Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Small droplets of water dripped down from the celling of the laboratory, hitting the cold, stone floor below. Green goo from the pool inside bubbled up, popping and splashing onto the floor.

*DING*

The elevator leading down to the laboratory opened, two twins stepping out, pulling a large, red wagon behind them.

Lily stopped right in front of it—what remained of Penny. Her eyes wandered from the surrounding state of the laboratory down to the remains of her friend.

Nothing but hunks of metal with chipped off paint and rubber remained of her. Red, blue, and green wires stuck up from where her neck disconnected from her body, a spilling of green goo leaking from the gashing hole in her neck and face. Her pupils long since disappeared, leaving nothing but an empty white void to fill where her eyes should be.

Lily let a small sigh escape her lips.

“What’s the matter?” Billy, her twin brother, asked from afar.

He held the remains of Penny’s arm, now with torn clothes and ruined rubber.

“Well…Look at her,” Lily stuck her hand out, making an invisible red circle around Penny’s head. “It’s horrible…”

Billy placed Penny’s right arm into the wagon, giving a hum of understanding. “Yeah, she didn’t deserve what happened to her…”

He took a step back, heading over to another severed limb scattered onto the ground near the vat of green goo. “But there’s nothing we can do now except get her fixed.”

Lily stayed silent, her eyes never leaving Penny’s. After a long moment of silence, she let out a sigh.

“You’re right,” she admitted. “We have to worry about saving her now.”

Billy smiled, a hum of agreement leaving his lips as he dropped Penny’s right leg into the wagon.

Lily leaned down, getting a firm grip on Penny’s head, and with all the strength in her arms and back, she lifted the large hunk of metal off the cold, stone floor.

Her body swung around like a rag down, and as soon as the red wagon was within reach, she dropped Penny’s head down into it.

“I wish there were a way we could go back in time and warn her. Save her from ever being hurt and turned into a robot in general.” Lily said. She walked over to the last limb of Penny’s that scattered away. A small, teal eyeball.

“If something like that really did exist, don’t you think we would have found out about it by now?” Billy asked.

“Maybe…It would be really helpful, though.”

Billy lifted up the handle to the wagon, while Lily used Penny’s eye to reopen the elevator.

Billy stepped inside without a second thought, but Lily stopped.

She turned around, eyes glazing over the full laboratory a final time. Her eyes saddened.

Billy paused, his eyes narrowed down at Lily. “Lily..? What are you doing?”

Lily reached into her hoodie pocket, grabbing a hold of a small object. “I don’t want anyone else to suffer here ever again…” She muttered. Her grip tightened.

“I want all the memories of this place to die.” Billy tilted his head, taking a small step outside of the elevator. “What are you—“

Finally, her arm outstretched, a small bomb being in her hand. Billy quickly retracted back into the elevator, eyes widened with shock.

Lily gabbed the hatch to the mini-grande with her teeth, yanking it off with all the force she had and throwing the bomb inside.

Quickly she ran into the elevator pressing the button to send them up. Just as the doors closed, the muffled sound of a small explosion filled the air, followed by multitudes smaller explosions.

Lily let out a satisfied sigh. “Much better…”

Billy gave her a concerned look, but that too soon changed to a look of satisfaction. The hint of worry was still present, however, and Lily took notice to it.

“Don’t worry,” she started, leaning against the wall of the elevator. “Monty made it so it only set off multiple small explosions. It wont reach us up here.”

That seemed to clear Billy’s worries a bit. “Oh, that’s good…”

Lily gave a light laugh. “I’m not nearly as reckless as you are, y’know?”

“I wouldn’t really call myself reckless…” Billy turned his head away from Lily and down to the metal flooring below them.

It was shiny in some parts, others being rusty, leaving a distorted reflection of himself. “Setting off a bomb suddenly like that is a bit reckless, though.”

“Well maybe, but—“

“And suddenly breaking into an abandoned school to get the remains of your friend to be rebuilt sounds pretty reckless.”

“Hey—“

“And breaking into a dangerous laboratory and risking our lives to save someone we don’t know is pretty reckless.”

“C’mon—“

“And-“

“Okay, okay, I get it!” Lily yelled, loud enough to stop Billy’s next example of Lily’s reckless behavior. “But you went along with me on all of it, so that makes you just as reckless as me.”

“I’m not just gonna leave you all alone to do something dangerous. I don’t want you to get hurt, you know that.” Billy said, ripping his gaze off the ground and to his twin sister across from him.

Lily gave a small sigh of defeat. “I’m glad…” She quietly muttered. Billy gave a hum of confusion, tilting his head.

“I’m glad you’d still come along with me even after everything you went through.” She smiled. “I know you’d probably rather relax than go around saving a bunch of kids from psycho principals.”

“Are you kidding?” Billy asked, pushing himself off the wall of the elevator. Lily jumped.

“I want to save those kids just as much as you want to. I went through hell down there, I don’t want anyone else to suffer like that.”

Lily let out a small breath, her shoulders relaxing again and her smile returning to her face. “And that makes me happy.”

Eventually, the elevator came to a stop, a loud DING opening the doors for the twins to leave.

Billy grabbed the handle to the wagon, pulling it out of the elevator as he and Lily exited back into the large basement under the school.

A small, open grate led back to the outside world, just large enough to fit the two kids and their wagon.

“So how are we supposed to fix her?” Billy spoke up, his voice bounced off the walls of the large, empty area.

“Simple, we’re gonna ask Monty to!” Lily smiled brightly, turning to face her brother and walk backwards towards to exit. “We’ll bring her to school tomorrow and ask him to fix her there.”

“She’s a bit heavy though…Don’t you think it’ll be obvious we have something with us?” Billy said, bringing his attention to Penny’s remains in the wagon.

“Actually, we thought of a solution to that. We’ll meet up with him in the courtyard and then give him Penny’s…” She paused, “…Parts! Then, he can fix her whenever he gets the chance.”

The two kids crawled out of the basement through the gate, pulling the wagon with them. “How much money does he want?” Billy asked. He stopped up fulling, dusting some of the dirt from the grass that stuck to his wet jeans off of his best he could.

“I’m not sure…We haven’t talked about that part yet. I guess he’ll decided once he see’s it for himself.”

The two kids slowly made their way off, it was a long walk home and they had to be home before sunset. Sneaking in a wagon of dismembered robot parts would also be a challenge, so that was a topic they had to discuss along the way as well.

Tomorrow would be Wednesday, and the kids would be going to a new school, a bigger school. Lily and Billy would investigate, save any children trapped under the school, the others would continue their normal activity, nothing would change.

At least, that’s what they assumed would happen.

The two kids stepped onto the new school’s courtyard. It was a large area, and there were a lot more kids than they’ve ever had in a school.

Lily remembers her mom saying that sending them to a public school might be better, since there’s more adults and police officers that work on the school grounds.

To her, that just sounded like a recipe for disaster. To her, that meant there were more adults in on evil ideas, and more adults that knew what was happening and were just letting it happen.

Whatever, it didn’t matter because her and Billy didn’t plan to go to class anyways. They planned to find a hiding spot and search around the school for any secrets.

But first, they were gonna have to find Monty to give him Penny’s remains since, Billy was right, she was very heavy and it was very obvious they had something they weren’t supposed to have on them.

“Where is he..?” Billy whispered to Lily, leaning forward to be closer to her, almost falling in the process.

“I’m not sure,” Lily whispered back, glancing around frantically.

There were a lot of familiar faces around. Cindy, who was talking to some new boys, Jerome who was all alone off in the corner, Nugget who was poorly hidden behind a tree…

But with familiar faces, there were even more unfamiliar faces. Such a new environment, it was a bit scary. Lily much preferred a smaller group of kids rather than this huge bundle of unfamiliar people.

Before her thoughts could wander anymore, Billy suddenly grabbed her arm, snapping her attention forward. “There he is!” Billy whisper-shouted, pointing over to the tall ginger, now bound to a wheel-chair. He was wish another familiar face, Carla.

Billy quickly began to make his way forward, Lily tagging behind as fast as her limited mobility would allow her to.

Thanks to the experiments, Billy was a lot stronger than Lily was. So Lily got to carry the arms and legs while Billy carried the most heavy part, Penny’s head. But even with Penny’s arms and legs being lighter, that didn’t stop the weight from pilling up and making her backpack very heavy.

They finally caught up to Monty, Billy shouting out for him as they approached. A few nearby kids turned their heads in the direction of the sudden shout, confused looks spreading across their face.

Monty shushed him, using his hand and a demonstration for Billy to lower his volume. Billy brought a hand to his mouth, shushing himself. Lily approached beside him slowly.

“Oh, you’re the two who needed help?” Carla asked, leaning against Monty’s wheelchair as if it were an arm rest, earning an annoyed sigh from Monty.

“Ah, y-yeah…” Lily spoke quietly, keeping her head hung low, eyes to the ground. Carla tilted her head.

“Come back here.” Monty said, catching the other 3 kids attention. He turned his chair around, heading to the far back of the handicap kids ramp, Lily, Billy, and Carla following in suite.

The walk was far from the school, so they wouldn’t get caught. Carla took a step back, closer to where Lily was. “You alright? You seem nervous. Is the new school getting to you?” Carla asked in a quiet voice.

“O-Oh…Yeah, it’s a bit nerve recking. I’ve never been to a school with this many kids before.” Lily’s eyes stayed glued to the ground.

“Yeah, I get it.” Carla said. She shoved a hand into her pocket. Lily finally ripped her eyes from the ground and up to Carla beside her. “You do?”

“Yeah. It’s a new thing for all of us. But I’m sure you’ll be fine.” She lifted her arm, bumping her elbow into Lily’s side gently.

Lily let out a small giggle. She averted her gaze back to the ground. “I hope…”

“So,” Monty spoke up, coming to a stop next to a large tree far away from adult supervision vision. The three kids brought their attention back to the ginger.

“You guys want me to put Penny back together, that right?” Billed quickly nodded, dropping his bag to the grassy ground below. Lily did the same.

“We brought all of her parts for you,” He quickly pulled out Penny’s head, Lily grabbing as many as her parts that could fit in her hands. Carla’s eyes widened, as she took a step back.

“Jeez, you weren’t kidding…How’d you even something like that past your parents?” Carla asked.

“Doesn’t matter.” Billy quickly corrected, handing the head over to Monty. Monty took it, giving it a quick examine. He placed it onto his lap, adjusting his glasses.

“This is going to take a long time.” He spoke. “This is some complicated technology here.”

Billy nodded, grabbing a few loose limbs from Lily, her shoulders dropping in relief as a large weight was, quite literally, lifted off her shoulders. “And with the staff being much stricter than the ones at our old school…”Monty continued, only to be cut off by Lily.

“We don’t care how long it takes as long as it gets done.”

Monty sighed, opening up his bag. “I’ll have to do this at home. I’ll carry her head in my bag for now, Carla,” Carla lifted her gaze to Monty. “You carry her arms and legs.”

“Yeah, and you said I was getting something out of this.” Her tone was flat, a hand on her hip, eyes scowled down.

“Yeah, yeah, you can have the laser in her head.” Carla’s smile perked up at that. She seemed much more content with that answer.

“This is gonna cost you quite a lot.” Monty brought his attention back to Billy and Lily. “I’d say about…40$.”

“F-Forty..?!” Lily squeaked, eyes widening in shock. Monty nodded in response. “This is complicated technology, and it’s gonna take ages for me to fix something that’s already this broken.”

“A-Ah…We only have 10 dollars…” Billy said, looking down to the crumbled 10$ bill in his hand. Monty gave a shrug. “Then you better find a way to get 30$’s by the time I’m done.”

Lily spoke up, “How long do you think it will take? To finish, I mean.” Monty looked back down to the body parts spread between the two kids backpacks. “Probably a week or so.”

Lily shared a look with Billy. They both knew Monty was strict when it came to sales, so it was important they got this money. The problem was, neither knew how to get 30$’s by the end of the week.

With how many adults were in the courtyard along, they could only guess the entire school was guarded up. Maybe they could get the money from someone else, or even their parents.

Their train of thought was cut short by a loud bell ringing. Lily quickly snapped her head around to where the sound came from. From afar, she could see a few kids making their way to the doors of the school.

“We have to go back now.” Monty turned to Carla. “I’ll see you after school so you can help me work on this thing.”

“Yeah, yeah, got it.” Carla said, zipping her bag and throwing it onto her back, nearly falling from the sudden weight of not only sketch books, but now 2 arms and 2 legs of a dismembered robot.

The 4 kids made their way back to the front of the school, Monty splitting off to use the ramp half way through the walk. The school was already in a much clearer view at that point, and without all the kids waiting at the entrance, it looked a lot bigger than it actually was.

Lily let out a shaky sigh. It didn’t matter, because her and Billy were gonna go in and find a place to hide and snoop around to find the missing kids. If there were any, which they were almost certain there would be.

As the three kids entered the school, they were met with multiple times of kids, all who looked their age. Another teacher, who was standing on the inside of the door, spotted the three of them, catching their attention with a small “Ah!”.

“You must be part of the absent kids.” She said, Lily tensed. None of them answered, all keeping their eyes anywhere but her.

Her expression saddened slightly. She leaned down to their level. “Can you tell me your names?” Her voice was soft, much softer than the other lady shouting at another group of kids.

Carla was the first to speak up, “Carla.” She said simply. The teachers expression softened. She grabbed a clipboard off the group, scanning over the list of names. “Carla Rodriguez?” Carla nodded.

“Perfect, you’re with me in that line right there.” The teacher pointed over to a line of other kids, some which Lily immediately recognized. As soon as her eyes fell on Cindy, she was almost glad she would be hidden the whole day.

“What about you two?”

…She hoped she could be hidden, anyway.

“I…” Billy’s voice was quiet. It seemed he was stuck in thought too. Lily looked down at her hands, making random shapes and poking them together as best she could to distract herself.

“My..My name is Billy.” Billy finally spoke up, just loud enough for the teacher, and by default, Lily, to hear. “Billy Sato. And this is my sister, Lily..!”

He wrapped his arm around Lily’s neck, pulling her closer to him. Lily let out a small squeak, but quickly adjusted to the new feeling, taking a step to be closer to him.

The teacher scanned her paper, muttering their names under her breath. Soon, her eyes stopped. “Oh lovely, you’re in my class too!”

Lily’s body tensed again. She could feel Billy pull away to glance at who was in the line, then the worried glance he gave her.

“You can join the other kids in that line right there.” The teacher said, standing back up and checking 3 names off her list.

The last thing Lily wanted was to be in the same class as Cindy. Or Buggs for that matter. That was just as horrible as being put in a tube under the school.

Billy grabbed a hold of her hand, slowly dragging her forward to the line where they stopped behind Carla. Lily let a small sigh leave her lips.

“This is stupid..” She muttered, “How are we supposed to look into the school in were stuck in class?”

“Hey, It’ll be okay!” Billy whispered back. “We’ll just try again tomorrow.” Lily gave a small pout, “But what if by tomorrow they’re dead?”

Billy paused. He stayed silent, dragging his gaze to the floor. After a long pause, he muttered, “Right…”

Suddenly, the teacher walked up in front of the kids, making an announcement that they’d all be heading to class now. Lily’s sad expression only worsened.

The idea that some kid might be dead now and that she couldn’t save them, it crushed her. The weight of something like that was too much to bear.

She quietly followed the rest of the kids towards to classroom, but her thoughts never left her mind.

The classroom was brightly colored. All kinds of posters were tapped to the walls, mostly about counting and spelling, topped off with colorful characters to introduce the topic.

All of the kids had assigned seats, each of their names being written on a small sticky note tapped to the table. Lily looked around until she found a note that vaguely looked like her name.

Despite not being able to read well, Billy had taught her how to read her name, at the very least. It was a start, was what he said.

Maybe he was right about some things, Lily is more reckless than him, she is a little dumber than him, despite being older by a few minutes. …Well, he didn’t say that last part, that was what Lily thought.

Suddenly, a loud thud pulled her out of her thoughts. She snapped her head over to where the noise came from.

A familiar brunette. He threw his bag onto the ground, slipping into his chair and nearly slamming it into the table. Cindy, who was next to him, jumped back a bit, a look of confusion and a bit of anger on her face.

Lily blinked. ‘Kidd…’ She thought, her eyes slowly ripping away from the brunette. She wasn’t sure why, but there was a feeling in her chest that told her Kidd shouldn’t be here, but she didn’t understand why.

Seeing Kidd after everything from yesterday felt surreal. Like there was something off about him. The whole day she’d had that thought.

Maybe, if she can’t help the kids under the school, than she can at the least have a proper conversation with Kidd. After all, they had never become fully-fledged friends yet.

Class had started, and for the first half, it was nothing like how they normally did school. Some of the others were antsy, wanting to go off and just play or talk, others were content with sitting still for so long, and some had even fallen asleep.

Lily was pretty sure she’d fall into the second category. But, she couldn’t lie and say that the call for recess didn’t excite her.

She got up from her chair, about to run off with Billy to play, when she suddenly caught attention of Kidd. He hadn’t moved from her last glance at him, his head buried into his arms, completely still.

Lily tilted her head a bit, stopping in her tracks. “Lily?” Billy called out, now closer to the door. “You coming?”

“Yeah, just give a second.” Lily quickly responded, which was enough for Billy to run outside with the others.

Lily made her way over to Kidd, bringing a hand to his shoulder. “Kidd?”

Your fault.
It’s your fault. It’s all your fault.
You’re to blame, you don’t deserve to live.
Slit your wrist.
“Kidd?”
Take the blade to yourself like you took it to so many others.
If you weren’t alive, so many others would be happy.
“Kidd…??”
You don’t deserve to be alive.
You should just d—

“Kidd..!”

Slowly, Kidd’s head raised from its previous position. The first thing he was met with was Lily’s worried gaze, seeing her mouth open as a small sigh of relief came from a response.

She started talking. The noise seemed so jumbled in his head, he could barely make out what she said. Something about moving, which was the last thing Kidd wanted.

“—Everyone is waiting for us,”

That’s right. The others are outside. Now that Kidd gets a better look at his surroundings, he realized the others missing, and the screaming outside must be from them.

“Are you gonna come?”

“C’mon kids, hurry up.”

So much noise.

Too much noise.

He wants to block it out.

He can feel his mind wandering, but he slowly nods his head. His body feels so heavy, it’s like carrying metal when he tries to stand. He doesn’t feel like he’s in his own body anymore.

His arms hurt, his head hurts. He wants to just lie down and go back to sleep where it was quiet. Well, it was quiet until the noises started to get louder.

Hearing their voices was enough to make him want to rip his ears out all over again.

“So…” Lily trailed off. The two had left the classroom and out onto the large playground not too far from the school building. All the other kids from their grade were here, and it was loud.

“I know we’ve been through a lot…” Shut up. “It’s been a pretty crazy past two days, huh?” Stop talking.

“But,” Her voice, it’s so pure and happy. It makes the idea of what he’s done make him want to vomit. “I wanted to tell you that I’m ready to be friends now!”

Kidd slowly brought his head from his knee’s where he had buried it this time, not a lot but just enough to see her. “If that’s okay with you, I mean..!”

Kidd nodded. For how long they had been sitting there, Kidd hadn’t said a word. All his replies were quiet hums or nods. Lily hadn’t minded. As long as he was responsive, she didn’t mind.

“Then,” Lily started. She begun to pick herself up off the ground, Kidd’s eyes following her as she stood up. “I’m gonna go play with Billy! If you wanna join us, you can.” And with that, she ran off.

Kidd watched as Lily ran off towards Billy, who proudly showed her a drawing in response. His eyes fell away from the scene and back to the ground.

He could see their shadow right in front of him. His eyes looked up to meet theirs.

-Weeks later-

“So? Is she fixed??” Lily asked impatiently. It had been weeks since Monty agreed to fix Penny, and with him suddenly calling Lily and Billy back behind the handicap ramp, Lily was hoping that it meant Penny was finished.

“Yes, but—“
“But??”

Now was Billy’s turn to be impatient. Monty gave a small grunt. “But…Since we’re not legal adults, and Penny doesn’t have anybody to take care of her, we need someone to forge her name into the attendance sheet so she can attend school here.”

“Then do it.” Billy said, mater-a-factly. Monty let out another long sigh. “That’s what Carla is doing right now.”

“So what’s the problem?”

“I need you two to stay here and keep her hidden until class time.”

“That’s all?”

“Yes.”

Lily looked over to Billy, who shared the same look of relief on his face. They both had the same worried thought that they would have to break into the classroom with Carla.

With their second investigation into the school going, they couldn’t afford to get in trouble. Even if Billy was starting to have doubts about any suspicious happening at all, since it’s been weeks and they still hadn’t found anything. Lily was one to give up just that easily. They would keep trying until it was 100% confirmed no one was in danger.

“So, where is she?” Billy asked, looking around. “Can we see her?”

“Right,” Monty pushed his chair back, wheeling over to a spot behind the ramp where Penny had previously been hidden. He whispered something to her, the twins hearing a quiet, robotic, hum in response.

Then, a small child crawled out from under the ramp. She had a blue shirt tucked into a black skirt, which was being held together with a small, black, bow. Her hair was tied into a bun, topped off with a blue headband.

Her eyes had a small battery symbol in them, you’d really only notice if you looked closely at her. But what was definitely not missable was the bright smile on her face.

“Hi, everyone!” Her voice a bit robotic, but it was almost unnoticeable. She seemed so human for a robot, it was surreal.

Lily smiled. It was nice to know that she saved everyone that was trapped in that lab, even the one that had more free access.

“Alright, you three stay back here, you’ll know when it’s safe to bring her out.” Monty said as he began to wheel away.

Billy brought his hand up to his head with a bright smile. “You got it!”

And so, the 3 were left on their own. Penny was the first to speak up, “Are you the two who brought me to Monty and Carla to be fixed?”

“Yeah,” Lily said, “We’re the ones.”

Penny stayed quiet for a moment, but the smile on her face said it all. She slowly took a step forward, then wrapped her arms around the two twins quickly. Both twins were taken aback, but slowly gave a smile too, Billy being the first to hug back.

“Thank you..” She quietly muttered, her grip tightened. “Thank you so much…”

Lily slowly brought her arms up, hugging her back. “You’re welcome.” She quietly spoke.

The three stayed like that for a moment longer, before Penny slowly pulled back. She wiped a small tear from her eye. “It means a lot to me.”

“It was really no problem.” Billy smiled, “We’re happy to see you alive.”

Just then, the school bell rang. The three kids all exchanged a quick glance, then slowly made their way back to the courtyard of the school.

It didn’t take Penny too long to fit in. Sure, some of the kids were freaked out since she was a robot, and sure some of them were still a bit salty about what happened at their old school, but overall the majority was understanding enough of the situation.

Kidd also became more talkative. Maybe only with Lily, Billy, and Nugget, but that was a start nonetheless.

Lily was happy. Seeing all her friends finally begin to heal, confirming that the school was indeed safe with Billy just a few weeks ago, and even meeting a new friend, Ted, as introduced by Penny.

The six of them had decided they would stick together throughout school. No matter what happened, no matter the bullying and the messed up mindset, they would stick together and be there for each other.

It was the least they could do, anyways. Lily, Billy, and Kidd had saved Penny, Ron, Alice, and Maddison, Nugget had killed Penny’s mom, and Ted finally got his first friend group, or just friends in general.

Everything was going to be okay. They’d make sure of it.

Chapter Text

                        - 8 Years Later-

“C’mon,” Billy cried out, now standing on their tippy-toes with their arm stretched as far up as it would go, “Give it back!”

Lily giggled, pushing herself higher up to be on her tippy toes. With her already standing on the seat to the picnic table, it just made her eyes taller. “You gotta ask nicely first!”

Billy gave a pout. They brought their leg up, beginning to climb up onto the bench with Lily, who quickly took notice to it. She jumped down, running further into the park, giggling the entire time. “Catch me if you can~!” She yelled out in a song-like tone.

“Wha—“ Billy paused, watching her run past them. “Get back here!” They jumped down off the bench, running after their sister as fast as possible.

Ted turned his head, watching his friends run off into the park to where Nugget had been digging. As soon as they arrived there, they had run off to a small spot of the park to dig his ‘nugget cave’.

Slowly, he brought his attention back to Penny, who was beside him. She had a small book she had been reading for the past few days, opened up to the middle of the book.

It shouldn’t come as a shock she was such a fast reader, as she was a robot, but it still shocked Ted she was able to read so fast.

Penny had her head leaned down against his shoulder, quietly flipping the pages as she read. Ted took a glance at the pages, scanning over the words.

It seemed to be a fantasy book, the page in question had the princess giving up her freedom for the safety of her friends. It seemed too dark for his taste.

“Hey,” Ted quietly spoke. Penny ripped her attention from the book and up to Ted. She hummed, “Hm?”

“Do you know when Kidd’s gonna be here?” Ted asked. Penny paused for a moment, then pushed herself up to look around. Her confused look soon turned into worry.

“Ah…” She paused, “I’m not sure. I’ll text him.” Penny pulled her phone out quickly opening her recent messaged with Kidd.

                      -Kidd ♡︎-

Penny: Are you alright?

There was a long pause, Penny anxiously starring at the screen, waiting for a reply to roll through. Ted looked over her shoulder at the screen.

Penny: I’m just checking in, since It’s been a while :(

They continued to wait. Just as Penny let out a small sigh, about to turn her phone off, a small bubble appeared at the bottom of the screen.

Kidd: im okay

Kidd: im On My Way!

Penny let out a sigh of relief. A smile appeared across her face. Ted snickered at the auto correction on Kidd’s end.

Kidd had always been like that, typing in lowercase and using abbreviations for everything. At least, everything he could.

Penny: How close are you? :D

Kidd: idk

Penny: Are there any signs nearby? ):o

Kidd: uh

Kidd: yeah a stop sign

Penny: I meant street signs…

Kidd: oh uh

Kidd: yeah

Kidd: ******

Kidd: yeah

Penny: Oh, you’re not far! :D See you soon! ^^

Kidd: right

Penny smiled, setting her phone upside down on the picnic table, reopening her book.

Ted’s eyes shifted between the phone on the table to the book in Penny’s hands. “So, what’d he say?” He asked.

Penny’s eyes shifted to him for a moment, then back down to her book. “He’ll be here soon, he’s just a few minutes away.”

Ted smiled. “For him, that’ll be a few hours, y’know?” Ted giggled, wrapping his arms around Penny and pulling her closer.

Penny gave a small giggle. That was true, Kidd was known to never be on time. Even to class, he’d often show up 5-10 minutes late.

Penny soon found out why was because he and Billy would wander the school in circles and claim their class was far away when it really wasn’t. She made sure to scold them for that.

Just then, there was a shuffling noise in front of the two. Both kids looked over to see Kidd sitting on the other side of the picnic table.

Penny smiled. “Hi Kidd!”

“Glad you could make it,” Ted chimed in.

Kidd gave the two a small wave. “Hi..”

“Lily and Billy are over there with Nugget,” Penny started, pointing over to the twins. Seemed Billy finally caught Lily and was still trying to claim their rightfully owned donut. If you asked Kidd, it’d seem like that donut wasn’t edible anymore. Nugget was sat on the ledge of the nugget cave, a box of Nugget’s in his lap while he munched on one.

Nugget…Kidd’s gaze lowered. “..If you wanted to see them.” Penny finished off. Kidd shook his head.

“No, I’m okay here.” He stayed quiet for a moment, eyes fixed on the grass below, playing with his hands.

Penny and Ted both shared a glance before looking back to Kidd. “Are you sure…?” Ted spoke first.

It wasn’t like Kidd to be so…how to put it, Ted wasn’t sure. But normally, they’d run off to be with Lily and Billy, the two would stop whatever they were doing, and they’d all migrate to the picnic table to play whatever new game Lily and Billy found online to play.

So, to see him suddenly so nervous…Well, he’d always been a little weary about Nugget. But he’d never say why. Ted look a glance to Kidd, then to the twins off in a distance.

Kidd remained silent. After a long pause, he finally brought his gaze back up to see Penny. More specifically, what Penny was reading. “Whatcha reading?”

Penny was surprised by the sudden question, but obliged nonetheless. “Oh, it’s this book about a princess who’s taken as a kid and, well, her prince comes to save her! An average fairytale, really…” Penny gave a small giggle at that. Kidd nodded.

He leaned himself over the table to read the book with her. She was pretty far in by now, so Kidd really had no idea what was happening at all.

In what little he did read, he could tell that someone, presumably the princess, was longing for the days of being with her friends again while some witch mocked her.

Kidd furrowed his eyebrows, face contorting into a pout. Kidd was never a fan of fairytales, mostly for how fake they always seemed. Just sitting around waiting for someone to come save you would never work, he kneel that better than anyone.

So, to see a bunch of movies and books about doing exactly that (even worse, with the same plots and characters) and it supposedly working? It made him a little upset.

But, he wouldn’t say that. It was just fiction, after all. Not everything had to make complete, realistic sense.

“Kidd!!” He brought his head up, only to see Lily running towards him as fast as her legs would take her, Billy not too far behind. Nugget peaked up from above the hole he had dug deep into the ground. Seemed he hadn’t noticed Kidd’s arrival.

Before Kidd could really react, Lily had already reached him, wrapping her arms around him tightly with a bright smile. Billy was quick to join the hug.

Penny gave a soft smile, soon followed with a small giggle.

“What took you so long?” Lily pouted, giving Kidd a gentle punch to the arm. Kidd paused, then brought his gaze down to the ground. “Ahh, I think I got lost.”

Lily crossed her arms, giving a doubtful look. “Did you oversleep again?” She asked. Kidd sighed, giving a nod.

Lily gave a drawn sigh. “We should really get you an alarm clock…”

“You and Billy already make decent alarm clocks.” Kidd was quick to reply, leaning onto the table with his elbow holding him up.

Both twins paused, and soon started to deny the loud allegations.

As the 5 kids continued to talk, Nugget slowly approached. His hands were covered in dirt from digging all morning, a few cuts lining his knees from the concrete sidewalk he’d been kneeling on.

Penny heard the noise of his boots hitting the crunchy leaved below and turned to face him. Her eyes widened as she turned her body away from her other 4 friends.

“Nugget, you’re bleeding!” She tilted her head, leaning down to her backpack placed in the grass next to the bench. She pulled out her first aid kit. She brought it everywhere just in case. Billy wasn’t known for being very careful.

“Come here, I’m patch you up!” She gave Nugget a reassuring smile, who stopped in front of her. She took a small step back. “No need, Nugget is quite durable. Nugget will survive.”

Penny gave him a disapproving look. “Nuh-uh.” She spoke, “Let me give you a bandaid.”

Nugget’s gaze lowered. Penny wasn’t someone easy to argue with, she could be really stubborn, especially when it came to helping her friends. It was a battle Nugget was, no doubt, going to lose.

So, they gave a small sigh, stepping forward just enough for Penny to reach him. She smiled, opening her first aid kit and placing 2 bandaids on both his knees.

Nugget looked down. Both the bandaids had Monstermon characters on them. He smiled slightly. That was definitely Billy’s idea, no doubt about it. Considering their parents owned the company, it shouldn’t be a surprise they made bandaids with the characters on them.

“I’m hungry!” Billy suddenly announced, loud enough even people just walking around across the street could hear them.

“Wha—?!” Lily gasped, “You just stole my donut and now you wanna complain you’re hungry?”

“It was MY donut!” Billy snapped back quickly, “You stole it from me!”

“I paid for it!”

“With my money!”

“I want Wendy’s.” Kidd chimed in, putting the twins bickering to its end.

Penny chirped her head up, Nugget giving Kidd a disapproving stare. “Right,” Penny smiled, “I have some money from my allowance, so let’s go get some food.”

The 5 kids, previously at the picnic table, hopped their way down. Billy started up a conversation between the 6 of them, mostly being held together by them and Penny.

Kidd’s eyes stayed locked to the ground. For the majority of the walk, they had already felt pretty dizzy, but now it was beginning to get worse. It was easy to blame the heat for it. Kidd wasn’t exactly known for being the strongest person ever eternally and externally.

Just as the thought crossed his mind, he heard Lily laugh at a comment Billy made, their voices being drowned out by noise buzzing in his head. Before he could think any further, his vision grew dark.

The sun began to fall below the horizon, a bell ringing as Billy swung the Wendy’s door open, their friends following in suit.

“I’m just saying,” Billy’s yawned, stretching their arms over their head. “If I were you, I wouldn’t make a trade like that.”

Ted shrugged. He looked down to the deck of newly acquired Monstermon cards coming with his kids meal. “I mean, it’s not that big of a deal. And since I alrea—“

“Not that big a deal?!” Lily exclaimed, running ahead to now see Ted from a-front, causing her to walk backwards. “It’s a super-super rare card, y’know?”

“Yeah, it could cost millions in the future!” Billy chimed in.

“That’s not—“ Ted sighed, “That sorta thing only counts with dolls. Right, Penny?”

Penny turned her head to Ted, having unintentionally interrupted her conversation with Nugget. She hummed a quiet, “Hm?”

“Dolls are the only things that cost millions in the future if you keep them safe, right?”

“Ah, actually, they can cost lots of money depending on the rarity of the card, condition it’s in, and demand for the card!” Penny explained. Ted’s look deflated, Billy perked up.

“See? I told you, you shouldn’t trade them.” Billy gave a small giggle to themselves.

“Nugget doesn’t get why you’d want to sell Monstermon cards.” Nugget chimed in. “Nugget thinks Ted should just trade the card, then he can have a full deck.”

“That’s what I was trying to say.” Ted sighed, “Felix would want to sell them, I’m sure.”

Lily pouted, crossing her arms and swinging her body back around to face forward. “Well, Felix isn’t here, is he?” She muttered.

Lily had always had a distaste for Felix, after seeing the way he treated Ted, it was enough for her to instantly dislike him.

She let a small sigh leave her lips. The others continued their debate of the Monstermon card: sell or trade.

Meanwhile, the silentness of a certain someone caught her attention. She peaked over her shoulder, seeing Kidd drag himself behind the others silently, eyes glued to the sidewalk below him.

Quietly, she stepped back to be beside him. “You’ve been awfully quiet.” She whispered. That was enough to catch Kidd’s attention, his eyes lifting up to meet Lily’s.

“Have I?” He second questioned, Lily nodded. Lily tilted her head. “Something on your mind?”

He shook his head quickly, looking up to the sky. “Nothing to add, I guess.”

Lily gave a hum for a reply, placing her hands in her jacket pockets. “Well, what would you do then? Would you trade the cards or would you sell them?”

“Does that really matter?” Kidd shrugged, looking back to Lily. “I don’t really care much for the game anyways.”

Lily paused, blinking rapidly. It was like her brain short circuited. Kidd had never showed any disinterest in Monstermon before, so for a sudden statement like that…

Then again, he could have always been faking. Why, Lily wasn’t sure.

Kidd had been acting weird all afternoon. Since they left the park, he seemed more quiet and distant than normal. At first Lily thought he was just tired but now she was beginning to second guess that idea.

“You don’t?” Lily echoed. “I thought you loved it.”

Kidd paused for a moment. A look of confusion made its way to his face, turning to the ground below. He watched his feet drag along the ground. Compared to Lily, he seemed half dead, just dragging his body along wherever it took him.

“…Do I?”

Lily paused again, even more confused than before. “I-I mean—“ She stammered, unsure how to reply to a question like that. She eventually settled on; “I thought you did.”

“Ah…” The two fell into silence. It was short lasted, however, as Billy was quick to catch their attention.

“Bye guys! See you at school tomorrow!!” Billy loudly exclaimed, waving quickly at Penny, Nugget, and Ted as they walked off down the street, waving and yelling their goodbyes back to Billy, Lily, and Kidd.

Once they were out of sight, Billy quickly swung his body back around to the front door of the Sato residence. They reached into their pocket, pulling out the keys to the house and scrambling to unlock the door.

Once the door finally opened, the 3 scrambled inside. Kidd looked around.

Everything still looked the same as before. Lily and Billy’s pet dog sat on the couch asleep with toya scattered on the ground. Billy video game console still sat lazily on the carpet of the living room with the controllers propped up on the coffee table which had some left over snacks and an open bag of chips on it. Lily’s sketch book was on the counter surrounded by colored pencils and different colored mechanical pencils, next to it being a leftover cup of juice.

Kidd dragged himself further in, looking to the stairs. The slinky Billy had tried to slide down was still sat in the middle, accompanied by other toys scattered along the stairs.

Kidd turned to the twins, who had already settled on the couch with a cartoon playing and Billy eating some chips from the leftover bag. He quietly told the two he was going to his room, which they didn’t have a problem with. That didn’t stop Kidd from noticing Lily’s concerned glance.

Once Kidd reached the top the stairs, he could see the major improvement compared to downstairs, which he found ironic since the twins spent most of their time upstairs.

Of course, that didn’t stop the floor from still having toys scattered along it. Most of them were dog toys. Billy always insisted they get the dog, Goldie, every time they go to the store.

Originally, Goldie’s name was going to be ‘Gold Eye Dragon’, named after Billy’s favorite Monstermon card, but Lily had wanted apart of the name and said that a name like that was too long. So, they settled on Goldie. Which didn’t even make sense, given Goldie was black and white.

“Kidd?” A new voice called out. Kidd stopped his thought, bringing his head up to see Lily’s mom standing at the window with a bottle of cleaning spray. In the other hand was a wired headphone connected to her phone. “You kids are back already?”

Kidd stepped back, giving a nod. “Yeah…Lily and Billy are downstairs.” He slowly stepped toward his room, the door being decorated with stickers and marker. It was mostly Lily’s idea, but he does have a faint memory of helping with it.

Lily and Billy’s door had been decorated similarly thanks to him, he thinks. “We just got home.” He added on.

Lily’s mom, Rui, tilted her head. “Something the matter, sweetie?” She spoke, her voice soft and gentle.

Kidd tensed. “No…” He turned to the door. “I’m just tired, is all. Long day, y’know?”

Rui’s concerned look slowly changed to understanding. She nodded, even if Kidd couldn’t see it. “I understand.” She placed her cleaning bottle down, making her way to the staircase. “Then, I’ll be downstairs if you need anything.”

Kidd nodded, opening the door to his bedroom and slipping inside.

The room still looked the same. A small shelf was on the wall beside his bed, holding some figurines and Monstermon plushies, the bottom half of the shelf had a deck of cards and some books from a series he liked. On the hanger was a mini backpack, the other empty which held his jacket.

Across from that was a mirror leaned against the wall. Before Kidd officially ‘moved in’, his room was a storage room. Despite how much Lily and Billy’s parents had tried to convince Kidd to take all their junk out, he insisted on keeping the mirror and a few other items buried in his closet.

He wasn’t sure why, but he liked having the mirror there. He saw it as a sort of self-reminder. For what, he wasn’t sure. It was still nice to have nonetheless.

Kidd dragged himself over to his bed, and flopped down. After a moment of lying like that, he began to pull himself over to face the ceiling.

From downstairs, he could hear Lily and Billy’s cartoon playing a lot louder than it should have been, Goldie barking while a loud thud kept going on repeatedly every few seconds. It was safe enough to assume Billy was playing catch.

They were so energetic and loud, the complete opposite of Kidd. All of his friends were the opposite of him, now that he thought about it.

Lily was kind and energetic, but still had a temper to her.

Billy was always loud and playful, but also moody.

Penny was gentle and kind, added on with a bit of sass.

Ted was kind, but was also easy to make upset.

And Nugget…Kidd wasn’t sure how to describe him. And he didn’t want to think about it either, or his head would just hurt even more.

And then Kidd…Kidd wasn’t sure how to describe himself. He didn’t really feel like whatever ‘himself’ was supposed to be either.

He let a small sigh leave his mouth. He starred at the ceiling. His mind wandered, and soon the noise from downstairs became nothing but white noise.

He let a small sigh leave his mouth. He stared at the ceiling. His mind wandered, and soon the noise from downstairs became nothing but white noise. Slowly, his eyes began to fall close. As he slipped away into unconsciousness, he heard something. The window slid open, a noise of static filling the room. Slowly, its neck cracking was enough to make its existence known. Kidd slipped into sleep.