Author's Comment: Poor, Poor Eclipse.

Please Critique and Comment? D

Afterthoughts

Eclipse was left looking up at the clouds as the rain continued to fall, getting heavier as time went by. The rain pounded on her chest and it stung more than one could believe, but she didn't care. She was lost in thought. Her fur was soaked and the blood that was flowing from her encounter with Demon was watered down and laced throughout her fur, giving her a strange new look. The dirt around her had become mud now, but she didn't notice. She just kept thinking about what Demon had said before he left. He couldn't kill her yet… because she meant too much to him… to Angel. Where was this heading? What would Demon do to her before he actually killed her? She began to force these questions out of her head. The answers scared her. But… she meant something to Angel. Somehow she meant more than Twilight did, because he seemed to have killed her without hesitation.
Eclipse sighed, letting the rain come. She wasn't sure it was a good thing that Demon had spared her.

Angel woke in the cave and stretched a bit. As he glanced around, a sudden fear overtook him. The walls of the cave were graffitied in blood; strange phrases and morbid pictures lined them. He stood, remembering that he had changed the night before, and realized that both Eclipse and Twilight were nowhere to be found. Glancing back, he also noticed that the inscription on the wall for his mother had been changed drastically. The words 'Whitey loves' had been scratched out beyond all recognition, along with the feather. The scribbled phrase that now replaced it was 'Darkness rules Mlu Forever'. Angel's face twisted in disgust and he ran towards the front of the cave.
The closer he got to the entrance, the more elaborate and sickening the phases and drawings got, until he stopped, finding Twilight's now mutilated body in the center of the cave opening. Evidently it was her blood Demon had used. The only identifying feature of her was the black and white fur. He choked back the urge to vomit. Looking down, he noticed his claws were stained with blood. His sister had died by him. Shaking his head and choking down tears, he passed her cold and lifeless body to search for Eclipse, though he wasn't sure he wanted to find her.

Angel went outside of the cave, feeling as if this was somewhat familiar. He lifted his nose to the air in search of Eclipse, but the smell of blood was too strong. He sighed, now looking around for some hint to what direction to start, but the rain from the night had made any tracks that might have been there the day before only a distant memory. So, relying purely on instinct and a strange notion, he trotted farther away from the cave into the crater.
Angel saw Eclipse from quite a distance away, but she was still, lying on the cold, muddy crater floor. He almost collapsed right there into a crying fit, but forced himself forward. He recognized the area, it was the same place he had found her in the crater that fateful day… and now the rocks that loomed over her seemed to take on an Umbreon appearance, but that could have been an illusion.

Angel walked slowly up to Eclipse, not able to look down on her face. Her body was stained with watered-down blood, and matted to the muddy ground.

He knelt beside her and cried. He had caused her so much pain, and now it was over. He couldn't live with himself anymore.

"Angel…"

Angel sat up, startled. Looking at Eclipse's face, he saw that her eyes were open, and she was smiling weakly at him. Best of all, he could tell that she was alive.

Eclipse winced a bit and looked back up at the clouds. The new wounds in her chest and neck stung like never before, but she didn't want Angel to see she was in pain. He was already feeling bad enough about the situation. It wasn't his fault. She didn't believe it was.

"Eclipse… oh, Eclipse…" Angel nuzzled her cheek very softly. "I'm so sorry… I... I didn't know…" He put his head to the ground. "I never thought that this could be why I was banished… why I never had friends…"

"You have a friend, Angel… you have me."

"Eclipse, I can't let you stay with me. I can't… I won't… I… don't want you to get hurt anymore." Angel's eyes were filled with tears now, and they rolled freely down his cheeks.

"Angel… we face the same thing now. I'm not going to leave your side, no matter what you say."

Angel looked at Eclipse, who was still staring into the clouds. Her face had a strained defiant look to it, yet her eyes showed pain and worry. "Eclipse, please…"

"Angel, I'm not going."

Angel sighed and stood, looking down at her. She stared into his eyes and he melted. He didn't want to fight with her. "I'm sorry…"

"It's not your fault, Angel. When you change, it's not you. It's someone different."

Angel nodded, his face wrinkled in sorrow and worry. "Can you stand?"

Eclipse turned her body so she wasn't on her back, but it was a struggle to try and reach her feet without first lying on her chest or stomach. Angel knelt to help her in this struggle, but it still wasn't an easy task.

"Should we go back to the cave?" Angel questioned. The images in his head of the morbid drawings continued to run rampant, and there was his sister…

Eclipse nodded. "We need to honor Twilight…"

Angel could only sigh and nod as he helped Eclipse limp back to the den.

"Sunset!" Spiny hollered. "Where are you?"

Sunset looked up from his thoughts. He had told Hugo about the battle the day before, and he seemed like a willing member of the clan. Hugo was stronger than he thought, Sunset knew, and would be a valuable addition to the fight against the demons. "I'm over here, Spiny," Sunset quietly replied. He was behind the bush right beside from where she had yelled. "What did you want?"

Spiny turned to see Sunset there and blushed brightly in embarrassment. "Sorry… I just thought you'd like to know…"

"Know what?"

"Gold was found outside of the boundaries late last night."

"Gold… the Eevee, right?" Spiny nodded. "Was she questioned?"

"She won't respond to questioning. She hasn't spoken a word since we found her." Spiny paused. "She also seems terrified of something."