~Once Upon a Skephalo~

~Chapter 21~

"This is stupid," Skeppy muttered, huffing and crossing his arms as he paced around the meadow outside Bad's cottage. Spifey had made it blatantly obvious that Bad was Skeppy's soulmate. But if that were the case, then why was Skeppy still cursed with diamond skin? Or was Spifey wrong from the start? With a grumble and a kick of his foot against the ground, Skeppy dropped onto a nearby boulder and hid his face in his hands. His own feelings for Bad had developed long ago, before they lived together; surely if Bad was his soulmate the feelings would be returned by now. ... Right?

"Careful out here by yourself," said a voice from somewhere behind Skeppy. He looked up from his hands and turned to see Quackity standing behind him. "Anyone could sneak up on you, especially out here in the woods."

"Yeah, yeah, I know. I'm not gonna wander off, though, and I'll shout if anything happens," Skeppy said, waving a hand dismissively.

Quackity walked closer, grabbing a deck of cards from his pocket and shuffling them idly. "You're lucky to have a fairy godparent, you know. Not everyone has that privilege. I've heard that some people have a more... malleable fate than others. Those are the ones that usually get godparents, or some type of divine gift."

Skeppy narrowed his eyes. He didn't really care for talk of fate, he had heard enough of that already. It was beginning to exhaust him.

"Eh, no one can really know, can they? What happens will happen, and sometimes you just have to go along with it. The unexpected can affect your life before you even know what's coming. I know that's true," Quackity chuckled.

Skeppy was suddenly striken with a thought. "How long have you known Bad?"

"Bad? We've been friends for a long, long time," Quackity answered smoothly.

"He never mentioned you," Skeppy said, sitting up straight. "Did you two get in a fight or something?"

"He never told you about me?!" Quackity exclaimed, nearly dropping the cards in his hands. He cleared his throat, "Uh, I mean, that's not too surprising... He did tend to be, uh, secretive sometimes."

Skeppy casted a confused glance his way, then shrugged it off. "Yeah, I can see that. He wouldn't tell me who gave him that basket he's so crazy about."

Quackity gasped, actually dropping the cards this time. "He kept my basket?"

"You were the one who gave it to him?" Skeppy asked incredulously.

"Yeah, he kept talking about how he wished he had something to carry muffins around in, something kinda round and with a handle. I bought it for him that day," Quackity's voice saddened a bit. "The last day I saw him before everything happened..."

"What exactly... Happened?" Skeppy asked. He couldn't help but be curious. This was the person who had "mysteriously disappeared one day," as Bad had told him, and hadn't been seen or heard from in years.

"Well..." Quackity sighed. "It's kind of a long story."

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Ah, but the best way to learn Quackity's tale, my friends, is to see it exactly as it happened, as if we were witnessing it with our own eyes. Luckily for us, there happens to be someone within our midst who can help us do just that. Who might it be? None other than Karl Jacobs, traveler between timelines and walker of many worlds. Yes, here he is now, following a familiar path through the woods...

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"He had to have been here somewhere, I just know it," Karl mumbled, kicking a rock out of frustration. He watched it tumble into the grass, when an idea began to seep into his mind. It would be risky, but it was worth a shot. "I already know he's been here before. There's a chance I could find him if I hop back in time, just a little bit." Of course, there was also a chance Karl would go too far back, or not far enough, but with the luck he was having in his current time, it was tempting to try. Very tempting.

So, he did. It was tricky business, traveling through time. The type of time traveling he was trying to achieve was fairly simple, much easier than jumping to a completely different timeline. The only trouble was, Karl didn't have much control over his time traveling talents. On this particular day, fate was out to play aswell. Perhaps it would have been better not to take the risk.

Alas, it was too late to change things now. In less than a moment, Karl had been transported several years into the past. Once he gathered his bearings, he looked around. There, just in front of him, was the very person he had been hoping to find. Quackity was walking along the path, humming idly.

Karl rushed forward, calling out to him. "Hey, Quackity! Wait up!"

The man in question stopped and looked behind himself, spotting Karl running up. "Um, hi, do I know you?"

"I hope so," Karl huffed. Then under his breath, he said, "Judging from that reaction though, you probably don't."

"What was that?" Quackity asked.

"Nothing! Nothing. Do you happen to know anyone by the name of-" But Karl never got to finish his question because at that very moment a rather loud voice interrupted him.

"I sense a disturbance... In the force! A magical disturbance, in fact." A man stepped forward from the trees, wearing purple robes over a black shirt and... Red polkadot underpants? "They weren't selling pants with the rest of the costume," the man explained, answering Karl and Quackity's questioning gazes. "Anyways, which one of you was the one who was using magic? I'll have you know I am an esteemed magic user myself, and I won't have other sorcerers intruding upon my territory!" He brushed his long, grey beard to the side as he stepped forward. "Do you dare challenge the all-powerful wizard Scar to a magic duel?!"

Karl and Quackity continued to stare in silence, then hesitantly spoke up. "We... weren't using magic."

"Oh. Well, then perhaps I could entertain you with a small magic trick?" From the pocket of his purple coat, he procured a small wand (which appeared to be no more than a twig), and flourished it in the air. "See this? A magic wand, capable of casting any spell I want it to. I just got my license for this thing, and I've been wanting to test it all week! Now, let's see, what were the words I was supposed to say? 'Abra kadabra, hocus pocus,' or something of the sort?" He waved the wand once more, and a stream of sparks flew from its tip, flying through the air until they came into contact from the nearest thing. Unfortunately, that just so happened to be Quackity, and in an instant, he vanished in a poof of green smoke. In his place stood a small, yellow duck.

Karl stared in horror down at the bird, which gave a quack of confusion. "You can turn him back, right?" He asked.

The wizard Scar laughed awkwardly. "Sure! Absolutely. I just- heh, need to go fetch my... Magical reversal crystals! Yes! I'll go get those!" He stammered, then sprinted away, back into the forest from whence he came.

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[A/N]

Hello! I hope you all enjoyed this chapter ^_^ I know it's been a long time since I updated, but I've only recently gotten motivation to continue. I'm going to try and write more chapters soon, but please be patient with me as chapters will still probably be slow for a while.

Thank you for reading! Have a wonderful day :)