Flash Fiction Friday (07/31/26)
@flashfictionfridayofficial
Fandom: Carmen Sandiego (2019 Cartoon)
Words: 897
Rating: G
Warnings: One (1) single swear
I am once again presenting y’all with a New Teeth AU snippet lol. BUT this time it's not Jules angst! It’s the other like 10% of the plot that’s about Carmen’s Lore /jk. Anyways let’s see what Carlotta and Dexter have been up to for the last 20ish years, shall we?
@explosiontheory @reynaisqueen56758
Carlotta sat on the porch swing, mindlessly rocking herself back and forth with a foot while she watched the lycan pups play. After twenty-odd years, it was less strange than it had been at first. Covens and packs had many similarities, but she had to admit that the built-in babysitting nature of a pack seemed pretty useful. Carlotta didn’t mind watching them. She quite liked kids, and lycan pups were endless entertainment. She imagined witch-lycans weren’t much different.
In another life, she would have watched her daughter grow up playing alongside their adopted packmates. Her daughter would be twenty now and would probably be relegated to pup-sitting the littles with the rest of her age group.
But that wasn’t this life.
Her daughter had been taken from her as an infant, all thanks to who her parents were.
Fresa, her familiar, seemingly reading her mind, squawked from her perch on the ceiling fan, “<It wasn’t your fault.>”
She sighed. “But wasn’t it?”
“Not anymore than it was mine.”
Dexter materialized next to her, offering one of the mugs in his hands. After more than twenty years of being together, she’d long since stopped jumping out of her skin at his sudden and silent appearances. She took the coffee gratefully, and he joined her on the swing.
They’d had this conversation so many times over the years, yet neither of them seemed truly convinced by their own reassurances. It was hard to believe themselves, considering their daughter had been taken and killed because of their choices. They’d known what they were doing at the time, and still tried to get away with it anyway. Their selfishness had cost them everything, and not a day goes by that they don’t think of the fluffy red pup with bi-colored eyes.
They sat there for a few minutes, listening to the chaotic yips and growls of morning playtime. Fresa decided to glide down and land next to Carlotta, the scarlet macaw gladly accepting head scratches.
Dexter, with his ever-racing mind, broke the comfortable silence. “Have you heard about the new lycan hybrid that just popped up in America recently?”
Carlotta paused. Lycan hybrids weren’t exactly uncommon; though, they were usually half human. Hybrids with other supernaturals weren’t unheard of, certainly, just not as prevalent. So why was Dexter bringing them up, she wondered?
“Nobody specific, I don’t think. Why?”
“Apparently they’ve been a real pain in VILE’s ass—which, sabes, good for them—pero, they’re crazy.”
She snorted. “They’d have to be, going up against a vampire clan that old.”
“Rumor has it too, they’re friends with a vamp. I have no idea if said vampire is VILE or an independent party, pero supposedly they’ve been seen hunting together by some other vampires.”
“No care for the old rivalry then,” she noted, testing the temperature of her drink.
“Guess not. They’re already a hybrid, why would some ancient species feud matter to them?” Dexter was more…wary, let’s say, of vampires. He’d spent so much time with VILE it was hard not to be. He was less involved in the rivalry, but very aware of what they were capable of.
“The vampire too, though? Must be a new-fang.” A lycan befriending a vampire? Sure. But vampires are finicky; they form clans but aren’t necessarily “social,” like lycans are. They’re an odd bunch, to be sure.
“Sí, I hadn’t even thought of that!” He agreed. “Probably not old enough to be involved in it, then.”
“<What if they’re more than friends?>” Fresa piped up, beak muffled from grooming her wing. If she had eyebrows to raise, she’d be raising them suggestively.
Dexter nearly choked on his tea, laughing.
“Fresa!” Carlotta scolded, though a grin was splitting her face as she said it.
“<I’m just saying! It’s possible.>”
“You are not wrong, Pajara,” the lycan pointed out.
Carlotta shook her head, amused. “Well, given the present company, anything is possible.”
.
.
.
They mostly forgot about the new hybrid, other than the occasional rumor that she (as they’d learned) had thwarted yet another VILE scheme.
Until, a few weeks later, Carlotta was working with Sonia, showing her different drawn spell components, and Dexter burst into the room out of breath. Fresa startled, screeching at the lycan in protest. He flinched, rubbing at his ear, but otherwise didn’t falter.
“Dex? What’s wrong? ¿Qué pasó?” Carlotta asked.
“She’s a witch,” he panted.
“Yes, you’re standing in a room with two of them,” Carlotta teased, though she kept her eyes on Sonia’s movements. “Who?”
“The hybrid.”
Her stomach dropped.
It felt like all the air was sucked out of the room.
That’s-well, not impossible, clearly. She and Dexter had proven that it was very possible.
But it didn’t happen. Ever.
Because it’s not supposed to.
Witches aren’t supposed to have children with other magic-using supernaturals; they’re too unpredictable.
Either someone else had broken the rules, or…
She didn’t dare hope.
“Wait, like your…?” Sonia trailed off, looking between them.
“Yes,” Carlotta managed to say.
“If it’s true,” Dexter started. “Then that means—”
“There’s a chance she’s alive,” Carlotta finished. “We need to find her. Even if she isn’t ours, she’s still in danger from everyone else inevitably trying to track her down.” She would not let another child be harmed for something they had no power over.
Dexter grinned, his old sense of adventure rising again.
“I’ll go get the bags.”
