AUTHOR'S NOTE: thank you Anonymous Guest for the review :) Best wishes with these things you need to do!
Chapter 143: The Aftermath of the Battle.
"She was only looking for food to survive, was that so wrong?"
-Whispy-Bunny, Fading into Darkness
Lionel-Hector was driving his car on the lane leading to Nuthanger Farm. Debbie put her hand on his lap.
-"Stop here," she said. "It's probably best if nobody else sees you."
Lionel-Hector stopped the vehicle as she asked.
-"Is there anything I can do for you in these troubling times?"
-"Go to work. I don't want Lucy to find out about us this way."
-"I understand. I'll keep my phone on, in case you want to call."
-"Thank you."
She got out of the vehicle and walked towards the farm, soon disappearing behind a tree.
LH remained in his car. It pained him greatly to be unable to help the woman he loved. Going to work like she asked wasn't appealing either: the flood had caused a lot of damage to the junkyard, that needed to be cleaned up. Sir Fredrick was unaware of how bad the situation was, leaving LH to do all the work himself.
-"Perhaps," he said, although there was nobody around to hear him, "I should just YOLO it."
He soon drove off, much faster than the legal limit.
As Hyzenthlay and Thethuthinnang defeated another weasel, they went closer to the bottom of the Down to find their next target. Along the way, they encountered Holly and Rake, returning from another battle; they did not appear to have any injuries. Nevertheless, Hyzenthlay felt worried about Holly. While both he and Rake were capable rabbits, weasels remained a major threat, especially considering the events of the alternate universe.
-"Hey, how about we switch fighting partners?" she suddenly said.
Holly looked at her for a few moments.
-"Let's go for it," he said.
Hyzenthlay nodded, then turned towards Thethuthinnang. As she saw the surprised look on her friend's face, however, she realized that she had made a mistake.
-"Oh, I'm sorry, I should have asked you first..."
-"It's fine," Thethuthinnang said. "Good luck!"
-"You too."
As Rake and Thethuthinnang hopped away in another direction, Holly looked at Hyzenthlay.
-"Any particular reason you chose to fight with me?"
-"Just wanted to keep an eye on you."
-"You seem to worry more than with anyone else."
Hyzenthlay hadn't realized this, but as she thought about it, she came to the conclusion that it was true. Having seen Holly die in the alternate universe, she really wanted to prevent it from happening here, but she still remained unwilling to reveal this information. She therefore opted for a more generic response.
-"I won't let any rabbit die if I can avoid it."
Blackavar kept running as fast as he could, even thought he knew he was only running in circles around the bush. The weasel was close behind him, and he knew he could not keep this up much longer. The weasel would soon catch up with him, and the last thing he would feel would be its sharp teeth piercing his flesh. He would die, again, a most unpleasant experience. He should have known better than to go fight the weasels, considering what happened at the farm a few days before. After his return, a few curious rabbits had asked him about his experience, but the novelty had soon worn off, and he was back to being ignored by almost everyone. This also meant that he had not received any further training, and was still as untalented as ever.
Fortunately, at the last moment, one of the Sundewfa pushed the weasel off of him, and Bark killed it before it could get back up. Blackavar could hardly believe his survival.
The weasel could not stand the pain much longer. It soon collapsed to the ground, allowing Bigwig to tear its neck open.
Hazel looked around him. The Down was covered with the dead bodies of the weasels; from what he could see, the only one still alive was in a battle with Hyzenthlay and Holly, and plainly losing. Against all odds, the rabbits had emerged victorious against the weasels. Everyone appeared exhausted, most had small cuts and bite marks, and their fur was stained with weasel blood, but nobody appeared to have suffered any major injuries. The Sundewfa, having arrived later, appeared better off than the rest. Hazel was unsure who they were, and why they were there, but one thing was for sure: they had played a critical role in the battle.
-"Let's all go back to the warren," he said, breathing slowly. "To figure out what we do now."
As he hopped towards the warren's main entrance, everyone else followed him, except Bark, who remained at the bottom of the Down, eating the flesh off one weasel's body.
As Hazel entered the Honeycomb, he saw that several rabbits were already present. Pipkin, Nyreem and the kittens were sitting in a corner, clearly still disappointed at having been sent back underground in the middle of the battle. Heather ran up to Hazel.
-"How did it go?"
-"The weasels have been defeated. Don't rejoice too early, though. We need to make sure all of us are accounted for."
-"Is Moss..."
-"I'm here." Moss hopped to the front of the crowd and nuzzled his mate.
Hazel, meanwhile, looked around the burrow, identifying every rabbit present. He scanned the entire Honeycomb twice to be sure he didn't overlook anyone. As he finished, however, he reached a worrying conclusion.
-"Hickory and Marigold are missing."
-"Oh, they're not missing," Fiver said. "As soon as they heard the weasels were coming, they went tharn and retreated to their burrow, collapsing the entrance behind them."
-"So they just ran away and hid?" Captain Broom scoffed. "Shouldn't have expected anything else from those cowards..."
-"Their last warren was plagued with elil," captain Holly said. "They must have experienced flashbacks to this traumatic experience."
-"Should I go dig them out?" Blackberry asked.
-"Not just yet," Hazel said. "You need to take care of the wounded first. Cornflower in particular looks like she needs help."
-"Hawkbit, you go," Flyairth said.
Hawkbit groaned at the prospect of digging again. Maybe this was some sort of revenge for his suggestion just before the attack, to prevent bucks from digging. Nevertheless, he was not in the mood for an argument, so he hopped towards the burrow.
-"Bluebell, come with me."
Bluebell nodded, and followed Hawkbit out of the Honeycomb.
Hazel, meanwhile, was about to speak with Nicole and the Sundewfa, but before he had an opportunity to do so, Primrose pulled him aside.
-"The kittens trouble me," she said. "They've never disobeyed orders like this before. Have I done something wrong?"
-"You've done absolutely nothing wrong," Hazel said. "They just wanted to help, and in fact they saved Fiver's life."
-"You two really shouldn't blame yourselves," Fiver said, hopping over to the couple. "It's really my fault they went outside: I had a vision after you left, that the ones we don't expect would be the ones to save the warren. Pipkin thought it was them."
-"It's not your fault if someone misinterprets your visions, Fiver."
-"Also I'm worried that punishing them harshly may be accidentally sending the wrong message," Fiver continued. "As far as your children are concerned, they were obeying their captain's orders."
-"Pipkin should have known better than to send them out into the battle," Primrose said. "They were lucky to have survived."
-"I have an idea," Hazel said, before whispering something in his mate's ear, making her grin widely.
-"That seems perfect. Let's do it."
After informing Fiver of his plan, Hazel hopped over to Pipkin and the kittens, looking at them sternly.
-"So, earlier, you went above ground to help fight the weasels. You even managed to save my brother's lives. But these creatures were hrair times your size, you could have easily been killed. It was reckless."
-"It's my fault," Pipkin said. "It was all my idea, don't punish them."
-"It is good of you to admit responsibility. But the fact remains that all of you acted recklessly, therefore all of you will need to be punished."
The four kittens backed away, pressing close to Pipkin and Nyreem; Gilia in particular seemed extremely afraid.
-"Fiver and Primrose will assist me in carrying out the sentence," Hazel said.
The three rabbits advanced towards the kittens, before suddenly starting to tickle them. The burrow was soon filled with the squealing of the kittens, as they tried (and failed) to escape the ruthless paws of their attackers.
-"What kind of punishment is this?" Bigwig shouted as he stared at the scene.
-"I just can't stay mad at them, especially after what happened with Fiver," Hazel replied, taking a momentary break from tickling.
-"But how do you expect them to learn proper discipline, with such a punishment? They'll just do something even more dangerous next time!"
-"I'm their father, so I can decide what I feel is best. If you ever have kittens of your own, you will be free to discipline them any way you wish."
Bigwig did not respond. He had never considered having kittens before, but now that Hazel mentioned it, it would be worth considering. He did not mention this, however, out of fear that Dandelion would make fun of him for it.