DUCK PEEKED HIS HEAD THROUGH THE MANHOLE COVER, HIS EYES SCANNING AROUND THE AREA TO BETTER UNDERSTAND HIS SURROUNDINGS. Swallowing down any fear or second—guessing thoughts he had, Duck pushed the cover upwards more, but he was suddenly sent back down harshly. That happened to be because of a passer—by, had stepped over the manhole cover.

The Box—Boy let out an 'oomp!' sound as a result, slowly bringing his head up to look around more, as the passer—by was called on over. " Malia, hurry up ! Me and Josephine are going to watch Silver make something new, I think Hugo is planning a blueprint with us all too ! "

" Coming, Annalee ! " As Malia ran up to Annalee, giving her a quick hug, the two girls started to rush on by to the stall they were anticipating for. A few laughs emerged from the two girls, as they gazed upon Silver, who was adamantly working on a project that Hugo was pestering the said—inventor to hurry on up with. Josephine was looking onto her nails, seemingly careless of what was happening, as she was leaning against the lamppost.

Now, Duck had lifted himself up into the Upper World, closing the manhole cover and rubbed his eyes with his bandaged hands. The Boxtroll—Boy squinted, his nose wrinkled, as he was not used to the daylight. A huff left the boy, as his eyes widened in shock from all the people bustling about the streets, for the Huxley Baby Festival he was unaware of.

" Woah — " Duck yelped, as he was pushed around, stumbling upon his feet, many people didn't care to apologise to the boy, not having any consideration for his existence. Duck kind of preferred it that way, as he wasn't sure on how he would be able to pretend to be like one of them, while wearing his beloved box underneath the Upper World worn—down clothes.

As Duck navigated himself through the Town: he pushed himself through some people, got shoved back himself, was petrified by the Boxtroll ice—lollies of a Boxtroll's head on the lolly stick, clambered over some cheese carts and manoeuvred his way past a beautiful limo by climbing over it.

As a result, his soot and dirt got over onto the limo, being very noticeable. Duck was now climbing down from the hood, when the chauffeur for the Diaz Family saw this and wavered their arms in the air with frustration evident on their face.

" Hey, get back here, you little rascal ! "

The rusty boy enlarged his eyes in a bewildered manner, falling onto the floor, his bare—feet (basically becoming more exposed with each step he took, as his worn—out shoes he forced on for his disguise, wasn't working out so well) scraping against the cobblestone floor, picking up his own pace to get away from the car as quickly as he could.

A few steps away, Valentine and Adelaide were looking through the market stalls, conversing with one another. Valentine had felt rather embarrassed for forgetting Adelaide's name multiple times, but she wouldn't ever dare admit it out loud that they felt highly sheepish about it.

On the other hand, Adelaide was busy looking for some shop stalls: the book stalls, to be specific. As she appeared to restraining herself from having the urge to basically burn down all the book stalls that contained horrific books on how ghastly and monstrous Boxtrolls appeared to be. It irritated her heavily, and she glanced over to Valentine, who was busying themselves away to sign autographs for some random people passing on by.

Valentine honestly wanted to make it seem, like they had come up to her, practically begging for the autographs. But in reality: they only wanted to go buy some cheese, before they were forcefully stopped by the one and only Valentine Diaz. Just for the people to get pestered and forcefully—handed some signatures by Valentine.

Adelaide facepalmed at this, pulling the girl away from the people, who were desperate to buy some cheese, at this point. " Stop harassing them, it's getting pretty sad now. "

Valentine only let out a small huff, crossing her arms and they merely shrugged in response, with the rolling of their eyes. " They seemed to be pretty happy with the autographs, though — "

Although, Valentine was put to an abrupt stop by Adelaide putting her hand over their mouth and she just shook her head, preventing Valentine from saying anything else. However, the two of them were brought out from their own conversation, by an intruding voice.

" Is the Valentine Diaz, herself, going to give me an autograph, now? " Adelaide removed her hand from Valentine's mouth, as the latter's right eye started to twitch with annoyance. Both their pair's of eyes landed on the owner of the voice and it happened to belong to the one son of the Exterminator.

Benjamin Snatcher.

With Elliot alongside him, who was sheepishly fiddling with their own hands and just staring at the ground. Though, they glanced up to have their eyes on both Valentine and Adelaide, waving at the both of them with a small smile on their face. Valentine's eyes softened slightly from seeing Elliot, but she tried to not show it too much, as her face hardened once again from Benny's smug look upon his face.

Adelaide glanced between the two of them, who were just intensely staring at each other with hardened looks. The girl rolled her eyes, wondering whether the ground could help to swallow her up, so that she wouldn't have to witness these two not settle their rivalry tension.

Elliot shuffled their feet awkwardly, as they grimaced at Benny still having his glare on Valentine. They moved quickly to stand beside Adelaide, who softened her gaze at them and held her hand out for a handshake.

" Adelaide. "

Elliot opened their mouth agape in some shock, slowly nodding and taking in the name, as they hesitantly extracted their hand out. Shaking her hand in return, Elliot cleared their throat. " I'm — I'm Elliot, nice to meet you ! And, uh, sorry about this situation . . . They have something going on. "

Looking on over, they both watched as Valentine and Benjamin both looked like, they wanted to rip each other's heads off.

" They argue, like a married couple. "

Elliot mindlessly nodded, a comical, yet soft smile was printed onto their face. Scratching the back of their head, they looked on over to see the Boxtrolls lollies, widening their eyes with a gulp emerging from their throat. " Oh, sheesh . . . Uh, say: you wanna go get some Boxtrolls lollies? "

Adelaide pressed her lips against a thin line, " I'll go with you, but I'm not getting the lollies. They creep me out, and it's pretty weird. "

" Fair point. " Elliot shrugged, nudging her gently and the two headed on over, away from the arguing pair. " Maybe, we can get some gummies? My Father says that Boxtrolls find them appetising, so it could be just as delicious for us too ! "

" Since the Boxtrolls have a good sense of taste, I'll take you up on that offer, El. "

DUCK'S HUMAN DISGUISE CLOTHES THAT WERE COVERING HIS BOX THAT WAS HIDING UNDERNEATH IT ALL, WERE STARTING TO ITCH HIM, A LOT. The Boxtroll Boy merely grimaced, scratching his body, shaking himself all about, like a dog trying to shake off water from itself. Because of these actions: people moved away from the boy, clearly revolted by not only his absurd actions, but by the smelling emitting from him.

" What a wild boy. "

" A disgustingly—smelly one at that, too. " The Box—Boy slowed down his steps, wrinkling his nose, rubbing it with a sniffle too, quite literally not understanding the demeaning comments being fired his way.

" Not even the Exterminator Group could exterminate that smell. "

Duck was wishing that he could understand English well, so he could fully get why the Upper World people that passed by were giving him sneers of dismay. The Box—Boy merely shrugged it off, pulling at the striped jacket he was wearing to talk to Pineapple.

" Ushhesuth lugppeum thurorlmar atheopluth duruth ashtrange, ulighakum Athineappluth? — ( These Upper World people are strange, right Pineapple? —) " Unfortunately, fate seemed to have other plans for the boy: now that he was staring at the empty space in his disguise of where he expected his rat companion to be.

Enlarging his eyes with fear, the boy exclaimed out in shock: " Athineappluth ! Thurheruth duruth gorotu?! ( Pineapple! Where are you ? ! ) " He freaked out with heavy concern, now falling to the ground from being shoved away by a revolted observer. The boy patted around the ground, now crawling, like a pathetic being, searching for his rat companion.

Fortunately, Duck perked up, holding on a crooked smile now that he was hearing an eruption of screams and shrieks. Happening to come from distressed people yelling words along the lines of; ' It's a disgusting rat ! ' and ' Get that creature away from me ! '. The boy sprouted himself up onto his feet, hopping along to try get to Pineapple, before anything bad were to happen to her.

All the meanwhile, MJ was busy trying to impress an unimpressed Maxine. They were taking her through each of the stalls the market had to offer, even giving her flowers, to which the girl merely shrugged off. MJ groaned internally, still finding it all comical and with a shrug: he bought a little Boxtroll plushie, where the plush held a beastly face on itself.

MJ ruffled it up clean, before tapping Maxine's shoulder. As the girl turned around, they hid the plush behind his own back, as a way to surprise her. " My dear, I am going to give you this gift. That will hold many meanings, but it is the meaning from my heart that matters the mo — "

" Just, give me the damn gift, MJ. " The boy willingly nodded, revealing the plush and he handed it over to Maxine, who widened her eyes in a bewildered manner. She stared down at the plush, grimacing at the portrayal of the Boxtroll, but she felt her cheeks grow warm, when she looked up to see MJ keeping his eyes intently onto her.

Her mouth was slightly agape, holding some shock with her. Blinking mildly, she cleared her throat and looked away over to the side. " Not a shitty gift, but you could've got me one, where the Boxtrolls doesn't look, like a complete monster. "

MJ sheepishly scratched the back of his neck, grimacing slightly at the mention. " Yeah . . . Sorry, Max — "

" Maxine. "

" Whatever you say, Max. Anyways, it was the only one I could get. " In response, Maxine playfully shoved MJ away, making her way around, with the latter rushing on to tag—along after her. She happened to be sticking leaflets of her Boxtroll Rebellion group on each of the market stalls the two of them passed by.

Nonetheless, the pair flinched from a burst of screams that ruptured, nearby them. Upon hearing the words ; ' rat ' and ' disgusting creature of a rat ', MJ instinctively grabbed Maxine's hand and dragged her away with him to the crowd that gathered themselves about away from the rat chaos.

" Can't have an angel, like yourself, be infested by a pesky rat, eh? " A wickedly sly grin of flirtation was upon MJ's face, Maxine holding a hand to push their face away, an annoyedly befuddled look on her facial features.

" Don't be stupid, MJ. "

" I'm not stupid. I'm only yours, mi amor. " MJ wriggled his eyebrows at their own slick comment, a smirk painted out upon his face. Maxine was, once again, taken by surprise and she felt her own face start to warm up in delight. Although, she tried to cross her face over in a way that she was feeling undelighted by MJ's statement.

Just as Maxine was about to protest against MJ's avowal, a barrel organ was heard from the stage presented in front of them. Glancing on over, the two made their way to the stage, the same being said for the crowd.

Suddenly: a shadow was shown through the curtains, and out emerged Madam Scarlett Etta. She held her head up high, a coy grin on her face, as she swayed her hips to the music. The Diaz parents were on their exclusive podium, in the centre of the town, with their butler beside them. They were probably the ones to jeer and holler the most out of everyone else.

Maxine let out a heavily—bothered grunt of slight irritation, MJ simply shook his head at this all. Maxine was possibly gripping onto the Boxtroll plush more, either for comfort or to slash away the rage bubbling up in her, as Madam Scarlett Etta started to sing on about the Huxley Baby's story.

Well, the story that everyone had grown up believing, so they would be cautious of Boxtrolls more.

The story was told on how, once upon a time: there was a family. The Huxley Family. Everyone had once known the two parents to be great inventors, one using her inventions to heal people with different remedies and the other used his inventions to help shape up the town in much more better ways.

Together: they both had a son. One that they both adored, so very much. They had announced him to be ' Their Greatest Creation Ever '. Even supposing the fact that, they were having their heads up in their inventions too much.

On the topic of their tragedy, the Boxtrolls were only conspired into creation by the simple item of their calling being placed within the rubble of rubbish. That rubbish grew and so did the amount of Boxtrolls prowling about Capermine. Boxtrolls were swaying about their movement in the calm whisperings of the night, the very poignant smell of cogs and bolts had lured them over to the Huxley household.

The family were innocently getting ready to call it a night, tucking their baby boy away. And as the parents laid to rest within their bedroom, Boxtrolls forced on open the window, seeing the child as a a delicious midnight snack.

It was told that they didn't care for the wimpy baby's cries for help, gobbling it down and tearing its body: limb by limb with no ounce of sympathy upon them. Blood was spilled, as the cries of the baby was drowned out and hence, ignored.

But, such ears, as his parents didn't ignore such distressed outcries. They made the simple mistake to run on out, in the midst of the night, and let out blatant howls for help. But, the windows and doors shut were simply obstacles from the signals for help reaching to other people.

However, boxed—trolls heard these obscene uproars, they skulked towards the pair and dragged them down to their home. Their home is what many describe to have mountains of bones, rivers of blood and bodies of their victims, that they collect, like treasure.

The parents of the Huxley Baby perished that very evening, their unfinished creations being left behind, as they had their organs devoured slowly and painfully by the horrid Boxtrolls. That now has become an story, something treated as such a thing used to scare kids and people alike, away from being out past the curfew.

Yet furthermore, Madam Scarlett Etta was reciting this very story in song—form, everyone else was clearly clapping to the rhythm and occasionally singing the lyrics too. MJ slightly bopped his head to the beat of the barrel organ, but stopped, because they were now faced with Maxine's atrociously angered face. He gulped, trying to hold a neutral—look, like the beat of the music wasn't a vibe, at all.

Unfortunately, it all seemed to worsen, for well, the worse. Because, people were now chanting a phrase along on Madam Scarlett Etta's command. As they were all, like mindless fools.

" Kill those Boxtrolls ! Kill those Boxtrolls ! Kill those Boxtrolls ! " The crowd were very adamant indeed on their views, making Maxine revolt and raise one of her fists into the air, as she said:

" Down with the Exterminators ! Leave those Boxtrolls ! Down with the Exterminators and leave those Boxtrolls ! " Some people nearby glanced at her with such disgust, as someone gave her a small shove to stop her from this wild protest, but MJ bounced their body back slightly.

" Back off. " He let out with a gruff, a frown cascaded onto his face. The person reluctantly ' backed off ', walking away in defeat. Though, when MJ turned to meet Maxine's eyes, they immediately put on their usual smile, like as if they didn't just defend Maxine from some petty citizen a few seconds ago.

Aside from, MJ's demeanour change: Maxine was still marginally disconcerted from why MJ had a sudden smirk grow on his face. Although, that was all answered from what MJ was about to say next.

" You've been holding my hand this whole time, dear. "

PINEAPPLE HAD RCENTLY LEFT DUCK'S SIDE, AS SHE HAD CAUGHT AN ENTICING SCENT OF SHRIMPS AND CHEESE THAT SHE WAS HEAVILY INTERESTED IN FEASTING ON. As the fellow rat scurried through the crowd, she ended up skidding to a halt, because of humans peering down at the animal with such disgust. Disgusted and revolted they were, now throwing items towards the rat, trying to kill her in some way.

Skimming around on the cobblestone ground, Pineapple started to scurry on throw the whole set of obstacles put on out for her. Adrenaline was coursing through her whole body, terror displayed on Pineapple's face, but none of the people cared, wanting to be rid of it forever.

Pineapple let out distraught squeaks of an anxious manner, as she kept on running. But, the rat thought she was going to meet her end, when her tail got stepped on — causing the frantic rat to come to an abrupt halt.

Benny had picked up the rat, by its tail and he dangled it in front of Valentine, who looked like, she was about to vomit from the close proximity of the rat being swung towards their face.

" This, what you were babbling and trying to run away from, Princess Diaz? — " Benny teasingly commented, as the latter's cheeks gradually bloomed with the warmth of shallow embarrassment. Valentine pushed him away with such harshness, walking away, rather proud of herself for doing that, as they flipped Benny off, the other doing the same in return.

Though, fate took its own course, as the said—boy was now tackled down by a dashing figure. " Give ! Give ! " The person shouted, pinning down Benny's wrists down, not caring that he had taken Benny by surprise.

And, of course: of all people, it was Duck.

Benny's breath hitched, staring up at the boy, who seemed to be searching Benny for the same rat he was dangling up before. Duck crawled backwards, holding Pineapple in his clutches and he cooed her gently. " . . . Safe, safe. " He murmured, not bothering to look up and meet the shocked stare from Benny. He stroked Pineapple's fur, to which she chittered happily in response.

He slowly lifted her up to hide and now stay safe within the comfort of his disguise and clothes. Duck rubbed his nose, standing up to look at the two. Benny quickly got up onto his two feet, dusting himself off of any dirt, he had realised that Valentine had dipped, as soon as the rat was dangled near her.

They were very serious, about being allergic to dirty things and poor people.

Duck was now staring at the Exterminator's Son, who gulped silently from being stared at intently. The Box—Boy narrowed his eyes, taking long striding steps towards Benny, til his nose was pressed up against his. It seemed that, Duck was unbothered by the close proximity, as he raised an eyebrow, at the frozenly—flustered Benjamin Snatcher.

" Ashtranguth gulumabag, gorotu duruth gulavinor ulemar ilheekakun ! ( Strange human, you are having red cheeks ! ) " That statement happened to be true, as Benny cleared his throat and pushed the boy back away from him. Duck stood his ground, tilting his head to the side, nose twitching and all.

" You're — that boy I captured, on that night ! The one pretending to be a Boxtroll. " As Benny took a few steps towards Duck, the other simply took some backwards as well. Now, the boy would take it upon himself to ask the strange boy multiple questions of utter curiosity.

" Why are you pretending to be one them monsters? Did you get brainwashed by them? Is this some protest thing you planned out with Maxine? Did you roll around in rubbish to get their exact smell? Is that rat really yours or just a decoy to lure out Boxtrolls to eat it? "

" Wh — What is you wanting from me . . . ?! "

Duck's eyes were going hazy and so was his mind, from the amount of questions spiralling around. Well, he assumed them to be questions, because of the curious toning of voice Benny used now, when he was talking to the Box—Boy. Duck scratched the back of his head, some dust falling out from his hair, as the confused boy looked on around for some way out of this.

Benny kept asking the boy question, rambling them all up in a jumble, moving more closer to the boy. Duck tensed up with sudden fear drabbling itself in the pit of his stomach. Duck merely frowned, and as Benny grabbed the boy's arm immediately, demanding for answers — Duck did the first thing he could think of doing:

He bit Benny's arm.

BENNY'S YELL OF PAIN WAS OVERHEAD ON BY VALENTINE, WHO WAS GLAD THAT THE ANNOYING PEST OF A BOY WAS FINALLY RECEIVING HIS OWN ' WELL—DESERVED KARMA '. A small scoff left them, as she walked by some stalls, hands behind her back to show how proud she seemed to be of her own self.

Although, as she was walking around the Market: she didn't hear the rushing pattering of feet, stumbling upon each foot, possibly making their way towards her. Valentine didn't notice a shifty boy was coming to a slow stop, upon seeing her and then trying to be as inconspicuous as possible, following her from a distance.

Well, actually: they ended up noticing the shifty figure following her. A common eyeroll emerged from Valentine, a sneer formed onto her face and she walked around a round table, selling cheeses. Then, for a moment: she turned her face, glaring at the boy following her, who jumped in shock and used a cheese to hide his face terribly.

This was all starting to annoy Valentine, who thought of the sketchy boy to be some weird fanboy. A weird fanboy that smelled horrendously disgusting, causing Valentine to clutch her nose and gag with repulsion evident on them.

Now, Valentine knew what to do.

So, she started to walk on a bit more faster, and so did the boy. But, the boy stopped for a mid—second, upon seeing her make a quick left turn. He slowly made his way over to the street's corner, as Valentine popped back up from where she momentarily hid — basically spooking the boy.

" Got you — little shit ! "

The girl smirked proudly, but it turned into a look of bewilderment, as the boy jumped into an open barrel and Valentine simply let out a scoff at this.

" You're the worst sketchy thief, I've ever seen. You are pretty shit at pickpocketing, here's a few pennies to buy a book on how to be a better thief and to buy another book on how to demolish that fucking disgusting smell coming from you, gosh . . . " Valentine dug through her exclusively exquisite bag, tossing some pennies out from the bag and at the boy without a care, the latter merely grimaced at the coins hitting against himself.

He grabbed them each, trying to bite at them, but he stuck his tongue out with such disgust and emerged out from the barrel, clambering out, as Valentine was already bored and walking away. The boy widened his eyes, stammering over his words, as if he was trying to find the right words to say in English.

" Duck is me ! I saws you in night with Boxtroll families ! " Duck happened to be the boy following Valentine around, his accent being heavy implied at, from him trying to manoeuvre his English in the best way he could, at the moment.

Valentine stopped waling away, widening their own eyes at the small memory of the lanky shadow in the night now actually being this simple—minded boy, right there and right in front of her. " You were with the Boxtrolls that night? "

Duck nodded both quickly and desperately, walking a bit more closer to Valentine, who took a few steps back, not wanting to boy to infect her with his horrible smell. " After, The Monsters taking Porkie and I not know, where they taking her to. Helping me, please? "

Valentine gaped her mouth slightly in shock, blinking mildly and trying to slightly ignore the strange boy's words, as she saw this as some opportunity to maybe question the boy about the Boxtrolls. " Is — Is it true that there are . . . mountains of bones with rivers of blood? Do they really smell horrible and dive into hills of rubbish? Do they eat babies? Did they really eat your family? And, did they let you watch? "

" What — " Duck spluttered out, some sweat forming from his forehead, growing increasingly nervous and anxious from the amount of bombarding questions Valentine was asking him. She didn't understand why she had the urge to do so, as they knew fully well that Maxine would act out, like this. But, maybe: she possibly wanted to prove on a point of how she wasn't against Boxtrolls, even if she didn't fully believe that this boy was one with the Boxtrolls, Valentine still wanted to make sure that the stupid rumours could be cleared out by this very boy's words.

However, Valentine how badly she phrased the last question, shaking her head quickly — not wanting to make it be said entirely wrong. " I mean — did they make you watch? " The heavily—rich girl nodded to herself, seemingly once again proud of the question they managed to quickly render up and change at the last second, not wanting to admit that she announced it incorrectly, at first.

Duck's mouth twitched merely, as the disguised boy attempted to smear off the coal smears on his face that he used to draw out a moustache, basically wanting to distract himself from the barging questions he was receiving from Valentine.

Duck didn't even know the amazingly—famous girl's name and she was already frightening him.

But, Valentine grabbing the boy's shoulders and shaking them purely in a brutal manner was probably a big mistake on their part. " Tell me everything you know, I have to prove most of these people wr — "

In this very moment, the girl that was considered a celebrity in Capermine, had become ultimately petrified by what the disgustingly putrid—smelling Box—Boy did to her next.

He bit her arm.

Of course: this caused Valentine to shriek and push Duck harshly to the ground, clutching their arm with pain searing through it. " Shit ! — You bit me. " She exclaimed, before stating the next statement, as if she was trying to inhale all of this in — the fact that she got bit on the arm by such a freaky thing that could be considered a boy.

Duck had fallen to the ground with a huff, causing his disguise to have a little torn hole that seemed to give Pineapple a chance to escape and scamper around Duck. The boy tried to catch her, before she could get hurt: but, Valentine took their attention off their arm and widened her eyes, like a petrified deer in headlights at the sight of Pineapple.

Her mouth conclusively let out a mixture of a horrific scream and shriek of terror from the sight of the rat, Duck now stressing even more to get Pineapple back. Finally, the Boxed—Boy grabbed Pineapple, petting her gently and put her back inside his box, adjusting what was left of his disguise to look back at Valentine.

On the other hand, the girl still was filled with the utmost shock and their right eye twitched, as Duck took a few steps towards her. Since, she could smell his stench emitting from the distance they were at, Valentine's eyes rolled back, as she was about to faint and fall on the floor from how horrifying Duck's smell was.

But, furthermore: Duck quickly grabbed her by the back and was now, upholding the girl in his arms. He grimaced, honestly confused as to why she fainted, a frown was printed on his face. Duck looked around, seemingly clueless on what to do, but his frown only deepened, slowly realising that he may have caused the girl to faint.

" Glogaybe, I ashcaremar guleum? ( Maybe, I scared her? ) " Duck went back to his Mother Tongue, scratching his cheek with one of his fingers, before clutching onto Valentine a bit more and pressed his nose against hers, narrowing his eyes at her to see any sign of the girl waking up.

Duck brought his head back, tilting it to the side, inspecting the girl more. He moved over to her ear and loudly shouted: " Wanting to know where Ugly Monster having brown hat is ! Boxtroll Killer is where now? "

Though, Valentine didn't respond, but coincidentally: two bystanders, that happened to both be passing by, were conversing about that same Leader of The Exterminators.

" The Exterminator with the brown hat, that is pretty ugly? "

" Yeah, that same guy: he's a hero with a crappy hat. He lives on Curd's Way with the other Exterminators and Milk turns into it. " They laughed, pointing at the Milk Street sign, the other grinning at the stupid pun alongside with them.

Duck's mouth slipped up into a toothy grin, instinctively dropping Valentine onto the floor, not caring in the moment. The girl was awakened by the sudden pain in her back, her eyes popped out open, scrunching her nose up.

The Box—Boy looked at the signs, raising an eyebrow and started to jog towards them. Although, he stopped to look back at Valentine, who was slowly standing up, the bite mark still showing on her arm.

" It not truthing, you knowing that? " A solemn shadow was casted over Duck's face, a frown was implanted onto his facial features, which Valentine may have considered cute by some far—fetched standard, if his smell didn't make her faint, beforehand.

" . . . What? "

" We not eating babies. Grossing us outs. " Duck recoiled with disgust, as if that statement was worse than his own stench, at best. The Box—Boy turned and ran off in the streets' direction to make his way to the Exterminators' location, with Valentine simply registering in the boy's words.

They pondered on what the boy said, furrowing her brows with utter confusion. On one hand: at least, he said what she was ultimately thinking, but she would've just left it at that, if the boy didn't literally use the words 'we' and 'us'. Duck had used those words, like he was a Boxtroll, himself.

That was heavily peculiar in Valentine's eyes.

" What do you mean by 'we' and 'us'?! Come back, and tell me everything ! " Valentine started to jog on, at first, before then starting to run on after the odd Box—Boy.

Valentine Diaz was going to find out more about this strange boy.

duck - ARTEMIS.

valentine - VENUS.

adelaide - OLLIE.

benny - TORI.

elliot - BEE.

mj - LY.

maxine - TORI.

✸ HERE'S THE CHAPTER OF DUCK BEING IN THE UPPER WORLD AND DURING THE DAY TOO , I HOPE YOU GUYS ENJOYED IT AND LET ME KNOW OF YOUR THOUGHTS ! Make sure to interact with this fic in any way possible, please. Do, notify me: if I interpreted any of these characters incorrectly in anyway.

✸ I DO APOLOGISE FOR THE LONG WAIT. I've had to deal with school and upcoming exams that will probably take up my time, most likely. Thank you all, for your patience and understanding, but ultimately: I hope, you liked this chapter and I can't wait to write more.

EXTRA SUGGESTIONS / REQUESTS ;

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