FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Dallas, 2005. Ten years before the end of everything.

Marina Fletcher hovers the Cepheus over a seemingly infinite patch of dark blue countryside, the tall grass rippling from the storm of the engines like waves in a shimmering sea. She steadily grips the controls while instructing the five teenagers behind her to leap into their first mission. They land on the warm earth, the midnight sky before them darkened by storm clouds in the boundless horizon as the sweet humidity of the Texas air caresses the soft fur on their faces as they dive deeper into long-grass.

Once their jet disappears silently into the night, all that's left is the darkness in between bright flashes of distant lightning.

"Remember your training," Zephyr whispers to his four younger siblings, crouching as the gusts from the departing jet nearly topple him onto the warm soil. At this point in time, Zephyr is only seventeen. The young wolf, right at the cusp of adulthood, bears the responsibility of the first real test of The Zenith in a battlefield of their adoptive fathers choosing. This is what Thaddeus dedicated so much of his time and fortune to. Every excruciating training session, every incomprehensible test of mind and stamina, every single bit of torture to discover their adaptations has led them to a barren field of nothing.

At Zephyr's side, a sixteen year old Kyran mutters to himself as he rushes to recall everything he's learned. His wiry body aches from the weeks of preparation leading to their first test. He's confident; he's ready to prove himself, but something lingers over him like the storm clouds in the distance. He knows the others aren't ready, and they're walking into a fight at a disadvantage, but still, he's ready, and he's willing to let the others fail to prove it.

At the end of the group, Indigo, only eleven years old and still questioning so much about themselves, feels the opposite way Kyran does. The only thing they're certain of at this point is that they're not ready, and that they don't belong, in more ways than one. Haunted by voices they can't silence, particularly at night when their siblings dream so loudly, Indigo's adaptation is still blossoming; they're not comfortable enough with their curse to call it magic.

Adolescence is creeping up on them, looming over them like dark rain clouds in the summer air.

Overwhelmed by the weight of their mission, their emotions rush out in the form of nervous squeaking as they follow the path Phoenix clears for them in the grassland with his body.

"Doing alright there, Indy?" Phoenix asks, reaching out his hand for them to grasp.

"You could've stopped him from doing this. He would've listened to you," Indigo whispers, their ears barely able to peek over the long-grass.

"The mission? Indy, he's had this grand plan for us since before any of us were born, there's no stopping--

"I meant my hair," the rabbit responds, brushing gloved hands over the small tuft of blue between their ears.

Not long before their first mission, Thaddeus forced them to cut it over the sink in their small bedroom.

In the field, Indigo stifles a tear as their nose twitches. Why would Thaddeus care if the hair they're most comfortable in makes them look like a girl when they've never felt like a boy either to begin with? Indigo wishes the others could all read their mind for a change, so they could understand the pain keeping them up at night.

Their siblings' own thoughts travel through the sticky summer air with a dream-like echo.

Zephyr's voice wonders if Kamala feels the same way about him.

Kamala's voice wonders if her hair would look better if she cut it right at the white tips where the Zenith Crown energy doesn't reach.

Phoenix's voice wonders when his mane will mature like his fathers, but Indigo doesn't have to read his mind, as he announces that loudly.

"Keep your voice down!" Zephyr barks, tired of everyone talking about hair as they approach the end of the field of grassland.

Indigo hears every word of their anxiety as clearly as if they were shouting to them.

But new voices begin to creep into their head as The Zenith approach an enormous warehouse made of rusty, corrugated iron. Zephyr's radiant red eyes pierce the darkness when he turns around to face them, signaling them to not go onward.

"How many can you see?" Zephyr asks Indigo. The rabbit concentrates, but it's all spinning into blurry noise, making it difficult for them to paint a picture of what the other's can't see.

"I don't know," they confess softly as shouting from within the warehouse spills into the air around them.

"How do you not know?" Kyran interjects, gripping the rabbits shoulder. Through his touch, Indigo senses his fear push into them.

"If he doesn't know, he doesn't know!" Phoenix says angrily, pushing the smaller panther as he steps between them.

"You're going to compromise the entire mission," Kyran says, growing impatient, "why did we even bring him along?"

"Because he's as much a part of the team as the rest of us," Kamala says, "which means to say he had absolutely no choice in any of this."

"Are you questioning Dad right now?" Zephyr asks her.

"I'm questioning everything right now," Kamala says, glaring directly into his ruby eyes.

"We don't have time for any of this right now, they're getting away!" Kyran shouts as the roar of a car engine rings through the night air. Acting impulsively, he grabs them to teleport into the warehouse, their feet landing on a bed of dry straw and concrete.

They're immediately met with attacks from all directions, but they manage to find cover in time to evade the dozens of bullets flying toward them thanks to Kamala's quick action. She generates a shield, exactly as she was taught to, but instead of Thaddeus Axton behind the barrel, it's unfamiliar faces. That's the only difference, she thinks as she constructs solid crystal from the electricity in the air, the shockwaves of sound from the gunfire, and the fear in her own heart, all powerful sources of energy she can transform into something tangible.

"You didn't follow the plan!" Zephyr shouts as he lifts a dense concrete barrier with ease, launching it into the hood of an idling truck to keep them from escaping.

"If you won't make a choice, I will!" Kyran says, his heart fluttering in his chest as he shakes shards of glass off his hair. "Otherwise there's zero point to being Zenith 2. I have to make those decisions when you're unable to!"

"That wasn't your choice to make!" Zephyr groans, his body transforming agonizingly as the anger aimed at Kyran spills over, forcing him to surrender to instinct.

He loses all sense of self, his consciousness slipping until sometime later, when his vision fades back to the sight of boiling blood sliding down the sharp claws at his fingertips. He glances around at the gore caused by the beast within, his stomach churning.

Zephyr hears Kamala desperately shout for him as his vision re-adjusts to catch a glimpse of his team taking cover behind large concrete barriers.

Surges of blinding pink light and billows of deafening black smoke obscure Indigo's senses as they lay frozen in fear behind a pile of lumber. They scream at their legs to move, but all they can do is observe an erupting battlefield as the sound of blood pumping in their ear's mutes everything around them.

Thaddeus Axton's furious voice roars in their ear.

"Zenith 5, can you hear me? Zenith 5, answer me! Assist your teammates, they're taking heavy fire, Zenith--

Indigo reaches into their ear with trembling hands and tosses the communicator, crawling away frantically toward the sweltering air as it becomes difficult to breathe.

As Indigo sets their sight on the horizon, razor-sharp claws tear into their thin arm, tearing off the sleeve of their black and blue uniform. The rabbit looks up to see a colossal tiger standing over them, menacing golden-tipped fangs prepared to bite into their soft neck.

"What's the matter, girl? Do you have someplace else to be?" He asks as he tastes his own muzzle with this coarse tongue. Indigo raises their hands, preparing to unleash the nightmare within them in the first true display of their adaptation.

The feline is about to pounce when his unkempt coat of fur catches fire as Phoenix disregards the directives in his ear to protect his younger teammate.

The last thing Indigo remembers before facing Thaddeus is earsplitting shouting and the entire structure collapsing on them when Phoenix's fire grows uncontrolled.

The Zenith's first test is a failure.

***

"Absolute failures, every one of you!"

Thaddeus's roars shake the tall windows overlooking the glass skyscrapers of Dallas as the indigo sky beyond glows orange and green with the approaching dawn.

"I need an explanation," Thaddeus says to Zephyr, begging as he collapses onto a sofa in the spacious office of the Mayor.

The young wolf shakes, his tail tucked tightly between his legs.

"We didn't follow the plan. They were on us the second we got there and we had to act, so we improvised."

"Improvised?" You're going to get yourselves killed! What happened to all of the training I poured millions into!"

A heavy-set auburn lion enters his office, throwing the door against the wall and making the five adolescents jump.

"Thaddeus, you said your team of special children could handle this! This rival pride has been a thorn in my ass for years, and now I have teeth on my neck coming from all directions! I have the chief of police in one ear and every fucking kingpin in the county in the other! What the hell happened back there!?"

The Mayor collapses onto his large chair and pours himself a drink with trembling hands, allowing it to burn his insides as he drinks deeply.

He glares at them, disdain on his face as if the grapes in his wine went sour on their way down his throat.

"There's your problem," he says, pointing at them with an empty glass. "Wolves are wild but loyal once you beat it into them. Panthers and lions, we'll do anything to survive, even tear each other apart. Rabbits? Rabbits aren't good for anything if you ask me. Your team is only as strong as its weakest link, Thaddeus. I'd take cottontail to a field somewhere and let her run off with her own fucking kind."

The burn of the only fire Phoenix is familiar with erupts in his stomach. He thoughtlessly pushes the heavy mahogany desk against the wall, toppling the wine bottle over until it's nothing but shattered glass on the polished floor. Fury begs him to hurt the mayor, whether to defend Indigo or to make up for his own failures and prove himself before his father.

The Mayor is drunk but unafraid. He shoves the young lion back into Zephyr.

"Or maybe the issue lies with who raised them," he tells Thaddeus, looking into the eyes of his oldest friend. He wipes the wine off him as he observes the deep dents in the wooden wall. "Teach your son what it takes to be a real lion Thad, or do you need me to step in and show him? The kitten doesn't even have his mane yet and thinks he's big enough to threaten me in my own office."

Thaddeus doesn't look at the honey-colored eyes begging for his protection through tears of rage. He shakes wine off his ivory-colored fur and apologizes to the elder lion.

"I thought they were ready, otherwise I wouldn't have asked you for this favor," he says solemnly.

"No, you didn't. You sent us because you thought Zephyr was ready!" Indigo speaks up, braver than they've ever felt before, but no one responds to their tearful words.

They can't remember if it's because they agreed with the Mayor, or if the words never escaped their lips to begin with.

Los Angeles, June 2013. Five months after Zephyr's memorial.

A pulsing bass-line rumbles through Indigo's body like an earthquake as they paint their heavy eyelids with starry purple glitter. The rabbit concentrates on their appearance in the vanity mirror, ignoring the others who pass behind them in various states of transformation, from beautifully vulnerable nude, to confidently different and decorated. After brushing aside shoulder-length cerulean hair, they finish the look by applying sugary tasting gloss to their pouty lips as they remind themselves that all the guests need to do is look into their enchanting eyes. Once they own the crowd, the illusion will do the rest.

Indigo, now twenty-one, is an enigma in Los Angeles, and they've never found a more fitting paradise.

"You're up bluebell," a smoky voice calls from behind the velvet curtain.

Indigo slips into the little clothing they need to perform their magic, stepping into the azure light to become instantly lost in the mesmerizing music. They dance, luring every set of lurking eyes from their dwellings in the darkness using only their body, leaving little to the imagination as they express themselves in a way they've been too afraid to their entire life. Whistles and cheers push them to give in to the smoke, light and sound of the crowded bar.

To Indigo, the club is a piece of heaven carved into brick, an escape from the pressures of who they once were not so long ago. Their decision to leave the manor behind and find something deeper was an excruciating one, but the way the crowd calls for them, brings forward a euphoria they never imagined possible.

A pack of hungry wolves' howl and jeer at a voluptuous blue fox swaying her long and silky tail in the center of the stage, teasing them to join her, but they never find it in them to act, as if a force keeps them glued to the edge of their seats.

At the same place under the burning spotlight of the small stage, a group of nervous hyenas sweat over a hulking stallion who winks at them as he pushes his wavy mane from his magnificent violet eyes.

With their adaptation, Indigo makes their admirers see their greatest desires seduce them on the heart shaped stage. They keep coming back because when they're with them, they're dreaming, and no one wants to wake up from a dream this stimulating, or a heat this heavy.

Indigo becomes lost in their own illusion, simultaneously dancing to everyone's favorites song. As much as they love being the center of attention for a change, it's still not enough, as the euphoria fades, giving way to the emptiness of loneliness, and the realization that no one sees them for who they are on the stage, but for who they want them to be. But for now, in this moment, the euphoria is at its zenith, bringing forward Indigo's biggest desire, for their hungry eyes to devour them as they feel proud to both be themselves, and whoever they want them to be, whether that's him, her, or they.

This is the place where Indigo has found their true self, in a dark and forgotten corner of a dirty city, dancing to music too loud to hear, swaying back and forth to a rhythm in their head, and letting go for once to a crowd who can't tell the difference between who they are and who they want to be.

But a pair of eyes lure Indigo like none have before, breaking their concentration and causing the crowd to see their mirage fade slightly. They're transfixed by the heavy, golden stare of a hulking crimson buck to the point where Indigo can't remember walking toward him, only coming to their senses when a large hand grips below their waist and stubby tail.

They never imagined they would be the one falling for an illusion that night as the buck enchants them off the stage and onto something they've never felt before.

***

Later that same night, Indigo walks through a maze made of towering, dark green hedges on a rooftop garden with the massive buck, a sense of safety washing over them as they walk closely by his side. They're the last two wandering in both the maze and in each other's minds this late into the hot summer night.

"Who did you see on the stage?" Indigo asks curiously, adjusting the zipper of their windbreaker.

"I saw you," the buck says in a deep voice. Most of the older buck's height comes from his silver heels and golden antlers, which jut from flowing maroon and gold hair that falls to the base of his tail.

"Me?"

"I saw a beautiful blue rabbit, same as I've always seen," the buck says, adjusting the sleeves of his silver tailored suit.

The leaves gently brush against their fingertips as the sounds of the frantic city are hushed deep inside the heart of the maze.

"What lures a flower like you into this drought?" The buck asks, peering down at them as the rabbit clings to his large arm. His long hair becomes untidy with the wind, falling over his captivating eyes and sharp features.

"What do you mean?"

"I'm sorry, I guess I can be pretty poetic. What I mean is, what brings someone like you to a city like this?"

Indigo looks up at the starless sky as the buck steps closer, the maroon fur at the end of his chin brushing against the tips of their ears.

"This city has a way of helping you get lost. I needed to step away from everything and be someone else, it wasn't enough to just be someplace else. I wanted to be in a place where the same haze hangs over everyone. Here, even the brightest stars can't shine through that," Indigo says, looking away from his magnetic golden eyes and focusing on the nothingness of the rooftop.

"That's an interesting way of saying you're running away from something, isn't it?"

"What do you mean by that?" Indigo asks, pulling away slightly.

The maroon buck sighs, adjusting the silver chain around his thick neck.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean anything by it. I thought I saw a bit of myself in you is all. I moved to Los Angeles in the late eighties, when I was around your age, searching for something else."

"I lost someone close to me, my brother, and no matter how much I try to remember the few good memories we've had, all I can think of is how afraid I was of him, and the gross sense of relief I felt when I knew he was gone."

"Did he hurt you?" He asks, stopping to place a heavy hand on their soft face.

Indigo falls back into his firm embrace.

"He was made to hurt me, and to push me into being something I'm not. I feel guilty for feeling this way, but now I've figured out why. You can leave a place without looking back, but the feelings in your heart from that place still linger long after, no distance will heal that."

"We're all afraid of something."

Indigo steps close enough to see the silver hidden amongst the reddish fur on the buck's face.

"What are you afraid of? Someone as huge as you, probably not much."

The buck laughs, staring down at his silver watch.

"I'm afraid I'm out of time," he says looking around for the exit to the maze, forgetting for a moment he's on the roof of a skyscraper downtown.

"Who are you?"

"Orson Flores, but you already know that. Do you have a last name Indigo? No one I asked seems to know."

"I don't. But maybe I can borrow yours sometime in the future," Indigo says, failing to resist the urge to satisfy their bleak loneliness.

The buck turns his flustered face back toward the mouth of the maze before Indigo stops him, reaching out and grabbing smooth silk sleeves.

"I'm not ready to say goodbye yet, do you have time for one more dream?"

Orson ignores his instinct, choosing to glance into mesmerizing eyes he knows he's not strong enough to resist.

"Show me."

A kaleidoscopic field of flowers Orson had once dreamed of pushes through the gaps in the hedges, blossoming and filling the sticky air with the sweet illusion of scent. The labyrinth comes alive, breathing life into flowers as diamonds fill the space between them like stars. Orson marvels at the magic and forgets for a moment none of it is real, but the passion sprouting in his heart is the realest thing he's felt in years.

"How are you doing this?" He asks, the rainfall of flower petals reflecting in eyes pooling with wonder.

"I've seen you here before, Orson. You plan on coming back tomorrow night to ask me if I'm available for dinner. I'll save you a trip, I'm very much available."

"Is that what you can do? Tell the future?"

"I can read your intentions; the future is mine to make."

Orson wipes his eyes with his sleeves and looks deep into purple eyes as the rainbows fade and the dull colors of reality come into focus.

"None of that was real?" He asks, holding onto the rabbits' hand in case they decide to fade away as well.

"No, but when has that ever mattered?"

"Who are you really?"

Everything inside urges Indigo to walk away and slip back into mystery, still too afraid to be known as anything else but an enigma, but they haven't felt their heart beat this way in years.

The rabbit pushes forward so that the older buck's palms fall right over their rear.

"Take me home and find out."

Axton Manor, August 2013.

Kyran pulls open the rusty drawer to a filing cabinet tucked into the corner of the manor's grand but tapped-out wine cellar by pressing his shiny shoe against the red brick wall and pulling until something within gives. There, amongst dusty wooden crates under low, vaulted ceilings, hide secrets in plain sight, truths the panther once firmly believed he had no interest in.

But things have changed so much in the last several months, that the truth is all that remains in the empty manor following Kamala's abrupt departure earlier that winter and Indigo's the summer after. Indigo left without saying much, only saying they had their eyes set on something beyond the heartbreak holding the manor together.

Even if his siblings can't describe it, Kyran knows he feels the same way, but instead of that bleak feeling pushing him away from the manor, it keeps him tethered to it, unable to escape as if he were drowning.

Lately, there's been no sign of Phoenix. He's been in and out, departing for a few days at a time until the days gradually turn to weeks. Now, it's been a month since he last saw the large lion. It's no use worrying about him, Kyran knows he's in some sort of trouble, but that's just who Phoenix is. But if there's one compliment he can give his younger brother, is that he knows how to take care of himself, and he sure knows how to fight.

Even for someone as solitary as Kyran, the manor feels emptier than he's comfortable with. He can't say for certain, but it seems some of the staff has departed as well, with the manors' many halls growing more silent and empty each day. It's impossible to say which feels emptier, himself or the home.

Aarden, having recently turned sixteen, spends most of his time with Marina Fletcher, accompanying her on trips to the small town at the base of the hill the manor stands on. Kyran can't imagine how hard it's been for him, having lost everything only to gain emptiness in return.

Kyran blows the dust off the top of a large crate, wiping away what's been stuck on for years with the velvety fur on his forearm. He sits under the light of a single flickering bulb and reads neatly clipped pieces of newspaper nearly turning to dust in his hand. Most of them are mundane articles and interviews of them from when they were children. After glancing over the scripted responses until his stomach churns, he sets the file down and opens another drawer with a small silver key stolen from Thaddeus Axton's private lounge in the attic far above him.

Kyran tosses aside an entire magazine dedicated to The Zenith, grimacing when he sees the unnatural smile on his face. Then, in the back against the inner wall of the cabinet, a small black journal with gilded pages catches his eye. Blowing the dust off the sleek cover, he flips through it until a name catches his attention on a half torn page.

Soraya Singh.

Kyran continues to flip through the book, searching for any other mention of his mother or how she died. But halfway through, the writing stops as ideas are abandoned or replaced by something else. Kyran is tucking the small black book into the inner pocket of his canary-yellow jacket when a voice behind him forces him to leap instinctively without first envisioning his destination. He crashes into the kitchen on the floor above, his body slamming onto sterling silver serving trays as the staff rushes out into the dining room in a panic.

Kyran curses and teleports back into the cellar to find Aarden rummaging through the papers on the cold floor.

"What's all this?" He asks, leaning against the wall as he tries to read the article within the magazine.

"Nothing," Kyran says, rubbing his lower back as he reaches for what he took.

The red panda hides the magazine behind his back, only to find it pulled from his fingertips through a cloud of dark smoke.

"How did you manage to sneak up on me like that?" Kyran asks.

"I've spent the last year practicing," Aarden says, looking around the unfamiliar room. "Is this space being used for anything?"

"Only to store what's in here now. Why?"

"Can I move my things down here?" Aarden asks curiously, examining the room.

"I don't see why not," Kyran says, surrendering the magazine for him to flip through. Aarden unfolds a poster of the group, laughing to himself. A thought then crosses his mind, wiping the smile from his rust and ivory face.

"Was there anything about my parents in there?" He asks silently.

"There's barely anything about mine in there," Kyran responds. The room turns silent. When he turns around, he finds Aarden's eyes have misted over.

"You'll get used to it," Kyran says, disappearing to return the key before Thaddeus notices.

Aarden sits on the floor, reading the articles before tucking his favorite ones under his arm. His mind full of ideas, he climbs up the narrow, tunnel-like staircase leading to the foyer of the manor. A grand and temple-like space with high ceilings, the intricately painted walls lead to a pendentive domed skylight supported by massive pillars shaped like towering trees. To Aarden, it appears as if the designer of the manor could never make up their mind if they wanted to live indoors in a marble and stained-glass palace, or outdoors amongst the towering sequoia, so they planted a marble-garden in between both worlds.

Aarden summons the elevator, making his way to his room on the second floor when a deep voice echoes down at him from the railing on the floor above.

"How's your training going, Zenith 6?" Aarden turns to find Thaddeus Axton hobbling toward him, pushing his gradually decreasing body weight on a golden cane.

"It's going well. The self-defense coach is out sick today, so I have some time before my botany lesson in the conservatory. I was just on my way to my bedroom for some reading."

The lion makes it to the center of the room. There, under the bright light of summer, he gestures for Aarden to sit on the long sofa. Aarden allows the elevator doors to close as he strides into the center of the foyer, right at the point where the star-pattern made from black marble meets, perfectly aligned with the ceiling above.

"Forgive me, I'm not as strong as I used to be. How I wish I could turn back time to when I was your age. In the few months you've been here you've grown so much. Elio Xavier was a dear friend of mine, and I can't help but to see him when I gaze into your eyes. I'm sorry if none of this is ideal, but I don't blame you for what happened. I'm just glad you're here."

"It's all so different. No matter how much I look around, I just can't get used to this place. What exactly happened here?"

"Well, according to your professors, what's happening with you is the same as the others. They tell me you're just as smart, just as driven, just as capable. So much has happened here, Aarden, extraordinary things you're now a part of."

Aarden smiles, peering into the lions' soft, powder-blue eyes. He hasn't spoken to Thaddeus much at all, so he takes this opportunity to ask something that's been hidden in his heart since he arrived at the manor on that freezing night, when he had to sit in the library as Kyran broke the news of Zephyr's death to a stoic Thaddeus.

"Why do you bother training me, when I'm not at all like them?"

Thaddeus contemplates, tapping his new cane on the polished floor.

"Because there's still dangers out there, and no matter how fast you can run, they'll catch up to you. You can't spend your entire life running."

"Or hiding," Aarden says.

"Touché," the lion responds.

"You belong here Aarden, don't ever allow anything or anyone to convince you otherwise. I know you're special, in more ways than one. You just haven't found it yet.

The lion rises, limping away from the red panda. But when he reaches the stairs, his claws grip the newel made of carved roses as he groans in agony.

"Mr. Axton?" Aarden calls out, rushing to run to him as he collapses to the ground, sliding off the staircase and onto the floor, his cane clattering as it cracks the black an white marble.

"Mr. Axton! Help!" Aarden yells, falling to his knees by his side. The manors' staff rush into the foyer and a gentle hand pulls Aarden away as medics tend to a feebly stirring Thaddeus Axton.

Aarden pulls away, not realizing that Marina Fletcher is holding him closely, escorting him to the manors pantry.

The cycle of pain continues for the youngest Zenith.