re leaving a planet not fearing for our lives?” Scar asks with a laugh.

“...I think so! Wow.”

“Well, buckle in kids! We’re gonna be flying for a while.”

Cub and Mumbo settle themselves into the living room, excitedly chatting amongst themselves about their adventures today. Pearl laughs, sliding her tank off her back to go refill it in the bathroom.

“Grumbot!” Grian calls out cheerfully. Grumbot’s pixelated face appears on a screen in the control panel. “Hiya! How can I help?”

“We need your amazing autopilot abilities again pleaaaase.” Grian says as he turns the ship on. “We’re just trying to get as far away as possible. No destination just yet. Could you do that?”

His eyes are replaced with a little buffering symbol, his dot eyes returning a moment later. “Looks like it! Destination: Nowhere, here we come!”

“Thank you, Grumbot! We’ll come and take back over when we decide to find somewhere to land.” Scar says, patting the wall as if trying to give him a pat.

“You’re welcome!”

His screen blips off, and Grian can’t help but let out a sigh of relief. “It’s been so hectic. Glad we have him to help a little bit.”

Scar gives him a reaffirming pat on the back. “It sure has been. Now come on, let’s go and relax with the others for a bit.”

𓈒⠀𓂃⠀⠀˖⠀𓇬⠀˖⠀⠀𓂃⠀𓈒

[CYCLE 41XV, OUTSIDE THE HALLARIEL GALAXY]

“What’s a movie?”

Scar’s jaw drops at Cub’s question. “You don’t know?!”

Cub shakes his head, a few UNO cards in his hand. They had dug around the ship and managed to find some left behind games from the previous owner.

“That doesn’t really surprise me. We had to explain the concept of board games. And games in general.” Grian says as he plays a card.

Cub looks at Pearl for help.

“A movie…well. It’s hard to describe. It’s like…a really long video.”

Cub makes another face. 

“Yeah okay I have many things to explain to you. But not right now, I don’t wanna overwhelm your brain.”

“Okay!”

“I’ve never seen any movies. Unless the droid training video I was forced to watch counts.” Mumbo hums as he plays his own card, forcing Cub to draw two cards. 

“Oh…” Cub says sadly. Pearl looks over at his cards, whispering to him. “Oh, really?” He plays down a draw two, and Pearl plays her own. Scar looks horribly offended. 

“How rude!” He gasps, forcibly picking up six cards. Grian laughs at his dismay, and Scar gives him a firm punch to the shoulder. “Look, maybe one of these units we can find some time and watch movies together.” Grian squeaks through giggles.

“I have so many suggestions.” Scar says excitedly. Pearl gasps. “Oh, let’s make a list! And we can stick it on the fridge and check off the boxes when we watch them.”

Scar gasps even louder. “Oh my void. We can use cute stationary.”

Grian lets out an exhale of laughter. “Okay okay, let’s not get ahead of ourselves. We don’t even have stationary.”

“We can add it to our shopping list!”

Mumbo whirs as he starts to think. “But where are we putting the list if we don’t have the stationary to write it on?”

Before anyone else can respond, Grumbot pipes up from the nearby screen. “Heyyyyy, hiiiii helloooooo.”

“Oh, hey Grumbot! What’s up?”

“Do you want the bad news first or the good news?”

Grian and Scar exchange a concerned look.

“Good?”

“I lied. You’re getting the bad news first. Sooooooooo…the bad news is that we’re almost out of fuel!”

Grian squawks in distress.

“BUT! But! The good news is that we’re suuuuuper close to a planet. So we can land!”

“How close?” Scar asks.

“I mean…just look out the window.”

Grian stands up and goes over to the massive window, gasping in surprise. “Oh! Cub, Mumbo, come look! I think you’ll like this!”

The entire crew shuffle over, Cub and Mumbo running to press their faces up against the glass. “Woaaahhhhhhhh.” 

The planet sparkles below them, a hazy purple atmosphere surrounding it. They can see practically everything, from lakes and rivers, to long expansive forests, to civilization looking like itty bitty toy houses.

“Woah.” Cub gasps. “What’s all that?”

Scar looks to where he’s pointing, directing his hand as he explains. “ That right there is a town! We’re so far away we can’t really tell what’s what, but it’s definitely a populated area. And then that right there is a mountain range and you can see the river cutting through it—“

“ Ohhhhhhh !”

Pearl walks up behind Mumbo, who’s been standing in silent amazement. “Pretty cool, ey Mumbo?”

Mumbo lets out a heavy sigh. “Yeah. It’s amazing.”

“Something wrong?”

Mumbo gazes longingly at the planet, absorbing all of the details that he can. “I mean…I can’t help but feel a bit angry. Seeing the stars and the planets and everything…this is what’s been kept from me my entire life. I’ve missed out on so many things while I was trapped in the casino.”

Pearl hums, patting him on the back. “I know, and it sucks. But…at the very least, you can do anything you want to do now. We can make up for all of those lost cycles! You know what I mean?” 

She holds her fist out for a fist bump, Mumbo slowly breaking out into a smile as he bumps her back. “Thanks, Pearl. I appreciate it.” 

“Your brain may basically be a computer, but you’ve still got a lot to learn! I’ve gotta teach you and Cub the wonderful ways of pickpocketing.”

Mumbo’s eyes sparkle as starlight bounces off of them. “Really?”

“Really!”

“Oh that sounds amazing . I can’t wait."

Grian smiles fondly as he looks at all of his friends, seeing their overjoyed faces warming his heart.

“Hiiiii it’s me againnnn!” Grumbot says. “Hate to interrupt this cute little moment, but we do need to land. Like, real bad. So if we could get on that, please and thank you!”

“Oh boy. Alright, c’mon Scar.” Grian says, gently grabbing onto his sleeve. “We’ll be able to admire the planet from the surface, at least.”

“Fiiiine. Hold on tight, everyone! We’re about to make a landing!”

𓈒⠀𓂃⠀⠀˖⠀𓇬⠀˖⠀⠀𓂃⠀𓈒

[CYCLE 4IXV, ON THE SURFACE OF THE PLANET CASSIOPEA]

“Oh yeah. This is bad.”

Grian stressfully crouches down next to the fuel tank, running a hand through his hair. “Yeah okay. This is bad.”The meter is comically low, a tiny sliver of fuel left. Scar winces as he comes up behind him. “Yeesh. Hopefully there’s a fuel station nearby?”

Grian groans as he stands up. “And maybe there’s some kind strangers on this planet willing to give us some.”

“There’s something over there!” Cub shouts. He stands on the exit ramp, staring out at the planet’s surface. He points into the distance, a small building standing out against the skyline. Mumbo whirs softly as he squints at it. “I can’t tell what it is.”

Pearl stands alongside them, making binoculars with her hands. “Guess there’s only one way to find out. Are we going?”

“We don’t really have another choice, do we?” Grian sighs.

“We should at least go prepared. Everyone got a weapon?” Scar says as he clasps his hands. Everyone nods, but Cub looks around in confusion.

“Oh, Cub! Here.” Scar rummages through a nearby crate and hands him a small blaster.

“What…is it?” He asks quietly.

“It’s a blaster,” Grian explains, “just in case you need to quickly defend yourself. If you ever need to use it, you just gotta aim and pull the trigger. Make sense?”

“I think so?” Cub slips it into his pants pocket, giving a hesitant thumbs up.

“Great! You good, Mumbo?”

“Yep. I am the gun.”

“Fair enough.”

Scar scoops up Jellie under his arm. “We should be all set, then. Grumbot?”

Grumbot’s pixelated face appears on a nearby screen. “Yeeeeeeeeeeees?”

“Can you hold down the fort for us while we go find some fuel?”

“You got it! No one’s gonna be breaking and entering this bad boy!”

Grian chuckles, patting the wall as a sign of thanks. “Alright, alright. Let’s go see if these strangers have anything.”

𓈒⠀𓂃⠀⠀˖⠀𓇬⠀˖⠀⠀𓂃⠀𓈒

They trek through the grassy field towards the building, the sky starting to darken with clouds. Cub holds onto Scar’s sleeve as they walk, stumbling over random mounds of mud and dirt.

“Are we there yet?” Pearl pants.

“Nope.” Grian puffs his cheeks out. “Still got a ways to go.”

Mumbo walks ahead of them, luckily not having to feel tired from walking for too long. “I can see the building now.”

“What is it?” Scar grunts.

Mumbo stops walking, his internal systems zooming in and trying to clear up what he’s seeing. “A church?”

“Oh, fun.” Grian heaves. 

“I’ve heard about these. They have people in them!” Mumbo turns around with an excited smile.

Scar laughs softly at his excitement. “Well that's good.”

Thunder rumbles in the sky as more clouds form overhead.

“Did you have to land so far away?” Pearl complains.

“Listen, I didn’t know there’d be a building! Be glad there’s a building at all! We could’ve landed in a field in the middle of nowhere with nothing around for miles.” Grian says loudly, holding his hands up defensively. 

“Excuses.” She grumbles.

 They finally make it close enough they can make out the details, a regal and tall white church standing in front of them. The roof is a dark purple, stained glass windows littering the walls showing images of stars and more abstract shapes.

“Oh! It’s a Voidism church!” Scar gasps. “Void followers are usually pretty nice.”

“What’s Voidism?” Cub whispers. 

“That one might take a while to explain.”

Lightning strikes, and suddenly rain starts pelting them, big and cold raindrops falling from the sky.

“Okay, everyone inside!” Grian shouts, covering his head with his arms. 

They all break into a sprint, running to make it to the door. Scar hauls Cub up to his feet when he slips on the forming mud. Mumbo makes it first, pulling the massive door open and holding it open for his friends. 

The door slams behind them, echoing in the big room they’ve found themselves in. 

The ceiling extends way above their heads, beautiful paintings of the night sky illustrating the ceiling. There’s rows and rows of benches on either side of the center of the room, a long and thin purple carpet marking a line down the middle. At the end of the carpet is a mini stage, a massive statue of a woman positioned on top.

“Woah. This place looks sick.” Mumbo whispers. 

Grian starts to shiver. “I-It’s cold in here.”

Pearl wrings out the water of her hair. “Oh it’s not that b—nevermind. I’m feeling it now.”

Scar sets Jellie down on the floor, letting her shake her fur out as he walks closer to the end of the room “HELLO? ANYONE HERE?” He shouts, voice echoing off the walls.

There’s a tick of silence, before they start to hear footsteps. “HELLO?” A voice shouts back. 

“HI! UM…”

“ONE MOMENT! ETHO! WE’VE GOT COMPANY! ”

“ WHAAAAAAT ?”

“ COMPANY !”

A door near the end of the room flies open, a man running out as he shrugs on a jacket. “Oh! Hello hello!” He runs up to Scar, long brown braid bouncing as he moves.

“Hi, sorry for intruding but…we kinda had an emergency landing? We’re out of fuel and were hoping if by any chance you had any? And we also came to shelter from the rain—”

“Oh, you’re not intruding at all! I’ll have to see if we have any fuel, but we can get you guys by a fire and a nice change of clothes and some warm food.”

“Really?” Grian says as he walks up to him. “Oh, you’re too kind.”

“Nonsense, no such thing! We strongly believe in helping each other out here.” The man sticks a hand out. “I’m Bdubs, by the way.”

Scar shakes Bdubs’ hand. “Thank you, Bdubs. I’m Scar!”

Grian shakes his hand with a soft smile. “Grian. And these are…”

“Pearl!”

“Mumbo.”

Cub looks around as everyone’s eyes turn to look at him. He shuffles behind Mumbo, hiding half of his face in his shoulder. “This is Cub.” Mumbo says with a laugh.

“It’s nice to meet all of you. You’ve all come at a kind of weird time, it’s no one here besides me and—where is he? Eth—Oh! There you are.”

A white haired man shuffles into the room, quickly pulling a mask over his mouth. “Yeah?”

“This is Etho!” Bdubs says excitedly before turning back to him. “Can you go ahead and show our new friends to the fireplace? I’m gonna get some warm clothes and towels for them.”

“Sure.” He runs a hand through his hair, rolling up the sleeves of his hoodie. “Follow me!”

They all follow behind Etho, who’s bunny slippers shuffle on the hardwood floors. “Sorry it’s so cold in here. I’m sure a fire is gonna warm you guys right up.”

Grian looks down and notices a small, thin black tail waving behind him as he walks. He doesn’t think he’s seen anything like it before on any alien or anywhere else. He decides not to say anything out loud, he doesn’t wanna be rude.

Etho leads them to a small room off the hallway, flicking a lightswitch on. It’s a living room, fireplace in the center with a TV mounted right above it. There’s a couch, several chairs, and various trinkets and knick-knacks scattered about.

He silently gets to work lighting the fireplace, adding piece of wood after wood before suddenly lighting it up in the blink of an eye.

“Woah. That was fast.” Scar says.

Etho turns around, quickly pulling his mask up. Scar swears he sees a small puff of smoke leaving his mouth. “I’ve gotten good at it.” He says with a shrug.

Bdubs comes back, a large pile of towels and blankets in his arms. Etho helps him pass them out, the crew wrapping themselves up and sitting around the fireplace.

“Are you all hungry? Need anything?” Bdubs asks.

The crew look amongst themselves. “Oh, no no.” Grian says softly. “We don’t wanna trouble you anymore.”

“Nonsense! We don’t know when the rain will let up so please, make yourselves comfortable. Any allergies? Things you don’t like that I should know of?”

The crew shake their heads. Mumbo slowly raises his hand. “I uh, can’t eat. At all. So you don’t have to worry about me.”

“I see! We’ll be right back then.”

Bdubs and Etho leave them alone, huddling around the fireplace together.

“They seem nice.” Pearl says. She helps Cub dry his hair, the slug giggling as he’s shaken around.

“Yeah. Too nice.” Grian sniffs.

“Oh come on! They haven’t done anything really suspicious yet.” Scar whines, tugging on his sleeve. “I feel like we can trust them, at least a little.”

Grian tugs his blanket closer around himself, sighing. “I just…I dunno. You don’t run into nice people a lot nowadays”

“Give it some time.” Pearl says. “Maybe they are just really nice! And if shit starts…” She shrugs, patting her jacket pocket, “we can take care of them.”

Grian snorts, rolling his eyes. “Yeah, yeah. Besides that, we all doin’ okay? Cub? Mumbo?”

Mumbo gives a thumbs up. “I’m okay! Luckily, I’m waterproof.”

Cub nods, shivering intensely. “A-All g-g-good!”

Scar laughs, drying off Jellie in his lap. “Cub, get closer to the fire!”

Cub’s forcefully scooted towards the fireplace with a shove from Mumbo. “Ohhh. That feels nice. Can I touch it?” He mumbles.

“No. Don’t do that. That’d be bad.”

“Okay!”

Grian chuckles, turning his attention towards Pearl. “And you? All good?”

“All good. I do great in the rain, so it didn’t bother me much at all. Just a little cold, but it’s going away.”

Grian nods, turning to Scar. Scar smiles at him. “I’m okay. Wet and cold, but alive. How’re you feeling?”

Grian shrugs. “Okay. A bit on edge, but it is what it is. Just glad we’re all here, ya know?”

Scar scratches Jellie’s head. “Very true. We’ve had a long deltron. You all must be tired, no?”

Cub shrugs. Pearl rubs her face, letting out a sigh. “I know I am. I hope the weather lets up soon enough so we can go back to the ship.”

“My battery’s running low. Not low enough to worry, but…yeah I’m itching to get back too.” Mumbo adds.

There’s a crack of lightning, thunder booming as light flashes across the sky. The overhead light flickers.

“…Do you have a low power mode, Mumbo?” Grian asks. “Cause we might need it.”

𓈒⠀𓂃⠀⠀˖⠀𓇬⠀˖⠀⠀𓂃⠀𓈒

Bdubs and Etho return a few rivacs later, carrying plates of food in their hands. Etho’s balancing another on his head.

“Sorry that took so long! We were kinda scrambling to figure out what to make.” Bdubs says with a smile, handing everyone a plate and a water bottle. There’s a mini bowl of tomato soup, two grilled cheese triangles taking up a majority of the plate with a small handful of potato wedges put on the side. Grian can’t lie, it smells incredible.

“And for you…” Etho takes the plate off his head, crouching down in front of Jellie. There’s two little dishes, one for water and another with cat food and some chicken on top.

Jellie sniffs it curiously, looking up at him and meowing. “ Thank you! ”

“Oh! Y-You’re welcome?”

Bdubs kicks a small cardboard box forward towards Mumbo. “I didn’t wanna leave you out, so I went and found some activity books and things for you to do. I don’t know if you like that sort of stuff, but I figured it was worth a shot.”

Mumbo’s eyes light up, rummaging through the box. There’s empty sketchbooks, coloring books, word searches, crossword puzzles, and even some board games all the way at the bottom.

He looks up at Bdubs in shock. “This is…incredible. Thank you.”

“You’re very welcome! Anything else?”

The crew look amongst themselves, shaking their heads. “We’re good.” Grian says softly. “Thank you again.”

“Of course! You all just settle down and eat, we have some things to do but we’ll be back to check on you guys. Enjoy!”

They’re left alone once again, given the space to enjoy their meal.

“I was gonna be suspicious about this but…I can’t lie. This smells so good.” Grian says. Pearl sticks a corner of her sandwich into the soup, taking a small bite.

Scar sets his plate down on the floor. “What’s the verdict?”

“By the Old Ones, this is incredible .” She mumbles. She looks over at Cub, who’s about to take a massive bite. “Careful though, it’s hot—”

Cub takes a bite anyway, everyone staring at him in shock. A tiny bit of steam comes out of his mouth as he chews. “‘S good!”

“Cub…how are you not burning your mouth?” Grian asks. Cub looks down at his plate, shrugging. “I dunno. My mouth does feel a bit funny though.”

“...I feel like we should unpack that tomorrow.”

Grian reluctantly dips his sandwich into the soup, blowing on it before he takes a bite. He chews, brow furrowing as he processes the taste.

Void, he can’t lie. It tastes divine . He hasn’t had a proper home cooked meal in what feels like ages. Sure, he and Scar cook, but nothing’s ever tasted like this.

The potato wedges are perfectly seasoned and crispy, the tomato soup is perfectly creamy, a wonderful dash of spices and herbs mixed in perfectly adding to the flavor. The sandwich has a bunch of different cheeses in it, the edges also having a perfect slight crispiness to it. 

“You should dr—Grian are you crying ?”

Grian blinks, tears rolling down his face as he sniffles. “This just tastes so good, man.” He starts laughing, and Scar gives him a pat on the back. “ Fuck .”

They all enjoy the rest of their meal in silence, all too focused on their food to talk. Mumbo’s curled up in the corner, working his way through a book of crossword puzzles. He lays on his stomach, kicking his feet excitedly as he finds word after word. 

They stack up their plates and set them aside, sighing contentedly. Mumbo’s situated himself by the window, staring out the glass at the sky. Scar joins him, silently sitting next to him. “Hey.” He whispers.

“Hi.” Mumbo says softly, turning to look at him. 

“Admiring the rain?”

Mumbo nods, resting his head against his arm. “I’ve never seen rain before. I’ve only ever heard it from the inside. I think I like it. It’s nice.”

“Ohh, you haven’t seen a rainbow then, have you?”

Mumbo’s eyes light up. “No. What’s that?”

Scar laughs quietly. “In the daytime, when the rain stops, and the sun comes out and the clouds go away, you get a rainbow! It’s beautiful. Hopefully in the morning we can see one.”

Mumbo stares out the window longingly, tracing raindrops on the glass with his finger. “I hope so. That sounds wonderful.”

There’s a whirring noise as Mumbo’s eyes dim, and he slumps down against the window sill. “Shit, you okay Mumbo?” Scar asks, putting a hand on Mumbo’s back.

Mumbo grunts, resting his forehead against the window. “Yeah, yeah…I just…hit low power mode. Hopefully the rain lets up soon.”

Scar rubs Mumbo’s back, and although he can’t feel it, he appreciates it. “What happens when you run out of power?”

Mumbo shrugs. “I just shut off, I think. I’ve never actually hit the point where I run out. But it’s not…bad? It’s not like I reset or anything. For droids it's like going to sleep.”

“Mmhmm. Just stay put and chill, then. We’ll see what we can do.”

Mumbo scoots over to rest his head on Scar’s shoulder. Scar puts an arm around him, pulling him closer. Mumbo smiles to himself. He’s never really had anything like this before, small moments of humanity and comfort. He likes it. Staring at the rain, surrounded by his new friends, he’s sure that if he was a human he’d curl up and fall asleep right then and there.

But he’s not. So he sits, and waits for the rain to pass.

𓈒⠀𓂃⠀⠀˖⠀𓇬⠀˖⠀⠀𓂃⠀𓈒

There’s a gentle knock at the door, and Bdubs pokes his head in once more.

“Hey, all good?” He asks.

They all nod in unison.

“Good, glad to hear it. Um…are you all staying the night? We don’t mind of course, but the rain isn’t letting up it seems.”

The crew all share nervous glances. “I mean…it’d be better for us to go back to our ship. Pearl needs to sleep in water and we need to get Mumbo to his charger.” Grian says softly.

“Hm…how far is your ship?”

“Uh…like a 10 rivac walk, give or take.”

Bdubs goes silent as he thinks. Pearl takes a poke into his brain and can see him formulating a plan in his mind.

“Okay…I can take one of my horses and take one of you to the ship and back so you can grab his charger, and I think we have a kiddie pool somewhere in storage we could drag in here? If you guys are okay with that?”

The crew all scooch closer together so they can whisper.

“I think it’s a good idea. I don’t exactly think dragging ourselves out in this weather is a good idea.” Scar whispers.

“I can go and get the charger.” Pearl responds. “I can handle the rain better than you guys.”

“I mean I’d be down but…you okay sleeping in the pool?” Grian asks her. She nods. “Pshh. I’ve slept in worse spots. It beats sleeping sitting up.”

“Cub? Mumbo? You two okay with staying the night?”

Mumbo hums, giving a thumbs up, and Cub repeats the gesture. 

“That settles that. We’re staying the night.” Grian says to Bdubs, giving a nervous smile.

Pearl pulls herself to her feet.“And I’ll go get the charger with you! The pool would also be nice.”

“Okay! When we get back I’ll make sure to get everyone blankets and pillows— ETHOOOO! CAN I BORROW YOU AGAIN? ”

“ YEAHHHH ?”

“ CAN YOU GO INTO STORAGE FOR ME? IF YOU CAN FIND THE POOL FR— “

𓈒⠀𓂃⠀⠀˖⠀𓇬⠀˖⠀⠀𓂃⠀𓈒

They get to settle down for the night, Pearl returning after a few rivacs of waiting with Mumbo’s charger triumphantly in hand. They plug it into an outlet in the wall, Mumbo immediately shuffling over and sitting on it to charge. “Someone remember to power me on in the morning, please.” He mumbles, hitting a button on the back of his neck and slumping forward, android eyes going dark.

“Oh. Is that how droids go to sleep?” Scar asks, spreading out his blankets and pillows over the couch in the room. Grian shrugs, setting his own up next to him on the floor. “I guess so.”

“Are you sure you’re okay sleeping on the floor?”

“I’m sure. I don’t mind, don’t worry about me. And you can’t talk me out of it! I know you, don’t even try.”

Scar rolls his eyes, chuckling softly. “Okay okay. I get it.”

Cub blinks at his own set up, a big fluffy blanket and a pillow set up on a chair. They’ve all been talking about going to ‘sleep’, but he doesn’t really know what that means. He closes his eyes and tries to dig around in the memories of the previous host.

He doesn’t find much, seeing the surface of a desk, feeling something jerking him to consciousness, being pulled back into the present moment. Well, it never hurts to ask.

He shuffles over to Pearl, who’s settling herself into the colorful kiddie pool that was brought out. “ Pearl? Can I ask you something ?” He whispers.

Pearl looks up. “ Oh! Sure, what is it? ”

“ ...How do I sleep? ”

 Pearl’s face scrunches up as she thinks. “ Huh. Okay…that one’s kind of hard to explain. ”

“ It is? ”

“ Mhm. It’s a very natural thing that everyone learns—well I don’t know if learn is the right word but—it’s just supposed to be in your brain when you’re a baby. Do brain slugs not sleep? ”

Cub shakes his head.

Pearl pauses, trying to think of how to describe it. “ You kinda just…lie down with your head on the pillow, close your eyes, and sleep .”

“ Oh. That doesn’t sound hard .”

She shrugs. “ Hopefully it’s easy for you. Do you feel tired? ”

Cub looks at her blankly.

“ …You don’t know, do you? ”

Cub shakes his head.

“ …I’m gonna explain a bunch of stuff to you tomorrow, okay ?”

“ Okay !”

“ Just lie down, close your eyes, relax, and you’ll fall asleep. Hopefully. ”

Cub nods, shuffling back over to his chair. He awkwardly lies down on top of the blanket, resting his head against the pillow. He closes his eyes like Pearl told him to, sighing deeply. She said to relax, too. He’s relaxing. At least he thinks.

There’s a quiet knock on the door, and Bdubs pokes his head in once again. “Sorry to keep disturbing you all. All settled in for bed?”

Scar nods. “All good!”

“Love to hear it! Sorry we also didn’t get much time for chatting, but there’ll be plenty of time for that in the morning. Need anything else from me before I head to bed?”

“I think we’re good.” Grian says. “Really, thank you again. For everything.”

“Oh, don’t mention it. If that’s all, then I’ll let you all sleep. Sleep well everyone!”

Bdubs flicks the light off, shutting the door behind him.

“Night night everyone!” Scar says. 

“Good niiiight.”

“Sleep well, guys.”

Cub looks around, seeing everyone all settled into their spots and starting to fall asleep. He doesn’t think he fully understands it yet, but he’ll follow along anyway.

Cub closes his eyes, and goes to sleep.

𓈒⠀𓂃⠀⠀˖⠀𓇬⠀˖⠀⠀𓂃⠀𓈒

Grian can’t sleep.

It isn’t surprising to him, he’s used to his many sleepless nights, but it’s different for him tonight.

He can hear every noise going on, the wind rattling the windows of the church, creaky footsteps from upstairs, every breath his friends inhale and exhale, hushed whispers coming from above them.

His heart beats loudly in his chest, the sound flooding his ears.  Part of him is paranoid. He’s worried that maybe they’re all gonna fall asleep and wake up on a ship being transported to Octagon so their bounty can be claimed. Or maybe something worse. Like organ harvesting, or something. That’d be bad.

He’s awake for veltons, tossing and turning before relenting and staring at the ceiling. By the time he finally manages to fall asleep, the rain has stopped and the sun starts to peak over the horizon.

He doesn’t manage to even slip into a deep sleep before he’s thrust back into consciousness.

“ GOOOOOOD MORNING! ”

Bdubs kicks the door open dramatically, voice way too cheery for how early it is. He prances around the room, opening the windows so the sunlight streams in. “Rise and shine my friends! Our deltron is only just beginning!”

“Now there’s breakfast in the kitchen which is down the hall, there isn’t a service or anything today but we do have people who will be coming, however don’t think I forgot about you guys and your ship, I’ve already asked around and there’s a few people in town that might be able to help. Any questions?”

Scar rubs his eyes as he groggily sits up. “Huh? Wha?”

Pearl sloshes some water out of the kiddie pool as she wakes up. “…Can you say all that again?”

Grian holds his face in his hands, letting out a heavy sigh. This is gonna be a long deltron.

𓈒⠀𓂃⠀⠀˖⠀𓇬⠀˖⠀⠀𓂃⠀𓈒

The five of them drag themselves up and out of their makeshift beds, shuffling into the kitchen. Etho’s already there, leaning up against the kitchen counter as he’s finishing his plate. He looks like if he’d keep his eyes closed for too long, he’d fall right back asleep. 

“Mornin’.” He mumbles, giving the smallest wave possible. 

There’s  plates all set waiting for them, still steaming hot. There’s stacks of fluffy blueberry pancakes, butter and syrups set to the side for them, as well as a small helping of scrambled eggs, bacon, and hashbrowns. 

“Feel free to help yourselves. There’s plenty more where that came from.” Etho says softly. “And we have uhhh…coffee, several kinds of juice, I think chocolate milk?” Etho lets out a long yawn. Two little fangs peek out from his mouth. “I dunno. There’s stuff.”

Scar lets out a quiet laugh. “Not a morning person?”

“Nope.”Etho says, shoving his last forkful of food into his mouth. “Bdubs is, though. So I let him drag me along every morning.” He smiles to himself as he starts to wash his plate. “But he’s a sweet talker, so it’s not so bad.”

They all sit down at the small breakfast table, helping themselves to the food. “We really can’t thank you guys enough. You’ve been so kind to us.” Grian says softly. 

“Oh, don’t worry. It’s like…in the Void bible or something. … Is it a bible? Or…is it something else…is there even a book in the first place? ”

“…Shouldn’t you know this? Don’t you work here?” Pearl asks.

Etho blinks slowly, racking his brain for an answer. “Uhh…look. It’s too early for this. Don’t ask me questions. I’m leaving now bye—“

Etho quickly shuffles out of the kitchen, taking his coffee mug with him.

“O…kay?”

“He’s a little weird.” Mumbo says as he pulls out a crossword book.

“Well, so are we.” Grian snorts.

Pearl pours herself a cup of apple juice. “Sleep well, Cub?” Cub hums. “Hm?”

“Oh Cub, you look exhausted. ” She says with a frown.

“I feel fine. I just…” He pauses to yawn, eyes going wide. “What was that?”

“You yawned.”

“…What’s that?”

“Something your body does when you’re tired.”

Cub blinks slowly. “Am I tired?”

“How are you feeling right now?” Scar asks. Grian squints at him. “Do you feel like it’s hard to keep your eyes open?”

Cub nods.

“…Did you sleep at all last night?” 

“I did!”

Pearl combs through his surface thoughts, slapping her hand over her mouth to hide a laugh. “Cub. No you didn’t.”

“ What !”

“Did you just lie there with your eyes closed for veltons?”

“Yes. Yes he did.”

“Oh…Cub…”

Cub looks around in confusion. “Did I do something wrong?”

“No no, not at all. Look, let’s just finish up breakfast and then we can explain anything and everything to you.” Pearl says as she pats his shoulder.

“Okay…”

They finish their breakfast quickly, cleaning their plates so Bdubs and Etho don’t have to worry about them later. Cub can’t stop yawning, nodding off while he’s standing up.

They reunite with Bdubs outside, decked out in his priestly robes. He’s talking to some nuns, perking up when he sees them walking over. 

“Hey! How was breakfast?” He asks cheerfully.

“Good!” Scar says with a smile. “It was really good. We can’t thank you enough.”

“Oh, happy to hear it!” The nuns around him smile and nod, scurrying off to void knows where. “I’m still a little tied up, we need to start cleaning up from today’s event but my hands will soon be free to help you guys.”

“That’s alright! What…was going on?” Pearl asks.

“Oh! I forgot to tell you! Originally we had an outdoor breakfast buffet, we have one every becton actually, but the rain made the ground too muddy so we had to change those plans and instead turned it into a community cleaning event! We’ve been picking up debris from the storm all morning.”

“Aww, that’s awfully nice!”

“I would’ve invited you all to help, but I wanted to let you guys sleep in!”

Pearl checks her phone. It’s 7 in the morning.

“But we’re very community focused here! It’s what voidism is all about, really.”

Cub and Mumbo blink in confusion. Pearl can hear some of Mumbo’s thoughts bouncing around his brain, holding himself back from speaking.

“Mumbo, you have a question?” Pearl asks quietly.

Mumbo jumps. “Oh, um…am I allowed to ask?”

Bdubs nods. “Of course!”

“Sorry if this is a stupid question, I’ve heard it a lot but I don’t exactly know…what exactly voidism is ? I know it’s important to this place but…I’m unfamiliar.” Mumbo asks, fidgeting with his hands. Cub nods along.

“Not a dumb question at all! I’m more than happy to—” Bdubs pauses when he hears someone call his name. “Aw, crap. It looks like I’m needed. Okay, I’d recommend talking to Etho who’s inside, he’s great I’m sure he’ll explain it all greatly. OH before I go, we do have food leftover. There’s donuts if you guys want some. Okay I’ll be back!”

Bdubs runs off to where he’s called to, smiling and waving as he goes.

Scar shrugs, starting to walk away. “I don’t know about you guys, but I’m gonna snag a donut first.”

𓈒⠀𓂃⠀⠀˖⠀𓇬⠀˖⠀⠀𓂃⠀𓈒

“What’s going on again?”

All of them sit in a circle under the statue in the main room, nibbling away at their donuts. Etho’s words are muffled by his mouthful of glazed donut. Cub leans up against Mumbo, too tired to eat one at the moment.

“Cub and I have some uh…general questions.” Mumbo says so quietly it’s nearly a whisper.

“Oh, right.” Etho shoves the rest of his donut into his mouth, wiping his hands on his shorts. “Where do we wanna start?”

Mumbo raises his hand. “What’s voidism?”

Etho lets out a puff of air through his lips. “Uhhhh…good question. It’s just like…a religion. Yeah.”

Grian snorts. “Really specific.”

“What’s religion?” Cub yawns. 

“Oughhhh…I don’t know actually. Well I do, but I don’t know how to describe it.”

“ The belief in and worship of a superhuman power or powers, especially a God or gods. ” Mumbo supplies. “Supposedly.”

“You just know that?” Etho asks. 

“No. I just have a computer for a brain.”

“Fair enough. But yeah, Voidism is specifically the worship of Mother Void and like…her beliefs. Or something.”

“Who’s Mother Void?” Cub asks.

Etho points at the statue above them. “That.”

“Wow. Thanks.”

“I mean honestly it’s not…a straightforward answer? She’s not like a physical real person or being, she’s more…conceptual? Every depiction of her isn’t exactly accurate to what she looks like, because she doesn’t really look like anything.”

“She’s more like…the manifestation of space. Worshiping Mother Void isn’t about worshiping this woman figure, it’s really just about the universe itself and existence in general.” Etho continues. “She is the universe, and like…I dunno. Does that make sense?”

Mumbo nods along. “I think so. So where did she…come from? The idea of her, at least.”

“Honestly? Fuck if I know. Bdubs knows more than me. But I know…yeah. And it’s kinda why she looks different in every depiction.” Etho points to the statue above their heads. They all notice how she has no face, just bumps that imply a nose and lips. 

“Ohhhh, that’s cool.” Pearl whistles.

“It is, really. And I think…Voidism isn’t that bad. Bdubs might’ve told you, but also a big point is just…spreading kindness and good. We don’t really do worship or service like I know some others do, it’s definitely like a second thought. And I think it’s nice, without Bdubs’ kindness I wouldn’t be here at all.”

“What happened, if you don’t mind me asking?” Scar asks.

“I washed up on the beach and Bdubs found me.”

“ No wonder he’s a little weird .” Grian thinks. Pearl snorts at that.

“…Huh. Okay then.”

“But…yeah. Does that make sense?”

“I think it does. Thank you.” Mumbo says warmly.

Etho’s mouth is hidden behind a mask, but they can tell by the way his eyes crinkle that he’s smiling. “You’re very welcome. And it’s also not to say…Voidism isn’t the only thing out there. There’s millions of others out there. I know Samsars have their own, I think there’s a colony of independent droids out there who worship the first ever computer or something…”

Mumbo lights up at the sound of that.

“Mhm! On Atlantis we have The Old Ones.” Pearl interjects. “They aren’t a singular deity but more of…a council of old gods that are believed to have made Atlantis and are responsible for the existence of Guiltics. It’s a whole thing.”

“I didn’t even know about that.” Etho says. “The galaxy is just so big, ya know! A lot to choose from, or you don’t even have to choose at all!” He shrugs. “But I like Mother Void. She’s nice to me.”

Grian raises an eyebrow. “You’ve met her?”

“I mean not really? She visits dreams sometimes. And she ate the mac and cheese I left her as an offering.”

Grian turns to Scar and gives him a look. Scar lets out an exhale of laughter at his face.

“But I think you guys get it. I’ve talked enough as it is.” Etho snorts. “If you still have questions, don’t ask me. Go to Bdubs.”

Mumbo hums, nodding along. “Thanks again for answering our questions. It’s helped clarify a lot.”

Cub nods along, visibly struggling to keep his head up. “...Are you okay ?” Etho asks him. 

“Hmm? Whuh?” He mumbles. “Oh, Cub. We gotta get you to nap.” Scar coos.

Cub yawns, mumbling something in return. They all stand up and almost drag him back to the living room they slept in the night prior.

They help him lie down, and the moment his head hits the cushion he’s fast asleep.

“Oh. That was quicker than I thought it’d be.” Grian says as he plucks Cub’s glasses off his face. Pearl ruffles his hair as he curls up. “Poor guy must be so tired. Who knows how long he’s been up?”

“Sounds like someone I know.” Scar says, giving Grian a very pointed look. Grian rolls his eyes. “Yeah yeah. Whatever.”

Etho pokes his head into the room. “Do you guys want me to watch over him while you all go out to town? I think Bdubs is free by now.”

“No no, it’s okay.” Grian says. “We’ll wait until he wakes up so he can come with us. But thank you.”

Etho nods, nails drumming on the doorframe. “Alright! I’ll let you all relax then. Just give a shout if you need anything.”

𓈒⠀𓂃⠀⠀˖⠀𓇬⠀˖⠀⠀𓂃⠀𓈒

They all spend a few more deltron units at the church, trying their best to take it easy. They go back to sleeping on the ship, but still stick around to help out as a means to say thanks.

Bdubs takes them all to town, introducing them to people and helping them obtain fuel and many more things. He gives them some non-perishables to take with them, as well as letting them grab some more clothes from the donations they’ve accumulated over various cycles.

Grian’s extremely anxious over the fact they’ve been sitting ducks for so long, but Scar does his best to reassure him they’ll be fine.

Grian hates it when he’s right.

One morning Bdubs decides to show them around the stables, a totally normal and expected thing for churches to have.

Bdubs is very excited, chattering on and on about how the horses are his pride and joy. “We have 5 horses here, and although it’s not a top-of-the-line stable, we try our best to make sure they’re always comfortable and safe!”

Etho chuckles as he follows after him. “Sometimes when it storms real badly we have to bring them inside the church. It makes for an interesting cleanup in the morning.”

“It’s less than ideal for them, but it’s the best we can do. Here!” Bdubs opens the stables, all of the 5 horses in their own pens. 

“This one here is Applejack, and this other one here is Sherlock,” Bdubs pets all of their snouts as he walks by, “This is Biscuit, he actually belongs to my brother Pungence  but he’s been out of town for a bit.”

Biscuit leans over and sniffs at Cub’s hair. He yelps in surprise, jumping and hiding himself behind Scar. He chuckles, patting Cub on the shoulder. “It’s okay Cub. They don’t bite.”

“They do.” Etho whispers. “Sometimes.”

Cub looks mortified as they move along. 

“And here is Etho’s horse!”

Etho lets out a scoff as they approach a gray and white mare. “She’s not mine .”

Bdubs waves his hand. “He says that, but she loves him. In fact she doesn’t let anyone but Etho ride her. Isn’t that right, Kakashi?”

Kakashi chuffs in response.

Etho gently pets her snout, smiling as she neighs appreciatively. “Yeah yeah. If you say so.”

“And this here…is my pride and joy.”

Bdubs stops in front of a brown mare, face lighting up in pure excitement as she moves over towards him. “This is Mi Amore! She’s been with me for cycles. My prized hawsie!”

Mi Amore nuzzles his cheek, and he breaks out into a massive smile.  “Here, I’ll let her say hello.”

Bdubs brings her out of her pen, the mare swishing her tail as she steps out. “She’s a sweetie! She loves meeting new people.”

Pearl giggles as Mi Amore starts to sniff her hair, petting her nose. “I can see that! Hi sweetie!”

Grian looks over at Cub. “Do you wanna go ahead and give her a pet?” Cub takes a step back, shaking his head. “No thank you.”

Bdubs laughs softly, hand holding onto Mi Amore’s reins. “Don’t worry, she’s nice. But you absolutely don’t have to if you don’t want to, I understand.”Mumbo reaches forward and gives a tentative pet, retracting his hand quickly.

“How long have you had her?” Grian asks as she turns to sniff him, letting out a chuckle. “Ohhh, I don’t know exactly…I think about 20 ish cycles? A majority of my life, actually. We did competitions when I was much younger, but since now my hands are all wrapped up with running the church I’ve had to put it to rest. But I’m not mad about it. I still have her around, and that’s what matters.” He feeds her a little sugar cube from his hands.

“Awwww, that’s very sweet.” Scar coos. “That reminds me of me and Jellie, she’s been with me for a long time too. Having her around means the galaxy to me.”

“They’re much more than pets, ya know? They’re family!”

“Yeah! You get it!”

They both laugh, bonding over their shared love for their animals. 

At that moment, Scar’s phone starts to ring.

It’s louder than he expected, Grian jumping as his ringtone starts to blast. Mi Amore startles, kicking Scar in the leg and knocking him over. Scar yelps as he’s knocked into Grian, pushing him into Pearl. 

Pearl flails as she falls back into one of the pen gates, her tank knocking one gate off its hinges, the horse inside neighing and running out of the stables. Cub screams as he dives out of the way, the horse zipping by and running out of the stables. Mumbo’s pushed into a feeding trough, hay spilling all over the ground. Mi Amore follows, leaving the stables in a chaotic mess. 

Bdubs screams, whipping around to face all of them. “What did you do?!”

“We didn’t do anything!” Grian shouts in defense. “It’s not out fault th—”

“ETHO!”

Etho looks up in surprise, leaning up against a pole. “Huh?”

“KILL THEM!”

The crew all shriek in unison. “WHAT?!”

“Yeah I’m not sticking around to see if he’s joking or not RUN .” Grian starts to sprint out of the stables, everyone following after him. 

Etho silently stands there as they all run past him. “Kill? Isn’t that…a bit much? Like aren’t we all about peace and love or whatever”

Bdubs grabs a satchel hanging off the wall. “I DON’T CARE! THOSE ARE MY FUCKING HORSES!”

Etho shrugs. “Okay then. I’ll be back.”

Bdubs runs out of the stables after the runaway horses, and Etho smiles to himself as he zips away to follow the crew.

𓈒⠀𓂃⠀⠀˖⠀𓇬⠀˖⠀⠀𓂃⠀𓈒

The crew run through the grassy fields in front of the church, not daring to look behind them. Grian curses at himself for parking their ship so far away.

He looks over at Scar, seeing him start to lag behind. “You okay?” He shouts.

Scar pants, noticeably limping. “Yeah, all good.”

“Scar, here.” He stops, leaning over so he can hop on his back. “No no it’s okay, I can run—”

“Scar. Scar Etho’s running towards us. Just hop on.”

Scar quickly hops on Grian’s back, the captain sprinting to keep up with the rest of the group. There’s a loud growl behind them, all of them making the mistake of taking a glance behind them.

Etho’s running impossibly fast, having discarded the mask over his mouth and showing his fanged smile. His tail sticks out behind him, and a pair of horns sprouts from his head. 

“Did he always have those?!” Mumbo yells.

Pearl yelps as he starts to zero in on them. “No he did not!”

“Hi guys!” Etho says cheerily, digging his shoes into Cub’s back, knocking him to the ground. “Sorry about this. He has a short fuse.” Cub wails as Etho digs his shoe even deeper, flailing around in a panic. Mumbo kicks him off of Cub, helping him up to his feet. “You don’t have to do this! You were nice to us!”

“Yeaahhhhhh but…this is fun for me!” Etho takes a swing at Mumbo, the droid screaming and ducking down to dodge. Etho zips around and swings and kicks at all of them, moving at an inhumane speed. Grian’s legs are kicked out from under him, sending both him and Scar tumbling to the ground. 

“ Mother fucking Void you’re so fast— ” Grian gasps as he blocks every kick Etho tries to land. “Why thank you!” He says with a big smile. Pearl pulls out a small blaster from her pockets, hands shaky as she tries to land a shot, instead shooting the dirt in front of him. 

The dirt explodes, buying them a couple ticks to make it back to their ship. 

“I can see it up ahead!” Pearl shouts. Grian reaches into his pocket and hits his keys, unlocking the ship and letting the cargo bay open. “GO GO GO!”

Cub lets out a yell as he’s grabbed again, Etho pulling him back. The majority of them already made it to the ship, just waiting on him. 

“Cub!”

Cub screws his eyes shut, swinging his fist as hard as he can, making contact with Etho’s jaw. He groans in pain, letting go of Cub and falling to the ground. 

Cub gets hauled onto the ship, Grian shutting the cargo bay door before Etho can even recover. 

Grumbot’s electronic face lights up as everyone rushes around. “Hello! What’s going on—”

“HELLO HI NO TIME TO EXPLAIN GRUMBOT WE HAVE TO LEAVE NOW .” Grian yells as he starts flicking all of the controls on. 

“Oh. Okay!”

“THANK YOU!”

The ship lurches as they start to take off, speeding far, far away from the planet and church as fast as they can.

𓈒⠀𓂃⠀⠀˖⠀𓇬⠀˖⠀⠀𓂃⠀𓈒

Grian practically slumps over the control panel, taking deep and heaving breaths as they finally hit faster-than-light travel. 

“Scar.” He wheezes. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah.” Scar pants as he sinks back into his chair. “Yeah, I’m fine.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah.”

“You got kicked by a horse, Scar.”

“I mean, my leg doesn’t hurt too bad, surprisingly. Just feels a little bruised.”

“That’s crazy.”

Scar lets out a heavy sigh, running a hand through his sweaty hair. “Was all that my fault?”

“What? No, not at all. We couldn’t have expected that to happen at all.”

“I can’t help but feel like it is…”

Grian shakes his head, leaning forward and holding Scar’s hands. “Scar, listen. Let me reiterate: you got kicked by a horse . For something completely accidental. I certainly don’t blame you, and I highly doubt everyone else does too. What matters first and foremost is that we’re safe, and you’re safe and okay. Okay?”

Scar hums sadly. “Okay…”

“Good. And you’ll tell me if your leg starts to bother you?”

He lets out a quiet chuckle. “I will. I promise.”

Grian holds out his pinky, and Scar smiles as they make another pinky promise.

“I am kinda sad though…I liked it there. It was nice and peaceful.

“Yeah…” Grian lets out a tired sigh. “But it was inevitable, Scar. You know we can’t stay in the same place for long.”

Scar frowns deeply. “...I know. I’m just a little sick of running away all the time.”

“...Me too. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. It’s not your fault everyone in the galaxy hates us.” Scar chuckles.

Grian laughs, holding his arms out. “C’mere. Hug it out.”

Grian gives Scar a tight hug, the other reciprocating by tightly squeezing him.

They have a small moment of silence together before Grian breaks it. “Who was calling you, by the way? Just out of curiosity.”

“Oh, it was my mom.” Scar says shyly. “I’m definitely going to have to call her back.”

“Awwww! It’s been a while, hasn’t it?” 

“It sure has. I don’t think we’ve talked since we…went to Octagon.”

Grian winces. “You have a lot to catch her up on, then.”

Scar snorts, smiling softly. “I just know the second I mention the crew she’s gonna ask me to invite them over for dinner.”

“Oh absolutely. I know my mom would do the same.” Grian laughs. 

“Oh yeah, when was the last time you heard from her?”

Grian trills his lips as he thinks. “I think…oh. I can’t remember. I think before Octagon too. I know she worries so…”

“I think we both owe our families a call.” They share a laugh together, reminiscing on their past together before Grian gestures towards the door.

“Let’s go check on the others, yeah?”

Cub suddenly stumbles into the cockpit.

“I punched someone!” He says cheerfully.

“You did!” Grian claps his hands together. “How’d that feel?”

“...I don’t think I liked it!”

“Understandable, honestly.” 

Pearl and Mumbo walk into the room. “All good you two?” Pearl asks, holding a thumbs up.

“All good.” Grian nods. “We’re alive.”

“Jellie’s grumpy that we woke her up from her nap, by the way.” Mumbo adds. Scar groans, rubbing his face. “Ohhhh boy.”

Grian gives him a pat on the back. “Let’s all just settle down for a little while. Relax and recuperate from what just happened.”

“Sounds good to me!”

The crew shuffle out of the cockpit, ready to spend a few veltons to themselves.

𓈒⠀𓂃⠀⠀˖⠀𓇬⠀˖⠀⠀𓂃⠀𓈒

Etho whistles to himself as he walks all the way back to the church.

He didn’t manage to do much damage, but oh well! He wasn’t really aiming to kill anyways. They were nice to him after all.

He rubs his aching jaw right where Cub clocked him, cursing quietly under his breath. He can see the church in the distance, Bdubs walking around the side of the building.

“Bdubsssssss. I didn’t catch themmmmmm.” He shouts, walking up to Bdubs. 

Bdubs sighs, rubbing his face tiredly. “That’s fine. I think I might’ve overreacted back there.”

“You think ?”

“You know me! I’m weird about my horses. What happened to you?” He says softly, noticing the forming bruise on Etho’s jaw.

“Got smacked. Who knew Cub packs a mean punch?”

Bdubs tsks his tongue, taking Etho’s face in his hands. “Oh, you poor thing. We’ll get you an ice pack in a little bit.” Etho smiles as he melts into the touch. “Okayyy.”

“In any case, we’ll be having guests in a little bit.”

“Yeah?”

“I may have made a phone call.”

Their hair starts to whip around as a ship starts to descend, landing right in the front lawn of church. There’s a hiss and a click as the cargo bay door opens, 3 familiar figures standing inside.

“Bdubs!” False shouts, walking up to them with a smile. “Always a pleasure to see you again. And you as well, Etho.”

“Oh False!” Bdubs holds his arms out and gives her a hug. “It’s always a pleasure to have you! Thank you for coming on incredibly short notice.”

Gem steps off the ship, a massive grin on her face. “HIIII ETHO!”

“Oh no.”

Etho turns around and runs away as fast as he can, Gem and Stress cackling as they chase him down.

Bdubs laughs. “But I do have to apologize…they did already manage to get off planet. I thought Etho could reel them in but—“

“ONE OF THEM PUNCHED ME!” Etho yells as he runs by, Gem and Stress hot on his tail.

“Yeah.”

False tsks her tongue. “Now that’s too bad. Did you get your horses back?”

“Sure did! I feel better now. I think I might’ve overreacted.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah I told Etho to kill them.”

“Oh!”

“Doc won’t be too happy if he hears we let them stay with us but…”

“What he doesn’t know won’t hurt him.” False surmises. “How long were they here?”

“About 5 deltrons.”

False whistles. “Wowwwww. You should’ve called sooner.”

“I know I know. I wanted to give them a chance. They’re actually quite nice, ya know.” Bdubs chuckles as Etho continues to scream his head off.

“That’s all nice and fun, but personality doesn’t matter in our field. A bounty is a bounty.”

Bdubs sighs. “Fair enough. Besides that, we don’t need the reward. Doc gives us enough money anyways.”

False snorts. “That agreement of yours?”

“Mhhhm. You know, I think they were all quite lucky that they landed with us. If they landed nearby Beef they would’ve been snatched up immediately .”

“Damn right they would.”

Gem giggles maniacally as she catches up to Etho, grabbing him by the waist and flinging him over her shoulder. “I GOT HIM!” Etho flails around as she runs back to Bdubs and False. 

“Gem, put him down.” False sighs.

“PLEASE.” Etho yells.

“No. I think I’ll keep holding him.” Gem says, patting him on the back.

Bdubs laughs softly, shaking his head. “Since we have you all here, would you like to stay the night?”

False opens her mouth to object, but both Stress and Gem both interject. “Pleaaaaase?” They both say. Gem shifts Etho around so she can squish his face. Etho frantically shakes his head, eyes pleading.

“ Fine . But just for one night.”

“ YAAAAAAAAAY !”

Bdubs laughs as Gem and Stress run off into the church with Etho, finally putting him down on the ground.

“Here, let me at least make you all lunch and we can chat and catch up.”

False sighs, struggling to hide her smile. “Alright.”

𓈒⠀𓂃⠀⠀˖⠀𓇬⠀˖⠀⠀𓂃⠀𓈒

[CYCLE 4IXV, ON THE SPACE STATION TWILIGHT PEAK]

“This should be a good place to stop.”

Grian lands the ship in the space station’s lot, the vessel hissing as they touch the ground.  Him and Scar step out of the cockpit, the rest of the crew patiently waiting for them in the living room. 

Their faces are refreshed and cleaned from their last scuffle, having swapped into some of the new clothes that got gifted to them.

“Hey! Are we all ready?” Grian asks. 

Pearl nods enthusiastically. “I know I am. I’ve heard a lot of things about this place.” Mumbo fidgets with the end of his vest as he mumbles. “It’s a bit weird though. Why is it called Twilight Peak if there’s no mountain? Or anything?”

Scar shrugs. “Who knows? Maybe they just thought the name was cool.”

“Whatever the case, hopefully we can enjoy a peaceful night here.”

“Now you’ve jinxed us.” Grian snorts.

“Oh whatever! Let’s just go and enjoy as much as we can.” 

𓈒⠀𓂃⠀⠀˖⠀𓇬⠀˖⠀⠀𓂃⠀𓈒

They walk through the streets of Twilight Peak, full of tall buildings stretching way above their heads. The streets are bustling with people, all sorts of species from across the galaxy enjoying the station. There’s a massive clash of aesthetics going on, from techy neon buildings to shops that almost look like old historical buildings. Since there’s no sun or moon nearby, the sky is illuminated by millions of stars, and the citizens have found their own way of keeping their city lit up. Strings of fairy lights hang over tight alleys, various styles of street lamps litter the streets and some places even use fire and lanterns outside their front door. 

“Woahhh. This place is cool.” Cub whispers. His hand tightly holds onto Mumbo’s. Mumbo squeezes back. “It is. Definitely cooler than Vegas.” 

Grian scans all of the buildings around them, having found themselves in what seems like a central area. There's a myriad of stores, restaurants, buildings boasting experiences like escape rooms and arcades and bowling, signs pointing to more enticing things down the road like a massive mall and even some sort of local theme park.

“Wow. This all feels very touristy.” He says softly.

“It sure does.” Scar agrees. “But that kinda makes it more fun, no?”

Pearl’s eyes fall on a particular building that stands out, it’s gothic exterior seeming intimidating next to all the restaurants surrounding it. A sign hanging off the building reads ‘The Hanging Bat’, a cute little upside down bat hanging underneath. “What’s that place?”

Mumbo squints at it, a beep sounding off in his mind. “It’s a bar.”

“Ooh…a drink wouldn’t hurt, no?” Pearl says. “Just one?”

Scar makes a quiet noise in thought. “I dunno. What do you think Grian?”

Grian pauses, mentally laying out all of his options. “Well, in a worst case scenario are you okay with piloting?” He asks with a smile.

Scar chuckles and pats him on the back. “Sure I will.”

“What’s a bar?” Cub asks. 

“You’re about to find out.” Grian says with a smirk. “Come on, let’s go inside.”

𓈒⠀𓂃⠀⠀˖⠀𓇬⠀˖⠀⠀𓂃⠀𓈒

The inside can only be described as an interior design nightmare.

If they thought the rest of the station was weird, the bar is even weirder. It looks like whoever designed it was in a battle on what theme to go with. There’s mixtures of cowboy western-esque elements, a cow skull hanging on the wall, all of the doors inside looking like saloon doors you’d only see in movies. On the opposite end, there’s pieces of gothic furniture, dramatic oil paintings hanging under animal skulls and marble figures standing on shelves. The walls are all painted differently, red wallpaper clashing with wooden panels.

“Yeesh.” Scar says. 

“This place is ugly.” Cub says, scrunching his nose.

They walk up to the bar, where two bartenders are laughing and chatting amongst themselves, perking up when they see them approaching.

“New faces! Welcome, welcome.” The blond one says. He’s dressed like a cowboy, a brown vest over a pale blue shirt, and a cowboy hat hanging off his neck. “First time around these parts?” He has a southern drawl to his voice, explaining the antlers and horseshoes hung up on the wall. 

“Sure is.” Grian says, everyone sitting at a bar stool. 

“Well, we are more than happy to have you all here.” The other one responds. His hair is jet-black, dressed in a red velvet coat, white frilly sleeves matching with his cravat.

“What can we get started for y’all?” The blond cowboy says.

Grian lets out a heavy sigh, trilling his lips. “Give me the strongest thing you have. Please.”

“Wow. And you?” He turns to Pearl.

“A beer, please.”

“What kind? We have a lot of options.”

“Hmmmm…I dunno. Surprise me!”

“Alright!” 

Scar nods as eyes fall on him. “A gin and tonic, please.”

The black haired one turns to look at Cub. “And for you, love?”

Cub looks around nervously. “Uh…what Scar said?”

He turns to Mumbo, raising an eyebrow. “And you?”

Mumbo shakes his head. “Can’t drink.”

“Underage?”

“No. Droid.”

“Oh.”

“Well we can get all of that started for you.” The blond says with a wink and a close lipped smile. 

Their drinks are quickly mixed, slid in front of them. Grian stares at his drink, a blue drink with some sparkly glitter in it and a cute star shaped lemon on the salted rim.  Ice clinks in his cup as he picks it up, staring into the pretty blue drink and taking a big drink.

“Oh I wouldn’t do th—Okay.”

Grian scrunches his face up, coughing at the incredibly strong taste. “I shouldn’t have done that. Oh void.”

The cowboy bartender laughs, throwing a small towel over his shoulder. “No. No you shouldn’t have.”

The other bartender pipes up. “Now, you all seem like you’ll be here for a bit. Care to tell us your names?” 

They all introduce themselves, reversing the question on them. “Now what about you guys?” Pearl asks as she takes a sip of her beer. 

“I’m Wels.” The blond bartender says with a smirk. The black haired one gives a similar expression. “And I’m Hels. A pleasure to properly meet you all.”

Pearl decides to peek into their minds, reading their surface thoughts. Just for her own amusement.

“ 3 humans…that isn’t too bad. I like our odds. ” Wels thinks. 

Hels’ eyes flit between all of them.  “ Shame about the droid. They’re never any use to us. ”

Her brows furrow, looking between the two of them. Weird thoughts. Very weird. Surely they must mean something that’s not bad. “ You’ve only been here for a few rivacs. ” She thinks to herself. “ It’s too early to get a bad feeling. ”

“We’re twins.” Wels says in response to a question Pearl didn’t hear. We’ve been running this place together for years.”

“Admittedly,” Hels adds, “Our parents weren’t very creative when it came to names. But they have a nice ring to them when you say them together.”

Scar snorts. “Who’s older?”

“Don’t—”

“I am! I am by a minute!” Wels says excitedly as Hels rolls his eyes. “Oh who cares?”

“Clearly you do. Because it annoys you!”

“Shut up.”

Grian giggles as he sips on his drink. “If you’re twins why do you sound so different?”

Hels chuckles. “Oh, we get this all the time. Our parents come from very different places, and we spent most of our childhood apart with one parent.” Wels sighs. “It’s a real long story.”

“Wow. That’s wild.” Scar whistles as he sets his drink down.

“But that’s all unimportant. How are all y’alls drinks so far?” Wels asks them.

“I can see why this is the strongest drink you have.” Grian snorts. His tongue is starting to look blue.

Pearl says she’s enjoying hers, and Scar shares the sentiment. All of them look at Cub, who’s staring at his glass in his hands.

“I don’t know if I like it.” Cub says slowly, words coming out slightly slurred. 

Hels suppresses a giggle. “Is this your first time trying any kind of alcohol?”

Cub blinks at him, slowly turning to Mumbo and whispering loudly. “What’s alcohol?”

Scar laughs, patting Cub on the back. “Yes. Yes it is.” He says to Hels.

“You don’t have to finish it if you don’t want, love.” 

“No no no. I’ll finish it.” Cub mumbles.

“You sure?”

“Yes. I think.”

There’s some clanking behind the bar counter, Hels setting another drink down. “Here’s a water if you need it, just in case.”

“Now may I ask what brings you all to our humble little station?” Hels asks, tilting his head to the side. 

Scar chuckles as he takes a sip. “We just needed a break from our lives for a moment.”

“Oh?” Wels hums curiously. 

“We live a very…nomadic life. Always moving. Always going places.” Grian says, tiptoeing around saying the actual reason. 

“Wanted?” Hels asks.

All of them look nervous for a second. “How’d you know?” Scar whispers.

Wels bursts out laughing. “Oh, you should all see your faces. Relax, we won’t turn you in or anything. We’ve had plenty of criminals come in and out of here. Plus they all sort of give a similar answer when we ask.”

“Oh.”

“And you’re all so fidgety!” Hels says. “I’m not sure if one of you has stayed still since the moment you walked in.”

Grian slowly stops bouncing his leg. Pearl puts her hands down, not even realizing she was fidgeting with her bracelets. 

“Some sharp eyes you have.” Mumbo says. He stops fidgeting with his sleeves.

“Well…our whole business is people. You start to notice some things quickly.” Wels laughs. “But really, y’all don’t have to worry. We don’t even really get bounty hunters here, and if we do, they’re not here on business. You’re safe here.”

“And no outside force will ever hurt our patrons.” Hels winks.

As they fall into casual conversation, Pearl can’t help but stay on high alert. She can’t shake her bad feeling, trying to find anything weird to justify it to herself. 

The lights occasionally turn red for seemingly no reason before turning back to normal a few rivacs later. She tries to read more of their thoughts, but they’re all frustratingly vague. 

Grian leans on her as he swishes the remainder of his drink in the bottom of his glass. “You know, it’s just now dawning on me how we’re supposed to be saving money and we came here.” His words are starting to slur together, and she notices his cheeks are turning pink.

She gives him a pat on the shoulder. “Hey, it’s okay. It won’t be a massive dent on our bank accounts. Besides, we deserve a little treat I think.”

He sighs, finishing his drink and setting it down. “I dunno. I just feel bad.”

“Bad?” Pearl frowns. “Why?”

Grian frowns. “I guess I just feel bad we’ve dragged you into this. Surely you all weren’t wanted before, but now you all are. And everything’s just so much more unstable and dangerous now. We’re never fully safe, ya know? Or something.”

“Oh, Grian…look, let me tell you. I can’t speak on Cub or Mumbo’s feelings on it but…honestly? I think my life’s changed for the better since I met you guys.”

“Really?”

“Mhm! I mean…it kinda sucked for me for a while. I was really lonely and really didn’t have anywhere to go back to. And sure, the constant bounty hunters are less than ideal but…the ship feels like home. I have a roof over my head when I go to sleep. And you and Scar and the others have been nothing but kind to me. I really appreciate it.”

“Pearl…” Grian frowns, eyes shining. 

“I mean it!”

“That makes me really glad to hear it. It’s a good thing you had an insane amount of trust from us in the beginning.”

She snorts. “Grian, if you and Scar wanted to murder me, I would’ve known.” When he squints at her, she taps on her temple. “Ohhhhhhhh.” He says.

“Grian, I think you’re drunk.” She laughs.

Grian pouts. “Am not. I’m just a little tipsy.”

Wels comes back over to the two of them. “Would you like something else?” He asks. 

 Grian hums, swaying side to side in his seat. “Hmmmm…an Old Fashioned?”

“And maybe a water too.” Pearl adds. Grian laughs. “Yeah. And a water.”

Wels chuckles. “Coming right up.” He says with a wink.

Grian leans across the bar so he can talk to Scar. “Scaaaaaaaaar.”

“Mhm?”

“You’re piloting tonight.”

Scar can’t help but laugh. “Okay.”

A bit more time passes, the bartenders seemingly keeping a lot of their attention on them. Wels certainly seems to be sweet-talking Grian enough to gain his trust.

“You know…there’s something I’d like to show you.” Wels says as he leans over the bar. “Just to steal you away for a bit.” The lights in the bar turn red again.

“ I wouldn’t .” Pearl sends to Grian telepathically.

Grian hums for a long time, and Wels holds a hand out for him. He shrugs, and takes Wels’ hand. “Okay!”

“Perfect.”

Grian turns back to Pearl, a tired smile on his face. “I’ll be back. Don’t worry.”

There’s a sinking feeling in Pearl’s stomach. She can’t shake her bad feeling anymore. “Okay. If you say so.”

Wels sees a mischievous glint in Wels’ eye as he leads Grian away, the two of them disappearing into the crowd of people. 

“ Surely it’s fine. ” She thinks. “ Hopefully. Yeah. Grian’s not about to get murdered. ”

She tries to focus on the conversation the others are having, but she can’t help but worry. 

“ Scar .” She sends to him. “ Is this place weird or is it just me? ”

Scar looks at her out of the corner of his eye. He slowly nods. “Not just you. It’s giving me the heebie-jeebies.”

Pearl looks at their glasses, seeing how all of them are frosted and non-reflective. Weird, but not outwardly suspicious of anything.

She repeats her question to Mumbo, who silently nods to her.

“ I’ve picked up that they use archaic language. ”

“ Archaic? ”

“ Earth words. ”

Something clicks in Pearl’s brain. The glasses, the red lights, the old language…the bartenders have to be hiding something.

Wels doesn’t come back until what feels like forever, chatting with some other patrons before making his way back to their corner. Grian isn’t with him.

“Where’s Grian?” Pearl asks.

“Oh, he just went to the bathroom. He’ll be back eventually.” Wels grins.

Fangs. He has sharp fangs.

The lights go back to normal, and for a split tick Pearl catches sight of a bloody handkerchief he slides into his vest pocket.

She pokes into his brain, catching a fleeting thought of “ I’ll be fed for a while, at least. ”

She thinks she gets it now.

She waits a few more rivacs before excusing herself and walking further into the bar. She squeezes past all sorts of people, dodging rowdy guests and all other sorts of patrons.

He has to be around here somewhere.

She sighs in relief when she spots him, slumped over a table in the very back against the wall.

“Grian!” Pearl runs up to him, putting a hand on his back. “Are you okay?”

He lifts his head up, letting out a strained groan. He looks pale, hands trembling as he forces himself up. “Pearl?” He whispers.

“It’s me. What happened?”

Grian squints and rubs his face, looking like he’s on the verge of passing out. “I don’t…feel good Pearl.” He mumbles, words barely intelligible. “‘m dizzy.”

Pearl examines him quickly, seeing two puncture wounds in his neck. Blood is smeared around the area, as if it was hastily wiped away. Some still slowly trickles down Grian’s neck.

She takes a peek into his surface thoughts, and her suspicions are correct. 

Wels is a vampire. 

“He bit you.” She whispers.

“Well… yeah . But he was nice about it.” He huffs.

“I feel like that’s not that important in the grand scheme of things.”

“I guess. ”

“Here, lean on me.” She says as she holds an arm out. “We can pay and go back to the ship and you can rest.”

“Okay…”

As Pearl helps Grian shuffle back to their friends, she reaches out to Scar. “ Scar. I think we should leave. ”

“ Yeah? Why ?”

“ Well I just found Grian bleeding from the neck in a back corner so I think we should really go back. ”

“ Shit. Okay. Yeah, I’ll start wrapping up here. ”

“Pearl?” Grian mumbles.

“Yeah?”

“I don’t…” He doesn’t finish his sentence, swaying and passing out right in Pearl’s grasp. She manages to catch him before he can hit the ground, scooping him up in her arms. 

She walks a little faster, sighing in relief when she sees Scar running up to her.

“Here, I’ll take him.” Scar says. Grian’s limp body is handed off to him, who holds onto him tightly. “I think Cub’s gonna need some help out. He…does not have a very high tolerance.”

“Oh boy. Let’s just get out of here.”

They make it back to where Cub and Mumbo are, where Hels is happily keeping them engaged in a conversation.

“Sorry guys, but we gotta go.” Scar says.

“Awwww, really?” Cub pouts, face incredibly flushed. “But I’m having fun.” 

“Leaving so soon?” Wels drawls, hands busy with cleaning a glass.

“I’m afraid we do have places to be.” Pearl says with a forced smile.

“That’s too bad.” Hels pouts. “You all were delightful to have. And you’re more than welcome to come back here.”

Wels shuffles around as he gets them their checks, and Pearl can’t help but stare.

“ You’re a vampire, aren’t you? ”

Wels freezes, dropping what he’s holding and staring up at her. He nudges Hels, who just looks between the two of them in confusion. “What?” He asks. 

“ You’re. A. Vampire. Aren’t. You? ” She repeats slowly, this time so both of them can hear.

Hels’ eyes go wide. “How did you—”

An electric buzzing fills the air, Wels’ hand moving towards his belt. “Well then.” Whatever accent he had is immediately dropped, revealing his normal voice. “I’m afraid I can’t let you guys leave.”

One of his hands quickdraws a pistol, firing at Pearl, who yelps and dodges the shot. His other hand grabs a lasso, buzzing with bright neon red electricity. The rope wraps around her wrist, zapping her and pulling her towards the bar. She yells as she’s shocked, acting quick and grabbing her empty beer bottle, smashing it over Wels’ head. 

He stumbles back, letting go of the lasso as Pearl frees her hand.

“I think we should go!” She yells. 

The rest of them don’t hesitate to start running, making a break for the door. Everything erupts into chaos as other vampires join in. People they presumed to be regular patrols flash their fangs, exposing sharp nails that aim at every important vein.

“THERE’S MORE?!” Mumbo shouts as he tries to rescue Cub.

Scar struggles to keep both him and Grian safe, keeping an even stronger grip on their captain. He fires at vampires that try to grab them, managing to clear a path outside. “Come on!”

Pearl gives Wels a kick to the head, buying them some time by knocking him down. Mumbo sees Cub on the floor and hauls him up, deciding just to pick him up and run with him, slinging him over his shoulder. 

Wels and Hels pursue them outside, following behind them on a motorcycle. Hels fires at them with two shiny silver pistols while Wels drives, an intense scowl on his face. 

“How rude!” Hels shouts, also losing his accent. “You guys didn’t even pay for your drinks!” 

“I think our friend’s blood should be enough payment!” Pearl shouts back.

“And your dumb accents were fake anyway!” Scar adds.

Wels steps on the gas. “Fuck you!”

They dodge and weave through the crowds of Twilight Peak, people scattering and screaming at the intense chase going on around them. 

“Pearl, do you know how to pilot?” Scar pants as he fishes Grian’s pockets for the ship keys.

“Ummm…a little?”

“I might need your help!”

The parking lot comes into view, the crew bobbing and weaving through the various other ships. 

“Don’t bother.” Hels says, making them skid to a halt right at the edge of the lot. “It’s not worth it.”

“Fuck. And we lost money from them too.” Wels grumbles as he turns around and starts driving them back to their bar. 

“I mean it’s not so bad. I managed to get a bite in too.”

“You did?” Wels gives Hels a high five. “Nice. How sneaky of you.”

Hels snorts. “It’s my specialty.”

Their ride back to The Hanging Bat is silent, before Hels eventually pipes up.

“Do you think we’d be able to put a bounty on their heads for not paying?”

𓈒⠀𓂃⠀⠀˖⠀𓇬⠀˖⠀⠀𓂃⠀𓈒

The crew board the ship in a hurry, running around to get themselves situated. 

Scar’s out of breath as he finds somewhere to put Grian down. “Mumbo, we’ll need your help. Keep an eye on Grian please while we—oh please get Cub some water he definitely needs it—Cub are you bleeding ?”

Cub grabs onto Mumbo as he sets him down. “Huh?” There’s a similar puncture wound on Cub’s neck to Grian’s, blood pouring down at an alarming rate.

“Cub!”

“I didn’t feel it! Is that bad?”

Pearl takes a deep breath. “Yes, yes it is. Mumbo can you—”

“Don’t worry.” He says. “I’ve got an eye on both of them. You two focus on getting us out of here.”

Scar breathes a sigh of relief. “Thank you so much.”

Grian’s set down on the couch, and Mumbo quickly goes and fetches the first aid kit to patch both him and Cub up.

Scar and Pearl rush to the cockpit, plopping themselves into their seats. 

“Feels weird being on this side of the controls.” Scar says as he starts to power the engines on.

Pearl flicks some levers and presses some buttons, helping get their navigation set up. “It feels weird being here at all.”

“It’s okay. We got this, right?”

Pearl gives him a nod. “Right. We’re gonna be fine.”

Grumbot’s face lights up on their screens. “Hello—Oh! This is new!”

“Hi Grumbot.” Scar wheezes. “Long story. We need to leave. Again.”

“I’m on it!” He beeps cheerfully.

Their ship takes off, leaving the strange vampiric station of Twilight Peak behind them.

𓈒⠀𓂃⠀⠀˖⠀𓇬⠀˖⠀⠀𓂃⠀𓈒