It's here! The Hidden Mysteries season 2 premiere! Buckle up everyone, because after this, things are gonna get wild!
Warnings for talk of character death/violence! Nothing actually happens in this chapter, but just in case!
The elevator dinged, and the doors slid open, revealing the inside of the structure where they had originally entered, Tea Kettle, Lifering, and Nickel glancing over as Baseball, Suitcase and Balloon stumbled out.
"Kids!" Tea Kettle rushed over to the rest of them. "Are you all alright? Did you make it okay?"
"Mom," Balloon mumbled, grasping at his mother's apron. "T-Test Tube, she—she managed to get us all on the elevator, but then Merripen...they..." He trailed off, his shoulders shaking as he tried to hold back tears.
"Oh...oh, no." Tea Kettle's voice went quiet, bending down to wrap her arms around her son. "I'm so sorry, sweetheart. I'm so sorry."
Fan was silent, tears running down his face as he stared down at the elevator floor, slowly picking up Test Tube's glasses with shaky hands, holding them as delicately as he could, almost as if they were made of porcelain. Paintbrush and Lightbulb glanced down at the glasses themselves, Lightbulb's distraught, grief-filled expression looking completely out of place on her face, while Paintbrush looked completely numb.
Several others glanced over to look at the three of them, but before anyone could say a word to any of them, Lightbulb collapsed to the floor, a loud scream full of anguish and grief escaping from the normally upbeat girl's lungs, tears streaming down her face as she began wailing, mourning the loss of one of her best friends in the world. Paintbrush fell to their knees, wrapping their arms around her and hugging her tightly, Fan quickly following suit.
"Why?" Lightbulb sobbed, her vision blurred from her tears. "Why did he do that to Test Tube?! She...she didn't deserve to—" She couldn't even bear to finish her sentence before she erupted into more sobbing, but everyone unfortunately knew what she meant to say.
"...you're right, Lightbulb," Paintbrush said coldly, moving to stand up. "Test Tube didn't deserve that. She was forced into working for Merripen against her own will, and she sacrificed herself so we could all get away. And I don't know about you, Lightbulb, but I'm not going to let her sacrifice be in vain."
"What? What are you saying, Paintbrush?" Silver Spoon asked tentatively, staring at his child with slightly wide eyes.
Paintbrush took a deep breath, looking at their parents. "Mom, Dad, I might not know as much about this Merripen person as you guys, but I want to help you defeat them, for good. I know it's probably dangerous, but...I can't just stand aside and do nothing. Especially after what just happened."
"Y-Yeah, Painty's right," Lightbulb agreed, wiping her face on her sleeve. "Test Tube wouldn't want us to just sit around and do nothing. She would have wanted us to stand together and fight that jeebweezer!"
"Are you two saying..." Fan said slowly, releasing his sister from his hold so she could stand next to Paintbrush.
Paintbrush nodded confidently, a determined look on their face as they shared a look with Lightbulb. "Lightbulb and I want in. We might not have the cool 'inner flame' stuff that Mom, Suitcase, and Balloon have, but we've got guts. The guts to fight Merripen and avenge our friend!"
Suitcase blinked slowly, an idea clicking into place in her mind. Yes, she was still fatigued, but she could still see...
"Paintbrush is right," she said, slowly moving to stand up on her own. Everyone moved to look at her, puzzled expressions on their faces.
"What? What do you mean?" Balloon questioned, staring at Suitcase quizzically.
"Maybe we all don't need inner flames to help stop Merripen," she explained, gesturing at everyone as she stumbled to the front of the room. "I mean, Tea Kettle's such a good fighter, she managed to take on several shadow sentries at once, even after being kidnapped. And Lightbulb might have ideas that others might consider unconventional, but they could prove to be extremely useful. And think of what other strengths other people might have to offer to our cause if we told them what was going on!"
Everyone looked at each other, quickly realizing what Suitcase was suggesting, muttering quietly amongst themselves.
"We can't just sit back and let Merripen try to pull this shit any longer!" Suitcase exclaimed, clenching her fists. "Beginning today, we start to fight back, for everyone that we've lost because of Merripen, and for everyone we love and want to protect!"
"Fuck yeah!" Paintbrush screamed. "We're going to give that Merripen bitchass what he deserves!"
"Paintbrush has the spirit I'm looking for!" Suitcase cheered. "Starting today, we fight against Merripen together, as the Hatchwood Resistance! Who's with me?!"
The cheering that echoed throughout the cave was nearly ear-splitting.
~~~~~
"Okay everyone! Listen up!" Silver Spoon exclaimed, standing in front of the area of the library that they had turned into a meeting area, alongside Baseball, Nickel, and Candle. It had been several days since the flame ring, and so far they had managed to recruit OJ, Microphone, and Knife into the resistance. Cabby had no interest of joining as of yet, as she was still trying to process what had happened to her daughter, but she offered the resistance complete access to her files at any time if they needed them. "Okay, I'm assuming that by now, those of you who weren't present at the flame ring have been made aware of what happened to Test Tube Pinker, correct?"
"I wish we weren't," Microphone sighed. "How could that Merripen guy just...kill a teenage girl? Just like that?"
"Well, Test Tube isn't necessarily dead," Candle clarified.
"What are you talking about?" Paintbrush blurted out. "We saw Merripen stab Test Tube, and there was—"
"Yes, that's true, but you have to remember that apparently Merripen had taken control over Test Tube, at some point between when Balloon first unlocked his powers, and the flame ring," Candle explained. "It's very likely that Merripen is keeping her alive until he's ready to take control over her again so she can be his vessel to wreak havoc on the world, and that could be any moment now."
"So Test Tube is okay?!" Fan exclaimed, leaning forward with hope in his widened eyes.
"We can't be certain of Test Tube's current state now, or where she even is, unfortunately. And Merripen's unpredictability doesn't necessarily help with that," Silver Spoon replied. "But considering that Test Tube is apparently a major asset to Merripen, we can assume that she's still alive."
"Although, as much as I hate to say this, we can't prioritize on Test Tube at the moment," Candle sighed. "Our main focus, at least for now, is preparation for what Merripen has in store for us. Baseball, Silver Spoon, Nickel and I have had the most experience with him, so you can all trust us when we say you have no clue what they're capable of."
"Candle's right. If Merripen is still like he was thirteen years ago, which I highly assume they are, he won't stop at anything if it means that their plan will come to fruition," Baseball added. "He's never been one to hold back."
"It might not seem like it now, but we're in the penultimate moments before Merripen strikes," Silver Spoon exclaimed. "Which means we can't waste any time in preparing for when he inevitably rises up to enact his plan!"
"Which means, we have to make a plan of our own," Nickel butted in quickly, before rushing to the side of the room, where there was a large chalkboard and a few sticks of chalk. He grabbed the chalkboard and wheeled it over, placing a chalk stick in Baseball's hand. "You have the floor, big guy."
"Thanks, Nickel," Baseball thanked him, moving over to write out 'journals' on the board. "Now, the first thing we need to take care of is probably the most important. Suitcase, do you...?"
Suitcase stood up, digging in her bag and pulling out her mother's journals, handing them over to her father. "Here you go, Baseball!"
"Thanks, honey," he thanked his daughter with a smile, before holding up one of the journals. "Now, these journals are probably the most important thing in our plan. They might not look like they're that vital to the safety of the world, but with these journals in Merripen's possession, he can have the ability to learn what he might not already know, and use that knowledge to create a near unstoppable army. So our priority here is to find the last journal, but while also keeping the journals in a safe area where Merripen can't easily access them. The problem is, where should we keep them...?"
"Come on, ideas, people!" Nickel exclaimed, grasping a piece of chalk and tapping it against the board. "Everything'll be taken into consideration, so don't be nervous if you have any bad ideas!"
"Okay everyone, we need to think about this carefully," OJ said, grabbing a piece of paper and scribbling "hideout ideas???" on it in his slightly messy writing. "We need to hide the journals in an area that we can get to easily, but Merripen can't. Just think, think here, what's one area that Merripen wouldn't expect to find the journals in...?"
"Does it have to be one area, though?" Lightbulb piped up. "What if it was...multiple areas?"
"Wait, huh?" Paintbrush looked over, tilting their head. "What do you mean?"
"Well, just think about it." She snatched the paper from OJ, flipping it over and began scribbling some sort of diagram on the back. "Merripen would probably expect us to pick just one spot to hide the journals in and keep it there, right? So what if we took the journals and hid them, but changed their hiding places without any patterns in terms of area or how long we keep them there. Y'know, kinda like those shell game scams at the carnival."
"That...might actually work," Candle said slowly. "As unpredictable as Merripen is, they tend to rely on patterns and, ironically, a certain amount of predictability. If we can exploit that reliability of his, we can keep the journals out of his hands. But who should take them first...?"
"I'll do it," Microphone volunteered, raising her hand. "Knife and I haven't been super involved in the whole Merripen thing, so I don't think they'd suspect me when looking for the journals."
"Alright, Mic. I trust you," Baseball sighed, handing them over to Microphone. "Just don't let anyone else see them."
"Aye aye, captain," she replied, tucking them into her bag. "Alright, what's the next move?"
"Until we can find the final journal and discover where Merripen is hiding, we have to prepare for whatever he may have in store for us," Candle said, clenching her hands into tight fists. "Suitcase, Balloon, Fan, can you wait for me over by the stairs? I'll be helping you train your inner flame abilities, but I still need to discuss things with everyone else first."
"Okay, Candle," Balloon nodded slowly, he and Suitcase standing up and heading over to the staircase, Fan slowly standing up and shuffling after them, his body tense, his hands fingering the frames of Test Tube's glasses, which he had been keeping in his pocket for the past few days.
God, Test Tube.
"Fan?" Suitcase asked slowly, Fan glancing over at the smaller girl beside him. "Are you okay? I mean, with what happened at the flame ring..."
"I...don't know," Fan replied, a hand curling up into a fist. "I mean, I'm not okay, obviously, but it's hard to put what I'm feeling into words, y'know? I know I couldn't control what happened to Test Tube, but...I wish I could have saved her."
"...I'm sorry, Fan," she said softly, fidgeting with her hands. "I shouldn't have pushed all of us to go to the flame ring. If I had just listened to Candle and Silver, maybe Test Tube—"
"Suitcase, don't." Fan placed a hand on Suitcase's shoulder. "I don't blame you for what happened. There's only one person to blame for what happened to our friend, and it's not you."
"...yeah, you're right. It's Merripen's fault," she sighed, putting her hand on Fan's. "But I still feel guilty for what happened to Test Tube. And I swear, I'm going to help you save her. No matter what it takes."
"Yeah! Suitcase and I will be with you all the—woah!" Balloon tripped on his shoelaces, stumbling backwards into a nearby bookshelf, several books toppling down, a familiar, heavy one falling right into the red-haired boy's lap. "Ouf—huh? What's this book?"
Suitcase gasped softly, slowly approaching the book and taking it from her friend. "I-I think I might...but is it?" She opened it up, flipping through the pages rapidly, before she stared down at the pages with wide eyes, silently mouthing something that piqued the curiosity of her friends, who leaned over to look.
"What? 'Interdimensional Imprisonment'?" Fan read aloud, blinking in disbelief.
"Suitcase?" Balloon asked slowly. "Is this book where..."
"This is the book that my mom found the spell for the portal," Suitcase said, her voice sounding numb. "I-I knew I recognized it from somewhere, I—this could be the key to bringing her back."
"But if you used this, you'd have to go in, too," Fan pointed out. "And I don't think you can come back from the inside, otherwise your mom would have come back by now..."
"I know," she whispered, blinking tears out of her eyes and shoving the book in her bag. "But I'm going to look for a way to get her out. No matter what."
"Kids?" The three of them heard Candle call out, seeing the lavender-haired woman approach them. "Sorry for the hold up, you three...shall we get started?"
~~~~
"Uh, hey? Big guy?"
"Huh?" Baseball looked over at Nickel, who was staring at him from his side of the bed. "Did you say something?"
"No, but...are you okay?" he asked, tilting his head. "You've just been really quiet since we got home."
"It's just...god, I don't know." Baseball sighed, grasping at the bedsheets. "I just don't think I can do this. Not just about Suitcase, but Merripen, and...everything that's happening. It's all just so...fucked."
Nickel sighed sympathetically, and opened his mouth to speak, but before he could, their bedroom door opened, Suitcase quietly stepping inside, holding her stuffed rabbit to her chest.
"...Dad? Nickel?" Suitcase had been calling Baseball 'dad' more, ever since they had started to rekindle their relationship after the flame ring. "I-I know I'm probably too old to do this anymore, but...can I sleep with you two tonight? I...don't want to be alone."
"Of course, Suitcase," Baseball said quietly, gesturing over to the bed, the small girl climbing in shortly after. "Is something wrong?"
"It's just...that it's all my fault, isn't it?" Her hands grasped onto Snuffles tightly, tears pricking at her eyes.
"What? Of course not!"
"But it is!" Suitcase screamed. "Look at what's happened because of me! My best friend and I just found out we have weird powers that we can't even control yet, another one of my friends just got stabbed by a demigod that controls all of life and death, my mom's in some sort of interdimensional limbo because she was trying to save me...a-and because of me, the fate of the world hangs on me and my friends's shoulders, and I've just thrown my family and loved ones along for the ride, along with theirs." Loud sobs erupted from her throat, as she leaned into her father's chest. "D-Dad, I'm...I'm scared. I don't want to do this."
"I know you don't, Suitcase. None of us do," Baseball sighed, wrapping his arms around his crying daughter. "We weren't much older than you when we met Merripen for the first time, and he'd been on our trails for years. I'm so sorry that you have to go through this, too. You're just a kid, you shouldn't have to go through this."
"But you're not alone, kiddo," Nickel said, placing a hand on Suitcase's back. "We got your back in this. We can't promise for sure that we're going to beat Merripen, because we're honestly not sure if we can do that at this point in time, but no matter what happens, Baseball and I will be with you all the way. We promise."
"...t-thank you," Suitcase sniffled, glancing up at Nickel as he wiped the tears from her eyes.
"If you need anything at all, pumpkin, we're here for you," Baseball said softly. "All you need to do is ask."
"...can you sing to me?" Suitcase asked Nickel. "The lullaby that you used to sing to me when I was little?"
"Heh, it's been a while since I've heard that request, hasn't it?" Nickel chuckled. "Alright, alright, if you insist." He cleared his throat quietly, scooting closer to the small girl, gently placing a hand on her head, beginning to sing quietly.
Come with us to the garden
where we will stay together,
among the birds and the flowers
and all of life's treasures.
Suitcase hummed quietly, leaning into Baseball's side, her eyes half lidded as she held onto Snuffles in her arms. Baseball carefully wrapped an arm around her, looking at Nickel as the silver-haired man continued to sing.
As the poppies and marigolds wilt away,
our love for you will bloom, our dear,
shining down on you forever and always
as you lay beneath the moon's rays.
Nickel sighed quietly, his hands continuing to stroke Suitcase's hair as he reached the song's climax.
So rest your head now, my dear,
until you see the morning light.
Now close your eyes, and drift away
as we say we love you, and goodnight.
He smiled softly, glancing down at the now sleeping Suitcase, who was curled up in a small ball as she leaned against Baseball, her chest rising and falling as she snored quietly. "Still works after all these years, huh?"
"You can say that again," Baseball whispered, pulling the blankets over himself and his sleeping daughter, carefully kissing the top of her forehead. "Goodnight, Suitcase."
~~~~~~~
"Master?"
Merripen shuffled, glancing over at one of the many minions that he had created. "Ah, yes, Inigo. I suppose you have gathered information on them all, like I requested?"
"Yes, my lord," the minion stated, bowing deeply. "They've assembled a resistance against you, it seems. It appears that Candle and Silver Spoon may be the leaders, with Nickel and Baseball assisting them."
"A resistance, huh? How cute." Merripen chuckled darkly. "And of the journals?"
"I...do not know, my lord. I've been watching over them all since you've assigned me to them, and I have not heard them mention anything about the journals. I apologize."
"That's fine. I can't say I'm not disappointed, but that isn't important right now," Merripen replied. "Besides, the journals and that petty excuse for a resistance aren't my highest priorities. There's...other matters that I have to attend to. You may be dismissed if that is all."
The minion, Inigo, mumbled a "yes, my lord" and scurried away, leaving Merripen alone in the room. The demigod sighed and approached the giant pool in front of him, staring down at the comatose Test Tube floating in the water, a strange tube-like object covering her nose and mouth.
"It's just a matter of waiting until you're stable enough, Test Tube darling," Merripen purred, a smile creeping on their face. "After all, my plans for you have only begun."