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Hello and welcome back to the second chapter of A Fighting Chance! If you are returning after reading chapter one then thank you and I hope you continue to! If this is your first time reading something of mine, definitely check out the first chapter first! The third chapter might not make it on time for weekly uploads, but I'm going to try. Alright, alright. I'll quit babbling and let y'all get on with the chapter! Enjoy~

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Chapter 2

I felt my consciousness return as I woke up, but I took a moment to collect my thoughts before I opened my eyes.

It was just a dream...I imagined it all. When I open my eyes, everything will be back to normal.

I opened my eyes to the plain tiled ceiling once more. So I'm still in the hospital... That doesn't mean anything. I shifted my weight in bed and slowly pulled my arm out of the white sheets. Slits of morning sun peeked in between the heavy curtains, illuminating the snow white fur still adorning my body. Still got fur on me... I gently tugged at the short fur and felt a slight pinch. I let my arm fall to the bed, my gaze wandering around the rest of the room. Everything was still the same, save for a missing Lynx.

Well I didn't expect her to stick around...

As I was finishing my thought, the door cracked open and Celeste quietly slid through before shutting it behind her. She was carrying a cup of what I assumed to be coffee and a chocolate muffin. Seeing I was awake, she smiled and went to sit down in her chair once more.

"Morning sleepyhead," She smiled, taking a sip out of her coffee, "how're you feeling today?"

"Better I guess." I tried moving my body to find I still had some latent soreness, but it was much less than yesterday.

"That's good to hear. Maybe you can go home soon."

"Maybe..." I shifted my weight. Every once in a while now, I would receive a sharp sting of pain. Thankfully it wasn't as often as yesterday. It just felt as though my muscles were tired from heavy exertion. I stayed silent as I watched her bite into the muffin. All of this seemed too real. I receded into my thoughts without realizing that I was still staring at Celeste.

She quickly noticed my vacant gaze. "Umm... Is there something on my face?" She asked, wiping her muzzle for any possible stray crumb from her muffin.

I shook my head no, finally realizing that my lingering gaze had been directed at her for the past few moments. "Sorry, I was just...thinking about..." I trailed off, rolling over onto my back once more.

"Thinking 'bout what?" She prodded, taking a sip out of her mug.

"Nothing..." I dismissed her question with a sigh. She still seemed concerned but she dropped it. In truth, I was starting to get a little uneasy why I was still a so-called 'Animus'. Why there was still a girl who looked like a Lynx sitting no less than 5 feet away. What if this isn't a dream? I pushed the little voice away.

"Animus..." I whispered aloud without realizing it.

"What?" Celeste looked up from her coffee.

"Animus...Amy called me one last night and you mentioned that everyone around here was an Animus too. Something about me being a Vulpin?"

"What about it?" I scratched my head, collecting my thoughts.

"If Amy called herself a Lapin... then what are you?" As soon as I said it, I instantly realized how insensitive it sounded. "Sorry! That was rude of me!" I quickly added.

"No it's okay, I'm a Leuken," she smiled proudly before it shifted into a look of concern, "It's just... your memory seems fine for the most part, but you don't seem to remember anything about Animus... You even forgot that you were one. It's oddly specific memory loss...sorry if I'm being callous."

I waved her off dismissively. "Memory loss..." I muttered to myself. It was a really specific thing to forget. I felt like I would have remembered something about Animus if they existed before my accident. _Anything._But nothing came to mind. It's like they magically appeared out of nowhere.

"Oh! Speaking of memory, I remembered I needed to call Kenny to let him know I might miss a few days of work due to-" I cut off, sitting up and gesturing at myself, "...yeah."

I moved to get up, but quickly remembered that I was attached to a machine. "Hey Celeste, you mind tossing me my phone?" She fished my phone from under my pile of clothes on the table next to her and set it on my lap. "Thanks." I gave her a warm smile, which she returned and turned my phone on. I quickly dialed my work's number and held it to the side of my head. For some reason I couldn't hear the dial tone very well. I realized it was because my ears were now on top of my head instead of on the side, like they used to be. I glanced over at Celeste who was giving me an odd look. Embarrassed, I held it up a little higher, fumbling a bit to find a comfortable position, eventually finding one. It rang for a few moments before I heard the other end of the line pick up.

"Hello?" a cheery, yet unfamiliar feminine voice greeted me.

"Oh hello! I didn't know Kenny hired a new secretary."

"Excuse me?"

"Secretary? For Kenny Fischer from Fischer Industries? It's Revan Eira"

"Never heard of it. Sorry, Revan, was it? I think you've got the wrong number." I pulled my phone away to check if it was the correct number, which it was. Confused, I put my phone back to my ear.

"This is (264) 287-1337 right?"

"Yeah?" The woman on the other end of the line seemed just as confused as I was at this point and we both fell into a silence. Well this clearly isn't my work... even though the number is right...

"I'm sorry, but may I ask who this is?" I inquired, curious to who now held the number to the corporation I worked for and how in the world they got it.

"...Name's Kaia," she hesitantly responded after a few moments.

"Well I'm sorry to have bothered you Kaia."

"It's okay, I wasn't doing much anyways. Have a good day."

"You too..." I hung up the phone and dropped it into my lap. I stared at the number still present on the lit screen. What the hell..? How in the world did my work's phone number change in just two days?

"What was that about?" I heard from my right, pulling me from my thoughts.

"Huh?"

"The call," Celeste gestured at my phone, "it didn't seem like you got through. You were calling your boss right?"

"Tried to. I double checked that the number was right and everything..."

"Well, if it helps, I haven't heard of any Fisher Industries either." I stared at her with my mouth open in shock.

"How have you not heard of us? We're one of the largest medical research firms in the nation. That's like not knowing what Apple is."

"Pff, of course I know what apples are." She scoffed, looking slightly offended by my question. Oh my gosh, she doesn't know what Apple is.

"Not apples. Apple. The humongous electronics manufacturer?" I questioned, tilting my head.

"You mean Core?" Celeste fished out her phone and turned it around to show the logo resembling an eaten Apple logo. I tilted my head, confused at what I'm seeing. What the hell is this?

"Do you mind?" I asked, gesturing towards her phone. She obliged and handed her phone to me to examine it. I turned it over a few times in my hand, noticing how it looked and worked just like an iPhone, but still had that odd looking logo engraved on the back.

"Weird..." I whispered to myself, handing Celeste's phone back to her.

"What's weird?"

"N-nothing. Nothing at all..." I laid back on the bed and tried to make sense of things. What the heck is going on? First my work's phone number...now the actual phone? Something just isn't right...

"Oh yeah, how come you're still here? You never really answered my question last night..." I inquired, shifting my weight to look at the Leuken with a grunt of discomfort. Stupid muscles...

She looked away from my gaze, "Like I already said, to keep you company," she muttered barely loud enough for me to hear. Her gaze flicked back to me for a moment before departing again, "Since they didn't have any medical records on file for you, they had no idea how to contact family members. So I decided to stick around until they showed up or you asked me to leave."

My visage visibly darkened; my mood turned bitter in a heartbeat. "No one is coming..."

Celeste opened her mouth like she was going to respond, but I guess she thought better of it. Silence befell the two of us once more, generating a tense atmosphere. She fidgeted in her chair and eventually went back to the half-eaten muffin on the small table. I let out a large sigh after a few minutes of uncomfortable silence, "Sorry... It's just... a topic I'd rather not talk about."

"It's okay. I'm sorry I brought it up," she replied softly, taking a sip out of her mug.

With Celeste still as quiet as ever, despite my multiple attempts at starting conversation, the hours crawled by. That only left browsing the internet on my phone. At first I intently looked for any trace of Fisher Industries, but I couldn't find anything. Not even anything about Kenny, the founder and winner of multiple awards for scientific discoveries. It was extremely odd...every time I looked up something that Kenny should have worked on, the same name kept coming up. Lucius Noire. This greatly piqued my interest, so I scoured the internet for any information I could find on him.

Lucius Noire was a 36 year old prodigy. A world renowned pioneer in the medical field, but specifically in the area of genetic engineering. He held multiple patents on modern day gene splicing and won nearly every medical award under the sun. Now he owned his own research firm. Just like Kenny. On paper, Lucius was perfect carbon copy of Kenny. It was as though Kenny had been perfectly replaced by this man. My mind reeled with my discovery. Nothing made sense anymore. First Animus, now this? None of this was here before the lightning... but what happened..? If this is a prank or trick, it's not funny anymore. It never was funny...

"Knock knock?" I heard the muffled voice of the Lapin call out from behind the door to my room. She quietly opened the door and slipped inside, shutting it behind her. In her hands was a tray of food from the cafeteria consisting of a pretty bland looking sandwich, a mixed fruit salad and a cup of what I assumed to be orange juice.

"OH MY GOSH FINALLY! I'm soooo hungry!"

"What? No, 'Hi Amy nice to see you again. Thanks for bringing me food.'?" She teased with a smile while setting the tray of food down on a slide out table, allowing me to eat in bed. I gave her an appreciative smile and started to tear into my food as fast as my sore body would let me, occasionally letting out a grunt of discomfort when I moved too fast.

While I was eagerly eating my food, Amy went to work on checking my vitals and prodding my body with her stethoscope. With my ravenous hunger subsiding, I slowed my pace on the fruit salad so I wouldn't get a stomach ache. Popping a grape into my maw, I noticed Celeste sitting quietly in her seat, still looking slightly uncomfortable over what had happened earlier between us. Every once in a while, her gaze would stray and meet mine but she quickly looked away. Apparently Amy noticed it too.

"Brrr you two. Did Revvy here make a move and you shut him down?" Amy winked playfully at Celeste, eliciting a bright blush under her thin fur. The sudden shock of the question caused pieces of food to come flying out of my mouth.

"AMY!" I blurted out. The previously steady beeping of the heart monitor I was attached to skyrocketed as I stared at the incredibly forward Lapin.

"I...Um...he...NO! What!? I'd never-" Celeste stuttered, so caught off guard by her sudden assumption that she couldn't form a coherent thought.

She keeled over in laughter at our responses, "I'm just messing with you two! Clearing the tension, you know? It was so thick, it felt like I could spread it on toast." I coughed, clearing my throat.

"It wasn't THAT bad Amy," I retorted glancing over at Celeste's still blushing face.

"Really? When was the last time you spoke a word to each other today?" She placed a hand on her hip and gave me a knowing look. That shut me up pretty quickly. I didn't want to talk about...that again. "Mhmm. That's what I thought." Amy dropped the clipboard back into the holder at the end of my bed.

"I'm not one to pry, so I won't ask what happened, but according to this, you might be spending a bit more time here, so you might want to clear the air." Amy's tone completely changed from how she playfully spoke earlier as she pointed to some of the values on the patient chart, of which I had no idea what they meant. Looked like she didn't mess around when it comes to her work. "We gotta run some more scans to see how you're coming along and then we'll make a decision. Finish up and then we'll head off."

I stretched my legs as much as my tender body would let me with a large sigh of satisfaction as I emerged from under the large machine. After a few minutes of waiting, Amy greeted me with one of her trademark warm smiles and helped me off the table and into a wheelchair.

"Looks like we got a lot of good scans! The doctor said that your healing is comin' along steadily, but it's pretty slow, which is normal for that amount of tissue damage. Nothing permanent though, so that's good. He said you should stay here for the next week or so though, just for recovery purposes."

"That's...fine I guess. Good to hear nothing will be permanent." As we made our way out of the lab and down the large hall, I remembered a question that I had wanted to ask Amy, "Hey Amy, have you heard of a man by the name of Lucius Noire?"

"Of course I have. The man is a genius when it comes to medicine. He even has his own charity that helps out disabled Animus. Real great guy. I guess he gives off an intimidating vibe, but that's probably just because he's a Panterus. It's gotta be the yellow eyes."

"Huh...thanks Amy." I heard a hum of affirmation behind me as we made our way through the busy hospital.

"Why'd you wanna know?" she asked, poking the tip of my ear.

I tiled my head back and shot her a dirty look only to be rewarded with a triumphant simper. With a huff, I replied, "No real reason. I just saw his name mentioned in a few articles I was reading this morning and got curious, that's all." Of course that wasn't all, but I didn't feel like explaining the entire reason behind my interest in the Panterus. So that's what he was...He looked just like a black panther. His eyes were indeed quite piercing...unsettling almost.

That answer seemed to satisfy her and as we continued our journey back to my room, she started humming a cheery tune. Turning yet another corner, we noticed three nurses, two of which looked to be Mice, the other a Meerkat, and a doctor who resembled a Lion at the end of the hall running towards us, pushing a stretcher. They were all talking in hurried voices, and as they got closer, I got a better view of the commotion. Two of the nurses were attempting to hold the woman steady on the stretcher while the doctor attempted to put in the IV. The third nurse kept steady pressure on a wound that looked to be extensively bleeding. I couldn't see much detail due to the combination of how fast they were moving and how low I was in the wheelchair, but I caught a glimpse of sizeable white wings....and a dull orange and grey striped shark tail.

Uhm...what.

Time seemed to slow to a crawl as they passed by. The patient's eyes cracked open and settled on mine instantly, revealing stunningly vibrant emeralds. It was only for the briefest of moments, but in that instant, I was entranced in her painfully helpless gaze. Her arm was draped over the edge of the stretcher slightly and I saw her hand open slightly in my direction, like she was reaching out to me. Time quickly resumed its normal flow and they sped off down the hall, leaving me in its wake.

It took me a few moments to regain my senses, blinking myself out of the pseudo-trance I was under.

"Poor thing..." Amy sympathized as we started down the hall again. I couldn't wrap my head around what I saw. I tried thinking of any sort of animal that had a shark tail and wings, but quickly stopped myself. There wasn't such a thing as shark with wings. But one just passed right in front of me. I noticed Amy's unfazed reaction to such a person, so it must not be something incredibly uncommon. I hesitated on asking Amy what I saw, for fear of sounding ignorant, but then I remembered that she thought I had memory loss, so maybe I could play off that. Maybe I did...

"Hey Amy?"

"Full of questions today, now aren't we?" she chuckled behind me.

"S-Sorry..."

"No it's alright. Your question probably has something to do with that patient who we passed by?"

"Y-Yeah, how'd you know?"

"Lucky guess," I could hear the playful sarcasm dripping from her voice, "I was talking with Celeste earlier and she explained how your memory loss seemed pretty exclusive to Animus, so I figured you would have a question about that. I've never seen such isolated amnesia before! Maybe it's something specifically linked to electrocution...?"

"Amy..." I futilely tried to get her attention back, as she seemed to start running on a tangent.

"Maybe it triggered synapses in the brain to misfire..."

"Amy..."

"...thus altering the pathways your brain formed to create the memory in the first place, rendering it entirely different!!" She was way too excited about this...

"AMY!"

"Huh? Wha-?"

"The patient?"

"OH RIGHT! Sorry, sorry! My brain tends to go off on tangents like that whenever I get an idea," she took a moment to collect her thoughts, "Well, you see when mommy and daddy love each other very much-"

I turned my head around to give her an unamused look, cutting her off. "Really Amy?"

She beamed a wide smile at me in return, "Sorry, I thought that you might have needed a refresher on that," she joked, "But hear me out. When two different species of animus have children together, 99.9 percent of the time, their child will be either one or the other. But that remaining .1 percent will have characteristics of the two of them."

I thought for a moment, "So it's like dominant or recessive traits like normal chromosomes?"

"Not exactly... There aren't any trends to what characteristics are passed on, so we don't have any way to tell. It could range anywhere from something very minute, to very dramatic, like that girl for example."

"So more like a mutation?"

"Yeah, closer to that."

We finally made it back to my room where Celeste had been waiting for us before I heard Amy mutter under her breath, "You really have no idea do you..."

I acted like I didn't hear her, but her statement really unsettled me. I really did had no idea. About any of this, and it was seeming less and less like a dream the more I learned... But it can't not be a dream...

"So? What's the verdict?" Celeste asked, leaving the question open to either Amy or myself to answer. I looked to Amy who nodded for me to answer.

"Looks like I'll be staying here for the next week or so," I let out a grunt of discomfort as Amy helped me back into my bed before continuing, "my recovery is pretty slow, but it's coming along."

"Well that's good I guess," Celeste reckoned, shifting her weight in her chair and readjusting her blanket.

The room fell silent once more before Amy cleared her throat. "Well, I'll be back here in a few hours to bring your dinner. In the meantime, don't have too much fun without me." With a wink, she left the room, leaving the two of us alone once more.

I chucked and shook my head, "She sure is something..."

"That she is..."

We were silent for a few moments before we both spoke at once, "I'm sorry about this morning!"

"Sorry, you first," I gestured for her to continue.

She let her head hang slightly, allowing her bangs to hide her face, "I'm sorry I pried this morning...I just wanted to keep you company since you were here all by yourself." She lifter her head slightly, looking up at me under her bangs. I could feel the sincerity of her words looking into her vibrant blue eyes. I felt my heart jump. She looks...

I shook my head, "I'm sorry too for the way I reacted. You had nothing to do with it. You're just trying to be helpful, and I appreciate it," I gave her a smile before continuing, "But seriously, you don't have to stay with me 24/7. You can go home you know."

"Are you sure..? I don't want you to get too lonely. Being stuck in a hospital is super boring..." she looked out the window at the heavy clouds with a sigh.

I don't think I want to open that can of worms.

"I'm sure! I'll be fine. I really do appreciate you wanting to stick around though. You're welcome to come and visit me whenever, but you don't need to drop your life for mine. Tomorrow is Monday anyway, so go enjoy what's left of your weekend!" I shooed her off with a dismissive wave, but she didn't look convinced.

I sigh, giving her a tired smile, "Celeste... I'll be fine. I have Amy to take...care....of..." I trailed off, glancing at Celeste who wore an unamused expression, "Oh come on, she's a good nurse!" Her expression remained unchanged. "What!? She's been nothing but helpful."

Celeste stuck her snout in the air with a defiant huff, "Mhmm, I've seen the looks she's been giving you. I'm sure she'd take care of you a lot more, given the opportunity."

"Eh?"

She turned and shot daggers at me, causing me to flinch under her gaze. "Celeste..? Where is this coming from?" I commented on her sudden swell of anger seemingly out of nowhere.

"Nowhere," she stood to leave, "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to enjoy what's left of my weekend."

I stared at her retreating form, wondering what I did to provoke the sudden outburst.

She suddenly stopped in the doorway, "It's not like I cared or anything," I barely heard from the other end of the room, nothing more than a slight whisper. I doubt I would have heard anything if it weren't for my improved hearing. With that, she made her way out of my room, leaving me dumbfounded.

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Celeste

I pulled my coat higher to attempt to shield my face from the bite of the wind. I stared up at the clouds which had moved in quickly over the course of the day. Damn this weather. It's probably going to start raining again. As if on cue, a little droplet splashed on my nose. I hurried to my car in the large parking lot, barely making it in time before the skies opened up. Sitting back in the driver's seat, I listened to the rain patter on the windshield.

I sat there for a while, letting the calming sound of the rain empty my mind. _ _The image of a helpless white fox lying in the rain flashed through my head, making my heart hurt.

I growled and slammed the steering wheel with my fist. "What the hell is wrong with him!? What the hell is wrong with me!?" I hit my steering wheel in frustration once more for good measure, then started up my car to head home.

"There's no way memory loss can be that specific. Even Amy didn't think it was normal," I vented aloud. Saying her name left a bad taste in my mouth. But...why? Why was I even so upset?

I relented and took a series of deep breaths to calm myself down. "Still...I wonder the extent of his lack of memory about Animus..." I made my way through streets of Vale. I didn't live too far away from the hospital, but it's not like Vale was that large. "It seems pretty extensive...he didn't even realize he WAS one."

My thoughts trailed back through the memory of the ordeal and landed on something specific he had said: Before I woke up...Nobody had fur or tails...One giant dream. "...One giant dream huh? One giant dream..." My thoughts continued to wander as I drove through the rain and they settled on the memory of the Vulpin cuddling with his tail. The way he stroked it unconsciously in his sleep...

I shook my head and lightly slapped my face with my hand. My face felt uncomfortably warm. "Come on Celeste, pull it together."

What did I care? There was no reason for me to get so worked up. Over any of this. Of course there was... I tightened my grip on the steering wheel and concentrated on anything else for the rest of the drive home.

I pulled my car into the driveway of my quaint three bedroom house and killed the engine. Steeling myself, I rushed out into the rain and up the steps, hurrying into the house.

I shook the rain from my hair and called out, "I'm home!" I unzipped my jacket and caught a whiff of my smell after spending two days in the hospital. Recoiling, I made my way to the bathroom. "Eugh, shower time for me..."

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Revan

"654...655...656..." I counted the black dots on the tile ceiling as I laid in my bed.

"Looks like you're having a blast." I heard Amy slide the door open to my room, but I didn't look up.

"Time of my life."

"Sarcasm at its finest," She looked around the room, "where's your knight in shining flannel?" I looked up to see her carrying more food, but I didn't feel hungry.

I dropped my head back to my pillow, "Home."

"Clearing the air went well then."

"I don't know what happened. It seemed like it was going well then she suddenly got really upset."

"Hmm...let's see. What did little Revvy do to upset the Leuken?" She slid the table out once more and set my meal down then went about her usual routine of checking of my vital scans.

"All I did was tell her that I would be fine by myself and that she could come back and visit. Oh yeah, and that you would be here to take care of me. Was that wrong?"

Amy sucked in a breath through her teeth. "Not necessarily, but you may have wanted to leave that last part out," she commented as she lifted back the covers to press her stethoscope on my chest, "Breathe in."

I complied and between breaths, I continued to question her, "Why would I...have left that part out? You _are..._the one taking care of me."

"Well..." she traced a finger down my chest, still covered under the dressing gown, "she doesn't seem much for sharing."

I shivered under her touch. "What are you talking about?"

She put her bright smile on once more and patted the side of my face, making me flinch slightly. "Oh Revvy...clueless as ever."

I frowned at her and started picking at my food. "I just feel bad."

"Don't." Amy made her way out of my room, but stopped before she exited. "Oh and Revvy?"

I looked up from my food, "Hmm?"

"Next time you see her, you can tell her I'm not gonna get in her way."

I gave her a puzzled look, "okay..?"

She paused for a moment then tapped the frame of the door before turning around and smiling. "Have a good night Revan, see you in the morning."

I sighed and returned her smile, "Night Amy."

I sat there staring at the ceiling in the dark. I couldn't fall asleep no matter how long I laid there. I couldn't calm my brain down. Fueled by everything that had happened these past few days, it definitely had enough to work with.

Suddenly, I felt an uncomfortable tightness swell in my bladder. "Ahh crap..." With a groan I sat up in bed and thought about how I could make it. I didn't want to bother any of the nurses on call this late at night for something as trivial as helping me to the bathroom.

"Ughh... let's see if I can do this by myself." I slowly pulled back the covers and shuffled my body to the edge of my bed. Gripping the railing tightly, I slid into my wheelchair with a pained grunt. "Well. That went a little better than expected."

I wheeled myself slowly towards the bathroom and shut the door behind me. As I wheeled my way back to bed, I noticed the door to my room was still partly open. I started shutting the door before something in the room across from mine caught my eye. An orange and black striped shark tail hanging over the end of the hospital bed.