The vision of Siv faded into darkness. Kit, the real Kit, reappeared in front of the camp fire. She gasped and was breathing heavily, her heart was thumping rapidly. Kit turned to see Merlin, Puss, Donkey, and Artie staring back at her confused. They obviously didn't see any of Kit's vision.

Kit had no idea how long she had been staring at the fire, she did know however,

She began to search her mind. "I see... uh, a... a tree!" she said quickly. It was the only thing she could think of and they were surrounded by them.

"Excellent work!" said Merlin. Then he turned to Artie, "Now the boy!"

"This is lame."

Merlin whacked Artie on the back of the head.

"Ow!"

"You're lame! Just go for it!" said Merlin, tossing more powder into the flames, causing more blue smoke appear.

Artie rolled his eyes, but then leaned forward to study it. "Okay... There's a baby bird, and a... father bird sitting in a nest."

Merlin started beating a handmade tribal drum. "Yes! Yes! Stay with it! Stay with it!"

Artie's expression began to change as he stayed more focused. "Wait, the dad just flew away. Why did he leave the little bird all alone?"

Kit couldn't see anything in the smoke. She started to take this in as she watched Artie, who was get more and more worked up.

"It-It's trying to fly, but it doesn't know how to. ...It... it's gonna fall!"

Suddenly, Artie realized what he'd just said. As the smoke drifted away, he turned to see everyone else staring back at him, stunned.

"Whew, proper head case you are, aren't you? Really messed up. Whoa." said Merlin, retreating back into his hut.

After they heard the door of the hut close, Kit, Puss, and Donkey all stared at Artie.

He turned away from them. "Yeah, yeah, okay. I get it. The bird's me. My dad left. So what?"

Donkey tapped Kit's knee with his hoof to silently tell her to go over and talk to Artie.

Kit, hesitating, inched her way across the log she was sitting on to sit closer to Artie. When she was right beside him, she quietly cleared her throat.

"Look Artie... um-"

Just as she was about to start, 'That's What Friends Are For' started playing loudly from Merlin's candle box lantern, drowning out any chance of a conversation. They all turned to the hut. Merlin was peeking out of the door.

He began yelling over the loud music. "Just thought I might help set the mood! Y'know, for your big heart-to-heart chat!"

Everyone stared back at him.

Sheepishly, he turned off the device and closed the door. Everything was quiet again. Artie started poking the fire with a stick.

Kit began again. "I know what it's like to not... feel ready for something."

Artie, who was staring at the fire, turned look at her.

"Everyone gets scared...you know, once in a while."

"I know you want me to be king... but I can't. I'm not cut out for it and I never will be, alright?"

Kit listened as Artie continued.

"Even my own dad knew I wasn't worth the trouble. He dumped me at that school the first chance he got, and... I never heard from him again."

Kit sighed. "At least you know what your dad looks like... I've never even seen my father."

"Yeah, well, I doubt he was worse than mine."

"Oh yeah? My father abandoned me when I just a baby. Then I lived with my mother and sister. But then there was a fire in the house that we lived in. My sister and I survived but our mother..." Kit looked down at the fire, a sad expression reflected in her eyes despite the warm glow of the fire.

Artie look at Kit with sympathy.

"Okay... I guess that's... pretty bad." he said softly, turning to continue poking at the fire.

Kit began speaking again. "You know, it may be hard to believe, what with my obvious charm and good looks, but people used to think that I was a villain. And for a long time... I believed them."

Artie looked up at Kit, interested in what she was going to say next. Her eyes illuminated both innocence and wisdom.

"But after awhile, you learn to ignore the names that people call you and... you just trust who you are."

Artie gently pokes at the embers with a stick for a moment, taking in what Kit said.

"Do you know what you should do?" asked Kit.

"No... But you're going to tell me."

"True. You want to turn yourself 180 degrees, so that instead of always looking back at your yesterdays, you are looking forward into all your tomorrows."

"You make it sound so simple..."

"I'm a simple person." replied Kit.

"No you're not." said Artie, smiling softly. He stared at the fire for a moment, deep in thought.

"Thanks Kit." he finally said as he tossed the stick into the fire.

The group settled down to sleep as the fire continued to burn.

A twig snapped. Kit looked out towards the edge of the woods where the sound seemed to have come from. Then she turned back to look at Artie. He was already asleep.

"Kit." said a voice.

"Siv." replied Kit.

"Come over here, I want to talk to you." said Siv, making a beckoning motion with her finger.

Kit, as quietly as she could, got up and silently walked up to Siv. "Alright... What do you want?"

"I want to know what you're still doing here?"

"You gave Artie an extension. You said that he could live for another three days."

"I didn't say that you could stay with him for another three days. Just come back on the last day and kill him."

"But I've got to stay with him!"

"Why?" asked Siv.

"He's really coming to life!"

"That's a silly choice of words for an assassin."

"But he is! Only a few minutes ago we had a nice heart-to-heart moment, and he's warming up to the idea of being King."

"I'm not interested. I've got work for you elsewhere."

"What sort of work?" asked Kit.

"Obituary columns don't write themselves, you know."

*A/N: An "obituary column" in the Middle Ages was a written account of someone who had just died.

"Oh...? What if I said 'No'?"

"What?"

"Say I said that I won't leave Artie. Say I said... 'It's a battle between my will against yours'?" she said, grinning an evil grin that would've made Lancelot run in fear.

Siv suddenly lunged at Kit, swiping her hands at Kit as if they were claws.

Kit braced herself as the two of them landed on the ground on top of each other. Siv was on top of Kit, their heads facing inches away from each other as Siv was pinning Kit to the ground by her shoulders. Kit (noticing that her legs where still free) kicked Siv in the stomach with such force that she was thrown into the air and landed with the air knocked out of her.

Then Siv (still on the ground) whipped her leg under Kit's feet, causing her to trip over. Siv took this chance to pin Kit to the ground. Siv, triumphant, leaned down to whisper in Kit's ear.

"You go... where I put you."

Kit tried to wriggle free, but it was no use. "Alright sis, you've proved your point, haven't you? But I can't just leave him, can I?"

Siv let go of Kit, letting her stand up again. "Puss and the moron Donkey can stay, but you're leaving!"

"Oh please." begged Kit.

"Noon tomorrow, you're out of that camp, on a boat back to Far Far Away."

"So the only time I see him again... is at the end?"

"You've got it."

Kit looked down sadly.

"Don't worry, you'll be back." smiled Siv.

"I hate your sense of humor!"

"But why not come with me now?"

"Because I want to spend my maximum time with Artie, that's why. And besides, how could I explain why I left them so suddenly? I couldn't tell Artie the truth!"

Siv stepped closer to Kit, giving her an eerie stare. "No, you wouldn't, would you?" said Siv, turning away.

Kit knew what that meant. Siv was threatening her to never reveal their secrets to Artie.

If they didget to Far Far Away, how would Kit be able to stop Siv from reaching Artie? Kit asked herself as she fell asleep.

A/N: Read & review please! :)