Upon awakening from his slumber, Camo noticed that nighttime still remained. It felt like he had been asleep for hours, yet somehow the sky was as dark as a rainy day. Weird, the opossum thought to himself. He could've sworn it had felt like hours of rest on his creaky yet comfortable bed. It was almost as if he was trapped within time.
Camo swiftly checked the clock beside him. It was 12:51 PM, which was surprisingly around the time Camo went to bed. The opossum started to worry as to what was going on. Maybe his clock was just displaying the wrong time to the nervous animal. The wide-awake opossum possessed just the solution for this error on his clock though: he had simply thrown it across the room with such great force that the alarm clock was no more. At least now it wouldn't bother him so heavily anymore.
Getting up from his bed, Camo noticed the shadow of another individual standing within his room. Startled, Camo snuck up on the figure.
"Hey," Camo called out rather quietly. "Who… who are you?"
Doing his best to make out what was in front of him, he noticed that the shadow was reading the love letter Camo had recently finished up. The envelope was torn up and the paper in the paws of the shadow looked a bit crumpled. The shadow itself was rather large, and the size alone helped Camo determine who was in front of him immediately. The figure had stared right at the opossum's pale face with their yellow eyes.
The shadowy figure in the room was Sodo, the opossum's crush. He was apparently reading the letter of passion as Camo was spectating, and as much as Camo wanted to freak out, he could do no such thing. He froze entirely. His face as pale as a winter storm had evolved into a bright crimson for he could do nothing to stop Sodo from reading the entire letter intended to be given to him rather than be read by him at such an unusual time period. He was completely embarrassed, to say the least. Although he wanted to speak up, he didn't really have to since Sodo had begun the dialogue first.
"Is this letter supposed to be for me?" the hyena in the darkness of the night asked him.
Camo gulped. He wanted to say that it was for him, but he couldn't get the words to escape from his lips he was currently biting on. He knew exactly what to say, yet he was not sure if he should say anything at all.
"Answer the question, Camo," Sodo demanded. "Is this letter for me or not?"
Camo wasn't going to change that sudden harsh shift in the hyena's attitude, even if he possessed such strong feelings for the person standing in front of him, pressing harder onto the paper with their fingers each growing second.
"Well, if you wanted to see if it was for you or not, maybe you should read that letter again and figure it out for yourself," Camo snarled at him. The opossum didn't like the way he was handling this emerging situation though, so he decided to recollect his thoughts for a moment. "Listen, I'm sorry for getting mad like that. It's just, I'm exhausted and I'm just panicking because I'm wondering what you're doing in here reading that letter."
"I came into the room, of course, and I just saw this letter and I read it, so I hope that answers your question."
"Okay, but, what did you think about it?"
"Do you… actually mean what you said? Er, wrote, in this letter?"
"I do," Camo answered. "I meant everything I said in that letter. I love talking with you, and I would like if our friendship could evolve into a relationship between you and I. You could be my boyfriend, for I love you very mu-"
"Stop," the hyena interrupted him. "Just stop what you're saying. Stop it."
"Hey, if you don't want to be with me, I understand," Camo tried to say, attempting to not break down from the immediate rejection. "At the least, we can still be friends, and I'm okay with that. So long as you're happy."
"Let me finish," Sodo told him. "I think you're sick for wanting to have something like that with me. I have told you plenty of times that I'm not into disgusting men. I have told you plenty of times that I did NOT want to be with you, but you don't listen at all. You're so… pathetic, to be honest; you can't even take "No" for an answer. Gotta be so persistent the same way you're persistent with getting back at some meaningless corgi, huh?
"What is happening?" Camo thought to himself.
As Nono would say, some gentleman you are..."
"Okay geez, I'm sorry, dude…" Camo gulped.
"I don't want to hear no stupid sorries, Camo!"
"S-sorry…" Camo trembled quietly.
"What did I just say?!" Sodo screamed.
"I'm…"
Camo couldn't speak. Sodo was turning against him and at a violent rate as well. Reflecting on what he had said to him for a bit, Camo noticed that this argument he didn't want to be a part of was similar to the one he and Sodo had gotten into back at the Cloudy Carnival, after Sodo had picked up Camo when he had been defeated by the corgi once more. The mere thought of the corgi didn't bother Camo at all, though; the fact that Sodo was frustrated towards him had hurt him very, very much.
"Answer me this, meat sack," Sodo continued, his voice starting to sound much creepier than it already was. "How do you apologize to Nono for what you did to him when he's out there looking like that?"
"What?"
Camo slowly turned around and walked towards his window. Gazing through the glass, he saw Nono's cadaver displayed on the ground. His bones were scattered across the surface.
"Oh god... Nono..."
Camo wanted to cry out, but there was no use. His voice failed to escape his throat, and besides, how could a dead coyote listen to the opossum's cries, anyways?
Breeze and his friends appeared out of the darkness, and all five of them started kicking Nono's deceased body around as if it was some kind of toy meant for such vile actions.
"The c-corgi? Oh my god, stop doing that!"
The five friends cackled evilly as they continued to treat Nono's body like a ragdoll.
"Don't tell them to stop," Sodo commanded. "After all, it was you who said to that insecure as hell canine that you never cared for him in the first place, right? You can't feel terrible for him! After all, an imposing gentleman such as yourself deserves so much better than an annoying coyote lacking depth perception. Unless... do you truly care for him?"
"I do!"
"Then what's the matter?" the hyena nightmarishly asked. "Why hide your true colors?"
Camo tried to respond, but Sodo wouldn't allow him.
"Doesn't matter... your secrets to keep won't change what happened to Nono. And your failures most certainly have contributed to the harm of others. Should've brought that baseball bat to the carnival, huh? Hmm, speaking of that baseball bat, where could that thing possibly be?"
Sodo's eyes stretched out towards the window. As much as Camo was freaked out, he could only stare at what Sodo was staring at. Breeze possessed Camo's baseball bat in his paws, and he took a powerful swing at the coyote's body. What the other individuals had been committing only worsened what Camo was forced to witness: Hume had a mallet in hand and also struck the coyote, Temper set the coyote's body aflame, and the remaining two just proceeded to laugh in a sadistic manner. To make matters worse, Nono had unexpectedly come back to life, and cried to Camo for help while simultaneously questioning why Camo hated him so.
"No, I don't hate you, Nono! I never have and I never will! I'm so sorry!"
Camo tried opening the window to save Nono, but when that didn't work, he tried breaking the window. Unfortunately, no avail emerged.
"I didn't want this to happen! I'm so sorry, Nono! I love you so much even if I fail to show it. Oh my god, stop hurting him!"
Camo turned around to talk to Sodo, who had supernaturally sprinted at the opossum. This caused Camo to jump back and scream as he bawled. "Please don't hurt him... let them hurt me instead. I deserve it."
Sodo grabbed the opossum by his neck, his fists choking Camo ever so horribly. "Why do you even bother trying with all this? All the pleading and the romance searching. It's useless. You're useless."
"Stop!" the opossum tried to gasp. "You're hurting me..."
"Good."
Camo was utterly terrified. The world felt as if it was bending to the will of the darkness surrounding the two of them. He had never seen Sodo so angry before; currently, the thing choking him to death didn't even feel like Sodo. His eyes didn't feel beautiful anymore; they felt dead as they never blinked once during the sequence. If this was how Camo was bound to go out, dying as a result of his nightmare-looking crush choking the life out of him, then Camo might as well accept his fate. He would fight back if he could move, but he was frozen the same way time around them had come to a complete pause.
And then, darkness.
And then, sunlight.
Hearing noises from elsewhere, Camo jumped out of bed rapidly, breathing heavily as he did so. He looked around his bedroom and checked to see a couple of things. His alarm clock was still on his desk, and the clock had not rung yet; the time read 5:35 AM, and his alarm would usually go off around six o'clock. He got up from his bed and checked to see the status of the letter, and fortunately for the opossum it was sealed shut and set within the same place and position Camo had stored it away.
"That was one hell of a nightmare..." Camo thought. "I would've genuinely cried if anything bad like that ever happened... hell, I wanna cry so badly right now. That was terrible."
The term "terrible" was an understatement in the grim situation overall.
Camo sighed a loud breath of relief. Everything was perfectly okay. Sodo wasn't angry at him, the letter was okay, and so was the alarm clock too. The same could not be said for Camo's furry neck apparently, since there had been marks of someone strangling him. Camo then realized he was choking himself, mimicking the nightmare version of Sodo's actions. The opossum groomed his own throat for a while, trying to make it feel a little bit better.
The opossum strangling himself and losing his breath definitely wasn't the only reason he had woken up so suddenly. He had heard noises coming from inside the domain within another room. Camo listened closely, and the noises sounded like sobbing. Concerned, Camo exited his bedroom to listen even more analytically within the vast hallway.
"Who's crying?" Camo asked himself.
Leaving his room with the door unlocked, the opossum made his way down the hall. Eventually, he tracked down the location of the weeping. The sounds of crying came from Peb's bedroom, and so Camo gently knocked on the white, wooden door of the jackal's shared bedroom.
"Hey Peb, what's wrong?" Camo asked quietly through the door.
"Nothing," the jackal sniffed.
"Can I come in? Please?"
"No, I'm okay really… please leave."
"Bud, I know that's not true," Camo argued. "Please let me into the room. I just want to talk to you. I'm here for you, okay? Just please let me in."
A moment of complete silence followed. The atmosphere was so silent that Camo could hear the jackal getting up from the creaky floor and walking towards his bedroom door. Unlocking and opening it for the opossum to enter, Peb was concerned about how Camo was looking, as well as feeling, too. Specifically speaking, the way Camo was walking and the way his face and neck were appearing.
"Uh, Camo, is everything okay with you…?" Peb asked, his voice cracking a little bit.
"Oh yeah, everything's fine, don't worry," Camo stated. "I just tried to choke myself, no big deal, really."
"Wha- why?!" Peb yelled.
"Shh, keep it down. I wasn't intending to, it was more of an, uhh, an accident if you will.
"Ohh. Well, you should choke me because right now I don't even wanna be awake, so please take my breath away please!"
"No, I'm not going to choke you, Peb!" Camo exclaimed. "Listen, I need you to talk to me, okay? I'm your friend, and right now I'm here for you. So please, if there's anything to get off of your chest, then by all means, tell me."
Camo wanted to reference the little flirt Sodo had told him within the dream where that similar dialogue initialized from. However, Peb would not have understood the opossum's attempt at cracking a joke within such a somber moment, and Camo had not even made it clear to Peb or Nono, who was long gone, that he had dreams of wanting to kiss Sodo.
"It's just…" Peb began to speak. Camo encouraged him to continue the nervous jackal to do so. "It's just, it's about Nono, really. I miss him so much. It's so weird not having him at home at all or sleeping with m- on the other side of my room... Doesn't it feel weird to you at all, Camo?"
"It is weird to me, especially since he's been gone for about a month already. I hope he's okay..."
As soon as Camo mentioned that, Peb continued to cry once more.
"Hey, don't cry, bud, please," Camo said. "Please just relax…" The opossum attempted to place a paw on the jackal's shoulder to make him feel better, but Peb aggressively slapped his hand away.
"You wouldn't understand how much Nono leaving hurts me!" Peb cried. "It hurts me so bad. The love of my life who I've known since childhood has now vanished from me again… this is all my fault. He most likely left because of me asking him to not interrupt me. I-I… I didn't know he'd take it so badly…"
Peb's voice cracked at the end of his sentence as he continued to cry.
"Wait, did you just say Nono was the love of your life?" Camo quoted.
"Uhh, no, uhh," Peb stuttered nervously. "I meant to say the friend of my life, not my love, hehe. I can't think straight…"
"Peb."
"What?"
"If there's a secret you want to tell me, you can tell me, bud," Camo insisted. "You can tell me anything; I will not judge you in any way."
"My secrets are none of your business," Peb growled.
"Peb, if you're in love with Nono, I will not tell a single soul about this. Your secret will be safe with me."
The small jackal didn't respond to Camo, though. The opossum needed to up the ante as a result.
"If you tell me your secret, I'll tell you one I've been hiding for more than a month now," Camo stated. "Sounds good?"
Peb attempted to answer but hesitated at each try. Eventually, he simply nodded his head. "Okay, Nono… Nono is my boyfriend. We've been dating a long while before him and I met you and became a part of your group. We've known each other since childhood, and there was no one there to take care of us. No parents, no other friends. Me and Nono, you see, we only had each other. And… as we grew older, we fell in love. All the pain and stuff that we've gone through in the past, we went through together no matter what. Sometimes Nono would have left me believing he wasn't a good enough friend or boyfriend, but he always came back a week or two later; but he's been gone for a month now, and I worry he isn't going to come back…"
Camo took a moment to process what he was learning from the jackal. He was absolutely shocked at the fact that Nono and Peb were in fact dating each other.
"Hmm, I remember you told me Nono bothered you the most out of the entire Criterion though?" Camo told Peb. "You said he bothered you yet you're in love with him."
"Friendships aren't straightforward, Camo, especially relationships," Peb advised. "At least I know my relationship isn't straightforward, since, you know, I'm not straight, hehe."
"Hehe, that's funny," Camo admitted.
"Mhm, but yeah, he bothered me the most, but not for all my life. He was just being a bother recently. Now, he isn't much of a bother anymore ever since I talked to him about some of my issues. Was really glad to find an answer to the problems. Also, I kinda told you that so I could make sure you didn't figure out about the stuff between us."
The opossum never had any insight on their past before, but today changed that as he received a description of how tough it was not only for Peb but for Nono as well. The opossum was proud of how they managed to find love together, and he was happy they were a couple to begin with; additionally, Camo finally found not one but two members of the Criterion whose emotions he could relate to. Nonetheless, he was saddened since he was the main reason as to why the coyote left, and now Peb is blaming himself for Nono's absence.
"Now you have to tell me your secret," the jackal reminded a thinking Camo.
"Oh right, right…" Camo mentioned. "Alright. Peb, I'm gay as well, you know that?"
"Whoa, really?!" Peb shouted in awe.
"Keep it down!" the opossum hissed.
"Oops, sorry," the jackal apologized.
"Well, not gay, but I am bisexual for sure," Camo corrected his partly false statement. "You see, over the past month I've been crushing on Sodo. I've been developing feelings and I have yet to confess to him. I'm nervous he won't return those feelings."
"I don't know if Sodo is into guys or not," Peb added in.
"Thanks, Peb, that helps a lot," Camo responded sarcastically. "But yeah, I don't know either. I feel like he is but he's just in denial."
"What makes you say that?"
"When me and Sodo came back from the Cloudy Carnival, we got drunk and we kissed in his bedroom," Camo bluntly confessed to him.
Peb blushed at the confession. "Ohhh, so those were the noises I was hearing that night. I thought there was a monster in the hallway or something and I hid under my blanket, hehe."
"Wait, you heard me and Sodo kissing and stuff?"
"Yeah. I was awake that night since I was nervous about Nono and stuff."
"Makes sense."
Camo felt more comfortable around the jackal now. He finally got to tell his secret to someone else other than T.O, and Peb was comfortable enough to talk to Camo about his private relationship. Additionally, he saw an opportunity of venting with the jackal, since he was another individual who had gone through the similar emotions Camo was currently juggling. On the other hand, Camo was sad at how Peb blamed himself for Nono's departure. He didn't want the jackal to deprecate himself because of this entire situation, so Camo decided to be up front with Peb.
"You know, it's not your fault Nono left, Peb."
Peb's ears perked up.
"I remember you told me that Nono bothered you the most because he'd always want you to do things he wanted to do, and when you explained the problem to him, he took it pretty well. He wasn't mad or anything, and the reason I know is because… it was my fault that he left."
"Y-your fault?" Peb gasped slightly.
"Yes, it was mine. Nono popped up in my bedroom out of nowhere and asked me why I wasn't taking him and you guys to the carnival with me and Sodo, and I explained to him I wanted some private time with Sodo. I got upset at Nono for misunderstanding me, so when he mentioned that he thought that I cared about you guys, I specifically asked him and him only why did he think that I ever cared about him at all.
Peb's face of wonder turned into a face of sadness.
"And when we left, T.O told me on the phone that he started crying, so I knew it was me who caused him to leave. I hurt his feelings and now he's gone. So it's not your fault, it's mine."
Peb didn't have the words to say how mad he was at the opossum. In addition, Camo could not tell if he was mad or not given that he had a sad facial expression on.
"Peb, you alrigh-" Camo said, before getting slapped violently by the jackal. "Agh, alright, I-I deserved that…"
Peb attempted to viciously slap and punch him, but Camo held him back.
"Hey, relax!"
"How can I relax?!" Peb loudly asked. "Nono has serious issues with these types of things. I should know, especially me! I've been by his side since he was a kid and I know how much he's gone through these things, and I know how much it hurts him! The poor guy has been through too much…"
"Well, how was I supposed to know he had trauma with these kinds of comments?"
"Everyone gets hurt by comments like those!" Peb explained. "Don't be an idiot head."
Peb laid down on the carpet floor as Camo, who was sitting down, was thinking of methods to discover a way to bring Nono back home. The best ones he was able to come up with at the moment consisted of looking around the entire domain searching for a single coyote. He would be willing to perform such a task, yet attempting to find a successful completion to it would be stressful and downright impossible. One idea came to mind however soon after, and although Camo didn't really view it as much of a good one, he'd figured he'd give it a try.
"Hey Peb, I think I have an idea as to how we can find Nono..."
"REALLY?!" Peb shouted. He got up quickly, hitting his head against a small sewing table he had. "Owwww!"
"Yes, but keep your voice down," Camo told him. "Okay, where are the usual places you and he would go together?"
"Hmm," Peb thought to himself. It took a long moment for him to answer Camo's question, but the opossum possessed the patience to wait for an honest response. It was little changes in Camo's attitude that had made him happier for improving on his character over time. The old Camo would have gotten mad at the jackal for taking his time answering a simple question; currently, Camo could wait a little longer. He wasn't perfectly patient, but he was gaining what he sought to accomplish, and that meant very much to the growing gentleman.
"Ooh!" Peb shouted. "There's this one place me and Nono used to go to do graffiti and all sorts of stuff! We went to a bunch of places there, so maybe he could be there. Ooh, and we also used to go to like, the park. You know, the park with the big, big lake?! And there were mountains we used to go to as well. Cloudy mountains, and we'd usually camp there together. We didn't have much, but we had much fun, which was amazing."
"That sounds very nice, Peb," Camo complimented him.
"D'aww, thanks."
"Look, listen to me," the opossum instructed. "I have a strong feeling that since those are places Nono is familiar with, he must've taken residence in at least one of those locations that you mentioned. So, you and I are going to go look for him at these places, alright?"
"Y-you mean it?"
"Of course I do. I'll even bring Sodo along with us so he can come help find Nono. What do you say to that, Peb?"
Peb had not the words. All the emotional jackal could do was hug the huge opossum sitting right in front of him, crying tears of joy into him.
"Thank you."
Camo hugged the jackal back. It wasn't often that Camo could experience moments as wholesome as these with his fellow members, but he liked this change for once. The opossum could only hope that he could experience multiple events like these with his fellow friends. Additionally, he prayed that hopefully he could discover Nono's whereabouts; he tried thinking optimistically, hoping that the outcomes were to deem positive in a sense.
Leaving the house with the door unlocked yet again, Peb had switched from his calm personality to his frenzied state. Camo hadn't seen Peb act crazy ever since he had returned home from the carnival. Nono's disappearance must've played a significant factor in that, and it amazed Camo at how the coyote's absence affected the lonely jackal heavily. The opossum was able to draw out the fact that the jackal really loved the coyote with all of his heart, and Peb was motivated into eagerness and excitement through Camo's offer of hope. In a way, Peb's enthusiasm saddened the opossum.
Camo sincerely hoped they could find Nono, yet remained nervous about what would happen if they did not manage to succeed, or worse. Camo didn't want to deliver false hope to Peb under any circumstances, and so the thought of failure made Camo especially nervous. This possible failure that surrounded Camo's mind like flies was nowhere near similar to the failure Camo had experienced twice already with the corgi. Being defeated by such a small animal gave Camo rage, sadness and complete embarrassment over failing his objectives. If Camo were to fail finding Nono that day alongside his comrades, however, Camo would have felt ashamed for not being able to do so, regret for causing this entire situation within the first place, paranoia as to where the coyote might be within such a large city, and concern for the jackal's shattered well-being.
"So, uhh, are you guys ready to go?" Sodo interrupted Camo's fearful train of thought.
"Uh huh, uh huh, yeah!" Peb nodded his head rapidly. "I am ready to go find Nono! Come on!"
The jackal ran on all fours towards the street he and Nono would usually hang around in.
"Hey, wait for us!" Camo shouted after him. "Come on, let's go." Camo grabbed the hyena's hand, not just for the sake of ensuring that he would keep the same pace as the opossum, but also because Camo sought an excuse to grasp Sodo's paw. They followed the noises of Peb's hooting and hollering.
"Sometimes I uhh, wonder if Peb is like, a jackal, or like, an owl, given that he hoots a lot," Sodo joked, to which Camo responded with laughter.
The duo of friends chased after the excited Peb across the cracked cement of the sidewalks in front of them. Camo couldn't catch up as quickly to the jackal as he wanted to since he had also been making sure that Sodo wasn't left behind. Around each corner the two had passed, they both had caught a faint glimpse of the jackal's furry tail before it escaped from their sights. Camo and Sodo eventually managed to catch up to Peb since he had paused by the wall of dry graffiti.
"Geez Peb, I told you to wait for us!" Camo shouted at the jackal, whose tongue was sticking out similar to how Nono would casually have his tongue lingering about. Nono's tongue glowed green, however, and his tongue was more extended than Peb's.
"Love waits for nobody!" Peb exclaimed, running around in small circles. Camo was surprised that he said that aloud in front of Sodo, who didn't know about their relationship at all. Maybe he was becoming more comfortable regarding opening up about it?
Peb looked around the perimeter, calling out for Nono's name. A few other civilians passing by gave the jackal weird looks. Camo growled at them, making them fearful and walking away from the scene taking place.
"People can't mind their business nowadays," Sodo whispered to the opossum.
"Clearly."
"Ugh, you guys, he's not there!" Peb cried.
"Are you sure this is the right place?" Camo wanted to check with him.
"Yes, me and Nono come here all the time to do graffiti! Just look at the wall!"
To Camo, the graffiti on the wall looked like anyone could do that. However, upon closer inspection, the opossum noticed some graffiti that corresponded to Nono's and Peb's themes. There was graffiti of pink yarn and needles, as well as green radiation symbols scattered about. Furthermore, this indeed was the place Peb was searching for.
"Well, he's not here, Peb," Camo shrugged. "We're gonna have to look elsewhere."
"No no no!" he exclaimed. "I'm pretty sure he'll come back though! He loves this place too much to ever go away from it."
"We can't just wait around here though," the opossum explained to him. "For all we know, he might've found a new place to stay. He's definitely somewhere else if he isn't here."
"Hey!" an old voice shouted out. Camo looked around to see where the voice had come from, and walking towards the search party of three was an old red panda. Dressed in a dark red cap, black sunglasses, a yellow safety vest and dark blue jeans, the panda looked awfully curious about the people standing in front of him. Rotating his view towards the long stone wall of graffiti, his facial expression turned from wondrous to disappointment.
"Did the three of you do this to the wall?" he asked furiously.
"What?" Camo confusingly responded. "No, of course we didn't do this! We don't have any uh, graffiti cans on us. W-we, we didn't do this, I swear."
"Why are you just standing 'ere then?"
"It's none of your business!" Peb yelled, interrupting what Camo was about to say to the red panda in return in the process.
"Hey, you watch how you talk to me, young lad," the panda snarled at them.
"Peb, shush!" Camo whispered aggressively towards his friend. "Look, sir, we're just trying to look for someone who my friend said they last saw here."
"Well, maybe I've seen 'em," the red panda told him. "What he look like?"
"Well, he's…" Camo began to say.
"Very handsome!" Peb interrupted once again.
"Oh my god…" Camo told himself.
"Yo, Peb, can you like, uh, not interrupt Camo?" Sodo asked for a favor. "Just let him talk. Please."
"Ugh, fine!"
"He was an orange coyote," Camo proceeded to explain. "He usually wears black and never wears a shirt. Has something covering one of his eyes."
"Oh!" the red panda exclaimed. "Well, in that case, yes, I have seen 'em. There's a bunch of orange coyotes, and the shirtless ones usually jog down the street but there was one 'ere that stood out to me the most since they only had one eye with 'em. They were very intimidating from the looks of it, so I simply let 'em be and minded me own business."
"Oh, that's great! Uhh, did you see him anytime recently?"
"This mornin' actually!" the panda delivered. "I was doing community service around the mountains, and I saw 'em headin' up 'ere."
"Then we need to head there immediately, you guys, come on!" Camo insistently commanded his friends with a determined and optimistic tone of voice.
"Ay, why you lookin' for this person? He your friend or somethin'?"
"Yes, he is a good friend of ours and he ran away from home," the opossum sadly reflected on. "He's been gone for a while, and now we're trying to search for him…"
Camo immediately hugged the red panda in front of him.
"Thank you…" the opossum whispered.
This instinct came off as weird to the opossum, especially since it was so sudden and out of place for him to hug a random stranger he had just met; nonetheless, he didn't want his internal awkwardness to ruin his moment of genuine appreciation. Camo was confident his friends were looking at this action of his with weird expressions, but Camo couldn't bring himself to care. Not anymore.
The red panda hugged him back. "You're very welcome, hehe. Caught me by surprise with that."
Camo couldn't help but chuckle a bit to the panda's last comment as he proceeded to leave. Peb and Sodo walked up to Camo, surprised at the small scene that took place.
"Wow!" Peb screeched.
"What?" Camo asked.
"Nothin'," the jack responded, running towards the direction of the mountains.
"Let's go follow Peb, okay?" Camo told the hyena behind him. He grabbed his hand once more and ran after the hyper jackal.
It was nearly the afternoon as the trio approached the mountains. They couldn't help but take in a brand-new scenery for themselves: Many forest trees aligned across the cloudy hills of the mountains as the leaves of green and orange fell towards the mossy surface. The clouds present between the trees thickened the air; butterflies also flew across the lovely wilderness as well. Although the cloudiness of the fog made the mountains look like something one would see within a horror movie scenario, it simultaneously captured and displayed a whimsical setting of comfort.
Peb wandered off without his friends, the sight of his silhouette within the fog disappearing as he descended further into the clouds. Camo and Sodo continued to casually hold hands as they walked across the grass whose green color had been covered by the fog. It was funny to Camo how a month ago, he had been weirded about by Sodo holding his hand in his dream, and a week later Sodo responded with similar feelings towards the opossum when he held his hand in the same fashion at the carnival as well. The reason this moment felt so humorous was because none of them minded grasping the other's paw at all; it was crazy how their personalities and perspectives had changed significantly within the course of approximately more than a month.
"So, Sodo," Camo began to speak. "Were you like, weirded out by the way I hugged that guy back at the graffiti wall?"
"I mean, yeah," Sodo responded bluntly. "It's just weird to see you hug someone like that, and I know Peb would think the same as well."
"True," Camo replied to the comment.
"I've never really seen you so affectionate before, really."
"Well, what about that night where you and I kissed and such?"
"Uhh, it was my first time seeing you like that, but even today it feels odd," Sodo confessed. "You're usually mad. I'm not, like, complaining about you being more affectionate and stuff, though. I like this new you. Change is good."
They both smiled at each other. Camo decided to take advantage of this moment; simply speaking, he wanted to kiss the hyena, and hopefully Sodo would be willing to do the same. There was nobody around to see them, and the fogginess of the clouds were so dense that it'd be impossible for anyone else to see them even if they tried.
Camo grabbed the hyena's other paw. "So, about that time we did kiss though… how much did you like it, exactly?"
Sodo stared at the opossum in front of him.
"You can be honest with me, it's okay."
"I t-thought it was okay..." Sodo stuttered quietly. "It was nice."
"Do you want to re-experience that with me again? Like, right now, per say?"
"I…"
Camo waited for the hyena's response. Sodo looked down with a somber look on his face. The opossum tried to figure out what he could have been thinking to himself using the facial details he was displaying but to no avail.
"I'm sorry, but I don't think I'm comfortable right now," Sodo finally responded.
"Aww, that's okay," Camo reassured him. "We can always try a later time if you'd like!"
"M-maybe…"
Suddenly, Camo had remembered the nightmare he had this morning. He was nervous Sodo was mad at him deep down the same way he had been with him in his nightmare. Maybe not as angry, but somehow upset one way or another.
"Hey Sodo, are you mad at me by any chance?"
"Huh? No, not at all. W-why would you think I was mad at you? I'm not mad at ya for wanting to kiss me and stuff, y'know?"
"Well, how do you feel about that, then? Because I was just curious and such."
"I feel… different, I guess?" Sodo tried to tell. "I… can't really explain myself well. But, what do you mean when you say you're curious?"
"I'm just curious about trying it out again with you to see what I really am, that's all."
"Oh…" Sodo frowned.
"What?"
"So, what you're trying to say is, you want to experiment with me…" Sodo sighed. "Just like other people have."
"No no no no!" Camo exclaimed. "No, that's not what I mean-"
"If you were planning to do that to me then maybe you shouldn't have told me that?" Sodo interrupted, his voice breaking a bit.
"No, listen to me. I would never experiment your feelings for my benefit, never… I would never hurt you in such a way."
"You hurt Nono before," Sodo pitched in.
"That was in the past, and right now I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about right now. Right now, I wouldn't even think about hurting a friend of mine; I would only deal harm to my enemies, not my friends. So please try to understand that I would never commit such a foul act."
Sodo didn't reply at first. They had felt bothered at the mere thought of being emotionally abused by others. Analyzing the expression on Sodo's face, Camo was able to see a glimpse of what he had been thinking. Most likely, Sodo was reflecting on memories, horrible memories, of experiencing such manipulation. Camo remembered back when Sodo said he had been the one that had been curious towards others, but after the tone of their recent conversation as well as Sodo's shift in attitude, Camo realized Sodo had been lying the entire time. It wasn't the hyena himself who was experimenting with others to figure out his identity and such; as a matter of fact, it was his old "partners" who had performed such an act on him.
"Maybe that's why he's afraid of entering a relationship?" Camo asked himself in his head. "Maybe… he's scared of being hurt again. He's just like me..."
Peb emerged from the fog, running towards the opossum and hyena. He was breathing heavily, signifying he had done much running.
"Guys! Guys!" the jackal yelled as they ran around.
"What is it, Peb? What?" Camo asked nervously.
"I found an abandoned playground, and you're not gonna believe what I found!"
Peb held a neon green acid capsule to their friends. Nono usually possessed acid capsules to throw at people he didn't like. The jackal's discovery gave Camo a sense of hope. Nono had to be in the mountains surely, and he most definitely had to be around the abandoned playground Peb mentioned to him.
"Peb, we need you to lead us to where you found this thing," Camo demanded. "We need to find that playground."
"Follow me then!" Peb screamed.
The trio had run through the foggy wilderness. The pacing had been similar to how Camo and Sodo had been chasing Peb. This time however, they had lost Peb rather easily, and the both of them kept stumbling over obstacles they were unable to see; Sodo had even tripped on a rock, falling onto the ground with heavy impact. Camo had helped him up, giving him a brief pat on the back in disguise by making it seem like he was scraping dirt off of his sweater. Fortunately for them, Peb had stuck around calling out for their names so they could catch up to the fast jackal.
They saw the jackal hide behind a tree, gazing at the perimeter of the playground. Tree roots and branches wrapped themselves around different segments of the playground. It almost looked as if the wilderness itself was consuming this old, worn-out playground. There were many acid capsules scattered across the sand and many target symbols were attached to the wooden trees. On said targets, there were many empty capsules attached to them.
"So, Nono is playing darts in the mountains?" Sodo grinned.
"It looks like it," Camo responded. "Ugh, it doesn't look like Nono is here right now, though."
"We walked over here for nothing?" Peb whimpered.
"I'm afraid so, bud…" the opossum sighed. His small moment of anguish came to an immediate end after he heard noises coming from the distance.
"What was that?" the hyena asked aloud.
"Get behind the trees right now!" Camo quietly exclaimed. His friends hid behind the opossum, and they all carefully peeked out into the distance. There were footsteps stepping over leaves, crushing their fragile surface in the process. A canine-looking shadow emerged from the fog, with an object in their left hand and a hat on top of their head. As the atmosphere became a bit clearer, the three friends were able to see that the shadow was actually Nono, and not some dangerous forest creature.
Nono had a crossbow in his hand and a black cowboy hat. He looked around for a moment as if he had heard some rather odd noises himself. Bending down, the coyote proceeded to pick up a few capsules. Camo was completely surprised to have seen him with such cosmetics but was happy to have seen him once again. It had been more than a month and seeing him after all that time was heart melting.
"Alright guys, so here's the plan," Camo began to devise. "We're gonna walk up normally to him and then talk to him for a whi-"
The opossum was interrupted by Peb's screams of joy as the jackal ran rapidly towards the coyote. He jumped onto Nono, hugging him tightly. The coyote was shocked at the sight of seeing his jackal appearing out of the fog.
"So much for the plan," Camo thought.
Kissing him rapidly, Peb cried out to the coyote. "Ooh, Nono, I missed you so, so much!"
"Does Nono's eye deceive Nono?" Nono asked himself. "Peb, is that you?"
The jackal nodded rapidly. "It really is me! I'm so glad you're here! Where have you been?!"
"Nono was on the streets and in the mountains," the coyote explained. "This playground is Nono's home now! Nono sleeps in that tunnel right there." The coyote pointed at a tunnel attached beneath the second floor of the abandoned playground.
"I'm happy you're okay though... I was so nervous..." Peb squealed.
"How did you find Nono out here?"
"Me, Camo and Sodo met someone who saw you come here, so we all ran here to find ya! We want you to come home, Nono."
"Sodo and… Camo, are with you?"
"Mhm!"
"Well, Sodo, looks like we should go in there," Camo said.
The both of them walked out of their hiding spot and towards the jackal and coyote. As Camo drew closer, Nono drawed his crossbow, pointing it at the opossum's head.
"Whoa, put that bow down, Nono!" Camo shouted.
"Nono doesn't have a bow, Nono has a crossbow!" Nono furiously corrected him.
"I don't care about what kind of weapon that is!"
"Uh huh, just like you don't care about Nono or anybody else but yourself!"
"That's not true!" Camo argued. "Just put down that crossbow and let me talk to you."
Nono paused. He stared down at the opossum in front of him, his eye fueled with frustration. It almost looked like he was more than ready and more than willing to shoot him with his crossbow.
"Give Nono one reason to put this crossbow down, or Nono will shoot you and your huge ego down."
"Nono listen, I know you might want revenge on me for what I said to you a month ago, but I need you to know that what I said, about not caring about you, I-I didn't mean it…"
"Camo calls it revenge, but Nono calls it returning the favor," the coyote said, ignoring Camo's main point of his response. "You hurt Nono badly, and now Nono will hurt you."
"I didn't mean to hurt you, I swear. I understand how you feel…"
"Don't even try that with Nono," the coyote growled. "You will never understand how poor ol' Nono feels about comments like that. You don't know how Nono has taken things like that before in the past because you never even bothered to learn about Nono or the others. So don't even say that you understand how Nono feels, because you don't!"
"Okay, you're right, I'm sorry," Camo apologized. "I should've known that, actually. I know I got upset at you because you entered my room without permission, but look, about what I said to you, I didn't mean it at all. I could've just asked you politely to leave my room, but I decided to be rude instead of rational with you and now here we are."
Camo did his best to respond to the coyote the way he wanted to respond. He was nervous as to how Nono would perceive what he had to say, but now was not the time for hesitation.
"Come on Peb!" Nono shouted. "You and Nono can run away together away from this guy."
"Nono, wait!"
Camo's rise in his vocal tone caught the coyote's attention, as well as everyone else's.
"Nono, I do care about you, and I never meant to say that I didn't. I care about… all of you, as a matter of fact. I just don't know how to express all of that without coming off as a complete freak to you guys.
"Should I continue to explain myself?" Camo thought to himself. One side of him didn't feel like doing it, as he wasn't much for expressing his secrets to others. On the other hand, Camo felt like he needed to. He couldn't just leave Nono with the tip of the iceberg; after all, this was an apology Camo deeply sought to deliver, so he wanted to put as much as he could on the table.
"I figured if I expressed that I cared for you guys, then you guys would never take me seriously. And not only, but I felt like you guys would take advantage of me just like people in the past have taken advantage of my kindness. I was hurt terribly by them, and I didn't want to feel that pain again. I hid my feelings because I was scared, and it ain't easy to hide them, especially when you want to show them off."
Sodo had become completely interested, yet saddened, in whatever Camo had to say; getting to know the opossum more meant a lot, but it hurt having to hear his side of the story. Additionally, it explained a lot about his personality, and the questions the Criterion members possessed about why he had always behaved so unhinged were finally answered. Nono and Peb understood where the opossum was coming from in a sense, as they knew what it was like to care for others back in their younger years, and not receive any reciprocation whatsoever.
"Regardless, you don't have to forgive me for my wrongdoings, and you can still hate me even after this, but please, I am begging you to return home. I miss you so much; home doesn't feel like home at all without you. We all miss you, bud, especially Peb, too…"
Nono's ears perked down hearing the jackal's name. Camo couldn't decipher the coyote's thoughts, but he presumed he was thinking about his response, or maybe the consequences that emerged when he ran away from home out of the blue. Suddenly, the coyote ran towards the opossum. Sodo and Peb were shocked at the immediate action Nono made as Camo could only close his eyes, not wanting to see what he was going to do.
When Camo opened his eyes, though, he had seen Nono hugging him. During the small reflection the coyote was having, it looks as though he had forgiven the opossum. Camo felt as if he didn't deserve to receive such forgiveness, but he nonetheless accepted it; after all, all Camo wanted at this particular point in time was his friend back. Camo hugged the coyote back as a response.
"I guess Nono should apologize too," Nono sniffed. "Nono shouldn't have just snuck in your room without a warning. But, if you really do care about ol' Nono, then Nono does forgive you."
"Why wouldn't I care?"
Sodo and Peb were happy that everything went okay. Usually, situations as bad as these progressed with even more negative outcomes, but luckily this time that was not the case. While Sodo stood back and smiled at the scene, Peb freaked out with happiness and went to go hug both Camo and Nono.
"Yay, you guys are friends again!" the jackal cheered.
Camo looked up from the group hug they were having and saw Sodo standing in the distance. It was easier to see him, given the magenta glow Sodo emitted as well as the fact that the fog had been clearing itself more. The hyena smiled and gave a little wave.
"Join the group hug, Sodo," Camo pleaded.
"Yeah, come with us please!" Peb seconded.
Sodo didn't respond with words, and slowly walked towards the three. Feeling shy, it took him a while to join in the hug. Camo made him come in quicker though by pulling him into the hug. The four hugged each other ever so tightly, and soon enough they had separated. Peb brought the coyote with him a little farther away from the others so they could talk with him in private.
"Nono, please don't ever leave us again!" Peb wept. "You mean so much to me and I never wanna imagine losing you ever!"
"Nono won't leave, hon," the coyote replied. "Nono promises."
The two shared a kiss. Sodo was surprised seeing this for himself, but he couldn't help but feel happy for them. The same could be said for Camo, who smiled at the sight.
"So, are you guys ready to go home yet?" Camo asked them.
Nono and Peb ended their kiss.
"Nono is ready, but quick question…"
The opossum's ears perked up.
"Can Nono keep this hat and crossbow?"
Camo wasn't so sure as to how to answer. He was alright with Nono keeping the hat. However, he wasn't so keen on the idea of keeping the crossbow, especially since Nono attempted to kill him via said weapon.
"Please?" Nono added.
"Pfft, sure, you can keep it with you, bud," Camo finally answered.
"Yay!" the coyote celebrated. After, the four walked home together.
Not all of them had finally made it towards their home. At one point, Sodo had seen Cori wandering around as he was chasing a butterfly, and the hyena decided to accompany him. It took nearly two and a half hours for the remaining group of three to get to their destination. Peb didn't really have to do any walking however, since Nono had been carrying them throughout the walk.
"Well, welcome back home, Nono," Camo said with delight as he attempted to open the door. "Oh, never mind, the door's locked."
The opossum proceeded to knock on the door, and he was met by T.O who had quickly opened it. He was busy doing his best to carry the Raggoons who had been going rabid around the household as per usual.
"Got your hands full, I see," Camo commented.
"Yes, the Raggoons woke me up and they started running everywhere!" yelled T.O, trying to stop one of them from biting his foot. "And I mean everywhere… they got outside because the door was unlocked, and I had to chase them down."
"Oh," Camo said. "Well, I wonder why it was unlocked."
"Yeah, me too," the panther responded. "Where have you been?"
"Looking for Nono. And luckily, we found him!"
"Wait, really?! Where is he?"
Nono entered the home with the jackal he was carrying to greet the T.O.
"Nono, you're back! Agh, I'd hug you, but I'm in a tight spot right now, so I'll do that later. Uhh, hey listen. All of you. Don't come into the house just yet. They trashed everything so I'm gonna clean everything up, okay?"
"Don't you want help with that?" Camo asked.
"No... I'm okay, trust me," the panther reassured him. "Just gonna clean up and lock these Raggoons in cages."
But the opossum didn't trust him. Usually T.O would like help with situations as difficult as the one he was currently facing. It confused Camo as to why he didn't seek out any form of aid now.
"Can I go to my room at le-" Camo asked.
"NO! Don't go there, don't come in here! Let me just… fix all this, please. Go outside or somethin'. Go back to where you guys were before."
"We went to the mountains!" Peb shouted.
"Whoa, really? That far?!"
"Yeah!"
"Okay, well, go hang out there or something. But... don't come in here, okay? Good."
The opossum's suspicion grew further. Why wouldn't T.O let him inside of his own room? But then it hit him: the panther stated that the Raggoons destroyed everything from the inside to outside. Camo had forgotten to lock the front door of the house…
… and he also didn't lock his bedroom door, either.
While the others remained outside, Camo ran quickly to his bedroom, and he wasn't surprised at what he had seen in there. However, he was more than just disappointed. He was enraged about the vile scenery. The Raggoons had thrown down most of the furniture and the bed was completely unorganized now. Additionally, many papers were scattered and shredded across the floor.
Nervous, the opossum checked to see if his love letter for Sodo was still intact. Unfortunately, he saw a ripped piece of the envelope on the floor. If the envelope was damaged, then so was the letter, especially the letter was inside the envelope to begin with. Camo could not believe it at all; all his hard work was abolished by those little, mischievous delinquents. The things he wanted to say, the love he wanted to portray, was all gone.
Camo screamed in pain as a result of realizing his letter was gone. Everyone in the household had frozen: T.O, Peb, Nono, and even the raggoons. It felt as if time itself had stopped to Camo's painful cries. The opossum desperately tried to pick up whatever pieces of the envelope and letter he could find. He didn't care that his room was a mess, he just wanted to find that letter. He managed to find a variety of the pieces, but he couldn't help it. He started bawling with the knowledge that he would never be able to put his envelope back together.
T.O ran into the room. "Camo, I'm so sorry!"
"No… it's not your fault, T," Camo cried. "I just… Why do they do this? Why did they do this?!"
"I don't know, that's just how they are. I'm locking them in cages right now as punishment…"
"Go do that, then."
T.O walked away. Peb and Nono slowly walked into the room. Nono was nervous of entering any further though, especially after what happened the last time he did. The opossum noticed the coyote standing by the door.
"You can come in…" he sniffed.
Nono entered. "What's wrong? Nono heard you scream really loud."
"I can't say…"
"What is that in your hands?" Peb asked.
"It's nothing, I swear…"
"Then why are you crying about it?"
The jackal walked up, noticing the envelope and pieces of paper that had some writing. "Is that a letter?"
"Yes."
"Who's it for?"
"I'm pretty sure you know who it's for
"Ohhh," Peb realized. "Sodo, right?"
"Y-yeah…"
"Nono is confused," the coyote barged in. "Nono wants to know what's happening. Why did Camo write a letter to Sodo?"
Camo wasn't so sure as to whether or not he should just spill the beans about everything that had been going on the past month. He was nervous about how they'd react, as well as whether or not Nono would tell the secret to Sodo; Nono was a pretty talkative individual, after all, and possibly more extroverted than Camo could ever be, really. On the bright side though, Camo could finally get his secret off his chest, and tell Nono the whole story about everything. It would explain why he wouldn't be able to take Nono to the Cloudy Carnival. The opossum wanted to tell him, and there was no turning back from doing that as he cried his lines of reasoning.
"I started falling in love with Sodo," Camo wept. "I started falling in love with him and I wanted to get to know him more… and so I tried taking him out on a date at the carnival and that's why I couldn't take you or anybody else. I-I-I wanted to spend time with him alone… and the whole date got ruined, but when we got home, we kissed, and I wanted to experience that with him again forever… I want to spend that kind of life with him. But… he rejected me a bit and I tried writing a letter to him to say how I really felt because it's possible he might be lying because I'm afraid of screwing everything up with him in person. I was scared and I wrote a good letter… and those stupid Raggoons ripped it up and… and…"
Peb hugged Camo. The opossum had trouble breathing as he continued to cry.
"Don't speak a word of this to Sodo," Camo told the coyote. "P-please…"
"Nono won't…" he promised.
"Please relax, Camo," Peb spoke. The jackal reverted back to his normal, calmer side so he could talk formally. "Why not just tell Sodo what you wrote on the letter?"
"I'm nervous I'll screw up, and I don't want to mess up our chances of being lovers," he answered.
"You're not gonna mess up anything."
"But what if I do?"
"Then just correct yourself! I'm sure he'll understand that you made a small, few mistakes."
"But I still wanna deliver that letter. I'm trying to find all the missing pieces and stuff…"
"Me and Nono can help you with that, don't worry!"
"Yeah!" the coyote grinned.
"B-but what if we don't find all the pieces of the letters? What if all my hard work is gone forever? What if I can never show him the letter I wanted him to see? What then?"
"Well, what if we do find all the pieces?" Peb asked.
"Then I guess I can give it to him..."
"Exactly, and even if we don't find all the pieces, you can always start over!"
"I guess you're right," Camo understood.
"What do you say, then?" Peb asked. "Do you want us to help you clean up everything, and find those letter pieces? We can help you out with Sodo as well, even if he can't see the letter."
"Nono and Peb could help make a new letter just in case!" Nono exclaimed.
Camo slightly smiled. "O-okay…"
"Yay!" Peb cheered. "You're smiling again, hooray!"
Camo, Peb and Nono cleaned up the bedroom and did their best to find the missing pieces of the letter. They only managed to find a few more, but Camo was only a little bothered. He figured he'd either find more pieces eventually, or if not, he might as well just confess to Sodo anyway. They had finished around approximately two hours, and afterwards they helped T.O lock up the rest of the Raggoons.
The opossum sincerely enjoyed this quality time he had spent with his friends. So wholesome, he thought. Being kinder for a change really did pay off; he played the role of a gentleman to others. He helped Peb and Nono out, and even helped T.O with what he had been struggling with. Now, Camo had to be a gentleman to himself by confessing the truth to Sodo. Although only that one thing needed to be accomplished by Camo and Camo alone, it felt like so much needed to be completed.
Nonetheless, the time of confession was drawing nearer than ever before. Sooner or later, the truth will be released on the opossum's own terms.