Chapter 15: Oblivion


"No angels or Gods, neither old nor new sang for them. Only oblivion kept them company as the coaxing whisper of fatigue lulled a few to ruin."
― H.S. Crow Beyond Time

Robin and the Sheriff of Nottingham learn about their loved one's fates and the dashing rogue also realizes that his one-time enemy was much nobler than he thought. Judy, Marian, and Sue have a conversation, but with Nick now dead, do our heroes have a "GHOST" of a chance?

***EVERYONE STAY HEALTHY & WASH THOSE PAWS***


Time, like space, should be endless but it was damaged by a singular event of cosmic proportions. One after another, realities and dimensions began to collapse upon themselves and it seemed to those who called themselves gods, that the destruction was unstoppable. A godlike scientist named Metron knew that the end was inevitable and instead of using his Mobius Chair to flee towards a false safe haven that did not exist, he embraced the unstoppable even as the gods around him fled in panic and despair.

Loki, the Norse god of mischief tenderly held his son Sleipnir in his arms while his daughter Hel clutched her brother Fenrisúlfr in hers, the puppy whined in fear. Her other brother Jörmungandr coiled himself behind her as if she could protect him. Around them, the babies who were once gods squalled in fear. The goddess of death knew that this was beyond mere death, more final that Ragnarök itself, for this was the end of everything for everyone.

The time-driven damage didn't just blink everything from just being or turned anyone into dust as if it was the simple snapping of a hand inside of a gauntlet clad with some minor mystical stones, instead it seemed to roll along as it devoured everything within its dark path. The end was agonizingly slow, but unavoidable in its finality, for it was oblivion!


Nottingham 1215

Many realities far away and in a wooded place called Sherwood Forest, a dashing red fox in a green tunic knelt near the fire next to his onetime enemy, a black wolf in knightly armor, while they both listened to a small rabbit give his report. "Fie, they hath caged fair Marian and your innocent daughter above the gates to the town. They art but bait in the king's trap," the fox named Robin Hood sighed out. "But still we must strive to go forth from this place and rescue them!"

"To do so will play right into the king's paws," the knight growled. "As the Sheriff of these lands and Nottingham, I expected him to try to punish me for siding with the barons. However, for him to treat my young daughter in such a barbaric manner is beyond the pale even for King John."

"Aye, King John's debauchery doth know no bounds," the fox gloomily added. "Yet we cannot let leave those fair maidens in his clutches."

"Rob, we don't have enough soldiers to lay siege to the town's walls and they are too thick to take by force," The bear added as he towered over the others.

"Aye, Little John we do not," Robin mused. "But there are other ways into fair Nottingham besides the gates. Verily we hath been inside yon stout walls before without our good friend here knowing."

"You would be surprised how many times I knew," the Sheriff of Nottingham sighed as he shook his head. "Did you never wonder why I always assigned those two dimwitted weasels Nutsy and Tigger to the easiest part of the wall that could be scaled?"

"I wondered more about why your gardener never cut those damned rose vines back?" the bear chuckled. "Especially in the area which was the closest to Marian's bedchamber, Rob used to scramble up and down those vines faster than a squirrel up a tree."

"Sometimes in the morning hours before the sun arose, I would watch from hiding as Robin swept his cap off so dramatically before he bid Marion farewell with that last shared lover's kiss of the night," the Sheriff chuckled. "You two don't know many times I could have released an arrow and put an end to you rogue ways?"

"If thou knew so, then why did thou not stop me?" Robin scoffed. "Surely thou dost jest."

"Because you never did the citizens of Nottingham any harm and you were a thorn in John's arse," the wolf answered. "But my wife was sad when you took Marian from our home, she so enjoyed the vixen's company. So tell me, Robin, what happened between you two, for I was sure that what you felt for Marian was true love?"

"King Richard insisted that we joined him on his campaign," Little John answered for the dejected-looking fox. "He liked to listen to the stories of our adventures, for Rob can spin a tale of two and he tended to get more creative the more he told them."

Robin Hood looked down at the fire and sighed. "Fie, I hath been known to over exaggerate a tad. But to follow good Richard the Lionheart, did cost me the love of my life and now Richard's evil brother doth use her so foul. I would offer my life for hers, for without Marian there tis nay Robin."

"So how do we get into the town?" the Sheriff asked.

"Don't forget there's still the dragon lurking out there too," Little John reminded them both.

"Ah guys!" the strange-looking creature named Tony called out the others. "Does anyone know where Judy went? The fire's smoke billowed up and when it cleared she was gone, but she left behind her clothes."

"Great, now we got a crazy naked bunny running around the woods too!" Little John scoffed. "That'll really get Skippy's sons distracted."

The missing rabbit doe known as Judy Hopps was not in the woods but rode side by side next to a red fox vixen on the top of the head of the creature that Little John had called a dragon. "Mayhaps we should do something about our lack of clothing" the vixen named Marion suggested as they slowly approached the foggy banks of the river which led towards the distant town. "I am a nun, so no one but my late dear parents and my retired nurse have seen me this naked before."

"What about Robin Hood?" Judy asked with a grin. "If all those legends are true, you two were lovers?"

Because of the night's darkness, the bunny could not see the insides of the vixen's ears blush. "Aye that rogue has more than once see me this way," Marian finally giggled. "After all, he was my husband at one time."

"And did he see you naked before that?" the rabbit giggled. The vixen did not answer, but even in the dark Judy could tell by the way she was acting that Marian was embarrassed by the truth.

"What be clothes?" Sue grumbled from below them as she tried to tread upon the ground as lightly and silently as she could.

"You wear them to cover yourself," Marian answered.

"Why?" the large beast asked.

"For the sake of modesty," the vixen laughed. "One should be modest and not flaunt your body before others, especially males."

Sue just sighed in confusion before she asked what seemed to be a simple question in her reptilian mind, "How find mate then?"

"That my large friend is a question that I have not yet successfully answered," Judy replied.

"That is easy, first you smile and then blink your eyes daintily at the male," the vixen began to explain. "Then coyly swish your tail and thrust out your chest when he notices you. When he draws near you, compliment him about how noble and valiant he looks…"

"Wait!" the bunny interrupted her. "What you're saying is that you should throw yourself at him?"

"Nay!" Marian laughed. "You are not a tramp, so do so coyly and with grace."

"Have babies you do?" Sue sighed out as she rolled her eyes in disdain at what the vixen was saying. "Too much hard to mate you do."

"Nay," Marian sadly answered. "Robin and I chose not to have kits until we were married for a few years, but then he left with the king."

"Do you have any children?" Judy asked the dinosaur.

"Mated…lay eggs," Sue sadly answered. "Nest raided…little bad ones eat eggs…all gone."

"That's terrible!" Marian cried out.

"Me was sad," Sue grunted. "Death easy…life not easy."

They found a small abandoned hut, which had some discarded clothes that could fit Marian, but they were for a male peasant and she frowned at them. "I'll look like a tod in these!" she fussed as she pulled them on, they had a musty scent which caused her nose to wrinkle.

Judy had found an oversized shirt that was large enough to hang down to her knees and used a rope for a belt. "We look like vagabonds," Marian sighed as she tried to adjust her tunic so it appeared more feminine than it currently did.

"Clothes taste bad," was all Sue could grunt out. "Shiny ones hurt teeth."

"That must have been the armor and chain mail worn by the knights and warriors you ate," Judy replied. "You really shouldn't eat living things."

"Hungry I was," the large T-Rex snapped back. "Hungry no more."

The vixen and the rabbit climbed back onto Sue's head and pondered their next move as they stared at the distant town and its walls. "So all this time the Blessed Cup has been within the town itself?" Marian whispered in awe. "All this time it has been hidden from even the Church."

"The ghost of the goddess Arianrhod was very vague about what we are supposed to do when we find it," Judy added. "But she said it was our only hope."

Hiding behind a bush along the river, a small rabbit watched as the vixen he knew was Marian, along with a very pretty rabbit doe he did not recognize, as they sat on top of the head of the dragon. Slipping down the bank, he tried to sneak away.

"Someone is watching," Judy whispered to the vixen, she had heard the intruder's stealthy pawsteps. "Down by the banks of the river."

"I eat?" Sue asked as she sniffed the air.

"No!" Marian quickly answered the large beast's question after she spied who it was. "It is Skippy and he's an old friend of mine. He's probably running to tell Robin what he saw."

"Then maybe we need to get going," her companion said.

"No, we could use Robin's help," the vixen countered. "If anyone is crafty and sneaky enough to know how we can get inside the town and past the king's army, that sly fox will!"

Sue ambled toward the woods and hesitated when she saw a group of smaller creatures once again blocking her path with the three large things which threw sharp sticks at her. "Afraid I am," she said to the vixen and bunny on her head. "Hurt me they did."

"They won't hurt you this time," Marian said as she hopped off of the dinosaur's head and approached the line of warriors. "Stop!" he yelled. "She is not your enemy!"

"Marian?" a voice called out from the dark woods. "Is that you?"

"Robin?" she began to call back, but the dashing looking tod had sprinted out of the woods and engulfed her in his arms.

"Hurt he does?" Sue growled as she began to show her teeth while she watched the male fox scoop the vixen into his arms before kissing her.

"No, that's the way a male fox greets his mate," Judy answered as she gently patted Sue's head. The T-Rex had calmed down once she realized the vixen was safe.

Hesitantly the others came out into the open and stared at awe at the huge creature they called a dragon and the small rabbit on her head.

"Now let's find out how smart the legendary Robin Hood really is?" Judy said as she stood up upon Sue's head and waved at the human named Tony and the others.


Western Desert 1942

Death screamed as she felt unaccustomed pain while Leroy tried to set her broken arm back into place before he wrapped the split from the tank's first aid kit around her injury. She was an Endless and had never felt pain before, she had only seen it from those she led over into death.

"You have become mortal," Anubis muttered in surprise. "How did that happen?"

"The question is what is going to happen to those who she is supposed to release from their lives?" Set added as the snake god knelt in the sand and picked up the small still frozen fennec fox, one of his worshippers.

The white nine-tailed fox glanced towards the small tan-furred fox in the other god's paws and tried to suppress his jealously for the desert foxes were followers of the god of the desert instead of him, the god of the foxes, and that had always been a sore subject between the two.

"God or no gods, will someone do something with me!" Nick snapped from above. His ghost floated above everyone as he looked down at them. The white light was now gone and he had been released by Anubis.

"There is no place to take you," Anubis replied as he shook his head. "Your son seems gone, along with where he was. No, I can sense a great unraveling has begun and soon we all will just disappear into oblivion."

"Could someone at least cover my body?" the ghost fussed back as he pointed to his blood-stained cadaver sprawled on the ground. "I was rather fond of that body."

"Just do it yourself!" Kitsune said. "You're a ghost, why don't you possess one of these mortals' bodies. Here, try this one. The fox god snapped his finger and Sam gave a gasp as he became mobile once again. "You just fly into him and push. You might want to hurry before your spirit fades, that happens if you don't possess something or cross over into death."

Before Sam could recover, Nick slammed into the body and he felt stuck. He could feel the human within and his memories flooded into his consciousness. The body stumbled slightly before Nick could gain control of the human.

"Get out of my body!" Sam's consciousness snapped at the intruder.

"I can't, they killed me and I have no place else to go!" Nick thought back. "We're stuck together until this can get sorted out."

"Is the girl really Death?"

"I think so… at least that's what the gods are saying. Something bad has happened, but for now, let's pick up my body and at least lay it out with some dignity and maybe even respectfully cover it up."

The human reached into a bin and found a tarp. After laying the fox's body onto it, he wrapped the sand-colored fabric around the fox's remains like a cocoon.

"I really wish you would go and possess something or someone else fox!" the human chastised the ghost. "Your memories are rather…disconcerting to a human. You can really lick yourself down there with your tongue? That's rather gross."

"You've got some habits of your own which are distasteful too!"

"Didn't the nine-tail fox say you could haunt other things?"

"What are you thinking about? No…no…not that tank!"

"Why not? Every tanker has heard the fairytales of a tank being haunted by a famous Confederate general named JEB Stuart during the Second World War."

Nick reached out and straining, he pulled himself from the human's body into the tank. Within moments he found himself within the large metal shell and all of the electronics. Concentrating, he moved the turret to the left, causing Leroy to cry out in surprise. "Well that actually worked!" the fox jubilantly proclaimed over the tank's intercom. "This is kind of weird, but neat!"

"The fox is haunting our tank!" Leroy groaned out loud while he watched as Nick caused the machine gun above him wiggle. "Oh, that is just peachy!"

"Better the tank than me!" Sam called back.

The three gods and the girl, who was once Death, stepped back as the sky above shook and what appeared to be a fireball fell towards them. With a thunderous and blinding flash, it landed in the sand behind them. 'LET US FINISH THIS!" a voice spoke and the gods and mortals turned to find a ram-headed god standing there, next to him was a tall powerful human-looking creature in a toga.

"Amon-Ra!" Anubis cried out as the god of death knelt in the sands before the newcomer. Set too respectfully knelt and even the fox god Kitsune fell to his knees.

"All is in place," the powerful god next to the ram-headed god proclaimed. "You mortals are needed elsewhere."

"Mighty Zeus!" Kitsune called out. "I thought you were destroyed by the new time god?"

"I was cast away," the king of the Greek gods said. "I found myself on the edge of eternity itself and when I peeked over, I saw our fate. The fox must be returned to the rabbit."

"But he is just a ghost, he has no power?" Anubis meekly pointed out.

"No, he is much more now!" Ra replied as he pointed at the tank. "Now stand back for Zeus and I must send these mortals to where they are now needed. It will require us to use all of our combined powers to do so. Quickly mortals climb about your chariot of destruction!"

Godly powers glowed around them as the two mighty beings drew upon all of that reality's magic to power their effort and lightning crackled around them as they cast their spell. Nick felt as if he was almost being torn asunder and the four humans inside hung on to whatever they could as they screamed in terror.

He felt the soft grass under his treads as they seemingly landed in a field before a large green forest. Nick used the tank's ballistic fire-control computer to look around. He focused on a large dinosaur, which was standing there looking back at them in awe, and then at a familiar-looking rabbit who was standing on its head. "Hey Carrots!" he blared out over the tank's radio. "A funny thing happened to me, I got killed and now I'm a tank!"

"Nick?" Judy called back. "Is that really you?"


The Haunted Tank was a D.C. Comic series, which had the ghost of the famous Confederate cavalry commander J.E.B. Stuart haunting an American M-3 light tank during WWII commanded a family member Jeb Stuart. Vertigo later published a brief series when the general haunts an M1A1 tank and its crew in Iraq.

Amon-Ra or Ra was considered in later Egyptian mythology as the king of the gods.