This idea came from Carmen578, so all rights and credit goes to them. Thanks for letting me have this idea! This is a what-if story where Ronno apologizes to Bambi when he was leaving with Mena and then helps him get away from the dogs.
Bambi 1&2 belongs to Disney. I own nothing. I don't own the cover image either. All rights go to their original owners.
Enjoy the story!
In the forest, the sunlight filtered through the branches and leaves of the trees, creating speckled patterns of both light an shadow that ever shifted in the mid-summer breeze. Aside from the sound of insects buzzing and birds chirping in the distance, this part of the wood was quite silent. Walking slowly through the trees, though, a reddish-brown, male fawn could easily be seen. His antlers were just stubs on top of his head and eyes were an emerald green, though sadness and remorse was swirling in their depths.
Ronno wasn't the most beloved fawn around. His brash, almost cruel attitude had given him the reputation of a bully. Still, he tried, he really did. He tried to make friends, but his competitive spirit and urge to be impress often pushed others away from him. He wasn't that much of a social fawn, but he hadn't really had any experience or learning how to help him. His mother did try to help him, but often times she wouldn't just be the cause of his withdrawn from the other's activities.
It wasn't entirely her fault either. His father could be considered the start of the problem. His father hadn't treated him well, not when he had been born or now. His mother was his only, true parent. She took care of him, even though she held him too close from time to time. His father had wanted a strong, male heir, so that meant early on Ronno had begun training. Running, leaping, charging, fighting. All that training and exercising hadn't given him much time to play with fawns his age. He couldn't refuse his father though. Every little imperfection, every little mistake, would result in hit, either or both physically or verbally, from his father.
Over the years, his fear towards his father had turned to anger and resentment. Now every time he got a less than a 100% in his training, he would bare his father's abuse silently. For every hit he took, he would keep from screaming or crying from the pain. He refused to give him satisfaction for the pain he caused. And so, over time, all the emotion he held in his heart had become locked in. Now he couldn't be in touch with his emotions when they were necessary, thus he demeanor often came off as satirical, sarcastic and rude.
Then there was Bambi. The Great Prince of the Forest's own son. He was younger then him, about a few month's difference, and he didn't have his antlers yet either. It amazed him how different he was to him. Instead of training, the young prince could just play all day. Play all day with his friends, way more than even Ronno could hope to have. He didn't have a mother though, guess that was one advantage he had over him, but the young prince's father actually spent time with him. Not like his father though, he gave lessons without any verbal or physical abuse if he made any little mistakes. The Great Prince was actually like a father to his son.
It made Ronno mad with jealousy. He was older, he was better trained, he even had antlers. So why couldn't he have what he had?
So here he was now, walking in the forest in the little free time he had, sulking about his miserable life while thinking of the must-be glorious life Bambi had. His front hoof kicked a stone in the grass. The late afternoon sun brought forth long shadows of the trees and shrubs, providing an excellent place to hide his sorrow as he walked along the shaded path.
His ears pricked up the tweeting of a songbird up above. His eyes went up to some branches up above where he glared at the tan bird with the orange head and the little, subtle hints of bluish-white between the two colors. Its cheery, peeping chirps were annoying him more with every second passing.
"Hey. Can you keep quiet for more than three seconds? I can't even hear myself think," he yelled. The bird stopped chirping immediately and, to Ronno's surprise, glared at him with their beady, black eyes.
"Well, excuse me for spreading the news. Just because I'm not some almighty, quiet deer, doesn't mean I don't have a right to speak when I want to," she replied, clearly indignant.
"News? What news," he asked. He was interested by this, but kept his tone dry and disinterested. The songbird then dove down and spread out her wings so she was flying right before and slightly above his head.
"Wouldn't you like to know? The Great Prince put his son in the care of a new doe to replace his mother. The young prince is moving to a new part of the forest to his new home," she replied, still glaring at him. Ronno was now fully intrigued on the subject.
"Do you know why the Great Prince is doing this," he asked, his voice betraying just the hints of his interest.
"From what I've heard is that the Great Prince wanted a doe to raise him in the areas he can't. It's rather cute if you think about it, the Great Prince is sacrificing his time with the young prince to give him a chance at being raised properly with a new mother" she replied, her tone losing the annoyance and moving to a softer, gentler tone. But as soon as she realized what she was doing, she went back to her tone before.
"Well, that's is all. I hope you have a nice day," she said, trying to make it sound sarcastic. She then flew off, leaving him alone once more. His mind race as he took in this new information.
The young prince was leaving this part of the forest, because his father wanting what was best for him. Instead of a normal surge of jealousy coming through him, he felt a wave of sadness coming through. For once in his life, he felt sad for someone other than himself. The young prince was leaving with a new mother, but he was leaving behind all of his friends, as well as his father.
It must be hard for him. For once Ronno felt sympathy towards Bambi, instead of his normal sarcastic and brutish feelings. At least he could do was see him go off or maybe even ask if he would be okay.
With this strange new emotions guiding him, he started walking towards his goal. He would go and check on the young prince.
It wasn't too long till he found him. The young prince was lagging behind a doe through the forest, possibly his new designated mother. He took in the young prince's expression. His head was dipped and his face was sullen. In that moment, Ronno's feeling of sympathy increased another tenfold. Before he had even realized it, his hooves moved on their own and he walked out of the brush towards him.
"Hello Bambi," he said before he even realized his lips had formed the words. Bambi's pace never faltered and he appeared to ignore him. Ronno began to feel anger for him from his lack of an acknowledgment, but then he remembered the songbird's words.
"I heard that you're leaving.. and," he stuttered. What he said next shocked the both of them. "And I wanted to see you off." Bambi's ears twitched and he stopped. He was as still as the trees around them. Ronno began to feel uncomfortable with the sudden eerie silence surrounding them. In an effort to relieve himself of it, he quickly bounded before the frozen fawn, still bowing his head.
"Yeah. So... listen. I know you're going off soon and I'll probably won't see you again anytime too, so...," his eyes shut tightly and he grit his teeth before, "I just wanted to say I'm sorry for how I treated you and your friends," he blurted out in one breath.
"Oh yeah," Bambi responded as his head snapped up and he glared at him. His sudden reaction caused Ronno to flinch back. "I don't have time for your games, Ronno. I can't imagine why you'd ever be sorry, considering you're better than me. You're always trying to prove yourself more than me. You're the one that doesn't have to leave everything behind just because your father told you to." Ronno kept shrinking back with every sarcastic remark the young prince made, until he looked younger and smaller than him. Never before had he ever seen him like this, so domineering and stoic. Just like his father. Just like his father. Instantly, Ronno felt afraid and he shrank back even more.
"I-I," he stuttered. He could not even bring himself to look at the younger fawn. His heart was racing, his bluster was completely gone. He only had one last thing to get off his chest. "I-I-I'm... I'm jealous of you!" His forehooves instinctively came up to shield his face, half expecting to block any blows he might have thrown at him, just like his father would when he had done something wrong. A moment passed, his limbs began to tire from holding them up, though he forced them to stay above his head to keep the blows from hurting him. But to his surprise they didn't. Instead he heard Bambi's voice.
"What?"
Slowly, he lowered his forelegs and forced himself to a sitting position. He swayed for a moment with the blood rushing back to his head, before staring back at the confused fawn in front of him.
"I-I'm jealous of you," Ronno said as his bottom lip trembled. His legs shook as he slowly got back onto them. "I mean look at you. You have lots of friends, way more than me, you have a father that 'actually' takes care of you. You have a way more better life than I ever could have and its... its...," his eyes focused to glare at him, "You just make me sick!"
All was silent between the two fawn except for Ronno's ragged, heavy breathing. Bambi took a good look at the older buck. His form was shivering, his eyes were cast down and sorrowful and his bottom lip trembled. It was hard to believe that this sad-looking fawn now looked so... so... broken. Bambi's mind raced as he processed all he had heard from his former bully, now a trembling buck before him.
"Um... are you alright, Ronno," he finally asked after a second.
"Do I look alright to you," he replied. His head was still cast down towards the forest floor. Bambi swallowed as he tried come up with a response.
"Well um... I'm sorry I didn't know how you felt towards me," he confessed slowly and softly. Ronno's head gradually went up and Bambi could see that his expression was as soft as his voice.
"Yeah, well I didn't do a good job of telling you or anyone else. My dad says telling or showing your emotions to someone else is a sign that they're weak", he admitted.
"Well, my dad sending me away because he doesn't want to raise me anymore." Both young bucks were sorrowful and silent for another moment, until one of them spoke up.
"You wanna be friends", Bambi asked, turning up and smiling at the older fawn. Ronno's expression changed at startling speeds from sadness to shock, but gradually the sides of his mouth started to quirk up, not in his usual smirk, but in a tiny, yet genuine, smile.
"You wanna wrestle," he responded, but it was the playful tone that made all the difference. Ronno's tiny smile turned into a grin as he saw the young prince hunch down and paw the ground in a mock challenging movement. Ronno quickly hopped up to his feet and assumed the same position. Both grinned and then charged at one another. They head butted each other, trying to see which one could knock down the other down. Both lifted onto their back legs and tried to hit one another with their front ones.
Bambi quickly darted to the side to avoid an offense, laughing as he did. He and Ronno charged and butted heads, pushing against each other as they tried to gain the advantage over the other. Ronno laughed as they fought, this was the first fight he had ever done out of playfulness. Luckily for his opponent though, he suddenly pulled back before charging forward and plowing him down and to the side.
"Ha ha," Bambi proudly said as Ronno, safely, skidded to the ground.
"Bambi," came a sudden, concern voice from the side. The doe the young prince was following earlier had apparently stopped and noticed them fighting and had mistaken it for fighting rather than playing, so she had come over to separate them. "Are you alright" she asked, her voice laced with worry. She moved around him slowly as she searched for any injuries he might have.
Bambi started to explain that he was fine and they were just playing, but then Ronno took hold of his momentary distraction to try and gain the advantage, so he charged forward. He knocked Bambi in his side, which made him smack into the doe and caused her to move back some. Ronno took a second to feel the glory of the small gain, but it quickly died as a loud, eerie and frightening sound reached his ears.
The doe's back leg had moved into a small loop and when she moved it forward, the noose tightened around her leg, ensnaring her. The string connecting to the noose was suddenly pulled forward, also taking out a notch in a piece of wood which then connected to another piece of string tied to a tree bent down with several strange objects tied to the branches. As she struggled to get her leg free, the pulling caused the tree to move as well and the objects to clang against each other and cause a loud, echoing sound to come forth. One of Man's trap.
Both fawns stopped their brawling and stared at the trap that had her in fear. Her struggles to pull herself out of it were futile in the cleverly made, hidden trap. All of a sudden another frightening sound hit both their ears. Man's hounds. They had head the clanging objects and knew that something had gotten caught in it. Both heads turned down a scary-looking path to where it appeared to coming from. Ronno's eyes turned over to Bambi's and he noticed they were widened in fear.
"Both of you get out of hear. Now," the doe behind them ordered. On instinct, Ronno began running in the opposite direction.
"Mommy," he screamed as he retreated fearfully. His legs moved as fast as he could as he charged up the hill, eager to try and get as far as he could away from the dogs.
"Bambi. Run," he heard the doe call out from behind him. His legs forcibly came to a halt and his head twisted over his shoulder to look at him. Bambi was still standing where was, frozen in his place. Crows cawed overhead, the doe still struggled to get free, the dog's barks became louder and louder as they grew closer and closer yet Bambi was still paralyzed in his spot.
"Run, Bambi," Ronno heard the doe call out louder to him. The dogs were in view, coming up ferociously and vicious towards the frozen fawn and trapped doe. It was just seconds until the dogs would reach them.
Suddenly, Bambi was thrown to the side by an incoming blur. His head and expression snapped up the the older buck frantically pacing in place before him. Ronno.
"Move you stupid prince! Run," he yelled. In an instant Bambi's legs were moving again and he darted away alongside Ronno.
"Faster you two. Don't look back! Keep running! Keep running," the doe cried after them. All of a sudden, Bambi's form froze again. Ronno's head turned back towards the young prince.
"Did you not hear what she just said? Run," he yelled, not stopping his sprint. But Bambi didn't move. His head turned back to the doe pulling to get free. Ronno stopped again, still waiting for the young prince to follow after him. To his utter shock and dismay, he saw Bambi charge forward in the opposite direction, towards the dogs.
"Bambi," he heard the doe yell as she saw him pass. Ronno took several paces after him, but he couldn't see him from afar. At this point he wanted to see Bambi, coming back with him to safety. In just a few seconds, though, he wish he didn't see him. His eyes followed in horror as he saw Bambi running down a lower path with the pack of dogs coming after him. It was only then did he realize what Bambi was trying to do.
He was sacrificing himself for the other doe's life. He was sacrificing his own life for another deer who he had known only today. Ronno could only stare blankly as he saw Bambi risk his life for another's. He felt his heart beat in admiration and guilt for the young prince whom he had previously teased and tried to hurt.
Before he knew it, he realized his legs were going in the same direction as Bambi was, just above him and the pack of dogs. His mind started to protest against whatever he was doing, but then he realized why. This was his chance to redeem himself.
Luckily, the paths they were both taking intersected not too far away.
First part done. Now on to the next. Hope you enjoyed reading this, reviews are loved and cherished. Hope I'll see you guys again. Sincerely, v.t.7
