Chapter Text
For the first time in Schlatt’s unfortunately-unordinary-life, he finally felt normalcy.
He was happy. Content even.
He scored a good apartment in the middle of the suburbs, cheap rent, good view, decently spacious and enough room for his cat Jambo to comfortably walk around. He hasn’t been this happy about anything since forever.
The neighbourhood was a bit distant, but it makes sense, he’s basically an outsider to everyone living here. But that’s great cause he’ll be left alone, comfortably alone smoking with his purring furry orange feline on his lap. Paired up with a great view of a sight only his younger self envied— he basically hit the jackpot.
All the other residents can go die in a ditch for all he cares.
The only other complaint he had was that his loud, nosey neighbour who lived next door kept bothering him at 6 in the morning with stupid questions.
He was basically ChatGPT for this random guy, his name was Quackity wasn’t it? Quackity or Alex, one of the two. He doesn’t really know nor that he cares enough to learn the latino’s name.
Maybe his old age is really getting to him if he can’t remember people’s faces and names.
“Have you heard the rumors, Schlatt?” Maximus' thick Spanish accent caught the goat hybrid’s attention, his ears twitching. Maximus was not one for small talk, especially with a regular like him.
“Sources say that people are going missing left and right.” Max leaned in, talking in a hushed tone as his eyes scanned the empty store. The flickering of the cheap fluorescent light painting Maximus in an almost ominous light.
“The Federation was very vague when addressing the disappearances in the news. I’m sure you’ve heard, Chimenea.” The cashier rested on his folded arms against the marble counter. “Quite a shame for all those missing people.”
“The guards who patrol have increased in random inspections.” Maximus paused for a moment too long, “Curfew times have gotten stricter, we can’t be meeting out here as often.”
Schlatt sighed, annoyed, his stubby tail flicked patiently as he tapped his hands on the counter– pushing the cigarettes over. “I don’t wanna hear any of your theories Max. Not today.” Maximus let out a sharp cackle, saying something in Spanish that went right through his other ear.
“Right, right.. always straight to business with you Chimenea. Your total is 7 and 89 cents.” Schlatt grumbled a few curses under his breath as he slammed the cash onto the counter. The glass barrier rattled slightly, drawing an amused smirk from the worker behind the glass.
He was already in a shit mood from having to help his dumb neighbour to fix his washing machine.
“In all seriousness, you should be more wary from now on around those guys.” Maximus checked outside the window viewing the streets, “I don't want my favourite customer ending up just another face on a poster.” The cashier slid the change over, Schlatt shoving the coins into his suit pocket as he swiped the pack of cigarettes out of the cashier’s hands.
“Oh, by the way.” Maximus called out as the automatic doors slid open. He really didn’t wanna listen to whatever Max was going to say but he unadmittedly also wanted to listen to whatever the younger fellow had to say.
“You know where to find me.”
Schlatt watched the waves crash and fall in the distance, the sun setting and casting a warm orange as he laid back in his folding chair. His rough hands flowed through Jambo’s soft fur as he heard the cute feline purr and curl up on his lap.
It was the few times Jambo wasn’t on his little heating pad or begging for attention with his pitiful meows.
Jambo was of course sometimes mildly annoying when he was trying to get shit done or attempting to eat the fish he had caught that day. But with such a cute face staring back at him, the goat hybrid always folded and gave him a small sardine as a treat.
He was soft at heart, mainly for animals. People just pissed him off.
Schlatt’s cigarette almost slipped from his hands as Jambo suddenly decided to crawl on his shoulder, curling up as he got his free hand to hold the bottom of the cat so he didn’t slip.
The orange tabby’s purrs grew louder against the goat’s ears as he shifted his position— now sitting slightly up-right.
His gaze softened, taking one final long drag of his cigarette— a lazy circle floating up as he crushed the cigarette on his ashtray. He should really stop smoking. Mostly for Jambo’s sake.
The goat watched the sun fully set as the night began to take over, he carefully held Jambo in place as he stood up, hearing his joints crack loudly. Schlatt manoeuvres to close his striped folding chair— resting it against the balcony window.
Maybe a small garden would look nice on his balcony. It’s big enough and has plenty of space for all types of plants to grow. Sunlight would be a bit of an issue but he can figure it out.
Maximus sells gardening equipment somewhere in his shop right?
He waves that thought away, that was for tomorrow Schlatt to handle. Heading in his comfortable apartment, he closed the sliding door with a soft click as he drew the blinds.
Schlatt lazily flicked the TV on as he threw himself on the couch, rolling over and putting the fallen blanket over him as the light from the TV illuminated the living room. He reached out on the coffee table, grabbing a bottle of expensive whiskey he forgot to put back in the refrigerator and chugging until his throat burned. He mindlessly switched channels until he landed on a nature documentary.
If Schlatt was more awake and sober he’d probably skip it but since he's basically about to fall asleep— he wouldn’t mind having some background noise.
He put the TV remote on the dirty coffee table, shifting a bit under the covers. The distant hum and chatter of the screen felt much more quiet as he closed his eyes, slowly dozing off.
CRASH!
A loud crashing noise jolted him awake; rattling the items and picture frames on the shelves, making Jambo bolt up and hop off his chest, the orange feline’s ears flicking up almost instantly as he scurried off to another room.
“What the fuck…?”
He squinted his eyes in the darkness of his living room, scanning it as he was face to face with the most obnoxious, headache inducing light seeping right through his thin curtains.
Schlatt shut his eyes again, his retina intensely burning; seeing morphing blobs in his vision. He groaned tiredly, rubbing his temples as he sat up, his back straightening with an audible crack. Was someone playing a prank on him?
He pushed his aching back off the sofa as he approached the light seeping through his blinds. It seemed like the light was retracting as he stepped closer, dying out like a star that was about to burn out. The hybrid peered out the glass door, looking down to expect some weird contraption some kid threw up on his balcony or something.
“Holy shit.”
His hand-painted porch was turned into bits of debris and rubble. The railings were bent forward and dust was still clouding around him as he coughed and swatted it away.
Schlatt quickly closed the door behind him as his gaze landed down to the cause of the utter destruction.
A woman lay unconscious on his balcony, her breath was clearly visible as faint clouds drifted up with each shaky exhale. She was curled up in a ball with large wings shielding her, her whole body emitted a glow that slowly died down as time passed, only a faint light radiating off the girl now.
Her tangerine hair was messy and filled with a few pieces of debris stuck in it. Her bare body was bare, nude as her messy wings tried to subconsciously warm herself up, fluttering and encasing around her body tighter. Looking closer, her wings were a pristine white, giving her almost an angelic look.
Schlatt didn’t know how to process any of this, in his half-awake state he could only curse under his breath as he went to grab his blanket. Some primal instinct was telling him to protect and keep her safe.
He just wanted to live a peaceful life, why can’t he just have one good thing?
He scrambled over back into his living room, nearly tripping over his carpet as he grabbed the quilt draped over the back of his sofa. Schlatt rushed back over to his balcony; he carefully wrapped the cover around the girl as if she was fragile, hoisting her up bridal style with ease. She was weirdly as light as a feather.
He carried her back in as he gently placed her on his couch, shutting the balcony door to keep all the warm air from escaping.
The goat paced his living room, occasionally pausing glancing her way. He didn’t have any medical supplies, Max’s shop won’t open tomorrow and he doesn’t wanna be responsible for a dead person or whatever species she was.
But he knew damn well she was anything but ordinary. No hybrid he knew flew that high and is somehow still alive after crash-landing.
Not to mention how she’s bleeding what seemed to be glittery yellow all over the floorboards.
He groaned to himself, he was too sober for this. His head ached and screamed at him as he grabbed his keys, walking out the front door and going over to his neighbour’s.
After taking a long deep breath and calming his nerves enough he knocked.
No reply.
He kept knocking, his knocking becoming frantic and more loud until he heard a distant grumble behind the door as he stepped back a bit.
Quackity swung his door open, still holding one of his weird looking plushies in his other hand, a white bear with a smile and buttoned eyes. The avian looked up at Schlatt, slowly blinking as he looked like he was about to fall back asleep.
“It’s 2 in the morning.. What do you want.” The avian’s wings fluttered as he yawned.
“I need your help.” He blurted out, immediately regretting saying so as he quickly clicked his tongue, correcting himself. “You owe me a few favors. It’s time to repay them.”
“At 2AM?” Quackity tilted his head to the side, blinking as he looked at the clock on top of his cabinet near the door, looking back at the hybrid.
“Yes.”
“Look– just.. just make yourself useful and give me one of your first aid kits. I can handle the rest.”
“Woah woah woah! Slow down there. I’m not giving my things so easily– is Jambo hurt or something?”
The two just stared at each other in silence.
“Did he eat magnets again?”
“No, of course not. It’s complicated, and it’s not about Jambo. Just.. Give me it.”
“You gotta tell me shit man! Why haven’t you called an ambulance or something? It seems serious if you’re at my front door.”
“Oh my god, fine!” He groaned in defeat, rubbing his temples, “Come with me. Bring your kit, I’m not well-versed in medical shit– you know this.”
“I’ll tell you everything. From start to beginning.”
“Fine. If you’re nagging me so much for it I’ll go do it asshole.” Quackity mumbled a few curses directed at Schlatt in quick spanish as he left to go grab it.
He only picked up a few words, mostly ‘bitch’ and ‘motherfucker’. Schlatt knew barely any Spanish, the basics of course and a few swear words if he ever needed it.
…
“Holy fuck.”
“Dude I’m not equipped for this!”
“You said you worked at a hospital—”
“YEAH! Well.. I MAY have overexaggerated. It was only as a volunteer– I didn’t think you’d even fucking remember that!”
“Jesus Christ, can you help me or not?” Schlatt really needed a smoke break or just anything to loosen his screws right now.
“I guess.. depends how bad the injuries are.” The avian scratched the back of his neck awkwardly, placing the first aid kit on the coffee table.
“Just get to work, I need to drink—” Schlatt prepared to start heading to his fridge before Quackity yanked him by the collar of his shirt, holding him by the scruff.
“Hold up! I need you to help me out alright? I’ll teach you how to bandage up shit so you don’t need to wake me up again for whatever shit you have going on.”
Schlatt sighed deeply, nodding absently.
“How did this even happen?” Schlatt ignored the avian’s pestering questions; carefully wrapped the gauze around the girl’s waist, noticing how her blood seemed to be colored.. yellow?
It shimmered unnaturally in the dimly lit room, his brows furrowed as he wiped it off with a warm towel before going back at it.
“Dude who even is this?”
“Can you shut up?”
“Jeez okay.” Quackity pouted as he combed through the person’s hair, plucking the sticks and whatever ended up tangled in.
The silence was thick, could he really trust Quackity with this? The two worked at their own paces; the humming of the heater drifted in and out their ear drums like static.
“She.. she fell from the sky. From the looks of it.” Schlatt paused his wrapping, glancing at his destroyed balcony. His brows furrowed as he went back to dressing the wounds covering the girl’s body.
“Like.. literally?”
“Yes, literally.”
Quackity hummed as he examined the young woman’s wings, his eyes scrutinizing them.
“Just don’t let her try using her wings for a few weeks, she can stretch them and so on– don’t let her try flying.”
“Do you have any clothes I can borrow?”
“Of course I do. They don’t fit me anymore, I’ve been needing to get rid of them for a while.”
“Just stay here.”
Schlatt nodded, watching the avian exit as he sighed, leaning back against his sofa as he stared blankly at the night sky through the glass doors.
Why does he care so much?
He looked back over, seeing that the girl had long stopped shivering; her lips weren’t blue anymore. Her wings no longer tried to maintain warmth. They relaxed, spreading out across his couch as Schlatt inched forward to accommodate them.
She still tightly gripped on the blanket wrapped around her as if it’ll disappear.
God what is he doing.
The man instinctively reached down in his pockets; feeling around until he pulled out his pack of cigs, putting one in his mouth– leaving it unlit as he let out a rough sigh escape his lips.
Flicking his lighter open with a swift click, his thumb resting naturally on the button. He was tempted to just do a quick smoke but even that seemed like it wouldn’t lessen his nerves even a little.
His ears picked up at the distant footsteps of Quackity arriving back, hurriedly stuffing his lighter into his pocket and throwing the cigarette somewhere in a dark corner.
“I hope it fits her, but you should buy new clothes when the shops open up.”
“Got it..”
Quackity placed the neat stack of clothes on the counter, plopping himself next to Schlatt.
“What now?”
“I’ll take care of her.” Schlatt mumbled, taking a deep breath.
“I.. I’ll take care of her– until she’s able to go back to whatever island in the sky she came from.”
Quackity let out a choked out gasp, caught off guard. He quickly snapped back and tried to cover up the noise with a dry cough.
“Look man– you sure? I think she’d be in better hands with the Federation-”
“I’m not letting any of those robots near her. She’s clearly not from fucking earth.” Schlatt retorted roughly, swerving his head over to glare at Quackity.
“Alright– alright.. yeah. Go with your plan or whatever. If you need any help, just call me okay? Preferably not at 2AM.”
“Yeah.”
“Goodnight, Schlatt.” Quackity stood up, dusting himself off before heading over to the door. Taking one glance backward glance at the goat hybrid, as if he was waiting for something to be said.
“Goodnight.”
He hasn’t been able to get a wink of sleep since yesterday. He spent most of the night tossing around his bed and rethinking everything.
He should’ve left her with Quackity, but god that man can’t do shit– let alone take care of something that’s out of this world.
It’s not like he’s any better. He’s used to surviving off of microwaved pizza rolls, cigarettes and alcohol despite knowing how to cook for himself. He’s mostly too unbothered to do dishes or prep anything beforehand. Measurements and all that other bull make his head feel like it's ripping apart.
People will ask questions if he starts suddenly buying more food than he used to.
Hours passed in a blink until he felt the first few rays of sunlight peek through his blinds, his eye burning slightly as he shut them again.
His ears perk up at the sound of the TV blasting then lowering again, he tried to cover his ears with his pillow to no avail. The desperate tapping of the remote forcing him up much to his annoyance.
Schlatt opens the door; the first thing he notices is that the girl is now awake, sitting cross-legged in a loose black shirt and shorts, the blanket now draped over her wings. She fiddled with the TV remote, pressing random buttons and getting startled when the volume shot up to max.
He plucked the remote out of her hands as he shut the TV off, rubbing his temples as he looked down at her.
She looked back up at him, blinking her
“Hello, sir!”
Schlatt instinctively slammed his palms over his ears, the girl’s voice was ear-piercingly loud. His ears were always sensitive to sound, the smallest of vibrations would feel like nails on a chalkboard, probably from some ancient prey survival tactic that never really went away despite the years of evolution.
“Lower your voice down…”
“Oh! Sorry um..” She tilted her head to the side, looking him up and down, her wings flapping excitedly.
“Jschlatt.”
“Jschlagg?”
“Jschlatt.”
“Jay... Schrlatt!”
“Oh my god.” He put his head in his hands, groaning.
“I’ll just call you Mr. J!”
“I’m Katie!”