...Chapter 27: Aftermath

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Since my room was destroyed, I had to sleep the rest of the night on the couch in the hangout room. I didn't get a lot of sleep, but stayed there, curled up in a ball. My eyes were red from crying from the trauma of multiple near deaths, shocking truths, and losing all of my close, personal belongings all in one night. I stayed there all the way into the late afternoon. No one bothered me, and just left me alone.

I would sometimes hear them outside the room, talking about me. B.O.B. wanted to go in and see how I was doing. Doc would tell him to give me space, and that I had a really rough night. Link, of all monsters, was the one who finally came in to see me. I didnt move or do anything when he appeared in front of me.

"Hey..." he said softly. I blinked my tired red eyes and gave him a silent nod. My wings were wrapped around me like a blanket. Link rubbed the side of his arm. "How are you feeling?" He asked. I didn't respond. I looked away from him.

Link's finned ears went down, knowing that there was nothing he could say to make me feel better. "I...I'm sorry about what happened to your room," he said. I kept my eyes down on the ground. Not saying anything. Link continued. "I heard Monger is working at salvaging your room."

I looked up at Link. I didn't know that. Link noticed me look back at him and nodded. "Yeah, he has some people helping to get your room back together. Replacing a bunch of items." My ears slowly went back down again. Replacing. Meaning he was only getting the items that could be replaced. My sketchbooks filled with my drawings, my handmade stuffed animals, my creature tapes. Those were not replaceable. There were no stores that magically sold my drawings, or my creations I made with my own hands...and VHS tapes were not a thing anymore.

"Was Monger able to salvage any of your things?" I heard Link ask. I shook my head. Still not answering. Tears sprang from my eyes.

"Oh," was all Link said.

I wiped the tears from my eyes. I got up from the couch and started to head out of the room. I half expected Link to say something, but he didn't. I walked out and left Link in the hangout room alone.

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The next couple days dragged on slowly. I didn't talk to any of the monsters. I stayed in the back of the cafeteria, eating alone. I didn't really feel like I was part of their group. After I told them about being one of John's horrible experiments, I felt so much more alone and different in the world. I wasn't a teenage monster. I was a freak. Part alien. An experiment that wasn't supposed to be alive or exist. I had felt accepted being part of the group with the other monsters...Now, I felt like the black sheep.

B.O.B. tried coming over and cheering me up with a couple bad puns. "What's the scariest plant in the world?" he asked me. After a couple seconds of not answering or guessing, he blurted out: "BamBOO!"

I gave B.O.B. a weak smile, but it immediately faded and I went back to looking down at my untouched peas and steak. After hearing never-ending puns from the blob, I gave him my food and left the cafeteria and went back to the hangout room. I could feel everyone's eyes as they watched me leave. I felt bad for isolating myself from them, but I just didn't feel like socializing. I needed time to recoup from everything.

I had a sleepless night, just like the last couple of nights. In one of my nightmares, John was back and he had me strapped down to an operating table. He was leaning over me, cutting up my limbs and sewing October's limbs on me instead. In another nightmare, I am bleeding green blood from huge gashes and cuts from my body. Each nightmare caused me to wake up screaming.

Bags began to form under my red eyes. I hid it all behind my sunglasses. After a while, I started not wearing my sunglasses, reminding me too much of John, and just staying in the hangout room, turning off all the lights and just staying in the darkness.

The days wore on and my nightmares became less of a problem. Susan tried talking to me, being like my therapist and helping me through it. Doc gave me a couple things he said would help me sleep. I didn't use them, afraid that they might explode on me. B.O.B. gave me his favorite red ball to keep me occupied. Link gave me a couple tips on how to deal with my nightmares.

"You doing better?" The fishman asked when I started leaving. I turned and gave him a shrug. I didn't really know how I felt. Even before I became a monster, my life was rough. My parents fought everyday, I wasn't doing well in school. I got bullied by kids. It just felt that the whole world hated me for no reason. I didn't really know what answer to give to Link as I stared at him.

He was one of the few things that made my life tolerable to live in. He was one of the reasons why I was happy that I became a monster.

"Could have been worse... I guess" I just said to the fish man. With that, I left. I stopped just for a moment to look at my room. Criss crossing the whole thing was yellow caution tape, and a sign that said: Keep Out. I sighed, my shoulders sagging. My wings drooped to the cold floor and I let them drag the rest of the way to the hangout room, a.k.a. my room...

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For some weird reason, Monger decided to tell the monsters when my birthday was, which was the next day. When I got up the next morning to go to the cafeteria, the monsters were already waiting for me. I nearly had a heart attack and nearly lost my hearing when everyone jumped out and yelled 'surprise.'

Susan came from around the corner since she was too big to fit in the cafeteria. She held a big wrapped up present almost the size of her fist.

"Happy Birthday, Bat," said Susan. I stared at everyone in shock. I was quiet for a while, then blinked in confusion. My ears swiveling everywhere to each sound in the room.

"It's not my birthday," I pointed out. B.O.B. came up to me. "Of course it is, Bat." I gave B.O.B. a look. "I think I know when my birthday is, B.O.B." The blue blob cocked his head like a confused puppy. "Monger told us your birthday was today! I got you a present!" He said, revealing a popped balloon.

I narrowed my eyes in confusion. I spotted a calendar and went up to it. Sure enough. There it was. "I'll be damned," I muttered. I just turned seventeen. I had completely forgotten the days. Ever since I was a prisoner, I had lost track of any way of knowing the time or the day. I was so far behind and lost. I felt my body beginning to grow warm. I looked down at my hands and saw that they were turning a shade of light pink.

"You guys don't have to do this," I said, turning back to them, feeling immediately embarrassed and insecure. I wasn't really one for parties and being the center of attention. Especially now. Doc came scuttling up and stopped in front of me.

"Nonsense, my dear! You have gone through a lot of rough times. You don't deserve that. We all thought that you needed something nice to happen to you for a change," Doc said.

I hesitated, turning my head away from them. "That's really nice of you guys...really...but...I just..." I didn't know how to say it. I sighed, my shoulders sagging. I felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned and found B.O.B. staring down at me.

"We are your friends, Bat. We care about you...also I can't really return this gift I got you so..." his voice faded as he lifted the popped balloon. I couldn't help but to laugh at his joke...unless he was being serious; then gave the blue mass a hug.

"Thanks B.O.B.," I said. The blue blob grinned and hugged me back.

We all sat in the living room area. I opened presents while my friends ate cake. Doc ate our plastic plates which still had some frosting and sprinkles stuck to them. Music played from the speakers. We were laughing and talking. I enjoyed every moment. The presents were nice. Doc gave me an invention of his own creation. It was a little mechanical bat that fluttered around the room. It's eyes glowed red and had little metal fangs.

"I even built a little charging station for it that looks like a little bat house!" The mad scientist cockroach said as he pulled out a rectangular looking box and pressed a button on the side. The metal bat immediately came back and landed inside the bat house. The red eyes blinked on and off from inside the bat house.

He gave the present to me. I smiled and thanked him.

Last but not least was Link. He approached up to me at the couch I was sitting in. He had his arms behind his back. "Close your eyes," he instructed me. I gave him a suspicious look, but did so. "Hold out your hands," he told me. I did. He gently placed something cool and what felt to be plastic in my hands. I opened my eyes and looked down at my hands. Right there in my palms, was A DVD copy of the Creature from the Black Lagoon trilogy. My eyes widened and my jaw dropped. I couldn't believe it. My heart pounded heavily as tears came to my eyes. My hands trembled.

Link started to casually say how he asked Monger to get him all three movies on DVD so he could surprise me on my birthday. I was so touched and overwhelmed, I jumped up and hugged Link right there. Link stopped talking and was taken aback by my sudden action. His arms were up in a surprise way where he didn't know what to do. His heart was pounding loudly in my ears. I was so close to him. My face burned in embarrassment and I quickly pulled away.

"S-sorry," I stuttered in a shy, quiet voice. Link shrugged it off and tried to look unphased by it. "Happy Birthday, Bat Brains," he said before turning away. "Thank you," I said to him. Without turning he gave me a wave as if to say, 'You're Welcome.'

"We should watch them sometime," I added quickly. He stopped and turned. A smile formed on his face.

"Sure."

I smiled happily. "Really?" I asked. Link nodded.

"Of course."

Then he left. I smiled like an idiot right there.

Soon after Link left, everyone else started to head off as well. We all spent the whole day together. Enjoying each other's company. During the whole thing, I forgot that it was my birthday and just enjoyed hanging with my friends. I started to head to the hangout room when Monger stopped me.

"Hold on, Bat. I have something I need to show you."

He escorted me down the huge hallway of everyone's room. Finally, we reached the end. My room. Mongers stopped and nodded to the button. I was instantly getting de ja vu. This all felt exactly like the time when Monger told us that we were all free and he was showing us our new rooms.

"Heh, feels like it was just yesterday," Monger said, getting the same de ja vu feel. I gave him a small nervous smile and nodded.

I reached up and pressed the button.

My room was mostly bare. There was a bed with a simple blue cover over it. The wooden dressers were different, and placed in a different way. Books lined my shelves, some I had already read, some I never heard of before. A fresh stack of blank sketchbooks sat on a swivel chair at a desk with a computer on it. I never had a computer in my room before. I went into my room and rifled through the sketchbooks, looking at all the blank pages that could have been filled with my drawings.

Everything of mine was gone.

"We were able to salvage some books, sketchbooks, and clothes, but everything else was charred to nothingness...I'm sorry," Monger said. Two tears came down from each side of my face. I wiped them away and sniffed. "It's ok...Thank you."

I heard Monger begin to leave, then he stopped and turned back around. "Oh...one more thing...I was able to save one thing." I turned around as he pulled out a wrapped present behind his back. I took the present and began to unwrap it. It was a framed picture of me before I was a monster, with my family. My heart ached at the sight of their smiling faces. I had almost forgotten what they looked like. I lightly ran my hand over the glass, almost hoping that my family would spring out of the picture and hug me. My throat closed up and I felt tears coming up, but I swallowed them down.

"Thank you, general," I said, looking back up at him. He smiled and nodded. "I know this whole situation has been rough on you. I wish I could do more...but I am still keeping my word. I will figure out a way to get your family to remember you again. Even if I have to hunt down John myself," he said.

With that, the general turned on his heel and left my room. "Happy Birthday, Bat," he said before leaving me to my new room.

I looked back down at the frame, then placed it down on the dresser near my bed. Next to the framed photo, I placed all the presents my friends had given me. I stared at each one as I thought back to what Monger said:

"...even if I have to hunt down John myself..."

John. The man who ruined everything. My life, my family. He took them away from me. He scarred me for life. I would never forgive him. If only I had aimed a little to the right...

I slammed my fist down on the dresser angrily. The items rattled on the surface, almost trembling in fear. I took a breath to calm down and pulled my hand back. I stared at the framed photo again. Seeing my reflection in it.

I wanted to be the one to hunt down John and take him down. He took almost everything away from me... and I wasnt going to let him do it again...

I narrowed my alien eyes and clenched my fists. I lifted my wings and gave them one flap.

My name is Bat, and I am a monster.

The End...?


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A/N: Thank you all who made it all the way to the end of my revised fanfic. I had a lot of fun coming back to this. It was so nostalgic for me, going back through the perspective of Bat. I hope to make this into a trilogy, but I have a couple other fanfics I need to get through first. Hope you enjoyed and tell me what you thought. Thank you again for the follows, reviews, and support.

-Bat13SJx

Characters: Bat, John, October, nameless soldiers