-FINISHED. JUST TOUCHUPS.-

"Come on Sykora!" A young fawn bounced around happily through the forest. "Why are ya taking so long? C'mon, lets play!"

A once life-filled and peppy Sykora slowly emerged from the protection of a tree. She looked around fearfully, then to her friend. "Are you sure you want to play? You know... there have been reportings of deer being killed..."

"Dont worry Sykora!" Martisol said, nuzzling her friend. "I will protect you from any danger. You can count on me!" She reared up, as if attacking many foes at once. Sykora giggled.

"Okay. Try to catch me!" She ran along the playground, jumping from rock to rock as she used to. Martisol giggled and laugh as she tried chasing the little bullet in and out of little secret hideouts they had found together at the playground. They ended up falling off a rock into a clump of leaves at the bottom, and laughed until they couldn't breathe.

"Martisol," Sykora said, looking up at the cloudy sky.

"Yeah?"

"Lets be friends forever"

Martisol let out a roar of approval and wrestled her friend to the ground. "Race ya to the ruins! Last one's a wrotten mushroom!" She sped off towards the ruins, Sykora right on her tracks. The wind whistled past her, encouraging her on, but Sykora was becoming quickly tired.

"Wait! Wait for me! Slow down a bit!" She panted. Whew. Why was she so tired?

"Wanna rest?" Martisol looked back over her shoulder to the fatigued Sykora.

Sykora nodded, reliefed.

"Okay" Martisol said. She watched her friend settle down in the middle of the path. "I'll be right back!" She walked along the track to the ruins, where she had hid her secret pinecone she had wanted to show Sykora from before. It was huge. And she knew it was special. Walking down the path, she heard a faint cry, and then a thrustle of grass. Martisol's ears pricked.

Odd. Had somebody followed them? Martisol sniffed the air, trying to pick up a scent. She made her way off the path, through the thick foliage and bushes, when she came upon something that made her breath stop.

Their leader, Emiva, was lying dead, on the ground.

Martisol stood there for some moments, unable to take this all in. Then she took a step towards the elderly leader. She had never really got to know her... and now she never will. A lone owl hooted through the silent forest. She had to tell Sykora about this. Sykora would know what to do. She backed slowly away from her dead ruler. Martisol felt an odd feeling that she had left somebody down just then. And then it hit her, hard in the stomach.

"No..." Martisol panicked, and sprinted back to her friend, forgetting about the pinecone she had hidden under the secret fallen pillar.

Martisol trudged through a mud puddle, splattering herself fully in brown slop, jumped over the moss log covered in little black bugs, and to her friend.

She breathed in a sigh of relief when she saw the familiar fur color, but then, her stomach clenched itself when she realized...

Sykora was dead as well, sprawled out across the dirt ground. Martisol swallowed. A red dot under her left eye. She took a step foreward, sniffed what was left of her friend, and then sprinted back towards camp, as fast as she could, not looking behind.