Mordecai listened to the phone dial as stood in Pops' office, waiting for someone to pick up on the other end. Due to his banishment from the amusement park, this seemed to be his only form of communication with Rigby for the time being.
What a genius idea it had seemed at the time, the bird having completely forgotten the option to just use the same number that had called the park in an attempt to get a hold of Rigby, or well, anyone for that matter.
He'd just ask whoever picked up to put Rigby on the line, or hopefully he might just be lucky enough for the raccoon to answer the phone himself. Would Rigby even want to talk to him at this point though? What he'd done last night was pretty drastic. They both had done pretty drastic things that night.
Worst-case-scenario, the angry boss that had left the message would respond to the call, at which point Mordecai would leap to a butt-load of apologies before asking for the man's generosity of allowing him to speak to his friend.
"Hello?" Mordecai heard a voice greet on the other line, his heart nearly skipping a beat in surprise.
"Uh- yeah. Hi." the bluejay responded, "Can I ask to speak to er-, Rigby?"
A moment of awkward silence ensued as the bird stood leaned against Pops' desk, waiting for an answer.
"When are you going to give up on him?" the other voice asked.
All hopes Mordecai had at this point practically melted away, and he couldn't help but slowly become more and more pissed off at how persistent this raven was being. "I'll assume this is Allan."
"You assume correctly." he responded coyly.
Mordecai frowned. "I'm surprised you're still even working with one arm."
"Only takes one arm to make Rigby more happy than you even have." Allan chuckled.
Jeez, why'd he always have to go down that one road when it came to conversation between the two of them? Needless to say he was undoubtedly there when Mordecai and the raccoon had kissed, no doubt having seen it. How hard is it to take a hint that Rigby clearly wasn't interested in the raven, rather, the blue jay. At least, that's what Mordecai thought and wished to continue thinking.
He let out a long sigh. "Seriously, I just want to talk to him. This has nothing to do with you an me, it's about me and him."
"Just accept that you two are separated now. Friendships come and go, and life continues." the raven stated before promptly hanging up.
Mordecai slammed the phone back down on the receiver, not even going to try and bother calling back. Fuck.
The bluejay grinned silently to himself, taking in a deep breath in an effort to calm himself down. If Allan wanted to continue this war, Mordecai would certainly play along too. The bird wasn't about to be upstaged by this clone.
Thomas exited the bathroom, steam pouring out from the small room and flooding into the hall. The goat was thankfully wearing his pants, yet still lacking a shirt; Thomas flaunting his body with whatever small fragment of pride he had in order to show himself off.
"Goddammit, put some clothes on already..." Mordecai muttered incoherently.
The pit within the bluejay's stomach returned as thoughts drifted back to Doug. There was no need to jump to any conclusions though, right? He could've easily misinterpreted that book, seeing as how difficult to read it appeared to be. The otter had seemed of good intentions throughout this entire time, so why doubt him now? The bird also saw no reason to truly trust the book, seeing as how oddly it had been bestowed upon him.
Mordecai waited for Thomas to head downstairs before slowly sneaking down the hallway to the doorway of the computer room, and peeking in.
Don and Doug were inaudibly chatting across the room, Don obviously appearing to be more of the work on the computer while the otter flipped hopelessly through a stack of papers with stagnant confusion. Mordecai let out a breath of relief.
"So that's Rigby's brother, huh?"
The bird nearly fell to the ground in shock, turning to find Thomas standing behind him, with a shirt on; thankfully.
"You scared the shit out of me!" Mordecai whispered angrily, growing embarrassed about how he must look after getting caught spying on the two mammals.
The goat shared in with some of the shame, Thomas' face lighting up. "Sorry!" he whispered back, both of them quietly tip-toeing out of earshot.
"You ready to go?" Mordecai asked.
Thomas just gave a flustered look, rubbing at the back of his neck. He couldn't help but feel that Mordecai was somehow aware of what he'd done in the shower by whatever means he may have.
"Y-yeah, I guess." he stammered, "We can take my car if you want."
"I never did ask how you got that fixed." Mordecai chuckled.
"I worked on it a lot myself." the goat mumbled, slowly taking step by step down the stairs.
"You did it yourself?!"
"Mhm," Thomas frowned, "It took some time, but I figured if I took it to a shop, my mom would find out."
"She doesn't know?" the bird laughed.
Thomas turned a gave him a wink, holding a finger to his lips in silence.
Thomas must've apologized for his car being messy at least a hundred times on the short drive over to the coffee shop. Mordecai could only laugh and reassure him that it was no big deal. Quite honestly, he truly didn't see the car's interior as a mess in the slightest. Rest assured that if Mordecai owned a car, it'd be a hell of a lot more dirty than the goat's.
A bell chimed as the duo entered, and Mordecai just took a stool at the regular table he and Rigby would sit, Thomas following behind. The goat decided to take the seat across from Mordecai. He found it a bit awkward to sit next to the bird for whatever reason.
"Hey guys." Eileen greeted, approaching the two.
"What's up?" Mordecai said back.
Thomas gave her a weak wave, not knowing the mole all that well.
"Nothing, really." she sighed.
"Work bumming you out?" the bluejay asked.
"Only because work is terrible without a friend." Eileen muttered.
"I can sympathize with that." Mordecai chuckled. "So then, Margaret not here again?"
"Yeah." Eileen frowned, clearly not pressing into the matter more than she needed.
Mordecai could take a hint, and disregarding all of the curiosity that now peaked within him, he decided to steer clear of the topic, for now at least. It really wouldn't be that big a deal to ask about his girlfriend, would it?
"You should sit with us." the blue jay offered with a smile.
"Thanks," Eileen answered, giving a weak smile, "but I'll really get into trouble if I'm not working. My boss is upset enough over the fact that Margaret is missing so much work."
Well, maybe she actually did want to talk about it. Else she wouldn't be bringing it up so much...
"Why has she been missing work?"
"She keeps calling in 'sick'."
"How many times has she missed work?" Mordecai laughed.
"Well, she did that in order to take her escapade to the library." the mole grumbled, "Though, I agreed to not say anything. I don't know what she's doing at this point." Eileen sighed.
"You haven't been getting extra work though, have you?" the bird asked doubtfully.
"I get to take more tables." the mole stated, "Which is good I guess. I could always use more tips."
"Right." Mordecai nodded. At least Margaret's absence wasn't affecting her to the point of extra labor. That would just make the bluejay feel extra bad for her. Implying that he did already, anyhow. Work was a bore without friends. Sure, Rigby was gone, but Mordecai still had Thomas and Doug, maybe even Muscle Man and High-Five Ghost to help lessen the stress.
Mordecai rubbed his chin for a second, sparking up an idea. Muscle Man and High-Five Ghost, huh?
"So, anyways, can I take your orders?"
"Oh- oh right." the bird snapped, "Uh, just the usual and a sandwich for me."
Eileen wrote a quick note to herself on her notepad before turning to Thomas.
The goat stared at her blankly for a few moments like a deer in headlights. He hadn't even taken the time to look over the menu, all too distracted during the time by Mordecai and Eileen's conversation.
Thomas just gave her a nod, and Eileen smiled brightly. "Okay, so a pair of coffees and two sandwiches?" she asked, both males nodding to her this time.
"Smooth." Mordecai chuckled.
Thomas' face lit up in embarrassment. "Ha, shut up." he responded playfully.
"So..." the bird started, "You go to the community college in town, right?"
"Uh- yeah."
"Do you know Margaret then? She goes there two." Mordecai questioned.
Thomas gave the name a bit of thought, coming upon no conclusion. "What does she look like?"
"Robin. About my height. Bright red feathers."
"A robin with bright red feathers?" Thomas chuckled, "Do you mean cardinal?"
"I know what I'm talking about!" Mordecai laughed, defending himself. "She's a robin."
"Yeah well, I think I know who you're talking about now." the goat assured. "So she works here, huh?"
"Mhm. Do you know her?"
"Not all that well..." Thomas frowned. "I might have had one or two classes with her, but I've never really spoken to her all that much."
"I didn't think you would've had that many classes with her," the bluejay explained, "Since you're into all that engineering and stuff."
"Well, just really science in general." the goat muttered, "I know I probably don't look like the type to be into that I guess." he laughed. "I'm really sort of a dork though."
"Pff." Mordecai scoffed. "You totally look like a dork, dude."
The pair laughed, and Eileen rejoined them with a silver tray with two mugs atop. She passed the coffee to the two males, who both thanked her.
"Come on Eileen," Mordecai groaned, pulling the stool beside him out. "Sit with us."
The mole let out a sigh of defeat. "Only while your sandwiches heat up though..."
"Fine, fine." the bird chuckled as the girl climbed up onto the stool beside him.
"But if you distract me and they end up burning, no complaining when you're eating ash." Eileen giggled.
"And if you get in trouble, you can just blame me." Mordecai added. "So, have you tried talking to Margaret at all?" the bird persisted.
"She's been really bad about answering my texts, and it's not like she'll answer my calls..." Eileen explained, drawing a small doodle on the corner of her notepad. "It's normal for her to be bad about responding to texts, but I feel like ignoring my calls is definitely something new."
"Last time I saw her was last night." Mordecai stated, "We had a date, and the-"
Thomas began to choke on his coffee across the table, nearly spitting it out.
"Er- you alright, Thomas?" Mordecai asked with concern.
The goat gave a couple coughs, face growing hotter than the coffee that had just singed his throat. "Yeah..."
"So- … uh, right. We had a date." the bluejay continued, "And the last time I saw her was when I dropped her off at her apartment."
"Oh yeah, she was telling me about that?" Eileen replied.
Mordecai perked up, slight hope shining in his eyes. "She told you about it? Was it good?"
"Eh, she just told me that you two were having a date before she actually went on it."
"Ah." Mordecai mustered in disappointment.
"Don't feel down!" Eileen cheered, giving the bird a pat on the back. "She seemed really excited."
"I just hope I did well." Mordecai laughed in response.
"We had planned to have a bit of a sleepover tonight before all of this 'whatever' started happening. I guess we'll just have to see if she ends up coming. I'm sure I can talk to her then."
"Has she not texted you about canceling?" Mordecai asked in suspicion.
"Nope." Eileen began, "So, there might be hope. I've been really worried."
"I'm right there with you." the bird agreed.
The three of them were silent for a while, Mordecai and Eileen having run this topic to its end and Thomas just generally quiet all around.
"Well, I'd best be getting back to work." the mole explained, scooting down off the stool and heading back towards the kitchen. "I'll be right back with your sandwiches guys."
"You're dating Margaret?" Thomas asked. Mordecai turned to look at the goat.
"Yeah, I'm still in shock." he laughed. "I'm really nervous about that date though, if you can't already tell..."
"Why? Did something bad happen?" the goat frowned.
"No, no. It was amazing." Mordecai reassured.
Thomas only frowned more, looking down at his reflection in the dark brown coffee. "What about Rigby?"
"What do you mean?" the bird chuckled awkwardly.
"Benson said you've been really persistent about trying to get him to come back to the park lately." Thomas confessed, "So I dunno- it just seems weird to be doing something like a date while all this is going on."
Almost exactly after saying it, the goat looked at Mordecai apologetically, clearly regretting having let the words come out like that.
"Haha, I understand what you mean." Mordecai sighed, "I actually saw him last night..."
"Hmm? What happened?"
Now it was Mordecai's turn to frown. He gave it a few moments of silence to think things over, but decided at this point that he didn't really care what anyone thought of it anymore. He'd been through too much shit about this whole situation as it is to get upset over someone's opinion.
"He kissed me." the bluejay muttered, looking down at his mug as well.
Mordecai sat there looking down, waiting for an answer that never came. He looked up, finding Thomas looking at him with wide eyes in disbelief.
The bird laughed weakly. "Is it really that bad?"
"N- no! It's not bad- uh, it's not good either- I mean," Thomas cut himself off to recollect, "It's just surprising."
"Yeah, I can understand how it must seem since I was just talking about a date with my girlfriend..." Mordecai reasoned.
"I just didn't see Rigby feeling that way for you." Thomas added. Liar.
"I know." the bird muttered, "I feel bad about all this that I'm doing with Margaret when Rigby has clearly been put through a lot. Hell, the whole reason he left to begin with was over a fight about Margaret."
"Ah." Thomas mumbled.
"I just feel terrible that this entire time," the bluejay continued, "he's had his emotions completely ignored by stupid, oblivious me."
Thomas clenched his teeth tightly.
"Uh! Enough about me." the bird laughed, "What about you? Do you have a girlfriend or- uh, boyfriend?" Mordecai added, trying to be a little more open minded.
Of course, that added last part just made Thomas feel all the more uneasy. The goat was tempted to ask Mordecai further on that kiss between him and Rigby. Did he like it?
"Uh, no." Thomas sighed.
"I envy you." Mordecai said. The goat just stared at him weirdly. How could he even begin to be envious of someone else for being alone? Was all the responsibility of his seemingly one-day long relationship becoming too much for the bird?
"Why the hell could you be jealous?" Thomas began, catching Mordecai a little off-guard. "I'm just too much of a coward to take any advances towards a relationship."
"What do you mean?"
Thomas felt the lump in his throat grow more painful, and his heart began to speed up, head growing light. God he was going to hate himself for ruining everything later. Now or never.
"I just-"
"Here's your food guys." Eileen cut in, placing the baskets of sandwiches on the table between the males.
They thanked her, but Thomas couldn't tell whether or not to thank the mole for that interruption, or hate her.
"You were saying?" Mordecai said."
Thomas remained quiet, calming himself down. "I forgot." the goat muttered, taking a bite out of his sandwich.
"Me too." the avian lied weakly with a laugh.
The duo eventually said their farewells to Eileen and left. They had spent majority of remaining time talking about numerous science concepts that Thomas inquired, and that Mordecai could barely grasp. Shockingly, Thomas had actually paid for the two of them. And Mordecai, lacking in the financial department, couldn't put up much of an argument against him.
Something along the lines that matter could not be created out of literally nothing, just as how matter can not be completely removed from the world either. By any natural means, that is.
The goat apparently just saw rules like this a challenge for his future, wanting to prove such impossibilities incorrect. Mordecai could only wish him luck. Crazier stuff had certainly taken place before.
Thomas dropped the bird off at the park's entrance before returning to the college for a few afternoon classes. The goat had been sure to thank the bird for spending a few hours of his afternoon with him, and Mordecai made sure to thank him for the meal. This probably would've been a terrible afternoon without his company anyhow.
After a bit of searching, Mordecai managed to find Muscle Man and High-Five Ghost up to their usual brand of slacking that still somehow managed to allow them to accomplish their work.
"Hey, guys!" Mordecai greeted.
"What do you want, lady?" Muscle Man chuckled.
"I was wondering if you could help me with something."
"We need more details than that."
"Well, could you help me-... break into the amusement park?" the avian asked in embarrassment.
"Whoa bro, trespassing?" Muscle Man asked. He looked surprised, but this did seem like an uncommon thing for Mordecai. He'd always been the best out of the worst.
"I just need to settle things with Rigby." Mordecai explained.
"Why break in then?"
"I got banned." the bluejay muttered.
"For doing what?!" High-Five Ghost questioned, surprised.
"I broke a guys arm..."
"Wow, Rigby leaves and you hit tier-zero, huh?" Muscle Man laughed.
Mordecai sighed. "Whatever, will you help me or not?"
Mitch gave it some thought, only leading him to ask more questions. "Why don't me and Fives just go in and talk to him for you?"
"I doubt he'd agree to that." the bluejay retorted.
"Then we'll drag him out of that amusement park and back here." Muscle Man explained.
"How is kidnapping any better than trespassing?!" Mordecai uttered in disbelief.
"Fine, we'll help." the green man agreed, "But you've got to help us with something too."
Mordecai gave the man a questionable look. "What?"
"I planned on proposing to Starla soon, don't tell her, but do you have any idea how expensive diamond rings are?!"
"Yeah, Muscle Man, they tend to be pretty pricy with a park-worker's salary."
"I know, but that's when I got to thinking about those gems from The Pit." Muscle Man chuckled, "I could probably just get one of those babies put on a ring and it'd be just as good."
Mordecai froze, knowing all too well what the male was talking about. The Pit was created during the bird and Rigby's game of punchies that grew out of control, Rigby eventually stealing and learning the technique of the devastating 'Death Punchy', only to be countered by Mordecai's 'Death Block'.
The result of the two colliding creates a large explosion, which the two continuously set off which eventually formed a deep abyss that sunk far down into the earth's crust.
Obviously not being able to refill the hole back up, Benson simply put a large cover over it in order to prevent things from going in, as well as getting out.
Of course it was to everyone's curiosity to explore The Pit for all the treasures that possibly lay within after the lava cooled, resulting in the discovery of several precious gems, as well as the nest of unspeakable beasts. Luckily no one was harmed by any of the unseen monsters, but Benson immediately took all precautions to seal the thing up.
No one had managed to take any of the gems with them, having been to frightened by the screeching of beasts to even care about the stones more than their own lives.
"Benson said anyone who even tried to go down there would be fired." Mordecai muttered.
"Then you better get used to not having Rigby." Muscle Man snorted.
As much as he hated Muscle Man right now for pressuring him into this situation, he couldn't help it.
"Fine." Mordecai spat, earning a wide grin from the green male.
At this point in time, Mordecai was willing to risk his job, even his life if it meant a chance at getting Rigby back here. He just hoped that none of this would go to vain, and that even if he got caught, he'd at least make it back alive.
Muscle Man pulled the large cover off the entrance of the massive hole, Mordecai having wanted to just get this over with as soon as possible. More because he somehow felt more comfortable being down there during the day, doubting that he'd be able to find his way out at night.
The Pit was about the size of a swimming pool in circumference it seemed, although the depth was unknown...
The bird had filled a small backpack with supplies in preparation for his journey, mostly batteries for his flashlight and a baseball bat for anything that might sneak up on him. His stomach churned as the fear inside him grew greater and greater.
Muscle Man placed a large rock on top of the end of a rope that he cast down into the abyss, giving it a few tugs to make sure it was secure.
"Hope it's long enough." he chuckled, looking down into the crippling darkness. "If not, enjoy the fall and be sure to do a couple flips."
Mordecai glared at him, taking a shaky hold on the rope, and beginning to lower himself down into the hole. The bird watched as the light from the outside world grew smaller, and the sounds from above ground grew quieter.
He clenched the rope tightly for dear life, slowly dropping down further for what seemed like miles until the light from the chasm's entrance was nothing more than a spec.
Mordecai turned on his flashlight, pointing it down in search of a ground. The avian placed his feet on the cold, stone surface of the dark abyss' floor. The male began to walk around the dark pit's interior, using his flashlight to explore, eventually coming upon the entrance to a tunnel that extended far beyond his sight.
The bird could hear a faint wind somehow whistle through the stone chasm, and the faint skittering of insects. His muscles tensed up as he grew more and more aware that he was not alone down here. He just needed to find one of those gems, just one, then he could get the hell out of here.
Mordecai's steps echoed through the chasm as he grew closer to the opening of the tunnel. What laid beyond this point he had no idea, not remembering it having been here the last time he was down here.
How he wished that he didn't feel so cripplingly alone down here, yet he knew that the more people that knew about this, the more of a chance of Benson finding out. He'd just have to charge onwards and continue to tell himself that in the end, having Rigby would be worth it. The avian was running out of time anyhow, the '4' on his arm faintly glowing through the darkness.
Mordecai stopped dead in his tracks as he heard a sound, instantly roaming the cave with his flashlight, looking all around for anything. Yet, all he could find was the dark and damp stone surface of the trench's insides.
The wind blew again, and Mordecai took a deep breath, hoping to leave all his fears at this point behind. There was nothing to fear down here. The monsters; he'd never even seen them for himself. For all he knew, Benson could have been making them up to try and keep people out. Then again, they could also very well be real.
Mordecai tripped on a rock, cursing quietly, but also stopping to realize the hollow sound it made. He shakily aimed his light down at the ground beneath him, and could only scream silently to himself at the skeletal remains of a carcass with the bones licked clean.
He covered his mouth in grief, preventing himself from making a sound. Not that it would help him either way. Even if he were to scream, there was no doubt that nobody would come to save him. Mordecai was on his own down here.
As much as he wanted to turn back now, the bird continued further into the tunnel, pressing onward into the pit where screams cannot be heard.
Uh, as always, forgive mistakes. I'm lazy an beta-less. Hopefully you enjoyed this chapter. Sorry it's been a while, I had no idea that it'd already been a month or so. It honestly just felt like a week or two to me. I've been really caught up in writing Songbird. It's nowhere near as popular as this story, yet maybe that's what makes it more fun to write. I dunno. Until next update!
1/29/2013: I've decided to do some major overhaul on this story, so it'll probably be a bit longer until a new chapter. Good news is that I'll be going back and rereading/rewriting sections of this story to enhance reader's experience!