Easter Bunny's Arc

Chapter 15 of 15

Easter Bunny stayed on the platform through the morning, watching the forest paths below. He expected silence after the heroes departed. Instead, Environment Bug appeared at the altar, carrying a small broom and cloth sack. The bug moved methodically through the clearing, sweeping aside candy wrappers and gathering scattered eggs left from the ceremony. Environment Bug worked outward from the altar in widening circles, clearing debris that visitors had left behind. Easter Bunny climbed down from the platform and followed at a distance, watching the bug collect crumpled paper and empty bottles that had accumulated along the fence line. The clearing looked cleaner with each pass, but Easter Bunny felt uneasy watching someone else tend the space he'd created. When Environment Bug reached the eastern edge near the golden bunny marker, the bug stopped and crouched low, brushing away a thick layer of candy wrappers and egg shells. Beneath the debris sat a chest covered in roots and rotted wood, half-buried in the soil. Environment Bug stepped back without touching it. Easter Bunny approached and knelt beside the chest, recognizing it immediately—he'd buried it himself decades ago, before he decided to build Easter Corner here. Inside were recipes he'd collected from travelers, instructions for ceremonies he'd never performed, plans for monuments he'd abandoned. He'd hidden them because they represented all the ways he'd failed to honor goodness before now. The chest was never meant to be found, especially not after he'd finally succeeded. Easter Bunny lifted the chest and carried it to the small wooden shed Environment Bug had built at the clearing's edge for storing cleaning supplies. He set it inside, closed the door, and turned back to find Environment Bug watching him. The bug said nothing, just returned to sweeping. Easter Bunny stood at the shed's entrance, understanding that Environment Bug would keep cleaning Easter Corner whether he wanted it or not, and that the chest—like everything else he tried to bury—would remain part of this place. He couldn't control what the forest revealed, only what he chose to do when it did. He left the chest in the shed and walked back to the altar, accepting that Easter Corner would hold more than just the eight tributes he'd planned.