-4-

The Thing About Mazes

"Rigby!" Mordecai shouted.

"Rigby, where'd you go!?" Margaret did the same.

"Come on, man!" Mordecai and Margaret were getting tired of this. They had been doing this for an hour and a half now, and it was almost completely dark. Seriously, the maze couldn't be THAT big! How on earth (or any other planet for that matter) could he have gone this far without running into them?

"Geez..." said Margaret, "this maze must be huge! It feels like it has no end!"

Mordecai let out a sigh. "Yeah..." he said, "I don't think we should go any further tonight. I mean, we can hardly see anything now..."

"Yeah," said Margaret, "you're probably right. I mean, I can barely see your face now."

"Yeah, I wish could see your face better, too," said Mordecai.

If you looked close enough, you could see Margaret's cheeks turn a light pink. She giggled a bit.

"Do you think we should get some rest?" she asked.

"I guess so..." said Mordecai, "It's gonna be kinda cold, though."

Margaret sighed. "Yeah, but we'll probably be okay..."

"I hope Rigby's okay, too..." said Mordecai, as he started to lay down. "Goodnight, Margaret."

"Goodnight, Mordecai," Margaret replied.

Mordecai turned on his side so his back was facing Margaret.

He shivered lightly as he tried to fall asleep. Then he felt something creep up against his back. It felt soft and warm. He turned his head to see what had caused this sudden warmth. As he turned his head, he felt feathers against his cheek. He immediately made an assumption, but he could still be wrong. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a very red robin, with her back turned against his back.

"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, mmmyyyyyyyyyyyy..." he whispered to himself.

He then heard Margaret giggle a bit. "Oh," she said, turning her head to look at him, "I guess I surprised you, didn't I?"

He nodded.

"Well," she said, "this is the warmest position for us to be in, without it being super awkward. You know, like-"

"Yeah, I know you mean," he cut her off, knowing she hoped he would stop her before she finished her sentence.

They laid in one of the most awkward silences ever for a few seconds, then Mordecai broke the silence.

"Thanks, by the way," he said.

"For what?" Margaret asked.

"For helping with the weeds, and you know," he paused to gesture at their position, "for keeping us both warm."

"Oh," she said, "no problem. Sweet dreams."

"They're all of you," he said, sweetly. Margaret giggled again. "And sweet dreams to you, too, Margaret."

"Thanks," she replied, "Goodnight."

"Goodnight," Mordecai finished, as they both closed their eyes.

The morning came. It came with the tapping of warm shoulders from cold, metal hands.

Benson watched as the two bumped their heads together while stirring in their sleep. When he found them, they had been sleeping against each other's backs. He knew why they were in that position, and he was trying not to get worked up about it. He had looked all night for them and Rigby.

"Ow..." they said, grabbing the side of their heads.

"Guys," said Benson. They both looked at him. "Where's Rigby?"

They felt his pain.

"We were looking for him all day, yesterday," Mordecai said, as he sat up.

"You didn't find him either?" Margaret asked.

Benson shook his head.

"No," he said, "but we need to find him soon or I'm pretty sure something's going to happen to him. It always does, now come on."

Without any arguing, the two birds stood up and brushed themselves off.

"Okay," said Mordecai, "let's g-Whoa..."

"Gee, Mordecai," said Margaret, "seems like you've been having trouble finishing your-" she gasped before she could finish her sentence.

They were both looking at the same thing: the now 35-foot weeds.

"What's the matter?" Benson cut in.

"The weeds..." Mordecai said, almost emotionlessly, "they're taller."

"Way taller," Margaret corrected.

"Yeah," said Benson, "they grew overnight, and they're gonna keep growing, so hurry up." Benson started to walk away, opposite to the direction he came from.

"Right," said Mordecai. "That's a good idea."

"Let's go, then," said Margaret.

They walked, turned, took notes, made mistakes, turned around, and in the end, they all generally just got frustrated.

After several long alleys, short turns, and dead ends, Benson made a decision he'd been debating on for quite a while.

"Ugh!" he shouted. "That's it! We've been in here for TOO LONG!" He then stomped over to the wall to their right.

Mordecai knew exactly what he was about to do. He quickly rushed in front of Benson, blocking him from the wall of weeds.

"I don't think that's a good idea..." said Mordecai.

"What are you talking about?" said Benson. "I'm just going through a wall."

"That's just it, though," said Mordecai. "That's the thing about mazes: you aren't supposed to jump any walls."

"Well, it's the only idea that seems legit right now. You got a better one?"

Mordecai rubbed the back of his neck. "Well, no..." he said, "it's just that it may seem like a good idea..." he paused. 'Time to whip out pep-talk mode' he thought. "-But in the end, look at how many things have happened to us. I mean, we've basically been chewed up and down through every part of this park. And usually, it has nothing to do with the park itself. It's just some weird creature, or myth, or something. The first day we got here, we found out that it's not safe to play 'rock, paper scissors' at all. And there have been like, so many other things we know not to mess with."

"Yeah," said Margaret, as she put her hand on Benson's shoulder, "like solids."

Benson thought about it for a moment. So much he wanted to deny it. But try as he might, they were right. He had said it himself. 'Something is going to happen, it always does.' He inwardly cursed at himself for that earlier comment.

"Okay," he said, "how about this?" he pointed to the wall behind Mordecai, "I'll take a peek first, and if nothing happens, I get to go through. Okay?"

Mordecai sighed. "Fine..." he said.

"Thank you," Benson said as he moved past Mordecai.

He had some trouble pushing past the weeds, seeing as how they were all at least ten inches thick. After his view of the other side became clear, he observed it and tried to find anything out of the ordinary... Well, at the moment, everything was out of the ordinary right about now. He wasn't surprised when there wasn't any sign of danger or...anything else, but more tall weeds on the other side of the path he could see.

He turned around to look back at Mordecai and Margaret.

"Okay," he said, pointing at the wall, "there's nothing there. I'm going through."

"Okay," Mordecai said with a fake smile, "we'll see you when we find you again."

"What?" said Margaret.

"Ohhh no," Benson pointed at him. "You're coming, too, Mordecai." Benson looked at Margaret, "Both of you."

"Yeah, Mordecai," said Margaret. "Even if we don't pick the best path-" they heard Benson give a small growl, "-it's still best if we stay together," she finished.

Mordecai wasn't exactly pleased with either of their comments, but there wasn't really a point in finding another way to go, seeing as how he would be walking by himself.

"Fine..." he said following the two through the weeds.

Benson went first. After they couldn't see him Margaret shouted "Benson, are you through?"

They waited for a response.

There was none.

"Benson?" Mordecai shouted.

They waited some more.

And some more.

Mordecai looked at Margaret.

"I think it's our turn," he said.

Margaret nodded.

They stepped through the seemingly endless wall of weeds. It took them about five minutes to actually start believing that there wasn't an end.

"This is ridiculous!" said Mordecai, "There has be an opening some-" he cut himself off with his own gasp.

"-where..." he finished. Before them was what they would consider - and what was - a giant television screen.

"Holy...wow..." said Margaret, as if she was hypnotized by it.

On the screen there was a demo of Pac-Man playing. Mordecai looked below the screen, where he saw a small repetitive flash coming from. He moved closer to it to see what it was. He saw that it was coming from a much, much smaller screen. As he stood right in front of it, it stopped flashing. He then looked a bit closer to see if there was something he couldn't see before. Some small blue words appeared on the screen.

'YOU HAVE BROKEN THE RULES,' it read.

"Rules!?" Mordecai shouted, looking at Margaret, who flinched. "What rules? We were just looking for our friend!"

"Hey, don't yell at me," Margaret said while raising her hands in defense. "I totally agree with you."

"Oh," Mordecai said, realizing that he was looking in her direction as he was yelling. "Sorry, heh."

"It's okay," said Margaret. "Hey, maybe it can hear us."

They both looked back at the tiny screen.

'UHHH...' it read.

Mordecai and Margaret both looked at each other and face-palmed. They then looked back at the screen.

'OH YEAH! YOU BROKE THE THING!'

They looked at each other again.

"What thing?" said Margaret.

"I dunno," Mordecai replied. "Oh, wait! The thing about mazes!"

"The what...?"

"The Thing About Mazes."

Margaret raised an eyebrow at him.

"The Thing About Mazes!" Mordecai exclaimed. "Ya know, You Aren't Supposed To Jump Any Walls...?"

"Ohhh," said Margaret, "you mean the rule about mazes?"

"Well..." said Mordecai, as he shrugged his shoulders, "no one's ever really called it that before, so..."

"You've done this before?"

"Well, yeah, when I was a kid..." Mordecai looked at the ground as he spoke. He looked back at her when he started to speak again, "...and only in kiddy maze books. At the beginning of each one it always taught some moral lesson about not jumping walls or crossing lines, and I never really thought much of it until now, seeing as how this..." he paused to look at the giant screen again, "...oversized game of Pac-Man wants something with us. Didn't you ever do any maze books when you were little?"

Margaret shook her head.

"Oh, hehe," said Mordecai, scratching the back of his head. "Really?" Margaret nodded. "I was never really into it..." she said, shrugging.

They both saw another flash out the corner of their eyes. They looked at the tiny screen again.

'ANYWHOOOO...' it read.

Mordecai sighed, "Okay, yes, we jumped a wall. We were just looking for our friend. He's a raccoon, about four-foot-one. Have you seen him?"

They then heard a cry for help from above them. They both looked up at the bigger screen to see a pixilated raccoon running for dear life from different colored ghosts that seemed to be gaining on him.

"How'd he get in there!?" he shouted at the smaller screen.

"Mordecai," said Margaret, grabbing his shoulder. Mordecai looked at her and listened. "Look," she said, pointing at the small flashing screen. They looked at it again.

'HE ALSO JUMPED A WALL,' it read.

They looked at the bigger screen again.

"Rigby," said Mordecai, "you dummy."

"Hey," said Margaret, nudging him, "we did it, too, ya know."

"Yeah," said Mordecai, "but we didn't want to."

That's when it came to mind.

"Hold on..." said Mordecai, "why haven't we-" he was cut off by the transforming of molecules into pixels.

"AHHHH!" they shouted.

There was a brief moment of falling. Very brief as they both hit a pixilated black floor, rear-end first.

"Oof!"

After realizing that they were on electronically solid ground, they looked around seeing that they were at an intersection with dark blue walls, then looked at each other, concerned.

"You okay?" asked Mordecai.

"Yeah," said Margaret. "You?"

"Fine here," said Mordecai, "but we need to find-*gasp,*" he stopped in mid sentence, noting the giant yellow ghost behind her, which was faced the opposite direction.

"Margaret," he whispered, holding his wings out, face up, and gesturing toward himself with his fingertips, "walk slowly and quietly toward me."

A worried expression came across her face as she tip-toed across the intersection. In no time, she was next to Mordecai and they both started walking down one of the halls of the maze they were in.

Mordecai lowered his voice to a soft whisper, "That was close," he said as he looked at Margaret.

Margaret just nodded in agreement. She didn't really feel like gaining any kind of attention from any kind of ghost right now.

They turned left after coming to another four-way-split. They immediately stopped with wide eyes, turned around on their heels, and said nothing for a full ten seconds as they hid around the corner.

"Since when was Pac-Man pink?" said Margaret.

"Yeah..." said Mordecai. "Wait, pink? I thought he looked kinda clear..."

"Were you looking at the bottom?"

"I was looking at the top."

"Wait, so if the top is clear and the bottom is pink..."

They both pondered this for a minute that was cut in half about six times.

"Your boss," said Margaret.

"Benson!" Mordecai shouted. Yes, they had just seen a giant gumball machine head. Benson apparently had no body right now, but was still alive. And yes, Mordecai had just shouted his name in realization.

And Benson just heard it.

Hearing a familiar growl come from him, they peeked around the corner.

He was charging at them.

"AHHHH!" they both screamed, turning in the opposite direction to run. This was, indeed, not a smart thing to do, seeing as how there was yet another giant ghost who wasn't exactly intending on being a door. Well...maybe a locked one that didn't have any kind of key. They then turned the corner that they originally came from. They kept running until they saw and heard the raccoon they had been looking for this whole time. He looked to be having quite a nuisance of a day, much like Mordecai and Margaret. And Benson.

Remembering him, they were now frozen in place, just thinking about a few simple things. You know, getting fired, wishing you saw the latest movie or concert, wishing you had kissed the person standing next to you... Oh yeah, and dying.

Realizing this was probably the last chance he had, Mordecai leaned over toward Margaret and kissed her...

...on the cheek. She was still frozen in thought and Mordecai hadn't realized it yet. She was taken by surprise and also from her thoughts, basically regaining consciousness.

Realizing what was happening, they both fell over. Mordecai thought quickly and turned in mid-fall so he would land on his back, next to Margaret, avoiding a much more awkward position.

"Ow," they both said blankly.

"Margaret," said Mordecai.

She turned her head to look at him.

"Keep looking at me," he told her, "and don't look away until I say, okay?"

"Sure..." she said, slightly confused.

"You can even close your eyes if you want," said Mordecai.

"Oh," said Margaret, "I don't mind keeping them open."

"Oh," said Mordecai, realizing what she was implying.

There was terribly deafening silence of complete awkwardness between the two. That silence was broken. It was broken by a giant glass head floating over them, just missing them by less than a foot. Margaret sat up after Benson passed over.

"Whoa..." she said, watching as Benson ate a very scared, blue ghost. She looked back at Mordecai. "So that's why you said to..."

Mordecai nodded and sat up.

"That was pretty slick, you know," Margaret said with a shy smile. "And thanks for saving us."

"No problem," said Mordecai, trying to sound like it was nothing. In his mind, however, it was huge. He just saved Margaret! Well, he saved himself, too, but hey! He saved Margaret! And it was really, really awkward when he did.

"Hey," said Margaret, snapping him out of his thoughts, "I think you just kissed me, by the way."

"Yeah," said Mordecai, shrugging, "but only on the cheek."

Margaret raised her eyebrows and smirked.

"I mean, uh..." Mordecai tried to think of something to say, "yeah, I guess I did, haha."

"No, no," said Margaret, "it's perfectly fine. I was just taken back a bit. I didn't know you had it in you."

"Neither did I, honestly."

They both tried desperately to hold back their laughter. This was a failed attempt. They busted out laughing.

After the storm of laughter, Margaret just wanted to say something like 'I guess it's my turn then' or 'One kiss deserves another' and simply kiss him back. However, she knew that they were still in a video game, so, technically, it wouldn't count. That, and they both wanted to get out of here. So, she decided that they needed to keep going. "So, you surprised yourself?" she asked.

"Yeah..." said Mordecai, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Hey," said Margaret, "we should keep going." She then motioned for him to follow as she lead the way.

"Right, let's go," said Mordecai. "Wait, where to?"

"Mordecai! Margaret!" they heard Rigby yell. They looked around to see where his voice was coming from. They found him poking his head out from behind the corner of a wall. "Guys," he said, "over here! Come quick! Before it's too late!" He then disappeared behind the corner again.

They quickly followed after him and turned the corner to find the giant Benson...again.

Before they could do or say anything, he spoke, "Guys, there's a way out of here, and it's not that hard either. All you need to do is climb up on top of me, punch a hole in the ceiling and climb out of it. But you need to hurry, my power-up's almost out, okay?"

"Got it, Benson," said Mordecai. "Come on, guys!"

They quickly ran over and in front of Benson.

"Benson," said Mordecai, "say 'ah!'"

"What!?"

"Just do it!"

"Fine," he opened his mouth, "ahhhhh..."

Mordecai grabbed onto Benson's lower set of teeth and began climbing up his face.

"Thanks, Benson."

"Wha-ehuh. Hushh hooey uh!" he tried to say as Mordecai got to the top of his head.

Margaret lifted Rigby up so he could follow Mordecai to the ceiling. Rigby took in the scent as he stood on Benson's teeth. He made a face that indicated that he didn't enjoy the smell.

"Ugh..." he said, "dude, you need some mouth wa-OW!" he was cut off with a punch to his shoulder. He looked over to look at Margaret and said "What!? I can't state my opinion?"

"It's really not the time, Rigby," said Margaret, not even looking at him.

Rigby then realized something.

"Wait, why'd YOU punch me?"

"Mordecai asked me to."

Rigby glared at said bird through the glass of Benson's head and growled lightly. Margaret lifted him up again and set him next to Mordecai. Rigby continued to glare at his best friend until he decided it wasn't worth it. He could glare at him all he wanted when this was over with.

Mordecai went over to help Margaret up.

"Thanks," she said.

"No, thank you," said Mordecai. "For what?"

"For slugging Rigby."

The two birds then simultaneously held their wings up and shouted, "OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Rigby just rolled his eyes and walked to the middle of Benson's head.

"Are we gonna get out or not?" he said, pointing at the ceiling three feet above him.

"Of course we are," said Mordecai, as he hurried over next to Rigby. He looked up at the ceiling and held back his fist to punch it. He paused in the position to look at Rigby, "You know we were just messin' with you, right?"

"Yeah, yeah, just hurry up!" he said quickly.

Mordecai released all of his right arm's fury into the virtual ceiling...leaving only a crack.

"What!? Come on..." said Mordecai.

"Try it again," said Rigby.

"Right."

He punched it again, this time breaking it, making a hole that was big enough for all of them.

"There we go. You first, Rigby," said Mordecai, holding his hands out to form a substitute step.

"Sure, sure..." Rigby sighed, stepping on to Mordecai's hands. He was then flung into the air. "AHHHH!" He screeched as he flew through the hole, did three fourths of a front flip, and landed flat on his back. He groaned in pain.

"Okay, Margaret," said Mordecai, "I'll be gentle."

Margaret smiled and stood on his hands.

Just then, the glass beneath them wasn't there anymore.

"AHHHH!" they shouted.

Rigby, however, thought they should at least get out of the maze before they died.

Margaret then felt her hands and feet being grabbed. She may have known who it was, but it still surprised her.

Mordecai felt his feet being grabbed by metal hands. It bothered him a bit, but now was not the time for complaining about the world's worst foot massage.

They instinctively formed a chain. Margaret was at the top, being held up by Rigby. Benson was at the bottom. Mordecai was in the middle.

"Rigby!" Mordecai shouted, "Do you think you can pull us up?"

Rigby was giving it all he had. Which wasn't much. But hey, how strong can you get when you don't get that much exercise?

"I-III'mmmm, trrrrrryyiiinnngg!" he groaned with his eyes closed. He then opened them and looked at who he was carrying:

Mordecai, Margaret, and Benson. Margaret may have been first in line, but Mordecai was more important to him. "Guys..." said Benson, "we've got trouble."

Mordecai and Margaret looked. He was right: there was trouble.

Mordecai looked up at Rigby as the giant purple ghost got closer to them.

"Rigby! We've got trouble! You've gotta pull us up, man!" he shouted.

"You can do it!" said Margaret.

Benson then got an idea.

"PULL US UP, OR YOU'RE FIRED!" he screamed.

It worked.

Rigby then found a new strength within himself. This strength was, well...to not get fired.

"RRRGHHH!" he groaned heavily and pulled his friends up just enough so Margaret could grab the ledge, pull herself up, sit down on the ledge, and pull Mordecai up. Mordecai did the same with Benson, but a bit faster, as to not let the ghost touch him.

After everyone was up, they all had the same idea: crash. It didn't really matter at all to them where they were sitting or standing, or the fact that they were literally on the outskirts of a really old video game. Laying down sounded best to any and all of them.

After about two minutes of rest, Benson sat up.

"Okay, there should be a power switch or something somewhere in this room," he said. "Let's look around for it."

"How do you know all this?" asked Rigby.

"I read the instruction manual."

"Instruction manual for what?"

"Pac-Man! What did you think?"

"You got Pac-Man!?" Mordecai and Rigby blurted out at the same time.

Benson face-palmed.

"It was supposed to be a surprise..."

Rigby felt pretty bad now.

"Ooooh..." he said. "Sorry..."

Benson got up and brushed himself off.

"It's fine," he said, "let's just look for that switch."

They all proceeded to look for it, standing up and walking in different directions. Not TOO different in Mordecai and Margaret's case.

Slowly and obliviously, they kept getting closer to each other as they felt for any kind of switch, lever, button, or just anything in particular that made them feel like they had found something special or useful, therefore feeling the same said adjectives about themselves.

Mordecai moved his hands across what was now known as a virtual wall, hoping to find something. His hand stopped when it felt a feathered hand like his own. He looked to his right. He definitely found SOMETHING.

"Oh," he laughed, "sorry. Didn't see you there, hehe."

Margaret giggled lightly.

"Neither did I," she said. "I-I mean I didn't see YOU, uh, there..."

"It's okay. I knew what you meant."

"Oh, o-okay."

They went back to looking for a switch or something useful.

Then Mordecai realized it:

'Did Margaret just stutter?' he thought. 'TWICE even?'

He pondered this as he felt across the higher part of the wall, coming across what felt like a hole.

"Huh...?"

He touched it with both hands to confirm that it was actually legit.

"Guys!" he said, "I think I found something!"

The others ran over to him to see what he found.

"It's not a switch," said Mordecai, "it's a knob."

And in the hole was a knob. A door knob, literally. It was the same color as the walls around them, hence, the reason they didn't spot it right away.

"Looks promising," said Benson.

They all stared at it for about five seconds.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" said an impatient Rigby. "Open it, already!"

Mordecai sighed, "Fine..."

He then started turning the knob slowly.

"FASTER!" Rigby shouted impatiently.

Mordecai turned it slightly faster. When it wouldn't turn any further, he moved his left hand down to push the door open.

Through the opening they could see an almost blinding white light.

"What is that?" said Margaret.

It almost looked as if they just cracked open the gate to heaven.

Almost.

Actually, not even close.

The door was now open completely. They all walked slowly into the glow, trying to make out what was around them and not be blinded at the same time. So, naturally, they were all squinting. As they walked on, they started to see the source of the light. When they got close enough, they could finally tell what it was. None of them widened their eyes, but that was only because they were still partially being blinded. So, otherwise, they would have. This simply means that, yes, they were surprised. All of them.

Except for Benson. He was not nearly as surprised. It was somewhat expected, in fact.