"Etho...Etho I think we lost Scar." Bdubs tugged on Etho's sleeve and Etho turned around.

"Dammit." He muttered under his breath. "Where did he go?"

"I- I don't know..." Bdubs glanced around nervously.

Etho sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"What if we go back and get fireworks to send a signal?" Bdubs asked.

"Too thick in the trees." Etho said, seeing the fog grow around them under the shade of the trees.

"You found me." Bdubs said and Etho blushed.

"That...that was different."

"Different how? Didn't you try and survive in this wood alone?" Bdubs asked, his tone a bit snappy.

"Bdubs, you don't know that full story." Etho said in a harsh voice.

"Then what is the full story?" Bdubs begged.

Etho sighed and pull his mask up a bit.

"I was lost here." Etho said.

Bdubs tilted his head.

"This forest isn't deadly; you should know since you spent half your life here." Etho gently leaned against the tree. "But it makes you forget things."

"Like what?"

"Like home, like people, like locations. You start going insane. When you forget yourself, you start to lose yourself. And when you lose yourself, others forget you too."

"How?" Bdubs whispered.

"No one really knows." Etho shrugs. "When you start to forget, you're gone from people's memories."

"What if you end up remembering? Like...like you did-!" Bdubs snapped his fingers, smiling hopefully.

"It still didn't fix everything. It took others a couple weeks to remember me."

"How did you even get your memories back?" Bdubs asked.

"I found my old home in the woods a little bit before meeting you. It helped me remember my friends and where we were headed next. That's why I was so confident I could help you when we ran into each other." Etho said.

"...do you think I got lost here and everyone forgot me too?" Bdubs asked, looking up at Etho.

Etho felt a pain in his chest and he sighed.

"I...don't know." Etho looked down.

Bdubs suddenly stood up and put on his hood.

"Where are you going?" Etho asked.

"To find Scar." Bdubs said confidently.

"You're kidding, he could be miles out by now." Etho glared, not wanting to lose Bdubs.

"You said he'll forget himself and we'll forget him if he goes. If we can save him, why wouldn't we?"

Etho shut his eyes and huffed. He opened them again and they were glowing red.

"Because, Bdubs, it's a suicide mission. Scar isn't worth your life."

"My life is worth yours!" Bdubs shouted and Etho blinked, his normal eye color returning.

Bdubs didn't notice and continued to argue.

"You'd do this for me, so why can't I do it for my friend?"

Etho sighed and caught his breath, feeling a bit confused but he caught on quickly, worried it was just the forest messing with him.

"Because.." Etho looked at him, "I can't lose you. What if we did lose you and that's why you were in the forest?"

Etho felt something grab his shoulders and he whipped around, but saw nothing. A foggy figure watched from behind the trees, cursing as she wasn't able to split them up.

Bdubs felt tears form in his eyes and he looked away.

"We don't know what I was doing before we got here and we never will. But I don't want to lose someone else because of this damn woods. So are you with me?" Bdubs held out his hand and Etho held it firmly.

"I'm not letting you leave me again." Etho smiled a bit and Bdubs smiled brightly.

1) ♐︎□︎❒︎♏︎❖︎♏︎❒︎ ●︎□︎⬧︎⧫︎ ♐︎□︎❒︎♏︎❖︎♏︎❒︎ ♐︎□︎❒︎♑︎□︎⧫︎⧫︎♏︎■︎ ♐︎□︎❒︎♏︎❖︎♏︎❒︎ ■︎□︎♌︎□︎♎︎⍓︎ ■︎□︎⬥︎♒︎♏︎❒︎♏︎

2) S҉h҉a҉r҉e҉ ҉m҉y҉ ҉s҉t҉o҉r҉y҉ ҉s҉h҉a҉r҉e҉ ҉m҉y҉ ҉l҉o҉v҉e҉ ҉s҉h҉a҉r҉e҉ ҉m҉y҉ ҉p҉a҉s҉s҉i҉o҉n҉ ҉a҉n҉d҉ ҉m҉y҉ ҉h҉e҉a҉r҉t҉ ҉f҉o҉r҉e҉v҉e҉r҉ ҉c҉a҉r҉r҉y҉ ҉i҉t҉ ҉w҉i҉t҉h҉ ҉y҉o҉u҉ ҉a҉n҉d҉ ҉h҉e҉l҉p҉ ҉m҉e҉ ҉t҉e҉a҉c҉h҉ ҉h҉e҉r҉ ҉t҉h҉a҉t҉ ҉w҉e҉ ҉c҉a҉n҉ ҉w҉i҉n҉ ҉t҉h҉i҉s҉ ҉a҉n҉d҉ ҉o҉n҉e҉ ҉m҉i҉s҉t҉a҉k҉e҉ ҉w҉o҉n҉'҉t҉ ҉r҉u҉l҉e҉

.

··· · - ···· glared at  - ···· · -· ·- ·-· ·-· ·- - --- ·-· who was smiling brightly.

"Aw come on, turn that frown upside down!" She mocked and ··· · - ···· rolled her eyes, finishing the reference.

"Your mother is waiting for you. Do you wanna give me more of a- yeah that's it! That's the money shot!"  ··· · - ···· finished the joke and - ···· · -· ·- ·-· ·-· ·- - --- ·-· laughed.

"See? Why so afraid? This is going well; so much better than what we tried last year." - ···· · -· ·- ·-· ·-· ·- - --- ·-· said.

"Yeah...yeah this is going better than expected." ··· · - ···· smiled weakly.

"Exactly! You just had to give him up and finally realize that you did mess up his story, but you can let me do this story so much better." - ···· · -· ·- ·-· ·-· ·- - --- ·-· said and ··· · - ···· froze.

"I'm sorry?"

"What, I'm just being honest. You fricked up his backstory when you tried to be me. You messed everything up because you always go back to the fluff. Look at how much people love this book because you let me take control!" - ···· · -· ·- ·-· ·-· ·- - --- ·-· smiled and ··· · - ···· stepped back.

"No...I- I came up with this- "

"But who's winning, ··· · - ····? Who's flipping the tables to make sure that they always win? Who's story is doing so much better than his ever was?" - ···· · -· ·- ·-· ·-· ·- - --- ·-· towered over ··· · - ···· who looked timid and scared.

"We- we were a team."

"Do you even read? I'm not on your little happy ending team with the others. All you do when you try and join me is mess up my plans. You failed him and you'll fail everyone else too because you can never just suck it up and make sure that the angst takes over."  - ···· · -· ·- ·-· ·-· ·- - --- ·-· snapped. "I'm simply doing you a favor to make sure that you don't fuck up again."

··· · - ···· stumbled back and fell onto the hard wood of the tree.

"If I were you, I would shut up and let me handle this story. You got other things to worry about, don't you? 800 follower special, how's that going? Oh you failed Val? Guess you're not as good at writing fluff as you thought."  - ···· · -· ·- ·-· ·-· ·- - --- ·-· started to walk to the exit and glared back at the other once more.

"You made me so I would help you out on these stories. You held me back from going at him and now everyone hates him. I suggest you don't make the same mistake twice and just be the doormat to my madness."  - ···· · -· ·- ·-· ·-· ·- - --- ·-· slammed the door to the book and everyone was kicked out but  ··· · - ····

She sniffed and felt tears form in her eyes, remembering all the mistakes she made the previous year.

She crept out of the room in The Nook, seeing so many other readers laughing and chatting, some on the rope swing attached to We'll Meet Again Some Sunny Day.

"Hey ··· · - ····!"

··· · - ···· turned around and saw him walk up to her.

"Ah- h-hey! What do you need?" She smiled nervously, feeling guilt weigh her down.

"I just wanted to say, thank you." He hugged her and ··· · - ···· froze.

"For- for what?" She whispered, ignoring how much she wanted to cry.

"For letting that person help give me another chance."

"They..." ··· · - ···· didn't have a chance to finish her sentence since he had left.

She sighed and ran a hand down her head, pulling at her hair along the way.

"They hate you just as - ···· · -· ·- ·-· ·-· ·- - --- ·-· said..." ··· · - ···· looked around and saw Sai and Allium happily sharing their command games, the branch growing healthier and flourishing with life and readers.

"I can't let - ···· · -· ·- ·-· ·-· ·- - --- ·-· ruin this." She said confidently, walking over to them.

"Where are the others?" She asked firmly. "We need to work together."