Lucky Rabbit

Timon turned out to be a red-haired boy of about fifteen, who was very calm and respectful while Mistress Rose was in the room, but flopped down on the empty bed as soon as he was certain she was gone. The doctor had coaxed Thaniel into taking the restorative draught, watching as some color returned to his face, then instructed Timon to watch Thaniel and make sure he ate and drank if he woke.

“Ahhh,” Timon said, folding his arms behind his head, “this is the life.” He rolled his head to the side, peering at Thaniel, who was all but lost beneath the blankets in his own bed. “Not that I’m happy you got sick, kid, but at least she can’t make me grind herbs and slice Perido all night if I’m here. Now, just make some noise if you wake up, huh?” And with that, he closed his eyes and went to sleep.

Pandy didn’t quite dare to move around, but once Timon started to snore, she relaxed enough to crawl up and examine Thaniel for herself. His dark lashes lay in crescent on his cheeks, but those cheeks held their usual rosy glow, and he was breathing in the slow, easy rhythm of deep sleep. Whatever he’d done, and however it had affected him, he would be fine, no thanks to her.

And what had he done? Fixed Pandy, that was certain. He’d put her back together like a child stuffing streamers back into a confetti popper in the hopes that it would work again. And in order to do that, he’d used something called Dark Restoration. That wasn’t a spell Pandy was familiar with, but that wasn’t really surprising. Killian and his army of demons were the only ones who used Dark magic, and they weren’t exactly going around fixing things.

Which meant that Thaniel…was a Dark elementalist. She couldn’t avoid it any longer, and she knew it meant nothing good. Most of what she knew about Dark mages came from Clara’s interactions with the villains of Gacha Love, but some of the lore books contained further background on them, and why they were treated as pariahs.

One hundred and ninety-six years ago, East and West Altheric were simply known as Altheric. At the time, Dark was just another element, neither better nor worse than any other. Yes, it could do some frightening things, but it was used for good as well, though what good exactly was skimmed over, probably at least in part because the lore books had theoretically been written by West Altherican historians.

The king at the time was named Lawrence, once known as ‘the Beloved’, but eventually only called ‘the Foolish’. He was young and popular, having been born late in the previous king’s life, and thus ascending the throne at the age of nineteen. He was handsome, kind, and all the things a good king should be. He was also a Dark elementalist.

And then he fell in love. He met the lady at a ball, and ignored the fact that she had no family, no friends, and no home to speak of. Indeed, these very things served to fascinate him more, until he married her less than six months after the night they met. There was a great, long story containing all the details of his descent into evil, but the TL;DR of it was that his queen was a demon, and soon an army of demons and undead marched across the land.

On the other side of the country, in what was now West Altheric, a powerful Light mage lived. Her name was Nora, and she was called by the goddess Ismara to stand at the head of an army of her own. Even then, Light magic was rare, but every kind of elementalist except for Dark came when she called, and with Nora and her elemental, Liora, in the vanguard, the Forces of Good swept over the land and pushed the Dark tide back.

They killed Lawrence, sent his queen back to wherever she came from, and laid the walking dead to rest. When it was over, some people called for Nora to become queen, but one of Lawrence’s cousins had survived, and much of the old nobility rallied to him. For a while it seemed that the country would once again be plunged into war, but Nora returned home, declaring that she would not be responsible for ravaging what was left of her homeland. Things Happened, and West Altheric seceded from East Altheric, and the two had been uneasy allies – at best – ever since.

After that, East Altheric was mentioned only rarely, at least in the lore of Gacha Love. Presumably it still existed, but it was just another colored blob on the map of the continent. Even on Prince Kaden’s route, it never came up, though he and Clara once attended a diplomatic ball together. Nora’s family became rulers of West Altheric, and Dark magic was outlawed there, at least briefly. Of course, a law couldn’t stop Dark mages from being born, so eventually the crown devised the system that still existed today, teaching Dark mages to use only a small part of their power, and only when granted license to do so.

All of which brought Pandy back to Thaniel. Thaniel, her adorable golden-haired rascal, who no more deserved to be looked down upon and treated as if he was to blame for his magic than Pandy herself deserved to be treated like, well, a demon. But there was nothing she could do about it. From the moment his elemental alignment was announced on the first day of school, he would become the least of the students in this school, and likely bullied outright. Worse, since he was so young, he wouldn’t even understand what was going on, and he wasn’t strong enough to ignore it or fight back.

Pandy had to get him expelled. Expelled, and before the chancellor could reveal what he was. But how? For all that Pandy had worried about Thaniel being caught in the girl’s hall, she didn’t actually think that was enough to get a six-year-old expelled. After all, what terrible thing would he be doing there? Even Thaniel couldn’t think of anything naughtier than sleepovers and midnight picnics.

But if she did get him expelled, what would happen to them? Would they be sent back to the Dunning estate? That seemed unlikely, with only Marta and Cassie there. Even if there wasn’t some dispute over who should be the boys’ guardian, a cook and a lazy maid wouldn’t be able to teach Thaniel…well, anything.

No, it was better that he stay here, where at least he would learn to use his power. Perhaps the other children wouldn’t be as cruel as they were in her own world. She still remembered the time all of the children in her class joined together to tell Pandy she smelled bad, but no matter how much she scrubbed, or how clean her clothes were, they never stopped holding their noses when she came near. If nothing else, Pandy would be there for Thaniel, and she didn’t think Geraldine would abandon him, either.

That thought made Pandy’s ears perk up. Of course, Thaniel already had friends! Yes, his friendship with Ellie was only just beginning, but he and Geraldine were fast friends. Unlike Pandy, Thaniel wouldn’t have to go through this alone. And if Ellie did remain friends with him, her mere presence would be enough to keep the worst of the possibilities at bay. After all, no one would want to get on the bad side of the princess, even if they were supposed to pretend that they didn’t know who she was.

Yes, it would be fine through the Power of Friendship! There were other Dark mages, and it couldn’t be that bad. After all, Thaniel and Lian’s father had managed to be a noble, get married, and have two children before going batpoop insane and trying to do…whatever it was he was doing with all the bodies and super creepy paraphernalia in his Totally Normal tower.

That meant all Pandy needed to do was keep Thaniel alive and not crazy for the foreseeable future. Which in turn meant that she needed to get stronger. Maybe a lot stronger. Honestly, she’d been pretty lax in her efforts so far, remaining confident that even if she wasn’t around, any number of people would rush to protect Thaniel.

But once he was officially a Dark mage, that was no longer a sure thing. Plus, even though the dangerous situations he’d found himself in so far had been relatively innocuous, there was no guaranteeing they would remain that way. No, Pandy needed to do better, just like she’d promised she would. And she would start now. Ish.

Peering out from under the blankets, Pandy stared at Timon. He was still snoring comfortably, though he’d rolled on his side, facing the wall with his arms wrapped around his pillow. She would see him if he turned this way, wouldn’t she? She would have time to hide…whatever she was going to do.

And what exactly was she going to do? First, she had to raise all of her skills up to at least level ten, if only to find out what stats they were attached to. Hop gave her more Agility, and Minor Heal gave her more Mana, but what would the others do? How would she even level up Wings of Glory, given that enormous bat wings were something she couldn’t hide? How much mana or CP would WoG cost when she finally tried it? She would leave that one for last. Definitely.

Bite just required, well, biting something, but whatever that thing was, it had to be something she didn’t mind destroying. Same with Scratch, really. One or both of those should start improving her Strength eventually, and that would be a welcome change. If she’d been strong enough to drag Thaniel to his room, he wouldn’t have had to force himself to walk.

Hop should still be her easiest skill to level, especially if Thaniel already knew she was a little, um, different from other rabbits. She could jump up and down on a pillow all night, though once he had a roommate, even that might become tricky. Still, she was sure she could figure something out.

Which left Minor Heal, and the one thing she had been trying to avoid since she realized that she couldn’t cast the spell unless someone was injured. She wasn’t willing to hurt Thaniel, which left only one possibility: herself. She didn’t even have to hurt herself very badly; just enough to take off one point of Life Force. She could Hop into a wall – again – or Bite her own toe – though she would probably Bite it off if she tried – or maybe Scratch her ear? That would allow her to grind multiple skills at once, which was good.

The problem was that this wasn’t a video game. It wasn’t just floating red numbers and skill points. When she got hurt, it really hurt, and Pandy didn’t want to feel pain. It was very unpleasant, and once again, she pondered the unfairness of being undead but still feeling discomfort. Though she supposed that if she wanted to feel no pain, she would probably also have to give up touch and taste, and that wasn’t really an option. She really would feel like a spirit occupying a magically animated corpse then.

That thought made her shake off the blanket, dropping down to the floor. She watched Timon, but he didn’t stir, and she shook her head. If Thaniel did need something, she could tell the teenager wasn’t going to be the one to get it for him. For now though, it was time to get to work.

The only thing under Thaniel’s bed were his shoes, and Pandy had to swallow a sneeze as she moved back until she reached the wall. She was still well within range of Thaniel’s game-character-aura, but out of sight, and whatever she did shouldn’t disturb his sleep. Lifting a claw, she laid it against the back of her opposite paw. With a gulp, she thought,

Scratch successful. 14.29% experience gained towards next level.

-2 LF

The claw bit deep. It was too dark to see the blood, but even if the red numbers hadn’t given it away, she could smell the scent of copper and feel the warmth soaking into her fur. Which had finally been dry and relatively clean, darn it.

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

Minor Heal is now level 12. +1 to Mana.

Oh? That was a bit of a shame. She’d really hoped to get more Mana now that she was past level ten. Would that remain the same until she reached level twenty, or would it eventually increase? There was only one way to find out.

Opening her teeth inside her mouth, she bit down on her cheek.

Bite successful. 20% experience gained towards next level.

-2 LF

Casting of Minor Heal successful. 3.57% experience gained towards next level.

Pandy swallowed, already feeling nauseated. This was going to be a long night.