[Short Story] Dangerous and Cruel
Title: Dangerous and Cruel
Author: RainSonata (ff), Rain_Sonata (LJ)
Character(s): various European characters
Rating: K+
Warnings: Hetalia characters as animals, Hetalia characters carefully hidden inside story, possible character death, very vague description in writing at times, no revealing characters until the end of the story
Summary: A young rabbit is bitter towards humans after the death of his parents. The meeting of a certain human makes the young rabbit think twice about his assumption of humans as evil beings. Characters based off of Hetalia characters.
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Dangerous and Cruel
Please read this before you start:
I have spent over a month developing this story. I might as well just post this online for my own sake.
This story was done for a final project in my AP English class. We were to pick a short story and emulate the author's writing. This story's writing style was based off of a short story called There is a Difference by Hans Christian Andersen, the same author who wrote the original version of The Little Mermaid. I guess you can call this a fairytale. The characters have no names, but their personality is based off of Hetalia characters. Yes, I put Hetalia characters in my final project. MFPIH (My Final Project Is Hetalia). If you look closely, you may be able to tell which character I based off from. This was meant to be vague as Anderson's short stories tend to stray away from mentioning names and only put more detail on the main characters. Can you guess who is who? I'll give you a hint. Most of the characters are from Europe. I'll tell you who is who at the end of the story.
The version you are reading is nearly identical to the version I have turned in, although there are extra words added to hint to you who the characters may be. The original story had less words because there was a word limit for my assignment. Much to my discontent, I had to type no more than 2,000 words. I had to abridge much of the short story before satisfying my teacher's requirements. I have saved my story over the old story, so I lost the original, but you haven't missed much. I hope you enjoy reading this. This is meant to be a one-shot, although if someone gives me requests or ideas, I might change my mind and continue the story from where it left off.
Summary: A young rabbit is bitter towards humans after the death of his parents. The meeting of a certain human makes the young rabbit think twice about his assumption of humans as evil beings. Characters based off of Hetalia characters.
Disclaimer: I do not own Han Christian Andersen's writing style and I only emulate his writing style for the sake of my English class. I also do not own Himaruya's idea of Hetalia in any shape or form.
It was a warm June. In the paths where trees grow, spring flowers had already been in full bloom, only to continue to blossom as the temperature rose. There was a rich green forest that was full of its various floras and animals. It was full of life. Summer had arrived, and it was here to stay.
At the edge of the forest lived a rabbit. The rodent had long big ears and a short, golden brown coat, as he needed them to blend into the slowly turning hay yellow grass of the meadow that was located near the forest's borders. His nose twitched as he sniffed the air; his small body lay close to the soft earth, as if he was attempting to feel for any sudden movement of any humans who might be nearby. The tension was palpable. It wasn't rabbit season, but one may never know. Humans were unpredictable. Most of all, they were dangerous. The rabbit's ears suddenly perked up at the calls of the howls of the wolves and the cries of the eagles; he knew that it wasn't only humans he had to worry about.
"Nervous?" The rabbit peaked up to see the wise oak tree speaking to him. The ancient plant was an old being; its leaves spread across its firm grey branches. Its outstretched roots
were broaden and twisted through the soil. It was the tallest tree, for the old oak tree was the oldest inhabitant of the woods.
"No," The rabbit answered shortly. His thick eyebrows twitched in annoyance.
The tree knew better. "What is bothering you today?"
"Humans." There was some disgust in the tone of his voice.
"Humans?" said the oak tree. The ancient oak bent over to kiss the edgy rabbit while swaying his leaves with songbirds' chirping.
The tree asked the rabbit. "What is it about the humans that you despise?"
"They kill. They do not think about those who die because of them." That was his answer. "They are dangerous. And cruel…"
The tree heard the bitterness in his words. The rabbit was not familiar with many humans; he was only a few years old. He had not seen all of mankind, nor had he ever thought of the goodness some humans possessed. He remembered the deaths inflicted by man, but he also did not remember the lives saved by the same race as well.
But then, the two heard a small thumping sound. "Big brother," a small voice whined. "Wait up!" The rabbit turned around to see another one of his kind approach him. It was his younger brother. Like him, the younger rabbit had the same short gold brown coat, but he had shorter ears and had pale blue eyes instead of the soft green eyes the older rabbit had.
The younger rabbit was struggling to keep up with his brother; he gave a few big hops to catch up to him. The first rabbit sighed at the younger brother's lagging. "Try to keep up with me," the rabbit mumbled; he was clearly annoyed.
"You're going too fast," the smaller cottontail complained. "You never give me time to look around."
"I'm trying not to get us eaten. Don't make this harder than it already is." The rabbit puffed his cheeks. "If it were not for me, you would…"
"I know, get killed by humans." His younger brother finished the sentence before the older rabbit could continue. The first rabbit frowned at the interruption by his little brother. The rabbits have always gone through talks such as these. The younger brother, however, thought that he was always right. He had never thought that his brother harbored such a deep hatred for these creatures.
"Look," He tried to reason with the younger rabbit. "I am just trying to protect you."
"Protecting, or nannying?" He threw a question back to his guardian. "Not all humans are bad."
He was furious. "What makes you say so? Did you forget how our parents died? Or our brothers? Do you remember what those humans did to them?" The rabbit's heart was on the verge of breaking. His voice was barely above a whisper; it was soft and hoarse.
The two rabbits have arrived to the meadow. It was where the best thistles were grown, with the biggest blossoms and the sweetest roots that could be found. "Must we continue with this nonsense?" The rabbit gave himself a long sigh. Why must he always explain everything to his little brother?
He ignored the bigger rabbit. "See that dog over there?"
"You are annoying." The older brother was in no mood for this. "What dog?"
The youngest forced his brother's head to the left side where he pointed to it in order for his brother to see. "That dog!" Indeed, there was a dog in the middle of the field. The two rabbits were caught in a daze, staring at the scene several meters away from them.
A small white dog that was looked like a mixed breed was funning about, the tiny white fur ball was hopping about with glee. Among the little dog was a group of small children, one of them, who was the smallest, was the clearly the leader of the group. He shyly approached the dog to give him a small chain of flowers that he had made on their way to the field. When the oldest child called out a name, one might get the impression that it was the dog's name; the animal gave a high pitch bark back in response, as if laughing at a private joke that was only shared between them. The middle child just watched and nodded, seeming to be happy just to be there.
"See that?" He was excited. "Did you see how the dog was having fun? Did you see how happy the kits were?" By kits, the little rabbit was referring to the children. He nearly fell on his face from leaning too far. The rabbit thought that he was hopelessly naïve if he thought that that was all the dog had in his life, for that meant that the canine would be bound to his dog house for the rest of his life with no freedom.
"Do you see the humans' kindness?" the old oak tree asked through cascading winds.
"They are only children," the rabbit announced.
"Are we done yet?" The younger rabbit interrupted his thoughts.
"Go to sleep," he mindlessly replied to his only family.
The small bunny protested. "But I'm still open to lots of carrots!" He huffed. "Jerk."
A few months later, in cool October, when autumn was approaching, its icy hands had begun to creep into the tiny forest. The sun tenderly kissed the leaves of the trees into delicate blushes and hues of reds, oranges, and yellows. One by one, the leaves danced down the tree branches into their eternal slumber for the winter, with the elderly oak tree as the conductor. As usual, the rabbits were in search of food before winter. However, much to the older brother's fear, the younger rabbit was nowhere to be seen.
"Little brother!" He called out to the little fluff ball. The rabbit frantically searched through the small thickets that inhabited in their environment. He nervously sprinted through the forest in desperation. "Little brother! Where are you?"
A sharp sinister sound suddenly burst from the far distance. The birds nearby flew off in a panic. Several more explosions rocked the tense atmosphere. The rabbit ran through the thickets, and through the small streams, until the sight in front of him surprised him so greatly that he nearly choked. His small body was lying near the stream; blood was slowing trickling out, as if the flow was blocked by something.
"Li…little brother?" The rabbit's voice was weak with disbelief. "Little brother, please wake up!" He did not remember his brother being so tiny.
"Please…" Another blast was shot into his direction. The rabbit quickly fled to find a hiding spot.
"Look, I've found another one!" A man's voice rose over the running water. The hiding rabbit felt his eyes burn from anger at the murderer. He could not bear to watch when the human grabbed his brother by the ears and slung him over his shoulder like a knapsack. With his eyes blurred and drowned with tears, the rabbit threw a quick glance at his younger brother before he departed. He could not bear to see more.
"Humans," he cried. "I hate them."
Between tears, he thought he heard a voice carried off by the mourning wind.
"Don't cry for me,"
Later that fall, the crisp soft snow began to gather and clump on top of another layer. The rabbit's fur slowly began to transform into a soft angelic white, the same tone of the snow surrounding the forest. The rabbit was still mourning his younger brother's death. The wearied out rabbit only ate when he had to; his visits to the rest of the inhabitants of the forest ceased entirely. He only talked to the oak tree when he had the energy, but their conversations were rare and brief.
One day, the rabbit made a brief visit to the stream near his home to get a drink of water. The rabbit was brushing his mouth against the cascading fountain before he washed his face. When he was done, he hopped back to his home. However, when he was halfway though, the rabbit suddenly stumbled on his hind legs. A sharp jab abruptly grinded on his hips as the startled cottontail cried out in pain. The origin of the pain was apparent when he saw that he was caught in one of the metal traps the humans were infamous for. He struggled to free himself
from the despicable metal death device, only to find it impossible, as it would only kill him. He cried again in pain, as the pressure of the trap seemed to be attempting to squeeze the life out of him. Hours seemed to pass as the rabbit drifted in and out of consciousness. He was there for such a long time, that he almost thought that the pain was gone.
"Looks like there's another one," someone called out. The rabbit was too tired to lash out in anger at the one who said that. He could not distinguish if the voice belonged to a human or an animal like him.
"Do you see how one of his bones is disjointed?" the same voice rose. He felt the creature, who he realized was a human, carefully opened the trap to free him from the enduring pain. A huge wave of relief rushed over the rabbit, as he fell into a sea of unconsciousness.
He was in the arms of stranger when he opened his wide eyes.
"Good morning," the human greeted him. The human looked too young to be called a man; he was holding the rabbit like one would hold a baby.
Paranoia began to take over. "Are you going to eat me?" The rabbit sobbed over his words.
The human ears could only pick up squeaks from the rabbit. The young human just laughed. "Don't worry, the vet told me that you should be healed in no time!" He stroked the rabbit; his hands had a light, gentle touch. The rabbit stopped to look at the human. The man's eyes were blue. Like the sky... The rabbit could not help but feel relaxed when he was with this human.
The human pointed at the plaster wrapped around the rabbit's leg. "See? Just rest and you'll be better in no time!"
Realization suddenly hit the rabbit when he saw that it was true. He had escaped death, because this human had saved him. This human cared about him.
"Look at the sincere kindness of one man." He heard the ancient oak again.
The rabbit turned to the window beside him while the human was still rambling. "Yes. I see it now." It did not matter what the human was, but who he was.
"Not all humans are bad, are they?" He heard his little brother ask him from the heavens.
"No. No, they're not." He closed his eyes. "Rest in peace. Little brother…" The rabbit smiled to himself as both he and the human enjoyed their small moment of peace.
Author Notes:
What are their names?
Although it must have been hard for some of you to catch their personalities or even what they looked like because I was careful to make their true characters subtle and vague as Andersen tends to do that to his characters in his stories.
the rabbit (the older one) : Arthur (England), he is a European Rabbit
the rabbit's younger brother : Peter (Sealand)
Ancient Tree : No one. He is an OC of my creation; he only acts as a God/father-like figure for Arthur. Some of Andersen's stories were known for their reference to God.
the dog : Hana-Tamago
random children (oldest to youngest) : Denmark, Norway, Iceland
human #1 : No one. He has no face nor personality. He only acts as a plot device.
human #2 : Alfred F. Jones (America), he is an American who is visiting the countryside of Europe
Well, What do you think? Is this good? Bad? Should I go further and talk more? Or just leave it alone? Please read and review. Some feedback would be nice.