"Aren't you nervous to be back here, Gold?" Scarlet asked.
They were walking towards the fair that had shown up in town again. The fair that Gold had "died" in.
The whole thing gave him a bunch of bad memories, but the others wanted to go, and Gold was bored.
What better way to spend time with friends than go to the fair that killed you once upon a time, right?
"A little, but I've been more nervous for worse things. Besides, as long as I'm nowhere near that stupid Minecraft booth, I won't freak out."
"They might've closed it, probably." Sapphire quipped.
"The hell even happened?" Copper asked curiously.
Gold fiddled with the zipper on his hoodie. "Server corrupted while I was still in. I didn't even realize something was wrong until the sun turned black." He said subtly.
"Like an eclipse?" Scarlet asked.
"Kind of. It reminded me of an eclipse until everything started glitching out."
"Must've been painful." Scarlet muttered, staring down at his arm.
Gold pulled down the sleeves on his jacket. During the whole thing with Navy, he had straight up forgotten he had the scars.
Not that there were very many, but they were still there.
And he hated them.
"Damn. It was abandoned." Scarlet said as they passed the familiar booth.
"Probably happened after the whole incident. Didn't want it happening again, so they abandoned it." Gold muttered to himself.
"Seems logical. But why's there a shadow in there?" Scarlet pointed inside.
Sure enough, there was a shadow inside of the abandoned booth.
"What the...fuck?"
Gold, being the leader, took a step into the booth, trying to get a better look at whatever is going on.
"Hello?"
Nothing.
"Hey! Anyone there!?"
"A guard from Navy's regime?"
"Maybe it's Night Shade!"
"What the hell would Night Shade be doing right now?!"
"Guys, shut the hell up!" Gold snapped. The other three behind him quieted down.
The movement stopped, and Gold took the opportunity to grab a stick and look into the abandoned area.
Aside from the cube and the old, dusty and possibly broken computers, there wasn't anything that stuck out.
"We know your in here!" Scarlet shouted.
Gold looked around at familiar places that he knew would probably be big enough for a hiding spot.
Behind the computer, something moved, and three out of the four of them jumped.
"Jesus!"
Gold scrambled for his phone, and turned the flashlight on."
"Your not flashing a picture or anything?" Copper whispered.
"Why would I need a picture of a computer setup that doesn't even work?" Gold whispered back. Grumbling to himself about teaching Copper about using his phones flashlight, he edged closer to the monitors.
Trying his best to ignore the familiar blaring alarm he could vividly hear.
As he edged closer, the build of the stick figure began to look eerily familiar.
Just as familiar as the color.
"Fern?"
The stick figure jumped, and Gold flinched.
He could remember one of King's high school buddies anywhere.
"I knew it!"
Fern stared at him, and skeptical look etched on his face. "Gold? But your...your supposed to be-"
"Dead? Yeah, I know. But shit happened and I'm alive right now. Don't remind me."
"What.."
"Yeah, it's confusing."
"No. How have you...ended up om the new numerous times?!"
"Oh, that. My dad's new kid. He's got a psychopath for a biological father who keeps bouncing back, and we've stopped him enough where it's just national news by this point."
"King has a new kid?! When did that happen?!"
"Your high school buddies! You don't talk to him anymore or something?!"
"No!"
"Of course you don't." Gold muttered to himself.
"Anyways, who the hell are these guys?!" Fern gestured to the other three sticks behind him.
"Couple of friends and my girlfriend." Gold deadpanned.
"Someone's got ambitions."
"Shut up."
"Hey, I work in a doctors office. I can put you in the hospital and thoroughly describe your pain."
"Whatever."
Something in the sky caught Fern's attention. "What's that?"
Gold looked up at the sky to see clear blackness, save for a flashing light.
"A flashing light?" Fern asked in confusion. "What the fuck-"
"That's Alan's computer!" Copper shouted.
"An SOS signal." Gold breathed.
"Shit."
"Why are we freaking out?" Fern asked.
"Just come with us."
Gold and the others started leaving the booth, and Fern reluctantly followed suit.
"You know, we could just call them!" Green shouted.
"Well, that didn't cross our minds because everyone's freaking out and doing the stupidest shit known to the history of animation!" Red snapped back, holding up a large flashlight Second had drawn in a hurry.
"Dumbasses."
"We don't have time to argue! Purple's in trouble!"
"I figured it was trouble."
Gold suddenly climbed out of the desktop.
"Shit! Sorry!" Blue scrambled to turn the flashlight off.
"Thanks for encouraging blindness prevention." Sapphire deadpanned.
"Thanks for noticing our signal." Blue sighed.
"WE COULD HAVE JUST CALLED THEM!" Green shouted, groaning loudly.
"Why didn't you people call?" Scarlet inquired.
"Because the only one with your contact and a reason to call you is currently having a mental breakdown and is inconsolable at the moment. AKA, your dad." Yellow noted.
"The hell happened?!"
"Purple's gut feeling happened, and he won't wake up."
"Like, as in a coma, or is just unresponsive in general?"
"We don't know."
"Welp, finding Fern was a great thing, then."
"Who the fuck is Fern?" Green asked.
"Me?" Fern spoke up.
"Oh."
"We think he can help." Gold suggested.
"Well, let's see what we can do." Red sighed.
"Thank you."
"Chosen, did you find anything?" Yellow asked, walking in with the others.
"I can't find anything! It's like there's something blocking me from accessing his code!" Chosen snapped.
"A virus?" Dark suggested.
"It's gotta be. And it's got some complex shit alongside it, and I can't access it!"
"Move. I might access it." Fern pushed Chosen aside.
"The fuck are you?"
"He's a friend of King's," Sapphire answered. "Speaking of which, where is he?"
"Having a meltdown?"
"Where?" Gold asked.
"Next room over." Green pointed outside.
Gold pushed past him and left.
"Anything?" Sapphire asked.
"It seems like he passed out, and someone got accessed his code and played around with it and...oh, fuck."
"What? What is it?!"
"They screwed with his code and erased his memories."
The others shared a glance.
"We know whats going on."