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Silver left in the late afternoon, unable to wait any longer - by the time he had once again gotten to the small hill where everything began, it was dark out, and both the stars and moon where shining brightly in the black sky. There was not a cloud in sight. This was soothing and calming, after the stress that going through the Whi Forest almost always created in him. He'd never been caught by anyone or anything yet, but he'd heard stories...

He stopped for a moment to rest his legs - building a campfire in the exact same spot he had that fateful night where he had found the bottle, which was now sitting beside him, released from the bag as he had decided to rest for a moment. In despite the warm fire in front of it, his eyes where fixed on it. And his cat. Jiro was curled up around the bottle in a way only a cat could, looking almost like a little gray cushion for the rainbow glass object. It made him laugh, really, a welcome relief from all the questions. The feline could be so silly sometimes.

However, it would not take long for the white-haired man to notice exactly why his cat was asking like this. One hand reached to touch the bottle, and it was no longer cold.

In fact, is was warm. Not warm enough to hurt or burn - else how would Jiro coil around it ? - but warm enough for the both of them to notice. Oh dear... Silver mentally checked the distance in between the bottle and the fire, but they where definitively too far from each other to have an effect.

Curiouser and curiouser. Silver couldn't help but sigh - another question he didn't have the answer of. This whole bottle business was was going to drive him nuts by the time it was over. At least that was how it felt.

It was probably just a prank, he couldn't help but think, and someone he knew was seriously amused by all this, but yet something in his heart and soul believed. And so he did. At least, if it was only a prank, it had made his life a little more interesting for a little while.

Wait... was the bottle glowing brighter ?

...No, of course not. Great, was he seeing things now ? Lovely. Maybe he needed some more sleep.

But that wasn't what he came here to do. He paused and stared up at the stars for a moment. He would need to go back to the outskirts of the forest soon, and see if there would be anything to find there.

Honestly, the mere thought scared him... More so than usual. Dead branches where one thing, but what if the bottle had belonged to someone, and that someone was waiting for him ?

This was insanity, and Silver was well aware of it. And he was very scared of it indeed. He took a few steps, stopped at the edge of the trees... then forced himself to go on.

Pure insanity. But the need to know overrid any logical thoughts that he should NOT be here. Still, he moved as silently as he could, even if it was faintly useless since he had a glowing beacon that made him easy to locate - the bottle, still attached to his belt and still warm. He thought about putting it back in the bag, but... the glow helped him see, and there was the faint chance that the bottle would react to something.

So Silver took that risk. He could only hope he would not get caught by anything. And that he will figure out something that would make all of this worth it.

He was pretty glad that the bottle could glow right now - else he probably would have been unable to see anything under the thick branches, and the added darkness. At the very least he didn't trip on random tree roots as he strayed away from the known paths.

The cat had definitively been the smarter of the two, as Jiro had leaped off when Silver entered the forest, and probably waited somewhere outside. Whoever said cats where not smart needed to take a clue from that one feline.

There was nothing but roots and leaves and earth as far as he could see, but he couldn't give up, not yet. The night was still young, and he was willing to go as far as his nerves and adrenaline would hold.

He would get to the bottom of this.

God damnit, he had so not just gone and done the one thing he shouldn't have done. Fear and worry took over his mind and overrid any kind of stealth instinct that was left after his little meeting with the forest floor.

He had to find that bottle.

And he had to find it NOW.

Hopefully it was still in one piece - for the first time in his life, he found himself praying the glass bottle was still whole. In the future, he might look back on this, and find it oddly ironic.

He all but leaped down the small hill, frantic when the bottle was nowhere to be seen at the base. Damnit, DAMNIT !

But then he stopped, took a few deep breaths, and forced himself to calm down. This would get him nowhere.

It was only then that he saw a faint glow in the distance, and all but ran toward it. It was the bottle... thank god, it was the bottle. Whole, without even the hint of a crack. A bit dirty, but... He picked it up and wiped away at the dirt when he finally took the time to notice where he was.

It was a clearing, inside the forest. It seemed oddly unnatural, because of the way the tree branches suddenly stopped. As if something had burnt them away... This offered a clear view of the sky above, of the moon and the stars. How curious...

Then, suddenly, something below him gave off a shine - the bottle ?! He almost dropped it in surprise, but caught himself in mid-air with his other hand.

That was one more close-call than he was willing to take. It was time to go back to the small hill he had established camp at now, before something bad happened...

Next to the stress of the possibility of having lost or broken the bottle, the way back out seemed like a walk in the park.