Work Text:
Angry Birds Reunite - Chapter 1 - Prologue
This is bad.
She can't get up.
All she can hear
are muffled screams
of many birds
that she knows.
Ranging from young to old,
male to female.
Some angry yells,
some worried yells.
She can barely
see anything
that's happening
around her.
The only thing
happening in front of her
is a fight
between birds and pigs.
She feels
a lot of numbness
in her body.
Her warmth getting colder.
Her sight getting dimmer.
Her hearing getting weaker.
Her breathing getting slower.
She is running
out of air.
She has no
helmet on.
Some of the birds
are here,
supporting her.
Some wearing helmets,
some not wearing helmets.
And a bird
who is holding onto her
is one of the birds
not wearing a helmet.
She can feel
his heat.
The heat
of her lover.
Yes,
he is there for her,
yelling her name.
Begging her
not to die.
"Matilda... HANG ON!"
Her eyes move
to the corner of her eyelids
to see him.
Despite the blurry sight
and almost deaf hearing,
Matilda can tell
that he is distressed.
She can tell
who it is.
"...Bomb….."
Tears dropped
onto her dying face.
"MATILDA!"
The birds
who are supporting her
are screaming at her.
The unclear sight
makes them seem
like a clash
of colors.
And the said colors
are starting to get
darker.
And their screams
can no longer
be heard.
And the air
in her broken helmet
has run out.
Matilda is almost meeting
her end.
All these efforts
to reunite with her Flock
only to end up getting
her helmet shot.
The time has come.
She ensures
that she is ready.
She closes her eyes,
and she decides to smile.
She used to fear it
but now no longer.
She accepts
her fate.
She is prepared to meet
the end
of her journey,
and her precious life.
...
...
...
...
"Oh, Matildaaaaa!"
...
"Wakey wakey. Rise and shine!"
...
"Ugh..."
She groaned, covering her eyes by rolling to her back, her face meeting the hammock.
It felt too early. She needed more time.
"Give me 10 minutes," she spoke in exhaustion.
"It's summer, dear," the male bird with a deep voice responded, tugging her body to get her up.
"Hey, maybe she didn't get enough sleep," another male bird with a high-pitched voice told him. "She had a duty on protecting eggs last night, so I can't blame her."
...
...
...
"Ugh, fine."
Matilda decided to do what the first bird said and got up on her hammock. She was already used to sleeping late at night anyway.
Both saw her stand up and got off the hammock. One sighed in relief, the other rolled his eyes.
"Oh, well let's forget what I said," said the latter.
"Good morning, dear," the first bird greeted her.
"...Morning..." she spoke slowly, still groaning as she caught up with the morning sun.
Matilda took some time to get her energy back into her head. She slowly opened her eyelids, filled with crusts from sleep, and proceeded to rub them off with her invisible hands. She hated it when she woke up with them being formed on her eyelids. She looked up to see the birds that were standing right in front of her. And both of them smiled at her.
The first bird, who woke her up from her sleep, was a black greater Antillean Bullfinch. His body resembled a bomb, thus his name. And for some funny reasons, Bomb had the ability to literally explode. He was a living grenade. The source of the ability came from his emotions, so he had to deal with controlling them to prevent accidents, although he occasionally failed in some incidents. He was Matilda's lover. They had started dating since the students' graduation as they were once teachers.
And the second bird was a red Cardinal whose name was….. Red... this is not a joke. Red. His parents might be very creative, naming his older brother an ordinary name Terence and him the color of his body. Anyway, Red was just a normal guy who just so happened to have rage issues. And him being an adoptive father of the eggs, he tended to get overprotective over them, understandably because of the Bad Piggies. Those darn pigs kidnap his eggs all the time. That over-protectiveness trait might be because of Matilda over her years of guiding her students. After all, she prioritizes the safety of others over her own safety.
"Good morning, Miss Matilda," Red greeted Matilda, who still felt glad that he addressed her by her proper name considering she was his teacher. But back then, she used to tell the students to refer to her as 'Mother Matilda' as she saw them as her own children. Nowadays, Chuck always referred to her as just 'Matilda', which could make her utterly disappointed in him.
"Good morning, Red," Matilda greeted back and yawned as she has just woken up.
"It's a beautiful day today!" Red exclaimed excitedly. "And you won't believe what today is!"
Matilda and Bomb became curious. "What is it?" they both asked.
Red smiled widely. "I hope you both won't forget, but today's the 14th anniversary of Miss Matilda's arrival!"
Both birds' eyes widen.
"Oh god," Bomb shook in embarrassment, "I forgot about it!"
Matilda looked at him in assurance. "H-hey, no need to feel bad about it! I forgot to count on how many years I've been on this island."
Red chuckled at their reaction. "Ah, you guys are old! I always have a calendar and my phone with me so I can check on the dates."
Matilda giggled embarrassingly while Bomb remained feeling shameful.
Just as she stopped laughing, Red came up to her, planning to say something very important to her.
"... Miss Matilda," Red said quietly, "I... want to say something... to you..."
Matilda raised her eyebrow. She wondered what Red was thinking.
"What is it?" she asked.
"Miss Matilda... I am so grateful to have you as my teacher, parent, and guardian throughout my whole life," Red told her.
Matilda raised her brows. Red was giving her his speech.
"You taught a lot of valuable lessons," Red went on. "Friendship, teamwork, empathy, parenthood, and most importantly, life. You taught me that life can be so hard, and that is evident by our battle against the pigs. These jerks never stop giving up on kidnapping my eggs. But so do we. We never give up on protecting the eggs. I probably would have given up my life as a father and surrender my eggs to the King Pig if it weren't for you."
Matilda felt something underneath her eyes.
"You have shown me what it's like to care for children and those who are weak. And have determination. And be a parent. You inspire me….. mother. Thank you. For being here with us. We have a great journey together."
Matilda could feel tears filling up her eyes. Despite all the hardships they had been put through, Red still persevered. It was hard to imagine how strong he became ever since she first met him as a child. He was always so happy and delightful. Even after discovering his ability to use his temper as power, he remained happy and delightful. But that childlike happiness was crushed by the pigs when he adopted the bird eggs at one of the territories. And yet, on some special occasions like holidays, Matilda could see the remaining shards of happiness in Red's eyes.
Matilda grabbed Red and hugged him, catching him off-guard. Red was shocked at first, but then he decided to accept the embrace and hugged her back. He could feel tears dripping onto his head.
Matilda sobbed like a crybaby despite her age, causing Bomb to almost laugh. But then he held it back to not interrupt the moment.
"Red," Matilda shakingly spoke to Red, "you are one of the best students I have ever. You are like a son to me. I will never forget your speech. Thank you."
And this moment gave Matilda the idea to bring Hal, Silver, and Hockey back to this place for a reunion. It was her anniversary after all. If possible, she could even bring Bubbles to The Flock for this special reunion.
As she thought of this special day, she become shocked upon finding out on her remembrance that she had almost forgotten about something - or some people - before her arrival at Piggy Island.
Dahlia and the orphans.
So Matilda had a plan.
To have a truly special reunion, she will bring The Flock, along with Hal, Silver, Hockey, and Bubbles, with her and go to a cruise ship to travel to Golden Island. Maybe she can ask Terence to- wait, he's deaf. Actually, she can just write down a request to bring Tony on a note and pass it to him. If he accepts, that's great! If he rejects, oh well. From there in Golden Island, she can introduce her friends to her childhood owl friend Dahlia and the orphans.
This day will be special.
Later, as Matilda took a bath in a nearby lake, looking around to make sure that there were no Peeping Toms, she pulled out her smartphone and checked through the contact numbers. As she stumbled upon the phone number of her childhood friend, she tapped it with her beak and put the phone beside her right ear hole, expecting her to answer her call.
... Riiiiiinnnng... riiiiinnnnng...
...
Phone rings flew through her ear holes from right to left, and as she patiently waited, she heard a voice.
...
But... the voice did not sound as cheerful as usual. It sounded...
...
Depressed.
...
"...Hello Matilda..."
...
Oh, dear.
Matilda thought that she did something wrong.
She could have sworn she called Dahlia a week ago. Last time she checked, Dahlia was doing just fine with the grown-up birds and a young child that she told Matilda about 5 years ago. Luca. Matilda wished she could see his face just so she could pinch his little cheek.
..... And his parents..... Loco and Sara..... she missed them...... and she hoped that she would see them on the other side.
But that's not important right now. What's important is why Dahlia sounded like she was dealing with a loss. She didn't mind Matilda being away for a long time as they were still in touch thanks to the phones Terence gave them. And those storage batteries were given to Dahlia because of the lack of technology in Golden Island. And thanks to Dahlia discovering how to create technology there, recharging her phone is not a problem. Plus, she even managed to upgrade it herself for it to last longer. Truly she is a genius.
Judging by her tone, Matilda assumed that something horrible happened on Golden Island, and it was even worse than Gale's betrayal. Well... Matilda always felt that Golden Island was cursed because of such incidents. But Piggy Island was no different from that. She heard the news from Dahlia a few months ago that Gale abandoned her friends in favor of being treated like a queen by the pigs. All thanks to that crown she found. And the pigs built a castle just for her. Wow. Just wow. This wasn't the Gale Matilda remembered. Gale might always think about herself, but she cared for her friends, especially Stella, so much that she carried Stella back from the forest to their treehouse when Stella was injured. Gale had also rescued Willow from drowning back at that beach when they were having fun.
Matilda always asked herself why Gale turned to the dark side. Sometimes she wished she could tell her Flock that she would go back to Golden Island earlier. Sometimes she regretted coming to Piggy Island in the first place. Back when she decided to go to this island because of Terence's offer on teaching the kids, including his cousin Red, education to prepare them for the future due to the pigs' mishandling on the education. He even told her that Piggy Island had something that her home did not have; a town. That was where he, Bomb, and the children lived in. And they had a kindergarten right outside the forest far from the town as the headmaster did not want town noises to distract the children.
Matilda always wondered what the world outside Golden Island was like. She never experienced what a town was like, with civilians doing their own activities there. The pigs there sounded different from the wild pigs in Golden Island. This curiosity got her interested. She didn't want to stay at Golden Island forever. She wanted to explore. Discover new exciting things. None of the other inhabitants wanted to go out. They preferred having their own adventures in the wild jungles. It was not just them that didn't want to leave, but Dahlia as well. She convinced her to stay with them as she was concerned for Matilda's safety, somehow not trusting Terence and Bomb despite them being birds. Outsiders. They may be pretending to be nice. They may lie about having students like we do. Sure, we got these nice new phones that are different from the old phones that are broken anyway. But they better not hurt my dear friend Matilda. My sister.
But in the end, she respected Matilda's decision to move to Piggy Island. Matilda could take care of herself in the jungle so she would be fine on Piggy Island. And the orphans in Golden Island. Dahlia was sure that they would eventually be able to move on without Matilda's presence. Maybe it's one of the valuable lessons to be taught. Move on.
As Matilda stopped thinking about these events, she proceeded to talk to a distressed Dahlia.
"Hello, Dahlia... is something the matter?"
Matilda could see that Dahlia was taking some time to make a response to her question. Oh dear, she really is not okay.
"...Yes... we're dealing with a horrible situation. It's Gale..."
"...What happened?" Matilda asked.
"...She is in a coma..." Dahlia answered sadly.
Matilda's jaw dropped. What did she just hear!? She knew about Gale being distant from the others, as well as her acting villainous. But this was a shock.
"... My goodness..." was all she could say at this moment.
Dahlia then explained the situation she was facing. "...What happened was that Gale found this Golden Egg thing... well, scratch that. It's too complicated to tell you everything that happened. I assumed she stopped her evil ways. So anyway, we found Gale in this state in the forest after... her long fight with Stella before her redemption. I don't know when she will wake up, so we took care of her at our treehouse. One bird has the duty to take care of Gale, so we made this job fair by taking turns every week. Apparently, as the days go by... Stella lost it."
Matilda could have sworn her lake was getting colder despite the weather. She quickly ran out of it and breathed heavily as she got back onto the ground.
"... You want me to stop?" Dahlia asked as she heard what Matilda was doing.
"No, don't stop," Matilda told her. "It's just that my bath is getting colder. What happened to Stella, by the way?"
"She took care of Gale, but she refused to take turns after a week," Dahlia replied. "I guess it's something to do with her longing for Gale to come back."
Poor Stella. She just wanted to have Gale by her side again. Matilda could see that she was attempting to restore their once broken friendship.
"I see," said Matilda. "... I didn't mean to call you in your state like this. I'm sorry, Dahlia."
"...H-h-hey, no need to apologize! You didn't know about this, that's all," Dahlia told her, assuring her to not feel bad about the circumstances. "Well, what is it that you call me this time?"
Matilda recalled what she called Dahlia for, trying her best to forget about what Dahlia told her, but she could not help stop thinking about that.
"I was planning to visit your home again, bringing along my friends with me. Well... now that you told me about your situation, I think I will postpone this vaca-"
"Wait, no no no no!" Dahlia interrupted Matilda. "It's okay! You can come back to Golden Island today with your friends. I appreciate some company."
Matilda became astounded. "...Rea...really?"
Dahlia quietly laughed. "Heheh, yes my dear sister! You told me a lot about your students. Red seems like a good man. Poppy will be happy to have friends like Silver and Chuck. I think your Flock will cheer them up. Who knows, maybe Stella will even open up and talk to one of them." Dahlia then sighed. "I hope Gale will wake up sooner or later. I bet your presence will give her a new start. All of us missed you. And they will most certainly be excited to meet new people."
"... Yeah," said Matilda, "... I hope so too. I'm going to get the others now. I'll call you once we're ready to travel to Golden Island."
"Okay then. It's time for me to take a rest now. See you later, Matilda. Take care."
Matilda smiled. She was happy to see that Dahlia was eager to see Red's Flock.
"...You too, Dahlia. Bye."
"...Bye..."
And Matilda hung up.
Later in the afternoon, the birds were spending their own time. Red brought out three caps for his unborn kids and put them in the nest. Red proudly smiled as he still recalled Matilda being touched by his words. Chuck and the Blues were conversing with each other. Terence, as usual, was under the tree, alone and Bomb was getting Matilda ready to go to the beach. Matilda had already sorted out her plan to bring her ex-students back for a reunion.
"Hmmm, I wonder why you have to go to Hal's home under the sweltering heat without me, darling," said Bomb with a concerned face.
"Well," Matilda replied, "to bring our ex-students back for a reunion. I'm also considering bringing Bubbles here as well."
Chuck overheard that and became surprised.
"Reunion? You're bringing my friends and Bubbles back here?"
Matilda looked back at Chuck with a smile on her face, with her summer hat that has flowers on it sliding down onto her forehead, covering her eyes. Bomb put her hat back to where it should be whilst looking excited.
"Yes, Chuck. Today's the 14th anniversary of my arrival on Piggy Island."
A long silence ensued. All the birds were staring at her wide-eyed. Even Terence had the same expression as the surprised birds. How could he forget? Today is the day.
"14th anniversary!?" Chuck exclaimed in surprise. "How come we have not celebrated this day for so long?"
"It might feel long, but that has something to do with the pigs," Red replied. "It has only been 10 months since our war first started."
"Well then, I'm happy!" said Chuck. "I can't wait to see Hal and Hockey again! I'm still in touch with Silver, but I have not seen my male friends again after… you know…. these battles."
"Me too, Chuck," said Red.
Then, before she went off, Bomb came up to her. "Dear, listen. What are you going to do when you brought the other birds back?"
"Oh, I'll bring all of you to my old home, Golden Island," Matilda replied.
The news caught everybody's attention.
"AWESOME!" Red and Chuck exclaimed in excitement.
"...Golden Island?" the Blues asked in surprise. They recalled Matilda telling them stories about her time on Golden Island. But then they didn't expect to hear that they were all going there. Together.
"Yes, darlings," Matilda confirmed. "I want you all to meet my childhood friend, Dahlia. As well as her Flock." She then paused, thinking about the birds there. "Oh, I hope they are okay," she said in worry.
Bomb wondered what happened there, just as he heard her having a nervous feeling for the birds at Golden Island.
"What happened there?" he asked.
"A lot of things had happened there," Matilda told Bomb vaguely. "But they'll be happy to see us. Dahlia is looking forward to meeting you all."
"... Well... that's great to hear," said Bomb.
He had heard a lot of things about that rural island from Matilda. He heard that Golden Island was aesthetically pleasing. Sometimes, he wondered why she left that island, especially since she would no longer be in touch with Dahlia. But he forgot that Terence once entered Golden Island and met both Matilda and Dahlia, as well as the rest of the children. He gave them the offer to come to Piggy Island. Apparently, Matilda wanted to travel to Piggy Island because of the better living conditions there, but Dahlia was used to living in a treehouse in the forest. He was told once that she and Dahlia argued about whether or not she should move to Piggy Island, especially since there were also birds there. In the end, they agreed with Matilda going to Piggy Island, and Dahlia and the orphans stay in Golden Island. It was... a weird decision…. considering that Matilda was the only one who wanted to leave Golden Island.
But now, after 14 years, Matilda wanted to go back to Golden Island to see Dahlia again. They must have missed each other. Their Flock meeting each other is a plus. Today is a special day.
"Well…. can't wait to see your old home," said Bomb.
Matilda giggled at him softly. "When I'm off, promise me you guys won't go anywhere without me."
"We promise!" Chuck told her, with Red and the Blues nodding.
"Alrighty, I promise. Love you, sweetheart." Bomb blushed.
"Love you, too!" Matilda nuzzled his cheek as a gesture of goodbye, and then finally went on her way.
As Matilda walked off, Terence stared at her walking on the pathway and the birds waving goodbye. He sighed. This happiness and excitement surrounding him won't last. 14th anniversary of Matilda's arrival on Piggy Island. He knew what was going to happen. And the birds were not going to be happy about this.
Today is the day.
It took 15 minutes to reach the beach where a shabby-looking van house stood. This was where Hal lived. Matilda missed Hal so much as he was very much a part of her younger past. She remembered how Hal told the Flock that he wanted to leave the group to not be a part of the war. He didn't plan to be part of the group to begin with. Not only Hal wasn't in The Flock, but Silver and Hockey as well.
Silver left the group with a similar reasoning. She wanted a normal lifestyle doing regular exercises on weekdays and practising her looping on weekends. Hockey left the group to join the Hockey Tournaments as a Hockey Player. He considered 'his dreams came true' and also moved on to normal life. Matilda knew that Hal wanted a normal life as well. When she came to see him again, he was throwing boomerangs at the palm trees while lying down on the beach chair with an umbrella to protect him from the sunlight. Hal saw Matilda walking towards him, and he felt a tingle in his spine.
"Hello, Hal," Matilda greeted him.
"Miss Matilda?" asked the emerald toucanet, his jaw dropping. "W-why did you come back to me? I'm not part of the team anymo-"
"I'm not forcing you to be a teammate," Matilda smiled in reply. "I just come to bring you, Silver, and Hockey to a reunion for a while. Today's the 14th anniversary of my arrival on Piggy Island."
Hal's eyes widen in surprise. "Really!? That's awesome! Can't wait to celebrate your day with my old friends."
"Yes," Matilda replied. "How are you doing today, Hal?"
"Good." Hal answered happily, "Enjoying my new life alone on a white beach. I just recently visited Bubbles in his house."
Something seemed to tug at Matilda's heart.
"Bubbles? Great, I wanted to bring him for a reunion as well. How is he now?"
"The same old Bubbles, with his great addiction to candy. If you actually talking about his 'new' him, he already has what a child's life is like; going to school, whining a lot, and misbehaving. Heh, children these days."
Matilda wondered why Red didn't catch Bubbles and have a babysitter to mind him and teach him some manners. Bubbles usually hung out with the Blues just fine, but he wasn't monitored by someone as much as the Blues were, having Matilda taking care of them in her motherly way. If she had a chance to see Bubbles, she swore to herself that she would give him a good scolding for being alone and for tricking the treaters, scaring them out to steal their bags of candies during one Halloween night.
"Bubbles is now living at the Pigs' Town." Hal continued, "He said that it is okay to live with pigs as long as they don't mess around with him too much."
This appeased Matilda slightly and smiled upon hearing that. She wanted the birds and the pigs to live in peace, and the news that Bubbles was having fun living with them encouraged her. What a happy thought.
"Oh, and also, he's sent an SMS to me on phone. He said that he wanted to have a break and spend some time here." Hal finished.
"Well, tell him that I am bringing you both for a reunion," Matilda said with excitement. "In fact, today all of us birds will visit Golden Island. My old home."
"...Golden Island?" Hal asked. He was surprised that Matilda wanted to bring everyone to her old home. He had not met Matilda's friends back there before, so now this is a chance.
"That is a cool idea, Miss! He'll be here any minute now. Then we'll join the reunion and go to Golden Island. That way, we will have a happy moment to remember in the future."
"I bet that!" A child-like voice came from a bush.
"Bubbles!?" They yelled in surprise.
It's Bubbles, an orange oriole. He had a lollipop in his beak, and laughed at their reactions, almost choking on his candy.
"I see you have a long conversation here. Hey, Matilda! You have a pretty hat. And Golden Island? What's it like back there?"
"That is a rural island that I used to live in," Matilda responded. "...Or it may not be rural anymore... It is known for having treasures of gold that can only be found in areas where you have to dig in or be actually careful. Ranging from mining to actually entering any volcanoes. Well, it wasn't really known by the rest of the world back in the day."
Hal raised his left eyebrow. "How so?"
Matilda hummed in thought. "Well….. if I'm not wrong, Terence told me that that island was isolated as he never recognized it in any of the geographical books. He stumbled upon this island when he was sailing on a speedboat."
Bubbles was taken aback by the mention of Terence's name.
"....Told!? Terence can talk!?" Bubbles exclaimed in surprise.
"Yes," said Matilda and Hal in sync.
Bubbles' brow furrowed at the thought of a gigantic, bulky, deaf, and grumpy red bird standing on random spots and teleporting aimlessly…… speaking with a low and gruff voice. He knew Terence occasionally traveled to places before, as he had been told by Hal that Terence had gone to Finland to visit his cousin Tony. Not sure why his younger brother Red didn't go along with him on that day. However, Bubbles never knew that Terence read books before, let alone….. actually talked about books. Ugh, the image of Terence talking still shiver Bubbles.
Matilda and Hal stared at the orange oriole shaking like a rock losing balance on the edge of a cliff. The white chicken wondered if he was thinking about Golden Island being unknown before or Terence being revealed to have spoken before. The latter seemed to be more reasonable considering that bird of course had never spoken to Bubbles the entire time. Not even The Blues had known about this.
Hal decided to tug Bubbles to snap him out of his ongoing thoughts out of concern. “Ya alright, niño?”
Bubbles shifted his head towards him as soon as he heard his voice. “Hey, my name isn’t Nino!”
Hal chuckled. “Heh. Just wondering why you were shaking.”
“Is it something to do with Terence?” Matilda asked Bubbles, expecting him to say something about him.
“Yeah,” Bubbles responded, confirming Matilda’s assumption. “What was he like before he…. uh... stopped talking?”
Matilda’s smile disappeared. That was the kind of question one would ask when he or she found out that the person whom he or she viewed as silent turned out to have spoken in the past. And sadly, Terence no longer interacting with anyone verbally was not the only thing that indicates a change in him.
He was an entirely different person. He was the one person that anyone could have a good time with.
He was amazing.
And she could no longer see that in him.
Instead, he was empty inside. His expressions were completely unreadable compared to that time when he was full of emotions.
Matilda cherished the moments of him laughing and smiling and being a little dork. Well, he was at Red’s size as a young adult. He was super cute despite being at least in his mid 20s.
What happened to him?
Matilda sighed in hopelessness. “He was a great friend. Well… he still is... but it's not the same as our friendship bond in the past…..”
Bubbles could feel what Matilda was feeling just from her own face and voice tone.
Hal proceeded to interrupt her moment in an attempt to lighten up the mood.
"Guys, uh… let's just get going and fetch my other friends for the vacation," Hal told them.
“Alright, I’m excited!” Bubbles exclaimed, immediately distracted by his excitement to go to Golden Island, ignoring Matilda staring at nothing. “It’s not candy, but it’s something as worth it!”
“Hey Bubbles,” Hal told him, “Matilda told me that there are birds on that island. You can make friends there.”
“..... Are there any birds my age?” Bubbles asked.
Matilda looked at Bubbles, almost forgetting about her mission to bring her friends to Golden Island. She forced a smile on her face, trying her best to forget about Terence.
“..... There is one male bird,” Matilda replied slowly.”
“Who?” Bubbles asked.
“Luca…..” Matilda replied. "......He acts a lot like you, alright. Dahlia told me a lot about how naughty he is."
"That does sound a lot like Bubbles," Hal commented and chuckled at her remark.
"Hey! That's not very nice!" Bubbles told him in annoyance. "And I think I will like Luca! I wanna hang out with him once I meet him!"
"Yeah, and then you both will prank trick-or-treaters together on the next Halloween night," said Hal amusingly.
Bubbles blew a raspberry at Hal in response to his humorous comment.
Matilda giggled softly and smiled after that. "Yeah...... these silly kids will have fun together."
Bubbles glared at Matilda. He felt like everybody was against him at this point. But then he noticed the expression on her face. For a young child, he could tell that the smile on her face was fake. She might not be happy about something.
"....Miss Matilda?"
"Hmm?" She responded.
"Are you okay? You look unhappy."
Matilda realized that Bubbles noticed how unnatural her smile was and then let out a small laugh. That was also not real. Bubbles was not convinced of that either.
"It's not a big deal, Bubbles," Matilda reassured him. "Let's just go to Silver's and Hockey's homes, shall we?"
Bubbles grumbled. She's definitely unhappy.
"Hockey might be in the tournament," Hal told her. "That's his daily basis."
"I'll take note of that," said Matilda in acknowledgment.
As they were walking on their way to Silver's treehouse under the Sun, all of them were sweating, including Matilda despite being protected by her hat. Hal was breathing heavily. This weather was very unusual. It's summer after all.
Bubbles was curious about what Matilda's original home was like and tugged her tail to get her attention. He also remembered how she tried to hide her sadness.
"Miss Matilda?" Bubbles asked Matilda.
Matilda looked back at Bubbles and smiled. For real this time. Despite not meeting him much, due to his young age, she still saw him like her own child. She still wished she could take him in and take care of him as she did with The Blues. It was just that Bubbles always lived in Pigs' Town alone.
"You may call me Mother Matilda."
Bubbles looked confused. That came out of nowhere. "What? You're not my mom."
Matilda stopped smiling. Sigh, this would eventually happen. She did plan on scolding and punishing him for his horrendous prank against trick-or-treaters on that Halloween night. But she put it aside from then. This is more of a time to enjoy yourself. Why bother thinking about Terence on your special day? Now that she thought about it, she remembered that he was also involved in that Halloween incident. That one time when he made Bubbles pee his own invisible pants with that disgusting thing on his beak.
Bubbles noticed that sudden shift of emotion and began to feel guilty.
"Hmm... just suggesting," Matilda told him. "I told The Blues to refer to me as that since I take care of them. I also told the kids I taught to call me that as well. You don't have to refer to me with that name anyway. I'm okay with that."
"How come you didn't bring them with you?" Bubbles asked Matilda as he instantly recovered himself from feeling regretful.
"I don't need to," Matilda replied. "They're under the care of The Flock. Me fetching you and Hal's friends will only take a while. We'll be back at my place soon."
"Okay..... anyway," said Bubbles. He looked up at the sky and thought for a moment about what he was going to ask her. "What's Golden Island like? I wanna know your experiences there before you came to Piggy Island!"
Hal turned back at Bubbles and smirked. "I thought you don't like stories, amigo."
Bubbles blushed in embarrassment. "...Well... only the children's book!"
Matilda sighed again, which Bubbles noticed, and got upset again.
Yes..... that was the time when she met Terence for the first time. The old him.
But let's not think about it. She was specifically asked to talk about her life on Golden Island.
"Well," Matilda mumbled and then giggled nervously, "well, since you're here, I'll tell you what my life is in Golden Island."
Bubbles' face lit up with glee, forgetting about Matilda's sadness again. "Yaaayy!"
Both Hal and Matilda laughed at this cute reaction, the latter doing so to distract herself from feeling distressed again.
"Okay," said Matilda as she stopped laughing and took a deep breath for a while, trying to calm herself and think positively. Then she went on to give what Bubbles wanted, and he could not contain his excitement.
"Here's the story of my time in Golden Island."
End of Chapter 1