The beat of a heart.

The crackling of a dying flame.

The scattering sound of pads and claws scurrying away to their respective dens.

The bright glow of a new day chasing away the dark that guarded the night.

Warm colors dance across the sky as a small claw pokes the chest of his dear friend. Time to get up. He tried to tell him through gurgles and growls.

Guy glanced up at the sloth, sitting on his stomach watching him. Although the night was rather peaceful for once and actually got sleep, he still didn't want to get up. He lied his head back down and sighed. Another day of running.

Belt gurgled again and climbed off, heading towards the embers of what remained of their campfire. He shuffled past it to the pile of things to the side and rummaged threw it until he came across what he was looking for. He went back to Guy and placed the listening shell on his chest. The End was growing near. The mazes of the canyon had slowed them down, allowing it to catch up to them.

With a solemn look, Guy knew what Belt was trying to say. We're running out of time. "You're right. Lets find something to eat on our way, I'm starving." He said standing and picking the sloth up and putting him in his place around his waist.

Guy gathered the rest of his things, putting each into their own place. He examined the remains of his fire, seeing if any of it could be saved for later. With a sigh, he stood determining that none of it was worth keeping. He then turned to the warthog skull and skin. As he looked it over, he reveled in how well it had worked for the past few days. Well, all except the encounter with another boar who thought he was being challenged.

A shiver ran up Guy's spine as he remembered the terrifying experience. He shook his head of the thought and draped the skin over himself. Standing, he looked at his temporary camp once again until a gurgle at his waist reminded him that it was time to leave. He pulled the skull over his face and put the camp behind him, jumping the small rock wall that had been his shelter from the wind.

It was past midday when Guy finally managed to trap a small creature for lunch. He had started getting slightly discouraged by having moved all day with hardly anything in sight, not even an end to the canyons. When he had been on the over look, he didn't expect them to go this far and deep. Checking the suns position, he then turned his meal over the fire again. Almost ready, he thought to himself.

A crackling purr make him turn as Belt wandered back, his search being mostly successful. He placed the root he had found at Guy's feet. "Nice find buddy." He said as he looked them over. Thank you, Belt gurgled in response as he started to mash the roots up into a sort of paste. Once the meat was cooked, and Belt's paste done, the two settled down and ate.

With fully bellies, they lied together under the sun and dozed for bit. Or at least he thought it was a bit. When Guy opened his eyes again the sun was leaving and the dark of night started to claim the sky. Letting out a hiss of frustration, he jumped up and gathered everything again. He pulled some debris together and created himself a torch. As much as he hated it, they would have to move through the dark.

Guy lit his torch and then stomped out the remains of his ground fire before climbing up the rock face to try and see how much further it was until he got out of the canyons. When he reached the top the sun was starting to finally slip away. He watched it in awe, wishing it would stay. With a frown he took out one of his shells and looked it over. With eyes returning to the setting sun, he blew on his shell, causing the sound to ring out through the canyon walls as he wished the sun good night.

Finally putting the shell way, he pulled the warthog skull over his head and picked his way down the cliff. It was completely dark by the time Guy reached the bottom. Glancing left then right, he tried to think of which way would be the quickest. Deciding on right, he moved forward, one hurried but cautious step at a time. After a long way and most of the night, another split came and again he chose the right hoping it would bring him to the edge.

The night was alive with sounds as one animal cried to another in the dark, but they all seemed distant. Until the low growl of a bearowl made the hairs on the back of Guy's neck stand up. He kept moving forward, keeping to one wall until the beast came into sight. He could see the light of his fire's glow in the snarling creature's eyes. He waved his fire as he advanced, the bearowl moving around him, keeping it's distance. Until their places were reversed, the beast gave one last hiss then retreated back the way Guy had first come.

With one obstacle out of the way, he turned to find a huge wall. It was a dead end. Great. He thought to himself, no way he could climb that. He was about to turn and follow the bearowl back out when something caught his eye. Moving closer to get a better look, he examined the rock cluster jetting out slightly from the rest of the canyon wall. Along the rim were clay prints of hands stretching down the length of the rock. One circular bolder sat in the middle, lined with more clay and claw marks. Cavemen. He ran his hand over the boulder, looking at it closer. It seemed as if it had been wedged there. Could be their old cave. He pushed on it slightly to see if there was any way he could get it to move, hoping there would a cave and tunnel system behind it. After a moment though, he knew there was no way he could move that boulder, on his own at least. He glanced through the crack of the boulder once more and thought he saw something moving behind it. Or still is. Fear pulsed through him, if something, someone, really was in there he didn't want to find first hand.

Guy turned and ran back the way he had come. He didn't have the time to fight off any cavemen that decided to come out. He kept a steady pace until he thought he heard something from behind. Crap. He picked up his pace until he came to another dead end, although this was was less impossible than the last. He moved Belt to his shoulders and had him hold the torch has he quickly scaled the rock face. When he got to the top, he took the torch back and let Belt go back to his waist.

A snapping sound made him jerk around, looking back toward the cavern he had just come from. He jumped again as a rock hit his shadow on the way. Someone really was following him! Quickly he ran forward, jamming his torch in a crack of the rock face. They must be following my fire. He thought to himself as he retreated against the rocks and an old hollowed log then hid amongst them. He sat perfectly still and waited. Morning would be here soon, if he had to leave the fire behind then it wouldn't be too long in the dark. But before he could contemplate any more, the figure showed at the edge of his vision.

Careful of his breathing, Guy turned to get a better look. It was only a moment before he decided that this figure wasn't an animal, but a person. A girl to be exact. One thing he couldn't figure out was, why wasn't she afraid of the fair. Instead, it was almost like she was hypnotized by it as she slowly moved closer swaying as the fire swayed, like she was dancing with it.

Quietly and carefully, Guy stood and crawled toward this strange girl. As stealthily as he could, he got behind her but then had to jump back when she recoiled from the flame suddenly. He could feel his drummer starting to pound as he again tried to get closer as she moved to the flame once more. He mimicked her movements as he watched her, fascinated. She started to reach for it again but instead of grabbing the flame, she grabbed him and flung him to his back.

Beyond surprised, Guy tried to shuffle away but couldn't seem to get his footing. He tried to get back as she picked up a rock the size of her head and held it up above her. Too stunned to speak all he could think to do now was throw his hands in front of him. Please don't smash my head in! He silently pleaded. At the sight of his hands, the girl froze, clearly confused.

Not breathing a sigh of relief just yet, he reach for the tusks of the warthog skull, freezing slightly when she threatened the rock again. Guy slowly lifted the skull off until it hit the ground behind him. Tilting his head at her, he couldn't help but grin stupidly up at her still confused expression. What he didn't expect was for the boulder to land on his foot once she dropped it, yelping in pain as he tried to free his foot. Before he knew it her hands were over his mouth, a lot harsher and harder than he would expect from a girl.

"Shhh!" She hissed at him as she looked around.

Frantically, Guy reached around until he felt a stick and quickly grabbing it, he hit her in the head. She in turn let go yelling "Ow!"

Gasping for breath with a hand over his throat he only managed to say, "Air!" as he tried to catch his breath.

"You talk!" The girl exclaimed watching him carefully still.

"I'm a person, like you!" Guy said still catching his breath as she leaned over and lifted him off the ground. Astonished he added, "Sort of like you." He knew she looked strong but he didn't expect to just be lifted up like nothing. He watched her curiously until she started sniffing him. That was just a little too far. "Okay, Okay, Gah- Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey!" He said trying to get her to stop, "Could you- would you not...WHOA!" And suddenly he was upside down and being poked in the gut and sides. He could help but giggle. "That tickles! Hey, hey, hey!" He tried to gather her attention until he heard Belt purr awake.

The girl screamed and Guy found himself landing on his head. "Ow!" He yelled sitting up quickly to be shoved to the ground by the girl's foot covering his mouth.

"Quiet!" She hissed. "I'm not supposed to be out here." She tried saying but he wasn't listening, instead Guy bit her foot in an attempt to get her off. "Ow!" She yelped.

Too late that Guy realized that he should not have done that. He saw a ferociousness flicker in her eyes before she shoved him across the ground. Quickly it became a shoving match between the two with him at the losing end.

Guy leaned on all fours, recovering from their little match. "Wow, you're really strong." He muttered as he tried to compose himself. The low crackling of his torch made him look up to find that it was starting to go out. He quickly tried to get up and go to it but the amazingly strong tiger girl blocked his path, pushing him back. "Hey! No!" She claimed.

Guy tried to reason with her, "Please wait-"

"It's mine! No! No!" She said keeping him back.

He tried to move around her, "Hey, hey, no! Hey. It's dying!" He tried to tell her.

"I caught it! I caught it!" They argued while shoving, "I-I can fix it! Please!"

They broke apart and she stared him down as Guy tried to explain again. "Please. I-I hate the dark." He confessed. To his surprise, she gasped and then stepped aside. He eyed her a moment then went to his torch to breath life back into it. "Come on, come on, come on, come on." He quietly begged the flame to come back.

He sat back and smiled as the flame answered his wishes and came back.

"It does what you tell it?" The tiger girl gasped as she watched in awe.

Guy just looked at her, "Well yeah, well sort of." He answered.

"The sun?" She asked, eyes glued to the fire once more.

He shook his head. "No. No, no. Fire." He corrected her as she creep closer gasping in wonder.

"Hi fire." She said with a smile brighter than the flame, looking as if the fire would answer her.

Guy could help but to let out a laugh as he watched her. "It's not alive." He said, amused.

The tiger girl sat back, brows scrunched together as she looked to him, "But you said it was dying."

Guy's smile disappeared. "Sorry." Clearly he had upset her. He tried to think of something to say, "Uh..-" "It comes from, wh-where you come from?" She asked before he could say anything else.

"No. No, I make it." He said simply, getting up as she did. He waved his hands around slightly as he looked at them.

"Make some for me." She said as she grabbed the back of his neck. "Okay. It doesn't-" He tried to say before she shook him. "Make. Make!"

"It doesn't come out of me!" He said between shakes and her demanding that some be made for her. And then once again she had pickled him up until she was squeezing the life out of him. He felt his spine pop in weird places before she dropped him. He tried to get up but his legs fail him. "You do this a lot." He said falling to the ground again on his back.

The tiger girl look at him a moment before prodding him. "Are you dead?" She picked of his head by his pony tail, "Can I have your fire if you're dead?" She asked again before letting him go.

Belt let go of Guy's waist and grabbed a couple of cold stones, rubbing them together before placing them on Guy's chest. At the surge of cold on his skin, Guy shot up. "Hey! Those are cold!"

Belt rolled to the ground and twittered to Guy. Running out of time! "You think?" He said back, reaching for the shells in one of his pouches. "Listening shells activate!" He said as he handed one to Belt.

They each put their shells to the ground and listened. Belt murmured something as guy nodded. The End was catching up to them. "I concur." He said as he stood up, Belt in hand and faced the tiger girl. "Tiger girl, we need to leave immediately." He said as he grabbed her wrist and tried to pull her along.

She yanked her hand back with a grunt, with strength that he should of expected by now. "I don't even know you." She said starring at him.

"Mmm!" Duh! "I'm Guy." He said finally.

"Guy?" She said skeptically before he continued.

"And this is Belt; cook conversationalist, navigator. Also, keeps my pants up." He finished, Belt murmuring hello.

"What are 'pants up'?" Tiger girl said with a confused look on her face.

Guy ignored it and continued on. "Who are you?" He asked, ready to put a name other than tiger girl to that face.

"Oh, Eep." She said with a slight smile.

"Let me clarify Eep. The world is ending." Guy said talking with his hands as he usually does.

"What?"

"I'm calling it, 'The End'" He said raising his hands up as Belt chimed in his 'Da, da, daaa'.

"How do you know?" Eep asked, clearly confused.

"I've seen it!" He said as he jumped onto a rock. "It's coming this way. First! The ground is gonna shake. Then it breaks open. Everything falls in. Fire. Lava." He said excitedly as he waved his arms about. Eep was staring at him with wide eyes as he continued. "I don't mean to sound to dramatic but..." He then started jumping around screaming, thrashing his arms about. He quickly whirled around and faced Eep again, "Believe me, everything we're standing on, all this, right here, will be gone!"

He calmed slightly, jumping off the rock. "We gotta get to high ground. I know a mountain, that way." He said quickly as he motioned behind him. "It's our only chance." He paused again, then reach his hand out to Eep. "Come with me." Belt in turn chattered and held his claw out to Eep as well.

Eep looked at Guy's hand and slowly shook her head. "I...can't" She took a few steps back while guys sighed giving a slight shrug. "Okay. Okay." He said as he quickly put his warthog skin then took out one of his shells. "Here." He says before blowing into the shell to demonstrate the low and loud note it played. He then held it out to Eep. She quickly took it from and examined it with a smile.

"If you survive, uh- call me." He pulled the skull over his face, picked up his torch and scurried away, leaving Eep to do what she will. He smiled to himself as he heard her try the shell for herself and just barely her sweet giggle before he was out of earshot. He felt a twinge of guilt leaving her but there was now way he could force her to go, not with her strength anyway.

Guy kept telling himself that all he could do was to keep going. Once the sun was fully out, he put out his torch and put the husk in one of his pant loops. He kept a steady pace but couldn't seem to shake Eep off of his mind. Mid-thought he felt the ground shake and he whirled around to see some of the canyon he had just barely left crumble and crush itself. A ping of fear flew through him as he thought of one of the first mostly friendly face he had seen in a good while and how she could have very well just been killed. He tried to shake himself out of it but he was still saddened by it. He should of made her come.

Frowning at himself, he watched the canyon fall inward and down. Belt gurgled on his waist reminding him that they needed to move or else that would be them. He sighed and turned back around heading the the direction of his mountain.