FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Of Fox and Wolf Chapter 2: Tears

---

Light filters into the room as the fox is disturbed from his slumber. 'Just 5 more minutes', he thinks. *Beep*. *Beep*. *Beep*. The sound of the monitors is again present to James, and, reluctantly, he too begins to be active. 'Yesterday was simply crazy,' thinks the fox. 'I mean, that couldn't have all happened, could it?' He glances over at his arm and confirms that yesterday really did occur, pain and all.

And while the pain was great, he also remembered about the wolf. 'Was she really here yesterday?' he asks his mind. 'Was there really someone out there who actually cared about me?' Sighing heavily, he wrote it off as his imagination on painkillers. Nevertheless, he set about getting himself out of his bed.

Gathering his composure and his posture, James sat up and pressed the call button. A few moments later, a short looking otter came in from the main hall. "Yes?" queried the woman, genuinely concerned, though, not too worried since the fox was conscious. "Hello. I was wondering, when will I be allowed to leave?" James replied.

"Well, it seems that since you are concerned about leaving and not in major pain, you should be good to be discharged. We'll just need to wait for your parents to get over here and release you," said the otter. "On that note, what is your name and where do you live? It seems we weren't able to get this information earlier due to your unconsciousness."

At this, the fox's face instantly fell. "Umm, my name is...," James pondered, trying to come up with a good lie. "My name is Jake. Jake Hawthorne," said the fox, figuring a middle-aged nurse wouldn't recognize the name of a video game character. He hoped the ruse would work.

"Hawthorne is it? I do not think I have heard of your family around here. Where exactly do you live?" Things were quickly starting to get out of hand for the fox. Once again, he had to reach into his bag of tricks. "Ouch! Oh man my arm is really killing me!" exclaimed James.

"Ah! We can't have that, now can we?" said the nurse. "Wait here, I'll be right back with some painkillers for you." Quick as a flash, the nurse was gone and in search of some medicine for the injured fox.

'Whew, that was close. Now is my chance to make my great escape, before anyone catches onto my lies,' thought the fox. With that, James unhooked the monitoring machines, gathered his clothes and slipped out the nearby window. While dusting himself off from his somewhat acrobatic exercise, considering he has use of only a single arm, James found the note.

Intrigued, he unfolded it, eager to unlock its contents. It read as follows; "Dear my friend the fox. I am sorry, I had to leave you yesterday while you slept, and it appears I also did not get your name. Haha! Anyways, I hope that this note finds you in better times and I would love to see you again. Please find me at this address. Stay safe, and I hope to see you soon. - Love Victoria."

With the words on the note, emotions flooded into James' mind. Not only was the wolfess real, but she wanted to see him. But with those feelings of joy, also came the thoughts of worry. What would she think of him when she found out who he really was? Would she laugh and turn him away? Or would she understand his heart and be there for him, through the tough times and the easy ones?

It was something he would just have to find out for himself. Despite the risks, he was more than willing to take the chance. He just had to know what her true feelings were, if only so he could get some closure on the matter. With determination burning in his eyes, James set out to find the place that Victoria described to him.

*Present Day*

** **"James?!" Victoria asked with concern. "James, you need to get up, we have got to get out of here!" Victoria looked on with exasperation at the fox who was deeply lost in thought. 'We are running out of time, we can't be stuck like this, not now,' thought the she-wolf. 'Screw it,' Victoria readied back her paw and sent it flying across the poor fox's face.

"Ow! Damnit, Victoria, what the hell?" James responded with obvious confusion written across his face.

"I'm sorry, James, but we don't have to time to dawdle. This just got real and we need to move. Now!" the wolf offered as apology, but was serious, time was not on their side. The fox simply sighed and nodded his head, uncertainty leaving his blue eyes.

Victoria, now assured that James was back up to his full capacity, steeled herself and prepared her plan. "Look, we don't have time to grab anything. The priority is leaving, right now," explained the wolf. "Okay. Get behind me and do exactly as I do, and we might just make it out of here in one piece."

With this, Victoria lowered her head and took off running towards the door. Under her breath she whispered, "Strength skill, activate." As soon as the last syllable was uttered, the wolf's body began to lightly glow, and a yellow aura enveloped her form. Quickly, stopping just short of the door, Victoria cocked her leg, and unleashed a powerful kick to the exit way.

*Crack*. The door flew completely free from its housing and fell onto the white floor of the adjacent hallway. "Just as I thought, this isn't my home," Victoria said, somewhat glad she was correct in her theory. "C'mon, looks like there is an exit further down."

Fox and wolf followed each other in tandem down the passage. The wolf, who was busy trying to plan their next move, was rather caught off guard from the query of the fox. "Victoria? Can you please tell me what exactly is going on? It seems like one moment we were just waking up and the next we are busting down doors and going down these foreign hallways. And I especially would like to know what the hell was that thing you just did right now. How the hell did you bust down that door by yourself?"

"*Sigh*," Victoria audibly expressed her frustration, but she knew that she could not be that mad with him, unfortunately it was looking like James was experiencing a bit of memory loss. "Ok, James, seeing as we are not in immediate danger and we are just walking, albeit aimlessly, I will give you the crash course." Victoria took a moment to gather her thoughts before she started speaking again.

"Look, James, what I am about to tell you may be hard for you to believe, but it is the truth, understand?" The wolf looked up into the fox's eyes and spoke the words with as much calm as she could muster. "We are in a simulation. Everything around you, from the walls, to the doors and even your tail, it's all fake."

The fox could not believe his ears. "It's all fake? How would that even be possible? There is no one in the world who could do something like this, let alone the technology that would be required to even attempt to run a simulation at this level. I can feel everything, I can even feel my own pulse, and you are trying to tell me that its all a lie? How can you look me in the eye and expect me to believe such a ridiculous thing?"

The wolfess was distraught by this response. "I expect you to believe me because I thought we knew each other better than that. What plausible reason could I have for lying right to your face?"

James was beginning to grow worried that Victoria was being far to committed to this farce. "This could all be an elaborate prank that you are trying to pull on me. For whatever reason, you think that I am easy prey huh? I would have to be the most gullible person in the world to actually have faith in your tale."

A low growl had entered the wolf's voice and the yellow aura around her grew brighter, "You honestly think that James? After everything that we have been through, after all the struggles and all the pain, that I would betray your trust like that?" Frustrated, Victoria reeled back her fist and sent it flying into a nearby wall. The impact was powerful enough that the entire wall shattered and fell, opening yet another path to go down.

"Look at this wall and tell me that this isn't fake. I would never be able to do something like this in the real world. The only explanation would be that its not real. Please, James, listen to me and know that I am speaking the truth. I would never try to hurt you like that. Can't you trust me?"

The fox looked at the wall, then back over to the wolf. Seeing the pain in her eyes made him begin to realize that maybe he had taken things to far. He had to admit that she was right, she was not the kind of person to say or do things that would hurt him or would make no sense. Truth be told, she really was one of the only people who he could truly trust. "You're right, Victoria. You are my best friend, and I should not have questioned you like that. I should have believed you, especially when what you say may be hard to swallow. I am sorry that I doubted you. Can you forgive me?"

Happiness lit up the wolf's muzzle and her ears perked back up. "Oh, James, of course I forgive you." She drew the fox into a hug, holding the embrace just a bit longer than normal. "Always know that no matter where we are, no matter what we face, and no matter how it may appear, I will always have your back. And I know that you will have mine." Victoria released the fox, lest she begin to grow tears from her eyes.

Finally, she took note of the dull pain that was present around her body. "It seems this skill is taking a toll on me. Better release it and not over stress myself." Moments later, the yellow faded out from her fur, until only jet black remained. The wolf gave a visible sigh of relief as she felt her old strength returning.

"Speaking of weird bouts of strength; Victoria, how were you able to do that just now?" James knew that she was strong, but the level that she just pulled was off the charts. Now that he was thinking a bit more clearly, he could see how some parts of this place just did not quite add up to the norm of the real world.

"Neat huh?" Victoria replied. "Well, let me try to explain it to you the best I can. It may even lead us to understanding this place just a bit better. You know how in video games, there are usually special powers that a character can use based on their talent right? Well this is kind of like that; I can use a "skill" that can momentarily augment my body and give me a sort of boost," explained the wolf. Truth be told, she did not know quite that much about all this "skill" talk herself, though that was not going to stop her from trying to help her best friend understand a little bit more.

"Ok, I can understand that" said James. "Does this mean that I can break down doors too if I activate this skill thing?" The fox seemed eager to get some super strength of his own, no more being the weak link, so to speak.

"Maybe. Why don't you give it a shot? All you got to do is imagine the skill working for you," Victoria replied, hoping she was explaining this correctly. "Think of what its effects would be and how it might feel to have those effects on your body. Then you just say the name of the ability followed by 'skill activate' and it should. At least, that's how I do it."

"So basically, I focus on what I want, and then I just say the phrase? Seems easy enough!" James gathered his thoughts and began to focus on drawing in strength into his body. He could feel the flow of power, feel the rush of energy encompassing his very soul. "Alright, let's do this," the fox now felt ready to take on the world. "Strength skill, activate."

But nothing happened. He tried again to activate the skill. But again, not a thing occurred. James focused every fiber of his being into his words and uttered the phrase once more into the air. The only result was a noticeable silence took the place of the fox's voice, and a yellow glow was nowhere to be found.

"*Sigh*. I suppose I should have expected this to not work. Nothing ever does for me and I guess nothing ever will." The fox's face fell from his failed attempts and disappointment seemed to be dripping from his words.

"Hey C'mon, James. Do not let something like this get you down. Look, I do not even totally understand how to use these skill things entirely either. It took me some time before I could even comprehend the concept, let alone apply it to myself in any useful way..." Victoria knew that as soon as those words left her mouth, that she had just said too much.

"Time? Victoria what are you talking about? Didn't you just wake up with me an hour ago?"

"Hmm? Oh yes! We did just wake up, my mistake. Anyways let us get moving, there's no telling how long we could be walking till we find our way out." Victoria skillfully dodged the question, moving the conversation to something with less inquiry.

'No, he can't know just yet' Victoria surmised. She knew just how much he was stressed out already and it was just the start of the day. She cannot add onto that with this. 'I'll just cross that bridge when I get there I suppose. Though it is certainly not ideal.'

To get her mind off things, the wolf broke out into a run. "C'mon, James, let us try to get out this place. I'll race you to the exit!"

"Huh? But, Victoria, wait, you still haven't explained how you learned about the skills..."

"There will be time for that later, let's go!" Already the wolf was starting to shout due to the distance growing between the two.

"*Sigh*" 'She's always like this, impatient and eager to move on from the topic.' The fox followed suit and dropped his stance to mirror his more feral ancestors. He would need to be on top of his game if he were going to catch that bundle of black fur. "Wait up for me!"

*Flashback*

"Agh! I'm never going to find this place." The fox continued to walk down the street, passing rows upon rows of beautiful houses. All of them had freshly mowed lawns, sprinkler systems spraying ice cold water, and at least 2 stories. Frustration was starting to creep into the fox's mind, along with the still blistering pain from not allowing his arm to properly heal.

He was already extremely tired; pain was all he could think about and this house hunting seemed to only further exasperate his symptoms.

Just then, a police cruiser pulled up onto the curb and 2 officers came out. James quickly dived into a nearby bush, having more than his fair share of run-ins with the law. The cops appeared to not notice the fox, and instead walked up to the front door of a nearby house.

*Knock. * *Knock. * After a few moments, an elderly looking squirrel opened the door. The smell of fresh baked cookies wafted out into the atmosphere as the houses seal was broken. "Yes, officers, how may I help you?" She appeared a bit off guard to see the police but was ready to help, nonetheless.

James, meanwhile, was not as eager to see the cops. In fact, his hiding place was a very poor choice indeed, as thorns from the bush were slowly impaling his limbs. The pain was starting to get to him, especially with his nerves already on fire thanks to his broken appendage. 'Don't make a sound. Do not make a sound. Just don't.' James's mantra repeated in his head, the only thing keeping him from screaming out.

The two canine police, a Doberman and a German Shepard, took a moment to inhale the smell of the baked goods before getting back to their task at hand. "Excuse us ma'am," spoke the Doberman, "We're sorry to bother you but we were wondering if you could provide us some assistance. You see, we are looking for a young boy. He is a red fox, we think about aged 12 to 14, and was last seen in the area nearby here. He was very injured and is now missing, so we were wondering if you may have seen him around."

"Oh, my," replied the squirrel. "That is just simply terrible. But I am sorry officers, I have not seen anyone of the sort, it's been all quiet here."

The pain that the fox was experiencing was reaching a crescendo. It was becoming quite impossible to contain his voice. 'Please, please just leave. Please leavvvvvvve.'

"Ah, well it was worth a try. Thank you for your time ma'am. Here is a number for you to call if you happen to spot him." With that, the two canines began to walk back to their cruiser.

Relief was starting to flood the fox. 'Thank the Gods.' He was on the verge of giving in.

But just then, the German Shepard officer turned back around. "I'm sorry to bother you Ma'am, but would you mind if I had a cookie? They just smell so good!"

'No no no no! This cannot be happening. Why can't they just leave?' James was on his last straw. Pain was now agony; he could not last much longer.

"Jacobs," called the Doberman, "What are you doing?" Clearly this was wasting their time and asking for cookies no less.

"I'm sorry, Roxie, but those things smell so damn good. I'll get one for you too," It seemed the German Shepard was thinking only with his stomach.

This was it; this was the absolute limit. All at once, the fox screamed out in pain and burst out of the bush, straight onto the open grass.

Shock spread over the faces of both the officers and the elderly squirrel. But the shock quickly faded for the cops who immediately began to rush over to the fox. "Stop right there son, we are looking for someone like you!"

James tried to get up but faltered when his arm flared again with pain. 'This is not good. C'mon, James, get up! Get up!' The words rang in the fox's head, but it was to no avail. And to make matters worse, the two dogs were now closing in.

*End of Chapter 2*