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((This takes place after Busted It comes with spoilers, so read at your own risk!))

Scythe Family... Something?

It was the talking--more like shouting that woke him up. Roch grumbled something dark, his silver eyes opening slowly as he looked around. He... “Where the jack?” he demanded, sitting up. All around him was cold, barren ground. It looked like a desert of some sort. There was heat to his right, which he glanced over at. A fire was blazing, not like a bomb, this was a full fledged bonfire. And beside it, arguing at the top of their lungs, were two very familiar figures.

“You’re the one that kidnapped the kid!” Vegas bellowed. “I was just gonna beat some sense into him! Breakin’ into a place like mine, what is he, suicidal?”

“You were gonna BEAT my kid?” Austin bellowed right back. “Old man, I’m gonna KILL you!”

“He shoulda been beat MORE if you ask me! Just like his father!”

“His grandfather, you mean!”

The two were right up in each other’s faces, with expressions that mirrored perfectly, which had Roch staring at them both blankly for a long moment before closing his eyes and rolling over. Clearly this was some sort of horrible dream, and he would just change the channel--

“We know you’re awake, Roch,” Austin called over to him. “Get up. It’s time to move out.”

“I ain’t awake,” he called back. “This is a freakin’ nightmare, so I’m gonna switch to something better.” He heard the footsteps heading towards him, but he stubbornly ignored them, even as he heard someone crouch down beside him, blocking a bit of the cold wind.

“What’s better?” Austin asked curiously, right next to Roch’s head.

“Anything,” Roch muttered. “Anything at all.”

“Is she long haired and big eyed?” Austin drawled. The scent of cighoulettes hit Roch’s nose, making it wrinkle. He knew that smell. Even when his dad hadn’t been home for days, that smell still lingered all over the house. It was comforting, not that he would ever admit it.

“Shuddup,” Roch growled.

“Does she smell good when you hold her?”

“Shut. Up.”

“Ah, so she turned you down, huh?” Austin said with a snort. “Pop, you can leave now,” he called over his shoulder. “Me and the kid are gonna spend some quality time. You aren’t wanted.”

“He’s my grandkid,” Vegas called back. “And you can’t even get his lazy a** out of bed.”

“Yeah? How do you think I should get him out of bed?” Austin demanded. The sound of spurs came with the clomping boots as Vegas headed over to the pair. Roch tensed, his eyes still closed as he waited for it--

Ice cold water hit him square in the face. Roch sat up with a scream, his eyes opened farther than they had been--EVER. “What the jack was that for?” he yelped, shivering as he tried to wipe the water off. “Are you jackin INSANE?” he demanded of Vegas.

“Okay... I hate to admit it... man how I hate to admit it, but you got a point,” Austin said.

“That was--that was CHILD ABUSE!” Roch yelped, looking for something, anything to wipe off with. He grabbed the first thing he saw, almost knocking Austin onto his butt as he started drying off with the back of the black trench coat he wore.

“Hey, that ain’t a towel!” Austin complained, trying to pull it back. “Now I’m gonna be wet!”

“Hah!” Roch snapped. “At least ONE good thing came out of this!”

“Gimme that cup, there’s more in there, right?” Austin demanded, holding out a hand to his father. Roch watched in irritation as Vegas handed over a huge cup to Austin, an evil grin on his face.

“Oh no,” Roch said, getting to his feet. “Jack no! Get away from me you jacktard!” he said, backing up and summoning his guitar. “I ain’t afraid to use this, you know!”

Austin’s grin turned positively evil--before he disappeared. The next second Roch felt water and ice being poured down the back of his vest. One of the ice cubes even lodged inside, right against the bandages he still wore.

“Son of a--“

“Why,” the voice was suddenly serious and right next to his ear, “is your back bandaged like that? Is it because of that newspaper article?”

“Wh--what?” Roch blinked, but his vest was being dragged off of him, revealing the bandages that Xiu had applied to his back.

“Son of a b***h,” Austin hissed. “What the JACK did they do to my kid??”

“Get off of me, man,” Roch snarled, pulling away and turning so he was facing his dad. That just meant his granddad got a good look--and son of a witch, he pulled it off! The sound of tape ripping off of skin rent through the air. “What the hell? Put it back on! Xiu did that for me!” Roch snapped, turning to yell at Vegas.

“Whip,” Vegas said simply. “That’s a definite whip mark.”

“Why am I not surprised you know that?” Austin asked, looking closely at the wound.

“Back when I was in school there was this ghoul who--“ Vegas started out, only to stop and snort. “Well, let’s just say I’ve had a few of those in my day.”

Roch felt sick to his stomach. “I really didn’t need to know that, you perverted old geezer.”

“This Xiu, she into whips?” Austin asked.

“NO!” Roch said, turning bright red. “I got it--from someone else.”

“Old man,” Austin said, motioning Vegas over. “Heal that.”

“Nope,” Vegas said. “He has a perfectly good nurse in his school. If he wanted it healed, it would have been already. Isn’t that right, boil?”

Roch said nothing, but his jaw tightened and his hands fisted at his sides.

“I figure he WANTS it to scar,” Vegas said. “He’s keeping it to remind him of something. But he ain’t telling us what, are you, boil?”

“I just don’t like the nurse,” Roch said. “She’s a jackin’ ghost that EATS people.”

Austin was silent for a moment. “Her name Cricket?” he asked curiously.

“I... REALLY don’t want to know how you know that,” Roch said bluntly.

“Why were you whipped? Was it one of your teachers?” Austin asked, ignoring that comment entirely. “Did they do this to you?”

“Wait up, wait up,” Vegas said. “Are you really that surprised? This kid is pure trouble, you know that as well as I do--“

“So the teachers just whip him? They don’t even call me? Sure, I know he had some fighting training back home, but this... this was caused with FEAR,” Austin snarled. “So who did it?”

“You won’t believe me even if I tell you,” Roch said, looking him straight in the eye. “You really expect me to? Even if I told you, it wouldn’t change anything.”

“Is it hunters? Are you going to feed me that same line of candlewax as they put in the newspaper?”

“No, I ain’t gonna feed you that,” Roch said. “Because I’m not gonna tell you a thing. But YOU are gonna tell me something.”

“What’s that?”

“WHERE IN THE JACK ARE WE??” He held out his arms, motioning to the desert that surrounded him. “And how in the hell did you get me here?”

Austin and Vegas looked at each other, then moved, revealing two of the baddest assed looking motorcycles Roch had ever seen.

“We’re on a family road trip,” Vegas said. “You get to ride in the b***h seat.”

((Word count: 1,244))

Dancing With Carmelita

The music was the first thing that Roch noticed. It was a lot different from what he was used to, but it got into the blood, coursing through the body and making the way you stepped change slightly. At least the way he stepped. His dad and his granddad still sauntered easily through the crowd of skeletons and monsters, looking as if they belonged there.

People were partying, there were beautiful skeleton females dressed in exotic, classy dresses dancing in the street, going with the parade that was entertaining the crowd. One of the skeleton females headed straight for them, taking his father’s hand. Roch couldn’t help but stare in surprise as Austin and the woman started to dance along to the music. He held her hand, lifting his arm as she danced around him, then moved into this smooth dance that went back and forth, her ruffled skirt flaring as she moved with the beat.

Vegas went past him, taking the hand of another of the females, bowing gallantly over her hand before he started dancing as well. No one said anything, they were just another part of the massive party that was going on. But--

Roch glanced down as the back of his vest was tugged on, looking blankly at the tiny skeleton girl in a frilly dress smiled and tilted her head up at him questioningly. “Te gusta bailar?” she asked. She pointed at his dad and granddad, as if to make the question clearer.

“Dance?” he asked. “But--I mean--um--“ He held up his hands, only to have one of them grabbed. Before he knew it, he was dragged into the street, staring at her as she reached down, swishing her skirt happily and prancing forward and back. He dared to glance over at his father, trying to move like he was--and knew he looked like a moron as the little Catrina let out a giggle. She rushed forward, taking both of his hands and taking one step back. Hesitantly he took a step forward, earning a nod. Then she took a step forward, forcing him to take a step back. She repeated the movement then nodded, since apparently he had caught on, and sped up.

He couldn’t help but laugh at how enthusiastic she was about all of this. He might suck at dancing, but she more than made up for it with her bounciness. And she was adorable, he thought, someone had painted flowers and patterns on her skull, making her quite the pretty little thing, and her flouncy red dress with black accents was beautiful. For a moment he almost wished that Xiu could have met her.

But this wasn’t the time to be thinking of Xiu, he decided as the music stopped. The little girl gave him a cute little curtsey then pointed to a booth on the side of the road, jabbering away far too fast for him to even guess what she was talking about. Then again, he didn’t really have to. The booth was literally COVERED with sweets to buy.

Then she stopped, tugging on his vest again. He blinked down at her, cocking his head slightly. “You want some candy, right?” he said. The little catrina shook her head, then pointed downwards, determinedly. “Something on the ground?” he asked, looking down at it.

“No, no no,” she said, shaking her head. She stood on tiptoe in her little flat slippers, her hand reaching up as high as it could, then jumped, making frustrated sounds as she tried to reach his head.

“Oh! My hair?” he asked, grinning. “You want to touch it? Okay, then we’ll go get some snacks, okay?” he said, getting down on one knee so she could easily touch his mohawk. She cocked her head slightly, delicately touching the spiky hair, then looking at her finger. “Spiky, huh? I use gel,” he explained.

She nodded seriously then grabbed his hand, tugging him towards the booth again.

“We bring him to the town with the some of the prettiest ghouls around, and who does he hook up with?” he heard Vegas call to his father. “A squirt version.”

“They’re on the same level of thought, old man! I feel sorry for the booth owner!” Austin called back, laughing. Roch ignored them, because, as much as he hated to admit it, they were partially right. He was seriously DIGGING this booth!

He dug his bag of seeds out of his pockets, then pointed at a few of the treats there, including some seriously awesome chocolate skulls. He almost wanted to put them in a box and send them to the school. In fact, he thought as he looked around, maybe he could buy a box of them somewhere. Chuppi would love one, he was sure, and Danny would get a kick out of it.

He looked down at the little ghoul, motioning her to pick what she wanted, and she did, very vocally, leaving him astonished at the speed of speech yet again, and still as blank as he’d been earlier. But the vendor understood. He spoke back a bit, and Roch realized--she was haggling for him! The two argued for a bit, but finally the man tossed his hands in the air with disgust and looked at Roch. “Fifteen seeds,” he said in heavily accented English. “Thanks to your new ghoulfriend.”

“She’s cute, ain’t she?” Roch said shamelessly, not about to turn down what was obviously a discount.

“She’s my niece, so watch yourself,” the large skeleton man said warningly. Roch glanced down as the little ghoul hugged his arm happily. Clearly, in her mind, this was a date.

“Can you tell her I’m just here for the day, though?” he asked, feeling a bit worried about breaking her heart.

“Oh, she’ll be fine.”

“And what’s her name?” Roch asked.

“Carmelita,” the man said, sounding a bit happier, especially as Roch held out one of the chocolate skulls on a stick he had just bought to her. She smiled--at least as much as a skeleton could smile, and took it happily. “You watch yourself, reaper boil!” he warned again as Carmelita dragged him away.

“I’ll make sure she’s safe!” Roch called back. This wasn’t like the town near school, he thought. The people were humble and honest, and enjoyed a good party, as far as he could tell. He liked it here.

“Piñata!” Carmelita said, pointing again. “Piñata! Yo quiero--“ And then she launched into yet another long sentence that Roch couldn’t get. All he knew was that she wanted something to do with the piñata. His confusion must have showed on his face before she let out a little huff over his stupidity and placed both hands on her hips before pointing at him, then pointing at herself, then pointing to the left.

Clearly he was a very stupid date. He gave her a sheepish look and shrugged. “Piñata?” he offered finally. She nodded, cheering up right away and grabbed his hand to haul him over to where a crowd of people were beating on a paper toy. They were blindfolded, and waving a stick around wildly. “Jack, this is EXACTLY my sort of game!” he said, even happier than he had been before. This place was AWESOME!

He got his chance a few moments later, and grinned in satisfaction as he felt the stick hit hard. The kids started cheering gleefully as things dropped down on his head, and he blinked up at the candy that was pouring out.

“I have GOT to get one of these for my party!” he said, grabbing some of the candy and putting it in his bag with the chocolate skulls. Before he could do anything else, though, Carmelita was tugging him to the next booth.

The entire day, he never got one chance to talk to the lovely ladies his dad and granddad had brought him there to meet to help him get over his crush. (But don’t worry, he never even noticed.)
*****
(Word Count: 1,343)

It's Fuzzy

It was that silent moment between night and early morning. There was a tiny hint of light creeping through the window of the hotel room, but that wasn’t what had woken the punk boil sleeping on the floor. His dad was getting dressed.

“Are you just going to leave?” Roch asked quietly. “Expect the old man to take me back to school, not see me again for a few months?”

“I’m just goin’ outside for a smoke,” Austin said. “Go back to sleep, I’ll be back in five minutes.”

“I don’t trust you,” Roch said coldly. “And I sure as hell don’t want to be stuck with Granddad.”

Austin sat down on the side of the bed, looking down at Roch with a strange expression. “We need to talk, but the middle of the night with the old man about to wake up at any moment isn’t the place or the time. Just trust me when I say I’ll be right back.”

“I did,” Roch said. “When I was a kid. I ain’t that big of an idiot now. But it doesn’t matter. I’ll get on the train and go back to school on my own. It’s fine if I go back early.”

“I. Am. Not. Going anywhere. Jackdammit, if you’re so set on this put some pants on,” Austin growled. “Come sit out in the jackin’ freezing cold with me while I get a smoke.”

“You think I won’t?” Roch asked, getting to his feet and grabbing his pants from the chair. He yanked them on and pulled his vest on as well, slipping his shoes on without bothering to tie them. “Fine. Let’s go.”

Austin gave him a slight twist of the lips and headed for the door, holding it open for Roch to follow. They stepped into the cold, and Roch automatically reached up, rubbing his arms with his hands. He didn’t say anything, though. He was waiting for Austin to light up, which the older man did.

“Don’t ever start smokin’ kid,” Austin told him. “It kills your voice, and it shortens your life, not to mention it’s a jackin’ expensive addiction to keep.”

“I’ll do what I want to,” Roch said, simply.

“I know that,” Austin said quietly. “How the jack are you so young, yet so old all at the same time?” He took a long drag off of his cighoulette, holding it in for a second before blowing it out. “I have something to confess,” he went on.

“Not before I do,” Roch said, bracing himself. He’d been wanting to say this the entire week, but he hadn’t been able to convince himself to. Now was the perfect time. “This doesn’t mean you’re forgiven. Do you really think one week of running around would make up for all the s**t you’ve done in the past? Do you really think I’m such a kid that I don’t know what you--and the old man--are doing? All of a sudden I’m your favorite guy in the world, huh? Candlejack,” he snarled.

“I know that,” Austin said simply, leaning back against the cheap hotel. “You think I don’t? Do you know... I swore I wouldn’t raise you the way my old man raised me, and jack me if I didn’t do exactly that. But this week? I still had to do it. I want to be a part of your life, Roch. I don’t DESERVE to be a part of it, but I want to. You don’t realize it, but you’ve given me a lot of hope this week.”

Roch looked away, shoving his hands into his pockets as he stared up at the moon. It might have been the field trip. It might have been how easily he’d been dissipated over and over again. It might have been how close he’d been to losing so many people he cared about... But it was true. He did feel a little more open.

“Kid, I have some things I’ve been wanting to tell you,” Austin said. “I haven’t been the dad I should be. I was tryin’ to make back the family money--“

“Do you really think I give a jack about family money?” Roch demanded abruptly. “I was a KID, Dad, a kid living in a neighborhood full of scary people! The only jackin’ reaper in the entire neighborhood! You just left me there--I was jumped in to the local gang before I was TEN, Dad,” he snarled. “I NEEDED you, and you were so jackin’ focused on--on work that you didn’t even notice!”

“I...” Austin said quietly. “I know.”

“And I will REPEAT,” Roch said, “this week wasn’t enough. I haven’t forgiven you. I don’t know if I ever will. But... I might,” he said, looking away. “In time. I’ve done a lot of stupid s**t, too--NOTHING to compete with you, but I’ve done a lot of stupid s**t. And... I don’t know,” he said, his voice lowering. “I don’t know... there’s just so jackin’ much I don’t know right now, and what little I DO know, I don’t want to let go of. Not that easily.”

“Tell me who whipped you,” Austin ordered quietly. “I’ll believe you.”

Roch turned, looking at him. The light from the slowly rising sun caught on a glint of tear streaming down one cheek. “I can’t,” he said. “I really, really can’t.” He reached up angrily, wiping at the tear. “It’s been so jackin’ tough, man. There’s so much that’s gone down, and--and I can’t tell you.”

Austin nodded, slowly, then tossed his cig on the ground, grinding it out with his shoe. Then to Roch’s shock, he stepped closer, hauling the teen into a rough hug and pressing his head against his shoulder.

“You stink,” Roch muttered.

“Just another reason to not start smoking,” Austin said, not letting go. “Whether you let go of me or not,” he went on quietly, “there is no jackin’ way I’m going to let go of you. You better get used to it now.”

The silence was a little awkward. It seemed to stretch out over the hotel parking lot, only interrupted by the sound of a street light going out. Then, finally, Roch spoke. “Dad?”

“Yeah?”

“Would you STOP petting my head?”

“Nope. It’s fuzzy.”
**********
WC: 1,050