White sunbeams cut through the thick bundles of trees, making a way for light for the lost pair. Turns out, Gopal is very much familiar with the misty area, making the hunt for Yaya a little bit lighter for the friend in need. It isn't an exact, surreal experience for the two, but the silence helps them out a little bit.

The only noises are birds and their calls, that's what.

Gopal yells along with his new comrade. "Yaya? Yaya-girl-however-your-name-is...? Come out, come out, wherever you are!"

"Yaya...?" Ying cuffs her hands over her mouth.

"YAYA!" Gopal yells in a shrill voice.

He gets a hit in the back. "Woi, you're too noisy! Don't tear off my ears, if you please?"

They keep walking as they banter, forgetting the pawprints and only relying on their pure voices. "What? The louder I yell, the more she'll get to hear, okay?" Gopal says.

On the other end, Ying scrunches up her face. "Whatever. As long as we get to find her."

They pursue to march forward, taking random turns on forked paths. Ying continues looking side-to-side, while Gopal has his eyes up. Both of them are driven by their hunger to return before snow paves its way down.

Behind the smokey fog, Gopal's face twists at a sight. "Say, does your friend happen to be a pretty good climber?"

A weird question to ask, but Ying's eager to reply. "She's a decent climber, why?"

"And is she also a fan of sleeping in, I don't know, unearthly positions?"

"And why would you say that?"

"Because I don't think that's an owl by the tree there," Gopal says, pointing a finger to a branch of a faraway tree.

It didn't appear as an owl at all, and Ying's keen eyes can see that pretty vividly. Owls don't have a hanging leg, or brunette hair, or an oversized shirt.

Speed overcomes Ying first, then Gopal follows suit as they run towards the tall tree with, surprisingly, the sleeping Yaya on the branches.

"Yaya! Yaya, what in the flipping fuzzy rats are you doing up there?!" She doesn't keep her voice down even as Yaya blinks awake. She's quite furious.

Yaya wakes in the middle of the mist, disoriented. Yet at the sight of Ying's face, she softens. She's forgotten the fight. Her memories fade in her head, into nothing more than a mistake made. Sadly for her, Ying's temper still boils. "Ying!" She shouts. "Don't worry, I'm fine! I just- can't seem to get down, is all." She stares at her new company. "Is that another guy?!"

"Yes, yes, very funny, Yaya. Get down, would you? Like, can't you jump?"

"Uh...Now I look at it, I'd rather not?"

"Then why did you even get up there if you ain't getting down, you blasted-?!"

Yaya braces her arms. "Well, there was a man! Though, he was stuck in some vines, so I thought of helping-"

Gopal and Ying search above, looking for whatever vines Yaya was talking about. "What- Vines? Who's stuck again?"

Now there are twigs swooshing overhead, as if something heavy is falling from the sky. Vines tear apart, twigs snap upon the humongous landing.

Something slams to the floor. Rather, someone. A man camouflaged to the pale green grass.

Ying stares at the pathetic landing, in distaste and utter cringe. Gopal doesn't bother. Only one thought echoes in him. Wow, you call that a man?

All attention is now on Yaya's voice. "Okay, he's down! Guess I'm jumping!"

How can a girl decide on a whim just like that?! Gopal thinks. His body moves faster than his own head, his hands spread wide, ready for one insane touchdown. "Okay- what- wait- At least let me catch-!"

Yaya drops sooner than prepared, her bare feet pressing down on Gopal's chest first. She ends up falling right on him, pushing him down with the weight of her body. Both of them drop to the ground.

Gopal is a modest guy, rolling away from her to rise up under a second. He pulls her up. "Sorry for...not catching you, my bad."

"Nah, that's fine. It's a cool thrill anyway," she tells him. For a twelve-foot drop, surely it was one ride. She can still feel the gravity and wind against her body.

Ying clears her throat.

Her presence breaks the two, making Yaya listen to her. Yaya knows what she did. She knows exactly what she did. She can't run away from it. Ying's anger, Ying's scolding. She knew very well she deserved it.

Ying just happens to have a lot of patience to stretch. She doesn't talk any more, gesturing her to sit. She's giving her boots. "You idiot. Bold of you to get this far, barefooted."

No more can be said. "S-Sorry, Ying. Guess I was pretty delusional, huh?"

"Well, if there was one thing you got right, then duh, yes, there was a panther."

Yaya can now look at her shamelessly, shrouded in comfort. She's being snarky again. "Nice spikes." She looks to her clothes.

"Shut up," Ying laughs. They can't stay mad for long.

"Heyyo, guys- uh- girls?" Gopal murmurs from afar, knees on the ground. "You think he's still alive?"

The two rush to the area, with one lanky body draped over the soil. He's in full-on khaki. They're about to get the boy up, only until he does it himself.

He's conscious. Even after a five. Meter. Fall.

Another peculiar sight for the three. He appears to be like an average teenager, thin at every corner, still dizzy from the fall. His irises twist behind his makeshift specs, but his insane hair twists even more.

"Woah, woah, woah," they all go. "You okay, kid?"

"Yeah- yea- I'm fine." When his vision straightens, his mind scatters. "OH, GOODNESS GRACIOUS- WHAT!"

They're all thrown off and stunned from his screaming. They tone down, eventually. When they do, the kid is first to speak. "W-W-Wow, oh goodness, is this rrrreally?"

"What?" Ying asks.

"G-God...F-F-F-Females..."

"Excuse me?"

"And they c-c-called me a mad man, how dare they?!" the stranger exclaims, ambling about. His eyes are unsteady.

He's hyped.

"I'm sorry, but you actually do look like one," Gopal says frankly. "Who even are you, kid?"

He was in the process of picking up his scrappy notebook when Gopal interrupts him. As he talks, he doesn't offer a handshake. He dives in his countless pockets for a pen. "M-M-My bad, ssssir. Fang at your service. Nice to see active females still alive and healthy," he says, shaking all their hands after finally grabbing the pen.

Yaya lifts a brow. "Fang? And you're a boy?"

Everyone pauses.

Fang chuckles. "Why, yes, my lady. I-I-I'm sorry for last night, bbby the way. I was awake when I hhhheard you climb-b-bing up the tree. I couldn't help you."

"So, you were sleeping in the vines?" Ying asks.

"Yes, I was, as a matter of f-fact! It's a really nice thing to ssssleep on during a windy night. G-G-Gets you to sleep faster, mmmminus the body pain."

"Does it get rid of stuttering too?"

Ying hits him harder than last time. "Manners, Mister Gopal!"

Fang doesn't mind it, talking to Yaya instead while the two comrades argue. "I'm not nervous. It's just a c-co-coconut on the throat."

Yaya gives very little care for the stutter, however, focusing on Fang's tiny notebook instead. It's thinner than the book of her ballad, and it seemed blank. Her eyes have an appetite to just scribble on it. "How did you even manage to find a pen here?"

"Y-You haven't been from the R-RRuins, haven't you? There are lots of b-b-books there, and lucky me just found a p-pen along with it." Fang answers. He smiles, finally finding someone as interested with twenty-first century artifacts as him. "I-I like studying, you see."

"Yeah, like that isn't noticeable." Another remark from Gopal, another smack from Ying.

Gopal better know now that this woman has attitude.

Yaya overflows with enthusiasm, asking more questions. "So you know about panthers? Poisonous saps? The end of the world?"

"No, Yaya, don't push further. Don't scare the poor child."

Fang fidgets with his specs. "I'm not exactly c-certain about those. They're some broad categories."

"So you don't know about panthers morphing into men-?"

"My bad about that, Fang, sir," Ying says, a hand over Yaya's talkative mouth. "She doesn't have much restraints when she asks."

Fang doesn't intrude. He knows his facts well. So he talks without picking sides. At least, that's what he thinks he's doing. "Morphing panthers? There's no such thing, m-m-miss. I mean, I'm not entirely sure about those b-b-b-but I sure know I don't read fantasy books."

"I know right? She can get pretty cute sometimes, you know." She pouts at Yaya adorably.

Though it was Gopal's turn to get involved.

"Dey, what are you talking about?!" He pulls Yaya out of Ying's own grasp.

Like, how dare he? Ying says in her mind.

"Like you've been to all corners of the world, and you dare say those things don't exist? Do you even know flying squirrels exist? They do! I've seen one!"

"You have-?"

"I have! Cross my heart, hope to die!" Gopal yells at the two. "I don't care about the worthless facts y'all are squawking about, but who says panthers can't shapeshift, eh?"

"Yeah!" Yaya says.

It's a burning debate.

"We-we were just s-s-sstating facts-!"

"Who says fantasies can't be real, huh?!"

"Yeah!"

"Who says there's no such thing as sorcery?!"

"Yeah!"

"Who says...?! Wait, what are we arguing about again?"

Fang and Ying stand on the other side, dazed at the unbelievable duo. Although, Fang is more eager to learn their names than to dig into dispute. He takes notes while talking to Ying.

Meanwhile, Yaya and Gopal mutter to each other. "So, you got this story?"

She nods. "I think it's not a complete fragment of my brother's imagination. Some part of it must've been taken from a real incident or something."

"You mean, you've seen the panther with your own eyes?"

"Yeah. They say it all isn't real. I didn't want to believe them," she says, sitting down on a log with Gopal.

With the two of them silent on the log, Fang continues talking, stuttering with the facts he's learned the past years. To Ying, they're words of support. But to Yaya, it was nothing else but something that suffocated the dreams she was so close to proving right.

The testaments drive her crazy, her head bowed down and buried between her legs. She can only manage to stare at the brown land below. It's blank, bland under winter light.

That was before Yaya eyes something within the clumps of soil.

Her fingers burrow into the parchment-looking thing on the ground, picking it up with her soft hands.

The parchment is intact by some miracle, with a straight corner and a torn-off slope. She sees it blank on one side, though when she flips it, a deep mark reads out.

One hundred thirteen.

"Guys...Guys..." she whimpers, breathless and speechless. "Ying- Ying..."

"Why, what is that?" Gopal asks, leaning closer.

Fang shuffles in with Ying, circling the bewildered girl. "What is it, Yaya?" Ying looks at the torn parchment.

"It's here...Was- was- was he here-? Could he have been here, Ying?"

"What is that?" The boys ask like in unison.

"It's the missing page from my brother's ballad." She pants with excitement, looking up to Ying. Nothing else seemed to matter to her now. He was here. He must be here. With my father. My life's worth of questions could be here.

She doesn't think twice before planting her hands in the soil, desperate to look for the rest of the page. "Where could the rest be, Ying?! It must be here!"

She doesn't look up.

"Yaya-"

"I could finally know the answers to my questions-!"

"M-Miss Yaya-"

"I'M LOOKING FOR IT, WAIT-!"

Now Gopal's grabbing her non-stop digging hands. He takes them by force. And he has all the right to. "Yaya, please stop," he whispers.

"Why, Mister Gopal?! Don't stop me-!"

"No, wait, listen!"

Gopal's eyes lurk to meet Ying's and Fang's. They look around with confusion. Goodness knows why the chaos suddenly stopped for them. They're huddled in a circle, breathing loudly in the cold woodland.

Yaya's breathing doesn't falter. Her head is still hooked into the thought of the missing page. The thought her father and brother may be close brings joy within her, even when her three comrades appear swallowed in fear.

It's an eerie silence. None of them move by just sheer intuition. They look at each other steadily. Ying isn't afraid to whisper. "Don't move."

Birds are the only things chirping within the white mist of the forest. The tweets spread across the vast space. At first, it isn't all that spooky, they just know something more.

Fang and Yaya are familiar with the melodious bird chirps, while Ying simply relies on her gut. Gopal, on the other hand, is baffled.

He doesn't ask as the seconds pass. The nature sounds serene yet ghostly. "Do you hear that?" Ying asks.

"Birds?" Gopal asks.

"No, not that," Yaya says softly. She looks up at Fang and Ying, desperate for other opinions. "This sounds different. This bird, I've never heard it yet.

"Or maybe I have."

Ying has her eyes on her best friend, desiring to keep her safe from whatever's going on. Gopal's eyes look at the three, confused and creeped out. Except, Fang has his eyes staring far off into the fog.

He looks away, now only depending on the corner of his eye. "That's...n-n-not a bird..."

Yaya's eyes open wide.

"You know what other animals ch-chi-chirp?"

"What?"

Fang releases a heavy sigh, attempting to utter his next words calmly, without a single stutter. "Panthers."

When it leaps in, they scream.

The growl doesn't last for long, before everything just begins to erupt into mania. It's no longer the sound of gargling metal, eating away the quiet and peaceful forest. The panther is quick to pounce at the four, but slow enough to actually give them time to scatter. Now the growl is replaced with an aggressive hiss. The black panther doesn't rush in without thought, giving the four a cutting edge for them to defend.

Fang has his arms fanned out in front of the two ladies. The monster prowls in between them, making noises sibilant and sharp as a blade. It makes steady moves, eyeing on Gopal first. He's on the other side of the open field, whilst Fang backs away, pushing the girls off the scene.

Ying is frightened by the melanistic creature, her arm already wrapping Yaya's front.

Yaya isn't afraid. She's seen it already. The same jet blank panther with golden eyes and a missing toe.

She knows that. For when the panther props its front paws up, one paw has all its five toes, the other has a missing middle toe. No eighth toe.

Gopal braces himself against the horrendous beast. He's never faced a zombie so, yes, sure, like a panther is a good way to start. "Stay back, girls," he says, raising his palm. His lips twitch and tremble.

There's always only two ways this can end. Alive, or dead.

Fate seems to be on his side, and he's quick to glance at a sturdy, fallen branch beside him. He grabs it, using it as an easy weapon for one good beating.

The panther's claws unravel, and the back of the colossal paw lands right at the man's temple.

"Gopal!" They all yell as the strong, grown man falls to the ground.

It falls apart.

"Fang, you need to run!"

The panther's tail swipes under their legs, tripping Fang down. The panther kicks him right at the temple as well.

Dead or alive. Are the men dead, or alive?

The girls gasp for air as they try determining themselves to move their feet, even as they're frozen and planted in the earth. It's an inner conflict of who's protecting who. The panther's nice enough to approach slowly as their eyes tremble with fear.

"Ying, stay behind me-!"

"Yaya-!"

"I said, stay behind-!"

Ying watches the panther spring towards them, and her throat is too stuck up to scream, even when her best friend is hit. The paws swing upward, hitting Yaya by her head. She falls to the ground, her weak body laid against a giant stone.

"Yaya! Oh my gosh, Yaya-!"

Silence boils down quick, and Yaya's conscious enough to hear everything sink and crumble around them. No, Ying, don't, she wanted to yell.

Why the panther finally gave in to attack, she never knew.

What is to happen, she never thought of.

Her eyelids drag themselves down, putting her to a sleep of either a short time or forever.

She never knew if fangs are to meet with blood, or if claws shall turn her inside out. Shall she die alone? It was never certain.

Death awaited her on that stone. Death wished to reap two souls in that one spot. For beside her, a skeleton, with a torn shirt.