AUTHOR'S NOTE- PLEASE READ

YES.
THIS STORY.
IS STILL ALIVE. 8DDDDDDDDDDDD

Sorry this chapter's short, I wnated to get it done so we could get to chapter four, which will be better than this and we'll actually get the story progressing.

Besides, this one is kind of filler, but I just felt I had to tell how the gang got there.

Whatevs. Just enjoy, and be happy that I'm actually keeping this story going. xD

The night was dark, or at least it seemed to be, being such a stark contrast from the light I cast over our path. The highway was far off now, though we could still hear the rumbling of all the speeding cars over the broad stretch of road. The trees were starting to thicken, blotting out the moonlight that now came in patches. I was starting to get tired, but I didn't say anything. I'd keep us going until we came to the decision to stop.

We'd had a bit of trouble trying to get out of town, seeing as we not only needed a means of transportation but a good power source as well. After we'd gotten a plan devised, we managed to pick off an old kids' wagon from the back of the Salvation Army store. After traveling about a mile into the town, we found an electronic store and barely scraped by with a dingy old battery that was only half-charged. We decided only to use it when we absolutely needed it.

We'd spent the rest of the day trying to get out of the city without being noticed, which was pretty hard, considering a red child's wagon out in the middle of a parking lot doesn't really blend in with the whole scene. We had quite a few close calls, but thankfully, none of the Rules were broken in the process of beginning our long, perhaps miserable and exhausting, trek back to our first real home.

So now, nightfall was starting to take its toll, and I knew all of us were on the verge of falling asleep, though nobody had said anything. We were all under a weird strained silence that was almost suffocating. I had to pop the bubble of silence before I went crazy.

"I… ah…" I started uncertainly. "…Maybe we should stop."

"That sounds like a wonderful idea," Kirby wheezed, pulling over next to a tree. He unhooked himself from the wagon and collapsed to the ground, obviously exhausted.

When the wagon stopped, Toaster jumped with a squeak as his eyes snapped open, and looked around wildly. But as soon as we saw everyone was there, he relaxed and said drowsily, "Sorry. I was half-asleep." Then he slowly nodded off and before I knew it he was asleep again, breathing softly.

Nobody bothered getting out of the wagon, too tired to even move out of the place they sat, only had the energy to stretch out into a comfortable position. Not even Radio said a word before dozing off.

I curled up on the cold surface of the wagon into a position that felt nice enough to sleep in, and soon, I was deeply asleep and snoring lightly, mumbling occasionally in my dreams.

I couldn't sleep.

No matter how many times I tried, I didn't fall asleep.

Everyone except me was sleeping, and I didn't think they would wake up any time soon. I couldn't stop thinking about how quick the Master gave us away. Why would he do something like that? Did he just not want us anymore? I couldn't figure it out, no matter how much I thought about it.

And what about the Little Master? What would he do without me? I was his Blanky, no matter how much bigger he got, I would always keep him warm. And now we couldn't see each other anymore. Who would keep him warm on all those snowy nights?

I started thinking about how long I'd been with the Little Master, and how much time I'd spent around him, and couldn't help but start crying. I was scared.

I was scared of losing my home, and my Masters along with it.

Maybe I was being silly and not thinking right, but I was still scared. I didn't want to go back to the cottage, I felt sorry I even said anything about it.

But… where else would we go?

Now I wasn't just scared, I felt guilty, and on top of that, I was tired. I really wanted something to snuggle with, but I remembered the last time I tried to do that in the stick forest on our first journey.

Thinking about what I'd done and what would happen now that our master abandoned us, I cried myself to sleep and had scary dreams about monsters crawling on white walls, saying terrible things, all ending in "It's all your fault."

What had I done?

The journey had been long. But slowly, as we blindly stumbled from the city into the beyond, we began to discern landmarks from our previous quest, and we simply backtracked from there. It was kind of strange. Nostalgic, even- in a weird sense.

The journey was long, and silent. We were just focused on the cottage, getting back to our roots. The battery had only lasted a while before it went out on us, so only used energy when absolutely necessary. Remembering what happened last time I'd tried to rescue a battery, I just laid low and didn't try anything again. I didn't want to lose my bulb again, nor flirt with death. Especially not the latter.

The forest of sticks had thinned as twilight began descending on us, and now we were making our way through the little woods that was patched with pleasant birch trees and blotted with small ponds. It would have been much nicer if we'd stopped to look over it again.

The already sparse trees were getting thinner as we kept going. Home was close, I felt it. Soon, there it stood, atop the hill. It was edged in soft orange light in the sunset, a black silhouette. It looked a bit different than I remember it, but somebody had bought the house and most likely remodeled it. The windows were dark and eerie, I noticed as we drew ever closer.

"We're back," I heard Toaster mutter, breaking the fragile thread of silence.

"We sure are," I replied.

We stopped halfway up the path that lead to the patio.

"Well, this is it. We're back home," I said with finality.

"Should we go in?"

Toaster suddenly interjected once again. "Maybe someone's inside."

"I doubt it, do you see how dark it is in there?"

"Yeah, but… I just got a gut feeling we should at least knock or something."

I shrugged. "Whatever you want to do."

Toaster leapt from the wagon, and made his way up onto the patio. He hesitated at the door before cautiously using his cord to press the doorbell, which broke through the summery static noise of the twilight.

Little did we know what lay behind those doors.

Again, I apologize for this chapter being short. ^^;

POV's are Lampy and Blanky. Why did I give Blanky a section of chapter-time? Honestly, I have no idea. I just felt like he needed to be heard out. *shrug*

I'll try and get chapter four done as quick as I can, so I won't keep you guys waiting for so freakin' long.

Letting You Off With a Coat and a Dagger, (Kudos if you get the song reference~)
~UltraVioletSpectrum (aka Mo)