An End and a Beginning

[notthewolf]

Everything happened so fast. He was chained to the tree, and then he was staring down a wolf. A... somehow familiar wolf. Red as a wolf. He'd know his girl anywhere, not to mention she was waiting with him that night. One bite to the jugular later, things went fuzzy. He floated in and out of consciousness for a while before everything just completely went black.

An unknown amount of time later, he woke up in a snow-covered woods, but not the same snow-covered woods he was in. No longer chained to the tree, he winced as he sat up, realizing that he was bleeding from the neck and side.

"Alright, this is certainly not the Enchanted Forest." He pauses, wincing. "Ow."

Comments

[itrunsinthefamily]

No, it isn't the Enchanted Forest. The Enchanted Forest doesn't have red rabbits that, even to Peter's completely human nose, smell faintly of rotten eggs.
Fortunately, the one staring at him turns tail at the sound of foliage crunching under a human-shaped foot.

Red has never actually come to Milliways through the front door. It's always through the woods, and she tends to catch the change by scent first. This time, in addition to the seawater/sulfur/forge/lake cocktail unique to Milliways, there's blood. Someone's hurt; she can't help following it.
And then she stops in her tracks as she realises it's not just blood - it's someone's blood in particular. Someone she knows.
Someone she hadn't expected to actually see in person ever again.




"...Peter?"

[notthewolf]

Peter blinks a few times, staring the red bunny down before it runs away. He tries to sit up at the sound of Red's voice, but it doesn't work very well, as he flops back on the ground.

"Red? Where in the world am I?" He tries to look around, but all he sees is trees and snow. And more trees and snow.

[itrunsinthefamily]

"A tavern. It's called Milliways. Well, you're behind it, anyway."
Her feet start moving toward him, almost without Red thinking about it, and then she drops to her knees next to him. "I'm so sorry."

[notthewolf]

"I really doubt you meant it, Red." Peter winces as he tries to sit up again. The snow's getting into his side where he's bleeding, and then something occurs to him. "Red... you're not.... are you?"

[itrunsinthefamily]

"Gods, no. Of course I didn't mean it. I never would have, if..." But she didn't know (and her grandmother's got a lot to answer for there).
"I'm not dead, no. It's a quirk of this place, apparently. We should get you inside, there are healers."

[notthewolf]

"Well, it's alright as long as you don't develop a taste for my intestines." He puts his hand to his neck, and comes away with blood all over it. "Er, possibly, yes. I don't want to bleed out on the snow. Again." He's smirking a bit, though.

[itrunsinthefamily]

"You're terrible," she says, but she's laughing regardless (and quite glad his innards are where they ought to be, all things considered).

With that, she helps him up and into the bar.