Cuphead and Mugman in "Fate Will Find You"

Sheltered From the Past

"Wh-what's going on, Elder Kettle? What happened? How did we get here? Where's Mugman?" Came his many questions that he could barely get out between his sobs. But Elder Kettle stayed quiet. He stared down at his boy with a look of grief upon his face.

"Oh, this will be good!" The Devil sneered as he turned back around. Kettle stayed quiet and merely stroked Cuphead even more intensely.

"Where is he, Elder Kettle? Where's my little brother?" Cup persisted, desperate for answers.

"Aren't you going to tell him, Kettle?" The creature probed. But the elderly kettle just closed his eyes in utter shame of how things turned out.

"Y-your brother....um...." The tan kettle couldn't even get out the words to describe the mug's state.

"Is dead! Shot down back at your hovel!" Boomed the black creature. For he was happy to break the news if the kettle couldn't.

"No.... it isn't true." Cuphead said, not taking his eyes off his grandpa. His cup slowly shook back and forth as the tears only seemed to rain down his face even faster. "Please tell me he's lying, Elder Kettle!"

"I wish he was, Cuphead." Kettle replied, now sobbing himself.

"M-maybe he's not dead!" Cup offered. Any hope right now would surely brighten their situation. "We should go back to the house and look for him!"

"Mugs would have never survived a wound like that, Cuphead..." The elderly glassware explained as his spout bubbled a bit.

"Oh, he's dead alright!" The Devil chimed in. This comment made the young cup mad. He tried to push past Elder Kettle to insult the creature directly. His guardian stepped to the side when he felt the boy struggle.

"You monster!" He yelled. "If I get my hands on you, I'm going to kick your ass for killing Mugs!" As mad as he was, the tears still flooded down his cup.

"Oh, I didn't kill him." The satanic creature replied coolly. "You did that for me."

"No! You're wrong! I would never!" Cup argued. He watched as the furry creature chuckled and started to circle the child. The Devil got down on all fours to be more on the boy's level.

"Why is it do you think your clothes are ripped in that way? They sure look like claw marks to me. And who do you know that has claws?"

Cuphead looked about his clothing at the tears the Devil mentioned. He was right. The markings indicated a struggle. Could it be that he really had been fighting his brother? Cup started to believe this.

"But your claws were even sharper! And they tore directly into his soul! Just look at your right hand if you don't believe me." He looked at the cup child straight in the face.

The young cup looked to his right glove. His fingers protruded through holes at the end of each gloved finger. Cuphead swallowed hard. The truth hit him like a ton of bricks. His heart was breaking by the second. But he wasn't about to let the Devil see that he was getting to him.

"That...that doesn't prove anything!" Poor Cup sobbed.

"Oh, no?" The black creature stopped in front of the cup child. "Look here and I'll show you exactly what happened." A single clawed finger poked the underside of his cup and held him in place.

"Ugh!" Cuphead winced when his tender throat was poked. Eyes nearly fell closed as the sharp object felt like it was going to pierce his skin. Cup was forced to stare into the Devil's yellow eye as its black pupil split into two shadows. One of his mutated self and the other of his mutated brother. He watched as his own shadow violently swung its claws into Mugman's gut. However, the Devil's imagination made the strike look even more brutal than it actually was. Mug's shadow slumped as it was pushed to the ground. The satanic creature averted its pupil back to normal and backed away from the cup child that was about to let another bout of tears out. Cup was so drowned in his sorrow that he didn't even notice the claw get removed from his throat.