AUTHOR'S NOTE: I'm back! I hope you all had a good time during the holidays. I hope to continue posting one new chapter every Sunday for most of 2020.

Anonymous Guest: I haven't really written many fanfics for fandoms other than WD, but I also support (among others) Animaniacs, Looney Tunes (+Tiny Toons), DuckTales (reboot), Rescue Rangers, Dave the Barbarian, and Star vs the Forces of Evil.

Chapter 82: The Last Few Details.

"All of this just does not seem real."

"You will find it real, soon enough." Why did he always have to be so harsh?

"I still can not believe it" her voice grew quieter. "That they are all gone."

-Lizella, Enslavement

Bigwig slowly made his way to the top of the Down. He had several pieces of lettuce on his back, as well as a turnip in his mouth, and he had to walk slowly to avoid dropping the flayrah.

Hazel was the first rabbit to greet the visitor as he entered the Honeycomb.

-"How did it go, Bigwig?"

-"As you can see, the raid was rather successful." He shook himself, causing the lettuce to fall off his back. "But there's something I don't understand."

-"What is it?"

-"You remember how recently we went on a raid and we brought what's-his-name with us?"

-"Blackavar. And yes, I remember."

-"Yes, that's him. Well...honestly, Hazel, I'm still confused. We saw Tabitha kill him, and then we buried him. But a few days later, he just showed up at the warren as if none of this had ever happened. It just doesn't make sense."

-"I don't fully understand it myself either, I'm just grateful he's still alive. We haven't lost a single rabbit since we got here, and I hope it stays that way for the foreseeable future."

-"One thing is for sure, however: I'm never taking him out on a raid or patrol again. Never again, not after this. But until then, we have flayrah."

-"I better take some of this to Primrose."

Meanwhile the burrow she shared with Hazel, Primrose was slowly waking up. She recalled how she was reunited with Hazel the previous evening. It was amazing. She could feel another rabbit touching her tail.

-"Hazel, that tickles."

-"Actually, I'm not Hazel, I'm Blackberry."

-"Oh, sorry. Where's Hazel?"

-"Here I am!" Hazel said, hopping into the burrow.

Primrose smiled as her mate entered the burrow.

-"What are you holding?" she asked.

-"This is for you. Here, take it."

Hazel dropped the piece of lettuce in his mouth, allowing his mate to start to nibble it.

-"How is she doing, Blackberry?"

-"She's recovering very well, but she still needs complete rest," Blackberry replied. "The scar on her tail will linger for a long time, but other than that she should be back to normal within a few days."

-"But you'll still be the most beautiful doe in the world," Hazel said, nuzzling his mate.

-"I'll leave you two alone," Blackberry said. "I'll be back tonight to change the leaves."

-"I'm really grateful for everything you've done for her."

Blackberry smiled, and left the burrow, as Primrose finished the lettuce. Hazel lied down next to her.

-"Hazel, I..." she started to say, as she turned her head towards her mate, only to fall silent as she struggled to express her feelings. Hazel patiently waited until she finished her sentence. "Hazel...thank you for everything you've done for me."

-"Thank you, but what have I done?"

-"You saved me from Efrafa. Also from the canal. You gave me kittens. You've made me happy. You've done so much for me. I love you."

-"I love you too."

Primrose lied down on her side, close to Hazel.

-"Hold me tightly."

Hazel too lied down on his side, and pressed Primrose tightly against him. She sighed in happiness, and fell asleep.

Hazel remained next to his mate for a long time, thinking about how wonderful it was to be with her again, before falling asleep too.

As Blackberry left the burrow, she came face-to-face with another rabbit, his ears on the sides of his head.

-"Blackberry, I'm sorry about last night. Do you think you could be able to look at my ears now, or are you still too tired?"

-"I'll take care of it soon, Hawkbit, I just need to gather a few supplies. It shouldn't take long, wait for me here."

As Blackberry went above ground, Hawkbit lied down in a corner to watch the events that were happening around him. Some distance away, Clover was nibbling the turnip Bigwig had brought back from the farm. In another corner, Fiver was playing a game of bob-stones with Vilthuril.

-"Bob-stone guess is...four."

Vilthuril slowly raised her front paws, revealing only three stones.

-"You win again," Fiver said. "Good job."

-"Thank you."

-"You're really an amazing bob-stones player, and you're amazing and..."

Fiver took a few moments to calm down.

-"Do you want to play again?" he finally asked.

-"At the moment, I'm rather hungry. I'll go to silflay, and then we could play again, if that's all right with you."

-"Oh that's perfectly all right. I think I'll go to silflay too."

-"Before you leave, Fiver," Hawkbit said, "there's something I want to ask you."

-"I'll meet you above ground," Fiver said. Vilthuril nodded, and made her way up the nearest tunnel. Fiver, meanwhile, hopped over to Hawkbit. "What did you want to ask me?"

-"What do you think you're doing? Do you seriously think you're in love?"

Fiver gasped as he heard this question. He really was in love, but he wasn't prepared to admit it yet.

-"Take my advice," the sarcastic buck continued, "don't do it. The negative aspects of romance outweigh the positive ones."

-"What negative aspects?"

-"For one thing, she'll just make you dig all day. That's all does seem to care about: digging."

-"I would dig an entire warren for her." Fiver realized too late what he had said. In order to avoid prolonging this awkward conversation, he hurriedly made his way out of the Honeycomb through the same run Vilthuril had used. Hawkbit continued to stare at him, and was troubled by what he saw: for a moment, it seemed to him as if there were two Fivers hopping next to each other. It was at that moment that Blackberry returned.

-"I'm ready to take care of your ears whenever you are."

Hawkbit weakly nodded, and followed her to her burrow. Scattered around them were several piles of herbs, twigs and some mud. Under normal circumstances, Hawkbit would have been worried about what was going to happen to him, but this time he was too worried about Fiver. It did not take Blackberry long to notice his facial expression.

-"You look like you've seen the Black Rabbit of Inlé. Are you all right?"

-"No, I haven't seen him, it's something else...you won't tell Bigwig, won't you?"

-"Everything you tell me will be kept confidential."

-"Well...in that case I'll tell you...I think I'm hallucinating."

-"It's probably nothing. Having your ears in this unnatural position can affect your vision. Just lie down, take deep breaths, and don't move. They should be straight again very soon."

Hannah had been travelling all night. Carrying the magic pebble would have been a trivial task for a rabbit, but it was a massive challenge to a mouse, especially since she didn't have Kehaar to help her.

There came a point where she was unable to keep going, she would have to rest. She made no attempt at finding a safe hiding spot; she simply lied down on top of her pebble and fell asleep instantly.

She didn't know how long she had been asleep, when she was abruptly woken up by the sound of an owl screeching. It was day; what was an owl doing awake? Nevertheless, as she opened her eyes, she saw it diving straight towards her. She jumped out of the way just in time; the owl grabbed something else before flying away. She remained still in the grass for a few moments, catching her breath, until she suddenly realized what the owl had grabbed.

-"Me pebble!" she shouted in frustration. "Ye filfy boid stool me maygeyk!"

Acacia, Vesper, Violet, Hickory, Marigold and her kitten were slowly travelling through the woods. Marigold had still not regained consciousness, forcing Vesper to carry her on his back. Hickory carried the kitten, but seemed reluctant to follow Acacia and Vesper; Violet had to periodically shout at him to get him moving again.

Suddenly, Acacia raised his ears, as he heard Hannah's screams.

-"This sounds like a creature in trouble," he said. "I'll go take a look."

-"I'm coming with you," Vesper said.

-"No. I need you to stay here and get the others to safety if things go wrong. If I don't come back, tell Nicole I'm sorry."

With that, Acacia ran forwards, until he spotted Hannah in the grass, angrily looking upwards.

-"What's the matter, little mouse?"

-"Ooooof!" Hannah was startled by the rabbit's sudden arrival. "Dat ool stole me puuble!"

Acacia remained silent for a moments, confused by the mouse's comment. Apparently this owl had stolen her pebble? This couldn't be right, he must have misunderstood. The bird had probably grabbed her uncle instead. Nevertheless, the owl was too high in the sky for Acacia to be able to capture it like he had done with the bat; he would have to try something else.

-"Don't worry, I'll get him back."

Acacia used his string and a nearby twig to quickly build a slingshot. He spent a few moments aiming, before firing a rock. It crashed onto one of the owl's wings; the bird hooted furiously as it dropped the pebble.

-"I'll catch him!" Acacia shouted, as he ran forward, and grabbed the falling object just before it could hit the ground. Only then did he realize that the owl had indeed stolen a pebble. There was no uncle anywhere.

-"Ye got it bach!" Hannah ran over to Acacia and grabbed the pebble. "Tank ye soo mush!"

-"No problem," Acacia said, still rather confused by this incident. Without waiting for Hannah to reply, he hopped away, and soon rejoined Vesper and the others.

-"You all right?" Vesper asked.

-"I just had to help a cute mouse get her pebble back. But now there's an owl on the loose, so we best get going."