Future Mysticons: Holiday Oneshots

Necrafa Night: Piper

A/N And here we see what Piper's getting up to on Necrafa Night. Also, Neeko lives and works at Piper's orphanage.

           Piper cheerfully whistled as she prepared breakfast for the entire orphanage. It was a lot of work, but it was worth it. She smiled, listening to the sounds of the kids getting up. It didn't matter that she was only 135, those were her kids.

          Being a Mysticon had forced her to grow up faster than most elves. At first, running the orphanage had been very overwhelming; but Zarya, Kitty and Neeko had all been so supportive and helpful. Any day that she needed help, Zarya was only a phone call away, Kitty would be there within the hour and Neeko had actually moved in to help look after things.

          "Are you excited for Necrafa Night?" Neeko asked as he came down the stairs to join her.

          "I'm always excited!" Piper cheerfully replied.

          "That must be nice; waking up every day, excited to live a normal life stuck in the same routine." Neeko remarked, leaning on the counter.

          "But it's not a routine!" Piper exclaimed. "Everyday the kids are getting up to new antics! And sometimes we get new kids! And... sometimes we lose kids." Piper frowned at the last thought.

          "Because they find their homes; where they can live happily ever after." Neeko told her, trying to cheer her up.

          "Yeah, I just hate to let them go. They're my kids."

          "You're too young for that." Neeko chuckled.

          "That's what Zarya says to." Piper complained. "Kitty understands."

          "She does?"

          "She says that's sort of how she's always felt about her crew. Even though they're all about the same age as her. It's probably because her Mom died when she was so young that she practically raised Kasey herself." Piper thoughtfully replied.

          "Okay." Neeko said, a little surprised. "I didn't know she could be so gentle."

          "There is more to her than going around and hitting people, you know." Piper told him.

          "She does a good job of hiding that."

          "She hides everything that could be exploited as a weakness. Especially from people like me; I tend to turn them into pranks." Piper gave a mischievous smile and looked at Neeko expectantly.

          "Oh no! I am not helping you prank Kitty!" Neeko exclaimed.

          "Don't be silly, Neeko." Piper said, reassuringly. "We're pranking Zarya to."

          "But I haven't written my will yet!"

          "You have the rest of the day to work on that; the party's not until tonight."

          "I don't have a choice, do I?" Neeko sighed.

          "Nope!" Piper cheerfully replied.

          "Fine; what are we doing?" Neeko asked as the kids all came dashing down the stairs. Piper grabbed a couple plates of breakfast and led Neeko away while the kids descended on the rest of the food like ravenous vultures. Neeko took his plate and led the way out into the garden where he and Piper sat down on a bench.

          "Okay, so they're pretty tough to scare, so we're going to have to go all out on this one." Piper started.

          "I'll be the voice of reason, since you clearly don't have one. If you pretend to be dead to prank them, they will actually kill you."

          "They're gonna kill us anyway; that's kind of the point." Piper declared. "Besides, their greatest fears are losing someone that they love."

          "If we're going to do this, can't we pull a prank on them that they will laugh about later?" Neeko begged, getting a little desperate.

          "Like what?" Piper wondered. Neeko thought for several moments before a devious plan entered his mind.

          "I have an idea."

          "I'm all elf ears." Piper replied, matching his cunning smile.