(PLEASE READ) Kani: What's up, y'all? I finally got around to writing a Redwall fic! Aren't you proud of me?! *crickets chirp* Never mind. This is merely a fic that's been bothering me for a while, and since I'm almost done with Toxicity, I thought I'd post it and see how you readers respond. But since I still have my other fics to work on...please don't expect frequent updates.

I despise Mary Sues!! So if this fic starts resembling one, tell me, please?

Thank you!

Disclaimer: I wish I owned Redwall, but Brian Jacques already does. *glares in Jacques' direction jealously*

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Wh...what happened? was the first thought that entered Dustin's mind as he opened his eyes. All around him, there was darkness. He tried to raise his head, but almost blacked out again with the effort. "Ow!" He reached up to touch his head with a shaking hand. "What the...?"

After several tries, he discovered that, if he shifted very slowly and didn't make any sudden movements, he was able to sit up. Dustin clutched his head with aching hands; he knew that he'd hit it somehow. As his eyes became more accustomed to the darkness, he saw that it was merely nighttime...and that he was sitting in the midst of a dark wood.

Weird...what happened to the apartment...? he thought as he staggered to his feet. What is this place?!

The boy gritted his teeth, and as he did so, he noticed the moon rising overhead. Oh, good. Now I can see where I am. Probably in some park...but where are all the benches? Where's...Julian?

Dustin scowled. For some reason, the trees seemed uncommonly huge...

"Oy!" came a brisk voice. "What have we here, Firelance?"

"Hm...dunno," mumbled a second voice. "Looks rather like a otter, Cap'n."

"An otter, Firelance," the first voice corrected. "I think it's a mouse."

"Think it's one of 'em what lives in Redwall?"

"Tch. I hopes so," chimed in a third voice. "Them mice is meaner 'n' corks an' crabs, an' I got a score to settle wid one of 'em."

"Who's there!" Dustin shouted, spinning rapidly. The motion sent his brain on an unforgiving tornado of agony, and he fell to his hands and knees. Sharp laughter echoed from the shadows around him. Then a strange—thing—stepped from behind a nearby tree trunk. In the flickering light of the torch it held, Dustin glimpsed a strangely animal-like face.

"Who...wh..." The words didn't want to leave his mouth, and Dustin had to clench his teeth to make them form properly. "Who are you?" he muttered thickly. "The cops?"

"Cops?" The thing frowned. "'E's one of the mice of yer order back at Redwall, eh?"

"M-mice?" Dustin swallowed hard. He was beginning to suspect that he was not talking to the police. "There are mice around here?"

"Aye, or didn't you know?" A second creature joined the first. "Ain't you from Redwall?"

"Huh?"

"Doncha know what that is?"

"A red wall?" Dustin coughed as he slowly regained his feet. "I guess I don't. Do you...know...where my brother is?"

The face holding the torch sneered at him. The shadows laughed.

"Please!" Dustin took a step forward. "My little brother Julian...we were walking in the park. I think I hit my head—"

The shadows laughed harder. The face turned to its companion.

"Should I make 'im hit his head 'arder, Cap'n Swiftshot?"

"Na." The one called Swiftshot came to stand eye-to-eye with Dustin, and the boy nearly fainted dead away.

He was staring down the gimlet-eyes of a sparsely dressed, heavily armed...weasel.

Dustin stumbled back several steps. "I-I'm dreaming," he gasped. "Must've hit my head harder than I thought."

"I don' think he's from Redwall," Swiftshot said to his companion without once taking his eyes from the boy. "He's not a mouse."

"Aye, what manner of beast are you?" questioned the torch-bearer, thrusting his torch into Dustin's face. The boy nearly choked on the smoke as he saw that the torch-bearer was none other than a burly rat.

"I'm a...I'm a..."

But the word would not pass his lips. The dark world tilted under him and the stars wheeled above. Dustin's eyes rolled up into his head and he collapsed.