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Kyrre: Following an Inkling

As more and more of his kitsunes spread down the multiple passageways, Kyrre forged onward. He was determined to find Rose, and he wasn't stopping. He wasn't even really paying attention to where he was going. Other kitsunes branched off in groups sometimes, until, long before he noticed it, Kyrre was alone in a tunnel. He'd probably been walking alone for half an hour before he realized it. And he knew, once he realized he was alone, that he should stop. He knew he'd passed forks in the labyrinth already, and that meant that they were no longer checking every possible path. He knew he should turn around and prepare to regroup.

But he didn't.

The further he went, the stronger the feeling got. It was like he was being pulled down the paths now, instead of just following an inkling. He tried to reason with himself, but even the rational part of his brain gave up before it could form any arguement. He had to follow the pull. The pull was everything. The others were inconsequential. Ever seeing the sun again was unimportant. Water, food, rest- all meant nothing. Breathing was the only need beyond the pull that Kyrre obeyed, as he ran through the labyrinth.

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Rose: Broken

Rose held on tight to the hand of the bunny girl, even in the light sleep she found herself now. The room was gloriously dark and silent again, so many hours later. She would have slept deeper, had her mind allowed it. But in her mind, she could picture it.

After days or weeks, she could imagine herself. Sitting up, fetching, heeling, and purring to command. Serving, and living to serve. Her mind hollowing out, wanting nothing but to please her masters, every moment of every day. Becoming the object that the man had said she was; a pet, and a slave.

It did not help this haunting vision- which always shattered Rose's light sleep- that she had an idea now of what that would look like. She's been shown.

The tan bunny girl, in the cage closest to the door, had been let out. She had half walked, half hopped over, staying at the man's heels. She performed for him. She gloried in serving him, and she wore no collar or chain like Rose or the others. She could have left at any moment. Rose had noticed, after the display, that once dismissed, the tan bunny simply hop-walked back to her cage, let herself in, and curled up. The cage was not locked. The girl was simply returning to her spot when not in use. The tan bunny girl was broken.

That thought woke Rose again. And Again. She was having a hard time distinguishing between her own horrific visions of herself in this future, the tan bunny, and reality. A corner of her mind wondered about the effects of the shot she was given- the drug- but fell silent on a mind already too preoccupied to worry over such a minor detail.

So it was interesting to Rose, in such a half-asleep stupor, when she realized that her dream was different. Through her haze, she did not see herself or the tan bunny. Instead, she saw a male kitsune, lighting the cave with a funny red glow. He opened her cage, and Rose skittered to the back of it. He growled, and Rose closed her eyes. But the next moment, she was standing out of the cage, both her arms in the hands of the kitsune, who was looking her over.

Rose could not comprehend this dream. She did not see herself obeying as if this was her master, which meant that the dream... was different? She was uncertain what it meant. But the kitsune was unhappy. He sent off the light, out of the room. Rose could see nothing until another light blossomed to life. Her head tilted to the side. This didn't fit into her dream sequences at all.

The kitsune took a bit of the light apart, and placed it on Rose's shoulder. She looked down in a quasi-curious manner, and was surprised to see a red flowing dress, somehow created from the red light.

"Rose." said the kitsune.

The words rang against her head like icicles, bringing only pain. Unthinking, she raised both her hands to her head and winced.

"Say something. Are you all right?" the voice asked cautiously, carefully, and slowly.

When Rose only barely managed to open her eyes and no more, the kitsune stood there, looking angry and sad and... something else.

She knew he wanted an answer. Through all the fog in her head, she could yet comprehend the commands she was given. The thoughts through her head the drug passed like fleeting shadows, except for commands.

She raised a hand to her neck- to the collar, and shook her head. She could not speak.

The kitsune growled, and tore at the collar on her neck. When it did not give, he turned Rose around. A moment later, and it fell to the floor. He kicked it in disgust.

But before Rose could speak, still feeling the urge to respond the drug, she was whisked up into the air.

The man muttered something back to... to someone who Rose could not contemplate. She kept her eyes closed. This dream was too much for her to allow. The fog in her head and throughout her body the drug would not allow her to feel much, and she could no longer feel the hand of the white bunny girl to whom she clung. Instead, she felt only a warmth behind her back and under her knees, before her dreams returned to those of the tan bunny girl's actions.

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Kyrre raced through the tunnels, as quickly and carefully as he could. He followed the trail easily. His firefox messenger bird left a trail easy to recognize, and it would be easy enough for the others to follow where he'd gone. Those other girls....

Kyrre's stomach heaved, and he had to keep his anger under control. Those other girls had obviously been there longer. Physically, and emotionally, he could tell. But that Rose had been there at all- even for a little while- was almost more than he could handle. Letting the other kitsunes rescue the others was all he could handle for now.

Believing that all the other girls wanted to be rescued and could be rescued was all he could handle now. That, and getting out of the demon tunnels.

Others passed by Kyrre soon enough, and he waved them on. He didn't stop to look at faces, and they didn't stop once they saw his.

Kyrre knew when he passed Sahm, as only Sahm would have turned mid-stride to follow Kyrre and then assemble a protective force around Kyrre as he made it back out of the labyrinth, with the possible future Queen of the kitsunes passed out in his arms. She was brusied, but not broken. So little time, and such a big difference. Kyrre wondered how her mind was, and remembered again what had happened when he first walked into that room.

A tan bunny girl had hop-walked over to where he had stopped in the room, looking for Rose and looking at the others. The bunny nudged him, as if she were a domestic animal wanting petted. He had backed up, and she had simply followed. He told her to stay, and she had. It was creepy.

Kyrre really hoped Rose was going to be okay, and his fears were no better as he left the tunnels and burst out into the forest under the stars.