Chapter Text
The girl was screaming, crying, and bleeding from the face. Ghoul had her in his arms, not giving a single shit about the blood that was soaking into his shirt. He felt awful for letting the girl get hurt, and the guilt made him sick the moment he pushed into the diner and Poison saw their little girl in Ghoul’s arms.
“What the fuck happened!?” Poison screamed. There was a burning anger in their eyes as they jumped to their feet and ran, immediately taking the child into their arms without even looking at Ghoul.
“M’ sorry! She fell!” Ghoul frantically tried to explain as he pathetically followed Poison into Doc’s kitchen.
“Fell? From what?” Poison snapped. They sat the sobbing girl on top of the counter and grabbed the medkit that sat by the sink.
“A skateboard?” Ghoul cringed.
“Why the fuck was she on a skateboard!?” Poison was livid. Ghoul hadn’t seen them get this mad in a while. This moment reminded Ghoul why he had always feared angry Party Poison.
“M’ sorry!” The girl hiccuped between her loud, snotty sobs. She knew it was her fault. She was the one who was so curiously looking at Nova’s cool skateboard.
The girl was shaking in fear. Ghoul wanted to hug her again, but he couldn’t risk getting in Poison’s way. Instead, he was forced to just stand there and watch the girl discover the blood that covered her scraped up hands. She only cried out louder.
“Shh, shh, s’ okay, sweetie,” Poison shushed her and swiped the red and sticky hair out of her face. “We gonna fix it, right?”
The knees of the girl’s blue jeans were stained red by that point. The blood that got on Ghoul was already drying, glueing his shirt to his skin. That much blood never bothered Ghoul before, but it was a totally different story when the blood belonged to your kid.
“Jus’ gotta clean you up first,” Poison talked the girl through their process. She flinched when Poison touched a wet cloth to her forehead, but Poison kept a comforting hand on her shoulder to hold her still.
“S’ cold,” she whined. Poison sighed heavily. Warm water was not something that they had access to unless they wanted to leave it out in the sun for an hour.
“I know, m’ sorry, baby,” Poison frowned slightly. They got to work gently wiping the blood off of the girl’s skin and out of her hairline. “Ghoul?”
“What?” Ghoul straightened his back like a soldier ready to take orders.
“She fell on her face, yeah?” Poison asked, and Ghoul’s brows furrowed.
“Yeah, her fuckin’ forehead smashed into the ground, why?” Ghoul asked, mildly annoyed. This didn’t seem like the right time for this conversation.
“There’s nothing here,” Poison stood up from where they were hovering over the girl. “Ghoul, there’s nothing on her forehead.”
“Well where’s all that fuckin’ blood comin’ from, huh?” Ghoul scoffed.
“You tell me! You were there!” Poison stepped back, revealing the nervous-looking girl who sat there with tear filled eyes. “You were watchin’ her, right?”
“F’ course I was!” Ghoul put his finger underneath the girl’s chin and tilted her head up to look at him. “...What?” He asked.
“See?” Poison exclaimed. “There’s no cuts, no bruises, nothing!”
It was true. The girl’s deep brown skin was completely unharmed, save for the crusted blood that was stuck to it. Ghoul carefully took both of her hands in his and touched her palms, realising that there were no scrapes left behind from her fall.
“No, that’s impossible, I saw her cut herself up,” Ghoul ran a stressed hand through his hair.
“The fuck happened, then?” Poison sighed heavily. “Ain’t no way she just magically healed from—”
Both Ghoul and Poison froze, wearing matching dumbfounded expressions on their faces. The girl sat there in silence, watching her parents just stare at each other.
Ghoul groaned. “You gotta be fuckin’ kidding me.”
Poison paced back and forth through the main room of the diner. The bottoms of their sneakers squeaked against the tile, but they couldn’t stop themself. Ghoul sat helplessly on top of a table, watching Poison panic.
“Y’know, I knew somethin’ was up,” Jet sighed as she idly swivelled in a barstool by the window. “Ain’t no one ever heard of two ‘Joys wit’ the same gift before.”
Kobra lifted his head. He sat cross-legged on the floor with his back against the couch. “So she’s a mimic?” He asked.
“Guess so,” Ghoul shrugged.
“Which is jus’ so great,” Poison sighed sarcastically. “‘Cause now, girlie ain’t gotta deal with just one power! She’s gotta deal wit’ all of them!” They exclaimed, and Kobra frowned at their concern.
“She’s okay, Pois,” Kobra’s head snapped back against the couch as he grunted. “Hmm. Clearly her power is a good thing,” he raised his eyebrows, silently reminding Poison that the girl had just healed herself from a nasty injury earlier that day.
“M’ jus’ worried ‘bout her,” Poison finally quit pacing in favour of dropping to the floor next to their brother.
“I know,” Kobra nodded. “Mmm. Worryin’ is what you do best,” he smirked, and Poison rolled their eyes at him.
“I wonder how her sparks work,” Ghoul thought out loud. “How do the sparks even know to mimic someone else’s?” He asked, but no one else really seemed too eager to focus on the science behind the girl’s abilities.
“She’s gotta have ‘em for a reason…” Jet muttered. “The Witch meant somethin’ by givin’ her a gift like that.”
“You think she can control it?” Kobra asked, just as the girl walked into the room with her little hands wrung together nervously.
“Did—” She stuttered, looking fearfully between the four Killjoys. “Did I do somethin’ wrong?” She asked. Everyone could almost hear Poison’s heart breaking.
“No! No, of course not, sweets!” Poison exclaimed immediately and opened their arms, motioning for the girl to join them on the floor. “Your power is jus’ a lil funky, ain’t it?”
The girl sat down between Poison and Kobra and shrugged. “I dunno,” she mumbled.
“Hey,” Poison nudged her slightly. “S’ okay. I promise. We’ll figure it all out, won’t we?” They glanced up, forcing all of their teammates to nod in agreement. Ghoul smiled softly and jumped off of the table to kneel in front of the girl.
“Kiddo,” he winked. “Did ya know what you were doin’ today? When you copied my power to heal yourself?” He asked, and Poison cringed. They didn’t want to stress the girl out too much.
She shrugged again. “Kinda.”
Both Kobra and Poison turned to look down at her. “What do you mean, kinda?” Poison asked.
“I dunno!” She pulled her knees up to her chest and pouted. “I jus’ grabbed it!”
Jet leaned forwards with her elbows on her knees. She tried to imagine what it was like for a kid to reach out mentally like that and consciously grab ahold of someone else’s gift. That took a lot of strength and willpower. Especially for a six-year-old.
“Aight then,” Ghoul nodded and gave the girl a comforting smile. “Did ya choose to grab it? An’ can ya choose to let it go?”
The girl confidently nodded her head yes. Poison couldn’t help it when their lips parted in shock.
“Our girl’s real smart,” Ghoul winked.
Autumn air in the desert was easier to breathe. It hurt less to be under the sun’s rays, and if you caught the few hours between dusk and nightfall, you were in a Killjoy’s paradise.
The girl was having the time of her life running laps around the diner, wielding a cool stick she found while Ghoul chased her. She squealed happily and giggled when he caught up to her and scooped her up into his arms.
“No! Poison, save me!” She screamed, kicking her feet in an effort to wiggle out of Ghoul’s grasp. Ghoul pretended to growl as he dropped the girl back into the sand.
“I gotchu,” he grinned. “Y’know what that means? It means…” Ghoul quickly let go of the girl and started running. “You’re it!”
“ What!?” The girl shrieked. Her little red boots were quickly on the move again. She ran as fast as she could, chasing the other Killjoys through the sand. Jet thought she could hide if she pressed her body up against the diner’s outer wall, but the girl found her and tapped her arm.
“You’re it!”
“Dammit, girlie!” She laughed. Everyone was frozen, staring at Jet to see who she’d target next. She locked eyes with the blonde that stood a few feet in front of her. Even with the sunglasses on, everyone could still see the fear on Kobra’s face.
“Fuck! Wait!” Kobra yelped and nearly tripped over his own feet. He sprinted as fast as he could away from Jet, and she bolted right behind him.
“Get ‘im! Get ‘im!” Poison shouted, laughing out loud as she watched both Kobra and Jet running at full speed like their lives depended on it. But Jet cut a corner and caught Kobra, slapping him hard on the shoulder.
“Fuckin’ it!” She yelled.
The girl jumped up and down, clapping her hands together in excitement. Kobra heard this commotion and whipped around to face her. She giggled and started running the other direction away from him.
The Fab Four were the absolute best parents that the girl could ever ask for. She’d never felt so safe with anyone before. Plus, these guys were fun . Girlie was almost out of breath, but she kept running and laughing with her family. As she ran past Kobra, she could feel him near her. Kobra was safe, just like Ghoul, Jet, and Poison. Girlie loved Kobra. So she didn’t think twice about reaching out and latching onto him.
Ghoul was smiling ear to ear until the girl looked at him. Suddenly, his face went pale and the girl didn’t know what was wrong. He coughed violently, gasping for air as if someone had their hands around his throat and was squeezing. He fell to his knees, and the girl couldn’t take her horrified eyes off of him.
“Girlie—” Ghoul choked. He was down in the sand, begging for something. The girl was frozen. She didn’t understand. And why did she feel hurt, too?
“Ghoul!” Poison screamed in terror, grabbing onto their boyfriend. There were tears in the girl’s eyes. Why wouldn’t anyone tell her what was wrong with Ghoul?
“Fuck!” Kobra shouted. The impact of Kobra’s body crashing into the girl’s hurt . She cried out in pain as Kobra tackled her to the ground. She could still hear the distant struggle of Ghoul in the background.
The girl was wrapped up tightly in Kobra’s arms. He had her face pressed up against his chest so she couldn’t see a thing. She sobbed. Why was Kobra doing this to her?
“Let go, let go, let go, let go, let go,” Kobra was muttering. He rocked himself and the girl back and forth, pleading for her to just let go.
“Ko—Kobra,” the girl sniffled. She squirmed and cried. Kobra was hurting her!
“Please, baby,” Kobra didn’t stop rocking. “Huh. Jus’ let go. Let go. Let go.”
The girl released Kobra from her mental grasp. She could feel the energy of his powers slipping away from her. “Oh—Okay.”
“Okay?” Kobra asked, and his painfully tight hug weakened a little.
“Okay,” the girl nodded, still crying.
Kobra shakily let the girl see again. She lifted her face from Kobra’s now-damp shirt and glanced across the sand. Her lip quivered at the sight of Ghoul lying in Poison’s arms while Jet hovered nearby as she held two fingers to the side of his neck.
“I’m sorry!” The girl sobbed. She scrambled away from Kobra, feeling the sand sticking to her hands and knees. “I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I’m sorry!” She cried out and gently touch’s Ghoul’s leg. He barely reacted.
“Shh, hey, s’ not your fault,” Poison held out their hand to pull the girl closer. “Look, s’ okay. Ghoulie’s okay. See?”
“What?” Kobra slowly crouched down next to the team, horrified. Ghoul smirked up at him, letting out a weak cough.
“Guess the healin’ powers outweigh your death glare, huh?” Ghoul asked.
“And thank fucking Destroya for that,” Poison exhaled heavily, pressing their face into Ghoul’s hair. “Witch, that can never happen again.”
“What’d I do?” The girl was still crying. She didn’t understand why everyone was so calm now. She hurt Ghoul! And Kobra hurt her!
“Sweets,” Poison caressed the back of the girl’s head gently. “Kobra’s power is real dangerous, ‘kay? Don’t you ever try to copy it. Got it?”
Tears flowed down the girl’s face. “I’m sorry,” she repeated.
“S’ okay. Accidents happen, baby,” Poison assured her. “But I gotta know if you got it, kay? No copyin’ Kobra’s power.”
“N-No copying Kobra’s power,” she echoed shakily. Ghoul seemed to be gaining his strength back pretty quickly. He already wasn’t relying on Poison to keep his head up anymore. Still, the girl couldn’t shake that sickening feeling in her stomach that Ghoul wasn’t okay.
“M’ sorry I hurt ya,” Kobra’s voice suddenly came from behind the girl. His arms hugged around her shoulders—much more gentle than before—as he apologised.
The girl frowned. “Is tag over?” She asked innocently, and a smile cracked on everyone’s faces.
“‘Fraid so,” Poison giggled. “But whaddya think ‘bout snack time?”
Girlie’s eyes widened and she jumped to her feet. “Let’s go!” She squealed, grabbing Kobra’s hand and pulling. “C’mon!”
Poison leaned back, dropping their head into Ghoul’s lap. He grunted under the impact and glanced down at Poison’s freckled face staring back up at him.
“Ya clingy tonight,” he chuckled. His hand naturally held onto Poison by their waist.
“You almost died today,” Poison sighed. “I’m allowed to be clingy.”
Ghoul’s smile softened as he started stroking Poison’s hair. “How ya holding up wit’ the mimic kid?” He asked. Ghoul hadn’t forgotten the numerous anxiety episodes Poison had put themself through over the past week or so.
Poison’s eyes drifted away from Ghoul’s. They stared blankly at the ceiling above them and muttered, “I’m terrified.”
“Yeah?” Ghoul whispered.
“Yeah,” Poison sighed. “But I also don’t think I’ve ever been this happy…”
The hand that was resting on Poison’s waist moved to cup their jaw. Ghoul gazed down at them with heart shaped eyes as he gently swiped his thumb across Poison’s bottom lip.
“I like seein’ you smile,” Ghoul mumbled quietly. “Ya didn’t do it a lot when we first met.”
Poison blushed, but they couldn’t stop the smile that stretched across their face at the sound of Ghoul’s words.
“Yeah, jus’ like that,” Ghoul chuckled, licking his own lips. “M’ blessed by that lil’ girl if she makes ya smile this much.” Ghoul’s hand didn’t move from Poison’s face as they sat up. Instead, Ghoul just used it to hold Poison in place once they were only a few inches away from him.
“You make me smile, too,” Poison whispered before closing the gap between themself and Ghoul. It was a sweet and gentle kiss, since both ‘Joys were so tired, but that didn’t stop the girl from giggling when it happened.
“Ya lil’ gremlin!” Ghoul exclaimed as Poison pulled back. The girl jumped into Ghoul’s bed with them, snuggling herself in between the two.
“Ain’t you s’posed to be asleep?” Poison asked, lightly tickling their fingers into the girl’s side, making her squirm and giggle.
“I wanna sleep here,” she decided, throwing herself at Ghoul and holding her little arms around his middle with an impressive amount of strength.
Poison met Ghoul’s eyes over the girl’s head. They smiled softly and pecked Ghoul on the cheek. “You keep Ghoulie safe t’night, ‘kay?” Poison told the girl as they let themself out. “G’night!”
“G’night,” Ghoul fell back so his head landed on his pillow as he still held the girl close. He felt the heat that her small body radiated and smiled. The girl was probably just as grateful to feel Ghoul’s warmth. They were signs of life.
“Love ya, kiddo,” Ghoul kissed her on the top of her head and pulled a small blanket over her shoulders. “Sleep tight,” he said, but she was already out like a light.