Short Stories

Waste of Wood and Sweat

Summary: a few days after the Fourth of July party, Bella returns to the Lost City of Magic to visit a certain living puppet. Needless to say, Fantoccio is very happy to see the demon he had grown to be quite fond of, and Bella finds herself deciding to help him with his new play.

...

As soon as her adventure with Billie was over and her powers were returned, Bella knew the right thing to do was to return all the gems they collected to their rightful owners.

Of course, holders of the gem were pretty evil, as Bella and Billie both had to fight them each to get their hands on the gems, and Billie often considered some, such as Dutch and Elaine, were undeserving to have their gems returned back to them.

But honestly, Bella returned them anyway. It's not like they were using them for world domination purposes. So she went ahead and returned them, including returning a gem to a certain puppet, also known as Fantoccio.

Fantoccio was a living puppet, made entirely out of wood. No flesh or blood obviously. He held one of the gems Bella and Billie needed, but he did not make getting it easy for them.

Bella and Billie met Fantoccio in a theater in a mysterious place known as the Lost City of Magic during their search. He was rather....what was the word? He was a bit dramatic, and really loved things that were theatre related.

Though, he was also a bit grumpy, as Bella and Billie had somehow made him angry which led to the fight. They did eventually get the gem.

When he saw Bella again, Fantoccio was rightfully angry. Though that anger switched to surprise when she handed over something she and Billie had stolen from him: his gem.

Ever since then, he had forgiven Bella and started to grow fond of her. Way more so than he was towards Billie, who he developed a form of a rivalry with.

Due to the events of finally finding out about her dad's return and plans for a second Weirdmageddon, Bella was too busy with her job as a team leader and trying to do whatever she could to try to prevent the disastrous events to spend time with him. Of course, that  didn't mean he had no idea what was going on.

Sometime after Tessa managed to get her hands on the artifacts in her quest for revenge, Bella informed Billie of the disasters, the goat having told Fantoccio and the ghost owl who was also overly affectionate with Bella, Barnaby, afterwards.

However, right now, Bella decided to pay the puppet a visit. There was just so many friends she haven't been spending enough time with because of her job.

Of course, many of those friends have been invited to her surprise birthday party, but it wasn't enough. She wanted to catch up with them. All of them.

And today, she wanted to start with Fantoccio. As she walk through the Lost City, she remembered the times she had spent with the puppet for the remainder of her vacation back then.

Not just watching his plays, but partaking in them at times. V often teased Bella, believing that Fantoccio had a crush on her, mostly because the puppet was very affectionate with her, and he mostly assigned her the role of the love interest when it came to performing in his plays.

Bella wasn't sure if what V said was true or not. But then again, Bella often had the sudden urge to often get new admirers,  being very oblivious when doing so.

Right now, Bella was floating in front of the theater. She remembered the day she and Billie first met Fantoccio. It was hard to believe that the two had such a rocky start at first, which then blossomed into a sweet fondness on both sides, mostly the puppet's.

After a while, she took a deep breath, opened the doors, and floated right in. What she saw next confused her. She didn't see Fantoccio anywhere in the theater.

Normally, the last times she visited, he'd be either practicing a part on stage, rehearsing a musical, going through a list of lines or roles, thinking up an idea for a new play, setting up stage props or sitting in the front row of the seats as some of her friends audition for his play.

But strangely the theater seemed empty. She noticed Fantoccio's pet shark, Sharkspeare, laying in a big hole in the corner of the stage filled with water. Even he looked like a scary shark, ever since Bella returned Fantoccio's gem, he's been quite friendly enough to let Bella, Billie, and their friends pet him.

Bella floated over to Sharkspeare, who upon noticing her, began to stick his tongue out and started wagging his tail like a dog. "Aww, who's a good boy?" Bella smiled, as she began to pet his belly. "Who's a good shark? Who's a good shark? You are! Yes, you are!"

However, unknown to Bella, someone was planning some sneak attack on her. "Huh?" The next thing she knew,  she saw familiar yellow strings strap themselves to her wrists, and looked up to see gigantic wooden fists she haven't seen long ago.

Suddenly, due to the strength of the gigantic hands holding the yellow strings tied onto her wrists, Bella was sent flying upwards. The hands and strings slowly disappeared as her head got near the ceiling.

Bella was too shocked to think as she began to fall towards the ground. However, thankfully, someone had caught in time, and she looked to see Fantoccio, the puppet she had came to visit in the first place.

He hadn't changed at all. His yellow eyes, his toothy smirk, his feathered hat, and even his wooden skin. "Gotcha again," he grinned mischievously. "No matter how many times it happens, you just keep falling for it."

Bella remembered. This wasn't the first time Fantoccio had done this before. Many times, when Bella wasn't looking or had her guard down, Fantoccio would plan a sneaky trick up his sleeves, surprising her while hoisting her up into the air with his yellow strings before catching her as she began falling down.

Needless to say, Bella had fallen for the trick a thousand times. Even if it was annoying her a bit, it was just Fantoccio's way of affectionately playing with her.

"One of these days I'm gonna stop falling for that," Bella told the puppet.

Fantoccio rolled his eyes. "You say that every time and you still fall for it."

"That's true,  but that doesn't mean I'll not eventually stop seeing it coming," Bella said.

Fantoccio bursted into a hysterical laughter. "I'd like to see you try."

"You're hilarious," Bella chuckled.

"So are you," Fantoccio smirked.

"Oh, stop," Bella laughed, blushing as she was flattered by Fantoccio's comment.

"Well, it's true," Fantoccio smirked again. He snuggled his forehead against Bella's cheek. Just like Barnaby and a lot of people that had a crush on Bella, Fantoccio was a cuddler.

"So, how's your new play coming along?" Bella asked as Fantoccio started to lower themselves to the ground.

"Going quite swell," Fantoccio answered. "Got the right takes and props, auditioned a lot of folks, and got every role fit in. Except for one."

"Oh," Bella then added. "Well, surely it won't be too difficult. You just keep looking harder."

"Well, here's the thing, I already have someone else in mind," Fantoccio said and  smirked at Bella again, and the demon knew who he was talking about.

"Again, huh?" Bella chuckled. "What role am to play in your project?"

"I think you know."

Bella sighed as Fantoccio cuddled her again, even when they safely landed on the wooden floor.