Wind. The wind was tearing at him.
The howling wind made him spin and sit up.
"Ah!" He woke up with a silent scream. His chest heaved, greedily sucking in air as if he had long forgotten how to breathe.
What just happened? He tried to calm his breathing, unconsciously raising his hand to rub his face. Then when he felt the soft fur rubbing against the contact, he looked back at his hairy hands in shock. His eyebrows furrowed; he studied his hands in bewilderment - which now looked so small and weak with long, sharp claws. He grimaced, so ugly. After continuing to feel all over his body, he felt other strange things like: long, shaggy ears with a round tail behind his back. These were the features that he found "abnormal".
However, what was normal?
He tried to recall everything but immediately clutched his head. Every time he tried to think, his head would ache, as if there was a thick layer of glass separating his consciousness and unconsciousness that couldn't be penetrated. He gave up and continued to observe his surroundings.
Currently, he was in what seemed to be the living room of a wooden house. This living room was connected to the kitchen and on the opposite side was a long corridor leading to other rooms. The house was simply decorated with a few weapons hanging on the wall with hunting achievements. The owner of this house was probably a hunter or had some connection to hunting and weapons, and at the same time, he was rarely home.
When he heard the noise, his ears twitched. He immediately became alert. The noise came from the corner of the room.
***
Ark was at a loss for words. After hearing the rustling sound on the sofa, he hobbled to his feet and almost tripped over the sofa. It seemed that Alice had woken up.
Feeling that he shouldn't let Alice see his current state, Ark awkwardly covered his face with his scarred hand. He walked back to the sofa, mumbling behind his palm, "Alice. I—I'm sorry. I can explain."
The rabbit boy, upon seeing him approaching, immediately reacted, backing away. When it touched the corner of the sofa, it panicked. Its ears folded back, pointing straight back, its claws unconsciously growing out. It growled.
But Ark ignored it.
Ark felt his internal organs twisting together. He shakily reached out to Alice, silently praying that the ritual might have only encountered a few errors but not been completely ruined. That Alice was still here, just in a form she shouldn't have.
He reached out but was immediately cut off by a high-pitched voice. The back of his hand was covered in bloody scratches. Ark looked at the red blood flowing from the scratch on his hand and then looked back at the other party who was glaring at him. Its blood-red eyes glared at him. After attacking, it raised its arm to cover its face in defense.
Ark was confused, She doesn't remember me? "Alice, it's me..." You don't remember me?
In response, the other party continued to growl.
"I, I know you shouldn't be in this form," Ark bargained, "You see. I made a mistake. When I did the ritual to bring you back. But I didn't think you would... I..." Guilt. "I shouldn't have done anything. It was a mistake..." Ark whispered, "It was a mistake..."
Ark looked up, tearfully at the other party, muttering, "Can we still leave everything behind and start a new life together?"
Before him, the rabbit boy frowned as if he had just heard something extremely disgusting. But Ark had already understood everything. It was as obvious to him as the last words Alice had said to him. And then, she would look at him with the same expression. A sad, disgusting expression.
Ark felt himself becoming more alert than ever. He saw a rabbit boy on the defensive, ready to run away or attack him at any moment. He saw that his hair was the same color as hers. But he also saw that the rabbit ears were drooping angrily. He closed his eyes and tears fell down. The truth.
***
The sun gradually set, leaving a long streak of sunlight in the room. He looked at the person in front of him; his eyebrows continued to furrow. The question of who Alice was, along with thousands of other questions, rushed into his small body, which was filled with anxiety. He clung tightly to the chair, trying to steady himself against the large figure. His breathing gradually quickened. He looked around frantically, looking for an escape route.
After an unknown amount of time, the voice under the big hat muttered, "That's right. The result of Fusion is not to bring the dead back to life, but to retain the spirit of the living individual and combine the two bodies into one. So she's already lost her soul... Just like Sylvie..."
It was now or never! It immediately jumped off the chair, kicked its bare feet on the cold wooden floor and rushed to the front door. As it grabbed the cold doorknob, it looked back at the other person. The other person seemed to not pay any attention to it and continued to bury his face in his palms and sob. As if understanding its wishes, the other person sobbed, "You can go, or stay... I'm sorry." Then there were countless other pleas for forgiveness.
He then curled up, shrinking his space in the large room. Muffled sobs echoed through the thick fabric in its ears, "I ruined everything again. I'm sorry, Alice. I was wrong…"
It gently stroked its ears and looked towards the door on the left. Just open the door and leave, and it would be free. It took a breath. Now was the best time to escape. After leaving this place, it would run back into the nearest forest, find a den and some delicious vegetables. Live forever in the forest, and especially never need to look back.
It turned the doorknob in front of it heavily. Thinking that there was still a long time before sunset, it hesitated to turn back again. For some reason, it felt curious, step by step towards that person. It curiously looked at the black curly hair exposed under the hood of the body covered by the blue of the cloak and the big hat.
Ever since it saw this young man, it had always noticed the other blue hidden under the big hat. The blue reminded it of a cool space, of the vast, peaceful, deadly sea. A space that could never be approached. Yet, whether frightened or angry, it was still impressed by that liveliness. And strangely, even when it thought its heart would jump out of its chest from fear, it still felt that the other party would not hurt it.
It ventured closer to the other person. Too absorbed in gnawing at its sadness, the other person did not react when it walked towards it. Or when it put its hand on its broad shoulder. Or when it ran its hand along the folds of its large hat.
This person seemed to know someone else named Alice. And this person mistook it for Alice when it mentioned the ritual.
It looked out the window of the room. Somewhere far away, it would find a vast meadow with a deep forest. And when night came, it would no longer be able to see clearly and would have to run away from predators. He felt the rough fabric under his palm. But would it be safer here? And he gently lifted the brim of his hat.
Suddenly, a feeling that could not be described in words or pictures came over him. A familiar feeling urged him. His blood seemed to circulate. His heart skipped a beat and his hand trembled unconsciously as he reached out, fingers spread wide.
The hat fell off. He reached out to feel the soft mess on the head of the cloaked person, gently scratching the soft black hair and rubbing, caressing.
The cloak stirred. His breathing stopped.
In the last dim light of the day, the vast sea was looking at him.
***
Ark felt himself become exposed without the presence of the hat and the world around him was focused on him. In front of him, the rabbit was looking down at him with a strange expression.
He swallowed, hesitantly voicing the only hope left in his wounded chest, "You're not Alice, are you?"
Once again, silence gave him the answer. He hiccupped, then smiled faintly. Of course.
It was only after a while that his emotional outburst finally stopped. Only then did he notice the small hand wandering through his hair. He silently observed the rabbit, wondering how he could have so many similarities with her, or how a child could look so weak.
Ark once again hesitantly reached out his hand.
But this time it was different.
The child tilted his head to look at him. Then, just as he held out his hand, Ark held his breath and looked. The boy did not answer him when he looked for Alice's figure, but only answered him when he tried to communicate with a child. Yes, the person standing before his eyes was just a child, and a child he had brought into this world.
Ark carefully took the small hand and placed it on his forehead.
"Thank you... Thank you for trusting me." He silently thanked him over and over. Then, he reached for the hat that had fallen to the ground and carefully put it back on his head. He stood up, brushed the wrinkles off his cloak, and placed his hand on the boy's shoulder, "Nice to meet you. I'm Ark. And from today, I will be your guardian."