A Place To Call Home // MCYT x OC

Chapter 33: Burn

(I wrote this chapter title and immediately started singing Hamilton)

Niki ended up making it out of the prison. She got to the safe house, where she took shelter. True to her word, None of Schlatt's police were able to get to Niki thanks to Nessa. The cat hybrid had been bringing Niki food and basic supplies to keep her alive. Schlatt didn't like that, but he couldn't stop Nessa from keeping her friend alive. 

In the months since Niki's arrest, Nessa had been growing increasingly aware of how terrible Manberg was. Schlatt was a terrible ruler, and he didn't treat anyone who worked for him fairly. Nessa had witnessed him yelling at Quackity and George more times than she could (or wanted to) count. Not to mention that the citizens weren't treated fairly at all. Niki was a perfect example of this. It seemed like everything that L'manburg was founded for, Manberg looked to destroy. 

The one reminder of what used to be was the old L'Manburg flag. For whatever reason, Schlatt hadn't taken it down yet, and it was a great source of comfort for Nessa. In the evenings, she would sit by the flag and remember things about Old L'manburg that cheered her up. But one night, all of that changed. 

Nessa was taking her usual stroll to the flag, humming the old national anthem to herself. When she got there, she saw that Fundy was there as well. She smiled a bit and walked up to him. "Hey, Fungus!" Fungus was a nickname that she'd had for Fundy since the first revolution. Nessa couldn't exactly remember where or how the nickname had started, but it had stuck. 

Fundy didn't respond, so she tried again. "Whatcha doing here?" Fundy was still silent. It was only then that Nessa noticed the torch he was holding. "F-Fundy? Why do you have a torch?" she asked in a shaky voice. 

Without responding, Fundy threw the torch and watched as flames climbed the flagpole, licking the wood, making their way up to the flag. "No!" cried Nessa. "What are you doing? Stop!" She watched in horror as the fire began to eat away at the fabric of the flag. Fundy was grinning, and Nessa punched him. Hard. 

"You fucking idiot! Why would you do that? That was the one thing left of L'Manburg!" Fundy laughed evilly. "That's exactly the point!" he said. "L'Manburg is old news. We've moved on to a new era, and you're the only one who hasn't accepted that." 

Nessa planted her feet and clenched her fists. She felt herself shift into her full cat form. "How could you? We raised you here! You and I fought and died for L'Manburg, and you're ready to give up this easily and betray all of us?" Fundy didn't respond as Schlatt, Quackity, and Gogy came out to see what was going on. 

Schlatt saw the burning flag and smiled. He turned to Fundy. "Great job, Fundy. I knew I could count on you to get the job done." tail lashing, Nessa whirled around to face Schlatt. "You told him to do this?" she shouted angrily. Schlatt responded calmly. "Of course I did. We needed to pave the way for new things." 

Tears streaming down her face, Nessa felt her anger rise. "You know what?" she yelled. "This country is awful. Schlatt, you're a terrible leader. There was a special place. There was. But there isn't anymore. You guys have ruined this country, taken away everything that made it special. I'm leaving!" Before anyone had the chance to respond, she ran off towards her house. 

Making a quick stop, she grabbed a basket of food, her sword, her bow, a quiver of arrows, and a dark brown hood thing. [YOU GUYS KNOW THE THING I'M TALKING ABOUT I DON'T KNOW WHAT IT'S CALLED] As she turned to leave, a thought struck her. Tubbo was the only friend she had left here. If he woke up and she was gone, he would probably be upset. Quickly, she scribbled a message on a scrap of paper. 

I HAD TO LEAVE THIS PLACE. I'M SORRY. -NESSA 

She walked to Tubbo's house and slipped the note under the door. Then, picking up her stuff, she turned and ran. She ran down the path until she was out of Manberg. Turning, she saluted to what had used to be her home before continuing on. 

Nessa ran until she couldn't possibly run anymore. She knew she should find somewhere to stay. After looking around for an hour or so, she found herself in the Holy Lands. She knew that anyone who harmed another person here would die, so she thought she had a pretty good chance of staying safe. She went inside Church Prime and set down her stuff. Sitting down against the wall of the building, she quickly fell into an uneasy sleep.

Word count: 817

I'm literally going to publish an entire chapter of just fanart of Fundy burning the flag, because there's just so much good fanart of that scene!