Hazel and Hyzenthlay stood at the top of the hill and stared down at the Valley below, before them, was an assortment of Large Red Colored Rocks with vegetation all around them, and among them was a small hole leading into a warren.
"This is it, Hazel." Hyzenthlay exclaimed. "Home!"
The two travelers hurried down the hill and made their way to the main entrance, Hyzenthlay hurried inside, But Hazel stopped and looked around, there were no Rabbits out, Not even an Owsla patrol to greet them, He looked inside the burrow and found a few cobwebs hanging about, gasping, he went in after Hyzenthlay, finding nothing but more old webs and sniffed to find any scent of a rabbit.
"Poppy? Lavender?" He heard Hyzenthlay call out. "Anyone?"
No one replied, Hazel sniffed once again.
"Old scent…" He murmured. "There's… There's been no one here in Seasons."
"Oh frith…" Hyzenthlay choked. "F-Fiver was right… Everyone's gone… Long ago…"
"Who goes there!"
Hazel and Hyzenthlay jumped as out of the darkness of a run, came an old buck with gray fur.
"Captain Broom!" Hyzenthlay exclaimed.
The Old Rabbit narrowed his eyes, which then lit up with surprise.
"Primrose, isn't it?" He asked.
"N-No, Captain." Hyzenthlay replied. "It's Hyzenthlay."
"Hyzenthlay!" The old Captain exclaimed. "But… You've been gone for, How many seasons now?"
"What's happened here Captain Broom?" Asked Hyzenthlay. "Where is everyone, Where are my Parents and Brothers?"
Captain Broom sighed sadly. "Oh gone, all gone… There was a great sickness. The Black Rabbit of Inle took everyone but me, A few seasons ago… Yes… A few seasons…"
He suddenly perked up and looked as if he had seen another Rabbit. "Look, there's Lavender!"
Hazel and Hyzenthlay turned and saw no one there. "Hello Sage, Look who's here! Hyzenthlay has come home!"
The Old Captain then hopped past the two, and continued to talk to thin air. "What's that? A Carrot? Good work Lavender!"
"Poor old Captain Broom." Hyzenthlay said mournfully as she and Hazel looked on.
Meanwhile,
The Weasel was currently snooping around, looking for any prey to sustain himself, but he could find nothing.
"No food, anywhere." He said, almost starting to panic. "Must be some, somewhere."
He sniffed the air, hoping to find something, anything, and that's when he picked it up.
Down the hill, there was a shelter of rocks and from it came the cent of both Rabbit and a bird, Eagerly the Weasel followed this trail and there he found Fiver and Kehear, The latter jumped awake at the sight of the Weasel, and flew off, leaving Fiver to retreat further into the cave, where the Weasel couldn't reach him.
"Come out little Long ear." The Weasel said. "No more waiting, I'm hungry tonight!"
And the Weasel cackled.
Meanwhile,
Back at Redstone, Hyzenthlay sat outside, mourning her loss with Hazel by her side.
"Every night, In my dreams I would leave Efrafa and come home…" She said, gazing up at the stars. "They were all here, Evan Primrose, All alive, But they weren't were they? They'd gone long ago… with the Black Rabbit."
"But they're spirits stayed on, because you needed them." Said Hazel. "It's time to let them go, you have me! And you have Watership Down!"
"You?" Asked Hyzenthlay.
"I love you." Hazel blurted, then suddenly looked abashed. "Did I say that out loud?"
Hyzenthlay smiled. "Yes Hazel."
Hazel smiled back and they looked to the sky together, as the clouds parted to reveal the full beautiful moon.
Just then, Captain Broom came up to them. "Can't seem to find anyone all of a sudden, the whole place is empty, odd that, I spoke to Lavender earlier, She said goodbye, and so did Poppy and the others, It's strange."
"We're going home, Captain Broom." Said Hazel. "To a place in the High Hills, you'll like it there."
"Can't stay here with no one around can I." Broom muttered. "High Hills you say? Sounds lovely."
"It's the most beautiful place in the world." Hyzenthlay smiled.
And so, the three Rabbits set off back home, Hyzenthlay stopped to take one last look at her old home.
"Goodbye everyone." She said sadly, as a tear emerged from her eye. "Goodbye… Primrose… Thank you all."
And she hoped away, as the specter of another Rabbit watched her go, before disappearing herself.
Meanwhile,
Fiver retreated further into his cave as the Weasel started to squeeze inside.
"Won't feel anything Long Ear!" The Weasel sniggered.
"And neither will you once we're through with you!" The voice of Bigwig came from outside.
The Weasel looked up and saw Bigwig, Blackavar, Holly, Silver and a few other Bucks on top of the Rocks, all at once punching on the Weasel, sinking their teeth into him.
The Next Morning.
Hawkbit and Blackberry were re-filling the holes.
"Ye dig a pit, then have to fill it in again." Hawkbit muttered.
Then the two Rabbits saw Hazel coming, with Captain Broom and Hyzenthlay.
"Ah Hazel!" Blackberry said happily. "Welcome back!"
"Hawkbit, Blackberry." Hazel Asked. "What's been going on?"
"Bit of a Bother with that Weasel from before." Said Hawkbit. "But we took care of him, But uh, Fiver's currently having a pity party about something, The others are all with him."
Hawkbit led Hazel off to see Fiver, While Hyzenthlay turned to Broom. "Things tend to happen here a lot." Hyzenthlay said, just as Rosemary came up.
"Blackberry, Rosemary." Hyzenthlay said. "This is Captain Broom, an old friend."
"Ah, we're glad to have you, Captain." Said Rosemary.
"Thank you my deer." The old Captain said. "Very nice spot you have here, Not redstone mind you but, what is eh?"
He chuckled as he felt the wood of the tree. "Yes, Quite solid, that is, Right, let's have a look then shall we?"
And he entered the Burrow as Hyzenthlay looked on with a smile.
Meanwhile,
"I've told you! I can't live at Watership Down anymore." Fiver moaned. "Please go away!"
"No!" Bigwig replied.
"Morning all." Hazel called as he and Hawkbit came up.
"Hazel, your back!" Cheered Bigwig.
"Hawkbit told me what happened." Hazel said to Fiver. "Your visions don't cause anything Fiver, They ARE Visions."
"You don't know that." Fiver dismissed. "After everything that happened?"
"Before we left you had a vision of Redstone Warren, right?" Hazel asked.
"And did you find it abandoned?" Fiver asked. "Everyone gone?"
"We did." Hazel explained. "But it happened Seasons ago, Fiver, long before you prophesied it."
Fiver perked up. "It happened Seasons ago?"
"And we brought someone back, who can tell you about it." Hazel said.
Fiver joyfully came out of the hole. "So my Visions don't cause anything! I am seeing what's next!"
"That's what we've been telling you half the night!" Silver groaned.
"Now let's hear all about the Weasel!" Hazel said more excitedly. "And I've got stories to tell about Redstone too."
"Such as?" Asked Bigwig.
"Well…" Hazel paused dramatically. "I'm going to be a Father."
"I could have told you that!" Fiver laughed.
Everyone cheered and laughed as they went back to the Warren, The Future of Watership Down was about to begin.
To Be Continued.
Well, I hope you liked this chapter, I honestly didn't expect to finish it so soon after the last one.
This is also where I'll leave this story for now, While I work on a few more of the other stories.
Please be sure to leave favs, follows and Reviews to see more of the story.
Stay Tuned for now. :)