Working at the crystal shop the last few days has been awkward. There’s been a tension in the air ever since I snapped at Lydia for badmouthing Master. I had apologized, but she still seemed distant. We didn’t talk much, and she spent large portions of our shifts together hiding in the back. I wished I knew what to say.
Breaking up the monotony and awkwardness, a familiar face came into the store. The man who had been the first to buy a “special stock” gem came in, with a meek-looking girl following closely behind. As he spotted me, he called out. “Hey there, glad to see you today.”
I smiled and raised a hand in greeting. “Good to see you as well. Looking for something specific?” I was already pulling out the tray of magic-capable gemstones.
“You could say that.” He chuckled softly. “What do you have for aquamarines?”
Looking over the case, I raised an eyebrow. “I know it’s not my place to ask, but what are you working on that needs aquamarines?”
He paused for a bit, eyeing me. It was a similar pause as I had to do many times, to avoid talking about things I shouldn’t. After a moment, he smiled. “Well, I guess if you’re wearing a collar yourself, you aren’t going to be one to judge.” He pulled a thick leather band from a pocket, the ring in front sporting a charm made to look like a heavy padlock, though it was just a charm. A string of small pale blue gemstones was placed along one side with a band of pearls running along underneath them, except one of the settings was empty.
My eyes went wide at such a finely crafted thing. The girl that was with the man seemed to turn bright red and shrink from embarrassment. “Oh my, that’s… May I have a look?” When he nodded, I picked it up carefully, looking it over. They were faint, but there were runes etched into the inside band of leather. I recognized a number of them from my own collar… What could this be? Carefully, I set it down on the counter. “That’s pretty incredible, I didn’t think I’d ever see something like this. Did one of you make it?”
The girl’s eyes went wide, and she shook her head. “N-no, no, not me. M– Locke made it.” The man seemed to delight in her reaction, but it didn’t feel like it was anything malicious. More like a private joke the two shared.
“Yeah, that’s the kind of thing I make. Just special items for a very few, very select set of friends. Maybe you’ve seen them referenced online, the charm on the front is a bit hard to miss.” He seemed to be beaming with pride when his workmanship was discussed.
I looked at the collar again, but shook my head. “I’m sorry, I’m not really online much. But I take it you need a stone to complete the set?”
At that, he deflated a little, but brushed it off after only a brief moment. “Ah, yeah. Well, like the charm, I go by Locke online. I sometimes forget my little corner of the internet isn’t as big as I think, sometimes.”
The girl found her voice, quiet as it was. “It’s okay, those of us in your corner are exceptionally glad to have you in it.”
“I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but,” I said, as I turned the case around to show them, “I’m afraid I don’t have an aquamarine that’d be suitable in stock right now. I can keep an eye out for you, though. My boss has contacts, I can ask her to get me in touch with them and I can see if I could find one for you?”
The girl pointed at one, a small gem that was a bit darker. “What about that one? How… exact does it have to be?”
Smirking, the man nodded towards me, as if wanting to see if I knew the answer. Obligingly, I responded. “I’m afraid that one wouldn’t attune properly to the collar. The energies aren’t a close enough match, and the small size means it’d probably shatter. The way I wager the one that was in here did?”
That seemed to have amused Locke, who clapped his hands together. “See, girl? I told you she’d know her stuff! Don’t worry, we’ll get your collar fixed up in no time.” Turning to me, his expression went a little less jovial. “Would I be able to give you my number, so you could contact me when you find the stone I need?”
“A-and how much… is it going to be?” Her face had just started to recover, but having it explicitly stated that the collar was hers made her bright red again.
“I’ll do what I can, but the bulk of my search will have to be tomorrow. If I can’t find it then, I’ll keep looking, but it’ll be just luck when one comes in. A stone like that, I’d probably sell for… three hundred dollars?”
“I’ll pay it!” The girl blurted it out, almost desperately. “Sorry, I mean… Thank you for your help. Three hundred is fine. What about the cost for… rushing it, I guess?”
I smiled, sliding the collar back to the two. “Oh, no, don’t worry about that. I’m just happy to help. No fee. I’ll even repair the setting for you when I have the stone, right here in the store, if you’d like.”
She looked at me, biting her lip shyly. “Really? Are you sure?”
I smiled again. “I’ll be honest, I don’t know how I’d feel, having to be without my collar. Though, mine’s probably a little bit of a different situation than yours…” For one thing, if she was human without it, then she wasn’t a construct like me. But then, what was a shape-change spell doing in a collar for a human to wear? Ben had told me about people on the internet that wanted to be creatures like me, perhaps Locke and his friend were like that?
Locke had given me a business card. It had a different name printed on it, Sylvir Dacolis, but he wrote the name Locke on it, as well as underlining a phone number. He did say it was an online name, and a faint memory told me what that meant, so I didn’t need to question it. “So, when this gem comes in, do I need to ask for you specifically, or…?”
I nodded. “Yeah, my boss… gets upset when you try to talk to her about magic. Or Masters.” I frowned a little, remembering our argument. “We had a fight, she… She doesn’t understand what it’s like… I should apologize again, and try to understand her point of view. I just wish she’d stop speaking ill of a man who died.”
Locke’s eyes went a bit wide. “Oh? I’m so sorry for your loss. Was he… the one who taught you?”
Giggling softly, I let my hand drift to the carrot charm on my collar. I smiled warmly as I let happy memories come to mind. “Everything I know. He… He was like a father to me.” I wanted to talk more, show myself, but I shouldn’t. Letting people know I was the Superbunny wouldn’t end well, better for them to think I’m human like them, and not a Construct. “He was supremely skilled, possibly the greatest I’ve ever known.”
That got his attention, and he shifted his weight from one leg to another. “What was his name? Maybe I’ve heard of him.”
Erk. “Oh, no. No, I’m afraid I’m not… from around here. There’s no way you’d have known him, I’m afraid. Part of what makes this place feel so cold sometimes, knowing I’m the only one to keep his memory alive.” My smile from before had fallen, even though I gripped the carrot charm between my fingers.
“If you say so. Well, we’ve got some other things to do, so I’ll let you go. Thanks again for your help, hopefully you can find a good stone for us soon.” Locke took the collar and carefully set it into a pocket. The girl seemed to relax slightly with the article no longer out in the open. I was still curious what exactly was between them. I’d seen her nodding when I spoke of my Master, but humans weren’t Constructs like me. They weren’t really owned in the same way, were they? I’d have to ask Ben later.
I smiled and waved, slipping the card into my pocket. “I hope so too. I’ll do my best!”
While waiting for closing time to arrive, I texted Ben and asked him to come by. When he finally arrived, I greeted him with a hug.
“Uh? What’s this for?” He was less hesitant to return it than when I first did it, but it was still clearly something he was unsure how to react to.
I held the hug for just a bit before letting go. “It just felt right. We’ve been through a lot together, and… well, I’m really grateful for everything you’ve done for me. I’m glad to have you here.”
He smiled, giving a nod. “Yeah, I guess. Honestly, it’s nice having you around, too. You’re a good friend. But why did you ask me here?”
“I wanted your help in talking with Lydia. I want to try to apologize to her again, but I’m worried I’ll say something wrong or weird and things will get heated again. She’s been hiding in the back ‘doing paperwork’ all day, but I’m pretty sure she’s avoiding me.”
Sighing, he shook his head. “I can give it a shot. What kinds of things are you wanting to say? I can go talk to her for you, get her to come out.”
I slid the tip of a hoof along the floor, looking down. “Just… that I’m sorry again for threatening to break her bones. I forgot that healing magic isn’t really a thing here, so that probably came out a lot worse than I meant it to. I really do want to try to see things from her perspective, but she keeps saying such awful things about Master, and it makes me so mad! I wish I knew how to get my point of view across, but without being able to tell her everything, well… I just don’t know what to do.”
He grimaced at my recounting the threat, letting out a low sigh. “Eesh, that’s… Okay, I’ll do my best. Maybe I can convince her you were, I don’t know, quoting something you saw online or something.” Heading to the door to the back area, he knocked on it while I got to work on the last round of cleaning up.
A yelp came from inside, followed by a flustered, “What is it, Flopsy? Is a customer wanting to talk to me?”
“Sort of. How about a friend?” Ben called through the closed door.
“What? Uh, shit, one sec!” The sounds of clattering objects being moved and papers rustling were barely audible, even to me. Finally, the door opened. “Come in, I guess.” Lydia gave me an uneasy look, and I pretended not to notice in case I accidentally antagonized her.
It would be rude to eavesdrop, so I made sure to keep further away from the door. I’d still overhear bits, but I couldn’t help that.
In the back room, Ben looked around. The cheap desk Lydia had set up in her “office” was normally a mess, but at least it looked like something used for work. Now, it had scattered papers of all kinds, as well as a number of books. And a comic book, featuring a familiar-looking white and black furred creature. “Oh, what’s… all this?”
“Nothing, never mind it. Just… research. Nothing important. What did you want to talk about?” She was obviously nervous about something.
“Right. Well, it’s about Flopsy, actually. She wants to apologize, and asked for my help.” Ben tried not to be too obvious in seeing what he could see. Was one of those books about UFO abductions?
Lydia scoffed, glaring in the direction of the door. “I bet. She’s been at it non-stop ever since she blew up at me.”
He nodded. “Yeah, she’s really sorry about that. She’s not really the type to lose her temper, so she’s not sure how to make amends. She knows she crossed the line.”
“It’s less ‘what she said’ and more… ‘how she said it’, I guess? She’s just so weird! How much do we really know about her, you know what I mean?” She was leaning against the desk, arms crossed, looking towards the door again.
“Well, I mean, I like to think I know a lot. She’s weird, yeah, but she’s been through a lot. She’s had a weird upbringing. She’s going to say weird things every so often, but she means well, generally. She’s a good person, she’s just… had different experiences, a different way of seeing the world.”
Lydia gave an exhaled half-chuckle at that. “Oh, I bet she has!” Reaching behind her, she picked up a piece of paper, covered in scribbles. “I’m still trying to figure out how all the pieces fit together, but I’m on to her!”
That frantic energy caught Ben off guard. “Um… ‘on to her’? What…?”
Her eyes narrowed. “Flopsy is working with the aliens! Maybe she was abducted as a child, I don’t know yet why, but it makes sense. What doesn’t make sense is why YOU are covering for her and helping them out!”
“Aliens.” Ben bit his lip, wanting to consider his words carefully. Lydia had always been such a sensible person. “Okay, why aliens?”
The woman reached back and brought forth the comic book. An artist’s rendition of The Superbunny was striking a dramatic pose on the cover. Ben fought a chuckle. “C’mon! There’s SOMETHING weird going on lately! We’ve got a Superbunny, we’ve got chunks of rock raining down on East Main, we’ve got a freaky girl who doesn’t know anything about life on Earth? All of these happening right around a month ago? And then there’s… Wait.” Lydia’s eyes narrowed further, looking at Ben with naked suspicion. “Wait, you’re involved, aren’t you? You’re part of the cover-up.”
Ben was forced to nod with her points. She did have a point, there were definitely weird things happening. “I promise you, I am not covering up some kind of space aliens.”
“Then what really happened to me, that night I lost? I wasn’t drinking at your place, watching bad movies. Something happened, and you’ve been lying to me. Why?”
He stopped, taking a breath and holding it. This was a much more delicate situation than he’d thought, going in. “I… don’t… I don’t fully know.”
Lydia slammed the comic book down on the desk with one hand. “What do you mean, you don’t know? Weren’t you there? With Flopsy, and the Superbunny? My memories are such a mess, but I know I saw that… that alien!”
That might make things a little easier. Ben wished she could ask her what she remembers, but if he was already being accused of covering things up, that question would only raise suspicion. “I… I was told…” He sighed heavily, as if breaking down and coming clean. “Superbunny said you were drugged, that you wouldn’t remember, so she told me to make up a story so you wouldn’t worry. She helped us rescue you from that warehouse fire. But she didn’t tell me much of what happened.”
That admission was met with eyes that looked like they were going to fall out of Lydia’s skull. “WH–!?” Her voice dropped to a harsh whisper, her gaze shooting towards the door. “What!? You mean… I’m not crazy! But… Why was I drugged? By who? And… What was Flopsy doing there? I know I heard her voice, too…”
“That night… Superbunny contacted Flopsy with your phone. The two know each other, so she asked our help in rescuing you while she fought the bad guy. But we don’t really know the details, just that you were in bad shape but would be fine, and that you wouldn’t remember the night. If we gave you a story to believe, you wouldn’t stress out about it, and you’d be happier… But I guess that didn’t work.”
Lydia pulled out her phone, looking through it. After a moment, she nodded. “I was wondering about that… There’s an outgoing call, but I didn’t remember making it. Are… Are you serious? I really met the Superbunny?”
Ben nodded slowly, his head lowered a bit. “I wasn’t supposed to tell you, but… Well, the whole point was to keep you from worrying, but that had the opposite effect. So, there you have it. You got caught up in something, and you got saved. I don’t think Superbunny is an alien, though. I still think it’s just a costume or something.”
She brought the comic back in front of her, staring thoughtfully at the cover. “I don’t know. The whole thing just feels… weird. ‘Space alien’ is the prevailing theory, aside from ‘Batman but a furry’. …So you don’t think Flopsy’s ‘Master’ is a space alien that wiped her memory and groomed her to be some kind of invasion scout?”
The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
Though he tried, Ben couldn’t prevent a choked laugh from coming out. It would’ve been a spit take, if he had liquid in his mouth, but as it was, he coughed and had to catch his breath. “Oh, wow! That came out of nowhere. No, no, if Flopsy was an alien, I’m pretty sure she wouldn’t have needed me to explain what electricity is. She really is from some mountain town, but Superbunny helped her escape to here. That’s how the two met. I actually ran into Flopsy on her first night in town, by chance. Or maybe Superbunny put her in my path, somehow knowing I’d be able to help…”
Lydia seemed to relax a bit, though she still looked to be unsure of things. “Still… Well… I don’t know, you know? Flopsy is just so strange, I don’t know what to think of her.”
Ben leaned against the wall, a faint smile on his face. “Well, she wants you to think well of her. She really is sorry. But really, it’s best to just let the whole ‘Master’ thing drop. Whatever they were, everything she’s said makes it sound like he really did treat her well. As far as I can tell, he was a good man who did his best in the environment they were in, if that makes sense.”
She shrugged a little, still frowning. “Maybe. It just feels to me like a ‘good man’ would’ve… I don’t know, fought against the environment? Instead of going along with it?”
“Maybe he did, as best he could. Neither of us know what Freymoor was like. But I trust Flopsy, and if she says he was good, then I trust he was good.”
Lydia nodded, silent in thought. “Yeah, I guess maybe you’re right. But I’m not dropping all this just yet. I still feel like there’s more to it, you know? But thanks, it means a lot to me that you’d tell me all this.”
Ben smiled, even if he felt somewhat pained at having to hide as much as he did.
I walked along with Ben beside me, down the brightly-lit streets towards home. I don’t know all of what Ben had said to Lydia, but she seemed a lot less nervous around me, and I was glad. After all the tension that’d been hanging in the air, after all the stress lately, it was nice to feel like things were looking up for once.
That’s why it caught me by surprise when a hand reached out and yanked Ben into an alley between two buildings.
I followed quickly, and soon we were in a small lot between businesses, pools of light from each of their back doors illuminating this arena. “What do you think you’re doing with my friend?”
The figure holding Ben reached up with his other hand, and tossed his hat aside. My blood ran cold at the sneering face of the Hunter. “I think I’m going to kill him. While you watch.”
“No… No! I won’t let you!” I slid a hoof along the ground, bracing myself to launch an attack, but I couldn’t move just yet. Not with Ben held captive.
The Hunter laughed cruelly. “Oh, that’s just the beauty of it! You can’t stop me. Just like you couldn’t stop me from killing your precious Master. In fact, if you even try… I’ll destroy that collar you’re using to disguise yourself. I can detect the magic flowing in it, it’d be easy to burn it out. So you’re going to stand right there.”
Ben did his best to struggle, but the Hunter slammed him against the wall and kept him pinned. He couldn’t free himself from someone who lived a life of combat. “Flopsy…”
I took a step forward. Cold horror was giving way to burning hate and rage. This man… This man had taken everything from me, he attacked me, attacked Lydia, and now was attacking Ben, all to harm me. The same way he’d harm countless others if I allowed him to win. I had to stop him. I had to make sure he was stopped this time. I already knew he’d be protected against weaker strikes, I’d have to hit harder than I ever hit a human before if I wanted to disable him. I took another step.
“Ah ah, I warned you.” The Hunter’s free hand shot out, held in front with his fingers spread wide. I felt the burning at my neck before a small fire flared from the runes in the collar, making me cry out before the pink leather fell to the ground in two pieces. I shot a hand to my neck, but already I was feeling fur spread, without the spell to keep me in human form.
It itched like mad under my clothes. I didn’t have a chance to dismiss them into my Nowhere, after all. The pieces of cloth became lightly binding under the thick fur, and I reached a thickening paw-hand up to tear them apart. Once my clothing was discarded, I grimaced and picked up the ruined collar. “You… You utter… monster! This was Master’s gift to me!”
His face twisted in rage. “You? You call ME a monster? Take a look at yourself! An abomination like you pretending to be a human is an insult to all of us!”
Ben tried to squirm free again, or at least loosen the Hunter’s grip on his throat. Able to get a couple words out, he hoarsely spoke. “Why…? Why hurt her? Me? Anyone? Who are you to do this?”
“Why? Because I am Malik, the best Hunter the Sightless Third Eye has ever seen! I have NEVER failed my mission, I have always killed the mage I was assigned!” He shoved Ben roughly, his freed hand pulling out a handgun from a holster and pointing it at Ben. “And that includes killing those who aid and abet mages! And constructs like her! She’s an abomination against nature, she should never have existed, and it’s disgusting that bastard created her! But since you want to be her ‘friend’, rest assured she’ll die soon after you do!”
With his attention on Ben and his rant, I was able to leap forward, pushing off the ground and punching him in the face, smashing it into the brick facade of the building behind him. Ben took the chance to scramble for cover, though the empty lot contained precious little.
When Malik tried to regain his footing from the surprise attack, I kicked him in the chest with a hoof strike that echoed between these buildings, but it felt like slamming into a wall. He barely even flinched, despite the force I used. His free hand swung and caught me on the side of the head, making me stumble back. It was a stronger punch than I’d taken in a long time.
“Rude. Know your PLACE!” Bringing the gun to bear, Malik fired before I could dodge. The bright flash stung my eyes, but the searing pain erupting in my shoulder was far worse. The bullet had torn through muscle and possibly struck bone, passing all the way through to embed itself into the wall behind me in a spray of blood. I couldn’t help but scream, stumbling as my left arm dropped uselessly to my side, my right paw pressed against the wound, but I had to get out of the line of that gun.
Ben gasped at the sight and sound. “Shit! Flopsy!” I don’t know if that was a mistake, or if Malik was going to target him anyway. Most likely, he would have, since that was his goal.
It looked like Malik was a little dizzy from my first strike, shaking his head to clear it as he brought his arm up to aim at Ben, who was trying to keep moving, but it would only be a matter of seconds before the gun would fire again.
I fought through the haze of pain as I watched. Desperate. There had to be something I could do. Malik wouldn’t be caught off-guard like that again. I didn’t have time to lunge. I had to… Had to… There had to be something…! What would Master do against this foe? No, that was no good, Master would just use magic. I could even see the runes he’d use. The Start Rune, the entry point for magical energy into a spell. The Fire Rune, building flaming energy. A Force Rune, to project that energy with force to hit a foe. Repeat Runes, that would copy the energy into multiple pathways all doing the same thing, for greater effect. The End Rune, the rune that allowed the spell to link back with your own energy so it would flow through the runes at all. The runes would hang in the air, just like…
Like they were right now, around my outstretched right arm.
And then Master would channel his energy into them, pushing the flow of his magic into the runes, and activating the spell. Like… Like…
Like I felt myself doing. Similar to how I activated my collar’s spells. Mages often used a word of their own choosing to help them focus on a spell, something mostly nonsense but one that would reinforce the mental image of the runes and the specific way they extended their energy. The runes flared brilliantly as four lances of flame spread outward, only to fling themselves forward, converging on Malik’s chest. Something about the situation pulled a memory I didn’t know I had, and I couldn’t resist shouting. “FLAELI!” With four beams, even if he had dodged, at least some would have hit him. But it was such a surprise to both of us that he could only watch as they slammed into him and exploded, making him impact the door behind him and crumple to his knees.
The front of his coat was burnt, and it revealed the leather armor he wore underneath, red lines glowing as it tried to absorb the impact, but couldn’t protect against the heat. The gun had fallen out of his hand and onto the ground. Malik looked up at me with horror and confusion, coughing for fresh air that didn’t reek of burned skin and hair and leather. “What…? How…?”
I didn’t answer, because I didn’t have an answer. Instead, I rushed forward, but he sidestepped me before I could drive my knee into his face. I still couldn’t use my left arm, even having it hang was exceedingly painful, and it wouldn’t respond to attempts to raise it. My breathing was ragged, but so was his. Raindrops started to patter on stone, slowly at first, but faster as the clouds overhead started to release. I felt it on my fur, heard it hitting brick and metal trash cans. But I didn’t pay it much mind right now, my entire focus was on Malik, and stopping him from harming Ben. Keeping him away from the dropped gun.
His dagger came out once more, flashing in the harsh lights, as he swiped at me. I wasn’t going to underestimate him this time, I made sure to keep him from scoring more than the shallowest of hits. And for each one that did land, I made sure to punish him with a strike to his arm or chest. Each time I hit, the armor’s lines flashed a little less bright. Whatever was powering those protective enchantments was wearing thin.
Malik shook his head when wet hair went into his eyes, cursing as he jumped back. “Fuck! Too wet… No more playing, abomination!” Darting forward, he drove the dagger’s point towards my chest, but I swayed back, allowing me to avoid the strike and grab his arm. Gritting my teeth, I twisted my step and used his momentum to bring him over my shoulder, slamming him onto the ground.
His other hand grabbed at my ankles, but I stepped over him, blocking him in place, as I twisted his arm until the dagger fell. I think I heard the elbow joint pop, but I wasn’t sure. Now that I had him trapped, I raised one hoof and set it on the side of his head. “It’s over, Malik. Surrender. You’re going to pay for your crimes.”
Instead of the reaction I was expecting, he began to laugh. “Surrender? Or what? You… You can’t win… Stupid Construct, you can’t kill… But I can! Watch, as you fail to protect another precious Master of yours, as you will always, always fail!” His free hand reached under the remains of his coat, pulling out a second gun. Bringing it up, he pointed it at Ben, raising it towards his chest. Ben was trapped, against the wall, watching as time crawled painfully slow. It felt like hours between heartbeats as the gun rose in Malik’s hand, that hideous, cruel laughter echoing in the rain.
I couldn’t stop him. I couldn’t get through that armor. In locking his body, I’d locked myself as well. I couldn’t stop him. I couldn’t change my position without letting him go. Even if I could, it would take too much time. I couldn’t stop him! I couldn’t use my left arm, my right arm was holding his right arm, he was on his left side on the ground. My left leg was pressed against his back, while my right hoof was pressed against his head. I couldn’t stop him!
Without killing him.
But I could kill him.
It was the only way to stop him. By the next heartbeat, he would pull the trigger and kill Ben, if I didn’t kill him right now.
I chose to do it. My face contorting into rage and grief, I brought my hoof down with all my strength. I felt the pressure give way as my hoof came down, shattering his skull underneath like the shell of an egg. The metal shoe slammed into the pavement, obliterating most of Malik’s head. Even his armor couldn’t stop it, since it was mostly covering his chest.
The sound that filled my ears in that horrible moment, that wet squelch and sickening crunch, was over as quickly as it started, and all that was left was the dead quiet of rain falling, and two sets of breathing. The third set had been silenced.
The arm in my grip had gone completely limp. I let it fall, stumbling off as dizziness swept over me. Bracing myself against a wall, I heaved as my stomach’s contents emptied themselves onto the pavement, the rain slowly washing it away.
“Jesus…” Ben, leaning against the wall, was also shaking. His eyes were locked on the body, until finally he was able to pull them away and look up at me. “Flopsy, you… You saved me.”
I spat the last of the mess from my mouth, coughing as I stood up, shuddering. “I… I killed him.”
“Yeah, but… but you… you HAD to. He… He was insane. He gave you no choice.” Carefully giving the corpse a wide berth, Ben came over, reaching a hand out and touching it to my right paw.
I flinched and pulled away, my breathing quickening. I shook my head. “N-no, I… I killed… I h-had a choice, I made a choice, and I Killed!”
Undeterred, Ben stepped forward, hugging me tight, though he was careful of my injury. “What choice? Let us both die so a mass murderer can live? How’s that a choice?”
I guess he was gambling that I wouldn’t retaliate. It paid off, as I froze completely. I couldn’t dare harm Ben. I was simply stuck, hyperventilating, the dizziness worsening. Ben guided me to lean against the wall, standing in a different spot than where I’d just vomited. I felt his heartbeat against mine, listened to his breathing, felt his warmth through the chill rain that was soaking into my fur. It took a bit of time, but finally I was able to get myself back under control enough to speak. “I don’t know. I… I killed a human… What do I do?”
Ben didn’t even pull away enough to look up at me. “You saved my life. You saved both our lives. If you didn’t kill him, I’d be dead.”
My mind was just… blank. I couldn’t process anything. I couldn’t stop replaying that moment, that hated, horrid moment. Looking down, I realized there was something in my left paw. Instead of being completely limp, the paw had retained its grip the entire time. With great pain, I bent the elbow enough without using the shoulder to be able to inspect it. Inside was the pink collar, still buckled, but the ends burnt where Malik had destroyed it. Only then did I really feel how empty my neck felt.
And how empty my heart felt. I’d avenged Master, but… the cost. I’d lost everything. Not just the collar, I’d become everything a Construct like me must not be. A threat. A killer. A rogue. A monster. I thought about letting the ruined collar drop, but I couldn’t bring myself to let go completely. I gripped it again and let my arm hang once more, my other paw resting on Ben’s back as he held himself close to me. At least I didn’t lose Ben, too.
“Flopsy. Let’s get home, okay?”
I nodded. I bent down to pick up my ruined clothing, the pockets would still have things like my phone in them. As I did, I saw light glint off the blade of Malik’s dagger. Gingerly, I picked that up too.
“What’s that knife?” Ben noticed me collect the blade.
“It’s… the knife that killed Master.” Standing up, I stared at it, thinking. “I… I want to bring it to his grave.” After that, I wasn’t sure what I would do. Bury it? Leave it there? Shatter it? …Destroy myself with it? I just knew I couldn’t consider Master to be at rest until I got there.
Ben nodded, a hand on my shoulder. “All right. Here, take my coat, that should help hide you until we get home.” He started pulling off the long raincoat he had on, draping it over my shoulders.
The cold, dreary rain kept us from running into any people this late at night, and we made it home without further incident. Not that I really remember the trip, just putting one hoof in front of the other, letting Ben lead.
What little sleep found me was quickly rejected. Nightmares of all sorts caused me to wake within minutes of drifting off each time exhaustion caught me. I was still awake as the sun rose. Turning on the TV for a distraction, it seemed Ben didn’t fare much better, as he emerged bleary-eyed from the back rooms. “You too, huh?” I called to him. I was sitting on the couch, hugging my knees to my chest. No matter how thoroughly I had cleaned myself, I still expected to leave a blood-stained hoofprint everywhere it touched.
“Well, I did almost die last night. That kind of thing leaves an impression.” Stretching, he looked at me for a moment. “We should eat breakfast. Life goes on, after all.”
Glumly, I stared at the screen without really watching it. “For us. Not for Malik.”
“No, not for him. But, if it did go on for him, then it wouldn’t for us. Or for who knows how many others. He’d killed seven mages, he said, and I doubt he was planning to retire any time soon.” He sat down next to me on the couch, resting a hand on my knee.
“And that was just the mages. Even he didn’t count all his kills.” I knew Ben’s words had merit, but I just couldn’t bring myself to truly take them to heart. I gave Ben a side-long glance. “I thought you wanted breakfast.”
The corner of his mouth turned down in a frown. “I said we should eat. I’m not particularly hungry, I just know it’s a thing we should do. Try to get back to some sense of normality.”
I turned my gaze back to the TV. “Normality, he says, to the six foot bunny-horse Construct from another world in his living room that just fought a psychotic Hunter cultist to the death not ten hours ago.”
“Hah.” There was a slight grin. “It’s amazing, what becomes normal when you get used to it, isn’t it?”
I was about to smile and say something else, when the cameras changed on screen, bringing in a new set of talking heads. “In other news, a body was found dead last night. The victim has not yet been identified, but the cause of death is particularly gruesome. On the scene now is our correspondent.”
Any hope that it would be a different body fell when the camera switched to the same back-alley lot we’d been in last night. It looked different in the day, but not different enough. A reporter in an expensive suit contrasted with someone in a shabby-looking rumpled raincoat, a thick cigar between his fingers. I didn’t need the banner at the bottom to identify Lieutenant Falk. “Well, you see here, I gotta be honest with you. I ain’t never seen anything like this, in all my years on the force. We don’t even know what could’a done this. I got a cousin down in Nevada who works in one of those steel mills, and he told me one time about a coworker of his that got caught in one of the machines. Lost an arm, says it looked a lot like this kinda thing, except… Well, I don’t wanna say too much on TV, it’s not good.”
The reporter seemed to grimace at the long-winded nature of Falk’s stories. “What can you say to help put the minds of the good people of Lapine Falls at ease?”
“Well, you know how it is. Ongoing investigation and all that, can’t say too much. Nothing’s ruled out at this point, but it’s still really early. Unfortunately, on account of the rain, that really did a number on the scene, but we’ll find everything there is to find. I’ve already got a few leads I want to look into, maybe they’ll turn something up, maybe they won’t. What I can say is, there’s probably not someone running around with a steel mill machine.”
Eagerly taking back his mic, the reporter looked at the camera. “More on this story as it develops. For now, if you know anything about the Butler Street Body, make sure to contact the police at the number shown below. Back to you in the studio.”
I shuddered as nausea swam in my stomach, but I fought the urge to bring anything up. There wasn’t anything there anyway.
Ben sighed heavily. “I think it goes without saying, but I don’t think either of us should report this yet. I have no idea how to explain this in a way they’d understand.”
I looked down at the pile of clothes on the floor. We’d already emptied the pockets, which was just my phone and the card from earlier today, and thankfully both had survived the water. “I could call using the ‘burner phone’ as Superbunny, but I can’t access my Nowhere with my collar destroyed… I’ve lost everything in it.”
He sighed again, resting a hand on my knee. “It’ll be okay. We’ll get through this.”
I pulled my knee away, shaking my head. “I… I don’t know.”