((Ok, so this chapter is finished. Finally. Good. Sorry it took so long, but I lost interest in this story for many long days. The only thing that really got me to start writing on this again was sheer boredom and a blank computer screen. Anyway, after this awkward chapter, things should get better. Really. We can hope, right? Oh, and, this chapter is about five hundred words longer than what I usually write, because I wanted to get all this…stuff…out of the way so I could move on. So, if it seems longer, it's only because it is.))

"Red…" Fatefiend's voice chimed in her ears. "You're wounded."

"Stop that." Redsplash ordered Fatefiend's body aloud. She was walking. Where she was going, she did not know. When she would stop was beyond her comprehension. She was searching for a suitable place to bury Fatefiend, but where was a suitable place to end a friendship? Where did one bury a friend who was only dead because of a stupid mistake? How could she kill a friendship that had lasted far longer than anything else ever had in her life?

"Is it just me…or was that a mood swing?" Again he spoke without a pulse or movement of his mouth.

"Come on, Fate. Stop it." Redsplash would have been angered at the pleading tone in her voice…if she cared about anything anymore.

"You're wounded."

"You're not alive anymore, Fate. You can't just keep talking when you're dead." Redsplash nearly slipped in the sand, but kept going. She had something to do, and if she fell now she would never get up again.

"Now is not the time to be sarcastic."

Now Redsplash realized what was happening. Fatefiend wasn't talking to her at all. It was just memories. Memories of all the things Fatefiend had said, swirling up to carry on a conversation with her. She decided to ignore it.

"Why don't you like the sea, Red?"

No answer.

"Why don't you like the sea, Red?"

Again, Redsplash refused to answer, though the volume hurt her mind.

"WHY DON'T YOU LIKE THE SEA, RED?"

"Stop it!" She screamed, "Stop it! It's not fair!"

"Now is not the time to be sarcastic."

"Stop it!" Redsplash cried. "What are you doing here? Why are you here?"

"To make sure you're alive."

"I'm alive. I'm alive." Redsplash's voice was an odd whimper for someone who could feel no sorrow. "You're the dead one, Fate. You're dead…"

"I don't want to die!"

"I know…I know. I'm sorry, Fate. I didn't mean. I didn't want to kill you…"

"You liar."

"No! I really…I didn't mean it! I didn't want you to go!"

"I'm not that stupid, Red."

"It's the truth!"

"Right."

"Stop it, Fate. You know I didn't mean it. You have to know that."

"Do you know what my father will do to me if he ever finds me?"

"He won't find you, Fate. I promise he'll never find you. I won't let him find you."

"Darkness…"

"I didn't want you to die…I didn't want you to die."

"Doesn't bother me."

"What? What doesn't bother you?"

"It's not healthy being a loner."

"You left me. I didn't want you to leave me. How could you? Why did you? Were you really that mad at me?" Redsplash's words were angry, but she could not find the will or the strength to be angry. All that she had left was a gaping hole were her strength and will used to be. She was completely empty now, and all she had was Fatefiend's cold corpse and his voice in her head repeating things he had said before and would never say again.

"I think I really hate you right now."

"I'm sorry!"

"Right."

"I am…I really am, Fate. Why don't you believe me?"

"Aw, come on Red, you're gonna make it vomit."

"Stop it! Stop repeating! Stop talking! You're dead! You have to stop!" Redsplash was screaming at a dead body now, and could not understand why this seemed like such a pointless idea.

"The screaming was a bit much."

"Stop talking! I don't want to hear you anymore! I don't want to think about you, and I don't want you to exist anymore! Just leave me alone!"

"Oh, yes, that hurt."

"This isn't normal…you're supposed to be gone. This isn't normal!"

"If I was normal, why would I be your friend?"

"I killed you. I can't be your friend. You have to find another friend, Fate. You can't be friends with the one that killed you."

"You have no idea how acutely depressing it to realize that."

"Stop it…Fate, this hurts. Just…stop talking to me, all right?"

"'Right."

Redsplash was left in quiet bitter peace for a very long time. It felt like ages, but might have been minutes. She did not know how long it was, but somehow walking along carrying the corpse of your only friend in complete and thought-filled silence was far worse than having an insane conversation with a dead friend. Loneliness and sorrow made very bad company. She wanted Fatefiend back.

"Fate…?"

"Quiet."

"Fate, come back. I want you to keep talking."

"Oh, really?"

"It's…it's worse without you."

"Ouch."

"Yes…" Redsplash agreed, laughing a high-pitched freakish laugh at this. "Yes, 'ouch.'"

"Do we run now?"

"What?"

"Why don't you like the sea, Red?"

Redsplash shivered, even Fatefiend's memory was intuitive. Or perhaps it was just incredibly obvious that she was refusing even to look at the sea. "I can't tell you that."

"Really?"

"I can't do it. I won't."

"Why don't you like the sea, Red?"

"I can't tell you. It's nothing anyway. Same reason you never liked castles. Especially your father's."

"Torture chamber or just the dungeons, do you think?"

"What?"

"Quiet…"

"What?"

"Goodbye."

"Are you leaving? You can't leave me alone again, Fate. You can't do that."

"Really?"

"Yes. Really."

"Goodbye."

And then he was gone, and she was alone. Again. For a second, Redsplash thought it was over. After all, mourning was hard enough without having the voice of the dead ringing in your mind. Losing your only friend was bad enough without going insane along with it. Perhaps Fatefiend was finally gone, and she could mourn him in isolation. But as soon as she thought his name, she knew any hopes of isolated mourning were futile. Memories caught her and dragged her back.

"Red…Red…"

"Fate. Why are you here?"

"To make sure you're alive. Ouch. That's gonna sting."

"Oh, really? I hadn't noticed."

"Now is not the time to be sarcastic."

"On the contrary, sarcasm is one of the few things keeping me from turning bloodthirsty and biting your paw right off."

"Look Redsplash, the rebellion is scheduled for two weeks from today-"

"Wait a minute…You scheduled the rebellion?"

…

"What? What are you doing?"

"Getting you out of here. Without fifty of the wildcat's beasts following us."

"What a bright idea. Did you bring any weapons?"

"Yes. Here."

"Come on."

…

"What was that for?"

"We have to leave now."

"What?"

"We abandon Darkclaw here. Now. Today."

"Why? I thought you said you wanted to get somewhere warmer before we left."

"I lied. We have to leave now. If Darkclaw loses control of those rats and they attack us, who is going to run the ship after we kill them? You?"

"Oh…right…I guess I see…"

"Good. Come on, if we turn around now and go around him we might be able to get away."

"All right…"

…

"Red, Red, are you alive?"

"Uh, what do ya want?"

"I brought you lunch. I was going to bring you down some of that stew but I ate it."

"I wouldn't expect anything else."

"You've been asleep for a day, by the way. The crew wanted to toss you overboard because you kept waking them up, what with your screaming, and-"

"I was screaming?"

"Well, yes, but mostly it was death threats. Once you were screaming about someone named Laflen, but I don't know who-"

"Damn. I hate this."

"Anyway, as I was saying, the crew wanted to toss you overboard and Darkclaw and Wello got into this huge argument and, uh, Darkclaw tossed Wello off the boat. He died."

"I bet he did. He didn't look like a swimmer."

"Well, he wasn't but there was also this huge fish that ate him. You missed that too, Red. The fish was huge."

"I've seen huge fish before. I don't need to see them again."

"All right…Well, I've got to get back up there. Ever since Wello died and Eade took over they've needed Darkclaw to shout the orders, because Eade can't scream at all, and I have to cook because Eade used to be the cook. I'll bring you down something else after dinner."

…

"Red! Walk slower! You walk too fast."

"You run too slow."

"Red, I don't think Darkclaw's gonna start a war."

"And why do you think that?"

"Because if he was he wouldn't have let us see the squirrel. And there was either a weasel or a ferret behind me the whole time. Darkclaw's a manipulator. He controls everything or nothing. Those beasts wouldn't have gotten anywhere near us if Darkclaw didn't want them to."

"I think you overestimate Darkclaw's brains."

"I think you overestimate yourself and underestimate everyone else. Darkclaw let them get here because he wants you to think that he's planning to start a war."

"I don't underestimate everyone, and why is it so important what I think?"

"Because out of the two of us you're the one that has to be right. Your opinions matters the most because you automatically think you're right and everyone else is wrong. You gonna get us both killed if you keep this up, Red. As far as I know I'm your only friend so I'm gonna be the first to die, and I don't want to die!"

"Coward. I'm not afraid of death."

…

"Not afraid of death." Redsplash murmured to herself, looking down listlessly at the corpse she was carrying in numb arms and shaking paws. "I'm not afraid of death."

"Not even of your own?" It was Fatefiend's voice, but it wasn't something he had ever said. Redsplash knew that as well as she knew that someday she would die and, hopefully, not ever see Fatefiend again. Because where she was going after death was not going to be a beautiful place of the Dark Forest. It was going to a brutal and vicious place, and not a place Fatefiend deserved to be.

"Never my own. No…never my own." Redsplash replied distantly, trudging along with the dull steady paces belonging to the hopeless and the dying.

"You're afraid of death though."

"Am not." Redsplash argued blankly.

"You were afraid of my death. When you figured out I was dead, you were afraid. You're afraid of the others dying too. You don't want to be alone. Of all creatures, I figured you would want to be alone more than even that old hermit we stole the wine from last season."

"I don't care if I'm alone."

"Lying still, Redsplash? After nearly all our lives and my death, you're still lying to me? What do you think I am, an idiot? Besides, now that I'm dead I know perfectly well what happened in your life. One of the bonuses of being dead, you see. And what a sad, pathetic life you've led, too. Why didn't you ever tell me, Red? About your past?"

"Because it was weak, Fatefiend. And stop talking to me if you're dead."

"You didn't want me to go away when your mind was using my voice. You don't want me to go away now. Did I mention I can read your thoughts as well? It's rather interesting. Put that dead thing down, Red. That's disgusting."

"It's your body."

"What? Oh, well, that changes things. So, let's have ourselves a chat about the old days. Would you like that?"

"No."

"Eh, you don't know what you want. Anyway, so…uh-oh."

"What?"

"Hey. Hey! Leggo of me! I'm talkin' to my mourning friend, here. Hey! Stop that! Where do you think you're taking me, eh? Let me GO!"

"Fate? What's happening?"

"Stop that! Will you wait your turn? I don't care about some life threatening issue of yours! Your stupid abbey dwellers will have learn about playing with swords the hard way, all right? I'm talking!"

"Fatefiend. What's going on?"

"You're doing what? You can't make me stop talking! Make the hedgehog stop talking! He's been going on for hours! Whadda ya mean mortal danger? Do this look like the type of ferret to care about such things? Leggo of me!"

"What's happening, Fate?"

"Oh, some stupid mouse. I can't really aruge with 'em, Red, he's got this gigantic sword and he looks pretty serious. Stop pulling my ankle! Well, looks like I'm gonna have to stop talking, Red. Wait…hold on…"

"What?"

"Oh, damn. Promise me you'll get in lots of near death experiences in the future, all right? Oh, and about your mind, will you stop playing around with that thing? It's fragile, Red. Anyway, I can only talk to you when you're in terrible danger or something, so throw yourselves into battles nonstop. I don't want to be alone here with the mice and the hedgehogs, Red. They're heroes. Oh, and the other mousie says to leave the mountain of Salamandastron at once! He means it too. He's waving that sword of his around an' everything. Anyway. Bye."

And he was gone again, and this time Redsplash could not even understand what he had been doing there in the first place. Her mind was rushing in suicidal spirals while her legs kept moving in meaningless steps forward. All Redsplash wanted was to understand and that was so far beyond her now it stung with the fire of bitter mockery.

She stopped walking before she fell, but she when she did fall she fell rather awkwardly, as she refused to do anything but set Fatefiend's body down as gently as if it was made of glass and cloud. For some reason, after falling, standing became only an idea, and an idea as impossible as bringing Fatefiend back to life. Hallucinations and memories ran rampant in her breaking mind, and everything that made any type of sense was complete and total madness. Redsplash curled into a ball and damned the world with all the breath she could force into lungs, who currently wished to just give in and stop.

Her heart beat furiously in her ears, and her blood veins seemed to burn. Eyes, red and green as bloodstained grass, stared blankly at what she could see beyond the ball of herself that she had created. Nothing seemed to matter because nothing made sense. Who was Fatefiend, anyway? Who was she? What was she doing here, and why was she not letting herself remember anything? Oh, yes, she knew what she was doing, but, then, she had done it her entire life. Ever since she could remember, she had been sending the painful things away. Where, she never could quite understand, but she sent them away until she was ready to deal with them in tormenting bits and painful pieces. Now, though, everything seemed far too painful and nothing could be remembered.

There was no possible way to tell how long she lay there: a useless lump of twitching otter surrounded by apathy and silence. Eternity seemed far too quick and a second far too long. Time itself had no meaning, as it was just another method of torture. Forbidding herself memory, yet remembering just the same. It was dangerous, because it was peaceful, and all the peace she remembered had always exploded furiously into betrayal and agony and bitterness. Mind-breaking thoughts raced past, with no time to recognize them but all the time in the world to understand what they were saying. She was dying, and she knew it. There was a part of something inside her blowing itself apart and feasting on the fragile remnants. Something inside her was devouring itself and as it left her, Redsplash oddly began to feel as if somehow everything was going to be all right in the end. All she had to do was hunt down that bastard badger and all his little hares and rip them apart so slowly that they could feel the exact screaming, aching, burning, freezing, ripping, searing, angry, bitter pain inside her that was tearing her apart. All she had to do was drown herself in their screams and their grief and their rewarding death and everything would heal in the end. That's all she had to do, really. Vengeance was such a bittersweet thing, but, as whatever it was inside her killed itself viciously off, Redsplash found it to be the only beautiful thing in a hideous world.

Somehow, Redsplash sat up and began to dig. At first it was unapparent if she was digging her own grave or Fatefiend's, but as time rolled vindictively by, Redsplash gave up on her suicidal thoughts. What death could she bring herself, anyway? She could stab herself with her dagger and splatter blackish red liquid all over the ground, but what point in that could be found, besides the one at the end of the dagger? Yes, she could cause a violet end to her bitter life herself, but wouldn't it be so much better if someone else did it for her? Yes. That was the way it should happen. Fatefiend was killed by the badger, so Redsplash would be, too. Of course, she would have to make it so that the badger was sure to die right after she was. There was no way the badger could be allowed to live after this. No. No understandable reason that badger should be allowed life. Dealing two deserved deaths was going to be rather tricky, but Redsplash had faced far more difficult problems in her life. Never, though, without Fatefiend, but Redsplash could do this by herself. What kind of an idiot couldn't manage to kill themselves properly, anyway? Had anyone who truly wished for death ever failed?

It was only after Redsplash had spent nearly an hour digging with her paws to create a proper grave for Fatefiend that she realized where it was she had chosen to bury him. Salamandastron was barely a lump in the distance, so far had she walked, and she was kneeling on a cliff that would have been perfect to throw herself off of, if she had chosen to kill herself now. It was only now she realized she was not standing on sand, but on grass whose roots had torn apart the flesh on her paws when she had dug through it. Fatefiend lay on his back, his eyes staring at her as if watching a monster. Something was wrong, of course, but wasn't that always the case?

She lifted him, never standing, and carefully placed him in the deep grave she had created. And then, moving automatically now, she began to push the soil back in. It was when the soil covered his face away completely that something strange happened. A pressure began to build behind her eyes, and something burned there, too. Tears that might have been shed if Redsplash had not blinked them accidentally away blurred her vision, but these were not sorrowful tears. Something was wrong with her. As she attacked the pile of soil, sending it flying back to it's proper place, the pressure grew until it pounded like a second pulse inside her, like a monster attempting to dig it's way out of her. And when the last pawful of dirt was forced on top of the unmarked grave, the pressure tore itself free.

She was screaming again, but this was not the type of scream she had ever screamed before. Something inside her had died and something inside her had been broken free, and she was screaming a funeral dirge and a harsh declaration of bitter freedom. Her shriek of incomprehensible emotions and power declared war on death, and ripped apart the world, shaking everything she knew it it's very foundations and them pulling those apart, too. It was ripping apart her very existence and there was nothing she could do to stop it, because she had no will to attempt it. She was sprawled across the grave now, digging her paws into the displaced soil and screaming, screaming because there was no justice in the world, screaming because Fatefiend was dead and it wasn't right, screaming because he was dead and it should have been her…it should have been her.

There was no exact moment Redsplash began to feel her lungs keening for air, just another building pressure in her. But, perhaps just out of spite, she did not stop screaming and even when it came to the point where, fueled by an archaic desire to survive, she would have stopped, she found herself unable to. When she was finally thrown into unconsciousness, her scream echoed forbiddingly across the dark landscape, heading towards the mountain of Salamandastron to declare it's bloody and approaching war there.

…

The landscape was odd, more wispy cloud than solid ground. Redsplash had the disconcerting feeling of floating, and of being held in a benevolent palm that, benign or not, could close at any moment and squish her like an insect. The moon was larger than the non-apparent sun, and glowed more blue than the sun glowed yellow. When she looked at the ground, all she could see was what seemed like snow, but it glowed blue with the reflected light of the strangely colored moon.

For what seemed hours, she was alone. And then, suddenly, a mouse appeared in front of her, staring at her as if she were the one that had intruded upon this peaceful place. She had seen him before: when pikes had nearly devoured her alive and each time after that she had faded out of existence and arrived at strange gates he sent her away from. He was still imposing, if less forbidding. Something about him screamed of sorrow, but, then, everything about him screamed of danger. The mouse still had that sword of his, and his scars spoke of many experiences with pain. Redsplash had her own scars, and her own pain, but she still felt like a child standing in the presence of a warrior.

"Redsplash." His voice was strange too…almost as if his lips started moving a fraction of a second before the sound began, and stopped moving half a second before it stopped…and it echoed oddly, as if they were standing in a very large room or in a canyon of some sort.

"What do you want?" Redsplash inquired, automatically reaching for the dagger, which she found was not with her. She wondered, alarmed, where she had left it.

"What do you think you're doing?" Was his only reply, though it sounded far too suspicious for Redsplash's health.

"What do you think you're doing?" Redsplash snapped back.

"You cannot stay at the mountain. You have to leave." His voice was commanding now and that irritated Redsplash. Who did this mouse think he was talking to? Warrior he might be, but Redsplash wasn't exactly the child she felt like.

"I can stay where I want to. And what mountain? What're you talking about?"

This seemed to frustrate him, though no emotion ever showed on his face. "Salamandastron. Really, otter, I understand this must be rather difficult for you, but at least Fatefiend remembered."

"Fatefiend?" Fatefiend…yes, that's right. Something was wrong with Fatefiend, but what was it, exactly? What was going on? Where was she? Who was this mouse?

"Fatefiend is dead, otter." This was said rather curtly, almost as if the mouse was in a hurry, as if he had something important to get back to.

"Dead? He's…" And then it came back, like a hammer to the skull. For a second, everything seemed to shift. She wasn't standing somewhere peacefully blue, she was standing with one footpaw in the middle of a burning pool of lava and the other buried deep in the same lump of dirt that covered Fatefiend. Everything burned, and everything haunted, and, then, everything was blue again and it was so hard to keep standing…so hard to remember to keep breathing.

"You have to leave Salamandastron, Redsplash. I'm warning you, in a couple seasons-"

"Can't. He said if I went to sleep again I wouldn't ever wake up…although, he didn't seem like he cared that much. Said it was now or a couple seasons later."

Fatefiend's admission a season ago struck her quickly, sending her reeling backwards, and then she comprehended it. "You!" Redsplash hissed at the mouse, her eyes blazing red in all this blue. "You knew this was going to happen!"

"I knew, but-"

Redsplash lunged, screeching like she had when Fatefiend had been killed, latching onto the mouse and driving him backwards, clawing at his eyes because she could see her own red orbs reflected in them. She wanted to kill him. Wanted to feel the blood spewing from his empty eye sockets drench her pelt, because he could have saved Fatefiend, and he hadn't. And for a second, it seemed like it would work, but then it changed.

She'd had him pinned to the ground, but then, suddenly, everything changed and he was holding her down startling effectively, staring at her without hate but without regret. "I can't change who dies, Redsplash, and, like it or not, he had to die. Without him you're nothing, but with him you were only Fatefiend and Redsplash. Neither of you were yourselves, you were only half of what you could have been. One of you had to die, and we would have all preferred it if you had, but that didn't happen."

She stared up at him. "You think I wanted him to die? Kill me, mouse. You know I'm going to kill myself eventually."

His eyes narrowed momentarily. "Of course I know that. It's because you're weak. It's because you were never as strong as the ferret was. A ferret, Redsplash. A ferret that was stronger than an otter. And you showed so much promise at the beginning, your parents being who they were, your brother being who he was. And then, when they needed you, you were hiding."

"I was not hiding!" Redsplash roared, shoving him off her and sitting up, blazing eyes glaring hate. "I didn't know!"

"Didn't know what, otter?" He shook his head, standing quickly. "You lie to yourself, and I'll lie to myself, but don't you ever lie to me. You knew perfectly well what was happening, and you did nothing to stop it. The ferret, no more than a few seasons old, killed seven when they came to take his mother away. Seven, and what did you do? Nothing until they dragged you out and the Nameless One threw you into the fire."

"His mother…?" Redsplash was lost for a moment. Fatefiend had never talked about his mother.

"Oh, yes, did you think he had no mother? You lost everything, and he lost the only thing he had. Your family was…was the best, and his father is the best at what his kind does. Both of you…you had so much promise as cubs…if you two had never met each other, the world would be a much different place, Brighteye. If you two had never met, maybe his death would not have been necessary."

"Don't blame his death on me. Don't blame me for his death! Not his!" Redsplash growled at him, baring fangs in a feral challenge.

He glanced at her. "Why not? You blame yourself."

"What I blame myself for is not your concern."

"Isn't it? You're the only one left, now, Redsplash. The squirrel, what do you think he can do? His past…it's worse than yours and the ferret's. It'll kill him if he stays. Is that what you want, Redsplash? Do you want to lose the squirrel to the mountain, too? And what about that wildcat? Evil due to necessity and insecurity in it's darkest form. You'll draw him out eventually, with your emotions, and are you ready for what he is inside? If you stay here, you'll lose everything, and if you're damaged any more, you'll break. And, weak as you are, you're everything we have left."

"What do you mean?"
"Who will kill the Nameless One, otter? That's what everything is about. None of the others can do it. The Warheart clan has no interest, and none have the strength. Bloodrise, perhaps, if she wanted too, but all she wants is her realm. Darkclaw, of course, but only if he's willing to die for it, and there's nothing in the world that can make him give his life to an enemy, not when he knows his clan could thrive off the chaos the ferret brings. The squirrel, that one you call Root, he's stronger than anyone realizes, but only if he knew. He needs the anger, but if he knew then he would become what he used to be, and if that happens we are all damned. Yes, it has to be you. Once the other one…the one that nearly killed you last season could have done it, but you've ruined him, too. For one with such a hatred for heroes, Redsplash, you will be proud to know you've ruined so many of them that you might've ruined the entire world."

"Let it be ruined then. Let them all die. What does it matter? Fatefiend is dead."

"And you would rather it have been you, is that what you really think, Redsplash? Do you really think you didn't know what would happen if that ferret went up, carting around the dead body of the badger's guard, and talked to the badger. Oh, the badger lord knew who he was, but he knew nothing about what he could have been. His greatest enemy's son mocking him with the carcass of a beast he should have been able to protect was all he saw. Don't keep lying to yourself, Redsplash. Out of all of them, you were the first to recognize what was about to happen. You knew all along, but you only recognized it when you knew it was too late, because you didn't want to have to be the one to die."

"That's not true!"

"It's not?"

Redsplash snarled at him. "I didn't want this! I didn't ask to be born, and I didn't ask for what happened! I don't care if I could kill the Nameless One, because I won't do it! You can't make me do that. Fatefiend didn't want to die, but he definitely didn't want me to. If I died he would do the same things I'm doing. It wasn't my fault, and there's nothing I can do to change the fact he's dead."

And then the mouse smiled, a sly sort of smile that said everything he had done and said was all a ploy to get her to say what she had just said. "Exactly." He replied. "Fatefiend's death was not your fault. You can't bring him back by killing the badger lord. Leave this place, otter, because there is nothing here that will heal you, nothing here worth staying for."

Redsplash stared at him for a very long time, tilting her head to the right and considering. For the tiniest stretch of time she considered following his instructions. After all, vengeance was bitter. It never fixed anything. And then she remembered all the times Fatefiend had commented about not wanting to die, or about how death was the worst part of life because it never made sense, and there was really nothing she could do. With a bitter smile she shrugged at the mouse. "I can't bring him back, but that doesn't mean I can't make the badger wish he had never killed him."

"That's your plan then? You're going to declare war and then get yourself killed while killing the badger? Is that how you're going to die, Redsplash? Honorary suicide?"

Redsplash shrugged. "Of course." She answered, and the mouse shook his head sadly.

"Such a promising cub… I never thought you'd be the one to kill all of the others."

Redsplash shrugged, "Things never work out like they're supposed to, do they?" She inquired bitterly and forced herself awake.

…

"Darkclaw!" Root caught up to the wildcat quickly. "Darkclaw, what're you doing?"

"Walking away." Darkclaw responded. "Walking away before I snap the otter in two."

"Stop it! You don't mean that!" This was more an order than anything else.

"Of course I don't, but I don't have to mean something to say it. Lying is very easy. You should try it some time."

"Fatefiend's dead."

"I know that, squirrel. I am really very well-acquainted with that fact."

"You can't just walk away! I know that pain, Darkclaw. Red'll kill herself."

"Do you really think so? I think she'll just wander blindly for several hours, dig herself a hole, chunk the ferret in it, and contemplate throwing herself into the ocean and drowning. I don't think she will actually do it, though. Very attached to life, that one."

"No! Not attached to life. She was only alive because she didn't want to leave Fatefiend. Don't play stupid, wildcat, you know what type of beast she is."

"I know far better than you do what type of beast she is, squirrel. And believe me when I tell you that she won't be killing herself on this night. Maybe later, when she's appeased whatever thirst for vengeance is eating at her right now. Not tonight, though. Not unless someone drives her to it."

"Who would do that?"

"I would. That's why I am walking away."

"Why would you do that?"

"That's a very interesting question. Think about it. She's going to lead us a joyful little chase for revenge, isn't she? I don't mind, because it'll end with the killing of the badger lord, and that's been my goal all along. You don't mind because she's such a troubled soul and really all she needs is to understand that this vengeance will get her nowhere. After it's done, it'll be better, right? She'll get better?" Darkclaw shook his head, laughing quietly. "Squirrel, vengeance is not a disease. Her personality will not go away. In the end, all she'll want is something more drastic, something to stop the anger in her. And suicide sounds so poetic at the feet of the enemy who killed your only friend. In the end, she'll be dead anyway. If she died tonight, it would be a few less battle scars for me, and all these scars are really getting irritating."

"You're a terrible creature, Darkclaw. Perhaps the worst I've ever encountered."

"Besides yourself?" Darkclaw questioned, glancing over his shoulder at the squirrel and grinning as if he knew all the secrets in the world and found great amusement in not sharing any of them.

"What?" Root questioned, curious, but he felt a strange sense of dread building in his stomach. Leave…whispered the voice, and Root wanted to comply.

"That potion must have worked wonders, squirrel. You don't remember a thing, do you?"

"I don't understand…"

"Of course you don't. You should be very proud." Darkclaw grinned at him, but it was a grin that showed no true feelings…none at all. "Now scamper away and go see how that otter is doing. Who knows, I might be wrong and she could be hurtling off some cliff as we speak."

…

The sky was still dark now, and would be for a long time. Redsplash did not know what time it was, only that it was the middle of the night. She could feel the dark clouds gathering around her like the darkness in her had summoned them. There would be several dark days in the near future, and the clouds were fitting. If it had been a cheery sky, Redsplash might have lost it completely. Already, she knew, she was mostly gone, but there was an infinite difference between almost gone and completely insane.

She sat high on the cliff she had buried Fatefiend on, staring down at the restless, angry sea below her. It was some kind of sadistic miracle, how no matter how hard she tried to avoid the ocean, she was always brought back to it. She had deliberately put her back to it when she left to find a place to bury Fatefiend, and, yet, here she was. It was odd, how, after so many emotions burning through her, she felt so hollow now. She felt like there was nothing left in her to feel or utilize. No anger anymore, just a melancholy tranquility that was worse, somehow, than anything else had ever been in her life. Before, at least there had always been some thirst for retribution or for better days, now…now there was nothing. She was empty, and, about that, she felt absolutely nothing.

It was funny, in a way that Redsplash could recognize but not feel humor for. She had always been under the impression that Fatefiend needed her…to protect him, to look out for him, to keep from doing anything immensely stupid. And maybe he had. But she needed him far more than she had ever realized…because without Fatefiend she was completely and finally alone. And she had gone through enough in her short and volatile life…she did not need loneliness added to the pile of frigid emotions and smoldering recollections. She had felt loneliness before, of course, but before she had lost her family…now she had lost her friend.

Redsplash had felt this type of emptiness, to a lesser degree anyway, before. When she began to realize that her entire family was dead. Her eyes closed against this trail of memories, and she banished it back to whatever dark space of her mind it normally inhabited. Her family and Fatefiend had died for entirely different reasons. Her family's death had always made sense, if a strange kind of demonic sense. But this…no, it had no reason. Fatefiend had done nothing to that badger, nothing at all, and the badger had not wanted anything that Fatefiend possessed. It was just slaughter, and, yet, even slaughter made more sense than this.

Fatefiend had been the only one to understand her even better than she understood him. Yes, he was a ferret. Yes, he was the son of the nameless bastard that stole her life, but, despite all of that, he was, he had been, her only friend, ever. When Redsplash was dying or in danger of such a problem, Fatefiend had always been there to help her, albeit mocking and condescending the entire time. And, when Fatefiend had needed help, Redsplash, equally as sarcastic and patronizing, was there. It was an odd friendship, but that was what had, perhaps, made it so strong.

They had met under bad circumstances and they had become friends only because of a mutual respect for anything to cure the boredom of nonstop torture, and for wine. It had not been a normal type of friendship when it had begun. It had not even been a normal friendship at the very end. But, then, Fatefiend and Redsplash were not the types to have normal friendships.

Redsplash had rarely openly admitted she cared about Fatefiend. She had even told herself that she really didn't. But now that he was dead and the emptiness of a life alone was beginning to become apparent, Redsplash wasn't sure she even wanted to live. What type of creature had only one friend and, inadvertently or not, killed that only friend? Was she a curse? If she traveled with Root and Darkclaw long enough would they too die?

And why did everything always have to happen to her? Wasn't there some happy, innocent little cub somewhere whose best friend could be murdered by a badger? Couldn't someone else feel this type of torture? Why did Redsplash, whose youth, life, family, trust, and happiness had already been stolen, had to somehow survive the burden of being responsible for killing her only friend?

It was because of her. She had led Fatefiend here. She had mocked him into going through with his suicidal idea. Fatefiend had died because he had not wanted to leave her, or be made fun of by her. And that knowledge would have hurt if Redsplash could feel anything, would have hurt far worse than a dagger to the neck could have…because it should have been her that died, not him…because he should be the one mourning now, and not her.

And maybe she could fix that…maybe if she threw herself off the cliff into the temperamental waves, Fatefiend would come back. Maybe that's all whoever was in charge wanted. The mouse had said one of them had to die, if Redsplash gave away her life, would Fatefiend get his back? And would she even feel the pain? Because pain would be welcome now, after all this emptiness. Yes, maybe dying now would be better than the long ordeal of getting her revenge…

"Red?" Came a voice that was not Fatefiend's and, so, did not matter. "Red, are you out here?"

"Don't call me that…" Redsplash murmured quietly.

He settled beside her, his legs dangling over the side of the cliff as hers had. "Red…"

"Go away, squirrel. I prefer to contemplate suicide alone."

"I'm sorry…about…him…" Root did not seem to think her comment worth saying anything about, and his green eyes seemed nearly as earnest and his perfectly sincere voice.

"Why are you sorry?" Redsplash demanded, rather brutally. "I brought him here."

"I'm sorry because you're too blind to see it's not you're fault."

"It is my fault. I killed him."

"You can't think that." Root told her, his tone quiet but commanding. "You can't think that at all, Red. It's poison."

"Don't call me that."

"Don't call you what?"

"Red. My name is Redsplash. And I don't care what you say…it is my fault."

Root sighed softly, as if the entire world was leaning on him and pressing all the air out of his lungs. "Redsplash, you can't think that way. If I wanted I could blame myself because I let him go alone, and I knew the badger would not receive a ferret visitor well. Darkclaw could blame himself for not running fast enough. We can all blame ourselves for this. The thing is…Darkclaw knows far too well and cares far too less, and me…well, I'm just too in love with my own innocence to believe truly that I killed him."

"Go away, Root. I want to be alone."

"What we want is rarely what we need, Redsplash. You want me to leave you here alone, but that doesn't mean I'll go."

"I'll push you off this cliff." Redsplash threatened, her voice and face lacking anything even remotely resembling an emotion.

"If you really think it would make you feel any better…" Root started, his tone holding that same sincerity that made him so hard to hate him, "Then do it. I can swim, and this height probably won't kill me."

Redsplash lunged to her feet, only avoiding flying off the cliff because of her impeccable balance. She was preparing to storm off, into the dark to find somewhere to be alone, but Root caught her arm, holding her back with a strength that seemed odd for one who was always so…for one who never really exercised that muscle.

"I know what it's like to lose a friend, Redsplash…" Root told her quietly, his voice so low it might have been just the moving wind if it didn't hold so much earnestness.

"Is that what you think I lost today, Root?" Redsplash asked him, her green eyes staring disoriented and confused up at his. "I didn't lose a friend. I lost my life."

She shoved him off her, nearly sending him into the sea, and sprinted away. Within seconds she was lost to the darkness, as the night shielded her like a protector, hiding her in its darkness and shielding her in it's frigid apathy.

Root took a quick step away from the edge of the cliff and glared after her. "Stupid dramatic otter."