Work Text:
The Warner siblings were peacefully and happily doing their own activities. Yakko sat at the dining room table, playing a game on his phone while eating from a bowl of cereal. Wakko lay on the couch playing a game on his tablet. And Dot stood in the kitchen, humming a tune as she made herself a meal. Each of the siblings had a content smile on their face. Today would be a good day.
That was, until it arrived.
All of a sudden, the ground violently shook, as if an earthquake had erupted somewhere outside. There was previously soft, kosher background music, but now there was silence. The siblings were startled and confused by the sudden shake and noise. The younger brother and sister darted to Yakko's side immediately after the impact of the quake.
"What was that?" Dot squeaked, her voice sounding unsure and frightened. She knew somewhere in her little heart that this wasn't the plot of a new episode.
"Sounded like an earthquake," Yakko said, trying to sound calm for his little siblings. He figured that whatever it was, he and his sibs could handle it. After all, they were the Warner Brothers. Nothing was impossible.
Cautiously, the children stepped outside onto the balcony of the tower, expecting to see a giant crack in the ground below, or that some large prop had fallen in the studio. What they found was far from what was expected.
Off in the distance, a massive black ooze could be seen, covering and corroding buildings in front of it. It looked like a glitch, or the screen of a broken TV, as sparks of color shifted and shot around the darkness. It was definitely a living being it seemed, as it moved around freely on the sets of movies, over and across trees in parks, even swallowing up pedestrians it came into contact with. Distant screams distorted and stopped within seconds. It looked sounded as though a computer virus was destroying the world as the Warners knew it, right in front of their eyes.
In unison they gasped. Confusion washed over the three of them, then fear, then more confusion, and then twice the fear. These emotions hit them all simultaneously, but Yakko was effected the most by it all. The sight of something unplanned was already distressing, but seeing real people he knew being consumed by a massive impossible error and probably killed miles away from him, it put a pit in his stomach.
No words were exchanged between them for a moment or two, as they watched more and more of the place get wrecked and overtaken. Then, the ooze took a turn to the left, spreading out and away from the studio. It flowed towards a laboratory nearby. Their hearts raced as they made a quick dash to the edge of the railing to get a closer look. The children watched in horror as Acme Labs was engulfed by the black mass and colored pixels.
Dot took in a sharp inhale, raising her hands to cover her mouth in shock. Wakko's jaw dropped, his posture sinking, as tears slowly flooded his little eyes. But Yakko said nothing. His heart was racing, his mind scattered, his body frozen, as he watched the surrounding area of the place he had lived in for nearly 20 years-- his home, collapse under the weight of an unidentifiable buggy shape.
"What's happening?" Wakko choked through the lump in his throat. He clung to his older brother's arm like a baby clinging to its mother, confused and scared, and longing for an easy solution to what he hoped wasn't the end of the world.
Yakko didn't have an answer. He was terrified. He felt hopeless, like this was the only thing in the whole universe that they couldn't defeat. Like death was staring him in the face, destroying his home and murdering his dear friends, and he could do absolutely nothing to stop it.
There was nothing he could do.
Nothing but run.
Gathering as much courage and brotherly wisdom as he could, he pulled his little brother and sister close, kneeling down to their eye level. "Listen to me," he breathed, his voice urgent and coarse, "I don't think we can take that thing down. I know you're both scared, and I'm just as scared as you, but there's only one thing we can do right now. We have to leave."
Wakko and Dot said nothing. They stared into their big brother's eyes and listened intently to his words. They had never heard Yakko sound so serious when talking to them. They were hoping that the ooze was some technical glitch happening with the animators, or that it was just something that could easily be brushed away with a joke or a song. They had hoped the speech Yakko would give them would be that of a reassuring, "no need to worry" talk. But hearing the urgency, the panicked tone in their brother's voice, all of it was enough to confirm that this was a genuinely dangerous situation.
"Where will we go?" Dot managed to ask.
"I don't know," Yakko answered, "but it's gotta be far from here. We have to run away from the studio, and we have to be quick about it. Whatever happens on the way, don't stop for anything. Don't look back, don't stop to catch your breath, just keep running. Do you understand?"
Dot and Wakko nodded their heads without hesitation.
Yakko exhaled quickly, then wiped the tears from his sister's eyes, then his little brother's. He gave them a reassuring smile and took their hands. "I love you," he said warmly. "Now let's go."
The three of them got on their feet, and hand in hand they lept off the back of the water tower. They bounced twice on the ground, then took off in a sprint towards the hills of Hollywood. They only got so far when the tower crashed with a stuttered thud directly behind them. Whatever that thing was, it was close.
Wakko picked up the pace, his little legs going as fast as they could possibly go. In this moment of desperation, he remembered a similar time, when Dot was only 8 years old. Dot had become life-threateningly sick, and was only able to be saved by the will of a magical wishing star. Wakko vividly remembered seeing his baby sister falling limp in Yakko's arms in the snow. In that moment, the adrenaline in his body rose to its very highest. He turned his back away from his siblings, towards the falling star in the sky, and he ran. He raced with all his might, his legs carrying him faster than they ever had. This was just like that.
On that day, he made his wish, and Dot was saved. On this day, he had no idea what would happen if they stopped. With that thought in mind, Wakko silently encouraged himself, keep going. Go faster.
Don't ever stop.
Wakko gripped his brother's hand, squeezed his eyes shut, and sprinted ahead. He bowed his head down and released a loud cry from the bottom of his heart and the top of his lungs, sweat and tears falling from his face, his tail dancing behind him. If he hadn't been holding Yakko's hand, he'd be impossible to catch up to. Dot and Yakko admired Wakko's speed and courage as their feet struggled to keep up. Their grip on each other never slipped.
Behind them, they could hear the stuttering, mangled, distorted, awful sounds of their former friends' voices. The heavy accent of doctor Scratchansniff, the snarky tone of the new CEO, the pointing and narfing of poor Pinky. It panicked them even more as they continued to run away. It was directly behind them, and Dot could feel it glitching down her neck, as if it were standing behind her and they weren't in the most suspenseful chase of their lives. She wanted to pick up her speed, but it was difficult, especially seeing how fast Wakko was going. She knew she could never be as fast as him, but she had to try.
Just as she was about to speed up, a pink hand grabbed her ankle and she fell to the ground. In the process she'd let go of her brother's hand. Dot screamed, reaching desperately towards Yakko and Wakko, who had stopped as soon as she fell. "DOT!" The oldest cried upon the sight. The little puppy creature struggled, and thrashed forward in an attempt to free herself, but the effort was wasted. Three more hands came from the darkness and grabbed hold of her leg.
"Help me!!" Dot wailed, still reaching for her brothers. Both Yakko and Wakko rushed to their sister, grabbing her hand and making an effort to pull her free. Dot began to kick at the hands with her free leg. "Let go of me!" She yelled at the mass taking hold of her. As she did, a head-- no, two heads slowly revealed themselves. Covered in pixels, emerging from the black ooze were the corrupted faces of Pinky and The Brain, the hands of which were entangled onto the leg of Dot.
The two mice were now as tall, maybe even taller than the Warners themselves. Their necks stretched out from the corrupting mass, their eyes blank and fuzzy with static, their mouths agape and leaking the same fluid that made up the mass itself.
"G̵̫̚e̸͈̓ȩ̵̐ ̸̜̉B̴̝͝r̵̚͜ã̸̩i̶̩͒n̵̝͑!̶͔̊" What was left of Pinky cheerfully spat out in his garbled, broken high pitch and accent. "Ẅ̶̥́h̵̫̀a̴̞͘t̸͓̓ ̵̰̈́d̷̘͐ǒ̵̦ ̵̰̄ẏ̸̝ö̶̝́ų̵͘ ̸̳͑ẇ̷̞a̶̤̔n̴̠̕n̶̰̅à̸̭ ̸̫̾d̶͕̾ơ̶̹ ̸͜͝t̶̤̀o̵̤̚n̸̗͐ǐ̸̖g̸̮͊h̸̙̒ţ̴̇?̸̱͝"
"Ț̶́h̷̗̀è̴̮ ̵̞̇s̷̱͋a̴̗̚m̶̕ͅȅ̸͔ ̶̙͋ṭ̷̎ẖ̷̋i̴͚̅n̸̼̈g̵̦͋ ̵̞̚ẃ̷͖e̵̛̲ ̵̖̿d̸̢̏o̸͎͋ ̵͇̚e̸͎̿v̴͙̂è̵̩r̴̘̄y̴̥͝ ̷̠́n̴̦̕i̷͉̋g̵̞͠h̸̢͊t̵̘͆,̵͚̈́ ̵̱̋Ṕ̶̪î̴̢ņ̷̅k̵̘̔ỹ̷̙,̶̟̍" Brain answered with the same sputtering static in his voice.
"Ṯ̷̓r̶̤͊ÿ̵̪ ̴̲̃t̸͎̾o̴̰͘ ̵̣́Ţ̴͂A̴̠̅K̴̥̈Ḛ̷͊ ̶̤͐O̴̡͘V̸̨͛E̶͕̎R̴̟̄ ̵͉̎T̵̰͝H̸͕̓E̷̝͘ ̴̋͜W̶̻͊O̶̠͆R̸̤͆Ḻ̵̛D̶̛̙!̶̹̑"
Crunch!
The moment the horrific puppet of the Brain stopped speaking, the hands of the giant mice tightened their grip on Dot's ankle, breaking her leg in one powerful twist. Dot let out a blood-curdling scream, and her brothers freed her at last before continuing to escape. She was in writhing pain and agony, a kind of pain she had never felt before. Yakko held his screaming little sister in his arms as he ran for their lives.
Their only objective now was to get the hell away from that thing. It didn't matter where they were going, they needed to go. It hurt their baby sister, and it was useless to try and attack it. Still, the little encouraging voice raged on in Wakko's head, even as he forced himself to slow down to keep up with his siblings. Go on, it cried, you can't stop now. You've got to keep going. Yakko meanwhile was the most stressed he had ever been. The fact that they had no bones was meaningless to the static blob, and for the first time, cartoon logic had failed them. He couldn't help but ask himself, how? How did cartoon logic fail? Was that even possible?
Dot was screaming in pure anguish and pain, as if she were a real person, and her leg had been broken like there were any bones to break in the first place. It was an awful feeling, a stinging, burning, stabbing, throbbing sensation that swept through her twisted and mangled leg. It felt like a rope with the thickness of the skin of an elephant had wrapped itself around her entire calf, and was tightening its grip every second or two. There was no bleeding, but it felt as though the entire essence of Dot's very being was slowly flowing out of the broken bone in a sparkling, crimson fountain of torture. It was the worst feeling the Warner sister had ever felt.
At least in Wakko's Wish, Yakko knew his sister would pass away with little to no pain. But here, she was enduring the worst anguish in her life, and loudly expressing her suffering all the way through. If she died now, there would be no bringing her back, and Yakko would have to live with both the trauma of watching his sister die again (which he would inevitably blame himself for in the long run), and knowing that his little sister died in excruciating agony and unfathomable torment. Yakko's heart was beating faster than ever before. His fear was immeasurable.
And again, he began to feel hopeless. If they had managed to escape the corrupted mass, there wouldn't be much they could do to heal little Dot. What were you even supposed to do when a bone broke anyway? He wished he had the same medical skills as Hello Nurse.
And who was to say that they would never escape at all? That they would trip and fall, or their speed would fail them, and the massive black corrupting mess of broken memories and scewed reality would consume them?
Yakko's eyes widened, unblinking and staring straight ahead, as he let the realization sink in-- he wouldn't escape. His siblings and him would perish even if they made it to safety. They were doomed. Yakko, Wakko and Dot were doomed to succumb to a living, breathing, soul-sucking error.
Before any more life-altering realizations could be made, the children's surroundings quickly grew dark. Blackness filled the world around them, until even the mass of glitching pixels had vanished. Then, from what seemed to be behind them, and yet was all around them at the same time, an image of the water tower appeared. A brass band playing their theme tune could be heard from a distance, and text briefly faded in and out of existence in the air. Whether it was behind them or above them, they couldn't tell. Another wave of confusion swept the three siblings upon the sight. "The... the credits?" Yakko wheezed after a moment of music went by. "How... how did we get here?"
"The episode..." Wakko started to say as he brought his thoughts together. "I think it's over."
Cartoon characters weren't supposed to be able to enter the credits sequences of their shows or movies, unless it was a post credits scene. And this was not that, the Warners knew it for sure. They were literally in the credits, standing in front of the mentioned names, and hearing the music with their own ears. Even Dot had lowered her voice, still groaning and crying in agony, just to make sure this wasn't a hallucination formed from the pain.
Did this mean they had escaped? Were they safe? The corruption was gone, but were they still in danger? It was impossible to keep a guard down with the very readable air of being suddenly saved from impossible circumstances by impossible circumstances- an air that was mutually felt between each sibling in the space.
They took what little time they had in the credits to huddle up and check on each other. They wanted to stay close in case anything else decided to attack them. Yakko knelt down, as his body tried to handle carrying the weight of his sister, whose leg remained broken. "Are you okay?" Yakko asked her with desperation, not knowing what else to ask. "Well what does it look like?!" Dot retorted back at him, "I just ran from some home-destroying murder glitch at a billion miles a minute and— AAAGH!!" She stopped to shriek in pain. After catching her breath, she added; "And my leg is more twisted than a hedge maze!" Behind them, though they were too occupied to notice, the credits music had begun to loop and distort.
"Okay, okay, don't move your leg," the oldest brother advised, trying and failing to keep himself calm, "we're gonna try to help you out."
"Great, I bet I'm in such good hands!"
As his siblings spoke, Wakko had taken off his hat and began to dig into it, hoping it would become a bottomless well of supplies for him to heal his sister with. He dug and dug, and yet nothing came of it. Then, he stuck his hand into the collar of his sweater, and began to search in there. Still, nothing. Panicking, he checked his nonexistent pockets. Nothing. He tried pulling something from behind his back. Nothing. He double-checked his hat, nothing. He double-checked his collar, nothing. Pockets, nothing. Back, nothing. Nothing?! He didn't even have his little sack of everything from previous older episodes! He was completely useless, he had no way of helping poor Dot, and he couldn't believe it! He began impulsively patting his body in a frantic search for anything, anything at all, as if he were late for work and had forgotten where he'd placed his keys. "W-Wakko?" Yakko stumbled on his brother's name, starting to share the panic. "I-" Wakko wheezed in disbelief as he stammered, "I got nothing!" Yakko was speechless. Dot's piercing voice chirped out, "did you say nothing??"
"I-I did! I can't find anything!"
Before anything else could be said, something glitched into existence behind the struggling siblings.
"I can help," a voice offered.
The Warners turned around to face whatever had just appeared. Before them stood a small figure, bearing blue skin and pink, messy, circular pigtails. A backpack lay across the figure's back, and a white cloth stretched over their face, covering their right eye. "My name is Pibby," they spoke again. "Who's hurt?"
Hesitantly, Yakko shifted to the side, Dot's horribly broken leg now in Pibby's view. "Our sister..." he softly said, not sure if he could trust this stranger. "And if you don't mind me asking, who are you and how'd you get in here?" He inquired with suspicion. Pibby came closer, kneeling over the youngest Warner, and examining the mangled limb. "I'm from another place." They reached behind their back and pulled a small bag out of their backpack, then placed it on Dot's scrambled knee. It was wet, and cold to the touch. A makeshift ice pack, Dot assumed. "I used to help my friends learn and spell." Pibby pulled another item from their backpack, this time a roll of cloth. They carefully wrapped it around Dot's leg, temporarily raising up the bag of ice as they did so, all the while continuing to speak. "But since that thing showed up, I've been..." they finished wrapping up the leg, and placed the ice pack back where it was on the knee before standing up. "All over the place," they finished their explanation, before finally asking "is there anyone else with you?"
Everything Pibby had just said was a lot to unpack. Yakko and Dot were astonished and struggled to comprehend it, but Wakko seemed to understand immediately. "Nobody else survived," he answered, standing up as well. "I'm Wakko. These are my sibs, Yakko and Dot."
"Call me Dottie, and you die," Dot automatically added.
"It's nice to meet you all. Now," Pibby began, reaching out their arm to the three siblings, "hold my hand." They looked at each other before doing as they were told.
Á̸̧̡̛̯̦̪̞̘̞͇͚͕͖͎̥̣̺̖̣̻̞͔͍̠̼̗̹̖͇͓̝͍͒̍̀̄̾͋̒̿̽̅̈́̎̀̚͜͝s̷͙̳͉͎̈͊͗̓͐̎̐̍͆͒̍̋̚͝͠ ̷̛̫̥̦̄͌͆̓͛̿̽́͂̇̀̄̀͂͘̕͝͝ţ̸̖͓̺͕̭̟͉̼͚̠͔̼̗̙̝̤̱̙̝̝̣̞̅͐̃ḫ̵̨̼̦̠̝͇͉͈̙̝̫͉̣̣̟͙̊͋͛̒̆̉̉̃̀͛̀̽̓͆̏͋̓̌͑̕̕͝ȇ̷̜̗͖̗͕̼̦̞̬̤̖͚̻̼͕̠̫͉͆̽̈́̎̓͆̔́̐͗̋͋̃͌͗̏̂̎̏͒̏̎̏̿͘̚̚͝͝ͅͅy̵̢̡̧̢̡̰͖̥̝͍͉̥̬͕̟͉̟͉̺̖͔͚̝͙͉͍͔̌̌̉͗̓̈̊͊͐͜͝ Ą̵̡̼̜͕̭̗̝̮̮͚̬̜̣̻̻̙̫͎̂̊͊̈͑̓̋̀̋̔̓͒̊s̶̨̪̳͇̗͍͓͖̮̤̙̳̝̲͈̞̣̼͎͕̎́͌͜ ̸̨̩̟̮̲̖̫̹͖̻͎̯̈́̉͑̈́́͆͊͛͐͑̍̓̇̎ͅt̸̡̢̛̰͉̱͙͍͖̳͖͚͉̖̟̬̝̤̓̽̂͌͗̓̈͐͂͌̌̓̎̎̾̉́̚ẖ̸̛͌͊͊̊̅̾̄͛̈̃́̏̿̽͗́̎͌͝͝ë̴̡̲̳̻͚̰̇͗͒͒̐̅̽͋̃̀͊́͋̆́̍̏́̅̓̒͝͠͝y̶̞̠̙̥̾͆̊͐̓́̋̿̃̄̍́̔̀̾͠ A̶̜̰̫͈̒͌̄ͅs̴͖̉̕͝ ̴͇̭̟̘͊̓t̴͓̘͆̈́h̷͎͚͉̮͙̘̜̼̩̙͎͌e̵̖̘̯̪̲̊͘ÿ̸̡̢̧̦̦̳́̊̆̈́̀͑̄̐̓̄͊ͅ A̵̗̎ṣ̷̈ ̷̒ͅt̴̡̄ĥ̴̖e̶̻̋y̵͙̓ g̷r̷a̶b̴bed the blue hand of Pibby, something seemed to transport them to another plane of existence. They blinked before realizing their surroundings had changed. They seemed to be in a grey void, which occasionally flickered with static. Around the void were a handful of items- weapons, pillows, debris, etc.- and a diverse cast of characters from other shows, some of which the Warners recognized. Most of them were familiar faces from Cartoon Network, a Warner Bros property. "This is our safe space," Pibby told them, "it appears between bumpers and episodes. I've been calling it the Between." A couple voices echoed throughout the place, but quieted down upon realizing the arrival of the siblings. Pibby turned towards the small crowd. "Everyone, this is Yakko, Wakko and Dot." A decent cheer bounced against the nonexistent walls of the space. Pibby turned back to the three of them for a final time before leaving them be, reassuring them that the corruption couldn't get them in here. Exchanging relieved sighs, Wakko and Yakko helped their sister stand and went to find a place to sit, eventually landing on the side of a green van. "So," Dot started, sounding unsure again, "what do we do now?" Yakko relaxed his posture, crossing his arms as he sat down with his siblings. "Well, since we're safe here," he said with a furrowed brow, for he was also unsure of what to do, "I guess we just hang out." Wakko shrugged, sticking out his tongue for the first time since they left the water tower, adding "sounds like a plan."
For the rest of that evening, the three zany children spent their time patching up their sister, and processing their trauma. Pibby would sometimes join them, helping the process along and occasionally bringing them food and water. When the void's light dimmed into night, Pibby brought them a little tent and some blankets so they wouldn't freeze. They camped by the van for the night, snuggling up to each other in their tent as they entered a warm, peaceful sleep. Things would never be the same for them, but in the end, one thing remained true.
No matter what they faced, and what blocked their path, there was nothing the Warner siblings could not do.