A.N: Here's the fifth chapter! Enjoy :3

(EDIT: The first three chapters have been re-written, so I would advise you to go back and read. Not a lot has changed, but there are big differences.)


After a stern implorement from Mr. Mime, both Flippy and Flaky found themselves in a seat outside of the principal's office, shrouded in a cloud of awkward silence. From time to time, they would share a quick look, but the moment their eyes met, they'd instantly turn their heads the other way as a flood of humiliation swept over them. The door to the office opened, and out stepped Mr. Mime. No doubt he was angry whilst discussing their fight with the headmaster, because as he left the room to return to his classroom, the deer shot them both a stern, warning look practically demanding that they 'never do it again'.

"I hope you know that fighting in school is against the rules of this school." The moment they'd both entered the office, she was instantly met with the voice of their aware headmaster.

Stunned, they both hesitated to take a seat in front of the wooden desk. But soon did as the mole gestured them to do so. Their short trip to the principle's office wasn't as terrible as they'd assumed; Flaky was intrigued to see that their headmaster was blind, but even more intrigued at his friendliness. Yet still, a punishment is a punishment, and Mr. Mole had to carry out the rules of the school; excluding both Flaky and Flippy for the rest of the day, as a result of their violence. So after their brief talk with the purple mole, they exited the office.

"So the principle's blind?" Flaky started, trying to make a conversation over their awkwardness as they trekked towards their lockers. Flippy nodded his head, "He is, but don't be fooled. The last person that tried to take advantage of his disability was permanently excluded from school."

The porcupine frowned, "I see…" having arrived at the corridor of lockers, Flaky unlocked hers to retrieve any belongings, "…so, if you don't mind me asking of course, what the hell happened back there?" her gaze was now stern as she quizzed him, and it mustered up a doubtful feeling inside him. What was he supposed to say without giving off the impression of a lunatic?

"Uh, well, it's not something easy to explain without sounding crazy," he began, stuffing his books into his bag. Flaky narrowed her eyes as she muddled over his words, "Go on." she urged him to continue, but he couldn't bring himself to utter an explanation right now, "tell you what, when we get out of here I'll take you for a bite to eat, then I'll tell you everything. Okay?"

Abashed, Flaky just shrugged and accepted his offer with a nod, "Sure, why not?" the porcupine then froze in thought, glancing at her wristwatch, "It's the third period, right? Which class is Lammy in?"

Flippy took a moment to think over the lamb's timetable; being a year younger, Lammy's lessons were different, "I think she has Mathematics, her least favourite." he replied with a chuckle. Flaky's face lit up with a smile, "Well then, all the better to bring her with us!"

"You can't be serious! She'll fall behind, and Math isn't something easy to catch up on-"

"Oh don't be such a nag! Lammy will thank us for sure!" Flaky disrupted him, nudging her elbow roughly against his arm to urge him on, "Come on, don't be a bore."

Eventually, Flippy buckled under her persistent behaviour and agreed, "Alright, alright! I'll show you the way to her Math class."

Now stood outside the door to Lammy's current classroom, Flaky pulled out a scrap piece of paper from her notebook and neatly scribbled down a fake dismissal note against the wall. All the while, Flippy stood aside and watched with amusement, "Do you really think the teacher's going to believe that? That's one of the oldest tricks in the book." Flaky only shot him an indolent smile, "Watch me."

With her head perched in her hand, Lammy's drooping eyes bored into the back of the teacher's head as he scribbled down masses of algebra on the whiteboard. Now and then, she'd glance up at the clock, only to be let down by time. Despite algebra being one of her least favourite subjects of Math, Lammy knew more than enough about it having studied it frequently.

A brief series of knocks from the door had paused the teacher in his drab explanations, much to the class' respite, "Enter." the teacher accorded, and when the door opened to reveal Flaky, Lammy expectantly straightened up in her seat.

"I have a note from the headmaster, for Lammy to be dismissed." the porcupine stated after clearing her throat. The teacher adjusted his glasses over his eyes to read the note. With very little reason to be dismissed, Lammy was at a loss for a moment, but when she took sight of her brother peaking through the door she got a gist of what was going on.

"Hmm…" the teacher mumbled, his eyes narrowly scanning the note. Lammy presumed he could tell the note was fake, until, "…very well. Gather your things, Lammy, then you may leave."

As she turned to leave, Flaky shot Lammy a wink as she stuffed her books and pencil case in her bag, and shot an egoistic look at Flippy as she left the class, "Told you so." she whispered with a smile, to which Flippy raised an eyebrow and leered a smile, "I stand corrected."

…~x~X~x~…

The two girls had left the ordering up to Flippy as they arrived, and went off into the restaurant's dining area to find a table to sit at. It was void of any people of their age, as they'd still be stowed away in a dull school building. Having found the best table, a secluded booth at the far end of the diner, Flaky and Lammy took their seats facing one another, and set their bags by their feet.

Lammy held a thankful grin for the porcupine, still grateful for being saved from the inevitable doom of Math. Flaky simply smiled back and playfully patted the younger girls head, "You and your brother should break the rules more often. It's not as drastic as it's made out to be." she playfully stated, rousing a skeptical expression on the lamb's face, "Is that the reason you've been kicked out of so many schools in the past?"

A little taken aback by her fortuitous question, Flaky's eyes widened and her cheeks lightened with embarrassment, "A-Ah, that? Well, I just…I didn't want to waste my time of youth in no dumb school."

Lammy only smiled tightly, narrowing her eyes with dubiety, "I see. So you aren't a mean old rebel then?" Flaky's smile brightened with bemusement at Lammy's question, "The school's uptite staff will probably tell you that much."

Noticing a familiar shade of green approaching them silenced Lammy from continuing their conversation, "Food's here!" she happily buzzed. Flaky turned her head to shoot a small smile at the bear before he sat down, placing their tray of food down on the table between them.

Sadly, as Lammy hastily dug into her french fries, she was oblivious to the awkward tension that had settled between both Flaky and Flippy since their breakout of violence in detention. Flippy could tell that the porcupine still wanted those answers she'd demanded before, and the hard look in her eyes told him that she wasn't going to let anything slide. So he began to follow in Lammy's steps and ate some of his fries too, waiting for Flaky to bring up the topic.

And she did, after prolonging the dreaded silence, "So," Flaky began, swallowing her mouthful of chewed food, "care to tell me the reason behind your little show earlier?"

The moment her wary question rolled off her tongue, Flippy was hit by a harsh wall of perplexity, and he wasn't so sure he'd find the ability to explain without trembling over the distressing memories. With her attention now pulled from her food, Lammy meekly eyed the two teens, but with more caution at her older brother. Something must have happened for Flaky to ask such a thing, and it made Lammy's appetite shrink.

"Is…everything okay, guys?" the lamb gingerly spoke up, heeding their blatant tension. Flaky turned to face Lammy with a warm, reassuring expression, "Don't worry, Lammy, I'm just a tad curious about your brother's different behaviors."

Flippy turned down his food for the meantime, and thought over how to begin explaining. Lammy didn't want to listen closely; she already knew what was to be said about last year's tragedy…

"Flippy, Lammy, can you both wait quietly in your rooms, please?" their mother's typically warming voice was teaming with apprehension.

The two teens did as they were told and quickly made their way up the stairs to sit tightly in Flippy's room. The lamb never dared to peek through the window blinds as Flippy did, and remained sat shivering with fear. On the other hand, Flippy's body was tense with anger, and he stared out of the small gap in the closed blinds to watch as the small group of people excited one car.

"Why are they back, Flippy?" Lammy nervously questioned. There was a pause before Flippy could think of his response; even he was unsure, "…I don't know…but I want to find out."

As the bear headed for the bedroom door, the lamb's eyes widened with consternation, "Where are you going?!" she loudly whispered. Flippy turned to gesture at Lammy to remain where she was, "I'm going to see what they want for myself. I'm sick of mom and dad hiding things from us."

Then with that, the bear darted towards the top of the stairs; light on his feet to prevent the stir of alert. He waited by the stair banister with a hitched breath to see the people who stepped through the door. Both his mother and father were stood in place, metres away from their front door. Their shared rigidity was practically steaming from them, and it provoked Flippy's insecurities about the arising situation - were they about to let danger step through the door?

He blinked his drying eyes and continued to watch with anticipation. He had a very bad feeling that something awful was soon to happen, so he instinctually became more alert as the door was opened from the outside.

Up to four people entered - their features were masked by black full-bodied gear suits. The three taller ones were the only to approach Flippy's parents. The much shorter one, obviously female, silently stood aside from them as they began to converse sternly.

"It pains us to drop by like this, Mr and Mrs Olivine, but without reserve we were left with no choice." Flippy's eyes narrowed with uncertainty, but he continued to eavesdrop on the indigent conversation. His father spoke up, "You are all unwanted here, and you lack the right to waltz through my door with threats against my family-"

"Threats?" the leading male intervened with a disbelieving chuckle, "The only threats here are the ones you've brought upon yourself, Frank. You didn't bother to pay back your favours. We kept all those mouths shut for the sake of your life and the lives of your wife and kids, and your ignorance is what we get in return?" the rising tone of spite in the man's voice was alarming, and as he took a slow step forward, Flippy's mother and father took another step back, "We've already stated several times that we want nothing to do with your cooperation anymore! Screw your contract, and get the hell out of my house!"

As Frank raised his voice over the other man, the stranger pulled out a handgun from his side and aimed it in his the bear's face. This only flickered a spark of panic in Flippy, and watching as the uninvited guest pointed a gun in his own father's face gave him the blind urges to react. And yet, he didn't - paralyzed by the surges of fear that wracked down his nervous system.

He heard his mother whimper on the verge of tears, "Please, Frank…just do what he wants us to do…" the armed man smiled behind his mask, "You're wife is a smart woman, you should listen to her."

Whether or not his wife's worries were calling to him, Frank still wasn't going to lower his guard for the advantage of a slimy group of fugitives. So as he stood in front of Margarette, Frank sternly loured at the gunned man, "I am NOT going to just let you come into my house with your demands. Now leave."

Flippy held a smile of slight triumph after witnessing the strength his father's willpower staying intact, despite the form of danger that stood in his face. However, that smile soon faded when the four masked invaders remained unmoving, as if waiting for the order of their leader.

"Fine. But before we depart, I want to leave you a little…housewarming present…" the man spoke before gesturing his head to the two stood either side of him, "…go." with that, they both exited. The smaller one of them all seemed to look back and forth at the gunned man and the door with skepticism in her motions, so he set her with different instructions, "Check upstairs, and take my other gun. I'm sure you'll know what to do with it."

Flippy's eyes widened stupefaction, and he instantly retreated back down the hallway to join Lammy after hearing his mother and father protest with both anger and worry, hearing the slow footsteps of the approaching girl up the stairs.

"Quickly, Lammy! Hide under the bed!" he hastily instructed, before approaching his bedroom closet. After swinging open the doors to quietly step in, Flippy rested his finger over his lips in a hushing motion to ensure Lammy will remain quiet.

Though disheveled by the sudden rush of confusion, the lilac lamb did as she was told, and remained as silent as possible in the darkness under Flippy's bed. She set her eyes to intently watch the open door, and seconds later a pair of black boots were seen gingerly sneaking through the door. Letting her eyes follow the wandering feet into the room, Lammy breathed as quiet as she possibly could to prevent alerting the stranger. But from within the wardrobe, Flippy could vaguely see the intruder through the thin strip between the wooden doors of hit closet. She was holding the gun tightly in both hands, and gave off an anxiously tense impression. There was something about her that made Flippy think twice about charging out and attacking - and it wasn't just because she was a small girl, it was mostly due to her hesitant approach and lack of action.

"If that little bitch does anything to my children I'll kill her, and the rest of you!" they each heard Frank yell from downstairs, followed by a calmer response from the man, "Tsk, tsk, how rude of you to utter such presumptions," he looked back out the door to spot his two other partners carrying an empty gas canister back to their four-by-four.

Flippy watched as the girl scoffed at his father's rude remark, and she looked down at the gun in her hand before shaking her head with disgust. There was no doubt she was standing in the wrong pair of shoes right now. He would have witnessed the removal of her mask, but the erupting sound of a gunshot had startled all of them near to death, followed by the slam of the front door - Lammy and Flippy were especially shaken up with trepidation.

The girl whizzed around to face the open door of the bedroom, "No…no, no, no…!" she hissed with disbelief before rushing over to the bedroom window, only to witness as her crew piled into the car to speed off. Not only that, but a bright glow emitted from below, and she quickly grasped the situation unfolding before her, "Those bastards!"

With his patience up, and an overpowering inquisitiveness tugging at his nerves, Flippy pushed himself through the closet doors to catch the girl before she hurried out of the room. What she then said was nothing he'd expected, "You need to get out of here!"

"What are you talking about?" he asked with a frown, only to have both arms pryed at to guide him out of the bedroom door in a hurry, "Don't ask questions! Just-"

"Wait!" Flippy loudly intervened before turning back to the bedroom, "Lammy, come on!" after the firm instruction, the lilac lamb appeared from under the bed, and she stumbled to her feet to stay close by her brother as they were lead down stairs.

The oil-fueled fire that the other masked strangers had started was already spreading rapidly, catching most of the bottom flour's interior. The heart-racing heat of the house was getting to all three of them, and the burning fumes were painful to inhale. All of a sudden, during their hasty descent down the stairs, the wooden foundation in the ceiling about cracked and collapsed through, plummeting right down in front of them. They each flinched back with surprise, and the masked girl turned to point back up the stairs.

"Hurry! You'll have to find another way out!" she instructed with a panic-coated voice. Flippy and Lammy complied and moved back to the second floor, "Why are you helping us? I thought you were here to rid of us?" Lammy abruptly asked the girl, to which she solemnly replied, "…This was a big mistake."

Before they had the chance to say anything else, the girl quickly retraced her steps back down the stairs and dived over the banister to dodge past the fallen pile of ceiling and destroyed steps. Flippy and Lammy's eyes widened, and a wave of horror and skepticism turned their stomachs. Nevertheless, there was no time to stand around and wait in a burning house.

Flippy grabbed his sister's hand and lead her to their parents' bedroom, "Let's go, we'll have to climb down the ivory." with that, he pushed open the window as wide as he possibly could and stepped out. They were quick and careful with their footing down the trellis structure, and were eventually safely on the feet again. However, their parents were still in the danger of their house…

It was quite the struggle, but after minutes of cautiously weaving in and out of the deadly risks that engulfed nearly every room she'd searched, the girl had finally found what she was looking for. The parents of the two she had just parted from the potential dangers were cowering in their kitchen, trapped being a wall of collapsed, burning wood and more fallen ceiling pieces. In an impulse, the masked female leapt as high as she could over the piles of flames to reach the two adults, only to notice who had inflicted the injury from the fired gun.

Their father was struggling to stay on his feet with his hands over his excruciating bullet wound through his calf. His wife was doing everything she could to hold him up, but was too strangled by her own fearful tears, shock, and the overpowering thick smoke to help him move fast enough. So the girl snaked by his free side and wrapped his arm over her shoulder to hoist up the weight he was struggling to carry on his own.

"This way!" the small girl exclaimed over the roar of the fires, and she then walked them in the direction of the back door. Luck was on their side; the door's pathway was clear, but they were sure to quickly escape through it in case another loose part of the ceiling blocked it off.

Frank and Margarette both turned back after exiting to catch the girl in their sight, but to their surprise she was nowhere to be seen.

"...then the following week, I'd began to feel an odd and unnatural pain inside my head, and went through an aggressive phase where I'd suddenly lash out at people around me. My doctor eventually diagnosed my newfound condition as 'post traumatic stress disorder' after days of tests and treatments, and signed me up for a personal therapist...turns out the incident really took its toll on my mentality."

Flippy ended his explanation with a light-hearted chuckle to brush off the depression that threatened to rise along with the memories. But despite his undefeated smile, Flaky couldn't shake the heavy weight of horror that plowed down onto her shoulders during his heart-wrenching tale. The complete loss of her appetite had led the porcupine to neglect the tray of food before her, and she abruptly pushed it away. This caught the attention of both Flippy and Lammy, and they looked at her troubled expression with concern.

Lammy stopped chewing the food in her mouth, swallowed before speaking, "Are you...oka-"

"I'm okay! I-I'm fine! I just...u-uh, I need to...I need to go!" then with that sudden outburst said, Flaky quickly scooped up her bag and dived out of her seat to race for the door, leaving behind two dumbfounded siblings.

Flaky's heart was racing as she exited the restaurant. Her appetite had been destroyed, but that didn't matter by the slightest. The only thing she cared about now was getting out of their sight for the rest of the day, and if whatever luck she had was on her side, Flaky would do everything and anything to avoid them during school tomorrow.

Just when Flaky ever so foolishly assumed she had trekked down an entirely different path from her distorted past, the beginning of a new start had just made one thing clear: erasing what has happened will be an impossible price to pay.

Especially now that Flaky had obliviously befriended two very memorable fragments of the tragic incident.