The last thing he knew was that everything went black.
His death hadn’t been pretty, it hurt like hell but at least it had been a quick death.
And then suddenly he was back.
The first thing he noticed was a loud sound.
And then he opened his eyes.
It was dark around him, that was until a piece of cloth was removed from what looked to be a cage around him and he was met by the eyes of the Auditor.
A loud: “Welcome back, Sheriff.” was still hanging in the air.
Sheriff looked up.
Had Auditor always been this tall?
Or was this just a side effect of his resurrection?
How did Auditor even do this?
A hundred questions were in his head but the most pressing one was, why was there a cage around him?
What he also noticed was that his hearing was a lot better all of the sudden.
He felt strange too, kind of… fuzzy?
Trying to stand he wobbled and brought his hands up to rub his face, only when he did he found that what he was looking at weren’t hands.
It was paws.
Soft small paws with tiny claws and a lot of fur.
What the fuck?!
Once he had seen those he started to look at himself more.
More furr, long hind legs, a small fluffy tail and long ears.
It couldn’t be.
He was alive, sure, but at what cost?!
And why was he even like this?
Why not turn him into a Mag or use the body of a dead grunt?
Why a rabbit?
Panicking he stilled in his movements only when he heard a clinking noise above his head.
Auditor had opened the cage he was in and was now reaching for him.
Sheriff suddenly felt dread settle in the pit of his stomach and fight or flight instincts kick in.
Once Auditors hand had almost reached him he made a jump for the opening.
Auditor grabbed him by the scruff of his neck, rough and angry.
Sheriff tried to resist, to say something but all that came was a loud squeak.
Right, rabbits didn’t speak.
Auditors eyes bore down into Sheriffs, anger clearly visible.
“Oooh no you don’t.
I’ve got big plans for you bunny boy.
I want you to see me succeed where YOU failed.
I want you to see me be a bigger fish than you could have ever been!
And I want you to see the moment I kill the man you ran away from for ages like a goddamn PANSY!”
Sheriff flinched at that, his new little tail tucked between his legs before Auditor rather unceremoniously threw him back into the small cage and threw the cloth back on it before picking it up and walking somewhere with him.
Where to?
Heck if he knew.
The throw had been harder than he had anticipated.
His head and back hurt and he wanted to just be dead again.
Instead he just passed out.
The second time he came to he was alone.
His head still hurt somewhat but it was getting better.
Still, his new body felt foreign and wrong.
And tired.
Why was he even awake when he felt so tired?
A gunshot rang through the air just then.
Sheriff perked up, his heartbeat quickening and started to look around the cage for something to hide in.
Nothing.
There was nothing to hide in for him.
He looked around and even up, catching a glimpse of something just then.
Bringing his paws up to grab whatever it was to get a closer look he was met by a hat.
A copy of his own hat.
Now that was just not fair.
He took great pride in his old get up and to be reminded of that while he was in such a seemingly hopeless situation was just not right.
Caught in his thoughts he didn’t even notice someone enter the room he was in, neither that person slowly getting closer to where he was.
He only noticed that someone was there when he heard his cage door being opened again before getting picked up once more.
He panicked a little.
This was a new hand.
Auditors hand was much smaller than whoevers hand this was.
Much smaller and rougher and definitely more ready to do damage.
No this hand, while big enough to squish him with little to no trouble, was gently and warm and was holding him rather differently.
Before Sheriff could ponder much on who this hand could belong to he was turned around and came eye to goggle covered eye with the one man that he had wanted to never see again.
Sheriff nearly peed himself at the sight of the big assasin, his little cotton tail now pressed to his stomach and his body locked up.
There was nowhere to run, nowhere to hide and with the glare Hank was giving him, Sheriff was sure he’d die a second time that day.
But instead of ending his life by squishing him or flinging him across the room or gutting him with the very large knife that was currently located on the belt Hank was wearing Hank started to smile.
At least Sheriff thought that’s what he was doing.
It was kind of hard to tell with the mask, but the mans eyes clearly indicated him smiling and only a few seconds later the mans voice gave confirmation to that.
“Hello there you little fluff ball.
Now ain’t you just adorable?
Really didn’t take the great Auditor as one to keep a pet, much less a little bunny.”
Hank gave the room a small look over before sighing.
“Then again, doesn’t look like he was taking that good a care of you lil one, now does it?
Shame.
But at least that probably means he won’t mind when I take you with me.”
Now the grin was clearly visible to Sheriff and it frightened him more than anything else Hank could’ve done.
Sheriff wasn’t sure what was about to come but he wanted out.
Out of these massive hands. Out of this building. Out of this BODY!
He was about to fight back when Hank reached for the zipper on his coat and pulled it down a bit.
Sheriff perked up, unsure of what was about to come, when Hank simply moved him closer to the opening only to plop him in place and stand up to full height, holding one of his hands under the Sheriff so he wouldn’t slip further into the makeshift pocket.
That made Sheriff freeze up completely, at least for a few seconds.
He wanted to stay frozen up, to hate this, to curse at the other but it just felt way too nice to really do any of that.
It was warm and it felt a lot safer than that cage and, even if it sounded strange, it smelled nice.
He felt how Hank started moving now, rather fast but not too erratic, probably to not shake him too much.
It only took a few minutes and they were out of the building.
A few more steps and they were at a car.
Sheriff concluded that it was Hanks and was proven right when the large man pulled out a set of keys and started unlocking the car.
Once inside Hank placed the cage on the passenger seat before trying to buckle it up.
‘He took that along?
Makes sense actually.
If Sheriff had been the one to find a bunny he wouldn’t want it jumping around in his car either.’
Once the cage was secured to Hanks satisfaction he carefully grabbed Sheriff again and set him in it.
Sheriff felt the car start a second later and just resigned himself to his fate.
There was nothing he could really do right now anyway.
Laying down and pulling his arms and legs close he felt his eyes become heavy.
He gave a yawn before nestling together and just closing his eyes, letting the low hum of the engine and the gently rocking of the street take him to dream-land.
Sheriff woke up when the car stopped.
He had no idea how long they had been driving for, if it was mere minutes or hours but to be honest he wasn’t really concerned about that at the moment.
What he cared about right now was where they were.
Looking out the window of the car he saw a tall building that, at first glance, could’ve been mistaken for being abandoned but then he saw the clean windows, bullet hole missing walls and ...were those houseplants in the windows?
Before he could ponder it more he was once again grabbed and placed into the makeshift coat pocket of the other man.
Hank was smiling down at him making him feel all sorts of strange but once more there was not enough time to ponder things as Hank got out of the car and started walking towards the door.
The inside of the building was nice.
It was clean, pretty well lit and it didn’t smell as bad as some of the A.A.H.W. buildings.
Sheriff was looking at the door to a different room when a loud voice suddenly rang through the hall.
In a heartbeat Sheriff was panicking again.
He saw two men come walking towards them but before he could start to struggle or do anything rash a finger found it’s way behind his ear and started scratching.
His panik was dulled down immediately and as the finger started to wander he noticed that he was still wearing his hat.
How nice of Hank to let him keep that on.
Lost in thought he only gave a second thought to the men when they were close enough to touch him.
One of them was wearing glasses and a bandana with no shirt showing off his large muscles.
The other was wearing bandages, headphones, a cappy and rather normal clothes.
Sheriff knew them.
He had heard that Hank had gotten new allies a while before his life was ended the first time.
The smaller one was called Deimos and the larger was apparently called Sanford.
Deimos was right in Sheriffs face, smiling a big smile before reaching out a hand and starting to pet him.
Gosh did that guy know how to pet.
Sheriff felt like he was in heaven as those thin fingers danced across his head and back.
Letting himself go slack as he was doted on by the two new men he heard them start talking.
D:”Where did you find this adorable bunny Hank?”
At that Sheriff was glad he wasn’t able to blush in bunny form because if he could have he would be a tomato just about now.
H:”In a cage in the A.A.H.W. building I was at today.
Looked pretty bad there so I thought he’d be better off with us.”
S:”Cute!”
A third hand was added to the mix as Sheriffs ear was carefully caressed by the muscle packed man, Sanford.
D:”So, what chu gonna do now?”
H:”Show him to Doc.”
Sheriff perked up at that.
Doc? They had a doctor in their midst?
S:”2BDamned is over in the observations room.”
H:”Thanks”
The hands left him and it took a moment before Sheriff could think on what the others had said but when it finally did he stiffened up.
THE 2BDamned?!
The doctor that was widely known to be more of a butcher than anything else?
Sheriff didn’t want ANYTHING to do with that man but before he could so much as start struggling, Hanks hand grabbed him out of the coat pocket once more to hold him in front of him.
Too late to struggle now.
Sheriff swallowed the lump in his throat as Hank entered a new room.
The room was dimly lit, with a lot of different screens and machinery strewn across the whole scene.
At one stood a man with what seemed to be a constant scowl looking at one of the screens.
H:”Hey Doc!”
Hanks voice was loud, louder than Sheriff would have anticipated, making him lock up.
The moment the man turned around he was face to face with Sheriff as the latter was held up right in front of the man.
Hanks voice sounded very happy as he said those words.
2B, meanwhile, did not.
He gave the two others a scowl before giving a long angry sounding sigh and pinching the bridge of his nose.
2B:”Where’d you get that?”
Hank moved Sheriff closer to himself again at that before carefully starting to pet the latter ones stomach with one finger.
H:”Found him at the A.A.H.W. building I was at today. He was all alone so I don’t think anyone will miss him.”
A smile on his face he nuzzled his face a bit into the fluffy side of the other.
H:”He’s all fluffy.”
2B slowly lowered his hand from the bridge of his nose, sighing once more before pointing to the hat that was still sitting on the Sheriffs head.
2B:”Okay, second question: Why is he wearing a hat?”
H:”Uuuuh… dunno.”
A hum was heard from the doctor, Hank now holding Sheriff in a way where he could look at his face again, staring at the others hat once more while tapping could be heard in the background.
H:”Though . . . it does look familiar . . . a bit like the hat off-”
Before Hank was able to finnish that thought he was interrupted by 2B.
Now Sheriff really almost lost control over his bladder.
That shout had come out of nowhere.
And apparently he wasn’t the only one that had been startled by said exclaim as Hank brought his shivering form closer to gently pet him.
Meanwhile the Doc droned on.
2B:”It’s the Sheriff! Auditor performed some kind of procedure with his corpse to bring him back. the security cameras caught it all! But. . . why do this?”
The Doc turned around fast at the others starting a sentence.
He cut himself off at the sight in front of him.
Hank was holding Sheriff close now, petting him and shushing him as the other shivered like he had just escaped an ice desert.
H:”Shhhhhh~ it’s okay bunny.”
At that the doc took a few fast steps towards them, anger clearly showing on his face.
2B:”Did you even LISTEN?! That is the Sheriff! A mortal enemy of yours! What have you got to say for yourself?!”
As if on cue Hank simply held out Sheriff, nearly making Sheriff and the Docs faces touch before exclaiming in a rather happy voice.
The Doc took a moment, giving the whole situation two or three slow blinks before deflating.
No reasoning with Hank it appeared.
Sheriff couldn’t blame the Doc, he wouldn’t challenge the man either.
2B:”Hhhh~ you’re right. He is a bunny now. I guess he isn’t much of a threat now.
And if you really found him in a cage they probably didn’t regard him very highly anymore.”
Sheriff could practically feel the smile on Hanks face as 2B said those things.
He was almost about to celebrate in his mind when he was shoved even closer to the Doc.
The look on the Sheriffs face almost rivaled the one on the Doctors.
2B:”What?! Hank, you cannot honestly expect me to hold this man, can you?
He is the enemy! Sure he is harmless now but that doesn’t mean that I-”
Hank moved closer then, nearly pushing Sheriff into the Docs arms and with with his voice a few tones lower he simply repeated himself, peering down at the Doc.
Another sigh escaped the Doc before he simply picked up the bunny-fied Sheriff and held him to his chest.
Huh.
This was actually kind of nice.
Sure, he was aware that this was no real bunny but...it was still nice to hold onto something soft and warm like that.
The Doc bit his tongue before exhaling rather aggressively, his hands betraying him as he started to pet the small fluffy bunny in his hold.
2B:”Fine, fine. We’ll keep him around. It’s probably for the best anyway. That way they cannot use him for any experiments or the like.”
The Doc looked down while Sheriff looked up at the man, both unsure of what was to come but both knowing that there was no debating any of this with the large man in front of them.
Meanwhile said large man had a large grin on his face, smug as could be before turning around and heading out the door to announce the arrival of the newest member to their little group to the others.
While that was happening the Doc lifted Sheriff up to give him a one over.
Sighing one last time before going back to holding the other more comfortably he began to speak.
2B:” Well. . . Welcome to the chaos I guess. . . You better behave y’hear?”
All Sheriff could do was nod before taking in the madness and deciding that sleep sounded like a good option then.
