#wolfbunny fic: bunny trap

[nom-the-skel]

[vore] The Bunny Trap, chapter 13

Bunnies talk a lot, and there isn’t room in this chapter for the good part :3

2.2k words - soft vore, suicidal actions

[chapter 1][chapter 12][read on AO3][chapter 14]

Stretch was welcomed to the bunny cuddle pile established by Edge and Red. Red tried not to begrudge him, but it had been nice having the box in Razz’s room just for himself and Edge. Edge hadn’t been this cuddly before his capture, and it was one of the few silver linings Red had found in the whole ordeal. Maybe Stretch would opt to leave, since he wasn’t injured and wasn’t as devoted to Edge as Red was.

But it was awkward when he and Stretch were left alone. Edge couldn’t lie around all day with them, and Stretch didn’t have anywhere else to go. “Be nice to Stretch,” Edge instructed as he left to start his completely unnecessary cleaning routine after breakfast. The wolves had won Stretch over to some extent with Razz’s cooking, and he was able to relax in their house, so long as they weren’t present. Red was happy enough to keep him company.

“since you’re not doing anything,” Stretch said, interrupting the companionable silence, “maybe you can tell me how all this happened.”

“all what?”

“why you and edge are living with wolves?”

“oh. well. it’s a long story.”

“i’ve got time.” Stretch lay back against the blanket, hands crossed behind his skull.

Red grumbled. “fine. i guess—i guess it started with boss getting caught in a trap. razz got him out, but as you’ve seen, it did some damage.”

“razz is the wolf that—?” Stretch didn’t want to say it outright, that Razz had eaten him.

“yeah.”

“and what were you doing at the time?”

Red bristled with anger for a moment, then curled up under the weight of remembered trauma. “blue caught me by hand. no traps.”

“the same wolf that caught me?”

Red shuddered. “yeah.”

“what’d he do?” Stretch seemed genuinely sympathetic. “you get stuffed with carrots too?”

“no.”

Stretch lifted his skull to look over at him, curious why he was avoiding answering the question.

Red sighed in resignation. “chewed me up pretty bad. and ate me.”

“he ate you?” Stretch clearly didn’t understand how Red could have lived to tell about it.

“hey, you got eaten too,” Red reminded him. “that part isn’t so bad. chewing is worse.”

“chewing …?”

Red held up his reattached arm to display the seam in his jacket sleeve.

“he ripped your jacket?”

Red laughed ruefully. “i got it worse than the jacket.”

“that sounds awful.” Stretch mercifully decided not to pry further.

“you’re probably wondering why i’m alive.” Red couldn’t accept that favor and still tell the story.

“yeah, kinda.” Stretch was wary.

“it’s the darnedest thing. blue has healing abilities.”

“what?”

“so he kinda … undid all the damage. while i was … inside.”

“you don’t have to tell me, you can stop.”

Red wiped at his sockets. “no, i’m fine. that was the worst part.”

Stretch waited a moment. “so you survived being—you survived, and then?”

“he was gonna just set me loose in the forest, but razz found out and brought me here, since boss was here already.”

“i guess that explains it.” Stretch looked as if he were still processing it. Understandable.

“there’s more, though.” Red grimaced. He could have just avoided it, but since he was already talking about unpleasant subjects … “blue and razz are still kinda friends. i guess you know. since blue caught you as a favor to him.”

Stretch shuddered, listening silently. Red felt a twinge of guilt. Was he blaming Stretch for the necessity of putting all this into words?

“and they’re—blue is—treating boss. for his leg. maybe they can restore it.”

Stretch’s ears stood up in confusion. “how?”

Red cringed, looked away, steadied himself. “blue eats him.”

Stretch was horrified. He hadn’t understood. Although to be fair, Red was horrified even though he was intimately familiar with how it worked.

“to heal him, the same way he healed me,” he explained.

Stretch was silent, and Red looked over to see how he was taking it. He had curled up with his arms over his skull.

“yeah, i feel the same way,” Red muttered, then let the silence last until Stretch slowly uncurled.

“i can’t imagine … letting a wolf do that.”

Red knew how he felt. Stretch hadn’t been through the same thing as him, but the experience might have been almost as traumatic. “yeah. he doesn’t even need to, really. you’ve seen him; he can get around fine.”

“yeah,” Stretch agreed.

“maybe—maybe between the two of us we can convince him to end this madness.” Red sat up, enthusiasm growing.

“what do you mean?”

“i’ve told—asked—begged him, really, not to do this anymore. but he won’t listen. maybe if you back me up …”

Stretch looked at him for a moment. “but isn’t it the only way to fix his leg? i mean, if there was another way, you’d be doing that instead, right?”

“so? he’s fine the way he is!”

Stretch looked uncomfortable. “are the wolves gonna let him go when he’s healed?”

“he’s not, like, their prisoner or anything. he could go home now if he wanted.”

“huh. well, if it were me, and i hadn’t been—eaten—i’d probably be pretty tempted to just stay here. you’ve got it pretty good, right? three square meals a day and no responsibilities that i’ve noticed.”

Red’s ears were starting to fold back. “yeah, so?”

“but edge isn’t like that. he wants to walk on his own two feet. literally.”

“like i said, he—”

“but can you honestly say he’s as fast and agile as he ever was?”

“maybe not but i—”

“i couldn’t do it, but if he wants to, y’know, exhaust every avenue, i think it’s pretty brave of him.” Stretch leaned back, as if that were the final word on the subject.

“what are you saying, carrots? you’re okay with him getting eaten by a wolf? and not just any wolf, a sadistic wolf!”

Stretch shrugged, ignoring the name. “aren’t they all sadistic?”

“no! slim and razz—”

“what, they’ve never eaten a bunny?”

Red glowered. “razz only ate you to get you out of there.”

“what about other bunnies, before they met you two?”

Red growled. “they’re wolves. what do you expect?”

“my point exactly.”

Stretch was infuriatingly calm. Red raised an accusing finger and opened his mouth to argue, but he found himself unsure of his position. Slim might have eaten bunnies in the past—he hadn’t asked, but he had to assume as much—but he wouldn’t do such a thing now, would he? Red wasn’t as sure as he would like. It wasn’t as if he’d taken a vow never to hurt a rabbit again. It just made Red angrier with Stretch.

“Red! Be nice to Stretch. He’s been through a lot.” Edge had come in while Red was caught in his conflicting thoughts.

“boss! i was just tryin’ to tell him razz and slim are, y’know, nice wolves.”

“Yes, yes, we owe them a lot.” Edge’s ear twitched. “But Razz did eat him.”

“razz ate you and ya didn’t hold a grudge.”

“razz ate you?!” Stretch sat up, surprised.

Edge nodded stiffly. “It’s a long story. But it was not malicious.”

“not malicious?” Stretch echoed in disbelief.

Edge glared at Red for bringing up the topic.

“well if you’re both agreed that wolves are vicious, maybe you shouldn’t be letting blue eat ya,” Red said, crossing his arms sulkily.

Edge glanced at Stretch and saw he didn’t react to this like new information. “Red, did you—”

“especially since blue actually is vicious.”

“Red.” Edge was getting exasperated. “I know Blue is eccentric and the whole business bothers you. But—”

“eccentric! you know what he did to me!” The crunch of his own bones still echoed in his ears.

“Red—”

Red turned away, not wanting the other rabbits to see the tears gathering in his eye sockets, and slouched out of the room as quickly as he thought he could without looking like he was in a hurry.

***

“what’s wrong, bunny?”

Slim was in his own room. Red sullenly pulled himself up to curl up on top of the wolf’s stomach. Slim cupped a hand over him, but he just curled up tighter.

“did you get crowded out of the bunny cuddle pile?”

He’d meant it as a joke, but maybe it was too close to the truth. Red glared at him a moment before curling up tighter. Slim left him alone to process whatever he was feeling, and he gradually relaxed again as the minutes dragged on. Slim was perfectly content to just lie there with him, but when he glanced down to check on him and their eyes met he felt like he should say something.

“you don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to.”

Red grunted listlessly.

“if it’s that new bunny, i doubt he’ll stay. he seems to have a healthy fear of wolves.” Slim smiled self-deprecatingly.

“i hope he stays. boss likes him. maybe if he stays boss will want to stay too and—” The hope that had built in his voice drained away.

“you want to stay?”

“yeah. i mean i don’t care where we are so long as—but if we just stayed here boss wouldn’t have to—you know. with blue.”

Slim’s ears must have dropped when he realized he didn’t fit into the calculation anywhere. Red grimaced uncomfortably.

“sorry. i like it here, honest, aside from that. but that’s a pretty big thing.”

Slim couldn’t imagine the right thing to say so he just ran his claws down the bunny’s back. It seemed to help.

***

Red’s mind ran in circles and kept him awake even as Slim dozed off. If only Edge were content to stay here like this. He couldn’t be lonely with both Red and Stretch—Stretch might well stay if Edge decided to stay permanently. Or they could all leave right now and never have anything to do with wolves again. Edge could survive with both Red and Stretch to support him. Stretch wasn’t really a go-getter but he wasn’t as bad as Red…

He had a terrible idea. Counterintuitive but it just might work. If Edge hadn’t been quite so brave he would never have started this thing with Blue. If something happened to make him just a little more afraid of wolves, it could push him over the tipping point of refusing the treatment. If he were forced to confront the horror of what wolves did…

He’d probably still be fine around Razz; it wasn’t like Razz was going to swallow him again. And if not, he’d still have Stretch. He’d get by.

As for Red, he wouldn’t have to worry about it anymore.

Before he lost his nerve, he crawled up to Slim’s face and leaned against his teeth. They were huge and sharp, but he had to get over his fear of them. “hey slim. you awake?”

Slim’s skull turned and he lost his balance. “huh? what?”

The wolf watched apologetically as he got to his feet again on Slim’s chest. But Red shook it off. “got a favor to ask you.” He was already shivering with nerves.

“anything,” Slim answered easily. Red hesitated, realizing what a big ask it was—what would Razz think? If Edge did stay, would they kick Slim out? But none of that was important compared to Edge.

“i want you to eat me.”

Slim paused a moment, surprised. “okay.”

Red shrank down into his jacket.

“are you sure?” said the wolf.

“yeah.”

“all right. take off your clothes.”

Red stared at him.

“i want to taste you, not your clothes.”

Fair enough. Red couldn’t quite believe what he was doing, but he shuffled off his jacket, shirt and shorts, leaving his bones exposed. It wasn’t as if Slim hadn’t seen them before.

“good bunny.” Slim had been stretched out horizontally but he propped himself up a little to watch Red. Now he let his jaw hang open invitingly, orange tongue covering the sharp lower incisors.

Red was a little taken aback that Slim had agreed to this so easily, and was apparently so eager to get on with it. Then again, there was no point in dragging it out. It might have been easier for Red if Slim has just snatched him up. But if he forced Red to walk into his mouth—to feed himself to him—he could be sure this was really what Red wanted. It was considerate in a cruel way.

He climbed up Slim’s shirt and held onto his lower fangs. Slim held rock still, although he had an air of excitement. Red tried to walk up his tongue but it was too slippery smooth. Slim tolerated having his tongue stepped on without complaint. Red moved around to the side and slipped between the jaws to lie across Slim’s tongue. Slim bit down gently, holding him there, and Red froze.

He tried to calm himself. It was all for Edge. This was about the only way he could be useful to Edge anyway. And he definitely preferred Slim over any other wolf. He owed him something after kicking him and biting him like that. And besides, he was a wolf—so their relationship couldn’t really be anything other than this.

Slim sat up—it was probably harder to swallow him lying down. Red panicked.

[nom-the-skel]

Requested by @dandelions-sea

It’s the fell bunnies from Bunny Trap!

[nom-the-skel]

[vore] The Bunny Trap, chapter 10

Lots of talk of biting, no actual biting. Mild injury, talk/intent of self-harm. 1.9k words

[chapter 1][chapter 9][read on AO3][chapter 11]

“i want you to bite me.”

“what?”

“bite me.”

“i thought you didn’t want me to eat ya?”

“i didn’t say eat me!” Red recoiled in alarm. “i said bite me—just enough that i’m bleeding, so they’ll put me in there with boss and maybe—maybe i can help heal him a bit.”

Blue’s idea of making a cleaner break when reopening Edge’s wound had helped a little, but the process was still painfully slow. Edge faced it with grim resolve, but Red couldn’t bear the thought of continuing this way for the foreseeable future, spending a week dreading his brother being eaten and then a week waiting for him to come back, repeating the process interminably. Red usually slept in, but today was another ‘treatment’ day and he’d been too anxious to really sleep at all. He’d waited until Edge had joined Razz in the kitchen to make breakfast and gone to wake up Slim in his room.

“maybe actually just—bite most of the way through my humerus, or femur, i don’t care.” He’d found he didn’t have the guts to do it himself, but maybe he could pull the limb the last little bit of the way off, and hope that Blue’s body used the bone and magic at least as much for Edge as for himself.

“i’m not gonna bite ya,” said Slim, frowning.

“you were totally okay with eating me but you won’t just nibble on me a bit even if i’m begging for it?” Red’s ears dropped in exasperation.

“yeah,” Slim confirmed. “biting is just so—ugh. messy.”

Red shook his head in disgust. “hypocritical wolf.”

“self-destructive bunny,” Slim shot back. “just stay here with me until it’s over this time.” He rolled onto his side on his mattress and gathered Red to his chest.

***

“Come on, Razz, don’t go easy on me!”

Razz growled, frustrated. He didn’t mean to go easy on Blue—by this point it was clear that it wouldn’t have any ill effect on Edge. But he had to make a deliberate effort not to worry about the bunny. Red’s obvious distress over the situation didn’t help either.

“I’m not!” he denied, summoning a wave of bone attacks from behind Blue. A somewhat cowardly move, but landing a hit would show Blue he wasn’t going easy on him.

He was too predictable. Blue hopped over the attack and lunged forward, swinging a long bone at Razz’s skull. Razz had the reflexes to block it, but not as precisely as he would have liked, taking the hit on his bare ulna rather than a glove or his own attack. Wincing, he fell back a few steps.

“Are you okay?” Blue dropped his battle stance, his attack vanishing, ears rigid with concern.

“I’m fine,” Razz growled, pretending his arm didn’t hurt where Blue’s attack had hit it. This backfired when a drop of purple magic fell to the snow below.

“You’re not fine! You’re bleeding! Let me look at it.”

“Sometimes you have to fight through a minor injury.” Razz moved to hide the arm.

“Sure but you’re not the one being trained here!”

Blue had improved since Razz had started training him, to the point that he was fast enough to snatch up Razz’s arm even as he tried to move it away.

“It’s fine, you don’t have to—what are you doing?!” Razz snapped as he felt the softness of Blue’s tongue against his bone. He yanked his arm away.

“Licking it!” Blue answered. “It stops it hurting. And—”

“You insult me, Blue. You think I can’t handle such a minor pain?” And after what Blue had put the bunnies through without a second thought. “Besides, I don’t want to be infected with your—”

“You think you’ll catch my healing thing?” Blue asked, his cheer undampened. Razz has just been going to protest Blue’s spit getting incorporated into his blood but he stopped, jaw dropping. “If you did, you could help heal Edge!” Blue continued. “And you could eat your pet bunnies all the time.”

“I told you they’re not pets,” Razz spat. “Let’s get back to sparring.”

“Are you sure you wanna keep going? You’re still bleeding.”

Razz snatched his arm further away before Blue could grab it again, but he still got a drop of purple magic on his hand, which he proceeded to lick off.

“Stop being gross, Blue.”

“What? You can’t catch anything from me without direct contact anyway. It wouldn’t make sense.”

Razz growled. Blue looked like he was enjoying the taste a little bit too much.

“What’s wrong?” Blue asked. “You think I’m gonna mistake you for a bunny?”

Razz shuddered, remembering what Blue had done to Red in their first encounter. “Just try it,” he challenged.

Blue perked up. “You mean if I win a sparring match I get to bite you or something?”

Razz grimaced. “What? No. How did you even—Why would you want to do that?”

“I didn’t say I want—”

“You obviously do.” Razz employed his formidable courage in order not to back away from the other wolf. “Look, why don’t you go home for today. By tomorrow this’ll be healed up and there won’t be any temptation.”

Blue hung his skull, abashed. “All right. Sorry. I’m just maybe getting a little bit tired of Edge every week.”

“Every other week,” Razz corrected him, narrowing his eye sockets. It wasn’t as if Blue wasn’t eating regular food in between. Did that not count to break up the monotony of flavor? Had those few drops of blood given Blue a taste for wolf? Suddenly he could relate to the bunnies in a whole new way.

***

“what happened?” Slim was alarmed when he came down for dinner and saw the bandages on Razz’s arm.

“Nothing.” Razz was clearly embarrassed, trying to hide his arm while he dished out enchiladas. “Just nicked it a little in training.”

“blue did that?” Slim deposited Red at his place on the table and sat down himself. He would have liked to inspect the wound, make sure it wasn’t really any worse than Razz was making it out to be, but there was no way Razz would cooperate.

“Yes. He’s improving.” Razz puffed up with pride as he took his own seat.

“he must be.”

“He does have the best teacher.”

“i guess so. you know what they say, it’s a poor teacher who isn’t overtaken by his student … or something like that.”

Razz’s ears flattened. “He’s not that good!”

“so long as you didn’t bleed in the food,” said Red, earning a harsh glance from Slim.

“I didn’t bleed as much as all that,” protested Razz.

Slim fidgeted, resisting the urge to jump up and examine Razz’s arm whether he liked it or not.

“whoa, he actually made you bleed?” Red dropped his tiny rabbit fork. He looked from Razz to Slim, frowning. “and this is the guy you’re trusting with my brother?”

“I know he’s a bit—eccentric,” Razz admitted.

The other two skeletons waited for him to continue with a “but” and some defense or good point about Blue, but he didn’t. Red picked up his fork, only to play with it anxiously.

“but he’s the only one who can heal edge’s leg?” Slim suggested.

“Yeah,” Razz agreed, seeming distracted. “Even if he does like biting people.”

Red dropped his fork again and bolted, right up Slim’s arm and into the safety of the fluffy lining of his jacket.

“he bit you?”

Razz returned Slim’s alarmed gaze with confusion. “What? No! It was a regular bone attack.”

Slim relaxed, his fur settling. As much as he didn’t like anyone attacking Razz, it was a fact of life in his chosen line of work, and he had no doubt his brother was capable enough to handle it.

“He just suggested it,” Razz muttered, as if he were only thinking aloud.

“what?!”

***

Blue didn’t seem to notice both Slim and Red glaring distrustfully at him when he came over to release Edge from his latest round of healing. Well, Razz supposed, Red was always like that to begin with.

They’d all experienced it so many times that Razz almost forgot to be grossed out at the sight of Blue vomiting up a bunny. Then again, disgust could be a vulnerability, so it was just as well that he was getting over it. At least they’d perfected their routine now so that the mess was contained. Slim held onto Red until Blue had given Edge at least a cursory wipe-down.

Red dashed over to Edge as soon as he was released, but he didn’t latch onto him, perhaps valuing Edge’s dignity over his own need for closeness. He was content to sit next to Edge, giving Blue a wary look. Perhaps he was just embarrassed to show so much emotion in front of the audience of wolves; but then again, they’d seen it all already. Either way, it was much easier to evaluate Edge’s progress without his brother clinging to him. And he got less of Blue’s magic on him, which meant less clean-up.

“How are you doing, Edge?” Razz handed the bunny a bit of tissue.

“Fine,” Edge answered, combing blue magic out of his ears.

“boss?” Red was staring at his bare leg now. “i think you’re getting better.”

The wolves all leaned in to see the state of Edge’s leg, and Razz was surprised to realize he could actually perceive a difference. There were perhaps a dozen millimeters of new bone—not a lot, but it was clear visible progress on the miniature skeleton.

“See? I told you!” Blue grinned widely.

Red’s almost wondrous expression faltered into dismay. If the treatment was working, that meant they would have to continue.

“Soon we’ll find out if I can replace missing bones and not just complete partial bones.”

Red’s ears folded back further. “whaddaya mean?”

“Well, his foot bones are gone entirely,” Blue explained cheerfully. “His tibia and fibula might heal up and then just stop.”

Red growled, and Edge’s sockets widened in concern.

Blue didn’t seem to notice. He looked up at Razz, excited. “I bet it’s because I drank—”

Razz coughed meaningfully, eye lights darting to Slim for a split second.

Blue stared openly at Slim. “Oh, he doesn’t know?” Blue seemed to understand the content of Razz’s message but none of the intent. He smiled and explained, “The other day at training when I made Razz bleed I kinda licked up some of the blood.”

Razz flinched, but Slim didn’t visibly react.

“So clearly that’s what made Edge heal so much this week,” Blue concluded. “Meaning we’ll have to recreate it next time too!”

Slim’s ear twitched.

“That—that doesn’t follow,” said Razz. “For one thing, we don’t know if that’s what caused it. You should do another week with everything the same except that. If you can remember everything you did this week.”

“What, are you scared?” Blue grinned wider.

“Of course not!” Razz answered reflexively. “I just think we should be scientific about it.”

“I am being scientific! I’ve tried loads of things on these rabbits, you know.”

Red clasped his arms around Edge, and Edge leaned into the embrace.

[nom-the-skel]

[vore] The Bunny Trap, chapter 9

Red is unhappy and Slim is a creepy wolf.

[chapter 1][chapter 8][read on AO3][chapter 10]

1.7k words. Very brief willing safe vore, mention of past hard vore and hypothetical fatal vore, bad puns

Slim soon gave up on trying to wash the bunnies separately. Red wouldn’t let go of Edge, and prying him off just to have him latch on again hardly seemed worth the trouble. So he set them on top of a stack of towels—Razz wouldn’t approve of getting blue magic on the clean towels, but there was going to be plenty of laundry anyway—while he filled the bathroom sink with warm soapy water.

“Let go of me, Red!” The taller bunny finally lost patience as Slim turned back around, ready to put them in the sink. “I’m not going to bathe in my clothes!”

The smaller bunny relaxed his grip enough that Edge was able to extricate himself. “please don’t go back in there, boss. i can’t take it.”

Slim hovered, turning off the water before the sink overflowed, but hesitant to interrupt the bunnies’ conversation by grabbing and dunking them.

Edge’s scowl looked angry, but the bunny was enough like Razz that Slim could tell he felt awful about worrying his brother like this. “Stop that, Red. This is the only way,” he said as he shed his clothes.

“at least let me go with you.” Red’s voice was flat and dull, which somehow seemed more alarming than if it had been filled with emotion.

Edge opened his mouth to reply, when Slim swooped in and scooped them both up. “yep, this is the only way to get you two clean, but of course you can both go together,” he said, depositing them in the soapy water.

“Red, you’re still wearing your jacket!” Edge scolded, as if Slim had given him a chance to take it off.

“eh, it’s gonna get wet in the laundry anyway,” Red shrugged.

“How are you going to get all that wolf goop off of your bones though?”

“it’s only superficial on me. you’re the one that was swimming in it for a week.”

Edge grumbled, and Slim decided to throw him a bone. “well, since you’re in the water anyway, red, you may as well wash up properly. after all, i drew this bath special for you rabbits.”

“yeah?” Red looked up at him.

“yeah, it’s a bun-ble bath, see?”

“Ugh!” Edge turned his back on both of them, retrieving a little piece of sponge that Razz had cut off the corner of a larger sponge for the bunnies and kept on the edge of the sink by the faucet.

Red laughed. “that was just claw-ful,” he said, but he shrugged off his jacket, and Slim plucked it out of the water, tossing it on the soiled towel.

***

Edge avoided bringing up the topic of his next treatment with Red, furtively pinning down the date with Razz and Blue. It wasn’t that hard, as Red tended to hide away whenever Blue stopped by before or after his training sessions. The night before the appointed day, he sat down on their shoebox bed where Red was already curled up, setting aside his crutches, rehearsing different ways to tell Red what would happen tomorrow. Part of him wanted to just get on with it without telling his brother, let him find out when Edge was nowhere to be found after Blue left, but that would be cowardly. And although it might spare Red the anticipation between then and now, it could also leave him even more worried after the event.

“Red?” he said, even though he hadn’t figured out how he wanted to phrase the news.

“yeah, boss?” Red was sleepy and well-fed, as content as Edge had ever heard him.

“Tomorrow I’m going to—Blue is—I’m going to start another ‘treatment.’”

Red sat up sharply. “boss, please, why do you have to—let him do that to ya? you’re doing fine as you are, aren’t ya?” He gestured at the crutches.

“Yes,” Edge agreed hesitantly, “these work fine, for our current situation, but—I don’t want to live in Razz’s house forever. I appreciate all his help but I’m not his pet and he shouldn’t have to provide for me like this.”

“he knows you’re not a pet. he’s never once called you a pet.”

“Red, we live in a box in his bedroom and he gives us food and water. How are we not his pet bunnies?”

“he takes care of slim too, but he’s not a pet.”

“That’s different. They’re family.”

“fine. we’re family, so i’ll take care of you then. you still don’t need to go through with this … ‘treatment’ thing.”

“Come on, Red, you know you can’t keep me alive out in the forest when I’m like this.”

Red’s ears drooped miserably. “i know i haven’t been much of a go-getter in the past but i’ll make it work, boss, i promise.”

Edge folded his arms across his chest and looked away. “Face it, you love being a pet. But I don’t. I want to get back to my life.”

“i told ya we aren’t pets. maybe i oughta do more to earn my keep, but you’re—well, you know razz thinks of you as a roommate but i think you’re kinda like a live-in maid with all the cleaning you do.”

Edge snorted. “We sleep in a shoebox.”

“if the shoebox is botherin’ ya we can get a proper bed.”

“The bed doesn’t matter.”

Red crawled around to look him in the face. “please, boss, i hate this. i can’t stop thinking maybe you won’t come back out this time.”

“You know it’s safe. You’ve been there.”

“yeah and it didn’t feel very safe. think about it. imagine you were hearin’ it for the first time. he’s a wolf, and he’s gonna swallow you whole, and he says it’s for your benefit? how ridiculous does that sound?”

Edge sighed. “I know it’s … weird. But it’s working, and it’s the only way to … make things like they were before.”

“boss. things can’t go back to how they were before. our old lives aren’t waiting around for us—the other bunnies probably wrote us off as dead weeks and weeks ago. and i—being chewed up by a wolf changes you, even if you miraculously survive it.” He shuddered.

Edge took mercy on him and petted his ears soothingly. “I know it’s even rougher on you considering your experience. But this is something I have to do. Just wait for me. Everything will be okay. Razz and Slim will take care of you.”

Red whined unhappily, but leaned into Edge’s hand and settled down on the pillow again.

***

Red forced himself to attend the proceedings, watching sullenly, not bothering to beg Edge to reconsider. He’d made his opinion—his wishes—his needs—clear, repeatedly, and if his brother hadn’t been swayed by now, he wouldn’t be put off by so little a thing as the view of his own legs disappearing down Blue’s gullet, soon to be followed by the rest of him. Red had tried to watch it all but kept flinching away. First Blue had shaved a layer of bone off Edge’s injured leg to force it to re-heal, and Red should have been there to hold his hand through the procedure, but he’d stayed back with Slim, watching from a distance. Edge was too proud to ask for comfort but Red had seen him grasp Razz’s phalanges, which were ostensibly only there to hold him in place.

Now the hard part was over for Edge, who was probably already asleep and might not wake up until Blue let him out to see how much he’d healed. But the hard part for Red was only beginning. He would try to sleep through as much of it as possible, too, but without the healing trance he couldn’t avoid waking up at least long enough to eat, and sometimes desperately wishing he wasn’t conscious made it ironically harder to fall asleep. As Blue and Razz left for training, the latter with a sympathetic glance toward Red, the bunny buried his face in Slim’s ankle. The taller wolf scooped him up and walked over to the couch, settling into their customary position with the bunny on his chest, free to crawl into his jacket if he felt the need for additional warmth or closeness. But for now Red just lay there, despondent.

Slim stroked his phalanges down the bunny’s ears and back to his fluffy tail. “This is really hard on you, huh?”

“mm,” Red answered.

“you ever wish blue had just eaten ya? instead of healin’ ya like that.”

Red considered what would have become of Edge if that had happened. Razz would have rescued him from the trap, and the cost of Edge’s foot would have been justified. And perhaps without Red’s return Edge wouldn’t be so fixated on restoring everything to the way it had been before all this had happened. Edge would have been fine. Red had no wish to be eaten and digested, of course, but …

“yeah, when he was healin’ me. hurt like hell. and after, when i thought boss was dead. no point in just me survivin’.”

“if you want, i could … y’know … eat you, retroactively.”

Red lifted his skull to stare at the wolf that had earned his trust over the last few weeks. Slim’s expression was impassive. “ha. you wolves, you have a one-track mind, don’t ya?”

“is that a no?”

“yes, it’s a no. as much as mortal terror might take my mind off things for a little bit, you know i couldn’t do that to my bro. imagine him gettin�� back and me bein’ dead.”

Slim smiled, relaxed. “yeah, i guess he’d be pretty upset.”

“yeah, and also razz would kill you. so. don’t go gettin’ any ideas.”

“all right. sorry if i fur-rightened ya.” Slim resumed petting him, and after a minute Red dragged himself closer to the wolf’s skull and curled up in the space between his fluffy jacket and powerful jaws. He could have reached out and touched the wolf’s gold fang.

[nom-the-skel]

[vore] The Bunny Trap, chapter 8

Fun with healing vore :3

2k words - no cronch, just talk about cronch, no vore, just aftermath of vore

[chapter 1][chapter 7][read on AO3][chapter 9]

Razz went light on Blue in their training, concerned that it would have some effect on Edge, even though the other wolf insisted it wouldn’t. He checked on Red before he went about his other duties, and again when he got back to make dinner for the household. The bunny was curled up in a corner of the box in Razz’s room and didn’t seem to have moved at all the whole time he was gone.

He should say something, he thought. It would be dreadful for Edge if anything happened to Red while he was gone, and although he didn’t seem like he was Falling Down … Razz could imagine it getting to that point. But he had no idea what to say that would be comforting. He tried to make his voice gentle. “Hey, Red. Hang in there until your brother gets back, okay? I’ll bring you some food.” Well, it was better than nothing, he hoped. The bunny didn’t respond, even when Razz reached in and stroked his ears.

Red refused to eat that day and barely ate the next day, after a lot of cajoling and reminders that his brother would want him to take care of himself. On the third day when Razz looked into the box at lunchtime, it was empty—well, there were the pillows, dishes and tiny cups he’d provided for the rabbits, but no sign of Red. He immediately feared the worst. At least there was no dust in the box—and Razz was certain Slim wouldn’t have eaten the bunny after Razz’s emphasis on how incredibly forbidden that was. But he would feel a lot better after he found Red.

“Slim, have you seen—oh.” He got his answer as Slim, stretched out on his back on the couch, turned his skull to look at him, revealing a glimpse of Red tucked away inside the fluffy collar of his jacket. “Huh. I guess he likes you all right.”

“I like him too—”

“You better not say ‘as a snack’ or anything dumb like that.”

“No, of course not. For one thing I’d come up with a good pun for something like that—maybe, he’d go good with fries. After all, you can’t make a proper burger without a bun, right?”

Razz seethed.

“But I was gonna say, he gives me a good excuse to lie around. Gotta take care of the bunny. I’m his emotional support wolf.”

Razz turned away with an irritable growl and went back to being an actual productive wolf.

***

After a week, Blue announced it was time to check on Edge. Razz led him into the house.

“Red? Come over here if you wanna see your brother!” he called, then had second thoughts. If, in the worst case scenario, something had happened to Edge, he would rather be able to break the news to Red gently than have him there to see it first-hand. But it was too late now. Slim popped into existence in the living room, holding the bunny clasped to his chest. Red immediately squirmed loose and ran up to Blue.

“where is he?” he demanded, folding his arms impatiently.

“Settle down, bunny! It takes a bit of concentration to bring him back up.” Blue turned his back to the assembled skeletons for a moment to spare them the worst of the sight, and when he turned back around he had a rather sodden Edge draped limply across his hands. Razz was relieved to see the bunny was basically in one piece.

“boss!” Red reached out to touch Blue’s leg, as if he were thinking of climbing up it.

“Here you go, settle down.” Blue lowered Edge to the carpet. Red ran to his side and hovered uncertainly. Blue poked Edge with one finger. “Wake up, bunny! Your brother’s worried about you!”

Edge stirred and Red fell on him in a hug, taking no heed of the blue slime still coating him. Razz moved around to get a better look at Edge’s leg and frowned. “It didn’t work.”

Blue tried to pick Edge up again to examine his leg, but Red growled and wouldn’t let go of him. So Blue just pulled on the leg in question to stretch it out where everyone could see. “Huh. It’s healed over again, but I don’t know if I managed to make the bones any longer. Bunny? You probably know best what it looked like before. Take a peek and tell us if you see any improvement.”

“Let go of me, Red.” Edge stopped returning the hug and glared, but there was no anger in his voice. Red didn’t let go, but loosened his grip enough that Edge could sit up and evaluate his leg, with Red draped down his back like a very heavy, affectionate cape. After a long moment, he said, “It is a little better, but not much.”

“I guess my magic had to heal the damage I did reopening it and just didn’t have enough to do very much more,” said Blue with a defeated shrug. “But if we repeat it a bunch more times, it should still work.” He picked up the bunnies. “Wanna go again, Edge?”

Edge’s ears folded back, though his face was only tense. He didn’t say anything to either consent or object.

“no!” shouted Red, but it was pretty muffled because his face was buried in Edge’s scarf.

“Wait a minute, Blue,” said Razz, ready to physically restrain his arm. “Let’s talk about this. Maybe we can figure out a way to speed it up. And even if Edge wants to keep going, you should eat some real food first.”

“maybe even wait until tomorrow,” suggested Slim, who had sat down to watch from the couch.

“That’s a good idea,” Razz agreed. “Slim, can you handle heating up some leftovers for Blue? I wanna brainstorm solutions to speed up Edge’s healing.”

Slim’s ear twitched at the request, but he rose obediently and disappeared into the kitchen.

“So do you have any ideas, Blue? You’re the one with expe—” He remembered the both rabbits had some experience on the receiving side of the procedure. “With the most experience,” he finished.

“Hmm, well.” Blue sat down to think, letting Edge hop back out of his hands, Red still clinging to him. “Like I was saying, it’s possible I just need some raw materials, bone matter, to reconstruct the missing bones out of.”

“But what are you gonna do to get it, bite off some other bunny’s arm?” Razz laughed a little at the absurdity.

“That would work.” Blue was completely serious.

Razz stared at him a moment, trying to find the words to say he’d just been joking without calling the other wolf an idiot or a psychopath.

“i’ll do it,” said Red. He finally let go of Edge and stood on his own feet, rolling up his right sleeve. “here, take it.”

“Okay,” said Blue.

“Red, no,” said Razz.

“Brother, I forbid it!” said Edge.

Razz placed a restraining hand on Blue’s chest. “Even if you were gonna—remember, you’re gonna eat some real food first? You shouldn’t starve yourself for weeks on end just to get some bunny magic in ya.”

“it’s not like i need it to walk,” argued Red. “heck, i don’t even really need to walk.”

“If it’s not really being used as raw materials and more straight-up reattached, a leg would be way better,” said Blue. “Otherwise Edge could end up with a hand where his foot should be.” The wolf laughed, showing his fangs.

“sure, take it,” said Red, leaning over to look at his left foot.

“Absolutely not,” said Edge, getting to his knees to bodily pull Red farther away from Blue. “Red, you will not sacrifice yourself for me like that.”

“Especially since you don’t even know if it’ll work,” added Razz.

“It would be a neat experiment!” Blue remarked. “I’m curious whether it would work with bone from a different bunny or not. We could try the arm first—”

“Blue, are you going to bite off Red’s arm—again—to satisfy your curiosity?”

Blue’s enthusiastic expression faded as he looked back at Razz. “Y-nnnnno?”

“No,” Razz confirmed the correct answer.

“Okay, no. I can try it on some other bunnies.” Blue brightened again.

Razz was stern. “Blue. D’you think some bunnies are gonna volunteer for this kinda—macabre experiment?”

“Sure! I mean, it beats getting digested, right?” Blue was undaunted.

“You’re not gonna digest them anyway,” Razz pointed out.

“They’d be fine. If it didn’t work with the mismatched limbs, I could just put ‘em back in with their own limbs.” He paused, thoughtful. “Unless the limbs dusted or something.”

“Blue. Don’t.” Razz asked himself since when he cared this much about the welfare of random hypothetical bunnies he hadn’t even met. “Let’s just focus on Edge for now, please?”

“Well. I mean, I could crunch up another part of him and hope that the bits of bone divide themselves between that and the missing foot, but I’m not sure it would work. I kinda think he’d lose bone mass overall.”

“no,” said Red, clinging onto Edge again. “you can—crunch me—and put me in there with him. what about that?”

“No!” Edge bapped him on the skull.

“but worst case scenario, i just heal up like i did before. and best case, i get pretty much healed and so does your leg.”

“I told you no!” Edge yanked on Red’s arm to break his balance and then pushed him onto the carpet. “So stop volunteering!”

“If we can’t get rabbit bone, all we can do is repeat the treatment and hope it doesn’t take like fifty times,” Blue shrugged. “Although—I wonder if it has to be rabbit bone.”

Razz didn’t like the way Blue was looking at him. “I suppose I wouldn’t miss a distal phalange—if it was certain to work, but it’s not. So maybe we can work out a schedule—one week on, one week off, something like that. So everyone has time to recover between treatments.” He looked down at the bunnies. Edge had stopped pinning Red to the carpet, and Red had sat up in order to cling to him again.

“I’ll have to reopen the wound every time,” said Blue, “but maybe with the right tools I can make it a smoother break. Less damage to heal before I even get to the rebuilding part.”

“Yeah, we should try that. First have something to eat, we’ll do your training, and we can talk about it more tomorrow.”

Red didn’t let go of Edge, but looked up at him hopefully. Edge seemed a little more relaxed now that the prospect of being eaten again immediately seemed to be off the table.

Slim came back with some tupperware, a fork sticking out of it, and Razz rolled his eye lights. Couldn’t his brother at least put it on a plate when serving a guest? The lanky wolf held it out to Blue wordlessly.

“Thank you!” Blue said and dug in, ravenous after not eating any real food for a week. The bunnies watched somewhat nervously.

Razz thought about getting Edge cleaned off—and Red, too, now that he’d been rubbing up against his brother—while Blue was eating, but it didn’t look like he’d have time. “Slim, can you take care of washing up the bunnies? Blue and I need to start our training.”

“Of course.” Slim gathered up the bunnies and left the room again.

“Wow, they’re not afraid of him at all,” Blue observed. “Want me to wash off this container?” It was now empty.

“No, of course not. Let’s get started.” Razz took it from him and left it in the kitchen. “I won’t go easy on you today, now that you’re not starving and you don’t have any bunnies to take care of!”

[nom-the-skel]

[vore] The Bunny Trap, chapter 4

This fic already owed a lot to @dandelions-sea for brainstorming ideas, but now it is officially a collab! Thank you for writing with me ^w^

1.8k words

[chapter 1][chapter 3][read on AO3][chapter 5]

It had been almost a month since Razz had freed the rabbit from the trap; he had long since come to the realization that life before Edge was quite unimaginable. Their rabbit roommate quickly became a part of their household, finding his place even with Slim’s dislike of him. As of late even that had started to die down, partly due to the gratuitous amount of rabbit-themed puns he was now able to generate. It also didn’t hurt for him to find out about Edge’s brother… Slim was many things (lazy, irresponsible, a general slob…) but unempathetic just wasn’t one of them. Perhaps he was triggered into thinking of what it would be like to lose his own brother. Razz himself had many moments at which he would zone out thinking of the bunny’s plight; on the worst days he found himself wondering about Red - about how his final hours must have been.

Since adopting the bunny Razz took up a strict vegetarian diet - the only one to know of this was Slim, the one wolf Razz could trust with absolutely certainty on the issue. Even if he could trust Alphys to stay quiet, he couldn’t trust that she wouldn’t mock him for this choice. Or worse; think that it somehow made him less fit for the guard. He disguised this new eating habit as ‘penny pinching’, telling anyone who asked that he was eating at home rather than going out, and spending his hunting break working on paperwork to get overtime.

“Lieutenant, I don’t like seeing you here along at lunch again!” Alphys said one day, carrying with her an extra lunch. Razz looked at the bag, brow quirked.

“Forgive me, Captain - I was hoping to catch up on follow-up reports while we don’t have any new cases,” he said, quickly clicking out of the game of solitaire he had open on his computer. Underneath was the final report they received which he had filed almost a week ago.

Alphys humphed. “I admire your work ethic, Lieutenant, however I am legally required to give you a break at noon.” Reaching into the bag, Alphys retrieved a neatly cut square of bread stuffed with cheese and some sort of deli meat. She shoved the sandwich on Razz’s desk, hardly looking him in the eye. “Undyne made too many by mistake today - you should eat it so it doesn’t go to waste!!” she said, completely unable to admit her worry for her closest friend. Razz kept his smile down as he saluted her on her way out.

It took Razz almost a full minute of debating on whether to eat the gift or not. The deli meat couldn’t have come from a monster, so was it really so bad? Alphys might return next time with prey if he didn’t eat the sandwich now.

Razz got through one bite before yanking the meat out, dashing outside and throwing it out into the woods. He hates being wasteful, but he absolutely could not stand to consume it; what a shameful wolf he’d become…

—-

Razz spent the rest of the day in a dour mood, so it was no improvement to hear the chipper hums of Blueberry rolling through the woods. The sounds radiated from down the hill, slowly approaching. Razz grumbled to himself. Wonderful; there wasn’t much Razz could do to avoid confrontation now. There were few trees here and the path stretched for another acre or so. Even if he dashed out of sight, not only would his scent give away his avoidance, but he would eventually be seen with how little cover there was.

Razz hadn’t seen Blue in almost as much time as he’d had Edge in the house. The other had called a few times, wondering when their next training session was; Razz really didn’t want to hold what had happened against the other wolf - after all, it was only natural for wolves to eat bunnies. If Blue had found a method that worked better for him then it really wasn’t Razz’s place to stop or correct him, no matter his personal feelings. Regardless, it had been difficult for Razz to maintain a friendship with both his trainee and his house guest, so it came as quite the relief when the voicemails and texts started tapering out. In the back of his mind, Razz hoped that it wasn’t because Blue felt unappreciated or offended.

Bracing himself for the awkward reunion, he waited for Blue to come into sight. Razz made himself busy on his phone, feigning ignorant boredom. The cheerful hums broke off before Blue came into view, and for a moment Razz wondered if he’d caught Razz’s scent, until he heard Blue’s voice bounce off the hills.

“No, no - it’s probably a lot bigger then you’re thinking… … … well, of course not! I would have to go all the way across town for that!”

Blue’s laugh still sent short waves of warmth through Razz; the kid really did have a lot of potential in the Guard. The conversation was one-sided as far as Razz could tell; perhaps Blue was on the phone with someone? He could hardly tell what it was they were talking about, but the passion that Blue spoke with still gave Razz a sense of interest, as it almost always did. Stars, he hadn’t realized how much he missed his friend…

Finally, Razz could see Blue’s ears poking out over the curve of the mountain. His head was turned down, ears perked with interest as he spoke to someone that Razz couldn’t yet see. He never turned his eyes away from the phone, fiddling with some app so that he could time his reunion perfectly. What would he say after all this time? The awkward nervousness came rolling back as he waited to see who Blue could possibly be talking to.

Razz determined the timing to be right; he lowered his phone and waved, turning to face his old trainee. “Good afternoon, Blue,” he said, masking his nervousness with a stony expression. “It has been a while, hasn’t it?”

Blue’s ears immediately flattened, eyes going comically wide as he froze. For all of his strengths, the one thing that Razz couldn’t teach that kid was how to hold a poker face. He would’ve been irritated, if he weren’t so crushed by that reaction. Was Blue really that upset to see him? He would’ve had a good reason - Razz shouldn’t have ignored him for as long as he had.

But after a moment it became clear that Razz wasn’t entirely the source of Blue’s anxiety; Razz’s eyes drifted lower to Blue’s hands. Unobscured by the curvature of the hill, Razz could see now that Blue was carrying something. It was like a box with a handle… a crate like the ones in human movies where they keep their small animals. The Guard in Razz wanted to demand to know exactly what was in Blue’s hand and what he was doing with it - obviously Blue was up to something he didn’t want to be caught doing - however, the part of him that was Blue’s friend couldn’t ignore the fear in the other wolf’s eyes.

Taking a deep breath, Razz pocketed his phone. “I see you have something there,” he said calmly, keeping his professionalism at a cool moderate. “Would you mind enlightening me on exactly what you are transporting there, Blue?”

Blue shook his head, taking a step back. “N-no, Lieutenant,” he said, practically throwing the crate behind his back. Razz bit back a groan - Lieutenant… no one called him that unless they were on duty or up to something.

“I sure hope you know that transit in Snowdin is marked as capital-licensed goods only - it would be section three in your training manual,” Razz said, his tone slowly seeping into something more stern. Surely Blue hadn’t taken up a side job of smuggling contraband.

Blue shook his head again. “No, no - it’s nothing like that,” he denied quickly, sweat beading at his brow. “It’s just… personal items…”

“I see,” Razz said, unconvinced. He moved forward, encroaching closer on his friend. “Then you won’t mind if I just take a look and see what it is you have.”

Blue’s ears remained flat, his face screwed up as he fought to come up with some excuse to keep Razz out of the crate, but Razz was fast. He marched himself right next to Blue and snatched the crate, holding it up to eye level to look inside.

Razz was immediately hit with the scent of bunny before he could even process what he was seeing. Sure enough, inside there was a small rabbit curled in the far corner, eyes blown wide as he stared at the wolf gazing in at him. In the dark it was hard to see what it looked like, though he thankfully didn’t smell blood or death. That didn’t stop him from feeling sick at the sight; what was his friend going to do to this poor monster?

“Please, please don’t be mad,” Blue said, shrinking in on himself. Razz’s gaze falls back to a blushing, guilty Blue. Razz took a deep breath before handing the crate back to him.

“I’m not mad,” Razz said, forcing himself to keep Blue’s gaze. It was hard, knowing exactly what the other had in store for the rabbit. The poor thing even looked just like the one that Blue killed in front of Razz. “Just… promise me you’ll swallow this one. None of that… biting stuff.” It probably wouldn’t be much better, but it would at least be painless and relatively quick.

Blue’s eyes welled with tears and he shook his head. Razz bit his lip to keep from sighing. How can someone be simultaneously so intimidatingly cruel and yet so weak? Gently Blue placed the crate on the ground and folded his arms around his middle.

“I’m sorry… I know I’m a failure as a wolf and I don’t blame you if you don’t want to train me anymore,” he whined, his head tucked into his chest. “I’ll resign if you want - you shouldn’t be forced to be around me.”

This time Razz did sigh - this self-deprecation shit was not something he would allow from anyone. “Blue. You’re not-”

“I can’t even kill a bunny!!” he sobbed suddenly, practically falling into Razz’s arms. Stunned still, Razz could only stiffen and catch Blue as he latched onto his middle. Between Blue’s trembling cries and the sheer absurdity of the moment, Razz hardly had time to process the words that Blue spoke.

When they did get through, Razz spoke.

“Wait… what do you mean you didn’t kill the bunny…?”

[nom-the-skel]

[vore] The Bunny Trap, chapter 2

This was gonna be two chapters, but now it is longer, and going in unexpected directions, and will be a collab :3

warnings for this chapter: injury, amputation, danger/suggestion of fatal vore.

2k words! [read on AO3][chapter 1][chapter 3]

Razz stopped outside the front door and spat the bunny into his hands. Ugh, this was disgusting; the taste of the it made his mouth water, and his own saliva mixed with the red magic the bunny had bled. At least the bunny was still whole and not just dust mixed in with that soup.

He unlocked the door and went in. Slim was drowsing on the couch, but looked up curiously at his entrance. “What’s tha—”

“Stay out of my room, mutt!” he snapped, stalking past his brother and up the stairs. The bunny groaned as he shifted it to one hand in order to get out a first aid kit and lay out a towel on the carpet. If it was conscious, that was probably a good sign. Razz set him down as gently as he could on the towel, but the bunny still gasped and stiffened for a moment. He cast healing magic on what was left of its leg, then cleaned and bandaged it up. He’d never treated an injury this severe or a monster this tiny, but he was confident the bunny was stabilized.

“Here, lick this,” he said. The monster candy in the kit was far too large for the bunny to swallow, so he held it next to its skull. The bunny turned its skull and licked a few times at the candy before giving up. Razz frowned. “I’ll leave it here. See if you can eat some more in a few minutes,” he instructed, before leaving to scrounge up more supplies.

Slim watched from the couch, still curious, as he went back and forth through the house, gathering items and cleaning the saliva and blood from his gloves, but Razz didn’t say anything to enlighten him. He finally returned and set up a shoe box with a pillow for the bunny, which was still lying on the towel where he’d left it.

“You awake, bunny?” He tried to keep his voice soft. “I got you a bed. You like red, don’t you?”

“Red?” Suddenly alert, the bunny sat halfway up, then collapsed onto the towel.

“Uh, the color red. You’re wearing a lot of it, even without your left boot.”

“Oh. Yes.” The bunny looked crushingly disappointed for a moment, but then it was gone. Had the boot comment been too insensitive? Razz could be a little gentler with it while it was recovering, he supposed.

“Because I found you a red pillow,” Razz clarified. It was just a little on the purple side, but not that much. “Do you think you can take it if I move you onto your bed?”

The bunny nodded firmly. Razz scooped it off the towel and set it on the pillow. Its face twisted in anguish, but it stayed quiet.

“You should eat,” Razz said, placing the monster candy next to its skull again. “I’ll go see what vegetables we have.”

***

Razz couldn’t stay with the bunny all the time, and he didn’t trust Slim not to eat it, so it was left alone in his room while he was out performing his Royal Guard duties, and when he was cooking, at the very least.

“Vegetarian enchiladas again?” Slim commented on the third day when Razz served him.

“Vegetarian food is good for you,” said Razz, sitting down to his own plate.

“Not if you’re a wolf. I need protein.”

“Beans are protein, mutt.”

“It’s not the same.”

Razz looked up at Slim, surprised at his rebellious tone. “Then stop lying about and go catch something!”

***

Meanwhile, the bunny was regaining its energy and kept dragging itself out of its shoe box and across the floor, only to collapse in exhaustion at various points on the carpet. Razz had threatened to put the shoe box in a cage, but the rabbit had objected so vociferously that in the end he’d just put the shoe box bed inside a larger cardboard box. Now the bunny was constantly moving around its box, trying to climb the walls. And talking. It was as if, unable to stand up, it couldn’t go anywhere physically but it could still cast its words far and wide across various topics. Its name was Edge and it had an imperious attitude and a lot to say about everything: bunnies, wolves, the forest, the food and conditions in Razz’s room, and its lazy brother Red.

Razz had a bad feeling he’d met Red. So he tried not to guide the conversation in that direction, but Edge was clearly devoted to his brother, as much as he complained about him, and every subject seemed to lead back to Red.

“You don’t need to put so much cheese in these,” Edge said one day when Razz brought him dinner. “I don’t know about wolf nutrition, but it’s too much for a rabbit. Red would like it, though.”

“I don’t often cook for rabbits,” Razz answered, tamping down his urge to snap back at the complaint.

“I really must go find Red as soon as I can walk. He probably thinks I’ve been eaten. And he’s useless at taking care of himself.” Edge’s ears drooped.

“You done with that?” Razz nodded at the rabbit’s plate, the smallest he had been able to find but still comically oversized.

“Yes. It’s far too much.”

Razz took the plate away. “You know, it’s a lot harder to make things in miniature size for you.” He would finish it himself. You couldn’t worry about a rabbit’s germs when you’d had the entire rabbit in your mouth already.

“You could take me to the kitchen and I could cook for myself!” Edge suggested, ears perking up again. “Although I suppose I would need a lot of assistance, at least at first.” They slumped back down.

“I’d be glad to help you deal with the wolf-scale kitchen appliances,” said Razz. “But you know my brother is out there, and I really don’t trust him around you.”

“I’m not afraid of him,” Edge said flatly, but the cant of his ears struck Razz as nervous. Then again, he was much more familiar with wolf body language.

“Just stay in here, and stop trying to get out of your box. Your leg needs to heal.”

“What leg?” Edge muttered darkly.

“Just be patient. We’ll figure something out so you can walk, at least, after you’ve had more time to heal. If nothing else, we can find something to use as crutches.”

Edge glowered.

“But there are wolves with wooden legs and such, so maybe … Do bunnies have healers?”

Edge grunted noncommittally. “Most bunnies who are injured that badly are already dead.”

“I suppose I never gave much thought to how hard you bunnies have it. But try to lie still, please.”

The bunny sighed. “Red would love to have an excuse to lie around doing nothing all day. Not that I would wish such an injury on him.” He narrowed his eye sockets at the wolf. “Why do you flinch like that whenever I mention Red?”

“I’m not—! I’m not flinching!” Razz sat up straight, holding his ears perfectly erect.

“Yes, you are. You look as if—”

“And anyway, it’s just because your brother sounds so much like my lazy good-for-nothing brother!”

Edge remained suspicious. “I admit he’s lazy, but I wouldn’t go so far as to say he—”

“I don’t mean Red. How would I know? I’ve never met Red!” Razz protested too quickly.

Edge looked away from him. “I will try to lie still.” He stayed silent until Razz left to wash the dishes, and when he came back the bunny was asleep.

***

There was something in Razz’s room that he was keeping a secret. It made noises sometimes, moving around—it wasn’t very big, probably. Razz had told Slim to stay out, but surely he wouldn’t know if Slim just teleported inside for a quick look.

He resisted for several days, not even going near the door. But eventually it proved too much. There was still time before Razz got back, and the house was silent. He popped into his brother’s room and looked around. For a moment nothing seemed out of place—that wasn’t unexpected, if the thing he’d heard was as small as it sounded. Then he noticed the box on the floor by the bed. Peering inside, he saw a sleeping bunny, on a pillow in a shoe box, with a bit of lettuce and a thimble of water sitting nearby.

It all made sense—or some of it, anyway. Razz had had traces of bunny scent on him lately, even though he didn’t seem to be spending any time hunting, and he certainly wasn’t serving rabbit at dinner. Slim reached out to touch the bunny, but held himself back. He should leave it alone; it was too tempting, especially when he’d had nothing but cheese and beans all week. “What are you doing here, bunny?” he said softly, not really expecting any response.

But the bunny woke, blinking up at him. “Razz? You’re home earl—” It realized he wasn’t Razz and tried to jump to its feet, but something was wrong. It fell back onto the pillow, then frantically pushed itself to the corner and used the wall to help prop itself up, nearly standing. “Who are you? Stay back!”

“Who am I? I’m the one asking questions here. Who are you and why are you here?”

“I know who you are. You’re Slim.” The bunny answered its own question, but none of Slim’s.

“Not very cooperative, huh? Let me guess. My brother’s keeping you in here for some reason instead of just eating you. So … maybe he’s trying to fatten you up?”

“I’m a skeleton, you dimwitted wolf,” the bunny snarled.

“Huh, good point. But maybe you’re on a special diet to make you taste better, or somethin’. I can’t think why else he’d have a bunny in his room. What happened to your foot?”

The bunny tried to hide its injured leg. At first Slim hadn’t been sure if part of it was missing or it was just chained down somehow.

“I guess it wasn’t a very lucky rabbit’s foot, huh?” Slim grinned.

The bunny glared daggers at him.

“Did he cut it off so you couldn’t run away? Kinda cruel, don’t ya think?”

“He didn’t—!” the bunny started to protest, then faltered.

“Well. I don’t wanna interfere. But you do look pretty tasty.”

“You wouldn’t dare!” the bunny spat, scrabbling at the cardboard only to slip back down to a sitting position on the pillow.

“Normally I wouldn’t, but if you’re just gonna tell him I was in here, maybe it’s better that I get rid of the evidence. If I crack open the window it’ll look like you escaped or somethin’.”

“I can’t walk, you imbecile! How would I get up to the windowsill?”

Slim shrugged and reached for the bunny again. “It’d be different if I could trust you not to say anything, but …”

“Ugh! Fine! I won’t say anything!” The bunny shrank away from his hand.

Slim stopped. “Promise?”

“I give you my word.” It glared up at him seriously.

“Okay, I’m gonna trust you this time.” He withdrew his hand and was just about to teleport back to the couch, when the bunny spoke.

“Wait. Is that really—Is he really just preparing me to eat?” The bunny’s voice was hard and flat but its expression suddenly vulnerable.

Slim shrugged again. “Didn’t he tell you? I can’t think of any other reason for a wolf to keep a bunny in his room.”

He left the bunny to process that answer, teleporting back to the couch. The scent of the bunny made him hungry, but maybe he should hold off on going out to catch one of his own, in case Razz was planning on surprising him with this one. Was his birthday coming up or something?

[nom-the-skel]

[vore] The Bunny Trap, chapter 12

Razz brings back a surprise. Who will it be? See [AO3] for commentary in end notes.

[chapter 1][chapter 11][chapter 13]

“don’t watch this part,” Slim advised, pushing Red’s face deeper into his fluffy collar. “i’m a grown bunny, i can watch what i want!” Red protested, climbing out onto Slim’s shoulder. Slim shrugged, forcing him to dig his fingers in. “suit yourself.” “you’re not protecting my brother from this questionable content,” Red pointed out. Edge had run out of chores he could reach and deigned to join them in front of the TV, though he didn’t cuddle up against the wolf like Red did. “i can only shield the sensitivities of so many bunnies at once,” Slim explained. “besides, if i covered his eyes he’d probably bite off a phalange.” Edge grunted in apparent confirmation, not displeased at having intimidated the much larger wolf. A character in the TV show shrieked, drawing their attention back to it. “i guess i made you miss the gory part anyway,” Slim observed, settling back in satisfaction. “what, you don’t think rabbits—hey, down in front!” Red complained as Razz suddenly ran in, blocking their view of the TV as the door slammed behind him. “oh, stars, what are you doing?” The audience looked on in alarm as Razz hunched over, retching. It gave Slim a mild sense of deja vu. “m’lord?” He stood, concerned, Red still clinging to his shoulder. Razz finally expelled—something. He cupped it close to his chest before Slim could get a good look at it, although judging by the smell it might have been steamed carrots. What was so upsetting about that, though? Because Razz was clearly furious. “—I’ll dust him, if he doesn’t dust me first, with his weird blood-sucking thing, I should never have trained him, stars!” Razz’s muttering grew in volume almost to a shout, and Slim opened his mouth to ask who he was talking about, but— “who’s—what did you do to him?” Red exclaimed from his shoulder. “oh stars, why did i ever trust a wolf? razz! i thought you weren’t gonna do this anymore! come on, boss, we have to—!” The bunny was cut off as he jumped down from Slim’s shoulder and the wolf caught him in mid-air. “It’s not my fault!” Razz snapped, still wiping the drool from his jaw. “That idiot went and caught him for me, and what do you expect me to do? He’s lucky he wasn’t taken apart bone by bone!” “you don’t have to cook him up with all the trimmings and—” Red tried to pull himself out of Slim’s grasp, but Slim held him back with his other hand. “I didn’t!” Razz growled. “I told you, that idiot Blue went and—” Red shrank back for a moment, then leaned forward to growl back at Razz. “none of that means you gotta EAT him!” “hey,” Slim objected, pulling Red back. “don’t yell at m’lord. that rabbit is lucky it was him and not any other wolf.” Slim hadn’t realized what it was at first, with the pervading smell of rabbit masking its scent, but now Razz had relaxed his hands enough to reveal the bunny, naked except for assorted fluids and slivers of vegetable—the wolf’s stomach hadn’t been as gentle with the carrots as with the bunny, which was a testament to what safe hands it was in with Razz. He was about to say as much to Red, but the bunny glared up at him reproachfully. “you wolves are all the same, lying, bloodthirsty—” Slim’s ears pressed back. “say what you want about me, but don’t—” Slim cut off with a yelp as Red’s teeth sank into his hand. “Red! How dare you bite my brother!” Razz’s fur stood up with fury. “We take you in, and this is how you repay us, when you KNOW he only has—” Slim lifted the bunny out of Razz’s reach. “it’s okay, it was my fault, i squeezed ‘im by accident.” “sorry, i’m sorry,” Red muttered, and licked Slim’s phalange where deep orange magic was welling up. “oh, stars, i didn’t know i could bite that hard.” “it’s because you got the joint between bones,” Slim said, uncomfortable as everyone watched to see if he would dust. “Red, get down here, you coward,” Razz demanded after a moment, satisfied that the worst hadn’t happened but still angry. “i can’t, he’s got me.” Red was now huddling deeper in Slim’s grasp rather than trying to escape. “Slim, give me that rabbit this instant!” Slim couldn’t see anything good resulting from that. Red was even more fragile than himself. “it’s fine, m’lord, really. don’t you want to take care of the rabbit you already have?” Razz looked down at the rabbit in his hands as if he’d forgotten it was there. It was curled up, trembling. Nothing that had happened since its appearance had done anything to help calm it down. Slim hadn’t even noticed that Edge had hopped down and scaled Razz’s legs to talk soothingly to the new arrival. He started to climb closer, but Razz relented and set the new bunny down on the couch, not even finding a towel to put under it first. “Thank you, Razz. Are you all done squabbling?” Edge looked around reprovingly, then turned back to the newcomer. “There, see? They’re idiots but none of them is going to hurt you. You’re going to be all right.” The naked rabbit kept shivering, but after a moment its ears rose cautiously. Its fur was orange, more on the yellow side than Slim’s. Then it hesitantly lifted its skull to look around at the other skeletons. Its sockets met Edge’s and it froze. Edge had frozen as well. “Stretch?” he whispered. “edge! i thought you were dead! are we both dead?” The rabbit leapt to its feet and embraced him, a few carrot sticks falling out of his ribs. “I’ll—I’ll get you some clothes,” Razz said and hurried off. “You’re not dead,” Edge assured the new bunny. “And neither am I.” “are you sure? i’m pretty sure the wolf ate me.” Stretch released one arm from Edge so that he could look down at himself. “er. i know i’ve got no fashion sense but this is a bit much even for me.” “ain’t your fault, it’s the wolves,” Red grumbled from his position in Slim’s hands. “red! you’re alive too?” Stretch looked up toward the source of the voice and then backed away a step when he noticed Slim. “it’s not us, it’s just blueberry,” Slim insisted quietly. It rubbed him the wrong way that Red was still laying blame for this on Razz. “sorry,” said Red, still ashamed for biting him. “Yes, Razz has a lot more sense,” Edge agreed with Slim. “It’s a shame you got caught by Blueberry instead. Except that Razz wouldn’t have been trying to catch a rabbit. And any other wolf would have just eaten you themselves. In fact, I retract the statement. Despite this unprecedented ordeal you’ve clearly been through, Blueberry is the best possible wolf to get caught by. Good job.” “do i look like a baby goat? because you’ve got to be kidding.” Stretch didn’t seem offended, from the way he was leaning against Edge. Red laughed at the pun, and Slim was glad to see his mind taken off his guilt over biting him; but his high spirits were short-lived. “at least blueberry didn’t strip me naked before he bit my arm off!” “What are you getting at? Razz didn’t strip anyone. Blueberry did.” “that’s even worse! this is the wolf you’re trusting to heal you?” “what? heal you?” Stretch repeated, looking Edge over as well as he could without letting go of him. Edge glared at Red for a moment before stretching out his injured leg. “Yes.” “it’s not like he wasn’t gonna find out!” protested Red, as Slim stuffed him back inside his jacket. “what happened?” Stretch gasped. “I lost it in a trap.” He glanced around to make sure Razz hadn’t come back yet. “Razz—the other wolf, the purple one—saved me, but not without some … cost.” “a wolf saved you?” “He saved you too, just now,” Edge pointed out. “saved him? he ate him!” Red objected, his head and arms poking out above Slim’s collarbone. “Don’t be dense, Red. Clearly he only ate him in order to get him away safely from Blueberry.” “maybe,” Red admitted. “but why would blueberry do this to him in the first place? wolves are psychotic. you can’t—” He trailed off as he heard Slim’s thin whine of distress. “well, maybe some wolves are—i mean—anyway, i don’t trust that blueberry.” “He is … eccentric. At best,” Edge agreed. “you’re talking about the wolf that … caught me and …” Stretch shuddered. “cooked me?” “Yes. At least, that’s the impression I got. Now that everyone’s calmed down, Razz can tell us what happened, since he was there and not—under quite so much strain as you were.” “and who’s this other wolf?” Stretch cowered a little as he looked up at Slim again. “That’s Slim. He’s—actually, he’s kind of like you if you were a wolf.” Slim scrutinized the new rabbit and frowned. He wasn’t vain, but did he really resemble this nondescript bean sprout? “no he’s not.” Red objected as well. “he’s got all these pointy teeth and badass scars.” “Yes, because he’s a wolf!” “not all wolves have pointy teeth. look at blueberry!” “Ugh, don’t mention Blueberry to me!” Razz came back with a handful of cloth. “Here, I don’t guess Edge will mind if you borrow his spare clothes. But first we’d better get you cleaned up.” He glanced at Edge for confirmation before reaching out slowly toward the new rabbit, watching for signs of rejection. Stretch might have clung a little tighter to Edge’s arm, but that was all, so Razz draped a washcloth over him for chastity. Then he hesitated. “Is it okay if I pick you up? I realize you probably don’t want me to touch you after I—after what happened, but it’ll be hard for you to get to the sink by yourself.” The bunny half hid behind Edge. “Maybe Edge can come too, how about that?” Razz offered. Edge nodded agreement. Stretch looked from Razz to Edge and back. Perhaps he cared less about getting clean than keeping his distance from the wolves. But Edge wouldn’t approve of him getting butter and Razz’s magic all over his clothes, and if the new bunny was familiar with him, he probably knew that. “okay,” he said at last. “but—can i ask something first?” “Oh, right, you probably want to know why I brought you here like this.” Razz rolled his eyes but kept his tone light. “And I just got done saying I didn’t want to talk about Blueberry.” “that’s—that’s what i was gonna ask about though.” The rabbit was timid, still huddling behind Edge. “did something happen—did you eat blueberry too?” “What? No, of course not. I’m not a cannibal! Blue, on the other hand …” The apprehension in Stretch’s voice was matched only by his confusion. “what are you talking about? it’s not cannibalism for a wolf to eat a bunny.” Razz grimaced. “It is if he eats a wolf, though, even if it’s just a little blood.” “what?” “You know what, never mind. It’s a long story that has nothing to do with what happened to you.” The bunny didn’t react, so he continued. “Let me explain that for now, and we can get into the details of what happened to Edge and Red later. Now, I’m not one to shirk blame, but it’s entirely Blueberry’s fault.” “what!?” Stretch drew up straight in indignation. “what did he have to do with any of this?” His ears dropped again, in fear. “he didn’t get caught, did he?” Razz’s ear flicked, a sign of irritation or confusion. “What do you mean? He’s the one going around catching rabbits.” “he would never!” “He would and he did. Just ask Red over there.” The bunny glared defiantly toward Red, who was still watching the show from inside Slim’s jacket collar. Slim couldn’t see his expression, but after a moment Red burst out laughing. “wait, wait, i know what happened here! stretch, you’re asking about your brother, right?” “yes,” Stretch said, cautious. “now you mention it, i remember his name was blueberry too!” “Of course!” Edge caught on. “what do you mean ‘was’?” Stretch’s voice was strained. “did he—?” “no, no, sorry. he IS named blueberry,” Red corrected himself. “Oh! There’s a rabbit named Blueberry too,” Razz realized. “I can see how that was confusing. I’m talking about the wolf who caught you and—served you to me.” Stretch shuddered. “Well—let’s not go into details about that. I just want you to understand that I only did what I did to get you safely away from there—and I succeeded! You’re not injured, right?” Stretch nodded reluctantly, as Edge looked him over again to confirm that he was whole. “And you’ll be free to go as soon as you’ve recovered, if you wish.” “are we okay with him telling the other bunnies about this, or do we wanna come to some kind of agreement?” Slim interjected. Razz paused. “We can discuss that later,” he dismissed the issue, as if it hadn’t taken him by surprise. Slim shrugged. “all right. y’know, i’d be berry pleased to meet this bunny’s brother, except the thing with the names would drive me bananas.” “Oh no, not fruit puns again!” Razz pinned his ears back. “but it’s a great name, it has a-peel. i want to apple-aud whoever came up with it.” Stretch laughed, although he was clearly still intimidated by the wolves. Slim glanced at Razz—he wasn’t at his least threatening when fuming over puns. “hey, bunny, orange you ready to get cleaned up? why don’t i help you out? i can carry a pear of rabbits, no problem.” “i’m afraid your efforts are fruitless; i prefer vegetables,” Stretch punned back. He only shivered a little bit as Slim carried him and Edge to the sink.

[nom-the-skel]

[vore] The Bunny Trap, chapter 6

A long-awaited reunion! Co-authored by @dandelions-sea!

2.3k words, no actual vore, talk about previous injuries

[chapter 1][chapter 5][read on AO3][chapter 7]

 Razz’s house was on the outskirts of town, isolated enough that he was comfortable addressing the bunny as he fished out his house key to let them in. “Don’t worry, bunny. You’ll see your brother in just a minute.”

 “what, you wanted to eat me in the comfort of your own home?” the bunny retorted, glaring at him through the bars.

 “I told you I’m taking you to your brother, you ungrateful little mouthful,” Razz snapped back, losing his patience.

 “yeah, maybe to the same place you sent him, but that don’t mean i’m even gonna see his dust.” The bunny started off angry but dissolved into tears .

 Razz sighed. He should be gentle with the bunny after all the trauma it had been through, but the whole incident had been a bit of an emotional roller coaster for him as well. “Look, just give me a minute—”

 “blue told you to let me go in the forest,” the bunny accused, furious through his tears.

 “No he didn’t. Weren’t you listening? Just shut up for a second.” Razz finally opened the door. “I said I was gonna ‘take care’ of you,” he reminded the rabbit as he stepped inside.

 “Razz? Who are you talking to?”

 Edge’s voice was soft and fragile. He must have been dusting the TV stand, because he’d left his bunny-sized dust cloth there and dropped to the floor in front of it.

 “Come and see.” Razz made sure the front door was closed behind him and set the carrier down. It took him a moment to figure out how to unlatch the carrier door, and then he stepped back, letting it swing open.

 Red didn’t make any move to come out. Edge cautiously approached, on his crutches. When Edge got close enough to see inside the cage, he stopped, frozen.

 “boss?” Red’s voice was small and hopeful. “this isn’t another wolf trick?”

 “Red?” Edge called back. “You’re alive?”

 Suddenly Red shot out of the carrier and tackled the other bunny, knocking him to the carpet in an embrace. Edge hugged him back. Razz felt like he was intruding on a private moment by watching, but he couldn’t look away.

 After a moment, Edge pushed Red off of him, rolling them both over so he was on top. “Get off of me, you—” He broke off with a little sob. “They told me you were dead.”

 “Maybe I was.” Red relaxed but kept his arms around his brother’s ribs. “It was all so confusin’ and—and unreal. But what happened to you? Last I remember, your leg was caught in a trap.”

 Edge pulled far enough away that they could see each other’s faces and nodded matter-of-factly. “It was.”

 “how’d you get out?”

 “That wolf there, Razz—he helped me escape.”

 “you musta got the good wolf.” Red grinned, as if he were happy for his brother’s good fortune.

 “Well, he did sort of … bite my leg off.”

 “what?” Red gasped.

 “There was no other way to get me out of the trap.” Edge seemed a little sheepish about it.

 “boss … stand up … lemme look at ya.”

 Edge extricated himself from Red’s hug—he’d asked Edge to stand up but not actually let go of him—and picked up one of his crutches to support himself as he got to his foot.

 Red sat up as well, looking his brother up and down. Edge seemed embarrassed of his condition for a moment, but quickly drew himself up straight and proud.

 Red turned to Razz with a snarl, which he had to admit was almost intimidating in spite of his diminutive size. “how dare you!”

 “Hey, cottontail, I’ll have you know I saved his life!” Razz snapped back, but then faltered. He’d saved Edge’s life, right? At least, he’d thought that was what he was doing. But if Blueberry hadn’t been going to kill him—what would have happened? If things had gone differently, Blueberry might have given Edge to Razz as a snack and he would have eaten him without a second thought. But if what Blueberry had told him was true—and Red’s being alive was pretty convincing evidence that it was—Edge hadn’t been in any danger from Blue himself. In fact, the odd wolf might have healed the bunny’s mangled leg, rather than severing it like Razz had. Was this all Razz’s fault? Surely Blueberry carried a good deal of blame for the bunnies’ suffering, after he’d crunched Red up like that, but perhaps Razz was culpable for the worst of what had happened to Edge. Without Razz’s interference, Edge might have been healed alongside his brother, or at worst waiting at home worrying about his brother until Red reappeared.

 “Razz? Are you okay?” Edge’s voice brought him back to the present. “Red, you mustn’t be harsh with him. I know he’s a wolf but we’re his guests, and he really did save my life.”

 “No—no, I didn’t,” Razz whispered. “I just maimed you for no good reason.”

 “Don’t be ridiculous, Razz. You had a very good reason! I know. I was there.” Edge had collected his other crutch, and Red had moved to stand between his brother and the wolf, as if he could protect him.

 “Yes, but—remember?” Razz said, laughing sadly. “I didn’t want to let the same thing happen to you, that I’d just seen happen to Red. But Red’s fine!”

 “i wouldn’t say ‘fine,’” Red growled.

 “And you woulda been fine too, with two legs, if I’d just left you there. Most likely.”

 Edge considered this for a moment, his expression grim but his ears relaxed. “Maybe. But Razz, you can’t know what would have happened if you’d made different decisions. As … unpleasant … as it was, losing my foot and almost being eaten by Slim—”

 “What!?” Razz looked up sharply from his repentant slouch.

 “Oh. I wasn’t supposed to tell you about that. But as unpleasant as it all was, I could have easily died if things had gone a little differently. Rabbits’ lives are, unfortunately, cheap, in this world. As it worked out, Red and I are both alive and reasonably whole. I consider myself lucky.”

 Razz glanced around uncomfortably. “But—”

 “You acted mercifully based on the information you had at the time,” Edge assured him, placing a restraining hand on Red’s shoulder. The smaller bunny still looked ready to attack him. “And I agreed with your decision, if you’ll recall.”

 Reluctantly Razz nodded. A silence settled between the three, and after a moment the two bunnies went back to cuddling into each other. Their voices were low, practically whispering as they try to catch up on what happened in each other's absence.

 Without much warning Red turned.

 “do you fuckin’ mind?” he snapped; it took Razz almost a full minute to realize he was talking to him.

 “Right, sorry,” Razz said, stepping back as Edge scolded his brother for his poor manners. Razz walked across the living room, brushing droplets of melted snow out his armor as he prepared to go back out on patrol. “I’ll be back before dark - I’ll text the mutt about our new guest.” Razz explained as he walked out the door.

 ---

Dinner was… awkward to say the least. Slim was less than thrilled to have another bunny living with them, though he never made even an attempt to object. Razz wondered if maybe he was starting to warm up to the idea of rabbits as monsters; after a brief, awkward period of Red threatening him for trying to eat his brother, the two of them seemed to more than tolerate each other. The two of them got into a passive-aggressive pun war over dinner, striking jabs at the other while Edge and Razz ignored it.

 Red didn’t eat much, despite obviously being hungry. Edge excused them from the table early, discreetly taking a napkin stuffed with vegetables from their plates as Red helped him up the stairs. It was good, Razz thought, that Edge had someone to lean on now, physically and mentally. Though Razz always offered support, the bunny had always been understandably hesitant to open up around him. Razz couldn’t blame him; in Edge’s situation he would show as little weakness as possible.

 Immediately after dinner Slim went to bed, as he usually did, and Razz took care of the dishes. His nightly routine went unchanged for the rest of the evening, eventually ending with his teeth brushed, sitting in bed to read. He checked on the two bunnies when he entered the room - they were curled up around each other, relaxed. Red’s fingers stayed interlocked with his brother’s even as his chest heaved with snores; the sight made Razz smile as he gently peeled back the covers to settle into bed.

 “Razz,” Edge’s soft voice came almost as soon as the wolf had settled with his book. Razz glanced up from the pages and eyed the taller rabbit slowly clambering up to the bed; soon Edge stood next to Razz’s knee, his foot nervously tapping the covers. “I wanted… to talk to you about something.”

 “What is it?” Razz asked, placing the book down on the nightstand. Today had been a rather big shake-up in their normal routine and they hadn’t quite addressed that yet. “Your brother is free to stay with us, if that’s what you’re wondering,” Razz stated quickly, “and… of course you are free to leave now that you are healed… and have someone to take care of you.” Though personally Razz would be disappointed to see Edge go - and not entirely because Edge would likely die outside his home.

 Thankfully, the rabbit shook his head.

 “No, no - these living arrangements are more than adequate,” Edge assured. He attempted to keep balance on his single leg, eventually collapsing into an awkward half-sitting position. “I wanted to talk about possible… treatments… for my condition.”

 Razz raised an eyebrow. “And what condition would that be?” The only thing wrong with Edge now physically would be the missing leg, and that wasn’t exactly something that therapy or exercise could fix. Perhaps the emotional trauma was what he was referring to? Though Razz hardly thought Edge the type to want counselling.

 “My… leg,” Edge said, picking awkwardly at his bones. It took him a moment to continue, emotion prickling in the air as he spoke. “I know it seems rather impossible; however, my brother was able to almost fully recover with the help of that other wolf!” Edge said, looking up at Razz with shining eyes. “He didn’t tell me how, but he did tell me that he’d been injured far greater than this, and now he’s fine!!”

 Razz frowned, ears drooping with dismay. Edge’s eyes glint up at him, revealing the tears he must have shed before Razz came into the room. He just looked so hopeful - Razz couldn’t possibly be the one to crush that glimmer with the harsh reality, however Edge didn’t deserve to be led on with any false hope.

 “Edge…” He finally spoke, leaning forward so the two were closer to eye-level. The rabbit kept his eye contact firm, brows creased and nose wrinkled in anticipation. “I… don’t know if Blue will be able to heal you-”

 “Well of course you don’t!” Edge cut him off. “I don’t know either! That’s why we can ask…”

 Razz frowned. “Have you talked to Red about this?” He said. After all - who better than he to tell Edge of Blue’s… unique healing ability? Besides, it wasn’t as if Blue was completely innocent when it came to predatory behavior - Razz had a sneaking suspicion that if it weren’t for his unusual disorder Blue wouldn’t think twice about devouring a rabbit whole.

 “No, not yet,” Edge admitted. “But… I feel he doesn’t want to talk about it right now - that’s why I’m asking you.” He paused, seeming to consider his next words before speaking. “As your friend.”  

 Razz took a deep breath, head falling back against the wall as he slowly let the air back out. Shit…. How the fuck was he supposed to respond to that?

 Edge seemed to notice the chink in Razz’s armor; the wolf was almost impressed by how quickly Edge was to exploit it.

 “It would only be a simple question,” Edge continued his pitch. “Just ask if he would be willing and able to do… whatever it was he did to my brother, to me!”

 Razz groaned, eyes falling shut. “...Okay, fine,” he said. It would be good to know if it were possible anyways - regardless of whether Edge would be willing to go through with it after he found out that it meant being swallowed alive. “I’ll ask him when he comes over to train…”

 Edge’s face was schooled neutral, though Razz could see the smallest fluff in his tail, and a new, hopeful glimmer in his eye. Still, the rabbit stood at attention, hand propped up against Razz’s knee for balance. “Y-yes, very good,” he said, covering the emotion in his tone with a cough. “Well. I wish you a pleasant rest of your evening.”

 “You too, Edge,” Razz said. He held the sheets steady for Edge to scale down, watching him until he reached the pen where he and his brother stayed. They had long since cut out a small door for Edge to come and go as he pleased - making the area a room within a room for him. Perhaps Razz could find one of those oversized dollhouses at the dump to make into a proper home for the two.

 If Edge decided to stay, that is.

 The thought made his chest feel cold and hot all at once. Instead of dwelling on it, Razz returned his book to his hand and flipped the pages, slowly drifting off to the domestic sounds of the house creaking and the bunnies’ soft snoring.