A/N: Okay, well... If you're reading this, then you liked the summary of my story. Whelp, this story's a spin-off of Goddess, one of my other fics. Yay Goddess! I strongly suggest you read it, not because I say so, but because it's fun and all, and you'll really get the jist of things. However, the reading is not required (do I sound like a schoolteacher?) to read this story and understand it. Okay, so, on to stuff and stories and all! Please read, review, and enjoy!

Exterior

1

They were breaking apart.

It hurt, in a dull sort of way. Like a bruise. When his name was spoken, or when she thought of him, the bruise throbbed. Barely noticable, but still there.

Whose fault was it, anyway? Karen felt as though she should blame Rick.

Stupid Rick, with all his chickens, and his soft smile, and his stubborn little habits, and-

Well, sometimes she felt like she was partly to blame as well. But it wasn't Karen's fault that her feelings for him had died. What had once been a friendship, and perhaps more, on his side, had died into nothing more than a relationship that was held together by wisps of memories.

After all, it couldn't be any more than that.

Karen was gorgeous. She was not exaggerating- It was a truth. Rick was... Well, Rick was cute. But Rick was not handsome. Rick was not a hunk. Dorky Rick, whose role models were chickens.

Karen crossed her arms and shook her head, her blonde-brown hair shimmering like a waterfall.

It was only a matter of time before their relationship went to a stage beyond repair. Memories couldn't hold them together forever.

Which was why she was here, waiting for him, at the Goddess Pond. Waiting, to tell him that she couldn't do this. Couldn't stick around with him much longer, that it hurt too much. That maybe they should just be acquaintances: In other words, friends who were now utter strangers.

It hurt. After all, Rick had been her best friend. The tiny bruise on her heart ached.

A wild howl came from far off, wind blowing through her now limp hair. She wrapped her arms around herself, shielding her body from the cold wind, and from the shadows now creeping nearer as the sun slowly descended beneath the mountain.

Maybe she should just go home. Rick wasn't showing up. Maybe she should just...

"Karen." There he was, a slightly goofy yet sad smile on his face, as he fuddled with his glasses, rubbing invisible dirt off them. "Hi."

"Rick," she said with a warm smile. But her eyes and voice were... cold. They both stared at each other: had their relationship reached this critical of a stage already?

"You wanted to talk to me?" He asked in a voice that was almost a whisper.

She nodded silently. "I... Rick... We..."

Another howl interrupted her, and she blinked her eyes. Was it her imagination, or was it closer...?

She shook her head, and walked over to Rick. She should have been crying. After all, he looked like he wanted to. But she didn't feel like crying.

She felt empty.

She took her hand in her own, and squeezed it. Rick was cold, and he stuffed his other hand into his pocket. Karen was too cool to do such a thing. She simply managed a soft look of guilt.

"We can't do anything, can we?" Rick asked. He was talking about their friendship, about what had almost been something more. He was talking about it fading away.

"No," she answered back with a horrible sense of being a mother. Telling her child that he couldn't do something that he really wanted to do: She was crushing his dreams. "We're too far apart now, Rick. It will never be the same."

"This can't be us. We've been friends since we were little children."

"Sometimes, things need to change."

Rick bit his lip.

Karen felt a small spark of what she believed to be sympathy. "We'll find new friends, Rick. ...You'll find some other girl."

"Who?" He asked with a soft, pleading moan. "Mary and Gray are destined to be together... Elli's crush on the Doctor hasn't faded, even after several years. And even Ann looks at Cliff in that way sometimes..."

Karen knew that to be true. "I don't know, Rick. But we... We just aren't..." She finished stupidly. "We aren't working."

"We can work on it. We can fix it..." Rick was slowly lowering to his knees. "I'll be-"

"That's just it, Rick!" She blasted in his face. "It's YOU! And you're not going to change!" She softened her voice, and it became a painful whisper...

"Rick, I don't love you."

He looked as if he wanted to die.

A cold feeling in the pit of her stomach.

The mournful howling and the full moon peeking over the mountain matched her mood exactly.

She put her head in her hands. Tears began to flow.

Rick turned around. His body was limp, his eyes didn't sparkle. He didn't seem to have any reason to want to live.

"Goodbye, Karen."

She couldn't respond. She couldn't...

A low growling came from behind her. It sent chills up her spine.

Did Rick...?

He whirled, and she dared to peek her green eyes over her shoulder...

A wild dog, snapping and snarling! It was huge, it was almost the size of a...

Almost the size of a human.

It looked at her with eyes filled with rage, then it tensed and sprung forward-

"KAREN!"

She was pushed out of the way as Rick got in her place, hitting the creature square on the head with a stick. It let out a bone-chilling shriek.

"Run!"

She would have, but she was frozen to the spot.

The dog had lost all interest in her, but now its yellow mad eyes were locked firmly on Rick, its mouth foaming, the perfectly white teeth soaked in... Blood...

It lunged forward again, but Rick's reactions were not as fast. The dog landed on top of him, and the two tumbled backwards, rolling down the hill. They finally came to a stop. The dog stood and bounded away with a limp.

Rick lay still.

"Rick!" She screamed, running over to him. "RICK!"

She rolled him over, bending her head down to see if he still had a pulse. Thank the Goddess, he did. Her eyes darted all over him, checking for injuries.

Thank goodness. The dog had only bit him once. A red, barely bleeding wound, where there were a set of teeth marks.

"Mmmphhhh... Karen?" His voice was groggy and tired, not at all pained.

She got the overwhelming urge to slap him. Push her out of the way? How dare he! He had sacrificed himself for her! For some strange reason, the thought aggravated her to no end. But she finally calmed herself, and placed a hand to his forehead.

"Rick? Are you feeling all right? Do you think anything's broken?"

Rick shook his head slowly. "...No."

"Should I go get help?"

"I feel fine, Karen. Just fine." His voice seemed to have something different about it... It was calmer than usual, with a slight hint of humor...

"Open your eyes, Rick, and stand up. Your mom can bandage that arm properly."

He opened his eyes with a smile.

For a second, they were not blue. They were a fierce yellow, the pupils tiny slits. They were... She blinked, and Rick was Rick again, eyes an ordinary blue. He gave her hand a tiny squeeze, firm.

But he still felt so wrong.

Rick did not seem to be Rick.