I am on fire today! This is like my quickest fanfic ever!
The rabbit family were all awoken by a shrill, ear splitting scream. All seventy nine youths leapt out of bed, eyes wide, and the father of the home, Nathan, fell out of bed. He jumped up and rushed to his only sons room, the source of his wife's screams.
"Julie? Julie! What's wrong?!" he tumbled into the room with most of his daughters behind. The rabbit was on her knees, paws on the side of her head and gripping savagely at her ears, eyes wide and dilated with disbelief and horror, mouth wide open, breath coming in audible, shuddering, terrified gasps. "Julie! What's-"
"He's gone!" she sobbed, beginning to cry. "He's gone! My baby's gone!" he gently pulled her to her feet and embraced her now shaking form. "My precious baby- where is he?!"
"I… I don't know." He was puzzled. Squint would never go outside when they weren't awake. He always asked permission. Always. Even though the answer was always 'Of course sweetie' from his mother, or 'Knock yourself out squirt', from is father, he always asked. So where could he be?
He wasn't hiding, he was sure of that. If he was, upon hearing his mother scream and/or begin to cry, he'd of rushed right out to reassure her and apologize. But no such thing happened.
Crystal and Sabrina shared looks. Was it… no. It couldn't of been their fault. He was upset, but not to the point that he'd run off… right? Although they felt a little bad, they thought it best not to jump to conclusions and give their mother an emotional breakdown not just of sadness and worry, but of anger as well. "Well… maybe he just went off to play with the other kids. You always say yes anyway."
"Yeah." Crystal agreed. "He probably just caught on and decided not to ask."
Julie shifted in her husbands arms and looked over at her daughter. She made a valid-ish point. She did always let him go, and that seemed like a sensible thing to do. So she zipped out before anyone could stop her, the wind rushing past her drying her tears as she ran off to his nearest friends cave. Flynn lived closest.
His mother, Katelynn was near hysterics, while Dilynn tried to calm her down while looking for their cheery, hyper son. Rosalynn stood nearby, twiddling her flippers and keeping her eyes fixed on the ground. Something was up, aside from the obvious. She knew something.
Before she could interrogate her, however, Joyeeta rushed up to her. "Julie!" she gasped from running. "Oh Julie! Tell me you've seen Gupta! We can't find him anywhere!"
She groaned and covered her eyes. Just great! Three of them were missing. This day just couldn't get any worse, could it…?
"Oi! Hey mates!" Blayke hopped up with Lalli in tow. "Tell meh y've seen Razmia! Sheh's disappeared!" he only used Raz's full name when he was in serious panic mode.
"Oh fudge…" she muttered irritably. 'You had to ask, didn't you?' the bitter side of her conscience yelled. "At least-"
"Mademoiselles, pardon me" Andre, Silas's father, landed on Lalli's shoulder. "But have you seen our son? He seems to missing." Really? Julie wanted to scream. Really?!
"Not you too!" Amethyst, Gunner's mom, appeared in an overhead tree. "I can't find him anywhere! I've looked all over!"
"They're all gone?" Jake asked, appearing with Lily behind her. They shared looks. Uh oh…
-Elsewhere-
The kids could walk no more. Finding a nice cave, they all collapsed and instantly fell asleep, arranging with their new friends to wake them in a couple hours. It wasn't the soft beds they were used to, but they didn't care. They'd lost a lot of sleep to get far away and make decent progress, and now it was time to make up for at least some of that.
They slept heavily for two and a half hours (the fireflies didn't have it in their tiny hearts to wake them up on time. They just looked so sweet and innocent…), snoring softly and unknowingly curled up together for warmth.
The bugs decided it was time they roused them; otherwise they may be mad for losing precious time. They woke easily enough, yawning and rubbing their eyes. They nibbled at their packed food for about fifteen minutes, knowing they had to make it last.
When they emerged from their cave shelter, stretching out their still tired muscles, Silas noticed something. A large slithering sheet of bright lights weaving across the sky. "Oh…" they were even prettier in the day time, with the pure blue and white backdrop. "Look mon amis! The Aurores Boreales! The Northern Lights!" he pointed them out, and they all got wide eyes.
"Wow…"
"Iss' all… sparkly." Raz sounded entranced. "Where d'they come fr'm?"
"I don't know. None to for sure, not even Mother." Pain flashed in his grayish blue eyes at the mention of his parents, but he continued all the same. "It is said to be our ancestors, guiding us to our desired destination."
"Um…" Gupta tilted his head, confused. He wasn't even sure what ancestor meant. He was only five. "Alright… Sparkle!" she landed on his finger, warbling curiously. "Good, you're here. So… we just follow them then?"
The French bird shrugged. "I suppose." And they were off again.
As they went along, Raz shivered and hugged her arms. If there was one thing she didn't like about living further north, it was the cold. Australia rarely ever saw snow, and when the fluffy white precipitation did fall, it usually melted upon immediate contact with the ground, or soon after. She still wasn't used to it. Usually whenever she got chilly, her mother would tuck her in her pouch for a little while.
The thought of Lalli made her eyes sting, but she blinked the tears away. They'd be home soon enough. Plus… she didn't want them freezing on her face due to the chilly wind blowing about.
She reached up to her neck and fingered the nearly invisible decoration. It was a tiny spiraling seashell, matching her fur exactly, and so small it almost completely disappeared. Her mother had given it to her on one of her first trips outside the pouch, holding it up for her to see before tying it carefully around her neck. None of her friends ever saw it, considering she almost always had her scarf on, hiding it, and that it had natural camouflage.
Her scarf had been a gift on her fourth birthday, a few days after they arrived at their current home, the day after she met her now closest, most favored companions. Her mother had spent hours kneading and shaping the cotton so it was perfectly smooth, using tiny bits of sparkling dust made from crushed crystalline rocks to make it glimmer. She'd also sprinkled with water that she had boiled rose and lilacs in, making it smell nice. The scent was faded a little, but still there. She loved the simple little garment to death.
She was so caught up in her thoughts and fond memories, she didn't realize what they were all heading towards, until- "Woah!" her feet were suddenly dragged out from under her, and they were all sent tumbling down a hard slope, leaving Glowbot, Lightning, Sparkle, Electro, Aurora, Beam, and Shine to squeak in alarm and flitter after their now unconscious friends.
I'm terrible to them, aren't I? I'm sorry guys! I don't torture you on purpose! And don't worry, they're ok.
Oh! Ice age 4 comes out in exactly one week! Only 7 days! Woo hoo!
Extra points to whoever can guess who might make an appearance in the next chapter. Haven't decided yet though.