Chapter Text
He stuffed his snout into the moist forest floor, pine needles finding their way into his nostrils. It twitched a couple times until he finally gave in and lifted it up. He pressed his paw against it, shaking his head until the urge to sneeze went away. He sighed before whipping around to stare at the forest around him, tall trees crowding his sight. There was still room for some sunlight to sneak through, which dappled his small, lithe body with bright light. His fur stood on end, the bright orange contrasting with his environment, while the brown on his ears and tail blended in. How had he not found it yet? Even if he wasn’t the hardest to spot, surely it wasn’t that smart?
“Where is it!? I’ve been looking for ages and still can’t find that darn rabbit the elders wanted. I don’t even know why they wanted it so badly, it was just a different color than the ones we normally get around here.” The rabbit had been pink, which sure, isn’t normal. But they didn’t have to send him on some long quest to find it!
He can still remember their voices now, the high pitched whining that accompanied it as well. Saying, “Ohhh, Fundy. We desperately need this dumb pink rabbit that one of the scouts saw. You must now find it or never return.” Okay, maybe they didn’t say that exactly; but it was something along those lines.
He didn’t exactly pay much attention, but he got the basics of what he was asked to do. Find the pink rabbit, one of the scouts of the village had spotted it, and bring it back; dead or alive. For all he knew the scout could have made it up, they didn’t like him much anyways. So he wouldn’t put it past them. They were probably snickering and laughing at him in some bush, knowing he’d never find it.
But he’d find it and prove them all wrong! He didn’t even know why the elders were acting so serious over some rabbit, maybe it was in one of the tales they regaled the kits with; telling them of their glory days. Well Fundy never really listened to those stories anyways, they were probably fake; though he guesses they may have had some truth to them.
Well ignoring that, they must have been mocking him, after all, why would they act so serious over a single rabbit?If there was some sort of legend about it, it was probably something dumb like, “If you eat the pink rabbit you’ll gain immortality” or something like that. He didn’t even understand why they would want immortality, it would probably be really boring; especially in that village.
He heard a couple yowls and yips coming from the direction of the village. It must be time for dinner. They had some weird tradition of barking and howling before they ate, he’s not sure why, but he just followed along anyway. But he couldn’t believe he had been searching for that long already, he had left almost as soon as he woke up! It had been really annoying to be dragged out of his den, just to hear the elders say to go hunt some rabbit. Well nothing he can do about it now, surely the elders weren’t that serious about the ‘not coming back until he found the rabbit thing’. He could continue looking after he ate something, they couldn’t refuse him; that would just be cruel.
———
“No, Fundy, you and I both know that you aren’t allowed to set a single paw in this village until you catch the pink rabbit.” The guard to village stepped in front of him as he tried to walk in.
“What!? But I have to eat, what am I going to eat out here, a rat? I can’t find the rabbit out in the dark, it would probably have found some burrow to hide in.” He snarled in frustration, what did they think he could do at night?
“Maybe you could eat a rat, just find the rabbit and come back. We both know you’re small enough to fit down a burrow anyways.”
Okay, okay, maybe he was small enough to fit down a burrow and had done it to hide from the elders before. But did they really expect him to just live out in the forest until he found the rabbit? At this point some other predator could have found it, then he’d be out there forever! He could already imagine it, poor defenseless Fundy. Sitting out in the cold, damp grass while eating leaves and bugs.
He’ll make their life horrible, maybe he’ll join those bandits he’s heard from the rumors the other kits talk about. Yeah! He’ll be super cool and then the village will have to let him back in. Oooo, maybe he’ll even get some cool weapons from them, like a knife. Then he’ll just threaten the elders until they give him all the food!
Ok maybe that’s a little far, but still, he’ll make them regret it. Maybe he could even find twenty pink rabbits.
With his passion relit, and a fire in his eyes. He set out, scampering away with a grin on his face; he’ll make the elders regret underestimating him!
———
He definitely overestimated his skills to survive. He had somehow managed to scare every mouse (or even rat) away. He didn’t understand what he was doing wrong! He had seen the other kids do stuff like this before, all they did was find some sort of prey, sneak up on it, and then pounce! He didn’t understand what he had done wrong, he was the sneakier in the village. He practically was invisible when he tried to be.
He scratched a bit at the soft earth underneath him, his ears straining for any sort of sound in the bushes or trees. He was sure he’d get it next time, all he had to do was just find something to catch. He was starting to take the guards words seriously, he was really hungry, and if that meant to had to stoop to eating rats? Then so be it.
Had he managed to scare everything away? Surely not, the forest was big and the hunters always came back with something. He just had to listen a little closer. He twitched his tail, was that something? No just a leaf. What about that? No, it was just a brown mushroom.
After he had been sitting there for a while he finally stood up. “Well I’m definitely not finding anything here, maybe I just need to move to a new spot.
Before he had even fully stepped forward he heard a rustling coming from his left. Lightening fast, he launched towards it, forgetting all need for caution as he focused solely on the direction he had heard the noise from. He hurtled towards it face first, scrambling mid-air to get his paws in front of him.
As he crashed into the bush he saw a small creature run out. Was that a mouse? He ran for it, feet slipping out from under him as he lost his footing on the rotting leaves on the other side of the bush. He scrambled to slow down, still chasing the small animal as it ran towards a tree. Wait, a tree? “Oh no”
As he came to finally caught up to the small animal in front of him he slammed face first into the tree. Flying into the air for a moment before falling back down at the base of it.
He stayed there for a moment, shaking his head to clear the dizziness. “Darn it, I was so close that time! If only I had tried to sneak up on it, maybe I could have caught it.” A couple tears gathered in his eyes, before he shoved a paw into his face, roughly wiping them away. No! He couldn’t cry over something that he can’t change now, there was no point in it. He needed to find a place to sleep for the night anyways.
He set out with a dejected look on his face, each paw stepping numbly in front of the other. He just needed to find a place to sleep. He had seen a perfect area earlier. It was quite open, but it had a patch of soft moss in the middle and looked like he could at least get slightly comfortable in it. It didn’t matter if he didn’t eat today, he’ll just eat even more tomorrow, never mind the fact that he didn’t even manage to find a single thing tonight.
As he came to a stop in the clearing, the soft moonlight shining on his orange coat, he couldn’t help but think, was this whole thing a lot bigger than he thought? The elders seemed quite serious, and they hadn’t left him out in the forest like this before; even when he didn’t finish a task on time.
“Maybe I’m overthinking it, after all, it couldn’t be that serious. It’s just a rabbit anyways.”