After some time of running, Molly and Larch were starting to slow down, and then started to walk again, still trying to search for Hawkbit. They were constantly calling out his name, but sadly, it just echoed on for miles with no response. As they continued to look around and call for him, Molly noticed that Larch was starting to pick up his pace again, causing him to start passing her.

So Molly decided to do the same as Larch and soon started to pass him. Before long, they had forgotten all about finding Hawkbit and were both trying to race each other. Constantly passing each other, they were now in a full sprint down the long run.

As they continued with their fun, they could see in the distance that they were started to come upon a large opening across the run. If they didn't stop in time, they would both plunge into the dark and jugged cavern below.

"Can we make it?!" Molly shouted, as she started to run alongside of Larch.

"Maybe if we keep running!" He panted. Turns out he was starting to run a little slower, since Molly was starting to beat him in the sprint.

He was starting to get really tired, since they had been in a full sprint since the beginning, and now he wasn't so sure if he could make it at all.

"Come on Larch! Keep running... or else you... will fall right in!" Molly told him in between large breaths of air, seeing that he was starting to fall behind.

The gap was now coming up very fast and it was too late for him to stop, so he decided to give it all he had and continued on with Molly.

Larch knew he wasn't going to make it at this speed, so he decided to try and get a little help from El-Ahrairah. But he wasn't so sure he would even answer him, since he had worked for Woundwort and his evil ways…but there was no pain in trying.

"El-Ahrairah, I know I have done some terrible things in the past such as enslaving and killing your children, but I beg of you, please give me the strength to overcome this obstacle!" he thought and soon closed his eyes, hoping El-Ahrairah had answered him.

Larch opened his eyes again to see that the gap had come up. Both rabbits used as much force as was left in their bodies, sending it to their hind legs, and started to jump right over the large gap. It felt like Larch wasn't going to make it, but something or someone gave him a strong enough boost to at least grab onto the other side.

His feet were scrambling everywhere just to try and find a foothold as he held onto the edge for dear life. Molly had already made it. She had rolled into a ball before hitting the ground so she wouldn't hurt herself.

Once she had landed on to the ground, she started to leave her ball state…but once she had, Molly noticed that Larch wasn't next to her.

"Larch!" she screamed, thinking that he had plunged into the darkness. But once she had ran over to look, she let out a large sigh of relief, seeing that he had grabbed onto the side, saving himself from certain death.

"Need some help, maybe?" Molly joked, laughing a little bit. Larch didn't look very amused with her joke.

"Just help me up, please, before I lose my footing and fall in!" Larch told her, obviously not amused with her joking right now.

So she brought herself down and took hold of Larch's right paw in her mouth. Then she started to put all of her weight into pulling him up.

"You are much heavier than I thought!" she continued on jokingly, smiling down at him, but making sure she didn't let go for any reason.

Once he had made it up halfway, she let go of his paw, using both paws to grab on to his back. With one last tug, she had pulled him back up to safety.

Larch and Molly were panting really hard as they landed on the ground, trying terribly hard to get some breath back into their lungs.

"Alright, we are... not doing... that again!" Larch told her in between breaths.

"Agreed!" she replied as she started laughing in between breaths. Soon Larch began to laugh along with her.

"Larch, you're bleeding!" Molly pointed out. He looked down at one of his legs, and it was in fact bleeding. It must have hit a jagged rock when he collided with the other side of the cavern.

Molly crawled over to Larch to look over the wound. As she pushed the fur back, she could see that it was pretty badly pierced.

"Oh no…it's bleeding pretty badly, Larch," she told him as she pushed the fur back into place. But, sadly, it wasn't stopping or helping with the bleeding.

"Can you walk at all?"

Larch tried his best to stand up on his own, but he let out a loud "OW" noise and collapsed back onto the ground. The buck shook his head, indicating a no.

"There's no way I can walk or run, let alone stand." He told her sadly, then he started to lick the wound to try and at least numb the pain. After a few minutes, Molly began to help him with it.

"It looks... like you are... going to... have to go... on without me." He told her through the pain as the licking continued.

"There is no way I am leaving you!" She shouted, angry that Larch would even consider the idea.

"Well, then, what are we going to do? We still have to look for Hawkbit!" he argued.

"Maybe if I could get back over the gorge, I can get help!" she told him. But he just shook his head.

"Even if you could get help, there's no way I can jump back over the gorge, and someone can't carry me and jump at the same time!" se shouted at her.

"Just leave me here!" he continued, and for the second time in his life, he shed a small tear... He had begun to cry.

"I don't want to die in here! I don't want to be alone again!" he whispered, trying so hard to stop his crying. But it didn't help, and he laid his head down, trying not to show Molly.

He felt selfish that Molly should come to the same fate if she stayed with him, but he really didn't want to die in here alone either.

Soon a paw was put on his cheek to wipe away a tear. It was Molly, who was looking down at him with a confident face.

"Well, if you can't walk and can't jump back over, then I guess we need a new option!" Molly told him.

She then lay down and told Larch to hoist himself on top of her back. Not being left any choice, he did as he was told, and got onto her back. At first, it looked like she wouldn't be strong enough, but she used all of her strength to get back on all four paws, and was actually holding him up. She had made sure Larch's hurt leg was hanging off her side.

"What are you doing…and also…how are you doing it?" he asked, and soon stopped crying.

"I am not going to leave a friend behind. And you didn't think I was that weak, did you?" she answered and started to move forward down the run.

"I wasn't sure I could carry you at first, but I did beat Bigwig at a fight, so I would think that carrying you wouldn't be too much harder," Molly continued.

"Thank you, Molly. Now I see why Fiver loves you. You're just like him, the kind that would never give up on her friends. Also, don't take this the wrong way...but you are very pretty." He complimented her, making her blush a little.

"I hope this run leads to the others, but I guess we should keep looking for Hawkbit, like we're supposed to." she replied. Larch nodded in agreement, and so they went on their way, hoping to find the others.

What they didn't know, was that Larch was leaving a trail of blood because of his wound, and something had found it. Starting to bare its teeth, it began following that trail. But the creature was smart enough to keep a long distance behind them to stay hidden.

As they continued on, they could notice that the rocks around them were starting to form crystals in the wall. But they were pointed outward, and were obviously very sharp.

"Man, Larch, everything just wants to injure you today, doesn't it?" She joked with him, and was actually getting him to laugh a little as she carefully maneuvered around the sharp crystals.

"Hawkbit, are you in here?!" Larch shouted. But sadly, he only got loud echoes. Then, all of sudden, a large crystal from the roof smashed down. Luckily, it had just barely missed killing them, but it did throw them to the ground, forcing Larch to fall off of Molly, while she fell next to him. Both were panting hard; eyes wide with fear.

"All right…let's not do that again!" Larch panted, still very shocked that such a noise could bring this whole place down.

Molly nodded very fast, but soon stopped to look up at the shaking crystals above them. They could see where the crystal fell from. Luckily for them, none fell after that one, and soon stopped shaking.

They both sighed in relief. But, sadly, this meant that they couldn't really call out for Hawkbit. The best they could do was just keep an eye out for him.

"I hope the others are doing better than us," Molly whispered to Larch, hoping the rest of the place wouldn't collapse with them inside. Molly soon picked Larch back up and continued on with their scary and possibly very deadly journey.

Back with Hazel and Fiver, they had both just recently entered their run, and of course Fiver was now as scared as ever. Not for his own sake, but for everyone else. Hazel forced him to walk alongside of him. He knew there wasn't anything scary about this place, but he couldn't be too cautious.

As they continued, Hazel could feel that Fiver was shaking even more, and saw that he was constantly looking around at the ceiling and ground for something. At first it looked like he was trying to search for Hawkbit, but the way he was doing it was a little unnerving, like he was searching for a predator to come out and attack them. But, finally, Hazel started to talk to him and try to calm him down.

"Fiver, you don't have to be afraid. I won't let anything happen to you," Hazel reassured him with a smile.

"I know, Hazel. I trust you, but there's just something...dangerous…in this place," he replied, closing his eyes for a second and shaking a little, then once again reopening them.

"Well, it may look creepy in here, yes, but it won't hurt us." Sadly, this didn't calm Fiver down at all. He just looked as scared as before.

"It's not that, Hazel. I just feel like there something in here with us!" he exclaimed.

"Well, of course. We came in here with a group, remember? So, of course, we won't be alone." Fiver sighed. The best he could was ignore the feeling and continue on with the search before he was accidentally left behind.

Hazel had heard a loud moan sound and started to look around for where it was coming from. It was Fiver having one of his visions. The seer soon collapsed to the ground, panting hard with wide eyes.

Hazel rushed over to see what he could to do to help, but the best he could do was just try and comfort his little brother until the vision had pass.

Fiver soon started to freak out and scratch anything in his way. Sadly, Hazel was in the way, but seeing that Fiver wasn't that strong, he just held his arms in place so his claws wouldn't hit him.

"Fiver, wake up!" he shouted, trying to get him to stop before he hurt himself by accident.

That seem to do the trick, because Fiver started to calm back down, and his panting soon began to slow down and stop.

"What happened, Hazel? Why are you holding me like this?" he asked.

"Sorry," Hazel apologized, letting his arms go.

"You had a vision, and from what I saw it was a pretty nasty one! What was it about?"

"I am not sure, something about an old foe…but sadly I couldn't make it out," he answered, shaking a little.

Hazel grabbed Fiver and pulled him against his chest, trying to help comfort him.

"It's all right, I am here. You don't need to worry," he whispered to his little brother, trying to calm him down some more.

"You don't have to go into any more detail if you don't want to."

"Thanks Hazel. You always know the right thing to say," Fiver told him.

"All right, we should probably get back to finding Hawkbit. Unless you want me to take you back?"

It would be a giant relief to Fiver, getting out of this terrible and scary place…but Fiver felt like he needed to stay, and because he felt that Hawkbit running away like this was his fault. So he decided to stay with Hazel and help him search.

"I would feel more comfort if he went back at the Down, but I don't want to force him if he doesn't want to go," Hazel thought, as they both continued on with the search in their run.

Soon Hazel had started to walk a little slower, trying to think over what the vision meant, and Fiver was now starting to pass him.

"Hawkbit, are you in here?!" Hazel called out, but still didn't get a response. He then turned his attention back to Fiver, and now noticed that something was missing on his brother's tail.

"Fiver, what happened to your tail?" he asked, seeing that Fiver had a bare spot on it now.

"Some of the fur accidentally tore off at the hole that led us into the big cave. It got caught and I couldn't tell anyone before you all started to push me through and…well..." he explained. Feeling a little embarrassed, he sat down so Hazel couldn't get too much of a look.

"Only a little. It's nothing too major to worry about. Can we just please get back to looking for Hawkbit? It's embarrassing enough." Fiver tried to plead with his brother, but Hazel wasn't giving up.

"Yes...once I get a look at it. Now stop moving!" he demanded.

Fiver just kept trying to dodge Hazel, making sure his tail was far away from him as possible. But Hazel soon had enough of this, and tackled his brother, pinning him down to the ground. Of course, Fiver didn't stand a chance now, seeing that his brother was a lot stronger than him.

For the first time in his life, Hazel heard something he would never want to hear from his little brother.

"Ow! You're hurting me, Hazel!" Fiver shouted, trying to get him off before he did any serious damage.

"I am sorry, Fiver. I didn't mean to hurt you. It's just that I am your older brother, and sometimes I worry about you," he apologized, and soon got off of Fiver so he could stand back up.

"It's all right, Hazel. I don't think you did any real damage," Fiver replied as he started to move his wrist back and forth.

"What is wrong with me lately? Why am I causing him pain?" Hazel thought as he started to help look over Fiver's wrist.

"Well, it seems all right. We should probably keep looking for Hawkbit," Hazel told Fiver, who soon nodded in agreement.

As they continued on with their search, Hazel was starting to think over whether he was really trying to protect Fiver, like he had promised to his mother. But lately, it had only backfired into hurting him instead of helping him. Hazel started to slow down, letting Fiver go ahead of him. He started to look over his brother's body, and started to remember all the wounds on Fiver.

He saw everything from the wound Hawkbit inflicted upon him, to his own blow and it only seemed that he was doing more damage than protecting him. Hazel bowed his head, letting a small tear hit the ground. He started to stare at the ground, thinking more over this.

"If I am supposed to be his protector, then why am I doing such a horrible job? Fiver must think that I am the worst brother ever!" he thought, blaming everything that has happened to Fiver on himself.

"Why am I his older brother? He shouldn't even be here. He should be resting back at the Down!" As he was thinking, he wasn't paying enough attention to where he was going and accidentally wandered down a different run, leaving Fiver all alone. But, sadly, they both didn't notice.

As Fiver continued on, he started to feel like he was alone, and soon noticed that Hazel was no longer walking next to him. When he looked back, his eyes went wide as he saw, to his horror, that Hazel was no longer behind him. He was gone.

"Hazel, where did you go?" Fiver called out, really hoping to get a response. But, sadly, none came.

He started to look around to see if maybe Hazel was just trying to hide from him, even if it sounded a little farfetched. But there was no sign of his brother.

"That's strange. He would never go anywhere without telling me," Fiver thought as he continued to called his name, hoping for some kind of response.

He thought that maybe Hazel had just stopped to rest and was now out of his eyesight, so he started to walk back the way he came. But it only led to more darkness, and still no Hazel could be seen.

"Hazel!"
He was starting to panic a little, fearing that he would soon be left behind to die in this place, or to be eaten by whatever else was in here.

"Hazel, I thought you said wouldn't leave me!" Fiver thought, as he started to break down a little.

"Alright, this is no time to panic. Now what would Hazel do in this type of situation?"

"I guess I need to keep moving forward. Maybe I will find him that way!" he told himself, trying to keep up his spirits. As he continued down the run, trying to locate his brother, he started to feel that the air was a little moist, and felt himself getting a little hot.

He tried to look for the cause. Soon, he turned to one of the walls to see that there was steam coming from the small cracks around it.

"So that's why it feels hot…but where is this steam coming from?"

He really didn't have the time to worry about it right now, so he just left it be and continued on with his search. As he went on, the heat situation started to calm down a little, but Fiver was starting to lose a little hope. He still couldn't find his brother or anyone else.

"Hazel! Are you here?" he called out…but there was still no response.

"Your brother has abandoned you, little seer," a mysterious voice told him.

Fiver stood frozen in shock for a moment, and soon started to search around for the noise. But everything was covered in darkness…only now he knew he wasn't alone anymore!

"Why not just give up?" the voice asked.

"No! I can find Hazel easily!" he shouted, his voice echoing into the darkness.

"I have heard this voice before and it's the same one from my vision…but I can't remember who it is!" Fiver thought, trying still to locate this mysterious creature.

"You will die in here!" it began shouting at him.

"You have no hope!"

"Now just give yourself to me!"

"Everyone hates you and you should know that by now."

"Hazel doesn't hate me, he loves me!" Fiver replied, and started to keep walking away from it.

"Then why did he leave you?"

Fiver didn't know what to say at this. It was a mysterious question. Why would Hazel just leave him like this?

He started to doubt a little in his mind. Maybe Hazel did just leave him alone. Maybe he was just fed up with taking care of him.

"No! You are just my imagination getting to me, that's all," he whispered, trying to stay confident against the voice.

"I wish I wasn't...Long ear!"

Fiver stood frozen. He could hear the owner of the voice licking its lips, and now he remembered the voice from long ago, the voice of a once thought destroyed predator.

He turned around just in time to see large claws heading towards him and pinning him underneath, stabbing into his chest.

"No, no! You died down here!" he shouted, trying to get back up. But he was no match for the massive creature.

"Hazel!" he shouted, the word echoing down throughout the entire cave system.