BFDI Prequels | A BFDI Fanfic

Chapter 20: A Punch in the Wrong Direction

The gentle pitter-patter of rain on the windshield accompanied the quiet hums of an engine. A sudden bump jerked Needle awake. She looked out the windows, but the only thing that came back was darkness and the roads that droplets of water slowly followed down. She tried to get up from her uncomfortable position on the floor of the car, only to find that her arms and legs were tied together. When she opened her mouth to speak, nothing except air escaped.

The car passed a streetlight, whose second of brilliance was just enough for a golden symbol to reflect. Her pace quickened with every moment as she began to realize what was happening to her. Needle struggled to remove the bonds on her, but they seemed to get stronger the more she resisted. When her eyes gradually adjusted to the lack of light, she saw a shadowy silhouette steering her to a place she was all too familiar with.

They screeched to a halt and the door magically swung open. Two faceless objects dragged her limp body out into the inky downpour. The rows of once colourful buildings dissolved into an obsidian mist, melting into the sky and earth to form an incoherent landscape void of life. Her captors dropped her onto the hazy street, then vanished into swirls of smoke.

Needle was stuck. Clouds ahead continued to shower buckets onto her quivering body. Her cries for help were left unheard, and any hope of rescue disappeared into the moonless night. With each passing minute, she became ever more tranquil. The rain, which had begun to clear up, soaked her from head to toe and the heavens grew darker and darker. Needle could almost imagine peacefully falling asleep in such a dreadful environment.

Just as she was closing her eyes, a nauseating sensation filled her body. At first, she thought that it was her brain playing tricks on her. When she opened her eyes again, she realized it was the world itself being spun into a whirlpool. A gaping crevasse opened up within the road absorbing everything like a black hole. Needle watched in dizzying motion as buildings were ripped out of their foundations. Chunks of pavement smashed into each other, then tumbled into the enlarging vacuum.

Suddenly, she began drifting closer.

She started to spin faster and faster around the center, encroaching ever so slightly more with every turn. Without the ability to move or grab onto anything, Needle could only wait patiently for her inevitable doom. Visions of memories from her life flashed through her mind. The visions slowly turned to voices; voices of those who she'd never see again.

Holding her breath and closing her eyes, she counted down the final seconds. 5...4...3...2...1...

Zero. And everything stopped. Needle was alive. Or was she? She could move her limbs again, and she could smell a weak hint of ash. She wondered where she was, where she had been, where she would go. Then, a new voice filled her mind. A voice she had hoped she would never have to hear again.

"How dare you defy my orders?" the voice of her father bellowed, "After everything I've done for you, educating you to be a proper lady, giving you a life many could only dream of, you leave your loving father up for a rambunctious rapscallion?"

Needle didn't care much about Mr. Needy's monologue, but there was something wrong with it. His voice was different. Hollow, empty, dark. She wasn't hearing the voice of Mr. Needy himself, she was hearing the Mr. Needy she had created in her mind. She feared to even peek at the abomination that likely stood in front of her.

"...do you know how hard it is to take care of an angsty teenager while running a billion-dollar company?" he rambled on, "Countless hours of my time wasted on such a terrible investment..."

It was at that moment that Needle finally understood what she had to do to finally break free from her curse. After so many years, the image of Mr. Needy was so strong in her mind that it had taken on a life of its own. Even when she finally left him physically, he was still there mentally. But all that was about to change.

"LEAVE. ME. ALONE!!!" she yelled, and the world went black again.

<=======>

"You could have just told me, you know," a voice laughed.

Needle blinked in the harsh light. But she had done it. She finally broke away from her father's control. But then came the question: where was she now?

"I mean, is everything alright? You were out for a while and then you yelled and punched me in the face."

She looked up and saw Coiny's charismatic, copper face looking back. A slight dent had formed underneath his mouth.

"I-I'm so, so s-sorry," she sputtered, "t-that wasn't m-meant for you."

He smiled (which was a little lopsided from the dent), "Yeah, I guessed that much. Bad dream?"

She nodded but didn't say anything. With what had just happened, she didn't feel very comfortable with just telling Coiny everything. She had, after all, barely known him a mere 24 hours prior.

"Well, I won't ask if you don't want to tell. Anyways, you're probably wondering where we are right now. Golf Ball and Tennis Ball decided it would be a good idea to take us on a, I dunno, field trip, and right now we're in Golf Ball's fancy sciency tube transport thingy going to the canal."

Needle was pretty sure that the thing had a name, but she was too apathetic to ask. And she was highly doubtful that Coiny would have the slightest clue as to what they were riding. After a quick self-lead tour of the cramped compartment, she had to admit, GB was incredibly smart. It didn't take a Ph.D. to know that the level of engineering done on the fancy sciency tube transport thingy was much higher than anything she had seen in the city. Plus, the seats were squishy.

"So are the balls in another car or something?" she asked.

"I think so, but TB said something about laying a new track, and the 'car' they got into looked more like a tunneler than a passenger car. I'm guessing that they're digging this tunnel as we go, and that's why it's taking us foreverrrr," Coiny complained.

"Then what do you want to do to pass the time?"

"I dunno, play tic-tac-toe?"