A/N: Hey guys, I'm back, finally! Whew! Life's been a little unkind in offering spare time, so I'm sorry that these chapters are not getting out as fast as I would like. Thanks for the e-mails and encouragement, they've kept me writing! Here's Chapter 8! Enjoy!

Chapter 8: A Child's Sin

The man called Simon tossed and turned, almost falling out of bed several times. His own scream finally roused him from his fitful sleep, and the lightening crashed through the sky, lighting his terrible, twisted features.

"Sin!" He uttered. He jumped swiftly out of bed, the cold pit in his stomach turning to ice. "No!"

"But, Jeran…" Sonja protested. "I'm…"

"Do you realize what you're accusing this man of, Sonja?" Jeran's recrimination sent the girl into a fit of sobs. "This is not a game!" The level of his voice cracked a few times, and he was at the shouting level.

"But…Sir, Sonja wouldn't…" Braska tried to come to her defense, but to no avail. Auron had said nothing this entire time, refusing to say one way or the other. He thought that if he stayed neutral, Sonja would take all of the blame. It was selfish, to be sure, but he thought at that time that he would rather it be her than him. He was worried about Braska, however, since he was actually defending the girl.

"Auron!" Jeran whirled on the boy, startling him out of his silent reverie. "What have you to say about all of this rubbish?" Auron gazed at him coolly, judging his next words carefully.

"Sir, I think that Sonja means well…" Auron stopped himself, contemplating what to say next. If he said the wrong thing, he would forever be looked down upon by Jeran. On the other hand, if he said that Sonja was lying, he probably wouldn't survive the next training session at his uncle's. He glanced at her tear-stricken face. His heart sank as he spoke the next words. "But I believe that she might just be making this all up." She stared at him, open-mouthed. Auron refused to look at her, and suddenly his boots became very interesting. She fled from the room, her blue cape flying behind her. Braska glared at his friend, and turned on his heel and left to look for Sonja. Auron then looked up at Jeran, who was also looking at him with disapproval.

"Never turn your back on your friends, Auron. Let this be a lesson to you for trying to act above your years." Jeran also turned away from him, walking into his bedchamber and closing the door. Auron stood, alone, the tears welling up in his russet eyes.

The boom of the thunder coincided with his scream.

"Sonja!" The rain had started to come down hard, and it was pelting Braska as he searched through the Field. "Sonja, where are you?" The thunder drowned out his cries. Finally, he ran for the shelter of the forest, almost giving up on Sonja. His blue eyes glinted when the white light slashed through the sky, and Braska only had a few moments to think about why in the name of the Warriors did the storm have to happen tonight. "Sonja!" He brushed his way through the wet foliage, pushing back the leaves and holding branches out of his path as he found his way to Kyrie Falls. He realized that he hadn't been in this part of the forest since Sonja had been attacked by the gigantic wolf. The lightening flashed again, and he saw a figure sitting on the log in front of the rushing waterfall. The boom of the thunder intermingled with the roar of the waterfall drowned out Braska's yell. He ran through the clearing and ran up to the silhouette. Upon closer inspection, he saw that it was a girl. A girl with golden hair plastered to her head. "Sonja!" She looked up at him with bleary green eyes.

"Braska…" She looked back down, and even though it was raining, Braska was almost sure that he saw a tear slide down her cheek. Suddenly, Braska didn't seem to notice the unforgiving rain and sat down next to Sonja. "I hate Auron…" She sobbed. "He's so mean…"

"I'm sure that he doesn't mean it, Sonja…" Braska didn't really know what to say. Auron wasn't exactly the easiest person to get along with, especially if he had a grudge. "He's just a stubborn little…He's just stubborn, that's all." Sonja broke down at this, her body collapsing and almost falling off into the water below. Braska caught her and she fell into his arms, sobs racking her body. Braska's look of shock was seen by no one, not even Sonja, but he tried his best to comfort her the best that he could. He patted her head, and held her against his shoulder where she had nestled her head. He was speechless, and could offer no words of comfort. He started to rock her back and forth, feeling that it was best thing he could do. "Sonja, it's all right." He said, realizing that they were both soaked to the bone. "Come on, I'll take you home so you can dry off. You wouldn't want to be sick would you?"

"I don't care!" She pushed away from him, invariably knocking him off-balance. He fell off the log into the water, yelping as he fell. "Braska!" She jumped after him, and almost landed on top of him. She grabbed a hold of his water-logged brown shirt and yanked him to the shore. "It's not safe to be in the water!" She dragged him up the bank, and Braska struggled against her grasp, trying to breathe.

"Let me go, Sonja!" He gasped. "Let go!" He yanked himself out of her hands with little resistance, rolling backwards in the mud because of the excess force. He stood up, facing Sonja, trying to keep his cool. "Look, stop being selfish, all right? Auron was trying to impress Jeran, that's all! Stop getting your feelings hurt because of something Auron said. He doesn't give a damn about anyone but himself! He can't! He just doesn't work that way…I mean if…if you threw yourself in front of him to stop him, he would just step on you!" Braska clenched his fists. "Why do you even care about that guy?" Sonja looked up, her blonde hair almost dark brown from the rain.

"I don't…" She started to protest, thoughts swimming through her head. "I don't…" Lightning sparked through the dark sky, lighting up Braska's features. Sonja only caught a glimpse, but that was all she needed to see. His blue eyes were tortured with emotions neither of them could really explain. They couldn't understand their feelings of frustration, of anger, or of longing. Suddenly, Braska quickly grabbed Sonja's hand and started to drag her back to the village. "Braska…"

"Hush. We're going back, and you'll get all dried up." His tone was softly chiding, but she didn't mind. She didn't really pay attention to the path they were taking. Finally they reached the edge of the forest, and stood at the end of the Field.

A huge silhouette shrouded the place where the village should've been. Lighting flashed, and Braska and Sonja saw their worst fear.

"Everyone, this way!" Jeran yelled over the intensifying storm. The wind had turned into a gale, and it was almost impossible to hear anything over the constant booms of thunder. Jeran counted heads. Everyone was there except three people. Three children. Auron, Braska, and Sonja.

"NO!" Sonja screamed. "PAPA!" Braska grabbed her around the middle, forcing her to the ground.

"No, Sonja, stop!" She wrestled against him, trying to get away. "Sonja!" The village was swept away by a huge tornado that formed in a giant, black cloud. Houses were torn off of the foundations they had rested on for generations. Animals cried out in fear, some running for their lives, only to be caught up in the invisible torrent. Sonja almost squirmed away from Braska when she thought she heard her brothers.

"Erik! Wesley!" She broke down crying. She became limp, sobbing uncontrollably. "No…This…this…can't happen…" She collapsed, unconscious.

"Sonja!" Braska shook her, but to no avail. "Sonja…" He watched in terror and amazement as the giant beast moved away from the ruined village and the storm began to ease. Within minutes, it was over. The sky was clearing, and stars were reappearing in the black sky. The monster was gone, but so was the village.

Jeran pulled himself out of the rubble, rising into the sunlight. He blinked when he saw the destruction. His village he had worked so hard to protect. Gone. The tears began to well up in his eyes, but he blinked them away furiously. His people needed him now. He couldn't be weak. He turned to help out the few villagers that had made it safely with him into the underground shelter. It used to be a place for growing potatoes, but now it was in shambles, as were most, if not all, of the buildings in the village. He hoped against hope that the rest of the people had managed to make to safety. He knew that the beast that had attacked them last night was no ordinary Fiend, and he feared for the lives of the villagers that might've been stranded out in the open. He almost let go of the arm he was pulling on when he saw a dark-headed boy carrying a blonde girl back across what used to be the town square.

"Braska?" He muttered under his breath. He rubbed his eyes, just to be sure. "Braska?" He called out. Sure enough, the young boy looked up, his face dirty and his blue eyes bright with tears. He looked down again, concentrating on carrying what looked like Sonja. He stumbled and almost dropped her, but a woman who had come from the other underground potato-house helped him regain his balance. It was Braska's mother. When the boy looked up, he almost threw Sonja to the ground in his hurry to hug his mother. Jeran smiled to himself, and turned to help the rest of the men and women out of the hole they had been hiding in. However, one thing still burned in the back of his mind. Auron.

A/N: All right guys, I apologize again for the wait, but it couldn't be helped. I finally actually got the chance to write something that I WANTED to write for a change J Anyway, I'll try not to leave you guys hanging for too long this time, and I'll see ya'll lata! Oh, and I'm sorry this one's shorter, but I was pretty tired and I couldn't think of a better place to stop the chapter, so the next one will be longer!