THE SLOW RABBIT - FINALE PART

Not Fast Enough

Destiny had seen Lightning for the very first time when Lightning had come to her village. Destiny lived in a different rabbit village far away from where Lightning lived, their villages were separated by a big mountain. But Lightning used to travel across different villages as challengers used to call him out for races which they lost badly. Lightning was undefeated and unarguably the fastest to have ever set foot in the forest. Destiny and Lightning fell for each other the moment their eyes met. They were in Love. They used to meet each other in private and no-one knew about their affair except for Raven who was Lightning’s closest friend, and the facilitator for exchanging messages between them. Things looked good and Lightning was ready to bring Destiny to his village to get the blessings of his village chief, but fate had other plans.

Lightning lost race to a tortoise named Freddy and was shunned by his village. This news was spread through-out the forest, and also in Destiny’s village. Destiny was threatened by her village chief that she would be shunned from the village if she married Lightning, terming Lightning a disgrace to the rabbit community. She was convinced that there could be no Destiny without Lightning and walked out of her village. She went straight to Leo the leopard and narrated him the full story, which Leo was unaware of. All this time Leo kept his love for Destiny with himself and never expressed his emotions to her, and this sudden change in events caught him off-guard. Leo promised to help her and took Destiny to Lightning. On seeing Lightning Destiny hugged him and kissed him, and promised that she was forever his. Leo was shattered, Leo was broke, Leo was angry!

Lightning and Destiny had a happy life away from their village and soon a baby rabbit was born to them. The baby had filled their life with happiness and he was special, he had a lightning shaped birth mark on his back. All this while Leo had his watchful eyes over them, and seeing Lightning have everything he wished to have made him bitter day after day. The predator that was enslaved by Destiny and her innocence was growing fiercer than ever, and the happy couple were going to bear the wrath soon.

One fine day when Lightning had gone to get food for the mother and the newly born baby, Leo decided to open his heart to Destiny. He asked Destiny to meet him by the river which was close to the burrow that she and Lightning lived in. The baby was crying a lot so Destiny decided to take the baby along with her. Leo was not himself today and Destiny could sense that, but Leo was a longtime friend to her and she trusted him. Leo opened up his heart to Destiny and told her everything that he wished he had said long-back, but this shook Destiny to her core. All this time the one she considered her only friend had so much more in his mind. She listened to him and tried to explain him why it was not possible for them to be together, and how much she loved Lightning. But Leo could not see all that, he was blinded by his one sided love and blamed Lightning of taking everything that could have been his. He told her that Lightning was not fast enough to defeat him, and if Lightning ever raced him he would defeat Lightning. The argument turned ugly and Leo was filled with wrath as his confession of love were falling on deaf ears. Lightning saw this argument taking place when he was heading towards home and ran towards Destiny. But, before he could understand what was happening, he saw a heavy claw coming towards him to strike him. Leo was a predator again, and Leo wanted to kill Lightning. But fate again took a turn and Destiny jumped in front of Lightning and the claws struck her, ripping her heart open and throwing her and the baby into the river!

The next moment both Leo and Lightning jumped into the river to save them……

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Present day

“Are we late for the race?” asked a curious Freddy when him and Raven reached the racing spot. There were shouts of “Hip Hip Hurray Lightning” and Raven and Freddy saw entire forest animals gather and cheer for Lightning. Freddy was amazed and shocked “How could he beat the leopard?”

The race was over and amidst the other forest animals stood Raven and Freddy. Freddy was still in shock when he heard Lightning’s village chief calling out his name “Today on this occasion when the mighty Leopard has been beaten by our very own Lightning, I would like to call upon Freddy on this stage who once beat Lightning and till now is the only one to do so.”

Freddy was amazed on how come the chief knew that he was here. He tried to hide from the chief and the crowd. But Raven shouted “Here is the great Mr. Freddy” and chuckled. Now Freddy had no option than to go on stage, he looked seemingly angry on raven but he had nowhere to hide. He moved so slowly that the crowd was pondering how did he even manage to beat Lightning?

Freddy reached the chief eventually and saw Lightning standing next to him, the crowd which was basically the entire forest were standing around them and they were in the center.

Chief- Mr. Freddy thanks for travelling all the way for the race.

Mr. Freddy was quiet, and Chief shouted looking at Raven

Chief- Raven thanks for bring him here. Your flying skills are appreciated.

Raven winked back at the chief.

Chief- So Mr. Freddy could you present the badge to Lightning?

Freddy was visibly confused and asked the chief

Freddy- How did he beat Leo? A rabbit can never beat a leopard?

Chief- Well if a tortoise can beat a rabbit, then why can’t a rabbit beat a leopard?

Freddy- But…

Chief- But what?

Lightning smiled and said

Lightning- Freddy they know that I slept off under the Old Forest Tree.

Freddy was now surprised

Freddy- How do they know it?

Lightning- I told them.

Chief- Yes Freddy Lightning told us how he slept under the tree in between the race. But you don’t have to worry. You were the winner that day and that’s why we decided that Lightning should be awarded by you.

Freddy- How did Leo loose?

Chief- He slept off under that same tree.

Freddy could not believe this and argued.

Freddy- This is just not possible.

Chief- Why not?

Freddy- Because it’s not yet time for sleep-dust butterflies to settle on that tree…

Freddy regretted the moment he said this and bit his lips.

Chief- What? What’s a sleep dust butterfly?

The crowd was confused on hearing about the sleep-dust butterfly and started to speculate of what these butterflies actually are.

From the crowd appeared Streak, and explained to the crowd.

Streak- Sleep-dust butterflies are one of the rarest species of butterflies that do not settle on any other tree than the Old Forest Tree, and when they flap their wings there is peculiar kind of dust that falls from their wings. On breathing that dust you would be put to sleep instantly, hence the name Sleep-dust butterflies. Am I right Mr. Freddy?

Freddy retaliated and argued again.

Freddy- Yes, but they settle only on the 7th day of spring and today is not that day. So Leo cannot sleep!

Streak- You are right. Leo did not sleep. Leo tricked you. This was all part of Leo's plan to make you confess the truth. We all are part of that plan. Me, my dad Lightning who is with me because of Leo, and of course Raven. We had to make you admit that you could never beat my dad, and so you cheated. We wanted to make you confess that you are not fast enough.

The crowd and chief and everyone else now understood how Lightning lost to Freddy. They remembered how Lightning was shunned from their village for no fault of his, and they now realized how cunning and wicked Freddy was. They were angry and were going to tear Freddy apart, but Lightning stopped them.

Lightning- Leave him. You all know the truth now, and I have my son. He ruined my life but I have it back now. I forgive him and I request that you don’t hurt him.

Freddy was shivering with fear, and that’s when Raven flew towards him.

Raven- Fast sit on my back before they stone you to death wicked tortoise.

Freddy hurriedly climbed on Raven’s back.

Raven- I so wish I could drop you in some forbidden well and see you rot in it. But don’t worry Lightning doesn’t want that.

Saying that Raven flew off with Freddy on his back. Freddy still recovering from the shock was also petrified with the thought of Raven dumping him in a well.

The forest was happy. The rabbit village was happy. Their long abandoned hero was back. Lightning was back, and Streak was back.

The chief announced “Take all those text-books that had Lightning losing to Freddy. Dig a deep hole. Put all those text books inside tree trunk-box. And bury those trunks deep inside those holes. Lightning is not a loser. He is a hero whom we lost. But now we have found”

Lightning brought the action figure of the rabbit which he had carried all along and gave it to the chief. Chief threw it away “Bury this too!” he said. He hugged Lightning “You are the fastest” he said and put the badge FASTEST OF ALL on Lightning which he had ripped off once. Lightning, Streak and chief stood in middle of the forest crowd while the whole forest chanted in one single voice “Lightning forever!”

“Where is Leo?” asked Lightning to Streak. Streak handed Lightning a letter and said “He will not come. He asked me to give you this once your innocence was proved”. Lightning opened the letter…

Lightning,
If you are reading this, then our plan has succeeded. I know you would have questions, and as promised this letter is answer to those questions.
That day when we jumped into the river to save her, you were swept away by those heavy tides, but I managed to pull her and Streak to the river bank. Destiny was on my lap breathing her last and Streak was crying in her arms. That is when I realized the monster I was and I apologized to her. I prayed to all the Gods in my heart and wept my heart out. We cried together. But, even in her dying breath she remembered you. She asked me for two promises, to keep Streak safe, and to find out how you lost the race. She loved you more than anyone, and I had to accept that.
I thought you died when you were swept away and the best way that I could keep Streak safe was that he goes back to the rabbit-village. I knew the village-chief used to walk to the Banyan tree in the evening during his routine outings, and I used this opportunity. Chief happily took the young Streak with him and brought him up as his own. Streak was the only alive memory that I had of Destiny and I had to give up on that. I fulfilled her first promise.
I was not convinced that you could not loose. But I believed her. So I did my research, and traveled across the forest. Studied the path in which you raced Freddy and found out about the sleep-dust butterflies. Freddy being a tortoise could hold his breath for long, and he used this trick to win the race. But, there was no point in proving your innocence as I thought you died in the heavy tide. Years passed and I saw Streak growing up from far. That’s when one day raven spotted me and told me that you were alive and how you had confined yourself. So I had to fulfill my second promise now.
I worked on a plan and needed everyone’s help in it to trap Freddy. So I detailed the plan to Raven and asked him not to tell you until you met me. That’s why though you asked Raven to go and call the village chief, instead he got Freddy. And the day you met me I detailed out the plan to you, but I did not tell you the whole story as I wanted it to unfold in this way.
You got your family back and I kept my promises that I had given to Destiny. This does not change the fact that I will always hate you. But my hate for you is nothing to the love I have for Destiny. And pray to your Rabbit-Gods that you never see me again, because if you will. I will surely kill you (Hahaha)
You are a fast rabbit. But you are not fast enough for me.
Leo.

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Epilogue:

Centuries passed and the animal kingdom was taken over by the human kingdom. One day a group of excavation team was digging for archaeological work when the team found an old wooded trunk box. On opening the box they found pile of old literature and an ancient action wooden figure that looked like a rabbit. The literature was translated and it read “Rabbit v/s Tortoise”…