"Dude," Clu sighed, walking slightly ahead of Jack down a path that was particularly dark and difficult to navigate. "I just don't know what to do."
Jack grunted in response, shuffling his feet. Clu speeded up a little, remembering his childhood fear of the dark. "I mean," he continued, "I just wish things could go back to the way they were before all this started. Back when I knew it and you knew it and we didn't have to talk about it all the time or think about what's gonna happen if somebody finds us out. You know?"
No answer. He glanced back in Jack's direction. No Jack. "Hey, come on," he complained. "I don't care if you're mad at me, you don't just walk away from somebody who's trying to, like, talk seriously with you. Because it's rude. Where are you?" He looked in each direction. No sign of anything but trees and more trees.
He kept walking, figuring that Jack would catch up with him eventually, because he was just irresistible like that. Then it occurred to him, a thought so strange and perfect that he had to say it aloud to the trees and whatever real or imagined monsters might be lurking in them: "Did I get my wish?" What if his wish had come true, and Jack was somewhere safe like home, and it was really a month ago, and none of this had even happened? Wait. If that was true, then that meant Clu was out here in the woods, in the dark, totally alone, with no idea how to get home.
He decided to keep walking. Jack would catch up. Without anyone to talk to, his thoughts eventually wandered back to the reason he was stuck out here in the first place, and he began yelling for Molly. It was awkward. He wasn't sure what to call her. If she had been caught by that monster thing, she probably wouldn't care if he called her Molly, but it seemed kind of rude. Then again, "Mrs. Phillips" took longer to say. He settled on "Mrs. P," and shouted it once in a while as he worked his way through the labyrinth of bark and leaves and twigs.
It seemed like it had been quite a while since Jack had walked off, and there was no sign of Molly anywhere, or anyone else, for that matter. He decided to stop and let them find him. Clearly, they were all somewhere together without him. And his legs, which were already sore, had begun to ache miserably. He could almost hear them whining: We want to go home. Take us home. Aloud he said, "Me too, man." He sat down on the trunk of a conveniently nearby fallen tree and settled in for the wait.
Fi was also trying to outpace her traveling companion. Carey wasn't trying to talk to her, but it was very weird to be alone with one of your best friends who also happened to be your mother's boyfriend and she found that idea particularly unpleasant at the moment. She walked faster, yelling for Molly, and getting no response. The second he opened his mouth to speak instead of shout, she cringed. No, no, no. I do not want to be having this conversation.
"Hey, Fi?"
She grunted. Like brother, like sister.
"Could you walk a little slower? My side is starting to hurt."
"Don't you want to find her?" she challenged testily.
"We're not getting anywhere anyway," he said, stopping. "Come on, slow down. Rest."
"I don't want to be out here any longer than I have to."
"You're upset about earlier, right?"
"So young, yet so perceptive. I see why she likes you." She could have been more civil, she supposed, but she was tired and her legs hurt and she was kind of justified anyway.
He sighed. "Even if it weirds you out, can't you just chill out until we find her?"
"I feel like crap, Carey. I'm not in the mood to be nice." She took off again, yelling. "Mom!"
"Fi?" The voice wasn't Carey's.
"Mom?" She kept walking, with Carey in tow, toward a shape on the ground.
"Are you crazy, walking around out here in the middle of the night?"
"What happened? Are you okay?" She knelt beside Molly and helped her into a sitting position. Carey hung back, though he wsa obviously relieved.
"Yeah, mostly. A little beat up, but nothing too serious." She winced.
"What happened?" Fi repeated.
"Well, it brought me out here and was prepared to, you know," Molly explained, gesturing. "And I just decided to let everything go. I made peace with everything. I made peace with your father being gone, with you and Jack being so independent, with the fact that I can't have what I want. And that was it."
"What?"
"It just dropped me here. I guess the fall knocked me out for a while. I don't know where it went."
"It doesn't matter," Fi said decisively. "We need to get out of here before it comes back."
They heard a small, tinny scream come from somewhere within the woods. It was Fi's turn to sigh. "You two stay here. I've got your stuff. I'll go find Jack and Clu."
Before anyone could register an objection, Fi was gone.