You don't have to read this: Heyy, It's been a looong while, I guess. All my stories are practically dead since I have lost internet access and my "fallowers" are probably no longer interested in what i had written months ago. So, I'm going to try to re-kick start my writing, but since I'm using a friend's computer, there may be long periods in which nothing new may appear. It is just a warning, though I have every intention on continuing this story to it's end.

I do not own Elfquest.

Darkness...

That was all he could see, all he could smell. It was a thick winter fur, suffocating and trying to destroy the now. Inky blackness surrounded him, howling wind tearing through his silvery hair, sending loose strands to the wild wind's mercy. A chill passed through him as he fallowed an invisible path, unable to stray. It was as though a rope wastied around his wrists and was roughly tugging him along, sending him stubling but he was not able to fall to his knees.

And then the screaming started.

It was an awful noise, an unearthly sound that ripped through his chest and skull, that assulted his ears like blades. The pain he was hearing felt like his own, and he doubled over, unable to draw in a breath and unable to move forward. It choked him worse than the shadows that danced on the edge of his fading vision-as though a fire had gone out, creating a world of utter darkness. He made no noise, but the screams became louder.

And he recognized the voice, someone who he knew in a way only a soulmate could.

Yet, he knew not their name.

The cries became sharp and ragged and cut off so abruptly that the silence was so much worse. He dropped to his knees, suddenly drained of all energy. He knew. He knew what had just happened, as the cries ended before the breath was through. He knew that who had been screaming, the one he loved yet did not know, was forever gone from his reach. He crumpled into himself.

And that was the worst pain of all.

He awoke screaming. Thrashing. Crying. Shaking.

He became aware of being surrounded, of the warmth of many bodies pressing close to provide comfort and protection against this pain. Of the smell of those he knew since cubhood and those he's only recently met, though still precious as they were. Soft hands were palced on his cheeks, the familiar feel of warm magic flooding through her fingertips and into his being, as though to awaken him. But, he was already awake.

Gasping for breath, he grabbed the hands roughly and pulled them away from his face, turning away and screwing his eyes shut. He knew he had to be hurting her, his soul-brother's lifemate, yet it would hurt him so much more to release her. As though he were to lose another.

"Skywise," hard hands clamped onto his shoulders, but his voice was gentle, "It's okay, everything will be fine."

He dropped her hands as though they burned, and curled into himself, ignoring everyone around him. Trying to block out the sudden cold that had shuttered through him, trying to forget the awful dream, trying to block out the sound of the screaming. He still shook violently, as though he had been thrown by a zoot and hit his head, and were bleeding terribly. The pain he felt was already dissappearing, leaving a dull ache that demanded sleep.

His eyes were slipping shut, but he saw his tribe's faces, how worried and concerned they looked. How fear laced some of their expressions, how his cheif's lifemate eyes were glassy, how his cheif quietly tried to speak with him through their link.

It hurt.

This darkness.

It was odd.

Not knowing what the dream meant.