If you were not careful with where you were stepping, the leaves upon the uneven floor of the Deep Wood would have your feet slipping every which way they possibly could attempting to leave you behind. But Bucky observed that the tub tread through the sea of leaves as if he were a big boat, floating serenely down a lazy stream. Admittedly, much more careful than his clumsy feet carried him before. Alas, he could only wish to give wading through it a try; he knew one leg alone could not carry him quite far.
Clawfoot on the other hand was not thinking of much, other than that their stroll so far had been quiet. Much too quiet, he thought, that he was beginning to think the child had fallen out of the bathtub. Speaking up above the crunch of the twigs that broke below his brass arms, Clawfoot decided to check on the little thing.
‘Are you still there?’ he called back to the boy, ‘or are you often this terribly quiet?’
The fair child did not say a word to him. Sitting in the tub with a face full of sorrow, he rested an elbow on the brim and laid his head heavy upon his hand. He was much too lost in his worry for his dear friend Darcy, wherever he may be.
‘Do not tell me you have died.’
‘No, Clawfoot,’ Bucky grumbled back, ‘I have not died just yet.’
And then the whole company stopped; as Clawfoot paused in the middle of his path, he frowned- however the child could not see- and sat himself down upon the floor if only to better converse with the little boy on his back, sans the sounds of the surrounding wild.
‘You are not in the middle of dying I hope. I was looking forward to our travels together!’
‘My heart hurts as if I were,’ Bucky sighed, ‘I can only imagine; if I am stuck with a monster such as you, poor Darcy is possibly out there fairing worse than I am!’
‘‘Darcy’?’ the blackwell puzzled, ‘is that what the other little thing was called?’
‘Yes! You saw him that night, as he was with me!’ And Bucky shuffled up to the front of the tub, ‘Do you happen to recall where he had gone?’ he asked as his heart began beating a little bit faster in his chest.
‘Not at all!’ Clawfoot said simply, unaware of the boys’ disappointment, ‘I am only one blackwell; I cannot chase two things at once.’
Bucky deflated back into his spot, slumping over in his upset, ‘How lucky am I, that you chose me to take with you.’ the fair child announced sarcastically, but the blackwell only smiled his usual wicked smile, as he took the childs’ words to be genuine. Heaving himself up once again the tub treaded off down the path he had been traveling on before.
Darcy, poor Darcy! The older boy could not have gotten very far, Bucky thought to himself. If he had been the one to lead the monster in which they fled- who was currently looking up into the trees, mindlessly wandering- then his beloved friend must simply be lost without him. And yet the cry he had heard! The cry that just by remembering, shook his heart once more as if the thought of it pierced his chest with teeth. Bucky knew he would be better off dead to his Darcy if he did not try to look for him. Wringing his hands in a nervous sweat, he grabbed the blackwells’ attention.
‘Clawfoot? Oh, do you know where it is we are going?’
’Around.‘ was all he got in response.
There was a pause before the child spoke up once again, ‘You are not walking around in circles I hope.’
‘No, that would be silly.’
‘Then what are you doing out here? Surely you have a reason to be wandering through the woods by your lonesome.’
Clawfoot slowed the pace at which he was walking, his content smile straightened itself across his face as he squinted his cold, blue eyes at nothing in particular, ‘I do… But what does that have to do with you?’
‘Well, I am looking for my friend, Darcy. He is lost in these very woods and I need to find him!’
‘And?’
‘I cannot do it without your help,’ Bucky pleaded to the bathtub, looking over the front to better look at the face of the blackwell. When he saw those same eyes once again, however, he leaned back ever so slightly as to save himself the fright. The boy reached a hand over the ledge instead, ‘If you help me in finding my dear, lost friend, I may be able to help you with whatever it is that you are doing here.’
Clawfoot contemplated the boys’ offer, pausing his stroll once again to better think to himself. The sudden stop sent the fair child flying backwards into the tub, with the black muck cushioning his tumble, shining royal blue in the suns’ light and into his eyes. There was a faint ‘clink’ ‘clink’ as a brass claw tapped under the mouth of the tub in momentary thought. While Bucky was straightening himself back to where he had been sitting, Clawfoot sat on his hind legs- sending the boy back down once again.
‘I do not expect such a helpless thing as you to be able to assist me.’ the blackwell stated bluntly.
‘Then,’ Bucky brought himself back up again, this time making sure he was holding on tight to the sides of the tub, ‘you are free to leave me right here and go along your merry way, alone. In fact, I may as well hop out myself and save us both the trouble!’
‘Now, now, wait-’ Clawfoot blurted before the boy could even begin to attempt to leave the back of the bathtub- ‘I found you! You cannot just leave me!’
‘I can, and I will! If you will not help me, then I might as well crawl away so that someone else can find me instead!’
Flustered by Buckys’ declaration the front of the tub lowered in a bow, hands flat on the dirt floor of the densely shaded mountains that held the two in its belly. If he was not holding on as tightly as he was, poor Bucky would have been sent forwards- but this time he was prepared. Clawfoot was quite obviously discomposed, as he blabbered back to the boy, ‘I will help you, I will! As long as you do not crawl away, or leave me when I am not looking!’
‘Then it is a promise!’ Bucky exclaimed, as hope for his dear friend- and himself- returned to his heart. It beat much more lively than in his recent memory.