Just a little oneshot, maybe twoshot I came up with when I was bored. Don't own UC. That all belongs to Suzanne Collins. Ripred's POV.

I was the happiest gnawer alive when Swiftstep said yes to me. It was highly unexpected. Out of all she could have mated with, all that she rejected, she said yes to me. I was startled. I could swear she was too. I was everybody's envy. Not that I cared. It didn't seem that she only liked me because of my fighting abilities. It seemed like that at first, but I'm sure later it turned into true frisson.

I was happier when our litter came. Whitewhisker, Fleetfire, Silversnout, and Tigereye. Though I loved all of my pups, there was one that was my favorite. Silksharp. The smartest as well as youngest of them all, she was often excluded when her siblings were roughhousing. It was because of this reason Swiftstep and I would teach her what she needed to know. She was a good hunter. While the others' fur was always unkempt, hers was always glossy. All of this was because she was focusing less on finding a mate and being a normal rat and hating everyone and everything that wasn't a human, she focused on how to get peace with the humans, like I did.

All was peaceful and quiet for a few months, but then again, all good things must eventually come to an end.

We were playing in the garden the day they died. Hide-and-go-seek, I think the humans call it. Then we heard a flutter of wings. Hamnet. I waved, but his expression was set as stone. He didn't wave back. Suddenly (being the smart rat that I am), I realized what was happening. So did many other parents. They all gathered their children and put them in a nearby cave. I did the same with my pups, but for some reason I felt something pulling at my brain saying not to do that. I should have listened.

I do have to admit, we did fight very well. I wish we didn't have to, though. We could have just shared the garden.

Ok, before you go on, know this. It wasn't Hamnet that burst the dike. It was me. Sort of. That's the only reason I forgave him for killing my family. I was fighting Hamnet, and he had taken a blow to my head, but I had ducked. Unfortunately, I was standing in front of the dike, so the sword had pierced the old mixture of stone and sand that had held the who-knows-how-many gallons of water. So this was why I didn't feel good about placing the pups in the caves! They would drown! I tried to swim to the caves. I could hear Swiftstep's shriek as the water engulfed her:

"Ripred!"

Everybody was tossed around. Bat, rat, human, once they found air, the waves allowed them almost no breath at all before another six foot tall wave of water washed over them again. Then almost as quickly as it had come, it ended. And among the rats, I was the only survivor. I was paralyzed there for days, trying to cope with the fact that my family was gone, gone forever. Then I decided sitting there wouldn't bring them back. It never would. After these events, I still wanted peace. More than ever in fact. Nobody deserved this. Nobody deserved to watch the flood waters steal the breath from their family's bodies. I crawled along, weak and vulnerable, alone in the Dead Land for days, mourning the deaths of my loved ones. That's when I realized it had to change.

I mastered my fighting abilities, then changed my attitude so that I was no longer the soft, lovable Ripred that everybody once used to know. I was the deadly rager. The shady character that many would reject. If nobody liked me, I could avoid the cruel heartache of death. Making my way to Regalia, I soon adjusted to my new lifestyle.

"Ripred," Vikus nodded once I made my way to the palace. His eyes were full of sadness at the quantity of lost life that had just occurred but a few days ago. It almost made me curl into a ball and die (1).

"Where's Hamnet?" I said gruffly. Vikus probably had expected my change. Tears were streaming down his cheeks.

"He is in the dungeon. Ripred, know you it was Solovet that told Hamnet to break the dike if the rats proved to strong. Now what happened?" he asked kindly.

I broke down and told Vikus everything. I even cried a bit. Vikus listened intently, and when I finished, he hung his head in understanding.

"I am sorry. Swiftstep must have been a wonderful mate if she got you to cry." He said teasingly. I cracked a smile. Vikus knew how to do that. I immediately resumed my manner, though.

"Take me to Solovet." I said.

Solovet smirked when she saw me.

"I won. I got the garden back." she said mockingly.

"The garden is underwater, you self righteous twit! My mate and pups are DEAD!" I roared. I got ready to attack her when she pulled out her jewel studded dagger and gave me a cut across the eye.

Since then, I have been holding a bit of a grudge of Solovet.

About 10 Years Later At The Arena

Solovet studied the warrior, then gave him her dagger. I gasped. The warrior didn't notice. He fingered the jeweled hilt, then said,

"I can't take this. It's yours."

Solovet insisted. Was she doing what I thought she was doing? It was almost as though she didn't even care that she wounded me with that dagger! She just gave it to the warrior almost without a thought. It was as though she wanted to get rid of it because she cut me with it. The warrior was too busy clanging the blade of the dagger along his sword's blade to see that Solovet mouthed the very word's she had said ten years ago.

"I won."

Isn't it awesome?

Yeah... I didn't think so either. Just randomly doing whatever came to my mind.

Isn't it sad? Ripred does have a heart!

Might add another chappie later if I feel like it.

(1)=Reference to Gregor's words in Gregor and the Prophecy of Bane.