Work Text:
The rat scurried through the underbrush in the dead of night, running for his life.
He couldn’t remember how long he had been running for, days, or even weeks is what it felt like, his tiny heart beating hardier than it ever had before in his short life. But he couldn’t stop. The moment he did, he’d be dead.
Things hadn’t always been this way. The two had been quite close. Despite all odds, they were friends. The owl would protect the rat from other owls that would want to eat him, protect him from all other predators in general, no matter how big or vicious, no matter how dangerous or how hurt he got. And never once did he ask for something in return. Not that he could give much. He was a rat.
But now the owl was hunting him down.
He didn’t know why his lifelong friend was turning against him after all this time. Or maybe he did know. But he couldn’t see why it mattered to the owl.
The owl had caught him eating another rat.
This happened all the time. Other rats did it. It’s not like he had killed the rat. The poor fellow died all on its own. He was just making good use of what was left of him. This wasn’t the first rat he’d eaten either. Just the first time the owl had seen him.
As the rat was making his way through his meal, he felt a chilly breezy pass by. He stopped, shivering, his face and paws smeared in blood. Not knowing why, he looked up.
His heart dropped to his stomach. The owl’s amber eyes pierced through the darkness, ablaze with fury. Furious at him.
What did he do?
The rat wanted to explain, to do something to make the owl stop staring at him with such anger, but he could already tell there was no going back.
So he ran.
The rat wanted to stop, to take a moment to breathe. He thought he could maybe, finally lose the owl in the thick shrubs and finally stop, finally rest. But he knew the owl was too smart for that. The moment he stopped, he’d find himself in the owl’s grip.
The trees thinned out ahead of him, making way towards a man-made bridge above a bubbling river. The rat didn’t have time to think if he should turn, go back, or go somewhere else. He just continued straight ahead, putting full force into his legs as they continued to burn and ache.
The rat burst out from the bushes, leaving damp soil behind and thumping onto the hard wooden boards of the bridge. The owl’s shadow over him widened in the moonlight.
The owl swooped down closer.
Closer.
The rat was just able to keep out of its reach.
The owl snatched the rat in its talons. As he soared over the river, he tore the rat’s head from its body. He dropped his remains into the rushing waters below, not even bothering to eat him.
The owl spent the night swooping from one tree branch to the next, peaking into holes and tunnels, searching through bushes. The owl was getting worried. He hadn’t seen his friend the rat anywhere. He hoped nothing had happened to him. The other owls knew about their friendship. He hoped none of them had done anything…
From where he was, searching down in the dirt, he spotted an owl high on a tree branch above, looking over the river. He spread his wings and pushed himself into the air, landing on the branch next to the other.
He asked the owl if it had seen the rat. The other owl cocked its head and gave him a curious look. Didn’t he..? It thought it had just seen the owl kill him, thinking what a waste of he’d made of a perfectly good rat. Was that not him?
What? No! He’d never kill his friend! Was the rat dead now? Was his friend gone?!
Oh, the other owl thought. Oh of course not. This owl would never kill his friend. Then it must have been a different owl it had seen. But it could have sworn that owl looked just like this one…