Archive of Our Own ^beta

In the event of a disaster, it is most common for your true character to finally assert its dominance upon your state of self instead of hiding behind the pale or harsh light of a fluttering facade you may display in front of others. After all, what exactly is holding you back from following your heart’s truest desires when the control from authority figures is unstable and the people around you are dying off one by one? Consequently, this can lead into a lot of unsavory acts that would not otherwise be committed during ordinary peacetime hours. Adultery, theft, murder, discrimination, and so much more simply cannot help leaping out of people as if they were frogs hopping across lily pads. In Goiky, however, this isn’t exactly the case, because a lack of morals is such an abundantly common issue that it is not considered a deviation from the norm when the world begins to come crashing down. Why would it be when people can be revived and buildings can be restored with only the press of a few buttons? Therefore, if someone who had grown up there was stripped of everything that they had ever loved, then it would be more unusual if they chose to act kind instead. Surely, there would be no good reason to keep your heart steady as your life begins to shatter, right?

Another experience that residents of the Goiky region hardly ever experience is grief. How can you miss someone who is dead when you know they’ll be back to life in no time? Why bother shedding a tear over something that you lost when another opportunity will soon rear its head and give you a second chance? Its questions like these that display how completely out of touch anyone who resides there is with their more troubled complexions. Sure, they experience sadness, but it is not quite a beautiful kind that helps one develop a thoughtful outlook on tragedies. Instead, it is petty and often borders on obnoxious selfishness. So many people who have been shaped by the region would rather pout over losing a sweet treat than sob over their closest friends getting decapitated right in front of them. They are fully capable of realizing that their outlook on life isn’t particularly sane or normalized in other regions of the world, but when nothing has ever come around and punished them for this mindset, there is zero reason to ever change. Better to live in bliss instead of being confronted by the painful truths of the world. Besides, what could ever present that opportunity in Goiky? The place was a constantly sunny paradise that allowed people to do just about anything that they want to, mind you!

Firey had once believed that he had woken up from that illusion a long time ago. Why wouldn’t that be the case? In his nearly thirty years of being alive on the planet of Earth, (which is absolutely terrifying information to hear, because he is so not prepared to experience a midlife crisis,) he has experienced nearly everything that the world has offered. He’s felt the comforting touch of luxury and privilege, how it eases the heart and makes you feel warm in your chest from pure and utter sanctuary. It wasn’t earned at first. Instead, it was only achieved by averting his eyes from misfortune and blending into the crowd, but these days, he’s genuinely confident enough in declaring to himself that he’s sincerely earned it. Now there’s always a home and a group of wonderful friends that he can return to and bask in no matter what he’s done. Not that he would ever do anything to break the trust of those that he cares about, but still, he’s only realized that after living through the worst years of his life. Hm. Honestly, Firey can’t quite call it living, but when he tried to refer to it as surviving, it brought him an onslaught of slightly concerned looks that he’d rather not see. Never again. Months of screams and mean laughter and harsh glares were enough to haunt him for the rest of his days.

Not that it would ever do that, though, because he has a thousand reasons to never feel that way. It had been over a decade since the turmoils that had plagued him started, and although certain dilemmas were not resolved until in recent memory, the worst of what he had ever gone through had been long before a string of apologies and epiphanies arose from inside of him. Plus, he’ll always have others to support him through the “trauma” that haunts him. Eugh. Honestly, he never says it outloud, because it is honestly so embarrassing to even think about it, like he’s picking up the word from a book despite his inability to read and turning it into this twisted, ugly word that he can use for attention! Apparently, though, it’s “healthy” to refer to his experiences with that term, so he’ll have to make do with it, even if he doesn’t quite think that he can be possessed by a psychology book and turn into a robotic mouthpiece rattling on about the effects of it, especially when referring to himself. “It appears that I have been left unrendered to return to daily activities because of an acute trauma that has plagued my brain.” Gross! Get that away from him this instant! He’d never talk like that in a million years!

..But maybe it would be a little funny to do that, just to see if it would scare Leafy a little. It would be a little mean, but it would be worth it to see their reaction! Besides, who doesn’t like messing with their.. uhm.. hmm.. let’s go with “best friend” for now, for the sake of simplification. It’s not exactly wrong, but it’s not quite right either. After all, you can call your lover your best friend, but is that really what people are looking for when they ask you who your closest connection to the friendship is? Would you really say your mom is your bestest of friends in front of a group of your easily moody and unamused peers?! Let’s not kid ourselves with lies. It’s not like Leafy is either of those things to him- That would be really weird!- but his actual point is that what he has with them is.. something that can’t quite fit nice and snug into a label. It falls between the lines, filling those unspoken spaces that people flip their gazes away from when they’re searching for something more bold and outspoken in the droplets of paint or scriptures of text. There’s no exact answer that would slip out of him if someone were to ask about his relationship with them, but there’s never been a need for that. Interpersonal drama sort of got in the way of it for a long time, but now that the dust has settled, the time to question the nitty gritty details of things failed to pique his interest. The idea of waking Leafy up in the middle of the night with the absolutely ridiculous question of “What are we?” has him snorting at the mere notion of it. No thanks! The exact words and terms don’t matter to him. All that ever really did was Leafy themself.

He loves being around them and hearing everything that they have to say. Even the silliest of topics, such as who was the nicest person to ever exist in Goiky, were enough to make Firey smile brightly at one of his closest companions. The answer, of course, has to be them, because according to their research, there simply isn’t anybody nicer than they are! All of those millionaires who donated to charities and saved crying animals turned out to be nothing more than dirty hacks! Well, nobody’s perfect, but as much as Firey wants to chide in with that one of these days, he knows that he’d be fighting a losing battle. Honestly, Leafy could overpower him in nearly anything that they put their mind to. Games of skill, tests of intelligence, and even feats of strength would likely lead to them getting the gold medal while the other was left with nothing more than a cheap participation trophy. The only thing that Firey seemed to be better at was racing, but sometimes, he intentionally let himself go slower, just so that Leafy could beat him at the finish line and be totally smug about it. They deserve to have that for a change! What happened to them before.. well.. discussing the exact details of it would be pointless, the same way that Firey doesn’t think that talking about his own issues is exactly helpful. Besides, it’s not in his right to share a thing! Only they get the choice in saying that stuff! And anyway, much like him, they’ve also been trying to move on from all of that. If that means letting Leafy have a few extra victories instead of greedily trying to have as many as possible, then Firey is perfectly fine with it. Healing isn’t linear, which is something that Firey’s heard at least a hundred times by now, but when he has Leafy by his side, things seem a lot easier, and he hopes that they feel the same way as well. If they didn’t, that would be really awkward, because they’ve been sailing the seas with him for about three years now! Quitting on the spot here would be really awkward.

..Which is funny, because guess what? They both decided to quit! It’s different, though, because they can’t just scrap the idea and instantly be done with it. There’s a whole plan to it that the two of them had planned together. One last big trip to an island that they had briefly visited once before some months ago as a small rest stop. They had never charted it before, but where was the fun in relying on an old map? It’d be better to explore every inch of the island on the spot now! Which is exactly what they announced to all of their lovely friends, who continued to live on the beach throughout those last three years. Besides Teardrop, of course, who had left to compete on another reality show season and then quickly got eliminated. Not that it was their fault, of course, but now there was nothing left for them to do but sit around in an elimination area for months on end to pass the time. Better that than being trapped inside of a zombie apocalypse, though. Firey isn’t completely informed on what exactly is unfolding during “The Power of Two” season of Battle For Dream Island, and the same applies to most of the beach residents, but there are certain exceptions. Lollipop, for one, seems to have a deep obsession with watching the season. At first, it was simply because her dearest sibling was a contestant on it, but even after their unfortunate removal from the show, she continued to watch anyway out of what appeared to be amusement. It was a unique experience to be a spectator of the same show that you used to compete on, so that was likely her main reason for it. Balloony also watched a few episodes of the season, but he eventually got fed up and quit after both Cloudy and Rocky were taken out by the votes of the viewers. Lastly, there was Profily, who watched it solely because they were happy to be painfully squished every single time the little “Cake at Stake” animation played during an episode. Strangely morbid for someone as upbeat as them, but at least they were finally included in a project for once. All three of them had provided minimal but intriguing information in regards to the season that Firey couldn’t help but ponder to himself.

It’s a fleeting thought of ambition and fantasy, but for a moment, Firey can’t help but wonder what it would be like to compete on one more season of the show. Leafy’s had the same thoughts as well, even if they don’t ever actually say it out loud. Would the two of them last for several more episodes, spurred on by passionate viewers excited about their friendship and their shot at one more prize? Or would they be thrown away in an instant, slammed into an elimination area so that other people who haven’t had as many chances in the show would have a higher chance of winning? The latter would be more fair, but the former is likely what would actually happen, which doesn’t make Firey feel very thrilled. A life like that is no longer for him. It’s not that way for any of his friends, either, but.. it’s a little different. Take Ruby, for example. If for some reason she ever wanted to compete again, then she could go right ahead, and everybody else that lived on the island with her wouldn’t be able to logically protest much. The only thing keeping her grounded was boredom towards reality shows, and if she decided that another season on Battle For Dream Island was the cure for that, who could really stop her? Firey, however, is kind of.. not allowed to? Not literally, there’s no guideline preventing him from tumbling his way into another reality show whenever he feels like it, but it’s not exactly safe. If he does certain challenges or has to see specific people.. it may not end well. In fact, it’d be really bad. But it’s not going to be a problem in a million years, because he’s going to set sail one last time, and then he’ll go home, retire from unsteady adventuring from good, and carve a peaceful future for the rest of his life.

He can picture it even as he hops off the boat with Leafy and faces the base where they’re going to have the last adventure of their lives. “Dreamier Island” is what it’s been lovingly dubbed as, given how there are seemingly no other residents on the island. On some occasions, they had actually run into other travelers, or even entire villages that had made a life for themselves in the middle of the ocean. Those were nice experiences, and both Firey and Leafy had enjoyed spending time at those places and receiving lots of helpful advice from others, but.. even if the goal had slowly begun to fall to the wayside, they still wanted a place of their own. Not the Dream Island of the past that had long been destroyed, but something better. Something that could be theirs with no interruptions. And then, once that’s finally settled, the two of them can go back to the beach and finally choose their own paths in life. Firey will do online college for some kind of architecture degree, while Leafy will take classes for writing and publishing. Then they’ll both become super good at their skills, impress all of their friends, and live happily ever after. Neither of them would ever ask for anything else. Firey in particular is especially eager to get back to the beach as soon as he can, because he has someone special waiting for him there, and it’s not a secret as to who it is. Ask anyone that he talks to, and they’d give you the answer without even having to hesitate about it, because it was painfully obvious to all of them, and Firey without Gelatin around was like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich without the jelly: totally wrong.

He was a little worried about leaving her behind this time, quite frankly. Firey always has to hold back a smidge of guilt whenever he sails away from her and all of the friends they share with Leafy, but this time, it’s a little different, because.. Gelatin had been going through a very stressful experience. It was in the past now, but at the time, Firey had been worried about her. Imagine this. Hopping off a boat after being isolated from literally everybody except one other soul for months on end, only to hear that your precious partner totally beat someone else up and then puked all over the beach. Anybody would be terrified by that kind of news! Long story short, though, it wasn’t as if the steakhouse owner had suddenly turned evil or started dying from some incurable disease. As it turns out, she had actually just been stressed out from a secret that she had discovered as little as a few days prior. It wasn’t a secret anymore, though. Firey was one of the first to hear about it, but soon enough, Gelatin had worked up the courage to tell everybody else, and he couldn’t help but let out a sigh of relief at the end when he saw that the others had rejoiced at that part of his partner without any hesitation. Worst case scenario, Firey would’ve beat up all of his friends if he had to, but it wasn’t a scenario that he was keen on carrying out, so he was glad that she was able to properly explain who she was to everyone without any messy problems, because experiencing acceptance was everything that she had ever wanted, and to see it finally happen as smoothly as possible brought even more joy to life than there had been before.

But just because she seemed happier these days didn’t mean that things would be alright. After all, adventuring is kind of a lame excuse to want to leave someone you love, so.. would Gelatin possibly take that personally? Firey knew her better than nearly everyone else and yet even he sometimes couldn’t tell what she was thinking at any given moment. You could read someone’s facial expressions and mannerisms for years and still be at a loss for a conclusion, which is exactly the dilemma that the former contestant was forced to deal with. They never really talked about it, because getting Gelatin to “talk about emotions” was about as difficult as trying to do dentistry work for a horse without getting kicked in the head, but he really hoped that she didn’t try and do something dumb like blame herself. After all, it was rather obvious that the steakhouse owner thought that way about Teardrop with the way she completely refused to talk about “The Power of Two.” Did she act that aloof whenever Firey and Leafy left the beach after stopping for a few weeks there? Hopefully not, but.. Firey doesn’t know how to talk to her about it, and asking anyone else would be seriously disrespectful, so all he can do is keep it to himself and hope that the others are making sure that Gelatin is alright. Even if the others decide to be jerks for no good reason, he knows that at least Lollipop will be there for his partner, because there’s no way that she’d ever abandon her younger sibling, so.. everything should be fine.

Well, at the very least, the expedition itself was going well. Sailing was as smooth as usual, the island itself was free of rubbish, and they were even making a lot of progress. They had just gotten there a few hours ago, yet they were already completing tons of work for their base. The two of them took turns deciding what their area of operations should be on each island that they went to, but since Firey’s turn happened last, it was Leafy’s time to shine.. with the dimness of a broken flashlight for children. A neat little wooden house was a nice idea in theory, but there were just so many things that could go wrong with it. One misstep and wham! The whole house will be gone in a flash! You would think positioning it by the sea would give anyone living there enough time to fetch a pail of water to dump all over the structure, but with how things were going, Firey isn’t confident in that at all. In fact, he’s pretty sure that Leafy would just burn to death in their sleep, which.. isn’t something he ever wants to think about. He keeps his mouth sealed when it comes to his concerns, though, because not only would it hurt Leafy’s feelings, but it’s only fair to accept whatever they have to bring to the table after the amount of ridiculous things that Firey has suggested to them in the past. One time, way back when they had first started adventuring, he had suggested for his turn that they simply skip building and hide inside a cave for the night. No work needed! A charred bear and several torn clothes later, (which was a very disturbing experience for a certain flame humanoid, given that he had never really had to use his abilities in order to actually try and protect himself or other people before,) they decided that perhaps it would be best to never do that again. It made complete sense to Firey. If he got to learn from his past mistakes without any problems, then Leafy would get the same treatment, because he’s not repeating his foolishness from the past.

Despite this comfortable acceptance of his friend’s poor architectural choices, at some point in the development of the house, Firey starts to get a little bored, and he then proceeds to promptly flop onto the ground with the skill and grace of a fish out of water. “I’m bored!”

“Then take a break, I don’t mind.” Leafy replies as they drag all of the wood planks that they’ve crafted so far into a neat little pile. “I’m not gonna stop you if you want one.”

The other pauses for a moment, seemingly satisfied, only to immediately find some new issue that is suddenly present in that argument. “But if I take a break all by myself, I’ll have nothing to do! I don’t want to just wander off by myself while you chip away at all the work.”

“..You’re right! That wouldn’t be nice at all! Honestly, Firey, what were you thinking? Leaving me to do all of the work would move you down at least ten niceness levels.”

There’s a joke to be made there about how nobody else has ever suffered a penalty for leeching off of them, but instead, their “friend” lets out a frustrated scoff. “What was I thinking?! I’m not saying you have to do everything by yourself! I’m just suggesting that you take a break as well.”

“Oh.”

…

“I.. guess I’ll take a break as well then.” Leafy eventually answered with, and even just a year or two ago, they might have replied to their companion with a completely unnecessary amount of enthusiasm and glee, but there would be no point in doing it now. After all, the two of them had seen just about every side of each other, including their greatest flaws. If you can accept even the worst parts of people, then there’s no need to always be forced to play the best version of yourself that you possibly can be, especially considering what the two of them have been through together throughout the course of their lives.

“I-It’s okay Leafy, I promise!” Firey tries to say with a reassuring smile, but it’s a little hard to focus on staying positive as he carefully crouches beside them in order to meet their height at where they’re currently sitting. A few days into their first journey across the sea, and yet there is already conflict now arising between the two of them in the middle of the night. Not fun.

“No, it’s not!” They exclaimed while their body frantically scurried away as if their life depended on it. Being on a tiny little boat, however, meant that it wasn’t long before they quickly felt their back press against one of the sides of it, trapping them from being able to escape the conversation. “D-Don’t you realize what I almost did?! I nearly shoved you off the boat on purpose! And over something as stupid as you not zipping a backpack!”

“If it makes you feel better, you know that I wouldn’t ever hold it against you! I know plenty of other people who would throw me in as well if they got the chance!” The immediate sound of Leafy tearing up makes Firey regret that statement instantly. Fuck. “H-Hey, I was just kidding, I swear! There’s nobody that would ever do that to me, and that includes you!”

“I know you didn’t actually mean it. It’s just.. I.. why are you even pretending to put up with me?”

…

“Huh?”

Leafy makes an effort to wipe away the tears on their face with one of their sleeves, but when they discover that new ones bubble up and spill out of their eyes to take up the missing space, they decide to give up on that and keep talking instead. “You d-don’t have to act like you’re happy from being around me. All I’ve done is make your life worse since day one! I’m horrible!”

“That’s not true at all! What are you even talking about?! ‘Cuz if this is about Dream Island, then knock it off, because there’s no way I’m gonna throw a fit anymore about something that happened over a decade ago-”

“Not what I meant and you know it! I-I know you don’t care about that anymore, and neither do I, so sitting around and wasting time talking about it isn’t gonna do anything to help us. I just.. I don’t understand why you’re being so kind to me! You shouldn’t feel obligated in the slightest to be around me! Think about it for longer than a second, Firey! You have a life back there on the beach that you could fit right back into at any time! There was no reason for you to leave to begin with! But I just had to guilt you into coming with me on this stupid quest to find a new Dream Island, and now I keep trying to hurt you, and-”

They’re abruptly interrupted by the feeling of Firey placing a hand on their shoulder in an attempt to steady them. Out of context, that sounds like an easy way to painfully burn them, but with the power of fireproof material for gloves, that’s never gonna happen. “Leafy, I want you to listen to me. Can you do that for a second?” Once he saw the motion of a nod, he kept talking. “Good, because.. I need you to know that everything you’re saying is totally wrong. Nothing is forcing me to be here with you. Maybe I’d get concerned if some sea serpent appeared out of nowhere and held spears at our necks in order to convince us to keep sailing, but guess what? It hasn’t happened yet, and it never will, so don’t ever act like I’m just pretending to put up with you, because I’m not. I know that I suck a lot at showing it Leafy, but I care about you, and that’s that. There’s no other reason for staying by your side and I sure as hell don’t need one!”

“But even so.. don’t you care about the others as well? I-I saw how Teardrop just leaving out of nowhere hurt everyone, yet even as we were adding the finishing touches to this boat, I never once thought of how they’d react to you leaving. I shouldn’t have been so selfish! I’ve been taught the same lesson a thousand times already, but I never learn! Even after I keep getting granted second chances again and again, I waste them all with how horrible I am! Honestly, we should just turn around right now, I have no idea why I ever thought doing this would be good for either of us. Most normal people just get.. I dunno.. therapy or something! Nothing about these trips will ever be therapeutic in the slightest if I’m around.”

Firey sat down at some point during Leafy’s speech, but he had remained quiet until he was sure that they had finished asking what they wanted to question him about. The other expected another sort of determined, passionate response out of him, but rather than the former contestant yapping on some more about his complete and utter faith in Leafy, he instead looked away from them, eyes half lidded as he eventually asked aloud: “Then would you think the same about me in return?”

“Wh- Of course not! You’d never be a problem for me at all! Why would I ever think that?!”

“If you’re “such a bother” just from merely suggesting an idea to me, then look at what I did because I accepted it. I should have made you feel more comfortable around everybody else instead of letting your worries build up so much that you wanted to leave as soon as possible. And you’re right, maybe they would care more about my departure, but is that really a good thing? For spark's sake, Leafy, I left Gelatin without even saying goodbye! I’m the worst boyfriend to ever exist! I can never be satisfied with anything that I have! S-So I don’t care if you throw me off the boat or whatever, because maybe I deserve it! You’ll get fed up with me anyway after a few more nights of me screaming in my sleep over nothing!”

“That’s not a problem for me at all! And I’m sure they’ll all completely understand why you had to leave in the first place when we come back! They’re not going to be hating just you for all of this! That wouldn’t be fair or nice at all.”

“You’re correct. It wouldn’t be right at all, but guess what?! They’ll still hate us equally! Forever! And the worst part is that it somehow makes sense, because..” Firey frowned as he lowered his head. “Maybe there is something wrong with both of us. I don’t even know if what’s broken inside of us can be fixed by this! No matter where we go or what we do, we’ll both always be stuck like this FOR THE REST OF OUR LIVES!”

…

“Sorry.” He spoke as an apology. “I shouldn’t have said all that. I don’t think you’re broken, Leafy. Maybe I’m not, either. I dunno. But I sure suck at this whole comforting other people thing, don’t I? Here I was, trying to cheer you up, yet all I actually ended up doing was making this mess all about myself and then insulting you a bunch. I should’ve just zipped the stupid backpack up to begin with instead of getting confrontational after you saw I spilled a bunch of things from it.”

“D-Don’t apologize!” Leafy immediately stammered. “That’s exactly what I was trying to stop you from doing to begin with! I shouldn’t have been so harsh about something as silly as that.”

“Eh, I’ve seen way worse for crimes that were a lot smaller. Don’t you remember when Loser got blasted into space just because he lied about owning a toy as a kid?”

“No, I don’t, because I was eliminated.”

“Oh, right.” Firey sighed and laid down on the bottom of the boat, pressing his knees close to him so that he didn’t take up all of the room. “I don’t know how Loser survived that, anyway. He held out in space for over a year without any problems. Coiny, though? Two months in a cash register was all his lungs needed to give up on him forever.” He was voiceless after that sentence, but with a tap of his hand, he motioned for Leafy to lay down as well.

Quickly, they followed his command, although rather than laying down beside him, they simply laid across from him, both of their pairs of shoes awkwardly pressing against each other. “I don’t think anyone in Goiky understands how the sky above us works. Sometimes, we can breathe in it just fine, but other times, we’re choking from the lack of oxygen.”

“Maybe we should’ve gone to space instead.” Firey joked.

“I think I’ll pass on that. I’ve had enough of looking at the stars for one lifetime already. Can you imagine how much more exhausting it’d be to be right next to them?”

“Not by much, I imagine, considering that time Bubble and Ice Cube totally destroyed a constellation by using one of the stars for a game of catch.”

“Don’t remind me! Do you know how long that act of interstellar terrorism plagued my dreams? Months, I tell you! They never even thought to put the star back where it was..”

“Must’ve been really awkward for the astrology community. How are people supposed to explain that a whole star went missing in the newspapers?”

“Who knows? If you really wanted to, I’m sure that you could dig through the archives of old newspaper runs and find one from a decade ago reporting about it. It wouldn’t be the first time that destruction of nature caused by the show landed inside of an editorial.”

“You know I wouldn’t be able to read that on my own! The words would swim way too much!”

”In that case.. would you like me to help you?”

…

“Yeah, but.. not with that. Can you.. tell me about the stars? Like how you used to back on our very first season together?”

“Didn’t I already list all of the important ones off to you?”

“That was over a decade ago! And you know me! I can’t always remember things like that! Here, I’ll show you right now.” He pointed to a constellation that currently shone in the night sky. “That’s definitely a crown, just look at it! It must represent wisdom and strength and all of those awesome traits that people want to be.”

“Well, I can see why you would think that it’s a crown, but you’re wrong. That one up there is the Phoenix. I think you can easily give me a good guess about what that’s supposed to symbolize.”

“Of course I can! The bird rebirths after it rises from the ashes of its demise and gets back up again. It’s about overcoming obstacles, making amends, and.. finding redemption.”

…

“I think you’re kind of like a Phoenix, Leafy.”

“Wh- That doesn’t even make any sense! Its entire gimmick is that it’s literally on fire, yet you’re giving that motif to me of all people? You’re the one who’s a human torch!”

“Maybe I am, but so what? I could maybe look like one if I smeared a bunch of feathers all over my clothes like a weirdo, but I still wouldn’t be like it. You’re the one who was able to overcome all sorts of things. If I got exiled, I probably would’ve ended up turning into a feral caveman.”

“You could be onto something, but.. take a look at that constellation up there.” Leafy spoke with a smile as she jabbed her pointer finger upwards. “Can you guess which one that is?”

“Uhm.. hmm.. nope, sorry. I still have no clue. Seriously, is that a broken “T” letter?”

“Of course not, but.. that’s alright! I could see why you thought that! But that thing up there is the Columba constellation! More specifically, it’s actually a dove. There’s all sorts of stories about them that you can find laying around, but.. the thing that they represent most is hope.”

“Oh, that makes sense! It’s like that one poem by- What the heck was her name again?- Brickinson, I think it was? The one about how hope is a thing with feathers.”

“I remember that poem, but I don’t think the name is right. No clue what else it’d be, though. If I had to guess, maybe she was actually called Toothpickinson?”

“Who knows? My point about bringing that thingie up was that it reminded me of you as well, Leafy. There was that one line especially that brought you to mind.” Firey inclined his head back even further as he gazed at the constellation, eyes squinted as if that would help him remember how the ending of the poem went. “Yet, never in supremacy, it never asked a crumb of me.”

“Pretty sure that the correct word there was “extremity,” but.. who read that one to you, anyway? I can’t think of anyone we both know who secretly likes looking at poems.”

“Hm? Oh, it was Pin, actually. She read a few of that poet’s pieces to me when.. uhm..”

“You don’t have to talk about it, Firey. It’s not going to make you feel better if you do.”

“I know. It’s merely that.. when I was recovering from.. that whole mess, my mind still kept looping back to that poem in particular after Pin read it to me during that. We didn’t spend a lot of time together, but for some reason, she checked in on me from time to time. But that one in particular kept me going in a way, because I thought that maybe- Just maybe!- I could somehow reach hope and like.. touch all of its feathers or something. Sorry. Again. I know that it must sound really dumb to hear that.”

“No, I get what you mean. It’s like.. when people say that there’s a light at the end of the tunnel. Some people want to just give up and retreat into the darkness, but sometimes, I think that all you can do is run until the tips of your fingers pierce the light.”

“That’s way cooler than what I was saying. It made more sense as well. If I tried to pick up some dove off a branch and touch its feathers, I’d totally light it on fire by accident.”

“You don’t need to reach for it anyway. Think about the other lines in the poem, why don’t you? “And sore must be the storm that could abash the little bird that kept so many warm.” Doesn’t that sound just like you?”

“Nuh uh! I could never represent that bird in the slightest. If you asked anyone that we knew to describe me in one word, it sure wouldn’t be “hopeful.” I’m moody and mean all the time!”

…

“Hope isn’t always exactly about being optimistic. They’re similar, but not exactly. It’s more about.. having trust and faith in the idea of something. I don’t see how that doesn’t fit you.”

“Yeah, because I’ve been so good at showing faith in others, huh?” Firey sarcastically replied.

Leafy paused for a second, eyebrows slightly narrowed in dismay. They could obviously figure out that he wasn’t taking what they were saying seriously, but they were unsure as to why, considering what had just unfolded between them mere minutes ago. “Sure you have. Look, you’ll understand what I mean at some point, alright?”

…

“Okay, I’ll try to.”

“Great! Now, let’s stop talking about birds and focus on some other constellations. Recognize that one? It’s a classic, but a goodie.”

“Oh, wait, I think I do! That’s the Big Dipper! It represents-”

“Firey?”

Huh?

After blinking a few times and looking up from the ground with the slow sluggishness of a snail, he suddenly noticed that Leafy was now standing right next to him, a few feet away. Weren’t they.. just by the pile of wood for the base? They can technically teleport, but there’s no reason that Leafy would try and use that ability to startle him, so.. did they really manage to walk over without him even noticing? That shouldn’t be possible. Not unless he “got lost” and “let his mind wander.” Those were the terms that Coiny tended to use whenever he noticed the other drifting off. It definitely wasn’t a healthy thing for his brain to do, but it didn’t usually happen during challenges on the show, so none of his friends ever got too worried. In fact, it hasn’t been an issue at all recently. In the past few years, a lot of his bad habits and attempts at coping mechanisms have faded into the background, and it’s helped him for the better. No need to live in fear and terror when the worst possibility is a banana being stolen from you on an island! Still, it’s not as if stuff like what just happened ever fully went away. It mostly.. lay dormant until some shenanigan arose to cause such a symptom to strike again. The curious part, however, was that as Firey put one of his hands against the side of his face and rubbed the cheek area of it, he couldn’t think of anything that would’ve caused him to space out like that. Was it really only because he thought about the past for longer than a few seconds? Being afflicted with disorientation solely due to that.. hasn’t happened to him in a few months. It had once gotten to him in spite of the knowledge that he was constantly in the middle of being recorded on a show for millions to see, but recently, it hadn’t plagued him even when he was alone.. until now.

That’s.. probably not good. At all. C’mon, Firey, stay focused.

“..Yeah?” He eventually replied after a period of silence that was far too long to be considered normal within any ordinary capacity.

“Are you alright?” Leafy questioned. “I’ve been trying to get your attention for five minutes now.”

“Oh, uhm, I’m fine. I promise that I’m only a bit tired and need to go to sleep or something. Must’ve had trouble trying to fall asleep last night.” It was meant to be untrue, but now that he thought about it, it did seem entirely possible.

“That makes sense. Truth be told, I think the propeller might be busted. I discovered after a few tests that it was responsible for all those weird noises we kept hearing on the boat.” While this bizarre noise torment actually was a true event that had happened, it was obvious to both of them that Leafy was merely playing along with Firey’s partial lie about being sleepy for his sake, because if it wasn’t true, then..

He had noticed it as well, but chose not to comment on it as he instead carried on with the charade, as Leafy would likely end up bringing it up later on no matter how he acted. “There you go then. I can go take a look at the boat right now, if you want. We’ll be here for a while, sure, but it’s still good to keep the boat in peak condition.”

“Take care of it later. We still have other work to do, like setting up the house- And before you start, I didn’t forget about break time! I just need to pick out what book I’m going to read today.”

“I thought that you were still reading that book about the girl who wanted to be a baker but couldn’t because she had magical witch powers.”

“Nope! I finished it yesterday during the last stretch of our trip. It wasn’t a very long story regardless, just something for kids to read in school when they can’t stand actual work.”

“In that case.. let me help you pick out a book! I can still read the titles at the very least, and even if I couldn’t, I would happily make my decision based on covers instead.”

“Doesn’t that go against the whole point of the phrase- Nevermind, sure. Come on, my bag’s still over by the boat.” Leafy began to walk away from Firey, but as he began to follow, the other turned their head to face him as they asked him something. “Where’d you put yours, anyway?”

“Not far from here.” He provided them as an answer. “It’s over by that tree, but even if you had the best eyes in the entire world, you wouldn’t actually be able to see it. I buried it under the sand so that no critters could snatch all of the food away.”

Now, that idea of him being the one who carried around all of the food may sound like a strange arrangement at first, but there was something important to remember that made it make a lot more sense. Firey did not actually need to eat any regular food. He enjoyed it, naturally, but there wasn’t necessarily a demand for him to chomp down on a burger or a slice of cake. Fires will burn through nearly any food that you toss into them, but something to keep note of is that they don’t need it to survive. Instead, they’ll absorb whatever flammable thing they can get their hands on in order to stay fueled up with energy, which is exactly what happened with Firey. Food conditions weren’t a source of concern by any means when he was traveling with Leafy, but whenever rations were being packed, they were often intended to only be brought along so that the one who actually needed them to survive could consume them. What a shame. If Leafy could just magically photosynthesize whenever they felt like it, then there wouldn’t be a problem at all! But until the day where that event somehow happens through a fluke of a miracle, Firey was the one who kept track of all of the duo’s food, because not only would he be tempted by it less, but it also gave him something to do, as attempting to teach him to do anything related to the water was about as pointless as a perfectly spherical circle. It’s better to do something that you can actually successfully complete without having a fear of painfully dying.

However, a problem that often arose with this that wasn’t related to storage space was how he was a ridiculously forgetful person. There was an abundance of irony to be found in the fact that the only time he used his poor memory as an excuse to avoid Leafy was the sole instance where it actually wasn’t an issue for him at all, but what mattered for the sake of the argument was that he could forget almost anything that one could ask him to keep track of. Sounds like he’d make for a great secret keeper, but the bizarre part of it all was that he’d eventually remember, just.. several hours or days later. Who could forget the infamous day where when everybody was celebrating Taco’s birthday, Firey suddenly dropped his glass plate straight onto the ground and yelled “LOSER IS PLANNING ON PROPOSING TO PROFILY?!” The reactions to that outburst would live on in infamy. Blocky promptly spat out his drink of grape juice, which ended up landing all over Woody and staining one of the man’s overall outfits. Ruby- who had been braiding Flower’s hair for fun in order to pass the time- got so distracted by the commotion that all she ended up accomplishing was making a giant knot that took nearly an hour to untangle. Gelatin actually smirked. Considering how unexpressive and stoic she revealed herself to be after the show, that was really saying something. And in the center of this entire disaster, all Taco could do was stare with the most baffled expression ever witnessed as Profily casually smiled and said: “Oh, cool! I didn’t know that was happening, but I can roll with that!” Loser, who was usually a fan of soaking up all of the attention in the room, had a face so red that he looked like a strawberry. He had told Firey a few weeks ago that he was totally planning on doing so because he knew that Firey would likely forget he said that and thus not tell anybody. No more secrets for him!

However, though telling hidden information to Firey was no longer an accepted notion, his forgetfulness had continued to persist, and there had promptly been more than one occasion where an animal had stolen most of their food supplies and left them scavenging frantically for bundles of fruit and nuts. “I thought you put everything in tupperware this time.” Leafy commented with confusion as both of them finally arrived over to where the non-buried backpack was, their bewilderment present due to the usual issue being completely negated by sealing all of the food inside of tight little containers.

“I did, I did! I swear it upon every grain of sand that Dreamier Island has to offer that I kept everything in those little containers that Bubble gave to us! But I can’t trust any animals one bit! Have you seen those videos of raccoons being able to open up trash cans for food? I’m sure that if they had the opportunity to, they’d soon get their greedy little claws on our goods as well.”

“So you.. buried your bag underground?”

“Only under a few inches of sand. Once we need it for anything, we’ll be able to pluck it out from under the ground in no time, so don't worry. Now, c’mon! Open that bag up!”

“How rude!” Leafy instinctually retorted, but then they proceeded to pick up their backpack and unzip it anyway, pulling out a few medium-sized novels for Firey to pluck from. “Pick one.”

“Hmm.. give me a second, I’m still thinking.”

…

“I pick.. this one!” Firey declared as his hand gripped onto the top of one of the books and snatched it away from Leafy. “What a cover! If this was a boat, it’d be so awesome that even cruise ships would look at it with complete and utter jealousy.”

“It’s a little cool. I understand what the artist was going for when they created this, but.. it looks a bit shallow to me. One look, and you understand everything about it.”

“Well, when those two people look at the giant sun burning against that barn, I’m sure that they’re more concerned about their inevitable demise from the sun being so close to them instead of the nuance and subtlety that is present in the themes of the book. Gotta get their priorities straight.” Firey squinted at the title for a couple of seconds, letting the letters sink in. “What’s the title mean, anyway?”

“If I’m recalling it correctly, I believe that it’s a term taken from some old Goiky poem. I don’t know the original wording very well, but the translated version stuck out to me a bunch because of what the ending’s message had to communicate, about how even if you put all of the planning of the world into your dreams, they may not often come true, because life simply isn’t always fair towards people that work hard in life.”

“No kidding. If I ever won a million dollars fair and square, a lightning bolt would appear from straight out of the sky and zap me until every last paper bill was fried!”

“Well, Penc- Someone won a million dollars when we were all kids, right? I wasn’t around during that time, of course, but I heard some stories about it when I arrived. As far as I know, she never got the chance to use a single cent of it.”

“Duh. The economy basically dooms any money prize that could ever be offered to us. We were all pretty stupid for not recognizing that back then.”

“That’s not anyone’s fault at all! You were all like.. ten years old, or something! To a kid who’s that age, even a single dollar makes you feel like you’ve owned the whole wide world!”

“Then shouldn’t it be the Announcer's fault instead?”

“I don’t.. think he understands how money works? When I bought Dream Island back then, he accepted my ridiculous payment of a paper slip without even questioning it. I bet Four and X wouldn’t be able to figure out how it works either.”

“Eh.. maybe..” Firey shrugged, before handing the book back to Leafy. “Here ya go. I’ll keep myself busy with some silly thing until you’ve finished reading.”

Leafy was not impressed. “Are you serious right now, Firey?! I let you pick out the book so I could read it to you during our break, not because I wanted you to leave!”

…

“Hm, that does make a lot more sense.”

“Exactly! How could you think so lowly of me? Just for that, you’re going down a rank on the niceness chart.” Leafy spoke with such a serious tone that it was hard to tell if they were joking or being genuinely sincere about that threat.

Still, Firey pretended to look as remorseful and miserable as possible, his eyes as massive and shining with a false facade of sadness as if he were imitating a pet dog that just got told it was bad for misbehaving. “Noooo, I didn’t mean it! I swear! You have to bring my rank back up under any circumstances! I’ll do anything!”

“Oh, really? Anything? Even a hundred cartwheels?”

“I’m not sure if I can do that many in one go, but I’d certainly try my best!”

“In that case, I command you.. to come and sit next to me as I read.”

“How noble!” Firey exclaimed with not so subtle exaggeration as the two of them plopped right down onto the sand that Dreamier Island had to offer.

Now, one thing that may not serve as a surprise about Leafy is that they’re an incredibly fast reader. Even for fun, they used to go to libraries and soar through novels as if it was some sort of epic competition for glory. Maybe it was to some other people, considering the reading challenges that students are usually pressured into engaging in throughout their precious summer days, but in the grasslands of Goiky where nobody ever bothered with going to school, there was almost nobody else with as much engagement in the idea of cracking open a book and sitting down to read it. Bubble and Leafy used to chat about books together when the two of them were younger, but much like anything they set their mind to, the latter was aggressively quick in overpowering their friend in just about every nook and cranny that the conversation topic had to offer. Not fun. Golf Ball and Tennis Ball were more passionate when it came to the discussion, but Leafy faced an entirely different problem whenever she tried to discuss it with either of the two when they were all kids! The duo were just way too smart! And good luck convincing those guys to put their pride aside for even a single second, because it was never going to happen! Tennis Ball may be a lot kinder than Golf Ball was on even her most sunny days, but that sure didn’t stop him from acting so high and mighty whenever Leafy waved hello and asked if he wanted to chat about books. Besides, it wouldn’t have worked out in any case, because the two factions had such wildly different interests in what genres they wished to pursue that the idea was dead on arrival. Leafy’s daydreams and rambles about what fantasy and other fictional novels had to offer fell flat at the cold, almost unforgiving facts that science had to offer in its scholarly textbooks. Sure, any prepositions declared in the text between the spaces of the pages could certainly be challenged through research and experimentation, but for the most part, everything was set in stone. There was no whimsy or magic to be found.

As they got older, however, things began to change. Though their interest in reading remained mostly rooted in the world of fiction, their horizons for what piqued their interest began to expand. No longer were they chasing after the dreams of escapism and wonder that these novels had to offer. Instead, Leafy slowly started to acknowledge the value to be found in other works of writing. It was easy to see why. How could anyone continue to rely on made up hopes when they had seen the worst of what the world had to offer? Leafy may have eventually clawed their way back to normalcy, but it wasn’t something that occurred in the span of a heartbeat. Instead, they still had to suffer through years of exile and torment that they could never get back, and while they still had the rest of their life ahead of them to accomplish whatever they wanted, the pain from the past often showed itself its own special little ways. They still carried a knife with them wherever they went. It was mostly for activities such as cutting down vines or chopping up food, but that didn’t stop them from threatening someone with it whenever they felt deeply threatened. They were picky about berries as well. Firey didn’t exactly have a positive opinion on yoyleberries and their harrowing effects, but Leafy was a whole other ballpark when it came to that, and while they wouldn’t go off the deep end over the mere sight of a purple berry, their discomfort wasn’t quite something that they worked to conceal. Even if others had unreasonably expected them to, they wouldn’t have even tried. Why bother? Suppose they actually kept those feelings to themself, huh? That was what started everything in the first place, the whole building up of emotions instead of properly communicating them to other people.

And that’s not even getting started on the many other opportunities that Leafy has had ruined from them because of the choices that they’ve made and the punishments that they’ve had to deal with. The internet? They don’t know a thing about it. A reliable friend group? Haven’t had that in years! Healthy sleep schedule? Forget it. Leafy likes to think that they’ve recovered from their misfortune as much as possible, but sometimes, they can’t help but reflect on what they’ve gone through with sorrow. So, if they want to read a book that’s a little more sad or grounded in reality from time to time, then who is going to crawl out of the ocean to stop them? Absolutely nobody, and that includes Firey. He doesn’t seem to think that it’s a problem at all, which is a relief, because if he had a concerned comment or two to make about the idea, then Leafy would’ve had some choice words to say about how he personally handled certain situations. Not the ones between them, no, but rather his own personal obstacles. The things he somehow thought were a good idea in the past.. well, Leafy hasn’t exactly seen most of them, given the distance between the two that lasted nearly a decade, but they’ve heard things before. From Gelatin, from Loser, and even from Coiny, back during their brief reconnection on the “BFB” season that was an absolute mouthful to say. (Did you know that the post-split section of “BFB” is technically named “Battle for Battle for Battle for Dream Island? What a mouthful!) None of what they’ve heard is exactly good, and they secretly worry that if Firey was ever left alone, he’d probably fall apart on the spot from all of the unhealthy coping mechanisms that barely kept him duct taped together during the tragedies that troubled him. He wouldn’t be okay at all.

But that would never happen. Unlike them, he’s always had plenty of people by his side to support him from the sideline and encourage him.. in theory. Now, of course, it would be a bit of a biased exaggeration to say that he was adored by those that knew him, because it wasn’t exactly true. His “enemies” were.. not always careful, to put it lightly, and it had caused a lot of long term consequences that would never truly go away for both Firey and those around him. Even those that he was close with had turned a blind eye to him more than once, perpetuating a cycle of fear and hurt that kept on spiraling away. Leafy was a first hand witness of this because of how they had been a victim of it before, the spring to an unreasonable conclusion built up from being abandoned or targeted by others multiple times. First there was Match, (Leafy doesn’t actually know that one for certain, given how Firey has never once brought it up, but considering how the two of them are literally related yet haven’t spoken to each other properly in about twelve years, it’s safe to say she counts.) and then Coiny, followed up by Tennis Ball, then themself, and of course there was Gelatin, then who could forget- Wow, the list never ended, huh? Much like most of the contestants who competed on “Battle for Dream Island,” if Firey ever went to a psychologist, they would probably faint from the atrocious amount of events that unfolded throughout his life. He was not the most beloved person in all of the lands. That was probably Loser, now that his reputation has been mostly restored again. But even Firey’s fans weren’t always the kindest. Eliminating someone for being kind to a friend and giving them a prize during a challenge is super rude! Who does something like that?!

…

Ok, maybe Leafy would, if the person claimed that they were nicer than them because of said act of generosity, but still! Their vote would be based on exposing deception, not shaming someone for prioritizing friendship over the show! But it’s fine now. Obviously, it wasn’t at the time, because that impromptu elimination sent Firey straight to.. genuinely the worst elimination area that a host could ever invoke upon him for multiple reasons, and that probably left a whole new pile of emotional damage in place of anything that he might have healed from, but the show was past both of them now. Now they were free, away from anyone who may look down on the both of them and treat them as atrociously as others had in the past. They could relax on peaceful islands and calming seas without threat of being monitored by cameras and fans that would judge their every move. They were safe, even. There had been a few close calls from time to time while adventuring together, but as long as they worked together, they could overcome any obstacle that befell them. Where one faltered, the other stepped in to pick up the slack, and they both covered up for each other’s weaknesses. Besides, they were both super powerful! Firey could burn nearly any foe that he went up against and run as fast as the wind! And Leafy was fully aware of their own strengths as well! Who could stand to face them when they could literally summon knives from their pockets whenever they wanted and teleport with the use of any map at their disposal? That’s why nobody ever dared to mess with them! Every inhabited island that they’ve ever visited welcomed them with open arms! And the most feral of creatures have always gone down without a fight! So, with all of that in mind, it was safe to say that neither of them would ever be alone again. No matter what happened, they’d always have each other, standing side by side even if the whole world came crashing down upon them.

And so, as Leafy opened up to the first true page of the novel and began reading off the opening where the two main characters run away from a town after being chased out of it, they decided to shrug off their previous concerns and comments to focus on what truly soothed their heart: reading, both the joys and sorrows that came neatly packaged with it. There was plenty that Leafy aimed to learn from the writing courses that they wanted to take in the future, but there was one thing that they already knew for certain, and it was that structure was everything in a story. It could completely shift the tone of what was happening entirely. (“For example, if you wanted to show in a book you were writing that water was slowly falling onto something, then maybe you would go “drip, drip, drip” all at one.” They told Firey once. “But to introduce a more menacing tone into the scene, you can structure the event differently to attempt that, and then your end result will be drip.. drip.. drip. Isn’t that fun?”) In fact, it was something that they had to consider as they read the story aloud to Firey, who was patiently sitting next to them and listening to every single word that they had to offer him. Should a character be snarky or just jaded when they say this dialogue? How much should the force of an action be emphasized? And what if a sequence needs to be spoken with frantic, vigorous flight? These were all questions that never ceased to strike Leafy’s interest as they read, and this was no exception. The hardest part, though, was trying to impersonate the old-timey and likely Southern Goiky accent that all of the characters possessed in the tale. They tried to the best of their ability, but evidently, it appeared as if it turned out to be more amusing than immersing, as Leafy heard Firey try but fail to hold back his amused laughter at least five times. Oh well. As long as both of them were enjoying themselves, then perhaps a few elements could be neglected.

Perhaps Firey’s recommended eight hours of sleep was ignored as well, because at some point, he had slumped onto the sand in a manner that resembled the appearance of clean laundry being haphazardly tossed onto a child’s bedroom floor. Although it was mildly concerning to Leafy, they didn’t bother with saying anything about it to Firey, because they knew what his sleep patterns were like. If their dreams were terrible and full of fright, then his own made up the whole haunted house. Like everything else, there had been improvement in the past few years, but all of the healing in the world wasn’t enough, and sometimes, Leafy couldn’t help but wake up to the sound of Firey screaming or trying to fling himself off the boat in a sleep deprived state. If it wasn’t fun for them, then it definitely wasn’t a treat for him either. The sleep paralysis was also a whole other can of worms, apparently, and while Leafy has never personally experienced that as far as they can recall, they’ve heard enough from their dearest companion to know that just because it was a temporary trick of the mind didn’t make things better. Unsurprisingly, factors such as that often lead to the other staying up all night and then crashing out during the middle of the day. That would explain the spacing out from earlier as well. If it didn’t.. hm.. that could wait. For now, Leafy was happy to keep reading aloud until the lull of their words provided the final push to send Firey to the realm of consciousness. He seemed to stubbornly try to resist his exhaustion at first, but eventually, it won out, and by the time that Leafy finished reading the fourth chapter of the book, he was fully knocked out. Sweet dreams, maybe? Likely not, but it never hurts to have wishful thinking.

He looked peaceful now, at the very least. Eyes fluttered shut, there was nothing that seemed to indicate that he was about to enter some mad fit of hysteria and scream at the top of his lungs. His breathing was shallow, yet about as steady as it could possibly be, and there was no violent twitching of his fingers or shoulders that tended to be the warning signs of when anybody they knew was being plagued by their dreams. No frown, either. His expression was.. peaceful. Not a drop of worry to be uncovered. In actuality, he was about as relaxed as he could be. Although Leafy continued to read to themself with the new addition of being completely silent now that there was nobody awake to read to, they still glanced back at him from time to time through the corner of their eyes, and at some point, he had completely curled up into the shape of a ball, like he was yarn about to be swatted by a cat. The metaphor was accurate because if one perked their ears up and listened a little more closely, he sounded as if he was purring. Quite frankly, there was easily a logical reason to be found for that. If you’ve ever listened to the sound of a fire that’s been left untouched for a while, there’s the faint crackle of it that draws you in and makes you want to sit by the warmth of it. Firey’s body, however, worked a lot differently from an ordinary flame. Something about him that would be a headache for everybody in the science community was that he looked exactly like any other human until someone or something made physical contact with him. Once that happened, his body would immediately break the illusion and burst entirely into flames, scorching down whatever tried to touch him to begin with. There were plenty of incidents regarding accidental burns and destruction of property when he was younger, but thankfully, those were also curbed these days with a mix of carefulness and endless fireproof clothing built to cancel out the physical contact condition of his transformation. Consequently, he was not always burning uncontrollably, and as such, he did not generate the usual noises emitted from the flame. Perhaps they manifested in different ways? Based on the soft rumble and murmur of a purr coming out of his mouth, that was definitely a yes.

For no good reason, Leafy randomly decided to hum in sync with him, as if they were singing a melody together. The duo had tried in the past to come up with some sort of duet between them and the memory was dragged to the surface due to that. After all, you run out of activities to do on a boat fairly quickly, and by the time that they had come up with the idea of singing, they had done everything else dozens of times. For some reason, Leafy always seemed to lose on their 73rd game of tic-tac-toe, which made no sense at all! They won nearly every other time without a struggle! Lollipop once did some research about it with her due to having absolutely nothing better to do. Curiously, “73” in of itself was not considered terribly dry of luck. In fact, it was quite the opposite, with it being such a “lucky prime” that maybe four leaf clovers would envy it. Hm. If not the number itself, then what if it is actually meant to be two numbers combined or subtracted from each other? Seven added to three was ten, but that proved to be a neutral number. One and zero, are the binary numbers, the ones that serve as the stepping stones for nearly everything else, so Leafy rejected that meaning as well. In the end, the final idea that Lollipop suggested was three subtracted from seven, which was four. While Goiky’s traditionally unlucky number was thirteen, there were other regions on Earth that hated “4” as if their life depended on it, and there was an unfathomable sense of amusement for that. The numerical idea of “4” could never be as much of a bringer of tragedy as Four the Algebralien was to them and their friends. Leafy wouldn’t exactly say he was “unlucky,” though, because for as much suffering as he brought, he remained as the main connection that they all had to being brought back from the dead. However, he was gone. Nowhere near the beach whatsoever. Apparently, he was at the “TPOT” hotel with X, and anyone with a brain could tell that was at least dozens of miles away from any island that Firey and Leafy thought to explore. The irony of that was that “4” in other languages awfully sounded a lot like death.

…

Leafy didn’t want to die. Not anymore, anyway, since they’ve had so many deaths occur in the past that it was nigh uncountable at this point. They had a whole life ahead of them. Perhaps they had reached the end of the line with thoughts of adventuring itself, but back on the beach, there were so many things to do. They could collect seashells with Ruby, or paint some more with Profily, and even try to help Taco with some of her organized events. The former contestant may have left them all to begin with because they felt driven away and outcast, but the strange part about moving away from somewhere you lived is that you begin to yearn for what you had. You want the security of knowing every crack on the sidewalks and every piece of graffiti on the walls if you’ve lived in the city. If you are perched by a river, then you may miss dipping your toes into it and letting the water swallow them whole, horrible pollution be damned! So you know what? They’re going to ignore their cursed number from hell, finish up this journey with Firey, and then get back home to everybody else.. just not right now. There’s the house to build, and before that all of the nails and woods to be gathered, and even further back is prying themself out of breaktime to achieve all of that. They should get back to doing that, but.. not yet. Setting the book down on the sand and laying their head against the sand, Leafy was grateful that they had cut their hair from its previous length, because otherwise, it would be a terror to try and wash it all out later. Goodbye ponytail, hello.. uhm.. they’re not sure what to classify their haircut as, but they can workshop that label later as well! After distancing themself away from Firey enough to ensure that they wouldn’t roll over in their sleep and immediately face the karma of being painfully scorched, they slowly closed their eyes and shifted all of their limbs to one side of them until they nearly resembled a boomerang with that awful sleep posture of theirs. After a few minutes of struggling, their mind finally gave up on not napping, the last moments of their consciousness drawn to the salty taste of the sea drifting in. Sleep tight and don’t let the beach bugs bite! Seriously, don’t, they’ll probably give you a disease.

Firey would’ve liked to say with complete confidence and pride that he was the one that woke up first, and while it certainly would’ve been a lot less pathetic, it wasn’t true. When he rose from his slumber some time later, he raised his head to find that Leafy had used the time he was knocked out to move some of the wood planks to a brand new pile and craft a sign post. As he walked over to them, he saw that they were currently working to carve something on to it. The first word was clear as day even to someone who struggled with reading like him, “Dreamier” being neatly etched onto the top of the wood. The practically illiterate one couldn’t quite fully appreciate the effort behind it, but he still admired Leafy’s hard work. Even when they were both kids, they had always possessed ridiculously neat handwriting compared to most. It wasn’t ridiculously fancy, but it remained simple, sweet, and straight to the point. At least when someone got knocked down a peg on the kindness ranking for being “delinquent scum,” they could be comforted by the knowledge that it was at least a sign of shame in great penmanship. That was certainly better than if someone like Blocky or Snowball had written it. Those two would’ve been better off just making cave art instead. Gelatin and Lollipop had the exact opposite problem, though. Those two wrote in cursive! Who was ever going to read something like that?! There were way too many loops of precision to keep track of and just looking at them made Firey’s head hurt! Writing was for basic communication! If they wanted to make art so badly, then they could pick up a calligraphy brush and create with that instead.

He considers asking Leafy about if they agree with that thought, but before he can do so, they have already spotted him and begun to talk with a teasing tilt in their voice. “There you are! I was beginning to think that you’d never wake up.”

“You’d like that, wouldn’t you?” He jokes. “Sorry about that. How long was I out for, though? I would use the sun’s position to figure it out, but I don’t know what it was to begin with.”

“Honestly, I’m not sure either, because I also went to sleep a bit after you did, though. I started keeping track of it once I woke up though, so.. hmm.. at least two hours?”

“WHAT?! Why didn’t you wake me up? I would’ve helped you with all of this!”

“You looked like you needed the rest. I didn’t forget about earlier, when you..” Leafy curled one of their hands into a fist, then outstretched their fingers completely, as if they were signaling that a firework shot up and exploded or that a star was lighting up the sky. “..Y’know.”

Firey felt slightly embarrassed, his dark skin slightly tinted and flushed by shame. “I don’t know what happened there, ok? Maybe I really was tired. Maybe I wasn’t. I don’t know, but now I’m awake and not staring off into space like a lunatic, so can’t you give me something to do? There’s no way you’ve finished everything besides assembling the boards!”

“Actually, you’re right, There is one thing that you can do for me right now.”

“Really? What’s up?”

…

“I want you to write the second part of this sign for me. It wouldn’t be right for me to do the entire sign without letting you contribute to it, because it represents the island as a whole while we stay here, so if I were to leave you out, that wouldn’t be very nice at all. Can you finish it?”

“Oh, sure! I don’t mind doing that at all. Can you give me what you were carving it with?”

“Yep! Think fast!”

Firey half expected the other to try and toss one of their knives at him, (especially since the weapon would either only jab into his clothes and cause a tear or go right through his body and land on the ground on the other side,) but this was not the case. Instinctually, his hands greedily grasped the actual item in his palms, which turned out to be a small wooden stake. It was crafted with a delicate prose to it that could often only be seen from the dance of a carpenter. That was another thing that he would always love about Leafy. His own cutting work was a bit brutish, which was fine for making planks that existed to only fill general shapes, but when it came to more delicate woodwork, he was out of luck. He could plan out concepts for buildings and create machinery just fine, mind you! If you didn’t believe him, just ask FSB’s corpse! Firey just.. happened to be unrefined when it came to working with certain crafting materials, which couldn’t be helped. Leafy, however, had always loved working with all sorts of supplies in order to make gifts for people. Before “BFDI” happened, they had an immense passion for gifting people things stuffed into little baskets that they weaved out of thin grass and string. The other had once received one as a gift, but unsurprisingly, it went up in flames very quickly. Would a care package have worked better than a gift basket? Who knows! All that mattered right now was in the tool in Firey’s hand, ready to be used for the carving it was made for. Leafy bounced back as Firey approached the sign, but when he slightly leaned down to begin writing, he hesitated for a moment, tilting his head slightly towards the direction of companion.

“Uh.. there’s an “s” letter in the word “island,” right?” He asks, clearly disgruntled by having to do so when he should definitely know that by now.

Leafy once again shows the patience of an angel by not making fun of him for it. “Yeah, it’s right before the “l” in the word. I never understood why it was silent myself. In old Goiky, it used to be spelled as “i-e-g-l-a-n-d,” which is way more in line with how you’d pronounce it. Would you change it to that if you had the chance?”

“The real question is why shouldn’t I?” Firey asked with a smirk as he finally dragged the stake across the wooden surface of the sign, etching out the letters of its second word. “That would teach everyone a lesson for being a jerk about my spelling! It’s not like I’m the worst at it! Spongy didn’t even try to do anything back during the spelling bee we had when Announcer first showed up on Earth, yet he never gets made fun of. Why doesn’t he get teased for that?”

“I’m.. pretty sure that it’s because people were already busy bullying him for other things.”

“Well, those times weren’t my fault. If I wanted to bully someone, it’d be Coiny! Which I did.”

“Let’s not bully anybody at all! Doesn’t that sound way nicer?”

“I guess it does, but only because there’s nobody else on this island that I can target for it anyways.” Another joke for the books, hm? “Alright, I finished.”

“I can see that. Did you really have to take up all of the room on the sign?”

“I-I thought that you left all of that space there for a reason! Get bigger handwriting!”

“No, I won’t, because I left a lot of space on purpose so that we could put our names on it!”

…

“Ah.” Firey blankly responded. “Would’ve been nice if you told me that before I started writing.”

“I should have probably done that.” Leafy admitted without much of a struggle. “But no worries. We can always put our names on the back of the sign. Besides, how you wrote it adds a bit of a pack to the punch. It’s not “Dreamier Island” anymore, it’s “Dreamier ISLAND.” What a world of difference that would make to anybody who ever stops by to see us!”

“So you’re saying that I’m clever and great at advertising?”

“Whatever floats your boat.” Not a very fitting metaphor from Leafy, considering how their confidant didn’t actually own a boat and instead just shared it with them. “Now stop bragging and get back to work! We have a lot of lost time to catch up.”

“Got it!”

From there, a very familiar routine began to unfold between the two of them that occurred on literally every island that they visited. Firey would sift through all of the wooden boards that they had created, inspecting them and applying pressure against its layers in order to determine if it was the best possible fit. He was the best at determining what types would be appropriate, which was really handy, as there was ordinarily more than one type of tree on any island the seas had to offer, so he could deduce which ones would be great for roofs and which ones would be better off serving as the base of a structure. Then, he would bring them over to Leafy, tightly hold them into the right spot, and let them nail them down with a wooden mallet. That was another reason why. Knowing him, he’d probably end up piercing holes into his gloves like an idiot while securing the nails in place and lighting everything on fire in the process from exposure to his flame. It’s happened before. In fact, he sometimes still ended up burning the lumber just by standing near them, because even when his body concealed all of his power under his skin, he still radiated an unusually high temperature that would probably kill the average person. This tended to mess with things if he wasn’t careful, so unsurprisingly, some of the planks that ended up being used for the walls of the house were a little charred. It wasn’t the only mistake the two of them ended up making on this island, though. When the duo were assembling the entranceway to the home, Leafy suggested placing the pieces closer together so that they wouldn’t have to fret about creating a massive door later. Big mistake. Now the entrance was both too short and too thin to walk through normally, so from now on, they would have to squeeze through it just to enter the place. Great going, you two. Oh well. Roof time! They didn’t own the tools recommended for the removal of nails from wood, so they’d just have to live with the blunder instead of frantically trying to take it out of the structure. This was a little island home, after all, not a mansion for the highest members of society.

Often, they would both work in silence, because it was significantly less distracting, but once in a while, one of them would speak up with an inquiry for the other, which would then lead into a brief conversation between them. “Do you want me to go fishing for a bit?” Firey asked, aware that he would be of no use to Leafy when it came to the task of working on the roof of their home that the latter had already started.

“No, not yet. You can fortify the walls of the house instead by adding some more planks. If you have any leftover ones, then move them back to the pile of extras.”

“Sure thing, but.. what’s the plan for those, anyway? Are we making a shed to store stuff in?” The other asked with a confused tone as he awkwardly took a mallet out of his pockets and began nailing down wood that was for sure at an awkward angle.

“That would be better than anything I was thinking of.. but no. I was thinking that when we leave this island, we can make.. some sort of final creation to honor all of the time we spent together. Like how people make statues dedicated to dead people.”

“Gee, way to say that what we had between us is dead.” Can you ever stop being snarky for once in your life? “Nah, I’m kidding. I think that’s a great idea.. but maybe we should add stuff other than wood? I don’t want all of our hard work to eventually fall apart and get blown away.”

“Firey, the last storm we had in Goiky was over eight years ago, and it didn’t even touch down on the islands. I even check the weather for the next thirty days everytime we set sail, and as far as I can tell, the odds of that happening are about one in a million. What gave you that idea?”

…

“I’m.. not sure.” Firey admitted. Was it a gut feeling? No, that didn’t make any sense. Everything that Leafy said to him was completely correct, so.. why are his instincts telling him otherwise?

Leafy finished adding the last panel onto the roof, hopping off of it once they saw that it was fully stable and that the pieces wouldn’t collapse and try to impale the two of them in their sleep. “Look, I know that.. you don’t feel safe sometimes. Neither do I, but.. that’s why we’re here for each other, remember? There are times where I don’t feel comfortable living in the middle of the ocean with nothing more than a dinky boat and a few bags of supplies. But that’s why you’re here for me and I’m there for you. I don’t think anything can stop us from carrying out our dreams when we’re lifting each other back up. If a giant fish monster suddenly burst out from the ocean and swallowed me whole, what would you do?”

“Tch, isn’t it obvious? I’d totally beat it up and do anything to get you back!”

“Exactly! And I’d do it for you in return, even though you probably wouldn’t need much help with taking down a fish. Trust me, we’re safe as long as we stick together.”

…

Firey sighed, though it was one of relief that he didn’t even know that he was holding. “That makes a lot of sense. Thanks, Leafy. I’m glad that I can always rely on you.”

“Of course.” Leafy replied with a tender, soft smile. There was a pause of comfortable silence between the two of them as they stared into each other’s eyes, but as soon as it paused, Leafy weaved their fingers around one of the pieces of wood and pressed it above the entrance to the house. “Now get back to work! I shouldn’t have to remind you again!” An amused scoff could be heard. “Yeah, yeah, it’d be my pleasure to do so, or whatever.”

And so, the conversation ended here, but as Firey began scooping up the leftovers and making his way over to the extra pile of wooden planks, he couldn’t help but feel as if something had shifted. Not between him and his dearest companion, but more accurately.. it was as if the air around them had altered itself. The fresh, salty taste of the wind as it blew in seemed to be hiding something far more sinister.. but what? Knowing that Leafy would understandably dismiss his concerns, Firey tried to keep a steady smile on his face as he cycled between the house and the pile, he smelled something strange. Petrichor. That was the scientific name that referred to the deep and earthy smell of rain that you may detect from a storm. He heard about it from Tennis Ball once, how it’s usually at its strongest when the rain has already passed, but seeing as how not even a single droplet of water had fallen upon the island’s grass, it was clear that something wasn’t adding up. Hm. He was about to dismiss his concerns as nothing more than childish fears, but when he dropped the last board onto the pile and turned to tell Leafy that he had finished, he saw a strange sight in front of him. The sky, which had been bright and sunny just mere minutes ago, was now slowly darkening in color as gray clouds rumbled in without a care. Welp, all of the logic added up. The smell of rain, the clouds up above him, the strange feeling that had been burning inside of him for a while.. he must’ve detected a storm! Usually, this would be great bragging material to use against Leafy to prove that he was a genius who had been unacknowledged in the eyes of the public for years, but.. now wasn’t the time. He needed to act now or else it’d be way too late.

Before he can even process it, Firey’s feet have already carried him over to Leafy, but before his mouth can even pop open an inch, his finger reaches to poke at their shoulder instead. What would he have said anyways? A greeting? Some warning? This may come as a shock, but Firey can actually drink liquid if he wanted to. It doesn’t really hurt him, but it tastes like nothing when he tries it. Often, all that he can detect is the sensation of something. The fizz of the soda, the bubbles of the tea, or even the thickness of a smoothie are all that stick out to him. He’s done it enough times in his life, though, that it brings to him the curious ability to release some moisture. It’s not often, but he certainly can cry and sweat if his body commands it. Unsurprisingly, it stings. The important thing about all of this, however, is that when Leafy spins around to fully look at him, his throat is completely dry. Not a single letter is going to escape out of him anytime soon. Leafy holds their hand up in greeting, and if it weren’t for the fact that it strangely feels as if his vocal chords had been ripped out of his throat, Firey would’ve let out a groan at how oblivious they were to the danger. Fed up with their inappropriate cheer, he thrusted his pointer finger right at the sky, and it was only when Leafy’s gaze followed the direction of it did it also dawn upon them what was happening right in front of them. Like it or not, the two of them were going to be trapped in the middle of one of Goiky’s rare yet incredibly dangerous storms. Not much for celebration, huh?

The panic wasn’t so bad at first. If anything, it was safe to say that Leafy and Firey were more so perplexed by the raging sight above them rather than frightened. They had both experienced a storm like this before, so they knew the advice from the previous instance. What a harrowing experience that had been. Even over half of a decade later, the memory of the rain and wind that ravaged Yoyle City was unforgettable. Though neither of them were present to hear Golf Ball and Tennis Ball’s warnings to the others, it was easy enough for them to guess what it was that the other duo would’ve said in their absence. “Stay in an indoor area that is not flooded by water! Make sure that it is completely fortified at all costs! Distance yourself from any windows or doors and be certain that nothing electrical is plugged in. Most importantly, though, you need to be prepared! Keep yourself safe and stocked with supplies.” Maybe the words would’ve been different than that, but Firey and Leafy’s guesses were as good as they could be. They weren’t going to run around and scream like idiots until lightning bolts electrocuted them both to death! Instead, they were confused by the presence of the storm in general. Leafy had already spoken about the statistical chances of danger earlier, but even if that wasn’t in the picture, the fact that there was a storm about to shower hell upon them was completely illogical. They were once in a lifetime occasions, ones that you either passed down to your ancestors or buried under piles of deception, dirt smudging the details so much that nobody would even be able to tell how much was truthful when they eventually uncovered it. Two of them happening in the same lifetime- In the same decade!- Made no sense at all! Something about this wasn’t right at all. If it weren’t for the lack of cameras around, this would look like something out of a nonsensical challenge for a season of “Battle For Dream Island.” What a flash from the past.

The house wouldn’t be worth the risk of hiding in for shelter. It wasn’t even done being fully crafted! How can you be expected to deem a building as safe when it has no door, anyway? All of the rain would sweep right into the place, leaving Leafy entirely by themself after their closest friend had an excruciating death due to lots of exposure to the water. Bye bye, Firey! Yeah, no, not happening. With both of them reaching the same conclusion at the exact same time, they instead made their way over to the leftover pile of wooden piles and frantically started attaching pieces to each other. It was not a neat and pretty process that could easily be wrapped up in a bow. After all, it was getting harder and harder to see what was meant to be constructed as the clouds cast an increasingly darker shadow over the island. Not much of a dreamy place to reside in under these conditions. The wind was beginning to steadily pick up in speed as well, rattling the trees around them and scattering leaves all over the ground. Leafy tried not to think about how that particular imagery mildly disturbed them. Even the sand seemed to scatter from the rapid drafts, flakes of it flying through the air and landing in just about every inconvenient spot that you can imagine. Gritting his teeth as he slammed down his mallet against the nails of yet another wooden plank, Firey had to resist the urge to wipe his sleeve against his glasses, cursing himself for having such bad vision every step of the way. To make things worse, rain begins to shower down upon them, and before Firey can even say anything, Leafy gives up and practically shoves him into the makeshift shelter, hopping in as well after blocking the entrance with a few unsecure boards. Not the best work either of them have ever done, but they were working under a very strict time limit, and at least some simple storm couldn’t result in anything even more terrible happening to them, right?

As you would expect, things got worse.

If someone were to ask Firey what exactly happened next, he would not be able to answer with any sense of certainty. He can make guesses, consider the most likely possibilities, and then respond with something that vaguely sounded right, but it may not be the entire truth that was hidden even from him. One second, he and Leafy were huddled close together, and then the very next, something had happened. It was more than an uptick in wind and rain, for sure. But when was the exact point where a most horrible misfortune transpired? Had there been a vicious scream of terror at the exact millisecond of it? Or was there some kind of magical beam shot with perfect aim towards the two of them instead? Did he really not notice anything amiss after all? Or had his brain once again failed to remember anything even remotely helpful to him? No matter how hard he tried to concoct a helpful answer to a single one of those questions, Firey could not produce anything of value. Here is what all that he can remember from the storm instead. A flutter of droplets pounding their way into the rain shelter. Shallow breaths, equally shared by both him and Leafy, who otherwise did not utter a single sound from their mouth during this entire escapade. The fabric of his jacket’s hood being aggressively tugged over his hair as much as possible as he made an attempt to shield himself. All of it was nothing compared to the horrible sensation of him squeezing his eyes shut to block his blurry vision that just kept spinning and turning and wobbling in every way imaginable as his heart kept shaking until all of a sudden there was the strange yet distinctly loud sound of something heavy falling from up above him and-

Here is where the details once again flee from Firey, similar to startled animals in the way that they would often prefer to evacuate immediately than ponder the potential consequences of the act. However, even basic questions were a newfound source of fogginess by this point. Did he faint? Maybe. That would be a pretty reasonable reaction to being struck by a bunch of wooden planks collapsing onto you. Why wouldn’t anybody assume that you were simply knocked unconscious by that? Here’s the thing, though. Firey is always painfully aware of when he has fallen asleep. If a nightmare has not chosen him as its lucky target, then it is usually a bout of sleep paralysis that claws at him until he wakes up screaming at the top of his lungs or trembling with an intensity that could match earthquakes. There’s also usually the sensations that come with waking up as the joints of your limbs need to reset through stretching and you feel as if a heavy cloak was tossed across your entire body. He experienced it earlier that day when he took his ridiculously long nap. None of that was present here. Could he have.. gotten lost? It happened earlier when he lost touch with himself while talking to Leafy, but once again the senses that Firey associates with that state of self contradict the theory. It’s.. not very easy to describe the feeling of not being there, but there’s a juxtaposition of feeling completely severed from every nerve in his body while simultaneously experiencing the uncomfortable pulse of just about every single inch of his body. Even the hairs on his eyebrows are disgustingly present despite the fact that he feels like a spectator watching his own body. It’s not cool, but.. it’s also not this either. There is no emptiness rattling in his chest or hands appearing both way too close and strangely far away. In its absence, there is absolutely nothing. It is the most terrifying thing that he’s ever dealt with in his entire life, and that’s really saying something, especially when you remember-

…

Firey does not “wake up” or “get grounded back into reality.” In lieu of these, he rises instead. As his body acts before his brain can even do its job and process what the hell is going on, the flame humanoid swims through what feels like millions of wooden boards, squeezing his way through the gaps in the way he would if he were trying to break through ice after cracking it and falling in. In some ways, this is much better than that, because while most who go through that never make their way back up, Firey eventually does so, inhaling so much air in the process that an uncontrollable cough wheezes its way out of his throat. There’s a lot more wood surrounding him than there should be. Was it all from the rain shelter? Absolutely not. The house must’ve gotten destroyed in the storm as well. What a pain that’d be to rebuild after they wasted almost the whole day working on it. Leafy will try not to act too upset about it, but he’s seen how angry they can be when they aren’t holding back years of unbridled rage, and- Wait. Leafy. Where is Leafy? Firey’s gaze shoots towards everything that he could possibly lay his eyes on, but among the sea of wooden planks and scattered nails, his other traveling half is nowhere to be found. That should’ve been the first warning sign. Neither of them were the most durable against the perils of the world, but between the two of them, Leafy had always been the one to get back up on their feet quicker in any situation, both physically and mentally. Even if they had been battered and bruised by the onslaught of wood, they should’ve sprung up by now and been the one to extend a helping hand to Firey once he rose from the destroyed building. But there was not a single trace of them having ever emerged from the storm.

Unable to contain his worry, Firey casts out a quick and concerned “Leafy?” from his mouth, yet before any response could even possibly be uttered from the other island resident, he’s already shuffled out of the heap with a twist of his hips and a jerk of his foot. Not even resting to let the familiar squish of the grass under his feet after what could’ve been minutes or even hours without it to support him, he’s already seizing the bottom sides of boards with hands and lifting them as high as possible in order to see if Leafy is hiding under one of them. No answer from them so far. Eugh. It’s.. troublesome, but not the end of the world. Most likely, they simply just got knocked out by the storm and simply didn’t respond to him because they were sleeping under a pile of wood. They might need medical attention when he finally finds them, but that would never be a good reason to just bail on Leafy and leave them hanging! Not again, anyway. It wasn’t Firey’s most wise move, but he was trying to make up for it now as he zigzagged between piles and flipped over more of the wooden boards. It was sickening, really. The sun was warmly showering him with rays and light, mocking him in his quest to find his companion. A bird was likewise chirping in the distance, taunting him with his inability to find Leafy. Where were they? Why can’t he find them under anything?! Was it thanks to his complete foolishness he had in everything that he accomplished? Or, even worse, had the wind blown them away?!

“Leafy, this isn’t funny!” He shrieked in order to fill the silence, teetering on the edge of hysteria. “Get up from wherever you are and stop messing with me already! If this is some karma for me goofing off earlier, then I already learned my lesson! I-I won’t do it again, I promise, just don’t HIDE FROM ME!- Huh?”

At last, his hands had finally grazed against something that was more than worthless lumber. It felt smooth, like the touch of someone’s skin if you ran your hand against their back. It could also just as easily be the fabric that made up somebody’s clothing. Did that mean- Had he finally- With all of his strength and might, Firey heaved the pile up over his head as high as possible, knees slamming down against the ground so that he could drag Leafy out of the pile. Free hand ensnaring itself around the peculiar texture, it lunged as far back as possible, but no matter how hard Firey tugged, he just couldn’t get it to budge. Fine, then. He’ll just have to do what he had been neglecting in the worst case scenario. Letting go of the wood with the other hand that had been used to hold it up, he quickly ripped off his hood and let the lumber fall right on top of him, setting it on fire in the process once it had made contact with his hair. Fully aware of how he was now fully lit, the flame humanoid rolled up the sleeves of his arms and pushed them to fully lean forward and brush against the layers of the wood as he continued to pull. If he couldn’t get to Leafy, then he would just have to destroy as much of the debris as possible for the sake of freeing them! Crackling roared in Firey’s ears, soaring to volume levels that instinctually made him wince. Likewise, the familiar sight of ash also began to scatter around him, but he squinted his eyes until they were only open by an inch to stop it from flying past his lenses and attacking his vision. It didn’t matter. Nothing else mattered until he could rescue Leafy. Launching his arms so far behind one of his shoulders that he nearly let out a scream, Firey just kept pulling and yanking and hauling and tugging at the object until- Ack!

The sour taste of grass greeted the flame humanoid with open arms as he went tumbling back into the ground behind him. Colliding against the earth with a harsh “Oomf!” didn’t hurt at all, but it didn’t stop Firey from having the air knocked out of him. Ignoring the brief throb of breathlessness that squeezed at his body, he stood up so that he could charge back into the pile of wood, only to realize that he was holding something in one of his hands. A glove, black and even throughout its entire form. It was not his own, though, and within seconds, Firey realized with widened eyes of horror who it really belonged to: Leafy. Were they still under the wood?! Before he could even think to investigate, the answer greeted him through a giant, charred hole in the pile of wood that replaced most of what was once there with emptiness and the heavy smell of smoke. This had not been accompanied by the disturbing scent of charred flesh, and furthermore, Firey had just started the fire, so Leafy would not have instantly been incinerated. There would have been howls of pain from them once they made contact with the flames, or perhaps there would’ve been some trace of their body, such as a detached arm or the leaf shaped hair clip that they always wore on the top of their head. Not a single trace was present to suggest that they had ever been there. They likely would’ve scolded him for destroying half of the wood anyway if they were still around. Another pile- the one that Firey had leaped out of in the first place after the storm- sat undisturbed a couple of feet away, but before the former contestant could make an effort to put it out, it too disappeared into thin air.

That’s why Firey let the entire island burn down afterwards! Just kidding, of course. Did you really think that he would ever let that happen?! No! What kind of monster did you mistake him for if you thought that?! “But he didn’t have anything to scoop the water up with-” Are you stupid?! He used the sand from nearby to suffocate the flame instead! Such a thing wouldn’t personally destroy him, but he knew from his time spent around various islands across Goiky that it could be used to suffocate ordinary flames because they were incapable of being hurt. Tossing as much of it against the roaring flickers of the destroyed wooden pile as possible, he suffocated it bit by bit until, finally, after several mad dashes to the sand and back, the fire had finally been put out. Obviously, the grass that had been beneath it was still totally scorched, but on the bright side, Firey had at least stopped the flames from spreading to the rest of the island. Hooray for saving nature! Leafy would be so proud of him once he told them about that.. but where were they? His hands had dug their way through just about every spot within the area that he could possibly explore, but despite all of Firey’s hard work and rather dumb arson attempts, his search had been in vain. All that he could find from them was a singular dark glove, yet no arm with it that was attached to its previous owner. Where did they go?

…

Did they get blown away?- Eugh, that’s impossible! The wood had crushed Firey and he was only a few feet away from Leafy when the storm reached its worst, so wouldn’t the same fate have happened to them? But that wasn’t the case! Leafy hadn’t been under any of the debris that he had just searched through! That didn’t suddenly make Firey’s new theory possible, though, because if the wind had dragged them away, then wouldn’t he have heard something? A cry for help, perhaps? And even if that wasn’t true, where would they have landed? In the middle of the ocean? Possibly, but Leafy wouldn’t have drowned like an idiot! Their basic survival instincts would kick in and force them to float! And that was too farfetched to begin with! Leafy had always been on the lighter side in terms of weight, but even if they were as skinny as a beanpole, they still would’ve weighed more than any piece of wood, but guess what? Even during the worst of wind speeds, none of the timber had actually gone off the island! All of the pieces only moved a few feet! So where was Leafy?! The other side of the island? Buried underground? Somehow sinking to the bottom of the ocean without him even knowing?! None of this made any sense! How could Firey’s dearest companion disappear so mysteriously and with not a single trace of them remaining? How could THEY DO THAT TO HIM?!

…

No, that.. wasn’t fair to Leafy. At all. Firey knows that he shouldn’t be blaming them for this. It’s not as if they woke up earlier that day with the cheerful and sunny thought of “I’m going to destroy Dreamier Island in order to get revenge on Firey! Wahahah! This will surely make him pay for what he’s done to me!” Not likely. The flame humanoid is pretty sure that if the other suddenly developed the ability to summon storms on command, he would’ve surely noticed by now. If not him, then somebody else, because the beach residents back home would surely do all sorts of crazy things with that sort of knowledge and- Shit! If Firey really was separated from Leafy, then what the hell was he meant to do? Go back to the beach and tell everyone how royally he fucked up?! They’d actually hate him for the rest of his life if he announced something as terrible as that! What would everyone think of the wretched monster he had become?!.. What would Gelatin think? Anxiously clasping the band wrapped around his ring finger, (and subconsciously exhaling an exhale of relief because if he had lost the ring, then he would’ve never forgiven himself-) Firey began to tremble as he stepped away from the charred grass and walked towards the shore in hopes of finding something. Would the boat at least still be docked against the sand? If the storm only threw him and the wood around a tiny bit, then the boat that easily weighed at least a few hundred pounds couldn’t have gotten lost all, especially since the motor was off, right? What could have possibly destroyed it?

Lightning, apparently. Struck the whole thing into pieces. Or, at least, one whole piece, because when Firey steps in front of where the ship had been parked mere hours ago, all that is resting on the ground is a cracked off piece of it. Any of its former glory had been washed away in the span of a single storm. A pair of orange and green stripes that had once been lovingly painted onto its surface were now faded, a few holes and cracks forming on the layers of paint. The end of it was oddly clean in terms of how it had been cut off, but it was too wonky and small of a piece to even float on. Even if Firey somehow could sail away from the island on a tiny chunk of the boat like a coward would, how far would his journey even go? Without the motor, it’d be a fruitless effort that’d likely end with him accidentally falling off of the float and being swallowed by the water on the spot, extinguishing him before he could possibly let out a worthless cry for help. He is stuck on this island. Alone. No nearby village around on a close island to send a signal to, either, or else he would’ve lit a tree on fire by now as well in order to send a smoke signal of sorts. Dying also fails as an escape out of this. The only people in Goiky that have access to some sort of recovery right now haven’t thought of him in years. If he died now, it would take ages just for the miniscule chance that someone would take pity on him and resurrect him from the dead. What was he supposed to do? How was he meant to get out of this mess when the odds were so stacked against him?

…

And how was he meant to do it without Leafy by his side after finally having them back?