A light at the end of the tunnel (rewritten and made better)

p.s. I do not own anything in this story besides violet and takehiko.

Chapter 1

I don't think we are in Iowa anymore.

The light summer breeze traveled through the large, open stable, blowing loose straw and hay about, churning the smell of a typical barn, the smell that Violet loved, The sweet smell of hay with the pungent freshly polished leather and the overpowering horse smell. She sat by herself on an up-turned bucket, polishing an English saddle, humming to herself and brushing her long black hair out of her face. Her icy blue eyes concentrating on the smooth curves of the leather while her mind wandered, if she was going to leave tonight, she was going to have to pack some clothes, her outfit she wore at the moment was nothing to wear for hours overnight, tight tan jodhpurs, fitted white blouse, and a navy blue riding jacket.

A phone ringing jerked her back into reality, slowly, violet looked up at the phone across the aisle, sighing loudly, she got up and made her way to the phone.

"Curtis Stables, Violet speaking."

"oh, Violet, good it's you. Listen, are you coming down for dinner tonight or are you going to stay up there in the apartment?" It was her mother, Lillian Curtis, Violet despised her mother.

"I'm going to stay up here, I already put my dinner in the oven mother."

"Fine, fine. Oh and by the way, the man that is buying Beauty will be here first thing in the morning. Good night."

"his name is Takehiko, mother…" She tried to reply but the line was dead. She then made her way back to her bucket but did not resume her polishing. "yep, we are out of here tonight boy, hear me?" she said out loud, a large black horse turned around in the stall behind her and stuck his head out, looking at her with large brown eyes, his long mane was braided along the curve of his thick muscled neck. He snorted. "Good." she replied.

Violet decided to put her saddle back and take Takehiko out of his stall. He was happy about that and nuzzled her shoulder, she loved him and he loved her, there was no way in hell that they were going to be separated, it was not going to happen and Violet was going to make sure of it. Takehiko stood quietly for her as she looked him over from nose to tail. The sound of a truck pulling up made them both look towards the entrance, the driver of the large pick up got out and waved at them. "Hey Violet!" he called, violet's face lit up "Mike!" she sprinted for him and he caught her in his muscled arms "Well, you happy to see me then, just came to do the usual." he said as violet buried her face in his white tank top. "I'm going to miss you mike." she replied, that caught him off guard, he looked down at her with his hazel eyes. "Wait, you are leaving tonight?" he asked somewhat taken aback. "I cant stay, that man is going to be here in the morning. I was just about to pack everything so then when they go to bed, I can make a quick escape…" she trailed off as she turned away from him and started back inside to where Takehiko waited patiently, mike followed quickly. "Well, I know you can not be persuaded, he is you life. So I will just say I'm going to miss you violet, a helluva lot…" Mike was the only reason violet was torn up about leaving, she was going to miss him.

Mike was just about the total opposite of violet, where she was pale, he was very tan, she was thin and short, he was muscled and tall, He had shaggy brown hair and his eyes always showed compassion and understanding, unlike violet's parents. (you will learn more about them in a later chapter)

Hours passed and violet was finally finished packing her essentials and had changed into a more comfortable outfit, a pink tank top and black sweatpants. Takehiko was back in his stall, legs wrapped and ready for a long ride, Mike had even helped violet clean up her small apartment that was attached to the barn, it was a cozy space, one bedroom, open living room/ kitchen area, a bathroom that connected with a laundry room that opened to the barn. The night went like clockwork, mike stayed for dinner which turned into a spill your guts and bawl your eyes out moment for violet, he was the only one that had ever understood her and made her feel like she belonged.

The night got later, violet walked with mike out to his truck, this was the last time they would see each other, He looked at her with his kind eyes. "I'm going to miss you violet, you too Takehiko!" he called out. "Be careful, merry meet and merry part and merry meet again." he stated, violet's eyes welled up, "merry part, Michael, blessed be my friend." he had remembered her parting words, it touched her, deep down. She hugged him tight. "I'm going to miss you too mike."

Takehiko's jerked his head up and looked towards the door to violet's apartment, she came out, a backpack and saddle bags in her hands, he whinnied to her excitedly. "Shh!" she warned, he jumped a bit as she dropped the bags next to the tack room door, she quickly went in and brought out her endurance tack, a western saddle and matching bridle. She moved to Takehiko stall and let him out, he pranced down the aisle back to where the tack was set, violet quickly saddled him up and put the saddle bags on, she pulled her jacket and backpack on and pulled herself up into the saddle, she took one look around at the other horses. "bye guys." she said loudly, they didn't pay attention to her. She nudged Takehiko on and out of the stable, backing him up and closing the door behind them. "Let's go boy. Ha!" she kicked his sides and he took off running, down the drive and onto the deserted street and into the woods.


"hey! I think they stopped here!" A voice shouted, Takehiko's lifted his head and snorted, he then trotted over to where violet slept, she had rolled off her bed roll in the middle of the night, he nudged her head with his nose and neighed. Violet groaned and swatted at him. "stop it boy…" she muttered, more shouting outside the small cave, she jumped up and over balanced, falling flat on her face. "Shit! Come on, lets go!" she grabbed her backpack and grabbed his reins, she started pulling him further into the cave "Come on, there has got to be a way out of here." she looked back to his saddle and her bed roll, she threw the bedroll and the saddle bags over his back, the saddle would slow them down with the time it took to strap it on.

As they got deeper into the cave, it got darker, soon they were wondering in the dark, violet was about to give up when she saw a small ring of light. "Hey, there is our exit boy!" she went up to the light and inspected it. There was a slab of rock blocking the way out. "Great, just great." she muttered to herself as she pushed her shoulder into it. It gave a little but it still wasn't good enough. She shoved harder and fell with the slab into the sunlight. Takehiko followed her out. She was standing on the edge of a mountain that looked down on a small village, it looked familiar somehow, like it came right out of a movie or a picture. "Wait, this looks just like a village in Avatar!" she exclaimed as she pulled herself up on Takehiko back, using her bed roll for a cushion. "Takehiko I don't think we are in Iowa anymore." and with that she nudged him down the steep path and towards the village.

(A/N: hope you like it, I haven't typed anything in a long time so it's a little rusty v.v don't hesitate to bitch, moan, groan, gripe, complain, etc.)