AN: I'm going for a more darker tone with this story. I feel more emotionally connected when writing stories with this tone or a sort of young romance theme.

New Courage

The night sky covered the great forest in a never-ending haze of darkness. The white moon and the stars shone their brilliance over the woods. A few crickets chirped producing their distinctive call to others. Every animal lay asleep within the safety of the forest, all except for one little faun.

Faline lay with her mother in their home within the thicket. She couldn't get a wink of sleep because she was thinking too much of Bambi, the one she loved. It had been a day or two since their encounter with love in the beautiful blue meadow. She would never forget that time when they kissed beside the flowing pond surrounded by those blue meadow flowers. But something else nagged her mind.

Since their time in the blue meadow, she had begun to feel worried about Bambi. What if he was to get hurt? Bambi was a confident and brave faun who would never give up in protecting her. But someday, there would come a time where she would have to stick up for him and protect him with all her might. She would have to prove her unbreakable loyalty to him one day.

That said she didn't feel like she could stand up to Bambi's rival, the cocky and arrogant Ronno. She could almost stand his boastfulness and his smugness and some of his threats to the two failed to deliver his message, but when he got a little too pushy - things would become a little too difficult. She couldn't muster up the courage to step up and throw Ronno off his place. His over protectiveness and short temper would strike fear into her heart. But she couldn't let Bambi be tormented by Ronno all the time. She had to stand up for him and be brave like him.

But that would have to wait for time in the future. For now, she had to try and sleep to get a good start to the morning ahead. She closed her eyes and breathed deeply relieving herself of those thoughts.

Faline opened her eyes only to be greeted by the harshness of the sun's rays. She yawned deeply as she tried to rub the sleep from her eyes. However, she then saw she wasn't in the thicket – her home. She was in the middle of small grassy area surrounded by the trees. She picked herself up and looked around. "Why am I here?" She thought. Everything seemed and looked normal, until she heard a faint cry in the distance. "Bambi!"

She darted off through the woods in the direction of the cry. She felt terrified as she thought Bambi was in danger. She saw more light appearing in the distance; she was nearing the forest edge. She broke through the edge and gasped in shock.

There was Bambi, lying at the edge of a cliff looking terribly beaten up. But standing over him was the outline of an older faun. "Look at you" it spoke, "lying there, cowering from me". Faline then instantly knew who this faun was, Ronno. "You thought you could stand up to me" Ronno continued, "but now here you are, defeated by the one and only Ronno!" Faline froze in place. "But what use is there to you now that you have been defeated. So… goodbye" Ronno spoke plainly. He violently kicked Bambi in the stomach and the young prince was sent hurtling off the cliffside into who knew what.

"NO!" Faline shouted in pure terror as Ronno stood over the Cliffside, his task complete. But then, Faline's terror instantly turned into Anger. Ronno had just killed her love and he didn't feel any sort of remorse. "You heartless monster!" she shouted in rage as she charged towards the killer. However, Ronno turned quickly and faced the attacking Faline. She skidded to a halt and froze again in fear. Ronno stared right into her eyes breaking every bit of confidence within her. "Watcha' gonna do now, Faline now that I have you!" Ronno said coldly. Faline closed her eyes but still saw the horrific image of Ronno's stare. "No!" she shouted, "Please! Go away". She started to sob uncontrollably, "No! MAKE IT STOP!"

Faline screamed and jolted upright. She panted heavily as she looked around to find herself in the safety of the thicket. Her mother, Ena, cautiously looked at the worrying faun. "What's wrong, Faline?" she gently asked. Faline then suddenly took off from the thicket and into the dark woodland. "Faline!" her mother shouted scrambling out of their home. Ena immediately lost sight of her faun and stood in shock and confusion.

"Is Bambi safe?" the thought rattled through Faline's mind as she raced to Bambi's part of the thicket. She dodged every obstacle in her way to find the one she loved; Tears ran freely from her eyes. Hints of light from the sun rising in the east lit up part of the woodland. She had to know if Bambi was safe.

Meanwhile, Bambi shuffled about as he felt the warmth of the sun's rays start to make it to him. He opened his eyes slowly and groggily yawned. It hadn't been the best sleep of his life, but it was good enough. He looked outside to see the sun starting to rise. It was still dark outside but the light was enough for him to make out the woods. He looked back towards his father to see him sleeping peacefully; it wouldn't be for another hour before he woke up. Seeing as though he wasn't going to get back to sleep in a hurry, he quietly crept outside to avoid waking the Great Prince.

The ground felt soft and slightly damp as the morning dew had settled upon the foliage. He breathed in deeply and let the cool air fill his lungs. The sereneness of the world around him made him feel content. However, that calmness was about to come to an end.

The young prince could feel something from his hooves. It felt like a young faun galloping towards him alarmingly fast. Before he had time to react, he was tackled to the ground by the faun; the two rolled into an open part of the forest.

When they came to a halt, the faun was on top of Bambi. He was annoyed at the sudden intrusion in his calm state but he quickly realised that the faun was crying. But then he realised that this was no other faun. "Faline?" he tried to get up but the crying faun pinned him down, "Wha… what's the matter?" "I… I thought… you were dead" Faline whispered; she was starting to hiccup. Bambi comforted her as best as possible. "Shhhh" he gently stroked Faline's coat, "It was just a bad dream. I'm here". Bambi slowly rolled onto his side bringing Faline with him. She just cried into his chest, deeply relieved that he was alive - it just all seemed too real.

The Great Prince stirred from his sleep from the crash outside. Even he, the oldest deer in the forest who holds the largest reputation, wouldn't want to be woken up at such an hour. But he then noticed that Bambi wasn't beside him. He peered around the thicket entrance to see Bambi with Faline who appeared to be crying. He decided to leave the two alone seeing that Bambi had the situation under control. A few moments later, Ena came rushing towards the entrance. She was about to question the whereabouts of Faline when the Great Prince silenced her with a gentle shush. He indicated the two fauns' presence. "I think they will need some time alone" the Great Prince's deep voice resonated quietly. Ena nodded in response and sat down beside the Great Prince; she was relieved that Faline was safe and was in the capable hooves of Bambi. The two watched the pair of fauns silently. The sun had now fully risen and was eliminating the last shadows of darkness; the new day was now in full swing.