Lost and Found: Audition Page 12

Marifalla resisted the urge to meet her breakfast again, her gaze hurriedly darting away to avoid this action. "Why would anybody do something like this?" Marifalla cried, covering her muzzle with her paw.

"Maybe cuz it's important," Koko retorted. "So take it out."

"Ewww! No way!"

Koko rolled her tiny moth eyes. "Look, wuss, do you wanna turn back to normal again or not?" Despite the mention of restoring their true forms, Marifalla was still uncertain of recovering the paper.

Enunciating a very aggravated sigh, Koko continued. "Do you see any other options here?" Before the aurapur could respond, Koko interrupted with a, "No, I didn't think so! The clue to becoming our regular selves again may be on this sheet of paper! So take it out! We have no other choice as it is."

"Easy for you to say," Marifalla grumbled. "You don't have to paw around in somebody's insides."

However, despite her great disgust, the unsightly bride gingerly retrieved the "precious" parchment from among the free circuits of Flior's heart. She couldn't even tell which parts of the blood on her paws were her twin's and which were her own.

"It's... a map," Marifalla noted once she unfurled the parchment.

"Excellent!" Koko exclaimed, actually pleased for once. "If this Dr. Seuss of a thief wants us to find him, that's what he'll get. Onward, my steed!"

"Ste--steed?!"

"GET YOUR ASS MOVING!!"

With that, our heroines were prepared to take the first step of many to regain what was unjustly swiped from them right under their heart-shaped noses. With Flior (who was miraculously still alive) draped across her sister's back like some blood-stained laundry hanging out to dry, they were all set for their journey. Well, that is, they were almost ready. Marifalla still couldn't leave without one last possession--her wedding gift from Flior.

"Hmmm..." Koko frowned at the map, which was dangling from Marifalla's mouth so the moth could study it. "According to this map, we need to go east... no... west... I mean... damn it already! This is the dumbest map ever! That thief is a freakin' idiot!"

"Leth's thee..." The aurapur spoke through the map. She then spat it out on the ground so she could actually be understood. "Here is our destination," she said, pointing to the taunting, obvious "X". "It's shown here surrounded by mountains and pine forests."

"But there aren't any mountains and those type of trees for miles!" Koko scowled. "We'll never find this place!

"That's what these landmarks are for," Marifalla gestured towards the map. "If we follow these, we'll eventually find the thief."

"Wow, a resourceful Marifalla," Koko smirked. "And here I thought that was an oxymoron."

Since the party possessed no means of storing their items, Marifalla resorted to tucking the map into the book her sister had given her. She then placed the entire bundle within the grasp of her maw. "Ready when you are."

* * *

Rehobeth, now a panting wreck, had returned to his wedding with the look of a kid who still believed wholeheartedly that monsters resided beneath his bed.

"The ma-ma-MONSTER ATE MY BRIDE!!"

What few words he had uttered immediately sent his collection of guards into an assembled force. Preparing their various weapons, they marched off into the four directions of the compass rose and the paths in between.

Although they were merely average civilians and aristocrats, they too readied what weapons they could find (like pitchforks and chainsaws) and followed Rehobeth's guards in order to avenge their dear queen-to-be. Why such weapons were just lying around at a royal wedding, none shall ever know.

* * *

"This is what you meant by following landmarks?" Koko raised a disdainful eyebrow.

Directly in front of the two, was a convenience store, fun-sized being a kind way to describe the place. Marifalla wasn't even sure her new bulky body could fit through the entrance. To add onto the lack of size, the establishment was so severely run-down, it looked like something that would only appear in a cockroach's wildest dreams. Fittingly, the store was called Hobo Party.

"Th-this is where the map said to go..." Marifalla responded weakly, in a voice consumed by her immense size.

"Let's go inside then," Koko grouched.

What awaited the girls within explained the "party" in the title, although, there is only so much people can pull together for a party when they're homeless. Still, Marifalla could tell these Notails were having the time of their lives, dancing wildly to rave music that threatened to ignite her eardrums. A box in place of a disco ball hang from the ceiling to "set the mood".

"Ugh." Marifalla's lips curled into a countenance of utter revulsion. "More of those awful sounds! Why are the poor so obsessed with this... this music?" She spat the last word as if it left a horrid taste on her tongue. "You're right, Koko. Let's lea--"

The sound of a door being knocked down interrupted the ex-bride. The source of this disturbance was a passel of Rehobeth's royal guards and irate wedding guests--all armed with makeshift weapons.

Koko replied with an obscene word.

"There's the monster!" they cried. "Just as our highness described!"

Again, Marifalla was sent dashing away for her life. Unfortunately, she was cornered this time around. Her body was too massive to properly skedaddle, especially with an injured sister to weigh her down. There was no way she could escape the clutches of the terrible chainsaws.

Piercing into the silence that had descended upon them (for the music had been cut off due to the guards' and guests' abrupt arrival), three dark-hued birds whispered one, single word: "Come."

Seeing no alternative options, Marifalla obeyed the creepy corvids and scrambled towards them. Their whispers evolved into screeches as they beckoned the aurapur towards a door. A mural of purple-hazed mountains and pine forests so detailed she could almost smell them decorated the entrance.

After a heartbeat, Marifalla realized she wasn't imagining an odor. This was obviously the bathroom, considering the stench that wafted from there.

Stealing a breath, the monster bride entered, despite Koko's wails of protest.

"Yes," the corvids cackled. "Come. Come and face your doom.