Hello my friends. It is I, here to tell you sorry for the long wait.

I was out of town this weekend and pretty much forced myself to write the next chapter of Blissfully Ill; I was terribly happy when I finished. I know what I want to do... for the most part, though the end is still a bit sketchy. I have a fair idea of what's going to happen, though.

This intro is short, and that's mostly because I am STRESSING THE F OUT! I cannot find my flash drive for the LIFE of me, which has literally ALL OF MY SCHOOL WORK on it. I'm trying not to get too upset... if I left it at school though, I'll never find it. I just happened to lose it the ONE DAY I voluntarily cleaned my room. Figures. I'm never cleaning my room again...

Like I said, enjoy the chapter, please, and leave a nice, long review. It'll help me feel better. Sorry if the chap itself is a little off, but I haven't written much at all (It has been MONTHS. Months... gosh...).

Read and Review!

Chapter 18

The area was dark, with only spools of moonlight leaking through tiny cracks in the surface. The cave, once only a single section, had been molded into a dungeon – gaping holes led to other sections of earth and roots, though there was only one room with totems lining the area.

"Well, how did it go?"

The dark figure had been holding a totem, glaring into its glowing red eyes. As the lighter spoke, it broke its concentration and looked over. Moonlight rolled off of its sleek, spotted fur. "All according to plan; our little friend froze the heater and destroyed it."

"What about their power?"

The spotted figure shrugged. "There wasn't enough time to completely ruin it, but I think I did well enough so that it won't work so well on its own anymore. Don't worry, it'll be enough."

The other animal, now walking, moved beneath another strand of light. The silvery glow caressed its own spotted, snowy coat. As the form's upper body stepped out of the light, a long, thick tail trailed behind, twitching at the end as it almost always did.

"And the other?"

The dark figure grinned. "I sent him up. The little fellow's gotten big since we brought him down here."

"He better have!" growled the lighter figure. "You don't know how difficult it is to use complex manipulation spells after so many years. We're just lucky our little pet doesn't have a strong sense of self, or it would have taken so much longer to drive our ancient language's teachings into his skull."

"I know, I know," said the darker animal. "Thank you again for taking time out of your harried schedule to drive him mad. I know how much you dislike doing it."

The area was dark, but the black figure could actually feel the other smirk. "I hate you, you know that? I hate you and your freakin' know-it-all attitude."

"Those who live in ignorance often hate those who don't."

"F.Y.I., we're living in a cave. One which, might I add, is literally collapsing on top of us."

"Oh, such big words, coming from you; literally, collapsing… - have you been reading a dictionary without me looking again?"

The white figure growled deep in its throat and unsheathed it's curved, silvery claws, raking them against the rock as it circled the darker. "Hate, hate, hate, hate, hate~."

"And I you, my dear."

Just as the lighter figure was pulling back its large paw, a sound came from beyond one of the tunnels. Both figures froze, waiting, until a familiar form appeared at the corner of the main entrance.

"Pet!" said the lighter, hopping past the darker and ambling over to the hunched, green-skinned creature. Their voice was met with a lopsided grin, and the lighter hugged the lanky figure, dragging him over to the rock. "Did you do anything devious for me today? Hm?"

The figure didn't answer but grinned again. He held in his hand a shard of ice, and every breath he took emitted a frosty cloud of ice crystals. It was warm underground, but his breath was like the arctic. The lighter figure didn't seem fazed by his chilling presence, though; in fact, it seemed to enjoy the cold.

"I already told you what he did," mumbled the dark figure, ignoring as its accomplice sat down, setting the green-skinned creature before its feet and stroking his long brown hair. "In a few minutes the other will probably return."

"I'm so excited! We'll be out soon, won't we? All of those years stuck under this stupid forest in this stupid cave…"

The darker sighed wistfully. "Yes. It'll be fun to finally be able to leave. I see the sunlight and I'm eager to feel it on my fur again."

"Forget the sun," said the lighter. "I want to see the moon again. Or the mountains! I wanna run thought the pine forests and hunt again."

"It'll be nice…" The darker frowned suddenly, saying, "It'll be… troublesome if our cousins find out what we're up to and attempt to stop us."

"They already know," the lighter said resolutely, still clawing gently at her pet's thick hair. "You know they know, but it's not as if they can stop us! They know if they use too much of their power that the balance will go crazy, and with all of the power we've been getting over the years we'll be nearly unstoppable!"

"They'll find a way…" the darker growled, clenching the totem in its hand. Already a crack was beginning to form. "They have their slaves, their followers, and they won't hesitate to use their talents."

"We have power!" insisted the lighter. "Raw power! They have restraints, expectations, limitations – we, on the other hand, have a buildup of rage and energy that they've never imagined–!"

"Shh!"

The lighter paused, allowing the sound to reach its ears. The other was returning. "Isn't it a bit early for it to return?"

A few seconds later, a very large figure entered. The creature was big, nearly three times larger than it had been when the two had first brought it underground. The creature's silhouette was hulking and thick; the many layers of fur caught and reflected each strand of nearby light, causing hues of purple to illuminate and then fade.

The creature's mouth was covered in bits of food – there were coffee beans stuck between its teeth, and all kinds of liquids dripping from its chin. As it yawned, both lighter and darker got a whiff of what it had eaten and they gagged. "That thing is a machine!" the lighter said, hissing at the smell. "He must have eaten everything they had left!"

"Good," said the darker. "That'll drain them. The hungrier, the more stressed, the weaker they are the better."

The lighter grinned cattishly and hopped off the rock. Patting the green creature on his head, it then turned to look at the hulking purple mass. The creature whimpered, whistling weakly between its front teeth, but the lighter only hissed at it. It then began saying something in a foreign tongue; it was a language that warped itself as it went on, and it caused a ringing to form between the creature's ears. The purple monster groaned, then began to back up slowly, swinging its tail back and forth. The white figure continued changing and eventually pushed the other back into its own cave deeper underground.

"Keep speaking to it," said the darker as its counterpart's outline began to fade. "We need him as large as possible for when we get out of here."

Even before the war Flippy had never been a very heavy sleeper. He could sleep through some things, like quiet storms and the television (he'd nearly slept through a robbery once), but never anything really loud. Something else about his sleeping habits had changed during the war, too. Flippy wasn't very unsettled by noises that happened closer to his body, but if it came from far away his ears would immediately detect it. He supposed it was something that came with war – it was important to hear enemies hiding in the bushes around your camp, even when you were fast asleep.

So it wasn't a very loud or very close up noise that awoke Flippy that night. The bear rubbed his eyes and sat up in bed, glancing around, hoping to find the source somewhere nearby so he could nullify it and go back to sleep. All was quiet, however. Flippy had quickly gotten used to the coughing, sneezing and nightmare sounds of his fellow sicklies; Flippy had eventually gotten used to not waking up when he himself was stricken with horrible coughs. The ward though, for the most part, was still. No one was very restless that night besides Nutty, who always twitched and murmured in his sleep.

Flippy glanced over at Evil. He could tell the darker bear was awake – his breathing wasn't as smooth or regular – but chose not to acknowledge it. He'd probably just been awoken by the sound too.

Flippy's ear twitched and so did Evil's. There it was again. Flippy grunted as he hurried out of bed; he knew he shouldn't get out, especially now. His condition had gotten a lot worse in the past few days, and now that the heater wasn't functional, it has hard to move around without three layers of cloth around him. Flippy shivered, grabbed his blanket and headed out of the doorway.

Everything was quiet except for the single noise. Flippy could pinpoint its location and headed for the kitchen, clenching the blanket tighter about his shoulders. His muscles ached and he felt nauseous already, but he would never be able to get back to sleep with all of this noise; besides, he was already growing curious as to what the sound even was. It was a lot louder than he thought he'd be as he approached. Who would be up right now anyways? Cuddles, Giggles and the chipmunk's mother were all sick and had been moved into the heavy ward – Flippy had seen them there. Maybe Flaky? No, Flippy thought sadly. The porcupine couldn't and wouldn't miss any chance at sound sleeping. She'd been overworking herself and even thought it was difficult to think about, neither she nor Flippy could see any stop to it in the near future.

Things were so bleak nowadays. Flippy kept thinking about when this had all started and how normal everything had been – for the most part. They were all sick, but no one was even half as worried as they all were now. Before, Sniffles had been in charge and he'd been healthy, but now the anteater was one of the worst of them all. His body was spent and his mind exhausted; Sniffles had overexerted himself so much that he'd fallen asleep the second Flaky forced him into bed and he hadn't woken up since.

Everything's collapsing, Flippy thought as he turned the corner and entered the kitchen.

Then his train of thought stopped. The bear's eyes widened and he had to resist the urge to run back around the corner. Usually the bear didn't have such reactions – he'd fought in the war and had battled with Evil, what was there to be afraid of? – but this… this was just a bit… much.

Standing before the fridge was a giant purple beaver. The creature was more than three times Flippy's own height, with its small ears just brushing the low roof. The beaver was eating out their entire fridge, pulling meats and vegies into its gaping mouth and swallowing handfuls in one gulp. Flippy's shock grew when he saw that the creature had gone through their pantry and cabinets as well. There were bags of chips lying open and scattered, as well as shredded cans and boxes of cereal scattered here and there. The floor was littered with food, and anything that wasn't on the floor had been eaten.

Flippy took a step forward and stepped on a chip. Flinching he stood completely still as the creature's ears twitched. It quickly turned at the waist, abandoning a handful of grapes and resting on all fours. Its eyes widened, and as it began to glance around, look for an escape, Flippy felt a strange sense of déjà vu. Had he ever seen this animal before? It looked strangely familiar…

A knife flew past Flippy's shoulder and missed the creature by an inch. The giant beaver made a pained sound, stood on its hind legs and charged for the door. Evil growled, stepping past Flippy as he pulled another knife from his waist belt, but Flippy held him back. "No, wait!"

"What? Why?" Evil struggled against Flippy's hold, and he should have been able to pull himself free, but Flippy had grabbed Evil's knife hand and was pushing it up against his twin's side. "Just don't hurt it."

"It's stealing all of our food! We've barely got any left!"

"Just don't!"

The beaver had paused at the entrance, and the two green bears watched as it struggled to slip through. Once outside, it ran off into the far off line of trees.

Flippy winced when Evil punched him into the doorway. "¿Está loco? Why didn't you let me kill that thing?"

"I just…" Flippy groaned, kneading his forehead and trying to dispel his growing migraine. "I don't know. I thought I knew what that thing was. I felt like it was… a friend, somehow."

"A friend?" Evil scoffed, putting his knife against his side again, making sure it was secure. "You have the strangest taste in friends, chico."

Flippy said nothing, the thought was nagging at him so. Who was that? That face, those blue-violet eyes… they were so familiar and yet Flippy felt like the memory had been taken away from him.

"Flippy? Flippy, why are you up?"

Flippy froze, then turned to see Flaky slowly walking down the hallway. She was dressed in his clothes again, a t-shirt and pants, and had a blanket wrapped around her shoulders just as he had done. Her hair was disheveled and her eyes were a bit pink, as if she'd been rubbing them. She still looked tired – just as tired as she'd looked when she'd put Sniffles to bed. Her fur wasn't half its normal scarlet shade and her eyes were discolored too, but with worry and grief rather than stress. It broke Flippy's heart to see her like this.

"Something was here," Evil said, frowning when Flippy hadn't spoken. "It broke in the hospital and it ate everything."

Flippy thought he could hear Flaky's heart stop beating. She hurried down the hallway and gently pushed past them, gasping as she saw the destroyed kitchen. Food was everywhere; empty boxes and cans, shattered plates and cups littered the floor with dangerous glass shards. Most of the cabinet doors were torn off their hinges or hanging by one, and it looked as if the cupboard had been crushed into the bark of the tree. Tables were broken, as were chairs, and Flaky's body began to shake as when she realized that they didn't have much food left. Other than what she saw unopened on the floor or half-eaten and forgotten beneath furniture, there wasn't much of anything.

The three of them were completely silent for a few minutes. Flippy was holding Flaky around the shoulder, trying to sooth her trembling body. Evil was gnawing on a dog tag, digging his teeth into its metal surface and making marks in it.

After a while, Flaky asked what time it was and Evil told her about sunrise (since it was now impossible to tell what time of day it was, there was only 'sunrise' and 'sunset' when it came to daytime). Flaky sighed, commanded Flippy to go back to bed, and began cleaning up the kitchen.

Evil was one of those animals who hated cleaning but liked things to be neat. It was a habit he'd obtained while in the war. He, by nature, was a disorganized bear and didn't like having to clean, but if something was too messy it would drive him insane until he fixed it.

It was for this reason that when Flaky hesitantly asked him to help her, he grumbled and muttered some half-assed excuse but ended up helping her anyway.

The kitchen was an absolute mess; that beaver thing really knew how to piss someone off. Evil was livid – as if they didn't have enough problems! The anteater couldn't research for an antidote to the sickness, everyone else was ill beside he and Flaky, and the porcupine was so stressed she couldn't even sleep. To be truthful, Evil was very grateful that he wasn't playing nurse. It was pitiful; she looked so stressed and worried all of the time. Evil wondered if he'd ever looked like that in the W.A.R... Probably not, but he could at least try to imagine what she was feeling.

Cleaning the kitchen took about forty minutes. They'd had to sweep the entire floor first, to get rid of all the glass, and by the time they were finished Evil had gotten rid of five garbage bags. They'd thrown away any food on the ground and all torn and empty containers. It was only after wiping everything down and reorganizing that the two of them realized what deep shit they were in.

All of the food they had left in the hospital-tree fit on a single shelf in the half-destroyed cupboard. There were a few cans, some bags of chips and a couple of spices and oils that were used to make complex dishes they wouldn't be able to create. A box of crackers, a few boxes of raisons and some pancake batter; other than the half-carton of milk and a packet of Kool-Aid powder, those were all of the provisions they had.

"Oh dear," Flaky whimpered, her voice soft and thin. Evil gave her a half-worried look. She even sounded like she was carrying the weight of the world on her shoulders. "There's so little food. There can't be enough for more than two days."

"Hardly even that," Evil muttered, calculating in his head. "With all of the sicklies here, you'll barely go two days even, unless you start rationing everything."

"I can't to that…" Flaky said. She closed her eyes and sighed damply, reaching for a chair and sitting down. Evil stood across from here, watching. "I can't do something like that. Everyone is malnourished as is. Nutty, Flippy… Sniffles too." Flaky sniffled. "Especially Sniffles. He didn't eat well even before yesterday, and he's so thin now…" The porcupine covered her eyes with the backs of her hands and rubbed at them, making tiny little whimpering noises in her throat. Her behavior was throwing Evil off balance and making him uncomfortable, but he didn't think ditching her here would be a great idea.

"Could we go out?" he asked. "Y'know, get more food from town. Flippy told me you all lived pretty close by–"

"No!"

Evil was actually taken aback at Flaky's snappy response. She was looking at him – no, actually glaring at him – with wide, frightened eyes. Her hands were clenched and when she finally settled down she mumbled something about snowmen that Evil couldn't catch. "¿Qué?"

"We just… can't…" Flaky shook her head and set it down on her arms. "I'm not going out there, not again, not out there…"

"Why not?" Evil was getting angry again. He thought she was being selfish again – just because she was afraid to go out, the others would have to starve? Bullshit. "Why can't we go out? Just because you don't want to go doesn't mean we shouldn't. Look, there's no food here and there might be food out in town. We can just–"

"No! I said I won't go out there!"

Evil slammed his fists on the table in front of Flaky. "Well why the Hell not!"

Yep. At first I didn't think of ending it there, but then I was like... why not? Already started on the next chap, so cross your fingers! XP

Oh god, please wish me luck in finding my drive. If I don't my world will surly collapse...

Also, for those of you who don't know, I have a poll on my profile and I'd appreciate it if you voted. It's nice to know you care!

Hope to be back soon with more Blissfully Ill, with love for my dear readers.