Chapter Text
Red jolts awake. It takes him a moment to realize where he is.
He's in the house. He's fine. It was just a nightmare, he's fine.
Yet, he can't seem to shake the strange feeling of dread attached to it.
He doesn't even remember what it was that made him feel this way in the first place.
This is stupid. He shouldn't still be scared. He's fine.
He looks to his side. Duck and Yellow are still asleep in their beds. Seems he didn't wake them. He gets up, walking between the beds.
"..Guys?" He shakes them gently. "Guys, get up. We.. we have to leave."
"Weh?" Duck squints up at him. "What are you on about?"
"To where..?" Yellow asks, rubbing his eye.
"We-" Red pauses for a second. We have to leave? Where did that come from?
For whatever reason, that thought doesn't seem to go away. It's stuck to his brain and won't let go, only holding on tighter as he tries to push it away.
"..We just have to go, get out of this- this place."
He shakes them again. "Come on, get up. Get your things. If we hurry, we can leave before the lights and everything come on and maybe- maybe we'll.. actually make it somewhere this time. Get up!"
Yellow and Duck exchange glances.
Red looks terrified. He's shaking and his voice is unsteady. Clearly something spooked him in the night. He looks like he might cry right then and there.
Neither of them really want to leave, but they'll go along with it. For the time being, that is.
"..Mrg, okay." Duck hops off his bed and starts absentmindedly going through the bedside dressers.
Yellow gets up shortly after.
He starts taking clothes out of the closet and putting it in a semi organized pile on the floor.
Red picks things that they might want to keep up off the ground and sets them in Yellow's pile.
"Did.. did you have a nigh- um ..bad dream?" Yellow asks.
He's still facing the closet so Red can't see his expression, but he sounds worried. About him.
"..What?"
"Is that why you're so um.. why you got so scared and wanting to go away from here? 'Cause you had a bad dream?"
"Y-yeah, I guess."
"What was it about?"
Red stares down at the scarf in his hands as he tries to recall the details.
He scrunches it up a bit. He's shaking again.
"I.. I don't remember it too well now, but it.. didn't really feel like a dream? It felt kinda like.. I dunno, felt like ..memories almost."
He sets the scarf down in the pile. "..I think I'd end up wanting to leave either way eventually, ..maybe."
"Oh.."
They sit in silence for a moment, until Yellow thinks of another topic.
Hopefully this one will take Red's mind off the nightmare. He didn't mean to scare him again.He takes a coat off its hanger and sets it in the pile.
"..When- when we leave, will we get to meet the.. other ones?"
"The.. other ones?" Red looks around the room. It's just the three of them like it's always been. Who else could he be talking about?
"Oh um.." Yellow struggles to reach a coat from the higher shelf, eventually pulling it down by the corner. He stumbles back a little, as a few other things come down with it.
"The ones that live in the same place as you and what come to your house and are nice to you. The.." He picks up the spilled clothes as he thinks of the right word. Something pops into his brain, quick like a camera flash. "..community?"
"Oh." Red seems to calm down as he thinks about this.
"Yeah, we could meet 'em, I reckon."
He seems much more at ease now, now relaxed.
Yellow yawns. "That's good.."
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Duck carelessly tosses a book into the pile, not bothering to move from where he's standing to reach it better. A few of the pages get bent and folded from the way it landed.
While Yellow may have warmed up to the idea of leaving, Duck definitely isn't sold on it. He shakes his head at the whole idea of it.
That one's just being paranoid, leaving over some silly nightmare. This whole thing is silly. He'll come to his senses soon.
In the meantime, he can at least try to cast doubts on the situation.
He pulls Red aside.
"How are we going to leave anyway? We don't exactly have a car. Are we just going to walk? And to where? We don't know anywhere else or even how to get there."
Red goes quiet for a second.
"..I don't know. We'll.. we'll just have to figure it out along the way."
Duck sighs and sits down at the edge of his bed. Red sits on Yellow's bed, across from him.
"It's the middle of the night, that one can barely keep his eyes open," He gestures to Yellow, who seems to be nodding off as the two talk.
"We don't even know where we're going or how we'll get there. ..Why don't we just do this tomorrow night? Then we'll have more time to plan and get things done during the day that way."
He suggests, hoping that Red will either have forgotten about wanting to leave or be over it entirely by morning.
Red takes a second to think it through. He doesn't like it, but that actually makes sense. Maybe it would be better to plan it out first.
"..Alright, we'll do this tomorrow. First thing."
Duck nods. "Exactly." He climbs into bed.
Red gets up and goes to Yellow, who'd managed to fall asleep during the conversation. He shakes him lightly. "Hey."
"H-huh..?"
"We're uh, going back to bed. We'll do this in the morning."
"Oh okay."
Yellow stays where he is, already going back to sleep.
"Uh." Red waves a hand in front of Yellow's face. "..Your bed's over there." He gestures behind them.
"Oh yea.." He gets up and sluggishly climbs into his bed.
Red gets into his bed shortly after. "Night guys."
No response.
Yellow pretty much fell asleep the second he got into bed and Duck's turned towards the wall. He's not sure, but considering he didn't answer, Red's assuming he's asleep too.
"Oh.. Well, see you in the morning then."
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Yellow and Duck wake to Red shaking them, like he'd done a few hours earlier.
"Guys. Guys, get up."
He doesn't seem scared at all this time. In fact, he almost sounds excited.
Yellow lifts up his head. "Huh..?"
Duck squints at the small alarm clock on his dresser. It hasn't even gone off yet. "What are you waking us so early for? It's barely even six!"
"We're.. uh, packing for our trip today, remember?"
Red's careful with his words. He's not sure why, but it feels like someone could be listening in. Someone other than them.
"..Right." Duck says.
He'd forgotten about that, and hoped Red would too, but clearly wasn't the case.
Yellow wordlessly gets up and continues with what he was doing before.
Red joins him, helping reach things on the higher shelves he wouldn't be able to otherwise.
While they do that, Duck grumbles and gets up. "I'll.. get the suitcase."
He walks out of the room as the other two finish up and begin sorting through the pile they formed. They fold the clothes and separate everything according to who owns what.
They're making pretty good progress, but it might go better if all three of them were helping.
Minutes pass. Duck's not back yet.
Red looks around. "..Where's the other one? Shouldn't he be here by now? Can't take him that long to find it, can it?"
"Maybe he.. got lost? Or fell- fell down again?"
Red sighs. "I'll go get him."
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Duck's in the kitchen, looking in places where the suitcase definitely wouldn't be, in the cabinets and under the table and such.
"What are you doing?"
He turns to see Red standing in the doorway and jumps a little, startled.
"I'm looking!"
"It's not gonna be in here."
"I know that!"
"Then what are you doing?"
Duck's brow raises and his feathers ruffle up a bit.
"..I'm just- You've got to- It might've- Well, it-"
Red raises an eyebrow, watching as he tries to come up with some kind of excuse.
"I'm just making sure! Someone could've moved it around, you know! It might not even be in there anymore!" Duck finally manages. It's not a very good excuse, but it's all he could come up with on the spot.
Red's not having it. "Have you even looked where it's supposed to be?"
"I was getting to that!"
"It's just over there.." Red motions to the hallway. The suitcase is in the closet, if Duck was going to get it, he would've by now. He's stalling.
"I know where it is! I can find it on my own, go back to whatever you were doing!"
Duck waves Red away, but he doesn't move.
"What's wrong with you? Didn't you hear me? Go on, I don't need your help."
"With me? You're the one who's.. You're just wasting time on purpose at this point, aren't you? It's almost like you don't even want to go."
"And what if I don't?"
"..What?"
"I don't want to go." Duck says, much clearer than before. "I don't see why we should have to leave just because you had some silly nightmare."
"What..?" Red steps back a bit. He can hardly believe anyone would want to stay in this place.
"It wasn't just a nightmare. I mean, I don't.. think it was anyway. It-"
"Whatever you said it was. It doesn't matter. It's silly either way. What's so bad about this place anyway? Sure, those.." Duck gestures, as he tries to find the right word.
"Little.. things can get annoying, that doesn't mean you need to leave over it."
"Annoying? They're not just.. Do you even remember any of them?"
"Of course I do!" Duck stomps his foot down on the last word, like a child throwing a fit.
"Then why are you-"
"I don't see what you've gotten so worked up for. You know nightmares aren't real, don't you? We shouldn't have to go all just because you don't know how to deal with that!"
"..What? I'm not… That's not what I.."
"I bet you haven't even figured out where we're going yet! And what about how we'll get there? You don't expect us to walk, do you? What of the other ones? The clock and the.. paper one? What about the computer? We can't just leave them here, can we?"
"We were supposed to plan that today, remember? It was your- ..We can.. I don't know. We'll look for them but I don't.. think we can.."
Duck keeps bringing up more and more flaws in this whole idea. He keeps going on about whatever thing could get in the way, not listening to whatever Red has to say about it. It's like talking to a brick wall. If that wall wouldn't shut up about completely unrelated things, that is.
Red scoffs. "You're always doing this kind of thing. You never listen, you just- and you always ignore whatever's going on. Always making it about you 'cause you're soo much more important than the rest of us or whatever.." He makes air quotes for that last bit.
"You're so selfish." He mutters.
"What? Me?? Selfish?!? I'm not the one who's trying to drag everyone else down just because he can't deal with the way things are!!"
"The way things are? I hate the way things are! It's horrible! Just the same thing every single day over and over!!"
Duck pauses. For a moment, he looks genuinely hurt and upset. Like he might just cry.
His expression quickly goes back to anger though.
"Fine! If you hate being here so much, then you can leave!! Just leave me here to rot for all I care!!"
"Oh my god.."
"Just take the other one and go!! I don't care!!!"
"You're so stupid, oh my god. Shut up."
"I'll be just fine here! By myself! You go! Leave me here in this big house with absolutely no one else!! I'll be completely fine like always!!!"
Red grabs Duck by the shoulders. He has to kneel to actually reach. "Would you just.. SHUT UP for one second!!? God!"
Duck's eyes go wide.
It's strange to be at eye level like this. He's used to having to look up at him. This way is just.. weird.
It makes his feathers stand on end.
Whatever it is, it seems to have worked in Red's favor. Duck doesn't say another word. He's quiet, almost uncharacteristically so.
Red takes a moment to calm down before speaking again. When he does, his voice is soft, much softer than usual.
"Sorry for yelling, it's just.."
He looks off towards a corner of the room, the ground, the wall, anywhere but Duck's eyes. He never did like that, staring directly into someone's eyes when you talk to them. It always felt off, a bit too personal.
"Look, I know you don't.. like when things change, especially not suddenly like this, but this place isn't.. it's not safe here. ..Bad things happen and someone always ends up getting hurt. And..and even when it’s.. fine, it’s still.. I dunno, static. Nothing ever changes around here! Don’t you ever get tired of that?”
He looks Duck in the eyes now, a bit more serious.
"You don't have to leave if you really don't want to. No one's gonna make you, but.."
He pauses. Would they really leave him behind if he decided not to go by the end of the day? What would even happen to him if they did?
"..the other one would miss you a lot. ..And uh, ..I would too."
With that, he gets the suitcase out himself then goes back to help Yellow, leaving Duck alone in the kitchen.
He sits at the table, slipping a bit as he climbs on the chair.
What the hell was that? He's all frazzled. His heart felt like it was going a hundred miles an hour and he couldn't manage to say a word, as if he was a television set or radio and someone pressed the mute button. He's still not completely sure he'd be able to say anything now either.
He opens his beak, but all that comes out is a small, garbled sound. It sounds like a heavily distorted squawk, almost robotic in nature. He holds it closed.
That's a no.
Was he.. afraid of Red just then? Is that it?
No, that's silly. Sure, Red's a bit bigger than him, but he couldn't do anything to hurt him. Even if he could, it's not like he’d try.
Something else then.
He rests his head down on the table. He can't help but think about the way Red said he'd miss him. His tone.. There was something so genuine about it. He didn't just say that to convince him, though it probably still would've worked if he had.
He never really cared about how dangerous the house could be. There's dangers in every house, right? That's just the way things are.
But Red seems intent on leaving and finding something better, even if it'll just turn out to be nothing. He wants him to come along. He'd miss him if he didn't.
Truthfully, he'd miss him too if he stayed here on his own. He'd even miss Yellow and all his pestering.
He taps his fingers against the edge of the table. He'd miss both of them. Terribly so. He can barely even stand the thought of staying in the house without them.
No one to read to talk to or read the newspaper to. No one to bicker with even. Just him. All by himself.
---------------------------
Duck finds the others in the bedroom, packing clothes into the suitcase.
He huffs, sitting down. "Fine! I'll come with! We can't have you missing me now, can we?" His voice comes out a bit strange, but at least it's in the form of words this time.
Red smiles. It’s usually hard to tell his expression just by looking at him. It’s very clear that he’s smiling now though.
Yellow tilts his head to one side. "You weren't coming before..?"
"That doesn't matter. I'm coming now, aren't I?"
"Are you?"
Duck squints at Yellow in disbelief. He only gets more confused.
"..Are- are you ..coming now?"
"Yes! I just said I was!!"
"Oh." Yellow grins. "Yay!"
He wraps his arms around Duck, who pushes him off and onto the floor. It's more gentle than the way he usually gets him to let go of him, at least.
Yellow clings onto Duck's arm from his position from the floor, grinning from ear to ear, completely unfazed by what just happened.
"I would've um.. missed you lots and not known what to- what I would've did if you were sta- staying here."
Duck shakes Yellow off his arm. "Get off me, you leech!!"
Red gives Duck a look, as if to say 'I told you so'. He just furrows his brow.
"Oh, let's just get on with it already!"
"..With what?"
"The trip! Packing and planning it and all that! We only have a day, after all!"
Yellow sits up. "Oh yea."
---------------------------
When they finish packing, they move to the kitchen, where they can brainstorm ideas. Duck takes notes on his clipboard.
"Now, where are we going to go?"
Duck and Yellow both look to Red. He looks behind him, then back at them, pointing at himself unsurely. "..Me?"
"Yes, you. It was your idea, you've got to have something in mind."
Yellow nods. "Yea."
"I- I don't know, a town or something? I was kinda hoping we'd uh, figure it out together?"
"Hm.." Duck writes 'A town or something' down.
"What about the animals? The cat and.. small, caged thing? We'll be taking them with us, won't we?"
"What, you mean the rat? ..Is it a rat?" Red mumbles that last part to himself. He's not entirely sure what it is to be honest. It looks sort of rat-like though. It's got to be a rat, ..right?
"Yeah, they'll come with, I reckon."
"And what about him?" Duck points at Yellow with the end of his pencil.
"..Him?" Red raises an eyebrow. They're still on the animals list, right? He wouldn't exactly include Yellow in a list of animals..
Maybe this is a new list. He's going to give him the benefit of the doubt and assume it is.
"He's coming. He already said he- ..Isn't he?"
He turns to Yellow. "You're coming, yeah?"
Yellow nods.
"Yeah, he's coming."
"And you?"
This definitely has to be a new list now.
"Me? I'm the one who said we should go, remember? Of course I'm coming, I wouldn't just.."
"Great!" Duck makes some tallies on the paper.
"So, that's.. three things we'll need to carry, and three of us. Perfect! We can each carry something! I call the-"
"Um.." Yellow raises his hand. "I have a- ..one of those to ask when you- to know how we're- what we're gonna do."
"I haven't finished yet! I'll get to you when I'm done talking!"
"Okay.."
"Right then. I call the cat! She likes me best and the carrier has a handle on it so it's better for holding. And it's not too heavy so I can carry it longer!"
"Aww.." Yellow complains. He wanted to hold the cat.
Duck turns to Yellow. "What was your thing?"
"Oh um.. will we all live in the same house like now when we get there? Or will we live sep- um. in different ones?"
"Well, I thought we would live in-"
"Obviously we'd still live in the same house! What kind of question is that?"
Duck writes Yellow's question down, despite acting like it was a stupid thing to ask.
Red looks down at the table. "..Actually, I figured we could uh.."
He glances at Duck, expecting to be interrupted, but all he gets is a skeptical eyebrow raise. "Uh." He continues. "I kinda.. thought it would be nice to have our own places? Y'know, privacy and all that.."
"Hmm.." Duck takes a moment to consider this option, but ultimately finds it unfavorable. They'd still definitely see each other, but this way would mean they'd spend a lot of time apart.
He can't see why either of them would want that.
"No, it's better if we got one house for all of us. Otherwise, we'd just have to buy a bunch of different house things separately when we could just get one set for each of us to share!"
"I guess that makes sense.." Red mumbles
"Of course it does! That's what we did with this house, isn't it?"
"Is it..? I don't.. How did we get this house anyway?"
"Of course it is! ..Isn't it?" Duck looks at the ceiling, then shakes his head as he pushes that line of thought away.
"Anyway, if you want privacy, we can just get our own rooms. We don't need whole different houses for that, silly!"
Red thinks for a moment. It's a compromise, better than what he expected. "..Alright then."
"Hm.." Duck chews on the end of his pencil. "Hmm…"
Red raises an eyebrow. "What?"
Duck taps his pencil against the end of the table. "How are we meant to take everything with us?"
He takes a second to write down his own question.
"We've got the suitcase and the animal cages, we can just carry those, but what about everything else? Our furniture and things? What are we going to do with them?"
Red glances around the room. There's so much that they wouldn't be able to take on their own. "Right.. I didn't really.. think about that.."
"Hm.." Duck rests his head against his hands as he thinks.
"Hm.." Yellow copies Duck.
"We could.. get one of those trucks to come and take it for us..?"
"Could we? How would we even.. get them to come here?" Red asks.
"And what about the new house? How'd they know to get there? We don't even know where there is yet." Duck crosses out his drawing of a moving van before it can even start looking like anything.
"That won't work."
"Aw.." Yellow slumps down a little. "Then.. what are we gonna- will we do?"
"We don't have time to get someone to take all of it or.. take it ourselves" Red sighs. "We might have to.. just leave it behind?"
"Aww..."
"What!? All of it??"
"Yeah, I mean.." Red taps his hands on the table, nervously. "We can't exactly do anything else with it, so.."
He looks away from the other two, as if this is in any way his fault. "We could.. I don't know, buy new things when we get there? That might be nice.."
"Y-yea!"
Duck sighs. "We might just have to.."
Normally, he'd be excited at the idea of shopping, but the thought of leaving behind all their furniture and funny little objects is getting in the way of that.
Red raises his hand. "I've got one."
"Yes?"
"..How are we meant to get out of here anyway?" He messes with the table cloth.
"We've never actually.. gone anywhere on our own and…"
"Oh yes, that's right! We haven't ever gotten anywhere without the help of those.. little things before, have we? How are we meant to do it on our own?"
Duck draws small jagged shape. It looks like it's supposed to be a house, but it's not very good. He draws an 'X' over what's supposed to be a door.
"Yea.." Yellow puts a hand on his chin and looks up at nothing in particular. "May- maybe we could.. ask them for help?"
"Yeah! The clock one's always around, we could ask him!"
"I don't.. think that's such a good-" Red looks up to find the others have already gone off to find the clock.
"..idea." He groans, reluctantly following them. He doubts this will go well at all.
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The clock is, of course, on the wall above the fireplace like he always is.
The bird one is looking up at him and talking. A lot. For a very long time. His voice is always more annoying than he remembers it to be.
"-Anyway, we were wondering if you might be able to help us with that? Or know of another one who could?"
"Are you.. talking to me?" The clock asks. He isn't quite used to the attention being on him. The most anyone does is glance up at him to check the time.
"Of course I'm talking to you! Who else would I be talking to?"
Well, he's got a point. No one else is up there for him to be talking to.
"..Right, of course." He says. "What did you want?"
"Like I said, we're leaving, but we haven't been able to get out before without the help of a little.. one of you." Duck gestures to the clock in an almost judgmental way.
"You've taken us to another place before, haven't you? Why don’t you do something like that? Or.. maybe point us in the direction of someone who can? Like the computer? You talk to him, don't you? I'm sure he'd be able to help."
Red rolls his eyes. "This isn’t gonna work.." He mutters.
The clock looks around the room, as if making sure no one is watching.
He then hops down from the wall, motioning for the three to come closer before he speaks.
"You're leaving? As in, you won't be coming back?"
Red and Yellow nod.
"That's what it looks like." Duck says.
"Hm." He places a hand on his chin, trying to decide whether helping them would be worth the risk.
"..I might be able to help you. Where are you going?"
Red raises an eyebrow. "You'll.. help us? ..Why?"
He figured there would be a fight of some kind. The last thing he expected was for the clock to actually help them.
"It's not as if I have anything better to do. I could use a little adventure anyway."
The clock glances over at them as he walks to a bookshelf. "I'm coming with you, by the way."
He taps the sketchbook, waking them up.
They glance between everyone in the room, before eventually landing on the clock. "..Tony? What..?"
"Sketch, they need our help."
The two of them whisper for a minute or so, then the clock turns back to the three.
"Alright, we're not supposed to bring you here, but you won't be coming back. If you do, there's a good chance you won't remember it so,"
He looks down at the sketchbook, who is now sitting in his arms. "Would you do the honors?"
They pull a book out of the shelf, which allows them to open it like a door. The clock and sketchbook invite them to enter.
The three of them exchange looks, unsure. Eventually, Red decides to go first, the other two following behind.