"B-but w-we're... exiled!" William cried.

"We're doomed!" Elliot wailed.

Peter, Mark and Tom looked at each other and rolled their eyes.

"We've been exiled before," Mark pointed out.

"Yeah," Tom said sadly. "This is nothing new to us."

William stopped sniffling and looked up. "Of course," he said, his voice still thick from the crying. "You three know what it's like out there. You three have all been outside the warren before. You have to protect us!"

"Protect you?!" Mark and Peter laughed together.

Tom frowned. "Peter's never been exiled," he said slowly.

"No," Elliot added, with a loud, wet sniff. "But he doesn't even come from our warren, does he? Look at him, he doesn't even care that he's been exiled. He can just go home now, can't he?" Then he started to cry again.

Peter's eyes narrowed. "Now there's an idea..." he muttered.

"But not an original one," Mark murmured.

"Oh?" said Peter, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah." Tom nodded. "That's what you suggested earlier, Mark!"

Mark gave Peter a sheepish look. "When things looked like they were going pear shaped the first time," he said, cocking his head to one side. "That was always going to be the plan." He snorted. "Should have done it a year ago, in fact."

William and Elliot stopped crying and exchanged glances.

"I don't know why you didn't," Peter said.

Tom glanced sideways at Mark. "Some of us had grandiose ideas about setting up our own warren, didn't we?" he whispered.

"Yes, well," Mark said, inhaling sharply.

"D'you think they'd have us?" William asked eagerly.

Peter looked at him. "I don't see why not," he said.

"Even though we've been exiled?" Elliot added.

"I don't think they'll care," Peter told him.

"Perhaps we shouldn't tell them," William hissed.

"Yes!" Elliot agreed. "Pretend we're emigrants, Pete!"

Peter chuckled. "I doubt they'll know what this is," he told them. "Likewise, I don't think they'll understand why you've been exiled, either."

"Well, we don't understand that," William grumbled.

"No, that's not what I meant," Peter said quickly. "What I mean is, they won't understand what an exile is. You see, nobody has ever been exiled from the warren on the eastern side of the road. Things are very different there."

Elliot frowned. "So how do they punish people?"

"They don't," Peter replied firmly.

"What if rabbits don't do as they're told?" William asked.

Peter smiled. "Well, that just doesn't happen, does it?" he said. "Simply because there's nobody who tells them what to do in the first place."

William and Elliot looked baffled.

"Look," Peter explained. "There are some things you have to understand about the other warren. It's nothing like the warren over here. There's no leader, no laws, no rules, no punishments, no exiles, no elders, no forty-metre limit, no throat-slitting, no torture, no rationing of food, no delusions of community-"

"Don't know why we didn't go there earlier," Mark quipped.

"It's really very different," Peter concluded.

"Is it... better?" said William, sounding unsure.

"Yes, of course," Peter said instantly.

"So why did you live here instead?" Elliot asked just as quickly.

Peter looked down at the ground. "For Beatrice," he murmured. Beside him, Mark and Tom shifted uncomfortably. "For the family. There's not much sense of family ties over there, you see. A downside to so much freedom, I suppose."

Tom sighed. "Not much sense of family ties here, either..."

Mark snorted and nodded in reluctant agreement.

"It'll take some getting used to," Peter warned William and Elliot. "But I think you'll fit in there much more easily than I did here. I don't think I ever got used to living in such a controlled society." He looked away into the grass. "So maybe Alexander and Nicholas were right, after all..."

William and Elliot glanced at each other again.

"Okay," William said. "Let's go."

Meanwhile, back across the forty-metre limit, Travis was still looking for his father. With most of Peter's secret supporters following the exiles to the perimeter, Travis found it much easier to make his way through the crowd. It had begun to disperse even before Nicholas had announced his verdicts, predictable as they were, so now Travis could go in any direction. But he'd lost Angus.

The old man had started to edge toward the back of the crowd once he realised he couldn't prevent the inevitable any longer. Travis was giving his testimony at the time. Maybe he thought by physically distancing himself he could lessen the effect of what was about to happen. And now he was gone.

Standing up on his hind legs at the back of dispersing crowd, Travis looked for Angus but all he could see were several dozen furry brown bunny backsides. From the front, all rabbits look identical to the non-rabbit. From the back, all rabbits look identical even to other rabbits, as well.

Travis dropped down onto all fours and filed in behind those rabbits heading down the roadside exit. He had forgotten that Angus slept during the night. There were still a couple of hours of daylight left and many rabbits were returning to the remains of their beds. Travis followed them into the ruins of the warren.

Not all of the rabbits had been on the surface for the trial of Peter Rabbit and friends but news was quickly spreading. Travis squeezed through the hot and noisy tunnels between the four points. There were many rabbits crammed in tightly. Some were trying to sleep. Many more were resigned to the fact that it was impossible to. As he pushed past, he heard whispers pass up and down the earthy passages. His ears pricked up whenever he heard certain words, such as his name, but he didn't stop to listen in on their mutterings.

When he reached each of the four points, he surfaced briefly to fill his lungs with fresh air. The air was thick down in the tunnels and by the time he reached the third of the four points his tongue was lolling out and he was panting. He knew he was getting close when he felt the cool promise of fresh air overhead. As he went up the slope toward daylight, however, a rabbit stepped out in front of him.

"Oh, excuse me," Travis said politely, but the rabbit didn't budge.

"Travis?" the rabbit muttered. He was silhouetted against the bright early evening sky so Travis couldn't see his face, but he recognised the voice. When the rabbit stepped down into the darkness, Travis knew who it was instantly.

"Harry!" he cried in surprise, bopping his old friend with his nose. Harry smirked. He wasn't just an old friend, he was a distant cousin too. His father had married a girl who was the cousin of a lad one of Angus' nieces married. Mark had tried to explain it to Travis once by drawing their extended family out in the dirt but had ended up establishing Harry as their own father by mistake.

"Long time, no see," Harry said, in that sing-song voice of his.

"You've heard, though?" Travis said excitedly. "About Nicholas letting me back in? I'm no longer an exile! Isn't that great?"

"Yeah, we've heard," Harry murmured.

"Look, I wish I could stop longer," Travis said with a sigh. "We'll have to catch up soon. Right now, I'm looking for my father."

"Oh, Angus?" Harry said quickly, but uncertainly.

"Yeah, why? Have you seen him?"

"Um, yeah, actually, I have."

"Great! Where was he when you saw him?"

"Well, he's probably still there, actually."

"Where's that, Harry?"

"Down in the tunnels," Harry replied.

Travis frowned. "What? Around here?"

"Um, no," Harry said awkwardly. "The other tunnels."

"What other tunnels? The ruined ones?"

"Uh, well, yeah, actually."

"What's he doing down there?" Travis said suspiciously.

"He's, uh, well, he's got rabbits digging, hasn't he?" Harry sniffed cockily, trying to make himself sound confident. "Digging for bodies and stuff, you know. Hey, look, why don't I just take you to see him, huh?"

Travis frowned again. "Yeah, okay," he murmured.

"Good," Harry crowed. "That way."

With Harry nudging him from behind, Travis followed directions along this main tunnel until they reached the fourth of the four points. There they found a junction leading away into the newer tunnels. Harry nudged him down there as well. If Angus had gone down there, Travis thought, then it must be safe. But there were no rabbits sleeping along those tunnel walls. None of them would risk it.

As they went deeper into the warren, it grew progressively colder but also more airless. Travis had to stop to catch his breath more than once. Harry sounded almost irritated by the delay as he ordered him on. Several times Travis asked his friend if he wanted to go in front and lead the way properly, but each time Harry refused. Travis thought nothing of it until they reached a dead end.

"Okay, admit it, we're lost," Travis said.

"Oh, shut up, Travis!" Harry snapped.

"So where is everybody, then?"

"They'll be here," Harry said sinisterly.

"You said they'd be here already."

"I must have been mistaken..."

"What were you doing all the way down here, anyway?"

"Like I said," Harry growled. "Digging for bodies."

"I don't see any recent digging," Travis murmured.

"It was off a side tunnel, that's why."

"So maybe we should look there, then."

"No. We'll stay here and wait."

Travis felt the fur stand up along his spine. Harry's demeanour had suddenly changed since they'd entered the abandoned tunnels. At first he'd seemed helpful, but now he seemed aggrieved. "I think I'll go and look for myself," Travis said.

"No, you'll do what you're told and stay here."

Travis tried to step around Harry. Harry countered the move.

"Let me go, Harry," Travis said nervously.

"Can't do that, Travis," Harry said, shaking his head.

Then there was a noise behind them. Harry turned, but spread himself as far as he could to prevent Travis from escaping. Travis peered over Harry's shoulder. A few seconds later, several more rabbits appeared running.

"You found him, then?" one said breathlessly.

"Yeah," Harry snarled. "Easy."

"What's going on?" Travis hissed.

"Shut it, arsehole!" the other rabbit barked. Travis had never seen him before. He was younger than Travis was but also bigger. He had dark rings around his eyes that made them look puffy and also sinister.

Harry moved out of the way. He didn't need to stand in front of Travis to prevent him from escaping anymore. There were half a dozen other rabbits standing in the tunnel and Travis knew he couldn't get past them all.

"What's going on?" he asked again.

"We're waiting for someone," the puffy-eyed rabbit said.

"Who?" Travis asked. Nobody answered him. "Harry, what's going on?"

Harry just stared at him like they were both strangers to each other. Travis remembered something that Mark had told him just after they were exiled. He said that true friends would remain friends whatever happened. That was something that kept Travis going - the hope that he would return to the warren one day and everything would be the same. But everything wasn't the same.

"Here she is," the rabbit furthest up the tunnel hissed.

Travis craned his neck to see whom. The other rabbits all stepped to one side of the tunnel to let her pass. Theoretically, Travis could have bolted at that point. He didn't. He waited to see who he'd been told to wait for. Then she appeared. She approached Travis slowly and then the others closed in behind.

"Guinevere," he said with relief. "Thank goodness."

"Hello, Travis," she said in a flat voice.

"These rabbits wouldn't let me go!" he cried, at this point still appealing to the caricature of Guinevere that existed in his head; the rebellious daughter of the elder Genevieve and a champion of justice. "Do you know what's going on?"

"Yes, I do," Guinevere told him.

"Well, what?" Travis demanded.

Guinevere ignored his question and cocked her head back to address the others. "Were any of you followed?" she asked. They all replied in the negative. Then she turned her attentions back to Travis. "You've done a very bad thing..."

"What?" Travis muttered meekly.

"You're the enemy of our cause..."

"What? What cause? What have I done?"

"You're a traitor... You betrayed Peter..."

Travis gulped and backed off until he felt the dead end at his back.

"Don't kill him," Guinevere said, then she walked away.

For about five seconds, Travis thought that was a good sign. Then the seven rabbits pounced on him and sunk their teeth and claws into his back. He couldn't scream because he couldn't breathe. A minute later, he blacked out.

Back on the surface, Hazel's grisly henchmen waited on the forty-metre line and watched the five exiles cross the first two carriageways of the A12. As soon as they reached the central reservation, the henchmen turned to each other, concluded that Peter Rabbit wasn't going to come back anytime soon, and went off to report the latest developments to both Hazel and Nicholas.

Peter paused on the curb. He'd only been here a couple of days before, but it seemed so long ago now, so much had happened. William and Elliot were nervous about making this journey. Mark and Tom were used to travelling outside the warren's boundary, but they were just as excited. They waited for the word from Peter. Peter looked up and down the road.

There wasn't any traffic going in either direction. There hadn't been a single screaming vehicle since the crash. Peter wondered where all the traffic had gone. In his little rabbit brain, he didn't think of the A12 as having destinations at either end, he just saw it as one long loop. When cars reached one end and found nothing there, they came back again on the other carriageway. They did this forever, until their human passengers died. So maybe all the humans were dead now...

"Okay, let's go," Peter said. Then he jumped down into the gutter and the other four jumped down beside him. They hopped casually across the first carriageway. Not forgetting the mistake he'd made with Cottontail, Peter kept his eyes and ears open in both directions. At night his vision was good, in the day his vision was exemplary. There were simply no cars on the road at all.

The five rabbits reached the opposite curb and climbed up onto the grass verge. Even Peter was getting quite excited now. Through one more bush and he would be home to stay. Mark and Tom caught him grinning to himself.

"This way," he said, and led them into the shrubbery around the bases of the trees that lined this side of the road at regular intervals. On the other side of the bushes was a field full of rape. In a couple of months the entire field would be a brilliant sea of yellow flowers dancing in a summer breeze. The nearest entrance to the warren was just a few more hops further into the field.

Before he got there, a rabbit poked his head up out of the crops and spotted Peter. Peter spotted him back. He smiled. The rabbit's jaw fell open and his eyes went boggling wide like a mad thing. Then he turned round and literally threw himself down the hole. Peter stopped. Sure, his return was bound to be a surprise to his native kin, but he had hoped a better one than that rabbit had found it.

"Did you know him?" asked Mark.

"Never seen him before in my life," Peter murmured.

"Well, he sure knew you," Tom said.

"Hmm," went Peter, then he carried on. He led them straight up to the entrance to the warren, but as he was about to go in, seven or eight rabbits bounded up to the surface and surrounded the new arrivals.

"Peter, you're alive!" one cried. It was Damien, one of the oldest rabbits in the warren and the closest it would ever have to a leader.

"Er, yes," said Peter slowly.

"We thought you were dead!" cried another. It was Eleanor, Damien's mate and, as Peter's father's brother's daughter, a cousin.

Peter frowned. "No," he said quietly. "And now I'm back to stay."

"Oh, fantastic!" Damien cried. More rabbits surfaced.

"Who are these friends you've brought with you?" Eleanor asked.

Peter turned and introduced the others. "This is William and Elliot," he explained. "And these two, Mark and Tom, they're Beatrice's brothers." He paused and glanced at Damien. "You've heard about them."

"Oh, yes," Damien said with a smirk. He looked at Mark and Tom. "We've heard all about your run-ins with this Alexander bloke." He winked at them. "Sounds like a right knob end, if you ask me."

Mark and Tom laughed and started to relax.

"So, are you all coming to live here?" Eleanor asked eagerly.

"Yes," Mark said sheepishly.

"If there's room," added Tom.

"Oh, of course, there is," Eleanor cried delightedly. "How splendid!"

"Surprised there's only five of you, actually," Damien muttered.

Peter's face fell and he licked his lips. "Look," he said quietly. He felt choked before even saying it. "You probably haven't heard. I mean, there's no reason why you should have." He paused. "Beatrice and the kids didn't make it back across the road with me the other night..."

Damien and Eleanor glanced fleetingly at each other.

"Oh, Peter, of course we've heard," Eleanor said softly.

"Indeed," said Damien. "That's why we're so surprised to see you."

"Pleasantly surprise, of course," Eleanor added.

"Surprised? Why? I was just across the road," Peter explained.

"Yes," Damien went on. "But that's not what we heard."

"What did you hear, then? And who from, anyway?"

Damien and Eleanor both look confused.

"We heard you were dead, Pete," Damien told him.

"Obviously I'm not. Who told you that?"

Eleanor gasped. "Damien, he doesn't know..."

"Know what?" Peter snapped.

"Isn't that why you've come back?" Damien asked.

"Is what why I've come back? I don't understand!"

Damien frowned. "I'm sorry... I just assumed..."

"Peter," Eleanor said. "You do know, don't you?"

"Know what?" he cried.

"Mopsy's still alive..."

NOTES:
Far from being a cheap cliffhanger I just pulled out of nowhere, the seeds for this development were planted in the very first chapter. Peter never actually sees Mopsy die, you'll notice, he just assumes she does because she disappears. At the end of chapter six Alexander also mentions that they'd heard rabbits from the other warren digging a tunnel beneath the A12. Originally I was going to have Peter reach this side of the road and find Mopsy waiting for him, but now I've thought of a better direction to take it.

I was also a little unhappy with how the Travis betrayal turned out in the end. He really did seem like a self-serving traitor in the end, which isn't how I'd wanted it. This chapter, then, begins the path to his redemption at the hands of Harry and Guinevere. Harry and Damien are generic names I plucked out of nowhere, Guinevere comes from Jenna's AOL screen name, and Eleanor was named for President Roosevelt's wife.