AUTHOR'S NOTE: thank you Anonymous Guest for the review!
Also warning, this chapter is dark...
Chapter 168: Holoburrow Malfunction.
"sometimes when we go to another place we are not alone. Our loved ones are always there watching over us. Just like your mother, violet is right now"
-Madrox126, Always there for you
Hazel stood in front of the holoburrow's entrance, dictating the desired simulation to the computer. Upon hearing the "enter when ready" message, he did so, and was amazed by what he saw. He was now above ground, and the cloudless blue sky above was beautiful. The distant signpost, the large field, the lone rowan tree from which the Chief got his name...it was all there. It was the Old Sandleford simulation, as Bluebell had predicted. And while the entire setting and other rabbits present were all holograms, it was perfectly realistic. If Sandleford hadn't been destroyed seasons ago, Hazel could have mistaken this place for the real thing. The only difference was that there was no holographic version of young Hazel, so adult Hazel wouldn't meet his younger self.
The first step would be to find young Fiver. He first checked among the rabbits above ground at silflay. He could recognize several familiar rabbits: Blackberry, Pipkin...but no Fiver. He therefore went underground to check the burrow.
The holographic warren looked just as realistic as the land above ground, and Hazel still remembered every tunnel and where they lead. Along the way to the burrow he shared with his siblings, however, he saw someone he had hoped he would never see again: Dewdrop. His first crush. He had made a fool of himself so many times trying to impress her. He was widely mocked for his shenanigans, by the owsla, his brothers and sisters (except Fiver), and Hawkbit. As for Dewdrop herself, she did not return the feelings. If anything, she seemed to pity him for seriously thinking he had a chance with her.
Their last meeting had been the day he left the warren. It went worse than any previous interaction they had: not only did she reject his offer, but she also tipped off the owsla about the plan, almost ending the journey before it even began. This was all something he would rather forget.
-"Prince Rainbow, erase Dewdrop."
-"Typical Hazel, running away from his probl..."
Before she could finish the sentence, Dewdrop's hologram disintegrated. Hazel continued his way through the now-empty tunnel, and soon reached the burrow he was looking for. Fiver (or rather, a hologram of Fiver) was lying there; there was nobody else present.
Fiver instantly opened his eyes and smiled at his brother.
-"Hazel, I missed you!"
-"I missed you too, dear brother. Shall we go above ground to play?"
Fiver raised his ears, excited at the prospect of playing with his brother. Hazel retraced his steps through the tunnels, with Fiver following, until they were once again above ground.
The field was almost identical to how Hazel had left it, but he soon spotted another familiar rabbit above ground: Ash. He shared some of the distinguishing fur patterns as his brother, Bigwig. While his brother had a reputation for being impetuous at times, Ash was even worse. And plumper. Hazel had tried to befriend him, but as with Dewdrop, the desire was one-sided, and they never became friends. This relationship also had a tragic ending: Ash was killed by a fox just a few days before the great escape. This tragedy may have contributed to Bigwig's decision to join Hazel's group leaving the warren.
-"Prince Rainbow, erase Ash."
-"I'm not afraid of Prince R..."
Like Dewdrop before him, holographic Ash was unable to finish his sentence before disintegrating.
-"Why did you make him go poof?" Fiver asked.
-"I don't want any mean rabbits spoiling our games," Hazel replied. "Now, what do you want to play?"
-"Let's play allamaraine!"
-"I'm afraid I don't know the rules. You'll have to teach me."
It turned out to be an unusual game, unlike anything Hazel had ever played before. Fiver truly had an amazing imagination, even in holographic form. But the fun was short-lived, as Hazel soon heard the harsh voice of Toadflax:
-"Halt!"
Hazel groaned. There were several owsla officers who seemed to take pleasure in bullying the outskirters, and Toadflax was the worst of them all. As he looked up, he saw that Toadflax had not come alone: Threarah was with him. If the Chief Rabbit himself had gone above ground to investigate, this was serious business.
-"Hazel, I'm scared," came Fiver's voice; the young rabbit was hiding behind his brother, trembling.
-"I'll always protect you."
-"Is that a cowslip you're eating?" Toadflax spoke again, sniffing the air. "Go away, cowslips are for the owsla."
-"Stop letting stomach think before your brain, Toadflax," Threarah scolded. "If anything, I am the one who deserves the cowslip. I am Chief, after all."
-"Never mind the cowslip, that's not why we're here."
-"You're right, that's not why we're here...why are we here, already?" the absent-minded Chief asked.
Toadflax shook his head, and whispered something in the aging Chief's ear. Threarah gasped very loudly, then turned to stare at Hazel.
-"Toadflax tells me that you've been calling upon the dark magic of Prince Rainbow to make other rabbits disappear. Is this true, or is this a poorly thought-out joke on my officer's part?"
Hazel became nervous. This was not supposed to happen: if a hologram got erased, all other holograms were supposed to have their memories of it erased too. And yet, Toadflax had seen and remembered. No matter, Hazel thought, just a minor glitch, this problem could be resolved very easily.
-"Prince Rainbow, erase Toadflax and Threarah."
-"Oh, I knew we should have just killed him before he pulled the same trick again..." Toadflax mumbled.
-"What trick?" Threarah's last expression before disintegrating alongside Toadflax was one of confusion, having already forgotten about Hazel's shenanigans.
-"They're gone," Hazel said, turning back to his brother. "Shall we go back to our game?"
-"Hazel, I'm still scared. I don't like the bunnies going poof. It must hurt for them."
-"It's not painful at all." Hazel wasn't entirely sure whether that was true; he just wanted to make his brother feel better.
-"Please, promise me you won't make no poofs no more," Fiver begged.
-"I promise."
Hazel and Fiver resumed their play. They did not continue the game of allamaraine; instead, Fiver selected the more traditional pastime of tail tag. Tiny young Fiver stood no chance against his grown brother, but Hazel did not run as fast as he could have, to even the odds.
They played until it was almost sunset; in this final round, Fiver ran into the tall plants at the edge of the field. Hazel slowly followed him, until he heard a squeal. This was clearly not part of the game; Hazel ran as fast as he could in the direction the sound had come from, and soon spotted Fiver in the jaws of a fox. He knew he had to act, and only knew of one way to save his brother; it would mean turning back on his promise, but desperate times called for desperate measures.
-"Prince Rainbow, erase fox."
But the fox, unlike the previous holograms, did not vanish. Instead, it glitched, growing a second tail. Confused by this development, it dropped Fiver and ran away. Not quite what Hazel had in mind, but still a satisfactory conclusion. Fiver pressed himself against his brother.
-"It's fine. Everything is fine," Hazel said, returning the hug.
-"Hazel, I don't feel safe here. Let's go home."
-"Yes. Home."
-"Can you carry me?"
-"Of course."
Hazel had never been able to carry Fiver for an extended period of time before, but with the age and size difference, it was now possible.
Upon reaching the warren, Hazel was met with a terrifying sight: a stoat, tracking scents all over the field. All the other rabbits had bolted underground; upon spotting Hazel, however, the stoat ran towards him, and snatched Fiver off his back.
-"Hazel, help!"
-"Prince Rainbow, erase stoat."
The stoat was not erased; instead, it was duplicated. The first stoat bit down hard on Fiver's body, and blood flowed.
-"No!"
Hazel was horrified. And while the Fiver who had just died was merely a hologram, it still seemed to Hazel that he had failed as a brother. Was this the consequence of breaking his promise not to erase anyone anymore? He did not notice the second stoat until it had pinned him down. There was only one thing he could do now.
-"Prince Rainbow, reset program! Reset program!"
Just before Hazel could meet the same fate as his holographic brother, everything vanished. After a few moments, the images came back. The stoats were gone, and the field was largely empty. It looked somehow different than at the beginning of the first simulation, but Fiver was there, sitting in the grass, alive and unharmed. Hazel rushed over to him and hugged him.
-"Hazel, the field is covered with blood," Fiver said matter-of-factly.
Hazel recognized this as the ominous vision his brother had had of Sandleford's destruction. He looked down, and saw that this time the field really WAS covered with blood, flowing out of the warren's main entrance. His paws were covered with the stuff.
The sky turned into a giant Woundwort face, ominously looking down at the rabbits in the field. He opened his mouth, and dark smoke blew out of it, soon filling the air.
-"You're under arrest, for inciting to mutiny!" came Holly's shout. Hazel looked around him, but could not see Holly. The next time he laid his eyes upon his brother, however, he saw another figure beside him, a dark, shadowy figure.
-"Fiver..."
-"They say that his owsla is different from any other owsla. Only one member in the owsla. And it is me, I am his assistant, his heir. I will be...Fiver of Inlé!"
Fiver's eyes were now shining red, like those of the Black Rabbit.
-"PRINCE RAINBOW, RESET!"
Once again, the images momentarily vanished, before returning to the initial peaceful setting. Hazel breathed a sigh of relief; as he paid closer attention, however, he saw that this was not Sandleford. In fact, this did not seem to be a warren at all, there were no holes anywhere. And apart from Fiver (still a hologram), the creatures frolicking around the flowers were not rabbits. They were not elil either, but Hazel still had no idea what they were.
Hazel had initially gone to the holoburrow to relax after the pyrrhic victory against the Zorn. However, with all these glitches and malfunctions, it was becoming clear that this simulated world was, in fact, even more stressful than regular life.
-"Prince Rainbow, exit."
But the exit did not appear. The holoburrow was hopelessly glitched, and there was little Hazel could do except wait to be rescued, and hopefully avoid further danger until then.
Fiver, Blackberry and Bluebell ran over to the holoburrow. Bluebell, the strongest of the three, attempted to force the door open, but it was firmly jammed.
-"We'll have to dig another way in," Blackberry said.
-"That'll take way too long!" Fiver said desperately. "Who knows what he's experiencing in there. It may be too late already!"
-"No worries, it's nothing nanotechnology can't fix," Blueberry said, hopping out of a nearby hallway.
With an expert move, Blueberry struck the wall, knocking off the panel covering the circuits. Then, he went to work through the wires, manipulating them until finally, the doors opened.
-"I have no idea what you just did," Blackberry confessed. "But you may have saved his life just now."
-"It is my goal to save other animals from danger whenever possible."
As soon as he had seen the exit, Hazel rushed out. The numerous elil pursuing him followed him but, unable to exist outside the holoburrow, disintegrated at the exit.
-"Fiver."
Hazel hugged his brother tightly. After his holographic misadventures, he desperately needed to touch someone real and alive.
-"It's fine now," Fiver said. "Whatever you saw in there, it can't hurt you anymore."
-"I failed to protect you."
-"I'm fine, Hazel. Everything is fine. I love you."