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Eternal Bond Chapter 4

I was staring at myself, a younger me, not quite 3 years old. I was holding my mommy's hand and had my paw in my mouth. I grimaced as I remembered my old habit, and realized how childish it looked to other people.

I couldn't figure out how why I was dreaming of this particular time; I remembered that I had been confused about why my mommy was in such a hurry. Now I saw her and realized that she had a worried look on her face, which, I thought, was shadowed by a look of excitement. It looked like she was an adrenalin junkie that was about to rob a bank.

She was holding my paw tightly and was pulling me along as fast as my little legs would carry me. I stumbled a little and she stooped and picked me up and carried me, within a minute we reached an old house that looked like it had been in disuse for several years. Without knocking she entered the house and made several turns and I was soon hopelessly lost.

I myself wasn't running after her, I just seemed to follow along and see what I see now, but remember what I was thinking at that time. This had all happened too early for me to remember normally.

We finally reached a room; inside it were 4 furs, two foxes and two panthers. One I immediately recognized as Uncle Tim, but other two panthers looked familiar in a strange way. I studied the large male panther in the room; he had long black hair, and had as much muscle as Uncle Tim and looked just as kind as him, but his face was creased with worry and sorrow. I looked at him for a few seconds longer and realized that it was Barrex, but he was missing his scar.

I shifted my attention to the other panther, a female, she was asleep and her body was shaking every few seconds, as if receiving electric shocks. Her face was calm, and I could see her eyes were moving rapidly under the lids. She was a rather plain panther, nothing spectacular about her appearance. I looked at her for a second longer and realized with a start that this was Alice.

I shook my head when I realized that I had actually met those two before. I looked at the last fur in the room, a male fox, and jumped slightly; I seemed to be looking at a mirror that showed an older version of me. This fox was about thirty if I had to guess, he was handsome, and had a lot of the same features as I do, his ears were big, though they were a little bit more into proportion, his eyes were the same striking emerald as mine. I realized with a start that this was my father...

He was just laying there on his back, looking up at the ceiling with a blank look on his face. I could see that his fur was drenched in sweat and his breathing was shallow. My mother set the younger me down and stepped forward leaving me confused with my paw still in my mouth.

"Is he...?" my mother started "I came as soon as I got the call."

Barrex looked at her and stepped toward her and put on of his massive paws on her shoulder and she seemed to nearly collapse. "He's alive, but barely. I think he is holding on for you."

My mother turned around and beckoned me to follow her, and the younger me stepped forward shyly. I, the current self, floated to where my mother stood looking down at my father, barely holding back her tears. I looking down at him I could see that he was a powerful man; he was built like my Uncle Tim and looked similar to him in many ways that I couldn't really describe.

My mother reached down and put her paw on the side of his muzzle, and he stirred, his eyes fluttering as if he had just opened them and he smiled when they made contact with my mother's.

"Oh love..." he said weakly, "I'm sorry that this didn't work. I should have known that this wouldn't have worked; I thought that if I believe I loved her that it would. But I love you too much for it to happen." His voice was soft and he was panting heavily, as if every word was a struggle to lift the sounds from his throat.

My mother started to say something, but he waved her off weakly and she complied immediately. He shifted his gaze to the young me and beckoned me closer, both of us complied and he took my paw and squeezed it. Both of us were on the verge of tears at this point, cause we knew we were about to lose our daddy.

"Son... Oh Edward... I love you so much..." he was forced to pause every few words for a breath. "I hope you grow to be strong, like your Uncle and smart like your Aunt was, and most of all, kind like your mother. I hope you learn to love, to hope, and to forgive. I hope you can remember all this one day." He groaned as if in pain. My mother hushed him and said to save his breath. He just shook his head "I know I'm going to die, no matter what, so I need to say these things." He closed his eyes for a moment and I feared the worst, but then he opened his eyes and caught mine, and then my mothers. He closed them and said "Tim, I beg you to watch over these two, care for my wife like I would and be a father to my son."

Uncle Tim stepped forward and then he said solemnly "I swear that I will do everything that I can, and then some."

"That's all I can ask of you." He took both my mother's and my paw and squeezed them, and both of us started to cry freely, and I felt tears roll down my cheeks as I watch the long lost memory. "I loved, no love you two so much that I was willing to take this chance for a hope of a better life. I still have hope that it will happen one day. I love you two." He closed his eyes and became still.

I can't say how long the three of us, my mother, me, and the younger me, but I just remember crying for how-ever-long it was.

We awoke from our trance by the sudden gasp from Barrex. We all looked at him and saw him kneeling next to Alice. "She's waking." We walked over to him and stood next to the bed.

Alice opened her eyes and looked around with no obvious signs of recognition on her face, and then her eyes locked on Barrex, and she said "Barrex...?"

His eyes brimmed up with tears as he said "Yes Alice... I'm here honey." I realized with a start that they must be married. "What do you need?"

Alice's eyes looked confused, but she said "I love you." And then her eyes clouded over, and she started to thrash and flail her arms about, claws extended.

My mother didn't hesitate to throw me back and shield the younger me from view. I on the other hand, had full view, and I saw Barrex try and stop her, using his size and power to take control, but not before he was injured. He pinned her arms to her side and Uncle Tim had her legs, she struggled to break free from their powerful grasp. After several minutes she slumped down and relaxed.

Barrex gently released her and looked down at her with a sob. He looked up and we all gasped; there was a huge gash running from his right eye down across his nose and finally stopping where his neck began. I now realized that this is where he got that nasty scar. I closed my eyes and began to weep as I also realized that not only had I lost a father, but my mother lost her love, my uncle his brother, Alice her sanity, and Barrex his wife. There was so much strife in one night that I couldn't blame the younger me for not wanting to remember it.

When I opened my eyes I was somewhere else I was floating again, but in a different place. At first I thought that this was another one of my memories, but as I looked around I saw no sign of me anywhere, nor did I see any foxes at all.

My eye caught something and a young panther, a girl by the hair style, came into view. I stared at her; she was no more than 3. Her hair was dark, almost black with a faint ting of purple to it, without even seeing her face I could tell that she was cute, very cute. She turned her face in my direction and I saw that her nose was speckled with little splotches of black, just like Amura's was, and then it hit me! This was a younger Amura. I must be dreaming her dream I thought, and I absently wondered if she had saw my dream too. After she came in so did her mother, who looked that same as always, though there was a look of great curiosity on her face, as if having no idea why she was brought here.

She looked at me or behind me and I followed her gaze and saw that Barrex was right behind me. I floated out of the way and watched her run to Barrex and embraced him.

"Brother! How are you?" She held him at arm's length and examined him, the curiosity crossing her face became more pronounced as she remembered that he had called her here, giving no explanation.

He grinned as he said "We have two people that wish to join our cause, and as the head panther, I thought it best you approve."

She looked around and then asked "Well, where are they?"

"They will be here but first we must wait for the head fox to arrive." Erika nodded and they waited. Within a few moments a fox came into view she was older a female, looking about thirty, she was built in the same way Erika was, but in fox form. She had one piercing near the base of her left ear. I smiled as I realized that this was my mommy.

She stopped a few feet from where Barrex stood, and then asked "You rang?" There was a trace of humor in her voice, as a smile on her lips as she spoke. She had the same curiosity as Erika did, but it wasn't nearly as great.

Barrex grinned a big grin and said "I did, we seem to have two more that wish to join our cause, and with you and Erika being the heads of the groups, I thought it would be best of you to approve." He bowed slightly and received a smack on the head for doing so.

"I told you no bowing." My mom said with a laugh, it was a wonderful sound and seemed to tickle your ears and warm your soul. As if on cue, two furs showed up, one of them, a panther stepped forward and started to speak.

"My name is Jezebel, and this is Eliza." She indicated the... fox...on her left. I suddenly saw what things looked like through Amura's eyes as she stared at the strange fox. She was all black or white, from the tip of her tail, to her feet, to the tips of her ears, no other color to be found.

My mommy looked her up and down, and then said "And why can't she introduce herself?" Jezebel smiled understandingly, and then said

"If you hear her speak, you will understand." She looked at Eliza and nodded, and Eliza's mouth began to move, but no sounds came out, and then Amura's ears picked up some sounds that made no sense at all.

"What is this?" Erika said, obliviously confused. Jezebel started "As far as I know, no one can understand a thing she says, even if they can hear her."

"So how do you know what her name is then?" Barrex asked.

"She can write." Came the simple reply, so simple was it that my mother started to laugh, and soon Erika and Barrex joined. Jezebel smiled and Amura started to examine her. She was only about 5'4, nothing really unusual about her other than she had a small nick in her right ear. She seemed to sense Amura's gaze and turned her eyes onto her. Amura gasped; her eyes were bright red. But before Amura could ask why her eyes were like that Jezebel said

"And who might you be little one?" It struck Amura that her voice was so powerfully feminine that it didn't really seem to belong to Jezebel's tiny frame. Amura looked down shyly and said

"A-Amura." Jezebel smiled and said,

"It's nice to meet you." And then she turned her head back to the rest of the group, which was recovering from the laughing fit. Erika was the first and said "I'm sorry; I don't believe that I introduced myself. I am Erika Drageono."

*Author's note* It's pronounced Drae-gon-o *End Author's note*

My mother smiled and said "My name is Liz Gestan."

"And I am Barrex Lagonoos, Erika's brother." Barrex said with a courtly bow.

Jezebel smiled and said "We come to you because we have heard stirrings of groups like yours and we have our own reasons to hope for a peace, of which you will learn in time for this is not the time, nor place for such a long story."

And with that I woke up and my eyes met Amura's and I knew immediately that she had seen everything that I had seen. Amura reached her paw up and stroked my muzzle and I felt a few tears being brushed away. She said

"Oh Eddy... I'm so sorry..." There were tears streaming down her face now. I placed my paw of her cheek, and whispered

"It's not your fault; no one could have done anything at all." More tears spilled over my face as I spoke. She took my neck and pulled me closer and embraced me tightly saying,

"Oh I know... it doesn't stop me from feeling bad about it, I can't believe you lost your father that way... in the way we succeeded." She voice grew very soft on the last part, and then she leaned back a little to where I could see her face, and smiled softly. I gave her a questioning look and she said through a grin,

"You know what it means for us to see each other dreams?" When I shook my head dumbly, she said "It means we are bound to each other in more ways than we know." I grinned and nodded softly. I licked her nose and she giggled, I wrapped my arms around her and rolled, pulling her onto my chest a little, where she nuzzled into my fur and purrs wracked through her body and I heard her sigh in content.

I looked down at the dozing panther and thought about what she meant to me; the first thought was everything. It may be corny, but it was true, without her in my life, I would be nothing, she is so close to me that if something was to take her away they would rend my soul in half, and that's not just figuratively speaking. I can -feel- her rubbing against my soul, at least that's what I think it is, and intertwining her into it, like a tree into the ground, binding herself to me more and more every day.

Just the thought of her not being there brings an ache to my chest. I stopped my pondering for a second and laugh silently at the fact I was trying to convince myself of something I already know. But for some reason I need to keep going, telling this to myself so I may realize how deeply I am bound to her, for it seems to be the only way.

When I look into her eyes I not only see her, but deeper into them I see myself with her, whether or not that is an illusion I don't care, because I see it. I think to myself, ‘What do I know of love? I'm not even 8 yet!' but after I think that, I think ‘I know what love is, I may have not had my heart broken and I most likely won't, but I was lucky enough to find the one person that will be with me forever, and because of it I know what love is, I can feel it, touch it, see it. It emanates from the one I care for the most, as well as those I care for otherwise. I look at Amura and the forces that assault me are beyond imagination, it's as if the gods themselves are inside her, pulling me toward her. I look at my mommy and I see colors beyond description, but nothing is pulling me to her, blinding and binding me, as it does with Amura. When I touch her, no matter where I am, how I feel, it's suddenly better, even if I was having the best day of my life, it just got better. The warmth that envelops me when I am with her is like that of being surrounded by heaters, but never getting too hot.' I shake my head and grimace, feeling that I had grown a few years older by just thinking those thoughts.

I gently kiss the now sleeping panther on the top of her head and her purring re-doubles. I close my eyes and the next thing I know I relax even more profoundly than I thought possible and I lose consciousness.