"Okay. We'll set camp here." Miku called out before heading off into the woods alone.
"We'll want to start a fire." Piko stated as he tried to recall what they had done just twenty-four hours prior.
"On it!" Rin cried out as she grabbed rocks to place in a circle and then ran off to find some dry sticks to use for the fuel.
"You guys still got some food in your packs?" Piko asked.
Len nodded his head before sitting down at the base of the tree and resuming his shell-shocked demeanor.
"Hey Len. You alright?" Piko walked up to Len and crouched down to meet his eyes.
"Don't talk to me!" Len snapped as his own blue eyes met Piko's different colored ones. "Don't touch me too." He added coldly.
There was a twang of a bow, a rustle of leaves, and the last cries of some sort of animal. Miku shortly returned with a squirrel held in her gloved hand. "Here's some food. You cook."
Piko nodded and began to busy himself with roasting the squirrel on the already crackling fire that Rin had managed to create. He was so engrossed with his work, that he didn't realize Miku grab both Rin and Len and walk away. "Hey guys. The squirrel's done." Piko called out as he turned around to see the darkened and abandoned area behind him. "Guys?" Piko put the slightly charred body of the squirrel down before taking his own weapon out in a defensive form. "Guys? Where are you? This isn't funny!" the silverette cried out.
"Piko. Why are you a leader?" a haunting voice asked.
"Who's there?" Piko swung his curved staff around wildly. "I'm armed!"
"You're the worst choice." the haunting voice repeated.
"I take back what I said before." A voice that sounded a lot like Rin's childish voice whispered, "Len would've done better, and he knew it."
"You're a deadweight." Miku's cold voice called out from the darkness.
"Guys!" Piko cried as he moved closer and closer to the small ring of light.
"We're all dead, and this is how you live our legacy?" four voices echoed. Piko looked into the fire and was shocked to see the four faces of the lost staring back at him.
"You're not a leader. You shouldn't be here. You're not a leader. You shouldn't be here." The seven voices repeated the mantra and steadily got louder. Piko turned back around and saw the bodies of Miku, Len, and Rin all walking towards him.
"I'm not a leader. I shouldn't be here. I'm not a leader. I shouldn't be here." Piko quietly cried to himself along with the other voices who now had owners.
"You're useless!" Miku cried out.
"Unskilled!" Rin called out.
"You stole what should've been mine!" Len growled.
"You should be stronger." Kaito said from the fire.
"Tougher." Gakupo agreed.
"Wiser." Luka whispered.
"Smarter." Gumi stated.
"I know!" Piko cried out as he sank to his knees. "I know!" and just like that. The voices disappeared. Piko looked around and the fire was crackling merrily with no signs of the hunters they were travelling with. He looked behind himself and there was nobody in sight. "It was, a dream?" Piko asked himself.
"Hey Piko! Anyone home?" a voice sang happily.
"Rin?" Piko blinked and the bright face of Rin came into view.
"You're lucky Rin thought about waking you up." Len said darkly as he put a piece of the squirrel on a cracker. His glasses flashed from the fire and at that exact moment he looked as menacing as he sounded.
"Here. You've got to keep your strength up." Rin smiled as she gave him a cracker with some squirrel meat on it.
"Thanks." Piko sighed as he accepted the food.
"Mm-hmm." Rin nodded as she skipped back to where everyone was. Miku was resting on the ground with one leg extended and the other bent so her right arm could rest on her knee. Len was also on the ground but was leaning against a tree with both legs out in front of him.
"What's the plan for tonight?" Piko asked.
"Aren't you the leader?" Len asked scathingly.
"Right. Well…" Piko trailed off before standing up to get more food. "We'll just do what we normally do. Just sleep on the ground. I'll take the first shift, who wants the second?"
"I'll take the second." Miku said since nobody spoke up.
"I'll take the third because Len needs his beauty sleep." Rin teased as she poked her brother.
"That leaves me to the last shift." Len agreed.
"Well. Good night." Miku said as she took out a sleeping bag and placed it near the fire before crawling into the warm cocoon.
Len ate one last cracker before taking out another sleeping bag and repeating the same steps as Miku. "Night." Len said curtly before snuggling into his own warm cocoon.
"Hey. Are you alright Piko?" Rin whispered as she scooted next to him.
"Yeah. I'm fine." Piko said breathily, but like always, fine doesn't really mean fine. On the inside Piko was reeling from the hallucination that he just saw.
"That's good. Do you think they're still alive?" she mused as she looked up into the sky to see the crumbling moon.
"Of course. They're much more experienced than us. There's no way they're dead." Piko said firmly. Whether he was reassuring Rin or himself, that's still debatable.
"We'll find them. Right?" Rin asked as she turned to look at her silver haired companion.
"Absolutely." Piko nodded.
"I'm going to hit the hay as well." Rin sighed as she stood up and stretched. "Good night."
"Good night." Piko replied. "That was just a dream. Just a dream." Piko repeated over and over to himself as soon as Rin had settled into her sleeping bag.
"Piko." A voice called from the fire. Piko turned to look and clamped a hand over his mouth to keep him from screaming and waking everybody up. Another face stared up at him from the fire.