"Why did you do that?!" Mugman showed him the list of debtors "We can't do this! What were you thinking?!" Cuphead weakly glared at his brother "But.. think about it, Mugsy! If we could've won, Elder kettle doesn't have to work every day! He could've taken a break from this! From us!!" Mugman pointed at the Casino "We could have taken our winnings home already! It was already enough!" Cuphead replied, "But if we could've just won one more game then–!" Mugman cuts him off "We were talking to the Devil! No one ever wins against him! Did you not think that it was a trap?! Our soul is not for gambling! And you were being greedy!!" Cuphead stayed quiet, with a big frown on his face, looking down, he clench his fist "You know what..?" He suddenly took the list from him "I'll go alone then!! I'll handle this by myself!" Cup angrily stormed off.
A KNOCKOUT!
"S-See..? I-I can handle it b-by myself!" Cup panted, grabbing his damaged arm. His body was filled with dirt, cuts, and bruises. He sat down on the ground and starred at the contract in front of him, with a golden SEAL sticker. Only some words are readable, the rest are written in a foreign language. He wipes the blood off of the corner of his mouth. He lays down on the floor, taking a break from the fight breathing heavily '..I'll just have to do this until all contracts are sealed.. Then, me, Mugsy and Elder kettle will be free.. I can do this. All for them' He took a look at the list, seeing a bunch of them, and he is only at Isle one. He let out a long groan of despair, he remembered something 'You have 'till midnight tomorrow to collect all of those souls! Otherwise, I'll be the one collecting yours!' Cuphead stood up in a panic, causing a sharp pain in his abdomen to strike his bruised body as he yelped in pain, he never fought so intensely before, maybe because he never gambled his soul before. Or maybe because he never fought like his life depended on it before, sure he sometimes gets into a couple of fights from time to time, but those are different from this.
Enough talking, He still needs to collect everything by tomorrow midnight. He can't waste any more time.
WALLOP!
Cuphead found himself in a fight between two strong boxers. He took punches after punches, as the frogs laugh at him "Hey! ain't you the brothers who dealt with the Devil earlier?" Ribby nudges his elbow towards his brother "HAH! You're right! Wheres the other one?" Croaks laughed "Oh I know! He abandoned ya!!" The brothers laughed at the broken cup who was whimpering in pain "Luckily for us, we've had fightin' souls ever since we've been tiny tadpoles!" Cuphead looked down at his hands, this is it. This is how he'll die "Guess yer brother got tired of cleanin' your mess for ya!" Tears build up in his eyes, his half-broken head crumbling with every movement he made. Maybe they are right, Mugman always had his back, always helping him even if it was dangerous. Maybe he got tired, he saw how mad he was earlier. Maybe he deserves this...
His eyes started to grow heavy, his consciousness slowly slipping. He was about to give up when he felt a presence in front of him, he was going to block, thinking it was the frogs but when he looked up, relief and surprise washed over him.
"M-Mugman!" "Im still mad at you, but..." Mugman looked behind him, his expression softened "No matter what mess you put yourself into, I will always have your back" Tears started pouring down on Cup's face, Mugs offered him a hand which Cup took "Th-thank you brother.." A loud sob interrupted this moment, it came from the frog brothers "Y-You came back!!" "I t-thought yer gon' leave h-him!!" The Cup brothers uncomfortably starred at the two adults crying in front of them. Ribby and Croaks wipe their manly tears away "Well, now it's even!" Ribby exclaimed "Brothers versus brothers! Now we're talkin'!" And so the real fight began.
A KNOCKOUT!
The brother's starred in disbelief. Earlier in the fight, when both are at one health, Mugman accidentally got hit with one of the flying coins at their final phase. Cuphead saw him die! He saw his soul leaving his body! And with a desperate reach of his soul, he parried and he was alive again! Everyone was shocked, even the enemies got caught off guard causing them to lose.
Mugsy started patting himself, touching his arm, his face, still not believing that he somehow lived after that.
"Th-that was–"
"Awesome!!"
"What? No–"
"You're immortal!!"
"Cuphead, I just died!"
"Yeah! But I can bring you back!"
"Which means I can die"
"But if I can parry you, you'll be back!"
"Does this not faze you at all?!"
"No- I mean yeah but it's a good thing, right?"
Mugman sat down on the ground, his hands were shaking, Cuphead saw this and gave his brother a hug "..I-Im scared Cuphead.." Cuphead holds his brother's hands "I know Mugsy.. I am too.. But we have each other's back, we will fight everyone side by side, and I will never let you go no matter what" Mugman looked up, gently smiled at his brother "Thank you, brother"
They stood up, walking up to Porkrind to buy something that'll heal them when Mugman saw a big die in the bridge between Isle 1 and 2 "Hey Cuphead?" "Yeah?" "Do you recognize that Die head somewhere when we were at the Casino?" Cuphead sat down next to him "The one with a purple suit?" Mugman nods his head "Yeah.. he does look familiar" They were sitting down trying to remember where they saw him before. After a while, Mugman snapped his fingers "Oh I know! We saw him when we were wandering in the train tracks!" Cuphead's eyes lit up "Oh! Yeah, I remember now! That was a long time ago though... We thought the train wasn't there.." Mugs nod his head again "Yeah, my foot got stuck and we hear the train coming.. Then the die came from the cave and helped me up and he told us to run along" Mugs looked at the contract in his hand "I wonder if he also has a soul contract..?" They heard Porkrind laugh "Of course he has! You never heard of him?" The brothers shook his head "I heard that he was a wealthy man who came from another place.. He was a famous player, a good one too, his face is all over the newspapers, he travels from country to country! He got the title, King Dice" The brothers listened with curiosity "So he decided to challenge the Devil, he won and lost a couple of times, then when the game started to get intense, the Devil offered him a deal, he accepted it and lost" Mugsy asked; "But what was the deal?" Porkrind shrugged his shoulders "Beats me" Mugman looked down in thought, his brother noticed this "What's wrong Mugsy?" Cuphead asked,
"What do you think we should do to the soul contracts?"
_____
Art on top not mine :)