"我々は天国から出発
それは秘密じゃない
すぐに誰もが知っている"
- 宇宙ステーションのレベル7
"Good morning, Speedwell!" Acorn smiled as the older rabbit climbed out of his scrape.
"Good morning Dad!" Said Thistle, "Acorn and I were playing tag, well we were going to play bobstones, but there's no stones around!"
"Go figure" Acorn interjected.
Speedwell gave a faint smile, then frowned. "We need to really get back to our warren, being out here is making me ill" he tried to clear his throat, which had become rough and itchy, a pressure had begun to build in the back of his head, or maybe that was just homesickness.
"You seem unwell," Acorn started towards Speedwell
Speedwell backed away a little, "I'm fine, just a little horse"
"Funny, you look like a rabbit to me!"
Both Acorn and Thistle burst out laughing, leaving Speedwell to give a smile, the kind of smile that spoke a thousand words, none of which were positive. Then he looked out into the fog again,
"We really need to get going Acorn, I'm going to lose my mind out here,"
"Certainly!"
Speedwell glared. "You promised you'd take us back to the warren, I'm getting a bit upset right now."
"Hmm, I suppose we should go"
"What do you think, Thistle?"
Thistle smiled up to Acorn, and then looked at his father.
"Okay!"
Speedwell couldn't help but feel relieved. The pain in his head subsided a bit.
"Let's get going" The dark rabbit sat up on his haunches with his ears in the air, his nose twitched.
"It's this way!" he said and began hopping into the fog, Thistle quickly behind and Speedwell grumbling along as fast as his aged joints would allow him.
As they plodded along, Speedwell's pounding head swam with thoughts. The ground below him seemed to pulse with the heartbeat in his head. In his minds eye he could see little cracks forming into the ground, a hideous black sludge struggling to break through. It smelled awful, but so familiar, and he hated it. But he couldn't understand why.
Speedwell was suddenly stopped by a furry wall. Thistle and Acorn had just stopped, and were not prepared for the older rabbit to slam into them.
"Watch out!" Exclaimed Thistle and Acorn in unison.
Speedwell picked himself up and managed to grumble out a "Sorry,"
He quickly glanced at the ground and saw that the sludge had disappeared and the ground had stopped pulsating. Speedwell felt some relief, and… confusion.
Acorn stood on his haunches again and twitched his nose, flicked his ears, and soon came up with a new heading.
"The good news is we're nearly there" he said, "But we're going to have to spend another night in scrapes,"
Both Thistle and Speedwell, ground this time.
"I'm sorry, I do know where i'm going, it's just we have to take several detour-"
"What?" Speedwell exclaimed, his headache had cleared for a moment. "Why?"
"It's just, you have to trust me. There aren't predators here in the normal sense,"
After hearing this, Thistle perked up, "I can handle any fox or weasel"
Speedwell looked scornful, Acorn just laughed.
"You've got quite the courageous one, Speedwell," He looked towards Acorn "unfortunately I'm afraid it's those dark rabbits you're talking about, there's more than just one, in fact, the place is crawling with them"
Thistle's ears fell in concern.
Acorn changed to a cheerier tone. "Don't worry you two, I'll keep you safe, on my life!"
Thistle looked reassured. But speedwell had his doubts, even though he had been distracted, he couldn't recall ever seeing a dark rabbit.