Benjamin Bunny was the kind of rabbit who didn't sleep for three days, but then slept for most of the fourth. He didn't see the point in trying to sleep unless you actually felt on the verge of collapsing from exhaustion. There was always something more interesting to do than sleep.

Sixteen hours was a long time to go without food, so Benjamin stretched the remaining lethargy out of his limbs and headed into the hedgerow. Of course, when he got to the other side, he began to discover just how much had happened whilst he'd been sleeping on the long grass by the roadside.

Lots of rabbits were crowded around the body out of curiosity and Benjamin bounded over to join them. He wasn't surprised to discover that the paramedic was dead. Nor was he surprised when he overhead some chatter implicating Peter. After all, the last thing he remembered from before he went to sleep was taking Peter to the secret meeting about doing just that.

Benjamin hopped around the body to get a good look. Daniel and Gibson were sitting by its head, regaling a group of rabbits with their tale once again. Benjamin didn't know their part in things, so sat and listened. Daniel was talking about the killing itself, but Gibson kept interrupting and jumping ahead to the ensuing trial of Peter Rabbit. Benjamin waited until those listening grew tired of the pair of them contradicting each other and left, then skipped over.

"Hey, you guys!" Benjamin called in greeting.

Daniel and Gibson spotted him coming toward them out of the crowd and their eyes widened nervously. They looked at each glumly. Then they turned round and walked away as if they hadn't even seen him at all.

"Hey, you two!" Benjamin called again. Daniel and Gibson picked up the pace, but he sped up as well. He ran two or three circles around them in quick succession and then they had to stop. They didn't look too happy.

"Oh, hi, Benji," Gibson said anxiously.

"Why didn't you stop?" Benjamin cried.

"Didn't hear you," Daniel said quickly.

"Sorry," Gibson added with a shrug. Then they turned round again and started walking the other way. Benjamin frowned and chased after them.

"Where are you going?" he asked.

"We've got stuff to do," said Daniel.

"Private stuff to do," added Gibson.

"Ooh, can I come?" Benjamin said, hopping up and down.

"No," both of them said together.

"I was at the secret meeting!" Benjamin protested.

Daniel and Gibson froze momentarily. Rabbits that had gathered to graze on the surface between the four points stopped eating and talking and looked over at the three of them. Then Daniel and Gibson started walking again, speeding up to put a respectable distance between them and their old friend.

"Are you going to meet Peter?" Benjamin asked.

"No!" Daniel snapped. Gibson snorted.

"Then why is it secret?" Benjamin whined.

"It's not secret," Gibson said. "It's just private."

Benjamin scowled as he trundled along behind.

"Now, just get lost, Benjamin," Daniel snarled.

Benjamin stopped, thrown off guard by the nastiness of Daniel's tone. The three of them had been good friends. They'd been in a gang of four with Peter's son Cottontail as well. But now they didn't want to know him.

"Well, d'you know where Peter is?" he called after them.

"Nope," Daniel called back without looking round.

"Haven't seen him," Gibson added in the same manner.

"Sorry," they both said together.

Benjamin stood frowning as he watched them disappear into the corn. Then he turned round himself, only to find every rabbit in the vicinity was still staring at him like he had a piece of grass stuck up his bum. Somebody had pulled that joke on him when he was sleeping once before. But when he looked over his shoulder, there was nothing there. So something else was bothering them.

"W-what is it?" he murmured uneasily.

Then they all promptly returned to munching on their midnight breakfasts in silence. Nobody was forthcoming. Benjamin scowled. Working under the assumption that Peter Rabbit was still in the warren and probably catching up on the sleep he'd missed these last few days, Benjamin headed for the nearest rabbit hole and slipped down into the hot tunnel below.

Seventy metres further down the road, well out of sight of any lurking sentinels, Peter Rabbit crossed the A12 with Mark and Tom. For the last five hours they had been resting in the warren on the eastern side of the road, though Mark and Tom suspected Peter hadn't got any sleep. It had been all they could do to prevent him rushing over the road straight away. He had wanted to go and see Angus without delay. But, as Mark had reminded him, breaching the rules of their exile during the night when the entire warren was up and about would have been suicide. And anyway, as Tom had added, Angus was a night-sleeper. They would have crossed the road, been caught, had their throats slit, and Angus wouldn't even hear about it until he woke up shortly after dawn the next morning.

Shortly after midnight, Peter couldn't be restrained any longer. Damien and Eleanor told Mark and Tom they should go with him because he wasn't thinking straight. Both of them were a little put out by this. They'd been intending to go with him all along. Mopsy was their beloved only niece.

William and Elliot, on the other hand, opted to stay behind. Nobody expected them to take part in this dangerous mission, anyway. As the other three were leaving the warren, Damien and Eleanor took the two young exiles down into the tunnels to find them something to eat and a place to sleep.

There were still several hours until dawn by the time Peter, Mark and Tom got down to the roadside. Technically, before they even crossed the road, they had crossed the forty-metre limit. Somehow they doubted Nicholas would send Hazel's goons over here to spill their blood across the tarmac. However, crossing the A12 directly into hostile territory was a concern for Mark and Tom. Peter didn't care less, but Mark suggested they go a little further down the road. This was also partly because going the long route would also kill some time. The later they crossed the boundary the better, as far as Mark was concerned.

Peter objected, of course, but eventually submitted, so they went seventy metres up the A12, crossed over, then started walking back again. It was with some trepidation that they approached the forty-metre line. They heard rabbit activity long before they reached it. It was after 2am before they stopped to wait.

Benjamin Bunny, meanwhile, was not having much luck in his hunt for a sleeping Peter. After he'd looked through all the old tunnels between the four points at least twice he wondered if perhaps Peter was snoozing on the surface instead and headed back up. He looked in all the places he knew Peter to nap occasionally during both the day and night and found Angus instead. He was sleeping in an unkempt little nest beneath a bramble bush. Benjamin almost woke him to ask if he knew where Peter was, but he'd encountered a recently woken Angus several times before so decided against it. Now Benjamin was at a loss.

He was beginning to think that perhaps Peter wasn't asleep after all. It was the only explanation for why Benjamin hadn't found him asleep yet - because he wasn't asleep, he was up and about and moving, evading Benjamin, intentionally or otherwise. Benjamin completed a quick survey of the two main groups grazing in the grass and couldn't see Peter amongst them so he headed back to the nearest rabbit hole to take just one more look underground before he gave up.

As he approached the rabbit hole, a group of seven or eight rabbits emerged ahead of him. He stepped back to let them pass. They looked a little weary, and their dark eyes flitted across his face suspiciously, but not suspiciously in the same way as everyone else was looking at him suspiciously. He recognised them all from the secret meeting, though he only knew Guinevere and Harry by name. He was surprised when both of them acknowledged him, but he nodded back anyway.

He stood at the tunnel entrance and watched them go. Before they dispersed, they looked round to make sure nobody else had seen them together. This made Benjamin think. If they were acknowledging him, then this had to have something to do with Peter and the secret meeting. Perhaps they'd even just come from seeing Peter, he wondered...

Deciding it was as good a lead as anyway, Benjamin slipped down into the warren. The old tunnels between the four points were even emptier than they had been the first two times he ran round. Almost the entire colony was up on the surface now, so it would have been an ideal time for another secret meeting. Benjamin was just annoyed he'd missed it.

But as Benjamin walked along the tunnels a third and then a fourth time, there was no sign of Peter. He stopped to think. He was hungry and Peter would show up eventually anyway, probably as soon as he stopped looking. Benjamin was just about to pack his search in when he heard a noise. Now, it was very quiet down in the warren without any of the rabbits, and Benjamin's ears were as sensitive as any rabbits, so he could hear even the smallest sounds.

Then he heard it again. He followed it this time, slowly retreating back along the tunnel he'd just come down until he reached the unstable entrance to one of the crumbly newer tunnels. The sound was coming from down there.

Benjamin hesitated. He had gathered from what he'd overheard that Peter wasn't too popular at the moment after killing the human. It kind of made sense that he might go down into the dangerous ruined tunnels where few of the other rabbits dared to go. Benjamin waited to hear the noise one more time.

It came again. There was no doubt where it was coming from. Benjamin stepped into the damaged passage tentatively, stopping between each forward step to listen both for the scrabbling ahead of him and also any vibrations of imminent collapse overhead. It sounded sturdy enough for the time being, so he continued down into the tunnel and soon he couldn't see the old one behind.

"Pete?" he called. Once upon a time his voice might have echoed back to him, but the tunnels ahead had already collapsed. Instead he heard nothing. Even the scrabbling stopped, as if the rabbit doing it had stopped to listened.

"Pete?" he called again.

"H-help..." came a voice.

"Pete!" Benjamin cried, then he broke into a run. He bounded down deeper into the warren, turned the corner, and shrieked.

It wasn't Peter making that noise. It was Travis. When Benjamin saw him, he not only stopped but backed off as well. Travis was lying on his belly, pulling himself forward with his forelegs. His two hind legs were twisted and broken, flailing out to the sides. He winced painfully as they caught on the uneven floor of the crumbling tunnel. He finally collapsed in front of Benjamin, exhausted.

"What's happened?" Benjamin hissed.

Travis shook his head. He was looking up at Benjamin with tears in his eyes, but Benjamin couldn't even tell whether he had his eyes open or not. He had been beaten around the head repeatedly and his face was all bloody and swollen.

"Who did this to you?" Benjamin asked.

"Doesn't matter," Travis sniffed miserably.

"Oh, yes, it does. I'm gonna tell Peter."

Travis sighed. "And what will he do, huh?"

"He'll teach 'em a lesson, good an' proper."

"I wish he would've taught me a lesson..."

"What's that supposed to mean? Who did this?"

"Look, just get me out of here. Please?"

"Hmm, yeah," said Benjamin, his nose twitching to warn him of imminent collapse in the tunnels all around. "We're not safe here."

"You'll have to pull me," Travis told him.

Benjamin went over. He wasn't at all happy with what Travis had in mind. He curled his paws and head into his chest, exposing his neck for Benjamin to take in his teeth. This is how many animal parents carry their young, but Benjamin wasn't keen, not least of all when he found there were already bite marks on Travis' neck. He was about to argue, but at that point, the first few grains of earth tumbled from the ceiling to signal the start of a cave in, so he just bit down and pulled.

They got as far as that first corner before the tunnel behind them collapsed completely. After that, they didn't stop moving until they reached the end of this passage and the opening into the older tunnel. Travis even started wriggling forward on his shoulders to pick up the pace. Then, once in the older, larger tunnel, they both lay on their sides to catch their breath.

"Come on," Benjamin panted. "Who did this?"

"Not telling," said Travis between breaths.

"Why don't... you want them... punished?"

"That'll... just make it... worse," Travis snapped.

"How can it... be worse... than this?"

"You don't... understand, Benjamin."

"Then why don't... you explain it... to me?"

Travis snorted. "You've been... asleep since the meeting... haven't you?"

"Well, yes," Benjamin admitted. "But what's that... got to do with it?"

"Nobody's told you... what's happened... have they?"

"Actually... they have. Peter killed... the human."

Travis sighed. "And did they tell you... what I did?"

"No," Benjamin said uneasily. "What did... you do?"

Travis swallowed, took one last deep breath, then fought to control the trembling that had recently sprung up over his entire body. "I betrayed Pete, Benjamin," he said flatly. "It's my fault he's gone. Everyone knows this. Nobody's happy with me. I thought they would be. I deserved this."

"Wait, wait, wait, what do you mean? Peter's gone?"

Travis sighed. "Exiled. Banished. Gone..."

"W-what?" Benjamin stammered.

"Because of my stupid testimony..."

"Peter's exiled?!" Benjamin wailed, jumping to his feet.

"And it's my fault," Travis reminded him. "Still gonna help me?"

Benjamin darted back and forth on the spot, babbling nonsensically. He did this a lot. To his brain, he was making perfect sense, its just that, superior brain that it was, it worked a lot faster than his mouth. He thought this through.

"What about the others at the meeting?" he finally asked.

"William and Elliot were exiled too, and... and so were Mark and Tom."

"No!" Benjamin whimpered. "That's virtually everybody! Gone!"

Travis nodded sagely. "Look," he said, not even having the energy or desire to enunciate properly. "I wouldn't blame you if you just left me here to die, but I'd really appreciate it if you took me to my father. I have something to say to him."

Benjamin didn't hear straight away. Travis was about to repeat himself, but his request finally made it through to the front of Benjamin's brain and he looked down at his battered friend and said, "Of course I will."

By the time they saw the sky again, dawn was encroaching on the warren and the first of the rabbits, those with young children, were already heading down into the tunnels to nab a good spot to sleep during the day. Benjamin continued to pull on Travis even when his jaw began to ache and people nestling at the side of the passages told him not to. Travis himself had too much pride to let them see how much agony he was in, and even tried to put his weight on his broken legs.

If they caught up with him before it started getting light, Angus would still be where Benjamin saw him earlier. That was a long way for Travis to go, even longer when they ran into even more of Peter's secret supporters. Travis longed to tell them what he'd spat at Guinevere and Harry during a respite in his torture - that if they cared so much for Peter and the cause, why hadn't they spoken up when Peter urged them to? It was after that that the attack got altogether more brutal.

Sure enough, Angus was still asleep when Benjamin tugged Travis into the bramble bush. Angus woke up with a start when Benjamin caught a long grey ear on one of the spiny thorns and winced loudly.

"W-what's going on?" he demanded.

"It's Travis," Benjamin said, panting once more.

Angus didn't recognise his son at first; he was so badly injured. Then in an instant he forgot all of his crusty old prejudices about justice and order and rushed to his youngest's side. "Oh, Travis," he sighed.

"I just... wanted to... say..." Travis spluttered.

"What? What is it?" Angus leant in close. Travis composed himself.

"Father, you're still completely and utterly wrong!"

Angus was taken aback. Even Benjamin was surprised at his tone.

"And I was wrong to do something just to try and please you..."

"And just what was it you did to try and please me?" Angus asked.

"I grassed on Peter," Travis snapped. "What do you think?"

"And why did you think that would please me, Travis?"

"I don't know," Travis grumbled, wincing as he tried to move one of his broken legs. "But I realise now that you were wrong. Doing the right thing isn't just about doing what you want me to." And then he finally collapsed.

"Well, Travis," said Angus slowly. "Then I'd have to agree..."

Travis looked up in complete surprise. "What did you just say?" he hissed.

Just at that moment, Benjamin noticed something moving on the other side of the hedgerow. He disappeared to go and investigate and then came back looking rather miffed at the pair of them, but Travis in particular. "Hey, who were you trying to kid?" he said loudly. "I thought you said Peter was exiled!"

Travis looked up, confused. "Yes, I did. And he was."

"Okay, so who's this, then?" said Benjamin.

Then he stepped aside. Peter, Mark and Tom were behind him.

"Peter!" Angus and Travis cried together.

"What are you doing here?" Angus added.

Peter looked disapprovingly at Travis.

"I've come to rebuild my family," he said.

NOTES:
Reading back over earlier chapters, they felt a little rushed. In the last twenty four hours of the story, there's been an ambulance crash, a subterranean disaster, a leadership election, a murder and a trial, and often those things have happened one chapter after another. This chapter, then, was an attempt to slow the pace down a notch. The emphasis was always meant to be on Travis taking the first steps down the path to his redemption. I don't think the slower pace was entirely successful.

Very little was actually excised (only about 300 words in the middle where another rabbit named Matthew tells Benjamin that Peter has been exiled, which would have led to Benjamin going to look for Travis deliberately). I did spend a few minutes musing over the last line. Originally it was a quip, and then a rabble rousing statement of defiance, but I thought that out of keeping with where Peter is as a character right now. His existing bitter remark remains the best option.

Incidentally, it was quite a surprise to me to find this was Benjamin Bunny's first appearance in 30 pages, which is over 16,000 words, almost a third of the story so far. This chapter is also supposed to show another side to him. He's been the ditzy buffoon comedy character (of the pratfall variety) so far, maybe a bit too much like Jar Jar Binks, and I wanted to show that behind the silliness there's just a crazy brain at work.