Cuphead and Mugman in "Fate Will Find You"

Who Are You?

Mugman lay awake in bed that night. He was scared to fall asleep. The young mug really wanted to know what was haunting him in his dreams, but he also feared that it would try to kill him when he asked what it was. It seemed to come close to achieving that the previous night. The thought of such circumstances occurring again shook the child to the core. Mug stared at the ceiling, nervously fingering at his blankets. His heart pounded so loudly in his chest that he could feel it in his mug. The demon could sense the child was wide awake and began to get annoyed. He had said that he would stay up for a little while. That didn't mean he would be willing to do it for hours.

Go to sleep already! The parasitic creature growled. I'm not going to stay up all night!

Much later, Mugman eventually forced himself to drift into the dream realm. His glass body began to relax. But that didn't last long. As soon as the nightmare started, the child's body tensed back up again.

The little mug wasted no time in preparing himself for his sludgy adversary. An index finger pointed outward as he spun his body around, looking for the mutated shadow. It was all quiet, not a sound to be heard. Even his footsteps fell silent against the cold and unforgiving atmosphere of the catacombs.

"You are one lucky mug!" A voice hissed from behind him. Mugman quickly spun around to see the menacing black creature looking down upon him. Its smile stayed on its face, stagnant and just as wicked as ever. "I almost had you last night. But that's a mistake I don't intend to make again!" Evil thoughts whirred in its jet-black mug as it thought about what it might do to the child tonight. A clawed hand started to reach out for Mug.

"The jig is up!" The mug child shouted as he swatted the shadowy hand away. "I know you're not the demon!"

"And how do you know that?" It asked as the smile curled down into a scowl, making it clear that he was annoyed with the little mug's efforts to prove otherwise. The black creature started to circle its prey. Sloshing noises accompanied its movements and footsteps. Mugman did the same, trying to make sure his back was never facing his enemy.

"The demon told me so." He explained. "Just give up and tell me who and what you are!" The black mug just laughed at the child's demands and continued to circle.

"Why would I do that?" The creature sneered. "Keeping you guessing is only part of the fun...but not the most of it." Its claws flexed at the thought of hurting the mug child. For torturing Mug was his favorite part of invading the little mug's mind. Its screams of pain gave him fuel to find new and even more excruciating ways to inflict pain upon the lesser creature.

"Who am I, you ask? I go by many names. What am I? No one knows...." The shadow teased the child with his vague answers.

"So you're known by many..." Mug observed.

"Not many....all!" It corrected the young mug.

Mugman shook his head in frustration. Why couldn't it just give straight answers? Why did it insist on being so secretive? He thought perhaps that it would be no fun for the dark creature to give plain answers. That still didn't give poor Mug any peace of mind though.

"Enough with the cryptic responses! Just tell me and I won't hurt you!" The mug child yelled at the unknown presence.

"You hurt me?" It laughed. "And how do you plan to do that?" The black mug challenged his prey to come up with a clever response that would frighten him. Sludgy arms crossed in front of its chest. It didn't truly believe that the young mug would come up with anything that could actually challenge it.