A secret of his own

He huffed away, kicking stones and pebbles, deciding to tell their father immediately- but that was when he heard a rustle in the bushes. That was right! He had followed that sound into these brambles in the first place, almost as if it had lead him to his sister. 
Tilting his head and investigating further, he peered into the dark mess of thorns. Then, a yellow slit pierced the darkness, and opened wide. An eye! Cruxley stumbled backwards. 
"Who are you!? Don't you dare lay a finger on me! I'll slash you to pieces, I will!" He whimpered. 
However, to his surprise, the eye- jumped down- and toddled towards the edge of the brambles. "Hey! Relax! Do I look like I could hurt somebody?" A small pink.... cat ball, emerged from the thorns. 

Cruxley's eyes widened with curiosity. "Who are YOU?" He leaned forward to get a better look at her. 
The grapefruit sized cyclops kitten stood up straight and introduced herself, sticking out a tiny little paw. "My name is Iva. But you can call me Iva for short!" 

"Eh-- sure...." Cruxley became briefly baffled by her odd introduction. 

"Listen, buddy, pal, friend, I don't know how I'd feel if MY sister went and broke her promises to MY dad, but I do know that maybe... maybe telling your dad off the bat isn't the best plan." The tiny creature spoke. 
"What do you mean?" Cruxley raised an eyebrow. 
"I'm saying, if she's keeping her new friendships secret, why not keep that... to yourself?" 

"To myself? Why would I do that?" Cruxley folded his arms, sneering. 
"If you know her secret, you'll have an advantage! It's a little thing called uh... what was it? Black something? Oh, right, blackmail!" The baby cyclops squeaked happily. 
Cruxley thought for a moment. "What could I make her do with blackmail?" 

"Oh, anything you want, really. That's the beauty of it! Want her to clean your crypt? Blackmail! Need your leeches counted? Blackmail! Want to find out where the Boogeyman's journal is hidden? Blackmail!" 

"Wait- how'd you know about my leech collection?" Cruxley squinted. 
"Not important! What matters is that you can get her to do whatever you want now. Consider this a gift from the universe." Iva hopped up beside the little demon. 
"Now, if only I had a place to stay, it's awfully cold and lonesome out in these woods." She pretended to shiver, pulling the saddest puppy eye she could muster. 

Cruxley was suspicious, but she did have a point. If Cindy wanted her own secrets, she'd have to work to KEEP them that way, so using that to his advantage was more like helping her out, really. And the strange tiny monster seemed to be all alone in the world, what could be the harm of returning a favor? 

"Well, you can stay in my room, I'm not sure how mother and father will feel about a pet-" 
"No, no, no! Listen, here's the deal. I am your secret now! Your very own secret! No one can know about me, alright? Otherwise... well, lets just say some people might end up finding out about how jealous you are of your sister. You wouldn't want that, would you? Wouldn't that be humiliating?" 
Cruxley paused to think for a moment. How could she possibly know that about him? He had only ever confided in his own bedroom walls and to nature how much he hated the fact that Lucinda was entrusted with the family jewel and the biggest secret of all, how could she have this information? 

"Are you.... trying to blackmail me?" He said after a silence. 
"Technically, yes. But don't worry, I just need a place to stay, really! That's all I need!" The small cyclops explained. 
Cruxley processed this, but finally nodded. "Well, seems a little shady, but darn it, Cindy can have secret, and so can I." He said, picking Iva up and beginning to carry her home. 

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EY just a little doodle of Cruxley and sort of an idea of how Iva got involved with the Von Pier family. Such a sweet little puff ball, what could she possibly do to hurt anybody? Ammiright? 

Who knows if this is canon, I'm just messing with ideas right now. 


anyways have a nice day and remember to floss
steal my art and ill steal ur mum