I re-read this multiple times to try to make it clearer after my first go at it but now I’ve read it so many times that I practically have it memorized. So, sorry if you get confused or if I didn’t make something clear, I did my best 😅.

I wasn’t thinking when I broke away from the group and raced toward the building. But no, I had to think, just for a moment. I couldn’t make it there before the falcon, and if I did, what could I do for them? Right now, my goal was to get the prisoner back to the Citadel of Dreams.

I continued my momentum but aimed it toward the group of guards. I pulled my knife out as the crowd pushed away from us.

“Go!” I yelled behind me to Theo and Tuck. I wasn’t able to check if they had heard me so I just had to hope.

I knew that I had no chance going in. I slashed at anything around me, turning wildly around this way and that. The guards were all armed with swords and pinned me down easily.

Winslow was making feeble attempts to calm the crowd from the balcony. “Please, everyone, remain calm! We have this under control!”

I heard footsteps approaching me and braced myself for the end. Suddenly, the soldier on top of me lurched sideways, an arrow in his shoulder. I quickly got to my feet and backed away. Half of the guards had fallen to arrows. I looked around for my rescuer and found Luna and her stealth team.

“What? H-how did you?” I stammered.

“There’s no time to explain. Where’s Whitbie?” Luna grabbed me and looked straight into my eyes. “Did he make it? Where is he?”

“Whitbie? You mean the prisoner, the one we rescued?”

“Yes, where is he?” Luna’s face looked frantic.

“I don’t know, Tuck and Theo took him. They went toward camp.”

She cursed before turning and running after Theo and Tuck.

“What’s going on? Where are the others?” I asked Rowen, a member of the stealth team.

He glanced at me, his bow knocked. “I don’t know, kid. I’m just taking orders.”

I suddenly realized that the fighting had stopped. Everyone was looking at each other wearily and confusedly, but they weren’t attacking. One of the guards was yelling angrily to Danny, Luna’s right-hand man, who was hurriedly trying to explain things.

“What are you doing? We had him!” one of the guards said.

“And we have orders to take him in, your lot was in the way,” Danny explained.

“Well, you didn’t have to kill them!”

“They were in the way! We’re on the same side here.”

“The same side! I work for Daggler and serve Morbin, and who do you serve?”

They were face to face now, both frowning angrily.

“Do you want Whibie dead or not!” Danny asked. “We’re doing you a favor, Daggler should have killed him long ago.”

“Don’t you tell me what Daggler should have done. He knew what he was doing.”

“He was having fun with him, that’s what he was doing. If he wasn’t being so selfish–”

“Don’t you dare!”

I was roughly grabbed by Rowen and my heart sank as I realized what was happening, we had been betrayed. Where were Moonlight and Eve? Dead, probably. Greif began to spread through me but I pushed it down for now. Later, I would grieve. Now, I had to stop Luna.

I twisted and bolted away. Rowen attempted to grab me but didn’t pursue me. I looked behind me to see him, Danny, and Stan locked in combat with the remaining guards who were very upset. I raced toward the woods, acutely aware of my tiering body and the head start Luna had. How could I let this happen? How could none of us have known? I suddenly remembered her insistence for us to split up, her denial of ideas that might have worked, her sourness toward the whole plan. I redoubled my efforts, pushing myself past my limit. I stopped to breathe when I finally made it to the edge of the woods. I heard voices and fighting. Cautiously, I crept towards them. I wasn’t naturally stealthy but getting past First Warren’s wall taught me a thing or two.

“What’s goin’ on?” asked Theo as Luna and Tuck grappled with each other on the forest floor.

Where is Whitbie? I wondered.

“Traitor!” Tuck yelled.

Luna pulled out a sword and began swinging it at Tuck who had nothing but a knife. As much as I wanted to jump in to help, I knew that Whitbie was of most importance. Looking around, I finally spotted him leaning against the stump of a tree. He didn’t look good at all. I made a wide arch around the fighting rabbits so as not to be seen.

“You’re just as much a traitor as I am! You know this isn’t what I wanted!” Luna said, expertly dodging Tuck.

Although he only had a knife, I was glad to see Tuck holding his own. “I know that isn’t what you wanted. But this way is better.”

I wasn’t sure what they were talking about but I didn’t care, I was finally next to Whitbie. I stood there for a moment, not sure what to do.

“STOP THIS!” Theo roared as he ran in to stop the fighting which was now behind a tree so I couldn’t see it anymore.

I looked around frantically, trying to figure out a plan. Whitbie sat against the tree stump. His mask was nowhere to be seen and his bandages were coming undone so that some of his maimed face began to show. What should I do? I closed my eyes, my head pushing against the tree, trying to think of something, anything. We have to escape. Where can we escape? The sounds of my friends fighting tormented my already scared and desperate brain. I flashed my eyes open. The solution was there, somewhere, I just had to put it together.

“Come on,” I whispered angrily under my breath, trying to fit the pieces together.

Some part of me knew the answer, I just had to find it. I looked around the forest. Escape. Escape. Escape. That’s the word that set it off. That was the answer.

“Stop this! We need to work together to get Whitbie safe!” Theo yelled.

The tunnels! I looked to the stump that Whitbie was leaning against and was overjoyed to see a gap between the wood and the bark, it was the remains of the tree that I had escaped through only days ago. Without wasting another moment, I ran over and lifted the wood from its place. It was heavier than I expected, Theo had made it look so easy, but with adrenaline rushing through me, I lifted the wood to reveal the forest floor. I looked over to see all three rabbits locked in combat, Luna and Tuck against each other, Theo standing confusedly between them.

“You have to trust me, Theo,” Tuck said. “I’m doing what’s best.”

“No, he’s going to kill him!” Luna yelled. I was alarmed by the desperation in her voice.

“If you two stop the fightin’, then we can figure things out.”

I leaned down to the prisoner. “Whitbie. Whitbie.” He looked up at me groggily. “My name’s Bender and I’m going to help you. I need you to come over here.” With my help, he made it into the empty stump.

“No!” someone yelled behind me.

I turned to see all three rabbits looking at me.

“Listen, Whitbie,” I said hastily. “Cross your arms and stay still.”

It seemed a great effort for him to cross his arms, but he managed. I reached down, pulled the lever, and watched as Whitbie was pulled away down the tunnels.

“NO!” someone screamed again.

I turned to see Theo holding Tuck back. Tuck was livid.

“That’s enough!” Tuck yelled as he twisted around, embedding his knife into Theo’s chest. I watched in horror as Theo fell to the ground.

Everyone froze.

“Well, then,” said Tuck. “I guess I’m the bad guy now. I didn’t want to be, but now I am.” There was a kind of insane sing-songy tone to his voice. “You didn’t have to interfere,” he said to Luna. “But you did and now he’s dead. And you!” Tuck turned to me with ferocity and I backed away slowly. “You ruined everything! This was my moment! The resistance is a bunch of fools following an even bigger fool. I was going to be the one to take them down, join in with the ‘bad guys’. I would finally be appreciated for what I could do. Moonlight has always underestimated what I could do, never let me use my full potential.”

“It’s because you take things too far,” Luna yelled at him as she tried to save Theo.

Tuck ignored her and continued toward me. I stumbled, fell backward, reached for my knife and held it out in front of me.

“Sure, I was gonna kill Whitbie, but that’s what he deserves. He let this happen to First Warren, he doesn’t deserve mercy! But you all just had to interfere, didn’t you? You’re going to pay for this Bender!” Tuck pulled his arm back but then his face turned to shock. He looked down and I followed his gaze, protruding from his chest was a sword.

Luna pulled the sword back and Tuck’s body fell. I scrambled away and ran a few feet before collapsing on the ground, shaking. Tears ran down my face; From fear, sadness, or shock, I wasn’t sure.

“Bender,” Luna said flatly.

I turned, holding my knife out. “No. No. I won’t let you kill me.” Fear pulsed through my body, I wasn’t thinking straight.

Luna cast her sword aside. “Bender, It’s okay.”

“You betrayed us!”

“No, I didn’t.” Her voice was calm and comforting, a quality I had never heard in it before.

“But, the bird, the stealth team. You left them.” I was thinking about Moonlight and Eve, two innocent lives gone.

“The bird is dead. Last I saw, Moonlight and Eve were still alive. As for my team, they work for Tuck now.”

My eyes wandered to the motionless buck.

“You killed him!” I said in alarm. Everything was catching up to me with renewed horror.

“Yes.”

“Theo!” My hand went to my mouth as I looked at my friend, Luna had not been able to save him.

“I need you to take deep breaths, Bender.” I felt light-headed and dizzy. “You’re going into shock. No surprise.” She said the last part to herself in her usual grumpy manner. Somehow, it comforted me.

I followed her directions and took many deep breaths. I kept my gaze away from the fallen rabbits, it obviously wasn’t something I could handle right now.

“Now, Bender. I’m going to send you down the tunnels to make sure Whitbie is okay while I go take care of the rest.”

I wasn’t sure if she was talking about Moonlight, Eve, and the prisoners; Or the stealth team who knew about the Citadel’s secrets.

“I’m going with you,” I insisted.

“No, Bender, you’re not.”

I realized with alarm that I had fallen into the hollow stump during my mad scurry. Luna pulled the lever and I fell into darkness.

I plan on doing an alternate POV next so that we can see what’s going on on Moonlight’s side. I didn’t really plan this out very much so there aren’t really any hints about Tuck being the traitor and it didn’t play out perfectly but it felt like a good twist 😅.