(DISCONTINUED) Refolded

Chapter 2

A sudden drop of water landed on Olly's face, the stingingly cold temperature jolting him back to awareness. The smell of smoke filled the air, the hissing of flames being extinguished by rain banishing silence from the area. Olly let out a near-silent groan, holding his head as he staggered to his feet. Charred stumps of trees and branches littered the area, the rain soaking everything.

Including Olly.

He looked around as he tried to remember what had happened. There was the festival, and then an attack, then he and Olivia ran into the forest, and then...nothing. Wait. If he and Olivia had both run in, then....where was Olivia?

All the memories suddenly came flooding back to him. The people chasing them, the explosion....Olivia.

Olly took a step back, bumping against the tree behind him. Olivia was gone. Olivia was gone because of him. A sudden sob ripped itself from his throat as he slid down the trunk. He sniffled and sobbed.

Olivia's gone because of you.

You failed.

You promised you'd protect her.

You failed.

You're all alone.

He was suddenly pulled out of the self-destructive thoughts by....a lick? Olly looked to his left, more tears slowly pooling in his eyes. He was met with a small black dog. A purple collar with a silver charm was fastened around its neck. The dog was panting, its tail hanging out of its mouth as the closest thing to a curious expression it could muster was plastered on its face. Olly cautiously reached out a hand, wiping a mix of tears and rain off his cheek. He placed his hand on the strange dog's head, rubbing it back and forth gently. The dog suddenly perked up, and Olly couldn't help but smile a bit. Olly looked at the silver tag. An image of a stapler was stamped on it.

Olly looked at the dog. "You're.....the craftsman's stapler?" The dog perked up more, his tail wagging furiously.

"Alright...Stapler. We need to get back to town." Olly stood up, wiping away the last of his tears. Stapler hopped around, barking happily and circling Olly. The two walked in the direction of Toad Town.

~|•|~

A couple hours later, Olly and Stapler were closer to town. The rain had stopped (thankfully), and the two had reached a grove on a cliff overlooking a lake. Olly was currently trying to figure out how to get to the lake without dropping down the cliff.

"Alright, boy, do you have any ideas?" Olly turned to Stapler, who turned his head, as if to say, what do you expect me to do? Olly looked at the trees behind Stapler and got an idea.

Reaching up into one of the trees, Olly grabbed a vine and tried to pull it down. However, that just resulted in the vine snapping, sending Olly tumbling to the ground. A flurry of whispers was sent through the trees.

"Whoops!"

"Struck out on that one!"

"Oh, snap!"

"That wasn't a very good pun..."

"Who's there?" Olly frantically looked around, trying to determine the source of the voices. When he seemingly found nothing, he cautiously stood. He pulled another vine from a different tree. The vine seemingly got stuck halfway out of the tree. Stapler caught Olly's attention with a bark (ha). Olly ran over just in time to see a shriveled flower fall from the sky. The flower slowly floated down into the water before sinking below the surface. The water glowed with a yellow light, before the flower suddenly levitated above the surface. The light died down as the flower bloomed by itself before floating off to Grambi-knows-where.