The following short story is based on characters created and/or copyrighted by SEGA! Enterprises, DiC Productions, Archie Comic Publishers, Fleetway Comic Publishers, and the Taki Corporation. All other characters were created and copyrighted by Roland Lowery. The author gives permission to distribute this work freely as long as it remains intact and unaltered, and the transfer of monetary units is not involved. Questions, comments, suggestions, complaints? Send them to me at . I enjoy hearing from people who can spell. Chaotic Multiverse Tale #12 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Quote for the day: "To thine own self be true." -William Shakespeare, Hamlet ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Walkabout by Roland Lowery BUNNIE FOUND herself running through the Great Forest. It was night time, and she could hear crickets and various other animals in the darkness. She stopped running and started listening. She heard a deep, sibilant hissing off to her left. She felt compelled to follow the sound. She pushed bushes and branches out of her way as she made a path deeper into the forest. She literaly stumbled over the source of the hissing. She fell to the ground, then looked back. Her left leg was laying on top of a snake that looked to be longer than fifty feet and bigger around than a soccer ball. The snake began to curl around her leg, trapping her. It raised its head and stared Bunnie directly in the eyes. She felt the snake turn her on her back and curl around her body, but all she could do was look in the beast's eyes. The eyes were putrid, with green ooze pouring from their edges, and they were glazed over with milk white cataracts. The cataracts, too, oozed, but they let out a yellowish substance instead. Bunnie tried to regain control of herself, but it was useless. She felt the ooze dripping on the parts of her body that the snake had not covered yet, yet should could do nothing about it. When the reptile reached her neck, it opened its mouth. The tissue inside was whitish-yellow, puffy and cancerous looking. Even as Bunnie watched, parts of the snake's mouth dissolved and reformed. The fangs were long, sharp, and dripping with venom. And the snake spoke. "I love you, Bunnie. Will you die for me?" The voice was raspy. It sounded like two pieces of sandpaper being rubbed together, and it grated on Bunnie's brain, as if the snake had spoken directly into her mind. The snake's control on Bunnie disappeared, and it laid perfectly still, waiting for her answer. "N-no," stammered Bunnie. The control snapped back like a rubber band. The snake coiled tighter around the helpless rabbit. "Maybe," said the snake, "maybe I can change your mind about that." She screamed as the snake lowered its head. Bunnie Elizabeth Rabbot awoke in her hut with a scream stuck in her throat. She sat up straight in her bed, sweat gushing from every pore in her body. She sat still for a few moments, trying to catch her breath. When she was finally able to breathe again, she gulped and gasped for air as if she were drowning. Then as quickly as she possibly could, she jumped out of bed, ran into the bathroom, and promptly threw up. That morning, she had been posted on guard duty on the outskirts of the hidden village of Knothole. She had to leave her post early, however, because she kept falling asleep. "Ah jus' don' know what's happenin' t'me, Sally girl," she said. Sally Acorn reached across the table and put her hand on Bunnie's shoulder. "We all have bad dreams now and then," she said. "Not ME!" Bunnie nearly shouted. "At least," she amended in a softer tone, "not anymore." When Bunnie had first been partially roboticized, she had been plauged by nightmares every time she had fallen asleep. Most of them were recurring, the same thing over and over again. However, when she had finally accepted her new limbs and pulled herself back together, she never had another nightmare. That is, until now. Just then, Sonic T. Hedgehog burst in with his normal flair. "Whassup?" he asked. Before either Bunnie or Sally could answer, Sonic's attention was grabbed by a bowl of fruit on the table. "Mmm . . . sustanence . . . " He grabbed an apple and bit into it. "Hmm . . . " he mumbled. "Not a chili dog, but it'll do. Whassup?" he asked again as if he hadn't already. "Bunnie has been having some bad dreams, and they're keeping her up at night," Sally said. "For real?" said Sonic. "Mundo malo, Bun. What kind of dreams?" Bunnie told him about the snake dream and the many other dreams that followed the same theme. Sonic chomped on his apple and thought for a minute after she was done. "That's quite a problem," he finally said. "Mebbe you should try a walkabout." "A whut?" asked Bunnie. "A walkabout. Tails told me about it. He sez that he heard about it when he went Downunda a while ago. Basically, it's just what it sounds like. You walk around until you feel better." "How far do yuh walk?" Sonic shrugged. "The way I understood it, as far as you want or as far as it takes." Bunnie nodded. She said, "Sounds good. Ah think ah'll try it. Uh, if tha's all raght with you, Princess." Sally smiled and patted her friend on the back. "Need help packing?" she asked. Bunnie's walkabout began the next day. She was only carrying two bags with her, a backpack and a satchel. The backpack contained all of the nescessities. A flashlight, small tent, sleeping bag, toilettries, knife, flares, first aid kit, and other camping supplies. The satchel contained all of her dehydrated food and bottled water. She had enough supplies to last for a week or two. Tails dissuaded her from taking books or anything else to read. "For the walkabout, your mind has to be clear of everything but your environment. It doesn't matter if you're in the Great Forest or in Robotropolis." Sonic ruffled Tails' hair and said, "Kinda zen for your age, aren't ya, big guy?" "Oh, hush," said Bunnie. "Li'l ol' shugah Tails is makin' a whole lotta sense!" When Bunnie turned her back, Tails stuck his tongue at Sonic. All of Knothole's citizens who weren't busy with guard duty or chores were present to see Bunnie off. She waved to all of them, gave hugs to her closest friends, and stepped off into the Great Forest. Bunnie felt herself already getting into the mood of the walkabout. Her mind was clear, every breath she took was of clean and cleansing air, and she was absorbing every sound in the forest. She had always been disappointed that she usually never had the time to do things like this. Being a Freedom Fighter was an 18 hour obligation most days. She generally had just enough time to sleep before chores had to be done, missions had to be accomplished, and duties had to be performed. Except for postings in remote guard areas, Bunnie rarely had anytime for herself. Even solo missions to Robotropolis and other places were fraught with SWATbot attacks and meetings with other Freedom Fighter factions. But now, she was all alone. The only intrusion on her solitude was the occasional forest animal running across her path. The isolation was a wonderful feeling for Bunnie. She felt as free as the birds in the branches above her. Around midnight, Bunnie came across a small clearing with a stream running through it. Out of curiosity, she pulled out her compass and roughly estimated the stream's direction as northwest to southeast. She decided to set up camp. Not that her legs were tired, of course, being metal and wires, but her lungs and her brain were NOT cybernetic, and they both cried for rest. She started a fire with driftwood from the stream and tree branches she cut down with her hatchet. After getting it started, she put up the matches and curled up in her sleeping bag. "I love you, Bunnie. Will you die for me?" Same voice, same scenario, different animal. A tiger was holding her down. She felt the sharp claws digging into her flesh and bone shoulder while her cybernetic one was bending under the pressure. The tiger's mouth was drooling pus, gray and sticky, onto Bunnie. Its eyes were black holes, void of eyeballs ore anything else. The control snapped off. "BASTARD!" Bunnie screamed. She spat in the tiger's face. The control snapped on. The big cat seemed unpeturbed by the spittle dangling from its whiskers. "I thought," it said, "that we had gone over this already." The last thing Bunnie felt before waking up was the tiger's cold breath on her face and dripping pus on her neck. Bunnie stopped for a rest that afternoon. She pulled a bag of dried apricots from her satchel and sat down at the foot of a tree. As she ate the dried fruit, she looked around. She had never realized just how big the Great Forest was. It was no wonder why Robotnik, the not-so-good doctor of robotics, had such a difficult time trying to find the Freedom Fighter villages located inside. Slowly, Bunnie felt herself nodding off. The sounds of the forest were lulling, and she had only gotten four hours of sleep last night. She tried to get up and walk some morel, but she was unable to concentrate on standing. The bag of dried apricots slid slowly off of Bunnie's lap, then fell to the forest floor. An ape with literally popping muscles. The skin teared open and blood poured freely down its arms. The eyes were reptilian - small slitted pupils darted this way and that. The question. The refusal. The admonition. Where am I? thought Bunnie. She had woken up in a bed, which in turn was in a bedroom. She was quessing that the room was in a house, but where would the house be? The Great Forest, seemingly, but without windows in the room, she couldn't tell for sure. Except for the lightbulb hanging from the ceiling and the bed Bunnie was laying on, the room was bare. She stood up out of the bed and realized that she, too, was bare. "What the-?!" she exclaimed. Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of someone walking around outside of the bedroom door. She quickly grabbed the bed's top sheet and wrapped it around herself. The door's lock clicked, and the door swung open. "'Allo," said a lightly accented male voice, "I see you're awake." "Who are you?" asked Bunnie. "My name is Bill. Bill Goat." Bunnie almost laughted out loud. "Is that s'posed t'be a joke, mistuh?" Bill stepped into the room, leaned on the door frame, and rolled his eyes. "Sort of," he said. "My parents were real jokesters. Only they would think ter name their kid 'Billy Goat'. Are yer feeling any better?" "Um, yes." Bunnie shifted the bed sheet. "Say, uh, where are mah clothes?" When she had fallen asleep at the tree, she had been wearing hiking shorts, a t-shirt, and a light jacket. Bill looked shocked for a second. "Ohmigosh, I fergot! I'm sorry!" He turned his back. "I, uh, had ter clean 'em." "Are they clean yet?" "Er, no." "Then can Ah have somethin' else t'wear for th'tahm bein'?" "Of course! I'll be right back!" The black haired goat left the room. He returned a minute later, his back still to Bunnie, with a handful of clothes similar to what he himslef was wearing. Since he couldn't see behind him, he was randomly stabbing the clothes in Bunnie's general direction. After a few futile grabs, Bunnie gave up. "Ah think it's alright t'turn around, shugah. Ah'm covered." Bill breathed a sigh of relief and spun around. After Bunnie got dressed, they moved into the house's living room. Through a window - through four large bay windows, in fact - Bunnie could see that they were in the Great Forest. *A* forest, anyway. "Beautiful, isn't it?" asked Bill as he motioned her to a seat. "After the Great War, when Warlord Julian betrayed the King, my father came out here and built this house with his bare hands." "We ARE in th'Great Forest, ain't we?" Bunnie asked. "Oh, yes," confirmed Bill. "How did yuh find me?" Bill's face clouded over. "I found yer wandering around," he said. "You seemed ter be in a delerium of some sort. Yer clothes were drenched with sweat and river water, and yer were caked with mud. Yer ran up ter me and fell inter my arms. "I brought yer here and cleaned yer up. Yer know the rest. Yer lucky I was out on me daily walk, or yer could've fallen inter a river or pond and drowned!" "Thank you for savin' me." "The pleasure was mine." Bunnie laughed. "Ah'm sure it was!" Bill blushed and stammered, "Uh, I, uh, I didn't mean it like that!" "Ah know y'didn't, shugah," she giggled. "Jus' funnin' with yuh." "Yer clothes, ah, should be ready in a minute." "Y'all got a washin' machine heah?" Bill puffed his chest out. "Me dad built only the best." "Where is yoah dad?" asked Bunnie. Bill's chest deflated. "He's, ah, he's dead. A grizzly bear attacked him a while back." Bunnie was stunned. "Ah'm so sorry," she said. "S'okay. But, enough about me. What's YER story?" She could see the real question in his face, so she answered it first. "Th'arm an' legs are th'price of bein' a Freedom Faghter." She told him the story of her semi-roboticization, and from their they talked about her history as a Freedom Fighter. Bunnie learned some interesting facts about Bill as well. For instance, he was 18 years old, loved nature, and made an EXCELLENT pot of spaghetti. Bunnie rubbed her belly and said, "It's gonna take me a MONTH t'exercise all these ol' calories off!" She and Bill laughed as they settled in the living room chairs. The light through the bay windows dwindled as the sun set. The two of them watched as the disk sank slowly behind the trees. They didn't speak for almost an hour. Bill finally broke the silence. "Yer clothes are clean," he said softly. Bunnie giggled. "A li'l late f'that now," she said. "I hope y'all don' mind havin' a houseguest for another night." "Not at all!" he said. They stood up and faced each other. "G'night," said Bunnie. "'Night," said Bill. She suprised both of them by leaning forward and kissing Bill's lips lightly, then again, harder. Bill backed away a step, then moved forward into an embrace. For the first night in a month, Bunnie had no nightmares. She awoke the next morning, curled in Bill's embrace. Her skin tingled and her fur stood on end as the goat's warm breath blew on her cheek. Her body thrilled at the touch of his and she pulled him a little closer, gently so as not to wake him up, then kissed him lightly on the forehead. Bill mumbled then continued his steady breathing. Bunnie let her mind drift back to the previous night. She and Bill had made love for close to an hour before they both fell asleep. It had been hard, at first, to get Bill to overcome his modesty, but Bunnie was able to help him get comfortable with both his body and her own. Strangely enough, Bunnie's robotic limbs did not encumber their lovemaking in the slightest, and had, in fact, seemed to enhance it. Bunnie had been careful not to squeeze Bill tightly enough to crack bone, and Bill had found some enjoyment from stroking her metallic parts. Bunnie had, for quite some time, dissuaded men from approaching her because she was afraid of any kind of long-term relationship that would eventually be broken because of her cybernetic limbs. Also, she hardly ever had time to hold a serious relationship - sexual or otherwise - with anyone except the other core Freedom Fighters, who she saw on a day to day basis. She never had these kinds of feelings for any of them, however, because it would seem to much like falling in love with a brother. Now, though, she wasn't a Freedom Fighter. She was Bunnie Rabbot, a Mobian with feelings and urges just like everyone else. She, at least temporarily, was a normal person and could do as she pleased. She gently dislodged herself from the sleeping goat's embrace. She searched for and found one of Bill's robes, put it on, and walked into the kitchen. There, she began to fix breakfast. She was just finishing scrambling the eggs when she found the message. Its appearance and content caused her heart to skip a beat. She dropped the bowl and fork. The bowl broke and sprayed egg and ceramic chips on the floor. The message was written in blood on the kitchen wall and said, "I love you, Bunnie. Will you die for me?" It took her a few seconds for her to realize that she was holding her breath. It came out as an explosive scream. The world was turning black around the edges. Stars burst in front of her eyes. She blinked, then blinked again, but the words stayed on the wall. Her knees buckled and landed in a puddle of egg goo. She held herself up by grabbing the kitchen counter. The last thing she remembered was Bill running into the kitchen. Later she wrote it off as lightheadedness, but she would swear that Bill's body was wavering in and out of existence. She awoke and saw Bill standing over her. She was laying on his bed. He was holding and stroking her hand. When he noticed that she was awake, he asked, "Are yer alright?" "Th' . . . words, th' . . . question . . . " was all she could say. "What words?" asked Bill. "Ah . . . won't die . . . for tha' . . . tha' thin' . . . " "Of course not," said Bill. "You just go back ter sleep. Everything will be all right . . . " "But, it was there!" Bunnie cried. Bill shook his head sadly. "It wasn't there when I ran in, Bunnie. Nothing was." "But, they were . . . " "It's alright," said Bill. They were sitting on the living room couch, Bunnie's head in Bill's lap. He stroked her hair and stared out the windows. "Everything is going ter be fine." Bunnie decided that it was time for her to leave. She got her clothes back and prepared her backpack. That was when she noticed that her satchel was missing. "Bill?" "In here," came Bill's voice from the kitchen. She found him at the table, drinking a cup of coffee. "Bill, when yuh found me out in the forest, was Ah carryin' a small satchel?" she asked. Bill looked thoughtful for a second, then said, "No, just the backpack. Was it important?" "Well, yah," she said, "it is. It has all mah food in it." "If you'd like, you could just take some of mine and-" "No, shugah, Ah wouldn't want t'inconvenience yuh lahke that." "Well . . . okay." He didn't look too happy. "I could, ah, go out and look for it if you want." "Would'ja? Thanks." "I don't suspect it'll be in too good of a shape, though. Bears love to root through unprotected packages." He finished his coffee, put the cup in the sink, kissed Bunnie lightly on the cheek, and left. The next four hours were the strangest of Bunnie's life. She spent the entire first hour searching the house for something to do while Bill was gone. She looked through all of the cabinets in the living room, but couldn't find a single book or magazine. She had figured that Bill got bored often on his own and had some around, but it appeared that this was not the case. In Bill's room, she only found clothes. In the kitchen, only dishes, cookware, utensils, and food. She was about to search the basement when she heard a noise. It was a steady, rythmic thumping. It seemed to emenate from the floor under Bunnie's feet. She kneeled down and listened. The thumping sounded familiar, but she couldn't place it. A minute later, she realized that it was the rythm of the thumping, not the sound itself, that was so familiar. It was slightly mangled, but it was one of the Freedom Fighter's tapping codes. She waited until it said "repeat", then started translating. "I . . . L . . . O . . . V . . . E . . . you, B . . . U . . . nnie . . . " She jumped out of her kneeling position. She didn't need to hear the rest to know what it said. She ran to the front door and turned the knob. The knob refused to be turned. She tried the lock, but it was already unlatched. The thumping started getting louder. The windows began to rattle with each beat. Bunnie grabbed the doorknob with her robotic left hand and twisted with all of her might. There was a sound of rending metal as the knob came off in her hand. By now, the thumping was shaking the entire house. Bunnie punched the door. It splintered, but held. She continued punching, but nothing more happened. She grabbed a chair and threw it at a window, but it merely bounced off. The thumping became so severe that it threw Bunnie off of her feet. She crawled over to her backpack on the couch and waited. The door suddenly splintered outward of its own accord, and Bunnie launched herself from the couch and jumped out through the empty frame. Bunnie Rabbot found herself running through the Great Forest. It was day, and she could hear birds and various other day time noises in the trees. She did not stop to listen. She heared a deep, silbilant hissing off to her left. She ran on past it. She pushed bushes and branches out of her way as she made a path deeper into the forest. She stumbled over something. She fell to the ground, then looked back. Her left leg was laying on top of her satchel. Bill was standing over her. "I thought you'd be waiting at the house," he said. All traces of his accent were gone. "Ah- Ah-" she stammered. "No, no," said bill. "It's alright, my love. Everything is going to be alright." His voice became thin and raspy. Bunnie tried to speak, but everything got caught in her throat. She tried to get up, but her cybernetic legs wouldn't respond. "I loved you, Bunnie. I accepted you while others thought you were a freak." His voice changed more and more as he talked. "N-no-" Bunnie managed to say. "YES! Those 'Freedom Fighters' back there at Knothole? They don't really love you, much less LIKE you! All you are to them is a tool. Someone to do all the dirty work. 'Get Bunnie to do it, she's strong!' That's not PRAISE, that's shirking of responsiblity and then dumping it on YOU! "But I . . . I love you for who you are, my love. I care for you, and will continue to do so if you will just come back with me." Bill's voice had become almost too raspy to understand, but he continued to rant. "We'll fix the house. Then, you and I can live in it . . . forever. You won't have to live with the predjudice that comes with those limbs anymore. You won't have to deal with other poeple's problems, their stares, their words whispered behind your back. You can live with ME and we can be HAPPY!" He reached down and turned Bunnie onto her back, then laid on top of her and held her arms down. "I love you, Bunnie. Will you die for me?" She pushed with all of her might, might born of a mixture of robotic strength and adrenaline rush. Bill, unprepared for such an attack, flew straight up into the air. On the way up, he crashed through the branches of the tree they had been under. Bunnie quickly rolled out of the way just before the larges branches could crush her. She dug her satchel out of the destruction and ran. She had no idea which way she was headed, and she didn't care. She cared almost an hour later when she ran right up to Bill's front porch. She was perplexed as to how she had come full circle. A scream filled the air. It was faint at first, but grew in pitch. Bunnie looked up and was suprised to see Bill falling from the sky. She watched as he crashed through his house's roof. The house exploded silently. Pieces flew all around Bunnie, but none of them hit her and there was no noise, not even the whistling of wood pieces as they flew by. Bill's scream still rang out. She looked and saw him standing on the house's foundation. He stopped screaming and pointed at Bunnie. In his raspy voice, he said, "WRONG . . . ANSWER." His body rippled. Each ripple emitted a ghostly whisper that grew in intensity as the ripples picked up speed. His body started to bulge and take on a new form as it grew. His features were lost as he became a dark cloud that slowly took a new shape. Before Bunnie's disbelieving eyes, Bill had become a monstorous cloud beast, complete with fangs, claws, and glowing red eyes. Bunnie almost immediately recognized what Bill had turned into. The cloudy body, the mishappen head, the undersized body, all of it fit the description of a child's fairy tale, the Jinthal, the Forest Spirit. The Jinthal was a ghost that took on the life of someone who had died in the forest. They would lure people into the wooded area that they haunted so that they would have live Mobian companionship. If the unlucky Mobian didn't accept the Forest Spirit's companionship, then- -then they died. Death dealt out by a Forest Spirit was supposed to be a torture WORSE than death. It was gruesome, painful, and time consuming. When the Jinthal caught its prey, it would slowly drain the life from them over a period of three years. The Mobian was kept alive for just that long, long enough to see their limbs wither and fall off as they died, piece by piece. Bunnie turned and ran. She heard the Forest Spirit crashing through the trees after her. She didn't know how long she could outrun it. She was in good shape, and she had her cybernetic parts, but an hour of steady running and one shock after another wore even her down. She had to come up with a plan. She tried to remember everything she had ever heard about the Jinthal legend. They couldn't leave the forest that they inhabited, but she couldn't very well run for the forest's border. Even if she did, that would leave her stranded outside, unable to get back to Knothole. Forest Spirits often had an animal follower, but Bunnie didn't know where Bill's follower would be in the huge forest, what type of animal it would be, or even if Bill actually had one, so she couldn't hold it hostage. Suddenly, she tripped and fell into water. She stood up, wiped water out of her eyes, and looked around. She was suprised to find herself at the stream she had camped at the first night of her walkabout. The water! Something about the water rang a bell in Bunnie's memory, but she couldn't remember the specifics of it. Now what cou- Bunnie's train of thought was interrupted by the Jinthal's cloudy body crashing out into the clearing. The spirit seemed confused. It looked around the clearing and sniffed the air. It spoke in its raspy voice. "Bunnie . . . Buuuuunnieeeeeeeee . . . " It looked around the clearing, and stared right through Bunnie at one point. She expected it to attack at any moment, but it continued to look and sniff the air. She stood there, confused and dripping- She started splashing more water on herself. She finally remembered the bit about the water being invisible to the Forest Spirit. It had something to do with it being of a speparate elemental plane than the spirit, Bunnie couldn't remember. She walked up to the spirit and tapped it on its big, ugly snout. "Boo." The spirit lost cohesion for a second, spun around like a tornado, then returned to its original form. "Wh-wha-" it sputtered. Obviously, it didn't know about its own vulverablity, or had temporarily forgotten it. "You ain't th'only one with powers, Bill," Bunnie said, hoping to trick it. "B-b-but-" "Why me, Bill? Why did you choose me outta hun'reds of others in th'Great Forest?" "R-random luck?" "Not good enough, Bill." The Jinthal stood, silent, for a long while. Finally, with a sigh, it sat down with its back against a tree, shook hits massive head, and began to talk. In life (it said) I was a man named Jeremy Kindred. I was a mental patient in the Mobotropolis Sanitarium. I had only one joy left in my life, and that was you. When you moved up from the Southern Territories, I saw you. You were young then . . . only six, I believe. I had always wanted a child. The want grew stronger when I went insane. I was, ah, diagnosed as schizophrenic. I knew that a child of my own would bring me out of my delusions, but none of the doctors would listen to me. So, when I saw you, I wished you had been mine. The fantasies I generated about you myself slowly drew me out of the fantasies I had no control over. One month before the wretched Julian betrayed the King and became Robotnik, I was diagnosed sane. I had tried to get near you to tell you how I felt after they let me out, but you were living up in the castle. I had heard that you were left in the King's care after being orphaned, so I tried to get them to let me adopt you. But . . . once again I was denied. And then came the Great Betrayal. When the SWATbots attacked, I stole a speed bike and rode off into the Great Forest. I don't know how, but they still found me. Instead of capturing me, the 'bots shot me on the spot. The next thing I knew, I was as you see me now. I crushed the SWATbots and hid in the forest. Five years later, I came upon a family of goats, Bill and his parents. I-I didn't want to, but I killed them and took on the form of Bill. Just a few months ago, I found you. It wasn't easy. Your village is hidden better than you think, both physically AND magically. I only stumbled upon it by accident. I was overjoyed. The reunion I had been waiting for years to happen would finally come to pass! I tried to reach you in your dreams, but I'm afraid that I messed up. I didn't mean to give you such awful nightmares! It was probably my schizophrenia affecting me after death. Heh. "Post-mortem insanity". But, it had the effect I had wanted, nonetheless. Once you were in the forest alone, I steered you towards me. Unfortunately, I kept making mistakes. When I left to get your bag, I saw no other choice but to do what I did. Another mistake in a long list of them . . . As it had been talking, the spirit had slowly reassumed the form and voice of Bill Goat. "I just wanted ter love you," he whispered. "Ah'm so sorry," Bunnie said softly. She kneeled beside him. "But Ah can't love a ghost." Bill looked up. "It's too late," he said. "We're bonded. Either you stay with me or I have ter kill yer." "Isn't there ANY way t'stop you from doin' that?" Bill looked down at his lap, then looked back up at the now-dry rabbit. "There may just be," he said. Later that week, Bunnie Rabbot stepped out of the Great Forest and into Knothole Village. Sonic, Sally, Tails, and Rotor were waiting at her hut to greet her. "Well, Ah'll be," she siad. "What're y'all doin' heah? Did y'all wait heah all week?" They all laughed. "Actually," said Rotor, "I'm suprised that you forgot how fast news travels around here!" "Welcome back, Bunnie!" said Sally. "It's good to BE back, Sally girl," answered Bunnie. As they crowded around her, Sonic asked, "Had any more bad dreams, Bun?" "Nope," Bunnie replied. "Tails' idea worked. Thanks, shugah." She patted Tails' head. "Your welcome, Aunt Bunnie!" Tails said cheerfully. "Hey, where'd you get that cool necklace?" "Ah made it." She held it out for them to see. On the simple string was an acorn with a picture carved on the surface. The acorn was covered with a clear substance that glinted in the sunlight. "Kewl," said Tails. "GROUP HUG!" yelled Sonic. Antoine happened to be walking by just then. "Oh," he said, "deed I mees sometheng?" Bunnie poked her head out of the group hug and laughed. "More'n any of y'all could ever know!" "And that, children, is the story behind this necklace," said Bunnie. She rocked her rocking chair as her two grandchildren soaked in the last of her words. She hadn't told them the whole story, of course. And of what she DID tell them, she wasn't sure how much of it they would believe. Now, decades later, she wasn't so sure she believed it all really happened herself. But whenever she found the memory fading, she simply shook the necklace and listened to the streamwater splash inside, and she would look at the carving of Bill's house on the front, and it all came back to her. Sometimes, during the night, she felt Bill's heat up against her body. On these nights, she dreamed of being young again, of being Bunnie Rabbot, Freedom Fighter . . . . . . and of being Bunnie Rabbit, free spirit, Mobian, person, and lover. THE END Roland Lowery