"...I'm fucking glad you don't because you'd make the same face your grandfather is making. The face of fucking PITY! We don't want pity, we never have. We wanted a family, to provide, to protect, to be accepted and the only place that seems to offer us that was at the side of the Devil." Cala's snakes were hissing due to their owner's discomfort.

"Grandfather? Elder Kettle just raised us, he isn't our grandfather." Mugman points out.

"You feed them bullshit, huh, Kets?" Cala asks looking towards the man, before realizing what she said. "Ah, Kets I-" She decides not to finish.

"I know, it was time to tell them. They're old enough to know. I have just been postponing the inevitable. Boys, let's go home. I'll see you around Calabear." The older man jokes receiving the light chuckle from the woman.

POV

The walk back from the casino was a quiet one. Cuphead's stomps letting his rage and frustration known. Mugman quietly steps behind the other two. He has questions, but with his brother as angry as he is, he doesn't want to press the Elder Kettle any further. 

"At least tonight feels good. It's warm but breezy, my favorite weather." Mugman tries to strike conversation to ease the tension ridden walk, but he only got a huff from Cuphead and a hum from Elder Kettle. "It was worth a shot, I guess." Mugman mumbles to himself. Seeing the light of the house brings a feeling of apprehension and impatience to the younger boy. He feels dread because he has to stay in a confined space with the thick air that already surrounding him, but uneasiness about finding out the truth about everything. Despite what his older brother thinks, Mugman is just as frustrated about these latest events, but he is better collected than Cuphead is.

After a few more minutes of silent walking with only the sounds of tiny bugs flying past and the waves hitting the cliff side, the trio make it back to the house. Once inside, Elder Kettle silently leads the boys to his room. 

Ms. Teapot left a note on the door about going to a friend's house. Once they enter the room, Elder Kettle goes into his closet and presses a button. What's heard next is a small click and the older man reaches into a secret compartment, grabbing a medium-sized box.

"I had planned to wait until you boy's 20th birthday before telling you, but I guess you two are close enough to that age, anyway." He takes a pause and a deep breath, then closes his eyes and continues. "I had a wife long ago. Her name was Wanda. She was the finest piece of glass around, the most loving, and a heart as big and bright as she was. After we got married, she became pregnant with a little girl and after much debate, we named her Whinney Wineglass Kettle. She was the most beautiful thing I've laid my eyes on that wasn't Wanda, but as soon as I took my eyes off Wanda to admire to beautiful thing we created. Wanda left this world for greater things." The older man had tears in his eyes as he tried to continue. Mugman is heartbroken by this tale, understanding that in order for them to be his grandchildren, his daughter must be their mother. While that added more questions, it answers one that Mugman always had. 

Why do you care for us?

"What does that have to do with us?" Cuphead, unfazed by the sob story, interjects.

The room is silent in disbelief. Mugman looks at his older brother in complete disbelief.

"Do you have no decorum?" Mugman says in disbelief.

"What do house decorations have to do with I said?" Cuphead rolls his eyes as he questions.

"IT MEANS FUCKING MANNERS! WHY WOULD YOU ASK THAT? ARE YOU HEARTLESS?" Mugman loses his temper with the older boy. How could he say such an insensitive thing when it is so obvious that their grandfather is in pain by telling them this?

"All I said was, what did HIS story have to do with US? If we are his daughter's kids, where is she? Why isn't she with us? Who's our dad? I don't want to hear the filler. I WANT ANSWERS." Cuphead retaliates. Mugman was too stunned to speak. meanwhile Elder Kettle silently looked at the boy.

"When my daughter grew up, she fell in love with a man who was a part of a gang. I warned her not to get involved with him, but she said he was a gentleman to her and that I was being biased because of his background. I gave him a chance to prove himself and it seemed as if she was right, but bad habits die hard and eventually his bad habits caught up to him. On the night you two were born, Jura, your father, left the isle and your mother. It devastated her to find that out, but when struck she with the reasons he left, she couldn't take it, thus left this world of her own volition." Elder Kettle sniffles and wipes his eyes. 

"She buried with her mother at the cemetery. That's where your mother is. Your father came when you two were about 3. He paid me money to not tell you boys about him or about my daughter. It was enough to pay off the debt I had collected, so I obeyed." The man finishes his story and stands up from the rocking chair in his room and sets the box of memories on the bed there the boys are. 

"That's all I have left of my daughter, everything else your father took. You remind me so much of your father. Some days it sickens me. Leave. I've told you what you wanted to hear. Let me cry and sleep in peace." Elder Kettle pushes the boys out of his room, heartbroken at tonight's events.

Mugman

"If he hates me so much, why am I even here??" Cuphead huffs while walking to our room. He genuinely doesn't understand why Elder... Grandpa said what he said.

"He never said he hated you." I keep my sentence short. I'm too mad to form anything longer without flipping out.

"So you're defending him? If he hates or dad and says I act like him to the point it sickens him, by proxy he hates me."

"No. He hates that you act like a piece of shit to everyone and don't care about ANYONE but yourself!" I can't take this anymore. "You act like the world revolves around you, when in reality it doesn't and you almost got me KILLED! MULTIPLE TIMES! All because if your stupid idea! I see why you sicken him sometimes because, to be honest, me too. The good times are great with you, but when you're in a bad mood, you make it everyone's problem! Then take it out on them. Why rope everyone into your drama? Nobody wants a ticket to your circus show. So stop selling." Not looking back, I brush past my brother. I don't care if I bruised that precious little ego of his. I've let him be selfish this entire time. It's my turn now.

Cuphead

I don't understand. I'm not a piece of shit. I don't think the world revolves around me. I help people! I SAVED people. He trapped the islers in contracts and if it wasn't for my 'stupid ideas'. I always made sure that Mugan was safe when we had to fight enemies. We had each other's backs. He NEVER said that he didn't want to do the fights anymore, so I just thought he was having fun like I was.

I only said what I said to Elder Kettle because he was supposed to answer our questions. I waited until he was quiet to ask. That's manners right, 'Do not interrupt while someone else is talking.'. See, I have decor...

"They both hate me."

...

They both hate me.

That's fine by me. They don't want me here? I'll really be like my father and leave them here. I'll leave everything behind and let them be happy WITHOUT ME.

POV

Feeling unwanted in the place he grew up, Cuphead heads to the nearby beach to calm his nerves. The walk isn't long, but with each passing step he feelings heavier. Thinking about Mugman's words, he feels conflicted. He starts to think of the guy who crashed the party; he wonders how they guy felt to be beaten up for showing at a party.

"Hey, watch it. I'm sittin' here." Cuphead looks below and seeing the inky boy below him. After closer inspection, Cuphead realized he was standing on the other boy's hand.

"Oh, my bad." Lifting his foot, Cuphead takes a step back, sits down, and speaks. "Hi." The air was awkward against the waves' breeze.

"... Hi." The boy replies, voice low and monotone. Cuphead notices that the boy's voice sounds lifeless no joy or sadness. He wasn't expecting the boy to be jumping with joy, but he didn't expect him to sound so wooden. "Why are you sitting next to me?"

"I'm not. I am sitting on the beach you coincidently be sitting on. What about you?"

"One, I was on the beach first, so I'M not sitting next to YOU, YOU are sitting next to ME. Two, if you are asking me why I am on the beach... It's the only place I can be. Dear cousin Dev owns the only hotel on the isle and let's just say I'm not welcomed there. As if that weren't bad enough, I'm trapped on the isle until the train goes back on the rails." The boy flops onto the sand with a defeated sigh. "I really was trying to just have a good time with them, but ever since the last fiasco I caused, it seems I'm not trusted to be good."

"I know how that feels. One fuck up and people see you as the bad guy." Cuphead takes a pause, then continues while mimicking the other boy's form. "I'm Cuphead. Nice to meet you." He looks at the other boy, waiting for his introduction.

"Bendy. The name's Bendy." Bendy looks to Cuphead before gazing back at the sky. Seeing the other's presence as comforting rather than annoying.

Did you guys miss me??? Cause I missed you guys SOOOOO much! No one tells you about burnout and how hard it is to write during one until it goes away.

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