Chapter Text
Black eyes were filled with tears as they scanned the cage that they were shoved into, it was a big bird cage, they missed their mom... why did they have to be taken away. Red, yellow, and blue feathered wings were moved to hug around the small tween as they sobbed, fingers digging into their too-big red jumper that they had stolen from their mom. "M-mom?" A broken voice called out, only to stop as footsteps approached the room that the human-sized birdcage sat in.
A man decked in black and purple cloaks stormed in, kicking the metal bars "Shut up you brat, no one is coming to save an abomination like you." The man snapped before leaving.
.
.
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It was a month since then, or at least that's how long Ĝ̶̢̢̰̼͎̯̰̞̲̠̣̼̇ͨ̀͘͟͞ͅr̡͈͕̟̲͚̹̳̣̹̺͓̀͂̄̅̄̉ͧ̑͐̀͜͠͠ι̵̴̷̰̣̟̙̍̌̄ͤ̐ͨͬ̓̌͞͠ᾁ̷̸̷̙̗̺̼͖͓̪͇͉͎͛́̄ͦ̇͐̍͑͗͐̊ͥ͂̓̌́͝n̶̷̦̥̫̗͖̘̞̭̮͔͕ͬ̅ͯ͐̌̍̅ͥͦ͘͟ Xelqua had believed had passed. Since then they had their shoes and socks taken, was forced to wear a black turtleneck and black leggings, the long clothing helped cover all of the bruises they endured from the endless beatings. They walked over to the bars as they heard a commotion outside, they grabbed the bars lightly, knowing better than to reach for the lock. A mutant with green and Grey fur, black horns, and a cyborg arm and eye walked in. They tried to shrink back as they had never seen this being before, but the creature only walked towards the cage, crouching down.
The creature's eye looked soft as they cleared their throat "Hey there kid... come here, I know that I look scary and all, but I promise not to hurt you... how long have you been trapped in here, or, better yet... how old are you?" The mutant asked gently, putting his non cyborg arm through the bars to gesture the small Avian forward.
They walked forward slowly, sitting a fair distance away "I... I don't know... I... I'm 11, I... I think?" They sounded so small and flinched back as the mutants face twisted with rage, whimpering.
The mutant stood up before shoving his whole body weight against the bars, easily breaking the cage open "Come on, kid, let's get you out of here, I have a place not too far from here where you can stay until you're old enough to live alone." The mutant held his hand out which Ĝ̶̢̢̰̼͎̯̰̞̲̠̣̼̇ͨ̀͘͟͞ͅr̡͈͕̟̲͚̹̳̣̹̺͓̀͂̄̅̄̉ͧ̑͐̀͜͠͠ι̵̴̷̰̣̟̙̍̌̄ͤ̐ͨͬ̓̌͞͠ᾁ̷̸̷̙̗̺̼͖͓̪͇͉͎͛́̄ͦ̇͐̍͑͗͐̊ͥ͂̓̌́͝n̶̷̦̥̫̗͖̘̞̭̮͔͕ͬ̅ͯ͐̌̍̅ͥͦ͘͟ Xelqua reluctantly took, the mutant paused for a moment before easily lifting Ĝ̶̢̢̰̼͎̯̰̞̲̠̣̼̇ͨ̀͘͟͞ͅr̡͈͕̟̲͚̹̳̣̹̺͓̀͂̄̅̄̉ͧ̑͐̀͜͠͠ι̵̴̷̰̣̟̙̍̌̄ͤ̐ͨͬ̓̌͞͠ᾁ̷̸̷̙̗̺̼͖͓̪͇͉͎͛́̄ͦ̇͐̍͑͗͐̊ͥ͂̓̌́͝n̶̷̦̥̫̗͖̘̞̭̮͔͕ͬ̅ͯ͐̌̍̅ͥͦ͘͟ Xelqua off the ground and into his arms.
That was 6 years ago, Grian reminisced as they got dressed in their 'Luna' gear, which consisted of a silver and dark Grey silky cloak, black fingerless gloves, a moon pendant with the letter 'M' on it, and a crescent moon mask. This would be the last day of the mooners existence, Mumbo and Grian have discussed the Alcove's offer and Doc put out a good word... so, they were planning on joining the Alcove.
Grian, being extra as always, spray painted their feathers to match that of a snow owl's before walking over to their walk-out window, opening it before gliding out of it and onto a nearby rooftop. It was a nice walk from there to headquarters.
Grian slipped in through the window and Mumbo seemed to be waiting for Grian, though wasn't wearing his mask yet and had a soft smile, Grian took off their mask to look Mumbo in the eyes, moving to hug their friend, or, well, boyfriend to some extent.
Mumbo kissed Grian's cheek before pulling back enough to look Grian in their eyes "Well, this is it, the end of the Mooners yet the start of Cuteguy and whatever my name is going to be, are you ready?" Mumbo asked, his eyes glowing red in the light.
Grian sighed, moving to rest their head on Mumbo's chest "As ready as a scarlet macaw posing as a snow owl can be, I guess." Grian sighed, moving their head to look up at Mumbo as he moved them to the floor "Though, can we stay like this for a bit longer? Just us and the moon's glow?" Grian snuggled into Mumbo even more.
Mumbo chuckled and Grian could feel the vibrations of his laugh through Mumbo's chest "If that's what you want to do, then I don't see why not, after all, we have all night to abandon post." Mumbo moved Grian so that they were on their back and brushed some hair out of Grian's face.
Grian smiled at Mumbo, they loved how kind their boyfriend was, it made them feel special, loved in a way that not even Doc could compete with. "OK, I guess that we can go, as long as you promise that you're gonna stay the night, after all, I have a very frightening job as a permit manager for the heroes tomorrow!" Grian sighed before pouting, Mumbo of course knew Grian's game but really would like to act oblivious and continue spoiling their partner.
Grian got up and helped Mumbo up, who gave his classic smile before helping Grian fix their mask who returned the favor, of course. Mumbo took his phone out, dialing the hero agency's number easily, just like they rehearsed.
Mumbo waited for the answering click before cutting the operator off "Hello? This is Insomniac, Luna and myself would like to... hand our titles in... if you can catch us. To give you a fair chance, this phone is able to be tracked, you have 30 minutes, good luck~" With that Mumbo ended the call before the two ran out the window and onto a close-by roof.
Grian could feel the smile on their face behind the mask as they raced across the roofs, there was the sound of feet hitting the roof as a hero showed up to the scene. Neither Grian nor Mumbo bothered to look back as they continued running, Grian could see the nod from Mumbo before he turned into a bat, which was Grian's signal to take flight.
There was the sound of flapping behind them which was... not ideal, as they tried to push themselves, but the sound was getting louder. Grian could see Doc facing off against Void and angled themselves into a nosedive. Of course, what Grian wasn't accounting for was to get tackled by what turned out to be the most infuriating hero... in front of Doc of all people!
Grian could see the two stop fighting as Hotguy tackled them right in the middle of the battle, Doc was holding back laughter "And yet another great catch for Hotguy!" The insufferable hero chimed as he moved to handcuff Grian, who, trained by an even more insufferable Avian, kicked Hotguy straight in the chest with all their strength.
Hotguy moved off of Grian, trying to regain the breath that was knocked out of him, Grian simply twisted and shot onto their feet "Yea, uh, nice try, I've been through worse and without Insomniac I'm less inclined to go to jail. Goat, can we go home now?" Grian loved the voice changer Mumbo had installed in the mask, it kept their voice nicely disguised.
Hotguy looked like a kicked puppy as he reached out to Grian "But... you said..." Hotguy mumbled, he even sounded like a kicked puppy, not that Grian cared.
Grian cackled, almost doubling over "Oh, you heroes don't listen! We never said that we'd turn ourselves in, we said that we'd turn our titles in, which means, that the mooners no longer exist! Congratulations, you disbanded the mooners!" Grian couldn't resist their condescending tone as they took off the ground, heading home "See you at home, Goat." And with that they picked up their speed, flying back to where they spent the happiest years of their life thus far. Grian was not looking forward to moving out like Timmy and Pearl had done, but they knew that the two were fine, they met up quite often after all, at least once a week for lunch, and hey, at least Timmy had a guy he called his own!
Oh, Grian loathed themself so much at times, working with heroes was the last thing they ever wanted to do, but at least they got to implement their own rules and no one would question if they brought in anyone, who's to say the offsetting 'human' and Tanuki didn't work there? No one would seriously know if Grian just brought in strangers to 'help' with the process... which led to Grian bringing in Joel and Keralis to help them out, Keralis was the one Grian wanted there the most since he had a way to offset people and entertain Grian.
"So, Brian, still swaddled up with that vampire or are you in the market?" Keralis asked, sitting on the desk looking at Joel who sat in the only chair and Grian who claimed the floor with an easy smile, closed mouth as it was meant to be charming, not threatening.
Grian shrugged, leveling Keralis with their own little flirty look "Well, I'd have to talk to Mumbo, but depending on who's asking I'm willing to date. After all, I am poly." Grian puffed their wings out only to fold them back as the door chimed, announcing a customer.
Scar walked in, looking at the three people "Uhm, is this the right place? I'm looking for the permit office?" Scar asked and the guy sitting on the desk flashed him a grin that he swore had too many teeth.
The Tanuki cleared his throat, pulling out the form "Hotguy, yes? You're late, you do understand that we hold punctuality above all else for a hero, yes? I mean how are you supposed to be a good hero if you show up late? Well, fill out this form and show up first thing tomorrow, you've waisted our time enough today." The Tanuki answered, handing Scar the form before going back to talking with the other two.
Scar, dumbfounded, just simply walked out and started flipping through the form, his heart dropping when he saw that it was 30 pages long... this was going to take a while...