Ted sighed as the ruins of The Oasis appeared on the horizon. Bakade was a few paces in front of him and didn't seem to notice. Ted appreciated that she slowed down so they could make it back together at what was a casual pace for him.

"So, I'm guessing plans have changed?" Ted asked as he looked at the other standing around in a circle with several ropes and what appeared to be a lot of thick metal spikes with rings on the end of them.

"We believe now is the best time to depart." Sid declared.

Ted took in a deep breath, and slowly let it out. "What are the odds of survival? Of success?"

"The best we will ever get," Sid replied cryptically.

"Hmm? No number this time?"

Sid shook his head. "The odds will only get worse as we waste our time."

"But what are they now?"

Sid turned away from Ted and grabbed a rope, and a pack of metal spikes that he hooked onto a rope around his waist. "Irrelevant. Your focus on percentages is illogical. You misunderstand them, so relaying them to you will only increase your worry unnecessarily."

"Saying that's only going to make me even more worried." Ted added.

Sid turned to look Ted dead in his eyes and briskly walked up to him until their faces were only inches apart. "How did you reappear in the sky?"

"What?"

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"During our fight you fell from the sky. How did that happen? I was not in the best position to observe it myself."

Sid's voice had the hint of a threat behind it, and that genuinely surprised Ted. Sid always seemed to speak in a calm monotone, but this had much more emotion behind it.

"I don't remember..." Ted mused.

"You ran," Sid explained, "but something pulled you back. It set you right where the rest of us were, while ripping your recent memories from you. Like rebooting a computer that is having issues. A harsh wipe and restart to bring you back to a safe baseline."

Sid hurled a metal spike, and it implanted itself firmly in a wooden pillar that had recently been erected. "All that time erased from your mind. Similar to many of our time arriving here. A blank spot wiped from our memory. That absence alone speaks volumes. Something happened, and something did not want us to remember those moments."

"Yeah, I'm just here because it sounds like fun, and I'm not really worried about falling anywhere. Heh." Og'drimun said as he floated around and inspected the back of his hands.

He makes some sense man. Death agreed as he popped into existence behind Ted. And you being pulled around that blatantly? Like, if Bakade didn't surprise that guy with that magic gun or whatever, we would've been in big trouble.

"A lot did go wrong with that fight," Trizel sighed before he eyed Og'drimun angrily. "You showing up falling like that could have been the nail in the coffin for us. Saving you lost us a lot of our fighting strength. Not that I regret it. I would do it again in an instant. Losing an ally is a poor way to win a battle when it can be avoided. Worse when that ally is a trusted friend."

Sid put a hand on Ted's shoulder. "I must ask you to trust me. You must focus on success, not the chance of failure. We need to inspect this place, and this is the time to do it." Sid shifted the rope to his hand and thrust it into Ted's chest.

Ted stumbled back slightly, and through sheer reflex wrapped his arms around it.

"Wwwweeee'llll bbbbeeee ooookkkaaaayyyy." Bakade said as she patted Ted's back with her bandaged arm.

"Come on, what's life without a little risk anyway? Not like we won't have this fantastic mess to come back to." Narissa smiled as she waved her gloved hand, as if to dismiss Ted's concerns.

That old feeling bubbled up inside Ted again. Anything could be there, and it wasn't being put off anymore. He was running head forward right to it. But something else seemed to rise up against it. If they all left, and he didn't he would be alone. He couldn't remember what happened when he ran away last time, but the thought of being alone again. Part of him seemed to push him towards the isolation, but more of him was afraid what would happen if he was alone with his thoughts again.

"I guess if everyone else has made up their mind," Ted gulped as he gripped the rope as tight as he could. He put on a fake smile and looked around at everyone. He had practiced this. He met their gaze while lifting not just his mouth, but his eyebrows and the rest of his face. "Then there's no point in arguing anymore. Let's get this show on the road."

Yes! I knew you'd come around! Besides, after this Sid can focus on repairing all of the technology stuff that got messed up in the fire! Death cheered.

"I said I would make an attempt. I am not sure what all I can salvage, but I will do what I can." Sid clarified.