Hello again; I'll cut quick to the chase!

Simply put, you could say that this is a canon fic that has happened during the intervals of Chapters 16 and 17 in The Darkness Comes. I'm not going to reveal much, because I came up with this on the spot. But I hope you'll enjoy it all the same!

Chapter 1

The afternoon was warm and unusually quiet as Phelan made his way into the kitchen. Through his extra-keen senses, he could tell that nobody else was in his presence, making him the only chipmunk available in the Seville household.

It was strange, because usually at this time of day, Phelan would often hear Alvin and Simon arguing about something, and then Dave or Theodore would have to be the peacemaker and put a stop to the din of noises. Nevertheless, his wolf-like instincts assured him that there were no immediate signs of danger or anything that was prone to harm him in his solitude.

After all, it had been almost a week since he heard the voice of his other half taunting him in the shadows,

There was a note attached to the fridge door written in Dave's hurried scrawls. Phelan took it down and read it.

Phelan,

Simon and I are going to the recording studio to make plans for the Halloween party's song list. Alvin and Theodore are over at the Chipettes. Please watch the house while we're gone.

Theo has left out some freshly-baked muffins, but he said that you may decorate them when they've cooled down.

Dave.

Phelan breathed in deeply and let his nose direct him over to the sink. As expected, there was a tray of six golden-brown muffins sitting next to an open window. And some tubes of icing and whipped cream rested beside the tray, looking all the more tempting with its bright, candy-like colours.

"Oh Theo," he chuckled to himself, "you've outdone yourself again. Good for you."

He took the bag of icing, but instead of using it on one of the muffins, he held out a finger and squirted a reasonable amount of icing onto it. Phelan dipped his creamy finger into his mouth and sucked on it, tasting the guilty pleasure of sweetness with every lick.

Guilty. Why was that word suddenly feeling like a thorn caught in the side of his belly?

And then he looked out of the window and saw the Chipettes' house about a few blocks away from where he stood. It looked empty on the outside, but Phelan had a hunch that whatever was going on inside there, it sure beat having to be left alone with nothing but a tray of muffins.

Phelan dressed another finger with more icing and sucked on it thoughtfully. Was the true reason why he'd been deserted was because they hadn't learn to put their faith and trust in him again? After all, he'd been the reason why Alvin had almost broken up with Brittany, the true love of his life, and after nobody would listen to him, he ran away in shame.

But Simon and Theo never turned away from Phelan, and after they'd risked their lives to get their brother back, all enmity was forgotten and bygones were bygones. Even Soron, whose grudge against Phelan was as obvious as the light he wielded into battle, had decided to bury the hatchet and think of Phelan as a brother once more.

Yes, thought Phelan, through a smile that raised his spirits a little, they're not really abandoning me, and they'll come back, because I've given my word to Dave that I'll protect them.

His thoughts were interrupted by a sudden glare of light that shone through the open window and onto the kitchen floor. At first, Phelan assumed that it could have been a wild sunbeam that just appeared out of nowhere and danced along in the sky for fun. He could feel the gentle light warm against his chest, like the hearty glow of a fire.

Then a knock came from the back door, and before Phelan could call out a greeting, the latch turned and the door opened.

"Soron? What are you doing here?" asked Phelan as he watched the silver-hooded chipmunk walk in without waiting for an invitation.

"None of your beeswax," said Soron, though he showed no sign of hostility in his voice. But there was something that was clearly bothering him, and Phelan was determined to find out what.

"You know, it's very rude to barge into people's houses without being invited in first," Phelan pointed out. "They might even think that you're breaking in."

"Let them think what they want to think," said Soron, who was now getting curious over the enriching aroma that wafted over the kitchen air. "I never really did understand human behaviours, anyway." He looked over at the tray of Theodore's muffins, but they didn't seem anything like the forbidden fruit he would be willing to eat.

"Don't you think a simple 'Can I come in' would apply to us forest creatures, too?"

Soron ignored Phelan's chides as he picked up one of the muffins. "Human food? Boy, Phelan, aren't they making you get all soft and mushy on the inside?"

"It's Theo's muffin, and I think you should put it down right now."

Phelan folded his arms, not taking his eyes off Soron, until the silver-clad chipmunk placed it back on the tray. "So, you haven't answered my question yet? What brings you here?"

"Are your brothers and girlfriends in here right now?"

"First off, the Chipettes aren't my girlfriends, they're my brothers' girlfriends. And no, they're not in at the moment. Why?"

Soron rolled his eyes. "Because I need to talk to you in private. Isn't it obvious?"

He didn't wait for Phelan to give him an answer as he continued. "I think you should have just kept your big mouth shut."

"Excuse me?" asked Phelan, all his good feelings starting to vanish along with his temper.

"You told Theodore about our secret, and now you think that just because he's all goody-good and innocent, he won't spill a thing of this out in the open? Have you ever stopped to think what would happen if another one of them found out?"

"Soron, I thought we'd gone through this before," said Phelan. "Nothing bad is going to happen, and besides, I know what I'm doing when the time comes."

"Are you saying that just to ease yourself over the guilt of telling a secret?"

"No, I just know how to take care of myself."

"You idiot, this isn't about yourself anymore!" Soron raised his voice, waving a paw at Phelan. "This greatly concerns all of us – it concerns the fate of our world! If our game plan falls apart because you told somebody and the word spreads out, everything is going to be your responsibility when we lose the battle!"

"You've only met the Darkness a couple of times!" Phelan bared his wolf-like fangs. "Me? I've had to deal with his presence every single moment of my life, and I've hated it! What makes you think that I can't beat him, when you're only bringing everybody's confidence down?"

"Because you're so obsessed with playing family – you're willing to put them before your main priority!" yelled Soron.

"My family is my priority!" Phelan shouted back.

"Well, sorry for not understanding, because I don't have a family! Oh, wait a minute, that's right – you killed them!"

Phelan clenched his paws into a tight fist, but he kept himself restrained as he pointed towards the back door. "It's obvious that you're in a bad mood, Soron. I don't want to talk about this until you've calmed down. Now get the hell out!"

"Or what? You're going to make me?" mocked Soron, but he was already cracking his knuckles and balling his fists.

It seemed like all hell was about to break loose between the wolf-like chipmunk and the warrior of light.

Then the atmosphere was deeply interrupted as the front door creaked open. Theodore came into the kitchen, and there he saw Phelan and Soron staring tensely at each other.

"Oh, there you are, Phelan! Hi, Soron! What's going on?" asked the green-clad chipmunk.

"Nothing," said Phelan earnestly, but Soron wasn't buying any of that as he walked over to Theodore and prodded his belly with a jabbing finger.

"What exactly did Phelan tell you?" demanded Soron. "Did you know that it was meant to be kept just between me and your brother? Answer me!"

"I d-d-don't know what you're talking about," stammered Theodore, taken surprise by Soron's sudden interrogation. "P-p-please, I never told anyone." His eyes were as wide as a rabbit's burrow, and he could have easily jumped into one to hide his shaking fear.

"Hey, leave Theodore alone!" Phelan pushed Soron out of the way and stood in front of his little brother. "You have no right to question him like that! And what goes on between me and him is absolutely none of your business!"

"It is my business now, because you had to be the blabbermouth that spoiled everything!" Soron yelled.

As he put his enthusiasm in his words, the silver-clad chipmunk gestured with his hands in a show of fury. He raised a paw, and it knocked against the surface of the tray, causing it to fly up with the muffins suspending in mid-air.

Then gravity conquered all, and the tray hit the floor with a deafening clang while the muffins rolled onto the floor like ripened apples.

For a few seconds, nobody said a word as the three chipmunks stood there gaping at the mess on the floor, as though time had frozen that very moment.

"My muffins..." Theodore whimpered. A quiver was already forming on his lip, and his eyes were filling fast with tears.

Then the little chipmunk buried his face in his hands and started crying.

Soron glanced about nervously, first looking at Phelan, who had turned to face Theodore, and then he saw how devastated the chubby chipmunk was right now. Nothing could repair the damage that had been done.

"I'm sorry," murmured Soron, barely loud enough to hear over Theodore's sobbing, and he walked out the back door.

The unexpected shock in Phelan's guts at what Soron had done was slowly, but surely consumed by a rage of justice that fully consumed him.

He wanted to go out there and grab that idiot of a chipmunk by the neck, and then maybe knock some sense into him until he was out cold.

But first, there were more important matters to attend to right now.

Phelan knelt down and put an arm around Theodore, whose cries were now reduced into hiccupping sobs as he stared miserably at his ruined masterpieces.

"Come on, Theo, cheer up. It's no use crying over spilt muffins," said Phelan as he patted Theodore's back.

At the mere mention of the word 'muffins', Theodore burst into tears again.

"But... but... I worked so hard to bake these for you!" he bawled. "I wanted to give them to you as a thank you present!"

"You made these muffins for me?" asked Phelan, and Theodore gave a sad little nod in reply.

"Aw, that's very sweet of you, Theo. You don't have to worry about baking muffins for me. Look, I'll show you."

Phelan picked up a nearby muffin and was about to eat it when Theodore held his paw. "You probably don't want to eat that, Phelan, it's dirty."

To his surprise, the wolf-like chipmunk chuckled lightly.

"That's no big deal. Back in the forest where I came from, we used to pick stuff off the ground, whether it was nuts or berries or whatever we could find that would last us for the winter. And we forest creatures never really care about what's dirty – as long as it's food, it's all that matters."

Before Theodore could say anything else, Phelan had already popped the muffin into his mouth. He swallowed a huge gulp, and a thumbs-up brought a smile back on the little chipmunk's face.

"Here, why don't you have one? After all, you baked them yourself," said Phelan, offering Theodore another muffin.

Theodore paused, hesitantly as he stared at the muffin like it was going to explode. "You think I really should?"

"Trust me, you won't regret it," smiled Phelan, and he dropped the muffin into Theodore's paws.

Theodore sniffed cautiously at his muffin, before eating it and swallowing it whole.

"Well?"

A smile that lit up Theodore's face once more brought back relief to Phelan. Now there was the joyful and happy-go-lucky chipmunk that he had come to know.

"Feeling better?" asked Phelan. He smiled when Theodore gave him a brotherly hug.

"Thanks for cheering me up, Phelan," said Theodore, and Phelan kissed him on the forehead.

"See, that wasn't so bad now, huh? I know, why don't you make yourself a new batch and then Dave and the others can enjoy your deserts!" It sounded like a great idea.

Obviously, it was working on Theodore as the little chipmunk got back into top chef mode again.

"Where are you going?" he asked as Phelan headed out the back door.

"Just to get some fresh air. You need me to stay and watch you, Theo?"

"No thanks. I'll be fine."

"Okay, because I guess I'll be taking quite a while," said Phelan, and he was replied with a happy wave from Theo.

I sure am going to take a long while, the wolf-like chipmunk thought to himself as he headed outside.

Nobody messed around with his brothers, and now that somebody was going to pay...

To Be Continued...

Yes, it's not over yet. In fact, I'm planning on making it short, maybe about 2-3 chapters long. What's really been bothering Soron? And how will Phelan discover what's hidden behind the shell of his friend-turned-brother?

Find out in the next installment of this mini-story!

P.S: Regardless of what Phelan says, I'm not encouraging you to eat off the floor. Unless of course, you trust the floor and it trusts back in you. ;)

Oh yeah, in case you were wondering what was the secret that Soron was upset about, please refer to the end of Chapter 17 of Darkness.

Anyway, please review!

~ Wind