DISCLAIMER

For-the-freaking-last-freaking-time-I-don't-freaking-own-the-freaking-book-its-freaking-William-Golding's-freaking-invention. And I didn't win the-freaking literature award. Okay? ;)

A/N

I'm in a bad mood. Nuff said.

10

A friendly divorce.

As soon as I'd finished speaking Jack was leaping off Kuzco like a circus's horseman. I followed him as he sprinted towards the wreckage of the helicopter. Surely no-one could've survived that?

But no, Jack seemed to be dragging something dark and struggling from the crash zone. It screamed and flailed its arms like it'd die if it didn't

"My sister!" It screamed in a voice so high that only bats would be able to hear it soon

"The baby! The baby! Oh, please! Please save the baby! It shrieked, sounding like a badly scripted soap opera. She was attempting to break free of Jack's stranglehold, but to no avail

"You can't do anything!" He yelled over her screams "Its gonna blow up! We need to get as far away as possible!"

I looked at the screaming girl, (whose words were no longer intelligible) to the helicopter and back again.

I made my decision.

I bolted towards the wreckage and clambered inside. Bodies were strewn across the floor; a horrible wailing sound was coming from the back. I could hear Jack yelling at me but could no longer make out what he was saying. I passed two more smashed seats before I discovered a deformed bundle I took to be the baby. I picked it up and ran.

When I was halfway out of the smashed door the whole thing burst into flame. The roof collapsed. My leg got stuck inside.

The pain was colossal.

"Jack!" I screamed over the girl, the baby and the roaring of the fire. "Help! Jack I'm-". My voice cut off into a horrible gurgling sound I refused to believe came from my own throat.

The baby was being pulled, yanked out of my arms. Someone or something had taken it away.

"NO!" I roared, scrabbling around for the screaming bundle. "Wait! Help!"

They'd taken the baby. They'd left me, left me here to die.

"Jack" I whimpered as darkness closed in "Jack, please"

Red blotches had clouded my vision, but in last second of consciousness I could swear I heard his voice

"Jidda"

And I fainted.

Out of the dark the little boy came, hopeful and frightened, whispering over and over:

"Jidda-Jidda-Jidda…"

Behind him there were other figures, even more shadowy than he was, even more silent. They seemed to be of the same company and of the same kind, but they had no faces that were visible and no voices that spoke; and his voice never rose above a whisper, and his voice was shadowed and blurred like something half-forgotten.

"Jidda…Jidda…"

Where were they?

On a great plain where no light shone from the iron-dark sky, and where a mist obscured the horizon on every side. The ground was bare earth, beaten flat by the pressure of millions of feet, even though those feet had less weight that feathers; so it must have been time that pressed it flat, even though time had been stilled in this place; so it must have been the way things were.

This was the end of all places and the last of all worlds.

"Jidda…"

I awoke with a start. In a hut that most defiantly wasn't mine.

I sat up, rubbing my eyes, and felt a searing pain in my legs.

"Oh no you don't" said Ralph, pushing me back down on the mat of vines. "You lost a hell of a lot of blood."

I shook my head, not in defiance but to clear my thoughts of the dream I'd had of my brother.

"What…What happened?" I asked groggily swivelling my head to discern which hut I'd been taken into.

"You chucked a coconut at Lucy and Bendigo's helicopter."

"Who?"

"Lucy's about our age, Bendigo's the baby"

"But" I said, confused "Someone took the baby, they saved it. They left me…" I trailed off. Ralph was wincing "That was Lucy. Jack's bin shouting at her non-stop for 3 days"

"I was out for 3 days?" I asked, my voice rising. He chuckled

"Like I said; you lost a lot of blood." I took a while to digest that; he was still looking at me expectantly,

"But………why?"

"Why did Lucy leave you?"

"Yeah"

"She held a grudge because you shot down the copter"

"What! But, we thought it was-"

"-The beastie, yeah. We've been trying to explain, but she won't listen"

"Oh" I said lamely twiddling my thumbs and looking at the ceiling,

"Well who saved me then?"

Ralph looked down at me, as though trying to word an answer, finally he said,

"Kuzco"

"Bullshit"

"No, no it's true!" he said, pausing

"Kuzco" I repeated under my breath "Well it was a good day when I ran into him then, eh?"

He laughed for a while, then stoped and looked meaningfully into my eyes.

"Tensions are running a bit high at the moment." He said, then seemed to see my incomprehension and added, "People are fighting"

"Oh" I said "Well-"

But I didn't get to finish my sentence, for at that moment there came a great yell from outside, along with a crash and a few choice swearwords.

Ralph frowned, and without looking at me muttered "I better sort this out" and left.

I strained my ears to hear the commotion outside, but all I could discern was "Yes, well it's all about you isn't it?" which was obviously spoken by Lucy, followed by more scuffling and more curses

"FINE" Yelled Ralph eventually, "We will leave!" this was met with several cheers and a 'hear, hear' before people began moving about angrily again, Ralph came back

And leant against the door frame, obviously under a lot of stress.

"Ralph?" I asked him, the concern showing in my voice, "Are you okay?"

He only just seemed to realise I was there, and nodded mutely.

"What happened?" I asked tentatively, feeling as though he was going to announce someone's funeral

He sighed, his tired eyes studied me for a moment, and then he answered, frowning,

"The tribe just split"