Here We Go

Chapter 14

The sun set over Hard Landing as five figures stood beside the barn. Mixed emotions were displayed by each as they discussed their current situation.

"So you're telling me that Duni is gone again?" Came the annoyed, snarky voice from Dashlie. "Why should we care where the heck he is?"

"Don should at least understand." Uni replied, beckoning to the jester. All eyes turned to him as Don shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly.

"He may or may be going through an existential crisis after what I told him." He said simply. Dres raised an eyebrow.

"What did you even tell him?" The pale, bearded man asked. Don turned a thumb over to Ddawn.

"He knows better than I do," He explained. "Weird things have been going on since we killed Uni's friends and I wanted answers. So, Ddawn and I finally got to the bottom of it. Or least as much as I can understand it at least." Dashlie turned to the robot for an answer.

"The bottom of what?" She asked.

"Of our existence, of course. In truth, we are not actually whole beings. We are only a part of... a soul, to say the least, that has been taken away and given a conscience and separate existence. Though we do not know who could 'ave done this, all we know is that that is how things were for quite a while and-" Dashlie cut off Ddawn before he could ramble any further.

"Ok, what the hell?" She said, utterly confused.

"We're not... whole?" Dres echoed, just as lost as the albino woman.

"No we aren't, I mean yes we four technically are and they aren't, but that isn't the point right now!" Don exclaimed. "What's the issue is that Duni has been extremely unpredictable lately and who knows what he could be doing right now."

"Don's right." Uni affirmed, drawing attention back to him again. "What I heard from Don was pretty difficult to take in. I couldn't imagine how Duni took it, and that worries me."

"And were we ever going to find out?" Dashlie asked dryly, pointing between she and Dres.

"I was going to tell you two eventually," Don said indignantly. "But before I could this guy comes running around proclaiming that Duni is missing and we need gather everyone."

"Alright, alright," Uni interjected before the argument could go further, raising both paws. "Everyone was going to know eventually but we really need to find Duni before he does anything horrible." Finally, they all seemed to be in agreement of their current situation.

"Well, you got any leads?" Dres asked.

"Somewhat..." Uni replied without much confidence. "Just follow me." He beckoned the others and they went inside the barn. Inside they were greeted by Sammy and Wilford. The pig approached Dashlie and the albino woman kneeled down and pet him on his head. Sammy meanwhile approached Uni with something in her mouth.

"You still have the letter? Thank goodness." Uni said, relieved, as he grabbed the piece of paper from the cow. He gave her a quick kiss on the forehead and turned his attention back to the others.

"So, what is this letter all about?" Dashlie drawled as she sat down next to the pig and continued to pet him. Uni rubbed the back of his head, looking sheepish.

"Well the thing is... he rambles a lot, but he's pretty vague about where he actually is." The pug admitted.

"You don't have any leads then." Dres pointed out. Uni huffed at the comment.

"I do! Sorta..." Uni replied. He then pointed to a spot on the paper and continued.

"He mentioned here about meeting him in 'the place where it all began so we could end it'. Although quite frankly I have no blimey clue where this could actually be." He gave a scowl, puzzled. The others were quiet until Dres voiced everyone's thoughts.

"So we're basically back to square one?" The pale, bearded man asked flatly.

"Sounds like Duni to be so vague." Dashlie piped in airily.

"You have to at least have some potential places he could be." Don commented, glancing at Uni. The pug gave a sigh in defeat.

"Not many I'm too confident in. That's why I asked you guys for some help so we could find him." He admitted. Dashlie suddenly got up.

"Alright sure, whatever. Let's go find that twerp." The albino woman proclaimed, walking out of the barn. Uni turned in surprise and quickly gained his composure.

"Let's go then." He said, walking out of the barn as the others quickly followed suit. The five of them then headed out into the late evening.

-     -     -     -     -

The moon rose above, shining its light down despite the occasional patches of clouds drifting by. Five figures were huddled around outside the barn once more. Uni looked at the others.

"Anyone find him?" The pug asked.

"Nope." Dres replied.

"Not a single trace of him." Don reported. Uni looked between Ddawn and Dashlie, who were quiet.

"Ddawn? Dashlie?" He prompted. Ddawn shook his head while Dashlie rolled her eyes.

"I don't think we'll ever find him." She retorted.

"We have to keep looking!" Uni protested.

"It's the middle of the night Uni, we're not going to find anyone like this!" Dashlie exclaimed, waving a hand and beckoning to the night. She then crossed her arms.

"Besides, I think Duni is perfectly capable in taking care of himself," The woman continued. "I don't think this whole situation is that serious anyways. Like seriously, what is he even going to do?" Uni was about to interject but Dashlie raised a hand and cut him off before he could.

"I don't care anymore. You losers can keep doing whatever you want. I'm going to sleep." With that she turned and headed back to the house.

"She is right." Ddawn commented, he too beginning to head out. Uni helplessly looked between Dres and Don.

"Yeah, I'm tired of looking around." Dres said.

"It's getting late too. Maybe we could look again tomorrow?" Don added. He and Dres then made their leave. Uni watched everyone leave as he stood alone. He placed a paw to his forehead and sighed.

"Yeah, it is getting late..." He mumbled to himself. He took one last look at the barn and then headed back to the house.