The characters Odd Della Robbia, Elizabeth "Sissi" Delmas, Mr. Delmas, Jim Moralés and others are based on characters from the cartoon 'Code Lyoko.' I do not own, nor do I claim, any copyright to these characters.
El-ahrairah is a character found in the book "Watership Down" By Richard Adams. He is the copyright holder of this character.
This story takes place soon after the events of 'Stand'.
He was a Rabbit, running hard through the forest, trying to evade His Fox. He was El-ahrairah, "Prince of a Thousand Enemies," and he would escape again...
He jumped quickly to his right, and disappeared into a hole at the base of an old dead tree. As he scrabbled up the hollow inside, he heard and felt the satisfying thump! of the fox hitting her head in the hole's opening. He climbed further, and found an opening. He then jumped out the hole, and over the fox, who had just pulled out of the bottom hole and was shaking her head trying to get her bearings. As he flew over her, he gave her a swipe on the muzzle with his paw, and was off again.
"Hey!" the fox shouted in mock outrage.
He ran into a clearing, looking for a place to hide and ambush His Fox once again when something called his name.
"Odd?"
He looked to where the voice came from and was suddenly bowled over from behind by the fox. They tumbled together a few feet, then stopped with her on top of him, pinning him down.
"I have you now, my prince! What shall I do with you, now that I have you? What shall I take as my prize, hmm? Perhaps your virtue?"
"AHEM!"
The Fox and the Rabbit shimmered and changed form. The rabbit became a blond-haired boy with a big splotch of purple in the middle of his hair. The fox became a dark-haired girl. She was still holding him down and eying him with a predatory smile on her face.
"Elizabeth, let him up. I need to speak with him for a moment."
Elizabeth "Sissi" Delmas looked at the person speaking to her. It was a Coyote.
"You're no fun. And call me Sissi."
She got off of Odd, who then sat up.
"Thanks. Who knows what she would have done if you hadn't stopped her," he said, smiling.
"We all know you probably wouldn't have minded it all that much," replied the Coyote, "anyway, I'm not here just to interrupt your playtime, I have a serious message for you, Odd."
"What?"
"It's about Kiwi. I'm sorry to have to tell you this, but he's dying."
"Odd, wake up! Something's wrong with Kiwi!"
Odd opened his eyes and found his roommate, Ulrich Stern, urgently shaking him.
"Odd, wake up! Kiwi's been acting weird all morning!"
Odd got up and went over to his wardrobe and looked down in the drawer where Kiwi stayed.
Kiwi was lying there, rigid and shaking. His mouth was open, his tongue hanging out. His eyes were wide open and dilated. He was panting fast and hard, almost hyperventilating.
"Oh, no!" was all Odd could say.
Suddenly, there was a pounding at their dorm room door.
"Odd, is everything okay in there? Sissi just told me something was wrong," came the voice of Jim Moralés, their PE teacher and Dorm Monitor.
Ulrich opened the door.
"There's no use hiding it now, Odd," he said as Jim walked in.
He went over to Odd's wardrobe and saw Kiwi lying there. He then looked at Odd. Odd's face showed worry, not of finally being caught with his dog on school property, but with whether or not he would have a dog to get in trouble over.
Jim took a sheet from Odd's bed, picked up Kiwi and wrapped him in it.
"C'mon," he said as he left the room, "let's get him to the Infirmary. Maybe the Nurse can do something."
At the Infirmary, the only thing Nurse Yolande could do was call a veterinarian. By this time, Principal Delmas had arrived, along with Sissi, and got a report on the situation from Jim and Yolande.
All Mr. Delmas said was, "pick up your dog, Odd. I'll take you to the vet's office."
The veterinarian and his staff were very professional and kind. They took Kiwi in the back, drew some blood, then placed Kiwi in a box, and pumped in oxygen, to try and settle Kiwi's breathing down. After about 20 minutes, a technician came and took Kiwi's vital signs.
All the while, Odd stood by the box Kiwi was resting in, silently praying that Kiwi would be alright. He still remembered the Coyote's last words, I'm sorry to have to tell you this, but he's dying. He hoped that the dream was just a bad nightmare, that he would wake up and everything would be okay...
"Son, could you come in here, please," the veterinarian called to him.
Odd walked into the treatment where the vet was. Inside stood Mr. Delmas and Sissi, who had come with them. She was valiantly trying, and failing, to hold back her tears as she looked at him.
"Son, I'm sorry to have to tell you this, but Kiwi has had a stroke. Somehow, a clot of blood, or some fatty buildup in his blood vessels broke loose and traveled up to his brain. It blocked some blood vessels there and killed the brain cells."
"The bad news is that Kiwi will not recover. Right now, he is in agony. There is nothing I can do to help him, or make him comfortable. The best thing we can do for Kiwi is to put him to sleep."
"Kill him?" Odd asked.
"Yes, I'm afraid so."
"NO! There has to be something you can do!" Odd shouted.
"Odd, listen to me," Mr. Delmas said, "Kiwi is in the back, right now, suffering pain like he has never known in his life. The vet has told you that there is nothing he can do for Kiwi. I know you love him very much, and don't want to lose him, but, to you want him to go on living in such pain, pain that will never stop?"
Odd stood there for a long moment, the tears flowing down his face.
"Do it," he said.
Mr. Delmas put his arm around Odd's shoulder, to guide him from the room. Odd shook his arm off and said, "I'm staying. He's my dog. If my word puts him to death, then I owe it to him to stand there and watch it happen."
Mr. Delmas nodded then he and Sissi left the room. Now it was only Odd, the vet and his assistant. In a moment, another technician brought Kiwi into the room and laid him on the table. Kiwi had not changed at all since Odd woke up this morning. The technician left, then returned with a syringe and a bottle. The vet took the bottle and filled the syringe.
"Odd, this drug will cause Kiwi to go to sleep. It will shut down his pain centers so he won't feel any more pain. It will relax Kiwi so much, that his heart and lungs will finally stop. Then Kiwi will be gone. Are you sure you want to watch this?"
"I don't want to watch this at all. I don't want Kiwi to die, period. But that's not possible. He was my First Responsibility, the first thing of any value my parents entrusted me with. I intend on seeing that responsibility through until the end."
"Very well."
The veterinarian went to work. He tied a tourniquet around Kiwi's hind leg, looking for a vein. Finding one, he swabbed the area clean with an alcohol swab, then inserted the needle.
All the while, Odd was quietly stroking Kiwi's head, silently saying goodbye.
The vet slowly injected the contents of the syringe into Kiwi. He then removed the needle, cleaning the area again with an alcohol swab. He then placed his stethoscope against Kiwi's chest.
Quickly, Kiwi's panting slowed to almost normal breathing. Then it got slower. Then it stopped.
"He's gone," the vet said after a moment.
The ride back to school was quiet. Sissi and Odd sat in the back of Mr. Delmas' car. Even though she wasn't all that fond of Kiwi, given her and Odd's previous history, she was still crying for Odd's loss.
Odd held Sissi as she cried, and cried himself. He remembered back to when his father first gave Kiwi to him:
"Now, Odd, keeping a dog is a big responsibility. Kiwi can't fend for himself like other animals in the wild can. He is utterly dependent on you for his food, water and care. Are you sure you can handle this responsibility?"
"Yes dad, I can! I promise to take good care of Kiwi!"
"Alright then son. Kiwi is your First Responsibility. This Life is looking to you. This Life is in your care. Look after him."
And Odd did. The first month was heaven on earth. He Had A Dog! But soon after that, it was feed the dog, walk the dog, clean up the dog's messes, give the dog a bath.
Odd's parents insisted that he, personally, took care of Kiwi's every need. There were many times when Odd simply forgot about Kiwi's needs. His father would then step in:
"Odd, you're not taking care of Kiwi."
"Dad, I will, later. I've got to..."
"Now, Odd. Kiwi's very life depends on you. Without you, he can die. Do you want that?"
"No, sir."
"Then take care of him. Odd, Kiwi will not be with us always. Even if you take perfect care of him, he will eventually die. But it is wrong to neglect him so that day comes sooner than it need to. This is just as much a part of loving him as petting and hugging him is."
"Yes, sir."
Odd eventually learned to accept his responsibility towards Kiwi. He even trained him to do tricks, as well as obey as a well behaved dog should in the world of men.
Then came the day he arrived at Kadic Academy. The school had a no pets policy, and Odd was afraid of leaving Kiwi behind. He was afraid that his parents would get rid of Kiwi after he left for school, so he secreted Kiwi into his luggage and brought him to school with him.
They had a fine time dodging Jim and the other adults, playing with Ulrich, Yumi and Jeremie. And some of the pranks they pulled off together!
All of that was gone, now.
When they got back to school, Mr. Delmas said to Odd, "wait here a moment. I want to talk with you alone. Sissi, run along."
The look her father gave her told Sissi that he wasn't kidding. She took Odd's hand and squeezed it, then left.
"Walk with me, son."
They started walking across the campus, heading for the park.
"Mr. Delmas, if it's about having a pet on campus, or the charges for taking care of Kiwi, I..."
"No, Odd. I spoke with your parents while you were in the back with Kiwi, and told them what had happened. They told me to send them a bill, and they will reimburse me for Kiwi's care. And you having a dog in school is beside the point, now."
"I just wanted to say I'm sorry for your loss. Losing a loved one is a terrible thing, no matter what the circumstances are. And to have to make the decision you had to make today is something I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy."
"Thank you, sir. I appreciate that."
"The next few days may be hard for you, Odd. If you need to talk, come see me. If you feel you need them, I'll call and have your parents come for you. You don't have to grieve alone."
"I won't sir, I know that."
That night, in their dreams, Odd and Sissi were sitting in the forest again. This time, they weren't chasing about. Odd just sat under a tree, thinking. Sissi sat next to him with her arms around him, trying to give him some kind of comfort. The thin silver chain that bound them together shone bright in the sun.
"Well Met, Prince-Of-A-Thousand-Enemies," said a voice.
The Coyote had returned.
"I'm sorry, but I'm not feeling much like playing that game tonight. I'm not sure I will ever feel like playing again," Odd said to the Coyote.
"I know. And this may sound trite at the moment, but you will feel like it again, eventually. You have finished a Great Lesson in your life today, Odd Della Robbia."
"What lesson is that," he asked.
"You have learned to Care For Another. A Life was given into your hands. You could have neglected it, allowed it to die, but you cherished it, nurtured it. You gave it Love, and it in turn gave Love back."
"And then I killed it," Odd said flatly.
"You could have let Kiwi suffer. You could have let Mr. Delmas make the decision for you. He had talked to your parents, you know. They told him to have Kiwi put down if you wouldn't or couldn't make the choice yourself. And in this instance, no one would have thought worse of you for it."
"But you made the choice. It was hard, yes, it was unpleasant. But it was necessary. It wasn't a decision that made you feel good, but it was one that eased Kiwi's suffering. Which would you rather have remembered, Kiwi's agony in your drawer this morning, or the fun you two had playing in the woods the day before?"
"I know what you're trying to say. I'm just not quite ready to really hear it yet," Odd said finally, "the worst part about it is, one day I'll forget all about him."
The Coyote shimmered and changed into Kiwi.
"I Won't Forget. Nor will I Allow You To."
Kiwi jumped into Odd's lap and began licking his face.
Odd's life started returning to what passed for normal after that dream. Principal Delmas never said another word about Kiwi's presence at the school. Odd did find himself doing a lot of scrubbing and cleaning around the dorm units under Jim's supervision for the next few months, though. He was never sure whether it was because he had Kiwi there for so long and the principal never knew it, or if it was because he was now dating the principal's daughter.
His dreams returned to normal also. He found out that before Sissi came along, he chased, and was chased by, the Coyote in his dreams, and that the Coyote was some kind of Mentor to him. He also learned that the Coyote had watched Odd in the real world through Kiwi's eyes.
Now, the Coyote was content to let El-ahrairah chase, and be chased by, His Fox, so they learned to live and love together in preparation for the battles to come.
And every now and then, the Coyote joined their play as Kiwi, just so Odd would remember his First Responsibility.