Here it is! Hope y'all like it! Sorry for typos...

Blessings,

A. R.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Dylan looked up as Virgil Brown sat down across from him, grunting as his old joints cracked loudly and quite disturbingly in the quiet, dark room.

Dylan had gone and taken care of that horrid cell. He had buried Laurel’s mother somewhere where she could rest in peace. Away from Akolan.

Dylan shuddered as he remembered all the blood. Its stench still filled his nostrils, and he could still feel the warm, sticky substance on his hands, even though he had washed them right afterwards.

“Brown,” Dylan began, wondering how he was able to speak. He could still feel the tears in the back of his throat that so desperately wanted to break free.

The old captain gave Dylan a fatherly look of gentleness and understanding. “Its been a rough journey for you and her, hasn’t it?”

Dylan opened his mouth, about to respond, but hung his head. “I hate seeing her hurt.” He said quietly, clenching his fists.

Brown nodded slowly. “So, what are you going to do about it?” He asked.

Dylan looked up at him, a little dazed. “What can I do? Sir, I don’t have many options,” he answered, leaning back into his chair. “I want to take care of her, but now, when there is so much chaos, I just…” he trailed off, too frustrated and upset to go on.

Brown was quiet for a moment before speaking. “Dylan, I think that sometimes if you love someone, you have to give up something for them, in order to keep them safe.” The captain said slowly.

Dylan stared at him. “Beg your pardon?” He asked slowly. He had no idea what the captain was saying, or what he was getting at.

Brown sighed, looking up at the ceiling of the room for a moment. “Dylan, I’m sharing this with you because you feel like you need some direction. But I’m also sharing this with you in complete confidence. What I say cannot be shared with anyone else.” The captain asked quietly. Dylan nodded slowly, curious and slightly concerned at the old rabbit’s statement.

Brown looked up at Dylan, a sad look in his eyes. “I didn’t grow up in Akolan, son. I lived in the Great Wood when Morbin hadn’t taken over the world. I had a good life ahead of me. I was going to marry the love of my life, I had a good business with my family’s farm, and had friends all around me. But one day, I heard about how wolves and birds were starting to get closer to the Wood, and I decided I didn’t want to lose my family and friends. So I signed up. That was the only way I thought I could protect her, by fighting the war and push it further away from her. But it hurt her, and we argued about it often. The first few years were great, but as the wars seemed to continue, I began to grow weary. I wanted to be home. So I told my commander I was done. There was lots of arguments. Some called me a traitor. Others threatened to arrest me. But I wanted to go home and get married. So I returned to my family’s farm and started to make plans. But it didn’t last.”

Brown sighed. “One day, my fiance came and told me that there was serious trouble, that the king had been murdered and that armies of wolves and birds were crashing into the Wood. I took up my sword and left her to hide in the barn. I hadn’t gotten far when I heard her scream.” Brown’s eyes glistened with tears. “I got back in time to see a wolf come stalking out of the barn, his jaws and muzzle covered with her blood.”

“I attacked the rat and went to her and… well, anyways, I didn’t think I’d lose her. I got it into my head that the king had done this. He was the one who took the only loves I had and he was the one who crushed them. So I joined Morbin, because I thought he would keep things like that from happening.”

Brown was quiet, and Dylan dared to speak. “Brown, I’m sorry.”

Brown shrugged. “I’m realizing now that perhaps I made a mistake joining the Blackhawk. But what can an old buck do?”

Dylan swallowed. “What’s your advice then?”

Brown looked at him, a sad look in his eye as it finally dawned on Dylan. “Brown, I… I cant lose her.” He said in a quiet voice. “I lost my entire family, and she is the only good thing that has come into my life. I want to take care of her.”

Brown nodded slowly. “I know, son, but you said yourself that you don’t have many options. But, what can you do with all these contributing factors?”

Dylan’s eyes filled with tears and he looked down at the ground, crossing his arms overtop his knees. “Brown, that would kill me. She lost everything except her brother who is being kept away from her. I… I can’t-“ Dylan stopped talking. Tears were threatening to loose.

Brown sighed. “I know. Its painful. But I had to distance myself from my doe to fight for her and keep her safe.”

Dylan clenched his jaw as his eyes flooded. “Do you think it did any good? Distancing from her like that?”

Brown lowered his head. When he spoke, his voice was rough. “Dylan, all I was doing was protecting her. In a way, yes, it did some good. It helped me realize how much more I loved her, and it gave me the motivation to fight on.”

Dylan rubbed his eyes. His mind refused to work, and the only thing he could hear was his heart pounding against his chest. Brown was suggesting he distance himself from Laurel. The very thought of it tore him. He couldn’t leave her alone like that, to face Akolan and the Administration by herself. He couldn’t. But he had to take care of her. Somehow…

Dylan got to his feet, inhaling deeply and blinking away the tears. “I need a few days before I do anything, sir.”

Brown nodded and got to his feet. “I understand, soldier. All will come out well in the end.” But the old rabbit stopped, looking at Dylan quizzically in the dark room. “You will be watching out for her from a distance, right? And you will come back to her?”

Dylan looked out towards the window, visions and dreams of a better life flashing before him. But he refused to look deeper into those fantasies. It would only make it worse. He knew he would watch out for her. He knew he would come back to her if she would have him. But so much depended on the resistance, both inside Akolan and out in the wider world.

Dylan turned back to the rabbit who had been his mentor for so long. A rabbit just like him, who had lost what he loved, and sacrificed for what he could. But Brown was down this path, a path of following a murderer as king. Fighting against the true king of Natalia.

Dylan couldn’t go down that path. He would fight for Jupiter’s Heir, regardless.

“I will,” he answered finally, his voice low and quiet. “Can I ask that you do the same? I don’t want to hear of her getting hurt under your own roof.” He gazed straight into the old captains eyes, hoping the message got across. It did.

Brown straightened up. “Dylan, I promise I will. Things have changed since you found her in that hallway, and I promise you that I wont bring her any harm.” He stopped, his brow furrowed. “She reminds me so much of my Agatha.”

Dylan could see the pain in Virgil Brown’s eyes as a memory flashed before him. He knew he didn’t want what happened to Brown to happen to him. Without Laurel…

Dylan turned and left quickly, knowing he had to return to the Evergreen home. Harmony promised to stay the whole night with Laurel, and Dylan knew he would have to spend the next four days very carefully. He had to use this time in a way that would make up for the next who knew how long when he wouldn’t be able to be near her.

He stopped in the middle of the road, looking up at the night sky. Only a few stars shone in the cold expanse of black and blue.

Tears filled his eyes. He didn’t want to leave her, or avoid her. He didn’t want to stay away from her at all. But he had to take care of her. Fern asked him to with her dying breath. And he wanted to. It was just, the only way that was even possible was if he distanced himself from her and draw less attention.

Dylan continued on in silence, soon drawing near to the small house. He slid inside quietly and crept through the living room. A fire was glowing warmly in the living room, and a lamp shone dully through the hallway. Dylan peered around the corner and checked on the does. He smiled.

Harmony was curled up next to Laurel, her hand holding hers tight, and Laurel was on her side, facing the room. Both had been through so much in the last few days, yet looked so peaceful now.

Dylan shut the door quietly and went back to the living room. Sitting down in a chair next to the fire, he made plans of what he would have to do over the next week. Something in his gut told him this wasn’t right, but he couldn’t think of any other options.

He would protect her. One way or another.