The Princess and the Rabbit

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters or setting.

This fanfiction was made for fun, not profit.

Epic Mickey is owned by Disney.

Oswald the Lucky Rabbit is owned by Disney and Universal.

Princess Tutu is owned by GANSIS/TUTU and ADV Films

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Chapter 1

Wasteland. The land of the forgotten, of the rejected, of the unseen.

This magic land, built on a foundation of paper, and constructed out of paint, is where cartoon characters go when they are no longer remembered, when their cartoons and movies are no longer enjoyed by the masses, or even when those movies where never made to begin with.

Be it a superstar, a sidekick, or an extra that appeared in the background of Scene 3 for about ten seconds, it doesn't matter. If you're forgotten, then you wind up in Wasteland.

And this land is ruled by its first resident; the first to be forgotten. A former superstar that now dedicates his life to keeping his kingdom safe. And that resident is: Oswald the Lucky Rabbit.

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Today was not his lucky day.

Not his lucky day at all.

Oswald got up and dusted himself off, surveying the smoking crater that, until just a few seconds ago, was once a perfectly level street of concrete. He continued to brush off his inky black fur, hoping it wouldn't stain. Once done, he turned around, his long, roundish ears twitching atop his roundish head which itself rested upon a roundish body, his noodle-like arms and legs shifting into a battle pose.

He stared down the strange rocket-powered contraption before him, which looked a lot like a snow globe that looked noting like a snow globe.

But it was the person in this not-snow globe that he kept a particular eye on, an old man in a white surgeon's smock, stained in several places in who-knows-what, with several surgical tools sticking out of his back pocket. He was bald but his wild, black mustache and beard more then made up for it. But it was the crazed look in his eye that gave Oswald the willies. That crazed, piercing look.

"Ah, did the itty-bitty wabbit fall down and go boom!" The man said in a mocking voice.

Oswald smirked. "Nah, Doc, just resting for a moment. Nothing to fret about."

The man's smile suddenly changed to a frown. "How many times must I tell you, don't call me 'doc'. You are to address me as the Mad Doctor!"

"Yeah, whatever, Doc." Oswald quipped and he broke into a run toward the floating dome.

The Mad Doctor pulled a lever from one of the many knobs and do-dads that surrounded him, and out of the not-snow globe extended a robotic arm, at the end of witch was a pressurized thinner cannon.

Oswald grimaced when he saw this. Thinner, the bane of all toons.

Skidding to a stop, Oswald jumped to the side, narrowly being missed by a blast of thinner.

Taking cover behind a mailbox, Oswald scanned the area. Of course, the Mad Doctor had to choose Mean Street, the central hub of Wasteland for an attack, and during the midday lunch rush no less. There was already a crowd forming much to the cartoon rabbit's cringe. He'd better keep the Doctor's attention on him if he wanted to keep casualties down and even that was not guaranteed.

He would need a little extra help, he decided. Oswald then bent down, grabbed his left foot, and popped it off as if it were some doll's limb. Then, balancing on the other leg, brought the detached foot to his head and rubbed the appendage on his forehead roughly. Then, swiftly, returned it to his leg, snapping it back on with little problem. He then flexed the foot making sure it worked right.

"For luck." He whispered to no one and he returned his attention to his adversary.

"You know what, Doc?" the rabbit called, "You're not so big without the Blot to back you up."

"Bah!" the Doctor spat, "I don't need that glob of paint! As long as I have my Beetleworx army, I am unstoppable! And I told you, don't call me Do…"

The Doctor trailed off when Oswald rushed from behind the mail box and took a huge leap at the not-show globe. Caught off guard, the Doctor shot wildly at Oswald missing every shot by a wide margin. The lucky rabbit's leap propelled him above the machine, landing behind it. Quickly, he ran up to the back of the non-snow globe's base, ripping open an access panel, and tearing out any wires he could find.

It did not take too long for the mad doctor to figure out what happened. With the twirl of a knob and the flick of a switch, the robot arm twisted around so that the thinner gun pointed at the back panel… and Oswald. Thinking fast, Oswald jumped out of the way just as the gun fired. The thinner hit the wires and, sparks flying, the not-snow globe began to wobble uncontrollably as the Mad Doctor franticly began to flip switches in a panic.

Yep, Oswald felt pretty good with himself as he saw the Doctor's contraption start to spin out of control. Yes, there it went, spinning wildly. Yes, spinning… right… toward… him.

Oswald's attempt to doge out of the way came too late and he was caught in the blast that erupted when the not-snow globe spun awkwardly one too many times and slammed into the ground.

The last thing he remembered was a white light and, for some reason, the whirling of clock gears echoing off into the distance.

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The next thing he saw when he opened his eyes was the starry sky twinkling down at him. Oswald sat up, and rubbed his forehead as he tried to relieve the headache he had.

"Where am I? How long have I been out?" he asked no one in particular, "Did me and Horace go on another 'guys night out', again?"

The rabbit tried to stand, but as soon as he did his headache increased its throbbing forcing him to lean on a nearby tree. "Though," he continued, attempting to gain his composure, "I'm surprised people just left me out here all night. 'Oh, it's just King Oswald, supreme leader of all wasteland. It's not like we should get him inside or anything. Let's just let him lie in the middle of Mean Street and…"

Oswald's eyes opened wide, his headache subsiding and his memory coming back to him.

"Mean Street! That's right! I was fighting the Doctor on Mean Street. Then his… snow globe… thing blow up! And… and…"

The tiny King staggered forward, his white face getting even whiter.

"Something's wrong. I need to get back to the castle! I need to find Gus or Ortensia or…"

He stopped his ranting suddenly as he started to notice his surroundings. He realized there was something odd about his location, particularly the fact that he was no longer on Mean Street or any kind of street for the matter.

Trees. He was surrounded by trees, stretching far into the darkness. They were not any trees he recognized ether. Not that he was an expert on Wasteland flora, but he knew Wasteland like the bottom of his detachable foot and he had never seen trees like these.

Then a thought occurred to him. Was he no longer in Wasteland? But that was impossible. You needed a heart to leave Wasteland. He had tried it once and it had not gone so well. No, no way was he on the outside again. Unless…

The little black rabbit held his hand to his chest, trying to feel the "thump-thump" that he remembered feeling so long ago; a sensation almost faded from his memory.

He felt nothing.

That clenched it. He had to still be in Wasteland. Maybe the trees looked weird because it was so dark. Yeah, that's it.

"Hello!" he called out into the night, "Ortensia! Donald! Goofy! Gus! Anybody!"

No answer. He tried again.

"Hey, guys! It's me. You're well loved and devilishly hansom king, lost in a strange and admittedly spooky forest! Care to give a hand?"

Still no answer. The darkness was fading now, a sign that dawn was approaching. Glancing around franticly, looking for any familiar landmark, Oswald spotted, by the blue, pre-dawn light, a large object in the distance.

"Any port in a dark forest or however that saying goes." And with that Oswald sprinted off toward the object.

As Oswald ran, he saw that the object was, in fact, a wall. A very tall wall, about four stories in height, starched as far as he could see in ether direction.

"Ha! No wall can keep out Oswald, the Lucky Rabbit," He yelled. Finding two very tall trees, the rabbit began to jump one branch to the other until he was high enough to jump to the top of the wall.

The sun rose as he laid eyes upon the other side of the wall, mouth open in astonishment. It was a village, a small but elegant European village, surrounded by the huge wall. The buildings were small but very quaint, with a very old world charm to them. Patches of green were spread out throughout the town and large, gothic buildings could be seen in the distance.

Oswald couldn't believe what he was seeing. He had never seen anything like it and there definitely was not anything like it in Wasteland.

"Then," he exclaimed, "Where am I?"

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Goldcrown Town was a very old and hansom town step in history and myth. The ancient stone wall that surrounded it was originally built to repel invaders, but since then several buildings had popped up outside the wall, scattered among the thick forest surrounded the town. The inner wall was still the town proper, and boasted such very architecturally well built structures such as the prestigious Goldcrown Academy of the Fine Arts, one of the oldest fine arts schools in the country.

But the Academy, and indeed the whole town, was currently in an uproar over two new mysteries that had turned up recently, the most alarming being the so-called "missing month."

It was just as the nickname described, the whole town had completely forgotten an entire month; a strange case of mass amnesia. Not that everything was forgotten, but those few memories left were fuzzy and distant, like a half remembered dream. There was no evidence of what happened, how it happened, or why it happened, and most of the townspeople found the whole thing quit unnerving.

Fortunately, the second mystery was far more lighthearted, and served to distract most from the more distressing one. It was also the most baffling. An entire town losing a month of their lives? Implausible, but not impossible. But this?

The second mystery was also the favored one of Goldcrown Academy, particularly of the ballet division. In fact, the mystery was found near the school itself, and it had become customary for students to visit it during lunch, and marvel at it.

Two such students were walking through the crowed school grounds carrying lunch baskets and chatting as they left the ballet studio headed for the small pond nestled in a large wooded area, the source of the odd phenomenon. Said school grounds were bordered on ether side by both the river that cut through town and the surrounding wall. The two students walked through the main school building, crossed the bridge over the river and out of the grounds, and walked down the streets, just a few of the many girls heading in that direction that wore the white blouse, gray vest, and gray short skirt of the Academy uniform. Most of these girls had impatiently waited all through their morning classes for this chance to see this miracle.

One of the two girls, her purple heir tied in a bun, turned to her companion and asked in a boyish voice, "Hay, Lilié, do you think it will be there today?"

Lilié, her blond, poofy pigtails swaying gently in the wind, replied in a much softer tone, "I don't know, Piké. It didn't appear yesterday."

Piké swung her lunch basket as she walked. "Well, I hope it appears. I don't want to walk all the way there, and not have it show." She frowned.

"Oh, I hope not! That would be horrid." Lilié said in her usual bubbly, happy voice, a huge simile on her sunny face.

The large crowd of students finally reached the wooded area and trekked through a grove of trees, streams of light shining through the branches, until they came to the pond. It was a very small, very quaint little pond, not the kind of place that you would expect something special to happen. One side of the pond, the side the students came up on, was bare of any plants, but the other side was rife with tall grass and reeds, with a small, spare area right before where the water met the shore. It almost looked like a stage, which was appropriate.

Piké and Lilié chose a spot on a nearby hill, and sat down as they opened their baskets. They began to eat as they waited. The murmur of the gathered student filled the air, all eager to see if it would show.

Then at exactly noon, the reeds at the other end of the pond began to rustle. All became silent, concentrating on the makeshift stage. Piké leaned forward, while Lilié looked on starry eyed, her hands in her lap.

The reeds parted, and out stepped a small yellow duck. The duck waddled to the middle of the "stage", and stood there, facing its audience. Then, as if it was following some unknown cue, it struck a pose. A ballet pose, its wings held above its head, and its webbed feet turned inward, one in front of the other. Then the duck began to dance.

It wasn't the most elegant of ballet dances. In fact, it was rather sloppy. Its leaps were not very high, its spines were wobbly, and every once in a while it would stumble. But the mere fact that there was a duck dancing, ballet of all things, was enough to wow the gathered crowed.

Piké sat transfixed, watching the duck's every action. As messy as the dancing was, there was something mesmerizing, something joyful in this duck's movements. It was as if this bird wanted to dance so much that one day it just got up and started to dance. Piké couldn't help but find that enduring.

"Don't you think," she whispered to her friend, "that it is amazing that this duck learned to dance all by it's self."

"Oh, yes!" Lilié gushed back, "I think its adorable how this poor, sweet little duck went through all the trouble to be a ballet dancer, only to fail miserably! Oh, how wonderful!" She clapped her hands over her cheeks, her face beaming.

Piké could only roll her eyes as he turned back to performing waterfowl, who had it's leg raised in a rather shaky attitude position. After a moment she heard a sound, a short grunt. Turning her head to find the source of the sound, she saw someone leaning on a nearby tree, arms folded, a serious look on his young face. He wore the familiar blue blazer and white slacks of the Academy boy's uniform. His long dark hair was tided in a ponytail and his green, piercing eyes were focused on the pond, his mouth in a stern frown.

Piké's face reddened in a blush. It was Senior Fakir, one of the top dancers in the ballet division, and the apple of the eyes of almost every female student at the school. He was gruff, soft-spoken, and preferred to be by himself, but that, of course, only made him dark and mysterious to the dozens of fan girls that swooned over his every move, Piké being one of them. It did help that he was, perhaps, the best dancer in school ever since that one guy left… what was his name…

Piké sighed. Of course, Fakir ignored every girl that declared their love for him, and he refused to take a ballet partner. On top of that, he was always cold and distant, and he never seemed attracted to anyone, not even the boys. Some were questioning if he could even feel love. That couldn't be true, Piké thought, he had to love someone.

Suddenly, Fakir's green eyes snapped to her, the hard look of disapproval within them. Piké jumped a little and quickly turned back to the duck, which was flat on its beak, no doubt after some botched leap. She briefly wondered if a duck could love. Of course not, she told herself. Duck's can't love! That was just silly.

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Oswald hopped from roof to roof, stopping every now and then to get the lay of land. He had been exploring the small town all morning, looking for some evidence that he was still in Wasteland. He found none.

For one thing, he could find no large, talking animals such as himself, only people. All animals he came across were of the small, unintelligent variety. He even tried to hold a conversation with a cat. It just looked at him with a blank stare. And then it bit his finger.

This meant that he was back in the real world, among real people. He should be happy, shouldn't he? After all, isn't this what he wanted for the longest time, to be back in the real world and to be loved by millions of adoring fans?

Except, there were no adoring fans. The fact that he still had no heart told him that much. Also, this place he found him self in seemed very old fashioned. Most of the people he saw were dressed like they were in the middle ages. Only the younger ones wore anything that looked at all modern. He wasn't sure if these people even knew what cartoons were, much less watched them. Best to stay hidden, he concluded.

He continued his hopping; looking for anything that would tell him where he was or why was here.

This isn't right, he thought to himself. I shouldn't be here.

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"I think it's just sad, a worthless duck trying to change it's standing in the world by learning ballet, but in the end it is just a duck. Oh, poor, poor thing!" Lilié was exclaiming, a look of pure joy on her face as the two ballet students walked back to the school grounds.

Piké straightened her back. "I don't think it's trying to change anything. It probably just saw the ballet classes through the lessons room windows and started mimicking the moves." She said, trying to play the rational one. "I really don't think ducks are smart enough to want such things."

"Well, I like my theory better!" Lilié shot back, the wide smile not disappearing from her face.

Piké decided to change the subject. "So, did you see the wonderful Fakir behind us watching the duck?"

"No, why would he be there, do you suppose?"

"Well, he is the best ballet dancer at school. I don't know of any one else who would be more interested in a dancing duck," Piké said offhandedly.

Lilié was not listening, "I bet he came to pity it. Oh, how curl." She was still smiling.

Piké just shrugged. "He looked like he was studying it…"

"You should confess your love to him!" Lilié suddenly blurted out, whipping her head in Piké's direction.

"Are you crazy?" Piké exclaimed, shocked, "You know that he ignores every girl who's done that!"

Lilié sported a happy grin, "I know, and when he rejects you, I will be there to comfort you, you poor thing."

Piké gave her an irritated glance, but remand silent. Maybe this wasn't the best subject to have changed to. Lowering her eyes to the ground, she began to think of something else to talk about.

Lilié's voice brought her out of her thoughts, "Look, there's Faker now!"

Piké stopped in her tracks, and looked at her friend, who was gesturing behind her. She turned around to see, indeed, Fakir was walking towards them, his eyes on his feet in deep thought.

Then Lilié gave a loud shout, "Oh, no! Don't do any thing you will regret!"

Piké turned her head to give Lilié a confused look.

"What are you talking about? I'm not…" She was cut short when Lilié gave her a hard push, causing her to tumble forward. She rolled down the street several feet until she finally came to a stop… right in front of Fakir.

Piké, her bottom planted on the cobblestone, peered up at the senior student, who looked down upon her with a blank stare.

"What are you doing?" he monotoned.

Her face reddening, Piké glanced at Lilié, who was running off in the other direction. Piké quickly stood up and dusted her self off.

"I'm so sorry!' she babbled, her head down, "I hope I didn't bother you. It was an accident, and…"

Fakir, however, just pushed passed her, apparently deciding that whatever it was, it did not interest him.

Piké just watched him walk away, an expression of bewilderment on her face, an expression that quickly changed to one of anger as she stormed after Lilié.

Lilié. For a while now she had been the butt of that girl's pranks and she was getting sick of it. Sometimes, she wished there were someone else for Lilié to pick on.

As Piké was caught up in her rage, she did not see the odd black rabbit running across the roof of the building next to her. Nor did she see the small blunt object fall from said roof. Or that this object was heading right for her.

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"Oh, no!"

Oswald had been sprinting across a rooftop, still looking for anything that might give him an answer, when he felt something give way under his feet. He stumbled to a stop and looked down just in time to see that one of the shingles had come loose, and was sliding down the roof strait for a teenage girl on the street.

He tried to shout a warning, but it was too late. He heard a soft "thwack" as he saw her body fall.

"No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no!" the rabbit stammered, panic griping him as he hopped on to a lamppost and then to the street below.

"Great! Just great! I'm not in town more then half a day, and I've already killed someone!" he grumbled as he rushed to her side. "This is going to be a repeat of Paris, I just know it."

Once at her side, he could see the large gash on her forehead.

"Hay, Kid!" Oswald shouted, trying to get her to stir, "Come on, kid, wake up. Kid! Can you hear me? Kid!"

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Piké head was spinning. No, she was spinning; spinning faster and faster, blurred images swirling around her. After what felt like forever, no, more like several forevers, the spinning stopped. She tried to clear her clouded head. Where was she? What had she been doing?

That's right. She was heading back to the Academy grounds with her friends. There was Lilié, laughing and talking excitedly, probably about something grim and depressing. She was there, also talking up a storm. And then there was… someone. She couldn't remember her name, but she knew she was her friend.

The nameless girl was also chattering happily, a smile on her freckled face and a glint in her big blue eyes. Her long orange hair, tied into one lone brad that hung down her back, reaching to her knees, swayed in the wind.

Piké tried to make out what was being said, but all she could hear was a hundred voices whispering the word "nothing" over and over.

"Nothing… nothing… nothing…"

She found it odd that she could not understand a word of a conversation she herself was taking part in. In fact, this whole thing seemed rather strange, through her dazed mind couldn't figure out why.

"Nothing, nothing, nothing…"

As she watched her friends, the orange haired girl suddenly looked timid as Lilié leaned close to her, a mischievous grin on her face. Piké leaned in as well, and she realized the two of them were teasing the orange haired girl, probably about a boy she liked. Then Lilié laughed, the orange haired girl laughed, and Piké could feel her face contort in laughter. They looked like they were having fun, three girls on their way to school. Piké felt content watching her silent friends talk, so much so that she did not notice that the voices repeating the word "nothing" were slowly growing louder.

"Nothing! Nothing! Nothing!"

Then, the orange haired girl just vanished, quickly and silently. Piké panicked, but when she turned to Lilié she saw that she was still chatting happily, as if nothing had happened. How could she not notice? Piké thought. Did she not see it? Who was that girl anyway? Why did she disappear?

"Nothing! Nothing! Nothing!"

It was getting harder and harder to think, however, for the voices were now booming. "Nothing! Nothing! Nothing!" they repeated, over and over, louder and louder. Her head pounded, as her vision blurred, and she began to spin again.

"Nothing! Nothing! Nothing!" the voices continued, getting more and more unbearable. The spinning began to worsen, making her head hurt more. Why doesn't this just stop!

Then her vision began to clear and, as it did, she saw a strange, round headed rabbit staring down at her, its face steep in worry. Then she herd a voice pierce the loud din of the "nothing" voices.

"Kid! Say something! Kid, come on. You gotta be okay! Kid!"

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Oswald sighed in relief when the girl's eyes fluttered open and she gave a small groan.

"Thank Iwerks." he breathed. Now, satisfied that she was alright, Oswald could duck out of site before anyone…

"Piké! Piké!"

Oswald lifted his head to see another girl running down the street toward him. Great! He was sure to be spotted if he made a break for it. What was he going to do?

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When Lilié returned to the scene to see if Piké's heart had been properly broken, she was treated … uh … confronted with the site of her best friend lying on the ground. With her heart filled with excitement… eh … worry, Lilié dashed as fast as she could, giggling the entire way. As she knelt next to her friend, she grabbed Piké's bruised head and roughly pressed it to her cheat, starry eyes gazing at the sky.

"Oh, poor, poor Piké! You're rejection was so bad, you fainted from shock! Oh, you poor, poor thing! Don't worry. I'll be here to comfort you!" Lilié cooed, her voice filled with joy.

Piké, the rambunctious actions of her friend brining her too, pushed herself away, and sat up on the ground, gathering her bearings. She felt a dull pain coming from a spot on her forehead, and when she touched said spot with her finger, the pain increased. Was she just attacked?

She turned to Lilié. "What did you do?" she demanded.

Lilié's face lit up in shock. "What ever do you mean?"

Piké leaned forward, pointing an angry finger at the person that she thought was her friend. "I never thought you would go so far as to hit me! Poke, push, and sabotage, maybe. But hit me?"

"I would never do that!" Lilié defended, the anguish in her voice sounding forced and exaggerated.

An unconvinced Piké made to argue when her hand brushed against something soft. Looking down, she saw a black… something lying on the cobblestone street next to her. Picking it up, she held what looked like some sort of stuffed animal. A stuffed rabbit, in fact, with a round head and body, white face, little black dots for eyes, and a par of blue shorts. It also had a big smile plastered on said face, but to her, it seemed forced, like the thing was trying too hard to keep it up.

"How strange." she said. How did this doll get here? Did someone lose it?

"Oh! It must have been left here by the mysterious attacker who assaulted you." Jumped in Lilié, seeing the perfect opportunity to appease her torture subject… um… eh, friend. Yeah, friend.

"Don't be ridiculous." Piké replied, as she inspected the doll, "Some kid must have dropped it. It's odd, though. Why is mostly black? Aren't stuffed animals supposed to be colorful? It makes it look boring. I think it would look better in navy blue, myself." As she said this, she could have sworn that the doll's mouth twitched slightly. No, it must have been her imagination.

"Well, I guess I'll keep it." She concluded, "We have time to stop by the dormitories to drop it off."

Then, Piké herd a low groan, a noise of disappointment. As she turned her head to see where it came from, Lilié sprang up and danced off in the direction of the dorms.

"Well then, come on!" she giggled, "Last one there will have a lifetime of horrible, gut wrenching failure. How wonderful!"

Piké just sat there for a moment, then, realizing something, got up and ran after her.

"Hay!" she called out, "I'm not done chewing you out yet!"

She held the stuffed rabbit under her shoulder, its smile having momentarily disappeared.

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The school dormitories where only a short walk away from the Academy, and students were already coming and going through the narrow streets, getting ready for the afternoon classes. As the two girls entered through the large iron gates, Oswald, from the rather uncomfortable position from under the purple haired girl's arm, took in the well kept courtyard. Well trimmed hedges and grassy lawns flanked ether side of the stone walkway leading up to a fountain on top of which stood an abstract sculpture of two ballet dancers in embrace; a man and a woman. There where two large buildings, one on ether side of the courtyard, both about three or four stories tall and rather elegant.

The girls strolled up to the fountain and turned left, into the building in said direction. Inside, they walked down a long hall, doors on ether side. Little light came through the window at the end of the hallway, that combined with the drab gray color of the walls gave the place a gloomy feel. Soon they came to a stairwell and the girls began to clime.

The purple haired one had apparently forgotten her animosity toward her blond friend, and the two of them were engaged in conversion. Oswald however was over come with fear. When he had decided to act like some sort of stuffed doll, he had hoped that they would ignore him, but they were not ignoring him. No, this was the exact opposite of ignoring him.

Oh, what was he worrying about? All they were doing was dropping him off in purple hair's room, where escape would be easy. Unless, of course, they lock the door. And the window. Or they lock him in a trunk. Or the closet. Or tie him to a ten-ton weight. Or soak him in lemon juice, beat him with a burlap sack filled with cream cheese, and feed him to a hungry kangaroo… okay, now he was just being silly. He forced himself to calm down. After all, he had been in worse scraps then this. Being held captive by two school girls was nothing compared to the Shadow Blot. He could handle what ever came his way. He hoped.

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Piké and Lilié reached the third floor, and then walked down the hall, finally stopping at a door near its end. After a moment to fish her key out of her vest pocket, the two girls entered Piké's room. It was modest but cozy, despite the walls being the same color gray as the halls. It had all the necessities, a desk in one corner by the door, a bed, its headboard against the left wall, a large ballet poster over the bed and a window on the far wall, which overlooked the courtyard below.

Piké dropped her new acquisition on the bed, and turned to Lilié.

"We have sometime before our afternoon classes. What do you want to do till then."

"Ooh, ooh…" Lilié jumped in eagerness, "let's take your new bunny doll, soak him in lemon juice, beat him with as burlap sack filled with cream cheese, and feed him to a hungry kangaroo!"

An awkward silence ensued, as Piké gave her friend a shocked stare, not noticing that the rabbit also had an equally shocked look on its face.

"No," she said simply, "I was thinking more along the lines of walking around the school and listening to gossip." She continued to give Lilié a weird look.

Lilié, however, leaped onto the bed and bring the stuffed doll into a tight hug. This caused the doll to make a nose something akin to a gasp. Hmm… the squeaker must have been broken.

"Can we at lest tie him to a ten-ton weight!" she pleaded.

"No!" Piké shouted, and then gave her an odd look, "You seem to have taken a liking to that thing."

Lilié's large smile only got bigger. "I just think he is so cute. I want to hug him and comfort him."

As soon as she said that, she smacked the doll's head into the wall.

Piké continued to stare. "You seem very violent toward it." She noted.

"Of course, silly!" Lilié laughed, "You can't comfort someone unless their in pain. Every one knows that!" and having given out that useful fact, she continued to slam the stuffed animal against the wall, over and over, for a full minute, all the while the doll made odd, grunting noises. Finally, she dropped the doll onto the bed.

"Are you done?" Piké asked, not really caring one way or the other.

"Not yet," Lilié chimed, "just one more!"

Piké could only watch, confused, as Lilié got up from the bed, backed away from it till she was near the door, then ran toward the bed, juddering out her elbow and taking a flying leap, pile driving the doll right in the stomach. Piké was even more confused, however, when a loud, male scream erupted from the doll, causing Lilié to jump back. The doll continued this trend of undoll-like behavior by leaping to its feet and turning on the girls, shaking its fist at them.

"That's it! I've had just about as mush as I can…" It trailed off as realized just what it had done.

An awkward silence followed, the three parties standing unmoving, with a dumfounded look on each of their faces. Well, two of their faces. Lilié's face held a look of unprecedented glee. After a few moments, Piké made the first move, apprehending a book from the desk nearby, and tossed it at the strange talking rabbit doll. The rabbit, apparently too surprised to move, was hit squarely on the head, causing it to topple back, off the bed.

"Wait, I…" was all he could say before Lilié, the delicate flower that she was, snatched the discarded book from were it had landed on the bed as she crawled over it to the other side, dropped down to were the rabbit lie, and began to bash his head in with said book, all while giving a shriek of terror that sounded suspiciously like a squeal of joy.

"Oh, how horrible!" she exclaimed as she continued her violent assault, "A terrible monster has come to gobble us up! What a rotten creature you are to take advantage of poor, defenseless little girls!"

"Defenseless!" the rabbit shouted in-between beatings, "Look… I just… wanted to… see if … the other… girl was… alright…"

Piké's shocked expression vanished when she herd this. "What?"

The rabbit stammered its words quickly, trying to talk before each concussion. "I was… running on the rooftops…a shingle came loose…hit you on the head… tried to make sure you were… okay… I'm far away from home… lost… didn't want any one to see me… pretended to be a doll…sorry if I scared you… please don't kill me… not very healthy… being killed."

A worried look crossing her face, Piké scooted across the bed, and held Lilié's arm right before she gave the poor monstrosity another hit.

The rabbit took his chance, sprang up, and rushed over to the window. In one swift motion, the window was open and the strange rabbit was gone. Piké got up and looked out the window just in time to see a black spot dash across the courtyard below and disappeared.