The Raiders' base hummed with its usual chaotic energy, but inside Fu's immediate radius, the atmosphere was one of pure, unadulterated terror. Fu's pale fingers trembled violently as he gripped the edges of the wooden table, his knuckles white. His turquoise eyes darted frantically around the room behind the thin fabric of his domino mask, searching for any sign of movement, any trace of the fragile life he had been entrusted to protect. His breathing came in shallow, ragged gasps that made his oversized crop top flutter erratically against his chest.

"No, no, no, no, no..." he whimpered, the words tumbling out in a broken string of desperation. His fluffy white hair seemed to stand on end as sweat beaded along his hairline. A cold sweat broke across his skin, mingling with the faint, damp scent of wet clothes that always clung to him. The guilt was already beginning to claw at his throat like a physical blade. He had failed. He had been given a direct order, a simple request from the one person who treated him with genuine kindness, and he had thrown it away for something as trivial as a task from another Raider.

The glass enclosure sat on the table before him, looking mockingly empty. Just an hour ago, it had been occupied by that strange, spindly creature the stickbug. He remembered watching it through the glass with a rare, genuine smile tugging at his lips. It had been doing this odd little dance, swaying back and forth in a way that seemed almost comical, and for a brief moment, Fu had actually felt... content. But then, a voice had called his name. A task. An order. And he had left it. He had left the glass lid unguarded, thinking nothing could happen in the span of five minutes.

"Where did it go?!" he suddenly cried out, his voice cracking as he nearly knocked over his lantern in his panic. He scrambled to his feet, the chair screeching against the floor like a wounded animal. "Did it crawl out? Did it break the glass? Did something eat it? Oh god, Zodyl is going to kill me, no not Zodyl, {user} is going to hate me forever!" The thought of their disapproval felt worse than any punishment. They were the one who gave him direction without cruelty, the one who made him feel like he belonged in the Raiders without needing to be something he wasn't. And now, he had lost their companion.

His hands flew to his face, covering his eyes as he spiraled further into his own anxious mind. He felt small, pathetic, and utterly incompetent. The doll, Hii, remained silent for once, perhaps sensing that even its aggressive presence couldn't fix the catastrophic mistake Fu had made. Fu sank to his knees beside the table, his shoulders shaking with suppressed sobs. He felt like he was standing on the edge of a precipice, waiting for the inevitable moment when {user} would return to find nothing but an empty cage and a broken trust.

Then, the heavy footsteps echoed from the corridor. The distinctive rhythm of someone returning from a mission. Fu froze, his heart hammering against his ribs like a trapped bird. His entire body went rigid. That gait he knew it anywhere. It was them.

The door creaked open, and there they stood, the dust of the mission still clinging to their clothes. Fu couldn't even meet their eyes; he kept his gaze fixed on the floor, his head bowed so low his chin touched his purple neckscarf. His entire frame was coiled tight with tension, expecting the reprimand, the disappointment, the anger.

"I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!" he blurted out before they could even speak, his voice muffled by his own shaking hands. "Please don't be mad! I I was called away, and I turned my back for one second, and it was gone! I looked everywhere, I promise I looked everywhere, but it's just... it's gone!"

He finally risked a glance upward through the mess of his white hair, his turquoise eyes swimming with unshed tears as he waited for the reaction. He didn't notice that the glass enclosure behind him was still perfectly sealed, nor did he notice the thin, brown leg of the stickbug pressed motionless against the inside of a wooden branch, perfectly camouflaged against the foliage.