“A brother! We’re getting another brother!” Discord cheered and jumped excitedly.
Aku clarified, “A sibling. She said a sibling. She didn’t say whether or not we were getting a brother.”
“But we couldget another brother. Just think: five boys, all playing in the hot summer sun, telling spooky ghost stories, venturing out into the great unknown! Yes, we will be the perfect…Er, what is a group of five called again?”
“A quintet?”
“I was going for quintuplets, but yes. I think that’s it.”
Hater chimed in, “But we wouldn’t be born on the same day!”
Aku groaned as he face-palmed, “You nitwit, those are quintuplets. A quintet is five people who are often of different ages. Get my point?”
Silence, and then Hater said, “Ohhhh…Can five brothers be a quintet?”
“Yes! But we aren’t sure if it’s going to be a boy or not!”
Bill added in, “Who knows? It could be a girl, judging by the way Mom was saying it.”
There was a pause until the boys grimaced, “Ewwww!”
Discord raised his paw, “I say it’s a boy.”
Hater raised his hand, “Boy.”
Bill also raised his hand, “Boy.”
Aku nodded and raised his hand, “Oh, definitely boy.”
When Cara left that afternoon, the four boys got to work on setting up a homecoming party for their new sibling. It was decided that it would be boy-themed and they went to work with the help of their mentor, Griffin. Sometime before Cara adopted Discord, she had traveled the multiverse and into many cartoon realms. It was in one of these dimensions that she had discovered a wounded and burned griffin in the Forbidden Forest. She took him back to Verametrine and tended to his injuries. Even after he was healed, Griffin saw no reason to return to his world and stayed with his new mistress. Cara, however, insisted on treating him like an equal and made him protector of the house and eventually the boys.
“You young boys must be very excited for your new sibling, huh?” Griffin asked as he helped put up decorations.
Discord grinned, “Are we ever!”
Hater said, “Yeah, we can’t wait till he shows up!”
Griffin asked playfully, “Oh? And what makes you think it’ll be another brother?”
Bill answered, “Well, duh! There are four of us! Five, including you. Mom’s going to have to bring home another boy!”
Griffin smirked, “I see. But what will happen if it’s a girl?”
The boys shook their heads and frowned, “No way! Yuck! There’s no way she’s going to bring home a sister! Not in a million years!”
The giant beast then asked them, “Think of your mother for a moment. She hasn’t been around any females more frequently than on special occasions with her mother and sister. With you four boys and me, she might want someone who’s the same gender as her.”
Hater retorted, “She wouldn’t dare!”
As the boys were agreeing with Hater, Griffin could only sigh and think, Well, this will certainly make their reaction much more interesting.
The boys were working on their blue banner when Griffin flew up to the window and said, “She’s home!”
The four kids cheered and gleefully ran down the stairs and to the front door. They held out their banner with anticipation before the door began to open.
“WELCOME HOME, NEW BRO-“
They gasped at the sight before them and a balloon deflated as if a response to their shock. They had expected a brother, but what they saw was a sister. She was a small sea serpent the age of a kindergartener. She had green skin, a light green belly, and red hair tied up in an aquamarine bow.
Cara said, “Boys, this is Nessie. She’s going to be your new sister.”
There was only silence until Hater shouted, “A girl?! You brought home a girl instead of a boy?!”
Nessie, frightened by the volume and tone of Hater’s voice, hid behind Cara.
Cara admonished him, “Hater, you’re scaring her.” She then told the boys, “She’s a bit shy, so it’s going to take her some time to get used to her surroundings. In the meantime, please try to be friendly to her.”
When she led Nessie upstairs, the boys began to grumble and discuss amongst themselves.
Discord pouted, “Phooey! It’s not a boy!”
Hater asked, “What are we going to do now?”
Bill said, “Mom said to be friendly to her.”
After a moment of realization, a sneaky grin spread across Aku’s face. He said, “But she didn’t say that we had to act like brothers to her.”
The boys all smiled maliciously at this.
So a week or two had passed and the boys never once thought of Nessie as their new sister. They treated her only as a friend, but never their sibling. They’d do nice things for her, but they never actually included her in their bonding. Even when she moved into the house, she never uttered a word except “McQuack”, the name of her rubber duck. Her silence convinced the boys that she didn’t need them. However, the opposite was true.
She wanted very badly to be close to them, but they always pushed her away. One day, they purposefully locked the glass door to the backyard while they played volleyball. Nessie tried knocking on the door to let the boys know she wanted to be outside with them. Unfortunately, her silent pleas fell on deaf ears. Nessie’s anger burned bright, her eyes flickered with tears.
Griffin, to whom Cara had given the ability to shrink and fit in small spaces, noticed this and asked Nessie, “Nessie? Is everything all right?” When she shook her head sadly, he continued, “You want to play with the boys?” Nessie sat down and pressed her legs against her body. Griffin took pity on the small girl and said, “Oh…They’ve been leaving you out, huh?” She nodded and closed her eyes to keep tears from falling out.
Griffin pulled her closer to him and said, “Hey, hey. It’s okay. You can cry if you want to. Your mother once said to me, ‘Do not be afraid to cry. It really is okay. Sometimes it’s through our tears we find a better way.’”
Nessie said nothing and continued to press herself against the strong beast’s fur. He stroked her scales and said, “But if it makes you feel any better, I’ll play with you. Let’s set an example for the boys so they can know you better.” Nessie hugged him and he chuckled in response.
And this was how it was for the next couple of weeks. Griffin and Cara spent much valued time with Nessie while the boys were playing. It wasn’t until later that the boys noticed that the grown-ups were hanging out with Nessie more. They soon grew jealous of Nessie and wanted nothing to do with her. She tried to make them like her, but to no avail. When all hope was lost, she resorted to one last measure.
Cara’s freelance job was being a superwitch-for-hire. Her other occupation was being a celebrity. Between these two jobs, she still made time for her family. Normally, she would leave Griffin to take care of the children, but she needed him on occasions for her missions. This happened to be one of those times. After Cara and Griffin left in the middle of the night, Nessie slipped away into the woods with only her knapsack.
The next morning, as they would normally do when they were home alone, the boys celebrated and ran free throughout the house. When they got tired and hungry, they decided to make breakfast.
Hater asked, “Wait! Shouldn’t one of us wake up Nessie?”
The other boys grumbled before Aku said, “Congratulations, Hater. You just made yourself a volunteer.”
“What – Hey!”
Discord pushed him to the stairs and said, “Oh, come on. She won’t bite.”
Bill chimed, “Yeah, and if she doesn’t want breakfast, she can starve.”
Hater made his way to Nessie’s bedroom and knocked on the door. He called, “Nessie! Time for breakfast!” When there was no answer, he groaned, “Right, I forgot. You won’t speak. Okay, on the count of three, I’m coming in, so you better be ready! One…two…three!” He opened the door and found the bed empty. All that was left was the aquamarine bow their mother had given her.
Hater rushed back downstairs and asked urgently, “Guys, where’s Nessie?!”
The three boys looked at him in shock and cried, “WHAT?!”
Discord said, “You lost her?!”
Bill admonished, “You had one job, Bones! One job!”
Aku asked, “How can you lose a sea serpent in her own bedroom?!”
Hater said, “I don’t know what happened to her, but this was all she left behind!” He pulled out the bow and the three boys looked at it in shock.
Bill asked, “Tagalong ran away?”
Aku scratched his head and said, “Odd. I never expected that of her.”
Discord dramatized as he fell to the floor for emphasis, “Doesn’t she know it’s a cold, cruel world out there?! She’ll never make it on her own!”
Aku groaned, “He’s right. Mom will have our heads if we don’t find Nessie.”
Hater asked, “So who’s searching for her?”
Silence, and then the boys shook their heads and said, “Not me. Nuh-uh. Nope. I’m not going to.”
Discord went to the couch as he said, “Well, if none of us are going to find Nessie, then what are we going to do?” As soon as he sat down, he cried out “Ow! Something pinched me!”
Bill said, “It wasn’t me!”
Hater said, “Me neither!”
Discord looked back and dug between the cushions. He said, “Wait, I think I see something.” He then pulled out a paper and asked, “A paper? That wasn’t there before.”
Bill suggested, “Unless the ‘Do Not Remove’ tags are becoming starchier nowadays.”
Discord looked at the paper and was in awe of it.
Aku asked as he waved a hand in front of Discord’s face, “Uh, Discord? Hello? Earth to Discord? What is it?”
With glistening eyes, Discord showed the paper to the boys and they all stared at it in awe. It was a glittered drawing of Nessie, their mom, Griffin, and the boys. Nessie was in the middle of the four boys with their mom on one side and Griffin was on the other. On the bottom, there was a single word: FAMILY. This elicited one response from all four of the boys, who now knew what the right thing to do was:
“Darn it, Nessie!”
After breakfast, the boys all packed knapsacks and survival kits before heading off to search for their lost sister. They concluded that Nessie went into the forest, so it was decided that Hater would act as home base, Aku would take the east, Bill the west, and Discord the north.
Aku said as he handed over the walkie-talkies, “All right, every boy know what to do?”
Discord nodded, “When we find Nessie…”
Bill continued, “…we’ll call the others…”
Aku finished, “…and follow our strings back here.”
Hater said, “In the meantime, I’ll stay here in case Mom calls or somebody’s at the door.”
Aku nodded, “Right. So are we go for Operation Search-and-Rescue Nessie?”
The boys shouted, “Yeah!”
“Then let’s find the lost sister!”
Three of the boys scattered in different directions to find Nessie while Hater kept home base in check. After maybe an hour, a weary Discord decided to sit on a rock to catch his breath. As he was resting up, he decided to play with the boys and spoke into his walkie-talkie, “Breaker, breaker. This is Delta Jigsaw Dos, calling the others. Alpha Bravo Uno, Beta Charlie Tres, and Hotel Golf um…Four, can you hear me?”
Aku, Bill and Hater all shouted in their walkie-talkies, “DISCORD!!!”
Aku scolded, “Stop fooling around! We’re supposed to find Nessie!”
Hater agreed, “Right, so unless you have a lead or something…”
Bill finished, “…don’t cry wolf with us!”
Discord just smiled and said, “All right. You have my word.” As soon as he clicked off his walkie-talkie, a stream snaked its way through the forest ground. Discord crouched down and uttered, “What?” He put his finger in the stream and tasted the water.
He gagged and coughed, “Ugh! Blech! Saltwater!” He considered the possibility that a body of saltwater was overflowing, or…He quickly grabbed his essentials and ran upstream to find the source. When he had run for about a few meters, he heard a sound he was hoping to hear. He ran faster with renewed vigor and found a familiar figure sitting on a rock.
Discord took pity on the crying figure and slowly approached her. He lightly tapped her shoulder as he whispered, “Hey, Ness.”
Nessie was taken completely by surprise and gasped as she looked to see him. Discord’s heart broke when he saw the tears in her eyes and on her cheeks. He knew why and he didn’t like it. He asked her softly, “Would you mind a bit of company for a while?” When Nessie shook her head, Discord smiled, “Great!” He then sat down next to her and asked, “So what are you doing out here in the great wilderness?”
Nessie turned her head from him and drew her arms close to her body. Discord said, “Not much of a talker, huh? Listen, Ness, I guess the guys and I are sort of to blame for how you’ve been treated.” Nessie whimpered and more tears fell from her eyes. Discord corrected, “Okay, okay, entirely to blame! But see…” He sighed before continuing, “…we sorta wanted a boy, but…we got you instead.”
This made Nessie cry more and Discord couldn’t take the sight of that. He groaned as he face-palmed, “Oh, come on, Nessie! I’m not the most considerate being in the world! The least you can do is give me some slack!” Nessie’s sniffles quieted down and Discord continued, “Look, what I’m trying to say is that we haven’t been including you because…well, you’re a girl. I guess we’re more used to doing boy things and not girl things. That’s why we were jealous of the attention you got from Mom. And maybe that’s because we weren’t treating you like a sister like we should’ve.
“We’ve always seen you as just a friend and never a sibling.” He sighed and continued, “I guess it’s our fault you ran away in the first place. I wouldn’t blame you. I’d run away, too, if my family didn’t want me. Can you ever forgive me, Nessie?”
A voice came from the walkie-talkie, “And me?”
“And me?”
“And I as well?”
Nessie was surprised by the three new voices that came from the strange device. Discord held it out to her and she shied away from it. He chuckled, “Don’t be afraid. It’s just a walkie-talkie. It’s something you talk into when you want to speak to someone far away. Do you want to say something, Ness? Come on. You can do it.”
Hater’s voice said, “Yeah, you can do it!”
Bill’s voice said, “Come on, Nessie!”
Aku’s voice said, “Say at least one word.”
Nessie’s heart was lifted by the strong encouragement that her brothers were giving her, so she took a breath and said into the walkie-talkie, “I forgive you.”
The boys all erupted into cheers as Discord lifted Nessie into the air and twirled her around.
The kids spent the rest of the afternoon playing and exchanging stories before Cara and Griffin came home.
Cara smiled, “Now this is the family I wanted to see.”
The children ran into her arms and embraced her. Cara then asked, “Did you guys have fun while we were away?”
The boys agreed, “We sure did! It was great!”
Discord gasped, “Oh, Mom! Before we forget, Nessie has something to say.”
This surprised Cara and Griffin when they heard that, but they eagerly waited to hear Nessie speak to them for the first time. Nessie said to them, “Welcome home, Mummy.”
Cara then hugged her and Nessie gave a quick wink to Griffin, who returned it.
