Lucky Rabbit

As soon as Pandy hit the ground – or rather the shrubbery – her wings vanished, which was exactly what happened in the game. Wings of Glory was a spell that took a lot of Stamina, and lasted only until the next time Clara landed. Because it was so Stamina-intensive, Pandy usually only used it if she chose to ‘Go for help’ when Kaden was injured, and if she was feeling particularly vindictive when the school bullies picked on her, since Kaden himself came to rescue her when he saw the wings, leading to the girls being expelled from school.

Of course, Pandy didn’t have Stamina any more, so presumably WoG would use Mana instead. That would be a truly horrendous magic-bill to pay. Fortunately, she had Corruption Points, and she’d just earned a lot more of them, so if she could just find some time when no one would notice that Thaniel’s pet rabbit had just sprouted wings, she could probably raise it at least a few levels.

A small mew came from beneath her, bringing Pandy’s attention back to the present. Quickly, she scrambled away from Miss Cupcakes, who lay tangled in the branches of the hydrangea, with a particularly large cluster of purple flowers dangling over one dazed yellow eye. As she did so, Pandy thought she could feel each individual claw pulling out of her flesh, which was both disgusting and painful.

Nonetheless, it wasn’t the kitten’s fault that she’d instinctively latched onto Pandy, so the rabbit focused on Miss Cupcakes and attempted to cast Minor Heal. Nothing happened, and she realized that since Thaniel wasn’t there and this courtyard wasn’t in Gacha Love, she would have to use Corruption Points.

she thought loudly.

Use One (1) Corruption Point to cast Minor Heal?

I really wish you’d stop asking, she thought peevishly. I meant what I said. she thought ‘out loud’, and suddenly felt very, very weak, even as Miss Cupcakes opened her visible eye wider and attempted to stand upright. This only succeeded in shaking both Pandy and the kitten out of the bush, where they landed together on the mulch surrounding the bush’s trunk. Pandy barely felt it, however, as the System’s final words faded from her sight.

Corruption Points reduced to Zero (0). Unable to maintain Possession of Host Body. Soul will be returned to Hell in 10… 9… 8… 7… 6… 5…

“Bunny! Bunny!” Pandy recognized Thaniel’s distraught voice as the boy pulled her from beneath the bush with what she would usually consider unnecessary roughness. Right now, however, she had only the faintest connection to the form she’d been unliving in for the past several months, and she barely felt her head flop to the side as the boy cradled her close.

“...up, Bunny...know you can…please…don’t die,” the hiccupping little voice managed, and moisture soaked into Pandy’s fur.

+1 Corruption Points for Bathing in the Tears of the Innocent

+1 Corruption Points for Bathing in the Tears of the Innocent

It wasn’t much, but it was enough. Pandy felt her senses sharpen, and her nose wiggled as she gave a squeaky gasp. Thaniel echoed it, holding her away from his body even as she opened her mouth to catch one of the tears dangling from his jaw.

+2 Corruption Points for Drinking the Tears of the Innocent

“Bunny, are you all right?” he choked out, and Pandy caught a glimpse of a white-faced Geraldine standing behind him. She was holding Miss Cupcakes, who was also staring at Pandy, with the confused expression of a predator whose greatest enemy had just offered her the last Raspberry Macaron.

“I’ll…I’ll go get Doctor Edwards. I’m sure he can…help,” Geraldine said, but she didn’t actually leave, and the look on her face said she doubted very much that the healer would be able to do anything. Pandy was certain she was covered in blood, and for all she knew, she might have lost an ear or her tail again as well.

Well, there was nothing for it. The two children must have seen Pandy’s wings, and Thaniel, at least, had to know there was something very odd about his pet. Normal rabbits just didn’t guide little boys out of their bedroom in the middle of the night, nor did they sit calmly sipping tea while wearing a lacy pink dress.

Pandy called up her Status, wincing at the numbers she saw.

Name: Pandy

Race: Rabbit? (Deceased)

Age: 24

LF: -42/0

Mana: 0/10

Stats

Strength: 3 Intelligence: 12 Agility: 15Skills

Hop: Lv. 15 (36.4%) Bite: Lv. 5 (20%) Scratch: Lv. 7 Minor Heal: Lv. 11 (68.38%) Wings of Glory: Lv. 1Corruption Points: 4

Four whole CP? And negative forty-two LF? But why? The fall hadn’t been that bad, thanks to the hydrangea, and while Miss Cupcakes’ claws had hurt, it hadn’t been forty points worth of pain. Then she remembered the terrible ripping feeling as her wings emerged, and realized not only what had happened, but why the two children looked so horrified.

But Pandy could do something about it, especially if she could get to the tears still rolling down Thaniel’s cheeks. She tried to reach for him, but barely twitched. So this would have to be done in stages, then.

She’d used her Mana healing Miss Cupcakes, and she didn’t quite regret it, but she definitely needed to get more Mana, and soon. The only way she knew to do that was by leveling up Minor Heal, which cost the very Mana she was trying to earn. That was a problem for future-Pandy, however. Right now, she needed to heal herself enough that she could get to those glittering tears.

she thought. Interestingly, the System didn’t ask her to confirm this time. Was that because Thaniel was here now, or was there something else at play? Future-Pandy was sure going to have a lot to think about. Later.

Casting of Minor Heal successful. 5.26% experience gained towards next level.

Healed Pandora for 20 LF.

Pandy drew in a deep, shuddering, and entirely unnecessary breath. As she’d hoped, Thaniel immediately folded her against his chest, and Pandy opened her mouth as the motion caused a single tear to fall. Those tears were beginning to dry, but Pandy needed at least a few more Corruption Points if she was going to finish healing. And then she was never, ever using her last CP again.

+2 Corruption Points for Drinking the Tears of the Innocent

Pandy thought.

Casting of Minor Heal successful. 5.26% experience gained towards next level.

Healed Pandora for 20 LF.

And that was it. Pandy felt parts of her body pulling in, skin closing, bones shifting, and then she felt no worse than if she’d turned her ankle while going downstairs, something which happened to human-Pandy with depressing regularity. She wriggled, then reached up and licked Thaniel’s chin, earning a few more CP for her efforts, as well as a startled gasp.

Once again, Thaniel held her away from his body, though his hands actually supported her back feet and belly as he did so, rather than holding her under her front legs and allowing the rest of her to dangle like he usually did. Again, Pandy didn’t have much experience with bunnies – pets or otherwise – in her original world, but she was pretty sure a normal rabbit wouldn’t have put up with such rough handling.

Pandy attempted her best version of a bunny smile, which was twitching her nose and ears at once, a combination that usually made Thaniel giggle. This time, his eyes only grew wide, and a little color came back into his cheeks.

“Bunny?” he asked. “Are you…okay?”

Well, no. Pandy hadn’t really been okay since she died, though she often thought she was doing better as a rabbit in this world than she ever had as a human in her old one. Still, she nodded, and this time when Thaniel clutched her to him, it was with a sob of what sounded like relief.

“That’s impossible,” a little voice whispered, and Pandy peered over Thaniel’s shoulder as she rubbed against his cheek, trying to get in one more CP before the tears dried. Geraldine was still standing there, holding her cat, who looked up at the girl with an expression that said, “I tried to tell you,” as clearly as words.

Then Geraldine’s mouth split in a huge grin, and she nearly shouted, “Thaniel, you must have Light magic, just like your brother! You healed her! And you must be terribly powerful for your magic to have appeared naturally. And on your birthday!” Her brown eyes were enormous and worshipful, though Miss Cupcakes looked like she wished she had hands so she could facepalm.

Thaniel’s heart began to pound beneath Pandy’s paws, and he looked up, his own eyes going huge. They were red-rimmed and tear-stained, making their deep blue stand out so he looked even more like a cherubic angel than usual.

“Do you think so?” he asked, and Pandy could see hope dawning in his eyes. It was rapidly followed by doubt, however, as he said, “Almost no one reveals naturally, though. Even Lian had to wait for the ceremony at school.”

Geraldine waved this away. “I heard Prince Kaden summoned his first elemental the day after his sixth birthday. You’re related to the royal family, aren’t you? Papa said so.”

Thaniel frowned. “I don’t think so. Father’s family have been Dunnings for years an’ years. One of my books listed them all for generations. It was really boring, even though it said the first Viscount Dunning was gifted his lands after protecting them from a wild elemental. Everybody after that just stayed home and got married.”

“What about your mother, then?” Geraldine asked, and Thaniel blinked, obviously never having considered the possibility that his mother had been someone else before she married his father.

But Thaniel shook his head. “Mother wasn’t a fancy person. She liked to garden, and once in a while she put on Father’s clothes and splashed in the creek with us. She cooked sometimes, even though we had a regular chef then. She didn’t even like dresses with-” He broke off, his eyes going to the many, many flounces and ribbons of Geraldine’s dress, and the girl flushed slightly, fingers plucking at a bit of lace before she snuggled her kitten instead.

“That doesn’t sound like a noble,” Geraldine agreed, looking down at Miss Cupcakes. “Though maybe styles were different then. Clara got a lot of her dresses out of old trunks in the attic. She says they’re terribly comfortable, but I-” She sniffed a bit, and buried her nose in the kitten’s gray fur.

Poor Thaniel had no idea what to do, so he just tried to return the conversation to the original topic. “The important thing is that Bunny seems to be fine, though she needs another bath.” He bit his lip. “Maybe…we don’t need to tell anyone else about this? Bunny and Miss Cupcakes are all right, and it would ruin the party.”

“Oh, but they’ll be so excited to hear how you saved your rabbit with magic on your birthday!” Geraldine said, looking up again.

Thaniel shook his head firmly. “I’d really rather wait until I go to school. I don’t want to be…different from the other students.”

The girl’s expression softened, and she nodded her understanding. “Everyone always talks about Prince Kaden as if he’ll do something terribly heroic someday, but honestly, there’s nothing heroic left to do. It must be awful to know everyone is going to be disappointed in you, almost no matter what.”

Pandy looked at the girl, who was staring at her kitten’s bow as she attempted to straighten its crumpled edges. Thaniel and Geraldine had spoken a few times about being the younger siblings of such paragons, but neither of them had directly addressed the expectations of the people around them.

So far as Pandy knew, Geraldine hadn’t even used her magic yet, and though almost seven wasn’t late for a natural revelation, it would be as much as a year later than her noble compatriots, who would all have had their magic revealed at their school’s entrance ceremony when they were six. Clara, of course, had first used her Light magic just a few weeks after turning six, when she woke from a nightmare and summoned a Gleamglow to light her room.

Thaniel, who was blissfully unaware of his friend’s inner turmoil, nodded. “I just want to be normal,” he said in a quiet voice. “I want to have friends, and go to class, and be like everybody else. Lian’s never home, you know, because he’s always working to live up to his po-ten-tial,” he carefully enunciated the unfamiliar word, “and he has so many friends.”

Ha! Little did Thaniel know that by the time the game was supposed to begin, Killian would have lost all of those supposed friends, thanks to his cold attitude and the jealousy of the other students. He was a workaholic, too, vanishing back to his family home every chance he got so he could study demonology and Dark magic.

Geraldine shifted Miss Cupcakes to one arm so she could catch Thaniel’s hand with the other. The boy was covered in Pandy’s blood, but Geraldine didn’t seem to notice. “If I could go to school with you, I’d be your very best friend, Thaniel. Maybe you can come back here for the holidays. You and your brother, if he wants.”

She lowered her voice. “I think Clara has a bit of a crush on him, because he’s so terribly handsome and brooding, just like the heroes in the books she hides under her bed. She was awfully embarrassed when she came home early and startled poor Miss Cupcakes into attacking Pandy. She said she couldn’t even bear to look him in the eye after that, and that’s why she spent so much time at her friends’ houses until he left.”

Thaniel quite sensibly ignored this last sentiment, and focused on the first. “I wish you could go to school with me, too, Geri. It’d be so nice to know somebody.”

“Geraldine! Nathaniel!” Lady Reedsley’s voice echoed down from the balcony overhead, and both children looked up almost guiltily. Lady Alice sheltered her eyes with her lace-gloved hand, peering at the large bush that partially concealed the two children.

“What in the world are you doing down there?” she demanded, sounding a bit sharp for the first time since Pandy had met her. “It’s time for Thaniel to open his gifts, and not everyone has even had an opportunity to meet him yet.”

Geraldine and Thaniel exchanged horrified glances, and Geraldine’s eyes trailed over Pandy’s battered form as well as Thaniel’s bloody clothes. “Go to your room and get cleaned up,” she whispered. “You don’t have time to wash Bunny, so you’ll have to leave her there. Hurry back as quickly as you can, and I’ll explain that-” She cast her eyes around, then started picking up some clusters of hydrangea flowers that had been snapped off by Pandy and Miss Cupcakes’ fall.

“You felt bad about having nothing to give Mother as thanks for this wonderful party, so you came out here to pick flowers, but fell and tore your clothes.” She shoved the flowers into Thaniel’s hands, where they almost managed to conceal Pandy and the blood covering Thaniel’s shirt.

Thaniel nodded. “Thank you, Geri. You’re the very best friend I could ever ask for.” He turned and hurried toward a side door that would lead into the quieter private part of the house, leaving a pink-cheeked Geraldine behind.