With the objective now laid out, Wade knew exactly what he had to do.
He was charged with finding his Ember.
No amount of hiding out of self-care could help him now, for it would not help bring her back to him. It was his fault they got into this mess, and it was his responsibility to get them out.
Knowing this, Wade rode along the sunset-sept roads by scooter on a mission, readable all over his face and body language.
He quickly took his phone out, sitting it on the scooter's little phone holster. As he rode along, he attempted dialling her, just in case. He knew it wouldn't go through - it couldn't, not now - but part of him felt inclined to try.
As he dialled, he neglected to watch the road - as any distracted driver would - nearly colliding with a car from behind.
"Drop!" he exclaimed.
He swerved around it at the last possible second. A bounty of yells hit his ears as he screamed past. He looked back at the car for a moment in passing, shaking his head out of embarrassment.
He refocused his attention on the phone, dialling in Ember's number and clicking the call button.
As to be expected, it went straight to a hang-up.
"Ugh-Ember." Wade worried.
As he looked back up to the road, a subtle air of regret and defeat entered the equation. His already stressed expression out of focus on the mission stretched thinner.
He looked to and fro between the road and his phone with a similar air of hesitant guilt. He knew that calling her too much would evoke massive backlash from her, but not trying at all was out of the equation for him.
With that, he looked over at his phone with added certainty.
He attempted her again...
"Ugh-c'mon, c'mon." he grimaced as it rang.
Once again, however, the call went straight to a hang-up tone.
"Agh!" he stressed.
He let out an impatient exhale, leaning forward on his scooter and quickly trying her again. Before his hand could hit the call button, however...
Incoming call
Speedier than he was on the scooter, Wade slapped the answer button with his thumb.
"Uncle S! Boy, am I glad to hear from you," he exclaimed with relief.
"Wadey! Thank Drop you picked up. Are you okay?!" Uncle Sea-Near exclaimed.
"Y- Yeah, I'm fine, Uncle S. I-" Wade stammered.
As he went to speak, ugly thoughts of last night began to seep their way back into his mind. The act of betrayal out of self-care, the guilt it brought - it was too much for Wade not to tell them.
"I-I'm really sorry if I scared you and Aunty S-about last night. I-I needed a night to myself. Long story." he admitted.
"Oh-Wade. Just as long as you're safe!" Uncle Sea-Near pressed.
"Y-yeah. I'm fine." Wade replied.
"Thank Poseidon!" Uncle Sea-Near thanked.
Aunty Sea-Near - being the closest thing to a worried mother to the lovebirds at that point - took the phone from Uncle's hand with urgency about her.
"Honey-where are you right now?" she exclaimed.
"I-I'm out..." Wade stammered.
Wade paused in regret, halted by memories of last night and her current disappearance interjecting once more.
"It- it's Ember." he continued.
"We heard. Oh- first you, now she's missing!" Aunty Sea-Near panicked.
After long, it became very audible to Wade that the Sea-Nears were crying genuine tears of sorrow, something that his watery being did not resist too well.
Wade did his best to hold a singular tear from dripping down his face to the extent of biting his fist in a coping strategy as he rode along.
Alas, he was the strong point in the chase of Ember, and it had to stay that way. He trusted no other to do it; in his logic, it was his mess that started this, so it was his responsibility to get them all out of it.
With the weight of responsibility bared onto his shoulders, Wade barely managed to stay afloat the guilt within, letting out an assurative nod.
"Don't worry, Aunty S. I'll find her, a- and we'll be back as soon as I do," he promised.
Uncle Sea-Near gently grabbed the phone once more, letting a worried Aunty Sea-Near stew in worry.
"Me again. Please be safe, Wade. Aunty S and I are sending out a search party for her now." Uncle Sea-Near pressed.
Wade bruxed his teeth upon hearing the sentiment, quickly losing balance on his scooter for a moment out of shock before readjusting.
"No!" he exclaimed.
A short pause followed as Uncle Sea-Near struggled to process his words.
"No, what?" he queried.
"Look- Uncle S..." Wade began.
With the worry of afore bearing far too heavy on his shoulders, something had to let up.
"...this is my fault. S- Something happened last night." Wade began.
"What?" Uncle Sea-Near refrained.
"I'll explain later. I- I need to do it alone. It's my fault, and I'm the only one who should bear that burden." Wade pressed.
"But, Wade. More heads are better than one." Uncle Sea-Near stated.
"Yes, I know, but-" Wade stammered.
"Please, Wade. Accept the help." Uncle Sea-Near advised.
Struggling to even muster the courage to speak to his Uncle by that point, Wade let out a gulp as he had a startling, risky thought.
"Oh, I'm gonna regret this..." Wade reckoned.
"Wade?" Uncle Sea-Near said in a pressing tone.
In a completely out-of-character move, Wade pressed the hang-up button on his phone. In a juxtapositionally in-character move, however, he let out a grimace in instant regret.
"Ugh- why'd I do that?!" he exclaimed to himself.
He hit his forehead with the meat of his palm, now riding along into the sunset with even more guilt than before.
He looked over to his phone with that look of guilt, reconsidering the idea of calling them back - mostly out of regret.
As he reached over to press the call button once more, a blinding ray of light hit his peripheral vision. He fanned a hand at the light, cringing slightly.
But, the light offered him more guidance than even the Sea-Nears could at that moment.
Wade looked up at it, finding an orange sunset just to his right. He stared in that direction as the road began to descend, showcasing a very different view of Elementopia.
It was panoramic; breathtaking even. With a view unlike ever before, Wade stared in the direction of the sun, and a subtle smile overcame him. Still, it would pale in comparison to what he'd find underneath it.
His eyes followed the sun's rays along the ocean below it, coming across a strikingly familiar sight; the Coral Isle Pier. The Pier was drenched in gorgeous orange light unlike he'd ever seen. As he admired it, thoughts of the week prior had gently made their way into his mind; specifically his date night with his Ember.
As he looked, brief flashes of black and white came into his vision. Before long, there he sat, in the moment of yesterday - sat in watch of the gorgeous moonlight and its reflections on the water.
In that vision, he looked over to a grateful, proud Ember, and sat in her spot staring out at the moon in awe.
"I could stare out there for hours. The way the light of the moon reflects on the water... It's almost like they're stepping stones to get there."
For the first time in a day or so, his thoughts of Ember slowly shifted back to the positive. He didn't feel the guilt he did about her not minutes ago, instead a feeling of desire about him.
In that tugging desire, a large sign began to shift into view. Wade's attention was quickly distracted by the sign ahead.
Coral Isle Pier, next right
He let out a chuckle at the strikingly relevant sign, shaking his head and pressing on...
Until sharply realizing something. It was a shot.
With absolutely no clue as to where Ember could have retreated, this was finally a clue. He let out another chuckle - now out of relief.
"It's a shot, and one I'm willing to take." he reckoned.
With the right fast approaching, Wade kicked his scooter into high gear, sharply veering over to the exit.
It was one step closer to finding his Ember.
The sunset now exhibited a breathtaking purple hue to the orange of afore as Wade pulled up to the Coral Isle Pier.
Being a weekend night, the Pier was bustling with tourists, couples, and casual admirers alike.
With pedestrian traffic far too dense to be scooting around everywhere, Wade came to a stop, parking it on a pole nearby and resuming the hunt on foot.
Like a lost child, Wade walked down the Pier, aimlessly spinning around as he did in search of her.
"Oh- Ember. Where could you be?" he asked himself.
Before long, his attention was caught by another familiar sight; that of the amusement park a couple of nights ago. Now reaching into his detective Wade persona, he ran up to the entrance with haste.
Even more striking than before was the fact that the same clerk from a couple of nights ago was there, doing the same job - or lack thereof - as before.
Wade joined the short cue in hopes of reaching him. Before long, he did.
As he did the night or two before, he sharply laid both palms on the ticket office.
"Excuse me." he pressed with urgency.
As to be expected, the clerk dozily looked up at him.
"Have you seen a fire girl around? About yay big?" Wade queried.
To help build his case, Wade began to gesture her dimensions to the clerk, curving his hands in her shape with splashes to boot. As he finished, he held his arms outward in prompt for an answer.
The clerk let out a disrespectful shrug, taking out a magazine and outright ignoring the already panicked dewdrop.
Picking up on his passive-aggressive denial of service - something Wade was not at all surprised about, especially after working at EBID for a week - his arms slacked to his sides, letting out an exasperated eye roll and groan.
He sharply turned around, marching off in an aimless huff. As he walked over to the edge of the Pier, he held his head in stress, wiping his hands down his head as he went. He arrived at some railing between the end of the Pier and the beach below, grasping onto it and looking down at the sand.
Much unlike the bustling Pier, the beach was empty, barely anything was present besides the gentle sound of waves crashing to the shore. The only light visible was the now-set sun and the beginnings of moonlight directly ahead.
With the shift into night nigh, Wade let out a large sigh. He let go of the railing without aim or direction, unsure of where to go to find his Ember now. The beaches were empty, and the bustle around him had scarce fire people - let alone one that looked like her.
With aim and direction dwindling every second, Wade roamed the edge of the Pier along the railing, causing some onlookers to stare his way in passing.
"C'mon-think, Wade. If I were Ember, where would I be?" he thought to himself.
To help his detective case, he got into Ember's shoes unlike ever before - to the extent of mimicking her.
"Grr- I'm Ember. Grr-flame-fire-sss!" he said in a quippy tone, gesturing flames above his head with his hands.
As if he didn't get stares of query his way already, Wade marched along with arms straight, fists clenched and a frown. As he marched along, he slowly shifted back into the gear of regret as before, slacking and hunching over, arms hanging low.
"Agh- what am I doing? Making fun of the one girl who'd ever like me." he recognised.
As he had before, he held his hands at his face, gradually wiping it down in stress. As he did, a bunch of drops of water landed on the ground like heaping mounds of sweat.
He began to slump wearily, the events of the last week slowly beginning to catch up to him. With an air of defeat about him, he sorrowfully waddled over to a vacant bench with an ocean view amid the hustle and bustle around him. The poor droplet became dissociated from the world around him, plopping himself down onto the bench wearily.
"Ugh- who am I kidding? I have no clue! Where to begin, where to end- nothing!" he exclaimed to himself.
The dissociation and detachment from reality slowly rotted his mental state. He woefully looked over to his right at the vacant spot on the bench next to him. He could see the emptiness on far more levels than the surface; he could see a happier life, an Ember present, taunting his current reality. He looked back forward, staring downward.
"This is all my fault..." he sighed.
As the bustling Pier passed in the background, Wade let his inhibitions go, letting the floodgates open. He cried a muted yet pain-stricken cry - hope fading into a distant memory. He buried his head into his hands, shuttering back and forth as his breath shortened.
"So that's what I look like now?" a voice said.
Wade sharply lifted his head out of his hands with an astounded look of relief. He sharply looked over to his right - the once-vacant spot next to him on the bench now filled by a near-perfect doppelganger of himself.
Unable to believe what he was seeing, he sharply rubbed his eyes, frantically looking around every which way.
The bustle was gone, reduced to motioned blurs as the world came to a grinding halt.
Wade slowly looked back to his doppelganger and sat on his side facing him.
"I gotta admit, I always thought I'd be back, just not this soon." the doppelganger reckoned.
"Y- you?" Wade murmured.
The doppelganger returned a warm smile to his naive self, nodding.
"W-where have you been?" Wade queried in a pressing tone, body language shifting from sorrow to curiosity.
The doppelganger returned a light shrug in response.
"Well- you listened to your temper, hey? I don't need to be around anymore." the doppelganger answered.
With his tears gently dissipating, Wade wiped them up with an arm, letting out a long-needed exhale. He averted his own gaze, looking to the ground with arms hung low.
"Oh- I've messed up! I've messed up real bad!" Wade exclaimed.
He fell in on himself, relying on his doppelganger to catch him as he slumped over. Like he were Ember, he sobbed on his doppelganger's shoulder.
"Hey- shh! Enough of that negative speak." the doppelganger comforted.
"I-I thought-I-I thought that if-if I-" Wade stammered.
"Hey. Look at me." the doppelganger pressed.
Like a curious child to their mother, Wade looked up at the idyllic. The doppelganger gently rested a hand on Wade's cheek, caressing it gently.
"Don't feel bad for having a night to yourself. You tried something you don't normally try." the doppelganger recognised.
Wade returned him a blank, almost offended look at his rather ignorant statement.
"What?" he queried.
The doppelganger let out an exhale and chuckle, shaking his head.
"Can I ask you something?" he asked.
Wade looked at him in silence, unable to grasp what his doppelganger was getting at.
"Does your happiness hinge on her?" the doppelganger asked.
The question caused Wade a small amount of discomfort, causing him to avert his gaze.
"Think about it. How happy were you last night; when you didn't have to worry about anything else?" the doppelganger pressed.
"B- but it was selfish of me-" Wade stammered, looking down.
"No." the doppelganger denied.
A small air of silence followed. Wade sharply looked over at him, greatly confused. The doppelganger let out a gesturing look, raising both eyebrows.
"It wasn't," he assured.
Like Ember would, Wade let out an exasperated groan, folding his arms and slumping backward.
"Just because you had a night to yourself doesn't mean it's not justified." the doppelganger pressed.
"But, it's like she didn't know. S-she didn't know!" Wade argued, gradually shifting his body language back to his opposite.
"She didn't." the doppelganger confirmed.
Wade stopped, raising his own eyebrow as he struggled to grasp at his doppelganger's point.
"Wh-wha-" he stammered.
"The way she acted toward you... Why do you think that is?" the doppelganger asked sincerely.
Wade's eyebrows lowered, staring blankly dead ahead in aversion of gaze.
"Because..." he began.
The doppelganger leaned in out of anticipation for the answer, raising an eyebrow.
As Wade sat, he gently concocted what he thought to be an idiotic response; but one he had to let out regardless.
"B-because she didn't know." he unconfidently exclaimed.
"There's your answer." the doppelganger admired.
Wade sharply looked over at him in a subtle need of guidance.
"B-but... I told her. I-I texted her everything." he reasoned.
The doppelganger leaned in closer to him, slinging an arm over his shoulder.
"One more question for you," he said.
Wade's sharp look blunted, shifting into a more gentle, inquisitive look.
"Did something feel off, or strange, before last night came?" the doppelganger queried.
Wade took a moment to think to himself, looking about the place in query.
"Strange?" he thought.
He gently brought up his hand, stroking his chin with his index finger and thumb in thought. His doppelganger stared as he contemplated, gently gaining Wade's attention with the tap of a finger on his satchel.
Wade's aimless looking about shifted to his satchel upon prompt. He stared at his satchel blankly for nearly 10 straight seconds, looking up at his doppelganger in guidance.
The doppelganger rolled his eyes and exhaled, taking matters into his own hands. He sharply reached a hand into Wade's satchel, causing him to squirm about in discomfort. As he grabbed his phone, the doppelganger threw it at Wade's chest, causing him to grimace as it hit.
He picked it up, looking at the thing blankly like a child seeing one for the first time. He looked over to his doppelganger in hopes of a prompt.
"Well?" the doppelganger said in a pressing tone.
Wade slowly looked back over to his phone, just as blank a look as before. He opened it up with a muted expression, landing on the home screen. He sat in his spot for a moment, bringing up the first thing he could think of.
Feed lost. Refresh?
Upon opening his Elemenstagram feed, a strikingly familiar feeling of frustration overcame him. He stewed in the feeling for a moment, trying his best to find meaning in it.
That was when it hit him...
He quickly exited the app, heading into his instant messaging. He brought up Ember's contact, and lo and behold...
"Wait..."
The most recent message read a small red highlight underneath. Within that, his answer lay.
With the startling realization now dawning on him, he hit his head relatively hard with the palm of his hand, sounding a sizeable slap.
"Oh Drop, what have I done?!" he panicked.
Now spiralling into a vat of panic, he began to hyperventilate, crying tears of embarrassment.
"Hey!" the doppelganger exclaimed.
"I- it was my fault! Yesterday- it was all my fault! Sh- she didn't know!" Wade panicked.
Before he could spiral any further, the doppelganger silenced Wade with the tip of his finger on his lip.
"Don't panic." the doppelganger said.
"I- I need to solve this now, more than ever! I- I have a reason why, more than just selfishness!" Wade argued.
"Where does that get you, though?" the doppelganger pressed.
"But-" Wade stammered.
"Nowhere! You have an onus to apologize to her regardless. Having this doesn't just grant you a get-out-of-jail-free card." the doppelganger pressed.
"Agh!" Wade sounded.
He sharply got up onto his feet, roaming about with phone in hand and a hand on his head. The doppelganger exhaled out of frustration, getting to his feet.
"E- even if that were the case, where do I go now? I mean, she could be anywhere!" Wade exclaimed.
"Mr Spiral." the doppelganger exclaimed.
Wade sharply stopped out of frustration, looking his doppelganger's way. The doppelganger slowly approached him, extending a hand.
"Remember what we always say." he reminded.
Wade let out a sizeable gulp, slumping in his spot.
"Always look for the light in the dark. It'll guide you towards what you desire the most," they said in unison.
Wade let out a small exhale of relief, shaking his head.
"Yeah- yeah, you're right." he recognised.
He gently walked back over to the railing, leaning on it and looking out at the ocean view. The doppelganger soon joined his side, patting him on the back.
"Lots to learn, dewdrop." the doppelganger comforted.
Wade shook his head with a grin, letting out a joyous chuckle.
"Ugh- so simple, so avoidable." he joked.
The doppelganger chuckled along with him, the two sharing a bonding moment - as close a moment as one can have with oneself.
"We all make these mistakes. But, there's something we don't all do..." the doppelganger said.
Wade slowly looked over at him with an inquisitive smirk.
"W- what's that?" he asked.
"Own up." the doppelganger answered.
Wade stared blankly at him.
"Tell her you're sorry. I mean, isn't that your thing?" the doppelganger pressed in a quippy tone.
The two let out a laugh in unison. Wade shook his head, leaning back onto the railing.
"Ha-ha. Very funny," he remarked.
"I mean- there's a reason you don't need me around anymore." the doppelganger recognised.
Wade looked back over to him in query, raising both eyebrows with an air of bittersweet.
"You know what you're doing. You just gotta do it." the doppelganger pressed.
With that, the mood began to calm around a bittersweet Wade. He let out a genuine smile, his tense feeling of dissociation fading into the wind ever so gently. In fact, as that wind went, a nice, gentle night breeze came in its place.
He put his hands to his face, wiping it down once more out of decreasing stress. He gently looked over to find that his doppelganger had finished back into obscurity, associating him back with reality once again.
"Light in the dark..." he murmured to himself.
He faced the ocean view once more, looking about the barely-lit beach.
"C'mon- c'mon. Give me something," he begged.
Suddenly, something came. A glimmer of orange sat in the far distance, instilling him with a subtle air of hope once again.
"Oh- Light in the dark! Light in the dark!" he exclaimed.
With hope returning to him, he scrambled to his spot, quickly running along the Pier. He made his way down a ramp to the sandy beach below. With renewed drive, he sprinted as fast as he could along the sand as the glimmer grew brighter. The glimmer turned to a glow, and the already-present orange only grew bigger.
"Oh- thank you. Thank you, thank you!" he mumbled to himself excitedly.
His sprinting went even faster, to the point of erratically slipping about as he ran. The orange glimmer had now become a visible bonfire at this point, installing Wade with further confidence that it could be her.
As he approached it, he slowed his walk to a crawl. He gently kneeled down as he came close to it. He gently extended a hand at it, staring at it with intense adoration.
"I found you... oh- thank drop." he admired.
With those words, the fire began to unfurl. Like a Vivisteria flower, a once-curled Ember opened up. A ring of protective glass surrounded her feet.
A hurt of a thousand torturous lifetimes could be read all over her face as she finally met his gaze. She looked as though she had bawled for hours - something which became startlingly real to Wade. His relieved look in finding her gently parked to the side as concern grew in seeing her like this.
She wearily got up on her legs, standing slumped like a starved zombie.
"W- Wade?" she queried with a shaken, hopeful tone.