The true story here was a fate to discover; the true story here was too simple to see...

[thatsortofaman]

As the sun starts to rise, a handful of people emerge from the trees, heading for the barracks gate. It's not another attack - for one thing, the group's a bit small and ragged-looking for that. For another, as they get closer to the gate those inside the barracks may recognize them, all friends or acquaintances who quietly went missing before the

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[isoalgorithm]

It had been a strange couple of hours, or days - Quorra wasn't sure how much time had elapsed; all she knew was that she was immensely relieved when their rag-tag group finally came within sight of the barracks gate.

She was tired, dirty, and in worse shape than she had been the day she'd arrived in this strange wood. The circuitry running the length of her suit flickered erratically, and there were scratches on her face and some running the length of her arms which looked suspiciously like claw-marks. Others hadn't been as lucky as her, though. At least she'd had her disc, which had been useful in fending off some of the monsters that stalked them during their journey back to the barracks.

Quorra was amazed they'd made it. Not all of them had. The thought sobered whatever jubilation she might have felt otherwise, although she did finally let herself sink to the ground with her back up against the wall next to the gate, exhaustion weighing heavily on every limb.

[arcade_god]

When all the excitement of the siege had passed, it didn't take much sleuthing for Flynn to figure out that Quorra wasn't the only barracks-dweller to go missing. The news hadn't stopped him from venturing out to look, as hopeless as the efforts started feeling, but whoever could just sit around with people disappearing was more Zen than he.

The commotion brought Flynn and a handful of others outside to investigate, and once it'd been determined that these people were among the missing number and the gate opened, he rushed out to scan the tired-looking faces for his ISO. When he spotted Quorra against the wall, he moved to her side quickly and knelt down.

"Jesus, Quorra. What happened to you?"

[isoalgorithm]

"Flynn!" Thank the User he was there. Not caring whether it was inappropriate or not, Quorra threw her arms around his neck and hugged him fiercely, pressing her face into his shoulder and closing her eyes tightly against the burning feeling prickling behind the lids. "I missed you," she muttered, sniffling a little.

She'd known he'd be okay on his own, of course. But she hadn't been.

[arcade_god]

Flynn wouldn't complain. He was feeling much same way, choked by an upwelling of relief that he'd gotten her back in one piece, and he put his arms around Quorra in turn, holding her there at the foot of the wall.

"Hey," he said gently. "I missed you too, kiddo."

[neverinportland]

Juliet has a migraine that's made her head fit to burst and she keeps hearing a chorus of cuckoo, cuckoo echoing in the trees, even though things are silent. Despite the things she's learned from wilderness life with the Others, she's barely paid attention to the fact that things look a little like a battlefield around here- beyond the iron tang of monster blood still hanging in the air, which she only notices because it makes her headache worse.

The pounding on the door doesn't help. She hangs back from the Doctor and the others, arms crossed, and only then does she notice the barracks, the surrounding area, and has to swear under her breath. If anyone died in there, because they lacked a doctor, she was going to kill whatever fairy abducted her to the creepiest part of the Woods with her hands.

[bell_bound]

Mogget wants to know what's going on. The ragged group don't look too healthy, to put it mildly, and none of them were here during the siege. He picks on the woman purely because she's a little apart from the rest of the group.

So, Juliet, have a cat mewing up at you.

"Bad experience in the woods?"

[neverinportland]

Juliet looks around briefly before finally looking down and had she not spent a week at the Princess's castle, she might have jumped to find a cat speaking to her. Automatically, she assumes it's one of her cats coming to visit.

"You could say that," she says dryly. "If you're here to give me another invitation, I'm going to have to respectfully decline.'

[bell_bound]

An easy mistake to make. The only thing that distinguishes Mogget from the castle cats is his red leather collar.

Mogget tilts his head. "Even if I invited you inside the barracks? That is where you wish to go, isn't it?"

[hisstupidheart]

Des, on the other hand, is keenly aware of his surroundings. He actually got out lucky in the Creepy Kidnapping Wood Part Two. All he managed to do was break down someone's bar door. There's still wood chips clinging to his dirty, matted hair and he looks tense and on edge. The piles of monster bodies don't really do much for his sense of foreboding either.

He watches the Doctor and rolls his eyes, cupping his hands over his mouth, before yelling, "Hey! Anyone alive in there?"

Well, it might get them pissed off anyway and it's less annoying than the constant pounding.

[notalighieri]

"Alive an' kickin." Comes the answer, drifting down lazily from atop the wall. A moment later, Dante's head pops over the side and looks down at the ragged people, before standing up to head down to join the others by the door.

"Looks like dirty an' fucked up is the fashion this month, huh." The white-haired devil-hunter gives Des a look and smirks, "Still alive eh, dude? All limbs and functions intact? I was almost gonna suggest we'd take up a guessing pool back here."

[hisstupidheart]

"See? That's how you do it," Des mutters in the Doctor's general direction before calling up to Dante. "Dante, you son of a bitch. What the hell happened? You guys throw a party and we miss it?" He runs a hand through his hair, dislodging the last bits of debris. It's been a long... Actually, he has no idea how long it's been. It felt like a few hours.

"How long were we gone? Jesus H. Christ."

[notalighieri]

"Don't mistreat the memory of my mum, asshole! She was a total babe!" Dante yells back with humour before disappearing behind the wall, only to reappear a moment later through the door.

He waves his hands out in a lazy manner and smirks at the other hunter, "Hell yeah man, it was one crazy party! You should've seen the finish it was fuckin' awesome." Never mind the part where he got K.O'ed six feet under by an over-powered green giant. He chuckles and shrugs.

"Been gone about a week or three, dude. Had a fun vacation, brought back any souvenirs?" Taste the wry humour here, he can tell it was no leisure cruise even if he's not acknowledging it by freaking out.

anyone dogpile idk

[paterelohim]

Chuck has taken to stalking near the gates recently, ever since Dante came back from apparently the dead and rekindled his paranoia about the disappearances. Paranoia, and anger building slowly like the rising and falling of mountains. So he heard the Doctor pounding on the gates, saw that Flynn guy letting them in, and all but bolted for the group.

Gabriel wasn't with them.

He got the Doctor cornered first, since he was the obvious mover here, and generally gave off a vibe of competence. "Hey, you're back? Is everyone here okay? What took you?"

[thatsortofaman]

The Doctor blinks at the man for a second or two, eyebrows raised, and then snorts a little.

"We're back?" he echoes, a vague and incredulous annoyance flickering in his expression. "So you noticed, then. Nice of you to come looking, thank you for that." Apparently he hasn't noticed all the blood and dead animals around the barracks, or at least doesn't consider it relevant to why people might not have come looking for any of them. Really, if they let a little siege stop them, they just weren't trying hard enough...

"Yes, everyone here is basically okay, though I can't say the same for the people still out there. How long've we been gone, anyway? Time doesn't always work the same in different parts of the Wood..."

[paterelohim]

"A few weeks," Chuck says simply, letting the man be pissy if he needs to. It's pretty understandable. "But, uh, I think that's only some of you? It's been kind of sporadic and weird. You weren't gone from the records in our communicator things, but it was impossible to track you."

He kicks the ground moodily. "Then the barracks were surrounded and basically laid siege by about eight hundred giant monsters for days on end." Chuck looks around behind the Doctor, looking over the others who're still filtering into the camp. Some part of him keeps hoping Gabriel will be with them, that he'll wander in looking dirty and pissed-off, complaining too loudly about sand in his shoes and the terrible housekeeping staff in the Dark Woods. "Goldie said the Dark Woods are awake."

[thatsortofaman]

"Well, she was right," the Doctor mutters. While Chuck's scanning the faces of the people who just returned, the Doctor's watching those coming out of the cabins, frowning slightly to himself. Who he's looking for - and whether he's looking to talk to or avoid them - is anyone's guess.

After a moment, he shakes his head, gaze swinging back to the man in front of him. "If they're not here, they're still trapped out there in the Dark Woods. Whoever you're looking for, I mean." He pauses for another second or two, and then adds, "Sorry."

He sounds more like he just thinks it's something he ought to say than something he actually means.

[merlinianblood]

Hanging at the back of the group is Dave, pale and shaken, hands hidden in his pockets where no one can see the agitated movement of his fingertips. He rolls his shoulders back and bites his lip, anxiously shifting from foot to foot before stepping forward, a little closer to the gate.

He remembers how he treated the Doctor that day he tried to get in and he can't help but wonder if that sort of thing happens all the time.

Naturally, the more he thinks about it, the more panic he feels at the prospect of never being safe ever again.

[bestwillgowrong]

Nate's not the first one to the gate - she probably would have spent a little while with the gate still closed questioning the people on the other side, if she were - but she hovers nearby as the returning group troops back inside.

After a minute or so, she heads for the one person there who looks like he's close to her age - and therefore, the way she sees it, the one most likely to take her seriously instead of ignoring her in favor of everyone here who's older and has been here longer. "Hey. What happened to you guys?"

[merlinianblood]

Dave blinks at her for a moment, trying to process the question and come up with a coherent answer. Words. Yes. He remembers what those are!

"Um." He swallows, diverts his gaze. "We were... lost, I guess? In there." He juts a thumb in the direction of the woods.

[bestwillgowrong]

"Lost," she repeats flatly, glancing past him to the trees. "For a week? And no one called for help on the network?"

Sure, no one would have been able to help them, with all the animals outside the barracks, but it seems strange that no one tried.