AUTHOR'S NOTE: Thank you TheRanger101; I'm glad you liked the previous chapter.

Also, this chapter might be a bit depressing.

Chapter 56: The Other Side of the Iron Road.

"The dark is temporarily light.

My soul,yes,my dead soul

Is among them,"

-"Blackavar The Broken Bunny" (on this site)

Fortunately, the train managed to make it past the broken tracks without derailing. However, the last wagon was destabilized: a few wheels did not make it back on the tracks. Around two kilometres later, the metal bolt linking it to the rest of the train broke apart. With nothing to keep the wagon stable anymore, it fell on its side next to the tracks; it burst open, spilling its entire load of gasoline onto the grass.

Campion and Aspen had been travelling through the forest for a while. However, since his last meeting with the Black Rabbit, Aspen had noticed a change in Campion's behaviour. He was no longer aimlessly wandering, he seemed to have a specific destination in mind (although Campion stubbornly refused to say where this was). The trip was mostly uneventful, until they came across the iron road.

-"It seems that the place where we have to go is on the other side," Campion said.

-"Let's cross it then," Aspen replied. "I don't know what this thing is, but it looks a bit dangerous."

-"They can be, sometimes. But not always."

Campion started to cross the tracks, when he suddenly noticed something unusual further away. It looked as if a creature was lying on the iron road; if it stayed there, it would be crushed. Determined not to let that happen, he started to walk towards it.

-"Campion, no!" came Aspen's alarmed voice. "You said yourself this was dangerous."

-"Don't worry, I'll be careful."

Campion started to walk along the tracks, with Aspen worriedly following. He realized that there were actually many rabbits next to the tracks, one of which was General Woundwort. The Black Rabbit was right: the General was still alive, and he looked about to fight a badger twice his size. This couldn't end well.

-"General! What are you doing?"

Campion saw the General turn and stare at him, only for Woundwort attacked by the badger, and thrown against a tree.

-"Come on, Aspen, let's go," Campion suddenly said.

-"Why?"

-"The Black Rabbit would be furious if I let myself get killed by a badger."

With that, Campion bolted away; Aspen was extremely confused, and it took him several moments before he ran after him. Due to this, Campion was soon far ahead of Aspen, until he crashed into another rabbit. The doe looked familiar.

-"Blackberry?"

-"How do you know my name?" the doe replied.

-"Don't you remember me? Captain Campion, of Efrafa!"

-"Campion! Last time I saw you, you were in seemingly perfect health, and now you're all wounded and scarred! What happened to you?"

-"It's a long story. It doesn't really hurt that much, anyway."

-"Glad it doesn't hurt. But have you seen Primrose anywhere? She's been kidnapped."

-"Kidnapped? How horrible! If you do find her, will you please tell her I'm sorry?"

-"Wait, what? Why are you sorry?"

-"Look, there's a badger nearby, we have to run. When we're at a safe distance, I have something really important to tell you."

With that, Campion dashed away. Blackberry remained silent, confused by this encounter. Moments later, another rabbit approached her, clearly out of breath.

-"Excuse me miss," he said between breaths, "but have you seen a fellow called Campion? Big guy, lots of scars..."

-"He just ran past me. Who are you?"

-"I'm Aspen, his bodyguard. Thanks for telling me where he went..."

-"Can you explain..."

But Aspen had already run off towards Campion. Blackberry wondered whether she should join Aspen in chasing Campion, but ultimately decided against it. Her priority at the moment was finding Primrose before the kidnappers hurt her; Campion would have to wait.

Campion, meanwhile, continued to run. Eventually, the train caught up with him, but at the worst possible moment: the last wagon broke free and fell on top of him. Before he could realize what was happening, he had been crushed.

Campion did not feel any pain; instead, he found himself in the same familiar desert place he had already visited many times before. He sighed loudly, profoundly annoyed at having died yet again. Especially since, this time, he had put actual effort in staying alive.

-"Black Rabbit, I know you're here somewhere."

-"YOUR GUESS IS CORRECT, CAMPION."

-"But where, exactly?"

-"I AM EVERYWHERE...AND NOWHERE."

-"Makes perfect sense," Campion replied sarcastically. He uneasily turned his head in all directions, unsure where the Black Rabbit was. In the distance, he could vaguely see the shapes of other rabbits, slowly moving in a line, but he decided to ignore that for the moment. "I assume I'm dead again?"

-"YOU ARE. I WISH YOU WOULD STOP DYING LIKE THIS."

-"You can't really blame me this time. That badger attacked Woundwort, I had to get away."

-"SHE WAS TRYING TO PROTECT ANOTHER RABBIT."

-"Protect? But she's a badger!"

-"NOT ALL BADGERS ARE ELIL."

-"Seriously, Black Rabbit. You couldn't expect me to just walk up to her and say "hey are you elil?" It's not that simple."

-"I UNDERSTAND THAT, BUT WHY DID YOU HAVE TO LEAVE ASPEN BEHIND? HE'S SUPPOSED TO PROTECT YOU, BUT YOU DIDN'T GIVE HIM THE CHANCE. WHY ARE WE TALKING ABOUT THE BADGER ANYWAY? YOU WERE KILLED BY A HRUDUDU."

-"But I wasn't even on the iron road! What was the hrududu doing next to it?"

-"IF YOU HAD BEEN EVEN FURTHER FROM THE IRON ROAD, YOU WOULD STILL BE ALIVE."

Campion rolled his eyes, tired of being blamed for everything by the Black Rabbit. He glanced at the line of rabbits further away when suddenly, one of them caught his eye.

-"Hey Black Rabbit...that rabbit over there, is it...captain Moss?"

-"HE'S NOT A CAPTAIN ANYMORE, BUT YES, IT'S HIM."

-"I didn't know he was dead. What happened?"

-"A WEASEL."

-"Do you think I could see him? Talk to him for a few moments."

-"VERY UNUSUAL REQUEST."

-"Please?"

-"THREE THINGS. ONE: DON'T TOUCH HIM LIKE YOU DID WITH BLACKAVAR. TWO: YOU MUST PROMISE ME YOU WILL STOP DYING. THREE: IF YOU AGREE TO THESE TERMS, I WILL GRANT YOUR REQUEST."

-"I agree."

-"VERY WELL."

Far in the distance, the rabbit Campion had identified as Moss broke from the chain, and was slowly moved towards him. As he got closer, Campion could see that he was motionless and enclosed in a bubble of some sort. Once it was right in front of him, the bubble burst, and Moss fell to the ground; he got back up and shook himself, before noticing the other rabbit's presence.

-"Campion?"

-"Yes, Moss. It's me."

-"I would like to say it's nice to see you again, but it's not. Because it means you're dead too."

-"Don't worry about me, Moss. I'll get sent back."

Moss stared for a few moments at Campion, unable to understand what the latter had just said.

-"Never mind about me," Campion added, "what happened to you?"

-"I was leading the survivors towards a new place, when we got attacked..."

-"Survivors? What survivors?"

-"Efrafa was destroyed; the whole warren caved in. So many rabbits were killed, including nearly the entire owsla except, me, Leo and Rake."

-"That's terrible. But who are Rake and Leo?"

-"They were promoted soon after you left the warren. But anyway, after it was destroyed, the survivors left to start a new life elsewhere, when we suddenly got attacked by this pack of weasels."

-"What happened then?"

-"I was killed."

-"I know that. What else happened?"

-"I probably wasn't the only one, but I hope at least some of them survived."

-"I hope so too."

The two rabbits remained silent, unsure what to say.

-"How does it feel like, being dead?" Campion eventually asked.

-"I don't know how to describe it. It's like trying to explain life to an unborn kitten. But I must say I have regrets. The biggest one being that I never found out who killed General Woundwort. The investigation only turned up one rabbit, a slave doe called Heather, but she was obviously innocent. I hope she's still alive, and she'll be all right without me, and the..."

-"You should have spared yourself the trouble of investigating all the slaves and the outskirters," Campion said. "It was Vervain."

At that moment, Moss started to laugh.

-"Oh Campion, your sense of humour never fails to amaze me!"

-"I'm not joking!" This only made Moss laugh even louder, he clearly didn't believe in Vervain's guilt. "Fine. May I ask..."

-"TIME IS UP!" came a loud voice from nowhere in particular.

-"What? You didn't say there was a time limit, Black Rabbit!"

-"Before I go," Moss said. "I have one last request: if, while wandering through the Shadowlands, you come across Heather, tell her I love her. Hopefully this won't happen, though. I hope she's still alive..."

-"I'll do my best," Campion said. "Goodbye Moss."

-"Goodbye Campion. And thank you for being my best friend back in Efrafa."

All emotion vanished from Moss' face as the bubble rematerialized around him, and slowly moved back to the chain of rabbits in the distance.

Campion was filled with sadness as this happened. Moss was a good rabbit, he didn't deserve to be dead. He had to do something about it, even if it meant breaking a promise he had made the Black Rabbit. He pounced on the bubble, bursting it and colliding with Aspen. As the bubble burst, a loud thunderclap was heard.

-"CAMPION, WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?" the Black Rabbit shouted.

-"Don't worry, Moss, you'll soon be alive again."

-"CAMPION, YOU SPECIFICALLY AGREED NOT TO TOUCH HIM! DO YOU REALIZE HOW MUCH TROUBLE YOU JUST CAUSED?"

As if on cue, another, louder bang resonated through the air, and raw shadowy spiritual energy started to rain. Each drop hitting Campion's fur brought a painful stinging sensation.

-"Campion," Moss said, "I don't want you getting in trouble over me."

-"TOO LATE FOR THAT!"

The loud rumbling continued, and various explosions could be seen in the distance. Large cracks appeared in the sky, gradually widening.

-"I really messed up, didn't I?" Campion cautiously said.

-"THAT'S AN OVERSIMPLIFICATION, BUT ESSENTIALLY TRUE. THE SOONER YOU TWO ARE ALIVE AGAIN, THE BETTER. I HAVE A BIG MESS TO CLEAN UP."

Suddenly, Moss vanished.

-"I'm sorry, Black Rabbit," Campion repeated, "but I just couldn't let Moss stay dead."

-"IT WOULDN'T HAVE BEEN HALF AS BAD IF YOU HAD TOUCHED HIM BEFORE THE BUBBLE WAS REBUILT. I WILL HAVE TO PUNISH YOU, WITH A FATE WORSE THAN DEATH."

Campion fell silent, wondering what this "fate worse than death" would be, especially since his experiences with death weren't all that bad. The sky shattered around him like glass, revealing an endless black void. Suddenly, he found himself back in the world of the living, a few meters above the ground. As he fell, he landed in a thick, oily, black substance. He slowly swam out of the puddle, the gasoline covering his entire body. He realized how he had underestimated the trouble he was in; this punishment was even worse than Vervain's torture methods.

A few minutes later, he saw the blurry shape of Aspen approaching. While he could hear him speak, there was gasoline inside his ears, preventing him from making out the exact words.

-"Just guide me to the nearest river now!" he shouted.