Chapter 38: Never Mess With a Buck in Love.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: thank you TheRanger101 for the review :) I try to make sure all characters will be able to get their own scenes.

"He handled a very delicated [sic] situation with the tact of a caveman."

-"Claws"

After their departure from Buttercup's warren, Hazel, Bigwig and Meadow continued their search. After a while without finding any sign of the two does, Hazel asked Kehaar and Hannah to look from above once again. They had been flying for a long time, and he was eagerly awaiting their return.

Suddenly, Hazel saw something appear in the sky. The creature was flying high above, silently. Hazel was sure of who it was.

-"Kehaar!" he called out.

-"He's right be..." Meadow started to say, but was cut off by a loud screech:

-"VAT YOU WANT MEESTER 'AZEL?"

Hazel jumped in fear and bolted into a nearby bush. After a few moments, he peaked out, and saw Kehaar standing in the grass with a surprised look on his face.

-"Vat's da matter, meeter 'azel? You look scawed."

-"Kehaar! I thought you were up there!"

Kehaar turned his head upwards, and saw the same creature Hazel had seen.

-"Nah, dat's not me. She not gull, but still plenty..."

-"Don't you ever scare me like that again!"

-"Sorry, Hazel," Meadow said, "I tried to warn you, but he came too fast..."

-"You didn't do anything wrong, it was Kehaar who scared me, not you."

-"So, Kehaar," Bigwig said, "did you find anything?"

-"Ya! Ve see tree veird creachurs vit a fat man chasin' em!"

All three rabbits remained silent, waiting for Kehaar to elaborate, but the gull remained silent.

-"What sort of creatures were they?" Meadow eventually asked.

-"Vat? Ah dunno."

-"Did you see any rabbits?"

-"Oh. Nah, nah, we find noddings..."

-"Oof you silly boid," Hannah said, jumping off Kehaar's back, "ye fowgot again. We did see two rabbits..."

-"WHERE?" Hazel shouted.

-"...but dere not ze ones you're looking for," the mouse continued. "Dere bucks, and one of 'em is in plenty bad shape."

-"Oh. Dem. I fowgot," Kehaar said, closing his eyes.

-"I go meet the three weird creatures, and you two go see the rabbits?" Meadow suggested.

-"Very well," Hazel replied with a sigh.

-"I show you vere dey are," the gull said.

The two rabbits that Kehaar and Hannah had spotted were actually close by. Hazel and Bigwig only had to cross a few rows of trees and a small ditch before they could spot them. One of them was a large, pale-furred buck, who was staring in amazement at his surroundings, while the other had reddish-brown fur, and was covered with scars. The latter seemed vaguely familiar to Hazel, but he could not remember where they had met before. Hazel and Bigwig slowly approached the two strangers.

-"Oh hello Hazel," the scarred rabbit said. "What brings you here?"

Hazel gasped; while he had failed to recognize the stranger by his appearance, a voice like this could only belong to one rabbit.

-"Campion! What happened to you?"

-"Wait, you two know each other?" Aspen asked.

-"Oh sure," Campion said. "Anyway, Hazel, don't worry about my scars. I met the Black Rabbit of Inlé, but he sent me back to the world of the living so I could stop Woundwort."

Hazel stared at Campion, dumbfounded.

-"But Woundwort is dead! You said so yourself!"

-"I thought he was, but I was wrong. Vervain tried to kill him, but he did a poor job, so Woundwort's still alive and I have to stop him. By the way, I'm sorry I falsely accused you of killing him, without any evidence. You're innocent, and I'm sorry."

Hazel looked at Bigwig sadly. The captain of owsla shrugged.

-"Whatever happened to him," he said, "it must have affect his mind as much as well as his body. What a shame, he was a good rabbit at heart..."

-"You may think I'm insane," Campion interjected, "to which I say: I probably am. But I really did meet the Black Rabbit of Inlé and Woundwort really is still alive. If you don't believe me, perhaps Aspen here can convince you."

-"Yeah, he's telling the truth," Aspen said hesitantly.

-"Could you sound any less convincing?" Campion asked sarcastically.

-"I suppose I could, if I..."

-"Never mind. Anyway Hazel, Bigwig, I need to continue my journey, and you two should go back to your warren. Keep it free and amazing." Campion started to walk away, but soon stopped and turned back to Hazel and Bigwig. "By the way, how's Primrose doing?"

-"She ran away from the warren, and we're searching for her," Hazel explained. "I don't suppose you've seen her?"

-"I didn't think she would do something like that. When you find her, will you tell her I'm sorry?"

-"Sorry? Why?"

-"While I was touring your warren, I talked to her a little, and I asked her why she ran away. From Efrafa, I mean. Because I could have made her happy if she had mated with me. I guess it wasn't such a good idea to tell her that. She loves you, she doesn't love me, and even if she would have gained some privileges by mating with me, it still wouldn't have been the freedom she gets at your warren. Basically I would have forced her into an unhappy life just to fulfil my own selfish desires. It never would have worked. So just tell her I'm sorry, and if you don't mind, I'll mate with Blueberry instead. As far as I know, she doesn't have a mate yet..."

As Hazel listened to Campion, his anger started to boil. By the time Campion was talking about "Blueberry", Hazel wasn't paying attention anymore. Campion had tried to steal Primrose away from him, and was surely responsible for her decision to leave the warren.

Unable to contain himself, Hazel growled loudly, and dealt a powerful blow to Campion's head.

-"Whatever happens, keep on loving her," were Campion's last words before he fell to the ground unconscious.

The other rabbits spend a few moments staring at him in shock. Bigwig was the first to react.

-"Hazel! What are you doing?"

-"I didn't realize I was that strong," Hazel replied, as he looked at his front paws. "Come on, let's get out of here."

He quickly hopped away; Bigwig looked at him, then at Campion, then at Hazel again, before finally deciding to follow his Chief. Aspen slowly approached Campion, and nudged him; he did not react.

-"Campion, please wake up," Aspen begged. "Please don't die, the Black Rabbit will kill me if...oh wait I'm already dead. Never mind, you know what I mean, please don't die!"

Meanwhile, Hazel was running away from where he had left Campion, with Bigwig trying to catch up with him.

-"Hazel, what did you do that for?"

-"You heard what he said, Bigwig," Hazel said sternly. "He tried to steal Primrose away from me. He's the last rabbit I'd expect to pull a stunt like that, but he confessed."

-"I know that, Hazel, but don't you think you're taking things too far?"

-"You wouldn't understand. You just don't know anything about love. Your life is dedicated to your owsla."

-"It's true that I don't want a mate, that saves me the trouble of dealing with situations like this. I know how much you love Primrose, but did you really have to hit Campion like that?"

-"It's his fault she ran away. If she's dead, that's also his fault."

-"But Hazel! Don't you remember all the trouble we went through to convince him to join us? You might have ruined everything just now!"

-"The war is over now. Whatever side he's on, it doesn't matter anymore. I suppose I'm partly responsible, though. I should have anticipated he was going to do something like this, with the way he looked at Primrose during our meetings. What a..."

-"But Hazel..."

-"Come on, we're wasting time. Kehaar, Hannah, go and scan the area for Primrose and Blackberry."

-"Agyen?" Hannah said.

Kehaar sighed, and as soon as Hannah had climbed onto his back, he took off with his trademark cry.

-"Meester 'azel, he crazy vit love!" he said once airborne.

-"Oof! Kehaar, why can't ye shut yur beak for once? Can't ye see you're gonna make tings woyrse?"

Meanwhile on the ground, Bigwig and Hazel's argument continued.

-"But Hazel, what if Woundwort really is still alive? I don't think that's true, but what if it is?"

-"In that case, Bigwig, we'll have to deal with him alone. Not that Campion was doing much to help us anyway."

-"He helped us rescue Pipkin when he got kidnapped."

-"I suppose he did. But he didn't help anyone else escape, did he?"

Bigwig sighed. Like Kehaar had said, Hazel was crazy with love. The last time that had happened, when he had failed to rescue Primrose from Efrafa, nobody (not even Fiver) had been able to bring him back to his senses. Hopefully he would calm down soon before he would do anything else he would regret...

Suddenly, Meadow burst out of a nearby bush. She had a large wooden object in her mouth, and a daisy on her tail. She shook her head and spit out the wooden object. She then removed the flower from her tail and ate it.

-"What happened to you?" Bigwig asked.

-"I'm not even sure myself. These creatures are insane. I'm afraid they didn't know anything about Blackberry and Primrose though. How did it go with you two?"

-"Now we know why Primrose ran away," Hazel said. "I gave the rabbit responsible a piece of my mind."

-"But we're no closer to actually finding the missing rabbits, I'm afraid," Bigwig added.

-"We must not give up hope," Meadow said. "Let's keep searching."