Chapter Text
"Mr. Felix, how much longerrrr?” Bendy whined.
"It's been five cussin' seconds since you last asked,” Cuphead growled back.
Felix sighed inwardly, tuning out their bickering. Again. He didn't know how much further they had to go.
Someone had reported an odd surge of magic from the area. Maybe it was another part. It was unlikely, as it hadn't appeared on the map, but, it didn't hurt to check. Maybe they'd be able to help even if it wasn’t a part.
Well, that was what Felix was hoping. Plus, he was curious. It wasn't normal for magic to be near Toon Town, and it was even weirder that it was in the middle of a dense forest on the outskirts of the city. Really weird.
Ah, maybe it was a prank.
He started debating heading back. The landscape was doing a number on them. Poor Boris was tripping over every stump and stubborn twig they came across, Bendy was simply bored, and the Cup brothers were growing skittish, and irritated.
Felix swiped at yet another bush with his dagger. "It should be around here somewhere,” he altered them, “… whatever it is… "
That last part had come out a little less reassuring than he'd meant.
There was a scoff from behind him. "Yeah, ya sound real confident 'bout that." Cuphead muttered. He then grunted in pain.
"I don't know… this place is pretty empty," Boris commented. He was right. It was almost completely untouched.
"At least there's animals this time."
Everyone felt a chill run up their spine. Bendy audibly shivered. "Stars, don't jinx us Mugs." The dish chuckled nervously in response.
Alright, time to change the subject back. "Can you feel anything, Bendy?" Felix asked. If there really was magic here he would be the most likely to feel it.
"Magic? No. Nothin' really, just- WAH!- "
The adventurer whipped around with a hand already in his bag. Bendy, who had been at the back of their group, was now tangled up in a net hanging above the ground, thrashing and cursing.
"Bendy! Are you okay?!" Boris rushed over and started pulling at the ropes.
Cuphead was already laughing loudly. Mugman was trying to quiet him, but was hiding his own chuckles. Felix didn’t find it as funny. He was concerned now.
There were traps. And there was a chance whoever set them was still here. This whole situation could have been a trick.
The cat motioned for them all to quiet down and moved in to help cut Bendy out of his ropes. He was fighting against the trap with glowing eyes, after finally figuring out which way the sky was again.
" This is stardust! " Bendy hissed through grit teeth. He was fuming. Cuphead snorted to keep from laughing again.
Felix used his blade to slice through some of the net. "Hang on. Someone might be here wi-"
A horn sounded - an old-fashioned horn, the ones typically made out of, well, horns. It shook the trees, branches and leaves. Birds flew up from their nests, and any wildlife around them fled.
He and Boris winced as their ears pinned to their skulls. Everyone looked around frantically for the source of the racket.
"What the cuss was that?!" The cat heard Cuphead yell in a muffled voice. He and Mugman already had their bullets ready.
Felix switched his dagger for his battle axe in a splash of stars. He felt like he may need the long-ranged ability, just in case.
Boris scrambled for his pipe, and they all formed a defensive circle around his brother, who was growling lowly.
A figure jumped down from a tree near the one the net was hoisted from. Judging by the spiked ears, long snout and scraggly tail, it was a wolf.
"What the... " Felix heard one of his gang murmur.
The wolf had a shield up in preparation, with an axe in their other hand. They stayed back, in their own readied stance.
No one moved. No one made a sound. Okay, if it came to a fight, it was five, or rather four, against one. That wasn't much of a worry. But, hopefully this person was willing to talk.
Felix slowly started to lower his weapon to test the waters, holding his empty hand out placatingly. Cuphead tensed. "Alright, we don't want to hurt anyone here." He said. The person watched him with narrowed eyes.
He took the opportunity to study them a bit. They were certainly battle ready. She, she was battle ready. She had some kind of face paint on, that extended to her arms. Her axe seemed of European origin. And her shield. Her shield was circular, with a crest displayed on the front. It had been a while since Felix had seen gear like that. That crest was horribly familiar... Wait, was that-
"Whit da cuss is up wi dy fanger?" She abruptly asked, and lowered her shield with a baffled expression. She was gaping at the two dishes.
Cuphead flinched back in shock. "Uhh- what??"
Two more people were rushing through the brush. " Did du git onythin’?? " One of them shouted.
The wolf seemed to relax a bit and called back to them. "Nah, jost a weird dragon-y lad."
Bendy scoffed indignantly. "Dragon?" He mumbled to himself in confusion.
The other people broke through the forestry. The Cup brothers came face to face with two other dishes with painted faces. One was a woman, almost a full foot shorter than Cuphead, with long brown hair tied up messily. The other was a man, or, boy, with similar shoulder length hair. He was lanky, and a good piece taller than she was. Oh, Felix knew this lot, even after multiple years.
Mugman was pulling the most confused face he'd ever seen. Cuphead looked mildly jealous.
"Who the cuss are you?" He eyed her up and down suspiciously.
She returned the look. "I could ask du da saam min." She looked over them all. Her eyes widened when they landed on Felix. Ah.
"Oh. My. Thor ." She exclaimed, lowering her weapons.
Meanwhile Boris and the other wolf were staring at each other. They both looked alarmed, and were tilting their heads in a very dog-like manner.
The female dish turned to the wolf and socked her in the arm, which gained her attention. Ouch. "Noods! It's yun adventurer cat! Felix!"
Felix chuckled, tilting his hat back. "Ah, so you remember me?"
"What the hell is going on here??" Bendy demanded.
Felix cleared his throat. "I think some introductions are necessary. No need for a fight, right?"
The boy took over, as his sister was too busy rummaging through a sack for something. "Sure. We're Bean, Noodle and Soup. Fae a muckle chunk o island up North."
Their Quester gang were a little stunned. The Cup brothers were still confused, as was Boris. And Bendy had held his breath to avoid snickering, most likely at the Cup brothers confusion, and Cuphead’s growing indignation.
"I'm Felix the Cat,” he started by introducing. “This is Bendy and Boris Bbro, and the Cup brothers, Cuphead and Mugman," he said, indicating to each member of the group.
Bean caught a cackle in his throat. "Cup-heed??" He repeated. His sisters barked less than ladylike laughs. Cuphead frowned deeply. His brother pulled his scarf over his nose, his shoulders shaking.
Soup finally found what she'd been searching for. She took out a really, really tattered book. "Faider brought back wan o dy books yonks ago!" She showcased.
It had been years. Three or four, he thought. The front cover was unrecognisable. The pages were gone yellow. The only way to discern it was one of his books was the crudely scratched letters on the spine. ‘Felix the Cat - The Dragon Mountains’. They'd obviously had to rewrite the title. He felt his heart warm a little.
"Yes, your Chief was kind enough to give me a tour once. I remember seeing you three."
Bendy had his arms folded and a deadpan expression. "This is sweet an’ all, but could somebody please let me out of this starfallen net?"
Felix smiled sheepishly and picked up his battle axe from the ground, cutting through the rest of the ropes. He then returned the weapon to his bag.
Bendy hopped out and stretched his legs.
"What's that trap for?" Boris inquired.
"Grub. We're tryin’ ta catch daener, but caught yun fella." Bean gestured towards the demon.
Cuphead raised a brow. "You guys campin' or somethin'?"
Soup nodded. "We set up on a peerie hill. Dere’s a good lil' braak in da trees."
"Mind if we join you? We should rest for a minute." Mugman asked, and looked to their group for approval. He was met with a couple angry looks from his brother and Bendy, the two of them still sceptical.
“It’s alright, guys. They’re good,” Felix assured them, and focused back on the new trio. “That sounds like a great idea. This magic surge is being a bit tricky. We could use a rest.”
Soup shrugged. "Aaright. It's dis wiy gaamers,” she directed them with a shoulder jerk, as she grabbed her gear and threw her shield over her back. Her siblings followed suit, and they began to walk off.
The cat motioned for his group to join as he fell into step behind them. It had been a while since he'd seen anything to do with that crest. Last time he’d seen their family those three were still children, practically. Now the eldest, Soup, would be over Bendy’s age, if Felix was remembering his years right, and her younger sister just under. He pondered how their village was doing.
Noodle sniffed around. She was following a trail back.
“What're you people doin' out here, anyway?" Cuphead quizzed as he pulled out a cigarette. His brother swatted it out of his hand. Cuphead huffed.
"Oor faider hid some treasure aroond here. We're tryin’ tae find it,” Bean answered, and judging by his flat expression their search didn’t seem to be going well. Or maybe that was just his face.
"Are you the oldest or what?" Bendy waved his hand in confusion.
Bean grinned. Noodle kicked him in the back of his shins with a string of curses, and he buckled to the ground with an ‘oof’.
“ I’m da aaldest,” Soup corrected with a thumb to her chest. “Noods is in da middle, an Bean's da youngest. He's… ack, I dunna kain numbers min.”
”I’m fifteen,” the dish teen answered when his sister faltered.
Boris stopped dead in his tracks. He looked like he'd seen a ghost. Oh dear. " He’s fifteen?! " He squeaked.
Cuphead roared with laughter. Mugman giggled a bit himself. "Golly, you still have some growin' ta do Boris.”
Bendy squinted. "But your voice is creepily deep dude,” he said in confusion.
“I can maake it deeper,” the dish grinned as he got up from the ground, and lowered his voice as much as possible. When he tried to say something it ultimately resulted in a voice break that sent his tone up to the highest octaves, which had everyone burst out laughing. Felix had chuckled a bit himself. He’d gone on quite the journey with his own voice growing up.
After some walking they reached the break in the forest Soup had mentioned, and climbed the incline. The three siblings got to work on rebuilding a fire. Felix helped. The Cup brothers gathered twigs, leaves, brush; fuel for the flames. After a while they even had a pot of soup bubbling away. It smelled... interesting.
Cuphead stared down at the bowl he'd been given. What the cuss was this. This wasn’t soup.
Bendy was staring at his bowl on the other end of their tree-trunk-bench. His face was all scrunched up. "What the cuss is this??” Yeah, Cup’s thoughts exactly.
The new wolf narrowed her eyes irritatedly. "Wheesht, min. It's good fir dee. Jost scoff up." She said around a spoonful.
Cup eyed his soup again. It was watery, and yellow, and had chunks of some kind of meat floating around. And a bone. Some kind of bone. Nobody else had a starfallen bone.
He noticed Mugs pouring out some of his behind his back. The pup had just put his down. Bendy had dared to take a bite. And the cat, he was having a great old time over there.
Cuphead was not eating this. So, instead of just sitting around while everyone struggled with the soup, he decided to start asking some damn questions.
"Alright, what's goin' on here? How d’you know each other?" He gestured between the two groups, waving his spoon. The three newbies were off in their own world, joking amongst themselves.
Felix swallowed a mouthful. "I met their father by accident when I was exploring some rumours. There was a gang just further East of here that were capturing dragons and selling them on the black market. Chief Smuck was tracking them too."
"Schmuck?" Bendy muttered.
"Chief?" Boris muttered at the same time.
Felix nodded. "We worked together, and became decent friends. He was an interesting fellow. You see, he, and these three, travelled down from a Highland archipelago that is completely cut off from society. The community prefered it that way. I'm assuming they still do. Most of the people who live there are direct Viking descendants. At the time, I had no idea their lineage had carried on. I don't think anyone did."
Cup could practically hear the cogs in everyone's brains turning. Thank cuss they didn't bring Holly. She'd blow up from all her questions.
Mugs stuttered. "W-wait. Actual Vikings??"
"Well," Felix's head tilted, "probably not the bloodthirsty pillagers you're thinking of. They have their own customs. And they carry more Scottish heritage than the original Vikings, but, yes. They're the real deal."
Damn. But, they were dishes. Well, two of 'em were. What happened? How much do they know about dishes? The Calix Animi? Cup glanced at his brother, who looked back at him with the same expression. So he was thinking the same things.
Boris had a screwed up muzzle. "A-are we in danger??” He asked flat-out.
The cat brushed his ears back to comfort him. "Not at all - they’re harmless. Or, at least, reasonable. They're the Chief's three kids."
"That a Bendy and Boris situation or su’m else?" Cup interrogated and jammed his spoon in his mouth, and immediately regretted it. Tasted awful. Bendy pulled a face in sympathy.
"Oor mam's a dish, Faider’s a wulf. Da genes were a bit o a lucky dip,” the boy- err, Bean piped up. They'd tuned back in to the conversation.
Huh, well that answered a few more questions. What happened with their mom? Did she know anything? Did she teach 'em anything? After being scolded for how cussing oblivious he and Mugs had been to the order, Cup was cautious. Just how off-grid were these people?
"Yeah, whit's wee dy accent?" The older girl suddenly asked.
She was staring at him. Cup glanced off, and then glanced back. She was still staring at him.
"Uhh, I danno, wat'd up wid yourd?" He retorted from around his spoon. Cuss. He'd forgot about that. He took it out.
She shrugged. Noodle mimicked him from next to her, jerking and saying something into her bowl in what was such a gross exaggeration of a Southern accent he couldn't even figure out what she said. Her sister and brother were cussing shaking with laughter.
Cuphead scowled. The cat raised a finger in warning as Bendy started splitting his cussing sides. So did Boris. Mugs too, the mook. They had the same cussing accent.
“Yeah yeah, laugh it up why don't ya,” he grumbled, and slapped Bendy on the back, who coughed in response, and then tossed him an orange glare.
Felix eventually got them to settle down, and they were back to asking questions.
"So what's the deal with this treasure?" The starfallen pipsqueak asked with a glint in his eyes.
Bean started gathering all their bowls, empty or not. “Faider apparently left somethin’ here fir us ta find. He ‘hid’ it fir when we were aald enough to go hunt it doon, which we are noo. Oor mam gave us a map wee an ‘X’ an a riddle on it. Da riddle goes somethin’ lik… ‘Up o’er da broch whar da trowie bides, du'll need dy axes or du's deed min.’”
Cuphead had whiplash. By the looks of it, so did everyone else. Not the cat, of course, because he just knew everything. Been a bit since Cup had felt that dumb.
His brother scratched the back of his head with a clueless stare. "Uhh," was all he could manage, again.
"What language was that?! ” Bendy snapped.
The pup turned to Felix with a sheepish look. "Mr. Felix? Could you maybe translate?"
He had his weird adventurer face on. "It's not a language, exactly. It's a dialect,” he explained, pinching his chin in thought. “In regular old English it just means ‘Up over the river where the trowie stays’ - a trowie is a creature similar to a troll,” he paused to elucidate. “… ‘You'll need your axes or you're dead.’”
He glanced to the Viking kids for confirmation on his translation.
Soup nodded. "Pretty moch."
Well that sucked.
"Is it supposed to rhyme?" Boris’ muzzle scrunched up in confusion.
The other wolf snorted. "Faider wis bruck at rhymes,” she remarked, before her brother shoved all the dishes into her arms.
“Du's on waashin’ daday.”
She frowned, but got up, grabbing a barrel of water and dragging it with her as she stomped away, yelling random curses out as she did.
"There hasn't been a river on a map of Toon Town for some time,” Felix mused, a deep knot in his brow. He tore his gaze from the ground to the Vikings. "Are you sure what you're looking for is around here?"
Bean took a seat next to his sister, who now had a frown on her face. "Oor map his a couple brochs,” she muttered more to herself, and then pulled out said map. Her brother stared over her shoulder. "Yeah, dere."
"Maybe it's outdated?" Boris suggested.
Cup rolled his eyes. "Horribly outdated,” he grumbled. He then felt pain jab him in the arm, and clutched it with a wince. He scowled at his brother. That was the second cussing time today!
The cat got up from his seat, and headed over to the three ‘Vikings’ to take a gander at their map. His knot only grew.
“What’s up Mr. Felix?” Boris asked, lifting his head curiously.
“I’m… not sure,” he admitted. “I don’t think this map is of this city. The river system is too dense - this might be a map of somewhere more up North.”
“What’s to say it isn’t anywhere else in the cussin’ world??” Cup pointed out, tossing a hand up. It didn’t exactly have ‘United States’ slapped across the top of it, did it?
Felix realised this, and looked to the Vikings. “Are you sure the thing your father hid is here? In America?”
“I think so,” Soup responded, chewing her cheek. “Oor Mam said it wis in… ‘merica… ” She mumbled. Stars.
Felix had his dumb thinking face on, which to Cup only meant bad news.
“… Maybe there's something that can help us back in the city,” he said.
Us? He meant them, right?
"Why don't you come back with us? We could do some research, maybe give you lot a tour in return." He continued. Oh cuss no. Like hell Cup was taking these wackos with him.
Bendy clicked his tongue and hopped up with a grin. "Berries." No, not berries.
Mugman and Boris followed suit. The two remaining kids began packing and cleaning up their camp, the other one eventually deciding to show up again just as they were finishing up.
“Ay yo whit's goin’ on, whit did I miss,” she asked, packing the clean dishes away in a sack of some sort and throwing the barrel off to one side.
Bean took the barrel and somehow managed to tie it to the mess of gear he already had tied to his back. "We're goin’ wee a bunch o strangers wha could totally kill us an no wan would ivir kain,” he replied with absolutely no cussing sarcasm whatsoever. Cuphead suspected he was the only one who heard the comment - no one else had reacted. Everyone was too busy moving.
After refusing to move, Cup was pulled up from his seat by the pipsqueak. "C’mon, man, we're going."
The dish groaned. He didn't want to move. He didn't want to go back with another gang of weirdos. And every time they brought someone back, they ended up cussing staying! The house was packed! When had they started trusting complete cussing strangers?!
Bendy hauled him along with his stupid starfallen demon strength. Once everyone was ready, they started making their way back through the forest, with the cat at the front using a compass as a guide home.
"None of you use magic, do you?" He raised a brow at the berserker gang. Oh yeah. The magic surge.
The wolf snorted. "I mean Soup's burps are brally magical but I dunna kain if yun’s whit du means.”
Soup cackled, and bumped her collar bone with a fist. “Hang on, lemme see if I’ve got wan stored.”
Multiple of their group raised their palms haltingly, and begged her not to, while her siblings split their sides.
Cuphead did not like these kids.