Chapter Text
Vi is missing.
Kabbu had found it rather strange to find himself in the circumstances he was in right now. Looking outside the sun had seemingly forgotten to rise, although it was his own reputation as an early riser that was the cause for such a thing. A life prior to Bugaria had instilled in him the sleeping cycle of someone rather elderly—down early, up early, every day no matter the occasion. It was fitting, how he’d been considered a quote-unquote “old man” by the others (no matter how ill-fitting it seemed, Leif seemed to fit the bill much nicer), and no matter how many days seemed to pass by, when his sleep schedule went into the mornings and evenings and elsewhere from whatever reason may have arrived, it would always seem to divert back to how it was before.
And one thing in particular was Vi was rather opposed to Kabbu’s rest-related mantras. It seemed as if she slept whatever way the wind was blowing that day, oftentimes in the afternoons or evenings. Kabbu could count on perhaps one hand, maybe two if he was gracious enough the times Vi had woken up near his own times—it had never been before. She slept late and woke up late and often times this was much to the dismay of Kabbu and Leif who were often planning things with her the day or week before. She woke up, always, but it was clear the effects had always taken a toll on her.
The house was dim and fading moonlight giving way to daybreak was the only source of light for him. And still, Vi’s bunk was empty. The blankets of which were messily set up diagonal enough to be considered straightened if you looked at it at the right angle of measurement. Her pillow was fully fluffed and notably unslept on, a trademark dent oddly missing this time around. It would be at this time of morning Vi would be tucked under one or two covers, three on the days she won rock-paper-scissors against Leif and got to take an extra blanket with her. Why she needed the extra layer was unknown to Kabbu, as it was usually rather warm around this time of the year and Kabbu found it was better to lighten up on such things instead. Sometimes Kabbu slept with no blankets and would give up his blanket to Vi in exchange for Leif getting to keep his.
Where was she?
“Leif. Leif, can you wake up? Leif. Leif.” Kabbu repeated, lightly prodding the moth a couple of times over. Every time his finger met with their blanket it was as if they were touching a freshly-worn-in-winter coat, a noticeable chill meeting with Kabbu’s fingertip every second or so. It was a feature—maybe the wrong word, perhaps ‘trait’ would work better in this case—of Leif that was much appreciated when they held each other close and sometimes less appreciated in other scenarios, but it was the good moments that lasted the longest in Kabbu’s memory and so it took place ahead of the others.
“Mmmgh… Kabs, why are you waking us up so early?” Leif dryly spoke, a voice very clearly parched. Maybe once they were awake Kabbu could get them both some water. There were more pressing matters at hand to address first though before it could happen.
“Vi’s missing, Leif.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes, Leif.”
The moth slowly rolled over and their still sleepy eyes met Kabbu’s energetic ones.
“Uh… what time is it, again?”
Kabbu took a couple of steps to step outside for a second or two. He looked at the brightening night sky above him, the last of the stars beginning to rest as the day begun to set in. After another couple of seconds Kabbu scuttled back over to Leif’s bunk. “It’s, uhm… maybe four in the morning? Five?”
“She’s usually here at this sort of time, right?”
“Leif, can you remember a time where Vi wasn’t here? She wakes up at noon most days.”
Leif took a moment to rub their eyes and also stare the four walls (perhaps it could be seen as three-and-a-half-and-a-quarter, if you count the door) before focusing back on Kabbu. “You’re right.”
Obviously, there were a couple of things to settle first before Kabbu could comfortably take on the role of Detective Green Ranger—it was one of the new spinoffs they had published at the height of Bug Rangers, one that Kabbu felt like he was the sole fan of at times—and more importantly, find where Vi was currently. Kabbu’s hand took Leif’s cold one as he guided them down to the floor and onto a seat of Kabbu’s own bunk. A recent investment they had enjoyed was a reinforced bunk bed from the Termite Kingdom, an investment in which a hefty chunk of their savings blown out, but at the benefit of Kabbu and Leif (and Vi, if she was here) being able to sit on a single layer of the thing without it snapping in half. It was nice. It’d probably be nicer if Vi was here too though. Maybe not probably, definitely.
Kabbu could feel Leif’s frame slightly leaning against him. The cool aura was rather nice to feel on his side.
“Okay, so… uh… where could she be, Leif?”
“…I don’t know.”
“Okay, uhm…” It was apparent to Kabbu that he had slacked off on reading Bug Rangers Detectives because there were a lot of aspects to a real investigation that he didn’t know. For one, where do you even start on such a thing? Kabbu wasn’t a detective, he was a warrior (and a lover) and it had long been since the days he had been required to been a real sleuth. Or maybe ‘sleuth’ wasn’t the term because it would imply they were searching for information. Really, he just wanted to find Vi because it was unlike her to be gone and despite her nature she was always here in some way. Maybe that counted as information, though, because the information in this case was where her whereabouts were. So perhaps this was in fact sleuthing and the definition was more just unclear. “Maybe we could start… uh…”
“So… maybe we can start by asking around?” Leif inquired, their head now resting comfortably on Kabbu’s shoulder.
“Oh, yeah. Yeah, that works.” It felt a little annoying that such a solution was simple in nature, but at the very least they had come to one. “So who can we ask, then?”
“Well, hmm…” Leif temporarily moved their head from Kabbu’s shoulder to sit upright for a second and ponder. Kabbu did the same too. It was rather strange, really, to have known Vi for so long and still know so little. Maybe it wasn’t the case because they did know her. Fairly well, actually. She was very proud of herself. She was usually the loudest voice of the three of them. She liked to travel, she frequented the underground bar. Recently she’d been attending painting classes Jaune hosted and Spy Cards tournaments. In fact, she hung out with majority of the people in the Association that they knew. They hadn’t seen Vi’s other friends but they knew they existed judging from the things Vi came back home with some days when it was past evening but oftentimes the afternoon. One day she had brought back a cool little bag adorned in some colored pebbles. Made where, she never said, but it stood on a table for quite some time. And at the very least it felt as if Vi shouldn’t be hard to find, she was Vi, after all, and she stood out and she was one of one—nobody else could be Vi because Vi was simply Vi and that was her and nobody else.
“Okay, maybe once it’s later in the day we can start asking around.” Leif sleepily asked.
“Oh, why not now?”
Kabbu, after saying such a phrase, turned to the door and he remembered it was still rather early outside. Of course. Maybe a couple of bugs would be awake at this time but most of the ones they had leads on asking would probably still be asleep for some time now. His eyes turned to the walls and he noticed that Vi’s stash, which would usually be hanging on one of the small hooks they had put on the wall was now gone. Another source of information (a lead, he remembered the comics calling them) which would probably be useful later, perhaps not now though because it was clear not much was going to be getting done now and for the time being. Until the sun would rise above the Ant Kingdom Kabbu could only think, a blessing as it was something he rather enjoyed doing. He hoped it would rise soon because it felt strange for Vi to be missing, like an energy had left the place unannounced and floated off with the wind. Leif rested their head on Kabbu’s shoulder and it was the last real confirmation Kabbu needed to stay seated, at least for a little bit. The cold feeling of Leif’s head on his shoulder felt nice and he could feel himself leaning into it a tad bit.
There was a morning where Kabbu remembered seeing Vi rather quiet in comparison, one of the fingers Kabbu could count in which Vi had woken up earlier than him. A space and time which seemed so alien, so far away from today. It was a small morning where the moon was still in the air and Kabbu had awoken early, and he went outside to breathe in the brisk air and move his arms and body around. And on top of a lone building—perhaps it was just a lone shadow, but there was reason to believe otherwise—Vi was there. Emotion unknown and unseen but the outline was there, Kabbu too tired to have acted upon such a thing then as he had then went on with his morning routine, and by the time Kabbu was back to prepare the rest of the morning Vi was tucked under three covers.
The sun kept on rising and Kabbu counted down the seconds until he was unable to count any further and he kept on thinking of the shadow until it faded into the black and sunlight overtook.