The sun was starting to set again, and it painted her room orange as she watched it through her window. It was beautiful, Kipo thought, but she couldn't appreciate it when her stomach was tied in knots from worry. Adam was still missing, and now the second day with him gone was coming to a close.

Kipo really couldn't believe him. She was angry, confused, worried, and as soon as he got back, he'd have an earful. The two of them had already lost one friend, did they really need to get split up a second time? And without any warning, no less! At the very least he could have told her something...

Why didn't he trust her?

Kipo sighed. There was a book in front of her, one of the ones about the bone dragons that Adam hadn't taken, and she could see why: none of the information was useful, and it didn't have any paragraph breaks. Kipo was going to give up on it eventually, but right now she was still holding out on the hope that there was something. And if she stopped getting distracted by the sun, eventually she'd find it.

Yesterday, when Adam had disappeared, she and Mira, and eventually some of the other kids (there were only kids in this town, Kipo had noticed, and Mira had told her that they had mostly come from different places around. They had been brought to the empty town by a mysterious Anne and Fei Fei, two kids Kipo had yet to meet) had torn through the town, worried that he'd been kidnapped, or worse. The kid with the big head, Dib, had watched them for a while, but when the sun had started to set, he finally told them where Adam had gone off to: back to the forest to collect and try to trade Bipo for Wirt.

After Dib had finally fessed up, the other's talked and agreed that there was probably nothing they could do, and that they'd just have to wait for him. They couldn't exactly go look for him, as Kipo had no clue where the forest was, and that the two maps the town had were missing: one for Anne and Fei Fei and one for Adam.

Kipo had kind of wanted to go out to look for Adam anyway, but Mira managed to talk her down by reminding her that getting lost herself wasn't going to be much help, and that they should probably get some sleep for when Adam came by the next day, safe and sound. They could begin fortifying the town while they waited.

But despite how reassuring Mira tried to be, Kipo could stop the fits of anxiety and concern throughout the night, and the fact that she was in a completely new space after weeks and weeks of living in an empty home and camping on the ground, this soft, comfortable bed didn't help. The house Mira had offered to her was very nice and furnished and Kipo was definitely happy to have a nice house for once, but it couldn't distract her from her concern about both Adam and Wirt.

Kipo barely slept a week that night, and now, after a day of working and waiting for Adam, who didn't show up, she doubted she'd sleep tonight either.

How'd everything go so wrong? Kipo had thought the three of them had trusted each other...

Kipo shook her head, trying to shake off those depressing thoughts. No, it wouldn't be good to continue worrying about the past, she had to think about the future. Clearly, the friendship between the three of them had a lot of problems, and when they were all back together, there would be a lot of work to do to make sure they could actually trust each other. Kipo should be thinking about that instead.

With a sigh, Kipo closed the textbook in front of her. Maybe she'd try again later, or maybe not. For now, she was going for a walk to clear her head, and to ponder her new idea.

Kipo left her room, and hurried down the stairs, trying to make as little noises as possible. These houses were close together, and they had thin walls, and Kipo doubted Kai would like getting woken up to a second night of Kipo's restlessness. He technically hadn't said anything yet, but the bags under his eyes and the snappishness in his voice the next morning told the whole story.

Since then, Kipo just started acting like she usual did in her old apartment in the burrow: mostly quiet and respectful of her neighbours, unlike Mabel on her other side. Kipo didn't really mind it all that much (it wasn't like she was trying to sleep), but Mabel gave the impression of a person who's never lived in an apartment a day in her life.

Right now, as Kipo paused by the door, she could hear Mabel singing. It was perfect, but Kipo still thought it was beautiful. That was probably the thing Kipo missed most in this world: the music. She hadn't found a music player since she got here, and while the music nature made was amazing, it couldn't compare to the sound of an actual human voice.

Kipo couldn't really hear the lyrics Mabel was singing, but she still took the time to pause and let it wash over her before finally grasping her door knob and stepping out of her house. She didn't lock it, mostly because it didn't have a lock, but Kipo didn't really expect anything to get stolen anyway. She'd become aquatinted with almost everyone in town, and she was certain that none of them would steal anything. Besides, Kipo didn't have much to steal anyway.

Kipo could still hear Mabel singing out here, but as she walked away, it gradually got harder and harder to hear, until it had completely petered out. Kipo continued on in silence, listening to the fall of her footsteps on the ground and her mostly silent breaths.

As it turns out, fortifying the town was harder than any of them had predicted. As the two days had come to an end, Kipo had been disappointed to find that they had only reinforced two houses. They had done a good job, but in order to reinforce every house with a person in it, plus ones for Adam and Wirt, they'd need eight more days. Of course, they all could probably compile into the houses they were done reinforcing, but Kipo would have liked to save as much of the town as she could.

'If only we knew a little more about the bone dragons,' Kipo thought wistfully. 'If we could find some way to communicate...'

'Done.'

Kipo jumped nearly jumped a foot in the air, whirling around, looking for the new, mysterious voice. In the back of her mind, Kipo noted that the voice seemed to only be in her head, but the wild implausibility of that made her push the thought away.

Well, at least until she turned one more time and finally saw the blatant stark white creature peeking up at her, contrasting harshly with the dark night. Kipo gasped.

"Bipo!?" she cried, and Bipo seemed to scowl, but Kipo didn't care much before she crouched down and threw her arms around the bone dragon. "Bipo! I'm so glad you're alright! I was so worried about you! I thought- I thought-!"

'Geez, can you speak in a way I can actually understand?' Kipo's eyes widened, and she drew away from Bipo, staring at them. There was that odd voice again... Bipo stared at her. 'Just talk like this.'

'Huh...? Well, okay... Wait, what?' Kipo tilted her head at Bipo, confused. 'This... What is this, telepathy? How are you doing this, Bipo?'

'I'm just talking,' Bipo grumbled, sounding annoyed. Their voice was... odd, and it seemed to filter directly into Kipo's head. If Kipo wasn't paying attention, she might mistake them for one of her own thoughts... if, of course, they weren't so weird and jarring.

Kipo scratched the back of her head awkwardly when Bipo didn't continue. It almost seemed like they were sure about the answer to that question either.

'Well... okay...' Kipo's eyes suddenly widened as something occurred to her. 'Hey, if you're here then that probably means that Adam is, too, right?!'

Kipo stood up, looking around as if Adam was suddenly going to pop out from a building or something. She felt relieved, like a weight had suddenly been lifted off of her, and at least some of the concern and pain from the last two days lessened. It was enough that when Adam didn't immediately show himself, Kipo didn't immediately start to worry. She looked down at Bipo, confused.

"So... where is he?' she asked, and her stomach fell when Bipo looked down at the ground, kicking at the dirt. They refused to answer, or even look at her. Kipo was starting to panic, and she crouched down again. '...Bipo?'

Kipo's apprehensive grew as Bipo refused to answer. She knelt down to Bipo's level. 'Bipo, what's wrong? Adam's alright, right?'

Bipo kicked the dirt at their feet; they didn't seem to be able to answer. 'He... there was a wasp monster...'

Kipo's eyes widened in horror, and she stayed stunned as Bipo haltingly continued. 'He tried to fight it, but... the monster got him...'

'What..?' Kipo felt herself go numb as she stared at Bipo, who wouldn't look at her. 'No... that's impossible. How...?'

'The wasp monster stabbed him,' Bipo explained, their voice shaky and heavy. 'It... killed him.'

Kipo couldn't believe what Bipo was telling. So, Adam just ran away, and then died? Kipo could feel a sob rising up in her throat. This couldn't be true, it just couldn't! Never being able to see Adam again, the thought felt like a stab in her own chest, and it was cutting off any reasoning, or feeling. Kipo suddenly felt like she was drowning, like she couldn't breathe-

Suddenly, something cold brushed against her cheek, and Kipo was shocked back into the present and out of the sea of her own thoughts. Her eyes felt hot, her throat was tight, and her cheeks were wet. She hadn't realized she'd been sobbing.

Bipo tried to draw back from Kipo's face, but Kipo didn't let them, surging forward to wrap her arms around Bipo. There, she openly sobbed and wailed into them, feeling how Bipo froze up, and then finally fell limb. Kipo felt cold liquid fall onto her new coat, but she could bring herself to care. In her mind, she could feel the tidal wave of grief and anguish that Bipo had been trying to hold back. They were crying, too, in their own way.

The two stayed like that for a long time, though they barely noticed it, too held up in their own pain. Kipo knew she would eventually have to get up and tell Mira, Kai and the others, but right now, she could barely move. Even though the pain was in her heat, it felt like everything hurt. Kipo almost never wanted to move again, but eventually, she pulled away.

Bipo stared at her, and Kipo was certain she looked like a mess, and she tried to smile at them.

Keeping down another sob, Kipo shakingly tried to get to her feet, but before she knew it, she was back down on her hands and knees.

Kipo huffed out an annoyed breath, and forced herself up again, and this time, she finally managed to stand up on her legs, shaky as it may be. But she was up now.

Slowly, she turned to Bipo. "We...," she started, and then shook her head. No that wasn't right. 'We... We have to get Wirt back.'

Bipo didn't say anything, but Kipo could tell they agreed.

'We can't... let what happened to Adam..' Kipo felt her heart squeeze painfully. 'We can't let what happened to Adam happen to Wirt. We need to save him!'

Kipo started marching off, to where, she wasn't sure, but she had to do something, but she didn't get far before Bipo finally responded.

'Yes... and I know how to do it.'

Kipo had to tell everyone about... Adam's death, the next morning, and even though Kipo thought she had somewhat come to terms with it last night, saying it again cut a new hole in her chest. Every time she had to say it out loud, it seemed to become more and more real in her head.

The others, though... the news was meant with varying degrees of grief, sorrow and horror.

Mira sobbed onto Kai's shoulder, who looked numb, only staring at Kipo with horror, though Kipo thought she saw a few beads of water growing in the corner of his eyes. Mabel gasped as she heard, and though she didn't cry as hard as Mira, her brown eyes filled with water. Dib and Dipper looked horrified, and Kipo could understand why: the knowledge that they could die at any moment in this new world was scary to her too.

Kipo had, on some level, known that this world was full of danger, but death just hadn't seemed like a part of it. Perhaps it was wishful thinking on her part, but anyone dying hadn't ever really been what she was thinking about when running away from bugs, bone dragons and burrowing tigers.

Something suddenly itched at the back of Kipo's mind, something familiar, but she ignored it for now.

There was another person there, who heard the news: Norman, but before Kipo could tell what he was thinking, he turned away, and Kipo wasn't able to see his face. That was fine, though, Kipo could respect that.

This new world that they had found themselves in was far more dangerous than any of them had thought before. They could die at any time, and Wirt... Wirt was in the most danger.

Kipo finally spoke again, and what seemed like hours of mournful silence. "We need to save Wirt from the bone dragons," Kipo told them, and she motioned to Bipo. "Adam... had a plan, but we can only put it in motion when the bone dragons arrive. Until then, we need to keep fortifying the town. We need to get ready for when they arrive."

Kipo's voice sounded sick and heavy, even to herown ears. She found every word dry and shaky, but despite that, nobody argued.The little group stood up, and got to work again.