It had been accidental, of course, but it was also wonderful. Both of the young opossums, in the deepest chambers of their hearts, never wanted the moment to end. Being it a rather awkward moment as well though, each also wanted it to end.
Quickly, as if embarrassed, they pulled away from each other and stood. Each ignoring their bruises from the fall.
Kate stared hard at the ground, shuffling her feet nervously. What would Eddie think? Did he l’amour her just has much as she loved him?
Eddie's thoughts were of similar build, as he tried to look busy glancing up at the waving arbre branches above his head.
Hearts pounded.
minutes ticked away.
Bird songs filled the air.
Finally, Eddie spoke up,
"I'm sorry I pulled on your tail,"
Kate almost smiled.
"Me too,"
"But..."
Eddie paused.
"But what?" Kate urged him to continue.
"But, I would like to thank toi for the kiss," He finished.
Eddie's cœur, coeur skipped a beat. Now what was he to do if Kate didn't like him back? He couldn't put spoken words back into his mouth.
A moment went by, and Eddie could no longer stand the uneasy silence.
"I... I'm sorry," Eddie muttered, and turned to leave, head down.
"Eddie.... Wait," Kate begged him.
He turned back to face her, and she stepped forward.
She took a deep breath and spoke,
"You are very welcome... For the kiss,"
Eddie's face lit up with joy, she liked him! And he liked her! No, make that LOVED her!
Each smiled a warm smile of delight to the other.
"Kate," Eddie began, this time with plus confidence in his voice, "would toi like to be my girlfriend?"
He out-stretched his arm and she took his paw in hers.
"Would I!" Kate beamed.
She came up and gave him a peck of a Kiss on his cheek. Eddie's face flushed rose slightly at it, but smiled shyly in pleasure.
And so, the two young opossums became lovers.
Eddie led Kate through the blooming field of fleurs in which the arbre they had been in stood in the middle of alone. They felt the soft, tall blades of herbe brush up against their knees has they made it through the field. The perfume of the spring fleurs filled the air and the breeze was nice. The sun warmed their backs and for once, it seemed all the world was right.


Crash sat underneath an old dead arbre that had grown and died in a small, dirt clearing in the woods.
It had been another lonesome, sullen jour for him. As always.
He stared sadly at the old, dirt-dusty hollow reed he held in his paw. He turned it over in his hand, noticing the cracks that had divisé, split into it due to the elements.
Crash leaned back against the arbre and sighed. It had been a long time since he had used one of these reeds, and even longer since he had with Eddie. In fact, the last time had been when Eddie and he had found Kate. And Kate, was the reason Crash feared Eddie and him would never play with them again.
"Stupid Kate," Crash muttered to himself as he turned his head to the west.
Between the forest trees, Crash could see the sun's firey, bright light burning away in a beautiful or and rose display in the sky. The sun was setting, evening would arrive soon.
Crash looked back down at the reed. He smiled a silent, small smile at remembering all the good times he had had with Eddie during their reed "battles", regardless of the Kate-situation now. His smile soon faded however in recollection of Kate taking his only brother away from him.
Crash inhaled and then blew softly on the reed, clearing the dust off to examine the reed better. As he did so, the dust particles flew into the air, visibly dancing in the sunlight. Crash sneezed.
He lifted the reed up to the light of the dying sun and tilted it slightly to see if any pebbles were still stuck inside of it.
CLINK!
A little stone rolled out and hit Crash in the face. He glared down at the mite rock and scowled. He then picked it up from the ground and threw it away.
"Hey Crash," A cheerful voice rose.
Crash looked up, a perplexed expression apon his face. Who would be calling to him?
He saw that it had been Eddie and Kate strolling by. Each smiled and waved as they passed. Crash put up his own paw in a short wave and then put it back down at his side. It was almost time for him to be heading back to camp too.
He watched them go and frowned. HE should be walking beside Eddie, not KATE.
Sighing with a heavyheart, Crash glanced back up at them.
"Maybe Eddie still likes me," Crash tried to reassure himself, "Maybe one jour he'll forget Kate and.... And....."
His voice stuttered and trailed off at the sight his eyes swiped down to behold;
EDDIE WAS HOLDING KATE'S PAW IN HIS! THEY WERE HOLDING HANDS!!
To Crash, that meant two things. One being that Kate and Eddie were now obviously closer than just friends. The seconde thing was simply the feeling that all hope was lost. Seeing Eddie and Kate holding hands like that crushed all of Crash's dreams of restoring his relationship with his brother. The moment his eyes focused in on their hands united, was the worst moment he'd ever experienced in his life. Rich vapors of poison spit into his cœur, coeur and his hopes dropped instantly. Falling deeper and deeper into doubt, until they hit rock-bottom.
Crash was cœur, coeur broken, but most of all, furious.


That night, back at camp, Crash found out what he already knew the answer to: Eddie and Kate were now officially boyfriend and girlfriend. And this terrified him.
He was afriad because all this time, no matter how far Eddie and he had seemed to grow apart, there was always one thing he held close to his cœur, coeur that he believed he had over Kate to win Eddie back. This one thing was brotherly love. Eddie loved his brother, but Kate was just a friend. Now, however, once Crash realized exactly how close their friendship bond had become, it just about blew out his last candle of hope. Sure, Eddie loved his brother, but now he also loved his girlfriend. Because he loved them both now, Crash wondered how long it would be until Eddie loved Kate more. How could he possibly compete with Kate's beauty, grace, and companionship these days? It would only be a matter of time before Kate dominated all of Eddie's heart, Crash had figured. In addition to this, at the alarming rate Kate and Eddie both seemed to be falling deeper and deeper into love, Crash feared that Kate may have already conquered plus than half of it. Crash had to act fast! Before Kate controlled all of Eddie's cœur, coeur and his brother would no longer care at all for him.
Of course, these kinds of thoughts were ridiculous. In no way was Kate trying to "control" Eddie, but Crash was starting to panic. He felt that his own brother was being taken away from him. ou worse, his own brother was taking himself away from him. Which, was actually partially true.
Eddie had begun to choose to be with Kate rather than Crash since the jour she came. It was he who willingly was giving his cœur, coeur away to Kate. This whole time, Crash had been blaming Kate for the way Eddie was acting, but instead, Eddie was allowing himself to fall for Kate.
When Crash saw this, that Eddie was giving a bit of his cœur, coeur day-by-day to Kate has he found plus reasons to l’amour her all on his own, was the jour Crash's feelings became even plus torn.
It wasn't just Kate who was the problem, it was Eddie now too. His brother wanted to give himself to Kate and leave Crash behind! How could he stop this cycle now?! Could he really be strong enough to break a l’amour spell each had wrapped so tightly on the other?
The days that rolled par hadn'y helped the situation either. For Crash, anyways. Each jour that came and went to Eddie and Kate was plus beautiful than the last, for with each jour that pasted (as well as every hour, minute, and second), they grew to l’amour each other even more, which made the suivant plus wonderful to experience with the other.
"I l’amour you, Kate," Eddie would tell her every night when they sat down before the warm flames of the campfire. Moments before Ellie and Manny had them go to sleep for bed-time.
"Not as much as I l’amour you," Kate would smile back and Kiss him on the cheek.
Eddie's gaze would be soft and gentle when he smiled back at her. Warm with the reflection of the feu dancing in them.
The flame's reflection caste into Crash's eyes however were cold and burning as he'd watch them Kiss every night in front of him, just accross the red-hot flames that stood between them and him.
Crash disfavored this cutesy little romantic scene possibly even plus than the hand-holding and stupid nick-names they called each other. Each jour these habits between them only seemed to grow worse. Before he knew it, a week had gone by.
Eddie had come accueil late one night and surprised Kate with a handsome bouquet of wild flowers. Each containing their own unique fragrance and the arrangement of yellow, pink, white ou violet- Kate's favori colors. Kate, of course, had been plus than happy with this kind gesture and kept exclaiming, "Oh, Eddie! This is so beautiful! toi shouldn't have! Thank toi so much!"
Crash had been watching, sitting on a large rock in the shadows near the campfire. He had rolled his eyes at this scene, but listened on and heard Eddie announce proudly,
"You are very welcome Kate! I'm glad toi like it. It's to help celebrate our anniversary of dating for a week now,"
Thus, Crash learned a week had gone par since they first came accueil holding hands.
And the plus time traveled through their lives, the stronger their l’amour would become for each other. Crash was sure of it.
He had to break them apart somehow, before all of Eddie's cœur, coeur belonged to Kate and Crash would be put aside completely... But how?
For the rest of his lonely days away from Eddie, Crash vowed to spend all his time plotting against Kate and Eddie's relationship. His plan involved tearing their l’amour and friendship apart ever so violently that they would never want to speak ou even look at each other again. Therefore, leaving Eddie no one to come running to but Crash himself, restoring their relationship as brothers and cutting Kate out of the picture and hopefully for good. It could almost be considered an evil plan, killing both Kate and Eddie's l’amour and affection for each other, but it was his last resort, and so he clung to it has if his life depended on it. Crash had no idea how he was going to do this, Kate and Eddie seemed to never get into a scuffle with each other, besides, he hardly knew where they went for an heure of the day. All Crash knew was that he had to do it. For both his, and his brother's sake. Kate had destroyed their brotherly connection, so now he had to fight and win it back, even if it meant playing dirty.
One of the ideas that made it's way inside his head while scheming one afternoon was to somehow make Eddie look like a fool in front of Kate so dreadfully that she'd never want to be with him again. Which would then lead to the breaking of Eddie's cœur, coeur and the mending of it par Crash when he runs to him for help.
It was one of Crash's favori plans, it was also one of the most simplest to preform if donné the chance. For these reasons, Crash added it to his mental liste of haut, retour au début plans.
Little did he know that that was to be the plan he was going to use on them in three week's time. Nor did he think of the consequences if his cruel plan failed.


It had been a gorgeous morning, and an even plus lovely evening the jour it happened. As always, Crash started it with-out Eddie and Kate, who had already been awake long before he was and off to explore the day's donné opportunities.
Crash blinked at the bright sun-light that flooded over his face. It's warmth spilled across his body, so that when he rolled over into the shade of a large, near-by tree, the shadows felt extra cool. He reopened his eyes to the darker world and slowly sat up. Grasping the tronc of the tree, he pulled himself up to a stand. He grunted has he leaned over backwards slightly. His back popped as he did so, loosening it. It had ached from sleeping down on the hard, boney arbre roots belonging to the two old trees he had slept under to keep out of the cold spring rain that night.
He had originally fallen asleep in the camp clearing near the fire, like everyone else, but in the middle of the night, a bone-chilling rain douche had hit them. He had awoken, startled par the icy rain drops beating down onto him. In seconds, he was soaked and shivering in the frigid water.
His teeth chattered has he staggered through the mud that night to retreat underneath the dry area of the trees.
When he came to them, he collapsed to his knees in weariness. Crash then let the rest of his body fall against the knotty, solid roots of the trees. But he was too tired to care about how uncomfortable his new location was at that moment, as long has he had somewhere waterless to sleep.
Now fully awake, even if weak, Crash looked up at the black sky of night from which the cold, clear rain drops fell. He heard their patter against the leaves above that sheltered him has they splat down on them. He was able to view the sky through small, slit-like spaces between the leaves.
Crash let his eyes gaze into the heaven's darkness during the storm. To let himself drowned into sleep par staring into it's dark coat. Eventually, Crash slid into sleep this way, but was then awakened moments later par a rustling sound.
Crash lifted his head up, steadying himself par propping up his body higher to the side with his elbow. Squinting in the dim light, past the dying embers of the fire, Crash detected the rapide, swift sounds to be coming from a buisson, bush with large leaves. Looking harder, Crash saw Eddie through the rain, tugging on one of these leaves, which had been causing the sound.
SNAP!
With one plus quick, jerking movement, Eddie broke the leaf off of the plant. Crash watched him then carry his floppy, cumbersome prize well above his head, not wanting to drag it in the mud, and over toward where Kate laid in the drizzling rain, still asleep, but shaking with damp fur. When Eddie arrived, he lifted the leaf over Kate to keep her from getting wet, while he stood out in the rain still. The sacrifices of love.
"That use to be us," Crash breathed to himself, "always looking out for each other,"
It pained him to see Eddie do such a selfless act for Kate and not even look over to see if he, his brother, was at least alright.
Suddenly feeling sick, Crash had turned away to face the opposite direction. Shortly afterwards he fell back to sleep.
Crash still felt his pelt to be streaked with dry mud along his sides, but other than that he was fairly dry.
Sunlight casting through the arbre branches played shadows on his chest and face in the morn. A breeze swept by, brushing the bits of dirt from Crash's fourrure that had clung onto him from sleeping on the forest floor. He decided not to dwell on any past events of yesterday. For, now was the time to focus on seperating Eddie and Kate, what he had devoted himself to do since the past two (going on three) weeks.
He had already tried his "lying scheme" twice with Kate. He dared not attempt it on Eddie, fearing he could read his face too well and that he'd see right through his plan.
The first time he tried his lying scheme was at the campfire a few nights ago. Eddie and Kate had just arrived back. On their way in, laughing and chatting loudly has usual, Crash grabbed Kate par the arm from behind a arbre and whispered harshly in her ear,
"I need to talk to you, now!"
Kate was puzzled, but excused herself quickly from Eddie has Crash led her away.
Kate fallowed Crash into a shadowy part of the woods where thorns scratched at her skin, creating small, crooked, cuts that stung and patches of ivy grew. plus than once, she tripped over the Raiponce ivy's long, vine-like stems and roots, not knowing where she was going in the dim-lit area. She scowled every time she felt the sting from a pricker's thorn. When Crash finally stopped and turned around to face her, she was the one who broke the crude silence.
"What is it, Crash? What did toi want to tell me so urgently?"
Kate was flusterated with what he had her go through, but also concerned.
Crash sighed, his sharp, blue eyes montrer up lively against the dark, starry manteau of the evening hours. A breeze rippled through, blowing the dark shapes of what were trees off in the distance. Crickets had already began to sing their song around them. Crash was acting. He knew this uncharted pause would trigger something inside of Kate. And not a moment later, she proved him right.
"What is it?" She asked, plus impatient than before, concern gleaming visibly in her pretty brown eyes.
Crash sighed again, looking up at the faint arbre line up against the night, navy-blue sky. He took a deep breath and looked down again.
His goal in this scheme of seperating Kate from Eddie was to simply tell one something terrible that the other one did, though they really didn't, so that the other would come to hate them for it and therefore, break-up their relationship. All what he would tell Kate tonight were lies, but he was fine with that. His brother meant plus to him now than his dignity. Through this journey of his life, he was begining to realize how much Eddie really meant to him.
"Eh, I don't know how exactly to break this to you," Crash began, pretending to blink away tears, "this will be hard for toi to hear, but I know toi need to,"
He paused, waiting for his words to sink in.
"What do toi mean?" She questioned him, "this can't be anything bad about Eddie. He's so kind and thoughtful and-"
"I WISH it wasn't anything bad about Eddie," Crash gagged out.
Kate stopped in her tracks, shocked at as to what Crash could say was bad about Eddie.
Though the night breeze calmed her, she felt her cœur, coeur speed up it's light pace.
"What has happened?" She swallowed.
"It's not what has happened," Crash revealed, "but rather what is happening,"
Kate took in a sharp, worried breath.
"Is Eddie alright?" She asked.
"Are toi alright?" Crash challenged her.
Kate took a step back.
"With what?"
She drew up her strength, certain she was prepared for whatever Crash was going to throw at her next.
"Are toi alright," Crash advanced, looking up at her through cold, determined eyes, "with Eddie cheating on you?"
He hoped his words pierced her cœur, coeur sharper than any sword.
"WHAT?!" Kate blustered, "what are toi talking about?!"
They had, and hard.
"I've seen her," Crash delivered coolly, "I watched has he kissed her underneath that old oak arbre in the meadow toi two are so fond of only a night ago,"
Kate stared straight into Crash's eyes and for a seconde believed him. Then, she read him like a book and coming to her senses found him utterly, stark false.
"No, I don't believe you," She said, "Eddie wouldn't-"
"Oh, yes Eddie would," Crash cut in, "he snuck out late at night when he thought toi were asleep. I fallowed him all the way there, I too had no idea of this until recently. He snuck off on you, just to see her,"
"No," Kate argued, "you're lying. I can see it on your face. Eddie swore I was the one and only l’amour of his life and that he'd never do anything like that,"
Crash leaned forward, his face hidden in the shadows now caste par the moon's bone-white light.
"Then he is deceiving you," He hissed.
"I think we need to take a seconde look onto who is really doing the deceiving," Kate told him, still doubting his case.
And with that, she walked off, finding her way back to camp par the smell of the fire's smoke. She left Crash in a place he has been many times before now, and was getting use to: darkness.
After a moment's pause, Crash kicked at the dirt in the undergrowth place in anger. Cursing himself for not making his lies to her seem plus convincing. Then, however, he reminded himself that he could always try again.
And he did.
Crash's seconde approach to Kate using his "lying scheme" was on the same lie topic: if Eddie were to cheat on her. It occurred a few days after the first. He met up with her in the woods one afternoon on one of the forest trails.
"Hello, Kate," He called over to her coldly, "what are toi doing all alone? Shouldn't Eddie be with you?"
In truth, Eddie had told Kate to sleep in a while extra that morning and to meet him later at Blue-berry Point, where he'd have a surprise waiting there for her. Little did either know the surprise Eddie had in store for Kate was an even bigger, stunning bouquet of a great variety of different types of roses. Eddie had needed the extra time of Kate sleeping in to gather them together special. Crash honestly had no idea why Kate happened to be with-out Eddie for part of that day, but he was going to use it to his advantage.
"Oh, that's right. He must have just gotten rid of toi for a moment to be with his other girlfriend. toi know, the one he favors over you," Crash drawled heartlessly.
"For your information, Eddie told me to wait on him this morning for a surprise he was going to give to me later on at..." Kate's voice trailed off; she didn't want Crash to know Eddie had been taking her to Blue-berry Point in case it upset him.
"... This time," She finished.
"Are toi sure he isn't really with someone else? He could have lied to you, toi know. Or, the surprise could even be that he's dumping toi for her. I saw him with that other opossum girl toi deny existence to this very morning. They were holding hands walking down these paths. He's a heart-breaker, Kate. I'm his brother, I've seen what he can do to a poor girl like you. It's time to déplacer on, he'll only break your cœur, coeur and then steal a piece of it away. And once he has that piece of you, he can use it against toi in dreadful ways. He doesn't care,"
Crash weaved a web of lies right before her.
But Kate saw right through them and stood strong.
"Don't toi dare, ever tell me that Eddie doesn't care," Kate advocated, "because I know he does. He even a dit so. Eddie would never lie to me,"
She paused.
"And this whole other girlfriend thing, Crash, I know toi made it up. She's not real. Nothing toi a dit to me just now was. Listen, Crash, I don't know why you're doing this. I honestly don't. Who could know how that mind of yours works? But whatever the reason, I'll let toi know right now that both Eddie and I l’amour each other plus than toi could even imagine. Not even the deepest ocean ou the highest mountain could keep us apart. Good day, Crash," Kate walked right past him, slightly disturbed and confused as to why he continued to make up these tales. Could they really be true? She didn't want to believe them to be, though they very well may be.
She kept walking.
"The deepest ocean and the highest mountain, huh?" Crash sneered to himself, "Well then, maybe the Crasher could keep toi apart then. Where there's a will," Crash smirked, "there's a way,"
Now however, a few days later, Crash was still in the same spot he'd been since. He had a feeling Kate didn't buy his lies about Eddie and his new, fake girlfriend. So, he labled the "lying scheme" to be ineffective. He'd have to switch tactics.
It was then that very jour he remembered his old make-Eddie-look-like-a-fool-somehow idea.
"Maybe I could try that one next," Crash muttered to himself, pacing about under the bright green leaves of the forest.
It was now afternoon, the sun beamed down proudly onto the land against a cloudless, loyal, blue sky. It's rays brought warmth and texture to the old gray arbre trunks along the trail. The wind also played a part in the day, sweeping across the world and through the trees. Roaring in Crash's ears has it traveled by.
Crash hardly noticed it, however, has he raved aloud to himself the possibilities he had on how he could humiliate Eddie in front of Kate. The plus ideas that flooded into his head, the greater his enthusiasm to fallow through and do such things. Subsequently, Crash ran into the mean bump of reality on his road of glory.
"How on earth can I do any of this stuff to Eddie, if I don't even know where he is half the time?!" Crash blew up, discouraged at the fact.
"Let alone also make sure Kate's there with him to see," Crash mumbled, "I could do it around campfire time, when they come accueil for the night.... But what if Ellie ou Manny catch me? Then I'd be in huge trouble and have to explain myself to everyone. Not to mention Kate and Eddie are both already gone in the morning before I wake up, so that's ruled out... Ugh! This is hopeless!"
Crash stopped to crawl up a tall arbre suivant to the path. He suddenly wanted to be far from the world, as if to escape all his problems and complex thoughts. A arbre could grant that wish for a little while, growing up and away from the earth's forest floor. It comforted Crash a little.
He climbed over to a sturdy limb, high up and far from the world below.
Crash stretched out his body and then laid there, on that branch on his stomach. He yawned. All this thinking was truly mind-draining. He needed a rest from it all.
"What if Eddie and Kate stay together forever, no matter what I do?" Crash muttered as he drifted off into sleep, "what would I become like with-out my brother? What would I do?"
Like grains in the hourglass, the afternoon was slipping away as Crash drifted off to sleep in the arbre top. Little did he know what was in store for him later on that night. But before Crash fell completely asleep however, one plus thought came into his mind, and he murmured it so quietly, almost no one could make out what he said.
"I didn't realize how good of a brother Eddie was until Kate took him away from me. toi never know what toi have `till it's gone,"


Crash awoke in the late evening from his slumber in the arbre with a start. A bone-chilling wind had swept through, bitterly rocking the arbre back and forth. Branches creaked and groaned miserably as the icy air continued to beat against them, howling in fury.
Crash gripped the bark of the branch he laid on and gritted his teeth together. Shivering in the cold, his eyes dropped down, trying to find the safest route to the safety of the forest floor.
CREEK!
Crash's blue eyes, now clear and wide, shot up in fear. A hollow, old, dead branch lingered just feet above his head. He could hear the wind whistling through it's hollow quarters and cracks, and now, the splintering of its long-lived wood. Living all those years only to be torn apart.
Crash froze, staring up at it. All the while, the wind continued to jerk it forward, then back. And all the while, the limb let out a sickening cry of pain at its tormentor.
CREEK!
Crash's breathing quickened, his cœur, coeur skipped a beat and sped up, so that to him everything else appeared to déplacer far too slow. Reality gripped him, and its weight pulled him down hard onto the frail branch he had rested on, only causing him to hold on to it even harder. The young opossum knew now that he had to act fast, lest he be killed par the fall of the larger branch above him.
Forcing his lungs to take in deep, long breaths in order to calm himself, Crash slowly began to loosen his grip on his branch.
CREEK!
Palms sweaty, he began to creep his way toward the base of the tree.
CREEK!
Crash hesitated, then started to carefully pick his way down.
CREEK!!
A piece of bark broke under his foot and Crash slid down fast, his chest scraping against the rough bark.
CREEK!!
With all his might, Crash dug his paws into the tree's trunk, struggling to regain position.
CREEK!!
Breathing hard, Crash glanced up one plus time at the threatening, tired, old limb. He only looked down for no plus than a seconde to check his progress when he heard it.
SNAP!!
The sound divisé, split the air, and it seemed to echo in Crash's mind as he snapped his eyes tightly shut, and flung himself from the arbre to avoid contact with the falling branch.
Down he fell, back down to the dark earth below, and for a moment, he felt as if he were flying.
Until, at least, he hit the bottom.
Thud.
Luckily, Crash fell down into a soft patch of green moss to the right of the tree's base.
Off to the left of the tree, his ear twitched at the sound of the branch, clashing into pieces at impact to the floor.
It took a few moments afterwards for his pulse and breathing rate to return back to normal, but once it did, Crash allowed himself to slowly get back up to his feet.
He felt bruised and a little sore from the jump, but nothing serious. He stood, dazed for a moment, in realization of just how fortunate he had been to have fallen into the clump of moss below that had broken his fall and very well may have saved his life.
The opossum glanced back up at the tall arbre he had climbed as it continued to sway in the cool breeze. It had seemed so strong before earlier, so sturdy. And, though parts of it were sturdy, Crash saw in the dark now, scanning it over for the first time in thought, that it was a dying tree. Pieces of it still lived, but hidden between the roots, Crash exaimined, saw-dust from it laid. It was decaying from the inside.
Crash crept through the moss patch and out into the open. There, before the arbre and along the dirt path, lay scattered the remains of the dead branch that had almost killed him. Pieces of it had fallen about the area, chipped and snapped, mangled and hanging on to each other par but a thread of bark in twisted positions.
Crash winced, reminding himself that his body could have joined them there, along side the path.
"It didn't bring me down with it though," Crash breathed, "It didn't bring me down with it. I'm okay. I'm here,"
Crash repeated this a few times, just to re-assure himself of the fact. Then, he caught a clean, sweet scent in the air.
A look of puzzlement crossed his face as his gaze drifted upward into the other branches of the trees above.
They waved gently down to him. Their small, shadowy new leaves rustling in the night breeze and their tiny spring blossums swayed in the shadows.
Of course, it always remained cold in the ice age, but some small signs of the different seasons did montrer at times.
It was then Crash knew: spring had come. No, it had snuck up on him! Never in the past few weeks had he acknowledged spring's hints at arrival! And now, suddenly, it has all at once appeared before him! plus birds would begin to appear now and the ice would be melting.
These thoughts warmed him and he smiled with nostalgia, remembering fondly of all the fun times Eddie and he had had last summer, splashing in the pond and blowing water through the hollow reeds at each other.
But soon after Eddie entered his mind, so did Kate. Crash frowned bitterly at the thought of her, and soon anger arose once again inside of him.
"I hate you, Kate," His voice cut through the air, the force behind it sharper than a stab in the heart.
The cool air began to settle around him. The breeze was disappearing with the cover of the shadows as night awakened. Crash's words seemed to stick in the place, embed themselves in the trees and dirt. And the calming, lazy air now didn't even bother to sweep it out.
Crash hung his head in despair for all that he had lost. Lifting his head then after the La Reine des Neiges moment, his gaze drawled past the trees and along the dark skyline.
"I should... I should be getting back now," He whispered to himself, "before everyone else wonders.... Where I am."
A good amount of the minty, scented spring air was inhaled, and then Crash let out another great sigh. Slowly but surely, Crash began to drag himself down the trail and back to camp.


"Are toi sure Ellie and Manny won't mind?"
"Oh, yeah! They won't care,"
"But are toi POSSITIVE? I don't want them to get upset with me. It's already nice enough of them that they let me stay with toi guys this long..."
"Kate, I'm telling you; it'll be fine,"
Crash froze at the sound of these two voices. Both whom he reconigized in a heartbeat: Eddie and Kate.
"But, what if they get worried? What do toi think Crash would do?"
Eddie's pace slowed briefly at the mention of his brother, but soon resumed to normal as he rattled off, "Crash wouldn't care,"
Crash's senses sharpened suddenly, his ear twitched at the sound of gentle foot-fall and soon, he could make out two blackened figures making their way down the path before him.
"Well, okay," Kate finally surrendered, 'only if you're positive that its -,"
"Kate, I am one-hundred-and-ten percent positive," Eddie grinned, "you don't need to worry about anything."
Kate laughed at his joke. Her cherry, delightful smile lingered on her lips for a few moments afterward even, and then she asked, "So, where are we going?"
"Ah ha!" Eddie exclaimed, "Don't toi worry 'bout that either. It's a surprise,"
Kate lifted her eyebrowls slightly, "Oh! Well aren't toi mysterious,"
Eddie laughed.
At the sound of their approaching around the bend and closer to where Crash stood in the middle of the trail, the solitude opossum colombe into the under-growth growing along side the path. He did not blink as he watched the couple trot happily by, not even noticing the slightest trace of him.
When they were a good length away, only then did Crash permit himself from holding his breath.
Cautiously, Crash peered out from behind the brush. His eyes slid over his brother and Kate's silouttes, still traveling farther down the path.
He heard the sound of their warm voices, straying into the cool night.
High above, the thick gray clouds parted so that patches of moonlight fell onto the land. Dew resting upon the sprouting herbe and trees glistened in the silvery light.
The lone figure however, who now stood in the middle of the trail with a perplexed expression dashed on his face was unaware of all of this. Even as slashes of moonlight appeared here and there among the territories of the forest before his very eyes.
Out of all the hundreds of questions that crossed his mind, Crash only spoke aloud one.
"Where are they going?" He murmured into the icy air, warm breath rising and swirling over his head.
At first, this was the only thought that continued to run around in his mind, so he dwelled on it a little longer than he usually would have. Then, he remembered it.
His old, make-Eddie-look-like-a-fool-somehow-in-front-of-Kate plot.
Instantly, Crash's eyes brightened. They were filled with a clear, clever, smug likeness, which soon became his identity. A mischeivous smile stretched across his face as he drew automatically from his mind all his possibilities.
"Oh, Kate," Crash a dit slyly to himself, "you have no idea what I am capable of, do you?"
He sneered, blue eyes appearing sharply alive and electric, gleaming errily in the moonlight.
"I will turn your world up-side down so fast, toi won't know good from bad,"
And then, with-out warning, Crash laughed.
Actually laughed! For the first time in months he allowed his laughter to ring out wickedly into the darkness.
He laughed because of the strong thought he welcomed to swim around his head; the idea that soon, everything he once had, would be his again, within only hours, and the joy that Kate won't be able to do ANYTHING about it, once the tables were turned.
"Tonight, Kate, toi better enjoy what toi have left of it. For tomarrow morning, everything toi ever took from me, will be mine once plus and forever. NEVER, will I let my brother fall for the likes of toi EVER again! He may be your boyfriend, but he's my brother!" Crash declared.
With a rallied cœur, coeur and a confident belief that fate will make this all true, the young opossum scrambled up the trail, from where he had come. He jumped over rocks and small twigs, running swiftly to catch up with them and avoid attracting their attention. In fact, he made sure not to make a sound, as he plunged smoothly into plus of the undergrowth, but to jumble just a few feet now away from Eddie and Kate.
Crash forced himself not to breathe very hard after his sprint as he pulled himself through the bracken, only wincing once ou twice as a thorn pricked at his heels ou elbows as he did so. Twigs also were his enemy, plus than once he'd feel them Slash him in the face. Small snapping sounds cried out from under his foot and the bushes rustled gently as he fallowed the two behind the cover of their leaves and branches, but the amoureux never noticed this at all.
Which worked out well in favor of Crash, who, while sneaking along, let the devilish smile smear over his lips.
He could almost feel his victory... He now had a plan. Hope rushed through his veins as he tracked the two under-cover.
Everything seemed to be finally falling into place.

[TO BE CONTINUED.....]