CHAPTER 12:

BUNNY ON BUNNY ACTION

Tyuule, former Queen of the Bunny Warriors, was not quite able to comprehend what had just happened. Aside from these JSDF people attacking the man who had stolen her freedom, her dignity and her self-respect away from her, she had suddenly found herself freed by a young man, scarcely older than a boy, with handsome but sullen features not unlike Zorzal's…only, there was something else to them. There was a kindness to his eyes when he looked at Noriko…and then at her. The recognition in his eyes…the pity she didn't want…

And yet, he had bought her, took her restraints off her…and then he had asked whether she wanted to come with him. She hesitated, almost for too long, and when she finally agreed, it was an impulsive decision, as if afraid that, in this one moment, she could lose an opportunity to be free of that monster who had raped her daily. Even now, as they took a flying machine from Sadera to the Alnus Hill base of the JSDF, she fought back a flashback of his turgid member being thrust into her with a shudder of disgust and anger. He'd done that to her yesterday, taking her painfully from behind, forcing her to slake his twisted lust, taking no care for any pleasure bar his own, and indeed, he enjoyed her screams of pain. About the only care that twisted monster would take during sex was to ensure that all of his concubines were free from disease and were on remedies to prevent pregnancy, showing an intelligence he normally didn't display.

Tyuule shuddered once more. She may have been freed by this boy, this Anakin Skywalker as he introduced himself as, but she wasn't so sure her situation had changed for the better. The Japanese girl, Noriko, she might have family that survived, who might look after her, and even if she didn't, the JSDF looked like they wanted to help her. But what of her? Surely they already heard of her situation? She knew, of course, of what happened at Italica, thanks to Zorzal's angry rants. The JSDF and Anakin had fought off bandits that included deserters from the Imperial army. They were sure to have met some of her fellow Bunny Warriors and have heard the damned lies Zorzal spread, lies that had damned her, that had sent assassins either from her own people, or hired by them. As if allowing themselves to become the servants of the Formals was anywhere near the equal of their status before.

The leader of the JSDF group they were going with, Itami, peered at Tyuule. "So, you're Tyuule? Former Queen of the Bunny Warriors?"

"What's it to you?" she asked bitterly.

"Hey, we're the good guys here, Your Highness," Itami said. "We heard a bit about your story from the others we know…but you don't look like the sort to be a traitor."

"Looks can be deceiving," Tyuule retorted.

"He lied, didn't he?" Anakin asked, the blonde-haired boy peering at Tyuule. "Zorzal claimed you betrayed the Bunny Warriors…but you didn't, did you?"

"Why do you care?" Tyuule said coldly. Probably more than she should have, given that this guy had rescued her, but he had also deprived her of the opportunity to take revenge, to use the Haryo and their disgusting leader Bouro to do her bidding, to bring the Empire to its knees.

"…Because I was a slave once myself," Anakin said quietly. "It may not have been as bad as your slavery…but it was bad enough."

"And that's why you bought me?" Tyuule retorted, though her voice was losing its edge.

"I considered taking you away like Noriko…but I decided to be diplomatic." A sardonic smile touched Anakin's lips. "Besides, he can use the money to pay for a new hand."

Tyuule stared at him for a moment, before she laughed. There was precious little mirth or sanity in it, just three years of pent-up emotion, of despair and anger and an anticipation of her revenge. It was a catharsis more than joy, but in the middle of it all was her realisation that Zorzal now lacked a hand, the very hand he often used to grope her, to squeeze her painfully, to slap her, to punch her, to pull on her ears and hair, to grip her tail and twist it. Severed by a single swipe of that sword of light.

After that, she subsided. Then, quietly, a little less angrily, she asked, "What now, once we get to Alnus?"

"We'll have you checked up by a doctor, same with Noriko," Itami said. "We've learned a lot about the physiology of your people now. After that, well, who knows? It's up to you…"

The doctor, she had to admit, was very professional. Tyuule had lost most of her hangups about stripping down to nothing thanks to Zorzal's 'tender' ministrations, but she appreciated the fact that the doctor didn't linger where he touched her. Instead, he gave her some pills and suggested some changes to her diet. "Your people are very resilient and strong, more so than humans," he had remarked.

But she wasn't strong, she reflected, as she wandered down the streets of the Alnus settlement in a daze. It felt good to wear normal clothes again, though. But she hadn't been strong. If she had been, Zorzal wouldn't have wiped her people out. If she was strong, she wouldn't have tried to offer herself for him in exchange for their safety.

If she was strong, she wouldn't have been wandering around, with a death wish.

Anakin had been asked to speak with the JSDF commanders for a time, and in any case, she wasn't ready to talk to him yet. Saviour or not, former slave or not, she wasn't sure what his angle was.

"You!" snarled an angry voice. Tyuule turned to see that she was passing by a tavern, with a familiar face serving the patrons. Delilah, she thought. "What the hell are you doing here?!"

"I'm wondering that myself," Tyuule said quietly.

Delilah growled, before she disappeared into the tavern. Tyuule stayed there, knowing what she wanted. Soon, a curved short sword was thrown out of the tavern, hitting the ground at Tyuule's feet, and Delilah followed, carrying one of her own. "Pick that up and fight me," Delilah said. "If you have any honour left as a Bunny Warrior, you'll fight."

"But I don't have any honour in your eyes, Delilah," Tyuule said, making no move to pick up the short sword. "To you, I am the worst of traitors…so why not do what you think is your duty, and execute me?" She spread her arms wide. "Strike me down, with all of your hatred. Or are you too cowardly to fight an unarmed opponent?"

"You're one to talk of cowardice!" Delilah retorted. "Sneaking out of our settlement in the dead of night, whoring yourself to Zorzal…if you really didn't betray us, then you would fight me like a Bunny Warrior would! At least the others who whored themselves out had the decency to lop off one of their ears, as a mark of shame. They at least bore their shame. I saw Parna saw off her ear because of what you did…I'm going to take one of yours first, you coward!"

As Delilah lunged, it was then that Tyuule acted. It was Delilah's talk of bearing shame, of all things, that finally ignited her anger, her will to live. A dam broke, and she felt her anger flood through her. Quick as a flash, she took her sword off the ground and parried Delilah's slash. "YOU KNOW NOTHING ABOUT BEARING SHAME!" Tyuule roared as she went on the offensive, her sword clashing with a startled Delilah's, instincts long disused suddenly coming to life. "YOU HAD A COMFORTABLE LIFE, PANDERING TO THE HUMANS! THE MOST YOU HAD TO DEAL WITH WAS SOME LIBIDINOUS MORON GROPING YOUR ARSE! BUT FOR ME, EVERY DAY OF THE PAST THREE YEARS HAS BEEN NOTHING BUT SHAME! TO HAVE THAT BASTARD DEFILING ME WITH HIS VILE SEED! TO SUFFER THE ASSASSINS YOU TREACHEROUS IMBECILES SENT AFTER ME BECAUSE YOU BELIEVED THAT HONOURLESS CUR! TO HAVE THOSE DISGUSTING HARYO AS MY ONLY ALLIES!"

Delilah managed to rally at the end of Tyuule's rant, kicking Tyuule's sword out of her hand, before pointing her sword at her. "I have sworn upon Palapon, Emroy and Deldorot to avenge our people, to deal with your treachery. I have sworn to put an end to your life."

"Then do it. Or is your resolve wavering? Your sword arm is shaking, Delilah," Tyuule taunted her. "Here, I'll make it easy." She turned her back on Delilah, her anger giving way to resignation. "Stab me in the back, like all the other assassins tried, like Zorzal did to my reputation. I'm used to it."

"No…TURN AND FACE ME, TYUULE! AT LEAST DIE LIKE THE QUEEN YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO BE!"

"Oh, so I'm your Queen now? Come on…in the back."

Some part of her wanted to fight on…but another part of her didn't. The part of her that wanted to be there, watch Zorzal as the Empire he desired collapsed around him. That chance for revenge, a revenge she would have a personal hand in, had been taken from her. By the kindness of a well-meaning stranger, true, but taken all the same. Her desire for vengeance was all that truly kept her going. Now that she was bereft of that…a good part of her didn't want to live anymore. And forcing Delilah to stab her in the back, and thus tarnish what little honour the brunette Bunny Warrior had left, was meant to be the cap to a life filled with backstabbing.

She waited for the pain as the blade would be thrust through her back.

Instead, what she heard was the sound of a sword hitting the ground.

She turned, and saw Delilah staring at her, warring emotions on her face, her eyes glistening suspiciously. Then, as Delilah began to sway on her feet, Tyuule was on her in a flash before she realised what she was doing, holding Delilah steady. "…He was right, wasn't he? That Zorzal lied about what you did. Anakin was right."

"…Yes," Tyuule admitted. "I tried to sacrifice myself to save you, but…Zorzal, he…" Her voice caught in her throat. It wasn't truly a sob, just the emotions she had kept bottled up for so long catching up with her.

After a moment, there was a clearing of a throat. Tyuule turned to find what had to be Rory Mercury standing there, her halberd in hand, a Siren by her side. "Sorry, I know you were having a moment, but Myuute and I got word of a public disturbance, you know? Apparently fighting in the streets could have you locked up in the brig for the day. Now, I hope you two will kiss and make up. Hell, I'd be fine if you intended to go on with the hot bunny on bunny action, only, instead of fighting, you go and do some fu…"

"Lady Mercury!" Delilah yelped, scandalised.

"What?" Rory said.

Tyuule glared at the Apostle. "That, Lady Mercury, was in poor taste…or don't you know what I went through?"

Rory, after a moment, winced in realisation. "Damn. Yeah, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to remind you of Zorzal. Itami told me about what happened last night. The earthquake was pretty startling, but to think it led to this…"

"Itami?" Tyuule asked. "You seem to know the man quite well, Lady Mercury."

"Not as well as I would like to," Rory said with a shrug. "But I'll tell you this much, while he acts like a lazy slacker, he's a warrior of considerable nobility."

"It was dangerous, attacking Zorzal," Tyuule said. "If it weren't for Anakin's intervention…"

"Those JSDF soldiers had weapons known as assault rifles, somewhat like an automatically reloading crossbow, only much more potent, capable of punching through wooden shields like they were paper," Rory said with a smirk. "Anakin's intervention, from what I heard, probably saved the worthless lives of Zorzal's entourage and the guards in the palace. Probably helped things diplomatically too, well, save for Zorzal getting beaten up by a girl."

Tyuule thought back to Kuribayashi, the woman who administered said beating, and began chuckling. Delilah looked at Tyuule. "He got beaten up by a girl?"

"Young woman, but humiliated all the same," Tyuule said, chuckling harder. "Though Anakin did quite literally disarm Zorzal with his lightsaber."

Delilah laughed at that. "Really?"

"Well, I took his hand, anyway," came the voice of Anakin behind them. Tyuule and Delilah turned to face the young man.

"…Anakin, I'm sorry I…" Delilah began, only for Anakin to shake his head.

"No, it's fine. So, you managed to work things out?"

"Somewhat," Delilah said. "Though…persuading the rest of our people still at liberty of Tyuule's innocence is not going to be easy. The scars run too deep."

"…I'm used to bearing their hatred," Tyuule said resignedly. "I've been used to it for the past few years. Delilah…I will need to speak with you about our people, who you know has survived, especially in the service of Count Formal…sorry, it would be Countess Myui Formal now, not Colt."

"Griine and Mamina do," Delilah said. "But Parna…she cut off her ear, disappeared into the Akusho district in Sadera. There's others, but…so few of us are left, Tyuule. Hundreds at most, scattered across Falmart. But…the JSDF, they come from the other side of the Gate. And Anakin…he comes from a world beyond the sky."

"A world beyond the sky?"

"Yes. I come from a distant world called Tatooine, though my home, for a time, is a world called Coruscant. I am a Padawan, a squire by your terms, of the Jedi Order," Anakin said.

"They're effectively a monastic order of knights who can use a mystical energy that suffuses everything known as the Force," Delilah said. "It's a bit like magic, and I think there's quite a bit of overlap…but it's also different. Of course, no doubt you saw his lightsaber."

"Oh, is that what they're calling it nowadays?" Rory asked wryly. "Did he get arrested for indecent exposure or something?"

"Rory!" Anakin snapped, mortified.

Tyuule couldn't help but laugh at their antics. She never thought that there would come a time when she would laugh again, or at least emit anything but bitter laughter, scornful laughter. Instead, her laughter, while still a bit cracked and braying, was genuine. Genuine mirth. She never thought she'd feel such a thing ever again. And yet, here she was.

And she also felt another thing, something that seemed so tiny and fragile, something that was terrible and delusional…and yet, she couldn't help but grab hold of it.

For the first time in a long time, she allowed herself to feel hope.

CHAPTER 12 ANNOTATIONS:

So, there you have it. An entire chapter from Tyuule's POV. I did get into that somewhat in my Potterverse crossover Parva Sub Ingenti, but that was a pre-Zorzal (well, never was captured by Zorzal) Tyuule. Getting into the mindspace of a post-Zorzal Tyuule, albeit one who has had her revenge thwarted, was interesting. She's still coming to terms with her situation of being freed, and there's a bit of death-seeking here because, for a time, she's been robbed of her revenge and thus her purpose.

Delilah and Tyuule's fight was actually not my idea, originally. Rather, it was zetsubougintama's idea, from the first of their reviews for Parva Sub Ingenti. They wanted a duel where Delilah and Tyuule could air their grievances, and, while it's more Tyuule airing her grievances than Delilah, I felt that it was as close to what zetsubougintama wanted as I could get in the story, and with their characters the way they are at this point in the story.

Incidentally, I thought a good piece of music for this sequence would be Escape from the original Metal Gear Solid. There's a real emotion in that piece, I would think.

Anyway, next chapter, the preparations for dealing with the Flame Dragon, as well as Anakin and Delilah beginning to talk to each other…

Review-answering time! rmarcano321: Since I started this story. It was either Tyuule or Yao, though I had also idly considered Lelei and Myuute.

MEleesmasher: To my knowledge, President Graham in this story won't suffer those fates.

hydrangea wine: It means growth for the pair of them. Anakin's growth, admittedly, will be more due to Rory than Tyuule…though Tyuule will also mature partly thanks to Anakin. She'll smack him down if he gets too big for his britches, though, and she'll be a snarky voice of common sense. By the way, male Bunny Warriors are rare rather than non-existent. So Luke is still going to be born.

davidteague3950: I'm a bit cynical about them being able to eradicate all diseases, really.

Guest (regarding Zorzal's beatdown and Molt's reaction): Molt actually stayed rather calm during that in the anime. In fact, while I may have had his expression wrong, he seemed to think that Zorzal brought it upon himself. He still offered a threat to the Japanese, but it was more saying that they were overconfident because of their compassion. Also, Molt may have Zorzal as his heir, but he intended to step aside and rule through Zorzal in canon. Not that it worked out.

Also, Padme and Obi-Wan as godparents? Still doable, really. By the time they are born, Anakin and Padme have come to terms with their feelings for each other. And I personally think that Obi-Wan would make a good godfather, but I'd imagine that there's some Jedi precept or other than would prevent him.

zetsubougintama: I know I answered your review in correspondence…but here it is anyway. In response to having Carrie Fisher in the slave bikini costume AND rabbit ears…along comes David Prowse, who hauls Lucas into the air, and says, "I find your lack of taste disturbing…"

Mr Figgs: Zorzal won't become a Sith. Anakin just felt a lot of his malice through the Force, he isn't actually able to use it. That being said, maybe he'll end up working with Dooku for Episode II…

No numbered annotations this time.