In the Edenwoods during a stormy night. Deep inside through all the thick bushes and leaves. There's a large burrow made up like a house.
"Poor little rabbit. You came so far..."
Inside the burrow there is a little rabbit holding up a knife in self defense. She's shivering. Staring in pure shock and horror, at what was becoming of her little brother.
"You wanted an adventure and now you have it..."
A bramble haired sheep stood in the darkness, silhouetted by the green glow emanating from the cauldron in front of her. Steam rose up into the air as she stirred her concoction. She hummed quietly and smiled contently.
The young rabbit boy was turning into a monster. He was hardly recognizable. He was large and grizzly. Sporting a grotesque rack of boney antlers that arched and bent in disproportionate and unnatural angles. Watching him turn was like watching an accident in slow motion.
"What will you do now? Will you run?"
He was completely out of control. In pain. But she didn't have the heart to put him down. She watched him claw and tear their burrow apart like a unhinged animal.
The sheep brought her ladle full of stew to her lips and sipped it lightly.
"Or..."
She stood rooted shakily in her place, with tears of sorrow in her eyes. She was frozen, feeling every rapid beat of her heart pound against her ribcage threatening to shatter it. The beast- no longer her dear Alex- turned to her. It studied her. The sudden calm was as surreal as an outer body experience. Her panic slowly eased for a moment. Lara almost thought he had recognized her. Did he? Was it possible?
"Will your consequences get to you first?"
"A-Alex?" She stammered. He starred.
She stared back.
His ears folded back as he growled making the girl rabbit quietly gasp.
Then he charged at her. The last thing she remembered was how ominously the pupil of its glowing red eye narrowed while surrounded by a pool of endless black.
...
Lara shot up from the scare immediately brandishing the machete she kept under her pillow.
She expected danger upon her rude awakening but found the dingy dilapidated room was empty, with the exception of herself, the cot she slept on and the luminous, pinkish glow of the blood moon. It'd shown brightly, high up in the night sky, bathing all that it touched in its light.
The young rabbit panted then sighed as she realized it had only been a nightmare- again.
She tiredly rubbed her palm against her face telling herself over and over:
"It's just a dream Lara... It's just a dream." She calmed herself.
Sheathing her machete, she looked around observing her worn surroundings once more before she stood up from her mat on the floor. She staggered toward the filthy bathroom that connected to the room.
It wasn't too bad for a temporary shelter. It was both secluded and close enough to the town for resources. It also had running water and various tools they could utilize. When they discovered them Ester immediately began infusing the makeshift melee weapons with angelic chants.
The only problem with the place was its decrepit state and the shadow crawler infestation but those things were normal for the area.
As Lara stood at the entryway of the bathroom she turned on the light making the tiny, black, lizard-like creatures scurry away from the brightness like roaches. The emotionally and physically, exhausted rabbit walked over to the sink and turned on the faucet. She then began splashing cold water onto her white-muzzled face.
These nightmares had been haunting her for weeks now. That's how it started for him. It was surfacing already. She could feel it in her bones. The way her head pounded rhythmically to the echos of horror behind her eyes. It was brief but daunting. The rabbit groaned then forced herself to look up at her reflection. She had to get herself together. After all, she was Bad Aura's undisputed leader. Ester and Cadence were relying on her. She couldn't let some damn dreams get to her no matter how much sleep she's lost.
After waking herself up a bit Lara stared into the mirror looking herself in the eye. The memories that plagued her mind flashed behind her gaze. Everyday they were getting worse but what could she do? Alex was gone. Chances are high that he was already long dead. It's been seven years since that day. There was no way he would've survived this long, not in the state she last saw him in.
Besides whatever he turned into was not her little brother anymore. Hopefully he had been put out of his misery by some random group out there and was resting peacefully. That's all she could ask for at this point. Well that and revenge.
That's why she kept going. What she was with her comrades for. To find the Bramble Witch. The others had their own goals but Lara, Lara needed to make the witch pay before it got worse. She had to, for Alex.
Sometimes the young rodent wondered if she should tell her team. Ester would likely understand if she didn't call her a monster and drive a stake through her first. Lara had never really opened up to her about her past before or her condition. She wasn't inclined to go any deeper than the surface level with the dog yet. Even if they have been a team for about half a year now and she definitely couldn't tell Cadence. She clearly had her own slew of issues, and she probably wouldn't be much of a sympathetic listener. She might even see her as an experiment to poke at and disect, with all her jokes and innuendos, even if she did understand. No it was better to just keep this little issue to herself. Besides given her age and how long it'd been dormant it'd be ages before it got worse.
Lara pulled out the small carrot whistle, tied around her neck from under her dark grey graphic t-shirt and stared at it with sad yet determined eyes. This was the last piece of her little brother. This stupid novelty toy was her only physical reminder of the most innocent thing in her life, before everything changed. She thought she was managing things well.
Those memories were long behind her but now they've resurfaced in the form of these unwanted night terrors. She tried to keep some of the good memories alive, whenever her other various dark dreams became too much to bare. Some foolish part of her didn't want to give up, but whenever the memories overtook the good ones, the more pessimistic part of her told her to let it go and move on for herself and for Alex.
She sighed and tucked the whistle back into her shirt telling herself that it would all be over some day. They'd find that witch and make her pay. She just needed to hold out until then.
Suddenly Lara felt a presents. She didn't even have to look in the mirror.
Her flattened ears perked a bit before she turned sharply while holding up a large hunting knife to the throat of a green and yellow iguana with dark pinkish red feather-like hair and black assassin's clothes. She stood quietly behind her. Her piercing, yellow reptilian irises hooded by light blue lids stared at her without any sign of alarm despite almost having her jugular sliced open.
"Nice reflexes." She compliments in an almost condescending way as she slightly pushed the tip from her face with a pink painted claw.
"Although your blade is a little dull, much like your personality." Lara went from defensive to annoyed in a matter of minutes after realizing it was just Frieda, the leader of Void.
Void was a group whose territory was in a neighboring town, just east of Bad Aura's and the only reason they were able to be so to "civil" to each other was because of Lara's association with Frieda. However that didn't mean they had to like it.
"*sigh* What are you you doing here, Frieda? I thought Void was went back to Neon City." Lara said in an exasperated tone, there was no energy left in her to be pissed right now.
"Nice to see you too." The reptile said coyly before answering the question.
"I thought I'd let you know that your cat seems to be caught up in a bit of trouble, again." She said.
"What?" She questioned. Cadence had left to go "partying" only an hour ago. How could she have found trouble so soon?
"What happened?" She Lara asked.
Frieda crossed her arms and leaned back a bit. "I don't know. According to Sheila some cat cult got a hold of her." Lara's shock then became annoyed as she pinched the bridge of her nose.
"What about Ester, did she get taken too?" Frieda shrugged. "Not that I know of. Sheila and Brunt weren't too specific. I just told them to only assist if necessary." The reptile said.
Lara just knew Ester must've gone after Cadence. She knew how she was about "Godless cults".
Lara sighed as she turned toward the sink and mirror again. This kind of thing happened way too often for her to not be use to it by now but that didn't mean it wasn't becoming exhausting. She just knew her team was likely trouble.
"Got it, thanks for the tip." Lara said with a sigh.
Frieda nodded in understanding. "I'll be outside. You might want to freshened up before we go." She says looking the rabbit up and down, silently judging her frazzled fur and messed up hair, then she finally exited the bathroom.
Lara gave a baleful side glance as she listened to make sure the lizard left the room. Once she was sure she'd left the rabbit turned back to the mirror, looking even more drained than before.
"God Damn it Cadence." She muttered under her breath as she lowered her head in ire. A shadow crawler came scurrying around before the angered rodent slammed a fist down onto it squashing it like a bug without even glancing at it, as she groaned with contempt. She had to go get that damn cat out of trouble- again.