Bdubs was breathing heavily, blinking his eyes rapidly to hold back the tears pricking at the corners, as well as trying to adjust to the dark better. Keralis was looking at him, he knew that, and they were sitting on dirt-leaves- something that was dry, but that was pretty much all he could figure out. It was so dark. He needed to calm down.

Keralis started shifting around. He focused on that.

"Where's the flashlight...?" He mumbled to himself.

Bdubs started looking around for it too, comforted by having something else to think about, still sitting down with his legs in front of him. His foot- or ankle? He wasn't sure which, the entire thing throbbed in pain- didn't hurt too bad when he didn't move it.

Bdubs bit his cheek as he realized his phone was in the inside pocket of his jacket. Oh void it was probably snapped in half from the fall....

He pulled it out with a wince, sighing in relief as he was able to turn it on normally. The light lit up his face and showed off only a few new cracks on the screen, but that was replaceable, and after all of this, he figured he might get an iou from Doc or Etho about fixing it later.

"Here." Bdubs said, turning on the small flashlight on the phone. "You can find the real one with this."

"Thanks Bubbles."

There was an audible sigh of relief when Keralis found it laying on some leaves and was able to pick it up and turn it on, handing the phone back to Bdubs. Bdubs turned it off, a habit to save the battery as long as possible. A really good habit for a situation like this.

Keralis moved the flashlight around, trying to figure out where they were. Did they land on another trail? Were there any signs to direct them back to camp? Something- anything to make where they were?

He looked upwards, only to be met with trees, clouds, and the faintest speckle of stars above. It wasn't like he could measure the constellations or anything to find their longitude or latitude on Earth, but even just the north star would be appreciated. They remembered it was a vauguly east to west trail. 

Wherever it was, it wasn't visible to them.

They had been closing their eyes during their- ahem, ride downhill, and with dizziness, plus dark, plus not knowing where they were overall, it just led them having no idea what direction they were looking at.

"I think. I think we're supposed to stay put." Keralis said unsurely, still looking around. "That's what adults say to do. Stay put until someone finds you."

"Stay put? STAY PUT?! Nobody even knows we're here!" Bdubs cried out. He tried to shift his weight to the side before wincing, breathing a little bit too fast. "We- we can't just stay-"

"Bubbles calm down-" Keralis crouched down, putting his hands up softly like Bdubs was a scared animal. He felt like one.

"I can't calm down! We're going to die in the woods and we'll never see any of the others again and it's cold and itchy and dark-"

Keralis took Bdubs's hands to stop him from rambling and looked him in the eyes.

"Breathe with me ok? In and out. In... out."

Bdubs calmed down after a minute and Keralis looked more relieved. This was scary, for the both of them, but Keralis had to put on a brave face, because one of them had to, and Bdubs was hurt and scared.

"We're going to be ok, ok?" Keralis said softly, "We just need to find the trail again and make our way back to camp that way ok?"

Bdubs nodded and took a last deep breath.

"Ok ok-" Bdubs breathed out and regained a sense of control in his mind. "We're going to be fine."

"Yes, now can you walk on your foot?" Keralis asked. He stood up again and offered a hand to Bdubs.

There was a thin tree next to them that Bdubs could use to steady himself more on, that he balanced with his free hand. He winced when he put a slight bit of pressure on his bad foot, but didn't fall, and eventually got onto his good foot.

He put his bad foot back on the ground and tried to shift his weight to it-

"Ow!"

He quickly lifted it back off the ground and clung to the tree for dear life to keep upright.

Keralis looked at him worriedly. Bdubs knew he looked stupid, clinging to a tree with on foot off the the ground with eyes shut tight, but he couldn't help it. The bark scratching his arms was the only thing to distract him from the slowing throbbing in his foot.

"I'll carry you."

"What?"

"A piggy back ride." Keralis said. "I'll carry you because you can't walk and we can't stay here."

"Ker-"

"Ahp! No arguments mister."

"You can't be serious!" Bdubs said, ever so slowly loosening his grip on the tree. A particularly cold breeze swept by and he shivered, finally noticing the tear in his hoodie sleeve as the cold ran up his arm. He frowned, that was going to be a pain to sew later. He liked this hoodie.

"I am serious. I might not be as strong as Doc or Vintage Kebab, but you can't walk, and I have to try." Keralis said. He pressed the flashlight into Bdubs hand and started to crouch in front of him.

"Just sorta hop on ok? Put your arms around my neck from behind."

Bdubs kept on hand on the tree to stabilize himself and jumped as high as he could with one foot, clinging on with one arm and held on tighter a little when Keralis tipped forwards. Keralis steadied out though, and Bdubs could let go of the tree, waiting for them to balance out as Keralis shifted his grip on Bdubs's legs.

"Gotcha." Keralis said as Bdubs wrapped the second arm around. "Comfortable?" He asked.

Bdubs really felt like he should be the one asking Keralis the question, not the other way around, but responded anyway.

"As comfortable as I can be with a broken or something foot in the middle of the woods at night." He joked, lightening the mood. He aimed the light at the ground to help Keralis see.

Keralis chuckled a little, and started to walk forwards at a slow pace. The direction they went in was slightly upwards, which was a little tougher, but because they fell down, that had to be a good sign, right?

"Hey," Bdubs started again. "If you get tired, can I use a stick or something, ok?"

"That won't be necessary, sweetface."

Bdubs hugged him a little closer, taking in the warmth even through the layers of clothing. To be completely honest, even like this, in the middle of the woods with a foot that was only starting to be ignorable, Bdubs really was comfortable.

It wasn't a good situation, but if it had to be with anyone, Bdubs was glad it was Keralis.

Hmm.

The back of the group was being oddly silent.

Not that Etho could hear anything other than his music, but their presence was quieter. Less pounding in the ground from foot steps, no crunching snaps on branches, or giggles filling the background space when the song hit a soft point, no movement of stopping and starting and running to catch up and getting a little too close and bumping Etho accidentally. Nothing.

Probably just paranoid, he looked behind himself. Only the trees looked back.

The path was curvy with sharp back and forth bends and turns, slowthy smoothing out ahead, so it made sense that he might not be able to see them if they were far enough behind with the trees and small hills in the way, but it was still a little worrying.

He peered ahead, lifting his flashlight up, sizing up the space between himself and the group ahead. They weren't too far. He couldn't hear anything they were saying on account of his headphones, but he could still see someone's mouth move when they tilted their head to the side, and make out buttons and patches on clothing, so he considered them close enough.

Pulling his headphones down around his neck, he turned around and backtracked a few steps.

"Bdubs? Keralis?" He called out.

"Come on guys you're too far behind! I can't see your flashlights." He stated a little louder.

Etho walked a little more and then stopped, waving his flashlights over trees and flora around him. "If you're trying to prank me because I pushed you to join, this isn't funny!"

"We can head back if you want." He said, glancing back quickly at the group ahead getting farther away. "Just catch up so we can tell the others first!"

"Bdubs! Keralis!" He yelled a little louder, heartbeat starting to pick up, taking a hesitant few steps forwards.

Ya know- ya know what? Maybe they got ahead of him actually! Yeah! He probably looked away for a while- closed his eyes or something for a moment- he would do that when listening to good music!- Yeah. That, plus the base of his music at the same time could mean they just got ahead with the rest of the group without him noticing at all. It was possible. Yeah?

Etho turned back around in the correct direction of the trail and started to sprint forwards, chasing the fading lights ahead. Call him bad at sports, weight lifting, or any other athletics, but he was light on feet like a ninja when he needed to be, and with his flashlight lighting up the path in front of him, dodging roots and rocks was a breeze.

It stole the wind from him by the time he caught up, especially with his mask making deep breaths slightly harder, but by the time he made it, the others noticed and stopped to look at him.

"Woah what's going on Etho?" Tango looked at him worryingly. He was breathing pretty hard.

"Did you fall behind?" Beef asked. "We can slow down a little."

"Are-" Etho looked up, searching for the two among the crowd. "You- seen Bdubs and Keralis?"

"No." Doc said. "Weren't they both with you?"

"They were, but then I didn't see them when I looked back, and so I walked back a little, but- nothing. Just nothing. I thought maybe they got ahead of me."

"Maybe they stopped somewhere?"

"Did they turn back to camp?"

"They would tell us that, right?"

"What if they accidentally got on the wrong trail?"

"What if it's that slime monster Iskall was talking about?"

"Don't be stupid Tango."

"Yeah, that was just a prank with them and Jevin."

"What if they found a hidden fork and got split up?"

"What do we do?"

Doc moved through the crowd, closer to Etho at the back. Everyone went quiet. "We're going backwards on the trail and looking for them. We can't leave them, even if they just went back to camp."

There were nods and agreements, and Doc stepped behind Etho on the trail. "And we're not splitting up either to look. No one else is getting lost." He said. No one argued.

Doc took the lead, walking back on the trail at a more determined pace, as the others took bigger steps to keep up. This was fine! They probably just saw a cool- uhm- thing! And had to look at it! Probably. Maybe.

Ok, they were very good at acting, but all of them were panicking more or less on the inside. All thoughts of the waterfall were forgotten, or merely put to the side, as they hurriedly walked back on the trail looking for their friends, Doc leading them in a hurried stride.

"This is so exciting!" Stress giggled as she skipped through the forest.

"I mean, I would call it tiring first." Mumbo chuckled. "But I guess it isn't all pants."

Iskall breathed in deeply, "Man, smell that fresh air too dude! Just hits differently at night."

Grian was bouncing on his heels. "Feels like an adventure! I know we already went on this path during the day, but it feels so much cooler without being allowed too."

"All of you better improve your acting by morning." False said, "If Xisuma figures anything out, he'lll never let us go camping together again."

"But wouldn't it be cool to see Xisuma lose his shit?" Grian grinned. "Just imagine! I feel like he could kill a man if provoked long enough."

"I don't think I can imagine that dude!" Iskall cackled. "I've never seen him mad for longer than a few seconds. I don't think he's even able to lose his cool."

"Well whaddya think Mumbo? You've known him longest." Grian asked.

"I heard him swear once."

"Hah!" Stress gasped. "You did not!"

"I did! He was having a rough day, wouldn't tell me why, and then stubbed his toe on some metal only wearing socks. He swore, and neither of us mentioned it ever."

"Aww poor fing." Stress frowned. " 'e sometimes needs a day off, but never has half a brain to be selfish and do it."

"He might be smart, but he can be an idiot."

They all agreed.

Ren slowed down a little bit and they caught up with him, only a few steps away from being in the conversation.

"Hey Ren!" False called out.

"Yeah?"

"We're gonna force X to take a break day after this trip."

"Oh good idea, the dude needs it."

"Any ideas how?"

"Keralis can force him. He's the only one to talk some sense into the fool yet." Ren chuckled.

"That's true, but Keralis can get anyone to take a break." Grian said.

"He's like a fae." False joked. "A big eyed, sweet talking fae."

"Do you think we could make him fairy wings?" Stress laughed, only half joking.

"That would be hilarious!" Iskall cackled. "I can imagine him with those and some cheap plastic crowns too!"

Ren laughed with the others, looking back at the rest of them more than ahead. Carefree and in the woods, he grinned as excitement flowed through his veins. This was fun, laughing in the woods with his friends, rebelling against the rules and being brave. He was so happy.

Ren bumped into something though, and for a split second, that energy spiked into panic.

"wHAa!"

"Woah!"

Ren stumbled into something tall and heavy, waving his arms around to regain balance, until something grabbed and steadied them first, holding him upright. His heart was racing, but as he realized he didn't fall, he was able to breathe again.

"Ren?" The figure asked, and Ren immediately recognized the German accent.

Ren looked up, eyes in awe at his savior from falling. Well, technically, they were the cause as well, but if it had been a root to trip him up, the landing would not have been as heroic and heart pounding as this. Ok nevermind, he was not able to breathe again.

"Doc?" He whispered, taking note of how close they were and how his voice cracked slightly.

"What are you-" Doc started, but then looked past him at everyone else. "What are all of you doing here?" His voice was slightly frantic, something only Ren seemed to notice as Doc let go finally and he could step back.

"We could ask you the same thing." Cleo said snarkily, standing her ground as she stepped in front. "I knew those three fools were up to no good." She pointed to team ZIT, they gasped in offense dramatically. "But I thought you had a few more brain cells in that head of yours."

Cleo noticed Etho, making a tsk sound, "You too Etho? I thought you were better than this..."

Etho shrugged from behind Zed. He seemed slightly uneasy, and didn't retort something sarcastic towards Cleo's comment.

Doc looked like he was counting everyone in his head.

"Did you bring half of the hermits with you-" His breath caught. "Did you tell Xisuma? Were you looking for us?"

"Oh chill out Doc." Grian said. "We couldn't let you steal all the fun for yourselves. X doesn't know."

"We just- you guys weren't in your tents; We thought you went out here for a midnight adventure!" Ren said, laughing a little to hide the nervousness in his voice.

"We thought you'd already be at the waterfall actually." Mumbo mentioned as he realized how the timing really didn't line up. He wasn't great at walking on trails really, but he was good at math. And even if they were going at the same pace (which he doubted, the first group were much more athletically inclined than him, and he was probably slowing his group down) the linear function still didn't make sense for them to collide at all. They could meet at the waterfall maybe, or the walk back, but not halfway through.

"Yeah, actually," False agreed. "Why aren't you there already?"

"On you on your way back? So soon?" Iskall asked.

"No-" Doc said.

"Ohh did you see the flowers? Do they actually glow?" Stress asked before she actually heard Doc.

"Yeah! We don't want to make the whole trip for nothing." Grian added, folding his arms.

"Guys we never-" Beef tried.

"How much longer is the trail anyways?" Iskall asked.

"I'd like to get at least a tad bit of sleep." Mumbo mumbled.

"Wait, have any of you-" Impulse tried softly, reaching out to the second group who didn't seem to hear him.

Ren noticed the opposite group looked nervous, constantly shifting around and glancing around the woods. Zed's gaze was directed at the ground, and Impulse was struggling to ask a question among the talking hermits. Etho's headphones were crooked on his neck, and his clothes were ruffled like he had been running. Doc had nervous, guilty eyes that kept scanning the distance behind everyone.

With Tango, who Ren saw somewhere, that was everyone they had noticed were missing from camp. Did they forget something?

"Hey-" Ren was about to ask Doc what was wrong as everyone else talked behind him, but another voice yelled out to silence them all.

"WE LOST BDUBS AND KERALIS!" Tango exclaimed, all eyes on him.

"What?" Cleo was the first to say. As she processed the words, her gaze hardened into a mix of worry and anger. She stared right at Tango.

"We-" He fumbled under her icy gaze. "We were walking, and looked back and they weren't... Bdubs and Keralis weren't there. And we haven't seen them yet. And- and have you seen them yet? We thought they maybe went back to camp, or stopped on the trail, or...-"

"No, we haven't seen them at all." Mumbo said, furrowing his eyebrows.

"We didn't check their tent. They could still be there?" Stress offered.

"No, no they came into the woods with us." Impulse protested. "Are you sure you haven't heard anyone else? Maybe they were trying not to get caught or something?"

"You lost. Bdubs and Keralis?" Cleo said it like a statement.

"Yes." Doc said coldly right back. "And we're trying to find them so if you'll move out of the way so we can keep looking for them, that would be helpful."

"Oh no." Cleo started, pointing a finger at them. "You're not doing this alone."

"What?" Doc asked.

"We're not stepping by for you to lose another of your group." Cleo glared at him. "We're all joining in to look for those too. If anyone isn't comfortable doing so, I'll escort you back to camp safely right now." She said, taking a jab at Doc while also fully accepting this might not be comfortable for everyone, and that was ok.

She scanned their faces, landing on Mumbo. He looked tired, messy hair from the wind and Grian ruffling it, and his clothes were crumpled and stained, and yet, he didn't move. They made eye contact, and he slightly shook his head, a full conversation on its own. She softened and nodded, he was staying.

"Ok." She breathed out, calming down. "Everyone buddy-up. Two or three at least." She commanded. "If you get separated from the group, you find the trail and stay put on it with your flashlight on so we can find you, blinking on and off to get our attention." She explained clearly.

"But please for the love of god stay with the group." She added with a sigh.

There were murmurs and agreements as everyone grouped up vaguely into groups of 2 or 3, all huddling a little closer to the center.

"Hey I was leading-" Doc started to protest.

"Oh ho.. No." Cleo chuckled gravely, "Look where your "leading" got us all! Got Keralis and Bdubs! I'm in charge now, whether you have something to say about it or not."

Cleo turned towards False to the side when Doc couldn't think of anything to say.

"Are those goggles normal night vision or heat signature ones?" She asked.

"Normal green stuff, you want 'em?" False said.

"No you can keep them. You stay at the front and look out from there, I'll be at the back to make sure no one else falls behind."

Doc looked at the ground, Etho next to him, both with guilty expressions. Beef was frantically looking around the forest they were near with his flashlight, whispering under his breath something incoherent. Everyone seemed fine with Cleo taking over, but those three only felt guilty and worried.

"I hope they're ok." Someone mumbled.

"We'll find them."

"It'll be ok."

Cleo pulled Doc's arm to the back with her to watch everyone and look for any clues the others missed. Ren tried to follow, to talk to Doc and Cleo and ask some questions he wanted answered, but False tapped his shoulder first.

"Hey Ren, help me at the front?" She asked.

"Yeah ok Falsie." Was all he said, refusing to look back at Doc a ast time before he followed her to the front, even as his heart tugged at him too. To see if Doc was looking at him... or not.

This wasn't about him anymore, this was about his friends, who could be lost in unfamiliar woods at night. Finding them was more important. 

------ 

(3667 words!)

Uhm, I have a discord server! Yeah! Join? 

Right here but in the moment because Wattpad is mean about links: https://discord.gg/uamwKKXf 

(if it expires, just say so and I can renew it!)

Like this chapter? Maybe vote or comment please?

If you've maybe noticed, I'm putting more time into this book over smells like coffee and other works. This one just has a more straightforward plot than the others with less moving pieces, and I also want to finish it by the end of the summer. The coffee one will get a chapter soon! But it's going to be a pretty long chapter, because it's kinda the part that I've been waiting to write since the very beginning and I want it to sound right. Thanks for being patient! Have a good day or night!