The Great War

={Chapter 21: Back Home}=

Molten grunted at the effort to continue any further, he had started having trouble with walking about two and a half hours ago, his ankle was slowly growing more painful the further his patrol went, it had started as a small limp, but now he couldn't take another step on his own, Lefty and Foxy were both supporting him, one of them on each side, with his arm draped over their shoulders. "Open the gate! It's the lost patrol!" Molten heard someone yell from the top of the kingdom wall above the closed drawbridge, he wasn't sure why everyone called it a gate. "Come on bud, just a bit further," Lefty stated, trying to encourage Molten, but Molten didn't care about coming back to the kingdom, he wasn't excited or anything, he just needed somewhere to finally sit down. Foxy and Lefty gently sat Molten down onto an empty crate lying on the ground right next to the drawbridge on the inside of the kingdom walls, and Foxy ran off without a word. "Where have y'all been? What happened?" Twisted Bonnie asked with both a curious and worried tone as he joined Molten and Lefty from his position to stand guard at the drawbridge. "We were ambushed on our last day by a human patrol, we decided to rest an extra day to try and let my ankle pain dim a bit. We haven't been replaced or anything while we were gone have we?" Molten replied with an inward hiss as he tried moving his ankle, but that made the pain a lot worse. "No, Rockstar Freddy refused to believe you had died out on the field, he said that you and Funtime Foxy make a nasty duo to fight against, so he decided we'd wait three days after you guys disappeared before anyone would presume you dead," Bonnie replied with a happy tone, obviously pleased that the patrol wasn't dead, but Molten wasn't sure why Bonnie would care. "Alright, who all is hurt?" Molten, Lefty and Bonnie turned to see that Funtime Foxy had returned, with Rockstar Freddy and AI Afton following, Afton was the one who spoke. "Just me and Molten, I've only got one wound, Molten's got two," Lefty replied calmly as he motioned towards himself and Molten. "Alright, you two come with me back to my workshop so I can fix you two up," Afton ordered as he turned and made a small motion motion for Molten and Lefty to follow him. "Foxy, since you're not injured, explain to me where you've been," Freddy ordered with a demanding tone as Lefty helped Molten up, Molten didn't hear a single hint of worry in Freddy's voice.

About an hour and a half later, after Afton finished fixing Molten's and Lefty's wounds, Molten and Lefty passed Funtime Foxy hanging out with Funtime Freddy at a coffee shop, and the sight perplexed Molten, Foxy was always serious and a bit rude, sometimes too serious, but sitting at a two-person table with Funtime Freddy, Foxy was laughing and smiling. Lefty ran off, and when Molten pulled himself out of his thoughts, he saw that he and Lefty were finally back at their house, and Lefty had ran up to the front door. Lefty waited until Molten joined him, and then he knocked on the wood door, and it took a minute before Ennard opened the door. "Wha-, guys?!" Ennard yelled excitedly as he realized it was his two brothers, and he quickly pulled Lefty into a tight embrace, and then hugged Molten just as tightly. "God, we've only been gone one extra day," Molten stated with a laugh as Ennard let him go, and the three walked inside their shared house. "Yea, but I already miss you guys when you're on patrols, so I really missed you this time, besides, I've been worried sick since I heard that you hadn't returned yesterday," Ennard replied with a happy smile as he sat down on the couch, and Molten and Lefty sat down on either side of him. "That's fair, we missed you too," Lefty replied cheerfully as he elbowed Ennard. Ennard laughed and put one arm across each of his brother's shoulders, pulling them both close in another hug, and they all laughed together, Molten couldn't see how he had ever thought about leaving this life behind, but then again, he cant believe he actually left Bryan behind. "So, care to fill us in on any news around here? What have you been doing?" Molten asked with a smile as he nudged Ennard's arm with his own once Ennard released him and Lefty from the hug. Ennard started rambling off about his past few days as a catch-and-release exterminator, and filled Molten and Lefty in on how Funtime Freddy asked Ennard for advice on asking someone out, which explained a lot to Molten, and that he had saw Rockstar Foxy and Rockstar Freddy holding hands, so their suspected relationship was confirmed. Molten chuckled at all of this, he usually tuned out Ennard's rambles, Ennard always loved to talk a lot, but this time, Molten listened intently, he hadn't realized how much he had missed Ennard over one more day than usual.