AN: Obviously I do not own The Property of Hate nor the characters. Except for the 'stubborns'-bit of a fan-er-monster I created.
Crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch…
These were the only sounds that rang through the air as a young brunette and an enigmatic TV-headed man strolled through the forest iced with snow. Well, it at least looked and felt like snow to the girl. During her voyage to be a 'hero', she had learned that this surreal place was where everything physical meant something abstract. However, her companion RGB didn't seem too worried over the snow, so she saw no reason to fret.
RGB walked ahead of her in smooth strides as usual. Today his snappy suit sported a royal purple hue and around his neck was a pink (or 'salmon', as he insisted) bowtie. Lilac and plum stripes ran down his pants, matching the colorful band around his boater hat. With his cane in one hand, he brushed some snow off his shoulder with the other.
"RGB?"
He glanced behind at the girl. "Yes?"
"This stuff isn't snow, is it?" Hero dusted off some from her shoulder as well, noting the strange texture of the 'snow'; although cold to the touch, this substance was dry, like a powder.
"isntsnoh!" A silly voice squeaked from the hood of Hero's jacket. Assok popped his sock-puppet head out and peeked over the child's shoulder.
The man nodded. "Yes, this dust is not snow. Although I suppose you can call it that, if you must."
"What is it, then?" Hero craned her head upwards for answers. The sky decided to take on an eerily gloomy thistle, but she couldn't tell if it was because of an otherworldly overcast or the sky itself.
"Look closely," RGB said. "At the top of the trees."
She squinted her eyes to focus on the treetops. Sure enough, a closer examination revealed little flakes of the 'snow' steadily flaking off the branches and fluttering to the ground. It looked like the trees were shedding off their old coat of bark like a lizard does with its scaly skin, but…something didn't feel quite right. There was no fresh layer of bark beneath the flaking outer coat. The trees gave off an air of weariness and ill health, as if they were…
"Are they…dying?" Hero whispered.
The sharply dressed monster sadly shook his TV set. "I'm afraid so…forests are normally safe havens for trees to flourish, but now…" He took off his hat and turned it in his hands as he searched his mind for the right words to say next.
Hero gently tugged at his sleeve. "Is there any way I can save them?" She held her other hand to her chest. "I-I mean…I'm a hero, aren't I?"
RGB's antennas nearly twitched with surprise; it was the first time he'd heard her openly admit to being a hero…and wanting to complete heroic actions. Part of him wanted to comfort her somehow, to lie that every tree would return to normal, but…the normally suave liar felt an uncomfortable pang inside that glued his mouth shut.
"Careful," Madras's advice ran through his mind. "You mustn't get attached to her."
"RGB?" Hero stared at his screen with wide eyes. "RGB? Are you okay?"
"u oh kay?" Assok mimicked.
"…Oh, I'm fine. Sound as a pound." He plastered on a fake grin. "Just lost in thought, that's all. Now come along, spit spo-" The man stopped short, suddenly growing still.
"…RGB?"
"Quiet." He ordered as he surveyed their surroundings. Hero closed her mouth and glanced about as well. All she could see were half dead trees and the snow frosted ground. No lies, no doubts, no fears in sight…
A galloping beat suddenly reached her ears. Barely audible at first, then steadily growing louder. She turned her head in the direction of the sound and saw, in the distance, a wide red blur approaching. Hero raised her hand over her eyes to focus, and barely made out the shapes of bull-like creatures.
Before she could shout "Stampede!" she felt RGB's strong arm wrap around her and hoist her up. Holding her like a rugby ball, the athletic man sprinted in the opposite direction.
"Oh goody, just what we need," RGB grumbled. "And here, off all places!"
"What are they?" Hero asked as she reached into her hood to hold her sock companion more securely.
"Stubborns."
"Stubborns…?" She had heard that word somewhere before, but wasn't sure what it meant.
"Well, have you ever come across someone who just won't give up or listen to a thing anyone else says?" He explained as he jumped over a fallen tree trunk. "That's what it means to be 'stubborn'."
"stub orn!" Assok squeaked as he glanced around Hero's protective arms at the stampede. He bit his lower 'lip' and buried himself deeper into the girl's embrace. Even in the girl's grip, he could still feel the vibrations of the galloping herd.
Hero stroked Assok on the head to comfort him before she looked back up to RGB. "So why are they running?"
"That hardly matters now." The monster slid down a steep hill and resumed his sprint. "The important thing is when they start something, they won't stop until they see fit-and that could take days."
"But why?"
"They're stubborn; they won't quit or change their minds until-ack!"
He tripped over a half dead root, letting Hero fall from his grasp. She rolled onto the ground and landed on her feet, where she began to run with RGB right behind her.
"They won't let anything get in their way!" He shouted over the stentorian rumble of the stampede. "They're as bad as ideas, sometimes worse!"
The girl dared to look over her shoulder. Her eyes widened as she took in the powerful muscles, the vibrant red fur, and the rock strong horns of every bull. She had no idea how many there were, but there were definitely enough to trample over her and her friends several times over. Each one also wore a thick iron nose ring as if to showcase their iron hard will.
Hero quickened her pace, running for her life. She approached a small ledge and jumped down to the lower level. Before she could continue her dash, however, RGB grabbed her from behind and pulled her back. He brought them under the cliff and pressed their backs to the rock wall as they watched the stampede run in front of the opening and away. With every minute that passed, more and more stubborns charged past their hiding place until the thundering roar of hooves faded into nothing.
"…That was close." RGB sighed. He slowly crawled out and motioned for Hero to follow. As the girl emerged back into the open with Assok still in her arms, the monster dusted off his blazer as if nothing chaotic had occurred.
"That was scary…" Hero whispered to herself, clinging onto her sock companion.
"scaryclose!" Assok yelped.
"I'm surprised they didn't take down the whole forest." RGB straightened his hat as he gazed behind them. The decaying trees suffered a scratch here and there, but nothing more. They all still stood tall with their dying bark sprinkling the chilly air.
"scaryclose! scaryclose!" The sock puppet babbled again in a panicky manner. "scaryclose!"
Hero tilted her head in confusion. Assok wiggled his way out of her tight grasp and pointed his head behind Hero and RGB, still repeating that slurred warning.
"scaryclose! scaryclose!"
Puzzled, the duo turned around, not really knowing what to expect. Lumps of snow near them started to shift and grow taller. The white powder grew dark as sharp black spikes suddenly sprang out of the snow.
"Fears!" Hero scooped up Assok, stuffed him back into her hood, and ran to RGB's side, who was digging through his jacket pockets.
"How many?" He ordered as he fished out a handful of colorful vials.
"Uh…one…two…" She counted as the sickle headed creatures emerged from the snow.
"Okay, that's not too ba-wait, there's a third-"
RGB froze as the shuffling of snow filled the air like a toxic fume. Before Hero could even blink, they were surrounded by lanky black fiends-eight, to be precise.
"Oh, for the love of-RUN!" He flicked off the cork of one of the vials, tossed it behind him, and dashed off with the brown haired girl beside him. They somehow slipped past the fears as the nightmare RGB left behind destroyed two of the monsters, leaving the remaining six to chase the TV man and the girl.
"W-what do we do?!" Hero cried, narrowly missing a fear's sharp claws digging through the ground at a steady shnk, shnk, shnk.
"There are too damn many of them; just keep running!" RGB commanded as he jumped over another dead tree.
"No surprise," He thought. Weak trees meant weak dreams, and weak dreams meant weak protection against these dangers. But still-eight fears in one concentrated spot? Not quite what you'd call a regular occurrence.
The duo suddenly skidded to a halt, their toes barely hanging over the edge of a six foot drop leading to a deep river. Freezing cold water rushed below as if warning them not to come any closer. RGB's reaction was akin to an arachnophobe's response to an enormous, hairy tarantula. Shaking, he hastily took a long step away before he remembered the fears behind him and Hero. The surviving six fears grew closer with their sharp bodies poised and ready.
"Hero, here!" RGB briskly threw one of the vials into the girl's small hands and shouted, "Lead some away and deal with them!"
"O-okay!" She spun around and ran down the river with her partner dashing in the opposite direction. The sextet of beasts hesitated as they realized their targets had split up, but then divided into two trios.
"Alright, this is better," RGB thought as he ran. "Three fears are easier to handle." He dodged one of their razor edged heads and popped open another vial. Nebulous smoke swiftly emerged from the glass tube and wrapped its foggy claws around two of the fears, choking them. As they died out with a strident shriek, RGB bolted past the third, preparing the second nightmare in his hands.
Somehow his foot crashed into an overgrown tree root, sending the rest of his body down to slam against the snow and lose his cane. Just before the fear could pounce, he smashed his fist into the vial and scrambled to his feet. The noxious fog escaped and snaked around the final fear, cutting its life to an end.
"Finally." RGB picked up his cane and jogged away, keeping a wide girth between him and the ledge to the river. He stuck his gloved hand into his blazer pocket and pulled out his final vial. The indigo smog swirled idly inside the clear flask, waiting to be unleashed. He vaguely recalled the murky yellow nightmare he had tossed to Hero earlier.
"Maybe I should have given her two," He thought. Well, too late now; all he could do was hope for the best and-
"Maybe she died."
RGB nearly stopped in his tracks. No, he didn't have time to speculate if the fears had already turned her into mincemeat. He quickened his stride, ignoring the cramp in his abdomen.
"…aaaaaaaaAAAAAAHH!" SPLAT!
Something suddenly flew into RGB's screen, causing him to fall backwards into the snow. With a low "Ugh..." he peeled the mystery object from his face. Dangling between his thumb and finger was Assok, dyed in his saturated drool.
"Assok? What are you doing here?!"
"fee ers! fee ers!" The sock babbled with terror in his black beady eyes. "fee ers stillalive!"
"…Oh no…" RGB stuffed Assok into his pants pocket and galloped forward with his friend's words echoing through his circuits. He wasn't sure how far or how fast he ran, but within minutes a fear's needle thin fingers sprang past him.
"fee ers stillalive!" Assok squeaked as he rode in RGB's pocket.
"Yes I can see that now where's Hero?!"
Another fear dove towards him. The able-bodied man rolled underneath it and resumed his fast pace. So there were two fears alive; not a good sign.
"Hero! Where are you, damnit!" RGB cursed. He didn't get far, however; something short crashed into his body.
"Ow!" THUD-FLOMP!
"RGB!"
He whipped his head up to the familiar voice. Staring at him while lying on his chest was the chestnut haired girl.
"Hero!" He hastily shoved her off of him and barked, "I thought I told you to deal with the fears-"
"I did!" She protested as she pulled him out of the snow. "But there were more!"
"How many?!"
"I-I don't know-"A fear's shadow black head sliced past her head, shaving off a few centimeters of her hair. Before she could blink, four more fears circled around them with no opening to escape. She and RGB stepped back, barely an inch from the water.
"Five… Just what we need." RGB hissed. He slipped the cork off the final vial, flung it at two fears, and sprinted through the opening while tugging Hero away by her hand. Normally he wasn't keen on the idea of holding her hand, but this was an emergency. No other 'hero' had survived as long as she did, and didn't want to lose her now."Not because I'm attached to her," He thought, "but because -"
SHNK!
Needle thin spikes sank through his fake spat shoes, shifting his balance out of whack. The man collided into the snow with a muffled thump. He knew the fear was about to stick itself through his chest, to read what he didn't understand, to ruin his shirt yet again.
The familiar shunk resounded through the nippy air, but RGB felt no familiar blade cut through him. Baffled, he looked over his shoulder.
The man found the ink dyed tip of the fear inches from his screen, with the rest of the blade stuck through Hero's body. His test pattern mouth leaked cyan and magenta in pure shock while his cane sat forgotten in the snow.
"H-H-He-! " RGB's composure collapsed as his voice entangled itself in his invisible throat. He could only see her backside, but he saw her quivering clearly as her small, trembling hands gripped onto the fear's head.
"S...s-stop..." She whispered hoarsely. Her arms tensed as she pushed the fear back with little progress. "S-stop it!"
"stoppit, stoppit!" Assok cried from RGB's pocket. "fee er! fee er stoppit!"
RGB finally snapped out of his trance of shock and stretched out his hand, but the fear decided to rear its head in the air, sending Hero up with it.
"H-hey!" She tried to punch its ghostly white eye, but her arms were too short. "Put me down! And leave us alone!"
The fear shook and jerked about, trying to fling the pesky girl off, but she held firmly onto the menace, like a cowboy riding a mad bull. Terrified tears leaked out of her eyes but her eyes glistened with courageous resolve. She was afraid, scared to the hairs on her head-but despite such fright, she chose fight, not flight. To fight against this panic for the sake of her friend's well being. The sole definition of bravery.
RGB rummaged through every pocket of his blazer, his slender fingers scouring for one last vial. "There's got to be one more…just one more-!"
Three narrow needles shot through his chest and hand from behind, rendering him into an awkward position with his hand stuck to his heart. His screen and consciousness switched to static briefly as the fear's sinister eye spun in concentration, reading his mind.
"U-ugh…" RGB groaned as his vision returned. Through his fuzzy screen he saw Hero still stuck onto her fear. She kicked against its charcoal head with tears dribbling off of her chin.
"Let me go! And leave us alone!" The girl resembled a child having a tantrum, but frightened, not frustrated.
"H-Hero!" RGB tried to worm out of the fear's tight grasp, but the third fear rooted his feet to the ground, chaining him to his spot. Even poor Assok had a needle through his mouth, muting his frantic protests.
The twin fears dragged the cumbersome monster towards the river. He found his face inches away from his deepest and wettest fear.
"No, no, no, no, no…" He craned his neck back as far as he could while eyeing the brunette from the corner of his screen.
"RGB!" Hero cried, barely hanging onto her fear. Taking this lapse of guard as an opportunity, it swiftly flung its head, sending Hero flying through the air and collapsing on the very edge of the opposite ledge.
"Oof!" She tumbled and felt gravity pull her and some snow over the edge and towards the water. Hero attempted to get up, but the slippery ground beneath her shoes refused to cooperate and sent her dangling over the ledge.
"Hero!" RGB shouted and attempted yet again to wriggle his way out of the fears's grip. He didn't care if she could swim like an Olympic athlete; a child her size and strength didn't stand a chance against such powerful rapids. The monster barely registered how the same water was barely three centimeters away from him.
He suddenly felt the metal cold fingers tilt his screen up instead to where he got a perfect view of the girl struggling to hang on. Her fingers clawed desperately at the snow but the angel white substance continued to offer no friction to her. She could almost feel droplets of the freezing water beat against the bare skin of her shins.
"H-help!" She clawed some more. "RGB, help!"
"I'm trying!" The monster struggled against his captors, tearing up his clothes in the process. No matter how he flexed, shifted, or jerked, the fears's clutch did not lessen. They restrained his position to where he had no choice but to have the image of Hero hanging on for dear life burned into his mind's eye.
He didn't want her to fall into the river.
He didn't want to see her to drown.
He was afraid she would die.
Afraid.
More afraid than getting himself soaked like a cheap sponge.
All this ran through his electric circuits in an instant, freezing his movements. He could barely comprehend it, but he didn't have time to question it further as Hero's grip lost the battle with the ledge, leaving her body defenseless to gravity's invisible chains.
"HERO!"
"AAAAAH-" KA-SPLAASH!
Her compact body became engulfed in the surging water, cutting her cry short as she was carried down the river. RGB's entire body went numb as if he was already drenched in the frigid water. Through his tense shock, his captors had loosened their hold, letting his neck relax and face the water below. He saw his misshapen reflection dance on top of the water while his drool tainted the river with saturated ink.
"…I must be out of my mind."
Blankets of liquid ice tangled themselves around Hero's skin as she thrashed around underwater. Occasionally her head would be able to break to the sweet air above, but the current would drag her back down again. Bubbles of oxygen slipped out of her mouth and swarmed away from her, just like her hope. All that filled her lungs was water and fear.
"H-help…" Hero croaked through the dark water. Her eyelids felt as if they had gained fifty pounds, and began to close. The intense numbness spread through her veins, shoving out any warmth left.
Something latched onto the back of her hood and pulled her into a protective arm that wrapped around her torso. The limb dragged her up and shoved her head out of the water. Hero coughed and sputtered for air with her rescuer, who was weakly clinging onto a rock in the middle of the current. Once her vision had cleared, she glanced to whoever had saved her.
She was welcomed by the sight of RGB with electric sparks buzzing about his screen. Nearly his entire body was covered with splotches of what laid underneath his clothes; metallic blue-grey patterns with orange warm lines pulsing through like veins.
"R-R-RGB?!" Hero panted, not sure what to say.
The man only responded with more coughing before he flung her and his cane clumsily over to dry land. After she slammed into the soft snow, she shook her head and whipped back around to the river. RGB's hands lost their grip on the slick rock, allowing the water to swallow him.
"RGB!"
He floundered above the water before wheezing, "H-Hel-cough, cough-HELP!"
Hero grabbed the cane and dashed along the river with her eyes trained on her struggling friend, but the current carried the man at a faster pace. She pumped her legs with all she had, which unfortunately wasn't much-most of her energy had been already sapped out from the hectic events before.
The girl tripped over her feet and felt the snow fill her face. When she stood back up using RGB's cane, she only got a final glimpse of RGB as his body vanished below the horizon.
"N-no!" Hero held her head, feeling deflated. She had to catch up to RGB to save him, but her current physical state rendered her useless for such a task.
"No…No, I don't have time to think about that!" She pounded her feet against the ground with clenched someone had told her that her smooth talking friend had already sunken to the river bottom, or that continuing to chase after the mirage of his figure in her mind was a lost cause, or that her feeble running would be futile, then they would have been wasting their breath.
She didn't want to lose her friend.
She didn't want to listen to the voice of reason.
She was stubbornly continuing her sprint.
Stubborn.
More stubborn than a cross between a mule and an ox.
Hero ran with hot, tenacious tears running down her cheeks and flying behind her with the snow she kicked up. She was so locked into her persistent state of mind that she almost missed the red steer cantering beside her. The girl gasped, but the stubborn showed no malice in its eyes. It snorted, impressed with her obdurate resolve. The stubborn craned its neck back as if saying, "Don't just run there! Get on already!"
Tightening her lips, Hero leaped onto the bull, swung her leg over to its other side, and crouched over its shoulders. She tensed her calves as her steed picked up speed. For every stride Hero could have taken, her new friend made several. The merciless river and decaying forest blurred past them into indistinct shapes.
"…ha-lp! HA-LP!"
Hero and her stubborn perked up their ears at the high pitched voice. Nervously perched on top of RGB's floating hat while screaming at top volume was Assok, and thrashing besides him while coughing up a storm was RGB.
"Assok! RGB!" Hero leaned over as much as she could without falling off the stubborn. She then remembered the peculiar cane sitting in her tight fist.
"RGB! Snap your fingers!"
"Wh-gaugh-what di-hkguh-did you say?!" He sputtered. Parts of his body were starting to turn dark, dark grey, like static. Every now and then his screen would flicker with an eerie grayscale eye. He was turning into…well, that monstrous state she had witnessed back on the plains of hesitation. She didn't know how else to describe it, other than it had sent more than a few meager chills down her spine. And wavering between his suave self and his savage state didn't look like a good sign to Hero.
"snap! snap fin gurs!" Assok mimicked wildly as his makeshift raft jolted above the waves.
RGB flung his hand up in the air and pressed his thumb to his middle finger.
SNAP!
The cane threatened to slip past Hero's hands as that sharp sound cut through the air, but the girl held on and tugged back. Her stubborn halted and dug its hooves into the snow, pulling against the mysterious magnetism as well. RGB's body, in turn, grew attracted to the cane, fighting against the current. He clumsily grabbed his hat with Assok and held them close to his chest.
"C'mon…" Hero hissed as the stubborn backed up a step. If she didn't know better, she would have thought there was a steel cord attached between RGB and the cane as she played this dangerous game of tug a war with the river.
"Just a little more…" Her fingers firmly curled around the thin wood, holding the cane like a fishing rod. Just when she was worried the cane would break, RGB's body broke free of the river, flew out of the water, and crashed on top of Hero and the stubborn.
The awkward bunch rolled back and stopped, sprawled in the snow. Hero rose to discover Assok hiding in the boater hat, shivering.
"blighterpoop!" He squealed, jumped into her arms, and nuzzled into her chest. "stillalive!"
"I'm glad you're okay, too." The girl squeezed her sock friend. Assok suddenly gasped as he looked behind her arm.
"arejee bee!"
Hero whipped her head around. There he was, lying in the snow as stiff as a cadaver. But that wasn't the most alarming feature; his entire body was void of any color. No spiffy suit, no flickering patterns, just a pale slate of grey. His screen, his blazer, his dress shoes were drained to a chalk dull hue.
The girl crawled over to the TV man. She lightly poked his shoulder and stared at his screen. "RGB…? Hello?"
"…"
"RGB?" Assok tilted his head in confusion as she shook him gently.
"…"
"RGB! Can you hear me?"
"…"
"RGB! Wake up!" This time she knocked her knuckles against his lifeless screen, but her only response was an empty tap, tap, tap. No sarcastic voice going 'do you mind?" and commanding her to stop. Just dead silence.
Dead.
"…no." Hero whimpered. "N-no. No, no, no-!" A tight lump bundled up in her throat as hot tears ran down her cheeks. She opened her mouth, but no words would come. Just a mournful cry, followed by dozens more as she buried her face into her tiny hands. Assok frowned and murmured glumly into her lap with his 'shoulders' shaking up and down.
"I-I'm so sorry…" She croaked between sniffs. "I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry-y-y-!" The girl cracked her head back and wailed into the sky.
"I…I'm not …I'm not a hero…how can I be a hero when I can't even save my own friend?! What kind of hero is that?!"
Gallons of droplets escaped her eyes and splattered into the numb snow. She didn't even bother wiping the snot and tears from her messy face. Her world was nothing but a sorrowful fog through her heartbroken eyes.
She didn't even see the red and white polka dotted handkerchief that slowly approached her face and wiped it clean.
Hero blinked several times before she gawked at the familiar cloth in front of her. Beneath it was a shamrock and mint green striped sleeve, and beneath that was a chocolate brown shirt matching the chestnut colored shoes attached to the mantis green pants. With a gasp she glanced at RGB's screen, which now broadcasted a weak technicolor grin.
"M-m-my hero…"
Hero sat there frozen, dumbstruck at RGB's colors and voice. After a pop of silence, her shoulders shook gently. More tears bubbled up in the corners of her eyes, but her mouth blossomed into a wide smile.
"You-you-you're-!" Happy drops of water flowed out of her eyes like little waterfalls as she jumped onto her friend and wrapped her arms around his non-existing neck.
"You're okay!" She cried into his shoulder.
"oak ey! oak ey!" Assok chirped and jumped onto RGB's screen. "arejee bee oak ay!"
"Y-yes, I'm fine, and…" He was about to tell the two to get off of him, to tell Hero to stop soaking his shirt, to tell Assok to calm down, but…any cold logic left within him melted at the girl's embrace. Her damp, warm tears stung yet brought a feeling akin to happiness inside of him.
"Yes, I'm truly out of my mind today. But to hell with it."
The man hugged the girl tightly while ruffling her cinnamon brown hair with his long fingers. A light chuckle escaped his throat before he said, "Thank you, Hero."
"N-no…thank you, RGB."
"Hm?"
Her face rose from his chest to gaze at him with an expression brimming with joy. "When I fell into the water, you saved me. You saved my life." She wiped her sleeve against her eyes. "You're my hero."
His antennae flinched; he'd been called may things, but 'hero'…that was a first. However, he didn't speak on the matter and carefully pushed her off. He got to his feet and placed his trademark hat on his TV set.
"Now then, I believe it's about time we get back on our way, don't you?"
Hero nodded and handed him his cane. "Are…you sure you're okay? Okay enough to walk?"
"Okay enough to walk?" RGB repeated. Without warning, he scooped up the girl onto his back in a piggy back ride. "I've never felt better!"
In truth, his body still ached from all the water and rush, but he chose to do something he often did; lie to himself. Only this time, there was a deeper truth hidden within it. Something warm, and a bit silly-but he didn't care right now. He could give her a smart aleck comment later.
"Wait!" Hero looked around. "There…there was a stubborn that helped me, too."
"A stubborn? You don't say?"
"Yeah, when I ran after you in the river, it helped me catch up to you and pull you out." Her face twisted with bewilderment. "But I don't see it…"
"When a goal is achieved, a stubborn will move on to whatever is next." RGB mused. "It probably left once it saw the task was done. I wouldn't worry about it too much."
"Okay…I just wanted to thank it for helping us."
"Hal ping us!" Assok squeaked as he jumped into Hero's hood. The girl laughed and wrapped her arms over RGB's shoulders and stuck her legs through his arms.
"Ready to go?" RGB asked.
"Uh-huh!"
"Then let's get moving." He shifted the girl on his back slightly and walked forward. Within minutes all that was left of the trio in the dying forest was RGB's footprints in the snow.