Keychain spent the rest of that fishing trip sitting down with Fluttershy, watching as the others once more cast their fishing poles into the circular disc of water beyond. After the way that Fluttershy had done nothing but cry about her lost parents, he couldn't think of anything more to do but just sit down and let her cuddle into his body in an attempt to once more let the bad vibes disappear.
And, to some extent, it was working. No more tears were coming out of Fluttershy's eyes, but she did let some small, muffled groans come out as she hugged the body of her new "special" as tight as she could. Until she found her parents again, he was the only thing that she could count on and rely as a caretaker, as well as something to keep her happy in this cold, scary world.
Fluttershy... I'm so sorry that you've had to go through that. Key let himself pat Fluttershy's back once again as he thought about all of the pain and suffering that her parents had been going through. The poor girl. It must have been at least a day since she got separated from her mom and dad. They must be in shambles trying to look for her.
"Special..." Fluttershy shivered as she pulled her face finally from Key's stomach. "Where... mommy and daddy?" She asked, blinking into his eyes. Her mouth was blank, but her eyes big as saucers did all of the talking for her.
"I... don't know, Fluttershy. I really don't know." Keychain said as he picked her up. "Truth be told, I'm still trying to find them right now, but I doubt that we'll be able to get in touch with them for a while, let alone let them know that you're still alive and well." As he spoke, he could see her mouth remain stationary. It was like he was talking to a stationary doll; one with thoughts and feelings. "But I promise you. We're going to bring them back." He pulled her in for another hug, which she returned the favor this time with her own hands locking around his belly.
Eventually, time went on and the fishers all decided to stow away their rods and pack away their catches; their abductees from the lake. They all came over to Keychain, who was still just sitting with Fluttershy in his grip and him in hers. They all felt the same pain that she had been feeling. Her crying had left quite an impact, given how innocent and carefree she had been thus far.
"You alright, Flutters?" Lemon asked, leaning down so that her head was level with that of Fluttershy's. "Anything ya wanna say? I'm all ears, ya know."
"Lemon..." Fluttershy turned her head away from Keychain's belly and cast her nullifying gaze into Lemon Zest's eyes now. "Mommy. Daddy. Special. Need special. To stay happy." She finally got her words out.
"I know, kid. I know. But that's why Key's working tooth and nail to get 'em back for ya." Lemon reached down once more and tousled Fluttershy's hair, which caused some strands of it to stand up until Key pushed them back into place. "It hurts to be so far away from something that you love so much, but you've gotta remember the other stuff that does make you happy when you don't have mom and dad."
"Indeed. It might not seem like a suitable replacement to tide you over until they arrive, but as long as what you have makes you happy, then—"
"In English—" Bench pushed Cyber away slightly "—Things suck at the moment. But you've got Key, right? He makes you happy. So, as long as you put your faith in him, then he's gonna do a great job as your babysitter."
"Technically, the proper term is 'caretaker'." Cyber Shock pushed his glasses back to his face. "A babysitter is a job title in which someone looks after someone for a set period of time by the clients, then leaves after their contract elapses and they receive payment. A caretaker is someone who is not entirely a birth parent, but still has all of their responsibilities when looking after children."
"Whatever, dude. It's still the same kind of job." Bench just rolled his eyes at Cyber. "Either way, Fluttershy's happy with Keychain. Her special, as she puts it."
"I-I'm special too, ya know." Lemon just twiddled her fingers in response to that.
"Oh, of course! You too, Lemon. Either way, you both make Fluttershy happy again, even when her mom and dad are far away." Bench looked into Fluttershy's eyes. "Fluttershy. Never, ever, ever lose sight of Key or Lemon. They're always gonna be there for you when you need it the most until your mom and dad finally find you again." He gently poked her belly. "As long as you love your specials, they'll always make you feel better."
"Mmhmm." Fluttershy nodded as she finally found her smile again, grabbing Key with one hand and Lemon Zest with the other. "Me love Specials."
"See? There's that smile we all know and love!" Bench reached for Fluttershy and tickled her under her armpits, which caused the girl to laugh and let go of both of the adults in question before erupting into fits of laughter and joy. This went on for a while until Bench finally stopped and Fluttershy's laughter began to dwindle.
"You funny!" Fluttershy exclaimed before she waddled over to Bench and wrapped her arms around his legs. "You special too!"
"Looks like Fluttershy's made another imprint." Cyber Shock remarked at the sweetening sight, before leaning down to Fluttershy's height. "One more special to keep you happy, isn't that right?"
"Mmhmm!" Fluttershy nodded as she looked up into Cyber's eyes now.
"So, what do you wanna do now, Fluttershy?" Keychain asked, quickly grabbing her attention again. And as he did, a splashing noise came from the lake which also fought for her attention.
"Fishy!" Fluttershy called out as she stared at the fish. She wandered towards the water and watched as it leapt out over and over again, practically asking her to come and play with it. She scurried closer and closer to the water's edge, with the grown-ups tailing her to make sure that she didn't end up going for an unintentional swim. "Fishy!" Fluttershy called, clapping her hands for the fish as she stood on the edge of the water. By now, she didn't even notice Key, Lemon, Cyber, and Bench standing over her from behind as the fish mesmerised her, bounding out of the water and slinging droplets of water around with each and every jump it made.
What is she doing? Keychain asked as she just watched the fish jumping again and again. With the way that she was intently staring at it, he could tell that it had some kind of relevance to her.
Then, it happened. When the fish refused to come to Fluttershy, she ran towards it, feet touching the water at long last as she made her dash for the fish. Naturally, the adults all lurched out for her and fell in a heap behind her, splashing a small wave of water that barely missed her as she got deeper and deeper into the water trying to get at the fish, only for her to stop when the water was up to her knees. With the sudden cold shock, she couldn't help but start to sob again, then wailed as she turned back to Key and the others and threw herself around them.
"Special!" Fluttershy bawled. "Fishy won't come and play!"
"Maybe because fish don't like to come out of the water much..." Key just deadpanned as he picked Fluttershy out of the water and watched her trickling water down the tips of her shoes and the rim of her coat.
"Fishy! I wanna play with you!" Fluttershy cried as she reached out for the fish as the others finally stood back up out of the water, their chests ridden with water.
"Fluttershy... I'm sure that fish don't like to play with humans, whether they're little tykes or not." Lemon just deadpanned as she looked at the teary-eyed Fluttershy. "Look, I'm sure that you meant well, but you did a bad thing by jumping into that water and look at you now." Lemon tipped her hand out at Fluttershy, namely at her now drowned shoes and the wet part of her coat.
"Bad?" Fluttershy blinked at Lemon. "What... is bad?"
"Bad things are things that we absolutely, one-million and thirty-nine percent do not do under any circumstance." Lemon Zest lifted her finger, almost looking like a legimitate teacher in a cartoon show with her posture. "And you did a bad thing by running into the water, Fluttershy."
"Uh-oh..." Fluttershy curled herself up and looked into Key's eyes. "Me... bad? Do I get spankies?"
"Spankies?" Keychain's eyes shot open, nearly dropping Fluttershy back into the water with the fact that she knew about the idea of punishment. "N-no. Not at all, Fluttershy. You just made a mistake. That's all. Spankies only happen when you want to do bad things that you know are bad."
"But, special. I did a bad. Bad means spankies." She stared into his eyes. "Why no spankies?"
"Because, Fluttershy. We can make it so that you don't ever do bad things ever again." Keychain looked into her eyes just as strong as her. "Little kids do bad things because they don't know how to behave. But with help from their mom and dad, or rather, your specials, you can learn to be a good little kid, rather than a bad little kid."
"No... spankies?" Fluttershy repeated, her eyes still as bulbous as ever.
"No spankies. What you did was a bad, but it was all just a mistake. You didn't mean to do it." Keychain pulled her close to his chest. It was already wet as it is, so he didn't mind adding more wetness to that wetness. "If you did mean to cause trouble, this would be another story."
"Th-th-thank you, special." Fluttershy's smile came back again as she looked back one more time at the fish. "But... me want fishy. No... fishy?"
"No fishy, Fluttershy." Keychain shook his head and carried her out of the water at last. "But hey, when you get home, you can play with all of your toys as much as you want."
"Speaking of which, I think it's about time that we wrap this up. Fishing's good and all, but we've all gotta get back home sometime." Lemon Zest climbed out of the water's surface and let her feet touch dry land once aagin. "Think I'll see ya later tonight for that meal at the bar, Key?"
"Sure. Bench, Cyber, you coming along too?" Key asked as he started to wring the edges of Fluttershy's coat. "It's our monthly meet, after all. The one where we get together with all of our other friends from school?"
"Of course. Wouldn't miss it for the world." Bench gave Key a thumb's up.
"Same here. I've always enjoyed meeting up with our old friends from school." Cyber Shock gave a gentle nod. "I'm sure that we've got quite a few tales to tell. Especially you, Key, with the fact that you're raising Fluttershy until her parents come and collect her."
"Heh. You could say that." Key just snickered to himself idly. "In any case, I'd better be getting back. Fluttershy does need a bath after that little dip she took in the lake. See you tonight, everyone."
Lemon, Bench, and Cyber waved Key off as he took his belongings and made his way back to the car, with Fluttershy in tow. It took some time for her to walk, given the fact that her now-squelching shoes were still completely filled to the brim with water, so eventually, Keychain had to pull her shoes off and let her ride on his back, while he poured the water out onto the nearest tree he could find.
On the ride home, Keychain's mind was still a whir. Having to not only deal with the idea that Fluttershy was a lost kid and that she had just let loose a storm of tears over how far away she was to her, added to the fact that she had just out of nowhere tried to go swimming with the fishes in some attempt to play with them, but also the fact that he was looking after said girl in times where he didn't even know who her parents were or where they were, it all seemed to weigh heavily on his mind to the point where thinking about it seemed to be enough to drive him mad.
Fluttershy, on the other hand, was still letting her mind run around and play on the ride home. Especially with how she looked up out the window and saw the trees once more slicing through the sky and leaving multi-coloured patterns in the car's motion blur. She was also still thinking about her mommy and daddy, as well as the idea that Key had decided not to punish her when she knew that she had done a bad thing by going to play with that fish in the water. As she tried to think about it some more, she just gripped Angel in her hands. That was enough to completely derail that train of thought and bring her back to the safety of her "special" things. Smiling, she cooed to herself as she just hugged the bunny plushie.
When Keychain and Fluttershy finally arrived back at the house and got inside, the first thing that Keychain did was start running the bath. He waited until the water was the right temperature, then stripped Fluttershy naked, including her clothes and hairpin. He could see the sadness on her face creep in when she saw her clothes being taken off. Even more so when, after she was put in the bath, Key started to leave the room with them.
"K-key! Need specials!" Fluttershy called out reaching out of the bathtub in a vain attempt to get her clothes back.
"Fluttershy, they've been in the waters of a lake. I'm pretty sure that they're filthy," Keychain said back to her. "I'm going to give these a wash, and then when I put them in and set the washing machine to go, I'll come back and do you."
Fluttershy moaned and tried to climb out of the bath to get her clothes back, only for her to slip and slide back into the bathtub, swinging the water around as her body slid back down. She started to cry again, her tears adding to the bathwater. Alone, with her special clothes gone, she had every right to feel sad. Without those clothes, she was nothing. She had nothing to make her happy. Not even Angel Bunny, her plush rabbit, was there to soothe the pain. Nor were her hairclips. All that she was was a yellow girl with pink hair. Nothing else to make her who she was.
In the end, Keychain came back, without her clothes or hairclips. She didn't stop crying, even as she laid her eyes on him again. And, as a result, didn't see his hand laying itself down on her shoulders. "Special... No special, then me nothing!" She sniffled, before wailing again.
"Fluttershy, I know it's painful. But your specials would have been ruined if I hadn't cleaned them up. Then you would have been even worse," said Keychain as he looked into her waterlogged eyes. "I know how sensitive you are. Especially since you're only a little kid who cares very much about her specials, but if your specials aren't taken care of, then you lose them forever, and you'd be crying like this for a lot longer."
"But me no have specials, so me nobody. Me nothing!" Fluttershy despaired. "Me need specials to stay happy. No specials, me sad forever!" She just cried some more.
"Fluttershy... Please stop crying." Keychain pushed his hands out at her. When nothing else happened he ran off to look for something, leaving her in the tub.
Still festering in the water, Fluttershy's tears finally started to subside, mostly because she had worn herself out with all of the bawling and moaning that she had been doing. At last, she stopped and looked around, only to see Key again. And something else in his hands. He gave it a squeak and handed off what looked like a yellow, rubber fish.
"You said you wanted to play with a fishy, right? Well, here. I've got a fishy for you. Something I had to dig through some of my oldest family stuff in order to get," he said, watching as she took the fish out of his hands. When she gave it a squeak, she grinned and gave an inaudible chuckle. Another squeak and her laugh got louder. Then another one and she could finally smile again.
"Fishy!" Fluttershy beamed as she let herself play with the toy, lost in squeaking it, dunking it into the water, and indulging herself in her watery playtime. All the while, she never even noticed that Keychain was there, or that her hair was being shampooed, then soaked from tip to root. After having been denied the chance to play with the fishes in the lake, this was a sutiable replacement.
"Thank the lord for that..." Keychain muttered to himself as he tended to Fluttershy's hair. That girl must really love her clothes. But I wonder why that is. Why are Fluttershy's clothes so special to her? And why does she like to wear them so much? Maybe her parents gave them to her? Or she likes the colour pink? Or that she enjoys being warm? One of those answers, I'm sure. One more pouring of water and Fluttershy's hair was properly washed. He let it all fall down into the water once again, sat back, and watched her playing with the rubber fish.
At the end of it all, Keychain carried Fluttershy back out of the water and wrapped her up with a towel, before drying off the rest of her body. After which, he left the room once again and came back to the washing machine just as it finished washing up her clothes. He plucked them all out and carried them back to the bathroom, which caused Fluttershy to cheer as she looked at her cleaned clothes.
"See? They're back. All they needed was a good washing." Keychain said as he started to dress Fluttershy back up in the spotless, and also warm clothing once again. She hugged herself as she felt the clothes back on her body once again. Her signature style draped once more over her shell of a body. All that was missing were her hairclips, which Key put back into her hair once again.
"Yay! Now, me special again!" Fluttershy cheered, before launching herself in for another hug on Key's legs. "Thank you, special."
"You're welcome, Fluttershy." Key just returned the favor by wrapping his arm around her body. Then, afterwards, he led her back to her room and let her wander off to play with her toys, with Angel sitting daintily on the bed if she ever needed his presence.
Fluttershy. Wherever your parents are right now, I'm praying for them. And I hope that we're able to find them soon. I know that you put a lot of faith in me, but I can't deny that I'm not your real dad. All I am is a special that's doing their job of keeping you happy until they arrive. Key spoke in his mind as he watched her flop on her belly and take a hold of the crayons, doodling away on the paper. When I do have to give you back to them, I know you'll forget me when you grow up. But hey. At least I've done my part. I've managed to make sure you've kept that smile, so I'll take that as a consolation. So you go right ahead. Play all you want. Make yourself as happy as you want. Heaven only knows you'll want to play as much as possible to tide you over until mom and dad come around...