(In-Character) An Early Treat · 12:22am Oct 15th, 2020
PSSST!
HEY!
YOU!
The one reading The Multiverse in a Nutshell!
I know it's not Halloween yet, but I've got a little treat for you!
Usually, Penn's WIPs folder is locked off to everyone except his Patreon supporters, but I managed to sneak in and steal a couple of deleted scenes with me in them! Check them out below the page break!
This one was written to be at the end of the RWBY arc, but there just never wound up being a good spot for it to fit with how fast Sunset got Penn conscious again!
Missy floated down into the tunnel, not needing any instructions to find the spot they had stashed Sylvia.
Her suspicions were confirmed when she spotted the large pile of food wrappers and half-used ingredients in the corner of the room. "Penn" was currently stuffing his face with a hamburger as he examined the burned-in lines on the car.
"We really did our best to patch it up, but Isis's attention has been kinda divided the last few weeks..."
There was no jump, not even an acknowledgment from him when she spoke up, even though she'd come in completely silently.
"Isn't that her specialty?" He said, still keeping that cold detachment in his voice.
"Maybe, but we both know she's only got so many repair drones to call in before Noir notices and asks what she's using them for..." She flew up and perched herself on the car's roof before reaching out for the burger in his hand. He didn't so much as try to pull it away and out of her reach, letting her wrap her hand around it and pull. The effort, however, proved fruitless as his grip tightened, making it clear she wasn't going to get it without a fight. That all but confirms it. There's only one person I know whose default reaction is to silently dare someone to attack them... She contented herself with simply ripping off a chunk and tossing it into her mouth. She hummed with pleasure as the greasy, salty taste of the meat soaked through her mouth and mingled with the sweetness and texture of the soft bun.
"It really tastes better on this side of things, doesn't it? It's like every sense is amplified when we're in this world. Each bite is like the first time..." She raised an eyebrow as she turned back to look at "Penn" with a smile. "Did you REALLY think I wouldn't recognize you, sis?"
That was actually enough to get a genuine smile, if a slightly sinister one. He reached up, running his fingers across her scalp before lovingly patting her on the head. "Good to see you, Dorklord."
Missy hid her twinge of annoyance at the nickname. "So... why the disguise? And where's Penn?"
He reached up, tapping on his temple. "Salem did a real number on him up here... I mean some serious trauma and damage. He's..." he tapped his chin for a moment. "His mind's in siege mode. Total lockdown. If I wasn't taking the lead, he'd probably still be completely nonfunctional, so we're just swapping places for a while. Would you rather deal with me, or a mute in a constant panic attack?"
Missy felt her spirits sink. "That bad, huh?"
"Bad enough for me to blow the whole castle to smithereens with everyone inside for payback." His smile turned into a bone-chilling glower. "If they hurt Sunset, they have to deal with Penn. If they hurt Penn? I make certain they can never do it again." He tossed the rest of the hamburger into his mouth before walking over to a bag of black licorice. "You know, I don't know what Penn sees in this stuff... Tastes like black pepper..."
"Then why are you eating it?"
He sighed before popping a chunk into his mouth. "If I don't eat some kind of comfort food once in a while he starts to have a panic attack and I lose control. A little apple-cinnamon tea here, a little black licorice there, and I can keep a grip while he recovers." He sighed, hopping up onto the hood of the car and reclining back slightly. "And to answer your question before you ask, I'm like this because I can't cross over like you can. This is the closest I can get, at least for now..."
"Oh, I figured you were just trying to avoid scaring people while we're around so many people with guns..." Missy hopped over the bashed-in windshield and laid down beside him across the hood. "Somebody getting trigger-happy when you're around could end badly for everyone!"
Both of them chuckled to themselves at that, and his arm wrapped around her shoulders to pull her tight against him. "Guess you got lucky... You're right at the sweet spot. Not too weak to make it across the barriers between worlds, not so strong your own power gets in the way of moving freely."
Missy tilted her head. "You can be TOO strong to cross over?"
"Yup. It's kind of like getting caught in a chain-link fence..." He held up his hand, flexing it in and out. "You can get bits and pieces through, especially if you can find a good-sized gap or tear, but if you're too big, you'll never get through completely without tearing yourself apart."
Missy felt a twinge of disappointment, leaning into his side with a frown. "We'll figure it out, sis... Once we've got you on our side, nothing will be able to hurt us!"
His arm tightened on her, and she felt him lean down to plant a loving kiss on the crown of her head. "You say the sweetest stuff, kiddo, you know that? But we both know I'm not invincible."
Missy decided to gloss over that particular point. "So... why are you being so mean to Sunset? She's been worried sick about Penn, and she thinks he's mad at her!"
"I am mad at her."
"But Penn isn't! We both know Penn couldn't hold a grudge for more than 48 hours if his life depended on it!" Missy sighed. "She's starting to think... they might not even be friends, any more."
"Good. She's bad for his health."
"Hey! Listen!" Missy gave her wings a flutter, flying around to eye level and looking "Penn" straight in the face. "You're hurting Sunset! Penn's been gone for two months, and now, for all she knows, he's acting like he doesn't even want to see her now that he's back! Do you really want to start that kind of war with your own partner? Because if the two of you start fighting each other, it's not going to end nicely for anyone!" She leaned down, staring her sister straight in Penn's unimpressed eyes. "I know you're focused on protecting Penn and only Penn, but I'm NOT afraid to fight you for Sunset's sake!"
There was a hint of condescension in that raised eyebrow, now. Missy loved her older sister, but that look tended to absolutely infuriate her. "You've REALLY gotten attached to her quickly, considering she isn't even a real duelist..."
Missy floated closer, gently prodding her finger into Penn's chest. "You're. Hurting. Sunset."
He pulled back slightly at that, blinking several times. He shook his head slightly. "Wha- wha- no... No, don't say that. It's fine, everything's fine! Ju-just trust me..." he muttered.
"No, it's NOT! You're HURTING Sunset! You're making Sunset feel AWFUL about herself, as if she wasn't already blaming herself enough for what's happened!"
"Go back to sleep, I'll take-, No, Penn, just go back to sleep!" His eyes screwed shut and his hands reached up to grab at his head, holding it as if it were about to split open. "Go back to sleep, go back to sleep, go back to sleep, I'll take care of it!"
"Sunset is-" Missy was cut off when she was grabbed and pulled into a bone-crushing hug, one hand being placed on top of her mouth to silence her.
"Okay okay okay I'll TRY to be nicer!" his voice hissed, barely controlled. "Now STOP trying to wake him up, you little tattletale!"
Missy smirked behind the hand, satisfied with the results.
It kinda bums me out we haven't gotten to have many scenes with me and Big Sis interacting. She's a real softie once you get to know her! The other scene I managed to sneak out was this one, an extended version of my scene in "Hopes and Dreams"! It was cut out for being too light-hearted in a pretty serious chapter... Which doesn't make a lot of sense to me.
"Wait, WHAT?"
Sunset looked down, unable to keep eye contact with all of the guilt bubbling up in her chest. "Isis ran the numbers... It should have been me who stayed. I'm the better fighter. If I had, then you wouldn't have died..." Sunset wasn't able to choke back the tears. Somehow, speaking the truth out loud seemed to make it weigh ten times as much on her shoulders. She didn't flinch when she felt Undyne's claws against her scalp, fully prepared to accept Penn's wrath.
"Sunset..." Penn's voice growled. "All of this time we've been together, and you STILL don't understand how furious I get when you try to take the blame for things."
Before Sunset's confusion could set in, she found herself pulled into a bone-crushing hug. It was... strange. Undyne was clearly cold-blooded, drawing the heat out of her body and nearly making her shiver. The sensation of smooth scales brushed up against her skin, driving home that the one gripping her was not human, and yet... It still felt like Penn. It had that same almost-fearful grip that locked her in place, the same way of blocking out the rest of the world until there was just the two of them, even the same sense of overwhelming comfort that she'd always gotten from him just when she needed it most.
She didn't try to choke back the sob as she buried her face against Undyne's shoulder. This was as close as she would ever get to feeling one of Penn's hugs again.
"Quite frankly, I'm insulted you think that I'd ever tell you to do anything else in that situation than just to take Missy and run..." Penn muttered.
The pain in Sunset's chest seemed to explode, ripping her apart and forcing its way up her throat. She didn't even make a semblance of an effort to hold back as she wailed. Her last shreds of self-control dissolved in the haze of pain and grief she'd been bottling up until this moment, and everything melted into a blur of sobs, tears, and pain as she gripped tighter and tighter to Undyne, trying to get as close to Penn's soul as she could.
When she finished, they were both kneeling on the ground, still wrapped in each others' arms. Her head was pounding with pressure, and her skin at the corners of her eyes had been rubbed raw from trying to wipe away the tears.
"I'm sorry... I'm so sorry..." she whispered.
"Hey... even before all of reality opened up to the supernatural and the fantastic, I was pretty close to my cards... and do you know what I learned?"
Sunset shook her head, unable to bring herself to ask.
"They're powerful. They care deeply, they fight with everything they have, every sensation they feel, they feel with their entire being... and that makes them so fragile." Penn whispered into her ear. "I DO have a partner of my own, remember? She's selfish and angry and so very, VERY overprotective..." He chuckled to himself. "She'd rather see me lock myself in a bunker until the end of time than ever get behind the wheel again. But we know each other like the back of our hands, and it makes us stronger. I know the relationship between a duelist and their spirits. So take it from me, when I say... Missy needed you with her."
"B-but Isis says-"
"Isis is smart, but do you REALLY think she can wrap her head around magic and spirits so easily?" Penn sighed softly as Sunset felt Undyne's hand rubbing comfortingly across her back. "You did the right thing. There just wasn't any winning in that situation."
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Oh, Missy, if you can't fire a giant laser beam, you're no use in a fight! Go find your older sister!" Missy huffed. "It's not like she's on another plane of existence, or something!" She glanced down at Jiangshi, who simply shrugged in return. They had been walking together for a while, now, not bothering to hurry while they followed the trail Undyne had stamped into the rock and dirt. She couldn't ask for a better listener than Jiangshi, though their responses to things tended to be a bit... stiff. For all of her huffing and pouting, she really wasn't sure what she could do against a gigantic monster like what Flowey had turned into, but that didn't make being left behind any less offensive. "We're both duel spirits, so they just assume I have some kind of express line to her!" She placed her hands on her hips and puffed out her chest. "I'm an ace monster of my own archetype! I can handle myself!"
She swooped down to ground level, hovering just low enough to kick at the nearby water and send a wide arc splashing into the air.
I can handle myself! I can handle myself! I can handle myself!
Missy spun around, pointing an accusatory finger at the echo flowers that were littered around Waterfall, all merrily repeating her words back at her. "CUT IT OUT!"
CUT IT OUT! CUT IT OUT! CUT IT OUT!
She narrowed her eyes, turning her glare up a notch in her best impression of her sister before a smirk crept up onto her face.
"I'm an idiot!"
"Well, yeah," said a voice just behind her.
"YIPE!" She whipped around as fast as she could, only to relax again as she found herself staring at a familiar face. "Oh, it's just you, Penn..."
Penn lifted up one hand, counting off one, then two, then three seconds.
Then, on cue, it hit her.
"PENN? But- But you're-"
She glanced down at his chest. The hole was still there. She glanced up at his face. It was pale as death, with a greenish tinge.
"Z-z-z-z-z-"
"Penn" rolled his eyes.
"Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-"
"Penn" looked at his wrist, as if he were wearing a watch.
"ZOMBIIIIIEEEEEEEEE!"
She turned and took off at a dead sprint, arms held out in front of her and flapping her wings as fast as she could to try and get as far as possible from the reanimated corpse. She ran and ran until she couldn't run any more, being barely able to continue holding herself up in the air. She glanced down, happy to see that Jiangshi had somehow managed to keep up with her.
"I- I think... we lost him!"
Jiangshi raised an eyebrow, then nodded in the direction behind them both. Missy felt a shiver as she turned to look over her shoulder.
Penn had taken a hold on the collar of her dress, and was looking at her with a slightly bemused expression.
"Finished, Dorklord?"
She took a deep breath to scream again, but something about the use of her nickname managed to ring a bell far in the back of her mind.
"No... NO. WAY."
"Yeah."
"How-"
"Honestly, I'm still trying to figure it out." "Penn" shrugged in a stiff motion remarkably similar to Jiangshi's earlier movement. "Best guess? Penn's soul moved instead of crossing over, and mine didn't follow. There was a Penn-shaped hole in the world, just big enough for me to squeeze through."
Missy tapped her chin in thought. "Yeah, this universe IS kinda weird about souls... But do you really think there's anything that could separate you two?"
"Not if I have anything to say about it..."
Missy blinked. "Wait... are you... can you fight? Like, do you have your POWERS?"
"I've got enough of them, as long as this body holds out."
Both of them paused as a low, angry-sounding growl rumbled out from his stomach, catching them off-guard.
"Are you... hungry?"
"Yeah..."
Missy took a step back, for safety's sake. "You KNOW how you get when you're hungry..."
"I'm NOT going to eat you, Missy."
"You can never be SURE with zombies..." Missy narrowed her eyes suspiciously.
"Penn" looked down at Jiangshi, who simply rolled his eyes in return. "Then let's hurry before the munchies get the better of me..." he joked in return, setting off back down the path of glowing moss.
Well, that's all I was able to hide in my hat while I was sneaking back out of Penn's WIPs vault! Hope you all enjoyed getting a couple of treats early this year!
Until next time!
-Missy <3
Huh.
Yay! Thank you, Missy! I really want to see more of you and big sister. She seems like my kind of person/monster.
Seems like the end of the RWBY arc was going to go in a bit of different direction than what we ended up with. 🤔