FANG For a FANG

**Chapter 13 Fragments**

With the sound of a paintbrush on the walls in the background, Fluttershy walked down the halls of her old family home, carrying a cardboard box of mementos. She stood, staring at the old wooden architecture of the place. Despite being a little old-fashioned, the house was very beautiful in its own ways. The old stone tile floors, wooden beams, and crown molding all had an old-world feel to them, even though the walls were painted an eggshell white.

But it wasn’t really the way it looked that had Fluttershy so fixated on it. It was the memories that played in her mind from not too long ago. From running up the steps, her aunt chasing her when she was eleven, to her thirteenth birthday party, where she stood in a princess dress. Or the time her mom cooked a full pasta dinner for her rabbit to make her trip, and then threw it all over her aunt.

The memory of her aunt’s gorgeous hair, covered in spaghetti sauce, meatball slices, and noodles, brought a quivering smile to her face as her eyes landed on the sight of a family photo on the wall. It was one of those old-fashioned family portraits of Fluttershy, as a little girl, standing in front of a happy Aunt Celestia and a tired Luna Star, her mother.

As Fluttershy's hand lifted to pick up the picture and take it off the wall, she could feel her own sadness take hold, and a frown dawned on her face as the paintbrush sounds came to an end.

Discord, now done with his work, took a step back to both admire his handiwork and make sure he didn’t leave any other spots. But a neutral, somewhat bored expression stayed on his face as he observed the scene around him.

“Thanks for painting that for me,” said the woman down the hall. He looked up to see Fluttershy standing with her hair over her face. A mix of awkwardness and sadness for her filled Discord's gut, for reasons he wished he didn’t know. His eyes shifted from the girl to the rest of the living room. The once red stain from the wine glass was gone, thanks to him, as well as the old broken coffee table now gone. Otherwise, despite the couch, TV, and fireplace, the room felt utterly empty with nothing on the walls. Vases and home decor were now gone, leaving only a few average books on the bookshelf just to keep the place from being completely bare. With an inhale and a tilt of the head, he finally spoke up. “I can see now why your mother didn’t want me to go home with her. I would have stuck out like a sore thumb,” he half-laughed, trying to lighten the depressing mood in the room.

She raised her head with a smile, but it was clear by her eyes she hated the fact that her childhood home was being sold.

“Yeah, you really had it made here, didn’t you, princess?” he teased as he walked towards her, each step calculated, not wanting to overwhelm her once more and make her cry.

“I should have,” she weakly giggled. “When I was very little, my mother and I once lived in a run-down motel room, if not the back of a car. But when I was five, we moved in here with my aunt. Apparently, my grandparents were sorta rich and left the old place to my aunt. This home was also their childhood home for a long time.” Her eyes lowered to the ground. “I just can’t believe it’s being sold is all, but I do understand why my aunt is doing it.”

“Yeah, well, your mom’s not dead; we’ll get her back,” Discord reminded her, in hopes of cheering her up. “It’s just a house,” he continued before taking her box from her and heading out the door, leaving her with one last look at the place.

She decided after a moment or two to climb the spiral staircase up to the second floor. She slowly went through the halls, each inch of the place giving her another sweet memory of her, her friends, her aunt, and most of all, her mother. Walking into her old bedroom, her bed and dresser were still there, but nothing of real value. She only walked past the room, and slowly past her mother’s old room and her aunt’s, looking for anything she wanted to keep and anything she had to clean up.

…

Discord set the last of four boxes, along with house curtains, in the trunk of his vehicle. As he closed it, though, his eyes shot up at the sight of himself in the rearview mirror.

Around him, the houses all looked mostly the same. A little bit cookie-cutter, but all with a bit of old-fashioned charm to them. Each had old painted sidings, wooden window frames, and classic green grass lawns. Fluttershy’s home, in particular, was clearly the best-looking one out of every single one. It had both the look of the other houses, along with brick paths, the greenest of grass, the cleanest of yards, and the fanciest of little iron gates.

It was a big house, with a basement and attic, with bedrooms on the second floor. In many ways, it was a castle befitting of Fluttershy and her upbringing. A family with decent wealth, love, and good times, now brought to their knees, and here he was, standing in the middle of it looking completely out of place.

His black and white messy streaks, along with the edged look in his eyes, and a fang-like tooth, all looked out of place there among the kid-friendly suburbs. Despite being dressed rather casually, there was nothing he could do but seem to stand out, and as he noticed strange looks from the onlookers around him, he could only feel more out of place. He narrowed his eyes at his own reflection, as he could feel his fists shake from how tightly he held them, as the events of the other night a week ago played in his mind. He could still taste the metallic sensation of the boy's blood in his mouth, and he wondered what kind of monster he would see in the mirror that night. With a shake of the head, he tried to push it away, but the feeling still lingered—one he would never be able to shake off. Setting his hands in his pockets bitterly, he headed back inside to find Fluttershy just walking downstairs.

“Are you uh—” he paused for a moment to clear his throat, suppressing whatever fury he had at the moment. Now was not a time for him to be worried about himself, not when she needed it the most. After all, wasn’t he used to this by now? She, however, wasn’t. “You really had a nice place here,” he weakly smiled.

“Oh, you can’t even see my favorite part,” Fluttershy giggled, taking him by the arm. “Come on; I’ll show you. I want to take one more walk before I leave anyway.” She told him, pulling him to the back door and towards the woods.

“The forest?” Discord raised an eyebrow as the two came to the closest tree.

“That’s right,” Fluttershy weakly smiled, as she raised her head to the treeline. “I used to run around in these old woods for hours,” she said, reminiscing. Her smile twitched, but she couldn’t shake her sadness as the two of them walked slowly through the woods.

The sounds of their footsteps snapped a few branches as they headed down what looked to be a man-made path of footprints left by her long ago. The slithering sounds of the animals around, the smell of fresh air, and a hint of rain in the atmosphere all added to its charm. It almost looked magical, despite its creepy shadows, overgrown bushes, and leaves.

“I would come and get lost in here all the time, even though I would get lost. Though I strangely never felt panicked or scared,” she continued as the two took in the sights.

The light of the forest striped through the canopy of trees, lighting the path just enough to see through its thick foliage. Discord remained quiet as he watched her methodically step, carefully not to trip over the many broken branches and sharp rocks that littered the area.

As she came over a small hill closer to a tree, Fluttershy’s eyes widened for a moment only for her eyebrows to sharpen. “Oh, those kids,” she groaned, bending down to pick up a horde of broken and crushed soda cans and fast food trash. “The one thing that I don’t like is how so many just throw their garbage everywhere in here.” She complained as she hopped over a large tree root and continued to pick up old wrappers and streamers. “They wouldn’t like it if I went to their home and made a mess in their rooms, so why do they think it’s okay to make a nest in the forest?” She retorted.

Discord remained silent, watching among the trees, keeping his distance. What could he say or do, he thought, as he looked around the landscape. He stood for a moment and watched as a bird did somersaults and landed on a branch not too far away from him. “You really are a fairytale,” he whimpered, out loud by accident.

“A fairytale? What do you mean by—”

His jaw dropped, realizing she heard him. “Ah, no—nothing, don’t worry about it,” he grinned, but the feeling of his sweaty palms didn’t help him at all.

But just as he turned to see her, something else caught his eye, bringing him to a complete halt.

On the trunk of an old oak tree, there were several large hearts carved into it. Some with little drawn arrows and all with a familiar set of initials. FB+ and some other name. MA, PP, JJ, AA. A full dozen of names, some crossed out over time, years ago by the looks of it.

Catching what he was looking at, her face turned bright red. “Uhh, da—don’t mind that, I was a—little girl, and…”

“There are so many of them,” Discord blinked a few times.

Swirling under her hair and dashing behind a tree, due to her embarrassment. “There’s, na—not that many. I was a girl, alright? And some of those aren’t even boys I could ever date. Some were popular singers and celebrities I just happened to like, okay?”

Discord blinked a few more times as he lowered his gaze onto the tree of Fluttershy’s forgotten crushes, reading off a few of the initials to himself.

When he didn’t say anything else, she stuck her head out from behind the tree. Realizing he was trying to figure out who they were, she spoke up. “Mac Apple, Peter Parker, Justin Jocks, Ann, Mario, okay? There’s a lot,” she slumped over into the tree.

“Peter Parker and Mario, hahaha,” he laughed, only to gain control of himself when he noticed how unhappy she was. Soon, his laughter once again became awkward as he turned around. “Alright then, umm, we should probably—”

“Ye-yeah,” she choked before stumbling out from behind the tree and began heading back. Discord kept his mouth shut, for fear of talking again, as he took one last look at the surroundings and thought, “a fairytale indeed.”

…

The car ride was quiet, to say the least. Not one word came from either of them as they pulled up to Treehugger's house. Both of them sat there as the engine noise died when Discord turned off the car. Only for Discord to lower his head, using the steering wheel to hold himself up. Fluttershy watched as he quietly sat there, head on top of crossed arms. Taking in the tired sight of him, he seemed a completely different Discord than the one she used to know, as she began to reflect on her short time with him. From his charming yet dangerous introduction, to his absolute maniacal outburst of rage, to this, she didn’t know who Discord was anymore. He kept changing on her, and quickly too. Their last big fight wasn’t too long ago, but that all seemed so little compared to the grand scheme of things now. Not only was her mother gone, Bulk was shot and recovering, and the boy who shot him was tied up in the bathroom. Compared to that, their argument seemed like a lifetime ago, despite being only a few weeks apart.

But it was that fight that kept her mind racing as she watched him lift his head. His gaze was as lost as ever. Was she right? Was there something in his past that had him act this way? She recalled the information she got from Capper the night of the incident. Was it possibly something to do with her mother that had him act the way he did? She remembered his outburst to Capper that night. From the shock of nearly killing a kid to wanting Tirek’s head. Something about family.

“What?” Discord asked when he noticed she was staring at him.

She still knew so little about him, and knew one thing for sure: she couldn’t ask him. If she was going to learn more, she would have to get to the bottom of it herself.

“Nothing,” she replied softly and headed out of the car and to the house. After a few seconds of watching her, his eyes fixated on her, he shook his head and muttered, “You really are an asshole, aren’t you,” to himself before wincing his eyes shut and getting out of the car to join her.

…

Walking into the living room, the stench of weed was nearly unbearable as Treehugger sat on the couch smoking the substance when they walked in.

“Hey Flutters, want a taste? This new batch is something, I’m telling ya,” Treehugger greeted them, holding out the joint in her hand.

Fluttershy hesitated at first, but realizing she wasn’t going to get a chance at home, she took her friend up on the offer, silently thanking her as she inhaled a little.

The very fact that it was anywhere near him made Discord gag, as he waved Fluttershy’s smoke away. Before almost vomiting, he took the liberty to distance himself from the ladies and turned his back to them.

“So how’s Bulk?” asked Fluttershy cheerfully, as if this were an average Tuesday conversation over tea.

“He’s fine. That Starlight girl left about an hour ago for work. Otherwise, he’s upstairs resting,” Treehugger said as she took the marijuana back and huffed a puff of it for herself.

The two girls shared it as they continued their conversation. “And what about Capper, is he—”

“Gone too. Said he had a meeting with the gang.”

“That’s good; he needs to keep up appearances or they’ll grow suspicious of him,” Discord grumbled as he tried to open a window.

“And what about the kid?” asked Fluttershy. The moment the conversation turned to that boy, a slight tremble hit Discord's nervous system. But he quickly grabbed a hold of himself, trying to hide it.

Little did he know Fluttershy saw every action. She immediately wished she could comfort him, but right now was not the time. Instead, she only took back the marijuana as Treehugger replied, “I fed him and everything, but he’s still not talking. Just sits there and moaps. I did give him a TV to watch, though.”

“A TV?” Fluttershy asked, taking a puff of smoke before handing it back to Treehugger.

“Yep, but it only plays VHS tapes. He’s watching Bambi right now,” Treehugger snorted.

“Oh, well that was nice of you. Anyway, I finally figured out who that kid is… it’s all over the news. My aunt was watching TV yesterday when I saw it. Fourteen-year-old Thorax Beetle is reported missing and possibly kidnapped by—”

“Alright, I get the picture,” Discord grumbled, dragging his hands slowly over his face.

“He still won’t talk to you, hmm?” Fluttershy lowered her eyebrow. “You know I could—”

“I don’t care what you do,” Discord replied and walked off.

“Where are you going?” Fluttershy called back.

“To get some air; I can’t stand the stench in here any longer,” he barked, storming off out the door.

Fluttershy sat there for a moment, staring at where he just left, thinking, “Oh, Discord, what’s wrong?” But before she could make another move, it was Treehugger that brought her out of her thoughts.

“I swear, where did you meet that piece of work? He’s such a negative aura, it’s messing with my chakras.”

“It’s a long story. Thank you for letting him and the others stay here,” Fluttershy said sweetly, but her gaze only lowered to the floor.

Treehugger sat on the couch observing her for a moment before gasping dramatically, startling Fluttershy.

“What—what?”

“Oh, now I get it,” Treehugger said in an amused, somewhat mischievous tone, with a smirk to match.

“Uh-oh,” the pink-haired woman muttered in a high-pitched tone at the sight.

“You like himmm; it’s all over your chakras.”

Fluttershy grew a blush but said nothing in an attempt to hide it.

“Oh girl, ask him on a da—”

“No,” she chirped, far higher pitched than she meant to, startling herself in the process. “I me—” she cleared her throat. “Now is not a good time; besides we do, after all, have Thorax to deal with right now.”

“Oh yeah, the boy tied up and stuffed in my bathroom,” Treehugger rolled her eyes. “You got yourself into something, I can tell you!” She glided up her hair. “Never really thought your type was the bad boys… I tell ya, my last boyfriend thought he was but couldn’t even beat me in a wrestling match, if ya know what I mean.”

“Okay, I don’t need to know anymore,” Fluttershy shook her head, a little disgusted by the notion her friend was employing, and soon took to the stairs to go check up on Bulk.

….

Once she got to the second floor, she peeked her head in to find Bulk, who was too preoccupied with a comic book to notice her walk in. She decided to give the door frame a little knock, alerting him of her presence. He glanced over at her and gave her a grin, setting the book down.

“Don’t tell me it’s time to re-bandage my wounds again,” he said tiredly.

“No, but we do need to change them from time to time so you don’t get infected. How are you feeling?” she asked.

“Like I got shot,” the muscled man said with a slow beat to his words. “It’s sometimes a bit painful just to breathe, because that stretched the skin there!” He groaned, feeling the full damage of the wound.

“Afraid I can’t do nothing to help that, but if you need something—”

“I’m fine, Fluttershy; thank you. This wasn’t your fault.”

“No, but it’s still a mess… a mess I want to help fix if I can,” Fluttershy sighed.

He studied her for a moment. Fluttershy stood, her arms wrapped around herself, as if trying to protect herself from the troubled situation she was in. Bulk only grew a puzzled look as he gazed at her. “Ca—can I ask you a—”

“Let me guess, how do I know Discord?”

Bulk stood quiet, but it was clear by his expression he was waiting for an answer.

“It’s a long story, but in short, my mom went missing and I need to find her. He’s helping do that and—”

“And he doesn’t make it easy for you, does he?” Bulk finished with a straight face, allowing Fluttershy to give a nod.

“He’s the one that had me so worked up that night when we first met.”

Once again, just as downstairs with Treehugger, she couldn’t deny that but chose to remain silent, still not giving an answer. Yet her silence was what he needed to understand the situation.

“I see,” Bulk lowered his gaze.

“Now hold on, I—”

“I don’t want to see you hurt,” he said, bringing her to a stop. “Fluttershy, he’s dangerous. Just before I blacked out from the pain, I saw him. I saw what he did to that boy. And granted, the kid shouldn’t have had a gun, but if it wasn’t a child, I don’t think Discord would have let him live.”

“Bulk?”

“Trust me, Flutters, I know what I’m talking about…my mom…” Bulk winced, both from the pain of his wound and the memory of his past. “I was always very, very stupid as a kid and was very, very fat. My mom wanted me to get healthy because she feared of me getting sick like her. She soon got real bad and—and—” he trembled only to cry out in pain due to his wound.

“Bulk,” Fluttershy rushed over, but he stood his ground and kept speaking. “I needed money and needed it badly. So I got involved with the circus. But it was god-awful, and while there I met Trixie, who wanted to escape and live a normal life, as well as the other carnies. Starlight gave that to us, but before I met her, I did terrible things just for a good reason, for bad people.” He shook his head and looked Fluttershy in the eye, catching her gaze. “Fluttershy, even Starlight is pretty shady, but I got no way out of it. You do, though.”

She stood there listening to every word he said, with a blank stare. But when it was over, she simply smiled and replied, “You’re wrong about that; I like you, as stuck if I ever want to save my mother, just like you.”

“Fluttershy, it’s one thing to work with him, but don’t get too involved with him or you’re going to end up just like me, or worse,” he warned her.

She could only raise her gaze to his words and stand silent, unable to say a word to him. She soon got up and turned around, not wanting to continue this conversation at all. He only shook his head as he watched her leave, before returning to his comic book.

…

She entered the bathroom on the second floor, finding Thorax tied up on the toilet, watching Bambi, who glanced at her for a moment but kept his attention on the movie.

The moment she walked into the room, it was clear how awkward it was. The room felt claustrophobic, being only a small room, barely big enough for the tub in the back corner. It took her all she could to squeeze in and close the door to face Thorax.

“Alright, Fluttershy, you can do this,” she mentally told herself and took a deep breath before turning around to face the teenager. With a smile, she greeted him in a friendly manner as if this was a normal occasion. “Hey, how’s ah—your wound?”

Thorax lowered his gaze to his bandaged hand but couldn’t move it much due to his restraints. Fluttershy gently grabbed it; even with her light-as-a-feather grip, the pain made him wince and vocalize a high-pitched “ouch.”

“Still that bad, huh, Thorax?”

The second she said his name, he shot up at her, panicked.

“Relax; I learned it from TV. You’re reported missing by your mother, who wants to know where you are,” Fluttershy said in the friendliest manner possible before undoing his bandages, exposing the wound. “Now this is gonna sting, but it will help you heal.” She said, placing a dab of medicine over the bite marks before re-bandaging them in new clean cloth.

“What are you—ow—what are you going to do with me—ow!”

“All we want to do is know who you’re working for, and we’ll let you go. It’s really all that simple.”

Thorax winced and groaned from the pain before he sat back and lowered his hand. “I can’t—if she finds out I’m helping you, then she’ll hurt my mom.”

“She?”

“Dammit, I shouldn’t have said that,” he cursed himself, bracing his head, a furious look in his eye. “You don’t know who you’re messing with!”

At his words, she met his gaze for a moment, pausing her bandaging, only to lower her gaze back to her work. “You’re protecting your mother; I get that.” With a tight knot, she finished with his hand. “My mother’s missing, and my only lead right now is you.” She raised her head just as the sound of the gunshot that killed Bambi’s mother rang out in the bathroom, echoing off the walls.

“This woman you speak of might be the only way I can save my mother before that happens to her. So please…”

As Thorax sat there staring at the young woman with pink hair, a glimpse into her eyes gave away something he’d never thought he’d see in a girl like her. Her eyes showed a sharp darkness within them—a sharp darkness along with a burning determination that wouldn’t stop until she got what she wanted. This was not the same woman a moment ago who shyly walked in here and wrapped his bandages. This was Fluttershy, and as he heard her give a simple plea, Thorax felt not fear, but sorrow for her. His lips quivered as his eyes softened, and his young demeanor became loose, despite his throat growing dry.

“Crystal Bug—”

Fluttershy narrowed her eyes at hearing her boss's name come out of the boy's mouth.

“She wants Discord. I was to make sure he was captured by all means necessary.” As he told his story, the teenage boy only shivered on the toilet. He began sniffling at the memory of the gun. “I was only supposed to hold him at gunpoint, scare him into submission! I fell out,” before lowering his head as far as he could due to his restraints. “I was never supposed to shoot; I swear, the gun was even empty!”

Fluttershy stood in silence as she watched the sniffling young teenager in front of her, thinking to herself how ironic it was. Not too long ago, only a month and a half in fact, she was lent too far off where he was now. With a blink, she pushed that thought away and returned to the glaring issue, as his next sentence struck her like a ton of bricks.

“She said if I did it, she would help pay for high school. It’s on the collapse because my principal, Luna Star, stole money from the school. They’re shutting it down, and if I didn’t become a gang, I was scared I’d be bullied in another school. I thought this would be the best way to protect myself and—and—” his voice went high pitch as he began to ball his eyes out. “Maybe help my school get the money it needs. I love that school; it’s the only place I can just be me, and I didn’t want to lose that.”

Fluttershy’s eyes went wide as she inhaled. “La—Luna Sta—…”

“I have to be mommy’s good little top boy. I hate it, so that school is my escape from her. I couldn’t lose it, and now!” He choked on his own tears.

“That’s why my aunt’s selling the house,” Fluttershy gasped, catching the boy’s attention.

“Wa—what?”

“I’ve got to stop her; I have to!” She yelled and ran out of the bathroom, leaving the boy as is, with a look of confusion, sadness, and fear.

…

Discord walked along the streets on his way back to the house when he heard a car door slam. He looked up to see Fluttershy leaving in his car and tried to catch up to her, but she drove off, leaving him draining after her. His jaw dropped in awe as she took off, leaving him on the streets.

With a growl, he grumbled, “What the hell got into her all of a sudden?”