Who Are You? | Bigwig x OC | A Watership Down Fanfic

Chapter 6: Not Again.. Not On My Watch

This chapter is going to add to the relationship of Bigwig and Keres cause' I think there wasn't much time for that to happen. This will also reveal some of Kere's backstory which is actually kind of close similar to General Woundwort's backstory.

Once we arrived, everyone ran to the burrow. I still wasn't so sure of the area so I stayed at the back of the group constantly checking behind me.

It was like I had mentioned, this was going to be hard for me. Everyone greeted each other, I sat watching the view. "This is going to be great, Father." I spoke feeling a small gust of cold air move around me.

Hearing small crunches of gras behind me, I snapped my head over seeing Bigwig. I relaxed. "Sorry, was just curious to where you had gone off to."

"Hoping I was being attacked by a vicious cat? Bigwig saves Keres from feral farm cat!" She said dramatically recalling to when she knocked the cat off Bigwig at the farm.

"Maybe." He said laughing at my joke. "But seriously, I was wondering if you would like to go for a walk. 

"A patrol?" I asked confused by what he meant. 

"Yes, though, I mostly planned for it just to be for us to spend some time together.. Since we never got to." He said sheepishly.

I smiled at his efforts and nodded. "I'd love to." 

He cleared his throat and nodded. "Well, lets go then." He said getting up and leading the way. Patrols usually involved making a trip around the hill.

"Hey, wanna race to the bottom?" I said with a smirk on my face, I would obviously win.

"Oh, you bet hlessi." He said. With a quick countdown we were off. I ran ahead of him. The bottom hill was almost there. Giving myself a quick push, I made it to the bottom first. 

"Hah! Never challenge a hlessi" I said with my head high, still trying to catch my breath.

{__}_Time skip {__}

We were almost done with our patrol, we actually had a nice conversation. "Let's start heading back, yeah?" Bigwig suggested.

I nodded. "Lead the way." I spoke allowing Bigwig to take the way up the hill.

However, something felt off. Like I feeling a sense of déjà vu, lifting my ears I started to hit me. 

This has happened before. 

Flashbacks of a gruesome experience from my kit hood flashed in my head. I looked to my left and saw a fox, it was just about to jump on Bigwig!

"Fox run!" I shouted knocking him forward, us both dodging the homba. 

"Run now!" I shouted luring the fox away. I don't think Bigwig could process what had just happened so quickly. 

But I was now in the situation of running away from a fox. It could tell it was catching up, taking a sharp left turn, the fox slide a bit loosing it's balance giving me a chance to run.

I was running, when I thought I was about to loose it, a large claw slashed my leg open.

Letting out a shriek of pain, I ran faster. I glanced behind me, I saw the fox deciding to give up. I completely forgot about the large pain in my leg, it forced me to limp the rest of the way.

I made it back around Frith-down. Not able to stop once, I laid down quickly being noticed by a few rabbits, Bigwig, Clover, and Fiver.

"Got me good huh?" I said looking over at the large throbbing wound that continued to bleed.

"Bigwig, help me get her on her feet. Fiver, get Hazel, he can help us figure this out." Clover ordered. Once they did get me on my feet, I realized how deep the wound must have been since it sent a sharp pain up my leg.

They helped me over to a small burrow. I scrunched up my nose in disgust, it smelled of dried blood. Though, the scent was very stale. They set met down in the burrow. 

Bigwig looked at me, worry filled his eyes. "It's better than what could have happened to you." I said giving him a soft smile.

"What do you mean by that?"

(Trigger warning! If you don't like large amount s of gore you can skip until you see this, but there is some important backstory here. There will be a summary of it at the end of the chapter for those who are sensitive to this. 🩸)

"Well, when I was a kit. I was a hlessi with my father, he was kicked out of his warren and I went with him. He taught me everything I know, and one day when we were traveling through a beautiful field next to a giant hill." I started my voice trailing off as I remembered the anguished screams of my father.

Tears started to form my eyes, I continued on explaining though. "When we were walking, a fox had jumped out from the bush. It had grabbed my Father by the neck, it ripped him to shreds. Blood had spilled and pooled around the area.I saw few of his organs. I had watched the life quickly die in his eyes, I watched what murdered him while I just stood there."

I felt tears running down my face, every horrid image of it just meeting me again. 

(Okay, you're good! 🩸)

"I just couldn't live with myself if I let that happen again. I couldn't let it.. Not again.. Not on my watch." I finished. 

Yes, 2 Chapters in one day. I'm great at this. (Not really lol) But I might take a break from writing today.

Summary of Keres' backstory for those who are sensitive:

Keres' father was kicked out of their old warren, Keres had gone with  her father and they learned together. Keres learned everything she knew from him. One day when she was walking with er father in a place similar to where Bigwig and Keres were, a fox jumped out and ate her father.