The sun was setting when they
found Dante, Mercy had even been asked to use her tracking ability to help in
finding him. He was sitting on the edge of the cliffs that surround the
valley, a perilous twenty foot drop beneath his dangling feet. Those present
stayed cautiously back, Justin asked Cynthia to speak to him. She slowly
walked toward him.

“Dante.” she said softly. He
turned to look at her. She saw that in one hand he clutched a metal urn and in the
other he held a small photograph. He smiled faintly.

“Hello.” He said and turned
back to the valley. She went up to the edge and sat next to him. He held up
the urn for her to see.

“Dad, I’d like you to meet
Cynthia Brisby, Cynthia meet Dr. Erhard Schultz.” He said. She looked at him
strangely, not sure if he was serious or not. Luckily, he then lowered the urn
and looked to the picture, she could see that it was of three humans, a man, a
woman and a small boy. “This is the only picture I have of the three of us
together. It was taken at the beach a few months before mom died. That was
the only time I ever remember us being a family.” He held up the urn and photo
again. “This is all I have left in the world to remember them by.” He said
sadly. “I miss them both so much...I want to be with them again.” He said and
to her surprise he began sobbing. She moved closer and put her arm across his
shoulders.

“Dante, I’m sorry.” She said
sympathetically.

“Everything in my life is gone,
my entire family is gone, there is nothing left. I am completely
alone. I thought I knew what it felt like to be alone, but I had no idea until
now just how terrifying it really is.” He said as he cried.

“Dante, you’re not alone now and
you never will be again. We all need each other here. The community here is
alone, alone in the universe. Outside this valley we have no allies to turn to
in times of need and enemies beyond counting. We are like family here, because
there is no one else. You are now part of that family, because, as someone
once said ‘Friends are the family you make for yourself.’ You have a large
family here, a family that will always be there for you.” She held him closer
as he cried.

“Dante, please come back with
us.” She said gently. He looked into her eyes for a few moments, then he
looked to the valley, he sighed.

“Yes, lets go home.” He said
finally, she helped him to his feet. He turned toward the valley and opened
the urn and poured the ashes out over valley, they watched as the breeze
carried and dispersed the ashes.

“Dad, I’ll try to forgive you.”
He said sadly.

He then carefully placed the
photo back in his pocket. Cynthia took his hand and together they joined the
very relieved onlookers who had waited anxiously nearby. Little was said as
they returned to the community.

They went to Justin’s office and
Tim arrived shortly with a cup of coffee for Dante. Even though the crisis had
passed everyone still looked slightly alarmed. Dante noticed their
expressions. He smiled.

“I am sorry for that overly
dramatic show of emotion, but this week has been a bit to much for me. I have
faced to much death, fear, change and loss. It just got the better of me. I’m
fine now.” He said.

“I know that all this has been
tough for you to deal with. If you want to go back to the human world, just
say the word. I have been saving enough power to do that before I shut it down
to rest.” Jonathan said.

“That won’t be necessary, the
human world holds nothing for me now. I throw my lot in with all of you. Your
destiny is now mine and your fate is mine as well.” He said.

“Dante, as I said before, your
welcome here. You have chosen to be one of us and we will not take your deeds
and sacrifice for granted.” Justin said.

Dante looked at Justin and
noticed the computer on his desk.

“Did you read the letter from
Uncle George?” He asked. Justin looked embarrassed.

“Yes, I did, but only because we
wanted to know what upset you so much.” He said apologetically. Dante smiled.

“No offense taken. I’m glad you
came looking for me.” He said. Dante thought about the letter for awhile. He
turned to Jonathan.

“I should contact Uncle George
to let him know I’m okay, but an e-mail doesn’t seem adequate. Jonathan, you
were able to go to Justin in a dream, could you connect me with Uncle George
the same way?” Dante asked. The room fell silent and everyone just stared at
Dante. “I know what he did to you and I know you want nothing more to do with
him, but please, he is the closest thing to family I have left in the world. I
would like to say goodbye to him in person and assure him that you’re not
plotting to kill him.” Dante said. Everyone in the room remained silent.
Then Justin leaned forward on his desk.

“We owe you a great deal Dante,
for your sake I will agree to this under the provision that you give him no
clue as to where we are.” Justin said gravely.

“Dante, you saved my life so I
also owe you a great deal. Since Justin does approve I will do as you ask.
You know how we feel about him, but I know from painful experience what it
feels like to be taken away from those you love and having those left behind
think you are dead.” Jonathan said sadly. “Its still fairly early yet, we’ll
wait till around midnight to make contact.” Jonathan said. They stayed and
talked late into the night, Dante remembered something that had been bothering
him a little.

“There is something I have been
meaning to ask. Now that I’m a citizen here, what am I going to do for a
living?” Dante asked.

“Tim has already taken care of
that.” Justin said with a smile.

“I spoke to Captain Killian,
with the death of Captain Owen and his minions, the new captain is in need of
another lieutenant, it shouldn’t take you long to get used to the laws and
rules of Thorn Valley, we could have you up and running in a week or so. He
said the job is yours, if you want it.” Tim said.

“I’d like that very much, thank
you.” Dante replied.

Around midnight Dante and
Jonathan headed for Dante’s apartment, once there Jonathan locked the door and
set two chairs facing each other, he sat in one and Dante in the other.

“Dante, close your eyes and lean
forward.” Jonathan commanded. When Dante had done so, Jonathan also leaned
forward and rested his head against Dante’s. Suddenly Dante felt like he was
flying. He was traveling so fast he couldn’t make out any details of his
environment. Eventually they slowed down and in the distance he could see his
Uncle George’s lab. When he stopped moving he was in the office in his human
form. George was sleeping with his head on folded hands at his desk, the only
illumination in the room being a small lamp on his desk. Several bottles of
booze and a revolver sat close at hand.

“Uncle George?” Dante asked.
George woke instantly and picked up the revolver and pointed it at Dante, then
when he saw it was Dante he lowered it.

“Dante, I was so worried about
you.” He said in relief and got out of his chair and hugged Dante.

“I’ve been worried about you
also, how are you?” Dante asked.

“I’ve been better, I was really
worried when you fought those creatures in the parking lot, Julie and I had a
devil of a time getting the bodies behind the lab, we burned them to get rid of
the evidence. After that we went to the burning remains of your dad’s lab and
made sure that everything was destroyed. We had even stopped at a gas station
and bought several gallon containers of gas and threw them into the fire and
then gathered every piece of wood we could find to also throw on the fire.
There was nothing left when it was over. But something weird happened the next
night...Dante, something happened at your dad’s grave. It looks like there is
a crater there.” He said.

“Dad wasn’t really dead, he was
playing possum. He came after my friends and I. We had to stop him and a rat
named Jenner from destroying us all.” Dante replied. George looked very
alarmed.

“Who is ‘us’?” He asked.

“I found those that escaped from
NIMH. I’m with them now. I’m one of them now. In fact, its one of them
that’s making it possible for me to be here, because I’m not really here now.
This is a dream, you’re asleep at your desk this very moment.” Dante said.

“What do you mean your one of
them?” George asked with growing alarm.

“You better sit down for this.”
Dante said. George did so with a look of apprehension. Dante climbed on the
desk and transformed into his rodent form. In response George just put his
head in his hands.

“Dante, I’m so sorry.” He said
sadly.

“Don’t be, Uncle George. I’m
happy here with them and when was the last time you heard me use that word to
describe myself?” Dante asked. George looked down at Dante sadly.

“I have never heard you describe
yourself as happy, even so, I am sorry that it took something this drastic to
make you happy.” He replied. Dante then went on to explain briefly the
experiments that his father had done to him and how it connected him to the lab
animals and how Dr. Schultz had been feeding on George and the others. George
leaned back in his chair.

“I think we all suspected he did
something to you when you started having the nightmares and hallucinations.
Dante, I’m sorry about Rita, I took care of the arrangements. It was a nice
service.” George said sadly.

“Thank you, I wish I could have
been there. I wanted to also let you know that father is really gone now and I
want to tell you that rats and mice that escaped are not hunting you down, they
in fact just want to be left alone. They are building a society and would like
to do it in peace. Its a place second chances and new beginnings.”

George looked aghast.

“A society?” He asked.

“Yes, a civilization of their
own.” Dante responded.

“I need a drink, care to join
me?” George asked and began drinking straight from a bottle of vodka.

“No thanks, the main reason I’m
here is to say goodbye. This will probably be the last time we’ll ever see
each other again.” Dante said sadly. George frowned.

“As I said before you left,
you’re like a son to me Dante. Go and be happy.”

He said.

“Dante, we need to go.”
Jonathan’s disembodied voice called out of the darkness.

“Who is that?” George asked and
picked up the revolver again.

“Relax, Uncle George that’s my
friend Jonathan, he’s using his powers to let me talk to you now. You might
remember him. His number was G-7” Dante said.

“G-7? Light gray with dark spots.”
He said, then

“That’s him. I guess his
strength is about run out and he can’t maintain the link.” Dante said. George
sat for a few moments and then suddenly looked very alarmed.

“Are you saying that the
original escapee’s are still alive? All these years later, their still
alive?” George asked in astonishment.

“Yes and those that have died,
died of unnatural causes.” Dante replied. George sighed and picked up bottle
and made a toast to the direction the voice came from.

“My thanks, Jonathan, for
letting me see Dante one last time.” He said and chugged the rest of the
bottle.

“Goodbye, Uncle George. If you
see Julie again tell her I said goodbye.” Dante said as he vanished out of
sight.

Dr. George woke violently from
his dream. He found himself sitting in his office at his desk. He got out of
his chair and looked around the room. Only a dream. He thought until
he saw the empty vodka bottle sitting on his desk.