A day passed. In that time, Basketball and Tennisball were able to complete the task of creating the bands, through lots of hard work and not sleeping. They knew the sooner they completed them the quicker they would be able to leave.. and, they had finally been completed and they were so close to leaving. They had told Two the news in the early afternoon, alerting them of the news. They were thrilled and called for everyone to attend a group meeting. They also had requested for Basketball and Tennisball to have created spares previously just in case, in which they did. 5 spares..

Two had forced everyone into the cafeteria, in which then they were lined up and then given the bands. EVERYONE was given a band, apparently for safety. But.. mostly because they were beginning to not trust anyone. Of course Two knew there were some objects that were reliable but.. safety first. They were lined up and one by one the bands were clipped on to everyone's wrists, ankles, and were chipped if necessarily due to having no limbs.

To see it actually happening was surprising because Donut didn't..expect there to be any more security measures.. Two must've really took things up a notch after the whole incident. The security bot had also been up and around unfortunately, and Donut was genuinely terrified of it. It was the new door guard.. he did NOT like the new door guard. Even Yellowface was mildly freaked out by it but.. supposed that it would be fine. At least now nobody had to stand there for hours.

Tree was one of the last objects that got the bracelet, rubbing his arm where it had been clipped on by Two. They were completely black, with a little green light in the shape of a full circle presented in the open, on top of his forearm. Apparently it would go red if it was set off. He felt around where it had clipped together.. it was really tight, was it through a magnet? He wasn't smart enough to know how to deal with that. Maybe it was an electromagnet and could be controlled.. but he wasn't sure how to disarm it himself.

Two obviously explained the rules: that an object or group would have to go to Two and ask for the bands to be disarmed while they go outside, and when they return they will be reactivated. This was to make sure no objects could leave without Twos permission. Honestly this just made Tree feel even more hopeless.. now what was he supposed to do? He wouldn't have a chance escaping.. and he didn't have anyone to help him disarm the band.

He was under a lot of stress, feeling the bracelet with his hand as the last few objects were having their bands enforced. He winced as he was nudged from behind, stumbling and moving his arms to protect himself if he fell. He didn't, turning over and glaring at who shoved him. "What the hell is YOUR problem-"

He trailed off as he was met with Loser, the smaller object had a smug smile plastered on his face. Tree was already bored, but was anxious because he didn't want to talk to him or listen to what he was going to say. Loser noticed his immediate attitude change.. Tree was SCARED of him? How amusing..

He could tell Tree was stressed out right now with everything happening.. he was still digesting everything so this was most likely driving him crazy. Loser enjoyed his stress though, he wanted him to suffer. "Something on your mind?" Loser brought up, putting his hands behind his back. "I'm sure you're quite fond of this new idea.. hm?"

Loser had to admit, he didn't expect these bands to be created since there was no warning but.. wasn't exactly complaining. It's not like they caused any problems for him or the group personally.. plus Loser left all the time so, Two would allow them to be disarmed no doubt.

"Leave me alone." Tree spat harshly, but his tone of voice was unstable. Loser smirked as he noticed Tree trying to walk away after that comment, grabbing Trees wrist and roughly yanking him back to where he was.

"I will never let you leave." Loser lowly growled up against his face, forcing Tree close to him. He then proceeded to push Tree away and cause him to stumble. Tree was distraught, looking away to hide his face from Loser while he rushed off, his words playing over and over in his head as he tried to get out of that room. He wanted to leave this nightmare.. this was horrible. He hated Loser. He hated Two..

He tried to get some time to himself, pushing the doors open and leaving the cafeteria. His eyes kept being drawn to his wrist to view the band.. it felt so unusual having it there.. he did NOT like it. He tried to ignore it, trying to think with a straight head on what to do next..

That was right. He needed to tell the warehouse about all of this.. with, uh, the Robot Flower stuff. Not only that but..tell them that Fries was good. Those were two crucial parts of information that the group needed to hear.. he wasn't really looking forward to saying either of them.

He felt sick as he went to slowly walk up the stairs, feeling the rigid lined wallpaper calmly as he took each step at a time. He was trying to keep himself calm and not get upset because he would have to contact them using Robot Flowers old walkie talkie.. the one that was in HER room. It would hurt to be in there but he had to do it regardless. He swallowed his nerves as he got to the second floor, trailing over to whereabouts her room was located.

He read each door name as he passed.. Nickel, Tennisball, Scissors, Naily.. and there was Robot Flowers. He bit his lip as he forced himself to walk up to her door and place his hand on the handle.. he hadn't been in here for a little while.. the last time he was here he was with Robot Flower. He whispered something to himself and squeezed his other fist into a ball, weakly opening up the door and heading inside. As soon as he got in he made sure to close it and lock it behind himself..he trusted nobody here so didn't want anyone finding him. He wasn't even sure if Basketball liked him so.. he didn't know if he could trust her.

He looked around and made his way over to her bedside table slowly, glancing around her silent bedroom. The bed hadn't been made.. and there was a lot of tech things around.. there was an sd card on her bedside table and a few bolts. He ignored them and pulled open the draw, some batteries rolling in motion inside once it was opened. He searched through the contents, trying to forget about everything else that was in there.. her bowtie that she was supposed to wear was in there.. she refused to wear it the first day so pretended she lost it. He grasped his hand around the small makeshift walkie talkie and took it out, eyeing it up nervously.

What would he say? Robot Flower died, also by the way Fries is actually the good guy. Rubber Spatula was not going to take well to that.. and plus he knew that Needle was close to Rf. Even so.. it would be nice to hear their voices again, to feel like he wasn't completely alone even if he was the only one left at the base. He also needed to tell them about the stuff with Golfballs group.

Their plan was really failing.. though. He was planning to suggest that he come back to the warehouse instead.. he would go back to the lab where Blackhole was but knew that they were probably going to relocate because of this Liy stuff. He closed his eyes and placed his other hand on the table to lean himself on it, pressing in the small button on the walkie talkie "Hello? Is anyone there?" He spoke into it, his voice feeling loud in the quiet room.

He waited.. he knew it would take a little while because they might not have got it at first. He kept staring at the little speaker, keeping his attention focused on it. He waited for a little longer, before pressing it again and to retry.

"Hello..? It's Tree. Is anyone there?"

He kept waiting in silence, needing to hear something. Even a RUSTLE would be helpful. He was being patient but.. the longer he waited the more hopeless this felt. Why weren't they answering? Surely the walkie talkie was working.. right? He was getting nervous and didn't like being left with his thoughts, his breath hitching as he went to press it again.

"Please, anyone answer. I really .. need to talk to you." His voice was unstable.

He waited... he kept waiting and waiting for any sign of activity.. but nothing. He was beginning to feel even more sick the more he was forced to wait, his attention drifting off to another part of the room while he stood and waited. "Why is it not working?" He croaked uneasily, hating that everything was going wrong.

He let go of the table, going to sit back onto the messy bed and grip the walkie talkie in his hand, staring at it. He went to press it again, not wanting to give up.

"Needle? Match?" He softly spoke into it. ".. Tape?"

...

Still, nothing. He was getting super stressed now, swallowing as he was beginning to feel like there wasn't anything happening.. what if they were gone? Or out? Surely at least someone would be there.. what if the connection had just not worked? Or the walkie talkie was broken? His hand was beginning to feel tired so placed it down beside him, looking at it nervously as he waited for some sort of response..

Where were they..? They hadn't just forgotten about him, had they? He tried to not think of the worst but it was difficult.

He kept waiting, and minutes passed with nothing happening. Eventually he found himself lying on the bed with his head on his hands to hold it up as he watched the walkie talkie, waiting and waiting for anything. He just needed ..something.

It didn't seem to be doing anything..though.

He reached over and grabbed it again, closing his eyes softly as he pressed the button.

"Where are you?" His voice was wavering, and he trailed off into a whisper. He proceeded to place it down and bury his head in his hands quickly, finding himself beginning to cry in result of failure. He lost Robot Flower, he had nobody left in the base, he couldn't return to the lab, he was stuck at Twos base, and now he couldn't even contact his other friends..

He didn't know what to do.

---

"Is it clear?"

Basketball and Tenniball had made their way out of the cafeteria to collect the spare device and use it immediately, not having wasted any time as they had finally had enough and couldn't be more happy to get out of there. They had already used it on themselves, but now their task was to get it to Trees room without being caught. He didn't seem to be there right now.. but hiding the device in the plain open would be difficult especially if there were cameras. She didn't want anyone but Tree to find this..

Tennisball had apparently disabled the camera in the hall they were going to walk through, but she would have to trust his judgement.. and hope there was no way to backup the footage or something. Tennisball gave a nervous glance to the camera he hoped was still disabled as he peaked his body out the door, looking around wearily to make sure nobody was lurking. "Y-Yeah.." he stammered back.

Basketball made her way out the room, bearing the device in a box that she was holding in her mouth. They were leaving VERY soon... and they were so close to freedom that it had began to make her sickly.. she was nervous that it was all going to fail before they managed to get out. She couldn't..be happy about it until it was actually happening, she didn't want to get her hopes up.

Snowball was preparing their stuff in a bag in Basketball room, he would carry it. It contained enough food and drink to last the amount of days they would be out for while travelling to find the lab, as well as a first aid kit, obviously, and some other gears just in case. He was doing this while the two of them were going to put the device in Trees room.

Basketball closed the door and locked it as she had deemed the hall safe, taking a deep breath. "L-Lets hurry.. uh, which way is it again?" She turned to Tb.

"This way." Tennisball quietly instructed and turned on his heel, proceeding to speed walk to where Trees room was. Basketball  followed without saying another word. He was very anxious about this all messing up.. he was worried that they would get caught or, something would go wrong. He was barely staying up on his legs because of how anxious he was as he wearily opened the door for her to Trees room... his door was unlocked, which was convenient.

"Qu-Quick.-" he hurried her, putting his foot out to hold the door open for her so she could go in. She nodded and muttered a thank you, rushing inside. Even if someone merely saw them, they might notice their lack of bracelets and begin to question things so.. they couldn't even risk running into anyone.

It sucked because.. now she knew she couldn't ever see anyone from her side that was in the base for a while. She wasn't sure what to do about this whole Donut thing but.. she personally could not be in that environment anymore, as guilty as she felt about abandoning Donut and Gelatin without exploring what they were doing.

She made her way in and looked around, trying to find a place to put it.. his pillow. She quickly dropped the box off onto his bed and knocked it over with her foot to empty it, pushing the spare disarming device underneath his pillow.. surely he would notice this, and it would definitely be him because why would anyone else sleep in his bed?

She stared at it for a moment.. it was okay. This was the right thing to do.. this needed to happen. She needed to leave and so did the other two. They wanted to leave..

So.. why did she feel so scared?

She turned around and made her way out as she shook away her thoughts, looking about wearily in fear of an object appearing. Tennisball moved away from the door so it would shut in on itself, it not slamming. It was done.. now all they had to do was actually escape. It was the afternoon right now so.. they'd all have to wait for things to calm down before they went anywhere but.. they were so close.

"We did it. It's fine... " Tennisball whispered to her. Even if they completed that task.. he still felt a heavy weight of anxiety on him. It would not leave until he was far far away from that place.. but then he had GB to worry about. He brushed his thoughts away and began speaking again to distract himself. "L-Let's go.. help Snowball." He muttered the last part almost silently, so even if anyone was around they wouldn't hear.

Basketball agreed and nodded, exhaling from the amount of stress.. that was definitely hard, but the next part would be harder..

She just hoped TREE would be the one to find it. She felt bad for leaving here too .. leaving objects like Tree and Gaty made her feel terrible, but again she couldn't handle it here anymore.

"Come on.. Tennisball." She spoke over her thoughts abruptly and took a turn again, trying to take him back to her room so they could help Snowball pack essentials for their trip. This was the most dangerous thing she had done in her life.. smuggling Snowball into the base was less risky than this.

---

After agreeing to help Firey find Stapy, Shampoo had found himself a lot more active than before.. he had been trying to support Firey the last two days by looking around the forest for any signs of his apparent "friend" and of course they found nothing. Shampoo knew Stapy had been thrown down the cliff by Liy, he just.. didn't know whether he could trust Firey just yet... though, he definitely seemed like he cared about Stapy for the right reasons, and seemed genuinely upset that he was missing. Shampoo was.. definitely thinking of telling him soon.

Shampoo had additionally got more used to interacting with a contestant. He had usually refrained from talking to any of them at all, and had been set on avoiding them. Firey seemed nice .. even if he was kind of stupid. Actually, really stupid. When the snow had started to melt, he forgot that snow and water were the same thing when they were discussing it.

The snow had pretty much cleared up by now, once again there were still regular patches and piles of worn down snow.. even if the snow was clearing it was still very cold so Firey wasn't going to stop being metal just yet. It looked like it would rain soon too..

The two were just strolling around, close enough to Fireys base but still far enough that they were in a new area. Shampoo was lost in thought as Firey slashed at the invading plants with his knife, making sounds as he did. "Hiya!!!" He violently began to slash away at a thorn bush, Shampoo glancing over in concern, it causing him to break out of thought.

"Could we not just go around it?" He suggested, adjusting his jaw since it was broken. Firey rolled his eyes and scoffed.  "Psh! Tch, Uh, what fun would that be? Jeez. You need to learn the definition of happiness." Firey turned to him and stuck his tongue out, before continuing to hack away at the bush.

"..Y-You do you.." Shampoo decided to let him do what he wanted.. after all, he was the one giving him a place to stay. Shampoo was surprised he hadn't decided to kill him when he had the chance.. he looked down at his feet as one of the branches had landed in front of him, stepping over it and following Firey through the now clear path.

"Hmm.." Firey took the lead, since the path they were walking along was narrow.. and kind of slippery due to the melted snow. "Hm...."

"What?" Shampoo asked, confused on why he kept making weird sounds. He stepped over a branch, stumbling a little as he tried to keep up.

"I'm confused. You said that you're not on Twos side but.. you're one of their DEBUTERS! That doesn't make sense." Firey glanced back to Shampoo, squinting. "Soo.. explain?"

Shampoo frowned at this question..why was he asking this now? Shampoo didn't seem too happy about having to talk about it. "I just.. don't agree with what they're doing, that's all."

Firey pondered what he said, turning around keeping his focus directed on the path.. he still was hesitant to trust Shampoo, but nothing bad had happened yet. He just.. had a sense he was.. hiding something. Maybe Firey was wrong .. "But you got blasted by Four, why would you side with him?"

Shampoo squinted "I don't-.. Look. Obviously there's a lot of complications with everything but, I'm not going to... side with Two just because they brought me here. I don't want this, I didn't obviously want to be blasted, but... I didn't want that to cause more problems. I.. didn't want to disturb your lives.."

"..Huh?" Firey turned behind himself, looking at Shampoo again. "It ain't you and uh, your friends' fault that the war started. Four blasted you all and, Two continued it. You were just unfortunate." Firey shrugged bluntly, looking back into the distance. "A lot of us have, uh, struggled because of this chaotic bullshit. I don't know what to do anymore. Surviving seems to be the main goal." He supposed.

This was the first time Firey had talked about a deep topic.. they had not yet had a chat about Four and Two and.. everything surrounding it. Could he really trust Firey Firey afterall? ".. I wish things could.. return to normal." Shampoo quietly commented, holding his injured arm with the okay one. Firey frowned at the thought of this, slashing a tree in anger as he walked passed it. "Me too.." he growled.

"Ugh.. it just makes me so mad that my old friends would.. take Twos side and help them kill us! What do they THINK will happen when we are all finally dead?, Huh?! Did they think about that?!" Firey spat in rage, before exhaling and closing his eyes in an attempt to calm down. ".. I didn't mean to lash out. This just makes me so.. angry." He gritted the last word through his teeth.

Shampoo wasn't intimidated, he knew Firey wouldn't hurt him. "It's fine. We all are.. Two has done some unforgettable things..." Shampoo trailed off, trying to change the topic conversation. "Maybe we should head back. It's getting close to evening and.. well, look at the sky." Shampoo looked up "It's going to rain, soon."

The path they were travelling down had gradually became wider so Shampoo had slowly been able to walk by Fireys side. This part of the forest was very burned.. the blackend wood and sludge was all damp and worn from all the precipitation. There was nothing here.. Stapy wouldn't have been here because it was easy to navigate around with the lack of trees.. he wouldn't have got lost here.

"Mmgh." Firey slowed down to a stop.. he seemed very reluctant, looking around. Shampoo felt bad because he knew Stapy wasn't going to be here.. hm.."It's fine." Shampoo went to hold his shoulder. "We can just-"

"-Hey! What's that-?" Firey pulled away from Shampoo and subconsciously cut him off, walking up to what he had just discovered. Shampoo was confused, putting his arm down to his side "E-Excuse me? What's what?"

"Look!" Firey put his knife in his satchel and pointed to a manhole cover on the ground, kicking away some burned twigs and wet lumps of ash, clearing it up so he could see it easier. He grinned excitedly "I wonder what it is! It must be a base of some sort.. come on! We gotta check this out.." he encouraged

Shampoo stared..

Wait

"F-Firey-"

"Come on! We gotta lift this up. I only have one hand so you gotta help me-" Firey  proceeded to try and pull at the hatch that was in the ground with his single hand, it was heavy, was anyone staying down here? Maybe there was some supplies. He was motivated by the thought and grunted, trying to lift it but it was very heavy, especially with only one hand to do it with.

Shampoo wasn't sure what to do, feeling mild panic rise within him. He looked around, walking closer "Firey- I-Its starting to rain." He noticed the mild droplets, looking down at him trying to lift it. "We really should leave before the weather gets-"

"Come on Shampoo! We might as well try-" Firey spoke through struggle, trying to open it but still having problems. Shampoo was running out of excuses, "I.. I don't-"

Firey yelled and finally lifted it away, throwing it limply to the side as it made a harsh sound against the mud. Shampoo gripped his fist in fear, feeling the rain picking up and falling faster. Firey signalled Shampoo to follow him with his hand. "Come on!" He called, not noticing the other objects reluctance.

Firey peered down the manhole, noticing it was very dark.. but there seemed to be a dim light so.. was it occupied? There was also a ladder.. someone must be down there! Or something.. like supplies. He dismissed Shampoo and went to lower himself down to began to climb the ladder downwards into the base, the metal cold against his hands.

The ladder wobbled as he head down it, so he gripped it harder due to his fear of heights. Luckily it wasn't too far down.. despite the paint peeling as he used his hands to grip onto the bars and step down, it seemed like it was relatively stable. It clinked against its supports that were in the wall because of Fireys movement, before he managed to make his way down, hopping onto the ground. It was stone..

He assumed Shampoo was going to follow him, turning around and squinting so he could adjust to the dark atmosphere..there was a very dim light on the wall that had bars around it, and it was covered with webs.. hm. He stepped forward slowly, making out that there was workbench, boxes.. a cork board on the wall? As well as some images and papers on the work bench.. he couldn't make out any of it because the light was way too weak.

He put his hand on the table, feeling around it for something, noticing it was dusty. He felt some sort of lamp stand, and managed to switch it on after locating the button. With a dull click, it enlightened the area much better than the crappy other light did. The other light flickered, it was definitely on its last legs.

He could now use this light to look around. He turned his body about to see where he couldn't see before and.. was surprised at the amount of boxes. Did they all have stuff in? The boxes looked kind of.. destroyed, though.

He turned back to the bench, swiping away some dust now that he could see it clearly. Huh.. there wasn't much here, not as much as he thought there would be. His eyes were drawn to the corkboard, and he read the main piece of paper that was in the centre of it all.

".. Plan to build.. a recovery.. centre?" His words drifted off into a whisper. He stared back at the papers on the desk and grabbed one instantly, needing more information..what the hell? Who was making a recovery centre?

".. Section one, materials and mechanics. K-Kitchen Sink will be in charge of collecting what we need, we know... Golfballs lab is nearby so we are aware that we can go there for parts. She will be able to break in  ..and steal what we need.."

Kitchen ..Sink? The Debuter? He slowly put the paper down..what was happening here? He jumped physically as Shampoo finally spoke up, having made his way down the ladder. "..I'm..sorry." he uttered, Firey turning his whole body around instantly.

"S-Sorry? Sorry for what?" He was confused.

"Sh-..Shampoo.. do.. " he swallowed nervously,  hesitant to suggest it. "..Do.. you know what this is?"

Shampoo looked distressed, but he also looked like he was reluctant to speak. He didn't seem to want to tell Firey what he knew.. he looked afraid if anything. Shampoo didn't step foot further into the base yet, trying to gather courage..

"I...do." he admitted, not making eye contact.

Firey was confused.. what was he hiding? He didn't know if this was a good or bad thing, he really needed context. He was tempted to leave, but knew there was more to this than it seemed. "..Can.. you explain? Cuz I'm pretty freaked out right now." Firey calmly requested, but his voice still sounded sharp.

"..I.. I didn't want to tell you-"

"Well, now you have NO choice." Firey was a little more intimidating than before. The rain was pouring down now, dripping into the base and onto Shampoo, who stood directly above where the hole was. Firey glared at Shampoo as the rain pounded on the metal ladder and the stone floor, waiting for him to explain himself.

Shampoo slowly walked forward. "F-Firey-"

"Explain!"

He stopped walking, looking away.

"...M..Me and some other debuters had.. planned to create a recovery machine.." he began to speak, not wanting to. He didn't want to .. "Me.. Income Tax Return Document, Kitchen Sink, Snare Drum and Conch Shell. We all .. had our own individual skills and collectively we... could help put together a recovery machine to bring back everyone who had died.." he explained painfully.

Firey softened up in guilt, listening to him explain himself. He seemed nervous, still walking forward slowly "S-Snare Drum was the one who... knew all the crucial information on how to build it. He was the one who ... proposed the idea in the first place. After all the deaths and.. the blast he had the idea to stop Two by.. bringing back all who they had killed."

Shampoo seemed guilty, taking his time with his words as Firey listened, hanging onto every last word Shampoo said. "I-I only knew how to do.. all the maths and coding. Conch, sh-she was good with building, same with KS. Income was good with organizing, and.. he often worked closely with Snare Drum."

Firey stepped to the side as Shampoo walked over to the work bench, he looked like he was physically pained from talking about this, looking at the papers weakly. "Snare Drum.. planned to stop this early on. He..  he was great. He saved us all and .. his main motivation was for us to live normally. We ALL respected him.."

Shampoo leaned down under the bench, pulling out a large box, stumbling because of the weight. He emptied the contents onto the table and they spilled out, then he took one of them in his hand. Firey was confused, but they looked too complicated for him to try to understand. "..These were.. some of the parts we had created." Shampoo examined one.

Firey felt like he wanted to ask questions, but wasn't sure.. he just allowed for Shampoo to keep talking, the rain pouring more and more above, dripping onto the metal ladder. "..One day, I.. was followed by Liy and Leafy, you know, the two girls from Twos side. They told me they were.. on Fours side.. and that I could trust them."

Shampoo put down the piece of machinery, closing his eyes. "They weren't. I took them to the base, and they found out what we were doing. And.. they killed everyone...everyone but me. I escaped.. " he turned to Firey slowly, but didn't make eye contact with him.

"I..I wish I hadn't escaped. I.. didn't DESERVE to escape. " he admitted, his voice wavering as he exhaled. "I-I.. was the one who ruined everything because I was.. too stupid. If it wasn't for me Firey, we would have made it by now. Everything would be .. back to normal. We would have been able to recover .. all those dead objects." He shook his head, trying to stay strong but he was clearly struggling to.

"I.. ruined everything. I ruined the only chance we had. I .. I can't..even do anything because I don't KNOW what to do. S-Snare Drum was the one who told me what to do... I.. don't actually know how to create it myself. " he seemed to be getting emotional over it, struggling to tell Firey all of this through his weak voice.

"I.. didn't want to tell you this because..I-I don't trust you yet." His eyes seemed teary. "I.. I don't know what to do. Either w-way, you either tell Two about me, or.. you judge me. Can I blame you? I-I.. I fucking FAILED everything."

Firey was surprised at the swearing.. he hadn't yet heard him swear. He felt guilty for him because.. he related to him. He blamed himself for the death of his friends too, even in if this case it was more severe. Liy and Leafy killed the debuters..? That was.. did Two know about that? Why would Two kill their own debuters.. well, they WERE creating a recovery machine after all.. but it definitely offered a new perspective. Firey definitely didn't expect.. to hear any of that..he didn't expect Two to do something like that, especially since this war started because Four injured the debuters.. right? Why would Two do the exact same thing?

"I-I know how you feel-" Firey tried to speak.. he understood what Shampoo was going through. He was of course.. a little disappointed to hear that ..after all that worl a recovery centre wasn't going to be made because Shampoo didn't know how to on his own, but Firey wasn't going to blame him for it. It wasn't HIS fault. He didn't start this, he didn't kill his friends.

"H-How could you POSSIBLY know how I feel?"

Firey bit his lip, he had told this story a few times..  "I-..I used to have other friends... but, because I didn't listen to them, I accidentally got them killed." He admitted softly, trying to keep strong as he spoke. "The fact was.. I-I blamed myself for it. I felt like it was MY fault.. all my fault. I wanted to die because of it because..I wish I had been taken out too.."

"..Y..You did..?" Shampoo was shocked to hear this. Firey nodded, going to step closer to Shampoo. "But.. someone taught me that.. I couldn't blame myself for it completely. We are ALL victims to this." Firey watched Shampoo take in his words.. he didn't seem very convinced but he was still listening.

"You made a mistake." Firey firmly told him. Shampoos gaze drifted off, upset. "..I..I don't know, Firey. I don't..know what to do. I don't know if we can beat Two.. I-I..I can't just- look- I can't forgive myself- I can't...STOP Two-"

Firey hugged him.

"Yes we can."

---