How You Turn My World; Chapter 4
You finally find your way into the labyrinth, coming across some new and old faces; both friendly and malicious.
Character; Lilia Vanrouge
Content; Gender-neutral reader, reader is getting tired of being stuck here and smelling like a bog
Content Warnings; Swearing, some talk of death, reader passes out
Word Count; 2.2 K
Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 |
As per usual, don't put my work into AI.
You were finally making some decent progress, what, with not being stuck in some bog and knowing somewhat of where you were going. A vast improvement really! Well, it would be, but unfortunately, you still reeked of rotten eggs and skunk — apparently the bog stench only got worse the longer it stayed on.
“Why did it have to dump me into the swamp,” you huffed, rounding yet another corner. “Like, it could have dumped me beside the water, but, no, no, let’s dump the magicless human right into the putrid bog water! A good guffaw, don’t you think? Ha ha ha HA!”
At least your au de Bog of Eternal Stench kept any would-be assailants away since you hadn’t run into anything (besides a rose bush, ouch) since you started making your way through the labyrinth. So maybe it wasn’t all that bad… damn, maybe your sense of smell was just used to it… hey, if stink helps you not die, then you would gladly stay stinky! Well, bitterly stay stinky is more like it.
“Assholes,” you muttered, rounding another corner.
But it wasn’t a corner; it was a crossroad. Three paths merged off of the one you were on.
… aren’t labyrinths just one long line? THIS IS A FUCKING MAZE?! You groaned, looking at your possible options which all looked exactly the same.
Decisions, decisions, decisions. Of course nothing is easy here, no no no! Gotta make things difficult now.
The hedge behind you rustled, and you whipped around, getting into a stance where you could either land a pretty good sucker punch to the hedge-stalker or make a mad dash away. But out of the hedge crawled out a small, fuzzy, caterpillar. And back at home you would have thought it was cute, but you learned your lesson from the doors; don’t trust it, or anyone for that matter.
You looked down at the caterpillar, and the caterpillar looked up at you, blinking slowly.
What are the chances…
“Do you know a way out,” you asked the caterpillar, crouching down so that you didn’t tower over it.
The caterpillar blinked at you again (apparently caterpillars in the Underground have eyelids, which isn’t the weirdest thing considering everything). “No,” it chirped and continued crawling on its merry way, wherever that may be. “But you’ll find the way.” And it disappeared into the growth of the maze, humming a little tune to itself.
You sighed, and pushed yourself back up, straightening out your shoulders and looking up to the sky. “I’ll find a way,” you breathed, looking up at the cloudless sky which was starting to turn a brilliant amber with the setting sun. “I might want to find a way is more like it.”
You looked back down to the ground, looking at the three paths in front of you. They all look the same, save for the ground making up paths themselves, with the middle and right paths looking well worn with travel. And while they may be well worn, there was a voice at the back of your head that was whispering caution. The left-most path was not as well travelled, with dead vines covering parts of it.
“Hopefully you’re right, little buddy since I could use all the luck I can get.” And you made your way down the path, hoping that it was the correct one and didn’t lead you to your death or some other unpleasant thing.
…
…
Lilia was at the entrance of the labyrinth, in front of the two doors.
“Have you seen a human, about this tall, a bit of a temper, and smelling foul,” he asked the doors.
The doors looked at each other before looking at Lilia. “And what’s it to you,” they said in unison.
Lilia smiled, but it was one of mild annoyance, not joy or amusement. “Royal orders I fear. You wouldn’t want the mistress finding out about you both tampering with a royal matter, would you?” The smile turned cat-like since Lilia had backed them into a corner.
The doors paled, with the blue door speaking up. “No no, sir! We would never dream of such a thing!!! Yes, there was a human, a wretched one at that, horribly rude!”
Lilia hummed, cocking a brow at the door. “I do think wretched is a bit of an overstatement now,” he whispered to himself. “Well, tell me where about they are then. The sooner I can collect them, the better for you lot.”
The red door sighed, “Near the heart of it, they took the left path.”
Left path? Why the left path leads to… Shit. Lilia mentally groaned, knowing that regardless of the path you took, you would end up having to deal with them eventually. “Your cooperation has been noted,” is what he said though, giving the doors both a nod before turning into a bat and flying over the labyrinth, trying to find you before you ran into whoever them was.
“Please be clever enough not to die,” he whispered to no one, hoping that he didn’t have to deliver your body to the Queen.
…
…
The left path brought you to what looked like a forest; with old-growth trees, ferns and moss covering the ground, and a list mist hanging in the air. It was peaceful and beautiful, with the setting sun illuminating the mist without burning it away.
But that would not last, night was fast approaching and you had nothing to protect you this time; no rowan tree to haul your ass up, and no sort of weapon to protect yourself besides the oh-so-lovely smell of the bog to deter something from eating you. You were pretty sure it would also keep away anything that wanted to otherwise snatch you up.
“AH!” Something jumped out from a tree, and you couldn’t fully register what it was since you were also screeching, much like the creature was at you; you with fright, the creature with amusement and joy.
Two other creatures jumped out from behind the trees and startled cackling, jumping, and clapping. Together, they surrounded you, with no way to really escape them without fighting through.
… you really should have read about fae species, since you didn’t know what they exactly were, or how dangerous they were either.
One pulled you near a pit and lit a fire, cackling in glee and dancing, trying to get you to join them. “Ah come on, human, have some fun! DANCE BABEY!!!!”
But you stayed still as more creatures came out of the shadows, dancing around the fire, giggling, cackling, and pulling a bit at your clothes to prompt you to join them. You didn’t know, cementing your feet down, your eyes watching their movements with caution.
‘Should you dance with the fae, you shall not stop dancing until you exhaust yourself. And once you wake up, you will continue dancing. This cycle will repeat itself until you dance to death.’
At least that was what the book said, and so you stayed still, regardless of how much the creatures pulled at you. While it looked like a grand old time, you remained where you were.
“I don’t have time for dancing,” you answered coldly, flinching from pinching fingers. You were also a bit shocked that Eau de Bog of Eternal Stench wasn’t keeping them away. Either, they couldn’t smell, or, they didn’t care that you smelled downright awful. “So this ‘baby’ won’t dance.”
And should I be offended by you calling me ‘baby’ or am I reading too much into it?
The main creature just shrugged and spun its dancing partner around. “Your loss human! More fun for us then! YIPPEE!!!” And it threw something in the fire to where you could feel the heat on your face.
What now? You were just standing there awkwardly as the creatures danced about, singing something that you couldn’t really make out. All you knew was that the heat, noise, and the dizzying dance of them was making your head pound, and throat scream in thirst. You hadn’t drank anything for over a day(?) — no, bog water did not count — and the heat from the fire made the thirst only worse. Shit.
“Ah, you don’t look too… hot there human,” one of the creatures snickered at its own joke at your expense. “Maybe if you dance with us, loosen up and have a bit of fun, then you can have a drink? Hmm? Dancing won’t kill you!” But its failed attempts at covering up its own malicious giggles were more than enough to stand your ground… which was coming at you quite fast since you practically collapsed.
Was it the thirst? The pounding migraine that wanted nothing more than to crawl into some dark hole and hide? Or your exhaustion from making that tiring trek, crawling yourself out of the bog and making the trek again, or the hours you had spent wandering around the maze with no real idea of where you were going? All you really knew was that you were now on the ground with the creatures poking at you to see if you were still alive.
“Aw, man! Are they already dead? That’s no fun!” One of the creatures pouted, raising up your arm, and you let it plop back to the ground. “Come on human! Get up! You’re not a party pooper are you?”
Scre you buddy! Can’t you read the situation?!
You were trying your best to stay quiet, which wasn’t all that hard, since all of your energy was gone.
“They best not be,” a familiar voice called out.
From your position, you couldn’t see who it was, but you could make out the creatures jumping away from you like you were the hot fire instead of the fire pit. But someone else was approaching until you could make out a pair of shoes in front of your face.
They crouched down beside you, placing their fingers gently at the base of your throat; taking your pulse. “Hmph, playing dead, are we, Beastie?”
That irritating chuckle. The annoying nickname. Those mischievous magenta eyes that now looked at you with curiosity and amusement.
It was him — Mr. Sparkles.
And he had just blown your act of playing possum (well, not really, since you had actually collapsed).
But you didn’t say anything, instead favouring to give him a dirty look. Yet he just shook his head in jest, and proceeded to pick you up and wrap you around his shoulders and neck like some sort of bizarre ermine pelt; better than being carried like a sack of potatoes or the bridal carry you supposed.
“Her majesty sends her regards for not turning or killing her guest,” Lilia offered the creatures. It would be such a waste and pity to see such an entertaining Beastie leave us too soon now. “But do know she won’t take to their condition lightly.”
My condition? I’m not some Victorian child with some unknown illness wreaking havoc on their body you know?! But all that you did was groan and cough. You couldn’t even cough in Mr. Sparkles’ (Lilia’s) face, since you had a lovely view of the moss-covered ground and the fae’s shoes.
He patted the back of your calves, and you would have kicked him if you had more energy, but you didn’t. “Now, we really should be off, since Beastie has… an hour to get out of this maze before they turn into some sort of worm, or a hedge; never know what this old labyrinth will decide on really.” Lilia chuckled at the thought (was it merriment, or was he happy that you weren’t joining the caterpillar you met earlier?).
“No,” you wheezed. “WoRm!”
“See! They said it themself! No worm! How lovely that we are on a similar wavelength, Beastie! Marvellous even!” Lilia exclaimed, and the both of you started levitating off of the ground. “Now, do enjoy your party, Fireys!”
The creatures (Fireys apparently) groaned but got back to their party, dancing around the fire like they didn’t just try to lure you to your death mere minutes before.
“Tsk tsk, Beastie,” Lilia’s tutting brought your attention back to him and you grumbled. “You owe me two favours now, you know. Lucky that I found you… although that part wasn’t hard. I thought you learned your lesson the first time you decided to take a dip into the Bog of Eternal Stench?”
You lightly kicked him, letting your irritation be known, but Lilia just hummed. “Now now, no need to be like that! Do you want to smell like a bog when you meet the mistress? She wouldn’t take kindly to your… unique aroma.”
You hissed out a breath since he decided to pinch at your ear rather harshly — prompting for you to answer. “No,” you whispered hoarsely.
“Also, do read up on that book, since you will want to know about the government and fae species etiquette!”
From a smelly bog and fumbling around a maze for hours on end, to finding yourself being taken to fae high society… was it too late to become some worm in the maze? I think being a worm actually has a better chance of me living.
But sadly, you were saved from an eternity of being a worm. Hopefully, Mr. Sparkles (Lilia) would cover for your blunders a little for when you found yourself in front of ‘the mistress’.
...
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To be continued!
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Tags; @afunkyfreshblog @cheezy-moon @eynnwwyjth @identity-theft-101 @ithseem @lucid-stories @ryker-writes @twistwonderlanddevotee @xxoomiii
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Life Just Isn't Fair: Koopa Kid's childhood (The 7th Koopaling adopted. [Wendy was the last.])
This will be my last one for tonight: the others (except Morton's, I guess) are kind of boring.
Before you read: Trigger Warning: This backstory may contain some things that might trigger the reader.
Another warning: Long as fuck. And has some trauma. Have fun.
How do I even begin with this one? Oh, boy.
So, basically, Koopa Kid was born into a harsh, harsh family. His biological family basically traumatized his life. He can never get the guts to tell his siblings though (even though it would probably help), not even Bowser knows what Koopa Kid's real backstory is...even though he was the one who adopted (and pretty much saved) him.
When Koopa Kid was born, his parents really didn't care for him. They kind of just left him alone, and put tape around his mouth whenever he screamed or cried. One year after Koopa Kid was born, his brother was born: Christain. Christain was the spoiled one of the family. He never got hurt.
Koopa Kid's family was also pretty poor, since his dad was kind of an alcoholic, they didn't have very good jobs to raise children. They usually brought their anger out on something else.
Like I mentioned, whenever Koopa Kid screamed or cried, they would put tape over his mouth. Even at a young age (3 years old) Koopa Kid has learned two things about his household: Don't ever scream. Never cry.
After Koopa Kid learned that, his parents pretty much left him alone, except for one thing: they never potty-trained him. He had to teach himself. How did he teach himself? His parents would whip him every time he didn't go properly. Another thing he picked up quickly. Since his brother was spoiled rotten: he was properly potty-trained.
Other than the getting-to-the-bathroom struggles...they pretty much left Koopa Kid alone. They didn't like him. He was actually a mistake child (and Christain wasn't), and he was so clumsy. They didn't start getting harsh until he turned 6.
It was on his father's birthday, he had made his dad something (again, he was 6) and his mother made Koopa Kid carry out the cupcakes, and his stupid-ass brother Christain stuck his leg out, and Koopa Kid...tripped. (There was candles on the cupcake as well, so he almost lit the house on fire) and his mother got mad. Real mad. So you know what happened? They whipped him. That's when it started.
After two years of living with his abusive parents going through the same abusive cycle: Whipped, slashed at (yes, with a knife), and even got threatened. Sometimes they refused to feed him. Also, he had built up a negative relationship with his brother. Here's one of the conversations they had once:
"Haha! Koopa Kid, your hair is so EMO. Lol."
"Wow, you're so ugly I can't believe you're my brother. Lmao."
"...MOM!!!!!"
This pretty much shows Koopa Kid already developed a big mouth. He never figured that out. If he ever said or did anything that hurt his brother, he would get severely punished. This is pretty much worse then Wendy's story. He also learned a lot of cuss words from his parents:
(drops coffee mug) "Aw, FUCK!"
Koopa Kid learned a lot bad habits from his parents. Every month, the got more violent and violent. Even just at 10 years old he started smoking. He was always stressed and panicked. Even now, behind his appearance to be tough, he is actually afraid a lot of the times: wondering what would happen if his parents ever came back.
Even in public places, Koopa Kid never called for help. The rules he learned from when he was three were still in his mind. Don't ever scream. Never cry. And he did exactly that.
Like I said: month after month they got more and more violent, and his brother Christain joined them. It caused Koopa Kid to smoke a LOT more. He developed asthma from smoking too much when he was 12.
This cycle happened for another 2 years, finally after being scarred and bleeding all the time: Koopa Kid had enough of it. He was 14 when he finally spilled the news. He told his teacher: "I...I need help. My parents won't stop abusing me, they are getting worse. If you come over you will see there's blood all over the kitchen tablecloth."
His teacher agreed to check it out, and Koopa Kid was finally relieved. He was finally gonna get out of that crappy home! Nope. His teacher had pop-up plans that night and sent Koopa Kid's parents an email instead, and guess what happened: it all went down. Koopa Kid almost got beaten to death that night after his parents found out what Koopa Kid had said to his teacher, in plan to escape from that awful home.
Once the email was sent during dinnertime, his dad (the alcoholic) got pissed. He dragged Koopa Kid away from the table and kicked him in the stomach, and Koopa Kid couldn't breathe. He fell over from a hard punch, and his neck hit the table: so he almost broke his neck. He almost died. Once his dad pulled out the kitchen knife, Koopa Kid ran to his room. He was gonna run away. For good.
At 11 p.m. all the lights in the house were off, signaling that everyone was asleep. Koopa Kid, who got his stealth skills from his parents, snuck to the main area successfully. He had a flashlight, and when he looked around, he saw that the creepy basement door was strangely open. It was never open. Koopa Kid was a very curious child. Curiosity killed the cat. And this pretty much killed Koopa Kid inside.
Like I said: he was curious. So guess what he decided to do: he went into the creepy-ass basement. There wasn't a light switch, so he turned on his flashlight instead [this was the scene drawn in the picture above] and what he saw traumatized him. It was a Koopa Troopa, knife secured in his stomach, blood everywhere, and a rope around his neck. Koopa Kid's parents always threatened Koopa Kid that this would happen if you "keep it up," but Koopa Kid never knew that it was serious. There was posters and all that plastered all over the walls, and Koopa Kid found out that night that his parents were serial killers getting paid to kill for money. Koopa Kid never found out who they were working for. (It was Dieter's parents by the way)
Of course, after seeing the dead body, Koopa Kid was scared to death. He wanted to scream, but he didn't. Don't ever scream were tattooed to his mind. So, he went upstairs, grabbed the kitchen knife, and left without saying a word. He never even reported it to the police. Why? He was scared if he did, his parents would come after and kill him. But, after he ran away that night: he never saw his parents again. He did see his brother quite often though. His brother even tried drowning him once, since Koopa Kid can't swim.
However, this is not how Bowser found Koopa Kid. Not yet. There is still one more major event that happened before Bowser found Koopa Kid.
The next day (after Koopa Kid ran away), Koopa Kid was just walking through the forest, when he heard a threatening voice. It wasn't his parents. It wasn't his brother. This was Koopa Kid's first time meeting Dieter, just a day after he ran away. Now I'm just saying: Dieter is the biggest piece of shit in this blog. He is just a monster. Here's why:
The first time Koopa Kid met Dieter definitely wasn't a pleasant one. It was blood-filled. The point is: (why am I nervous? I'm the one writing the story, I think there is something wrong with me-) Koopa Kid found Dieter trying to rape somebody in the forest. The kid he was trying to rape lived nearby: His name was Spewart Broodal. This event happened pretty much a few days after Spewart had gotten surgery, and Spewart's father, Sir Broode, is another peice of shit, so-
Spewart was 13 when this happened, and is absolutely traumatized. Koopa Kid knew what was happening, and he got outraged of how disgusting a person could be. When Dieter had pushed Spewart to the ground...that was the last straw for Koopa Kid. (Koopa Kid and Spewart didn't even know each other either. Just shows what kind of person Koopa Kid really is) He ran up to Dieter with his father's giant kitchen knife that he grabbed the night before, and literally CHOPPED ONE OF DIETER'S FINGERS OFF. Koopa Kid had told Spewart to run, so he did. He can't remember Koopa Kid saved him, which is...upsetting. Dieter was now outraged, and since Koopa Kid was focused on saving Spewart he didn't see what Dieter was doing. Dieter picked up the knife Koopa Kid had used, and scrapped it on the side of his face. But guess what: even though his parents weren't there, he didn't scream. He couldn't do it.
The side of his face was bleeding out, and since Koopa Kid was blind sighted, Dieter poisoned him with orange poison, so Koopa Kid forgot about Dieter after that event. He remembers it now, since he is captured by Dieter now.
At the time, Koopa Kid still had some fight in him, even though the side of his face was covered in blood. The only reason he stopped is because Dieter said in a deep, threatening voice, "If you don't leave, I will call your parents. I know who they are." and Koopa Kid ran. He left the knife and the flashlight behind. He couldn't risk being caught by his parents again. It was a good thing he ran, because Dieter was serious.
That is when Bowser found him on the streets, the side of his face completely covered in blood, so basically Bowser saved Koopa Kid that day. When Koopa Kid arrived at Bowser's Castle, his new home, he quickly discovered that he had 7 half-brothers, and it scared him to death. He was still traumatized, he went to his new room, and he broke one of the rules in his brain: Never cry. He sobbed. He didn't come out until two weeks later.
...
Okay-ay~ that was a lot to unpack. Inbox is open if you want to ask Koopa Kid anything :)
But before I post this, I just wanted to point this out: In the photo in the beginning, you can see Koopa Kid's hairstyle is different. He didn't have the strands of hair on the side of his face. The reason he started wearing his hair like that is because he wanted to hide the scar on his face.
Photo for reference:
See the strand of hair on the side of his face? That's where the scar is.
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