𝙸 𝚆𝙸𝙻𝙻 𝙽𝙾𝚃 𝙱𝙴 𝚁𝙴𝙿𝙻𝙰𝙲𝙴𝙳.

𝑴𝒊𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒈

With no sun or moon to pass through the sky, and no working clocks left in the factory. Time was judged by the only survivors left, but even then, no one was completely sure of whether the rest of the world was sleeping or awake. But one thing all of the critters in Playcare could tell, was that the kangaroo that others were sure they'd spotted at least once or twice, was nowhere to be found. To the main critters, it didn't bother them too much. They weren't close with him, and had never gotten the chance to be due to the kangaroo's standoffish nature. To one of them, there were much more important matters than a missing critter.

"It's gone!" cried from the laboratory owned by the bright blue elephant. Inside, Bubba was pacing about in a partially panicked state. Two other critters sat and watched him pace and pull things out of place in order to find whatever he had managed to lose. Bubba was known for his intelligence, and his sense of neatness. It wasn't everyday that the elephant lost something, as he usually put all of his items in specific areas so they were always easy to find and grab if need be. So whenever something went missing, it tended to send the elephant into a state of panic. A unicorn and a pig glanced over at each other, sharing concerned looks before the pig began to speak up.

"I'm sure it's fine Bubbs.. you probably just moved it somewhere else." 
Bubba glanced over, eyes narrowed before his expression softened with a sigh. "I don't usually misplace things or forget where I put them though, Piggy." There were other things he could have said, but he could never bring himself to say things like that to her or even speak to her in the tone that he heard in his head. Not when she was only attempting to calm his frazzled nerves.

"M..Maybe someone took it? We could go and ask around.." A softer voice spoke up, dragging the elephant's attention over to the unicorn that stood closer to the door of his lab, as if ready to leave at a moment's notice. He trumpeted, crossing his arms as he considered the idea. Why would anyone take something from his lab, something as possibly dangerous as a potion that prevents sleep? He hadn't even yet perfected it, who would need something like that. The bulb pendant he wore glowed for a moment before he nodded towards Crafty. "It's a possibility, and I know who we could ask first." Without a moment to be questioned, he left the lab as soon as the words left his mouth.

Piggy and Crafty shared another odd look before following after the elephant. Narrowed eyes watched them all, a rather long tail wrapping around a lamppost as the owner of said tail was lost in thought. Unlike them, he was worried about Joey's absence. The last time he saw the other, he seemed frantic and left all too quickly after a hasty 'I'm fine!' was shouted from the ventilation shafts. Something told the leopard that was a lie, but he had no clue or evidence on why it would be. Just as his tail began to unwrap itself so he could lower himself back to the ground, "Leo!" the sound of someone calling his name caused him to fall from the lamppost. Seems like not all cats land on their feet..

Sitting up with a groan and bringing a hand up to rub his head, the source of the voice quickly grew closer and he can't say he didn't immediately recognize it.  A bat, known as Carrie Cloverwing, or just Carrie for short, ran over to him as she apologized just as fast as her legs brought her over. She and Leo were certainly close, best friends to be specific. Though other critters were certainly suspecting something else to be the case, but no assumptions were ever made other than Bubba's slight glares at Leo from time to time. Leo brought up a hand, waving dismissively as he smiled at Carrie and assured her that he was perfectly fine.

"It could've been worse.. did you need something?" He asked, and Carrie shook her head with a small, sheepish smile. "Not really.. I just sorta saw you and wanted to say hi-" Hadn't exactly been the first time this has happened, and even though Leo did want to keep up the nice mood that Carrie had brought over, Joey's absence still hung heavy over his head.. along with a sense of dread. But that second half was nothing new for him. Leo's mood didn't go unnoticed by the bat, as her own smile faltered and her head tilted to the side somewhat. 

"Is something wrong?" The question snapped Leo's drifting attention back to Carrie, and he couldn't exactly say yes or no. It wasn't something hard to explain, in fact he's already mentioned that he was concerned about Joey only a few hours after the kangaroo had disappeared. Others would have just dropped it by now, but how could he move on from from the fact that the one person he idolized was just suddenly missing? What if he was damaged somewhere, and no one knew or cared enough to go check on him? 

"He still hasn't shown up." Leo answered, simply. Maybe Joey was fine, and just simply staying to himself for a while seeing as he's done that before. But he'd never been gone for this long, had he? Joey had at least showed his presence whenever he was seemingly 'gone', but now it was as if the kangaroo had fallen off the face of the earth. Carrie frowned, sitting on the ground beside Leo and giving a small glance around their surroundings. She hadn't seen the kangaroo, but also hadn't really been looking for him either. She was one of the critters who wasn't very close with the other after all, so his disappearance wasn't really even noticed until Leo brought it up. 

"I'm sure he will soon? Maybe he's just taking his time before he comes back." She suggested with a partial smile, hoping the words were enough to at least lift a bit of the weight off of her dear friend's shoulders. "And if he doesn't, we could both go look for him!" Carrie seemed to perk up at her own statement, smiling whilst Leo gazed at her. He was well aware that Carrie wasn't nearly as close with Joey as she was with the others critters like Piggy or Bubba, but it did bring a ghost of a smile to his face to see that she was willing to help either way. Why wouldn't she, though? She was the most kind-hearted critter that he knew of.

"Looking for him sounds nice.." Leo trailed off, what if Joey didn't want to be found though? He didn't want to be a bother to the other, but he also wanted to make sure he was alright. They would just pop in, see how he's doing and leave, Leo thought to himself. With that thought in mind, he finally brought himself to finish his sentence. "We could start from where I last saw him, which was near that old storage closet." Hearing that, Carrie tilted her head. It took a minute or two before the location clicked in her head, and she was quick to get back on her feet and help Leo up as well.

As the two went off to the kangaroo's last known appearance, the critter in question was sitting alone in a dimly lit corner. Claw marks lined the walls, he could be heard muttering and his tail was thumping against the cold, stone floor. What was most noticeable, however, was the Smiling Critters poster that sat in front of the roo. It was torn in two, with the Hoppy Hopscotch half completely torn off of the paper. "rid of me.. they're all.. out to get me.." A quiet, but harshly toned voice came from the critter. His eyes, pupils the size of pinpricks, stared at the missing part of the poster. Hoppy.

She was the worst of them all, she threatened him first. She would convince them to get rid of him, to kill him. Joey's fingers dug into his arms, eyes unable to shut as he continued to stare and let his mind thunder with thoughts he'd rather push away. He wouldn't let them get him, he had to stay safe. He had to.. he. . .

He had to get rid of Hoppy.
If she was gone, there would be no one to convince the other critters to harm him. To burn him, lock him away in that awful storage closet for the rest of his days. SHE threatened his safety, she was a monster, a danger. Joey slowly rose from his spot on the floor, eyes not leaving the torn out piece. Before he could take a step however, a voice rung in his ears. An unmistakable voice, one that would have made his blood run cold had he had any at all.

"Really? You ran all the way out here to sit and sulk in a corner? No wonder you were scrapped."

"Wh.." He turned around. It was her. But how did she find him? No one's found him in days, weeks? He lost track of time, had he not been gone that long? Had she followed him to take him out herself?

"Surprised to see me? I'm shocked you didn't notice me at all, with you having supposed 'great hearing' and all." The rabbit chuckled. "I'll cut to the chase though, you weren't supposed to come back, Joey."

"And when the rest of the critters find you, you'll never be a problem for anyone ever again."

shut up. shut up. "shut UP!" His own voice frightened him, he hadn't heard himself yell in such a long while. Hoppy was gone, was she that fast? That quiet that he never heard her approach and leave? why didn't he hear her? Shaking his head, he decided that didn't matter. Joey would find her, that he was sure of. 

And he'd make sure that she'd be the one going missing instead.