Skokey had more dreams. Dreams of his father, dreams of his biological mother, and dreams of Fenqua. The dreams of Fenqua always consisted of her calling out to him, and he not being able to reach her. The next week, a week filled with painful nightmares, tortured him. He didn't want to go on like this.

Today was the day he would rid the world of him.

* * *

It was a very dull, rainy morning. The rain lightly tapped at the forest, dampening everything it touched. It wasn't a very nice morning, and most of the deer just stayed in bed waiting for the rain to stop. The forest was quiet, nobody was up yet. The rain was the only thing audible. Not even the birds chirped.

Skokey found it pleasing to be all by himself in the forest, for the most part. He felt the pain wracking his body and spirit dulling a little, listening to the peaceful sounds of a sleeping forest. But it wasn't enough to stop him. He knew more dreams would be invading his mind at night, more dreams to torment and hurt him. He knew they would only continue, and so he was going to stop them. Once and for all. He found it quite fortunate that no one was around, there would be no one to stop him. No one, except...

A young doe was striding around the Pond. She didn't seem to care about the rain, she just wanted to play in it. Once again, Fenqua found herself right next to Skokey, and not even knowing it. She looked at the dull blue-grey of the pond for a long time. Looking at how the rain poked at the surface, causing it to ripple. It was quite peaceful, but something interupted the smoothness of the pond.

She looked up to find a stag slowly creeping into the water. Fenqua came closer to see who it was. Once again, her heart filled with joy as she looked upon the familiar thing that represented a name. She knew it was Skokey, and she ran over to the other side the greet him.

“Skokey!” She soon stopped by the shallows as she looked at him.

Skokey turned his head to look at her. At that one glance, her heart froze. His eyes were so filled with pain. His once cheery, bright, determined eyes were turned to sorrow. She could see they were glazed over with tears from many months of agony. Those beautiful hazel eyes that she once looked to admire had vanished.

Fenqua felt a lump in her throat, and let out a soft, short cry, as if she were feeling everything he had felt all at once. She tried to break away from his gaze, but she couldn't help but look on. On cursory glances, she looked at his figure. His tightened and scarred skin, the bones protruding from his sides, his worn, thin face. It was as if all his life had drained away, and this was what was left.

Skokey turned his head away, breaking the connection between the two of them. “Fenqua...” He said, almost politely, “Please leave.”

Fenqua shook her head, “Skokey... What happened?”

“That's none of your concern... Just leave.”

She looked at what was in front of her. Her best friend, whom she hadn't seen for months, was now trying to drown himself. She walked closer to him, “Skokey what are you doing?”

“I'm going to make the world a better place. I've just wasted my time here.”

“That's not true, don't talk like that!”

Her words didn't matter to him, he just crept deeper into the water. Fenqua ran out into the water and got in front of him.

She pushed him away to the shores. “You can't say things like that Skokey... It's not like you. Please, stop this. Come with me, we'll try to figure it out.” She looked at him earnestly.

His expression didn't change at all, and he let out a sigh, “Fenqua, you don't know what the last few months have been like. How could you possibley help me?”

“We can try. There's a solution to everything, but this isn't one of them.”

“Stop this, you don't know what you're talking about.”

“You're not the Skokey I remember.”

“The Skokey you remember is dead. I've changed, Fenqua. This is how I will end. I have no other choice.”

“Of coarse you have another choice! You always have another choice! Please, just let me try to help you. Don't choose to do this, this will only lead to more sorrow.”

“And what? You think living will be any better? How can I live like this? When I know that I never meant a thing to anyone!”

Fenqua stood there, looking at him in disbelief. “How... can you say that? How can you say that you didn't matter to anyone? What about Raku? What about Fraalch, and Frola, and Vin?” She paused, looking more earnest than before, “What about me?”

Those last words pierced through Skokey. He let out a sorrowful huff. The rain had grown thicker now, almost deafening in this pause that seemed to last forever. He blinked slowly, looking down. “You're only making this harder on yourself. Just let me do what I was meant to do.”

“No, Skokey. Don't throw your life away. Please, we can fix this. I won't let you do this. If you want to kill yourself so much, then you'll have to go through me.”

Tears soon welled up in Skokey's eyes. He wanted to fight back the urge to cry, but it was too much for him. The tears fell from his eyes and landed in the water, the soft “plip” mixing in with the rain drops. Fenqua nuzzled him, and he hugged her to him the same way he did with Raku.

“Oh Fenqua... How could I do such a thing? What was I thinking?” He pleaded inbetween sobs.

“It's okay, Skokey, I understand.” It hurt her to see him like this. He had grown weak. She had never heard him cry before, and it was probably the most sorrowful thing she had ever heard. She sighed heavily, “Let's go home...”

They both rose up out of the cold water, shook their fur, and went to the Playground to take shelter from the rain. Skokey hadn't been there for so long. What he once felt as painful stabs of his past now were gentle feelings of warmth. It truly felt like home.