Greg paused to catch his breath and held up the lantern behind him, illuminating the darkness behind him. Nothing. Absolutely nothing.

This is a game… It hadn't been anything more, Greg. The teenage boy looked around. There was a break in the trees, letting a steady stream of sunlight through. The land was destroyed with broken trees and branches strewn everywhere. It was turning to dusk, so the area was taking a darker turn.

Like the cold night when he woke up.

Greg shook the memory out of his mind. This is not the time to go back… Not with the Beast here…

The young wanderer examined the area around himself in case the Edelwood branches had crept upon him again; they hadn't in five years, but ever since he coughed up the leaves about a year ago paranoia kicked in.

Distracted by his thoughts, the boy tripped over a stump. "OW!"

Greg sat up and his hand brushed against a cold piece of china. He picked it up and in his palm laid a small teacup- the one that was supposed to catch a sun.

"Just gotta wait, just gotta wait."

"Yes, just sit here out in the cold…"

"Nothing's impossible…" Greg threw the teacup. "Yeah, right."

Sighing in a defeated tone, Greg got up and grabbed the axe that had fallen near himself, heading deeper into the forest to find more Edelwood branches for the lantern.

After all, his life depended on it.

-line break-

Greg poured the oil into the lantern, its flame glowing brightly, and he turned it down. He then grabbed about the five other jars he had finished and threw them into his satchel.

With the rest, he buried under the mill. He didn't want Beatrice's dog digging them up when they came by during the summer. Then Beatrice would find him again.

"C'mon Jason Funderburker, let's go." Greg frowned a bit as he watched his old frog hop towards him in a slow and unsteady pace, but knew the stubborn old frog would refuse to add to his companion's burden.

"Ow!" a girl's voice cried out, catching Greg's attention.

Did Woodsman come back early this year? Greg thought. The Woodsman and his daughter lived here from fall through spring until they were off on adventures through the wood. Why the Woodsman would take his daughter out with the Beast still around Greg had no idea.

"Willow, please be more careful."

"Daddy, it's so heavy," the daughter complained, but a slight laugh at the end of the statement said otherwise to the time with her dad. Greg poked his head from around the corner of the mill, where the Woodsman's daughter and the Woodsman were exiting the woods. Willow, the daughter, was dragging some logs when she tripped.

Greg smiled. She had really grown… She was what, eighteen, nineteen?

Greg had caught glimpse of the Woodsman's daughter, and she was now getting up.

"Hey, Dad, were you expecting company?"

"No, why?"

"There's a boy over there."

Shoot! Greg's eyes widened as the Woodsman looked over in his direction. Greg jumped away from his viewpoint, knowing it was already too late, but he still ran off in the other direction, hoping not to get caught.

Except he left something quite important.

The lantern.

-line break-

I don't know why, but I love playing around with characters that are so happy in the canon, but take a dark turn in my story.

Anyways, you'll find out what happened to Greg and Wirt.

Sometime…

*I'm so lazy sometimes…*

SHUT UP VOICE OF REASON!