Chapter Text
Part 1
Shaking her head, The Huntress closed the gate to the chicken coop. Once again, there had been no eggs. For the past week Anna had been up early every morning to check the nests of the half dozen chickens she kept and every morning she had returned empty-handed. She didn’t understand.
Yes, the chickens were a bit… off from the ones in the normal world, they had been created by the Entity after all. But once you got used to the pitch black eyes, their enormous size and the occasional splash of acid pee (the main reason she didn’t let her little one ever near the chicken coop), they were quite normal chickens.
Chickens who laid their eggs neatly every other day.
Chickens who, for the past week, had apparently refused to lay any eggs.
They looked healthy enough so Anna didn’t think any of them were sick. They ate well, drank well, and didn’t seem any more cranky than usual so they must have been sleeping okay as well.
Reluctant to disappoint her little one who loved eggs for breakfast, Anna sighed warily and trudged back to her cabin. Planning to quickly check in on her still sleeping little girl before heading off to her smoking cabin to rustle up some bacon, the older female had only just locked the door behind her when she heard soft giggles and repressed grunts coming from the basement.
Raising an invisible eyebrow (she was, after all, wearing her mask as usual) The Huntress made sure to be quiet as she tiptoed her way over to the basement door, noticing it was opened just a crack. As she tilted her head closer to the opening, Anna heard the soft giggles again, recognising the unmistakable laugh of her little one. Curious as to why the girl wasn’t still in bed (Meg was NOT a morning person after all), the killer opened to door wide enough for her to slip through and silently made her way down the stairs. Carefully leaning over the banister while making sure she remained in the shadows, the scene playing out on the basement floor simultaneously made her slightly annoyed as well as melted her heart.
Splayed out on the pelts Anna had used to make the space a bit more warm and welcoming were her little girl and The Demogorgon.
For reasons unknown, the animalistic killer had taken quite the shine to Meg when he had found his way into Anna’s realm in between trials and had run into the little girl when she had been playing outside.
The Huntress would never forget the enthusiastic screech of “PUPPY! Mama come look, I found a puppy!”, followed by the little red head quite literally dragging a rather flummoxed Demogorgon inside by its front leg. Fearing for her baby’s safety, Anna had snatched up one of her hatchets, preparing to nail her fellow killer to the wall when to her utmost surprise The Demogorgon had allowed Meg to drag him further inside, sitting on his haunches patiently as the young survivor climbed on his back and started petting his…petals…mouth…things.
Since then The Demogorgon (dubbed “Gorgo”) could often be found outside the cabin’s door in the morning, calmly waiting for Meg to come outside or for him to be let in by a sighing Anna.
The Demogorgon really was a big puppy though, The Huntress mused as she saw the teeny tiny stump of a tail he had wagging enthusiastically at her little girl’s antics. Spread out before the two on an old dish towel were several eggs as well as about a dozen tubes of what looked to be paint. Meg was holding a brush in one hand and an egg in the other, fully concentrating on painting the shell of what Anna assumed was once supposed to be a part of their breakfast of the past week. Looking more closely at the eggs on the towel, The Huntress could see most of them had been painted in a variety of colours: blue, pink, yellow, orange, and even black.
The eggs, however, weren’t the only things covered in paint as sharp motherly eyes roamed over her little one’s paint splattered nose, cheeks, hair and hands. Even The Demogorgon, who seemed to be holding several different brushes in its mouth for her little girl to choose from, hadn’t escaped the painting spree and was sporting several differently coloured dots and stripes all over it’s head.
“Look Gorgo, only one more egg and we’re done! Then we can wash up and go back to sleep before mama returns!”
Unable to answer with his mouth full of painting utensils, “Gorgo” snorted something and then unfurled one of his lanky arms to point towards the staircase, straight to where Anna had been silently watching the two with her arms crossed over her chest.
Frowning slightly, Meg tipped back her head and The Huntress had to hide a smile at the comic widening of her little one’s eyes and the little jump she made in surprise.
“Mama! What are you doing here, I thought you were sti-I-I can explain!”
Scrambling to her feet, the survivor tried to shuffle around to hide the stolen eggs from her mama’s view, but The Demogorgon chose that exact moment to affectionately butt his head against Megs legs, forgetting his own strength thus causing the girl to topple over and land on the floor face down.
Using the stunned silence to quickly jump down the remaining stairs, The Huntress only just managed to reach her baby girl when a soft wail came from the crumpled little form. Waving away The Demogorgon, who by now realised it might have hurt its little human friend and was worriedly sniffing around her head, Anna turned her little one around and gently took her in her arms.
“Shhh, mama here. Meg no hurt, Meg is okay. Gorgo did not mean to hurt.”
Feeling the glare the female killer threw its way through the mask, The Demogorgon was quick to shake its head, petals drooping down slightly to show it was sorry.
Seeing her little one rub her eyes dry with paint-covered hands, Anna sighed and started making her way back up the stairs.
“Little one dirty, need bath.”
This started a mini-storm of protest as the survivor in her arms started squirming.
“No mama! I’m not done yet! I need to paint one more egg! Please?! Just one more! You can warm the water while I’m finishing up!”
Narrowing her eyes at her suddenly slightly bigger little one – the little speech gave her away – The Huntress took a closer look at still slightly reddened eyes that were doing their best puppy dog impression.
Realising that her little one had actually become bigger because of her fall which had not really hurt as much as scared her, Anna decided that it might be best to let the girl finish…whatever it was she had been doing and to warm up the bath water.
Giving the girl a curt nod, she placed her back on her feet and watched as she quickly plopped back on the ground, dragging The Demogorgon with her who had dutifully taken the brushes back in its mouth to assist Meg.
Shaking her head at the two, The Huntress climbed the steps back to the ground floor to prepare both breakfast and a bath.
At least now she knew where the eggs had gone.
End of part 1