Wilson's POV

I couldn't sleep.

It wasn't that I wasn't tired- I was rather exhausted, actually, but something in the back of my mind just wouldn't shut off. Instead, I simply found myself tossing and turning, trying desperately to get comfortable and failing miserably.

The moon was still high in the sky when I finally gave up. I pushed myself into a sitting position, eyes squinted against the fire light, only to see Winona a few paces away, poking idly at the fire with a stick.

"You too, huh?" I mused. The woman startled, as if she hadn't realized I was awake, then quickly shushed me, dipping her head towards the other side of the fire and the pile of fur the flames illuminated.

And really, it was a pile. Blue, brown, and black fur all mixed together as Webber, Popsicle, and the monkey all had collapsed into each other and passed out like that. Winona smiled faintly at the group, before turning her attention back to me.

"You okay, Wilson?" She asked. "What's keeping ya' up?"

"Dunno." I shrugged, leaning back and propping myself up on my hands. "My stomach feels weird."

"You're not getting sick, are you?" Winona said, a faint questioning tilt to her eyebrows.

"No, not like that," I assured her. "Just nerves, I think. There's been... a lot to take in recently, you know? A lot of conflicting emotions and all that. I think it's finally getting to me." I laughed harshly, running a hand through my hair. "Do you suppose I'm going insane? Say Winona, do I look like an insane man to you?"

Winona chuffed a laugh. "I can't say I'm well-versed in the appearance of insanity, Wilson. I'll need a bit more context than that."

"Ah, you'll know insanity when you see it. I promise." I leaned by head back, gazing at the dark sky.

A long moment of silence fell over us, broken only by the crackling of flames. Winona sighed softly and tossed a handful of sticks into the fire, her eyes focused on the dark wood as it was consumed by the ravenous flames.

"Wilson?"

"Mm?"

"Do you think I'll ever find Charlie?" Winona's voice was small, something I was unfamiliar with. The woman was often so bold and strong that hearing her sound so defeated shot pain into my chest. "If... if the Ancient Guardian wasn't lying about her. If she really is- or was- here, do you think she's even still alive? Or was this all just... another trick?"

I thought on it for a moment, then let out a long, low breath. "Well... this world is rather good at using smoke and mirrors to get what it wants. Although, I can't even begin to imagine what the world could gain from lying about that. So... I'm going to say that yes, I believe she's still alive. Whether or not she's able to recognize you is... a different matter." Winona winced at that, and I added: "Didn't it call her a beast?"

"That's... true," Winona replied hesitantly, visibly sinking into herself. "I just... I don't know, I just really hope this wasn't all for nothing. Do you... think that maybe she's the last one the Ancient Guardian talked about? The One True Heir?"

"Pretty sure he said it was an animal," I pointed out. The second the words left my mouth, I whipped my head around to look at the monkey again. "No way."

"You think he's the One True Heir?" Winona sounded confused, maybe a little sarcastic, as if the idea was silly. "I'm pretty sure he's just a monkey, Wilson."

At that, the monkey's face scrunched up as if disgusted. He let out a low, mumbling hiss, something oddly similar to a spider's speech, before drifting off again.

"I think we just got told off," I explained to Winona, who chuckled.

"Kind of sounded like it, didn't it?" We let the last of our humor die out, before changing the topic once more. "Do you still think that we should stay here?" She asked me after a moment. "Do you think that there's... no way home?"

"At the moment, we really don't have any leads on how to get home. All the Ancient Guardian said was 'doors go both ways', and I have literally no idea what that means. Like, yes, that is, in fact, how a door works. You can go in, you can go out. It's quite amazing, really." A sarcastic tint appeared in my words towards the end. "It's almost like that's exactly what a door does."

"Maybe it's not a literal door," Winona said thoughtfully. "Maybe it's a... metaphorical... door?" When I didn't immediately respond, she shrugged. "I dunno, I'm throwing out ideas here. You gotta give me that, at least."

"A metaphorical door. I'll keep that in mind."

Winona rolled her eyes and threw a pebble at me. It struck me in the shoulder with a tiny pinprick of pain. When she spoke, though, she sounded more amused than annoyed. "Moron. I meant the portal."

"The portal?"

"You know." She waved her hands. "The portal. The one that brought us all here. The reason we're in this entire mess in the first place. That portal?"

"Maxwell's Door," came a mumbled voice from a few paces away. I turned my head to see Webber- Tyler? He had said it didn't matter but I wasn't entirely sure- blinking tiredly up at us. He didn't move from his position in the pile, and honestly, he looked as though he had absolutely no intention of doing so.

"What?" Winona prompted.

"That portal. It's called Maxwell's Door," he repeated. He let out a heavy sigh, settling further into the fur of his companions. "Door. Both ways. Maxwell's Door. Yeah."

"How... do you know that?" I asked, bewildered. Webber simply shrugged. Fantastic.

"I'm a fan of obscure knowledge," Winona said with a hum. "And our resident angry spider boy's obscure knowledge has yet to be wrong, right?"

I expected the comment to irritate aforementioned angry spider boy, but he huffed a laugh instead and broke into a faint smile. "I'm famous at being right about things."

I smiled at that as well, but waved my hand vaguely at him to brush him off. "Go back to sleep. You look half-dead."

"Oh no, I'm completely awake now. Very... very awake." Webber's words were punctuated with a yawn.

"Yeah, right. Sorry we woke you. We can discuss this more in the morning," Winona said, tossing one last handful of kindling into the fire before pulling away enough to mitigate the risk of being burned in her sleep. "Good night, Wilson. Good night, Webber. I'm glad you're back."

"Glad to be back..." The boy murmured, already drifting off again.

I sighed softly to myself, but didn't try to pursue any further conversation. I also didn't try to go back to sleep. Instead, I simply stared at the fire, watching the flames struggle to climb higher into the air, and let my mind drift off.

As if it was an invitation, a soft purr echoed in the back of my head. "My my, an impressive conclusion for you to have come to."

I gritted my teeth as pain followed the words. "Go away," I hissed. "I thought you finally realized you're not going to get through to me."

"I am not trying to. It was simply an observation. This defensiveness would have served you use much earlier on, but alas..."

I really wish this stupid creature had a face that I could punch.

I wasn't stupid; I recognized the unnatural lilt of Nightmare's voice, but I found there was little I could do about it. It had simply lain dormant until the day or so after Webber's disappearance. Now, though, I could feel its presence as it probed my head, gently searching for weak spots. I steeled my expression, knowing full well that it wasn't going to find any. "Even though your current defenses are impressive, the fact that I have rooted so far into your mind proves that there are still weaknesses to exploit. It's only a matter of time."

"Just try to possess me again," I snapped.

"I am insulted that you think of me as a... what do you call it? A one-trick pony? I am smarter than that, Host. I can acknowledge when a plan has failed and work towards a new strategy. I have my sights set on bigger targets now. Ones that will serve me better than you and the monkey."

A wave of cold washed over me, and I felt Nightmare's interest in the reaction. Its probing continued. "What... what do you mean?"

"We wouldn't want to spoil the surprise, now would we?" Nightmare purred. "Now, go back to sleep, little scientist. And keep hiding my presence from your companions. It's sure to turn out well in the end."

Even when it was done talking, it wasn't gone. It never truly went away, a presence that I now knew had woven into my brain the moment I had been brought back by its magic. I tugged at the collar of my shirt, suddenly feeling too hot and too cold at once. Webber had a right to be terrified of me, even now. If he knew that the same creature who had tried to murder him and had succeeded in maiming him was now trying to poison my own head from the inside, I didn't doubt either he would vanish in an instant, or he would make me vanish in an instant.

Winona hadn't been there for the incident. Thank the Heavens that she wasn't. I wasn't sure she would trust me half as much as she did if she knew what exactly had transpired.

The fact was, Nightmare wasn't done with us. From the sound of it- not that I believed one tainted word out of that demon's mouth- it had a new mark. One that it would make sure wouldn't fail in its plans.

What its plans were, though... I wasn't sure. It had wanted me to kill Webber, or at least weaken him enough to kill him in the long run, but I had a feeling that wasn't its entire plan. Was it in defense of Maxwell, given the boy's title?

I forced myself to lie down, back facing the fire. I wished more than anything I could thwart whatever plans the demon had in store as easily as I could wrap a wound, but the fact of the matter was, I was stuck.

Why did Nightmare want Webber dead?

It was as I started drifting off, finally giving into my deep-set exhaustion, that the answer presented itself with a flash.

So that it can control him too.

The next day, as soon as Webber and the monkey woke up, they teamed up to cook breakfast. I found myself baffled at the monkey's... well, sentience, as he ordered the boy around with hisses and snaps. Hisses and snaps that I recognized only after a solid fifteen minutes as the spider's language.

So Webber could talk to the monkey. And, given the monkey's occasional bouncing to barks and growls as he turned to Popsicle, he could talk to the hound as well.

An extremely interesting development.

Food prepared by an overly intelligent monkey was not something I had ever planned on trying, but I was shocked even more to realize it was delicious. More filling and flavorful than I had eaten since the moment I woke up here. After that, the four of us gathered in a rough circle to finally get the story of what exactly happened.

The monkey, Webber introduced as Wilbur. Wilbur straightened a golden crown perched on his head and said something that I expected to be some sort of greeting, but whether or not it was, I had no idea. The face that Webber made and the fact that he shoved Wilbur immediately after told me that no, it probably wasn't.

He could speak spider and hound, for science's sake, but he couldn't speak English. And yet, he could understand us speaking English. When prompted about it, Webber translated his response roughly to "a prime ape's mouth is not compatible with English", which was an absolute lie if Wilbur's snarky grin had anything to say about it. Whatever the reason, he wasn't talking to us.

"So wait," Winona suddenly broke in during Webber's drawn out story. "You're telling me that Wilbur is The One True Heir? But he's..." She motioned vaguely with her hands, trying to get her point across without words to explain it.

"Over four thousand years old and a native who's been around longing than Maxwell, who remembers when our titles were first spoken and is, in fact, the first one?" Webber finished for her, clearly unimpressed with her doubt. Then, he glanced at me. "Or because he's a prime ape and not a human? Because if that's the case then boy do I have information about the identities of your own group."

Wilbur nodded approvingly at Webber's chastising, twitching his tail to lightly brush against the boy's arm as if reminding Webber of his presence.

"It's just... not what we were expecting, is all," I quickly jumped in as I noticed Winona struggling to come up with a good response. "In case you haven't realized, I'm fully aware that the humans are outnumbered in our five."

"I should also probably mention," Webber added casually, directed at me. "That Wilbur absolutely despises you and that you should absolutely not try to tick him off."

"What?" I blinked in surprise, glancing back at Wilbur and seeing the murderous glint of his eyes. I shivered. I had heard plenty about situations where monkeys went berserk on humans for any number of reasons, and it typically ended with a monkey being shot and a human missing a face. "Um... I... appreciate the warning. Please don't rip my face off."

Wilbur grinned as if pleased, hissing something and waving one hand around as if to say 'no promises'.

I really hope that wasn't what he said. I quite liked having a face.

Webber continued his story, translating for Wilbur whenever the monkey added something. At one point, he hesitated, scratching around his facial scar as he typically did when nervous. Wilbur nudged him and Webber sighed. He looked up at us, suddenly appearing very much the child he was. "I... um... may have been hiding some stuff from you guys. About the... um... the spider." His nervous scratching intensified, although now it was around his whiskers- the legs of the spider, I reminded myself.

"The one that ate you?" I blurted stupidly. Winona elbowed me even as I immediately realized how dumb of a question it was. Of course the one that ate him, what other spider could he possibly be talking about?

Thankfully, Webber ignored the question. "When we first met, I told you that we... thought together, right? As one?"

Winona and I both nodded. We both had heard that from him.

"Something's been... happening. I don't know how to explain it. There's a... separation? I guess? Of our minds. I don't know how long it's been happening but it... it took a turn for the worse when I was there..." He was getting upset, actually upset, in a way that I normally only saw him at the worst of times. Before Wilbur even had the opportunity to draw closer to the boy, Popsicle flopped himself over Webber's lap. "He's been breaking free. Gaining strength." He shrunk into himself, and when he spoke again, his voice was so soft that I could barely hear it. "I'm... I'm scared."

My heart broke even as I saw Winona melt beside me. It was such a vulnerable emotion on Webber, and he was showing every inch of it.

"Are you scared that he's going to take control?" Winona asked gently. Webber said nothing, his eye darting to his hands as he started to wring them together. After a moment though, he nodded slowly.

"I don't want that to happen," he blurted, as if we could doubt his conviction. "I don't want it too. I don't want to disappear!"

And then, he was crying.

He was crying.

Webber. Crying.

I was so startled that I had no idea how to respond. If I only saw him upset in the way earlier in the worst of occasions, than I only saw him cry when something unspeakably terrible was happening. Now, though, he seemed to let the tears run free, slight tremors causing his whiskers to tremble.

Wilbur inched closer to him and nudged him with his shoulder. Immediately, Webber took the apparent offer and collapsed against the monkey, expressing his sorrows in the way that a normal child would.

And things really snapped into place for me.

"You're scared about the spider taking control," I said slowly. He didn't look at me, but I saw him twitch slightly in my direction. "But all I'm seeing right now is the human. You. I've never seen you so far from the spider."

"B-but-" Webber stuttered, but he was promptly interrupted by Winona.

"Wilson's right," she said. "You're not in the wrong for being afraid, Webber, but I think you have nothing to worry about. You're stronger than him. Always have been, if I'm correct." I nodded in agreement. "This doesn't change anything. If anything, it could be good."

"Maybe you could free him from your mind forever," I agreed thoughtfully.

Webber turned to look at us, blinking wetly as he seemed to think over our words. "What if... what if the opposite happens?" He asked in a small voice. "What if he destroys me?"

"That won't happen," I said. "You're stronger than him. I believe that, and Winona believes that, and I'm certain Wilbur believes that too. You don't have to worry about disappearing."

He sniffed loudly, wiping the tears from his face with his hand. "Thank you," he murmured. "Your faith... if nothing else... it means so much to me. But... really. What would you do if he took control? It's... it's a real concern to have."

Winona and I glanced at each other. She gave a helpless shrug, eyes darting back to the boy. "Well, what would you want us to do?" She asked.

Wilbur said something to him, and the boy shrugged it off, looking away. "Kill him?" Webber spoke softly, unsure. I was certain it was a fate he did not want, but he couldn't think of a better answer. "If... if that's the fate I suffer... then death would be better, don't you agree?"

"I don't agree," Winona argued, but Webber focused his gaze on me.

"You know what it's like to be under that kind of control," the boy pressed. I stared at the ground, unwilling to look back. "Unless you have a better idea...?"

"He's right," I admitted heavily. "To lose yourself completely forever... it's a fate worse than death."

"So dramatic, Host."

"You're both wrong," Winona snapped. "Webber, we're not killing you if you lose it. If somehow, that did happen, we wouldn't harm a fur on your face. We'd find a way to get you back. Right, Wilson?"

I scowled at the ground and remained silent. This wasn't something Winona had ever been through. She had no idea.

"Okay, well, fine, I'll find a way to get you back, then. Okay?"

Wilbur added something, nodding along with Winona's sentiment and nudging the boy he sat beside. Webber sighed heavily through his teeth, but he gave a wry smile nonetheless. "...okay. I... thank you."

"You've got all of us behind you," Winona said kindly, smiling at her perceived victory.

"Now that that's settled, we've got another issue to discuss." I leaned forward, eyeing Webber and Wilbur critically. "Maxwell's Door. Do you guys have any idea how to find it?"

"Well, that's the issue with it. I have no idea." In conjunction with Webber's words, Wilbur shook his head. I growled to myself, but Winona only gave an easy shrug.

"Well." She grinned. "I guess we had better get started then."