Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

"It'th usethleth, Thylvia. Wanduh will nevuh weave my thide! Justht wike you'll nevuh...weave...hith."

Sylvia had had just about enough of this cat. The relentless torment she put Wander through, manipulating him into doing whatever she wanted him to do, and now it turns out that she wasn't a helpless little kitten; she was an evil bounty hunter. Sylvia was enraged that this cat thought she could take her buddy away from her and get away with it. She needed to do something to save Wander.

...

Anything.

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She gets an idea.

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A bad one.

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A very risky one.

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One that she never thought she would ever come up with in her life.

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She wants to beat herself up for even considering it.

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But what other choice does she have?

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Pretty much none.

...

She knows she's gonna end up regretting going through with this plan, but if it means her best friend will finally be free from Little Bits, she's willing to try anything at this point. But first, she's gotta lower Little Bits's guard down.

"You're right. I'll never leave his side. Wherever he goes, I go."

...

Oh grop, she's not looking forward to this at all.

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Little Bits grinned evilly; she truly believed she won. She took out the ripped stuffed bear and pressed its tummy, releasing Sylvia from the ankle chain.

...

Well, this was it, time to do the one thing Sylvia swore she would never do.

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She felt an overwhelming guilt consume her as she walked over to the teleportation platform that Wander and Little Bits were on. She stood next to them as she walked on.

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The pad surged brightly, initiating the teleportation process.

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Sylvia hung her head in dread, but she couldn't sulk for long. Wander needs her.

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After a few seconds of waiting, she spoke up.

"And we're not goin' anywhere!"

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She raised her fist up high.

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Little Bits's eyes went wide. How did she not see this coming? She thought everything through, didn't she? Well, she guessed not, since she hadn't planned anywhere in her scheme for getting punched by Sylvia.

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As Little Bits braced for impact, she suddenly heard Sylvia let out a heartbroken sigh.

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She looked back up at the zbornak in confusion.

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Sylvia looked like she might as well be on the verge of crying.

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"Sorry about this, Wander." Sylvia proceeded to say, her voice nearly cracking as she tried her best to hold in her tears of guilt.

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It made sense to Little Bits now. Sylvia wasn't going to punch her.

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Oh grop.

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She wouldn't.

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Would she?

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Sylvia's fist was coming in hot.

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Closer and closer to Little Bits's face.

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Maybe she was going to punch her after all.

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Nope.

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Sylvia's fist collided right into Wander's right cheek.

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Little Bits was shocked.

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Sylvia actually did it.

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She just punched her best friend.

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And pretty hard, too.

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Sylvia herself tried to keep every last ounce of herself composed and not break down sobbing over punching Wander as she prayed in her head that this would work.

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Thankfully, it did.

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Sylvia watched as Wander let go of Little Bits and flew right off of the teleportation pad, flying high in the air and slammed onto the ground with a hard thud.

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The zbornak jumped off of the platform and stared at Wander, her eyes already welling up with tears, she just couldn't hold them in anymore.

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She wiped them away and turned to Little Bits.

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"Don't ever make me have to do that again, or it will be your last!" Sylvia said coldly to the bounty hunter cat.

"No fair!!"

Before Little Bits could say anything else, she was sucked up by the teleportation surge of light as it disappeared.

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Sylvia had done it. She'd saved her best friend once again.

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Oh grop, Wander!

Sylvia immediately ran over to check on him, praying he was okay.

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She reached him.

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He was lying on his side, unconscious.

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"Wander? Buddy?"

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No reply.

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Did she punch him too hard? She's never actually punched Wander before. Not even once before now. She had no idea how it would turn out.

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It seems that she finally got her answer. She just rendered her best friend unconscious. She knew this was a bad idea.

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Sylvia carefully picked up Wander and cradled him in her arms. He's got to be alive. He's just gotta be.

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Right?

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She started tearing up again, and tearing up shortly led to quiet sobbing as she held her little buddy in her arms. She's supposed to protect him, not protect him by hurting him.

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What if he doesn't wake up?

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"Wander...I...I'm so sorry, buddy...please wake up..."

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She continued to cry and cradle the small lifeform that was her best friend.

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A humming sound came from Wander.

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Sylvia's eyes popped open as she looked down.

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Wander was moving.

He slowly opened his eyes.

He was alive!

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"Wander!!"

"Hey, Syl..."

Sylvia hugged Wander close to her as she sobbed out of pure relief.

"Oh, thank grop you're okay!"

"Huh?...What are you..."

Wander was a little confused, the last thing he remembers is finding a stray kitten in an alleyway; now he's suddenly in a sobbing Sylvia's arms, being told that he's okay. What the grop even happened? Before he could begin to process, his head started hurting pretty badly.

"Ugh, my achin' head."

Sylvia looked back down at him, that alone just fueled her sobs even more than before. She hugged Wander even closer.

Wander had no idea why that made Sylvia cry even harder or why she was crying to begin with.

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Hold on, the last thing he remembers is finding a stray kitten in an alleyway.

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Wander gasped slightly.

"Wait!"

He pulled back from Sylvia to look her in the eyes as she stopped sobbing for a second to listen to what he was about to say.

"There was a little kitty, in the street! Did we help her?!"

Sylvia sighed as she wiped her tears away as she managed to somewhat compose herself, at least enough to where she wasn't crying anymore.

"I like to think we did. Now can we head back to town? Please?"

"Of course!…Just as soon as we figure out why you're crying." Wander sounded pretty confused and yet really concerned for her at the same time.

Sylvia felt super relieved that Wander was still alive and his happy and optimistic self. She promised herself that from now on, she will never resort to hurting Wander to save him ever again; there are plenty of other ways to protect him. She scoops Wander up with her tail and flips him onto her back as she proceeds to start walking.

"Also, why am I wearin' a potato sack?"

Sylvia felt a little sense of guilt wash over her again. She doesn't know if she'll ever tell Wander about this, she probably (and most likely) will since the two don't keep secrets from each other, but only if she knows for a fact that Wander won't be upset with her for punching him, she already feels horrible enough.

Chapter Text

It had been quite a long rest of the day for the duo out in the town. Wander had nothing short of a great time meeting new people, helping folks, and just getting to spend more time with Sylvia. Speaking of whom, while the zbornak was also having a good time, she just couldn't shake off the guilt about what she did to her best friend earlier that morning. Yes, she had good intentions, but what you intended to do doesn't always matter or change the fact that you still did it.

It was times like these when Sylvia was a little grateful that Wander wasn't always the best at reading others' emotions; she would hate for her somber mood to ruin her little buddy's day. Then again, there seemed to be way too much stuff to do in the town to keep Wander occupied, so maybe that's why he didn't take full notice. Either way, Sylvia was just happy that he was happy.

However, when nighttime rolled around and it was nearly time to go to sleep, the overwhelming thoughts of pure guilt were too much for Sylvia to handle. Wander was sitting on the other side of the campfire playing a beautiful melody on his banjo. Sylvia smiled at him from the other side. It really seemed like it would take more than anyone could think of to really bring her best friend down.

...

You just got lucky.

No...stop...

He's going to hate you forever if he finds out.

Please...

He'll never want to go near you ever again.

Stop...

You hurt him.

Yeah, but it was to...

You failed him.

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No...

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You failed him.

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That did it.

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Sylvia's eyes began welling up with tears again as she began sniffling.

She tried to wipe them away so Wander wouldn't see and become worried.

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They wouldn't stop.

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"Syl?"

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Sylvia froze.

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She looked up at Wander.

He's stopped playing his banjo and is now giving her a very concerned look.

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"Are you okay, Syl?"

His voice sounded more concerned than it did this morning. That was one of the many things Sylvia loved about him: he may not always be good at knowing how others are feeling in certain moments, but when he does, he always tries to understand that person, maybe even help them through it, or at the very least let them know that he's always open to helping them in any way he can if they ever need it.

And Sylvia could tell that this was most likely going to be one of those moments.

"I'll be honest, bud...not really."

Wander gave her a sympathetic look.

"Are you okay with telling me why?"

He didn't want to force Sylvia to share anything she didn't want to. Sylvia never tries to force anything out of him; she only does when it's clear that it's seriously hurting him to a very concerning level. If that was the case for Sylvia right now, he may have to try.

Thankfully, it doesn't seem like he'll have to.

"It's..." Sylvia paused before sighing of guilt. "It's about what happened yesterday...and this morning..."

"What about it?" Wander was pretty intrigued; he hardly remembers anything that happened yesterday at all.

...

Wait, he remembers something Sylvia said earlier this morning...her response to him asking if they helped that poor little kitten...

"I like to think we did."

...

"Wait...Syl...does this have anything to do with that kitten we found?"

Sylvia was honestly pretty shocked that he was able to connect those dots so quickly.

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A nod from the zbornak confirmed Wander's suspicions.

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"We helped her...didn't we?..."

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Sylvia looked away...

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"Syl...did we help that poor kitten or not?..."

Wander's voice started to shake a little bit...grop...he was going to get the wrong idea...Sylvia needed to think of something...and fast...

"She wasn't a poor helpless kitten, Wander..."

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'Scuse me?

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Wander was confused now...what was Sylvia talking about?...How the grop was that little kitten not helpless?...Wander knows when someone or something is helpless...unfortunately...

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"Wait...what?...how was she not..."

Before Wander could finish his sentence...Sylvia cut him off.

"She was a bounty hunter..."

...

"...She was a what?..."

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"Buddy...she was a..."

"No, I heard you the first time...she was a bounty hunter?..."

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"Unfortunately."

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"Oh..."

Wander had no recollection of that kitten being a bounty hunter...but he also knows that Sylvia wouldn't lie about this kind of thing...

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After a few seconds, Wander spoke up again.

"What exactly happened?..."

He didn't know how else to respond to this; he just wanted to know what made his best friend cry the way she did and why she seemed so upset right now...

...

Sylvia let out a dread-filled sigh.

"Buddy...I'm not sure how much you're gonna like what I'm about to tell you..."

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That was a weird way for her to start...Wander got a bad feeling in his stomach...he tried to brace himself for whatever was about to come out of Sylvia's mouth next...

...

Sylvia told him everything that happened. Meeting Little Bits, Wander getting manipulated by the cat into giving her anything she wanted...

"...that's why you're wearing a potato sack and missing your shoes..."

...Little Bits tricking Wander into fetching the stuffed bear multiple times to get repeatedly beaten up mercilessly by that cave monster, figuring out that the cat was a bounty hunter, deceiving and hypnotizing Wander...

...now for the part that will finally answer Wander's initial question...Sylvia could just hope that Wander would understand and not be smoldering mad at her...

"...she told me it was useless, that you would never leave her side, like how I would never leave yours...I was so angry at her...she tried to turn you in...she made you suffer...she lied to you...she manipulated you to feel bad for her so you wouldn't catch on...that's cold...even for a bounty hunter..."

Sylvia, unfortunately, knew that all too well...

"...I tried thinking of every possible way to save you from her...I was desperate..."

Sylvia took a second before continuing...

"...thankfully, I did manage to come up with an idea..."

...

"Which was...?"

Wander felt butterflies in his stomach as he saw Sylvia trying not to break down sobbing again...he was honestly getting pretty scared about what Sylvia was about to say next...

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"...I...I hit you..."

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"...I punched you right in the head...hard...that's why your head hurt when you woke up..."

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Wander's eyes went wide...

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"...I wasn't sure if it would work...I didn't have time to think it through...I'm honestly surprised that it did work...you let go of Little Bits as you flew high up off the pad before hitting the ground..."

Sylvia's voice shook at that point; she didn't think she had ever felt so terrible about something in her life, not since the Galactic Conjunction 6000.

"...after Little Bits was gone, I ran over to you...you're eyes were closed...and you weren't moving...I was scared I might've killed you...I picked you up and held you in my arms...I started crying...I hurt you, Wander...yes, it was to save you...but I still hurt you...I'm so sorry, buddy."

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The tears kept running down Sylvia's face; she didn't sob loudly like before, but she was still a complete mess.

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She heard Wander get up...

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She prepared for the worst...him being afraid of her...giving her a scolding...declaring their friendship was over...anything that was coming her way...she was ready for...she just hoped that it would be as quick and painless as possible...

...

She felt a warm, fuzzy, comforting hand touch her shoulder.

"Syl..."

She opened her teary eyes and looked down at Wander.

He was giving her that same sympathetic look as he had earlier.

"I don't know how much this will convince you, but I'm not upset with you..."

"You're...you're not?..."

Sylvia was confused, yet at the same time, she felt a huge wash of relief inside her.

"No...why would I be?"

"Because I hurt you, Wander! How could you not be..."

Wander cut her off.

"Were you trying to hurt me?"

"...No..."

"Would you ever try to hurt me intentionally?"

"No, never."

"Do I even need to ask if you feel bad about it?"

"Wander, I don't think I could ever begin to describe how bad I feel."

"So let me ask you again: What's there to be upset about?"

...

"...I...I don't...know..."

"Exactly."

Wander gave her a warm smile. He wasn't upset with her after all. Sylvia smiled back at him, tears of relief filling her eyes. She doesn't think she's ever felt lighter than she does now.

She gently pulled her little buddy into a hug to which he instantly returned.

"I love you, buddy."

"Love ya, too, Syl."