Mordecai woke up drenched in sweat. The surge of panic gradually left him. It had been another night terror. He's been getting them more and more recently. And like the others before, he could not remember a a single thing about it.

Mordecai lay in bed as his drained eyes were fixed on the ceiling. The exhaustion drove his mind into a surreal state. The splotches of paint and plaster on the ceiling were changing and molding into new shapes. He dared not fall back asleep. It was still only 5:30, and Rigby still slept on his trampoline. Mordecai simply decided to just get ready for the day.

When he went to the bathroom, he discovered something odd. He was growing white hair around his beak, forming a short beard. He was about to shave it when he felt a slight prick of hesitation. Why would he want to shave such a thing? Why on earth would Simon want to shave off such a handsome beard?

"What the hell?!" Mordecai thought to himself. "Who's Simon?" he asked to know one in particular. "Mordecai, you're just tired and exhausted. It's just your mind messing with you, don't worry about it," Mordecai reassured himself.

The Crown was getting to him, and it did not want to let go. Mordecai could feel it strongly. The chilled, mute voice putting thoughts into his head and words into his mouth. Yet, Mordecai silently accepted it. He could not feel any ill-will against it. He still did not know what the endgame was, if there was any at all.

Rigby was running in the darkness. His breath was visible and all around was pitch black. He could not stop himself from running. What he was trying to escape from he did not know. He just kept moving. Just like that, a massive explosion went off in his path. Rigby was lifted from his feet, he could feel the heat wave hit his body. He screamed from the intense pain.

Rigby woke up in a quick spasm. He looked around to make sure this was real life and not some other sick dream. He could hear Mordecai in the shower. He rubbed the sand out of his eyes and started to get up. Something caught his eye. He thought he could see something shiny on the top shelf of the closet. Something peculiarly gold looking. With the the dim light, Rigby could only make out the general outline of it. But its color and luster were still present.

As Rigby went towards the closet, Mordecai opened the door. "Hey Rigby."

Rigby stopped in his path. "Hey Mordecai. Dude, uh, you got something all over your face," Rigby said pointing out his stubble.

"… And…?"

"Uh, nothing man. It, uh, it looks good," Rigby lied. Mordecai just stared at his friend with a blank gaze for a moment. Then started to head out the door.

He's been like this for the past few days. Mordecai hardly spoke to anyone anymore. Rigby stopped him, "Dude, don't. Don't just shut everything out. If what happened with Margaret is still getting to you, then talk to her. I dunno, maybe it'll work. But you can't just sit around all depressed and junk for the rest of your life."

Mordecai continued his glossy look. "Thanks," He quickly said before leaving.

At breakfast, Rigby felt awful. His chest was aching and he was coughing non-stop. On top of that, there was a longing. He felt as though he forgot something important somewhere but could not place his mind onto it.

"Rigby, is everything okay?" Thomas asked.

"Yeah I think so," Rigby meekly said. "I just don't feel good, that's all." His stomach was on fire.

Rigby went back to his room. When he walked in the door, his sickness left him almost immediately. Nothing was hurting anymore. "Now why the heck is-… unless…" Rigby knew what made him better. It was the Enchiridion. He was now at a point where he could not leave the confines of the book, not that he complained.

Rigby opened his closet and slung on a one-strap backpack. He carried the Enchiridion inside with him.

"Just a minute!" Margaret called from inside her apartment. Outside, Mordecai was nervously tapping his foot on the ground.

Margaret opened the door and her expression quickly changed to that of a disappointing frown. Her eyes were noticeably grayer and her apartment did not seem to fair much better. Her breath smelled of scotch and alcohol. She started to close the door but Mordecai stopped her. "Hey," Mordecai tried to greet in a lighter tone.

"Hey yourself. What do you want?" she asked.

"Whatever I did that night, I am so, deeply sorry. I honestly don't remember anything from what happened but that was not my fault."

Margaret started to close the door again, but this time Mordecai held it open as he stepped into her apartment. "It was all the Crown that night. I swear I never meant to do anything to you! You know that! I, I still love."

"Just tell me one thing…" Margaret replied

"Anything!" Mordecai quickly responded.

"Did you get rid of it?"

"I threw it over a cliff the morning after," Mordecai assured her.

Margaret's face changed to one of relief. She hugged her lover. "I'm sorry I over-reacted. I guess it was a little unfair for you. It wasn't your fault, I just-"

"Shhhhhhh" Mordecai interrupted. He leaned in and touched her beak with his. Their arms tightened around each other as they kissed.

"You're still all there," Margaret said before moving back into his arms. Mordecai backed her up against the wall as she tightened herself around his back.

"Oh Betty," Mordecai muttered. Margaret's eyes opened.

Margaret tried to push Mordecai away, but Mordecai was the stronger one. In response he began to kiss her more ferociously.

"Mordecai stop-" Mordecai's kiss interrupted her words. "I don't want to do this anymore-!" She was trying to push him back but he would not relent.

Margaret used all of her strength to push Mordecai away a few inches. With this opportunity, she slapped him across the face. This snapped him back, "Margaret, I'm sorry-"

"Betty. That's what you called me that night!" Margaret said. She was shaking her head, "You lying sack of shit."

Mordecai began to explain himself, "Margaret, listen, I di-"

Margaret wasn't going to have any of it. "I don't want to hear it, you can leave. Don't come back until you're back to the man I fell in love with." Mordecai stumbled as he left the apartment. He turned to say something but Margaret slammed the door as he left.

Margaret was left crying against the door. "Damnit Mordecai… Damn you…" she muttered to herself. She looked down and placed her hand on her stomach as she cried.

Rigby felt odd knowing It was on his back. He just tried to ignore the ever present feeling of the Enchiridion and go about as normal.

He was raking the leaves when Eileen decided to pay a visit. "Hey Rigby!" Eileen called as she walked closer.

She's lying to you. She will only hurt you.

Rigby just tried to ignore it. "Oh, hey Eileen. You could have just texted."

"I know. I was just wondering if you wanted to go see a movie tonight?" Eileen asked.

We do our best to kill and maim because our kills all the same, Napalm sticks to kids.

"Uh- sure. Tonight sounds good. What movie did you want to see?"

From afar, Muscle Man saw the two talking. "You know who else likes messing with dweebs on dates?" High Five Ghost winked in agreement as he handed Muscle Man a football. "Heads up Rigbaby," Muscle Man muttered to himself. He aimed for the back of Rigby's head and threw as hard as he could.

Rigby felt something odd. His arms and his hands started to feel… funny… Time slowed down for him. He had blocked out everything Eileen said as he heard his own heart beating. His tail was starting to tingle, as well as his chest and head.

Without even thinking, Rigby turned around and caught the football in his hands in the nick of time.

Everyone, including Rigby, was left open-mouthed. Rigby could hardly believe what just happened. He looked up to see the culprits. He got angry as he wound up the football in his arm and threw it towards Muscle Man.

It sailed until it hit Muscle Man square in the chest. He almost toppled over.

Rigby turned back to Eileen who was still open-mouthed. He awkwardly chuckled it off as he apologized. "So, uh, see you at 7…?"

Mordecai needed to know what the hell was going on with him. He suddenly remembered seeing VHS tapes in the bookbag when he had it. Skips had the bag though.

The blue jay waited in the bushes for over an hour outside of Skips' shed. As the yeti moved out for just a moment, Mordecai quickly snuck inside, took the bookbag, and ran back to the house. He carried the TV and the VHS player into his room and set everything up.

He opened the back of the bag and searched through. There were four tapes in total. He decided to watch them all in case there was anything he missed. One of them was bound to have something, whatever that something may have been.

Each tape was labeled with a date written on a piece of tape. Mordecai took the earliest one and pushed it into the player.

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