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"RIGHT THERE! Don't come any closer! This is a warning!" Gyro screamed from the clearing he and Johnny stood in. Your brow was still furrowed as you looked away from them, watching Hot Pants pull out his compass and fiddle with it instead. You watched the needle wobble slightly but it eventually pointed Northwest. You held back a sigh— if you could just summon Iron Maiden, the whole situation would have been solved and you wouldn't have seen Gyro or Johnny.
"We've lost nearly an hour here. No matter which path we take, we come back to this spot," he explained, leading his horse past the trees to face Gyro and Johnny, "the plums grown here in this orchard contain a lot of iron... that could be the reason my compass doesn't seem to be pointing in the right direction." You followed Hot Pants, ignoring Johnny's glance at you.
"Hot Pants, don't come any closer. We're thinking that you could be tracking us," Johnny stated, cupping his hand around his mouth to amplify his voice as he looked over at you, "... you too, Speedwagon. You're probably helping him." Hot Pants frowned as he glanced over at you, unable to discern the mixed emotions you hid beneath your bandana. Why the hell would you try and track them down after literally telling them you were leaving them? They were being... delusional!
"Didn't I tell you both earlier that I want nothing more to do with you? Why the hell would I go find you again?!" you yelled back, gritting your teeth as you watched Gyro roll his eyes. Before he could go and say anything to piss you off, Hot Pants extended his arm in front of you and shook his head slightly. You bit your tongue and ignored Johnny's glare.
"This is the fourth time we've come back here. Look at our tracks. They pass through four times, don't they? I'd like to know why," Hot Pants pointed out, signaling toward the dirt which just as he said had four different sets of tracks running through them. You watched as Gyro and Johnny looked at the tracks and couldn't contain the smirk that tugged at your lips, which even hidden beneath your bandana, Gyro seemed to sense.
"So? What's that to us? Get lost already!" Gyro said with a scoff, leaning back on his saddle, "We're never even going to trust you anyways, got that?!"Even though you were sure that his words were targeted at Hot Pants, you couldn't help but feel a twinge of an ache in your heart. You looked back down at the dirt, studying the tracks in the ground solemnly.
"Then I'll be the one to trust you." You whipped around to look at Hot Pants whose gaze had fallen on you momentarily. Again, you knew this was a discussion between the three of them from which you were merely supposed to stand by and listen. But there was something about it that made your stomach turn over with something that couldn't have been anxiety.
"You two... aren't bad people"— you could hear the hesitance in Hot Pants' voice and you almost laughed— "If you were, I'd already have killed you, how's that?" Gyro stared at Hot Pants from where he and Johnny were, eyes narrowed as if trying to seem intimidating (considering how relatively far away he was, it looked more like he was squinting at you and Hot Pants).
