Hare of Misfortune

A quake ran through Scarlet’s bones as all of Rachel’s black flames, crimson lightning, and polluted energy around the space extinguished, and her spirit began to weaken. Thick, glowing blood stuck to her clothes, and there was slight damage to her clothes, but she couldn’t see any puncture holes in her skin.

”No! No, no, no! Rachel, you can’t... Rachel!”

She’d been invincible only a moment ago, and fear gripped her belly as she picked the fallen hare up, uncertainty gripping her when Rachel’s hammer vanished in sparkling white light.

”Little Fang? Scarlet, talk to me!”

”A-Astra! Astra, what do I do?! Rachel—I think she was stabbed! Maybe she was poisoned!” She looked through the walls, searching for a solution as the burning building became more unstable, no longer mixed with Rachel’s corrupting powers. ”Maria’s too exhausted to heal her right now—she’s barely standing, and...and Rachel’s—everything—she’s so weak all of a sudden! She’s losing blood! What do I do?!”

”Aye, if Rach is in trouble, uh...”

Saint Barbara’s soft yet decisive voice came over the channel. ”Carry her to the medics on the largest ship, Scarlet. What about Relica?”

Shadows embraced her as she teleported into the open air, her vision scanning the field and looking for anyone who looked like a doctor on the distant ship with her enhanced eyes.

”These knights and a wizard showed up to save Relica—Rachel sent one flying, b-but—Rachel was so strong, and then she collapsed out of nowhere!”

”Breathe, Scarlet,” the Army legend urged. ”You can’t help Rachel if you’re panicking.”

”I know, I know!” she cried, teleporting higher and holding the hare tighter against her body as they began to fall again. ”All of them but one got away—wait, I see it!”

”It’s hard to hear you over the wind,” Barbara returned as a few shadow skips brought her onto the deck of the ship, a flurry of activity; in the distance, she saw Selvaria’s giant fin dip below the surface of thrashing waters. ”MI6, I assume. Astra, if there is someone we can question—”

”Already ahead of ya, Major!”

Scarlet supported Rachel’s head while jogging to the medical crew on the uneven boat, bringing a stretcher. A young man held out his hand as she neared, a faint green light illuminating it as the magical healer assessed her condition.

”Make room! Make room... Shit.”

”Is it bad?!” Scarlet whimpered, fangs biting into her bottom lip. ”Her insides look bad!”

Barbara’s cool tone helped soothe her turbulent emotions.

”What’s Rachel’s status? Keep right and follow the sea monster; she’s spotted something.”

The doctor offered her a forced, encouraging smile, speaking through the channel they were on as Barbara finished giving orders. ”She’s not great. I can’t see any wounds outside her body, but inside is another story. That being said, I, umm, I think with some spot treatment and over a few days, there will be an improvement.”

He ran his glowing palm over the areas where her clothes were ripped, closing them with some visible effort. ”I know it doesn’t sound scientific, but her spirit needs time to rejuvenate. I don’t know how, but she’s holding on.”

Scarlet’s focus darted to the sky. ”The moon! We need to keep her in sight of the—ack!”

She bit her tongue as a worried voice took over Astra’s coms. ”Is my daughter alright?! What happened?!”

”She’ll be fine, Ms. Park,” Barbara insisted, the mother’s husband heard nearby.

”Let’s let them do their jobs, Molly.”

”I want to hear it from Scarlet! Scarlet, is... How is she?”

Swallowing the lump in her throat and trying to block out the shouts and sloshing sea, Scarlet looked over the unresponsive hare. ”She’s...breathing shallowly, but they say she’ll pull through in a few days with some healing. Maria should be fine tomorrow evening to help...maybe.”

”Thank goodness... Please, Scarlet, stay by her side. I’d feel a lot better if you were with her.”

”I will...” Scarlet sniffed, heat rising in her throat at the emotion in the woman’s voice. There was something she could do: stay with Rachel and support her.

”Thank you for being there for my daughter... Thank you, Scarlet.”

Saint Barbara cleared the airway. ”Ahem. What is the status of the knight Rachel attacked?”

Lt. Mateo’s gruff voice came over the channel. ”In a damn rough shape on first inspection... Burns I’ve never seen before, and most of his gear’s rusted straight through. She must have sent him through three or four buildings, at least—the guy looks like he became a human meteor—but he’s still breathing...somehow.”

”Call for a medivac immediately! Load him on the helicopter. We’ll question him when he wakes up. What the hell is the UK doing here with a terrorist like Relica? Dammit. This went from a simple gang war to terrorism and foreign military affairs.”

Remembering the fairy in her pocket, Scarlet panicked and gently extracted her. ”Oh, umm, please be okay... Did I hurt her?”

”Is that...a person?” the doctor mumbled, carefully holding the tiny young woman in her hand as the other man checked her condition. ”Heavy bruising...and a hairline fracture on her left leg, but we should be able to clear that up. She’s also a bit malnourished—”

”Sugar!” Scarlet interjected.

”Excuse me?”

”Sugar,” she hastily insisted. ”Fiona needs sugar to live.”

”Hah. Well, we have a moon bunny and sugar fairy, huh?”

Scarlet swiftly shook her head. ”She’s a hare, not a rabbit—it’s important!”

”Okay! Okay! Help me get a place set up so we can treat her until we can move to a better location.”

Holding Rachel’s arm to stop herself from shaking, Scarlet stabilized her as the pair lifted her up on the stretcher to bring her to a place that was out of the way from the general bustle on the deck. She was thankful that the fairy would recover from the rough treatment she’d received, which made all of this easier to swallow.

Maria would be able to do more tomorrow, no doubt. The kids were all saved because they bought Rachel enough time to get back. Hopefully, Selvaria would capture the submarine before they escaped because she knew Rachel would be pissed if the woman managed to get away.

Still, the mystery about what happened to the hare and how she’d gotten so insanely powerful in less than twenty minutes was the buzz of the radio as the various combat zone activities died down, turning their sights to the rolling sea and leviathan.

Whatever weird technology the UK submarine was using was jamming all the radar equipment, and a new type of decoy was making it impossible to locate the vessel by standard methods. The blockade had kept them in deeper waters, but things weren’t looking good.