Although it was a fair distance away, anyone could tell it had been burnt down. Tibaut felt a pit form in his stomach but tried to reassure himself.
"Heh, knowing him, the place probably caught on fire when he was trying to cook something." He said to himself while wearing an uneasy grin on his face.
He wanted to believe nothing was wrong but couldn't help quickening his pace as he walked to the former cabin. He could feel his heartbeat growing with each step he took. When he approached the cabin he wasn't sure if it was better or worse than he thought.
Although the cabin itself had been turned into a pile of charcoal, he let out an audible sigh when he looked through the still-smouldering remains and saw no signs of bodies.
"OKAY, they probably didn't burn to death, good."
He sat on the ground while calming himself down.
"I mean, of course, they're probably fine, they're adventurers. House fires to people like them would be no more than a minor annoyance."
He soon got up and started to look for Lucky.
("Still where the hell did they go?")
He rested his fist on his chin in thought before coming to an answer.
("They're probably just at the adventurer building. Guess I'll visit them later and see what happened.")
He walked around the former cabin but found no one or wolf in sight.
"Lucky! Where are you, boy!?"
No response.
"Tch, I probably shouldn't have given him all my jerky. Whatever, he was the one who came here in the first place so he probably knows his way back."
Just as Tibaut was leaving he heard the sound of footsteps and turned to see Lucky come out from a nearby bush. He crouched down and started trying to pet him but the wolf had other plans. He put Tibaut's hand in his mouth.
"?"
Yet he didn't bite him. It was gentle but it certainly seemed like he was trying to pull him somewhere. He pulled his hand out and flicked it, to get something off it.
"Ugh, Lucky I'm not a fan of drool so I'd appreciate it if you don't do that." The wolf looked unconcerned and started walking somewhere.
"What a little bastard," Tibaut said to himself as he began following.
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As Tibaut was following the wolf he noticed something on the ground. It was a trail of footsteps.
("Did they not go to Mr. Bentley? Well it looks like it happened this morning so I suppose they might still be nearby.")
Finally, after following the wolf for a few minutes he saw what looked like a person resting on the dirt.
("Man, I haven't done that in a while.")
He walked over casually until he got a closer look at her. It was the short girl who usually wore a hoodie named Lily. The first unusual thing he noticed was that she wasn't wearing her usual attire. She was in some cute-looking pink pyjamas. Though it wouldn't be surprising if she had to leave in that because she woke up when the fire was raging.
He walked over and tapped her on the face. She sprang up and immediately backed away from him.
He looked at her confused but realized this was a probably natural reaction if one were to sleep out in the wild.
She looked at him while breathing heavily before lightly saying "tibaut?".
"Uh, yeah that's me, anyways what happened to Ezekiel's cabin."
She sat silent for a few seconds. She looked at herself a few times and her face strained before she eventually curled up and started crying.
Tibaut didn't know how to respond to this and just awkwardly watched for a few seconds. Eventually, he noticed her hands looked as though they had been burnt.
"So what happened to you guys? (Is this insensitive?)"
She slowly got up while still crying and walked over to him. She hugged him and started crying harder.
("What the hell do I do here?")
He tried to comfort her by patting her head and she used his shirt as a napkin to catch her tears.
("Ugh, it's wet now.")
Whatever happened must have been devastating as she was making full use of his chest by crying on it with no restraint. He soon began looking around to distract himself from this and noticed the pink-haired Tina crouching at a tree with a vacant look in her eyes with a few burns on her body and others on her outfit. He flinched at the fact she was there the entire time.
After seeing two of them like this he pushed Lily off his chest and held her with two hands while looking directly in her face.
"Uh, Lily was it? What happened?"
"... dead"
"Could you repeat that?"
She started crying harder while pointing off to an area dense with shrubs and bushes. She held his hand as he walked towards where she pointed and on the walk noticed another one of the girls on the floor but she had a few burns on her as she rested. The fact she was still breathing probably meant she was fine but he was certain they'd have to go to Elizabeth's mansion as their first stop.
As he got closer to where Lily pointed she let go of him and wouldn't go any further. He was going to ask what was up but then noticed Lucky further up. He cautiously approached the dog and… it's… it can't be. The body was severely burned in certain parts. But it wore a familiar-looking set of armour and clothes underneath. It couldn't be. He got closer to the body hoping it was wrong and examined it even further. Beside the body was a soot-covered knife. Did they place it here? All clues pointed to one thing. It was Ezekiel's body. Yes, only his body. Beside was a blackened mass with what looked like dreadlocks facing Tibaut. He looked at the other side of the mass and saw what looked like a face.
Tibaut could his teeth start clattering and sweat engulfed his body. He felt like he was drowning with how much he was struggling to breathe.
Ezekiel's face flashed in his mind and he couldn't hold it in anymore.
"AAAAAAGGGGHHHHHGKKKGHHH"
He let out a bellowing roar and crawled over to and held it in his hands.
"EZEKIEL! EZEKIEL!? EZEKIEL!!! EEZZZZEEEEEKKIIEEEELLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!?!?!?" He kept shouting but no matter how much he did the other man did not respond. Well, he wasn't alive anymore so it'd be more appropriate to say the corpse wouldn't respond.