Chapter Text
Whenever he had nightmares as a kid, Quackity’s mom was quick to comfort him; she’d sing softly into his ear, her fingers carding through his hair, untangling the sweaty curls, pressing soft kisses to his forehead and cheeks. Within minutes his trembling had stopped, the only thing he could focus on were the soft words his mother was singing, eyes drifting shut as all memories of the nightmare disappeared.
Now, he didn’t know where she was, he hadn’t seen her since this morning and he was running and running. His legs hurt, it was hard to breathe, he was covered in soot and debris and his hand knitted hat was destroyed and he was bleeding and it hurt so bad—
He watched as other staff members ran about, ignoring him as they yelled at each other, voices blurred and panicked as he was slammed into, falling roughly on his side, letting out a pained cry as he landed on his left wing, scooting back against a wall, as far from the mess of people as he could be.
The candles that normally illuminated the halls were snuffed out, the windows were destroyed and the only light illuminating his path was the moon. He aggressively wiped the tears and blood from his cheeks, pushing himself up as he made his way down the hall, following where the people had run off to. He had to find his mom, he had to, he—
“Daddy?”
He froze, hiding under a nearly broken table was a child, looking to be ten years younger than him, tears steadily falling down his chubby cheeks as rocked himself, arms wrapped around his legs. Quackity cleared his throat, stepping closer to the kid, ignoring the pain shooting up his legs, kneeling down.
“Hi,” He kept his voice soft, watching as the child flinched, head snapping up, “What’s your name?”
“T- Tubbo.”
“Tubbo? Hi there, I’m Quackity.”
“Quackty?”
He smiled softly, the mispronunciation of his name coming out quiet and lisped, “Yeah, are- are you okay buddy?”
The kid, Tubbo, sniffled, pausing before shrugging his shoulders. He wiped his tears aggressively, the back of his sleeves damp and covered in dirt. Quackity didn’t know this kid, the castle was big and there were a lot of workers and kids of workers living there, Quackity included. He reached a hand out tentatively, offering it palm up for him to take it. Tubbo looked from his hand to his face, before unsteadily grabbing Quackity’s, allowing himself to be pulled up.
“There we go,” Quackity smiled, softly ruffling his hair, taking note that Tubbo hadn’t let go of their intertwined hands.
“Do you know where my daddy is?”
Quackity shook his head, “No, I’m sorry. I can’t find my mom, either, do you wanna come with me to- to find them?”
Tubbo nodded, clutching at the edge of his green button up, stepping closer to Quackity’s side. The two made their way down the hall, stepping over broken vases and smashed windows. He did his best to watch for bodies, he had tripped over one earlier and he didn’t want to let Tubbo see that. It was hard to know where they were going, it was hard to even realize where they had been, the wing they were in was so destroyed it was unrecognizable to him.
“You’re bleeding.”
He titled his head, trying to send a reassuring smile towards the kid, “I’m fine.”
Tubbo just stared at him, a painfully blank look on his face that was unnerving to Quackity, and the two continued moving in silence. His sense of direction was coming back to him, recognizing some of the paintings lining the walls, though many were destroyed and burned; they had made it to the main hall, perfect. If they could just—
Loud footsteps echoed from before them, and Quackity felt himself freeze, feathers puffing up in fear, he didn’t know if these were people who worked in the castle or those who had invaded, but regardless, the two were in danger of being trampled or just outright killed. Eyes scanning the walls he thanked the Gods when he saw one of the walls only slightly singed, tugging Tubbo’s hand as he led them over. The smaller boy looked up in confusion as Quackity dropped his hand, fingers tracing along the wall, starting from the bottom of a golden frame and counting silently in his head.
One, two, three, over one, two, here.
He pressed firmly, hands shaking, fingers trembling, but luck appeared to be kind to him, a small opening in the wall appearing as the portion of panel slowly creaked open.
He turned to Tubbo, keeping his voice quiet, trying to keep the fear away, “Tubbo, we need to hide in here.”
“But,” The kid shook his head, “My daddy— ”
“I know, but we need to stay safe. There are bad people here, we’ll find your daddy after, I promise.” He didn’t have anything with him to bribe the kid, pleading at this point for Tubbo to just listen without a fight.
“I,” He closed his mouth, brown eyes welling up with tears, but he nodded, and Quackity let out a sigh of relief.
He let Tubbo crawl in first, making sure the smaller was situated before he followed suit, grabbing the makeshift handle and pulling the door shut tight, waiting for the low click, eyes adjusting the darkness they were plunged into. Tubbo’s hand found his as he heard the child let out a scared whine, shushing him softly.
The room wasn’t large, and in all intense of purpose Quackity couldn’t explain what led him to creating a panic room such as this. Life in the castle wasn’t bad, his parents had worked there since they were younger, and Quackity had lived there his entire life. But the castle was big, and sometimes it overwhelmed him. No one knew of his little endeavors, multiple halls housing tiny panic rooms such as this, they weren’t equipped with anything, no food or water to keep on him, and he was beginning to regret that. He didn’t know what all was happening, not fully.
Tubbo shifted next to him, and he let himself wrap a wing around the smaller boy, the edges of his feathers barely reaching around his bicep, biting his lip as he heard voices grow louder, words becoming clearer.
“ — find the other three, sir, they managed to get out.”
“For fucks sake— tell me how three children manage to escape a group of trained guardsmen. I hadn’t realized I hired a group as fucking inept as you all!”
Tubbo shifted again, and Quackity was gonna comfort him before he realized Tubbo was trying to stand up, and he panicked, grabbing his arms and pulling him down, harshly shushing him.
“No, that’s my daddy!” Tubbo tried prying Quackity’s hands off of him, but his chubby fingers couldn’t loosen the fearful grip the teenager had.
“That,” He paused, trying to calm his beating heart. He didn’t recognize the voice, none of the voices really, but he had promised to help the kid find his dad, and adults could help lead them out.
He straightened his shoulders, reaching a hand out and pushing, heart hammering and stomach churning as the door once again, noisily opened. The low arguing stopped, and he heard the tell tale noises of swords being drawn, so much more terrifying now to hear than watching guards train in the courtyard. The door was ripped from his fingers, and he nearly fell backwards in shock, coming face to face with the point of a sword, feeling a fearful sob catch in his throat. Tubbo was behind him, and he kept his arms out, blocking him as best he could.
“What the actual fuck?”
His eyes slowly shifted from the sword to the baffled looking man standing in the middle of the group.
He was tall, much taller than Quackity, hair far too polished for all the commotion that had been happening about, and sitting on top of his head was a pair of finely polished ram’s horns. He narrowed his eyes at Quackity, before they flickered behind him, and he faltered.
“Toby?”
Tubbo pressed himself against Quackity’s back, grabbing his shirt tightly.
The man rolled his eyes, stepping forward, “Put the fucking sword away dumbass,” The guard grumbled but complied, and Quackity felt a wave of relief wash over him.
Tubbo’s dad walked forward, and Quackity shifted, allowing Tubbo to make his way past him, and the man looked him over, taking note of the few scratches and bruises but said nothing. He then turned his eyes to Quackity, scanning him over.
“What’s your name kid?”
“I, uh, A- Alexis. I go by Quackity, though.”
The man let out a loud, sudden laugh, the noise aggressive, causing the younger to flinch back some, “That cause of the... fucking duck wings?”
“Y- Yes.”
The man knelt down, elbows resting on his knees, face closer to Quackity’s than he felt comfortable with, “You work in here?”
He nodded, swallowing hard, “My- my dad works in finances, my mom helps the queen.”
“And what do you do?”
Quackity shrugged, “I- I just help around the castle whenever people need me.”
The man grinned, “You must know your way around pretty well then, huh?”
“Yes, sir.”
“The name’s Schlatt, kid, no need for formalities. Besides,” He grabbed Quackity’s hand, hauling him up, “I think we’re going to get to know each other, quite well..”
He stared at the man, wincing at the grip he had on him, processing the words Schlatt said.
“S- Sorry?”
But he was ignored, Schlatt dropping his hand and moving to inspect the tiny room the two came out of. He let out a low whistle.
“This is nice, I wouldn’t have known there was a room behind here.” He turned to Quackity, “How’d you know this was there?”
He felt himself puff up at the question, wings fluttering behind him, not going unnoticed by Schlatt, who eyed them curiously, “I made it.”
“You made this?” He pointed at Quackity, lips curling into a half grin, “You can’t be more than… what, ten?”
“I’m thirteen.”
“Not far off,” He muttered to himself, pausing, before he turned his full attention to Quackity, “You’re smart, aren’t you?”
“I,” He flushed, “I’ve been told I am.”
He received a nod, “I could use someone like you on my side,” He took Quackity by the shoulders, fingers digging roughly into the skin, “How’d you like to work alongside me, feathers?”
“I’m,” He winced, “I’m not supposed to be given a job unless the chamberland says so.”
Schlatt just laughed, head thrown back, a scary look crossing his face as he shook his head at Quackity, “Or your King,” He tsked, talking to him as if he were addressing a toddler, “And I say that I could use someone like you on my side.”
“But, King Philza hasn’t— ”
”King Philza,” Schlatt’s voice raised, grip tightening painfully so, “Isn’t your King anymore, kid!”
He was spun around, feeling Schlatt’s breath in his hair as he knelt down, voice lowering, “Look at that.”
He felt his eyes widen, watching as a small batch of flames coming from a torch, held by one of Schlatt’s men was lifted, the flames growing as they fed on fabric. A painting of the royal family, once colorful and bright, painted with loving strokes and framed in gold, was burning quickly, the two youngest of the family already burned away, and he watched in horror as the flames reached the faces of the King and Queen, kind eyes staring out, surrounded by flames lit in malice.
“Your King is gone, Alexis,” Schlatt straightened himself up, pushing him forward, closer to the flames, and he could vaguely hear the footsteps of the others following, but they sounded muffled, fear overtaking him, “But! Not to worry. I won’t let this Kingdom fall into chaos, into anarchy. Under my rule, I can promise things are gonna change.”
He walked off, fingernails leaving red indents on Quackity’s shoulders, and he watched, sight blurry through tears as parts of the painting turned to ash, falling to the ground below it. He felt Tubbo walk closer, fingers slowly reaching to grasp at Quackity’s hand.
“We didn’t find your mama.” His voice was soft, childishly innocent.
He swallowed hard, cold anguish washing over him, his mother and father had been called in to separate meetings with King Philza and Queen Kristin, “I- I don’t think we would have buddy.”