"W-woah!"

Darklett grinned wide as he watched his brother lose his balance and start to topple over, waving his arms wildly before tripping and thudding against the ground, fishhook stuck in his shirt. Dark giggled maniacally as he crawled over to undo the fishhook from his older brother, Keiran, who soon rolled over and tackled him backwards, pinning him down and growling playfully. "Ya traitorous scum! Into the river with ya!"

"Keir! Dark! Dad'll be back any second, get off each other!" The eldest of the three brothers, Broderick, yelled and separated them with a strong grip to the back of Keiran's tunic, strangling him momentarily as he tumbled backwards.

"Hey!" Darklett got up, brushing himself off. "Get off him, we were just playin'!"

"Oh, whatcha gonna do about it, /Arky?/"

Darklett stepped closer to his older brother. "I'll punch ya out and toss ya into the riv-" THOCK! He never got to finish the sentence, his eyes rolling back slightly as he fell to his rump on the ground, paw going to his now bleeding nose.

"Broderick! Why'd you do that? ...He's bleedin'!" Keiran stood and looked between the two, and then up at Broderick as he snarled down at the middle child.

Then, a booming voice resonated around all three, bringing Broderick and Keiran to separate, and Darklett to his senses. "What's going on here?"

"Nothing, father!" Broderick stood straight, leaving the seated Darklett and a very tense Keiran standing by.

"Ya weren't roughhousin', were ya?" The father laid an eye on Dark's bloody nose, as well as the tear forming in the corner of one of his eyes. "Oh... Tough it up, Darklett. Quit bein' so weak."

"But da, me and Keir were just..."

"Look at you! You ain't even caught one fish yet? Look at Broderick!" Indeed, the eldest brother's basket had four fish in it, and even Keiran, who looked ashamed at being used as an example against Darklett, had three. "Not even /one!/ Stop goofin' around and get to catchin' fish!"

"Da, they're not biting, I can't help..."

"Stop makin' excuses, and get your bait in the water!"

Without an answer, Darklett grumbled and prepared to cast off into the river again... Reeling back, he cast his rod forward... And felt a snag. The hook had caught on to Broderick's sleeve as he was walking by, and caught him off guard, sending him stumbling towards the river and falling in!

Normally, Darklett would have laughed at this. But this time, he dropped the rod, his dark fur going a slightly paler shade.

"Darklett! Get over here RIGHT NOW!" The voice of his father barked loudly behind him as Broderick started to climb out of the river.

"I'm sorry, it was an accident!"

"Yeah, dad!" Keiran stood up and walked between the father and youngest son. "It was an accident, don't blame him for it!"

For his trouble, Keiran got a backhand slap to the face, powerful enough to send him to the dirt. "Keir!" Darklett looked in wide-eyed shock at his brother... His dad had never hit /him/ before.

"Alright, Darklett... Get over here."

"N... no."

"GET OVER HERE THIS INSTANT!" The dad took a step towards Darklett, and Darklett walked backwards... Right into the soaked body of his larger, older brother.

"Thatch, honey, it was a mistake..." A doe, Darklett's mother, stood by and pleaded with her husband, but to no avail. Broderick shoved the youngest of three brothers at his father, who caught him and picked him up by the back of his neck, and started to carry him off.

"Keep fishin'! I'll be back after I've taught Darklett a lesson or two..."

"Dad!" Keiran got back to his feet, and started to walk after his brother. "Stop, it was a mistake!" But Broderick crossed his arms and stepped in his path... Rocketing his arms out and shoving Keiran back to the ground.

"Let him go. Darklett needs to be taught some discipline."

But Keiran wouldn't have it. He got up and charged at his brother, who simply chuckled as he backed away and cuffed Keiran in his ear, spinning him around and putting him in a headlock. "I said let them go, Keiran..."

The mother stood by, silently. Helplessly.

"Broderick..." Keiran kicked and writhed against the older brother's hold, but finally gave up, his futile attempts a waste of time.

------*

"Oof!" Darklett hit face first into a tree, and stumbled backwards, right back into the hare who threw him, his father. "I said it was an acci-"

"Shut up!" Thatch's paw swiped at Darklett's face, backhanding him, his other holding him up so he could repeat the action again, The smaller hare cowering away and beginning to cry from the pain.

"STOP /CRYING!/" Thatch emphasized this order with another toss, lifting him up in the air and ramming his back into a tree... This only made Darklett cry out more. Thatch did not like this, and placed his big paw over Darklett's mouth and nose, smothering him, muffling the cries for mercy.

"Useless... Little... Brat!"

Darklett began to struggle, fighting for breath, panic lighting up his eyes, meeting an uncaring gaze back down. Slowly... his world began... to go black...

------*

"Lori! Lori..." Thatch sprinted back towards the river where the other two brothers and the wife was waiting. "Lori! It was horrible!" The big buck was wearing a scratch along his cheek, and another on his forearm. "The rats... Oh, it was horrible..."

Darklett's mother's eyes widened, and she rushed to her husband. "Thatch! What happened? Where's Darklett?"

"He's... dead."

Silence. Keiran and Broderick looked on, their mouths agape in surprise. Lori backed away from Thatch into a tree, and slumped down, tears streaming down her face, paw covering her mouth as she cries, silently.

"We don't have time to sit around. There are more, and we need to get on the move. Now!" Thatch barked out, as Keiran and Broderick abandoned their poles, grabbing their baskets of fish.

Thatch stopped Keiran. "Wait..." He held out a necklace, a simple string loop with a single charm, a flat, smooth riverbed rock with the letter "D" etched into it. "I know you were best friends with him." The necklace was dropped into Keiran's basket, and the father turned and started to walk. "Let's move, they could catch up with us any second!"

And, confused and scared, the four hares trekked swiftly onward into the northern woods. Keiran looked behind him, sobbing once, until his older brother placed his paw on his shoulder, almost comforting, before ushering him on.

------*

"Hey, boss! It's a kid!"

Darklett's eyes opened slowly. His head throbbed in pain, and he sat up against the tree he'd been tossed against once unconscious. The clearing he was in was empty, save for a single ferret, who was busy calling out over his shoulder. "Boss! Come quick, I foun' a little hare kid!"

An entire troop of vermin, at least a score and a half, suddenly filled the clearing. Darklett was scared, but couldn't bring himself to move.

"We got dinner!"

"Shut up. We're not gonna eat him..." A strong-looking, tall stoat stepped forward from all of them. Obviously the leader. "Hey, you." He approached Darklett, who tried to squirm away.

"Don't try to run. Where's your family?"

"Family...?" Darklett groaned in pain, a paw going to his head.

"Don't play stupid, boy. Where's your daddy?"

"Daddy..." Darklett blinked into half, sleepy awareness, and scowled to a blurry form in front of him. "I hate my daddy."

The weasel grinned, stretching his mouth out wide. "Good, good... What's your name?"

"Darklett..."

"Boss, what're you doing?"

"Shut up. Now, come on with us, Darklett. You can tell me all about what happened to you, alright? My name is Daggerjaw, and you're safe and sound with me..."