Chapter Text
[THE SUN IS FALLING BEHIND THE TREES.]
[POV: ST2 - Sword, Shuriken, Boombox, Subspace, and Katana]
The group had paused to observe the sky as the stars and moon began to increase in visibility.
"We best turn around and head back for the bus. Night is falling quickly," Katana rumbled quietly, turning to Subspace, "You left a trail of your stars, no?"
Subspace nodded, "They glow, so they will be easy to spot. Nobody touch them except me because they'll hurt you."
Katana nodded thoughtfully, starting forward as the rest of the group followed. As they pressed on, it was becoming evident that Boombox was slowing down, dragging the group back.
Sword dropped back next to him, "You alright, Boom? You seem tired..."
Boombox slowly turned his head with a sniffle, "Errr... I'm fine. Just feeling a bit... under the weather?"
Sword nodded, calling Katana back, "Katana! Can you come here for a moment?"
Katana moved away from Shuriken and back to them, "What is the matter, Sword?"
"Would you mind carrying BB? He's not feeling that great," Sword motioned back at Boombox, who blinked up at him.
Katana nodded, approaching Boombox and picking him up, making hin yelp, "Ah! W-Wait! This really isn't necessary! I c-can walk on my own!"
Katana lifted him into a piggyback position, having Boombox secure his arms around his neck, "Nonsense. You are tired and require rest. Allow me to help you."
Boombox let out a little audible sigh of relief as he settled down, "Alright then..."
Katana moved up to the front of the group again with Boombox on his back.
Shuriken noticed and piped up, "Aw man! Why can't I get a piggyback ride too?"
Katana turned and looked at him with an amused gaze behind his mask, "Because you still seem quite full of energy."
Shuriken grinned, "You bet I am!!"
Sword, who had been taking up the rear with Subspace, spotted an odd humanoid shadow amongst the looming trees that made his blood go cold. It had glowing eyes.
"Guys? Don't look now, but I think someone is watching us."
[POV: ST1 - Zuka, Rocket, Vine Staff, Slingshot, and Scythe]
Rocket observed the sun setting into a multitude of pink's, red's, and purple's quietly for a bit before whispering, "It's so beautiful... Almost beautiful enough to take your mind off the situation."
Slingshot grinned, "That's the beauty of the Thieves' Den!"
Zuka was set dead ahead on getting home, paranoid about losing any of the other Phighters, "Let's keep moving. Don't slow down."
Scythe had been whining an awful lot about being bored, but had quieted with the setting sun.
Vine Staff, who had perked up after having one of Slingshot's on-person emergency energy bars, questioned this, "You seem to be getting quiet... Finally," She grumbled the last part under her breath.
Scythe smiled at her, "I heard you, darlin'. And as the sun sets, shouldn't you increase your awareness of your surroundins'?"
Vine Staff nodded, "I guess that makes sense."
Zuka had begun to wheeze up ahead, clutching his chest. Rocket was by his side, holding him steady. The veteran was clearly not in the greatest shape anymore, causing him great pains.
Vine Staff moved upwards to them, "Zuka, maybe we should rest before continuing."
Zuka took a moment to catch his breath before responding, "No. We need to... keep going... no stopping."
Scythe cackled, running forward to take the lead and scooping up Zuka in the process, who let out a loud yelp.
She held him bridal style as she took off running, "C'mon y'all! Les' pick up the pace!"
Rocket ran after her, "Hey! Put my dad down!!"
Slingshot turned to Vine Staff and shrugged before the two of them took off after the group.
[POV: ST3 - Traffic, Medkit, Biograft, and Hyperlaser]
Biograft had been trying to catch a firefly while the rest of the group began inspecting the clearing for any signs of Lightblox.
Medkit glanced at the sky, "Should we perhaps begin to head back?"
"No!" Traffic wailed in a childlike manor, "We just found a lead! We can't stop now!"
Hyperlaser nodded, "I agree with Traffic. Let's just see if we can manage to find anything now."
Biograft let out a mechanical noise of triumph from behind the group as they successfully caught a firefly.
Medkit observed for a moment before turning back to the group and lowering his voice, "On another note, I've never seen a Biograft act like that before."
Traffic shrugged and Hyperlaser shook his head, "Don't ask me. I don't know what the hell Subspace does with those things."
The group began searching again, scanning the clearing and the surrounding forest in some hope to find something.
They found something indeed.
While investigating, Hyperlaser had spotted a a bush with blood stains around it just behind the clearing. Traffic fell back with a screech as he uncovered the bush.
Sitting behind the bush, covered well, was the body of Lightblox. Her eyes had been gouged out, helmet missing, all her limbs mercilessly torn off.
Traffic let out another wail as tears dampen his face, "NO! THIS WASN'T SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN! I SWORE! I SWORE I WOULD PROTECT YOU!"
Traffic cried as he hugged himself, whispering Lightblox's name, completely dismayed. Medkit however, looked as if he had been shot. The sight of this was so horrible. How could someone, anyone, do this to a child?
Medkit felt his chest tighten as he took a few involuntary steps back before pivoting and taking off running, following the trail of bullets back to the bus.
Hyperlaser yelled after him, "MEDKIT!"
He didn't listen, he kept running, as fast as his legs could carry him. He had to get back to the bus, he had to protect himself. The panic settled in, only increasing his speed.
This was so wrong. This whole situation was so wrong.
Faster and faster, he ran and ran, losing his breath as his chest felt like it was collapsing.
Finally, he burst into the clearing where the bus sat quietly. No one was back yet. Medkit tried to open the door to the bus but to no avail.
Quietly, he curled up into a ball beside the bus, hugging his knees as he watched his surroundings with heightened anxiety.
[POV: ST4 - Skateboard, Ban Hammer, Ghosdeeri, and The Broker]
"Are you sure this is the right direction?? I feel like we've been walking for longer than it took to get to where we turned around," The Broker groaned.
"Maybe this wouldn't be happening if you all would've left a trail," Ghosdeeri grumbled, "We could've found Lightblox by now and returned to safety."
Skateboard shook his head, "Let's not play the blame game! We all made a mistake!"
"I think only one of us made a mistake," Ban Hammer growled, indirectly accusing Skateboard.
Skateboard glared at him and he glared back, making Ghosdeeri sigh.
"You sigh a lot," The Broker commented.
She narrowed her eyes at him.
"What?? Just making an observation!" He threw his hands up defensively.
They continued to wander aimlessly amongst the trees and thickets with little hope of finding their way back to the bus.
The Broker kept complaining about his legs hurting, to which Ban Hammer picked him up and threatened to throw him because he legs can't even hurt.
Skateboard was trying to stay optimistic about the situation while Ghosdeeri was quietly going insane.
She just wanted to see Lightblox again. To know that she was safe and okay.
The odds of that had never seemed dimmer.
[POV: ST2 - Sword, Shuriken, Boombox, Subspace, and Katana]
The group slowed down significantly.
Someone was indeed watching them.
They hardly had any time to react before the shadow peeled itself out of the rest of the darkness and launched itself and Sword, wielding a sharp blade that glimmered in the moonlight.
Sword yelped, putting up his sword to defend himself and block the blow. The shadow pressed against his block, making Sword hiss as his own sword pressed into his palm. Even from this angle, the face of the creature was not visible, as if it were made completely of shadows.
Maybe it was.
Sword lost focus and was pushed back by the shadow. Boombox had dismounted Katana and managed to quickly shield Sword with his forcefield as the creature tried to hit Sword again.
Katana ran forward and rammed the creature backwards. It recoiled with a slash that Katana parried. The group watched in collective horror as the two fought.
Eventually, Katana found the space during the fight to roar back at the group, "RUN! GO AS FAST AS YOU CAN!"
He hardly had time to finish his sentence before the creature came at him again. Sword didn't have to be asked again. He grabbed Boombox and took off, Subspace and Shuriken following behind them.
Shuriken glanced back in panic, "Why are we running? What if he needs our help?!"
"He made a sacrifice. Now we must take it with honor," Subspace replied quietly.
Shuriken, realizing what this meant, covered his ears as soon as he heard Katana let out a roar of agony from behind them.
Tears were streaming down his face.
[POV: Joined, starts with Medkit]
Medkit sat trembling.
How many hours has it been now? He didn't know. Everything surrounding him looked like some creature that was going to jump out at him.
His eyes darted back and forth around the area. Then he saw something. Something moving to his right.
Deep in the forest, something appeared to be approaching the bus. Medkit clutched his gun with a whimper.
Perhaps it was finally his time.
He raised his gun, standing up as the figure drew closer. And closer. And closer.
Then, he fired. Headshot.
Something, no, SOMEONE, fell forward into the clearing.
Oh gods. It was Sword.
Laying on the ground in front of him was Sword. Dead in an instant from a shot to the head.
He had just killed his brother.
Medkit lunged forward with a cry of dismay, "Sword? SWORD!" He scrambled forward on his knees, taking Sword's body in his arms, "Sword...? Please wake up... Please wake up... I'm sorry... I didn't mean to..."
Boombox burst into the clearing, then covered his mouth with a gasp after seeing what had happened, "Sword...? Oh my gods. Medkit. What have you done...?"
Medkit dropped the body, falling back. A fresh wave of panic came over him as his breaths began to come more and more shallow.
"I DIDN'T MEAN TO! I DIDN'T ME TO! I'M SORRY! I'M SO SORRY, SWORD!" Medkit cried as Shuriken and Subspace also entered the clearing to the horrible scene.
Medkit felt dizzy, he looked at his hands, covered in his brother's blood.
The brother he had killed.
"No... His blood... I have his blood on my hands..." Medkit stared down at his hands with wide eyes.
Boombox knelt down beside Medkit as he kept staring at his hands, "Medkit... You need to calm down..."
Medkit suddenly whipped his head around to stare at Boombox as if he had snapped back to reality. He looked up at Subspace and Shuriken. Both Shuriken and Subspace backed away from the situation, retreating to the bus.
Medkit looked back at Boombox.
"Boombox...?" His voice was barely a whisper.
"I'm here, Meds," Boombox said as soothingly as he could.
"I'm going to clean his blood off my hands," Medkit spoke in the same small voice.
Boombox blinked, "O-Oh, do you need some help...? I think I have some tissues in one of my boomboxes compartments..."
He turned around to check his boombox, and as he did, he heard the click of a gun reloading.
"I'll see you soon, Sword. I'll wipe your blood with mine."
Then it clicked in Boombox's head what Medkit actually meant. He whipped around to see Medkit holding his revolver to his own head.
"Medkit, NO-"
BANG!