Chapter 1
His screams echoed through the room, filling it with anger and pain. Machines sawing and bolting, the smell of blood and disinfectant still strong in his nostrils. "I WILL KILL YOU! I WILL KILL YOU AAALRRRAAAAAGH!"
The merciless robotic arms continued their work, bones and metal melding together, flesh and fur slowly replaced by black chrome, his jaws clenching tight to let go only small growls filled with rage. Unbearable pain surging through his body, he felt his world darkening by the second, his eyes drifting along to his side, another operating table, more robotic arms starting to activate. His anger became dread and fear, he knew what would happen, he tried to fight but was only able to mutter:
"No… Don't… Hurt Her…" Darkness filled his eyes, and painful screams filled his ears.
"NOO!" Shouting and jolting out of his seat the black canine lunged forward towards nothing at the train, only to be caught by a paw, which held him tightly and tenderly.
"Bad Dream?" A soothing voice asked, as a pair of red bright eyes stared at the panting canine, who startled the entire cabin of the bullet train, worryness was visible in her.
"You have no idea…" Still a little shaken, the mammal leaned back on his seat, trying to calm his mind.
After a few minutes of silence and strange glares at both of the mammals sitting by the door, came a voice filling the bullet-train in it's pre-recorded message: "Savannah Central Station, arrival in 5 minutes.".
"That's our stop C.! Let's go!" The overly eager white fur ball leaped from her seat, almost running to the automatic doors, the excitement in her was evident, she was hopping up and down non-stop.
Slowly dragging himself up and picking their baggage, the canine walked as slow as he could towards his overly-excited friend, with which step followed by a clanking metal sound, it didn't take long for the other animals in the cabin to realize what and from where it came. Once again, all the eyes were now focused on the couple.
"Hold on, Scarlet, we still have 5 minutes, haven't you heard?" Already noticing the stares "C." just shrugged and patted his friend between her ears.
"Huumhummm… What is you angle with all this C.?" Scarlet asked, chirping happily at the gesture, even though she already knew the reason why he did, why he always did.
"You know.. Just felt like it…" without a heartbeat "C." answered almost in a whisper while still caressing Scarlet's head, his black fur contrasting with the pure white of hers. A chuckle escaped her muzzle, he always answered like that.
The bullet-train finally came to a full stop, just a few seconds later the automatic door opened, the city sounds and smells filled both the mammal's ears and noses. Scarlet jolted out of the train almost running again.
"Come on Caine! Don't lag behind!" Shouting and giggling happily as she could, Scarlet started to bounce up and down, her bright eyes and smile added to the entire scene.
For a split of a second, Caine almost gave in and rushed to her. Thinking better of it he decided only to get by on his rhythm while admiring Scarlet entirely, her happiness, enthusiasm. Her beauty.
"What are you ogling at, huh, C.? Found anything pretty?" With a smile that could raise even the worst of the moods and with a twist of her heel she turned around just to complete her act.
"Pretty? I think Cute is more appropriate." Already knowing the outcome of his comment, a smirk grew on Caine's muzzle, he was already at his friend's side, walking at their normal pace.
"You bet your damn tail I'm Cute!" She replied sharply but her voice hadn't any anger or bother in it, since she was a bunny the "Cute" word always was an issue, but not when Caine was the one calling her that. "Come on! We are finally here!" Scarlet was beaming, it was visible, in her voice, in her smile, all of her just oozing eagerness and excitement. It didn't take long for her to start dragging Caine around.
"Alright, alright! I'm going!" Caine was already laughing at Scarlet's "perky humor" as he usually called it, between his laughs and her giggling they head towards the exit of the Savannah Central Train Station.
A few minutes walking and Scarlet could feel the gazes of every other mammal on her, at first she just ignored them, but after a while it started to get to her, she became fidgety, her ears slowly dropping, until completely pressed at her back.
"Don't mind them… They are staring because you are unique and they are jealous" Like magic his words were all what Scarlet needed to hear, cheering up, her ears already high up again, it was Caine's turn to smile as he watched his dear friend returning to her normal happy self, the huge smile, the bright red eyes and those long metal chromed ears, everything of her was beautiful for him.
The sun shined bright at both of them, as they exited the station, they were back at Zootopia. They were back Home.