Jergens had always wondered what castaways felt like. To be surrounded by nothing but an endless sheet of blue. Nothing else exists save for yourself and your lifeboat.

And that's how he felt, lost in an endless sea of fragrant golden flowers. No trees. No trickling streams. No deer. No people.

No nothing.

Just him and his little brother, whom, while admittedly a bit happier since they're departure, he seemed distant. Melancholic. Granted, Crybaby was always the mellow sort. Then again, seeing the same thing over and over again, day after day... it could get a bit repetitive.

Unlike the forest, there seemed to be a sense of time in the area about them. Day turned into night, twelve hours each, which made trudging on much less tedious.

While it may have been eye-opening and lovely at first, both of them started to get sick of seeing flower after flower.

One day, Jergens tried to explain the concept of 'I Spy' to the little white stag, but the game itself was pretty useless when there were only a few things to identify. The game was scrapped as quickly as it had been introduced.

So they kept on, not knowing if there'd be an end. Losing count of the number of days they had been gone.

Although Jergens had been lost in his thoughts to really realize that Crybaby was definitely feeling like a weight has been lifted from his shoulders. Not all of the little buck’s sorrows had vanished but he had somehow left most behind, locked away in their forest at the time they had snuck their way through.

Sometimes he joyfully jumped around like fawns did, around Jergens, down the field, up a little hill and back again till he got tired. He couldn’t get lost because there was nothing else than this never-ending scenery.
He really was happier these past days, enjoying the beautiful rows of golden flowers. Golden, golden like…

But soon he couldn’t count the days anymore, forgetting how long they’ve been away. He got more and more exhausted and it was harder and harder to get up after sleeping to eventually move along.
And when night fell he just plopped down next to his big brother and instantly fell into a heavy sleep.

This day wasn’t different, but he wasn’t running around anymore, nor jumping. Sure he still liked the flowers but he was yearning to see something else, to see more.

And he was thirsty.

”Jergens?” he looked up at the big, red stag trotting next to him, his own little chest dusted with some of the yellow pollen. ”I can’t see much because the flowers are so tall, but do you see anything?”
Anything else other than this?

Jergens himself had taken the intense traveling in stride, waking every morning at the crack of dawn. Unlike his brother, his body was built for endurance. Oftentimes he'd gallop alongside his brother, though in terms of speed he was quickly overtaken by Crybaby's shorter, faster legs.

Although he had to admit, he was pretty damn thirsty too...

"Uhh... Dunno..." he stopped, stretching his neck out as far as he could to look at their surroundings in all their dullness.

...

Nothing but flowers... well... that was a relief. God forbid there'd be some kind of CHANGE in the landscape...

"Here... try getting up on my back." he bent himself down to his knees, offering the fluffy little buck his own added height.

Crybaby stared at him for a minute, tilting his head to the side. ”Is it safe?” he asked nervously, though took a step forward. After all, he felt as if his legs were about to give way underneath him. But he was mostly worrying about Jergens’ spine actually.

Jergens just grinned, nodding enthusiastically. "Why wouldn't it be? I ain't that tall... And I won't let ya fall..." he assured him.

The white stag, biting his lower lip, scrambled on top of his brother's back, scratching his curled sides with his hooves. as he draped himself along Jergens' spine, two legs dangling from each side of his belly. He tried to inch himself forward, but to no avail, much to Jergens' amusement.

"Okay, now try standin' up!" the crimson stag urged him, keeping his legs spread a bit apart so that Crybaby had more space to work with.

With slow, deliberate movements, the littler stag forced himself to stand up, wavering uneasily back and forth as he looked in all directions. "I don't see anything... can I get down now?" he asked in worry, not even daring to look at the ground below though. Jergens just huffed in disappointment. "Hum... Try puttin' yer hooves on my head then." he offered, knowing full well that it would hurt like a bitch.

Crybaby hesitated, but slowly put one hoof after the other on his older brother's head, trying to ignore Jergens' small hisses in pain as the tips of his toes dug into the red stag's forehead.

"Hm…" Crybaby looked around once more. Flowers, flowers, nothing but flowers still. But then he frowned some and narrowed his eyes.

"I can see something!" his big ears flicked in excitement. "It’s blue and big, water!"
It was a large river actually, but Crybaby had no real clue what a river was. It wasn’t comparable to the little streamlet coming from the Crying Idol in the forest.

...



...

Jergens started making some odd, whimpering noises, almost like a dog in agony while he impatiently rasped the ground with his hoof.
"Ah sorry Jergens!" the little white one quickly scrambled down off his brother’s head.

"Hell Cry, yer hooves are pointier than any chick’s fingernails just out and brand-new from the manicure… not that I'd know, heh." the red stag muttered, sighing in relief when there wasn’t any weight on his forehead anymore. He frowned and lifted his eyebrows several times like to reassure himself that they still were intact.

Crybaby, still laying on Jergens’ back, pressed his head against the side of the warm neck in front of him. He once again had no idea what his brother was talking about, he just understood the part about his hooves being too pointy. ”I’m sorry...”
His curly tail brushed over red fur. "We should take a look at it, shouldn’t we big brother?" he murmured, gazing at now the yellow horizon, to which the red stag merely snorted in response.

"Why the Hell not? Dunno about you… but my throat is all cracked up…” he turned to Crybaby, flicking his head to the right. ”Lead the way, then~”

The smaller deer simply nodded, clumsily climbed down off the stag’s back and trotted off in the direction where the water was, Jergens lumbering after him at an easy pace. Truth be known, both of them were pretty worn out... a drink would be nice...

Overtime, the crimson stag no longer had to rely on his younger brother’s sense of direction, as the dull roar of gushing water seemed to amplify in sound as they drew nearer and nearer.

Crybaby grew increasingly uneasy, ears pressed to the back of his head in a sort of nervous fear. After all, he didn’t know that such large rivers would make such a noise, and as he slowed his own pace, Jergens only quickened his, practically galloping over to the river itself.

Now Jergens, being one who had lived around cities his entire human life, had never seen a river of as much magnitude as the one that was so conveniently placed in front of his hooves. However, he knew of their existence, and would have really only taken in the awesome sight with a small, indifferent flick of the ear…

Had there not been a long… straight line of trees on the other side…

”... Jergens?”, but Jergens didn’t answer to his little brother.
The red stag stared at the line, open-mouthed, squinting his remaining eye to be sure that it wasn’t some goldenrod-induced mirage… But it was still there… that long line of trees was definitely there, an exact duplicate of the endless forest’s barrier.

Then they had gone in circles? They couldn’t have… Both of the brothers had made sure that they had gone in a straight beeline to nowhere…

Disbelieving… The red stag slumped down onto muddy bank, dirtying the curly fur on his belly and neck, not even noticing how much his little brother was first gawking over the magnificent sight.
But… ”Is that... our forest?” the white buck tilted his head and gazed at the trees in astonishment. Had he been dreaming? Or was he still in a dream? Having imagined all those golden flowers, escaping out of the forest...

He frowned and took some steps forward, anxiously looking down at the water. He put one hoof into it, quickly feeling the strong current but that alone didn’t make him step out of it again. He wanted to reassure his big brother it wasn’t the same forest, to make sure they haven’t been walking around during days... for nothing.

Jergens quickly lifted his head in shock when he suddenly heard splashing noises. "Cry?!” he jerked up, shaken out of his trance.
There was no white figure above the surface for a moment, but seconds after Crybaby’s head appeared when the small buck took a quick, deep breath.

”Ugh…” i t was practically impossible for him to swim, why was this water so fast? But Crybaby didn’t want to give up now, for his brother’s sake... but he grew weak very fast. He hadn’t eaten properly since days and had left the forest being thinner than usual.
”Ah…” he squinted his eyes, it was hopeless.

Water clogged up his throat, made it hard to breathe…

”CRY!”

From a painfully long distance… Crybaby heard a loud crash of water… Jergens calling out for him…

What was worse was that Jergens fared about as well as his brother was in terms of physical power. He was drained too… and he had never been a good swimmer to begin with.
Sputtering, the red stag forced his hooves forward, letting the water’s current propel him towards Crybaby’s spent form.

”C-Cry…” he felt his legs give out from underneath him… unable to move even after he felt himself bump into his brother’s unconscious form. With a small grunt, he blindly reached his neck forward to grasp an antler in his mouth…

And the world went black.

…

….

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