BFDIPP Fanfic "Hinting" Book 2

Book 2: Candlefire
Prologue I woke up. Leafy was still asleep beside me, so I was careful not to wake her as well. I looked through the cage bars and saw one of the speaker boxes looking at a neighboring cage. I looked to the other side and found a claw, looking at another cage. The claw's stare was expressionless, and the claw was still as a rock. I noticed that the claw had no chains, and the speaker boxes paid no attention as if the claw was one of them.

I grew very suspicious. ''Why didn't they take that pesky claw down as a prisoner? ''Then as I stared longer, one of the speaker boxes gave the claw a whip. The claw opened the cage with a lock code and whipped whoever was inside it. The tortured prisoner whined and sobbed as the claw said "Be quiet!" and "I never whine like this!" I felt bad for the prisoner. At that very moment I knew why he wasn't a prisoner. He was working with the speaker boxes. Chapter 1 (September 16th, 1996) "Firey, what are you looking at?"

"Oh! Uh... nothing. Nothing at all."

Leafy squinted at me. "Then why are you standing there?"

"Well, because I... I am waiting for someone to come, and they're meeting me here."

"Firey, who is-"

Suddenly we heard a soft sob just in the cage near us. Leafy stared for a moment, then she got up. She looked through the small window in between the two cages. I came to her and looked, too. At first, she stared angrily at the girl sobbing. She appeared to be a tall, gray and slender girl. She looked at Leafy, who suddenly softened.

"It's all my fault..." She said.

"Needle!" Leafy exclaimed.

"wait, who? Who's this, Leafy?"

"Leafy... I am sorry."

"Guys, be quiet! I can't talk to two people at once!" Needle and I kept quiet.

"Okay, Needle, this is Firey. Firey, this is Needle."

"Needle, why do you need to apologize?"

"I was so wrong. Leafy..."

Leafy stayed silent. Needle started sobbing again. Leafy and I stayed silent for a few moments. When I looked next to Needle, someone quite small and golden was sitting next to Needle, quietly sobbing. I realized that the object was actually a penny. Finally, Leafy turned away from the small window silently. I stared at Needle and the penny for a while longer when I heard beeping near the cage bars.

Suddenly the cages all opened, allowing prisoners to leave them. Leafy dragged me and dashed out into the hallway. Traveling through the hallway, we enter a large lobby that stretched further with ripped seat. Few prisoners moved around with chains on one arm. The sight was terrible for me. Claw was in the closer distance, staring at us with no fear.

"Firey, do you want to speak with the others here?"

"No, not right now."

"You might feel less lonely here."

"Well, actually, I'm kinda hungry. "

"Let me come with you. Actually, find someone else. You could meet them."

"Hey, you. Yes, you. You could come with me."

"You!" I pointed at Claw. "It doesn't look like you like me that much."

"No need to watch your appearance here, you'll lose it anyway. Just come with me, I know where the foodplace is."

I hesitantly followed Claw. The foodplace was surely a long way, as it was minutes before we even saw it. Claw started running, and forced me to run at his impossible speed. Once we were close to the foodplace, it was almost empty. The pieces of cold, stringy meat were lousily small. I took deep breaths before speaking.

"Why... do we... have to... sprint?"

"Stop your whining. You have better chances of scoring anything at all at a speed like that. now take something and try not to get robbed."

"Oh no..."

Claw ran back with me at an even faster speed than he came. It was about halfway back when someone tried to jump on us. Luckily, Claw grabbed him and chucked him back like he was a ball. Despite how heavily I was breathing, Claw dashed again, and I followed. Arriving back at the lobby, Claw walked away from me and left me with Leafy again.

"Leafy... I'm... I'm back. Here, you take this half." I said groggily.

I almost split the chunk in half when I got an idea. I'm a fire, right? This would make for a better meat. "Leafy, hold on." I put the piece of meat over my head to cook it. Others in the lobby stopped to look. Soon, they started grouping up in front of me like flocks of birds. They were asking me to do this to their meat, too.

"I don't want to take too much time to do this and get nothing."

"Hey," A small green jelly said. "I'll give you a small share of my piece."

"Or a pillow." A piece of toothpaste said.

The group made uproars of agreement. Objects soon made a few lines, giving me various things like a piece of meat or a piece of wool for sleeping, which I let Leafy had. One object even gave me some medicine, but I didn't have a use for it yet. After everyone was satisfied, the speaker boxes forced all of us back into our cage cells. I went to sleep.

In the middle of the night, I heard loud shouting just right next to our cage. It sounded more like a teenager's voice.

"Please, tell me where he is."

"You're so weak. Finding your friend is your problem and you shouldn't care." This was the voice of Claw.

"Why are you so harsh?"

"Why do you overreact so much?"

I felt bad for the teenager. ''Claw is so heartless and cruel. ''I tried ignoring the thought as I went back to sleep, but it kept biting back. The memory of Claw's poor treatment to the lost soul scarred me through the night. I ended up being quite tired and groggy in the morning. It took 10 minutes for Leafy to wake me up.

"Uh? What? Firey?"

"Leafy... just get up. Everyone else is likely to be awake."

"Hey, I think the cages are opening right now!"

Leafy was right. Just seconds after she spoke, the cages did indeed open. When we went out, I looked for the young adult that was tortured the night before. It didn't take long for me to see him walking out of his cage shakily. Because I kept my eyes glued to him, I didn't notice that we were already in the lobby. Leafy shook me so I could look.

"My gosh Firey. You're in deeper sleep than a cat in a coma... whatever cats are."

"Sorry, I didn't sleep well last night."

"Anyway... wanna travel with me?"

"I would lo-"

"GET OUT OF THE WAY!"

Leafy shrieked. Claw had suddenly dashed straight into Leafy and pushed her all the way into the corner of the room. Before light could travel a Planck length, Claw grabbed me and chucked me into the floor. With no tire, Claw snatched me up and dashed. Claw set me down abruptly and urged me to keep at his lightning-fast pace. I almost fainted by the time we reached the foodplace.

"Come on, you weakling. Take something and we can leave." Claw took two piece of meat.

"Claw, why take two? The rules said that we-"

""Those moronic robots don't enforce the rules. They think they have working security, but they believe that just being a robot makes someone fooled. Let's not be one of those cowards."

"How do you know?"

"I've been caught here more times than stars are in the galaxy. It was the foolishness of the robots that I got free so many times."

"Can we go now?"

"Actually, lets snack here. We don't want people eyeing us, do we?"

"But they'll see us here, and I have to make sure Leafy-"

"Don't talk about that weightless wimp. Besides, no one would guess we would be behind there. You won't tell anyone, will you?" Claw already was hiding.

"I... I..." I had no choice but to join him.

After the meal, Claw and I ran back to the other at the same pace, this time I wasn't chucked. When we were back, I noticed that some people already ate anyway and Leafy was looking down at someone with a gray coin standing by her. Leafy had her arm around the coin's back as the coin sobbed. Claw squinted at the two of them and muttered something I couldn't make up.

"Calm down, Nickel. Silver's time is up. It's his time for flying."

"He was a great brother! Nothing would replace him!"

"I'm sorry, but nothing made an effect on his sickness."

"Leafy, who's these two?" Chapter 2 (September 17th, 1996) "Firey! You're back! What took you so long? Anyway, this is Nickel. His brother, Silver, just died of a sickness that didn't respond to anything we gave him."

"Leafy, I want to be with my brother. I can't help with the memory of my friend."

"Friend?" Leafy and I exclaimed at the same time.

"Baseball. We hung out with each other since I was five. One day, his parents were tired of him being with me, so they moved. He promised me he'd see me again, but I haven't seen him since."

Leafy stood up. I looked to my right, and the other objects already crowded near Silver. All except Claw looked down with sadness. No one had any candle, so the vigil wasn't very proper. I looked for Claw again, but he just dissipated from the group. One particular object, a shampoo bottle, stepped forward.

"Many are sad over the death of Silver." She said. "Those who were closest to him may share his final night."

"Should we join them?" I asked Leafy.

"Stay here, Firey. We weren't that close to him."

We watched for a while as few sat near Silver. When they all got up again, the Shampoo bottle picked up silver and took him away. All the other objects also started to back into the hallways. Leafy and I went in their direction as well. Being forced back into the cages at this point, I made one more look for Claw. I spotted him standing for one moment before the cages closed.

"Firey, what are you glaring at?"

"Oh? Nothing! Nothing at all."

"You're acting a little weird."

"I'm sorry. I'm a little shaken after today."

Leafy looked at me for one more moment before going to sleep. I laid next to her and slept, too. That night, I didn't have trouble sleeping. I had a strange prophetic dream that night. I stood in the lobby of the area, alone with Claw and Nickel. Claw stared straight at me and motioned me towards Nickel. As I moved forward, Claw gave me a whip. I knew what he wanted me to do. Suddenly, a young voice came to my hearing.

"A fire burns the forest it chooses."

After I no longer heard the mysterious voice, I woke up again. Leafy was already awake this time, looking through the cage bars. She didn't notice me awake, so I looked at her silently for a while longer. I tried to see the direction in which she was staring, but she stood very still, as if expecting something to leap at her. Finally, I decide to get up and let her know I'm awake.

"Whoa! What the-"

"My gosh, Leafy. It's just me!"

"Don't startle me like that!"

"Well gee, sorry. Anyway, why are you over there?"

"Uh, I'm just waiting for, you know. The cages. I always wake up before, and you know that." Leafy's voice was awkward and shaky.

"Yeah, okay then. Wake me up when they open."

As if my mind could be read, the cages opened the moment I stopped speaking. Leafy waited for me to get up, and we walked out together. I saw Nickel, the guy we saw the day before, and he stared at the ground with grief. He didn't seem to notice me, so I turned back to where I was going. What I saw flabbergasted me; a large fire.

Leafy said nothing, but stared with pure surprise. I didn't notice it since I was looking back, but a blind cracked pair of sunglasses would've noticed it, so I was a little embarrassed. The small embarrassment added to my shock, and I suddenly felt numb. Many who were just as close to the fire turned back and ran moments before us.

"Firey..." Was all Leafy could say.

"Leafy, run with the others. I'll stay to make sure everyone's escaping."

Leafy hesitated shortly before turning around. Looking back for one last short moment, I face the fire. At first, I see no one else near, but I look to my right and notice the green little jelly that offered a trade to me the other day. I get closer to him as he laid n the ground, feeble and powerless. Searching around and finding no one else, I pick him up and dash towards the exit.

Thank goid they at least had enough brains for an escape exit, I thought. When we all were outside, I tried scanning the groups for Leafy, but with no luck. Some objects ran far away, protecting their freedom. Some other objects sat down, likely trying to get in clean air. I waited until many had left until I started searching for Leafy again. With enough luck, I spotted her for a short second, looking around concernedly. I hoped she had noticed me, and fair enough, she did.

"Leafy! Leafy!" I shout over the deafening crowd of objects.

"Firey! I found you!"

"Leafy, are you okay? I was worried sick!"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Who's that you're uh, holding?"

"I didn't get his name. Heck, I don't know if he's still alive. I'm setting him down."

I set him on the ground. I thought he was dead, but I noticed very shallow breaths. Leafy and I looked down on him for several minutes before we noticed twitching. The small jelly's eyes started to open soon enough. When he looked at us, he showed no surprise, just calmness. I waved at him, and he got the queue to speak up.

"Who... who are you two?" He said with a raspy teenage voice.

"I am Firey. This girl right next to me is Leafy."

"Thank you for helping me there. My name is..." He coughed twice. "My name is... uh..."

"Don't want to tell your name?" Leafy asked. "Is there a problem?"

"No, no, not a problem. It's just that my parents gave me a long name for what I am. I managed to dismember it when I was separated from them at eight. Objects refer to me now as Gelatin."

"Man, Firey, what's with all the teens with bad parents? First with Book, now with Gelatin."

"I don't know. Gelatin, would you like to come with us?"

"Firey, you can't be serious. I'm so useless."

"Use matters not, little one."

"Well, thanks!"

Willing to leave the group, I ran, and Leafy and Gelatin followed. The plains went a really long way this time. Finally, I slow down when I see little cottages in the distance. I shortly glance at Leafy and Gelatin, both bright-eyed. We travel to the cottages and I notice the patches of dirt in the ground and the wrecked houses. Gelatin was surprised, but Leafy acted as if it was some normal daily thing. Chapter 3 (September 18th, 1996) Leafy walked towards one of the wrecked houses and touched its wall. She stared with narrow eyes with a sad look on her face. Gelatin and I exchanged glances. Leafy stayed put near that house for several moments. She let go when she started crying.

"Leafy, is something wrong?" I asked.

"This house... all these houses. I can feel so much from what they used to be."

"Used to be? Leafy, is there something Gelatin and I should-"

"Right after you were taken away from me, I lived here with Flower's family and a few others. I can't help but worry about where they are now."

"That's sad. Anyway, I think we should..."

"Firey? Is something wrong there?"

"Did you hear that? It sounded like-"

Unexpectedly, the sound that came from behind the broken house revealed itself. Nickel stood right in front of us, eyes kept shut. I could hear his deep breaths, grabbing for mercy. Slowly and shakily he looked up at us. With a last hesitation, he spoke up.

"Ah... I... found... you..."

"Nickel!" Leafy looked half excited. "How in Goiky did you find us?"

"I... don't know. I'm just glad I'm here. Claw is a monster!"

"Yeah, Claw is a monster. I'm glad he's not here to boss me around."

Nickel smiled at me for a moment before turning around. My guess was he wanted to rest. I wanted t rest, too. The moon shone full above the grass, illuminating the night wit its glory. Luckily, and with the moonlight, we noticed that just one house was left undamaged. With more fortune, there were exactly four beds inside. I let Gelatin, Leafy and Nickel sleep first. With one last glance at the stars in the window, I fall quickly asleep.

I came across a dream that night. I was by the lake with the others. No one but me notices, but on the other side the lake, there are little spots. Looking up, I also see clouds blocking the light of the sun. The lake turned darker, but darker than it would have been. Images of orange and flickers of yellow appear on the gentle waves. No one else but me knows the shape exists there. I ware up before getting any further in the dream.

"Firey, wake up! Why are so sleepy? I swear you could sleep through Gelatin and Nickel begging to leave. Oh wait... you did."

"Calm down, Leafy, sorry!"

"It's fine, just get up already. Let's go."

Without hesitation, I get up, for Leafy's sake. Silently she motions me outside with Gelatin and Nickel. Both of them looked energetic, but Nickel was a bit nervous. The sky shows few clouds, so it's easy for me to realize how long I slept. Nickel shakily moved away from us and the houses. I noticed him in a few moments, though.

"Where are you going?"

"I... wanna leave. Right now."

"Nickel, are you worried about something?" It was Leafy who talked.

"No... I just want to... see the plains... yea."

Leafy shot a narrow suspicious look, but agreed to travel with him. Nickel led the way through empty plains. Each minute felt like days to me, but I tried staying patient. When the sun started moving lower in the sky, we saw a lake. The lake was very big, and it led into a river and eventually into a waterfall in the distance. Just like in my dream, there were little dots.

Without a word, Nickel runs around the edge of the lake to see what the little spots were. I ran with him, just as eager. The dots turn into two thin shapes and a tent. The group gets closer and closer until we stop in surprise. I didn't know them, but Leafy was paralyzed. She shouted immediately.

"M-Match? P-Pencil?"

"Pencil, please, don't do this. You're loathing yourself way too far."

"Match, you don't understand. This is only what I... Err..." Pencil noticed us.

"Leafy, who are these two? How many people do you know?"

"Match, Pencil, what the... what are you doing?"

"Leafy, this will be the last day you see me." Pencil was crying.

"Pencil, we're not the only ones here. Think about all the people who know you. Think about me..." Match started crying as well.

''All the people here? ''I looked toward the large tent. Both Leafy and I got struck by more surprise when I saw objects coming out of the tent. There was an ice cube, a tear, and a large ball of snow. All three of them stared with sadness, but they never spoke. Pencil continued.

"I am thinking about you, but what about Goldy? We should care!"

"I care as well, but you don't need to kill yourself about it!"

"It might be the only way."

"Pencil, listen to Match!"

Leafy's temptation didn't work. Pencil ran behind the tent and stayed there. Match cried even more. Pencil stopped crying and took out a knife. She hesitated for a few moments. Finally she closed her eyes, lifted the knife, and suddenly...

"Stop it!"

The knife flew out of Pencil's hand. It wasn't Match or Leafy who took it off. Looking for who just saved Pencil, we found someone we didn't know. He stood breathing heavily, eyes closed. He was a pen, and he was an adult. Pencil opened her eyes to see who came to the rescue. The pen spoke to her.

"I've no idea who you are, but you're loathing yourself too much."

"Why did you... stop me?"

"listen, never blame yourself. You think it was all your fault, but you aren't considering anything else at the time."

"Are you saying..."

"A death is something that no one can get over, but it is a way to find your real destiny."

"Stranger, are you.."

"No, I'm saying that you need to calm down. If you killed yourself, many would have been very hurt. Be thankful that many still like you, and that they are glad for you."

"You're... you're right!"

"Anyone can see that you tried everything. Only someone caring could get this far. Come on, get up."

"Can I... have your name?"

"My name, my friend, is Pen. You can come with me right now."

Pencil stood up and smiled. She followed Pen inside the tent, and everyone else went after them. Eventually the group I was with went in, too. Pen was hugging Pencil, and they both smiled. The sun was setting, and the AR was getting colder and colder. I guessed I forgot about the coming fall. We decided to sleep in the tent when the moon rises, as there was plentiful room. Everyone told each other goodnight, except for the Teardrop, in which Leafy said she couldn't talk.

When I woke up, Leafy wasn't inside. I looked for her outside, trying not to wake up anyone else. I found her by the lake, staring by herself. I sat by her, and she made no problem with it. For a moment or two we stared at the gradients on the lake just below the rising sun. Leafy looked at me and sighed.

"Leafy... is there... is there something wrong?"

"No. It's just that I miss Yoyleland. I don't even remember most Yoylese anymore, but I've turned to English."

"Well, we all miss something."

"Wait... what about you?"

"I once had a sister who was older than me. She was very joyful, and she was the kindest older sister one could have. One day when I was thirteen object years old, she was kidnapped, and no trace of her or the kidnapper were found. Nine years we were separate.

"Firey, that's very sad. However, you'd consider yourself lucky compared to me."

"Pardon?"

"My entire family is ruined. My parents are dead, and my older sister and twin have gone missing."

"Leafy... that's terrible."

"Yeah, it is. Now it's up to me to make sure it happens to no one else."

"What?"

Leafy started telling me a story. Weeks ago, before the Yoyleland attack, Leafy had a dream about two competitions. She saw Flower, who once liked her a lot, next to her outside. She had Leafy stay with her for the night, and Yoyleland was attacked the next day. At the end of her story, she started sobbing. She quietly said something I couldn't make up. I hugged her.

Leafy stopped sobbing after a while. We both stood up as the winds of coming fall blown. We walked back forwards the tent, heads up. Gelatin was the only one awake inside the tent at the time, and sneaked to us. The three of us went outside, and looked at a mass of water opposite the lake. Gentle waves ripped at the shore, and there was a boat in the distance, coming at us. Ī wasn't very sure, but I could swear two objects rowed the boat. When the boat was close enough, the objects were a pin and Needle, also with the small coin, sleeping near Needle. We stared with shock. Chapter 4 (September 20th, 1996) "Needle! Pin! How did you get here?"

"Leafy, I swear you know everyone in the world."

"Well, I found Pin on this boat miles Soithdoith, and she looked for others across the edge. I'm glad it's you we found."

"Yeah, come here."

Pin got off first and stood by me. Needle carried the penny out, waking him up. He didn't cry, and didn't complain when he had to stand on his own. Leafy and I led the three to the tent with the rest of the objects. The sun is high in the sky, but clouds make the sky darker by blocking it. The other objects recognize Pin and Needle, but they stare at the coin, who starts staring at the ground.

"All of you! Leafy, you found all of them? Wait... who are you two?"

"They are Nickel and Pen."

"I want to find the homes we once lived in."

"Oh... Needle... they're... destroyed. Let's go to the town. I hope it is fine."

"Town? That broken one? No thanks."

"Fine, let's just look for some home. I'm sure there's something."

"I agree with Leafy. I don't want Claw finding me. Let's go around the lake."

"Wait, why not through the lake? There is a stream that goes out through the lake, far from the waterfall."

"Fine, Pen. Remember to take the food."

Fiery and Needle took the food while everyone else arrived at the boat. We all got on the boat, which fit us right. We went through the stream with no problem, but I looked at a plane in the sky. It got bigger and bigger, and I screamed when I realized it was falling towards the boat. It crashed behind the stream, we all hollered as the boat tipped near the waterfall. It got closer and closer until the ground lifted.