Okay! This chapter has been a long long long looooong time coming, and i apologize deeply for that. I know a lot of you have been getting impatient and i hate making you wait or making you think I've given up on this story

But I need you guys to understand that fanfiction is a hobby, not a job. As much as i would like to get paid to write it, I'm not, and right now I'm on winter break with a part time job. That and i'm in my final year of college, with a final project that needs near constant attention. Put that and other classes, and just staying sane on top i don't always have it in me to write, as much as i love to do it. It may be a few months until i get the time/itch to write again cuz I'm so busy and stressed most of the time. I need at least an hour or two of sanity time after all.

I'm not asking you to like it, cuz i dont like it either, but please please be patient waiting fr the next chapter. It will come, i can promise you that. it may be a while, but it will come. Trust me.

With that, enjoy the chapter!

Disclaimer: I do not own looney tunes

I had meant what I said, at least at the time I said it. The Whoateef didn't scare me.

Or at least, it didn't feel the same as when you associate a thing or a person with fear. I'd been scared of my beet faced second grade math teacher, Mr. Cobb. Who would progressively turn purple if you were going about a problem wrong when he called you to the board and proceed to rant about how 'this generation can't even tie their shoes without a cheat sheet'. It had taken me moving up a few grades when i was finally able to master hiding the slight tremor in my legs if i was called on in class. After countless rides in the car with mom letting think I'd gotten away with stealing a few sips from her thermos and squeezing my hand with her free one as i told her about how awful the experience had been, but how proud I was when I'd gotten it right.

I'd been scared of the Chuck E Cheese rat animatronic when we went for my brother's twelfth birthday. I'd been 2 and a half and screamed bloody murder at the frozen buck toothed grimace until Dad scooped me up and snuck with me into the sanctuary of the ball pit. He had been in a robotics club in college and told me how the robot would move, and picturing the moving cogs and wheels didn't seem as scary as the polyester fur they pasted on top of it.

I'd been scared of Russell Sinaken, the first time my mouth had ran with a little too much confidence and ended up in a fight, dodging his meat slab of a fist and earning a scar or two to remember the lesson Sean would teach me about kickboxing while he patched up my throbbing black eye.

Throughout my life my family had taught me to stand up to bullies, whether it was ignoring them and carrying on, facing it head on, or pushing back if they pushed me. I wasn't afraid of another.

Standing up and being brave wasn't hard for me anymore.

Staying up was a completely different matter, when my being brave felt more like an egg shell painted in camouflage rather than a wrought iron shield. I wasn't scared of the whoateef, I was scared of what I had felt the last time it tried to sink it's teeth into me. I was scared that it was something i had felt before, time and again.

It didn't occur to me at that point that the feeling i was running from was the same things as the monster, despite everything granny had told me. It was easier to think of the monster as something that could be fought off with a sword or physical weapon, not by my own will.

And my own will was crumbling faster than iI could really see.

For a week or two after leaving Grannies that day, I kept up the illusion of strength that it even fooled me. I walked with my head upright, shoulders back and attacked the cel paper with my pencil until the squeal of smoothed graphite against a bald surface made me look up and to see Bugs looking at me carefully. Fiddling with his carrot but not biting into it.

If things had been normal, like I desperately wanted to believe they were, he would have made some smart alec comment. but he didn't, just sat there and looked at me carefully like he was checking for something, as far as I knew, wasn't there. He was worried, and i didn't know how else to make him believe that i would be fine. particularly because i wasn't completely sure i believed it myself.

I'd stood up without a word and stormed out under the pretense of forgetting about a school project. I probably did have one in truth, but I'd not noticed.

The world moved like I was underwater, in slow motion right in front of me but then someone pressed the forward button as soon as it past. Or maybe i was the one moving and thinking slower. I had a lot more in my head lately that it felt heavier and heavier.

Homework, the internship, Bugs, you're going to fail, no don't think about that, go to sleep on time, I can't sleep, it's too dark, why aren't I breathing right? what if i stop breathing if i sleep? but that's silly i'm fine, but what if it's true? what if i can't get up tomorrow because i didn't sleep? What if I let bugs down? What if he kicked me out of the program

What if he didn't miss me when I was gone…what if I had pushed him away too many times

I tried to keep every thought brisk, and as unobtrusive as I could. The less time I spent thinking the less time the bad thoughts, the little whisperings of doubt and fear that had always seemed to be my own voice, could grab hold of me. But they did, just like they always did, when I got like this.

Those times where I felt afraid for no particular reason, the acidic burn in my stomach, the hot and cold chills down my back, and the feeling of sinking into something cold and so over my head I'd never see the light of anything again. When I couldn't seem to walk fast enough away from whatever was chasing me, i hadn't been aware that i was until now. It felt worse now..Knowing that i was calling the monster of my own power but didn't want to, I didn't mean to.

It was the only time in my life I felt so out of control of my own mind and body. It terrified me. To know I wasn't as strong as I pretended to be, that I couldn't stop it.

I hated it, I hated that I did this to myself. I hated the literal and metaphorical corner I'd forced myself into and now it felt too late to call for help. My throat seized even if my mind screamed for it.

Help me,

god help me

I didn't feel safe anywhere especially not from myself.

I suppose that's why it had taken my form, smiling benignly in the mirror back at me as I gripped the porcelain bathroom sink and stared, shaking, but couldn't let go.

The Whoateef leaned slowly forward so their forehead rested on the mirror where i had to mine. Droplets of water glistening on the borrowed image's somewhat greyed skin that matched those dripping from my hair, when i'd tried to splash cold water and shock the bad thoughts away. Cold shadows shaped like hands reached out to lock around my wrists. Thier touch felt like what it was to hear a fork scraping a porcelain plate.

It had found me, again, and there hadn't been a thing I could do to stop it for a while now..

/

Bug's POV.

The carrot in my hand had been a beaut' about an hour ago, when JJ was supposed to be here for her lesson. A healthy lookin' orange and in the perfect toon cut I'd been growin for years. Now, after an hour of pacing back and forth across the cubby space of an intern room into the hall of the studio, where i could usually see her rolling up on the asphalt magnet of hers, it could hardly be called a carrot anymore. The thumb on my glove was covered in peel where it had been scraping it distractedly and the end was dusty and spotted with dirty when i'd taped it against the window sill restlessly

Glad to see those janitors worked about as well as they were paid..

I threw the carrot away, where out of my hands it'd phase out of existence as a toon prop anyway, and changed gloves so i could run a clean hand over my face wearily.

I knew tellin the kid about the monster had been a mistake.

Not just cuz I could see behind that Mr.T level bravado JJ was turning into just as much a mixed bag of nuts and nerves as I was. I'd felt this way as soon as i took her home after that day with Granny. She'd been quiet, but JJ didn't seem as wary as I'd expected or hoped she would be. If she wasn't worried it meant i had to be for her, and let me tell ya it did'nt suit me.

Not that she didn't do her darndest to try and convince me I didn't have to. Part of me tried too. JJ was young but from what i gathered she'd been through her fair share a' drama. In time maybe she could handle this..

It was the maybe that had me grabbing for another carrot that i was sure would go neglected.

I LIKED the kid, I'd gotten attached. More so than I'd really planned on doing in the beginning. I mean yeah most of my other students were okay but Mel and Jess...I wasn't sure what it was but the spark i saw was more than just talent.

It was a state of mind, of imagination, that I couldn't always get in my other students. I guess her mind was more...rubbery than the others, able to stretch and wrap around more . A lot of them had the creativity to be great at the animation craft I'm sure. But Jessie had looked at me, a mostly 2 dimensional (by design not by personality) wise-acker and hardly blinked.

She was a reckless, aggressive, and yeah she liked to complain more than she actually saw reason to, but apart from Mel my other students hardly spoke around me. Either cuz I was one of hollywood's biggest stars or because i was one of hollywood's biggest stars that turned out to really exist.

Jessie talked to me, yelled at me, and sometimes seemed really close to confiding in me. I was a toon, but jessie saw me as much of a person as she was.

I rubbed my temples, for pete's sake toons weren't supposed to get worry induced headaches.

If she'd just trust me a bit more..

My ears perked up straighter than I think they ever have when I heard a rapping at the door, clenching at my carrot in surprise and snapping it in half. She was here finally, I could-

Mel walked in, his portfolio bag strung over his shoulder and looking as goodnatured and portly as ever. he didn't even look too insulted when my ears slumped in disappointment when I saw him.

"What's with the depressing squash and stretch chief?" The palooka still used animation terms in normal conversation. I did teach him well. He set his bag down and pulled forward and office chair to sit in, "Where's the kid? i thought we had a meeting today on her progress."

I shrugged a shoulder, trying not to look too guilty, "Well...you're half right...maybe half and a quarter actually."

He blinked, leaning back in his chair with a faint air of suspicion, "Uhuh.."

"Aw c'mon, ya know I wouldn't have called ya in unless it was somethin' important. Real important." My voice tapered off into something of vague discomfort, and the suspicion left Mel's face only to be replaced with curious concern.

He leaned forward, resting his hands on his gut with his elbows on the chair armrests. It was how he looked whenever he was getting down to the grit of a problem with a movie's storyline in pre production. "What's goin on."

I told him that I'd called him in to talk to Jessie, it was true, but I also told him about the past few weeks. about the whoateef making a guest appearance in the break room, how it had targeted jessie. The trip to Granny's, her since decline, everything. Except for the phone call that seemed to trigger the whoateef showing up in the break room. I wasn't willing to step all over JJ's right to privacy THAT much. All he needed to know was that she was going through stuff. I knew Mel of all people would understand.

And boy did he, I could see it on his face. Just hearing the name of the thing was enough for his mouth to go straight in a grim line, and while he tried to hide it by running a hand over his face and sighing heavily, but I could detect a flicker of past unease. He'd looked a kind of grey in pallor now,

Either that or the lighting in here was terrible.

"You okay there, Mel?" I kept my voice quiet, this wasn't something to joke around about, "Didn't mean to bring back bad memories, I just thought if she heard your story, how ya got past this maybe.."

"No.. " He sat up, taking another deep breath and shaking off whatever nightmare he'd briefly revisited in his nightmares ,"No you're right. It's important to know she's not alone in feeling this way, that it can happen to anyone. Even people she's close to." He clenched and unclenched his hands a moment, getting himself back together, "I'd be glad, to talk to her about this. if it keeps her out of the dark a while...or gets her out of it.."

It was meant as a passing remark, just a confirmation of what could happen, I knew that. But it still hung in the air like a ghost, sending an uncomfortable hot chill down my back, my fur bristled. Even Mel seemed to stiffen when he realized it how it lingered like awarning

Something was wrong.

I pulled out my phone, thumb pressing the numbers a little too hard while I called JJ up. I had to be worrying for nothing again, just being the overprotective buck tooth she was always accusing me of being. I'd just talked to her last night, she wasn't great but she wasn't in THAT state yet!

"C'mon kiddo…" I muttered, breaking the already thoroughly beaten carrot into smaller pieces. one for each ring of the other line, "C'mon pick up Jess.."

She didn't I didn't even get half her voicemail before I was dialing again. Still no answer.

I looked up at Mel, his hands were gripping the armrests just a little harder than needed and his face looked grave. I shut off my phone, and he stood up. pulling his keys out of his bag.

"You get to her, I'll bring the car to her place." He said urgently, rushing out of the room.

I could hardly concentrate long enough to nod my understanding, i was stretching a plot hole as fast as i could and throwing it against the floor like it was roadkill. I didn't have time for finesse

I should never have left her alone

/

Plot holes were a handy shortcut, but they weren't perfect. the longer the distance between point A and point B the more twists and turns it'd develop. It was still faster than any other mode of travel, but it still wasn't fast enough for me at that moment. I came out the other side flailing a lot more than i usually did when the ramp towards the end of the hole's tunnel took a steep decline.

I bumped into her desk and knocked a few comic books over. Her room looked like bedlam. Not really like there'd been a struggle, she had just let the mess grow and get away from her. That didn't mean anything though, it didn't always need a struggle to get what it wanted.

"JJ? Jessie?!" My voice rose, which I'm proud to say hardly ever happens, as i looked around her room, even under her bed. She couldn't be out though because her house keys were stuck on her desk too.

She forgot them, please let her have forgotten them.

No jessie in the common room, or in the kitchen, all the other kids that lived a floor under had cleared out somewhere.

"Jess! Jessica Jane Verillo!" I nearly tripped going up and down the stairs from the lower floors to the top where she lived, the big feet I'd been designed with, for once, too slow and clumsy for my liking.

Once I reached the landing i stopped, literally freezing in place as a chill brushed past my glove ever so slightly. it turned an icy blue as the toon instincts reacted, and beads of condensation dripped from the material when i took an experimental step away. The bathroom door stood ajar..

I almost didn't want to look, but I had to. I yanked the door open all the way, heart pounding a little symboled indent in my chest then promptly dropped into my stomach.

I'd seen the aftermath of the Whoateef's work a couple times, it was never pleasant. I'd never been quick enough to see an attack in process.

Jessie was dangerously pale, gripping the sink white knuckled like she'd been shackled there. Her skin was clammy and save for the faint shivering along her arms she didn't move. She hardly blinked, for a terrifying second I thought she wasn't breathin'. She was, but it was sharp, short breaths that looked almost painful to take. Tears glazed her eyes and hung on her eyelids but it was like she was too stricken to even let them fall.

The Whoateef had taken a different image to model itself after, instead of a spider it looked like it had at one point, been a perfectly grey clone of JJ. Only with yellow eyes and harsh piercing red pupils. It's grin was all wrong, it didn't look like Jessie but some twisted batman villain parody of a jessie smile. Or maybe it could always smile that way but had never had a face human looking enough to see it. The hands of the monster hovered closer to Jessie's ears, fingers extending in grotesque looking spires that seemed to both keep her head locked on the mirror in front of her as well as delve into her head, digging into her every thought and poisoning it, searching for the root so it could..

No..

This wasnt happening again!

I didn't even think about it really, I just ran into the room and grabbed the nearest spire holding her there, wrapped around her arm and wrist.

The whoateef jolted but didn't react much other than glaring t me, growing taller as more spires danced menacingly out of its back, the image of jessie stretched and grotesque but still there.

"Get offa her ya lousy blot! Go hit up a poetry reading if you need a bite, you ain't takin her!"

Toons like me weren't in much danger of the whoateef, but we didn't really wanna touch it if we could help it. The spire sizzled and smoked under my grip but still didn't budge.

We were immune to it, for the most part, but that didn't mean we immediately had what it took to fight it off.

The Whoateef just let out an unpleased snarl and tried to bat me away, but i cured my body in a way that would have made a noodle proud and grabbed Jessie's shoulder, giving her a shake

"Jess! come on JJ stay with me, ya gotta hear me!"

She wouldnt, or couldnt, even look at me. I followed her unbreakable line of sight and saw why.

The whoateef had used the mirror to project something on the surface, memories, nightmares, a combination of the two. Every maddening whisper it was hissing into her ear echoing in the reflection.

There were faces, most of the familiar since I'd seen her make her fair share of video calls. Her mom, her Dad and her brother. All of them either whispering to each other and casting cold looks over their shoulders, only sparing her half a glance before they went back to it.

your fault, your fault your fault

Her Mom and Dad were screaming at each other, it could be seen through a crack in a bedroom door. did they really think a door would block out all the noise. Next it was like they were tugging her back and forth, each yanking her closer to the point where it almost looked painful. This couldn't have been a memory..

This..this was wrong. I shouldn't be seeing this. I wanted her to open up to me but not like this, not when she wasn't being given a choice.

I tore my eyes away and grabbed the sides of her head., gloved thumbs absently taking the time to wipe at her eyes. a few tears fell but other than that she remained trapped in her own head.

"Jess I want to but I can't make the monsters go away for you. You gotta do it yourself you're the only one who can!"

She shuddered, something like a half choked sob falling from her throat.

"Come on Jessie, ya got more spark in your pinkie finger than any other kid I've seen in years. Ya gotta get free so I can finally tell ya what that means!" To me, and by, well, definition.

It wasn't freedom yet, but her eyes slid closed a moment, mouth quivering a bit and her fingers clenched harder on the sink.

I reached forward and started to try and force a spire away from her shoulder i had to be making it in through all that scared jumble cuz it finally shifted, "That's my girl! keep at it, remember what you came all the way out here for, how and why you got his far! you had a goal you wanted to see through right?!"

The Whoateef screamed at me, shrill as a teapot whistle. The spires on its back curved like a title wave and pointed their ends towards me

Immune or not, those didn't look like they'd tickle, and for just a second I flinched as one came straight down with the intent to strike.

I stumbled back when Jessie lashed an arm out, and caught the spire before it could try to get any further.

The spell had shattered somehow, and the kid looked about as surprised it had as the Whoateef. She was in no condition to fight, she was still leaning heavily on the sink while her knees buckled but she held onto the spire like a champ even as it bucked and writhed in her grip.

Where it had barely sizzled in my hands it was BLAZING in hers. It was like the spire was a metal rod and Jessie was the flame. The inky black tendril glowed white under her touch and red along the rest and the Whoateef thrashed, finally yanking it away from her.

It curled its body over the injured spire, giving a few furious snarls as it took a step back, but not away, eyes glowering with a promise of revenge.

Jessie glanced at her hand, gulping in breath after breath like she'd been held under water for a long time. her voice was hoarse, and it barely came out as more than a whisper

"B-bugs..how...how did I-"

There'd be time to figure that out later. I grabbed her wrist and just as the Whoateef lunged to overtake her again we were falling through another plothole.

Jessie let out a surprised shriek and I tried to wrap an arm around her shoulders for at least some comfort. It wasn't two seconds later that we both fell heavily into the backseat of Mel's car.

Jessie gasped and slid off the seat to the car floor, cramped between the driver's seat with Mel wrapping around to get a look at her. Her arms shook as she clung to the seat, looking around like she was only half aware of where she was.

"I gotcha ," I tried to coax her back onto the seat but let her be when I saw how much she was shaking, "I gotcha Jess everything's alright now..Mel get us to toon town, now."

His face was tight with sympathy and knowing, and he reached to squeeze Jessie's hand, not minding when she didn't seem to respond and turned to quickly pull away from the curb outside of Jessie's house. "Got it."

Jessie still seemed disoriented, and she looked from mel to me and back again like she couldn't believe she was finally out from that mirror. I wonder if she thought she was still trapped and this was just another lie the monster was telling her.

I finally slid onto the floor with her, and wrapped her into a hug, pressing her face into my shoulder. I felt kinda shaky myself, watching her go through all that.

"It's gonna be okay..It's gone you got away"

She twitched at first, she was used to pushing me off after all. either that or she still didn't realize it was me grabbing her.

A few moments of half panicked gasping later and finally I felt her arms hug me back, and her head bowed like she was ashamed and pressed further into my shoulder. She was completely silent, and her body shook in the effort not to make a sound.

But I could feel her crying.