"Why are you looking at me like that?" Sparrow asked, peering at Tony through a small gap.

Before he could answer, the small gap closed and she was engulfed in darkness. "HEY!" She yelled. "GET ME OUTTA HERE!"

Sparrow heard seats scraping against the floor and slowly but surely, a crack of light appeared, which eventually opened to reveal the world around her.

"Why am I in a casket?" She asked curiously, looking up at the velvet top above her. "And why is everybody wearing black?"

She looked at Tony and widened her eyes. "And why the heck is Tony crying?"

Nobody answered, and Sparrow sat there and stared at everyone, disturbed by the silence. "Hey, are we going to sit her and wait for me to die, or are we going to answer?"

Then somebody laughed. Sparrow looked at Lyss and watched her laughs become shouts of joy. She watched these shouts affect everyone else around her, and soon everyone was laughing...everyone but Sparrow...and her father.

Sparrow's father bent down and wrapped his arms around her. She felt tears dampen her shirt and she tried to shrug him off, but he held on tighter.

"I thought you were dead." He whispered. "I thought you were gone, my beautiful, beautiful daughter."

***

A/N: I AM GETTING THE FEELS SO BAD RIGHT NOW! SORRY TO INTERRUPT BUT I NEED TO KNOW IF I'M ALONE IN THE WORLD.

***

Sparrow narrowed her eyes. "Dead? Why would I be-"

Then it all came back to her. The stabbing, the empty looks, the blood, the pain...

"Oh my...OH MY GOD DAD! YOU CAN-I MEAN-DAD YOU'RE NOT TRYING TO KILL ME!" She screamed, and she threw her arms around her father and held him close. She cried on his shoulder and he cried on hers, and in that moment, a bond was formed between the two of them. They hadn't even looked at each other in years, and here they were, hugging each other and ignoring the years gaping between the last time they had seen each other.

In this moment, they were family again.

***

A week later, Sparrow was sitting in her room, laying on her bed and looking at the ceiling. She was sore from training today, for Tony and her had run five miles and she could barely run one. Frankly, she wasn't sure how she was still alive.

Then again, she had already "died" so why on earth shouldn't she be alive?

Obviously, she was intended to do something else with her life.

But what?

She started tracing the lines on the ceiling with her finger. She was bored out of her mind, but she couldn't (or didn't want to) move.

She heard someone walking in the hallway and turned her head toward the noise. It was Tiquail.

"Tiquail! Could you come in here please? My brain is going numb from its lack of activity!" She called.

Tiquail winced as she heard her name called, and vaguely, Sparrow wondered why. Reluctantly, the snow leopard walked into the room and nodded at Sparrow. "Why don't you just join us downstairs?" She asked.

Sparrow laughed bitterly. "I can't move." She replied.

Tiquail's whiskers quivered with amusement. "So Tony gave you one of his famous training sessions, did he?" She purred. Sparrow tried to sit up, but groaned and laid back down. "When did his sessions become 'famous'?"

"Oh...about two seconds ago."
"Oh, stop it, Tiquail."

Tiquail's tail tip twitched a little. "I can carry you downstairs." She suggested.

Sparrow didn't like the gleam in her eyes. "When you say carry you mean...like...on your back, right? Because I'm not having you rip this shirt, my dad got it for me."

Tiquail gave a rumbling laugh. "Well, I'm going downstairs, and you don't have to come if you don't want to..."

Sparrow sighed angrily. "Okay! Fine! You can carry me down!"

Tiquail purred and walked up to her bed. She flipped Sparrow over gingerly with one paw and used her teeth to grab her shirt collar.

She dragged Sparrow off the bed and yanked her down the hall.

"This is demeaning!" Sparrow yelped as Tiquail dragged her down the stairs. She heard laughter as everyone sitting there saw her, and she felt herself blush.

"Oh, put me down!" She demanded as they reached the bottom of the stairs. "As you wish." Tiquail mumbled through Sparrow's shirt collar. She dropped her and Sparrow slid down the rest of the stairs on her back.

Everyone burst into laughter as she landed on the floor, her face as red as the streaks in her hair. 

Lyss walked up to her and grinned. "Get up," She said, offering her hand. Sparrow grabbed it (though rather reluctantly) and Lyss heaved her to her feet. Sparrow brushed herself off and walked over to a chair, where she sat and tried to calm herself down so her red face would go back to normal.

Tony walked up to her and slapped her on the back. "Don't worry about it, Stripes." He said kindly. "At least you gave us all a laugh."

Sparrow couldn't help but simle, though it turned out to look more like a smirk, as she was trying to avoid the laugh that she wanted to shout. 

Tony smirked right back at her, his eyes glittering. "I know my training was intnense, but don't you think you're overreacting a little bit?" He asked.

Sparrow laughed bitterly. "I, sir athlete, am a couch potatoe. I do not do this thing you call 'running'. I barely walk." She added.

Tony laughed. "Well, get used to it, because tomorrow, you're running four miles."

"What!?"

"I'm kidding, Stripes. We're going into the forest again."

Sparrow paused. "Isn't that more dangerous than running for miles?" She asked.

Tony laughed again. "Well, Stripes, what's life without a little danger?"

***

Tiquail watched Sparrow and Tony walk out of the building the next day, her blue eyes narrowed in concern. 

"Are you thinking of following them, Tiquail?" Ainnya asked. Tiquail sighed. "You know I couldn't follow them if I wanted to. I've been warned against it, simply because..."

Tiquail allowed her voice to trail away as she looked at Ainnya. Her eyes glittered with understanding, and, if Tiquail wasn't mistaken, a little amusment. "Simply because you are getting old Tiquail." She purred. Tiquail glared at her. "There's no reason to say it aloud."

Ainnya purred again, and wrapped her tail slowly around Tiquail's, the gesture of a friend. "Perhaps you could send someone else after them?" She questioned. 

"Would you go?" Tiquail asked. Ainnya laughed. "Of course I couldn't, I've got other things to handle. But you can chose, if you wish."

Tiquail sighed again as Ainnya unwrapped her tail and walked away. She pressed her ears determindly against her head. She knew that Ainnya didn't trust him, but she did, and she'd ask him to do her this favor.

***

"So you want me to stalk the two Ancients?" Shikira asked, his expression blank. Tiquail growled a little. "It's not stalking. It's observing...secretly."

Shikira let out a laugh. "Of course, because you stalk prey, not people."

"Unless the people are your prey." Tiquail corrected him. Shikira purred. "But why would we be hunting people?"

"Possibly the Trackers?" She suggested blandly. "Whatever the case, I'm asking you to do me a favor, and if you would be so good to do it..." 

Shikira shrugged. "Of course, I can. I'd be happy to."

Tiquail nodded and gave his mane a quick lick. Shikira purred and brushed his tail against Tiquail's flank. Then he turned and walked away in the direction of the forest. Tiquail watched him go, and odd feeling making her stomach clench up.

***

A/N: I'm sorry I haven't updated in forver and I'm sorry this chapter was extremely boring but you know...filler chapters stink.