“Chocolate rabbits,” Kale groaned. “Why does it always have to be chocolate rabbits?”

His question was answered by a garbled wail as the purple rabbit above him yanked its paws back and slammed the knife down. Kale jerked his head to the side before the knife could meet its mark. He cast a glance at the orange, carrot shaped weapon and caught a glimmer of his reflection staring back at him, wide eyed and bewildered. Kale was about to let out a quick breath of relief until he saw a few beads of crimson clinging to the blade.

A red slash ran across his cheek, nothing too deep, but that was all the rabbit needed to see before taking the blade into its paws again. Its tiny nose twitched as it sniffed the blood, giving it a tentative lick.

“No!” Kale exclaimed, pushing the rabbit off of him. He reached for the knife only to meet a fresh wave of wave on his hand. Kale cradled his hand, ogling the messy rows of torn flesh. When he looked back up at the creature, his blood ran cold.

What used to be a tiny chocolate rabbit encrusted in violet sugar moments ago was replaced by a bumbling ball of chaos. Cracks raced across the rabbit’s sugary shell while chocolate bubbled and stretched in between. Its ears twitched and snapped with renewed vigor, swelling with the energy Kale’s blood. The rabbit grew to half of Kale’s height, swaying uneasily with limbs too large for it while the rest of its body rapidly grew.

Kale swallowed thickly at the chocolate dripping down its macabre purple and brown muscles until they plopped to the floor with a sickening sizzle. The man slowly rose to his feet to back away. He winced at each crunch of candy shell corpses littering the floor, praying that the rabbit would be too intoxicated by his blood. So far, the rabbit did not so much as look his way. It swayed back and forth on its hind legs, scanning the room blindly.

Kale cast a glance at the door behind the creature and quickly tiptoed towards it. The bell above had been smashed somewhere along the floor the moment the rabbits had begun their attack on him, leaving Kale relieved as he neared the door. Just as his foot was about to meet the floor again he froze. Below him was a battered stuffed rabbit wearing a top hat, a grin stitched across its gray muzzle. Kale carefully moved around the stuffed animal, sighing in relief that he avoided the disaster that would have followed the toy’s—

“Whoo whee!” Kale and the creature yelped from the sudden yell. He glanced down at the stuffed, yellow duck with a top hat of its own underneath his shoe. “Happy Easter everybody!”

Kale glanced back at the creature rearing its massive head towards him as the duck let out a jingle. He leapt towards the door, his fingers brushing against the handle bar, and fell to the ground with a thump. Pain echoed down his torso and chin that was brushed aside as he felt his body being dragged back into the store. Kale’s nails scratched the floor tiles, scrambling and writhing for freedom. The creature’s paws tightened on his ankles to the point he could feel its nails pressing against his bones. The rabbit flipped Kale over, pinning his arms to his side and roared.

The roar fell upon deaf ears as Kale’s blood rang in his ears. The man could see broken fragments of white chocolate teeth sticking in awkward angles in the rabbit’s mouth. Molten chocolate splattered across Kale’s cheeks while the rabbit raised its head back, opening its jaw wide.

Kale squeezed his eyes shut for the sickening tear of flesh when the weight on him suddenly lifted. He propped himself up on his elbows to see the rabbit pinned against the wall with flaring crosses ripping through its paws and chest. The rabbit wailed, yanking at its binds that only flared hotter. The gold, black, and blue flames danced from the crosses onto the rabbit’s shell.

Burning chocolate and sugar flooded the store as Kale watched the flames devour the rabbit bit by bit until all that was left was a dust of ash. The now black crosses dissipated into puffs of smoke. Kale’s breath hitched in his breath. He brought a hand to his chest, trembling as he felt the pound of his heart.

“Still alive,” he said hoarsely. His fingers crushed the fabric of his shirt. “Still alive.”

The crunch of broken glass shook Kale from his stupor. He whirled around to see a young man saunter through the shattered window, shuffling a deck of cards in his hands. Kale felt a rush of relief wash over him. He stumbled over to the other, grasping his shoulders. He dragged himself to the young man until he was crushed against his chest.

“Oh thank god,” he said, digging his fingers into the other’s jacket. He pulled away, patting the younger down and scanning his face for scratches or bruises. “Where were you? I told you not to run off! Do you have any idea how worried I was?”

The young man looked at him coolly, with a frown twisting his lips. “You’re welcome.”

“Don’t ignore me! Where were you?”

The younger swatted Kale’s hands away. He waved the deck of cards in front of Kale’s face. The silver etched world symbol practically burned upon the glittering blue cards.

“Saving your ungrateful arse,” He snapped, “which would have been saved sooner if you had let me practice.”

Kale winced then pinched the bridge of his nose.

“Great, you’re in one of your moods.” He said.

The young man’s brows furrowed, snarling, “I am not in a mood. God, you’re always like this!” He shoved his deck of cards into his jacket pocket. “We get into a mess, I save you, and then you complain about how I shouldn’t be using my gifts! I wouldn’t be surprised if you thought all of this was my fault.”

Kale arched a brow at him, unimpressed, and rolled the sleeve his shirt from his wrist. Remarkably, the old watch still ticked away dutifully on his wrist.

“You’re not going to say anything?” The other growled.

“I’m not having this discussion with you now, Colby.” Kale replied, eyes locked on his watch.

Colby’s cheeks flared red. He spewed more of his rant furiously, spouting names and curses towards Kale. The man shrugged them off, berating him for using uncouth language every once in a while until the second hand on his watch struck close to twelve. Colby’s words faded into white noise as Kale murmured, “Five, four, three, two…”

A curse froze at the tip of Colby’s tongue as gold, blue, and black smoke paraded around him. Kale watched the smoke widen and close around Colby’s frame until it shrank to more than half of Kale’s height. The smoke dissipated, leaving wide eyes to blink up at Kale. A small boy replaced where Colby stood; his dark hair tousled and his clothes sliding off of the child’s shoulders. The boy blinked a few more times before his eyes grew glassy.

Tears poured down his cheeks as he stumbled out of the large jeans at his feet, almost tripping on the hem oversized shirt, and into Kale’s knees. His fingers clung to Kale’s pants leg while he buried his face into the denim.

“I’m sorry!” He wailed. “I’m sorry daddy! I don’t hate you!”

A small grin curled Kale’s lips. He kneeled down, engulfing the boy in a hug. The moment his tears began wetting his shoulder the aches in Kale’s body finally surfaced. His limbs shook from the straining of staying upright, his muscles throbbed from candy rabbits and ducks’ handling of him like a ragdoll, but the relief of holding his boy numbed his pain ever so slightly.

“I know Col,” he said, pressing a kiss to his temple. He heaved Colby into his arms with a grunt and staggered towards the door. “Let’s go home.”