{Lily Cottentail}

Lily heard Master lock his door again. “I now see what you mean by him being cold, but good.” Lily said as she went to the bedroom. Orthonai nodded and moved with her. “Why didn’t he choose again?” Orthonai shrugged. She wished Orthonai was a bunny, maybe then they could talk. “Do you think he doesn’t like us?” Lily asked, her heart sinking.

“He likes you.” Orthonai looked away a bit dejected as she said that. Lily blushed and hopped into her own bed as Orthonai disrobed.

“No. If he liked me, he would choose me.” Lily said, her heart sinking. She hated that she liked the way he took care of them. The way he pretended to care. Was it pretending? It had to be. All men were evil. All humans were evil. He was a human male, so he had to be evil. She closed her eyes, rolling away from Orthonai. The memory of her sister filling her heart and mind as she cried herself softly to sleep.

{Alex}

The next two days passed with much the same as the last one. The only real change was Orthonai started bringing me lunch to work. It was nice and I saw why once she looked at Gorloth. It seemed to be love at first sight for those two. Good for them. Why did I care? I never cared before. I thought of the other townsfolk and felt my normal cold detachment. Maybe I just didn’t like humans. All three Knights were fixed up and the caravan headed out that morning. The slavers were gone, and it felt nice getting back to normal. I finished up Meathead’s Knight and weapon just before the end of the day. It was a nice relaxing day. I walked home expecting the world to be just as peaceful as it had been the day before. I was very wrong. Walking through the door I was grabbed by a rough foul-smelling man who laughed in my face.

“Go ahead and scream little piggy. You picked a house far away from others so we can have as much fun as we like.” His breath smelled and dirt clung under his nails as he wrapped a hand around my neck. I saw one man holding Orthonai and another had a knife to Lily’s neck. My eyes narrowed as I frowned at the group. “You are going to put this collar on, or we are going to rough you up until you do. Fingers can be healed; bones can be mended. If you are lucky, we may even let you watch us have fun with these things before we return them to their proper place.” The one holding me said with a chuckle. Something snapped in me. The world slowed and I was going to lose everything again. More than that they planned to hurt or even rape what was mine.

“Exia.” I muttered. Lily was crying as she looked at me. Something pulled at my face, and I felt a cheshire cat grin lift the edges. On seeing my face, Lily passed out. The thug tossed her dead weight aside and even spit on her prone form before laughing. I relaxed my shoulders and lightly tapped the man’s hand. I felt every atom of metal in his body, sent it all to his heart and let it expand outward into spikes. Every particle of zinc, copper, and all that iron moved on my command. It looked like a sea anemone and I had it spin in place. His heart and lungs were gone in the blink of an eye. He let go of me and fall to the floor coughing up blood. That wasn’t nice. Lily would have a hard time cleaning it up in the morning. I walked calmly to the next one who had tossed Orthonai aside. I was the real threat to these playthings. He ran at me with a wooden club in his hand. I just stepped into his charge and lightly touched his bare chest. The shirt was open and gave me a clear spot to tap. This time I sent a murder ball into his brain and let it do its deadly work. The light in his eyes just went out instantly. He fell to the floor twitching slightly as blood and brain leaked from his eyes, ears and nose. That was better. Less mess for her to worry about. I felt cold and detached as I looked at the last one who was shaking with fear.

“What did you do to my men?” He whimpered. I just looked at him, my eyes wide and huge evil grin on my face. I didn’t care who saw me, didn’t care what I was. He screamed and came at me with the knife raised in the air. He was a fucking moron. Who attacks a metal mage with a metal knife. The moment it touched my skin I let it turn into a liquid and snake its way to my other hand. His hand still hit my chest and it did hurt, but not as much as the knife would have. I grabbed his hand and slapped it to the table. The only reason I was able to pull this off is because of how stunned he was about his missing weapon. The ball of mostly pig iron became a spike and I slammed it down on the top of his hand letting it send out shards, pinning his hand to the table. He screamed and cried as I made sure he couldn’t leave us until I was happy. Looking around to make sure no others were hiding, I saw Orthonai standing there, an impressed look on her face.

“Go get a guard and tell them what happened.” I said coldly. Her collar glowed, and she ran out of the house. I sent a spike up the man's hand as he screamed. “There now. I’m going to be right back so we can have a nice talk.” I saw that cute bunny woman lying there and knew she would be uncomfortable, so I picked her up. She shouldn’t wake up to see me torture someone. My bed was closer, so I tucked her into it and went back to my new toy. “How many do you have outside.” I growled looking deep into his eyes. He was crying as he cursed at me.

“A lot, a whole fucking army.” He cried. I just kept smiling as I made the shard spin.

“Now I know that was a lie. Just the three of you then. Stupid, you should leave one behind just in case.” I sent the spike send a shard a little higher up the man’s hand. He howled and swore as he clawed at the spike. I made sure he couldn’t remove it.

“Just kill me already.” He begged. I laughed and this time I really felt evil, down in the core of my soul. I was the monster now that my parents feared. This was the darkness that would leak out.

“No. You are just a message, my toy. I know who you work for and know what they had planned. I need you alive and suffering.” I said letting my voice fall as I frowned at him. He was crying and I could almost smell the fear rolling off him. “If Fat Man tries anything like that again. I will do to his pecker what I am now doing to your hand.” I let the metal spin slowly. He screamed. Someone knocked and I turned to see a very worried Bullock standing in the doorway followed by guard two and six. All were looking at me in shock. Maybe I was a monster, but I would never let anyone hurt what is mine again. Bullock stepped in over the body of the first man I had killed and then over to me. Orthonai stood behind them in the doorway. She had a look of pride in her eyes as she smiled at me. It was the first time I had seen the woman show an expression. Bullock put a hand on my shoulder, and I blinked up at him.

“Ease up there. We got him now.” He said as he pushed me away. I removed the metal and went to my desk. Lily was still sleeping on my bed, and I knew I wouldn’t wake her. I felt wrong. Detached fully from the world and even my own self. I had killed two men easily and tortured another. They didn’t stand a chance. It was all just too easy like a bull fighting with coyotes. Bullock came to me and sat on the edge of the bed careful not to wake Lily. He handed me a flask and I took it. “Drink up lad. You need it after that.” He said and I sniffed. It was cheap and very strong. I couldn’t pretend to be normal. What was wrong with me? It was like unleashing the monster I was had made me break somehow. Tilting my head back I took a good swig of it and nearly threw up. It was cheap strong whiskey that seemed to burn like broken glass all the way down. “Tagots had that on him. It’s rotgut, but it does the job. Tell me what happened.” He said as I swallowed and took a breath. I looked over at him, feeling it hit my system. It felt warm and calming like a hot blanket fresh from the dryer on a cold day. Reaching over to the pig iron lump, I started shaping it on the flask.

“They came in, wanted to enslave me. I killed them.” I said absent-mindedly, shaping the head of a Knight onto the flask. It slowly morphed into the face of Heavyarms. I loved that Gundam and wondered if I could make it here. He nodded and tried to look me in the eye, but I looked away.

“You did right by you and yours.” He said as he stood, and I tried to hand the flask back. “Keep it. You need the drink tonight. It will keep the shadows away.” He said and I could see some of the shadows behind his own eyes gather. He left and I still felt cold and empty. Getting up, I saw that the guards had removed the three. Orthonai was cooking in the kitchen, but I wasn’t hungry. My head was spinning from the drink, but I took more in. She looked over at me worried and gave me a smile.

“Master. Are you okay?” She asked. I just nodded coldly. Was I okay? No. I was tired. I lay my head on the table and fingered the holes in it from the thug's hand. The blood was still damp and stuck to my fingers. I was upset but couldn’t fully handle it. I felt a hand on my back and looked up into Orthonai’s eye. She smiled at me. “Bed.” She said as she helped me up. The woman was strong, and I was too tired to fight. I was forgetting something. What was it? Something about my room. It didn’t matter though. She helped me undress and pushed me under the covers tucking me in like a small child. How had I been blessed with a woman like this in my life?

“Thank you.” I said reaching out to hold her hand. She took mine and kissed the back. I smiled and closed my eyes.

 “I will stand guard tonight. You rest Master.” She said warmly. Something warm was in the bed with me and I wrapped around it. It was soft and smelled nice. I started petting it and felt it draw closer to me. The darkness lifted lightly, and I was able to sleep.

I was in grade school again. Toby Henson had just stolen my Gundam. I had worked hard to get it put together and just wanted to show it off. He was laughing at me, insulting me, as he broke it. It wasn’t fair. It wasn’t right. Why wouldn't anyone help me? He was hurting my treasure. Hurting my baby.

{Lily Cottontail}

Lily woke in Master’s bed. He was holding her. She gasped and tried to pull away. Her heart hammered in her chest, and she reached up and pulled down her ears to cover her eyes. The last thing she remembered was the thugs that were talking about raping her and Orthonai and then his smile. She shook at the memory of his face before she passed out. It felt so wrong. It was a look that haunted her deeply and spoke of death and pain. He was broken. So why was she here? Did he choose her after dealing with the thugs? How did he deal with them? The room was dark, and she calmed down when she noticed that she still had her dress on, and he was sleeping. She looked down when she heard a strange sound coming from him. He was crying. Why was he crying? 

“Don’t… hurt… her.” He whimpered in his sleep. Was that about her? It triggered something deep inside her. A motherly instinct pulled at her heart, and she pulled him close and started stroking his hair. It was sweet, it felt right, and he needed her. Something about this cold and broken man needing her tugged at the fiber of her being. Orthonai was sitting in the living room, so Lily knew she was safe. Tonight, she could be there for him. She just held her master and listened to his breathing. It was peaceful and helped lull her back to sleep.

{Alex}

Something felt and smelled nice in the bed with me. I must have had a woman over the night before. I opened my eyes to see a mop of white and something white and fluffy covering my eyes and I blinked. It was the oversized ear of a rabbit. I know that ear. My hand squeezed something firm and round, and my heart started beating so fast that it threatened to jump out of my chest. It had to be her ass. This was bad. Had I taken advantage of the poor girl in the night. Not good. She would hate me. If I moved, I would wake her. Fuck. I was rock hard and had to pee. This is so bad. For the first time I felt worried about what was about to happen. Her eyes fluttered and she looked at me. My hand squeezed involuntarily, and she squeaked. Oh god she squeaked. Her face went beet red, and this is the part where she screams and calls me every name she can think of. That didn’t happen though. I quickly removed my hand and fell out of bed. Why was I nude? She looked at me shocked as I stood proudly in the morning air. Her eyes moved to my manhood as I turned away to find my pants. 

Why was I embarrassed? I’ve been nude in front of women before. This wasn’t anything new. She just lay there watching me as I ran off to the bathroom. I had a mild hangover but felt mostly normal. The darkness was still there, but not as bad as last night. Orthonai sitting in the living room looking out the window and nodded at me when I came in. “Better Master?” She asked with a sweet smile. 

“Thank you for standing watch.” She stood and started breakfast as though nothing had happened last night. I remembered her kissing my hand and it felt like a mother watching over a sick child. “You can go get some rest if you need it.” I said feeling very uncomfortable. She shook her head and smiled at me. What had caused her to change? The kitchen looked like a tornado had gone through it and I started picking things up. 

There was a slave collar on the floor under the table. I pocketed it and planned to take a close look at it later. There were still blood stains on the floor, and I may need someone to come fix the table. Lily came out a short while later and looked at the ground blushing madly. It didn’t feel like I had sex. Did I do something else to her? I swear drunken me cannot be trusted. Why was I so flustered? My mind was all over the place and I needed to get to work. This world had better not be messing with me again. I like my mind. I like who I am, and I am no fucking white knight hero. 

We all ate together, and I couldn’t look Lily in the eye. She refused to look at me and I didn’t blame her.  As soon as I was done eating, I ran out hoping to skip any uncomfortable conversation.

{Lily Cottontail}

Lily didn’t know how to react. She had woken to find Master’s hand on her ass. It felt good, but it shouldn’t and then watching him get dressed was fun. She was being a very bad bunny. He had saved her though and the thing that broke him was them threatening her. She could see that from the stains on the floor that he had killed them. Orthonai told her everything that had happened and about pushing a very drunken master to bed with her.

“He needed you.” Orthonai finished. Lily blushed all the way to the tips of her ears and tried to hide a smile as she hid behind her ears. Master had needed her. Her heart raced and she just went to get changed. The blood would need to be cleaned and then laundry needed to be done.

She stopped when she was alone and took a deep sniff of her dress. It still smelled like him, and he smelled so good. Maybe he was a good master? No, all men are evil. All humans are bad. "Don’t be fooled Lily.” She said as she got undressed. He did look cute trying to hide how excited he was to be in bed next to her. No, bad bunny. She thought as she tried to get changed. Taking a moment, she lay in her bed holding her dress to her face so she could take in his scent. She was being a very bad bunny.

{Alex}

I went to work and was called into the office by Boss. Fuck me this day was full of uncomfortable moments. Boss frowned at me. “Runt, you okay?” He asked. I just blinked and nodded. “I’m sending Gorloth home with you for the next few days in case they try something else.” I scoffed at him. This felt like overkill.

“Only an idiot would try something after what I did.” I said with a wince at the memory of letting myself go. He frowned at me blinking. It was clear what that meant. “Fair point. That being said, can I start tinkering tomorrow?” I asked, hoping to turn a bad day into something nice. I needed something to look forward to. He nodded and smiled.

“Just don’t blow up my shop.” I looked away, not fully sure that couldn’t happen. It wasn’t completely impossible that something may not blow up. “Let me make this clear, Runt. Don’t blow up my shop.” Boss said, crossing his arms. I winced and worked to change my plan. Small scale might work better. Less explosion, less lecturing, right?

{Bocort Ges Trvost}

It was early morning in the jail cell as Bocort sat in his cell. His hand hurt like a bitch, and he badly needed a healer. That monster had ruined it and the guards refused to let a healer look at it. It wasn’t fair. He looked up hearing the sound of a small bell and his blood ran cold. Another monster stood in front of him standing still with its arms behind its back. A white mask that seemed to mock and mimic that bastard’s face, looked at him through the bars. He was dressed in a short black cloak that seemed to just barely cover his hands. His pants and shirt were black making him look like a floating mask. White gloved hands reached out to grab the bars. It was very unsettling and Bocort wet himself like a frightened little child. The assassin Shadow was here so he would soon be dead. He spoke in a voice that seemed to hold back laughter. “For the time of our meeting, you will be unable to lie. In exchange I will set you free. Do you agree?” He laughed.

“Yes. Master Shadow.” Bocort said as he felt the weight of the contract settle around his neck.

“Good what happened?” Shadow said in an almost singsong way. Bocort started mumbling fear dripping off every particle of his being. “Speak up please. I can’t hear you.” Shadow said, almost mocking him.
“We went to the house like we were told and waited for the mage to come home. We had his women and were using them as leverage like we normally do.” Bocort took a deep breath hoping to get it over with quickly. “He came in and Kinta grabbed him. He touched Kinta’s hand, and he died spewing up blood. Hiboso tried to attack him, and he touched Hiboso and he died too.” The way the man had died showed him just how out matched he was. “Blood leaking from his eyes and ears.” He started crying. “Then I tried to stab him, and he turned my knife into a spike. He told me he knew everything and even brought up,” Shadow put a finger to his lips making it clear he should stop before saying another word.

“Let’s not say his name here in case others are listening, if you please.” Shadow said coldly. Bocort just nodded his chin wagging as his eyes were wide and showed how truly scared, he was.

“Right. He just tortured me and told me if we come after him again, he would do to the boss's manhood what he had done to my hand. My hand is ruined.” Bocort said, holding up the mass of ground beef that had once been his hand.

“I bet that hurts. Before I set you free, is there anything else of value you think I may need to know?” Shadow asked, almost bored. Bocort swallowed hard.

“When he did it, His face looked just like your mask.” He said, shaking with fear.

“Interesting.” Shadow let go of the bars and turned away. “Thank you Bocort. You have been a great help. Now let me hold up my end of the bargain.” Bocort fell to one side. Well, most of Bocort fell to one side. Shadow laughed softly. His head rolled to the other side of his cell and blinked several times. “I am a man of my word after all.” He laughed, fading into the shadows. The last Bocort saw was that devilish smiling face as he faded from his worthless life.

{ZeroGiven40}

Yeah, back on track. Now how do you guys feel about Alex letting go? What would you do if someone was threatening your loved ones? How freaked out would you be if you woke up with a cute bunny girl in your bed? Stay awesome and have some fun this weekend.