It always went the same way, and then, eventually, it became a routine. Same old, same old. Wirt woke up, he went to make breakfast, and then he worried about Greg and Kipo and also sometimes some of the other people that went on that... 'adventure'. Sometimes, Wirt wonders of he should have gone with them, but then he finds the same feeling in himself again: the fear that Greg isn't here, and the even bigger fear that he is.
There was a lot of things to be afraid of in this new place, more than Wirt had ever imagined when he had first arrived. Wherever they were, it wasn't safe, and if Wirt's last adventure was any indication, there was danger around every corner.
...It had already taken Adam, and maybe it had taken Greg, too.
It would have been nice to take his mind off it, but there wasn't anything to do in this town. There was a library, and a theatre, and a lot of interesting people, but it would be a very strange day when Wirt went out and actually interacted with them.
A strange day like today.
Today, when Wirt went out for breakfast, he was surprised to two new people there, neither of which were Kipo, so Wirt took that to mean that the two were Fei Fei and Anne. No sooner that he had that realization that he was out of the kitchen, looking around the entire town for any sign of Kipo. But no matter where he looked: the library, the tree outside the town, even her house, but she was just gone. Even after checking the whole town a grand total of three times, Wirt couldn't find her, and eventually, he'd had to admit defeat: somehow, Kipo wasn't here. And neither were any of the people she was looking for.
Eventually, Wirt went back to find Fei Fei and Anne, hoping beyond hope that this didn't mean what he thought it meant. He felt his stomach dropping lower and lower in dread as he climbed up the steps to the community hall. Or whatever this building was.
He heard them talking as soon as he opened the door to the kitchen.
"-Yeah, this little... cat?" One of the people, Anne, Wirt guessed, said.
"I thought it was more of a dog," the other one (Fei Fei, maybe?) mumbled.
"Alright, fine, this little cat-dog thing, told us that she could help," Anne continued. "Apparently, she was a friend of Luz, one of the people that got sucked into the portal."
"She asked us to get another person to help," Fei Fei spoke up. "She needed to communicate with Kipo."
"And she needs a person do that," Anne confirmed.
Wirt paused by the door, out of the way where they couldn't see him. It technically felt like spying, it probably WAS spying... but it beat the alternative.
The person Fei Fei and Anne were speaking took so long to respond that for a second Wirt wondered if they were speaking to no one.
"...A portal?" the person, who Wirt was surprised to find was Dib, asked. "A... literal portal? To where?"
"Not home," Anne sighed. "Probably."
"Other than that, we're not sure," Fei Fei added. A tense silence followed.
"Why are you asking me to do it?" Dib asked, which was a good question, based on his personality. Why would they be asking him to help?
"Well, you were the first person we ran into," Anne told him with sarcastic cheer. Ah. That explained it.
Again, Dib didn't respond for a while. "...First of all, you both suck at telling stories. Second of all... I guess it's more interesting than things here. You mentioned there being monsters...?"
"Tell me that's not the only reason you're going?!" Fei Fei cried.
"Well, that does line up with what we know about him," Anne pointed out, but she seemed disappointed, too. "Well, as long as he's there, who cares why? Six can deal with him."
"Will you actually try to help?" Fei Fei asked, but she sounded like she already knew the answer.
"Maybe this... 'Six' will convince me to help," Dib sniffled. "Otherwise, I just want to see the portal."
"It's closed," Anne said flatly.
"...We should probably get someone else," Fei Fei noted.
Anne sighed. "No, we have to go right away. Six told us to hurry, and we've already wasted enough time getting all this food."
The two paused.
"Yes, that took a while," Fei Fei agreed. "Alright, Dib, let's go."
"I'm the one who has to agree to this!" Dib squawked indigeneity, but he followed the two of them anyway. Wirt started as they turned the corner and looked at him like a deer in headlights.
"Uh...." Wirt's face burned at the embarrassment of being caught. "Um..."
"Oh, hey... I don't actually know your name," Anne said.
"Huh? Oh, Wirt?" Wirt spluttered. "Uh, Wirt. It's Wirt."
"Hi Wirt." Anne gave him a little wave. "Would love to talk but we actually got to leave right now, sorry. We'll leave you to get your food."
"Huh?" Those words circled Wirt's head before he realized what they meant. "Oh... Oh, yeah! Food... what I came here to get. Just now. I got here just now. Right."
An awkward pause followed that before Anne gave a curt nod.
"Right, well, see ya," Anne said, and Fei Fei gave him a small smile before the two went by him. When Dib went by him, all he did was give him a strange look. Again, Wirt went red.
Soon, the door was closed behind him, and Wirt was left in the kitchen alone.
And he'd missed most of the explanation, he realized.
Wirt paced the kitchen as he turned over what he'd just heard in his head. Not much that made sense, unfortunately. All he'd really managed to gleam was that Kipo was in trouble somehow, and that Dib was going to 'help her' somehow. Dib didn't even like her that much.
'How is she in trouble...? They mentioned something about a portal, which... makes no sense. And there's a person named Six... no, a cat-dog creature named Six... I have no clue how that fits into this.'
Wirt sighed. "A portal, a creature, and a person in trouble, the enigma sits across from me, smug and proud, but whether to solve it like question or a puzzle eludes me."
"Solve what?"
Wirt jumped about a foot in the air.
"Huh? What?" For the second time that day, Wirt's face went a brilliant red as he looked at the person who had just entered the question. Mira titled her head at him. "Ah-er-well, it's a-well-."
"If you need a question solved, I'm sure Tulip would love to help," Mira told him, opening the cupboards. "She loves those. Did you have breakfast yet?"
As if on cue, Wirt's stomach rumbled. Strange, he didn't think he could get more embarrassed today.
In response, Mira put two slices of bread on the counter. "Here. Jam?"
Something about that reminded Wirt of the Unknown, which wasn't a feeling he'd had in a while. Wandering in the unknown, with only his brother and occasionally Beatrice... did he prefer that to this? He felt safer in the town, but he didn't have his companions anymore.
Wirt shook himself, and found Mira waiting for him.
"Oh! Um, hm... sure."
"Okay!" Mira put the knife down, backing away from the counter and eating her own sandwich. "You can get it."
"...Okay." Moving forward, Wirt took the knife from the counter, starting to make his own sandwich. Mira watched him thoughtfully.
"So, what puzzle had you been talking about before?" Mira asked him, and, after a quick couple seconds of anxious thought, Wirt decided to tell her.
"It wasn't... really a puzzle, I'd just been wondering what happened to Kipo, is all," he told her.
"Oh." Mira chewed thoughtfully. "Well, Fei Fei and Anne came back. They probably know where she is."
'They do,' Wirt almost said, but he thought better of it before he said it.
"I guess." Was all he said.
Mira watched him. "You could ask them."
Wirt inwardly cringed. "I guess."
"Do you want to ask them?"
Wirt froze. "Ah, er-."
Mira watched him while he silently sweated. "...I guess?"
"...They're not gonna bite, you know."
Wirt gulped. He didn't really know what to say. Thankfully, Mira moved on before he could embarrass himself. Again.
"I don't think you need to drown that sandwich, Wirt," Mira chuckled, and Wirt practically jumped away from what was essentially a gloup of red jam.
"...Oops."
Mira laughed. "It's alright, just clean it up."
"I will, I will!"
Quickly, Wirt moved to the utility closet, and grabbed a cloth. But there was so much jam that Wirt couldn't wipe it up, so he used the cloth to awkwardly scoop it up and carry it to the garbage. Mira raised an eyebrow at that.
"Could-Couldn't you have moved the garbage closer?" she asked. Wirt paused.
"...Um."
Mira shook her head. "It's too late now. Anyway, if you want to go ask Anne and Fei Fei where Kipo is, you should probably go now."
"..." Wirt continued wiping the already clean counter to procrastinate answering. "Uh huh."
Mira stared at him for a moment, and then shook her head. "They probably won't be coming back soon. It's better to do it now then later."
"..."
"Just do it. It'll be fine."
"..."
Mira tilted her head. "C'mon, Wirt. Or you'll just continue worry about it."
...That'd be fine. It's what he's been doing for so long already, so if he just... kept worry, it'd be fine. He's already worrying about Greg, and Anne, and Fei Fei... and sometimes even Beatrice and Sara and everyone he knew at home. It wouldn't really matter, wouldn't change anything, even if he knew where Kipo was she'd still be in danger, and he wouldn't be able to do anything. It wouldn't matter.
...Alright, yeah. Wirt could hear himself. These thoughts meant to console him only served to make him realize how silly he was being.
He stood up straighter, throwing the jam covered rag in the sink to deal with later. Mira brightened as she watched him.
"You're going?" she asked. "Nice! Good luck, Wirt!"
Wirt nodded, though it just looked like a weird jerk of the head instead. Nevertheless, Mira grinned at him as he went to the door. He tried to give her a smile back, but it looked more like a grimace, probably.
"See you, Wirt!" Mira calls as he opened the door, but then he paused, standing in the doorway as he fiddled with what he wanted to say.
"Er..." he said awkwardly. "Thanks, M-Mira."
Mira rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah. Anyone would."
'Would they?' Wirt wondered, but all he did was call goodbye to Mira before exiting through the door, quickly leaving the building.
He jumped down the steps, and hit the concrete ground running. Immediately, he turned right, and started running down the road. He really hadn't thought this through, had he? If he was going to do this he shouldn't have procrastinated so much; he should have left earlier, because the trio were in a hurry, and they had gotten a pretty good head start, and it was really early in the morning, and Wirt had been doing nothing but walking sometimes these days, and-
Wirt came to an abrupt stop. As it turned out, he didn't have to run so far after all.
"I remember saying that we were on a time limit, Dib," Anne huffed, crossing her arms.
"I heard you!" Dib snapped back. "I need all this! There's a monster running around, you know!"
Anne looked less than thrilled to hear that. "If you want, any sympathy, do not remind me about your imaginary friend."
Dib paused, his mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water. Anne glared irritably at him.
"Well? Hurry up!"
Unable to retort, Dib shoved his tools in his (very big) backpack even faster. When Wirt peered around his curiously, he spotted a wrench, some string, and a hammer.
"You're being very mean right now, Anne," Fei Fei told her.
"I know, I know," Anne sighed, grimacing. "I just... I know. I'll be nice when we get there."
Fei Fei paused, and then gently placed a hand on Anne's shoulder. Anne breathed out a sigh, but she seemed to relax from angry to... concerned. She glanced down the road.
Suddenly, Fei Fei looked to Wirt, who accidently jumped away. She furrowed her eyebrows at him.
"What?" she asked him. Wirt rung his hands.
"Uh... me?"
By now, Dib and Anne were looking at him, too, and Wirt was regretting everything.
"Um... yeah, obviously me, uh...." Wirt rubbed the back of his neck. "I had... just been wondering... um, what... happened to Kipo? I was just, you know, a little worried?"
Anne breathed out through her nose. "You don't need to sound so worried about it. Basically, we'd found two of the people we were looking for, but when we were trying to close a portal because it was bothering a town. And, well, one of the people we found managed to find almost closed it, but there was an accident, and now Kipo, Luz and Kris are stuck... somewhere."
"Somewhere?" Wirt winced at his voice crack.
"Yeah, but she's fine, I'm sure," Anne told him, and she didn't sound like she doubted it even a little bit. "Trust me, I've seen what she can do."
Fei Fei nodded. "She's very impressive."
"She's the type to be able to handle things," Anne added.
Wirt blinked. Yeah, he's seen what she can do, too. Apart from being smart and strong and, well, just being better at every Wirt wasn't, Kipo was also able to turn into a giant jaguar, so maybe he shouldn't worry. Actually, it should be: why was he even worried in the first place?
"...Yeah... you're right," Wirt said, and then he shook his head, rephrasing himself to sound surer. "Yeah, she'll be fine."
"Uh huh," Anne said, nodding. "She'll get out. And we'll help, if we ever get there."
With that, Anne turned to glare at Dib, who frowned, standing up and throwing his backpack over his back. It seemed to dwarf him.
"I'm ready already," he huffed. "I was waiting for you."
Anne laughed in a disbelieving way and Fei Fei rolled her eyes.
"We should go," she said. She waved to Wirt. "Goodbye, Wirt."
"See you later, Wirt!" Anne called, and Wirt smiled, waving back. He could feel it instantly: one weight lifted off his back.
"Y-Yeah. Say hi to Kipo for me."