Okay, at first I planned to let this story end at 15 chapters, but it seems like the chapters are longer than I predicted, so the new goal is set at 20 chapters x)! Let's see if I can keep that!

This is a pretty short and sappy chappie though, sorry 'bout that ^^"

*** Chapter Fifteen : Goodbye ***

He wasn't sure what time it was when he woke up, but it was probably shortly after everyone else had gone to work. All he knew was that he woke up by the same sound that he had done a couple of weeks ago, the day before he got whipped; a steady, purring sound. He slowly opened his eyes and immediately saw the red hair that belonged to his best friend. Both were lying on their side, facing each other so both would fit on the narrow bed. She was sleeping with her head underneath his chin and a hand behind his neck.

Lying on his side did put a lot more strain on his back, but if he moved to sleep face-down, he'd just push her down to the floor. And that would NOT be pleasant for HIM later! Besides, he didn't wanna risk waking her up, considering how she reacted the last time they woke up next to each other. At least they were still wearing their clothes this time around!

"Bentley?" She asked suddenly, and he jolted in surprise.

"Y-you're awake?!" He blurted out and pushed himself up on one elbow. She nodded quietly. "H-how long have you been up?!"

She shrugged. "A while..."She scooted closer to him, and he felt his cheeks burn red when her hand traveled down to his arm and followed the outlines of one of the darker spots he had on his upper arm. "I never noticed ya had spots b'fore... I thought only spotted hyenas had spots?"

"Well, my grandma was a spotted hyena..."

"Oh... That's kinda cool actually"

"Yeah, too bad her own tribe thought she was crazy and made her an outcast, forcin' her to turn to the brown hyenas... Y'see, she got framed for the murder of her mate, when it really was another nutcase who killed him..."

"Ouch!"

"Yeah; ouch!"

Cornelia smiled faintly as she kept tracing the other spot just slightly below the first one. "Three years..." She said lowly after a moment of silence, making Bentley tilt his head in confusion.

"Three years? What?"

"I think I've been in love with you for three years now..."

He flinched. Not this again! "I-I'm so sorry, Corny, but I-...!"

"I know, I know..." She sighed and withdrew her hand. "We're just friends..." A stabbing feeling of guilt hit Bentley and he placed his hand over hers. They were quiet for a little while longer, until she opened her mouth again. "Oh there was one thing I've kept forgettin' to tell ya! While you were out cold, a war started!" She had a hopeful smile on her face. "If the yankees win, y'all will go free!"

Bentley stared at her in disbelief. "R-really?"

She nodded. "I can't believe I've forgotten 'bout that all this time! But dad has been keepin' that a secret from y'all. He doesn't want his slaves to get any 'ideas'..." She added the last part with a bitter mutter. "Y'know, the humans used to have slaves too, but they've been freed a long, LONG time ago, and so people thought it was our turn to free ours as well! But of course, there were those who didn't want that and now we're fightin' 'bout it as well..." She rolled her eyes and laughed. "I hope they'll win, b'cause I would LOVE to see the expression on daddys face when y'all suddenly are free to go!"

Bentley chuckled. "Yeah, I hope so too!"

"What would you do?" She asked curiously and pushed herself up on one elbow as well. "When you're free, I mean?"

"Go home again" He answered without skipping a beat. "And I hope Finn, Ellie and Toby wanna come with me... Ya wanna come too?"

"Come with you? To Africa?! Hah! You bet yer ass I wanna!" She grinned and nodded.

"Great! Y'know, I bet you'd like my sister! Have I ever told'cha 'bout her?!"

"What?! You gotta sister?!"

"Oh, apparently I haven't... Yeah, a big sister! Her name... I-I can't really remember her name though... But I bet I will whenever I get home!"

Talking about returning home had made Bentley so hopeful that he for a moment forgot about his back and moved to sit up on his knees as he talked. But that sudden movement made the burning pain return and he was forced to sit bent over. But he didn't care; there was hope for him to return home! He was busy planning with Cornelia that he didn't hear when the door downstairs was flung open and the steps of two men entering the cottage. But when the sound of uncle Matts voice reached Cornelias ears, she instantly froze up. She had completely forgotten about today, and what was going to happen tomorrow! Oh what she wouldn't do to change it...

"B-Bentley..." She said with a low voice, interrupting his overly-excited blabbering.

"Yeah, Corny?" He said, but when he saw the sad look on her face, his ears drooped. "S-somethin's wrong, ain't it?" It was more of a statement than a question, and as soon as he finished the sentence, she threw herself around him and buried her face in his shoulder in a quick hug before letting go. She saw his puzzled and slightly scared expression, and put her hand on his shoulder

"L-later... Bentley..." She said and before he had any time to react she had planted a quick peck on his cheek, bolted out of the bed and practically flew down the stairs. Leaving a very confused Bentley behind.

She never returned that day, which made Bentley slightly worried. She had seemed really sad about something before she bolted off, but what could it possibly have been? For a minute he began to feel bad; what if it was because he rejected her yesterday?

It was all so... weird, he thought. He had never thought that Corny really LOVE loved him! To him she was just a friend, a BEST friend, which she always had been and always would be. But when she made it clear that she saw him as something more, he had instantly began to feel both scared and guilty! And the fact that she had came back to apologize the night before only puzzled him. That wasn't exactly the first time Corny had overreacted on something he did or said, but she had NEVER returned and apologized! She rarely ever apologized, especially not when she knew she was wrong! In fact, ever since she returned after his rejection, she had acted very odd. But it was probably just normal to act differently after your heart got broken. And over and over again, Bentley cursed himself for being the one who broke it...

It wasn't until the next day he finally got to see her, but it was also the last time he ever saw her again.

The next day was the day they would allow him to go for a short walk outside. After being bedridden for so long, his legs were getting stiff and if he began to work immediately after, chances were that his still young body wouldn't be able to handle that pressure. Therefore, they managed to convince the overseers that he should at least get a few more days to move around again before throwing him back out on the fields.

Even if he had a walking stick to support himself on, Ellie still walked by his side to support him whenever he needed. She hadn't seen Cornelia either, not since her uncle and Lasher came to fetch her yesterday morning. But she wasn't so surprised, not after she heard that Bentley didn't return the feelings Cornelia had for him. At first, Ellie had actually been a bit cross with him, but that passed and now when she knew how bad he felt about it, she actually felt a bit sorry for them both.

Ellie and Bentley were walking along the creek separating the slaves living quarters from the cotton fields, when he suddenly noticed Chuck exiting the stables with Ecarg strapped to the wagon. Ever since Chuck told the Aventines everything about Bentley and Cornelia, he had been more or less thrown out by Ama and the hyenas, as they saw him as a traitor. But Bentley didn't really blame him for telling, Mr Aventine WERE going to find out sooner or later anyway.

He and Ellie curiously exchanged glances as they watched Chuck leave with the wagon and came to a halt on the road. Apparently the Aventines were going somewhere, since Cornelia and her parents were seen leaving the residence and walk towards the wagon. But then Bentley noticed something stranger than usual; out of the three, Cornelia was the only one who was all dolled up, wearing a long, violet dress and another matching bonnet. Behind them came one of the houseslaves, a male cheetah, carrying on a heavy suitcase. Before Cornelia silently climbed up in the wagon, her mother gave her a long hug and said some comforting words to her, but only got a spiteful glare in return.

Bentley felt his stomach churn. "I-is Cornelia goin' somewhere?" He asked with a glance at Ellie, but Ellie just shook her head. She had no idea what was going on either!

The luggage was flung up back on the trolly and Chuck cracked the reins, making the javelina trot forward. Cornelia sat in the middle of the back row and when she saw Bentley watching her, her cheeks burned red in humiliation and she pulled the brim of the bonnet down in front of her eyes.

"Corny...?" He staggered up to the fence by the road just as the wagon passed. "Corny?!"

He went silent when he saw a single tear slowly roll down her cheek as they drove past, and he leaned over the fence, ignoring the pain in the wounds on his back. He just stared after her as the wagon slowly went further and further away along the straight, dusty road. He didn't like this. First she left alone, and what was up with all that luggage?!

"Hey! Stop gawkin', hyena!" Lashers unmistakeable voice rumbled behind Ellie and him, and Ellie hurried to put an arm around Bentleys shoulders to lead him away from the fence. "Or ya want another round with the whip?"

Bentley stopped and stared at the wolverine. "W-where's she goin'?"

"That ain't none of yer business! Now git the hell outta my sight before I add more stripes to yer back!"

Bentley was about to respond, but Ellie hushed him and quietly dragged him with her away from the overseer and back to Amas cabin. They couldn't see the victorious smirk on Lashers face, but they could sense it, and it made Bentley furious for some reason...

From what Lucy told them later that day, Cornelia had been sent to a boarding school. A girls only, boarding school. 'Mrs Cohens Boarding School for Girls'. Bentley only had to hear the name to know that it was going to be like hell for his friend. And he honestly felt sorry for her.

Since Lucy wouldn't be needed anymore, and she hadn't exactly made the Aventines proud during these last weeks events, she had been kicked out and sent to the fields instead. Since Cornelia left, she was then living with Ellie in her little shack. Going from being a houseslave to a farmhand was going to be tough for her, but Ellie had promised to help her adapt as much as she could.

Bentley couldn't stop thinking about Cornelia, and it gave him troubles when he returned to work on the fields. Due to his back, he couldn't work with what he usually did, so instead they put him on picking cotton with the women and children. It was an easy job, extremely boring and lengthy, but easy. Except that he sometimes got so caught up in his thoughts of Corny that the overseers had to crackle their whips right by his ears to get him to keep working again.

The months passed, his back healed up again, and he still couldn't believe that Corny was gone. According to the houseslaves she wasn't going to be back for a couple of years either, and when she finally would return, she wouldn't be her old self anymore. And that thought was more scaring to Bentley than the thought of her having a crush on him was!

He still got into trouble every now and then with the overseers, just simply because he couldn't keep his mouth shut. And his sassy comments only got worse since he worried about Cornelia. Sometimes it would even go as far as they to start whipping him again, despite that his back now more or less was full of scars. Ellie and Ama were the ones who always ended up as the ones to tend to his wounds, and they always asked him the same thing: "Why are you doing this to yourself?". And to that, Bentley never had any good answer.

More months passed, and something that was quite the surprise to many happened; Toby and Ellie announced that they were going to get married. Apparently, Toby had finally gathered the courage and asked her to marry him. Ellie, who had been waiting for that day in all her life, nearly fainted both from shock and happiness. And luckily, Mr Aventine approved of it and not many days later, the wedding ceremony was held. To tell the truth; Bentley couldn't help a couple of tears (MANLY tears) from being shed that day.

The next great thing that happened was that a couple of houseslaves had offered Bentley their help to send a letter to Cornelia. Apparently, her parents sent her letters each month, containing some money, and since they knew how close friends those two were, they were willing to help Bentley in case he wanted to send her a letter as well. Which of course he wanted. They got him a pencil and some paper, all he had to do was to leave it to Finn once he was done with it, and he was going to leave it to the houseslaves.

But writing the letter proved to be harder than Bentley had anticipated; he had no idea what to say to her! After struggling to compose a letter for about an hour, he finally managed to finish it right as his day of work begun. He swiftly and discretely left the letter in Finns hands and never saw it again. But he hoped it got sent without any troubles.

But then, a bit over a year after she left, the horrible news came. They didn't even want to tell Bentley about it at first, but sooner or later they had to; a fire had suddenly broken out during the night at the boarding school, leaving the big building as nothing more than a smoking pile of ashes. Only a handful of girls had made it out alive, but none of them had been Cornelia.

When Bentley first heard it, he refused to believe it. He COULDN'T believe it! At first he scoffed it off as nothing but a fake rumor, created by the Aventines themselves to get him to stop caring about their daughter, but sooner or later he had to accept it; Cornelia was gone. His best friend was gone forever. The others decided that it would be best to leave him alone, as he sat in his room on the attic, just screaming into a pillow and punching the mattress. Desperately trying to get the sorrow out of his mind.

The next day he had been standing out in the fields, just trying his best to keep his puffy, red eyes open and focused on the task at hand, when Grace came up to him, just marching out into the field. He had stopped with whatever he was doing when he saw Cornelias mother march up to him with a hateful look on her faces and tears in her eyes. Before he could say anything to her, she had given him a hard slap over the face.

"Its YOUR fault!" She screamed as the tears flooded out of her golden colored eyes and she threw another slap into his face. "If YOU hadn't touched her, we wouldn't have had to send her to her death! It's ALL YOUR FAULT, hyena! YOUR FAULT THAT SHE'S DEAD!"

Bentley felt his throat tighten up as his mistress kept screaming at him. "I-I'm sorry, Mrs..." He said lowly. "I... I didn't mean to..."

"Are you happy now, savage?!" She hissed angrily and sobbed. "Our Cornelia is dead, all thanks to YOU!" With that, she spun around just as her husband entered the field as well. She walked up to him with same, determined strides. "Get rid of him, Gabriel!" She said and pointed at Bentley with a shaky finger, who stood still on the same spot and silently stared down at the ground. "You shouldn't even have bought that... That THING, from Tim at all! Get rid of him! Get rid of him now!" She broke down crying and threw herself into her husbands arms.

Bentley slowly looked up, but saw that Mr Aventine was staring at him with a grim scowl and instantly averted his eyes again. "I-I'm sorry..." He said quietly once again, but the two mountain lions ignored him.

"I want him gone from this plantation!"

"I know, Grace! You've told me that!" Mr Aventine said with a low mumble and looked back down at his wife. "I'll send him to the auctions t'morrow..."

Bentley listened to them as he slowly picked the pick up again and continued to dig up the earth, while fighting the storm of emotions inside him. They were right. If it hadn't been for him, they wouldn't have had to send Cornelia away, and she wouldn't have had to die. He bit down hard on his tongue. First it was his mother, then his father, then Buck and now Corny. When was this going to end?

...

They sent Wilkes down with him to the auctions in the nearest big town the next day, but apparently the Willows had already spread the rumor about the infamous Aventine slave who had a relationship with the daughter. So when they began to realize that the hyena from the Aventine plantation with the ruined back was just THAT slave, nobody bid a single cent. They had heard that he was a troublemaker who on top of all could write and read, and has very little respect for his masters, and nobody wanted a slave like that! So when Wilkes were forced to return with him to the plantation, Mr Aventine was all but happy. But Bentley? He was just as apathetic as the night before.

Ever since he heard about Cornelias possible death, and Grace's accusations, he hadn't said a single word to anyone. He had only stared down at the ground, and slowly shake his head when he was asked if he wanted any dinner.

And that was how he was for the following month: quiet, careful, obedient. Exactly the opposite of what he used to be. His 'family' couldn't stop worrying about him, and when he kept refusing to eat it had ended with having Finn to tie him down to a chair so granny Ama could force-feed him. They were all at a loss at what to do with him; he woke up, skipped breakfast, worked all day, skipped dinner, went to bed and repeated the procedure the next day. Still without speaking to anyone. If Lasher tried to spur him into an argument, or to give him even the slightest reason to whip him, he'd only give the overseer a hollow look before returning to work.

But then he changed again. It began about a month later, when Lasher suddenly got a big slab of mud in the back of his head, followed by a loud, maniacal laughter. When he turned around, he saw the guilty one; Bentley. Bentley stood bent over and laughed his ass off at the mud-smeared wolverine. From then, it all became worse and worse; Bentley would set traps for the overseers, that sometimes even other slaves got caught in. But Bentley didn't care who got trapped: he'd just laugh as much as he could anyway. He openly mocked the overseers and their families, even the Aventines were met with a sarcastic comment every now and then. His whippings, that usually only occurred a couple of times per month, were now happening a couple of times per week instead. And he'd always laugh just as loud and maniacally while being whipped, as if someone just fell for one of his pranks, and eventually it began to scare some of the overseers. Some totally refused to whip him in the end.

Even if Ama and the hyenas had wanted him to snap out of the apathetic state, this wasn't any better: this way he could get himself killed! But he wouldn't listen to them when they begged him to calm down, it usually only made things worse!

One day when Ellie couldn't help but to ask him why he suddenly was like this, he had only grinned up at her and answered: "B'cause my dad told me to! I dream 'bout him, an' he keeps tellin' me to laugh an' be happy! An' that's what I'm doin'; I'm laughin', and is happy!"

That answer had made them all exchange looks with each other; now he had completely lost it!

Meh, as I said; it's a pretty short chapter ^^"... Anyways, see y'all next chapter (not sure when that comes, but it WILL :P!)