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English
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Part 3 of Semi-Normalcy (A Sprunki AU)
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Published:
2025-04-23
Updated:
2025-05-05
Words:
2,373
Chapters:
2/?
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32
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11
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Semi-Normalcy: Act II

Summary:

Tragedy strikes when it is least expected.

A string of disappearances puts the entire village on edge.

Chapter 1: Sky and Azuri's Detective Adventures (Special Issue)

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

“…three days?”

“Maybe more. I still need to ask around.” Tunner took a shot of cider. “Durple told me about it. Supposedly, Simon went into the woods one day and he never came out.”

Sky looked concerned, while Azuri just looked puzzled. “Hm. I feel like I should have spotted him during my fly-around of the forest… maybe I should try again!”

Tunner grimaced. “I don’t think ya should be roaming around the woods where someone disappeared.”

“Oh, I’ll be fine!” Azuri waved off Tunner’s concerns. “I can take Sky with me if it would make you feel better.”

“Huh?” Sky spun around. “Wait, what am I doing?”

“You’re doing nothin’ of the sort.” Tunner shook his head. “You two are kids. I can’t let a couple of kids-”

“Kids, schmids! My species are born protectors and navigators, I’ll be fine!”

“…I’m not letting you go into those woods.”

Azuri was about to argue more, but Sky stopped him. “…what if we got an adult to come with us?”

“So the three of you can go missing? No way. You two don’t have to stay here, but you’re not allowed in the-”

“Now, now, sheriff.” A familiar voice chided. “They make a compelling argument.”

From a shadow on the wall, Black phased into the room.

“…oh, you’re back.” Tunner rolled his eyes. “And what, pray tell, are ya gonna try and suggest?”

“Nothing new, I’m afraid.” Black walked across the room and stood behind the two children. “I’ll take the kids to the woods. Defend them from anything dangerous. And while we’re there, I can warn Jevin to flee before he’s the next missing sprunki.”

Tunner’s eyes narrowed. “…uh huh. Sure you will.”

“I will. And honestly, I don’t think you could stop them.”

“…if anything happens to them, you’re a dead man.” Tunner sighed. “Get outta here.”

Black nodded, then turned his attention to the two kids. “You heard him. Let’s get moving.”

 

 

Azuri and Sky were still a little shocked that they’d been vouched for by Black. Did he really like them? This probably wasn’t a plan to get them both killed… but it didn’t hurt to ask.

“Uh, Mr. Black?” Azuri raised a wing. “Hope you don’t mind me asking, but… why are you offering to take us into the woods?”

“Several reasons.” Black shrugged. “For one, you two seem like fine sprunki. Young, sure, but when are you ever going to get a chance to do some actual detective work?” He chuckled. “…and messing with Tunner is a small bonus.”

The bluebird snickered at that, and Sky just rolled his eyes. “Y’know, you don’t seem so bad, Black.” Azuri said.

“…yes.” Black replied, before he strangely went quiet.

“…hey, could we ask you a couple more questions?” Sky aked.

“You could, but we’re nearly at the woods.”

“We are?” Sky looked around. They were in the neighborhood already, and the forest was in fact very close. “Oh. So… what now?”

“Now I find Jevin, and you two find Simon.” Black carefully reached for his tie and handed it off to the pair. “If you get into trouble, tear up this tie. I’ll be there to help.”

“Sure thing!” Azuri grabbed the tie and stuffed it away. “C’mon, Sky, let’s find that sprunki!”

“Uh huh…” Sky nodded slowly, giving one last glance up at Black before following Azuri into the woods.

 

 

Black found Jevin’s house quickly. Perhaps “house” was pushing it, but it was a serviceable living place, at the least.

Jevin’s kneeling figure was easily spotted from the tent’s entrance. Black could make out several hushed prayers, but he couldn’t make out which god was being prayed to, or if it was even a god at all.

He thought about where to go from here. Entering without warning would give Jevin a heart attack, introducing himself would probably do the same thing… and their last meeting didn’t help matters.

Still. There were things that needed to be done.

“Jevin.”

The hooded figure yelped in surprise, spun around, and chucked a nearby glass vial at the intruder.

Black grabbed it out of the air and set it on a nearby desk. “Calm down. I am not here to hurt you.”

Jevin shook his head in disbelief. “A-and why should I trust you? Last time…”

“Last time we met you tried to kill me.”

“…”

“I’m here for a reason.” Black averted his eyes to avoid making Jevin more uncomfortable. “Simon disappeared in these woods recently. I recommend you relocate for a little while.”

Jevin’s expression retained its worry. “…Simon’s missing…” He repeated, then glanced back up at Black. “You didn’t take him, did you?”

“You’ve been living in the forest your whole life, as I hear it.” Black raised an eyebrow. “I could ask you the same question.”

“…hmph.” Jevin’s brow furrowed. “Where am I meant to stay?”

“I could lend you my house. I hardly use it anyways.” Black offered.

A quick, harsh “Ha.” from Jevin shot that idea down.

“…well, perhaps you have some friends to stay with?”

Jevin thought about that one a bit harder. “…perhaps.”

“Well, do what you must.” Black turned to leave. “I need to check up on the kids.”

“…what do you mean?”

“Azuri and Sky. I left them to find Simon.”

“…you left… two children alone…” Jevin slowly repeated. “…in a forest… where someone went missing.”

…well. Now that it had been said aloud. Black felt a little foolish.

“…excuse me.”

And he was gone.

 

 

Night had fallen quickly. The detective duo must have tuckered out Mr. Sun with their questions.

…actually, was Mr. Sun responsible for the cycle of night and day? Did he just sleep at night like everyone else? It wasn’t clear.

But whatever. Azuri didn’t really care about that right now. He was more annoyed by how little luck they’d had at finding Simon. They’d passed tree after tree after tree after-

“Wait.”

Sky paused walking, sniffed the air, and turned his head to face east. “I… think I smell something.”

“Like?” Azuri asked.

“…I don’t know. It’s not a smell I’m familiar with.”

“…does it smell like Simon?”

“How would I know?” Sky questioned.

Azuri rolled his eyes. “…well, maybe it’s some kinda distress pheromone. Follow it!”

“…you sure?”

“Sure I’m sure!”

“Alright…” Sky sniffed the air again, and the pair trekked further into the woods.

The smell got closer.

Closer.

Closer.

“…okay, it’s coming from this bush.”

Sky and Azuri had stopped right in front of a large, foul-smelling bramble bush. Sky was covering their nose, and Azuri was trying to deduce the best way to get into the bush.

“Alright, I don’t think this side has thorns. Help me reach inside on three.” He moved to the left side of the bush.

The bear hesitated. “…I have a bad feeling about this.”

“Oh, c’mon! What if Simon’s in there and he needs our help?”

“Wouldn’t he have said something by now if he heard our voice?”

“Look, man, do you want to help me or just complain?” Azuri sighed. “I mean, this is supposed to be exciting, we’re solving a mystery and saving a friend!”

“…fine.” Sky swallowed, and moved to Azuri’s side. “On three?”

“On three. One… two… THREE!”

The pair shoved their hands into the bush. There were a couple of small thorns that scraped them, but they managed to get ahold of something….

…cold.

Sky’s bad feeling was quickly getting stronger. “Azuri, I don’t think-”

“Come on, help me pull this out!” Azuri wasn’t fazed by all the warning signs that, whatever they were holding onto probably wasn’t Simon.

Simon wasn’t cold. Or wet. Or he wasn’t when Sky had seen him last. This wasn’t Simon.

“Sky, pull!”

Sky shook their head. “I can’t-”

“PULL!”

He pulled.

 

 

Azuri ran.

He didn’t care where.

He needed to run.

His wing was gripping Sky’s arm tight, dragging the hyperventilating cub away from Simon.

Simon.

Simon.

Simon.

Stop thinking about Simon.

Simon.

Think about the trees.

The trees are dark and twisting and rotting but they’re meant to be.

They should be rotting.

Simon shouldn’t but he is he is he is he

Stop thinking about Simon Simon Simon Simon Simon Simon Simon Simon Simon Simon

STOP.

Stop.

…please.

Stop thinking about Simon.

Think about Sky.

Think about yourself.

You’re almost out.

You’re almost safe.

are you safe

Yes.

liar

You can see the end of the trees. You’re almost there.

Keep running.

Notes:

This is going to upset a lot of my readers, I can already tell

Chapter 2: simon

Chapter Text

 

Black was starting to get a little worried about Sky and Azuri.

Upon reflection, perhaps leaving two sprunki not even old enough to drive alone in a forest where someone had gone missing was a terrible idea.

Right, in that case. Black slowly sunk into the ground, melting away his mass and transporting it to wherever his tie had happened to be. Hopefully near the kids.

When he reformed, his surroundings matched that of the forest. His tie lay dormant on the grass, and there were no sprunki in sight… but there was a rather foul stench emanating from nearby.

Black recognized the smell as rotten.

He picked his tie up and quickly made his way to the source of the smell, wishing for his theory to turn out false, but a yellow body laying dead on the ground dashed those hopes quickly.

Simon was the first sprunki to welcome Black to this island, and one of the few to actually seem to care about him. He was a little too enthusiastic for Black, but he was doing his best, and that was admirable.

And here he was.

Jaw torn off, hanging loose from flimsy threads of flesh.

Eyes missing from their sockets, leaving two deep red holes in their place.

Lacerations across the chest, arms, and legs.

The faintest hint of tears staining his cheeks.

…it was a sight that would have brought any sane sprunki to vomit, but Black could hardly be considered sane. And of course, if it was needed, Simon could always be brought back.

What really concerned Black was that this wasn’t an accident.

This wasn’t the work of a wild animal or nature’s wrath. The wounds were of varying and disturbingly patterned age. The jaw looked to have been broken first, then the eyes, and then the cuts.

Whoever did this wanted Simon to suffer as much as possible before he died.

And if they had Azuri or Sky…

Black pushed that thought out of his mind quickly. He needed to find the perpetrator before anything. If neither child was with them, then he could assume they were safe and move on.

And with that barely comforting thought, he disappeared into the night.

 

 

Tunner knew it was a bad idea.

He just didn’t know it would be this bad.

If Azuri had told the truth about what he had seen—and he greatly suspected he had—then there wasn’t just a missing person. There was a murderer on the island.

And sure, they hadn’t run into the murderer, but what if they-

…it was better not to think about that possibility.

Right now, Tunner was writing down the details of the incident. They were blurry, but it was all he had to go off of for now. Sky was in Tunner’s bedroom with a microwave meal and a radio, and Azuri was… somewhere. Probably back in the bedroom with Sky.

…

It was still difficult to believe that Simon was dead.

He wasn’t perfect. Nobody was. He could get on Tunner’s nerves from time to time, but the boy had a heart of gold. Who could have had the heart to kill him?

Before Tunner could think about that, he was alerted to someone’s presence by the patter of footsteps behind him.

A bluebird sprunki with ruffled feathers quietly walked around Tunner’s desk and approached the front door.

“…Azuri, where are you going?”

“That’s… not important.”

“Important to me.”

Azuri glanced down at the floor. “…I need to warn the rest of the sprunki. It’s my… my duty as guardian of the Sprunki Isle.”

…right. Azuri had mentioned this before, hadn’t he? And Tunner had vague recollections of a lot more birds on this island.

“…if that’s your only objection.” Azuri creaked open the door-

“Actually, it’s not.” Tunner stood from his desk. “There’s also the fact that you’re fifteen and feel responsible for takin’ care of fully grown sprunki.”

“It’s what was expected of my elders!”

“And you ain’t an elder. You’re a kid.” The sheriff countered, and Azuri’s brow furrowed. “…look. I get the feeling of taking every failure personally. But ya couldn’t have possibly prevented this.”

“Exactly!” Azuri snapped. “So now I’m making sure it can’t happen again! Now if you’ll excuse me-”

“Azuri.”

The bluebird sighed and turned back to Tunner.

“…I understand that you want to help. But as the sheriff of the Sprunki Isle, it’s my job to make sure everyone’s safe too. And that includes you.”

No response.

“…why don’t you go up and keep Sky company? He could use it, I’m sure.”

Azuri stayed quiet for a little longer. “…fine.” He shut the door and walked away. “…but you’re not just gonna sideline me. I’m going to help you find out what happened.”

“That’s fine by me.” Tunner sat back down. Azuri probably wouldn’t back down on this, but it was better than the alternative.

…and in fact, Tunner should probably be getting some rest soon. He’d let the kids have the bedroom and he’d take the bed in the jail cell. And tomorrow… he’d start doing something about this problem.

 

 

It was done.

Simon was dead. He had finally received proper retribution for his crimes.

And no one could have suspected her.

She should be happy.

 

 

But she wasn’t.

 

 

She felt… not guilt. He deserved this.

But… empty.

Like it wasn’t enough.

It should have been enough.

 

 

But she needed more.

 

 

Simon was gone, but he needed to suffer more. He needed to feel the pain that he had inflicted upon her that fateful day 9 years ago.

 

 

…

 

 

He had friends, didn’t he?

 

 

 

_NEW LIST CREATED: “targets”_

 

_ADDED ITEM “brud” TO LIST “targets”_

_ADDED ITEM “durple” TO LIST “targets”_

_ADDED ITEM “oren” TO LIST “targets”_

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